.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Correct.
Amen.
Let's start our members to some other one house.
165
Hold on a song of love, and pray for this King.
His own love for love, our shield can breathe,
and fill the ancient world, please.
For a million years, we'll grow, and burn, and build with praise.
Hotel of his own, and signal his praise.
Whose wall is the line?
Whose path will be spaced?
Whose shield is the black moon behind the glass door?
And what is this path of the rings of the storm?
Oh, how deep, oh clear, what a lovely sight,
when we take the air, it shines in the wine.
His dreams are but everything he says to the plain,
and sweetly he still feels the thrill in the rain.
Well, children of dust, and people as well,
in need to be sure, nor kindly to fail,
one who sees the tender, now full to the end,
how great will he be, when the King's in the world, and now.
And at this time, we'll go over to the announcements.
If you need to be calling, we'll be sending someone to the 100 and a 62.
If you need a bulletin, go ahead and lift up your hand.
Brother Fabian will bring you one.
As always, the service times are listed there
in the upper left-hand side.
And don't forget, this Thursday at 7,
we'll be in 1 Kings, chapter number 7.
We've got the Churchwide Soul winning below that,
as well as some other stats.
Mexico Monday is tomorrow, so if anybody was planning on going,
please go ahead and let me know.
Don't forget the mega conference.
If you want to go up Wednesday to see Pastor Robinson preaching,
make sure you sign up on the back there,
and please be here by 5 o'clock.
You've got the QR code there for the service
for the Red Hot Preaching YouTube channel.
You can catch Pastor Anderson there on Friday, July 15.
That's this Friday at 7.30 PM, approximately, he'll be preaching.
And then we've got the weekly Bible memory passage.
Of course, we're wrapped up, Proverbs chapter 3, last week.
And then we had the challenge for those
that were memorizing it to go ahead and recite
the whole thing.
I'm going to go ahead and just see who.
I want to get an accurate count.
Who recited it?
Who's gotten it's going to earn the prize?
Yeah, Robert, I know.
Great job.
And honestly, it makes me happy to have
people that are doing this, especially young people, saying
we do it.
It's really encouraging.
So anybody else besides those two?
All right.
Is anybody else going to do it tonight?
If you do, OK, if you do, let me know
so I can get your name written down,
and I can make sure I have that special prize for you
next week.
Let's see, we'll go ahead and count up the soul winning,
other than that.
And let's go back to Friday.
Is anything for Friday?
And then did the group have anything out Saturday?
No?
And then what about today for the group?
Too great.
And you met Gabriel Gifford's savior.
He wanted nothing to do with the savior,
but met the man that saved Gabby Gifford.
What a claim to fame.
That is something else, I'll tell you what.
Anyway, that's going to do it for announcements.
Before I get too carried away, we'll
go ahead and sing one more song before I get the preaching.
Song number 162, To God Be the Glory.
To God be the glory, Great is he right now,
So good be the world that we gave our city sun.
Here it is, my children, I'm chosen for sin,
And the people will teach that the holy one can.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice.
O God, drink the bottle, through Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great is he our God.
O God, give redemption, the purchase of God,
Till earth repeat me through the chorus of God.
O God, bless the man who shall bring me peace,
Let alone wait for Jesus, the God of grace to see.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice.
O God, drink the bottle, through Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great is he our God.
O God, drink the bottle, through Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great is he our God.
O God, drink the bottle, through Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great is he our God.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear his voice.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice.
O God, drink the bottle, through Jesus the Son,
And give him the glory, great is he our God.
That's Proverbs chapter 3, as always,
we'll read the entire chapter.
Please follow along silently as Brother Gabriel reads to us
from Proverbs chapter 3.
Proverbs chapter 3.
Verse 1, the Bible reads, my son,
again I am not involved, but let thy heart seem like a palace,
and let the days of my life, and peace shall they add to me.
And not mercy, and truth, and safety,
by the law of thy head, and by the law of thy table,
and thy heart, and so shall thou find a favor,
and doest thy standards, and doest thy God an end.
Blessed be thou with all thy heart,
and be thou with thy own understanding,
and all thy good knowledge, and be thou with thy past.
Be thou wise, and thou knowest, and be thou the ruler,
and the part of me, and shall be held to thy favor,
and be thou to thy office, and on the road of thy substance,
and with thy virtues, and with all thy interests.
