Feb. 17, 2026

You Can Actually Hear God | Jim Laffoon

You Can Actually Hear God | Jim Laffoon

What if the key to leading with clarity isn’t found in a strategy—but in stillness? In this powerful episode of Lead to Win, Pastor Jeff sits down with Pastor Jim Lafoon to unpack one of the most important disciplines for any leader: learning to hear the voice of God. From real-life crisis moments to daily decisions, Jim shares how practicing quietness before the pressure comes prepares you to stand strong when it does. You’ll hear practical wisdom on discerning God’s voice, building a refl...

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Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconAmazon Music podcast player iconYouTube podcast player icon

What if the key to leading with clarity isn’t found in a strategy—but in stillness?

In this powerful episode of Lead to Win, Pastor Jeff sits down with Pastor Jim Lafoon to unpack one of the most important disciplines for any leader: learning to hear the voice of God. From real-life crisis moments to daily decisions, Jim shares how practicing quietness before the pressure comes prepares you to stand strong when it does.

You’ll hear practical wisdom on discerning God’s voice, building a reflex of prayer, cultivating a culture of intercession around your leadership, and why “dialogue is your birthright.” Whether you’re a pastor, business leader, parent, or team builder, this conversation will challenge you to pause, quiet your soul, and give God space to lead you.

If you want to win at what matters most, it starts by learning to listen.

TIMESTAMPS
6:21 - From Monologue To Dialogue With God
11:41 - Sense God Before You Hear God
18:22 - Training To Hear Under Pressure
26:04 - Signs Of A Spreading Revival
27:06 - Posture: Repentance, Holiness, Prayer

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06:21 - From Monologue To Dialogue With God

11:41 - Sense God Before You Hear God

18:22 - Training To Hear Under Pressure

26:04 - Signs Of A Spreading Revival

27:06 - Posture: Repentance, Holiness, Prayer

WEBVTT

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He spoke to me very clearly.

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The enemy is coming to kill your grandson.

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Hey, right now.

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Found him not breathing blue, dying in the corner the next day.

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God will speak to you.

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My sheep hear my voice.

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Sometimes when I teach people to hear God, I turn on recordings of firefights, sirens.

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Because typically, when you need God the most, it's not quiet either around you or in you.

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If you don't practice hearing God when it doesn't seem to matter, you'll have trouble when it does.

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So good.

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This is the crisis people live in.

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They're in a crisis, but they've never learned to hear God, and they wait till the crisis to try to hear it.

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The real key in hearing God.

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I want to welcome each and every one of you back to the Lead to Win podcast, and I'm excited about this week's podcast.

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I'm really bringing to you this week not just some concepts or some information, but I have my pastor with me.

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And I just love introducing him to you.

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Obviously, some of our listeners, you have heard Pastor Jim LaFoon before.

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But uh he and I met, I was in my early 20s, and we uh he he really called me out of a crowd at a conference, and then I went and spent some time at his house, and he and I really made a divine covenantal relationship.

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He's walked with us through every step of our church, and he's we're literally like blood family, and I wanted to have him talk with us a little bit about how to hear from God better, about how to discern God's will.

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But to be clear, right now you're here this week for a couple of reasons.

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One, you just spoke with our staff.

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We're having our annual staff time together, and then we celebrated you and Kathy's 70th birthdays and then your 50 years in ministry anniversary.

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Yes.

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We had quite a feast.

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I mean, it was a it was we had, I'll just tell everybody, we had a Texas barbecue feast.

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Amazing it was.

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I mean, did you really come for the letters and the prayers or just the barbecue?

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Listen, we had seven meat, seven meats out there, including hors d'oeuvres.

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It was honestly a meat eater special.

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I mean, and I felt like you kept ordering more more meat dishes, and then we decided you probably needed some vegetables.

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So we we got a couple extra orders of chicken.

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Well, I never really tried any of the real vegetables that were there, like those old green beans and stuff.

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Yeah.

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I just had meat and dessert.

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And you know, you just turned 70.

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How have you maintained, I mean, such a model of a picture of health all these years with that kind of diet?

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Well, it's been an uphill battle at times.

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Well, you know, we had this big meat feast last night.

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It was great.

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I ate so much at two in the morning, it was still with me.

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Two in the morning, I thought I won't be hungry.

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Well, then I woke up today and I thought I'd have a salad for lunch.

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Well, I had that salad over here with Pastor Jeff.

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Now I'm really weak.

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You had all that kale, all that lettuce, yeah, not much meat on it.

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So I'm not at my full strength.

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You're not at your full strength.

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But I had a stack of chips before I came here to the podcast.

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I feel better now.

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Well, I know I had planned because I heard we were having some more meat for lunch, and then when I got there, there was kale, and it really, it really wounded my spirit.

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Well, I didn't know if I was gonna be your pastor anymore when I did that.

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It was a bad mistake.

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I was weak within 30 or 40 minutes.

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You were 30, 40 minutes, you couldn't even carry on.

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Couldn't even carry on anymore.

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So, you know, I think I think one of the things, though, that you love to talk about, so so a lot of the listeners are not necessarily ministry leaders.

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There, there are quite a few that listen that that are are maybe ministry leaders or pastors, but we also have a lot of business people.

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And then sometimes, I mean, we've been hearing from people that are teachers, uh, people that serve people in the community.

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And I would say if you have any responsibility for people, you you you have a sense that I need to give them the right advice.

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I gotta have wisdom, I have to have direction.

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I know as a pastor, one of the top questions that I'm asked, and obviously you yourself ministering to so many people, what's God's will for my life?

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How do I hear God's voice?

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And I know you're currently writing a book that we want to promote and and give out at lead to when you and I have talked about it for years, and you've really been working really hard on it.

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Why don't you talk to us a little bit about what we can take personally into our own lives about how to hear God better?

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Let me start by saying, first of all, God's primary communication to us is the Bible.

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Yeah, it is the final authority.

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Like if I thought I had some impression from the Holy Spirit that violated Scripture, it's gone.

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So that's why it's so important to read your Bible, study your Bible, obviously, hear the Bible preached.

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Secondly, before I talk about how the Holy Spirit communicates with us, never forget the importance of counsel.

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Your pastor, a serious Christian in your life, boy, we need other people.

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That being said, it says in John 10, Jesus said very simply, my sheep hear my voice.

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They'll never follow the voice of a stranger.

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And when I was very young, I was a missionary in a in a war zone.

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And I just had this growing desire to get to know God.

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And I realized, well, I'm reading about you, the Bible's true, but I kept facing the reality of scripture, God talks to people, God communicates to people.

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And I wasn't satisfied in living in a monologue.

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I mean, I do all the talking and never hear anything back, where I knew God promised a dialogue.

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So that brings the question if the Holy Spirit wants to get a hold of you, how does he do that?

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What that's like.

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And so there's a few ways that happens.

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There are times he'll quicken a scripture to me.

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Let's say I'm in just I'm melancholy, I'm downcast, I begin to pray.

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Nothing the scripture comes to my mind, the joy of the Lord is my strength.

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Yeah.

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And so one of the important things of reading the Bible is it gives the Holy Spirit something to work with.

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You look at Jesus in the wilderness, he's battling the devil.

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The only answer he had to the devil's attack was the scripture itself.

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He spoke the word.

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So there have been many, many times in my life facing a crisis as a parent, as a leader, where at just the right moment, the scripture will come to my mind.

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That's one of the ways that God can speak to you.

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It reminds me of Jesus saying that he would send the Holy Spirit would remind us, actually, of what I've I've said to you.

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It's one of the functions of the Holy Spirit.

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And that is so important.

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I remember one time I was just feeling condemned, downcast, and all of a sudden, I'm out of the book of Zechariah.

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This um scripture came to me where the the high priest is before the Lord and he's dressed in kind of bad garments, and Satan was standing at his right hand to accuse him.

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And the Lord said, The Lord rebuke you Satan.

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This is the brand plucked from the burning.

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And the minute that scripture came, I realized the devil's trying to condemn me.

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The devil's attacking me.

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And that scripture was what God used to get hold of me.

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So you grew up, just to give everybody a little background, you grew up, your dad, a pastor.

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So you grew up, you grew up.

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Uh so even you growing and hearing from God, you had some encounters with God.

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You you had a revival in your area where God just sort of swept the the the Jesus the movie now, the the Jesus revolution.

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So you you tell us a little bit about your background.

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Then your your dad had some encounters with God, this sort of this process of how God sort of brought you along.

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I was very, very fortunate.

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And so I did grow up in a tremendous Christian home.

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My mom and dad were had were blessed in their marriage.

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They lived in the word.

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We were required to read the Bible every night, but they also had a very living relationship with God.

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Like, even young, you know, I'd find my mom on her knees in prayer.

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She'd be waiting on God.

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Pastor Jeff shared the same thing, in fact.

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My dad was a deep man in the Bible, and I grew up in a Christian home.

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In about 17, the Jesus Revolution had started a couple years before that.

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That was about, if you saw the movie Jesus Revolution there, Calvary Chapel and all, that's about 90 minutes from my house.

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I was South.

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And in 1971, it's like the Jesus Revolution hit my high school.

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There's no way to explain it to you.

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I was in a very progressive high school in California.

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And next thing I knew, kids were just turning to Christ.

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To turn to Christ became the most popular thing to do.

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A couple hundred of us would worship.

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And it was during that time that the Holy Spirit came on me very powerfully, and the gifts of Spirit began to move in my life.

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That's also where my ears got open more in this desire to hear God, to know God.

