Hearing God, Week 4

Dr. Tim Rivers | September 22, 2024

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Are you excited to be here? You look good in the house of God, so glad that you're here. If you're a guest with us, welcome to Embassy City Church. We're glad that you're here. We pray that you receive everything, somebody say everything, everything, everything that you need and want from the Lord. For those that are joining us online, thank you so much for being with us here today. We are in the series that we are calling Hearing God, and this is the fourth week. And has anybody been enjoying this series? Have you tuned in? Let me ask this, has anybody been hearing God?

Because here's what we know. We know that God is speaking all the time. The question is, are we listening? So really this series is less about trying to figure out if God speaks. It's more about are we listening When he does speak. And we told you last week, the last couple of weeks, we've been spending time talking about the actual word of God, the Bible. So let me do a check, a Bible check real quick for those who have paper Bibles in the room. Let me see 'em. Just hold 'em up real high. Sweet. For those who have electronic bibles, come on. Phones whatnots. Yeah, how about the screen viewers for the Bible? You ain't got nothing to hold up. That's all right. But what we did emphasize the last couple of weeks is the importance of having an actual physical Bible in Han. And we told you we ordered some Bibles, so we've got some Bibles available. Yay. Yay. And lemme tell you how this is going to work. This isn't an opportunity to get your early Christmas gift for somebody else, man. I got you a Bible. I got everybody Bibles today.

This is the word of God. Amen. It's the word of God. It's a precious book. It's a book that people gave their lives for. It's a book that people were martyred for. It is a precious, precious, I'll get it together here in a second. This is the source of everything for your life. It is the reason why we're here today. If it wasn't for this Bible, we wouldn't even be here today. Or maybe we'd be here and I'd give you a Ted talk about something. But these are the words of life and we want everyone to have a copy. So if you don't have a physical Bible, just go to guest central after service and grab you one. And here's how we want to do it. If you have a physical Bible, engage that one. If you don't have a physical Bible, pick one up. One per adult must be present to win.

Y'all good with that? Alright, y'all ready to get in this word? Yes. I've got a lot of ground to cover. I'm very excited about this topic today, and so I'm going to do my best to be respectful of your time. But the more help I get, the more I stay on time, the less help I get, the longer I go. Grab your Bibles, go with me to John chapter 14, the book of John chapter 14, verse number 25, the book of John chapter 14, verse number 25. Jesus speaking. This is what he says. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you, but the helper, somebody say the helper. The helper, the Holy Spirit. Somebody say the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. For some of you old timers, it's the Holy Ghost. If you're a KJV fan, it's the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name.

He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word to lamp it to my feet and align into my path. I thank you, God, that you have given us access to hear you through your word. And now as we dig into your word, I pray that you would enlighten us, illuminate the word to us. Help us to see what you want us to see and hear what you want us to hear. Give us ears to hear our heart, to receive a mind and stand what the Spirit would say to us in Jesus' name. And everybody say amen.

Amen. So we've spent the last couple of weeks talking about the physical word of God, the Bible. And what we've concluded over the last couple of weeks is that if you want to hear God, the most guaranteed way and primary way for you to hear God is to read your Bible. To read your Bible. But we don't just want to read the Bible as if it's just another book to read, but we want to hear God through the Bible. We don't just want to read the Bible as a religious practice. Although let me just say this. Sometimes you have to start out reading the Bible as a religious practice.

And I know the culture right now is all about relationship over religion. Religion's not a bad thing. The word religion literally just means ordinances. It means that there is an order to something and James talks about it, it's a pure religion. Undefiled is of God. And so there is a way in which if you don't like broccoli, if you've been eating laughy, taffies all your life, did I just age myself? If you've been eating Laffy, taffies or whatever candy, and you've really enjoyed it, you know need broccoli in your life, you don't wait until you like broccoli to eat it. You start eating broccoli until your appetite starts enjoying broccoli and you notice the benefits of it. The same thing is true of the word of God. Sometimes you justs have to read it until you start realizing what it's actually doing in your life, right?

