Trusting God's No's | Jennifer Toledo | Expression 58

you guys ready to get in the word how about the rest of the 80 other percent of you I mean would you guys come to church for I don't even know here I like I don't know I don't know well we're actually gonna be in Acts chapter 16 if you want to flip there I'm gonna start out of just really quickly here out of Galatians chapter 5 I want to read a verse we're gonna put it for you on the screen so you don't have to turn there but you can please turn to acts 16 and get ready because we will be there Galatians 5:25 says if we live by the spirit let us also keep in step with the spirit if we live by the spirit let us also keep in step with the spirit what does this verse tell us there's three things I think this verse tells us number one is living by the spirit is different than living by the flesh I know right um just a little context the chapter that this verse is coming out of is talking a lot about the difference between living by the flesh versus living by the spirit and the flesh looks like things like sexual immorality impurity hatred discord jealousy rage selfish ambition you thought that was just your Drive you thought that was a good thing drunkenness Envy disunity things like that right and this passage is talking about those who live by the spirit don't act in the same way as everybody else when you're living by the spirit you don't make your decisions the same way everybody else makes their decisions you don't make your life course your choices your behavior shouldn't look like everybody else your your reasoning process shouldn't look like everybody else's when you're living by the spirit because the reality is that spirit and flesh are in contradiction to each other it's actually what this passage is saying and then verse 16 says walk by the spirit and you'll not gratify the desires of the flesh so we're called to walk by the spirit right and and so there's a different way that God has for you to live that's the first thing you need to know living by the spirit is different than living by the flesh the second thing you need to know what the Pappas verse is the Spirit is moving the Spirit is not at a standstill we're told to keep in step right that means the Spirit of God is moving God is always moving leading wooing you trying to give you clues like come this way no over here over here over here God is always moving the Holy Spirit is always active in moving in your life trying to draw you in to truly know who God is and to walk in the fullness of what God has for you the Holy Spirit is is actively always moving which means which means that spiritual laziness does not work on our end you know it means that that spiritual inactivity spiritual couch potato I mean whatever we want to call it right when we are like I'm just you know digging my hills and and doing nothing then you are moving out of step at the spirit because the Spirit is always moving and it's easy to get into that when we'd be kind of come you know inactive or we become self-absorbed or we become just distracted we miss the cues of the Holy Spirit in our life it's so easy to kind of get self focus that we miss the Holy Spirit who's always moving say stay stat same stuff with me no no we're going this way no where are you going this way this way you know like who the Holy Spirit is constantly lovingly trying to lead you lead you towards God and God's highest for your life the third thing this verse tells us is that we're to keep in step that means watch listen follow be led surrender take action keep in his pace follow his signals even when the path doesn't make sense follow the cadence of the Holy Spirit in your life and you can't look to somebody else you can't look to to some on your right or left and think oh I like their cadence know you got a march to the cadence he's leading you to you got to keep in step with the Holy Spirit on your journey and your path it's so easy to go I'm just gonna do what they're doing right the Holy Spirit is so intimate and personal in your life keeping in step it's like a soldier under command you know soldier understands that their very life depends on their ability to follow the instruction of their commander they understand that their commander has more information than they do they understand that their commander absolutely has their best interest at mind so when the commander says go left their lot not like really really maybe we should go right you know I mean that could cost them their life that split-second like they understand you see bigger than I do you know more than I do I'm going left cuz you said go left how much more our Heavenly Father who's so perfect and good right um and so I was just you know really praying and thinking about what it means to keep in step with the spirit I kept feeling like God was saying we're in a season you guys where the stakes are so high the stakes are so high we can't afford to be just doing our own thing like this and every once in a while we hit up with the Holy Spirit like we can't afford like it that god is I'm telling you God is doing something so profound and incredible in your life in this city in this state in this nation in the world right now and it's an incredible and exciting time to partner with the Holy Spirit and you don't want to miss it and we have got to become experts at moving and step with the Holy Spirit we have to train ourselves and discipline ourselves