In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the importance of hearing and obeying the voice of God. He emphasizes that Jesus lived his life on earth completely dependent on the voice of the Lord, doing and saying only what he saw and heard from his Heavenly Father. The preacher encourages the congregation to follow Jesus' example and make time for prayer and seeking God daily. He gives the example of Cornelius, a devout layman who constantly prayed and received detailed instructions from God, which ultimately led to a significant impact on the early church.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindell, Texas 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply. This morning I want to speak to you on the sound of his voice, the sound of his voice. Heavenly Father, this is just a dead letter unless the Holy Spirit, unless you come Holy Spirit and make it alive and open it to us. Lord, it's not enough that I've been able to see something and bring it to this pulpit, but it's something now that you have to bring into our hearts and open our minds and our hearts to receive it. Lord Jesus, how we've learned to love you, how we thank you for your awesome presence. And I'm asking you, Lord, to fill this house with your presence while I preach. I pray that in the annex and in the overflow rooms, your presence would be manifest, that everyone will recognize your presence as the word goes forth and the word would be received in the presence of Christ. Because when Jesus comes, all the hills melt like wax. Everything melts in your presence. Lord, melt our hearts and help us to understand and hear what the Spirit has to say this morning. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. I want you to turn to John, the fifth chapter. John, the fifth chapter. And I'd like to just leave it open on your laps. I'll tell you where to go in this fifth chapter in just a few moments. Turn to the fifth chapter and just leave it laying open on your lap. And if you don't have a Bible, maybe somebody next to you, folks, if you see somebody next to you without a Bible, when I direct you to the passage I want you to be directed to, maybe you can just kind of share your Bible and they can see what we're saying this morning. The sound of his voice. Now, folks, Jesus lived his whole life on earth wholly dependent on the voice of the Lord. He did nothing. He said nothing. He taught nothing. No miracles performed. Anything that he did, everything that he did was done according to what he saw and heard from his heavenly Father here on earth. And John, the fifth chapter, beginning 19th verse, bears this out. 19th verse, chapter 5 of St. John. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do. For what things however he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son and showeth him all things that himself doeth. And he will show him greater things than these that ye may marvel. For as the Father raises up the dead and quicketh them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. You see, the Lord makes it very, very clear that he was led daily. This was a daily walk with the Lord. When Jesus saw a crippled man at the pull of Bethesda, he said to him, take up your bed, rise and walk. And he did. And this was the Sabbath. And the Jews were offended by it because he did it on the Sabbath. And they were wanting an explanation. And what Jesus said, well, this is what my Father told me to do. I'm simply doing what the Father said. Jesus answered them, my Father works here unto and so I work. My Father showeth me whatsoever things he himself doeth. These also doeth the Son. He said, I've been taught by my Father. I was told to do this by my Father. I got directions from my heavenly Father. And Jesus spake very plainly, I do nothing of myself. But as my Father has taught me, I speak those things. That's John 8.28. And he that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. I speak that which I have seen and heard with my Father. That's what I speak and that's what I see. Look when did Jesus, when did the Father speak to Jesus and when did Jesus see the Father doing these things? Was it in eternity before he came incarnate in man? Somewhere back in eternity before the world was created did the Father say when creation is finished on a certain Jewish day on the sixth month so and so there's going to be a man by the pool of Bethesda and I'm asking you to just tell him to rise and walk. Was this daily plan of God mapped out in eternity somewhere where Jesus said I knew all this before I came? Not at all because that wouldn't be relevant to anything in our lives. We couldn't relate to that kind of a walk because Jesus came and set a pattern that we as he is in the world we would be we would walk as he walked. And that wouldn't make any sense to me and I couldn't follow that kind of pattern. But you see I believe that this was a daily walk with the Lord with the Father. I believe that he went to prayer every day and he heard there was a still small voice inside of the Father that said do this do that. And he was taught by the voice of his Father what to say and this was a daily walk that the Lord himself practiced. It had to be a searing seeing and hearing there had to be an inner working of that voice of his Father at all times. It was not something back in eternity it was the way he walked because he came to walk as a man to feel like I feel and you feel