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The Importance Of Hearing Pt. 1 | Pastor Craig Field | Sun. Apr. 6, 2025
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The Importance Of Hearing Pt. 1 | Pastor Craig Fi…
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Hallelujah today. I want to. I don't quite know what to call it, but, you know, sometimes I find it hard to come up with a title for certain things. But I guess I'm just going to call it the Importance of Hearing Pastor Nancy. When she was sharing. And of course, in all those different services with her, so many of them, she's talking about different things all the time. She. She has themes she follows for different conferences. But there's so much volume of information and revelation and so many notes that I took. So I said, lord, I don't really know kind of which direction you want me to go, because there's so much that I could share that I'm learning from her as she's sharing. But the Lord, that's why we need the Holy Ghost to speak to us, because otherwise we just guessing. And I don't want to guess. I want to get it right. But the Lord said to me this morning when I was praying, he said, I want you. It's simple. But I want you to remind them of the importance of hearing. And where I'm going to go with that is going to be a help to you and a blessing to you, I believe. So have a look with me in First Kings, chapter three, if you don't mind. First Kings, chapter three and verse nine. Can you go there with me? First Kings, chapter three and verse nine. Did I say that? And it says, remember, God tells him, he says, ask what you want. And now our Lord God, verse 7. Thou was made thy servant king instead of David, my father, and I am but a little child. Notice the humility. Notice the humility. Are you listening to me? I'm giving you nuggets to help you. If you don't have humility, you'll never hear. If you think you know everything and that you've got it all down pat and God's just privileged to have you batting on his team. You will not hear. Notice there was a humility issue here. And I am but a little child. I know not how to go out or to come in. First Kings 3, verse 8. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen. A great people that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing, remember? Then God said, because you asked this thing, I'm going to give you the things that you didn't ask for, I'm going to give you money. And he became the richest man that ever lived. I'm going to give you the life of your enemies. Which means he's going to live long. You know, he gives them all these benefits and blessings. Because what was the thing that pleased God? He wasn't asking about, I want to buy this thing and I want to be rich and I want this and I want that. Those things are fine. God doesn't have a problem because God gave those things to him. But it was what was the most. He wanted to know if he was going to understand the most important thing. And he didn't give him. He didn't give him a hint. He didn't tell him what the most important thing was. He wanted to see if this man, if his heart could grasp it. And his heart said, for not money and not fame, and not long life and not all these things. Although God wishes above all things that you'd prosper and be in health even as you're so prosperous. But notice that's not what he asked for. He asked for an understanding heart. And I think it's very important. And notice he said, I'm a little child. So there was a humility about him. Now remember, Solomon ended bad. He really messed it up, but he started good. So we can look at the example of his start and we can, we can hold on to that example. Now this word understanding, see, it says, give me an understanding heart. King James Version this word in the Hebrew is the word shamma. And it means to hear. Okay? It means to hear, to pay attention, to be told something. And then there's other definitions as well. So weirdly, what is he saying? He's saying, give me a hearing heart. That could be translated better than even understanding. It could be translated a hearing heart. Or in other words, let me hear you. So now you remember, the Bible says we won't look it up for the sake of time. But remember in Proverbs 4, 7, Solomon, who just prayed this prayer is writing the Proverbs. And he, as the wisest man that ever lived, said, wisdom is, is the principal thing above all you're getting, with everything else that you get, get wisdom for it's the principal thing. That word. Wisdom is the same word. It means hearing, get a hearing heart. Do you understand? So it's important that we remind ourselves with all the secular influences around us. Everything on the news, everything in our lives, everything. So much noise that there's so much noise out there. I don't know you do what you want to do. But I find it difficult even to listen to the news because there's so much noise. And it can, unless you go into it settled, it can disturb your peace by listening to all the stuff that's going. I'm not saying be ignorant. I'm not saying being. I'm just saying just don't get out of peace if you're listening to the news and it's getting you out of peace and stop listening to the news. But with all the stuff going on, it's important that we remind ourselves what is the most important thing the Bible says that you can have other than salvation? Obviously that's the most important thing. But other than knowing God and having a relationship with God privately and personally, intimately, the most important thing is Proverbs 4, 7. It says get wisdom above everything else. Get wisdom. Wisdom is an understanding heart. That means a hearing heart. What does that mean? It means that you can hear God communicating to you. Let me just say something to you. The world out there, including your secular boss, people find other people like us that talk about God, talk to me. They honestly think we're crazy. They think we're butterfly net, kind of. No, I'm serious. So I wouldn't advise you to be going around and talking to sinners about the fact that God talks to you. Because in our society you will be branded not just a fool, but maybe even dangerous. So we're living in a society that the very concept that God could communicate to us is considered lunacy. I want you to remember that you really are different. You are bought with a price. You are set apart. You are a peculiar people. Like the Bible says, we are not sinners. We don't think like sinners. We don't talk like sinners. We don't act like sinners. We are called out ones. The ecclesia is to be the word. Church in Greek means ecclesia. Ecclesia. The word definition is the called out ones. We are literally called out from a rotting society. And they are rotting. They are confused about right and wrong. The Bible says in perilous times they will call right wrong and wrong right. And they will think that they are doing God a service. If they kill Christians, how far has that gone? So we are in a very dark time. But dad Hagin said while it gets darker out there, it's getting brighter in the church. So that's why you need to stay close to where God planted you. Your spiritual parent, your pastor, your brothers and sisters around you. You need to stay close because it's going to get worse out there. I'm not a naysayer, but I'm telling you, there's things in motion, and it's not just about one little tiny thing. There are things going into motion globally to prepare the stage for the Antichrist. And we are watching it with our very eyes. We can hold thumb somethings back with our praying for Canada as we're led by the Spirit. But I'm saying you just can't change everything in the world because it is actually God's plan. I know it's hard to fathom that, but it's God's plan because things have to come to a head for the Antichrist when we're gone. For. For him to show up on the scene and be the big savior and hero. And he can't do that unless things go a certain direction. So you understand, like we are, we're. We have to put up with some things we can turn, some things, some things we can't because they're in time, prophecy. But what we can turn, we will turn in prayer. But like Pastor Nancy said, because we talked about, you know, what's happening a little bit, and, and, and, you know, I already know it. She didn't have to tell me, but it was encouraging to hear her say it. She said, you know, Pastor Greg, no matter what happens, no wonder what happens to the price of eggs, because there are eggs out there in the US at least for some parts. I mean, it is astronomical. It's like 80 Canadian