Priscilla Shirer: Strengthen Your Connection With God | Praise on TBN

I start to spend time with him in prayer and in conversation so that I can take advantage of this privilege to hear his voice and to speak to him in prayer that I won't let everybody keep spoon feeding me the word of God I'm going to go to the scriptures myself and know that I too can have an ongoing fervent relationship with Jesus and when you do you will see him and experience him and encounter him in a way you have never Encountered him before that's not just about reading a book it's so much more

than that this book is alive and so as we engage in it we can relate to God through it because he speaks to us through his work there was a commercial that came to my mind it's a honeynut Cheerios commercial this lady's got a hairnet on she's been working in the factory all day long they're interviewing her and she says you know I'm just like regular Mom working moms sometimes after work I got to go to the grocery store so I do I run my errands I go to the grocery store and she says sometimes

I'm walking down the aisleway in GR in the grocery store just one aisle after the other and every aisle I go down I see people going they're wondering why they why they can smell what to them smells like fresh bread baking somewhere or cookies somewhere and then she said every now and then I'll walk past and I'll just Put people out of their misery and tell them hey you're just smelling me because I smell like the environment I've been in all [Applause] day so when we leave from a place like this we go back into

our homes and our jobs and our neighborhoods and our high schools and our universities and people are just like where you been something different about you you smell like the environment You've been in all time lord Jesus I thank you for this place that is permeating with the fragrance of your presence I thank you Father in jesus' name that our lives will have the residue of your presence on them that father from this place we will never ever be the same again we are your daughters Lord and we are coming over your word now to

hear a fresh word straight from the mouth of God lord I am so glad that everybody else in this room Is here but I didn't come to see everybody else I came to see you and so Lord I am asking that you would open up the windows of heaven and come down and speak to your daughters we are listening in jesus' name everybody agreed when they said amen am amen you may take your seats years and years ago man my babies were little I remember this because I traveled to Memphis on one particular occasion and

I remember this because I was exhausted I was so tired um you know My kids were small at the time and I happened to take this particular trip uh by myself and I traveled to Memphis and I remember being so excited when the lady picked me up from the airport that was a part of the church that I was going to be ministering at she took me to from the airport to the hotel it was an early evening I was so glad anybody ever been glad to just go to bed at 8:00 p.m. I could

not wait I laid down in the bed ready to get a good night of sleep And I was jolted awake about 2:00 3:00 in the morning because there was a train that went by right outside the window of our hotel the conductor of the train was sitting on the horn as the long train blazed right outside of the hotel where I was sleeping I sat straight up in bed sort of alarmed by the noise went and looked out of the window and realized that literally the train tracks were right there and it was one of

those very long trains with a lot of cars that went Whisking by it took a while for the train to finally pass by and settled I tried to go um back to sleep as best I could lady came back to pick me up that particular morning because the conference started I had to be there very early in the morning so it was about 6:30 or so anyway that I was going to have to get up and get dressed and get ready for a 7:15 or 7:30 pickup and so I got in the car and I

didn't really really say anything no big deal we had a Great day at the conference I went back to sleep that night thinking of course that the night before had been a fluke and that that train wasn't coming by again went to sleep about 8:30 9 p.m. so glad to get a good full night of sleep but 3:00 a.m. you guessed it that train went roaring by right outside the window I sat straight up in bed not believing that this was happening again and I couldn't even get back to sleep that night I couldn't wait

for that sweet Lady to come pick me up the next morning I sat down in the car and I said so hey did you know that there is a train that goes by about 3:00 in the morning at least last two mornings that that I've been here that train has gone by in the middle of the night woken me straight up out of my sleep and she had this look of complete horror and regret written all over her face she said I am so sorry I didn't even think about the fact that that train goes

by because those of us Who live in this community have grown so used to the sound of the train that it doesn't even occur to us when it's passing through anymore it occurs to me that those of us who live particularly in this western part of the world where the presence of God has been so lavishly given to us where on every street corner we see another church with a pastor that preaches the good news of Jesus Christ where we can turn on Christian radio stations or go Across town to the Christian bookstore where we

live as women in a day and age and generation where there have never been ever in history so so many bible study resources by women for women could it be that we've grown so used to the blessing of the presence of God that when the train of God's glory Falls when God's presence comes and marks and and and permeates our presence that we don't even recognize it anymore that God has so blessed us that We're too blessed for our own good that we don't see the finger Prince of God in our lives that when there's

even just a hint of disappointment or discouragement or frustration or irritation in our life that we are blinded to the fact that even when things are dark the light of God's presence can still be found if we'll just open up our eyes may we never be desensitized to the presence of God and if you have your Bibles and you want to look with me at a passage of scripture I'll just read it to you that I want to point out today if you still you know actually use a Bible with paper Pages like I do

or your iPhone your iPad any manner of iness is fine in Luke chap 2 there are a group of people who are about to be in the presence of God and they're not even going to recognize it I will tell you as you turn to Luke Chapter 2 that the author Luke wrote This gospel and recorded these stories really to show us how to have an encounter with Jesus to not miss him when his presence is near and by the way this is our goal as Believers this is the reason why he died on the

cross of Calvary so that we could not just know about him but so that we can encounter him we're not just supposed to read in the Old Testament about how he divided the Red Sea or caused the walls of Jericho to come tumbling down or met With a man named Moses in the form of a burning bush or showed up as the angel of the Lord in a wine press while a fearful timid Gideon was beating out wine uh threshing wheat rather in that wine press we're not just supposed to read about others that had

an encounter with Jesus we're not just supposed to see and applaud and experience the testimonies of other people they're supposed to encourage us to realize that if regular folks like that can encounter Him so can we and Luke comes along and he writes story after Story in his gospel to show us that we can have an encounter with Jesus these people that he is writing to and that he's writing about we're in a time of national Decay there is chaos happening and swirling around them morally and socially and you and I can relate to that

because they were not just in a time of national Decay so are we our country is in a state of more Social DEA Decay and decline than we've ever seen before and the more God is marginalized and segmented to the periphery of society the worse things are going to get the more he is completely ignored and disregarded the more we're going to see the influx of chaos and destruction but today I don't want y'all to worry about the White House I want to get to your house I want to talk about the destruction and the

