God Is - Part 2
by Kevin Allen
January 21, 2024 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Genesis 12:1, Proverbs 3:5, Psalms 23, Psalms 23:1-3, 1 Samuel 3:1-9, John 10:4, Romans 8:16, Numbers 22, Numbers 22:28, Acts 13:2, Acts 20:22-24

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--god-is-part-2
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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For that. But today we're going to be going into part two of God Yes series. And I want to try to set today's message up this way.

Over the course of my life, I've had a few wonderful opportunities when I've been able to have been a part of some guided tours. What I mean by that is, I've been on some guided hunting and fishing trips. And by doing that, I was able to take advantage of the guide's knowledge and expertise in those areas, to allow us to be right there in the thick of where everything was at. Whether it was a hunt — he made sure we got right to the pheasant or the quail, or in the perfect spot to be able to see a great deer. On a fishing trip, the guide took us to the right location, to where they knew that the population of fish was going to be, and was able to tell us the best techniques and what we should be looking for, so that we able to get the right kind of catch.

And I was thinking about those things, because I feel like one of the greatest things about being able to use a guide in life is, again, you take advantage of the expertise that is there. And I was thinking to myself, "Wouldn't this be great if we could have a guide for all the areas of our life?" What I mean for that is like, can you imagine if you were dating, and you had a guide that was there with you for the dating process, and they would be like, "No, no, no, you don't need to go over there." "No, no, no, don't look at them. I know you're tempted, but don't. No, don't do that. That's a bad choice." That'd be handy, if you had a guide that way. Or if you're in the middle of a heated discussion with your spouse, and just about the time you're about ready to tell her how much she's acting like her mother, they had a guide that would step in and say, "You know, you probably shouldn't say that. You probably should use a little bit different language or verbage, or maybe not use that sentence structure." So it'd be good. I think we all could probably see the benefit of having a guide for time to time in your life. Maybe they even have a guide who's helping you put together messages, that would say, "Don't use examples like your spouse in those things."

See, the Bible shows us — there's a part of what we're learning in this series. The writers of Scripture have all these remarkable ideas, names, and pictures of our God: that He's a Redeemer, that He is a Creator, that He is a Father, that He is a Judge who brings justice, that He's a Comforter. But today — today, in part two — I want to talk about God being a guide in our life.

From the very beginning, when He was going to form a people, He came and talked about that — this past week, in Genesis chapter 12, He came to a man named Abram there, later became Abraham, and He said this, in Genesis chapter 12, verse number one: "The Lord has said to Abram, leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I'll show you." So we see here an instance of where God is guiding Abraham. And then when it's time for Israel to leave Egypt, we're told that the Lord went before them as a pillar of cloud by day, and a fire by night. This was a physical picture of a spiritual promise: that God was going to keep His word, that He was going to lead them and guide them and direct them in their life.

In the book of Proverbs — Proverbs says in chapter three, verse number five, very familiar, most people have this memorized: "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not into thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall" — here's that word again — "direct your path."

And probably what's the most famous of all verses to get quoted, The Psalms 23, says this: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures." Here — listen to it: "He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul." He says it again: "He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake."

See, God knows what we need. He knows what you need. He knows what I need in life. And what He's wanting and desiring to do is to have the kind of relationship with us where He can truly guide our steps every day.

Anybody here ever made a bad decision? Yeah, I mean, pretty much every hand should go up, because none of us are perfect at all. We've all made bad decisions. Our God is a guiding God. But here's what I think: I think, with all the facets of the greatness of God that we're learning about — and we're going to learn a lot more and more about these in the upcoming weeks — I think one of the most confusing things to people is about God and Him guiding us. When it comes to actually experiencing it, I think, on the surface, when we think about it, it makes sense to us, and we read these Scriptures and verses that are there, and we're like, "This makes sense." But there's a difference in just acknowledging it and actually living it. I think people tend to overcomplicate it. And I think a lot of it has to do with sometimes the language that we use, especially people who've been in and around the church.

I don't know if you've noticed this, but if you've been around a church for any length of time, there seems to be this thing that's called church language, or church lingo. And we've heard people probably say something like this: like, "God told me to do it." Or, "The Lord has led me down this path." "God has showed me this." And then we hear that, and if maybe you've never had that experience in your life, or you're relatively new, or maybe you've been around the church for a while, but you've never been able to say it with as much authority, with as much confidence, as other people have said — that you end up being a little bit reluctant, or maybe even think to yourself, "Well, maybe I don't have the relationship with God that other people do." And it causes you to doubt sometimes, because others say it with such confidence: "God told me to do this." And you're like, "Wow, I don't know that God's ever just audibly told me anything." So where does that fall in?

