Get 1 & 2 Right And Things Get Clearer For Your Future | Tim Dilena

i want to tell you a personal story i was called to full-time ministry while i was finishing my sophomore year at university i was finishing up a degree in corporate finance but i had no desire to use the degree in any way i just wanted to be a pastor and i wanted to preach well there was a battle going on i'm trying to finish up school but called to the ministry so the question that literally plagued my mind was this do i leave my last two years at university and go into the ministry or do i finish my degree how do i even know what to do what are my next steps so i asked god and then went to his word for guidance but there was the problem i couldn't find the word university in the bible i am looking under use i even tried c for college it wasn't even there so i prayed and as i was reading the bible i did i did discover the word university in the bible in fact i discovered that the bible was telling me to stay in business school and finish up my degree some of you may be asking well pastor tim where is the word universally in your bible and where did you get that bible i found the word university in ephesians 6 2. here's what it says honor your father and your mother that was it my father always wanted someone in our family to graduate from college the lights went on i've been looking for specific words but god began to guide me really from a 30 000 foot view and said as you honor them that's why you're supposed to say i believe this when you read the bible you hear god better because god sounds just like his word see if we don't read the bible the word of god then what happens is you end up giving equal weight to every voice that's around you columbia university research center has found that the average person makes about 70 decisions every single day i mean if that doesn't get you then then listen to this let's add those up that's 25 000 decisions a year and after 70 years of being alive you're making 1.7 million decisions in your lifetime that's why what one man said is absolutely true i'm not a product of my circumstances i'm a product of my decisions and that's why i just don't want to make good decisions i want to make god decisions i want you to make god decisions in fact i believe another name for god decisions that i want us to begin to deal with today is the will of god and this is an important day to deal with it i know um here we celebrate a holiday called valentine's day right here on february 14th and i think speaking about the will of god is important on a day like today see the will of god is doing exactly what god wants me to do when he wants me to do it see god's will is not what i decide to do and think it's best and then say god bless what i want to do i can't have the will of god without god if you want to know jeremiah begins to lay this out listen to these powerful words by jeremiah he says oh lord i know the way of man is not in himself that's why i can't make that decision without god it's not in man who walks to direct his own steps that's a powerful verse that we need to get literally just just engrafted in our hearts that means i needs god's help to make decisions god has to be involved i just heard a story this week of a young rising star in the u.s navy in fact he was a first officer on the navy battleship and they crossed the atlantic happened a few years ago he had an impeccable training record and and the captain saw it and assigned him after they went across the atlantic to take the boat from the harbor they were in the dock they were in and begin to bring it back to the u.s port where they launched from so when this first officer stood up there the deck was buzzing everything moved in textbook fashion the navy destroyer made its way out impeccably but while the ship was moving slowly into open water one of the crews said to the young man who's just successfully navigated out of the harbor brought this this incredible uh giant piece of floating steel of power right into the waters says you have a message from the captain but it was a little weird because it was on the radio the captain said young man you've done an excellent job said you did it with great precision according to the book but there's one unwritten rule you have overlooked and the young man sat there with a pause and he said this he says the next time you set sail make sure the captain is on board before you leave ports make sure the captain is on board before you leave the port that really is a word for us today don't head into the future without our captain don't head into the future without knowing what does our superior officer jesus himself saying to us it was one of the most dramatic conversion stories on how a murderer becomes a christian it happened in the middle of an afternoon there was a bright light a man fell to the ground a voice an actual audible voice of the resurrected jesus spoke and on that day the man who had become considerably the greatest christian that has ever lived was converted his name was the apostle paul think about this if god spoke to you audibly what would you say to him or really what questions would you ask him that day paul asked the resurrected jesus who he was in conversation with on that road to damascus two questions which literally are the very best questions here is what he said one who are you lord and the second question he asked was this lord here comes what do you want me to do see the answer to the first one made the second one non-negotiable and easier let me read to you the conversation and i'll explain what i mean this is acts 9 5-7 thinking about the will of god what god wants you to do listen to these words and he said paul said to to the lord the voice