Decay happening Maybe underneath the roof of your own home Luke is writing not just then but now to people who need a savior folks who are waiting on a hero to show up and rescue them from the plight of their own circumstances Luke was writing to them but by the Holy Spirit he is writing to us today for any of you who are in a state of decline in some area of your life where we're seeing against the backdrop of Darkness this need we have for the Savior to Manifest himself for us to not just

know about him from afar applauding him in the testimonies of other people but if anybody wants to experience him themselves then Luke is writing to you and I want somebody to know this today that sometimes sometimes your difficulties are less about the Enemy being against you and more about God wanting you to show wanting to show you what it looks like when he is for you sometimes it's about him finally Wanting his daughter's eyes to be open so that when he shows up they're sensitive enough to see him Luke 2: 25 says and behold there

was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon this man was righteous and devout and looking for the consolation he was looking for some hope y'all looking for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ and he came in the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the Child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law he took Jesus he went over to this

couple grabbed this 40-day old child into his arms and he blessed God and said now Lord you can let your servant depart in peace because according to Thy word my eyes have seen your salvation you have prepared your salvation in the presence of all the people a light of Revelation the glory Of thy People Israel and Mary and Joseph they were amazed at the things that were being said about their son Jesus Christ here on this occasion Mary and Joseph have come into the temple for um the purification ceremony it was traditional it was ceremonial

that about 40 days after a baby was born and the purification process had taken place that the parents of a new baby would bring their baby into the temple to offer specific sacrifices a burnt Offering a sin offering um and just to present their child to the Lord now traditionally when folks came into the the temple they would bring sacrifices and if you look back into the Book of Leviticus the details of those sacrifices are given they would need to have a pigeon for a particular sacrifice they would need to have a lamb for another

sacrifice and there is a caveat I'm just going to take a little Rabbit Trail for a second because I love that Y'all like rabbit Trails there's a little caveat given in Luke Leviticus chap 12 that says that if someone is not wealthy enough if they do not have the resources to actually purchase a land for this sacrifice that they actually can just bring two pigeons and I didn't read all the details here but a few verses earlier than where we started in verse 25 it tells us that Mary and Joseph come into the temple with

two Pigeons or two Turtle dos they they don't have a lamb which indicates to us that they have expended so much of their resources that they are in a state of poverty at least enough but they were not able to afford their own lamb they've got two pigeons it's all they had to bring on this occasion as they bring their new baby into the Tabernacle to present him to the Lord they've got these two pigeons which means that when they walked into the temple people would Have looked at them and recognized them as a couple

that was um in that had insufficient funds as a couple that was lacking as a poor couple they would have been looked down upon people would have marginalize them because they did not have the accoutrements of wealth that everybody else in the building had so they did not have a lamb and yet they have in their possession the lamb that takes away the sins of the world can I just say to anybody who is in the room And you felt like an outcast because you don't wear what everybody else wears you can't afford to drive

what everybody else drives you you don't have the resources to live in the neighborhood where everybody else lives listen my friend even if you do not have a lamb you might be in the perfect position to make sure you have intimacy with the lamb who takes away the sins of the world and can I tell you that sometimes it is our affluence that keeps us from Having the Lamb of God in our grasp intimacy and fellowship with him like never before the people that I have met that have more of an intrical intimate ongoing fervent

passionate relationship with Jesus Christ they are not the people sometimes that live in the mansion on the hill it's the people in a Hut in a village with thatched roofs and dirt floors who have in their desperation had an encounter with Jesus Christ and y'all I have met people in Third world countries who pray for us oh they pray for us they feel bad for us because they say we pray anemic self-centered prayers they listen to our prayers that are so focused on having more Comfort than we already have where in their desperation they have

met with Jesus they have seen him with their own eyes they have been marked by the presence of God they have watched God show up in so much Splendor and they want that for Us so sometimes when we can afford our own lamb it pushes out the opportunity and the margin that should be reserved for the lamb comfortable people pray anemic prayers it's desperation it's insufficiency it's lack it's emptiness when you find yourself in that state where like Mary and Joseph you don't have enough to buy your own lamb anymore That might be the perfect

setup for your encounter with the Lamb of God and so they are coming into the temple with the lamb he's in their arms they walk in to the temple y'all they're at church there's a group of people including religious leaders Pharisees and Sadducees that have all gathered around probably hundreds of people all carrying their sacrifices that have joined in on this Occasion and they've been waiting all of these people have been waiting on the Messiah they've been waiting for the kingdom of God to be at hand they've been waiting on a king to ride in

on a white horse and to redeem them from all that has been lost all they've lost as a nation they've been waiting for somebody to rescue them from the oppression of Rome they have been looking for a hero and the hero comes in and they do not recognize him they are at Church and they do not recognize is the presence of God the reason why is because he has come in a package that they do not prefer he has come in a package that does not align with their expectations and so because he does not

look like what they wanted him to look like about what they had in their own estimation prepared as the package that would be in their estimation the best package for the king to arrive because they Circumstance does not look like and he has not appeared the way that they prefer they downplay the Messiah when he arrives I want to submit to you that Jesus is there in this difficult moment in your marriage in this trying moment in your finances in this struggle on your job in this uh difficulty in this relationship you're rubbing Corners with

your boss or your spouse or this struggle you're having on your University campus or in your high school Campus this hard time that you for having he is there he just may have come in the package you don't prefer and that often times the Fingerprints of God are not recognized not because he's not there it is just because the expectation we have set up about what he looks like and how he will speak and how he will move the prayer request the solution that he will bring doesn't align with the prayer request that we have

prayed we have boxed God Into the way we want him to answer instead of believing that his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts as high as the heavens are above the Earth that's how high his thoughts are above our own and so we box God in when we say Lord answer my request in this particular way do you know that you limit not God but you limit I limit our experience of God when we say Lord answer my request exactly this way I have learned to pray here Lord is

my request you said that I can make it known here's how I would like to see you move in my circumstance thank you Lord that I can come boldly and make my request known so I've made my request but at the end of that prayer I've learned to pray Lord do it or do something better because do you know there are categories of options that our brain doesn't even know are available and accessible to us and if we limit God to What we can think and what we see as the way we have not even

considered the categories of opportunity that this Divine holy Almighty being has accessible to him y'all he's not just thinking about you he's thinking about your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren and those that are to come and how his kingdom purposes are going to be outworked in this generation and so on this occasion the Messiah shows up and nobody recognizes Him except somebody say except except except a guy named Simeon he had been told and promised just like we have that we he would see the Manifest presence of God he'd been told it he'd

been promised just like we've been promised because of our relationship with God through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit indwelling us that we will see the Fingerprints of God working in our lives this is called the Manifest presence of God it is unique to Omnipresence omnipresence means that God is everywhere all at the same time I'm so grateful for God's omnipresence because God's omnipresence means that when I fly back to Dallas where I live when my new friends that I just met from Uganda fly back to where they live um that when you all fly

back to whereever it is you've come from whether all over different areas of California or far it means that no matter where we go he is as much with me as he is with you Because he is Omni presentes but if you're anything like me you're grateful for his Omni presence but you want more than that you want the manifested presence of God I'm talking about where you can look back over your circumstances and realize that his fingerprints were all throughout that thing I'm talking about where you can see footprints in the sand as you

actually recognize that God was walking beside you the whole way I'm talking About what other people call coincidence encounters you see The Sovereign hand of God that was aligning your footsteps and setting you in the right place at the exact right time the Manifest presence of God I wanted to know what made simeon's eyes open to recognize what nobody else in this scenario did I figured whatever opened up his eyes might open up our eyes as well are you ready three things that I want to point out to you it says in verse 26 about

