"Speak for Your Servant is Listening" - 11am

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well good morning church and good morning to our online congregation it is good to be here isn't it praising the lord and it's good to be in your pajamas praising the lord so who's come to praise the lord this morning shall we stand together and sing his praises heavenly father we've come to praise your holy name we thank you for being our god our king our savior and our father we pray that the very meditation of our hearts and the words that we sing would be pleasing aroma to you lord we love you this morning we pray these things in jesus name because you said we could amen amen amen [Music] [Music] your throne oh god is forever in righteousness you reign sustaining all of creation by the power of your name the radiance of the glory of god and the perfect image of his so we lift our hands and raise our voice to glorify the king the one who wins and is to come to you alone we sing son of god [Music] forever our high priest the author of salvation the perfect lamb who was slain [Music] and [Music] as the angels sing praises [Music] so we lift our hands and raise our voice to glorify the king the one who is to come to son of god [Music] to you and you [Music] your reign is forever [Music] those stars will fall and this world will fade [Music] [Music] raise our voice [Music] son of god [Music] son of god [Music] [Applause] son of god [Music] [Music] amen jesus reigns praise you lord we worship you glory to your name you are we make miracle work [Music] that is who you are [Music] light in the darkness my god that is [Music] heart i worship you i worship you you are healed healing everything life [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you are [Music] [Music] miracle is [Applause] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] how many know that's true we've seen it in their lives god's faithfulness huh he's always at work he's a mighty god praise his holy name [Music] i just want to say even when i can see it you're working even when i don't feel it you're working you never stop you never stop working you never stop you never stop working even when i can [Music] [Music] [Music] when i [Music] you never [Applause] [Music] that is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is who you are [Music] light in the darkness my god that is who you are amen amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] everything that's happening is a chance for me to turn and seek your face [Music] the presence of your majesty is spirit that's alive in me today and i'm not alone i never was you have always been by [Music] i belong to you lord i belong to you lord show me your power and shine through my weakness i belong to you lord yes i belong to you lord fill me up [Music] everything that's happening is a chance for me to turn and [Music] the presence of your majesty the spirit that is is [Music] lord show me your power and shine through my weakness i belong to you lord cause i belong to you lord me again with your holy spirit [Music] again [Music] [Music] for your glory for your kingdom holy spirit fill me again we declare tonight for your glory for your kingdom holy [Music] [Applause] [Music] till we are again [Music] again yes and i belong to you lord yes i belong to you lord show me your shine through my weakness i belong to you lord because i belong to you lord fill me up with your holy spirit amen [Music] oh yes fill me up [Music] so when i'll fight i'll fight on my knees with my hands lifted high full god battle belongs to you every fear i lay out your feet [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] who can be against me [Music] for jesus [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] you go before us nothing can stand against the power of our god you shine in the shadows you win every battle nothing can stand against the power how many believe that this morning almighty force he goes before us you go before hallelujah nothing can stand against the power of god [Music] [Music] come on [Music] lay at your feet [Music] oh god the battle belongs to you [Music] [Applause] amen church how many have seen that in their lives amen when you just say god you've got this you've got this and he's shown to be faithful amen what a great god we serve what a privilege to know his grace and his power in our lives amen church i hope you're glad to be here this morning are you amen amen praise god let's greet each other welcome everybody around you make sure you meet someone new introduce yourself to the brothers and sisters in christ and those on the live stream we welcome you as well good morning and welcome my name is mike nazarian and i have the privilege of serving as one of our teaching pastors here at hope chapel whether you are a first time viewer or a regular viewer of our live stream i want to personally welcome you this morning [Music] hope chapel is a bible teaching church located in hermosa beach california our ministry philosophy is to win souls to jesus equip believers in the word of god and send them out to make disciples throughout the south bay and beyond if you would like to know more about us please visit our website at hopechapel.org also be sure to follow us on facebook and instagram for the latest news and updates you can call our church office with any questions needs or prayer requests tuesday through friday from 9 00 am to 5 pm our phone number is 310-374-4673 you can also send us an email at info hope chapel.org any prayer requests to prayer at hope chapel dot org we have in-person worship services every saturday at 5 00 pm and on sunday mornings at 9 00 a.m and 11 a.m we'll continue to live stream our sunday morning services at 9 11 but i want to personally invite you should you feel comfortable to come back and join us in person on sunday mornings i'm really excited to share