You Heard God, but Did You Listen? - Pastor Kristin Mockler Young

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, guys, this is Naim, and you've reached the Mosaic Church podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and love for you to be even more connected. [00:00:10] Speaker B: So check out our website. [00:00:11] Speaker A: There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content. If this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it. So share this podcast you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity, and I'd love for you to pay it forward. Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you. Enjoy. [00:00:56] Speaker B: That you guys are with us today. We are in a series called you probably missed this. This is week four of our series. So if you did miss actually weeks one, two, or three, you can go to our YouTube channel and you can check out those messages. We always put them up there. But I'm having so much fun with this series, you guys, because something about me is that I really love teaching and I really love teaching the Bible. Have you ever heard the phrase biblical literacy? Okay, basically what that means is we love that you're here. We're so glad that you're here. Keep inviting your friends, right? Keep listening, keep watching online. But also when you're at home, if you have a Bible, we would also love for you to open it. We would love for you to read it at home on your own. And so we're doing series like this so that we can help you understand that you too can read scripture and you can understand what it says and that God will actually speak to you through through it. Okay, we love that. This is super important to us here at Mosaic. Besides teaching, another thing that I really love is donkeys. Y' all are like, that's a hard left turn. I'm gonna connect it. Don't worry. But another thing that I really love is donkeys. I've worked donkeys into multiple servants here at Mosaic. One year at Christmas, I even tried to convince y' all that the donkey was the low key hero of the Christmas story. Okay, so now that you have that background knowledge, I have to tell you something that I got to do recently. You are never going to believe it. I got to help save a donkey. I got to help save a donkey. It was the craziest thing. I was out running errands. I was at Trader Joe's, of all places, which is, like, super busy. And I was walking around, and I was headed up to the store, and I saw this donkey, and it was all by itself, and it was standing all alone. And I was like, what? I was like, hey, guy. You know, I, like, talked to it for a minute, and I was looking around, and it didn't seem to have an owner, but I was like, there's all these people around. Surely, like, one of these people is with this donkey. So I went into the store, did my thing, came back out. He had not moved. He was still standing in the same place. So I was like, well, you know what? I'm gonna take him. And I did. I put that donkey in my car, and I saved him. Would you like to see him? Would you like to see my donkey? This is car donkey. He lives in my car with me because he makes me happy. So I picked him up from the parking lot at Trader Joe's. That part was true. Everything I told you is true, guys. Okay? So this donkey lives in the compartment of my car with my chapstick, and he usually just rolls around, but sometimes I put him on the dashboard, and we, like, ride around. And he makes me happy. And he also reminds me to make smart choices. Y' all are, like, smart, because you think that, you know donkeys, and you think that they're known to be, what? Stubborn? And they are very stubborn, but they're also very smart. And so if you take nothing else away from this message today, I want you to know that God wants you to be a smart donkey. Not a stubborn donkey, Not a smart. A smart donkey. You with me? I love Mosaic, man. You guys are the best. Okay? Because here's what we're gonna find out today. That being stubborn is more than just a personality trait, but being stubborn is actually going to keep us from things. Being stubborn can keep us from hearing God, from seeing where God is present, from experiencing what God has for us and even for becoming the people that we want to become. Now, apparently, last Sunday, when I was preaching a message on spiritual exhaustion and rest, my husband and my best friend were texting each other about how this was a message that I actually needed for myself. So I'm gonna go ahead and get it out of the way. So is this one. So is this one. If at any point you're like, ooh, ow. This message hurts my feelings, okay? As I was writing it a couple times, God's given me the download. I was like, what do you need the people to know? And he gave me a thing. And I was like, oh, oh, not that. Not that. God, it hurts. So just know even if I say you in this message, it's a collective you. It's very much a we. I am very much with you in this. And so if I have to be called out, I'm gonna ask. You are not allowed to point at someone else. Are there any other stubborn people in the room with me today? Thank you. Thank you. We got some hands up right in the middle. I'm. I appreciate it. Here's the thing. I