Simeon it says that it had been actually verse 25 I want to start there there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon he was righteous devout looking for the consolation of Israel we could spend a whole lot of time in those three but here's where I want to hearten the Holy Spirit was upon him the Holy Spirit was upon him it says that he came into the temple verse 27 s in the spirit verse 26 says it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit Look at the presence of the holy spirit

permeating this text look at how the author has over and over and over again highlighted the work of the holy spirit in opening up simeon's eyes to be able to recognize the manifested presence of God before him in the person of Jesus Christ Luke here he is just in the second chapter of this book and by the way just in these first two chapters he has already alluded to the spirit 10 times the work of God's spirit is so Powerful and so needful to a fruitful experience in the life of the of the believer that

even before the book of Acts even before Pentecost even before the spirit has come Luke points out the movement of the spirit here in the life of Simeon this shows you how important the spirit's work is how critical it is to making sure that your spiritual senses your spiritual radar is heightened so that you can detect the presence of God the Holy Spirit was upon Him now I want you to see the work of God's spirit this is just the first uh characteristic of Simeon but I want to just just take some time for just

a few moments on it the work of God's spirit is so important we it deserves a little bit of our attention here there are three ways that the holy spirit is described as as relating to Simeon in these few verses just just a few ways that the Holy Spirit relates to Simeon in these few verses the first thing it Says is that the Holy Spirit was upon him now listen I want you to know that if you have placed faith in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of you Ephesians chapter 1 says

that the moment you believed you received the Holy Spirit you were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise I want you to know that at the moment you became a believer in Jesus Christ you receive the most incredible gift you will ever receive this side of Eternity and that is the Very presence of God living on the inside of you the holy spirit is not a ghost or a wind or a fire or a dove he is often symbolized by those things but don't minimize him that ain't who he is the holy spirit is the

third person of the Trinity not third because he is least in value just third because he's the last to be revealed to Us in the pages of scripture but all of the Power all of the glory all of the authority all of the Grandeur of God the father is In the person of the Holy Spirit which means if you're a believer in the Holy Spirit lives in you that means all of the Grandeur and all of the greatness all of the authority of God himself now lives on the inside of you so if you are

a Believer you have the Holy Spirit you are not waiting on more of the holy spirit all of the Holy Spirit you ever going to get you got the moment you got saved now you do need to be filled by God's spirit so that his influence in your life grows and grows so that you operate under the gifting of the spirit so that you can live according to the fruit of the spirit that means living beyond your natural capacity it means when your patience runs out you can still have more patience with that person it

means when gentleness has long since left the building you still find you got a little gentleness for that person when self-discipline I mean you Just don't know have no more self- discipline in that area we need the fruit of God's spirit so we need to be filled by the spirit as we yield to him in obedience we are filled which means he influences us more our mind is renewed and transformed we are Sanctified into the image of Christ Jesus so the Holy Spirit is in you but Simeon his relationship with the spirit is not described

in that way it doesn't Say that the spirit was in him it says that the Holy Spirit was on him which means there is a difference between the spirit being in you and the spirit resting on you listen to me the gift of God's spirit in you oh this brings tears to my eyes the gift of God's spirit in you he will never leave you nor forsake you there is nothing you can do to work yourself out of a relationship with the Holy Spirit okay But him being on you you got to live a life

I I want to live a life that is a magnet for the presence of God to rest on me we can sit in this conference until we're blue in the face and applaud the truths of God and say Amen to the truths of God but if we leave this room and live in a way that is out of alignment with the truth of God we will not have the spirit resting on us if you want the mark of God's Presence on you I'm talking about where other people can see you operating in your gift moving

about in the assignments that you have been given where they can just see there's a unique favor on your life toward that particular task or that particular Endeavor where you are marked by something that gives you favor that gives you his grace for a particular area of your life then you must live I must choose to live in a way that honors God so that God's presence can rest upon us cuz he will not force himself on you he offers you this resting of his presence and his grace upon your life if you will choose

to live in a way that does not uh disturb his presence that does not keep him from being able to be near you because you have chosen here it is to be holy listen to me are you listening y'all we live in a day and age where we have become more interested in Being impressive come on than being holy where we are more interested in making sure we have likes and friends and the Applause of people more than just being flat out Holy by making sure that political correctness is not our main goal that we're

not after the Applause of people we're after the Applause of Heaven you got to choose to be ye holy and so I implore you Sisters by the Mercies of God to walk in a manner worthy of the calling by which you have been called so the spirit rested upon him let me just show you quickly verse 26 says that the spirit revealed to him so that means the spirit not only rested upon him the spirit's revealed to him old preachers called this illumination it's shining us Spotlight it's when you're sitting in church on a Sunday

and your pastor opens up the Bible to preach and man he just reads or she reads that first two verses that that they're going to be preaching from and you sit straight up in your seat because you feel like it's all about you anybody know what I'm talking about it's where you're trying to figure out how did did the church bug my house how did they know that's the illumination of the spirit it's when he it's when the the old truths of script scripture leap up Off the page and for lack of a better way

word it's when they grip you in your soul where you see how that intersects with something you are personally facing today that is the revelation of the holy spirit this is what the Holy Spirit does he reveals he illumines he shines the spotlight Simeon was there that day because he had been promised by the revelation of God's spirit it wasn't just a random promise it was his promise oh you've had that happen over the Course of these days that we've been gathered you probably have had that happen where something that has been said it wasn't

just great to hear it it gripped your soul you knew it was an assignment for you it was a conviction that you knew the Lord was going to send you out of here with that assignment because the Holy Spirit revealed it to you God's spirit rests he reveals and then he ruled Simeon cuz it says in verse 27 that he came in the spirit to The temple meaning the spirit told him on this day to go into the temple and it says that he came into the spirit under the into the temple under the conviction

of the Holy Spirit when the spirit said go Simeon said yes sir he submitted to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and he was in the right place at the right time to run right smack dab into the Messi mesiah because he was submitted to the leadership of the Holy Spirit do you know that the more you Ignore ignore that still small conviction the quieter that voice will become not because he is no longer speaking but because you've built a callous of Disobedience you have muffled the voice of the holy spirit so it is better

to be so sensitive to God's holy spirit that sometimes you give when maybe he hasn't even prompted you to give but it's okay because to the best of your capacity you are obeying the holy spirit of God just To keep those Airways open and clear from the Disobedience that will begin to muffle his voice in your life because more than anything else the enemy wants you disconnected from the privilege of hearing the voice of God y'all this is what separates our faith from every other so-called faith on the face of the Earth it's that our

