Divine Direction

Open your Bibles to John chapter 14 and meet me at verse 26. John chapter 14, verse 26. Jesus tells us in this passage of scripture, he says, But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach. Somebody say teach. Say it like you mean it. And teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. And then a couple of chapters over, John chapter 16 and verse 13. John chapter 16 and verse 13.

Jesus says, however, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide. Somebody shout guide. Guide. You into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come. Over the last several weeks, we've been talking about the Holy Spirit and we're going to continue all summer talking about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God who is on the inside of you.

When Jesus departed the earth, he did not leave his disciples like orphans. He didn't leave them abandoned. He didn't leave them astray. He left them the Holy Spirit. So essentially he left himself on the inside of each and every believer. Now I want you to understand this, that the Holy Spirit used to come on believers for temporary periods of time.

So in the old covenant, the Holy Spirit will come on someone and they would have some kind of miraculous act, some kind of miraculous insight, and they would would be able to do the will of God, and then he would descend off of them, and he would not remain on them. But in the new covenant, when Jesus left, he said, I'm going to leave the Holy Spirit with you, but he said something that had never happened before. He said, I'm going to leave the Holy Spirit in you.

So not only is he on you permanently after the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he is now in you at all times. So you have God on the inside of you at all times. And God is a person. He is a spirit. God, the Holy Spirit, is not an it. So we don't refer to the Holy Spirit as it. It was moving among us. He's not an it. He's a he. All right, this is very important because it's disrespectful if I say Josh is here on the front row and I was like, it's sitting here on the front row.

That would be disrespectful. He's sitting here on the front row. The Holy Spirit is a he, he's a person, and we need to start factoring in that we are talking to a spirit, the Holy Spirit. He's an invisible spirit, and he is a person, and we're having communication with him. In this passage of scripture, Jesus is telling us that the Holy Spirit will teach you, and then he says the Holy Spirit will guide you.

Now, a guide is someone that has information that you don't have, someone that has counsel, someone that has advice, someone that knows things that you do not know, and they are helping you as you navigate through unfamiliar territory. If you've ever been on some kind of experience, safari, whatever the case may be, and you needed a guide. I remember when we went to the Biltmore house and we wanted to have the guide tell us what was going on in the Biltmore house.

The guide knew more than me. And we just listened to the guide. We learned a lot as the guide was navigating us throughout that large, massive house. We just listened and learned a lot of different things. That's who Jesus said he left with us. He left with you to be in you the Holy Spirit who will guide you throughout life. He also said the Holy Spirit is going to show you things to come. He's going to tell you the future. He's going to let you know some things that you don't know already.

He's going to illuminate. He's going to enlighten you on some things that you don't know yet, but it requires you and I spending time with the Holy Spirit, acknowledging his presence on the inside of us, and listening to him. When the Holy Spirit says, or when Jesus said the Holy Spirit is going to teach us, another word for teach is the word instruct.

The Holy Spirit will instruct you. Now, in life, one of the most, I would say, needs of humanity, one of the biggest needs, one of the most prevalent needs of humanity is people don't know their purpose in life. They don't know the reason why they exist. And they're confused as to why they are here. That's a great need amongst humanity. and people don't know the direction that they're supposed to go. They don't know why they exist and they don't know where they're going.

They don't know why they're living and they don't know where they're going. And none of us are born with the knowledge of our purpose. None of us are born with the knowledge of our direction. It has to be discovered. And as we discover our purpose and our direction, we have to go to the creator and his manual.

The creator created you for a purpose and the creator left you a manual and once you spend time in this manual you will begin to develop and cultivate the purpose he has for your life and the direction where and how you should go how far how fast so on and so forth but we have to consult the manual. The Bible is the manual for our life. If Stacey gets on me, if I buy something new, I never really look at the instructions. I try to put it together without the instructions.

And then at some point I have to go back, right? How many know what I'm talking about? I got to go back to the instructions and figure out, okay, this is supposed to go here and there, that's what the manual is all about, to determine the purpose and the direction for our life. And what we're going to have to understand, in order to receive direction for life, it is found in instructions. Okay, so I got to talk to you about this today, because instructions guide your actions, right?

