 So there are so many people out there who say, who tell us that they hear from God. Well, is that true? Do they hear from God? If it is true, do they hear from God as often as they say they do? Well, let's just go ahead and cut to the chase, at least on that issue. No, these people who say they hear from God every other day or every day or have these drinks, that's not of God, that's not biblical. But what about people who aren't like them, who feel as though they hear from God, who feel as though they're being led by God, who may have a dream, may feel an impression by God? Is that legitimate? And so the question is, when you hear something, when you're being moved, when there's an impression upon you in your spirit, being guided, how do you differentiate if that is from God, if that is from the devil, or if that's just from yourself? So the first question has to be answered, that is, does God speak to us? And if he does, how so? Because you have a lot of people who abuse anything that's remotely spiritual. Anything, because obviously the Holy Spirit is not dead, obviously God is still moving, God is still alive. God is not all of a sudden decided, you know what? I'm gonna sit back and just watch what happens. Let's see how things unfold and stay inactive, especially in the lives of his people. But even in the lives of people who are not his people, God is still active. But how so? What does he say? And so what we see is people who will say, the Lord told me this, God told me that. I've got a dream, I've got a word from the Lord. So in response to that, there are those that push back. And what do we do sometimes when we see there's an error, especially a gross error, we'll see people overcompensate and say that there's absolutely no movement whatsoever from God. Well, we know God still moves. So the issue, especially in this regard, regarding this video, this topic, does God speak? One passage that people go to often is going to be Hebrews one. So let's go there and let's pull it up and let's see if the Bible is speaking to us, telling us, well, let's see what it's saying. So the Bible says, long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Now, you guys know me well enough or you should know me well enough to know that I'm not one of these people that's always advocating for this mysterious move of the Lord, how he's doing these things and we're supposed to take the word of these so-called prophets and so forth. So you know that's not me. But I believe that we're supposed to say what the scriptures say, follow that. And if it doesn't say something, not make it out to be that. Now, let me say this, this might bother some folks, but I want you to hear what I'm gonna say. Because maybe some of your more trusted teachers have told you that this passage tells us how God speaks to us. First of all, what is the book of Hebrews, the intention of it? Who's it written to? It's written to these Jews who are believers in Christ, these Jews who have placed their faith in Messiah and it's a book of comfort. And so he's not telling us really in this passage, he's not telling us how God is, or the point of this passage is not to tell us that God does or doesn't speak. That's not the point of chapter one, verse one at all. Okay, it says long ago, let's put back on the screen, long ago, at many times in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophet. So who's he speaking of? He's speaking to the Jews about how God has spoken to their forefathers, the prophets, the Abraham's, the Isaacs, the Jacobs, the Jeremiah's, the Isaiah's and so forth. That's what he's speaking of. So he's saying this is how he spoke to them in those days, but in these last days he's spoken to us by his son. In other words, he's not moving by these prophets anymore. He's moving through and by and because of his son. The issue here is not communication, okay? That's not the issue. He says, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom he also created the world. You all tell me which verse, which two words, which three words, which portion of the sentence do I take to indicate that God only speaks now through the Bible? And I don't, again, we're not getting way out there. You all know me well enough. I'll call that foolishness out, but at the same time, we've got to be honest with the text. The text does not tell us that God only speaks through the Bible. Does God speak to the Bible? Absolutely, but does this passage tell us that God only speaks to the Bible according to this passage? You can't say that. He's just saying how he speaks because he says he speaks to us through his son. Well, let me ask you all a question. And I want you all to think about this for a second. Is his son the Bible? Do we, is that Jesus? Well, it tells us about him, but that book that you have is not Jesus. It gives an account. It's his word and the word was given to us by God and we hold those in high esteem. But he says he speaks to us by his son. Oh, by the way, when this was written, was there a Bible for them to open up and read? They had the Old Testament scriptures and we're starting to see some New Testament writings happen, but they didn't have the book. And so it would be wrong to say that the writer is telling them that God speaks to them only through a book that they don't have yet. And even once the book was complete, once the canon was closed, everyone did not have the entire book. You may have had one letter. You may have had Luke's gospel. You may have had a couple of Peter's writings or a couple of Paul's writings, but we didn't have the complete canon. Very few people had the