to bear our infirmities and he couldn't have done that unless he walked this and expected his Father daily to guide him. Picture Jesus having to make a decision about choosing 12 disciples out of as many disciples had to choose 12. Now where did he get this? Did the Father tell him before he was born as a child when he was with the Father begotten of the Father in eternity? Did the Father give the names of these apostles? If that was so why did he spend a whole night in prayer? The Bible said he prayed, listen closely to what it said, he continued all night in prayer to God. Went alone on a mountain and began to pray and he asked the Father who do I choose? And 12 names were given to him by his Heavenly Father and he chose them and he named them and while that same night he's on the mountaintop praying along with the Lord, God the Father gave him what we call the Beatitudes. He gave the very next day this wonderful truth that he was teaching. He said I don't say anything except what I hear from my Father. So that night before on the mountain he heard this teaching. This was something that came out of the heart of the Father and he said as my Father speaks so I speak and he gave all the blessings, blessed of the poor, blessed of the meek and all the woes that came the Beatitudes the next day. Jesus spent time daily I believe with the Heavenly Father. He spent hours after every miracle, after every great sign, everything that he did he rushed back to his Heavenly Father. You see this clearly illustrated in the 14th chapter of Matthew. The scripture says that he had been brought a message that John the Baptist had been beheaded and the scripture says when Jesus heard it he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart. He went way out. I don't know if he went to the same desert where John the Baptist had spent many years but he got alone. First of all there was a grief in his heart, the human grief. John the Baptist was a friend and a respected worker of his and beloved prophet of God and it was there in that desert though that God began to direct him for the very next day. He shut alone. You see it everywhere. He's gone to a desert, he's gone to a mountain, he's always talking to the Father and Jesus came forth out of this desert and saw a great multitude, was moved with compassion and healed many. In fact that very day he fed five thousand with five loaves and two fishes and at the end of the day he sends them away. Now folks he's ministered to five thousand people, he's healed as many as came to him for healing. He fed the multitude, a busy heavy day and what does he do after he feeds the five thousand? Is it a time to get alone with his chosen disciple, maybe Peter, James and John and just have a quiet meal somewhere or did he go to Bethany a few miles away and did he just say it's time for me to be alone and recuperate for a week or so? You know when I'm out preaching and I've had a busy day preaching twice to pastors and then an evening big rally, I usually go out and have a meal with my wife and friends or those in my party and we just talk about what God has done but that's not what Jesus did. The only way he wanted to recuperate, he immediately escaped to a mountain to be alone with the Father and the scripture said he went up into the mountain apart to pray and he's ministered all day and he goes up and he prays and when evening was come he was there alone. Now folks, Jesus knew the covenant work that he was to do. That was all planned in eternity. He was to come to set the captives free, to loosen prisoners. He was to heal the sick and open blind eyes. Those were covenant works that had been outlined to him before he came but in his daily walk he chose to be totally submitted to the will of the Father. He chose to do nothing even though he knew these covenant works, these things that he was sent to do. Folks, there are things that you and I are clearly instructed to do in the Bible. There are things that we know that this is our work. We're to pray without ceasing. We are to walk in his righteousness. We're to study his word. We're to minister to the sick. We're to love one another. There are many, many loving commandments of Jesus given to us. Love one another. We know these things. These are covenant works that are all outlined in the Bible. But you see, it's not just something that is written here. There are some things that are not written here. Daily things that we meet, daily situations, crises that come and the walk that we have with the Lord. And we need that voice of the Lord Jesus leading us, guiding us and speaking to us for things that we don't see just as a pattern or just a commandment. It's something we have to hear immediately. It's something that has to come to us because we have no one else to turn to. And we need to hear that voice that Jesus heard, the voice of the heavenly father. For all things that I've heard of my father, I've made known unto you, Jesus said. He said, I told you the truth, which I heard of God. This did not Abraham. He said, you religious Jews, I've come to minister to you, but all you have is the dead theology of Abraham, your father. You're talking about the past. He said, you have picked up some laws that you've learned from the past and you've had some rules and regulations for your life. But he said, what I'm giving to you is not something from a dead past. He said, you're living in the past, you're