Is That You, God? | Judah Smith So, we're doing a collection of messages, sermons, talks, um, whichever you want to call them. And and and here's here's the title. We did part one last Wednesday. This is part two, and we got six more weeks to go. Um, wherever you're going to be in the world, I'm going to be here at the Sabon for the next six weeks. Uh, the title of these talks are this, and I think it's cuz I'm 40 and I just want to really tell people how I feel. Um, the title of these talks is what I wish more preachers would say. What I wish more preachers would say. And um, and so last week was, I wish more preachers would say, I don't know either. I don't know either. Um, and we can talk more about that and and if you get a chance, you can go on our on the Church Home Global app and it's it's I think it's already there and and uh, listen to that. So, here's tonight's talk. What I wish more preachers would say. Um, side note, it's kind of also what I wish more Christians would say. You're kind of probably picking that up, but I won't pick on you. I'll pick on me. What I wish more preachers would say is, "I think I heard from God." >> I I think I heard from God. I just wish preachers would say that more. Um, and I'll give you a little bit of backstory in my relationship to preachers and saying they heard from God and what it felt like sitting in the room. Um, and it's it's going to be so fun and exciting. Okay, so here's my disclaimer. Somebody like, oh, I I could see some of you got excited with a disclaimer. Um, that all of us are in this together. So, if I say something tonight that's like something you say a lot or it's like a cliche you use or or prepare yourself. I love you. If you're in the room tonight and you're a person who said God spoke to me like and you say that a lot, that's awesome, too. I'm not mad at you. This is not directed at you. Um but if the shoe fit if the shoe fits, wear it. Okay. Okay. So, so we're going to have some fun a little bit and and then another disclaimer. If you're here and you're like, "Okay, Jude, I'm not really familiar with like Jesus followers or church or Christianity." It's awesome. Um, you're definitely not you're not an outsider. You're welcome here. We got far more in common than not. Um, but I'm going to share some insights kind of on Christian dynamics a little bit and I think it'll be humorous for wherever you are on the faith spectrum because it's kind of be a window into some ah wonky things about Christians. That wouldn't be a bad sermon to preach on either. wonky things about us. >> Um, but it's going to be it's going to be good. You okay? >> I wish more preachers would say, "I think I heard from God." All right, let's pray. God, thank you for the moments that we share. We thank you for your grace and for your love. God, we ask that you um would would speak to us. We ask that you would meet us in a real way. Uh what we don't need is uh more tradition. What we don't need is just to go through the motions. We actually if you are real and big and alive, we want to meet you in a real way. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for what the Seahawks did in the draft. May every single draft pick be exceed our wildest dreams in Jesus name. >> Amen. Amen. Amen. So, um, have you ever been at a restaurant? This just happened this week. And, um, ever been at a restaurant? I just looking for some response here. Uh, ever been at a restaurant? All right. So, here's the deal. I'm I'm a really indecisive orderer of food. Um, I get overwhelmed. Um, I get nervous because and I thank God for this city. I love Seattle and LA. And one of the reasons is it's a place where you can have extraordinary extensive detailed orders and change orders to your orders and no one really rolls their eye at you, right? And no disrespect, but if you go Midwest, the South, they're like, "Did you I'm sorry. What did you just say? I said glutenfree." And this has happened to me. What is gluten? And I and I get mad, but I don't show it. Um cuz gluten hurts my tummy. And someone recently told me um that's because uh you're you're gluten-free. Uh because you were you were raised um um soft. That's what I was told recently. You have a you have you have a sensitive stomach because you were raised soft. Punch the guy in the face. I said really I'm just kidding. I just did it in my mind though. You ever done that? You're like you're soft and you're like bam. You hit him in your mind. You're like in another life that would be fun sometimes. But yeah, so I'm I'm that guy and I uh sometimes I'll say sorry before I even start my order, right? And and um so here's the people that I really admire. I admire decisive direct orderers of food at restaurants. It's just it's it's it's very appealing to me. It's amazing. Yeah. I'll take the number one no hash brown subf fruit. Thanks. And I'm like, wow, that was amazing. And always I'm I'm the guy that's like, "Can you can you come back to me?" Right? And then they come back and I'm like, "Oh, I'm still not ready." And they're like, "Well, everyone else is done. So you you got to and you ever had this moment you're like I don't what' you get and they go I got you're like oh what did you get? Right? Like I I feel like I'm never the person at the table. I'm going to try this. Maybe