Gateway Church's Podcast
Hear Ye! Year Ye!
A Gateway Sermon
I heard a story when I first moved to Dallas that there were these two gentlemen that were traveling in Central Texas and it really doesn't matter where they were traveling from and traveling too but on their journey, on their way to where they were going, they were going to pass this town and I'll spell it for you because I don't want to pronounce it yet because that's what the whole story is about. It's M-E-X-I-A, how many have ever heard of that town before in Texas? Anyway, they were traveling and they were going to pass this town and they saw a sign that said that town 10 minutes away or 10 miles away and so the driver, he turns to his friend and he says, "Oh look, we're coming up to Mejia" and the person that's in the passenger, the person that's the passenger, he said, "No, that's Mexico, that's how you pronounce that, that's Mexico" and he said, "No, it's not it's Mejia" and so they get in this big spat for the next 10 miles actually, they say, "No, it's Mejia, it's Mejia" and they just go back and forth, back and forth and finally, a mile before they get to that town, they say, "You know what we'll do, we'll just stop at one of the local restaurants or someplace like that, go inside and ask the person behind the counter, the name of the place." So they said, "Yeah, let's do that." So they come to this nice little quaint restaurant, they walk inside and they talk to the lady, they go to the lady behind the counter and they say, "You know, I'm sorry to bother you and we really don't want to order any food, we'll order a coke or something if you can be happy." But we just need to know the name of this place, we've been arguing for the last 10 minutes what the name of this place is and so if you will very carefully and slowly pronounce the name of this place, it will just really clear up a lot of confusion, so if you would please pronounce the name of this place very slowly, the lady behind the counter looks at him strangely and says, "Bear me, Queen, okay, all right, what I want you to do is open your bulletin and pull out the notes that are inside your bulletin, for those of you that are here for the first time, every week we have so many notes in the bulletin and not to scare you but if you notice at the very top of the message it says entrance exam, how many of you ever took an entrance exam to get into college, SAT, ACT, whatever it may be, do you guys remember the standardized test, you know where they would say things like you would sit down in your chair and you'd have a proctor up front and the proctor would say things like, "Do not pick up your pencil until I say begin, do not turn the page until I say begin, do not break open the seal until I say begin," they finally would say this, "When I say begin, begin, begin, okay, so we won't do that this morning, but anyway, I want you to pull out a pencil or a pen and we're going to take this entrance exam together, all right, it's called an entrance exam because you can't go into the message until you've passed the entrance exam, okay, so here we go, seven questions, seven questions, there are easy questions, just quickly answer them, there's a couple rules for this exam though, every exam has its own set of rules and so does this one, rule number one is this, are you listening? Rule number one is this, I will only say the question one time, okay, I'm not going to repeat the question, I will just say it once, okay, rule number two, no talking, if you do talking I will collect your test paper, anyway, no talking and I will only say the question once, all right, does that sound good, easy enough rules, right, now the only other rule is this, you have to mark down an answer, if you write nothing down, if you don't put anything down, it will be counted wrong, or if you put the incorrect answer down, it will be counted wrong, the only way you can have a check marker or a right answer is if you say actually the right answer, okay, so here we go, I will only say the question once and those of you that were here last night, there's some of you here this morning, some of you here there last night, you guys don't count, okay, so no talking and here we go, question number one, I will go very quickly, here we go, question number one, how many of each animal did Moses take into the ark, please put your answer down, question number two, is it possible to end the sentence with the word the, yes or no, question number three, question number three is a two part question, the first part is spell the word shop, part two, what do you do when you come to a green light, question number four, listen closely, a plane of 100 passengers from Texas, crashes in Montana, 50 of the Texas passengers are killed, now here's the question, in which state would the survivors most likely be buried, question number five, question number five, it is noon, you look at the clock, the big hand is on the three, the small hand is on the five, what time is it, question number six, spell, this is a two part question two, spell the word silk, part two of the question is this, what do cows drink, number seven, here comes question number seven, listen carefully you're the driver of a train, there are 30 people on board, at the first stop 10 people get off, at this next stop five people get on, now for the question, what is the name of the train driver, okay, mark your answer, alright let's grade our quizzes, alright, you all ready, see how well you did, are y'all ready to grade your quizzes, you know, since I moved to Texas I've learned how to say y'all, does that sound real good y'all, yeah I learned that y'all is singular, right, when you say y'all could be one person, now all y'all is everybody, right, it's more than, it's like plural, and if you want to be plural possessive it's all y'alls, right, so look at all y'all's papers, and let's grade them, here we go, question number one, question number one was this, how many, listen, how many of each animal did Moses take into the ark, how many say two, how many say