I feel like, because of this, people often times struggle. So what we're going to talk about in our message today — and I want to start by going back to the story in the Old Testament that I feel like it's a it's a great story for us to launch out of, and hopefully it help us get a better understanding of what it means to allow God to be our God, for you and I to tune into His voice. So let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 3. Going to read verses 1 through 9, and talking about the calling of God in the boy Samuel's life.

Now, the Word of God says this: "Now, the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli" — Eli was the prophet — "and the word of the Lord was rare. You can't skip past that. It was rare in those days. There was no widespread revelation. And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, and before the lamp of God went out at the tabernacle of the Lord, where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, 'Here I am.' So he ran to Eli and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' And he said, 'I did not call. Lie down again.' And he went and lay down. Then the Lord called again to Samuel. So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' And he answered, 'I did not call, my son. Lie down again.' Now, Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him."

Okay, so here we are in the story where this is God speaking to Samuel, but Samuel's having a hard time discerning whether or not it's God or something else. So it's almost like this is a cycle that's going on. And I want you to know this is important for you and I to grasp, because more often than not, this is what happens in our lives.

Verse number eight: "And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli and said, 'Here I am, for you did call me.' Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, 'Go, lie down, and it shall be, if He calls you' — listen to the words — 'that you must say, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears."' So Samuel went and lay down in his place."

Now, what we see again in this beginning of a relationship — and I want to point it out right now — that God is speaking to Samuel in this story. But I want you to notice that, to Samuel, the voice of God sounded very familiar to the man of God in his life. Eli was the prophet. And his first reaction, when he heard God's voice, was, "Hey, my pastor's calling me." So he went in to Eli and said, "You called me." Now, again, we know how it is — I'm not going to repeat all of it — but Eli said, "I didn't call you. You need to go lay back down." And eventually Pastor figured out that God's trying to speak to Samuel, so he gave Samuel some very direct instructions: "Next time this happens, you need to say this: 'Speak, Lord, Your servant is listening.'" Now, I'm going to come back to that here in just a few minutes, but you hang on to that.

Again, everything that's given to us in the Scriptures given to us for a reason. There's a point to it. And the point here is that you need to acknowledge, "God, I'm here, listening to what You have to say in my life." Samuel had to learn how to recognize God's voice in his life.

And this is important, because a lot of what we do — in fact, the vast majority of what we do — is learning how to communicate with each other. What I'm doing right now is, I'm communicating to you. And what's fascinating about communication is, I'm using words to help shape thoughts that are in your mind right now. And by me doing this, quite often what I'm bringing to your mind is something you have not yet thought of, or you have not thought of it in a long time. But because I'm using words right now, you're having thoughts. Thoughts like, "Is this ever going to end? Is he ever going to stop talking?" We've all had these kind of thoughts, and that's what we're doing right now.

Now, I can use this with with with with using audible words, like what I'm doing right now, speaking to you. Or I can use it by using symbols, like through written words. I could write you a letter, I could send you an email or a text me, and have to read it. And what I do is, the words that I send you help shape the thought that's in your mind. We have the ability to do this. Now, we are finite creatures, so we are limited in all the abilities that we have access to. But God is an infinite God. Now, bring that up for this reason: because God can use His written Word to shape your thoughts. And quite often, He does that through His written Word. That's why it's important that you need to have a Bible in your life, and you need to read the Word of God on a regular basis, because by doing this, it helps shape the thoughts and the patterns in your mind.

Or God can speak audibly. I've spoke about this a couple of times, but there's only been two times in my entire life where I felt like God audibly spoke to me — very rare. And it was a very short, one-worded sentence that God spoke to me. But it was so powerful in that moment. And nobody else was around to validate it, so I don't have, like, there was four other people that heard it, same word. It was me — I was alone, by myself — but it was so strong, it was audible to me. But those are very rare occurrences. More often than not, what God does — and because He's God, and He has this ability — is He has a way of talking directly into our minds, speaking directly to us. Now, often we don't pick up right off the bat that it's God. Sometimes we think it's just a thought we're having.

