Kevin Williams [00:00:04 – 00:00:44]
Well, I’m delighted to be here and to continue my story just a little bit. I, I. My wife Kathy, that you mentioned is we’ve been married this year be 29 years, and our girls, we have two daughters here in the Nashville area, 25 and 23 now. Our oldest is getting married this year, and there’s a lot to do with a wedding. I hear the details going by me every day, you know, so that’s the excitement around the house. And then I’m always doing whatever project I’m working on that day.
Kevin Williams [00:00:44 – 00:01:13]
I’m in my studio right now. You can see behind me. I’ve got guitars everywhere. And it’s not the, you know, if you stepped in here, you’d have to be careful where you step. My life is a little bit like that. There’s just stuff everywhere that I’m working on, and, and I’m grateful for that. I, I like to be challenged in different ways all the time. Part of the challenge in my spiritual life, and I remember this from an early age, has been the hearing the voice of God.
Kevin Williams [00:01:14 – 00:01:45]
You know, I remember I was 17, and I would cry out to God at night, wanting to hear his voice for his direction in my life. I was at that age where I needed to pick a college path, I needed to pick a vocation. I needed to, I need us. Needed answers. And so I knew to pray. And I, I didn’t know much else. I, you know, I didn’t have a lot of teaching at the time, and so I, I needed to know how to hear his voice. Now I’m.
Kevin Williams [00:01:45 – 00:02:22]
I’m going somewhere with that, but let me leave you for a minute. So I wanted to, I felt a call to be in music. You in, in a music ministry. I was doing that in my church from the time I was 14 years old. In fact, I’ve been out on buses traveling and singing and playing in other churches since I was 14. And, and it’s a wonderful opportunity. And I, and I felt like God was calling me into that, not only in ministry, but as a vocation. I remember my uncle one time was asking my dad said, what does he want to be when he grows up? And dad said, well, he wants to be a musician.
Kevin Williams [00:02:23 – 00:03:08]
And it got deathly quiet. And a few minutes later, my uncle said, what’s he going to do for his real job? And so I’ve had those times in my life where I just throw it on God and say, lord, is this a vocation? Is this a ministry? What is This. I need to hear your voice. I’m a little clearer on hearing God’s voice these days. It was not as difficult as I thought it might be. I began to learn about surrender a few years ago when we went through Covid. I realized that I was unsurrendered in a lot of areas of my life, and especially my. I had a need to know the certainty of the future.
Kevin Williams [00:03:09 – 00:03:40]
I had a need to kind of know the plan. And if you follow God for very long, you’re going to understand that you’re not going to be revealed the plan. A lot of times, that’s to test your faith. See, we walk by faith and not by sight. And I. This is the part I have trouble with, admittedly. I got to see something right? I got to know where I’m going. I got to hear from God every day, and I got.
Kevin Williams [00:03:41 – 00:04:09]
And so to just trust and hold on, walk by faith. Always been a little bit of a challenge for me. The surrender part, big challenge. Giving up, giving everything to God. I could give God my eternal salvation. I could give that to him, and I couldn’t give him the needs of my everyday life. This has been an ongoing fleshly struggle with me. And so began to just get quiet.
Kevin Williams [00:04:10 – 00:04:36]
I found part of the. Part of the process in hearing God’s voice is knowing him, reading His Word every day and letting that soak into you. David, in. In the. In the Psalms, said, I’ve hid your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. He just soaked that word up. Well, I began to do that and. And seek God.
Kevin Williams [00:04:36 – 00:05:06]
And he was amazingly quiet to me for a long time. And then he began to open up his truth to me through His Word. And then through. You know, people say, do you hear a voice? I don’t really. It’s a. Knowing is the best way I know how to describe that. It’s like an impartation that comes to me, and I know. And this is when I get my brain out of the way, get my thinking turned off, which is hard for me to do sometimes.
Kevin Williams [00:05:06 – 00:05:40]
And when I get quiet and I get before the Lord, he reveals as much of himself as he wants to at that time. And it’s always glorious. It’s always wonderful. And we had a little exercise in one of the faith conferences from Emerge a few months ago, and Pastor Kanya had challenged us. She said, here’s what I do. She said, I journal every day. Well, I journal every day, okay? And she said, I will ask God or I will say what I. What I want, and I write it in my journal.