two, now if you're real theological you'll say two of some kind of seven of the other, right, no, how many put zero, yeah the answer is zero, Moses didn't take anyone into the ark, it's none, yeah it was Noah, yeah it wasn't Moses, it was Noah, okay, read through Genesis and give them all, question number two, is it possible in innocence with the word the, how many say no, how many know that, I just said that, is it possible in innocence with the word the, I just did, so the answer is yes, it is possible, I just did it myself, okay, you know someone, I've heard someone come up to me before and say it is impossible to innocence with the word the, you simply cannot innocence with the word the, there's no way in this earth that you can innocence with the word the, I'm like you keep doing it, okay, number three, spell the word shop, spell it with me, S-H-O-P, what do you do when you come to a green light, oh okay, hopefully you didn't put stop, okay, question number four, a plane with 100 passengers from Texas, crutches in Montana, 50 of the passengers are killed, now the question in which state would the survivors most likely be buried, survivors aren't buried, okay, so that's the answer, at least we hope they're not buried, here we go, question number five, it is noon, you look at the clock, the big hand is on the three, this is my hand, it's on the five, what time is it, it's noon, it's also time to buy a new clock, your clock is broke, okay, number six, spell the word silk, spell it with me, S-I-L-K, with the cast drink, water, yay, okay, and question number seven, listen carefully, you are the driver of the train, there are 30 people on board at the first stop, 10 people get off of the next stop, five people get on now for the question, what is the name of the train driver, the answer is your name, you should have put your name down, okay, okay, now let's write our quizzes, pass them forward please, no I'm just kidding, you'll get a letter in the mail, soon to tell you if you passed or not, now let's just, I just want to see how well you, I'm just teasing, I'll see how well you did, how many, first of all how many got at least one right, got at least one question, let me ask this, how many didn't get any of them right, you really just, you really busted up, how many missed them all, raise your hands and miss them all, okay, they're scared too, I saw a couple people going, okay, how many got at least one right, at least one right, keep your hands raised, okay, keep your hands raised if you got one right, how many got at least two right, let's go with a lot of them, how many got at least three correct, three got three right, how many got four right, wow, how many got five right, five of them, how many got at least six right, how many got all of them right, all right, yeah, have you taken the test before, all right, very good, very good, well you drove from my point, we were, this quiz was all about listening, about listening, listening real closely, okay, I've got a few questions for you to begin this message, have you ever been talking to someone when you finally realized you're not listening to me or how about this, have you ever poured out your heart to someone, someone you thought that really cared about you, you started sharing your deep, intimate thoughts, and in the middle of it you realized you're not listening to me, you're not really caring what I have to say, how about this, have you ever been frustrated with the language barrier, like someone from another country with another language and you try to talk, I like to tell this story, when I worked at Christ for the Nations about at least a third of the students, probably a third of the students are from at least 20 to 30 percent are from another country when they come to Christ for the nations, so a lot of them step off the plane with little, very little English understanding, very, very little, and they may only know one phrase, so you know they come to class and I really, it's boggling in my mind how they receive so much from the school but they still do, it's hard to receive from speakers when they speak English and you don't, but you go up to them after class and you say, how are you doing, and they go, thank you very much, and you say, so how are you adjusting to the American culture, thank you very much, and everything is thank you very much, thank you very much, so have you ever been frustrated with the language barrier before, yet let me ask you some other questions, how about this, have you ever thought, does God still speak to people, or if he does speak to people, why doesn't he speak to me, maybe he thought that before, or maybe even if God does speak to me, why is it that I can't hear him, why can I hear what he has to say, well this morning we'll talk about listening to God, listening to what he has to say, if you turn in your Bible to Acts chapter 1, we're going to start reading it verse 1, Acts chapter 1 verse 1, let's read it together, the former account I made Otheophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them he commanded them not to enter the part from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now, therefore when they had come together they asked him saying, Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel, and he said to them it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all G.D. and Sumerian, and to the end of the earth. Let's pray together. Lord, I just ask you today that truly as I pray before that we will leave this place this morning we can say we have heard from God today in Jesus' name, amen. Firstly I want to talk to you about, if you turn your notes over you'll see on the back of my three points, the first point is this, is the key to unlock your destiny, we want to talk about the key to unlock your destiny, I want to present to you two different case studies from one person's life, two different case studies from one person's life, and the person I want to talk about is Paul in the New Testament, his name used to be Saul, this is Saul, Saul of Tarsus, the one