Hillsong Church - Discovering God's Will For Your Life

[Music] [Applause] [Music] when we sing [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] magical [Music] [Music] the future [Music] my god [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] for teachers [Applause] [Music] Oh come on my babies is out this morning [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] whichever boys [Music] Jesus Adame I've seen Eclipse yeah [Music] everybody [Music] creation this [Music] the sky [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Music] not to us [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Jesus we love you thank you God for loving us unceasingly unswervingly unconditionally we praise you this morning for all that you have done for us for saving us for a deeming us we pray that you would have your way in Jesus name but it just itch [Music] see [Music] she's [Music] [Music] [Music] God was [Music] ah see [Music] so the [Applause] [Music] she is Jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] but a change when they see no from the crash hero [Music] she [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus loves me yes jesus loves me yes jesus loves me the father tells me missing that again shows every voice [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] see [Music] mr. Rashid my own [Music] Toodee [Music] Stanley and to son [Music] behold [Music] see [Music] she [Music] [Applause] [Music] can we declare [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] I have a friend [Music] that's it spirit breathing holy finally [Music] speaking shoot [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] wow you guys are singing like you mean it anyone love Jesus in this place amen amen and everyone that's watching us on the channel online we're so grateful that you can join us this morning and I don't know about where you're from but where we're from it's called daylight savings that meant we lost an hours sleep so in here show vans who normally comes to the nine o'clock service give us a wave yes yes and who normally comes to live 15 and you made the extra effort of being here that one hour earlier hey man hey you know what in my hand I'm holding a whole lot of prayer requests and if you're watching in a moment we're gonna pray for these prayer requests and when we do that we actually want to pray for you as well if you're needing God's doing miracle in your life we're gonna pray we're gonna believe God together there's a whole lot of prayer requests people believe in God for employment for healing for wisdom for favor and you know we get so many great praise reports and we got one here from someone who from the channel actually who's just saying you guys prayed for me for a job and now I've got a job so praise God for that and just before and just before we pray for all these needs this is really cool can you hold these for sec print on the back here you don't how you can't see this but it's actually a screenshot of the prayer requests that are on the screen and when this screenshot was taken we were praying for someone's cousin to be healed and this is the praise report thank you to my field song family that prayed for my cousin who was diagnosed with throat cancer he's been tested again last week and he's completely healed completely healed so come on let's reach out our hands we're gonna believe for these prayer requests if you're watching or maybe you're in this room and you need a miracle you reach up your hand to heaven we're going to include you so father we thank you in Jesus name we thank you for every hand that's raised to you every prayer request father in my hand and we declare the name of Jesus by faith Lord that it will be as you said it would be healing and breakthrough father we thank you for father we thank you for it in Jesus name Amen amen amen amen fantastic hey everyone looking this way we can do two things at once we're about to go to church news but just before we go I want to just show you this it's on your seat it's called our Hillsong College open day okay Hillsong College open day and it's this Tuesday here and so this Tuesday and what we're doing is basically going to open up our college for anyone that wants to come and sit in the different classes experience our Hillsong chapel and Hillsong college is a great idea if you've just finished your 12 and before you go to uni or maybe you've just finished uni and just before you start or maybe you're in between seasons and you actually could give a God a year and just really learn more about the Word of God and what it means basically to really serve Him so this is a great opportunity more of it's on Church news so have a look at the screens and check out everything coming up oh hello church I'm your senior pastor just in case you didn't recognize me and I really want to talk to you about your ability to hear from your church if you're not hearing from us through email or any other form of communication it's probably because we can't we can't any longer be in connection with you unless you give us specific permission if you were to go to my Hillsong dot-com you can give us consent we've got jobs available and creator Department IT graphics in TV in accountancy and administration and maintenance so many areas of church life and so that's true across many of our locations and most importantly for the families of our church we are limited how much we can talk to you about your children Hillsong kids or your young people and fuel and wildlife we need your consent even to be able to talk about those things with you would you please go to Michael song table do it for you do it for us so that we as a church can be a family a community and not a whole lot of strangers on a Sunday love you god bless [Music] as someone who is heavily involved in writing our current course we teach you about performance we get you in practical scenarios to what you might do here at Hillsong College but also what you can bring back to your home churches my passion for you would be that you would grow in your skill that you would leave this one year being a better dancer than what you came in the ways that they've been thinking about these radically alter and shift and that opens up whole new ways of thinking and the great delight of it is seeing it then be transferred into the way that they live their lives we would love to see you the Hillsong College open day and you never know one day can change your life well we are blessed as a church especially without senior pastors Brian and Bobby and Bobby's now gonna come and she's gonna encourage us around our giving so thanks Bobby amen I stood up so sprightly then how are you Church so parent if you've lost a cap it's an information okay one of the little ones lift it down here you can put it on rich are you good are you ready to give this my name such a beautiful part of our worship and again we often say this if you're new or visiting with us today you're our guest we're so happy that you're here welcome to Hillsong Church and um