Good morning or as we say in Australia, good day, good day
mate, good to be with you. Turn with me in your Bibles to
Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12, and our lesson for
this morning is on the theme of knowing the will of God, knowing
the will of God, and for our young people, for the young
people. If you can fill out the sheet
and show me afterwards, I have an Australian chocolate for you
here. OK?
You don't need any more snacks over here.
You are the snack nation. It's just unbelievable.
But anyway, if you want to try an Australian chocolate, it's a
Caramello koala and I have some chocolate frogs as well.
So that's just a little incentive for you, for the kids
and for the young people to fill out the sheet there.
OK, we'll just allow for the men to just hand those out.
OK, on the page in front of you you'll notice that we have
Romans chapter 12 and verses one and two at the top of the page.
And these are well known verses. Most of you can probably quote
them. So quote them with me or read
them with me on the count of 3/1, 2-3 Romans chapter 12,
verse one and two. I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. Let's pray for God's help now,
shall we? Dear God, we thank you for the
joy of being here amongst your people.
We thank you for this Candlestick you've raised up
here in Richmond. We pray for your blessing now
upon our time in Your Word. Guide us and direct us by your
Holy Spirit. We pray that He would be our
primary teacher today, in Jesus name, Amen.
One of the most common questions pastors get asked is how can I
know the will of God? How can I know the will of God?
That's a a common question that people.
Ask. And that's a good question to
ask because we want to know the will of God in our lives.
And so under introduction there, as you start to fill in the
blanks, we note that there are two parts to the will of God,
two parts to the will of God, or two aspects to the will of God.
There's number one, what I would call the general will of God,
the general will of God. And by that I mean things that
apply to every Christian. OK, so every Christian should
should be a soul winner. Every Christian should read
their Bible. Every Christian should attend
church faithfully. These are things that apply to
everybody. They're very clearly spelled out
in the word of God. But then we come to number 2,
the specific will of God. And by this I'm referring to
decisions that I have to make in my personal life.
Who am I going to marry? Where am I going to live?
What career path would God have for me?
Those things are not explicitly stated in the Word of God, but
we have principles in God's Word that can help us to determine
those things. And so that's the primary focus
of this lesson. If God reveals something
plainly, then we just need to obey it, OK?
We need to pray, we need to give, we need to go to church,
all those things that are clearly revealed in God's Word.
But the focus of this lesson is, how do I, how do I determine
God's will on those big questions in life?
And those big decisions in life, and we come to those, don't we?
We come to crossroads in our lives.
Which way am I going to go? What decision am I going to
make? And we need to have biblical
principles on how to determine God's will with that.
So the aim of this? Study that, you know, look at
your notes there. We'll focus this study.
Sorry, we'll focus. Primarily on the key biblical
principles that will equip us for discerning God's will as it
relates to the specific will of God for our lives.
We will consider 4 principles that will help us to discern
God's will for our lives. The first three points are
preparatory, dealing with some needed heart preparation.
And the final point is practical, dealing with the
mechanics of how to discern God's will for our lives.
And so the first three points are really to do with getting
our hearts in the right place so that then we're ready to receive
guidance from God as to His will.
So principle, number one. Principle #1 Realise God has a
specific plan for your life. Principle number one.
We need to realise that God has a specific plan for our lives.
The key thought there is coming to the realisation that God has
a plan for my life will start me on the quest to find God's will.
You say that's such a basic principle past that sounds so
basic, yes, but do you know how many Christians actually
struggle to surrender to God's will?
Many believers actually get seem to have the idea that well, I'm
saved, I'm on my way to heaven, but I kind of have to just
determine my own destiny. And by the way, the world tends
to tell us that, doesn't it? You, you do you, you, you
determine your own destiny. But no, we need to come to that
realization. And it's a foundational
principle that God does have a plan for each of our lives.
So letter A God has a perfect will for our lives.
We see that in Romans 12/1. And two, we've just read those
verses that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God. Remember, God's will for your
life is best. God's will for your life is
best. B God has a plan for our lives.
Ephesians 210 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we
should walk in them. Interesting isn't it?
