Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: You're listening to the Known Legacy Podcast brought to you by Known Legacy Ministries. For more information, go to knownlegacy.org now here's your hosts, Bill and Travis.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Good morning, guys. Welcome to the Known Legacy Podcast where we want to help you wake up, gear up and come alive to who God called you to become. We have great things for you today. Today we're talking about how we hear the voice of God. It's just going to be me today, but I'm super excited to be with you and, and I'm excited to talk about this topic, which I know, man, it hits me a lot of times in my own life and I know that it's probably something that you've wrestled with. How do we hear the voice of God? Before we get started, I want to let you know about a couple of things. We have something special on our website. It's called our Wake Up Guide and seven Day Reset. If you've ever been in the journey of going, where am I with God and kind of where am I spiritually and how can I challenge myself? How can I grow? This is for you. All you need to do is go down to the link provided in the session notes for you for the Wake Up Guide and seven Day Reset and we will send it to you for free. There's no cost. Just sign up for it. We'd love you guys to take to take advantage of that and then share it with your friends. The next thing we have is our every Thursday morning men's adrenaline shot at 6:45. It's a call in Bible study we have designed just for men that you can call. And we have men all over the country that are a part of this Bible study and we'd love you to join that. So click the link below as well. One more thing we have is our Facebook Brotherhood page. Now I know a lot of people don't even do Facebook, but man, we want to give an opportunity for every single platform that we have. And one of them right now is our Facebook page that we've just started, a known legacy Brotherhood Facebook page. A place where you can be honest, where you be honest about your struggles, your fears. We're going to share some truth in there, have some real conversations. We'll put the link for that as well below in the session notes. And so today as we get started, like I said, it can be difficult sometimes to know what the voice of God sounds like. I mean, am I talking about an audible voice? Am I talking about a feeling? What is that all about? And in this specific. It's that, man, I feel like God is telling me to do something. I've never heard an audible voice from God. It would have been really, really cool. I know that we've seen that in the Old Testament. We even hear that in, in the New Testament when Jesus literally is talking to his. To his followers, as well as these kind of inklings or these feelings of what I think God's telling me to do this. So we're going to go through all of that. If man, is God even talking to me today? Is God even speaking today and where we are? And the first thing to answer is, yes, God is always talking. God is always speaking. A lot of times we just don't hear it. We need to recognize that God is speaking all the time through His Word, through situations. There's. There's never been a moment that God hasn't been pursuing us. I mean, since the beginning of time, the Lord has always sought to want to be with us, to be a part of. To have relationship with us. And so we need to realize he's talking, he's talking now, and he's talking to us. As he's talking, though, the question is, are we listening and what are we listening to?
See, because I know that a lot of times in my life, I feel like there's a condemning spirit on me.
Not even because I've fallen into sin, but just. I feel like, man, I just cannot get over it. But then I read John 10:10. We've talked about a lot on this, on this podcast. But God came to give life and give it abundantly. Even in his speaking, even in discipline.
God doesn't do it from a heart of believing that we're a failure. I mean, the scripture talks about in Hebrews 12, that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. We're part of that joy, this opportunity that He. He is reaching down. He is speaking to us not from a heart of condemnation, but a heart of love. He wants to hear. He wants you to hear his voice. He wants you to respond to it. But know first and foremost that God is talking all the time. When I think about Adam and Eve, when God created the earth in the very beginning was he created Adam, he created Eve, and then he spent each day walking with them. It says in the cool of the day, God wants this and desires this relationship with us.
And it doesn't come from a heart of just wanting us to get it together, but he wants to enjoy a relationship, a love relationship with us. But are we willing and are we ready to hear from that kind of God, or do we think it's a condemning God?
There's moments in my life, even as I was younger in the form of religion, that I was in that I just felt guilty.
The things that I had done to God and that I had to do all these things to earn my right for him to love me. When Christ came to die for us, he destroyed that reality. He died so that we may have life and have it abundantly. So the first thing to realize is that God's speaking, and it doesn't come from a heart of condemnation. So how do we begin to hear God's voice? The first thing we need to remove the noise. We live in such a busy culture.