God is alive it's that he speaks it's that we have the privilege to hear his voice Never downplay or minimize the value the beauty the lavish Grace of this privilege that we have to hear the voice of God so the Holy Spirit rested upon him there are two other things that I want to point out to you that were symbolic or was were significant about Simeon that opened up his eyes to see Jesus as he was to be seen in this package that other people downplayed and found insignificant that they totally ignored Because they didn't

think that their king would look like that here's what opened simeon's eyes not only that he was in the spirit when he came into the temple and by the way here's another Rabbit Trail sorry if we came to church in the spirit it would change our experience in church can I just say that because while everybody else was looking at that poor couple wondering why in the world they were in their Midst and discounting Mary and Joseph Simeon came in the spirit and he was less concerned about who was wearing what and who was driving

up what and who sat where and who was in his seat and whether or not it was hot outside and they had to walk far to go take their children to Sunday school they were he was less concerned about his convenience whether or not the preacher preached good was irrelevant to him he was looking for Jesus whether or not the microphones were perfectly balanced or the lights were exactly as they should should be whether or not the LD screens were on full display that day whether or not the ushers were or were not kind was

not his priority he had come with his eyes peeled for Jesus we would be less critical and less skeptical if we came to church in the spirit then the pressure wouldn't be on the person who's on the stage cuz you Didn't come to see them you came to see Jesus okay verse 27 so he comes in the spirit and then look what happens in verse 27 the parents bring in the Child Jesus Jesus comes in in his parents' arms look at the Savior look at how the Manifest presence of God arrives on this remarkable day

watch him show up into the experience of this aged saint named Simeon in a very personal way and onto the landscape of human history he Arrives in the arms of his parents there is something about the way we see Jesus when we look at him through the well-worn paths that have been heed out by our parents our grandparents our great-grandparents our forefathers and our for mothers spiritually speaking the people who have gone before us and have walked with Jesus just a little while who spent their lives serving him I am always nervous when I see

a young group of Christians with their little skinny Jeans and their lattes and their avocado toast which I love by the way I'm just always a little nervous when I see them instagramming all their religious experiences without the oversight of some spiritual parents because y'all we have modernized Jesus today the modern version of Jesus that we have crafted he has made him water down now he's tolerant of sin without the expectation of Holiness our Jesus is politically correct we need to see Jesus coming in the arms of our parents the people who have gone before

us the folks who have walk the road a little while who know what himels are who sang the good old hymns that were based in some theology we got to make sure that our new praise and worship songs I love them we got to make sure they're rooted in some good Theology and so the package may change listen y'all I I still go to the kind of Church it's come a long way but it started when I was one year old the church that I go to now so you know back in the day there

was no way in the world I would have ever gotten on a stage with with with pants on are you kidding anybody know what kind of church I'm talking about we still have a few people in our church a few mothers of the church if anybody knows what I mean jeans in the church are you kidding they came in in their suits I'm Talking about where the SK skirt matches the jacket like they were bought together and not only that but underneath that suit she's going to have some actual panty ho on I'm not talking

about spanks with the feet cut out uhuh I mean panty ho the ones with the girdle top anybody know what I'm talking about anybody remember that and she's going to have a handbag In her hand and that handbag that is going to match that jacket which matches that skirt which matches her patent leather shoes that she has on her feet closed toe patent letter shoes but the outfit is never complete and you know it ain't no regular hat right you know it's got something it's a feather or a net or something that's sitting just like

like this and she's going to worship God anybody know what kind of church I'm Talking [Applause] about and I love when she comes up to give a testimony about what she has seen the Lord Do It might not be modern it might not be new and improved but it's the Jesus of Abraham Isaac and Jacob it's the god of our forefathers there are some things you cannot learn on Instagram there are some things you just need to be with a mother Of the church somebody who's walked the road a little bit longer than you to

make sure you can bounce off of her or him the from the true theological biblically based unchanging venerated word of God so the package may change but the principles never do y'all Jesus was never politically correct he was always a revolutionary he never dismissed sinned he called it out in in Grace but most certainly in truth he was never Watered down he always said I am the only way I am the truth and I am am the life he didn't acques or tolerate he loved but he did say repent for the kingdom of God is

at hand God made us in His image and one philosopher said we have now returned the favor favor by trying to make him in ours we got to see Jesus as he's always meant to be seen and sometimes it requires you going to find a parent a Spiritual parent who can show you the Jesus of the Bible Simeon saw Jesus because as he was meant to be seen he saw him in the package in which Our Savior wanted to come because there were some spiritual parents who were willing to bring him in so I speak

to the younger people that are in this room I'm telling you check your arrogance check our lack lack of teachability where sometimes we just think we know it all so we won't Recognize and see the beauty of our savior because we won't receive him from the parents who are trying to give him to us so the package may change change the package enjoy that freedom but watch and make sure that you're sticking to the true milk of the word of God and then can I implore you who are in this room and you've sort of

graduated to that parent Department take this as your privilege to carry Jesus to those who Need him to see him and experience him as you will bring him Simeon shows us that in order to have our eyes open his experience demonstrates to us that we need to have the Holy Spirit upon us and we need to be looking for how the parents bring him into our experience but finally it says in verse 28 that as soon as he caught a glimpse of him he went over look look at the boldness look at the audacity look

at the eagerness of Simeon he runs over to the parents he Takes the baby out of their arms and gathers him to himself because an experience with Jesus from afar wasn't enough for Simeon C can I just tell you in this room that that God does not have grandchildren you got to have your own relationship you have to make your own choice you have to go and gather him up for yourself you have to taste and see For yourself how good he is you can celebrate him in the testimonies of other people in the experience

of other people till you are blue in the face but there's got to come a time where you decide I'm going to stop sitting on the periphery and applauding his experience with other folks you got to decide today will be the day that I go and gather him up for myself that I start to spend time with him in prayer and in conversation so that I can take advantage of this Privilege to hear his voice and to speak to him in prayer that I won't let everybody keep spoon feeding me the word of God I'm

going to go to the scriptures myself and know that I too can have an ongoing fervent relationship with Jesus I'm going to gather him up in my my own arms and when you do you will see him and experience him and encounter him in a way you have never encountered him before let's pray Lord I praise you I thank you that Your word is living it's active it's sharper than any two-edged sword and today you are going to use it to speak to your people father I'm asking you to challenge us to dive deeply into

