Searching for God 4
Searching for God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Announcements
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Intro
Intro
We are continuing in our series called “Searching for God”
I hope this has been a series that you guys have enjoyed as much as I have enjoyed making it all for you
I always enjoy series’ that are applicable and help you in the day-to-day grinds of life
So far we have answered 3 questions:
Does God love people
Is God good
Why do bad things happen
What we discovered by seeking to answer those questions is that
God does love people. He loves all people. Love however doesn’t mean accepting everything someone does
God is good. He is the only thing in this world that is good.
Bad things happen because of sin. God created everything good, but through sin bad and evil entered the world.
God’s Will
God’s Will
These are all common questions that you might get asked when you go to tell someone about Jesus
However, today I wanted to answer a question that I get all the time
This is a question that all of you face and ask continuously
Rather you ask it or think it, or it’s just a subconscious thought
The question that every single one of you are asking is this:
What is God’s will?
You are asking the question what is God’s will
More specifically you are asking what is God’s will for my life
This is something that has been ingrained in us - to seek God’s will
From the moment we were created by God we have been questioning what God’s will is for our life
Even Drake has a song that mentions it: God’s plan (will)
The Lord’s prayer talks about God’s will:
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
We are told to pray for God’s will to be done
But what is God’s will?
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans tells us that we can test and discern the will of God
That is not something that is hidden from us although many of us in the room would probably admit that we don’t know what God wills for our life
So today I want to show you what God’s will is e
I want to lay it out plainly for you — it’s really not as difficult as we make it out to be
We will see God’s will from
God’s will: We Make disciples
God’s will: We Make disciples
So what is God’s will for our lives?
One aspect of God’s will is:
God’s will is that we make disciples
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The first thing that God wills us to do is to make disciples
He wills that we share the Gospel with others
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
Jesus looking out at the crowd declares that the harvest is plentiful — quite literally that the world is lost and in need of a savior
That they are lost and need saving
They are lost and need to hear the Gospel of Jesus
God’s will is that we go and share the Gospel with around us
That we live out our faith in a real way no matter who we are around or where we go
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
We are to quite literally share the Gospel in every aspect of our lives
In every place we go
With the people we interact with
God wills us to share the Gospel
If we want to walk in step with God’s will, we must be sharing the Gospel
That means we must be going to our friends and family and those that are lost and sharing with them the Gospel message of Jesus
God’s Will: Sanctification
God’s Will: Sanctification
A second aspect of God’s will is:
God’s will: Sanctification
1 Thessalonians 4:3a (ESV)
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:
We are told that God’s will for us is our sanctification
The word sanctification means: the process of becoming holy
The process of becoming more like Jesus
How do we do this?
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
We are to flee from sin
To not make any provision for our sin
God calls us to flee from sin and grow closer to Jesus
Sin is the exact opposite of God
We talked a couple weeks ago about how God is good — God being good means He does not and cannot sin
So if we are to become sanctified or made holy we are to flee from all that is trying to pull us away from God
Want to know exactly what sins are?
Here’s what Paul tells us
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
These things all go against God and what He has called us to
So if we are to walk in step with God’s will we are to flee from our sin and become more like Jesus
God’s Will: do good
God’s Will: do good
The last aspect of God’s will I want to look at today is:
God’s will is that we do good to others
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
We are told that it is God’s will for us as Christians to do good
That we are called to do good to those who are around
For us this might seem inconsequential compared to sharing the Gospel and fleeing sin
But treating others with kindness and goodness is an aspect of how people will be able to see God as good and king
Like Peter said doing good will silence the ignorance of foolish people
AKA people will not be able to bad talk you or God when you are treating them with kindness
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We are to love and care for others
People should be able to look at how we talk about people, how we interact with difficult people, the things we say and do, and see that we are from God
We as Christians are representing Jesus to the world around us
So we must represent Him in the proper manner
To walk in the will of God we must do good to others
Not attack, but show love
What about the day to day
What about the day to day
Here’s the deal though — for most of you, when you are asking about God’s will you’re asking for a specific reason
You want to know:
What about God’s will for my life in the day to day?
What about God’s will for my life when it comes to where I’ll go to school
Who I’ll marry
What job should I take
We want to know God’s will for us now — not just actions that we should do but which door do we go through
We know that the Lord leads us through life:
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
So how can we know what God is calling us to?
How can we know God’s will for the every day choices?
We must hear His voice:
4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
I want to give you three quick ways you can hear the Lord’s voice
Read the Bible
If you want to hear the Lord’s voice you must read the Bible
The Bible is the word of God
As Paul describes it, it is the very breath of the Lord
For us to know the will of the Lord we must be able to hear his voice by reading the Bible
Pray
If you want to hear the Lord’s voice you need to talk to Him
Prayer is our open communication with the Lord
We can bring our questions and concerns to God and speak to Him
Prayer is integral in hearing the voice of God
Community with other believers
Lastly if you want to hear the voice of God — know what the Lord is calling you too, ask believers
Ask people that trust in Jesus that are seeking Him if you think God is calling you to this or that
Often times God will reveal himself to us in the words of other believers
Anytime I am questioning is God calling me to do something I will do these three things
I will read the Bible — study what God’s Word says about the topic or about our life in general
I will pray asking God what He thinks and where I should go
And I will seek other believers and see what they think
I can honestly say that when I have truly done these three things when faced with a question of what God is calling me to — what God’s will for my life is — I have always been able to distinguish what God’s will is
Conclusion
Conclusion
God’s will for us as believers is that we act more like His Son
That we share the Gospel with those that are lost
That we flee from sin and become more like Him
That we do good to all people — those showing the goodness of God
When it comes to the day to day willings of God — we must learn to hear His voice
We do that through reading the Bible, praying, and community with other believers
The will of God isn’t hard — we just overcomplicate it