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Watch 2022-2023 online sermons » Leon Fontaine » Leon Fontaine - Rise and Listen

Leon Fontaine - Rise and Listen


Leon Fontaine - Rise and Listen

Hey, everybody. It is so good to have you with me today. Today we've got a topic that so few people understand or know much about. I want to talk about Holy Spirit. Everybody seems to talk about God. We have so much that I guess has talked about Jesus. And the Bible teaches us about the historical Jesus and, but Holy Spirit people don't know what to say about Him. They're kind of like He's the Spirit of God or they just don't seem to have much teaching or understand about it. So I want to dive into this because when you understand the beauty, the power of Holy Spirit, and how He is God on this planet. He is powerful. It is, it's Him that is doing the miracles.

All the things that are happening in your life, around us. And in the Old Testament it's the Holy Spirit here on the ground omnipresent. Where's Jesus? He's at the right hand of the Father in a human body by the way, to represent and to be that intercessory person who is making sure that that covenant that was established in His blood. It's stands. And so that's where He is, but Holy Spirit, He's here on the ground omnipresent and empowerful for everyone of us. So let me read you a great verse and then let's dive into this and my prayer is that He becomes your best friend. That you totally begin to understand and relate and sense and know Holy Spirit.

Here in Isaiah 50:4, it says, "The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He awakens me morning by morning wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed". This is a powerful verse. It is telling you and I that with God in our lives, and now that we are new covenant people. That when you speak to people, that Holy Spirit is going to instruct you and guide you in the words to say. Now, when you look at this, this just jumps off the page for me as this is a word of knowledge where God will show you something about the situation, about the person that you're talking to, that you could never know on your own. And you will speak words and say things that just touch people deeply.

And I remember one time just sharing and kind of witnessing to this guy, but he just opened up. He was a tough nut to crack. But as I just started talking to him, you could just see his eyes kind of get a little wider and he just started really listening. And I found out later, he just told me that I had said word for word the things that he had said to God in anger one time. I never knew that. There's no way to know that. But Holy Spirit guided me in the words that I said so that it would touch his heart. This man was angry, hurting, broken. You know the Bible says that when we speak to people, another Scripture says that when you open your mouth, He feels it.

Did you know that even in your marriage, raising your kids, in your friendships, that if you will just take a moment and just remember and kind of stay with Holy Spirit. You'll find that what the words that come out of your mouth are beautiful. They're powerful. They touch people's lives in a very special way. But if it's just you on your own, you'll offend people, turn them off, make the situation worse, say the wrong things. You know, we have these words about, we have these sayings about sticking your foot in your mouth or just saying things that are inappropriate. But did you know that when you learn to fellowship with Holy Spirit every day. Let Him guide you in the Word. That whether you are talking, whether you're in sales and you're talking to a client. Whether you are a leader in a business and you are just instructing and training your staff wherever you are.

Did you know that Holy Spirit will guide you to speak words that communicate so powerfully that they don't just touch the mind, but they touch the spirit of the person that you're speaking to. And they can make, when no one else might be able to relate to them. You'll speak to them and all of a sudden, it goes deep to the heart. When the other people's words couldn't go there, yours will. Because the presence of God is upon your words and the things that you say are done in such a way that it brings life and health. It says here, "The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary".

Now, when you speak words and you spend time in prayer with God each day. You get to know Holy Spirit. You will speak like a wise man. You'll speak like a leader. You'll speak like an amazing parent. You'll speak like an amazing spouse. You will just open your mouth and instead of your own selfish, self-centered things you're trying to get across. God will guide you and speak through you in a way that makes your relationships strong. You know, for those who are watching who are pastors. It's amazing how when you get up to teach God's Word or anybody witnesses to someone around you but your tongue and the words that you speak. They begin to carry this incredible love of God on those words.

I remember a story that I've often shared with people because I, I used to be on call with the police station in the town that we had a church. And they would call me if they felt like a pastor could help them in dealing with a situation. And one day I got called into the police station and they had picked up this young man. And when I walked in, the policeman that called me was talking to me about this story. Now, as he's telling me the story, I'm looking through this glass, this lockdown into a lockdown area where there cells and then a central area. And they had this young man on a seat. And I don't know if they were trying to process him or checked his pockets.