with you that this october we are celebrating 50 years of god's faithfulness as a local church here in hermosa beach so i want to invite you to come attend a very very very special weekend celebration october 1st through 3rd as we celebrate 50 years of hope together join us on friday october 1st for an evening concert with special worship guests from hope chapel's past and present we will have additional opportunities to gather for fun and fellowship early saturday morning october 2nd if you would like to surf cycle or walk peer to peer please sign up in advance and email janine at janine.san juan hope chapel.org then join us at hermosa valley park at 11am for a family reunion picnic with catered barbecue games and activities for the whole family that evening we will host an open house at hope chapel allowing you behind the scenes peak of the church administrative buildings you can meet all the pastors and watch a special documentary of god's faithfulness to win equip and send over the last 50 years come back again on sunday october 3rd our normal services and hear from ralph moore hope chapel's founding pastor this is a weekend you do not want to miss after today's message we're going to take communion together you may use any crackers bread and juice you have available at home this is a good time to prepare your community elements if you haven't already before we share in communion together we traditionally bring our tithes and offerings if you're viewing our service you can still give in a number of ways online at hope chapel dot org forward slash give you can text give to 310-388-3448 or you can utilize our alexio community app or you can even give by mail to 2306 pacific coast highway hermosa beach california 90254 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] on behalf of our entire team here at hope we want to thank you for your continued faithfulness and generosity please stay tuned to your screens we'll be back in just a moment with a message from god's word [Music] well good morning church welcome back everybody so so are you are you picking up on the aroma of new carpet so i don't want you to get high on new carpet i want you get high in the holy ghost before i do anything else i want to say thank you if you were here last sunday afternoon we're here from about 3 30 to about 6 30 47 ripping up the entire carpet scraping like crazy if you were here helped us thank you thank you thank you thank you it was just it was it was a lot of work i i just it was just i mean everybody got blisters i got blisters had them they're just now healing but what was really interesting and astounding was a lot of the guys who were who were scraping and sweating and after the fact said this was great this was great fellowship i thought wow why would you do more of this so anyway i just want to thank everybody and again you'll notice this is new carpet i'm saying this the first coffee stain that name goes in the bulletin so be careful please at least until after the 50th okay then you can spill as much coffee as you want but let's take care of it right now it's new carpet amen turn your neighbor encourage your neighbor don't knock your coffee over i have some bittersweet news to share with you uh a very very very precious sister went home to be with the lord last week veronica roland and veronica was kind of new to our church in the last five years and she came to my class she got born again it was just just a wonderful wonderful experience with her and she was diagnosed this past year with breast cancer and it metastasized and took her and i was with her the very afternoon she went home to be with the lord and just just encourage her you know i said this is don't be afraid god is with you and you're going to go to sleep you're going to wake up you're going to see jesus everything we've talked about everything we believe in and it wasn't long after that she went home and her husband ron roland uh brought her to church he brought her to our my roots class my discover hope class and um i was just kind of curious about the relationship so i pulled him off on the side i said what uh what's going on here he said we're just friends we're just friends we're just friends and then of course as that goes on you know that relationship begins to prosper and i had the very wonderful pleasure of officiating at their wedding and pronouncing a blessing on them so when she was diagnosed with cancer it was just very very difficult so i'll miss her if you knew veronica or ron uh just very precious people so they're gonna have a memorial service uh at englewood park uh next saturday so we'll have more details available if you want to call a church office okay it's our customer to great guests and visitors and if this is your first time with us this morning hope chapel i'd like to have our congregation greet you and welcome you with a warm hand of applause also our team members have a little um information i'd like you to receive but we do know need to know where you're seated please know it's not my intention at all to embarrass you or make you feel uncomfortable we do want you to feel very very welcome this morning in our last weekend service however if this is your first time i am going to ask you if you would be willing to identify yourself simply by holding your hand up real high so we can greet you and give you this material welcome terrific all right any other any other first time guests did we get everybody all right it's good to have you with us this morning that material we're giving you does include an information card that card is provided so that you can if you should so choose respond back let us know who you are and as well if you should have a question or comment or some way you think we might be of some encouragement to in your life there's room on the reverse side of those cards to write those remarks and that's the conclusion of the