Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:07] Let's pray. And we're going to hear the Lord today. Lord, we just thank you, Holy Spirit. We invite you, we need you today. Would you speak to us, God? We don't want to just be informed.
[00:00:20] We want to be transformed, Lord. We want you to reveal stuff to us. We want to go from information to revelation. That's going to cause a transformation in us, Lord. And so we invite you, Holy Spirit, as I open the word and open my mouth, would you teach us? Would you show us? Would you open up the beautiful truth in your scriptures? And may we live differently, Lord, we just want to yield to that this morning. In Jesus name.
[00:00:50] Amen.
[00:00:51] Awesome. The title of my message today is called the Hearing of Faith.
[00:00:55] The Hearing of Faith. My subtitle is Living in a continual dependence upon the voice of God.
[00:01:02] I believe that God's called us to, as believers, to live in a dependence on his voice, not in a dependence on our Christian faith or Christian principles or just, you know, kind of what we do, maybe naturally as believers, but to live in a dependence on the voice of God. I had the privilege to open up the first message this year in 2026. And I preached a message called presence over promise. And we talked about how Moses that he wanted relationship with God more than even the promised land. Like, the promise was great, the promises of God were great. But he said, God, show me your face. I want you. I don't care about anything else. You can even destroy me, but I want you more than anything. But Moses chose presence, the face of God over promise. And so today is a little bit of a similar theme where I want us to go back to the person of Jesus and his voice over maybe some of the things that we maybe pursue as Christians, maybe not knowing where our life has been, maybe misaligned a bit sometimes. And so we see from the book of Genesis, we'll start actually in Genesis chapter one, two and three briefly, and we'll go into some of the Old Testament, some of the stuff that Jesus said, Paul said, and then back even to Revelation. So we're going to kind of do a quick survey through Scripture on this particular theme, because from Genesis to Revelation, we see that God's desire has never been for people just to, like, obey God or just serve him, or do something religiously for Him. But his desire has been actually that we would walk with him, that we would hear his voice, that we would walk in close fellowship with God. That's the story of the Bible from Genesis through Revelation, right? It starts with a family God has children, Adam and Eve, and it ends with God marrying his bride. Right. It starts with children and it ends with family, marriage, and it culminates in that. But God wants us to go beyond, just as Christians, mastering biblical principles or pursuing Christian things, the good things, the promises, even, you know, like sometimes in the Christian life we pursue, I don't know, freedom or deliverance or healings or miracles or words of knowledge or ministry or all the different things. I could give many examples, I'm going to maybe give you a couple examples today just to make this more practical and tangible. But we sometimes pursue the things of God and we can often go back to the first sin of the, of humanity and, and actually not. Not tune into the voice of God. We can want the things of God and not God himself. And so I'll show you that through scripture and then through our life as we do this. But there's two ways really to approach God. And I want to kind of contrast these things today. So there's the. There's a transactional Christianity and this is what we want to avoid. And sometimes we slowly drift. We get here without even knowing it in it. But it's this where we find something in the Bible. We find a promise, we find a principle, we find something that God did for someone, and then we think, you know, what? God did that for them. God's not a respecter of persons. God doesn't have favorites, so he will do it for me. And we start to pursue the thing that someone else got the breakthrough in. You know, like Enoch walked with God. I'm going to walk with God in that way, and I'm just going to be taken away. You know, like Elijah, you went off in a chariot. I'm going to be in a chariot. You know, Peter, he walked on water. I'm going to walk on water. You know, Philip, he was translated. I'm going to see that. And so sometimes we're inspired by the people in the Bible that by faith that did these powerful things. And then we start to pursue that stuff and we miss out on the main thing that we were created and designed for. And sometimes Christianity becomes transactional without us even knowing. We're like, God, I've been a good boy. I've been praying for this for a long time. You kind of owe me this one. Like, why isn't this breakthrough coming? Why am I still single? You know, I like to highlight that one. I don't know, why am I still broke?
[00:04:57] Why am I still don't have that job? Why do I Still not have this. And we're like, God, I've been doing everything I know how to do. Time for you to do your job. Hello.
[00:05:09] You know, sometimes we as believers have a lot of disappointment in the Lord. And I believe today God actually wants to heal some of your disappointment, because maybe you are.
[00:05:19] Our perspective has been on the wrong thing. We've been pursuing the wrong thing. And maybe our Christianity has become more transactional rather than relational. So I believe that God wants to realign us back to a relational Christianity. Right? Because in transactional Christianity, relationships unnecessary. It's like, no, like the Bible says, I'm healed by this. So that's it. Like, that's my right as a child of God. Like the Bible says this, like that's my right. I'm going to pursue that because that's a promise from the Bible for me.
