Now in Romans chapter 12 I want to start right there at the beginning where the Bible reads
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.
Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may
prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
And what I want to talk about this morning is proving what is the will of God or making
the right decisions in your life.
There are a lot of decisions that we have in our life and we want to know what is the
right thing for me to do.
What does God want me to do?
And when we look at the term the will of God that's what the will of God means.
It means what God wants.
So if we're looking for the will of God in our lives we're looking for what God wants
us to do with our lives and when we make decisions obviously we should be seeking to prove what
is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
For example it also says in Ephesians 5.9, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness
and righteousness and truth proving what is acceptable unto the Lord and have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them for it is a shame even
to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
So the first thing I want to point out this morning is that when we're looking for the
will of God or when we want to make a decision that would be pleasing to God or acceptable
to God number one we need to understand that our decision needs to conform to the laws
of God.
Most of what is considered God's will is found in the commandments and laws of God.
Turn if you would to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
First Thessalonians chapter number 4 and many people talk about the will of God as if it
is a big mystery you know and we have to pray and search and figure out what is God's will
and we beg God to reveal his will to us and I'm going to get to a little bit later in
the sermon what role prayer plays in determining the will of God but in reality the vast majority
of what we need to know about God's will is found in this book right here the Bible.
It's not hidden it's not far off we don't have to go looking for it or searching for
it you don't even necessarily have to go to a pastor or man of God to tell you what the
will of God is because the vast majority of God's will is clearly spelled out in the
Bible.
Now the first place we look there in Romans 12 it said that we should not be conformed
to this world but that we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind that we might
prove what good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
That tells me that if you have a worldly philosophy and a philosophy that is not renewed by the
Bible but rather a philosophy that just comes from the world we live in you will often have
a misunderstanding of what God's will is.
You'll do things and you think you're doing God's will you'll say things that you think
are the will of God but in reality you're just repeating things that you've heard in
this world and the Bible says we need to renew our mind not be conformed to the world we
need to get God's will from the Word of God.
Look at this in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 2 it says,
For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
That's the first thing I want to point out he says you know the commandments.
You know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus for this is the will of God.
Even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication.
What is the will of God according to this scripture?
It's that we follow the commandments of God.
It's that we are sanctified in our lives and what does it mean to be sanctified made holy
set apart.
Look when you're conformed to this world you're not holy you're not set apart you're not different.
The Bible says you know what the commandments are it's time for you to be sanctified.
It's time for you to live a holy life cleanness righteousness and the Bible says it's the
will of God that you abstain from fornication.
How do we know?
Because the Bible commands us to flee fornication that's why.
Because the Bible commands us that that activity should only be done within marriage and fornication
is doing that outside of marriage.
Now flip over if you would to Ephesians chapter 6.
Ephesians chapter 6 and while you're turning there let me point out something else.
A lot of people will say this they'll say well I prayed about it and I believe this
is God's will.
I just prayed and asked God and I just think I should do thus and so.
Well does it conform with God's word?
Because if it doesn't then it's not God's will.
Period.
Plain and simple.
And here's a scripture that proves that.
It says in Proverbs 28 verse 9, he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law even his
prayer shall be abomination.
So when we turn away our ear from hearing what God has told us in the word then we go
asking God, God what do you want us to do?
God I want to know what your will is.
Guide and direct me.
He says that prayer is an abomination.
I've already told you what you're supposed to be doing and you've ignored it.
He's saying you need to listen to the law of God.
Listen to the commandments of God.
That'll tell you what God wants.
That'll tell you what the will of God is.
Here's another verse that brings up the will of God there in Ephesians 6.
It says servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with
fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ not with eye service
as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with
good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men.
Now here's a scripture about people going to their job, servants serving their master.
This is just doing physical labor for someone that you're accountable to whether that's
your employer, your boss, the owner of the company, and it says that you're doing the
will of God when you work hard at that job.
Why?
Because God commands you to work hard at that job.
So God's will is a lot less mysterious than we think when we look at scriptures that bring
up the will of God and they keep just telling us to keep the commandments of God, follow
the commandments of God.
Go to Micah chapter 6.
This is in the Old Testament, the minor prophets, those 12 short books at the very end of the
Old Testament, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk.
Find the book of Micah, look at Micah 6.8.
The reason I bring up that scripture about your prayer being abomination when you turn
away your ear from hearing the law is that a lot of times people pray for the will of
God and then they just decide to do what they want but then they just say, well God's telling
me to do this.
And I've heard people say over and over again, God told me X.
And they throw that term around and wait a minute, the Bible says, add thou not unto
his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar.
We need to be very careful not to say God said this or God told me this unless it's
coming from the word of God.
We can't verify that just your feeling or you think you heard a still small voice.
Look we have a more sure word of prophecy.
We need to go to the Bible and the word of God that's written in stone, that's engraved
in lead, this is where we need to get our doctrine and this is where we need to find
the will of God first and foremost.
Not just ignore this and then just go pray and say well I have peace about it, now I'm
going to do this and that and it's not something that's biblical.
You know the Bible commands us to go to church.
The Bible commands us to abstain from fornication.
The Bible commands us not to marry an unbeliever.
You can't just sit there and pray about it and say well I've prayed about it and I think
God just wants me to worship at home.
No, God wants you to go to church, that's what he told you to do.
He said forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is.
And you can sit there and say well I just believe it's God's will that I marry so and
so.
Unless that person is a born again Christian, unless that person is saved by faith alone
in Jesus Christ, that is never going to be God's will that you marry that person because
it's against the commandments of God.
