Crazy Faith #6: Being Led by the Spirit of God, Not Your Own Understanding

Crazy faith, Dr. William P. Hohman teaches, is simply normal faith: the kind that hears God, trusts Him more than your own reasoning and then acts. In this sixth and final message of the series, he shows that the believer who wants to see God move must learn to be led by the Spirit of God rather than by human understanding, school training or the noise of the world. His foundation is Proverbs 3:5–6.

The message continues from Crazy Faith #5 and opens with a recap of all six keys. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, every Scripture he uses (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline and practical steps for being led by the Spirit this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was preached on Mother’s Day at the New Testament Church in Merrill, Wisconsin, and posted in May 2020. After a time of worship, the senior pastor is introduced and opens by honoring mothers. He notes that, just as mothers grow close to their children through pain, believers grow closer to God and to one another through hard seasons.

He explains where the series came from. A minister friend heard some of his stories and told him he had crazy faith. Pastor Hohman answered that it was just normal faith: “This is what faith is supposed to be.” His friend replied that it is not normal in the church world and has to be grown into. After praying about it, he received six messages, and this one completes the set.

The Six Keys to Crazy Faith

Before the new teaching, Pastor Hohman reviews the five earlier messages. He wants the church to see the series as one path, each key building on the last, so that believers grow from ordinary church attendance into a faith where God’s power is seen and He is glorified in what they do. The table below gathers all six keys as he summarizes them.

On thinking of others, he admits that when he acted with a selfish attitude he stumbled, but when he was thinking of other people God came through for them and for him. On small beginnings, he recalls two ladies telling him he would become mellow once he matured. He hoped not, because he knew how hard it was on everyone when he did nothing.

On courage, he pictures Joshua taking over from Moses with his knees knocking, and the Lord telling him three times to be strong and of good courage. On progression, he describes a family who left the church because a vision he shared in April had not happened by September. God is not finished with any of us, he says, and the meek will still inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5).

Trust in the Lord, Not Your Own Understanding

Pastor Hohman explains that his grace as a minister, according to Ephesians 4:11–13, is to build people up to trust God and follow Him no matter what. The fivefold ministry exists to equip believers and mature them until the church comes into the unity of the faith, and since that has not happened yet, his job is not done.

His key text is “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Our own understanding, he says, is often a detriment to following God. Much of it comes from how we were trained in schools and jobs, and while there are wonderful teachers, a system not founded on Christ leaves a person with reasoning that resists God.

Belief without obedience is not enough. Without faith we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6), and James 2:19 says even the devils believe and tremble. Someone who says they believe in God but never does what He asks, he says, is no different from the devil. That is why Jesus asked why people call Him Lord but do not do what He says (Luke 6:46).

He contrasts putting confidence in people with putting confidence in God. Many have been let down so often that it is hard to give God total trust, yet God is the one who can be trusted. Let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4). Heaven and earth will pass away, but His word stands, and He has promised never to forsake His children.

From Psalm 23:3 he notes that God leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, so that people can see what a great God He is. Quoting another preacher, he says, “If Jesus isn’t Lord of all then he’s not Lord at all.” Growing into that lordship takes baby steps. Like a child learning to walk, the righteous may fall seven times and keep getting up (Proverbs 24:16), and God rejoices over every step.

He asks the church to imagine standing before the throne. He would rather hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21) than hang his head over the question of why he did not do what God asked.

Learning to Hear His Voice

To be led by the Spirit, Pastor Hohman says, every believer must start by reading the Bible and believing it more than anything in this world. It is God-breathed and it is Him talking to us. He pictures a thousand five-year-olds in an auditorium, with perhaps twenty named Johnny. When a mother calls for her Johnny, only her own son answers, because he knows her voice. Learning God’s voice takes the same daily time with Him.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). He admits that is tough when a growling dog bursts through a broken gate. Jesus’ disciples faced worse when a storm filled their boat on the lake (Luke 8:22–25). They woke Him, asking if He cared that they were perishing. Jesus asked, “Where is your faith?” and calmed the sea. He was acting as a man on this earth, the pastor says, and He wants us to do the same.

That is why the Holy Spirit’s voice has to become louder than every other voice. He urges people to turn off the television news, whatever the network. The people reporting are not rotten, he says, but if you listen to a lie most of the day, you will not believe what God says. Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6). Nobody would intentionally track filth into their house, so why let it into the soul?

