The One Thing You Cannot Live Without!

[00:00:22] Okay, well, welcome back. [00:00:24] And hey, I don't know if you're freezing, but I am. [00:00:29] We are in the throes of the huge winter ice storm that just came through practically the entire nation. Everybody's kind of, especially here in the south, because we're not equipped to handle ice storms, which we typically get ice and not snow or sleet, and sometimes we get a mixture, but ice is so dangerous and deadly, so we're all kind of locked in our homes. I was fortunate enough to not lose my electricity. Yay. I'm still praying for all the people who did and know how horrible that must be. [00:01:00] I remember losing electricity and Internet and all that fun stuff back in 21. So grateful for this time around. [00:01:09] Like I said, though, I still am praying for everyone else who doesn't. I'm so sorry. I know it must be horrible. And hopefully you guys are staying warm and you have. You were prepared. And if you are not, I am praying that God is providing for you and meeting your needs, where if you need a miracle or whatever. I totally, totally am agreeing with you for that. [00:01:31] But, you know, I wanted to just talk to you today about something that's been kind of burning in my heart the last week. [00:01:39] I keep up with the worldwide news, the, you know, the U.S. news. [00:01:46] I also keep up with a lot that's going on in the, I guess in the ministry, church world as well. And I know that probably some of you do as well if you don't. You know what, honestly, good for you, because I tell you what, if you start really seeing what's going on around us, really paying attention, it can really start pulling you down. And that's something that I've had to learn how to like, really listen to the Lord and not get so wrapped up in it because it. It is super dark out there and we are the light. And sometimes it feels like you may be the only light in your area, but we know that the light extinguishes the darkness. The darkness cannot consume it. [00:02:35] Even if you are the only light, you are still the light, right? But it can feel very lonely and it can feel very dark. [00:02:41] And I feel like, you know, as. As time moves on and we are. Who knows if we are in the end times? It definitely seems like it, but it could be 50 years. It could be 150. It could be 2,000 years from now, or it could be two weeks, you know, but we have to live, like, it could be any moment, right? But one of the things that we see in scripture is this acceleration of darkness in the earth. [00:03:05] And so we definitely are seeing darkness consuming the face of the earth. [00:03:12] And it's hard to watch. And it really. If you aren't intentionally focused on the Lord, it can start to really pull and weigh you down as well. And so I just want to bring some encouragement to you today. And also, I get so encouraged when I do these podcast episodes because I need to hear this, too. Like, I need to be reminded of this because I can get caught up in it and just looking at the darkness and, you know, I have this, like, visualization because I'm a super. Like, when I write or speak, I really give. [00:03:46] You know, I give you images and pictures because I really think that we remember better that way. And as I've been thinking about this, what I'm going to talk about today, been thinking about it for a few weeks. I kept thinking about that movie called Bird Box. Do you guys remember that? It came out. I think it was like, 2020 or whatever. It was a horrible movie, and I really wish I hadn't watched it because I had a lot of profanity and it's not something I usually watch, and it was super dark and. And kind of it was scary, but my family was like, hey, let's just watch it. You know, it's fine. So I remember watching it. And, you know, the whole thing about the movie, the whole premise is that you can't. If you look at. If you. If you look outside or you look into the light and you don't have anything over your eyes, then all of a sudden, this evil force takes control of you, right? And you lose your mind. [00:04:37] And I just been thinking lately about how. [00:04:41] Isn't that what this can feel like sometimes? That, you know, we become whatever we behold? [00:04:47] And so as we're looking at how dark the world is, it's so easy to get sucked into it. And then before you know it, that's all you see, that's all you think about. [00:04:56] And I don't know if that picture resonates with you, but I just want to kind of sound the alarm of, hey, what are you looking at? You know, are you. Are you spending more time looking at Jesus, Looking at scripture, spending time with other believers, being in the light, fellowshipping with God? Are you doing that more than you are looking at this? Other things that. Yes, we're in the world, so you can't. I mean, you obviously can't walk around with a blindfold on, so you're gonna see it, but do you intentionally live in it all the Time, even when you don't have to, because it really is a weight around you. And if you're sensitive like me, and I have a whole series on sensitivity, you can go back and listen to it. But, man, like, I can't do a lot of things that some people do. It just pulls me down. And I just. And it's not that