Instructions guide your actions. Directions are the steps you take to accomplish God's plan, but instructions are what you need to lead you to your destiny. God will give you instructions in order to lead you where you should go. And many of us are not listening to his instructions. instructions, therefore we are not seeing the direction and understanding the purpose of our existence. Come on, somebody say amen.

Part of your purpose is to look like Jesus, and that's part of the Holy Spirit's responsibility to help you look like Jesus.

And the Holy Spirit will begin to give you instructions as to what you should do, how you should do it, and how you should operate in life.

Many many years ago around 2003 I got fired from a job I mean absolutely out of the blue just let go fire I mean you've been fired before you know oh see okay you understand been fired fired from a job I mean I didn't know it was coming it caught me completely off guard I had literally just got a raise Rose I mean hey just give me a raise and then six weeks later they fired me and so maybe I I was making too much money I don't know I don't think I was but they

let me go and during that season the time I thought I was going to be at this place for a long period of time I really did I had no dreams of going anywhere else I enjoyed the job I had but one particular day, I heard the Holy Spirit say in my heart what if you weren't here anymore. And I thought, Satan, get behind me. Renee, I was like, that's the devil. Get behind me, Satan. I'm supposed to be here. And a few weeks later, they let me go. And so I'm in a place of sadness.

I'm in a place of a lack of direction, purpose, didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. I'm a young man. I'm single. I almost really crept into a place of depression. You know, I had gotten let go. And I was working for a ministry at the time. And so I enjoyed the ministry I worked for, and they let me go. And so I'm endeavoring to know what's next. Lord, tell me, what should I do next? I don't know. And I kept hearing the Lord say to me, go eat by yourself.

Now, that sounds very, very minute and small. But I'm a young man. I hung out with my boys. We never went anywhere by myself. You know what I'm saying? We always went somewhere together. I'm not going to eat by myself. I thought people were lame who went and ate by themselves. You see someone eating by themselves in a restaurant, I thought, they're lame. They ain't got no friends. And I kept hearing the Lord say that, go eat by yourself.

And so I would go to certain restaurants and eat by myself. I said, all right. And then I heard the Lord say, go to the movies by yourself. I thought that was very lame, right? I can't get anybody to go to the movies with me by myself. These are instructions that sound very minor, but they were coming from the inside of me. Go to the movies by yourself. And there were several movies that I would go by myself. I went to some matinees because I didn't want anybody to see me alone.

And then I got bold enough that I would start going at night, just going by myself to the movies, sitting there alone. Now, some of you may can do that. At the time, that was really, really hard for me to go eat by myself, go to movies by myself. Then I heard the Lord say to me after maybe a year or so, I heard the Lord say to me, go to Creflo Dollar's single conference. He had a singles conference that year. I thought, that's what I want to do,

right? Go to Creflo Dollar's singles conference by yourself. What? I can't bring any of my friends. We're going to a singles conference. Go by yourself. I got a plane ticket. I got a hotel. I went into this environment, didn't know anybody there, and I went by myself.

And you would think, right, God told me to go to singles conference by myself. I'm going to meet somebody, right? That's what you would think. Stacey wasn't there. So that wasn't the reason why he told me to go to a singles conference by myself. I'm going to get back to the story, but I want you to, I want to say something here. Remind me to get back to the story. I want to say something here, because there was one particular time there were two people that were part of our church.

One particular person was looking for a house. The family was looking to buy a home. They were renting a home, and another man in our church was a realtor, and he was helping him find a home. And one particular time, the man that was looking to buy the house told the realtor, I'm no longer looking for a house. He said, what happened? What's going on? He said, the Lord told me to buy a raffle ticket, and they were raffling off a house somewhere.

The Lord told me to buy a raffle ticket, and since the Lord told me to buy this raffle ticket, I'm going to win that house. Now, that's buffoonery, okay? That really is, because when they built that, they already know who's going to win that house, okay? When they built it and raffled it off, it's already done. That's how I feel about it. They already know who's going to win. You ain't going to win that house.

It's buffoonery. So he said, I'm done looking. And so the realtor contacted me and said, I'm very concerned about this couple. Would you talk to him? I said, yeah. So I went and talked to him and I said, well, tell me what's going on. They said, well, the Lord said to buy this raffle ticket, we're going to win the house and we need to stop looking. And I said, well, why do you think you're going to win the house?