complete canon. And so that could not be what it means. He's just saying that now for you Jews, for you believers who have left this, left the law and are now under Christ and that's what you're used to. Now we're being led not by how things were done by the prophets under the Old, but about how things are being done under and through and because and by Jesus. That's what the whole point of the book of Hebrews is about. It's a writing as a source of comfort to these Jews who have still not fully wrapped it around their heads that we are no longer under the law. We're gonna have to adhere to the dictates of the law specifically that there is no more day of atonement and so forth and that these yearly sacrifices, those are done away with because we've got a new high priest. And so the book gives it, this gives an introduction into this high priest that we have, namely Jesus, are you with me? Then we go to what Jesus says. We call this the Lord's Prayer. So let's go to Luke chapter 11 verse two and let's read something here. He says, when tell him how to pray, he said that then when you pray, say, father, how will be your name? Your kingdom come. Give us this day, by the way, interestingly enough, this get your kingdom come. Some of your version might say that will be done. Your kingdom come that will be done. That actually is considered not to be part of the original text by many textual critics but that's a whole other topic but if you're wondering why I didn't show up right here, that's the reason why it says, give us each day our daily bread. How? How do you give us each day our daily bread? So question ponder as we continue says, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And look what he says. Here's the part I want you to pay attention to. He says, and lead us not into temptation. How does God lead you? How is the father going to lead you? That's the question on the floor. Now, some may say the leading is a speaking. It may be a guiding by the spirit. However it happens, whatever does happen, we interpret it in English, so to speak. We make sense of what's happening in English. If we feel some sort of impression, some sort of tugging, some sort of moving, we interpret it in whatever language we speak. Are you with me? So if I feel like the Lord, let's just say, the Lord is pulling me away from some sinful thing that I want to do. I'm going to interpret that in the language that I speak. Are you with me? The Lord is leading me, is telling me, and I may use the word telling me, not that he's speaking audibly. Now, do I think, let me just say this up front, do I think that God comes down and he speaks to people audibly? And if you had a microphone or a phone out, you could record it and hear it. No, I don't think that. Now, is it possible? Sure it's possible, but do I think it's happening? I don't think so. But I'm not going to foreclose that. But what I do mean, and I do believe that God does speak, but we have to be careful about how he speaks, about how we interpret it. Because angelic or heavenly forces aren't the only things that we have to deal with. We are told that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We've got this spiritual issue going on, these principalities that we wore against. And so we understand that just as God is involved, we also have forces of the enemy also involved. Jesus tells Peter that Satan desires to sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you. How does Satan desire to sift us like wheat? How, when Peter says, Peter goes on to say that to be sober-minded, think about that for a second. In 1 Peter 5.8, he says to be sober-minded for our enemy, the adversary, the devil is walking around, roaming around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. How does the devil devour anyone? How, what are the tricks of the enemy? We're going to look at the tricks of the enemy as well. Because it's also, it should be clear and apparent that Satan does talk to us or tries to. I'm one that I do not believe that Satan can come on the inside and inhabit us. I do believe that there is, and it's almost like how when we were little, we watched these cartoons where there is some devil and some angel on the shoulder speaking to us. We're going to see that that's really his, how he operates. He's just, he's just whispering and we're going to find out how he's effective. I think it, I think we ought to understand that the Lord does speak. Do I think that he's speaking like some of these people, the Lord gave me a word today, every day, every other day they got their camera on, y'all the word, the Lord gave me a word. Or every other day that I had a dream. Well, everybody dreams, everybody dreams. And dreams are made up of a couple of things. What we just saw, what we're experiencing, what we want, our fears, all of those things. I have watched a television show, y'all tell me. I have watched a television show and I end up dreaming about elements in that television show. When I was in prison, I would have a dream and the dream would involve things and people from the outside, as well as things and elements and people from prison. That, that was my world. And so whatever I was seeing and hearing, that was in my mind and that's what came out. Which is why it's also important to make sure that you feel your mind with godly things, whatsoever things are noble, honest, but just report, think on those things. That's sort of, there's a reason why. You are filling yourself up with godly things because as I said before, you squeeze a lemon, whatever's on the inside is coming out. You squeeze us, whatever's on