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Discerning God's Will - The Blueprint Series
71 Plays1 year ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about discerning God's will for our lives, drawing on insights from Acts chapter 1. He highlighted the significance of prayer and seeking God's will, not only for personal guidance but also for its impact on the Kingdom of God. Barron differentiated between God's moral/revealed will and His sovereign/concealed will, urging adherence to the clear instructions found in Scripture. With personal anecdotes and biblical context, he provided practical steps on how to find God's will, including the importance of wise counsel, gathering information, and trusting in God's sovereignty. He called for immediate obedience to God's commands, offering a prayer for the courage to make obedient choices, and emphasized using intelligence in decision-making processes, guided by God, without being reckless. Barron encouraged listeners to use their talents and experiences for God's glory, stressing the power of consistent prayer and the role of community in living out the Christian faith.
Timestamps:
00:00 Finding freedom in discerning God's will.
07:13 Peter reassures believers about God's plan.
09:46 Establishing church through crucial eyewitness testimony by men.
12:46 Prayer should be ongoing, simple, and motivated.
15:21 Considering Peter's perspective on the season.
21:19 Responsible for obeying God's revealed will.
22:43 Scripture holds answers, no soul mate concept.
28:20 Pray, seek God, live like Jesus, trust.
32:10 Communicate openly and support each other mutually.
33:59 Seek wise counsel from church, life groups.
37:53 Believe in God, embrace your experiences, help others.
39:47 Find God through submission, salvation, and grace.
42:30 Submission to Jesus' commands through prayer. Amen.
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Transcript
Introduction to Acts and Recent Trip
00:00:00
Speaker
If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and turn to Acts chapter one. We're still in Acts one this week, a second week of our series in the book of Acts. And as you're doing that, I just want you to know I was watching you as you worshiped this morning. Some of you almost get a little Babdicostal on some of those songs. And I love it.
00:00:19
Speaker
I love it, man. I love that we are a worshiping church, and that means the world to me. I also want to echo my thanks to you for all your prayers this week as we went to Philadelphia, praying specifically for the seed that was sown that would become fruit this week as people ponder some of the conversations we had. My staff showing up to Silverport me was incredible, but it also gave them the opportunity to have some really important gospel conversations with some of the people who were there this week. So we're very thankful for all of that.
Freedom and Obedience in Christian Life
00:00:48
Speaker
I want to talk to you about something today I hope, I think, can bring a lot of you some tremendous freedom in your walk with Jesus Christ.
00:00:58
Speaker
It's sad to me that sometimes when we become Christians, we actually don't experience a lot of the freedom that God wants us to have, that we still kind of live lives that are bound up by regulations, restrictions, things of that nature. And to be sure, there are commandments that we are encouraged to live by. That's our life of righteousness we're called to, right? But I specifically want to talk to you about how to discern God's will for your life.
00:01:22
Speaker
How to discern when those hard questions, those moments of choice, those moments of decision come up and you're just kind of stifled by it. Any of y'all ever had that moment where you're going, I just, I can't seem to figure out what God wants me to do. I can't, and you're going, God, will you please shut this door? And he shuts the door and you read something on Facebook that says, God shuts the door. He opens a window and you're like, Oh wait.
00:01:42
Speaker
God can just shut the window now because I need to know if that's the way. And so we get all confused, and I love this SAT word, we get discombobulated because we don't know what's next, right? We're trying to put it all together. I think there is, according to scripture, a much simpler way to do this, a much more
00:02:02
Speaker
freeing way to handle these decisions. So we're in Acts chapter 1 beginning in verse 12 we're going to read talk about a little bit as we go through and we're going to discover what I think really is the biblical pattern for making decisions according to God's will. Acts chapter 1 verse 12 we start it says, then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day journey away. You'll remember last week the passage we read they were on the Mount of Olives, Jesus ascended
00:02:29
Speaker
The angels appear and look at the disciples and say, okay, he's gone. Why are you still standing here? Get to where you're supposed to be. Do what he's asked you to do because that's what the next step is in this process. You're going to go, you're going to wait on the Holy Spirit to show up because that's how you will receive power. I want to say something I said just a minute ago here and reiterate it for you. Delayed obedience is always disobedience.
00:02:53
Speaker
If God gives you a clear direction, a clear command, if his word says something to you, what you don't have permission to say is, okay, God, let me graduate from high school and I'll figure it out. God, let me get married and I'll do that. Lord, give us those children first and then we'll make that decision. Because every day of delayed obedience, I believe is a hindrance to you getting what the next step is from God. God's not gonna give you any more direction. He's gonna look at you and go, okay, you get step one right, then we'll go to step two.