He said, well, why would the Lord tell me to buy the raffle ticket if I'm not going to win? I said, the Lord can tell you to do a lot of stuff without you figuring out what the end is. He told, what did he tell Abraham's son? Which one did he sacrifice? Bible school. Huh? Isaac. Bible. Good Bible scholars. Isaac. He told Abraham's son.

He said, he told Abraham, go sacrifice Isaac. What if Isaac started figuring out, well, what that means is I'm going to, my son going to be dead and I'm going to know what I'm going to do. You're trying to figure out what God ain't never told you. So I said, is it possible God told you to buy the raffle ticket, but not win the house? He's like, that don't seem possible to me. because he probably didn't even tell you to buy the raffle ticket, all right? But that's a whole nother story, okay?

And so he never, you know, the man never could understand and, you know, he bought the ticket and you think he won the house? No, and then he's trying to figure out where was, you know, why didn't God come through? Okay, because you're trying to do too much. When the Lord told me to go to the singles conference at Creflo Dollar Church in Atlanta, at the time I lived in Fort Worth, Texas, to fly to Atlanta, go by yourself. Immediately, I started saying, I'm going to meet somebody here.

This is why I'm coming. And I was looking. Who is it? You know, I was like this. I'm over here, you know, you know, all that good stuff. And I was looking, okay, because God said, go to the scene because I'm going to meet somebody. I didn't meet anybody. Well, I did meet somebody, but it didn't work out, okay? And it didn't, it stopped like really, really fast, but it wasn't Stacey, all right? And so it didn't work, okay?

And so then the Lord tells me, first thing he tells me, go eat by yourself. I did that multiple times. Go to movies by yourself. Did that multiple times. I can do that really easy today. Go to Atlanta, Georgia by yourself. And then the last thing he told me to do was go move to Charlotte by yourself so what was he trying to get me to do to heed his instructions. One step at a time. First step, get out of your comfort zone and just go eat by yourself. You don't need your friends.

Go to the movies by yourself. You don't need to invite a young lady. You can go by yourself. Go to this conference by yourself. Flew out there, got a hotel, stayed out there. It was like five days all by myself. And then move to Charlotte by yourself. self. And ultimately, he was getting me ready to take the big step of moving to a city where I only knew one person in this city, no job. I moved out here with no job.

I'm not telling you to do that. I did that under the Lord's direction, and I did it by myself. God will give you instructions, Instructions and whatever he's saying to you now is a glimpse of what he's going to say to you later. If you can fulfill the guidance and the instructions in minor details, he will begin to trust you with greater instructions. He'll begin to talk to you about greater things. Some of you you're wondering, why is God not talking to me about something big?

Why is he talking to me about giving $100 to the person next to me in the chair today?

Why isn't he talking to me about my future? That's part of your future. Why isn't God talking to me about who he wants me to marry? Why is he talking to me about dress a little nicer? That's part of it. Why is he talking to me about working out? That's part of it. But we want him to talk to us about something grander, and we refuse to listen to the small, minute details of what the Lord is saying. man.

We first started the church and I was really praying about what, I was praying about where we were going to meet. And at the time we were meeting at a middle school and I wanted to get out of that middle school. And I was like, Lord, we've got to get out of this middle school. We ended up going to a high school after, but we've got to get out. And I went to this track and I just walked around the track and I said, Lord, I'm praying.

Lord, where do we need to go? We've we've got to get out of this middle school. And the Lord said, on Sunday, I want you to preach on this. He said, thank you, Father. I'm glad you want me to preach on that, but I want to know about where we're going. And he said, on Sunday, say this. Use this verse. Thank you, Lord. That's good, but I want to know about how we're going to get out this middle school. He said, on Sunday, I want you to parallel this with that.

Man, that's good. That's good, God. I want to know how we're going to get out this middle school. And finally, after walking on that track for 40 minutes, I realized God didn't want to talk to me about getting out of middle school. He wanted to talk to me about what he wanted me to say that weekend. So we got to figure out what is God instructing us to do in this moment, which will lead to greater things.