the inside of us is coming out. And so God, it doesn't tell, there's no passage in the Bible that tells us that God does not speak. Now, is there a passage that he does speak? Well, we see passage that says that he leads us and here's one where Jesus says, lead us, how so? And again, Peter says to be sober minded because the adversary is seeking whom he may devour. Well, why do we have to be sober minded? Well, because the battleground in many cases is going to be the mind. The flesh is what it is because of the mind. See, let me see if I can make this plain. If you put crack or cocaine or beer or alcohol or some of those things like that in front of me, that doesn't move my flesh, doesn't do anything whatsoever. Why? Because my mind has no desire for those things. Now, whatever my mind does have a desire from, you put it in front of me, now my flesh kicks in. I can start tasting it, right? If there's a person who has a burning desire for some food, some burning desire for some is lunchtime, for some chicken or some pizza or what have you? I was thoroughly disappointed, by the way, at the State Fair of Texas. For some reason, I don't know what happened. Maybe between the time I went to prison and time I got out, they changed the formula for these corn dogs. Doesn't taste the same. I don't know who's making these corn dogs. I don't know if these corn dogs are imported from Washington, D.C. I don't know what the deal is. But I had this desire for some corn dogs. I hadn't had a good corn dog in a long time. A State Fair corn dog. And I got one and I was my, just to know it was coming. Just to know it was cut. My mouth was watering. My flesh is engaged now. My senses are engaged now because my mind really wants this corn dog. Now, when it came, I was thoroughly disappointed. As a matter of fact, I wanted to go and knock big techs over. I wanted to go start a fight with somebody at the State Fair for allowing this blasphemous corn dog to be allowed. That was just bothersome, troublesome. But my mind can trigger something emotionally and then also lead to something physically. We'll cover that in a second as well. But it starts with a thought. We'll come to there in a second, which is why Satan wants to deal with your mind, which is why Peter says, which is why Paul says that we should be sober-minded, which is why the fruit of the spirit is this self-control. Our mind, and by the way, we're gonna find out that the word mind and heart are synonymous in the Greek and Hebrew. But we're gonna look at a passage in just a second so we can kind of break this down. But how are we led? God isn't out there sending people out there to push you someplace. Somebody physically coming to grab you or pull you. That's not how it works. There is this spiritual tug. There's this spiritual moving, this pushing. Even when we look at John 6 about him drawing, that's a physical drawing, but it's not him actually literally physically grabbing you. There's a spiritual pulling. And so there's this leading, this ushering, and we may call that God speaking. If that's what you mean by God speaking, I'm okay with that. Also, there's God speaking through his word. That is chief among every way that we can say that he speaks. His word first, why? Because there is no issue with that. There is no, and granted, we have people that may misinterpret and so forth, but it's still his word. But then you've got folks with these dreams and oftentimes, a lot of times, folks have a dream and then misunderstand or misstate their dream. They actually dreamt about this and then said this, we have seen people who have had a dream, after the dream, told people about the dream and then later on retell the same dream and it's told differently because our minds change. You can put something before our eyes. We can literally see, we can see a guy in a black trench coat with a blue baseball cap on and then we'll tell someone else that no, this person had a yellow striped dress on and a bonnet. Our minds just, because our minds are fallible, they're frail, they mess up. And so if our minds are that unstable and we've got an enemy who's been doing this for a long time, well, then guess what? He is going to attack that very vulnerable thing, which is why you have to focus on your connection with God. Now, God does speak. Again, is he speaking the way people are saying? Well, sometimes, let's just be honest, however he's speaking, however he's leading, it may not even be him. It may seem like it. We're gonna cover that, but I do wanna put a hard yes on the question, does God speak to us? Yes. Does he speak the way that some of these people on YouTube say? I don't think so. So let's just say yes, because we're gonna have to deal with how do we know it's him? Does the devil speak to us? The devil absolutely does speak to us. Let's look at that. Let's look at, because that's his MO. That's what he's always done. The very first thing that he did to bring about this fall was he spoke to somebody. He goes to speak to Eve. In Genesis chapter three, verse one, now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field, wish the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, indeed, he said, he said, he spoke, indeed has God said, you shall not eat of any tree. And the woman said, and then the serpent says something different. So the point is, the serpent, the devil, the dragon, Satan is speaking to her. He has not changed his MO. He spoke to Eve, guess who else Satan spoke to? Satan is, listen, Satan is bold. He spoke to Eve, but he's not, Eve is not the only one that Satan spoke to. He also spoke to Jesus. Verse