dollars equivalent with the exchange rate for like 30 eggs. I mean, they're having an egg shortage. So now people are buying chickens left, right, and center to make their own eggs. I think we should buy some chickens. But she said, no matter what happens with these tariffs or whatever, whatever, whatever the covenant is, the buoyancy that keeps you above the waters may rise, but the covenant puts you above the waters. It doesn't matter if the water is 15ft high or 30ft high. Whatever comes, we rise with it and we rise above it. And you got to meditate on that. You got to meditate on that daily. You've got to meditate and stay in peace. Are you with me? Because, yes, things are happening, and some of it we can turn, and some of it we can't. But I'm telling you that there is a concept in society that people are crazy and deserve to go to the loony bin. For lack of a better way to say it. If you talk about spiritual things, if you say, God spoke to me, God Led me. I mean, you're nuts. We are not them. You have to just accept the fact that you're not them. You shouldn't want to be them. Because the Bible says if you love them so much, the love of the Father is not even in you. I'm happy that I'm not them. I don't want to be them. I want to know God. But I want you to remember the most important thing of anything other than your salvation is that you have a hearing heart. It comes from an attitude of humility. Because if you don't have a need to hear God, a recognition that you need to hear God, you won't. Hearing is absolutely critical. So when we say wisdom, okay, wisdom doesn't just mean you're smart. That's what I thought it was. Growing up like, you have knowledge. So you know how to. You know how to change that. You know how to fix that, that mechanical problem. That's knowledge. But then wisdom. I just thought wisdom meant, well, when do I fix the mechanical problem? Do I fix it in the morning or do I fix it next week? And that was the extent of my understanding of wisdom. Knowledge is how you did the thing. Wisdom is when or why you did the thing. And that's not really what wisdom is at all. There is a measure of wisdom like that, where you got to know how to do things and when to do things. Like husbands and wives. You got to know wisdom when to talk to each other about certain things. Do you understand when you're stressed? You don't talk about another big financial project when the husband is pulling his hair out because he's stressed. I mean, there's a wisdom to that, to know when and how to do that. But that is not really wisdom. That is a form. That is a very low form of really carnal wisdom, just about things in our life. But wisdom, the word wisdom, really, if you look at its scripture, what it means is not just how to do things or when to do things. Wisdom is the ability to hear. If you're a wise person, you have the ability to hear God. Why did Kenneth Hagin say so many times, the most important thing you can teach a believer is how to be led by the Spirit. Why did he say that? He could have said, teach them faith. He could have said, tell them to walk in love. But he said, how to be led by the Spirit. Because if you don't know those other things, but you can be led, the Holy Ghost can lead you into the knowledge of those other things by going to a different church. If you were in a church that didn't teach those things or by reading a book or by watching something, the Holy Ghost. If you can be learned to be led, he'll answer, you'll figure out every problem. So that's why it's the most important thing that you teach a believer is how to be led. But what does being led mean, really? I'm just talking very simply to you today, okay? If we say the most important thing for me, for you, for all of us, is to be led by the Spirit, what does that mean? What it's simply saying is the most important thing for us is that we hear. Because to be led by the spirit means you've heard the Spirit. How are you supposed to be led if you don't hear? So this is why when he says, the most important thing is to be led by the Spirit, that is scriptural. Because Proverbs 4. 7 says, the most important thing is that you have wisdom or a hearing heart or a heart led by the spirit. So when Kenneth Hagin said that, he's saying Proverbs 4. 7 in different words, are you with me? So this not even the now, when. When we're hearing things, it can be about anything in our life, but it's primarily about our future. Because I may need to know something that happened in the past to resolve something, to be healed of something, or to, you know, to fix something. I was at the restaurant, and I was paying the bill, and I was rushing, and I wasn't necessarily looking at the bill, you know, because those waitresses usually do a pretty good job. But I heard the spirit of God say, check the bill. So I checked the bill, and she had charged me for nine glasses of orange juice. I don't drink nine glasses of orange juice. I drink one. So I said, no, I'm sorry, dear, you got this wrong. That is a tiny little weenie baby. Nothing nonsensical thing. But God didn't want me paying for extra dollars for orange juice that I didn't drink. I heard something on the inside, even though I was rushed. Check the bill. That's part of hearing, even though that's about the present and. Or the past. Because that bill was already given five minutes before. So it's technically the past. But most stuff that I need to hear isn't about the past. Although sometimes if there's pain, if there's damage in your past trauma, you don't understand why your personality is the way it is. Sometimes God has to. You have to hear about what has happened. So God can heal it. So God can show you how to fix it. You know what I mean? So, yes, there is hearing for the present and there is hearing for the past. But the. The main hearing is God wants you to know your future. That's why the book of John says, I believe it's in chapter 15. It says, and. And the spirit of truth shall come. You know, it's expedient that I go, for if I don't go, my Father can't send the spirit of truth. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth and show you things to come. Notice Jesus didn't say, he will show you the past. Now he can show you the past, but he's not primarily interested in showing you the past. He's primarily interested in showing you the future things to come. So when you're hearing, it's primarily about your future. That's why we don't need the psychic hotline, because we've got. That's the mimic. We've got the real. Who knows the future. Half the time they're guessing at the future. We know the future by the Spirit. He knows the future. So the spirit of God is trying to show us the future. That's why out of the nine gifts of the Spirit, one of them is called the word of wisdom. And the word of wisdom is about the future. The word of knowledge is about the past or the present. Even that phrase, the word of wisdom is talking about your future. God wants you to hear. So now the next thing is, and this is where, you know, people maybe get a bit confused, but there's no need to get confused. But a lot of people say, okay, well, if wisdom is hearing, but there's another. Wisdom is a coin. There's two sides to the coin. There's heads and tails. Okay? One side of the coin is wisdom as it relates to God. What is wisdom? It's hearing. Sorry. Wisdom as it relates to us is us hearing, having hearing hearts. But so that when you say wisdom, it really means you hearing. But now what are you hearing? What are you hearing? Because you have to. To be a wise person, you have to have a hearing heart, but you're to be hearing what? There's another phrase called wisdom, and it's of the same coin, but it's on the other side. You got to look at both sides. So I can say, the wisdom of God for me is that I hear. But what am I hearing? I know it's a play on words, but don't get confused. It is wisdom. For me to hear, but what am I hearing? I am hearing the wisdom of God. Do you understand? It's the same coin, but you just flip the side. Now, to be have wisdom means I hear, but what am I hearing? I'm hearing the wisdom. What is the wisdom of God? On the other side of the coin, the wisdom of God is the thoughts of God. It is the mind of God. It is the plan of God. It is what God is intending for you to hear. So God uses the same English word for both sides of the coin. He's saying, I want you to be a person of wisdom to hear, and I want you to hear my wisdom, which is my thoughts. If we can hear, I don't mean to make it sound so simple, but if you can hear, pretty much the hard job is done. If you can hear, the hard job is done. Because faith. Romans 10:17 comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Now, what is the word word? Is it rhema or logos? It is rhema. Logos is the written word of God, the scriptures. Now, you can read the Logos word for an hour and then one part of one verse jump off the page to you. When the spirit of God quickens it to you, that is the rhema word. Now, the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the rhema word. So you can't get faith by reading the Bible. You get faith by the revealed Bible in your heart. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every rhema that proceeds from the mouth of God. That word is rhema, not logos, which means bread. In other words, he's using the natural example. You can't live by just natural substance alone, but you eat bread or substance every day. So what he's saying is, as you eat bread every day to nourish your physical body, to nourish your spiritual body, you have to have the word of God every day, not just Wednesdays and Sundays. The word of God every day to nourish your spiritual body. But that word of God is not just I read a chapter. It's the word rhema, which means every single day, God is supposed to reveal scripture to you, where it jumps off the page and you go, oh. And you hear something. Do you understand when the Bible jumps off the page? It's a way of saying it. It's like the Holy Ghost illuminates that to you. The word rhema means. Actually, the Greek definition of the Greek word is rhema, but it's the word that means to utter. If you study the word rhema, the first definition is to utter or to speak. What is that meaning? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the spoken word of God. The uttered word when you read the written logos, but then he speaks to you as you read, also means to pour, meaning it's like he pours something into you in revelation. That, that revelation, knowledge, it's like it's poured into you. Another definition is to ignite like a fire. So all of these are different imageries, but they all mean the same thing. When the word of God, the written word of God. Are you following me? I told you, it's simple. But you need to rehear this. When the written word of God, because I'm reading it, God utters or speaks to me about that word, or he pours it into me and fills me with revelation of that word, or he ignites and quickens that word and makes it become alive. To me, it feels like it jumps off the page. It's not really jumping off the page, but it feels like, oh, I never. Oh, I never saw that before. Or I haven't seen that for a long time. Maybe I saw it, but I'm seeing it afresh now. And there's a quickening. That quickening, making alive, pouring it in, igniting it, uttering it, speaking it. That is the rhema word. And the Bible says that you are to like, you eat every day, you are to have rhema word every day to sustain your spiritual man. And where does faith come from? This rhema word is where you get faith. So if you hear preaching about the Word and it quickens in you, faith comes, but it's got to be based on the word. Or you could be reading the scripture and it quickens you. Faith will come for that. Now I want you to pay attention because I'm trying to help you with things I've learned over the years, which has really helped me. But there is a general attitude in the body of Christ because of ignorance, that, okay, this holy book, and it is a holy book, and this is the precious written word of God, the Logos word. And as I read it and meditate on and hear it preached and read about it and other material and listen to videos, it's going to become alive to me and quickened to me. And, and that quickening is the rhema. And that's where my faith comes from. But there's an ignorance in the body of Christ a lot where they put the only emphasis on the written word. And for years that's what I was taught. I can't have faith except for the written word. But let me tell you something. When you're praying, should my child go to queens or to McMaster or to U of T? Or when you're praying, Lord, do I go with that girl, that girl, or that girl? There's no scripture in this Bible that says McMaster, and there's no scripture that says Sally, not Jane. So if you're limiting yourself to the written scriptures, there is a ton of information in your individual private lives for daily decisions that you are going to miss. Because not all of it is written in here. Let me help you. This is written for general knowledge of how to live and how to know God. But there is a lot of specifics that is not written in here. That is why you still have to hear the Holy Ghost communicate to you. Based. It has to line up with this as a baseline. It has to bear witness with your spirit as a baseline. But you have to hear God tell you specifics, because you can't find a verse for a lot of the specifics. Lord, do I go do that surgery or do I not? There's no verse that says that. But the spirit of God knows everything about you, everything about the surgeon, everything about the situation, where your faith is at, where the danger is, if you should stand in faith or if you should have the surgery. Because one time God, Brother Hagin, asked God about his wife, and the Lord said, if you do the surgery, she'll die. And another time God said, do the surgery. So you can't just assume every time it's going to be the same answer. There's no scripture that tells you that. But you need to hear the specifics by the Holy Ghost, as long as it is based on the Bible. If you are hearing him say, cheat on your wife, well, you got a scripture that says not to do that. So you. Now you know you're hearing demons or you're hearing your flesh. If you have a scripture that says, go hang yourself, now you've got a scripture that says, you hear, go hang yourself. Well, you got a scripture. Judas hung himself, so now I've got scripture to back that up. But do you understand? You have to. You have to look. Okay, well, am I taking that scripture? Is that a promise for me? No, that's not a promise for me. So even though I have a scripture, even though I heard that I'm hearing demons telling me. And that's what demons do. They tell people to kill themselves all the time. And they'll even quote the scriptures to them. So it's not just that you Have a scripture, you have to have it in context. It has to be a promise for you. But you also, if you're hearing things that are violating this, then you got to throw that out. That's not God. But if it's based on this and it's not out of context in this, and yet you need specifics. You have to develop a hearing ear. If you don't hear, you're in big trouble. Because let me tell you everything. Your faith is based on hearing. So now let's look at that scripture. But. But don't look at the script. Don't look at the physical Bible. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So when God says to me, start the church or add on, do the stage, add on these things. There's no scripture that tells me to add on these things. But the word of God is not just written, it is also spoken. Now, he can speak to me about the written and rhema will come, faith will come. But he can also speak to me about private, specific things. As long as it's based on the written, it doesn't violate the written. Then he says, I want you to do the stage. I want you to do all your electronics. Now, now that the word has come to me to do that. Now, there's no, there's no Bible verse that tells me that, but it's based on the Bible because I can find Bible verses in general that talk about increase. That talk about God wanting me to be. My joy, being full. Do you understand? But there's no scripture verse that tells me to redo these electronics. But the word of God, not in paper form, but in my heart. The Word was spoken to me to do the electronics. Now it's just as powerful as if I pick up that scripture and I read a verse and the word comes to me. He speaks to me about that verse. Faith will come. But what if it's not exact verse, but he speaks to me to do something. That word that I get will give me the faith that I need to do that thing. So you can't live your life without hearing. That is why it is the principal thing. That's why the most important thing for you is to hear. Are you listening to me? I know this is maybe not shout, shout, rah, rah, hang from the chandeliers. But my job is I can preach sermons like that to you. I get you all running through a fire tunnel, slain in the spirit, happy drooling. I mean, we can do it. Maybe this Holy Ghost service will do