Episode 216: The Sound of the Holy Spirit | Mike Massey

We're gonna do something we do in our house every Tuesday night, so if you'll just join me, lift your hands, and we're gonna ask for the presence, power, and anointing of the Holy Spirit. God, we know you're here Holy Spirit, we don't have to ask for your presence, we don't have to beg you to be here, we're asking to manifest yourself in this place. We're asking that we would see you, hear you, touch you, feel you in this place, that we would not just have some kind of religious meeting, but we would have an encounter with you, Lord Jesus, your Holy Spirit. Amen? Amen. Amen. Please be seated.

Imagine Being a Disciple

Imagine if you were one of the disciples of Jesus two thousand years ago. Imagine if you were in that story that we just heard read in Acts chapter two. Imagine that two thousand years ago, you had had some kind of encounter with Jesus—a healing, a touch, leprosy, some kind of encounter that you had had personally with Jesus in the crowd or one on one—and he turned your world upside down and you said yes to following him. You staked everything you had and you left everything you knew to follow this man called Jesus, who also claimed to be the son of God.

Was it possible that it was in your mind that Jesus was gonna ride in on a white horse and get rid of the tyrants on the throne of Jerusalem and oust Rome from being the tyrants over your people? That finally, the throne of David was going to be restored through Jesus and you would get to be a part of his leadership. Was that in your mindset possibly?

But then this Jesus that you've staked your life on lets himself be captured and crucified. You're suddenly scattered and you're hunted and living in fear for your life and for your family. Then wonder of wonders, three days after he's crucified, the rumor starts spreading that he's resurrected, that the tomb is empty. But then as soon as that rumor starts flooding across Jerusalem, the same rumor happens that you disciples stole his body and have hidden him away and are lying to the people, and so the manhunt gets ramped up. You're asking, is he risen? Was his body really stolen? What is the truth and what is a lie? You and your friends, you're terrified.

You're all gathered together in one room and then wonder upon wonders, as you sit in this room terrified, Jesus walks through a locked door. He stands before you. He shows you his hands and his side, and he says, peace be with you. Authority to destroy chaos is what he was saying is on you. It's with you. And then he breathes on you, and he says, receive the Holy Spirit.

And then over the next forty days, he appears to hundreds. We don't know how many people he appeared to in personal and group encounters. He appears to all these people telling them that he's risen, and then at the end of that time, instead of staying with you, he says, I have to ascend. But before I go to heaven, I want to tell you something. Do not leave Jerusalem. Stay here. Do not leave, and wait for the promise of my Father, which is the Holy Spirit to come. You won't know times. You won't know dates. You won't know hours. But if you wait, you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you because you're going to be my witnesses to the whole world.

And as you're standing there looking up, bewildered, confused, dumbfounded, suddenly there's two men there in white, presumably angels, saying in essence, get a move on. Why are you looking up? Get moving. He's gonna come back the same way he just left.

And then you wait, not knowing how long you're gonna wait, or what you're waiting for, or who you're waiting for, and then ten days later, you and a 120 others are gathered all together in one place waiting, just waiting, and suddenly—suddenly—it wasn't a light breeze. It wasn't a light trickle. It was a hurricane sound that went blowing through the place where they were sitting. A sound like a mighty rushing wind filled the house. And then suddenly, you look around and you see tongues of fire resting on top of all your friends. And then you realize, there's a tongue of fire on top of me.

And then, crazy upon crazy, you start to hear your friends all around you and they start speaking in tongues and foreign languages as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance. He starts to speak to them and suddenly, you start hearing the Holy Spirit start to speak to you and you start speaking in foreign tongues and languages. And if that wasn't strange enough, the entire city that had come from all over the world for this mandatory feast comes rushing toward this sound of the mighty rushing wind. And these 120 people are speaking in all of their native languages.

Well, you know the rest. Peter stands up and speaks, 3,000 of the crowd repent that day. They're baptized and then an explosion of faith and generosity swept across Jerusalem and more wonders and signs were performed and they started to share everything they had in common.

They started selling everything they had to give to those in need, and there was just this explosion. The numbers of followers went from 120 to some estimates of 10,000 over days and weeks—more than half the city of Jerusalem. Does it give you a different insight into that story?

