All right. Hey everybody, welcome to Valley Creek. We're so glad that you're here with us today. Wherever you are, whatever is going on in your life, whether this is your first time with us, maybe you haven't been in a while, maybe you've left and recently come back, maybe you're here every single week – it really doesn't matter. We say to you today, welcome home. Welcome home. We're so glad you're here. And I'm so excited as we're moving into the fall semester together. There are so many great things kicking off, so many opportunities for relationship and discipleship as we move forward on our journey with Jesus. Our Kids and Student semesters are kicking off. Do you know we have 336 kids and students that are either in Kids Leadership Experience or Student Leadership Experience – which means they're investing nine months of their life to grow as leaders and disciples. Uh, our Student semester kicks off for everyone this Wednesday – MVMNT Night at all of our campuses. We hope to see all of our students there. VC College officially kicks off their year this week. We have 65 full-time college students getting their fully accredited degree while being formed and shaped into the image and likeness of Jesus. Our Young Adult Gatherings will be kicking off here in the next few weeks. We got Transformation Tuesday. We got Tuesday Night Prayers. We've got circles where you can grow as a disciple of Jesus and get in relationships with other people.

There are so many great things happening. And what I want you to understand from me is none of them are a sales pitch. We're not trying to convince you to do anything. We're trying to say we want to follow Jesus as a people. And to truly follow Jesus is a lifestyle of constantly arranging and rearranging, ordering and reordering my life around Jesus and what He is doing and inviting me towards. And so if I want relationships and I want to grow as a disciple of Jesus, I have to do things that are inconvenient and costly but will change my life because I'm moving forward with Him. So you don't have to do any of it. There's no like pressure to do anything.

Here's what I just want to ask you. Would you just ask Jesus what He wants you to do this semester? What if you just say just, “Jesus, I'm just gonna, I'll ask You whatever next step You want me to take. That's the one that I'll take.” What, what if we just started there? Because wouldn't that make sense with what we're talking about as a church? I mean, we're in this series called Prophetic Reset – Aligning Your Life With What God is Saying.

See, I think we need a prophetic reset. I think we need to hear God's voice and we need to align our life with what He is saying. See, sometimes our lives can get distracted. They can get out of order. They can get glitchy and scrambly and we're stressed and overwhelmed and we got a lot of things going on. And like your favorite piece of technology, sometimes things are glitchy, sometimes they're buffering, sometimes they're not working. And the best button there is is the reset button. And it takes everything back to fan factory settings and resets and restarts everything so that it works the way that it's supposed to. Well, in Jesus' name, He always offers you a reset on your life. No matter how glitchy, how scrambly, how chaotic, how distracted, in Jesus' name, He will offer you a reset and restore all things the way that He designed them to be. But we're in a season as a church where we don't want a reset that takes us back to factory settings. No, we want a prophetic reset that moves us forward. That's more like an update and a new operating system that takes us into the future that God has for us.

You see, prophetic is a big word. It's a, it's a big word that has a mystery to it. It has a sense of intimidation to it. But let me just simplify it for you because it's not that mysterious and it's not intimidating at all. A prophetic word is simply a specific word from God that empowers you to create the future with Him. It's all a prophetic word is a specific word from God that empowers you to create the future with Him. It's a specific word. It's not general. It's not subjective. It's not flowery. It's very specific to your life, your situation, your circumstances – a specific word from God. It's not from yourself. It's not from people. It's not from the world. No, it's, it's from God – the all-knowing, all-powerful, everlasting, wise, eternal, gracious, and good God that empowers you. It's a word of grace that gives you a supernatural empowerment, enabling you to do that which you couldn't do on your own. It fills you with faith. It fills you with hope. It fills you with a boldness and a courage to step out to create a future that doesn't currently exist with God and move forward into all that He has in store for you.

And if you look all throughout Scriptures, you see how important prophetic words are for God and for His people. Sometimes the people, they're, they're rebelling. They're disobeying. They've gotten off track. And God sends a prophetic word to align them back to His heart. Other times the people are moving forward and they're moving mountains and defeating giants and walking on water and God will send them a specific word to bring encouragement and clarity and confidence into their life to keep going. Sometimes the prophetic words are a rebuke. Sometimes they're a revelation. Sometimes they're a correction. Sometimes they're a command. Sometimes they're a provision. Sometimes they're a promise. But they're a specific word from God that empowers you to create the future with Him.