living in a dead theology. And there are a lot of people satisfied where they go to church, there's nothing but dead theology. And they hear often from pastors who have been through seminary and all of the spiritual life of Christ has been drained out of them. And there's nothing but a dead theology. But Jesus said, I gave you something Abraham didn't give you. I've been talking to my father. I was with my father last night and I'm giving you a fresh word. I'm giving you something I heard last night. I gave you something I heard this morning. I gave you something I just heard out of heaven. I'm speaking to you from heaven. Abraham didn't do that. John the Baptist said of him, what he's seen and heard, that's what he testified, that's what he teaches. And no man receives his testimony. Let me share with you where I am in my life and my ministry right now at the age of 70. I've been asking the Lord Jesus if it's possible for a man or woman today, not just a preacher, but any believer, is it possible to live the kind of life that he lived totally dependent on the voice of the Father? Totally dependent on the voice of the Lord Jesus. Is it possible to live like that? Is it possible to hear a voice from heaven today giving moment by moment direction? Can we live with a total dependence on the Lord? Is there such a place in God that we could walk as Jesus walked, saying, I don't speak except what I hear my Father. And I don't do that which I've seen of my Father. Can we say because Jesus is Lord and now he's in glory, can I hear his voice? Can I know his voice? Folks, I've known the extreme joy of being sudden with him. And I've been preaching about feeding Christ, those times when you're just silent. And he said, my meat is to do with the Father. And the will of the Father was to share his heart with his people and with the lost. And when you just sit and hear his voice and let him minister unto you, that's an extreme joy. But I've not arrived at that place where it becomes a way of living, where the greatest joy in my life would be to just shut in with him and then to have an ear to hear what the Spirit says at all times. We live so beneath our privileges and what the Lord has laid out here in his word. I've been asking, is it possibly wholly dependent on you? Or is this just something that I'm conjuring up in my mind? But then I read of Elijah in the Old Testament standing before the Lord and hearing his voice. I read of Jeremiah standing in God's presence in prayer, hearing and perceiving the counsel of God. Here's what he said, for who has stood in the counsel of the Lord? Who has perceived and heard his voice? Who hath marked down his words? In other words, who has their hearts marked with his word? And who has heard it? Who's heard this voice? And Jeremiah's saying, I've heard him. I stand before him. You know, you hear these prophets come before Abraham and others and say, I come to you the Lord before whom I stand. They're saying, I've been shut in with God. And here I'm telling you what God has said to me. And you hear it from Isaiah. He said, I heard a word behind me saying, this is the way, walk in it. And folks, why wouldn't God speak in this generation when there's so much fear, so much uncertainty, and we need a voice from heaven more than we have ever needed in any generation that we do now. When has there ever been a generation with such fear and anxiety and terror and hunger and thirst and reaching? Why would God be silent today when we need him more than ever? And folks, I think it's criminal now for pastors to go to the pulpit with a borrowed message. I think it's cheating the congregation. I think it's criminal that men today are not hearing the voice of God and coming to the pulpit with, thus sayeth the Lord. It can be criminal in a day like this, in an hour that is so troubled as we face in this hour. In the New Testament, I hear these words of John the Baptist. John said, he that hath a bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom which stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. And in the Greek, it says, standeth and heareth him means abiding and continuing with him. And John the Baptist says, I've heard his voice and that's my joy. I heard it because I stood by, I abided and I continued with him. Folks, he's not talking about that short time that he met Jesus at the riverside when the dove came down and announced this was the Lamb of God. John just spoke a few words with him at that time. That can't be what he's talking about. But John at a very early age went out and isolated himself in the wilderness. Now this is not the typical Christian thing to do. God's not calling you to go to some desert and be a hermit as John the Baptist. But I can assure you he heard the voice of the Lord. That was before Christ was incarnated. That was before Jesus. Way back, God spoke to generations through his own son. But you see in the wilderness, John was hearing a voice. He was being trained by that voice. Where did he get it? He had no books. He had no teachers. All he did was pray and meditate and wait on the Lord. There were no teachers there. This man had no fancy clothes. He had no pleasures of this world. He had no fancy food, no exotic food. He had no bed to lay his head on. This man was in total fellowship and communion with the Lord. This is where he was taught repentance. This was where he was taught, behold, the Lamb is