have come to find out. There are different reasons that we can be stubborn, but I think that they usually are a symptom of something else. I think our stubbornness is actually a symptom of something else. Often it's a symptom of fear. Now, this can be a fear of a variety of things. We can fear losing control because there's safety in what we know, and so we want to kind of stick to what we know and the comfort and the familiarity of things. Maybe you fear being vulnerable because you've been hurt before, and so you get stubborn kind of in your own little bubble and in your own space because you are afraid of being hurt again. Maybe you have a fear of being disappointed. And so what happens is you actually become impatient because, yes, God said a thing to you, but if you are honest, you don't really believe and you're not really sure that he's going to show up to do the thing that he said. So it's easier if you just do it yourself. Fear is one thing. Another reason that we often can find ourselves being stubborn is pride. This one I know very well. Pride, right? We don't want to admit that we're wrong if we say something because it makes us feel insecure. Or maybe it threatens our reputation that we have worked very, very hard to craft and to create. Often, pride keeps us stubborn because we don't want people to see our weaknesses. We don't want people to know that we have needs or that we need help. So when said, what we do is we just double down on the ridiculous claim that we made, even if it's already kind of been proven to be wrong. We just sit and thank you, Cheryl. I knew I was not alone. But here's the thing, right? It's good that we can admit it. It's good that we can talk about and recognize our own stubbornness. Because the thing is that being stubbor isn't just about having a strong will, but it's about submitting our will to God's will. So that's what we're gonna look at today. I'm gonna give you a little bit of context. We got a lot of scripture today, and we're gonna go way back to the Old Testament to numbers 22. So there's a group of people called the Israelites. And you might know they had this big, like, 40 year exodus into the promised land, the land of milk and honey. And we're in year 39, so, like, we're almost there. They're trekking, they're making their way, and along the way they are conquering kind or territories as they go. And so right now, the Israelites are getting close to the Moabite people. And the Moabite people are ruled by King Balak. And King Balak is getting nervous because he's heard about what's happening with the Israelites as they've come across these other lands. And so he's like, yo, you know what? We gotta take care of these Israelites before they take care of us. Like, we gotta do something before they do something to us. So Balak calls in a guy named Balaam. Balak is the king. Balaam is the guy he calls in. And Balaam is a diviner, okay? He's not a magician. But if you were to think about it today, it would be somebody who works, like in the supernatural to make predictions. So it could be somebody who relies on astrology to, like, predict the future, maybe reads tarot cards, a psychic, that kind of thing. So Balaam is basically the Ms. Cleo. Y' all remember Ms. Cleo from the 90s? Balaam's like, give me a call for your free reading. I got you. And that's what he would do. For whatever amount of money, Balaam would call on whichever God he was being requested to call on to come down and intervene in some way. So King Balak sends a message to Balaam, and this is where we're gonna pick it up. He says, look, a vast horde of people have arrived from Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are what? They're threatening me? Please come and curse these people for me because they are too powerful for me. Then perhaps I will be able to conquer them and drive them from the land, because I know that the blessings fall on people that you bless and curses fall on the people that you curse. King Balak's like, balaam, I got it. Your reputation has gone before you, like, and it's strong. You're making things happen. And so Balaam tells the men that have come with this message. He's like, all right, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna have a slumber party, spend the night, hang out overnight. I'll go talk to God, and in the morning, I'll let you know what God says. But God told Balaam, help me out here. What does God say? He says, do not. Do not go with them. You are not to curse these people for they have been. So the next morning, Balaam got up and told Balak's officials, go on home. The Lord will not let me go with you. So King Balak's men go back home. They go to the king. They're like, sorry, this is what he said. King Balak wasn't having it. He's like, here, take some more money. Go back and do the exact same thing. Go back and ask him the exact same question. Take the exact same message. But Balaam responded to Balak's messengers. Even if Balak were to give me this palace filled with silver and gold, I would be powerless to do anything against the will of the Lord. My God. But stay here one more night, and I will see if the Lord has anything else to say to me. And this time, the answer