Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Hear God in Your Everyday Life

Episode Date: February 9, 2025

Think about all the things competing for your attention every day—family, schedules, social media, and more. Jesus promised us that we'll know His voice. How do you cut through the noise to listen? ...Let’s talk about hearing God’s voice.GET TO KNOW YOU—NEW!You get to hear our voices—now we want to hear yours! Check out this special survey for podcast listeners. It’ll allow us to get to know you better and hear how we can support you. Find the survey at: https://www.life.church/podcastconnectNEXT STEPSHave you made the decision to follow Jesus? You might be wondering what’s next for you. We want to help! Check out these resources to ​​discover what saying yes to Jesus means: https://www.life.church/yesABOUT THIS MESSAGEThis message was originally presented as a part of a series called He Promises. Find out more about the series here: https://www.life.church/hepromisesOur current message, 30-Second Theology, can only be seen at a Life.Church location or at Life.Church Online. Find a location near you or check out online service times at: https://www.life.church/30secondtheology/ABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.churchFind locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/appFIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/life.churchTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@life.churchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/craiggroeschelFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Do you ever find it difficult to hear God's voice? For example, if you have a decision that you need to make, and so you think, well, maybe I should pray about it. And so you pray about it. You might say, okay, God, I want to do what you want, what is it that you want me to do? And then sometimes maybe a thought will enter your head. And you'll be like, was that God?
Starting point is 00:00:27 or was that me? Was that my emotions? Is that what I want? Was that the Holy Spirit? Or is that the pizza I had late last night talking to me today, right? How do you know? Wouldn't it be incredible?
Starting point is 00:00:42 Wouldn't it be amazing to know exactly what God wants for you? I mean, imagine if you could ask God a question and you could get a really clear answer. Kind of like I don't know if any of you, you are old enough to remember the magic eight ball. Anybody ever played the magic eight ball? You're kind of laughing at that.
Starting point is 00:01:03 Wouldn't be really cool, like, if I had a magic eight ball right now, like, does anybody happen to have one on you? Like, anybody? You're like, oh, my goodness. Oh, wow, what a coincidence. Pastor Sam just happens to have, wow, it's almost like we had that planned. But you remember how you could just like ask the magic eight ball question,
Starting point is 00:01:22 like magic eight ball, magic eight ball, should I break up with this? person I've been dating, without a doubt. Magic eight ball, magic eight ball, should I send this angry text? My reply is no. Magic eight ball, magic eight ball, you might ask, should I serve in life kids? It is certain. I didn't even look. It just says it is certain. That's just what it said on there. I just say I could already, God just spoke to you right there. When we had two kids, we said, magic eight ball, magic eight ball, should we stop having kids?
Starting point is 00:02:01 Ask again later. We stopped asking the magic eight ball after having six kids. We were tired of it. Wouldn't it be amazing if you had a question and you could ask God and you could clearly hear his voice? The good news is you can. We're in a message series called He Promises, and we're talking about the promises of Jesus. Last week we talked about the promise that Jesus will always love you. Next week, we're going to talk about the promise, and this will speak to those of you who might be in a difficult season right now,
Starting point is 00:02:44 that he will be with you always. He will never leave you and never forsake you. Today, we're going to look at the promise that you can know the voice of Jesus. And the title of today's message is, hearing God's voice. And we ask Holy Spirit that we would hear your voice and know your will and do exactly what you call us to do. Speak, God, to those who need to hear from you. We thank you, God, that you will speak and we will. listen and hear. Speak to us, Lord.
Starting point is 00:03:24 We are listening. We pray this in Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. Amen. All right. Hearing from God, let's just kind of
Starting point is 00:03:32 cut the preacher like God's going to speak to you now and all that kind of stuff would just be real honest. Sometimes it's difficult to hear from God. It feels complicated. How do I know if he's speaking to me? When I was a brand new Christian,
Starting point is 00:03:45 I'm talking, I was barely saved, barely saved. I had a little Bible study at this little church that was an old, old, old church kind of with brick walls. There was maybe seven or eight of us there, and there was this other brand new Christian. We were holding hands and we were praying,
Starting point is 00:04:02 and I was unequally yoked. I had one guy prayer squeezing, and the other guy was a dead fish prayer hand, and I was very confused. But the guy was praying with a hard hand, squeezing was going, you know, God speak to us, God speaks to us, God speaks to us,
Starting point is 00:04:15 and he stopped in the middle of prayer, and he stopped in the middle of prayer. I just heard from God. And we were a new Christian, like, what did he say? And he looked, his eyes were really big. And he said, God just told me to run into that brick wall as hard as I can head first. And I said, I don't think that's what God told you to do. And he said, no, I'm certain.
