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Identity Over Activity

We all want to know we are accepted and loved for who we truly are.

Joshua MacLeod discusses the challenge of finding purpose, shares stories of awkward obedience, and examines how God's joy provides freedom and direction. You are invited into a journey of learning to listen, slowing down, and choosing practical steps toward wholeness.

Regardless of your past or doubts, you can find belonging, replace shame with acceptance, and realize that God communicates with those seeking something genuine.

Scriptures Referenced

Psalm 16:11, 23:1, 25:11-14; Proverbs 9:10; Isaiah 62:3-5; Jeremiah 29:13-15; John 10:14-17, 14:15; Romans 8:12-17; 1 John 2:16

Key Insights

  1. God’s delight in you does not depend on your perfection. He calls you to relationship, not just activity.
  2. Real belonging starts by hearing God’s voice for yourself, not just through others.
  3. It is normal to struggle with doubt, distraction, or thinking you are “unqualified.” God meets you there with love and not condemnation.
  4. Slowing down, turning off distractions, and honest prayer are simple, life-changing ways to grow closer to God.
  5. Obedience may feel awkward or risky.
  6. Believing God delights in you dismantles fear and shame, freeing you to live out your true identity and serve purposefully.
  7. Community grows as we confess, pray for one another, and refuse to pretend.

https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/identity-over-activity

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Gathering Times

  • Sundays, 9:00 AM
  • Sundays, 11:00 AM
  • Thursdays, 6:00 PM

Contact Info

Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167

615-459-3421

CCLI License 2070006

Transcript
Speaker:

Guys, can I tell you something? When you came up

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here and you stood in the altars a little bit ago, that

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wasn't just you standing in the altars a little bit ago.

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It was a new beginning. It was a beginning where the Holy

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Spirit was released to move in your life and work in these areas

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that you brought to Him. Don't you leave here thinking, well, "Wow, we just

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stood in the altar." No, you leave here going, "We just declared the name of

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Jesus over this whole situation, and now it's His.

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Now it's His." In case you are wondering

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where your actual pastor is this morning, he is

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ministering at another church this morning, speaking at a conference.

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And so Father, we ask that You bless him, that You use him mightily, Father

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God. We pray, Father God, that the Holy Spirit go before him,

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Lord. A wonder in that

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house. Release Your Word in that house, Father, we ask.

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And bring our pastor home safe to us in Jesus' name.

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Okay guys, if any of you signed up for Open Tables today, I just want

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to let you know that it's not happening.

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You are welcome to eat, however, that we're not banning

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that. But we are switching our Open Tables schedule to

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quarterly, and the first one that's coming up will be with our

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conference that is going to be at the beginning of March. And guys,

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you guys do not want to miss the Abide Conference.

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The Lord has been ordering the steps in this, and you're going to have 8

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different opportunities over that weekend to see

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what the Lord has for you, see what He has in your life. So you're

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going to want to be a part of that. And the ending of that conference

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will be, you know, First Gathering, Second Gathering that Sunday, and then

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we're going to ask everybody that can to sign up for Open

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Tables, because we want you to go talk to somebody about what

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God has done during your conference time together. Amen? So these

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are the dates. March 8th, take your camera, take a picture.

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During the conference, we'll have a table set up where you can sign up just

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to meet people, just to talk about what the Lord is doing. So this is

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going to be changing, and we hope that you'll be a part of that.

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We would love to have you. Now, speaking of loving

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to have someone in your presence, we—

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though Pastor Kevin is not here, we have the blessing of

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Joshua MacLeod bringing the Word. And can I tell you, he's he's gonna mess you

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up this morning with the word that the Holy Spirit has given you.

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So reach your hand toward him. Father God, we thank you for Joshua. We

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thank you, Lord, that he is getting ready to walk around those walls one more

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time, Father God. And so, Father, we ask that you cover him, surround him,

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speak through him, Father. We're listening. In Jesus' name,

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amen. Amen. Amen. Is this thing on?

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Praise the Lord. Um, what's— it's

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pretty awesome to come and speak at a church where the revival

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already broke out in the worship service, so you don't have to do much.

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I mean, right? I know I was over here in a circle

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praying with my family, and it was just like, oh God, you

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came to just meet with us and talk to us. So it's a

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crazy cool gift. Well, today I'm going to talk about two things. I'm going to

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talk about identity. I'm going to talk about Hearing from the Voice of God.

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But first, I wanna ask a question. Uh, did God ever ask

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you to do something really uncomfortable?

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I see those hands. I see those hands. Uh, when, when Sarah and

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I were first married, we were at this little church in Franklin called, uh, Faith

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Community Church, and it was just a beautiful little fellowship. I

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mean, it was like 120 people. I knew everybody, they knew me. And so at

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a little church, when a visitor comes in, it's like a big deal. You're like,

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whoa, hey, did you There's a new person that came in here. And

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so this lady comes in and she had a couple of grown

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kids, adults with her, and they came in and they sat right

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behind Sarah and I. And so everything was great, and I'm

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worshiping and just praising God and things, and then the Holy Spirit says,

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"Hey, Josh, I want you to turn around and ask that lady

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where her husband is."

