Hope Church LV Sermons
God Speaks
It doesn't matter if you have been walking with God for 30 days or 30 years. Every Christian knows the struggle of wanting desperately to hear God speak into your life and for whatever reason, not being able to hear His voice. Every one of us that have been walking with God for any length of time at all know what it is to come to one of those moments when you need God to speak. Maybe it's a question that you need an answer to. It's a question that you're struggling with and you need an answer and you don't need an answer today, you need an answer yesterday. And you're needing God to speak and you're saying, "God, I need you to speak," and you're crying out to God, but for whatever reason, you're not hearing His voice. Maybe it's a decision that you need to make. You need some direction and a decision. You need to know which way do I go, do I go this way or do I go that way? From your perspective, this is not information that you can wait to get. You need the information right now. I need to punch the buttons on the microwave and take it out in 30 seconds, right? I need to know today, for whatever reason, you're not hearing His voice. Maybe it's some guidance in a relationship. You're in a relationship and there's some uncertainty, there's some direction, some guidance that you're in need of and you're asking God, God, I need to hear your voice. You're not hearing Him. Maybe it's something at work. Something on the job, maybe there's a dilemma, moral or ethical dilemma or a problem with you and a co-worker or an employer or an employee and you need to hear from God. You need God to speak, for whatever reason. You're not hearing. And then we open the Bible and we read page after page where God speaks into the lives of His people. The Word of the Lord came to this person, the Word of the Lord came to that person and God speaking. I mean this book chapter after chapter, page after page, book after book, both old and new testament is filled with the accounts of God speaking into the lives of His people. Get where you are right now today. You're wanting desperately to hear, but you're not hearing. Anybody identify with that stroke you've ever been there? Yeah, that's what I thought we've all been there, right? God, I need to hear it. What's that all about? Why is that? Well, I want to try to bring some clarity to that this morning and I want to do it from an old testament book. It's actually a book that if you have been a part of our church for at least three and a half years, we studied through this book together three and a half years ago. It's the old testament book of Jonah. You can take your Bible, turn to the old testament book of Jonah. A lot of people, you know, talking about Jonah, they think Jonah's a book all about a big fish, but the big fish in Jonah's really only mentioned four times in the book. It's not a book about a big fish. A lot of people think because of the title, it's a book all about Jonah because it's entitled Jonah, but Jonah is only mentioned about eighteen times throughout this old testament book, but in the forty-eight verses of the book of Jonah, there's one subject that's mentioned thirty-eight times in forty-eight verses, and it is the person of God Himself. This book is really a book all about God and it's a book about God speaking directly into the life of one of His children. Now there's a lot in the book of Jonah. We're not going to have time to unpack this morning, but we had a couple of weekends here before we launch back into our study in the Sermon on the Mount, we just finished the warning series. If you're visiting with us, we're studying straight through Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and we just finished the section of that, and we're taking a short break. We did the Lord's Supper last weekend, and we got the big worship celebration a couple of weeks, and we'll be launching back into our study in the Sermon on the Mount. So this weekend I just said, "Lord, exactly where do you want me to go?" And God just laid these principles on my heart. Some of these we've looked at before, but they're just so practical, and meet us right where we're living. So I want you to take your Bible, turn to Jonah, and I want to just read the first verse. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amatai, saying, "Sometimes we read right through that verse because it's kind of like, okay, that's the introduction. Let's get into the real story." But that verse really sets the tone for what the whole book of Jonah is about. Everything in the book of Jonah is about Jonah's response to verse 1. God spoke into Jonah's life, and everything else we read in the book is really built on what Jonah did in response to God speaking into his life. God spoke to Jonah, and he spoke to Jonah very personally. It raises some questions. Here's the first one. Does God speak today? Maybe you're living in a situation right now where you need a word from God and you're not getting it and you're thinking, "I don't know if he does or not." Does God speak today? Well, the answer to that question is absolutely yes. God