In our day, heaven and earth are on tiptoe, waiting for the emerging of a spirit intoxicated people. But such a people will not emerge until there is within us a deeper, more profound experience of an Emmanuel of the Spirit. A knowledge of the presence and guidance of God that... is as vivid and as real as the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. It is the discipline of guidance that leads us in this way.
And it teaches us to discern and understand the voice of the true shepherd. Now that takes some practice. You remember Jesus said, my sheep Know my voice, but it takes some practice knowing the voice of God, the Kol Yahweh. There's a story of a farmer out in a field plowing and he looks up in the sky and he sees in the clouds the letters GPC. And he thinks, this is God, message from God.
Go preach Christ. So off he goes. He leaves the farm.
He goes preaching, and it is a miserable experience. Nobody will listen to him. He's a terrible speaker. Finally, he just gives up.
He goes back to his farm, walks out into the field, sits down discouraged, and the Lord comes to him. And he says, Lord, didn't you speak to me? Didn't you give me a sign in the sky, GPC? And the Lord says, yes, I did.
But that meant go plow corn, not go preach Christ. So you see, we can get it wrong sometimes. The fact that God speaks to us is no guarantee that we hear correctly.
See, it takes, it's part of a discipline. to learn the guidance of God. And it begins by understanding the Kol Yahweh, the voice of the Lord. There's a sense, let me give a parallel to the way that we recognize a human voice.
I mean, when you talk to your spouses, you don't have to ask who's speaking. You know, don't you? Yeah.
And the way we know is from the tone of the voice. From... The quality of the voice and from the content, that is what the person is saying. So he's consistent with who the person is. But think of the tone, the tone of the Kol Yahweh, the voice of the Lord.
You see, Satan pushes and condemns. God draws and encourages. And there's a difference.
And you can learn to know the difference. And then there's a quality of the Kol Yahweh, the voice of the Lord. Do you remember that it was said of Messiah that he would not break a bruised reed, nor quench a smoldering wick? You see, Jesus would never snuff out the smallest hope, never crush the needy.
Oh, just to get a hold of that great doctrine of the New Testament, of the Christ. Christ's likeness of God. God is like Jesus. And that is the quality of how God speaks to us. And then, of course, the content of the voice, which is the clearest distinguisher for us in just understanding and hearing.
That is, it's always consistent with the character of the person. And God will speak to us consistent with the way in which he has led and spoken. in the past.
And so if we can keep that in mind, the tone of the Kol Yahweh, the voice of the Lord, the quality and the content, we get a much better understanding of how we can come to distinguish, as John Wilman used to say, distinguish the language and voice of the true shepherd. Now, I often speak about the normal means of guidance and the exceptional means of guidance. and really five for each as a way of helping us just catch the larger picture or frame it.
It's important to see that the normal means of guidance is the normal way God works with us. The exceptional means is exceptional way. I mean, the point is that these things do happen, but they are the exception rather than the rule. The normal means of guidance first, Scripture itself. Now, I don't mean a particular verse of the Bible or things like that.
I mean the whole tenor of Scripture that we might saturate ourselves in a sense, in an understanding of God, how God has worked in the past. Now, God can use particular verses or phrases or passages, sure. But I'm really talking about the large picture of just... I mean, just for example, immersing ourselves in the Gospels.
Then we get a picture of how God works in a better way. So, Scripture. The second of the normal means we could call direct revelation. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. How God moves and teaches us through the Spirit.
Now, it's important to realize... That leadings of the Spirit are consistent with our mental faculties. God does not lead us, usually, in ways inconsistent. And also the Spirit, God does not usually request action without reflection. As God works enough ahead, so that there is the process in which the right reflection can be done.
And then second, or third, excuse me, pure impulse does not necessarily mean this is the leading of the spirit. I'm sure you all have seen pastors who say that, you know, I woke up this morning and got something, so I'm setting my sermon aside. When they say that, I know two things.
First, this is going to be a grammatical disaster. And second, they're trying to tell me, you know, really listen up. Well, if it's really of God, we don't need to tell people about that.