to lean in to hear his voice to follow his lead and to get really good at staying in step with the Holy Spirit in our lives is a great I want to say this too if you're if you're kind of like me you know this is a city full of dreamers and determined go-getters and all that I love that one of my favorite things about this city but it easy when you're a very qualified or capable person to get ahead of God it's easy to be like I'll figure it out myself I'll just do my own thing I'll rely on my own strength you realize we're doing that and the Holy Spirit's like I said wait you know and you're like ah you're charging forward or whatever like we have to be good at following the Holy Spirit and staying in step and there's gonna be times where he says freeze and there's times where he says run and we got to know that and if you don't freeze when he says freeze you're not gonna have the endurance to run when he says run so we have to get really good at listening and leaning in you know when I think about let me just say this I love this when I was thinking about this is what kept coming into my spirit when we allow the spirit to lead us we stop the natural from limiting us when you allow the spirit to lead you you stop the natural from limiting you it's a good place to be and when I think about my own journey and learning to walk and stuff with the Holy Spirit learning to listen to his cues and follow him and this is what I want to focus on today but there's something I've had to learn and I wish somebody would have told me this way earlier on my journey and it's that the word know is a gift I hate the word no I do I hate the word know I'd i mean my personality um i'm like the ultimate negotiator my parents would be like you're grounded I'm like let's talk about that so what do you actually need I'm gonna give you what you need so you can give me what I'm what is happening like ultimate negotiate or any other ultimate negotiators in here a few of you all right you're like I can't give away my secret Q you know like it's working all my friends right now was the ultimate negotiator um if somebody says like that can't be done I'm like then I'll be the first oh you can't do that for me can I talk to your boss I'm just like in a nice way but I'm like I know that can be done right um I don't like the word no which is why my mom had that James Dobson book you know the strong-willed child anybody else's mom carry a wooden spoon in their purse Oh your mom wasn't Mexican okay anyways um you know I had to learn early on in my journey with God that no isn't a bad thing in fact it's a good thing and so often we fool me here an O from God we feel rejected we feel disappointed we feel discouraged we feel confused we feel all these things right and I want to tell you a little bit about my own story and then we're gonna get into acts 16 actually were talking about this with these guys over here this weekend and it's sort of just kind of remembering some things in my life where when I was 15 years old I love God loved myself and and you know was serving God and following God but also kind of just wanting to do my own thing and I was actually sitting in Taco Bell of all places it was literally the only like fast-food place in the entire town I grew up in so high school lunch break with friends were at Taco Bell my two dollars I got every day for lunch went a long way back in the 90s so eating it talked about and sitting there and all of a sudden everybody's eating and I just kind of zone out of the conversation I just begin to feel the presence of God and I begin to feel as conviction and I just heard him speak and he said you know I've had grace on your life up to now I'm like is there an extended warranty oh man you know like what do you mean and he said you need to make a decision are you gonna serve are you gonna serve me are you gonna serve yourself make your decision today I was like you know here comes the negotiator well can't we do a little bit of both I mean I'll serve you there's just a few things I'm asking for in my life right and gods like no make your choice serve me or you serve yourself you can't keep doing both we both can't sit on the throne and I did what any good you know Christian high school kid would do i H the rest of day of school and went home and cried out to God it was like God you know help me and just cried out and got on my face before God and as I was just crying out to God I just speak at his helm okay today is a day and I grew up in church I loved God I was serving God I thought but I realized in that moment I still wanted to be the boss with him I wanted to co-lead my life with him which is that full surrender and I just said you can have it all you can have it all and I I meant it I fully gave him my entire life I decided from that day forward I was gonna obey Him at all cost I was gonna put his agenda above mine I was gonna fully give myself to him and after this really deep and intimate moment with the Lord I thought okay here's are my life begins like I fully surrendered to God now I'm just gonna start getting all these yeses awesome things are gonna start happening it was the opposite it was like an ocean of noes begin to come in my life and I was like so weird what's happening you know and first thing God is like hey you know your friends you're hanging out with it's cool I love them they're really bad influence I need you to separate yourself from them a