0:00:00 - 0:00:32 It's uh August 2022. And, um about this time of year is the anniversary of, um, the first time I had an experience with God that I recognized. Um, that was 20 years ago, this month or late last month. I honestly, I can't remember. But, but sometime in the late summer, um I was at basic training and after 0:00:31 - 0:01:04 18 years of uh exposure to all sorts of different organized religions through friends and family members, um, which I had never sort of really connected to. I found myself, um in a weird place because basic training life is kind of vacuumed out of that 10 weeks. And, um, a lot of people have the headspace 0:01:03 - 0:01:32 to think about things that maybe they normally wouldn't think about. And, um I decided that it was time for me to know whether or not God was real. And I thought a fair test of that would be to pray and ask him. So I did. And for various reasons, I, I really had the confidence that if he was real, I 0:01:32 - 0:02:02 would get an answer to that prayer. And so I knelt down there in the, in the barracks. Uh, one night and I prayed and I asked him if he was real. And in response to that I felt, I felt an enveloping, um, love that I had never felt before, at least at that intensity in my life. But I recognize this as 0:02:01 - 0:02:29 something that was like a lot of things that I had experienced before, good feelings. But it was much more intense than that. And although it was intense, it was also very subtle and that seems paradoxical. But what I've come to to realize is that um our bodies aren't designed to have evident encounters 0:02:29 - 0:02:55 with God. Um That, that's a very intentional part of how things work here. Um That I won't get into now, but it has to do with our ability to exercise faith, which it turns out is really important. But um I knew I knew that I had experienced something there and that was enough for me to believe without 0:02:55 - 0:03:19 a doubt that God existed. Now. There were a billion other questions that needed to be answered about what, what that meant exactly. And uh what I would have to change in my life as a result of that knowledge, but I had that knowledge. So there are a couple of points I wanna make here. Um First is that 0:03:19 - 0:03:39 God is no respecter of persons. There are a lot of scriptures that, that have that phrase, but there isn't, um there's some confusion about what that means and what it means is that God is impartial. He lives according to the same rules in every situation. And uh more accurately, his character does not 0:03:39 - 0:04:05 change no matter who it is. He's interacting with. And so um this is a huge blessing because if you desire to have experiences with God, all you need to do is find people who have and then replicate uh where they were, what they were doing. Um And you'll have the same. So, um there's that point, the 0:04:04 - 0:04:33 other point I wanted to make is this um this evident subtlety um as I reflect on the last 20 years and all the things that have happened since that night at basic training, um I have had some astonishing experiences with God and I continue to have them. And um I think, I think on the one hand, if I were 0:04:33 - 0:04:58 to detail all of these, it'd be very hard for people to believe because it would seem so um extraordinary. On the other hand, if you knew from my perspective, exactly how those things happened, I think you'd realize just how easy it would be to dismiss any one of them as they were happening. And that 0:04:58 - 0:05:25 I think seems like a paradox, but it's really important to recognize God's voice and the experiences he gives you in your life and it's very difficult to do. So. Um I think that if another person had been there doing what I was doing at the time, it's highly likely that they sort of would have just spotted 0:05:24 - 0:05:54 off that feeling. Now, I can tell you that without a shadow of a doubt, what I felt in that moment was the greatest outpouring of love I'd ever felt in my life. And uh it exceeded what I imagined was even possible. And I guess because of some kind of honesty inside of me, I had to acknowledge that I 0:05:54 - 0:06:17 had to acknowledge that that that was something that, that had never happened to me and not even close. But uh through life's experiences, I realized that that is not the case with most people that honesty is not there. And they would say, well, ok, whatever it was, it wasn't external or it didn't endure 0:06:17 - 0:06:39 for more than a minute. So therefore it wasn't real. And um I think that's where a lot of people go wrong and I could go into more detail about this, but I don't want to drone on for too long here. Um I think that I think the problem isn't so much that God isn't