Part 3: Our Response to God’s Voice (Part 3 of 3)

0:00:01
Real life presents the Jack Hibbs podcast with intention and boldness to proclaim truth, equip the saints, and impact our culture. So, hey, what come back to our podcast. Listen, previously, we're talking about the voice of God. God speaks. Secondly, after that, we looked at having ears that is ears in our heart to hear what God is saying. And today, we're gonna be looking at the mouth. That's what's coming up next.

0:00:33
You can get the outlines of this podcast by going to https://jackhibbs.com/podcast. Today, if this podcast lifts you up and encourages you to live a more fulfilled life in Christ, then make sure you leave us one of those five star ratings. To us, that's like saying, amen or yes, then that rating will encourage others to listen. Now open your hearts to what God's word has to say to you. Here is Jack Hibbs. Alright.

0:01:02
So listen, we're talking about the rare of our ability to receive in hearing what God is saying. Number one or first time to get we're talking about the voice of God. God can speak any way he wants to speak. He can speak audibly. He can speak by dreams. I There's no limit to what god can use to speak, but the bible tells us in these last days now, he has spoken to us by his son Jesus Christ, and the bible makes it very clear that that narrative, that conversation that God has given us, is revealed in the bible. So the Bible is God's tool by which he confirms or speaks to us. Secondly, we saw that the heart must have ears. We have to nurture that. It's it's hard. In fact, before we get into the third and final talk on this, watch how difficult this is. We talked about clearing the field of noise away from our heart. So watch this. Are you ready? Listen. Listen. Get ready now. Watch how hard this is. I'm gonna look at the timer. We're gonna take a little moment. Are you doing this in your life to get still to get alone with God? Ready? Set. Go. That's ten seconds. That was ten seconds of quietness. And it felt like an eternity.

0:02:32
You know, so wild about how we're wired is for those of you who are parents, When everything's fine at home, you got kid noise going on. You know, kid noise. There's some whining. There's some griping. There's toys moving around. You hear plastic wheels on the on the tile. You hear little conversations of the little ones. You you hear them. Don't you? You hear them, but you're not listening to them. You know, you're just assessing. You're making spaghetti. The kitchen is going. Life phones ringing, but you got an ear. Of the ambient noise, the kids are the kids are noisy.

0:03:16
All of a sudden, do you know what Interruptcy with a grain. It's not the kid. There's an alarm that goes off because now you're no longer hearing any, nothing from the kid. No noise. No movement, and a parent can be just completely fine doing their thing, and then there's silence coming from the kid. And the parent has lit up what's going on. And they immediately you must immediately go and search and see.

0:03:43
Wouldn't it be great if you saw your kid looking out the window? Your two year old contemplating creation? In the wonders of god, that's not going on. They're either eating something they're not supposed to or they're pulling their sister's hair out or something's going on. That they're not supposed to be doing. Why is that happening? Because we are creatures that are wired to hear and to listen?

0:04:07
So what we're talking about is this now, is what is spoken our mouth. If if God is speaking to us with a voice, And if we have ears to hear what the spirit of God is saying to us, the next thing is what are we doing with our mouth after we've heard what God has said? This is important. Number one, when God says things to us, listen, not everything is to be repeated out to others. God will speak to us and it's personal. This is an important thing in my life, for example, when when I became a Christian some years after, so I'm gonna say it was three years after I became a Christian, something happened at a little prayer meeting at Carriage Chapel Coste Mesa in the late seventies And god spoke something through someone directed at me. And I've never had the liberty in all my life that was forty six plus years ago. I've never had the liberty to tell other people what it was that that man said.

0:05:21
Why? I wrote it down. I have it written down. It's very lengthy. But what's amazing is about seventy five percent of it has already been fulfilled. About twenty five percent of it remains.

0:05:35
So, Chad, tell me, can't tell you. I'm not allowed to tell you. God's made it very clear. You keep this to you. This is between us. I'll do this, but it's between us. Maybe someday when I'm old and dying, I can, you know, put it in a book or have somebody write about it, but right now I can't talk about it. Just because God speaks to you doesn't mean you're supposed to jump up on the rooftop and blab it everywhere. So be very wise about what God has spoken to you about. Don't blurt it out. Don't post it. Don't do a podcast about it. Ask God, am I am I to talk about this? Just because God revealed something to you, listen, AW Tozer wrote a book.

