Welcome to our new series What I’m Hearing Here, a companion series to Here Is Holy. In this series, some of our staff & executive team share what God is speaking to them HERE, and challenge us to listen to what God is saying HERE. In week one, Pastor Charles teaches us the power of what we listen to, how it can impact where we’re going, and how we can use it to reframe the way we think about Jesus. If this message has been encouraging for you, let us know in the comments & share it with a friend!
we’re starting a brand new series today
is anybody excited for our new series
our series is called what i’m hearing
here everybody say it with me what i’m
hearing
here say it again say what i’m hearing
here now this series um kind of acts
like
the the son or the daughter to our
vision series here is holy somebody say
here is holy
the reason i say that is because um
we’re a little over halfway through the
year and some of you have already forgot
what we talked about in january you know
i already forgot you obsessed with there
you’re like whoa i can’t wait to get up
out this year this is whack this is
trash i’m ready to get up out here hold
on a second
here is holy
not there see we have these concepts in
our minds that i’ll be more blessed
there i’ll be better there i’m going to
be uh bawling when i get there here’s
the problem with there
i had to burst your bubble but you
actually technically will never get
there
charles what do you mean okay let’s say
uh this is there for me and i’m over
here and i want to go there when i get
there i’ll be better when i get there
i’ll have a better marriage and when i
get there i’ll start living pure and
when i get there i’ll stop drinking and
when i get there and you’re all worried
about there and how much better your
life is going to be there and let’s say
you just happen to get quote unquote
there
the only problem is it’s not there
anymore
it’s here
where yeah well i’m here well no you
used to well no it’s
there always becomes here so it’s a
perpetual rat race of trying to get to
the next thing trying to get more money
trying to open up another business
trying to date another person if you
would just be content somebody say here
here is holy
here is where god has purpose for you
here is where you are going to get the
filament that you’re looking for here is
where god wants to speak to you here is
where god wants to grow you here is
where it’s not perfect but you are
progressing somebody say here
say you can be con you can be content
here you can trust god here you can be
faithful here you can have joy here you
can have peace here you can be blessed
here somebody say here
i need to remind you because somebody
say here
here
is holy
and today we’re going to kind of use
that idea and that understanding to kind
of build off of that and talk about what
i am hearing
here
what are you hearing here i want to read
a portion of scripture it’s going to
kind of be the anchor scripture for the
entire series um it’s romans 10 romans
10 17 and i want to read to him to read
it in two versions and we’re going to
jump into the word today this is what
the amazing word of god says romans 10
17
so faith
comes from
hearing
that is hearing the good news about
christ
some of you like that’s not the way i
heard it you heard of the uh new king
james of the king james version so faith
comes by hearing finish it if you know
it and hearing the word of god yes
we’re gonna talk about what i am hearing
here would you take a moment um all
around the world i want to take a moment
to pray and just ask that god would join
us in this time lord god we love you so
much
you’re so kind
i pray that you
will be so gracious to allow us to hear
from you in these moments
eliminate all distractions bring peace
to the anxious soul and speak to us we
are listening we love you we trust you
jesus said we pray and everybody say it
amen um so everybody in this room
everybody watching everyone um on the
earth uh you are born gifted and every
human um has in their dna initially five
senses you have five senses if you can
say what are the five senses yell them
out if you know the five senses go ahead
[Music]
that’s what it sounds like so you so you
have five senses sight smell taste touch
hearing you have eyes to see
you have a nose to smell you have a
tongue to taste skin to touch and ears
to hear we all have five senses and uh
for the sake of the series we’re gonna
focus on hearing everybody say hearing
hearing is interesting because uh your
hearing can mess with you anybody ever
heard something like you thought you
heard something and then you didn’t
really hear something anybody come on
raise your head you you feel like maybe
you misheard some stuff um i let me say
this i love my wife i just want to start
there and just say i love her a lot
but abby be hearing stuff she be and and
particularly she likes to hear things
right after i have gotten under the
covers
and my eyes are jus i’m just drifting
off into the rim like i’m just like the
holy spirit has calmed my soul i’ve done
my facial routine which i stole from her
and i’m just i’m at peace and i’m
thinking thank you jesus for this night
and i’m just drifting and abby’s like
charles charles did you hear that i’m
like no i don’t i don’t hear it just
don’t just listen just listen just
listen
that right there did you hear that no
baby i don’t i don’t think you’re baby i
think it’s fine i don’t think no just
listen just be quiet just just just be
squash
that right there did you hear it no baby
i don’t i don’t think one night
literally she woke up now listen my
wife’s been pregnant for the last 10
years every two months so it’s been i’ll
give her that fact you know what i’m
saying been a lot going on in the met
cap house but one time she woke up
literally she woke me up in the middle
of i came up out she said charles wake
up somebody’s using our apple tv
what
not somebody broke into our house not
how’d they get inside not why in the
world somebody’s using our apple tv
i literally woke up i said baby that’s
an owl and i’m going back to sleep
but she’d be here and she said it
sounded just like it
you should be a lot why are you worried
about them using our apple tv and not
snatching up all our children you like
don’t let them subscribe to a new show i
don’t i’m not paying that 12.99
don’t use our apple don’t listen you
come over to meccanf house but don’t you
dare touch our apple tv abby going to be
on you
but she misheard and we all mishear
things one of my favorite stories of uh
miss hearing something this is hilarious
shout out to my dad i love my dad a lot
my mom and dad and uh so i’m you ever