Ephesians 28 and 9 We're not saved by works, but verse 10
tells us we're saved unto good works.
So God has a plan for us. It's not like God saved us and
said OK, over to you now. No, and God saved us with a
purpose and He made plans for our lives that we might live
them for Him. Let us see God's plan was made
for us before we were even born. And I'll give you 3 examples
from the Bible. We have the example of Samson
and for the sake of time we can't read all the verses here,
but you can read over those in your own time.
We see the highlighted section at the end of the text there.
For the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb,
and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the
Philistines. Then we have Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 15. Before I formed thee in the
belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out
of the womb, I sanctify thee, and I, I ordained thee a prophet
unto the nations. Amazing statement isn't it, that
God knew Jeremiah before he was even formed in the womb.
So when does life begin? Well, it begins at conception,
doesn't it? And this is a very powerful
verse. God even knows us before we
conceived in the. Womb.
God has a plan for us. He's the eternal God, the all
wise God. And we see that in Jeremiah.
John the Baptist is another example.
We see God's plan for him was formed before he was even born.
Luke chapter one, verse 13 to 17.
So we need to realise that God has a perfect plan, a specific
plan for our lives. Letter D God wants to shape our
lives like clay in the Potter's hand.
Jeremiah 18 One through 6 wonderful verses there about the
clay in the hands of the Potter. We know the primary reference in
that context is to Israel, but we see a principle there for our
lives that God wants to take our lives and He wants to shape and
mould us into vessels that He can use.
So encourage a young people, place your lives in the Potter's
hands. Let the Lord Jesus Christ
determine your life, let him determine the purpose of your
life. And that doesn't just apply to
young people either, That applies to every believer.
We want to be submitted to his hands and what God is seeking to
do in our lives. And sometimes that involves us
feeling some pressure, doesn't it?
The hands of the Potter come on our lives and he has to
straighten out some things, work on the inside, the hand on the
inside of the vessel as well as the pressure on the outside of
the vessel. And sometimes God uses trials in
our lives, doesn't He? And sometimes we fail to
recognise that the pressures we're feeling or the trials
we're going through, actually the loving hands of God in our
lives to form us and to shape us and to maybe work out some of
those imperfections in our lives that need to be dealt with.
So principle number one, we need to realise that God has a
specific plan for our lives and #2 principle #2 we need to then
surrender completely to God's will.
Again, a very basic principle, but a very important one, and I
found as a pastor that many believers really struggle with
giving over their lives completely.
To the Lord. We just, we feel afraid to trust
God at times, don't we? With our lives.
But the more we come to understand the God we serve, the
more we know that His way is perfect, the more confidence we
can have to yield our lives to Him because He makes no
mistakes. So the key thought here is we
cannot possibly enjoy the blessings of God's will for our
lives if we do not first of all, place our lives completely in
His hands. That makes sense, doesn't it?
How you're going to really determine God's will for your
life if you're not first surrendered to that will?
OK, so foundational. You have to be surrendered in
your heart, Lord, whatever you want from my life, I'm yielded
to that. And I remember coming to that
place, I was saved at the age of 5, soundly saved at the age of
five. And then at the age of seven, I
heard a very powerful message on the cross from a visiting
evangelist. And he gave an appeal at the end
for not only people to get saved, but for people to
surrender to the Lord and for His will for their lives.
And I went forward. And from that moment on, I knew
God had called me to be a preacher.
I surrendered my life to do whatever God would have me to
do. And so if you've never done
that, you need to do that. You need to.
And it's not the sort of thing maybe you even just do once in
your life. I find you have to come.
Back at time to just surrender a fresh Lord, I just place my life
in your hands Lord, your will be done and we have letter A the
example of Jesus Christ. We can't get a better example
than the Lord Jesus Christ can we?
He was surrendered and submitted to the Father's will.
Hebrews 10/7 then said I lo, I come in the volume of the book.
It is written of me to do thy will, O God.
John 638 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me, not as I will, but as thou
would. Aren't you thankful the Lord
Jesus was submitted to the Father's will?
And aren't you thankful in the garden of Gethsemane He said,
Thy will be done. If he hadn't done that, we
wouldn't have salvation. Let it be the example of David.
