Finding and Doing the Will of God
Ps. 37:23, 32:8
37:23 Steps…not just the life
32:8 “I will…”
One of the most inspiring truths in all the Bible is the fact that God has a plan for every life. (divine blueprint)
It matters where you work, because God has a plan for your life/where go to college (ill.—BBC/PCC)/who you marry (Willow)/career…
God doesn’t just call preachers…His divine will applies to all of us…what is your calling?
Young people, you have no right to just decide what YOU want to do, who YOU want to marry, where YOU want to go to college. We all must seek the face of God. Find out His plan!
Ill—Hollywood says, “follow your heart”…abortion?/date that person?
The Bible says, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked!
“Let your conscience be your guide”
The Bible says, your conscience may be seared w/ a hot iron!
Why is it that we view the will of God like we’re taking Castor oil? “I know it’s best for me, but I’ll probably hate every minute of it.” Wrong!
No set of circumstances will bring you more joy, and more success, than being in the middle of the perfect will of God.
“but, if I surrender to God’s will, He might make me go to Africa!” Probably not! But what if He does? If He does, you’ll find more joy and more success there than you would out of His will. Africa is the safest place on earth for you if it’s His will. The conveniences of life wouldn’t hold a candle to the confines of His love…you wouldn’t trade it for the world. (missionary spirit we’ll see at conference…they don’t want you to feel sorry for them!)
Falwell’s definition of success: “finding the will of God as early in life as possible, and staying in it for the rest of your life.”
What is more pathetic than a Christian who has messed up and stepped out of the will of God?…I’ll tell you what’s worse than that: a Christian who has…and thinks they can’t get back on track!
Ill—Pat (permissive will) There’s no such thing!
God’s will begins today for you, not yesterday!!
God knows our strengths/weaknesses; capabilities/inabilities; spiritual gifts; innermost longings and desires/deepest fears.
No one is more qualified to lead, guide, and direct our lives, than our Creator, our Father, our Friend, our God. And there is a divine blueprint for your life, and you can find it, if you’re willing to seek the face of God, get the mind of God, and to do whatever He says to do.
Someone may say, “there’s no way in the universe that God cares about little old me”…I know it’s hard to imagine…I mean, did you hear they discovered a new galaxy?
Ill—new repaired Hubble telescope: they say they’ve seen a new galaxy, never seen before, that is 13 million light years away.
Remember, a light year is how far light can travel in a year…186,000 miles per second (roughly the top end of my Mustang)…even if you could go that fast, it would take 13 million years to get there (plus restroom stops)!
Then you remember that there’s thousands of galaxies that we know of…how could He even know where our solar system is?/much less our planet/our town/our church/me! But the Bible says that He does! And He not only knows where I am, but cares where I am…and even more, He knows how many hairs on my head, the Bible says! (some of you are easier to count than others!)
Here’s 3 reasons to believe in a God-planned life:
(just laying a foundation for tonite, when we’ll see how to find the will of God)
A God-planned life is:
1. Reasonable
A seamstress uses a pattern builder…blueprint/puzzle…picture/coach…gameplan/truck driver…map/cook…recipe
…and God has a plan for your life!
You see, it’s reasonable to say that God has a plan for every life…and it’s all the more reasonable to say He has a plan for the Christian’s life…for not only do you belong to God, you belong to God twice:
By virtue of creation/redemption
Ill—little boy/carved boat, w/ initials/put in river/got away/later it was found, sold to pawn shop/boy got older, in pawn shop, saw it/told owner, that’s mine/no, it’s mine, I bought it/so, boy bought it back and said, little boat, you’re mine…mine because I made you/bought you!
Christian, you are God’s twice!
Our God has a deep, vested interest in us, and it’s reasonable to believe that He doesn’t want us to go thru life filled w/ confusion and uncertainty, but to know where we are, why we’re there, and where we’re headed…to know His will!
A God-planned life is reasonable.
2. Practical
Acc’d to examples in God’s Word, and by much experience, we know that nothing happens by accident…not even the conception of a child!
God has a plan:
Abraham: God told him to leave Ur…that He would show him where to go. (husband—guess what, honey, we’re moving!/where to?/don’t know! Get in the car, let’s go!)
Didn’t know where they were going ‘til they got there!
Moses: God’s will meant he would have to give up the wealth and honor of his princely position in Egypt, spending 40 years in the desert, then taking on his homeland head-to-head, then spend another 40 years trying to lead a group of cantankerous, rebellious people!
Spent his first 40 yrs. thinking he was somebody…
Spent next 40 learning he was nobody…
Spent last 40 finding that God can take a nobody and make them somebody by His grace!
Moses believed in a God-planned life, and even when it wasn’t easy, he was willing to do God’s will.
David: God’s will meant leaving sheep-fold and sitting on the throne of Israel. (Sound clip) Humanly speaking, we wouldn’t have chosen David for that job…wasn’t the tallest/strongest/best looking. But when others saw a shepherd boy, God saw a king.
And under the leadership of David, the borders of Israel were enlarged/Israel became the superpower of the world at that time/Jerusalem was established as the capitol of Israel/Ark of the covenant was brought back to the temple where it belonged.
And David believed in a God-planned life…and was willing to find and do the will of God.
Apart from scripture, we think of other examples like:
Fanny Crosby: tho’ blind since 6 months of age, she said I know it’s God’s will that I be blind, because I’m not distracted by all there is to see physically, I’m able to see so much more spiritually.
She believed in a God-planned life, and let it make her better instead of bitter, and that’s why we can sing many of the hundreds of hymns she wrote.
John Wesley: His mother had 1 baby per year for 21 years. He was 1 of 17 who survived. He grew up in England, where the gospel of grace had been lost, and the nation was caught up in works salvation…and so was John Wesley.
He believed that if he punished himself enough/did penance, God would take him to heaven…so he got up at 4 a.m. and took swims in an ice-cold river/gave up laughter and jokes/walked 150 miles to college (took 6 days).
At college he learned about grace from George Whitfield…he was saved, and it not only changed his life, ‘cuz who do you think that God used to revive the doctrine of grace world-wide in the 1700s?…John Wesley.
He believed in a God-planned life…he had no regrets about the past, he knew God could use those negatives from the past, working all things together for good, bringing great things in the future!
My Bible says God is no respecter of persons…if He had a plan for Abraham, he has a plan for you too
Moses/David/Fanny Crosby/John Wesley
Do you believe in a God-planned life? It’s reasonable/practical…
3. Scriptural
“Steps of a good man” (we read earlier)
Solomon, the world’s wisest man, said, “trust in the Lord w/ all thine heart, lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and (what’s the result?) …He shall direct thy paths!
No matter what age you are, God’s will begins today, and continues each day after that…
It’s reasonable/practical/scriptural…
Find His will and do it!
As a church, we need to find and do His perfect will:
Youth pastor/future visions/every minute problem Satan poses
I challenge our teens to come pray for God’s will for a youth pastor/their life/college/career/future/mate
Who would say, I’m guilty of making major decisions w/out really taking God’s will into serious consideration…seeking the face of God.
“I/we’ve got a major decision looming, we want to find and do God’s will, whatever it is”
