string(7) "m-66998" Burnt Hickory Baptist Church

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May 15, 2022

God’s Will For My Life

God’s Will For My Life

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Stand Alone Message

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: worship, faith, jesus, sunday, god, sermon, gospel, hope, believe, bible study, live music, what do i do, livestream, think differently, burnt hickory baptist church, burnt hickory worship, gods will for my life, resist culture, what is gods will

Understanding God’s will for our lives might seem complicated, but it might be because we are not interpreting our involvement correctly. Perhaps we are not supposed to find God’s will because it was never hidden, and our role is just to walk in it faithfully. We can be aware of walking in God’s will through remembering God’s mercies and through resisting conforming to culture in our thoughts and actions. We also see in scripture that we are to give our life entirely to God and choose to think differently that the world. As we study the bible, we see a blueprint for our lives that lays out being in God’s will. We follow him, remain in him, and he will always be with us. When is the last time you really spent time thinking about God’s mercies? Have you decided to give yourself entirely to God? If you’ve got questions, we’d love to connect with you, talk about what it means to live a life inside of God’s will, and pray with you. You can always reach out through burnthickory.com/next.

Well, good morning, church. Whew. That was something. Amen. That was good. Welcome to church today. I am. Excited about this morning. You know, there are few weeks in the course of a pastor's life where you know that 20 years from now, you will look back in some of those moments and still have the same level of excitement that you had during that week. And I just got to walk through one of those weeks as your representative this week. Last week, we had Mother's Day. Amen for the mamas. We celebrate with them. Especially thankful for my mom and the mom of my kids. I don't know, they're over here somewhere. Thank you. But then after a brief celebration I had to jump on a plane last week headed to Kenya across the globe to be there at the groundbreaking for the facility that we are building in the Nairobi slums of Kenya. And it was exciting. And I'm just going to tell you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I can't even express the level of excitement as well as just the level of just joy that I got to walk with the people of Kenya this week with Peter and his team, with the local government, kind of the area government.

It was a party this week, and here's why. Not because of just a building or not because of just a something that is happening there, but because we know that God is literally changing the landscape of that area through Swahiba Ministries. And then the future is going to be incredibly bright. So, we got to break ground on this facility knowing that the thousands and thousands and thousands of people are going to hear the gospel. Listen Church because of what you gave. Because what you gave. If your new to Burnt Hickory, you don't know this, but about a year and a half, two years ago, I stood up here and said, hey, we need to build a resource center for our partners in Kibera to plant a church, to plant a resource center. And you guys gave just under three quarters of $1,000,000 to do that. And I'm thinking that's a good place for you to clap. I don't know about you, but that's a great place for me to hear you do that. You guys gave over five weeks. You guys totally funded that. We got to hand Peter a check. We're walking with him and the construction progress, and we broke ground this Wednesday, and we're looking forward to next March where we get to open up that building. And I can't wait for some of you to go with me to do that and to do ministry in Kenya. But here's what we know. We have so much more capacity than just one location. We knew this a couple of years ago, and God planted into our lives the country of Guatemala. Because here's what I know for some of you across the globe. Is really far. It is really far. I can attest to that this week with being on an airplane longer than I was on the ground this week, that it is a long way to Kenya. So, we started praying. God put somewhere in our put somewhere in our side of the world that we can make the same level of impact on that we have in Kenya, in God placed Guatemala on our minds. Now, that was just before the world ended. Do you remember that? It was just before COVID hit and all travel was canceled all people skills were canceled. And we had we hid in our house for a while. And now the good news is the world is open back up. Guatemala has opened back up. Six weeks ago, a couple of us headed down to solidify this deal. And I want you to check out this little video and we're going to have a time that we have a talk around Guatemala.

So just as incredible of the opportunity that we have in Kenya now, we're really believing that over these next years that God is launching us into Guatemala in that same way. I've got with me Brian Foster. He's our missions pastor as well as deals with singles and a lot of our pastoral counseling here at Burnt Hickory. But also, I've got Josh Lassiter with me today. A lot of you know, Josh, he's a deacon here, leads a live group here. And Josh is going to be the champion for our Guatemala project for the next years. And we're excited about watching this launch. But Brian, I want you to tell us just a little bit about our Guatemala partnership and what is it going to look like? What's it going to feel like? Maybe some of the things that we're going to do there.