this is what we do it's part of the core our core belief it's part of the foundation it's one of the ways that we as a church can be a storehouse a room that can actually be a blessing to many others amen do you believe that church various ways that we give on screen as many of you know but I was thinking last night I remembered a phrase or a scene or something that um I heard many many years ago I think was back in the days of Jonathan Wilson when they were here in part of our city campus and I heard Jonathan say you know what um you need to sow energy to reap energy don't you just love that it got a so energy to reap energy he was talking in context of health and well-being and it's so true I find that quite a bummer really why do we have to do that Church hallelujah and then I was thinking actually that is the same spiritually it is a spiritual principle actually that we need to sow faith we need to sow in faith we need to stir faith in order to reap the fruit and the benefits of faith which are actually the X eating abundant and above life that God has called us all to write so I'm gonna go straight to scripture because to be honest nothing speaks louder and clearer than the Word of God so if fusions three as many of you would know is amazing and the context is heavenly riches apparently and you know Paul is literally praying the Apostles praying a prayer over us that we would know the overflow but then we there would be an abundance and an overflow in our lives so let me read it to you here you good okay so he says so I kneel humbly in or OSHA verse I just lost him praise the Lord I know it's on the screen but they don't go as fast as me amen so I kneel humbly not me but the Apostle so I kneel humbly so I kneel humbly in awe before the father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah verse 16 and I pray and I pray earnestly that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine mighty and explosive power verse 17 then by constantly using your what fav good people by constantly using your faith the life of Christ will be released deep inside you and his love will become the very source and root of your life then everyone say then then you will be empowered to discover the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ and all this in all its dimensions how deeply intimate and far-reaching is his love how enduring and inclusive it is endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding this extravagant love this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God and here it is first twenty the verse that we know and love that is foundational in our hearts people in this church never doubt never doubt God's mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this he will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request your most unbelievable dream and exceed your wildest imagination he will outdo them all for his miraculous power constantly energizes you for his miraculous power constantly energizes and you know the one thought I want to bring us we honor God with our tie they're offering our first fruit of our lives people is that you know what our faith in this realm of our lives will not be lethargic do you know what you're gonna stir it up people we all of us have to stir up our faith even in this round of divine and heavenly finance we're gonna stir our faith up don't let it become stagnant idle whatever contained stir it up in Jesus name even as you sow this money don't do it mechanically do it with faith and watch God continue to press out the limits and bring us into the exceeding abundant and his above for His divine purposes and it's always for His divine purposes right so I know I've taken a moment but I don't get to talk to you that often I've been away but you know what it's a powerful thing that we're doing this money can I pray for us amen have you got faith as someone in church father as we bring our offering to you I try though offering whatever it might be father God whatever we are bringing lord I pray that you will continue to bless and father that you will stir up faith within us because nothing is accomplished without that so father we honor you and we bless you and we're so grateful in Jesus name and everyone said amen amen amen beautiful thank you so much Church our hosts are gonna serve us as always and then we're gonna look to the screen we've got a highlights yes and I want you to hear me honest what is the next major conference event that we as a church are hosting yes the worship and creative conference and this is our second ever it's coming up in November our second ever our first was last year it was amazing this place was packed it was throbbing with the presence of God actually and I want to encourage everyone to lean in to the screens capture because you know what this is not actually a conference that is only for creatives it is for everyone because honestly we're all created to be creative and whatever realm we find ourselves in and it's a refreshing conference and it's beautiful and I'm taking time because I can and because it's important in Jesus name Amen look to the screens my darlings I'd like to propose to you the true creativity is thinking inside of the box what is inside of you is way larger than the box that contained [Music] never ever get discouraged develop in your head because that's exactly what God stars were to do something mighty grand the main thing is that there's life I wasn't going to come to worship conferences I'm not really as creative about five people from my church contributed for me to come here because they had faith in me and I think that was God speaking through them to speak to me to realize that I am creative here in this great gathering for worship I have discovered this praise life all the power mongers are before him along with those who never got it together worshiping our children and their children will hear the good news that God does what he says you see it didn't come as a surprise to God that we would stuff up really bad and yet in his kindness he put rescue in her DNA he decided right from the beginning that there was going to be a rescue mission and he was gonna tell a story of rescue when I was five years old I was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome in the very first day that I started serving my Tourette's went away and I've never looked back we're gonna honor you for actually finding out what it was that got to put on the inside of you and wrestling and overcoming all of the challenges using a story and your gift to the glory of God can I change the subject slightly and just tell you one story I know someone who wrote a song that was sung widely any wrote up sitting on the toilet how well do this is it just me or did you all think that Ben Hastings when he led the Lord's Prayer look like Jesus on the back screen oh my goodness if you're gonna be enlisted into the army of thought if you wanna be part of the kingdom of God on these coming days if you're sitting down if you're wounded if you're aching if you're