Now, again, everybody has their way that God speaks to them. But usually there's a common thread amongst the people who have learned how to tune into God's voice, and the way that God chooses to communicate to us. And I just love the fact that God wants to talk to us. That's right. And who are we, that God wants to talk to us? But He does. He has a strong desire to connect with us on a very intimate level, through communicating through us.

Now, part of what this means to us — and something like this is what was happening to Samuel. He didn't know, but he had Eli there to help him. That often times, as you're developing your relationship with God, it's wonderful to have a pastor, to have a man of God in your life, that can help you tune in the voice of God. In my own personal life — and I'll talk a little bit more about my ministry call at the end of the message today — I was so thankful that I had Bishop DuPree in my life. He was pastoring then. And as I was trying to discern, "Is this God, or was this a — " I heard Brother Mark Morgan call it a "bean dream": that is, the eat too much pizza one night, and it come over this, and that's what it was. Like, it's good to have someone who can help you navigate these waters in your life, so that you can learn that what is and what is not the voice of God.

Prayer is important. Prayer is important for this reason: because it's through your prayer life that you learn how to tune in to the voice of God in your life. He'll help guide and direct you. Into community is to be in community — and that involves communication. Let's go to the Word of God, and I want you to think about this. Jesus says this about His people, in John 10:4: "And when He brings out His own sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice." That's powerful. They don't follow anybody, but they follow Him, because they know His voice. Well, if you haven't learned how to tune into His voice, it's going to be hard for you to know the voice of God.

To have a personal relationship with God means I must be open to the possibility that the Spirit of God is always prompting me and guiding me. That is a — it's a — ladies and gentlemen, I know you may be thinking that I'm a nobody. And the reality is, we're all nobodies. We're just a bunch of nobodies. But I'm thankful that our God loves nobodies. Not only does He just love us, and not only did He die for our sins and give us an opportunity to have eternal life, but He also wants to commune with us every day. Every day He desires to have a relationship with us. He wants to give — He longs for an opportunity to talk to us.

Paul said this in Romans 8:16: "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." What does that mean? Paul's saying, "It agrees." Our spirit will agree with His Spirit. It bears witness of His desire and longing to have this relationship. This really means, when those thoughts come, the main thing is not just acknowledging, "Hey, God's talking to me." Because we can get the big head — "Hey, God spoke to me today." Again, you got to be careful with that language, that religious language that we use. What's more important is not that He's talking — to you — is that you're being obedient to what He's saying to you. That's what's important. What is God prompting you to do? What is God trying to guide you through, or guide you around, or trying to instruct you in?

And I want to say this to some of you that are listening today: that you may have been obeying these kind of things your entire life and not really understanding that what you've been doing is actually tuning yourself in to the voice of God in your life. This means the issue is not that you say, "I know God's voice." But the issue is, I'm being obedient to what God's asking me to do in my life. Because our God is a guiding God.

Now, what I'd like to do — and maybe shifting gears just a little bit in here, with the time that's left in this message — is I want to talk about some of the myths that keep us from experiencing God's guiding hand in our lives every day. Because I feel like there's a lot of misguided notions that are out there that often times cause people to stumble, and prevent them from being everything that God wants them to be, because they haven't properly learned how to tune into God, or because they've heard something that's not true, and it prevents them from leaning into God.

So here's the first myth. This first one — and it's one that maybe you'll dismiss right off the bat, but I promise you it's a real deal. A lot of people struggle with this. As a pastor, through the years, I've had a lot of people come to me and talk about this. And it's not something that everybody just simply understands. And that is this: God will only speak to and give guidance to the spiritual giants. That's false. That is absolutely, 100% false. It's not just for missionaries and pastors and prophets and giants and movement. No.

The story that shows how messed up this myth comes from — I'm going to go to Numbers chapter 22, and I'm going to show you. It's a very comical story, but I think it makes a very valid point, and it puts this to rest, that God is interested in everyone. Everyone. If you're breathing and have a heartbeat right now, here's the news: God wants to talk to you. God wants to guide you. God wants to direct your life. He wants to be involved in your decisions every day. He wants to be a part of the mundane of your life. Yes, He's God Almighty, but He wants to get right down in the weeds where you and I are. And that should excite somebody today.

