Prayer // Listen and Obey

Coming soon!

Man, I am happy to be here with you this morning. Hey, one more thing just to make sure that you're aware, we've had a lot of people join here recently, asking questions about joining the church, how do they serve, people wanting to get involved in serving, finding out what next steps are. And we talk about this regularly if you've been here, is kind of the next steps is being able to take what we call our Discover classes. And they meet biweekly, there's a class one and class two, and you can learn through the process what that looks like. It's a really, really great process. It's not just learning, but it's also being invested in, you learn a little bit about yourself in the process, and how you connect. And so those are important. And one of the reasons I wanna bring that up right now is because for the month of December, we are not gonna be hosting those classes because of the holidays and all the extra things that we have planned for the Advent season. So if you've been thinking about taking those classes, November is a great time to do it. You can get that knocked out in the month of November, get everything ready so that you can start fresh in the new year. And so I just wanted to bring that to your attention for those of you who've been asking questions and are making plans, I know some of you are planners, and so that's a really good deal. So hey, do this with me. Stand with me to your feet. Let me read today's key text.

As we continue to press into his presence and prepare our heart for the word today, John chapter 10, verse 27, this is Jesus speaking. It says this, "My sheep listen to my voice, "I know them and they follow me. "I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. "No one will snatch them out of my hand. "My father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, "and no one can snatch them out of my father's hand. "I and the father are one."

Father, we just thank you for today. Lord, we just continue to welcome your presence here in this place. We thank you in this time and this moment as we continue to press into your word and learn about prayer and how to continue to hear from your voice. Lord, that you would just speak to our spirits and our minds this morning. It's in your holy name we pray, amen.

All right, you may be seated, you may be seated.

So we're continuing our prayer series today. We are walking through this process and we've been looking at kind of four key ways that we're able to engage in prayer. You can look at it as a progression, although it's not like levels or stages of prayer. It just may be in your journey of prayer, you may walk through these, but I think that no matter if you consider yourself to be a seasoned prayer person or very new, there are these types of prayers and everything we've been walking through is something that we do all the time. It's not like you'll ever stop doing any one of these things, but sometimes it does take a little bit of a progression to get to those places. And so we've kind of talked about framing it in a couple different ways. We talked about talking with God and the way we frame that is more liturgical or pre-written prayers. So praying scripture or praying from a book of common prayer or something like that, a way to have a prayer that's not your original thought, but that you can partner your heart and your mind with. And we talked about that in week one. And then we talked about talking with God. So last week we talked about asking God, bringing up our own thoughts and our own ideas towards God in prayer and understanding why we're able to do that and what that means and how important it is to be able to walk through that process and trust God and humbly come to him and ask him what you're needing.

And today we're gonna continue this idea and we're gonna kind of shift gears just a little bit because what we're talking about today is listening to God, listening to God. And so we're shifting from kind of this like monologue, meaning we're talking one way to God, to more of a dialogue-based idea of like, we're not only talking to God, but we're having an expectation or creating expectation that he will speak to us, that we will hear him. And this is an important idea to walk through. I think it's amazing. I read, or I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about an interview many years ago that Mother Teresa did. She was on 60 Minutes. She didn't go on TV very often. So many of you guys know who Mother Teresa is. Most of you do. And she was on there and the interviewer asked her like, "How often do you pray?" And she's like, "I pray every day." And he's like, "You know, that's great." And he's like, "When you pray, what do you say? Like, what do you say during your prayer?" And she just sat there for a minute, contemplatively, and she said, "I don't say anything, I listen.

I don't say anything, I listen.

But I pray every day and I don't say a word." And for many of us, that would not be how we would define our prayer experience.

That in fact, if I were to ask you, what percentage of time are you listening and what percentage of time are you talking, if you're like me, it would probably be like, I spend the majority of the time talking and a very small, courteous amount of time listening. And then I move on with the day. And if you find yourself, then again, we are realistic with where we're at and there's no condemnation or saying right or wrong. There's just a process of how do we continue to learn and how do we continue to grow? But here's the thing.

When we progress from this process in our journey of saying, "God, I not only want to speak your word over my life, I not only wanna ask you for things, I not only wanna pray your promises, I not only wanna do that, but I actually really believe what your word says and that you want to have a relationship with me. And part of that relationship is, is that you wanna speak to me individually.

That when you step into that place, it can be a bit of a scary place.

That can be a scary moment to step into. And for some people here, it can maybe bring up some like fearful thoughts. Maybe you've had someone who like misused that kind of context or idea, saying that God spoke to them and then they said something really negative to you or really hurtful to you. That maybe happens. Maybe you felt like you heard God's voice one time or you were sure God was telling you to do something and then you stepped out into that and then turned out you were wrong.

