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THE WILL OF GOD

Introduction 

How would you answer this question? “If I could be anywhere I wanted to be, I would be in...”

               Some might think of a particular place.

               Some might think of a particular status.

               Some might think of many other things.

However, the wise answer is this, “If I could be anywhere I wanted to be, it would be in the will of God.”

That’s because the happiest, most content, most fulfilled people in all the world are those who find themselves in the will of God.

With that being true, it can be said that the most unhappy, discontent, unfulfilled people in all the world are those who find themselves outside of the will of God.

What is the “will of the Lord?”

I.            BY DEFINITION, THE WILL OF THE LORD IS GOD’S PURPOSE OR PLAN FOR OUR LIFE!

               God has a purpose or plan for every one of our lives.

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

The word “thoughts” means “plans or intentions or purpose.”

               It comes from another word that has to do with weaving.

God has a picture, if you will, of what He plans for our life to be, and He is at work all the time weaving the different aspects of our lives together in hopes of one day completing that picture.

               Regardless of who you are, God has a plan for you!

II.           BY DESCRIPTION, THE WILL OF THE LORD IS . . .

               A.         The Will Of The Lord Is Good!           (Romans 12:1-2)

                             It says here that the will of the Lord is “good.”

                            (i.e. The will of the Lord is beneficial to your life!)

Understand that God will not ask us to do anything that is not for our eternal good.

We will always profit when we do the will of God, and we will always lose when we do anything other than the will of God.

               B.         The Will Of The Lord Is Acceptable!

By “acceptable” the Bible means that it’s fully agreeable or well-pleasing with God!

                            i.e. It is the only way we can please God!

               C.         The Will Of The Lord Is Perfect!

When the Bible uses the word “perfect”, that’s exactly what it means.

                            God’s will for your life is flawless!

                            God’s will for your life is perfect for you!

                            God’s will for my life is perfect for me!

There is no way that we could improve upon God’s plan for our lives.

               D.         The Will Of The Lord Is Doable! (Exodus 4:10-12)

1 Thessalonians 5:24–“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”

If God calls us to do something, He will also equip us to do it.

                            We can do the will of God regardless of what it is.

God will not ask us to do something that he cannot and will not enable us to do!

               E.         The Will Of The Lord Is Advisable! (Ephesians 5:17)

                             It is unwise to ignore the will of God. 

The Bible is full of examples of people who ignored the will of God, and it cost them dearly!

                            1.          There’s the Prophet Jonah!

                            2.          There’s the Captain of the ship in Acts 27

He decided to listen to the “experts” instead of doing God’s will.

He decided to follow the majority instead of following God’s will.

                                         So, His ship ended up being broken to pieces.

                                         Just determine to do the will of God in your life!

                                         It is the safest thing for you to do!

               F.         The Will Of The Lord Is Dependable!

                            You can trust God’s will!

                            You will never go astray following God’s will!

               G.         The Will Of The Lord Is Discernable!

God’s will is not some deep, dark secret that only super-Christians can know anything about!

Every one of us can know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, what God’s will is for our life!

                            The question is, “HOW do we know?”

                            To find God’s will, we need to apply a basic principle of math.

                            To find the unknown, you start with the known.

                            For example, if I were to give you the following equation:

                            2X = 10, what does “X” equal?

                            You discover the answer to that equation by using the known

                            (2 and 10) to come up with the unknown (5).

To discover what you don’t know about God’s will for your life, use what you do know!

If you’ve never been saved (born again), what you can know is that God wants you to be saved!

2 Peter 3:9–“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Matthew 7:21–“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

John 6:40–“And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

If you’re saved, then God’s Word tells us that the will of God for us is this:

                            God wants us to be thankful in all things!

1 Thessalonians 5:18–“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

                            God wants us to be sanctified or holy!

1 Thessalonians 4:33 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

                            God wants us to be good citizens as a testimony to others!

1 Peter 2:15–“For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:”

And we can go on and on through the Word of God and see many things that we know are God’s will for our lives as His children! John 14:21–“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

There’s no real need to worry about the unknown part of God’s will until first of all we’ve done that which is known!

But let’s say that we’ve done or are doing the known will of God, how do we come to know about the rest of God’s will?

                            Look at Acts 11.

Here we find that Peter goes to Jerusalem. When he arrived, there were several men who came to him and began to harass him because he had been associating with the Gentiles.

What these men didn’t know was that Peter was doing the will of God!

Note that doing the will of God may not always be the popular thing to do.

Also note that doing the will of God may mean going against what others, including yourself, may think is the right thing to do.

                            Look at Verse 4.

In Peter’s reply, we see seven principles for discerning God’s will for our life.

                            (1)        Principle #1 - Prayer (Vs. 5)

Have you prayed and asked God to show you His will?

                            (2)        Principle #2 - Patience (Vs. 6)

                                         Notice the word “considered.”

Peter didn’t act out of emotions, he took some time to think about what it was he was supposed to do.

                            (3)        Principle #3 - Principle (Vs. 7)

                                         Peter followed the word of the Lord.

The Lord’s word to Peter was verbal; the Lord’s word to us today comes through the Bible.

One thing we need to keep in mind is that the Lord will never lead us contrary to His Word.

God’s will always lines up with the principles set forth in the Scriptures.

                            (4)        Principle #4 - Providence (Vs. 11)

Many times those things we look at as being coincidence or luck are actually God working in our life to bring about His will.

                                         Sometimes we refer to them as open doors.

                            (5)        Principle #5 - Persuasion (Vs. 12)

                                         A synonym for “persuasion” is faith.

When it comes to the will of God, many times we are called upon to act in faith.

Consider Abraham.

Hebrews 11:8–“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.”

                            (6)        Principle #6 - Partnership (Vs. 13-15)

In Acts 10, a man by the name of Cornelius was told in a vision to send for a man by the name of Peter.

In that same chapter, Peter had a vision which dealt with him taking the gospel to the Gentiles.

In verses 13-15, Peter explains how when he arrived at Cornelius’ house he and Cornelius began to discuss how they both saw visions and they began to compare notes.

Sometimes God can be at work in two different places bringing things together that will confirm His will in your life.

                            (7)        Principle #7 - Ponder (Vs 16)

                                         When all else fails, go back to the Scriptures.

                                         Ask the Lord to guide you with His Word.

Remember what David said, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

Conclusion

As we do the known will of God and then apply these principles, the rest of God’s will becomes clear in our lives!

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NOTICE:   THESE SERMONS ARE FREE TO BE USED BUT ARE NOT TO BE SOLD!