who are you lord here's the first question then the lord said i'm jesus whom you're persecuting it's hard for you to kick against the gods so he paul trembling and astonish said lord what do you want me to do and then the lord said tim arise go into the city you'll be told what you must do and the men who journeyed with them stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no one see this is what's so powerful this is what we have to understand because he is the lord that's dealing with the first question then i do whatever he wants i have to declare what the first question is who are you lord and if he is lord the boss we talk about that at the end of every sermon every week to confess him as lord the boss the one who is in charge and because he is the lord then i do whatever he wants that means you ready for this who he is then guides what i do and then this was what makes it easier whatever he asks me to do i do it because it's called the will of god see for paul it was this the very first step was get up go to the city and it will be told for you what to do paul didn't sit there and wait well you tell me paul just said paul literally just did exactly what he was told to do that's verse eight so saul got up from the ground thr and though his eyes were open he couldn't see anything and leading him by the hand they brought him to damascus see god already had a man prepared to pray for the apostle paul and all and be literally begin to prophesy of what was going to come to his future that what was taking place was as he obeyed the first thing that he knew he was supposed to do the first thing which was paul get up get up go to a city and you will be told what you do there was no question since he's the lord who he is guides guides now my next steps that whatever he asks me to do because he is the lord i do that because it's called the will of god so paul obeys the first step and all of a sudden god has everything in place he starts to put everything in place and that was what makes it so powerful see obeying the will of god connects my past and my future i love what david jeremiah says he says when you follow god's will for your life you can see how yesterday's events prepared you for today's challenges and even tomorrow's opportunities that's when you follow god's will or let me put it to you this way obedience now get this obedience unlocks good decision-making for the future it really does psalm 111 verse 10 says it like this the way to become wise is to honor the lord he gives sound judgment to all who hears that four letter word obey his commands he is to be praised forever he gives sound judgment to those who obey his commands see obedience and life direction are tied together disobedience clouds mine and your judgment and even good decision-making before deciding on a life course i think it's important that all of us check where we at where we are with our obedience one of the great preachers at the turn of the century j wilbur chapman said it like this anything that dims my vision for christ takes away my taste for bible study cramps me in my prayer life or makes my christian walk work difficult is wrong for me and i must as a christian turn away from it that is so powerful what he was basically saying was this i am checking my obedience level to make sure that i have sound judgment on my next steps for the future paul took that go to the city and you'll be told what to do but how do we know god's will i think we start with obedience before we start with all the questions that we need to answer we start with our own personal obedience before we start unpacking all the questions and there are so many questions and decisions that we have like columbia research that's 70 a day 25 000 in a year or 1.7 million in a lifetime questions like where should i live what should be my career what should be my degree should i go or stay in new york city what college should i go to does god want me to go to summit international school of the ministry do i buy this house do i rent this apartment do i even here it is valentine's day date this guy and go out to dinner then as it gets even bigger do i marry him or her i believe i think god has a personal plan for everyone's life but there is no way to know it if we have not obeyed what is plainly stated in god's word so i want to show you something that is plainly stated i believe is god's will in the bible i truly believe that when i took these two verses seriously that i want to share with you today and obey them took them seriously and obeyed them god made my university decision that i share with you in the beginning much easier and clearer to me i truly believe that those two these two verses that i'm going to share with you made my university decision something that was not even a struggle with me see i think i want you to see today that there are two will of god verses that are so clearly spelled out in the bible and paul's language that you're going to see today in the scriptures is paul is is actually going to say literally going to say for this is the will of god in fact it's going to be two things that seem so apar so far apart from each other but i do think that there is a connection and they're closer than you actually think i believe you do these two clear things these two clear things called the will of god then the other decisions of wanting the will of god will become even clearer for you the next steps see focus on obeying what is clear and then i believe that what is unclear literally becomes clear i know that's a lot of words but i really believe that and that's why the clear will of god verses right here in the book of thessalonians are significant this is a brand new church that's what makes this