Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
foreign students out there we want to welcome you uh online this is fire and gray School of ministry we're in church history and function and today we're going to be talking about we're moving or we're moving from history on into church function today and so today what we're going to be talking about is Discerning God's voice or in other words how to be led by the Holy Spirit how to make sure you're hearing the voice of God and not the voice of Satan or seducing Spirits The Deceiver it's very very important because truly the Church of Jesus Christ must hear his voice the true church must hear his voice and be led by the Holy Spirit and I would say that this to me is one of the most important aspects of course learning the scripture Paramount you got to know the Bible learning the scripture staying in the scripture reading the scripture that's the only way you're going to be able to discern if you're hearing correctly because the holy spirit will never break those principles that are in the written word we're going to talk about that but Discerning God's voice being led by the Holy Spirit I printed out my notes then I leave them at home but luckily I have them on my phone so this morning first of all let's just turn to um we're going to turn to and you can just leave this up and flip back and forth from time to time if you want to but also with the scriptures but we're gonna go to John 10 27. first this morning so let's everybody turn there to John 10 27 of course this is something I have preached on over the years but um this is something that really you shouldn't you should commit what we're going to go through today in this class to memory it's that important um anyway John 10 27 Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me now the word again the president tends Greek verbs here I had to search these out because even in my Hebrew Greek keyword Study Bible they don't have the abbreviations on these verbs here for some reason I don't know they just left it out but so I looked it up in my uh parsing God to New Testament Greek verbs by Nathan ehan so when he says my sheep hear my voice this is a present tense Greek verb and I know them and they follow me the word follow is also a present tense Greek verb so Jesus says my sheep hear my voice in an ongoing continuous Manner and presently they are
hearing my voice and I know them and they follow me very important all right now let's go to another verse since we're in John go to John 16. Jesus speaking he said when he speaking of the Holy Spirit when he the Holy Spirit has come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to come he shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you so here Jesus says that when he the comforter the Holy Spirit the Holy Ghost as the King James says the spirit of Truth when he will come first he's going to guide you into all truth all right now what's important here is to understand that Jesus stated there over in John 17 that the word of God is true so the Holy Spirit let's just understand this because we're talking about being led by the Holy Spirit Discerning God's voice the holy spirit is always going to lead you into the truth of God's word the sound Doctrine The rightly Divided scripture he's always going to he's never going to violate ever any principle any moral aspect any doctrinal aspect of the scriptures if you hear any kind of voice have any kind of dream or Vision have any kind of Prophecy or Prophecy from someone to you anything that violates any principle any Scripture any sound Doctrine any rightly divided truth from the word of God is deception it is an imposter it is a counterfeit it is Satan trying to deceive you this is why it is so important to continue to read study meditate memorize learn the word of God and be really established in sound Doctrine and principle and when I when I'm talking about principle I'm talking about principles of humility principles of submission to Authority and all these different from God is not going to lead you to violate those things that's that's one of the things you need to understand and we're going to get more into that as we go now I want you to turn to uh this one was not in my notes but it just kind of came to my mind so let's go to Revelation chapter 2 this is something that is repeated throughout Revelation two and three as Jesus is speaking through the Apostle John to the seven churches which are in Asia he says this over and over again he that hath an ear let him hear right he that hath the near let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches think about that let's let's go over look at verse verse 29 the same chapter
you see Jesus speaking to a different Church that one that part there was to the Church of uh to the Church of Smyrna we go over to verse 29 he says it again to the Church of thyatira and he says he that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches if you back up I even passed one in verse 7 . he's at hathan ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the church so you see where it's a thing God wants us to hear what the holy spirit is saying let's let's go to Romans chapter 8. and it's not just what he said it's what he's saying okay because the spirit wants to speak to us I mean sometimes he just wants to tell us uh what book in the Bible to read that morning sometimes the I have the Lord tell me read Psalm 60 or something like that and I'll read that and I'll be like wow that was God speaking to me you see what I'm saying through Psalm 60. um or whatever Isaiah 60 one time that happened um but let's go to um let's go to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 verse 14. of course you could read this whole chapter it's excellent talking about being led by the spirit and not by the flesh not by the carnal mind and then he says this for as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God now let's look at that where it says they for many as are LED that is a present tense Greek verb ongoing continuous action taking place in the present for as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God so it is Paramount there are many many many many Christians or people that claim to be Christian they claim to be you know they claim that they know Jesus but they're not led by the spirit of God at all they don't allow that they don't permit that they are led by their carnal nature they're led by their carnal mind and they're led by their emotions and most of the time they think that that when they get emotional about something that that's the Lord speaking or leading them or whatever um actually let me just say this about the danger between being led by emotions remember first Thessalonians 5 23 let's let's just do this real quick so I want to talk about being being the danger of being led by emotions but let's lay the foundation real quick because we're not in a hurry this morning so go to first Thessalonians 5 23 first Thessalonians 5 23 declares Paul said he said I pray God that your whole
spirit soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ so this is something as we're talking about this this morning I guess I need to kind of segue into this a little bit here that we have a spirit we have a soul and we have a body and you need to you need to really understand this and there's been you know watch my knee the great Chinese Apostle wrote a three volume set on it's called the spiritual man he said that now think about this this man was an apostle this man planted churches this man led many many people to the Lord discipled many people uh was persecuted in prison tortured and ultimately died for his faith in Jesus um he wrote the book the spiritual man about about the spirit soul and body and it is an in-depth teaching of Holy Spirit Revelation and one of the things he said in the preface of that book is that you need to be saved 10 years to fully understand this book now how many people say that it's usually hey I wrote a book by my book no it was he he said you need to be saved and we're not talking about Americans saved 10 years that's that's almost funny these days because uh 10 years in a mega church doesn't make you really what watch when he was talking about 10 years say big difference we were talking about really born again really on fire for God really really seeking God really studying the word he said you know you're not like that you're not going to even understand this but he talks about and simplifying he talks about the spirit soul and body and I'm going to give you the simplified version the spirit Man part of us has our conscience what is our conscience our conscience is where we are we have the ability to discern right and wrong this is also the place where God has written his law his word what is right and wrong inside of us instinctively every human being every man woman every person knows instinctively it's wrong to murder it's wrong to commit adultery you know it's wrong to lie um so that's in your in your spirit man that's you have a conscience you have an intuition now the intuition is when that's your ability to perceive uh things in the spirit realm that may be good or bad now this for the Christian the Holy Spirit amplifies this when he comes in he amplifies this and this becomes the Discerning of spirits and we'll talk about that more later but your intuition is where you discern you don't you don't really have knowledge of something but you discern or feel or sense the spirit working behind it either it's God or an evil spirit and
you discern that working behind it or you may have um you know an Intuition or or a feeling that something is bad and if I do this it's it's not gonna it's gonna be bad or you know and and really every human being has some kind of intuition but if you're not born again and you don't have the Holy Spirit in you to help you there in your spirit then you can't always even trust your intuition all right it can deceive you that's why uh Jeremiah said that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked so we have to have the Holy Spirit to trust even our intuition then in our spirit we have the area of where we worship God it says we worship God in spirit and in truth this also has to do with the area where we can where we worship God by uh the gift of tongues the the aspect of uh groanings that cannot be uttered and the supernatural gift of tongues in our prayer life and our devotion life and all that so that's where that comes at because the spirit man has a spiritual body First Corinthians 15 I'm just going to give you these we're not going to turn to all of them but first Corinthians 15 talks about a natural body and a spiritual body so when you when you talk about that a natural body and a spiritual body if you you can compare your spiritual body has everything in a sense that your physical body has your your spiritual body has ears spiritual ears spiritual eyes spiritual knows spiritual mouth spiritual tongue it has every aspect if it was separated out from you it would look kind of like you but Spirit form all right and you hear God and just saying that this morning you hear the spirit of God the voice of God with your spiritual ears so in in so that's in your spirit man you discern things if you see a vision or a dream that is from God it's going to be the Holy Spirit you're going to be seeing that with your spiritual eyes not the third eye opened up by by meditation or visualization or occult techniques but if you're born again and your spirit's been resurrected regenerated renewed then you're going to have spiritual vision not when you want it not all the time that's a bad sign if you're always seeing the spirit realm something's wrong but when the holy spirit moves through you to allow you to see a dream that's from him or a vision that's from him or sometimes actual C is spirit in the room operating on somebody or see angels um and that other people don't see Angels appear when other people didn't see them I've seen demon Spirits appear in rooms sometimes and that's your spiritual eyes seeing that but you shouldn't be seeing all the time shouldn't be 24 7 7 days a week you're always seeing it's it's according to the the Holy Spirit but all that happens in your spirit man okay