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And I'm like, Nope, nope, nope. That was very nice

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of you. I mean, I don't know, I must have eaten something weird for breakfast.

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That is, that's not the kind of thing, like Pastor Jonathan talks about, like his

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awkward, like meeting people moments, like that would be a very awkward meeting.

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So I'm like, okay, that was just crazy. And then next worship song, hey

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Josh, I want you to turn around and ask that lady

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where her husband is. And so I

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was like, well, there's plenty of crazy people in the world, and if this

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isn't God, then it's just like, you know, this lady will just be like, there's

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another crazy one, and so that's fine. So I turned

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around and I'm like, ma'am, I— this is

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really weird, but I feel like God wants me to ask you

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where your husband is. And that lady looked at

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me, and she started tearing up, and then she broke down

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crying, and she said, I just separated with my

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husband, and I'm here at this church because I'm asking God what I

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should do. So Sarah and I were like,

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well, you can come over for lunch. And so we brought him over for lunch,

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and then they joined our Thursday night Bible study thing, and then she reconciled

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with her husband. And that was 20 years ago.

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Yeah. So, and, and, and God is— God, God

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is amazing. The reason why I want to tell that story is I wanna just

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start off today by saying God still speaks. We don't

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serve a God who is silent. We serve a

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God who speaks. A God who doesn't

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speak is called an idol, and a lot of

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people maybe are worshiping a God, but they don't hear from that

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God. But there's a chance there you might be worshiping an idol and

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not know even it.

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And the reason why I wanna talk about God speaking is because I

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think it's important that every one of us understands our identity,

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right? Like, not just who do I wanna be, but

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who did God design me to be? It blows— it still blows

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my mind that everybody has a different fingerprint. Like, nobody in this

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room has the same fingerprint as anybody else in this room.

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And then multiply that times 8 billion people,

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and everyone has a different fingerprint. We are all unique.

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We are, and we're not we're not just, just, like, had. We're made.

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We are created in the image of God. We are

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handcrafted. So we have an identity, but

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I can't tell you what your identity is, and there's not a speaker on this

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stage that can tell you what your identity is, and the news can't tell you

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what your identity is, and your friends can't tell you what your identity is. For

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you to understand your identity, why did God put you on this planet,

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you have to hear that from God. And so hearing from God is one of

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the most important things that any of us can ever have in our lives.

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Can you hear the voice of God?

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C.S. Lewis, in the book "Mere Christianity," talks

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about this idea of identity. And he said, "God did not

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create us to remain as we are." or to become what we

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imagine, but to become the kind of people that he

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intended when he made us, which is far more than we

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would ever plan for ourselves. God intends us to make us—

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God intends to make us saints, not merely nice or

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improved versions of our current selves. There's

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there's a, kind of a movement out now, and everybody talks about, well, I want

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to be the best version of myself. The problem with that is

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The best version of yourself might be limited by your own brain.

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And if we're trying to be the best version of ourselves and we're not asking

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God, like, what is ourselves even supposed to be, then we are— we

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might be just totally best version of, like, the worst

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version. You and I

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are designed to rule and reign with Christ.

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That's bonkers, right? It's in the Word. We're priests and

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kings and champions and all of these things, but

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do we think about that? Do we know that? Do we realize that? What's your

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identity? The passage today is

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from John 10, verses 14 through 17.

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So if you can stand, if you're able, uh, we're going to read John

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14-17. And look, you know, Kevin always

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says something, but I would say let's read like Jesus is listening.

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And, and guess what? So

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I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and

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my own know me, just as the Father

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knows me and I know the Father. And I

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lay down my life for the sheep. And I have

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other sheep that are not of this fold. I

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must bring them also, and they will listen to my

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voice. So there will be one flock, one

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shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me,

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because I lay down my life that I may take it

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up again.' This is the Word of the Lord. You may be

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seated. There's no Anglicans here today. Nobody said, 'Thanks be to God.'

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Did somebody say it? Okay, thank you.

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Um, so one thing you'll, you'll, you know about God if you read the Bible,

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you're gonna hear a lot about shepherds. All right, like when, when

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Jesus was announced, he was announced to

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shepherds. Excuse me, I need my little water. I

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didn't want to bring that up there. That's over there. Somebody sees that little water

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and wants to bring it, I would appreciate it. So, um, God

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announced Jesus's birth to shepherds.

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Thank you, my brother. Um, Moses was

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A shepherd. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they were all shepherds.

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David was the shepherd who became the king.