I've been there a lot of times. And some of that's just, some of that's practice, some of that's our own human nature. There's been several times that I really thought I knew what God was saying and I had a really good idea, but truthfully, I had just kind of like convinced myself that's what I wanted to do. And then I just used God's voice. Like, this is me. Like, if you've probably, you guys are better than that. You wouldn't do that.

And so we sometimes have this thing, but here's the problem and here's the reason, although we could say like, well, maybe I just won't do that. Maybe it's safer just to read scripture, which by the way, you know, I'm like a huge scripture guy. Like, I'm not against that. But it's safer just to read scripture and not step into anything else. But here's the problem.

The idea of learning to hear the voice of God in prayer is arguably the most important thing to Jesus in the teaching about prayer.

Is that he wants you to know the voice of God. He's not saying, hey, find someone who can hear God and then ask them what to do. This is not some kind of priestly situation that he's saying. He says, I want you individually to know the voice of God and hear it and step into that. And we read from John chapter 10 of the latter part, but we're gonna read the first couple verses here to kind of set ourselves up. And verse one, Jesus is teaching and he says, very truly, I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter by the sheep pin and by the gate but climbs in by some other way is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he is brought all of his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice.

Then it says in verse six, Jesus uses figure of speech where the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling him. Now, here's the thing. I know that in this room, some of you,

some of you, and I mean this because you are my people, some of you are just some good old country rednecks in here. Okay? And you know, despite this sweater thing that I'm wearing right now, in my heart of hearts, that is who I am. Right? But some of you are not.

Some of you didn't grow up on a farm or in the country. Some of you have only walked on concrete. And it's okay, we forgive you.

But even some of you country folk, maybe you've never really gotten the opportunity to in person see a shepherd working with sheep.

Some of you probably have. I get the privilege, my kids school, every year in second grade, they go to a real life sheep farm that's about an hour away from here called Shepherd's Cross. And they get to do a tour, and they get to talk to the shepherds and the shepherdesses, and they get to see the sheep and they get sheared, and all this kind of, it's a great thing. And I get to go every year, and I'm like a real, like this guy who's just having these real existential God moments at every turn with these sheep. And the other parents are like, try not to step in poop. And I'm like, no, this is like, I'm here for it. Like I'm in it. And I've learned so many great things. But here's the thing, you maybe haven't experienced it. Now, everybody here would know, like who Jesus is speaking, they see it all the time. Sheep are all over the place. It's very important to their culture, right? That was a very important thing. But maybe I haven't seen it. So I, and I'm listening, like I found a video that I'm gonna play for you real quick. It's just like a 30 second little thing to kind of help you see something, to kind of just get this visual in your mind. That I'm not saying this is the best video, it's the best one I could find. And just to set it up, multiple people have already come, this is in Sweden, I believe it was. And like basically multiple people have come and the shepherd told them what the words were to say to call these sheep.

And he taught them the words. And so multiple people have come up and have been trying to call the sheep. And the sheep are just like not doing anything. And we'll see the last of the people try. And then the shepherd comes up. So listen, do this, look up on the screen. There should be some audio with this. So sound guy, get ready, here we go.

(Upbeat Music) (Speaking In Foreign Language) (Laughing) (Upbeat Music) (Speaking In Foreign Language)

Look at them, look at them.

(Speaking In Foreign Language)

Smell amazing.

They're coming.

Oh my God.

Oh my God. (Cheering) Oh my God.

He's so cool.

Oh my God.

Now, I know, aren't sheep so cute?

He called, other people call the sheep, don't even notice. Maybe one or two would look up and be like, what's that crazy person saying?

But when the shepherd spoke, the sheep came running. And here, this is just a little side note. I thought about this this morning, when I was praying for today, and this is specifically for the parents in the room. You see, not only do the sheep know the shepherd's voice, but you know, the little sheep, the new ones, right with the board, we always go in the spring, right when some of these little tiny cute ones are born, right, they actually don't know the shepherd's voice yet because they haven't learned it yet. But do you know that you can be in a field with literally like 500 sheep, and they're all over the place. And the moment that the mother calls that lamb, that lamb will just bolt through anything to get there. And there's hundreds of other mothers color the sheep, they know the voice of their mother, they know the voice of their parent, and they don't follow the shepherd, they follow their parent.

For the parents in the room, that's why you have to realize it's really important that you follow the shepherd, that you know his voice because your kids, early on, they only know your voice. And your job is to teach them and the way they go, and eventually they will learn the voice of the shepherd on their own. But until then, you are the person that's following, you are the one who's walking into it. And guess what, that's not just true of the little lambs who are born, some of us who walk into the faith at a later age, or we're in this journey, you may be sitting here saying, hey, I hear all these people talking about they hear the voice of God, but I am not confident I do. And that's okay. That's why community is important. Because all you need to do is like, I really believe that these are some trusted friends, and I think they hear the voice of God. So I'm gonna hang out with them. So when they start following, I'm just gonna be like, I'm gonna go with them. And when I hear what they hear, I can realize who's the voice of God and who's not. That's why community is important. That's why small groups are important. That's why coming together and praying together is important because it's not just the moment of changing things, it's a training ground for you to be able to learn from others who maybe have a longer time of hearing the voice of the shepherd.