I'm special. It's just. That's just the way God wired me. And maybe you're that way, too, where, you know, it's not that we're better than anybody else or worse than anybody else. It's just how we are wired. And you have to know that if you're a sensitive person, you have to be oh, so careful about the things you watch and listen to. [00:06:00] And you really have to be intentional about your walk with God and making sure that you are staying in a healthy place and that you are seeking him, fellowshipping with him, fellowshipping with other believers, going to church, doing the things that, you know as a Christian. And it's not out of a legal obligation to check the boxes, but it's out of. No, I want to be in the light. I want to know him more. I love him. I want to be in his presence. It comes from that place. And so I'm kind of framing this to set up what I want to talk about today, which is, you know, the thing you cannot live without, the thing we cannot live without, which is the Word of God. [00:06:39] I've been really stirred lately about the Bible, the Word of God, the Logos word of God, the message that he's given us, that he has spoken. And it's all throughout our Bible. [00:06:54] It's the message of redemption through his son, forgiveness of sins through his son, the atonement, the sacrifice, but also the reconnection of us to Him. The story is, I love you and sin separate us, and I want to bring you back into the family. [00:07:12] That's the story, that's the message. That's the Logos word of God. And it's written all through what we consider our Bible. It's what God has given us to keep us, to keep us stable, to keep us strong, to keep us knowing the truth and not being deceived. [00:07:30] And so what brought this message around along for me was, as I told you, I'm a person who really, I pay attention to what's going on, and particularly what's going on in the, I guess I should say, charismatic circles over the past few years has been unbelievable. The exposure of people on platforms and pastors and you Know, quote unquote, prophets and people with these huge platform ministries. [00:07:58] You know, I mean, it's a hard place to be in. And oftentimes what happens is they, they, they become, I think, probably full of pride. [00:08:07] And that is a doorway for Satan to get, to get in. And what you're seeing now is a lot of people falling and a lot of it's sexual sin. I mean, like 95% of its sexual sin. [00:08:21] There's some other stuff out there too, but there is a big, huge minister that was exposed this week, and it was quite shocking to me. [00:08:31] Wasn't expecting it, didn't really, you know, I don't sit around and, you know, analyze people and go, this person's a false prophet or this person's a blah, blah, blah. I don't usually do that. I kind of just stay in my own lane and I just release whatever God tells me to say. And then I just like, okay, you know, that's not my thing. I don't have the authority really to go around. I don't feel like God's called me to that. I'm not saying it's not necessary to call out false people prophets. I do think that that's a probably a necessary thing that needs to happen. And, and this is why I think that. And this is why I'm doing this podcast episode today. So this person that fell was. Was Sean Bowles. And I don't know if you are familiar with him. He was kind of a. Not kind of. He was a huge person of influence in the charismatic world as a prophet. [00:09:24] And he would, you know, give these prophetic words at conferences where he would release like people's birth dates or he would just know somebody's name or their birth dates or what street they lived on and just things like that. And so that was part of it. The other part of it that came out was that he was mining social media platforms because he was getting these, these people's information in advance when they would sign up for his conference. [00:09:54] And so he would pick people and that he knew was going to be there. And then he would make these prophetic. Make up these prophetic words based on what he could dig around and find on their Facebook page. So there's that. The other thing that he was exposed for was unbelievable sexual immorality that is just so disturbing the victims that he, you know, he's allegedly accused of this obviously has to be proven, but this was, it was bad. And then so, you know, I, I used to follow, I did follow him on YouTube and he would release videos every week and it would be like, you know, encouragement stuff. And it always seemed mostly in line. It was, sometimes I would be like, I don't know about that, you know, but I went, I was on YouTube and I noticed that he had pulled his entire Facebook profile down. [00:10:47] He pulled all of his everywhere. All of his social media accounts are gone. His website says on a sabbatical. And that's all it says there. You can't even go back and look at any of his old stuff. I mean, this is huge. And Bethel Church came out and released a statement about their affiliation with him and how it ended and how they wish they would have exposed him sooner because so many people, thousands of people have been hurt by his ministry and some of the things he said and done sexually to people. So there's just a