Kevin Williams [00:05:40 – 00:06:08]
And then she’s got a red pen handy. And in fact, this is the one from the conference. I stole that. And so she, she will just write what God is telling her in red. And then that’s something you can go back and look at. See, there have been numerous times I felt like God was speaking to my life. And it was alive and vibrant in my soul. And then I wouldn’t remember maybe two lines of what he said.
Kevin Williams [00:06:08 – 00:06:41]
And so I began to try this exercise. It sounded unorthodox, sounded weird, you know, and, and I did it and it worked and the pin began to flow. And this was not coming from my brain, it was coming through me. But I knew it was God speaking to me. And I, I was just kind of seeing it play out real time. And so I began to do this on a daily basis. And a lot of what God was telling me was just that he loved me. This is, this is something that we take so for granted, y’all.
Kevin Williams [00:06:41 – 00:07:35]
The love of our Creator, who sent his son to die for us, to shed blood for us on a cross and change everything. He bought us back. Okay. This is what he just reminds me of a lot of the time, that he loves me and that he’s faithful. And so one day, and this was December 1st, that, that this particular passage I’m going to read you happened. And, and then we got together on a little zoom group, what we call our trailblazers group, a few days later. And I, I shared this with them because it was meaningful to me. I felt like God gave this to me and, and I shared it and, and there’s about half dozen of us on there and, and it got quiet and, and it seemed to be that everybody was affected by this.
Kevin Williams [00:07:35 – 00:08:13]
I tend to shortchange when, when God gives me something, I think it’s for me, right? But His Word is alive. Sharper than a two edged sword. And it goes places that our intentions can’t go, that our plans can’t go. His word penetrates. And so I had to not shortchange this and realize that maybe there was something in this for everybody. Pastor David had said, I want you to share this. And you know, well, it takes about a minute to read what he gave me. And I said, are you sure? And he said, oh, I’m sure.
Kevin Williams [00:08:14 – 00:08:44]
So what I’m going to do is read this to you and, and then I’m going to break it down into what I felt like God was telling me. And I pray, I pray that there’s something for you in here, and I believe there is. But I want you to listen to. To what he gave me. This is in this little journal, and it’s got a little K on it for my initial here. And. And it’s dated December 1st. And I simply thanked the Lord for a beautiful start to a new month.
Kevin Williams [00:08:44 – 00:09:21]
I said, I’m thankful to be yours and give me wisdom and work all things together for my good, my health, my success. I stand on your word. I will live and breathe it in. And that’s all I said. And I grabbed the red pen and y’all, this was amazing, the way this flowed. He said to me, my spirit lives and dwells in you, Kevin. You have my heart and my ideas. You are a creator whom I have divinely created.
Kevin Williams [00:09:22 – 00:09:53]
You have the vision and the daily wisdom necessary to do all I’ve put you on earth to do. As long as you stay plugged into me. Now, that doesn’t sound very King James that plugged in deal. But he has to speak in my terminology where I’ll understand it. And I’m a gadget geek and I know how to plug things in and I know that the juice comes from plugging it in. And that’s how what he had to tell me, stay plugged into me. It is who I am. I am success, prosperity, life, health.
Kevin Williams [00:09:54 – 00:10:19]
I am the way. I am the word. I remain, I stay, I love, I create. I am. And just as I am, you are. Now, you wouldn’t think those five words would say so much. And I contemplated that for days after. Just as I am, you are.
Kevin Williams [00:10:19 – 00:10:37]
Because his spirit lives inside us. He said, stop thinking so much. This is clearly to me. Stop thinking so much and just be. Just be. I will make you aware in each moment. I will give you the assignment. Have no fear.
Kevin Williams [00:10:37 – 00:11:06]
I am in control. Don’t believe the illusions. Don’t believe the lies, and don’t waver. See, I work in a. In a business, in the music business, and there are plenty of illusions in that business. And you can probably equate some area of your life, this too, where there’s illusions that just abound and they’re not real. He said, don’t believe it and don’t believe the lies. He just out and out said the lies.
Kevin Williams [00:11:06 – 00:11:27]
I didn’t even know what he was talking about at the time. And I’ve come to realize he said, trust and relax. He’s been trying for 59 years to get me to relax. Y’all grow your faith roots in me. I’m faithful to my word. Believe. Practice your faith. Practice your faith.