So when we read the word of God, we have to understand and treat it as alive and active. That's what Hebrews says. Hebrews chapter four, verse 12 says, for the word of God is alive and active. Now here's the caveat. We all know people, or maybe we are those people who have read the word of God, read the Bible, but still can't hear God. It is possible to read the Bible and still be deaf to hearing God. Did you know that it is possible to read the Bible as words on a page and still not hear God through it, to hear God but not recognize that it's God? Now there is a remedy. Somebody say a remedy. Let's go to one Corinthians chapter two, one Corinthians chapter two, verse number one, we're going to do some Bible studying today. Paul is writing in this says, an I when I came to you, brothers did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and a much trembling, and my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit. Now here's the Bible lesson. Anytime you see the word spirit where the S is capitalized, it's speaking of the divine spirit, the Holy Spirit. So anytime you're reading through scripture, and there are many references to spirits, if it's a lowercase s, it's talking about a spirit could be a demonic spirit, a human spirit. But anytime the S is capitalized, especially in the New Testament, it's the word numa, which is a reference to the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit. So Paul says, and my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Holy Spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. How many know that you can gain wisdom and not have power?

Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before ages for our glory. So when you are a believer, there are hidden wisdoms and hidden things of God that are only revealed to those who are saved. That means you can read the Bible and not understand the hidden wisdoms that are contained in the book unless something or someone is helping you to understand those things. That's what Paul is saying, and he says, none of the rulers of this age understand this for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. You know how deep this is right now when Herod and Pilate are looking at Jesus, they're like, we can't find any fault with him.

What's the deal and who are you? And Jesus said, I am He. They didn't understand because the wisdom of God was blind. They were blinded from the wisdom of God. They did not understand that Jesus Christ was the son of God. If they would've understood that, they never would've crucified him. That's what Paul says. But as it is written, what no I has seen nor ear heard, nor heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. These things God has revealed to us. He's talked about believers through the Spirit, through the Holy Spirit for the Spirit, the Holy Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God for who knows a person's thought, thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God. Accept the spirit of God. Now, as a person, there's a lot that you can say about yourself that's front facing, but nobody really knows you like you do, and there's a version of you that you present to the world that may not be the actual version of you, and the only way for us to find out who you really are is to be familiar with your spirit.

Now, it is humanly impossible for me to understand your spirit, but in God, God says that there is an external version of God that people can somewhat understand, but there is a hidden, intimate part of God that you cannot understand except by the Holy Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who is from God. Here we go that we might understand the things freely giving us by God and we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. This is so deep. The spiritual person judges all things but in himself, but is himself to be judged by no one for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him. But somebody say, but we have the mind of Christ. If you are a believer, you have access to the mind of God through the mind of Christ, through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Now, I could just stop and tease so long here I can't.

It is possible to hear God and not recognize that it is God. It is possible to hear God and not recognize that it is God for to hear God and recognize that it is Him speaking. We need the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us not just to hear God, but to recognize that it is God who is speaking. The reason why we're going to talk about this is because the last couple of weeks we talked about how important it is to read the scriptures, and many have most likely read the scriptures over the last couple of weeks and been like, I still don't hear God. It may be because you're relying on your own human wisdom to understand God, but the secret sauce that you have as a believer is that the moment of salvation, you were filled and dwelled with the Holy Spirit as a gift. That's what Acts chapter two says. Verse 38, repent and be baptized a warning in Lord Jesus Christ ance saying, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The problem for most believers is that the gift has never been opened. Come on.

You need the Holy Spirit to hear and recognize the word of God. Now, the word of God comes through the Word of God. When you look in the scriptures, the word of God, there's really two definitions of the word of God and the Greek. And one definition is the Lagos, right? The Lagos is the written word of God is also a reference to the living word of God, which is Jesus. So there's the Lagos, the word which is the Bible, and then there is also a different one, which is the rma, which is the utterance or the spoken word of God. Now, let me just clarify the written word of God and the utterance never contradict one another.

