February 18, 2007
Sermon #665
Finding God’s Will for your life
Introduction: I am continuing teaching on requests made from the congregation. Although this subject was not in the top two (marriage and finances) requested, it is probably the greatest need in the life of a Christian.
I. You were created for a purpose
Jeremiah 29:11 - 13 (NKJV) 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
ILL: This was God’s word for His people Israel but it applies to the lives of individuals
A. Jeremiah
Jeremiah 1:5 - 10 (NKJV) 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” 6Then said I: “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” 7But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. 9Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.”
B. Isaiah
Isaiah 49:1 (NKJV) 1 “Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar! The Lord has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
C. The Apostle Paul
Galatians 1:15 - 17 (NKJV) 15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
D. God’s will for you is good
Romans 12:1 - 2 (NKJV) 1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
II. God’s will is first and foremost that you have a relationship through Jesus Christ
1 Timothy 2:2 - 7 (NKJV) 2for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth £in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
ILL The first steep in finding God’s Will for your life is asking Jesus into it!
III. The next steep is becoming a disciple of Jesus
Luke 9:23 - 25 (NKJV) 23Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross £daily, and follow Me. 24For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
IV. God’s Will has to agree with His Word
Psalms 119:105 (NKJV) 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
V. Ask God for wisdom
James 1:5 - 8 (KJV) 5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
VI. Trust the Holy Spirit
John 16:13 - 15 (KJV) 13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. 14He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. 15All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.
VII. Seek the advice of godly men and women who God has placed in your life.
Proverbs 12:5 (KJV) 5The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
ILL: Watch who you are getting advice from! I do not want advice about my marriage from someone who has been divorced two or three times. I do not want advice about money from a person who has none! I do not want advice about ministry except from someone who has a long a lasting ministry.
Proverbs 15:22 (KJV) 22Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
ILL: When I received my call to ministry I wanted to take a short cut and not go to college but my pastor, Corbin Cooper, said “no!” He explained that I would be limiting God’s call on my life. “When I wanted to accept a church while in college, Dr. Norfleet Gardner, said “no!” The man who took that church was out of the ministry within a year. When I wanted to accept a call to Fayetteville NC Dr. Millard Brown said “no!” I came to Greensboro instead and God moved me to start Ministries of His Glory through which the Gospel is carried to the world. When I wanted to resign and retire, Dr. Charles Snow said “No!” and I went on to experience the greatest revival in my life.
VIII. When two ways come - which gives “peace?”
Isaiah 32:17 - 19 (KJV) 17And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. 18And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;
Ill: Peace is God’ traffic officer.
IX. Trust that God will accomplish His will in your life
Proverbs 3:5 - 6 (KJV) 5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Philippians 1:6 (KJV) 6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
ILL: The apostle Paul
Acts 1:7 - 8 (NKJV) 7And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 16:6 - 15 (NKJV) 6Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. 7After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the £Spirit did not permit them. 8So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. 11Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, 12and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. 13And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. 14Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.
ILL(con) Paul was obeying Christ but the Holy Spirit would not let him preach the Gospel in Asia? Paul goes from one town to another until he is just across from Macedonia and then he receives the word to go. If Paul had been successful in Asia he would never have come to Rome, and Europe from which the Gospel has gone to the world.
Just because the circumstances are right does not mean it’s the right thing to do!
X. God has given us certain gifts and abilities to use in His service – do not attempt to go beyond His gifting and calling.
ILL: Have you seen the TV Show “American Idol” and laughed at those who have no talent to sing who are trying to win? If you have no talent for it – God is probably not calling you to minister in that area!
Romans 12:6 - 8 (NKJV) 6Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Ephesians 4:11 - 13 (NKJV) 11And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
ILL: When I tried to be an evangelist – well I was like my friend Richard Moore, Richard said he advertised a “Miracle Service” the only problem was – there were no miracles! I can guarantee that God will never call me to be a praise leader!
God has already given you abilities and gifts to make you able to fulfill His Will!
Conclusion: What I have been giving you are like buoys leading to a harbor.
ILL: Once I was navigating a boat in the Chesapeake and got into trouble. I had bypassed a buoy and was out of the shipping channel. Get these buoys lined up and you will not miss God’s purpose for your life!
1. Relationship
2. Discipleship
3. God’s Word
4. God’s Wisdom
5. The Holy Spirit’s inner witness
6. Advice of Godly men and women
7. Peace
8. Trust
9. A gift or ability
