We're talking about hearing God's voice.
Hearing God's voice through worship was last week,
and hearing God's voice through His Word is
this week.
And I don't know how far I'm going
to get maybe the next few weeks on
this topic.
But last week, let me just recap last
week.
I talked about worship and the power of
worship.
Worship does not fill in the gap until
it's time for the message.
Often, worship is the message.
If we allow it to be the message,
if we allow it to change our hearts
and open up our hearts, it can be
a tremendous work of God just in the
worship.
So I think a lot of times we
see this, a lot of people come, you
know, and, well, I'm just going to get
the message and then I'll leave.
But it's the worship that opens the heart.
It's the worship that we see a lot
of change takes place.
Why?
Because the heart's opening up, and it's worshiping
God, and there's power in that.
Worship is a lifestyle of laying our heart
before God in reflection and meditation.
Tremendous joy and healing often take place, but
this is also where heart surgery takes place.
See, we have to remember that we were
created to worship.
If I could go down the aisle, you,
you, you, you, you, you, you, you, everybody
was created to worship.
And what happens is when we don't worship
God, guess where that worship begins to go?
The other direction, the other way.
And God says, worship me in spirit and
in truth as our hearts worship Him.
And we feel that need.
If not, we're going to feel it somewhere
else and we'll end up worshiping ourselves.
Or you fill in the blank, you'll worship
something other than God.
A person who does not worship will have
a difficult time hearing and discerning God's voice.
I'm recapping from last week, but I want
to make these two points, I want to
make them again.
A person who does not worship will have
a difficult time hearing and discerning God's voice.
So you're saying, well, that doesn't make sense.
Well, it makes perfect sense because if we're
not worshiping, there's something wrong with our heart.
We can't just, you know, turn to a
few scriptures and go to church and that's
good.
We're good with God.
We have to spend time worshiping Him, setting
apart that day to worship Him and to
hear His voice, that still small voice of
the Holy Spirit.
So with that said, why a series, a
quick series on hearing God's voice?
Well, as I said last week, most follow
the wrong voice because they live in deception.
Hearing the Word of God, but not doing
it.
And James says, if we hear the Word
of God, but we don't do it, we
actually live in deception.
And I would look at, you know, looking
back at all the many counseling appointments or
marriages on the rocks or falling back into
this sinful lifestyle or actually problems.
The majority of our problems are tied to
this point right here.
Hearing the Word of God, but not doing
it.
We're not hearing the voice of God.
So before I want to go forward into
Matthew 10, I want to say, okay, hold
on, let's put on the brakes.
Let's stop for a minute and let's listen
a little bit quieter.
Let's try to hear what God's saying through
us through worship, through His Word.
So that leads us to this point, hearing
God's voice through His Word.
I like what Leonard Ravenhill said, the world
doesn't believe the Bible and Christians do not
obey the Bible.
Spurgeon said, men will allow God to be
everywhere except on His throne.
Men will allow God to be everywhere except
on His throne.
And what obedience is, obedience to the Word
of God, obedience is submission to who's on
the throne.
It ties back to this, if I'm obeying
the Word of God, I'm submitting to Him
up on the throne.
Those who reject His Word, they don't want
to obey the Word of God.
It's because they put themselves up on the
throne and they want to become master and
God of their own lives.
And that's really what it boils down to.
I know these are hard statements, but we're
in disobedience to the Word of God.
He's no longer on the throne.
We've basically dethroned Him in our hearts.
And now I'm going to do whatever I
want to do.
And maybe it's just me, but I see
that so many broken lives, even this week
of drug addiction, alcohol, bad relationships, they're tied
to not hearing the correct voice.
In all those cases, not listening to the
right voice.
And they're Christians.
So why is this happening?
Hearing is very easy.
Oh, I can hear it, that's very easy.
I might as well sit down and have
a chocolate sundae and hear.
But when it comes to actually doing it,
that's where it gets difficult.
And the enemy knows that.
That's why he'll prevent you more often than
not from doing the Word of God than
he will hearing it.
Because the power is in the application.
If you guys know what to do and
we don't do it, where's the power of
God's Word in that?
Because the power comes in the application.
So we talk about hearing God's voice through
worship.
Listen to that, it's on the website.
If you didn't get that message, but now
we're talking about hearing His voice through His
Word.
And I want to talk about, before I
get into this whole message, the principle of
sowing and reaping.
You hear that a lot, right?
Well, if I sow, I'll reap, if I
sow, I'll reap.
But a lot of times we just put
that, you know, kind of in with money.
You know, giving and I'll reap and giving
and sowing and all that.
But actually the spiritual principle of reaping and
sowing is not just monetary.
If you look throughout God's Word, it's on
giving of our time, giving of our energy,
of our resources.
We reap whatever we put in, even up
here.
Whatever we sow here, we're going to reap
out in our lifestyle.
And a few months ago, I wanted to
borrow some of the notes that I had
a couple of months ago into this, because
it makes perfect sense.
Think about reaping and sowing.
We must first discipline ourselves before the desire
comes.
Because if I hear another person say, I
just don't like, I just don't feel like
reading the Word of God, then I'm going
to add that to my list of dozens
and dozens and dozens of people saying, I
just don't feel like it.
Well, guess what?
Most people don't right off the bat.