[00:05:51] And it becomes transactional. Instead of involving God and saying, lord, let's have a conversation.
[00:05:57] What. What are you saying about this? In my life, I know you're a good father. I know you've done this. I know this is in your nature.
[00:06:03] How do you want to lead my life? Because God wants to deal with us as individuals, not just as a.
[00:06:09] A rule, a set of rules. Right.
[00:06:13] So relational Christianity is what I believe God wants us to invite us into. And this is how where we discover God's heart in Scripture. And, you know, we bring our. The promises that he's given us back to him and we listen and we trust and we surrender and we yield and we say, God, I know you promised this to me, but I just surrender. I trust you. I trust you in the process. I trust your timing. I surrender this to you. You know this. There's many promises that God's even given Anastasia and I personally. And we've had to surrender that process. I remember years ago we couldn't, you know, we couldn't have kids. Doctor said that we might never have kids before we got. We had our first child, London. It was five years, we were married. And so. But before that, God gave us a promise that we were gonna have a child in our own house. And so I just, I knew that was gonna happen. And. But it. Time passed and then we had our child London, which was awesome. And God gave us a promise of another child. So we're like, I know this is gonna happen, but. But eight years passed before we had our second child. And then God's given us a promise, I believe, for another child, specifically a son. And now five and a half years have passed.
[00:07:18] Can I Tell you, like God's promises are. Yes, and amen, and God will speak to you. And faith happens when God promises. But then there's the. There's the. What are we going to do? Are we going to pursue what God has said? And then, like, is it going to destroy us when there's a delay or we don't. It's not the way we thought, or it didn't work out the way we thought we. Or are we gonna trust him in the process? Lean in and say, lord, what are you doing? And how can I keep my mind, my heart focused on you? Right. Because for the Lord, he wants us to actually pursue him as the person over his stuff. You know, when a child is immature, they want the stuff that the parents have more than the parents themselves, right? It comes to their birthday, you know, Christmas, and they're opening stuff. And if it's not the stuff that they wanted, they kind of get mad at you. They're ready to say, you're the worst, I hate you, Whatever. I don't know, your kids probably never do that.
[00:08:07] But sometimes it's like, wow, really? I thought the main thing was me. I thought I was your gift. No, actually, you want the stuff that I have, right? But when kids mature and grow up, hopefully you've developed a relationship with them where later on in their life, it's not about what mom and dad can give me. It's like, mom and Dad, I just want you by me. I love you. I want you.
[00:08:26] We desire our kids to grow up and want us rather than what we can give them. I mean, the worst case scenario is when kids are waiting for their parents to die so they can get their inheritance.
[00:08:39] You know, kind of like the prodigal son. It's like, wow, we know that relationship did not really work out the way it was supposed to there. And sometimes, you know, Jesus tells a story of the prodigal son where the son's like, hey, dad, like, as long as you're alive, your stuff is yours. When you die, your stuff is mine.
[00:08:57] Can you die already? Like, that's where that guy was at. And sometimes without knowing, our Christianity can drift to that where we want the stuff of God and we miss out on God. I want to go back to Genesis chapter 1, 2, and 3 real quick. But because we were created really for the voice of God, for God himself. Adam and Eve are in the garden. And sometimes we think the purpose of the, you know, or like, what happened in the garden was, oh, they disobeyed God. Humanity went off Course, because they disobeyed God. Can I tell you that I don't believe that's the center of what happened here in the garden? Like, yes, God told him not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But actually God was more about preserving the intimate fellowship that they had with God. So before there was work naming the animals, before God said, have dominion, rule over the earth, fill the earth, so subdue it. All that stuff, before any of that stuff, there was communion with God. God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. He wanted them.
[00:09:56] He wanted them and he created them in a way where he's like, I want to walk with you. And every single day I want you to hear my voice. And so he says, listen, I'm going to put this tree in the middle of the gardens, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But I don't want you eat of it. I want you to walk with me.
[00:10:10] Why? Think about this. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil a bad thing?
[00:10:19] Did God have the tree of the knowledge? Did God have the knowledge of good and evil?
[00:10:24] Right.
[00:10:25] You know, the serpent says, like, you know, if you eat of this, you will become like God, knowing both good and evil. And then later on in the passage it says, God himself said, look, man has become like us knowing good and evil.
