Priscilla Shirer shares a powerful message about hearing the voice of God and growing more intimately with Him. When we place faith in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us, all the power, all the glory, all the grandeur of who He is lives inside of us. When we open our spiritual ears and yield to Him, we will find that His voice grows louder as He outworks His gifts in our lives. #priscillashirer #hearinggod #hearingthevoiceofgod SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/@GoingBeyondM… RESOURCES: https://www.goingbeyond.com/store/
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Welcome to the Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer YouTube channel! Our ministry is focused on the expository teaching of Scripture. Our desire is not only to see people understand His written Word but for all to experience His Power! Priscilla Shirer has equipped believers through her Bible studies, films and books including Discerning the Voice of God, God is Able, and two New York Times Bestsellers – The Resolution for Women and Fervent: A Woman’s Battle Plan for Serious, Specific and Strategic Prayer. Her movies include War Room (2015), I Can Only Imagine (2017), Overcomer (2019), and The Forge (2024). These theatrical releases are tools designed to inspire audiences to walk with Jesus.
I have uh three siblings I have an older
sister her name is Crystal and then I
have two younger brothers Anthony and
Jonathan I’m I’m I’m second in line I’m
sort of right in the middle and um we’re
all very very good friends my my sister
my older sister Crystal and I are are
extremely good friends we actually were
next door neighbors for a large portion
of our life five or six years we live
right next door she has five children
but her three boys she has two older
daughters but her three boys are pretty
much the exact same age as my three boys
it’s like we planned it or something we
just kept having these boys and we Liv
next door to each other homeschooled our
children really together so she did all
the hard stuff I did recess and lunch
that’s what they came to my house for
and it was just a zoo basically all day
long six boys just running back and
forth so we have spent a lot of our
adult years really being very close
friends um but of course in our younger
years we were were sisters growing up
together so we bued heads quite a bit
Crystal and I uh probably had a rivalry
that started very very very early in our
lives because my sister Crystal was the
very first child obviously in my family
but the first grandchild for either side
of the family so paternal grandparents
maternal grandparents she was the first
grandchild her name was crystal because
she was the light of everyone’s
eyes
so my grandparents were so thrilled that
they finally had this grandbaby and of
course I know there’s something about
that first grandbaby um that you just
are so thrilled and excited about I’ve
heard that from lots of grandparents and
my grandmother in particular on my
father’s side she was so excited about
this first grandbaby girl so for
Christmas every year from the moment
Crystal was born she would send this box
of stuff for her for Christmas inside of
this box there would be things that
little girls used to wear not this you
know sort of casual skinny jeans stuff
uh-uh I’m talking about the hoop skirts
you know with the Ruffles on the bottom
you remember when little girls used to
wear those little fold over socks that
had the lace around the trim yeah those
big hoop skirts and stuff where in
church on a Sunday they’d be spinning
around because they’d want to see how
high their skirt could get she’d send
little patent leather shoes little white
and black patent leather shoes and just
lots of sweet things she would send them
the box would come with Crystal’s name
on it and I know what my grandmother was
thinking she was thinking that she was
going to send things in Crystal size and
then all of us could just grow into all
of the handmd downs and all of the the
stuff that she would soon grow out of
and I remember being so excited every
year when the box came the box would
come Crystal’s name on it we would stand
together and we would open up this box
and I would be so excited as we took out
every little skirt and every little pair
of socks and every little pair of shoes
because I remember thinking that soon
sister girl you going to grow out of all
this stuff and it will all be
mine but I remember there was one
particular year I don’t know it must
have just been because I was a little
bit older that year maybe nine or 10
years old that I’m opening up this box
with my sister and I remember that year
not being excited about this situation
anymore I remember opening up the box I
remember pulling out the stuff and I
remember feeling a little bit
disconcerted about the fact that this
stuff had not been specifically chosen
for me this stuff had been chosen for
her and I’d been okay with hand me-
Downs with secondhand clothes all of
these years but all of a sudden I wanted
my own stuff I wanted something to come
with my name on it that had specifically
been chosen for me there ought to come a
time in your relationship with the Lord
where hand me down Revelation just
doesn’t do it for you anymore there
