How To Hear God's Voice | Book of John | Week 11

I'm glad that you're with us today and from time to time, we wanna give all of our campuses, all of our campuses watching together just an update on Be Free. And so back in the fall, we started our Be Free initiative, a two-year faith journey generosity initiative where we hope to bring freedom to the front range. And so a part of this is what we wanna do is we wanna be planting outposts of freedom all up and down the front range. So this is outposts, this is campuses, but here's the truth. Flatirons could never plant enough campuses to match the number of churches that are closing every single year in Denver. There are four to five churches that close every single year in Denver and it's just accelerating. And so what I wanna do right now is I wanna introduce you to a group of people who felt God calling them to come out and plant a new church in Colorado that we are partnering with. So Taylor, Daly, Jen, would you guys come out here and would you guys just give them a hand? Man. So, and Jen's husband TD was here last night. This morning, he's leading down to the Denver campus. Tyler, take good care of him down there. But this crew, I mean, God was speaking to you

that you lived in California. That's home, that's been home for 10 plus years. And you just felt the spirit saying, hey, it's time to move to a place that I'll show you, you know, the same way that he called Abraham, a place, but you don't know where you're gonna meet, you don't know who's gonna be there, you're here on faith. But there's this area of Colorado, it used to be called Stapleton, now it's called Central Park. And Central Park has very, very few churches, not a lot of places for churches to meet. And it's kind of like a church desert in that area. And so they felt called by God to plant a brand new church in Central Park. So what's happening is that they're coming on staff for us for a year to resident with us. They're gonna learn from us, we're gonna learn from them, and then we're gonna send them out at the end of the year, and we're gonna send them out with some experience, with some money, and maybe some people that God has called to be a part of this brand new work, to reach a community that's far from God. Taylor, would you just tell us a little bit more about what God's been doing in your life and what he's getting ready to do through the project? Yeah, well, thanks, Jesse. And man, Flatirons, it is so good to officially get to meet you.

Like Jesse said, my name's Taylor, and we moved here from Southern California at the beginning of this year. So I think I need to say sorry, because I think we brought the Southern California weather with us, and also, except today, and we are just taking advantage of the cheap gas and the cheap food, and we're buying up your housing. Our bad, but also, Jen and TD, they are from Denver. Daley went to high school in Littleton, and so man, we really are so excited to be back here in a place that feels like home for so much of our team, and so excited to be in the city of Denver. But man, more than anything, I just hope you know that we are so grateful to you guys to get to be a part of what God is doing in and through Flatirons. Like we are so inspired by your vision to help being people who free other people, because you have been freed and rescued and saved just like we have because of Jesus. And so man, we are so grateful to partner, to be hope and light in a place with a people that just needs some hope and needs some help. And so man, we are excited to get to be in the city of Denver, and like Jesse said, we ain't got a name, we ain't got a building, we ain't got very much, so we need your help, please. First of all, man, we really need your prayers, okay?

And so you can scan this QR code, and you can sign up to be a prayer partner with us. We are trying to get 5,280 prayer partners to be praying with us for Mile High City. See what we did there? So man, please scan this QR code, sign up, be praying for us, be praying for God to make a way in the city of Denver. Also on that form, you can fill out if you're interested in hearing more, maybe if you'd wanna help us throw some parties and events over the summer, or if you have connections in the Denver area, we are trying to meet with anybody and everybody we can right now. So you might know teachers, principals, coaches, you might have friends, family members, your grandma might live in Denver, and we would love to connect with your grandmama, all right? So you can put that on the form as well and fill that out. We've also got some stickers and swag, we'll be visiting the different campuses, but you can find us in the lobby at your campus when we're there, and we would love to just get to meet you and connect with you. But man, more than anything, I just want you to know, it would be so easy for an incredible church like Flatirons to just play it safe, to just ride off into the sunset, and to just coast. But man, we are so grateful that you are the kind of church