coming and I'm going to decrease, but he may increase. Who taught him? There was no teacher, no preacher, no evangelist. He was taught by the Lord. The Lord taught him. Let me tell you plainly what I'm preaching. Plainly what I'm suggesting to you right now. I'm saying that I'm believing that it's possible to be given to daily prayer and it's possible to give oneself up to waiting on the Lord that he will speak his heart directly into that life, even giving detailed instructions. Did you hear what I said? There's a walk that I see outlined in the Bible. I've not arrived there, but I am pressing toward this place in him. A place where you can give yourself to prayer. You make the time. You see, Jesus went about doing good. He was busy all the day, but he set the example. And I believe it's possible to have the Holy Ghost set a heart so set on seeking God daily, every day, giving him precious quality time and be able to learn to sit at his feet and just minister to him and wait and allow the Lord Jesus to speak his heart into our lives and to be directed by Jesus Christ and be taught by him. I'm saying that this is available not only to preachers, but to laymen. And I give an example. Cornelius was a layman. He was a soldier and an angel appears to him. The Bible said he was a devout man, one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. He was always in prayer. Now this is a busy centurion. He's got a hundred men under his command, his immediate command. This man is busy, and yet he's praying every spare time he has. And in that prayer, the Lord speaks to him. He calls it, and the Bible says an angel appeared, but Cornelius recognized him as the Lord. He said, what is it, Lord? And immediately, the Lord held a conversation with this layman. Detailed counsel, he said, I want you to go to a certain house by a seaside. He named the house, he gave the address, he named the man Peter. And he said, I want you to send, he told him to send two men, and he gave him directions, what he should say. And he said, he'll come with them. You bring him to the house, you call all of your family together, and I'll tell you what to do next. And at the same time, Peter's on a housetop praying. He's a man of prayer. And suddenly the Lord speaks to him and said, there's going to be some men knocking on your door. And they're going to tell you a story and you're to go with them. Detailed instructions. He's in conversation with the Lord. It's just a natural thing with this man. Three times the Lord spoke to him, gave him a vision, then spoke to him again and again. You hear it said, and there came a voice from heaven and the Spirit said. And you see what happened to the house of Cornelius shook up the whole Pentecostal Jewish church. That God, the thing they couldn't comprehend, and the thing that they didn't want to accept in Jerusalem and the rest of the Jewish Pentecostal church that had been baptized with the Holy Ghost, supposed to be full of love. They couldn't understand how an uneducated layman could hear the voice of God so clearly. To challenge to everyone in this house, Paul testified that the revelation he'd been given about Christ and his gospel was not taught to him by any man. He said, I got it on my knees. He said, Jesus Christ himself taught me. Listen to it. But I certify unto you brethren that the gospel that was preached by me is not after man for I never, I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it by man, but I got it by revelation of Jesus Christ. Now folks, he's not against teachers. Paul said, the Son was revealed in me, not to me, but in me, that I might preach him among the heathen. I conferred not with flesh and blood. He said, now folks, there were many teachers in Paul's time. They had received Pentecost long before Paul. I'm speaking of Paul. Peter was there, James, great teacher. All of these teachers, there's Apollos, mighty in the word of God. But he didn't go to man, he went alone and shut himself in with God. And he said, it was there alone with God. Now he's not against teachers because it was Paul who said, God has given some prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. He himself was a teacher. But he said, I'm going to face a Godless, Gentile world. I'm going to face unbelieving Jews. And I can't have a secondhand revelation who Christ is. I can't have something I get. He said, I've spent my life under teachers, under Gamaliel, all of these Jewish teachers. They filled my mind with all kinds of theology. But he said, I want an experience of my own. I want to hear Jesus for myself. I want him to teach me. I want to know who he is for myself. He didn't get it from somebody else. He had his own touch from God, his own experience of who Jesus was. And from that time on, Jesus taught him. You see, the deep things of Christ have to be revealed by Christ himself. Paul tells us that all believers, every one of us can be taught by Christ. Listen to it in Ephesians 4.21. If so be that ye have heard him. In other words, if you have an ear to hear and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus Christ. Taught by Christ himself. Taught. Why is there so little revelation of Jesus Christ from our pulpits today? And in the lives of so many believers. We've got a well-trained ministry now. We've got so many PhDs in the pulpit. And folks, when you think of men called to minister the gospel, who spent years in seminaries and