Psalm 25 Four, Show me thy ways, O Lord, and teach me thy paths.
The example of the apostle Paul. Let us see there.
Acts 96 And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? That should be the heart cry of
every believer. Lord, what would you have me to
do? Lord, what do you want to do
with my life? Principle #3 We've got to move
along here for the sake of time. Principle #3 Be active, doing
what you already know to be God's will.
So we need to realize God has a specific plan for our lives.
We need to be surrendered to what God's will is for our
lives. And then as we wait on God to
reveal His specific will to us, we need to just be active, doing
what we already know to be God's will.
And here's the key thought. God reveals His specific will to
those who are serious about obeying His general will.
And sometimes I find we spend so much time focused on what's
God's will for the future that we can sometimes miss what His
will is for the present. Now it's not wrong to think
about what does God have? For me in the.
Future. But while you wait on an answer
from God for your future, make sure you serve Him in the
present and do what He's placed in front of you, because God has
a way of revealing His specific will to those who are obedient
to what they already know to be His will.
OK, so letter A living a separated life.
That's something we know to be God's general will.
And as we seek to have our lives conformed, not to the world, but
transformed by the Word of God, we are then able to prove God's
good and acceptable and perfect will be living a serving life.
So we need to be living a separated life.
Because if your life's full of sin, then you're not going to
hear God's voice, are you? We need to be living a serving
life and we see this principle really demonstrated in in the
lives of Barnabas and Saul. Acts 31 and 2.
Now they were in the church that was at Antioch.
Certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was
called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Menaim, which had
been brought up with Herod the tetrarch and Saul.
Notice this as they ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy
Ghost said separate me, Barnabas and Saul for the work around.
I've called them. Can you see that a specific
calling came to them as they were busy serving the Lord and,
and so you need to be surrendered to God's will.
You need to be serving the Lord because that puts you in a place
to really hear from God as to the specifics of your life.
OK, now I want your involvement here.
What are some things we know are God's will for every Christian
that we can get involved with? Hands up.
Give me some examples. Yes, Sir.
Go to church. Faithfulness in church.
Yes, ma'am. Witnessing soul winning.
Thank you. Any others?
Yes, ma'am, praying, prayer, yes, reading the Word of God,
daily devotions, yes, ma'am, giving, Yes, Sir, giving, yes.
So we can go on and on, can't we?
Many, many things that we know are clearly revealed in God's
Word. And so if you want to know God's
specific plan for your life, specific will just get busy
obeying His revealed will and and, and, and, and, and that
will help you as you seek to discern His will for your life.
OK, now we come to principle #4 So as I said in the
introduction, those first three points are really preparation of
the heart. And now in principle #4 we're
going to really get into some of the practical side of how we can
actually discern God's will for our lives.
So learn to recognize principle #4 the signposts of God's will,
decisions ahead. Choose your path wisely, OK?
Very important. And I believe that as we really
seek to be yielded to God's will, as we seek his, his his
guidance, then he can, then the Lord will use these principles
to help us. So key thought, there are at
least 4 scriptural principles that will help us discern the
will of God for our lives. And remember, make sure you use
all four, not just one. And I'll highlight that a bit
more later on, but we need, I think all four.
Green lights we could put it OK in in as we see God's will.
So letter A, the guidance of the scriptures, the guidance of the
scriptures.
And the question we need to ask ourselves is, has God spoken to
me through this work, through his word about this decision, EG
through my daily devotions or through a sermon?
And so God, God uses his word in our lives, doesn't he, to speak
to us. And so you need to be in the
Word of God and seeking the word of God.
And it's amazing how God can speak to you through His word.
How many of you have experienced that in your daily devotions or
or even sitting under preaching? And God has given you guidance
through His Word. Psalm 119 verse 105 Thy word is
a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Psalm 100 and 19130 The entrance of thy words giveth light.
It giveth understanding under the simple.
So you just got to be in the Word of God and soaking in the
Word of God and the Word of God will bring light to you and the
principles of God's Word will help guide you in your decision
making. Let it be the leading of the
Spirit. The leading of the Spirit.