That's why we have to discipline ourselves before
the desire comes.
We must first empty ourselves in order to
be filled.
You can't be filled with the Spirit of
God if we're full of ourselves.
So we have to empty ourselves to be
filled with the Spirit of God.
We first must obey before receiving the blessing.
You see how we're reaping and sowing all
these areas?
I have to obey the Word of God
and then I'll reap the blessing.
I must first break before there is restorations.
I must first pray before there is transformation.
I must praise Him before there is peace.
And I must seek Him to truly find
Him.
We must sow before we reap.
So when it comes to hearing God's voice
through the Word of God, remember, we must
sow into this before we reap.
Many times you don't feel like it, but
it's pressing through and the reward comes later.
Think about this.
Tell me what you had to eat last
week.
What?
Does anybody remember other than a nice meal?
No, I don't.
Well, it sustained you, didn't it?
It sustained you.
The same thing with the Word of God.
Sometimes I don't feel like it.
I don't have this driving passion.
And if we had that, we would always
do it.
It would be easy.
Oh, I get up in the morning.
I have to read the Word of God.
I have to.
I have this driving passion.
Oh, let me get on my knees and
pray and read the Word of God.
Then we would always do it, of course.
Everybody's waiting for that magical moment.
Guess what?
That magical moment doesn't always come.
Sometimes you've got to pull the flesh out
of bed, kicking and screaming all of the
way.
And then what happens after you're into it
sometime?
Thank God I did this.
Thank God you submitted to me flesh.
Thank God I put God back up on
the throne.
And then the Word of God becomes live
and active and living.
The problem is many people never get to
that point.
Because they don't feel like it.
I don't feel like getting up.
And if you allow your feelings to control
you, you will never experience the victorious Christian
life.
To me, the Christian life is abundant.
It's God's blessings.
It's great.
But it's also about starving the flesh.
It's also about submitting to God.
It's also about disciplining ourselves.
It's warfare.
It's battle.
It's not easy believism and then everything goes
good.
It's warfare.
It's battle.
It's difficult.
But look at the athletes.
They train and they train and they train
and they train for the reward later.
That's why Paul said, I discipline my body.
I prepare my body.
And I bring it under control.
And here's what the Word of God talks
about.
I mean, we talk about this ever since
we started the church.
But the Word of God is like planting
seeds into your mind.
And planting seeds into your thoughts.
Because if you just allow the world to
plant those seeds, guess what's eventually going to
grow?
Whatever you put in here.
And the Word of God you can go
back to when you're discouraged.
The Word of God reminds me that I'm
hard pressed on every side.
But not crushed.
Perplexed.
But not despaired.
Persecuted.
But not forsaken.
Struck down.
But not destroyed.
So as I'm getting discouraged, I have the
encouragement that the seeds I planted.
What about financial areas?
Money, right?
Anybody have questions with that?
When decisions are being made, I planted seeds
in my heart that a good name should
be chosen over great riches.
I'm planting that seed.
Another seed I plant is, Lord, give me
neither poverty nor riches.
If you give me poverty, then I'm going
to be poor and I'm going to profane
your name.
But if you give me tons of riches,
I'll be full and satisfied and I'll deny
you.
So Lord, give me neither.
See, you're planting all this into your heart.
So when the challenges come, how do you
think Jesus defeated Satan?
With the Word of God.
That's how we do it.
We plant these seeds.
What about purity?
Sexual purity.
Stolen water is sweet.
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
But he does not know that the dead
are there, that her guests are in the
depths of hell.
That's about adultery.
You keep planting that in your mind, you
might think twice before making that decision.
Because you're planting the right seeds.
Guard your heart, Proverbs says, for it affects
everything you do.
So as the world is telling me all
of this, I need this to tell me
something different.
I need to offset.
Actually, the world is planting weeds.
I've got to plant the proper seeds.
And that's what this all is.
You're planting into the mind.
Planting in the soul.
Planting in the spirit.
When you get up out of an hour
of reading the Word of God and praying,
you think you'll be a different person that
day?
Try it sometime.
Put that on and put Howard Stern on
for an hour.
No, don't try it.
I'm giving you an analogy here.
What do you think is going to prevail?
If I'm in the Word of God for
an hour, I've got prayer, worship, or I've
got the media.
Fox, CNN, all these things.
The O'Reilly Factor, whatever.
CNN, I'm trying to balance both sides here.
If that's all you're feeding, news, news, news,
news, news.
Israel, Afghanistan, this, this, this, the nuclear.
It's all you're feeding.
What do you think is going to prevail
in your life?
If you have no time for the Word
of God and that's all you're feeding, you're
going to scare your family to death.
You're going to walk around as Mr. Conspiracy
Theory.
Mrs. Conspiracy Theory.
It's all that's on your mind.
And this is all you're feeding.
That's why the Word of God is a
shower.
It cleans up all that moral filth from
what we're allowing into our mind.
So that's how powerful the Word of God
is.
You are planting seeds.
God's seeds.
I mean, it's one thing.
It's like, hey, guys, I came across a
good book.
You might want to consider reading it.
I could see why people wouldn't read it.
But when you say that this is the
inerrant, inspired Word of God, living, vibrant, active,
that penetrates the heart, it guides man, it
sustains him, transforms him, and yet people say,
I'm too busy.