Kevin Williams [00:11:27 – 00:11:56]
There’s a strange phrase. Do we practice our faith? I couldn’t believe he told me that he did. Believe and practice your faith. I will honor it and grow it. Don’t shortchange the ideas I have given you. Remember that. Remember that Scripture says, don’t just despise the day of small beginnings. I’m paraphrasing there, but we tend to do that, you know, if.
Kevin Williams [00:11:56 – 00:12:29]
If he gives us an idea for something and it doesn’t really make sense or it seems insignificant, we tend to blow that off. And he. He was clearly telling me, don’t do that little as much when God is in it. Oh, he continues, and he says, I know the outcomes. I have oversight. I will receive glory and joy from your obedience and trust in these things. These are two things I’ve failed miserably at. Obedience and trust.
Kevin Williams [00:12:29 – 00:12:52]
And then he says, teach others my ways. Welcome in. Exalt me and remain humble. Don’t cloud the path with doubts. Let others doubt. Don’t cloud the path with doubts. Let others doubt. There are whole theologies built on doubt.
Kevin Williams [00:12:52 – 00:13:17]
Do you understand that? He said, let them go. I’m going to be exalted. And don’t you give in to doubt, because it’s easy for us. We have flesh on. Okay, We. We are still here on earth at this point, and it is easy to doubt. And he was confirming his faithfulness to me and saying, don’t give in. You will blaze a trail with your faith.
Kevin Williams [00:13:17 – 00:13:45]
And then he said, I love you, my son. And we call our. Our group the Trailblazers. We feel like we’re going places that God tells us to go, that maybe nobody’s ever been places in. In a depth with him. And I know my relationship is deeper now than it’s ever been simply because I’m in a small group like that. And we. We meet twice.
Kevin Williams [00:13:45 – 00:14:17]
Well, we meet every two weeks to discuss what God’s doing in our lives and how we can help each other, how we can encourage each other. I felt like God gave me this to share with them. And then Pastor David said, no, I think it’s bigger. And so there were seven key points in what I just read you. And I’m gonna. I’m gonna go through these kind of fast here, but if you got a pen, you may. You may write these seven things down. He started off by reminding me that he is my source.
Kevin Williams [00:14:17 – 00:14:59]
God is our source. David will remember back during COVID we. We had to go over this basic again, but First Corinthians 8 and 6 says, for us there is only one God, the Father, who is the source of all things. Philippians 4:19 says, My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory, because he’s got it all. He made it all. And James 1:17 says, Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. Now one more. I wrote down Psalm 67.
Kevin Williams [00:14:59 – 00:15:38]
Seven, God is the source of our blessings. And then I saw in Genesis, when Abraham named that place Jehovah Jireh, that was always significant to me because it meant, the Lord is my provider. God was reminding me that he’s the source, and I don’t have to worry about anything. I can give him my anxieties, give him my worries. He reminded me, number two, God’s Spirit lives in you. God’s Spirit lives in you. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says, God’s Spirit dwells in you. Romans 8.
Kevin Williams [00:15:39 – 00:16:08]
I didn’t write the verse down for this, but says, the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Let me read you these two passages as well, because this spoke to me a while back. We. We talk about his spirit living in us. And. And we are called. Part of our assignment is to be light to this world. We are the same light that Jesus is.
Kevin Williams [00:16:09 – 00:16:33]
And I’m going to show you. In John 8:12, Jesus spoke again to the people, and he said, I’m the light of the world. Okay, this is Jesus talking. I am the light. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Then In Matthew chapter 5, 14, 16, he says, you are the light of the world. Same guy talking. Okay, I am the light, and you are the light.
Kevin Williams [00:16:33 – 00:17:01]
A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people. Light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. His Spirit lives in us and creates the light in us. We become a pipeline, a conduit for all that he has and wants to do on this earth. And the way he does it is. Is through His Spirit living in us and acting out through us.
Kevin Williams [00:17:02 – 00:17:25]
He was. He was confirming all of this again in this passage to me. And it’s important for us to always remember, in every situation in life, I have the spirit of God. He is in me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, because His Spirit is in me. Number three. He told me to relax. And I’m going to tell you the same thing.
Kevin Williams [00:17:26 – 00:17:58]
Relax and stop overthinking. We are prone to do this in this society. We are taught to do it. We’re taught to be proactive thinkers, get down the road by your thinking. And that’s one of the biggest spiritual traps we can find. We’ve got to use our brains in our day to day life. But remember in the original Adam and Eve story where they chose. And I’m, I’m giving you my version of this here because I like it.