And the question we need to ask is do I have the peace of God
about this decision or do I sense the inner promptings of
the Spirit warning me I may be going the wrong direction?
Now quick point here. Remember, the Holy Spirit will
never lead you contrary to the Word of God.
So we're not talking about some sort of charismatic thing where
people today say, well, I know the Bible says this, but the
Spirit told me this. No, the Spirit of God will never
lead you contrary to the Word he inspired.
But if we're saved, we do have the Holy Spirit in our lives,
don't we? And as we stay in the Word of
God and as we're sensitive to the Lord, we can learn as
believers to discern, I believe that the leading of the Spirit.
And have you ever felt troubled about a decision and just didn't
feel right about it? And I'm, again, I'm not talking
about some crazy charismatic thing.
I'm just talking about walking humbly with the Lord.
And you said, you know, I just don't have a piece about this.
I feel like there's, there's a warning there from the Lord.
I need to pray more and see him more.
And that can even be in decisions that perhaps don't
even seem to be that big. And I'll give you an
illustration. In 2024, my wife and I were
discussing where to go for our holiday or vacation.
And we normally go to an area of the coast about an hour and a
half from Adelaide or nearly two hours from Adelaide actually
called Victor Harbour. And anyway, that's normally
where we go. And often my parents or every
year my parents come over from NSW about 14 hours away and we
have a holiday there by the seaside and catch up a bit with
each other. And anyway, in 2024 we
considered, well, maybe we should go back up to, we've been
to one other place before, which is further away in, in in the
opposite direction. And we were considering about
considering going up there. But as we just prayed about it,
Lord, what would you have us to do?
I just said to my wife, I just don't have a piece about going
to this other place. I think we need to go to our
regular place and catch up with mum and dad and see them again.
Well. Little did I.
Realise that that would be my last holiday with my dad and I'm
just so thankful looking back, even though we were minded to go
to this other location, we just didn't have a piece about it and
didn't seem to, I don't know why, but we just don't have a
piece about that. I think we need to go back to
this regular place and catch up with mum and dad.
And that was our last holiday with dad.
We got to have some, we've got some wonderful memories there
with him going fishing and other things.
And then a few months later he he died in his sleep.
And so I'm just saying be sensitive to the Spirit of God
in your life. And as you walk with God, you
can learn more and more to descent.
It's like a gentle pressure on your spirit, OK, Or you might
say, you know, I've prayed about this.
I've sought God's God's will in his word.
And as you've sought, you know, to apply biblical principles,
you come to that place where not I do have, I feel I have a peace
from the Lord about this, OK. But you have to be sensitive.
And Lord help me to to know if I'm doing if I'm out of your
will here. So Acts 13 two as they
ministered to the Lord. And fasted the Holy Ghost said,
separate me, Barnabas, and Saul for the work.
Granted, I've called him. How the Holy Spirit revealed His
will, I don't know exactly, but the Holy Spirit made His will
known. Acts 16637.
We see a similar principle there now.
When we had got they had gone throughout Phrygia and the
region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to
preach the Word in Asia. After they were come to Misea,
they said to go into Biphenia, but the Spirit suffered them
not. And so the leading of the
Spirit, no, not this place, not that place, this way.
OK, let us see, let us see. We also need the Council of the
Saints. So we need the guidance of the
Scriptures, the leading of the Spirit and then the Council of
the Saints. And the question we need to ask
ourselves, have I is this? Have I sought sound counsel or
advice before making this decision?
Now let's consider several important truths about counsel
from the scriptures #1 the Council of Sinners.
Avoid it. So when we talk about counsel,
we don't just want any kind of counsel, do we?
In fact, there is a lot of very bad counsel out there in the
world. Isn't there?
A lot? And let's just be honest.
You should really go to your pastor for counsel before you go
to some unsaved therapist. I believe that's the trend now
is to not really see the pastor as a source of counsel anymore.
And I go to some professional who charges me.
Well, go to your pastor firstly, he won't charge you anything.
It's free and, and #2 he will give you something from the word
of God that's really going to help you.
Now, I'm not saying there's not a place to seek out medical help
for medical things, and I understand that.
