Desperation for a Voice
by Zayne Parkey
April 22, 2023 · Cornerstone Apostolic Church
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Mark 10:46-52, Ezekiel 5, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Galatians 1:10, 1 Peter 5:6-7, 1 Timothy 2:1, Luke 6:21, Psalm 6:8, Jeremiah 31:9, Joel 2:12, John 11:35, Psalm 119:145, Exodus 23:2, Romans 8:26, Acts 1:8, Nehemiah 8:10

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/zayne-parkey--hyphen-community-weekend-zayne-parkey-4-21-23
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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I feel a special presence of God in this place and I feel a peace in this house tonight and um I just want to let you guys know if this is your home Church you guys are blessed because I've been to a lot of churches and sometimes you walk into a church and there's a little bit of sense of unrest sometimes you walk in and there's something else but I feel peace in the house of God tonight and that comes through great leadership so how about you give your leaders a hand for putting together this awesome weekend because you guys are so blessed and I'm so excited for what God has in store for this weekend I'm gonna allow you guys to be seated for just a little bit I want to give honor where honor is due and um the Sloan family I'm so thankful for you guys for the opportunity to be here with you guys in the Davis family we are so delighted to be here with you all and uh I'm I'm delighted to see some familiar faces in the house and some people that I know but I'm excited for those that I don't to get to know you guys a little bit I got to meet Connor and Ian over here a little bit earlier uh Connor he went to Camp with me but he didn't remember me but I remembered him so uh we'll uh he'll remember me next time so hopefully but uh this weekend I feel like God is going to touch somebody in a special way and um I wonder if just before we go into anything else I'm not going to make us pray again but I want us to get our mind in the right place and I want you guys to be willing to receive something that God has for you and sometimes I think you know maybe you don't know me and maybe you're just trying to oh you're already kind of trying to feel me out but um I just want you to let God speak to you here because ultimately I I'm I'm just trying to speak what I feel like the Lord has put on my heart so um even aside maybe the words that I'm saying to you if I say something that impresses God to speak to you I want you to be open to what God is speaking into your life for this weekend and um my topic of tonight is is going to be something that is close uh to my heart I'm sorry to the media team for my very scattered notes because um I may be taking a few different routes here tonight because I just want to be sensitive to what the Lord is wanting to do in this house but I'm going to talk about desperation for a voice desperation for a voice and I believe that we live in a world a day in an age where there are so many different voices that are trying to pull for our attention that you guys go to school every single day and there are things that are happening there are people that are trying to force their agenda on you you guys go to college campuses in your schools you have friends that are that are believing certain things that are maybe not the ideals that that you know to be true but what I want to tell you that there is always going to be voices there's always going to be things the Bible Likens the devil to a lion seeking whom he may devour and if we don't have our guard up at all times if we don't if we're not aware of the enemy's devices then then we can slip up and we can allow him to come into our life but I want to talk to you tonight that there's a voice that's reaching for some of you tonight and some of you are going to hear it maybe even for the first time but I want to tell you that there is a voice that is reaching for you tonight how many of you are in a relationship raise your hand if you're in a relationship some of you are like I'm talking to somebody but I don't know some of us are married in the house and uh if you're in a relationship if you're not if you're maybe looking for that significant other maybe you came to this hyphen weekend this community event you're thinking man I want some community and I want some uh if you're a guy you're coming and you're I'm gonna find that girl and maybe she's going to be the the person that I'm going to marry and that's all right in the house and um this is the place to look for them but um I I was uh kind of researching this topic and um I I wonder if you guys could help me out here for a second there is a there's a term there's a phrase that uh when somebody they've been looking for you know them to have gone through multiple people they've talked to a lot of people and they just really talk to anybody and everybody uh there's one word that that I'm I'm talking about and it's kind of in my title so what's that word you can scream it out if that person is they'll talk to anybody somebody said it desperate if somebody's desperate they're you know that there's not really any rules there's not any guidelines there's not any boundaries and sometimes we have a negative connotation for that person that and you guys may go to the school with some people and they've already they've dated five or six people in the last six months and you're like man that person is desperate and that word kind of has a negative connotation to it and um I was just researching this in particular because the Bible does not necessarily talk about that specific word very often it doesn't really reference it a whole lot if you look up like I do a lot desperate in the Bible and you know there's all of those different pages that pull up scriptures that you won't really find a lot of scripture in the Bible that has the word desperate but being desperate is definitely in the Bible and we'll get into that a little bit but one of the articles that I found was how to not look desperate and I was like okay I gotta