And there are so many examples we could give of things that are just laid out clearly in
scripture.
He's telling us what he wants us to do.
We don't have to wonder about the will of God in those situations.
Now look at Micah 6, this is another verse that drives in the point that we know what
we need to do in most areas.
Most decisions are pretty easy if we just let the Bible direct us.
It says in verse 8, he hath showed thee, O man, what is good.
There's no question, there's no wondering with God.
We have this whole giant book telling us what's right in a given situation.
He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee but
to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.
Now if you understand the grammar of that verse, he's saying God is not requiring anything
of us than what he has already told us.
Because it's a question, what doth the Lord require of thee but to do these things?
Do justly, what does it mean to do justly?
Another synonym of justly is to do righteously.
To do righteousness, do right.
Justice and righteousness are synonyms in the Bible.
Justification is to be declared righteous in the eyes of God.
The Bible is saying, look, he already showed you, just do it.
Do the right things, stay humble, and love mercy.
That's all.
That's very similar to what he said in Ecclesiastes, don't turn there, but in Ecclesiastes 12.13
he said, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
There is no other duty, the Bible says the whole duty of man, fear God and keep his commandments.
That means that God does not expect you to do anything that he didn't already tell you
to do in this book.
Everything that we need to know to live our lives as far as what we should do and should
not do in order to be pleasing to God is found in the Bible.
There's no mystery, there's no wondering.
He tells us we have the responsibility to search the Bible and find the answer to the
question what is the will of the Lord.
He has showed the old man, now just a quick little commercial break for the new movie,
you know, New World Order Bible Versions, it's so funny.
I looked up this verse in all the modern versions, are you in Micah 6-8?
I looked this up in all the modern Bible versions.
It's so ridiculous you can't even believe what they say because it says here, he has
showed the old man.
Now who has sung the song before based on this verse?
Put your hand up, you know, he has showed the old man.
You know it?
Are you the only person here that knows, does anybody else know that song?
It's a really popular, another hand back there, it was a really popular song when I was a
kid but I looked that up in these new versions.
This is the contemporary English Bible because everybody knows that the King James Bible
is written in a language, I mean nobody talks that way anymore, isn't that what they say?
That's why the contemporary English Bible has changed us too.
He has told you human one what is good because we know that that's how people talk.
I mean how many of you have ever said oh man in your life?
Oh man all the time.
How many of you address your friends, loved ones, co-workers as human one, oh human one,
but this is the kind of ridiculousness in these new versions and here's what's funny
about it.
First of all, I think they're trying to make the Bible look stupid because they're of Satan
number one because no one in their right mind thinks that's a good translation and these
are the people you're trusting to preserve all the doctrines of the Bible, to preserve
all the teachings of the Bible.
These are the people you're trusting to go through all the textual evidence and all the
manuscripts and get the most accurate translation.
Someone who thinks that a reasonable translation of this verse is he hath showed thee human
one, that's who you're trusting?
Not for one second.
These people are fools.
Anyone who would translate this verse that way is a fool.
How can you read this?
And here's the thing about it.
You say well what do you know, you know, go back to the Hebrew.
I looked this verse up in my Hebrew Bible.
It's just the basic same word for man that's used everywhere else, but you know what they're
trying to do?
Make it gender neutral and in the process of making it, it's the word Adam, like Adam.
Okay.
And here's the thing.
They're trying to make it gender neutral and in the process they end up sounding ridiculous.
Listen to what the NIV does in this verse.
He has showed you, he has shown you, oh mortal.
How are you doing today, oh mortal?
Have a seat.
Look, this is not the way people talk today.
These Bibles are not about making it more contemporary or making it easier to understand.
What they're about is changing it, corrupting it, and making it sound stupid.
People read the King James Bible, it sounds great.
And even long before I even learned what was wrong with these other Bibles, I just thought
to myself, wow, this sounds really stupid.
And I know that God is a magnificent God, he's a powerful God, he's an all-knowing God.
Any book that God wrote would sound awesome.
And when I read the Book of Mormon, it sounds stupid.
You read the Koran, it sounds stupid.
You read the Tao Te Ching, it sounds stupid.
You read the Apocrypha, it sounds stupid.
You read the Holy Bible, it sounds glorious and majestic and amazing.
And you read these new versions and they sound ridiculous.
I mean, they sound like somebody just typed in the Bible into Google Translate and just
went with whatever came out.
I mean, human being, this is a different contemporary something Bible.
Human being, you've already been told what is good.
The ERV, human, the Lord has told you what goodness is, this is what he wants from you.
I mean, this is not the way people talk at all, it's ridiculous.
And I can show you all the different examples, the EXV, the GW, the LEB, the NOG, you know,
that sounds like a drink that you drink around Christmas time, but it says, you mortals,
Yahweh has told you what is good.
The NCV, the Lord has told you human what is good.
NRSV, he's told you, oh mortal, what is good.
But you trust these people, right, to give you the Bible in today's English, today's
language.
It's really nonsense.
There's nothing wrong with the word man.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it, alright?
But anyway, God has shown you, oh mortals, oh human beings, today, God has shown you,
oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you.
So 99% of the will of God is not a question mark, it's a period.
And we find it in the Bible, it's there for us.
Now if you would flip over in your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 4.
As you turn there, let me read you a couple of other scriptures.
First Thessalonians 5 18 says, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you.
What is God's will?
That we give thanks.
What is God's will?
That we live a holy, clean life.
What is God's will?
That we do justly, that we walk humbly with our God, that we love mercy.