I just helped somebody. Right? Now, when somebody comes to you and say, Hey, I got a a word for you, get your Bible and be like, all right, tell me so you can fact check whether they're RMA is actually RMA or booboo krama or whatever, whether or not somebody is actually speaking by the empowerment of the Spirit, by measuring it against the word of God. Now, depending on your background, your church background, you may be comfortable talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, or you may be very uncomfortable right now depending on where you came from. If you grew up Pentecostal, charismatic, spirit filled environments, you're very comfortable talking about the Holy Spirit. But if you're not, maybe you grew up in an environment that's sensationalist, they don't even believe in the works of the Spirit. They don't even want to talk about the Holy Spirit. They only talk about the Father and Son, but not the Holy Spirit, then this may be uncomfortable for you too. Or you may be here and you've seen some crazy stuff in church that's been attributed to the, I have seen some wild things that at the time I thought was normal until I brought my friends to church.

The Holy Spirit is not for you to do the Hucker bud. The Holy Spirit is not for you to get up and walk out of here and totally forget about him. The Holy Spirit is a helper. He's a gift. So here's my title for today, hearing God through the Holy Spirit, and I really want to answer a couple of questions. But the first question is, who is the Holy Spirit? And secondly, how can we hear God through him? So here's the question, who is the Holy Spirit? If you're writing and taking notes? Number one, he is God. We have to establish that from the beginning, the Holy Spirit, he is God. He's not a force. He's not just a wind, he's not a feeling. He is God just as much as the Father is God and the Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God the Father, son, and the Holy Spirit share in the essence of the deity called the Godhead.

So when you talk about the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit, you're talking about God. Now, our first introduction to God, a lot of people think that the Holy Spirit was introduced in the New Testament, but the first time we're actually the Holy Spirit is mentioned is in the very first moments of creation. In Genesis chapter one and verse two, the Bible says that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Now that word spirit is the word in the Hebrew is the word ruah. Again, capital S, ruah, which is transliterate in the Greek as Numa breath. And so when we talk about the spirit of God moving on the waters, it was the Holy Spirit in unity with the Father and the Son creating the world. Then the Holy Spirit, here's another good example of how we know the Holy Spirit is.

God is at the baptism of Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God is being baptized, and at the moment of his baptism, the heavens are open. The Father is speaking from heaven. Behold, this is my beloved son and whom I am. Well please, the Holy Spirit is descending like as a dove, and we see the presence of Jesus. So we see the unity that exists between the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit at the very moment that Jesus begins his ministry on earth. One of the greatest, I think, passages to demonstrate that the Holy Spirit is God is found in Acts chapter five, verse three. Let's look at it real quick. Anon and sari, this is a very interesting story. They go to sell some property and they come to bring an offering to the Lord, and they're lying about how much they sold the property for and what they're bringing to God. Now, God does want us to be generous. He does want us to exercise giving, but Corinthians clarifies how we should give from a cheerful heart, not reluctantly or out of compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. These folks were not cheerful. They came and brought a little portion and Chapter Fives, three says, but Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?

This is actually kind of the definition of blasphemy and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? Check this out. You have not lied to man, but to now, did he not just say you lied to the Holy Spirit and then he says, you lied to God. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is God. First thing that you have to establish, the Holy Spirit is God. Here's number two. He is a helper. Let's go to John chapter 1425. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you, but the helper, somebody say, helper the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Now, I want to give you a little context for John chapter 14. I mentioned this last week, but when you read the Gospels, Matthew, mark, Luke, and John, the first three, Matthew, mark, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels, which means that their writings are very parallel. You can compare a lot of their stories. They focus mainly on what Jesus is saying and what he is doing. The book of John, the Gospel of John focuses much of his attention on who Jesus is and the work of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Jesus. So when you read John, you are looking through the lens of someone who is more interested and understanding who Jesus is in the storyline more so than what he was doing. So John chapter 14, in order to understand John chapter 14, you really have to back up to John chapter 12.