whatever this scenario might be I want to lovingly say on your feet soldier [Music] I want to judge them we don't become so sophisticated that we don't become so proper let's be part of ministries because even a live dog is better than a dead line give them Aurora brain Aurora [Music] only five weeks away okay only five weeks away so if you're watching it's actually not too late for you even to sign up and maybe fly and that would be fantastic so do everything you can to register be there it's going to be absolutely fantastic hey we've had an amazing week we had a can credibly marriage night on Tuesday night and people asking is that available at this it is available at the resource center then we hadn't call some kids first and and then we finished the week with encounter fest and right across Australia ghost Valley but just over 4,000 young people at in cannafest and Harrison Connelly who's speaking to us this morning is actually one of the speakers he's from Orange County in America lead pastor there with his choir but instead of memory plague and you know what we're all gonna stand to our feet just before he comes I'll tell you why we stand before the preaching of the word in case you're wondering is you know what we actually believe that God's Word is true that he does breathe on it and just one word from God can change our lives and we want to honor that and the other reason is we want to give him a huge big welcome come on nice big Hillsong welcome as Harrison towns and brings the word [Applause] [Music] oh good morning good morning please sit down don't stand on my account we're so glad that you are in church today whether you are sitting in the building or watching online welcome you could have been anywhere but you chose to be in church and I think that says something about you as was said I believe God's Word is living his breathing is active and one word from God can change the very course in a very trajectory of your life so we're gonna open God's Word together this morning did you bring a Bible if you did please pull it out with me and find the book of Genesis the book of Genesis the 12th chapter and if you're new to the scriptures find the table of contents turn the page to the right and you will be in the book of Genesis and find Genesis 12 and then mark your place and find the book of Hebrews which is in the New Testament toward the back and find chapter 11 and we'll get there in just a moment but what an incredible honor and privilege to be here before you today to read God's Word with you this morning and I realize that without invitation I've got no business speaking into what I had no part in building so I just want to let you know I'm so grateful to your pastors to your leaders Pastor Brian and Bobby Houston and your amazing church for giving me the opportunity and I want to say thank you for leaving the impact on my life your church I don't know if you know this but you're having influence around the world and perhaps sometimes you just need to outside perspective to remind you of how good you really have it and I'm glad that I get to be a part of a local church that gets to be on mission with you you know we're part of the Great Commission Co mission the local church on mission together to be the hands and the feet of Jesus around the world so come on church we can do this together we can reach the world for Jesus as was introduced my name is Harrison people call me H and I'm good if you want to call me that and my wife and I lead an amazing Church in Southern California where Jesus lives the church is called Cottonwood church and I bring greetings from the United States from the land of the free and the home of the brave and my wife I I talked to on the phone last night and she wanted to make sure that I sent her love to you and she's giving me three beautiful little boys can I show you a picture of my family he said all right so we can all get to know each other a little bit going through that first picture up on the screen as you can see there on the right is my beautiful wife my better half tomorrow we will be married 13 years her name is Bethany Brooke and she has given me three beautiful little boys and I say given because I had the fun part and she did all the rest of the work and some of you are just understanding that now but she gave me these three little boys we got a close-up of the boys key through the next one up there they are my little nuggets on the far right that's Asher and he's gonna be ten years old in a week on the far left that Sawyer cache and I wanted to just name him cache because how awesome of a name is cache right but my wife said we have Asher who we call ash you can't have ash and cache and I said you don't know so we just named him Sawyer cache and in naming him Sawyer we didn't know it but apparently we reincarnated Tom Sawyer and it's a fight every day to get his shirt on in his shoes on but that Sawyer cash he needs Jesus so if you think about it pray for us and then in the middle that's little clay Harrison my little namesake and he's two and a half years old and life is full and life is loud and I wouldn't have it any other way can we jump in the Word of God this one someone I want to speak to you from the subject from the topic of how do I discover how do i decipher how do I walk in God's will for my life and perhaps I want to speak to a specific group of people and hear those that have at different junctions different moments in life felt stuck felt afraid to take a step or afraid to move forward because what if I'm not in God's will in contrary to popular opinion I actually don't believe God's will is as mysterious as mystical or as complicated as we've come to believe it to be quite the opposite I actually believe that God wants us to know and to walk out his will Paul pray to the Colossians he said I pray that she would be filled with the knowledge of God's will because what was never meant to be a source of confusion or consternation in our world a place that kept us operating in anxiety and/or fear where we felt stuck afraid to take a stab it's this woman I want to give us some practical thoughts around how do I discover God's will for my life but before we dive in could we pray because the truth is if the Holy Spirit doesn't get involved with this message it's just words of human wisdom and that that could be helpful but at the end of the day I don't want just help I want change and I want transformation and that's what the Holy Spirit can do so let's pray together father we love you and we come to you in the name of your son Jesus we thank you for your word we pray as the psalmist prayed O God revive us according to your word your word that you've exalted even above your name and as we dive in we pray that you would bring illumination may it be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path and Holy Spirit we ask that above all things you would illuminate Jesus that Jesus would be like that diamond that no matter what angle we look at him from we get a new glimpse of his brilliance of his