What is God's will?
That we abstain from fornication.
What is God's will?
That we keep all the commandments of God, and there are many hundreds of commandments
that he has given us.
That is what he expects of us.
1 Peter 2 15 says, for so is the will of God, that with well doing you may put to silence
the ignorance of foolish men.
Look at 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 1.
For as much then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind.
Now, what does it mean to arm yourself?
If I said, Brother Fairchild, arm yourself, what am I telling him to do?
Get a weapon, right?
If I said, arm yourself, that means you need to take up a weapon.
You need to carry a weapon.
What is the Bible saying here?
When it says, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, he says, look, Christ has suffered
for us in the flesh.
Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has
ceased from sin.
What is the Bible telling us when it tells us to arm ourselves?
There's a spiritual battle going on.
Spiritual warfare.
The weapon is the word of God.
The Bible says, take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
He gives us a lot of defensive armor, but then he says, take the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God.
That's the offensive weapon.
We need to arm ourselves with the mind of Christ.
We need to not be conformed to this world in our thinking.
We need to have a renewed mind.
We need to have the mind of Christ.
We need to know what the mind of the spirit is, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2, and
we need to get these things from the word of God.
God says in verse 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to
the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
Now we can see in verse 2 that the opposite of the will of God is fulfilling the lusts
of the flesh.
When we live according to the lusts of the flesh, when we break the commandments of God,
when we violate God's commandments, that's the opposite of God's will.
God's will is to walk in the spirit.
God's will is to obey the commandments.
Because in verse 3, for the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the
will of the Gentiles, look, that's the opposite of the will of God.
There's the will of God, then there's the will of the Gentiles.
What's the will of the Gentiles?
It says when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings,
and abominable idolatries wherein they think it's strange that you run not with them to
the same excess of riot speaking evil of you.
So there's the will of the world that we live in today which says get drunk, party,
fornicate, live a licentious lifestyle, whereas God's will is that we're different, that we're
a peculiar people, that we are separate from the world, that we live a life of sanctification,
holiness, righteousness.
It's no mystery today what the will of God is.
That's why the Bible says in Ephesians 5, verse 17, wherefore be not ye unwise but understanding
what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, exactly what
we just saw in 1 Peter 4, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
So if we're going to talk about making good decisions, determining the will of God in
your life, the one thing we've got to get out of the way right up front is to understand
that most of God's will is found in the Bible.
Most of the questions that we have about how we should live our life, what should I do,
should I do A or should I do B, most of it is going to be dictated by what we read in
the Bible when He just gives us commandments.
He just tells us, do this, don't do that, and we need to search for those things and
live our life according to those things.
Now go to Genesis chapter 24, and let's talk about the second thing.
The first thing we said is that when we're determining the will of God and making decisions
in our life, we need to make sure that the law of God, the commandments of God, are the
first place we look.
We need to walk according to God's commandments, and that will make most decisions.
That will solve most of it right there.
But you say, Pastor Anderson, there are other decisions that, you know, the Bible's not
going to specifically tell me what to do.
It's not specifically going to cover it, and I agree with that.
Let's think of some examples.
What are some examples of things that the Bible doesn't just specifically tell us exactly
what to do?
For example, let's say you have a choice between a couple different jobs.
You got a few different job offers and you have to decide, should I take this job or
should I take the other job?
Let's say you have a current job and you're offered another job and you're not sure.
Which one do I take?
I mean, the Bible doesn't tell you, you know, thou shalt work at this company.
You're not going to find that in the Bible.
Other decisions that you'll be faced with that are not going to be specifically addressed
in the Bible could be, for example, who to marry.
You know, should I marry this person?
Should I not marry this person?
Who do I marry?
Those type of things are not going to be specifically addressed in the Bible.
So how do I know which job to take?
Maybe where to live.
Should I live in this part of town or the other part of town?
Should I live in a distant state or should I live here in Arizona?
Those type of things are not going to be specifically addressed.
There's no mention of Arizona in the Bible, although there are mentions of scorching deserts
and wilderness, but there's no mention specifically of Arizona.
There's no mention of, you know, the young ladies or young men that you're thinking about
dating or marrying.
There's no mention of specific companies that you need to work for or not work for.
So how do you make those decisions?
Well, first of all, you make sure that you're keeping the commandments of God.
That's number one, but number two, when there's a decision to make that's not specifically
covered in the Bible, you should simply make that decision according to your own free will
that God has given you, but that decision should be made using biblical wisdom, and
then you trust in the Lord to lead you, okay?
So first of all, you just make sure, number one, that you're in conformity with God's
word and God's commandments, but you have a decision, and that decision has nothing
to do with anything that's spelled out in the Bible.
At that point, you just make the decision, but you trust in the Lord to lead you and
pray to the Lord that he would lead you.
That's where prayer comes into determining the will of God.
You see, if you're praying and you expect God to audibly answer you or you're just going
to, you know, go with something that comes from the heart, that's an abuse of prayer,
you know, where you're praying to God saying, God, tell me this, and then you just think
really hard.
A lot of times that's just your imagination, and then you're going to say that your imagination
is an answer from God.
What we ought to do, though, is just live our lives in a godly way, and then just pray,
Lord, I've got a decision to make, just lead me, guide and direct me, Lord, and then you
decide based upon your own free will.
Now you say, well, I don't believe in free will.
Well, you don't believe the Bible.
And somebody confronted me with this, you know, and Calvinism today is so popular today,
I don't understand it.
