If you get nothing from the sermon, get this.
You need to learn how to distinguish between these three.
Okay?
And not just flippantly live the Christian life.
You know, I just make whatever decision and not adhere to wise counsel,
not adhere to the word of God, just kind of make any kind of decision I want.
Now look, all things work together for good,
but we want to make sure that we do the right decision still.
So I'll just make a bad decision, got to work it out together for good as long as I love Him.
Yeah, but you know what? In the process of that, you're going to suffer the consequences of your bad decision.
I'd rather just make the right decision.
Okay?
And have God layer blessing on top of blessing.
I'd rather God layer a blessing on top of the blessing of just being obedient to God.
Right?
So let's talk about the wills of God, not this will.
You know?
Talking about the wills of God, what His will is for our life.
Number one, of course, as we mentioned, is the perfect will of God.
And this is defined as what God originally intended for your life as a believer.
Now, here's the thing.
Okay?
Listen up.
Some people wonder like, well, how do I know if I'm in the perfect will of God or not?
I mean, don't you wonder that sometimes?
You know, obviously we enjoy the Christian life.
We love what we do.
But sometimes we wonder like, what is this?
Did I miss out?
Did that train already leave?
How do I know if I'm in the perfect will of God?
And here's the answer.
You don't.
No one really knows if they're in the perfect will of God or not.
You just know if you're not.
Right?
Think about that.
So we don't really know like, oh, man, this is God's perfect will.
Now, look, if you were to ask me, Pastor, do you think you're doing God's perfect will?
I would say, you know, I would conjecture yes.
You know, I think I'm doing God's perfect will.
I believe that train, you know, I didn't miss that train, but you know what?
I could have.
Maybe God wanted me to be a pastor earlier.
Maybe there are certain things that happen.
Maybe some bad decisions that I made.
I don't know.
I don't know if this is God's perfect will.
I would assume that it is.
I can't say 100%, but I would say yes.
But let me say this, is that each and every one of us, if we're outside of the will of God, would know that that's not the perfect will of God for our lives.
You see what I'm saying?
You don't know if you're in the perfect will of God.
You just know when you're not.
And I believe it's like that for a reason.
Okay?
You know when you're pressing towards the mark, but we also know when we're in sin.
And let me say this, is that nobody in this world lives a perfect life.
Obviously, the perfect will of God is that you just remain sinless, right?
That we just do not sin.
But here's the reality, there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sin is not.
So I would say that there's times when we're in the perfect will of God, when we're in the Spirit.
And then, you know what, when we walk in the flesh, obviously that's not God's perfect will.
And I would assert that the longer you're in the flesh, the longer you're out of the perfect will of God.
So our lives should be characterized by striving to just obey God, serve Him, and just assume, I guess this is the perfect will of God for my life.
You know?
And I think God has it like that for a reason.
I think He leaves that question mark in our lives for a reason.
Because it really causes us to strive and to press towards the mark.
It really causes us to say, well, if this is the perfect will of God, I want to make sure that I get the most out of it.
I want to make sure that I stay in church, that I keep reading my Bible, that I keep winning souls to the Lord.
That I'm praying, that I'm serving, that I keep sin out of my life.
You know, because if this is the will of God, I don't want to ruin it.
I don't want to forfeit it.
So often in the Christian life, God will leave you with that question mark for a reason.
You know?
Because here's the thing, if God said, look, this is what you have to do in order to do the perfect will of God, more people would be doing it.
But because that question mark is left there in our lives, all we're left with to do is just, well, I guess we just need to serve God.
We just need to be in church and do that which we know we're supposed to do.
And just assume, hey, I guess since I'm doing everything that I'm supposed to by faith, I'm going to assume that I am in the perfect will of God.