I have an idea that a number of
you are interested in the will of God.
Is that true?
The problem that I discover though is that
when I say the words will of God,
what tends to pop into your mind?
Oh, difficult to find.
I'm not willing but I'm willing to be
made willing.
Or maybe you think as I mentioned once
in an earlier session about that insurance term
acts of God, which is always the good
stuff.
Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes.
So it seems like when it has to
do with God's will or God's act, well,
it's probably going to be miserable.
Maybe Africa.
It'll probably be what I don't want to
do because that's the way God works.
That's kind of the way we think, isn't
it?
Consequently, there is often a rather high anxiety
level associated with the will of God.
Well, let's get off of the tough subject.
Let's talk about a nice one.
When I say the word heaven, what pops
into your mind?
Different, right?
Joy.
Peace.
Jesus.
Chocolate-covered raisins.
Well, I've actually pulled a little trick on
you.
You'll just have to forgive me.
Because now I'm going to quote a passage
that you know by heart.
You could quote it to me just as
easily.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is done in heaven.
Oh, maybe that's what makes heaven heaven.
It's the place where His will is done
perfectly.
Well, that puts an entirely different cast on
it.
And I've thought about this, and I think
that one of the big problems that I
have observed, at least through the years, is
some of the methods that people have tended
to use to try to ascertain the will
of God.
So let's call these questionable methods.
The kind of methods that I wouldn't necessarily
recommend.
I better spell it right.
One that I find a lot is what
I call the cosmic Easter egg hunt.
Now, what that is, is when we see
the will of God as something He really
doesn't want very many people to know.
So it's the golden egg that He hides
under some spiritual clump somewhere.
And the question is, can I find it?
Maybe if I fast all night.
Maybe if I pray all day.
Maybe if I'll go here.
Maybe if I'll go there.
Oh no, you found it.
Oh, what are we...
And I see a lot of people that
are just sort of, oh God, maybe if
I ask at each moment.
Maybe if I ask...
And they're real nervous about it.
Like an Easter egg hunt.
Now that's sort of, like just as an
example, suppose when we lived in a two
-story house.
My oldest daughter, Gloria, wakes up in the
morning and yells down at me, Daddy, I'm
awake, can I get up now?
Yes, Gloria.
Daddy, I'm up, can I get dressed now?
Yes, Gloria.
Daddy, I'm dressed, can I come downstairs now?
Yes, Gloria.
Daddy, I'm downstairs now, can I sit at
the table?
Yes, Gloria.
Can I pick up the fork?
Yes, Gloria.
Can I put some egg on it?
Yes, Gloria.
Can I put it in my mouth?
Yes, Gloria.
Can I chew it?
Yes.
Can I swallow it?
Yes.
I would run away from home.
But I have observed the kind of nervousness
and testiness on the part of people as
if God really doesn't want you to know.
He's checking out every move.
You didn't say, Mother, may I?
Well, another rather questionable method that I have
observed and made use of is circumstances.
Now, of course, circumstances can have a lot
to do with the way you live your
life, but maybe it's a little dubious in
terms of how we would view the will
of God.
Often think of Paul.
Paul makes what I call a redeemed decision
to go to Asia.
By the way, you might want to write
that down.
A redeemed decision.
We'll come back to that.
It's a good decision.
Go to Asia.
The Holy Spirit stopped him.
You might want to write that down, too.
Those are some significant words.
Apparently, he didn't get upset by that.
And he hangs around, and then he has
this vision, this dream vision.
Come over to Macedonia and help us.
He heads for Macedonia.
When he gets to Macedonia, what did they
do to him?
They nearly killed him in Macedonia.
If he had been going by circumstances, he
would have thought, Oh, man, I must have
missed the will of God.
I'll never eat pickles before I go to
bed again.
And he heads out on his missionary journeys.
Now, if I were a boat owner back
then, I would have put up a sign.
If your name is Paul or Saul, not
my boat.
It's like every boat he got on, it
went down.
If he had been dependent upon circumstances, he
would have probably thought, Oh, brother, I missed
the will of God.
Those were tough times, you know.
And he's coming in on this piece of
wood, and he makes it into this island,
and he's warming his hands by the fire,
and a snake jumps out.
Oh, man.
