1. Korean Jet
In August 1994, a Korean Air jet skidded across a rain soaked runway and rammed a safety barricade while landing in Cheju, Korea. All 160 passengers escaped safely just moments before the plane exploded into flames.
According to news reports, the pilot and the co-pilot had gotten into a fist fight... over who was in charge of the landing controls.
The issue of who was in charge of those landing controls should have been covered in the flight manual! But, NOBODY knew who was in charge...and the confusion that followed resulted in absolute chaos and destruction
2. A lot of talk about authority
a. Governmental authority -- overstepped; difficult to respect; spills into other areas of life -- corporate world; family world; church world
b. With recognition of authority comes a humble spirit of cooperation
c. Jesus as head of the church -- Colossians 1.9-20
d. Elders as overseers (Hebrews 13)
3. One of the reasons we respect and worship God is his ability to guide our lives in accordance with his will.
I. We Are Often Distracted from God's Will
Building an Altar
So he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well. Genesis 26:25
Dr. Nelson Bell was a missionary physician who became the mentor and father-in-law of evangelist Billy Graham. In his book, Convictions to Live By, Dr. Bell spoke of the primacy of a godly family. He wrote, "In the Old Testament we read that the patriarchs 'pitched their tents, digged (sic) a well and built an altar.' How many people today pitch their tents and dig their wells but make no provision for the spirit! The altar is never built. There are thousands of houses across America fabulous in their appointments for gracious living, but they remain houses only, not homes."
In order to have success in our family life, we must build an altar and put God at the head of our homes. We can be distracted by MANY GOOD things in life -- careers; activities; etc. We need to pitch our tents and dig our wells, but let's not forget to build our altars.
A. We Need An Outside Helper
I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10.23
1. It is not in ourselves
2. It is not in Hollywood -- "Follow your heart" -- hearts are deceptive (Jeremiah 17.9)
3. It is not in pop-psychology -- Follow your conscience -- can be seared (1 Timothy 4.2)
B. Direction for Our Lives Comes from God
1. If it is not in us -- it must be from God
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. Proverbs 16.9
2. God gives us his will for our lives and guides us
II. We Are Desperate for Direction
A. God's Word and God's Will Go Together
1. We NEED to Know God's Word
a. The Revealed things of God do not change -- [10 commandments in Job
b. [AW Tozer said that we should never seek guidance about what God has already forbidden. Neither should we seek guidance in the areas where God has already said yes and given a command. In those instances, what we need is not guidance but obedience.
c. We need God's word to follow God's guidance for our lives -- Paul planned until the word of God sent him to Macedonia (Acts 16)
2. Too many lazy Christians who have stopped growing -- I know all I need to know
B. Therefore, Seek God's Will
I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. Proverbs 8.17
1. Effort Involved -- Matthew 7.7; Jeremiah 29.13
2. [Bobby Richardson played second base for the NY Yankees. At a banquet once prayed, "Dear God, your will, nothing less, nothing more, nothing else. Amen"
3. Prayer -- James 1.5 (ask God)
C. Obey God's Living Word -- Romans 10.17
1. Hearing = Doing (Deuteronomy 6)
2. [We can die defending what God has said and miss what he is saying.
[We can speak often of what he did and miss what he is doing.
3. Easy to put God in a box -- [Juan Carlos Ortiz relates an illustration in his book, Disciple. He asks, "If God spoke to you at breakfast one morning and said, 'Eat an orange.' You would eat the orange. If God repeated this for 4 more days, you would eat an orange each day. What would you do on the 6th day if God had not spoken to you? Most of us would eat an orange, assuming it was God's will. We just put God in a box when we should have waited for his direction."
4. Mary got it right at Cana -- "Do whatever he tells you."
D. Trust God's Timing -- Ecclesiastes 3; Galatians 4.4
1. Our Impatience
A flight attendant spent a week's vacation in the Rockies. She was captivated by the mountain peaks, the clear blue skies, and the sweet smelling pines. But she also was charmed by a very eligible bachelor who owned and operated a cattle ranch and lived in a log cabin. At the end of this week, Mr. Wonderful proposed. But it had all happened so quickly that the woman decided to return home and to her job, feeling that she would somehow be guided to make the right decision. The next day, in flight, she found herself wondering what to do. To perk up, she stopped in the rest room and splashed some cool water on her face. There was some turbulence and a sign in the rest room lit up: PLEASE RETURN TO THE CABIN. She did--to the cabin back in the mountains (Reader's Digest [1/81], p. 118)
[Abraham and Sarah//Ishmael and Isaac
2. God is patient and long-suffering -- 1 Peter 3.20
3. A test for us: If a desire is really divine direction, then the longer I delay, the stronger it becomes. Jeremiah said his word was in my heart and I could not stay (20.7). On the other hand, if it is merely a personal whim and I wait, surrendered, submitting to the time test, it will fade away.
III. We Crave God's Control
Many years ago, a man was hired an experienced guide to lead him on a hike into the Swiss Alps. After many hours, they came to a high and remote mountain pass. To the man's dismay, he saw the path had almost been washed out. What could he do? To the left was a sheer rock cliff, to his right, a precipice that dropped nearly 1000 ft. Looking down, the felt his head growing faint and his knees beginning to buckle. At that moment his guide shouted, "Do not look down or you are a dead man, keep your eyes on me, and where I put my feet, put yours there as well."
The man did as he was instructed and soon he passed from danger to safety.
This is a good advice. No one knows what lies ahead for any of us. We all have plans and dreams but the times and seasons of life are in God's hands. We can try to go on our own, risking a fall into terrible trouble, or we can fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus and mark carefully his steps before us.
A. He Guides us to Be Disciples of Jesus (Colossians 1.12)
1. Student needs a teacher
2. Apprentice needs a craftsman
3. Talmid (Disciple) needs a Master (Rabbi)
B. He Guides us to Safety in the Kingdom of Heaven (Colossians 1.13)
C. He Guides us to Successful Lives (1.12)
[In God's will there is no failure; out of His will there is no success. Anonymous]
1. Share Eternal Life
2. Bear Fruit -- John 15.4-5; Galatians 5
1. We worship and serve a God whose will is to guide our steps.
The LORD will guide you continually. Isaiah 58:11
2. Flaring Up
In the summer of 2014 a series of solar flares disrupted air traffic over the North Pole. The solar eruptions, described as "huge expulsions of magnetic field and plasma," shot from an area near the center of the sun's disc. Scientists feared they were strong enough to touch off geomagnetic storms on earth. Airlines rerouted flights between America and Asia to avoid disturbances to the planes' GPS systems.
Most of us have traded in our folded maps for GPS devices, but we know they aren't perfect. Sometimes they lead us down the wrong road, and occasionally they stop working altogether. But God's guidance system is nonstop and never failing. He continually guides His children.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6).
3. God's Will has Power to guide our lives now and forever.