I don't feel like it.
I just don't understand.
It baffles me.
The reason is I don't really think we
know what that holds.
And again, we don't worship this.
It points to the one we worship.
But the one we worship tells us to
sustain my mind in here.
It tells me to sustain my heart in
here.
It says you want godly actions.
You want to be filled with the Spirit
of God.
You better plant the seed of God into
your heart.
You can tell people who spend a lot
of time in the Word, prayer, and worship,
their whole attitude is much different than the
carnal Christian.
The carnal Christian gets upset at everybody, offends
everybody.
They walk around a lukewarm lifestyle.
They know nothing about the power of God.
Everything upsets them.
Everything is offense to them.
If I just say the wrong thing, they're
offended.
It's like they live in this little world
of carnality.
And they're not in the Word of God.
The Word of God transforms the heart and
the mind.
And you're a whole different person.
That's the difference.
It's the power in the Word of God.
So let's give a little practical application.
I don't think I've done this before.
But I want to do this because so
many people say, Well, what do I do?
How do I do it?
Now you can't say I didn't say this.
I'm going to give you guidelines that God
gives us as far as practical application.
Do you want to increase your study time?
Do you want to increase hearing God's voice?
Do you want a passion for God's Word?
What do I do, Shane?
If I just sit down, because so many
people tell me this.
That's why I want to write this down.
If I just sit down, I start somewhere
I know.
I guess in John, I read for a
little while and that's about it.
Sound familiar?
I mean, it's just too big.
I just don't know where to start.
It's too complex.
It doesn't make any sense.
I'm going to clarify and help right now
with that, I hope.
The first thing you need to do is
schedule it.
I alluded to this a few weeks ago.
You have to schedule your time with God.
Well, that sounds silly, Shane.
Well, you schedule everything else.
Everything else you're going to fit on your
schedule.
Birthday party, barbecues, going here, doing that, let's
go to the movie.
Everything's scheduled.
Why is it scheduled?
Because we put this on our calendar.
It's of importance and everything else is going
to be filtered around it.
So you have to schedule it.
This is when I'm going to read the
Word of God.
This is when I'm going to pray.
And this is when I'm going to study.
And when somebody says, hey, do you want
to do something?
Say, no, I have another appointment.
I have an appointment.
Now, of course, you have to move it
around and shift it.
Of course.
I mean, it's just as important as a
doctor's appointment.
It's just as important as what's that happy
footer?
People get their feet massaged.
They love it so much, they schedule appointments
weeks in advance.
Weeks in advance!
Nothing's going to interfere with this hour!
Nothing!
But yet, when it comes to God's Word,
I just can't squeeze it in.
So this has to be priority number one.
Sit down and say, okay, tomorrow morning or
tomorrow, whenever it is.
But here's the second point to that.
It has to be during your freshest hour.
Give God some of your best.
You try to squeeze Him in at 11
o'clock tonight and I'm just, oh, I'm
so tired.
No.
I give Him the freshest moments of my
life.
And I try to also give others and
my kids and family those times.
So when are you the most alert?
When are you excited?
Is it a lunch time?
Because I'm not an evening person.
When it gets to 7 o'clock at
night, I'm not going to read anything.
I'll spend time with the kids, I'll pray,
but I'm not going to read much.
That's why sometimes I get up, I look
at the clock, it's 3.30 in the
morning.
Oh, it's too early because I know I'll
be messed up.
I try to go back to sleep and
I see it's 4.30, 4.45. I'm
excited, I get up, it's 5 o'clock,
I've got tea, I make something, and I'm
excited to be with God.
I can sit there for an hour and
a half, two hours, uninterrupted.
No kids running in, no neighbors, nothing.
That's my time, that's my freshest strength.
Right there.
But for somebody else, that might not work
very well.
And a lot of reasons why it doesn't
work very well is because you go to
bed too late the night before.
You see how all this works?
But I've talked to some people, I know
I even mad.
I don't think you'll mind me saying this,
but he enjoys reading at night.
8, 9, 10, 11 at night, and get
a lot done reading, and God speaks.
That's perfect.
That's why you can't put a legalistic thing
on it.
But I'll tell you right now, after 7,
I'm brain dead.
It's just not, you know, probably because I'm
up early.
You know, see how that works.
But I know God put this in me
years ago when I was 17.
I had to do this work in construction.
You had to be at the job site
at 6 in the morning.
You're going to be up by 4.35.
And that same pattern has been consistent throughout
my whole life.
So that's when I'm the strongest.
That's when I'm the freshest.
And even in construction it was hard because
I had to be at a job site,
so I had to get up early.
But then later in the day I would
try to find time.
So you can find time for it if
you want to.
Those things that are important to us, we
find time.
So this is number one.
You have to say, this is when I'm
going to do it.
It's on my calendar.
Put it on your phone, wherever.
It has to be the freshest time.
Next, I usually start with worship.
I'll put on worship on the phone, iPad,
something.
Songs you like.
In this type of setting, it doesn't care.
You can't complain against worship.
In this setting, guess what?
You're doing it.
You're picking it.
You can go find the old hymns with
no instrumental.
You can find the new Hill song.
You can just worship God.
What happens is the heart begins to open
up as I'm worshiping.
My heart's getting ready.
My heart's engaging.
I'm trying to clear my mind.