And you need them in your life. You need them in your life. You are created to hear God's voice and align your life with what He is saying. And I don't know if you've paid attention or not or if you just listen to the people around you, but most conversations are full of, “I think I thought, I desired, I wanted, they say, the experts say, AI told me.” Followers of Jesus' conversation should be full of, “God's been telling me. God's been speaking to me. God gave me this verse. I'm holding on to this promise. I'm waiting on a word from the Lord. I'm wrestling with God until He speaks to me about this.” Whoever you follow, you listen to. And whoever you listen to, you follow. And so if I'm listening to the world, I'm following the world. If I'm listening to my flesh, I'm following my flesh. But if I'm listening to Jesus, then and only then am I actually following Jesus as a disciple, a learner, a follower – becoming like the one who I'm following. I actually have to hear Him if I'm going to follow Him and become like Him.

So this whole series at the beginning of this fall semester is just about creating an anticipation, an expectation, an awareness to lift your head that God is speaking to you and He has great specific things to say about your life and He wants to empower and strengthen you to create the future with Him. The question is not, “Is God speaking?” It's, “Are we listening and are we willing to align with what He says?” In fact, this is why Jesus says, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." Jesus makes it so clear that God is speaking and He's got a lot to say to you. He says, "God's voice is your life. You don't live on bread alone. You don't live on the temporary, the finite, the physical. No, you live on every word that comes from the mouth of God. You live on the eternal, the invisible, the superior, that which is weighty and has authority and life to it.” And we have to understand that just like every day your body needs bread, every day your soul needs the voice of God. I mean, have you ever had like fresh baked bread? Oh, can you even like, can you – oh, it's like fresh bread. It's still hot. It's warm. It's soft. Oh, it's so good and satisfying and nourishing. That is the voice of God to your soul. It's fresh. It's warm. You can smell it. You can taste it. And it is incredibly satisfying in your soul. I mean, Jesus says, "He who belongs to God, hears what God says.” Here's the great news. If you claim to be a Christian, a disciple, if you're born again, if you say you have a personal relationship with Jesus, then guess what? You hear God's voice. You don't have to figure out how to hear it. You already hear it. You just have to discern and tune in and then align. Choose to obey and bring your life into agreement with what God is saying.

Or how about the prophet Isaiah that says, "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears, [not the person sitting next to you's ears] your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way. Walk in it.’" You know what that says? No matter where you are, no matter what you're doing, no matter how stuck you are, no matter how difficult things may be, no matter how glitchy and buffering and overwhelmed your life may be. Yeah. In that moment, there is still a voice speaking to you, guiding and leading, comforting, encouraging – a specific word that will empower you and show you which way to go to create the future that doesn't currently exist.

Or how about one more? Jesus at the end of His life as He's heading to the cross tells the disciples, right, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth [the Holy Spirit] comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak [everybody say that with me] He will speak [Oh, so He's speaking. So God talks to us.] only what He hears. And He will tell you what is yet to come.” Can you catch it? Jesus says, "Guys, I got so much to say to you, but if I said it to you now, you couldn't handle it. I have more to say to you than you can bear. So, the Holy Spirit's going to come. It'll be the presence of God inside of you.”

And the reason God most often speaks in a whisper is because He's right here. God doesn't have to yell cuz He's not way out there. He can whisper cuz He's right here as the Spirit of truth living inside this temple and He will speak and He will guide and He will tell you what is yet to come. Look at that. He's speaking. He's guiding. He's telling. He's talking. And He has a lot to say. If I startled you by yelling, I'm sorry. Some of you are like, "Well, that's not how God speaks." He can whisper because He's right here.

See, you were created to live a prophetic life. That's what this is saying. You were created to live with a prophetic edge. You were created to live your life with a prophetic edge where where your life is so sharp and so concise and so clear and and so penetrating and so piercing and so fresh and so weighty and powerful and authoritative with a gravity and a holiness and a glory to it. Why? Because you have aligned your life with the Spirit that is speaking within you. And so when your life is dull and cloudy and confusing and there's no weight or gravity or authority to it, you've lost your prophetic edge and the Holy Spirit wants to give it back to you.