that takes risks, that you are the kind of church that pushes the darkness back, that pushes the kingdom forward, that wants to take ground. and bring hope and light to a people and a place that need it. And so man, we are so grateful to partner with you and to benefit from all of the incredible work that God has been doing to rescue and save people like us. And man, we wanna take that same hope to a people that need it in the city of Denver. So man, we're so grateful to be with you guys. Let's go. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Man, we are so grateful. And as Taylor was talking, if you just felt like your heart beating out of your chest, maybe that's God trying to speak to you. Pay attention. There might be some people that you know, some locations in that area that you know. For all of our campuses, they're gonna be visiting campuses all over the next couple of months. They're gonna be jumping into ministries. They're here at Lafayette, the BeFree area, right after this service. Guys, thank you so much. Give it up for them one more time.

Well, hey, we'll get started. And you might be looking at me going, hey, Jesse, something is different about you right now since the last time you preach. And my glasses, I don't have glasses anymore because I told you guys a few weeks ago, I was having a surgery. I thought I was gonna wear glasses for the rest of my life. Had them for five years. I run into this doctor. He tells me that they can actually do a surgery to fix my cross-eyed so that I can look straight ahead. And so a couple weeks ago, I went in for surgery down at Anschutz. And I don't know, like, does anybody like get nervous before surgery? Like, I thought, like, I'm like, I'm excited. I'm ready for this. I'm nervous. And I'm back in the waiting room and then back in the doctor's room and the surgeons come through. They're like, this is gonna be easy. It's like 15 minutes surgery, it's fine. They hand me a robe and they're like, okay, you just need to put this robe on, take everything off. I was like, I don't know why I need to take my pants off when it's an eye surgery, you know? Like, it's just weird,

but you just do what doctors tell you to do. And so I'm in the row, waiting for a while. They wheel me back into the operating room and I see this guy who's back there and he's wearing one of these. And I just, I love when I see people around town wearing these, because it's just this camaraderie. It lets us know as men of Flatirons, hey, we're not alone. And so I was like, man, I'm in good hands. And I wanted to say something to him. Before I could, the nurse comes up to me and she's like, hey, we're just gonna give this to you to help you relax. And I don't know what they put in that, but it was awesome, okay? I felt warm all over. I was like, ah, next arm, please. Like, I'll take a double shot of that. And so I wanted to try to make sure to talk to this guy. So I was like, hey, is your bracelet, is it Flatirons? And he turns around, he looks at me, he's just like, yeah, it's from my church. He goes, pastor. And that's all that I remember, guys. That's it, that's it. Ow, I woke up later. So Ramon, I just want you to know, like I hope I didn't ruin my witness or something. I love Jesus, but I don't know what I'm gonna say when I'm high on pain meds.

And so, but some people ask, is it like LASIK? It's not like LASIK. What they did is they actually, medicine is incredible. They went behind my eye, they removed one of the orbital muscles, and then they just reattached it to a different spot. And right when they did that, my eyes shot straight. I woke up and was completely healed right in the moment. And I just want to say thank you to Flatirons for praying for me, for lifting me up. I love, love this church. But we are not here to hear Jesse's story about surgery. We are here for Jesus. So we're gonna pick up right where Jim left off last week. And just to set the context, from last week all the way through next week, so three different weekends, all of the chapters of the Bible that we're gonna read, these happen over the course of one dinner. So there's one dinner, five chapters in the Bible. And so you can open up your Bibles to John chapter 16. You can also, if you got a guidebook, I think it's week 11, we got a few weeks left on the guidebook. Make sure you're tracking along with us because there's some really cool things happening in the guidebook the week before Easter that we want you to be a part of. But what I want you to do, I want you to imagine in this moment