that persecuted the church, the one that actually could be considered a murderer of Christians, someone that hated Christians so much that it killed them, that you know what happened, you've heard the story before, on the road to Damascus you had a radical transformation that changed his life, I want us to read it together. If you would just turn a few pages over to Acts chapter 9 we're just going to read the first five verses, Acts chapter 9 verses 1 and 5, then Saul's still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women he might bring them bound to Jerusalem, listen closely, as the journey became near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven, then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" then the Lord said, "I am Jesus who you are persecuting." You'll see on that very day, that very day when the light shone from heaven and he heard God's voice, his life was changed forever, I mean forever changed and we know the story, forever changed. When he heard God's voice, when he heard God speak to him, his destiny was unlocked at that point. If you listen closely, at the same time you hear God speaking the song, you can also hear the unlocking of his destiny, of Saul's destiny, while with Saul's destiny changed forever, was because he heard the voice of the Lord, he heard God's voice, he was changed, second case study, same person, actually a new person now, same man, but now in a room, his name was changed from Saul to Paul, again the whole deal of him being changed, transformed on the road to Damascus, radical transformation, he heard God's voice, he was changed forever, to Damascus, after that he becomes a radical preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ to anyone who would listen, I mean he was radical, got beaten, stung, so many things happened to him and he was radical for God, and I want to read a scripture in Acts chapter 16, if you want to turn just a few pages over, Acts chapter 16, let's pick up somewhere in the middle of Paul's ministry, he was Saul before, now he's Paul, radical for God, Acts chapter 16 verses 6 through 10, it says this, now in they, and they is referring by the way to Paul and Timothy, Timothy had joined Paul at this time, now when they had gone through Frigia and the reason of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia, after they had come to Mysia, they tried to go to into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them, so passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas, and a vision appeared, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night, a man of Macedonia still been completed with him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us, now after he had seen the vision immediately, we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them, I want you to look back up at verse 6, can you put verse 6 back up again Meredith, verse 6 it says this, now when they had gone through Frigia and the reason of Galatia, listen, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia, obviously they heard a word from the Lord saying do not go to Asia, do not go to Asia, that's what the voice of the Lord said, verse 7, after they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, a second place they tried to go into, but the Spirit did not permit them, again the Lord told them, you are not to go into Bithynia, you're not to go into Asia, and you're not to go into Bithynia, but then if you read on what we just read, was that he had a dream of a man from Macedonia coming to him in the night and said, please come over to us and they concluded that that was actually the Lord speaking to them and telling them to go to Macedonia, you see what happened was this, they heard, Paul heard the voice of the Lord, again he heard the voice of the Lord, and because of it, it changed countless numbers of people's lives, the people, the Macedonians which Thessalonica and other places are up in Macedonia, but so many other people's lives were changed because he heard the voice of the Lord, now I don't know if you realize this or not, but Macedonia is now what's considered Greece and that's in Europe and that was the very first place, the very first place outside of Asia that the gospel was ever proclaimed, in other words that was the first place of the uttermost parts of the earth, the very first place, and many scholars believe this, listen, many scholars believe that because Paul went to Macedonia because he heard the voice of the Lord and he went to Macedonia, that Macedonia was the starting place of the gospel being spread all throughout the world, the known world, all throughout the world the gospel was spread because he went to Macedonia, so now you realize that because Paul heard the voice of the Lord not only was his only destiny unlocked, there's so many other people's lives were as well, and even we are sitting here today because Paul went to Macedonia, isn't that amazing, the gospel was spread throughout all the world because Paul heard the voice of the Lord, I want to submit to you this morning that the key to unlock your destiny is this, is to listen to God, to listen to God's voice, we're talking about listening today, the key to unlock your destiny is to listen to God's voice, in fact I want to say this, do you want to know what the key is to hear God? You might say, I want to know how to hear God, let me tell you, it's so simple, let me tell you what it is, the key to hearing God's voice is this, listening, that's it, I'll say it again, it's so simple, it's so easy to miss, the key to hearing God's voice is this, listening, just to listen, if you desire to listen he desires to speak, in fact I'll say this, God desires to speak to you more than you desire for him to speak to you, I'll say again, God desires to speak to you more than you desire him to speak to you, it says in Matthew chapter 4 verse 4, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, in this read out again, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, in other words what's that verse is saying