still speaks today. You say, "How do we know that with certainty?" Let me give you a couple of biblical truths that will help us understand how we know that with certainty. Number one, God doesn't change. God doesn't change. I want you to look at a verse on the screen out of Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6, "Read it out loud with me, 'For I, the Lord, do not change.'" Read it again. "For I, the Lord, do not change." Doesn't take a scholar to interpret what that means, right? What's God say about himself there? He doesn't what? He doesn't change. You ever been in a relationship with somebody who's moody? Yeah. Somebody last night said, "Amen, out loud." And on the inside, then I think he said, "Oh me, I didn't mean to say that." I told him, I said, "Bro, you got to go home with her. You better be careful." Been in a relationship with somebody who's, "You know the hard part of that is? You don't ever know who's going to show up, right?" I mean, you don't know today if you've got Jekyll or Hyde, right? Who am I talking to today? Makes it very difficult to engage in a relationship with somebody who's moody. Well, let me tell you something, God's not like that. The Bible says of him, "He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His love for you, His perspective about you, His attitude towards you, His care for you, it never, ever changes. God is always the same. Let me read it to you from the book of Psalms, chapter 102, look at it on the screen, "Of all you founded the earth and the heavens of the work of your hands, even they will perish, but you endure. And all of them will wear out like a garment, like clothing. You will change them, and they will be changed, but you are the same." I'm thinking about our universe. There's not much more stable than the heavens and the earth. And yet here the Psalmist said, "In comparison to the unchangeableness of God, the heavens and the earth are changing like you and I change our clothes on a daily basis." That's how unchanging he is. God doesn't change. Now here's the second biblical truth. If God doesn't change, number two, God's desire has always been fellowship with His people. How do I know God speaks today? Because God never changes. And as you study this book from Genesis to Revelation, it has always been the desire and pattern of God to speak into the lives of His people. The book of Genesis, chapter 3, the very beginning, God spoke to Adam and Eve. As you continue to study throughout the period of history, you went into the patriarchs and in Genesis chapter 12, God spoke into the life of Abraham. In second Samuel, in the period of the kings, God speaks into the life of David. In the book of Jonah's, we're reading right here, the period of the prophets, God spoke into the life of Jonah's. You go into the New Testament and the person of Jesus Christ, God Himself spoke right into the lives of the disciples. Beyond the life of Christ on earth, after the resurrection, we have Paul coming on the scene and we see God in the book of Acts speaking directly into the life of the apostle Paul from Genesis all the way through the New Testament. We see that it is the practice and the desire of God to speak into the lives of His people. You and I can have confidence today that God desires to speak into our lives. Let me show it to you in first John, chapter 1, verse 3. What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. You're with the John's writing here, John says, "Man, we've shared all of this with you because God desires the same thing with you that He desires with us. God desires to have the same fellowship with you as Christ has spoken into our lives. He desires to speak into your lives." God does still speak today, but then the second question is this, how? How does God speak today? I mean, pastors, I read the Old Testament, man, I see God speaking in dreams and visions and writing down stuff on tablets and sometimes with an audible voice speaking. It must have been so easy to live in that time period. And don't forget that if you heard an audible voice today, there's a question you've got to immediately answer, right? Who's that? And there were periods in the Old Testament where God went 400 years and didn't speak at all. You think the last couple of weeks has been tough, town 400 years of silence from Malachi, the end of that prophet to the book of Matthew, the coming of Jesus Christ, there was a period of 400 years where God did not speak any new revelation into the lives of His people. In the Old Testament, God spoke in dreams and visions and audible voices and cataclysmic events. Then in the New Testament, we find that God spoke through the person of Jesus Christ, that when the disciples were there, when Jesus spoke, guess what? It was God speaking right, it was God in the flesh. Everything that came out of His mouth was God speaking right into their lives. But how does God speak today? In the Old Testament, God spoke as God the Father in dreams and visions and voices. In New Testament, God spoke in the person of Jesus Christ right into the lives of His disciples. Today, God speaks in the