all of the disciples are in the upper room. Judas at this point has deserted them. In a few hours he's gonna betray Jesus. Peter knows he's gonna deny Jesus. And so it feels like the fellowship is breaking apart. And this moment is somber. You feel the uncertainty. And so Jesus, he huddles the disciples together. He gathers them close. And then he says these words. He said, I've said all these things I've been telling you to keep you from falling away. Because they're gonna put you out of the synagogues. Those are the local places of worship. Make you outcasts in your faith. Indeed, the hour's coming when whoever kills you, he's gonna think he's offering a service to God. He's thinking he's doing this because God told him to. And they will do these. because they have not known the Father, they haven't known me. But I've said these things to you that when their hour comes, you may remember what I told you. Remember that I told them to you. He's saying people are gonna hurt you, they're gonna reject you, they're gonna persecute you, they're even going to kill you. And in those moments,

it is gonna be so easy to fall away, it is gonna be so easy to give up. And if I'm a disciple, I'm saying, hey, Jesus, this plane kind of sucks, okay? Like this is not what I signed up for. I didn't sign up for rejection. I didn't sign up for persecution. I signed up to be part of the Lord's army, okay? We're gonna march into Jerusalem, we're gonna kick some Roman tail, we're gonna raise our glasses when this thing is over, but I didn't sign up for this. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever been disappointed with how life turned out? Have you ever been disappointed when expectations don't match reality? Because you thought following Jesus would make things easier, and instead it got harder and more difficult. And I found for me, maybe this is true for you, when we're disappointed, isn't it easy for all of us to just lean out of our faith? Those are the times we tend to be disappointed. Those are the times we tend to fall away. And in this moment with the disciples, I wonder if Jesus' mind drifted back to when he was alone in the wilderness. He was attacked by the enemy at this time, and the devil kept whispering that same lie.

Hey, Jesus, if God really loved you, you wouldn't be suffering like this. If God really cared about you, he would make this easier, Jesus. If he was on your side, he would give you a way out. And the enemy wants us to believe that same lie today, that lie that if you're following God, life should be comfortable and opposition shouldn't happen. But Jesus tells us this. He tells us to expect opposition. Now, getting the parking space, not getting the parking space you want, that's not opposition, okay? Christians are notorious for calling things opposition that aren't actually opposition. Okay, like losing $500 at Blackhawk, that's not opposition. Opposition is when following Jesus costs you something. Jesus says, don't be surprised with opposition. We gotta expect it. So that's why Jesus follows up with the rest of verse four. He says this. He says, I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. He's saying, hey, at the beginning, you weren't ready to hear some of the hard truth that I had to share. But verse five, but now I'm going to him who sent me. I'm going back to the Father. None of you asked me, where are you going?

But because I said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Jesus is saying, you can't even imagine a better future right now because you are overwhelmed by the present. The disciples are grieving, they're confused, they think everything's falling apart. And then Jesus says something that must have sounded unbelievable. Verse seven says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It's to your advantage that I go away. For if I don't go away, the helper, the Holy Spirit will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. Jesus is saying, you're better off if I leave. And that doesn't make a lot of sense. Because when there was confusion in the Bible, you know what the disciples did? They asked Jesus. When they were in danger, Jesus handled it. When there was opposition, Jesus is the one who answered it. When somebody needed power, spiritual power, Jesus is the one that provided it. And now Jesus says, hey, I'm leaving and it's better. Now if we're honest, most of us, we would probably feel if the situation was the same, we'd feel the same way the disciples did. If we had to choose between the Spirit inside of us or Jesus sitting right down next to us, in the flesh right next to us,

most of us think it would be better for Jesus to stay than for the Holy Spirit to come and live inside of us. But here's what Jesus understood that the disciples couldn't see yet. He was giving them a mission that could never stay in one room. Couldn't even stay in one city or one country. Because the mission was to take the good news to the ends of the earth. And to reach the ends of the earth, you're gonna need more than just one person in one place. Jesus, he could reach one corner of the world at a time. He's trying to mobilize an army of believers to carry the gospel everywhere. He couldn't go with all of us at the same time, and so instead, he put his spirit inside of us. And here's the truth, we all need to recognize everything that Jesus did for the disciples, the Holy Spirit now does in us. Look, can we admit the disciples were pretty slow before they received the Spirit? Like, if you read your Bible, you know, like, they're constantly missing the point. Jesus tried to teach them something, they do the opposite. They heard everything Jesus said about humility, they're still, right before he's going to the cross, they're arguing about who's gonna be the greatest. When Jesus is arrested, they run away. But then you just think, a couple months later, Peter is preaching to thousands of people.