And one of the many ways God will instruct you that I found in my life is he'll start with money. It'll be something as insignificant as money. I want you to sow this money. I want you to give this money. I want you to do this with this money. And if you can't obey God in what Scripture calls the least, money is considered in Luke chapter 16, the least, the smallest deal. If you can't obey God in the least, he's monitoring your heart where money's concerned.

And he's saying if they can't obey me where this money is concerned they can't obey me in anything else now when you start talking about money this is when the demons see some of y'all feeling a little nervous right now demons jump on you right now the spirit of mammon gets on you when you talk about money but i ain't scared of y'all and i ain't scared to talk about money i'm not because it's if we can be trusted as we talked about the offering message with money god can begin

to trust us in greater areas of our lives. And so he'll begin to trust you. Oh, I'm sorry. He'll begin to instruct you to see if he can trust you. These instructions, look at Psalms 32 verse 8. I want you to see this. Psalms 32 verse 8. The Lord says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. So we're talking about personal instructions here. He's going to guide you with his eye. He's going to teach you in the way that you should go.

He's going to give you instructions, but I found this to be true, Brad. This is what I found to be true. People don't want to be told what to do. Don't tell me what to do. I want to do what I want to do. And it's so interesting. The instructions, the Lord has given you instructions and you don't want to be told what to do. I will do it my way. I will do it the way I want to do it. Don't nobody tell me what to do.

And you can't be guided by the Holy Spirit in life to reach the divine direction that he has for your life if you can't listen to simple instructions. It's all real simple. I didn't say it was easy, but all of obeying and following God is really simple. I didn't say it was easy. It's really simple. What is God saying do? Do and do what God says do. Somebody say amen. And so look at Psalms 32 verse 8 and 9 in the Passion Translation. It'll be on the screen.

Psalms 32, 8, 9 in the Passion Translation. Watch this. I hear the Lord saying, I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life.

I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your God. And look at the next one. He says, so don't make it difficult. Don't be stubborn when I take you where you've not been before. Too often we make it difficult and we get stubborn because we're in unfamiliar territory, uncharted waters, and God's trying to lead us in these uncharted waters and we're getting stubborn, we stop listening to the instructions and we completely

stop going the direction that God wants us to go. Somebody say amen. Stacey, when I was speaking at a church, many of you know the story of how Stacey and I met. We were going to the same church. It wasn't a large church, but we both were going to church. The pastor there used to ask me to speak, fill in for him when he was out of town or needed rest or whatever the case may be.

And so I would speak, and I had seen Stacey before, but I had never thought anything more than just saying hi to her, nothing more, nothing less. And so a particular day, Stacey hands me a sweet potato pie. Well, actually, sorry, she gives it to our pastor. And then he gave it to me saying, this is from a lady in our church, Stacey, and it's for you. And so I'm thinking, well, that's very sweet, you know. I thought she gave it

to him because I preach one of the best messages she's ever heard. You know what I mean? That's why I thought she gave it to me. I don't know. And so, see, I was thinking about myself, you know what I mean? And so she hands me a pie, and I'm not a big fan of sweet potato pie necessarily. I mean, I'll eat a slice, but I don't long for it. I never crave it. So when she handed me the pie, I ate a little bit, and it was a Sunday afternoon watching football.

I ended up eating the entire pie in one sitting, and that is unlike me. I don't eat like that, but I ate that entire pie sitting there watching the football game. I tell her the following week what happened, this, that, and the third. And I said, listen, I want to get to know you a little bit. Can we go out after church? She said, I'm only available Friday or Saturday night. I said, well, those are date nights, you know. I just want to get to know you

a little bit. Like, okay, she wants to go on a date. So I said, all right, let's go on a date. And after our first, second date, man, we became really good friends. And, you know, the rest is history, right? Well, she never told me this. She never told me this. thank God she never told me this because she would have scared me away she said the Lord told her. To make the sweet potato pie. And she said, but God, the sweet potato's not in season.

And she's like, but I heard in my heart, make him a sweet potato pie. She said, I was really concerned because they were not in season, and I'm gonna make it because I'm obeying God. I was supposed to give it directly to you, but I gave it to the pastor to give to you. But I wanted, I just wanted to obey God, and I said, God, if this is it, let him eat the entire pie in one sitting.