The Baptists are becoming Reformed Baptists, and they're all into their tulip and Calvinism,
and it's a false doctrine, all of it's a false doctrine, and I had one of these Calvinists
tell me recently, free will is not in the Bible.
Show me free will in the Bible.
I gave them 17 verses that use the word free will.
So if there is no such thing as free will, why are there 17 verses that say free will?
But they want to talk all day long about the sovereignty of God, the word sovereign is
found in the Bible, if you're reading a King James, zero.
Now if you've got the non-inspired version, the NIV, or one of these other newer Bibles,
yeah, they've put the word sovereign in hundreds of times, but the King James Bible does not
even use the word free will 17 times.
We do have free will, and to think that God makes all of our decisions for us is a false
doctrine.
All the way back to the beginning of mankind, when God put man in the Garden of Eden, the
first thing that he told them to do was to be free.
He said of all the trees of the garden, thou mayest freely eat.
He didn't say let me give you your dietary schedule for the next thousand years.
First you're going to eat this tree for breakfast, then you're going to eat this tree for lunch,
then you're going to eat this tree for, no, all the way back to the beginning.
I mean starting out at the very beginnings of mankind, God is giving us choices.
He's giving us decisions.
He's giving us free will.
He's letting us choose what we want to eat and to do it freely.
Not a robot, not a puppet, and look, do you think Adam just dropped to his knees and just
prayed, oh God, show me which tree to eat first.
Show me your will, Lord.
It wouldn't have made any sense because God said be free.
Use your free will to make decisions.
Eat what you want, Adam, within the parameters of God's word.
Because there was a restriction, wasn't there?
Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
So when I say make decisions according to your free will, I'm not saying violate the
commands of God.
That was point one.
Point one was to make sure that you make your decisions within God's will.
But look, when the Bible doesn't tell us specifically, it's time to exercise free will.
For example, I've got a really big decision today, what am I going to have for lunch?
Huge decision.
I searched the scripture, I can't find anything about what I'm supposed to eat at lunch.
And I'm being facetious because my wife has already made this decision for me.
She's already made an excellent meal of roast beef, potatoes au gratin, and so forth.
But let's say I'm a single guy, and I've got a choice.
I've got Chipotle here, and I've got Chipotle over here.
No, I'm just kidding.
I love Chipotle.
Okay, here's a better idea.
I'm in Chipotle, and I have a decision.
Am I going to go with chicken or steak?
I'm not going to drop to my knees and pray to the Lord and ask Him to reveal that to
me because I just believe that that's an area that God has left up to me to decide which
thing I want to eat today.
But that's not the only decision He gives us.
God gives us a lot of decisions in our life.
Some people, they choose where they live because they like it.
Or they choose the job they want to do because they like doing it.
We have plenty of things to do to make God happy and to please Him and obey Him.
He also gives us some freedom, believe it or not, to make some of our own choices in
life.
And I believe that when it comes to who we marry, He gives us that choice.
I mean, you're going to live with that person for the rest of your life.
You better choose one that you like.
You better choose one that you want to be with.
That's your choice.
He doesn't tell us in the Bible, thou shalt marry this person.
But is there a restriction?
Only in the Lord.
The Bible says she may marry in 1 Corinthians 7, whomsoever she will, only in the Lord.
So God says that she can choose who she wants to marry as a woman, but it better be in the
Lord.
Meaning it must be a saved man, it must be a godly man.
Then not only are there restrictions, but then there's also Biblical wisdom.
God does give us advice on what to look for in a woman.
God could give advice on what to look for in a man, but at the end of the day it's your
choice to decide.
So when God has not specifically given us commandment, we use free will to make decisions.
We also use Biblical wisdom, obviously we're staying within the commandments of God, and
then we trust the Lord to lead us, or even pray to the Lord to lead us.
What do I mean by that?
Well look at Genesis 24-27, and I don't have time to tell the whole big long story here,
but this is the story where the servant of Abraham is going into a far country to get
a wife for Isaac.
He doesn't want Isaac to marry one of the daughters of the land, one of the heathen.
So he sends his servant to Padan Aram to find a wife and bring back a wife for Isaac from
the tribe of his fathers.
And so the servant prays to the Lord and says, ask God to lead him.
But look what it says in Genesis 24 verse 27, it says, and he said, blessed be the Lord
God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth,
and I love this phrase, I being in the way the Lord led me to the house of my master's
brethren.
I want you to let that phrase sink down into yours, I being in the way the Lord led me.
Now when we are in the way, meaning the right way, when we're doing what we've been told
to do, when we're in the way, God's going to lead us.
Now there are a lot of scriptures that teach this, Psalm 37 23 says the steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way.
God delights in the way of and orders the steps of a good man.
Now let me ask this, is every man a good man?
There are a lot of people that are not good.
Is God delighting in their way?
No.
Is God ordering their steps?
See this is the difference between biblical theology and Calvinism.
Calvinism teaching God's ordering everybody's steps.
God's in control of everything.
God's just sovereign over everything.
Look there are so many sick and ungodly and wicked things going on in this world and let
me tell you something, God is not behind it.
God is not the author of confusion.
God did not even dream up some of the things that people did in the Old Testament when
they did sacrificing their children into Molech.
He said that thing never even came into my mind.
That's what God said.
And when people go into perversion, according to Romans 1, it's after their own lusts.
God's not the author of those things.
And what the Bible is teaching is that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
it does not say the steps of every man are ordered by the Lord.
So what we need to focus on is being a good man.
What we need to focus on is being in the way.