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And that became a real quest with me.

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My quest was not to hear God, just to hear God.

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I wanted to know him.

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Right.

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I wanted to get close to him.

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He talks about you can be my friend.

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I'll speak with you, I'll lead, I'll guide you.

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And that became a life quest for me to spend the time it took so I could learn to hear God, to know him better.

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So you see, and and you see something happening right now in our culture.

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Like, I mean, speaking maybe to a parent or a teacher or even a young person, there there is there is something building in our culture.

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I mean, some talk about we may use the word revival, some may use God's touching people or you know, evangelism or whatever context they're coming from.

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But there is there is something happening.

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And why why do you think it is?

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Do we have this generation that that is just not they're they're hungry not just for church?

00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:42.799
We're seeing it in our church, thousands of young people and they're being saved, they're bringing their parents to to church.

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What's happening among is it similar to what you experience?

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What's happening?

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Well, yeah, I think it's interesting historically, whenever God is doing something fresh in the world, he starts with young people.

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Yeah.

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I mean, the disciples of Jesus weren't old.

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And then, you know, on the day of Pentecost, they talk about this prophecy of Joel, where it says the Holy Spirit will be poured out in all flesh, and your sons and your daughters.

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Yeah.

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It starts young.

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So when you begin to look at uh the history of like God moving, in almost every occasion, older people were praying it in, but it started with young people.

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So we know now, statistically, for instance, these younger generations are more open to God.

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It's historic right now.

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Right.

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Like young men wanting to go to church.

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And so when you look at some of the great moves that started America, for instance, the Second Great Awakening in Cain Ridge, Kentucky, there were 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds, 14-year-olds, 17-year-olds beginning to preach.

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And so, truly, even as God moved on me at 17, I watched him move on my kids at very early ages.

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And the whole generations we may have been most concerned about, God is touching them dramatically.

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Well, I mean, we're seeing, we're seeing actually, though, there were several statistical predictions coming out of COVID that just are not true.

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Like they just sort of writing off an entire generation that said they're going to become atheists, they're going to turn away.

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And we have seen the exact opposite, just this God sweeping this generation into wanting to hear from God.

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And I and I think I think that's something that happens with younger people is they they they just don't have the same toleration for religious activity.

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And so God uses that backdrop to touch them.

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I remember going into COVID in in prayer, and from time to time the Lord will let me kind of sense and see the future.

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And over the months, he was I saw this death coming on the world, and God kept telling me, there's gonna be polarization, there's gonna be death, but let me tell you how it's gonna end.

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My spirit is gonna freshly touch the world.

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And honestly, it's happening in Europe, it's happening in the United States.

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There, even in Paris, there are people, young people, walking in off the street wanting to be baptized.

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Yeah.

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Like God's up to something, which is why, not just for the younger generation, but anyone that knows Christ, learning how to hear him is so important because the Holy Spirit speaks and guides.

00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:23.679
So, what else are you writing?

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So, so in in this book, there's the foundation of the word of God, the it's the measurement.

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If some if someone tells you God told me to do this and it violates his word, then they did not hear from God.

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And then you have wise counsel.

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So we see that as a pattern.

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You talked about having this hunger, like, what are some other things you're writing about in there?

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What are some other some other things?

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My sheep hear my voice, which is a incredible passage, knowing God is a communicator.

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There's there's no doubt, um, got the sense of God's presence, like in the whole feeling realm.

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What's the best way I can say this?

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There'll be a lot of times I'm sitting at home and all of a sudden the presence of God will come on me very strongly.

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I'll feel like, well, I'm not in church, I'm not preaching, or I'll be I'll be just in prayer and I'll feel a grief over something.

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And a lot of times what happens is God uses the sense of his presence to position you to hear him.

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Like typically before he speaks, what's the better word?

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I feel him.

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I feel his presence.

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Maybe I'll be reading a book, looking at my Yankees, and I'll just realize put that down.

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Put that down.

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And so typically you'll sense God forgot about the Yankees.

00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.639
It was all bad news, is all I can say this year.

00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:50.960
Okay.

00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:57.600
But humor aside, typically you sense God before you hear God.

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There you go.

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And you'll feel his presence come on you.

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A lot of people just ignore that.

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Right.

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And so when I'm home, I'll feel the presence of God.

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I'll go, like, what do you want?

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Yeah.

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What's on your mind?

00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:18.720
And so once he's done that, the burden of God's come on you, the presence of God has come on you, all these things.

00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:22.399
Once God's done that, how does he communicate with you?

00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:28.639
Like if the Holy Spirit wanted to get hold of you, well, number one, he will talk to you.

00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:31.039
It's interesting, you know.

00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:36.000
Elijah the great prophet, like he was in a deep depression.

00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:37.840
He was in deep brokenness.

00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:41.840
Like Jezebel was hunting to kill him and had the greatest miracle of his ministry.