that. I Don't know. But my job is not to do whatever I want. My job is to say, holy Spirit, what do you want for the people today? I'm just your servant. I'm the FedEx delivery boy. Whatever you want, it's your servants. It's your opportunity to minister to them and it's their opportunity to receive the word. I'm just the delivery boy. And I heard him say, as clearly as I'm saying it to you, I want you to talk to them about the importance of hearing. It is so critically important that we develop skillfulness in hearing. So I'm going slow so that you don't miss it. Okay? Brother Hagin asked, was it a four year old or a six year old? I can't remember. Four year old. Did you understand what I preached? And he said, nope. So he went back, he came back the next Sunday, preached it simpler. He asked the four, did you understand what I preached? Nope. He went back, he redid it and he came back a third time, preached it simpler. Did you understand what I preached? Nope. He went back a fourth time, came back the fourth time, re preached it, said, do you understand what I preached, son? He goes, yeah, I understand it, Brother Hagin. And Brother Hagin said, now I know where my level is for adults. Because if a 4 year old can't understand what I'm preaching, there are many people in the congregation because of distraction or because of stress or because of other things they've heard all their life that is crowding the revelation of the truth or because of hurts or offense or a hundred other heat in the room. There are so many things that try to rob you of listening in a service. That's why you should turn your phone off and your to do list and your text and your WhatsApp and all that off. Because it will distract you. And really what the goal is to make it so simple that a little child Junior kindergarten is grade four. If a junior kindergarten can't understand what I'm saying, I'm missing the mark. Now there are times there's an anointing to teach deeper truths. Don't get me wrong, not everything has to be junior kindergarten every Sunday. But in general, when I heard Pastor Nancy say that he said that, it reminded me I've got to make sure that I'm not so complex and I'm not going so fast that it's going not just in one ear and out the other. It's not even going in ears, it's going over their head. Do you understand? So I'm just trying to keep it a little bit simpler, but I'm trying to make it so that you can remember it. The most important thing is that you have wisdom. What is that? That you have a hearing heart. That's the most important thing. What are you hearing? You're hearing the wisdom of God. What is the wisdom of God? It's his mind, it's his plan, it's his desires to communicate to you. How do you hear that? Well, you can read the Word and God can reveal the written word, speak to you, quicken it, and faith will come. But God can also speak to you directly, reveal things to you in your heart. That lines up with the word, but you're not reading an actual verse, but it lines up with the Word and it's in context, you understand? And that word from God is just as powerful as this word from God. But it's specific. It's for your individual life. It's not general, it's individual. Do you understand? That's why I can't. When I preach to you, I have to preach the word in general because it applies to all of us. But when Victoria needs something very particular, unless I have a word of wisdom to show her the mind of God specifically for her life, she has to pray and say, father, based on your word. Show me. Speak to me. Let me hear your wisdom. Let me have wisdom to hear your wisdom. Let me have a hearing heart to know your mind, to know your plan. Because if I don't know your plan, listen now, I don't even have faith to do your plan. If you can hear, faith will come whether you hear from here, whether you hear in here. Faith will come when you hear. And without that faith that comes, you can't do what he asked you to do anyway. Because most of the time God asks you to do things that you're going to need faith for. He says, go and forgive that person. But I want to kill that person. It's going to take faith to forgive that person. I want you to go and sow that money. Well, I don't have that money. It's going to take faith to obey what you heard. But if you heard it, if you heard it, if you really, really heard it, faith is already there because faith came when he said it. So really it's not a faith issue, is it? It's a hearing issue. If we can hear. And of course that assumes we have a life of the Word. But if we can hear, that means faith has already been put inside of us at the moment that he Spoke, he gave you his faith. Not the gift of faith necessarily, unless you need it, but when he said it to you, faith comes on the inside of you to execute what you heard. Are you with me? So hearing, I know it's so simple, but hearing is what's so important. And so, you know, we've all got things in our life. We've all got struggles, we've all got things we don't know how to fix. What is one of the greatest things we can do to hear? Well, a regular consumption of the word, the written word. Many times he'll speak to you specifically to through a written verse, but he'll tailor it for your life. Praying in other tongues is the door of entrance into the spirit realm. And so if you'll get a lifestyle habit, not every day, not once in a while, every day of praying in other tongues, your spirit is more open to God. To put it very simply, when you're praying in tongues, your spirit is moving, but your mind is still. That's why you got to focus, to keep your mind still, because it will want to wander. But your spirit is moving. And if you just keep praying, whether it happens at the time you're praying or maybe while you're sleeping or the next day, but something will come up out of your spirit because you prayed that thing out. And it will come up into your mind and it will illuminate your mind so that you have heard. So we need to. We need to pray and we need to be in the Word because by those actions, God is going to have permission to reveal things to us. Now, again, I don't want to get too far off my notes here, but Brother Hagin, I'm just reminding you because some, not all of you come. On Wednesday nights, I did a long series on how to be led by the Spirit. But what is the primary way God reveals things to you is by the inward witness. That is not a voice. That is a knowing. I don't know why I know. I don't know why I know. I just know. I just know. I was supposed to be with Pastor Nancy until last night, but in my spirit, it rose up. Go home early. Go home early. Go home early. Go home early. I just knew it. I didn't hear God say that to me, but in my spirit, I knew. Go home early. I just knew it. I can't explain it to you. I just know it. I didn't hear anything. It's a knowing on the inside that's called the bearing of Witness. That's Romans 8, 14, those that are. Those that are led by the spirit of God. They are the sons of God. How? By the bearing of witness. Verse 8:16 says, by the bearing of witness. He bears witness that we are the children of God. So I cut the trip short three days early. And I came back Thursday instead of Saturday. I don't know all the reasons why. I know some of the reasons why. But I knew in my spirit. I heard. See, I heard. Do you understand? So the inner witness is the number one way you're going to hear. You're not going to hear a voice. You're just going to know something. You don't know why you know it. But you know that you know that you know. Don't violate that. Take a different highway to work. Well, I'm going to be late. If you know, obey that inward witness. It can save your life. Another way God speaks to you is called the still, small voice. That is not the Holy Ghost. That is your spirit. Your spirit houses the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity. Think about how powerful that is, is actually living within your spirit, man. God is inside your spirit. That's why angels long to look into the things of salvation. Because they cannot figure out this God that we see that we worship in the throne room. How could he be in there? But God by the Holy Ghost is inside your spirit. Which means just by being in proximity to the Holy Ghost, your spirit knows a lot that your mind does not know because he's around. The Holy Ghost is around your spirit. Your spirit knows a lot about your future that you have no idea about. The real you knows more about your future than your mind does. So the still, small voice is when you hear words, but it's very light, it's