Mike argues the two errors are sitting on the deck waiting for a truck assignment versus doing everything under your own steam, and that humility takes work — 'you're literally fighting your kingdom against his every day' — illustrated by taking out the garbage for his wife whether he feels like it or not. He admits caution when people claim 'I heard from God': of the last 50 such claims he's heard, 20 were 'he said I should get a divorce,' and conflicting claims get tested by fruit — 'we could tell tree by the fruit.' Ben agrees the Pharisees are the cautionary tale: they built the right-shaped institutions and then couldn't recognize the Father speaking in front of them. Mike ties it back: the big events just force you to do at home the things — intentional time, listening, undistracted community — you couldn't find time for.
Clips from this
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'God told me to get a divorce'
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More on Discernment
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'When God is silent': what counts as hearing from the Lord?
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Mike brings a question from his Bible study, whose paragraph heading was 'when God is silent': the author wrote that he experienced God's silence for a couple of weeks and freaked out, and Ben expected a relatable years-long drought story — 'Oh, two weeks.
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Mike frames the question: are more people hearing from God?
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Ben asks Mike for a two-sentence framing; Mike says listening to the book of Job while mowing made him furious when Bildad 'received a word from the Lord,' turning a bad human argument into an unarguable divine claim.
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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Does God speak more now? Indwelling Spirit versus prophets
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A host asks whether God talks to people as much now as in the Old and New Testaments. Ben's key distinction: the indwelling Holy Spirit means more people can have the experience…
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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How to tell your voice from God's: the Bible test and leniency
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Ella distills the question: how do you tell the difference between you speaking and God speaking? Her first answer: we have a Bible — what God is telling you is probably already in it ('Ben's gonna have a proud papa moment').
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God