read this I gotta read this because uh like I said we've all ran into somebody we've all met a person that we're like man that person is desperate so naturally I'm intrigued to see what this article has to say so it gives four reasons to what makes someone look desperate or when someone is looking for a significant other these are the things that they should try to avoid in looking desperate number one is avoid being too available uh some some uh some old timer put it don't don't or play hard to get and uh you know you don't you don't want to lay your cards down and be like okay like I love you so much and and you know that person they may be like okay well this person's a little crazy because they like me too much right away so so you want to keep your cards a little close to your chest and and you're not trying to uh play it lay it all on the table and um avoid being too available so I was like okay that I get that you know you don't want to be too available like you know like are would you be available to go to eat yeah I'm there like yeah tomorrow tomorrow today actually I'm available you know they're like whoa like yeah so avoid being too available is number one number two is make contact occasionally some of you in this room may have talked to somebody and you're like oh uh or maybe they asked for your number and every single day every day every hour it's hey hey hey hey hey it's me hey did you have my number hey hey do you know did you save my number this is me hey and you know it's like whoa oh like so avoid or I'm sorry make contact occasionally so it's not like you know you're bothering them maybe it's like every once in a while like and that kind of ties into number one avoid being too available because it's just like if you're contacting them all the time they know that like that they want to feel like you've got some options and you know so so number two is uh make contact occasionally don't be the annoying person that's going and uh messaging them 24 7. and number three is be mindful of your body language so if you're if you're in a room with this person that you like maybe that person's in this room and during service while the preacher's preaching and you're you're uh while the preacher's up here you're looking this way you know and they're trying to pay attention to the preacher and they look over and oh hey hey Community weekend you're here too like right in the middle of the sermon and they're like oh my goodness what is this person doing so you got to be mindful of your body language even if you know that they're there maybe try not to stare into their soul uh maybe try to just uh not go about just be mindful of your body language and number four is focus on the good things that you have now so to avoid being desperate I thought this was a good one to end it on for this list to focus on the good things that you have now and um I thought like I said I thought that was cool because you know if you're if you are liking somebody or maybe you're down on yourself because you're not feeling these uh feelings reciprocated from this person focus on the good things and you're like man like I am pretty good looking I am a good dresser you know I I I I I got I am in college or maybe I have a good job I I make 15 bucks an hour you know they probably make 12. like you know you're like you're focused on on the bright side of things so so focus on the good things that you have now so like I said I I was looking up and just looking into uh being desperate and um we think of it when we hear the word desperate most of the times in a negative light but as I look throughout scripture and as I look through the different passages and I can give you passage after passage of of different people who are desperate you have the lady with the issue of blood who who was desperate for a miracle and and and she goes and and she touches the hymn of Jesus's garment because she knew that this may be her only opportunity to reach and to touch somebody that could change her whole entire world and I could go a story into story after Story of people in their lives being changed all because they were desperate so I had this conversation with myself and with God as as I Was preparing for this message and I'm like God we we have this negative idea of what it means to be desperate and as I look into scripture and almost every single miracle in almost every single situation in almost every aspect of you affecting somebody's life of you healing them of you touching their mind and as I look around my church and I watch as somebody who had cancer and cancer disappears it wasn't until they had something that came into their life that they had no control over that they found themselves in a place where they were desperate and I want to tell someone in the house tonight that it is okay to be desperate before God in fact God is looking for someone to be desperate for a voice in the house tonight when I was in high school I uh we'll just give you guys a little bit of background to me I'm a pastor's kid I was born in Tulare California and uh now I live in Tennessee and this is God's country and I'm I'm proud of it so I I had uh I kind of had just a cool I I have a I can give you guys all the details later I ended up moving around my dad as a pastor has been a pastor my whole entire life my dad now pastors a church in Memphis Tennessee and um I I went to high school actually in Olive Branch Mississippi which is right on the border of of Tennessee and Mississippi so literally like 10 minutes I went to church in Memphis and um I went to high school in Mississippi so I kind of uh just it was cool and you know uh anyways so I uh grew up going to this High School in Mississippi uh because we had moved to Memphis my freshman year and uh it was interesting because I was kind of the I didn't really fit in with any demographic of people because I was like the kid from California that grew up riding dirt bikes because I lived in the country of California and like you have like Tennessee country boys that like don't do anything country except for drive a big truck