have those moments where like you
remember a story as an adult like as a
kid and it’s just that much more funnier
to you so this happened to me the other
day i was probably i don’t know uh
chandler my little brother would have
been like four baby five so four plus
eight what’s that 12 so i’m like 12. so
i’m sitting in the back seat my
brother’s in the backseat we go through
wendy’s
and you know we get the food and uh my
mom you know my mom starts passing out
the food you know like you’re in the bag
like give me my frosty but i don’t like
we’re like yelling in the back and i see
my mom hand what i know is my brother’s
chicken nuggets to my dad and she says
something to him and uh she hands it to
him and the second she hands it to him
he looks at her like
and then she says something again and
this man does this he goes
and he throws them out the window
and my mom
looks at him
and i can’t say what she actually said
but she was like what in the
are you doing he’s like what you mean
what do you mean and she’s like why did
you just throw our food out the window
he said i thought you should throw it
out the window
she said why would i tell you to
throw the food out the window now let me
pause this is husbands we’d be confused
i thought about this as
an adult there’s those moments as a
husband we were like i don’t care what
she said i’ll throw this food out the
window right now i’m not like
what state was there marriage in i don’t
know to where he heard throw the food
you just bought out the window he said
i’m not questioning the thing throw them
chicken nuggets out the window
you know how demoralized you got to be
to throw chicken nuggets out the window
without questioning anything throw him
out the window
bam he just threw a whole 12 piece out
the window
my mom was so confused and i was like
yeah dad i could have probably guessed
that she didn’t say throw the food out
the window baby i could have told you
that a little insight to where my
parents were back then but you know um
but what happened literally after that i
remember the whole rest of the car ride
my dad was just mad like he was just mad
because he’s like my mom was like i
don’t know what she was saying she was
probably just ripping her my mom’s a
savage i love you mama but any of my
sharp tongue i got from a mama so she
could just wow really quickly
unsubmitted you know those medcast can
be pretty dangerous but god’s got a hold
of our tongue anyways
i remember my dad was so frustrated and
i was thinking about that story and i
realized um here can become frustrating
when you can’t hear
hear sometimes gets frustrating when you
can’t hear right
see in that moment what was a a random
situation where my dad threw some
chicken nuggets out the window i
remember getting home and it became a
whole situation and the rest of the
night was kind of awkward you know when
you’re a kid and you know mom and dad
are kind of like not on par but you’re
trying to act like so what are we doing
guys like your dad you won’t go through
football he’s like nah man i don’t
i don’t think i’m gonna be throwing
football for the rest of my life man i
don’t know
but here we can become frustrating when
you can’t hear
and what i realized is many of us
are frustrated
with our location
and really it’s an issue of your ability
to
listen you’re frustrated we always get
as christians as anybody in humanity you
get frustrated with your location i’m
mad that i’m here why i thought i’d be
further along by now i thought my life
would have been better i thought i
wouldn’t struggle with that i thought
man the marriage would have lasted
longer i thought and we’re always
talking about the location but today and
in this series i want to talk about what
are you listening to
because if we don’t talk about what
you’re hearing you will be frustrated at
your hearing and be mad at that when
really god’s trying to speak to you
when really god’s using the people that
you write off to talk to you
when god’s using the people that you
talk about to talk to you when god’s
using that hard situation trying to get
something into your heart into your mind
but you’re so frustrated about your
location that you will not stop to
listen
and we have to take a moment to stop and
ask god what am i hearing here
like what is god actually saying to me
what is the soundtrack that is in your
soul what is the thing that that that
drives you in the morning because many
of us we read that scripture romans 10
17 i grew up in church and i heard that
so many times so faith comes by hearing
and hearing the word of god faith come
you got to hear faith and that is
absolutely true but sometimes as
christians um we relegate scriptures and
don’t understand the implications of
them and i want to let you know
something you may not know today
faith isn’t the only thing that comes by
hearing
faith is not the only thing that comes
by hearing fear comes by hearing
some of you so worried about your
location of fear and you’re you’re
living in fear and you’re thinking in
fear you’re raising your family in fear
and it’s not because of your actual
situation it’s because fear comes by
hearing you hear the news you hear your
friends talking about how bad it is you
hear about how bad the economy is and
how high these gas prices in oh my gosh
what’s going to happen and literally you
don’t realize it but you are being
perpetuated in a spirit of fear not
because your actual circumstance but
because all you hear is fear
faith comes by hearing fear comes by
hearing you know fake comes by hearing
some people act fake because you hear
how perfect everybody else’s life is
you get in your little small group and
you’re supposed to be in community
you’re supposed to be talking about and
being encouraged and you leave feeling
so defeated so um it’s stuck in
comparison so cuffed to comparison that
you’re stuck in this cycle where now you
feel like because of how i heard how
perfect their life is and my life isn’t
like that now i live in a mask
so how you doing blessed and holy
favored brother
favorite of the lord and you anxious
worried you ain’t seen your faith like
because fake comes by hearing
let me tell you one uh that i wish they
would have told me in high school you
know freak comes by hearing
y’all want to act boozy why y’all acting
like this a transgression i said freak
some of y’all
and times in my life you listen to all
this music somebody i just like the beat
you know what i’m saying it’s just the
beat you go hard it’ll go hard and then
you wonder why you single as a pringle
and at night time you tingle and it’s
all
how am i supposed to say that sorry