He describes a season when he cried out to God for days, saying he did not want to know the author of a book; he wanted to know the God who set the sun, moon and stars in place and the Jesus who rides triumphant over death, hell and the grave. God visited him so powerfully that he had to ask Him to stop, and that experience changed his life forever.

His promise for anyone hungry for the same is 2 Chronicles 16:9: “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” A heart filled with rotten news and rotten talk is not a loyal heart. Jesus said His true family are those who hear God’s word and do it (Luke 8:19–21), even if they fall and get up again many times.

A Lesson in the Philippines

Pastor Hohman then tells of a week teaching pastors and ministers for a denomination in the Philippines. He had a systematic plan, like a college course, and was teaching from Romans 8 in the Greek. Before he finished the first message, the Spirit of God fell. People were crying out and speaking in other languages, as in an upper room experience. He wanted to stick to his plan, but the Lord told him not to stop what He was doing.

A young woman came to him speaking what sounded like baby talk and pointing to a passage in Isaiah. His interpreter could not understand her either. Not knowing what God was doing, the pastor simply laid his hand on her head and asked the Lord to bless her. At lunch, her angry pastor called him into the hallway: she could now speak and write only Chinese, not English or Tagalog.

The next morning she testified. Her husband had not believed what happened, so the Lord told her to sit him in a chair and pray for him, and he received the same thing. She explained that thirty years earlier, at sixteen, she and her husband had both desired to be missionaries to China. They studied Chinese but could never learn it and lived under condemnation, thinking God could not use them.

By the following day she could speak English and Tagalog again while keeping fluent Chinese, and her church was buying tickets for the couple to leave for China as missionaries in two weeks. Pastor Hohman’s point is simple: had he leaned on his own understanding and stuck to his lesson plan, he could have stood in God’s way. Only God can do that, and He received the glory.

Walking in the Light, Not in Darkness

After almost forty years in ministry, Pastor Hohman has noticed that people hear things according to their own understanding. Children observe everything but interpret it through immature knowledge, like the child in the Christmas song who saw mama kissing Santa Claus and never realized Santa was daddy. In the same way, people hear through their fears or their opinions and twist an encouraging word into something negative.

In John 8:12–18, Jesus told the religious leaders, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” Their own understanding would not let them believe Him. Elsewhere He told them that by their tradition they made the word of God of no effect (Mark 7:13). Everyone, he says, can justify themselves with a hundred excuses from their own knowledge.

Jesus did not say we start out in the light. He said that if we follow Him, the light comes. You swallow hard, find courage and step out, and understanding, strength and revelation follow. He recalls sitting with a couple who were church elders; everything they said came from their own reasoning, and after a few sentences of a parable the husband said he could not understand a word. They were strong in the textbook but not in the Book of Life.

He compares being led by the Spirit to a blindfold game, where one partner guides the other through a course. The world has blindfolded us and reason warns that something might bite, but when we do what God says, the blindfold eventually comes off and we see what He has done. Spirit leading, he adds, is not mainly about which milk to buy. It is God leading you into something only He can come through on.

Christianity Is Not a Spectator Sport

“Christianity isn’t a spectator sport,” Pastor Hohman declares. The devil hears God and does nothing; God’s children are participants who labor together with Him. When Jesus chose His twelve, He passed over the trained Pharisees and chose fishermen and tax collectors whose hearts said yes to follow Me. Those who leave all for His sake receive a hundredfold now and eternal life in the age to come (Mark 10:28–30).

In his words, “God’s not looking for people with perfect performance he’s looking for people who desire to please him.” Religion without relationship is a spectator sport that puts people to sleep. David’s faith led him to action against Goliath, while the army believed God was with them but reasoned through their own lack of confidence (1 Samuel 17:26–29). David destroyed the enemy and was later rewarded with the throne.

His final story comes from his early ministry. A woman whose husband Harold had died asked for a minister, and the Lord told him to take the funeral. It was his first one. Talking to Harold’s widow, neighbors and co-workers, he found that Harold had cursed God daily and hurt the people around him, and many planned to come only to spit on his grave.