very soft, it's easy to miss, but you'll hear little words come up. That's your spirit telling you to do something. It's yourself speaking to yourself. But it's by the Holy Ghost. Because the Holy Spirit is in your spirit. Your spirit knows things because he's there. And it whispers to you. It's never loud. It's always soft. The more you pray in tongues, the more you hear your own spirit. The third way. And there's many ways. But the third way is what dad Hagin called the authoritative voice of the spirit. That's when the Holy Ghost, not your spirit, the Holy Ghost, speaks to you. And it can feel very loud on the inside. It can feel so loud at times that you turn around because you think somebody has talked with you outside. Because it's so loud inside. Dan Hagin would. Many times he would be so loud, he'd turn because he would think somebody was sitting in the back seat because it was that loud. And he'd say to his wife, Aretha, did you hear that? No. Because it was so loud inside that it seemed like it came from the outside. That's the authoritative voice of the spirit. What happened in the restaurant? Check the bill. What was that? That was my spirit telling me to check the bill. It was not the Holy Ghost. When he talks, it is authoritative, it is strong, it is loud. A lot of times you think the Holy Spirit is leading you. Your own spirit's leading you. Whenever it's soft, it's never the Holy Ghost. It's your spirit. Whenever it's loud, it's the Holy Ghost. But the inward witness is what we're going for. So when we hear now, there's other ways. He can show you something. He can reveal something to you. You can hear the plan and mind of God in a vision. That's when it opens up and looks like you're like this whole realm changes. What about a dream? You can hear God in a dream. What about through a prophecy? Yea, again I say, yea, thus saith the Lord. That can be. You can hear God that way. There's many ways that you can hear God, but the number one way is the inner witness. Why is that the number one way? Because a person prophesying to you can be influenced by a demon as well as by the Holy Spirit. Your dream can be influenced by dominoes and then Pizza Hut and the worst one of all, Kentucky Fried Chicken. More demon dreams have come out of Kentucky Fried Chicken than any other chicken in the planet. My point is that demons, flesh weirdness can associate themselves with a vision, with a dream, with an angelic appearance. And it may not be an angel at all. Could be a demon that looks like an angel. The devil can imitate and mimic all these different things. Why is the inner witness the only thing you can stand on and claim from Scripture as the only guaranteed way? God may do it other ways, but you're not allowed to pray for those ways. If you seek them, demons will accommodate you because they can involve themselves. Why? Everything else is in the physical arena or the mental arena. The only thing that is truly in the spirit of man is the inner witness. Where is your inner witness? In your belly. The Bible says your spirit man is in your belly. Where is the Holy Ghost? Within your spirit man. In your belly. What is your spirit Sealed with the precious blood of Jesus. Can there ever be a demon in your spirit? Never. It's impossible if you're born again. Now there's a lot of people in the sinners who aren't don't have Jesus. And the devil has got in their mind, in their body and in their spirit. And they're called demon possessed. But a believer that has Jesus by the Holy Ghost, with the blood in your spirit sealed by the blood of Jesus, no demon can ever get inside your spirit. Which means you can never be demon possessed. You can be demon oppressed in your body or in your thought life, but you can never be possessed if you're a believer. So what does this mean? There's no darkness in your spirit. Only the Holy Ghost lives in your spirit. Which means there's no mimicking, there's no falsity. Do you understand? He can't counterfeit. The devil can't counterfeit what comes in your spirit because only the Holy Ghost lives there. Which is why the inner witness is the safest way that you hear. Do you understand? And it's not really hearing, It's a bad way to say it because if you say hearing, you're thinking words. But the inner witness is not words. It's a knowing. But when I say hear, I'm including the knowing part of hearing, not just the hearing part of hearing. Because I know things, Blair, on the inside. It can never be mimicked. It can never be counterfeited. It can never be faked. It can never be attached with demons or darkness or something off or wrong or sour or untrue. It is always perfect truth. It is always clean. It is always clear. That is why the inner knowing is the safest. Because when you know it, there's no demon that can influence it. If you hear words, even with your inner witness, your the still small voice, the devil can still counter that. The authoritative voice of the spirit. He can still speak to you that way. And you think it's the Holy Ghost. That's why you have to get sensitive. That still small voice, is that my spirit or is that my flesh or is that a demon? That strong voice, is that God or is that me? But you never have to question the knowing. When there's a knowing on the inside, you have quote unquote heard. But it's a knowing and it is always pure and it is never counterfeit. And it is the number one way we are hear God. Because that's what Romans 8:14 and Romans 8:16 says. So don't claim visions, don't claim dreams. Don't go to bed, say, lord, give me a dream. You're opening the door by doing that. I'm trying to help you as your pastor. The dramatic, the spectacular is what everybody wants, but it's not what's promised to you. God can do the spectacular if he chooses to do it. He chooses. You never choose and you never pray. You're not authorized to pray. You pray. You're opening a door to demons because now they're hearing you have an appetite for it. And they know you have no scripture to pray. And they will come and give you dreams. And you'll think they're dreams from God and they're not. You don't have any right to pray for a vision, a dream, a prophetic word, nothing. The only thing you have a right to pray is Father, you said, if I'm a child of God, I'm led by the spirit of God. And that leading is the bearing of witness. So I thank you for the knowing. By the Holy Ghost, I'll hear you. By the knowing, I'll hear you. By the knowing, I'll know. I'll know. I'll know. And if you don't know, pray in tongues more. Read the Bible more. You will eventually know. That's your only guarantee. You want to hear. You've got to know how to have the inner witness if you really want to be accurate in hearing. And of course God will add the other ways in as well as you get more mature. But I never tell a baby Christian about anything but the inner witness. As they grow, they'll learn the still small voice. They'll learn the authoritative voice. They'll know if it's that vision is from God. They'll know if that dream is from God. They'll know things as you develop spiritually. But as a new believer, you just go with the inner witness. Are you with me? So my wisdom is that I'm hearing and what am I hearing? I'm hearing God's wisdom. What is that? It is his plan purpose primarily for my future. Although it could be also my present and past. Now, just as before we close, I didn't get as far as I wanted, but I got some of it. First Corinthians, chapter 2, verse 7. First Corinthians, chapter 2. Could we bring. Is there any kindergarten children here right now? I would like to ask them if they understand happy in light of a non kindergarten. Do you understand 1st Corinthians 2? Can you look at verse 7 with me? Verse 6? Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world to our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. So what does this mean? Can you see why we're using the word wisdom here? Notice it says we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. Even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the foundation. What is it saying? God's wisdom, God's mind, God's thoughts. God's plan was to send Jesus this wisdom of God. This plan of God was hidden before the foundation of the world. Nobody in the Old Testament understood what was going on. The prophets would prophesy, but they weren't really connecting dots. Nobody really fully understood the majestic ness of God's plan because it was God's wisdom or God's plan for salvation. Remember, it's God's mind, it's God's thoughts, but it's hidden in that season. It was hidden. And it was hidden so well that the devil, no matter how smart he is, could not figure it out. Which is why he killed Jesus. Which he didn't kill him. Jesus gave his life. But you know what I mean. I'm not playing semantics here. The devil was. Was instrumental in ending his life, okay? Now if the devil had known this plan or this wisdom, he would have never done that. Because by him ending his life and then him rising again, we're set for eternity. He don't want to set for eternity. He wants to kill us. He wants us to go to hell with him. So do you see? The wisdom was hidden. The plan was hidden. Do you see how we know? Wisdom means we have a hearing heart. But wisdom also means it's God's plan. Now can you just keep reading a little bit further down with me the next verse. They would not have crucified the Lord of glory because that wisdom, that plan, was hidden. I'm trying to prove to you from Scripture that wisdom doesn't just mean you hear. Wisdom also means it's his thoughts, it's his mind, it's his plan. Because that plan for Jesus was hidden. That's why the devil didn't even understand it. But it is written, eye has not seen or ear heard. Neither is entered in the heart of man. The things which God has prepared for them that love him. That's a good verse to meditate On. But God now has revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things. Yes, the deep things of God. What does that mean? It says things because it's a general word. Could be anything. That's why it says the word things. But one of the things that the word things is is thoughts. The Holy Spirit knows the deep things of God. He knows the deep thoughts of God. He knows the plans of God. He knows everything that is in God. And what is he doing? The mighty Holy Ghost, who knows the deep wisdom or the deep plans and thoughts of God. What's he doing? He's revealing them to us. Which means I have a right to know the wisdom of God. I have a right to know the mind and the plan and the thoughts of God. How the Holy Ghost knows those things. And he will reveal them to me if I pray and if I renew my mind with the Word. Now he has a process by which he can reveal it. My job is to hear that's wisdom. His job is to reveal that wisdom or those thoughts. Do you understand? There's no way that you can understand the wisdom of God without the Holy Ghost. Because he's the only one that can reveal it. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things. Yes, the deep things, the deep plans, the deep thoughts, the deep everythings of God. For what man knows? The things of a man say the spirit of a man which is in him. Even so, the things of God no one knows but the Spirit. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. That we might know the wisdom, that we might know the things that are freely given to us. Of God. I have a right to know his mind, his thoughts, his plan, his wisdom. I have a right to know all the things that he has prepared for my future. All the great things he's prepared for those that love him. I have a right to know him by the Holy Ghost. Who will reveal God's thoughts or God's wisdom to me. But I have to have wisdom to hear. Because my heart is a hearing heart. You see, we got all God and we've got us. And God says, you be wise to hear. And God says, I want to show you my wisdom, my plans. But I need a connector between Craig and God. It's the mighty Holy Ghost. The mighty Holy Ghost lives in me, but knows everything in him. The mighty Holy Ghost will show it to me if I'll just open up my spirit man to hear. How do I do that? Pray in other tongues. And read the word. Praise God. What do the last verse we know? The freely given to us of God. Verse 13. Which things? What is that? The wisdom, the plan, the thoughts, the. The ideas of God. We also speak. Well, how do you speak if you don't know? He's saying these things that the Holy Ghost has to reveal to us. We're to speak them. Why do you speak them if you don't know what they are? What? We don't speak them in words. Which man's wisdom teaches. In other words, we don't just have man's ideas. And speaking in English. But which the Holy Ghost teaches. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. You understand what this means? He's saying, you want to know this wisdom? You want to know these things? Speak them. How do I speak them? See, my spirit, man is praying unto God directly. Bypassing my mind, my rationale, my mental understanding. And the plan, the wisdom, the thoughts of God. The Holy Ghost has found. And he lives in here. Which means the plan of God and the wisdom of God is in here. Because the Holy Ghost knows it. And he's in here now. He says, you got to speak it for me. To show your brain, you got to speak it. So speak out the words that I teach you, which is tongues. And as you speak that out, that wisdom is coming out in another language. And as you do that process now, the Holy Ghost can now illuminate your mind, your soul, your rational thinking. But you have to pray that wisdom out in the Spirit. So that now it can bubble up and illuminate your mind. And you go, oh, I see it. I'm helping you more than you realize today. I know it's simple, but this is very profound. And you're going to be accountable for what you've heard. I have wisdom to hear. God has wisdom to give me his thoughts. The Holy Ghost is the connector between the two. He is in my spirit, and he's found the wisdom of God, and it's in my spirit. But he needs me to pray those things out by the Spirit. So that he can now illuminate my thinking about it. Because listen to me. If I can hear. If I can hear. I automatically have faith to do that job. Kenneth Copeland. God said to him years ago, when he was broke, in debt. Bad times in the 70s. Brother Copeland now is a pinnacle of success. Back then, he was grossly overweight. He was dying young. He was neck deep of debt. Everybody hated him like they do now, except people with renewed minds. So he is persecuted a lot. But he had a revelation of the word of faith. And in those early days, God said, give Kenneth Hagin $50,000. $50,000 in the 70s is like 500,000 today, okay? And watch his answer. He didn't say, I don't have it. He said, in Christ I have it, and in Christ I will give it. That's a very powerful statement. Because what he's saying is, as long as I've heard faith is inside me to do this now, I don't have the money, but Christ, I'm in him, and he has the money. In other words, God wants to do the work that he's Already accomplished. Hebrews 4:3 says, God's already done everything. Do you understand? If he says for you to go and preach to somebody, he already finished that thing in eternity. All he's waiting is for you to hear him. Because if you hear him, faith will come. And if he just wants to do it through you, but in order to do it through you, you have to release faith. But when you hear him, you get the faith. So Brother Copeland just said, as long as I've heard you, that's all that matters, is that I've heard you. It doesn't matter that I don't have the money. I heard you. That means that faith is in me to believe you. And you've got the money, and you're going to get the money to me. And I don't have to worry about where the money's coming from, because you want to do it through me, not me struggling. You want to give that 50 through me, and all you need is for me to hear and believe. But my believing came from my hearing. So I've got the faith to do it, because I heard you speak. And now I can just rest that somehow you're going to do it through me. So now he has to hear, where does he get the 50,000? So he gets an answer. See, hearing, the Lord said, don't worry about the big money. Just give pocket change every day. Empty your change into a bin. So he started doing that. And when the bin got full, he sent it to Brother Hagin, and he did it again. And when the bin got full, this is pocket change. Quarters, dimes, nickels. When the bin got full, he sent it again. Then after a number of years of doing that, he thought to himself, lord, did I even obey you? I don't think I've obeyed you. You told me to give him 50. I don't think I've given him 50. He called brother Hagin's ministry And said, could you tell me how much I've given? Because God told me to give 50, and I think I've let God down. And the lady on the other end of the phone said, oh, brother Copeland, you've given far more than 50,000 just in coins. God said, give it. Copeland wasn't worried how he was going to give it. He just said, if you said it, I've got faith for it, so do it through me. Now. If God said, go get a job, then go get a job. If