pastor mike’s not here hey oh here we go
because you can only listen
to womp so many times
before see y’all want to play because
you’re sitting up here all tight cause
that’s on your playlist when you leave
on sunday
and you wonder why you don’t slept with
everybody because freak comes by hearing
y’all gonna ask me because i got a suit
i gotta act all proper what are y’all
talking about
what are you listening to
what are you hearing
some of y’all failure comes by hearing
cause the only voice in your head
it’s the same voice this happened to me
i realized this the other day uh i was
in a counseling session and i was
talking to you i said i realized my fear
of failure and i’ve told this story so
many times been open to so many of my
sermons but literally i was in sixth
grade got down to the end of the game if
i made the free throws we won the game i
missed both the free throws we lost in
that same sixth grade voice
plays in my head
yeah you couldn’t do it then you can’t
do it now
you’re not enough
if you had it in you you would have done
it
because of what you’re hearing
and the honest truth
is there are tons of believers
non-believers
who are
not hearing impaired h-e-a-r
but h-e-r-e
you’re you’re hearing what you’re doing
you’re trusting god
really your contentment
that’s the thing i want to talk about
you cannot be content because all you
hear is what you’re not where you’re not
how much you don’t have who you’re not
you have pictures some of us have
pictures of who we thought we were going
to be
that we made up we didn’t talk to god
about it at all you just watched mtv
cribs you just watched your big brother
your big sister made up a whole story
you’re not there and now you’re
frustrated with here and god’s trying to
talk to you this is exactly where you’re
gonna become everything you thought you
would be this is exactly where your
marriage is gonna be restored this is
exactly where i wanna and you can’t hear
it because you’re so frustrated with
here
that you cannot
hear
what are you hearing
today i wanna put some value on your
hearing i know everybody talks about
what you’re seeing but what are you
hearing
here’s the thing i learned with the 86
kids me and my wife have had um
we’re on our way um
one thing that happens is there’s a
difference in the value of hearing
from uh them being in the womb
to when they come into the world
there’s a distinct difference when
you’re in the womb
all those other senses are pretty much
useless ain’t nothing to see
ain’t under smell
ain’t nothing to taste ain’t under touch
but one thing i’ve learned is they say
every doctor will tell you if you will
talk to your baby they can become
familiar with your voice
so arla i’d be uh the moment we found
out arlo was a little gummy bear i was
up on abby’s belly like hey little buddy
daddy loves you so much you’re the best
you’re gonna you’re gonna be so
beautiful you’re gonna be so old boy i
can’t i was talking so much to that
little baby why because when there’s
nothing else to see taste touch or
or feel in that moment i knew all he was
depending on
oh he could depend i’m gonna spoiler
alert i’m about to preach
all he could depend on
is what he could hear
but when i was studying this week if you
look it up on google it’ll tell you once
you’re born your most valuable sense is
your eyes they’ll tell you the most
valuable sense you have is you’re seeing
the most value so here’s what happens
when you’re in the womb all you can do
is trust what your parents said
when you come out of the womb you say
let me see for myself
i hear you talking to me
but let me just see it for myself
here’s the part where we preach
at this moment even i was talking i was
talking my little girl luna she is a
wild child i love her so much she turns
two tomorrow she’s having a dino party
she’s so gassed she just woke up this
morning screaming dino party dino party
and she said i’m jumping daddy i’m
jumping i’m like
she is
just literally like just started jumping
one thing i thought about when i thought
about the difference of hearing when
you’re in the womb versus the world is
um when i was talking to luna when she
was in her mom’s belly it was one of the
most intense times of my life
i was dealing with anxiety
so much worry and fear me and abby’s
marriage was going through it and we
were in the middle of a worldwide
pandemic
the day i was talking to him i was like
baby you were born in a crazy time you
don’t even know
the reason she doesn’t know
because it doesn’t it didn’t matter when
she came out even though the world would
tell her hey what’s most valuable is
what you see
all she knew
is what dad told her
she didn’t have an opportunity to make
it up for herself
so in the moment when it was one of the
most difficult things that have ever
happened in my life when it was one of
the most crazy environments when there’s
so much toxic uh political part when all
these things are spoiling around all she
could hear in that womb is not the news
she didn’t hear how bad things were she
didn’t hear about the racial tension she
didn’t hear about all these things that
were so horrible all she heard was her
father’s voice
baby it’s going to be great when you get
here when you get here it’s going to be
so much fun mom and dad are so excited
for you this is going to be the best
time ever and many of us
this is why the scripture talks about
you have to be born again once you were
born you switched from valuing your
hearing
to only leaning on what you see
yeah i know god said i was going to be
successful but what i see right now
isn’t that
so i can’t trust what he said
yeah i know god said this marriage was
going to last but what i see right now
is they’re living in a different
apartment so it doesn’t matter what he
said because i’ve seen it for myself
and i’ve already decided how this is
going to go wow
but here’s the thing about the kingdom
of god the kingdom of god does not work
like the kingdom on earth on earth it’s
always the value on what you see then
what you hear in the kingdom of heaven
it has always been first what you hear
then you see it
let me go nerdy for a second because you
know when i start studying sermons i’ll
be looking up all types of random facts
i got stuff about galaxies and all types
of random stuff up here one of the
things that came up when i was studying
for this message is on earth light
travels faster than the speed of sound
this is the thing that you look it up if
you look at yes when you can see
something before you can hear something
they talk about breaking the sound
barrier so on the kingdom of earth light
travels faster than sound but it didn’t
work that way in genesis 1.