is different. That night, God came to Balaam and told him, since these men have come for you, get up and what? Go with them, but do only what I tell you to do. So the next morning, Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. But God was angry. God was angry that Balaam was going. So he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way. And we're gonna pause here real quick because what. What does God keep changing his mind? God's like, do not go with them. Okay, you can go with them, But I am gonna be mad about it. Like, what. What is God doing? Is this. Is he changing his mind? Or maybe is there something else at play here? Have you ever been asked the same question by someone after you've already given them the answer, and then they're so persistent in you asking that question that you eventually, they're, like, stubborn even. They're so insistent, and they keep asking you that you eventually just give in, and you're like, fine, I don't care anymore. Do what you want. Anybody ever experienced this? The parents are like, yeah, we got it, we got it. Hey, I wonder if maybe that's what's happening here. With God and that his permission of saying like, okay, you can go, does not mean that he's happy about it. It does not mean that he's excited about it or even that this is what he would choose, especially since we already see him give a different answer first. A lot of biblical scholars agree that this is actually another example of free will where sometimes God gives people what they want when they're stubborn and persistent in continuing to ask him over and over, even when they've already gotten his answer. We actually see it with this same group of people, the Israelites in First Samuel. They ask for a king, and God is like, no, you do not need a king. And they're like, give us a king. And God says, no, this is not good for you. And they're like, give us a king. So God finally goes, okay, okay, like, I'm gonna let you have a king. And then the people come back and they're like, oh, we don't like him. Like, this is not working out. And I feel like sometimes God is like, you know what? Free will and find out. You guys got that? So much better than first service. Thank you. God is like, hey, you flex your free will, you're gonna find out. Sometimes God's not thrilled about it. He's not happy about it, but he's like, I'm letting you make your own decisions, and then you're gonna have to face the consequences of what happens anyway. So we continue on. As Balaam and two servants were riding along, Balaam's donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. The donkey bolted off the road into a field, but Balaam beat it and turned it back onto the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between two vineyard walls. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it tried to squeeze by and it crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. So Balaam beat the donkey again. Then the angel of the Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place too narrow for the donkey to get by at all. This time, when the donkey saw the angel, it did what? It laid down under Balaam in a fit of rage. Balaam, the worst person ever, beat the animal again with his staff. Then, help me out with this. Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. I feel like I need my little prop here. Like, what have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times? It asks Balaam. And Balaam is like, what? Talky, docky? Ah, nope. He just responds. Balaam just answers him back and he says, you have made me look like a fool. Balaam shouted, if I had a sword with me, I would kill you. But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life. The donkey answered, have I ever done anything like this before? No, Balaam admitted. Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes. First he opened the donkey's mouth, then he opened Balaam's and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him. Why did you beat your donkey those three times? The angel of the Lord demanded. Look, I have come to block your way because you are, what, Stubbornly resisting me. Three times the donkey saw me and shied away. Otherwise I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey, which is how we know that I have the right favorite animal. Because apparently a donkey is also God's favorite animal. Okay. Then Balaam confessed to the angel of the Lord, I have sinned. I didn't realize it was you. I didn't realize you were standing in the road to block my way. I will return home if you are against my going. But the angel of the Lord again tells Balaam, go with these men, but only say what I tell you to say. So what happens at the end of the story is that Balaam goes and he talks to the Moabites and he's like, all right, you called me, Ms. Cleo's here. Here's what we're gonna do. You're gonna make seven altars. Like set up the altars, get em ready, get the animals, be prepared for the sacrifice. Let me go talk to God one more time just to make sure and I'll come back and let you know. And God is like, mm, mm, no, absolutely not. You cannot curse these people. Instead, what I actually want you to do is bless them. And this happens three times where