And when we are obeying the Lord, keeping His commandments, walking in the way when
we're on the right path, then when we make decisions according to our own free will,
we believe and trust that the Lord is leading us because He has promised that He would lead
us.
He said the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
In Proverbs 3.5, one of the most famous scriptures in the whole Bible, trust in the Lord with
all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.
If you want God to direct your paths, you've got to trust in the Lord.
You've got to stop leaning on your own understanding.
You've got to get your understanding from this book, renew your mind, don't be conformed
to this world, acknowledge Him in all your ways, He'll direct your paths.
It doesn't just say God's going to direct your paths, period.
It says do X, Y, Z and God's going to direct your paths.
And that is what we mean when we say the Lord's going to lead us.
Go to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, and let me say this.
When you get out of the way, because remember he said I being in the way, the Lord led me.
When you get out of the way, there's no guarantee that God's going to lead you.
When you're not a good man, there's no guarantee that God's leading you.
And let me tell you something, it's a jungle out there.
When you get outside the will of God and start making decisions, you could easily make
the wrong decision.
Obviously getting married comes to mind because there are a lot of people who marry someone
and that person ends up being a very bad person.
Or they end up having all kinds of problems, whatever the other case may be.
They take a job and it ends up destroying them and they end up making other decisions
that can be hard.
They move somewhere and it's a disaster.
When we get outside of the will of God, it's a jungle out there, and we can't guarantee
that God's going to guide us and take care of us.
When we are in the will of God, even when bad things happen, we still at least know
that God's going to work it together for good.
Look what the Bible says, Romans 8.26, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for
we know not what we should pray for as we ought.
We don't always know what the will of God is.
Now on the big things we know his commandments, his laws, but then there are other things
that aren't covered in the Bible, so we don't know what we should pray for as we ought.
But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,
and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together for good for everybody.
Is that what it says?
No, it says we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, and to them
who are the called according to his purpose.
So what does it sound like we need to focus on in our lives?
Loving God, being good, keeping his commandments, walking in the right way, trusting in the
Lord, obeying the Lord, and if we do those things then we know God's going to lead us,
and we can make decisions, and we can use our free will, and we know that we're not
going to end up completely becoming a shipwreck or a disaster because we know that as long
as we're obeying God, our latter end will be blessed.
I'm not saying there aren't going to be trials and tribulations, but God will lead us, God
will direct us, and there is a destination that we will reach that is a destination of
blessing.
And not even just in the next life, but even in this life God will bless us.
Not necessarily immediately, but we will receive blessing in this life, we will be
recompensed in the earth if we do what is right.
But as soon as we ignore God's commandments, start stepping outside the will of God, it's
a jungle out there and we're going to make all kinds of mistakes and we could destroy
our lives, we could really become a shipwreck or a catastrophe if we don't obey the Lord.
And we see people often, they live an ungodly life.
They get away from church, they get away from serving God, they get away from reading
their Bibles, and then they marry somebody who they think is a good person.
And then it turns out that's a wicked person, but then sometimes you can see the things
that led up to that, where they were totally out of God's will.
And especially when you're marrying an unbeliever, you know you're out of God's will, I mean
there's no question.
When you're marrying somebody who you know is an unbeliever, you say, well they're kind
of Christian, you know they're Catholic, you know, oh well they're Episcopalian, hey,
you better check and make sure that they're really saved.
You better know that they, just because somebody says they're Christian, most of our nation
says they're Christian.
Does that mean they're all saved?
No, you need to check and talk about that and figure that out and the best place to
meet somebody to marry is church, is the best place.
Or you say, well there aren't enough women in our church, not enough young men in our
church.
Well, you know, you try to meet somebody at church and you can visit other churches and
try to meet people.
You can meet other Christian, godly young people, or you can win somebody to Christ,
but you better make sure that you're marrying somebody that's a believer.
You better make sure you're marrying somebody who wants to live for God and wants to go
the same direction that you want to go.
But I think more importantly than any of that is even just to know that you love God,
are walking with God, and are serving God in general, so that God can lead you.
I can think of so many times that God in my life protected me from bad decisions.
It's just God just put up a roadblock and protected me from bad decisions.
Protected me, you know, people that I thought, oh this would be a good person to marry.
You know when you're a teenager, when you're a young person, you're dating, and then wow
am I glad that I didn't marry that person.
You know, God can sometimes put things in the way and protect us and guide us.
That's why it's so important to make sure you're in the will of God in your life, so
that God can lead you.
Then you just make decisions based upon free will.
And that's the second point, but thirdly this, our decisions should be based upon godly priorities.
So number one, our decisions need to conform to the Bible.
They need to conform to the word of God.
And by the way, let me just say this.
I've had people often ask me this, because I preach against divorce, and apparently I'm
one of the few people left, you know, I'm like a dinosaur that's going extinct.
I'm one of the few people left that takes a strong stand against divorce, and you don't
hear it a lot, because people don't want to offend people, and I don't want to offend
people.
I mean, there are a lot of people that I love that are divorced, and I'm not hateful or
against people that are divorced, but it's sin.
And the Bible says God hates putting away, God hates divorce.
And whenever you take a strong stand on the word of God, people will try to pick you apart.
You stand up and preach hard against divorce, and people will go, well what about this,
what about this, what about this.
Whenever you preach anything from the Bible, people want to try to pick it apart, but you
know what, the problem is not with me, I'm not the author of the Bible.
You know, the problem is with the Bible.
But when people come to me, this is what they'll often say, well what if somebody marries somebody,
and it turns out that person's a sodomite, that person is exposed to sodomite, and that
does happen.