And so shall thy heart be filled with plenty,
and thy presence shall burst out into wine.
The son, despite not chasing on the Lord,
has reared his direction, to whom the Lord loved him,
directed him, to him as the father of the son,
to whom he delighted him.
Happiness, and having fine wisdom,
and happiness, and Christianity, to the merchant that is fit,
and the merchant that is silver, is in danger of finding gold.
He is more precious and ruthless,
and all things that pass aside are not to be prepared.
Like the days of the right and the left,
have rigid and odd ways of pleasantness,
power, power, and peace, to entreat life.
Like the old one, in happy and gentle entertainment,
the Lord, by wisdom, hath found a miracle,
and hath extended it.
Having established what happens,
and has knowledge, he dares to open up,
and the cloud doth drop down with beauty,
and he saith unto him,
That art not in the heart but in the eyes,
and keeps out wisdom and discretion.
And so shall it be that life, like soul,
will raise thy neck,
and then shalt thou walk in thy way safely,
and thy foot shall not stumble,
and thou liest down, and thou shalt not be afraid,
and then shalt thou shalt lie down,
and shall be sweet,
and be not afraid of sudden fear,
and tired of desolation, and wickedness,
and comfort.
And so the Lord shall be thy confidence,
and shall keep thy foot from being taken,
and go not good,
and them to whom to do,
and then to the power that I have to do.
And so thou shalt not hate,
and go and run again,
and tomorrow give,
and thou hast a life,
and if life is not evil,
and is starvation,
and seems well secured by it,
and shall have thousands of mammals
and hogs,
and only have done me no harm,
and be thou not the oppressor,
and choose not his ways,
for the throne of all nations,
and the throne of the secret,
and the secret of the righteous,
and the curse of the Lord,
and the house of the wicked,
and the blessed,
and the habitation of the just,
and the church of this morning,
and this morning,
and in the grace of the Lord,
who I shall have their glory,
and be changed into the promotion of fools.
For the might of the Lord,
and the praise of the Lord.
Lord, thank you for the day,
and for the opportunity we have
to be in church this evening.
I hope you with our gracious Lord,
and thank you for the word of God,
and keep us saying amen.
Amen.
So, of course, I'm sure several of the people tonight are very familiar with Proverbs chapter 3.
That's the chapter we've been having the young people memorize over the last several weeks.
But I did want to preach just tonight very briefly on a particular couple of verses there in verse 5,
where it says,
Trust the Lord with all thine heart,
and lean not on thine understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
And what I want to preach about tonight
is how God guides us.
How God guides us.
And this is a very, you know,
it's an important subject to know,
but it's also one that really gets kind of mystified out there,
especially if you've ever been in, you know,
some of the other Baptist churches that are out there.
They tend to make, you know,
this idea of knowing the will of God for your life into this very, you know,
just mystifying, mysterious,
just this kind of, you know,
vapid thing that you have to somehow,
you know, figure out, you know.
And really, when we look at Scripture,
God's not really trying to make his will hidden.
You know, if God has a will for us,
why wouldn't he want us to know what it is?
And this is something, you know,
I think is particularly important.
It's near and dear to me because of the fact I know
that when I was a younger person,
this is something that, you know,
is very frustrating to me because it's, you know,
people teach certain things about the will of God
and it can become very frustrating for some people
to the point where they feel like they,
that they're not fulfilling God's will
or they're never going to know what God's will is.
You know, they'll say certain things like,
you know, for example,
you better make sure you find the person that God wants you to marry.
You know, not the right spouse,
not the right kind of person, no, the person.
As if there's just one particular person
that God has intended you to marry
and if you don't marry that specific,
then all of a sudden you're out of God's will.
And look, that sounds kind of harmless on the surface,
but what if you're so convinced of that
and then you end up marrying that person
that was so called, you know, not the right person?
You know, if you're, and look, people get there.
I've known people, they've gone there.
And they've said, well, I've just convinced, you know,
I married the wrong person that God,
that I was out of God's will.
And, you know, that can turn into just a big,
ugly mess right there.
People can get carried away.
So this is something that I've thought a lot about,
something that I've dealt with early on in my Christian life,
this idea of, you know, knowing the will of God for your life.
And again, it's not this mysterious thing.
You know, the Bible, it's very on the surface.
