What is God’s Will

So this series was birthed out of the survey we sent out around Easter time. We had a bunch of responses and I kind of put them all together in chunks so as to make it easier to preach on. So we have the next 5 Sundays to try and wrap this up the Lord willing until the next time we do this survey. Here are a couple of questions that people have asked for their friend.

(Insert questions here)

So here is what I would like for you to do. We want to know the questions your friends are asking. Let us know. You post them on twitter to us or on instagram or even comment right here on the live feed of this message. We want to know what your friends are asking. Who knows maybe next week your question for a friend may be highlighted.

As funny as those questions are, in real life there are tough questions that need answers. Maybe it is about a situation you are going through or maybe it is about a problem you have. So we are going to go to God’s word and see what He says about real life. I want you to be with me this whole series because I believe God has given me some messages that will apply to your life. They will transform your life.

Next week will be asking for a friend:

How do I win the internal battle? Stress and Fear

How do I win the internal battle? Stress and Fear

The third week will be about

Grace: Redemption, Acceptance, and Forgiveness

The fourth week of this series we will deal with:

Is the world coming to an end? Biblical prophecy

You may not have to deal with this but you can always come and ask for a friend.

The final week is one you aren’t going to want to miss.

How to set standards

All of these have different sub questions that I will be answering from you all.

This week I want to talk about

What is God’s Will?

This is a question that starts aa really early age. What does God want me to do with my life. Even when we are in school. Does God want me to be apart of this team or that club. Should I be on the football team? Should i run for president of the Star Wars Fan club. We ask God all these questions trying to figure out what He wants us to do. Then you graduate from High School and then you ask God, do I go to University of TN or Vanderbilt? Do I date her or do I not. Is he who you want me to marry or not? You are trying to figure out God’s will in all of those situations. Then you get married and poeple are aksing you about kids. ARe you gonna have 1 or two? Some of yall need zero. Then buy a house or rent a house. What job should I take. Just all the questions that we ask in our lives. So how do we take this very complex issue and make it simple. I believe there are 3 statements that I want you to write down and use to help you with this. They are all in first person. So that you see yourself saying them.

God has a plan for my life.

I know we hear that all the time but I don’t want you to just hear it or read it. I want you to believe it and know it. Not just know on the surface level but know in your heart. KNow that you cannot be shaken from it. Know so that whenver you feel this way again that you don’t know where to go. you go to the One who knows. So say this with me.

This is important to me because I like plans. I can fly by the seat of my pants as to what movie we are going to see or where we are going to eat but if there is a task to be done, I need a plan. If there isn’t one, I will create one. I like seeing dates, times, and mapping out of what is going on. Sometimes I wait until the last minute but I still like to have a plan. And once we have it, let’s stick to it. You know.

Yall know me and waisting time is not one of my strong suits. I am alway thinking of something else I coulld be doing. I don’t mine relaxing a bit in front of the tv but truthfully most of the time then I have my laptop infront of me. So I was doing a wedding in which the bride and the groom didn’t have a plan (or so I though) of what was going to happen that day. So we are at the rehearsal which I rarely go it and everyone is just standing around. I am hearing well do we stand here or do I go there. Who is going to walk who. So I decide that I have had enough of this, I am going to take charge. So I do. I say she is walking with him, he is walking with her and we go down this way and then we all stand here. Then I was like is that ok with you bride and she says to me, the wedding planner has it all already worked out for us pastor. But thank you for trying to help. Then I feel her stare at me. The wedding planner. The heat from her eyes is almost unbearable at this point. But it all worked out and I apologized and I don’t know if she forgave me but that is between her and the Lord.

But doesn’t that always seem to be the way we do things. We try to create the plan when someone else already has the plan. You maybe confused today but there is great news for your life.

says this.

Jeremiah 29:11 MEV

For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Look at that first phrase. I think we sometimes blow right past that. But God says, I know the plans. This is one of the verses that we say all the time and it becomes meaningless becuase we have heard it so many times. That is why I want you to stop and look. He says I know the plans. I mean He isn’t confused. He has ultimate understanding. And look at this, the plan is to prosper you an dnot to harm you but to give you a hope and a future.

