[0:00]we're talking about God's will. If you're a Christian, certainly you want God's will, but I wonder how many of you have ever had a decision to make and you prayed about it, you looked in God's word, you might have taken wise counsel. You had a decision to make, you sought God and you still felt unsure. Raise your hands.
[0:20]Online, you can type in the comment section, I can relate. Sometimes I just kind of want to say, God, make it obvious.
[0:30]I mean, like you're the God that writes on the wall, you're the God that speaks, like just make it obvious. Like God, send an email from heaven.
[0:37]Dear Chad, ask her out.
[0:41]And PS, stop eating grocery store sushi or whatever it is, you know.
[0:46]And you like you sometimes you wonder you're praying for direction and you wonder is that God leading me or is it just my own thoughts?
[0:55]Uh did God prompt me or am I being overly emotional?
[1:00]Was it the Holy Spirit speaking to me, or is that the sushi that I should have eaten so lay last night?
[1:06]How do I know? And occasionally, it's even tempting when you're seeking the will of God to like either over spiritualize it or like make a deal with God on your own terms.
[1:16]I confess, I've done that. Uh when I was not yet married to Amy and praying about uh future wife, God show me, lead me.
[1:25]Uh there was a girl that made fun of me to my face and made fun of Amy.
[1:30]She had not met Amy, she had only heard about Amy, but someone said the same thing about Amy they said about me.
[1:36]She said, you're so weird, you're overboard for God. And I heard about this girl, she's weird like you, she's overboard for God.
[1:42]Her name is Amy, you two should get married and just be weird together.
[1:45]And when she said it, it was the weirdest thing, like I'm telling you, I thought, okay.
[1:51]That's God's will. And so I literally, I'm not kidding you when I tell you and I'm not recommending this.
[2:00]Do not try this at home without angel supervision.
[2:03]I said, I I went and started telling everybody I'm gonna marry this girl named Amy.
[2:07]She went to another school, I'd never met her, never seen a picture of her. I just told everybody, I'm gonna marry this girl named Amy, I'm gonna marry this girl named Amy.
[2:11]And I told so many people they started asking me, have you called that girl Amy?
[2:16]I'm nervous, but I have. And so finally I made a deal with God, I said, whenever three people, God, ask me about her on the same day, I'll call her on that day.
[2:25]One day two people asked me about her.
[2:28]And so I went over to my friend Rich and Anna Dozer's house because I knew they would ask me.
[2:34]And they did. And I called her.
[2:39]And sometimes we make weird deals with God like that.
[2:42]Why do we do that? Like a lot of times we just want God's will to be like this burning bush or a a sign in the sky.
[2:51]And sometimes God does work supernaturally, but what I'm going to tell you today some of you may not like because it goes against what we often think.
[3:01]And that is this, God's will is not always whispers from heaven.
[3:07]But sometimes it's just wisdom on earth.
[3:10]God's will is not always um an open door of blessing.
[3:16]Sometimes it's actually a closed door of protection.
[3:20]Sometimes God's will isn't this spiritual calling.
[3:27]Sometimes God just gives you a practical choice.
[3:30]I'm calling this message, when God's will isn't clear.
[3:36]If you want to know God's will, would you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you're a good God, that you guide our steps.
[3:41]God, we want to honor you in all that we do.
[3:47]So show us your will, show us your ways, and God, help us to be faithful to honor you in all that we do.
[3:52]We pray this in Jesus name, if you agree, say, amen.
[3:56]Type it online, amen. Amen. Let's uh, let's review where we've been, if you haven't been here, uh let's look back to week number one.
[4:03]Week number one, we talked about the different layers or different aspects of God's will.
[4:09]Let's review them. We talked about God's sovereign will.
[4:13]This is his big blueprint, this this is overarching will and plan for the entire universe, no one can stop it.
[4:21]We talked about God's moral will.
[4:24]This is his will for how you live.
[4:28]God's will for you is to be holy, set apart.
[4:31]This is his moral will revealed in his word to how we live.
[4:35]We talked about God's permissive will.
[4:38]Because God loves us, he gives us free will to choose to love him, but because we can choose to love and obey him, we can also choose to not love and not obey him.
[4:52]Therefore, sometimes people do things that are not pleasing or unkind, and we don't always understand God's permissive will, but he uses even what he permits in his sovereign will.
[4:59]And finally there's the personal will of God.
[5:03]God knows you, created you, loves you, before you're even born, he had good works prepared specifically in advance for you to do.
[5:12]If you want to know God's will, we discovered, you need to know God's heart.
[5:16]Last week we talked about maybe a little bit of a different principle for some of you, and that's this.
[5:21]What is God's will? God's will is more about a who than a do.
[5:26]Before God concerns about what you do, professionally, he actually cares about who you are personally.
[5:32]He cares about your heart, your character, that you're being conformed to the image of Jesus.
[5:38]And so if you want to know God's will for your future, one of the best things you can do is live faithfully for Jesus today.
[5:45]This week, what I want to do is get very, very practical.
[5:48]And what I'm gonna do is try to show you practically and specifically how God often will guide and direct you.
[5:57]And what we're going to do is we're going to look at the Apostle Paul in the New Testament and see what may be to you some unusual ways that God still commonly guided the steps of Paul toward God's will.
[6:11]Now, if you don't know about the Apostle Paul, maybe you didn't grow up around church.
[6:17]Um outside of Jesus, he's arguably the most spirit led person in the New Testament.
[6:21]If you don't know his history, he went from persecuting and killing Christians to being radically saved by the risen Christ, miraculously healed and transformed, and he went on to perform miracles and raise the dead and encounter angels and preaching across the Roman Empire and starting churches across Asia Minor, and he wrote 13 of the 27 New Testament books.
[6:44]So unquestionably, Paul experienced the supernatural presence of God.
[6:50]But I want to show you today that more often than not, God led Paul in ordinary moments, in ordinary ways, much like God will lead most of us on most days.
[7:07]In fact, when you just look at the Apostle Paul and look at like how he was living and seeking God, uh many times whenever Paul was just trying to figure out what to do next, God would show up and guide him in one of four specific ways.
[7:23]The same God that guided him will also guide you and I'll show you those four ways. We're going to see God guide the Apostle Paul through what we're going to call open doors.
[7:30]God also guided him through closed doors.
[7:33]God would guide him through frustrated plans, and we're going to see God actually give the Apostle Paul everyday choices.
[7:42]We've got open doors, closed doors, frustrated plans, and everyday choices.
[7:50]Let's look at these one by one. First, we see God lead Paul through open doors.
[7:57]I give you an example in the Bible. Uh during Paul's third missionary journey, this is what Paul said, watch what he said.
[8:03]He said, I'm going to stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost.
[8:08]Why is he going to stay? He says, because a great door for effective work has been opened to me.
[8:17]Everybody say that's good news. Then he says, and there are many oppose me, who oppose me.
[8:23]Everybody say that's bad news. So wait a minute. God, you you gave me an open door.
[8:29]That's good news, but yet there are many that oppose me.
[8:32]So why did he stay on at Ephesus? God didn't give him a supernatural dream, there wasn't a prophetic word, there wasn't an angelic visit.
[8:40]There was just a wide open door.
[8:44]There was just a clear ministry opportunity and God just opened the door.
[8:50]And chances are some of you kind of have your own version of this.
[8:55]You weren't looking for a job and one day someone came along and said, hey, here's this job and you're like, that fits my gifts and my talents and my passions and I can make more money and make more of a difference and you weren't looking for it. God just opened the door.
[9:08]Or you were thinking, man, I like I really would like to make a difference in someone's life and maybe I should serve at church.
[9:17]And then you come to church and your campus pastor says, maybe God has been speaking to somebody about serving at church.
[9:21]Me, me, me, me, me, me. And that wasn't something I force, that was just God opening a door.
[9:28]It's not random, it's not a coincidence, it's a God ordained open door for effective ministry.
[9:37]But just because it's a great opportunity and just because God opened the door, doesn't mean it's going to be easy.
[9:46]Paul said, God opened a door. It was God's will.
[9:51]And then he said, but there are a lot of people that are working against me.
[9:55]Many opposed him. What can we learn from this principle?
[9:59]We can learn that an open door doesn't guarantee a smooth path.
[10:04]Is it going to speak to somebody? Yes, God opens doors.
[10:09]He gives us ministry opportunities, but when he opens a door to serve him faithfully in ministry, be aware that your spiritual enemy is very likely to push back.
[10:21]Mark it down, the bigger the opportunity, the greater the opposition.
[10:26]And this is where a lot of us get it mixed up. Some of you maybe here right now. Um God opened the door. He said, this must be God's will. And then you walk through the door and it's not easy.
[10:37]There there's opposition, someone's not being nice to you.
[10:41]You you you you hit an obstacle, you try to get something done and and everything seems to go wrong.
[10:47]You walk through the door and then all of a sudden you got problems everywhere, and so you think, well, this must not be God's will.
[10:51]Just remember, the devil doesn't waste his time fighting those who aren't a threat.
[10:57]Someone may need to hear this right now. If you're facing opposition that doesn't necessarily mean that you're out of the will of God, in some cases it may be confirmation that you're directly in the middle of the will of God.
[11:08]God opens doors, but just because they're open, doesn't mean it's going to be easy.
[11:12]How does God guide us? Sometimes it's like supernatural writing on the wall or voice from heaven.
[11:19]Sometimes it's just a clear ministry opportunity, God opens a door.
[11:24]Let's look at another way that God guides us. Acts 16 shows us when God actually closes a door.
[11:30]Sometimes God works through closed doors.
[11:33]And let me show you this very, very clearly in Acts 16.
[11:37]Uh scripture says, next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.
[11:50]The Holy Spirit prevented them from preaching the word.
[11:54]What does that mean? We don't know exactly, I mean, it could be practical like they tried to get there and the road was closed or they were sick or they had a headache or we don't know what it was, but it could have been something practical that they attached to a spiritual meaning that the Holy Spirit did not let them do it.
[12:09]Go on, the next text says this. Uh then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again, the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there.
[12:24]This is interesting. What were they trying to do? They weren't being rebellious, they weren't being sinful, they weren't being selfish.
[12:31]They were trying to preach the gospel in Asia minor, and the Holy Spirit said, no.
[12:37]And then they were trying to preach the gospel in Bithynia, and the Holy Spirit said, no again.
[12:43]Their motives were pure.
[12:46]They were trying to do what they thought was the will of God, and yet, God closed the door.
[12:52]And this shows us clearly that God's no is still direction.
[12:59]God's no is still direction. And this should be comforting to some of you.
[13:04]It's very, very comforting to me.
[13:07]Because I know that sometimes I can be dumb.
[13:12]And stubborn and hard-headed.
[13:16]And I know sometimes what I want so much, I tend to project on God, and I think my desires must be his will.
[13:27]But what I want's not always God's will.
[13:30]Sometimes my motives are really pure.
[13:33]Sometimes my flesh is just like, it must be God's will I hit this guy back.
[13:36]No, that's not God's will. Just because you feel like it, just because you want it, doesn't mean it's what he wants for you.
[13:44]And I love that God loves me enough to protect me from me.
[13:48]Some of you all to say, thank you God, you love me enough to protect me from me.
[13:53]Because we don't like hearing no. None of us like hearing no, God, this is what I want.
[13:58]And we don't like hearing no, but it's comforting that God, he's a loving father.
[14:04]And as a father to my children, I don't always let them do what they want to do.
[14:10]Just like my son Stephen, who's a youth pastor here, when he was younger, he was By, and By came to me one time and said, Dad, I want to see how many gummy bears I can stick in my nose.
[14:19]Sounds fun, but the answer is no, you can't do that.
[14:23]And then I told him, take those four that you have in there out right now and don't put a fifth one in.
[14:28]It's comforting to know that there is a heavenly Father that loves us enough to sometimes protect us from ourselves.
[14:38]God will occasionally tell you no. Um, let me tell you about God's nos to me on the way to the yes of starting life church.
[14:47]I was a new Christian, on fire for God.
[14:52]Met my Christian babe, my best friend, and actually on that day I called her and she picked up the phone and we started to get to know each other and we're serving God together.
[15:00]I thought called to ministry. And so I graduated from school and went to get a ministry job and everybody said, no.
[15:09]So I took a job in sales. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.
[15:13]Do you feel scared? If so, I'll sell you a burglar alarm.
[15:19]And while I was there, I did everything under the Lord and led several people to Christ at the Honeywell Department and tried to represent Jesus there.
[15:26]And then my pastor had to bring a friend Sunday, and I brought 17 hung over fraternity guys.
[15:33]He liked that, and so he hired me to be a pastor.
[15:37]And I started in ministry under Nick, and within the first year, God opened a door, but there were some that opposed me.
[15:43]The board actually tried to have me fired, because I was not allowed to continue to announce the single adult ministry.
[15:53]So I turned the pastoral prayers into announcements.
[15:56]Oh, God, would you bless our church and bless what's given today, and we thank you for your goodness, and may you bless the preaching of your word today, and Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would remind all the single adults on Friday night at 7:00 to show up outside the doors on the south and bring $10 for bowling and Bible study.
[16:10]God, if it's your will, prompt them to be there in Jesus name.
[16:14]They tried to fire me, because I kept turning the prayer time into announcements.
[16:20]And then I went to seminary. I was a Methodist, and the the the Methodist said, okay, there's no Methodist schools close to you.
[16:29]You can go to uh the Baptist one in in Fort Worth.
[16:32]And so I did a year, one whole year at uh Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and an extension branch, and at the end of the year, they said, oh, sorry, our bad, that doesn't count.
[16:44]One year of seminary. Oh, we made a mistake. You got to start over. So I started over. After a couple years, I was up for ordination.
[16:55]And they said, no. Didn't get ordained. Finally, years later, I graduated seminary.
[17:03]I did get ordained and I said, could I start a Methodist church? And they said, no. No. A lot of people would say, what? Must not be God's will that you start a church.
[17:17]God's knows can feel frustrating along the way.
[17:22]But those nos got me to the yes of starting life church.
[17:30]And this shows the loving grace of God that he opens the right doors and he closes the doors.
[17:37]And the principle is this, God can close the wrong doors to get you to the right place.
[17:42]Somebody needs to hear that right now. You may wanted to go through there and God loves you enough.
[17:48]He can close the wrong doors, even the ones you want to go through, to get you to the right place.
[17:53]So, how did God guide the Apostle Paul?
[17:56]Sometimes angels would show up. Yes, but sometimes it was just an open door. Sometimes it was a closed door.
[18:03]Sometimes it's what we're going to call frustrated plans.
[18:07]Some of you you've been there. Some of you go, I'm there right now. Because you thought you knew what was God's will and you thought it was going to happen.
[18:16]You knew you were going to go to this school and you couldn't.
[18:19]You knew you were going to take that job and you didn't. You knew you were going to marry this person and things didn't work out.
[18:25]The door shut, the plans broke down and you thought you were certain.
[18:28]And you wonder, did I miss it?
[18:31]Is God mad at me? Did I do something wrong? Is there sin in my life? Does God holding out on me?
[18:39]And I want to say to some of you, maybe God's no wasn't his rejection, but maybe your frustrated plans was actually his protection.
[18:51]Maybe whenever you thought you knew and God redirected you somewhere else, he was steering you to a better yes.
[19:00]And I promise you there's at least two people here today that you know this because years ago you wanted to married that old boy and you just knew you wanted to marry him.
[19:07]You fast forward several years and you look at him now and you're like, thank you Jesus, I didn't marry him.
[19:13]Because you're sitting by your better yes.
[19:16]You're sitting by your better yes, just give him a kiss right now. Not with your tongue, just a little just blow him a kiss, just blow him a kiss right now.
[19:23]Because sometimes God's will frustrate your plans because he has something different for you, something better.
[19:30]And I want to show you this about the Apostle Paul.
[19:33]I love this. If you watch him through his ministry, you'll see kind of two common mindsets all through his ministry as he seeking God's will.
[19:42]You ready for this? Let me tell you, two things. First of all, Paul's not certain.
[19:51]And Paul is not nervous.
[19:55]Over and over and over again you'll see, he's not always sure what he's supposed to do next, and he's not battling with anxiety.
[20:08]He's not waking out.
[20:11]He's not sure, and he's not nervous.
[20:23]Watch, and let me show you. First Corinthians 16. This is Paul. He says this, hey, after I go through Macedonia, I will come to you.
[20:34]For I'll be going through Macedonia. Now, watch this, perhaps he's see, I'm not really sure, God hasn't showed me yet.
[20:43]I don't know what I'm going to do for sure yet. I I I'm not sure, I'm not certain, but I'm not nervous.
[20:48]Perhaps I'll stay with you for a while, or I'm not sure, I don't really know and I'm not nervous.
[20:56]Or I'll spend the winter there so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go, because I'm not sure where I'm going to go yet, but wherever I go.
[21:03]For I do not want to see you and make only a passing visit.
[21:09]Like my will is to stay longer because I love you and I want to be with you.
[21:14]I hope, I'm not sure I'll get to, but it's my desire if the Lord allows.
[21:20]I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. What do you see? He's not sure and he's not nervous.
[21:26]If the Lord wills, I hope in this and that, I'm trusting God.
[21:29]Why could he say this? Because he was the guy who said this, for we walk by faith and not by sight.
[21:38]We trust in the Lord, God, he directs our steps.
[21:43]I don't have to know it all, I don't have to figure it all out, I don't have to have 1, 2, 3.
[21:49]I just believe God is good and he will direct my steps.
[21:54]He didn't know it all, he wasn't certain and he wasn't nervous because he was trusting in the goodness of a God.
[21:58]He didn't need absolute certainty to live with absolute trust.
[22:01]Somebody needs to hear this.
[22:04]You don't have to know the next five steps to trust God with the one right in front of you.
[22:10]Because the problem some of you here's like, you're waiting on the whole map.
[22:40]Show me the whole map.
[22:43]The whole map's not coming. Why? If God showed you the whole map, you wouldn't take the trip.
[22:51]If God had shown me the whole map through life church, I'd have walked out the other way.
[22:55]I'll stay single as pastor at Methodist Church.
[22:58]God remind them by the Holy Spirit to come Friday night at 7:00.
[23:03]What does God do?
[23:06]He gives you what you need to take the next step.
[23:10]Why? Scripture says this, your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
[23:22]God, your word directs my step.
[23:25]If God's word is a lamp unto my feet, it doesn't say it's a spotlight to the whole map.
[23:30]God's not I want to see step 7, 8, 9 before I take 1, 2, and 3.
[23:36]God's going to say, I'm not going to show you 7, 8, 9 until you take 1, and 2, and 3, and 4, and 5, and 6, now you can see step 7.
[23:46]Your word is a lamp unto our feet.
[23:49]God doesn't need to show you the whole picture, you trust him to simply take the next step.
[23:54]He is good, he's a good God, he loves you.
[23:57]The sheep know the voice of the shepherd. So how does he guide? Uh sometimes God will just open up a door like, wow, that's God.
[24:06]But it doesn't mean it's going to be easy. There might be some opposition there. Sometimes God closes the door. Sometimes you think you got it figured out and God frustrates your plans.
[24:17]And then sometimes God just gives you everyday choices.
[24:25]Like he literally like just lets you choose.
[24:28]God doesn't always give you a sign.
[24:32]Sometimes he just gives you a choice. And again, watch as the Apostle Paul describes how he moved from one place to another.
[24:39]He said this, not the Holy Spirit spoke on unto me.
[24:45]He said, I decided to stay there for the winter.
[24:49]I just kind of looked at it, I decided, I made a decision.
[24:54]He said this, he said, when we could stand it no longer, we decided to stay.
[25:03]It just got to where we just decided this was the best decision.
[25:06]He said this, he said, Acts 15, let's go back and see how they are doing.
[25:10]Not God told us to go back.
[25:13]Let's just go back, made a decision and see how they're doing. Like, like what, what, what is this?
[25:13]God is sovereign.
[25:18]When you're living in the moral will of God, you're doing what he called you, you're living, you're loving people, you're being faithful, you're you're purifying, you're confessing your sins, you're becoming like Jesus.
[25:30]When you're living in the moral will of God and and there's always the permissible will of God, but sometimes in the personal will of God, under the sovereign will of God, God just lets you choose.
[25:41]Just like Stephen now. He's not going to try to put those things in his nose.
[25:46]He's old enough to be a young man.
[25:49]So guess what? Hey, you're walking with God. Dad, what do you think? Do whatever you think. I trust you. You're a young man, I got to do whatever you think. I trust you. Because he's grown in responsibility, and sometimes God says, hey, you're living in the moral will of God, you're under the sovereign will of God, there's a permissible will of God, but in the personal will of God on this thing, you can choose.
[26:07]Like, literally, you want to move to a different city?
[26:10]Choose. As long as you're living for God here or there.
[26:16]I know this is going to freak some of your theology. You want to take this job or that job? Hey, more than I'm concerned with the job you take, I'm concerned with your character when you take it.
[26:27]You want to serve on life kids or you want to serve on host team?
[26:31]God might say, your choice.
[26:34]You're not going to go wrong. As long as everything you do, you do for the glory of God, whatever you do, you do for the glory of God.
[26:44]If you're in this life group or that life group, if you're in this job or that job, this city or that city, doing this or that, serving here or there, reading this book or that book, majoring in this or majoring in that, this school, that school, whatever it is, do it for the glory of God.
[26:57]Now, you say, okay, great.
[27:01]I'm going to trust him for the next step, but like, what if I get it wrong?
[27:07]What if I totally mess up? Good will. Good news. Here's what Paul says. He says, we have received an inheritance from God.
[27:16]And watch this, under his sovereign, unstoppable will.
[27:20]Watch this, he makes everything work out according to his plan.
[27:27]Even if you make a mistake, let me tell you about my God.
[27:33]He is so good that he works in all things to bring about good.
[27:42]The open doors, the closed doors, the thing you want it and your frustrated plans, your wise choices and your unwise, he is sovereign.
[27:51]Will is so unstoppable that he works in all things to bring about good to those, not who are perfect, to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
[28:02]So like, you want a map? No, he gives you a lamp.
[28:07]You want certainty?
[28:10]Listen, he wants you to have faith.
[28:14]Because you can't please him without faith.
[28:17]And you want the most detailed plan.
[28:20]He gave you something way better. He gave you the person of the Son, Jesus Christ, who is the good shepherd, who guides the sheep.
[28:30]The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
[28:34]He makes me chill out. Lie down in green pastures. He restores my soul.
[28:43]Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
[28:48]And so, if God gives you yes, no option, and you say yes, you're not just saying yes to what you want, but you're saying yes to trusting him.
[28:59]He is good. Remember week one we started with this verse, and I want to I want to look at it again.
[29:04]God says this, I'll instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.
[29:10]I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
[29:14]This is God. Here's what he says to you. I will instruct you. He'll show you the next step.
[29:22]I will teach you the way you should go.
[29:26]I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
[29:30]Sometimes it's supernatural writing on the wall.
[29:35]A lot of times it's open doors, closed doors, frustrated plans, and everyday choices.
[29:38]And so my plea to you as a person of faith who wants to follow Jesus, just take the next step.
[29:46]Because the same God that guided Paul will guide you and his will for you is better than your will for yourself.
[29:53]And guess what? You don't have to be certain to be faithful.
[29:58]You just have to take the next step. So Father, today we uh we put our faith in you and ask for your Holy Spirit to guide our steps.
[30:07]Today, as as you're praying at all of our churches, those of you online, I want to talk to those of you that are Christians.
[30:12]Like you know you are, not like I kind of think I am.
[30:16]Like you know you are, you are actively pursuing Jesus.
[30:20]You want to glorify him in all that you do.
[30:23]And I want to ask you right now, do you want to be faithful in the next step?
[30:26]If you do lift your hand high right now. Yes, all over the place. Lift them up. God bless you right there. Others if you're saying that's my prayer, lift your hand and say, yes, Jesus, I surrender to you.
[30:39]Like both of you. Oh, come on together. Pray, God for others today. Say, yes, Jesus, I surrender to you. Be the Lord of my life.
[30:50]I give my life to you.