I say, what about that?
But here's my belief on that.
I don't believe, and they say, oh they had no idea, I mean they had no idea that this
person was a sodomite.
I mean they thought this person was a godly Christian and turned out to be a sodomite.
Let me say this, I do not believe that if you're walking in the will of God, if you're
serving God and obeying the commandments of God, that God's going to allow you to marry
a sodomite unknowingly.
Because that would not, I mean would that be consistent with all these promises where
God's saying he's going to direct your paths, he's going to guide you in the way the Lord's
going to lead you.
So no, I don't think that if you're serving God, loving God, in the will of God, you're
just going to accidentally marry a sodomite, and God can't protect you from that.
God can't reveal that to you.
But you look at the people that I've known who unknowingly married a sodomite and a wicked
person, because look, I'm a pastor, people come to me and tell me these things.
People come to me and approach me, you know what, they were always out of the will of
God when that happened.
That's what I mean when I say it's a jungle out there.
For example, one, married somebody turned out as a sodomite, you know what turned out,
the guy that they married was divorced.
Well it's like, wait a minute, is that God's will?
When the Bible says that if you divorce your spouse and marry another, you're committing
adultery, and if you marry her that is divorced, you're committing adultery?
So look, you go out and marry a divorced woman when the Bible tells you not to marry a divorced
woman in Matthew 5, Matthew 19, Luke 16, Romans 7, 1 Corinthians 7, you need a few
more scriptures?
You go out and do that anyway, good luck with that, because I cannot make you any guarantees
that God's going to protect you and lead you and guide and direct you.
That's a real life example of somebody I know that had never been married before, married
someone who was divorced, and that person turned out to be a sodomite.
Look, they were outside of God's will, and I'm not saying it's always, there are a lot
of other people who married somebody who was divorced and everything worked out great,
everything worked out fine, but you know what, you have no guarantees when you're outside
of the will of God.
And even if things work out great, that still doesn't mean that it was right, and that God
is condoning of it or that God approves of it.
And you know that's hard preaching, I'm going to lose people over that, don't let the door
hit you on the way out, this is a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church, we do not check here
and poll people to see what they like to hear, we're preaching the truth of God's Word,
and what I'm telling you is the truth, and you know what, for those that are the young
people here today, they need to hear these things.
And I'm not down on you if you're divorced, my parents are divorced, you know, a lot of
people that I love are divorced, that's not the point, I'm not down on people who've already
made mistakes in the past, but I'm warning the people who have not made the mistakes
yet, you had better stay in the will of God.
You know, when you're going out and fornicating, when you're meeting people at bars, you know,
you can't expect God to be leading you to the right spouse, which is not going to happen.
So you better be in the way and let the Lord lead you, you better keep the commandments
of God, you better walk with God if you want to have a guarantee, and look, don't you love
the guarantees of scripture?
The rock of our salvation, the guarantee that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have eternal life, it's guaranteed.
In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began, guaranteed.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, in
all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths, guaranteed.
Naughty might direct your paths, he will direct your paths, guaranteed.
It doesn't say we think all things work together for good, we hope all things work together
for good, it said we know all things work together for good, for them to love God, for
them who are the called according to his purpose, and again, if you've done stuff in the past,
we've all done things in the past that are things that we wish we could do over and do
better, but you know what, forget those things which are behind and reach forth unto those
things which are before, press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus, you can be in the will of God today going forward, and that's the
thing.
God has a will and once you're out of it, you're just out of it forever.
At any time you want, God's ready to have a new plan for your life and a new will for
you to get into and start doing his will from here on out, and today forward say, you know
what, I want God to direct me, I want God to guide me, I want him to lead me, I better
be a good man, I better keep the commandments, I better trust in him and acknowledge him
and stop leaning on my own understanding and being conformed to this world's way of thinking.
I'm not going to be in the will of God if I do that, but thirdly, go to Matthew chapter
6, and by the way, you say, well yeah, but what does that person do now that's married
to a sodomite?
Look, the Bible's clear about what should happen to sodomites.
The Bible says they should be put to death.
I mean, it says in Leviticus 20-13, now that's not the society we live in, unfortunately.
In America today, our lawmakers are leaning upon their own understanding.
They do not lean on this book at all.
The people who make our laws, whether it's at a federal, state, local level, this book
means nothing to them.
I mean, sometimes it's a campaign slogan for them, God bless, you know, I have a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ, you know, Jimmy Carter or whatever, you know, I'm born
again, I'm Baptist, you know, but that's just a slogan.
No one, no one in Congress, no one in the Senate, no one on the Supreme Court believes
this book.
None of them.
Zero.
Oh, what about that?
No.
Oh, surely you can't, no.
None of them are using this book as a guideline for how to run our country.
And I didn't say 99% aren't, I said zero are using this book as a guideline for how to
run our country.
That's why our laws are so different from the laws in the Bible.
And so in the world that we live, we don't follow this in the United States.
You know, homosexuals are not put to death, and they're not going to be anytime soon.
Now they were in the past, hundreds of years ago they were in this country, put to death,
like the Bible said.
Doesn't happen anymore.
Not going to happen today, okay?
Adulters in the Bible were stoned with stones.
Not going to happen today.
Doesn't happen anymore, okay?
So therefore, a lot of times people get married and then they're stuck in these weird situations,
you know, being married to somebody who is a pedophile or a homosexual.
Now I don't believe that God would expect you to live with that filth and disease and
disgusting homosexual lifestyle, because the average, I mean look up the statistic, the
average sodomite, you know, 43% have been with over 500 partners that they'll admit
to.
