The Whispers of God | Jentezen Franklin

you have your Bibles I invite you to open it up turn it on or ever how you do it to the first the book of First Samuel chapter 3. first Samuel chapter 3. this Friday Jason Crabb will be gathering with the wisdom club and he will be given a full concert it's free and but you do have to register so all of our senior citizens uh all of you get signed up and it's going to be awesome how many of you love Jason man is he staying over for Sunday by chance we should have made him stay over for Sunday because some of us young people want to hear him amen this past week this is My Prerogative because I'm the pastor and I get to take advantage sometimes but my daughter Courtney is a soccer coach and her team which my granddaughter Amelia is on they won the championship the championship and I'm so that's her that's her dad Tyler and that's the amazing team right there and little Amelia scored two goals and and and I didn't do like some of you do during this during the church service I didn't I didn't say that's beautiful deep down in my heart but I was screaming and I was going crazy like we ought to go for the Lord every once in a while say Amen somebody it was so fun and it was so amazing proud of Amelia wherever she is I tell you my those grandchildren or something else aren't they what a blessing if life is dark just hold on grandchildren are on the way and it's gonna be all right first Samuel chapter 3. I'll begin reading in verse 8 and the Lord called Samuel again a third time so he arose and went to Eli and said here I am for you did call me then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy therefore Eli said to Samuel go lie down and it shall be if he calls you that you must say everybody say these words Please Speak Lord for your servant hears so Samuel went and laid down in his place now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times Samuel Samuel and Samuel answered speak for your servant hears then the Lord said to Samuel behold I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle I want to preach to you for a few moments about how to discern The Whispers of God The Whispers of God how to discern them how to hear the voice of God because John 10 is very clear that God still speaks maybe not audibly but he does to our spirit he does absolutely have a voice John 10 Jesus said my sheep will know my voice one of the evidences one of the proofs of of the fact that you're a sheep and not a goat and that that's a Biblical illustration that is used to between God's God's flock and Satan's flock and he calls Satan's flock goats and he calls his flock sheep and he said my sheep know my voice they learn to hear my voice and I want you to understand God still speaks he desires to communicate he speaks to as the text that I just read he speaks to young people he speaks to teenagers he speaks to children he speaks to business people he speaks to dads husbands men the problem is we don't have the ears or our ears are so cluttered with the things of life and other voices that it drowns out his voice and the big thing that I've learned about God I preach more now out of experience than I do out of just um my study stuff has changed I don't know how to explain it but I I I'm in a season in my life in the season that I'm in that I'm I'm teaching you as much not just what I've learned from books but what I've learned from life and walking with Jesus for many many years and God seldom yells that's why you have to stay sensitive to him because when he speaks it's a whisper it's usually and most people are so busy and in such a a big thing that they don't have that sensitivity that anywhere God wants to speak he doesn't yell he doesn't scream he whispers and in this text in first Samuel 3 Samuel kept getting uh awakened by the voice of God calling his name two times Samuel Samuel and he woke up and he thought it was so real to him he thought that it was the high priest who was down the hall he was asleep and it was night and it was dark and he goes down and he knocks on the high priest door Eli and Eli and he wakes him up and Eli says I didn't call you go back to sleep he goes back it happens again he says I did not call you go back a few hours later he hears the voice again a third time and when he goes the third time and wakes the old priest up the priest said I perceive that God is trying to speak to you the next time you hear that voice say Speak Lord your servant hears and God spoke to him and those words were so powerful they would shake the life of Samuel Samuel would go on to become the premier prophet of the Old Testament the Bible said so powerful were those Whispers that God would give him that when he would speak not one word fell to the ground that when he would prophesy not one thing he would speak would not come to pass so powerful were the words that he spoke that when Israel had to have a king God told Samuel to go to Jesse's house and it would be one of his sons and he brought in seven sons he had eight but he only brought in seven and he started to pour the oil on the firstborn which would be pretty pretty normal because God had already told him that one of the sons from that household but the voice of the Lord was so clear to Samuel that God said that's not the one and he held them all back and he went to the second one God said that's this is this is what that is not the one that