I mean, I want you to just think about Jesus for a second. Did you ever just stop and ask yourself this question, like, how did Jesus decide what He was going to do every day? You got three years to change the world. Like, do you have a master plan? Did you make a strategy for 30 years before the three years started? Like, how did Jesus decide He's going to go to this city, but not that city? He's going to invite this person to be His disciple, but not that person. He's going to go and do this miracle, but not that miracle. Like, like that's a lot of pressure. Like, how did Jesus decide what He was going to do? Well, He tells us, “The Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the Son also does... I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught me… so whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say,” over and over and over again. Especially in the Gospel of John, Jesus basically says I only go where I see the Father going. I only do what I see the Father doing and I only say what I hear the Father saying. In other words, I have arranged my entire life around what the Father is saying to me and that's where I go and that's what I do and that's what I say.

And if we're His disciples, then this is how He is teaching us to live. A student is not above his master, but a student who is fully trained will become like his teacher. Jesus is literally training you to live the kind of life where you only go where the Father is going, do what the Father is doing and say what you hear the Father is saying. If a disciple is a student, learner, follower, someone who becomes like the one that they follow – if that's how Jesus lived His life, then that's how He is training you to live your life. Nowhere do you watch Jesus do the, “I think, I thought, I desire, I feel, they say, the experts say, the Roman Empire says.” The Father says, so I. The Father speaks and I hear. When the Father guides, I follow.

So the question for you is this: is that how you live your life? Have you created the kind of culture in your home that values the voice of God? Is the culture of your home, of your life, the kind of culture that values the voice of God? Like in your marriage, in your family, in your roommates, your life, is there a lot of, “I think, I desired, I thought, they said, we researched, we think this is the best, everyone else has recommended”? Or, no, in our family, it's all about, “He's saying and and He's speaking and what does God say and what does God want and what verse are we holding on to as a family”? Have you created the culture in your family that values the voice of God? And you can't just say yes. You actually have to listen to the conversation narrative. Is it I’s and they or he's? This really is important. Um, for whatever it's worth to you, like from the moment Colleen and I got married, our entire life and our leadership has been this constant pursuit of creating the kind of culture in our home and in our church where, where everything is about hearing the voice of God. Like every decision, everything we do, every major thing in our life is submitted to the voice of God. And, and people often accuse me for being a little slow in my life and and and it may be, but it's because I'm waiting on the Lord. It's like I I I I would rather miss some opportunities in my life waiting on the Lord than go do everything that I feel like doing and never once think about what God has to say.

The moment my kids were born, we, we sought the Lord for a prophetic word over their life. And for both my kids – 19 and 17, for 19 years and 17 years – we've had a prophetic word – a specific word from God that has empowered us and them to create a future that doesn't exist. And just about every day, I either speak it or pray it over their life. And it's given Colleen and I a way to parent and align. And it's given my kids a very clear understanding of the destiny that God has for them. Every year before our kids go to school, Colleen and I spend time seeking God for a word for that year, for that kid. And it's different for both kids. And we seek God, we get a word, we take him out to a nice dinner, and we say, "This is what we think God is speaking over your life for this year." Words like humble confidence, things like ownership and initiation, uh things like embrace the gray, things like security or celebration – all real words that one of my kids has gotten over the years. We don't make it up. It's from God. Then my kids know it – we know it – and then we all align to it, and we look for God in the midst of it all year long.

I'm just telling you, we've made it so normal in our house that my kids wouldn't even go to the first day of school now without their word. It'd be like, "Dad, for the first day of picture, Dad, you didn't give us our word. We can't go." My son graduated last year. And most people when they get to their senior year, everything is what? I think, I want, I thought, I felt, they said, I like this mascot, this city, this culture, this thing. Totally. I get all that. We spent all year saying, "What is God saying?" Because God has something to say about your future. He's the only one we need to make sure we include in your future because He's the only one that holds it in His hands. So, so we spent all year seeking God. Then we get a word from God that brings clarity. And as hard as it is sometimes to transition into new seasons, you've got a word from God that you can hold on because it now empowers you because God has spoken. Not we thought or we decided or we felt or we wanted. Is this making sense to you?