ought to come a little bit of
disconcerting a little bit of maturity
in your walk with God where you become a
little bit unsettled to only be spoonfed
the word of God from someone else to you
now we thank God for our pastors and our
teachers and our leaders that help us to
rightly divide the word of truth but
there ought to come a time in your life
where you’ve decided you know what I
want fresh Revelation with my name on it
that has come straight from God’s spirit
for my
life because you know we can be
handicapped as Christians we can live
our whole lives leaning on Revelation
that that is spoonfed to us from other
people instead of knowing that the exact
same holy spirit of God that lives in
that person whose faith we might
rightfully admire that the same holy
spirit of God that lives in them also
lives in you to teach you you all things
and on the the end of this conference
what we want for you is so much of what
Ally said a few moments ago when she
stood on this platform that really this
is not the end this is the beginning
that when you leave this place it not it
ought not be a period on the end of a
sentence it really ought to be just the
opening up of a brand new fervent
vibrant relationship with Jesus that
what you’ve had in this room you cannot
wait to get home and to just um just
coddle a little bit and encourage a
little bit and be in the word of God and
in prayer and in worship not because
there’s a crowd gathered but because the
same God who is permeating this room is
the same God who will be with you in
your home in your room on your job in
your life in your marriage in the
details of your daily
circumstances you can hear the voice of
God I’m so glad glad that you have come
to this conference but if the only time
that you expect to hear God speak to you
is once a year at the conference you
going to be in trouble if you’re waiting
on Breath of God next year to actually
experience the Breath of God the oxygen
of God to your life you going to be in
trouble listen I hope you go to church
on Sunday I hope you go if you do not go
to this church that you go to a vibrant
Spirit-filled Bible teaching church
somewhere you need to be planted in the
house of God so I pray that you
recognize that this conference did not
take the place of Sunday morning
tomorrow at your
church come on somebody ought to say
Amen to
that your pastor ought to be so thrilled
that you came to this conference because
you bring tomorrow morning into the
house of God a fire and a fervency to
serve the people of God and to be in the
setting of the presence of God so I pray
you go to church on Sunday but if the
only time you are hearing the word of
God is once a week on a Sunday you’re
going to be in trouble on I pray that
you’re in Bible study I know many of you
are that once a week or twice a month
you may meet up with a group of girls
over a Bible study so that you can go
deeper into the word of God I I pray
that you do that but if the only time
you are ever hearing God is when you are
gathered with other people you are
handicapped in your relationship with
God yes we ought to we ought to desire
you ought to hunger even if you’re not
quite sure how yet you ought to hunger
for it to just be you and God over his
love letter asking him to speak to you
and to give fresh wind and Fresh Fire
for the details of your life you can
hear the voice of
God there is a portion of scripture that
speaks to this more clearly than any
other I think it’s been encouraging to
me in my own life because I have a
tendency to to uh sometimes become a a
little bit handicapped in this way that
I enjoy so much listening to other
people teach and listening to the
Revelation that is the holy spirit has
given them to share with us to edify me
I I I become I can become a little bit
handicapped in that I have to be
encouraged myself to remember that I too
can have my own personal relationship
with Jesus where my spiritual ears are
open to hear what it is that he wants to
say to me for my life as a woman for my
peace of mind and peace of heart from my
life as a mother to the three sons that
the Lord has given me to the husband
that the Lord has given me to be married
to for nearly 20 years now that he’s got
a word that is a signed just for me I’ve
got to remind myself that I have the
privilege to hear the voice of God as
well and this portion of scripture has
helped me with that it is in the Book of
John John chapter 10 I’m going to read
to you verse
1-5 and then I’m going to hop over to
verse 27 and we’re just is going to camp
out there for just a few minutes on this
final evening of this incredible
conference that we’ve shared together
John 10: 1-5 says this truly truly I say
to you he who does not enter by the door
into the fold of the sheep but climbs up
some other way he is a thief and a
robber but he who enters by the door is
The Shepherd of the sheep to him the
doorkeeper will open the door the Sheep
will hear his voice he calls his own
Sheep by their name and then he leads
them out freedom is in the voice of God
when he puts forth all of his own he
goes before them and the Sheep follow
him because they know his voice verse 5
says and a stranger they simply will not
follow they will flee from him because
they do not know the voice of a
stranger verse
27 my