tonight if we go to a restaurant I'm going to be the decisive orderer. Um but I'm always I'm always tweaking the order. I'm always like the the order is never exactly the way I need it. Right. So I'm just the I'm just that person. Um, I like the confident orderer. Sometimes someone's so confident they persuade me. I watch them and I go, I guess I'll have what they're having, too. Um, side note, Chelsea thinks it's sexy when I order for her. I don't know if you knew that. Yeah, I just wanted you to know that. And she hates my beard. Bop bop. But, um, I always grow out my beard when I'm eating too much food. just that's the that's just that's someone I out myself. Anytime I have facial hair, it's because I've been eating too many fries. So, it's just it's a cover. Um, but so I started thinking about these these certain people and I don't know if it's a personality thing or a disposition thing, but people who who definitively order in restaurants, I think um are are admirable to me. And they kind of remind me here we're going to have some fun. Bear with me. They kind of remind me of of Christians who are always so definitive and confident that they have heard from God. Now bear with me. Some like, "Oh man, I just had dinner before this service and I said that very thing." But you know the the Christian and I've been there and I've done this. So let's pick on us for a moment. You know the Christian is like this morning God spoke to me. Like wow. And I love Christians because we never explain what we mean when we say that, right? God spoke to me. He told me not to take the job, stay where I am. You're like, "Wow." Have you ever had friends that aren't familiar with that vernacular? I love I love these. These are my these are my favorite people. And they're like, "Hey, like after the lunch or whatever they hang out, they're like, "Hey, Julie, can I ask you a quick quick question? When your friends said God spoke to them, do you all hear like an audible voice? That's crazy. Uh, no. I don't think so. I'll follow up with John, but I don't think I think what we mean is when we say God spoke to us or God said, I think what we're saying is I got like a sense or an impression. But we don't say that, do we? We tell everybody now preachers, we are famous for this. Um, God spoke to me and said or God said is in so many sermons that are preached. And I'm not saying I'm against that. I am saying this. When you put God and said together, that is two of the most powerful words ever combined in the world. The moment you say God said, I hope he said that. I So, I'm just going to go on the record and say we we all running our mouths around here talking about God said. And I'm like, but we can we at least TELL EVERYBODY AND EACH OTHER WHAT WE MEAN when we said God said IS WE FELT MAYBE POSSIBLY PER CHANCE HE MIGHT HAVE NUDGED me or I want to stay AT THE JOB I'M AT. I'm not trying to say that we're not spiritual people and that God is not still speaking. And we'll talk more about this in the next few minutes. But I am concerned as a fellow follower of Jesus, frankly, as a human being. I am concerned that we run around and lightly use these two words together. God spoke to me. That's that's three words. God said, God spoke. And I just want to suggest in our community maybe we could be a little different and START USING TERMS LIKE I felt >> THAT GOD MIGHT have >> I in the in the old days in church um Christians would talk like this. They'd say I was impressed in my spirit. But it's actually a little bit more helpful than God said. God said it reminds me of the story I love. I love I love honest people who are like, "Man, everybody in this church hears from God." And and it reminds me of a friend of mine. We had this small group and this I was a youth pastor and his name was Chris. And this is this is the funny things we do in church. I was like, "How's everybody's prayer time?" And back then we timed each other's prayer times. So I was like, "How long you pray today? How long you somebody be like, "I'm glad you were not my youth pastor." All right, shut up. And we get to the end and I said, "Chris, how long was your prayer time?" I love Chris. He looked around. He's like, "Hey man, I didn't know we had to time it." That's my fault. Chris is also the guy who was like, "So when y'all say God said, can someone explain what's that what that's like?" And in his mind, right? If I say about my Ryan said, it means out loud, audibly, Ryan said, hey. But when we say God said, if we're honest, almost always we mean something different than an audible voice. We also need to clarify and the scripture will do this for us that when we say God said, we should say pretty sure God said. And here's here's here's where I'm at. As a fellow person of faith, I think we need to caution each other a little bit about this. And here's why. The combination of God said has been used whether admittedly, willingly, intentionally to kind of control stuff and manipulate people because if God said, "What am I supposed to do with that?" Ch. God said, "You need to make me breakfast." And I would never say that. I tell you that [laughter] right now. I'm 40. smarter than that. So I think tonight having a community moment here I would like to caution us. I think it is imperative for our credibility out in