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A Modern Expression of a Timeless Tradition. A local church in the Glastonbury Neighbourhood of West Edmonton. Sr Pastor Brett Esslinger.
This morning I'm going to take an opportunity. I'm going to be a little bit vulnerable with you. I hope that's okay. Sometimes I feel like I get up here and I just like bluh my whole heart out on this stage and you just see like a puddle of mush across the front of the stage and that's okay. I would like to take the opportunity to share with you a little bit of a journey that the Lord's taken me on.
I don't know if for any of you it was like this, but 2020 felt like tearing down and it felt like death and destruction and just a whole lot of awfulness, right, like it didn't feel good, it didn't feel uplifting, and so I think, god, why? Why awakening? Why it was a year that was full of challenges, it was full of questions, it was full of decisions. Listen, that was a year where you felt, in many ways, pushed into a corner, like you had to make decisions about things and you were, you were pushed up against having to to choose, and it didn't feel good. It didn't feel good and in in me, there were certain situations that actually caused such a desperation in my spirit for God and to know his leading and to know his path, because I realized, god, I don't know what to do here, I don't have an answer, I don't know which way to go, I don't know what to do about this, this and this Cause. There were so many things. Things were changing every week. It felt like, and you had to make decisions about things.
And there was a desperation in me that said God, I need to know, I need to hear from you. And it resulted for me in a deep dig, in a deep dive that started with scripture and I dove in like I had never done before because I so needed answers and prayer. Prayer was increased and and there was an understanding of things like that I had known about for years, but things like communion and prayer and fasting, and there was just such an increase because I was so desperate to hear his voice and to know what he wanted in that time. And it was like the Lord began to unlock things inside of me that I didn't know were there, that I didn't know were possible, and I started seeing things in scripture and I started somehow putting things together, piecing things together like a puzzle that I had never seen before. I started dreaming. I started having dreams. You thought that was only for the old testament. Ah, nope. My spirit was being woken up and my ability to hear and see was being taken to a new level. There was an awakening happening inside of me.
Romans 13, 11 says it like this, and I'm reading this one in the amplified version because I like the way that they worded. It says this. It says do this knowing that this is a critical time. Anyone think 2020 was maybe a critical time? Feel like that. This is a critical time. It is already the hour for you to awaken from your sleep of spiritual complacency, for our salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed in Christ. It is a critical time. The Lord began waking me up to see and hear in a critical time and church. I believe that I am here to tell you this morning very specifically this is a critical time and the Lord is waking us up to see and to hear like never before. Anyone want to hear God in new, fresh ways. Anyone here want to actually hear the Lord in new and fresh ways? The same God who spoke back then. Do you remember how he spoke back then? It was a little crazy. He showed up. There was writing on wall, there was dreams, there was visions, there were prophetic words, there was any number of ways that you can possibly think of. He showed up. Do you believe that that was just for then or do you know that that's for now? This is a critical time. God speaks, he is speaking and now I'm the biggest cheerleader and high person you will ever meet to encourage you and tell you, and hope that I can challenge you to dig deep and dive in and get desperate for his voice, because he's speaking and I believe he is awakening the bride of Christ, his church, for such a time as this.
Now we don't base our theology, we don't base what we believe on somebody's story or their accounts or what they've lived through, nor do we base our theology on what we have not yet seen, encountered or experienced. By the way, we don't limit ourselves, but we base it on the word of God. Amen, we stand on the word. So if you have your Bibles with you, would you turn to John 10, john chapter 10, and we're going to read, starting in verse two, john chapter 10, verse two the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep listen for his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he is brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. Can you just say that for a second. They know his voice, but they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. Sorry, and I'm jumping to verses 14 and 15. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me, just as the father knows me and I know the father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. My sheep know my voice. You are intended to know his voice In his book Can you Hear Me?