Starting point is 00:04:41 God just told me to trust him to run into that brick wall, head first, as hard as I can. I said, are you sure? He said, I'm sure. And I said, well, if God told you, you better do it. He said, I know. And so he backed up almost like a bull running to chase the red flag thing. And he kind of just got ready. And he ran as fast as he could headfirst end true story.
Starting point is 00:05:01 This is not a preacher's story. This one's 100% true. And the fact that I have to tell you, that brings all my other stories into question. Sorry. This guy, he runs straight into his brick wall. Boom! Hits it, falls back. his eyes kind of go back into his head.
Starting point is 00:05:21 I mean, he's seeing 15 stars these days. And finally, when he came to, he said, God just spoke to me again. I said, what did he tell you? He said, don't ever, ever do that again. That's a very true story. I never will forget. How do you know?
Starting point is 00:05:45 Did God really tell you to run into that wall? And then he told you that. How do you know if it's God speaking? Or how do you know if it's your desires? Or how do you know if the thought you have is a distraction from the devil or some kind of intrusive thought coming into your brain? How do you discern if you're praying, God, show me your will, if we really know if it's God showing us his will?
Starting point is 00:06:10 Well, Jesus gave us a promise. And Jesus told us that he is the good shepherd, and we are the sheep. And Jesus promised that the sheep, that's us, would know the voice of the good shepherd, that's Jesus. Jesus promised that we would know his voice. In fact, we see it in John chapter 10 when we read about the good shepherd.
Starting point is 00:06:40 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd, the good shepherd of the sheep. And what do the sheep do? Say it aloud. What do the sheep do? The sheep, listen to his voice. The good shepherd calls his own sheep by name, because God loves you as if there were only one of you.
Starting point is 00:07:02 God calls them by name, and he leads them out, the good shepherd does. And the sheep follow him, and why do they follow him? Because they know his voice. Jesus promises that he is the good shepherd and that you are the sheep and the sheep can know and recognize his voice. So how do we do it? What I want to do is look at God's word today and make it as simple as possible and talk about how we hear the voice of the good shepherd. The very first thought is obvious, but I want to say it, number one, is you want to ask, God to speak to you. If you've got a decision to make, you don't just think about it or it, it's the pros and cons, but God, what is your will? Speak to me. Now, let me just warn you
Starting point is 00:07:56 for a moment. This sounds really easy. God, speak to me. But before you pray and ask God to speak to you, I want to warn you, that's actually a dangerous prayer. In fact, I would suggest that you don't ask God to speak to you if you don't want to hear what he has to say. because often his will and his way is very different from yours. Don't ask God to speak to you if you don't want to hear what he has to say. In fact, there's a really powerful story in the Old Testament about a young boy named Samuel, who's probably 12 or so, and he worked in the temple for the priest named Eli.
Starting point is 00:08:37 Now, Eli wasn't obeying God, and the little boy Samuel probably didn't know God, but Samuel was doing the religious rituals in the temple. temple. He was doing the religious work, but he didn't have a relationship with God, which brings up a side thought that a ritual is very different than a relationship. Some of you perhaps have been in a religious ritual doing some of the right things without actually knowing the God who loves you. Samuel was doing the rituals, but he didn't yet know God. And so one night, he went to bed, and he heard his name. Samuel.
Starting point is 00:09:16 Or maybe it's like, Samuel. I don't know what it was like, but he heard his name. And so he thought the priest was calling him, so he ran into the priest's room and say, Eli, what do you want? What do you want? What do you want? What do you want? What do you want? And Eli said, that wouldn't, I didn't do anything, go back to bed. And Samuel goes back and gets into bed and he falls asleep when he hears his name, Samuel. And he runs in and he says, what do you want? What do you want? What do you want? And Eli says, that wasn't me, go back to bed. And Samuel goes back to bed and he goes to sleep when he hears Samuel.