service as you exit one of our team members will be each of the exits with a basket and you can drop that completed card in that basket as you leave this morning if you're new in the community or you are looking for home church i can't recommend a better church i love our church and i recommend it and i always tell people if you can come seven times in a row chances are you'll find a home here and in fact we will grow on you isn't that true angel amen so again it's good to have you with us this morning i want to highlight some announcements for you know our our 50th anniversary is coming up in just a couple weeks um did you see the logo downstairs you came up the stairs isn't that cool i didn't even know it was there i was i somebody showed it to me last night went wow that is cool and uh t-shirts and the whole the whole uh the whole megillah if you will so look in your bulletin for all the details of the weekend it's going to be a wonderful weekend we're celebrating what god has done in our midst and with very very weak simple people god has done a marvelous work here at hope chapel for 50 years what a privilege to be here we are a light on a hill we're the highest point in the city and everybody knows about us everybody knows about us so we're so excited we do need some continued volunteers and help and uh we need some we need at least five more volunteers to help with the kids in the bouncy house how do we know what a bouncy house is yeah you don't have to go in the bouncy house unless the kid gets stuck but but we do need some help with that we need uh at least five more volunteers for uh greeting we need a ton of people to help uh with our parking situation we're gonna be shuttling people back and forth from miracosta's parking lot uh down the hill to the valley park where the picnic is on saturday morning we still need a lot of people help organize that and get people squared away and situated and on the shuttles and off the shuttles and so forth so you say well i don't have any experience we'll train you don't worry it's easy work okay and also we need some more volunteers for the game booths and uh that's always a party you'll love you love it i promise you it'll be a great experience the more volunteers we have the less we each all have to work right and you can enjoy the weekend so look at your bulletin for all the details of all the events for the weekend and i think you'll just it's going to be a blessing blessed time so also a couple other things real quickly our koinonia group that is you have to be minimum 55 to get into koinonia they're meeting this afternoon at two o'clock in the ocean beer room and if you fit in that group they'd love to have you come and enjoy fellowship and some good teaching for them our men's bible study wednesday morning bible study is starting up again this wednesday so guys if you've been waiting for that pastor dale's going to be leading that and encourage you to get up early come and spend some time with some other men praying studying the word fellowshipping before you go off to battle in the world amen yes all right okay lastly we are looking to hire some people for uh helping us with our facilities and building uh some steward staff and if you know someone who needs a job and they're capable they're faithful and they can help us move tables and chairs and stuff like that then let them just have them call the office and we'll be happy to interview them for that job we are looking for some help in that area pays 15 bucks an hour minimum wage so um it's easy work actually so okay are you ready for the word this morning lord we just thank you again we ask you to give us ears to hear and eyes to see the things you prepared for us we love you this morning we thank you for bringing us again today have your way in our life we ask in jesus name amen open your bibles if you would do 1st samuel chapter 3. how many are familiar with this passage remember that passage not many oh my gosh it's a good thing i'm teaching on it huh well look with me first samuel chapter 3 verse 1 the boy samuel ministered before the lord under eli eli was the high priest of israel at that time and israel was fairly corrupt at this particular point in their history in those days the word of the lord was rare there were not many visions one night eli who was the high priest whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see was lying down in his usual place the lamp of god had not yet gone out the idea was that the lamp was never to go out it was to burn perpetually 24 hours a day just as a hint there about the spiritual condition of israel and samuel was lying down in the temple of the lord where the ark of god was and then the lord called samuel samuel answered here i am and he ran to eli and said here i am you called me but eli said i did not call go back and lie down so he went and lay down again the lord called samuel and samuel got up and went to eli and said here i am you called me my son eli said i did not call go back and lie down now samuel did not yet know the lord the word of the lord had not yet been revealed to him the lord called samuel a third time and samuel got up and went to eli and said here i am you called me then eli realized that the lord was calling the boy so eli told samuel go and lie down and if he calls you say this speak lord for your servant is listening so samuel went and lay down in his place the lord came and stood there calling as at the other times samuel samuel then samuel said speak for your servant is listening church that's the word of the lord amen speak for your servant is listening very often we say listen for your servant is speaking have you ever had a a kind of inner voice a kind of inner sense saying that some saying something to you that that either you chose to follow and obey or ignore maybe it was to call somebody do you ever have that call so-and-so call