what voice are you going to listen to

yall its that time of week again.  time for yet another message from me using yet another powerful song from casting crowns.  this one is called voice of truth.  i know a large majority of yall know this song but for those that dont, here are the lyrics and im going to talk about it and share yet another testimony about how a song changed my life.

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves

To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He's holding out His hand

But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. 'Boy, you'll never win!'
'You'll never win!'

Chorus:
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, 'Do not be afraid!'
The voice of truth says, 'This is for My glory'
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant
With just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand

But the giant's calling out my name
And he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again. 'Boy you'll never win!'
'You'll never win!'

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, 'Do not be afraid!'
The voice of truth says, 'This is for My glory'
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

But the stone was just the right size
To put the giant on the ground
And the waves they don't seem so high
From on top of them lookin' down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
When I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
Singing over me

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, 'Do not be afraid!'
The voice of truth says, 'This is for My glory'
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

now in this song we have 2 very familar stories that we probably learned while we were kids, peter walking on water and david and goliath.  now i learned something i never learned before from this song considering these two stories.  im not posting any Bible verses on this one cause we all know the stories.  the first verse talks about peter.  we know from the story that Jesus called peter from the boat and because of the storm, peter became afraid.  the first thing i wanna talk about is when God calls us to do something, we use circumstances in our lives during that time to cause us to be afraid.  as the song said we let the waves, or our circumstances, call out our name and they laugh at us.  telling us we are going to fail, that we cant do it, that we will never win.  as yall will find out here shortly, i was in that boat more than once. the second verse talks about david killing goliath.  now i belive that david was appointed by God to take down goliath and the philistine army.  i can picture david when he saw this 9 ft giant standing in front of him, he got a little scared, i know i would and im way over 6ft tall.  sometimes we let giants, or what people say, get in the way of what God has called us to do.  yall once again i fit in that category and yall will see what happened as an outcome here in just a little bit. 

now im going to get into my testimony.  i was 16 years old, sitting in the back of a southern baptist church on a normal sunday morning, so i thought,  my pastor was talking about youth in church.  he gave us a stat that just broke my heart.  he said he read a stat that said 56% of teens that were raised in church was going to be out of church within 2 years of graduating high school.  that stat crushed me.  i later became one of that stat, but thats not important right now.  while i was sitting back in the back of the church, the Lord spoke to me and said that i was going to change that.  now at this point in time in my life, my walk with God, my relationship with God, my Christian life was not there.  i dranked, i smoked, i cussed, i hung out with people i shouldnt have, you can ask my sister, rasangel who just joined us, i was a full fledge claimer.  i claimed to be a Christian, but my lifestyle told me otherwise.  so i started questioning God.  i told Him he had the wrong person.  i told him i didnt know enough, and actually i knew nothing at all.  i used the lifestyle i was living and my lack of knowledge to hold me back from what God had called me to.  i used circumstances that i wsa going through to keep me from growing in the Lord to where i could do what i was told to do.  i chose to listen to the voices that told me james look at you, you are no good, you aint faithful, you are a nobody, you cant be used by God until one day i decided to put that stuff behind me and start focusing on my calling.  well i had yet another let down with that too.  when i was about 19 or 20, i started telling people about what i felt God has called me to do.  these people brough up my past, told me to look at how i lived, the way i acted, the words i said, blah blah blah.  i even had a few that said that i was never going to be a youth pastor, period end of story.  i felt like my dream went up in smoke.  then came 2004 when i heard voice of truth for the first time.  the voice of truth tells me a different story, the voice of truth saids do not be afraid, the voice of truth saids this is for my glory, out of all the voices calling out to me, i will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth.  when i heard those lyrics on the song, i was brought back to what happened to me at south luverne baptist church and God calling me to the ministry.  i had to decide, did i want to listen to the voices around me, or listen to the voice of truth.  did i want to believe the voices that told me i was going to fail, or listen to the voice of truth.  i needed to make a decision.  i decided to listen to the voice of truth and say the heck with what people brought up when it concerned my past.  we all have "a past".  but thats what it is, the past.  im on a mission here to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to whoever is willing to hear it cause that is what God has called me to do right now.  i am not and will not let anybody tell me i cant.  people i have one question.  what voice are you going to listen to.  are you going to listen to the ones that reminds you of your past, the ones that saids you dont know enough Bible to share Jesus, the ones that tells you you aint good enough, or are you going to listen and believe the voice of truth.  yall i had to make a decision and im listening to the voice of truth, and im going to do what God has called me to do and i dont give a rip who tells me i cant.  are you willing to jump out of the boat and walk on water with me and peter?  are you willing to stand in front of a nine foot giant with me and david?  that is what God has called us to do and in the end we win.  im determined to be the best at what God as called me to be and im not listening to any negativity from the devil anymore.  what voice are you going to listen to, the one that saids you are going to fail, or the voice of truth.  i hope you make the right decision.  AMEN!!!