The disciples, they're speaking with boldness. People are being healed all over the place. And Jim mentioned this week, one, I just love it. John, who was the angry son of thunder, toward the end of his life became known for his love. The difference wasn't better training or stronger personalities. The difference was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is part of what Christians call the Trinity. Some people call it the Godhead. And that means there's one God who exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three different persons. So just get this, the Holy Spirit is not an it. The Holy Spirit is a he, he's a person. They're not three different gods. They're not one person wearing three different masks. They are three distinct persons who share the same divine nature. And when we see all three persons of the Trinity, we get this full picture of who God is. Look at this, the Father is God in the heavens. Jesus is God in the flesh. And the Holy Spirit is God inside of you. Now this is gonna feel a little bit like class for just a second, but we gotta understand this so that we can get where we're going today. All three persons of the Trinity, they're present everywhere.

But the primary way each one reveals himself to us is like this, the Father is God in the heavens, but he's limited by expression. Now God himself is not limited. God's not limited by anything. But humans have a limited understanding of him. God the Father's in heaven, but we can't see him. John 1 18 says, no one has ever seen God. So he's real, he's powerful, he's sovereign, but his presence is largely unseen and unfelt to us. We can't fully know God without Jesus, which is why God came into flesh. So Jesus is God in the flesh, but he's limited by space and time. When God came to the person of Jesus, we could finally see him, he was walking with us, we could hear him, but Jesus took on a physical body, which meant he's limited by location. So if Jesus wasn't in Galilee, he couldn't be, if he was in Galilee, he couldn't be in Jerusalem. If he was with the disciples, he couldn't be somewhere else. So his presence with people was real and it was powerful, but it's limited to one place at one time, which is why Jesus said it's better for him to go. I want you to think about this real quick. With Jesus, you have one sermon in one day at one place, and if you weren't there, you missed it. But today, around the world, there are 32 million sermons being preached by spirit-filled preachers all around the world.

That's the difference. And that's what the Holy Spirit does. Because the Holy Spirit is God inside you, the Holy Spirit is limited by our response. The Spirit's not limited by expression or space or time. One of my favorite definitions of the Holy Spirit says, the Holy Spirit does what he wants, when he wants, where he wants, with whoever he wants, with or without your permission. The Spirit can live inside every believer everywhere in the world at the very same time, but there's one thing that can limit our experience of the Spirit. Our willingness to listen and respond. Scripture says, do not quench the Spirit. So the Spirit is leading, convicting, guiding, but if we ignore him, if we resist him, if we drown him out with noise and distraction, we're gonna miss what he's doing. And that leads to the real tension for most of us. We don't experience the Spirit because we're not listening. And what I've learned is the Holy Spirit usually doesn't shout. He nudges, he prompts, he convicts, he brings a verse to mind, he whispers a truth at a moment of temptation or fear. If our lives are constantly filled with noise, if they're filled with our phones, schedules, entertainment, stress,

we start to lose the ability to notice His voice. Then other times we're not listening, because we're honest, we're just not interested. We say we want the Holy Spirit to lead us until His leading challenges us. When the Spirit convicts us of sin, He calls us to forgive somebody that we're not ready to forgive. He nudges us to be generous. He prompts us to step out in faith. That's when things suddenly get quiet. But the issue isn't that the Spirit isn't speaking. The issue is we only want guidance that agrees with what we've already planned to do. Look at one of the primary ways the Spirit's gonna speak into our lives. It's in the following verses, verse eight. And when He, the Holy Spirit, comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you'll see me no longer, concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. When He comes, one of the first signs is death. It's conviction. He'll convict us. You know what that feels like. You're scrolling through something