kindness his goodness in His grace Jesus may you be exalted today may you get all of the glory and it's in your name we pray amen amen amen as it constant discovering God's will let me perhaps paint a picture for you when I was 8 years old my parents enrolled me in these classes called kid nastic s-- and it is exactly as it sounds it is kids doing gymnastics and as an 8-year old boy kid Nasus was the epitome of humiliation not because gymnastics is any less of a sport but because at eight years old I just was not the the picture of athletic prowess that is standing before you this morning and someone asked me recently Harrison have you ever held a grudge and I said yes for the last 26 years of my life because my parents put me in kidnap sticks now you have to understand this about me I know we've just met but I'm an incredibly competitive individual and if I don't feel like I'm performing well at a certain event or anything in particular in life I don't tend to enjoy myself and as I engaged in kid nastic the first event that they tried me out and was called the pole climb it's about a 10 meter pole and you're supposed to scamper up the pole and kind of hit the symbol at the top and slide down and tag your partner right they go up and they time you no one ever wanted to be my partner in the pole climb because the truth is if they were my partner they would never get a chance to go because I would never make it all the way to the top of the pole so so the coach said okay this is not for you let's try you on the uneven bars do you know what the uneven bars are they should be called the instant-death bars right like you've got this separate set of bars one is higher than the other and you're meant to hold on to it and swing you get momentum and then let go right like a leap of faith grab onto the net that was not for me so what they did they decided to put me up on the balance beam now once I was great at the balance beam but I was fairly proficient and I think the reason I was proficient was because it was the only event I wasn't afraid of right because if you fall you're falling two feet on two padded floor I'm like I can deal with this and they taught me a a 15 second routine where you would do all sorts of spins and turns and things which I'm not gonna show you today because I left my lycra at home and but that was my life I was there in kid Nasus and one day they decided to have a little kid nastic Olympics where they broke us into groups and in our groups we each had our separate events and mine of course was the balance beam and I remember learning this 15-second routine I get up it's my turn and the coach says go and as soon as he said go it was sort of one of those moments where the world sort of stopped spinning right where everything kind of closes in around you I I went to that sort of dark blank space in my mind and I found myself up there on the balance beam this narrow platform just got smaller and smaller and more narrow and and I was there frozen I was so afraid in that moment to fail I was so afraid to take a step in in either direction because I didn't want to let down my team because this is back in the day before you got a trophy for finishing in last place there were no participation awards and that's a message for a different day but I didn't want to let down my team and you know and I didn't want to embarrass myself by falling in front of everyone I didn't want to tell my coach and it worked hard with me to develop this routine and in that moment there I was stuck and completely frozen unable to take a step and I know that some of you are in here and you're like man what is he talking about where's Jesus in all this listen um the reason I bring that up that picture of the balance beam up is because when it comes to God's will I feel like a lot of Christians see God's will like a balance beam act like this tightrope walk where they're so afraid to take a step they're so afraid to make a decision about their future because what if they fail what if they get it wrong what if they embarrass their family and they want their life to count and they don't want to mess it up what if I let God down and people are stuck on the balance beam of life as it pertains to God's will that's not God's intention for you when I was a kid there was a term that got thrown out the church worked quite a bit maybe you've heard it the the perfect will of God that's erm terrified me because he did insinuate that there was only one proper path and it was sort of this knife edge that you were balancing back and forth on and there's only one proper step in one proper direction and it was it door one or was it door two because it certainly couldn't be both and I lived in this constant fear of I better make the right choice and on top of that people would say to me Harrison one day you're gonna have to stand before God and give an account of your life all the things you did all the things you didn't do and I'm like I don't know and it's terrifying because from a pure heart I honestly wanted to follow God and I wanted to be in His perfect will from my life I didn't want to mess it up but for years through my formative years high school into university years I lived under this constant pressure there's constant fear if I better get the right as I look back on it I realize I lived from this particular school of thought that kind of said God I'm not gonna move and I'm not gonna step I'm not gonna make a decision about my future until you speak to me until you download your step by step directions I'm not gonna go forward but you know what I've learned as I've grown older and begun to mature in my relationship with Jesus is that there's actually a lot more latitude in God's will than I used to give him credit for it right like now I find myself of a new school of thought a school of thought that says god I don't expect you to speak to me until I start taking steps until I move but again for years I was stuck in this first mentality god I'm not gonna move I'm not gonna make a decision I'm not gonna move forward and the things that you have for me until you speak to me and tell you download step by step directions I was what I like to call a GPS Christian I you GPS Christian you know that that thing where we want God to be our Google Maps guru for us right download step by step this is what you do you're one this is what you do you're two right do you use GPS now I use it all the time when I get my car you see because every time I get my car I use the ways out do you know the Waze app Waze app is awesome because it's smart right you put in your destination and not only does it spit out for you step-by-step directions but it tells you how fast you're going it's these obstructions ahead and every route youth necessary it's even got an ETA right like you will arrive at this exact moment did you know you could change the voice that speaks t this is new to me there's like a list of 15 voices and I chose Kate because she's British and when she speaks to me I feel like James Bond rightly it's pretty