in higher education, and all the books that have to be read, and philosophy, psychology, and ethics, and on and on and on, and the hours, hours to get the mind filled, to have the knowledge, and to study Christ, to spend years studying who Jesus is. And then stand in the pulpit and it's nothing but death. Because the dear man has never been taught by Christ. He's never had his own experience. He's had it filtered through the minds of men. And he's read everything but the book. And what Paul's really asking is, he said, how did you learn Christ? He was saying, we have not learned Christ as the others have, but he's asking us, how did you learn Christ? And that's a question I ask everyone hearing me now. How did you learn what you know about Jesus Christ? Is everything that you've learned come from a pulpit? Has everything you know about Christ come from a book? Has it come from your Sunday school classes? That's well and good. That's knowledge. But you need more than knowledge. You have to have a personal word from Christ himself, by Christ. All need, the Bible says all truth is in him. All truth is in Christ. And he alone can teach it. Now we're going to get down to you say, well, I thought the Holy Ghost was a teacher. We're going to show you that the spirit of Christ and the spirit of God and the spirit, the Holy Spirit are all one in essence, in their work and labors in our heart. How did you get the knowledge of Christ from just one or two hours a week sitting in church? I don't care how powerful the preaching is. My preaching or anybody else's preaching. You can get what I call the initial, listen closely now, the initial one-time revelation of Christ. Now I want you to listen closely where I'm going. Everyone in this house that knows Christ can say, I've had a revelation of Jesus. Yes, you did. Because it's only through the spirit of Christ that the Holy Spirit that's come that opened up to you that Christ is God in flesh. He's opened up to you the plan of salvation. That's the initial thing. Paul had that. He's knocked off his horse. He sees the light. Christ reveals himself to it. But folks, he didn't go the rest of his lifetime on that one-time initial revelation. He had to go. You see, that one-time revelation is just an open door to the deeper things of Christ. It's an invitation to come and learn of Him. It's an invitation to have a lifetime of prayer and seeking His face and opening your heart and let Christ come in and tell you all about Himself, who He is, His glory, His power, His might, His goodness, His mercy, His long-suffering in your life. It's an invitation. And many are satisfied with that initial one-time revelation. They can say, yes, I have a revelation of Christ. And this is very, there's a very telling example of this in the 16th chapter of Matthew. Jesus calls His disciples together. He says, who do men say that I am? You see, Christ at this time was totally rejected. Everyone had rejected Him except His few disciples. Even those who said they were disciples, His word was too hard and they forsook Him. And He said, who do they say that I am? And Peter, speaking for the disciples, said, you are the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus said to Peter and to His disciples, no man revealed that unto you, but my Father in heaven revealed that. You didn't get it just by looking at me, not even with walking by me, but a revelation came to you. A revelation came to you that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God. I'll tell you what, turn to Matthew 16. I want to show you something. Matthew 16. In verse 13, Jesus is saying, whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am? Verse 15, you see, but whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Now, verse 19, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatsoever thou shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now listen to this. This is an amazing scripture verse, verse 20. Then charged He His disciples that they should tell no man that He was Jesus the Christ. Now, think of it. God Himself has already proclaimed Him to the world as the Lamb of God. They've just had a revelation that Jesus is the Christ. And Jesus looks at Peter and says, don't preach it. Don't talk about it. Why would He do that? Because all He had was the initial one-time revelation. He really didn't know who Christ was, because you find Him very shortly after when Jesus began to teach them and show them who He really was and the cross. Peter reneges about it. He says, you will never go to the cross. How would Jesus allow Him to go out and preach a gospel when He doesn't have an adequate revelation of who Jesus is? And what the Lord is saying, unless you have a personal knowledge of me, unless I have taught you, you have no business preaching. You have no business proclaiming Christ until you allow Him to work in your heart and show you who He is, so that you're not preaching somebody's theology. You're not preaching doctrine. You have walked with Him. You've talked with Him. And He's come and revealed Himself to you. I know who He is. I have had a revelation. He's in my heart. He speaks to me. He's shown me His heart. Do you understand? Because the very next verse it says, and from that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that. In other words, He began to show Him Himself. He said, you're not ready. You say, well, can't I go out and witness? Yes, you