person of the Holy Spirit. Let me show it to you in the Bible. Look at John chapter 16 verse 13. That when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own initiative. But whatever He hears, He will speak and He will disclose to you what is to come. You see, when you became a Christian, when you were born again, the Holy Spirit of God came to live inside of you. The life that we talk about, that we experience in salvation, the new life that we have in Christ, that new life is literally His Spirit coming to live inside of us that quickens us and makes us alive together in Christ. The Holy Spirit in us speaks to us. Let me give you a general principle, I want to give it to you in a statement. Let's get it. God speaks to us through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit as we relationally seek Him. God speaks to us through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit as we relationally seek Him. You know what that means, right? Now every situation in my life, every circumstance, every relationship, every opportunity becomes a moment now when God can speak into my life if I'm sensitive to and aware of His Holy Spirit in me and listening for His voice. Now there is a key to hearing God's voice. Here's the key, an intimate relationship. If you've been a part of hope for any length of time at all, you have heard us say, following Jesus is all about a what, relationship. The key to hearing God's voice is an intimate love relationship with Him. Why don't you listen to what Henry Blackaby says, look at this quote on the screen. I think it's so dead on. The key to knowing God's voice is not a formula. It's not a method you can follow. Knowing God's voice comes from an intimate love relationship with God. You see what we want is the three easy steps, right? Oh, I'm so glad Pastor Vince is talking about hearing from God today. I can't wait to get the three steps written down so I can go out this afternoon and get my answer from God. There's no method. There's no formula. There's no three easy steps. The key is an intimate love relationship. And the reason so many Christians struggle to hear from God is not because they don't know the formula, it's because we don't know God intimately. You see, we get so busy living life. We get caught up in everyday life and we easily drift away from intimate fellowship with God, or we'll hit church on the weekend, maybe a small group, but that moment by moment day in and day out, spending time with God, we easily drift from that and we get caught up doing life, man, then all of a sudden, boom, here's a question that needs to be answered. Here's a decision that needs to be made. Here's a situation at work. I need God to speak and we get all desperate. We run to God. Oh God, I need the answer. Here's the formula and it's a whole relationship. I got married 18 over 18 years ago. My beautiful wife and I began our marriage relationship. 18 years ago, when we began our marriage relationship, there were a lot of things that my wife said that I didn't understand at all. You guys know what I'm talking about, right? I mean, this stuff she said, I thought I knew what it meant, but I've come to the start. I didn't have any idea what that meant, let me give you an example. I'll be ready in five minutes, 18 years ago, I thought I knew exactly what that meant. Now I understand what that means is I'll be ready when I'm ready to be ready and I'd appreciate it if you stop asking me, "When am I going to be ready?" I now understand five minutes means get out the remote in the bag of popcorn. You got time. Listen, now my wife inside a hundred yard radius can move one eyebrow slightly and I know exactly what she's saying to me. The more you know somebody, the clearer their voice becomes. You know why sometimes we struggle so bad because we only try to hear his voice when we need the big answer. We're not seeking in moment by moment and day by day and learning what it is to hear the voice of God. Listen, as we live moment by moment, day by day, developing and cultivating intimacy with God. What happens? We learn to discern the voice of God in our lives and the more you know him, the clearer his voice becomes. Let me write something. I want to put it up on the screen. I wrote this down yesterday. God's desire is not for us to know his will. His desire is for us to know him. As we intimately seek him, he will accomplish his will through our lives. You see how subtle it is? It even sounds good. I want to know God's will for my life. Listen, God is not concerned with you knowing his will. God wants you to know him, and as I seek to know him, I can look back over my life and see all the ways that God has accomplished his will through my life, the key is an intimate relationship. When I'm walking in fellowship with God, it's through the routine of that relationship that God speaks. Well, let me give you some specifics and again, these are not a formula. God speaks into each of our lives differently. Listen, the way God speaks into your life may not be the way God speaks into my life at all. I've got four kids. It never ceases to amaze me that