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Now he's despondent, wanted to die.

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And it said, Man, man, there is this big wind, this big wind, big fire, earthquake.

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So God wouldn't any of them.

00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:51.519
He heard the whisper.

00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:52.000
Yeah.

00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:58.720
And so there's no doubt that there are many times God communicates with us in our conscious mind.

00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:02.240
Just a soft whisper.

00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:03.519
You see, that's crazy.

00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:04.639
No, that's in the Bible.

00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:07.840
Well, you go, how do I know it's not my imagination?

00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:11.279
And that is a right question.

00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:14.000
Um I've heard God many times.

00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:17.600
One great man said, I know God's voice like I know the voice of my mother.

00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:19.600
I've just heard it a bunch.

00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:24.320
Here's what I call it, for lack of a better word, spiritual heartburn.

00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:25.759
Let me explain that for a minute.

00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:30.559
So the disciples, you remember they're on the road to Emmaus, the two disciples, and Luke chapter 24.

00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:31.679
Depressed.

00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:34.320
Man, he's died, he didn't come back.

00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:38.879
Jesus appears to them, but their unbelief is just blind.

00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:40.000
He's there, he goes, What's wrong?

00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.600
He goes, That Jesus never came back, he never appeared.

00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:45.440
Like, what's wrong with him?

00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:47.519
I mean, it's laughable.

00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:56.240
They finally sit down, they're breaking bread, it disappears, and one goes, We should have known because our hearts burned.

00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:03.039
What they're saying is we felt that when he used to preach and do miracles, we'd feel this sense in our heart.

00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:04.559
That's what he felt.

00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:10.480
So all I can explain when God speaks, there's a sense that comes with it.

00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:21.920
Yes, you judge it by the word, but I cannot tell you how many times, thousands of times at this point, that's happened to me, where God's led me, guided me.

00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:23.279
I'll tell you one story.

00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:34.559
My wife and I, we've been met, we've been, we're working on, I guess we've been married 46 years, and we determined we pray together every night over our grandkids, whoever's president.

00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:42.240
We were praying, and all of a sudden we're praying over, we have triplet grandkids, we're praying, and I got to one of them, I just felt a grief.

00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:43.519
Didn't make sense.

00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:47.839
And the minute I feel like something like that, I don't just go on, I pause.

00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:51.119
I feel, I say, Lord, what do you need?

00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:53.440
And he spoke to me very clearly.

00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:57.920
The enemy is coming to kill your grandson.

00:17:58.240 --> 00:17:58.799
Pray right now.

00:17:58.960 --> 00:17:59.839
This is a true story.

00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:01.920
We begin to cry out in prayer.

00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:06.400
They found him not breathing blue, dying in the corner the next day.

00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:08.400
There were missionaries in another country.

00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:13.680
By the mercy of God, they revived him on the way of the hospital he lived.

00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:15.839
God will speak to you.

00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:17.839
God will guide you.

00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.000
And listen, you say, Well, it's because you're a pastor.

00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:21.680
No, it's not because I'm a pastor.

00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:23.759
My sheep hear my voice.

00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:27.359
And so God will yes, speak softly.

00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:31.599
At times he'll give you impressions on the screen of your mind.

00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:32.000
Yeah.

00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.000
The Bible calls that visions.

00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.920
That's just a big word for you might see something imprinting on your mind.

00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:39.839
I'll share one story, Pastor Jeff.

00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:52.799
I was praying, and one of my one of my dearest friend's sons is like my own son, and he was leading uh as a lieutenant in an elite military unit in a very serious fire base in Afghanistan.

00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:57.359
He told me before he left, he goes, Uncle Jam, he goes, please promise to pray for me.

00:18:58.000 --> 00:18:59.200
This is a true story.

00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:01.920
I was in prayer, his name was Jeremy.

00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:04.240
Jeremy came to my mind.

00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:17.759
I began to pray, and I looked, it was day here, night there, and I saw him walking at night with his men, and he was getting ready to step down on an IED.

00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:19.680
Telling you the true story.

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:22.880
I said, I said, I just cried, spare him, Lord.

00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:24.160
Don't let him do it.

00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:25.279
Stop him.

00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:27.839
Came back months later and he said, I don't know if you're praying for me.

00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:32.240
He said, one night, walking on a trail, I looked down right before I stepped.

00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:36.319
Never underestimate what God can do with you.

00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:40.400
But let me say this it doesn't start that way.

00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:51.519
The real key in hearing God is learning to pause and wait and quiet your soul.

00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:55.440
You people go, well, man, God, I this is the revelation of hearing God.

00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:56.400
How do I realize it?

00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:58.160
Quite honestly, repetition.

00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:00.960
I quiet my soul every day.

00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:01.920
What do you mean by that?

00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:04.559
I want to get so quiet.

