What does Tribe teach about discerning god's will?
Drawn from the message where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on discerning God's will starts with the recognition that God speaks, but rarely in the register we expect. Brian taught through 1 Kings 19, where Elijah encounters God not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in a still small voice. Brian says he would love it if God always came with dramatic clarity, no ambiguity and no need for faith, but the congregation helped him name why God works differently. One person in the room put it plainly: a good teacher goes quiet to get a class's attention rather than yelling over it. Brian captured the same idea in a quote he had heard elsewhere, that God "refuses to compete. What I have to say is so valuable, so life giving, I'm not going to compete with the clamor of other voices."
The teaching also takes seriously where that voice actually lands. Brian drew a distinction between having a Bible text on a page and having the Holy Spirit illuminate what it means for a particular person in a particular moment. He described this as the revelation of God's word, a work the Holy Spirit does inside a believer rather than from the outside in. The whisper of 1 Kings 19, he said, implies proximity. As one person in the room observed, and Brian made central to his point, God "doesn't need to come in from the outside because he's there coming from the inside."
For anyone working through this practically, Brian's framework is that every believer has been given what he calls a "knower," a channel for spirit-to-spirit communication that the Holy Spirit opens at conversion. Before faith, the only signal coming through that channel is the Spirit's call to repent. After, it opens to everything the Spirit wants to say. Discerning God's will, in this teaching, is less about looking for external signs and more about learning to quiet the competing noise, stay close, and cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit who is already present.
Taught from 1 Kings 19:11-13 · John 16:13 · 1 John 2:26-29 · Psalm 119:105
“He refuses to compete. What I have to say is so valuable, so life giving, I'm not going to compete with the clamor of other voices.”
From The Revelation of His Word
The passage taught · 1 John 2:26-29
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who would lead you astray.
27 As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.
28 Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- June 26, 2023 The Revelation of His Word Brian Hunter explores how God speaks through Scripture and the Holy Spirit, drawing on 1 Kings 19 and John 16 to show why that still, small voice matters more than we realize.