There's this story there in Numbers 22. We're going to go to it. And what we see here is, we got a prophet of God named Balaam. And the enemy of Israel and Midian, they wanted to use Balaam to try to go against Israel. And we have this whole interesting dialogue that goes back and forth. And finally God sends an angel to turn Balaam back to Israel. And on the road, the donkey that Balaam's riding on sees that God has placed an angel in front of him, and the donkey just stops. And Balaam is trying to go — the donkey — is trying to beat the donkey, is trying to get the donkey to go. And we have this encounter that goes on for three times. Look at it. Numbers 22, verse number eight: "Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. 'What have I done that deserves you beating me three times?' it asked Balaam. 'You have made me look like a fool,' Balaam shouted. 'If I had a sword with me, I would kill you.' 'But I'm the same donkey you've ridden all your life,' the donkey answered. 'Have I ever done anything like this before?' 'Well, no,' Balaam admitted."

I don't know about you, but this is one of the funniest stories in the Scripture. But it is proof positive that God desires to talk to you, and God's willing to use whatever means possible. I love the fact that the donkey is reasoning with the prophet. I mean, think about this for just a minute. The donkey literally looks at him and says, "Have I ever done this before?" I mean, I would think just the fact that the donkey's talking would have been enough to get the prophet's attention. But no. The donkey not only is talking to him, but he's saying, "I've never done this before, and yet you're beating me?" And then it's like, all of a sudden, the prophet has a moment like, "Oh yeah, you're right. I wasn't thinking about that."

Now, you know, God speaks through anything. I can speak through a donkey. Some of you may have had a conversation recently with a donkey, and can relate with that. God can speak through anybody He wants. It's never about the messenger, ladies and gentlemen. It's always about the message. It's never about the messenger; it's about the message. So, what is God saying to you?

Now, I want you to know — and I keep saying this, and I will continue to repeat it through the entirety of this message — you are important to Him. You are a priority to Him. And part of that priority is that He wants to lead you and guide you and direct you every day. But oftentimes we dismiss the very thing that God's trying to do in our life, because we think, number one, "I'm not worthy," or number two, you know, "Who am I? I'm not the pastor, or I'm not the assistant pastor. I don't have a position in the church." Look — if you're breathing, you're qualified. God wants to guide your life.

The next myth: if I'm always in tune with God, He will have guidance for all of my decisions, and I will never have to make any decisions on my own. Now, this is one I'm going to stop for a little bit and spend a little bit of time, because this is the one that I feel like a lot of people who have been raised in and around church really struggle with. They struggle with this. So let me try to unpack this for a minute. Let me throw a kind of a scenario at you.

Now, a lot of people who are listening online, even people in the room today — a lot of us are parents. Now, as a parent, would it be a good thing if I made every decision for the entirety of my child's life? Every decision. You know, like, "You wear these clothes. You're going to go to this school. You're going to take these classes. You're going to date this person. This is going to be your major. This is the house you're going to buy, the subdivision you're going to live in. These are the cars you're going to drive. This is the job you're going to do. This is the person you're going to marry." Now, there are probably a few of you helicopter parents right now that are amen ing me. But the reality is, no. That's not how it's supposed to be. The correct answer is no, because that would do terrible things for their development, in becoming an independent person.

Here's the thing: if I'm a parent, my main goal for my child isn't a particular outcome or event, but my main goal is that I'm living God in front of them. That I'm showing them the importance of having a right relationship with Him, and then I'm letting them know that they, too, can be dependent and rely on God. And through that process, they can see my walk with Him, and hopefully I'm doing my part right, so that they, too, can see that it's important for them to have a relationship with God. Now, to become a good person requires that they have to think things out on their own. They're going to have to learn how to exercise judgment, and sometimes make difficult choices, and face some uncertainty, and take some responsibility and accountability in their life.

Now, listen to me. This process is indispensable, from the formation of them becoming who it is God wants them to be. Which means this — listen: many, many times in your life, when you pray and ask for God's guidance, God's response is going to be, "You choose." Was that all revelatory? We want to go in — and like, "God, what I need You to do is — I need You to send a bus by that has my name on it with big blinking lights, or You need a sky write it up there in the sky that says, 'Kevin, the next choice is B.'" But God hardly ever does that. And what I feel like is, so many people that get in the church, and they find themselves in such a state of indecision, is because they're afraid they're going to make the wrong choice, when God is simply standing, saying, "I'm going to be with you. Nothing can separate Me from you. What I want you to do is just make a choice. You choose, because you'll never grow if you don't choose."