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Shepherds are a big deal to God. So when Jesus is talking

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about us, he's like, "I am

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the good shepherd, and my sheep hear my

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voice." I was listening to a guy talking about shepherds

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and sheep, and so he went, and he was in the Middle East, and he

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saw this big flock of sheep, and he was like, "Wow." That flock of

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sheep is just, that's a big flock of sheep. Like, that's

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a very busy shepherd. But then one guy that was standing over here

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whistled, and a trickle of all of those sheep that were in this

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big flock, they came right out, and they started following this guy because they

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knew his voice. And so, you know, we might be out at

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work, we might be out in the marketplace, we might be at the family dinner

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table, and the shepherd speaks, and we hear his voice.

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Now, why do the sheep follow the shepherd?

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He's going to take care of them. The sheep follow the shepherd because the

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shepherd, like, gets the ticks off you. The shepherd, like, brushes your

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wool out. The shepherd gives you food. You know, David said,

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uh, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me

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to lie down in green pastures. We have a

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provider who takes care of us. So the

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sheep follow the shepherd because that's where they, they, they

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understand the delight of their caretaker.

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Um, do you understand that God delights in you?

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When God speaks, do you run to him?

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See, if, if we don't know that God

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delights in us, we might be a little slow

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to running after God. I was listening to

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a radio program, and there was a grandfather

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and a father. And the radio

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announcer was saying, "What do you wish that you knew when

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you were a father that you know now as a

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grandfather?" And the grandfather, "There's a single lesson that's the

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most important lesson for raising kids. The most important lesson for raising

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kids is to let those children understand that they are

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delighted in." And you notice this, like, with

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grandfather— grandparents, right? Grandparents are really good at

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delighting in their grandchildren. Parents are more, like, good at

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yelling at the kids, you know, "Hey, put this here."

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But think about it, when that child understands that they are

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delighted in, there is nothing that that child

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won't do. They don't have a ceiling.

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Oftentimes, the ceiling of our Our ceiling is

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dependent on how much we realize or not that we're

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delighted in. People who aren't delighted in don't take

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risks. People who aren't delighted in don't develop

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relationships. So if we don't understand

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that God delights in us, then we have

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a major problem with hearing his voice. Like, one of the

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primary keys of understanding and listening to God's voice is

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understanding he delights in you. Well, God can't delight in me.

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I'm a knucklehead. Have

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you read the Bible?

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Like, I read the Old Testament, and like, you could summarize all of the

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children of Israel in one word, two words, like one

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knucklehead.

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What did the children of Israel do? Hey, I made you. Great.

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I'm gonna go worship Baal. I rescued you from

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slavery. Hmm, yeah, that's pretty good, but let's make a

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golden calf and worship that. That'll be better. I'm gonna set you

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up as the premier nation on earth

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with power and authority and beauty. King Solomon.

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Right, right. uh, Let's, let's go chase after gods.

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So the children of Israel have this cycle of rejecting

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the delight of God to chase something else,

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and they get carried off to Babylon. And

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this this is, is amazing. This is Isaiah 62,

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and God says to Isaiah to tell his children

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Israel, who have rebelled so bad that they've got carried off into

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slavery, you shall be— Isaiah 62:3-5—

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you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.

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And a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

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You shall no longer be termed forsaken, and your land

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shall no more be termed desolate, but you shall be called,

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"My delight is in her," and your land, "married."

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For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.

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For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you.

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And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God

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rejoice over you. I am

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nothing like God. I can't delight in rebellion,

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but God— not—

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do you know the gospel? So God

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took the punishment of rebellion on

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himself and hung on a cross

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so that he could delight in you. And you

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could receive his delight. That's the

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kind of God that we serve, right? That's the gospel.

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Um, when you understand that God delights in you, you start

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returning the favor. Romans 12—

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I, I've read Romans 12 about being spiritual and

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overcoming sin and uh, like, not, not Romans 12, Romans 8. Romans 8

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is like, hey, You've gotta have the Spirit of God. You gotta be led by

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the Spirit of God. And if you are led by the Spirit of God, then

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you're gonna be able to overcome sin. What I missed

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is like verse 15. So I'm gonna read this passage. This is

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12-17. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to

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the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the

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flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds

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of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of

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God are sons of God. 'For you did not receive the spirit of

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slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of

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adoption as sons, by whom we cry,

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"Abba, Father!" The Spirit bears

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witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.'

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So Paul's talking about fighting sin, and then he's like, what's the

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key here? Understanding that God delights in you and delighting in God.

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There's a little mini sermon. Um, when you sin,

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it's not the devil made me do it. It's that I love the sin

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more than I love God. How do

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I know? Because I know. When

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I had bondage in my teenage years and I was trapped by sin, I

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sought everything. God, I'll fast, I'll pray, deliver me,

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deliver me, deliver me. One day Jesus said to me, Josh, you know why you

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sin? said, He "You love that sin more than you love me."

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And I'm like, "No, I— no, I— no, no."

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Do I? Yes. God,

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you died for me on a cross and I love sin more than you?