00:03:21
Speaker
then we'll move on in this process so that you can understand what I want for you. So when God speaks clearly to you, and I think he speaks more clearly than most of us realize, then the excerpt is obedience.
Discerning God's Will
00:03:33
Speaker
I want you to understand too, as part of this sermon this morning, that we kind of see God's will as kind of something that's out there, that's hidden, and we have to go on a treasure hunt to find it, right? We have to go seek it out, we have to uncover it, whatever. I don't read that in scripture at all.
00:03:50
Speaker
I believe that God, just like any good parent, has a desire for us and He makes it clear to us. He's not trying to confuse us. He's not trying to frustrate us. He's not trying to discourage us. He wants us to know what His will is. It's not a game. It's not a hide-and-seek. It is the fact simply that most of us just don't go ask for it. We just don't go seek it.
00:04:14
Speaker
And you're going to wait a minute, I pray those prayers, but we're going to dig into those prayers a little bit more and we're going to uncover I think some things that make a difference for us. Verse 13, when they arrived, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying. Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, right now some of you are singing VBS songs that reminded you of
00:04:34
Speaker
All those vacation, I mean, you know, the disciples. Notice that the last one he lists is Judas the son of James. This is not Judas Iscariot, obviously it's the other Judas. Judas Iscariot has now died. He committed suicide after the crucifixion of Christ.
00:04:49
Speaker
I also want you to note something here. When I used to read this passage and I would read about the people upstairs and the room upstairs, I used to think maybe they were in somebody's house in a room just kind of gathering. But if you read the story very carefully and the subsequent passages that we're going to get into in the next few weeks, you'll notice that here there's 120 people together, which eventually is going to grow to 3,000 people in a room together. I don't know about you, but I have no bedrooms that would occupy that many people.
00:05:16
Speaker
So what we're looking at is probably some kind of meeting hall where they were starting already together maybe to encourage one another, maybe to try to help each other out to process what was going on, but already as a church they are gathering as the body to draw encouragement from one another.
00:05:32
Speaker
Verse 14, it says, they were all continually united in prayer. Prayer is the major theme of the book of Acts. Coupled along with what the work of the Holy Spirit is all about here, it is the difference maker. Now, here's why this is important. In just a minute before we get to the end of the passage, you're gonna hear about prayer again. We're gonna connect the dots for you, but prayer should be a constant, everyday, consistent reality in your life.
Continuous Prayer and God's Plan
00:06:02
Speaker
every day. Not just when you have a decision to make, not just when the news from the doctor is bad, not just when your marriage is struggling, you should have a conversation every single day of your life with God because you want the intimacy of that relationship established before decision making time comes. Okay? I'm going to say this several times this morning because she's the perfect example.
00:06:24
Speaker
I could close my eyes right now, y'all could randomly pick who's gonna do whatever and say whatever, but when this woman on the front row spoke, I would instantly recognize her voice. Why? Because we have an intimate relationship with one another. When she says, baby, take out the dog, I don't have to ask who it is. I know who it is. Baby, have you folded those clothes on the bed for me yet? I know exactly what's going on. Likewise, she could do the same for me. If I were to say to her, baby, what's for dinner?
00:06:55
Speaker
She would go, ah, but she would know exactly who it is. She would know exactly who it is. So prayer should be, if you're a follower of Christ, should not be an option, should not be a question, it should be like breathing for you.
00:07:08
Speaker
Okay, verse 15 says, in those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters. The number of people who were together was about 120. And he said, brothers and sisters, it was necessary that the scripture be fulfilled, that the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David foretold about Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. Notice that Peter from the very beginning is encouraging the others and sisters by going straight to the scriptures himself.
00:07:35
Speaker
He's going straight to the Old Testament and he's using that to say, not only did God know this was gonna happen, it was always part of God's plan that this would happen. What happened to Jesus was not a shock. It was foretold for hundreds and thousands of years before Jesus ever arrived on the scene. And so Peter confirms that for those believers because again, they're still shaky about what's next, what's gonna happen, what's gonna unfold. And so Peter says, look, none of this is outside of what God knows, none of it.
00:08:06
Speaker
Verse 17, he says, for he was one of our number and he shared in this ministry. Now this man, still speaking about Judas, acquired a field with his unrighteous wages, he fell head first, his body burst open, and his intestines spilled out. Some of you who are better students of the Bible may be familiar with the story immediately going, wait a minute, I thought Judas went and hung himself.