We live in a time when we have instant gratification to all the things that we want in the moment's notice. And in that, we. We also have things vying for our attention, fighting for us, whether it's social media or the news or the worries of the day. And so we're given a choice in the very beginning of our moments. Am I going to choose to seek the Lord in the beginning, or I'm going to choose to seek the chaos in the very beginning of my day? I'm guilty of it too. I find myself reaching for my phone, looking for social media, all the different outlets that I can search to find out the things that are going on inside this world, the things around me, the things that people have sent me, whether it's stupid memes or whatever. But is that more important to me than seeking what God has for me? Have I made him a priority by removing the noise? What am I going to do? I mean, I can't control all the things that are happening in this world right now anyways. But what I can control what I choose to put as a main priority in my life. So removing the noise from our life. First 1 Kings 19 talks about Elijah and how Elijah found himself running from. From jezebel after destroying 400 prophets. I mean, it was. It was an amazing time. He called down fire from heaven, consumed an offering, killed these prophets of baal. And then it took one woman to say, man, I'm going to destroy you. And here he is, he runs, he's exhausted, he's worn out. He's like, God, just kill me. And God tells him to do two things. Rest, eat some food, rest again, eat some more food, and then get up and take this journey. And after he had calmed himself, after he had removed the distractions and he found himself rested that, that there was an earthquake and a fire and a wind, and God wasn't in any of these until there was a still, small voice.
See, God's talking and it's not loud most of the time. It's not generally going to be lightning from heaven or a red carpet rolled out. It's going to be a still, small voice. But are we prepared by removing the noise to hear that still, small voice? Luke 5:16 talks about this with Jesus, who even in his moments, would get away. In the midst of successful ministry and seeing lives changed, he would get away alone with the Father. And if Jesus needed to get alone with the Father, I believe we need to, too. Are we making removing the noise a priority? Are we seeking what's most important? First, if we want to hear the voice of God, we need to remove the noise. The second thing is to remove the barriers.
Is there any willful sin that you're dealing with right now?
Those casual sins that people find themselves doing, where they fall into it, they get away from it, they fall back into it, they hide it? Is there anything you need to confess?
It's like, when we do that, there's like a muffler that happens in our, you know, inside our mind that it's hard to hear the voice of God. It's this idea that we can't serve two masters. James 5:16 says, to confess your sins one to another. There is something incredible about getting your sin out of the way.
It's no longer just you and the enemy and him telling you and reminding you of your sin and you casting it on the Father, but then from there, having another person that you can confess your sins to so that you have someone praying for you. You get rid of the enemy and you're seeking the Lord with someone else. As you are wanting to say, God, I want to hear more from you. I want to know who you've created me to become. And I've got to get this noise out of the way. I've got to get this distraction out of the way. Confess your sins. Lamentations 3:22 and 23 says that God's mercies are new every single morning. We have an opportunity right now. If you're struggling with sin, confess it right now in your car, wherever you are. Man, if you're sitting there and you need, you know, there's something in the way, get it in front of the Father and then find somebody that you can share that with.
You deserve to have someone who's cheering you on on this side of heaven.
We need Brothers in the battle. First, John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. God wants to redeem you. God's in the rescuing business.
He doesn't just sit there and wait for you to come back as some hot mess. He's desirous of this relationship. So we need to get it out of the way, stop believing the lies and move forward, removing this distraction so that we can hear the voice of God much more clearly. Number three. Ask the right questions. I like to believe that God's just going to roll out the red carpet and make it easy and give me the. The next 15 steps of my life. But that's just not how I've ever seen God work. Even in the scriptures, we. We hear of men of men just like Philip, who were given the opportunity. God. God wanted him to just go out in the middle of nowhere because God told him to. And then when he got there, he saw the. He saw the eunuch and he had the conversation and he found himself sharing the gospel with this guy. But if he had not been obedient to God's direction of just go this way, would he have ever caught up with that Ethiopian eunuch? I don't think so. It's the same thing with our lives. God gives us the next faithful step. Psalm 119, 105 says that your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. God has given us the ability to see the next step.
That's not because God's slow. It's because that's how God works. We are moving too fast. There is something beautiful in the waiting. There's something powerful for us as men of God to trust God in the next step. It validates each part of the journey. So when we look back, we see all the steps where he has been faithful. He's never left us or forsake us. If you're still breathing, he hasn't left you and he hasn't forsaken you. God has plans for you. Now, there's times we've walked off the course, but we have this opportunity now to say, God, I want to trust you with whatever's in front of me and honor you with this next step. That's one of the ways that we begin to hear the voice of God much more clearly. Building the muscle of hearing the voice of God happens in each faithful step. So questions that we should be asking are, God, what are you teaching me right now?
What do you want me to learn? Are the things I'm doing currently promoting the fruit of the spirit.
Galatians 5, 22 and 23 talks about the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. These things are what matter in the economy of God. Are these the things that I'm doing now?
See, these are things that we know that we read and we're going, I want to hear God's voice. But then I'm not even faithful to do the things that that I know I'm supposed to do.