sheep hear my
voice I know them and they follow me
listen to that one liner again there’s a
whole lot packed into that one liner if
you underline in your brick and mortar
Bible like I do this is one of those
verses that deserves to be
underlined John 10:27 says my sheep this
is what they do they hear my voice he
says I know my sheep and they follow me
a lot of times the details of what Jesus
wanted to get across the truths that he
wanted to communicate to us sometimes
they are lost amidst the shuffle of some
terminology and some some uh cultural
nuances that we miss CU we don’t know
the details of stuff like wheat and soil
and grapes and those sorts of things
often times he will speak about things
that unless we understand some cultural
significance we’ll miss out on the
richness of what there is so let’s just
go back in time just a little bit to the
Middle Eastern Sheepfold in Jesus’s day
so that we can wrap some flesh around
this and see how we as Daughters of God
can expect to hear the voice of God
there are four details in this one line
where we’re going to settle in for just
a few moments tonight there are four
details that are going to help us to
understand how we can make sure we leave
this conference fully anticipating that
we can keep this love affair going all
year long until we meet again say Time
same place next year he says my sheep
are the ones who hear my voice the very
first thing Jesus points out in this one
liner John 10:27 is that my sheep are
the ones who hear my voice he points out
a
relationship in the Middle Eastern
Sheepfold in Jesus’s day a Shepherd
would have upwards of 100 sheep that
might be in the flock that he’d be
leading all day long throughout the day
as the day wore on and everyone became
tired and it was time for the Sheep to
sleep that one Shepherd would take his
all of his 100 sheep to a fold for the
night in fact there might be upwards of
10 Shepherds that would bring their 100
sheep to one fold to stay for the night
Shepherd number one and number two and
number three and number four all the way
up to number 10 they would all come to
the same fold the fold was uh barded off
are fenced off by by um stones that had
been gathered up into waste high fence
lining all the way around and there
would be one entrance one opening there
was no gate there there was no door
there just an opening into the stone
lined fold and so all 10 of the shepherd
would bring their 100 sheep there might
be upwards of 1,000 sheep in the
Sheepfold to spend the night nine of the
10 Shepherds would turn around and go
back into the nearest city to sleep for
the evening there would be one Shepherd
that would stay behind he would lay his
body in the opening of the Sheepfold and
he would become the doorway to the
Sheepfold he would actually use his body
as the barrier he would make sure to
watch over the 1,000 sheep that were
inside the fold that night and use his
own body as the gate as the doorway to
the Sheep to make sure that there was no
predator or no stranger that tried to
take advantage of the 1,000 sheep that
were on the inside in the morning when a
Shepherd would return from the city to
retrieve his flock the porter that’s the
shepherd the name of the Shepherd that
had stayed behind was called the porter
the porter would lift his body up from
where he was laying all night long he
would see a Shepherd coming from afar
and he would take time to evaluate
whether he recognized this Shepherd he
would want to determine whether or not
not this Shepherd was a true Shepherd of
one of the flocks that was inside if he
recognized that it was a true Shepherd
he would remove his body from the
opening of the Sheepfold the shepherd
would walk into the
Sheepfold that had 10 different flocks
and that Shepherd would call his
sheep with one call the 100 that were in
relationship with that Shepherd would
detect the call of their Shepherd and
only those 100 would rise up out of the
flocks that were gathered that night and
follow their Shepherd out What mattered
as to whether or not they understood
that call was not whether they were
black sheep or white sheep it didn’t
matter whether or not they congregated
with a whole lot of sheep or a little
bit of sheep it didn’t matter whether
they were the cool sheep or the cheaply
discarded runs the only thing that
mattered was whether or not they were in
relationship with the shepherd I’ve got
a question for you today are you in
relationship with Jesus Christ have you
placed faith in Jesus Christ because the
only way that you’ll be able that I’ll
be able after this day is over to
clearly hear the voice of God when we’re
not necessarily in the company of many
others the only way to have an ongoing
fervent fiery relationship with Jesus
Christ is to make sure that you actually
have a relationship with him and here’s
what you need to know our God doesn’t
have
grandkids wow just because your mama
placed faith in Jesus Christ does not
mean that that trickled down into your
life you got to make your own decision
to have a relationship with Jesus and it
doesn’t matter whether or not you
congregate with a lot of sheep or a
little sheep whether or not you’ve done
a whole lot of good deeds over the
course of your life whether or not
you’ve been singing in the choir or on