your word to cultivate an ongoing vibrant friendship and relationship with you through the scriptures father I'm asking that we will hear your voice not just today but even more when we are alone uh by ourselves having our own personal devotions and quiet time now More than ever father we need to hear your voice and so I'm praying father that you will speak and that today everyone under the sound of my voice will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they've been in the presence of God in in Jesus name amen my dad got to

tell on him just a little bit he is technologically challenged well his um lack of knowledge in regards to technology isn't a new thing early on years ago I remember Maybe 15 years ago or so when there were no iPads yet you know it wasn't as advanced as it is now but about 15 20 years ago I recall something that happened my dad really wanted to figure out how to get online but the only reason he wanted to get online is because at the time my youngest brother Jonathan was playing football for uh Baylor University

he wanted to get on the Bor University website so that he could look up his youngest son John John Who was playing football for Baylor and if you know anything about my dad he may not be about technology but he sure is about that football and so with his youngest son playing college level football he wanted to do everything he could to look him up so at the time my sister was at the house and so he called Crystal back into the guest room the fourth bedroom of our parents' home back there 20 years ago

back in that room there was a whole monitor that was Sitting on the desk there with a keyboard but he really didn't use it and so he said to Crystal Crystal come back here show me how to turn this thing on so when I tell you that they were starting from scratch I mean they were starting from scratch my sister came back to the back room and she said dad let me show you where the on button is so you will know in the future how to turn this thing on once they got it all

powered up then my dad said to her how Do I get to the Baylor homepage so she showed him how to type in the URL address so that you can get to the website that you want to be on so finally she got them to the Baylor homepage and just when they got to the homepage the phone rang Crystal had to run out of the room into the kitchen where the phone was plugged into the wall and so she raced out of the room and as she raced out of the room my dad yelled after

her how do I maneuver Around this page she she said back to him use the mouse so Daddy starts looking around for a mouse he had no idea what in the world she was talking about he of course lays Eyes Upon This little Gadget that's got a tail sticking out of it he assumes this must be the mouse so he picks it up places it flat on the computer monitor and begins to drag it up and down side to side on the actual computer monitor then when that didn't work he just held It up in

the air and was sort of just moving it around in midair my sister came back to find our fairly bright stable father waving a mouse around in the air here's what you need to know that computer has been in the fourth bedroom of my parents house for a long time he also has a laptop that someone gave him and it's you know folded and unused in the drawer of his desk at his office there's also another computer monitor and a keyboard that is in his Office space at the church so my point is he has

computers available to him he has technology available to him but technology does you know good unless you know how to use it having it available is not enough you got to know how to use it for the next few moments I want to just encourage you less preach and more just teach and talk to you you about the importance of us as God's people not just having God's word available to us but knowing how to use it listen to me More now than ever before as our culture continues to be increasingly Godless you and I

are going to have to know how to do what the psalmist said I hide God's word in my heart so that I might not sin against him we got to use God's word it's not enough for us to just have um the Bible around our home because you know you got the big pretty one that's up on The Mantel you've got the little small one that sits on your nightstand you've got the one that's just for Decor That might be like a coffee table book and then you know you have that one that one that's

got all the dog ears and it's got all the underlines and all the Post-it notes that's the one that you take to church with you so you can actually look you know holy like you use the Bible we have all of these Bibles available to us but the Bible don't do us no good just sitting there looking pretty it only does US good if we know how to actually take advantage of the Truths of God the fresh breath of God that is available to us through the scriptures so I want to talk to you to

me to us challenge us about utilizing God's word truth everyone is saying is so relative no one has a re reverence anymore for the truth of God as declared in his word now more than ever if we're going to be Unapologetic about our faith if we're going to be able to stand firm against the schemes of the enemy if we're going to be able high school Student and University student and mother and father wife husband single woman single man entrepreneur Ministry president if we're going to be having the opportunity to stand firm then we got

to know the truth of God's word and we've got to be able to live off of every word that God speaks to us we've got to be found on our knees in prayer and prioritizing our time in God's word I want to tell you this before I share with you some principles that actually Have transformed the way I spend time in the word of God the enemy wants to convince you he wants to convince me that God has some sort of hotline connection between he and certain people that it's just our spiritual leaders our pastors

our Bible study teachers the folks that are on staff the people that are in full-time Ministry the folks that have you know a microphone on their jacket the people that are in the spotlight the folks who we go past their Instagram feed and we are um admonished or encouraged because they are teaching and preaching to masses the enemy wants you to think that it's a seminary degree that is required before you can actually have a fervent ongoing relationship with God where you yourself can open up the word of God and know that the Holy Spirit

can illumin the scriptures and give you guidance and direction and insight and Clarity and encouragement and comfort he wants you to think that That kind of fervent friendship with God is only for certain people because he knows that as long as you and I are not convinced that we can hear a fresh word from God for ourselves then at best we'll be handicapped in our faith because we'll always be waiting on somebody else to spoon feed us the word of God instead of knowing that we can have confidence in our friendship in our relationship with

God that person who you admire rightfully so there are People that I admire their faith their stability their strength their peace in the midst of the storm there are people I admire their prayer life I admire how they um are Concrete in their faith and their beliefs no matter what happens in culture there are people I admire their Ministry I admire the fervency in which I see the presence of God operating in their life so yeah they're F that we can admire but just as quickly as we admire them we have to be careful and

guard Ourselves against thinking that what they have access to is not also something that we have access to the same holy spirit of God that lives in that person you admire is the same presence and power of God that lives on the inside of you to guide you into all truth to illumin the scriptures so that you too can hear the voice of God and so I want to encourage you to not wait until Sunday morning for a word from God I want to encourage you to not Wait until the next time your Bible study

group can get together again in person before you engage in hearing the voice of God for yourself from the scriptures I want to encourage you to not depend upon someone else to spoon feed you God's truth I want to remind you that you can hear God and we need to have a daily relationship with God through through his word your stability is counting on it your peace my peace of mind particularly in the craziness and Chaos of the culture that we're living in right now if we don't have a relationship with God where we are

prioritizing coming to him in his word then we will find that we are not stable we don't have peace of mind we don't have Clarity Revelation Direction insight and encouragement to keep on putting one foot in front of the other and not be discouraged by what we see happening around does so I want to encourage you to have a relationship With God through his word I want to share with you what I call the five P's of Bible study like the letter P so you know if you like to take notes I want you to