Were you him, if you were dependent upon
circumstances, you would have become discouraged a long
time before.
There's another rather common method I find.
I doubt that any of you use this.
Fleeces.
Now, you know what I mean by fleeces,
don't you?
You ever been fleeced?
Gideon.
God has said to him, you're going to
set the people free.
Mighty man.
And he knew it was the voice of
God.
He knew it was God.
And he went about his actions in faith,
knowing it was the voice of God.
And then, at a certain point, after having
done several things that proved that he knew
this was God, he decides, let's check this
out.
You know, I'm a little doubtful here.
And so he takes this ram skin, this
fleece, and he puts it out on the
ground.
He says, tell you what, God, tonight, if
it's really you, I want the ground to
be dry and the fleece to be wet
tomorrow morning.
All right?
God says, piece of cake.
So the next morning, he walks out.
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
Picks it up.
Forty gallons.
Not bad.
But he says, but let's check this out
one more time.
Tonight, I want the ground to be wet
and the fleece to be dry.
All right?
God says, piece of cake.
So the next morning, he swims out to
the fleece.
Picks it up and it's dry as a
bone.
Then he said, ah, now I know that
was your voice.
Now, what we have done is we have
taken what I consider to be an act
of some doubt, and we've turned it into
a method of determining the will of God.
Now, one of the problems with this is
the way we tend to use it.
We can get very manipulative with God.
I've heard of one guy.
I can't believe this.
Put out a fleece.
He says, I'll know that you want me
to divorce my wife and marry my secretary
if the sun comes up tomorrow.
Absurd.
But we tend to do some crazy manipulative
things like that with fleeces.
There is a book I recommended to you.
It is hilarious.
It's called The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass.
It's a British book.
Dry humor, but quite humorous.
He understands Christians.
And in it, he himself is a believer,
and he is making some obvious fun of
things that ought to be made fun of.
And he's using a fleece.
His church said, we're going to downtown London
for some ministry.
Would you go with us?
He said, well, I'm not sure.
Let me put out a fleece.
He says, if tomorrow morning at 4.45
a.m. a midget shows up dressed like
an admiral at my door, then I will...
That's the way we do it sometimes.
I've done it.
I remember, I'll never forget, when God was
dealing with me about doing what I do
now, being a preacher.
I knew that this was what he had
put on my heart.
I was more than willing to give up
my other line of ambition for this.
But then I decided, we'll put out a
fleece.
I was a college freshman, and I said,
now God, you know I can't preach without
an automobile.
I don't know where it says that in
the Bible, but...
I said, I'll know that you want me
to preach if you supply me with an
automobile.
So I went back to my dormitory, kind
of feeling cool.
But if I had listened closely, I would
have heard God chuckle.
One week later, here came my car.
You could hear it for a mile.
Now you have to understand this.
My father was driving it, and I've talked
to you a little bit about my father.
He was severely injured in an airplane accident
when I was young, and his brain was
not what it had been before.
And he had taught himself how to drive,
though, again, and he was driving it.
He had brought it the 200 miles up
from where he lived to where I was
going to school.
And he said, son, about a week ago
I had the strongest feeling that you needed
a car.
And he said, there's a used car lot
just down the street from me, and some
of the guys there are friends of mine.
And they tell me...
And they tell me that this is a
good car.
So he reached into his pocket and handed
me the key.
Folks, I was melting.
Then he reached into his pocket and handed
me...
He said, here's the payment book.
Payment book?
I would never have bought this car!
I can distinctly hear the Lord...
You got your car.
Folks, that thing tried me, man.
It wasn't a car, it was a wreck
looking for a place to happen.
I would have to park it on hills
to start it in the morning.
I can remember.
I can remember some mornings pushing that thing
cold, cold mornings, man.
Pushing it, you know.
And I'd hear the Lord say, you gonna
do that to me again?
So I learned something about it.
However, we're not going to learn what to
do by just studying what not to do.
So let's sort of put an X mark
across this and get to where the Bible
talks about it.
Romans chapter 12 is my favorite.
It's so straightforward.
Verse 1, Paul says, I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, or I strongly urge you.
I highly recommend this.
By the mercies of God.
Now I like that because the only thing
you can ever do is by the mercy
of God.
And the only thing worthwhile that can be
done is by His mercy.