the praise team or taking meals to a
friend doing good things things Bravo to
all of those things the question Still
Remains have you decided to place faith
in Jesus Christ as the only way the
truth and the life I know it’s not
politically correct to say it but I’m
going to tell you that there still is
only one way to have a relationship with
God and that is through Jesus
Christ many people often ask how could a
God who is supposedly so good only give
7 billion plus people on the planet from
different cultures and different
continents and different languages and
different backgrounds How could a God
who is supposedly so good only give all
of those diverse people one way to have
a relationship with him if he’s so kind
and so good how could there only be one
way while that’s a good question it’s
not the right question the question is
not how could a God who is so good give
us one way the question is how could a
God who is so holy give us such Unholy
beings anyway to have a relationship
with
him when you place faith in Jesus Christ
you have an opportunity to have an
ongoing conversational relationship with
Jesus with him with God for him to speak
to you for your spiritual ears to be
heightened and quickened so that you
have the opportunity to hear the voice
of God you become a part of the family
you have relationship I remember when
I’d be sitting in church I was I was
kind of born and raised in the church I
go to the church that my father started
when I was one year old he and my
parents he and my mother still pastored
the exact same church um that they
started when I was one so I know nothing
other than being in a great healthy
Church um where my own dad preaches the
word of God and I’ve been sitting on the
first or second row of church as long as
I can remember I still sit right there
behind my parents with my in all my
siblings and all of our kids we all sit
together in church um and we are taught
the word of God and I remember when I
was young I used to be in the children’s
choir and I would be up there in the
children’s choir stand and I’d be
sitting there and after we sang our one
song for that particular service I
remember you know we’d get a little
fidgety because we were kids and now
there was this long sermon and they had
announcements and all the other stuff
that went along with church and you’re
sitting there and you’re still sitting
on the choir in the choir loft at the
time that’s what we had you know these
risers with chairs and you kind of sit
there through the whole service we’d get
fidgety we’d start chewing a little gum
we’d start writing notes and passing it
to each other we start chuckling and
nudging each other and acting up sitting
right there up on the choir loft and I
remember looking down to that first or
second row where my mother was sitting
and she might not see me for a while but
after a few minutes i’ look down and
catch her
eye and she’d give me me that Mama
stare anybody know what I’m talking
about when I say the mama stare she
didn’t have to actually come up on the
platform and say anything to me with
that one stare a whole r a whole um
conversation unraveled in my mind the
consequence unraveled in my mind I got
straightened up because I knew the
expression of my mother why because
we’re part of the same
family in fact there has been a time in
your life I know where you and your
girlfriend had this funny experience
that happened to you and maybe you’re
trying to communicate the experience to
somebody else who wants to know what’s
so funny what are you laughing at and
you’re trying to to get them in on the
joke for them to actually understand
what is so hysterical about this and the
more you talk the more perplexed that
person looks because they don’t they
don’t understand what’s so funny about
what you’re talking about no matter how
much you try to communicate it they just
don’t get it because they’re not a part
of that connection when you place faith
in Jesus you become a part of the family
of God you have access to certain
Expressions you have access to certain
Insight that you would not normally have
access to listen to Ephesians chap 2: 19
in the Amplified Bible I love it so much
it says therefore you are no longer
Outsiders Exiles migrants aliens
excluded from the rights of citizens but
you now share citizenship with the
Saints God’s Own people consecrated and
set apart for himself you belong to
God’s Own household you are part of the
family of God is’t that
great the first chapter of the book of
Romans is is compelling for many reasons
but one of them is that it says that
General Revelation is available for all
of
humanity in other words the psalmist
says the fool says in his heart there is
no no God because if you just look up to
the heavens if you look around at the
mountains if you see the oceans and try
to figure out how in the world all of
that water stays separate from the land
if you don’t recognize the hand of God
staying the oceans from the land if you
look at the mountains and don’t realize
looking at the stars and the Suns and
the moons and the galaxies that there
has got to be a god somewhere the
psalmist says you’re a fool because
General revelation
tells us there is a
God I’m grateful for General Revelation
I’m grateful for the things I learn