0:06:21
It's awesome book. You gotta get it. Little book that knock your socks off. It's called, God tells the man who cares by a w tozer. Not everything God says to you, you're supposed to repeat. Number two. When God tells you to say something, when when he speaks to you, then say it. Speak it. Ask him for wisdom.

0:06:44
Sometimes today in our an age of Christianity, it's so lackluster, and it's so thin and veneer, that if somebody says, I've got a word from God, People flock to hear what's gonna be said because quite frankly, let's be honest. Number one, hey, if he's got a word for God, then that means I don't have to wait on God myself. Tell me what's up. That's pretty scary because you don't know what that guy is gonna say and you don't know if it's from God or not. Okay? So just because somebody saying something doesn't mean from God. So, you you wanna take into consideration what is being said, does it match up with scripture? Number two, does the person's life being lived out match up with scripture. Important.

0:07:28
But once God speaks to you about something and you know it, Listen, I say this lovingly. I say this because it's a common part of my life, every pastor will know immediately what I'm talking about, who's watching right now. When God speaks to you and you know it, there's a terror. There's a fear that comes upon you of stewardship about what's just been said to you. How do I say this? When do I say this? How was this to be spoken?

0:08:07
So for example, friends. Has God been speaking to you god speaking voice to you your heart with ears? About somebody that you love, you know that there's something going on in their life that's not right. God tells you to go tell them these words. That's terrifying. Do not consult your friends Hey, I think God said this to me, do you think I should do this? Your friends are gonna say because God didn't speak to them? No? Or yes? Or yeah. You know what you should do? You should jump them, sit on their chest, and yell at them about it. No. Calm down. Don't talk to others about it. But if God says, you need to tell your friend that what they're doing is wrong. And before you tell them, you need to pray yourself up and ready. I shared it to you so that you are to talk to them. Don't tell somebody else about it. You go to them. But you speak it. You must.

0:09:20
Listen, Jeremiah. God is so cool. Jeremiah, a lot of you don't I don't know if you know there's a Jeremiah was a teenager. God says to Jeremiah, hey, I'm gonna give you a word. I'm gonna put my word in your mouth. So God put his word in Jeremiah's mouth and Jeremiah. This is funny because I'm sure God didn't put this in Jeremiah's mouth. God puts his word in Jeremiah's mouth Jeremy turns around with his mouth and says, I'm not gonna say that. I'm too young. No one's gonna listen to me. It's hilarious, but doesn't that describe the life that we live as Christians?

0:09:56
God says in the word, I want you to say this, say it with, listen, say it with reverence, with awe, say it lovingly, but speak the truth. But speak it. You can't say, I'm not gonna do that God. You can't say, Yes, Lord or no Lord, it's I'm gonna obey. I'm gonna do this.

0:10:26
And so when we speak out of our mouths, it needs to be edifying It needs to be in accordance with the word convicting. It might be convicting. It might encourage someone. It could be a rebuke. It could be instructive. It could be something that gives people enlightenment or understanding. Whatever you're sharing, I love this from Isaiah chapter six. It needs to come off the altar of righteousness and holiness and placed on your tongue like it was on Isaiah's tongue. And then, God said, Who's gonna it's not amazing. We'll place this on this stuff. Who's gonna speak for us in Isaiah says, I'll do it. Why? Because Isaiah knew. Hey, my sins have been purged. God's word is in my mouth. The spirit of God's upon me. He can use me. And so wouldn't it be wonderful if we slowed down as Christians, Christ followers, and we began to speak life. Remember the bible tells us that we need to be careful what we say because we are actually pronouncing in a sense, a destiny upon people's lives.

0:11:44
I'm not talking about weirdness here. I'm saying it this way, if you constantly criticize your husband or your wife or your kids, if you're saying, what are you doing that for? Oh, you know what? You're too short for that. You're too tall for that. Listen, I've never been able to do that. I doubt if you can, you're destroying people talking like that. Well, that never happened. Listen.

0:12:13
When God speaks through you now, that's what we're really talking about. It's now it's coming around a full circle. God spoke to you you had ears to hear. He's put it in your heart and in your mouth, and now it's to be spoken. It's to be done as God's vessels. God God's tools with reverence and awe knowing that we are speaking the word in the new testament is the oracles of God. Can you imagine? Wow. We are to proclaim the word of God. When we speak, we are to speak in a way that is that which builds up people We're to speak joy. We're to speak life into people. We listen.

