The Voice In The Fire - Tim Timberlake

In this powerful message, The Voice and The Fire, we journey through Acts 7 as Stephen recounts Moses’ encounter with God in the burning bush. This wasn’t just fire — it was an invitation. An invitation to draw closer. To remove the sandals of the past. To allow God to purify, elevate, and assign purpose in the wilderness.

God does not only speak in temples — He speaks in deserts.
He does not only move in comfort — He moves in the fire.

If you’ve been waiting to hear from God, this message will challenge you to stop running from the heat and start listening for His voice.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, I'm Tim Timberlake, and I want to thank you so much for listening to the Celebration Church podcast. I hope this message encouraged you, strengthened your faith, and gave you something you can carry into your week. If you'd like to stay connected, I encourage you to join us live every Sunday at 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. on YouTube. We would love to have you there. And if you're ever in the Jacksonville, Florida area, come see us in person. We have a seat saved for you. Thanks again for being with us. We're so grateful for you. And see you next time. How many got your word? Okay, I want you to hold it in your right hand. I believe that's power in prayer. And I believe we need to pray into what's happening in Iran in the Middle East right now. Let me give you some context. Okay. Scripture teaches us in the last days there will be wars and rumors of wars. We're in the last days. Amen. We are the body of Christ, the children of God. There is no fear in us. Are you listening to us? We know this is coming. We know what lies ahead. This does not take us by surprise. If you read your word, you know what day we are living in. Okay? So calm down. Are you listening to me? Scripture says, I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor their seed begging for bread. Are you the righteous? I said, are you the righteous?

unknown 1:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

So stop losing your mind.

unknown 1:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Get in your prayer closet. Sit down, open up your word. See what the word of God says about the day we live in and what is to come. He said he'll never leave you, nor will he forsake you. He'll be with you. I don't care what the news is telling you, God is for you. And if God be for you, who or what can stand against you? Okay? That's first and foremost. Secondly, we live in a military town, so we want to make sure that our brothers and sisters that serve on our behalf are covered with the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. As soon as bombs start going off in the Middle East, we start getting phone calls from our family that are over there serving and our members that watch in Iran. Okay? Whether you know it or not, we have people that watch in Iran every single Sunday. Okay, and so I don't want you to think selfishly as it pertains to what God is doing in Celebration Church. There are people that believe what we believe that are behind enemy lines. Okay? They need our prayer. Are you listening to me? They need our prayer. So we're gonna pray for them today. We're gonna cover them by the blood of Jesus Christ. We're gonna think outside of our little box. Just because your world is okay does not mean the world around you is. Okay? So we're gonna pray for them. We're gonna pray for our brothers and sisters that serve in the military, that God would keep them, that he would protect them. We're gonna pray for our brothers and sisters that are in Iran, on the ground, those that are being impacted by what is happening. So, right now, in the name of Jesus, we thank you that you are keeper of your children. We plead the blood of Jesus over your sons and your daughters, and we ask God that you would lift them, protect them, allow them to find a safe haven in your shadow. For your word says, He or she that dwells in the shelter of the Most High God. They shall be covered, protected, guided, lifted. So right now, God, we ask that you would cover them, keep them, protect them, lift them, fix their eyes on you so that they can see your hand at work even in the most dire situations. We ask God somehow, some way you get glory out of this. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen and amen. I want you to turn your word to Acts chapter seven. Acts chapter seven. Verse number thirty one. The NASB translation reads as such. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. And as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord. God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. But the Lord said to him, Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place in which you are standing is holy ground. I'm going to utilize this text for our topic today, entitled The Voice and the Fire. Let's pray. Spirit of the Living God, we ask that you would fall in this place. Thank you, God, for all of our family that are watching in the Cyber Sanctuary. We ask that you would meet them wherever they are. We ask, God, that everyone that is on this journey with us would leave, change, transform, renewed in their mind because of the word that you speak to us today. We ask that you would do the unthinkable. We ask that you would heal those that need to be healed. We ask that you would deliver those that need to be delivered. We ask God that you would even save those that don't even believe you're real. Allow them to have an undeniable experience with you today. Confuse them. Come on, lift it up. Come on, lift it up. Come on, lift it up. Lift it up. As we travel through the Acts of the Apostles, we find ourselves at Acts chapter 7, verse 31. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. But the Lord said to him, Remove the sandals from your feet. For the place on which you are standing is holy ground. We understand this is not Exodus chapter 3 and the account that we read and share from that text. This is Stephan retelling Israel's story as he continues to travel through the lives of some of the great patriarchs. Some that he knew would get the attention of the Sanhedrin Council, to which he was standing trial for. He's reminding them that at this particular stage in Moses' life he is 80 years old. He is in Midian. He has spent 40 years in Egypt. Now on the tail end of 40 years in the wilderness, God reveals himself to him through a burning bush. This moment in Moses' life comes after he has lost influence. It comes after authority has been stripped away from him. It comes when he has no more reputation to hang his hat on. And oftentimes God will wait until you run out of excuses to reveal himself to you in a way you never thought was possible. Some of you have not heard from God in such a long time because God's voice sounds a lot like yours. When preachers and pastors tell us this is your season of blessing. But do you really think that God would bless you with the season? When every season before you've been unfaithful to him. If you don't listen to the voice of God. This text teaches us something profound. God does not only speak to you in places and in seasons of comfort, God, in fact, gives you your assignment and anointing on the mountaintop of a wilderness. Moses entered into the wilderness as a shepherd, and he left a mountain, assigned an anointing to be a deliverer. And so the very place that you may be running from today may be the very place you get your assignment. But you will continue to wander in the wilderness if you run from the place God is calling you to stay. Moses had no more credibility. He could not go back to Egypt as royalty. And he was not yet received by Israel as the deliverer, therefore, he was known only to Jethro as the one that would steward his sheep. Scripture tells us that on the top of a mountain he came across a bush that was burning, and out of that bush he heard a voice. The location of where this was was the wilderness of Sinai. And Stephan says to the Sanhedrin council that this encounter occurs in the wilderness, a barren desert. This was important for him to communicate to the Sanhedrin council because they were accusing Stephan of blaspheming God, blaspheming Moses, and blaspheming the temple. And what he is saying in a roundabout way is this God you say you believe in, you believe that you can only hear him from a box. But what I'm telling you is that God also speaks from a bush. And what he's teaching them is the God you say you believe in, you are limiting to your own perspective. And if you take God out of a box, you'll see God do things you never thought was possible. If you take the restrictions off of your perspective, you'll see God's hand move and work in and through you like you've never seen move in and through you before. And so he's trying to spark intrigue and interest in the Sanhedrin Council's mind by reminding them of some of the people God used to deliver his children out of the hands of bondage. And to this point, it's not working. And so Stefan continues to take them on a mental and spiritual journey, reminding them of the life of Moses. Reminding them that God did not first appear to Moses in the temple. God did not even first appear to Moses in the palace. God first appeared to Moses in the wilderness on the backside of a mountain in and through a burning bush. This reminder is explosive because it reminds us that God's presence cannot be monopolized by a religious institution. And God will not be limited or boxed in to your limited or boxed in perspective. And when Moses hears God speak, he draws closer. We're so busy moving that life has a crazy way of muting the voice of God with its loudness. Sometimes, in order to hear God, you have to sit down, you have to shut up, you have to quiet the noise around you, you have to silence your phone, turn it over, you have to tell your stomach to be quiet, and you have to stay put long enough to move beyond your flesh and allow the Spirit of God to speak to the Spirit on the inside of you to bring new life into dry bones. Stephan teaches the sendhedron counsel that Moses encountered God in the middle of nowhere. No plans, no instructions, no blueprint, no GPS, led to where he was led to, not even by his own spirit, but by the sheep he was stewarding. The reason we know this is because Scripture teaches us in Exodus that Moses was tending to Jethro's sheep. And if you know anything about tending to sheep, sheep have a mind of their own. You don't believe me? Just pay close attention to how you behave in the parking lot after service. There are clear lines and clear instructions, but something in you tells you I know a better way. Let me jump this curb real quick. God will forgive me later. And that is true, God will forgive you. But if I catch you on camera, I'm gonna send you a bill for that curb. We like to hear God on our own time, in the limited window of our own expectations, from the box