so-and-so and you just don't do it or maybe write a letter or maybe be responsible for something or responsible to someone maybe to do something as simple as pick up after yourself we've all had those thoughts we've all had those senses if you will the bible tells us that when you become a christian that the holy spirit of god comes to live in you one of the things that the holy spirit does is to speak to you is to remind you to do the right things the right things are the things that would be in fact god's will for your life the question many people have is this does god really speak to people today does he speak directly does he speak specifically does he speak personally we all know about how people how god spoke to people in the in the past throughout the bible you read the all historical accounts in the old testament especially even the new testament we see how god spoke to people he spoke to adam in the garden warning him about the tree in the middle of the garden didn't he god spoke to noah about building a boat it's going to rain noah had never seen rain god spoke to abraham about the abundance of his descendants as many as the stars in the sky and grains of sand on the seashore god spoke to moses from a burning bush in on a mountain top god spoke to joshua about shouting down the walls of jericho he spoke to isaiah about the coming messiah he spoke to jeremiah about israel's captivity in babylon he spoke to ezekiel about the future restoration of israel he spoke to daniel about the future of everything god spoke to john the baptist about the savior being at hand he spoke to jesus about his identity his mission and the apostles and god speaks to us today through his spirit and he speaks to us on a regular basis about even the ordinary things of our life how many have ever lost their keys and said god help me find my keys he even cares about where your keys are if somehow we could mark with a yellow highlighter you know what i'm talking about a yellow highlighter if we could mark the messages from god that cross our minds i suspect we'd see yellow a lot and that should come as no surprise because god told us in scripture that it would be that way in john chapter 14 verses 16 and 17 he says i will ask the father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever we're always looking for counsel aren't we we're always looking for somebody to give us wisdom and insight and understanding he says he will give you a counselor someone who will be with you but he will also at one day be in you the holy spirit of god will be living in us and jesus went on in john's gospel to explain that the holy spirit will teach us all things you remind us of everything that jesus said he has a ministry of reminding specifically the holy spirit will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment the holy spirit will guide us into all truth he will speak only what he hears he'll tell us what is yet to come jesus says he will take from what is mine and make it known to you god means for us to know what he's all about he means for us to know what his plan and his purpose is all about and he gives us his spirit to live in us to communicate these things just think about again what jesus jesus said he says when when when we put our faith in him when you realize and you're convicted you're a sinner and only god can do that for you you come to the place you say i'm wrong i'm wrong my thinking has been wrong my attitudes have been wrong my behavior has been wrong when you're convicted of that you look up so many of us have had have looked up says okay i give i give your will i want what you want at that point you you put your faith in jesus you hear that he's died for your sins and he's come to give you life and when you put your faith in him you are born again you're born of the spirit the spirit brings new life to you you are regenerated as a spiritual being and he comes to live in you to seal you isn't that wonderful for the rest of your life for the rest of your life there are two persons living in your body you and the holy ghost now remember the holy ghost is not an it the holy ghost is not if you recall years ago when in the 80s when the star wars movies came out there are lots of christians who are trying to equate the holy ghost with the force no the force all that was eastern mysticism had nothing to do with the holy spirit and spiritual things christian things the holy spirit is a person he is a person he's not mute he's an involved life-giving divine person with whom the bible promises fellowship we have fellowship with the holy spirit listen listen to what the apostle paul says in second corinthians chapter 13 he says may the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you all is that a beautiful greeting beautiful and this fellowship is to be regular and it is to be experienced it's meant to be companionship he is our comforter he is our companion he is the one who leads us and comforts us and guides us if you just if you look through the accounts of the early church and recorded in the book of acts you see god repeatedly speaking to his people through that promised holy spirit in acts chapter 8 he tells philip to approach the chariot of the ethiopian eunuch in acts chapter 10 he told peter to accompany three men sent from cornelius acts chapter 13 he told the church at antioch set apart for me barnabas and saul as missionaries to the gentiles paul's second missionary journey was in fact directed by the holy spirit acts chapter 16. you read about that later in his ministry paul declared quote now compelled by the spirit i'm going to jerusalem in every city the holy spirit warns me what was the holy spirit warning paul about he was warning him that he's going to be arrested he's going to be tried he's going to be executed but nonetheless the holy spirit was compelling him reading on in our bibles we find the letters