I've had to make some major decisions in my life in the last couple years. And our elders, our my godly relationships have literally been the voice of God and they've spoken some very clear things into us as a church. If you ever wonder why do we do the things that we do, you know why we do the things we do – because I think, I feel, I desire, and AI told me. AI told me to do a series called Prophetic Reset. God, what do You want to say? What do You want to say? And that's what we're going to do. We're going to align our life with it. And it costs, it, you like, make no mistake about it. You start listening to the voice of God. It will cost you something, but it will give you everything. Listen to me. Your life is so big, so significant, and so important that you need the voice of God to actually live it. It's so big. You, you're so significant. You, you're so important. And the moment you tell me that you don't listen to the voice of God for your life, what you're telling me deep down in here is that you don't believe your life is big, important, nor significant because you're saying, "I can do it all on my own." Well, I, I'm just a businessman. You're just a businessman. You're just getting to use your gifts and talents and abilities to go into spaces and places for the good of others and the glory of God. I'm, I'm just a stay-at-home parent. I don't need the voice of God for that. Are, are you kidding? You're just a stay-at-home – you're just training your children in the way they should go so when they are old, they will not depart from it. I, I'm, I'm I mean, I'm just a teacher. I just, we got to go back to school. It's pretty rough right now. I mean, you're just a teacher. You're just training the next generation on not what to think, but how to think. I'm just a student. Like, it's no big deal. You're just a student. You're just being formed into the image and likeness of Jesus. So you can go create a future that doesn't exist. You say, "I'm just an empty nester. I'm just, just retired." You're, you're just able to use your life, your time, your energy, your resources, and your prayers to invest into others to create a future that doesn't exist. Your life is so big, so significant, and so important that it is not possible to live it without the voice of God. Dads, how are you going to raise your children without God's wisdom? How how, moms, how how how are you going to do – how are you going to stay married in a healthy marriage without the voice of God speaking to you and and and helping you deny your flesh and and love one another? Singles, how how are you going to figure out like like who should I be in relationship with and who should I make sure I, I don't even let anywhere near me? And, and if you're a student, like how are you going to figure out what your future is? Cuz what you think or what you want, what everyone else is, like like how are you going to do those things without the voice of God? So when you cut the voice of God out of your life, just understand somewhere in here you believe you have a small insignificant life. Because if you really believed it was big and significant and important, you would want the voice of God speaking to you about everything in your life. Are you with me on this?

You see, I think a lot of us, what we want from God is we want a word of action, but what He usually offers us is a word of revelation. You say, "What does that mean?" I think we seek God when we're desperate to make a decision – this or this. And usually we've got it down to two. And we're like, "This or this. I need a word of action from God. Should I – this or this? What should I do?" And while God absolutely will speak to you on that, what He will speak to you more often than not is words of revelation. Words revealing to you who you are and who He is. What I've discovered over time is that God has a lot more to say to me about who I am and who He is than what I'm supposed to go and do. Because when I get who I am and who He is right, I naturally know what to go and do. Does that make sense? He will speak to me about my identity, about my my my personhood, my heart, my character, my attitudes, my my thoughts. And He will tell me that's an ungodly belief and that's a lie that you're believing. And why does your heart feel like this? And why are you thinking that thought? And you see this judgment over here. Yeah, that's hurting you and everybody else. He will often speak about a revelation of who you are or your heart or your attitude. And then He will speak revelation about who He is and His nature and His character and what He is like. And He will show you His glory and His goodness. And as He speaks to you about who you are and who He is, it's so much easier to figure out what you're supposed to do. We bypass the words of revelation to just get the word of action. God, I don't really care about the ungodly belief in my heart. I don't really care that my attitude stinks. And they don't. Yeah, whatever. Yep. You're good. Cool. So, could you just like, should I do this or not? And it kind of bypasses the whole point of being in relationship. Isn't the point relationship? In fact, I would say to you, who do you have relationship with that you don't communicate with? I have exactly zero relationships in my life that don't have communication in them.