these streets that we don't just run around every day talking about I woke up this morning and God said. Now, if they say, "What do you mean?" And you said, "Oh, God said in Romans 14:17, that's another that's another thing different." But what what I'm speaking to is because I believe that God does impress things. God does give us an an impression or suddenly we have a sentence in our brain and we feel like it came out of nowhere and we start thinking on it and we're like, "Man, I think God is speaking to me." But hearing God is not a perfect practice, but it is a practice. It's a practice. And the Bible makes it clear that hearing from God happens in part. Meaning, we're not perfect at this. Meaning, there should be a part of our Christian journey, our faith journey, that actually goes, "Hey, I want to double back." Remember when I said, "I thought God said uh he definitely didn't say that." Amen. >> When's the last time that happened to you? Now, I'm miss Hold on a second. When's the last time somebody who loves Jesus and dropped one OF THOSE GOD SAID MOMENTS, WHICH IS NOT A BAD THING. I'M JUST SAYING it's a weighty thing and it's a real thing and it can hurt a lot of people in yourself if you just throwing it around. And I DON'T KNOW WHEN THIS HAPPENED, BUT WHOEVER SAYS GOD SAYS THE most is the most elite among us. Have you noticed that some like I don't this is 13 minutes in. I do not like this sermon. He's not good in chords. He shouldn't do chords. God. Thank you. Justin laughed. Somebody's going to laugh around here. Justin's on staff. He has to laugh. But God said God said, "When's the last time you said, "Hey, hey, correction." God definitely didn't say that cuz I like kind of walked it out a little bit. I was like, "Oh, no. isn't it? But we don't we don't we don't we don't do that as much. And yet we see incredible evidence in scripture that hearing from God is a practice and it's not perfect. So So can I just can I just relieve some pressure in here? Because God said he would guide us. God said he would speak to us. God said he would lead us. But there's going to be days where we think he's leading us and who's leading is just our desires or our wants or something we thought could be God and it wasn't. I just want to be a part in I want to be a in a space where we're all willing to go, "Yeah, I thought it was but it wasn't. But we gave it a go." where we God said God said that's a that's a powerful statement. So there's this moment in the in the first church, right? The very first church thousands of years ago. Um not many years after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Um the the church is having a major decision. It's it's one of the most significant decisions that has affected the church today. At the time, becoming a Jesus follower, you had to adhere to all of the Jewish traditions, customs, and laws. Jesus was Jewish. Our whole story begins in Israel in the Jewish people. And so the church, Gentiles were always welcome to practice the Jewish faith, always. But they had adhere they had to adhere to all of the laws and and and and traditions and customs of the Jewish people, which are beautiful. Suddenly a a discontentment starts to rise in the church and Gentiles are starting to say, "Hey, I don't know if we need to do all this. It seems like in the ways of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus." And so to make a long story short, in Acts chapter 15, the leaders of the church have a very significant decision and distinction to make. And it's this. Are Gentiles going to be required to go through the Jewish traditions and customs? That is a pretty big decision that would affect the church for centuries. And do you know in Acts chapter 15, as they're making this decision, you'll watch something very interesting happen. This word slips into the story, and it's this word called seemed. S E M D. Seemed. It literally means impression. Impression. And here's what the apostles three times they used this word seemed in what is, no disrespect, a decision that's significantly bigger than which job you should take or I should take. A decision significantly bigger which home you should rent or buy. This is a decision that's going to affect the faith for thousands of years. They pray about it. They talk amongst each other and they say okay it seemed good to us based on Jesus life ministry what we are sensing from his presence and spirit it seems that we're not going to ask the gentile believers to go through the Jewish customs traditions and laws they only ask them to do three things and they literally end this this area of scripture by saying and God be with you Three times one of the most significant decisions in the history of church was made on a seems good to us and the leading of Jesus. It seems but if we're not careful today THAT KIND OF APPROACH TO Jesus is seen as less than spiritual. And Jesus says now the spirit of truth the spirit of Jesus is going to come. HE'S GOING TO GUIDE YOU into all truth. HE'S GOING TO GUIDE YOU into one translation. He's going to take you by the hand. He's going to lead you. For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare it to you the things that are to come. Going on. Yeah. And he always the awkward pause for preachers because we pretend like we already have