The Listening Life - Shaken and Awakened

I have to say that the first time I have to do that. Some of you have, as we've talked about on Eagles Wings, some of you have uh been able to be up close and personal with the team. Raise your hand if you have ever cooked with the on Eagles Wings team. Come on, raise your hand real quick. Let's hear it for them. That is, yeah, that is I think I saw Westclap first, which is about right because we are very thankful for them as they prepare meals for us all summer long. But they have seen the team up close and personal. Some of you see the video reports, but you don't get to see some of the things that we get to see. Yes, the spiritual highlights as we're with the team. But we also get to see some fun behind the scenes moments, including this summer a trust walk that uh we did with them. Now some of you may have seen something like this before but we got to uh we're in upstate New York and I special interest because uh my kids were involved with it and there was a really busy road um nearby. So what you do is you partner up One person is blindfolded and the other person is just leading you. They're not supposed to grab I love that she was snapping But they are just telling you which way to go, trying to keep you out of danger. Now we do make sure they know they're gonna switch roles at some point so that there's some accountability there. But it is really great. I Carissa, my daughter Carissa leading her mom. Now that is something right there. Um I don't know if the glasses help, but this is a great experience because you are being led by someone and it's hard to know. Oh yeah the bus. The bus horn. There we go It's hard to know where you're going when you can't see clearly. And it takes having the right guide and the right voice to say This is the way. This is the way. And that's what we saw this summer. And that's what we're going to talk about this morning because in today's world we are filled with the uncertainty. Dad mentioned last night we have lost Certainty, all of us. And we don't always know which way to go. And it's like we've got that blindfold on, and we're just saying, which way do I go? And it's more important than ever to have that guide. The great thing is we all do have that guide, and we're going to talk a little bit about him this morning, the Holy Spirit. Now, you cannot cover, I think dad had a semester-long course, the person and work of the Holy Spirit in college. We're not covering all of that today. We're going to be talking about some specific things of the Holy Spirit as our guide in this ever-changing world. There are two words for Spirit in the Bible. The first, you're gonna have to clean off the mic later because it is Hebrew. So um it is the first word is ruach, and that means breath. The other word is one that we're very familiar with, I think, from you've heard it in sermons and everything else. It's Numa. NUMA, and that means wind. I love that I there was uh a writer, Andrew Wilson, in Christianity Today. He wrote recently about really what this relationship is like between the Holy Spirit and us. The Holy Spirit certainly is supernatural. And he doesn't need us, but we need him in a big way. It's like a sailboat, Andrew Wilson wrote. We're like this sailboat where there is this wind that is blowing. But to catch that wind, to harness the power of that wind, you've got to put the sails up. You've got to be able to raise the sails and catch that wind as the Holy Spirit is blowing and breathing into our lives. And I love that image of us that there's a part for us to play in this. It's not just that the Holy Spirit is speaking to us and leading us and guiding us, but we have to receive that. We have to be open to that. And have our lives in a way that we can hear what he's saying. In fact, this week, it was really exciting. This week, we have uh completed four weeks of classes with the Leadership Center students. We have covered who God is, who Jesus is. We just a few days ago were teaching on who the Holy Spirit is. And just to recap some of what we were sharing there, even good reminders for all of us here this morning The Holy Spirit, He is a He, not an it. He is all God, not assistant God. He is the most intimately personal of the Trinity. He is the reason Jesus can be with you, can be with us always. He is behind the scenes, but constantly making supernatural things happen. So that's a brief glimpse of the who that we're talking about this morning. But that's the who behind the what we're going to be discussing. We're going to be talking about, as you can see the title of this, the listening life. We're going to be talking about the listening life this morning. And the first thing I want to point out is God can do amazing things with and through people who listen for his spirit promptings and obey them. If you're around us very often, you know that the apple again does not fall far from the tree. We like to make up words. That is the king of that. We'll give it a go here. We're going to call this spiritaneity. Spiritaneity, not spontaneity, if you spit. That's not the word. Spiritaneity is what we're looking at. Zechariah 4. 