about God just by looking at him we
learn about the creativity of God the
character of God just by looking at what
he has created that’s General Revelation
and if you’re like me you appreciate
General General Revelation but if you’re
also like me then I know you don’t just
want General Revelation you want some
specifics you want some details you want
to know whether God’s will for you is
that you would take this job or whether
he’d prefer that you take this job you’d
like to know whether or not you should
live in this neighborhood or whether or
not you should live in this neighborhood
you’d like to know if that that unction
you’re feeling a full-time Ministry is
for you or whether it’s to be a minister
on the corporate job that the Lord has
settled you and you’d like to know
single woman whether you should marry
this guy or this guy don’t we wish that
was the problem whether to marry this
guy or this
guy Lisa Harper
we want Clarity we want specifics and
details for our lives 1 Corinthians 2:14
says that people that are not Believers
that do not have a relationship with
Jesus Christ they can’t understand the
specific truths that are given to God’s
spirit it’ll all sound like given to
God’s spirit for us it’ll sound like
foolishness to those who do not do not
have a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ and here’s
why when I was growing up my parents
were uh pretty strict about several
things one of them was that we didn’t
watch a lot of TV during the week there
that wasn’t really for religious reasons
it’s just we’re busy there were four
kids lots of different after school
activities we were busy homework to do
dinner dishes to get done we didn’t have
time for television so we really could
only watch television on the weekends
and we didn’t have cable we didn’t have
satellite we didn’t have any of that it
was just regular basic channels I
remember that after I moved out getting
ready to get married and I got this
apartment I was setting it up for Jerry
and I for after we got married when he
would be joining me in that apartment
one of the very first things I did was
call the cable
man I was so excited the cable guy came
over I’ll never forget it my television
was an actual box back then and it was
sitting in a in an armoir and he moved
it out from from uh in front of the wall
and he hooked up all of these cords and
cables in the back he put it back in
place he came around to the front he
handed me a remote control and he said
hit the guide button
I remember hitting the guide button and
watching all the options the menu of
options flash across the screen I was so
amazed at all the and I was angry that
my parents had deprived
me my entire life of all of those
options all of those television channels
did not magically create the moment that
the cable guy showed up those channels
had always been available I had just now
received the right hookup so that I
could gain access to those channels
listen God is speaking God wants you to
hear his voice but you need the hookup
so that you can detect the channels that
will allow you to have access to God
speaking personally and intimately to
you and the hookup is the holy spirit
yeah yeah at the moment you get Sav you
receive the greatest gift you will ever
receive this side of Eternity and that
is the Holy Spirit of God listen to me
the holy spirit is not a ghost or a wind
or a fire or a dove he’s often
symbolized by those things in the
scripture but y’all 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 is
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 when you place faith in Jesus
Christ and the Holy Spirit takes up
residence in you that means that all of
the Power all of the glory all of the
Grandeur all of the greatness of God the
father now lives on the inside of you
the holy spirit is your hookup so that
now you can detect the spiritual
channels that will allow you to hear the
voice of God and so then you’ll feel the
red light of conviction and that red
light will mean
stop sometimes you will feel the yellow
light of of disease and a lack of peace
and that yellow light will mean slow
down sometimes you will feel the green
light of Peace over a Circumstance the
green light the wind of God’s favor
pressing you forward and that green
light means go the conviction of God’s
spirit begins to well up in your heart
and in your life because when you’re in
relationship with Jesus the spirit of
God begins to govern your your
circumstances and or your your uh
convictions and as you yield to him as
you walk in obedience to him you will
find that his voice grows louder and
louder and louder in helping to govern
your your decisions and your choices
surrendering to the Holy Spirit The
Filling of God’s spirit as he outworks
his fruit and his gifts in your life the
holy spirit is your hookup
listen this is
why some times you sit in that
movie the exact same kind of movie you
would have watched before you became a
believer in Jesus and you sit there
seeing the same images you’ve seen
hearing the same jokes you’ve always
seen listening to the same language you
have always seen but on this day you’re
sitting there with your girlfriends and
you’re just a little bit uneasy about
what’s up there on that screen and you
can’t figure out why in the world you