awesome but if I'm off if I hope I'm awesome if I if I'm honest it is what it is guys let's just get on board with that uh if I if I'm honest for years I wanted God to be like the Waze app for me I want a God to speak to me like Kate speaks to me right like turn left here and then three years I wants you to apply for this job and then in two years I want you to start dating this person wait hold on obstruction ahead obstruction had reroute reroute avoid that person right I so desperately wanted to be in God's perfect will I wanted him to give me a map because it's easier that way right is safer that way there's security and knowing ahead of time but you not have discovered about God is that when it comes to his will God's not really into maps like God doesn't do maps and I actually think that's biblical I had you find Genesis chapter 12 in your Bible and I want to begin reading in verse number one and just to set the context this is when God appears to Abram who we later come to know as Abraham but this is their first moment this is their first encounter and listen to what God says to Abram verse 1 it says now the Lord had said to Abram get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you if you got a pen maybe highlight that that last phrase that I will show you verse two he gives them a promise I'll make you a great nation I will bless you I'll make your name great and I'll bless those that bless you I'll curse him who curses you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him and lot who was his nephew went with him and Abram was 75 years old when he departed from her and so God turns up to this man named Abram who would become Abraham and says hey get up go start moving start walking I've got a plan I've got a purpose for you live I've got a destination that I want to take you to but here's the catch I'm not gonna tell you where that destination is Hebrews chapter 11 I hide you find a place it speaks to this very thing look at verse number 8 he was 11 and 8 it says by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going not knowing where he was going in other words got saying look as you go I'm gonna show you God says to Abraham look I'm not gonna give you a map and if you're gonna follow me is gonna require you to give me a few things it's gonna require you to live a life of flexibility is gonna require you to live a life of faith it's gonna require flexibility about Abram he's 75 years old when God shows up to him 75 one type of somebody stuck in their ways won't talk to somebody it's already got a set trajectory set course for their life and listen if you find yourself in here this morning or watching a line you're part of the Abraham generation you just need to know this guy's not done with you and we still need to live flexible life as a matter of fact whether you're Abraham Isaac or Jakob generation we need to live life that reflects what we're gonna be followers of Jesus the same thing that apply day around applies to us we need be flexible and full of faith flexible we need to hold our plans and our timetables and our purposes with an open hand because we're playing a big game of follow-the-leader and guess what you ain't the leader we need to be flexible and moldable in the hand of the Potter we need to follow with faith Hebrews 11 we read it by faith Abraham went out not knowing where he was going the Bible says without faith it's impossible to please God it takes faith to follow Jesus it takes faith to believe that his hand of love is upon us and is guiding our life that he wants to take us from strength to strength there from glory to glory God is a good God and it takes faith to follow him when you don't know where you're going it takes faith to follow God when he doesn't give you a map and here's the stark reality first if God didn't give Abraham a map chances are he's not gonna give you a map either because God's not into maps but he's given us something else and I want to call it a compass God is hardwired each and every human heart with a compass and that compass comes in the form of our leanings and our desires it comes in the form of our gifts and our talents it comes in the form of of our strengths and our weaknesses it comes in the form of our natural bent sin proclivities and a propensity it comes in the form of the things that we like and the things that we don't like it comes in the form of the things that make us happy and things that make us angry all of those things are our needles their hands on the compass their signposts that point us to the reason we were put here on this sphere of a planet so I look back at my life it's of no surprise to me that I ended up being a preacher I guess it's kind of always been in me that this compass was just sort of pointing me towards it i've always for as long as I can remember I've had this desire to be in front of people but for a time my compass was pointing in a slightly different direction I had this this idea this illusion of grandeur that I was gonna be a rock star during the week and I was gonna be a worship leader on the weekend so I decided to get myself a guitar get some guitar lessons write three lessons in I realized I've got zero aptitude for music and did you know that when you try and play guitar you put your fingers on the train it hurts your fingers right like ain't nobody got time for that and on top of it then I go you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna try and learn how to sing so I start recording my voice and I won't say that I'm tone-deaf but I really have a hard time staying in range here so I go okay forget that forget that I'm gonna be a songwriter that's difficult to see my desire was there but my gifting was elsewhere and if you want to discover got to if your life it's a smart place to start is where your desire and your gifting meet right your sire and your gifting me so I had this desire to be in front of people but my gifting was pointing me in a slightly different direction said okay well what am I good at well I like to talk I like to have my voice heard and I feel like I can encourage people that I can exhort people I love the scriptures I feel like I can sort of break them down and simplify them so where do I have an avenue to express this gift I go okay our youth ministry cool so at 18 19 years old in the youth ministry I started with just standing the door greeting young people as they walked through the door and then I started being a small group leader then I got into mentoring and I take kids to coffee and we'd share the Scriptures together and then eventually they'd let me preach at youth in man I was so excited but the message was horrible but I had fun and then like a year later they asked me to do my second message and and in my third and next thing I know I'm a youth pastor and then I did that for nine years and then for the last four years I've been leading the church and now this morning I'm standing here before you and I look at it all I go WOW god you're but people always asked me like Harrison would to God like