But I'm just saying, be be careful about that.
So the council of sinners avoid it.
Psalm one verse one. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way
of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
Proverbs 1927. Cease, my son, to hear the
instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.
Do not underestimate the power of counsel for good or evil.
You get the wrong counsel, it can send your life in a very
dark and dangerous direction. Get the right counsel and it can
be a big lesson to your life. Couple of illustrations there.
Don't have time to look at those.
But Athaliah was a wicked counsellor there.
She counselled her son to do evil.
And then read Second Samuel 13. You'll find that Amnon had a
friend and this friend gave very evil counsel in relation to his
infatuation with Tamar. So what would be some examples?
I need your help again, of people or sources we should not
see counsel from when it comes to our Christian lives.
Hands up. Yes, ma'am.
Celebrities. Thank you.
Celebrities, celebrities. So the pop stars, the movie
stars, the rap stars, the sports stars, they are not a good
source of counsel. Often they're on their third,
fourth, fifth marriage. Their lives are a mess.
I mean, I agree. Other social.
Media influencers, thank you very much.
Do not look to social media as a source of counsel unless you're
listening to a sound preacher. Maybe, but you know what I'm
saying. That bad place to get counsel
from? Yes, Sir.
Politicians. Politicians.
Yep, that's true. Unless they're really, you know,
saved people saying something biblical.
Generally a lot of worldly philosophy.
There. Yes Sir.
False teachers. Prosperity gospel false false
teachers. Prosperity gospel teachers, OK,
so we we're living now in a in the digital age where any Yahoo
can just get on there and and just express their ignorance.
I get sick of it to be honest. The Internet, the amount of
rubbish that people pick up on the Internet, so or trash as you
say, here we have rubbish in Australia, not trash.
All right. It's the same thing though, all
right, but garbage in, garbage out.
OK. What about?
Unsaved family. Got to be careful there, don't
you? Now, you want to love unsaved
family members and seek to reach them, but be careful about
getting advice from them. Unsaved work colleagues?
Probably not a good source of counsel.
Having marriage problems? Don't get counsel from the bloke
in the desk next year. At the desk next year.
He's probably not going to help you.
Makes sense. So we need to be very careful
about the wrong kind of counsel #2 the Council of the
Scriptures. Read it so the council of
sinners avoid it. The council of the Scriptures,
read it. That's a great place to start
for counsel. Here's good counsel.
OK, Psalm 16, seven, I'll bless the Lord who hath given me
counsel. My reigns also instruct me in
the night season. Psalm 119, verse 24.
Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.
Is not the Lord Jesus called the counselor in Isaiah 9 verse 6?
Wonderful, the mighty God councillor.
OK, so get counsel from the Lord. 3 The council of the
Saints seek it, the council of the Saints seek it.
And we have a number of verses there from Proverbs speaking
about the importance of council in our lives.
Read them with me, I will one after the other.
Ready 1-2 Proverbs 11 verse 14 where no council is the people
fall, but in the multitude of councillors there is safety.
Proverbs 1522. Without counsel purposes are
disappointed, but in the multitude of councillors they
are established. Proverbs 24 Six.
For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war, And a multitude of
councillors there is safety. Proverbs 2979 Ointment and
perfume rejoice the heart, so doth the sweetness of a man's
friend. By hearty counsel.
Do you notice the word safety coming through there a bit?
Safety, safety. It's a good idea to get wise
counsel from people, especially when you're making one of those
big life decisions. So, young people, you think you
found Mr. You think you found the your life's partner.
OK, ladies, you think you found Mr. Right, man, you think you
found Mrs. Right. Probably a good idea, though, to
get some counsel, wouldn't you say?
Good idea to get some counsel from godly people in your life
because they may see things. That you aren't seeing.
So some things to bear in mind with getting counsel.
You need to firstly ask for it. You need to ask for it, seek it
out. Problems 20 verse 5 says counsel
in the heart of man is like deep water.
But a man of understanding will draw it out.
Sometimes you have to work a bit actually to find good counsel
because guess what? The guy who's got the gift of
the gab? He's probably not the best
source of counsel. I'll go get counsel from this
guy. He's always talking.