Yeah. Thanks, Pastor Matt. You know, a couple of years ago, like you said, we started praying about this. God laid this on our heart. One of the things is we have a heart for vulnerable children here. In our community and around the world. And so, we partnered and started talking with Compassion International, who puts child development centers in communities to help spread the gospel and help to break the ideas of poverty in that region. So, we started talking with them. They said, hey, we've got a village in Guatemala that needs a church to come alongside of it, help us to sponsor the Children's Development Center and then come alongside the church. We said, Man, we've been praying about that. So, we partnered. You guys gave enough money that we started this child development center there at Showers Of Grace Church in Guatemala. And now we're ready to come alongside the church and Pastor Marvin to start developing the church and discipling people and building the footprint of the church throughout the community so that the gospel can be made known throughout that region of Guatemala.

So, we're already we already have 200 kids plus in the program of compassion. There are a lot of you actually have already adopted some kids from Guatemala, and they're on your refrigerators and excited about that. But we're so excited just to watch what God does in this village. Just tell us a little about the village. Tell us a little about the people of Guatemala.

Yeah. So, it was such an honor for me to get to go and represent you all here in the village in the mountains, you don't have to memorize that name, but it was such an honor to get to go there and meet the people and see Guatemala. Guatemala is a beautiful country, and we saw all kind of incredible things as we drove from the capital city, which is a huge city, Guatemala city, and drove up north to the region in which this village is located. Beautiful. And you've seen some of these pictures, beautiful mountains and waterfalls and trees. The people are even more wonderful and beautiful, wonderful people that were so gracious to us and welcomed us so greatly. These are incredible folks. Wonderful children and a lot of opportunities. What also became really clear was that there are so many needs, not just from us looking out, but from the pastor, Pastor Marvin and leaders of this community that we're in getting to share with us some of the needs that they have in the community. So, it's a beautiful place, but it's a place where we can make a huge impact.

Brian, what's some of the things that we're going to look towards do and what's the relationship going to look like and how is it going to feel what some what some areas of ministry that we're looking into yeah.

So, we're going to actually have a trip in July, just a few months from now that is wide open. Josh will talk a little bit here in a few minutes, but we're going to have a trip in July, another one in September, another one probably during the winter school break and another one in spring break and then another one in the summer over the next several years, we're going to try to do this in Guatemala and in Kenya that many times a year so you can go and put your faith to action. In those places. So, we'll have medical trips, we'll have teaching trips, we'll have vacation Bible school trips. This first one, we'll be sharing the gospel by showing the Jesus film and doing some pastor training. Whatever your skill set is, I promise you it can be used on this mission field over the next year or two. We're going to inundate that place with Burnt Hickory and the gospel.

One of our goals is not just to kind of go participate and then just jet out. We want a relationship over the next years to begin to impact at this small little church and begin to literally plant churches in the whole region to reach families in the whole region. And here's what I know about the people of Burnt Hickory. We have the horsepower to do that. Yes, we have the passion to do that. Josh, why is this trip? Because there's a lot of trips, there's a lot of activities why is this trip one of the trips that someone that has maybe never done an international mission trip, one that they should look at, you know, missions, you grew up as a missionary kid in a missionary family. Why is this one that somebody should maybe look at as their first taste of international missions?

Yeah, if you have never had the opportunity to travel internationally and fulfill the great mission in your own life, I think that this opportunity to partner with Lluvias de Gracia, showers of Grace Church is great for a couple of reasons. One, just ease of access. You know, a couple of weeks ago, we all got together on a in the morning and drove down to Hartsfield and we were on a flight and 3 hours later we were in Guatemala, and I was in the middle seat. It's not even that bad after a three-hour flight. And so, we made it down there and we drove up north a couple of hours. Right. And there we were all of a sudden that same day, we were in that region and in that village with.

A nice coffee stops in the middle.