get the notes out app on your phone or get a pen or a pencil I want you to write these five P's down these P's have changed the way that I relate to God through his word and I say the word relate specifically because it's not just about reading a book y'all this this just ain't no book it's not just a Regular um book filled with pages and papers and bound by leather it's so much more than that this book is alive the holy spirit makes it so that he shines a spotlight in the place

where we most need to be fed where we need guidance and Direction so that God's present word leaps up off the page and gives us exactly what we need for the circumstances that we are fac facing right now don't no regular book do that this book is alive and so as we engage In it we can relate to God through it because he speaks to us through his word so these five PS have transformed my relationship with the Bible and with with God himself and I want to share them with you because what this means

is that after today on a regular Monday regular Tuesday on a regular old Wednesday Wednesday or Thursday or Friday or Saturday you're not sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting until the next time a pastor preaches to You or a spiritual Mentor um helps to uh give you opportunity to rightly divide the word of Truth you thank God for those Shepherds but you're not twiddling your thumbs waiting on them you know that you can have the privilege to go to God in his word and hear him for yourself the first P of Bible study is to

position yourself to to hear from God real simple in fact all five PS are position yourself to hear from God I'm going to say it Again position yourself to hear from God there is power in your positioning in your posture okay I mean this in a spiritual sense but I also mean it in a physical sense I want to tell you about both when you come to God through his word that you're going to meet with him through the pages of scripture so this is your own personal quiet time you know you maybe have just

sat up in bed and you're going to have 10 or 15 minutes that You're spending with the Lord or you're going to come out of your room into the kitchen table maybe in the quietness of the morning or in the quietness of the evening when all the activity in your house has died down just a little bit you're going to position yourself over a portion of scripture and I'll tell you in just a few moments how you can choose a portion of scripture to dive into but when you make that commitment to posture yourself to

position yourself I mean That in a spiritual way meaning the position of your heart has to be uh in a perspective and a frame of reference that is eager to hear and expects to hear the voice of God speaking to you it's aw toer a great Theologian that put it this way the person that does not expect to hear God won't because every single time God speaks they'll just discount it as their own idea they'll think that it was just a coincidence they will attribute it to Anything and anybody else except what it is God's

breathed word coming to life through the power of the Holy Spirit to speak to you to give you guidance and direction in your own personal life and so you have to have a heart I have to have a heart that is filled with expectation that I am one of the sheep of God's fold and I can hear the voice of God John chapter 10 Jesus said my my sheep hear my voice listen to that again he basically says the default position For anybody who's a part of the fold the flock the family of God what

my sheep do is hear my voice it's one of the schemes of the enemy to get you to think that you need to be something more be something else have a different perspective or a different personality or be someone other than you are to have excelled in some way to not have made the mistakes that you've made it's the scheme of the enemy to get us to think that we have to be anything other than a Son or daughter to have this right this privilege to hear God speaking to us through the word so we

have to pray and say Lord would you carve away anything in my heart that is a roadblock that's keeping me from having an expectation that in my own regular quiet time while I'm in my pajamas or in my jogging suit while I'm in my house shoes whatever I'm doing and no matter what I look like I have the privilege to to keep company with you that you want to cultivate Lord Jesus thank you a friendship with me that you want to speak with me that you gave me a love letter so that I can hear

your voice and know you and know who you are thank you Lord for that privilege and if my heart doesn't expect it would you begin to mold in me a holy expectation that desires and anticipates that I have the privilege to hear the voice of God posture your heart heart with expectation the psalmist put it this way in Psalm 27 it's one of my Favorite verses verse 13 and 14 he says I would have despaired unless I believed that I would see the hand of the Lord in the land of the living did you see

that expectation there he says I would have despaired I would have been hopeless I would have been down my countenance would have been downcast man accept that I expect that I'm going to see God expect that I'm going to hear God so I can wait patiently on him because I have an Anticipation an expectation that God is going to come through on my behalf the prophet habach spoke to this as well if you look at his little book that is named after him in the Old Testament you'll see that the entire first chapter of habach

is habc calling out to God mostly him calling out to God and saying Lord how long are you going to let this go on he's looking around him at the destruction that he is seeing happening in his culture in his Nation man if that Don't speak to us right now I don't know what is you and I can't flip past all that's happening on our Twitter feeds our Instagram feeds the news channels that we're watching and not see the vortex of chaos that is swirling all around us habac knows exactly how you feel and he

calls out to God and says how long Lord it seems like you're just sitting back idly letting all this go on and so Lord I'm going to vocalize my concerns to you my cares to you I'm Going to be authentic I'm not going to hold back and that's the privilege we have in relationship with God he lets us ask our questions voice Our concern he knows that in our Humanity we have some worries and some issues and some fears and he lets us come to him him and bear it all but after habach Bears it

all chapter 2 he says now I'm going to climb up on the Watchtower and I'm going to wait to see what it is that my king is going to say to me how God is going to Respond to me do you see that he positions himself to hear from God he says I'm going to climb up on a watchtower back in biblical days there was a strong hold or a citadel that would sit at the front of a of a city and it was designed so that a soldier or a Watchman could climb up to

the top of this Watchtower position himself above ground level circumstances in other words he was saying there's too much chaos swirling around down here I'm Going to be distracted if I keep myself positioned here so I'm going to climb up on the Watchtower where I'm up above ground level distractions and I'm going to position myself here because from this vantage point I'll have a clear view to the Horizon and I expect that God is coming I have an expectation that there is someone coming who's going to deliver an answer for me and so because of

that expectation I'm going to position myself in a place and in a Posture where I can hear God where I can see his hand where I have clear view and there's nothing to distract me position yourself spiritual expectation and anticipation but not just spiritually like habac position yourself physically do you see that he climbed up somewhere he went to a place where there was some silence and some Solitude there's a whole lot of noise in life isn't it you've got your to-do list and I've got mine we're trying to check The things off that we

got to do on our list when it comes to our kids and our marriage and what we're cooking for dinner tonight and the demands of the job that we have and the ministry assignments that are before us and all of the things that we have to do that go into the regular rhythms of a 24-hour day there are so many groundlevel circumstances that aren't unnecessary they're critical we got to keep going from day to day but there's got to be a Moment of time where you decide I'm going to climb up on the Watchtower and

have some space where there's silence and Solitude so that for just a few moments there is nothing standing in the way of me seeing the king who is coming to respond to me of me hearing clearly what it is that God has to say to me now this can be difficult I know it CU your house is probably busy like mine is many of you or you've got you know your phone buzzing and ringing and beeping and all The things that all of our devices do so this is going to take some intentionality on your