little bit in high school that is like death I cannot just go to like having no friends now god I remember literally these words coming about out of my mouth when I supposed to sit home all weekend awesome and God was like I mean yeah I guess if that's a chance to do you know what it was like and it was this big no it was like no you can't you can't continue hanging out with those kids and doing that okay tough and then it was like you know no I want you to like not date and not even go down that road like I need you to stay focused on like you know and it was tough and it was you know kind of seems silly now but in high school that was tough and then it was thing after thing like that you know one of my my biggest dreams was I'm from a very small town you guys know this kind of a tough area and I was like the fast track of how to get out of there and so I worked my butt off because my only dream was to move to LA and go to UCLA and so that was my that was my big plan and I knew our family didn't have money I knew that you know financially that was gonna be possible and so I was like well then I'll get you know somebody's help me can't be done I'm like well I'll get myself a scholarship and I worked really really hard in high school and lo and behold I got a full ride scholarship to UCLA which was awesome and I was super excited about it and then I heard the Lord say hey you want to know what I think about that the heck I do nope nope if you had something to say you should have said a long time ago before I worked my butt off for these grades so nope and I couldn't shake this feeling that God had something to say and I was like I had to take this for detail you don't cried and dramatic and and the Lord was like hey great job I don't want you to go there and it was devastating for me it was this huge no that was like so it didn't make any sense did not make any sense who would ever this is like my whole church is celebrating like I got a for right Scott make any sense and gods like can you trust my no and it was rough let me tell you the know is rough because instead of getting a full ride scholarship to my dream school I worked three jobs to put myself through Fresno State awesome go Fresno State Bulldogs yeah not where I wanted to go but it developed my character and it was like a desert time for mean it was it was intense I didn't understand the note it didn't make sense in the natural and there was thing after thing like this it was it was a no that got me to Canada it was a no that got me to Africa it was you know because of that my whole ministry in who I am was birthed out of that I mean even right before we started this church it was a here when we took over a senior pastors it was a huge know in our face that even got us here you know we most of you guys know we run an organization called the Justice group and we had all this momentum and we're moving forward and the next stage we were at we were like God we really need some serious funding and as we're praying and crying out to God I was speaking in another country and there's this gentleman who was sitting in the front row and he's not even from that country so I don't even know why he was there it was a youth event once again don't know why the guy was there he meets me in the green room afterwards and he just begins to just like pick my brain and he's like I've never heard anybody talk about Kingdom justice the way you did he just begins to go like ask all these questions and um he was so just taken by what we're doing and he said you know that was a he ended up emailing me after this event and saying hey I want to fly out to Los Angeles and I want to hear meet with your team see all that you're doing I feel like I'm supposed to financially support what you guys are doing um so we started talking to some people about who this guy was found out he'd given 74 million dollars away the year before to organizations like ours and I was like Jesus coming through I'm Panthro right and not even to mention this part the day before I get the email from him Shawn has a dream and says you guys I had this crazy dream last night God is sending you a benefactor it's a prophetic dream God is sending you a benefactor the next day I get an email from this guy I want to come to LA I'm like finally you know like the prophecies it's all happening I mean we are just so excited so excited this guy comes loves our team it's awesome he leaves and then he says I'm not gonna support you I'm sorry we had a dream remember that thing you're missing it nope God said no let me tell you me and God we had some words we had some words and I didn't understand like god what the heck what the heck but let me just say this and this is what I kind of want you to understand I'll get to this in a moment but each one of these knows led us into something that was so much bigger than what we were fighting for you see when God said quit hanging out with those kids I've never seen any of those kids again those kids were not my friends after that no God brought some of the most amazing Kingdom awesome best friends that I had to this day into my life when God said no to the dumb guys I was trying to date in high school thank God right Facebook does not lie you know and you're just like thank you Jesus thank you you know you know all things right how'd I try to come into my promised land in LA before time I don't understand that fully but I do know that had I not