with four children, each of them can be so different, and the way you communicate to one of them has got to be different than the way you communicate to the other. Each of them have their own currency, right? The same way with us, God made us who we are, and God knows how to speak into each of our lives, and it's different with every one of us, but I think there are some specifics that are general enough to be applied to all of us. The first one is this, his word and prayer. There is no substitute in the life of a believer for consistent time spent in God's word and prayer. Listen, if you don't hear anything else, look at me right now. There are no shortcuts, there are no cliff notes, there is no substitute in your life for personal time you spend daily with God in his word and prayer. If that is not a foundation in your life, you will continue to struggle to hear God speak into your life. His word. In every chapter of the book of Jonah, as you read through that story, and you can do that on your own. It's only 48 verses. You can do it in just one setting. In every chapter in the book of Jonah, God speaks into Jonah's life either through his word or through prayer. We need to give place to God's word and prayer in our lives because it's through the vehicle of God's word and prayer that God often speaks into our life. Hey, why do we come together here on a weekend? We don't come together to be entertained. We come together to worship God and to give God's word place in our lives, right? Man, we come together in a weekend to open around. One of the values that we have here at Hope is dependence on God through his word. And one of the reasons we are so committed to teaching exposition through books of the Bible is because we understand that when we give God's word priority, the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and speaks right into our heart and life. Do you realize the turmoil that it would be for us every week? Because we really thought that you hearing from God today depended on us. If we really thought that it was our study and our preparation and our packaging and our creative ability to communicate, that enabled you to hear from God, do you realize the ulcers that we would live with? But you know what we know? Every one of us who teaches you, here's what we know. We know if we'll just be faithful to take the Word of God and unpack the Word of God, that the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and radically changes people's lives and speaks right to the heart of where they're living. Hey, listen, weekend and week out, people will come out in the back there and they'll stop in the lobby and they'll say, "Pastor, man, you must have been reading my mail this week. I got a text last night. Somebody said, "Man, I think I was the only person in the gym. God was speaking straight to me. And here's what amazed me." Sometimes they'll say, "Let me tell you what God said, and they'll say it, and I'll go, "I didn't say that at all. That's not in my notes anywhere. Where does that come from? Let me tell you where it comes from. The Spirit of God knows where you're living, and the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and speaks right into your heart. Man, when we come together as a small group, why do we go to small groups? Man, we need to be in small groups, why is that? Because we need to hear from God in small groups. It's one of the places where we give God's Word priority in our lives. Have people come sit down in my office and I need some direction. First question I ask him is, "Are you spending time with God dealing with his Word and prayer?" Second question, are you in a small group? Listen, you can't punt all the ways God's given us to hear from him and then get in the middle of the situation and say, "Oh God, now I need you. I need to hear from you." There is no quick formula. The reason we get in a small group is to give God's Word place in our lives and through interaction with others and the Word of God God often speaks right into our lives. Let me give you a second specific. We got to move on. Relationships with others. Man all throughout the book of Jonah, God speaks into his life through relationships. He spoke to his relationship with some sailors. He spoke to his relationship with the Ninevites. As you and I relate with others, he uses others to speak into our lives. That's why, again, small groups are so important. We're going to be kicking them off here in a couple of weeks. If you're not in a small group, you need to get in a small group. Not because, "Well, I'm a Christian. I have to do small groups." No, because I want to hear from God. And one of the ways God speaks into my life is through relationships with other people. My family, my friends, God speaks into my life through those relationships. Sometimes it's just a word of encouragement. I got a text message yesterday from a pastor friend in Georgia, just out of the blue. He's the pastor of the church in Georgia that produced the movies, Facing the Giants and Fireproof. They have a new movie coming out next year named Michael Cat and Michael sent me a text yesterday afternoon just out of the blue, said, "Man, I am praying for you as you preach this week." I got that text. God spoke straight into my life. It's like somebody gave me a cup of cold water on a hot day and it just brought refreshment to my soul. It's through relationships. Sometimes God speaks right into our lives. God speaks to our circumstances. Say, that's in the book of Jonah, right? He had a unique circumstance. I'd say getting swallowed by whales, a unique circumstance. I love the way that the Bible writer wrote it, the way the Spirit of God inspired it. It so understates it. Look at verse 17. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights, chapter two verse one. Then Jonah prayed. You think? I wrote in the margin of my Bible. It's about time, all through chapter one, heaven and earth is falling apart and Jonah never prays and I promise you, I wake up in the belly of a fish. I'm praying, man. I'm just telling you. Then Jonah prayed. Yeah, it ought to be like exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point. He's crying out to God, God spoke into us like God, God, Jonah's attention through his circumstances. Do you find yourself in a set of circumstances that you think is a little bit unusual instead of complaining? Have you first stopped and said, God, what are you trying to say? Lord, I don't like these circumstances, it's uncomfortable. God, what are you trying to speak, God, what are you trying to teach me? God, what are you trying to show me? God, how do you want to speak into my life through these circumstances? Whatever it is, his word and prayer, relationship circumstances, it is always the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit of God speaking into our lives. The third question, how can I know that I've heard from God? That's an important question because I think one of the most abused statements today in Christianity in our part of the world is, well, God told me. It's kind of like the ace on the table, right? You throw that down, what can you say? Not much response to God told me, but I think sometimes we're too flippant on how we use that. There's a fine line between faith and what God said and presumption on God. The Bible says in Romans chapter 10 verse 17, so faith comes from what? Hearing and hearing by the word of, you know what that means, right? Until you hear, it's not faith. Well, Pastor, I'm not real sure what God's saying, so I'm just going to step out in. We call it faith, but it's not faith. It's presumption on God, and that's a very dangerous way to live your life. Faith comes by hearing. I've got to first clearly hear. Now, hearing doesn't mean all the details, right? Just ask Abraham. Go. Go where? I'll tell you that later. Just go. He didn't have all the answers, he just knew, go, so you know what Abraham needed to do? He needed to go. God said, "I'll fill in the blanks when you obey this part, but until you clearly hear the voice of God, it's not faith." It's presumption. Let me give you a couple of guiding factors to know you've heard from God. Here's the first one, the consistency factor. I define it like this, God never contradicts himself. God will never speak into your life in contradiction to his word. Jonah probably played the mental gymnastics that you and I do sometimes. Here's Jonah. God speaks. Go to Nineveh. Jonah says, "Lord, I'd really like you to open another door." He goes down, finds a ship headed to Tarsus, looks in his pocket, has exactly the right amount of money to pay the fare. God has opened the door. How many times have we done that? Well, pastor, God opened the door. It's exactly what Jonah could have said. Open doors by them. He said, "How do we know it wasn't God's will for Jonah to go to Tarsus?" It's not what God's word said. God's word said, " Jonah, go to Nineveh. Hey, open doors, closed doors are irrelevant. When God's word has clearly spoken on an issue, God will never contradict himself. It never ceases to amaze me as a pastor. One of the responsibilities we have is to sometimes sit down with people and try to take God's word and bring counsel into their lives about decisions that they're trying to make. I don't even know how, but with all seriousness, people will say, "Now, pastor, I know the Bible says, but I really feel that God is leading me here. I know the Bible says, but I believe God wants me to be happy." If what you believe God has spoken into your life is in contradiction to this book, listen to me carefully. It is not the voice of God. He never contradicts himself. When you're facing any decision, any crisis, any circumstance, the first thing you do is measure it against the plumb line of the word of God. And if it doesn't pass that test, you don't need to pray about it anymore. Second factor, the clarity factor. I define it this way, God's not the author of confusion. The first Corinthians 14, "For God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace." God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace. The word confusion is a word that comes from a root that means unstable or uncertainty. Here's what I mean by this, when God