00:08:27
Speaker
This is not contradictory. This is further information. Most scholars believe that when he went to hang himself, that as he was hanging on the tree, the limb either broke or the rope gave way, and he fell and further damaged himself, whatever the case may be. He died from hanging, but he spilled his blood, his intestines according to Scripture, by falling from that position. Okay?
00:08:49
Speaker
Verse 19, this became known to all the residents of Jerusalem so that in their own language, that field is called hakeltaba, that is, field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his dwelling become desolate, let no one live in it, and let someone else take his position. Now this is Peter still quoting the Old Testament, still quoting what is his Bible at this point, and notice that he's already pointing to the scripture to say, we need to find a 12th man.
00:09:17
Speaker
there needs to be somebody else to take Judas' place. Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us, from among these it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection.
00:09:37
Speaker
I want you to note this, this is very important. Peter is already establishing, we've got to find somebody who was there from the very beginning all the way to the very end. And the reason this was important is because from the very beginning God knew his church would need to be established by the witness of people who were there.
00:09:55
Speaker
not hearsay, not second-hand information, not rumors that we're spreading about, but men of God who could stand in front of others and say, I know Jesus is alive because I watched him be crucified and I looked at his empty tomb and I touched his body when it was all over with. Jesus is alive. There would be no question about this.
00:10:14
Speaker
And it was incredibly important because if you think about this, there were only so many of those people who fit that qualification. So as they began to die off for different reasons, you can't go replace them with another witness because there aren't very many out there.
00:10:29
Speaker
Peter's making sure that this church is established, rooted, and grounded in the eyewitness testimony of men and women who had been there from the very beginning. Obviously, this day and age, because of the testimony of men mattering more than a woman's testimony, it was more important that men be found who had been there literally from the baptism of John the Baptist.
00:10:49
Speaker
Verse 23, so they proposed to guys Joseph called Barsebas, who was also known as Justice and Matthias. Then they prayed, you Lord know everyone's heart, show which of these two you have chosen. This is the second time that prayer is mentioned, so let me go back and just say this to you. The constant, consistent attitude of prayer that these believers had all the time, every day from the beginning,
00:11:12
Speaker
enabled them when time came to pray a specific prayer to God knowing that they would instantly recognize His voice speaking to them because it was a familiar voice from the Father who had been there from the very beginning.
Prayer and Decision-Making
00:11:27
Speaker
If you're having trouble hearing the voice of God, it might be because you're talking to a stranger. And I know that makes some of you uncomfortable because you're going, oh, I've been a Christian since I was eight years old.
00:11:40
Speaker
I've been a Christian since I was 15. I've been a Christian for 20 years, but if you're not having regular engagement with his word and regular engagement with him by prayer, then you are, in essence, trying to have a relationship with a complete stranger.
00:11:57
Speaker
Verse 25, to take the place in this apostolic ministry that Judas left to go where he belongs. Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was added to the 11 apostles. Casting lots was a common way of making decisions in the Old Testament. This is one of the last times it's mentioned in the New Testament. People ask me sometimes, can we cast lots today? Well, if you want to get out your dice from your Monopoly game and do something like that, you feel free to do it. But here's the thing, we don't have to do that anymore.
00:12:27
Speaker
Because the reason they did it in the Old Testament and even did it here is because they did not have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit inside them. That is the voice of witness inside of us that we hear from on a regular basis. So if you want to go play with your dice, feel free. I wouldn't put a whole lot of confidence in that. The Bible does not encourage us or command us to do that. It commands us just to have regular ongoing conversations with our Father and listen to the voice that He gives us. So,
00:12:55
Speaker
The last thing I wanna say about prayer, and this is really important before we jump into the rest of the story. If what we do as a church cannot be defined as driven by prayer, we are either following God too safely or we're not following God at all. You see, as a church, everything we do should be motivated by prayer. It should be directed by prayer. It should be encouraged by prayer.
00:13:21
Speaker
I think for most of us as believers, the problem with our prayer life is that we over-complicate what a conversation with God looks like. We think we have to have a special language or we have to pray it in a special order. Somebody somewhere along the way said that, you know, there's these remedies or these formulas. None of that's true. Conversations with God are very simply an invitation to say to Jesus, step into my need. Step into my need. And it could be as simple as a sentence.
00:13:49
Speaker
I read recently in a book, and I think it's a beautiful example of this, Mary, the mother of Jesus, basically was praying to her son at the wedding at Cano when she looked at him and said, son, they're without wine. And he turned and walked away.