6. So he said to me, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit. says the Lord Almighty. Not by might, it's not about power, it is by my spirit, says the Lord. Spirit promptings, I'm gonna tell you, you're gonna hear a little bit about uh some personal moments with that this morning from me, but these can be exciting, they can be amazing, they can be life-changing, they can be terrifying. If you have ever heard from the Holy Spirit at certain points in your life, you know there's a lot of excitement and it can be pretty scary too. The one of the big reasons, and we're going to hear from Caitlin in just a minute here, one of the big reasons for that is because they can come with sacrifice. One of the reasons these can be pretty scary for us is they can come with sacrifice for us. And when I was thinking about someone who has made some sacrifices, I think a lot of us could tell that story. Caitlin, could you come up here for a minute? Caitlin is With uh a member of the On Eagles Wings team. She is one of the On Eagles Wings team leaders, a big sister on the team. A lot of you have met her before, and uh she is not currently at the leadership center. We'll get to where she is going to school right now She wanted to come, but we wouldn't let her. Uh she is in school right now, but Caitlin, I uh if you could just tell us um first of all, where'd you grow up? Where are you from? I am from New Mexico. So I'm from the Navajo Reservation, a small place called Ojo, which is really close to Kirtland, and currently I live in Kirtland, New Mexico. All right, now you had a plan for school. What was your plan? When you were graduating high school, what was the next step? Yeah, so growing up, my family was very focused on she's gonna be the one to go to college. Um And right away as a kid my dad was like, you know, like you could be an engineer or do this and that. And one thing he really emphasis kept emphasizing throughout like middle school and high school was like engineering. So Before I graduated, I had plans to become an engineer. You know, I worked hard to get scholarships and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do this and this. And so I was gonna be an engineer. So your you had a plan, your family had a plan, which we all know that family pressure where that can be. Where are you going to school now? I am at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Yep. Not necessarily known for the engineering program. It is not Moody Engineering Institute. So what was it like? What was the response when you said, I feel God is calling me to something else, to be somewhere else going to school? What was the reaction to that back home? Yeah, so that summer we were actually out on the Navajo Reservation and I just graduated high school. And I remember going and I didn't have peace with following with engineering and my dad, you know, he was like We just gotta make this little payment and you're you're paid off for four years. And I was like, yeah. And so as we were traveling on the reservation, sometimes you don't have signal And I remember that day of where I just told him, I was like, you know, Dad, I don't think I can do this. Don't send the money. Don't do anything. And right away the Lord just called me to Bible college. And that was something I was always passionate about, was learning more about the Bible and the how-tos and things like that And so whenever I told him, um, told him and my family, it was pretty much everything I never wanted to hear my parents say, they said You know, like I'm disappointed in you. What are you doing? You're jumping at something like you never thought about. Do you even know what you're gonna do? You're gonna become this, that And I I faced a lot of hurt from my family and disappointment and I guess like the nightmare I didn't want to happen did happen. And so I didn't really have family support leaving It was a sacrifice for you to go against what your family's plan was. And what I would tell you about Caitlin's story and please talk to her, hear more about what she has laid before the Lord Is she has sacrificed being near family during some very hard times to be at school, including the loss of a grandma very close to her, of her pastor back home. But what God is doing through her, both to raise awareness about Native America at Moody Bible Institute specifically. and what he is doing through her back home and the things that he is trusting her with when she goes back home and the teaching she's doing to others back there. It is amazing the sacrifice has been worth it, but she'll also be the first to tell you it's been hard. It's been hard but worth it. So thank you, Caitlin, very much for sharing. You forgot about the heart change. Oh your that's the important part why I agree to come up with heart change Yeah, so whenever I left my family was like, you know, we're not for it and things. And why I pushed this to Brad was because that wasn't the final say Now that I'm gonna graduate very soon, um my dad actually we recently came to the Lord last September when my grandma passed away. So it's pretty crazy because The dad that I'd always prayed I ha I would have is now the dad I do have. So it's like Lord like is this real? You know, and it's amazing to see what the Lord is doing in him And my family they're they're behind me, you know, they're like, we don't know what you're doing, my grandpa, he's like, she's going to some preaching school. I don't know what it is, but sounds cool. So now the Lord is evidently working in my family and all glory to him. That's why I had to push that. Caitlin experienced what happens when you have a spirit prompting And you obey it. She could have heard it and rejected it, ignored it. But she obeyed, and because of that, she took the sacrifice. So it can come with sacrifice. It can also Interrupt what we are currently doing. Who here has kids? Anyone in here have kids? Alright. So when Carissa, she does not know I'm gonna she looks at me. What are you doing? Um Carissa, uh when she was little, I I you know I worked out on the Hopi Reservation. We worked for out of the house, it's where we had youth events. So Carissa would come into my uh office there sometimes carrying this. Remember this, Carissa It's uh it's the uh Disney Princess uh tea set. So we would have she would come in and she would ask, Daddy, could we have a tea party? Shouldn't ask that anymore. Oh all right. Um the uh um I I'm hoping afterwards we could do this, Carissa, but um she would come in and it was an interruption. But it was an interruption in my day that was worth taking the time to listen to. It was an interruption that was worth saying, yes, I'm going to take time because this is worth it. When we're following the Holy Spirit's promptings, it can interrupt what we are currently doing. It's a divine interruption and Philip. We're going to take a look at Philip here real quick in Acts 8. Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, go to the south road, the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he started out and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the I Kande Kandaki, you can go with what you want there, which means Queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship And on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, go to that chariot and stay near it. Then Philip ran up to the cherry and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. Do you understand what you're reading and we know where it goes from there that he works through with the Ethiopian what a certain passage means, talks about Jesus. The man chooses Jesus Philip gets to baptize this guy right then and there, all because he was willing to take time out with this divine interruption that the Spirit prompting led him to do. Now, what Philip also experienced, if you look in Acts 8, 26 and 29, both those verses say it had an unexplained go. The Holy Spirit does not tell the Lord doesn't tell Philip all the details of where he's going, what he's going to do. He gives him a little bit of the plan. But this, the Holy Spirit promptings can come without explanation in our lives. Dad mentioned when I I was called into native ministry and that was unexplained to me because I had graduated high school. I was going to Wheaton College. I knew what I wanted to do. I don't know where I got this from, this desire, but I wanted to go into Christian radio Go figure. And I was like, man, that's what I want to do and I really enjoyed it. And then we went on this trip and through leading this one native young person to the Lord, this 10-year-old to the Lord, who said, if I come to one of your events Later this week, will you tell me more about Jesus? Simple question and forever alter the course of my life. And praise God that it did. But I didn't have all the details. Boy, it's probably good I didn't have all the details at the time, but I had an unexplained go. But I said, yes, Lord, I'll obey and I'll follow where you want me to go. So it could come without explanation, but these spirit promptings can also come with a perceived risk. We're going to take a look here at uh someone who is are there any baseball fans in the room? Any baseball fans here? All right, so uh a smattering. I'm a Yankees fan. Don't hold it against me. But I the greatest closer of all time, whether you like the Yankees or not, Mariano Rivera. Mariano Rivera unanimous unanimously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He holds a saves record. Man, he was a closer. We're gonna look at a more important closer, God's closer here in Ananias. Ananias was God's closer. He was in he was part of one of the greatest save situations of all time. If you look at this in Acts 9, in Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision. Ananias, yes Lord, he answered. The Lord told them, go to the house of Judas on Strait Street. I can do that and ask for a man from Tarsus. Cool, named Saul, hmm? For he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias, and that's my name. Come and place his hands on him to restore his sight Lord Ananias answered, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priest to arrest all who call on your name. But the Lord said to Ananias, Go. This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Then Ananias went to the house and entered it, placing his hands on Saul. He said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. And after taking some food, he regained his strength. Ananias was in a risky situation, it seemed. But if you notice there, I have that it could come with a perceived risk, because the risk here would have been not doing what the Lord asked them to do. The risk doesn't come. Yes, sometimes there's danger or obstacles or challenges when we're following a spirit prompting. It's not that it always goes smoothly and completely easily for us, but The risk comes in saying, no, Lord, I'm not going to go do that. We know Ananias here because He followed the Lord's leading and said, Yes, I will do what you are asking me to do. I may be terrified, I may not get it, but you said, go, and I'm going to go. I love that, that we get to see that even though there may have been some perceived risk, and NICE knew it was worth that. So we see that we can really dive in and follow these spirit promptings and obey them, but we can also miss out on the spiritaneity moments. We can miss out on these. How? Well, probably the biggest example that I see in the Word of God is we there is a failure to consult heaven. We see it all the time. In 1 Chronicles 10, 13 and 14, Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance. And did not inquire of the Lord. 1 Chronicles 15, 13. Look at the end. We did not inquire of him. and about how to do it in the prescribed way. And Joshua 9. 