is that every single word that comes out of God's mouth is our substance, that's how we live our lives, by the way that word proceeds in the original Greek, it's not a past punctillier sense, it doesn't mean it happened one time, every word that persuaded out of the mouth of God is actually a present continuing sense, we can actually say it this way, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that is proceeding, proceeding out of the mouth of God, God is always talking, so the question is not this, does God speak, the question is not does God speak, here's the question, do I listen, do I listen, that's the question, and I want to give you a couple of tests and letters in my own life, when we lived in West Virginia, Marybeth and I were married in 1994, we were married for a year when one Sunday morning I was actually working in civil engineering for the Department of Highways in West Virginia and really happy hearing and really had no plans of going to Bible school or anything like that, one Sunday morning I was in church and my pastor comes to me and gives me a tape and some music, because I helped out with the worship team, a tape and some music, so I took it to work with me the next day, to pop in the tape in my cassette deck while I was doing my work, and I listened to the tape and opened up the tape case and saw that it said, "For more information about Christ donations, call 1-800 blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, 1-800, call C, if and I or whatever the number was," so I thought, you know I'll give these people a call, I have no idea who they are, I may have only heard of Christ for the nations once or twice before in my life, I really didn't even hardly remember, so I called the number, I asked the lady, she could send me information, she said, "Sure, I'll do that," I hung up the phone, as I hung up the phone, the Lord spoke clearly to me, he said, "You're going to Christ for the nations," and honestly, the Lord had rarely spoken to me in that strongly sense before in my life, just a couple other times, but when I hung up the phone, the Lord said, "You're going to Christ for the nations," I said, "Okay Lord, I'll do it," this was around March or April, we weren't even planning on the Bible columns, we were happy in our lives, we knew God had called us to ministry, but didn't know to what extent, you know, to what degree, so anyway, I'll wait a little while before I tell Mary Beth I'm a little fearful about telling my wife, "Hey, we're packing up our bags and moving the Dallas, you want to come," you know, because we've only been married maybe 9 months and the Lord is calling us to move the Dallas, so about a week or so goes by, and finally one night, actually I heard the Lord say, "I just wait a few days before we'll tell your wife," finally one night the Lord relays me, "I will have since it," because I kept trying to say, "Lord, can I do it now," I was listening and telling to the Lord and finally said, "Yeah, tell your wife tonight," so I told Mary Beth, I said, "I think we're supposed to go to Christ for the nations into Dallas, Texas," immediately Mary Beth said, "Okay," I said, "Well," she said, "Okay, we'd go," see what happened that very day, the very day that the Lord released me to tell Mary Beth, Mary Beth was in her house, she was in the kitchen, and she had kind of a daydream that she was telling one of the relatives that she was going off to Bible school, and she thought, "Why am I having this daydream?" This is kind of weird, but I mean, we're thinking, as soon as she dismissed it, went on about her business, she got prepared her heart, got prepared my heart, so I said, "I told her," I said, "Okay, we're supposed to go to Christ for the nations, this was around March," I said, "Let's save up our money for the summer and start school in the fall," so I told her that, she said, "Yep, let's do it, amen, okay," so I started feeling uncomfortable, I thought something is going wrong here, something is really wrong, something was unsettled in the Spirit. You know, let me tell you, whenever you hear God's voice, you will know for sure this, God's voice, because you'll have a peace, a peace that passes on understanding, and I didn't have that peace, I just sensed an uneasiness, there's a difference between not having peace in your mind and not having peace in your spirit, oftentimes our mind will think, "Okay, should I do this, this, this, or this, yeah, don't leave me or understand, but oftentimes there's not a peace in your spirit, that's what you have to listen to," and I didn't have a peace in my spirit, so I started praying, I said, "Lord, what should we do?" So it was a few weeks later, in April, actually April 30th, I was at my church, it was a Sunday night service, I went to the altar and I said, "Lord, I just right now lay this down to you, if you want me to go to Christ for the nations, I won't go, but if you want me to go, please show me, please, I'm listening to you, I want to hear you, I desire to listen and I desire to hear your voice," and when I prayed that, before my very eyes, as I had my eyes shut, I saw right before my eyes, Christ for the nations, the words, just in big black letters, the Lord gave me that vision and the month, I said, "Thank you guys, thank you for revealing it, Timmy, I knew it was God, I knew it was, but I knew there was something still uneasy about everything." So I said, "God, maybe the timing's wrong, maybe I'm not supposed to save up through the summer and go this far, maybe a year from now, maybe two years from now, I don't know." So I said, "Lord, show me," and then Lord told me, May 23rd, I mean I heard it cool, May 23rd, leave from May 23rd, this was April 30th, it was three weeks and two days later, I had to pack my bags and leave. So in faith, the very next day, we started doing everything, turn off our cable, trying to take care of everything so that we could go ahead and move in three and a half weeks. How many of that was a step of faith? I'd never been to Dallas before in my life, never stepped