I don't know about you, but I want to see a move like that in Roanoke in 2022. Do you wanna see God move like that? I'm so tired of just church as usual. I'm not knocking on us, but the Western church has become so content with a salvation or two once a year. We gather, and we sing our songs, and we lift our hands, and go back about our business doing our thing without seeing the moves of God.

So this last week, I've been praying, especially in light of what's happening in our nation right now, and I've been saying, "God, Lord, I want to see you move like that in 2022. Please, Lord, bring revival. I want the sound of your Holy Spirit to blow through Roanoke, the valley, and our nation, and across this world."

But I felt like the Lord said back to me—and I'm not crazy, I don't hear a voice, so let's just be clear—but the thought, the feeling, the impressions I felt like the Lord said back to me clearly and firmly: "Hey, Mike, make no mistake. I've never stopped moving and will never stop moving, and I will keep moving until it's time for Jesus, my Son, to return and claim the kids back to heaven. This is not an issue of when or if I will move. The issue is when will my children move."

He said, "Mike, you remember my words in Second Chronicles?"

My eyes constantly range to and fro across the earth because I'm looking for those whose hearts are holy and fully committed to me. — 2 Chronicles

"If you would but position yourselves like the disciples did 2,000 years ago, then you will see and hear the sound of the Holy Spirit."

Three Questions for 2022

So here today, I ask you three questions. I asked them of me and I ask them of you, and it's not to bring us condemnation—it's to challenge us, it's to move us in order that we would hear and see the sound of the Holy Spirit in 2022 like never before. Like the disciples of 2,000 years ago, here are the questions:

Are you? Am I? Are we actively waiting on the sound of the Holy Spirit? Are we actively listening to the sound of the Holy Spirit? And are we actively moving at the sound of the Holy Spirit?

Are We Actively Waiting?

The first question I ask is: Are we actively waiting on the sound of the Holy Spirit? You see, they were together, gathered, but they were waiting. And waiting is not passive—it is active. My guess is there was prayer, there was worship, there was worry, there was fear, there was anxiety, excitement, anticipation, dread—all mixed together. But they were actively waiting on the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we have to have seasons of waiting, but it must be active waiting.

In 2018, I had one of those seasons of waiting. We were wondering what God was doing. I was kind of going through a "poor me" moment: Does my life have an impact? Does the thing that we do with college students matter? Do they notice? Do they care? Why do they keep coming? Why are we doing it? What are you up to, God?

But the Lord just said, "Keep going. Keep moving. Keep doing it."

So for thirteen years prior, I'd gone to this conference in Atlanta called Catalyst, and about 15,000 people show up. There's speakers, worship, all the stuff—it's a big shot in the arm, a lot of fun. But I didn't really wanna go. I just felt like the Lord said, "Go again and take eight college students and head to Atlanta."

I said, "Okay, Lord, I'll go."

Before I was walking out the door that day, Sheena said to me, "Hey, honey, I have a word for you." I gotta say, my wife gives me words all the time, so it's not that I disregard them, but sometimes I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay." I know that sounds weird, but sometimes it may go in one ear and out the other. But she said, "Honey, I got a word for you. Judges six. You're supposed to read Judges six, and the Lord has a word for you with Gideon. I don't know what it is, but you're supposed to read Judges six and the story of Gideon."

I said, "Cool."

I get to Atlanta with our college students and, of course, the next morning—the first morning of the conference—I'm up at 5 AM ready to go because we gotta get good seats. I do not wanna be in the nosebleed. I want good seats. I gotta see all the stuff and be a part of it, right?

Well, my dumb college students didn't wake up till like 8 a.m. And I'm like that dad, going, "Come on, come on, right?"

And the Lord just kept saying, "Relax. Just breathe. I got you."

Okay, Lord, alright. We got to the arena and, of course, every door, every place was packed with people. We were not gonna get the good seats. We were gonna be in the nosebleed because of my stupid college kids.

So we're walking down the hallway where there's packs and packs of people waiting to get in and I stop at one of the doors with a long row of people and I said, "Excuse me, ma'am. Does this door go down to the floor? I know there's no way we'll get seats down there, but does this go down to the floor?" And she said, "It does, but you can get in early because you have an orange bracelet."