If it has God's authority behind it, it will do what needs to be done. Oh, yes. Yeah, you get it? So, pure impulse doesn't necessarily mean this is of the Spirit. So, Scripture, direct revelation, divine providence.
That is, circumstances coming together in a way in which we go, Aha! God is there, you see. And then fourth, the Christian community.
Now, this is very important because we do not seek guidance on our own, but in context with others. Often, that begins right in the family. I mean, Carolyn, my wife, very often will have some impression, some thought, some, you know, direction, and I disregard that to my peril.
Because she has a sense of how God is at work, and so I really try to listen to that. It doesn't mean I would always do it, but you try to listen. And it can be in even a larger context, like in the church. In our tradition, we have what we call meetings for clearness. That is gathering people we trust for their wisdom, for their discernment, and sharing a matter.
And just together, sitting together, and seeing what God wants to teach us. Can I ask you one question? Remember when we were at a meeting and we tried to seek guidance about Africa and we all had various opinions?
It was a pretty heated discussion. It was. And yet we trusted each other in a process. Right. And eventually God led us to go to Africa to do ministry with Renovare.
But it was a process of trust. Isn't trust a very important process in this community of guidance? Trust that...
God can lead others to guide us so that we do this together in community. And then finally, there is personal integrity. Proverbs 11.3 says, the integrity of the upright shall lead them. Now, you see, when we finished this filming and I saw a purse over there and I went there and there were five big bills there, you know. I don't have to pray about that.
That's not mine. The integrity of the upright shall lead them. So now that's the normal means of guidance.
Scripture, direct revelation, divine providence, the Christian community, and personal integrity. Now the exceptional means of guidance are the specific times. Unusual times when God leads us in rather unusual ways. Now, the thing I want to say first about the exceptional means of guidance is that they're not necessarily a compliment.
See, they just might mean that we're hard of hearing. You know, like with a horse, sometimes a horse that's not trained, you really have to pull on those reins. But a horse that's learned to neck rein, all it takes is the slightest nudge.
See? So, but there are times when God speaks to us in exceptional ways. Fleeces, for example, the story of Gideon, you remember that story?
How Gideon laid a fleece out before God and asked for it to be dry and then later wet and so forth. and the ground, the fleece wet and the ground dry and so on. Well, this is just a way of holding before God an issue so that we really come to clarity on it.
But it can be dangerous because people can ask of God for a sign greater than God is pleased to give. I mean, you know, Jonah, he goes out on the dock. And he sees a ship, and oh, will of God, if God had wanted me to go to Nineveh, there would have been a camel caravan on that dock. I mean, you know, or somebody, if you want me to serve my neighbor, make that cat bark. You know, I mean, that's just, we don't get into that kind of silliness.
But there are times when a particular, we ask for a particular sense of guidance through that kind of thing. Then second, angels. Now let me be clear with you all.
To my knowledge, I have never seen an angel, never spoken to an angel. But certainly in scripture, God has used angels. And we simply want to be aware of this, but not get obsessed with it.
Some people just go on and on about angels. And like I say, it's not particularly a compliment. It just might mean that we're not, haven't learned a neck rein yet. And then there are dreams. Now, you remember that Paul had a dream in Acts when he was trying to decide whether to head north or whether to head west.
And in the dream there was a man from Macedonia saying, come over and help us. And that led that move into Philippi and, of course, the whole west. But in Acts itself, it says, we discerned, we decided.
Evidently, Paul shared this dream with Luke and the others in the party, and they came to a consensus that they should go west. A vision is a vivid mental picture when we're awake. That's really the only difference between them.
Peter had a vision, right? Remember when... He was up on the rooftop and waiting for lunch, and he saw the sheet and the animals and so forth, and how God was dealing with his ethnic cultural racism through that with visual aids, see, and the whole bit. That's a vision, and God guides us this way.
The fifth is what could be called signs. I mean, the Star of Bethlehem was a sign. If I was driving along the highway and I saw a sign that said Nashville, 300 miles, and then a couple of hours later I saw a sign that said Nashville, 200 miles, I've learned two things. First, I'm headed in the right direction, and second, I'm getting closer.