Of you made sure we made sure we had some good coffee there's lots of good coffee. So, a wonderful place. You know, it's a place where you can brush up your old high school Spanish skills. If you speak a little Spanish, you can absolutely do that. Maybe not as hard to communicate as some places around the world. It's a much more affordable option. You know, a lot of those places around the world, it's really expensive. And I know that with my young family, it's hard to really commit lots and lots of money to do that. Well, a much more affordable way to do that and fulfill the great commission is by joining us in Guatemala. And in the last big thing is that it just highlights this trip that we got to take highlights the great need around the world. The greatest problem the world has is Lostness every day 155,000 people die without ever having the opportunity to come to faith in Jesus Christ. We've been called in the great commission to go and make disciples and Burnt Hickory in this partnership. And God in his sovereignty has given us this opportunity to partner with this church because some of those people who die every day without knowing Christ are there in the northern part of Guatemala. So, we need you to come. I am so excited about this. We're going to be leading teams a week from today. On the 22nd. We're going to be having dinner here at church, a free Guatemalan dinner. I would love for all of I'd love to be able to tell them, Hey, we don't have enough room, figure something out. So, a free Guatemala dinner next week we will have childcare provided you'll be able to come and hear what that might look like. But whatever your gift or vocation is, maybe you're a teacher maybe you're a doctor, a businessman or woman. What if you love working with kids? There are ways that you can make an impact in this village, and we want you to go.

How do they sign up for that? Josh

Great question. So, there's a QR code that's coming up here in just a little bit, and you can scan that. You can get information on sponsoring a child through compassion. Would love for you. We still have a few of those. We would love to have you all sponsor.

Which you'll be able to go over the years and not only just have them on your refrigerator, but actually visit them.

Yeah. And you can sign up for the dinner next week. Let us know that you're coming to that so we can prepare for you. And then you can also just sign up to get more information from that link. We would love to communicate with you.

You know, over the years we've had tons of mission trips, tons of opportunities. But this one is it just seems like the Lord has directed the steps really easily with great places to stay, peoples of peace that are already welcoming our hearts just really even in just a couple of our conversations just melted with the people of Guatemala. So, so here's what, here's what we're going to ask you to do. I know we're a church that's like, hey, just give us the bottom line, right? Number one, I just want you to sponsor a child. I want us to be able to look at this village and say we have sponsored every single child available in this place. You can do that on the website, on the app, the Josh just mentioned.

Right now, we have 100 children there who still need a sponsor.

Number two, I just want you to pray, not if you will go, but win. I want you to pray. Not if you go, but when. And whatever the but I don't know comes after that. We'll handle that. We'll talk you through it. We'll walk it with you. We'll teach you whatever you need to know. But I also realize that there are some of you that are not physically able to do something like this. Last service accidentally said there's a generation of you, but I didn't mean that like that. I said there are some that just physically this is just not something you can do. But here's what we're asking of you. We want you to work with someone that you can sponsor to go. And here's my prayer for a lot of your LifeGroups next week that you'll get together junior announcement time you leaders and just say this, OK, LifeGroup, how many people are we sending? How many people are we going to fund to go on this trip to send on this trip? Who is it that needs to watch these kids to take that off of the deal, to take that excuse away? And then here's number four that we want you to do. And this is not just a "well, I prayed so I don't have to do anything else". No, this is a "and" right? We just want you to pray for this project. We want you to pray that God would just cause a revival in the mountains of Guatemala and that many people would meet Jesus because of what God is doing in the hearts of Burnt Hickory. Josh, I know as a missionary kid, you know what it's like to be prayed for by people that are in churches. Would you do us a favor before we launch out of this? And would you just pray that God would just solidify this opportunity and that we would be a blessing in the name of Jesus to these people?

Yeah, absolutely. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for today. We thank you for this opportunity. To gather and worship and learn from your word. And we thank you for the opportunity to go to the ends of the Earth to make your name known. I pray for Showers of Grace Church. Is there meeting right now in Guatemala. I pray that you would bless them and their ministry as they seek to serve their community and help us here at Burnt Hickory to follow your will for our lives, whether that's here and to the ends of the Earth. We love you, Lord. You are so good. And please bless this partnership and go with us as we go and follow you. We love you in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.

You know, over the last month I've been thinking about what we were doing today and how we were launching this Guatemala project and impacting Guatemala. There's one thing that's been on my mind about how to follow that up from Scripture on what is the message that God would have us to have. And that was just to talk through what does the call of God look like on our lives, or what does. I guess you could say it like this. What is God's will for my life look like? Or I guess you could even say it like God. What? God, what is it that you want me to do? What do you want me to do in my life? And so, so the question that I just want to spend a little bit of time talking this morning through is that how do I figure out what God's will is, and what God wants me to do in my life? Because there's a lot of different ways. If you hang out in church world for a long time, you've heard and you've seen a lot of ways to try to figure out God's will. The old tried and true method, which is not a good method, is what to take your Bible out, to flip around in a bunch of scriptures and then put your finger down and go, Hey, God, what do you want me to do? And I can guarantee you one thing that doesn't ever work out good for you. It just doesn't it's not a great plan. Another way that a lot of us use is, God If you'll just open up a door in front of me, I'll walk through it. Or God, if you close the door in front of me, I won't walk through it. Well, that's a great plan. But you got to remember, we talked through this a couple of weeks ago God is not the only one that opens doors in front of us, so to Satan. So, we got to know, is it the Lord providing this opportunity or is it somebody else? Or maybe there's the Gideon Fleece. I'll just throw the fleece out.