I look at one of my guys who's wearing a Rockbridge orange bracelet, and I said, "That's right, we do. Mike, please give me your bracelet." He hands me his bracelet, I put it on and I go, "Thank you ma'am, I'll see you on the floor." And I walked on down and I got us great seats. They were the sixth row and it wasn't just the sixth row—there was a big walking aisle—so we had the front row of the next section. We had room to spare. I started running into friends. It was just so much fun.

Then worship started happening all that day. The speakers were great. We came back that night for worship and worship starts kicking off. Let me just tell you, this has a point in a second. I was wearing this bright orange Virginia Tech shirt. We come back that night for worship and the worship leader says, "Hey, we're gonna start praying for freedom. We wanna ask for freedom." So the eight guys get on the ground and I kind of went over them like this, like a mother hen, praying for these guys, asking for freedom, for God to do a big work.

As I'm praying for them, I feel this hand on my back from somebody behind me. I kind of turn and look behind me and, no shade, please forgive me, but the only way I can describe him is he looked like a Liberty student. Skinny jeans, the black—you know, the whole thing. The hair, right? And I'm just telling you my attitude wasn't the greatest. I thought, "Please get your hand off my back." But he keeps praying for me. I pray for the guys. The worship music kicks in. I stand up and the guy grabs me on the shoulder, and with the loud music he goes, "I have a word for you."

And I was like, "Uh-huh. Okay, alright, yeah, what's the word?"

He said, "The Lord sees you. Keep doing what you're doing. You've been impacting generation upon generation. What you're doing matters. But then he said, 'And the Lord wants you to know, rise up man of God, rise up. Rise up.'"

And I said, "Thank you."

Worship continued, and then the worship leader stopped all the music and said this. He references Judges 6, and an angel of the Lord appears to Midian:

"The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.' But sir," Gideon replied, "if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Might be what some of you are wondering in your heart tonight. If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

"The Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel. I will be with you. And you will strike down the enemy together.' That's a word for some of you here tonight. You're wondering why all this has happened to you, to us. But God says, 'Will you go in the strength that you have because I am with you?' And there's a guy up there, you're wearing like a pink orange t-shirt, about the fifth or sixth row in the back there. This word is for everyone, but it's also specifically for you. That you have thought, 'I am the least in all my family.' But God has appointed you to rise up. So rise up, man of God. Rise up and go into what God has asked you to deliver in His hands, in Jesus' name."

Could God be any clearer? And of course, as that was going on, the guy from Liberty goes, "That's you, that's you." And I'm like, "Shut up, shut up."

Actively Waiting and Listening

You see, when we are actively waiting, we will not miss the sound of the Holy Spirit speaking. If you're not actively waiting, you will miss it. It is in the waiting, in spite of what we can or cannot see, that we're able to hear the sound of the Holy Spirit.

The second question: Are we actively listening for the sound of the Holy Spirit?

The best way I could talk about this and describe this—and my wife Sheena hates when I put her on a spotlight or put the spotlight on her, but I'm going to this morning—my wife actively listens to the sound of the Holy Spirit. Anyone who knows her, they know that she actively daily, for years, has created space in her war closet to listen to and for the Lord.

She puts in her AirPods throughout the day—and the kids keep saying "they're AirPods, Mom," and they stick out of her ears like antennas. They're like, "Mom, shut them down, right?" But she walks around just lifting those hands and worshiping God all day long as she's doing the mundane tasks of the day. With her Bible and her journal open on the island, doing all the stuff of the day, but she's actively listening and she remains in a state of readiness to hear his voice and his leading.

One time, I got back from a trip to China a couple years ago—it was a mission trip. It was a particularly dark mission trip, but it was an awesome trip. It was spiritually oppressive. But I came back with what would only be described as pollution poisoning. For seven days, I couldn't get over what I thought was jet lag and pollution poisoning. I was just exhausted, tired. I couldn't get energy back. I couldn't get my feet under me.

So on the Saturday, about seven days later, I just went to bed and I pulled the shades down. I got the room real dark and I just put the covers over me. I just stayed in bed, thinking if I could just get through this. But I found myself lying there with this fist on my chest holding me down. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I just felt like I kept hearing the Lord say, "Call Sheena." And I was like, I don't wanna call Sheena. Do I need to call Sheena? Then I started having thoughts of suicide. And if anyone knows me, I don't think about suicide. I love myself, right? But I started having these thoughts of suicide. I'm feeling this fist on my chest, and again, the Lord just kept saying—that still small voice—"Call Sheena." It's like, if I could just get through it.