so I out and have a country accent so I was like you know this like like I grew up kind of like like very different than your typical like you're like oh yeah a surfer bro like you must Surf and I'm like no I actually never surfed before but I ride dirt bikes and you know I rode four-wheelers and rode horses and uh all this cool stuff and they're like okay so you're not a country boy so like so I kind of just whenever I got to high school that it was a school that you know um some of you guys have maybe been to a school like this where it's like everyone has gone to school together their whole entire life and maybe you're you've been a part of that school and like there's Center Hill Middle School which is the school I went to and there's Center Hill High School so all of these people know each other they have their clicks so I wasn't really somebody who just fit in with just like I said one demographic of people and I kind of just bounced around and um it you may not know this now because I'm in front of you and I was very quiet and I did not like talking in front of people and I did not I was not the type of person I remember one time in particular I had to speak in front of my math class and once again they had uh they they had this Mantra like at the school that you could like quote and they had all done it since they were in elementary school and my teacher's like there's going to be a test grade on the Mantra that you guys have known since uh middle school or elementary school and I'm like I am about to do a 10th grade on something I have no idea about and she thought she was doing everybody else a favor but little did she know I grew up in California and did not know what they were about to do so I'm freaking out because I'm about to fail this test and anyways I had to learn this really embarrassing thing that I had to do in front of everyone and I'm like I mean guys it was it was like the 12 words of wisdom I mean I like I said I'm getting bogged down in the details but anyways just context is I I didn't really fit in I kind of was just keeping to myself my whole entire High School career and I had this experience and I had this moment with this guy guy named Sam everybody say sam Sam I think we got a Sam somewhere around here and uh uh shout out to Sam I met Sam here recently and um good people you guys are blessed once again and um I uh met this guy named Sam when I was in high school and Sam was kind of uh a knucklehead some people would call it but he was a good guy and um he uh kind of maybe didn't make the right decisions all of the time but um he was a good guy and I like I said I was this loner kid I ended up getting into golf when I was in high school and I really liked Golf and uh kind of just used it as an outlet for a lot of uh friends I just played golf and I was like okay I can do this and uh so I kind of just tried to keep to myself but everybody knew me as the pastor's kid so even though I didn't really talk about it people talked about and they're like yeah Zayn's dad is a pastor and um I didn't really kind of want to just get into the details with everybody I was okay with everybody calling me the pastor's kid as long as they didn't talk to me about it but anyways I'm trying to just keep to myself and there's this guy named Sam and every day uh this Sam's like I said maybe a little bit of a knucklehead would get in trouble every once in a while but a good guy he would walk by me and say Zane I like your shoes and I I wore the same pair of shoes every day so I was just like you know not for the lack of even I just like this one pair of Vans and I was like you know I'm cool and he's like I like those shoes and I'm like okay bro you say it every day and it was like almost every day I would walk you know passing period the Bell would ring I'd grab my backpack I'm walking are you saying I like your shoes and he cool thanks thanks bro so I remember uh time after time I like your shoes I like your shoes Sam and I kind of knew of this guy he was more of a a popular guy and I was uh walking one day and school was ending I was about to head to golf practice and and Sam um said hey hey Zane um man I like your shoes I'm like thanks Sam like you know I'm about to get out of here and he's like well he's like your dad is a pastor isn't he I said you know like yeah he is he is he is a pastor and um Sam began to talk about me and uh or talk to me rather and and said you know he he wanted to know know more about where I came from uh what my story was where I went to church at and sadly in this moment I I was not interested in talking to Sam about any of that and I found myself in a place where I was comfortable and it was my my safe place to just not really get out out of you know what what I was just what was normal and I was like you know I'm not really comfortable talking about this I'm not really super outspoken and um I I uh I just kind of shoved it to the side and I I kind of went to golf practice I thought about it a little bit later and said man you know what I maybe should have said something to Sam so the very next day I go to school and um I'm I'm sitting there and I it was just kind of minding my own business in my first period class and um every morning the Bell would ring before they did these announcements and and I can literally picture that that classroom I can tell you where everyone is sitting because it's ingrained in my memory and the announcements begin to go in that classroom and and the voice began to speak over that intercom and and it was it was almost like you could sense that something was wrong the moment that that person began to talk and and everyone paid attention to what was about to be said because we would all remember it for the rest of our lives and and what they spoke over the intercom was we had an accident yesterday with somebody that is a part of our student body and they said Sam was driving last night in his car and his car flipped nine times and Sam tragically passed away in that moment is ingrained in my mind for the rest of my life because I remember the day