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Sin is an affection issue.

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Jesus said, "If you love me, you keep my commandments."

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And I always, like, looked at that as, like, I gotta keep commandments so that

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I can prove I love God. But it says, "If you love me,

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if you love me, you keep my commandments." So if we

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have a delight in God not issue— here. Okay, let me back up. If

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we can't hear from the voice of God, then we're gonna have

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a delight in God issue. We're not gonna understand

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the God of the Bible. Who loved us enough to die

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for us on a cross. The whole

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point is love, right? So if we

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have a sin issue, we have an affection issue. And if

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we have an affection issue, we need to learn to hear the voice of God

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so that we can develop intimacy and acceptance and

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grace and blessing from God. So here's

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the question for this morning: Do you believe that God

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delights in you? And do

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you delight in God?

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David figured this out. The— in Psalm 16, it says, "In your

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presence is the fullness of joy." You

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can't get fullness, like, in multiple different places. There's only one place

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that can actually fill you up, and it's the presence of

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God. I can't tell you what your identity

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is, but I do know that when God tells you what your identity is, is

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the it truth. Is, it will sound like, I delight in you because you're mine

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and I made you. Um, I was

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having a conversation with God about preparing this sermon, and I was like, okay, I

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got assigned to talk about identity, like, in the context of

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abiding. And so I was like, why, why did I get assigned to this? Like,

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what do you want me to do? And the Holy Spirit said to me,

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I, I want you to talk because my people have forgotten how to listen to

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my voice. And I

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was like, "Well, okay, God, I'm in that club," right?

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"Don't I have a hard time listening to your voice?" And God said, "No, you

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don't have a hard time listening to my voice. You have a hard time slowing

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down." So

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if you're like me and you know how to hear the voice of God, but

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you're not slowing down enough to hear the whisper of God,

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or if you're like, "I've never heard the voice of God, and I don't know

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what you're talking about," Or if I haven't heard the voice of God in a

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long time, I'm gonna share today 3 important

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keys, steps, things about hearing the voice of

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God. So this is now officially a 3-point sermon. Um,

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Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice."

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If you aren't actively hearing the voice of God,

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that's a problem. And it's not a problem to ignore.

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It's a problem to be like, "What's up here?

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You paid the price for me to connect with you. What do I

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need?" God wants to speak to you,

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and it's not bad to have to learn how to hear God's voice,

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okay? If you're like, "I don't hear God's voice," that's fine.

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Don't beat yourself up. The prophet Samuel, Samuel,

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who was like pretty big deal in the Old Testament. You know, anointed Saul and

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he anointed David. Um, when he was young,

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God started talking to him, Samuel. And he was like, hmm,

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must be Eli. So he's running over like, hey Eli, I'm here. Eli's

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like, shut up, go to bed. So he goes back and he's like, Samuel.

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And the prophet Samuel didn't know how to hear God's voice.

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This is like the big deal in Israel and he didn't know how to hear

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God's voice. So we need to learn how to hear God's voice.

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And, but, you know, if you've read the, the New

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Testament where the big deal of

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Jesus not only died and rose again, but then he

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sent the Spirit to live inside of every one of his sheep.

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Like, it's not the Old Testament where if you want to hear from God, you

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have to go to the prophet and they'll tell you what God said. We

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don't have to go anywhere. The Spirit put up residence in us.

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So if I want to hear from God, I don't have to go to an

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external source. Uh, I was talking to a friend of mine talking about how he

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heard the audible voice of God. I'm like, that's no big deal.

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It's like, who cares? God's in you.

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It might have been like, hey, I've been trying to talk in you all day

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and you didn't listen, so I had to come outside and talk to you.

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Listen. Just— this is important, right? There's

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no special people that I can hear from God and these special people

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can't hear from God. Everybody who's a sheep knows

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his voice. You, you don't need to run to the prophet. You don't have

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to hear— you might have an amazingly mind-blowing experience.

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I have. They're awesome. But you don't need to be special

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to hear from God. You just need to listen.

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So God is in you, and he wants to speak to you.

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Okay, so here's the hearing from God training.

First point:

we don't hear from God

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if we treat him casually.

First point:

When I was, like, 18 years old, I went on this, like, summer missions trip

First point:

to a Jewish kibbutz in Minnesota. Some people

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go to Honduras. I went to a Jewish kibbutz

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in Minnesota, and there was like this guy there

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whose name was Art Katz, and he was a very stern man.

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I mean, there's some people that just you hang around them and it's like, wow,

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Sirius has entered the room. And so I

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was like, okay. So I was praying with Art Katz and

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these two other young guys, and they were pouring out their hearts to God, and

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I was like there, and I was like, yeah, I should do that too. So

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I just tagged on my little prayer of like, "Yeah, God, I want all this

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stuff that you're talking about." And then our cat goes,

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"Lord, I pray that you'd hear the prayers of these two men and

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also forgive this kid who's just speaking to the air."