Balaam says, make the altars. Sorry, God said no. Make the altars. Sorry, God said no. Make the altars. Sorry, God said no. So it seems like Balaam has finally figured it out. And instead of just doing the job that he was hired to do, that he like listens to God. Yay. Until a few chapters later where Balaam does go back to King Balak with a way that he can manipulate and basically take down the Israelite people. So what happened with Balaam? Right, he seemed to have gotten it and then like, he totally didn't. Balaam talked to God. He believed In God. He talked to God, he heard from God. He seemed to even respect what it was that God had to say, yet he still missed it. And that's because I think the key difference here is that Balaam heard God, but he didn't listen. I tell my kids all the time, there was a difference between listening to me or, I'm sorry, there's a difference between hearing me with your ears and listening to me with your brain, or in some cases, hearing with your ears and listening to me with your heart. And I think that's exactly what we see with Balaam here. There's a difference between hearing from God and submitting to. To his will. And I think the same thing is happening to some of us. We believe, we pray, we hear from God, but we aren't growing in our faith because it's our own stubbornness that is what's in the way, blocking us and keeping us from being changed by what God has already said to us. So what we're gonna do is I've got three things, three steps that we're gonna do so that we can learn to be smart donkeys. Because the donkey saw things that Balaam didn't. So as they were going, when Balaam was on the donkey and they were riding on the path, all Balaam could see was the path that he was on. All he saw was the path ahead of them that was taking him to the next thing, the next job, the next payout, the next success. But the donkey stopped because he saw what Balaam couldn't. And so the first thing we need to do is to stop as well. We need to stop relying on what we can see in front of us and learn to cast a wider gaze. We need to broaden our perspective and our expectation even of where God is present. And for some of us, that means that we need to be open to hearing from God in ways that we like, really would not choose. We have to be willing to see where God is present and hear him speaking in places that maybe even we've been told he doesn't exist. You know, there's. As we go along and do these things, I like to have questions for you so that I can get you to think. I want you to hear me also. Listen with your brain, right? And be able to think about, how does this apply to you? And one of the questions that I had to ask myself this week is like, am I willing to see God in places that make me uncomfortable? And am I willing to listen and hear God in words that I actually didn't wanna hear. Are we willing to hear God? Correction. Are we willing to hear God through conviction in times where we have to take things in and it's another one of those like ouch. That hurts. But are we willing to submit the uncomfortability to be able to listen and hear what God has for us? Are we willing to see and hear God speaking through people that maybe we don't like very much? Or people that at least it's hard for us to acknowledge that we think, represent or speak for God, maybe because of their age or their gender or their culture or their lifestyle. Surely Balaam did not expect for God to speak to him through a donkey. So I think God will use whatever necessary to get our attention. But we have to be willing to see it. We have to be willing to accept. Maybe this is the voice of God coming through a person or a situation or words that I wouldn't have chosen cause I like to hear it a different way instead. After we stop, sometimes we need to quit hyper fixating on whatever the thing is that's in front of us. There are all things that we can see and there are places that we expect God to show up. But I think for some of us, we've hyper fixated so much that what we're seeing is not completely accurate. And our narrow perspective is keeping us from seeing where God actually is present right, right now, right in front of us. After we stop, then we have to turn just like the donkey did when he couldn't get through. You know, Balaam was just forcing his forward motion and the trajectory that he was on. And I think a lot of us maybe are trying to do the same thing. We're just muscling through. We're doing everything in our own strength, however we can to push our will to happen. And some of us that are really good Christians even know how to make it righteous. We even know how to make it holy. Cause we're like, I know the right words to say, I know the right things to do. And so if I do all of these things, then I can get God to change his mind. Then I can ignore the fact that God didn't give me the answer that I wanted to hear. And so I can try to almost manipulate God into being like, oh, but aren't you so happy with my behavior? Aren't you so happy, God, with all of the righteous and holy things that I'm doing for you? But the problem is, once we've already gotten an answer from God, it's just not the answer that we want. That's a picture of