that you know that you shouldn't be looking at. And deep down, you know, this isn't who I wanna be. You wake up from the one-night stand. Deep in your heart, you go, that wasn't right. You're working on the business deal. It's good for you, but it's bad for them. And something deep in your heart, you go, this feels off. Or you walk away from the conversation. You realize you spent the whole time gossiping about somebody who wasn't in the room. You go, this is not who I want to be. That's conviction. That's the Holy Spirit turning the lights on in your heart. But to be clear, conviction is not the same as condemnation. Condemnation says you're wrong, and there is no hope for a person like you, so you better quit. Conviction says you're wrong, but through Jesus, there's a way back from this. And conviction leads to repentance and to life. Condemnation leads to shame and to hiding. And here's the truth. The Spirit will never condemn you. He will never condemn you, but He will convict you, all with the goal of bringing you closer to Jesus, not further away from Him. And then it's after the Spirit convicts, He starts to continue the work. Look down at verse 13.

Verse 13 says this. When the Spirit of truth comes, He'll guide you into all truth. He'll not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He'll speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He says He's gonna guide you. He's gonna remind you of what God's Word says. He's gonna remind you what God has said, and that means to be reminded means we have had to read it in the first place. He's gonna help us hear what God's trying to say to us. He's even gonna declare some of the things that God has in store for you, and He's gonna give you insight and direction and wisdom that we don't have on our own. He leads and He guides us, but the order in all this is so important. The Holy Spirit convicts before He guides. Why is that? Let me tell you a story. Back when I was a youth pastor in Kentucky, we came up with this idea to bring a group of students out to Colorado on a backpacking trip. Got any backpackers in the room that, just a few of us, and so what we did, we mapped out the trip, we got all the gear, and then we started back in Kentucky. We're training, we're hiking, we're running. We're getting all these students ready

for this tough hike, a bunch of elevation, altitude, all that. And we told the kids, hey, if you're gonna make it on this hike, you gotta pack light. You don't wanna be carrying too much gear. And my buddy Dave, he was leading us, and he's one of those ultralight backpackers. Maybe you've seen him on social media. Like, we got a week-long trip. He's got one pair of shorts, one shirt, one jacket, sleeps on the ground. All of his gear fits into a fanny pack, all right? Like, he's just like running up this thing. And then another student went to Cabela's. Cabela's is dangerous. I mean, guys, you know that. Got the biggest backpack, gets all new gear, changes of clothes for every day, water filtration, binoculars, portable microwave, whatever. I mean, his backpack, he is loaded today. And so we drive out to Colorado, we get started hiking, and if you've ever backpacked in Colorado, the trails just, they just start going up and up and up and up, mile after mile. And we got miles to cover before we go where we need to go. And this student with the big pack is struggling. He's falling further behind.

He's gotta take more breaks. Eventually it's getting dark, we still got a ways to go, but his pack is too heavy. Ultimately, this dude has gotta shed some of his stuff, take stuff out of his pack, and just leave it there on the trail to lighten his load so he can make it where he needs to go. He had some baggage he had to shed before he could go where he needed to go. And that's why the spirit convicts before he guides. Because there's some baggage you gotta shed before you can go where he wants to take you. You can't go where he wants to take you. You can't go where he wants to take you with that greed on your back. You can't go where he wants to take you with that lust in your eyes. You can't go where he wants to take you with that pride in your heart. So out of love, the Holy Spirit's gonna convict before he guides. And many of us, we want the guidance of the Holy Spirit without the conviction from the Holy Spirit. Hey God, tell me what job I should take. God, help me find the right man in my life. God, tell me where I should go to college. God, should I sell my business now or should I, oh wait. And God's saying, hey, it's not gonna matter if you got the right job or the right man if you got the wrong sin in your life.