John chapter 12 kind of starts the drama. This is where we read about the triumphal entry. Now remember the disciples who are following Jesus, they're under the assumption that Jesus is going to restore the literal kingdom of Israel on the earth and overthrow the Roman rule, which at that time was suppressing and oppressing the Jewish nation. So they're thinking, Jesus, at some point in his ministry, there's going to be this uprising and Jesus is going to be like, all right, I'm taking over. It's a rebellion. So when the triumphal entry happens, which is usually a sign of a king coming into town saying, Hey, I've taken over. I've taken over, the triumphal entry happens. Everyone's like, oh, it's finally about to happen, and then it doesn't. And Jesus says, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

Now, there's two ways that the disciples could understand that when he is lifted up on the throne or what else would it mean? Jesus doesn't clarify that He's talking about the cross. So then we go to John chapter 13. This is when things get really weird because Jesus is gathered with his disciples in a room right before the pastor. So right before the cross, or at least his arrest and his persecution starts happening, he's gathered in a room with his disciples, which wasn't any different than any other Passover. But this time Jesus grabs a basin of water and a towel, and he kneels down before the disciples to watch their feet. Now, the disciples have tripped out because remember, they think of Jesus. They know that Jesus is a rabbi, a teacher, and rabbis don't wash feet, servants wash feet. So when Jesus says, let me wash your feet, Peter, the spokesperson goes, what are you doing? You're not supposed to be washing people's feet. We got servants for that. And Jesus said, if you don't wash me, you have no part with me.

So Peter's like in that case, don't just wash my feet, get me in this tub and give me a bath. He said, watch my hands and my head as well. And then Jesus goes, Hey, listen, it's just your feet that are dirty. You're actually good. You're clean, but there's someone in here that isn't clean. Now you got to put yourself in the storyline. Think about what the disciples are thinking. At this point, I'm very confused that you're about to wash our feet, and then you're saying, we don't really need to get our feet washed because we're clean, but there's somebody here that's not clean. How do we know that this person is not clean? And Jesus said, I'm going to dip and I'm going to give him morsel bread. So he dips and gives it to Judas, and everyone's like, what is actually happening? And Jesus looks at Judas and says, whatever you plan on doing, go do it quickly.

Now, Jesus just said, there's one of you that's going to betray me. They're like, who is it? He says, the one I give the bread to, he gives it to Judas. Very clear. This is the guy he leaves. The disciples can't believe it because they're confused. So some of them believe according to scripture, some of them believe that he just went out to get some bread. We can't believe that Judas would betray us. Right? Then Jesus looks around and he is like, Hey, by the way, Peter, you're going to deny me. Peter's like what is going on? So this is what brings us to John chapter 14. So by the time we get to John chapter 14, the disciples are confused. They have a ton of questions, and Jesus said, let not your hearts

Be troubled. Have you ever been there where God is showing you and you're in a midst of confusion and you don't know if God is speaking to you or he's not, and you're confused and you're worried and you're anxious, and God says, let not your heartbeat trouble. You're like, well, it

Wasn't troubled. I'm still, you started. I was fine. The disciples, what's interesting is they hear Jesus, but they don't understand Jesus. They hear God, but they don't understand what he's saying. They hear the words of God literally in their presence, but they don't understand what he is saying. In fact, Jesus tells them, you don't understand right now, but later you will understand, and anyone have children, anyone been a child? You remember that moment where you're talking to your parents and you're like, I really want to go out with my friends. And they're like, no, they're not good influence. And you're like, why? And they say something like, right now you don't understand, but one day you will. That's the most annoying phrase to anybody's life as a lie, as a Christian, you will hear constantly, you don't understand it right now. You don't understand what you're going through right now, but you will one day they're scared, they're curious, they're worried, they're anxious, and they're trying to figure out what are we supposed to do with what we just heard?