speaks, it's always clear. Henry Blackaby, let me give you another one of his quotes, look at it on the screen. The evidence of the Scriptures can encourage you at this point. When God chose to speak to an individual in the Bible, the person knew it was God and he knew what God was saying. When God speaks, it's always clear. Now it doesn't mean they always liked it. Jonah didn't like it, but he knew it was God and he knew what God said. He wanted Plan B, but there was no denying that Jonah had heard from God. If you're in a situation right now and you're uncertain, you're not clear. Listen, God has spoken. You say, "What's he saying?" Here's what he said, "Wait." If it's uncertain, God is saying, "Wait, pursue me." And when the timing is right, I will speak clearly. If you're not sure, if you're uncertain, if it's unclear, if there's not peace, if there's confusion, God has not spoken yet. The only thing we can discern from that is God, it's not that God's saying no, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. God's saying, "Wait." God wants you to pursue him, and as you, but you say, "Man, I need to know I'm in a hurry. Listen, God's never in a hurry." He's not in a hurry. He knows exactly what's going on in your life. He knows exactly the situations and circumstances. He knows the decisions that you've got to make. Hey, I'll tell you what, he already knows the decision you're going to make. If it's not clear, God's saying, "Wait." Let me give you one final little piece here. I want to give you some things to look for when you're seeking clarity. And again, this is not a formula. But when I'm seeking clarity from God, when God's put me in that position of weight, there are three things that I look for to line up and point in the same direction. And all of these flow out of the intimate relationship, okay? Here's the first one, a word from the word. And here's what I mean by that, through the routine of my spending time with God or giving God's word priority in a small group in a worship service, I look for God to speak into my life right from his word. When I say a word from the word, I'm not talking about this. Oh, I got a decision to make. All right, God, here we go. Now, we kind of laugh because we've all done it, right? We don't want to admit it, but we've all had that let's just see, I hope, let's say. No, don't like that one. Hey, I've done it too, I know. When I say a word from the word, I'm talking about out of the routine of the relationship, God speaks. Secondly, I look for circumstances in counsel to line up with the word from the word. Now, these don't always come in this order, but when all three of these line up, I seek counsel, and I begin to write, listen, open and close doors by themselves don't mean anything, but when they begin to line up with what God's speaking through His word and the third one that I'm going to give you, then those can be understood as God speaking. You see, Jonah had an open door, but it was in contradiction to the word from the word that God had given it. But if it had lined up, then he could begin to discern with clarity. I've heard from God, here's the third one, a sense of peace or rightness. And I define this one this way, and if you've been walking with God for any length of time, you're going to know this when I say it. I define it as the absence of a check in my spirit. You know what it is as a Christian to have a check in your spirit about something, just that unrest. What is that? It's the Holy Spirit of God saying, hang on. Hey, let me tell you what I've learned after over 20 years of walking with God. Every time I've walked past a check in my spirit, it's cost me. Every single time I try to get ahead of God and bring that third one into line, it's cost me. But when I see God speaking to me through His word, circumstances and counsel and a sense of peace all lining up and pointing in the same direction, you know what I believe I can say? I believe I can say with clarity, I've heard God speak into my life. Now all that out of the overflow of intimacy with God, the relationship is the driving factor. It's the key. You say, where do these things come from? Well, we're not going to read it this morning, but you can turn to Acts chapter 11 verses 1 through 12, and you can read that on your own. Acts 11, 1 through 12, Simon Peter gets a word from God, then circumstances and counsel lines up with it, and the Bible says the spirit gave him complete peace to take that step. All of it's right there in Acts 11. Peter made a decision. Let me give you an example for my life, and you've heard me tell this, but you know why I'm in Las Vegas today, 1999, I was having a quiet time routine in my relationship with God. I didn't get up that morning and say, God, would you show me the plan for the next 20 years of my life? I didn't get up that day and say, God, I want to know your will. Where's my family supposed to go? It was just getting up, spending time with God in Luke chapter 4. I came to verse 43, and here's what it said, Jesus said, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also for I was sent for this purpose. And