When God Speaks, What do I do Next?

INTRO.

What is up everyone, my name is [SP Name Slate Slide] I am so excited to be here with you all on Wednesdays, the best night of the week! Make some noise if you are excited to be here! I love to hear it.

Introduction / Story:

Well look, we just finished up CAMP. Who was at CAMP? C’mon now! Such a great week!

I don’t know what your favorite part of the week was, but for me, I loved seeing some of you have a moment with Jesus. For instance…

STORY. [SP Note: share some CAMP stories from students at your campus. The stories you tell show the culture you want to build. What behaviors are you hoping get repeated beyond CAMP?]

It’s undeniable that God moved at CAMP. He always does, doesn’t He? But can I remind us of something? God doesn’t only move at CAMP. And even if you weren’t there, we believe that the things God is doing are bigger than CAMP. He is always moving, speaking, and chasing after us no matter the setting.

And that’s why tonight’s conversation is bigger than CAMP. We’re going to talk about CAMP a lot because, for a lot of us, that’s the most recent place that we heard God speak and saw God move. But this is bigger than CAMP. We’re going to talk about a question that I think applies to following Jesus any time of year, which is: when God speaks, what do I do next? Have you ever asked that before? When God speaks, what do I do next?

Turn in your Bible to Joshua 1:1, because I think Joshua’s story provides an excellent example to follow of what to do next when you hear God speak.

“After the death of Moses, the Lord ’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. “ Joshua 1:1-2 (NIV)

So Moses passed away and Joshua steps up to become the next leader of Israel. And if following Moses wasn’t enough pressure, God speaks! He tells Joshua what He wants him to do next - lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.

And just like God told Joshua what He wanted him to do next, a lot of us just heard God tell us what He wants us to do next. Maybe coming out of CAMP, God said that He wants you to…

· Become a follower of Jesus

· Go public with your faith in Jesus and get baptized

· Learn to pray – On your own and out loud with people.

· Keeping a journal

· Bringing your whole self in worship by lifting your hands or kneeling

· Taking notes during teachings

· Start our 21-day devotional through the Gospel of Mark

· Be part of WEDNESDAY every week, not just when it’s convenient

· Asking for accountability with a sin that you’ve been privately struggling with

· Sharing your faith with your friend

· Forgiving someone who hurt you

I don’t know. Whatever it is, that’s between you and God. But what I do know is that, when God speaks, He expects obedience.

Look at what God told Joshua is verse 2. He said it’s time for you to lead these people into the land I am giving them! Can you imagine if God spoke and made that clear to Joshua…and then he didn’t do it? What would be the point of Him speaking if Joshua wouldn’t obey?

When God speaks, He expects obedience. And if God has spoken something to you at CAMP, you have a holy opportunity in front of you.

How many of you want God to continue to speak to you?

Like you don’t just want God to have spoken this past week and CAMP and then be done speaking?

My hand is up too!

Do you know how you invite God to keep speaking to you? You obey what He last spoke to you. I mean think about it, if you are texting back and forth with someone and they keep leaving you on read, are you going to keep speaking much longer if you get no reply? Obedience is our response to God when He speaks.

But, God knows us…and He knew Joshua. God understood that what He was asking Joshua to do was BIG! The Israelites had tried to go into the promised land before when Moses was their leader…it didn’t go well! Joshua was being asked to take the people somewhere they had not been before.

And that’s why I think after God told Joshua what He wanted him to do next, He reminded him of who would be with Him in verse 3,

3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Joshua 1:3-6 (NIV)

Just like Joshua, I imagine that, if God spoke to you at CAMP, chances are He’s asking you to do something that you haven’t done before and that is out of your comfort zone.

What I love about this story is that God doesn’t apologize for asking big things of Joshua. He never tries to shrink the ask down to something that Joshua would be comfortable with. He challenges Joshua. But He also promises to go with Joshua.

Look, if you’re waiting for God to make a smaller ask of you, He won’t. He didn’t with Joshua. But, even if the ask is intimidating, even if it’s out of your comfort zone, even if it’s something that you’ve never done before, you can be strong and courageous because He has promised that HE WILL GO WITH YOU.

When God speaks, He expects obedience. Our obedience is our response to God when He speaks. But our comfort along the way is that if He called you to it, He will walk with you through it.

I’m not sure what He asked you do. I’m not sure how it’s going to happen. I’m not sure how it will all work out. I am sure that He will be with you and that He will give you what He has promised you on the other side of your obedience.

Application:

And so we don’t need to overcomplicate things. We’re going to spend the rest of the night doing two things:

1. We want to spend some time answering the question: what has God told me to do next? I’d recommend pulling out your phone and starting a new note. At the top write that question: what has God told me to do next? I’ll even put some possible next steps on the screen to give you some ideas.

Potential Next-Steps:

· Saying yes to following Jesus

· Getting baptized

· Praying out loud for the first time

· Begin a prayer journal

· Engaging in worship by lifting your arms & signing out loud

· Inviting a friend to church

· Taking notes during teachings

· Forgiving someone who hurt you

· Confessing a sin struggle

· Start our 21-day devotional through the Gospel of Mark

· Coming to Wednesdays regularly

And by the way, if you feel like you don’t know what God has told you do to next:

· Ask Him to tell you. James 1:5 says,

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:5 (NIV)

· Sometimes God hasn’t told us what He wants us to do next because we still haven’t obeyed the last thing He said. If you don’t find that you have a new next step that He’s telling you to do, go back and make sure it’s not because you still need to obey a previous one.

So, answer: what has God told me to do next? And then

2. After you’ve written down your answer to that question, tell your small group what your next step is!

There is power to writing things down and then telling the right people. Did you know that you’re 42% more likely to accomplish your goal if you write it down and tell someone who can hold you accountable?

This is part of why we LOVE groups around here and it’s part of the genius of Jesus to create the church as a place for people to learn how to follow Him together. We can go further together than we ever could on our own.

So, what has God told you to do next? And who do you need to tell next to help you take that step?