Without any form of communication, there is no relationship. In fact, if you catch Jesus, He says, "This is eternal life that they may know you." Eternal life is not going to heaven when you die. Eternal life is interactive relationship with God both now and forever more. To be an interactive relationship with God is what He defines as eternal life, which is determined as being born again, which means I am now in the kingdom of heaven. It means I listen and I speak and I hear and I talk and I care about what He has to say – and He has a lot of great things to say. And so I've opened my life to that. I mean, American Christianity, one of our favorite things to say is a personal relationship with Jesus. There is no personal relationship with Jesus that doesn't value His voice. It's, it's not a relationship. You may identify with, you may believe in, you you may look to, you may be terrified of, you may want your your your eternal card punched, but but a personal relationship born again Christian follower of Jesus means I have an interactive relationship with Him. Make sense to you?

See, the greatest strategy of your life is the voice of God. I want to say that again. The greatest strategy of your life is the voice of God. The greatest strategy is not your research, not what everybody else is doing, not your genius idea, not what you think should happen, not even AI for all its computing powers. The greatest strategy of your life is the voice of God. King David, the great warrior, the great worshipper, the the great leader, the great mighty man, the great lover, he lived his life by the strategy of whatever God says, that's what I do. This is why it says of him once again, David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered him. David inquired of the Lord. David inquired of the Lord. David inquired of the – read about David, you'll get tired of hearing David inquired of the Lord. In other words, David understood the only strategy that matters is what God said. And what God's saying is often very different than what I think, what I feel, and what everybody else says we should do. And I love it that it says, "Once again." Don't you wish that was a moniker of your life? That you inquired of the Lord so often that people are like, "Once again, John's inquiring of the Lord. Like, can we just make a decision? You know, you want a chicken sandwich or a burger? Like, do we really need to?" What a compliment. What a compliment.

In fact, look at what James says. James says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and to him it will be given." If you ask God, He will speak to you generously without finding fault. And you say, "Well, what if I ask Him? What if I ask Him for help on something and He doesn't speak?" Well, here's the good news. You still honored Him anyways. Has anyone ever asked you for counsel? Don't you feel valued in that moment when they came to you to say, "What do you think I should do? Should I do this or should I do this? Or can you help me unscramble my thoughts?” Is this or or this or like I like when someone comes and asks you for counsel, you immediately get a sense of they value you. They honor you. So when we just ask God, even if He doesn't speak what you want to hear, you have valued and you have honored Him. That for no other reason, we should be people who are constantly inviting the voice of God into our life because it says You are God and I am not. And You are the voice that I want to listen to.

In fact, I love this. Then the word of the Lord came to. There were a plethora of this exact line all throughout Scripture. I could pick any of them that I wanted to for this reference point today because it is said so often throughout Scripture. Then the word of the Lord came to a person. Can you catch the gravity first? Like, can you catch the gravity of what that's saying? Then the word of the Lord came to – ready? Then the word – the word, the thought, the idea, the voice, the heart, the imagination, the creativity, the wisdom, the will, the way, the Spirit, the direction, the insight, the understanding. The word of the Lord – the creator, the sustainer, the redeemer of all things, the one who has created, created everything by His word, sustains, holds it all together by His word, and redeems everything by His word, the great I AM, the Ancient of Days, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Prince of Peace, the bright and morning star, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth and the life, the Good Shepherd, the gate, the light of the world, the bread of life, the living water, the Living Hope, the one who has fire in His eyes. Came – was given, released, entrusted to, blessed, sent, empowered, to you – the one who is fearfully and wonderfully made, the one made in His image and His likeness, the one who He determined the exact times and places where you would live, the one who He prepared good works in advance for you to do before you were even born – you who are salt and light and leaven – you who are the disciples of Jesus who He has entrusted with His message and His kingdom and His Spirit – you who He has made hope carriers to walk amongst this earth bringing forth His kingdom in word and deed and in power. The word of the Lord came to you. There is gravity in that statement. When you understand what the word the Lord came and you really all mean together, there is an authority and a power and a gravity. The word of the Lord came to you.

