Real Life Community Church Richmond, KY

Acts | Part 28 | Divine Guidance: How to Hear When God Speaks to You

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Have you ever wished for a divine Magic 8-Ball to guide your life decisions? While God doesn't typically write messages in the sky or send divine text messages, He does speak to His children in ways we can learn to recognize and trust.

At the heart of hearing God's voice is a foundation in Scripture. "If I am not reading the Word of God, I will not recognize the voice of God," explains the pastor. This becomes our filter for every impression or prompting. God will never lead contrary to His Word, which is why understanding Scripture is essential for discerning His guidance.

Beyond Scripture, God speaks through multiple channels. In Acts 16, we see Paul and his missionary team experiencing closed doors as the Holy Spirit redirected their journey. What seemed like frustrating roadblocks were actually divine guidance leading them to Macedonia—an entirely different continent than where they planned to minister! God also communicates through dreams and visions (as promised in Acts 2), through prophetic words, and most commonly, through the internal promptings of His Spirit.

For those struggling to hear God clearly, the solution may be surprisingly simple. In our hyper-connected world where the average person spends 4.5 hours daily on their phone (equivalent to 13 years of their lifetime!), creating space for silence has become revolutionary. The challenge is straightforward but potentially life-changing: take five minutes daily, put your phone in another room, and simply listen for God's voice.

Like the frightened boy during the London Blitz whose fear transformed to peace upon hearing his father's voice, we too can experience profound peace amidst life's chaos when we learn to recognize our heavenly Father speaking. The anxiety that plagues so many can give way to confidence when we understand that "all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."

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Chris May:

So how many of you know what this is? How many of you had one of these growing up? This is the famous Magic 8-Ball. Remember you were a young teenager and you would say oh, magic 8-Ball, magic 8-B ball. If I ask this girl out, will she say yes, certainly not. That's the answer I always got, and pretty accurate. That's not funny. So let's have a little fun. Magic eight ball, magic eight ball. Should we take Sunday naps today? I don't want to read this Very doubtful Magic 8-Ball, magic 8-Ball. Should the congregation give a little extra in the offering today? This thing's broken. Magic 8-Ball, magic 8-Ball.

Chris May:

Is my sermon going to be a little bit lengthy? Cannot predict now. Oh goodness, isn't that fun. Well, listen, wouldn't it be awesome? We know the magic eight ball is not real, it's random, but wouldn't it be awesome that, when we are faced with major decisions in life, that we could know that we're making the right decision?

Chris May:

Well, I've got great news, christian, for you today. You can. You know why. Let me read you Romans 8, 14. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. Here's why we can know that we're on the right path and we can know that we're making right decisions, because God's children, his sons and daughters, they are led by the Holy Spirit. Can I tell you today that God still speaks to his people.

Chris May:

Now, when you pray and you ask God for guidance, I know what you want. If you're like me, you want God to write a message in the sky. Have you ever prayed for something like that? Or you want him maybe this would be kind of cool Lord, send me a divine text message this morning. I almost, but I didn't want to make light of the sermon. I almost had Jody set up a text to go off right.

Chris May:

Then you know from our church text and say you know this is the Lord kind of thing, but I decided against it. But you know the Lord, the Lord's word to us. You know when he speaks to us and he leads us. It's often not that obvious, but I will tell you this we can learn, as believers, to better and more clearly hear and recognize God's voice, and I want to help you do that today. And if you will listen, this will transform your life. Let me tell you why. Because if you can hear God's voice, you could have confirmation and peace that you're making right choices when you listen to him and, by the way, you'll lean in for this one. You can. You know, if you learn to hear God's voice, you might be stopped from making some really destructive decisions.

Chris May:

So in our text today we see this new missionary team. You know Paul and Silas. Remember last week we finished out chapter 15. Paul and Barnabas had finished their first missionary journey and you remember what happened At the end of it. They're ready to go on their second journey and Paul and Barnabas get into a knock-down, drag-out fight and this is over Barnabas' cousin, john Mark, who abandoned them on their first missionary journey. So they end up parting ways. So what's happening here is that Paul is establishing a new missionary team for his second journey. So he recruits a leader in the Jerusalem church named Silas, and then he recruits a man, a young man by the name of Timothy, whom Paul actually led to the Lord on his first journey. But then this is really cool. You know who else he recruits.