um and the spirit man is uh uh is the place where the Holy Spirit really really works and dwells and that's so that's why he says all the time in fact if we go back to Romans chapter 8 go to Romans 8. I'm going to show you just so what you're what we're talking about here Romans 8 or we were a minute ago from verse 14 if you look at well let's just read 14 through 16. because he says here something interesting he says for as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father the spirit itself or himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God so the communication from the holy spirit is within our spirit he he Bears witness in our spirit things he does it so he communicates Holy Spirit to human spirit not Holy Spirit to emotions all right and so let's go back let's go back to the spirit soul and Body Issue so that's the spirit of man then the every man and woman every person man woman boy girl has a soul now your soul is again what makes you uniquely you it's your personality your intellect your consciousness it is the part of you that has the what we say is we've you'll you'll hear commonly as the mind will and emotion all right and that is that means it's the area for instance the mind your intellect your Consciousness your thought life um your intelligence your personality this is the inner you but it's also the place where the Mind processes things and emotions are evoked right and emotions emotion when we talk about emotions sadness happiness um anger uh lust all kinds of passions and desires are created there and then transmitted to the body I mean that's kind of that's why it says Proverbs 23 7 says as a man thinketh in his heart so is he but what he's saying there when he thinketh what he stays his mind upon is transmitted to the body one of the most difficult aspects of
discerning God's voice is cutting through the voice of your own soul the voice of your own emotions the voice of your own will and choices the voice of your own wisdom and intellect many many times people think they're hearing from God and they're just hearing they're just their emotions are stirred up and they think that they're hearing a certain direction to go what I was going to say about emotions a minute ago usually if you're in a heightened emotional state you're upset you're extra nervous you're extra anxious you're extra worried you're extra frustrated or whatever angry upset hurt whatever usually I'm just going to tell you when you're at a heightened state of emotions your ability to hear and discern the still small voice of the holy spirit is hampered and interfered with greatly okay this is just I'm just kind of lay out some basic principles that's why it's usually not good to make any major decisions when you are at a heightened state of emotional upset or instability but of course most people live their whole lives simply reacting when they get upset and making big decisions on and that's usually when big mistakes are made okay I'm just breaking down the very the very Basics now of course uh in spirit soul and body you've got the the spirit you got the the mind will and emotions the soul and you've got the body the body talks to you too doesn't it doesn't it tell you when it's hungry when it's tired when it has pain the body's always talking when it wants to do something it's uh sinful and and immoral the body's always talking to you so there's The Voice of the flesh and it's that voice of the flesh that trans the flesh transmits that to the soul and a lot of stuff that is done that's sinful simply comes from is what he calls the carnal mind why is it called the carnal mind the mind doesn't have a flesh body but the Mind does yield to what the flesh says to it that it desires right so the flesh communicates with the soul and the Soul has to make the choice do I do what the flesh wants that's the carnal model right all right that's it's Romans 8 exactly Romans 8 the carnal mind so you will listen through these and let me just say these voices the voice of God the voice of your own soul and the voice of the Flesh and the voice of Satan and
his demon Spirits are always speaking they're always active they're always working right now one of the reasons that fasting is such a good thing one of the aspects of fasting that helps you hear from God and be sensitive to the voice of God and the Holy Spirit working is because the fasting begins to quiet the voice of the flesh it begins to quiet it down and silence it and shut it up a little bit because what you're doing is what the moment you start fasting even when you miss the first meal the flesh is saying hey hey buddy you forgot to feed me let's eat you go no shut up and then the next meal the flesh is a hey now I put up with that first one but now we're just getting serious I'm hungry feed me you go no shut up and so you get into this about two or three days you know what the flesh finally says okay he's not gonna feed me I gotta go into survival mode you know what I'm saying it quiets down and then you become more sensitive as you're reading the word and you're in prayer you become more sensitive then you quiet you know it's just like anything else you're in a room a bunch of people are talking you finally say look I can't hear what this person saying to me you're standing next to somebody trying to talk to them again so you tell everybody else in the room hey could you quiet down for a minute when they quiet down what you can hear you start quieting the voices that's why binding the demons resisting the devil commanding him to shut his mouth and go from you you start quieting those voices see what I'm saying all right just just some basic stuff now let's go back to to talking about Discerning the voice of God now um you got those pictures I sent you right all right now we're going to talk a little bit about the enemy here because we have an enemy Satan Fallen Angels the demon spirits that are out here roaming wandering about this Earth as he said in job I love this when Satan appears Before the Throne of God to petition for job in the Lord where have you been walking to and throughout the Earth that's why he says constantly roaming first Peter 5 says that the Devils as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour he's always roaming about and it's not just one devil there's many Devils many demons there's many evil spirits and un clean spirits and they work together their kingdom is not divided they work together all right now let's go to First Timothy 4 1 and we're going to look at some at this passage and then we're going to break down some words I can't get this I can't stress this
enough and this comes from many years of seeking to be led by the spirit of God and being led by the spirit of God many times and also making some mistakes because of thinking it was the spirit of God and it wasn't so I've made my share of mistakes and you as as you know younger Believers or newer Christians and maybe new to getting into the ministry aspect of this I'm just going to tell you straight up um this is not easy sometimes to discern and try to make sure you're not getting off base it's I I had a little meeting the other day and I had to tell some people say you know the spirit realm is a very tricky place there's a lot going on there and I've seen some of the best some of the most dedicated some of the most anointed some of the most spiritual people that I know miss it for instance I'll give you this story before we before we get into this um one of my pastors many many years ago was Dr Larry Lee one of the most anointed men I have ever known been around I did get to meet him I went to his church in Rockwall Texas for about a not quite a year but I I followed him you know back then we didn't have the internet but I followed him he was on television and I just you know when he had meetings uh we would travel to his meetings and stuff but anointed man of God he wrote the best-selling book could you not Terry one hour on prayer and how to use the Lord's Prayer not as a repetition but as an outline to help you pray it was a massive bestseller he and then really my favorite book that he wrote was the hearing ear the hearing ear by Dr Larry Lee I think you can't even find them anymore you have to find like old copies um and then he wrote um and well he did a series a teaching series one of the best called um the weapons of your Warfare he understood spiritual warfare his church was a powerful church I mean he they went from meeting in a living room in 1980 January of 1980 they went from meeting in a living room to by 1985 they had 6 000 members in that church people were getting saved people were getting healed by the time I came across him in 1987 the church had 12 000 members three locations around Dallas Texas and God was moving and God had spoken to him to raise up a prayer a prayer Army of 300 000 people who would commit to a
certain amount of prayer and I'm going to tell you it was powerful and let me just tell you how I know one of the times I know this man could hear and of course his book The Hearing year just marvelous book I used to buy it and hand it out to people that it's that good all right they are he's a good teacher but here but what I'm saying is because I'm going to tell the story of how Doc even Dr Larry Lee got off and how Satan got in and destroyed one of the greatest churches in America all right simply because he didn't listen that God had already spoken to him and then the devil was able to get him to disobey some things and it all crumbled under his feet okay and uh but I was there I was there when it began to happen um and I saw it with my own eyes but uh like I remember the Lord sent me there before I actually moved to Dallas and lived there for a season the Lord sent me to and I should say Dallas it's on the east side of Dallas it's Rockwall Texas which is you know I guess it's still considered it's its own City but it's still like a swallowed up of you know by the Metroplex but anyway um I went there the Lord sent me there in 1989 and I've told that story about finding the man who needed deliverance and and the Lord sent me there for that reason but um I was in the parking lot that morning and it was I I was uh I got there early I Drove all night the night before got a hotel room then got to the church early um and so I was waiting to go in and and I was just having an awesome prayer time with just me and the Lord and then of course in my cassette player yes I said cassette player um I punched in a Hosanna Integrity uh praise and worship you know album that I had and I'm sitting there and one of my favorite songs in that album back then was glory to the lamb uh powerful song anointed song of course it's so dated now but it was just then it was just what it would then it was new it was just kind of a you know it was a fresh new very anointed worship song maybe you can find it you know but uh anyway I'm I'm just worshiping in the car the presence of God so strong tears running down my face right this would be my first service had a guy I really considered my pastor because I'm learning from this guy and I love him and I know he's the real deal and I go in and I just feel the presence of God in the car and I get out finally it's time for church to start and I go into church and it seats 5 000 people and I plop down right in the middle right in front of the podium and I'm sitting there and they come out and the praise and worship leader comes out