this memorized, but none of us do. Okay. So, he will glorify me. He will take what is mine and declare it to you. He will declare it to you. And and then I think there's one more. All that the father has is mine. Therefore, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. I love this passage, right? So Jesus is like he's going to guide you. He's going to declare it to you. And by the way, the spirit of Jesus always magnifies the person of Jesus. You always know the spirit of Jesus is working in your life when it always leads you to more Jesus. Um but I love this passage, right? You just read it. You're like, he's going to guide me. He's going to declare it to me. He's going to do it. Do you get the same sensation I get from this passage? You're like, "Oh, man. Awesome." Yeah. He's going to guide me. Right? Get in a small group, maybe a group on the app, and you're like, "Hey, can we let's talk about John 16:12 to 18." So good, right? Guide us. Declare it. Amazing. Somebody in the group needs to go, "Can I ask a question?" Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What is going to BUT HOW IS HE GOING TO DO IT? But how? Like a PASSAGE LIKE THIS HAS TO make you want to go. SO ON A TUESDAY afternoon after my boss says we have to demote you and also can't pay you as much as we were cuz you're not doing the same job. But hey, we love you. Glad you're in the company. And it's a Tuesday afternoon where the person who is not as good as you just got promoted and you just got demoted. And the scripture says he will guide you. What I want to know is on a Tuesday afternoon, HOW WILL HE GUIDE ME? HOW? LOOK AT THIS. THIS WORD DOESN'T SAY HE'S GOING TO WHISPER IT. He's going to declare it. How? Jesus doesn't give any explanation. Why? Because the answer the answer's there. When you say how, Jesus responds clearly is he will. Wait, what? But how will he do it? He will. But how will he? He will. He just will. So that's that's the info we got. Yeah. In other words, God will do it. Hearing from God is more about God than you. Let's just let's talk for a second. We think um that I will hear from God if I will do all the right things. Can I just say this about God? If God really wants to talk to you, he just gonna go ahead and do it. >> He's famous for this. He's like, "All right, all right. They're not They're not listening. I'mma use a donkey. Now, this is real stuff. God spoke out of clouds, donkeys, all kinds of things, right? He just, in fact, Jesus one time said, "Listen, man. If if humans don't worship me, rocks are literally rocks are going to grow lips, tongues, and gums and starts talking about me and singing about me." Like that's how like like like the God God's good at talking to people. God's good at talking to people. Today Chelsea and I were having a discussion and she's like, "Hey, I want to talk to you about something." She goes, "Do you think maybe you we would know what maybe I want to talk to you about?" That's always a peculiar position as a spouse because you're like, "But I'm 40 now." And and I said, "All right, I feel like if I make some attempts and I'm not accurate, this will not go well for me." Right? Come on. Those of you who are married or you've been in a long-term dating relationship and the person's like, "Well, you don't you don't know what's bothering me." And you're like, "Yeah, I do, girl. I know what it is, but I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you say it cuz I love when you speak to me, girl. I think sometimes we think that's how God is. God's like, "I want to speak to you about something." What do you think that would be about? Um, my sins. You know, like [laughter] Allan, I got a whole conversation in my head, but we won't go there. Okay. So, we we've got to put the the the overwhelming uh responsibility of speak that it's God's. First of all, he knows we're dust. He knows we're distracted. He knows we're weak. He knows we're broken. He knows that, you know, we're we're not all but but we were made to hear from God. And if God wants to speak to us, I truly believe he will. I obviously believe that there are opportunities and spaces and places you can put yourself in. Obviously, the idea behind our event and gathering on a Wednesday night is that God would speak to us through his story that something would stand out during the sermon that kind of lands and and it just kind of feels like it's an impression. It's like that tempropedic, you know, mattress and you just kind of feel like you something kind of sunk in your chest. You're like, "Whoa, that okay, I think that might be God going, "Hey, hey, we we we want that, but I think often times we think it's up to us." No, it is ultimately and primarily up to God. Remember that he said he will guide you. He will declare it. You're like, "Well, h how do I how do I do that?" Oh, he'll do it. He'll initiate it. God will guide you. Now, that's some confidence we need more of. That's some confidence we need more of. We need to take the confidence using God said a lot and we need to take and say, "Hey, God's going to talk to me. God needs to get my attention and talk to me. He's going to talk to me." And that's a lot of the confidence in which in which I live my life if I'm being incredibly honest and practical. My my mentality is, hey, God God