Chris May:

Here it's a little more cryptic, you may not have noticed it. He recruits Luke, who wrote the book of Acts. And the reason we know that is because, if you look down at verse 10, luke uses the pronoun we instead of they. Up to this point he's been talking about they and them, but now he says we. So you have Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke. This is the new fantastic four. They're getting ready to go out on this missionary journey and so, as they set out what I want you to see, I really want to focus on those last several verses, those last five verses, six through 10.

Chris May:

I want you to notice how the Holy Spirit guides them and speaks to them. Do you know? Three times in this short passage, in these five verses, luke points out that the Holy Spirit stopped them from doing something or gave them a vision, told them where to go. It's pretty profound, and so we can learn something from this passage about how to hear and follow the voice of the Lord. So how is it if it's not a message in the sky, how is it that God leads his people, how is it that he speaks to his people? Well, I want to step outside of this text for a moment, because this is foundational, and I want to start by saying that God fundamentally speaks to his people through his word, this thing we call the Bible. Now, this is important.

Chris May:

Do you know the early church? We've seen already throughout Acts. They discerned often the will of God by the scriptures. Let me just give you a few examples here. In Acts 1, 16, peter uses Psalm 69 as a guide for replacing Judas with another apostle. In Acts 2, 16 through 20, remember, pentecost has happened, the Spirit's been poured out, people are speaking in other languages and everybody's going. What's going on? And all of a sudden Peter says here's what happened, and he discerns what's happening by Joel, chapter 2 in the Old Testament. Then one more example in Acts 15, james discerns the will of God concerning the Gentile believers by appealing to many of the Old Testament prophets Isaiah, daniel, amos and others.

Chris May:

So the word of God is really important if we're going to hear his voice. Now listen, I'm not suggesting that God doesn't speak to us in other ways and I'm going to get into that. But here's what I want you to get. Look at me If you are not consistently in God's word, you will never clearly hear his voice. That is so important. Here's what will happen if you're not in his word. At best, you'll never be sure that it's God speaking to you. Is it your own voice? Is it bad pizza? At worst, when you're not in the Bible, you will end up thinking something is from God that's not from him at all, could even be of the devil and will lead you astray or even destroy your life. So God will never speak to you or lead you in a way that is contrary to his word. Let me just give you an example of this. One of the most consequential decisions you'll ever make in your life is who you're going to marry. If you decide to get married, like, that's kind of an important decision.

Chris May:

So let's just imagine for a second that there's a Christian man and this Christian man decides he wants to be married. He's a young man, and so he begins praying God, send me a woman, send me a lady, somebody I can love for the rest of my life. And so he meets a lady, but this lady is a non-Christian woman, but he likes her a lot. She's very attractive, he's smitten by her, he thinks she's very, very kind, he loves spending time with her. They have a lot in common. They stay up all hours of the night talking, and so he prays Lord, could you show me if this is the one? And after praying he hears that this lady, he thinks he hears from the Lord, this lady is the one for him. But I can tell you that man has not heard from the Lord.

Chris May:

You say well, that's arrogant. How would you know that? How can you make such a blanket statement? Well, because if you listen to the story I told you, this man was a Christian and the woman was not a Christian. So he shouldn't date her, he shouldn't marry her.

Chris May:

Why do I say that? Well, because 2 Corinthians 6, 14, paul makes it, he doesn't mince words. He says do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? So let me ask you, what more serious partnership is there besides marriage? So if you're praying for a young people, if you're praying for a spouse, if you're praying for love, you know love is in the air. If you're praying for love. You know, love is in the air. God is never going to lead you to marry someone who is not a Christian if you are in fact saved. So that's an example.

Chris May:

If you hear that from you, think you hear that from the Lord. It's not the Lord, because he'll never lead you, contrary to his word. Okay, this might be worth writing down. I think we have it on the screen. If I am not reading the word of God, I will not recognize the voice of God. Can I say that again, if I am not reading the word of God, I will not recognize the voice of God.

Chris May:

God fundamentally speaks to his people by his word. Now, to springboard off that point, there are people who have said to me pastors matter of fact, ron and I were at a conference with the other elders and Ron and I were out on this deck talking to this pastor. His whole goal was to convince us that God doesn't still speak to his people. And the argument is well, since we have the complete word of God and since God speaks to us through his word, that's the only way God speaks to us. So he's never going to, you know, speak to your heart or it's all by the word of God. That's how he does it, which I think, just to be sure, is ludicrous.