been in Fresno I would have missed the the event I was at randomly or Stacey Campbell was preaching and she called me out of the crowd and she said I don't know who you are but there's a call of God on your life at it's like 19 call out on your life to preach the gospel quit everything and travel with me and minister for the summer and had I not been there and not taking that opportunity I wouldn't have gotten the connection to Canada which then launched me into Africa which then launched me into the Justice group all the ministry my entire like who I am out of that and in Africa ministering when people are hearing the stories of the the revival that's happening with kids I get invited to speak at a conference that Shawn and Hunter at I met my husband you know I'm saying I mean are you kidding me when you begin to understand how good God's know is you begin to understand what's coming it's powerful you see that that benefactor who that was a tough one was a tough one and when I asked God why I mean really you've had to give Shawn a dream really this guy flew all the way across the world really God why and I felt like the Lord said you know what if I would have released I'm gonna worry the money will come for all the justice projects you guys are called to do it the money's gonna come but if I would have released it right now it would have been a distraction for you and you wouldn't be available to do what I'm calling you to do little did I know that we were get about to take over the church he'd not told us that yet he's like I actually need to clear your plate and clear some space for something I have for you and then he said I said okay well I get it but then why did you bring him and we do this whole song and dance right how much time it takes to put like a business proposal like really and he said I needed you to see that I can bring the millions to your door in a moment when the time is right I needed you to see I could bring him right to your front door whenever I want to you needed to know that lesson for what you're stepping into I could have done it in a moment it wasn't time but I wanted you to know I can do however I want whenever I want I was like got it got it and so I want to say this you know my life isn't just the sum of all the yeses I've got so much of my life is the sum of the nose I have had confirmation from digital Jesus oh man okay turn to act 16 turn to act 16 what's happening here this is this is a story of Paul and Silas and Paul's on his second missionary journey and he's going to different cities and proclaiming the finished work of Jesus I don't even know this everywhere Paul goes there's either like a riot or a revival but in acts 15 before there's kind of this conflict in the church and they're arguing over you know the law of Moses and what people who Gentiles who convert to Christianity if they have to take on you know Jewish practices is all you know going on in 15 so what's happening here is this Council of Apple stock leaders have made these decisions and Paul's going out and he's telling everybody hey guys here's what we decided so he's checking on all the churches and and he's traveling and he's ministering and we're gonna start in acts 16 4 they went out together as missionaries traveling to different cities where they preached and informed the churches of the decrees of the apostolic Council of Jerusalem for the non-jewish converts to observe all the churches were growing daily and were encouraged and strengthened in their faith the Holy Spirit had forbidden Paul and his partners to preach the word in the south western provinces of Turkey they got to know so they ministered throughout the region of central and west central Turkey when they got as far west as the borders of Mesilla they repeatedly attempted to go north into the of Bithynia but again the spirit of Jesus would not allow them to enter another know so instead they went right on through the province of Mesilla to the Seaport of trois so Paul gets these two giant nose now you'll notice he's not asking about going to Vegas for the weekend with his unsaved friends you know what I mean he's asking to preach the gospel to the people who've never heard the gospel it's not like oh I get it I see like God no I mean it's it seems like a really awesome thing right I mean he could seize big nose I don't want you doing that and many times when we get a no you're not gonna understand so often like is it me is it them is it you know you might just never get those answers but you'll notice what Paul doesn't do he doesn't demand answers from God he doesn't throw himself good luck Rua he's going to playoffs scored two goals yesterday like a champ he hates me he walks out like really he's not throwing an adult fit laying in the ground kicking and screaming and being like you told me no you know I need to know why he's not doing that not that any of us would ever do that if we got to know um he doesn't brush it off thinking he knows best he doesn't forge forward and be like I'm gonna do it anyways how many of you know if you do something your own strength you then have to sustain yourself and your own strengths that's no fun right even try to push past it he obeys and if you think about this Paul had a plan I'm sure that at this apostolic council they sat down and strategically mapped out where Paul was gonna go and there was a reason he was going to these places they were kind of conquering and