God's will versus our will. And when our will and God's will don't line up, then something has to give and we have to decide and make that decision. Okay, are we going to give up and submit to God's will, or are we really gonna hold onto our own? And let me make it clear, there is a difference in persisting in prayer when there's something that you really need God to intervene for versus praying the same thing once you've already heard the answer. Like, it is okay to pray and to take the same things to God over and over and over again. So if that's something that you're doing, this is only a question you can answer for yourself. It is good to be persistent in prayer. What I'm talking about is when you have asked God, he has given you a very clear answer. It's not that you didn't hear him, it's just that you didn't like that answer. So you keep asking again and again. There's a difference. Proverbs tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart. It says, never rely on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way. He'll show you the right way. If we become so focused on where we wanna go and what we wanna do, we too could be missing what God has next for us. And when I think about the right way, I always picture like all these paths, like, not just a fork in the road, but like all the forks. And I'm standing there going, God, which one is the right path? Show me which one is the right path. But I don't think that this God showing us the right way has to mean a course. Correct. God showing you the right way doesn't mean that you're not still necessarily gonna end up in the same destination. But it could be that he has another way that he wants you to get there. There could be another right way to arrive in the same place. And so if our stubbornness is keeping us focused on the wrong things, let's just take it back to stubbornness. If you're focused on control and controlling the situation, you might miss the invitation that God has for you to trust him and to rely on him and to invite him in to what's going on. If you're focused on only the outcome, and outcomes are not bad, but if we're focused on only the outcome, you might miss what God wants to do in you in the process of getting there. If you're only focused on your image or your reputation, you might accidentally begin to perform for people instead of submitting to God. And this is something that only you can know. Sometimes it's obvious and it's blatant and you can kind of look at it in somebody else and see. But often it's something you need to wrestle with within your own self, because the actions that you're gonna do or the words that you're gonna say might be really closely aligned anyway. But there's a difference in our heart, motives and the thoughts that we think that decide, am I doing this for God and for the glory of his kingdom, or am I doing this for the accolades and the attention that I'm getting from other people? See, even when Jesus taught us to pray, one of the things that he modeled was asking Lord, would your will be done on earth as it is in heaven? We've got to figure out how to submit our will to God's. Because if he let the Israelites free will and find out, he's going to do the same for us. We have the same free will and in love, he also lets us make our own choices, even when it means that we don't listen to the answer he gave us. And it sometimes might take us away from him. Even when that happens, let me be very clear. God stayed with Balaam the whole time. Even when he is not thrilled with our choices. God never leaves us, even when we're being stubborn. He will continue to try to get your attention over and over, just like he did by sending the angel of the Lord repeatedly and repeatedly in front of Balaam when he was not seeing it. God will show you the right way. And lastly, when stopping and turning around didn't work, do you remember what the donkey did? He just laid down. He laid down. Even when Balaam was like white knuckling his stubbornness and trying to get him to go, the donkey just laid down. So I wanna know, in your own head, what is the thing that is keeping you stubborn? And even if you know that, I think the harder next level question is will, after you submit that to God's will, what could your stubbornness be costing you? What could your stubbornness, your pride, your fear for, your desire for your own will, could it be costing you even more than you realize? I think for some of you, your stubbornness is costing you your health. If you refuse to go to the doctor to rest, if you refuse to do the things that the doctor actually told you to implement, if you refuse to change and Be honest about the things and the ways that you're coping and the things that you're putting into your body. It could be costing you energy. It could be costing you longevity. It could be costing you your quality of life. For some of you, your stubbornness may be costing you healthy relationships because you won't forgive or you won't apologize, or your stubbornness won't even let you admit that you played a part in the rift that's now happening in that relationship. And so it could be costing you connection and healing. It could be costing you your marriage, the