turn up in your bedroom with all the angels and declare it to you out loud I want you to be a preacher no he didn't like that would have been awesome would have been a lot easier but I just just sort of point of my life in the general direction of my my desires and my gifts to him my desire my gift got in alignment I found myself here in this place and like I said as I look back at my life I said no surprise to me I ended up being a preacher I guess it's it's sort of always being in me I have evidence if you don't believe me and I brought it with me would you would you like to see that evidence can we throw that first picture up on the screen um that's me I'm at about four and a half five years old and what you can see there is I am leading the service for my brother and my sister and I've got my my pulpit right like my my box of Pampers I got the Bible open and I've got a guitar in my hand right so not only am i the worship leader I'm also the the preacher and then you'll notice Ernie in the background there on the bed and if you see him in heaven you know it was this moment that he came into the kingdom right oh we got more key throw the next one out that's me witnessing to Gumby right I've got the Bible open we're going through Pauline doctrine it is what it is guys and that's me in about three and a half years old and then we got it we got one more unfortunately that's where you stand in there preaching from a box of Pampers got the Bible open and what you can't see my parents are in the background they're sitting there listening to me preach and I got my stuffed animals all lined up just an important moment but like I said that desire was always there and you know why God puts desires in your heart so that he can give you the desires of your heart and if you just point your life in the general direction of your leanings and your desires and your gifts you'll be living a godly life sometimes not even knowing it I know some people they struggle with the simplicity of that but I really don't think it's any more complicated point your life in the general direction if your compass and watch God begin to lead you we've got to move we've got to take steps as we go God begins to leave God begins to show us some of us perhaps in here we've had this desire we love to write you know it's wired up in us and from the time we were really small with just devour books and different styles of riding and and we journal we fill up multiple journals and we go on social media and we read people's posts and and their bad grammar drives us nuts because people don't know the difference between tio and 200 or Y oh you are and why oh you apostrophe re and and maybe that's a signpost as to why you were put here on the planet maybe you should point your desire and your gifting in that direction and see what God might do maybe you should start riding an online blog maybe you should write articles and submit them to local magazines and newspapers and see if God might open a door for you maybe you've got this natural propensity for leadership you don't know how it happens or why it happens but you walk into a room and the room lights up you're sort of the Pied Piper everybody kind of falls in line behind you and you got this ability to encourage people and you love to teach the Scriptures man do something with that join that join the leadership college maybe join the outreach or go on a mission trip do something and see what God might do see what doors God might open the Bible says the book of Proverbs chapter 18 that a man's gift makes room for him and puts him before great men but we've got to give God something to work with and as we go he'll show us now let's say we begin to step this thing out and we begin to walk in the call of God we begin to point our life in the direction of that compass and let's say God starts opening doors which by the way he will do what do you do when God opens multiple doors what do you do when you've got multiple options in front a that seemed like good options what do you do then and it's important to know because if we're not careful when multiple options open themselves before us we can get back up on the balance room and go Oh God which one is it and I don't want to get this wrong and could it be with door one or is it door to listen if you find yourself in that place where you have multiple options can I just give you some advice always remember this that the favor of God and the call of God the blessing of God it's on you and not on the choice it's on you it's not on door one it's not on door - it's on you and again this is biblical we find this one chapter later with the story of Abraham Genesis chapter 13 he's gone out from the place where God called him to go he's with lawd and God has blessed them God has prospered them and their group has become so large they can't travel together anymore so you see Abraham take a lot up on a hill it's sort of this Mufasa Simba moment where Abraham goes look out and everywhere the light touches that belongs to us and lot you know you choose right then I'm gonna go left and if you go left and I'm gonna go right lot but you choose which parcel of land that you want and a lot chooses of course the best parcel of land and you step back from the scripture and you go hey Abraham you're the patriarch of this family and God came and spoke to you and lost she's kind of tagging along for the ride why are you giving him preferential choice here because Abraham understood something that wherever he went God's favor was on him and not on the destination abraham understood that he had a promise that wherever he went God would be with him and God would bless those that bless him God will curse those that curse him and through Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed and from that same promise is on you God's favor it's on you and as we begin to follow God as we begin to pursue his will for our lives at some point we will come to that proverbial fork in the road where we have these choices before us maybe it has to do with a job and we've been at this job for a long time and we make good money and then we get offered a promotion we think this is great but then another opportunity for a job comes in maybe it's a little bit of a lower starting point but there's so much more room for growth in potential you can grow up with the company the salary might grow and you're like God what are you saying to me where am I supposed to go I don't know what to do with these two options if you're faced with multiple options can I can I give us maybe three thoughts three tests it's a kind of run us through to help us identify what God's will might be here's the first one we just called the prayer test we asked ourselves the question have I prayed about this it's amazing how quick we we kind of go ahead long into stuff without consulting God and the truth is God wants to speak to you that's always speaking sometimes we have the problem with hearing have I prayed about this but the second tests that we can run through is this let's call