dividing and he's like god this this all makes sense and I want to say this because I think this work this is what gets people sometimes my guess is Paul probably had a yes that turned into a no I never happened to you we were like God said yes and then halfway through the journey he's like and now he's saying no I don't get it or how many of us are fighting from a yes we had from 12 years ago and you're you refuse to believe that God has something different for you now and you're still trying to hold on to 12 years ago yes when gods like woo Holy Spirit moved on a long time ago I was trying to take you somewhere deeper and better and you are fighting for a 12 year old yes could have been a yes didn't matter because at this moment it was a no which means we always have to lean in and listen which means we have to move in step were always listening we're always checking in we're always following the holy spirit and I think this is so interesting cos had Paul fought the know had Paul thrown a fit and got stuck and hung up on the no he would have missed what was coming and in fact the way he steward his steward at his heart in the know actually prepared him for the vision for what the yes was and we'll see that verse 9 while staying there Paul experienced a supernatural ecstatic vision during the night a man from Macedonia appeared before him pleading with him you must come across the sea to Macedonia and help us after Paul had this vision we immediately prepared to cross over to Macedonia convinced that God Himself was calling us to go and preach the wonderful news of the gospel to them I love this because Paul had not allowed his heart to be offended at the nose he kept trusting God he said okay I trust I'm following you I don't need to understand he stewarded his heart well with the nose his heart was positioned to receive the vision for what was next I love this really it's about trusting his timing it's about trusting him right Paul gets to knows but then he gets this vision this vision and he sees this man telling him hey Paul come to Macedonia and help us and so he goes verse 11 from Troy house we sailed a straight course to the island of Samothrace and the next day to the AH police finally we really reached Philippi a major city in the Roman colony of Macedonia and we remain there for a number of days when the Sabbath day came we went outside the gates of the city to the nearby river for there appeared to be a house of prayer and worship there sitting on the riverbank we struck up a conversation with some of the women who had gathered there one of them was Lydia a businesswoman from the city of yep night sure yeah they ate okay who was a dealer of exquisite purple cloth and a Jewish converse oh you need to understand this in this region this was the gospel had never come to this region so in this region there was um like the Roman in the Greek gods were worshipped there was a few people a very small percentage at head of Gentiles who had converted to Judaism and so this is one of those people so they are Jewish by conversion and this is their having this little House of Prayer so they're seekers obviously they're you know hungry they're seeking God these women I love these women while Paul shared the good news with her God opened her heart to receive Paul's message she devoted herself to the Lord and we baptized her and her entire family afterward she urged us to stay in her home saying since I am now a believer in the Lord come and stay in my house so we were persuaded to stay there okay so we hear this story and we think cool like purple cloth lady got saved right okay what's so great about that it's nice she got saved but I think this is you need to understand what's really happening here first of all not only does this wealthy businesswoman have an encounter with the gospel and get saved not only does she under speaking to understand for the first time the purpose of her wealth not only does our entire family get saved but what you need to understand is this is not one woman doing do you realize she is the very first person to receive the gospel she is the first person of the church in all of Europe do you realize it might look like one woman but the seeds of a continent are in her because this one woman Lydia literally plants a church in her living room that becomes the Church of Philippi that becomes this powerful moving force that has massive impact on both Europe and Asia this one woman becomes the leader she helps to plant this whole movement and lead this whole movement I mean to this day you and I are still blessed by the book of Philippians the letters written to this church this woman was on the other side of Paul's no let me say this don't cry over a neighborhood when God's trying to give you a continent how many of us are crying and kicking and screaming because we lost the neighborhood when God was trying to give us a whole continent right I love I love that I love the story I love that the first person to receive the gospel in all of the first church planter in all of Europe was a woman I think it's kind of cool how many of you have European or Asian descent a lot of you okay well thank your auntie Lidia okay thank your auntie Lidia it's pretty awesome let's continue on verse 16 one day as we were going to the House of Prayer we encountered a young slave girl who had an evil spirit of divination the spirit of Python what she had earned great profits for