He didn't say, I urge you, brethren, by
the innate ability that is within you.
He didn't say that.
But by the mercies of God.
That you present your bodies a living sacrifice.
Holy.
Acceptable unto God.
Which is your reasonable service or your reasonable
worship.
It's an interchangeable word.
Wow.
What he is saying here is step number
one in doing anything for God is just
turn yourself over to Him.
Present your body a living sacrifice.
You have heard someone say the problem with
a living sacrifice, though, is it keeps crawling
off the altar.
Now what Paul is simply saying here is
just turn yourself over to God.
Settle the issue.
I belong to you, God.
See, some people are just kind of, well,
I'm checking out Jesus now to see if
He's any good.
That's not what he's talking about.
Well, I'm giving it a try.
No, that's not what he's talking about.
He's saying settle the issue.
Settle it.
God, I'm yours.
That's it.
I have decided to turn over to you
everything of me I know how to turn
over to you.
Here I am.
It isn't just, okay, I'll give you my
body, but I'm keeping the rest for myself.
No, this is really saying turn everything over
to Him.
So that's step one.
Now when you do that, you see, it
determines the direction of your face.
It determines the direction of your heart.
You've turned everything over to God.
You're not just tasting the water to see.
But you've made your decision.
That's it.
You become thoroughly saved.
And then he says, don't be conformed to
this world.
Now, you recall a few weeks ago when
we were talking about the nature of Satan.
I showed you the difference over here and
all of the I will, I will, I
will kind of thing.
He says don't be conformed to that.
But be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind.
Oh, now you also recall as we looked
at the mind of Christ that here we
see the picture of the mind of Christ.
So be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind so that you're not thinking like
Satan over here.
But now you're thinking like God.
How do you do that?
Well, step one is the word of God.
If you want to know how he thinks,
he tells you right here.
It's just about as plain as it can
be.
I've discovered that when I didn't want to
read the Bible, it was because I knew
what it said.
That's the way it is with people.
A lot of people don't want to read
the Bible because they know what it's going
to say.
They know what it's going to say.
But if I want to know what God
thinks, how he thinks, what he's like, what
my mind should be like, what I should
fill myself with so that I can think
his way, you've got to get into the
Bible.
And you've got to see what Jesus is
like because God put everything he was in
him.
In him was the fullness of the Godhead
bodily.
So I would immerse myself in the word
and in the very nature of Jesus.
So be ye transformed.
Now it takes some transforming, doesn't it?
Aren't you a little different from what you
used to be?
You notice that?
Thank God.
Some of you can hardly believe the change
that's come in you from the time you
became a Christian until now, even if it
was just a few weeks ago.
Your friends are even saying, what happened to
you?
Some transforming has gone on because you've changed
your direction.
You're thinking like God.
You're thinking his way.
You're thinking the word of God.
Be ye transformed by the renewing of your
mind.
Now, when you do this, you give your
body to him and you change your mind.
You transform it.
You begin to think like God.
The most remarkable thing, he says, that you
may prove what is that good, acceptable, perfect
will of God.
You prove what his will is.
An interesting thing.
He doesn't say you hunt it.
You don't find it.
You prove it.
And you prove also that it is good,
acceptable, perfect.
Now, I've known some people who really wanted
to switch God's will into several wills.
He's got a good will.
He's got an acceptable will.
And he has a perfect one.
Which one are you in?
And all that does is increase your anxieties.
Oh, I'm missing the best one.
But these are just three words describing his
will.
It's good, acceptable, and perfect.
And when I give myself to him and
find my mind transformed, I change it into
his likeness.
Then, what I do proves his will.
Why?
Because now I'm thinking his way.
See?
I'm not here.
You folks didn't come here tonight because, I'm
going to get back at God.
I'm going to go to church.
You're not here because, I think I'll mess
my mind.
Tonight I'll go to church.
No.
You're here because you want to do his
work.
You're here because you want to think his
way.
And what happens is when you give your
body and mind to him, you cannot.
Now, listen to this closely.
You cannot miss his will.
Really?
That seems awfully simple.
I know.
It had to be simple before I could
understand it.
When I have given myself to him and
my mind has been transformed to his, then
what I do proves his will.
It shows what his will is.