lot of that kind of stuff. And this episode is not specifically about him, but this is what brought it on. So there's just a lot of stuff out there like that right now. You had the exposure of ihop, Casey's Mike Bickle a few years ago. [00:11:31] You had. [00:11:32] Robert Morris was convicted and I think he's in prison now for the sexual misconduct and the rape basically of a younger, of a teenage girl. [00:11:42] So just there, there's so many of them. I can't even keep it all straight in my head cuz I feel like every, every other month or something somebody's getting dethroned from their platform ministry. And, and so as I was thinking about all this, really what kept coming to my heart was the deception, the, the deceit that's out there. And we know that this is classic of the end times. Jesus talks about how there's going to be. And not just Jesus, but there's so much Paul talks about it in his epistles where he's saying, you know, there's going to be so many people deceived in the last days and there's going to be false prophets and there's going to be people saying that they are the Christ. And you know, and he says, do not be deceived because it's going to happen. And here's the thing about that stuff is they don't, they don't do it in a way where you can tell it's deception easily. Okay? And here's how you don't get deceived. [00:12:41] How you don't get deceived is, you know, the Bible for yourself and you know, the Lord for yourself. You know, it would be really hard for me right now. I'm Going to give you an example. I know my husband's voice. I know it very well. [00:12:56] I know my mother's voice very well. I mean, very well. Doesn't most people know their mother's voice? I mean, you, you lived inside of your mother for 10 months, right? [00:13:06] So you know their voice. And if somebody tried to call you on the phone and it wasn't your mother, but they had some of the same kind of inflections and maybe their tone was a little bit like your mother, but you were like, that doesn't. That's not quite my mother's voice. It's similar, but that's not my mother. Right. And so that's how I equate this deception thing is, you know, Jesus said, my sheep know my voice. They hear my voice, they know my voice, and a stranger they will not follow. And so you have to know the voice of God. And how do you know the voice of God? You know it because you have read his word to you, his message to you, the letter that he wrote to you. His, His Bible that he had his prophets and messengers and he had these godly people that have been, that wrote this for us. And it was brought together over the, over centuries. And the way that even happened is even miraculous that we even have this book put together by all these men that wrote it that were inspired by the Spirit. Paul says that they were inspired by the Spirit to write these things. And you know, here's the truth about that. You either believe that or you don't. And if you're struggling with, I don't really know if the Bible is really true because there's a lot of Christians, the stats are awful. When you look at people who really don't believe the Bible and they think it's just kind of like stories and that are not true. But it's just like two, like, I don't know, nursery type stories, you know, teach us good and evil and things like that. That's ridiculous. The word of God is true, completely true. [00:14:45] And it's real and it's active and alive. And it's, it's the thing we cannot live without. [00:14:51] Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And that was what he said to Satan as Satan was tempting him. Why don't you turn these stones into bread? Jesus said no. And it's because he knew the word of God, right? He knew that that voice he was hearing was not a good voice. That was Satan. That was an evil voice because he knew what his father had said. He was the word, actually, he knew the word. [00:15:18] And we have to know the word. We have to know that voice. Just like you know your mother's voice, like you know your spouse's voice. And you couldn't be tricked and you couldn't be duped. If they called you and it wasn't them, you would know that is not my mother's voice, that is not my husband's voice. And you wouldn't fall for the trap. And so what I'm trying to get across to you today because I feel it in my spirit and I feel an urgency about it. Please do not, Please do not just listen to every voice out there and assume that it is the voice of God just because it's coming from a platform or it's coming from a well known minister. [00:15:53] You have got to be so careful. We have got to be so careful because it can lead you down a really dangerous road. One of the stories that came out from this exposure of Sean Bowles, there was a lady that had been interviewed and she said he had given a quote, unquote prophetic word to her. [00:16:14] Well, at the time, he was her. He was her fiance or boyfriend. And Sean Bowles had mined his account and had saw that he was wanting to marry. He was in a relationship with this specific girl. She worked at a specific restaurant and he had listed on there and he knew her name and all these little, you know, facts about him. And so when he's standing up there prophesying, he's saying, hey, is there