God's Will, Your Life

What If?

We are in the second week of an 8 week journey toward Experiencing God.

Last week we talked about what is means to experience God.

That God invites us to truly KNOW Him and not just know ABOUT Him.

And that by knowing God more fully and experiencing God personally we are changed and shaped by Him.

In addition to our Sunday mornings, we are digging deeper into these 7 realities in our small groups every week.

We ended our small groups last week with a quite powerful statement:

“What is God’s will for my life?” isn’t the best question to ask. Rather, “What is God’s will, and how can I join Him in it?” is the better question. Too often we want to plan our own lives and call God in to make us successful. But when we’re living God-centered lives, we understand that God has better plans that He invites us to join.”

I want to spend the next few minutes digging deeper into that statement and look at what it means to do the will of God.

What if we were really able to know God’s Will, how our lives fit into it, and then live in the center of it? What if!?!

Searching for God’s Will

We often treat the will of God as some kind of mystery that we have to solve or a path we have to find through a series of puzzles and challenges.

Like we are Indian Jones in search of the Lost Ark or Nicholas Cage looking for a long lost treasure.

So if we miss a clue or take a wrong path, we risk missing out or messing up what would have been God’s perfect plan for our lives.

I don’t know about you, but that gives me a lot of anxiety.

Because I am not the most observant person and am a master at missing details, so I am sure along the road of life I have missed lots of clues and strolled right past many a pathway.

Thankfully, God’s will isn’t something we have to search for or a puzzle we have to solve.

It is something God has revealed to us and called us to in His Word.

God will for us is all over the pages of scripture, but there are three places where God clearly states His will for us.

1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 NLT

God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.

God’s Will is for us to BE HOLY, to live according to His ways and pursue a life and honors Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 CSB

Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

God’s Will is for us to pursue joy, pray passionately, and to live thankfully.

Ephesians 5:17–20 NIV

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s will is for us to live Spirit-filled lives. To live sober lives (not just free of alcohol and drugs, but free from worldly ideas), in the power of the Holy Spirit, offering praise and gratitude to God for His goodness.

God’s Will isn’t so much concerned with what we do so much as who we are and how we live.

Blackaby says:

Once I know God’s will, then my life gains its proper perspective, and I can adjust my life to Him and to His purposes. Once I know what God is doing, then I see what I should do.

God doesn’t put things into place for you to accomplish our plans for your life, He put you in place in order to accomplish His will with your life.

Pursuing God’s Will

So “How do we pursue God’s Will?”

Let’s look at Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

In the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans Paul’s focus is right belief (knowing what is true about God and about us).

The rest of Romans is about the kind of life that is shaped by the truths of the first 11 chapters.

So these 2 verse are the bridge between knowing God and living for Him.

And the goal is that we would “know and live the good, pleasing, and perfect WILL of God.”

1) SURRENDER your life to WORSHIPING Him.

Worship is the goal of the human life as God designed it.

He didn’t just design us to work, have kids, build things, and make things.

He designed us to WORSHIP and all the things we do are to be expressions of our worship.

The word “worship” means “using our minds and hearts and bodies to express the worth of God and all he is for us in Jesus.”

To know and do the Will of God requires that we first surrender our lives to express the immeasurable value of God in everything we do.

That’s Paul’s message here.

Paul says “in view of the mercies of God…worship Him.”

Because He is so good, so powerful, so loving, so kind, so holy, so personal, and so many other things…and because of all He has done for you in Christ…let your life be about expressing how incredibly precious He is.

It isn’t a duty to worship Christ, and it should never feel like it is.

It is a response of deep affection and overwhelming gratefulness.

So in every area of life we surrender to worship asking:

How can I act and speak and feel so that I help people see the worth of Jesus above all?

How can I live to show that Jesus didn’t come into the world to help me accomplish my plans and purposes but to help me love better and live fuller?

2) DEVOTE your life to KNOWING Him.

“Do not be conformed, be transformed.” That’s the message in a nutshell.

What makes us different than someone who doesn’t follow Christ?

Our motives, our values, and our relationships. How do they look different?

Are we being shaped more by the values, attitudes, and ethics of the world, or by God’s?

It is hard for us to know what anyone really wants unless we KNOW them.

A few years ago we were at a street fair and I went to a concession stand to get a treat.

When I got back, I had a big, powdery funnel cake for Pam and I to share.

I knew when I ordered it how much she loved funnel cakes.

When she saw it she said “what is that?” and, with a big smile on my face I said “Its a funnel cake!”

To which she said “Gross!”

I learned that day that my wife did not like funnel cakes.

We don’t really know what God wants unless we know Him.

And He has revealed Himself to us.

Hebrews 1:1–2 CSB

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.

God’s Word is the way we can know Him and know what His will is.

The Center of Bible Engagement commissioned a study of Scripture engagement among Christians. 40,000 people participated over a large age demographic.

The study indicated that when people engaged in the Scripture one time a week, which could include a pastor instructing the congregation to “open your Bibles…”, there was no real effect on their lives. The same result was true if people engaged in the Scriptures two times a week. The result equaled little to no effect.

Three times a week saw a small indication of life. There was a slight pulse, a faint heartbeat. Something moved in the behavior of the person engaging in Scripture.

The eye-opener happened when Bible engagement reached at least four times a week. Here is what they found:

Feeling lonely drops 30%

Anger issues drop 32%

Bitterness in relationships drops 40%

Alcoholism drops 57%

Sex outside of marriage drops 68%

Feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60%

Viewing pornography drops 61%

Sharing your faith jumps 200%

Discipling others jumps 230%

Excuses for why we don’t read and study the bible

Not a reader

Don’t understand it

Need help

If we want to know God's will we need to stop being conformed to the world's ways and let him transform our minds and our hearts that are hearts and minds. Might be in tune with hearing and doing his will.

3) GIVE your life to SERVING Him.

When it comes to knowing and doing God’s will, it isn’t about what we DO, but about who we are.

Paul doesn’t mention spiritual gifts and service UNTIL he talks about surrender, worship, and a transformed mind.

He is saying “Your fruitfulness in the kingdom of God comes out of a surrendered heart and a transformed mind.”

God’s will is to use your gifts, talents, experience, and everything else that makes you you to bring His message to others.

Reasons we fail to see where God is working in order to join Him: 1. For two distant/not listening 2. We are too busy/distracted 3. We're too comfortable/secure

4. We don’t feel qualified.

God is working and we can't focus on our ability or gifting, we need to focus on God's call. He will equip us for it if we are intune with him.

If we are going to see people come to faith in Christ in this church then we all need to catch the vision.

We may not know for sure right now where exactly God is working, but we know the heart and will of God is to see people cross over from death to life, from lost to found.

There are some here today who haven't surrendered their lives to Christ and/or haven't been baptized,

but we will only see 50 people get baptized in 2024 if we together decide to lean into the mission of God and begin inviting, sharing, and serving others for the cause of Christ.

There are people all around you, at work, at the ball field, your neighbors, family members, friends, and many others you interact with regularly who are lost without Christ.

Where is God working?

Maybe He is working in your heart today, leading you to trust in Him and give your life to Him.

Your step is to surrender and come to Him.

Maybe God is convicting you, your too busy, to distant, or too distracted to hear Him and see where He is working.

Your step today is to confess and open your ear, eyes, and heart.

Commit reading or listening to the Bible 4 days this week

Commit to taking a moment everyday to pray and listen 5-10 minutes.

Commit to slowing down and putting down the phone.

Maybe God is making it clear to you what/who He has put into your path.

Your step is obedience this week.