previous when Sam was asking me when I had an opportunity to talk to him but I wasn't desperate to reach somebody I wasn't desperate to have a conversation I wasn't desperate to maybe hear the voice God's saying look this is an opportunity for you to reach somebody this is an opportunity and not everyone is promised tomorrow so I I was just comfortable with the normal but I wasn't desperate and there's a story in the Bible of a man named blind Bartimaeus and Mark chapter 10 verses 46 through 52 says now they came to Jericho and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples a great multitude or and a great multitude blind Bartimaeus the son of Timaya Sat by the road begging everybody say blind Bartimaeus say it again blind Bartimaeus that's pretty fun to say and when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth he began to cry out loud Jesus son of David have mercy on me and all of a sudden the the crowd began to look at this man who was screaming this man who who who had sat probably on that corner who had been helped to that corner by a bunch of different people this man is screaming Jesus Son of David have mercy on me and they're worried about what everybody else is going to think because they helped him to that corner and they're saying you know what you better be quiet because if you make a Ruckus if you make some noise I I might I might look bad I may look a different way because you're screaming and nonetheless it says that many warned him to be quiet but all the more he cried out Jesus Son of David have mercy on me and if you've heard this story before you know that that he had a problem and he had something that he had dealt with his entire life and it says so Jesus Stood Still and commanded him to be called so the same people that had helped him to the corner the same people that that that called him friend the same people that were around him that that weren't as desperate as he was to have a miracle but he recognized he was used to hearing the the Ruckus of the crowd and he was used to hearing everything around him and he knew that that if there was a loud noise if there was a crowd that there was something that was going on and so as this crowd is going by him as Jesus the Son of God is walking by he recognizes that there is a Ruckus and that there's something going on and and he tells the person next to him hey hey I can't see exactly what's going on but but can you tell me who is walking by and they let him know that Jesus of Nazareth is walking by and he recognized in in that moment that he had been hearing the Miracles that had been happening he had been he hadn't been seeing but but he had recognized that there was somebody that was in his vicinity that could give him something that nobody else in the world could so Jesus calls this man and and he tells them be of good cheer rise and he walks up to Jesus and it says that he threw His Garment aside and he rose and came to Jesus so Jesus answered and said to him what do you want me to do for you and the blind man said to him Rabbi that I may receive my sight and then Jesus said to him go your way in your faith has made you whole and immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road the only reason that blind Bartimaeus received his side In This Moment was because he was desperate the only reason that God was able to heal this man that Jesus even recognized that he was there because he got outside of what everybody was thinking about him he got outside of the normal of what people expected for him to do when Jesus was walking by and everybody else was embarrassed and sometimes being desperate means that you don't care about what other people think about you being desperate means that even when your friends aren't doing it that you make a decision that you don't care what it looks like those and what was interesting to me as I began to study this passage I looked back to those four things of of what it means to to try and not look desperate and number one was avoid being too available and in this moment I thought about blind Bartimaeus and I thought about man how often times do we come into a church service and we think to ourselves and maybe it's subconsciously maybe it's not something that we're just like oh I don't want to be desperate but how often do we come in and we say you know what I don't want to go up front because I don't want to make it look like I've got something going on in my life and number one was avoid being too available blind Bartimaeus did not care what what people thought about whether he was available or not he comes up to Jesus and he's saying hey hey hey I'm here I'm here and I need a miracle and I need something so sometimes we have to do something radical to get God's attention sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone and and we're so used to just lifting our hands normally and we're you know the pastor Sloan says lift your hands and we all lift our hands and he says if you want God to do something I want you to step out and you know we're being obedient to the to the man of God as we should but when whenever we hear God just say go put your face in that altar we're thinking you know what I I'm too worried about what my image is and and you know maybe I'm a person of notoriety maybe I do something at this church and maybe maybe they're going to think that I have sin in my life who cares I'm telling you that if you want God to do something for you if you want God to move on your behalf you have to stop worrying about what this world thinks about you being desperate but you have to start worrying and you have to start thinking God what can I do to make you know that I'm desperate for something from you in Jesus name God's calling someone to be desperate for a voice in here and I had that moment in high school where I wasn't desperate enough to reach people I wasn't desperate enough in the moment to to reach somebody that I had an opportunity to in Ezekiel 5 talks about how there were people that came to God and and God persecuted these people and God is speaking in Ezekiel 5 and he's