Lord, I'm just here to worship you.
Sometimes I just begin focusing on something else.
I didn't want to focus.
I forgot all about it.
But God brought me back to this.
Pray for these people.
Pray for the persecuted church.
Pray for the Christians in Iran.
And before I know it, half an hour
has gone by because of worship and praying
to God in all these areas.
And then, of course, during this worship, there's
a time of prayer.
And a lot of people don't know what
exactly to pray for.
And if I had a half hour, I
could give you an hour's worth of things
to pray for.
If you just start thinking the condition of
the state, of our state, of our nation.
Actually, the paper just emailed me last week.
They want me to write the opposition on
some AB bill, forget what, AB 6, whatever
it is.
It's a bathroom bill is what I call
it.
So if a boy feels like he's a
girl that day, he can walk into the
girl's bathroom.
And as I'm working on this, I'm sitting
there going, Lord, how in the world did
we even get here?
I've got to write a rebuttal to this
bill?
We're calling good evil and evil good.
A boy feels like he's a girl.
He walks into the girl's locker room.
A girl feels like she's a boy.
She can go on.
You can't discriminate, folks.
We're offending these people.
Well, have you stopped to consider you're offending
God?
Do we have compassion for people that struggle
with transgender?
Of course.
If you watch the little kids, they go
through puberty.
They're struggling through all these identities, and the
father and mother guide them in the right
direction.
But as I'm writing this, I started praying
for 20 minutes.
Do you realize that Pandora's boxes could open
up?
Now everybody has to have mutual bathrooms.
So my wife and kids go into the
bathroom.
Here comes Larry, who feels like he's a
girl today at the fairgrounds.
It's perversion.
It's perverted, and it's perversion.
People say, I can't believe you used that
word.
Look up in the dictionary.
Taking the right thing and making it go
the wrong direction.
Perversion.
You're perverting something.
And then I started thinking about all the
Christians in Iraq being displaced.
ISIS and the Muslims coming in and taking
over 10 minutes away.
That would be like USA losing all their
power and authority, and Russia decides to send
some aircraft carriers, and right there in Palmdale
they've taken ground.
They say, you worship Christ, you will die.
I mean, is that serious?
And we have nothing to pray for?
Get on the prayer chain of our church.
Prodigal sons, wayward daughters, husbands leaving, single moms
in despair, suicidal thoughts.
Nothing to pray for?
God guide the hand of our leaders.
Legislation, president, senate, congressman.
You don't have to agree with them, but
you better pray that God leads their hand.
Because when the wicked are in authority, the
righteous will groan.
There's not a lot to pray for.
Those who have little kids, you think the
enemy is just going to let them slide
right into Christianity?
He's already coming after them through what they
watch, what they view, who they associate with.
He's already planning how to take them down.
There's nothing to pray for?
When people tell me that, I'm just like,
you've got to be kidding me.
The reason there's nothing to pray for is
they're not spending time in the presence of
God.
Because you'll have to think of a whole
list of things you have to pray for.
I even started about this church.
Prayer requests that people tell me, needs I
know, and this and this is going on.
There's so many things.
So that's why, once it's scheduled and beginning
with worship and then prayer, if you don't
know what to pray for, Jesus offers a
pretty good example.
Teach us how to pray.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name.
You could sit there for ten minutes.
Hallowed be thy name.
How great.
Air conditioning.
We have ministries in Africa and people talk,
they don't even know what air conditioning is.
Air conditioning?
Ice in your water?
How great is your name?
How blessed we are.
Thank you.
You could be sitting in nice comfortable seats.
Most churches are sitting on the ground and
dirt.
How great is your name?
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
The provision.
Lead us not into temptation.
That great tempter is after me, Lord.
He's going to bow his roaring lion.
You can just spend 20 minutes right there.
You have nothing to pray for.
So once that happens, then I start to
do, I have a systematic reading plan that
I would recommend to most anybody.
I mean, there's little things you can check
off.
I read Jonah or I read, you know,
they have, you know, things.
And I tried that 20, 15 years ago,
but I always, I always either fell behind
or I want to speed up or I,
you know, Jonah 1, that's all I got
to read Jonah 1.
I want to read the whole book of
Jonah today.
I've got to stop here.
So what I do, what I develop is
just a systematic reading plan.
And I have a paper clip in Genesis
and I have a paper clip in the
Psalms and I have a paper clip in
Matthew.
And I just sit and read.
Sometimes I'll stay and I can get out
of Psalms this morning.
As far as I go.
Two, three, four, five chapters.
And then Matthew, Jesus, always in the gospels,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and then the Acts.
And then you repeat it.
You flip it back.
You start over again.
And as you're reading the New Testament and
Psalms and Jesus quoting Psalms in the New
Testament, Old Testament, it's like unbelievable how it
all unfolds.
Like, I'll be reading where Isaiah said, you
draw nigh unto God with your lips, but
you're far from him with your hearts.
And then I read Jesus the next day
rebuking the religious leaders with that same New
Testament.
And then he's quoting Psalms.
It's this whole beautiful book coming together.
It's just 20 minutes a day.
Do you have 20, 25 minutes a day?
That's it.
And then when I get through the Old
Testament, I put a checkmark in the beginning.
I've got through the Old Testament 10 times
and the New Testament 25 times.