of our own perspective. And when God speaks or moves outside of that, we think that it's the devil and not God. And sometimes God will speak to you through fire, and that makes you uncomfortable. That costs you something, that positions you where things are inconvenient, so that you know it can only be Him. We may have forgotten this. The devil isn't the only one that sends fire. God will in fact send a fire into your life. There's something beautiful about the prophets in the Old Testament. One of the greatest signs that God was with them was that they would call on fire. And here we are today running from the very fire that God desires to speak to us through. Because it gets a little hot. It makes us a little uncomfortable. We start to sweat. And if we pay attention to nothing else in this text but this one statement right here, let this be the thing that you travel home remembering. When Moses encountered the heat of God's presence, his next instruction was to take off your sandals. Instead of running away from the heat, maybe you should take off some of the things pulling you back from experiencing the beauty of the heat. Because heat, it will purify you if you allow it to. The sandals command carried both spiritual and cultural meaning. In the ancient Near East, removing sandals symbolized submission. Symbolized humility. It symbolized the transfer of ownership. There were two significant times and practices in Scripture where the removal of sandals was necessary. The first place that we see it is when one was entering into a sacred place. The second place that we see it throughout Scripture is when the title or ownership of something had been exchanged or transferred to someone else. In order for the deal to be closed, both parties had to remove their sandals in order to come into covenant with each other for that deal to be transferred. And so what God is telling Moses, He's telling Moses, not only am I cleaning the ground you're standing on, but I'm cleaning the man that's standing on it. Moses removes his sandals because he has now stepped into a territory that belongs entirely to God. And sometimes I believe we miss the beauty in scripture because we over-spiritualize it and we see things that are not actually there instead of looking at what is actually practical in the text and seeing the beauty of the Spirit of God and the practicality and the application of the Scripture and seeing what God has to say to us through that. One of the greatest things in the scripture is one of the most rational things in the scripture. God is simply telling Moses to remove his sandals because whenever you wear sandals, your sandals carry the dirt from the last season you traveled through. And as Moses stepped into the presence of God, God was instructing Moses, remove your sandals, because he did not want an old season to step into a new season. He did not want the things that he traveled through to be a reminder of where God was taking him. And so, in order for him to see, hear, experience, feel the presence of God the way God desired for him to experience it, he had to leave the dirt from his past at the door. And some of you are still playing in the dirt of your past while trying to hear God in your present. And you got to leave it at the door. Look at your neighbor, tell your neighbor, leave that dirt at the door. Leave that gossip at the door, leave that affair at the door, leave that stolen property at the door, leave those thoughts at the door, leave that side piece at the door, leave that direct message at the door, leave it at the door. When you leave it at the door, then you'll hear the voice of God. But if you don't leave it at the door, you'll hear your voice and you'll stamp God's name on it because it's easy to approve everything you want and say it comes from God instead of being disciplined enough to stay in God's presence to have him strip away from your flesh everything that you applied to it. In this moment, it foreshadows something that's prophetic to Moses. It foreshadows the bush, although being consumed by fire. Being destroyed by it. And Egypt will be oppressed and surrounded by Egypt, but they would not be consumed and overthrown by Egypt. They would be preserved by a divine and greater power. That power we now know to be the power of God. And God preserves you in the fire before He can do anything through you. And the reason God is not moving mightily in and through your life right now is because you have not stayed in the heat long enough for God to purify the hell out of you. So that you can be a reflection of him. You see, for metal, when it is in the fire long enough, one of the greatest signs that the fire has done its work when you see the metal is that you can see the reflection of the person who holds the metal in the fire. And if God can't see his reflection in you, he will hold you in the fire long enough until he sees him in you. And some of you keep running out of his hand because you are so busy trying to look like yourself, and so busy trying to look like how other people want you to look instead of looking like your father. And so stay put in the fire long enough for him to see his reflection on your life. Verse 31 tells us that Moses did not initially recognize God's voice. So he approached the bush out of curiosity. And as he came closer to investigate, he discovered a strange phenomenon. It was only after he moved towards the mystery that he heard God's voice speak. This too reveals a powerful principle