actually reprimanding the people of God and and he tells them that actually I have to persecute them but you didn't tell them about me therefore the blood is on your hands and I found myself in the same place as these people in Ezekiel with the blood of somebody else that I had not every opportunity to tell about Jesus with his blood on my hands so I made a decision I I I went along this High School career and I had moments where God touched me and and I made up in my mind that there that there was never going to be a moment that I was not going to allow him to minister to somebody else through me again I I was desperate because I had went through something that I did not want to experience again so I made up in my mind that God I'm gonna be desperate desperate for your voice and I think sometimes in our walk with God we can get so caught up in the mundane and we can get so caught up in the and and what's normal and what we're used to and what's comfortable that God is speaking to us and we miss it because we're doing what's comfortable because we're doing what we've scheduled every Sunday and God's trying to disrupt our schedule and all the while we've ignored his voice so much that we don't even recognize it anymore I feel the Holy Ghost in This Place because I feel like God is speaking to somebody the story of blind Bartimaeus reminds us reminds us number one of the importance of Godly friends First Corinthians 15 and 33 says do not be deceived Bad Company runes good morals and I want to tell you that the people that are around you if they are not pushing you towards the kingdom of God and pushing you towards the things of God then I want to tell you that it's not worth your salvation it's not worth them pulling you to a place that you never wanted to go it's not worth them pulling you to places that that you never thought you would be but because you're in in influence with these people blind Bartimaeus had people he's literally about to receive his sight he has an opportunity with the one person and they knew that too they knew that Jesus could heal them but they were worried about what it looked like they were worried about how people perceive them because their friend was standing up and speaking out but I'm telling you tonight that you have to get aside what your friends think about you you have to get a side what what these people are saying you know what you're going to look dumb if you if you say that you've got a call to preach you're going to look dumb if you say that you're going to be called to missions and I believe that there are missionaries that are in this very house tonight some of you guys are sitting in this very room that God has called you to be missionaries and and I'm telling you tonight that sometimes you have to find that place with God where he's speaking to you and you do not silence the voice of God if God has called you to be a missionary then you're a missionary and you don't back off of it and say you know what I I'm just gonna I'm gonna be a tide payer at my church you listen to what God says you listen to what God has for your life and God has a plan for each and every person in this room the second lesson that we learn is that blind Bartimaeus shows us that only Jesus only God can fill us and every day we carry around the emptiness of seeking validation from person from person from the world from our friends from our parents and from our family and we're looking for Hope in all the wrong places and the truth is that the world can never make you feel like you're enough if you're searching for what's what what feels good it may feel good for a season but I'm telling you that if you look for validation from the world that you will find yourself more broken than you were when you started looking in the first place it can never feel the chasm that keeps asking you to feed it because it's you know what if you if you do drugs one time maybe it'll feel good maybe you can go back to church and you'll recognize I'm telling you is that the best testimony that you can bring to the house of God is that you never had to go through any of that that you never had to go through any of that Galatians 1 10 says for now or I'm sorry for I am now seeking the approval of man or of God or am I trying to please man and if I were trying to please man I would not be a servant of Christ so you know what that's saying that outside of serving man God has a purpose for you and yes there's going to be people that tell you to do stuff and yes there's going to be people that that seek that you're seeking approval for but the only person in the main person that we're seeking approval from is God is God Is Not man it's not your friends it's not any person around you but we're looking for approval from God and and I'm guilty of it too and I'm not telling you stuff that you guys don't already know in the house tonight but sometimes the things that we do in the Kingdom we do for our pastor we do for the people that are around us and to make us look good but what I'm telling you tonight that everything that you do that's attached to the kingdom of God is done for God's glory your pastor is not in the position that he's he's in because he he's he thinks that he gets a lot a lot of people to like him and you know that he he's oh now I've got this Authority that's not what it's about your pastor's called to do what he's called to do and he's called to reach people so so there's no greater thing that you can do and you can say Pastor you know what do you need and and I'm encouraging you to do that and that's part of it because ultimately there's there's levels to this and if you were if you were in submission to the man of God to the person that's your pastor your voice never supersedes the voice of the man of God I feel that in the Holy Ghost tonight God will never tell something to your pastor here's an interesting passage David was submitted to to Saul even when Saul was making wrong decisions and understand what I'm saying I'm not saying that your pastor is making wrong decisions I'm saying that you you guys are blessed