See? And that's the function of a sign. Now, the importance of these normal means of guidance, exceptional means of guidance, is that they work together.
Any one thing by itself can be misleading. There's, I understand, a harbor in Italy that has three lighthouses, actually one right behind the other, so that a ship coming into that harbor... If they see two or three lights, they know they're not in the right place.
Until they're lined up and they see only one light, then they know it's safe to come in. Well, that's the idea. Two or three witnesses.
Maybe divine providence, maybe an impulse, a leading, a nudge, a sense of the Spirit. The Christian community that comes alongside and says, this is the way to go. These are some beginning ways to help us understand the discipline of guidance. And George has a song that I want him to share with us when it's all been said and done.
When it's all been said and done There is just one thing that matters. Did I do my best to live for truth? Did I live my life for you? When it's all been said and done. All my treasures will mean nothing Only what I have done for love's reward Will stand the test of time Lord, your mercy is so great, that you look beyond our weakness, and find purest gold in miry clay, making sinners into saints.
I will always sing your praise Here on earth and ever after For you've shown me heaven's my true home When it's all been said and done You're my life When life is gone, when it's all been said There is just one thing that matters. Did I do my best to live for truth? Did I live my life for you? Lord, I live my life for you.
And that brings up the discipline of guidance, doesn't it? I mean, just in worshiping God. You watch people, especially who are adept in congregations, and...
you will see how they are guided. Yeah. You know. Yeah.
And corporate guidance is a very important part of worship. Yeah. Because when you're standing in the presence of God, then guidance comes. Now, sometimes we do need to move.
And, for example, the Scripture tells us that God inhabits the praises of his people. So very often, without forcing it, just begin to praise. It does.
Then our minds are turned towards God. And then often, in response to that, God actually comes. Yeah. The leading of worship is such an interesting reality. I remember the pastor that, as a child, I grew up under.
I always felt he had a great sense of leading worship. And he had a phrase he used, which I appreciated. He said, in leading worship, you must be baptized into a sense of the meeting. Of what's happening.
Sure. What God's about. That's right.
And that's guidance. Yeah, right. Exactly. And that extends to cases where an individual may want to come into a fellowship where there is worship and say, would like to have your consultation on this particular matter. And I believe that if you don't do that in a context of worship where God is present, then it's not going to be a happy event.
Right. But these two go so well together. It needs to be mentioned also that genuine revival involves the presence of God.
in an area, and that always involves worship, and as a result, always involves breaking and repentance. But, you know, we have to really not get into the business of producing it. Often, worship leaders are more like people who know what to do if worship doesn't occur. Yeah, they've developed the system. One of the main trainings for a worship leader is he needs to know when to not do anything.
And this is kind of the equivalent of solitude on a group level. Right. You take your hands off of this. You acknowledge that the church belongs to Christ.
Right. That God is the one who is in charge. I remember this was at a church that had beautiful stained glass. And since my wife makes stained glass, I'm interested in it. As we were preparing for the service, I was just admiring their stained glass.
And there was this sense, and this ties in a little to guidance, this sense of, I mean, I knew what I was going to be speaking on and so on, of the Lord saying to me, you know, the story, that story that you like to tell in that sermon. Yeah, sure. You know, I mean, I know about.
how these things work, rhetoric, homiletics. And it seemed like the Lord saying, I don't want you to tell it. So I was wrestling with that. This is just internal.
And then when the service began a little later, this was the question still on my mind. Am I going to tell that story? Am I not going to tell that story? And so on. When the time came in the message, I mean, they're singing, I'm speaking, that's all I'm thinking about.
Well, when the time came, I told that story. And then there was this... Immediately I knew that it was wrong. I mean, the importance of knowing when not to speak. And then there was this sense, you need to tell them what you just would have done, or I'll take the blessing off of you.
Now I'm wrestling with a whole other issue. And I remember I began perspiring. But and all the time I'm speaking, you know, finally I just stopped and I said a little bit ago I told a story that I really wasn't supposed to That the Lord told me not to it was sin.
I made a little prayer of confession went on What happened but in reflecting on that experience now, I have no idea what those people thought about this