Because early on, it may not be clear. It may take some time. But the later you get, the longer you spend time with it, the more you go. We're gonna talk about that through a little bit more. So here's the thing. Jesus says all of his sheep will know the voice of the father and follow it. It will be led by him. That we listen to him.

This idea of allowing him to be your shepherd. I love the story in Luke chapter 10, verse 39. It's the Mary and Martha situation where it says that Mary was sitting at the feet of the Lord listening to what he said. Sitting at the feet listening was like an idiom, not just of what she was literally doing, although I think she was literally doing it. Like it was just an idiom of like becoming a disciple of Jesus.

She was choosing to hear what Jesus had to say.

In this context of hearing and listening to the voice this wasn't just something that Jesus made up. This wasn't an idea like a new radical thing. In fact, this is the very core of the church and the tradition that Jesus grew up in. You guys have heard me mention this idea. Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four through five is a really famous prayer that the Jewish people would say three times a day it was called the Shema. And it says this in verse four, it says, hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. You know, Jesus responded with this when they said, what's the greatest commandment? This is what he responded.

And then he also added another place from Leviticus and love your neighbor as yourself.

He had this extra little component to it, but this whole thing. And the reason it's called the Shema is because the first two words in this prayer is Shema Israel, which means listen or hear Israel. But the thing about the word Shema, that word that means listen, is it doesn't just mean to hear.

Like right now, you can hear my voice. Some of you are listening and a few of you are not.

I'm not gonna say which ones.

But the reason I say this is the verb that's being used there, the word that's being used there, it doesn't just mean to be able to hear a noise. It has the context of not just hearing, but also an action that follows with it. The idea of listening or another word that we would use in English would be like heeding, which means I'd not just hear what you're saying, but I actually do what you're asking me to do. When I tell my kids, listen to me,

and then I give them instructions,

I don't want them to be like, cool, story bro. And then walk off. The reason I told them to listen is because I then want to hear the instructions and then do what I asked them to do. You see, when Jesus is saying this, and when God is saying this prayer that we get to do, and I mentioned this in the prayer series at the very beginning as one of the things that we can repeat, I say this one every morning in my life, is I'm saying, God, I want to hear you, and I want to obey what you ask me to do.

I want to listen and obey.

Help me hear your voice throughout my day, and when I hear it, help me do what you're asking me to do. Now, I know, some of you hear, because it just gets quiet every time I say this word, obey is not a word that people like to hear.

You guys, because you are just here, and we're from Broken Narrow, and we just like, you know, these colors don't run, and all that kind of stuff, we don't like the word obey.

I get it. Some of you rebel against rules that you even agree with, but the moment it becomes a rule,

you're like, well, I'm not doing that anymore.

Silly.

I am a rule breaker. And listen, this is not about rules.

When God is telling you to obey, this is not some kind of subjugation idea. This is not do it because I said so. This is not do it because I want to prove to you that I'm bigger than you, stronger than you, smarter than you. This is the shepherd of your life, desiring to take you from where you are, and lead you to the pastor that allows your soul to prosper. So when he says listen and obey, he wants you to hear the words, but he wants you to act on them,

because he has good things for you. We already sang about it today. Pastor Isaiah just let it up for me. He has good things for you. And so he wants you to learn his voice, and he wants you to hear, and he wants you to obey, because he wants you to have good things in your life.

And the way we get good things is when we allow God to direct our steps, and to walk our paths, and to do the things.

But the thing is, obedience is not an obstacle to my happiness, but it's the doorway, it's the path to it, it's the gate.

That is how I get there.

And it's not about doing. Sometimes people say, oh, this sounds like a bunch of religious works. No, no, no, no. You're not earning God's love. You're not earning God's favor. You are not gonna be a good boy, and he doesn't look at you and say, oh, now you're just a really good boy or girl, and I give you two thumbs way up, because you did what I say. No, no, no, no. The reason that we're obeying is because I have surrendered my heart to him. I've surrendered my life to him, and I say lead me and guide me, and give me the boldness to do what you ask me to do, even when it's hard or challenging.

You see, sometimes the reason we don't ask God to speak to us, or we're not quiet, there's twofold. One is because we're afraid we won't hear anything, and that's really true, and that's some of you hear, and that's often. But other times it's because we're afraid of what we'll hear.

I'm afraid what he may ask me to give up that I don't wanna give up.