with good leadership in the house but I'm saying that biblically God expected David to be submitted to Saul even when Saul was making the wrong decisions and he had to wait until God elevated him so I want to tell you tonight that if your pastor tells you to do something and you feel like you're in the wrong or he's in the wrong you still better do it because there's there's levels to submission and I'll tell you what God will honor your submission God will honor and maybe it makes you step out of your comfort zone maybe it makes you look a little desperate maybe you're saying you know this maybe in your flesh you feel like this is below me but I promise you that if you will keep a humble spirit and you will say God I am willing to submit to somebody in my life and you're not just an unruly spirit that anytime your pastor tells you to do something that he that you give him Flack about it and you give him all the reasons why you shouldn't and you do it with a bad spirit I want to tell you that if you will say yes Pastor I'm willing to serve you because ultimately when you are serving the man of God your pastor the person that is in submission over you you are serving God you are serving God first Peter 5 6-7 says therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he cares for you so we're supposed to cast all of our cares on to God because he cares for us isn't that comforting in the house tonight that we can bring all of our cares and all of the things that we're anxious about and all of the things that we're worried about and we can bring it to God and he can say you know what I'm going to help you out because I care for you that gives me comfort in the house of God tonight Jesus cares for us and what would happen if we became so desperate if we were looking for a voice of God we were looking for God's voice in our life in a time where we didn't even have to be desperate in a time where maybe we didn't need God to heal us from cancer maybe it was a time where we didn't need God to heal our father or our mother from a great sickness or or maybe we have a great need at work and we've lost our job what if as young people as hyphen we learned to be desperate for God's voice outside of us just needing something from him desperation for a voice and and I want to tell you tonight that if you make up in your mind that you are going to be desperate for God you're number one going to have to learn to hear from God it's one thing to be desperate and it's one thing to actually own up to say you know what God I need something from you but it's a whole nother thing to actually hear the voice of God so I I just want to hit I just want to hit on that tonight just kind of uh um in this latter part of of my message because I feel like sometimes um you know we we hear a preacher tell us you bless God you need to you need to hear from God and you're like okay hello you know we have these moments that we feel like God is not talking to us or or maybe we're asking something maybe you have found yourself in a a place of desperation and um I I had I had that moment like I said when I was in high school with with a friend that tragically passed away and I I made a decision I went to a conference where I felt God's voice and and actually I heard God's voice more clearly than I ever had before but I was always the kind of person that was looking for the voice of God in this audible like thus says the Lord Zane and I'm like and and I was always looking for God to speak to me and I think we can all admit that there's been a time or two where we wish God was just Rumble to Rumble that oh like you know earthquake God speaking and we've all looked for that at a time or another because we're looking for an answer we're looking for God to to do something in our life and and that for me whenever I was looking for the I never wanted to be a preacher I I didn't feel like I had the personality for it even though my dad was a preacher his dad was a preacher and his dad was a preacher I'm thinking you know what this is not for me I want to make some money and you know I I go to this conference and I hear God call me to the ministry and ironically this preacher was talking about the three types of callings and I'm telling you this story tonight because I want you to know that that God's speaking and and a lot of the time we we have him if you've grown up in church if you haven't um I wanna I wanna teach you something right now if you have grown up in church a lot of us have probably heard you know like let God Speak like in the silence and you're like okay like I'm gonna go get in a silent place and and if you're like me it's really really hard to to find I've got a eight month a nine month old baby now and um uh there's not a lot of Silence in my life anymore and I'm grateful for it I'm grateful that my wife is here uh with me and um there's not so you see this is this is what I'm dealing with on a on a regular basis he's crying right now so if you guys are like me and I've got a feeling that a lot of you are there's not it's super easy just to find silence and what I found and this is what I want if you're new in the house of God this is what I want you to take and run with that God speaks just as much in chaos this is not in my notes but God speaks just as much in the noise in fact probably just as much as he does in the silence and it's all a matter of whether or not we recognize and we're listening for God's voice so when you've got crazy amounts of stuff going on God just does not like take a backseat like you know what he's busy I'm not gonna I'm not gonna talk to you know he's got he's got work 40 hours this week and you know he's got church stuff after like I'm not like like I I don't know where we came up with this mindset of like you know like okay God can only exclusively speak in the silence and you're like I haven't heard from God because I've had this because I've had this but when I I want to tell you is that if you will be sensitive you will learn the voice of God in the times where you would have thought that you know what he could