exciting and even made it jump out to me see the thessalonian church is only a few months old it's entering a brand new season of existence and paul is helping those new converts two-month-old converts to navigate new territory making obedient decisions right in god's will i started to think of it this way i wonder if we don't know more of god's will for our personal life all because we've not done the will of god what is clearly spelled out in the scriptures see sometimes i think we don't get more specific future instructions because we have not obeyed what is clearly written for us right now or another way of putting it doing number one will of god verse and doing number two may literally get the future clear for you what do you mean pastor tim what do you mean by number one and number two you'll see it coming up what i mean by number one and number two is taking first thessalonians 4 3 and 1 thessalonians 5 18 very seriously because the question is this that i kept asking myself why would we be given more direction if we can't do the two things that are right in front of our face why would god go here do this here's some more direction for you even though you won't even do what's actually clear and so i had to ask myself the question am i doing one and two am i being obedient to one and two are you being obedient to one and two and some of you going like tell me what one and two is see why would we be entrusted with more um if we can't do what's right even before our eyes when our children our four children are given kind of those those moments of more freedom in their life i remember whether in their traveling part when they're traveling alone whether it was traveling by car when they got their license um whether it was walking to an event or taking the subway to event they knew what the clear will of cindy was in those moments they knew what the clear will of cindy is text us at every interval when you get there when you get to the subway stop when you get to the connection airport when you get through tsa when you get to the ball game on the high school football game texas when you get there and what they knew was this they knew the clear will of cindy that if you do what is clear then you get more trust in the future as as you begin to do what simply before you see the clear will of god is summed up like this in these two verses here it comes stay pure and say thanks stay pure and say thanks paul is about to deal with two important areas that he's going to deal with sexual purity and thanksgiving that doesn't even seem to be connected but he's going to give you the clear will of god in two verses for this young church i want to read them to you and let god begin to speak to our hearts today here's clear will of god number one first thessalonians 4 3. here it comes it can't get it can't get any more clarity than this for this is the will of god your sanctification that is that you abstain from sexual immorality when you look at the bible lust is often compared to a fire solomon does it in the old testament in the new testament paul does it in fact he encourages people um to begin to take note when that burning that caused by burning with lust see the fire comparison is really apt but what they're telling us solomon the apostle paul is fire is incredibly powerful it's amazing when controlled but destructive when it's out of control or uncontrolled and what they were saying was immorality is like that lust is like that what basically they were saying was fire in a fireplace that's awesome fire in your kitchen or in your living room you got big problems see god designed sex and i know this is going to be this is going to be some of you really need to hear this to be expressed in the context of the covenant of marriage now folks that's the fireplace that's the confinements that's that's the the parameters that god gives us see what he was saying was you can choose to express yourself outside of the parameters of that covenant of marriage listen you can express you can choose to express it outside but you can't choose the outcome and the consequences when you do that that's important for many of us to hear today you can choose to express yourself you can choose independently and go rogue and express yourself outside the parameters of the marriage covenant but you can't choose the outcome and the consequences and there may be some of you that are listening to saying pastor tim that's too hard i love what one missionary said they said this god never said doing his will would be easy but he did say it would be worth it and i'm telling you it is worth it so let me be clear i want to be very clear today for those that maybe have decided to become born again over these last few months to maybe christians that have forgotten the clear will of god here it is sexual immorality is having sex with someone you are not married to engagement doesn't even count and i wanna i wanna challenge you i want you to listen if you're doing that right now stop if you're living with them right now stop it's not god's will god defines it as immorality and he calls it sin and as your pastor i'm compelled to make clear the will of god which which if we're walking out of it it becomes dangerous or is that c.s lewis said he said to walk out of his will is to walk into nowhere and when we begin to do that when we begin to violate the clear will of god i think and not become obedient according to psalm 111 10 that we just read i believe every other decision becomes cloudy and unclear because the will of god is not inside of us and god goes if you can't obey what i'm making clear to you why would i entrust you with all the other decisions see i love them pastor tim doesn't change the parameters of what