Kevin Williams [00:17:58 – 00:18:39]
But they chose to serve their thinking rather than the communion with God and to have spiritual revelation. They turned their back on this spiritual closeness they had and said, if we eat of this tree, we’ll be like God. We’ll be able to think like God. And they were sentenced to live life by their own thinking from there on out. That’s the fallen nature. God’s constantly trying to tell me, turn your brain off and let me tell you something. Quit trying to overthink me. One day he even told me, he said, the sheep doesn’t try to outthink the shepherd.
Kevin Williams [00:18:41 – 00:19:11]
Psalms 46 and 10. Be still and know that I’m God. Be still and just know it. Okay? First Peter 5 and 7, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. And then my favorite scripture. If anybody ever asks me, what’s your favorite scripture, it is Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don’t lean to your own understanding.
Kevin Williams [00:19:11 – 00:19:44]
See, that’s my thinking. Okay? Don’t try to lead with that. Let that bow to the Lord in all your ways. Acknowledge him, turn to him, and he will direct your paths or make your paths straight. That’s the product from living by revelation and not living by our thinking. I love in the Scriptures where He calls us to enter into his rest. That’s beautiful to me, that kind of peace that comes from trusting him. Number four.
Kevin Williams [00:19:44 – 00:20:19]
He told me to be fearless. Tell me to fear not and eliminate doubt. 2nd Timothy 1:7. God’s not given us a spirit of fear. Why would he do that? He’s given us a spirit of power and love and a sound mind. I think we deal a lot today with fearing various things. I think we’ve learned how to fear very well. I think it’s become such a habit for us.
Kevin Williams [00:20:19 – 00:20:57]
And I hear people say, but what scares me to death is, you know, little things like that, right? I had a friend of mine, he was telling me he saw a guy going down the road. Excuse my voice. He saw a guy going down the road and he’s following him and. And his brake lights just kept hitting every, you know, as he’s driving with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake, he got that fear foot working, you know, And a lot of us live our lives that way. And you’re never going to gain momentum in life. You’re never going to achieve the things, the glorious things that God has for your life if you continue to carry this fear. Joshua 1:9 says, Be strong. That’s a command.
Kevin Williams [00:20:57 – 00:21:22]
Be strong and courageous. Don’t be frightened. Do not be dismayed. Even the angels, when they appeared on that blessed night of his birth, they said, fear not. Remember that when the angel appeared to Mary, fear not. I think that’s a command to us today. Leave fear behind. Do whatever it takes to trust in God and run forward and leave fear behind you.
Kevin Williams [00:21:22 – 00:21:47]
It’s one of Satan’s greatest tools to keep us from our potential. Number five is grow your faith. Grow your faith in him. And he told me to practice believing. I think he meant practice believing for bigger. Okay. Sometimes we accomplish something in our faith and then we don’t use our faith again for a while. And I don’t know why we do that.
Kevin Williams [00:21:47 – 00:22:26]
We just become complacent, I suppose. The scripture 11:2nd Corinthians 5, 7 says, we walk by faith, not by sight. We have to strive to do that. We have to keep that in the foreground and go, look, Lord, I don’t need to see. I’m following you by faith. I have a dear friend, he’s totally blind from birth, and he’s an amazing pianist. He’s just totally amazing musician and person. And he was traveling with a group who was going out through, I guess it was Arizona, through the desert.
Kevin Williams00:22:26 – 00:22:53
And they stopped the bus and it was just desert sand and dunes for miles. It’s all you could see. And they. They asked him, said, have you ever run? Now here’s a blind guy. Blind from birth. No, he’s, you know, he’s. He’s always walked, holding on to somebody, or if he knew the place really well, he could walk and kind of hold on to the walls or whatever. He’s never run a step in his life.
Kevin Williams [00:22:53 – 00:23:24]
He didn’t know how to run, but there’s nothing to hinder him. And if he fell down, he wasn’t going to be hurt. He’s in the sand. And they pulled the bus over and let him run wildly through this desert sand. He said, I’ve never felt anything like that to this day. But that’s what a life of faith can feel like a life of following him blindly. Okay? Just totally abandoning, surrendering to him. It’s really what we’re called to do.