Which means then, do these two and relax.
I like what one fellow said.
Repent and relax.
It's the kingdom of God.
You mean I can really rest in this?
Uh-huh.
It's awfully simple.
There's got to be something that I can
do.
Well, there is.
Give yourself to him and change your mind.
And then what you do?
You will think redeemed thoughts.
You will make redeemed choices.
But is it possible for me to go
the wrong way?
The Holy Spirit will stop you.
Isn't that great?
God takes care of all of it.
See?
You can truly relax in this.
You mean I can make a choice?
Yes.
But what if I make a wrong choice?
You won't.
He has you covered.
Suppose, for instance, that I decided that I
wanted to start a church somewhere in Upper
Mongolia.
And five different cities have groups that are
begun to meet and they each find out
about it.
And they write to me and say, Would
you come and be our pastor?
I've got a problem, don't I?
Which one am I going to go to?
How will I decide?
Will I draw a circle on the floor
and take all five letters and throw them
up in the air and see which one
comes down in the circle?
Will I put them on my desk and
see which one feels warm?
I know people who do that.
What do you suppose God's saying?
Well, I like them all, Gail.
Why don't you choose one?
You want me to choose?
Sure, I like them all.
If you go over here, I'll bless you
a certain way.
If you go here, I'll bless you a
certain way.
If you go here, I'll bless you a
certain way.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
So you can relax.
It's His will.
All you have to do is give yourself
to Him and let your mind be transformed
and then you go, ahhh.
That's too easy.
It's too easy.
Well, the thing is, if you choose to
do any of these, you're not trying to
escape God.
You're trying to go His direction.
And He knows that.
And He walks with you because it is
by His mercy that you do everything you
do.
It's by His mercy that any ministry you've
got, you have received.
Alright.
Well, there's some evidence of this, you know.
In Matthew chapter 11, verse 28, Jesus says,
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.
Isn't that great?
I once thought that He really meant, Come
unto Me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I'll put you under spiritual
pressure like you've never been under before.
But He didn't say that.
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn of
Me.
Now, there's a secret right there.
Take My yoke upon you and learn of
Me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart.
My yoke is easy and My burden is
light.
Wait a minute.
This sounds like an oxymoron to me.
Yoke is easy?
How can that be?
Yoke and easy do not go together.
My grandfather was a farmer, and I learned
something by watching him.
He was a very modern farmer for his
day, but he kept about two acres that
he farmed primitively just because he loved to
do it.
And he had this old plow and a
big horse and an ox, and he would
sometimes plow with the ox, sometimes with the
horse, and I'd watch him out there.
He just loved to do it, you know,
and so he kept that two acres just
to farm primitively.
And I learned that there is such a
thing as an individual yoke.
Now, a yoke is very simply a power
transfer system.
It's a means of getting my power or
the power of the animal into the plow,
or in this case, my power, energy, into
the work.
Now, let me explain it this way, because
I have a little theory, and I don't
want you to start any denominations over this,
but it's a little theory.
I have a little theory that Jesus had
a specialty as a carpenter.
You know, most woodwork would be specialty kind
of work over there where most everything was
built with rocks.
And I have an idea that he had
a specialty as a carpenter, and it was
making yokes.
And so when he said, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, they said,
oh, yeah, this is the good yoke maker.
Now imagine, for instance, that you were my
ox, and I was going to make a
yoke for you.
I would come, and I'd find out where
the bones and the muscles are, and do
some measuring, and then carve a yoke that
when I finished, it would fit so good
that you hardly even knew it was there.
Like an old shoe, you know.
Then all of your energy can go into
the yoke.
You don't even notice it's there.
But suppose I were to say, Chuck, I
really like your yoke.
Can I borrow yours for a while?
And he says, sure, go ahead.
So I put it on and said, now
I've got a yoke that works.
I know this one, man.
It's just great.
Oh, it feels just a little funny.
It doesn't fit right there, so maybe if
I adjust.
There.
Now I'm looking a little funny.
I'm working harder, and I'm not pulling as
much of a load, see?
And by the end of the day, man,
I will have wrapped certain places, and I
will just really be, oh, man, I'll never
put on a yoke again, man!
And I'll be working very, very hard, but
I won't be pulling anything.