Just from, Shane, you're so spiritual.
No, I'm not.
No, I just have a plan and I'm
disciplined.
Ten times and 25 times, all from 20
minutes a day for the last 15 years.
Is that 20 minutes?
And you have a systematic plan.
And now I'm anxious because now it's all
making sense.
Once you start to read it together and
it's flowing, it makes a lot of sense.
You want to get through it.
And then at this point, here's what I
also do.
I have a journal.
Actually, this Bible's not my Bible from home.
I have a study Bible.
But I'll journal things in it.
Like, you know, Lord, and I'll look back
2006.
He answered that prayer of provision.
We were, the construction industry was plummeting.
We were out of money.
Look at that.
And I'll have it.
It's like on the journal.
It's like my life story, how the Word
of God answered my prayers.
About my child was born this day in
2005.
It's just whole.
It's like the Word of God coming alive
and speaking to my life.
And now I've got an ESV study Bible
and I've got an NIV study Bible.
Now I'm reading them for my kids, starting
in Genesis.
And as I'm reading, I'm saying, I'm praying
for you today.
I love you.
We're so proud of you.
Watch out here.
Here's where the enemy's going to come in.
He's going to try this.
And it's going to take me a couple
years.
And then I'll hand that Bible to my
kids.
One each.
See, there's a plan.
There's a systematic study of God's Word.
And the kids can't wait to get that
Bible.
I'm like, hold on.
It's going to take a while.
Because I'm leaving them love letters to my
children.
Well, my children are old now.
How about your grandchildren?
Here's what Grandpa's been working on for the
last three years.
I read the entire Bible.
I prayed for you.
I noted Scripture.
I highlighted things like journals.
Here it is.
You think they're going to throw that in
the trash?
That's a keepsake.
And that will motivate you to read the
Bible.
Or your kids, 25, 26, 27.
I said, I'm going to pray for you
then for the next two or three years.
On your 30th birthday, I'm going to give
you the Word of God with all my
prayers, my notes, and you give it to
them.
You see how precious?
You see how this works?
It's a whole life.
The Word of God is coming alive.
So you have to journal.
You have to do those things because it
makes it interesting.
People say, don't write in your Bible.
Really?
Don't write in my Bible.
The Bible is living and active.
It's speaking to me daily.
I write things more.
He's answering in this way and this way
and this way and this way and this
way.
And dating it.
And then here's what else I do.
A lot of people, you'll note questions.
It's good to have questions.
You'll be reading in Genesis going, what?
God created the heavens and the earth all
in one day?
Or who did Adam and Eve's kids marry?
Or is the earth, are those really seven
days of creation on the first day, on
the second day, on the third day, on
the fourth day?
Well, if you listen to Hugh Ross or
Ken Ham, they're going to be divided.
Those weren't actual days, some say.
Some say, yeah, those are actual 24-hour
days.
So what do you do with these questions?
Write them down.
That's what I do.
Every time I read, I have questions.
Why is he doing this?
Like one question I wrote down is, I
kept reading, they returned to the Lord, but
the high places were not removed.
What's wrong with these people?
They returned to the Lord, but the high
places were not removed.
So I took a whole hour and did
a study on high places and how they
sacrificed to these other gods.
And the kings would go back to God,
let's go back to God, but let's leave
these high places up here where we sacrifice
to Ashtaroth and Molech and all these gods
up here.
They wouldn't remove these high places.
And also, in other words, if you seek
Jesus sometimes, when he said, if you seek
me, right?
I'm trying to think of the Scripture.
It's not in my notes.
I believe it's in Luke where he's talking
about the narrow way and the broad road
to destruction.
He said, many will seek it and not
find it.
That doesn't make any sense because he's telling
us to seek Him.
It doesn't stop my reading, okay?
I'm still reading, but those are notes for
later.
So I go back and look at the
Greek, seek, and look at what it means
in the Greek language.
Oh, perceive, they consider.
So the people, many will seek me, many
will perceive and consider, and I'm thinking about
God, but they won't fully surrender, repent.
So you start to answer all these questions,
then you have a very solid base of
apologetics.
You can give everybody a reason for the
hope that is within you.
So to me, this can't be a casual
five-minute devotional.
This should be a devotional time.
We're devoting our time, devotional time, to God,
writing down these questions, writing down these challenges.
If you think the Word of God has
questions, or you're not confused about this, write
it down.
And then when you seek it, you're gaining
a clearer understanding of God.
And then finally, two things I do, I
try to read a devotional, a book, a
good devotional, a good one, if I can
recommend this real quick, is My Utmost for
His Highest by Oswald Chambers.
Man, that's really good.
Or anything by A.W. Toews or C
.H. Burgess.
They're devotionals.
Devotionals, what they are is the day of
the month.
You just read that day, and they'll take
you places sometimes that you never thought that
scripture could take you.
Deep walk with God into that devotional life.
And then I close with prayer.
Lord, help me apply these things.
I need help.
And that's it.
That's the study time.
And it goes anywhere from an hour to
two and a half hours.
People say, you really study that long?
It's God's Spirit.
It's everything praying and worshiping and studying.
I actually don't want to stop.
Once you get started, once God begins ministering
to your spirit, where do you think these
sermons come from?
That time in the morning.
I've got post-it notes everywhere.
This and that.