And here's the deal: sometimes the reality is, I don't really want guidance. I want to be spared the anxiety that goes with the freedom of choosing, and being responsible. Because you were so worried about making the wrong choice, you make no choice.

I may mess a lot of people up right now. I might mess a lot of people up right now, but this is just my personal belief. I'm saying that this is not Bible — this is Kevin. I do not believe God has one perfect person for you to marry. Don't believe it. I believe God gives you the ability to find someone that you have similar qualities in — you know, someone you're attracted to, someone that you you you they're compatible with. And in that process, you're like, "God, I'm praying that this is the perfect person for me." And God's saying, "You choose. You choose. You choose, and then I'll join you." You choose, because when you stand up there — wherever it is you stood, and you got married, and you say, "I do" — all of a sudden you and the person you marry, and God, becomes a third party — that cord — and you three become something very powerful together.

Now, here's the deal: a lot of people struggle with marriages, is because they think, "I found the perfect one. This is the one that God's called me to do." I don't know — what do I do with that? What do I do, as your pastor — what do I do with that? If you come to me and say, "God told me that I'm going to marry this person. I'm going to marry this boy." I'm going to say, "What am I supposed to do? God told you. God didn't tell me. Am I supposed to look at you and say, 'No, God didn't tell you that'?" And when they say, "God told me to do that," like, you kind of tie my hands. Cuz here's the deal: I'm not God. Now, I hear from God. And there's been plenty of times when people have said something like, "God told me to do this," and what God told them to do went directly against God's Word, and I did tell them that God didn't tell you that. And I've had a couple people get mad and stomp out of my office. But I told them, I said, "God's never going to tell you anything contrary to His Word. So for you to say that, you're a liar." I mean, maybe I should have been a little softer with that approach, but you're not a truthful person.

The reason I'm bringing this up again is, so many people end up struggling in their walk with God because of indecision. Because what they want — what they want is, when they're praying, "God, I want Your will in my life. I want Your will in my life. God, I just want to do God's will. I want God's will in my life." What you're really saying is, "God, I want You to make every decision for me, so that I don't have to worry. So that I don't have to be anxious. So that it's perfectly planned, so I can always say, 'Well, I was in God's will. And if I'm in God's will, everything's going to be perfect.'"

I'm going to tell you right now: you can be smack dab in the middle of God's will, and you're still going to have storms. Hey, the disciples were in the will of God when they got in the boat with Jesus, and next thing you know, they're in the middle of a storm. Do you think maybe they're saying, "Well, what — maybe we messed up. Something's going on. The boat's rocking." I'm going to tell you: just because you're in the will of God does not mean stuff's not going to happen to you in your life. Things happen, and usually things happen for a reason and a purpose. And for you to sit on the sidelines and say, "God, I can't make a decision until I know what Your perfect will is" — I'm — what are you saying, Pastor? Don't ever pray? No, you pray. You seek after God's face. But more often than not, God's response is going to be, "You choose." If you're being obedient to God's Word, and you're following after His commands, and you're not making a decision that goes against some doctrinal issue that is there, or some thing that you know goes right to the heart of God, but you're being obedient in all these ways, and you still don't know exactly what to do — then make a choice. Make a decision. Don't sit on the sidelines and simply do nothing. One of the most frustrating things is when you do nothing. Just make a decision. If it's the wrong one, God will help you get out of it. Again, if you're filtering everything you do through the Word of God, the way you're supposed to be, there will be times in your life where you may not have a clear-cut right or wrong. So choose. God will be with you. You're going to make mistakes.

There's a minister that got voted in as the new pastor of the church. And the former pastor that was there came to him and said, "Look, I've got things here and there, and this is set up for you. And by the way, I left you three letters in the top drawer of the desk there in the office." He said, "These letters are for you." He said, "Because I know you're young, and you're new, and you're going to make some mistakes, and I'm going to try to help you out. So whenever you come to your first mistake — big mistake there — he said, just open up envelope number one. And then, you know, and so on and so on. There's three envelopes for you. I promise you, to help you out."

So the pastor said, "I really appreciate that." So he gets a few months in, and sure enough, he ends up making a kind of a goofy mistake there, and got a lot of people mad at him. So he goes in there and he gets out the envelope number one, opens it up, and it envelope says, "Blame me." So he's like, "Okay." So he did. He's like, "Well, you know, this is really the former pastor's fault. It's not my fault; it's just his fault." And everybody accept the answer — seemed to go real good. And then a couple months later, he made another big mistake. So he goes in there and gets out envelope number two, opens it up, and it says, "Blame the board." So he did. He's like, "It's the church board. I inherited this church board. These guys are not with me. It's their fault." And everybody's like, "Okay, okay." Couple months later, he makes another mistake. He opens up envelope number three, and it says, "Prepare three envelopes."

