Choosing the Right Guide to Follow
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Have you ever been lost? Have to ask for directions?… not any more, we have maps on our phones.
Have you ever been misled by your map app?
It’s important to have the right guide to get us around town… same in life
Choosing Your Future… Choosing the Right Guide …
Ever wonder why Jesus had to go back to heaven?
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7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
Jesus was saying the HS was acutally better than having him with us. Why? HS is not limited to one location. He is with us all the time… in us all the time...
Holy Spirit vs. Holy Ghost… KJV 1611 and words don’t mean the same today.
16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. 17 That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Ways the Holy Spirit Wants to help You Every Day
Ways the Holy Spirit Wants to help You Every Day
1. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Know what I need to know.
1. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Know what I need to know.
First thing HS does… lets us know hat we need to know… when we need to know it.
If you learn to listen to HS, he wil lead you every day in the moment you need him to let you know something,
ILL - Have you ever read a bible verse in the morning and it be the exact verse you needed that day? That’s the HS. He knows in advance what you need and will give it to you. He helps you in advance and he helps you in the moment you need him.
Might read a verse… a book… an article… hear a song...
Jesus said
13 But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words, but he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is to come.
He will give you what you need… the truth you need. Can’t build your life on lies.
He will give you little nudges and insights
When the HS tells you what to do, it’s called Revelation.
26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
There is no way Simeon would have know that other than the HS telling him.
God will reveal things to you but it will never contradict the Bible.
2. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Get where I need to go.
2. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Get where I need to go.
Not only will he let me know what I need to know, he will get me where I need to be. There are places you need to be in life and there is no way you will be able to do it by yourself.
When God gives you a dream, there is no way you can accomplish it without him. HS will guide you to make the right decisions for your life… your business… He will open doors for you.
Let him guide your career, your relationships, your business, everything in your life.
27 The Spirit led Simeon to the Temple. When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the Temple to do what the law said they must do,
God told Simeon that he would not die before seeing the Savior, so when Jesus was coming to the temple, HS told Simeon to go to the temple.
Here is another example…
29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”
… describe what happened…
What are you reading? Isaiah, but I don’t understand it. Phillip says, I do and explains it to him, leads him to faith in Christ, baptized him and then He takes the Gospel to Africa.
3. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Say the right things.
3. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Say the right things.
You mihgt be in a situation where someone asks you something you don’t know… or you may be somewhere where people are upset… the HS will give you the words you need to speak.
In conflict if you listen to the HS, he will lead you to peace.
36 David, guided by the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Take the highest position in heaven until I put your enemies under your control.” ’
Now, not only does he tell you what to know, tell you where to go, but he tells you what to say if you’ll listen. That's what a guide does. If you'll listen you'll stop saying so many stupid things.
Quite often the HS will use you and you don’t even know it. You may make an off hand remark and it be just the thing someone needed to hear. You didn’t know they needed that… that’s the HS.
How many times have you said that it was like God was speaking directly to you.... he was. HS may tell me what to say because he knows who you are bringing.
Sometimes he tells you in advance.
Sometimes he tells you in advance.
Sermon Prep… I pray and pray about what to say each Sunday and Wednesday. I ask God to prepare what I am going to say because he knows who he is sending to our church. He knows what you need.
Sometimes he tells you in the moment.
Sometimes he tells you in the moment.
19 When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. 20 For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
KNow - Go - Say
4. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Wait for God’s perfect timing.
4. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Wait for God’s perfect timing.
Timing is important… difference between hall of famer and a nobody is timing. You can do the eighgt hing at the wrong time and it won’t work.
Maybe God gave you an idea for a business and you want to just start it up. NO.
3 Parts to a dream from God
He will tell you what he’s going to do.
He will tell you how to do it. Often times God will have you do things in a way the world doesn’t understand.
He will let you know when. He has to get us ready then it will be the time. ECCL says there is a time for everything.