First point:

You can't say that in church.

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I— What? You

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can't. You can't offend me like that. There's other people here.

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So here's something I've learned about God's

First point:

voice. You know, God has spoken to people through a donkey.

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We're so worried about, well, if you don't say it perfectly, then I

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don't have to listen to you.

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Some of the— not some of the— the most important things

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that I've learned and heard from God in my life. This one was one of

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the first. You're not actually praying to God, you're just throwing

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words in the air, and you need to be very serious when you talk with

First point:

God because he created you and he created the universe.

First point:

Another time God God told— told me through a donkey— I mean, not a

First point:

donkey, but another harsh-speaking person. He

First point:

said, you don't listen to anybody.

First point:

Like, literally, I'm talking to this cocky guy, and

First point:

he says to me, Josh, you know what your problem is? You don't listen to

First point:

anybody. All you want to do is just share your opinion. You're so smart, blah,

First point:

blah, blah, blah. You don't listen. I was like, shut up.

First point:

And God was like, he's right.

First point:

Our flesh is always going to be offended by the truth that we need to

First point:

hear.

First point:

I was offended, and then I wrestled with God, and I learned his voice.

First point:

Uh, David says that those who fear God hear

First point:

God. In Psalms 25:11-14,

First point:

it says, for your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

First point:

Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him he will instruct

First point:

in the way that he should choose.

First point:

If you fear God, he speaks to you and instructs you

First point:

what his way is. If you treat God casually,

First point:

"Oh God, please give me direction," is different than,

First point:

"God, you make oceans and stars, and you died for me

First point:

on the cross, and you taught us to pray,

First point:

'Our Father which art in heaven, holy is your name.'"

First point:

That word holy means different. Like

First point:

when Isaiah says, "Holy, holy,

First point:

holy is the Lord," he's like saying,

First point:

"You're different." And not just you're different,

First point:

but you're different, you are different, you are different.

First point:

Like, have you read Revelation?

First point:

We, we, we're so casual with God. He is so

First point:

merciful with us. Like, you know,

First point:

if a 2-year-old comes and they talk to, like, a 5-star general,

First point:

they don't even know anything. They're just like, "Hey, hotshot, what's this?"

First point:

But when we're old enough to know better, we must not

First point:

treat God casually. He's a weapon. I mean,

First point:

he's— it's kind of like, you know, there are these planes

First point:

that have bombs on them., right? You're like flying around

First point:

with a nuclear bomb on your plane. You don't just

First point:

treat that casually like it's no big deal. God is a

First point:

nuclear bomb. We need to respect him.

First point:

Um, when I

First point:

started full-time ministry, I I was, was was a, I a

First point:

fastaholic. I would, every Tuesday I would fast and pray because I was

First point:

like, I have to do this or God won't listen to me. Um.

First point:

But I had, I had, uh, I did, I met with

First point:

God. I met with God and I would go on this prayer walk

First point:

around my apartment complex. And so one time

First point:

I was like, God, I want you to like come and stand near

First point:

me like Moses, like Moses came and stood

First point:

near you. You stood near him and you showed his presence. And God

First point:

is like, you, you really want that? And I'm like, yeah, wouldn't that be

First point:

great? So I'm walking and

First point:

suddenly the air started getting thick

First point:

and the Holy Spirit started to pour the veil

First point:

up from earth and heaven. And guess

First point:

what? It was not fun at all.

First point:

The holiness and the presence of God I

First point:

started to sense and I was scared

First point:

to death. And I said, "God, stop. No, I don't know what I was saying."

First point:

We have no idea

First point:

the power and the majesty and

First point:

the weight of glory in God.

First point:

"Oh God, bless King— bless Susie and help my friend and I really

First point:

want a new car and blah, blah, blah, blah."

First point:

God isn't speaking because you're not even talking to God.

First point:

We've gotta recognize who God is if we wanna hear his voice.

First point:

Jeremiah said that, "Those who seek

First point:

me with all their heart will find me." Jeremiah

:

13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of

:

your heart." I

:

like in C.S. Lewis, like, Jesus is, is treated like a

:

lion. Is he safe? No, but he's

:

good. And that power of God

:

only amplifies the intimacy of God.

:

The fact that this powerful being, of

:

which I give fundamental reverence, wants me to

:

curl up in his lap and say, "You are my

:

beloved child." We can't have intimacy with

:

God that we treat as like a cheap, like, genie that works for us.

:

But when we recognize God who he is, and then he invites us into

:

deep and meaningful and beautiful relationship with him. Okay,

:

that's point one. That's the point where Kevin's like, aren't you glad you came to

:

church today? And I'm thumping you, you know. Um,

:

I got two more thumpers, but they're good.

:

Are they safe? No. Are they good?

:

Yes. The second

:

way that we hear from God is when we obey what he tells us to

:

do. Now, if you didn't

:

know already, every Christian has a job description.