Mistakes are going to happen. You got to make choices. There's no way to learn except by choosing. And there's no way to choose except by risking. And no way to risk without sometimes failing. No way to fail without feeling pain. And God does not offer guidance as a method of risk avoidance. God's guiding you is not about reducing your anxiety in the face of the choices you have to make. It's about you becoming the person He intends you to be. And often times He takes you through things on purpose, to get some stuff out of you and to put some stuff in you. And that's the only way it can happen. That means, very often, God will say, "You choose. You choose. You choose. You be wise. You get good counsel. You choose, and I'll be there with you."

Another myth — is claiming that God's will is a trump card to get my way. "God told me I was going to marry you." That's awesome. How about you tell God to tell me, and I'll get back with you. "God told me that you're going to give me that car." "God told me you're going to buy my lunch today." "God told me." Again, this is this language. It's interesting — this churchy language you get.

It reminds me of a story of a boy: he comes busting in the back door of the house, and he had forgot that his mama had told him that Pastor was coming over for coffee. But the boy was excited, because he had a story to tell his mom. So he busted in the back door, and before she can even say a word, he's like, "Mom, you're never going to believe this. I was out in the garage, and I found a rat, and I grabbed a rock up, and I chunked it, and I hit that rat right in the head." And he goes, "It stunned it for a minute." He goes, "I went over and I started stomping on the rat, stomping on the rat." He says, "I grabbed it by his tail, and I slammed it in the side of the garage wall. And I picked it up again, and slammed it in the side of the garage wall, and picked it up one more time." And about that moment, he looked up, and his mom was giving that look like, "I'm going to kill you." And then it hit him — he forgot. So he looked over, and he seen the preacher sitting there. And he's telling that story; he got that rat in his hand, and he said, "And then, that moment, the good Lord called him home to his reward."

We kind of get goofy around the church language. I'm not — again, I'm trying to be disrespectful. You know, we should reverence certain things, but sometimes — this is be honest — it gets a little goofy. What people say — especially people that are not familiar with the church — they look at us like we're crazy. Like, "What do you mean?" But I feel like, if we're not careful, it ends up spilling into the way we think about things. And I can just use that as my get-out-of-free: "Well, the Lord called me. You know, Lord called me." I'm not dismissing — cuz the Lord does call, and God does do those things. But you need to make sure, if you're saying it, that it's a real thing. That God really did call you. That He really did ask you to do those things. Don't — be sure you don't use it just as something that's beneficial to you.

When I think about this, I think about Acts 13. Verse number two says: "As they minister to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul, for the work which I have called them.'" You know, there's a time when God does that.

And one of my favorite books — my favorite book's three — it's a book called Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster. And this is an amazing book — probably my top five books I've ever read in my life. It convicts me every time I read it. The celebration that he talks about in here — there is one where he talks about guidance. For God is to guide us in our life. And we're to make sure that we're doing those things that God guides us — not just individually, but He also guides us together. There's something powerful about being a part of the church, meaning part of a community of faith, and how much of an impact it makes on us. Because sometimes, on my own, I can get these big, goofy ideas, and they get a little crazy. That's why I need you guys to help balance me out — that I share that, that I talk with you about that. You know, like, that bearing one another's burdens is the real deal. So that we have somebody else to say, "I don't know. And I mean, I can see that God's moving on you. You feel this pretty strongly, but it seems that maybe go a little bit against this or that. We need each other to help each other out." It's not about anyone person or individual or superstar, or something like that. It's through community — through wise men and wise women together speaking into each other's life. It's important. The church is important. Being a part of the church, it's important.

Another myth: there's nothing anyone can do to be guided by God. That's not true. It's simply not true.