to the early churches and then by extension to all of us reminding us that the spirit will provide direction for daily living how many would like clear direction for daily living yeah all of us were told to be led by the spirit in romans chapter 8. we're told to be filled with the spirit in ephesians chapter five we're told to pray in the spirit in ephesians chapter six to live by the spirit in galatians chapter five to keep in step with the spirit why because he's been given to us to lead us and to guide us and to strengthen us it only makes sense to stay in step with him if you're a parent and you're you're out on on a walk you tell your kids stay with me stay in step with me keep keep up with me and so the spirit of god the same thing and all of these all these well-known commands that we read about assume that the holy spirit does speak to us personally in ways that we can understand it's interesting that all the verbs in those passages in the greek text are in the present tense continuous continuous this this god speaks to us not just two or three times in our life no he speaks to us daily daily question is are we listening but how does god speak personally how does god speak personally the most common and certain way is through the what through the bible through the scriptures god speaks to us through the scriptures all scripture we're told is god breathed god generated it god came up with it he used man i love it when people say well the bible is just written by men yes it was you're right but those men were inspired by the holy spirit first peter tells us this above all you must understand that no prophecy of scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man but men spoke from god as they were carried along by who the holy spirit so it's a whole god god knows exactly what he wants us to hear he knows exactly what he what he wants us to know and he takes those thoughts and words and he gives them to men and they write them down for him they he uses their own style he uses their language he uses their background and experience all that god weaves together to make sure that what he wants communicated is communicated isn't god awesome so the bible in a very real sense the holy spirit is speaking to us every time we read our bible this is why it's important to read your bible would you agree we should be reading it all the time every day but the bible tells us plainly that god also he also speaks directly and personally in other ways we find the words the lord said throughout the bible the lord said and those words are always associated with visions dreams audible voices angels prophetic messages even physical signs we also find the language of god's personal conversation described in first kings chapter 19. how many remember elijah was in the cave and god's going to speak to him now how would you expect that god would communicate to him through an earthquake loud wind storms all those things happened but the text says but the lord was not in those how did god speak to elijah do you recall yeah the niv translated a gentle whisper the new american standard translated as a sound of a gentle blowing and the king james translates it a still small voice it may come as a simple thought it may come as we just sense something god may be speaking in a quiet quiet voice as paul says the spirit himself testifies with our spirit it's spirit to spirit speech you've got to be born again to have spirit to spirit speech and we've all heard it maybe out of the corner of our eye we'll notice someone standing alone and in the congregation and we have a kind of an inner prompting go over introduce yourself that person go greet that person they're all by themselves have we all experienced something like that sure maybe maybe we'll be about to make a subtly self-promoting comment and then we hear don't say that our troubled spirits will be reassured by a silent reminder the holy spirit will say that sin is dealt with already it's been forgiven so many times people plague themselves they keep bringing up their sin and they forget that it's been forgiven and if the holy spirit will come and say no no that's forgiven that's dealt with trust me nothing to fear you've been cleansed that wonderful now it's true that our inner impressions are not always god speaking have you noticed that that possibility it's not always god speaking our thoughts can be from one of three sources god the evil one or ourselves you ever wondered is that god or is that me is that god or is that me how can you tell the difference how can you tell the difference the primary way to discern god's voice is to saturate our minds with what the scriptures read your bible memorize scripture meditate on it study it because all of those dynamics strengthen our ability to recognize god's voice when he speaks if you don't know his word if you don't know how he speaks if you don't know what he says because you don't study the word you're going to be confused you're not going to be sure you're going to be tossed about what god says to us individually will always match what he has said in his word if there's any doubt you go to his word any doubt isaiah isaiah reminded all of his contemporaries because false prophets were speaking in the name of god to all of isaiah's contemporaries and isaiah was saying trouble's coming god's bringing discipline in punishment in all the prophets false prophets say no no no no nothing's going to happen everything's going to be okay god's going to bless us isaiah says he was the only one to stand against it and so isaiah reminded all of his contemporaries he says to the law and to the testimony to god's word if they do not speak according to this word in other words if all these other prophets don't line up with what god has already said they have no light of dawn they're still in the dark yet some thoughts some impressions are neither directly