and he starts doing his thing but you can tell it's like he's off the praise and worship leader that when he was just he was off for some reason just wasn't really going well for it maybe he had a hard morning I don't know what happened but I remember Dr Larry Lee getting up and walking over and he said you know Jimmy because his name was Jimmy he said you know Jimmy he goes I really believe the anointing is on this song right here he said we need the holy spirit's help we need to do this song this morning and he cranks up glory to the lamb that I was listening to in the car I was like Whoa man because the anointing was on that song as I was in the car and I was like wow I mean the guy was what I'm getting at he was sensitive to the Holy Spirit and and that changed the whole worship service then went to who you know just the presence of God and a whole new level and I was like man so what I'm getting at is that Larry when you went through the church there at Rockwall Church on the Rock in Rockwall Texas when you went to it it was really the leading Church in the country promoting prayer spiritual warfare Deliverance and they had it going they had it rocking they had a minister on staff that's all he did was Deliverance I mean he had 30 pastors on staff at one point right um powerful church I went to their early morning they had early morning prayer five to six every morning and there'd be hundreds of people there at 5am hundreds I'd never seen that before and they would pray about stuff in the news and a few days later you'd see the answer I mean for they pray about you know hostages taken in some country and they'd say we're going to pray about this and a few days later you see hostages released I mean it was stuff like that all the time and um but Larry when you went to the church to every new member that came to church there they gave you a cassette of Larry preaching and teaching the original vision of Church on the Rock and and I I had that cassette tape I hate saying that almost just so dates me doesn't it and um makes me feel old saying that um but I had that tape and so I got it my first trip there so think about it I drive all the way back from Rockwall Texas Dallas Texas basically to Alabama 12-hour Drive and I'm listening to that tape over and over and over again because I just was like it was so good but the so and I know God wanted me to listen to it over and over again because in that message Larry Lee says God told me three things he said the Lord made me make a vow to him but the Lord told me three things and you vow this to me he the Lord said
you promised this to me number one don't ever leave this church as the pastor number two um what was the other thing oh I can't remember now I know the other one he made a vow oh well to never leave him to never leave the Lord and then to never let anything basically get between him and his wife all right now I was there of course you got to understand Larry's books were best-selling books he became the hottest preacher on TV and he wasn't a Joel Osteen he wasn't watered down he um he was the most popular really one of the most popular preachers in America they were talking about this guy's like then they weren't comparing him to Billy green but they said if this guy keeps going he's going to be like the next leading Christian leading Christian minister in America well I was there the Sunday that he disobeyed the first thing the Lord told him and that was to never leave as pastor of that church because what happened was Dr Lee had multiple I think he I know he at least had a PhD he may have multiple phds but he had he had received his PhD and theology from Dallas Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth Texas and so uh Oral Roberts at the time Tulsa was about five or six hour drive away Oral Roberts University was getting Dr Lee to come teach at the University and all that was fine even though Oral Roberts was way off by then eyewitness associated with him at the time because he was just in La La Land by this time but Larry you know I can see where Larry might have said well maybe the students will get something you know profitable from him going well of course Oral Roberts asked Larry to become the dean of the Seminary now of course that's a prestigious position but if to do that he was it was going to be in a massive amount of time so I was there when Larry said he was resigning as pastor of Church on the Rock at Rockwall Texas as the pastor he was going to put in this guy named Mike and um that he would just oversee the church but that he was gonna primarily be the dean of the Seminary that was the beginning this is how how subtly it can get and what lured him into this was it um his own desires to be the dean of a
seminary um did he forget what God told him you know did he make light of what God told him uh you know God's not contradicting himself right he told you this and there's a reason and I remember I was in the service that day when he did this when he announced this and he said you know Mike what I can't remember his name it was Mike something is going to be the pastor and I just knew in my spirit that you just you just opened the door for the devil this is not good and that led to a Snowball Effect because it wasn't long after that that the door opened Satan and began to attack there was a prime time special that attacked Larry even though it was it was lies about Larry because Larry he wasn't pilfering money from the church his father was wealthy and his father had just passed away and he inherited all of his father's stuff and so they put that on prime time you know gotta watch that fake news that's been going on for a long time but then he lumped him in with they lumped him in this Prime Time special with some other charlatans like Robert Tilton and WMV or WC Grant or whoever that is and uh so they made Larry look like a liar a charlatan so he he starts getting all kinds of crazy stuff attacked in he uh he starts having he has some kind of physical problem and I mean it's just one thing after another I mean it was like the floodgates opened on him and then what God healed him from and delivered him from when he was a young man all came back on him because he was he was delivered from tormenting Spirits basically he was that he they had put him in a mental institution as a teenager and God's supernaturally delivered him and all that began to come back on and then of course then he ended up also having an affair and his marriage fell apart and then his church fell apart and it was a snowball effect so anybody out there that thinks that they're super Christian and that you can't be misled deceived by the devil get into Disobedience Rebellion Pride I mean was it pride for Larry pride of being the dean of assembly I don't I I don't know I can say this I honestly know the guy loved Jesus he loved preaching the gospel and teaching the word um I know his motives were were good but what was it remember Satan Lucifer before his fall what was it that got him it wasn't it wasn't adultery it wasn't drunkenness it wasn't murder it was Pride his heart was lifted up I'm beautiful I'm anointed you know what I think I can be like God I'll just be
like God I can actually I think I can do it better than he can that's that was Satan's fault that's where it all began it's probably I think I can do it better remember that's why I've had you guys all you students studying Spiritual Authority by Watchman knee you don't get that down remember on page 11. see and I know it on page 11. watch my knee makes a statement how you can stand with Christ in Doctrine and stand at the same time be standing with Satan in principle if you're in Pride and Rebellion to Authority and can I tell you that if you're in standing with Satan in anything you are going to crash and burn there is going to be pain and destruction and I have suffered this listen no one's immune and so that's why we that's why there's no place for Pride or super super Christian because if you go there the promise of God is this God gives Grace to the humble what is Grace help right his help his Spirit speaking to you helping you but Pride the moment pride comes in he says this God resists the proud what does the word resist means fight against oppose now do you think you're going to win if God is fighting against you while you think you're serving God no what is a good definition of pride let me give you a good definition of pride because we are going to talk about that too a good definition of pride is simply to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think that's it that's a simple version of it but Pride deceives us now let's look at this we're going to get to that Obadiah 1 3 the pride of thine heart has deceived thee Obadiah 1 3 Obadiah is one chapter in the first little part of this verse of course yeah he's talking to the to the but he says it's Pride you're lifted up in Pride you think you're strong you think you can't be brought down low and Christians get that place don't go to First Corinthians chapter 10. Christians get to this place and and since we're here we might as well discuss it but we are going to we are going to get to our first Timothy 4-1 here this verse gets me I know you know in telling the story about Dr Lee I still love the man I miss him
I miss him um his life has been not the same ever since now he you know tried to pick himself back up and do some Ministry stuff but I knew people that knew him years later and he said I said what's he doing now oh just playing golf because at one point he was he could have went pro at golf I mean he was that good he was a junior Champion golfer and I imagine he instead he went into the ministry and but look at this this is uh First Corinthians 10 verse 12 and 13. he says wherefore let him that thinketh he's standing take heed lest he fall take heed does that mean pay close attention he says there's no temptation taking you but such is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it can I just tell you the way to escape it's called humility because verse 12 is about Pride well what did Peter you know the perfect example of this the Night Before Peter denied Jesus three times and fell flat on his face Lord I will never deny you all these men but not me uh oh I mean did Jesus really have to prophesy no son no why Pride had entered in they they've been arguing who's going to be the greatest and it become a striving and peeing contest right instead of let me take the lower seat let me be the least in the Kingdom let me keep my mouth shut and learn it's sad but we got a lot of people thinking that they're standing but they're standing in Pride they're standing in self-reliance they're standing in their own ideas and so um you know I was thinking this driving to church this morning to teach school I was thinking how many people you know we're having a Ministry school so you guys hopefully can learn some things from us older people that's been around um but I'm just realizing there's some people they're just determined that they're going to learn the hard way instead of the easy way the easy way is listening to people that's made the mistakes before you and not making them choosing to make not make the same mistake but most people just cannot do that they just got to go and blow it up for themselves and then you
know 20 years later though well you were right yeah well trying to keep you from doing that but anyway let's keep going here all right let's go back let's get back and we'll touch on that Pride issue again let's get to our verse First Timothy 4 1 because we're talking about Discerning God's voice and we're getting here to explain we're going to talk about the voice of the enemy here a little bit I wanted to make this clear because this verse actually makes it crystal clear First Timothy 4 1 he says now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils now can I say this morning that departing from the faith yeah we know that means falling away that's the saving faith in Jesus but Faith what is Faith anyway faith comes by hearing real quick Romans 10 17. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God our faith first and foremost is in God's word God's truth that's how we're born again Bible says we're born again by the word of God by believing that Jesus what the word of God says about Jesus who he is what he did for us this verse here so it says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God can I tell you that when you see the you see the the word there the word word right word when you see that in the Greek there's two different ways it's translated one it says you know the scripture John says in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God that's logos that means the Divine expression it means um basically the the very image of God the very the very um voice of God it can also mean even the written word as well okay but the word here in John I mean in Romans 10 17 for word is Rhema and that means like hearing my speech it means hearing him what he's saying not what he said right the written word is what he said the Rhema word or being led by the spirit is what he's saying what he's emphasizing now it may be something out of the scriptures that he's emphasizing at the at a like like right now he's emphasizing the truth about creation right the holy spirit is emphasizing that these last three years um and so if you're really if you're hearing what the holy spirit's saying