three of chapter four of Matthew, he says, and the tempter came and said to him, that Jesus, if you are the son of man, son of God, I'm sorry, command these stones to become bread. And so he is going to come to do what? To tempt. That's his job. And how does he tempt? With his mouth, he speaks. He speaks. Now, does he speak loud and audibly? He didn't have to. He didn't have to. Most of what we do before we decided to do it wasn't because of something audible, it's just something that starts with a thought. We'll get to that in, matter of fact, no, let's go to it now. Let's deal with how all this stuff works. Let's deal with, so let's go to James chapter one and let's see how this spiritual issue works as regards to us one being led away and temptations so forth and how the devil can have a foothold, how there can be an opening for him to speak to us. And then we're going to talk about how he even did so with a person by the name of Judas. Because as the pastor says that the devil entered him or Satan entered him. And we're going to see what's really meant by that in just a second. But in James one, chapter one, verse 12, it says, blesses the man who perseveres under trial for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. So we understand that God is not tempting you for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone. Now, here it is verse 14. He says, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Now, what you ought to look at is very important because sometimes, here's what we do sometimes. We hear how someone says it and they say it over and over and over again. And it's like, we take how they say it without reading it ourselves. Just like the world will say, the Bible says, don't judge, judge not, let's ye be judged. But then look at the context that we understand the way they're hearing it and they're quoting it in many cases perfectly, but that's not what it means. So let's go back and look at what's being said and let's see what James is saying here. Something really, really interesting. I want you all to focus and key on here. It says this. He says, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed. Now, let's go over to the Greek and I wanna just point this out. I want you to look at the word order. He said, Akastas, which is each, but each of us, and he says, is tempted. This word, paracetai, which is tempted. So each, but when each of us is tempted by himself, then the person is carried away. Then the person, by his lust, that person then becomes carried away and enticed. So there's an order that we don't quite see. The issue is there's this lust, there's this desire in our wear, in our mind or heart, because the word for our hard mind is really the same word. And it comes to saying that we're gonna see this in Hebrews in just a second as well. But it starts here. How was Eve able to be tempted? How does she succumb? Well, the Bible, let's go back to when he spoke to Eve and let's see what the Bible tells us about what Eve did. He says, so the serpent said to the woman, verse four, you will surely not die for God knows in that day that you hope that from it, when you eat from it, your eyes will be open and you'll be like God knowing good and evil. And look what it says, verse six, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was the light to her eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from it. So based on her, now, was that her first day seeing that tree in the fruit? No, she's been seeing it. And she's like, that's nice looking fruit. Now I don't know what the fruit was. Must have been some awesome looking fruit. Must have been some wonderfully tasting fruit, but she certainly desired it. How many of us? Let's tell the truth, shame the devil. Before we did the sin, before we got caught up, the first thing we did was we noticed it. Huh, okay, look at her, okay, look at him. Look at that. Wouldn't it be nice if I had this amount of money? Wouldn't that be cool? What if I earn 5,000 more a year? What if I have these different things? And then we started thinking about what will happen if we had those things. If we had those things, if this happened, these came our way, what would we do? Well, so what to say? Satan doesn't have to imagine or conjure up anything. The question is, because here's the question, does Satan, can Satan read our thoughts? Can he read our mind? Well, I don't think that's what he reads our mind. I'm not sure though. The Bible doesn't say if he can or can't. We do know that he deals with this whole area, this mental and emotional area of ours, but how does that work? Doesn't say, it doesn't say at all. However, he didn't have to read our minds, does he? He could just simply listen to what we say, watch what we do. I can tell, listen, you can tell a guy who works out, I bet you like working out, you got muscles, right? Somebody that's really overweight, you can, hey, you like food. Someone who got their hair made up, a lot of makeup, they just dress nice, whatever. You can tell they care about their appearance. And so it'd be easy for someone to tempt them that way. Sometimes you guys see these people on TV, these so-called prophets and apostles, all they're doing is just taking a temperature of the room and seeing it. This salesmanship, I can just, I can see that's what you're on. When you walk into the department store, I don't think they still do that, walk into the department store. There is someone there who's supposed to be in train and they'll see your style and they say, I think that this will look nice on you and because you like that already, you go that