Actually, the Bible says a fool's voice is known for
multitude of words. Now, I know sometimes there's a
personality aspect. Some are more talkative than
others. That's fine.
I'm just saying there are some people, they seem to think
they're an expert on every area of life and there's constantly
sprouting out all these things and all these opinions.
Maybe go to a quiet, humble believer in the church who
doesn't necessarily push their view all the time and ask them
for counsel. You might get a surprise.
My grandfather was like that. Very godly man, very separated
man, World War 2 veteran and Ford alongside the Americans
there through the Pacific islands.
And he wasn't the type to push his counsel on you, but it was
worth asking him for counsel. And sometimes he'd only just
give you a few sentences, but those few sentences were like
gold. Second point.
Hear it. Give it a hearing.
Proverbs 90, verse 20 Hear counsel and receive instruction
that thou must be wise in thy latter end.
Now, if you come to your pastor for counsel, don't expect a
rubber stamp. I've seen this so many times
where people come and it's human.
We come for counsel and we have a preconceived idea of maybe
what we want to hear or what we think the pastor's going to say.
And I've had people actually get quite angry with me.
Well, I didn't expect you to give that sort of counsel.
I'm like, well, you asked for it, didn't you?
If you asked for counsel, have the humility to at least hear
what I have to say. So bear that in mind.
You come to get counsel maybe from your pastor.
Don't be surprised if he says something that maybe you hadn't
thought of. And sometimes if you're not
careful in the Christian life, we're just looking for a rubber
stamp because we often have a strong idea of what we want.
And we're hoping that God and our pastor will just say, yes,
well, that's not a good approach to things because your heart
should be, Lord, I want your will.
And if I'm missing something, help me to find out, help me to
see it. In fact, I tell people we often
like to come to God with, with everything written out, If you
can imagine, we have our plans, our dreams, our ideas written
out on a sheet of paper. And we tend to come to God and
say, sign here, Lord, sign here. This is what I want.
You know, we may not put it quite like that, but that's kind
of in practice what we can be like sometimes.
Bring God a blank sheet of paper.
You let him write on there what His will is for your life, and
then you sign. OK, Get it?
So remember that we need to remember God's will is best.
And sometimes and often council will confirm we're on the right
track, but sometimes it'll it'll, it'll maybe give us a bit
of a shake up and make us think about things we haven't thought
of. And obviously counsel from any
human being, even if they're godly people, is not infallible.
So you have to always just weigh things against scripture and
ultimately individual sole liberty.
You make the final decision. But it's a wise part of the
process to hear godly counsel. 3 Then we need to test it.
Well, this learning is 521 Approve all things, hold fast
that which is good. When you get counsel from other
believers, you will get a surprise sometimes and you will
sometimes hear very bad counsel even from Christians,
unfortunately. And you can get a surprise
sometimes at how unbiblical people are thinking.
So if, if, if someone's counsel goes against God's word, don't
say oh, so and so counsel me to do this.
No, no, no, that God's word is always the final authority,
isn't it? Right.
So be humble, give council a hearing and then test it by
Scripture and and it's just part of the process God will use to
help refine sometimes your understanding of his will or
just provide some guidance. And that's very, very important.
OK, help again from you. Please list some examples of the
sort of people we should go to for council.
Hands up again, and maybe someone who hasn't had a turn
yet. Let's see, Yes, pastor, yes.
Go to your pastor, eat pasta, go to your pastor.
Amen. Yes, Sir.
Godly parents. Now, if you don't have godly
parents, they may have some wisdom when it comes to worldly
matters, but in for Christian spiritual counsel, you're
probably not going to get much help from them.
You need to honour them. But you're going to have to rely
more on your pastor and other godly people in the church.
But certainly if you've got godly parents, guess what?
They do love you if they're good parents and they do know a
couple of things. Just surprise, surprise, OK,
It's hard for a 16 year old to understand that their parents
might know something, but they're probably double your
age. They've lived a bit more than
you have. So just, you know, learn to hear
what they've got to say. All right, Anyone else?
Yes, Sir, Amen. I've got that in my notes here.
Mature Saints, older Saints in the assembly.
Certainly if you've got godly, godly people in the church
who've lived life, walked with God for many years, great idea
to go to them and to bounce things off of them.
Yes ma'am, Pastor's wife, definitely.
Yep. And if you're a lady, that's a
good place to go. Or if you need to speak to the
pastor, have her present or another mature lady.
OK, very good. I would say this as well.
I think even godly friends can be a good source of counsel.
Now we have to be careful about only getting counsel from our
peer group, but if you have a true friend, they'll tell you
what you need to hear, not what they what you want.
They'll tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to
hear. And again, when you're in the
midst of it, of making a decision, very often there's
emotions involved. And sometimes you're just not
seeing the big picture. And that's where someone who's
an objective bystander can sometimes speak into the
situation and say, look, here's what I can see, watch out for
this or for that. Or they might say, no, I think
you're on the right track. But the point is, the Council of
the Saints, there is an important factor in seeking
God's will. It's a, it's a real blessing.
Makes sense. OK #4 #4 the direction of
circumstances. Do I have an open door from the
Lord to go this direction? Now I put this one at the.
Last for a. Reason it's a it is a it is an
important factor, but be very careful about relying on this
alone, because they an opportunity doesn't necessarily
mean it's God's will. Do you understand that sometimes
people think, well, this is a great opportunity, it must be
God's will. Hang on.
Have you applied Principle 1-2 and three, have you sought
guidance from the Scriptures? Have you sought godly counsel
from your pastor? Have you are?
You seeking that? Are you being sensitive to the
leading of the Spirit of God? So give you an illustration,
someone says well this is fantastic.
I've been offered a job. It's double the pay, and it's
over here in this town. And then you ask, OK, that's
great. Is there a good church there?
Oh, oh, well, you know, it must be God's will because it's going
to be double the pay. Hang on a second.
You better just pause and slow down.
And an opportunity is not automatically God's will.
It could be, It could be, But don't just rush through into an
opportunity without considering other scriptural principles.
If there's no good church there, it's probably fairly likely it's
not God's will for you to move there.
You'd be better to stay on your current wage and be in a good
church than move halfway across the country to a spiritual
desert that's not going to be good for you or your family.
OK, that's just one illustration.
But all things considered, yes, God can use circumstances.
So we have to be careful there because I think sometimes the
devil can try and line things up for us as well.
And that's where all these principles working together will
help us. It's like there's a there's
safety there by applying all. Of all four.
So the principle of the open or closed door, Revelation 3738
speaks about the Lord opening a door that no man could shut and
and and so on, and 1 Corinthians 16/9 For a great door and
effectual is opened unto me. 2nd Corinthians 212 Furthermore,
when I came to trios to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was
opened unto me of the Lord. So we see that principle of the
Lord opening a door for you or shutting a door.
I think it's good to pray, Lord, I feel this is probably your
will. I'm seeking to move in this
direction, but slam that door in my face if I'm moving in the
wrong direction. And I believe, if I believe that
if we have a really have a heart to know God's will, he will make
it plain to us because he wants us to be in his will even more
than we desire to be in his will.
So, OK, Lord, I've sought, I'm in the word of God, I'm seeking
guidance from the Scriptures. I do feel a piece about this.
I've sought counsel from godly people and now I'm seeking to
move in that direction. I'm looking for an open door.
So give you an illustration. When over 10 years ago, I was
praying about God's will for the future.
I was working as an assistant pastor with my my dad and the
church that my dad started almost well now almost 50 years
ago. At that time it was about nearly
40 years old was without a pastor and they contacted the
public committee contacted me and said would you pray about
being a candidate. And so we went through a process
and I really sought to apply these principles.
I've I've shared with you this morning.
I was in the word of God seeking the leading, seeking to be
sensitive to the to the leading of the Spirit of God.
I got counsel sat down with the men of the church and said this
is this is the situation. What are your honest thoughts
heard their counsel. If my pastor at the time and
said look, major red lights, I wouldn't have gone.