[00:10:39] So both the serpent and God acknowledged that this tree was going to give them the knowledge of good and evil. And when they ate of it, they did get the knowledge of good and evil. But God puts this tree in there and he says, don't eat of it. I want to walk with you. Relationally. Was God trying to prevent Adam and Eve from the knowledge of good and evil?
[00:11:00] No.
[00:11:02] Did he want them to get it instantly? No, he actually wanted them to get it through relationship. God was going to give Adam and Eve all of the knowledge of good and evil, but he wanted to do it day by day in relationship with God, step by step, saying, adam and Eve, let me teach you everything about me. I've created you in my image and likeness. But this thing about all the knowledge of good and evil, I want to teach it to you relationally so you catch my heart, so you don't misuse it.
[00:11:28] Because here's what happened When Adam and Eve got the knowledge of good and evil instantly, outside of relationship, the sin was not just disobedience, the sin was God. I don't want your stuff later through relate. I don't want Your stuff through relationship, slowly. I want all of it now. I want to become fully mature like you. Now.
[00:11:49] I can have it instantly, transactionally, without you, or you're inviting me to do it relationally. I'll take the transactional instant.
[00:11:59] Right.
[00:12:01] When I was in. In school, I remember they always asked us this question. If. If someone. If you want a million dollars and they offered it to you, do you want all the million now or do you want like a penny? And then it's going to be doubled and then doubled and doubled. And do you want that for like a year? And I'm like, oh, give me the million now. But, like, if you take the doubled every day, like, it becomes like, significantly more. We're like, I'm not gonna wait a year or like a lifetime, or, like, you know, spread out my earnings. You know, like, if someone wins the lotto, they can actually spread it out as payments for the rest of their life.
[00:12:29] Guess how many people choose that?
[00:12:32] Why? Because we want transactional. We want it now.
[00:12:35] We don't want the journey, we don't want the tension. We don't want the process. But God's actually invited Adam and Eve into this process. I want to show you every. I'm going to teach you everything about good and evil, but don't get it outside of me. So that's the sin that happened in the garden. That's. That's a separation. They broke what God designed them for, right? And so the proof of this is this, like, Adam and Eve gets the knowledge of good and evil. And God, you know, he creates man good. And you know, it's. God created all creation in. In six days. He said, good, good, good, good. And then he says, creates man. Very good. So man is very good. And man happens to be created naked. You know, Adam and Eve were created naked and they felt no shame. Genesis 2:25.
[00:13:14] So naked was God's perfect, was God's good. And yet when Adam eats of the tree, he looks at himself and he looks down and says, I am naked. And he said, I was afraid because I was naked.
[00:13:27] I wasn't afraid because I disobeyed you. I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid.
[00:13:32] Wait, but right before you ate, you were also naked.
[00:13:37] So Adam uses the knowledge of good and evil. He looks at his condition nakedness and says, this is bad. This is shameful. I should run and hide from God where God created it. Actually good. Do you see how the knowledge outside of relationship was misused? And now that was the thing that started to kill Adam, it started to separate him. He was running from God where before God would have taught him over time, Adam, I'm not holding anything from you. But the serpent's like, no, God's holding stuff from you. Get it now, right? And so this is the whole point here. It's interesting there. If you go to Genesis chapter three.
[00:14:14] Actually, before we do that, I'll say this, that God, God could have given Adam and Eve everything right to start with, but he doesn't, because God is not interested in efficiency. Like, they got to the knowledge of good and evil very quickly. No, God is actually more interested in intimacy than he is in efficiency. We want efficiency. Give me the million dollars now. Efficiency. God wants intimacy. The whole gospel is God longing for man to be one and close with him, for God to speak and for us to hear his voice and for us to go on a journey. And sometimes for us, we just want the destination. Like the number one thing humans want is, what's my destiny? What's my purpose? What's my calling? Why am I on this earth? Why is the number one Christian selling book a purpose driven life? Why? Because people want to know what is my destination? Let me do what I'm called to do on this earth. Show it to me and, and I'll go do it. Why is it often that God reveals his purpose to you in stages? I was talking to this SOI School of ministry students this past week on their last session. I did a few sessions with them, but I did one on purpose and calling. And I kind of made the whole emphasis on how, like God's not into you, just discovering what you're supposed to do right away. And I even shared this journey of my life. Like I didn't know God had called me to be, know, a preacher teacher this and that. Like, it took years of unveiling where God gave me these hints, but he led me along the way because had he told me when I was really, really young, the whole picture and all the process, guess what I would have done? Boom, I would have run to that and I would have forgot about God. And now I'm disconnected from God. And that's God's greatest desire. So sometimes what we're asking for God, if he gives it to you, it'll disconnect, connect you from him because you have what you need.