way. This is how it is. So, what does Satan do? Take a temperature of you. What does the enemy do? Take a temperature of you and wants to give you more of in a evil way, a demonic way, the desires of your heart. Remember that he wants to give you the desires of your heart. So let's go back to this passage again in James. He says, but each one is tempted when he is carried away by the, I'm sorry, but each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Look at what he says, then when lust has conceived, here's the order, when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. So the first thing that's gonna happen is this desire in his mind, this lust. And I don't know if that's necessarily on Satan. Now he can make it look good to you by whatever he's doing in other people because somebody else might say to you, some human being might say, because how many times it happened where someone made you think that something does look nice? Oftentimes, listen, I want you all to think about this, especially guys who are dressed for work right now, think about the clothes that you wear. Who told you that those were some nice looking shoes? Who told you that that was a nice looking dress? If you were the only one that thought it was a nice looking dress and everyone thought it was ugly, you would end up thinking it was ugly too. That's just how we, again, we're sheep. We're sheep, we're not original thinkers, we follow, that's just what we do. Disagree with me all you want to is because you're trying to fight your natural nature, but we are sheep. And so who told you the right words to say? Whatever the word is, that's this, whatever modern vernacular that's used, no one came and knocked on your door and told you that was the word. You just observed other folks saying, like, yeah, I said the same thing too now. What's the word now they say for a lie cap? Oh yeah, I'm getting hit now. The word cap. Who told you cap was the word now? Well, you heard somebody else saying it and you used it. Same thing with everything else. Other people could also help sin to look good to you. And so there are some folks that are fully devoted to Satan and listening to him intently for everything he says. And so when you see them or hear them, you don't know that they're working for Satan. You don't know if they have a relationship with him. They look like nice people, angels of light, so to speak. And they dress a certain way, say, ooh, that looks so nice. Ooh, look at this. Look at that. I want that. And now, you know, me too. Me too. I do too. And so now this lust that's there, then all that's needed now is what? Opportunity. All we need now is opportunity. And if it's a sinful thing, we need opportunity where no one's around. Anybody, okay, let me go ahead and do this one time. Forgive me, Lord, while I do this. That's what happens. Now, he wants to give you the desires of your heart, but I am reminded though, I'm reminded in Psalm 34, look at this past. Y'all know the past. He says, delight yourself in the Lord. And then what? He will give you the desires of your heart. This word here for heart, it's the Hebrew word for Lev. This word Lev, it doesn't necessarily mean heart, the muscle that pumps, boom, boom, boom, boom, nope. It means the inner you. It means your mind and your heart, that innermost you who you are, what you think, how you feel. That's literally what the, now, does it also mean the actual heart? It means that as well, but it's used of the entire makeup of you, all right? It's not saying the physical desires of your physical heart, the physical desires of your physical heart is blood. That's not what he's talking about. He's speaking of the innermost you. That's what he's saying for that particular word. Now, I need to point this out. How Satan works is, we've got a guy named Judas who deals with money. That's his thing. And the Bible says in John chapter 13 verse 27, I want you to look at this passage. He says, then, after he had taken the muscle, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, what you are going to do, do quickly. Well, wait a second, Corey. I thought you were just saying that he didn't go inside people. No, he doesn't. He doesn't. But it looks like my English version says he went into him. That's exactly what it says. Let's go look at the word. So he says, then Satan entered in him. And the word that's used here is the word ice elf thing. Now, does that word mean that you can go into somebody? Does it mean to enter into? It does. It does. But the word also idiomatically, or as an idiom, means, as a matter of fact, let me click my button. And where is it at? I want to go ahead and pull up. So I want you guys to see it. I want you to think that, hey, Corey's just making this up. Of course, Corey never just makes it up. Where is it at? Let's put it on the screen. I don't know if you guys can see this. Let's make this bigger. Let's move some stuff out of the way so you all can see it. It says to make one's appearance on earth, to begin to exist, to enter into one's labor, to be a successor, to be put into, to rise up to spring up, to be placed, to fall into. Look, to enter into and regarding John 1327, to enter into or to enjoy or to partake of. So the word that's used here as an idiom is that now Satan begins to partake of him and he's speaking to him. That's all he's, because again, that's the only pattern that we've always seen of him. And so sometimes we use these words because again, we have what's called these anthropomorphic terms where he speaks to us in a way that we can, that it kind of makes sense. It's like trying to explain