Starting point is 00:09:46 And he runs in and says, Eli, what do I do? What do I do? Is that you? And Eli, oh, he realized that the Lord was most likely speaking to Samuel. And so in 1 Samuel 3, verse 8, Eli realized the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, go and lie down. And if God calls you, what are you going to say? Everybody read this aloud. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Those of you online, I want you to type that in the comment section, speak Lord, for your servant is listening. And I would love it if all of you would pause for a moment. And let's just say this prayerfully. I'll go first and then you follow. We're going to say, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. One more time, just very, very prayerfully. Some of you
Starting point is 00:10:43 have a decision to make. You need direction. And so what are we going to pray? We're going to pray, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. And so that's what Samuel does. God, what are you trying to say? Speak to me. And what did God say to him? Let me tell you what God didn't say to the 12-year-old boy. God didn't say, hey, Samuel, you're doing a great job. Therefore, I'm going to bless you with that cute 12-year-old girl that you like that you met at the playground. And when you're 21, you're going to get married, and you're going to have a good job making six figures. According to that time, and you're going to have 2.5 children and a and a white picket fence, you're going to be blessed beyond measure. God didn't say that to him. God said something to him that he didn't want to hear. And God told Samuel, you can read about it in the
Starting point is 00:11:28 text. He warned him that the priest Eli wasn't listening to God. And he didn't discipline his rebellious sons. And he blasphemed the name of God. And so God said to him, I'm going to shock all of Israel. And God's told a 12-year-old boy, I'm going to carry out. I'm going to carry out. my judgment against Eli and his entire family. That's a hard message for a 12-year-old boy. And that's why I want to remind you, don't ask God to speak to you unless you want to hear what he has to say. Now, some of you may say, okay, I'm asking God to speak to me and I'm not hearing anything. And I want to remind you, just because you aren't hearing doesn't mean God isn't speaking.
Starting point is 00:12:18 The more you listen, the better you'll be able to recognize God's voice. I'll illustrate it this way. Have I ever told you that I'm a pilot? Don't ever tell you that. There's a joke that says, how do you know if someone's a pilot? And the punchline is, don't worry, they'll tell you.
Starting point is 00:12:41 So if I haven't told you before, I'm a pilot. And about three years ago, I started to study, get my pilot's license, and I'll show a picture of the, plane. This was a plane that I learned in. That plane is so old. The good news is that it's actually three years younger than I am. That's good news. Okay, so that was a whole plane. And so when I was flying with my instructor, when you're up flying around, ATC, air traffic control talks to you and maybe talk to 50, 60, 70, 80 other planes if you're in busy airspace. And what they'll do to get
Starting point is 00:13:11 your attention is they're talking to everybody, but they'll call your tail number, which is kind of like your name. And let's just say this is. isn't a tail number I've flown, but it's let's just say is 1-820 alpha. And so we're flying along and they say, 1-820 alpha, and they would talk to me over and over and over again, and I would never hear my name. My instructor would always say, wait, wait, they just said our name, and then we'd listen.
Starting point is 00:13:35 I go, how do you do that? We're talking up there, they're saying all these different names, and he said, the more you learn to listen, the better you'll hear your name. And so if I'm flying with Amy, now, For example, we flew last week to see one of our campuses, and we went to Fort Worth, Texas. And we're flying along, and then I hear our tail number.
Starting point is 00:13:57 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, 2,000. And they say, fly heading 1-30, maintain 3,000. And then I'll say it back. Fly 1-20,000, maintain 3,000. She said, how do you hear your name? And I told her, the more you listen, the better you'll get at recognizing your name. the more you listened to God, the better you'll get at recognizing when he calls you by name and directs your step.
Starting point is 00:14:26 Wouldn't it be amazing if you could clearly hear the voice of God? And the good news is you can. Jesus promises, he is the good shepherd and you are the sheep and the sheep will know the voice of the shepherd. So how do you hear from him? start by asking him to speak to you. The second thing, and this is really, really obvious, but this is a game changer is you listen to what he says. Jeremiah 33, God said this, God said, call to me, and I will answer you. If you have a question, if you need direction, if you need wisdom, you ask God for wisdom, the Bible says that he will give generously to all. So you call to God,
Starting point is 00:15:12 God, I need to know your will. I need to know your voice. I need to know your ways. And when you call to him, he will answer you. Why? Because our God is a relational God. God spoke to create the world. God created Adam and Eve for relationship with him and with each other.
Starting point is 00:15:30 God is a relational God. He's always speaking. The question is, are you listening? He's speaking all the time. Now you may say, okay, I'm going to ask him to speak. I'm going to listen. like, now how will I hear from him? How does God speak? And I want to tell you very, very clearly, the most reliable way to hear God speak is listening to what he says to you through his word.