And God, if you let the fleece or wet the ground, I'm in, or maybe the Saul to Paul, if you'll just blind me with the light or if you'll just actually speak to me. Or maybe it's the still small voice method of God, what's your will? I'm just going to wait for you to speak to me. And that's still small voice. Well, that's a great plan, but the problem is a lot of our world is so loud that we never really get to that spot where we can just sit in that peace and sense the Holy Spirit. I want us to look this morning because I've been struggling with this question of why is it that we have made God's will into this incredibly big cosmic mystery? Because we have. Right. It's like it's this cosmic Easter egg hunt that God is like hiding out there somewhere, just waiting on us to find his will. And I've been struggling all week long with this idea of at what point do we think God made his will so vague? Because it's not. God's will is not vague for our lives. So, I want you to write a principle down before we jump into the text that's going to kind of prove the principle. And here it is. I'll put it on the screen. I don't think we're ever supposed to find God's will because it was never hidden it was never hidden. Our role is just to walk in it faithfully.

You see, so many of us treat God's will like it's just hidden out there somewhere. And God has put it in a really good hiding spot. And if we're just good enough we might find God's will for our lives. But that's not God's will. God's will has never changed for our lives. It is not hidden. God just wants us to walk it in our lives. Romans Chapter 12. If you've got a copy of Scripture this morning, Romans Chapter 12. Paul gives us an incredible description of how we can walk the will of God that He has put into our lives. I want to look at these two verses this morning. All right? They're jam packed, but these two verses can show us how to walk it out in our lives. Let me read it to us. Romans 12 verse one says Therefore kind of feels like we're jumping into the middle of a conversation. We're going to get there in a minute. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Verse 2 do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you may want to circle that. You might want to highlight it, put a star by it, draw a picture around it. However, you do those things in your Bible, here it is. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. His good, pleasing, and perfect will. Paul, in two verses, solves the mystery. In two verses, Paul peers into our soul and says, No matter what is coming up in your life, no matter what life throws at you, no matter what decision you have, no matter how you’re walking. If you will grab these two verses and grab these four little steps in here of walking out God's will in your life, you and I can always know I am in God's will. Number one. Paul says this Always remember God's mercies. Always remember God's mercies. If you have a decision, if you have a conversation, if you have something coming up in your life that you have to make a call in. Paul says number one thing in your life is look back at your life and remember what God has done for you.

Remember what he's brought you from. Remember what he's brought you into. You say, Matt, where do you get that from the text? Great question. The first word the first word in the text is the word, therefore. It's the word, therefore. What does that mean? Paul is looking back at the last 11 chapters of Romans, don't know how familiar you are with the last 11 chapters, but a whole lot has happened a whole lot has been expressed. Paul is looking at the will of God and he is saying, number one is to look back at what God has done. What's he's said in these 11 chapters? In chapter one, Paul says, There's a God and you are not Him. There's one God, there's not many gods, there is a God, and He loves you. Chapter two He says, Hey, there is a God, but you can't be good enough to get to this God. Why? Chapter three Because of the sin in your life. The sin in your life has separated you from God, and you can't work your way back, think your way back, serve your way back or give your way back because you have a problem in your life. And that problem, Paul says in chapter three, is the problem of sin. He moves into chapter four, and he says, The good news is you have sin in your life. But God did something in your life to allow you to come back to God. You can't earn it. You don't deserve it. You never have. You never will. But I'm giving you life and I'm going to give it to you through the life and the love of Jesus and what Jesus is going to do for you. Chapter six tells us that Jesus has done this to you, and what He has done for you is a gift it is a free gift of salvation. Your job is not to get it, not to earn it. Your job is to receive it and to believe it that's what he says in chapter six. He says, You walk this gift out in your life and you give your life to Jesus, and he will save you. Chapter seven and eight Paul says, This is what you're going to wrestle with. Your old self is going to try to creep into your new self, and they're going to battle each other a little bit. And the one that's going to win in your life is the one that you feed the most. So, he says, Don't trust in the flesh, don't trust in the world, trust in the one who made the world and has set you free. And the one you feed, is the one that's going to win. Chapters nine and ten. Paul looks back and he says, Hey, the good news is when you do accept, when you do believe when you do trust Christ, God through Jesus invites you into his family and you're no longer a slave. You are a son; you are a daughter. You are in the royal family of God. And He reminds us in Chapter Ten that there is nothing that can separate that love from you. Chapter 11, He tells you good news for those of you that aren't Jews, the Gentiles can break it to the Gentiles can be there too, which is good news for like 99.9% of us that are in the room that we can make it to God, He has delivered us.