I was thinking about this. I was thinking about the prophet Elijah. I like reading about him, because he's a guy that got discouraged. And sometimes I get discouraged. He got discouraged, and he needed a little bit of guidance. And the Lord let him alone for an extended period of time, as he ran it 40 days. He's up on a mountain. And many of you know this story. He's up there, and this whole thing begins to transpire in front of him. And all of a sudden, you see lightnings and thunders and powerful wind, and all this stuff, and there's an earthquake. But with each one of those instances, it says the Lord was not in the earthquake. The Lord was not in the wind. The Lord was not in the lightning. And then there's a fire. And then Elijah has to wait and wait, and finally, after all this dramatic stuff — nothing spectacular, nothing big, nothing special — all of a sudden there's a still, small voice.

Here's the deal: you and I cannot hear God if we're not listening for Him. You and I cannot hear Him if we're not purposely finding a place to quiet all the noise in our life. And man, we're living in a day and age when there's so much noise. There's so much noise. There's so much vying for our attention. You know, this isn't me here preaching against social media and preaching against entertainment. Those stuff's out there, you guys. But if you're not balancing it out in your life, if you're not finding opportunities to get away, to where you can be quiet and where you can be still, I promise you, you're going to struggle hearing the voice of God. And if you've never had an opportunity to truly, or say with confidence, that you've heard the voice of God, then I would encourage you: spend some time in prayer and fasting, where you push all this other stuff out of the way, where there's nothing else there available but His voice. And watch and see if God won't speak to you. But if you're not listening — if I'm not listening — I'm never going to hear His voice.

Reading Scripture is very uniquely — a unique way that God likes to do that. In my morning routine, I don't read the Word of God to get a message to preach to you. Not in the mornings. In the mornings, that's just me time. That's just me and God. And here's the deal: the last few years, I really feel like I got convicted. I haven't talked about this publicly, but here's my chance. For I don't know how many years, I read the Bible through every year. I did the BREAD program, and I'm a ford. I'm still ford. I think it's a good thing. But God convicted me, because often times I was more concerned with checking the list off, that I read, than actually sitting in the moment with what God had for me. So for the last 2 years, I've been reading my Bible differently in my morning time of devotion. Sometimes I read one chapter; sometimes I read six chapters. But what I'm allowing is — I always — this is just me. You do it your way. This is me. I always pray first. And in my prayer, as I'm praying, I ask God, "God, speak to me when I open Your Word. Speak to me today. Give me what I need today. I want to hear from You, God. I want You to guide my feet. I want You to direct my path." And what I have found in the last couple years is a whole new richness and depth in my relationship with God, when I haven't put myself to check off the box. And I'm a task-oriented guy — you know, you've heard me say it before. I am. I like checking things — off. But this is not just a check-off thing. A relationship isn't about checking a box. Not with Him. And man, I've discovered — we've had some good — in fact, there's been a few instances when I've been in the same chapter multiple days. I haven't been able to get out of it. I'd read it, and it was so rich, and it was so much depth, and so much nourishment that I needed that day. And then I found out, the next day, I'm right back in that same chapter, and He's speaking to me again. So I would encourage you, if this is something new for you, or maybe this is something you're trying to fine-tune: don't just put God in a set frame. Open yourself up to what He wants to do, because I promise you, if you're tuned to Him, He will speak to you. Our God wants to guide you.

Which leads me to my last myth: being guided by the Spirit is simply a myth. No, it's not. The truth is, to be led and guided by the Spirit isn't just your own personal spiritual experience. It's something that God desires to do with you every day. To have a relationship with Jesus means you need to be filled with His Spirit. It's important. In fact, you don't really get to truly unlock the Word of God unless you have His Spirit living in you to unlock the Word. You can read it, but you don't always fully grasp it.

I think about this in Acts 20. This is going to be my last passage I read to you today. Think about the Apostle Paul. I see this in Acts 20, verse 22: "And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that change and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish the race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of grace of God."

Imagine what it would be like if Paul would have said, "No." I know it's hard for you to get your head around for a minute, but just think with me: how different things would have been if Paul would have said, "No." But you see here — and this is, again, this is a very sobering passage to me — when he says, "Now I go, bound in the Spirit, to Jerusalem, not knowing what's going to happen to me." I think Paul knew it's probably not going to go well. It's probably going to end well. I think it's why he's writing the way he is. But when you say yes to being led by God's Spirit, here's the deal: more often than not, there's more at play than just you. See, there was more at play than just Paul. Paul was something that God was doing. He was using God, and we know that, because Paul's been so effective. We read so much of his word that he wrote, and it's made an impact in my life. I know it's made an impact in your life. But where would any of that be, if Paul would have said, "No"?