part it's going to take you being proactive it's going to take you you know setting your alarm to get up a little bit early or driving into the office space whenever we go back to office spaces and getting there you know 10 or 15 minutes before the buzz of the office starts or when you're in your car deciding that at this particular hour cuz I'm running errands All the time then I'm going to turn off talk radio or I'm going to turn down the music just a little while and I'm going to use that opportunity

while I'm sitting outside of my kids soccer practice I'm going to use that as the 10 or 15 minutes or half hour that I'm going to devote to having some silence and Solitude pushing aside in my mind's eye all of the demands that I have so that I can have an opportunity to have a clear perspective on what it is that God Wants to say to me so we position ourselves not just spiritually in expectation but we position ourselves by prioritizing some space in our life where we can actually have a clear opportunity more clear

opportunity to hear the voice of God I want to encourage you before we move on to the next p of Bible study to know that this does not mean that you have to have a specific place in your home that you go that is just devoted to prayer sometimes You know we can look at people's Instagram feeds and man their quiet time Looks So Perfect don't it they've got their white couch and their little white coffee cup and everything is so beautiful and amazing and immaculate it looks like the most beautiful photo shoot you have

ever seen in your life that can be discouraging to regular folk who have you know like dinner dishes sitting over there from last night that we didn't get to or we've got all the Toys from all of our toddlers sitting around it or all the homework papers from our teenagers that are still scattered across the kitchen table from all the online schooling or we got the laundry sitting over there every single load that you know we washed and dried but we dumped it out on the floor hoping that somebody was going to come fold it

at some point but there it still sits still waiting on us and we look at the chaos of our life and we think can I Really have quiet time in here can I really expect God to speak to me in a space like this the answer is yes the enemy always wants you to think and me to think we've got to have something different about our space or different about our lives in order to actually meet with God God intimately and personally ourselves but listen if the bathroom is the only place where you can find

some s silence and some Solitude I got to be honest with you and tell you That for many years when my children were younger I would sit on the edge of the bathtub I would close the bathroom door I would lock that door and I would sit there and that's where I would have time with the Lord I have a friend when her children were young she used to tell me that she would go into her closet like she made her actual closet her prayer closet and she said listen I would sit right under the

blouses where the blouses were with a flashlight That's the only space that I could find to have a little silence and a little Solitude for many of you it's it's in your car I mean you're in your car anyway why not make that car a sanctuary a place where you can meet with God cuz you're in that car anyway and you're by yourself there why not make that an opportunity where you can make that space a Sacred Space to meet with God you've seen people who are doing that you know they're driving down the Freeway

and you just see them worshiping God and you see their hands outstretched and you see they're having a whole prayer meeting a whole church service by themselves in the car they have made their car a place that can be a watchtower where they can meet with God around his word position yourself oh more now than ever brothers and sisters we're going to have to prioritize positioning ourselves we're Getting a word from everybody else from the newscasters from the media from the politicians from our friends from opinion makers we're getting news from everybody else we've got

to position ourselves not just to hear them but we've got to prioritize positioning ourselves to hear a word from God so once you position yourself and you've got your Bible or you know you've got your electronic Bible in front of you and you're looking at a particular Passage of scripture I want to encourage you to choose a passage not just you know one verse here one verse there here a verse there a verse everywhere a verse verse mm it taking little verses out of context like that can be incredibly dangerous but what you can do

is take a whole book of the Bible start at verse one and go all the way through took me about two years to go through the Book of John like this I would take one verse or two verses a day and I would make Sure that I read right through so as to not take anything out of the context not only of the chapter that it's in but the book that it is in because the story that God is telling um is linear meaning not only is every word and every verse God breathed but the

way it is located in the scriptures is also God breathed so take a whole book of the Bible maybe one that stood out to you recently that your pastor preached from and it was from the book of Ephesians or the Book Of John or the book of habac and just decide you're going to start right at the beginning and the second P actually has two p in it I want you to pour over the passage and paraphrase the major principles pour over the passage and paraphrase the major principles when I say poor over the passage

I mean that real specifically I mean that as in opposition to scan the passage when I say poor I mean to meditate on it to Read it not just once but to read it twice to read it in two or three different transl so that you can see different nuances of words that maybe need to stand out to you in a different way I mean that you open up opportunity for you to have space and time to think through what it would be like if you were the woman that was caught in adultery in that

passage that you just read see how it would feel to have God speak over you Jesus say to you go and Sin no more it means you mul over it for just a little while now what this means is at least what it means for me is that if I'm really going to pour over a passage not just scan it but meditate on it and think about it and wait for the Lord to speak to me through it that means that I can't do that with a chapter or two at a time it means I

can't be more interested in quantity than I am with just quality time with God remember it's not about finishing This is about you having a friendship with God so that you can be sustained and encouraged and S the presence of God in a practical way not in theory but no a friendship with God where you feel and know that he is speaking to you through his word so most of the time that means one verse or two verses and I read those two verses and then I read them again and then I might underline whatever

words seem to LEAP up off the page then I might look those words up and I might Think through the scenario that is surrounding them the context around them for example in Joshua ch chap 1 when Moses has just died and the children of Israel are now being led by Joshua into the promised land God says to Joshua over and over again be strong and courageous he says be strong and courageous be strong and courageous and then he says be careful not to let the word leave your mouth but keep it close to your heart

and close to your mind and Meditate on it day and night meditate means to ponder it meditate actually means to press your mind upon it to think through it to evaluate it do whatever you have to do to spend a little time not just saying well I read a verse a day and you know a verse a day keeps the devil away mm- this ain't a checklist this is you developing a friendship with God who is longing to speak to you once I pour over a passage a verse or two then I'll paraphrase the Major

principles I usually just have a notebook that sitting nearby or I've got the notes app on my phone or what however you want to do it and I just for each verse write down a sentence or two that paraphrases exactly what that verse said now I want you to resist the urge to try to be deep or to try to make it Rhyme or sound clever you're not trying to be clever you are literally just taking the words right out of the verse and writing down a paraphrase of what That verse says usually when I

get to this point in the five PS I will close my Bible and I'll put it aside and now I'm just sitting and I'm looking at the paraphrased rendition of what the verse actually says that takes me to the third P pull out the spiritual principles this is where I prayerfully look at those paraphrases and I look to see what spiritual principles are hidden in the paraphrase I ask God to show me is there Something he's revealing about his character is there a promise here that I'm supposed to heed is there a directive I'm supposed

to follow is there Insight that I'm supposed to uncover what is it that the verse says that's the paraphrase but now I'm asking what is this verse mean you will often find that there are spiritual principles that are hidden you would not have uncovered this is the way God begins to speak you won't uncover it until you ask yourself what does this mean is there a direction that I'm being given is there something about God's character that I'm supposed to believe and that I'm supposed to trust in prayerfully pray and ask the holy spirit this