have never spoken to me in this moment and you're literally on on your way to work and you know you see all these crazy people driving in this crazy Chattanooga traffic and you know they're you know being crazy and yelling at each other and honking at each other and all of a sudden you'll hear the voice of God and he'll say you know what at work you're going to meet somebody today that you're going to pray for and you're like what in the world like in the chaos in the Chattanooga traffic and God's gonna speak to you and um there's a verse um and um if you've ever heard of uh brother verbal bean I I read his book A couple of years ago and um this is something that's always stuck with me and he Likens it to the four channels of approach and um first Timothy two and one says I exhort therefore first of all um that first of all supplications prayers intercession and giving thanks be made by all men so he Likens it to four channels of approaching God so what that means and what he talks about in this is how many of you guys have seen those truckers and you know they've got the potato chips set up and they've got like their glorious throne and their you think that like they do live out of their truck and you're like man that must be like a palace in there and you know they've got this big set up the big the big gulp you know drink and you know and they've got their headset on you guys seen those headsets so so you know they're breaker breaker channel nine you know what are you doing in your truck no I'm driving what are you doing you know I don't know I don't know what they communicate about but but nonetheless uh he Likens it to these truck drivers that are driving and um here's the crazy part about this if JoJo is on channel nine and uh John is on channel eight they can't hear each other so so In this passage in this verse there's four ways of approaching God number one in supplication number two in prayers number three in intercession and number four in giving thanks so supplications maybe you're coming to God on a Channel of saying God I need something from you but God is asking you to come in intercession and ultimately you come to God and you and you're on channel one and God's on channel three and you're saying God I need this so much for you but God's asking you to be thankful and ultimately we have to get on the same channel of God and we have to be willing to say you know what God I want to be on your channel because I want to hear your voice and sometimes we go to these prayers and and we get we get bogged down even in the silence because we're not on the same channel as God even when we've made we've made that silence there's a verse that talks about how how sin separates us from the ear of God so I want to tell you tonight that if you have sin in your life that's the easiest way for your prayers to not be heard because God literally turns his ear and if you want God to hear you and we'll do this here in a little while and we'll have a time of prayer you have to ask God for forgiveness you have to say God forgive me of every sin and then you look and you listen for his voice because I promise you if you do what the scripture says what this book says God will speak to you so these you you have these different channels of approaching God and whenever I read this a couple of years ago it literally changed me it changed the way that I view God in the way that he speaks to me because I recognize that there's times that I have to walk into his kingdom and I have to walk in into his throne room and I ask myself the question you know what okay I know that I need things in my flesh and I know that there's things that I I want in my flesh but there are things that God's trying to speak to me in the spiritual that I have to put my flesh aside and I have to carry my cross and say you know what like I'm giving up with my flesh wants and I'm asking what God wants and you guys will be surprised at how good your life will turn out if you get on the same channel as God Luke 6 and 21 says blessed are you that weep now Psalm 6 and 8 says the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping Jeremiah 31 and 9 the voice of the weeping prophet Prophet said that they shall come with weeping and with supplications and I will lead them Joel 2 and 12 says therefore also now turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning John 11 35 Jesus wept Psalms 119 and 1 through and 145 I cried with my whole heart Exodus 23 and 2 you shall not follow I'm telling you these verses tonight to say that there were people that found themselves in Desperate situations and they didn't care what it looked like to everyone else Moses had all of the excuses in the world why for why he couldn't be called I'm not qualified I can't talk good enough I've got a speech impediment I can't lead all these people who am I but I'm telling you that aside all of your excuses aside all of the things that your flesh wants to tell you the longer that we live in this world the more corruption that we will see and unless we learn the tactics uh that are that were talked about in these four channels of approaching God unless we learn how to hear God's voice then we will miss the voice that we're so desperate for in Jesus name I'm coming to a close at the musicians would like to come Romans 8 and 26 says the spirit also helps our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought the spirit helps our infirmities acts 1 and 8 says that you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you if you've never received the Holy Ghost in This House tonight that's what this verse is talking about it's saying that once you receive the Holy Ghost the Holy Spirit helps our infirmities things that you cannot do I want to tell you that if you struggle with addiction if you struggle with anxiety if you struggle with depression you cannot overcome it without the Holy Spirit there's no counselor that you can go go to there's no Pastor that can heal you but I'm telling you without God's holy spirit affecting your life you will continue to struggle and I'm telling