Finding God's Will - 2
Sermon Series 2 of 3
September 5, 2004
Matthew 7:7
14th Sunday after Pentecost
Galena-Warwick United Methodist Charge
Warwick & Galena, Maryland
Rev. Dr. Lawrence D. Jameson
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Matthew 7.7 (NRSV)
Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will
find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For
everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds,
and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Several years ago,
one of my church members who worked for
Head Start of Cecil County
asked if we could host a Head Start seminar
at the church.
I said yes.
The day arrived, and so did 100 adults
who spent the day at Wesley Church in Elk Neck
learning about teaching and parenting.
About 12 pre-school children also visited
and they spent the day in the new church hall.
I was asked to sing a few songs for the children,
so I brought my guitar and sat down with them.
This was around 9:30 in the morning.
It was a difficult audience.
Their attention span was short.
Two of the children were crying quite loudly.
Three boys kept running around
and were difficult to control.
It was frustrating, and I wondered what I could
do to improve things.
At around 2 P.M. the teachers asked me
if I would come back and sing again.
This time I was better prepared.
When I walked into the room
the children were running,
and it was noisy like before.
But this time, I was ready!
I held up some stickers in my hand and said,
"I have stickers!
But you can't have a sticker
unless you sit on the carpet!"
Suddenly, the room got quiet.
The running stopped.
Children were sitting on the carpet.
I said, "First we sing, then you get a sticker!"
So we sang, and this time it was much better.
I gave each child a sticker to
put on his or her shirt.
Now what does this story teach us
about God's will?
God wants to sing with us!
He wants us to learn his songs,
because his songs are the best!
But like a bunch a preschoolers,
we are too busy running around.
So God had to come up with some incentives,
things that would make us want to learn his songs,
things like:
"which school should I go to?"
"where should I work?"
"who should I marry?"
"what should I do in this situation?"
God has lots of ways to
grab our attention.
You see, finding God's will isn't difficult.
We just have to slow down
long enough to be able to hear it!
As Christians we believe
that God wants us to know his will!
He is eager to share his heart and his songs with us!
Today I want to teach
five methods that God uses
to communicate his will to us.
The first one is:
1. SCRIPTURE
The Bible is our first and best source of information,
to teach us the truth,
to help us be in right relationship with God,
to form our character,
and help us make good decisions.
God uses the Bible to teach us his will.
No, it is not a magic book.
We don’t play Bible lottery,
fan through the pages,
plunk down our finger,
choosing a verse at random.
We simply read a little bit of the Bible
every day,
and OVER TIME
the Bible becomes familiar to us.
In the midst of that familiarity,
God teaches us about himself.
We learn about his purposes for our lives.
We learn about his qualities and his values.
We learn about the mistakes others have made.
We study God’s Word
and hide it in our heart.
You heard me say last week
that free will
is God’s gift to us.
It is our ability to make decisions.
God gave us free will because
he wants us to grow
in character, morals, and values.
The Bible is the single richest resource we have
for training a Christian mind and character
and helping us to make good decisions.
In 2 Timothy 3.16
the Bible says:
All Scripture is inspired by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness;
that the man of God may be adequate,
equipped for every good work.
God uses the Bible
to teach.
Do you want to learn about Jesus?
There is no other source in all the world
that records the eyewitness accounts of his life,
the word for word statements from his lips.
Only the Bible.
And in the Bible, only in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
What is reproof?
Here is how William Barclay defines the word reproof.
“Convincing a man of the error of his ways
and... pointing him on the right path.”
(Comments on 2 Timothy 3:16
from the Daily Study Bible Series
by William Barclay)
Reproof is the work of the Holy Spirit.
It isn’t easy
to get anyone to admit
that they are wrong.
It isn’t easy
to touch someone’s heart
and get them to start considering something new.
But that’s what the Bible does,
every day of the week.
When we read the Bible,
God convicts our conscience,
God reproves our mind,
God softens our heart,
and God shows us a better way.
No other book in all the world has those qualities.
Only the Bible.
What is correction?
The Bible is our standard of measure
for what is correct and right.
It is our moral and ethical yardstick.
This world will give you lots of crazy ideas.
Compare them to what the Bible says.
If an idea clearly goes against what the Bible says,
that gives you a pretty good indication
that the idea is not part
of God’s will for you.
What is training in righteousness?
It is daily instruction on how to live a Christian life.
No other book can do that. Only the Bible.
Dear ones,
if we want to know God’s will
for our lives
we need to read a little bit of the Bible every day.
2. PRAYER
In James 1:5
the Bible says,
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God,
who gives to all men generously and without reproach,
and it will be given to him.
When we have a decision to make,
and we wonder what is best,
the Bible says we can ask God
and he will help us.
Do we always make the right decisions?
NO.
Do we ever get things completely messed up?
ALL THE TIME.
Does this contradict Scripture?
No it does not.
God is bigger than our minds.
Isaiah 55:8 says,
my thoughts are not your thoughts
neither are my ways your ways,
declares the LORD.
We need to accept that God is smarter than we are.
He can help us make
good decisions.
The Bible doesn’t promise
that we will have a perfect or an easy life.
We are not robots.
We are God’s beloved sons and daughters
struggling to grow
struggling to learn
struggling to become mature.
Like the Bible,
prayer isn’t magic.
Your life doesn’t get all rosy and perfect
just because you
memorize the Lord’s prayer.
Prayer isn’t rote.
It isn’t the same each time.
It is us, being us, getting honest, and talking with God.
Some people think that God
is a big spiritual vending machine.
If you light the right candle,
kneel in just the right way,
say just the right words,
“Ka-ching!” Out comes the blessing!