is what the old preachers used to call illumin the word ask the Holy Spirit to illumin it and you will find that there are spiritual principles tucked there that begin to direct you Now I want to tell you really quickly here on this third p i want you to be encouraged to know that every single time I sit down to have my quiet time which by the way as much as I wanted to happen every single day sometimes it doesn't cuz you know life happens but every time I do sit down I want you to

know that each time it doesn't mean that I just find um God's word spoken over my life just leaping up off the page every single time and it feels vibrant and Fresh and on fire every time no sometimes I'm reading along and it's about the jebusites who were fighting the hebus sites and the amorites and the Canaanites and the other IES ate those IES and it just seems like a waste of time what in the world does this have to do with my personal life right now the crisis that I'm facing or God what you

want me to do with what I'm dealing with with my child or my financial situation or my health or the grief or the longing In my heart what does this have to do with that but I find that even Those portions of scripture are vital to us because if nothing else you're still going to ask yourself what does this teach me about the character of God what did he do what did he not do what did he say what did he not say what did he allow what did he not allow it shows you who

your God is and getting to know his character is what this is all about A friendship develops intimacy develops the more we know think about your regular friends the more you know that person the more you know the nuances of who they are and how they think and what they say and what they wouldn't say say then remember in John chapter 10 when Jesus said the Sheep know my voice he says they do not respond to the voice of a stranger the only way to be able to detect the voice of a stranger is if

you know God well enough that when the enemy Chooses to speak fear over your life or when your ego tries to get a word in edgewise or when your pride is trying to sneak in there or when the opinions of the culture and the world Sound True the only way you're going to know if it ain't God is if you've come to know his character so well that you can detect the voice of a stranger a mile away you know my God would never say or do that my brother Anthony um is named after my

dad so I got Anthony senior and Anthony Jr and they walk alike they talk alike uh there's so much alike about the two anthonies and I've seen my brother use this to his advantage and kind of fool people I remember when we were growing up people would call the house and so he'd answer the phone people thought thought they were talking to Pastor Evans and so they'd give him the whole story of whatever they were calling for he'd get all the juicy details before saying dad somebody's on the phone for You I remember one time

he went up to the ticket counter at American Airlines so that he could get his ticket to get on the airplane and he said well my name is Anthony T Evans and he showed the license it said that he was Anthony Evans so they pulled up my father's profile and my father had executive Platinum Status because he flies so much so immediately they upgraded Anthony gave him first class treatment put him in first class let him eat the meal that First class gets he got all of that because he was able to confuse people because

they are so similar to each other but let me tell you who he can't confuse me and other members of the family if the phone rings in the first two minutes of the conversation or two seconds rather of the conversation I'm having with either Anthony I can tell you exactly which Anthony I'm talking to because no matter how similar they sound I have known them for so many years and Been a part of their life and them a part of my life in so many specific ways that they cannot confuse me because I know the

two anthonies do you see the more you know God the more clearly and easily you're going to be able to put a finger on the voice of the enemy when he comes by trying to play you for the fool so you pull out the spiritual principles Once you pull out the spiritual principles here's the fourth pie P pose the Question okay this is where you turn the spiritual principle you just pulled out you turn it into the form of a personally directed question man this is where the rubber meets the road this is when the

Holy Spirit starts speaking because you say to yourself am I living in a way that's congruent with that spiritual principle that I just wrote down am I heeding that promise am I behaving in that way is my attitude adjusted to that have I forgiven that Person have I been committed in my tithe have I submitted to that Authority maybe that verse said that I need to be still and see the salvation of the Lord have I been still or have I frantically been trying to figure out everything on my own Lord what is it that

you're asking me to do ask yourself a personally directed question and when you start asking honest and authentic questions of the text you will find that the Holy Spirit starts giving you the Answers he starts shining a spotlight on the areas of your life and mind that I didn't even know existed that I need to get right with God that I need to line up so that I am in line for the favor and Promises of God to be experienced in my life so that I have fresh revelation of God's truth so that I can

see clearly where in the culture or in the opinion of my friends actually that is antithetical to what it is that God is saying uh in his word and listen there Are two answers to every question God's answer and everybody else's and everybody else is wrong when they are in contradiction to what it is that God has said so as the Holy Spirit starts answering in your spiral notebook you write down what it is that he's been saying in your notes write down the parts of your life that are coming to life like the PSAL

psalmist said search me oh God and know me find out if there's any way in me that ain't like You so that I can get back to being in right relationship with you and having the opportunity Lord to experience everything you have for me and after you pose the question plan obedience and pin down a date to obey now the reason why that's critical is because we seem to plan for everything else except obeying God we got a plan for our physical health we've enlisted a trainer We've got our meals planned out for the week

we've got a membership at a gym we plan for our financial security we got a financial adviser to make sure that we can retire at the age that we want to so that we can save the way we want to we've planned um for the project that's due at our job to make sure that we are working incrementally and progressively to make sure that the segments of the project are each done well we plan for everything except honoring God as God makes clear to you what he's asking you to do forgive that that person or

write that blog post that was on your heart to write or move forward in starting that business or stepping out in faith from the place that you've been employed whatever it is God's asked you to do make a plan I mean on paper be obedient to God intentionally and deliberately and then enlist accountability so that you can have some People around you this is what church and family the family of God is all about put some people around you who will ch you and ask you and get all up in your business and say did

you do what God has asked you to do make a plan to be obedient to God in closing let me just tell you that um I was traveling you know back when we traveled and I was packing some jewelry and I remember trying to put this jewelry together and I put it in my uh Carry-on case then when I got to where I was going I pulled it all out and it was all tangled every little string or a little chain was Tangled together man I was just jingling and around trying to get it all

separated my husband said as he watched me in frustration trying to get just this one necklace out he said Priscilla I think if you stop massaging the whole wad of Tangled mess and you just grab on to one unhook that one and then just start working to get that one Out of there I think it'll be more successful he was right I grabbed on the one little necklace and I I just worked on getting that one Unwound and you know what happened when I not only worked on that one did I get it out but

the whole Tangled mess started to loosen up because it actually wasn't about taking care of everything all I needed to do was focus on the one thing and the one thing took care of everything else brother sister Focus once again on The one thing I know you've got a tangled mess all around you in your family and in the culture and in your marriage with your children and on your job and in your finances and your health and your aging parents or whatever it is that you've got going on I know it's a whole big

Tangled mess but if you will just get back to the one thing you'll find that focusing on that one thing untangles everything Lord Jesus I thank you for Your word and I thank you that you desire to speak to us through it Lord I pray for fresh wind and fresh fire over your people in Jesus Jesus name amen [Music]