14, the Israelites sampled their provisions, but did not inquire of the Lord. So many times in our life. You look at even the story of Abram and Sarai as far as far as when they were looking at we're gonna have a child, we're gonna do it our way instead of God's way. We have a promise from him. But in Genesis 16, where he is saying, we're going to do this our way, where they talk and they're going to do it our way, it never mentions them touching base with the Lord. We see it all throughout Scripture. That people go into things and when they don't inquire of the Lord, there can be a big mess and they can miss those spiritaneity moments. Some of the excuses we use that I wrote down, and you may have some of your own is we're too busy. To listen. We're too tired. Oh my goodness, life has worn me down. I can't handle this. I'm too tired to listen. We have deadlines. So I don't have time. I can't take the time out to do this. We trust ourselves first instead of the Holy Spirit. Or we don't want to risk things changing. There's a risk, we feel, if we listen to the Holy Spirit's leading, that we might have to give something up that we really love. We might have to lay down the dream of doing radio to follow God's call to Native America. Fast forward in this story. God as only he could allowed Doug and I to file for a low-power FM station that reached most of the Hopi Reservation. It was the first Christian radio station there. And the tribe asked us those events where the gospel was proclaimed. So the Lord did what only he could do by combining my desire to be involved with radio and my heart for Native America. When it's his plan, it's much more beautiful than when it's our plan. But we fail to consult heaven. We also can miss these spiritaneity moments when we're focusing on being the planner. The controller or the runner, the person who's gonna run around and do stuff. I as Dad mentioned it when he was in his words of introduction, I am a planner. Any of the cooks with on Eagles Wings, I think, I hope, would say yes, and he drives us insane. Um, but I am a planner and I like to know how things are gonna work And I have learned that I have got to not always focus on being a planner, but listening to what the Spirit is saying and telling us Telling me. I was in a go-kart a couple years ago with Joshua before he was tall enough to drive his home. We're still doing that. And it is one that goes up and up and up and then heavy metal high rise and then you come over the top and you start going down really fast. I'm I was at the time about forty pounds heavier and uh they you put that much weight in a go-kart going downhill It gets we caught air and uh you weren't supposed to. Um and so so we we caught air there, but the thing that saved us was the governor on the vehicle. The thing that saved us was the speed regulator, which also we're very grateful our bus driver has during the summer That there is this thing that keeps you back from being from entering into harm. Sometimes we have these plans, we have these things that we're like, we're gonna do this. And the Holy Spirit, the Lord is saying, through the Holy Spirit, He's saying I'm going to have you slow down. You won't do it yourself. I know what you're going to do, and you're going to catch air in a place you're not supposed to. And you're going to be coming up on this corner, and I'm going to do it for you. And so sometimes we get so caught up in the plan and we miss that the Lord is trying to guide us through those things. And it also happens we miss these moments when we become the discouraged, the distracted, and the defeated. We get discouraged when our plans don't work. We don't know what we're supposed to do next, and we're seeking the Lord on these things. The common factor in all these things, the failing to consult heaven Focusing on being the planner when we become discouraged, the common factor is broken plans. We have these broken plans. We sit there and we say it's messed up now. What do I do? I have no control. Maybe someone else should do it. Lord, maybe I didn't hear you correctly. And we have these broken plans, and a lot of times it's because we didn't listen to the Lord. And sometimes it's because he's trying to get our attention. You who in here gets reports about the summer of hope? Can I see you show of hands real quick? So a lot of you get reports on what's happening with on eagle's wings. We can't begin to tell the whole story, and we certainly couldn't this summer. If you want to talk about broken plans 101. It is the on Eagleswing summer of hope. We had these great plans. We're going up to the northeast and we were going on from there and we had all these things lined up. And then that five-letter word. COVID. Warrior Leadership Summit, right at the end of it, some people started testing positive for COVID. My family of five. Never, we have not had COVID. Can't say that anymore. Uh we did. We were leading an on-Eagles Wings team, trapped in an RV together. I don't mean trapped. I in an RV together. All dealing with COVID and trying to process things and keep it our distance from the team and everything else. And some team members started testing positive and some other senior leadership did. And all of a sudden we're we're touching base with these reservation communities who if you don't know reservations have been hardest hit by the you by COVID. They have had a death rate so much higher than anyone else in this country And these places were saying we so want, they were torn. They said we so want you to be here, to come in. But we can't. It would have put people at risk. It would have put our team at risk. It was not the right plan. It was a broken plan. And it was hard. It was hard I'll tell you more of that story in a couple minutes. But what can God do with broken plans? Dad referenced Paul last night, Acts 16. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troaz. During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, come over to Macedonia and help us. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once. to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Paul had broken plans. He wanted, he he felt he was supposed to go To Bithynia, and God says no. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit closes the door there. And where does it wind up with the gospel going to Europe? God sometimes uses broken plans to accomplish his bigger plans. Sometimes, quite honestly, I wish that we could tell. People when we talk with them that are broken plans that we always get to know the why. We don't. There's a lot of times where we have broken plans and we don't get to see the end result of what God had in store. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we get to see what the no leads to, and that was this year's Summer of Hope. You have a team of native young people. The Lord had called them to be together. He had called us to be with them. We thought it was plan A of hitting the ground running in these native communities. But the Lord said, I have gone before you. And in a region of the country that has a big camping season in July, God had carved out openings at Christian camps, two different places. where we could be outside with the team, where we could pour into them, where we could teach them, where we could give them additional training. We got a glimpse of the leadership center. Before we ever welcomed our first students. As several team members came up to us and said, in so many words, I know this isn't what you normally do. That was an understatement. I know this isn't what you normally do, but I am so grateful. That God led us to this because I needed this. I needed to be poured into. I needed time to heal up from some things back home. We got a glimpse of when these broken plans become much bigger plans and much better plans Because we just were listening, Lord lead us, and he had gone before us and opened us and led us to these Christian camps and everything where we could pour into the team. His plans were better than ours and bigger than ours. And yes, we still got to go to native communities with the On Eagles Wings team, second half of the month, because God as he could only do cleared up COVID and stop the spread of it within the team. God's plans were beautiful. So we know God can use someone who is listening to his spirit promptings. We know we can sometimes miss those moments. We looked at how he's used his broken plans to accomplish his bigger plans, but what about this world we live in? So now what? As we look for these spirit promptings and we seek to obey them, we have got still, whether you want to, you know, put it in the backseat or not, we still have COVID among us I have a neighbor who is fighting for his life right now because of it. We have got other health news that hits. For some of you, it's financial hits. We all are seeing the pain of paying more for the things that used to fit in the budget. And are shaking our world and moving things around, and how do we deal with that? For some, it's a wandering child. And you're like, what do I do with this child that I just want to know Jesus and they're making these wrong choices? So we live in this broken world, and then in the midst of all of it, let's add in an election cycle. Alright. So we have got an election coming up and it is a volatile mix ready to explode We can't make the difference on our own, but the Holy Spirit changes the equation. And that's where we're going to spend our last few minutes here this morning. The Holy Spirit changes the equation. Acts 15, verses 1 and 2. Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. Sound familiar? Sharp dispute and debate even within the body of Christ. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. The rest of the chapter here, it's talking about the Jerusalem Council where they went up and they had this meeting. This was a volatile time in the church. This could have ruined everything because there was this disagreement and could have divided the believers from the very beginning. What did they do? They took time to listen to the Holy Spirit. And in Acts 15, 28, it says this. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements. So they go on to list them there. It didn't seem good to them first. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit. And they saw that if they follow what he is saying and listen to him as a body of Christ, as the church, as the bride. Then they can have the answers they're looking for because the Holy Spirit gives direction, He gives conviction, He gives wisdom, He gives power And honestly, he gives the right words. I'm just going to be honest, and we will not dive into this right here, but social media is filled with people who do love Jesus who are not listening to the Spirit before they're posting what they're posting. They are sharing things that are not about reaching the world around them. It's about trying to convince people of their point of view. That's not what we're called to do. That's not what the church here saw. They weren't to convince people of their point of view. They were trying to figure out how do we do this? How do we live as the body of Christ in the world. And one other thing this brings in Acts 15. 31 is they were reading as the believers were receiving this letter and seeing what they said. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. I don't usually get that feel when I uh go to Facebook. I was so glad for its encouraging message. Are people glad? Are brothers and sisters in Christ is the world around us glad for our encouraging message? The result when we listen to the Spirit's leading is peace. Comfort and encouragement. It all starts here. The listening life is essential as followers of Christ The spiritaneity, the listening life, it's essential for us to listen. James 119 Says, my dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen. We need to listen to the word, to the wise counsel from friends, to some people have called it that sacred echo. Of things that are being repeated in our life that the Lord keeps bringing to us, to what he says, what the Lord says when it's just you and him. We need to listen, we need to learn. John 14, 26 says this, but the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. We'll teach you all things we need to be willing to learn in this listening life. And we need to be willing to live it. There's a verse That the Lord put all my heart in just one of my Jesus times, and I believe it was April or May. And I thought it was a great verse for where I was at in life with leadership centered decisions and everything else. I had no idea what was coming this summer. This past summer. Look at this. Isaiah 30, 21. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way. Walk in it. Our team probably got tired of me quoting that verse this summer. Because we had to do that over and over, just listening. This is the way. There's two parts to that. This is the way we see the way. Walk in it. We have to choose to live this out. For those who know some of our story, you'll know this, but Sarah and I and Doug and Anna, we got so close To a youth center, a training center on the Hopi Reservation. When we were there 15 years ago, I went back and looked at this. We had a lease for some land. You can't own land out there A lease for some land and we were going to build. We had plans, the initial plans that were then going to be fleshed out more of what it was going to look like. We got really close and we felt we were following where the Lord wanted us to go, and then he said, no. Or so we thought. What he really was saying was wait. Wait. He wanted us to learn through that process. We look back and he wanted us to walk through that. Sarah framed this and kept it in our house as a reminder of what the dream was, but not giving up on it either. I praise God for the faith of my wife in this, where she saw what God was still wanting to do. The Lord interrupted what we felt was the right timing, but it was only an interruption. We went through discouragement. We went through being defeated, feeling defeated, but we listened. To what the Lord was trying to tell us. We learned. Sarah learned quicker than I did. We learned. And now we're going to get to live this. We are living this now in our lives because we just said, Lord, show us, lead us. As I said before, it's better when we do it his way. Always. Always better. God used the frustration and the confusion of these past couple of years in all of our lives. Beyond that, the confusion and frustration That might be in your own heart from some of the things I mentioned before, family or finances or whatever, to make us desperate for his direction. You've been desperate for his direction for your job, your finances, your family. But the funny thing about desperation, it can either drive us further from the Lord or to a deeper than ever before intimacy with him. I've gotten to hear and spend some very sweet times with Jesus along this journey we've been on. And what a challenging question God puts before us in Galatians 3. 3. Are you so foolish after beginning with the Spirit? Are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? It's a difference between I've got this or God's got this. Which are you going to choose? Which one are we going to choose? I'm just going to wrap up with this. Inquiring of the Lord is part of being wise and faithful servants. It's part of worshiping the Lord, part of a deepening intimacy in our relationship with Him. The fact that God includes us in His plans The fact that he shepherds us as we plan alongside him should be exciting. It should be exhilarating. It should be humbling. And it should keep us trusting him as we see his hand, the course he has traced in our lives. The listening spirit, the listening life, the spiritaneity leads to championship faith. So we're going to go back to where we started this with Zechariah 4. 6. And we're going to take a look at 7 as well. So he said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerobabel, not by might, nor by power, but by by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty. Verse 7 starts with this. What are you, O mighty mountain? What are you, Almighty Mountain? When we realize it's not about our strength, but all about the strength we receive through the Holy Spirit. We can stand and say whatever it is, what are you, O mighty mountain? I can tell you personally, from watching my parents live it out, from me seeing God's hand. Over a couple decades in full-time ministry, that when the spirit promptings come, whatever might be the concern, whatever might be the perceived risk. It is worth it to obey. Heavenly Father, I just thank you for the way you do speak to us. We don't deserve it. We don't always get it. Sometimes we miss it. But you are faithful through your spirit to speak to us Would we just take a moment, Lord, and process that? You speak to us. And you give us an opportunity to be involved in your kingdom work. I just pray, Lord, that as we Go through this weekend. We would even hear your spirit promptings as we dive into your word deeper. That whatever area of life you might be calling someone in this room to, me to, any one of us to, that we would lay it before you and say, when you say go, we would go. And we would obey. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be here together. Thank you for being allowing us to be part of what you're doing. We just give the rest of the day, Lord, and pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.