Chris May:

Now, to be sure, we cannot add to or take away from the word of God. It is a closed canon and the Bible tells us everything we need to know about the character of God. Nothing else is going to be revealed to us about God's character. The Bible gives us the gospel. It tells us how we can be saved. That's never going to change. You're not going to get additional insight on how to be saved. The Bible tells us all there is to know about living a godly life. The moral law of God is never going to change. It's not going to be added to, it's not going to be taken away from.

Chris May:

But you know, the problem is the Bible gives us a lot of generalities but it doesn't give us specifics. So the Bible would tell you marry a Christian woman if you get married, but it doesn't tell you which Christian woman. And can I say not all Christian women are created equally or they don't act equally. Don't just assume this lady's Christian. She's going to be nice to me, because that's not the case and, by the way, I'm not saying this from experience, my wife is lovely, just to clarify. So how is it then that the Lord speaks to us? Because he does? I strongly believe this. People who are sons of God are led by the Spirit of God day in and day out. Doesn't the psalmist say that the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord? Do you believe God speaks to you? How does he do it? Well, one way we see in the text God speaks to us by closing doors. Look at verses six through eight.

Chris May:

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go to Bithya, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by, they went to Troas. You know, here's what's interesting. I was thinking about this. Paul has already been told one-on-one by Jesus you're to go out to the ancient world, you're to preach the gospel to the Jew and to the Gentile right. So he knows the mission. And right before chapter 16, paul and Silas are back in Antioch and the church confirms that they're to go out on this second missionary journey. So they just start heading out. But do you know? Paul has no specifics. He's just kind of wandering around and, by the way, they're not in a vehicle, they are walking. And he's got this new ministry team. You know, timothy, he's like guys, you know, I've got experience in this. Hang with me. This is going to be great.

Chris May:

And as they're walking through this tough terrain, it's like Paul has no idea where he's going, but it seems to me he thinks that he is going to be ministering in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey. That's not the case. So here's what he does From Iconium, where they start, they go to Phrygia and Galatia, 100 miles by foot. God closes the door. That's not where they're to be. Then they go from that region to Mysia, northwest to northwest Asia Minor, 200 more miles. And from Mysia they attempt to go into this place called Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit says no, it's not it either. Then they travel to Troas, door number three, another 100 miles, wrong again, and finally there the Lord makes his will clear and watch this, they're on the wrong continent. You ever ask the Lord for something and you think you're close and you realize you're on the wrong continent. Come on, somebody Like you're not even close to what God's asking you to do. They're in Asia and they're supposed to cross the sea and go to Europe and into what is Northern Greece Now, into what is Northern Greece Now.

Chris May:

Here's what I love. Paul is willing just to try to open some doors by faith, and he's okay if the door's open or if the door's closed. He trusts the Lord. And I think you know what I was thinking about this. I thought you know sometimes we're praying for something and we just kind of sit back and wait for the Lord to drop something in our lap. Like, if you're praying for a spouse like you should probably try to meet some people. Like a lady man is probably not going to just show up at your door, right? I mean, she could. If she is, she's probably selling vacuum cleaners, you know, I don't know, but here's the thing we need to try and say Lord, is this the door you have for me? Let me give you another example If you need a job, it's like I've been through this with some people it's like man, I believe God's got something for me, so I'm just going to sit back and eat Cheetos on the couch while I wait for the phone to ring.

Chris May:

It's like that's not going to happen. What do you do? You apply to places, you send in resumes, you network and then you say, god, I don't want to force anything, but if any of these are your will, would you open the door? That's what Paul does here. And let me say this If God closes the door, don't be frustrated.

Chris May:

You know, a lot of times we get our hearts set on things right, we want something to happen and the door closes and we get really frustrated. But you know what, if we trust God and his providence, the Lord, when he closes that door, he may be saving you from who knows what. You think this is the girl for you or the boy for you and you think this is who I want to marry. But you don't know the future, because sometimes you don't know somebody until you get married. Actually, that's always the case until you get married and sometimes people seem really sane and they're a little cray-cray. Don't point at your spouse, okay. So don't get frustrated.

Chris May:

And here's the other thing. Listen to this Don't try and force a door open that God closed. You know Paul and Silas didn't like, and Timothy and Luke they're not trying to like say come on, lord, I'm going to try this again. Will you please let us go here. No, it's a closed door. We trust the Lord.