a. I'm just gonna use the name. Is there a Jason in here? [00:16:42] And he had the last name, too. And so he's like, yeah, that's me. He's like, do you have a girlfriend name whatever, Carol or something? [00:16:49] Yeah. Does she work at, I don't know, New Beginnings Bakery? [00:16:55] Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Well, then he goes into this, which is such a horrible thing to do when you, when you operate in the gift of prophecy. He said, well, you know, God said, you guys are going to get married and it's going to be amazing and you're going to change the world and blah, blah, blah with your marriage. And so what ends up happening is this girl, because she's lured into this, quote, unquote prophetic word, she marries this guy and he tries to kill her. He's crazy. He strangles. He tries to strangle her multiple times. The last time she was in the hospital and did not even know she was gonna survive because, like, you can die Even a couple days after you get choked by someone strangled. So just the effects of, of this disastrous, ungodly, false prophetic thing, it's unbelievable what it did to her. [00:17:47] And there are other people that may not have that extreme of a story, but their lives have been ruined and hijacked by these false prophetic words from these people that are on platforms that their heart is. It's really all about money for a lot of them because what they're trying to do is they're just trying to secure, you know, more, more platform bookings, more money. And to keep that thing going, they can buy the big house and two or three houses in the cars and. But, you know, on the surface it looks like they're such caring, amazing people and they are wolves in sheep's clothing. And Jesus was talking about that when he talked about, you know, I am the good shepherd and I lay down my life for the sheep. And he's talking about how much he loves them, and then he talks about how, you know, they know my voice and a stranger they won't follow. So what am I saying to you? I'm saying to you and me, we have got to really know his voice. And we do that by really getting into His Word. We do that by coupling that with prayer and worship and being faithful and attending where God has placed you in the body of believers that he's put you in. [00:18:59] We do that by surrounding ourselves with him, by what we watch, what we listen to. We need to be hearing his voice over and over and over so that we can't be deceived by someone else. [00:19:12] Here's something to think about that. You know, we often treat God's word as optional, like something we turn to when life feels unstable. [00:19:21] But scripture, it tells a different story. [00:19:25] The word of God is not in accessory to faith. It is the source of life. So not only does does the word of God keep us from being deceived, it is actually our source of life. [00:19:37] Just as the body cannot survive without nourishment, the soul cannot live without truth. [00:19:43] Listen to that. The soul cannot live without truth, just like the body cannot survive without nourishment. What we take in daily shapes what we become. [00:19:52] And so I just want to read to you real quick and kind of look at Hebrews 4:12. I love this scripture. And I, you know, today, because I was getting ready for sharing this with you, I wanted to make sure that I'm not. [00:20:12] Gosh, I so want to handle the word of God so carefully. [00:20:18] I don't want to Just throw things out to support a point that I, that I want to make. That really, you know, that's not what the Bible's saying. But I'm just using to me because there's so many people that do that. [00:20:28] I will hear them preach and teach and, and they'll, they'll use the Scripture and they'll slap it in there with no context to support their point. But, but if you go back and look at the Scripture, that's not what it was talking about. [00:20:40] That's another, another situation where you have to take the whole, the full counsel of God. You have to know the Bible for yourself. And what I'm so grateful for, so grateful for is that I grew up in a church where I heard the word of God all the time. And to this day I love what Psalm 119 says. It says, I've hidden in your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. That's Psalm 119, 11. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Or you know, there have been so many times in my life where because I had heard that word over and over and somehow managed to store it up in my heart, it came out when I needed it to. [00:21:20] It came out when there was a moment where I didn't know what to do. [00:21:23] It came forward. The Word of God came forward and showed me the way. I love that picture. It came out when I was walking, maybe in some deception. I was just doing this the other day, walking in some deception in my own life and I heard the Lord say to me, you have a root of bitterness. And I immediately knew, I think that's coming from James. So I look it up, you know, where it talks about that root of bitterness. [00:21:54] And I mean it was the word of God because I'd heard it before, right? I had a reference point. But if you don't read your Bible and you don't know what he sounds like, you have no reference point. [00:22:04] And