can. God will honor His Word, but He's not going to see you through the lifetime of travail and what you face in the days ahead and the pain and the agony you have got when crisis comes, when death comes, when sickness comes. You have got to know Him. You have got to know Him intimately. You have to be taught by Him. Now, I perceive a question in the mind of some, a question. Brother Dave, isn't it dangerous to open your mind to a still small voice? Isn't that where people have gotten in trouble hearing deceiving voices telling them to believe and do ridiculous things? Oh, I've heard some of the most ridiculous things people say God told me, that God spoke to my heart. And they're all dumb things that anybody ought to know that God wouldn't talk like that. And what about the devil coming in and knowing that your heart is sincere? What about the enemy comes in and he whispers and he pretends to be the voice of God, still small voice. And what about the voice of the flesh that comes and mimics the voice of God? Isn't it dangerous? And then others will say, well, isn't the Bible the only voice? And isn't the Holy Ghost the only teacher? Let me talk about it for just a moment, if you would please. I believe, let me talk to you about the Holy Spirit, first of all. I believe the Holy Spirit is in Himself a distinct, living, powerful, intelligent, divine person. Not a human person, but with a personality. I believe that. The Bible says clearly that the Holy Spirit rules the church, He comforts, He strengthens the weak, He brings divine order, He teaches the riches of Christ. He's the teacher. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. That's just a part of it. It's much broader than that. Yet in the Scripture, listen very closely, yet in the Scripture, it's called, He is called the Spirit of the Son. Galatians 1, 14, 6, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. It's also called the Spirit of Christ. What time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, 1 Peter 1, 11. In Romans 8, 9, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Now, if Jesus is God, then the same Spirit is in both. Because He's God, God's Spirit is in them. And the Holy Spirit has been sent by the Father and by the Son. And He represents the mind. He is the mind of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit speaking the mind of Christ. And it is Jesus. He said, I will come to you and I will speak to you. Folks, don't try to figure out some theological thing and that the Holy Ghost is some kind of a human form. He's not. He's a Spirit. He's everywhere at the same time. And He's come to glorify Jesus and to manifest Christ in our lives. And everything Jesus said. Now, folks, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. But that Word, every word that He speaks divinely in our hearts, that can be backed up by this Word and absolutely conforming to this Word, we can trust. Let me give you the Word of protection. How to detect. First of all, the voice of the flesh. Now, folks, you're not going to hear a word from the Lord until you give Him time. Go, as I've said before, pray. Make your petitions. Worship. Praise Him. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Pray for pastors. Pray for the world. Pray for missions. Pray for workers of the harvest. Spend your time in prayer. But then there's quality time with the Lord. And when you stop and say, now, Lord, this is your time. And just quietly worship and say, Lord, speak to me. And folks, I'm not talking about saying, Lord, do I go on vacation on the 5th or the 10th? Do I wear black or green today? I've heard people say, God told me to wear green today because this is a green day for the Lord. He feels green. Folks, that's foolishness. That is utter foolishness. No, you see, if you really want to learn the voice of Jesus Christ, you go to Him to be trained. You go to Him and say, I want to learn about you, Jesus. And all I want to hear is about you. If you're there just to learn about Jesus, everything else comes out of that. All education, all direction, everything comes out of learning who Christ is. And if you go there focused on that, first of all, the flesh is not patience. And I'm telling you, the secret of knowing His voice is in the waiting. It's in the waiting. See, the flesh doesn't wait. It wants instant gratification. And when you get along with God, if the flesh is speaking, it's going now, now, now. You've been here long enough. You heard now, go. There will be a rush to it. And it'll be focused on you. All the flesh is not patient. I want it right now. God, you promised that I want it now. And the flesh will be demanding upon you. It will be impatient. And it'll leave. That voice won't last very long, because it's so impatient. Now, the devil's voice is patient to a point. Listen closely. The Holy Spirit revealed this to me last night. And it's been a protection for me. I want it to be for you. The devil is patient to a point. He will come as a still, small voice. And he'll wait for a while. But folks, when you don't accept any voice right away, and you hear this voice, and you say, thank you, Jesus. I'm going right to my Bible to test it. The devil will expose himself immediately. And when he knows you've heard the voice, and you just park it in the back of your mind and say, thank you. And you don't know yet what the voice, you can't discern the voice. And you just remain still, just say, well, I'm staying here, Lord, just to love you. I'm just going to stay. Lord, show me something about your nature. And I'm going to tell you, that's when the devil is going to lose his patience. And it won't be a still, small voice anymore. It will be a railing voice. It will be a demanding voice. It will be an ugly voice, and it'll be exposed in the presence of the Holy Ghost. Because you see, the devil knows, and God knows, and the angels know that you have set your mind to wait. And that's why the Bible keeps crying out, wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord. Because it's in the waiting, all the other voices leave. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. I'm going to close in just a minute. You know, in Jeremiah 42, Jerusalem has been destroyed, and a remnant, a renegade remnant came to Jeremiah, said, we need direction. Would you go to God, get direction? We don't know whether to go to Egypt or stay right here in the land. We have no direction, but we'll do anything you tell us from God's hand. The Bible says, Jeremiah sought the Lord for 10 days. And on the 10th day, God spoke. He waited till the other voice was God. For the devil knew that this man is not going to be settling for anything but the voice of God, the voice of the Lord. And folks, that's patience. And we're so impatient today. We don't have people that go to the Lord and wait, praise, and then just patience. Because you see, there's a program on television that's calling. Raymond's calling. Is that what it is? I don't know what it is on television. Somebody out there is calling. And if you listen to that voice, you listen to that call, you know it's the flesh. You know you haven't heard a word from God. You're going to hear from God when this time with Jesus is the most important thing in your life. More than your family, more than your husband, more than your wife, more than your children. And when you get in there and you're married, you tell your wife or your husband, don't call me. If the call comes, I don't care what it is, what emergency it is. I'm staying there. I'm coming out. When I come out, I'll call back. And you put it, you just say, this is it. Because I want to hear the voice of my Lord. I want to know it. And I want to walk. And then what'll happen, you become very sensitive to his speaking. He'll tell you times that you're going to have to pull away from certain people. Loving them, yes, but you're going to have to pull away. You can't have fellowship with that person. And sometimes it'll break your heart. It'll be sometimes the Lord is so loving your voice. He so wants your fellowship that sometimes you'll just pull away for a season. You just back away to see if you will persist. And there's sometimes you won't hear his voice. You'll go through what they call a draw spell. But you see, those are the ones that he most wants to reveal his heart to. Those are the ones the Lord said, if you will pass this test, if you keep coming to me because you haven't heard for a while. I spent an hour last night. I'm learning this walk. I'm far from it, but I'm learning it. And about 11 o'clock, I said, Lord, from 11 to 12, it's your time. Speak to my heart. It's just, I'm feeding you. Just silence, silence. And I'm thinking to myself, well, Lord, does this really work? I'm going to preach it tomorrow. And finally, after about 45 minutes, just waiting, worshiping. So, Lord, you can say anything to my heart. You know what he said? I love you, David. You're tired. Go to bed. That's right. It was the sweetest thing. And he said, and give me time when you're not weary so that I can speak clearly and you can hear it. He's not a hard task master. He's a loving Savior. Oh, how he wants to communicate with us. He wants everybody hearing me to be able to come to the house of God so excited. You see, last night, he spoke a word. He opened. You're reading a verse and you don't understand it. Take that verse into prayer. And when you're alone and you're feeding Christ, wait a minute. Say, Lord, I don't understand this. Speak it to my heart. And suddenly, just keep quoting that verse before him. And suddenly, it'll be opened up to you. And he'll be speaking to you things that you've never heard. You've never known. And you're getting it. You're getting it. And you come to God's house. You don't boast about it. They don't humble you, but you'll come here worshiping the Lord as you've never worshiped him before. And you'll know things about your house, your home, your direction. All of that will follow. But first of all, Lord, just teach me who you are. Will you stand, please? No clapping. No, please. No clapping. We don't applaud men here. I know you want to tell you what you can just say a great hallelujah to Jesus. Hallelujah. We praise you, Lord. We give you honor. We give you thanks. Will you stand in his presence? I had asked the Lord, you remember how I prayed before I started preaching? Lord, fill the house and the annex and every room with your presence that this word could be received in your presence so it could melt our hearts. I wonder how many there are here listening to me now. While I was preaching, and listen closely, while I was preaching was there something in your heart crying out, that's what I want. I want to hear his voice. I want to know his voice. I want him to teach me. I want this experience for myself. I don't want to get it