How Can I Discover God's Will For My
Life?
a.
1
Thessalonians 4:3-7 > Be sanctified
b.
1
Thessalonians 5:10-18
c.
2
Corinthians 8:5
a.
Acts 1
– Casting Lots for Judas’ replacement
b.
Holy
Spirit - John 14:16-17, 25-26
III.
When
we have a decision to make, how do we know what is God’s will?
a.
God
wants us to know his will more than we do.
b.
Pray
for God’s will – Examples of Jesus
i.
Matthew
6, Jesus told the disciples to pray “your will be done”
ii.
Matthew
26, Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done”
c.
Rom
12:1-2
i.
Present
yourselves as living holy sacrifices
ii.
Do not
be conformed, but transformed
a.
Do not
grieve the Holy Spirit – Eph 4:30-32
b.
Lust
affects our dating decisions
a.
Selfish
decisions - 1 Thessalonians 4:6-7
b.
God’s
will sometimes means we suffer
i.
1
Peter 3:17
ii.
Jesus
Freaks
a.
Proverbs
16:9
b.
Rom
8:28
·
How many of you have ever had to make a decision?
·
Some decisions are harder to make than others. Some are more important than others.
·
For most of your lives, your parents have probably made most
of your important decisions for you – such as where you go to school, what your
curfew is, when you learn to drive, whether or not you get a car and what kind
of car, whether or not you will have a job and where you can work.
·
But you’re at the age where you will start making the
important decisions for yourself.
·
What are some of the important decisions you have to make?
·
Should I date somebody?
If the answer is yes, Who should I date? Should I marry this person?
·
Should I be in the band? quit band? Try out for football,
baseball, drill team? Quit football, baseball, or the drill team?
·
Should I go to this party?
Should I hang out with this group of people?
·
Should I go to college? If the answer is yes, should I go to
A&M or Baylor? Or should I skip
college and get a job, or go to a technical school?
·
Is God calling me into ministry? to the mission field?
Those
are some decisions that will shape our lives.
They really do matter. We make our decisions and our decisions turn
around and make us. As a Christian, we
should want to make the decisions that are God’s will for our lives, because
God does care about your decisions.
Have you
ever wished you could sit down with God and have a talk with Him about your own
life? Have you ever wished you could just say, "Lord, what do you want me
to do?"
Wouldn’t
it be easier if we could simply hear God say something like, “Beth, girl you
better marry that Rusty guy. I know he
doesn’t look that good now, but just wait till he gains about 40 pounds, and
grows a goatee… he’ll be really looking good then!”
That would
make it easy. But it doesn't happen that way very often.
What are
some things that we know are God’s will?
Wouldn't
it be great if the Bible would say something like - "….. for this is God's
will for your life."
1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified:
that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to
control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate
lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one
should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for
all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not
call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
1 Thessalonians 5:10-18
10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep,
we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build
each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 12 Now we ask you, brothers, to
respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who
admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.
Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are
idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make
sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each
other and to everyone else. 16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give
thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ
Jesus.
2 Corinthians 8:5
5 And they did not do as we expected, but they gave
themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.
Paul's referring to the Macedonian churches who were under
severe trials and in poverty, but still gave beyond their ability.
In Acts 1, they cast lots for the replacement for Judas.
In Acts 2, Luke describes the Day of Pentecost. What happened that day?
Now we have the Holy Spirit.
Holy
Spirit
John 14:16-17, 25-26 (NASB)
16“I will ask the Father, and He will give
you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17that is the Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him,
but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you…
25“These
things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 26“But
the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will
teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Think
about this statement for a moment:
·
When
it comes to making decisions, God wants you to know his will more than you want
to know it.
·
I’ve
often thought to find out God’s will, I will have to go looking for it, like a
game of hide and seek, like it’s a mystery I have to solve.
·
God’s
not hiding it from me, he WANTS me to know it.
·
Because
of that, he takes personal responsibility to see that you discover it.
·
That made me feel a lot better when I realized that.
We’ve got a couple of great examples in the Bible from Jesus
himself.
What did Jesus do in the Garden of Gethsemane?
In the Lord’s Prayer, what did Jesus tell the disciples to
pray?
So 1st, we should pray for God’s will to be done.
Wouldn't it be great if the
Bible said something like, "Do this…, and then you will be able to test if
something is God's will?"
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is
your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will
be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and
perfect will.
Ephesians 4:30-32 (NASB)
30Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you
were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness and
wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all
malice. 32Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each
other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Can lust affect your dating relationships?
1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you
should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his
own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the
heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his
brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins,
as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be
impure, but to live a holy life.
When we make a choice that is God’s will, does that mean
good things will happen to us?
Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego turned out OK, but what
about Stephen?
1 Peter 3:17
17 It is better, if it is God's will, to suffer for doing
good than for doing evil.
Jesus Freaks is a great book.
Conclusion - He's God and we're not!
Understand
this and that will make your life peaceful.
If you trust in Jesus Christ, and seek God first for all your decisions,
God is faithful, and He will assure His will is done.
When
we forget that rule, we try to take control of our own life and we end up
worrying over all our decisions, and that makes life very stressful.
Proverbs 16:9-"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord
determines his steps."
We
can make all the plans we want, but God will direct our every step, 1 at a
time.
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His
purpose.
Some
examples of what this really means:
·
He can put you exactly where he wants you to be.
·
He can arrange all the details years in advance.
·
He can open doors that seem shut tight.
·
He can remove any obstacle that stands in your way.
·
He can take your choices and fit them into his plan so that
you end up at the right place at just the right time.
·
He can even take your mistakes and bring good out of them.
·
He can take tragedy and use it for your good and his glory.
Is it ever
God’s will for you as a Christian to date a non-Christian?