her owners by being a fortune teller she kept following us shouting these men are servants of the great High God and they're telling us how to be saved day after day she continued to do this until Paul greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit and dwelling her I command you in the name of jesus the anointed one to come out of her now that very moment the spirit came out of her when her owners realize that their potential of making profit had vanished they forcefully seized Paul and Silas and dragged them off to the city square to face the authorities when they appeared before the Roman soldiers and magistrates the slave owners leveled accusations against them saying these Jews are troublemakers they're throwing our city into confusion they're pushing that's awesome they're they're pushing their Jewish religion those of you watching online we love you our kids are screaming that's all that's happening they're pushing their Jewish religion down our throats it's wrong and unlawful for them to promote these Jewish ways where we're Romans living in a Roman colony a great crowd gathered and all the people joined in to come against them the Roman officials ordered that Paul and Silas be stripped of their garments and beaten with rods on their bare backs okay so you have these guys walking around you have this child we hear she's a slave little slave girl she's a child today we would call her a victim of human trafficking he had this enslaved child who's saying things in what she's actually saying it's true and this is exactly why you need a spirited a sermon in your life I know a lot of people speaking truth from the wrong spirit I'm gonna leave it at that so this child you know I want to hear this story I think huh only a daddy would stop an epic preaching crusade to send the minister to rescue his baby girl only a daddy would do that not like God to tell Paul no because he had this little girl and Philip I that was on his heart he's thinking about this little child and Philip hi who's being oppressed spiritually and physically not like God just his goodness - to tell Paul no I need you to go to Philip I I need you to go here and I love this ass little girl you know she gets set free and then the story goes on and you know it gets brutal and very unjust in that Paul and Silas get beaten for this how many of you ever been in a situation we were like god I did everything you said and it feels like getting my back beaten with some rods nobody's as dramatic as me okay this ever felt like God I'm doing everything right and this is hard I'm getting my butt kicked like this is hard following the spirit and bing in the step with the spirit doesn't mean everything's gonna be easy it doesn't it just doesn't that doesn't make it less valuable or less vital our forefathers followed the spirit and got martyred for their faith but you see you can't kill a dead person so when you're already dead and you're surrendered you can follow the spirit confidently because your life is not your own so death only brings more glory to God and gets you to heaven quicker right so when you understand because you see Paul and Silas they don't lose hope they get into jail and they begin to worship in the midst of this so not only was Lydia on the other side of pause no but this little girl was on the other side of Paul's now let's continue reading verse 23 after they were severely beaten they were thrown into prison and the jailer was commanded to guard them securely so the jailer placed them in the innermost cell of the prison and had their feet bound and chained Paul and Silas undaunted prayed in the middle of the night and saying songs of praise to God while all the other prisoners listen to their worship suddenly a great earthquake shook the foundations of the prison all at once every prison door flung open and the chains of all the prisoners came loose startled the jailer awoke and saw every cell door standing open assuming that all the prisoners had escaped he drew his sword and was about to kill himself when Paul shouted in the darkness stop don't hurt yourself we're all still here the jailer called for light when he saw that they were still in their cells he rushed in and felt trembling at their feet then he led Paul and Silas outside and asked what must I do to be saved the answered believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your all your family and they prophesied the word of the Lord over him and all his family even though the hour was late he washed their wounds then he and all his family were baptized he took Paul and Silas into his home and set them on his table at his table and he fed them the jailer and all his family were filled with joy in their newfound faith in God at daybreak the magistrates since off officers to the prison with orders to tell the jailer let those two men go the jailer informed Paul and Silas the magistrates have sent orders to release you so you're free to go I love this on the other side of Paul's big fat nose was not only the wealthy businesswoman was not only the oppressed child but was the gospel going into places and to people who would never step foot in a church the gospel going into prisons I love that I love that this jailer this working class I love that God had all these different people from the wealthy to the working like all these different people on his heart all these people were on the other side of Paul's no and he has this