just from the pastors. I don't want to get it from the Bible school here. That helps, yes. That's to create hunger and thirst in you. Yes, all of that. But I want, I want to be taught by the Holy Spirit. I want Christ to come and reveal himself in me, not just to my brain, but in my heart. If you want that, it's yours. But I'm going to tell you, listen closely, it's a holy obsession. It has to obsess you. It has to be something every morning you get up, say, God, I want this more than I want to live. If I can't have this, Lord, you gave it all through the Bible to other men, Lord. You said it's for me, and it is for you. You can walk out of this house today, sing Holy Ghost, make this real to me. And I want you to speak to me now. Here's my invitation. We have a number of visitors here from all over the world in all of our rooms and here in the auditorium. And I'm speaking also to some that are, Times Square Church is your home. I don't know about you, but I, I cannot quiet this cry in my soul. I can't help the hunger and the thirst that is growing in my heart. I want my last days, the time that I have left, to be wholly given to him while I'm still busy pastoring, writing books, and doing all these things, but have that time for him. And that's what this is all about. And some of you have been neglecting him. And I'm going to open this alters for those who are honest enough to say, I've been putting my own needs and desires, my own things before I, the things of the Lord. Some of you have been slipping away from Christ. You've been backslidden. You're not even praying anymore. You're not seeking God. Now that's going to take an honest confession. I want you to step out of your seat right now, wherever you're at and come here to the front. I'm going to ask God to give you a touch from the Holy Spirit and that you'll not let this truth evaporate, but you'll take it and ask the Holy Spirit to make it real to you. In the annex, in the annex, I'm going to ask you, if God's been stirring your heart, would you just move forward between the screens? Don't block the screens, but just move right out of your seat and stand right in the front. And if you're in an annex, just follow these, moving right to the front of your auditorium there in between the screens. I'll pray for you in just a moment. But as they sing, you feel up in the balcony, go to the stairs. You come down and join us here. Don't leave this church cold. Don't leave this church empty inside. Don't leave this church going back to your old ways. Don't do that. Let the Spirit of God move you and change you today while he's moving in our midst. We come now to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to give ourselves more completely to you, to give everything, Lord. We have held back. We've neglected you days on end. We have put ourselves above you. We have put our time above your time, our needs above your needs. Lord, forgive us. Here I am, Lord. Here we are. Come and change us. Create a hunger and a thirst in our hearts for you. Help us to spend more time alone with you, to follow the example, Jesus, that you set, to just get alone, to get alone with you, to learn of you. Teach us, Lord Jesus. Teach us of yourself that we may see you clearer in the days ahead, Lord, that we may have something we can give to the world, a living, a living experience, a genuine personal experience in us and not to us. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, I pray for those in the annex who've come forward in here in the main auditorium. Lord, by your Spirit, touch them right now. Ignite a fire in their souls. Put a fire in their bosom. Put a hunger. Put a thirst. Let them cry out, Lord, I do want you. I need you. More of Jesus, more and less of self. Lord, for those who've been neglectful, God, convict them with love and then woo them and draw them back into your arms. Lord, do that for us this morning because you're gracious, Lord, and you love us and you so want to communicate with us. You so want our fellowship and we would give it to you, Lord Jesus. Lord, I want to be your friend. I want to be a friend of the Lord Jesus. I want you to look at me, Jesus, and say, there goes my friend. There's my friend, Lord. Let that be said of everyone in this congregation that reaches toward you. There's my friend. She's my friend. He's my friend. Oh, God, give us that friendship, that fellowship with Jesus, our Lord. Draw us and woo us to yourself. Would you just lift your hands and love him? Just love him. That's all right now. Just love him. Lord, I love you. I worship you. I love you, Jesus. I worship you, Lord. Hallelujah. We worship you, Lord. We praise you. We give honor and glory to your name. Blessed be the name. Lord, go with this congregation with peace, the peace of God, and the joy of the Holy Ghost. The days ahead, Lord, let us rejoice and be glad in you for your loving kindness. Amen. Now, I'm going to ask in the annex, in the overflow rooms, and here in the mandatorium, balcony, wherever you are, please don't just walk out of here. Please fellowship with the saints. By this, O men, know you're my disciples, if you have love one for another. That love has to be expressed in some way. Women hug women. Men hug men. That's fine. And just a good handshake. God love you. Try to meet as many as you can, and just a good word to as many as you can as you leave. Amen. This is the conclusion of the message.