didn’t work that way in genesis 1 in the
kingdom of heaven god said
let there be light and then you saw
something
this tells me see y’all i get excited
about this this tells me that god is not
predicated on your current circumstance
he can speak something you don’t see
right now he can speak something that
don’t make no sense he can speak
something and it has value because he
knows when i speak things move when i
speak mountains move when i speak
galaxies appear when i speak a dead body
raises back to life when i speak things
change
but many of us
if you had to choose
between hearing god and seeing god
you’re a big seeing
god like if i just polled hey would you
rather see god or hear god
sure i want to see jesus what’d he look
like
i know he wasn’t that white jesus and
some people are trying to sell me
because he didn’t this just doesn’t make
sense but i want to see like what he
looked like somebody else bubbles just
got bursty but jesus wasn’t white no he
didn’t live that’s not a thing um
but we would rather matter okay i’m
gonna do instruction i need two people i
need two people mikaya and g where you
at everybody everybody give it up for
mikaya and grayson everybody give it up
for makai and grayson
um
all right now don’t stand too close to
me because y’all too tall people don’t
realize how short i am um
that’s the first thing people say man
you’re a lot shorter than i thought you
were well
you’re
okay
okay
so um if you had to choose
between being able to see
or being able to hear which one would
you choose grayson i’m gonna give you
you want to see okay grayson wants to be
able to see
you want to be able to hear okay i need
a little help where’s the illustrator
grayson if you could just stand right
here and make if you can stand next to
me okay so g gonna put you wanna be able
to see put these noise-canceling
headphones on put this around your face
come on
we’re gonna do a little test here
many of us want to be like grayson
or we can see we just can’t hear
because honestly
it feels more in control to be able to
see what’s going on
do you want to see where you’re standing
to be able to see what god’s doing to be
able to see where he’s trying to take
you to be able to see what he may be
he’s trying to do in your relationships
and in your friendships and we value so
much our seeing that if given the
opportunity we would choose i would
rather see god than hear god
here’s the only problem when it comes to
seeing over hearing
god does not give instructions by
charades
[Music]
micaiah take two steps forward
grayson take two steps forward
but
micaiah turn to your left
take three steps forward
grayson takes three three steps forward
oh you
so now he’s just
see how awkward
see how awkward it is when you want to
see god but you can’t
mikaya just start walking forward
keep walking oh watch out step a little
bit uh to your right step a little bit
to your right why are you moving
stop makaya
here’s what happens
many of us
start guessing
we start guessing what god is saying
we start get well maybe he said i should
move to l.a and maybe he should i should
start a maybe i should start a
here is the difference
you don’t have to see god to obey god
you do not have to see god mikaya take
one step back makaya turn around
oh watch out for the chair so i’m a bad
instructor step take one step to your
left
now take a step
now take a step forward
take a step forward
take a step while you put your hands out
you don’t trust me
why you still got that other business
idea you don’t trust me
why you save their number you don’t
trust me
why you stop going to counseling you
don’t trust me
why you
this is what many of us look like
valuing and here’s the thing
seeing
feels more in control
but you completely
lose
the intimacy of the relationship
there’s no intimacy
he can see me but we can’t connect
because he can’t
hear
i was thinking of this and i was like if
i had to choose between seeing my little
girl grow up and hearing her grow up
there’s something that happens when she
comes around the corner and says daddy
and many of our life
we would choose i want to see god but he
starts speaking
and it just
and then you start looking you look
confused and then you start comparing
you start looking around and think well
maybe i should do what they
i’m just trying to bring value
what what are you what are you hearing
what is god saying to you
you’ve been so focused on what you see
you’ve been so focused on how bad the
situation is you’ve been so focused on
what you thought was going to be there
and you’re looking at your situation and
god’s saying listen you don’t have
to see what i’m doing
to obey what i said
thank you all so much
some of us have been so focused
you be a little bit sometimes that’s
what our faith walk look like we come
out the oh you see grayson didn’t even
get the cue my baby
illustration worked a little too well
he would have been standing up here all
sermon
just like some of y’all living in the
same place you were supposed to oh sorry
[Applause]
what
i’m just i’m just trying to get you to
put some value
on what you’re hearing
what is god saying
what is what is he speaking to you what
is he what is he trying to do in your
soul what is he trying to but if you
don’t ever stop for just a moment and
stop looking at what you’re seeing
you’ll never stop to ask the question
what what am i
what am i hearing here
god always works off what you what he’s
saying so he’s always works off of
valuing listen i can speak one word that
can sustain you through seasons when you
can’t see
that’s what god wants to do and here’s
the beautiful thing we know this in
scripture but we don’t ever live it
for we walk by faith
and not by sight
we say this scripture but then we get in
a moment where we’re blindfolded we get
in a moment where we can’t see what god
is doing we can see how that family
member and our relationship is torn and
how it’s going to get back or we can’t
see how this hard situation we made a
mistake and we don’t know what’s going
to happen we can’t see it but if you
would take him that’s why the word of
god is such a gift
because you don’t have to see what he’s
doing but you can still hear his voice
that’s why the bible is so bad i
remember as a kid thinking i would go to
youth camps be like you gotta read your
bible you gotta read your bible you
gotta read your bible and it’s like no
i’m not reading my bible for reading my
bible sake i read my bible for the same
reason i talked to my wife because
without talking to her there is intimacy
lost and here’s the real thing i lose
her heart
and the truth is
many people and many believers
have tried to show god without his heart
and when you don’t have his heart it
messes with how you hear me
see when i was when i was working on
this sermon listen we’re going to go in
this sermon series and it’s going to be
so so powerful listen we got the home
squad preaching come on like we got
amazing amazing we’ve already started uh
working on sermon it’s gonna be amazing
we’re gonna talk about how do you
practically hear god what do you do when
you feel like you don’t hear god like
there’s gonna be so many amazing things
that we navigate and i wanted to already
i literally told uh one of the people
who was preaching i was like listen i
might steal your message in the middle
of my message and they would never know
because i went first but
i’m not gonna do that even though i
really want to
i was preaching and i was working on
this sermon and
i wanted to go in to talk about um
everything we hear
because it’s so valuable like the whole