Now I had never, I don't eat like that, okay, but that's what she declared, the instructions were, make the sweet potato pie, so she said she gathered, got it together, presented it to me, so when I told her I ate it all in one sitting, she said she knew right away, this is the guy for me, now listen, we're talking about spiritual things, don't get too natural where, if he picks up, if he brushes his teeth today, he's for me, no,

he should brush his teeth every day okay and so so he she ended up she never told me that until after we got engaged I'm glad she did but after he got engaged he told me and I was like oh my gosh and so the instructions sometimes will make you uncomfortable.

The instructions sometimes don't make natural sense in her mind sweet potatoes are not in season we should make sweet potato pie during this season whatever the timeframe it was, but she listened to the instructions and the instructions actually was the introduction for her basically saying, hello, I'm here. And we begin to talk and so on and so forth. Sometimes God will give you instructions that may not make sense. And here's what you do when you hear an instruction makes sense.

You bounce it off of wise counsel. This is where people miss it. Just like the man I referred to earlier, he stopped looking for a house, he bought a raffle ticket because he figured he was going to win and he did not, when I tried to talk to him, he did not want to receive it. Like, no, God told me to do it and God said it and he never bounced it off of wise counsel.

You bounce it off wise counsel counsel, and wise counsel, it should be one or two people, not many, will listen to the instructions the Lord gave you and can confirm it for you. That sounds like God. Well, let me, oh, that was somebody on the computer. That sounds like God.

Well, I was like, did I do that? What was it? Almost a year ago, the Lord spoke to us, and the Lord, I'm being led to share this with you, but the Lord will start you off with instructions today. Very, very small. I remember the very first time when we started the church, the Lord told us to give $500 or something. That was a lot to give $500 to this endeavor. Man, that was a lot. Then the Lord said, I want you to give $1,000 to this missionary that's going on this field.

Man, that was a lot. Then the Lord said, I want you to give $1,500 to do this. Then I want you to give $2,500 to do that. and then I remember the Lord, we wanted to buy this platform, and if I remember correctly. Steve, how much, $2,000? No, I think it was more than that, $3,500, $3,500. I remember to buy this platform. I was like, whew, and the Lord said, buy the platform, and I was like, we need that $3,500. He said, buy it. We bought the platform.

In the offering that week was a check for over $3,500 to cover the platform, right? You have to obey the instructions from God. Then the Lord said, I want you to sow $5,000 in this. Oh, Lord, that's a lot of money, Lord, to sow in this endeavor.

And the Lord is just looking to see if you obey instructions you remember it was close to this time last year the Lord spoke and we had Pastor Sam here he's coming back again in September and we had Pastor Sam here and the Lord spoke to me after the Saturday session the Lord said I want you to sow ten thousand dollars into his ministry and I'm sitting there knees knocking shaking shaking teeth rattling and i'm like ten thousand dollars oh oh my goodness i called a good friend of mine i said i

just want to bounce this off i sensed the lord saying we're supposed to he said that sounds like god and i was like oh that's easy for you to say that's easy for you to say that sounds like god oh oh and i remember talking to stacy and she was nervous and i was nervous i I said, you know what, you don't really, if we really want to obey God in these instructions. And then ask yourself, do I want to do this? Well, probably not, right? I don't want to hold on to it. Does the devil want

me to do it? Absolutely not. Well, who else could it be? The Lord. He said, trust me. He said, so, 10,000. So we had already given him what the Lord had told us. What I felt like earlier, the Lord had told us to give him. We wrote it on everything. And I told him, I said, rip it up, right? Right. The Lord says we're the so. Ten thousand dollars in into your ministry. And we did it publicly. Praise God. And it was a barrier was broken.

A barrier was broken when you step out and just simply obey instructions. We're called to simply hear and obey. How am I going to get from point A to point B? I'm going to have to hear and I'm going to have to obey. That $10,000 was the most we had ever song. But I'm believing for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to come in, amen, through you. You're talking about somebody going to give a million. No, I'm talking to you.