The night before, the Lord told him to say that without faith in Jesus Christ, Harold did not go to heaven. At the funeral he named what Harold had done, then told the crowd that Harold was lost not because of those deeds but because he did not believe in Jesus, and that anyone who has not committed their life fully to Him faces the same end. Every hand went up, about 130 people stood to receive Christ, and about 30 later asked him to start a church.

That is why he closes with 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” We are not saved by good works, he says, but saved to do good works, giving the Holy Spirit such focused attention that what He says comes to pass and He receives the glory.

Living Crazy Faith This Week

Pastor Hohman ends with communion from 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 and a prayer committing to hear the Holy Spirit and do the Father’s will. These steps come straight from the message:

• Start with the Word. Read your Bible daily and believe it above everything else you hear, so you learn His voice the way a child knows his mother’s.
• Turn down the other voices. Limit the news and talk that fill your soul with lies, and guard your heart against the leaven Jesus warned about.
• Lay down your reasoning. When God’s leading contradicts your plan, as it did in the Philippines, acknowledge Him and let Him direct the path.
• Take the next small step. If you fall, get up again; God rejoices over a child learning to walk.
• Act on what you hear. Faith that only believes is what the devil has; be a participant, not a spectator.
• Expect God to be God. Look for leading that only He can fulfill, so that you are blessed and He is glorified.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:05 Mother’s Day welcome and opening prayer
• 16:21 Dr. Hohman honors mothers
• 20:25 Where crazy faith came from; key one: think of others
• 21:27 Key two: do not despise small beginnings
• 24:21 Key three: courage, like Joshua
• 26:11 Key five: progression, Proverbs 4:18
• 28:14 Key six: being led by the Spirit of God
• 30:18 Proverbs 3:5–6 and our own understanding
• 33:36 Psalm 23:3 and the lordship of Christ
• 36:50 Learning His voice through the Bible
• 38:01 The storm: where is your faith?
• 39:57 Turn down the other voices
• 42:10 2 Chronicles 16:9, a loyal heart
• 44:26 The Spirit falls in the Philippines
• 51:37 The missionaries to China
• 55:35 Hearing through our own understanding
• 59:10 John 8: the light of the world
• 1:02:31 The blindfold game
• 1:05:01 Not a spectator sport
• 1:07:33 David and Goliath
• 1:10:03 His first funeral
• 1:17:38 1 Corinthians 15:58
• 1:20:48 Communion and prayer of commitment
• 1:23:18 Closing blessing

Crazy Faith Series

This is the closing message of the series. Start from the beginning or go back one message:

• First message: Crazy Faith, Part 1 — Thinking of Others Before Yourself
• Previous: Crazy Faith #5
• You are here: Crazy Faith #6: Being Led by the Spirit of God, Not Your Own Understanding

Frequently Asked Questions

Does being led by the Spirit mean asking God about every small choice?

Pastor Hohman does not dismiss small leadings. He says we learn through little things, and if God leads someone to a gas station that saves a nickel, praise the Lord. But that is not the heart of it. Spirit leading, as he describes it, is God directing you into something only He can come through on, so that you are blessed and He is plainly glorified.

What if I make mistakes while learning to follow God?

He expects it. He calls it baby steps and compares believers to children learning to walk, who fall and bloody their noses yet keep trying while their parents rejoice. The righteous may fall seven times and get up again. God, he says, is not looking for perfect performance; He looks for a sincere heart that wants to please Him, and He shows Himself strong to that heart.

Why does the pastor talk about Mother’s Day in a message on faith?

The message was preached on Mother’s Day. He connects the day to the theme by noting that mothers grow especially close to their children through the pain of bringing them into the world. Likewise, he says, hard seasons draw believers closer to God and to one another, like soldiers who survive a battle together, and they prepare us for the day the Lord comes for His people.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Proverbs 3:5–6 — trust in the Lord, not your own understanding
• 2 Chronicles 16:9 — God shows Himself strong for loyal hearts
• John 8:12–18 — the light of the world
• 2 Corinthians 5:7 — we walk by faith, not by sight
• Luke 8:22–25 — where is your faith?
• Psalm 23:3 — He leads me in paths of righteousness
• James 2:19 — even the demons believe
• Mark 10:28–30 — leaving all to follow Jesus
• 1 Corinthians 15:58 — your labor is not in vain

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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