is not the one he said it's seven times and he turned and he said is there not any other Sons he said well I've got one out in the field he said sin for him and the moment he walked in think of the think of the importance of this whisper the moment that little Shepherd boy David walked in the voice of the Lord came in Samuel's ears and said that's the one anoint him he will become the king of Israel anoint him and out of his seed will come forth Messiah what a powerful moment what if he had missed those Whispers what if he had not learned to develop his ear to hear the voice of God how important are those Whispers not one word fell to the ground I was thinking about these seniors and I was thinking about my own life when I stood like that at a crossroad at a transition at a time in my life where I was unsure and it was uncertain it was exciting and it was uncertain and I felt anxiety and I felt also like it was an important time in my life and I remember I was in school and college and I was really seeking God the the summer that I came home from school I was seeking God and the school was off and I I I I was saying Lord what's the big picture for for my life I was trying to figure out you know am I am I going to be a teacher I don't want to teach music am I going to be a performer and I decided I was going to try to be a performer so practicing and all of that on the horn five six hours a day somewhere during that summer I just felt so desperate that something said to me just fast for three days and put it on the Altar and I if I were to be honest I had a little nudging like I knew I was supposed to preach but I wouldn't even go there and I went those three days and it was around midnight and I went to the Tabernacle down the road that my dad who was like a bishop or whatever you would call it over a bunch of churches and that they would gather once a year there's a room that held about 1600 people and it was dark no lights were on I had a key I went in and I just prayed it was almost midnight I was so looking forward to midnight because I was going to be eating at 1201. and I had poured my heart out to God in those three days and I said well I don't know what you want me to do but you're going to have to tell me clearly I'm willing I am willing to do whatever you want me to do but you're going to have to tell me and I'm telling you around midnight I heard the whisper of God deep in my spirit and he said I have called you to preach go preach and do what I've called you to do and it was one of those moments it was just a whisper I didn't see it written in Technicolor I didn't see graffiti on the side of the Tabernacle I didn't have an angel tap me I didn't see the room light up with a glove all I had was I was in his presence I knew I was in his presence and I had this gentle whisper and said you're called I chose you you didn't choose me go I began to preach and God began to help us as we me and my brother traveled all over the nation then on another occasion a few years later talking about The Whispers of God he never yelled at me just Whispers and I was in a situation where I was single now by myself and I was living in Tennessee and I preached and I met a girl named Charisse swilley and we begin to date and God didn't have to yell on that one because I was able to hear the whisper but I used my eyes too and I like what I saw and I fell in love with her and at some point at some point I knew and I heard the whisper marry her she's the one she's the one and I don't know what I would have done without Charisse it's a little funny with her sitting down here on the front but it's just the truth I don't know what I would have done without that whisper and we've been through a lot but we go through it together and it's a powerful powerful thing when God Whispers that's the one and the Lord told me to tell every single person under the sound of my voice wherever you're listening to this for every single person who desires it there is a whisper coming in your future that is the one because he has a plan for your life God has a whisper for you I believe it's so important that when we're at Crossroads when we're at Major decisions when we're in transitional places if we need to hear from God that we absolutely begin to do what Samuel did we pray for Samuel ears Samuel ears because if if you don't want to just keep making the wrong choices and stumbling through life you can learn to hear God's voice if he could speak to somebody like me he can speak to you he can speak to you about your purpose right now he can speak to you about the season of life that you're in he can speak to you about your future and what he has for you a lot of people are counting on you hearing his voice a family is waiting on you to hear his voice the plan of God is all dependent upon you hearing his voice we must begin to ask God for Samuel ears Speak Lord somebody needs to pray that sincerely from your heart and with an attentive uncluttered ear Speak Lord thy servant heareth some years after Charisse and I had been traveling all over the nation um we we were invited to come preach at a church called Free Chapel and the pastor had booked me nine months in advance and I'm just going to tell some practical stories and I'm going to preach the word too but I'm not going to preach long so just relax and um I still have the envelope somewhere I ran across it not too long ago and