[00:15:56] You, you don't need God.
[00:15:58] A lot of people, they come to God because they need something from him.
[00:16:05] And if he were to give it to you, he would lose you if he doesn't give it to you. He loses you because you're so mad. And if he gives it to you, you would lose. He would lose you because you have it and you don't need him anymore.
[00:16:17] And yet his longing is actually intimacy and relationship. Because God's highest priority is not efficiency, it's intimacy. So Genesis 3, I love this, this part, it says that the serpent said, Did God really say? Has God really said. Notice that the attack on Adam and Eve was. God was speaking to them. They had this relational intimacy with God. And the enemy's attack was on the voice of God. Did God really say, can I tell you the enemy will always attack what God is saying to you? The voice of God, the active relational part. If you get into the transactional stuff and, and you're just pursuing the stuff of God, even miracles, this and that enemy won't mind. But when you're in communion with God, that's where the enemy is going to come in and start to attack the voice of God.
[00:17:00] In Genesis, did God really say the first attack was on God's voice? Right.
[00:17:07] But God has been restoring this since the beginning. So Adam and Eve fell and they wanted the stuff of God, the, the miracles, the works, the promises, this and that. And yet God's saying, I want you. Do you want me back? Right. If you look further on in, In Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 4, this is the Shema. This is like the prayer of Israel. The, the. The Jewish people recited. This is one of the most important passages to them. And it's very interesting that the very first word of the. The Shema, this prayer is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, Hear, O Israel. Notice that the first thing that God wants the people to remember, like if you could summarize the, the. The Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible into one verse or like one main theme or one important thing. It's like God's cry is this. Hear, oh Israel, the Lord, Hear the Lord, hear the Lord. I want. I'm your God, I, you're my people. I want you to hear me. I want to be with you. And this is the cry. This is the greatest commandment really. I see in the Old Testament, because Israel simply wasn't commanded to obey God didn't want just a people that would obey him. He's inviting them to hear him, to know him.
[00:18:23] Later on, Jesus in Matthew 4, 4, he's quoting Moses in the Old Testament. So if you go back To Exodus chapter 16, Exodus chapter 16 is a story of the Israelites they're hungry and they want bread and they want food, all this stuff. And God starts to rain down. Manna from heaven, gives him quail in the evening, manna every day. But it comes down from heaven. It's a supernatural food, and it's only good for that day. The next day it's bad. This today gives you life. The next day has worms. It's going to make you sick. It's going to make you. It's not going to be good. And so Moses is recounting Exodus 16, how God sent bread from heaven every single day to feed them. And he's saying this In Deuteronomy, chapter 8, verse 3, says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And then Jesus quotes that very same thing in Matthew 4. 4, man does not live by what they eat.
[00:19:12] But it's like, wait, because the. The man that fell down from heaven, who was coming from heaven every single day, fresh, the next day, it was bad. It was only good for that day. Come down from heaven. And Jesus is saying, this man lives by the words that are coming from the mouth of God. If you look at that, the tense there, it's in the present tense. The best way to understand that passage is man doesn't live by bread, but man lives by the words that God is speaking every day. God is speaking every day. God wants intimacy, just like with Adam and Eve. He walked with them and he wanted to talk with them every single day. This is the invitation, this is the call that God wants from us, that. That we would live in this present relational fellowship with God. God gives daily bread because he wants daily fellowship, right? Sometimes he doesn't show us the whole entire journey because we. He would lose us often. But he gives us daily bread because he wants daily fellowship. And it's the same throughout all of scripture. You see, with Abraham, God says to him, go, and I'm going to show you the way that you're going to go. Like Abraham's command in Genesis 12 was just, God, I will show you. Sometimes we don't want the go. I will show you. Sometimes we want the show me. And then I'll go.
[00:20:27] And for Abraham, it was the go and I'll show you, right? Because now Abraham is depending on God for every step, every single move that he makes. He needs God.
[00:20:39] That's how God wants us. He wants us to live this. This dependent meeting of him, right? Israel is led by a cloud and fire. They don't know where they're going to go. They don't know how long they're going to be there. God's not like, okay, hey, you know what? This pillar, it's here for a month. Just settle down. They just watched it. If it moved that day, they moved that day. If it stayed, they stayed. They followed something that they had no plan or idea what was happening next. They were on a journey with God. Sometimes because God's interested in our relational connection with him, rather than just this transactional thing where we get to the destination or we get the thing that we want right from God.