You know, they brought him in and he was freaking out. I mean, he was screaming, swearing, spit was flying everywhere. And three police officers couldn't control him. And they said, "This guy's mentions the word God once in a while and we thought we can't get anywhere with him. And we just thought maybe if you could talk with him". And I said, "What happened"? They said, "Well, he was drinking and doing drugs with his family, his brothers, mom and dad. And he got angry, really angry, ran to his room, grabbed his rifle and emptied it at his entire family. And then he ran out into the field put the rifle barrel in his mouth and he was going to shot himself. And he couldn't reach the trigger because the barrel was too long on the rifle. And his family had ran out into the field, had seen him, and had tackled him, held him down, called the police".

And by the way not one of the bullets that he had sprayed at his family with that semi-automatic rifle had touched any of them. But in this crazy state of anger that he was in, he thought he had killed his family. So the police tried to tell him that. They were trying to talk sense of saying, "Listen, everything's okay. No one was hurt. Listen to me". And he had flipped out. And so I'm watching this young man through the glass and recognizing they're not getting through him. They're trying to calm him down, trying to talk calmly to him. So I turned to the head police officer. I said, "You know, have them leave the room and I'll go in by myself". Oh, not a chance, he said. Have them leave the room. And I said, "You guys can just be watching me through the glass and if there's a problem just come running right back in if I've got a situation with this young guy". And he goes, "Okay".

So he calls, opens the door, let's me in and he says, "Guys, come on out please". And they went, "What"? Just leave him be. He was sitting on a chair in the middle of this area. And so they kind of looked at me like, "What in the world is going on? Who is this guy"? And they went behind the glass, where they closed the door. Now, I'm in the locked in area. So as I'm walking up to him, I just sensed the presence of God. Whenever you begin to move towards something God wants you to do. You begin to act on your faith. Something stirs up. The Spirit of God will stir up. And, you know, I felt this love for this young man. As I walked closer, he was just cussing and swearing and eyeballing me with his like crazy eyes. And as I got a little bit closer, I just used his name, his first name and said, "Listen to me. Everybody's okay".

But now when I spoke the same words probably the police officer was speaking to him. Something just hit him, and I saw his eyes just turned to normal and the craziness just leave it and then he just sat there and looked at me. And then I began to talk to him about what the police officer had told me. Your family are all okay, not one of them is hurt. And as I walked up, I began to say, "Hey, how are you feeling? How are you doing"? You know, just a, but you could just sense the presence, the power. You see, love is power. And although the skill, that these police officers are skilled at talking people down at saying, you know, at helping them out. But it took more than skill that day. It took the presence of God. And the words that I spoke, the Bible says they carry the anointing of God. The love of God.

We talked for 45 minutes together and I shared with him Jesus. And at one point, let me lead you in a prayer and give your life to Him. And he said, "Absolutely". He bowed his head and I led him in a prayer of telling Jesus, I choose You. I believe on You. Come into my heart. And then when were done praying, he looked up and you could just see the peace that was all over him. We talked a little bit about what was probably going to happen to him. And I just told him, "Hey, we're going to get you some help. Someone's going to be visiting you". And the reason I'm telling that story is because when the Bible says here that He gives us a well-instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary.

Did you know that the presence of God gets on our words and God guides our words and His presence is on those words. And if you'll become more aware of that, did you know that when you speak to your spouse, your marriage will change? That when you speak to your teenager and you're ready to pull your hair out because they're going through this phase of rebellion or whatever it is, and you can't understand them. Everything irritates them. Gets them angry. Hormones are going in every direction. But did you know the presence of God can flow off of your words. And He'll give you the right words to say that speaks to the very issues that they might not even be aware of. But so few people recognize the power of the presence of God.

Now, I want to challenge you. Each morning pray and just declare every day. Read this verse out loud and just say that the Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue. That means He guides you in what to say. That means He shows you the thing to, that you need to know, that you might not know any other way. And then it says the word that sustains the weary. You know, sometimes kids are weary. Sometimes teens are weary. They're going to school. They might be getting picked on. They're going through an identity crisis, or hormones all over the place. You're not be going to something at work with an employee that you're supposed to led. And you just feel like you're going to just lower the boom. But did you know that when you speak with them, God can guide you in what to say, show you and you'll sense things you'd never know on your own. That's the word of knowledge, one of the nine gifts of the Spirit. That's like the word of wisdom show you things about their future, about their past. He'll just guide you in a tremendous way.