00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:06.319
I know that's not easy.

00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:10.319
A lot of you have noise all around you, but noise in you, busyness.

00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:11.839
I'll take a deep breath.

00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.839
I'll say, Lord, anything on your mind.

00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:16.960
I taught all my kids that when they were children.

00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.160
And I've learned to quiet my soul.

00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:21.440
It's a reflex now.

00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:24.640
So when I hit crisis, maybe you're a businessman.

00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:27.119
I work with key business leaders and government.

00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:31.359
You face major decisions all day long.

00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:33.039
Let me encourage you.

00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.480
Study's great, but quietness is critical.

00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:37.359
There you go.

00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:45.759
Always give, whether you are a teacher, a business person, a pastor, a parent with your kid, you know what to do, quiet yourself.

00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:56.000
And what the Lord taught me is in every situation, I always give him a chance to lead me, to guide me, to give me a scripture.

00:20:56.400 --> 00:21:03.519
Which has has always been be still and know that I'm God, or we see Jesus go away to a quiet place.

00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:07.279
We see these patterns in the Bible, but even more so today.

00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:07.839
Yes.

00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:12.640
In the world we live in today, the noise is way louder than it was when you were growing up.

00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:14.960
Much easier to quiet your soul then than today.

00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:17.839
Well, I mean, Moses said all you have to do is be still.

00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:19.359
But stillness is hard.

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:31.839
Sometimes when I teach people to hear God, I turn on, I turn on recordings of firefights, sirens, because typically when you need God the most, it's not quiet either around you or in you.

00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:36.079
Like you're facing, and I face this, we think your wife has brain cancer.

00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:36.480
Right.

00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:39.200
We don't think your son will live again.

00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:40.400
And here's the problem.

00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:42.960
And pausing there, these are real experiences.

00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:47.680
You almost you almost died in, you know, went to the mission field and got a bigger.

00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:48.480
I live dying.

00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.240
Your your wife had Oh, I thought cancer was in her brain.

00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:54.319
She cancer had spread to her brain.

00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:59.680
I had a son dying of a of a disease, 107 pounds dying in my arm.

00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:01.519
But here's the problem.

00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:03.599
This is the crisis people live in.

00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:05.039
They're in a crisis, right?

00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:09.039
But they've never learned to hear God and they wait till the crisis to try to hear him.

00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:09.440
Yeah.

00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:12.640
He's merciful, thank God, for good pastors like Jeff.

00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:20.720
That is why, if you don't practice hearing God when it doesn't seem to matter, you'll have trouble when it does.

00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:21.519
So good.

00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:24.160
I I I that I beg you.

00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:27.519
Like quiet your soul.

00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:29.599
It's your birthright.

00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:38.160
You will feel him typically before you hear him, but many times you ignore the feelings that are positioning you to hear him.

00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:42.079
And like when my wife they told me, Go home and be with your kids.

00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:43.599
We think she's got brain cancer.

00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:44.960
I had four small kids.

00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:49.839
I was driving back, praying up a storm for her, scared to death.

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:56.559
I mean, we you know, with the first, you know, we're early 30s, and I thought the Holy Spirit speak to me.

00:22:56.720 --> 00:22:57.440
Stop praying.

00:22:57.519 --> 00:22:58.720
I go, I rebuke you, devil.

00:22:58.880 --> 00:22:59.680
He goes, Stop.

00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:01.440
Well, how'd you know?

00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:03.119
I'd heard it thousands of times.

00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:05.039
And I said, Why should I stop?

00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:06.880
He said, She's fine.

00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:10.400
Peace flooded my soul.

00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:11.519
I couldn't make it up.

00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:15.920
And I prayed for missions, and she was fine the next morning.

00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:21.279
Maybe she never had it, maybe she did, but but that doesn't come naturally.

00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:25.119
And I was in the military, I jumped out of airplanes and all kinds of things.

00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:27.920
You practice until it's reflex.

00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:28.319
Right.

00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:29.839
It's the same with God.

00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:33.920
Waiting on God for me is reflex.

00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:42.720
Not because I'm a pastor, but because I'm a child of God, and I spent hours of my life.

00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:43.920
You go, well, it's your job.

00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.279
No, I spent hours before I start pastoring.

00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:49.359
I spent hours before I go to bed.

00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:50.000
Yes.

00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:52.480
Don't settle for a monologue.

00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:55.279
Dialogue your birthright.

00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:56.240
So good.

00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:02.720
I want to, I wanna I want to talk just for a moment about context, culture, and leadership too.

00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:12.640
Because to the individual, what you're communicating, and I can't wait for your book to come out because it's just getting that personal equipping that we can hear from God.

00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:14.480
God wants to speak to us.

00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:20.880
But I want to talk for a minute because a lot of people listening are also people who create environments.