It's everywhere.
It looks like a mess.
And then I start to bring it together
for Saturday.
Because He's putting things in my heart.
The same thing applies for you.
You might say, well, you're a pastor, yeah,
but you're a father.
You're a wife.
You're a spouse.
You're a leader.
You've got people that you're helping.
This is not just for pastors only.
So that's how I would study the Word
of God.
The practical application.
Here's what happens.
Here's how it works in my life.
During worship, the heart begins to soften and
open.
First thing in the morning.
You begin to hear the still, small voice
of God during prayer.
As He's drawing your heart towards Him.
The reading reinforces, it educates, and it opens
our eyes to God's will.
Answering the questions that you have builds your
faith.
And then the devotional reading sparks a deeper
walk.
A deeper hunger for God.
And then I end off the day with
prayer and reading again.
But before I go to bed, guess what?
It wasn't CNN and America's going to blow
up and be judged.
It was something to do with the Word
of God.
I mean, I like to read like D.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
He's got a list of sermons.
A list of sermons.
He puts all his sermons in this book,
C.H. Spurgeon's book.
Or what about biographies, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael.
And then you're built up in your faith
at night before you go to bed.
And then you wake up with that same
hunger.
The reason people don't wake up with the
hunger of God in their bellies in the
morning is because they've been starving Him at
night.
Or throughout the whole day.
That's how this works.
Sin is deceptive.
Here's what I need to let you guys
know up front.
Sin is deceptive.
You might say, oh, shame, yeah, no kidding.
Well, think about this.
We are free from the bondage of sin
and death because of the cross.
Because believers in Jesus Christ, the cross has
eradicated the bondage of us being a slave
to sin.
But the influence is still there.
So I'm no longer bound by it, but
I sure am tempted.
And that's how the devil works.
Temptation is just an invitation.
The devil says, come on.
That's all temptation is.
It's an invitation to feed the flesh and
to step on the other side of the
fence.
So sin is deceptive.
That's why hearing alone is not enough.
Many people hear this, right, but they don't
do it.
So they're living in deception.
So hearing alone isn't enough.
And when we get caught in that sinful
lifestyle, here's what happens.
Sin blinds us.
We're blind to the will of God.
And then sin leads us whatever path it
wants.
It blinds, it leads, it deceives, it makes
excuses, and it justifies us.
And it prevents us from knowing the will
of God.
Listen, we have to get to the point
where sin isn't some little vice that you
kind of just pull around sometimes.
Sin put Christ on the cross.
Sin is destructive.
Sin is destroying marriages.
It's destroying families.
It's breaking up everything.
The enemy comes in with sin.
He's come to seek, to seek and destroy.
This is a seek and destroy mission.
This isn't like you're playing with some little
bunny rabbit who's kind of mean with some
big teeth.
Sin is destructive.
And if you don't nip it in the
bud, guess what happens?
It grows and it grows and it grows.
What is the end result of the growth
of sin?
Death.
We are led away by our own desires
and enticed.
And when you give birth to sin, you
start to conceive.
And then as that grows, it brings forth
death.
Sometimes I don't think we put enough emphasis
on the dangers of sin and what it
does to people.
Oh, it's just a little thing.
Yeah, it always starts with a little thing.
The devil's not going to push you off
the building.
You'd see, oh, I'm not going way down
there.
Oh, come on then, let's go up through
the stairway.
See, that wasn't too bad.
You know, I've given that analogy many times.
It's perfect.
It fits perfect.
He takes you one step at a time
until you're at the bottom going, how did
I get here?
Because we hear and we do not do.
You might say, oh, wow, that's heavy.
Well, yeah, here's the good news.
But God uses the Word to bring clarity.
See, your Word is a lamp unto my
feet and a light unto my path.
Uh-oh, I guess that means our baby's
crying.
I can tell.
So, let me get back on track here.
God uses the Word to bring clarity, right?
So, okay, if sin, you're like, oh, it
blinds, it leads, it deceives, all these things.
But then God brings the Word.
I sent my Word to heal them, to
deliver them from their destruction.
I sent my Word to heal them.
It brings clarity.
Your Word is a lamp and a light
unto my feet.
Last week, I was on the aqueduct with
my little dog, and I saw he was
running around, and I saw coyotes about a
quarter mile getting a drink out of him.
I'm like, oh, man, put the leash on,
get him on.
He doesn't know what's going on.
He's running all around.
He's getting ready to take off.
He would have took off.
He would have been dead.
But I saw down there a quarter mile.
I said, oh, no, that's what this does.
It looks, you don't see anything right now,
no.
But you don't see the coyote waiting down
a quarter mile or a mile or a
month from now or a week from now
or a year from now.
See, this is a light to my path.
I see where this is taking me.
I see where this bad choice is taking
me.
And it's also a lamp to your feet.
Everywhere I walk, it's a lamp.
It's showing me where I'm going now, and
it's showing me where I'm going to end
up later.
Your Word is a light to my path
and a lamp to my feet.
Then why does everybody want to walk in
darkness?
Because we think we know best.
But God sent His Word to heal them.
Another example of what the Word of God
does, it pierces the heart.
It shows us the truth of things, right?
Because we don't see it in our sin.
My wife downloaded an app on my phone
a few weeks ago.
It's a jogging app.