to us. Revelation often awaits curiosity. Many people want clarity from God while refusing to step closer. We say we want God's presence, but we keep walking past it. One of the greatest applications we know in this church is we say we're hungry for revival. If it stays within the hour and 30-minute window of our limited schedule because lunch is calling. We say we want God to move, but if God does not move before 12:30, he won't move in my life today. We say we're hungry, we're desperate, we're thirsty for a move of God. But when offering comes, God tells me to leave. Because surely God does not want me to obey his word, and surely God wants me to be fed by brunch before 1 p.m. Because he is God and my stomach is not. And if he does exist, I need him to say something, speak something to me, allow him to know, allow me to know, and allow him to show me that I know, that he knows, that I even exist in this world. If that God really is who he says that he is, I need him to speak to me today. And I'm telling you that God will do whatever he has to to grab your attention, even if it means he takes you in the wilderness and he positions you on the top of a mountain and he consumes a bush with fire so that he can speak through it. God will use any method, any mechanism, any person he has to, even a dreadhead black boy that screams all the time to tell you that God he loves you and he's for you and he desires to speak to you if you will stay positioned to listen. So I'm not gonna rush. I'm gonna give you my notes today. And we're gonna take our time marching through what the word of God says. Because we are in more than just one war right now. As your attention is focused on the war in Iran, I would encourage you to also be equally attentive to the war that's happening in your spirit. Because that war it remains silent until it defeats you. You may not hear bombs explode, but your soul feels wounds that leak. And if you're not careful, you'll pay more attention to what's happening here than you do what's happening here. And so scripture teaches us where God met Moses. He met him on the top of a mountain in the middle of a desert because the ancient Near East mountains were widely understood as a place where heaven and earth met. Throughout scripture, God repeatedly meets people on mountaintops. In Genesis, he met Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah. In Exodus, he met Moses, and Moses receives the law on Mount Sinai. In 1 Kings, he meets Elijah, and Elijah hears God on Mount Orob. And in Matthew, Jesus, he begins to unpack a revelation on the sermon on the mountain, and this is where the transfiguration happens. And so Moses encountering God on a mountain is a part of a broader biblical theme. Elevation symbolizes revelation. And some of you have not experienced the revelation of God because you're too busy staying on the same level as your enemies. You're too distracted with what they're saying versus keeping your eyes fixed on the word of God and what he already declared over your life. I want you to understand this because elevation, it symbolizes revelation. And if you're not receiving revelation from God, it's because your standards are still too low. Let that settle for a little bit. Some of you are not hearing from God because you've settled for a relationship that's too low. Some of you want God to bless your business, but that's not the business that God told you to start. Your standards are too low. Some of you are begging God for increase, but God will not give you increase without elevation first, because elevation it reveals revelation, and it's revelation that tells you what season you're in and what season God is taking you into. And information is good, but I don't want information if it does not come with revelation. And some of you are settling for information and you take that information and you gossip about that information and you remain on the same level as your enemy instead of taking that information into the presence of God and saying, God, reveal yourself to me in a greater and a newer way so that I can be more like you. And when you pray prayers like that, God does not leave you on the same level. His word says he takes you from faith to faith and glory to glory. That does sound like elevation to me. And when I get elevated, it symbolizes revelation in my life. God often brings people higher geographically before he raises them higher spiritually. And some of you are still stuck on the same old level that you've always been stuck on because you are afraid of spiritual heights. You're scared of where God may take you and how high God may take you. And you're afraid to go up where God desires for you to go up because you just might see the things God showed you unveil in your life, and you have already disqualified yourself from being used by God because of the sins and the failures and the shortcomings you've committed in your past. But I want to remind you of what God reminded Moses of when Moses felt like this on the top of the mountain. He said, Moses, I am the God of Abraham, I am the God of Isaac, and I am the God of Jacob. This was not merely just a history lesson. This was God reminding Moses that even I am the God of the people, you admire that were also familiars that came before you. You see, you know the failures of Abraham, you know the failures of Isaac, and you know the failures of Jacob. Yet I still declare I am God over their life. And if I am God over their life or no one, it's evil the