I'm afraid what he may ask me to pursue, what I don't wanna pursue it. I'm afraid who he may invite me to go have coffee with, and I don't wanna have coffee with that person.

They like Starbucks.

And you know who I feel about that, God.

I can only follow you so far.

That sounds like the valley of the shadow of death.

Thank you. I hear you, brother. (Audience Laughing)

Because sometimes it's not the word of God. Won't speak, sometimes the word of God will speak.

Sometimes when it's like, let's talk like the,

God, how much money should I give in the offering? Oh, he didn't speak, all right, I gotta go, bye.

I don't wanna hear.

I don't wanna hear. Again, remember, all these examples are my personal examples. They're not your examples. I'm sure you don't do any of these things. I'm just being open and vulnerable up here on stage. I don't wanna hear.

I don't wanna do it, but guess what? When I trust that God only has good things for me, even if it seems hard on the front end, even if it seems painful, even if it seems, then I realize the reason he's wanting it because in the end it will be for my good, even if I can't see that in the short term.

Even when I don't know that.

That I believe that he has only my goodness and my happiness in mind.

I love what one of the, an older monk named Ignatius or Liolis said that sin is the unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me is only my deepest happiness.

Oops.

Sometimes I don't believe that's what he wants.

And so as many times, the only time that we actually get to the point where we ask God to speak to us is we ask God to speak to us when we're facing some kind of really critical decision.

Do I change jobs? Is this the person I'm supposed to marry? Will the cowboys ever go to the Super Bowl again? Really important things like that.

And so often what we're trying to do is it's not that we're trying to hear the voice of God, we're either trying to get an answer that we think will lead to our happiness or in many ways we are trying to figure out how can I bypass pain and not experience it all together?

Because we don't like pain.

I am very anti-pain.

I hurt my knee a while ago and I've been like kind of taking it easy. And then I decided like it was feeling a little bit better. So I decided to do just a few of my kryptonite exercises,

weighted lunges, just a few, not many because I was like I'm gonna take it easy.

My body didn't realize it was taking it easy because I was in extreme pain, not the next day, within 15 minutes of finishing.

And I realized I'd made a terrible decision. Why would I ever train legs? Why did I cause pain? And I vowed right then and there, I'm never doing it again.

Now I'm gonna break that vow because I've got to go back.

Because I know that actually what's good is for me to have legs that are strong, even though I don't like the pain.

And often in our life, we avoid things that seemingly are painful because we think there's nothing good on the other side of it. But often some of the greatest things is through a season of pain, not because God's trying to torture you, but because the thing that you've chosen to latch onto will require some pain to get rid of.

There's some relationships that you may have to let go of that the process of separating from them will be painful.

There are some habits that maybe you have created and you firmly attached yourself to and in the process of removing those so you could have more thriving will be painful. And he wants you to go through that pain, not for the pain, but because it's the only way to get to the other side.

Because sometimes when we pray, God not only doesn't say answer the thing that removes the pain, in fact, he actually directs us right through it. When Jesus said, "If it's possible, take this cup from me.

But not my will, but your will be done."

He was as vulnerable, as open as possible.

I don't want to do this.

Can I go a different direction?

And God made it clear the success is on the other side.

And Jesus went towards the pain for the joy that was set before him. Now, praise God, we never have to go through that pain, but you will have to go through your own pain in the process of allowing God to remove things inside of you that are dead so you can experience new life.

There's parts of your heart that are hard and stony, and God says, "We gotta change that."

There's parts of you right now that are still moldable, but it has not yet been formed, and he wants to shape that.

And that process sometimes is uncomfortable.

But when you believe, he only has your greatest happiness in mind.

And I don't mean happiness how the world says, I mean like the contentment of your heart of knowing that you are loved by the Father, and that nothing can shake that.

Then you'll say, "Okay, God, I'll walk through this process.

I'll walk through this process."

It's to sit at the feet of God. We get to hear the voice that Jesus is the one who leads us and guides us.

Now, I know that when we start talking about hearing about the voice of God, some of us, like I said, some of us get nervous, and we also get nervous because like the world does not look kindly upon this idea. In fact, when you say like, "Yeah, I believe God speaks to you," like people who are non-believers, they will think that you are crazy. This literally happened to me, I think it was two weeks ago. I was listening to a podcast, studying for this series, and it was specifically a podcast about hearing the voice of God and people talking about some different ideas in theology, it was real nerdy. It was great. I'm just loving it. I was at the gym. I was like really getting after it, and like thinking about stuff, writing notes and stuff. I was like, "This is so great." And they had like a commercial break, right? Like the ones that they pre-programmed. It's not like a sponsor of the show that they knew. It's like a commercial break that the podcast streamer just puts in there. So I'm listening to this, right? And most of the time they're unrelated. Occasionally it has something to do with what I'm listening to, but I'm listening to this, and it basically starts talking about a free service that is specifically for people who think that they're struggling with schizophrenia because they hear voices inside of their head and often act on it. (Audience Laughing)

I'm listening to a podcast about hearing the voice of God.