Did you get that?
Okay, that, I mean, it's disgusting, it's vile, it's reprobate, you know.
But at the same time, you know, you're in a bad situation because of the fact that,
you know, you swore till death do us part.
You know, I mean, if I were you I would get out of there, but you can't go out and get
remarried though because the Bible says, you know, when you're divorced.
The Bible says, let not the wife depart from her husband, but if she depart, it says she
either needs to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband.
Those are your two choices, you know.
So again, God's not going to just condone you, well I didn't know he was a sodomite.
Well, but you know what, that's what you get for being outside of God's will.
That's what you get for disobeying the Bible and disobeying God's Word.
And it's not that I'm being heartless because I feel bad for anybody that's in such a horrible
situation.
I truly, from the bottom of my heart, would feel bad for them and love that person.
But let it be a warning to those young people who want to go to bars and meet people, who
want to go out and hang with ungodly, wicked people, who want to go out and marry people
that are divorced when they know that the Bible says to marry someone who has not been
divorced.
When, you know, who want to go, now if somebody's been divorced and their spouse dies then they
can get remarried, then it could be the will of God.
But to sit there and just go out and drink and party and fornicate and do all this stuff,
you will face repercussions for it in your life.
And plenty of churches will tell you, you're not going to face any repercussions.
I mean I just talked to somebody who was a so-called Christian recently who said, I don't
believe God punishes his children.
What Bible are you reading?
Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth.
You cannot sow your wild oats and then pray for a crop failure.
You know, you will reap what you've sown.
You will suffer if you live an ungodly life.
Is there still hope?
Yes.
Can you move forward and be in the will of God from here on out?
But please, young people, listen to me, be warned about it.
Don't go down that road, it's not worth it.
So much peace and assurance is forfeited when you get out of the will of God.
Whereas when you're doing God's will, you just have such assurance as to know, you know
what?
God's going to lead me.
God's going to direct me.
Things are going to be up.
And you say, well I've already screwed up.
But from here on out, man, get in the will of God.
From here forward.
And let God bless your life and your life will get better.
You just have to be patient and wait for it.
But what does the Bible say in Matthew 6.33?
Turn to Matthew 6.
Number one, first of all, our decisions in determining God's will need to be based upon
what the Bible commands, what the Bible teaches.
Number two, God will lead us if we are following point one, okay?
So just use free will at that point.
You say, well how did you know it was God's will to move to Arizona to start a church?
I mean I could have started this church anywhere, right?
I mean I had all 50 states before me.
Why Arizona?
Here's why.
Because I like it.
And people say, oh that's an unspiritual answer.
There's nothing unspiritual about it.
God gave me free will.
I could have gone to California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, you know I have all
these places available.
And I chose Phoenix because I like warm weather, okay?
I like palm trees, I like warm weather, I think it's a beautiful place, I love the mountains.
When I was a kid, we lived in Sacramento, California and for fun we went to the desert.
So I'm living the dream right now, I'm living in the desert.
So I chose it because I like it.
And then when I came here, it's like okay, where do I start the church?
Do I start it up in the northwest valley, do I start in the east valley, what part of
town do I start in?
Part of that was just rationale of saying I wanted to be centrally located because I
want the church to be commutable from all parts of the valley.
So I wanted to be centrally located, but part of it was just I walked up to the rental car
counter and said to the girl behind the counter, where do you think I should start?
I'm starting a church in this town, where should I start it?
Show me on the map where you'd start a church.
She's just like, Tempe, I'm like okay, let's do it.
And you say that's ridiculous, that's reckless.
But honestly, that's what the rental car counter girl told me, she said Tempe's a really nice
place.
So then I drove to Tempe, drove around, looked good, and I thought oh man we're going to
reach all these college students.
Now that didn't happen.
The college students at ASU are not interested in being saved unfortunately, most of them.
There are very few that have any interest in what this book has to say.
But I just liked it.
I still love Tempe, Tempe is still my favorite part of the valley of Arizona, I just like
it.
That's why I moved here.
Why do I live in the house I live in?
Because I like it.
Why do I eat what I'm going to eat for lunch?
Because I like it.
Because it's just free will.
But you know what though?
Even though it seems like I just kind of pointed at a map and just said oh, Arizona, cool.
Desert, palm trees, warm weather, oh, girl at the rental car counter says Tempe's a nice
place, looks good, okay.
It all seems, I mean she could have said Scottsdale, she could have said Chandler, she could have
said Peoria or whatever, Glendale.
But looking back, when you look back though with hindsight, I believe that Jesus led me
all the way.
Because if you look at it, I moved into a certain neighborhood in Tempe, but look how
many people in that neighborhood were people that God had placed there to be a part of
our early church.
For example, Amanda right here in the front row, lived two streets over from me, started
coming on the second Sunday morning and is still here today, eight years later, has grown
in the Lord.
It was a huge encouragement to me in the early days.
She was one of the only people coming.
She was the only person coming for a while.
Huge encouragement to our family.
Great friend to us, won hundreds of people Lord out on soul winning, taught other ladies
how to win souls.
Look, is it a coincidence that she lived a few hundred yards from our house, that she
lived two streets over, even though it just seemed like we're just picking things at random?
And then of course the Skaggs family that's here today, they lived, again, just a couple
streets over.
Is that a coincidence that Jeremy Skaggs, the very first Sunday morning, him and two
of his relatives were three of the four people that came on that first Sunday morning.
That was a great blessing to me, encouragement to me.