familiar, I am still God over your life and see this of your own mistakes, and Jesus of your own feeding, and see them of your own shortcomings, and that is good news for us. That means God is still your God, even when you feel unworthy, the son of a God is holy, as the God we serve. And I wonder if anybody glad that God speaks to you, even if it's through a burning bush. Y'all sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down, calm down. Calm down. And so we must pay attention to when and how God speaks, because sometimes we get stuck on where God speaks, but we don't see how and when God speaks. God speaks to Moses when Moses was simply just doing his job. He was not just running, he was not just fleeing, he was stewarding the sheep of his father-in-law when God speaks to him while he is doing what he was supposed to be doing. Let me help you understand it this way. When you were found busy doing the Lord's work, God will always move on your behalf, even when you think God is not moving. God is in fact moving, he's just moving differently than how you anticipated and expected him to move. So don't limit God to your limited perspective. Moses was not climbing this mountain for some spiritual retreat. The only reason he was on top of the mountain is because this is the only place in this season that sheep could find grass to eat. This is where the seasonal grass was growing in the higher elevations. Because the lower grounds were far too populated by other animals for them to consume the proper nutrition for them to continue to live. And so, in order for them to live, they had to go a little higher. And that has to be your mentality and your mindset this year. In order for me to live, in order for me to grow spiritually, in order for me to mature into the things God desires for me to mature into, I gotta go a little higher this year. I can no longer entertain the same level I've been on year after year after year after year. I gotta change my mind so that God can elevate my position. And as God elevates my position, he reveals himself to me in fresh and new ways. And so I can't stay where I've always stayed because God desires for me to go higher. Moses wasn't looking for God in a sanctuary, he found God while fulfilling a responsibility given to him by his father-in-law. And God drew Moses near. Exodus chapter 3, verse 1 says, And Moses came to Mount Harab, the mountain of God. This name likely became known after the burning bush and the later covenant events that took place there. And in other words, the narrator is showing us something so supernatural and spiritual in the text. Moses didn't know he was walking towards the mountain of God, but God knew. And this moment is a divine orchestration put together by God and not Moses, which tells us that even when you think your life is not moving in the direction of God, God is in fact moving in your direction. Point number one is this. God will often interrupt the routine you mastered with the fire you can't explain. And some of you are in a season of pressure right now, in a season of heat right now, and a season of pain right now, but that season of pain and that season of heat and that season of pressure, it's producing something on the inside of you. And that season of pain and pressure and heat, it's producing curiosity. And if curiosity doesn't pull you closer to God, then your calling will pass you by. If you have not taken notice in your own life, I want you to take notice in the word of God. God rarely lights fires where it's convenient, He lights them where obedience will cost you something. Calling often hides inside interruptions disguised as inconveniences. It's simple. One group decided to keep walking, while another allowed curiosity to take them closer. Do you allow your curiosity to bring you closer to God? Or do you run with your questions and ask him to show you along the way? Some of you in this moment, you got questions for God. Allow those questions to take you closer to him and not provide greater separation between you and him. God is not afraid of your questions. He's not afraid of your doubt. He's not afraid of your fear. He's not afraid of your concern. He's not afraid of your worry. He's not afraid of your stress. He's not afraid of your anxiety. He welcomes those things because he is the actual only one that can take those things and exchange them for what he has: peace, love, understanding, wisdom, knowledge, revelation. And he takes what you carry and he exchanges it for what he carries, which leads me to point number two. Point number two is this revelation is not rare. Attention is. Revelation is not rare. Whenever we read the Word of God, our attention spans are so short, we say things like, I found new revelation. Oh, I discovered something ain't no one else discovered. No, you haven't. Solomon says that nothing new under the sun. Guess what? This book was written far before you, and it'll be here long after you are gone. There is no new revelation. There is only short span attention. And if you can pay attention long enough, God will reveal himself to you through his word, how he's revealed himself to the great men and women through the word of God, time and time again. There is no new revelation. Revelation is not rare, attention is. And most people pray for revelation, but when God shows up outside their expectations, they think that it is not God. Because we wouldn't know God's presence if it slapped us in the face. People ask God to move but reject