speaking. I think the problem is that 0:06:39 - 0:07:02 people aren't listening. Um And I said, think, but I don't think I know, see God's voice is to all people at all times. He's actually talking to you right this second. In fact, he never stops talking to you. And that's true for all people. The problem is you just, you don't recognize the voice. So what 0:07:02 - 0:07:24 is that voice? It's the voice of improvement. God's voice is the voice of improvement. So at any time, at any place, no matter where you are, you can ask yourself what, what is good, what is beautiful, what is true, what is right? What makes you stronger and so on? And that's God's voice, your capacity 0:07:23 - 0:07:46 to think about those things, at your level, whatever level you're on, whatever situation you're in, it is a tremendously valuable gift of God. It's a gift that none of his other creations have just us. And as you resolutely follow that voice and you ask yourself what's the best thing I can imagine? And 0:07:46 - 0:08:08 then you go and you do that, the voice will get louder and louder and it will be, get more and more frequent. The, the problem is that um as easy as it is as it is to latch on to this and to, to exercise it, you could do it right this second in short order, you're going to get invitations that lead you 0:08:08 - 0:08:27 to a place that's not comfortable. It's gonna lead you right outside of your comfort zone and it's so easy to just say, well, not right now. I wanna hit pause on this or I'm not gonna do that right now. And it doesn't work like that. When you push that away, you crank down the volume and it, it takes 0:08:26 - 0:08:50 time and effort to get it back up. It's not something you can just flip on and off when it's convenient. So, the, the, the, the truth is, even though people don't want to hear it, the truth is that absolutely everything you do matters. Absolutely everything you do affects who you are and affects the 0:08:49 - 0:09:13 relationship you have with God. And that, that transcends any sort of religious jargon, any religious organizations or rights. It's between you and God. So, uh, as I look around and I, I noticed that very few people have a relationship with God and everyone who has one even, it seems like it could be 0:09:13 - 0:09:38 better than it is. You don't really have to wonder why that is because the truth is, is that we put God in a tiny little box where we're only interested in that voice when it, when it touches on certain things, at times that are convenient for us and in ways that uh already fit what we value right now 0:09:37 - 0:10:01 . And the thing is, is the whole point of the Gospel is to draw us into things that are better to, to help us become better than we are. And that means that necessarily it has to draw us out of what we currently value into something greater. So it turns out that there are people who are more familiar 0:10:01 - 0:10:22 with this voice and who follow it more closely, even though they would say that they do not believe in God, it turns out they believe in God more than most Christians. So we need to get rid of the boxes in the lines and stop chaining God and limiting him to what's convenient to us. We need to really 0:10:22 - 0:10:52 trust him. And as I look back at the last 20 years, two things are very clear to me. One, every single thing that I went through in the 1st 18 years of my life, no matter how random it seemed or how hard it might have been at the time, it was laser focused on God introducing himself to me. He was calling 0:10:51 - 0:11:18 me through all these different things through everything. Absolutely everything in my life. And that's true for you right now. It's true for everyone. The second thing is that in the subsequent 20 years from then to now everything he has led me through to and through has been for my benefit. And it's 0:11:18 - 0:11:45 very clear to me. And so I have a, a deep and abiding trust that whatever he asks me to do or not to do, is it better than anything that I thought about doing or not doing before that? And the joy and the peace that comes from that is untouchable. Nothing can happen in this world that can take it away 0:11:45 - 0:12:10 from you. Put another way, no matter what happens to you here. If you live in this way, you will have peace and joy and happiness and you'll be free from, from anxiety and from depression, from worry you just lean into God at all times and, you know, with, with complete confidence that you're doing what 0:12:10 - 0:12:30 he wants you to do that whatever your situation is, is what he wants you to be in. And it doesn't matter how hard it is. And, uh, that's a, that's a wonderful thing and, uh, I wish more people were there because it's a, it's a beautiful thing.