feel so uneasy when this is what you’ve
always done that’s the Holy Spirit
convicting and challenging and tweaking
and turning and molding you into the
image of Jesus Christ it’s called
sanctification somebody say
sanctification sanctification
sanctification is the process by which
you become molded into the image of
Jesus where you begin to think like
Jesus and talk like Jesus and walk like
Jesus and want to honor Jesus in your
actions it’s when you’re doing the same
things you’ve always done but there’s
something about it now that just doesn’t
sit right with you don’t fight fight
that that is the spirit of God speaking
to
youen so for many of us we have felt
this little conviction about a
relationship that we’re in single woman
the relationship that you’re in there’s
something about it that just doesn’t
feel right to you and you’ve been
fighting to hang on to this relationship
when the Holy Spirit has been trying to
sever it trying to show you there’s
something better for you that there’s
something a different direction that he
wants to take you don’t ignore that
prompting on the inside that’s how the
Holy Spirit
speaks and once you have that connection
the Holy Spirit living on the inside of
you you should expect to hear the voice
of God in fact that’s the second thing
that Jesus says In this passage he says
my sheep there’s the relationship he
says what they do is hear my voice
that’s the result of the relationship he
says the result of the relationship is
that you you will hear my voice it’s
what you should expect you should
anticipate that what you’ll do as a
daughter of God is hear the voice of God
you should expect that when you have
your quiet time that God is going to
speak a fresh word over your life you
should anticipate and know that while
every time you sit over the pages of
scripture it won’t seem like it is
specifically for you that there will
always be something that God is trying
to declare about himself over your life
because I want you to know that
sometimes you look at people on this
platform maybe like me or like Lisa or
like Pastor K or like Lee or Becky you
might look at someone like your pastor
and you must think that every single
time we sit over the pages of scripture
it’s just fresh and fervent and fiery
and we’re hearing God and it’s all
amazing every time but sometimes y’all
sometimes the quiet time is just about
the jebusites and the Hittites and
they’re fighting the amorites and then
those ites ate the other IES and we
don’t know
what anybody know what I’m talking about
yeah
you know what this has to do with my
personal
life but because I expect to hear God
because I go into it anticipating that
there’s something in here for me then at
least I always pray and say but Lord
what does this teach me about your
character that you want me to know what
does this at least show me about your
personality or what you would say or
wouldn’t say I want to know you as much
as I possibly can through the scriptures
even when sometimes it is dry
I expect to hear the word of God you
should come to church this way
anticipating that there is a word for
you not just a general word for
everybody but there’s a specific word
for you your heart ought to be
heightened your spiritual ears ought to
be open detecting a word that might come
from the platform for you from your
pastor for you but also when you’re
standing in line waiting for the
bathroom at the Women’s Conference you
ought to be eased dropping on
conversations that are happen happening
around you because God can use anyone at
any time to speak a word that echoes in
the hollows of your
heart God speaks and he says would you
please have your spiritual ears open and
expect that you child of God have the
privilege to hear from your
daddy expect to hear the word of God aw
toer great Theologian says that only
those who expect to hear God actually
will yeah yeah because if you don’t
expect to hear him then every time God
speaks you will say it was just a
coincidence every time God speaks you
will say oh that was my own idea every
time God speaks you will discount it as
anything and everything except what it
is but Deuteronomy 30 God told the
people my word is not so hard that you
have to send a prophet into the heavens
to get it for you or someone to the
other side of the sea to get it for you
he says my word is in your own heart and
it’s in your own
mind God speaks to regular girls like
you and me Mothers and and wives and
single women and working women and
retired women and grandmothers and aunts
and high school students and University
students you don’t have to have a
seminary degree to hear the voice of God
you’re his daughter and that
relationship that family makes it so
that you should sit on the edge of your
seat in anticipation that you can hear
the voice of God it means that when
there are Divine intersections that
other people call coincidence you can
see the Fingerprints of God on that it
means you look back over your history
and now in hindsight you can see the
footprints of God that guided you every
step along the way you because you are a
daughter of God what other people call
luck you call Providence because your
God is
Sovereign that you don’t trust in the
Stars to bring you luck uh-uh you trust
in the creator of those stars who is