See, there's always more at stake in the decision than just the moment, and just you. You saying yes may have a bigger impact than you can ever imagine.

As I'm getting ready to bring this to a close: I was 14 years old, and I can vividly remember this. I was sitting in my mom and dad's living room, and Brooklyn Tabernacle CD was playing in there. I like some good Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. And this was the beginning of God doing something in me. I didn't really know what it was at 14. I'd been raised in church my whole life. I was familiar with what God's presence felt like, but still had a lot of questions myself. But I remember, in that moment, what I know now was God speaking to me. It was His voice in my life. But I was — again, I was a lot like Samuel. I was unfamiliar. This was new territory for me. But I remember distinctly Him saying this to me — me feeling so impressed with this — Him saying, "If you give Me your life, I will always take care of you."

I didn't even know what that meant at 14. I didn't even know how to process that. And I would love to tell you that I got up from there, and from 14 to 48 everything's been perfect, but that would be a lie. Here's the truth: at 14, I was scared to death what it meant, and I ran from God. It was 5 years later before I finally waved the right flag and surrendered to God, to ministry. I was 19. It wasn't an ideal condition. I was some place I shouldn't have been, doing things I shouldn't have done. But I was miserable, because I couldn't get away from this call in my life. Finally, I'm like, "God, I don't know what You can do with me. I can't even imagine I could ever do anything worthwhile. But whatever it's worth, here I am." And at 19, I acknowledged that God was calling me in the ministry.

Now, I stand here, 48 years old, pastor this church — and this isn't "pat Kevin on the back" — but I think back of all the things that I've gotten to see with my eyes, all the opportunities that have been before me that I've got to experience, and all the services I've been a part of, and prayer meetings, and watching people being healed, seeing people being filled with the Spirit — all these things, that because I said yes, that all of a sudden dominoed out forward. And there's been times in my life where I've thought to myself, "What would have happened if I would have said no?" If I would have said no, I don't know that my life would look like it looks like right now. I don't know. I feel confident it wouldn't. I feel confident that my wife's life would look different. Obviously, my children's life would look different. And there's people in church that I've had opportunity to walk hand in hand with, and see them make some dramatic changes. Does that mean that God's kingdom will stop, just because I said no? No, that's not it at all. God's will and purpose is always going to take place. But I'm telling you, every time we make a decision, there's more at play than just you and I.

Our God will help you get through, if you'll learn to be obedient to the call that is there, because He's calling you. Every one of you have a ministry. You may never do what I do here, but that doesn't mean your ministry is any less valuable. You have a powerful God who desires to guide you and walk with you every day of your life.

I don't know where you are right now, but this is what I feel in my spirit. I felt it this morning in prayer. I still feel it now. Some of you, you've been too nervous to acknowledge what God's wanting you to do. I'm telling you, today is the day to own it. God is calling you. God is wanting to guide your life. Be obedient to His call. Be led by His Spirit. God is still speaking. God is still reaching. God is still wanting to direct your every step in your life. God will do it through you, if you will follow His leading. Allow His Spirit to take you on the greatest adventure you could ever imagine. And I promise, you'll see with your own eyes things you could have never dreamed of. And God wants to do it through you.

I want to pray and then now. If you're at home, and you're here — well, let's just close your eyes, if you're comfortable. Don't leave, though. I want you to — don't leave. Please stick around for a minute. Don't tune me out. They're going to come and sing in just a second to you, but I want you to linger in the presence of God, and let God speak to you right now.

Well, let's pray. God, we want to do the right things in our life. We want to make the right choices and right decisions. And God, I know right now, that people are listening to me — there's probably relationships that are not right, or friendships that are not right, or things they've not done in the best of ways. They're just a mess. God, we live in a mess. World's a mess. Sometimes our lives are just a mess. We don't know what to do, but I know this: You want to speak to us. God, do You want to speak to us? So God, I come against worry and anxiety and depression and loneliness. Let them be gone right now, for the next few moments. Push those things away. I pray right now, on this Sunday, Lord, that we would feel Your presence near and close. We wouldn't try to cover up. We wouldn't try to hide. We would be open before You. God, do a work inside of us that only You can. God, take the brokenness of our life, and make something beautiful out of it. God, I pray that we would have faith to trust You like never before — that You would lead us, You would guide us, You would direct us. Thank you that You're a guiding God. Thank you that the same Spirit that led You also leads us. Help us make right choices today. Be with us. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. Amen.