the bible says it doesn't it doesn't it doesn't begin to fix those parameters why because i love what jesus says more than even them if you love them it's not that sex or or immorality is the next step but marriages one person put it like this dating with no intent to marry is like going to the grocery store with no money you either leave unhappy or take something that isn't yours that that's what it is some people have asked me this question why does premarital sex even sabotage marriage this is going to get some people mad but it needs to be said very clearly one of the first questions i'll ask in premarital counseling is i'll deal with the immorality issue why because this shows whether they're in love or not pastor tim are you serious it's not it's not me defining what love is that's what the apostle paul did first corinthians 13. he gives a whole checklist of what love actually is and this is what he says the first thing he says on it love is patient and and my challenge to them is if you're not patient now man then love is suspect here there's there's no guarantee because you failed question number one on the test and if you can't wait until marriage when things are good what happens when the marriage even begins to go through difficult situations this is this i know is hard for some people to hear today i have to just do what the bible tells me i'm tried i want your future rescued and i believe it's by us doing what the clear will of god says see when you and i take first thessalonians 4 4-3 seriously i believe now this is what i i want you to hear i think this temptation gets more intense when you and i take first us on this verse this is the will of god our sanctification i think the temptation gets more intense what what do you mean this is what solomon says solomon deals with this and i want you to hear his words salman speaks about an adulterer and adulteress and who she is calling it says that she sits proverbs 9 14 and 15. she sits at the doorway of her house on a seat by the high places of the city calling to those this is the adulteress calling to those who pass by and that he defines who's passing by those who are making their paths straight did you see what just happened that man that's trying to make his past straight is trying to be lured away he's not it's not the promiscuous it's the one trying to make their path straight i i have watched young people i've watched students i've watched college students i've watched people with incredible careers all the way to single people single parents that haven't been married anymore literally blur their future because they didn't take first thessalonians 4 3 seriously this is the clear will of god that's what it says folks i i just want your future to be a future of pleasing god who are you lord and what do you want me to do he tells us what he wants us to do he gives us the clear will of god and let me close with this he gives the clear will of god number two here it comes this is first thessalonians 5 18 and it says this in everything give thanks for this is the will for you in christ jesus the only two places in all the new testament that i see that god spells out this is my will i i'm going to show you one more that i think we can add to the list at the very end but paul wrote to this thessalonian church about 54 a.d while he was staying in corinth and it was the first stay with me now it was the first letter of all 14 letters that paul wrote first thessalonians is his first letter what paul was saying in his first of 14 epistles i think we should take notice of see what paul was doing was he was spelling out in this first letter to very new christians this is the will of god paul tells the new thessalonian converts stay pure and say thanks he's what he was challenging with was i want you to thank god no matter what happens that's why it says in everything and not for everything those those are those are important words to say for everything would almost seem to be inhumane no one can say uh in everything better than i think than johnny eric cintada this incredible christian woman who is a quadriplegic who has spoken here at times square church this is her saying this from a wheelchair with no use of of of hands and arms and feet and legs this is what she says god isn't asking you to be thankful he's asking you to give thanks and she goes there's a big difference try to hear her words from a wheelchair try to hear her words as a quadriplegic one response involves emotions she says the other is your choice your decisions about a situation your intent and your step faith thank you johnny for the for that because what she was basically saying was this thankful is an attitude giving thanks is a choice and if we can make that right choice taking first thessalonians 5 5 18 seriously then what happens is this then i think sometimes our choice may even turn into our attitude but we have to take the first choice of saying in that i can still give thanks because you can always find something to give thank for what thankful thanks for are you serious pastor tim what if i what if i'm driving to work what if i'm i'm driving and also and i get a flat tire how how do i say how do i say thank you it seems terrible that i had a flat tire how about this how about thanking god that he gave you a car to get a flat tire with how about how about that one how about god gave you a job to pay for the car that got you a flat tire or how about this god gave you a a jack in the car from the job that he gave to you that's called in everything we give thanks probably the craziest thanksgiving or thankful that ever happened it's only said and it has been only said in this place by only one man with strange sounds organs of the of the