And this is what brings us to John chapter 14, verse 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the Father that He will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Jesus is getting ready to go to the cross and he's ready to suffer and die and be buried and rise again and ascend back into heaven. The disciples don't know this. They're confused by what he is saying. They hear God, but they don't recognize what God is telling them. So they need some help. They need some kind of illumination. They need some kind of revelation, something to spur them on to understand the words of God. They hear the words of God.

They don't understand the words of God. They hear the word of God. They just don't recognize that it is actually God saying this to them. So Jesus says to them, don't you worry. Another helper is coming. Now, the word helper is the Greek word para CTOs. You may have heard this word as a paraclete, and it means an advocate or a counselor or a comforter, one who is called alongside. Ooh, I could go back to Genesis. When God looks at Adam, he says, it's not good for man to be alone. I will give him a help me, a helper, one who is called alongside. I can preach right now because when God got ready to make Eve, he brought it out of Adam's side, not from his foot, not from his head, but from his side. Why? Because a good relationship.

I don't have enough time. Now, recognize that Jesus said there is another helper. There is another one coming who will be called alongside. The reason why Jesus said there's another helper, because as long as Jesus was on the earth physically, he was the helper, he was the advocate. He was the counselor, he was the comforter. He was the one called alongside the disciples in his earthly ministry. But Jesus also knew that as long as he was on the earth, everyone would try to come to him personally for help and comfort. Remember the time when Jesus sends out his disciples to go do ministry and it didn't work out. They come back and they say, Hey, Jesus, we got some. They were lined up asking Jesus questions. As long as Jesus was on the earth, he was the only help and comforter for them. So Jesus said, that's why Jesus said, Hey, listen. It's actually better for you if I leave, because when I leave, another helper is coming and he's available to all of you. So wait a minute, I thought it would be better for me to have Jesus right here beside me. No, why not? Because as long as Jesus was here, you would have to go to Him personally. You'd have to try to break through the crown and the multitudes to access the mind of Christ. Woo. But when the Holy Spirit comes, now you have access to the mind of Christ. 24 7.

Jesus knew that disciples wanted him personally, but Jesus said, as long as I'm here, I'm your single helper. But when I leave, the Holy Spirit is coming and he's available to everyone who believes. They receive access to the mind of Christ that you know have access to the mind of Christ every day, all day. When you become a believer at the moment of conversion, at the moment where you repent of your sins and you make a commitment to Jesus to make Him your Lord and Savior, at that moment, you are filled with the indwelling spirit of God. Now, I know that there are some theologies that say, Hey, you get the Holy Spirit later on. Well, what's sustaining you from the moment of salvation then yourself? That's not biblical, right? The Bible teaches us that we have access. We are saved at the moment where we relinquish control of ourselves and our filled with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit then is the one who guides us. He's a helper. So let's move to the next section. How does the Holy Spirit help us hear God? If you're taking notes, how does the Holy Spirit help us hear God? Number one, he teaches us all things. He's a teacher. Let's look at John chapter 14, verse number 26, the beginning of it, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things. Now, this word teach is the word to impart skills or knowledge. Now, in order to be taught, it assumes that you don't know. In order for someone to teach you something, the assumption is you don't know what that thing is. You don't need a teacher for something that you already know, right? So when you hear the word of God, sometimes you can hear the word and not understand the word of God, but by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit illuminates or he imparts knowledge and wisdom of what you're engaging in or what you need to know.

Here's the thing, there are deep things of God that you don't understand and you cannot understand unless it is illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Now, what is required to be taught by the Holy Spirit is that you become a student. Did you know that? That's actually what the word disciple means? Disciple does not mean follower. Someone that just follows a disciple literally means someone who is disciplined to learn. So if you're going to be an actual disciple of Christ, it means that you become a student of Christ. You're trying to learn from. The whole point of being a Christian is to be more like Christ, right? That's the whole idea of being a Christian. How can you learn to become more like

Christ only through the Holy Spirit? Because the Holy Spirit is teaching you what

You don't know. Reading the Bible will not benefit you unless you allow the Holy Spirit to teach you what you are reading. The Holy Spirit clarifies the voice of God. The Holy Spirit makes plain the voice of God. If you've ever gotten the Word or you read the scripture and you're like, man, I'm trying to hear the word of God, you to the Holy Spirit, he will show you and teach you things that you did not know before. How many have lived for God for over 20 years? How about 30, 40, 50, 60? Lord, hammer, mercy. Come on. Let's give a hand over 60 years. Crazy.

