God's will: Be motivated for it!
Notes
Transcript
Handout
God’s will for you!
God’s will for you!
God is good; and God is good about making His will know to us. Not just what it is but what to do with it. Tonight we will look at motivation behind knowing God’s will and what to do with it.
God’s will: Rejoice always
God’s will: Pray without ceasing
God’s will: Give thanks
God’s will: Be sanctified
God’s will: Good works
God’s will: It’s discernable
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Know God’s will, Rejoice while praying without ceasing and giving thanks while you are sanctified and being sanctified so you can do good works and you can know and discern God’s good and perfect will.
Reasons to know, apply, be motivated to do God’s will as exampled by Christ (Jn4:34; Jn6:38)
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Jesus was highly motivated to do the will of the Father and set the example for us so that we too may accomplish the will of the Father.
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
In fact He came to fulfill the will of the Father.
38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
So, if that was a great motivation for Jesus, let’s see some reasons why we should be willing to do the will of God, or to be motivated to do it.
Motivation: Entrance Kingdom of Heaven!
Motivation: Entrance Kingdom of Heaven!
Motivation, what does it mean? What does it have to do with me and the kingdom of Heaven? What does this have to do with God’s will? Those are some good questions and hopefully as we go tonight they will be answered directly or indirectly.
(Whats your motivation picture inserted here)
So, maybe before asking that question, I should ask another, what does motivation mean?
Motivation defined: (Noun) it’s the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way." the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.
So, again what is your motivation, what motivates you?
Jesus gives some great reasons, as do Paul, Peter and John so let’s take a gander
To enter the kingdom of heaven
To enter the kingdom of heaven
So, all in, to be all in on something you must be pretty motivated about it, right? Well to enter the kingdom of heaven would be something to be motivated about. May we start with Jesus words (Mt7:21-23)
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Look at that passage, what would be a motivating factor here? - entrance into the kingdom by doing the will of the Father, no doing God’s will and no entrance and will be declared “I never knew you.” A strong warning, but some great motivation to do the will of the Father.
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Kingdom of heaven displayed today in the church (Mt28:18-19; Eph1:20-22; 1Pt3:22; Rev1:5)
Kingdom of heaven experienced by the church (Col1:13; Rev1:9)
Kingdom of heaven reign for today, and future (2Tim4:18; 2Pt1:11)
Kingdom of heaven for future described (Jn14:1-3; Rev19:9; Rev21:1-22:5)
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Kingdom of heaven displayed today in the church (Mt28:18-19; Eph1:20-22; 1Pt3:22)
The kingdom of heaven is now, here and with a heavenly kingdom to come too. The kingdom is displayed in the church that Christ commanded, commissioned the apostles to go and teach people howto enter into it, by His authority (Mt28:18-19)
His power, His authority, His kingdom displayed today and in the kingdom to come
20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
God’s rule, reign in the church, over the church, in the kingdom is displayed in the reign of His Son
22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.
You can check out Rev1:5 too for another example.
Kingdom of heaven displayed today in the church (Mt28:18-19; Eph1:20-22; 1Pt3:22; Rev1:5)
Kingdom of heaven experienced by the church (Col1:13; Rev1:9)
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
Rescued, transferred into the kingdom
9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Now a fellow partaker in tribulation and in the kingdom, Whereas specifically speaking John here, do we not face tribulation in our world today? What kind of tribulation may we face today?
Kingdom of heaven displayed today in the church (Mt28:18-19; Eph1:20-22; 1Pt3:22; Rev1:5)
Kingdom of heaven experienced by the church (Col1:13; Rev1:9)
Kingdom of heaven reign for today, and future (2Tim4:18; 2Pt1:11)
18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Reign today in the church and future in heaven! What a glorious reign we have in Christ Jesus both today and in the future
11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
Jesus supplied the way for us!
Kingdom of heaven displayed today in the church (Mt28:18-19; Eph1:20-22; 1Pt3:22; Rev1:5)
Kingdom of heaven experienced by the church (Col1:13; Rev1:9)
Kingdom of heaven reign for today, and future (2Tim4:18; 2Pt1:11)
Kingdom of heaven for future described (Jn14:1-3; Rev19:9; Rev21:1-22:5)
Our future reign, future home is described as a house, mansion with many rooms (Jn14:1-3); a place of the great wedding feast (Rev19:9) A new heaven a new earth where righteousness dwells (Rev21:1-22:5)
Now to enter the kingdom of heaven you must do the will of God as we read in Mt7:21, it is not works but faith that does it and your works prove your faith and display your faith. For many will claim faith but have no evident faith.
We know that Jesus had family, they came to see Him and He made them a great illustration about being a member of His family what it entails.
Motivated to be a member of Christ’s family
Motivated to be a member of Christ’s family
To be motivated is to be all in, and Jesus tells us what it means to be all in His family.