[00:21:16] Jesus later on, he, in John, in his teaching, John 10, he says, My sheep, I'm the good shepherd. My sheep follow me. He says, my sheep, they hear my voice. They know me and they follow me. My sheep, they hear.
[00:21:31] Jesus made the emphasis on sheep hearing God, knowing God, that word knowing is ginosko. It's intimacy with God. And they follow me, right? And so Jesus makes this emphasis on the hearing of faith. And then our passage in Galatians, chapter three. I'm going to go here. This is where I got the title of the message, Hearing of Faith. It's Galatians, chapter three, verse two.
[00:21:53] And then verse five as well, says something very similar. But let's look at verse 2, Galatians 3, verse 2. This only I want to learn from you. This is Paul writing to the Galatians, because God's done a work in them. They're a spiritual community. They're doing amazing. And now they're going back and they're. They're going back to works. They're going back to religion. They're going back to what they knew before the predictable. And he's rebuking. He's like, I want to know from you, did you receive the Spirit? How did the Spirit come to you? Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law? By the way, the works of the law were not bad. Like, the law is good, it's pure, it's holy. It shows who God is, his standard. And they're doing the works of law. But. But is that how you receive the Spirit? No. And then look what he says. No, but by the hearing of faith.
[00:22:35] And then verse five, he says something similar. Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?
[00:22:46] So both the Spirit and miracles, the works of God, are done by the hearing of faith. There's an emphasis here where Paul says, guys, you can't pursue this with religion. Or works or principles. Like, he wants. Actually, he wants you to hear him every single day, the daily bread. He hearing God, right? Miracles don't happen because you learn a principle and you start practicing it. Actually, it's by hearing God. You know, throughout my life, I. One of the things that I had the privilege of doing, I served a pastor when I was in my teens. I was in college, and I was serving the pastor. And he was phenomenal with deliverance. And he did. He did deliverance ministry. He was in the satellite area. He was actually known. People would drive for hours from the whole saddle region. If they needed deliverance, they would go to him. He would often take me to these things. And so I was learning how he was doing deliverance. And, like, it seemed like this guy was just nailed it. It was easy. I think the longest deliverance session we ever had with him was 30 minutes. And this was, like, a severe case. 30 minutes. Usually it was like we were there. You know, he's not preparing. He just shows up. All of a sudden, boom. Demons are gone. There's not a lot of manifestations, but there's just like. I mean, there was stories of manifestations, too, but there was, like, he got to a place where he just was so proficient with it. And I was trying to, like, learn from him. Okay. Like, he said this, and then he did that, and then he tried that, and then. And then sometimes you're, like, you know, watching online, and I'm studying, and I'm reading all these books, and I'm getting all these books. I'm like, okay, deliverance is something we got to do. I'm going to do it. And so now I'm, like, learning all the different methods and the different ways and, you know, using the Bible and quoting this and binding this and to the pit that and commanding angels this, and it's just like. And then. So, you know, when I started practicing on my own without my friend there, that was kind of doing it. I just started running into. It was. It was tough. I ran into sometimes, like, three days I'm with someone, and they're like, they're toast, and I'm toast. You know, Like, I went to a church later on that believed in the miracles and deliverance and all that kind of stuff, but no one was really practicing that. And so, like, I was kind of going after it. So all the demoniacs in this church were being sent to me, and I'm spending, like, three days fasting and praying and then trying to cast out demons. And I'm Like, I have all these things. I'm like, man, like, Pastor John did this, this, this, this. Like, I'm doing it all. It's not working. What's going on? And I just got frustrated, and I would see. I would see breakthroughs and it would happen, but, like, I would apply this principle and then that principle and then that one, and then. And then, you know, interview them and go back and forth with the demon and find out all their names and their moms and dads and everything else. It's just like, man, like, I just got tired. I think I got indoctrinated by those demons, by the doctrine of demons. They just. I mean, they were just talking to me.
[00:25:24] Instead of me talking to God, I'm talking to them.
[00:25:30] And what I, what, what I found and discovered later on my ministry, actually the best deliverance. Now when I, When. When I do deliverance, I'm doing very little of the principles that I've learned, and I'm just simply like, lord, what do we have here? And what do you want to do? Like, how do you want to do this, Lord, like, what's going on? Like, I'm not going to get into interviews and forms and workbooks and principles and Bibles and angels and cool. Like, if that's your thing, go for it. Doing some kind of deliverance is better than nothing at all. But I discovered that if I just tune in and hear God, that's the greatest tool of deliverance. How about the tool of deliverance is God, not me, learning his tools and principles? Because do you know that you can actually do the works of God without God?