00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:36.960
Leaders create, there's there's there's there's people listening, they they're gonna lead that young adult service or that youth team or that church or that ministry, or maybe they're a Christian business guy and they want a certain climate within their leadership team, or a lot of parents.

00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:53.279
I mean, I think cultivating, so we're not just talking about as an individual now, as a leader cultivating this atmosphere of being with God and being close to God because of our longtime relationship.

00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:58.240
I I believe there's also impartation of if you're around people.

00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:22.640
So I found myself traveling with you and you praying for people, and then myself being like, well, I feel like God's giving me an impression because there is interesting about spiritual gifts, and and and we we are continuationists, meaning the Spirit of God's still working in us, he's still available to us, and then also his gifts are still available.

00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:36.880
I think, you know, prophetically speaking, or the word prophecy is more forthelling, meaning speaking God's truth in a present-day language.

00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:40.559
It isn't a lot of times people think it's foretelling.

00:25:40.799 --> 00:25:54.400
There are gifts of the Spirit that that I've seen you operate in where God gives us insight and wisdom, but at the end of the day, it's it's the human, it's a it's God using us, no different than evangelism.

00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:58.480
He'll use an evangelistic moment where you share Christ.

00:25:58.640 --> 00:26:01.680
You don't save the person, but God used you as a conduit.

00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:04.400
And I've I've seen him use you in that.

00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:27.039
But I guess where I'm going to is I I think why a lot of people are going to listen to this podcast is, you know, I've not been doing it as long as you, but I've been doing it 30 years, and I think we kind of go through seasons, and and there's no doubt today, or at least the last season of time is really pragmatism has won the day.

00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:32.160
I think we're just we're better at, we have a lot more tools for leadership.

00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:35.359
We talk about leadership, tools for church.

00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:41.359
But I would I would talk to a leader listening to talk about, I'll talk a lot about breath and bones.

00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:44.400
Like you need the bones, you need the breath.

00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:51.119
You being connected with builders, you you wrote a book years ago talking about the divine alliance.

00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.680
I'm still encouraging, I think we should reprint it.

00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:57.039
The breath, the bones, the wineskin, the wine.

00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:04.880
But what would you say to some leaders out there who would say, Well, I think I'm really good at building structure and teams and systems?

00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:08.160
How do you bring this dimension?

00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:16.960
You you just you just prayed with our staff, and there was this impartation, and I think our staff felt closer to God.

00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:20.000
They they were hungry to spend time with God.

00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:21.359
Talk about that.

00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:23.039
How do we foster that as leaders?

00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:24.240
I'll say a couple things.

00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:27.599
Number one, um, I'm a big church man.

00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:32.559
I love the church, I'm under authority, and I've always worked with church builders.

00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:33.920
I've pastored myself.

00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:39.119
I'm not a great church builder, but I am deeply loving people and pastoring people.

00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:41.359
The Lord told me the more you love, the more I'll tell you.

00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:53.839
So I think it's so, so important that you know, the apostolic gift of sending, building, and God said he's placed first in the church apostles, followed by prophets.

00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:57.119
And that's I'm talking about the gift of prophecy, although that's very important.

00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:12.000
And so I want to encourage you as a leader to find some trusted voice that's prophetic, that I mean they're they're they're fluent in hearing God, God speaks, God talks with them, they're under authority, they're part of a local church.

00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:14.160
Like that's very important.

00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:26.960
And there's a and personally, there's a lot of strange things that are in the prophetic movement because a lot of times they're working outside, honestly, the authority and the pastor of a local church.

00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:37.359
And so finding a person like that um is plays an important role in your life, but it's not always easy to find them.

00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:37.759
Yeah.

00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:42.000
Like, and that's why it's so important that you learn to hear.

00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:50.480
If you're if you're you know, you're out there and you're pastoring and um you know, you can find other pastors, you may ask them about that.

00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:52.319
That's very, very important.

00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:56.799
And so within your own church, how do you create a culture?

00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:00.720
I guarantee you, there are people in your church praying for you.

00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:01.920
You don't even know them.

00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:07.759
There are people in your church praying who get revelation.

00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:11.039
They're praying, they're praying, they're probably praying for your sermons.

00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:13.680
And I mean really, really good people like.

00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:16.720
How do you find them and cultivate them?

00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:28.880
Like in a in a life-giving church, maybe your church is has one service, maybe multiple services, but you've got unbelievers there, and you, as we should be very sensitive to that, where does all this fit in?

00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:33.039
Well, I think some of the best places for this, one would be your prayer core.

00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:39.519
And once you identify intercessors, you'll find many of your prayer words are fairly gifted this way.

00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:44.960
Like Jeff's mom, like my mom, who's just passed at 93, incredible.

00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:49.039
She hears words from me, hears thoughts that are truly God.

00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:49.519
Yeah.

00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:57.440
And so when you get a good intercessor team that's under the covering of the church, that is a great place for this to flow.