00:14:06
Speaker
She didn't go into elaborate language. She didn't break down the Greek or Hebrew for him. She didn't give him directions on what needed to happen. She didn't say, this is how you need to answer this request. She said, there's a need, I'm making you aware of it and I'm gonna trust that you will handle it. And her trust was so deep, so profound, she literally looked at the servants that were there and said, do whatever he tells you to do. That's the confidence we should have in prayer. That when we speak to him, he hears, he listens, he knows and he will respond.
00:14:36
Speaker
So I wanna be real clear up front, this story is not in the scripture primarily for the reason of helping us figure out how to find God's will, okay? That's not the main reason it's here. The main reason it's here is to remind us that God is on mission and our goal should be to seek out what that mission is and how we join him in it.
00:14:58
Speaker
Okay? Peter was instantly going, okay, what's the next step? Jesus has ascended. He's told us to wait. What do we do in the meantime? How do we proceed from this place? Those early Christians were answering some questions that are important for us to ask when we're discerning God's will, and that's why I want to connect it to you and I, having the ability to find God's will for our life and to know with confidence that we have it.
00:15:21
Speaker
All right, so let's start by talking about a few things that probably Peter considered in that season, and then we're gonna cover a lot of stuff today. We're gonna move pretty quick, because God's been adding to this sermon all week long. There's only so many things you can do in a dumpy Philadelphia airport. So number one, what are the immediate ramifications for the gospel? The problem that many of us run into when we are praying about God's will for our life is we start with the question, what's in it for me?
00:15:51
Speaker
How am I going to be blessed? How does this put me in a position to succeed or advance or move? The right way to begin a prayer is, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So the question you should be asking is, what will this decision mean for the kingdom of God? How will it advance it? How will it hinder it? Matthew 6, 33, Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God and what? All these other things will be added.
00:16:21
Speaker
Everything else will be taken care of. If you're pursuing Christ, if you're pursuing God's glory, if you're pursuing the advancement of the kingdom, then you're never going to be in the wrong. That would have been a great place for an Amen. You know, I think we're going to have to go back and have some Amen classes here. Where are you at Ashley? Okay, thank you. I needed you.
00:16:45
Speaker
So ask that question, how does this decision impact the kingdom of God? Second thing I think that they were probably talking about is this, distinguishing between God's moral or revealed will and his sovereign or concealed will. Now I want you to hang on with me for a second. I'm gonna explain these terms to you because this is a game changer for many of us. This is a game changer for many of us. Most of everything you need to know to live a righteous life is already given to you in God's word.
00:17:15
Speaker
Not, thank you, 95% of what you need to know about how to follow Jesus well has been given to you in this book. These are guidelines he gave us to teach us what righteousness looks like, and if we follow those guidelines, we will never, ever doubt the course of action that we're taking. We'll always be in the right. The problem is that we spend too much time trying to find God's sovereign will, okay?
00:17:43
Speaker
So following on this, we think God's will is one thing, but the Bible very clearly teaches us that God's will has levels to it. And I'm gonna explain those levels to you because this is where we begin to sense the freedom that Christ really wants us to have. The first level that we'll talk about is God's sovereign or concealed will, okay? It's called sovereign because it proves that God is sovereign over the whole universe. It is,
00:18:12
Speaker
It is the will that is hidden from us in most occasions until after it actually takes place. You ever had that moment where you look back and go, oh, that's what God was up to. That's why I didn't show up at the right time at that place. That's why that conversation was given to me.
00:18:30
Speaker
God's hidden will is not hidden because he doesn't want to know it. It's because he is sovereign and nothing can be done outside of that sovereign will. It's always going to happen. There's nothing you can do to undo God's sovereign will. If it's in God's sovereign will, it will happen. It will take place. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. Most of you remember the story in Genesis of Joseph. We did it just a few months ago.
00:18:56
Speaker
it was God's will that Joseph wind up in Egypt to save Israel from the famine that was about to come. Now how he got there could have taken a number of different paths but what we can know for sure and what we can know beyond the shadow of doubt is that Joseph was going to wind up there because that's where God wanted him to be the rescuer of the people so that they would continue to live. We don't see that till after the fact though.
00:19:24
Speaker
Remember, you get to Genesis 50 and it's finally revealed to us when Joseph himself says, what you intended for evil, God intended for good. So hindsight's a really good thing, but it's too late for most of us, right? But here's where God's love is good for us because he doesn't just give us his sovereign will, he also gives us his revealed will.