I can't jog very far.
They'll say, start jogging.
Man, I went at least a mile.
I know I went a mile.
Take that.
.60, that's not even three-quarters of a
mile.
This thing's not working.
I'm so tired.
This thing's wrong.
And I start jogging again.
I'm like, okay, I'm at a mile.
Oh, man.
I must have looked at that thing six
times before I finally got, okay, that's a
mile.
See, I thought a mile was a half
mile ago.
That's what this does.
It brings clarity.
No, no, no, no, no.
You're going in the wrong direction.
You're not there yet.
You're on a detour.
Come back, son.
Come back, daughter.
Would you come back?
But we think we're on the right path.
This is like the app to the heart.
We should use that now.
This is the app to the heart.
I promise.
I was going to tell her the download
does not work.
I've already jogged a mile.
There's no way.
And sure enough, that GPS was within a
foot of a mile.
But what am I going by?
I'm too tired.
God, my feet hurt.
I've jogged three quarters, almost three quarters of
a mile.
I thought it was a mile and a
quarter.
I thought it was way past a mile.
But unless I had that gauge of truth,
I was misled.
That's how it works.
We can be so close to something but
not see it.
And that's what this does.
It brings clarity.
Do you realize we're so close to something
we can't even see?
This brings clarity.
A few years ago, probably five years ago
now, my wife, my in-laws pool, and
my daughter, I'd have to ask her.
I think she was only three.
She wasn't able to swim yet.
And Morgan was sitting here on the step.
And the baby, she's right there standing on
the step.
And she just turned to put lotion on
the little one-year-old.
And I'm over just 20 feet away looking
at this, what they call it, it's creepy,
it cleans the pool, it's stuck on something.
And before she looks back, Aubrey's down three
steps, under a foot of water going like
this, drowning right here.
She's had to grab it that quick, right
there.
What do you think this is for?
It's right there.
We don't see the danger right there.
Right there, this does.
Do you think danger looks dangerous?
No.
No, the enemy comes in as an angel
of light.
Look at all this beautiful, perfect, brought this
together.
Isn't that wonderful?
Angel of light, deceased.
He doesn't show you the end result.
He deceased with the enticement.
That's why this is so important.
I don't know how people make it without
this.
Like I said last week, I don't know
how people make it without worship.
I don't know how people make it without
worship.
And usually if they're not worshiping, they're not
in this.
They go hand in hand, usually.
I know there's a lot of Bible thumpers
out there that don't worship.
That's because the heart hasn't been softened yet.
But we're getting there.
So let's read the power of the Word
of God.
For the Word of God is living and
active, sharper than any two-edged sword.
It pierces to division of soul and spirit,
of joints and marrow.
It is a discerner.
This is a discerner of the thoughts and
the intents of the heart.
You want to know why?
Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitful
and desperately wicked.
Who can know it?
So this is a discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of the heart.
My own heart.
This comes against my own heart.
Humble yourself, Shane, under the mighty hand of
God.
Am I trying to exalt myself?
God says to humble yourself.
Husbands, love your wises.
Christ, love the church.
Lord, I can't do that.
I need your help.
My heart's going to lead me this way,
but the Word of God pulls me back.
It discerns.
Discernment means the ability to comprehend what's really
going on.
They say, now tell me what's really going
on.
That's what this does.
Because I've been around long enough, most of
the counseling appointments I do, when they leave
I'll say, I wonder what's really going on.
Because we want to tell people the best
thing, right?
Well, here's my side.
Here's why.
But the Word of God just goes right
to the heart.
It divides everything.
And it shows us the true intents of
our heart.
Teachers, preachers, pastors who fail to preach the
Word in all its fullness do not pierce
the heart.
So discernment does not take place.
You see how I kind of rattle the
cage on some of these guys sometimes that
all they're doing is encouraging, that all they
do is encourage?
Well, you can never pierce the heart.
You can never allow the Word of God
to discern the thoughts and the intents of
the heart.
If all you're doing is encouraging and you're
never confronting, change won't take place.
And that leads me to the next scripture.
Preach the Word, Timothy.
Be ready.
In season and out of season.
See, back to the Word again.
Preach the Word.
Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.
So if you want to know what a
preacher should be doing, or a pastor, even
you sometimes with the Word of God, we
should be convincing.
That means to make somebody sure and certain
of something.
We should be convincing them with this.
Rebuke.
Oh, we know that one well.
To warn or to confront or to challenge.
So to convince, rebuke, and exhort.
The last thing is to give encouragement to.
But that's where many people hang their hat
on that one.
Just encouragement.
Encouragement.
Also, we're supposed to convince and rebuke with
the Word of God.
That's where the power is.
But not like a Pharisee, like your loving
Savior.
How would He do it?
Woman, I forgive you, but go and sin
no more.
Gentleness.
See, it's often not what we say, it's
how we say it that tilts the scale.
You know the old saying.
It's not what I say, it's how I
say it that tilts that scale.
And then one of my favorite ones is,
He sent His Word and healed them and
delivered them from their destruction.
God sent His Word and healed them and
delivered them from their destruction.
And I wish I had time.
I might briefly put this Scripture in context.
Verse 11, Because they rebelled against the words
of God and despised the counsel of the
Most High, He brought down their heart with
labor.
They fell down and there was no one
to help.