00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:05.599
You love pastors, you minister to them, you've you've ministered to so many pastors and leaders with, you know, their families, their kids praying for health.

00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:20.000
One of the greatest gifts that a lot of people don't know is you have helped pastors assemble this prayer army around them, this group of intercessory people who, you know, can't can hear the things to be prayed for.

00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:23.359
They have to have a level of maturity, there's a confidentiality.

00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:30.720
But pulling them together and building that prayer shield has been probably one of the greatest gifts you've given so many pastors.

00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:32.160
I think it's it's so important.

00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:33.200
Look in the Bible.

00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:35.839
How many times does Paul talk about your prayers?

00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:38.400
I need your prayers, your prayers save me.

00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:45.920
Yeah here's Jesus at the crucible moment of his life, gets Peter, James, and John and says, Please come pray with me.

00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:46.319
Yeah.

00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:55.039
And so identifying people, and you know, there's you you already know some automatically who pray, but I've I've gone to great leaders, you'd know their names.

00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:56.240
I asked, Who prays for you?

00:30:56.319 --> 00:31:01.279
Well, three couples in my church and my mom or my wife.

00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:10.240
And so once you identify these people, um then you then they can be trained and they can help you.

00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:13.440
Um, you know, there's proactive intercession, reactive.

00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:17.680
Proactive is you pray for something you see coming, not reacting to it.

00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:20.319
So that's a great place for it in your freedom groups.

00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:34.480
Like we have groups here where we're praying for people, maybe they're bitter, maybe they're broken, to find some prophetic gifted people, especially with a word of knowledge and things, that is a great environment for it.

00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:40.559
And some of you, like your staff, for them to know how to hear God is very important, especially if they're on the altar.

00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:48.799
People are coming up to learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, can guide your questions, you can feel things, it can guide you.

00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:58.720
So these are all places from the altar to intercessors to freedom groups where these gifts can really flower.

00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:11.839
And in every church, there will be trusted people you have that they know if you if you ever feel something for me, they're trusted, they're under covering, that they can get to you.

00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:12.160
Yeah.

00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:15.759
And there in every church, there's at least two or three people like that.

00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:27.039
So it's building, it's it's building some of these ways in which that can be fostered and and be developed within the church.

00:32:27.119 --> 00:32:35.599
And and I think, I think when when you go into an atmosphere, this would be the thing I would say to someone who's building the environment.

00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:50.400
I think when you go into an atmosphere and the people coming see that as an atmosphere where God used to do stuff, God used to speak, or God's talking now, God's speaking now.

00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:58.160
And that's what's happening in this younger generation is you're seeing this hunger of God has something to say to me where I am now.

00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:04.799
And that that hunger is is resulting in um God showing up in powerful ways.

00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:06.480
And what do you what do you see coming?

00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:21.839
I want to finish up just what do you, I know you've been praying a lot, but like what are we, what what do what do you think is is is coming, what's happening as we're seeing this stirring, and we're gonna see we're gonna see God moving in unique ways in our culture.

00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:28.559
We're already seeing, I mean, they're they're calling it the the silent revival or the in the UK.

00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:43.920
Like there's this these these things happening that you were speaking of, but you know, from time to time the Lord shows me things, and in my opinion, um as we came, 2023 was a really, really critical year.

00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:57.359
And um I remember sitting in front of my world map praying, and the Holy Spirit said, you know, the first drops of revival have been in America, but there's a storm coming of power.

00:33:57.519 --> 00:34:00.400
Then the Asbury thing kicked off five days later.

00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:02.400
That was really young people.

00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:04.319
They came by the thousands.

00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:10.320
Simultaneously, that's probably where the quiet revival was beginning in the UK.

00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:15.840
Some months after the Asbury, I think the Asbury was in February and August.

00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:16.800
I was in prayer.

00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:24.960
I talked about visions, I saw the Union Jacket, half mass, people crying, weeping, but I saw the Lord really moving in a week.

00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:25.760
I said, What does it mean?

00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:29.039
He said, When the Queen of England dies, watch what I do.

00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:32.239
So I think God's answering prayers.

00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:35.440
What we're seeing in the United States is being seen in the UK.

00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:41.920
Young people are asking for Bibles, coming to church, walking off the streets.

00:34:42.239 --> 00:34:45.360
And I think it's only going to grow.

00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:45.760
Yeah.

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:54.239
And I think we're coming into a season of not days or weeks or months, um, but years.

00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:55.760
Now, here's what's important.

00:34:56.159 --> 00:35:00.239
A lot of times in historic revivals, there's kind of this one place to go to get it.

00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:06.880
Cain Ridge, you know, maybe Finney, okay, maybe Azusa Street, maybe whatever it might be.

00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:08.559
Not this time.

00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:17.599
I believe God's fresh outpouring of the Spirit is coming to your church, where you are.