I've about decided that a lot of the
weirdness that I occasionally see in Christianity is
because people are wearing yokes that aren't the
yoke of Jesus.
They took someone else's yoke on, man, and
they're trying hard to live up to it
and make it work, and they look very
funny.
And they work very hard, but they don't
pull much.
But Jesus says, take my yoke upon you.
My yoke is easy, and my burden is
light.
Huh.
Burden and light don't go together either.
Do you realize that?
Well, I think I understand.
You see, I carry a burden.
I don't know how to describe this burden.
It's a heavier burden than anybody ought to
ever carry.
It's the burden of being Gale Irwin.
And Jesus looked at me, and he said,
you're right.
Nobody ought to carry that burden.
So I tell you what.
You throw that one on me, and I'll
give you my burden.
Do you notice the words in here?
Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light.
He didn't say your yoke was easy, and
your burden.
He says, mine is.
So what happens is, he cuts the yoke
that's specially fitted for me, and the burden
that is his, it's just the right size
for me.
And that way, walking with him is such
a joy.
And I can rest in him, see.
So really, knowing his will is just simply
a product of giving yourself to him and
letting your mind be transformed, and you can
go out and just do his will and
prove it.
Prove it.
Now this brings up another rather fascinating thing
that goes hand in hand with knowing his
will, or in this case, proving his will
by giving ourselves over to him, and that's
the question of how can you know when
you've heard the voice of God.
Has that ever occurred to you?
You ever heard anyone say, well, God told
me.
You ever heard that?
And sometimes you've heard them say things God
told them, and you knew God probably did.
And sometimes you knew he did.
But how can you know when you have
heard the voice of God?
Well, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 1.
I love the opening of Hebrews.
It's such a powerful passage.
Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1.
God, that's a good way to start off
a book, who at various times and in
different ways spoke.
Now I like that.
God speaks.
He is not silent.
He speaks to us.
In times past, to the fathers, by the
prophets, has in these last days, now that's
a significant statement, in these last days, spoken
to us by his Son.
Now I like that.
He's not even trusting it to the prophets.
Now he brings it to us, you know,
in our vernacular, we would say by the
horse's mouth.
Let's call it by the lamb's mouth in
this case.
He's spoken to us by his Son, whom
he has appointed heir of all things.
Now how many things is all?
It's kind of all, isn't it?
Through whom he also made the worlds, who,
speaking of Jesus, being the brightness of his
glory.
Now you remember, just recently when we were
talking about the name and the glory of
God and we marched through that list, which
you have also memorized now.
Compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in mercy
and faithfulness, love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion
and sin.
He is the brightness or the expression of
the very glory of God.
And, it says, he is the express image
of his person or he is exactly like
the Father.
Do you hear this?
In these last days, he is spoken by
his Son.
It's like, this is it.
There's no finer authority than one who is
not only the expression of my very nature,
but he is exactly like me.
A chip off the old block.
Junior looks just like his dad.
And upholding all things by the word of
his power.
Awesome.
Some time ago, I was watching one of
these nature specials on television and it happened
to be about the seals who come into
the Pribilof Islands up in the Alaskan Aleutian
Sound for a birthing and mating season.
It was rather fascinating.
They showed the picture of this long, rocky,
sandy shore and at a certain time there
would be thousands of these big brown humps
come up on the shore and they would
show them as they were all along that
shore.
And I looked down that and I thought,
you know, when you've seen one seal, you've
seen them all, you know.
And then they would give birth to little
seal pups.
And there would be thousands more of these
little brown humps wandering around the island.
I looked at them and I thought, you
know, when you've seen one seal pup, you've
seen them all.
Well, then the mothers would get hungry and
go back out to the ocean to feed
and the little pups would just wander all
over and get all mixed up.
And then when the mamas would come back,
they would sort themselves out.
How did they do that?
Well, the researchers were curious too so they
looked more closely and discovered that when a
seal pup was born, two interesting things happened.
First, the mother and the seal would sniff
each other very closely.
Now, I don't know about you, but it
seems to me when you've smelled one seal,
you've smelled them all.
Then they would speak to each other.
Arf!
Now, I don't know about you, but it
seems to me when you've heard one seal,
you've heard them all.
But then when I thought about the smell,
I remembered a passage in Corinthians.