Starting point is 00:15:57 His word is living, it's active, it's powerful, it's like a sword, it encourages, it corrects, it directs, it guides, it comforts. As the people of God, we feed on the Word of God every day taking his word into our body, that it would renew our minds, that it would direct our feet, that it would take us toward God's will. The most reliable way to hear from God is to listen to what he says through his word, and God will never, ever contradict anything that he says in his word. He'll speak to you through his word. He may speak to you through the wisdom of a friend. He can speak to you through a sermon or a song. He can speak to you through circumstances when you're going one way and all of a sudden God closes the door or you don't think
Starting point is 00:16:46 you can go this way and God opens up a door. God may speak to you through His Holy Spirit. Whenever you turn from your sins and you call in the name of Jesus, your spirit is born anew. God is spirit. He speaks to you, his spirit to your spirit. And internally, you can discern the voice of God through His Holy Spirit, speaking to your spirit. God will prompt you sometimes. You're like, oh, man, I feel prompted to give this to someone. And you may say, oh, was that the God? Was that God prompted me to give?
Starting point is 00:17:23 Or was the devil? And he said, oh, the devil probably didn't tempt me to be generous. That was probably God. And you're prompted in different ways. Or God may speak to you through dreams. God may speak to you through visions. God may give you a supernatural peace, or God may direct you by the absence of peace. I can't get a peace about this, so it must not be God.
Starting point is 00:17:48 God may give you a confirmation through his word, through a message, or through a friend. God is always speaking. The question is, are you listening? Ask him to speak. Listen to what he says. And then you're going to say, like, when is he going to speak to me? and the answer is he's going to speak to you every time you need to hear what he wants to say and he'll speak to you in a holy quiet moment and he'll speak to you in an ordinary moment
Starting point is 00:18:19 when you need to hear his voice this happens kind of all the time for me for example i did this little little tv interview thing one time where this interviewer was in another state and so they had the interviewer on the tv screen and i could watch what she was saying and hear voice and then they gave me this communication device and put it in my ear. And it was really cool because the producer kind of gave me some comfort, like you're not alone. And so before the interview went live, I could hear the little voice in my ear saying, okay, Craig, you look really good. Like, oh, thank you. Can you tell me that again? You look really good. And we're going live here in 15. 14. Sit up straight to smile. And then now we're live. And then the conversation
Starting point is 00:19:03 which starts. And then they say, you know, they asked you a question and that I hear in my ear. We got about a 15 second before commercial, so wrap it up. And all of a sudden, I would be done. And the whole time I was having one conversation, there was another voice in my ear directing my steps and comforting me when I felt uncomfortable. And this is often how God will speak to you. You'll be in a weird place and you need to know his voice. You'll be talking to someone like, what am I supposed to say to them? And all of a sudden, He prompts you. In fact, I love what Isaiah 30, 21, how it describes it, whether you turn to the right or to the left,
Starting point is 00:19:42 your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way walk in it. If you listen for the voice of God, you'll hear him guiding you, giving you the words to say, comforting you, giving you peace, prompting you to do something, maybe even giving you a Bible verse to share with someone, you're hearing the voice of God. He's always speaking. The question is, are you listening?
Starting point is 00:20:17 Wouldn't it be amazing if we could clearly hear God's voice? And Jesus promises you can. Jesus is the good shepherd, and you are the sheep. And the sheep recognized. the voice of the shepherd. So how do you hear from God? Well, we're going to ask Him, God, speak. Your servant is listening. God, speak. I want to hear your voice. I want to know your way. Then you're going to listen to what God has to say.
Starting point is 00:20:46 And number three is, you ready? You're going to do what he tells you to do. Pretty simple, right? But it's a game changer. You're going to do what he tells you to do. And let me warn you, what he tells you to do will often take faith. it'll often take faith.
Starting point is 00:21:05 I like what Jesus said when he replied to a question. He said, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and do what else. And obey it. Blessed are those,
Starting point is 00:21:17 not just that hear, we're not just hearers of the word, but we're actually doers of the word. Now, some of you may say, okay, I get it. I'm a Christian, and I believe God speaks, but I haven't heard from God for a long time.
Starting point is 00:21:31 why isn't God speaking to me? And I don't know for sure, but for some of you, maybe it's because you didn't do the last thing he told you to do. Maybe he gave you an assignment before and said, here's what I want you to do and you haven't done it yet.