body beating and and thinking this has to be the craziest place to say thank you let me read the words to you but i will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving you know where that's found here it is it's jonah 2 9. jonah in the belly of a whale is giving thanks you can't give thanks for a flat tire on the side of the road you can't give thanks for a late train you can't give thanks for a late flight can't give thanks for for for the things that are happening around you this is jonah in the belly of a whale that says i'll sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgi giving if jonah can do it we can do it in any situation we're at it's his commentaries that have touched so many people's lives it's the famous english bible scholar matthew henry who once was attacked by thieves and robbed of his wallet or they called it his purse on his way to church and this is what he said let me be thankful first that i was never robbed before second although they took my purse they didn't take my life third although they took my all it wasn't much and fourth let me be thankful because it was i who was robbed and not i who did the robbing boy he taught us something there he taught us that we can be thankful in everything from a from a from from being in a wheelchair to a flat tire to even being tested positive for kobe who knows what god is trying to do in everything in covent i'm thankful in a a a difficult situation i still could be thankful i i see and i believe it's god's will to thank him this is important before you ask him for anything thank him for everything before you ask him for anything listen to philippians 4 6 making your requests known here comes with thanksgiving to thank him before we even ask him i think thanking him purges are asking i think thanking purge is asking and when we're not thanking him then i think our our asking sometimes can get out of line and a miss without thanksgiving the request is is literally just a a checklist of do this do this do this heal this run here do this give me this if we ask without giving thanks i think we ask amiss i just i asked the lord when i was reading just these two verses to a new converts two months old in the lord i had this question after reading the bible why wasn't there more verses that said and this is the will of god i mean these two why why didn't you give us 10 verses so we could just obey that and here's what's crazy we know god's will but i'm not even sure we're doing number one and number two which is god's will that's the challenge that i got he says tim i i want you to take sexual purity seriously and i want you to take giving thanks in everything seriously if we can't get those two together then i think all of a sudden everything begins to become muddy for our future can we just obey those let me share one more that i think we can kind of put in there that i think we could say is part of the will of god it's second peter 3 9 peter ends his letter like this and i want to end today with this he says this the lord is not slack concerning his promise as some man counts slackness but his long-suffering to us he's speaking to the planet not willing we can kind of throw in there that's god's will not willing that anyone should perish but that all should come to repentance or the knowledge of jesus christ i think that not willing part is kind of the negative standpoint of saying that this is the will of god for you for this planet for every person to be born again that's the will of god for you it's the will of god for me that we would walk in a brand new relationship with god i don't i don't think we can give thanks in everything without god i don't think we can begin to walk pure in a world that's that's calling for our attention without god i don't think we can stay pure say thanks without god i don't think we could be successful in life because the bible says that we read in jeremiah the way of a man is not in him it's not there inside of him so how do i fix that i've gotta i need god in my life i need god to be part of my i need god to become my life i need a relationship with god today jesus calls that relationship being born again it's the most important question i can ask you and that's this have you been born again that's the relationship that's god's will for you right now while some of you are struggling with questions do i take this job do i do i change my major at university how about let's do what's very clear god is not willing that anyone should perish but then everyone come to repentance to a brand new relationship with god and god defines that relation jesus defines that relationship as being born again john 3 3 jesus said these these powerful words he says no man can see the kingdom of heaven no woman no student no wall street no wall street trader no professional athlete no no ambassador can ever see the kingdom of heaven unless they are born again boy this sounds like the will of god to me sounds like the will of god when jesus says in john 3 5 jesus says it who cannot lie you must be born again that sounds pretty close to a will of god verse even though it doesn't say that and pastor tim if this is what jesus is asking if he's saying must then what do i need to do how do i become born again it's as simple as abc and in fact when we get to the sea letter we're going to begin to kind of find ourselves on the road to damascus who are you lord just stay with me hey it's admitting that i'm a sinner it's when i get honest with god it's when all of us realizing we have a condition called sin that's why we can't find the right way inside of us because it's not there we find the right steps the guiding steps of our future we find it only in him so we've got to deal with that