You can't handle where I wanna take you because you got all this baggage that's holding you back. Before we can get the guidance of the Spirit, we must accept the conviction of the Spirit. I mean, don't you wanna be guided by the Holy Spirit? I mean, think about it. The Spirit's the one who's gonna tell you what's true when your mind is confused. The Spirit is the one who nudges you when you're about to make the wrong decision. The Spirit gives you courage when you feel afraid. The Spirit reminds you of God's promises. He comforts you in grief. He strengthens you in temptation. He's gonna convict you when you drift. He's a comforter who never leaves you alone. He's the advocate that sticks by your side and he is a helper, which means he's gonna come alongside you. When you don't know what to pray, he's gonna help you pray. When you don't know what to say, he's gonna give you the words. When you feel weak, he gives you strength. When you feel alone, he reminds you that you're not. And when you feel like you're not enough, he reminds you, you don't have to be because Christ died for you anyway. We can all have the Spirit of God living inside of us, guiding us, correcting us, strengthening us

and leading us step-by-step in the life that God created us to live, or we can just try to figure it out on our own. We got two deals on the table. And if you choose to listen, the Spirit will guide you, but he's not gonna shout. And that's the problem for most of us. Most of us, our lives are just so loud. We're constantly moving, we're constantly scrolling. We fill every single quiet moment of our lives with just some noise, podcast, radio, whatever. We want God to guide us, but we leave no room to hear him. And what I've seen to be true is the Holy Spirit will not compete with the noise. He will speak in the quiet moments. He'll nudge us, the little conviction. And if we would just slow down and pay attention, actually listen, we would discover that the Spirit of God has been speaking to us far more than we ever realized. Let me tell you what this looks like for me and what I've been convicted about lately. I can't tell you how many articles I've read saying that the worst thing that you can do right when you wake up in the morning is to do what? Just anybody throw it out there? Look at your phone. Literally, nobody recommends the first thing you do when you wake up is to look at your phone.

And you wanna know the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning? I look at my phone. Couple days ago, I saw somebody gave us a one-star review on Google. The first thing I saw when I woke up is we got a one-star because we don't have stained glass windows at the Lafayette campus and people don't dress up enough. Maybe I wanna start this argument with this guy about why it's better without stained glass and why it's better not to dress up to go to church. And that's how my day started. Immediately filled with noise. It's the thing I'm thinking about the most. And so this week, I wonder if the most spiritual thing some of us could do is to turn off Fox News or turn off CNN. To put time limits on your phone, to stop scrolling and just make some space for a week. What if we would turn down the noise so that we can hear the voice of the Spirit who wants to speak to you, but He's not gonna shout? As I was writing this this week, I was writing that the takeaway is gonna be, okay, all of us need to find some time to listen to the Spirit on our own this week. And then I had this moment of realization. We're probably not gonna do that. Like, we wanna do that, we're like, I should do that, but at the same time, life is so busy,

there's just not enough time. So instead of just trying to do that later on this week, we're going to do it right now. And I'm gonna lead us through a meditation that takes about five minutes, and I'll guide you step-by-step. We're gonna make room for the Holy Spirit to speak, but I wanna warn you, this is gonna be five minutes of mostly silence, and this might be the most quiet you've been in months. And I just want us to buckle up and settle in, and it might feel uncomfortable, but I just wanna tell you, if we just take some time to be quiet, I do believe that the Holy Spirit wants to talk to us. And so you can take your Bible or your book out of your lap, just get quiet, sit in your chair, close your eyes, and just be still. And with your eyes closed, I wanna invite you to check in on what you're feeling right now in this moment of silence. Maybe you're nervous. Maybe you're sad. Maybe some anger has come up. Maybe there's some fear or sadness that's come online. Or maybe you're happy, you're excited about something that's coming up, you're tender for somebody in your life. What are you feeling in this moment? With your eyes still closed,

