Is SEEKING a sign from God evil? - Dreams, Visions & Signs from Heaven | Dangers of our Desperation

Is seeking a sign, evil. See, many say that to seek after these things, a dream, a vision or prophecy, that is to seek after signs, something that the Messiah emphatically states is a wickedness. Matthew 12:38 says. Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees answered him, saying, teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. But he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Why does Christ call him an evil and adulterous generation? For seeking a sign. If you think about what these Pharisees were requesting, they were coming to Jesus saying, prove to us that you are who you say you are. Prove to us that you are the Messiah, that you are the one who can save the world. It was from this insincerity and unbelief in Christ as being the Messiah, that they asked for a sign, a sign for Christ to prove Himself to them. This is very different from believers who are seeking a sincere direction in a certain matter from our Father in heaven. For example, like how Peter received a vision from heaven about how he can dine with Gentiles. And that was something that gave him direction in his calling and in his life and in his interpretation of the Scriptures. Or when Agabus, as we read before, spoke a prophecy of direction to Paul. This was not them questioning whether Jesus was the Messiah, as these Pharisees were. That's why Jesus told the Pharisees, you're an adulterous generation seeking a sign. Because adultery refers to not believing the Messiah, but rather going after another God that they have made in their own image. But it's also important to realize that God speaks how he desires to speak, on his terms, and at times even so, with dreams, visions and other ways of speaking. Just like Peter received his vision about what was already revealed in God's Word. But God found it important to show Peter a vision, to draw Peter's attention to that revelation of being able to mix with Gentiles, even though that truth has already been established long before. So therefore, God has split seas, burned bushes, and spoken through donkeys. Is it something, though, that authenticates our faith? No. Believing in the resurrection of Christ does. Are these things that God must do every day in our lives as part of our relationship with Him? No, he speaks on his terms, not ours. But throughout history and in many ways, he has spoken to his people. And is it something that God needs to do to prove Himself to us? No. The resurrection does. Next up, we'll be looking at the dangers of seeking signs from God out of our own desperation.

And I began to be in great angst over this. Should I come back or should I not come back? I was waiting for signs, maybe a flyer or something that I would see spelled out in the leaves on the grass or the shape of a cloud or something that might give me like maybe the number two in the shape of a cloud or something like that that would give me some clear indication that this is what I was to do. So I began to put out fleeces. Lord, if you want me to come back for second year, make this happen. If you want me to leave after my first year and go pursue the other career course, then make this happen. And none of those fleeces would cash out. Nothing would happen as it Cousin, I'm.

Only playing you this clip because Jim demonstrates so wonderfully what many of us have done before God, show me a sign. Looking to God for a sign to help us make a decision. There are many sincere believers like Jim, brothers and sisters in Christ, who I dearly love, who have a passion for the sanctity of God's Word. But we all face a danger of trying to feel validated and approved of God because He speaks to us in a certain way, because we heard his voice in a certain way, or when we compare ourselves to others, that he has spoken to us in the way he's spoken to someone else. And if we find that God hasn't spoken to us in the ways that he's spoken to someone else, we can question, is there something wrong with me? Have I done something wrong? Or am I not special? You know, does God not approve of me? What's going on now? As we've already established, God does speak. God can give us a sign, absolutely. But I would like to submit a few things to you. First, if God wants to urgently get our attention, he's more than capable of that. Sometimes we will find ourselves looking for direction from him and that is good and what we should be doing. But it may seem like he's not intervening, he's not showing us what to do, what decision to make. But it may also be that he is looking for us to trust him in the midst of uncertainty, to have faith in him even when we're not sure where we are going, trusting that he is leading us, even when it doesn't feel like it. God also, at other times, intervened in drastic ways in the lives of people. For example, Paul was thrown to the ground when he was on the road to Damascus. But why did God so drastically appear in such a vision to Paul, it was because Paul wasn't yet filled with the Holy Spirit. He was not following the Messiah. So God shouldn't need to throw us to the ground every time that we need guidance from Him. Being thrown to the ground. It'll hurt sometimes and we may even go blind in the midst of it for a while, like Paul did. So let's be careful what we wish for. We have to understand that we go ahead and pray for guidance. We ask God to speak to us. We walk in faith knowing that he is influencing our decision making. If God needs us to shift direction because of a danger, God will intervene. But be careful of how your desperation in those trials may affect the way that you approach all of this. Because desperation is driven by fear of your situation. Desperation is unbelief in God that He is good, that he's trustworthy and able to have his perfect will executed in your life. It can cause us to stretch and mistake any circumstance and any little sign as a sign of from God. Only because we're so desperate to make anything work and because it confirms our own desires for what we want God to say, not what God has actually said. Rather, we should have peace in the storm. True faith is praying to be directed and resting in his perfect will. Faith that God will have his way no matter what. And if he feels the need to speak supernaturally to me, he'll speak so when you submit it at his feet in prayer, he will simply influence your decision making and bless your path. Mark 4:39 and he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And he said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Fear God. Don't fear your situation. It.