God said, do an investment, then God just said, give coins. So now he heard what to do, then he heard how to do it. And faith came with both hearings because he's hearing the mind of God. And it came to pass. And that Brother Copeland said that seed was one of the big reasons why God did so much for them. So I've got to learn, and so do you have to learn. God's already got this figured it out. He's already got this figured out. All I have to do is hear. It's so easy. We complicated because we get mental. It's so easy. Just here, just here. If God says, I want you to do this, I'm going to give you an example. If he says, like next week with the SAP or something else later on, and he says, I want you to do this, you don't have to get stressed about it because all you have to do is hear, your job now more or less is done. I mean, you've got more to do, but the hard part is done. I just hear. I heard the plan and the mind from the Holy Ghost, because I have a heart to have wisdom to hear. So my wisdom has heard the wisdom. Now I've heard. Faith has come. So now, Lord, you told me to give that money. I don't have that money. But that's not a problem. It doesn't matter that I don't have the money because I don't have to come up with it. All I had to do was hear, and I have faith that you will do it through me. So now, Lord, tell me how I do it. Let me hear. If he says, take it out of his savings, if he says, work a second job. If he says, give coins. If he says, invest in this and then where the return profit do that. Let him show you how. But all you have to do is here, let me tell you something. If he will never show you how, if you don't first say yes to the initial instruction. When he says, I want you to give this, and you go, well, I don't. He won't talk to you anymore. So then you're going to stumble along and try to do it in the flesh and stress your wife and your husband and everybody else out. And you're not even going to. You're not going to enjoy the process because that's not faith. So you've got to say yes. If he says, buy this person that thing. If he says, so this into the SAP. If he says, go and do this investment, whatever he start this business, whatever he says, your first answer is if you've heard yes, yes, P.S. i have no idea how, but yes. Your job is to say yes because you heard. And if you heard, faith is in you to do it. But where's the faith? It's not in your mind. Your faith's in your spirit. Your mind has no faith. Your mind is doubting, Your mind is screaming. Your mind is saying, how, how, how. But it don't matter how, how, how. It matters inside here. There's faith. So don't look at your thought life. Just say yes now. By the way, Father, I know you're very busy, but just hold on a second with me. I said yes, but you didn't tell me how. So now I'm going to pray till I hear how. Then he says, do this, do that, do this, do that. And there's faith when he speaks. And now you know how to do what he said. But there was always faith to do what he said. Even if you don't know how, just say yes. Just say yes. You think Pastor Nancy, her new plane when they landed today, well, they're still in the air, flying over the ocean right now. But when they land tonight at 10pm in LAX tonight, her brand new plane, she showed me the videos of it. They've done all the test flights. It's all 100% done. She showed me the videos just before we left. That plane is waiting in LAX for her. They are flying her to Ontario airport. She's driving home for a day. Then she drives back to Ontario, flies to Texas to be with Brother Copeland for a whole week of things on their television. Now, that plane costs a lot of money. That fuel costs a lot of money. That is a big expense. But she said to me, craig, come here. Yes, Yes. I don't need to understand how. I just need to hear. God told me, get the plane. He told me, there's faith here for the fuel up here. No faith. So if I let my mind run away with me, I'm gonna start going, what are you gonna Do. No, I stay in here because there's faith in here. All I need to do now is believe him. Now, if I have to do something to get that money for that fuel, he'll tell me what to do. And if I don't. Because sometimes you don't have to do anything. You just have to believe. He won't tell me what to do. He'll just say, believe me. And I just say, I'm at such peace because he's doing it through me. I don't have to come up with how to get it. It's easy. All I have to do is hear. You don't sound like it's so simple. It's infuriatingly simple because for somebody like me that has layer upon layer upon layer of complexity, well, how, what, when, why? Why me? What is going on? And my mind is like a cogwheel, like a beehive, and it is. So I have to learn. If your mind is like me, you're going to rob yourself of faith. Because your faith's not up there. Your faith's down in here. And all I have to do is hear. That's it. Because when I hear, I've got faith for it already. And if I have to do something about it, I hear again exactly how to do it. And then. And if I don't have to do anything, then I just. Like Pastor said, she goes, I heard, I heard. And Jerry Savelle gave us the airplane. I heard. And then I don't. I can't give certain things publicly, but somebody. I can't give specifics, but somebody who she's never met before came up to her and handed her a very large sum of money from their inheritance. And God said, that's for your airplane. She's given the airplane, it's free, but it costs a lot of money to maintain, to put fuel, to pay the pilots, to pay the insurance and God funded. I can't give specifics, but God did a massive funding before the plane even came. Because all she has to do is hear. She doesn't have to worry about where the money's coming from or how it's going to happen. She just has to hear and then release her faith. Lord, it's all coming. And speak, speak, speak. It's all coming to pass. It's all coming to pass. If you have to do something, he'll show you. You'll hear the mind of God, you'll do it. There'll be faith to do that. If there's an action required, sometimes there's no action required. Lord, I've heard it's easy. And I'm watching her. And I'm not talking 50 bucks. I'm talking hundreds of thousands of thousands, millions of dollars. And this little pastor with a relatively little congregation is watching her fly with the big wigs, so to speak. Do you understand? With massive large budgets that are beyond my faith. But I'm realizing something as I listen and as I watch, all you have to do is hear. Because God didn't expect you to do it anyway. You're not strong enough, you're not smart enough, you're not big enough, you're not rich enough. He just wants you to hear what he wants and say yes, and just release the faith when he speaks. That faith comes. Faith comes by hearing. Release that faith with your words. And don't get in your thought life about it. Because faith doesn't live there, it lives here. Just stay in your heart and just keep speaking and let God work it. Because it was his idea to begin with. Why should you be stressed? You didn't come up with it. He came up with it. Let him do it through you. And if you have to do an action, he'll tell you what to do. And if you don't have to do an action, he'll just tell you the first thing and just relax. But everything, everything, everything comes back to hearing, hearing. You've got to hear. You got to hear primarily by the witness, but you've got to hear. How do you hear? Time and tongues. Time in the word, time waiting before him, time worshiping him. Lord, I am an open vessel. I am. I have wisdom. Because I hear. Say that over yourself. I have a hearing heart. I say that all the time over myself. I confess that over me I have a hearing heart. I. I hear. I hear the leadings of the spirit, the inner witness, the voice of the spirit. I hear it clearly. I hear it clearly. I have a hearing heart. You know, that is my number one confession. It's not I walk in love or I have faith, although I do those two. My number one confession every day is I thank you, Lord, for a hearing heart. I thank you, Lord, that I hear you. I hear you. I'm not making mistakes like the plane. I'm not doing that anymore. I'm hearing you. I'm hearing you. I'm hearing you. I'm hearing you. I'm hearing you. And when I hear faith comes to do, and if there's an action, you'll tell me and I'll hear you again. But I don't ever have to stress or be concerned. All I have to do is hear and trust and you will do the work. And I'll close by saying Pastor Nancy said in one of the services in Switzerland, she said, some