something to someone who, it's like trying to explain if something is hot. Something, and what I mean hot by spicy, to someone who's never had food that's hotter or spicy. How do you explain that to them? What does it taste like? Oh, it's hot and spicy. Okay, what's that mean? It's hard. And so now you gotta come up with different words and move them in a certain way to get someone who has no idea what you're talking about to understand what you're talking about. And so the devil's MO is to speak to you. It's what he's always done. It's what he's good at. And in many cases, it doesn't take a whole lot. All he's doing is just moving you in the direction that you've already had some sort of desire for. So you've got to be careful if you feel like that you've got some sort of leading, some sort of hearing, some sort of unction by God, how do you then know it is God? Remember, we are told that Satan is the ruler of this world and he desires, as we said earlier, the desire to sift, not just people, all of us like when he's walking around seeking whom he may devour. He is a deceiver. He's called the great deceiver. How does he deceive you by telling lies? If he's telling lies, that means he's speaking. He's giving a deception to us. That's how that works. Now, again, does he have access to the mind? I really don't know. I don't know. I cannot say that Satan can read our minds. I can't say that he cannot. Because it's just not that clear. But again, again, he doesn't have to. Our own thoughts betray as they come out and we start seeing it. And so he sees that. Now, as far as us, we're told that we are the ones that are led astray because of our thoughts and so he takes, he understands those and then he uses that against us. So the question's gotta be then, if I'm feeling something, because let's, can I ask you guys to say Satan is lame? Satan is lame. Mike Brown, you're right. Satan is lame, but he's powerful. We need to remember that if I asked you guys, when did God take away Satan's power? When did God basically neuter Satan? It hadn't happened yet, it hasn't. It hadn't happened yet. All we've got, which is more than what we need is the word of God and the prayers of each other. We're good, we're good. And I'll show you why we're good and how we can use that to make sure that what we're hearing, what we think we're hearing, how we think we're being led, that it can be not us that's doing it or the enemy, but of God. Because sometimes you want something so bad that you're gonna make it. I know the Lord said, I know the Lord is doing this. I know it's so bad the Lord, and sometimes you force it. We see that example in scripture, we see it with Saul. We even see it with Godly people. And so let's not act like we don't want things ourselves. As a matter of fact, how many of you all, I'd love to see, I want you all to be honest. How many of you all in the chats have ever wanted something so bad that you made it seem or you thought that God was giving it to, that God was leading it to? He was leading in that direction that he wanted, that he spoke it to you, that God told you he wants you to have this. How many of you have wanted something so bad that the Lord told me this? Now you look back at hindsight, God ain't told me nothing like that because now you see the disaster that is, but at the time, you felt so strong inside that it must be God. I mean, yeah, truth be told, let me just say this, all of us have. Every single laugh, that's why it's in the scriptures. That's why it's in the Bible. We all do, but we've got to make sure it's not us leading ourselves because our natural nature is to lead ourselves away. The Bible speaks about our heart. It's desperately wicked. It cannot be trusted, but God can understand and interpret that and he can work in our hearts and that's what he's trying to do. He wants to give us a new heart, which is why he says delight ourselves in him. Then he'll give us the desires of our hearts. Not he'll give us the desires of our hearts. Then we delight ourselves, no, he's gonna change our hearts. He's gonna fix some things so that we don't want or desire the same things. Are you with me? So how do we make sure that who or what we're hearing is of God? Well, there's a couple of easy things, simple things. One, time with God. If someone were to go to my children, matter of fact, if someone, because a lot of people in the family call my wife, her name is Sherry, a lot of people call her Ray. If someone were to go to me and said, Cory wants you to come. He wants, and they said that I said Ray. Well, my wife knows I don't ever call her Ray. Or someone says something about my kids, to my kids, about me, they'll know that. No, that's not my daddy. This isn't from him, this isn't of him because they have spent time with me, are you with me? The same thing happens with us. If we spend time with him, then we'll know what's of him. And so what has God, so how do we make sure? Well, we covered one in Philippians where he says, think on these things that are lovely, that are noble of a just report. Well, principally by his word. Now remember I said that I'm not saying that that Hebrews one passage tells us specifically that he only speaks by his word, because he couldn't, because again, the word wasn't given in written form at that time. But does that mean he doesn't speak by his word? He absolutely does speak by his word, his written word. John says in 1 John 4, he says that, excuse me, test the spirits to see if they are true. Well, how do we do so by his word? If whatever you feel is happening or you're being led or you're hearing, if it does not line up with his word, because that's the standard, who gave us the word, the Holy Spirit? If it doesn't line up with his word, it's not God. Now, what about though, Corey, when there are the things that aren't necessarily his word? What if and could God ever want someone to take a specific job? Is it ever possible that God might want you to turn right versus turn left? Sure, yeah, you know why he would do so? If it's going to fulfill his purpose, our minds ought to be focused on what he wants. Our mind ought to be focused on the things that desires of what he's after. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, you know what, no, I won't go there, I won't go there, I won't go there, because that's going on. What do you want to do? Let's go to James 4 instead. In James 4, we're told this that he says for us, he says submit therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Then look what he says, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. So one way that you can make sure, matter of fact, you can even keep the enemy at bay is the thing that you know of the enemy, the obvious things, resist those things, but even more to that, draw near to God. As you are drawing near to God, one, the enemy is kept at bay, but two, you also understand and recognize what's not of his and what is of God. You'll become more familiar with God, how he's like, what he, God hadn't changed anything, he's not doing something new. Remember Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, he says, how come every time you guys come around, you always got out something new? You got a new him, a new tongue, a new rebel, you got all this new stuff, sit down. God is not trying, and he says, God is not the author of confusion. Well, who is the devil, the enemy? And so you guys always got something new that God is trying to do and you haven't completed any of the old things that God wanted you to do. No, God, first of all, if you haven't been a trustworthy person with the little things in your life, God is not getting rid of something big in your life. I hate to bust someone's bubble, but God is not about to do something brand new with you when you haven't been trustworthy ever. Yeah, I'll tell you what, you couldn't even handle this small thing, let's give him a big army to lead. Think about the people that we've seen in the world that God has used in the Bible, not the word in the Bible, that God has used. They got an assignment, they didn't follow through with it immediately, God had to train them, had to grow them. And you've been failing at everything and now God is gonna make you the head and not the tail. Well, master the tail first, then we'll make our way up to the head eventually. But you got some work to do, you got some training to do, right? So he says, resist the devil and he will flee, but draw near to God. And you have to. The drawing near is this helping to bring about in you a new desire in your heart. You understand God in your heart, but also sometimes you just can't discern what is actually of God. Because again, Satan's been at this longer than you have. He's been doing what he's been doing long and you've been doing what you've been doing. And he's been, here's the difference. Most of our Christian walk, we've been kind of halfway playing with it. Satan is serious about his. There's two people who are the most committed of all time. One, God, two, Satan. No one other than God is more committed to their service than Satan. Listen, Satan is, we say, gonna talk about it, be about it. Satan is about what he's doing. He means it, he's serious. And even he's so serious, he knows where he's going and he's still, he said, 1,000% in his bed. Yep, Satan means it. He's serious, if you were to sign up for Satan school, some of us have signed up for Satan school. Thankfully, most of us, if not all of us, as Christians, we've flunked out of it. But if you sign up for Satan school, he's gonna tell you, he's gonna have that stick. And he's gonna, hitting his hand, listen, I'm serious. Ain't taking no playing, I'm gonna beat you down. We gonna, he's gonna get you ready for some sin. And plus your hardened mind is already ready for it anyway. Satan is serious. And so sometimes he makes something good, I mean, something bad look good. Something bad look godly. We've all been there, we've all been there. And so there comes a point in time because he's working with our desires that he already knows. So y'all tell me, if I have a feeling about something and it's based upon my sincerely hailed, believes my desires from my heart, how can I understand it to be of the devil or not a good idea? And the Bible hadn't given me a whole lot of room to understand this. The Bible hadn't specifically spoke about it. Well, what if, what if I spoke to brother K.L.? Well, what if I spoke to Dutch or Mitch? They don't have the same desires that I have do they? And so they can say, no Corey, listen, no, no, no, sit down, no, God does not want you to go skydiving. He don't want you to ride motorcycles across the Grand Canyon. No, no, that's not the Lord. But I really want to, yeah, that's what it is. I don't want to. So they can, sometimes people can see more clearly for you. So that's why the Bible says there's wisdom where in a multitude of counsel, he says there's a way that seems right to you, you big idiot, you big dummy, your goofball, but it ain't gonna seem right to these people. Mitch can say, no Corey, no, no, no, no, don't do that, don't do that, no. He says that lean not to what? Your own understanding, but acknowledge him. And so that's where the body