then lost it again but they called the week that I was scheduled to come and they said the Pastor has passed away Pastor Roy Wilburn has passed away and he died on a Friday night he had booked me and Charisse to come nine months before and I had a sermon and I was ready to preach that sermon and when I heard that the pastor had passed and of course the church was grieving I felt like um number one I wasn't worthy to come preach and I didn't want to come preach because I felt like it was a family church family thing I really thought they would probably cancel the service but they said no he he said from his death bed make sure they have service or told them gave those instructions to someone and so the lord gave me this little sermon I changed and I still have the envelope it's from the book of Isaiah and it was on uh put on the Garment of Praise for the spirit of heaviness and he said and I'll turn give you Beauty for Ashes that's it and the oil of joy for mourning and the Garment of Praise And I preached those three points those three points that Sunday morning the funeral was going to be after the service and that morning the Holy Spirit moved beautifully and powerfully and that comforted those grieving family that Wellborn family and all the people who were there and it was packed and then the funeral happened and and somewhere in that service I can tell you even when when the coffin was coming down I heard the voice of the Lord just a whisper just a whisper and he said they are as sheep without a shepherd that's it it wasn't a Yale it wasn't a go to free chapel I'm going to touch people we're going to be nothing they are a sheep and it mess with me it's sunk deep into my soul I tucked it like Mary I pondered it in my heart for days I told only Charisse that about that that verse that I heard it was powerful it was real I knew it ladies and gentlemen when you get in a church like this that is open to the Holy Spirit God knows how to speak to you people all around you may hear nothing feel nothing experience nothing but if you have Samuel ears he knows how to interrupt your life with his great plan and Destiny but you must be sensitive you must be open and you must have your ear toward heaven and of course we would go on and become the pastors of the church I had preached in hundreds of churches I'd never heard that scripture come up in me they are a sheep with no Shepherd I preached all over this nation in revivals for weeks and weeks and weeks and never did I hear that scripture and that voice like that it was a moment where God gave me a whisper Whispers almost feel Reckless Whispers require you to step out at some point I had to leave my denomination leave my security leave everything that I had worked to build because God said this is the way it requires courage it requires risk it requires maybes just stepping out on nothing but a maybe when God called Elisha the Bible said Elijah walked up to him and just just a whisper just through the mantle on him and pulled it off and kept walking he was down in the field he was a farmer his family was Generations in farming the Bible said he had 12 yoke of oxen and then he had 12 teams he had servants he had wealth he had the old home place he was to inherit it all and Eli's just standing in a field and he's working just a normal job and all of the sudden the prophet walks by and throws his mantle and pulls it back and keeps moving and in that moment the voice of God came to Elisha and he said there goes the will of God for your life and your Bible said that in that moment he broke the plow and slew the cows and offered a sacrifice and took off running and followed Elijah until he went up and that mantle fell back down on him with a double portion how powerful how powerful are the Whispers of God when you understand that when you when you break the plow when you say Lord I'm going to follow you that's this is why so many people can't hear the voice of God is because they won't break the plow of what they think they should do with their life the moment you break the plow and you say I don't want my will I will I'll do anything you want me to do just show me that's when it not not with conditions [Applause] but when you break the plow of your comfort zone and you slay the cow and what he was saying was I I'm going to follow the lord I've heard a whisper and I'm going after it but I'll never be back here I've eliminated Plan B I'm going after him look out God always leads that person there is a preceding word from God Jesus said in Matthew 4 that man shall not live thy bread alone but by every word notice this word that proceedeth from the mouth of God it simply means that as you keep praying in the different times in life that God sends proceeding it means don't proceed until you get my direction in your life the preceding word is beautifully how to proceed is what it means it's a word that teaches you and shows you how to proceed how do I move forward how do I go on I'm telling you I'm begging you to hear this message today this is not another normal Sunday I believe the Lord has every person listening to me today ready to speak a new Fresh proceeding word from God and he needs you to pray and yearn for Samuel ears at this point at this intersection at this transition in your life think about Abraham for just a moment God told him everybody say God told him take your son and go up on the mountain