You know it.
I'll just read part of it to you
here.
2 Corinthians 2.15 For we are to
God the fragrance, the smell, the aroma of
Christ.
Ah!
I don't care what you spray under your
arms.
God says, I know you.
You smell like Jesus to me.
But what about, what about the voice?
Well, I was watching another special, and this
one was rather interesting to me.
They were doing some research in the sound
waves that your voice makes.
They had put them on an oscilloscope and
then printed those sound waves out, and they
had discovered that the sound waves of your
voice are so unique that they can identify
you by the sound of your voice just
as surely as if it were your fingerprints.
Even if you try to disguise your voice.
They'd say, Oh, no, this is you, this
is you.
And I wondered, is it possible, is it
possible that what we are looking at here,
this nature of Jesus list, is actually the
sound waves of His voice?
Because He says, in these last days He
has spoken to us by His Son.
Wow!
Let's see if there's any evidence to this.
When God spoke out of that cloud in
the presence of His Son and said, This
is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased.
Hear Him.
Listen to Him.
To Pontius Pilate, Jesus says, Whoever is on
the side of truth hears me or listens
to me.
But then I saw John chapter 10.
Go with me there.
It's a great chapter.
You know that.
John chapter 10 verse 1, beginning there.
Most assuredly I say to you, He who
does not enter the sheepfold by the door,
but climbs up by some other way, the
same as a thief and a robber, but
he who enters by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep.
To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep
hear His voice.
And He calls His own sheep by name
and leads them out.
And when He brings out His own sheep,
He goes before them and the sheep follow
Him because they know His voice.
Yet they'll by no means follow a stranger.
They'll flee from Him for they do not
know the voice of a stranger.
Verse 8, All who ever came before me
are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did
not hear them or did not listen to
them.
Verse 14, I am the good shepherd and
I know my sheep and I am known
by my own.
Verse 16, Other sheep I have which are
not of this foal, them also I must
bring and they will hear my voice.
And there will be one flock and one
shepherd.
Verse 27, My sheep hear my voice and
I know them and they follow me.
And just to remind you of our original
thesis, Jesus in verse 30 says, I and
the Father are one.
Ah!
It dawned on me that I can, by
the nature of Jesus, check out everything I
hear.
If someone says, God has spoken to me
and said such and such, all I have
to do is check it out by the
nature of Jesus.
And if it violates Jesus, then I'm pretty
sure it's not Him.
It's not the voice of the Lord.
Before I believe something, before I preach something,
before I interpret something, I check it out
to see if it violates Jesus.
And if it does, then I am misinterpreting
or misbelieving or misbehaving.
Because you see, when God put everything He
was in Jesus, He wasn't going to say
or do anything after that to violate Him,
nor was the Holy Spirit going to do
anything to violate Him.
Anytime someone is, shall we say, moved by
the Holy Spirit, according to them or whatever,
I just check it out to see whether
it violates the nature of Jesus.
And if it does, I know that it
was probably their own flesh moving them, and
flesh does move you.
But if it matches the nature of Jesus,
I know, yes, God had something to do
with that.
That must have been the Holy Spirit.
So this becomes the most beautiful way for
me to check out what I'm hearing as
I listen to God, as I read the
Word and interpret am I violating ever the
nature of Jesus?
If I do, I know that I have
misinterpreted or misheard or misbehaved, as I said.
Well, I hope that's clear.
Except there's one more thing I want to
say.
There is a problem with some of the
ways that we tend to listen to God,
and I want to do a little role
play for you here.
And I need a volunteer.
Thank you, Bob Zollermeyer.
I really appreciate that.
That was a quick volunteer on your part.
Would you just step up here?
Thank you very much.
That was quick.
Very quick.
Now, what I want you to do, you'll
have to stand close here and just speak
into my chest right here.
What I want you to do is I
want you to play the part of God
in this.
Kind of typecasting here, I guess.
And what I want you to do is
I want you to tell me how to
get from here to your house.
Okay?
Go ahead.
I'm listening.
Gail, if you go out over here...
Can I interrupt you?
Don't point.
See, when I get out of here, if
you've pointed, I lose the point.
And I get out there and I can't
see you, and it's pointless.
And I have to keep rushing back in
here just to get the point.