You know, the Bible makes it very clear
what God's will is for us, all right?
And we don't have to sit here
and beat our heads against the wall
trying to figure out what it is that God wants us to do.
I mean, isn't that what it's saying here?
Look, trust in the Lord with all thine heart
and lean not on thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.
That's a very important verse.
He's saying, look, if you acknowledge God in all of your ways,
he's going to direct your paths.
Now, what does it mean to acknowledge God?
Is it just saying, oh, I know God exists?
Or is it saying, you know, really what it means by that
is when you acknowledge God, you're acknowledging his word,
you're acknowledging his commandments, his law.
You're acknowledging, you know, what you already know God wants you to do,
and then he will guide your paths.
Why? Because you're walking in the light of his word.
It's not that confusing.
He's saying, you know, you have to trust in the Lord with all thine heart
and lean not on thine own understanding.
Meaning that when we read in the word of God what God's will is,
we should not sit there and say, well, that doesn't make sense to me,
and start saying things like, well, I know that's what the Bible says,
but I just feel.
It's like, well, that's not your, you know, that's not Bible.
That's not God's will then.
That's your will.
That's different.
God's will is not this mysterious thing.
It's all here in the word of God.
What we have to do is just know the word of God,
live the word of God,
and we will find ourselves fulfilling the will of God for our lives
and being directed in the path.
If you would, keep something in Proverbs chapter 3.
We'll come back a little bit later tonight
and then go over to Proverbs 16.
Just go to Proverbs chapter 16.
You know, I want to just dispel this idea
that God's will is this, you know, there's some kind of mystique around it.
There really isn't, you know,
and maybe part of that is that people want to make,
they just have this need to make things, you know,
more enticing or more exciting, you know,
but God's will when you're living for the Lord really actually,
you know, that is an exciting life.
You know, if you're actually serving the Lord,
you're winning souls, you're reading the Bible,
you're comprehending, you know, the things to come,
you know, the Book of Revelation.
I mean, there's so many exciting things in the Word of God,
you know, why make it more mysterious than you need to?
It's not this complex thing.
We have the promise of God's guidance in His Word.
It's right there for us.
The Bible says in Proverbs 16 verse 9,
A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.
You know, we would sit down and we would look at the Word of God
and say, well, I know what the Bible says.
This is God's will right here in the Word of God.
I'm going to live my life accordingly.
We would, what, devise our way, right?
We would determine to live our life in a certain way
and then when we do that, that's when God begins to, what, direct our steps.
So what I'm not saying is that, you know,
God doesn't have certain things that He wants for us to do as individuals.
I believe there is an element of that.
I think it gets blown way out of proportion
and people tend to emphasize that more than just doing the plain will of God that's right here,
the revealed Word of God or will of God in His Word.
But there is obviously an element if we're living in God's Word, walking in His will,
if we're devising our ways according to the Word of God,
you know, yeah, sure, God will probably begin to direct our steps.
I believe that.
He could engineer circumstances, cause certain people to cross our paths,
we would end up making certain decisions that He has influenced in one way or another.
I do believe that, okay?
But now I'm not gonna go to this great length where you, you know,
you could end up missing some predestined, predetermined will of God for your life
to where now, you know, you make this one wrong decision
and now you're just completely off the path of God's will and, you know, you've missed it.
And people, you know, that can be a very frustrating thing if you believe that.
Cause, you know, what if you're one of those people who believes,
I missed God's will for my life?
It really can just turn into some kind of an excuse for some.
Go to Proverbs chapter 32, Proverbs chapter number 32.
You know, we have the promise of God's guidance in His Word.
You know, that's a very precious promise in the Word of God.
It's a very comforting thing to know that God is going to guide us through this life.
You know, the world can be a very, you know, scary place.
The world can be a very dangerous place.
The world can be a very, you know, confusing place to live.
So it's a very good thing to know that we have, you know, the promise of God's guidance in our lives.
He said there, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.
I will guide thee with mine eye, and that's Psalms 32.
I don't know if I said Proverbs. I probably meant Psalms, Psalms 32.
Everyone's looking at me sideways.
I know there isn't a 32, 32nd book in the book of Proverbs, alright?
It's Psalms 32.
I had to figure that out while I was preaching just now, by the way.
Like, why is everyone doing that?
I'm like, okay, what did I say wrong?