Starting point is 00:21:47 Like I can tell you just very sincerely in many years of being a pastor, I've seen a lot of Christians who have a lot of Bible knowledge but not a lot of obedience. They can quote the Bible all day long, but they're hearing it, but not necessarily doing it. We could say there are many Christians that are educated
Starting point is 00:22:07 beyond their level of obedience. Why have I heard from God in a long time? Maybe because you didn't do the last thing that he told you to do. Some of you, someone here, he might have told you to give something to somebody and you didn't do it. Or maybe he prompted you to confess a sin
Starting point is 00:22:27 and you didn't confess it. Or maybe he told you to serve, somewhere in the church or in the community, and you know he did, but you haven't done it yet. Or maybe he prompted you to invite someone to come with you to church, and you haven't obeyed what he told you to do. Maybe he prompted you to forgive the person who hurt you and asked for forgiveness, but you're still holding a grudge. If you haven't heard from God in a long time, maybe it's because you didn't obey the last thing he told you to do. really, really good news for you because I know life is complicated and we have a lot of decisions
Starting point is 00:23:05 to make. Whenever you need direction, the good news is, Jesus, he is the good shepherd. And we are the sheep. And the sheep know the voice of the shepherd. So how do we hear the voice? What I promise you is you have to turn down the volume of this world. Because everything, is shouting for your attention. Stop scrolling and stop clicking and stop giving into what everybody else says and listen for the voice of God. There's an exercise that I've done now for maybe three years that I like a lot, and I'll do it on vacations during the day off.
Starting point is 00:23:52 I'll go sit outside, and what I'll do is I do this to focus my mind, to practice just mindfulness and presence, and what it does is it helps me to focus, to listen to the voice of God. And what I'll do is I just get really, really quiet, and I'll start listening for a variety of noises. And I'll start to count the noises as I hear them, and my goal is to wait until I hear 20 different noises.
Starting point is 00:24:18 And my rule is, if a dog barks and then another dog barks, that just counts once. If a car drives by, another car drive, that's just one. You can only count everything one time. And so it's pretty easy at first. At first you hear a dog bark and a car go by and a plane fly over and the air conditioner kick on and the house settle and your stomach growl and then it gets kind of quiet. And then you listen, you listen and you listen to hear a cricket chirp way off in the distance
Starting point is 00:24:41 and then you might hear the wind blow and some leaves rustled. And you listen and you listen and you listen for 10 sounds, it's pretty easy, 11, 12, it takes longer and longer and longer and you have to lean in and you have to listen very, very carefully and they have to focus to hear the noise, to focus to hear the sound. What's interesting to me is that every day, those sounds are always there. But I rarely hear them.
Starting point is 00:25:11 Why? Because I haven't slowed myself down and focused enough to hear them. What I want to tell you this, is that God is speaking. He speaks every day to anyone. who will listen to him. He is a relational God who loves you
Starting point is 00:25:33 and wants to reveal his love for you and his purposes for you and his will for your life. God is always speaking. The problem is we're not always listening. So what do we do? We slow down and we listen. Psalm 4610 says, be still.
Starting point is 00:25:55 Be still. and know that he is God. You can hear his voice. I'll close out with the story from the Old Testament. Elijah, the prophet, was a great man of God with big faith and destroyed all these false prophets. And then this evil queen named Jezzie came after him. Jesse is short for Jezebel.
Starting point is 00:26:17 And Jezebel was scary. Jezebel said, I'm going to kill you. And he'd already handled all these men, but one angry woman come that he's done. He's like, ah! And so he runs and hides in a cave, and he is where some of you are right now. He was totally and completely depleted. He was at the end.
Starting point is 00:26:40 He didn't know if he could take any more. He needed a word from God. I wonder if there's anyone here today who needs a word from God. We serve a God who loves you, a God who is speaking. If you're listening, you can hear because God may give you a word that you need. He needed to hear from God. And the wind blasted through the mountains,
Starting point is 00:27:03 scripture says. But the Lord was not in the wind. Then a big earthquake came and shook the ground. But the Bible says the Lord was not in the earthquake. And then a fire raged. But scripture tells us that the Lord was not in the fire. For those of you that are older, like me, we see earth, wind, and fire.
Starting point is 00:27:29 Hashtag, dad joke. Just play to my older crowd. Stick with me. You've been faithful for years. I have not forgotten you. And he was waiting for God in the extraordinary, but First Kings 1912 says, and after the fire came a gentle whisper.
Starting point is 00:27:54 Came a gentle whisper. Here's what's so special to me. where was God? Not in the extraordinary, but in the ordinary. And if you get to know God personally, he will whisper to you in the most ordinary times. Whether you turn to the right or the left,
Starting point is 00:28:17 there's a voice in your ear saying, go this way. When you're doing the dishes, God gives you wisdom. When you're driving to work, God gives you a word for someone. When you're awake at 2 a.m. in the morning, and God whispers, I am with you, I am for you, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, I'm working in all things to bring about good. You can trust me. God whispers. He whispers.