first part of this is like yeah you got
to focus on what you hear what you hear
and then the holy spirit stopped me and
said
charles there is something exponentially
more important
than what you hear
it’s not your taste
not your touch
not your smell
not your sight
the only thing that can mess with what
you hear
is what you’ve heard
the only thing that can mess with your
ability to hear
is the things you’ve heard
and there are many people
who the biggest thing messing
with your hearing
is not your inability to hear god
is what you’ve heard about god and
because of what you’ve heard it messes
with your ability to hear here
we have certain lenses we have certain
ideas and many of us are so stuck in
this moment inner circumstance in our
location not because god isn’t speaking
but because you only hear him a certain
way not because of what he told you but
because of what you heard from someone
else
let me illustrate it for you
i have one of my best friends in the
world here nate is here nate could you
actually come up on stage everybody give
it up for my friend nate come on nate
come up here baby
i love you so much he’s like one of the
coolest people in the world and i love
him so much and he moves next week which
is a very sad emotional thing i’m not
going to cry
um i want to tell you a little bit of
nate’s story first of all he’s fly as
you can see he’s so cool
she’s ripped under that shirt too let me
tell you that’s a little weird why did i
say that oh my gosh that’s incredible i
love my wife okay um
he is i’m just sorry i anyways
you look great man i love you a lot this
is awkward we didn’t plan this okay
i’m gonna tell you a little bit of
nate’s story um nate has a crazy crazy
story very crazy
at 12
he found himself homeless
at 13
he got involved with a lot of gang
things in his neighborhood he
experienced a lot of drugs then at 17 he
found himself on trial
he spent eight years in jail
this is the story of nate now
before nate now in this moment um
in just a second i’m gonna ask you to
finish the rest of this sermon okay
we talked about this first we’re gonna
finish the rest of this are you ready
this is your moment
i’m not gonna make him finish the rest
of the
sermon me tell you something um
none of that is true
nate is one of the most kindest
loving
gentle people
he wasn’t homeless he wasn’t in gangs he
didn’t spend any time in prison
contrary to popular belief he say
but because of what you heard about nate
if i was to give him the microphone it
would affect what you were able to hear
from nate
when i said he spent time you’re like oh
well maybe like
and this is one of my dearest friends
and we go to church place this
illustration came out of a real thing
and i wish i saw him because i would
stop you to pass for a second and punch
him in the stomach but a guy literally
came he’s like you’ve obviously spent
some time in prison right like clearly
you’ve been
and many of us we form opinions of
people
not on what they told us about them
but on what we heard about them from
other people
thank you so much nate i love you so
much
many of you
[Applause]
heard about god
before you were able to hear from god
and you put up limits
and barriers
and blockades
and lenses about how god talks and what
he means and his intention not based on
what he told you about himself but based
on what somebody said that was not true
i was preparing this message and the
holy spirit told me so clearly he said
charles i don’t want to talk about what
people are hearing right now we’re going
to talk about that um
in the rest of the series but before we
talk about what you hear i have to tell
you what jesus tells people in matthew 5
we’re going to get into it for just a
second it’s the title of my message
today forget what you heard
the thing that has you in chains is not
your ability to hear from god it’s what
you’ve heard about god
somebody told you god only accepts
perfect people
and now you’re stuck in performance not
because of what he said but because of
what you heard
somebody told you that if you make a
mistake god turns his back on you
and now you are stuck and you don’t even
want to step into a church you don’t
want to get close or when you start
reading your bible you feel discouraged
not because you can’t hear from god but
because of what you heard
and for so long
the church if we’re honest has done a
pretty bad job at describing what jesus
is actually like
and there are a lot of people and the
very truth is all of our experiences
with god is before we are able to hear
from god personally we heard about god
from somebody else
based on whatever youth group you went
to based on whatever street preacher you
saw on the corner guess on whatever post
you saw in a political moment guess
whatever side someone took in a moment
of division you saw something that made
you form an opinion and put up walls and
put up certain ideas about god that i
want to inform you today are not true
and i have a very specific assignment
today is to address what you’ve heard
because it won’t matter
if he starts trying to talk to you
if all you heard is that when god talks
he’s an angry god
it won’t matter if he’s trying to talk
to you in a still small voice
when all you’ve heard is that he screams
you know you’ve heard that he’ll accept
certain type of people
jesus in matthew 5 i wish i could go
into every detail of it but we’re gonna
walk through it just for a moment in
matthew 5 this is jesus sermon on the
mount it’s one of jesus first sermon
he’s up there he’s preaching and this is
the crazy thing about jesus this is the
moment
where he is revealing and unfolding the
kingdom of god he is literally in this
moment this is the first time he’s
talking and it comes to this moment in
matthew 5 it starts in verse 21 and he
says this phrase six times you’ve heard
it said
he says it’s six times not five times
the number of grace not seven times the
number of perfection six the number of
man you’ve heard
it said
people have told you about me you’ve
heard the laws i gave to moses you heard
the things i had to do to keep things in
alignment but i’m asking you in this
moment would you forget what you’ve
heard because i’m here
this is matthew 5. i want to walk you
through it for just a moment so we can
see it in scripture this is so powerful
he addresses six things that they said
he says you’ve heard and said i’m gonna
bounce around a little bit and i’m gonna
ask everyone please go through beyond
the sermon and read this scripture
there’s so much powerful stuff in here
there’s six you’ve heard it said
statements
he says this verse 21 matthew 5. you’ve
heard it said
people long ago you shall not murder and
anyone who murders is subject to
judgment but i tell you anyone who is
angry with a brother or sister will be
subject to judgment
you’ve heard it said that you must not
commit adultery
but i tell you anyone who looks
lustfully at a woman has already
committed adultery what is jesus doing
he’s taking
the law
that was about your behavior
and he’s addressing your heart
because here’s what happens in all of
these the pharisees had found a loophole
in the law
let me give you context the pharisees
were the religious people who literally
they would have had the first five books
of the bible memorized they were
following 384 messianic laws and they
knew all of them verbatim and they were
teaching people this is who god is and
they were so stuck to the law that they
could not see love in a person when he
showed up
jesus comes and says i know they’ve
taught you the law
and the bible is very clear jesus did