affirmed nor disqualified by specific scriptures what do we do then well in that case we need to look at the character of what we're hearing in other words is it god-like is it devil-like or is it me like god tells us plainly what he's like doesn't he if you go back to the book of exodus in chapter 34 remember when god put moses up in the cleft of the rock and passed by and declared the lord the lord gracious compassionate merciful forgiving to thousands of generations forth he identifies who he is to moses if you ever have any trouble with the character of god you go back to exodus 34. remind yourself of who he is gracious compassionate forgiving in psalm 51 he tells us he desires from us a broken and contrite heart in first corinthians chapter 13 again he describes himself in chapter 13 that great passage love is what say say it love is now over in first john john writes very simply god is love so the all the these are all characteristics of who god is aren't you glad he keeps no record of wrongs aren't you glad he's not easily angered aren't you glad that he's patient sure absolutely in galatians chapter five you have a recitation of what's called the fruit of the spirit fruit of the spirit so the holy spirit gives evidence of his presence in our life when we surrendered him and trust him in the fruit of the spirit love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithful and self-control hebrews chapter four god describes himself as being sympathetic and compassionate he knows what we're going through he knows what this world is like he knows our struggles and our trials he sympathizes with us and he's compassionate and again in first john chapter 4 we're told god is love so god tells us what he's like and his names the designations tell us even more about him and the character of his voice he is healer he is provider he's redeemer he is savior he is our father our shepherd our rock our fortress and our shield so with all of these understandings we can we can discern whatever voice we're hearing whatever we think we're hearing is it god-like because we know what god is like and in the same way god tells us plainly the character of our enemy who's our enemy the devil that's right satan our adversary the devil the slanderer he is the ancient serpent who leads the whole world astray the accuser of our brothers who accuses them before god day and night jesus says in john chapter he was a murderer from the beginning he's a liar he's the father of lies he comes only to steal and destroy john chapter 10. in first peter chapter five we're told by peter that we are to be on the alert because our enemy the devil is roaming about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may what devour destroy we're told to arm ourselves against the devil's schemes in ephesians chapter six his ingenious cleverly disguised plans to ruin and destroy in second corinthians chapter 11 paul tells us that satan masquerades as an angel of light you won't even know he's around you think oh this is this is great he masquerades as an angel of light why to fake us out and then of course god the devil and me i'm me you're you at certain points we're relatively healthy are we not sure perhaps we show flashes of generosity and compassion and boldness and optimism and maybe at other times not so healthy maybe at other times we we tend to towards maybe irrational anger jealousy envy fear self-indulgence suspicion distrust even hopelessness now remembering these differences can make it easier to discern the source of what we're hearing if you if you know have a good familiar with god like what's the devil like what am i like you're pretty able to discern the source of what you're hearing i once counseled the couple the wife had had one night a terrible terrible dream in which she saw the mangled body of one of her children she frantically tried to help but nothing worked she was helpless she was desperate she said and terrified that was her dream when she woke up she agonized all day about her dream finally she and her husband called me they said is god telling us to prepare for the death of our child i listened and thought prayed after all the bible does give examples of god telling people are going to die and then i thought about the nature of the dream gruesome gruesome carnage helpless despair and the impact of the dream fear and grief i told him that i was confident this was not god speaking this is not from god it's not like him to frighten us for no apparent reason i said it sounded more like a message from her own heart which wrestled regularly with fears of losing a child or possibly a message from satan who is well known for lying and terrorizing years have passed the family has moved years have passed none of their children have died in a gruesome manner a similar message on the other hand had a very different feel a teenager was speeding with three friends one of them told of having a dream the night before that they were in a serious car wreck and she was the only survivor because she was the only one with her seat belt on hearing that all the girls fastened their seat belts later that day there was a tragic car wreck the car was totaled and the girls were all shaken but unhurt and the policeman who was at the scene noted this he said if you hadn't had your seatbelts on the outcome would have been very very different where did this girl's dream come from do you think well consider the message a warning of a danger that turned out to be very real consider the tone of the message and urging to do something that was right and reasonable something that driving teens may in fact neglect consider the effect saved lives who speaks in this way a father a father however we've all had times when the clues to speaking were harder to read the enemy for example will in fact use god's word but with a subtle twist as he did with jesus in the wilderness