you're going to be getting on board with what he's saying about the truth about creation right um but this is this is just so vitally important so Faith so let's go back to our verse First Timothy 4 1. and then we're going to look at some definitions and some words here because I'm just going to tell you when you when you endeavor as a Christian to be filled with the Holy Spirit to be led by the Holy Spirit the Lord he's going to grant that desire he he wants that for all of us but the devil hates it because it's really how things get done I remember Larry Lee and Pat my you know my pastor from years ago saying this he's saying it's not so much what you say sometimes is what you hear and obey is what gets things done but when he says here the spirit speak of the expressly then a latter times some shall depart from the faith so Faith part of faith is hearing what God is saying and doing it now that's not what this verse I'm not trying to say this all that this verse encompasses I'm just trying to give you a principle here but he says here he warned you that there's a devil there's demon spirits and he talks about that people would depart from the faith because they would be giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils so God warns us that Christians people who have faith in Jesus Christ saving faith are going to get the point where they listen to the devil so much they listen to these deceiving Spirits so much that they're going to leave their faith so don't tell me that you're Mr Miss super Christian and you can't be deceived or hear a voice that's the voice of the enemy The Imposter and that you can't be deceived when you start thinking I can't be deceived and everybody else is is uh wrong and I'm the only one right in the situation well you know here we go but let's let's look at these words so we got some definitions here for you so let's look at giving heed the definition of the word here is Prosecco again I may be pronouncing that a bit different he says uh I I want to focus in here these are the Bible usage here to turn the mind to to attend to be attentive giving attention to uh to apply oneself to um to be addicted to to devote thought and effort to now remember he's talking about giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devil to apply oneself to attach oneself to to hold or to cleave to why would Christians ever devote thought to give attention to apply oneself to attach a cleave to a seducing Spirit why would they ever do that I'll tell you why let's get let's go to the next one to the Strong's definition
because these spirits and we'll see in a minute these deceiving Spirits are imposters let's well let's just see this look it says here the strong says to hold the mind uh to pay attention why would Christians let seducing spirits and let them hold their mind and pay attention to because they're going to tell you what you want to hear they're going to speak speak smooth words and and really give you either what the flesh wants to hear what your emotions was what your ego wants to hear that's where it's real dangerous as they will tell you because their their goal is to just get you off in the air and get you off into whatever so they're they're willing to do whatever is necessary now let's look at the definition of seducing this I found very interesting Planos basically where the word planet comes from um which is why it's wandering or roving the wandering Stars right yeah misleading leading into error but look at this a vagabond a an imposter a corrupter a Deceiver look at how many times it says here both places and an imposter or misleader so what he's saying here is that Christians in the last times especially are going to start paying attention to get addicted to apply oneself to attach oneself to cleave to an imposter Spirit what's an imposter but what does an imposter do he pretends to be something he's not so what he's saying here is that there are going to be spirits that Christians are going to listen to that these Spirits are being are being an imposter of the Holy Spirit they're putting themselves off as the Holy Spirit what's so dangerous about this is that these Spirits these seducing Spirits can give you dreams and visions and prophetic words even some things that end up coming to pass the question is not that you're not hearing a spirit or that your dream came to pass or your word came to pass where is it leading you where is the spirit leading you what error is it leading into is it leading you into Rebellion to Authority like yesterday I had a certain conversation with someone and I said well I hope you find the elders in the church that you can submit to and learn from I said no it's just going to be me and the Holy Spirit oh well let me tell you that's an error why because what does the Bible say how do we judge something that sounds nice oh it's just gonna be me and the Holy Spirit I'm not going to be listening to any Elders or men or pastors or what what is that
that's leading you into Rebellion the scripture says what likewise you're younger submit yourself to them obey those that have the rule over you see we judge something by what the scripture says so to say I'm not going to have any Elders that I listen to any five-fold ministers I'm not going to listen to the apostles prophets evangelists just going to be being the Lord you're in Rebellion now right now the truth communities eating up with these people I mean we're talking about Christians I believe in Jesus but I don't have anything to do with church I don't have anything to do with pastors I don't have anything to do with the elders you're listening to an imposter God is not going to say anything to you that violates his written word or any principle or any truth in his written word not going to happen well the Holy Spirit told me that he's really a she night in um the Holy Spirit Led me to go keep the law of Moses and wear tassels on my bed no he didn't oh that Holy Spirit Led no he didn't he's not going to lead you if the Bible says going back under the law of the curse going back over the old Covenant when you're under a new covenant you see that's why these people these people are so hard-headed oh no the holy spirit's leading me no he's not you're listening to an imposter a corrupter a misleader oh well you know we could just go down the list I mean you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I've heard I've had people come in to counseling and telling me how well um you know the holy spirit's leading me to divorce my husband why did he cheat on you does he beat you no no well that's not the Holy Spirit leading you because the Bible says you don't leave unless there's certain conditions and Christians yeah and I mean we could go down the list um it's unreal many people have been misled by these and just so you know so the word here is Planos Planos pneuma seducing spirits and just so you see pneuma the word it's a neutral term Spirit it can mean demon Spirit evil spirit Angel God himself the Holy Spirit depending on the context and what precedes it but here when it says seducing Spirits it's Planos pneuma and it means misleading deceiving an imposter
so let's keep going here as we're talking about a minute ago let him that thanks he stands take heed lest he fall think about this warning go to go to First Corinthians Chapter 14 verse 29 about how careful we have to be now think about this he's of course this is the context of Paul telling the Church of Corinth here's how your services you know get your services in order here's how things should be done through tongues and interpretation of tongues and how you know there should be teaching and Doctrine and Gifts of the Holy Spirit and these things should be done in order but listen to this everybody thinks they're a hot shot these days especially these Pentecostals and charismatic but listen to this in all of that about how church should function how church services and the gifts should function and be done decently and in order in the middle of all that Paul says this by the Holy Spirit let the prophets speak two or three and let the other judge now wait a minute now you mean a prophet's talking and somebody gets to judge whether what he's saying is true or not why because what does the scripture say over and over again well we're going to look at those verses in the multitude of counselors there is safety so what he's saying there is it's fine let the prophets speak in fact he said don't forbid them don't hold them back don't forbid people to speak in tongues but he said let the prophets speak and let the others judge we should always judge any prophetic Revelation meaning anything we think we hear we see in the spirit or we hear from from the spirit realm and we think it's God should be scrutinized and it should be shared with others who are spiritual and mature and to let them judge and help you discern whether it is the voice of God and I'm talking about especially on big things whether it be doctrinal issues whether it be decisions of marriage or career changes or moves or I mean we should really you know you got to be really careful with what you think you hear I I cannot stress this enough I want to encourage everybody God wants you to hear his voice and be led by the Holy Spirit Supernatural things his still Small Voice dreams and visions the gifts of Prophecy word of knowledge Word of Wisdom he wants you to be led by the spirit but he wants you to be very careful with this this is something you can start playing in this realm and think you've got it all together and end up completely Shipwrecked and destroyed and and causing others shipwreck and destruction this is it is not an easy place the spirit realm to run and play in
real easy to get off now let's look let's look at just a few verses the about about and and I want to put these verses up Proverbs 11 14. where no counsel is the people fall but in the multitude of counselors there is safety everybody see that where no counsel is the people fall well how about Christians who won't listen to counsel let's say you think you've heard from God about something and three four five six other people go no that's not God that's that's not right that's not I don't feel like that's from The Lord At All and I'm not talking about enemies saying that I'm talking about your brothers and sisters that love you that are close to you and you still go nope and they even show you why let me tell you what's going to happen you're gonna fall and it's gonna hurt the multitude of counselors is safety three times in Proverbs I said let's go to Proverbs 15 22. Proverbs 15 22. this is important I like the way this one's worded especially for those of you that are called feel called to be in the full-time Ministry or plant churches or you know the Evangelist or prophets or teachers or pastors or whatever listen to what he says here he says without counsel oh it's just going to be me and the Lord I don't need anybody's counsel without counsel purposes are disappointed but in the multitude of counselors they are established and then of course this one Proverbs 24 this is this is a reference I believe to spiritual warfare here you want to win in spiritual warfare against Satan in the forces of Darkness look what he says here for by wise counsel Thou shalt make thy War and in the multitude of counselors there is safety so one thing I appreciated many years ago you know you guys are going to be reading next semester uh Dr Rebecca Brown's books um he came to set the captives free and prepare for war I I met Dr Brown Dr Brown actually helped me through my personal Deliverance and uh I so I met her at first had interactions with her in around 89 then uh later on many years later when I was pastoring a church in Montgomery 97 98 time period me and another Pastor in town invited her and her husband to come spend a week and do a full week