knows me. Like, I love him. He knows where I live, what's going on. He if he needs, he's going to get my attention. He's going to use friends. He's going to use circumstance. He's going to I I man I really believe that God's going to guide me and he's going to declare it's going to be clear. He doesn't use confusion. He brings clarity and even in the mystery I think God is going to guide me. So so and and furthermore GOD IS THE BEST AT REROUTING. I told you this before, right? I mean I can't follow GPS to save my life. I can't. And I'll take a left cuz the streets I just I it's hard to see which one it means. And every time you take a wrong turn, rerouting. We think GPS is more gracious than God. No, God. IF YOU TAKE A, HEY, YOU MADE A BAD DECISION. YOU MADE A BAD HEY, GOD'S GOING TO REROUTE YOU. DON'T GET ALL IN YOUR head and caught up about it talking about, "Well, I don't know." Listen, God is big, faithful, and he is really good at speaking to human beings. He's really good. God is going to guide us. What I'd like to do in the conclusion of this message is take you to a very interesting story and then I'm going to give you three points that I think will forever help you determine whether or not you're hearing something from God. And I think I think this could really help. It's going to help me. I think it could really help you. So, there's this scene in Luke chapter 7. The cousin of Jesus, his name is John the Baptist. Maybe you've heard of him. He actually has the honor and privilege of baptizing Jesus in the Jordan River. They have grown up together. John the Baptist is six months older than Jesus. And John the Baptist becomes a very significant figure, speaker, and spiritual leader in Jesus day. In fact, his ministry swells and grows before Jesus even really is much on the scene in terms of his public ministry. By the time we get to Luke chapter 7, and I think we start in verse 12 or verse 18, verse 18, John has been doing much ministry. So has Jesus. They've grown up together. But watch what happens. The disciples of John, so that is some of his leaders, some of the guys that would row with John the Baptist, reported all these things. So they reported to John all these miracles they had seen Jesus do and calling two of the leaders to him. He said he sent them to the Lord saying when when I I need you to get an audience with Jesus and when you get there this is his cousin now he's grown up with his whole life. He says I want you to ask him are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another? Now, much has been made of this passage, but I think there's an element of this passage that frankly is undeniable. And much has been made in time trying to explain away that John the Baptist is dealing with doubt. It is apparent to me there is at least some doubt in this story, which is astounding if you consider the context. John the Baptist who was there at the baptism of Jesus, he did he performed the baptism. Do you remember what happened at that baptism? The sky split open. A dove flew down from heaven, landed on Jesus, and an audible voice from heaven. This one was definitely a God said. And when and when people say, "What do you mean he said?" He said it out loud from the clouds. All right. Word. That's cool. All right. That's that's real. He said, "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." OKAY. JOHN GOT TO BE THERE. HE STOOD RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOVE, RIGHT NEXT TO JESUS, AND LIKE IN THE LIMELIGHT SHINING FROM HEAVEN. The voice FROM HEAVEN, GOD THE FATHER BMED IN HIS CHEST. THIS IS HIS COUSIN. HE HEARD THE PROPHECIES. HE KNOWS THE MIRACLE STORY. HE KNOWS MARY. John will lose his head not long after this scene. And in this difficult place, John starts to wonder, did I really, if you will, hear from God? Do I really know the truth? Is my cousin really the man? I'm about to die and I'm starting to wonder if it's true. John in a lot of faith communities um would be in big trouble for this moment. Now John, what who do you see the miracles of God? What do you mean you wonder if he's the guy? Of course he's the guy. He is your family. But John's in a human place. He's starting to wonder. Did I is this? I'mma die for this. Is he? [snorts] And I just what I'm what I'm concluding saying tonight before I give you these three observations is um we got to be a community where John the Baptist can ask hard questions about his cousin. John's like, "I need you to go talk to my cousin and ask him." Some say he was also asking, "Are you going to come free me from this prison? Are you going to save me from dying?" Some say he might have been asking that as well. He's dealing with fear. He's dealing with doubt. But is apparent to me that often times we may not know, especially in painful seasons. Is this all real? Did I really hear from God? >> [snorts] >> And are we going to be the kind of community that's like, "Hey, let's talk about that. Hey, thank you, John, for being honest." So, his leaders get to Jesus. And um it says in Luke chapter 7 that they communicate to Jesus. And when the men had come and they said, "John the Baptist has sent us, saying to you, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" Let's let's let's think how Jesus feels for a second. Now, if I'm Jesus, I'm like, "I'm sorry. What did you say? You talking about my cousin? You the one I let baptize me going to be famous forever. Yeah, we were just told to ask. Listen to this. Or should we look for [snorts] another? I would be like it it would get physical. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Right. Like and watch what Jesus says. Next verse. It says, "And he answered them, this is so Jesus, go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight. The lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up. The poor have the good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who's not offended by me." Side note about God. Sometimes you want like a a yes or no from God and he's like go and tell him what you've seen and you're like what [laughter] God. It's a yes or no. And God's like I know. Okay. Like yo John, your cousin is really struggling. Just tell him yes. >> [clears throat] >> Three things. Three things. Have I heard from God? Do I think God's talking to me? What is Jesus telling John? What is Jesus saying to John's doubts? What is Jesus saying to John's fears? I think I think God might be speaking to me. Here's a guide to help you filter through impressions that you get that you think might be God. Number one, look at what God is doing and look at what God has done. Because God is famous for when you say, "God, is that you?" And he says, "Look around. Should we look for another?" "Look around, John. Look what I do. What is God doing? We've got to understand something. We're so individualized in our faith now. We forgot to recognize that God speaks to groups of people. God speaks to whole groups. God speaks to continents, nations. He built his own nation and he speaks. We think that God only speaks to us. No, God or to me. No, God will speak to us. God will speak to us. And one of the ways God will speak to us is what he will do amongst us. And so if you're like, man, WHAT IS I THINK GOD SAYING? One of the WAYS YOU CAN CHECK THAT IS LOOK AROUND. WHAT IS GOD CURRENTLY DOING? AND FURTHERMORE, WHAT HAS GOD DONE? WHAT IS HIS TRACK RECORD? Because often times WE'LL SAY, "GOD SPEAKING to me, but it HAS NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER. IT IS COMPLETELY INCONSISTENT with what he's doing and what he's done." That's an awesome opportunity for us to go, you know what? The impression I'm getting is so inconsistent with what God is doing and what he's done. I'm going to do one of my favorite things. I'm going to shelf that. I'm going to put that on the shelf and if it comes back, I'll reconsider, talk to some friends, get some counsel. But I'm looking around what he's doing and what he's done. It's very helpful. I also think Jesus uses the word heard. Tell John what you heard. The the second thing I'd like to say is look at what he said. To understand what he's saying, go back to what he said because his saying will be consistent with what he said. God repeats himself a lot. a lot. So if you're like, "Man, I got this thing I think God is saying." And he never even ballpark said that, you could probably shelf that one. God said, and it's like, man, there's like not even a hint of that in here. He probably didn't maybe say that. No, he did. He did. He did. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I love you. I love you. Let's shelf it real high up on the shelf where we can't get to it anymore. And I'm just trying to be as helpful and practical as I can as a community leader. We need to be willing to say, "All right, all right." I [snorts] have discussions with friends all the time and and there'll be moments and Chelsea's the best at this. She knows her Bible so well. She'll be like, "Well, you know, Philippians says," and she always knows the address. Oh, she shows off. what Philippians 3:10 says. She's like, "Do you know what it says, Jud?" I'm like, "I love the book of Philippians. You tell me, girl." But what she's doing is, "Hey, you're feeling something, thinking maybe it might." So, we're talking about God saying something. Let's go back to what he said and kind of go all right. Is that if we're going to be BOLD ENOUGH TO SAY GOD SAID THIS TO ME, WE GOT TO BE BOLD ENOUGH WITH EACH OTHER TO GO, ALL RIGHT, [screaming] ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT. I'M not mad AT YOU. I'M JUST SAYING I HAVE NEVER READ A VERSE IN THE BIBLE THAT EVEN COMES CLOSE TO WHAT YOU'RE saying God said to you. You're Why don't you believe in my dreams? I do. But I, you know, we want to be honest about this practice of getting impressions from God. And and lastly, and I might ruffle some feathers, bear with me. Why does Jesus answer John the Baptist this way? He lists six different kind of afflicted people. He says, ' Go tell John what you've seen and heard. Watch this. Number one, blind receive their sight. Number two, lame walk. Number three, lepers are cleansed. Number four, deaf hear. Number five, dead are raised. Number six, the poor had the good news preached to them. This is a loaded statement that will speak to the traditional views of the Messiah in Jesus culture. Here's what was happening. The Jews had taken the prophecies. Jesus people, the wonderful Jewish people had taken the prophecies of the Messiah who was to come and they had favored one aspect of the prophecies. So the prophecies declare