Starting point is 00:28:47 Why do you think he whispers? Maybe one of the reasons he whispers is to draw you close because our God is a relational God. Wouldn't it be amazing if you could ask God a question and you could know his will and hear his voice? The good news is you can because Jesus is the good shepherd and we are the sheep and the sheep know the voice of the shepherd.
Starting point is 00:29:18 So ask him, listen to what he says and do what he says to do because he's speaking and you will hear him if you are listening. Would you pray it with me? Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. One more time, speak Lord.
Starting point is 00:29:42 Your servant is listening. Now, Father, we ask that you would speak directly to the hearts of those who need to hear from you. Today at all of our churches, I know that there are some of you that are hurting and you need a word of comfort. Some of you have lost hope when you need a word of hope. Some of you are trying to make a decision and you need wisdom.
Starting point is 00:30:06 Some of you are carrying a burden and you need to cast that care on God and know that he cares for you. Today at all of our churches, those of you who would say, yeah, Craig, I really do. I want to better hear the voice of God. Would you lift up your hands right now? Just lift them up all over the place. Online, you can just type in the comment section, God, help me. me to hear your voice. Help me to hear your voice. And Father, I pray, as I've just been praying all week long for our church family, that we would be a people that humbly seek you in your word
Starting point is 00:30:39 every single day. God, that we would open up your word and open up our hearts and let you speak to us. And God, I ask, especially for those who need confirmation or direction or comfort or guidance or conviction and correction that you would speak very, very clearly, speak through this, message, speak through a song, speak through someone in their life group, speak when they're serving God. Help us to hear your voice and God give us the faith to do whatever you tell us to do. Speak, Lord, your servant is listening. As you keep praying today, some of you may say, well, I've really never heard the voice of God before. And I would say to you, if you've never felt convicted or comforted or directed from God, I would suggest that maybe you don't know him.
Starting point is 00:31:34 You might even have been a church person for years and years and years, kind of like Samuel. He was doing the ritual, but he didn't have a relationship. And there are some of you, if you were really, really honest, you'd say, we could just sit down and talk and I'd ask questions. You'd say, yeah, Craig, I really don't have a relationship with God. Let me tell you what Jesus said. This is in the last book in the Bible, Revelation 320. Jesus said, here I am, and I stand at the door and knock.
Starting point is 00:31:58 In other words, he loves you, and he wants to come into your life. And then here's what he says. Jesus says, if anyone hears my voice, listen to that. If they hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and I will eat with them and they'll eat with me. Jesus is knocking on the heart of somebody right now. And maybe you can hear his voice. He loves you. He wants you to surrender.
Starting point is 00:32:25 He wants you to know the Father. He's knocking. And when you hear his voice, if you let him in, he will come in. Some are you going to say, well, yeah, I want him to come in, but I'm not ready yet. I've got to clean up my house yet. None of you'll clean, but you're never going to get it clean enough.
Starting point is 00:32:39 You just let him in. You let him in. What if I'm still sending and messing up? You just let him on in. You let him in. You confess your need for him. And when you do, he forgives your sins. He makes you brand new,
Starting point is 00:32:53 Jesus, the good shepherd, who died on the cross for our sins. And God raised him from the dead so that anyone in this includes you who calls in his name, you would be saved and forgiven today at all of our churches. Those of you that know, you don't know him. And you're ready to let him in. We're going to step away from our sin. And we're going to call on the name that is above every name. If that's you today, I need a relationship with him.
Starting point is 00:33:16 I want his forgiveness. I want his grace. I need his peace. I want to step away from my old life. I want to give all of my life to Jesus today. That's your prayer today. Lift your hands high right now. All of the place, lift them up and say yes.
Starting point is 00:33:27 That's my prayer. Back over there. God bless you. Others, I do right back over here and over here as well. Praise God for you. Others today who say yes, Jesus, I surrender. Lift up your hands and say yes. I want to know you and serve you and follow you online.
Starting point is 00:33:42 If you can type in the comment section today, I'm following the good shepherd. And let's all pray together. Pray Heavenly Father. I surrender to you. I hear your voice, and I'm letting you in. Save me, forgive me, fill me with your spirit. Speak to me daily so I can do your will and show your love and all I do. My life is not my own.
Starting point is 00:34:13 I give it all to you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Could somebody celebrate big and worship God, welcome us morning to God's family. Thank you.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.