I bet my sister here could tell you that God keeps on teaching her new things even after 60 years of why? Because the Holy Spirit is constantly teaching us things. Remember in Acts chapter nine, when Saul is on his way to Tarsus Damascus, Saul Tarsus on his way to Damascus the Holy Spirit, Jesus opens up the heaven, he gets blinded, he falls off his horse, and Jesus says, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Saul doesn't know. What does that mean? So he goes into a prayer meeting and God selects a man by the name of Anani and says, Hey, go talk to Paul. And I was like, this dude out here killing Christians, you're sending me right into the lines den. And God's like, yeah, it's time. So then Anani shows up in Acts nine 17. So Anani depart that entered the house and laying his hands on him, he said, brother Saul, the Lord Jesus has appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me, so that you may regain your sight and check this out, be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized in that moment, after he was filled with the Holy Spirit, the scales from his eyes, not just physically but spiritually came off the Holy Spirit removes scales from your eyes so that you can learn and recognize the voice of God. Here's point number two.

The Holy Spirit reminds us of what Jesus says, John chapter 14, verse 26, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Now, the word remembrance is to remind, to remember, or recall to put in the mind of someone. Now, the Holy Spirit will help you remember,

Lord, did you know it is impossible to remember something that isn't in your memory? I just dropped mad revelation. It is impossible for you to recall anything that isn't there. The reason why Jesus is speaking to disciples and said, Hey, listen, there's a lot that you learned over the last three years. You ain't going to remember everything at all times. You need a helper, a Paraclete, someone who comes alongside that brings to your remembrance the right thing at the right time, exactly when you need it. Whose job is that? All right, y'all. Okay? I got to give y'all a demonstration.

This is an ATM. This is an ATM. The point of an ATM is that the att M is connected to a bank. When you get paid or you earn some money, if you want to keep it safe, what do you do? You go deposit it in the bank, you deposit it in the bank, and then you have an ATM, which is connected to your bank, which gives you access to what you put in. Right? Now, how many know you can go to any ATM and have access to anyone's bank account, but you can't actually access it unless you have something that gives you access to that particular bank account? Come on, pastor.

So here's how it works for us. When you read the scripture, you make a deposit. Come on. When you hear the utters, when you hear the word of God, when I'm preaching to you, you're making a deposit. But now you come to a point where you're like, man, I just got to get through this situation and I don't know how to get through it. Hallelujah. The Holy Spirit comes and gives you access. I don't know who's in here, but what the Holy Spirit does, it gives you access. When you need to make a withdrawal, you can pull out what has been deposited.

It is impossible to withdraw something that hasn't first been deposited. That's why we're talking about the scripture. First, you can read the Bible and read the Bible, but the Holy Spirit knows exactly the time and the season and the moment when it's time for you to make the withdrawal.

But here's what you got to do. You can't just be like, man, this is an unlimited bank account. You know what the Holy Spirit also does? It helps you to make that deposit. So when you hear the word of God, it drops it until you, man, that illustration was fired. Don't even play with me. Y'all don't even play it with me. I'm trying to tell somebody that you are not wasting your time when you're reading the

Word of God. You're not wasting your time when you're coming to church and hearing the word of God. You are making deposits into your account and at the right time, in the right season, whatever you need from God, the Holy Spirit will give you access. When I don't know what to do with my marriage, I need the Holy Spirit.

My God, have mercy. I told y'all I don't have time. The words of Jesus are life. Do we want to become more like Jesus? Absolutely. But your brain doesn't have the capacity to memorize 66 books. So what happens when you read the entirety of the scriptures? You're not going to memorize all of it, but you have a para ct, a helper that at the right time, at the right moment, he will recall things to your memory. My God, this is why I always encourage you to take notes during church. I encourage you to go back and watch the sermons. I encourage you to read the Word of God because you're making deposits. Well, I'm not going to remember that. The Holy Spirit will, but he can't help you withdraw something that ain't there.