Kevin Williams [00:23:24 – 00:23:59]
Mark 11:24 says, Therefore I tell you whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you’ve received it and it’ll be yours. And what do we do with that? I’ve seen that happen in my life, and then I’ve seen sometimes where it didn’t happen because my faith level is still growing. I don’t get down on myself. I know where I am in this process, just like you. And so we’re all on the journey together. I think we can help strengthen each other’s faith. We can help encourage each other along the way. Two more things hang with me.
Kevin Williams [00:23:59 – 00:24:32]
Number six. All glory belongs to the Father. He was telling me that stuff about, I’ll be glorified, I’ll be exalted. He receives glory when we trust him. Boom. Did you get that? He receives glory when we trust him, when we obey. There’s a scripture that says obedience is better than sacrifice. When we demonstrate humility in a situation, we’re giving glory to the Father through that.
Kevin Williams [00:24:32 – 00:25:16]
Matthew 5:16. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. First Corinthians 10:31. Whether, therefore, you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. We should live our lives. I love that Oswald Chambers now helped me with the title of that. Wasn’t it my utmost for his highest? Did I get that right? Isn’t that a cool way to live my utmost for his highest? I hope I got that right. Do it all to his glory.
Kevin Williams [00:25:17 – 00:25:56]
And then the seventh one. Blaze a trail. Now here’s a sermon I can preach. I’ve been going down trails that I never had an idea that I would see, much less be blazing, be the guy in front. But it’s happening in my life because I’m surrendering parts of my life to Christ that I’ve never surrendered. He’s bringing people into my life to lead people into my life into whom I can speak his truth. This opportunity today to be with you, share the truth of the Lord in a personal way that he spoke it to me and then to. To relay it to you.
Kevin Williams [00:25:56 – 00:26:36]
All of these things will follow as we determine to blaze a trail for him. Second Timothy 1 and 9 says, he saved us and called us to a holy life. He’s called us. So you have a calling on your life. And this is where I was at age 17, y’all. I felt a calling, but I needed somebody to verify that somehow. I didn’t have enough of a faith level at that point to just launch out. I was looking for an external sign somewhere, somebody to validate me, probably, and say, yep, God’s calling you.
Kevin Williams [00:26:37 – 00:27:05]
But let me just go ahead and tell you, without knowing you and without knowing your circumstances, God’s called you. The thing that’s messing you up is. Is an identity crisis. I can tell you because I’ve lived it. This is where I am. We don’t know that we’re his child. Oh, yes, I’m a child of the king. His royal blood flows through my veins.
Kevin Williams [00:27:06 – 00:27:47]
See, that’s who we are. Ever since the cross and that great transaction that ripped the veil, that’s who we are. And all we have to do is accept that, believe it, and then act on it. And our life is radically different. Your circumstances may not change at all, but your approach will change. Knowing that you are blessed and highly favored is going to carry you places you never dreamed. God has something very specific for you, and it is hand in hand with your purpose, your assignment here on this earth. And it starts with knowing who you are and then.
Kevin Williams [00:27:47 – 00:28:19]
And then asking God to reveal the specifics. And he’s probably not going to reveal the whole thing to you. He’s going to give you some steps, and when you do those, he’s going to give you more steps. That’s the way a faith walk works. I’ve had trouble with that, but trust me, it’s the best. If he laid on you the total of your days on this earth, you probably couldn’t handle it. I’m sure I couldn’t. We’re called by our Creator to go create in his name.
Kevin Williams [00:28:19 – 00:28:51]
I’ve heard Pastor David say this. We’re called by our Creator to go create in his name. Go be out of the box. Go do something radical for him because you’re capable. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. There’s power in that scripture, and. And I think I hit seven there. The trailblazing thing is, is critical.
Kevin Williams [00:28:56 – 00:29:34]
Exclude
If you don’t do that, and if you disobey, you don’t bring glory to the Father. You sit back and you’ll watch somebody else blaze the trail that God meant for you to blaze. God meant for you to lead. His work won’t go undone, but he wants you to do it. The laborers are few, and you’re one of them. You’re called. If you’re listening to me today, I know you understand that you are called, and God will give you the specifics of it as you go. Trust in that.
Kevin Williams [00:29:34 – 00:30:01]
Believe in that. Know that we serve a risen Savior. That is everything. God bless you. Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. That’s my prayer for you today. God bless you. I’m so grateful to have been with you.
Kevin Williams [00:30:01 – 00:30:19]
Let me know what you think about this. Post a comment on on wherever you see this, and I hope our paths cross really soon. Pastor Kanye is coming with a final word. God bless you. It.