00:19:48
Speaker
or his moral will. So what is that? Well, his moral will is everything he's revealed to us in the Bible. All the commands, all the encouragements, all the promises, all those things, this is the primary place where we find out what God's moral will is. He has revealed everything we need to know about our salvation and about how to live after we have received Christ. Some examples, it's God's will that we speak truth and love to one another.
00:20:15
Speaker
It is God's will that we repent from our sins and turn to God. It is God's will that we not commit adultery. It's God's will that we do not get drunk. It's God's will that we choose to live a righteous life of loving and serving others, including our enemies. All of those things are found very clearly for us. Now, we are obligated to follow God's will that's revealed.
00:20:43
Speaker
but we have the choice whether or not we do it. Sovereign will, it's gonna take place regardless of what you say, what you do. The reveal will, you have a choice whether or not you choose to obey it. A further example of God's revealed or moral will, God told Adam and Eve in the garden, I want you to be fruitful, to multiply, to tend to the garden, to subdue the earth, and to do not eat out of that tree that I'm pointing to. And they chose not to.
00:21:12
Speaker
They chose to rebel, they chose not to listen to God, and because of that, there were consequences for their sin. So here's what you need to know about God's revealed will. When you hear it, you're responsible for it. And if you choose not to obey it, there will always be consequences. In fact, it's only by the grace of God that the consequences aren't worse. So you have a choice today about everything you hear. Do I respond in obedience?
00:21:41
Speaker
Do I put God on hold or do I outright reject and rebel everything He said to me? Now there's a third category and this is the one I think causes us to be paralyzed in our decision making. There is a conversation about something known as the individual will.
00:22:00
Speaker
This is the idea that, number one, there is a believer has a will that he will be able to find and know the specific will. Number two, it's expected that that's part of his journey to dig out and find that individual will for our lives. And number three, that if I miss it because I don't discover it or I disobey it, that I'm settling for second best in God's life for me.
00:22:23
Speaker
Okay? Now, all of that
Freedom and God's Guidance
00:22:25
Speaker
was a mouthful. I came prepared with an illustration to help you, to make you understand. This beautiful black wall behind me. First of all, thank you to Cody Gardner for patching the holes this week and Graham Wilcox for painting it. Looks really good. Let's pretend that this black wall is God's revealed will for your life. Everything that the scripture shows you, everything that you can find out from Genesis to Revelation, this is there, okay?
00:22:51
Speaker
Some people believe that the individual will is there. So let's take one of the most common questions about God's will. Who am I supposed to marry? Well, the belief that there's an individual means there's a spot on this wall that's inside this realm and that that's what you're looking for. You ever heard the term a soulmate? It's not biblical, okay? What do I mean by that? Let's just say that my friend Zach on the front row is getting ready to get married and he's looking for that dot on the wall.
00:23:20
Speaker
And he goes way over there and finds another dot that's just as appealing but it's not that perfect person. You know what Zach's just done? He's just set into motion a chain reaction that ruins it for everybody else. Because now he's taken somebody's perfect woman over here and the perfect woman supposed to be for him is now getting married to somebody else over here and that person's not got anybody so they go find somebody over here and suddenly it's just mass chaos all over the world. Right?
00:23:50
Speaker
Thanks, Zach, for just messing it up for all of us. But you see where I'm going with this? How unkind would it be of God to say, you got one chance to get it right, and if you blow it, everybody else pays the price. That's not the way God works.
00:24:10
Speaker
That's not the way God works. Instead, I'm going to give you an alternative path. I don't believe, except for in very rare occasions, that there is such a thing as a specific individual will. Now, if you go through the Scripture and read all of the Scripture, you will see there are certain cases. Obviously, King David was anointed to be the king of Israel, okay? We know that that happened.
00:24:32
Speaker
But if you read through the book of Acts along with me, what you're gonna find is that many times, because they were praying all the time every day with continuity, that when time came to make decisions, they would simply go, okay, let's do this. Why? Because the voice of God was in their heart and in their head all the time. Now, offense is a beautiful gift to a parent. Let's explain what kind of offense I'm talking about.
00:25:00
Speaker
not one inside your house, but a fence in the backyard where as a parent you can say to your child, hey, go out and play while I make dinner. Why? Because there's safety and security and knowing there are boundaries. God's moral will or reveal will for us is the fence in which he gives us the ability to choose. And he says to us, I've created this incredibly beautiful world out there for you. Go enjoy it within the fence that I have given you.
00:25:29
Speaker
All right, so keep that in your mind. We're gonna go through this and we're gonna unpack some other stuff here. That's a lengthy explanation, but it's the linchpin of this whole conversation today. A third thing that they were talking about, trust the Bible as your final authority. The Bible always overrules your opinion. Always. It also always overrules the culture's opinion. You and God make a majority. Nah, God makes a majority whether you're with him or not.