One more point before I move to the third and final point. The gospels were written after Jesus had ascended for three years. Jesus was traveling with these disciples. But did you know that the Gospel writers, Matthew, mark, Luke, and John, only two of them were actual a part of the 12. Some of y'all may not have known that the only ones that were part of the 12 were Matthew and John, Luke and Mark were not part of the original 12. How did they get access to all the things that Jesus did? How were the disciples, Matthew and John able to remember everything that happened in the three years they were moved on by the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit was bringing to their remembrance all that Jesus had said, for them to write it down and for us to have access to his words. Here's my third and final point.

The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. John 16, verse 12, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them. Now, when the Spirit, when truth comes the Holy Spirit, he will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. The word guide is the word impetus, which means to be a guiding or motivating force for someone's actions. A guide is only necessary when you need to get somewhere you've never been to.

The Holy Spirit is a God. I don't know if you've ever gone to a trip where you needed a guide, whether you're going hiking or fishing. I love fishing. Fishing is something that I love to do, and just recently in June, I went fly fishing and I've never been fly fishing, and so I needed somebody to take me. So there was a guy who took me in a boat and showed me how to cast the reel, and we kept going by this one spot, and I wasn't catching fish, and I'm like, this dude don't know nothing. He is wasting time. I'm, I'm trying to be out here catching fish. We catching nothing. And he kept going back and forth over the same thing, and I was getting annoyed. I'm like, man, this is the wrong guy. We should have got a different guide. And all of a sudden, wham, I reeled one in and wham again and wham the same spot. I ended up catching like five fish. The reason that I caught five fish is I had to trust the guide to lead me where the fish were. He knew where they were. I didn't. I had to trust the guide. How many of you trust the guide? Why does he keep making you go through the same scenario? Because there's something there that he wants you to learn or pick up or catch that you don't understand yet. But he does think about this. How many marriages has the Holy Spirit guided to recovery?

How many jobs has he guided? How many homes, purchases of homes has he guided? How many startup businesses has he guided? How many relationships has he reconciled? How many church buildings, how many church plans? How many tough conversations has he guided? He has been there, done that you can trust? The Holy Spirit will guide you in the right direction. The only thing you need to do is yield to Him. Yield to him. Finally, why is it difficult for us to hear the Holy Spirit? Has anybody ever wondered that? Why is it so hard for me to hear from God?

I want to point out something real quick. The Holy Spirit speaks. When you have the Holy Spirit, he's speaking to you. He's speaking to you through the word, the written word. He's speaking to you through utterances, and they should always match. Remember that He's speaking to you. But when the Holy Spirit speaks, there are some other voices that may come into your life that try to drown out the Holy Spirit. One is your flesh. Somebody say, my flesh, my flesh. Your flesh will try to drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit in your life. The flesh, you could say is it's selfish. It's interested in comfort and safety. So for instance, the Holy Spirit may say, pray and the flesh will say, I'm tired.

Another voice may drown it. Out is the enemy. He comes to lie and accuse. The Holy Spirit says, pray. The enemy says, you're not worthy to pray. Another voice is the world. Holy Spirit may say, pray and the world will say That stuff don't work, but God don't speak. What are you talking about? Holy Spirit may say, pray. And then our circumstances, which are excuses and exceptions, may speak and say, ah, I've tried it before. Nothing changed. You have to be aware that there are voices in your life, noise in your life that's going to drown out. Try to drown out the Holy Spirit. But in order for you to hear the Holy Spirit, you need to have the same mentality that Samuel, that which is what? Speak Lord, your servant is listening intently, hearing from God. You cannot hear from God as long as you're talking.