the move because it didn't look like it was dressed in religion clothes. It didn't come in our little tradition. God's greatest revelations rarely fit inside the boxes we build for Him. One of the things this passage teaches us is that expectations can be holy, but it can also blind you when God refuses to follow your script. Moses had no script going into the presence of God. He had no expectation to hear God's voice. He had no anticipation to encounter God through this burning bush. But he's curious enough to move closer to the heat because he knew he was in the presence of someone that he needed to be in the presence of. And out of that bush, God speaks. Point number three is this. The voice in the fire wasn't introducing a new God. It was reminding Moses that the same God of history was now confronting his present. And the same God you read about in the Word of God is the same God that is confronting your present situations and circumstances and relationships and shortcomings and shortfallings and issues and ailments and sicknesses that you have in your life right now. The God who moved in the past has never retired. He's simply waiting on you to acknowledge that he is still God and he is God all by himself, whether you believe he is or you don't. And faith grows when you realize the God of Abraham is still stepping into ordinary moments with you in mind. The same God who wrote miracles into Scripture is still writing miracles into the lives of obedient people. And your crisis does not intimidate God, it reminds him of every promise he has already kept in and over your life and what he shall and will do, that you will see him do in the place he is calling you to stand in. So remove the sandals from your feet. Point number four is this. Before God ever sends you to Pharaoh, he always deals with what you've been walking in. So that when he carries you into a new season, you don't attract dirt and mud from the old one. I love this about my relationship with God because God will always strip me of my pride long enough to replace it with humility so that I understand everything He does from that moment, from that season, from that place. It comes from Him and not from my efforts, my power, my talents, my gifts, my abilities, my thoughts, my dreams, my vision, my Pinterest board, my Instagram wall. It comes from none of those things. It can only be attributed to the presence of God. Therefore, the ground that you stand on becomes holy, not because you are there, but because he called you there. Some of us think that we can carry God's assignment while still wearing shoes of our old identity. It will not work. This passage teaches us that before Moses could face Pharaoh, he had to face God without anything between them. And when he takes off his shoes, God reminds him that you, you are okay. And how does God remind him that he's okay? He doesn't remind him that he's okay by telling him he's okay. He reminds him that he's okay by telling him that he was the God of his ancestors, understanding that his ancestors made great mistakes, but God still covered them because they believed in him. And just as they were imperfect, you were imperfect, and I still cover you in your imperfection. That's why you serve me because I am a perfect God. He chooses Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob very strategically. Abraham, who lied about Sarah being his wife, Isaac, who repeated the same deception, Jacob, whose very name meant deceiver, yet God still says, I am their God. He could have said, I am the God of creation, the God of power, the God who separated heaven from earth. But instead, he identifies himself with broken men whose stories were messy because God's glory is revealed in covenant faithfulness, not in human perfection. And I love this because it identifies that God ties his name to people who need it grace. This is a massive theological statement for us who are messy. And whether you love it or not, you are messy. I'm saying again, you are messy and your life is messy. And if you don't think you're messy, look at your spouse. Your spouse will nod their head and agree with this statement. You are messy, and you are in dire need of Jesus to clean up your mess and provide the miracle that you have need of. And God is saying to you today that your identity is not threatened by your mistakes or your imperfection. Your identity is anchored in the one you say you believe in. If God were only God of perfection, Meaning that God has covenant with you to survive your human inconsistency. God didn't introduce himself as the God of perfect men. He introduced himself as the God who stays faithful to those that even remain imperfect. God didn't build his reputation in this passage off of perfect people. He built it off of those who wanted covenant mercy. And your failure may stain your story, but it cannot erase God's faithfulness. And the word of God teaches us that even when you are faithful, God remains faithful. And the beauty of this text is even in Moses' insecurities and even in the feelings of insufficiency, and even in him knowing that he could not communicate well, and he had a speech impediment and he was a murderer and he was a failure, God still desires to speak to him, and God speaks to him from the fire. And Moses identifies that this must be God because only God knows my past and still calls me to a higher future. And he sees more in me than I can ever see in myself. And when God speaks, I must pay attention. Therefore, something