sin issue inside of us by literally admitting that we're a sinner and we can't fix ourselves you can't fix it by promising you can't fix it by going simply to a program you can stop the consequences you can try to fix the consequences but you can't fix the root of it we need help to fix that i'm broken inside and the and the diagnosis is called sin well pastor tim then what do i need to do that's the b word believe believe that god sent his son into the world to fix my sinful your sinful condition because i can't fix myself if we could fix ourselves then god would never have to send his son two thousand years ago to die on a cross for us if i can get myself to heaven by being good then why would jesus ever have to come and die but it was jesus becoming my sin bearer it was him taking my sin upon himself and dying for me it was he died the death i was supposed to die live the life that i i couldn't be expected to live i didn't have the power to do it and gave me a reward forgiveness heaven eternity a right relationship with god that i didn't deserve and here comes the final one a admit be believe and see confess him has lord remember those words lord acts chapter 9 who are you lord and what do you want me to do confess jesus as lord that's exactly what paul did see that word lord means boss means you're in charge now that means what you want me to do is i do that because of who you are who he is guides now what i do that's that's his god's goal god's goal is to go let me be in charge i don't want a day of a week i don't want two hours on sunday i didn't come here to ruin your weekend i've come to change your life this the bible says that satan comes to steal kill and destroy but i've come john 10 10 to give life more abundantly that's what he's come to do because he is lord now whatever you ask me to do i want to do and that's his he's not willing for you to perish but to come to repentance to come to be born again today and today could be that day being born again is a relationship going to church is a religion giving god two hours on a on a weekend that's religion being born again says god you don't get you don't get sundays you get every day because now you're in charge and just jesus uses that term born again because he was saying to us just as you had at a first birth physically you need a second birth spiritually and that can happen right now wherever you're at wherever you're listening to this i don't it doesn't have to even be on a sunday someone may have shared a link with you when you're listening to it you may be here in new york city you may be around the country even around the world you may be listening today from nigeria you may be listening today from the uk down the caribbean you may be in mexico wherever you are around the world god is speaking to you right now to someone in the ukraine right now you must be born again let's obey the clear will of god pastor tim how do i do that i want you to pray a prayer with me and that prayer is going to begin to admit that we're a sinner believe that jesus is the only one that can fix me from the inside out and today we declare like the apostle paul who started the greatest journey of his life you are lord that's romans 10 9-10 come on would you pray this prayer with me maybe it's a husband and wife praying together maybe it's a single dad who has a son with them for the weekend going son let's pray this together let's start a brand new journey together i want you to pray this with me come on i want you to make a decision today to be born again pray this with me out loud dear lord jesus i believe you're the son of god i believe that on the cross you took my sin my shame my guilt and you died for it you faced hell for me so i wouldn't have to go you rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven purpose on earth and a relationship with your father today lord jesus i turn from my sin to be born again come on say it with me now god is my father jesus is my savior the holy spirit is my helper and heaven is my home in jesus name hey men i i am so excited for the decision you just made this is this is so powerful because what you did was you made a decision on the clear will of god and i'm just telling you you watch what god has for your future you obeyed what jesus has asked you to do here's what i want you to do i want you to make just one step for me you're going to see it on the screen if you've prayed this prayer i want you to text the word decided d-e-c-i-d-e-d decided whether you're on a computer and you text it or you're going to be on your phone text the word decided to 5100 that's 51 000. text that let me tell you why that's a new number and why this is important because we have just devised a brand new curriculum to help you on next steps the first week once you text us in you're going to get each day four five or six minute videos to help you on your next steps they're going to come to you in succession and then over the next six weeks you're going to begin to get checked up people are going to check on you you'll get a text you'll get an email just to make sure that you are taking those next steps we're so excited for our team that that wants to lead those who have decided those who have made the greatest decision you can ever make to be born again and it is our honor that we get a chance to walk with you and help you on those next steps just text decided to five one zero zero zero decided to 51 000. we love you we're praying for you god bless you [Music]

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 5,871

Rating: 4.8727274 out of 5

Keywords: Times Square Church, Tim Dilena, Sermon

Id: MWGHTaQ1ifg

Length: 38min 33sec (2313 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 14 2021