00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:18.079
Yeah.

00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:26.880
And that's why it's so important now that we spend time in God's presence, that we offer ourselves to Him, that we wait for Him to speak to us and guide us.

00:35:27.119 --> 00:35:48.960
I think you were just offering to everybody here with this, what God's doing, what you just shared with our staff, was just really equipping our team to have a posture of humility, to, to one of the marks of God moving is uh an atmosphere of repentance and holiness and willingness to let God move in our lives.

00:35:49.119 --> 00:35:54.880
I think it's a time for us to re-up, resurrender, God.

00:35:55.039 --> 00:35:57.199
What what is it that you want to do in me?

00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:00.159
I think that's a that's a mark of it as well.

00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:02.159
Um, and prayer.

00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:11.920
I mean, if you were to say one of the most quote unquote prophetic things we can do with our youth ministry, our young adults, our churches is prayer.

00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:20.239
I think, I think what we've seen in the church as of recent years is there's been a a lot more churches fasting and praying to start the year.

00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:20.880
No doubt.

00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:26.239
And and I think God's God's meeting them um in those places as well.

00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:38.320
You know, the book of Isaiah says, you know, I'm the I'm a God, I live on high, I'm high and holy, but I also live with the contrite and the humble to revive them.

00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:42.320
So I'm personally positioning myself.

00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:48.960
You know, I've I've been saved since I was eight years old, called to preach at 17.

00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:52.480
But I I feel there's been I feel a whole new sense.

00:36:52.639 --> 00:36:53.679
What do you want with me?

00:36:54.559 --> 00:36:55.920
I'll be 71 soon.

00:36:56.079 --> 00:36:58.000
What do you want with me at 70?

00:36:58.400 --> 00:36:59.280
What's next?

00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:02.800
God, is there anything I mean, I'm really earnest right now.

00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:04.079
What do you what do you need?

00:37:04.239 --> 00:37:06.239
Is there some sin I've missed blocking?

00:37:06.559 --> 00:37:09.039
I think we're that's how we need to position ourselves.

00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:09.440
Yeah.

00:37:09.599 --> 00:37:18.639
As individuals, but we also need among your young adults, your teens, they need moments where they can get corporately helped to do that.

00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:20.480
There's a deep moment of worship.

00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:25.199
You might want to say, maybe you you feel to give yourself more freshly to Christ.

00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:25.440
Yeah.

00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:28.559
Maybe you feel like there's some sin you're wrestling with.

00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:30.400
Please come up.

00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:37.440
Moments where we're not, I'm not talking about Sunday morning, multiple services, but we have to create worship moments.

00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:39.119
We have to create environments.

00:37:39.360 --> 00:37:40.800
Now, God be God.

00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:45.679
His presence falls and a bunch of people run weeping to the altar on Sunday morning, so be it.

00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:50.320
But God's coming to touch us and it starts with leaders.

00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:55.280
Whether you're corporate leader, school leader, spiritual leader, it starts with you.

00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:55.760
Yeah.

00:37:55.920 --> 00:37:57.360
I am I encourage you.

00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:00.000
Jeff and I are positioning ourselves.

00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:01.360
I need more of you.

00:38:01.599 --> 00:38:03.039
What do you want from me?

00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:05.599
Is there anything blocking it?

00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:08.159
Yes.

00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:14.559
I mean, we we put ourselves, God's moving, but He He responds to us positioning ourselves in that way.

00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:18.639
And so Well, Pastor Jim, thank you for for being on here.

00:38:18.719 --> 00:38:20.559
Thank you for being my pastor.

00:38:20.800 --> 00:38:26.159
And uh thank you for, I mean, Brandy and I, we we so love celebrating you last night.

00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:27.679
And it was a lot of fun.

00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:28.400
Thank you so much.

00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:29.920
It was quite an honor to have.

00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:38.559
We had a lot of our friends and years over of ministry coming together, and uh, we had just such a great time celebrating you.

00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:43.760
And I know you're working on this uh hearing God material.

00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:48.960
I think everyone really so many people, what's God's will?

00:38:49.119 --> 00:38:50.480
What decisions should I make?

00:38:50.639 --> 00:38:55.840
Leaders especially, because they they feel the weight of responsibility to be making decisions for other people.

00:38:56.000 --> 00:39:02.480
So we're praying that you get that book and those resources and you can continue to encourage us in that way.

00:39:02.800 --> 00:39:03.840
Thank you very much.

00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:10.079
I want to say thank you for checking out this episode of the Lead to Win podcast.

00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:20.960
I want you to know that I love and my team loves getting this kind of content into your life so it can help you lead and win at what matters most.

00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:34.480
So I'd love you to do me a favor like, comment, especially, subscribe if you would, so that we can make sure that we're able to get to you some of the things that are gonna help you lead and win.