We as believers have this incredible ability when Holy Spirit is on the inside of us that just stop before you get your mouth in gear. I had a saying years ago says, you know, "Don't put your mouth in gear before engaging your mind". Some people just speak without thinking. I'm going to go a step further and say, "Yeah, but engage Holy Spirit". Listen for Him. Just take a moment. I found that I'll just wait a half a second and just inside go, "Holy Spirit". And He'll just rise up on the inside of me because the Bible says we have not because we ask not. And then all of a sudden, I know exactly what to say for the situation that I'm in.

One day I was talking with some land developers who had a beautiful piece of property that we needed. It was about 53 acres and they were not going to sell it. The old guy who was the CEO and the owner. He was there with his lawyer and a couple of his sons. We were up wanted to get into a deal of purchasing this property for our church. And he said, "Son, we don't sell land". He was about in his 80's and we could see he was sickly and not doing well. He said, "I'm not selling that property. We're sitting on that property. I might not worked it for 20 years but that's what we do. We're land developers. We don't sell it". And so I said, "We just kind of stopped". And I think one of the team had to use the restroom or washroom or get a cup of coffee. So they left and it was just me and the owner of this huge organization.

I was walking around his boardroom just kind of looking at the pictures. I just sensed to ask him about this certain picture. So there's just a picture of a guy on a horse. And I said, "Tell me about this picture". He turns around with pride in his voice and says, "That is my grandfather. My grandfather came here from Russia, had to transport all the way down". And he said, "He got to Canada and he started this company". And so I asked him, "Why did he do that"? He said, "For religious freedom". And then he talked about, "Oh, he was kind of itinerant preacher and then he also started this business for his family and it just took off and it grew". And I wanted to start asking him questions, but I just sensed, "Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet".

Sometimes being quiet is more powerful than talking. So I was just quiet. And all of a sudden, it just dawn on him. He's talking about the religious freedoms that his grandfather came for. I could see he's thinking about he's prosperous and blessed because of a grandfather that served God and needed to come to Canada to have religious freedom. So he looks at me and he goes, "All right. I'll sell you the property". Just like that out of the blue. God was guiding me in what to say, what questions to ask. And I find over and over as I look back on my life in whether it's negotiations on land, property. Whether I'm talking with staff in an impossible situation, or whether we have to release somebody, or in all of the unique things. Training my kids, you know, working on my marriage. All the different things that all of us need to deal with.

You can rely on Holy Spirit and He will literally touch your heart and help you to stay in love, to stay in wisdom, and you will have an instructed tongue. You will speak under the instructions of the Holy Spirit. I can't say this enough. That it will change your business, your relationships. It will change you. You'll just find that you become this person of confidence, of love. You don't have to put people down. You don't have to grind them down. That you can just believe in them. You can be kind. Even if you have to fire somebody if you're the boss. You don't have to give up this joy, this love, this awe for God that's on the inside of you. Then it says here on the last part of this verse, "He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed". There's some very powerful thoughts in this last part of this verse. And that is that the mornings are very unique time.

In the mornings when you first wake up depending on how tired you are. You'll find that you probably wake up at a certain time, like an early time. I find that at around 6 o'clock or so. That I wake up 5:30 and I just, my eyes are awake. And if I push myself and just refuse to get out of the bed. I can fall back asleep. But if I climb out of bed, and I just go into the quietness of the morning. Those are the most beautiful times of just taking my Bible, putting it on my lap and just saying, "Holy Spirit teach me". And I'll go into God's Word. I'll read. I'll study. And it's like that is one of the most beautiful times to listen to Holy Spirit.

The other thing is late at night when everyone is asleep and I'm by myself. Actually as well find early in the morning there when now we're talking late at night like 1, 2, 3, 4 in the morning. I find that my second best time to just be alone and to get with God. But you'll notice here it says, "He wakens my ear". You see, there's a physical ear that you have but the Bible talks about the ears of your heart. And that you can't hear God with your physical ears. And so you need to learn to turn off the noise that is around you. Whenever I want to get alone with God. I turn off my phone, my iPads, my computer. I remove them so that I can't even check an email because I find that the enemy would love to get you out of that meditative beautiful state of listening to what Holy Spirit is teaching you and talking to you about.