5 But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.
What are you waiting on? Are you talking to the HS about it while you wait?
5. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Resist things I can’t normally resist.
5. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Resist things I can’t normally resist.
temptations… compulsions… desires… addictions…
17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
Point: HS power is stronger than will power. We mess up when we try to do it o Will Power. HS power will keep us from doing and saying all those things we wish we hadn’t.
That’s why CR is more effective than other recovery programs… has the HS
Look at the verse before...
16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
It doesn’t say you will not have selfish desires… you will. It says that if you are guided by the HS you will not fulfill them.
Whatever your struggles … sex, anger, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, money. Paul doesn’t say you will never be tempted, he say that the HS will keep you from acting on the temptations. Satan will always be after you trying to kill steal and destroy your life. HS will guide you to live so that doesn’t happen.
6. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Avoid dangers and mistakes.
6. If I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will help me Avoid dangers and mistakes.
Part of HS job is to protect you and shield you from danger. The Bible uses the word shield, the word shelter, the word defend, to keep you from disaster, my protector, my rock, my defender. It is the Holy Spirit's job to protect you from dangers and mistakes.
One way he does this is by cautioning you. He does more than whisper sweet things to you. He will warn you about danger. He will let you know that the path you are taking is the wrong one and you will destroy your life if you proceed.
So if you want to avoid mistakes in life… listen to the HS.
Write:
I am most likely to hear the Holy Spirit when I’m relaxed.
I am most likely to hear the Holy Spirit when I’m relaxed.
It’s almost impossible to hear HS when you are running 100 mph and all stressed out. It’s especially hard to hear the HS when you are afraid.
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
The HS doesn’t use fear based warnings.
4 We went ashore, found the local believers, and stayed with them a week. These believers prophesied through the Holy Spirit that Paul should not go on to Jerusalem.
So Paul did n’t go to Jerusalem.
7 I praise the Lord, because he guides me, and in the night my conscience warns me.
4 We found some followers in Tyre and stayed with them for seven days. Through the Holy Spirit they warned Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
How does the Holy Spirit Guide?
How does the Holy Spirit Guide?
God can lead you through wise counsel. He can lead you through visions. He can lead you through dreams. He can lead you through circumstances. He can lead you through miracles. We'll go over that some other time, but let me give you the three most common ways that the Holy Spirit guides.
Three common ways
1. By revealing the meaning if what he’s said.
1. By revealing the meaning if what he’s said.
If you want to know God’s will, get into God’s word. HS will reveal what it means. Stop looking for a vision and look for a verse.
Spirit of truth will lead you to the truth and he will lead you to GW.
Have you ever read something and not understood it? Mentor Box - authors explain the meaning of their books.
When we reads the Bible, the author is there to explain it to us.
14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.
First, if you are not a believer you don’t have the HS and there is no way you can understand the Bible. To understand it, you need the Spirit of truth to reveal it to you.
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
2. By reminding us of what He’s said.
2. By reminding us of what He’s said.
26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.
20 Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding,
3. By giving us nudges & confirmations.
3. By giving us nudges & confirmations.
16 God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.
Steps to being Led by the Spirit
Steps to being Led by the Spirit
1. Pause and be quiet.
1. Pause and be quiet.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
15 This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.
2. Humbly ask the Holy Spirit to Guide you.
2. Humbly ask the Holy Spirit to Guide you.
9 He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way.
11 Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me.
3. Be willing to do what he says.
3. Be willing to do what he says.
17 Whoever is willing to do what God wants will know whether what I teach comes from God or whether I speak on my own authority.
4. Look to God’s Word.
4. Look to God’s Word.
105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
God’s will never contradicts God’s Word!
God’s will never contradicts God’s Word!
133 Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by evil.
5. Expect His Guidance in faith.
5. Expect His Guidance in faith.
5 If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him; he will not resent it. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind;
6. Wait for God’s Response.
6. Wait for God’s Response.
14 For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.