remember that we all know psalm 23 and verse 1. what does psalm 23 verse 1 say the lord is my shepherd i shall lack nothing now how do you think the devil might twist that how might he tweak that verse well god wants see god wants you to have everything you want he wants you to have it when you want it he doesn't want you to lack anything and especially say that to you and lead you astray if what you want is going to end up being self-destructive he's not there for your good he's not there for your benefit you see how he'll tweak the scriptures he might use the reality and i've i've experienced this over the years several times when people come to me and they say have i have i committed the unforgivable sin he'll use the reality there is an unforgivable sin and people come and say pastor i think i've committed the unforgivable sin i said really what did you do and they'll tell me some horrible sin they've committed i said that is not the unforgivable sin you confess your sin that god will forgive you and who cleanse you from that really that's not the end no but he'll use the threat of that and the reality of that to just drive people crazy convince you that you've committed it this is why we must know our bible you got to know what the unforgivable sin is all about i'll leave you do that in your mini church i'm not going to tell you you see when my application of scripture seems to be leading me away from rightness away from responsibility away from hope i need to recheck my interpretation i need to recheck my application where's where is it leading me even more difficult than distinguishing the holy spirit from the enemy is telling the difference between the holy spirit and my own heart that god is it me is that god is it me let me give you three suggestions you ready to be very helpful to you very helpful number one always take your time always take your time i find that god is faithful over a period of days to distinguish his messages from my thoughts take your time with time he will cause the false guilt the false promptings the alluring permissions to fade they'll become extinct he'll cause his message to persist and become more compelling so when you get a thought don't go confront your friends don't try to correct your leaders don't quit your job don't think you you should launch into ministry don't propose marriage or act on any uncertain promptings on the spot take your time wait when it comes to hearing god's inner voice take your time paul tells the thessalonians test everything test everything hold on to the good avoid every kind of evil so what's the first step we should take take your time take a deep breath don't rush here's the second step beware your wounds beware your wounds how many know your wounds things people said or done to you mark you we've all been hurt we've all been wounded by other people and in response we often become fearful distrustful angry and even suspicious so be honest about where you have been bruised and have become unhealthy in your responses anticipate that some messages may in fact come from your woundedness um what's the first step what second step okay you ready for the third one know your passions what am i passionate about what am i passionate about there's an old saying give a man a hammer and the whole world looks like a nail this hammer effect can distort our ability to hear from god especially when we are ministering to other people example if you believe strongly that wives should submit to their husbands in everything without exception then it's easy to hear submission as the solution whenever someone tells you of a domestic problem well the wife needs to submit the wife needs to submit it's like you got this one hammer on this one nail that's your passion what if you're an intercessor what if you pray and god has called you and gifted you to pray intercessory prayers well it's easy then for this phrase to pop readily to mind when you're listening for god's solution to personal struggles here's the phrase pray more pray more you ever heard that we say it all the time we just need to pray more may that may not be the solution but if that's your hobby horse if that's your passion that's your default you're going to go to that world you just need to pray more are you with me am i making sense here you have to beware and know your passions when trying to discern god's voice if you find yourself repeatedly hearing what's strange strong or vibrant in your life slow down and suspect overflow from your own heart rather than the message from god god does speak he does speak the passage we looked at at the beginning john chapter 14 this is the crown jewel of the new covenant this is the crown jewel he tells us i will ask the father and he will give you another counselor to be with you forever the spirit of truth the world cannot accept him because he neither sees him but knows him but you know him for he lives with you and he will be in you wow spirit of truth he lives in me and his purpose is to lead me and guide me into all truth even fallible me but i need to be sensitive if you belong to god if you are a born again christian then the council of the holy spirit lives in you in fact he has sealed you for the day of redemption and he's speaking he's speaking every day the question is are you learning to listen are you learning to recognize his voice and the enormous benefits of being led by him jesus says it gives your father great pleasure to give you the kingdom how many how many want to engage the kingdom and all of its blessedness and wonder you just follow the spirit the spirit leads you to the kingdom let's just do a little experiment can we do a little experiment okay stop right now ask the lord to screen out all the other voices but his voice and my voice just ask him right now lord screen out all the other voices and invite him to say to your mind and heart whatever he