foot. We had never stepped foot on the campus of Christ for the nations, but we left three and a half weeks later, come to Dallas, I'll start worrying because we don't have a job real quick, how are we going to, the husband, the man of the house, they start worrying all that kind of stuff. Well, that's me completely. So I started worrying. Two days later, Mary Beth gets a part-time job at Christ for the nations, and I'm thankful for it. And I get pretty much a part-time job too, because most people in high youth, full-time, if you're going to school. So I get a part-time job, she gets a part-time job, mine is off campus, it's working for an engineering company, she's working on campus at Christ for the nations. In the middle of the summer, around June or July, Mary Beth has offered a full-time job to go from that part-time job. In other words, the part-time job is going to progress into a full-time job. She accepts the job, and at that time, at Christ for the nations, whoever has a full-time job at Christ for the nations, any of the family members go to school for free. So God totally provided for us because we heard God's voice, and He said, "Leave me 23rd." Something a little more close to home for you guys, I want to tell you how I came to Gateway Church. About a year and a half ago, I came on a Saturday night, we used to have Saturday night services only, came on a Saturday night for two Saturdays in December, and I'd worship. And after the second Saturday night, Robert comes up to me after the service, and he says, "You know, I'm not doing this to manipulate you or to control you or anything, but because I want you to hear the Lord's voice." But he said, "The Lord's already spoken to me," and he said, "You're supposed to be here." I'm telling you, I was happy at Christ for the nations. I really was. I thought that was the dream job I never wanted to leave, but he said, "The Lord told me you're supposed to be here." He said, "I'm not trying to manipulate you, but I feel like God told me you're supposed to be here." And I said, "You know you're right. You aren't manipulating me. I'm going to hear the Lord myself too." So I went home and prayed about it. In fact, it was in December. I went back to West Virginia, back to CR relatives. While we were home one morning, the Lord said, "I want you to pray about it right now, pray about the Gateway thing." I was so praying, I said, "Lord, I want to hear your voice, because listen, guys, listen, I desire to hear God's voice, because I desire to listen." He spoke to me. Again, that's the key to hearing God's voice. It's just listening. That's it. It's really just desiring to listen. God will speak. So I said, "Lord, speak to me. I have to hear your voice. I'm not going to move in the answer unless you speak." And again, God gave me another vision, and what I saw was two doors opening up, kind of the shape of French doors opening up, and a light coming through the middle of it. And the Lord said, "This is the way you walk in." And I knew then the Lord was calling me the Gateway Church. I knew it. So I come back to Dallas. Marybeth and I come back to Dallas from our time in West Virginia. And when we come back, I meet Robert for lunch, and I say, "Robert, because you were going to meet, and I told him I would pray about it during Christmas, so I told him I would tell him like this and that's what the Lord has spoken to me." So when I met with him, I said, "Here's what the Lord did." I said, "I was praying one morning in West Virginia, and what I saw was a vision of two doors opening up, and the light shining from the middle of it, and the Lord said, "This is the way you walk in it." He gets the devious grin on his face, Robert does, which I know you can't even imagine what that looks like. But anyway, he gets this goofy grin on his face, and I can tell he's preoccupied, and so I'm not sure what's going on. So I finish, and he says, and he says, "I just need to tell you something," and he said, "But first, let me say this. I'm really happy that you're coming with me anyway. I really feel like this is the Lord." He said, "But I need to tag you." He said, "During the Christmas holiday, while you were gone, we redesigned the logo of the Church, and the logo is now two doors opening up with a light shining through." So before that time, we didn't have that logo we had now. That was the exact logo that I saw on my vision. So God knows how to confirm things to people, right? The thing is this. Are we listening? The question is not, does God still speak? The question is, "Do we listen?" So I just want to tell you, the key to unlock your destiny, the key to knowing what God has for your life is to listen. I mean, really, I just want to pose this to you, are there, do you think there are decisions that you need to make in your life that God wants to help you with? Really, do you think that's true? Do you think God wants to help you with your children? Do you think God wants to help you with big career moves in your life? Do you think God wants to speak to you about those things? If you're single, do you think God wants to speak to you about your future mate? Absolutely. Absolutely. He wants to speak. You don't want to listen. So that's the key to unlock your destiny. Let's talk about point number two. That is, listen, don't listen. For the next few minutes, what I want you to do is just imagine yourself as someone else, okay? Let me tell you who that someone else is, just imagine yourself as someone else. This person is very plain, very ordinary, very run-of-the-mill, you know, plain vanilla, no sprinkles, please kind of person, right? Just plain. Just an ordinary person, no book has ever been written about this person, nor should a book be written about this person. They're just plain. No, really, there's not much even to speak about, but they're a plain person. Just an average, average Joe, okay? So you are this person, and you are standing on a beach, okay, you're working with me? You're standing on a beach. In fact, let's say that this beach was, you