and build an altar and raise the knife and kill him sacrificing to me and he did what God Said and he goes up the mountain and the boy lays down and he ties him down and he raises the knife watch this this is the preceding word did God tell him to do it yes but thank God he had Samuel ears that he could hear when God said as he raised the knife stop now I know that you're willing I was testing you I don't want you to kill your son I just wanted to see if you would obey me like the heathens sacrifice their children I wanted to know if you trusted me with your Generations like you claim you do the greatest thing a parent can do is put a child on the Altar and say they're yours you love them more than I love them and I'm gonna trust you with them it's hard that moment that's when the next part of that verse is so interesting to me God said I swear I'm sorry I'm sorry but God sweared one time in the Bible he said I swear I will bless you it goes on to say I will inex in blessing I will bless you I'll bless you exceedingly because you passed this test and what was the test that you could hear my voice change your direction even though you were doing what I told you to do I had a new word for this season New Direction when you have The Whispers of God God is going to send New Direction and new orders to people under the sound of my voice and it will take you down the path and the plan and the will of God for your life I remember when we were as a church um we we had we needed to grow and we were packed and we couldn't get any more people in and and so we begin to make plans and you do what you know to do we prayed about it and felt okay about it and we hired an architect and this was many years ago we were going to take out that wall right there and expand out about 2 000 more seats it would have just fanned around and downstairs it was going to require all kinds of children's facilities and some things that we needed to do in the expansion is the 40 million dollar building project that was to be right there 40 million and we had the resources and we had the the the things that we needed to get it all lined up and I just felt like I didn't when it got down to making it time to go let's go start it break the ground do it I could not get the peace of God it it just something wasn't right and I just it was very humiliating a little bit or humbling that would be a better word because I went to the board and I went to this church some of you were here and I apologized and I said I know that we've told you but I just don't feel peace about that right now can we just shelf it and the I think the people were a lot smarter than I was they all started clapping saying yeah I'm like wow but within a few weeks one of our board members was over in Gwinnett and there was a building on Interstate 85 21 acres of land with it right on the interstate and it had been empty for two years it was brand new brand new building brand new Ruth all of it was closed in but all it had was sheetrock inside all the floors were cement and it was just an unfinished building and it had set unfinished for two years parking lot paved everything sitting there brand new church never been used and what had happened is two churches had had joined together and they agreed that they were going to build a bigger church and then something happened and the pastor decided to leave and he went up north somewhere and left and the church fell to pieces and the bank repossessed it and it had set for two years it was originally offered with the 21 acres for 16 million and then it went down to 9 million and the bank had it and then they went down to six million and I'm so glad for The Whispers of God and and and God let us he didn't tell because I would have I would have bought it at nine million come on went down to six million and then one of the board members Brian Brian Boyd and all the board said let's just offer them 2.8 million and we got the whole thing Gwinnett campus for 2.8 million dollars God thank God for the preceding word show the whole church if you're going to show it don't show just a drive-through there you go I mean my goodness God's way is not our way and his plan is not our plan but one whisper Can Touch generations one whisper can touch thousands of lives and they're there and out I hear Gwinnett shouting all the way in Gainesville cause God knew you would be there today isn't that amazing isn't that amazing only God Only God to God be the glory you see when God speaks and gives you a whisper it's about others it's about eternity it's about souls one whisper from God when he when Elijah was depressed and he went in a cave and the and the Bible said God called him out of the cave and in verse in First Kings 19 the scripture said that an earthquake came but God was not in the earthquake and a whirlwind came but God was not in the Wind and Fire fell but God was not in the fire but then after the fire a whisper a steal small voice Elijah go anoint Elisha and Elisha will anoint jehu and jehu will anoint Israel one whisper affected three generations one whisper from God has the power one word maybe you're in a storm and Simon Peter in the middle of the storm he heard one whisper and all the whisper did was say come Lord if it's you bid me to come and he heard a whisper they all should have heard it but he was the one who had the ear and he and he stepped out of the boat and you are