You're going to give a million dollars. Amen. Say amen to that. You're going to give $100,000. Say amen to that. Not, oh, we're going to wait around and wait for somebody to do that. No, I'm talking about it's going to come through you. Amen. And that was a, that was a, I didn't plan on sharing this, but that was a barrier-breaking test that the Lord was saying, and you sow this that will bless his ministry because I want to bless your ministry in the future.

We've already been prophesied that millions would come at a time to do the work of God so that we can get big things done fast. Amen. That's in your life as well, but you're going to have to heed the instructions.

As a matter of fact, let's take a look at Proverbs chapter eight, verse 33. 33 proverbs chapter 8 verse 33 this is the passion translation it says listen to my counsel for my instruction will enlighten you you'll be wise not to ignore it he's telling you don't ignore the instructions these instructions will enlighten you last week we talked about i encourage I encourage you to go back and listen to that.

The inner light that God will lighten your spirit and reveal to you through a light on the inside of you what you should do and listen long enough for him to give you the instructions as to how to do it. Proverbs chapter four, verse 13. Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let go. Keep instruction for instruction is your life.

Life so we're gonna grab a hold of these instructions because these instructions are going to lead us and give us divine direction isaiah 58 and 11 in the passion translation isaiah 58 and 11 it says yahweh will always guide you where to go and what to do he will fill you with refreshment even when you are in a dry difficult place he will continually restore stores strength to you so you will flourish like a welled watered garden, like an ever-flowing trustworthy spring of blessing.

Notice the first part of that verse, Yahweh will always guide you where to go and what to do. Can you trace, listen to me now, answer this question to yourself. Can you trace the decisions in your life back to an instruction from God? Thank you. Think about that. Can you trace the decisions in your life back to an instruction from God? When we first got into this building, we were only going to get one side of this building.

This building used to be two different units, and there was a wall that separated in the middle. We were only going to get one side of the building, and that one side was what we could afford.

That's what we could afford. we were actually at the time doubling the rent to just to get to that side from where we were and we're that was a stretch Paul just to even double right to get one side and the Lord told me August two in the morning I was up sometimes you need to be up early in the morning if you really want to hear from God that's when he's talking and it's when the distractions are not talking walking, two in the morning, and the Lord spoke to me. He said, tear down the wall.

And I heard it again. He said, tear down the wall, almost like Gobachov, right? And tear down the wall. No, tear down the wall. And I said, okay. I woke, Stacy woke up and, you know, I said, the Lord said, turn on the wall. Now, Stacy had been saying that all along. We need to turn on that wall. I was like, well, I ain't heard from God. I'm hearing from you, but I need to hear from God. Okay. And the Lord said, tear down the wall. All right. We tore down the wall.

And I remember from that day forward, I said, I am not going to ever worry about how we're going to pay for anything in this place because I've got an instruction from God. He said, tear down the wall. That quadrupled what we were paying before. Quadrupled it to come in here. We have never missed one payment in, what, over 10 years since we've been in this building. Amen. Amen. Praise God. His faithfulness, your faithful giving, never missed.

And we've done everything that we need to do. Matter of fact, everything in here is paid for. Hallelujah. We don't owe no money to anybody. That chair you're sitting on paid for. These speakers, all this is paid for because of God's faithfulness, your obedience, and And listening to instructions from God. If you just heed the instructions, he will carry all the heavy lifting for you. All you got to do is heed his instructions. Say this out loud.

I'll never lack divine direction as long as I live.

If you go to God with the same request, he will respond with the same instructions. Let me say that again. If you go to God with the same requests, he will respond with the same instructions. Are you doing what I've told you to do? God, I'm asking you again. He's saying, I already told you what to do. I tell my kids that all the time. Oh, Daddy, can we do this? I already told you, you got to sweep that floor first. Can I go outside? I just look at the floor. I ain't saying nothing else.

The floor don't look swept. So stop asking me. Can you go outside when the floor not swell? Come on, somebody say amen. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct. That word direct also means instruct your paths. He will guide you and give you direction and your paths are your course of action, your route.

God has promised to give you instructions for your course of action, to supervise your course of action, if you will simply listen to his instructions. And not only do you have to listen, you have to obey them. You have to do them. I received a testimony online a few weeks ago that I want to read to you. Someone, one of our partners sent this testimony in online. It says, recently, listen to this. Recently, while on a business trip, I was packing the night before my flight home.