I mean, they were some of the first people, Annette and Alexis, they were some of the
first people that came to the church.
Austin and Alexis were some of the first people that got baptized at our church.
I mean, is that a coincidence?
And there were other people from that neighborhood that came to the church in the early days.
Looking back, it was obviously God's working, because there were plenty of neighborhoods
where you could go knock doors and you're not going to find anybody who wants to come
to church.
Isn't that true?
There are plenty of neighborhoods where I could have moved to where there would have
been no Amanda, there would have been no Skaggs family, there would have been none of the
other people from that neighborhood that came in the early days.
Why that neighborhood?
Because I being in the way the Lord led me.
God can lead us through our own free will, and when we are making decisions, sometimes
we feel like we're just making decisions, whatever, looks good to me.
But then when we look back, we can see that God was leading.
And that's the way it's been with this church, and as you live your life, and none of us
is perfect, but as you strive to live in the will of God, you'll see how God works things
out for you, and how you can look back and say, wow, that really worked out and God really
led me.
You know, when I was a teenager, I was seeking after God, I was worldly, I wasn't living
a very godly life, but you know, I was a pretty worldly teenager, but I remember just walking
down the street in Roseville, seeking God's will, you know, it was a time when I was reading
the Bible cover to cover for the first time in my life, and a guy walking up to me out
of nowhere and just saying, hey kid, you want to go to church?
And he had me an invitation to Regency Baptist Church, and I looked at that invitation and
said, do you know for sure if you die today, you go to heaven, and I said, yes I do, I
know I'm saved, I said, I go to a Baptist church, and he said, does your church go out
and knock doors and give people the gospel?
And I said, no, but we should.
I said, we should be.
And I was really intrigued by that, and he just said, amen, and walked away.
And I wanted to talk to him, but he was just gone, I mean, he talked to me for less than
30 seconds, I mean, just, kid, you want to go to church, do you guys knock doors?
I said, no, but we should, he said, amen, and he just walked away.
And I had that invitation, brought it home to my parents and said, this is where we should
be going to church, because we read it, my parents read it, they liked it.
We went to that church, and my life was dramatically changed by going to that church.
I mean, that was the first time I really heard hard preaching, that was the first time I
learned about soul winning, that was the first time I had heard preaching against a lot of
the sins that were in my life.
But what are the chances, I mean, just a guy, just randomly, walking up to me, handing
me that, and get this, I went to that church, the first thing I did was look for that guy,
he wasn't there, he was never there.
I never saw that guy again, I don't even know who that, to this day I don't know who that
guy was.
I mean, he was either just probably, he might have just been a visiting, sometimes people
who are visiting, like a visiting missionary or just a visiting person, will sometimes
grab tracts of, you know, grab invitations to whatever church they're visiting and hand
them out.
But I mean, it could have been an angel from the Lord just sent to me, as a young man who
is seeking the truth, as a young man who is trying to read the Bible cover to cover, I
didn't know what I was doing.
If you would have asked me about doctrine, I would have said all kinds of stupid things.
I didn't know the Bible, I was just reading the Bible cover to cover for the very first
time, but I was seeking God, I was trying to do right, I was trying to be in God's will,
and God sent somebody, whatever the explanation for who that guy was, God sent somebody to
show me the next step where I needed.
And then, you know, getting in that church led to one thing to another and dramatically
changed my whole life in the matter of just a few months.
Being in an independent, fundamental Baptist, soul winning church, getting out of the dead,
ridiculous NIV preaching church that I was in before that.
So God can lead us, and the third point, I don't have any time to talk about it, but
just we need to make our decision based on the right priorities.
And the verse I wanted to show you was just there in verse 33, but seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Meaning that God has to take priority.
Obviously there are other important priorities in our life, you know, we need to put our
marriage on a very high priority, you know, our children should be on a high priority,
our job should be on a high priority, we shouldn't be out doing recreational and fun things at
the expense of our job.
You know, we need to get our priorities right and make our decisions based on godly priorities.
That's another sermon in and of itself, different people have different priorities, but make
sure your priorities are biblical and that you're seeking first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness.
All that to say this, we have a lot of decisions in our life, a lot of choices to make, which
church, look there are 40 independent fundamental Baptist churches in the Phoenix area, and
many of them are soul winning churches, many of them preach a King James Bible, which one
are you going to go to?
You know?
Who are you going to marry?
Which job are you going to work at?
What are you going to do with your life?
A lot of these things are specifically addressed in the Bible through his commandments, for
the rest we need God to lead us, we need to be in the will of God, and it's a good idea
to pray that the Lord would lead us also, and just pray to God and say, God, I'm going
to make a decision Lord, I'm going to use free will, but Lord I want you to lead me,
I want you to just, if for some reason there's something bad here, some danger, Lord keep
me from it, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil, guide our path, guide
our steps, and really that demystifies the will of God for you in your life, I hope that
sermon.
You know, it's not that mysterious, he's showed the old man what is good.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father we thank you so much for your word Lord, and we thank you that we don't have
to just scratch our heads and be paralyzed with indecision, biting our fingernails, wondering
what in the world are we supposed to do with our lives?
What does God want us to do?
I just don't know what to do.
Praying for God's will, waiting for an audible voice that never comes.
Lord help us to get into our Bibles and figure out what the word of God says is the will
of God.
Lord help us, after we've figured out biblically what the will of God is, help us Lord to just
be directed, and God I pray that you direct me and guide me.
God help me to stay in your will so that I can have those promises that I will be blessed
in the end.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.