Some people wonder about that sometimes. Is it a good plan that God has. it is! I don’t care what it looks like right now, how bad it might be getting. The ultimate plan is to benefit you.

He knows the plan because he designed the plan.

Let me back that up in scripture which is also found in Jeremiah. Chapter 1 vs 5

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you.

Listen to that right now. Now only does God know you. He set you apart for something awesome. Then He appointed you. YOU ARE NOT A MISTAKE! You are not a screw up. Then why do i feel this way. Why do i act this way. Because the devil is doing whatever he can to keep you that way. Listen to me. You are not second place, the runner up, or the underdog. You are a masterpiece of God that he has made so that He can use you to His glory and life limitless for you. That gets me excited to think about that.

So many poeple grow up being told they are mistake. Listen to me. You parents may not have wanted you, but God needed you. I put it this way in your notes.

There may be been unplanned pregnancies, but there has never been an unplanned birth.

You hear what I am saying. There is not a person alive that God didn’tknow they were coming. Because He created them. Some of yall were the recepients of unplanned pregnancies. Some of yall were the cuase of some of them. But the person formed had meaning and value. You have meaning and value. You have a purpose. You have a life that needs to be lieved to the fullest for God. The phrase that was so popular a few years ago YOLO! You only live once. That is so true. So why waste it on stupid stuff like getting high, getting drunk, doing things outside of the will of God. If I only have one car for my whole life, I want the best one and I will take care of it the best way I know how. So how much more valuable is your life. Use it to the fullest. There has never been an accidental kid. If God has a plan, then how do we figure it out. Before I tell you how to do it, let me tell you how not to do it. Putting out a fleece is not it. If you don’t know what that means it is an OT way of doing things where Gideon was told something by God and then put a piece of material out and gave God some challenges to fulfill to know the word was from Him. So we will do the same thing. I know that I am supposed to marry this boy if within 24-72 hours he text me. Or I was outside pryaing about something and I felt a breeze and that was God just telling me I am ok with this. Yall think I am joking. We have all been there. Father if it is your will for me to get these doughnuts, let the hot doughnut sign be on. Sure enough I waited until it came on.

That is not the way we are to get the leading of God now. The other way that poepel try to figure out is the shuffle point method. They shuffle through the bible and then point at a verse and whatever it says they go do it. So you are praying for a new car and the bible says they were all in one accord. That’s it. I a buy a honda accord. Or you trying to find a place to live and it says 1 Samuel move away from the amalakites. Who are the amalikites lord. I will move just tell me where they are. Or maybe you are like the guy who lands on this verse

1 Chronicles 19:4 NKJV

Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away.

He says that was a mistake. What am I going to do with that one. So he shuffles and points again and lands on this.

Luke 10:37

Luke 10:37

Luke 10:37 NKJV

And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Luke 10:37 NKJV

And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Those are not the ways to figure out God’s will. Let me show you the best way to figure out God’s way. It is the next blank in your notes.

God uniquely designed me for my destiny.

You are weird on purpose. You like star wars over star trek for a reason. You are a geek or a nerd with a plan. You are a jock and know stats from 1963 to fulfill a purpose. Any good designer, architect, or builder is not going to build stuff at random. He or she will build stuff for the purpose it will be used for. Why do you think that God would be any different. God created you knowing the end result. God didn’t create you then come up with a purpose. He had a purpose and then created you to fill it. If you don’t know what you purpose is, look to the one who created you. Look at how you are designed.

Roll with me for just a moment. Let’s say you have been on an island your whole life and you are a cave man. So you have never seen any of the modern advances that we have. You still hit people with clubs and talk in grunts. Ok you with me. So are out one day walking the island and all of a sudden this washed up on shore. How would you realize what it was used for. Well WWE would tell you for smashing poeple over the head. But you would play around with it, touch it. Maybe even taste it. You would keep messing with it until you came to the conclusion that it fits perfectly for doing this. It’s almost as though the creator knew what the purpose for this would be and designed it in a way as such it could be used for it’s destiny.

The best way to figure out your destiny is to look at how you are designed. Two major questions to ask youself.

What are my passions?

What is that thing that makes me come alove. That need no motivation to accomplish. I mean we hall have something. What is your. Let me tell you, exercise is not mine. I must have motivation for that. It is a foredrawn conclusion that if I am not motivated, I will not exercise. Can I tell you one of mine that you will never guess. When I was growing up, I loved to talk. It was just known that on my report card in the comments section that it would say he talks to often and too loudly. They were all the time trying to get me to listen. I wasn’t a bad student. Made straight A’s. I just liked to talk. I know a shocker right. I always had an opinion and wanted to voice it. I never backed away from a debate. Little did those teachers know that one day I would be doing this. Maybe they thought politician. That could still be in my future. But look at this.

Your passion is almost always linked to your purpose.

I mean it is here with me. I am passionate about winning poeple to the lord. I will talk to you in the restaurant, the grocery store, the shcool, it doesn’t matter to me. Poeple say well you are just high energy or you are just outgoing. I think there isn’t a thing to do with it. I think there are passionate people and then there are people who havnet yet found their passion. Becuase I have seen low enerfy poeple get excited about their kids or their team. You need to find your passion and own it. The world needs more passionate people. But you don’t need to be passionate about what I am passionate about. You need to find your own passion and use that. But you know just becuas eyou are passionate about something doesn’t mean you are good at it.

Watch American Idol and you will quickly see that. Passion doesn’t mean gifting. I mean I wonder where are their friends and family to tell them. You have your passions but there is a second wing to the plane. The second side is

What am I good at?

If you will combine your passion with your gifting you will be operating in the will of God for your life. There is no question about it. Your life will take off.

These gifts are your spiritual strengths.

Most churches in fact it is 87% of local don’t know their spirit gifts. We don’t want that. We arenn’t like that. We want you to know them and use them. That is why we have next steps. There are different giftings given to different people for the entirety of the body. YOu aren’t so suppsoed to do it all and neither am I. I mean for example, I am not a counselor. Counselor are supposed to listen and listen well. I am a pastor. I discern what the problem is pretty quickly and then go for the rod of correction to get you back in line. I mean sometimes when people come to me, in 5 minutes of the conversation I am like you are selfish, love your wife better, put God first. That is your prescription come back and see me on Sunday. Next. As a pastor I can do that, as a counselor I cannot. So I am trying to find Godly spirit filled people to send folks to for counseling.

When I am tyring to operate outside of my gift and passion I feel drained and defeated. Why becuase I am trying to do something that I am not supposed to be doing. I am trying to create a plan instead of ofllow it or I am plowing the field all by myself.

But here is the last thing I want you all to see. Becuase most of you in here have the first two. You understand there is a plan and you know your passions and strength but you are stuck there. If you get stuck at the first two then you still are living under your potential. Here is the most crucial one if you ask me. It why the Gospel is so important. Why we must have the Spirit led life we talked of last week. Here it is.

I will find God’s will as I surrender mine.

Because you have an opportunity everytime you look at His plan, of what are you going to use these passions and gifting for. Success in the kingdom of God is about getting. YOu have already gotten. It is aobut using what you Got to make a difference in the world. So many poeple are using this gospel to get money, fame, fortune, and inheritance, their prayers answers, their wishes fulfilled. That ain’t it. Can you have those things? Yes. Are those bad? no. But are you getting those things to ultimately bring glory to God or youself. Jesus said it like this.

Matthew 10:39 NKJV

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

YOu wanna gain everything in this world, you will lose it. This is where Christianity is involved. This isn’t self help. It isn’t learn you passsion learn your gift and you will be fulfilled. It is learn your passions learn your gifts and then lay them at the feet of Jesus and he can take them and you further than you ever thought. You’ll be able to change the world because of it.

Success is found in surrender.

When you say God, I am not here for my benefit, or for my glory or for my desires but I am here for you. The world’s plan is to gain. God’s plan is to give. It is not what greatness can come upon but what greatness can be used through you. You find the ultimate calling in this and it is the last one in your notes and david you can go ahead and start some music,

God’s plan is fulfilled when my purpose meets the world’s pain.

That only happens through Jeuss. Every other thing is about me me me or you you you. Jesus came to show us it is not about us. His life waasn’t about him. It was about you.

I leave you with this last illustration.