aligning your step and govering your
governing your path expect to hear the
voice of God it is your Birthright
because you are part of the family Jesus
says there’s a
relationship my sheep he says there’s a
result they hear my voice and then he
says there is a
reason relationship a result and a
reason he says here’s the
reason I know my
sheep that’s the reason why you should
expect to hear him he says cuz girl I
know
you I called up a friend of mine who um
this is many years ago now but I called
up a guy I knew that worked with sheep
and cattle to ask him a few questions
about this passage because I don’t know
if you can tell by looking at me or not
but I’m not really a sheep and cattle
kind of girl so I called up someone who
is and I asked him a question about this
whole knowing the Sheep business
business I wanted to know about this he
said well it’s interesting Priscilla
actually that is a Nuance back in the
Middle Eastern Sheepfold in the first
century in Jesus’s day that’s a Nuance
that is very unique and specific to that
time period The Knowing of the shepherd
and the Sheep he said that Shepherd
would spend hours upon hours upon hours
a day just spending time with his 100 in
that flock they would sleep together
they would eat together they would play
together they would work together they
would be an intimate relationship with
each other so that they’re sent so that
they knew the scent of the shepherd so
that they knew the voice of the shepherd
the tone of the shepherd He said in fact
they knew each other so intimately that
the shepherd could of course call all
100 but the shepherd could also change
the tone of his call just a little bit
and call one out of his 100 that’s how
intimately they knew the shepherd He
said Priscilla with the advances of
modern technology we don’t know the sh
our sheep anymore he said we use
helicopters and sheep dogs and we’ve got
them fenced in and we brand them or we
put an electronic device on them so that
we just don’t even have to have a
relationship he said the other day I
walked into the gate where my sheep were
and they scattered because they don’t
know me I’m not in relationship with
them I’m like a stranger to them because
modern technology has made
it to where the sheep and the shepherd
don’t have to have intimacy anymore wow
wow I want to tell you how much I like
you appreciate the advances in modern
technology but in the next breath I want
to tell you how the more advanced it
becomes the more options that are
available to us every single time I
think the enemy sits more on the edge of
his seat in Applause because there’s yet
another thing to distract us from
knowing our savior and having intimacy
with him y’all our children don’t know
what it’s like to just sit in the
presence of God and potentially hear the
word of God the Holy Spirit beckoning
them because all throughout the church
service they’re busy playing another
game of Candy Crush cuz we haven’t
taught them how to just sit still apart
from modern technology and the reason we
haven’t taught them is because we
haven’t taught ourselves right there’s
no boundary there’s no margin it has
overrun our lives and with the advances
of modern technology we have walked away
from the beautiful stepping one step
after the other the Walk of relationship
with Jesus
Christ there’s a man named Henry
blackaby she whiz this
man has such a um faithful long diligent
relationship with Jesus where he is a
scholar for sure but what the nuances of
his books and devotionals give you is
not just the nuances of study it’s a man
who now in his 80s I believe has walked
with
Jesus he happened to be in my church
once and I cornered him that’s what I do
with people who I admire their
relationship with Jesus I just Corner
them I get all up in their
business and I said how do you know when
God is speaking to you how can we hear
the voice of God y’all I had a spiral
notebook and a pen out I was ready for a
seminary class I was waiting for him to
give me details I had bullet points
listed down so that I’d be prepared to
write everything down that he was going
to say that man looked back at me and he
said here’s the secret to hearing
God the more you know God the more
clearly you can hear
him the more intimate your relationship
with Jesus the more quickly you will be
able to determine when it’s the voice of
a stranger you’ll be able to detect when
it’s your ego talking and not God God
you’ll be able to determine when it’s
fear talking and not God you’ll be able
to tell when it’s the enemy you do know
you have an enemy y’all you know you
have an enemy and the enemy doesn’t come
to you dressed in a red jumpsuit and a
pitchfork and say hey it’s
me 2 Corinthians 11:14 says he disguises
himself like an angel of Light he wants
to look and sound as close to the will
of God for your life as he possibly can
that’s why spur wrote this he said that
we must not only pray that God will help
us to discern between good and evil
between right and wrong but we got to
pray that God will help us to discern
between right and almost right right
very and the way to do that is to have
intimate relationship with him because
the more you know him the more you’ll be
able to detect when what you are hearing
or sensing is not from God the more you