not come to do away with the law but
what he did is to come to show you what
it says in romans 8 3 the law could not
save us
so god did what the law could not do
in sending jesus
jesus comes and says you’ve heard it
said
that you shouldn’t commit adultery
but i tell you that if you look
lustfully at a woman
everybody’s like oh that’s a different
that’s a different standard i can’t i
don’t know about
you shouldn’t kill nobody yeah yeah no i
have because here’s what happened
pharisees were walking around in pride
because they hadn’t killed anybody
they hadn’t committed adultery they
hadn’t done any of these things they
were walking with i haven’t done these
bad things so i’m better than other
people
just like many of us we have this list
in our head that makes us better than
other people
and then from that list of better than
other people you try to tell people
about jesus
and here’s what the church has done for
so long what is happening in these
scriptures is jesus is exposing that the
law is only about behavior
modification
that’s all the law could do the law is a
list of do’s and don’ts don’t do this
don’t do that don’t do this don’t do
that and in that time because there was
not a savior this is all that they had
you have to follow these rules and
because when they’re sin you have to
give a sacrifice and they’re a priest
and all these hypnos and jesus
is standing in front of them saying
i know you were able to follow these
rules
but i’m not after your behavior
i’m not after your performance
i’m after your heart
and jesus walks through the scripture
there’s one in here matthew 5 i believe
it’s in verse 37 he talks about divorce
this has been a scripture even when i
was reading through the story i was like
oh man this is a crazy like perspective
on it because some people use it they’re
like see how does this make sense the
bible’s so flawed because jesus says and
the scripture says this it says it’s
been said if anyone divorces his wife he
must give her a certificate of divorce
you’ve heard it said that way but i tell
you anyone who uh divorces his wife
except for sexual immorality makes her a
victim of adultery and you and adultery
so it’s some people read description so
you see god said if you get divorced you
can’t get remarried here let me give you
context if you study the bible it’s so
beautiful in that time here’s what was
happening the pharisees at the time
there were two primary teachings and
they were using the law to do two things
one to favor men in a divorce and to
allow men not to have to confront their
issues this is a very real thing back
then they used the law of moses to say
if you don’t like your wife all you got
to do is write a piece of paper and give
it to her
you don’t have to work on your marriage
you don’t have to deal with your issues
and what jesus is addressing is he’s
saying hey listen i know you found a
loophole in the law but this is not
about the law this is not about your
performance it’s not about finding the
line of sin it’s about your heart
look what it says in the message version
on that scripture is so powerful
it says this remember the scripture says
whoever divorces his wife let him do it
legally giving her divorce papers and
her legal rights too many of you are
using that as a cover for selfishness
and a whim of pretending to be righteous
please no more pretending
jesus is saying you’re using the law
to pretend like you’re better than other
people
you’re losing using the law to make you
righteous
and this is what has happened to so many
people so many believers and
non-believers we have heard
about god
before
you were able
to hear
from god
it was so powerful
i mentioned it my friend nate um
it’s been an amazing amazing journey and
and i i literally could uh sit up here
and cry thinking about it but me and me
nate met about six years ago um and he
had just moved to tulsa
and we were literally sitting at a
coffee shop and i just saw him and i
just thought he looked cool and i was
like hey you’re kind of cool what’s your
name like that was literally i think how
he met
and uh during that time
nate would tell you himself he’s like
yeah i was not about church like didn’t
mess with church don’t invite me to
church don’t really want to talk about
church don’t talk about god and i
literally i was just like playing come
like yeah awesome bro like i just think
you’re cool let’s just be friends
over the last uh
really eight months to a year god has
done amazing things nate life is
completely transformed he’s about like i
i could freak out telling you about it
but
me and him it was a crazy experience
because i’m literally going from a best
friend that i have that i share my life
with and i’m trying to encourage and
just be there for to then literally
yesterday we’re talking the phone about
sermon ideas it’s just an insane
experience to have that with a friend
and he literally said he said that’s so
powerful i was talking about the
difference of hearing and heard god and
he said i realized in my journey
of when i was involved in church went
through some hard things didn’t want
anything to do with church i realized
the thing that kept me from god was not
god
it was the people that told me about god
and said he was a certain way and he
said what i realized is even when i
tried to start hearing god i didn’t have
his heart
so i heard god
but i i didn’t hear his heart
in this mess i know we want to get into
like all the big stuff of like how do
you hear god how do you know if you’re
and we’re going to address all of that
but really today i have to come and
address and tell people there are a lot
of people who say what i’m just saying
what i heard jesus say yeah but do you
have his heart
we forget that the whole bible is
written in the context not the whole
bible sorry matthew mark luke and john
the gospels the portion we get of
jesus’s life is written in the context
of a three-year relationship
we just be spouting off scriptures to
people see i’m on the corner yeah yeah
you need to know that’s not and what
we’re doing is somehow we have started
just like these pharisees in matthew 5
started teaching the law again
don’t do this that’s a bad thing
don’t do it don’t don’t don’t don’t
smoke don’t have sex with marriage don’t
and here’s the but i have no issues with
those things because jesus and god does
have a very clear standard but we have
gotten the order of the news mixed up
there’s good news and bad news i stole
this from my friend tim ross and i’m
going to thank you tim ross for this
the good news is
if you don’t trust jesus if you haven’t
given your life to him the good news is
he loves you
the good news is you don’t have a
relationship with g he loves you
you you’re like you’re living an
alternate life he loves you
you’re getting high every day because
you’re not happy he loves you you’re a
murderer he loves you you don’t you
don’t agree with he loves you that is
the good news
after you accept jesus
there’s bad news
the good news is he died for you
the bad news is now you got to die for
him
and we just want to come to people
sharing our faith with bad news don’t do
that that’s a sin don’t do that that’s a
bad thing don’t do that and they have
not accepted the good news
give them the good news first the good
news is no matter what you’ve heard
jesus his message is i am here
that is the good news of jesus that is
what he’s saying in matthew 5. i know
what you’ve heard but forget what you’ve
heard i’m here now
you don’t have to hear about me from a
priest
you don’t have to hear about me from
from from the pharisees