encounter his whole family I love this and and these are the ones who begin the church in Philippi and that church went on to massively impact like I said Europe and Asia and what I love about this church is Paul for the rest of his life was deeply connected to the church in Philippi do you know that he carried them so deeply in his heart these were his lifelong friends they were with him till the very end his death they financially supported him I don't know if there was any other church that did what the Church of Philippi I did for Paul they not only were friends lifelong people heart people for him but they were you know the provision for everything he was called to do was stemming from this church I'm wondering how much provision I'm wondering how many of your heart people are on the other side of your know if you just won't give up I'm telling you God is good we need to be okay with letting God reposition us I'm telling you following at all cost stepping with the Holy Spirit laying down our own ardi our own ideas our own timetable for our life our own wisdom not settling for good remember how many of you guys enjoyed the Morgans and teófilo the last two weeks is not so good so good something that t said last week that I loved is um he said something along the lines of the enemy just wants us to get busy doing good instead of great right and the code really does become the worst enemy I want to say this when you come into a season a favor you will understand this right if you've been in a season a favor you've experienced this when you come into faith it's not just Oh what should I do there's so many doors that begin to open you have to manage what to say no to we have to get good especially here's what you need to hear especially when you're transitioning from an O season to a favor season it is vital because if you've been in an O season where it's been like closed or closed or closed or it is so easy when the when the winds change to be like through every door you do and then you're exhausted and you feel weird right like you're not supposed to just you know barge through every door part of knowing how to manage favor is knowing what you need to say no to it's knowing I cannot just do good when I'm called to do great and not just great right let's say that because it can look great but is it right because sometimes the right thing is Fresno State I can't even get my head around it I still can't but sometimes the right thing is Fresno State when UCLA is like hey all right you're not gonna always understand it but I'm telling you it is worth it it is worth it it is so worth it we have to be okay and comfortable with God's nose cuz I'm telling you if he can just zoom you out of the moment cuz in the know it's miserable but when you zoom out when you see the macro picture when you zoom out you see the big thing you will never ever ever ever regret that you were in step with the Holy Spirit you will never regret that you obeyed that you followed him even if it means four years of trudging it out somewhere you didn't want to be I'm telling you it's worth it my life is illicit living testimony to that if you push past a no you very well may bring pain delay exhaustion and wrong alliances in your life we know this but you build on your own strength you have to sustain in your own strength the voice of God is ever evolving the Holy Spirit is moving don't get stuck on a twelve-year yes keep pressing in keep listening what is the Holy Spirit saying today it I know people who are like but I feel like I'm gonna look crazy if I say I said that was God now I'm saying that's not God I would much rather look crazy and follow the Holy Spirit then try to save my pride follow the Holy Spirit anybody who understands how the Holy Spirit works would be like yep sounds like God I mean it's just how he's not this like a to be to see no it's just like whoa okay okay sure got it yeah that's just following the Holy Spirit get comfortable with being uncomfortable it's just the nature of it and if we let our nose hang us up you might not be in the right position for God to give you the vision he's trying to give you for where he's taking you so manage your heart and remember that it was in jail within with Joseph remember story of Joseph remember that Joseph met the person who was going to bring him before the king in jail remember you're know can many times be positioning you in the right place to give you the biggest yes you've ever seen so we as a church we get to get really good at staying in step with the Holy Spirit we get to get really good at leaning in and receiving knows with grace cuz we know that God's got something better he loves us too much he loves you too much to let you settle for good when he's trying to do something great he loves you too much to leave you crying for a city when he's trying to give you a continent I'm telling you trust him as I was just I wonder I want to pray for us in a moment but as I was you know praying for our community a couple things I was feeling one is that there's people in this room who felt like you've been in a no season you felt like there's just been doors just like what the heck like did we do something wrong like why is the favor dried up like why are there just doors doors doors like closed doors in our face and I want to tell you this is a key opportunity position your heart manage your heart well because you're about to see God break in like