health of your marriage, a future with your kids. For some of you, your stubbornness is costing you your peace. And if you can't figure out and decide to make the choice to let go of control and to surrender things, you're gonna find yourself just performing more and more and raising the bar higher and higher and higher. And it's going to cost you real rest for your physical body and for your mind. And then I think there are others of you where your stubbornness is costing you your purpose because you're not changing direction. And God has already told you to leave that job. God has already told you to leave that relationship. God has told you to leave that relationship again. And there are certain things that God has given you the answer, and you have just turned away and you're not wanting to obey what God has told you. And it's costing you your impact, it's gonna cost you your effectiveness, and it might just cost you whatever it is that God has for you next. Like Balaam, who seemed to submit to God and then didn't and had to submit to God again, I will tell you that that's also real life, right? Spiritual growth and transformation is not always, like, up and to the right. So if you find yourself today again thinking of this thing that's keeping you rooted in stubbornness, this thing that you feeling like God, say, hey, please submit this to me. You might do that today, and then you might do that again tomorrow, and then you might do that again next week. This is a process and it is just part of it. But I think that we can learn to be smart donkeys. We can stop, we can turn, and we can lay down whatever it is that we need to lay down in order to submit to God's will whenever necessary. And if you will do that, not only will you be transformed and changed by God, but you will begin to see impossible things happen. God made a donkey talk. I would really like him to do that again. But that is an impossible thing no one expected to see happen. And some of you are praying big prayers. You are praying impossible prayers, and you are begging for a miracle and you are pleading for God to intervene. And sometimes there are things beyond your control and there's nothing you can do. You just plead and you beg and you ask God for a miracle and you believe with everything in you that he's gonna deliver. At other times, we have to get out of the way before we see that miracle come to fruition. Not because we are powerful enough to block God's will. Not because we are powerful enough that he's like, oh, no, now I don't know how to. What I want you to do now. I can't give you the blessings that I have for you. It's not that. But remember, just like the Israelites, God often gives us what we ask for, even if it leads us away from him for a time. So in humility, can we trust that God's way is better than ours? Can we submit our will to his when you do, I truly believe that you are going to see God where you didn't see God before. I think you are going to see God keep his promises to you. You are going to see God make a way where it seems like there is no way, there is no possible way, and God can do it. You are going to find healing in things that feel broken, beyond repair. And you are going to find freedom from chains that you have maybe even put on yourself accidentally. God gave everything for you, including his son. He is not going to give up now just because we're a little stubborn. I would like you to think of that thing that is keeping you rooted in stubbornness. Think of that thing that you maybe need to submit. And I would love for you to stand if you're able. I'm gonna pray for us this morning. And you can hold that thing in your brain. Name it. You can, you know, figuratively put it in your hand if you want. But I want you to think about that thing as we pray, Father God, we want to see you move. God, we are actually desperate for it. We are desperate to see you moving in front of us in our lives. So, God, would you show up in a way that only you can? God, would you speak to us? Would you move? Would you open our eyes, Lord, especially to the places where we think. Think we're seeing pretty clearly? Would you open our eyes, God, to show us where your presence is? God, would you mess us up a little bit, if that's what it takes, God, to change our hearts. Do whatever you need to do so that we can put our attention back on you and God would you help us to not only hear you but to listen God, to obey, to take that next step to submit the thing God, whatever it is that you have for us, God, we thank you for never giving up on us no matter how many times we've submitted the same thing to you over and over. God, would you help us to understand that it's not weakness but we're supposed to actually rely on you and do things in your strength and not on our own. So God, we lay down these things for the first or hundredth time, God, trusting that if we lay down these things that feel so deeply personal to us, God, that you will show up and do something immeasurably more with them. In Jesus name Amen. Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic church in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more audio and video content, visit us at MosaicChurch TV.