Chris May:

There's a reason God doesn't want us ministering here. Pastor Chuck Swindoll famously said that when God is in it, it flows. When the flesh is in it, it's forced. God is in it, it flows. When the flesh is in it, it's forced. You know, closed doors are not always permanent. What's so interesting about this story is Paul is forbidden to preach in Asia Minor, but do you know, in Acts, chapter 19, he spends two years in Ephesus, the chief city of Asia Minor, and he preaches and he preaches, and he preaches. Listen, when a door is closed, it's not always that God is saying no. It could be that he's saying not right now.

Chris May:

Let me give you one more caveat here. Don't assume that every open door is God's will. I think that's a big mistake. For instance, if you're at a job and you know you've been there and things are going well and a company does happen to call you, don't assume, like, maybe test it, but don't assume that that's God calling you to leave. Like, if you're a good employee and other companies get word of it, you would be switching jobs all the time because you know people are going to be calling you.

Chris May:

I had a church pursue us not too long ago in Arizona and you got to know this, nikki and I. We're from Kentucky, we love Kentucky but we love anybody ever get tired of cold weather. Come on somebody. We lived in Arizona before and we really liked Arizona. So this church in Arizona called us and said you know, we'd really like you to consider being our pastor. And I thought, well, I'm not looking to leave real life community church. I love it here. But I said it's an open door. I'm going to see what the Lord has. And so I flew out, nikki and I. We flew out to Tucson and drove to Sierra Vista and we love the church, we love the church and the church loved us and it was a great opportunity and it's kind of primed for growth. It would have been something new, a change, and there's all these good things to say about it.

Chris May:

But when I got home I didn't assume that, just because the door was opened, that it was God's will, because it's like that's a major decision. And so as I prayed, I asked God, I said give me a clear sign. And two days later God confirmed that at that time it was not God's will for my life, and so we stayed. Obviously, here I am. I don't look so happy about it.

Chris May:

When there are open doors, god will confirm in other ways that those are the ones you need to go through. So God speaks by closing doors, opening doors, but you know he also speaks, as we see in the text, through dreams and visions. And you think, oh, pastor, you're getting kooky, come on. Well, it's in the Bible. You believe the Bible? Look at verse 9.

Chris May:

And the vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there Would that freak you out a little bit? Urging him and saying come over to Macedonia and help us. So they've been searching. Is this the will of the Lord? Is this the will of the Lord? Is this the will of the Lord? And what happens? It's no, no, no. And finally, paul's like all right, I'm just going to sleep.

Chris May:

And God shows up through a vision. Now you say, okay, sure, they're apostles. You know Paul was an apostle and they didn't have the Word of God completed yet. But God wouldn't speak to me like that, don't be so sure. Let me ask has anybody ever had what you feel like is a dream from the Lord or a vision from the Lord.

Chris May:

Okay, in Acts, chapter 2, after the Holy Spirit's poured out again, peter quotes Joel, chapter 2. Here's what he says, verse 17, quoting the Old Testament, in the last days. What are the last days? It's the church age From the time of Christ's ascension, or Pentecost, to the time of Jesus' return. So you are in the last days. People ask me all the time Pastor, you think we're in the last days? Yep, and we've been for 2,000 years.

Chris May:

Here's what he says will happen in the last days. So if you're in the last days, nod your head at me, because I'm going to make this argument and I will pour out my spirit, holy Spirit, on all flesh. You got flesh. Pinch yourself, make sure All right, we're good. And here's what will happen when the spirit is poured out you ready your sons and your daughters Does it say apostles only Does it say men only. It says your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. That's a spiritual gift. And your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. There's a famous missionary by the name of Hudson Taylor you might know that name and he described a dream in which he saw millions of Chinese people passing before him into eternity without Christ. And the dream so profoundly shaped his life that he began what's called the China Inland Mission and he gave his life from then on to spreading the gospel in inland China, where multitudes by the thousands came to the Lord.

Chris May:

Now most of your dreams are probably you ate too close to bedtime or you watched a crazy movie or whatever, but be open that the Lord still speaks that way. I believe this comes by faith, right? So if you just discount this altogether, you're probably not going to recognize that maybe the Lord's trying to speak to you. Number four God speaks through angelic messengers. In Acts 5, 19 and 20, the apostles are in prison and it says but during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said go and stand in the temple and speak to the people. All the words of life. We just saw this happen again to Peter, who was in prison just a few chapters back. God also speaks through let's say it like this spiritual gifts and kind of prophetic words. Now let me read you 27 through 30 of Acts 11.