it the wisdom test and there's three parts to this three three questions under the wisdom test the first is this do these options or does one of these options is it in alignment with God's Word because God's Word is his will by the way God's Word is our final authority on all things pertaining to life and godliness so it is this option in alignment with God's Word someone goes here's what does God really care where I live not really but God speaks in his word a lot about stewardship so he cares whether or not you can afford the house that you're about to move into does God really care about who I date what God cares about you and God cares about that other person and his word speaks a lot to not being yoked up with unbelievers so God does carry in that sense and as we look at this option does it align itself with God's Word because if it doesn't it doesn't pass the wisdom test the second question under the wisdom test is this when I look at these options is there a noticeable lack of peace did you know that's one of the most common ways that God guides his people's through peace so that's still small voice on the inside and as I start pursuing one of these options is there a noticeable lack of peace the Bible says all of wisdoms pathways our peace and and then the last question under the wisdom test is this do these options or does one of these options does it fit my values let's say I value my home life but I've got this option to take this new job and it seems like a great thing but it's gonna add 10 hours to my workweek so that means I'm gonna leave in the morning before my kids are awake I'm not gonna ever get to take them to school when I get home they're already gonna be in bed well it's a great job it's great money but does it fit my values if it doesn't it's not in alignment with God's Word if if it doesn't then it doesn't pass the wisdom test and then the third and final test this is the easiest most practical of them all is my favorite huh does it pass the joy test as you look at the options you just ask yourself the question will I feel fulfilled in this if I take this option will I feel fulfilled and the second question is this as I look at my two options is there one that I prefer over the other now what do you do if you've run through the list and you've done your checklist but one option doesn't present itself as the clear winner what do I do then what does God want me to do then I can tell you what God wants you to do God want you to choose because remember there's more latitude in this will than we give him credit for because God's favors on us and not on door one and not on door too and at the end of the day please never forget this God is sovereign he has sovereign plainy as a sovereign will and not you not me no decision we can make can thwart his plan in the earth and I just believe that guys big enough that if I do stuff out of a right heart how this is God I want to honor you and I want to help people even if I make the wrong choice God is able to pick me up and put me where I need to be God is sovereign and I think sometimes he's going look you just choose as you go I'll show you remember I don't expect God to speak to me until I start taking steps thirteen years ago before my wife and I got married we we had the opportunity to move here to Australia to the city of Brisbane we were offered a job and we were excited about the opportunity we prayed it through and you know we did the wisdom test in the joy test and we didn't we didn't feel like there was a clear option of a clear guidance from God and so we submitted it before leadership and they said you know you know why don't you just stay for six months stay for six months take on the youth ministry get it to a healthy place and when that's done we can readjust this and if you guys want to go then then you can go so we stayed six months and when that came up we prayed about it again and ran it through the checklist wisdom and joy and didn't feel like there was a clear winner and so submitted it again before leadership and they said look if you want to go you could go so my wife and I said you know what well we don't expect God to speak to us until we start taking steps until we make a decision we feel like God was saying look why don't you why don't you just choose it we're like yeah guys favors on us and not on Australia and not on America like we're gonna choose and we decided hey we're gonna have an adventure we're gonna move to Brisbane so we call up the guy hey is that job still available what's going on with all that and he goes well you know we we told you take your time we knew you're gonna take this six months but we really had to fill the position so we unfortunately filled it and that's not available to you anymore and at first we were a little bit deflated but but then I began to read the scripture and I realize that God doesn't just lead his people through open doors but he also leads people through closed doors as a matter of fact I think that's the most common way that God leads his people in that scripture you look at acts 16 Paul the Apostle Paul was on mission he's taking the gospel around the globe the Bible says this he tries to go to Asia Minor but the Holy Spirit forbid him the Holy Spirit said no the Holy Spirit closed the door can I tell you what you don't see Paul - Paul doesn't sit there and begin to pout and begin to whine and go God well where did I and all of this and I thought I was doing your will and God I'm not gonna move and I'm not gonna take a step I'm not gonna go anywhere else until you tell me exactly where I need to go no he doesn't do that Paul goes okay I can't go there I'm gonna go to my SIA he starts going to my SIA but then the door shuts in front of him hmm he doesn't stop oh god I'm not gonna move until you speak no he just he's keys me I can't go to myself cool I'm gonna go to buy thin you but the Holy Spirit says no the door is shut cool I'm gonna go to troll ass so so he's gonna try as the door gets shot all of a sudden Paul has a dreamy as a vision come to Macedonia and that's where the Philippian church was started I'm telling you the most common way that God will guide you and me is through the doors that he shuts rather than the doors that he opens my wife and I we've walked this out gotta shut some doors for us and we know any beyond a shadow of a doubt were in the middle of his will for our life because we know that the steps of a godly man a woman the steps the forward motion I ordered of the Lord and even if we stumble even if we make the right choice out of the wrong heart he upholds us by his hair baba says man makes his plans but it's the Lord that directs his steps plural steps forward motion forward momentum but isn't it good to know that God's everlasting arms are beneath us then no matter where we go and what we do he upholds us listen if you're sitting here this morning we begin to wrap this up if you are struggling with this idea of discovering God's will for your life specifically I've got a word for you I can help you I can