were standing on this beach about 2,000 years ago, okay? 2,000 years ago. You're standing on this beach. In fact, you're helping your dad. You're efficient about trade. You and your dad are efficient about trade. You're helping your dad mend the nets. It's been a long morning. You've been out catching fish. You're mending your nets now because a few, the net, you know, streams or whatever got broken. So you're mending, you're mending your nets. And why you're standing on the beach and mending your nets, talking to your brother possibly as well, you see this man walking down the beach. Now this man catches your attention real quick and you think, is that that guy that I've heard about? Have I been hearing something about him? And in fact, he starts getting closer and closer, and every once in a while you look back up to see who that is. And as he gets closer, you think, yeah, I think that's the one, yeah, that's the one they've been talking about. That's the one they've been calling the Messiah. The one called the Messiah. You know, the one that's actually, according to tradition, according to tradition, he's going to be the one that's going to take the kingdom of Israel and put it back in the hands of the Jews. Take it out of the tyranny of Roman dictatorship and put it back into the hands of the Jews. He's going to be our king. That's what I've heard about him. He's going to be the king. So it gets closer and closer and closer, and you think, is he getting closer to me? Is he coming towards me and it comes right up to you? Okay. This man comes right up to you. He says that they call the Messiah, comes up to you and he says two words that change your life forever. He says this, follow me, follow me, and you think, is he talking to me? You kind of do a double take? Is he talking to me? He turned to your dad and said, Dad, what should I do? I don't know what to do. You know, that's crazy. You don't have to go to him. You'd be crazy. He's going to be a king someday. You want to be a part of his entourage, go, go. So you think, sure, I want to be a part of this guy, this guy is going to be the king of Israel someday. He's going to overthrow Roman dictatorship and he's going to set up a kingdom for Israel and it's going to be our land again, so you follow this guy. Your understanding of the Messiah at this point is that he's going to be an earthly king. Are you following me so far? He's going to be an earthly king. So for the next three years, you watch his ministry. You watch the things that he's doing. You see many miraculous things. What I find interesting, guys, is this, is that oftentimes, by the way, you're one of the disciples. You really want to figure that out, of course, you're one of the disciples. For the next three years, you see very, very many miracles, signs, and wonders, but what really is interesting to me is oftentimes the response that the disciples gave when Jesus did different things. Let me give you some examples. He feeds the 5,000. Remember that. He feeds the 5,000. If it is a deserted place, the disciples come to him and say, let's send these guys home. It's getting late. They need to eat dinner. Jesus says this. What do we have for food around here? Basically, you say, well, you go up to him and you say, well, all we have is this boy here. He has five lives and two fish. What does Jesus say? He's just sitting there. He's just sitting there. He'll feed him. You see right there before he was in a miracle take place, a miracle of God. Amazing. But you know what? Just a few chapters later, a few days later, there's 4,000 people together. You just have 5,000 come together and there's 4,000 people. Listen to what the disciples say. I'm quoting verbatim with English translation. He's feeding the 4,000 and the disciples say this, where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to feel such a multitude? I think to myself, why are they thinking this? Because he just said 5,000 and this is only 4,000 and they're saying, where could we get enough bread? Isn't that interesting? Couldn't it be that their perspective is kind of skewed a little bit, could have been? Jesus, when they're in the boat together, you're one of the disciples still, think you're still a disciple. You're in the boat with Jesus. Jesus starts talking and he says this, being aware of the love and of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. You know what the disciples say? It's because we don't have any bread. We forgot the bread, we forgot the bread. You're aware of the love and the fear, oh God, why do you forget the bread? And he's like, I didn't forget the bread, you forgot the bread. And Jesus says this, guys, listen, I'm not talking about that. Did you not just see me feed a bunch of people? We got plenty to keep us. I'm not talking about earthly bread. I'm talking about a philosophical viewpoint of the Pharisees and the Sadducees invading your spirit. Don't let it happen. Don't let it happen. You see, oftentimes the disciples' perspective was on their earthly situation when God was trying to speak to them in eternal truth. Do you hear what I'm saying? Again, God was trying to speak in eternal truth. Jesus was speaking in eternal truth and their hearts and their minds were on a temporary perspective. At the transfiguration, Jesus knows us in Elijah, the three of them appeared together and what does Peter say? Hey, can I build some tents for you guys? This is kind of interesting, really. Can I build tents for you? Again, don't laugh too quickly because you know what? What would you do if you were in the same situation? Just think about it. Today, if something like that happened, it'd be just kind of interesting. You might say, "You want to build some houses for you?" I mean, I don't know. Who knows what you would do. But it's just real interesting sometimes as you read the Scripture, some of the responses that the disciples gave. James and John, their brothers, they come with their mother to Jesus. When they come with their mother to Jesus, the mother says, "Hey, whenever you set