Sunday Sermon Summary---Knowing God's Will!

How does God speak to you? How does God lead you? How does God give direction? How do YOU hear God's will? How do you know what God wants you to do?

Do you believe God has ever directly spoken to you? If you don't, that's okay....maybe He hasn't yet; and maybe He never will. I do believe God has spoken to me....I believe in what I like to call "God Moments". I am not claiming to have actually heard the voice of The Lord, but I do believe that He gives me signs of reassurance, comfort, nudging, and oftentimes peace through music, scripture, something someone says, every day happenings, and other ways. I believe that there are times when something occurs that was meant to help me see Him more clearly. According to JI Packer....one thing that we as christians need to do when seeking God's will is "....learn to determine between ordinary and extraordinary, constant and occasional, the rule and the exception."!

Yesterday during Ken's sermon....he talked about how God speaks to us through scripture, and oftentimes when you are reading scripture; you will come across something that speaks to your situation at hand. It may be a scripture that you have read several times before or one you are reading for the first time, but if you are still and paying attention; it may be one that speaks to you. JI Packer says "God's teaching in scripture is the basic guide to our living."! Ken explained that in scripture, we see guidance. In Jesus, we see it lived out. How does God want us to live? Look at Jesus, and you have the answer.

If you haven't figured out by reading my blog, we attend a Methodist Church....Methodism was started by John Wesley. Since scripture talks about life in broad strokes, and we oftentimes get caught up in details; and we can't find guidance (through scripture) regarding the details; John Wesley gave us other ways to help us find guidance. He said that scripture is primary in everything, but at times it doesn't talk about certain things. When that occurs, you use the 3 following things to guide you....
1. REASON.....use your own intelligenc to help you reason out what you think God would want you to do, ask Him for guidance....
James 1:5 (Message Translation) says,
If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought.
Proverbs 2:10-12 (New Living Translation)
10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. 11 Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.
12 Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted.
2. EXPERIENCE....as our lives are opened to God, we have experiences of God within us which nudge us along.
John 16:12-14 (New Living Translation) says,
12 “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 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. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 12 “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 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. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.
3. TRADITION....there have been 2000+ years of Christians which can also help in guiding and there's always the beauty of being able to go and speak with a fellow Christian and seek their wisdom and guidance as well in finding God's will.

Ken ended the sermon with this quote from Yogi Bera...."When you come to a fork in the road, take it!" As the congregation chuckled, he explained that when Yogi Bera made this statement; he was giving directions to his house....because his house was located at the top end of the road, so no matter which way you went at the fork; you would arrive at his house. God's will is not so much about do I turn left or right, but more about is my life open to hear His will? God's will is about our character. Start the 10/10 today....read your Bible for 10 minutes every day and pray for 10 minutes every day. If you don't know where to start reading, you can start with some of the scriptures below if you so choose.
Below are some scriptures that Ken gave us which talk about finding God's will through scripture...
Psalm 40:8
Joshua 1:8
Colossians 3:16
Psalm 119:19
Psalm 119:105
2 Timothy 3:16-17