You understand?
And anyway, my mama always taught me not
to point.
So if it's okay, don't point.
But go ahead.
I'm listening.
All right?
I'm listening.
Gail...
You're pointing.
All right.
But I'm listening.
That's okay.
If we go out one of these doors...
May I interrupt you?
One of these doors is a rather inexact
term.
And you just don't understand what kind of
anxiety I feel when there is an inexact
term associated with this.
So if you don't mind, I would appreciate
if you'd be just a little bit more
specific than that.
Okay?
All right.
I'm listening now.
Go ahead.
If we were to go out the door
on our left over here...
Can I interrupt you?
Left and right are relative terms depending on
which direction you happen to be facing at
a certain point.
So if I am facing the wrong direction
and I happen then to turn left, I
could run into a wall and hurt myself.
So if you don't mind, don't use right
and left.
Be just a little bit more specific.
Thank you.
But go ahead.
I'm listening.
Gail, have you ever ridden in a car
before?
Yes, as a matter of fact, I have.
Why don't I take you there?
Well, that's a very kind offer on your
part.
But you see, I didn't want to go
right now.
I just wanted to know how to get
from here to your house.
So go ahead.
If you could go ahead, I'd appreciate it.
I'm listening.
How about if I draw a map?
Hi, over there.
No, because if I'm out of here, you
see, I can't see it.
You understand that.
I can't hear you.
That's awfully big thing.
We'll try.
I'm listening.
All right.
Go ahead.
Yes.
All right.
It's good to see you guys.
Go ahead.
I'm listening.
Hi.
If we were to head out this door.
Sure is nice to see you.
I'm listening.
Go ahead.
I'm listening.
Try not to get violent.
Yes.
I'm listening though.
Go ahead.
The exit door.
Yes, the exit door.
I'm listening.
Yes.
Hi.
It's good to see you.
300 steps to the car.
Sure is great to hear.
Did you hear that?
Car.
I heard a word.
God wants me to preach from my car.
I'm sure that's what it is.
I had a word.
Thank you very much, Bob.
I've discovered that sometimes that's exactly the way
I listen to God.
My middle daughter, Angela, never would let us
listen to her that way.
We'd try, you know.
She'd be tagging along behind us.
Yes, we're listening.
Go ahead.
But she wouldn't take that.
She would stop us.
Climb up our body and grab our face
and pull it around and whisper in our
nose.
And sometimes I think in all of the
hassle of life, all the voices that we
hear, I think God stops us, at least
he does me, sort of climbs up my
body and says, Gail, can we talk?
Yes.
And I am learning more and more to
give him my face and my time and
saying, Speak to me, Lord.
I want to hear you.
Speak to me.
You have written this.
I want to know you and I want
my heart to be tuned to the very
nature of Jesus so that I can hear
your guidance.
And whatever happens to guide me in this
day, it won't violate you.
And I will not, as it says in
Hebrews 3, 7, that's the Holy Ghost saying,
today if you hear his voice, do not
harden your heart, as in the provocation in
the day of temptation in the wilderness.
And I also hear this most beautiful statement
by Jesus.
Oh, this is so powerful.
You know it also by heart.
Revelations 3, 20.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
And if any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in to
him and sup with him, and he with
me.
I like that.
And so I cry out, Oh, Lord, I
want to hear your voice.
Give me the wisdom and knowledge as I
study your word and understanding of your nature
so that when I hear your knock and
your voice, I'll know it's you.
And it's only you that I would care
to invite in.
And of course, if you haven't invited him
in, now is the perfect time to do
it.
Hear his voice and say, Come in.
You're the one I want.
Father, you're so good to us.
Once again, we're overwhelmed by your kindness.
Once again, we are delighted that you've made
your will and your voice so clear to
us that you want us to live with
joy and rest in your kingdom, immersing ourselves
in you and letting you flow through us
so that our actions will prove your will
because we're simply given to doing what you
want to do and nothing else.
And thank you that we can know you
so clearly in your word and that you
can guide us so beautifully by hearing your
voice and that we have a means through
this final word of yours, Jesus, to know
what is the radiance of your glory, what
is the exact likeness of you.
And we'll know your voice.
Thanks for speaking.
Help us hear.
And I ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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