of you ministers. She didn't say Craig, but because I can hear even what you don't want to hear. Because when I hear, I have a hearing heart. And I heard the Holy Ghost say, listen, she's talking to you. But I don't think she even knew she was talking to me because normally if she's talking to me, she'll say as we're walking out, you hear me? That was for you. Sometimes she'll say that or sometimes she'll make it, but sometimes she doesn't at all. So I don't know if she even knew it was for me or if God didn't show or she knew, but she's just not telling me. I don't know. But I'm not here to hear her. I'm here to hear the spirit of God. And I heard him say listen before she even said the sentence. He's already rebuking me. And I can tell by the way he says listen. It's not like listen. It's listen. That means I'm in trouble. And she said, listen, I'm your ministers. She says you hang around other ministers and God's called them to do something. But because you hang around them and you don't guard your spirit, the appetite for their plan comes into your heart. And God never called you to do that. But you're hanging around them and it's not wrong to hang around them. But you got to guard your heart because otherwise you'll get an ambition and an appetite for what's their plan, but it was never your plan. And then you'll start doing things in line with their plan that's not your plan. And it can cost you your early life. You die young. And I heard the Holy Ghost say, yeah, that's you. I'm telling you because I've been praying for a year, Lord, how did I miss it with the plane? How did I miss it with the plane? Why did I miss it with the plane? That was a pretty big missing it. How did I miss it? I thought I heard and she gave me the answer. I hang around with brother Randy. Brother Randy's not wrong. That's God's plan for brother Randy. But I would initiate conversations with brother Randy about his plane, and he would tell me he did nothing wrong. But I didn't guard my heart and his plan. I got an appetite for. I got an appetite for something in his plan. And I didn't realize I was getting appetite for it. And then that appetite grew, grew, grew, until I convinced myself it was God. And then I started walking out the plan. That's for him, not for me. And all that time and wasted time and wasted this and wasted that until finally he said, you better stop this, boy, or you're gonna die. But do you understand? See, I got my answer. I'm giving you an example. I've been saying, how did I miss it, Lord? It has nothing to do with brother Randy. Brother Randy's 100% right. He should talk about the plan of God for his life. He's the elder. When I'm around him, let him talk about the plan of God. But you see, you know what I had? I had my spirit like this. See, I'm learning things. I had my spirit like this, and brother Randy's talking about his plan, and that is going in my spirit. And then I'm starting to get an appetite without realizing it for his plan. And so the Lord taught me, when you're around other ministers, when you're in a service to receive impartations, open up. But when it's just discussion about their vision, close your spirit. Because otherwise some of that will try to get into you. Your ambition and your appetite for that will grow. And before you know it, you're deceived, thinking God wants that as his plan for you, but it was really just you're piggybacking on his plan for them. Then you start walking it out and making big mistakes. I didn't know that until Pastor Nancy taught me that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not closing my spirit to a minister. My spirit is open to receive in services and in private conversation. But I'm learning when they're talking about their vision, and God has not told me the same vision. Pastor Nancy spent a lot of time talking about the plane, but I've learned now. Close my spirit. She's talking about her vision. This is not impartation for me. She's just talking about her vision. That is not a time for me to have my spirit open because that's going to try to get in me, and then I'm going to want what she has. And before you know it, you're going down a road that God never authored for you. So you keep your spirit open. But anytime somebody is talking about their vision, their life, their plan, be careful you don't let it get inside you. Because that's what happened with brother Andy and me. I got an appetite for his vision, thinking it was my vision. So now I've learned certain things need to stay closed when it's about other stuff that's not impartation worthy, that's not preaching worthy. It's just talk. And let them talk because they're the boss. I'm the junior, they're the senior. Let them talk all night long about their planes and about their vision and about their crusades and about everything that they do. But it's not going to get in me because it's not my plan. I can just close my spirit, but keep my heart, my emotions, my mind. All of that can be open. I can enjoy the conversation, but I don't let things get in me. The only thing that can get in me is what God's plan is for my life and the word that is preached. Are you with me? Does that make sense? So God showed me how. How that mistake happened. Well, I learned something. I learned something because I just love these ministers. I just want to be around them. I just want to open my heart. I want to just. I'm just so. I'm just pleased to be around generals, but I'm learning when it comes to their provision, keep your heart closed because you don't want things to trickle over into you that aren't yours. How do I know it's mine? Because I'll hear. God will say it. Not Randy, not anybody else. God will say it. Hallelujah. That's a very expensive lesson that I have learned. That is an expensive nugget. That's not a nugget of gold. That's a nugget of platinum encrusted cherubim, angel wings. I don't know. That's an expensive nugget. Now don't leave here and post on Facebook. Pastor Craig told me to close my spirit in church. I didn't say that. You keep your heart open to what it needs to be open to, but you keep things closed when you're listening to everybody else share their vision because their vision is not your vision. That businessman you're talking to, and it's like, wow, that if God didn't tell you that's not your van, that's not your plan, don't get it. Don't get an appetite for what the businessman says. If God didn't call you to business. Don't get an appetite for what the investor says. If God didn't call you to investments when they're doing their chit Chat. Close your heart. Don't get an appetite for what's not yours. It will cost you dearly. But keep your spirit open at the other times. Hallelujah. Heavenly Father, I thank you that our job is to hear. Our job is to hear. Help this congregation catch the simplicity, yet the profoundness of that statement. Our job is to hear. That means more praying, more word, more waiting on you. Because if we can just hear your specific instructions, whether through the scripture verse that we read or whether just up out of our heart or whether just by the inward witness. But when we hear, faith is there to accomplish it. And we don't have to stress because you will do it through us. And if you need us to do something further, you'll tell us and we'll hear again and we'll have faith for that action. But the plan of God is easy. The wisdom of God is not heavy. That's why you said, my yoke is easy. My burden is light. It's not supposed to be a burden to do the plan of God. It's supposed to be easy. Why? Because we're in faith. Why? Because we've heard. And once we've heard God, it's your job to fulfill it. Do it through us. That's fine. But we're not going to take stress when it was your job is your idea to begin with. We're just here to hear and we're here to believe. And you'll do it through us. All we have to do is hear. Life is simple. We just have to hear. Not somebody else's vision. Your plan for our lives, Father, not what somebody else is doing. What you want us to do, Father, Just hear. Lord, let that be our confession from this moment forward, every day over every one of our lives and our children and our grandchildren. Father, we thank you that our children have ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying. They can hear the spirit of God clearly. They have the clearness of the inward witness on the inside. We are hearers. We are hearers. We have wisdom. We hear the mind of God. Let us say that over ourselves every day. And believe it. And we will watch it come to pass. We give you praise and glory.