You know, I'm pretty sure I didn't just cuss from the pulpit.
You know, alright.
No, I said Proverbs. That's why.
So yeah, Proverbs 32, verse 8.
That's where we find that very precious promise in the word of God.
That he will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.
I will guide thee with mine eye.
I mean, isn't that a great thing to have in the word of God?
That God is promising that he's going to teach us and guide us.
That he's going to be with us in life.
And, you know, that's a great promise.
And it's unfortunate that so many people, you know, miss out on that.
Because they're told that, you know, well, it's more than what's just in here.
You know, you better make sure you just have the, if you don't have the deepest walk possible with God,
you know, then you're just never going to know God's will.
If you're just not, you know, praying through and, you know, breaking through with God.
If you're not just, you know, spending hours in prayer, days fasting,
you know, then you must not really want to know the will of God for your life.
You know, but is that how we guide other people that are under our care?
I mean, is that how we guide our children?
When our children come to us and say, what do I do? I need help.
Prove to me that you really want me to help you.
Dad, I would like to learn how to tie my shoe. How do I tie my shoe?
Do you really want to know how to tie your shoe?
Let me see some tears.
You know, let me watch you walk barefoot through the Arizona heat,
and then we'll see how bad you really want my knowledge and wisdom and instruction for your life.
You know, that's not God. God isn't just this cruel, you know, taunting God
who's just dangling his will out in front of us like some kind of a carrot.
You know, God wants us to know his will for us, because God wants his will to be fulfilled.
If God has a will, then he wants it done.
So why wouldn't you just make that obvious?
Just like we do our children. We love our kids. We tell them very plainly, here's what I expect.
These are the rules. This is what you can do. This is what you can't do.
You know, as far as rules, or hey, let me help you with that.
If you're struggling with something, I'll give you the wisdom and knowledge you need to figure that out.
You know, that's what a loving parent would do. That's what a loving God would do.
Not hide God's will and kind of just show it to you a little bit.
Oh, I got God's will, huh? You want to know what this is, huh?
Alright, prove it to me. Show me that you want to know, and then I'll reveal it to you.
That's not God.
Understanding God's will, you know, is very practical. It's a very practical concept.
And hopefully by the end of this sermon tonight, I'll have demystified this notion
that it's somehow this mysterious thing that we have to, you know, figure out, or even worse, earn.
I mean, think about how many things are very easily understood to be within or without the will of God.
I mean, we could probably all think about something that we just know plainly is the will of God.
For example, salvation. I mean, doesn't the Bible say that God is not willing,
that any should perish, but that all what should come to repentance?
God is not willing. I mean, that's a very, you know, well, what's God's will for your life? To get saved.
That all would be saved, that all would come to repentance. That's not a confusing thing.
That's right there on the surface. That's God's will.
And there's just verse after verse about that.
Whosoever shall do the will of God the same as my brother and my mother.
And what is the will of God? What is the work of God? This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He hath sent.
I mean, God wants people to believe on Him whom He hath sent, Jesus Christ, and to be saved.
I mean, that's just one example of all the things about God's will that are just right there on the surface,
things that are just plain to see, you know, and it's not like God kind of baits us in with this easy part of His will for us,
and then says, okay, now that I've got you here and now that I've got you saved, I'm just going to hide the rest
until I think, you know, you're worthy of knowing what my will is.
I mean, think about all the other things that are just easily understood to be God's will.
Salvation. What about when it comes to service? Obviously, we all understand that God wants us to serve Him.
You know, God wants us to live for Him and to please Him.
But, you know, even beyond that, what about serving other people?
For example, at our jobs, Ephesians 6, you know, it tells us to be obedient to our masters, according to the flesh,
with fear and trembling and singleness of heart, as unto Christ, not with eye service as men pleasers,
but as the servants of Christ, doing what? The will of God from the heart.
You say, what's God's will? What should I, you know, what's God's will for my life when it comes to work?
What job should I have? What job does God want me to have?
Obviously, any job that would get you involved in sin is off the table.
You know, and I'm not going to go into all those things. Hopefully, we all understand what those things are.
You know, if you're serving alcohol, that's not what God wants for you.
Woe unto Him that giveth his neighbor drink. Okay?
The Bible says we shouldn't even be looking at it, right? Let alone serving it to other people.
We should be holding it with our eyes.
Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.
You know, more than wondering, you know, what job God wants us to do, we should be asking, how does God want me to do my job?
That's really what the will of God is about. It's not about the what, or the where, or the when.
It's about, you know, the how. How should you be doing it? It's the what of God's will, rather.
You know, how should you be performing at your job?
Rather than worrying so much, do I have the right job? God's more concerned with how good are you at that job?
What kind of a testimony are you at that job?
You know, that's God's will. And look, that's something that's very easily understood.
That's right there on the surface.
And these are the type of things that if we just start doing these things, if we start to just devise our way and just say,
well, I'm just going to do what I know from the Bible that is God's will, then God will direct our paths.
And will guide us.
You know, we could start with that.
You know, get saved, obviously, and then, you know, serve.
Serving God, and not only that, you know, even our testimony out in the world,
when we get in the workplace, or if we are working at home or wherever,
any time we're endeavoring to do something, we should do it as the servants of Christ from the heart,
doing the will of God from the heart.
I should have you go over to 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter chapter number 3.
You know, a great example that helped me understand this, that I was told was,
and I'm sure I've shared this illustration before,
but, you know, is the example of when, this illustration of when Eve came to the Lord when they were in the garden,
and this is an extra biblical story.
Okay, this didn't actually happen.
You know, this is 2nd Opinions chapter 2.
All right, is when Eve came to the Lord and said,
Lord, I want to know what you want me to cook for Adam tonight for dinner.
You know, what is your will for the dinner that I should prepare for Adam?
And the Lord looked at her and said, of all the trees in the garden, thou mayest freely eat.
And she said, I understand that, Lord, I know that's what you said in your word,
but what is your perfect will?
What is it that you want me to make tonight for this particular meal?
You know, should I pick the mangoes or the avocados, or I don't know what was growing there.
You know, should I get this fruit or that, what kind of a salad, you know,
because they weren't eating meat at that point.
I don't know how they call it paradise, but, you know, that's what they were doing.
And he says, look, Eve, of all the trees in the garden thou mayest freely eat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Lord, but what's your perfect meal for him?
You know, God gives us liberty in life.
As long as we're within the bounds of God's revealed will, which is in his word,
you know, God, I believe, gives us liberty to make certain decisions for ourselves.
You know, we're not all just these, you know, automatons down here just kind of, you know,
pre-programmed to just do exact, you know, that everything's just laid out for us.
You know, God gives us free will.
You know, and that was something that really helped me when it came to this concept of getting married,
which, you know, as a young person is a very, you know, that's probably the number one thing you think about, right?
That's like, that's your big, you know, that's the next, and rightly so,
that's the next, you know, huge life decision that you have to make.
Who am I going to marry?
You know, and we sit there and we go, well, is this person the exact person that God wants me to marry?
And God just says, well, you know, are they saved?
You know, and obviously there's other factors that you want to consider when considering a spouse.
You know, are they in church?
Are they serving God in that church?
Are they fervent about the things of the Lord?
You know, what kind of a parent, you know, are they going to be?
Do they share the same values?
Do you like them?
Do you find them attractive?
You know, obviously those things, but those are the determining things that you have to go through
and check off when you're finding a spouse.
Not just saying, well, I'm just going to wait for someone to tell me that this is the person that God told me to marry.
You know, God's will when it comes to marriage and who we should marry is revealed in his word.
And, you know, God is saying, look, of all the trees, thou mayest freely eat.
Obviously there's some, you know, when it comes to marriage, there's some trees that are off limits.
You know, the unsaved, there's probably some other people that, other factors that would out, you know,
should probably, you know, cross some people off of a list.
But, you know, those are all just determining things.
Those are the determining factors that help us, you know, make our own decisions for ourselves within the will of God.
Did I have you in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15?
He says there in verse 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts,
and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear,
having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as evildoers,
that they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your gut conversation in Christ,
for it is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well-doing than for evildoing.
You know, part of God's will for our life, when it comes to service, is that we're going to suffer.
You know, that's part of the Christian life, that we are going to receive backlash from the world,
that there's going, people are going to be upset, you know, by the word of God.
It's going to upset them.
You know, that's why we shouldn't think, you know, that some strange thing happened to one of us
when we go through some fiery trial, as Peter said.
You know, this is par for the course.