And it's like, "Do you hear voices inside of your head? We've got a service for you." And I was like, years ago when I went and I got CLEET certified, they make you take this test, a psychological examination. It's called the MMP. It's like this Minnesota whatever, whatever thing, right? And one of the questions in there is, do you believe that God speaks to you?

And they told me, "Hey, it's okay if by your beliefs you hit yes, but just know that there are people that if you answer yes to that question, you will be disqualified from the job."

Because that's the sign that you have a psychological issue.

Now I answered yes, because I worked at a church, so I'm fine.

But it's like, I want you to understand, at some point you have to realize that being a believer doesn't just separate you because you are a believer. Being a believer at some point separates you from the world because you are not the same, you are different. You are what the Bible says, a peculiar people.

You are strange. They do not think the same way as you. And that's not because they're different than you or because there's no hope for them, it's because in this moment their eyes are blinded and they are currently far from God. And what they need desperately is someone who is led by the shepherd to hear the voice of God and come to them and to be able to love them unconditionally and help them hear the voice of God so that one day they can transfer into becoming a peculiar people.

We just need more peculiar people around here.

But it is not normal.

And sometimes it's a little like, we're hesitant.

We're hesitant.

But here's the thing, and I'm gonna talk about three ways today

that we can hear the voice of God because I would be willing to tell this. Some of you are sitting here and you're like, "Hey, I hear the voice of God, I pray, I'm confident." And for the most part, I mean, everyone has some reasonable amount of doubt at times, but you feel like, "Okay, I feel confident that I'm led by God and the Holy Spirit." And then some of you are sitting here and you think, "I don't think I've ever heard the voice of God."

And I'd be willing to bet that actually you have heard the leading of the Holy Spirit and you've heard the voice of God more often than you would think. And you just haven't learned that that was the voice of the shepherd.

It was just a voice.

And that's okay. That's what the process of practicing does is it allows you to hear it and hear it and hear it because voices are amazing. We hear the saying all the time, like, "I can know that voice anywhere." You guys know what I'm talking about? We have some real famous voices, right? Like when I hear someone like Morgan Freeman

or James Earl Jones, right? Or I hear Louis Armstrong sing. Like there's certain people that you hear the voice. It doesn't matter if you've ever heard the song or you know what you're doing. You're like, "I know who that is. I only had to see the face. I know exactly who that is. I could know that voice anywhere." But the reason that I know the voice is because it's unique and I've had enough exposure to be sure.

I can tell you guys the voice is unlike anyone you will ever hear.

The amount of love, wisdom, compassion, guidance is beyond what you could ever experience. And so the uniqueness is there. All you need is the exposure.

And when you become exposed enough, it becomes something that you cannot, it doesn't matter what context you hear it and what part of your day and what part of the moment you begin to hear the voice of God and you cannot do anything other than, "No, it's Him."

But it's just exposure. So here's a couple of ways that God will speak to you. Like there's more, and I'm hoping to touch on it a few more later in the series, but the first and foremost ways that we can hear God

is through the person of Jesus Christ,

through the very person of Jesus, our Savior. Listen to this verse in Hebrews chapter one. It says, "In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways.

But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son,

whom He appointed heir of all things and through Him, also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by the power of His Word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven."

And here's what's amazing, and I hope to get into this more. Jesus, who it references here as the Word, and that's how John refers to Him, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was with God, and the Word became flesh and made His home among us and dwelt among us," right?

That Jesus represents this idea of this Word, but hearing the voice of God begins and ends with the person of who Jesus is. That is His entire purpose. All of Scripture points to who He is. That is the reality of what He is. He was there in the beginning. The very Word of God is the person of Jesus. And the more that you learn who He is, that means the more you learn who you are, and the more you learn about how good He is, the more you learn about how good the Father is. And the more that you see yourself in the same light that you see Jesus, the more you understand the depth and the breadth and the incredible magnitude of God's love for you,

that we get to come through the person of Jesus. Everything points back to Jesus, whether it's Scripture or meditation or prophecy or dreams and beauty. Any way that God speaks, it will all point back to the person of Jesus.

That is why we are here.

He is the reason that we are here today and the person that all of creation and attorney has been waiting for this moment to be able to participate with the very living and active Word.

And Jesus says He made His home among you, that He tabernacled into your heart, that He dwells inside of you.

That is the very purpose of His presence with you.

That is the very purpose of the present. Now, the second one, and maybe this is the one that some of you are the most familiar, I know for a long time, this was the most familiar, and maybe even for me the most comfortable way that God speaks is through Scripture,

through Scripture.