Usually, I pack my firearm in a lockbox in my check bag. But this time something told me and we know what that something is who that something is. Something told me to wait until I got to the airport at three in the morning on my way to catch an early flight I stopped at a gas station suddenly a car with two men wearing ski masks pulled up quickly. The passenger jumped out and I knew I had to act fast. I drew my weapon and I pointed it at the driver.

He shouted, gun. He has a gun. And he sped off almost hitting his partner. Now watch this. I lost my place. He sped off almost hitting his partner who also had a gun. Seeing his friend drive away and my gun pointed at him, the passenger ran and eventually caught up with the car. This experience, I love this part. This experience taught me the importance of listening to the inner voice, which I believe is the Holy Spirit guiding us. If I hadn't listened, I might not be here to share this story.

It's crucial to stay connected to God's word and listen for his guidance. His protection comes through being open to his messages and following his lead. Now, what if he had just said, I'm too tired, too tired to obey that instruction. I ain't going to do that. I got to get to where I got to get. Could have got robbed.

And like like like the person said here he may not even be here to tell the story who knows what would have happened three in the morning in another state that he was unfamiliar with, who knows what would have happened but he heard an instruction don't pack it now wait till later, God is always talking to us he wants to lead and guide us in every area we have to listen to his instructions.

I'll end with this. There was a particular story that a man told. This man's by the name of Rick Renner. He's a minister out of Russia, and he told a story that he was a guest minister at a place, and it was like a conference. They were having a conference, and he was one of a handful of guest ministers. And it's customary that you go to church and listen to the other guest ministers. You don't just stay home.

You go support other people as they support you. And he said the Spirit of God kept telling him, don't go to the meeting tonight. He's like, well, I'm one of the guests, and I got to go support my other minister friends. And he kept hearing it, don't go to the meeting tonight. He's like, this doesn't make sense. So he told his wife, she's like, well, you better obey God. I'm going to the meeting. But if God's telling you don't go, you better not go. And he's like, this doesn't make sense.

I need to go to this meeting. And he heard it very strong. Don't go to the meeting tonight. Stay in the hotel stay and so he said okay here's what I'll do this is when we get the rationale and reasoning. I'll just ride with my wife to the meeting, drop her off and I'll come back this is what he did rode with his wife because he kept hearing don't go stay in the hotel, he goes to the meeting comes back and his entire room had been robbed.

Everything taken, he had books on his laptop, laptop stolen, everything, jewelry stolen, the room was ramshacked, robbed. What would have happened if he had stayed in the room? Listen to me. If he had stayed in the room, he would have probably been asking, God, why did you tell me to stay in the room? Because nothing would have happened. The person's not going in there with someone in there. They were watching him. He was like, why did you tell me to stay in the room? He would have never known

why. He would have stayed in the room, and it would have protected his stuff. And he would have never known why. We act like we need to know why all the time. We don't need to know why the Lord is instructing us. And he bounced it off of his wife. He said, I hear the Lord saying to his wife, confirm. Well, you better stay in the room. I'm going to go ahead and go. But you better stay in the room. But he said, I'm going to ride with you and go. And the stuff got stolen.

That's just a simple example. Example, thank God that obviously no one was hurt and the guy didn't break in while he was there and so on and so forth. The Lord told him to stay in the room. Thank God none of that happened. But my point is, in today's message, it's imperative that we listen to the Holy Spirit who is instructing us, guiding us, leading us, and then bouncing it off of somebody. You know, I'm sensing the Lord, especially if it seems odd. God.

I'm sensing the Lord saying, do this, bounce it off somebody, you know, and if they're filled with the Holy Ghost, they should confirm it for you. You know what? That sounds like the Lord, you know, go ahead and do that thing. If he'd have called me, I'd have said, Rick, you better stay in the room, right? We need to obey God and we need to encourage others to do the same. And so So as we are listening for instructions, God is using those instructions to direct your course of action.

He is using these instructions to lead you on your divine direction. He is using instructions to get you where he needs you to be. And if we will all listen to his instructions, we will all end up with exactly where God God told us to be at the right time, doing the right thing with the right people. Somebody say amen. This is how you experience true life.