48 But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!
50 “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
What do you see, notice in this passage?
The one who does the will of the Father is Jesus family. So we need to ask ourselves do we know the will of the Father and do we do it?
Not everyone can call call God their “Father” (Jn8:42-44)
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. 43 “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
but those who are in God’s family, are Jesus family have a wonderful relationship:
Those in God’s family have God as heavenly father (Mt6:9)
when we pray we can pray to our heavenly Father through Christ the Son. Because God is our Father who is in heaven according to Mt6:9
Those in God’s family have Jesus as brother (Heb2:11-12)
11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brethren, In the midst of the congregation I will sing Your praise.”
Jesus call’s us His brethren, anyone have a big brother who looks out, or did look out for them when they were growing up? - - -are we not growing up now and need a brother to give us sage wisdom, advise and to intercede for us too?
And, we have each other a brothers, sisters (Mk10:29-30: 1Tim5:1-2)
According to Mark, Jesus said (paraphrase) - you gave up for me, you will receive 100 fold in return, don’t worry about what you give up accept what you are given, it is better!
1 Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, 2 the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.
In our family, we have fathers, brothers, mothers, sisters all in purity of Christ as we strive together as a family, together!
So, is it motivating to know God’s will on how to enter the kingdom, howto be a member of Christ’s family? It should be for the rewards are out of this world. - - - this leads us to know, to gain assurance in our family and our salvation.
God’s will, knowing, doing
God’s will, knowing, doing
We know many aspects of God’s will as we have been going through this series, and tonight we are looking at motivation to do God’s will, now some warnings and some assurance we can have from God’s will.
Right way may be wrong way (Pro16:25; Jer10:23)
25 There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
What may seem right but is wrong? - salvation by works, merit, heritage
23 O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
We need to know that to walk in Gods will, we need to walk in the Spirit to let God lead our steps, for again, it is not by our ways that we have entrance into heaven. for the right way is:
Right way is a way of hope (Rom5:1-2; Rom8:24; Heb11:1)
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
well, gotta stop here just for a minute, some basic, but important and very motivating factors for us to glean from, to have assurance from.
We have justification right? But how?- by faith
What is the results of justification? - peace with God
What is our action as a result of our justification? we stand in grace, we exult in hope!
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hope + expectation = faith!
So, the hope way, right way is a motivating way to do the will of God (Jn7:17; 1Jn2:3-5 1Jn3:18-23)
17 “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.
Right way is an evident way. Let me give you another biblical example.
3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
oh yeah, love that is evident by keeping his Word, His will and doing that and love is being perfected in us when we do that.
And you can further look at 1Jn3:18-23 for more on that and that passage is well worth looking at when you are studying this out for yourself for there is a strong warning in the passage and a great reminder but I will leave it at that.
Jesus gives us some great motivation to know and to do God’s will, but so do the apostles and the New Testament writers.
Motivation by Apostles and Writers
Motivation by Apostles and Writers
Are you inspired, are you motivated, are you encouraged by God’s Word, promises and warnings through the message thus far tonight? Well how about a little more?
To receive the promise (Heb10:36)
36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
After knowing, after doing you may receive that which is promised.
The great and precious promises (2Pt1:4)
Great, marvelous, precious promises that we have in Him, in the Father through knowledge of the Son.
Eternal life in Him (2Tim1:1)
Promised life, eternal life in Christ Jesus
Our eternal life and rest in Him (Heb4:1)
1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
God’s will, be motivated in it to do it so you have the assurance of entering His rest!
Our promise of His return (2Pt3:4, 9-12)
Promise of His coming (v.4)
Know God is not slack in the promise, He wants all to come to repentance
For the day is coming like a thief in the night.
And the day of hastening is coming, day of judgment is coming.
Our promise of our resurrection (1The4:13-18)
I was going to summarize 1The4, but feel better give you the passage
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Our promise of new heaven and earth (2Pt3:13)
A place where righteousness dwells
All available after we do the will of God (Heb10:36) - and that starts with our surrender and then our continued faith, patience and endurance (Heb6:12)
12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
God’s will, some motivating factors given so that we may inherit the promises!
All this, all this so we can have the promises, the eternal promises, the forever promises that we may abide in Him forever because we are motivated to do His will.
17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
So in wrapping this up tonight, let me summarize the motivating factors we have looked at:
Do Gods will so that
You may enter the kingdom of heaven
You may be a member of Christ’s family
You may have the blessed assurance of your salvation
You may be a partaker of the promises
And that you may abide with Him forever
(Encouragement slide 1 -God’s will picture) encouragement, his will is knowable, discernable, obtainable, but not easy to apply sometimes, but He have given you what you need to know and walk in it. So the question tonight is are you walking in it? (encouragement slide 2) Prayer (exit slides)