Not a Step without God
February 26, 2012 Evening Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: We must make sure that God leads us based on His will, not leading ourselves based on our own will.
Focus Passage: 2 Samuel 5:17-25
Supplemental Passage: "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent." (Exodus 14:14 NASB)
Introduction: An old sailor got lost at sea, so his friends gave him a compass and urged him to use it. The next time he went out in his boat, he followed the advice and took the compass with him. But as usual he became hopelessly confused and was unable to find land. Finally he was rescued by his friends.
Disgusted and impatient with him, they asked, “Why didn’t you use that compass we gave you? You could have saved us a lot of trouble!” The sailor responded, “I didn’t dare to! I wanted to go north, but as hard as I tried to make the needle aim in that direction, it just kept on pointing southeast.”
That old sailor was so certain he knew which way was north that he stubbornly tired to force his own personal persuasion on his compass. Unable to do so, he tossed it aside as worthless and failed to benefit from the guidance it offered.” (source unknown)
I. Confidence in God, not in self
a. David could have been confident in battle based on the fact that he just beat the Philistines
b. Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16 NASB)
II. Seek God’s Direction, not man’s
a. David inquired of God to see what God wanted him to do
b. saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done." (Luke 22:42 NASB)
III. Submit to God’s Timing, not ours
a. David waited until he heard the noise in the trees. He didn’t go before, nor did he hesitate after.
b. Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. (Isaiah 40:31 NASB)
Invitation:
