Navigating God’s Will in a World of Trouble
Notes
Transcript
Handout
15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Step Cautiously
Step Cautiously
What does the word circumspectly mean?
It means to careful or diligently.
I like to think in my mind of a cat walking through broken glass, a cat will gracefully and carefully step between each piece of glass and will waltz right through and not step on any of the glass. Sorry dog lovers, you know just as well as I do that your dog is running straight through the glass.
The language here is to exercise the same graceful steps as of an agile cat navigating a dangerous terrain.
We currently live in a dangerous terrain. I will say that we stand both at the precipice of revival and revolution. Some might say both, but let me tell you that revolution is not always the best route. Revival is what we need. Revival begins with God’s people turning back to God and the result is sinners coming to Christ. It can only happen in that order.
Seize the Season
Seize the Season
What does the word Redeeming mean?
It means to buy up. The idea is to buy up all that is available.
The word used here for time means season.
What does it mean the days are evil?
The word evil means ‘in troubled condition’ or ‘toilsome’. It also means wicked and evil.
If you knew that Apple was going to release a new innovative product and you had access and the means to buy that product months before anyone realized it would be released, would you buy all that you could?
We could say it this way:
“Buy up all the days in this season because they are in troubled condition.”
How can you redeem the time in your daily life?
Seek Diligently
Seek Diligently
What does it mean to be unwise?
The word here means foolish, ignorant, or without reason.
My favorite non-PC definition (yes it was in the definitions) is ‘slow’. I’ll let that soak in on some of you for a moment.
What does it mean to understand?
It means to comprehend, or fully grasp and recognize.
I want to address the question I have been asked often by students who have been in this class before. And it is usually this question:
How can I know what God’s will is for my life?
I want to ask you:
What is wrong with this question?
It is attempting to understand God’s will for your entire future. Not realistic or biblical.
Let me clarify, God never is leading you to leave your spouse for another one. Nor is God wanting you to do something contrary to His Word.
The mindset we need to have is:
God what is your will for me today?
Once you pray that, what do you do?
Live in obedience to God’s word, and God will bring opportunities, and place His desire in your heart.
A college professor of mine, I would consider him one of the greatest men I know. He was assistant Pastor at Temple Baptist Church for many years and he was a professor at Crown College. I always thought he would stay there and take the pastorate of that church when Clarence Sexton died, but before Dr. Sexton ever went home to be with the LORD, He left to full time evangelism. I remember hearing him give a testimony about it. He said people thought I would be the pastor and I would stay there and retire and live out my life in that ministry. He testified that he thought that too. Then God began to tell him to leave and go into evangelism. He struggled over it for a year before he surrendered to go. God used that to help me understand that God’s will is for today, for the now, not missing the opportunities available now. He testified how much greater the LORD has been in his life since he surrendered.
Tell about Julian Evans leaving a comfortable retirement to serve at Crown College.
Stop thinking about the will of God as a future thing, live in the will of God, because the will of God is in the present.
You may say “I don’t have peace about God’s will today, what do I do?”
Walk in obedience to God’s word and God will show you as the moment comes. Be wise and alert for the opportunities that God will bring to you and what He will reveal to you.
Pray the prayer of David the Psalmist:
8 Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; Make thy way straight before my face.
11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, And lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
How can we strive to understand God's will for our lives daily instead of viewing it as a distant future goal?
Stay Filled
Stay Filled
The Bible uses a familiar concept here, drunkenness.
What happens when someone is drunk?
They act different.
Many people will become more vocal and obscene. Some will become reserved. Others may demonstrate anger that is not present when they are sober. The truth is that the manner in which alcohol or any substance affects a person is completely dependent on the person.
What is true is that God uses the example of a person who is under the influence of alcohol to instruct His people that we are to be different.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit will, to the world, seem as if we are drunk or under the influence of some strange substance.
Why is that so? Because the world cannot understand that as God’s people, we can show love in times of hate, we can demonstrate peace in the midst of chaos. These are foreign to an unbeliever and thus they would be interrupted as some form of influence from a substance like alcohol.
What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit, and how does this differ from being under the influence of alcohol?
Submit yourself
Submit yourself
The idea here is that we are not full of self but are serving toward one another.
How will the world be able to differentia us from the rest of the world?
If we love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
It goes even further than that, we must love our enemies.
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
21 If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: 22 For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, And the Lord shall reward thee.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
In what practical ways can we demonstrate love to one another and to our enemies in our communities?