that Jesus would be both lion and lamb. That the Messiah would be the conquering king and the suffering lamb. that he would be strong and yet he would take a place of brokenness. He would make himself weak. Here's what happened. Over a process of time, the Jewish people did not want a suffering lamb. They didn't want that part of the Messiah. They wanted the conquering king. under the tyranny of Rome, as you can imagine, under the politics and all of the calamity that was happening in that era of the world in that time and and and and and season, they wanted a messiah who would come and be the conquering king, overthrow Rome, free his people, AND THEY STARTED TO GIVE THEMSELVES AS YOU can understand TO THIS ASPECT OF THE MESSIAH. SO JOHN THE BAPTIST IN HIS FEARFUL DOUBTING STATE BEFORE HE DIES SENDS A NOTE IF YOU WILL TO HIS COUSIN AND HIS COUSIN WRITES BACK and says I am the suffering lamb. I am the conquering king but I am the suffering lamb that you did not want me to be. The suffering lamb would go to the suffering. THE CONQUERING KING WOULD DO AWAY WITH THE BROKEN, the lame, the blind. EVEN THE LAW REJECTED THESE GROUPS of people. YOU CAN'T BE AROUND DEAD CORPSES. YOU CAN'T TOUCH LEPERS. YOU CAN'T HELP THOSE WITH DEFECTS. IT'S THE CURSE OF GOD ON THEIR LIFE. AND YET, THE CONQUERING KING COMES ALSO as the suffering lamb. And he cares for people the Jews did not want him to care about. and they're frustrated because their Messiah is not the way they wanted him. And here's what I'd like to go on record saying. If we're not careful, my brothers and sisters, we still do this today. When I hear from God, I only hear from a conquering king. When I hear from God, I only hear from the suffering lamb. And so we have whole communities BREAKING APART THE TWO OFFICES OF OUR GOD. And we only hear from the suffering lamb or we only hear from the conquering king. Jesus says, "I'm both and I will speak to you from both places." But there's whole movements who are like, "No, we're we're conquerors. We're blessed. We're favored. It's awesome." And that is so true. And there's whole movements that are like, "We're broken. We're weary. We're marginalized. We're not seen. We're Christians. It's painful. It's hard. It's difficult." And there's whole movements amongst the Christian faith. Never shall the conquering king and suffering lamb get together. And the suffering lamb, their messiah is always, it's difficult, it's hard. The conquering king group are always like, "No, God always is a conqueror. We're more than conquerors. Everything's good. Everything's fine." And what's amazing is in is in the middle of John's doubt, Jesus answers by saying, "John, I wonder if the reason you're asking this is because you too have been swayed by the popular notion of the Messiah." He makes no mention of the conquering conquering king because the conquering king was the predominant welcomed celebrated perspective of God. And he he says, I mean, is this not overwhelming? Blind, lame, lepers, deaf, dead, poor. Well, when are you when are you going to overthrow Rome? Well, I'm the conquering king, but I'm also the suffering lamb. Right? Because that's remember the disciples, they're all in a locked room after Jesus dies, and they're going, "What happened to our conquering king? God wasn't like the way we wanted him to be." So, here's what happens. We run around talking about God said, and I'm going be honest with you. I love you. I do this, too. whichever you prefer, conquering king or suffering lamb, that becomes almost the only way you hear God. And God God spoke to me and said, 'I just need to I just need to suffer and be broken. The other side is, well, God spoke to me and said, I'm blessed. I'm not going to be sick. I'm going to be And I just wonder like, are we doing it again? Can I ask the question? When's the last time Jesus bothered you? Yeah. When's the last time you're like, I don't like that part. Yeah. When's the last time Jesus crossed you? You read something you're like, it must not mean that. That's not what Jesus meant. He didn't mean that. I need to get somebody to really explain that to me because the way it is, I don't like it. I know it's only two categories. Bear with me. But based on personality, we can be like Jesus is conquering king to me. Jesus is the suffering lamb to me. He's both. And he speaks from both places. Sometimes that's hard. Can [snorts] I say something? And and now we're really getting into it and I'm coming to a close. Um, can we be careful because sometimes Jesus is speaking to people from the office of the suffering lamb. [snorts] And yet he's speaking to us at the same time from the office of the conquering king. and the two get together for coffee and we go, "Oh, that is not God. You are going to be blessed. God is going to." And that's where things get wonky. You're like, "Judy, you are being honest." Yeah, I'm 40. This is where we lose empathy, compassion. We also often times can't listen to someone who's like, "God speaking to him from the conquering king. I'm not trying to break Jesus apart. I'm actually trying to avoid that." You understand what I'm saying? He is both. And he's telling John what we're talking about right now. He's saying, "You need to see the part of me you don't want to see. I came to die. And I love