Chris May:

Sorry, now, in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them, named Agabus, stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined, based on what the prophet said, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea, and that's what they did. So there are Paul lists in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, what we call the supernatural gifts. And look at me, I didn't grow up this way, what I'm about to tell you, but believing this, but I am 99.9% sure that I'm right on this, no, I'm going to say I think I'm 100% sure that I'm right on this.

Chris May:

There is nothing in the Bible to suggest that those supernatural gifts are no longer for today, nothing. And it frustrates me when good Bible-believing people make that argument. Beloved, if the apostles needed the gifts of the Spirit, who are we to think that we no longer need the gifts of the Spirit? So let me list three of those nine spiritual gifts. You have the gift of prophecy, you have the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom. So this is not just regular knowledge. This is a special, you know, kind of revelation. And you have the word of wisdom, and not just regular wisdom. This is wisdom imparted by God for a particular situation, and do you know that is one of the most needed gifts in the church today. It frustrates me, like, by the way, I believe in all the gifts, including the gift of tongues, which means languages and interpretation and all of that. I believe in the gift of faith and miracles, but so many people, when they think of spiritual gifts, they immediately think of the gift of tongues. But you know what Paul said, and when he's writing the church in Corinth, that's what they were doing, that's what they were focusing on. He said listen, desire the gifts, but especially the higher ones, and he tells us what that is that you might prophesy. Let me show you how this works.

Chris May:

Years ago, I was pretty new in ministry and I was serving in a small church as an associate pastor in Lexington, and a church in Tucson, arizona, called me as a big church 800 to 1,000 people, five buildings on campus and I thought man, I'm in my 20s and they want me to come work for them. I thought this is going to be great. It's going to be great, it's an opportunity of a lifetime, right, and so I made the decision. Nikki and I flew out Actually, we went out twice and finally made the decision to accept the job.

Chris May:

Well before I left the church in Tucson or in Lexington, we had a guest evangelist Can't remember the guy's name, but he came and he preached the word and my pastor called me after he took the evangelist back to the airport and he said Chris, I just want to tell you this. He said Heather, this is Pastor Randy. He said to me. He said Chris. He said that evangelist doesn't know you from Adam. And as we were driving to the airport, he said to me where is your? He said your associate pastor is about to move somewhere and if it, if he does, it will kill him. My pastor calls and he tells me that. And I'm. I told Nick. I said I just think pastor Randy's trying to, you know, manipulate me. So I won't leave, cause you know it's a small church and they're going to lose their music leader and all that.

Chris May:

So I went anyways and I didn't even consider that word. Well, I will tell you, I was there two years. I went with a clean bill of health. I left with a stack of medical records like this, and if I would have stayed another few months it would have killed me. It was a nightmare and I thought many times. I thought many times since, man, I wish I would have considered that God was speaking through that evangelist and, by the way, it's not just evangelists or pastors whom God uses like this.

Chris May:

So, if God ever, you know, you're probably not going to hear some audible voice that says you know, courtney, you know, tell Ben, whatever, but you know what it is. It's the prompt, and I'm going to talk about this in a second. But it's this sense in the spirit, that God wants you to share something with somebody and you don't have to say I would guard from this. You thus sayeth the Lord no, it's, you know what. This is what I sense God's laying on my heart, and we've had this happen in this church many times. You don't have to get up from the platform and do it, you just go to that person. Now, not every word quote unquote word that people share with you are from the Lord. There are some kooks out there, right, man? You open this up.

Chris May:

You know, I had a guy come in my office one time in Tucson and he came in from another church and he was frantic. He, I had an office upstairs and he comes up the stairs and he sits down across from my desk, pastor, he's out of breath. I said what's wrong? He said, pastor, I need a word. I said what do you mean? You need a word? He said well, I was in church and this person told me I was supposed to go to this country and be a missionary. This other one said God was calling me here. And this one, he said, pastor, I just need a word. And I just slid my Bible over to him and I said this is the word you need right now.