So these are the questions I need to ask God. How are you using this situation to design me to become like you, God? What do I need to learn in this situation? Ask these questions knowing that he's always talking, he's full of grace. He's using this right now for our greatest good. Are we asking the right questions when we seek the Father? There's no reason for God to be louder if we aren't doing the things that we know he's called us to do already.
Are we staying connected to him through the Word of God? Are we spending time with him every day? Are we showing him that we want to be a part of what his story is? Are we seeking time in the Word? Are we spending time in prayer? Are we having community with other brothers who are like minded with us, who are also seeking the truth? Are we spending our time far away from that? If we can't hear the voice of God and we're spending time with people who don't want to get to know him, it's hard for us to begin to hear the voice of God in that.
Who have we surrounded ourselves with? Are they becoming like Christ, just like we want to become like Christ? Number four Being obedient When you do hear God telling you to do something, at this point, if you're seeking the Lord and you're being obedient with the things you know that he's already called you to do, the minute that you hear him say something to you, are you acting on it? Are you waiting for more signs?
Are we trusting him in the unknown to go, I feel like God's telling me to do this, so I'm going to take a step. It doesn't go against the Word of God. It doesn't go against the fruitless Spirit. In fact, it will help me show more of the fruit of the Spirit to those around me. So I'm going to take this step. Are we faithful to do that? That's scary, and I get that. But there's a moment for us to say Just like Peter walking on water. Are we able to say God, I don't see the next step, but I'm going to trust you in it. Because we're not just leaning in our own strength. We're leaning in the character of God. We're leaning into who he's created us to become. God is challenging us to trust him simply on who we know he is. When we lean into this, we're leaning into a God who is patient, slow to get angry, abounding in unfailing love. He won't chide, he cares about us. He has a plan. And so as he tells us this, and it doesn't go against the word of God, as we take this step, we're going, I think God's telling me to do this. Take the step, take the challenge. See what happens as we lean into this because we know that we have a God that we can trust. Okay, God, I'm running towards you in this because I know that I can trust in your character. So as we lean everything into that, we can't fail for whatever God has next, even if it feels like everything is closing in around us. If we're trusting in the character of God, we're walking according to his will and leaning into his understanding, not our own. Just like Proverbs 3, 5, 6 talks about don't lean on our own understanding, but on the understanding of God. That's exactly what we're doing as we're obedient to what he has called us to as we listen to his voice. Luke 10:16 says, if you're faithful in the little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you're dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities, Are we trusting God with this current step, with what we know about him to say, God, I want to hear your voice. So I'm going to lean into you now, not in my own understanding, and see what you do with it. Imagine if we leaned into this understanding instead of our own to see what God had next, and we trust him with just his word, with just what we believe his spirit is telling us. This is how we build the muscle of hearing the voice of God much more clearly in our own lives. To wrap this all up, we need to be positioned in the right posture to hear the voice of God. It's not a matter of is God talking? It's, yes, he is. But are we able to hear him through our situation of where we are? Are we living in sin? Are we seeking the Lord on a Daily. Are we using His Word to compare against what we're hearing about Him? And then are we taking the obedient step? Not waiting for 15 different signs for us to to jump out there, but to really say, God, I'm going to trust you because all of this lines up with your truth and I want to see what you want to do in my life. Because guys, this doesn't just impact us. When we step up and come alive to this, we change our family, we change our children because they're watching, our spouses are watching, our families are watching, our neighbors are watching. Even in those those communities that we don't see a lot of people, we're still making an impact in our day to day because eventually as we seek this, God uses this in our life and allows us to be used in the minutiae of life. As His Spirit works in us, we will move much faster towards what he is calling us to do because we can trust Him. We've tested it out. We've shown that he is faithful. We've used His Word as His guide, as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. And we walk boldly towards that. Could you imagine what the world would look like if men of God rose up to seek the voice of God like this in every day? It wouldn't just impact them, it would impact generations that come after them.
Guys, I'm excited for you joining us today. Want to remind you join the brotherhood on our Facebook page.
We also have our Thursday morning adrenaline shot study that we want you to be a part of. So the link will be provided below and that Wake up guide and seven day reset. If you need to kickstart to where you are in your journey, this is for you. Click the link below. We're excited to have you be a part of our journey with Known Legacy. Make sure you subscribe. Share this with your friends. We just want to remind you that we are thankful for you. Thankful for what God's doing in your life. We're praying for you all the time. Thanks for watching guys. Have a great week.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the no Legacy podcast. We'd love to hear from you. So email us your questions or comments to Infonolegacy.