00:25:57
Speaker
Okay, you need to understand that if the scripture says that it's true, Peter dependent on it, Paul dependent on it, James and John dependent on it, you are no less in need of that scripture to speak truth to your life. People talk to us and say, hey, aren't y'all worshiping the Bible? No, we worship the God of the Bible. This book's no good without God.
00:26:20
Speaker
But because God gave it to us, we know this book is reliable and true and trustworthy for our lives and it can be depended on. So trust and submit yourself to it. The last thing I will say about this gathering of guys is they were determined to do what the Bible said. Just what I encouraged you to do.
00:26:37
Speaker
You see, God wants us to give a priority to what he has revealed to us. He gave it to us for a reason. He's made it clear in his word and he wants us to live holy lives, to participate and contribute to his church, to love and serve our spouses, our family, our friends and our enemies. Those things are always made clear to us. All right, so now you're probably going, so what? That's all really deep and really good and really great. How does this apply to our lives practically? I am so glad you asked.
00:27:07
Speaker
Here's where we go with it, all right? Number one, and I'm afraid some of this is not on your listening guide this morning, because I said I added it later in the week. Number one, where God commands, we must obey.
00:27:22
Speaker
Where God commands, we must obey. In other words, the scripture tells us how to live. And if it says it in the word, there's no debating it, there's no compromising it, there's no looking around it, there's no trying to find small print that tells us how we can debate God in this. It is given for our direction. Number two.
00:27:41
Speaker
Where there is no command, God gives us freedom to choose. God gives us freedom to choose. This does not mean that God does not care about your decision. It also doesn't mean that later on in your journey that God may not come back and give you better direction on certain things. But in many of the decisions where you and I become paralyzed about what to do next, I think God says, choose.
00:28:06
Speaker
Choose, you've been given the fence, you've been given the parameters for your decision, just choose. A perfect example, when I was a student minister, more times than I could count, I would have students come to me and say, I can't figure out where God wants me to go to college. And I would say to them, go back,
00:28:23
Speaker
Get on your knees, pray to God, and say, God, is there a specific place you want me to go? I do think there are some pretty rare exceptions where people are given places just because it's part of their journey. But in most of those cases, what would happen is those kids would come back to me the following Wednesday night or Sunday morning and go, I've been praying and I just don't know where he wants me to go. I said, well, then here's what may be happening. God may be looking at you saying, I don't care where you go to college as long as you live like Jesus when you get there.
00:28:54
Speaker
See, that's the difference in the way we think, how we think in these things. God has some plans for us, but not everything is down to the detail, to the nth degree. Sometimes he just says, go live like my child. Do you wake up every morning and tell your children everything they're supposed to do, every bit of the way? I know sometimes it feels like you have to, but you don't have to tell your child, get up off the couch, go sit on that chair, go pick up this.
00:29:23
Speaker
Go chew your food. You don't have to tell them all those things. You just let them live some of the choices they make, all right?
Wisdom and Scripture in Decision-Making
00:29:30
Speaker
Number three, where there is no command, God gives us wisdom to choose. I'm gonna make some of you really, really shocked this morning. You're pretty smart people. See, she's already shocked. You are smart people. You've been given a really good brain.
00:29:49
Speaker
You know how to make choices on your own. And when I say use wisdom to make good choices, what I'm saying is take the word that God has already given to you that he's revealed to you, and then based on that, make the choice you need to make regarding the decision that's facing you. And don't be afraid of that. Now what this doesn't do is it does not give you permission to be stupid, to be foolish, to be reckless, or to be naive.
00:30:16
Speaker
Freedom is always, again, limited by the parameters of God's word that he has given to us. Number four, when we have chosen what is moral and wise, we must trust the sovereign God to work out the other details. When we have chosen what is moral and wise, we must trust God, excuse me, the sovereign God to work out all the details. Let me remind you, sovereign will of God cannot be undone, right?
00:30:42
Speaker
So when you make a decision, go with it and don't hesitate. Here's the good news, two things you need to know. Your decision, your choice, whatever you make, no matter what the pick is, will never undo God's authority over the universe. He's always gonna be God. No matter which route you choose. And the second part is this, and this is really important. This is very freeing. There is no decision you make that's gonna make God love you less.