Chris May:

But but you know what? What the Bible says is this first Thessalonians, 520, do not despise prophecies. So just because there's some kooky things out there, we don't throw the baby out with the bath water. But he says test everything. Test it and hold fast to what is good You're going to get. If you practice this, you're probably going to miss it sometimes and somebody's going to miss it when they talk to you. That's all right, just kick them and go on. No, don't do that. Just kick them and go on. No, don't do that.

Chris May:

So God speaks through these spiritual gifts. But most often, here's how God speaks to us regarding specific situations he speaks to us internally by the Holy Spirit. Have you ever just felt prompted? Let's say you're walking by somebody and the Lord just prompts you to give them something, share food, or give them a few dollars. Or maybe you have been awakened in the middle of the night and somebody that you maybe even haven't thought of in a while was on your heart and it was the Holy Spirit prompting you to pray. Has that happened to anybody recently? That happened to me just not too long ago. Or maybe the Holy Spirit will just prompt you to call somebody at just the right time. We call those the nudgings of the Holy Spirit. So what's happening there is, it's the Spirit of God speaking to our spirit, and you've got to learn to listen to that voice.

Chris May:

Okay, this is most often how the Lord speaks and it's like well, how do I know I'm hearing from God? Because if you're like me and don't put me in the loony bin for this, but anybody else hear voices in your head all day, you don't know how to respond to that. No, but your own voice is in your head all the time. Right Now, I speak out loud to myself I'm sorry. Then I answer myself. That's when things get really crazy. But you hear that voice in your head, but also from Scripture. We know the devil tempts us in things. So it could be. You know, demons can't possess a believer, but I believe, just like the devil put a thought in Judas's heart, I believe that there's times that he can do that in the life of believers, and so we've got to learn to discern like is this me, is this God, is this the enemy?

Chris May:

So let me give you quickly I'm just going to list these out four questions that you can ask to see if this is, if what you're hearing in your spirit is from the Lord. Number one, to be redundant, is does it align with God's word? If not, nope, it's not God. Does it make me more like Christ and does it bring glory to God? Our lives are about the glory of God, so if it doesn't do that, then probably not God. Our lives are about the glory of God, so if it doesn't do that, then probably not God.

Chris May:

Here's another one Does it bring me peace or confusion? Now let me just add a caveat here. When God speaks to you, he will often lead you to do things that stretch you, that often don't make sense. If he calls you to move somewhere, if he calls you to start this new job or start this new ministry, and there will be a little bit of I don't want to say anxiety, because we're not supposed to be anxious, but just concern. You're going to have a lot of questions, that you may not have answers, but if you are in a really confused state, the Bible says God is not the author of what confused state. The Bible says God is not the author of what Confusion.

Chris May:

Fourth question this is an important one Is it confirmed by the church? Is it confirmed by the church? So in verse 10 of our text, when Paul sees this vision, here's what happens. It says immediately Luke says we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel. So watch this. Paul has this dream, but he doesn't assume that by himself he can decipher if this is from God or not. He brings it to Luke and to Timothy and to Silas. Here's the dream I had. Do we sense this is from God or not? He brings it to Luke and to Timothy and to Silas. Here's the dream I had. Do we sense this is from the Lord? And collectively, yes. Luke says we concluded that this word is from God.

Chris May:

Now, when you are faced with a major decision and you think you are hearing from the Lord. It is arrogant and unwise to make that decision without talking to people who love you, who are unbiased and who will speak the truth to you in love and are spiritually wise. When I'm faced with any major decision, when I told you about that church in Arizona, I called three or four people who are a lot wiser than I am. I said, hey, here's what I'm hearing from the Lord. What do you think? The Bible says that there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors. And I'll tell you this if there's an opportunity before you and you really want that opportunity, you will ignore many red flags because you want it so bad and you'll explain them away if one comes up. That's why you need somebody on the outside to step in who cares about you and say you know what? I've prayed about this.

Chris May:

Now, ultimately, you've got to decide where is this? The Lord or not? But that's a great question. Is it confirmed by the church? Well, today, you may say well, that sounds good. God speaks to his people? Ok, I believe that, but I never hear his voice. I never hear his voice. So how do you hear God's voice more clearly. I'll close with this, number one. Can I say it a third time Be in the word. Number two you've got to pray, because James says we receive, not because what we ask not. If a man lacks what Wisdom, let him ask of God who gives liberally. So you've got to pray and, by the way, don't just pray one time when you've got something to pray about.