picture a crowded restaurant or a coffee shop people walking back and forth. And then through the crowd, you notice Jesus. Whatever he looks like to you, you can see Jesus through the crowd. I invite you to focus on Jesus until the rest of the crowd just fades away, and it's just you and him. And as it's just you and him, share what you've been feeling. Check in around if there's sadness or there's fear or there's happiness. And as you check in, just notice there's no judgment from Jesus, there's no shame. He's just glad to be with you. Now, imagine you're sitting down at a table with Jesus. And on the table before you is your life. You've got what's working and what's not. What do you need? What's next? And when you sit down and you're faced with Jesus' church and your friends and your family and all of the friends that God's been working with, just a silence. What is it? What's not, where you're thriving, where you're afraid, everything you're carrying. Take a moment to reflect on your family, what's working, what's not,

what are you carrying? Reflect on your career or your school, what's working, what's not, what are you carrying in it? Reflect on your relationships, what's working, what's not. What are you carrying? Reflect on your burdens. Where are you struggling? What are you carrying? Now, imagine that Jesus comes around to your side of the table. He puts his arm around you as you both look at your life. What does he say to you? You can go ahead and open your eyes when you're ready. And then in this time of stillness and quietness, you may have gotten something directly from the Holy Spirit to your soul right in this moment. Maybe he brought to light a sin. It's time to deal with that. Maybe there is an encouragement that you just needed to hear this week. Maybe you heard it. It's time to make that change. But for many of us, we got something direct and personal, like a download from the Holy Spirit straight to our heart. And then for some of us, we're sitting here just going, man, we were trying. They just felt like we're so used to noise and we're not used to quiet. And we're not exactly sure what he was trying to say. We're not exactly sure what he was trying to tell us. And I wonder if maybe he was wanting to tell you something like this. You're not alone. The Holy Spirit is a friend. He's never going to leave you on your own.

So if you're in the hospital, when you fill the papers, when you don't hear the heartbeat anymore, you are not alone. Maybe he wants you to know there's more in you than you think. The Holy Spirit says he'll fill us with the power that we don't have to accomplish anything that he puts in front of us. So I know what your mom said about you. I know what your dad said about you. I know what they say about you at school. I know what you tell yourself when you look in the mirror. But the truth, that's not the truth. That's not the truth. The truth is there's more in you than you think. Maybe he wants you to know you're not going to get lost. Because the Holy Spirit is a guide. He leads us where we need to go. And I know the job search has taken forever. I know you're just getting rejection letter after rejection letter from college. I know you're looking for the good girl, but it seems like there's nobody out there. The Spirit will guide you. You won't get lost. He won't lead you in the wrong direction. Or maybe the Spirit just wanted you to know simply this. You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay. When life gets heavy and the future feels uncertain, the Spirit is a comforter who's reminding you God has not left your side. Because the Spirit of God is with you, you're going to be okay. See, what we see all throughout Scripture is that God is just really good at speaking to His people. He found Elijah in a cave, found him in a cave, spoke to him through a whisper. One time he couldn't find anybody else to speak, so he speaks through a donkey.

He writes on the walls of this palace so that people can hear him. And the Spirit of God wants to speak to you, but it only happens when we take time to listen. Let's be clear. The Spirit's main goal in your life, it's not just to get us to feel something. It's not just to guide us where we need to go. The Spirit's goal in our lives is to take what He's put inside of you, bring it outside of you so that it impacts the lives of those around you. The Holy Spirit doesn't just wanna guide us. He doesn't just wanna guide you, he wants to use your life. And the Spirit's work in your life, it's not just about you, it's about what he wants to do through you. And the Spirit has a very specific goal. Look at verse 14, verse 14 says this, Jesus is saying, the Holy Spirit will glorify me. The Spirit doesn't draw attention to himself. He doesn't wanna be the focus to be on himself. Everything the Spirit does in your life is meant to point your attention to Jesus. So when he speaks, when he comforts, the goal is always the same, to point us to Jesus. So Flatiron Church, at all of our campuses, let's stand right now, and we're gonna respond to the work of the Spirit in our lives. We're gonna respond to how the Spirit has been speaking, and we're going to follow the Spirit's lead right now. We're gonna lift our eyes and we're gonna worship our Savior. So Flatiron Church, let's sing together.

♪ Holy, holy, holy, holy Lord ♪