And this is a book that was so kindly passed on to me by the wonderful Don Hopkins, and if you know him, you love him. In this book, can you Hear Me? Author Brad Jerzek says this about this portion of scripture in John 10, my sheep hear my voice. Note that Jesus did not say my prophets hear my voice. He didn't say my pastors hear my voice, and he did not say only the spiritual people hear my voice, but rather my sheep hear my voice. According to Jesus, his voice is not reserved for the spiritually elite, the priest or the guru. Any sheep can hear his call. That means you can hear it too. But also that Jesus did not say might hear, could hear, should hear or would hear, if only my sheep do hear my voice. He asserts. It's just a fact. Jesus claims to be the good shepherd who speaks and his people to be the flock that hears his voice. This claim may present a deep challenge to your natural inclination towards cynicism and skepticism, but it is also tremendous news in a world and a church that thirsts for a word from the Lord. Do you know that we live in a world that is thirsting for a word from the Lord? They just don't know it. They just don't know it. My sheep hear my voice. That is a fact, not a question. It's a fact, and if you are a follower of Jesus, you can and you will know His voice.
And I think sometimes, when we hear that, we think well, I have never heard the audible voice of God, so I don't understand. I don't know. I don't know how to hear His voice. How do I hear His voice? What does it sound like? Can I just tell you that God is not limited to using an audible voice to be heard. He is not limited. That is one way we hear. He is not limited to that one way, and so I want to just very quickly run through with you a number of ways though again, he is not limited but a number of ways that you can hear His voice, because I believe church, that we are going to be a church that hears His voice and responds, and through that we will see a world changed. It's what we're called to do. So I've got a list of seven ways. Again, let me remind you, we are not limited. He is not limited.
But if you, in particular, have struggled with wondering will I ever hear the voice of God? How do I hear the voice of God? I feel like I never hear Him. I feel like I just read and do but I never hear, then I want you to just write these things down and I want you to pay really close attention. Okay, number one the primary way that God speaks us through His Word, that is His voice on paper. When you read this book, when you read this word, you are hearing His voice. So, actually, you cannot say I've never heard His voice. And what does that look like?
Well, sometimes, when you're reading, has anyone ever had a moment where you were reading scripture and, all of a sudden, there was just like a passage or a portion of scripture that just like left off the page for you and you're like I have no idea why this is jumping out at me, but this is jumping out at me and this is weird. Anyone ever been there? That's God speaking to you. He is causing something to resonate with your spirit and he is pulling it out and making it a light up and he's illuminating it for you. That's one way he speaks. Or you read something and you just can't. You can't shake it. It's like the next few days it just keeps repeating over and over and over in your mind. You just can't shake it. That is His Word. He is using it to speak to you. That is your call to pay attention. Write it down, sit on it, meditate on it, ask Him God, what are you saying? I'm now aware that you're showing me something. What are you saying?
Number two and I already alluded to this but another way that he speaks is through repetition. Maybe you see something again, whether it's scripture or a theme or something, and it happens over and over and over again and you see it everywhere and you just it's like it's surrounding you. That is one way that he is trying to get your attention, but that means we have to be paying attention. It's actually important that we're paying attention to the things around us, to the people around us, to what's going on around us. If you will, you will find that he will start to show you things through what you see around you. It's one of the ways he speaks.
Number three God speaks through teachers and pastors, people, whether they're standing up here or whether it's on a podcast or a YouTube message. Whatever you're hearing, have you ever been in a service where someone or listened to a service or a message and the pastor is saying something and you're going, oh my gosh, how did he know? How did he know that that's exactly what I needed to hear today? How did he know that's exactly what I'm struggling with? That's why I he didn't. Holy Spirit did he set it up. He put you there to hear it because he's speaking to you. Number four God speaks through worship. We had a beautiful time of worship this morning. Have you ever been in a service or been playing worship music in your car or at home and all of a sudden, you just feel overwhelmed with emotion or you start crying and you're like why am I crying? I don't understand. It's because God is speaking to you. He's calling to something Deep, calls out to deep. He's calling to you, drawing you in, and he's trying to speak to you. He's making you aware of His presence.