:

You, you have it. It's it's written, written down.

:

19-20, Jesus said to the Dies on the cross,

:

raises from the grave, sends the Holy Spirit into everybody, and then he

:

says, "All authority in heaven and earth is given to

:

me," meaning, "Remember that I'm the boss of everything.

:

Here's your job. Go therefore, make disciples."

:

I think a lot of us are, like, over here hanging

:

curtains, planning, you know, stuff for our own little

:

kingdom. It's, you know, "My will be done, my kingdom

:

come, on earth as it is in heaven." And God

:

is over here, here's a broken soul that needs love.

:

Here's, here's the child that needs to be educated. Here's

:

the poor and the suffering. And God, I really could use

:

a Tesla 'cause they've got this new engine with like all of

:

this stuff.

:

Widows, orphans, voiceless, hungry,

:

naked, thirsty, stranger, prisoner,

:

sick. God, I'm so busy.

:

Listen, you don't hear the voice of God if you're not

:

turned to God.

:

Your job is to make disciples. If you want to

:

hear from God, turn to God.

:

There's nothing better in life than hearing the voice of God.

:

I've figured out some things, and these statements are very simple statements, but

:

they're just very true. And these just are meaningful to

:

me. They might be meaningful to you. The first statement is, "The point of money

:

is to show God's love." The

:

greatest commandment is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

:

Nope, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and

:

strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There's two different statements. Great Commandments, all

:

the commandments come into that. The point

:

is always love. The point of money is to love.

:

It's not security. It's not, you know,

:

whatever, expansion. God gives you money to love.

:

Don't work for money, work for love.

:

The second thing is the point of work is discipleship.

:

There is no sacred and secular work. If you are in full-time

:

ministry, your job is make disciples. If you are in full-time business,

:

your job is make disciples.

:

There's no— what, like, I don't— all these ministry people get a

:

gold star or something? That's crazy, right? That's crazy. We're all called to

:

that, all of us. The third thing is the point of time. The point of

:

time is serving. You want to be

:

joyful? Use your time to serve. You wanna be

:

miserable? Don't.

:

So where do we start? If I'm gonna make

:

disciples, if I'm gonna love, if I'm gonna do this thing, how do I start?

Answer:

Listen to God and do what he says.

Answer:

So when Sarah and I were younger married,

Answer:

I felt like God told me that he wanted me to go and, um,

Answer:

give $200 to the poor. So I

Answer:

just had an impression, God wants you to go take $200 and

Answer:

give to the poor. So I was like, okay, I went and I got 10

Answer:

$20 bills and I was like, I'm gonna go downtown, I'm gonna find some

Answer:

homeless people and I'm gonna give them $20 and I'm gonna tell them that Jesus

Answer:

loves them. So I was like 27 years old and I didn't know that there's

Answer:

a lot better ways to fight poverty. So I go

Answer:

downtown and I got $20 bills and I'm like, hey, Jesus loves you. Hey, Jesus

Answer:

loves you. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. And then

Answer:

the 10th $20 bill, I give it to this guy and I'm like, hey,

Answer:

here's— this is $20. Go buy a meal or something.

Answer:

God loves you. And this guy took the $20, said, I'm really appreciated.

Answer:

I appreciate this $20, but what I really want is a place to stay.

Answer:

So I'm like looking at Sarah and she's looking at me and I'm like, And

Answer:

we're like, "All right, come on, get in the car, let's go." So we

Answer:

took this guy to our house. And so I'm

Answer:

driving along with this homeless guy, and he said

Answer:

his name was Benjamin Franklin. I don't think his real

Answer:

name was Benjamin Franklin. Like, he didn't look anything like Benjamin Franklin. He was like

Answer:

an African American guy. So, you know, we're dr— I mean,

Answer:

Benjamin Franklin's like this bald white guy that, you know, so

Answer:

we take Benjamin Franklin to my house, and I'm like, "We're gonna give him a

Answer:

place to stay." So I'm like giving him clothes. I'm like, "Here, man, we're the

Answer:

same size. Here's some clothes." And Benjamin Franklin is getting a shower in

Answer:

my shower, and I realize there is a homeless

Answer:

guy in my house, and I've got 2 little kids, and I don't even know

Answer:

what the heck I am doing. So I was

Answer:

like, "Sarah, I think maybe we should, like, give this guy a motel." Sarah's like,

Answer:

"I think that's probably a good one. That's probably a good idea." So

Answer:

I'm like, "Let's take this guy and let's put him up at a hotel." And

Answer:

so I start driving into Nashville, and I decide that I'm gonna put him up

Answer:

at the Motel 6 because I was driving into VCE every day,

Answer:

so I knew where the Motel 6 was. And I was like, this is close

Answer:

to town. And while we're driving, Benjamin Franklin is like,

Answer:

listen, I need to get into the city. If I'm not in the city, I

Answer:

don't have all my support stuff. Like, I need to get in the city, so

Answer:

you gotta make sure that I get into the city. And I'm like, I have

Answer:

seen the hotels in the city and I know what they cost, and I cannot

Answer:

afford that, but I can afford the Motel 6. So we pull into the Motel

Answer:

6, and in the 6, Motel Motel 6, there is this little

Answer:

chapel with a neon sign, like a neon gold cross

Answer:

on the door. And I'm like, I'm gonna check at the chapel and see if

Answer:

there's anybody at the chapel that can give Benjamin Franklin a ride from the Motel

Answer:

6 into the city. So I go and I knock on

Answer:

the door, and I kid you not, Mr. T

Answer:

enters— answers the door. If you don't know who

Answer:

Mr. T is, he was like the old-time wrestler He's like

Answer:

bigger than me, like height-wise, and he's like thicker than

Answer:

me, like times 5. And he's got all the gold chains, like gold

Answer:

chains from like here to here. Like his chains cost like, must have weighed 40

Answer:

pounds. He's got all the gold teeth. And I answer the door and I'm like,

Answer:

well, didn't expect that, but this is cool.

Answer:

So I'm like, hey, I've got this guy in my car. He says his

Answer:

name is Benjamin Franklin and he needs a ride into the city in the morning.

Answer:

Would you be willing to just give him a ride? I saw the cross on

Answer:

the door. And so Mr. T looks at me and he's like,

Answer:

you want what? And I was like, well,

Answer:

I explained the situation. He says, so let me get this straight. So you a

Answer:

white dude and you got this black dude out in your car and

Answer:

you want me to give this dude a ride into the city in the morning?

Answer:

I'm like, yeah, yep, that's it. And he

Answer:

says, "Praise God." And I was like, "Oh good,

Answer:

this is gonna work out well." So he's like,

Answer:

"Praise God." He's like, "Let me at this guy." And I'm like, "Let you at

Answer:

this guy?" So he goes over to the car and he opens the door.

Answer:

And I mean, look, Benjamin Franklin's not getting out the door

Answer:

before Mr. T is giving him what for in 7 different ways.

Answer:

"What the heck are you doing taking this white dude's money? You're an able-bodied

Answer:

man. Look at you. Oh, I see you're homeless. Guess who was else homeless?"

Answer:

I was homeless. Not only was I homeless, I killed a man.

Answer:

Which point I'm like, okay, this this is, is a little, you know, this is,

Answer:

you know, this is interesting. And then he's like,

Answer:

but I met God in the prison and I

Answer:

learned my identity. And now I own the second largest cleaning company

Answer:

in Nashville. And I won't only give you a ride into the city, I'll give

Answer:

you a job. If you want to have your life transformed, there's this dude Jesus

Answer:

that can do that for you. And at this moment, I realized a

Answer:

whole lot of things. I realized that I was not the best guy to

Answer:

disciple Benjamin Franklin.

Answer:

I also realized I didn't have any business doing much of what I was doing

Answer:

that day. But I— but

Answer:

how did I learn that lesson? See, I learned that lesson by

Answer:

simply obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Answer:

God has assignments to you. I've— listen, in the

Answer:

last like 20-some years, I've been in 30 different countries on

Answer:

like 70 different trips. I have had more adventures

Answer:

than I even dreamed were possible. If your

Answer:

life is boring, start obeying.

Answer:

I'm serious. Just listen to God and do what he

Answer:

says.

Answer:

All right, that's point 2.

Answer:

Point 3 is this:

Answer:

we hear the voice of God when we stop listening to everything

Answer:

else. Now, this point

Answer:

is perhaps the most important of all the points that I've shared today,

Answer:

and it's probably the most challenging.

Answer:

But— and this is not gonna make me popular, but I'm gonna say it anyway.

Answer:

First of all, if you're depending on

Answer:

me to hear from God, that's a problem.

Answer:

There is no speaker or teacher. Our

Answer:

job is not to play God for you or hear to God you— from

Answer:

for you and say all this stuff. Our job, if we stand on this

Answer:

stage, is to teach you how to hear the voice of God,

Answer:

to teach you how to run to God.

Answer:

God gave us his word. He gave us

Answer:

an easy button. You want to hear from God? Break open the

Answer:

book. Like, it's like, hmm, how could I make—

Answer:

these are sheep. Okay, they're sheep. It can't be

Answer:

too hard. I'll put it all in a book.

Answer:

You can open the book and hear the voice of God.

Answer:

These people can't travel all over to destinations and climb mountains

Answer:

and talk to the guru and all this stuff. I'll just put my Spirit right

Answer:

inside of them. You can simply say, "God,

Answer:

Holy Spirit, speak," and he will speak to you.