Chris May:

You remember, in Matthew 7, I believe it's verse 7, Jesus says these words. He says ask, remember, and it will be given. Seek and you will find Knock and the door will be opened and you say okay. Well, in the Greek, when you look at the Greek, the original text, original language here, the Greek imperatives there ask, seek, knock those are in the present active form. So how the verse should read, the way it reads in Greek, is this Ask and keep on asking and you'll receive. Seek and keep on seeking and you'll find Knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. So you need to pray and you need to pray until you get a word from the Lord when you've got any major decision in your life. Pray and keep on praying. And, by the way, a good practice is too, is that you could incorporate fasting with prayer when there's a major decision before you.

Chris May:

We saw that in Acts 13, the disciples before sending out Paul and Barnabas, they prayed and fasted, and that's when they heard from the Lord. So you've got to be in the Word, you've got to pray and you've got to give yourself wholly to God. If you want to hear his voice, let me quickly read you Romans 12, 1 and 2. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that, by the testing, you may discern what is the will of God. Did you get this? If you're living like the devil and you're not following the Bible, if you're reading it but not following it, praying but not following God's wisdom and his word and his commands, you will not be able to hear God's voice. He said offer your bodies, give yourself wholly to me, give your mind to me, let it be transformed by the word, and when you do that, then you'll be able to discern what is the perfect will of God.

Chris May:

And finally actually sorry two more quick points. Number four the more you listen, the more clear you'll hear. So, if you don't ignore God's voice when you don't like his advice, you'll begin to hear him more clearly. If you do ignore what God's saying today, his voice will be a little less fainter tomorrow, okay and now. Finally, if you want to hear God's voice, his voice will be a little less fainter tomorrow, okay and now. Finally, if you want to hear God's voice, you've got to remove distractions. Now, if you've checked out, check back in, all right.

Chris May:

Colossians 3, 2,. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things on the earth. You know, people say to me often Pastor, you know, I know how important Bible reading and prayer is and church and all this, but I just don't have time and I go really, how many hours are in your day? 24. How many hours are in your week? And most of them say I don't know. And I have to tell them what is 168, right, 168 hours, and you don't have time. 168 hours every week. You don't have time to take 15, even 20 minutes, pray, read your Bible. You don't have a few hours on Sunday to come and worship with God's people.

Chris May:

Do you know that the average American as of 2025, the average American and this is a very conservative number spends four and a half hours a day on their cell phone. Average American and this is a very conservative number spends four and a half hours a day on their cell phone. Four and a half hours a day. For Gen Z, it's something like six to seven. Now you go okay, that's a lot, but listen to this. If you do the math, that averages out to over one full day a week on your cell phone, scrolling through social media, reading the news, playing games. You know what that comes out to. A year, about two and a half months every year, you're going to be on your. You lose two and a half months every year to your cell phone. By conservative, very conservative estimations, a person today who receives a smartphone at the age of 13, if that person lives to 80 years old, they will lose 13 years of their life to that mobile device.

Chris May:

You know technology, as helpful as it is, it has robbed us of our ability just to be still before the lord, and most of you get this. The tv goes off, you lay down in bed and it's quiet. What's the? What's the nudge? You get what. What do you want to do Immediately, without even thinking? You want to grab some device, most people Beloved.

Chris May:

If we don't set the phones and the iPads and the computers down and just pray and read the Word and just sit and be still but for the Lord, we will never hear his voice. You know why most people today don't hear the voice of the Lord clearly? Because there are a million other things vying for your attention and most of us are giving in to those things. How many want to hear God's voice more clearly? I'm going to challenge you to take just real easy to do this week. Okay, I'm going to challenge you to take five minutes every day. Put your cell phone in another room and just sit before the Lord, ask Him to speak to you and just listen. Can you do that? Is that easy enough to ask?

Chris May:

The story is told of a frightened young boy during the London Blitz in World War II. He was running through the streets terrified as bombs were falling around him, but then suddenly he heard his father's voice calling his name. Instantly, fear gave way to peace and he knew he was safe to peace and he knew he was safe. You know, church life is chaotic, isn't it? A lot of uncertainties. There are many things on the news every day that can make our hearts melt with fear. But if you will quiet your soul and you will hear the voice of the Lord, day by day, that anxiety that so many of us struggle with can turn to peace. May the Lord, by His grace, continue to speak to us, and may we, his people, listen and obey.