Then they cried out to the Lord in
their trouble, and He saved them out of
their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and the
shadow of death and broke their chains in
pieces.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the
Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works.
And then it goes on to say, Then
they cried out to the Lord in their
trouble, and He saved them out of their
distress.
How did He save them?
He sent His Word and it healed them,
and He delivered them from their destructions.
See, that's God's method.
Whether it's pastoring, counseling, teaching, whatever it is.
He sent His Word and it healed them.
Just this hit them and they're healed?
Read, convict, repent.
Hear, repent.
Or hear, convict, repent.
That's what the Word of God does.
It goes in and it pierces and it
pierces.
Without this compass and truth indicator, we will
hear the wrong voice.
I'll tell you up front right now.
I'll be crystal clear with everybody in this
audience.
If you are not in this often, you
will many times be led by the wrong
voice.
How else can you not?
That's what I think.
I've been raised in a Christian home.
I know about God.
Wrong voice.
So you stay in this.
Hearing God's voice can keep us from sin.
Or sin can keep us from hearing God's
voice.
Did you catch that?
Hearing God's voice will keep us or can
keep us from sin.
Or sin can keep us from hearing God's
voice.
They are polar opposites.
They fight each other.
Hearing God's voice and besetting sin.
God's voice will steal you.
The enemy will rush you.
God will lead you.
The enemy pushes.
God reassures.
The enemy frightens.
God enlightens.
The enemy confuses.
God encourages you.
The enemy discourages you.
God comforts you.
The enemy worries you.
God calms you.
The enemy obsesses you.
God convicts you.
But the enemy condemns you.
And at this point, many people say, but
Shane, I feel all these bad things.
Rushes.
Frightened.
Confused.
I have a word for you this evening
then.
Wait upon the Lord.
Be still and know that He is God.
Those who wait upon the Lord.
Anytime you feel rushed, pushed, frightened, confused, wait.
I've had to make decisions recently that I
felt rushed.
I felt pushed.
I felt confused.
And I just said, Lord, it's yours.
I'm not going to worry about it.
It's yours.
Tremendous peace came over me.
The next day, I knew how to make
the decision.
Waiting on Him.
So if you feel these things, if you're
rushing ahead, then you slow.
That's how you slow back.
You stop.
You fall back.
And you wait on God.
Renew your strength.
Now, of course, sometimes we need to make
an immediate decision, right?
Somebody's on life support.
I'm not saying that.
But overall, it's best to just wait upon
God.
And even in those situations, wait upon God
and pray.
So when I said earlier, sin blinds.
It leads.
It deceives.
It excuses.
It justifies our behavior.
Here's what the Word of God does when
you hear it and you do it.
Take this to the bank.
It will open blind eyes.
So no matter what situation you're in tonight,
I don't know what brought you here.
I don't know if you're in deep depression,
despair, hopelessness, anxiety, fear.
You're out of God's will.
It's too late.
It's never too late.
If you're hearing the words I'm saying, it's
not too late.
God is using this to draw you back.
And here's what obedience tonight will produce.
It will open blind eyes.
It will lead you in the right direction.
It will conquer deception.
It will crucify sin.
It won't justify it.
It will expose sin instead of excuse it.
It will prevent danger instead of leading us
into danger.
That's what the Word of God does.
It's that powerful.
It will lead and guide.
You have worship.
You have the Word of God.
You have power.
And then many people ask.
I'll go back to the first question.
People said, you know, how can I change
my life or what is God's will for
my life?
God's will is crystal clear on five things.
The Bible says to be saved and to
worship Him, to be holy and set apart
for His glory, to be filled continually with
the Holy Spirit, and to witness to others
and make disciples.
I don't know.
There might be six things.
But it's funny.
The Bible says this is the will of
God.
This is the will of God.
This is the will of God that you
be holy and set apart.
This is the will of God that you
be filled with the Spirit.
This is the will of God that you
be saved and sanctified.
This is the will of God that you
make disciples.
There are some things clearly outlined in Scripture.
So if you're not doing these, I wouldn't
worry about the other ones.
Right?
If I had $10 for every couple I
talked to who said we're having sex before
marriage but we want to know if this
relationship is God's will.
Well, let's start with what you do know.
And the rest will fall in place.
You can't jump ahead to this when we
already know these things.
So right here, to be saved and to
worship Him.
Are you saved?
Do you truly know Him?
Do you have a relationship with Him?
If not, during worship, all you have to
do is repent of your sin and call
out to God and say, Lord, I need
You.
I confess that Christ is Lord.
I believe in my heart that He's raised
Him from the dead.
I want to be saved.
That's all you have to do.
That's the will of God.
And then the will of God is to
be filled with the Spirit of God and
to worship Him.
That's fighting against the flesh, to worship Him
and be filled with the Spirit of God.
And then it doesn't stop there because if
it stopped there, we'd just be fat on
the Word of God.
It tells us now to go out and
make disciples, to go out and to witness
to others.
So as it's coming in, it's got to
go out.
If all it does is come in and
it doesn't go out, you'll become a very
staunch good Pharisee.
I've got six translations of the Bible, and
I got through them all this year.
When was the last time you witnessed to
Christ or witnessed about Christ?
I don't have time for that.
You see how that works?
If it's flowing in, it's got to be
flowing out.