It's impossible, right? Nothing more annoying than talking to somebody who's talking. Somebody is asking you for direction. You're like, yeah, when you get to BeltLine, yeah, the problem that I'm having with driving, you're like, if you will just stop. I will tell you how to get there. You know how many times the Holy Spirit is like, bro, I'll talk whenever you're done. You hear God through the Holy Spirit who gives you access. So I really want to do two prayers. One, I want to pray for those of you who are believers who have the Holy Spirit, but you've kept the present wrapped.

You've kept the present wrapped. You've not accessed everything you have access to through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also gives you access to all kinds of spiritual gifts, all kinds of spiritual gifts, and we'll talk about that in another series. But I want to pray for us who are believers. The second, I want to pray for those who may not be believers. You don't. You're not in dwell with the Holy Spirit and you're trying to hear from God, but you can't hear from God because it's not being illuminated yet. Now, God does speak by the way, through everything we can understand God through the flowers and the flowerbed, through grass, through the sky. The Lord is speaking through his creation all the time, all the time. Are you listening? So could we stand to our feet?

If you're in this place and you are a believer, I want to pray for you right now. So would you lift both of your hands and just say this? Speak Lord. Speak Lord. Your servant is listening. Your servant is listening. Lord, as we have our hands lifted, we've already given our lives to you. We've already become believers. Lord, we are in dwell with the promise of the Holy Spirit. But for many of us, it's still wrapped that it is pretty. In as little corner, we have an access to everything that is in the gift. I pray that today would be the day where the gift is opened, where we are made aware that we have permission to open up the gift so that you would teach us, Lord, that you would teach us, that you would remind us, that you would guide us. I pray that even this week, as we're considering big decisions, whether it be a job or a relationship or a tough conversation or whatever it may be, evangelism, whatever it is, I pray that you would speak so clearly to us and that our ears will be so open to hear and listen to what you have to say.

And now, Lord, I want to pray for those who may not have a relationship with you yet. And if you're in this place, all eyes closed, heads bowed. If you're in this place and you have not given your life to Christ, maybe you've been around the church, but you've been on the periphery, or maybe you thought that you pray the prayer of salvation, but your life never changed. This is your moment. This is your time to give you a life to Jesus. So I want you to repeat this prayer after me. Say, dear Jesus, let's all say, dear Jesus, dear Jesus, I accept my need for you. I for you, I believe that you came, that you died, and you rose again, and you did it all for me. Did it all come into my life? Be the Lord of my life. The Lord of my life. Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, fill me. Fill me. Teach me. Teach me. Help me to remember, help to remember and be my guide and be my God. I submit myself to you in Jesus' name. Jesus. Amen. Come on, somebody. Celebrate with those.

Listen. Listen. The Lord is speaking. Yes, Lord. Are you listening? Are you hearing? I pray that in this series, the illumination would happen, that people's eyes, spiritual eyes and minds would be open to hear from the Lord. So clearly, I'm telling you, this is the greatest gift in your Christian walk. If you don't hear from God as a Christian, you're missing out. You're missing out. So this series is really helping us to open up our ears, clean out some of the wax, get some Q-tips, right? And get access to the voice of God. Amen. Prayer team, if you would come as the prayer team is coming, remember, if you've been around embassy, we never want you to leave without prayer. So if you're in this place and maybe you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit, but you feel like you can't access everything that the Holy Spirit has available to you, then I'm asking you to come pray with somebody and be honest with them.

Tell 'em, Hey, listen, I have the Holy Spirit. I've been saved, but it's just not clear to me. Come let someone pray with you that the Lord would just begin to just clear out some noises in your life. If you are here and you need prayer for anything else, prayer of healing, or maybe you're here and you heard me pray the prayer of salvation, but you didn't pray it with me, but you're ready to. Then come up here. Make sure that you pray with somebody if you need prayer in your life, amen. Other than that, share the love of Christ with somebody. If you need a Bible, you don't have a physical Bible, go to guest central. Pick one up. Be in groups. If you're not in a group, join a group. Make sure that you're in community. Love one another. We'll see you here next week. God bless you.