either going to be there's only two kinds of people both people and Water Walkers and you'll never have the courage to walk on the water until you learn how to hear him in the middle of a storm in the middle of and don't listen to the boat people they'll talk you out of it only listen to him if he tells you to get out of that boat get out of that boat and if you step out he's going to make sure that he holds you up and if you mess up and start to sing you can take his hand and he says let's do together what you can't do by yourself and they walk back to the boat somebody praised him in this room right now that voice is that powerful one word can make you walk on top of the storm and here's what I came to say in closing now I don't mean run for the exit that means that means get your ears ready because when I was in Jerusalem a few weeks ago I was in my hotel room and and I was by myself on that trip I only just had the crew from two three from the church that filming through but I was over there to take with TBN and they had set up all kinds of amazing tape taping places and they had drones even with cameras and and Matt Crouch said Jensen I've set it up for you you know it's for free thank you for doing this for TBN so there's a ship out there on the Sea of Galilee and it's completely rented and it's yours and it's all wood ship and he said we've got uh three camera men we've got a drone and it's gorgeous and they'll fly around while you're preaching and tape and go out there and tape a few sermons on the Sea of Galilee and so I was about to go and do that and I was thinking about this message The Whisper of God and how that God whispered to Simon Peter specifically and I heard the Lord I'm telling you come strong in my spirit and he said to tell the people this and I say it to every one of you and if you've got an ear to hear this will go off in you and if it doesn't then that's all right but I wrote these words down and I'll hold on to this little piece of paper because I believe it and I remember where I was and when it happened and it's just so real I preached the other week about moments that Marcus and the Lord said tell the people your greatest Whispers are not in your past it's not too late your greatest assignments and Direction and blessings are not in your past your greatest whispers are in your future one of these days I was with my dad when he passed away but he heard his greatest whisper on his deathbed one of these days I'm going to hear that whisper and the Bible said in Revelation to them to him that overcomes I will call out his name one of these days he's going to call my name out and I won't be afraid of that voice when it calls me to another world I'm not afraid to die today I'm not afraid of what's beyond life I know what's beyond life Heaven my home Jesus my Savior the lamb is the light and streets of gold and walls of Jasper and Gates of pearl mansions on the other side of Glory where we'll have no sorrow no pain no sickness no tears no Brokenness no Hurt No Pain No disease no death one of these days I'm going to hear that voice say Jensen let's go my sheep know my voice you know who I am take me by the hand and Lead Me Through The Promised Land what a day that will be and I feel like telling somebody in this under the sound of my voice I feel a heavy uh I I feel the Lord just push that's how I know sometimes it's just like there's just this push feel bonus to tell you your greatest Whispers are not in your past raise your hands all over this room and thank him that the greatest Whispers concerning your life concerning his plan concerning his Destiny concerning I don't care about the past rip the rear view mirror down stop living in the past your greatest whispers are in your future [Music] thank you just lift those hands like like satellite dishes say oh God I want a fresh whisper I want new direction for this season you said the greatest whispers are in my future so I'm asking you I'm ready to break the plow I'm ready I'm ready to do what you want me to do I'm serious about it God I don't want to waste my life speak to me about my children some of you parents need to start getting that kind of ear concerning Lord give me a burden for my grandchildren speak to me and speak through me I need an ear I need Samuel ears so that I can anoint them for the purpose for which you had in mind when you gave them to us foreign just stand up on your feet at every campus and lift your hands high just for a moment just for a moment I want you to raise those hands and I want you to invite God to give you Samuel ears right where Dad you need it sir you need it I know this may not be your bag of tea as they say or you you know but but I'm gonna tell you you're a good man you're a good father you love your family and you need the voice of God in your life you need you don't have to be like me you don't have to be like somebody but you need the your wife needs you your children needs you to have those kinds of years that every once in a while you are not only the provider of that home but you are the priest of that home and God can speak to you about that home it's a powerful thing when God has your ear so give him your ear give it to him

Channel: Jentezen Franklin

Views: 106,057

Keywords: Faith, Direction, Purpose, Jentezen Franklin, Jesus, God, Free Chapel

Id: 7C5uHzS_0yI

Length: 38min 32sec (2312 seconds)

Published: Mon May 22 2023