0:12:49
It's an awesome thing to say to your little kid. You do know you do know this. Right? That if you follow God and put him first in your life junior, There's nothing that God will withhold from you. Whatever he's got planned for you, you can expect it to happen. Notice I didn't say God's gonna make you rich. You know, if you follow God junior, you'll never be sick. That's insane. What you can say is, you know what sweetheart? You follow God. And whatever he's planned for your life, it's gonna happen. You speak that to your kids. Speak that to your husband and to your wife. Before they go out the door, tell them, you know what? I'm gonna be praying for you today as you walk and busy about whatever you've got to do today. I'm telling you right now. That God's going before you, and I pray that God has your thoughts all day long. You have an amazing day. I pray that God even shows you something really awesome today and you know that it's him in it. Speak it. Speak with your mouth, and this is not positive confession. If you want that kind of stuff, then turn the channel.

0:13:59
I'm talking about being an actual spirit led individual because the word of God is in you the spirit of God's got something to work with now because there's bible in you, you've heard from God, and listen, the natural result is speaking, life and love, truth to other people. Somebody long time ago said, I don't know who it was. It doesn't matter. Don't get it. Don't get up there and say something. Just don't walk up to the microphone and say something. Go to the microphone because you've got something to say. That's cool. Right? Don't make something up and blame God for it.

0:14:43
Well, the Lord told me that this is what's going to happen. And it doesn't happen. How many times you've heard this? God told me this and it doesn't happen. And you asked them, hey, what happened? You know, I don't know what the Lord's doing. He changed his mind. He didn't change his mind. You never heard from him.

0:15:05
So you went around talking about stuff that you never got secured with God. You got all excited but with no knowledge. You had all the zeal to spread the news. But it wasn't news at all. It was false. So what you wanna be very careful about is when we speak, that we're speaking, that which honors God. Blesses God. Because listen, everywhere that you and I speak the bible says will be held accountable for in the day of judgment. The believer is us. So from here on out, when we get around other people's lives, we shouldn't be the party pooper to their life. We should be known for people. Go talk to them. Ask them. See what they think about it. They listen to God. They fear the word. But even in that situation, I get and I'm gonna end with this.

0:15:58
For those of you who know me, if if you come up in US, Peshkabir, Jack, you know, I think I think we're going to move to New York. Okay. Great. What do you think about that? I won't answer people. I never have and never will. What are you asking? You think guts telling you to move to New York or to move to California? You don't ask me what I think. It's irrelevant, what I think. Can you pray for us that because we're thinking about getting a new job in San Jose. I'll pray for you.

0:16:41
But you've got to hear God's voice on your own. You've got to know it's him speaking. And then once he has spoken, now you can speak about it and you can be sure about it without any doubt. And I thank God that what I'm telling you right now is so true in my life and a fact that when I get to the pulpit, or out on the street or I'm stopped at the mall or the airport. Hey, Jack, what about this? If I'm a speaking bible, I'm good. If what's coming out of my mouth, doesn't matter if they like it or not. I'm good. If I'm honoring God with my words because it's truth I'm speaking in love, I've done my part. Now it's up to them to deal with it. So guys, let me insert it this way. To put up a bow around all that we've been talking about.

0:17:33
And these three sessions together, it's this, that what do I do after I've heard from God and I'm supposed to speak or do or act. Right? Go. What do I do? Understand this. It's all in faith. It's gotta be by faith.

0:17:52
But faith is not blind. You now know enough by what you've learned that what God has said requires obedience. Obedience is faith in action. Faith is actually tangible because I can see it happening in your life. You see? It goes from the invisible into the world around me because obedience is something that affects you and others. So when he speaks, you you take it in, you hear him, you discern that, word of God confirms it, and you act. That applies to tomorrow that applies to the mission field, it applies to everything of life.

0:18:31
It's very simple. If you take the time to unpack that, and to put these pieces together. So listen, you know what I'm gonna say. It's time for you to live out what it is that you believe in. It's time for real life. So listen, if these are blessing you if these podcasts are making a difference in your life, share it. That's the greatest thing. If you wanted to send me an encouraging word, it would be best if you just shared it with other people. The reach is what matters, and that's where you and I come in and we'll do this together. God bless you. This Jack Hibbs podcast as well as all the broadcast outreach opportunities are listed are supported. Will you consider partnering with us through a special gift? Go to https://jackhibbs.com to learn more and stay connected.