it makes for really easy target for Satan to deceive you. But I want to just jump into Hebrews chapter four and I want to give you context first I'm going to read you 4 and 12 and this is what everybody talks about and reads when they talk about the Word of God. So I'm going to read it to you. For the Word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double edged sword penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. [00:22:44] So he's talking about how powerful the word of God is. But what's interesting that I never noticed until today, and it may not be super relevant, but I just thought it was worth mentioning, is that the whole chapter of Hebrews, chapter four is about entering into the rest of God. And he's talking about how he spoke to the Israelites. [00:23:04] They would not trust him, they would not enter into his rest, they would not have faith. So he swore in his anger, they will not enter into his rest. [00:23:16] And then he talks about how they never entered in, but there's still a rest that remains for us to enter in. And he talks about how David says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. So he's still talking about God speaking, God's voice, like God is still speaking. [00:23:32] And then he talks about how, you know, therefore the Sabbath rest remains for God's people, for the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own work. So he's talking about like, kind of like salvation at this point. And it's strange because he's like, he says, let us then make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. So now he's referencing back to the Israelites. We have to, you know, trust and rest and have faith that this, this thing that God did for us was enough. Like, we don't have to bring our sacrifice. We don't have to bring a lamb and cut it up into pieces and sacrifice it. We have our slain lamb, Jesus, who was the ultimate sacrifice for us. So he says, you know, let us then make every effort to enter the rest so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. But then he says, for the Word of God is living ineffective and sharper than a double edged sword penetrating as far as separation of soul and spir spirit joints and marrow. [00:24:30] And you're like, where did that come from? [00:24:33] Where, where did that come from? Because you weren't, you weren't really talking about the, the Bible, the Word of God. [00:24:40] But wasn't he, he was talking about the Word of God. Because all through that passage above, and this is what so matters about context. All through the passage above, what he's saying is, I was telling them, my voice was saying my message, my message was telling them, I have a place of rest for you, if you will trust me. If you will have faith in me. [00:25:02] Because when you look at this word for the word in verse 12, for the word of God is living and effective and sharp. The word logos is the word for word. [00:25:14] That is the translation of it is the Logos. And it means, it's like a message. It does mean a spoken word too. But it's like the whole content, the whole message that he was trying to say to them. It wasn't just, you know, one phrase, it was the whole message of what he had been saying since he had brought them out. I am bringing you into a spacious land. Trust me, rest in me, I will deliver you. And they didn't. [00:25:40] So that's when he goes into the Word of God living, effective and sharper than a double edged sword. I think that's interesting and I, I believe it's interesting because it reminds us that God always is speaking a message to us. And it's, it's this message, it's, you know, it's the things he's already said to us and. [00:26:04] But we can't enter into that fullness unless we trust him and rest in Him. And we know that that's, that he's really giving us that message, like that's really Him. But we'll never receive that promise until we trust and rest in Him. [00:26:20] I think it's just worth understanding and noting that the Word of God, the Logos, the message of God is living and effective and sharp, just like it was for the Israelites. It is for us too. It's still effective and living and sharp. And it's able to discern between lies and truth, for instance, because we've been talking about lies and deception. [00:26:43] It's able to discern that. But if you don't have the word of God living in you, then you won't be able to discern what is true and what is not. Because only God's word is truth. The words that came from his mouth, the Logos, that is the only truth. There is no other truth. And if you start to accept other variations of the truth or you start to listen to people who are, they just twist it, just. That's exactly what Satan did. They just twisted a little bit like Satan in the garden. It's not that he said, oh no, God didn't say that, he said this, but he twisted it right. He didn't verbatim come back and say what God had said. He just kind of added things to it. And that's what I see going on in the body. And I'm not in judgment. Well, I Guess I am judgment. Let judgment get in the house of God, right? I think that we have to call things out for what we see. They are not judging people. I'm judging actions. And I'm saying, hey, that is not okay. [00:27:46] And