inside of me is curious to know what God has to say. And the miracle isn't that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob follow God. The miracle is that God never stopped claiming them, even when they didn't. I wonder if there anybody listening to me right now that would be truthful in this moment to say there were some moments last year where you did not follow God the way you should have followed God, but God still followed you. I wonder if there anybody that can identify you did not pursue Jesus the way you needed to pursue Jesus, but thank Jesus, He still pursued you when you gave up on God. He did not give up on you when you stopped speaking to him, he did not stop speaking to you because God speaks. And when God speaks, things that look impossible become possible. When God speaks, the wilderness becomes a workplace for miracles. When God speaks, the ground you were standing on becomes the ground you must now bow on when God speaks. Excuses lose their vocabulary when God speaks. Running seasons turn into sending seasons when God speaks. Cancer has to bow at the very voice of God when God speaks. Demons must scatter and flee when God speaks. Broken marriages are mended when God speaks. Broken friendships are bolt back together again when God speaks. Your mind that you thought you were losing it comes back into the mind of Christ when God speaks. That dead body receives new life when God speaks. Old things that are passed away become new when God speaks. You become a new creation, found in Christ Jesus when God speaks. When God speaks situations and circumstances that you can't change begin to change on your behalf because God speaks. I've seen limbs grow when God speaks. I've seen dead bodies brought back to new life again when God speaks. I've seen countries that were far away from God develop a relationship with God when God speaks. When God speaks, hidden people step into history. When God speaks, fear moves out and obedience moves in when God speaks. Yesterday's failures become jurisdiction for tomorrow's calling. When God speaks, when God speaks. When God speaks, he not only grabs a hold of your attention, he grabs a hold of your life, and he says, If you stay placed in my hands, I'll make more out of you than you could ever make out of yourself. When God speaks, see miracles created out of the mess when God when God speaks. He separates light from darkness when God speaks. Behold, I am doing something new. When God speaks, he says things like, I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor the seed begging for bread. When God speaks, he reminds you that you're the head and not the tail. When God speaks, he reminds you you're above and not beneath. When God speaks, he says, I am the Alpha and I am the Omega. When God speaks, he says, I completed you before I started you. When God speaks, he reminds you that I am God, and beside me there is no one else but God. Somebody shout, speak, Lord. Speak, Lord, your people are listening. Destiny is way in the balance right now, God. Souls need to hear from you. God, speak. We are listening right now. Call your children home. Those that are lost, those that feel abandoned, those that feel forsaken. God, allow them to hear your voice right now for the very first time. Right now, God, we're calling on you to speak to us. We are listening, God. And we will wait on you. We will wait on you. We will wait on you. Speak. Speak, Lord. Speak. Speak. Speak. Speak, Lord. We're listening. Save those that need to be saved. Heal those that need to be healed. Deliver those that need to be delivered. Set free those that need to be set free. Restore those that need to be restored. Renew those that need to be renewed. Speak, Lord, we're listening. Speaking. It's because life has provided separation between you and God. Right now, he's calling you home. If you know you're not what you need to be spiritually, and you want God to revive you, save you, deliver you. Right now, wherever you are, whether you're in this room, whether you're in that overflow, whether you're in the overflow, the overflow, whether you're watching online and you're not driving, I want you to hop up on your feet right now. Lift both hands. I don't care who you are, I don't care what you do, I don't care what it may look like right now. Lift your hands. Close your eyes. Close your eyes. Right now, ask the Lord to speak. Speak, Lord, speak, speak, speak of your sons, speak over your daughters. Speak. Speak. Speak. Speak. Restore unto us, God, the joy of our salvation. Speak. Speak. Speak. We are hungry. We are thirsty. We are desperate for you. Speak. May we never be the same. Repeat this prayer after me, Lord. Forgive me from my sins. I repent and I ask that you cleanse me, wash me, redeem me from my unrighteousness. I want to be made new. I want to be washed in the blood of Jesus. Cover me. And right now, I believe that you have saved me. And so I confess with my mouth. And I believe within my heart of hearts that there is no one like you in Jesus' name. So with hands lifted and with hearts open, I give you all the glory. I give you all the praise for your grace because it is sufficient for me. Now, right now, in this moment, if you're grateful for his grace, go ahead and put those hands together, open up your mouth. Thank him for his mercy, thank him for his blood, thank him for his grace, thank him for his redeeming power. If it had not been for the blood of Jesus on your side, where in the world would you be?