It doesn’t work like that.
God wants a relationship,
and it isn’t on our terms,
it’s on his terms.
When we pray,
we do so with a heart filled with all kinds of things:
pain, confusion, trust, love, anxiety, distrust,
passion, indifference, all mixed together.
God accepts you
just the way you are.
He moves you along
helps you grow
and gives you the ability to pray.
Prayer is talking with God.
Don't be surprized if he lets you make mistakes!
The good news is that he can handle your mistakes!
And so can you!
The good news is that
God always rewards faithfulness!
3. CIRCUMSTANCES
Here is a third way we can discover God’s will.
Circumstances.
God gave us eyes to see, and brains to think.
Sometimes we need to carefully consider
all the circumstances
as we seek God’s will.
In Psalm 24:1
the Bible says,
The earth is the LORD’s,
and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.
The Bible teaches us
that God made this world,
and the circumstances of our lives
are under his authority.
We all know the story of the man
down in Rock Hall
who had faith that God was going to save him
from the flood.
A Kent County Sheriff’s deputy
came by in his car
and offered to take the man to safety.
“No thanks!” said the man.
Minutes later, the water started to rise.
A crew from the Rock Hall Fire Department
came by in a small motor boat.
“Get in!” they cried.
“No thank you!” said the resident.
The water continued to rise.
A half hour later,
a Maryland State helicopter flew over,
dropped a ladder.
A voice was heard saying,
“Grab on to the ladder and we’ll pull you up!”
The resident waved them off.
The water covered the roof and the resident died.
Up in heaven
the man from Rock Hall
looked at St. Peter and said,
“I thought the Lord was going to save me from the flood!”
St. Peter replied,
“God sent you a Kent County Sheriff’s car,
a Rock Hall Fire Company boat,
and a Maryland State Police helicopter.
What more did you want?”
Dear ones,
God is sovereign.
That means he is in control of our circumstances.
Sometimes, God wants us to
look at the circumstances
and figure out for ourselves
what we should do.
Sometimes,
God wants us to ignore circumstances,
go against conventional wisdom,
and try to do what seems to be impossible.
Circumstances are only an indication
of what God wants for us,
not a proof.
If circumstances alone were enough
to teach us God’s will
then we would not need the Bible or prayer.
Circumstances change constantly,
and it is appropriate
for us to consider them carefully
as we are seeking to do God’s will.
4. CONSULTATION
Here is a fourth way we can discover God’s will.
Consultation.
In Proverbs 12:15 the Bible says:
Fools think their own way is right,
but the wise listen to advice.
God made us to work together.
The Bible says, "Bear one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ"
(Galations 6.2)
If you are struggling to make a decision
that is really important,
take some time
and talk it over with a Christian you respect.
In Matthew 18:19
Jesus said:
"if two of you agree on earth about anything that they
may ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is
in heaven."
Getting another point of view
often helps to put things in a different light
especially when the person you are talking to
has had some experience
with the problem you are facing.
I do this all the time,
and let me tell you,
it works!
When I am facing a difficult problem
I will often call a Christian I respect,
make an appointment
and go and see them.
Sometimes it is another pastor.
Sometimes it is a lay person.
Most often, it is my wife.
Every time I do this
I learn something important.
Consultation is a powerful and effective
way to seek for God’s wisdom and guidance.
Here is a bad example of consultation.
A woman took her husband into a dress shop.
She tried on a pair of pants.
She looked at her husband and said,
“Honey, do these pants make me look heavy?”
There is no right answer for that question!
Poor guy!
When we talk with a friend
about something important to us
we don’t set them up
or try to steer their answers.
We just share from the heart
then listen.
5. HEART’S DESIRE
Here is a fifth way we can discover God’s will.
Heart’s desire.
In Psalm 37:4 the Bible says:
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will give you the
desires of your heart.
Sometimes God puts a desire into your heart,
to do something,
to go somewhere,
to say something.
Sometimes our hearts deceive us
and we fool ourselves
into wanting something that really isn't good at all.
How do you know when a desire comes from God?
Test the desire by these criteria:
1) is it Scriptural?
If something is against Scripture
it is wrong,
regardless where it came from.
2) have you given it to God in prayer?
God will reveal to you the source of your feelings
if you ask him too.
3) does it look as though God has opened this door for you?
4) have you consulted with other Christians
discussing the possibilities
weighing the pros and cons
and prayed with them for God's guidance?
Part of what it means to be a mature Christian
is to get in touch with your own inner motives.
God wants you to know yourself!
As you grow in the Lord
you will find
that many of the best and finest feelings you have
really do come from God.
God created us.
He knows what is in our
inner most heart.
The ability to want something
is an ability given by God,
and so we need to trust God to satisfy our desires.
Do you have a son or a daughter
who has made life choices
you don’t understand?
That’s what happened to the parents of Samson.
In Judges chapter 14
the Bible describes how
God put a desire in Samson’s heart
to marry the wrong woman!
Judges 14:4 says
His parents did not know
that this was from the LORD.
Imagine that!
God put a desire into Samson’s heart
and directed Samson’s life
so that thousands of Jewish lives would be spared.
It isn’t always clear
that God is working to bless us,
BUT HE IS.
Sometimes, our inner desires
can be a window of light
in making good decisions.
Scripture
Prayer
Circumstances
Consultation
Heart’s Desire
are five things God uses to guide our decisions.
PRAYER
Lord, I believe you have a plan for my life.
And if you have a plan, you also have a way to guide me.
Thank you for the Bible which teaches me right and wrong.
Thank you for the way my mind and character grows.
You designed me to make choices, so help me make good ones!
I thank you in advance for guidance, wisdom, and light.
In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.