00:31:11
Speaker
There is no decision you will make that make God love you less. Romans 5.8, which is one of my favorite passages of Scripture, says very clearly that God's already loved you at your very worst. And now as you move forward and seek Him, He's watching your heart. He knows what you're trying to do. He knows the choices you're trying to make. He knows that you're trying to follow Him. If you make a mistake and pick a bad path, it doesn't undo what God has done for you by dying for you.
00:31:39
Speaker
You've been given grace and you've been given freedom to make those choices. So, the obvious question is, okay, if I'm gonna apply those points, where do I go? How do I go to investigate and get the wisdom I need to make these choices? Very quickly, let me share these five with you. Number one, simply ask God. Ask God. How many times are we gonna talk about prayer this morning? Well, a thousand because it's that important. Ask God. Guys, again, please don't make this harder than it is.
00:32:08
Speaker
Don't make it harder than it is. If you've got a conversation you need to have with your wife, you don't hesitate to go have that conversation with her. If you're looking for instructions on what you're supposed to do for the day, you go talk to your wife, right?
00:32:23
Speaker
You find out, hey, I'm not saying that like my wife is a bossy person, I'm just saying like, if there's certain things she wants me to do, like, hey, I'm gonna run to the grocery store while I'm gone, can you help me out with this? Well, you know what I'm gonna do because I don't want any conflict? I'm gonna say, tell me what you want me to do.
00:32:40
Speaker
Let's don't be confused about those things. Likewise, she's gonna do the same thing for me. She'll call me and go, hey, I'm gonna buy this whatever today. Which credit card do I use? Which debit card do I use? Which account do I use? Why? She doesn't want confusion. She comes back to me and asks me. That's just communication. There is no relationship in the world that works with bad communication. Least of all yours and God's. Second thing, read the scriptures. Psalm 119, start there. It's 160 plus verses of
00:33:10
Speaker
David talking about what an amazing book the scripture is, how he loves the scripture, how he loves the direction of God's commands, how he loves his precepts, how he loves his laws. If you fell in love with the book the way David loved the book, you'd be off on a great start. All right, number three, gather information, do an outside search. Again, God's giving you good wisdom, right? So go dig in for yourself, look things up.
00:33:38
Speaker
Examine the truth that's out there. Again, this is the third step. You should have already prayed and already read God's word at this point. So you're kind of limiting where your search goes because of the parameters God's given you. Number four, wise counselors. Wise counselors. The Bible tells us that plans fail because of lack of counsel. Surround yourself with good people. Where do I get that wise counsel? The staff at your church, the elders at your church, the deacons at your church, your life group members, your de-group members. Notice that I'm leaving some people out.
00:34:09
Speaker
Don't go to your lost friend that lives next door and say, tell me what you think God's will is for my life. Okay? Don't go to your buddy at the gym and say, hey, I'm really struggling right now with the decision. Because what you're doing is you're trying to discern wisdom at a place where there is not wisdom from God. You understand? And we're so prone to fall into that. Why? Because many times what they're advising us is comfortable.
00:34:38
Speaker
It's not gonna challenge us to live more boldly for God because they don't know what that looks like. So if you're seeking wise counsel, go to the people who get their wisdom from the source of all wisdom. Now that doesn't mean that there aren't other wise people out there. There are wise financial advisors, there are wise counselors, wise psychologists. Here's the problem.
00:35:00
Speaker
Their wisdom does not come from a worldview that matches yours as a follower of Jesus Christ. They're going to tell you what it takes for you to feel better about you, whilst counsel is going to tell you what it takes for you to follow Jesus. That's critical in your decision making process. And lastly, your life experiences. Your life experiences God has given to you for a reason.
Applying God's Will and Obedience
00:35:22
Speaker
Romans 8, 28, famous passage of scripture. We know that in all things, God works together for the good of those who love the Lord, who are called to according His purpose. That means even the bad experiences in your life have a purpose. I wanna tell you something really cool, and you need to, man, catch this because this is why I say this. You were fearfully and wonderfully made by God.
00:35:44
Speaker
That means that every passion you have, every desire you have, all the talent you've been given, the things you enjoy doing, those were given to you so that you could use them for His glory. Now, they laughed at me when I used this the first service. Y'all feel free to laugh too, but this is my illustration. God would never look at a gazelle and say, go swimming. Why? Because it wasn't created to do that. God would never look at an elephant and say, how would you like sushi for dinner?
00:36:15
Speaker
because that's not on the diet of an elephant. God looks at you and says, your passions and your past are given to you so that you can live a future that brings me glory. The problem is we go, well, God may be wanting to stretch me outside of where I'm at. No, God's saying, take what I've given you and use it.