Listen, if you, I don't know how to say this, I'm not trying to say this like judgy or condemning or anything, like I just don't know how to share it like this without, like Scripture is the greatest gift that God has ever given me outside with the very person of Jesus.

Scripture is the living, ordained, breathing, active Word of God, and nothing has communicated His love for me more than spending time in that book.

Like, I don't know like what to tell you, like if you're not in Scripture,

I'm not telling you God doesn't love you, I'm not telling you you're not going to heaven, I'm not telling you that you're not the favorite, I'm not, what I'm telling you is, is like you are missing out.

I'm just telling you it's the best thing that I have.

I talk to you about coffee because I love coffee, and I tell you about how bad Starbucks is because you shouldn't waste your time.

But this is way better than coffee,

and there's a lot of things you're doing that's wasting your time, and that will transform your life. The Word will transform your life, and I tell you, and I tell my children, like you need to be in it, not because I'm just trying to create a guilt idea or because I'm a pastor and that's what I'm supposed to say, I'm telling you because it's literally life-changing.

It's life-changing to spend time with a Word.

And like anything, it may start off as a challenge, and it may start off confusing, and there's certain sections, I'm not telling you you should start there.

Don't start in Revelation, I don't know what's going on.

Listen, if you're like saying, I know what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna start the Bible at the beginning, don't do that. Read Genesis, read Exodus, don't do Leviticus, don't do Numbers, don't do Deuteronomy, like skip it, I'm not telling you that I've got good things in there, but I'm telling you, until you're at a place where Don Troy is, just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, go on.

Just go on, it's fine, you don't need it.

Get back into it, right at Joshua. It picks up right where you left off.

First and second Kings, first and the crowds, yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

And then when you read Daniel, read the first half, and when he gets to the second half, and the beasts are coming, and the dragons, and all of a sudden, if you wanna do it, do it, but don't, you don't have to sit here and be like, okay, you start where you're at.

I don't have my seven year old read the same book that my 17 year old's reading.

They both can read, but one of them's reading Peter Rabbit,

and one of them's reading all sorts of other stuff.

Because they're not ready, don't sit there and be like, well, I'm only a good Christian if I can really understand the seven whatever's of the revelation.

No, read the gospels, read the epistles, read the letters, and you will not get it all in the first try, you will not get it on the second try, you will not get it on the third try, you will never get it all, ever.

And yet it will meet you every time, right where you're at, and the very living voice of God will speak to you through scripture.

And I don't have a ton of time to unpack it, but listen, there's two ways of encountering scripture. There's a way that's more common, especially in the church culture that I grew up, which is more like a Bible study, which is where you read a large amount of scripture, and you try to put it in a certain contextual, historical context, what was the original intention of the author, which is a, this is what I do every week, it's really good, and you understand the Greek, and you understand the Hebrew, and wanna do the connections, and all this kind of point, and it's really good to understand some theological truths, and those are super powerful and super important, and it's a process that you learn and you hone over time, and it's great, but there's another way of reading scripture. Some people call it like spiritual reflection. The more traditional term for it is called lectio divina, which is like the idea of being divinely inspired by God's word, which is you read something, which is a much smaller passage,

much smaller amount of scripture, and instead of trying to understand all the, like you asked, you just invite God,

God, what in this particular passage do you have for me today?

For my heart?

(Soft Music) Just this morning, I read Psalms 119, and verse 11, which I know forever, it was like illuminated, and Psalms 119 is like, I think it's the longest chapter in the Bible, it's like a lot, right, it's really long.

But 11 was like illuminated, I couldn't get out of it. It says, "I have hidden your word in my heart,

"that I might not sin against you."

And I grew up thinking like, ooh, I need to memorize a bunch of scripture verses, because I came from a culture where like Bible bowl was really important, and you had to have all the scripture verses memorized, because that was how you were a really good boy. And so I just, I knew all the scripture, I always forgot the references, and they got me DQ'd, and it was really a problem.

But Google has saved my life. But no, here's the thing.

I used to think that I'm memorizing scripture so I don't sin,

like so I don't have sex before I'm married, or so I don't get drunk, or so I become addicted to drugs.

So a good thing I know this scripture, because that counteracts that in my life.

And I'm not saying that that's not partially there, but that's not actually what I was talking about at all.

I hide the word of God, not just the written word, but the very person of Jesus in my heart.

And the word sin is talking about missing the marker, missing God's best for me. I hide it in my heart, and I hold on to it, and the truth and the promises, so I don't miss God's very best that he has for me.

So I pour through scripture, and I read it slowly, and I ask God, what do you have for me today in this verse, in this time, in this reading through of this passage that maybe I've never read before, or maybe I've read it a hundred times, and God will illuminate through his very living word something that is just absolutely pertinent to the place where you're at today.