there were certain times in church that
started the reformation if you study
church history because the bible was was
stuck in latin and they would only have
priests who could actually read latin
nobody could read latin and so it kept
people from actually being able to hear
god from themselves and this is where
they started charging money to know
god’s word
this is literally church history go
study it the bible can only be read by
certain people because they wanted to
keep a distance between what you think
of god and let me tell you about god for
myself and what happens is when you
allow other people to inform your view
of god it gets twisted and now you blame
god
not from what
he said
but from what you heard
and the truth is
and this is where i end keys can come
back up
the reason i feel
genuinely genuinely genuinely so
passionate about this topic
is because i’ve walked with and and i’m
currently walking with who with a lot of
friends
that want nothing to do with god
not because they can’t hear
but because of what they’ve heard
just what they’ve heard
they’ve heard god doesn’t love gay
people
they’ve heard god doesn’t love you if
you make a mistake
god doesn’t love
people who make wrong decisions god
doesn’t love people who don’t lift their
hands in worship god doesn’t love people
who don’t pray loud god doesn’t love
people who don’t agree with a certain
political party god doesn’t look and
it’s all a lie
and i want to come and maybe some of you
you’ve maybe you’ve heard some things
about god and i just literally you one
of the most powerful things i said
earlier jesus would have been described
as one of the most approachable people
on the planet
and i just i have a deep conviction
that absolutely their standards
absolutely we have to jesus he says in
the scripture i didn’t come to abolish
the law i’m not here to say there’s no
rules do whatever the heck you want he’s
just saying really the reason the reason
i pointed out earlier he points out six
different things that is the number of
man what is he saying in your own
ability you cannot live up to the
standard
let’s be just very clear with it jesus
all throughout scripture
would say things that seemed ridiculous
in this very story
he says unless your righteousness does
not
reach the height of the pharisees you
will never be able to enter the kingdom
and we hear scriptures like that and
think oh my gosh i’ll never be able to
do it i got to do more i got to perform
i got to be better i got to do more work
i got to read my bible more i got to
pray more you know what the point of
that was
for you to feel like well i can’t do
that and jesus to say
exactly
the whole point
and somehow we have used this
performance-based religion to make some
people feel prideful and some people
feel less than when jesus said none of
your doing can save you
and we’re so adamant about don’t do this
that’s a sin don’t do this that’s a sin
don’t do this that’s a sin i want to say
something that i’m only saying because
our pastor said it first but it’s going
to mess with some of your theology
you
do not go to hell
for sin
somebody are like oh my god what is he
about to say
you go to hell for not putting your
faith in jesus
go to hell for thinking you’re your own
savior
you go to hell for being self-righteous
and thinking i don’t need anyone to save
me
sin separates you from god it destroys
your heart and it is not the plan of god
for your life but we have so been so
adamant about preaching about sin that
we have forgot that this book is not
about sin this book is not about a list
of to do’s this book is not about bad
news this book is not trying to change
your behavior
this book is not about behavior
modification the story of jesus and the
good news is it’s about heart
transformation
the whole point of this and there’s so
many scriptures that reiterate this and
there’s so many that i wanted to read
that are so powerful and i’m just going
to read one of them
which i’m going to read i’m sorry i’m
making weird noises hebrews 10.
the old system under the law of moses
was only a shadow
a dim preview of the good things to come
not the good things themselves the
sacrifices under the system were
repeated again again and again year
after year but they were never able to
provide a cleansing for those who came
to worship
colossians 2 it says something else i
just i want to give you bible today
because i want you to know this isn’t
made-up stuff this is just made up rules
this is what the bible says colossians 2
starting in verse 16. so don’t let
anyone condemn you for what you eat or
what you drink or celebrating certain
holy days on the new moon for these
rules are only shadows of the reality
yet to come
and christ himself is that reality
says in verse 22
such rules
are mere human teaching
about things that deteriorate as we use
them
these rules may seem wise
because they require strong devotion
self-denial
and severe bodily discipline
but they provide
no help
in conquering
an evil person’s desires
what is the bible saying is saying
i know you might have heard about god
but just for a moment could you could
you forget what you heard
because i i’m here
i just
i just want to be here with you
i know you’ve heard that god feels some
type of way about you i know you’ve
heard that you have to perform i know
you’ve heard that he only i know you’ve
heard that
forget what you’ve heard
i’m here
i know you’ve heard you if you make a
mistake god throws you out forget what
you’ve heard
i’m here i know you’ve heard that on
your third marriage is horrible and
there’s no hope for you forget what
you’ve heard i am the god who restores i
am here
i know you’ve heard pastor that after
you made a mistake and the world
canceled you and the church canceled you
that you’ll never speak and preach the
good news forget what you’ve heard i’m
here
i know you’ve heard man who’s in prison
and made a mistake when you’re 17 that
there’s no hope for your life and you’ll
never get out and you’ll never have a
relationship with your children forget
what you’ve heard
he’s here
and until we realize
that jesus did not come
to save those who thought they were
perfect
he not come to applaud you for abiding
by the list he gave you
if jesus was out here rewarding people
who did what he told him to do he would
be a manager not a savior
he would be just a good parent who said
yeah you did what i said to do let me
give you a piece of candy salvation is
not a piece of candy it’s something you
could never earn it’s something you
could never get by yourself for it is by
grace we have been saved through faith
in jesus christ not so that anyone
should boast
how are we boasting in this gift
how are we boasting in things that we
have no control over how are you
boasting acting like our good deeds like
my good sermon preaching am my not
making the wrong decision made me any
better than my neighbor
it was the same grace
that saved you
that saved me
what
are you hearing
here
as we close out this sermon i’m gonna
ask us to bow our heads and close our
eyes
[Music]
holy spirit
i’m asking you to do something
that only you can do
only you can do it
god i’m asking you
to cleanse away
[Music]
and to remove
the ideas the limits and the lenses lord
god
of what we’ve heard about you
god we want to hear from you
god we just want to hear from you we
want to hear your voice
we want to hear your love
we want to hear your kindness
we want to hear your grace we want to
hear your mercy we want to hear the good
news of god and even after the good news
or god we know lord god that there’s a
standard that you want to change lord