up your kingdom," which again, they're thinking, "earthly kingdom," can James sit on one side and John sit on the other? What does Jesus say? Jesus says, "You don't know what you're asking. You have no idea what you're asking." See, the perspective was this. They thought Jesus would be the king and there would be a string of six little thrones beside his big throne on one side and six little thrones on this side where Jesus was thrown in the middle. Twelve disciples, the ruling and reigning over the different provinces or whatever of Israel. And no perspective was, "I'm going to sit right to your left and right to your right." And you know what? The disciples get very mad, very mad at James and John. You remember that in the Scripture? They got mad. Why did they get mad? Do you think it was because they were asking a ridiculous request? No, because they gave them to the puts. Really? They weren't... I want to be right beside Jesus. I want to be... You know, so you see, some of the things that the disciples said, some of the way that they acted and some of the things that they asked were things that were skewed because their perspective was on the temporary, not on the eternal. They come into Jerusalem, the people are waving the palm branches. You have the disciples with Jesus, Jesus is riding on a donkey, people are waving the palm branches, and by the way, I just want to bring this up. Back in those days, the national symbol for Israel was not the star of David. It wasn't. It was a palm branch. And when they were waving the palm branches, it's as if today, if you see the president of the United States in a location, everybody's waving their American flag. You know? You've seen that before, right? It's the same thing back then. You've seen them waving the palm branches, basically saying, "You are our king, you are our king." But what do they spring out? Do you remember what they yell? What do the people yell? "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna." Today we think that means praise God, praise God, but you know what hosanna actually means? It means save us now, save us now, save us now. So what were they saying? "We're the king, overthrow Roman dictatorships, save us now, save us." We mean save. And you know what the disciples were probably thinking, "I'm with this guy." "I'm with this king." You know, you see me thinking with this guy, you know, just imagine yourself, you're behind the king, the person that's supposed to be the king, you probably feel pretty special about yourself. But what happens right after that? Jesus, He goes and clears the temples right after that, He's crucified on the cross. He dies. He's laid in the tomb, the stone is rolled over the tomb and in tune with Him is every single hope and every single dream you ever had for kingship. It's all gone, despair, despair sets in. Three days later, third day, Jesus rises again from the grave, He's alive, He restores Peter back in the ministry, He appears to His disciples and for the next forty days He talks to them about the kingdom of God. And that's the scripture we read at the very beginning of the message. Let's look at that again, Acts 1 verses 9-8, let's read it again, verse 1. "The former account I made all theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the whole Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during forty days and speaking, listen, and speaking to the disciples of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." He spoke to them about the kingdom of God, let's read on, "And being assembled together with them, we commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, 'You have heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the whole Spirit, not many days from now, listen to the response of the disciples. Therefore, when they have come together, they ask Him saying, 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?'" Interesting. He spoke to them about the kingdom of God, still their respectable skin, still they were thinking of the temporary, and He said to them, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father is putting His own forty, but you shall receive power when the whole Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Oftentimes when Jesus spoke, not only did the disciples not get it all, but the people didn't always get it. For instance, when He spoke of parable, He had the distinct ability more than anybody else to speak on the multiplicity of levels, all at the very same time. To some people, a parable was just a good story on agriculture, on how to sow seed. Yes, yes, don't sow seed here, sow it here, please don't sow it here. I'll write those down, I remember that. To some people, it was a normal story. They learned morals from it, but you know, to some people it was eternal truths. They were eternal truths that they were learning. So God speaks with the voice of eternity, but oftentimes we have ears of temporary. Oftentimes the things that God is saying to us even today, we skew them to meet our own seed, and God is saying today, I want you to listen with ears of eternity. You know, God might come to you and say, "You might feel God's speak to you sometime and say this." He might say, "I want you to give X amount of money to that person standing right over there." And you say, "You're thinking to yourself, "Well, no, no, really, that's about all the money I have." If I were to move that away, I wouldn't have any money left. See, my perspective right now is on the temporary, not the eternal, right? The eternal truth is this, it's better for man to give than to receive. But Lord, I don't know if I want to, so maybe you just want me to pray for that person. Lord, just bless that person. Bless him. I pray they get a thousand dollars in Jesus' name, or whatever they mean. Amen. How about this? The Lord comes to you and says, "I want you to say such and such to that person." There's a word that you have to speak to that person. Go there and tell him, "You get all of those, and I'm such an introvert." In fact, I don't know if