what I want for people who listen to me, and there may only be five of you, and I don't care how many there are. I'm not about numbers. I don't care if you ever give money to my ministry. I don't care if you ever come watch me teach somewhere. I don't. I don't care. I don't care if you share this episode. Yeah, be great, you know, sure, whatever. That is not why I do this. I do this because put it in my heart to do it. There's a group of people that need to hear these words. [00:28:11] And you know you are capable of hearing the word of God for yourself. You don't always have to run to the prophet to get a word. You don't always have to call your pastor every time you need a word from God. I'm not saying you can't, of course. That. That's. Yes. They're. They're. They're. They're shepherds and godly ones. Yes, Ask them when you need it. But I'm telling you, you also have the lifeline to get to him as well. Jesus is the high priest. As a matter of fact, if you keep reading Hebrews, you go to chapter five, it talks about Christ being the high priest. He's the one. He's the intercessor. He's the one that we can talk to. He's the one that goes before the Father to continually intercede for us. [00:28:57] You have that. You don't have to go through a person if you. It's okay. Yeah, the body, we need the body, we need each other. But I'm telling you that you can hear God a lot better than you think you can. [00:29:10] If you quiet the voices around you. [00:29:12] If you stop listening to the deception, stop listening, stop getting online for a while, stop looking at Facebook, get off Instagram, don't look at YouTube. Like, just. Just for a while. Just get up in the morning and don't get on social media and read your Bible and worship God and listen to some worship music and, you know, talk to your friends and do a Bible study with them and like, just do it for a few days. And you'll be shocked at how much better you can hear God. [00:29:41] Shocked because you're sowing to your spirit. And your spirit, it needs it. Your soul needs it. It needs the word of God. That's how we live. [00:29:53] That's why Jesus said man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word. Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And we have his written word. God was so good to us that he had it written down for us. So that when we stray, when we don't understand, when we get lost, when we get frustrated, when there's deception running rampant, we have the word that we can go like this is not matching up to the voice of my father. He doesn't sound like this. [00:30:18] He doesn't sound like this. [00:30:20] And I just want to challenge you, but also almost beg you. I beseech you, as Paul said, I beseech you, please, please, please get to know the voice of God and don't follow any other voice. [00:30:37] Don't follow any other voice. Like that is so big on my heart right now. I'm so tired of, you know, platform ministers and some really bad shepherds. Some of them are not all of them. There's a really, there's a lot of great pastors, but some of them beat the sheep, you know, some of miss, some have mishandled the sheep. And I'm telling you, God is, he's not okay with it. [00:31:00] Those are his sheep and he loves them very much. [00:31:04] And it breaks my heart. You know, I think about, I see people like little broken lambs, little broken legs and beat up and they've been ripped apart by wolves, you know, and they're just bleeding and they have wounds and someone needs to tend to them. And I think those of us that are called to that, it's not really like I'm not a pastor, I'll never be a pastor, it's not my calling. But we're called to like that kindness that a shepherd would give a beat up sheep, you know, like tending their wounds and wrapping them up and keeping them a little bit hidden for a little while and, and breathing life, you know, life words, the, the living word of God into, to them because they're so weak, they can't. So maybe you're listening and you're not deceived, but maybe you are in a position where you can be that voice to someone and remind them that they can hear God and get them, you know, back into that place of fellowship with the Lord. I mean you can't force them obviously, but you can be that, that, that bridge maybe of hope and encouragement and just say, hey, you know, like, let me just love on you. Let me just speak the words of life over you. [00:32:18] And you know, because a lot of people are trapped in this deception right now and it's breaking my heart and I don't know if you feel the same way, but we've got to pray that this stuff would. Would be exposed. As painful as it is, it's necessary. [00:32:33] That was heavy on me. So thank you for listening. Thank you for. [00:32:38] Hopefully you made it all the way to the end. And who knows what I'll talk about next time. You never know. I'm always open to whatever the Lord has. But hey, until then, please, please, please just get to know your father's voice. [00:32:53] Yeah, get to know your father's voice. Get to know what he says in his word to you. [00:32:58] So be blessed, friends. I'll talk to you soon. [00:33:17] He's bringing new life. [00:33:22] Know hey, his fire is burning right his left is breaking through.