god if we give you our hearts you’ll
help us with our habits you love us so
much that you’ll meet us right where we
are but you also love us so much that
you won’t leave us there lord god so we
know there’s going to be transformation
we know we’re going to have to change we
know we’re going to have to deal with
our patterns we know there’s there’s
consequences for our mistakes we know
all that lord jesus but without your
spirit without your help lord god we
will simply be on uh the hamster wheel
of performance and we’re tired of
running we’re tired of acting we’re
tired of performing lord jesus we need
your help
but i pray right now lord jesus
for the discouraged heart
[Music]
for the hard heart for the one
who has heard god is angry for the one
who has heard god as an unpleased god
who doesn’t want anything lord for a god
who’s too busy for a god who can’t get
involved for a god who’s too big to get
involved in your small problems lord i
thank you that right now by your spirit
you are literally taking off for god the
scales lord god you are literally
removing lord god the the the noise
canceling headphones of culture of our
parents of how we were raised a bad
theology you are literally removing
those things lord god so that we can
hear you clearly that’s my prayer lord
god lord that right now in this moment
you would remove lord god anything that
has blocked lord god us from hearing
your voice your spirit and your love
i thank you that you would do it jesus
every head bowed every eye clothes there
are some of you in this room and the
truth is you’ve heard about god but
you’ve never had a relationship with him
for yourself
i’m telling you he loves you so much
he’s so proud of you he’s so grateful
that you would even be in this moment
and listen there is nothing you could do
right now that would make him love you
more or less he loves you because he
loves you he loves you because he is
love love is not something he does it’s
not an emotion he has it is who he is he
can’t act outside of love he can’t act
against love god is love for god so
loved the world that he gave his only
son so that whoever would believe in him
would not perish but would have eternal
life that is the good news of jesus and
today if you don’t have a relationship
with jesus and you want to accept him i
want to give you that opportunity
i’m going to count to three
on the count of three i’m going to ask
you no matter if you’re in the room or
online to raise your hand this is not a
religious activity this isn’t so we can
count the numbers of people who made
that decision this is for you this is
because the bible says in romans that
when you believe in your heart and
confess with your mouth that jesus is
lord you shall be saved it’s not by your
performance it’s not by your actions you
don’t have to believe the lie that you
have to clean your life up and then come
to jesus that’s not how it works if you
give him your life he will transform
everything he can help you with the bad
habits he can help you with the
addiction he can help you with the
marital problems but first he wants your
heart
right now all over the world if you want
to accept jesus we’re going to give you
that opportunity one he loves you
two he has a beautiful plan for your
life
three raise your hand around the world
right now
thank you jesus thank you jesus
thank you jesus thank you jesus
you don’t have to listen to the lies you
don’t have to listen to that voice that
tells you this isn’t real or why are you
raising your hand or what are they going
to think about you know in this moment
hear from god god says i love you god
says i’m proud of you god says my arms
are open wide come to me all who are
weary and heavy burdened and i will give
you rest for your soul there’s peace
with jesus there’s the strength you need
with jesus there’s clarity of mind with
jesus there is a settled soul in his
arms come to jesus that is the
invitation
all around the world if you raise your
hand we’re going to as a church family
we’re going to pray together nobody’s
going to pray alone we’re going to all
pray this for the benefit of those who
are coming to jesus and even for some of
you who need to rededicate your life to
jesus in this moment maybe you’ve
strayed away maybe you’ve gotten distant
but in this moment you can pray this
prayer believe in your heart and
something can be changed forever in your
eternity and that is it is secure with
christ all around the world repeat this
after me say dear god
i love you
thank you
for loving me
dear jesus
i admit
i can’t do it
i’m not enough
i thank you
that you are more than enough
i give my life to you
save me
change me
transform me
in jesus name i pray
everybody said
amen transformation church can we give
it up oh come on can we make some noise
for people who just gave their life to
jesus
hey listen if you just made that
decision we’re so happy we’re so
grateful it’s the best decision you
could ever make and uh this starts an
amazing journey of following jesus it’s
not we like to say it’s not about
perfection it’s about progression and as
a church we would love to come alongside
of you to be an encouragement to be a
support to be a place where you can
figure out what does it mean to follow
jesus we’ve got amazing content if
you’re watching this on youtube we’ve
got amazing sermons that can help walk
you through what does it mean now and
and what do i need to do and what is the
holy spirit and and how do god talk
about my every single thing you could
think about we want to talk to you and
help you on this journey and uh man we’d
love to know that you made that decision
today if you text the word save to the
number that’s on your screen uh 82 82 82
our team just wants to connect with you
wants to send you some resources and
really just be an assistant on this
journey with jesus listen more than
anything you need to know he loves you
so much
he loves you so
so much and he’s always loved you he
doesn’t love you more now because you
made this decision he doesn’t make you
love you less when you make a wrong
decision tomorrow he loves you
infinitely and exponentially because
you’re you
so here’s the beautiful thing you can
stop trying to change who he created you
to be
he loves you right where you are but i
promise you one moment with jesus after
this decision everything changes your
life may change some things you used to
do may change some old habits that you
thought were okay won’t feel okay
anymore that’s the conviction of the
holy spirit it’s not condemnation romans
8 said there is no condemnation for
those who are in christ jesus after that
in romans 8 3 is where it says for god
did what the law could not do by sending
jesus what did jesus do he came to help
and heal our heart so that our habits
could be transformed he came so we could
be changed from the inside out not
trying to force our hearts to change
from the outside in in this moment i
promise you your life is going to change
and we’re so grateful for you we love
you so much listen i want to encourage
you come back next week if you’ve ever
um
tried to figure out how do i hear from
god stick with us this whole series i
promise you if you’ve ever wondered how
do i hear from god what do i do to hear
from what are practices all the we’re
going to address all those different
things and i promise you it’s going to
change your life listen as a church we
love you on behalf of our lead pastors
pastor michael natalie todd we love you
so much and we’re gonna ask you to go
out and live a transformed life we’ll
see you guys
you