Listen to God, Do What He Says

By Perry Noble, Christian Post Guest Columnist Monday, May 02, 2011

Something the Lord taught me very clearly in 2007 was the principle that – Life And Leadership Is As Easy As Listening To God & Then Doing What He Says.

I really do believe that God still speaks…I believe He speaks clearly, loudly and often. Most people do not struggle with not knowing what to do…but rather with not doing what they already know.

I believe God’s Word and God’s Spirit work together, not in conflict with one another.

I believe that God wants us to know Him and what He wants more than most of us want to know these things! Because, His promise is that if we seek Him with all our hearts that we will find Him! (See Jeremiah 29:13 and Jeremiah 33:3!)

I also believe that MOST of the time when God speaks to us He will always call us away from convenience to the uncomfortable…it happened to me about two weeks ago.

Here at NewSpring Church we’ve always taken our Sunday services seriously…and we pray and plan several weeks (even months) ahead in order to make sure that we give every Sunday our best effort…and doing so also allows staff and volunteers to be able to put forth their best efforts as they are able to work ahead and invest time into their work.

We met about a month and a half ago and planned an incredible Easter service. Seriously, it was amazing! We had all of the elements in place, we scheduled video shoots, we had the media team building motion backgrounds for the music and we really took a lot of time to work through the specifics of the message to make sure it was both clear and understandable. Like I said…it was going to be awesome.

Then, the week before our Easter services (literally about nine days before) I started reading through the book of Genesis. When I read through Genesis 3 I really felt the Lord speak to my heart and say, “THAT is the Easter message I want you to preach!”

I naturally dismissed it as a thought brought on by the handful of teddy grahams that I had eaten the night before; however, the more I thought about it the more on fire my heart became.

So…I met with about five people on our staff who I really trust and who I knew this change would impact the most…and they LOVED IT! Seriously, the excitement level in the room went through the roof.

So…we went with it; however, something STILL did not feel right about it.

IT hit me on Tuesday morning like a flood. Literally, I really felt like the Lord showed me how we needed to begin our services. However, the change that would have to be made would have to be done so within about a 48 hour period and was literally going to impact two entire departments in our church as well as every campus. So I sent an email to the leader who is over our musicians and our video/graphic area and shared my idea with him and simply asked, him, “is this possible? Can we make this happen and pull it off with excellence?” He answered me back in less than 10 minutes with a “yes” and the next 48 hours our team worked like crazy to make it happen.

Honestly…it was THE BEST Easter we’ve ever had in the 11 year history of NewSpring Church.

At the end of the experience everyone agrees that the Lord was all over this. It wasn’t easy…it caused us to walk away from lots of work that had already been prepared and it was a powerful reminder of what the Bible says in Proverbs 21:31!

At the end of the day it’s not my job as a leader to take the easy path…I’ve been called to follow Jesus…and following Him is as easy as listening to His voice and doing what He says!

So…what’s He saying to you? (See Hebrews 4:7)

Perry Noble is the founding and senior pastor of NewSpring Church in South Carolina. The church averages 26,000 people during weekend services at multiple campuses throughout the state. Noble, his wife Lucretia and their daughter Charisse live in Anderson, South Carolina. You can read all of Perry’s unfiltered thoughts about life and leadership at PerryNoble.com.