And all of a sudden, like Kramer on Seinfeld, the door busts open. Sheena comes in with hands raised, speaking in tongues. She throws up the shade. She comes over and lays hands on me. She's hitting me like, "In the name of Jesus, you get off my husband. Get out of this household. You have no power over him. You have no authority here. Leave my household now in the name of Jesus."

I was so weirded out but excited at the same time. I think I said a cuss word. I think I was like, "What the—?" Right? And she looked at me and I said, "What just happened?" And she said, "I was downstairs making dinner and the Lord said, 'Go declare over your husband. He's in trouble.'"

You see, it's an active daily listening that we will hear the sound of the Holy Spirit, and it will release the miraculous even when it seems like we're in the mundane.

Moving at the Sound of the Holy Spirit

Third, are we actively moving at the sound of the Holy Spirit? You guys, no condemnation here, but we can no longer call ourselves followers of Jesus if we are simply hearers and not movers or doers of the word of God. If we are going to simply listen to but not move at the sound of the Holy Spirit, we cannot call ourselves followers of Jesus. When the sound comes, we must move in response or it is all pointless.

For twenty-five years—I made a commitment years ago, twenty-five years ago—that I would do one risky thing a day. That I would listen to the Father and walk in obedience. And now after all those years, it's not often so risky. It's often more just inconvenient.

A couple months ago, I was at the car dealership. I was sitting there just praying, and I hadn't done my risky thing a day. I looked off to my left and there was a gentleman—an African American man who looked a little bit younger than me—and I felt like the Lord said, again, I didn't hear a voice but I felt like the Lord said, "Go ask him if he knows who you are."

And I thought, what? That's so arrogant. "Excuse me, do you know who I am?" Right? I thought, Lord, I'm not gonna. I might go up and say, "Hey, do we know each other? Have we met before?" But I just kept hearing the Lord say, no—two times, three times—"Go ask him if he knows who you are."

There's a moment. Do you go in movement or do you sit still and do nothing? It's the invitation. I've learned over the years to trust. So I said, "Okay, Lord," and I got up. I walked over. "Excuse me, sir. I know this is weird. Do you know who I am?"

And he sat back and he said, "Are you Mike Massey?"

I said, "Yes, I am."

He said, "In 1997, you walked into my jail cell as a young attorney. You looked like a young JFK," and I said, "I know."

And you told me you'd found a way to get me acquitted of my charges and I was looking at what was substantial time and you said to me, hey, listen, you might get free but you will never be free until you call on the name of the Lord and when you call on the name of the Lord, he will set you free and heal you and I said, no. A month later, you came back and I got acquitted and we walked out on the front steps of the courthouse and you shook my hand and I'm sitting there thinking, I don't remember this story. What happened next?

He said, we went out on the courthouse steps and you shook my hand and you said, you might be free today but you will never be free until you call on the name of the Lord. And when you call on the name of the Lord, he will set you free, and he'll heal you. He said, I didn't do it that day. 2016, almost twenty years later, I was in my apartment, I was ready to commit suicide, my life was in shambles, my marriage was in shambles, everything was falling apart, and I just thought, I'm just gonna end it all, and suddenly, your face, your name, and your words came rushing back into my head, if you call on the name of the Lord, he will set you free, and he said, I got on my knees and I called on the name of the Lord, and he said, I have been free ever since. I read my bible every day, I'm engaged in active ministry, the Lord has set me free, and I'm now setting other people free, and two weeks ago, I said, Lord, would you let me run into Mike Massey so I could tell him about this? You can't make this stuff up.

You see, we have no idea what God will do in, through, and around us when we simply move at his invitation.

What God Is Calling Us To Do

So what's the point of all this? God wants us to stop playing at church, and he wants us to be the church. The world needs us to be God's witnesses to this world and it starts with us positioning ourselves individually and collectively to wait on the sound of the Holy Spirit, to listen to the sound of the Holy Spirit, and to move at the sound of the Holy Spirit.