And then we get to chapter 12. You see why He can say the word, therefore? You see why He can say the words here's why? You see why every decision in our lives should always start by looking all the way back and what God has done for us. Look you verse one again. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercies. In view of God's mercies. Here is the question that just jumped all over me. When is the last time you really, really, really thought through the mercies of God in your life? When's the last time you hit the pause button? You said, God, I'm just going to list out the mercies that you've put my life. I'm just going to list out the grace that you've put in my life, because here's what I want you to hear. We don't love God because we're told to love God. We don't love God because or we don't follow God because somebody like me stands up and hollers at you for 45 minutes, right? We don't do that. We don't obey God just because the Word of God says to obey Him. I and you should give ourselves to God because of what He's done for us. Yes, we love Jesus. Why? Because He has first loved us. He's first love us. You want to know God's will in your life and any decision that you have. Paul says, Hey, start by looking at what he's already done for you and begin to filter through the implications of the decision that you're about to make. The second he doesn't stop there.

Secondly, he says, number two, decide to give yourself entirely to God. Decide. And in fact, if I had time to go back to all the screens and videos and notes and all that people, this week's been a little busy. I would have probably said pre decide, pre decide in advance, decide to give yourself entirely to God. So, man, I've heard that before, but what does that mean? Well, let's look how Paul says it from trial verse one. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, we've covered that already. Number one, here's how you give your life 100%. He's about to tell us in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true love and proper worship. Now, look, I know there's a whole lot of Bible talk in that, all right? We don't have time to unpack all of those words when you're off in your bodies. Living, sacrifice, holy worship, there's a whole lot. But what you have to realize is when Paul is saying this, when Paul's speaking this to the original audience, the original first century Rome, they would have known exactly what he is talking about. When it says to offer yourself, this is your true and proper worship this is your act of worship. Because in Rome and actually in all of Greek society, there were so many gods, there were so many temples, you could pick your flavor of the day for whatever temple you wanted to go to. In every temple, every little "g" god had its own little act that you needed to do to satisfy that God, to live toward that God, to be good in that God's mind. They even had a God of sexuality, Diana, that you were to live free in your sexualness. It was probably the biggest temple in town, right? It was probably the biggest one. But here's what that meant. These people knew they knew what it meant to have an act of worship. But Paul flips the script, and he says, Listen, it's not about the act. It's not about a thing that you were doing to follow God's will. It is about you. It's about you. What does he say? It is about you becoming the sacrifice. It is about you giving yourself as not just a sacrifice, right? Because these people knew sacrifices. They knew how to sacrifice. They knew how to bring something to the altar, set it on fire, and it was consumed. Paul says, no, no, no. You're not just a sacrifice. You are a living sacrifice.

So, what does that mean? That means that we don't just do it once. That means over and over and over and over again. We're a living sacrifice. We're living sacrifice. So, what is God saying? God saying it's about you. You want to know what God's will for your life is? It's about you deciding to be with Jesus. It's about you walking with Jesus as a sacrifice of my life. God just wants you. You said, Well, Matt, what does he want me to do? You're not getting the point. The point, first of all, is he wants you. He wants you. But what about all the other stuff? OK, you know what? It is important, but the other stuff follows your devotion. It follows where your heart already is. That's why we can say, well, Matt, how much time should I give? You're missing the point, because your time just shows what your heart is and what you value. Matt, how much money should I get? You're missing the point. Your money finds what you value and what you cherish. If you're not giving, start giving. If you're not tithing. Hey, now's the time to start doing that. If you already are tithing, watch what God does when you begin to bless over and beyond. That's what he's saying. How many mission trips to our goal? Matt, tell me what's God's will. I can guarantee you one thing. I don't know how many, but it's more than none. That's the point. God says show me you. You be the sacrifice. The gifts and the time and the treasures. Those just follow where your heart is. They walk after it daily. Daily. Give yourself entirely to God. Because when you do it, no matter what decision you're making, if you've already given yourself to God, you are going to walk in his way.