of teaching and preaching and Ministry in our city and so I sat on the platform with her uh through the whole thing picked her up from her hotel took her home when her husband her husband was still doing some things with the military and so he would go to Maxwell Air Force Base and but we got to have dinner with him so Daniel and Rebecca now Daniel and Rebecca Yoder not brown but she's known by her name Dr Rebecca Brown she's slandered of course all over Facebook land because of she's been helping satanists and witches get saved and delivered from demons for ever ever since the mid 80s um but I appreciate greatly in her book when she um when she led the The Satanist the the the woman she led to the Lord that started the whole Saga Elaine was one of the top five witches in the United States one of the top witches in the world one of the leading satanists this woman met with the Pope I mean it's just a powerful Story how she got saved and and that that Rebecca led her to the lord well she got well she got saved in church and then Rebecca found her in a hospital was when she was a cancer doctor and then they they formed a relationship and she started trying to help her you know stay alive and get free from the demons and it's just the whole Saga but one of the things that I appreciated is even though God was mightily using Rebecca Brown in Deliverance Ministry and in leading people to the Lord um she knew that she didn't need to be a Lone Ranger she knew she didn't need to be out from under a church covering a pastoral covering she understood the principle of scripture that I need to be I need to have that covering I need to have Elders I need to have people that can be counselors over me pray for me that I need to be submitted to and so she she sought out until she found a pastor that uh understood their situation understood spiritual warfare and her and Elaine submitted to him as their Elder as their pastor and their church and he would pray over them when they had a Deliverance sessions they had to do she always included the pastors and Elders of that church what I'm saying is she understood I can't be the Lone Ranger out here even though I'm leading people see some people some Christians they get the big head they think oh I've LED somebody to Jesus and I've cast demons out of something I'm a hot shot now I got it I don't need anybody but what they're doing is their ego and their pride starting to get to him spiritual Pride starting to get to them and they're violating the principle of scripture and the multitude of counselors their safety submit yourself to the Elder obey the those that have the rule over you uh they're they're violating all these principles and it's rebellion and guess what Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft so the moment you start rejecting Spiritual Authority
and I'm going to be a Lone Ranger because I got it together you are headed for destruction and so I've always appreciated people and and it was it was actually Dr Rebecca Brown reading her books uh in the beginning to see my first convert was also into Witchcraft and Satanism so I went through this whole Saga too before I found her books then I found her books and I'm like this one was telling the truth because this is what I went through and I read her book and I remember reading her book five times and the scripture she had in her book I committing them to Memory there's a lot of good teaching in her book but one of the books that she kept quoting and recommending was Spiritual Authority by Watchman knee now that tells you right there where her heart is she was saying she wasn't a rebel she wasn't oh I'm helping a lot of people get saved I'm a I'm a hot shot getting people out of Satanism and Witchcraft and casting demons out of satanically ritualistic abused people and oh I'm helping all these people you know it's just in fact we'll just start our own church right here you know it was none of that and and and let me tell you I I met her spent time with her ate dinner and lunch with her and her husband for a week um sitting on the platform while she was teaching the anointing and presence of God was just all over that platform so strong so heavy I didn't want to leave I didn't want it to end you know uh so nobody can tell me bad about her you know because I know what she taught I know how she lived and I know the presence and anointing of God was on her and um but I look back on it and I'm like see that that but understanding those principles multitude of counselors of safety she wouldn't make any decision any big move any big situation she would go meet with her pastor and the elders and they would discuss what was going on because she knew she needed help she's in a war and that's what that that verse put up that 24 Proverbs 24 6. by wise counsel Thou shalt make thy war and in the multitude of counselors their safety oh so vitally important I remember I'll share this with you as we get into the second part of this but I remember when I'm the Lord spoke to me about going to Texas that first time and I had been the youth pastor in a church and the Lord had spoken to me to leave and go to Texas and so I went to uh the one of the elders that I knew was really the guy was really um genuine and he was anointed and his wife was I mean true Elders in the church I mean true love the Lord and I remember going to their house and and seeking counsel and talking to them about it and I remember
it was in that time of talking with them and they were like yeah you're supposed to go and I remember they laid hands on me and they began to pray for me and and it was the the man who prophesied the Elder he prophesied over me what would happen when I got to Texas that first time and it happened it was when the Lord speaking to me God used that Elder to confirm I was to go and gave me a word of Prophecy and when I got there that word of Prophecy was confirmed you see what I'm saying um many times I've done that I've done this even because a lot of people think I'm I'm out here on my own oh things out there he's just out there on his own no I have Elders I have people I I talk to that I listen to um and especially when I get into a a big war um I consult them about things uh anyway let's let's look at this let's go to um remember we're talking about hearing his voice so let's let's just look at a couple of things that uh just to confirm this what will interfere with you hearing his voice or or open the door to these imposter spirits to be able to deceive you all right well let's look at Hebrews 3 and we're going to read from verse 7. very specific here he says wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith today if you will hear his voice Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of Temptation in the wilderness when your father's tempted me prove me and saw my Works 40 years wherefore or why was I grieved with that generation and said they do always air in their heart and they have not known my way so I swear in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest verse 12 take heed brethren lest there being any of you was he talking to Christians take heed brother unless there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end but let's go back verse 12 we see he's talking to Brethren departing from the Living God getting into error getting away from the Lord and he says but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin what is he talking about there he's saying if you give in to the deceitfulness of sin deceiving subtle of sin your heart or your conscience your spirit that hears from God remember we started this talking about your spirit
man is what hears from God when he's talk whenever you see the term hardened it has to do usually with your conscience being hardened your conscience is where in your spirit if your spirit is hardened it means it's dulled its senses are dulled just like calluses you build up calluses on your fingers playing the guitar on your hands from hard work what happens those calluses are built up there so you don't feel the pain right from you know the shovel handle or the guitar strings or whatever those calluses build up to keep you from feeling so when it says the scripture talks about something being hard and he's talking about your spirit man being hardened now if your spirit man starts getting calloused it starts getting hardened then it's not sensitive to the Holy Spirit and he's saying if you if the deceitfulness if you give into the deceitfulness of sin Pride arrogance Rebellion to Authority whatever it may be striving I mean we could go down the list lust I mean the obvious sin they're sins of the ego their sins of the flesh but he's saying that sin is very deceitful I mean I mean a lot of times if if sin just says hi I'm sin let me come on in let's party no this Christian's going no but if it slips in saying hey hey hey buddy if you know that you're you know you know more than these people you've got a little more experience than these people you're really kind of you're going to be there you're their leader when you're not and guess what see the subtle the subtleness the deceitfulness of sin let me slip in here is pride let me slip in here as disrespect the Rebellion to Authority let me slip in as whatever it can slip in now with me I'm gonna tell you it's a wrong day I'm just going to tell y'all it's wrong I'm like a hound dog when I smell disrespect and Rebellion to Authority I can smell it it just uh it's like I can smell it through the most sincere christianese talk I can smell it like oh boy here it comes but see most people you again that's why I watch my knee what he goes Christians must he always talks about this in that book about Christians getting this down in them and really beginning to understand Authority because how easy was it for Moses and I mean for area Miriam and Aaron you know here Moses think about this think about this Moses comes down from the mountain with the law been with God his face glowing from it
it comes down with the law the law in the law it says for them they're not to intermarry with other nations he's married to Ethiopian woman now that's why Miriam and Aaron well hey hey hey hey hey hey look at this woman Moses is married to God speaks to us too see how subtle that is look at Moses he's not really what he's supposed to be according to the law and for getting a little things that God picked him while he was already married to her so obviously God doesn't have a problem with it right but do you see how subtle oh oh oh you oh Moses you guys are putting your episode you know Nathan and Cora yeah oh Moses y'all y'all are just you're just trying to be too holy let us let us be in charge okay the reverse Rapture happens that way all right let's keep going here so the deceitfulness of sin comes in we've already talked about I'm not going to turn there Obadiah 1-3 the pride of thine heart has deceived thee I'm not about rejecting the multitude of counselors I was thinking about how I shared Sunday about the ebionites the whole reason that we have uh that we had the group called The ebionites what did what did it say about them they rejected the Council of the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem the apostles that means the apostles the prophets the evangelists the pastors the teachers the leaders of the church the elders with them said this is our Council this is what the holy spirit is leading us to do the Ebonite said uh no we're going to go do it our own way and because of that we still have them to this day all right now let's go ahead and look and you know of course King Saul is another example of that I mean think about King Saul and let me just share this and then we'll get into the seven I think that's seven things I have about hearing God's voice but King Saul was anointed by God the spirit of God came on him said this is in first king uh chapter I mean first Samuel 10 he's turned into another man he's given a new heart all of a sudden King Saul's prophesying with the prophets so God calls him God anoints him God touches him fills him with his Spirit changes his heart the gifts of prophet they said Sauls now among the prophets