I'm sure I wouldn't have gone. I was looking for the Lord's
leadership there, or I would have at least, given that a very
careful hearing. So, but when it was all when all
that was said and done, when the church took a vote, if it was a
no, that would be a closed door, but it was a yes and the Lord
just threw the door open. And so I've seen these
principles play out in my life before when making key
decisions. And so seek to apply them to
your life and the Lord will lead and guide you.
So you may feel, OK, I feel like this is God's will, but if the
Lord shuts the door in your face, God hasn't let you down.
You just misunderstood something along the way.
And that's why we need all four principles working together,
because sometimes in our humanity we do miss, we
sometimes misread what we think is God's will.
So give you another illustration.
When I was about 18 years of age, I was really keen on this
pastor's daughter. She was a sweet young lady and I
had a big long list of verses as to why she was the one.
Every time I read a, a verse in the Bible, like he that findeth
the wife findeth a good thing, I was sure God was speaking to me.
I mean, I had a revelation, man. Not quite, but you know, I just,
I thought that that was God's will, right?
And look, our parents allowed us to get to know each other in an
appropriate way. We wrote some letters and
things, but fairly early in the piece it became pretty clear we
weren't on the same page in some key, on some key issues, and the
Lord basically ended up just slamming the door in my face.
Now, was there any problem with God's Word?
No, but my emotions had misled me.
I had read, you know, I had read verses and sort of taken them to
apply to that situation because of my desires.
Does that make sense? The problem's not God's Word,
but sometimes we, sometimes we make a mistake in our, in our,
in our, in our desire to find God's will.
And that's where again, I emphasize when you have all four
of these principles working, then it's, there's, there's
safety there. So in, in relation to that young
lady, I had a big long list of diverses, but my parents counsel
was Simeon, we can see this is not going to work.
And here's why. Now, I'll be honest with you.
At the time, my emotions were involved and I really couldn't
see with sharp clarity what my parents were seeing.
But I thank God at the time, I had enough wisdom to say, you
know what, I think my parents know what they're talking about.
I'll just defer to their wisdom, right?
And I'm so thankful I did that because God had someone else for
me and she was much better suited.
She was God's choice for me. So all right, conclusion #1
let's just think about this traffic light illustration.
Am I getting green lights from the Lord in the above 4 areas?
So think about that illustration of the traffic light.
You come to the light, it's green number one, second light
green, third light green, 4th light green.
I would suggest it's wise to try and look for a green light in
all four of those principles. And if you get a green, a green
light in all four of those areas, it's it's probably a
strong indication you're moving in the direction that God has
for you. You may get an amber light
sometimes slow down. If you get a hard red in any one
of these three, you better stop. You better stop and pray.
It might be that it's still God's rule, but a matter of
timing. Sometimes God says you wait for
a while, just park right there, OK, And the light might turn
green or the right the light may stay red because you've been you
thought you were heading in the right direction and God is
saying stop, no, don't go there. So again, young people, if you
get to the point where you think off this is the this is the one
for me and your parents are like red light, red light, red light.
You better slow down. You better stop or you might be
on your way to a catastrophe at the intersection there.
You might be on your way for a crash church member If you feel
that well, God wants me to do this.
If you're past the same look, I just I really don't have a piece
about this slow down. I'm not talking about a pastor
who's manipulative. And carnal, and they do exist.
And so you have to be discerning.
But I'm talking about a genuine man of God who loves you, wants
the best of you. Slow down.
OK, our time's over. Some questions to ponder.
Number one, has there ever been a time in your life where you've
said a complete yes to the will of God #2 how are you actively
seeking to fulfil the general will of God for your life while
you wait on Him for guidance in other areas?
And three, are you seeking guidance through the right
scriptural means? We'll leave it there.
Did anyone miss a blank that they need help with?
OK, over to you, Pastor. Thank you.
And yeah, if there's time, young people, you can come up, show me
your notes, and you can have one of these.
All right, we'll just close in prayer.
Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you so
much for the lesson this morning.
And just for the reminder for those who are in God's will and
for those who are seeking God, I pray that you'd help them to
find it and I pray that you'd help them be willing to do it
when they do find it. I pray that you just bless the
service in the next hour. Thank you again for all you do
in Jesus name, Amen.