[00:26:16] You know, like Jesus before the followers of Jesus, you know, like the religious people said to Jesus, hey, Jesus, you know, you're casting out demons with the devil. And he's like, well, then who do your sons cast the devil out by? So Jesus was saying to the religious leaders, your sons are casting out demons, but they're doing it the right way. But I'm casting him out by Satan. You know, house divided, can't stand, not possible.
[00:26:37] So you have these guys that were kind of religious, you know, followers of Judaism, not followers of Christ before even Jesus was there casting out demons. So you can kind of cast out. You can learn how to cast out demons through principles, kind of do that. You can learn the principle of repentance and this and that and rebuking. You can use your human authority and cast out demons. You know, you can actually, you know, some people sign up to these supernatural schools of ministry in different places because they're like, oh, dude, I want to learn, like, the crazy Christian Hogwarts, you know, like, how to do the magic, like, how to, like, prophesy, how to, like, hear God, how to, like, read. People's like, like, oh, this is. Is your mom named Tasha? You know, it's like some people, like, they're looking for magic and they go to the Christian places because they want to learn the Christian stuff. You know, you can maybe learn the principles of prophesying and do it without God. Like, because we have spiritual senses as humans, because we're created in the image of God. You can learn hearing, you can learn seeing, mystical stuff, you can have mystical experiences, learn to cast out demons, but you're actually doing it not in relationship or partnership with God. For me, I got burnt out and tired of that. And now I'm like, lord, if I'm not hearing you, I'm not casting demons out. So, like, you know, maybe what I need to do first is like, get my hearer on, get my antenna up. Maybe fasting helps with that. Like, Lord, I. I better be. I better be sharp because I'm not arm wrestling no demons through a bunch of principles anymore. Amen. So that's just one example. So my point is this. Should we not go after Deliverance? Of course we should, but I'm saying, how do we go after it? As a Christian principle that we learn from a class, how should we prophesy as a Christian principle we learn from a class, or should we lean into the heart of the Father? I imagine myself when I'm prophesying. I come to someone, I just imagine myself. I'm laying on the chest of the Father and saying, lord, we're talking about your kid. That's right here.
[00:28:30] What's. What are you hearing, feeling, saying and seeing? So I'm. I'm tuning into God's heart rather than, like, trying to, like, figure out how the imagination and thoughts and perception and discernment, how all these mystical things are working so I could gather some information and wow them.
[00:28:50] You could kind of learn mysticism without God and get in trouble because there's spiritual stuff out there. That's not God.
[00:28:58] So are we pursuing power Christian, Power Christian, awesome stuff or the hearing of faith because, you know Hebrews or where is it? It's Romans 10:17 says, this. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. Faith comes by hearing.
[00:29:23] By the way that word, hearing there, hearing by the word of Christ. The word, the word for word there is not the word logos. It's actually the word rhema, which means spoken faith, comes by hearing, hearing the spoken word of Christ.
[00:29:37] Hearing the words of Christ, right? Think about this. Jesus sends his disciples off. He does this miracle, sends his. I was off, they're in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. Then he starts walking to them on the water and they're all frightened, they're freaked out. And Jesus said, hey, don't worry, it's okay, it's me. They can't see him yet. They're just like, he's out there, it's dark, it's a ghost. They're freaking out. And Peter's like, Jesus, if that's you, you tell me to come to you.
[00:30:03] And then Jesus says, come.
[00:30:07] When did Peter get the faith to step out on the water and walk on water?
[00:30:14] Cuz none of, none of the other disciples did it. When did, when was that possible and available to Peter? When Jesus said come. When Peter hears the words of God, his faith is not in walking on water. His faith is in obeying God.
[00:30:28] Peter says, I'm gonna simply like God, you said it. This is crazy. I'm just gonna do it. Faith, faith comes by hearing active hearing the word of Christ.
[00:30:42] Not just like, because you can find like the red letters, the words of Christ, which is great. We should study the scriptures. The Holy Spirit illuminates them. But the point of us reading the ancient text that, that God spoke is that God would speak and illuminate.
[00:30:56] The point isn't to study what was spoken, it's to hear what is being spoken.