Listen, Sheena and I are just simple people who love the Lord. We're not special, we just love Jesus. We want to do whatever he wants to do and so today you might be saying, do I do with this? What do we do with this today? Well, if you don't know what to do, I'm gonna give you two simple action plans just today.

First, let's together and I don't typically like to make people feel like they need to do something. I'm someone who's if someone tells me to do it, I say I'm not doing it. If someone says stand, I'm like I'm not standing. But what would happen if this body of men and women today, we got over our pride and we got over ourselves and we said, I'm gonna renew a commitment. I'm coming forward to this altar together with my brothers and sisters. We're gonna move out of our seats, and we're gonna call on the name of the Lord. We're gonna position ourselves before him to say, Lord, we're actively here waiting on you. We're here listening for your sound, and we will move at your sound.

And secondly, just an action daily action step at 05:15 every day since COVID began, Sheena instituted with our family and our close circle of people a text group that she would text everyone at 05:15 and say now is the time to pray, and at 05:15 every day wherever they are she'll send out the text and everyone's supposed to stop, pray, lift up their hands, and we just it's declarations.

Lord you said you sit on the throne. Lord, you said you will not be thwarted. Lord, you said you will conquer the deeds of darkness. Lord, revive your people. Lord, break our hearts for what breaks yours. God, we surrender to you, and we will respond to your voice. Speak, father. We're listening, and we will say yes before you ask the question, come, Lord Jesus, come.

What would happen if just this room of people did that every day?

Yesterday, I said to Sheena, I feel like the Lord wants you to come and pray over this church. She says, Mike Massey, she doesn't like the spotlight, but I feel like she's supposed to come pray over us, pray with us. And if you would gather with me at this altar or where you're standing, but just let's get over ourselves, let's get on our knees, let's stand and lift our hands, let's just stand before the Lord and say, Lord, come Lord Jesus, Come. We're actively waiting. We're actively listening. We're actively going to move. Will you join us? Will you just stand and pray with us? And the altar is open. If you feel led but just sense of the Holy Spirit here this morning. Let's just still our hearts and our minds.

I was reading before I came up here how we've been justified by the blood of the lamb. To have access to the father there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We have peace with God. Let's just bring all our prayers and all our petitions to him today.

As I was driving here this morning, I asked the Lord to help me know what to pray. I told the first service—I noticed my gas gauge said low fuel, 60 miles left. And I thought, yeah, I feel that way most days. I'm running a little on empty. I didn't want to just reprocess that prayer over you guys.

God was bringing in fresh faces for this service, and I really asked the Lord what he would have for you and for me at this hour. And I felt like he just said, "Yeah, there are days you're running on empty, but sometimes you're looking at the wrong tank. Your tank is full on so many other things." Most days I don't think I've got any other room for anything else. I don't know if you feel that way—that your tank is full. I feel like God just says, "You know what? Just come up here today and empty out some things."

Maybe it's a suitcase of unforgiveness. Maybe you feel burdened with guilt and shame. And I just declare today in Jesus, your shame is gone. Amen. Yes, Jesus. You're carrying just a load of trying to raise your kids. Maybe you're worried. Maybe you're fearful. Maybe there's physical healing that you're asking the Lord for. All of that, let's just bring it before him today.

Let's ask in the name of Jesus: Fill us full of your power. Fill us full, Lord, of your love. Lord, we need strength and we need hope. We want to look to you with expectancy, and we need healing. And it is there for us in the waiting.

Are you waiting on the bridegroom? Are you getting ready? Are you preparing? Let's get rid of all the things that distract us. Maybe you need to just close the door, be still before the Lord this morning. Empty out and be filled with the power of his Holy Spirit.

It's in this church that I learned that the Holy Spirit is not a thing—it's a person. And my prayer over you, church, over the Holy Spirit, over each and every one of us, young and old: Do not grow weary. That's right. Trust in the Lord and do good. That's right, Lord Jesus.

Trust in the Lord and do good — Psalm 37:3

Be filled with his strength. Yes, Lord Jesus. Be filled with his hope. Yes, Lord Jesus. Be filled full of faith. Eager to go out. Eager to preach the gospel. Eager to speak truth with grace upon grace upon grace.

I bless you today in the name of Jesus. Be strong in the Lord.

The joy of the Lord is your strength. — Nehemiah 8:10

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.