Number five God speaks through convictions. Now, when I say convictions, I do not mean guilt. Okay, you need to hear me on this. Conviction and guilt two very different things. God does not use guilt to speak to you. That is the enemy and you can shut that down right away. He speaks through conviction. What does that mean? That means when you just can't shake that something isn't right. It doesn't even have to be something wrong. You just can't shake that something isn't right. Intuition, call it what you want. Holy Spirit speaks through conviction. Or maybe that you just can't shake that there's something that you're doing that you need to repent of, you need to turn away from, you need to make changes about something, because you just can't shake it and you know. You know that something is off. That is the Lord speaking to you. Don't ignore His voice.
Number six God speaks through burdens. What do I mean by burdens? I thought we weren't supposed to be burdened. Okay, let me explain to you what I mean by a burden when you have someone's face or name enter your mind and they just weigh on your heart and you can't get them out of your mind or your heart and they're just there and you just keep remembering. That is the Lord showing you someone for a reason. He is giving you a burden for someone for a reason, whether that means, okay, lord, something is going on for this person and I need to pray, or something is going on for this person and I need to text them and I need to say how are you doing? Are you okay? What's happening? Sometimes the Lord is so kind and he just knows that someone just needs to be thought of, because he sees you and he knows you and he knows what you need. That's one of the way he speaks through burdens. And then and this is where it's going to get real exciting and where some of you are going to be like I don't know about this God speaks through prophetic words, visions and dreams.
Room's real quiet. Joel 2.28, old Testament prophecy says I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions. Well, last time I checked in Acts, chapter 2, the Holy Spirit came. The Holy Spirit was poured out, and so we are living in the overflow of that. We are living post-Holy Spirit being poured out.
Acts, chapter 2, 32 to 33, this is actually a portion of Scripture where Peter, after the Holy Spirit, the upper room right there's the upper room experience where there's believers and Jesus told them you go wait, you go wait in this room, you pray until something happens. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but you go pray. And then something happened. The Holy Spirit came. The Holy Spirit was poured out for all flesh, for all people, and then crazy stuff started happening and people started saying what is going on here? I don't understand. What is this? This is weird. Are they drunk? What's going on? And Peter said no, they're not drunk.
This is actually fulfillment of prophecy, of the prophecy in Joel, chapter 2, and he quotes it. He says God raised Jesus from the dead and we are all witnesses of this. Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven at God's right hand, and the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see in here today. So what is available to us also, and one of the ways that God speaks today is through prophetic words, visions and dreams. All right, there's our list.
Now, the primary reason that we are called and we should desire to hear the voice of God, that we should want and be so compelled to search after and draw near to the Lord is for love. It should be out of a place. I'm not like. This is not all about we should want these things because they're cool and weird and crazy. No, no, no, no, no. We want these things because we want to draw near to the heart of the one who saved us, loved us, called us, chose us and has so much more for us than we could possibly imagine and we so quickly forget. He is awakening his bride, his love.
Now I'm going to step on treacherous territory here and I'm going to read from Song of Songs, even though last week Brett said don't read from Song of Songs right now, especially young adults. Don't do that if you're not married. I'm just going to read a small portion, and this is a safe portion. Okay, song of Songs, chapter 5, verse 2. You need to know about Song of Songs.
This is representing a love story. This is a picture of a bride in the bridegroom and it is very detailed, but what you need to know is it's also meant to be a picture of representation of Christ in his church, of Jesus and us, and so as I read this, I want you to keep in mind this is actually about us, and in this portion Song of Songs 5, verse 2, this is the young woman, meaning the bride, speaking, and she says I slept, but my heart was awake when I heard my lover knocking and calling open to me my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. This is a picture of the fact that God is calling. He is knocking and he is calling at your heart to come closer, to draw closer, because you are His treasure, you are His perfect one, and he delights in you and he loves you, and he loves you so much that he wants to speak to you. He wants to share His heart with you.
Listen, it'd be really odd and not healthy in a marriage if you had a husband and a wife who didn't want to share their hearts with each other. It doesn't go well. We are intended to share our hearts. That creates a depth of relationship and connectivity that goes deeper than other relationships. That is what we're called to. With the heart of God. We're called deeper, we're called to be connected, we're called to intimacy, and he is knocking, and he is calling every single day, saying would you draw closer? Would you just draw closer? I have put things in you that you don't even know are there, and I want to call them out. He knows you, he knows what's in you.