The question is is what does it read after it came to you? Then they, then he, then she what – embraced it, aligned with it, repented over it, rejoiced because of it, or distanced themselves from it, ignored it, sought out other counsel, thought there was a better way. The word of the Lord, man – the word of the Lord. The reason we don't care about hearing God's voice speak is because we don't care about who is speaking. We think He's one of many voices. It's why we ask I things that only should be asked of the Holy Spirit. Ask AI to build your spreadsheet. Don't ask him if you should marry this person. You need the word of the Lord to come to you. And you know what it means? It means you might have to wait a little bit for it to arrive. Well, I asked Him and He didn't speak in 13 seconds. You haven't talked to Him in 13 years, but in 13 seconds, you expect Him to answer your question? Yes. Because I am Lord and He is not. The word of the Lord is, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Why? Because this is how powerful the word of the Lord is. The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare. The Lord gives strength to His people. And the Lord blesses His people with peace.

We could just call it a day and go home with that. The voice of the Lord thunders and it's powerful and it's majestic and it can break the unbreakable and it comes as fast and as bright as lightning and it shakes the unshakable and it can twist that which is straight and it can straighten that which is twisted and it can strip you bare exposing your thoughts, your attitudes, your heart, your reality. And when He speaks, He gives strength and blesses His people with shalom. In other words, a specific word from God empowers His people to create the future with Him. The same God that said, "Let there be." And creation was formed. The same God that spoke peace to the wind and the waves and they stilled. The same God who called Peter to be His disciple and Lazarus out of the grave and told to the dead whose daughter was dying, "Do not be afraid." And the woman with the flow of blood, "Go in peace. Your faith has healed you." And the sinful woman, "Neither do I condemn you, condemn you."

The one whose voice is as gentle as a whisper and as loud as rushing waters, that's who is speaking to you. And the only thing in all of creation hard enough to resist the voice of God is your heart. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. You want to talk about something that has a weight and a gravity to it. There is nothing in all of creation that can resist the voice of God except the human heart. It's the only thing hard enough to resist God's voice. Everything else, it breaks, it cuts, it penetrates, it shakens, it twists, it it straight, it straightens, it lays bare. But He has empowered you with a free will in this age that for this time your heart can be hard enough to resist the word of the Lord that comes to you. But when this age ends and Jesus returns, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. At some point in time, your heart will break and that word will penetrate into it.

The question is is will you just let Him do that now? In humility and brokenness and surrender and trust and hope – because what hope is there to live your own life? I try really hard on my best of days and it's just doesn't cut it, but one word from God changes everything. There's this fascinating story in 2 Kings. You can read it on your own if you want. If you're reading along, it's kind of confusing. Basically, you get to this point – the prophet Elijah and it says there's a company of prophets like this group of prophets that are learning under Elijah and they're growing and they're increasing and they come to Elijah and they say Elijah we're increasing and we're growing and there's no longer enough room for all of us to stay here so what if we go down to the river, cut down some trees, and build a new place that will have enough room for all of us. And Elijah says sure go and they say will you come with us and he says sure so they go down to the river and they start cutting down trees to expand and build a new place to to to build and expand their life. And while one guy is cutting down a tree, it says his ax head flies off his handle and falls into the dirty, muddy river. And he panics. He's lost his ax head. He cries out to Elijah, "Elijah, I've lost my ax head and it was borrowed. Please help." And Elijah says, "Where did you lose it?" The man shows him. He says, "Right here." Elijah takes a stick, throws it into the muddy river, and the iron ax head floats to the surface, and he says, "There it is. Now take it." And the man grabs his ax head back. And that's the end of the story. Now, if you're doing one of those read through the Old Testament moments and you're like, I don't even know. I'm just going to keep going. I offer you an interpretation of this story.