Number three, he says, resist and conforming to culture in thoughts and actions. Resist just resist conforming to culture. I want to be real with you. This is the hardest one for most of us because of where we live it's the hardest one for most of us because culture means so much to us. But did you see verse two is pretty clear, right? We see what it says do not conform to the pattern of this world. Think of a concrete form being in a shape, somewhere in it being poured in, in the concrete takes the shape of the form says Do not conform to the pattern of this world. This world literally is the current culture. Why it's simple. Why you don't conform. Why? Because you've given your life to Jesus. And if we'd given our life to Jesus, He is the sacrifice for our sins. There had to be a sacrifice, right? We have a just God. And God said, I'm going to give my son to cancel your sin. And listen, here's what Paul's saying. If you have accepted and if you have trusted, and if you have believed in this gift that you have, please don't follow culture or please don't. Why? Listen, I read this this week. Culture is always made up or culture is always set by the feelings, catch this by the feelings and desires of its populace and people. That's why we don't follow culture. Why? Because it's always ebbing and flowing. It's always moving, and it's set by its own desires, set by the cultures' cravings. Now, don't hear me wrong. Culture is not all bad, right? We have a lot of things that are culturally good. But here's the question I'm going to put on the screen for you. Here's the question. When culture collides with God's Word and God's design what are we going to do? That's the question, right? When culture collides with God's word and God's design, what are we going to do? So, when your feelings collide with God's Word and God's design, what are you going to do? When your resources collide with God's Word and God's design, what are you going to do? When our commitments collide with God's Word and God's design, what are you going to do? Or how about this one? When we're asked to subscribe to the modern way of thinking and it collides with God's word, the ultimate question is when culture collides with God's Word, what are you going to do? I can tell you what most people do not here, but other places, right? Most people follow their own hearts and not necessarily the word of God. But man, this was different in Paul's day. It was so much easier back then. I'm not sure the last time you spent reading Roman culture was. But when Paul wrote this, this was an incredibly clashing moment in Roman culture. And Paul pleads with him, Please don't follow culture. Follow Jesus, don't follow culture, know truth. And here's the deal How many of God's truths are we going to try to cancel? Because it just doesn't sit right in us? And we don't have the right to do that. Look, you have a choice of being defined by God's Word and God's message or being defined by your stomachs. And one of those is eternal. One of those is not. Here's another way to put it Does my feelings get to be God in my life, or does God get to be God in my life? So, Paul says, Hey, in anything that comes up, the easiest thing to do is just to pre decide I'm not going to, in this decision, give in to the thoughts and the actions of culture. God, I'm going to walk with you. Whatever this decision is in front of me, I'm going to make.