it's close. In a stutter, we'll talk about it. Do I sound like somebody from the Bible, Moses? Yeah. And in a stutter, I don't know if I can say anything. So Lord, I just pray that you reveal that word and reveal that word to him in Jesus' name. All right, I'm done with that. Right? How many times do we do that oftentimes? I just want to tell you real quick something that happened to me. I was called into the ministry at an early age when I was in high school and I was called. When I graduated from my secular college in civil engineering, there was a ministry opportunity that opened up for me to go to Florida. And you know what I did? I said, "That must be God because I'm called into the ministry and I jumped into it and took it." It's an idea down on my spirit. I knew that wasn't the word. I knew it. I knew it wasn't God. I thought, "It has to be God." My first ministry opportunity. You know what happened? I looked at this eternal truth that God gave me, that I was called into the ministry and was fitted, tried to cram it in this temporary need and it wasn't the Lord. Listen to me. Often times the Lord is speaking, but you have to listen. Don't just listen, listen, don't listen, listen. When he's talking about a kingdom, it's not just a kingdom, it's a kingdom, he's not just talking about power, he's talking about power. So again, listen, don't just listen, but listen. It's finally point number three, real quick. The Power Pack 1-2 punch is this. Let's take you back to Matthew chapter 5-7. Matthew 5-7 is the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is on the top of the mountain. He does this three chapter discourse, he talks to the crowds about different eternal truths. In fact, it starts out with the Beatitudes, you know the Scriptures from Matthew 5-7 and he goes and talks about so many eternal truths, but at the very end of his discourse, after he's spoken to them for many hours I'm assuming quite a long time, he says to them this. And I'm paraphrasing, he says, you know what's been good that you've listened to me, I'm glad you heard me, I'm glad you listened to the words that I have to say, and in fact you probably even got some eternal truths. Number one, you listened to me, number two, you listened, you didn't just listen, you listened, you heard me turn the truth, but let me tell you something, it's incomplete unless you do this, and here's the one two punch, Matthew chapter 7, verse 24, "Therefore whoever hears these things of mine and does them, I will liken into a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on the house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on your rock." Keep that up there, what Jesus is saying is this, not only listen, but do, the Power Park one two punch is this, listen and do, that's who he likens to a wise man, but you know what, the very next scriptures, the next two verses, he talks about the foolish man, but everyone who hears these things of mine stop there, you heard it, you were listening, you were listening very well, you heard exactly what I had to say, and does not do them, does not do what God says, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall, that's the foolish man, you hear God's voice, number one you say, yeah, I want to hear God's voice, so therefore because you have a desire to listen, you hear, number two, you listen, you hear what God says, you hear what God says, and you hear what God is saying, but number three, you don't act on it, guess what, you're still foolish, that's what the scripture's saying, so the Power Park one two punches this, listen and do, listen and do, finally I just wanted to do this final illustration as we close, in the Old Testament Samuel when he was a young boy, his mother dedicated him to the Lord, his mother said, I'm going to dedicate this boy to you for the rest of his life, and we all know that Samuel ended up becoming a great prophet, a great prophet for Israel, so he went and lived with Eli the Priest as a young boy, and one night Eli was in bed, and so was Samuel, I wish I listened closely, Eli and Samuel were both in different beds, and Samuel heard a voice that said this, Samuel, Samuel gets out of bed and he runs over to Eli, and Eli's bed, he says, did you call me Eli, and Eli said, no, no, go back to bed, that wasn't me, I didn't do anything like that, so Samuel goes and lays back down, so a little bit later, he's laying there, and he goes in the bed, Samuel, he gets up again, he runs to Eli, he says, Eli, did you call me, and Eli says, no, I didn't call you, go back to bed, in this time, he's adhered again, I want you to say these things, so he goes back to bed, he lays back down, Samuel lays back down, and again he hears it a third time, he hears his name being called, Samuel, and what the same will say, and I want you to listen to this, Samuel says, speak for your servant listens, God is always calling your name, always, this morning he's calling your name, he's saying your name, he's calling your name, you need to say speak, we together need to say speak for your servant listens, speak for your servant listens, Lord I just thank you today, that your word is eternal, your word is true, Lord I ask you that you teach us how to listen, firstly know that you would give us a desire to hear in the voice, or that in the crucial life decisions that we have to make, or that we would be used to, to hear this, to hear the voice go. God give us ears to hear what exactly you're trying to say to us, may we not try to cram and filter through the ears of temporary name, God, but let us know exactly what you're saying, we want to know what you're saying, we want to know, we're finally, we not only want to listen, we want to do, God, we want to be doing this, and we want to hear what you're saying, God I thank you that your word declares that we know your voice, we hear your voice, we are your sheep, and your sheep, and all the things. So, God today I'll just pray for every single person in this room, that may be here in this room, will be in full with us, in Jesus name.