Psalm 139, 13-18 says this For you formed me, you formed my innermost parts, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I will give thanks and praise to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being formed in secret and intricately and skillfully formed, as if embroidered with many colors in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your books were all written the days that were appointed for me, when, as yet, there was not one of them even taking shape. How precious also are your thoughts to me, oh God. How vast is the sum of them. If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with you.
He knows you, he knits you together. What you know of who you are just scratching the surface of who he made you to be. You have just scratched the surface. There is so much more in the depths of who you are, because he created you and he called you and he designed you and he knit you together in such a way. Do not think that this is it. Do not think that where you are and who you are right now is it. There is more in you than you know. He is calling and knocking and he wants to draw you in so he can pull those things out of you for you and for his glory, because that's who he is, that's what he does. He desires to be known by you and there are just so many things that he put in you that you aren't even aware of that he wants to show you. Because of Jesus.
Hebrews 4.16 says we can now boldly approach the throne of grace, we can be near to him and we can now hear him, because we are so loved and we have been called. I'm reminded just as Jesus called out to his disciples when he was starting his ministry and he went around and he came across all of these, this ragtag team of guys, and he called and he gave the invitation. He said come and follow me. He's done the same for us. He said come and follow me. He has called to us and when we choose to follow, we become his disciples.
Right Ephesians 1.16-18 says this I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray that you constantly asking God I have, sorry, I have prayed for you constantly asking God, the glorious father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called his holy people, who are his rich and glorious inheritance. He wants, did you know he wants to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you can know him better? Did you know that when you, when you sit down and you read scripture, did you know that you can ask him to illuminate, that you can ask him to light things up in here, that you can ask him for wisdom and understanding so that you can know him more, and he will show you? Do you know what's available to you as his called one, as his disciple?
In Matthew, chapter 13, we come across an account where Jesus is as one of many times, sitting down to teach, and he's he's teaching a crowd and his disciples are there, and he's he's sharing a parable. He's teaching in the form of a parable and you might say well, what is a parable? I don't know what that is. A parable is simply a story used to illustrate a point or a reason. So he's speaking in stories and things that hopefully the people of the day would be able to connect to and associate with. And after he's done sharing this particular parable, which is the parable of the farmer scattering seed, his disciples, after they've stepped aside, ask him Jesus, why, why do you speak in parables? Why do you speak like this? Why do you explain yourself? Why do you share in this way, as opposed to being very direct and just telling it like it is? Why do you speak in parables?
And in Matthew 13, starting in verse 11, here's Jesus reply to that question. He replied you are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. I'm going to stop right there. You are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, for they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really listen or understand.
This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says when you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened and their ears cannot hear and they have closed their eyes. So their eyes cannot see and their ears cannot hear and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them. Jesus said to his disciples you are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.
And as disciples of Jesus today, I need to tell you that you are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. They're available to you. Guess what God wants to tell you secrets. How cool is that? Maybe that's just cool to me. I don't know. I don't know. The God of the universe, who made everything, formed everything, did everything, holds everything together at all times, wants to tell me secrets. I think that's cool.
Jeremiah 33.3,. I love this verse. He said ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come, ask me and I will tell you Meaning. If you ask me, I will tell you secrets. Did you know you could ask him and he'll tell you secrets? Seems pretty straightforward. Don't think of yourself less than what is available to you. He wants you to hear him. He wants to tell you the secret things Because he wants to share with you. He wants relationship with you. And do you think that perhaps he wants to show you the secrets of the kingdom of heaven so you can be a part of releasing that vision of heaven on earth that perhaps he wants to give you strategies? Perhaps he wants to give you ideas. Perhaps he wants to give you resources. Perhaps he wants to tell you what's coming so that you can prepare yourself. Perhaps he wants to tell you what's inside your children, so you know what to call out in them, to prepare them for their future and their destiny. Perhaps he wants