This is the same, you know, persecution that is experienced by our brethren around the world,
and to much greater degrees than many of us have ever experienced.
So, you know, that's just an example of God, you know, a few examples of, you know, God's revealed will in his word
when it comes to things like salvation, to service.
What about sin?
You know, do we have to really wonder whether certain things are okay with God, or are they considered sinful?
Right?
Go to 1 Peter chapter number 4, 1 Peter chapter number 4.
It says there in 1 Peter chapter number 4,
For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind,
for he that suffered in the flesh hath seeth from sin, that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh,
to the lust of men, but to the what? The will of God.
So what's the will of God there?
It's the opposite of living to the lusts of the flesh.
You know, the Bible says that this is the will of God, what?
Even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication.
You know, and that's a pretty just well understood idea that sleeping around before marriage or committing adultery are outside of the will of God.
Even the world gets that, because that's just something that everyone knows is wrong until they or somebody else convince them otherwise.
But in their hearts, you know, we know that.
You don't have to really convince people of that.
They might not think it's wrong, but at the very least, the unsaved know that's wrong for a Christian to do.
They know that a Christian's not supposed to be doing that.
I mean, it's that much of a revealed thing in the word of God that even the world understands it.
So, you know, I'm just citing a few examples tonight about how God's will is something that is revealed through his word.
It's right there on the surface.
We don't have to sit here and wonder what it is that God wants us to do with our lives.
We have to really concern ourselves with what's already written down for us and start doing it.
You know, it's like people get down on their knees and they start praying,
going, God, I just want to know what your will is for me.
Please show me what you want me to do and who you want me to marry
and what job I should have and where I should live and how to do that, how to raise my kids and how to do this.
And God's just up in heaven going.
God's like, oh, okay, here, answered prayer. Here, I answered your prayer.
You can go ahead. I got all the answers right here for you.
But, you know, we want to feel so special, right? We want to just feel so special, like God told me.
No, no, God told me.
You know, whenever I hear that, I just go, oof.
Because that's scary.
It's like, oh, God told you, huh? All right.
You know, I thought God has spoken unto us in these last days by his son, right?
But I guess God, you know, the heavens are opening now and you're revealing divine, receiving divine revelation from God now, you know.
And typically, a lot of times, and I've heard this over the years, people that say that, you find out later it's not true.
It's like, well, God told me to buy this land and build this building.
And then everyone in the church fails. It's like, well, what happened?
You know, I thought that God told you.
You know, God has told us all quite a bit, hasn't he? Right here in the Bible.
And really, what we should try to avoid doing is lifting ourselves up like we're some kind of spiritual rock star that has a more direct line to the throne of God than anybody else.
You know, that's open to all of God's children.
And we should really just avail ourselves to the revealed will of God that's already in his word.
You know, that's where God's will is found. It's not found outside of his word, right?
Go back to Proverbs chapter 3, Proverbs chapter number 3.
It really is going to be a short one tonight and I designed it that way.
Because I said that this morning and then I looked and I preached for an hour, over an hour.
And I said, I broke my promise.
So I purposely limited myself to two pages of notes tonight.
Because I know I've been preaching some long, hairy sermons over the last few weeks.
So I'm trying to find some more light-hearted subjects and tonight I'm kind of making it a little shorter for everybody that's been hanging with me.
But again, you know, and I'm not saying that because I'm in a hurry to get out of the pulpit.
You know, this is a very important topic.
This is something that we need to understand, you know, as God's children, as God's people.
You know, God does have a will for you. It's all right there in the Bible.
You know, that's what we need to focus on and let God direct our paths as we do the will of God.
You know, and that's a great sense of relief.
You know, that gives us, you know, to me, I found that very comforting to say, oh man, I don't have to sit here and try to figure out God's specific will for my individual life.
Like I had been told by multiple preachers.
You know, when I found out that all I have to do is just do what's in this book and the rest will take care of itself.
That was a great day. You know, that brought, gave me a lot of peace.
Did I have you go back to Proverbs 3? Proverbs 3?
It says in verse 1, my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments.
You know, we read verse 5.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him and he what shall direct thy paths.
You know, you can look at verse 5 and try to turn it into, oh, you got to trust God and then he'll come into your life
and he'll start guiding you and leading you and showing you and revealing to you who you should marry
and where you should live and what color car you should buy.