when I read that, I saw a consuming passion in the life of Jesus Christ for the kingdom of God being expanded to other cities, and God broke my heart because I saw something in Jesus that wasn't in me. I'd been on mission trips, and I cared about the world, but Jesus said I must. And God did some stuff in my heart. I went to my wife. We said, yes, Lord, we don't know when. We don't know where. God, we don't even know what you're doing in our life, but the answer is yes. God had given us a word from the word. A couple weeks later, Johnny Hunt approaches me and says, Vance, we're going to be starting a church in Las Vegas, Nevada, and man, God's putting on my heart. You're supposed to be a pastor of that church. Two weeks earlier, God said, other cities, kingdom of God. Two weeks later, Las Vegas, Nevada, and man, immediately, God began to fill our heart with a sense of peace and rightness. There were no checks in our spirit at all. And here we are a decade later, having enjoyed the favor of God and the blessing of God as a church family. Now God didn't need me to do any of this, but God let me get in on it, and He let me get in on it through the vehicle of the relationship. You know what I've asked myself a bunch of times? What if I hadn't spent time with God that morning? Now don't misunderstand. I'm not perfect. I miss days just like you do, because God was doing this whether without me. I mean, what if I'd been in one of those phases of my life, I was just so busy doing life that I wouldn't intimately seek in Him, makes me wonder in my life, and what opportunities has God had there? What treasures have I missed occasionally, because I hadn't been seeking Him. God desires to speak in your life, and He does it through the relationship. Let me close with this quote by Henry Black if we look at it on the screen. If you do not have clear instructions from God in a matter, pray and wait. Some patients depend on God's timing, His timing is always right and best. Don't get in a hurry. He may be withholding directions to cause you to seek Him more intimately. Don't try to skip over the relationship to get on with the doing. God is more interested in a love relationship with you than He is in what you can do for Him. God desires to speak into your life. Let's pray. Father, we bow before you this morning, and Lord, God, I pray that you would take these truths and transform our lives. God, I pray that you would speak to us today. Lord, we don't pray that lightly. As you sit quietly there before the Lord in the Spirit of Prayer, let me share with you one last thing. When God speaks, you cannot hear from God and stay where you are. You see, you either hear His voice and join in what He's doing or you hear His voice and reject His invitation. There is no neutral position. You either respond in repentance and surrender or you respond in rejection and rebellion. There's no middle ground. So my question for you this morning is, is God speaking into your life? First of all, is God speaking to you today and saying, it's time for you to give your life to Christ. It's time for you to become a Christian. It's time for you to begin a relationship with God. Listen, if God's speaking into your life today, that you need to give your life to Jesus Christ and begin a love relationship with God, maybe you've had religion in the past, but today is a day of salvation. When we stand to sing in just a moment, we've got some pastors at the front and over on the side and prayer volunteers. If God's spoken to you today and you're ready to give your life to Jesus, when we stand to sing, you leave your seat. You go straight to one of these pastors and they'll show you how God in His Word desires to save you and to forgive you and to give your relationship with Himself. Hey, maybe God's speaking into your life today and you've been wrestling, God is calling you to full-time vocational ministry. I don't believe everybody's called the vocational ministry to be a pastor in a church or to serve in that capacity and we know that every one of us really are missionaries and servants of God in whatever occupation, but God does have a unique call to some. Maybe God is calling you and you've been running from it. You've been asking God to open another door, but God's calling you to ministry and this morning you need to go to one of these pastors or prayer volunteers and say, "Hey, I don't know what to do. What are the next steps? I think God's calling me." Maybe like a couple last night, God's calling you to put your yes on the table to be ready to go to the other side of the world and serve Him as a full-time career missionary. Maybe it's an area of sin in your life God's speaking to you about and He's drawing you to fellowship with Himself. Maybe it's a relationship that's broken and God's speaking into your life. Maybe it's an area of pride where you're depending on yourself and God's speaking to you today to let it go and trust Him. You can't hear His voice and stay where you are. You either respond and draw close or you respond and run away. Holy Spirit of God, speak to us today. It's in the name of Jesus.