What if the ax head is the voice of God? What if the ax head is the prophetic edge of the voice of God in your life? Think about what an ax head is. It's sharp. It's clear. It's concise. It penetrates. It pierces. It's fresh. It does things that nothing else can do. And it's made of iron. It's heavy. It's weighty. It has a gravity. It has an authority to it. That sure sounds like the voice of God, doesn't it? And it's on an ax handle – an ax handle made of wood. And the ax head doesn't shift and shape itself to fit the handle. No, the handle must be whittled and shaped and molded and formed to fit into the ax head. In other words, God's voice doesn't change to fit us. We change to fit it. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.” God's word is sharp. It's clear. It's concise. It penetrates. It pierces. It is a prophetic edge as sharp as an ax head. And the word – His word – was with authority and ability and weight and power. It has this gravity, this heaviness, this glory, this holiness, this ability to do things that nothing else can do. I submit to you that that ax head is the prophetic voice of God in this man's life. And when it flies off and goes into the water, he's literally lost everything. This is the company of prophets. Their whole life is hearing the voice of God and speaking to people. So, a prophetic edge is pretty important to his life. And when it flies into the water, he realizes he can't get it. And there was no way to get it back. And he cries out and he says, "It's borrowed. It's borrowed."

Do you realize that your life is borrowed? You are not your own. You've been bought and paid for with a price. You do not belong to yourself. Your life is borrowed from God. And His voice is something that he is lending to you. To whom much is given, much will be required. Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you. You do not own your life nor the voice of God. It's borrowed. And one day you will give an account for how you lived your life and how you responded to the voice of God. And so in humility, he cries out to Elijah. Elijah, I've lost my ax head. Help. And Elijah comes over. And I – where did you lose it? Where did you lose it? Here's my question for you. Where did you lose your prophetic edge? Where did you lose the prophetic edge of your life? And if you stop and think about it, maybe it's super clear. You lost the prophetic edge when God asked you to do this and you disobeyed. You lost the prophetic edge when you got in relationship with that person who you should have never been in relationship with. You lost your prophetic edge when you took that job that you knew you weren't supposed to take. When you arranged your life with all these activities that are now crushing and overwhelming your life. You lost your prophetic edge when you put your kids in 47 select sports or whatever it may be. You lost your prophetic edge when you got rid of these friends and picked up these friends. You lost your prophetic edge when all of a sudden you were trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing.

Have you lost your prophetic edge? And if so, where did you lose it? Where did you lose it? And then he says, "Right here." And Elijah takes a stick. What does a stick represent? Represents the cross of Jesus. The wooden cross – the only thing that we have hope to get our prophetic edge back. And he throws it into the water. Why? Because the cross of Jesus can restore, redeem, and resurrect all things. He can restore to you that which Satan has taken. He can redeem to you that which you have lost. And he can resurrect that which has died and is gone and bring back to the surface. And you get the choice when he says, "There it is. Now pick it back up. Now by faith, this man has to decide whether or not he actually wants it back. And is he willing to pick it back up and then whittle his life to fit the voice of God so that he can once again go and do that which he has created and called to do. Does this make sense to you? Have you lost the prophetic edge of your life? Because if you've lost the prophetic edge, you know what you're left with? A wooden ax handle. What are you going to do with that? And here's the irony. We try, don't we? And some of us, this is how we live our life, but ain't nothing happening. Why? Because there's no ax head. There's nothing sharp. And there's nothing weighty in our life. Our life is cloudy. It's foggy. It's numb. It, it's hollow. It just kind of bounces off everything. And all the while, God is waiting for us to just acknowledge, I've I've lost the prophetic edge of my life. I, I have I have no sharpness. I have no weight. I have no authority. It's like the prophet Samuel. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of His words fall to the ground. You know what that says is Elijah kept his prophetic edge sharp his whole life – his whole life, not just as a student, not just as a young married, not just as middle-aged, not just as empty nest. No, he positioned his heart in front of God at all times to say, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." And because of that, His words didn't fall to the ground. They were always sharp and always clear and always had weight and always had authority.

Do you feel like your life is falling to the ground? Maybe it's because there's no weight or authority or sharpness to it because you've lost the prophetic edge and He invites you to get it back. In fact, this is why Ecclesiastes says, “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed.” If you've got a dull life because you've not been tuning in to the voice of the Lord, it takes a lot more strength to make things happen. What happens when the whole head is gone? You know what happens when the whole head is gone? For a lot of us, we hide amongst the other prophets who are actually cutting things down and take our little stick and just stand by a tree and look like we're doing things. I go to church. I'm in a circle. I do a serve team. I gave once, you know, like it's all good. You got nothing. You've lost your prophetic edge. Ain't nothing happening. Just like you can't build a house without an ax head, you can't build your life without the voice of God. That's what I'm trying to tell you. And this is why it was such a pain. You're like, "Go to Home Depot, buy another one. It's not a big deal." Yeah. Because it's not an ax head. It's the prophetic edge of the voice of God in this man's life. and he knows without it he's got nothing.