comes in. You want to know another good reason why it's important for you to go to church and to be part of a church body because you out there doing stuff that you have no business doing and ain't nobody holding you accountable. They don't see, hey, Christina, why are you doing that? Don't do that, Christina. No, Mike, when you stop that, I don't know. Listen, right? If you're not around the body, the body can't hold you accountable and you can't help to hold someone else accountable. And so you need to be around the body. That's why, that's why. And so the goal is to what? Draw near to God. Over, oftentimes we talk to God, a thought shows up, we assume that it is God, but again, it's out of our heart. The heart is desperately wicked. And if you got to the part point to where you start trusting your heart, because what do we say? I should have, I thought of something. My first thought was wrong. I should have went with my first mind. I should have, no, no, no. It's good to not trust yourself. Keep doing that. Keep not trusting yourself. I promise you, I promise you, you'll never, ever, ever miss an opportunity from God. I don't know where people say this, get this mess from, that you're gonna miss, no, you'll never miss an opportunity from God if you're in him. You never will. He'll make sure of that. I promise you, you know how I know you won't miss an opportunity from God and how God is gonna put you, if you're in him, you know how I know he'll get you and put you exactly where you need to be. Ask Jonah. Ask Jonah. I ain't, no, no, I don't feel like it. I don't feel like it, but I love you, Lord. I do love you, Lord. I tell you what, I'm gonna help you out, Jonah. I'm gonna help you out. I'm gonna take you for a swim, nice little dip, nice little cool swim, get your fins on because you're going swimming, but you ain't gotta worry about how I'm gonna get you there. I got some transportation that's coming on this way to get you, Jonah. Yeah, now Jonah, by the way, Jonah, I'm not gonna take you to your destination. I'm gonna take you back where you started off at and let you get there now the right way. But I can promise you, whatever God's got for you, he's gonna get you there if you're in him. You're not gonna miss any, you're not gonna miss opportunities in God if you're in God. It's not gonna happen. So don't have this fear of missing out. I told you guys a story. I think it's a wonderful story. I can't remember the guy. I need to remember this guy's name. The guy who worked in the World Trade Building, who worked on this team, this committee, and the way that you get advancements, you get put on certain teams and when you do a certain job, clientele will like it. They'll buy whatever you're selling and there's the opportunity for advancement. He finally, finally makes it on a team where an important client comes in and they believe they've got exactly what they want. But he's the junior person on the team, the last person on and luck has it. Luck, I'm using luck. Don't put any stock in what I just said. But as it has it, as it had it, that day, the caterers did not show up. So he has to travel all the way down to the basement level or the lobby level to one of the little stores to get some refreshments, some donuts and bagels and coffee and orange juice and things like that. And he's upset. He's a praying man and he's starting to cry. He's trying to hold back tears because it doesn't look good because it'd be on the elevator with your suit and your crying. But he's bothered and he's like, Lord, what's wrong? Don't you love me? I've done all these things and here I am the opportunity and now this happens. Now I'm gonna be down here for 30, 40 minutes missing my opportunity to show what I can do. Why don't you love me, God? And while he's in that line crying out to God, telling God how much God doesn't love him, how God doesn't think about him, how God is not after his best interest, what is he here? Boom! Because in the very same floor that those planes flew in on 9-11 was his conference room that he would have been in. Oh yeah, but God not looking out for me. God, God, you don't care, but yeah, he does. He cares enough about you to get you out of that place. Does that mean he didn't care about those people? I don't know. I'm saying for you, sir, God moved you. And so now this person is in ministry, serving the Lord, doing more than what he ever thought he could be. Yeah, you're never gonna miss out on God as long as you are in God. That's the point. So three things. One, be in your word. Two, get close to him. How so? By praying, three, be around other like-minded, godly people. And then when the enemy comes, you've got a three-fold defense. You've got a three-fold defense. The first line of defense is these other Christians who don't have the same desires as you, who are saying, you know what? Don't do that. That's not what I've got. I disagree. I disagree, because again, you're not gonna miss out on the opportunity if there really is from God. Secondly, you have his word. And third, you've got God himself. You can't lose that way. That's why James says, draw near to him. Resist the devil and he will flee. And so if he's talking to you, if he's trying to get you to do something, he's trying to lead you some kind of way, won't happen because you have embraced yourself or you have immersed yourself in God and his word. So God, I hope that's been helpful. Anytime you think God is speaking, I don't care how loud it is, how graphic it is, then make sure that you're in him. The worst that could happen is you'll see clearly that it is of him. Amen, amen.