[00:31:02] Are you picking up what I'm putting down? Such an important principle. Sometimes as Christians we go to the Word, but we just are interacting with an ancient book. But it's actually not meant to be that way because it's living inactive. It's actually going to speak to our situation right now, right? Jesus was quoting, quoting the scriptures, speaking things to them right now, right? And so the hearing of faith. So I believe that God wants us to move away from maybe some of the transactional Christianity, maybe the. We've been pursuing God expecting and we've been hurt by it. God, like, where is that healing? Where's that breakthrough? Like you promised it to me, you owe it to me. Like I grew up under, you know, teaching and you know, where it was basically like, hey, like God paid for healing on the cross. It's part of the atonement. It's, it's the right of every Christian. It works like a law. So like you know how laws work. You know, you're not, you're not hoping gravity is going to work. You just throw something and you know it's going to work. Healing is a law.
[00:32:01] I disagree. I don't think it's a law.
[00:32:04] I think he's a healer. His name is Jesus. He has a relationship with you and he wants to walk with you through it.
[00:32:11] Of course his will is that you would be healed by. But can you walk with him in it or are you just going to have your thing right now, your way? Bang. You know, an illustration of this is, you know, three years ago in the summer, in July actually, after a Sunday like this, we were playing volleyball. I was playing volleyball, fell in this hole, broke my ankle, went and got it X rayed. They found like three or four bone fragments floating around in my ankle. So they're like, hey, we're going to have to put. You're going to get a CT scan, which is like, you know, more imagery so they can figure out exactly where they are and then surgically remove those because they don't want them to get stuck in the ankle. They're like, we can't just let them float around. And so they schedule me for the, the ct for pre surgery CT scan. I think it was like nine or ten days later after I'd broken it. And this whole time, like from the time I broke it to the time I have this CT scan scheduled, I'm like, lord, I know you can heal me. I know you want to heal me, but. And I just started to just go after it, started to pray over it every day. I started to declare all the scriptures I took, I took out all my healing scriptures from the past, started to quote over them the blood of Jesus. I started to take communion every single day. I started to, I started to slap it with tongues every day.
[00:33:23] You know, I was just like, I was throwing the whole book at the thing, you know, I was using everything I learned about healing. Every principle, there's like a lot of them, you know, I've taught on them the laws of healing, how to get your healing, you know, using my imagination, imagining, like, man, I know, like, because imagination is the seed bed of faith. I'm just going to imagine a healer. I'm going to go into that office, I still have this boot thing. And they're going to come and do the CT scan. The doctor is going to walk into the room and he's going to say, you know what, I don't really know what to tell you, but your foot's fine. Get out of here. You know, that's what's going to happen? Because I'm not going to. Because, you know, I break it. And I tell them they'll get the X ray. They're like, there's fragments. And they're like, okay, so, like, when can I run? I have a marathon coming up. They're like, you're not going to be running for at least six months. Like, forget your marathon. Cancel the next three. You know? I'm like, no, lady. You know, and so I'm like, no. And so I'm imagining this. And like, that morning, I go in, it's Wednesday. I go into the doctor, and it's exactly as I imagined. Get the CT scan. The doctor walks in, he's like, I don't know what to tell you. Here's the pictures. Here was the X ray. Bone fragments. Here's the picture. And I'm like, so, yeah. So, like, where's the damage? He's like, yeah, there is none. Like, take off this boot. You're out of here.
[00:34:34] So three years ago, I break my ankle. And immediately I'm like, I know how healing works. I just went after every single principle and I got it.
[00:34:44] And then that was in July of 2023. Then fast forward seven months, I break my ankle, the same ankle again. Skiing on Valentine's Day in February, My wife's anesthesia. Snap my ankle, snap it here. And here I go into the doctor. Same doctor, same clinic.
[00:35:03] I'm like, yeah, now they're really going to get saved.
[00:35:08] Let's go. This whole clinic is coming to Jesus. This is awesome.
[00:35:12] And I just immediately, I'm like, you know, this is a really big bummer. I got another marathon coming up in that season, you know? And I'm like, oh, it. God did it before. He's gonna do it again. And I just started doing. I just started slapping it with everything. The word, prayer, tongues, communion, imagination, proclamation, declaration, manifestation, transubstantiation. I don't know. I'm just making stuff up now.
[00:35:40] I just started slapping it. And I just do not feel anything in the spirit.
[00:35:45] Like, I just feel like it's dead. And I just feel like I don't think I'm supposed to do this. So I'm like. I pause and I'm like.
[00:35:52] And I just hear the Lord kind of like, Vic, like seven months ago, supernaturally healed you. Like, you know, I can do that again. And, you know, if you just go after it, like, you can get this, but I want to invite you into something deeper than just your immediate healing.
[00:36:11] And I was like, I rebuke that voice, you know, because that didn't fit my theology. My theology is God wants healing for you right now and go get it. It's your right.