Answer:

God God made— gave us the easy button to hear from him, to have

Answer:

our lives changed, to radically change our

Answer:

communities, to radically change our families, to

Answer:

radically impact the world. And so obviously,

Answer:

all of us just continually run to God to listen to his voice,

Answer:

right? I mean, that's what we do. That's not what we do? Wait,

Answer:

what do we continually run to? Oh, that's right, we

Answer:

continually run to social media. We continually

Answer:

run to television. We continually run to that

Answer:

little voice in the back of our head that says, "God doesn't really like you."

Answer:

If we wanna hear the voice of God, we have to tune out all of

Answer:

the other stuff.

Answer:

Social media is primarily a self-worship machine.

Answer:

I scroll through what I worship and post about it so people will worship me.

Answer:

I love seeing on social media when somebody has a sporting event or there's a

Answer:

new baby or something like that, but social media is

Answer:

killing all of us. It's evil.

Answer:

We're doom-scrolling instead of life-finding.

Answer:

We're all going to give account of our

Answer:

time, and it's just

Answer:

not worth the amount of time we give it.

Answer:

Television is primarily a lust factory.

Answer:

Lust of what? Lust of the eyes, lust of the

Answer:

pride of life. Jesus said, all that is in the world— lust of the eyes,

Answer:

lust of flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life— are not from

Answer:

the Father. They're not from the

Answer:

Father. They're not life-bringing.

Answer:

But whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Answer:

So we haven't slowed down to listen to God, but we're running to

Answer:

all these things. The news, the news

Answer:

is a grumble factory.

Answer:

They don't just tell you the news, they tell you the best way to vent

Answer:

about the negative things happening in our world and why everything is going

Answer:

wrong. You know who was a grumble factory in the Old

Answer:

Testament? The children of Israel. And

Answer:

do you know what the cost of the grumble factory was? 40

Answer:

years in the desert walking in a circle.

Answer:

Do I really want to train myself to walk for 40 years

Answer:

in a circle of grumbling and complaining, or do I want

Answer:

to hit the button off?

Answer:

The little voice in the back of your head that says God doesn't really care

Answer:

about you, he doesn't want to talk to you— that

Answer:

voice has two names: fear and shame.

Answer:

And both of them come from Satan and not Jesus.

Answer:

Listen, cutting, cutting down our social media,

Answer:

turning off our television,

Answer:

telling that negative voice talk to stop in Jesus'

Answer:

name— these are a lot easier than we think. Jesus said

Answer:

if something causes you to sin, like your right arm causes you to

Answer:

sin, cut it off. Throwing away a television is a lot easier than

Answer:

cutting off your arm.

Answer:

Jesus wants you to understand your identity.

Answer:

And if we're going to understand our identity, we need to hear the voice of

Answer:

God. And if we're going to hear the voice of God,

Answer:

number one, don't treat God casually.

Answer:

He's not a plaything. He's not a genie in the sky. He's not

Answer:

cheap or trite. He made the ocean.

Answer:

Talk to God. Don't talk to the air.

Answer:

Number 2, obey what Jesus tells you to

Answer:

do. What was the last thing

Answer:

God told you to do? Did you do it?

Answer:

He might be on pause because he's just waiting.

Answer:

Maybe just ask him, what do you want me to do? And he'll tell you.

Answer:

We've got to unplug our ears if we want to listen to God.

Answer:

We need to cut down on social media and, and dive

Answer:

into the Word of God.

Answer:

I, I was praying earlier and I said to

Answer:

God, God, I really, I really want people to

Answer:

have chains of addiction broken

Answer:

and replaced with cords of affection.

Answer:

And I'm like, can you please just like let every person that

Answer:

hears this word just have their chains of addiction

Answer:

broken and just have cords of affection? Can you just

Answer:

do that for every person? And God and the Holy Spirit said, no, I

Answer:

can't. But I can do it for

Answer:

anybody who really wants that.

Answer:

I can't make you hear from God. If I could make you hear from God,

Answer:

you'd all hear from God.

Answer:

The parable of the soil says it's all about your heart. What do you

Answer:

really want? Jesus said, my sheep hear my

Answer:

voice. Uh, we're gonna have the prayer

Answer:

people come down.

Answer:

If you hear from the voice of God, I want you to come down and

Answer:

pray for somebody who doesn't. If you don't hear from

Answer:

the voice of God, I want you to come down and pray that God

Answer:

unstops your ears. If you need to repent and confess

Answer:

that you have delighted more in the world than the Maker,

Answer:

repent and confess, not just at church but at home in your

Answer:

life.

Answer:

Listen, God delights in you.

Answer:

You are delightful. You are special.

Answer:

You are beautiful. You are designed. You are handcrafted.

Answer:

You are a treasure. You have a calling. You have a

Answer:

role. You can make disciples. You can heal the

Answer:

sick.

Answer:

Ask for it. Seek it. Find

Answer:

him. His sheep hear his voice.

Answer:

Don't leave out of here not hearing the voice of God.

Answer:

He's ready to come meet with you. Amen.

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