And you know what it required? Required humility to acknowledge it was gone and ask for help. And it required faith when Elijah made the thing float to step out and take a hold of it. If you want the prophetic edge of God back in your life, it will take humility and faith. Humility to confess to others and to God, I've lost the prophetic edge of my life. I don't hear the voice of God. I haven't heard the voice of God. I used to hear the voice of God. I want to hear the voice of God. And it will require faith because I believe in this series, God is making that head float. God is making that head float. What does that mean? That means God is speaking and He's going to be speaking really clear. The question is, is will you have the faith to actually grab it and pick it up? And the reason we often don't want to pick it up is because we know it doesn't get whittled. I have to get whittled. How about you all pick up your heads and you cut down the trees and I'll enjoy the house? You can do that. You just miss out on the whole point of your life. You're like no. No, you miss out on the whole point of your life. Because if eternal life is interactive relationship with God, then to not pick up your ax head says, "I've completely missed the point of why I was created in the first place." Oh, but I'm comfortable. It's convenient. My kids are doing good in school. We got a cool car. Great. Bless you. There's so much more for you than that.

And what does it look like to take the ax head? I think it's what we said last week. You hear the voice of God when you fill your life with the word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God. That's the only way to by faith take it back. What does that mean? It means you have to fill your life with the word of God – with Scriptures. Maybe that means you just start doing the reading plan with us a single chapter a day where you just start saying,"I want, I want a prophetic edge in my life. I need a I can't raise this child. This isn't working. I this marriage isn't working. My business isn't working. My anxiety isn't working. So I I need so Okay. So I need the word of God. So maybe I'll start the reading plan. The Spirit of God. Maybe I'll just start every day.” Just every day you could just, “Holy Spirit, I invite You in today.” That's it. Every day. Set an alarm. When your alarm goes off, however you wake up, first place you go, brush your teeth, put your makeup on, get your coffee, whatever you do, put a little sticky note there that just says, "Holy Spirit, I invite You in." Pray that every day and you'd be amazed is how you start inviting Him in.

And then the people of God, yeah, that means you actually probably have to rearrange your life to get in a circle or join a serve team or have really healthy godly relationships that you're meeting with regularly. That's how you by faith take the ax head and it requires you to be whittled for it to go back on. Have you lost your prophetic edge? Do you want it back? Have you never had a prophetic edge? Well, it's available to you. And do you feel like your prophetic edge is dull? Well, in Jesus’ name, the word of God, the Spirit of God, and the people of God will what? Sharpen it back to it being clear and concise and powerful and piercing and weighty and authority to do that which you could never do on your own.

So, will you close your eyes with me? Come on. What's the Holy Spirit want to say to you today? I literally want to give you at least one minute to just listen. What's the Holy Spirit saying? What's He stirring? What's He drawing your attention towards? He's not way out there. He's right here. As gentle as a whisper speaking, loving, leading. Speak Lord. Speak Lord. The only voice that matters is the voice of God. And it is the voice of compassion and grace, power and authority, love and forgiveness. And I just get a great sense that the Lord offers you a beautiful prophetic reset. You weren't even looking for this, but He is bringing your ax head back to the surface and inviting you to take a hold of it. And I believe the prophetic reset for many of you that feel like, I have my ax head, but it's just not sharp. I think the Lord wants to say, let's make this thing razor sharp together because I have a lot to say about your big and significant and important life and you need my voice to do it and to do it well. So Jesus, thank You that You are the Living Word and You've come to speak to us today. May our heart be pierced by Your word. May it be. May you find the in our hardness that the powerful, majestic, thundering, bright and fast as lightning voice of God may find the chink our hardness that we might receive that which You want to say to us because You offer shalom, peace, rest for our souls and our lives. Speak, Lord, this week. In Your name we pray. Amen.