I'll hide your word in my heart. I'll hide it, I will, another verse says, "I will treasure it, I will treasure it.

I'll keep it safe and guarded,

so that I don't miss,

so I don't miss the voice of my shepherd,

because, just like David said, there's gonna be a part where you make me lay down and green pastures, and that may sound like, oh, that's nice, until you're someone who doesn't like to stop working.

And God says, I need you to rest, and you say, God, I don't wanna rest, and he says, you need to lay down.

And I've learned from experience that sometimes you lay down, or sometimes he lays you down.

That he'll lead you beside the still waters. Oh, that's nice.

But also, even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

even though you go through the valley,

that you were brave enough to hear the voice of the shepherd, and he walked that way, and you say, I don't like the direction that's going. I maybe like what I can see on the other side, but I don't wanna go through this section of terrain. Can't we go around it?

And he says, no, you gotta go through it.

Well, I will hide the word of God in my heart, because surely your goodness and your mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And so if the path that you have for me is through this valley, then I know it's because the mountain peak on the other side is worth it. And so while I'm in the valley, I will begin to sing my song of ascent, believing that where I'm going to be in the house of God, you will be in front of me and you will be behind me. And so I just trust you, God. I don't like this path.

And I can be honest with you about that, but I trust you.

And so I can go through,

that's one of the things that we'll be learning in part of the practice and the prayer class, is one of the things is how do we participate in a daily prayer life? How do we participate in scripture reading like Lectio Divina? How do we walk through some of these things in our life

and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us and meet us right there?

The last one, the last thing.

And maybe it's the most pertinent for what we're talking about today, is the idea of what they call a listening prayer.

That's what Mother Teresa was talking about.

Where you take time and you just say, "God, will you speak to me?" It can be open-ended. It can be about something as you're dealing with. It can be about a relationship. You can have a little preface and then you just set time. And I would even say set a timer. It can be small. It can be one minute, three minute, five minutes, where you are just quiet.

And you say, "God, will you speak to me?"

And I know that some of you, you're here. This is a little ethereal, and I don't have a ton of time, but I know some of you are like, "Why doesn't God just talk to me out loud?"

That would make it a lot easier.

If you just talk to me out loud, that would make it a lot easier.

I know I'm not the only person who thought it.

But here's the thing.

Any kind of communication, when you were listening to me or I'm listening to you, really what we are doing, yeah, you're hearing my voice out loud and you're going through your ear and you're going through your cochlear chain and you're creating vibrations and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff's happening. But what is actually accessing is your mind.

And when I speak and you are listening or vice versa, we are actually participating in a form of mind control.

You've heard the thing. When I talk about pink elephants, all of a sudden you're thinking about pink elephants. I wasn't thinking about pink elephants, but I made you think about pink elephants because I keep saying pink elephants. I don't even know what a pink elephant looks like, but I just made one up.

And that's what happens in communication. The reason when two people are actually actively having a conversation and actual listening is happening, not I'm hearing you so I can develop my next statement, but I'm actually listening to what you're saying. I'm allowing my mind to be formed by their words and their heart and their emotions and their non-verbals and everything else. Well, guess what?

When Jesus died and he said, I made a home inside of you, that my spirit lives inside of you, that the same spirit that rose Jesus from the grave now lives inside of you, that he tabernacle to made his dwelling place among you in your heart, he has direct access to your mind. And so in these moments of stillness and quiet, when we not just are still in quiet place, but we actually are surrendering our heart and mind to God and we say, speak to me, God, come Holy Spirit, he will begin to access your mind directly and he will begin to shape and form you. But often, especially early on, what we think is like, I just had this thought, oh, I had this picture, oh, I had this vision, oh, I had this idea, it was just me being quiet, it was because I got quiet, it was because I thought and I was scared of doing it and so I don't wanna do it anymore, like that was weird.

He doesn't need to talk through your ear hole because he has a direct connection.

When I need my wife, I don't write a letter.

At one point, that was really a great way to connect, but I can literally call her and get right to the source.

God can literally connect directly to your very spirit, to your very mind and he will speak to you and he will lead you and he will guide you. The only thing that you have to get comfortable with is the fact that he's doing it and he's been doing it.

And it's how he's speaking to you.

And the more comfortable you realize, he will lead you and guide you, he will place people in your mind to pray for, he will prompt you to step out in something. Listen, I've said this example before and it doesn't paint me in the best light, but here's the reality. Listen, outside of my family, I don't really think about others very often.

I think about my family and that's basically where it ends.

And God has changed me and God has developed in me, but listen, what that has caused inside of me is that all of a sudden I have this thought of like, man, I should call so and so and just see how they're doing.

And the first time that happened, I was like, what a weird thing to do. They're probably busy, why would I call them?