but here's the thing Samuel the prophet who anointed him the prophet who was his spiritual authority over him said you go here wait till I get there don't do anything until I get there wait simple Command right first Samuel 13 don't do anything now at this point Saul is a king and he is a prophet he is not a priest he is not of the tribe of Levi he's a Benjamin he's not the touch sacrifices Samuel on the other hand was a prophet and a priest Samuel says you don't do anything you wait Saul got impatient saw the Philistines gathering for battle instead of obeying the simple command of his Spiritual Authority he takes it upon himself to go get a sacrifice and make a sacrifice and about the time he's done making the sacrifice so he thinks he can be prepared to go into battle Samuel shows up and says what have you done he said had you listened God would have established your kingdom forever but now it is torn from you and we think Sim what is Samuel end up telling me Saul begs for another chance but really it's over then so Samuel gives him another job to do go to the amalekites part Nephilim people destroy everything man woman their children their animals everything wipe it out don't keep anything alive and what does he do he goes and he lets some of them live he brings their animals back to sacrifice to the Lord doesn't that sound holy and Pious and wonderful intentions I want to give these things to the Lord what does he say Samuel the prophet says God is not concerned about your offerings more than he is about your obedience you're trying to serve the Lord offering a sacrifice before a battle you weren't authorized to do that try disobeying clear command to wait disobeying clear commands it's rebellion and what does he tell you Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft
not listening to Spiritual Authority to counselors to elders and the multitude of trying to make your War and so what happens well Samuel tells him again God is done with you he's given the kingdom over to someone better than you that's first Samuel 15. where does where does Samuel go next to Bethlehem to anoint David the moment he pours the oil on David to be king of Israel it says the spirit of God leaves Saul and an evil spirit comes and begins to trouble him do you want to be Saul no and where does Saul end up Saul ends up God's not talking to him anymore so he ends up with a witch and he ends up dead and the Bible says he died for his transgression and David lamented and said it was as though he had never been anointed he lost everything because he could not submit he wanted to serve the Lord as independent as a renegade he thought well I prophesying I'm the king I am with the prophets I can go kill this sheep and go on into battle no no you can't because you have the gifts you have the call but you're going to be in in the principle of Satan in Rebellion no that's why but this is why so many Christians don't understand why they're not blessed why they why they step out and they do ministry stuff and it's not blessed and they're because they're out of order they don't have the multitude of counselors they don't have Elders they don't have safety and they're trying to make war on their own and in their own way think I'm serving the lord just like Saul no I'm sorry read the story yourself so I won't watch when they used it in his book all right let's do this real quick because I want to get through this I'm just going to give you these verses and let you go study them today but let me give you and we may turn to a few but number one the ways that God speaks let me give you just a short list how to recognize and discern the voice of God and how he leads us for instance number one God speaks primarily through his written word any other way must be scrutinized by the written word do you hear what I'm saying any Vision any dream must be scrutinized intensely judged
by the written word of God Daniel 9. let's turn there real quick Daniel is a prophet hears from God clearly here's the voice of God has dreams and Visions from God interprets dreams of Kings pretty gifted fellow right pretty anointed he's a true prophet and he says here he says in the first year of Darius the son of asterisks of the seed of the medes which was made King over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his Reign I Daniel look at this understood by books the number of years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem and I set my face into the Lord to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and Ashes and I pray to the Lord my God and made my confession and said oh Lord the great and Dreadful God keeping the Covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his Commandments we have sinned we have committed iniquity and so on and so forth now you say well wait a minute Daniel's a prophet why didn't God just speak to him and tell him start praying because the this time of the 70 years is coming to an end no what does it say here Daniel said I understood by books Daniel the Prophet was reading the writings of the Prophet Jeremiah written probably around the time he was born maybe he was a little older maybe he was a kid but that's how we ended that is I cannot stress it enough I don't care how much you you think you're a prophet how much you think you have dreams and Visions how much you think you hear the voice of God how much you think you're led by the spirit of God you better be a a student and one diligent to stay in the scriptures and God will speak primarily God uses Daniel's reading Jeremiah he sees where the Lord speaks to Jeremiah and says 70 years will be accomplished in Jerusalem he goes wait a minute how long have we been here it's 69 years this is about to happen so what did he do says it's time to start really praying now here's a man who's already a man of Prayer billing willing to been thrown into the lion's den to make sure he prayed three times a day he's like no now we really need to pray because the time is at hand how did he know that from the Holy Spirit yeah but how the Holy Spirit bringing the scriptures to life this is for now what you're reading this was written you know 70 years ago here it is it's for now all right so God speaks through the scriptures many times I'll speak to the
scripture now I don't I could give you many examples of that number two so number one is God speaking through the scriptures Illuminating what is written to apply to a certain situation or time in your life number two God speaks through his still small voice now this is First Kings chapter 19 verse 12. you can write that down where Elijah is out seeking the Lord and there's an earthquake and the Lord wasn't in the earthquake and there was a fire and he wasn't in the fire and there was the wind and he wasn't in the wind and it says then a still Small Voice and when we say that it's interesting that that phrase but when God speaks because again there's so much noise and he's speaking in our spirit our thoughts are always there the flesh is always there and that's why I say it's a still Small Voice it just kind of comes in quietly into your spirit and you really have to be paying attention First Kings 19 verse 12 is where that phrase the still small voice but God does speak he's spoken to me many times in sentences in paragraphs but not like you hear me with an audible voice but in my spirit it was clear um and I you know again I could give many instances of this but for the sake of time this morning let's keep going number three God speaks through dreams and Visions now again the still Small Voice the dreams and visions these things sometimes have to take time of letting God confirm them letting God give you the interpretation or the understanding of the meaning of these things I've seen many people hear from God they they've heard the still small voice but did not know what God was talking about I knew a pastor one time who was against Deliverance for Christians right he was adamantly doctrinally in his mind he was against it because that's what he grew up in a denomination and that was what they taught but I knew God was trying to get it across to him because I could see where he had some stronghold demonic strongholds in his life and he needed deliverance from them right so he had some open doorways to Satan in his life but he'd been taught that Christians can't have open doorways to the devil in their life right so I remember he said I was sitting in his church and he was telling the story of how he had recently he had been driving two hours on the road and was praying in tongues the whole time and when at the end of his praying in in the spirit praying in the with his gift of tongues the Holy Spirit gave him the interpretation and spoke to him in his
spirit with that still Small Voice and said you have opened doors in you so now he comes to church the next Sunday I'm in the church service that Sunday I know what the Lord's been telling me about him and for him but I know his doctrinal his wrong Doctrine won't let him go there he tells his story of praying in tongues praying in the spirit for two hours and the Holy Spirit telling him you have open doors in your life then he starts going Lord close the doors Lord close the doors and I'm sitting here going he don't even he does not understand what the Holy Spirit told him there's a lot of people like that right now they don't know they think the Lord told him something maybe he did maybe did sometimes he did and they don't understand what he's saying so how would he know how would he know he needed you know what he needed to do instead of jumping on that he should have spent some time fasting and praying and saying Lord what do you mean what are you talking about because obviously I don't understand this and maybe the Lord If he if he'd have gotten patient and took some time and maybe ask some people what do you think this is talking about he might have found the truth though and it might have been set free from some stuff that was tormenting him right from his past um but dreams and Visions let me say this about dreams and visions dreams and Visions have to be interpreted but the interpretation can't just come out of your own mind and your own understanding that's why one of the gifts of the holy spirit is the gift of interpretation it's not just the interpretation of tongues but the gift what did Daniel and and God used Daniel and Joseph to do I mean you know let's look at your Pharaoh's dream about the famine that was coming now it didn't make a lot of sense just by themselves and anybody could have come along any any person any Egyptian magician anybody could come along and give an opinions well this is what I think of me but there's only one interpretation from God if it's from God if it's from God your interpretation doesn't get to be on it he will have his own and you better ask him and listen for his own so many people I have they have a dream or a vision is like oh I know what that means and they jump on and run you know you need to pray and make sure you know that it's not you leaning to your own understanding and wisdom and interpreting it that's why I hate dream interpretation books those shouldn't even exist