you that God wants to fill some people God wants to refill some people in this house tonight Nehemiah 8 and 10 the joy of the Lord is your strength in Jesus name I made up in my mind that I was going to be desperate for God's voice the more that you ignore God's voice the easier it is for it to become an unrecognizable voice and there's a story of a prophet in the Bible and he hears the voice of God and he goes to the man of God in his life and he said hey did you call me he said no go to sleep he hears the same voice again and he goes to the man of God in his life the prophet and he says it's not me he said I want you to go back God's speaking to you and one of my big takeaways from this story is that to this young man who was to grow up and be a great prophet as a very young man the voice of God sounded a whole lot like the voice of the man of God in his life I feel the holy ghost coming into this place some of you have had bitterness towards leadership in your life some of you have had a wedge of a fence that has struck you and that has hurt you and I'm telling you tonight that God God's spirit is going to help you release it it's got It's had its grip on you but there's a voice from Heaven that's coming down to say you don't have to worry you don't have to be broken anymore you don't have to hurt anymore but all I'm asking for you to do is to be desperate for my boys is to be desperate for me to speak something to you in the silence and the noise and the chaos wherever it is I'm telling you tonight that God is speaking and he's trying to get a hold of you I went to Ocean Bible College and I told you that I made up in my mind that that there wasn't going to be a time that I did not follow God's voice in my life and while we were there we were having a Revival weekend at bible school and there was a young man who worked with the lady from our school and he came to this revival service and and he was a taller guy and and a girl got a chair and she prayed him through the Holy Ghost in in this in this service and and he just wrapped himself in our community and and whenever he came in you know he he he he had a he had a nose ring he he uh he didn't necessarily fit the fit the role of of what maybe a like just a quote-unquote normal person was and yet we just loved on him the student body just began to take him out to eat with us we brought him to church services with us and we watched as we didn't even teach this guy what to do we didn't tell him you know this is what you need to do these are the rules that you need to follow but we just loved on them and like I said I made up in my mind that I was going to do my part and I I we we taught Bible studies to this guy and some of my friends were were very intentional as well as me but he ended up just coming to Jesus getting baptized and getting connected to a local church all because we decided that we were going to be desperate and that we didn't care what the world had to say and this young man ends up having this awesome testimony and he brings his brother to Christ and he's he's still in church to this day but this young man I'm on Corral tour and I'm traveling and I'm and I'm going across the United States singing when I was in Bible school and and we were in this choir and we get a call it was that Daryl and passed passed away a car accident and it was this guy that we invested in it was this person that we made up our minds that we're gonna reach for because we're desperate and we don't care what the world has to say we don't want to care what the world thinks about about us reaching for somebody that maybe doesn't look the part that maybe has a crazy background and maybe has a crazy story of where they come from but I'm telling you tonight that God's gonna put some people in your path if you're desperate God's gonna put some people God's gonna put some family members I feel in the Holy Ghost right now that you've been reaching for a family member you've been reaching for somebody you've been praying for them and you've been asking God why you've been looking for his voice saying Lord I've interceded God I've done everything that I know to do and you still aren't seeing the results but I'm telling you that if you will keep praying if that you will keep reaching and if you will keep being desperate for God's voice in your life your prayers are not being thrown into the sea but I'm telling you tonight that God hears your voice if you will come to him with a repentant Spirit if you will say God I'm submitted to my leadership and God I'm desperate God will begin to affect your life I wonder if we could all stand in this place tonight because God's about to do something if you're desperate in this house tonight these altars are open and I'm not looking for somebody who's just willing to obey the man of God and say come to the altar but I'm looking for somebody in the house tonight that's gonna say I'm desperate for God to do something in me I'm desperate for God to put somebody in my path I'm desperate for him to speak to me in a way that he never has before because God is going to speak to you in this house tonight Lord in Jesus name I pray over every single person in this house God I pray Lord that you would give them a burden and a passion God lord to go beyond what this world thinks to go beyond Lord maybe what someone is going to perceive of them in this service but Lord let them hearken to your voice Lord let them come with with a heart that says God I'm not worried about what anybody thinks I'm not worried about anything in this room or what people see God I'm only worried about hearing what you want for my life there's God's Gonna God's gonna speak to some of you guys tonight God's gonna call you to the missions field God is going to call you to be Ministers of of his word God is going to call you to reach some people God's calling you to start some cmis in this room tonight there's some college campuses that are are going to turn this world upside down I'm telling you tonight that if you will be desperate God is going to make the difference for you in Jesus name