You should text so and so and just check in.

Reach out to this person and say hi.

And all of a sudden I realize like, just like Samuel, like God, is that you? Because I know it's not me, I don't care enough.

Like that's just the reality where I'm at. So do you know what that means though? You know how God says in your weakness, he's made strong?

When someone said, when I hear, I think, oh, I should reach out to JJ and just see how he's doing today. You know what I do? I don't think, ah, maybe, like some of you like, cause like my wife thinks about people all the time.

Maybe the bit, I know this is the voice of the Lord.

I better reach out to JJ and see how he's doing.

That's called being obedience. I just prayed, will I listen and obey? And so I don't have to question should I text someone or pick up the phone or invite them to coffee because it's outside of me. But guess what? I invited him into my weakness. And so now my greatest weakness can be my greatest strength. And so when I reach out to someone, it is almost every time like, oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're texting me. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're calling me. Oh my gosh, I'm going through this thing. Oh, I needed you, but I was worried about calling you. And it's not because I'm just this great pastor because I'm not.

But in my weakness, he is elevated strong. And I chose to say yes to the leading of the Holy Spirit. So if I text you, if you can praise God, don't thank me because I can tell you it wasn't me.

So I listen and I obey.

And that happens. God will place people in my heart so strongly

that like I have to stop everything that I'm doing

and either pray for them or call them, whatever he is. Because that is the voice of God. And I have said, you are free to completely disrupt my life when it comes down to doing what you're calling me to do.

And the reason that we take these times to intentionally be quiet, maybe it's early in the morning, maybe it's late at night, like it's something, I take this time because it opens up my heart. Say, God, I'm giving you this moment. And maybe some days he speaks to you a lot. And maybe some days he speaks to you nothing. But you're saying, God, whether you speak to me a lot or I don't hear anything, I want you to know that even though this was a five minute practice,

the rest of the 23 hours and 55 minutes of my day, you are open to speak. And I'm here to listen.

I'm here to listen.

And if God speaks to you in a way that's not like you, that's outside of your personality type, if you're an introvert and you keep having this thought, maybe I should join a small group. And you're like, that can't be possible.

It may be God, sorry, bro.

And if you're an introvert and silence sounds like the worst possible thing in your entire life, and yet God's drawing you to it,

it may be God leading you somewhere.

Because when you give him every part of your life,

he will take it and he will make beautiful, brand new things out of it.

And so we hear through the person of Jesus, both in text and in the fact that he lives in our hearts, we hear through the opportunity of having scripture come alive to us. And we hear by silencing ourselves and creating space and time where we can just say, God, what do you have for me? Not just in these moments of aloneness,

but in every moment of my day.

I wanna hear your voice.

And he will do it for you.

God will speak to you. Yes, you, the one with the face, he will speak to you. Because all his sheep know his voice and will follow him.

That's the process that we get to walk.

Jesus, we thank you for today. We thank you for your word.

I thank you that I can come to you in prayer.

I thank you that the voice of my shepherd speaks to me and speaks to all of us here. I thank you that Jesus is illuminating his self to me every day and that it continues to change how I see the world around me, how I see myself, how I see others, how I see my heavenly father. Lord, that the shepherd is taking me to places where my soul can thrive.

I thank you that scripture is alive and well. Charber than any two edges sword, separating marrow from bone.

Lord, I thank you that when we allow ourselves to be quiet, you speak and that we can listen.

Help us be brave and obedient to not just here, but also to do.

Lord, if there's anyone who's here that they're just, "I don't know if I can do it." I pray that you would bring someone along, a trusted companion, a person who can partner with them, not just in prayer, but in life to be able to say, "Hey, I feel confident about hearing God's voice and I want to help you find the voice of the shepherd with me."

Help us be vulnerable and humble enough to say, "I'll join you on that journey."

And last thing, church, before we dismiss real quick because I've kept you late.

If you're here today and you've heard all this talk about Jesus and the shepherd in life, but maybe you've never committed your life to Jesus,

you've never accepted that invitation of the good shepherd, I want to give you a chance to do it this morning.

With every head bowed and every eye closed, I'm just going to ask everyone to repeat this prayer. Just say, "Dear heavenly father,

thank you for sending Jesus to die for me so my sins could be forgiven."

It's in Jesus' name I pray.

With every head bowed, if there's anyone in this room that's made that decision today, would you raise your hand up real high anywhere in the room? If you're online, they'll put a phone number up on the screen. I'll connect you with our prayer team, but anybody physically, just raise it real high. If there's any hands up, they can go down.

Lord, we love you.

Teach us how to pray.

Allow us to be intimately led by you.

In your holy name we pray. Amen and amen. Church, we love you. You don't want to miss next week. It's going to be absolutely incredible. You are dismissed. Have a great rest of this beautiful Sunday.