August 7, 2005
Dakota Community Church
Understanding God’s Will
Week Two: How to Know it.
Introduction:
Last week we looked at four ways people try to find the will of God that don’t work.
- Circumstantial evidence.
- Bible roulette.
- Fleeces.
- Prophetic Words.
This week I want to look at tried and true methods for finding God’s will.
Jeremiah 29: 13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
1. Search the scriptures.
2Timothy 3: 16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Romans 10: 8
But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming.
1Peter 1: 25
For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.
Psalm 119: 105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Hebrews 4: 12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Psalm 119: 89
Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.
Isaiah 40: 8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
Matthew 24: 35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Numbers 23: 19
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Psalm 138: 2 (Amp.)
I will worship toward Your holy temple and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth and faithfulness; for You have exalted above all else Your name and Your word and You have magnified Your word above all Your name!
Isaiah 55: 10-11
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
God’s word is God’s will.
- Find all the word has to say on the subject you are wondering about.
- Use a concordance or the internet.
- Don’t feel guilty when you don’t do it. Do you feel guilty if you don’t eat?
- The word is described as water, milk, meat, and bread.
- It is just a fact that you will grow spiritually faint if you starve yourself of the word.
Don’t fall into the paralysis of analysis. You have a mind, you have freedom, you are empowered by God to prayerfully direct your life.
Is it God’s will for you to prosper?
Is it God’s will for you to suffer with some torment like Paul?
Are you a modern Job?
Doesn’t the bible say the Lord gives and the Lord takes away?
This is a process that takes time, effort and the acceptance of responsibility.
2. Use the Jesus test.
Is there anywhere that you can see Jesus doing it, endorsing it, or proclaiming it will come?
- Speaking in tongues.
- Casting out demons.
- Healing the sick.
What about reject people or giving sickness to teach a lesson?
John 5: 19
Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
John 14: 6-9
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’?
Mark 16: 15-18
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."
Well what about this stuff about God wanting us to prosper? I know some Old Testament guys did it but I thought Jesus was poor.
John 13: 29
Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor.
John 12: 3-6
Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, "Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages." He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
3. Use the whole Bible test.
When determining God’s will, we need to use the whole book. The seed of every major doctrine is in the Pentateuch.
Genesis 3: 14-15
So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
Psalm 22: 16
Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
Isaiah 7: 14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
What about the woman issue?
Exodus 15: 20
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.
Judges 4:4-5
Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.
Quote:
Is reading the Bible a necessary part of your day or does it have a low priority in your life? George Mueller, after having read the Bible through one hundred times with increasing delight, made this statement: "I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God. Friends often say, ’I have so much to do, so many people to see, I cannot find time for Scripture study.’ Perhaps there are not many who have more to do than I. For more than half a century I have never known one day when I had not more business than I could get through. For 4 years I have had annually about 30,000 letters, and most of these have passed through my own hands.
"Then, as pastor of a church with 1,200 believers, great has been my care. Besides, I have had charge of five immense orphanages; also, at my publishing depot, the printing and circulating of millions of tracts, books, and Bibles; but I have always made it a rule never to begin work until I have had a good season with God and His Word. The blessing I have received has been wonderful."
4. Practice listening prayer.
Quote:
God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. The man who would know God must give time to Him.
A.W. Tozer
John 16: 12-14
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
John 10: 27
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
PowerPoint available on request - dcormie@mts.net