Often in my life, He's talking to me about Scripture and about the Word of God, preparing me to know and to learn and to grow in the topics of God's Word. And I just begin to choose. I speak to Him like my best friend and I tell Him, "I want You to be my best friend". That my ear begins to wake up. And not only does it wake up in the morning but I found that I can literally just pause for like a tenth of a second in any situation and inside I just go, "Holy Spirit". And I just seemed to feel this rush of wisdom as to what to say, what to do. And often it's to do nothing. I don't always find that I have to step in to every situation. But I get this divine guidance. I get this instruction. Also, I have this ears, seems my ear, the ears of my heart. The Bible talks about the eyes of your heart as well. That's an important area of faith. We're not talking about that. Seeing the end from the beginning. Seeing the answer to your prayer as you meditate in the Word. But today we're talking about hearing.

Let me read this verse to you again. "The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary". You know, encouraging people, I believe is one of the greatest gifts there are. Wherever you go, learn to encourage your children. Some parents don't realize they need to encourage their little kids. Brag about them, encourage them. Your teenager is just dying for encouragement. Look for things that you can encourage them with and God will guide you with words that can do it in your marriage.

Do you realize that you are your spouse's most important cheerleader. And that you should be noticing them, loving them, respecting them, honoring them. Looking at the things that they're attempting to do. That they're trying to do. And then complementing them, bragging on them. I mean, we need to have a tongue that sustains the weary. Many times when our churches going through something or a family or my grown up kids. I'll just know, and I'll sense God saying, "Go talk to them for a while. Take them for coffee". And when you do, it's like the words and your love and the time that you spend begins to sustain the weariness of something going on in their life.

We as believers have power to encourage one another, to reach out to those who don't know Jesus and stop preaching at them and let your mouth guide you in sustaining them. They could be weary in their marriage, weary with health issues, weary with raising kids, weary in their career. And you begin to encourage them as Holy Spirit begins to guide you in what to say. Then the second portion of that Scripture says, "He wakens me morning by morning". Have you noticed that when you wake up, maybe a little bit too early for you, that He could be waking you up. When I was a little kid, I remember laying in bed trying to go to sleep at night. And I think I would have been be probably, you know, 7.8 right around there and I remember hearing someone call my name.

So I got up and said, "Yes, mom"? She goes, "What"? Did you call me? She goes, "No". And then I went back to bed, I'm trying to sleep. I hear my name again. I thought I heard my name. So I got up again and said, "Well, did you call me mom? I heard my name". No, go to bed, she goes. And then again it happened. And all of a sudden, my mom and my dad were kind of quiet and they told me the story about Samuel and how that, you know, God spoke to him. He went in to talk to the high priest Eli. He realized that God was speaking to that young boy. And mom and dad just told me, sometimes if you can't sleep and you're laying in bed and you think you hear your name or some, just say, "Yes, God". And just talk with Him. I'll never forget that.

Here I am, you know, in my 50's and I remember this thing taking place literally 50 years ago. And I think you can understand that God wakens our ear. We need to learn that He'll wake you up in the morning. There are sometimes I cannot go to sleep at night. And some people, well, they'll just go eat three more meals or watch a movie and I'm not against that. But you need to recognize sometimes sit down with your Bible in your lap, just say, "Holy Spirit talk to me". And you'll be surprised how Holy Spirit is trying to wake up your ear. It says, "He wakens me morning by morning".

Literally you can set aside time with Holy Spirit every morning and He'll always be there talking to you, guiding you, instructing you. I believe that when people learn to listen to Holy Spirit, to allow their ear to wake up and talk with Him. That you can catapult ahead ten years in your career the wisdom that you have. The Bible tells us in the book of Psalm 119:97, 98, 99. That if you will listen to the Word of God, the instructions of God. He'll make you wiser than your teachers, wiser than people older than you, and wiser than your enemies. I constantly claim those promises knowing that as Holy Spirit is teaching me, He's making me wiser dad or wiser husband or wiser pastor, a wiser CEO. He's giving me wisdom to know things from investments and finance and how to stir the organizations that I need to run for Him, in a way that He's trying to wake up my ear to listen to His guidance.

Oh, I could teach another hour on just this one verse. Please, tell Holy Spirit I want You to be my best friend. I want You to wake me up in the mornings. Wake yourself up, set your alarm. But begin to listen and let Him teach you the Word and guide you in all the areas of your life. If you don't know this Jesus I'm talking about. But listening to me talked today something on the inside is drawing you to Him. Just says:

Jesus, come into my heart. I put my trust in You. I want to be born again. I want to follow You the rest of my days.

If you just said those words, then you are born again. You are a new child of God. Keep watching this program. Find a great church if you can. If there's none around there, then just hook up with us here on this television program. We love you. Watch this program again soon.
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