never before it's who he is he can't change who he is like it's just who he is he is faithful he is love he is good he is justice no matter what you think if you think of him differently it's not gonna change it it's just who he is you can't you have nothing to do with it sue he is and I want to encourage you to get really really good all of us I feel like there's something I can just feel it in the spirit something that's about to be just birthed in this city something that's happening in the spirit and I'm telling you every single one of us need to know how to lean in and stay in step with the Holy Spirit because there is no road map and there is no model and there is no to do right like how to do this this is every one of us have to be so good at listening to the Holy Spirit in our life I cannot be the voice of the Holy Spirit in your life you can't be the voice of the Holy Spirit in your spouse's life every one of us I've tried every one of us have to be leaned in and listening to the Holy Spirit for ourselves and I'm telling you he's good if you're like I promise you he's there I promise you the Holy Spirit has been wooing you and the Holy Spirit is trying to give you signs the fact that you're seated here this morning you don't even realize it was the Holy Spirit who got your butt up and here he hoped to give you parking you like cleared the waters I mean I don't even know he made sure your coffee was there I mean he did it he helped you get here the Holy Spirit is actively working to position you to bless you trust God trust God I'm telling you the most crazy thing you can do is just trust God don't be afraid of the nose I wish I would have known that a long time earlier in my journey cuz every no was dramatic it was I mean the amount of Tears I could have been saved it's true ruff-ruff like 15 years of my life rough a lot of knows what I'm telling you it's made me who I am today don't stop in the journey don't give up cuz you get a no posture your heart and say I know you're good let's go I'm telling you he's gonna amaze you he's gonna blow your mind there are continents about to be birth I'm telling you I'm telling you I'm telling you amen it's Jan with me would you Jesus I thank you for every person in this room and every person that's watching online today god I thank you that it's only in your love and your mercy that you ever tell us no it's only because you have something better that you ever tell us no I pray God that we would be really good in that peace with accepting your knows God I pray that we would become a people who are excellent at moving and step with the Holy Spirit I break off the lie of you right now that says I don't hear God I don't feel God Holy Spirit who I break that lie off of you right now in Jesus name and I just declare that the Holy Spirit is near you is speaking to you is present in your life is actively working and moving around you and I just pray that you would have revelation and clarity to see and to feel and experience his his activity all around you father I pray that we would become spiritually sensitive to your Holy Spirit that we would move in step with your Holy Spirit God don't let us get ahead of you don't let us get behind you father I pray that we would be keenly aware of what you're doing right now in our season in our life and that we would obey and lean in and follow and I pray for the courage for those in this room that need to let go of a 12 year old yes that you're asking them to let go of God and if they're to continue fighting for that yes and I pray they put the courage in them to keep fighting god I pray that you would help us to hear God that you would help our own selfish ambition our own fleshly way to get out of the way Lord so that we can live by your spirit and move by your spirit teach us God how to truly live by your spirit I don't want to live half by my spirit and half or half of my flesh and half by your spirit God I I want to be fully surrendered god I pray for that Taco Bell moment for all of us Lord full surrender Lord that we would get off the throne and let you be the king of our lives God I pray for the peace and the ability to trust God because you're so good even we don't understand even if it just feels like the sting of an O God I pray I pray I pray God that you would give us the courage and the grace to continue moving forward because I know that we're about to see a move of your spirit god I know that there are Lydia's on the other side of our know God I know that there are our victims of injustice God on the other side of our know Lord I know that there are entire families on the other side of our know Jesus this very church that I'm standing here preaching to today is literally the other side of my know the very people in this room God we're on the other side of my know in things I wept about God and now I look and I think about God you're so good you're so good I'm so grateful Jesus we will trust you we will follow you and we will work at listening and surrendering to your Holy Spirit every day of our life in Jesus name we pray amen [Music] you

Channel: Expression 58

Views: 3,313

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Jennifer Toledo, jen toledo, expression 58, expression58, e58, church, glendale, no's, trusting god, jona toledo, shawn bolz, cherie bolz, los angeles

Id: Iul6su7Se7M

Length: 52min 10sec (3130 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 21 2018