[00:36:20] And you just. The only reason why you didn't get it is because you probably just didn't use the right method.
[00:36:24] You know, whether that was no faith, lack of faith, little faith, your mama's faith doesn't matter. Like, it's just I had a reason why. And if it didn't work out, it wasn't on God. It was on me 100 of the time.
[00:36:37] And I just hear God inviting me, like, can I do something greater than an instant healing?
[00:36:43] And I'm in, like, excruciating pain. It's crazy. And I'm scheduled for a surgery, and like this, you know, I'm coming in for the surgery, and I'm the doctor. Hey, you remember last time, hey, when you, like, before you, like, cut this open, just check it to see if it's broken. I tell him right before I have surgery. So I'm still kind of believing, but. But I can't forget what the Lord told me. He's like, can I invite you into something greater? And I just like, okay, Lord, sure.
[00:37:06] And so this, the healing of my ankle the second time was really slow process. Like, it disrupted my walk. And now, like, you know, sometimes when I work out to this day, like, if my. I don't get good blood circulation, I feel a little bit stuff. I had metal plates installed, and I had the metal plates removed. I've had, like, three surgeries on this ankle in, like, a couple years.
[00:37:26] Nuts. But, like, I didn't get the supernatural healing, and I felt the Lord invite me not to pursue that. Whoa.
[00:37:34] Because he wanted to do something greater in me.
[00:37:37] What if instead of us always going after the principle of what I deserve, what God paid for, we're like, what if we just had a conversation with the Lord about it, Lord, Like, I feel like you gave me this word, like, five years ago about this, and it still hasn't happened. And if I'm honest, I'm pretty disappointed when I everyone ask me how I'm doing. I'm like, God's good. He's faithful. But inside, I'm like, flipping is not good. You know, I'm not going to say that out loud to myself, but that's how I feel.
[00:38:03] And we have a lot of believers that have a lot of disappointment because they kind of see scriptures as a little bit more transactional than an invitation to a conversation. But can I tell you God wants a conversation with you.
[00:38:17] Like, I'm not. I'm man.
[00:38:20] Let's eagerly desire the spiritual gifts. I'm not against any of that. Like, I want to grow in it more, not less. I want more.
[00:38:26] I'm not operating in enough power. I need more power in my life.
[00:38:30] But can I tell you that the key to it is not the principles. It's his voice. It's him.
[00:38:35] It's wanting him. It's saying, jesus, I know you love these people more than me. I don't want to practice my words of knowledge on God. What is your heart and where your heart becomes his heart. And then you're not a tool for Christian ministry. He's not using you, but you just partner with his heart because he just wants to walk with you. And he might not give you the whole journey. He might not give you all the steps. Your journey might be really difficult. We're going to face tough things. That seems like opposite of the promises of God, opposite of Scriptures, opposite of the things that say. He says, Psalm 91, I'm going to protect you. And then you're like, where were you, God? You didn't protect me. And I actually asked for it.
[00:39:11] I. Lots of stories I could tell you, but his heart is. Can I invite you into conversation?
[00:39:20] I think God's shifting us away from transactional Christianity, where it's everything about a rule, a law and a principle. I think we have too many steps and too many laws of God, but maybe not enough hearing of his voice.
[00:39:34] So I invite us to respond this afternoon.
[00:39:38] Lord, you can stand, or I guess you can sit or whatever you want to do. I'm going to.
[00:39:47] I just felt like God wants to search our hearts. And where in our life have we kind of been a little bit more transactional? We've drifted from that relational intimacy with God where we just. We need him and we. We want to hear his voice, where the destination is, is communion with him rather than the thing that we think that we need, that. That job, that miracle, that breakthrough, that.
[00:40:15] That gift of the Spirit, that calling, that purpose, that whatever it is.
[00:40:22] But Lord, forgive us where we've made your word, your promises transactional. We've put the promise before the person. We want to repent of that God. And we want.
[00:40:34] We want you to awaken that again in us, God, where we just. We need you. We're desperate for you.
[00:40:41] Draw us to you, Holy Spirit.
[00:40:47] Draw us, God, where we've desired, maybe other things, good things, Christian things, but separate from you.
[00:40:57] We've missed your heart, God, we repent of them.
[00:41:01] Draw us close to you.
[00:41:06] We lay it all down again.
[00:41:09] We want to know you.
[00:41:20] Thank you for joining King Movement Online. I pray and hope that that sermon impacted you deeply. I would love if you shared this with a few friends and family. And before you go, don't forget to subscribe. See you next week.