You know, and what kind of carpet you should put in your house.
God's going to reveal all his perfect will for you.
What meal you should cook every single day for your...
Well, you know, verse 1 says, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments.
Trust in the Lord.
It's like, oh, okay, I'm not going to forget his law.
I'm going to read the word of God, keep it in mind.
I'm going to let my heart keep his commandments and then I'm going to trust him what I've read in his word.
I'm just going to trust it with all my heart and just say, well, this is what the Bible says
and I'm just going to trust that and then he's going to direct my paths.
I'm not going to lean unto my own understanding.
I'm going to trust in God's law and his commandments and not lean unto my own reasoning
and what I think and what I believe and what I feel.
I'm just going to put all that aside and say, this is what the Bible says, that's what I'm going to do
and then God directs my paths in his word.
Last place, Psalms 119.
Psalms 119.
If you're looking for Proverbs 119, it's not because I didn't say it right.
It says there in Psalms 119 verse 105, I'll give you a few more seconds.
Psalms 119 and then it's like 105.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
What is a lamp? What's a light unto my path?
What is it that's going to illuminate God's will or my way in front of me?
How is God going to show me what he wants me to do? Through his word.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
See, when we get into this idea of, well, I want to know what God's will is for my life,
what we're really asking God to do is just turn on a giant flood lamp
that just illuminates our whole life ahead of us.
But the Bible says none of us know what shall be on the morrow.
We know not what a day shall bring forth.
That's why his word is a lamp unto what? My feet. My feet.
We want God to shine a light way down there, but God says, well, I'm going to shine a light right there.
And he does it through his word.
We read God's word and say, oh, I'm supposed to step here.
And then we read some more and go, oh, I'm supposed to step here.
And then I'm supposed to step here.
And if we stop reading it, we take the light and we put it away and we find ourselves watering off the path.
And then one day we pick it back up, oh, that's why I'm stumbling.
That's why I don't know where I'm at.
That's why I'm wandering through life. Let me get back on the path.
But it's all through his word.
It's not through some strange, you know, some extra biblical revelation.
You know, it's not through some divine intervention that God is going to guide and direct our paths.
It's through his word. Let me say, you know, God's, really this is divine intervention right here.
You want divine intervention? It's right here.
This book is divine. This book is holy.
You know, you want, you know, the problem is, is we don't want this to intervene in our lives.
A lot of times what people do, well, I don't want this to tell me what the, you know, what I should do with my life.
You know, I just want, I want to figure that out on my own.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
You know, and again, God's will is accomplished one step at a time.
Just one day at a time. We get one thing down, then the next thing.
We keep, we keep things right. We stop, you know, we don't backslide.
We quit the backsliding. We just move forward in life, letting God guide us through his word.
That's why, you know, really another great phrase that I often repeat to myself and have shared with other people is,
you know, when it comes to the will of God, the only thing that really matters is the what.
You know, people often wonder the where.
Where should I live? Where should I go? Or the who. Who should I marry? Or who this?
It's like, well, it's the what that matters. It's the what. It's the what of God's will.
And the what's found in the word. So let's be found in that.
Let's be found, you know, reading God's word and letting it be a light unto our path.
Let's let God's word, you know, guide us and direct us through life.
Let's find, let's allow ourselves to just trust in him with all of our heart.
Let's stop leaning on our own understanding and acknowledge him in all his ways.
And by doing what? By not forgetting his law and by keeping his commandments.
That's how God is going to guide us through this life. Let's go and pray.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for the promise of your guidance.
And Lord, thank you for the word of God that provides that for us.
Lord, I pray to help us to be found in it, reading it, studying it, memorizing it, loving it.
And most of all, Lord, living it. That you might guide us and direct us through this dark world.
We ask in Christ's name. Amen.
All right, we'll sing one more song before we go.
Turn our hands to Psalm 397.
Psalm 397, the middle is much.
God is in it.
God is here.
There's much that God has given.
They were not overwhelmed with faith.
There's a ground that you can lay in.
If you don't, then Jesus needs.
Does the place you want to lay in her,
Seem so strong that there's no cure?
God is here.
God is in it.
There's a ground that you can lay in.
There's much that God has given.
They were not overwhelmed with faith.
There's a ground that you can lay in.
There's a ground that Jesus needs.
There's a ground that God has given.
.