wants to say now just stay quiet and listen pay attention to what comes to your mind where does he take what do you sense him saying now something comes to mind don't try to determine this right now at this moment is this me or god speaking just take whatever the thought is whatever the word is whatever the verse of scripture might be whatever the phrase is whatever the visual picture write it down just jot it down right now everybody has a piece of paper and a pencil just write it down right now whatever you believe that god might be saying because you invited him say it just write it down now after you've written it down just say lord what does this mean what does this mean and after you've listened test test what you think you've heard against the words and the character of god what did i hear how will i respond speak lord for your servant is listening amen is this helpful all right we're gonna do part two next week we're gonna dive a little bit deeper into the things that actually hinder us from hearing from god let's pray lord we thank you again for your word we thank you for the confidence that you do speak we thank you for your spirit who lives in us and leads us into all truth or give us give us understanding give us a love for your word so that we can be sure when you're speaking not the devil or not even our own flesh we can be sensitive to you and respond to you and walk with you we thank you that you you want us to hear you want us to know you want the best for us you're a great god you're an awesome father we love you this morning we thank you for jesus and for his sacrifice that makes all this possible lord as we come to your table we just simply ask you to to reveal to us to show us those things that we may need to confess and repent of we want to come to your table with clean hands we give you thanks amen take a few moments and maybe do some business with god and then we'll take communion just a couple of minutes together [Music] so [Music] [Music] the bible says that god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but of everlasting life what an offer what an offer and presuming that you and i have all taken advantage of that we put our faith in jesus we come to this moment where jesus himself said i want you to remember me every time you meet together take these elements and remember me remember what i've done don't forget me and so we culminate our time this morning we take this little piece of bread and this little cup of juice the bread pointing us to jesus body he was given for us and the juice reminding us of his blood that was be poured out for us for the forgiveness of our sins and he simply said when you do this remember me church just eat the bread thank you jesus thank you jesus let's lift the cup thank you jesus amen are you glad you came this morning i'm glad you came this morning as is our custom turn to your neighbor if you would pronounce a blessing on your neighbor in the name of jesus if it's appropriate only if it's appropriate give your neighbor a holy hug and very possibly a holy kiss let's stand together and sing his praises one more time before we dismiss i belong to you lord i belong to you lord show me your power and shine through my weakness i belong to you lord [Music] [Applause] i belong to you lord [Music] i belong to you lord fill me again with your holy spirit the lord bless you and keep you make his face shine upon and be gracious to you the lord turn his face toward you and give you peace [Applause] what an awesome thing to be in god's family to be a christian and to have the hope that we have [Music] father bless your church as we go from this place pray that each of us our life would be a a shining light to those around us who don't yet know you we pray for our family and friends and lord we ask you to turn their hearts toward you and grant them repentance and put your words in our mouth so that we can encourage them and tell them of your great love and your great salvation bless your church oh god use us this week we pray your kingdom come and your will be done more fully we pray in jesus name because you said we could amen church god bless you have a blessed week i love you bye please tell somebody about jesus the elders will be available if you need prayer the elders will be available in the front we need the men to help us stack the chairs nine high guys if you can help us stack chairs nine high thank you man thank you for tuning in today we truly hope that you were blessed by our time together we also want to thank you for your faithful continued giving here again are the various ways that you can continue to support the various ministries at hope chapel you may give online at hope chapel dot org forward slash give text give to 310-388-3448 or utilize our alexio community app or by mail to 2306 pacific coast highway hermosa beach california 90254 stay connected with us throughout the week by visiting our hope at home webpage or by following us on facebook or instagram we want to hear from you please send your prayer requests and your praise reports to prayer hope chapel dot org if you need prayer or support outside of our office hours please call our elder helpline at 310-318-8105 your pastors and elders are continually praying for our church family now is a good time to connect with one of our small groups for additional encouragement and support throughout the week you may visit hope chapel dot org forward slash mini church or contact pastor jared blue at jared.blue hope chapel dot org to find a group to join thank you again for joining us today we look forward to gathering again online next sunday we hope to see you then and may god bless your week [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach

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Id: XUOgdcCgcb4

Length: 107min 43sec (6463 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 20 2021