know what his love Love Letter says the
more you’ll be able to recognize when
there is something that is spoken to you
or said to you or bubbling up in your
heart that is contrary to the word of
God you’ll know that is not my God
because he would never speak in
contradiction to his own word the more
you know God the more clearly you can
hear God my brother’s name is Anthony uh
the one that comes right after me he’s
Anthony Jr um Anthony has my father’s
name they’re both Tony Evans uh Tony
Evans senior and Tony Evans Jr he’s got
my my dad’s name he talks a little bit
like my dad he’s got the same mannerisms
as my dad he has the same build as my
dad he’s very very much like my father
they look very similar my mother has a
picture of my father when he was 18
years old graduating from high school he
had a sport coat on and a bow tie his
head was tilted just like this and he
had a little side grin and at 18 years
old my brother took a picture with a
sport coat on as he was graduating from
high school with a bow tie he had a
little side smile with his head tilted
she put them in a frame next to each
other they look almost
identical I have seen my brother use
this to his
Advantage I’ve been there at times when
someone has called the house for my
father and he’s picked up the phone but
because he sounded so much like my dad
the person didn’t know they weren’t
talking to my father so Anthony hung in
hung on the phone for a little while and
got all the juicy details before he
handed the phone over to my
father I’ve seen him use it to his
Advantage but I will tell you that there
is one person that even though he’s been
able to trick a lot of people through
the years there is one person he’s not
able to trick and that’s
me and the reason is because I’ve spent
my whole life getting to know the two
Anthony so when one of them calls me in
the first few seconds of the phone call
before they’ve even said much of
anything I am able to detect which one
of the anthonies I’m talking to why
because I’ve spent my life getting to
know them
the more you just get to know Jesus the
more you hang out with him the more in
prayer you talk to him and then ask him
to open up your spiritual eyes to see
and detect his answers in your life as
he allows coincidences as he allows
paths to cross as he allows you to be in
settings like this where he is speaking
a general word that then becomes
specific to you when you feel like
you’re the only person sitting in the
room and the word is illumined and made
specific to you the more you learn his
personality and the tone of his voice
and the way he treated Moses and Joshua
and Esther and Ruth the way he handled
Saul of Tarsus and how Saul became Paul
and the the disciples and those people
that were here in the New Testament the
more you realize how he related to to
them you will discern and determine that
these people actually aren’t exceptions
to the rule they’re examples to me of
how God wants to also relate to
me and the more you know him him the
more clearly when the enemy comes into
your path you’ll be able to determine
right away uh-uh that’s not my God cuz I
know my God and my God wouldn’t say
anything like that my sheep there’s the
relationship they hear my voice there’s
the result I know them that’s the reason
I know them we’ve got intimacy with each
other and then here’s the
response Jesus
says my
sheep follow me
that’s how they
respond they don’t negotiate with me
they don’t ignore me they don’t try to
circumvent what I’ve told them they
don’t try to pass it off to someone else
my sheep follow me in Jesus’s day when
the shepherd would call his 100 flocks
to leave one pasture on a journey toward
another even if there was still green
grass all around the Sheep the Sheep
would follow the shepherd away from what
appears to be a plush
a plush place where they could still
Feast where there might still be clear
beautiful water fresh water for them to
drink they might not understand why the
shepherd is leading them away from this
plush place but they would still follow
if the shepherd called and the reason
why they would still follow is because
they believed they had a good
shepherd they believed that if he was
calling them there must be greener
pastures there must be Stiller more
fresh vibrant Waters that he’s leading
them to they trusted the shepherd enough
to just go when he said
go the Lord has spoken some things over
your life over the past 48 hours or so
that you and I have been together he has
he said to someone go home and forgive
he said realign your priorities he has
told someone to go home and and
celebrate that spiritual discipline of
Celebration you need some rejoicing back
in your life he has spoken to somebody
in this room and he’s told you to give
him your little bit so that he can
multiply it to pull those Treasures out
of the drawer so that he can get busy
multiplying those things in your life he
has told you to turn around leper and be
grateful to respond to him in gratitude
to not forget to come back and be
grateful eucharistia he has giv you
Specific Instructions now the question
becomes will we be a host of women who
are hearers of the word and not doers
or will we be those that have heard what
God’s spirit have said to us and we go
home and respond in
[Music]
obedience