00:36:40
Speaker
Here's a perfect example. When I was young, my mother said to me, you're gonna grow up to be a lawyer. I said, well why? Because you debate every cotton picking thing I tell you. So I went into high school, but stop. I went to high school believing, believing that I was going to be a lawyer. And I got into high school and I thought, I have no desire to do that.
00:37:05
Speaker
I don't want to do the schooling. I don't want to spend my days in a courtroom. That's just not on my agenda. And I got into college and the guy that had been teaching me in Sunday school and you said, have you ever thought about defending the word of God? And what he did is he literally set my path on a course. My mom had actually said something prophetic to me. She had actually said to me, this is what I see in you, young man. I've watched you for 17 years. You're driving me crazy with it, but God's gonna use it.
00:37:35
Speaker
And you know what one of my favorite things to do is today? To stand and defend the word of God. You put me in any courtroom in the world, fight you to the end. You may not believe me by the time it's over with, but you will give up because I'm that hard-headed about this. You will walk away and go, I can't do anything with him. That's all right, because in the end, I know who I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he is able to do everything that I have committed to him. He is that kind of God.
00:38:03
Speaker
Listen, quit trying to be something he didn't create you to be. And going back to these experiences, some of you have a deep passion for adoption because you were the one who was given up by a mom and dad. Some of you have a deep passion for ending the sex trade because you've lived under abusive situations and you know what that feels like.
00:38:27
Speaker
Some of you, some of you pray passionately for marriages because you've been in a bad marriage and you know what that feels like. And so you have a deep, deep love for making marriages work. Why? Because God took what was bad and is using it for good. The same thing he did in Joseph's life, he can do in yours. So quit trying to do something he didn't create you to do. Is there freedom in that for you? God didn't make a mistake when he created you.
00:38:58
Speaker
He didn't. There's not one thing about your life that is accidental. It's all intentional for his glory. So very quickly, let me sum, three things. How did you find God's will? How did discern it? Gather the information. Wise counsel, the Bible, ask God, gather information. Number two, seek God in prayer. The time to pray about a decision that's coming up two weeks from now was a year ago.
00:39:24
Speaker
Start that conversation now so that when the time comes, you're ready for it. And number three, as you trust in God's sovereignty, make a decision and go with it. Make a decision and go with it. Remember, delayed obedience, regardless of the reason, is disobedience. So pursue God's will with passion. Now, we're to a time of decision. In this room today, there are some of you who don't have a relationship with God.
00:39:52
Speaker
You don't know God passionately yourself. And so we're talking about having a conversation with a stranger. The only way you fix that is to submit your life to him and to his direction. To accept the salvation, the grace, the mercy that he has given you through the death of his son on the cross. That's a small group in this room because I know most of you. The larger group may be one of the two other groups that I'm speaking to this morning. Number one, that person who is
00:40:21
Speaker
being told something by God but just keeps putting God off. I'll wait till whatever. Guys, you are not the exception to God's plans. You're not the exception to God's rules for your life. I've had conversations with some of you, you're still living with that woman you're not married to and you're going, well, when we get a new job, we'll get married. Well, then in the meantime, you need to get out of that house, get away from that woman and determined to live by God's plan because he's never gonna show you what's next until you do. You're stuck in disobedience.
00:40:51
Speaker
You're stuck in disobedience. God's saying to you, you know what? I don't think the job you're in is a good job. I don't care how much money it pays you. It is binding you, it's keeping you from experiencing what I want for you. It's time for you to get up and go somewhere else and find something else to do to support your family. But you aren't gonna feel the freedom of independence financially that I want to give you until you get out of the thing that you're holding onto as a God in your life.
00:41:20
Speaker
delayed disobedience is disobedience. And then thirdly, there are some of you who are outright rebelling against God. You're going, me? You're not talking to me, are you? Well, here's this shocking thing. You may be keeping it from me. You may be keeping it from your spouse. You will never keep your disobedience from God. He knows everything about you. And some of you, you come into church every single Sunday going, if I can just make it through this 40 minute sermon from the pastor, I'll be good for another week.
00:41:52
Speaker
I am not your God. You don't answer to me. You answer to the Holy One of heaven. He knows your heart. He knows everything about you. And if he's given you commands concerning your life, the time to obey is now. Now, will you pray with me? Father God, take these words and use them. Take whatever seeds have been planted and bring them to fruit.
00:42:19
Speaker
Give us the courage to make the choices we need to make to be in full obedience to you. We thank you for your word that you've given us. Thank you that it's alive and breathing inside of us. May we surrender to its every command. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.