because for instance God could have a school bus in your dream and there's a dream interpretation but if it's a school bus it always means it's a Ministry how do you know how do you know I had a dream one time with a school bus that was on the edge of a cliff and the interpretation God gave me had nothing to do with it being a Ministry you get you get what I'm saying how did I get the interpretation well let me tell you this too about dreams of vision a lot of times you're not going to understand what they mean until they come to pass and let me give you another little tidbit of information the devil and demons can give you dreams and visions that can come to pass too because they can make sure they come to pass by working in the situation so in the area of dreams and Visions you must be very very careful all right with the still small voice this is the part where I'm talking about you're out on thin ice and it's cracking this is the place you walk gently and carefully and make sure it takes time for those things to be confirmed sometimes you should set stuff on the back burner and let God bring them up again in different ways to confirm them look listen let's look at a few verses here about dreams and Visions just to show you that it's not just me you can have some you can have some false ones you can have some dreams from demons and Fallen Angels or from Pizza or too much talking Jeremiah 29 8. but let's say it the Lord of hosts the god of Israel let not your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you neither hearken to your dreams neither hearken to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed oh my Lord we could talk about that for a little while you know you can be anxious or you can be thinking about something a lot or you can have your own desires and you can cause yourself to dream dream and say oh I haven't I Have a Dream from the Lord no not necessarily again this area you have to be very careful he says be careful don't let the false prophets and diviners in your midst deceive you neither this is in addition to it's not saying the prophets and the diviners are deceiving you he adds this he says neither hearken to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed like I said you can cause a Dream by too much pizza and Kool-Aid at midnight
Zechariah 10 2. look at that right there the diviners have seen lies they've told false dreams they comfort in vain why there's no Shepherd there's no Elders there's no counsel there's no Spiritual Authority there's another look at Ecclesiastes 5 7. Ecclesiastes 5 7 says here in the multitude for in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities what does vanity means emptiness worthlessness listen I want to tell you right now 19 5 of my dreams that I have are worthless nonsense might as well be a movie script somewhere they're just I wake up and my wife's like what you were dreaming or something yeah it's just stupid you know just stupid and that makes any not I disregard listen I'm gonna tell you right now I disregard most of my dream now if I have a very Vivid dream that I remember the details and it seems like it's more it's more upfront it's more alive it's more whatever and and maybe I'm preaching in it or I'm speaking the word or I'm or demons are in it or um you know Angel Angelic beans or I pay attention I might write it down but I wait for God's interpretation of what it means sometimes sometimes that interpretation never comes sometimes it'll be a few years later and that something it'll come to pass and it'll trigger and the dream I didn't base what I'm getting at is I didn't base my life for any decisions on the dream but when I got to that point where things in my life where the Dream came to pass and the Holy Spirit brought it back to my remembrance the dream gave understanding just a little Clarity to what what was going on why it was happening the way it was happening right so this is but this is an area you have to be very very careful it's very easy to be deceived too many people are just like I had a dream last night man this is what the Lord's going to do well you better be sure better not just jump on that thing I mean you know I had a dream and I was in Washington DC so I must mean I got to move to Washington DC you see you can jump on these things like that and like whoa wait a minute first of all do you know it's a dream for the Lord number two did he say that you know but it could be two years later and you know a friend in Washington DC calls you and they're going through a serious situation they need you to pray and you pray for them and a miracle happens you never went to DC you know what I'm saying and you're like oh I remember this dream about Washington DC now oh that's what it was about I think
um for the most part that's the way dreams and Visions are going to work unless of course therefore the present like a a vision can be a word of knowledge or it's revealing something you see something about somebody and you can tell them and they're like yeah it's true but the Lord will speak through dreams and visions and we could we could go through multiple cases I mean Acts chapter 10 with Peter going to the house of Cornelius and how the spirit spoke to him and how he was in a trance and he saw the vision of the Sheed and God's revealing truth to him and then boom he's a three-manner at you know seeking you I mean God still does work this way and uh the way he did with them um I already heard okay number four God speaks through others with prophetic gifts now let's let's look at that real quick let's go to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9 Jesus appears to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus and he's blinded in the vision and he surrenders to the Lord look at verse 10. and there was a certain disciple at Damascus named ananias and to him said the Lord in a vision ananias and he said behold I am here Lord and he said unto the Lord said unto him arise go into the street which is called straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth and hath seen in a vision a man named ananias coming in and putting his hands on him that he might receive his sight and then he does that he obeys the end and I said Lord I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy Saints of Jerusalem and here he hath Authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name but the Lord said and go thy way for he is the chosen vessel unto me to Bear my name before the Gentiles and the Kings and the children of Israel for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my namesake and ananas went his way and entered into the house and putting his hands on him and said brother Saul the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou Camus has sent me that thou might has received thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost and immediately there fell from his eyes and said they had been scales and he received sight forthwith and arose and was baptized and when he had received meat he was strengthened then Saul was was saw certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus now you see here a couple of things working here this normal disciple not an apostle not really anybody not a pastor doesn't say not an evangelist not a prophet just as a disciple of Jesus God God gives him a vision and in the vision speaks to him and that's so two things work in a vision I don't know what he saw doesn't tell us but it says in a vision the Lord spoke to him and so you have a vision you have the still small voice speaking to him
giving him very specific details right of what to go do he goes and does it and finds it as so so the Lord will speak through others let's look at it in Acts 10 just go over to I mean 11 I'm sorry a couple of chapters over there is the ministry office of a prophet in the New Testament and he says here and in these days came prophets from Jerusalem to Antioch and there stood up one of them named agabus and signified by the spirit that there should be a great dearth or famine throughout all the world which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar then the disciples every man according to his ability determined to send relief to the brother in which we're in Judea which also they did and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul but this was a warning I believe Luke this adds in this came to pass but I believe he gave this prophetic word I believe they begin to prepare before it came to pass it's my belief on that my thoughts but it came to pass so God used a prophet to speak to the church about something that was about to come to pass say why didn't God speak to all of them the same thing he doesn't always do that he sometimes uses somebody to speak uh prophetically if you go over to X chapter 21 we see agabus the prophet again giving a personal word of prophecy about to Saul look at verse 7. and when we had finished our course from Tyree we came to ptolemus and saluted the Brethren and bowed with them one day and the next day that we were of Paul's company departed and came into caesarea and we've entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist which is one of the seven and Abode with him and the same man which had four daughters virgins which did prophesy and we tarried there many days and there came down from Judea a certain Prophet named agabus and when he was come unto us he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said thus saith the Holy Ghost so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles and when we heard these things both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem then Paul answered and said what mean you to weep in to break my heart for I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus and when he would not be persuaded we see saying the will of the Lord be done I bring this up because we have to be very careful even how we receive prophecy here here are agabus the prophet comes and he takes Paul's clothes he doesn't know its paws and he wraps him around his hands and he said basically whoever this belongs to is going to be bound in Jerusalem this is thus saith the Holy Ghost this is
from the Holy Spirit right well listen look at how the people begin immediately he didn't tell them don't go to Jerusalem he's just telling me the man that this belongs to is going to be bound up in Jerusalem he's just telling him this this is what's going to happen right so everybody starts putting their own interpretation on it oh don't go to Jerusalem then by that means you shouldn't go to Jerusalem that's not what he said Paul had a word from the Lord that he was to go to Jerusalem what God was doing through the prophet Adams which is confirming to Paul what he already knew was going to happen when he got there but people immediately get emotional see this people get emotional and put their own interpretation on things that God says no question this was the Holy Spirit speaking through the prophet but you see how easy it is to misinterpret even when God is speaking and you want to try to tell me you can't misinterpret a dream a vision a still Small Voice how easy it is to misinterpret these were Christian people godly people Philip the Evangelist one of the first ordained elders and deacons had four daughters full of the Holy Ghost that operated in the gift of Prophecy and they're all interpreting what God is saying incorrectly let's see what did Paul do Paul said I already know the Lord told me everywhere I go I'm going to be persecuted and possibly bound and Shackled and imprisoned this is not new information to me this just confirms what's going to happen because so Paul was able to spiritually mentally emotionally prepare when I go there it's going to get rough but he knew he still had to go this is why it's so important that we are very careful not to let people misguide us not to let our own emotions misguide us not to let our ego our pride our own understanding misguided that's why it's so difficult and tell you the truth this is why a majority of Christians shy away from even trying to step out on this water of being led by the spirit and Supernatural because it's a stormy water it's easy to one second to get your focus off on the wrong thing and start sinking but I just can't stress enough you gotta hunger for it the Bible says that we are to covet and desire the gifts of the holy spirit but in the same breath with that coveting and Desiring we must know it comes with great danger and difficulty it is not an easy Road it's the most rewarding it's the most exciting it's the most Supernatural Road