And here's number four. Paul says to choose to think differently, choose to think differently. Our mind is such an incredible force. So, when you're walking into any decision in life, if you walk into it with this idea of God, I am pre deciding to not think of the world, but to think of you. Watch what he says in Romans chapter one, verse two. Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. How do you renew your mind? You choose to think differently, right? It is so logical. Do you want to know God's will in anything, whether it's marriage, life, school, work? Remember what God has done for you. All right. Decide that I'm going to give myself wholly to you. Whatever the situation is, resist conforming and choose to think of heavenly things. Here's the prayer that I just want you to have for this one. Here it is. I want to put on the screen. God, I'm going to do this the way you want me to do it. No matter the cost. God, I'm going to do this the way you want me to do it, no matter the cost. And then you can write on the margins. So please help me. So please help me. So please help me. You see godly thinking shifts from what I think is best to what does God think is best. And sometimes those two things are at odds, sometimes they're not. Here's the beauty of Paul's plan here. The beauty of God's plan and Paul's plan in this moment, it doesn't have a specific thing in mind. It has a person in mind in the person is me and you following after Jesus, remembering what he's done, being pre submitted to who he is, following his mind and not my mind, and knowing that I'm setting no matter what the circumstance is, into his path. And here's what happens when we begin to do this. Our minds begin to be conformed into his mind, and then my desires begin to be wrapped into his desires. And before we know it, I'm walking in such sync with Jesus in my life that it's no longer about Go. Just show me your will, show me your will, show me your will. It's not like, Hey, I know your will for my life. I'm going to be your son; I'm going to be your daughter. I'm going to walk with you and God, if you want me to do something differently, God, I just need you to tell me. But I'm going to glorify you with everything in my life. And then the things that come up begin to be so much smaller. This was Jesus's plan, right? If you think back to Jesus's ministry, he gave us a little bit of a blueprint with three phrases. The first one, he just said, Hey, follow me, Jesus said, hey follow me, follow me. Jesus says, do you know 32 times in the New Testament, Jesus told somebody to follow him. Follow me, follow me, watch me, be with me, stay behind me. Watch what I do. Watch what I say, watch what I know. Follow me, he says, the number two. He says, Hey, just remain in me. Remain in me. John Chapter 15 You can read it this week. One of the best texts in the whole Bible is Jesus's last night on this planet. And he's looking at his disciples to which all of us process thinkers think, Hey, Jesus, you got one shot here. Let's give them the plan, right? Let's tell them what to do. Let's tell them where to go. But you know, 11 times in John Chapter 15, Jesus just looks at his disciples and just says, Hey, just remain in me, remain in me. You know, it's kind of weird that Jesus didn't pull the whole team together, right? Hey, Peter, boys, come here. We got to talk for a minute. Peter, I need you to go to Capernaum. I'm going to the Mount of Olives now. Matthew, I need you to go over here. You go to Jerusalem, and you go to Bethsaida, and you go to Capernaum, and you go to Bethany and you're going to Galilee. And here's what you're going to do. Here's your 17-disciple week program. You're going to do that every 17 weeks, and then you're going to come check in later on. No, Jesus didn't do that. He said Y'all remain in me. You know, they were like, What does that mean? Same thing we do all the time, right? Just stay with me, walk with me, be with me and be grafted into me.

Because of number three, here it is, and I will be with you, and I'll be with you. That's God's will. Watch the rest of the verse. Romans Chapter 12, verse two. Then here it is. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is His good. It's pleasing. His perfect will. You know, God's will is not a mystery. It's just for us to realize what He's done for us to pre submit, to walk in His love and his power, to not let our mind get conformed and drug down by the world's thinking and just say yes. Just say yes. But Matt, I thought this was a message about what I was supposed to do. Oh, the doing comes. The doing comes. He takes care of that. He takes care of it. So, listen, the pressure's off. All you got to do submit and say Yes, Lord, Lord Jesus.

God today, as we walk into this moment of just reflection today, God, I would be mistaken if I would think that everybody in this room has a relationship with you. God, the reality is that there are people present in all of our venues today as well as online that they don't know you. They have never given their life to you. They've never trusted you as their savior and as their lord. And God, just to speak to them for a minute today, God, your heart and your desire and your will today is for them to meet you for them to give their life to you, for them to allow you to forgive them of their sins. God, for them to repent and to come into a relationship with you. God, I pray that just during this next minute or two of just contemplation that God, if there are people that need to give their heart to you in this place, that God they would either jump on the app and hit the next steps text or they'd walk up to the front of whatever venue they're in, and they would just look at us and just say, I need Jesus today. God, that's your will for their life. God, for many of us, God, we're about to make some hard decisions on a lot of things. And God I just pray that today's plan from Paul would show us how to test and approve what your will is Lord Jesus. God, it's in your name that we have worshiped here. Give us just a minute to think through and contemplate what you would have for our lives Jesus.

Amen. Amen.

Let's stand and sing.

Follow Along with the Message

God’s Will for My Life

May 15, 2022

PRINCIPLE: I don’t think we were supposed to ever God’s will because it was never . Our role is to just walk in it faithfully.

Romans 12:1–2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
4 Steps to knowing you are walking in God’s Will

1. Always remember God’s .

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy…

QUESTION: When was the last time you really through the mercies of God in your life?

2. Decide to yourself entirely to God.

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship.

“Our submission to God is a response of our grasp of God’s love, and we will never out serve or give what God has given us.”
— Charles Spurgeon

3. Resist conforming to in thoughts and actions.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world…

QUESTION: When culture with God’s Word and God’s Design, what are you going to do?

4. Choose to think .

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

PRAYER: God, I’m going to do this the way you want me to. No matter the .

Romans 12:2
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.
God’s Blueprint for Your Life

1. me.

2. in me.

3. I will be you always.

Proverbs 3:5–6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Additional Notes

 

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