people that the culture rejects [sighs] that." So, so here's where I'm I'm landing. The reason I think we should say I think I heard from God is because I think a lot of times we hear what we want to hear, see what we want to see, and feel led by what we want to feel led by. And if we'll just admit, I tend to hear God a lot in my personality. I'm not trying to get you confused, but I'm trying to get all of us to be honest and say this is why community is so good. Because in a multitude of counselors, there is safety. There is safety. Maybe you ever had one of these moments. Maybe I need somebody to help me hear what God's really trying to say. You ever you ever felt something in your gut and you're like, I don't want that to be God. If you're like me, like there are still things in my life I'm like, I don't I don't want to tell Elijah cuz he'll probably be like, "That sounds like God." And I'll be like, "Man, please." But I don't want to play games either. >> I don't want to make God in my own image. Then I'm God. I want conquering king and suffering lamb. I want the lion and the lamb to speak to me. I want him to challenge me and change me. I I I I I want to get better with age. I want to hear God. I I I know I I don't say this lightly. This is a challenging message. And some of you here and you're like, man, I'm just glad I'm not a Christian. This is this sounds difficult. [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. It's a painful moment from John the Baptist. But I don't know about you, I can relate with John. And I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. I'm closing. What I what I can relate to John with is like when God isn't like I want him to be, sometimes I want to look for another. got it. You're not you're not doing what I want you to do. I wanted to go you and so I just want to say this that um maybe God is impressing people right now and I don't know who I'm talking to but I I think maybe there's some people here today whether in this auditorium there in Seattle or online right now watching on church home global and here's what might be happening I'm going to go out a limb God is bringing something back on the inside of you and there's that sense again. There's that impression again. And it's it's one that you're not particularly fond of, but it keeps kind of surfacing in your soul. God might be speaking to you and it might be challenging. I want to be the pastor to tell you the truth. If you think every time God is impressing your soul that it's going to be exactly what you want or make everything feel better, I just can't make that promise. Sometimes God says things and you're like, I'm not. It keeps coming back and it's like, okay, God. So John, I'm done. The music's playing softly. I promise I'm done. >> [snorts] >> John hears back from his cousin what I just quoted you. Do you know what that meant for John? Translation. I'm not going to save you from death. You're going to die. You're not going to come get me. No. Wait. What? God, can anyone explain that? Jesus, that's your cousin. They're going to cut his head off. John saying, "So that's my answer." Yeah, [snorts] man. There's some people in here. This what you're going through is so hard and you're like, God, what? But I promise you in all of this, God will work it together. for good. I think I heard from God. Wouldn't it be cool to be a part of a community that would walk like this? Hey, can I talk to you because I think I heard I don't want to I don't want to any way remove your confidence. I just want to insert some caution and some transparency and honesty. So together we will experience the true leadership and guidance of God in our everyday life. Let me remind you what God started in you. You didn't start it in you. God started in you. He will complete what he started in you. He is going to guide you. He's going to lead you. He's going to prompt you. He will not leave you alone. You be confident in that. Jesus, I thank you so much for the moments that we share. God, you're showing us things about you. And I just thinking today about those in Seattle here in LA, those watching on the app. There's um there's a lot of pain going on in a lot of people's lives right now. A lot of stuff that makes us wonder, a lot of stuff that makes us doubt. We we actually do need to hear from you, God. We do. We do. Help us to see what you've done, what you're doing. Help us to read what you have already said. And help us to remember who you are. And God, help us hear you like for real. I'm praying for my friends right now who are kind of feeling like unless they get a clear impression from you, it seems like it's too hard to keep moving. We need that. We're a community that believes that you still speak today. You still speak today. So, your kingdom come and your will be done. Talking to people right now. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Lord, you are not done with us. You have not cast us aside. We are your children and you are a caretaker. You are a shepherd. Thank you, God. You see us in this space and you are so in love with us. We thank you for that confidence right now. And I thank you for your presence that I sense in this room, Seattle, even where people are watching on the app. I thank you, Lord, they'll sense your love in Jesus name.