but it is also has a lot of Thieves and robbers hiding in the bushes and it's really really really really easy to miss it and to be deceived and you got to really really work hard and listen I'll be the first to admit over the years there's been things here and there I know I missed it I thought it was the Lord and it was either my emotions or whatever listen in the New Testament God even already knew that new testament Believers were not going to be perfect in every single thing they think they heard which is why he said let the prophet speak let somebody else judge it comes with knowing that you're going to have some immaturity Sometimes some flesh Sometimes some ego Sometimes some pride sometime um but that you know as be letting ourselves be accountable to each other and particularly especially to elders and leaders and people who have more experience is a safety net for us all right um so God speaks through other people prophets through the gifts of the Holy Spirit um that was number four number five elders and the multitude of council we've already covered that number six unusual circumstances that leave one way to go sometimes you're praying about a way you know what what way to go and there just seems like God shuts every door and window and side Trail and everything shut off but one way well you know and too if you if he said uh Jordan said Jonah it's true but if you read the story of uh when they went out of Egypt well most people don't get is God LED them out of Egypt right and Pharaoh was going to be coming and God LED them to a point if you read the story go read the story he led them to the Red Sea so they had the sea in front of them and they had two massive high mountain ranges on both sides of them and then they had Pharaoh behind them in his army right God LED them right there they can't go to the left they can't take three million people you know old people and children and try to climb the mountain to get away from Pharaoh that was impossible they couldn't climb they so they couldn't go to the left and they couldn't go to the right and the seas in front of them there's nowhere to go so what does the Lord say to to Moses tell the people to move forward wait a minute there's a sea of water in front of us
well go part the sea what so Moses Parts the sea God uses him to do that part to see well listen Pharaoh behind mountain ranges they can't climb on the right and the left God makes one way through the sea right how many times I've had this happen I can't tell you seeking God for direction and this way shuts and this way shuts and this way shuts and this way shuts in that way should and he doesn't say a word just every single door shuts except for one all right now move forward sometimes you just got to do what's in front sometimes your circumstances sometimes you know the funds are depleted and everything's you know just there's just one way and you got to do it so that's why I said unusual circumstances that leave one way and then this one is the final one I'm going to touch on this morning the way that seven ways that uh God speaks and tries to lead us integrity one more verse brother here it is Proverbs 11 3. the Integrity of the upright shall guide them but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them the Integrity of the upright what is integrity character having an inner the inner core of your being determined to do the right thing to be honest to be honorable if you're ever in a situation and you have a choice to make and there's a question of morality ethics and you're like you know you're in a mess and you have to make a decision let me give you an example um when I was pastoring a church the church in Washington DC and and I began to see the um the error that they were in and the and racial prejudice and supporting things that like abortion and homosexuality and just kind of turning a you know I just I just saw massive compromise now but think about this at the time I was in a financial mess from some things in the past and I needed that income from that job right but I'm seeing all this
and of course I'm working basically for a pastor who has multiple churches he's overseeing and I'm I basically just have one of his churches there I speak to him about the problems I speak to the elders about the problem they try to argue and justify and so on and I just speak to them a little bit so um anyway the the question comes up okay what do I do do I stay here and keep my mouth shut and just ignore it compromise and get a paycheck or do I let it rip in front of the whole congregation what's really going on so I'm asking the Lord but you know what you don't really have to ask the Lord but he did speak to me and he did say I sent you there for this very purpose well I said Lord the moment I say all of this in front of the entire congregation I will be fired he's like yep and I said okay so be it and what is that though I really had already made up my mind I was just praying I was I was driving from Washington DC to Georgia I had a lot of time on my hands and I'm just praying talking to him about it and I said okay Lord but the point I'm making here it says the Integrity of the upright shall guide them it really comes down to when it comes down to making a moral decision like that do I speak the truth regardless of the consequences do I do the right thing regardless of the consequence that that's your answer you your your integrity your character your commitment to the Lord and what is right what is true what is Honorable what is just a lot of times we don't have to pray about it I I've said this Venus it's never a wrong time to do a right thing I saw this person stealing at work should I tell my boss what do you think the right thing is do you need to pray about that you get what I'm saying your integrity will guide you um there's certain things certain people certain situations God doesn't have to speak to you you know they're wrong so it's time to walk away tell people have called me it's so funny call me and email me well this is going on in the company I'm working for they're lying they're cheating people out of money they're doing this they're doing that they're wanting me to do it I'm seeking God about what I should do should I stay should I go I'm like you don't need a word for no longer about that
are you going to participate continue to participate and lying cheating stealing misrepresenting is that what you want to do with your life as a Christian no well then you have your answer don't you time to find something else to do as that comes down you can't serve God in money that comes up a lot that question so your integrity the Integrity of the upright shall guide them let's put that up one more time just so they can see it Integrity of the upright shall guide them but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them what does perverse this mean huh correct but the the the picture it gives you know is to get off the path perverseness they they won't follow God's path of what's right you know I remember there was another point when I was a younger man in my 20s at the time again in a situation where I really really really really really needed the job I had right and this job though my boss was not he was not asking me to lie or cheat or steal he was a Christian man but I had this job and I was a single young man and I kept and it was a pest control job so I kept finding myself having to go to homes where women were there some married some not alone in the daytime and I'm having to go in their house and do Pest Control well then some of these women both married and unmarried women start trying to make the move on me while I'm trying to work in their house now do you know how easy it is on the wrong day for a Christian a bad day a day you're struggling to end up in the house with a woman who starts making the move on you and nobody's going to know because nobody's there and finally I realized after about the fourth time of this happening I said that's it now I didn't do anything I didn't fall thank God I resisted and I would I would sometimes just leave before even finishing their house but finally I needed this job and my boss was a Christian I took this all the equipment to him and the keys and the truck and said I can't do this anymore because I know what the what the Bible says you can't you if if Sinners entice thee consent not meaning if if you're starting to be tempted and enticed in a situation it's time to park from that
and it's like you know what that had been my weakness and that had been one of my major strongholds and sins of my life before I got saved and and really came to follow Jesus and I'm a young man not married you know that I was putting myself in a bad bad situation so because the Integrity of my heart did not I didn't want to sin against God I didn't want to commit fornication I didn't want to commit adultery I needed the job and I'm in this quadrant I need the job I need the money but I'm being tempted and enticed and I'm I mean I'm I'm being put into situations where you know if it continues I'm probably gonna end up falling and I didn't want to so what guess what the integrity of my heart of wanting to do live a holy life and obey God that was my guidance I didn't need God to speak to me about I need a dream I didn't need a vision I didn't need a prophet I you know what I'm saying I didn't need anybody to come talk to me about that it separates yourself from you know and that's wisdom I thank God I mean even even in later years it's it's like I can see you know you think about that like with Joseph you know Potiphar's wife here he is you know has great favor with uh his master potiphar the wife tries to tries to you know lure him into adultery and sexual sin and he runs out the door and you know as they say no good deed goes unpunished finds himself back in the dungeon but I think back then normally a slave would have been put to death for such that if he was really but I think potiphar knew his wife was a hoe so that's why Joseph lived but still he end up in a bad place then he got worse and and that's what you got to think too sometime sometimes doing the right thing to put you in a tough spot but it's always the best thing to do if it's the right thing if it's a God thing come back out right right yeah the story of Joseph is a wonderful one to read about integrity about dreams and visions about I mean think about his dreams about his brothers bowing to him and him being the leader and he had no way of knowing what that meant or how that was going to come you know what I'm saying there was no way he was going to understand that until it happened um and you know Pharaoh didn't understand his dreams and you just look at Joseph Joseph's continual and I'll say this I you know
obviously as a young man he probably had some pride about his dreams and he was probably a bit arrogant about it and he also was a little tattletale but um God doesn't pick perfect people that but I can say one thing about the man he went through a lot of Hell think about that I mean your your brothers betray you you're sold into slavery you're separated from your family for four decades the ones who betray you end up trying to get food from but what puts you in that position he kept seeking God he kept trying to do the right thing in a tough place and God exalted that and used that so um never the wrong time to do the right thing right all right we went a little long today but this is an important subject and I could have covered a lot more I skipped a lot of examples we could have used about here is God's voice but you guys can can read all that so just know all seven of these things will be on your test you know this one this one you might want to put a star by this class because this is going to be one you will be tested thoroughly hope you guys been blessed today hope you learned something class dismissed