tell you what God's will is for your life in two words you ready do something that's God's will for your life that you would do something that you would point your life in the general direction of your compass those leanings and those desires step out in faith step out with a flexible heart a heart that says god I want to owner you want to help people I want to leave a lasting mark on the pages of eternity God I want my life to count if you do that if you have an honest in a sincere heart before him watch him begin to lead you watch him begin to open doors watch him begin to closed doors remember his favors on you and not on a destination before we pray together let me just leave you with an illustration a story to think about my friend and I in our early 20s we spent a good part of that you're going to different musical venues and watching different bands perform it's one of the things I've always loved have always been drawn to music and one moment stands out in particular to me my friend I were gonna go to a show down in San Diego now we live just south LA in San Diego for those that aren't familiar about two hours south of LA and it's right off the freeway and we were there at my friend's house getting ready to go and we're gonna meet another friend that was already down at the venue ahead of us and we're sitting in the driveway at my friend's home and I'm like come on man let's go is that all we gotta wait we're gonna wait our friend's gonna text us with the directions on how to get there so we waited five minutes and ten minutes we're listening to music we're getting so excited about this show after about ten minutes I was getting fresh I mean listen let's just go he's like no we gotta wait for directions otherwise we won't know where we're going I'm like man San Diego is it's a big city and it's south like let's just go how much direction do we need to get started like let's just point the car south and get going and as we get going will receive that clear you know specific direction as to where we need to end up it reminds me of a lot of people people that love God people they want to serve God people that want to be in his will for their life but they're there in the driveway of their life stuck in the car of their life waiting for direction listen if that's you can I just say points your life the car of your life in the direction of God's heart pointed in the direction of your giftings your leanings and your desires and get moving get moving and as you go he'll show you come on let's pray together God we love you thank you so much that you've not left us alone to figure this out on our own but you've given us your word you've given us your Holy Spirit you've given us an amazing community of believers father to help us to continually push us forward into the call of God on our life father for those of us in here that have struggled with what it is you want us to do father I thank you for clarity and thank you for courage courage to take this message and apply it that we wouldn't just be here as every word but doers father may we have hearts that are flexible before you where we hold our plans in our dreams and our timetables with an open hand and we say God wherever you lead we're gonna go may we have faith father that says even though this is scary even though I don't know where I'm going to end up I'm trusting that your hand of love is upon me but you're leading you're guiding your plans for me your good to prosper me to give me a future in a hope father help us is the church to help each other move forward in the things that you've placed upon our lives with your heads still bowed your eyes still close I want to take two minutes and I want to give you an invitation an invitation to know God this morning we've talked a lot about God's will for our lives you know what God's will starts the Bible says it's very clear that God's will is that none should perish but that all would experience the amazing grace and love a father of the father that all would experience eternal life a friend that's something we all need we all need eternity we all need eternal life we all need grace we all need the love of the Father we need grace we need love because sin has entered our world it's a matter of fact we were born into a state of sin sin is a systemic human problem in other words you can trace it back to the beginning back to the garden that fateful moment where Adam and Eve decided to step out from underneath the authority of God they wanted to decide what was right and what was wrong in their life the Bible says in that moment sent into the world and death through sin and now each and every one of us you and I we were born into this state of separation the state of sin the Bible says that the wages of sin the consequences of sin are death that's a steep price to pay that's a punishment that costs it all but God in his amazing love that while we were still in sin he made a way and he sent his son Jesus and Jesus lived the life that you and I could not live if he lived a perfect sinless life but yet he took the penalty for our sin not only did he take the penalty for our sin he became our sin second Corinthians 5:21 says for God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him I wonder have you experienced that righteousness of God have you experienced the love of God that is so supernatural so magnanimous in nature the love of God that loves you right now in your space loves you just as you are but the love of God that never leaves you as you are the love of God at the moment you accept it goes to work in your heart changing molding you transforming you into the image of Jesus friend that's what eternal life is it's to know the Father and to know the one he said eternal life is not just this ambient term that's gonna come one day where we step into heaven yeah that's part of it but eternal life happens right now eternity breaks into your world and it changes you from the inside out where you literally become more and more like Jesus as you allow him to love you more than you love him that's eternal life being a follower and a disciple of Jesus and if you're not in relationship with him if you are troubled about the state of your soul this morning I'd love to pray with you I'd love to introduce you to my Savior to my Jesus listen I'm not gonna take any more time because I trust the Holy Spirit's been a word convicting hearts and convincing hearts convicting hearts of sin and yet convincing hearts that there's a savior that's greater than any amount of sin that if you put your trust in him you can find salvation you can find forgiveness you can find peace and hope that your heart has been longing for so this morning with nobody looking around but me I'm gonna just ask when I count to three if you want in on this prayer if you want to meet Jesus if you want to make him the Lord and the Savior of your life either for the first time or perhaps today you've come to this realization that you're a prodigal that you're out and about and you need to come home I'd love to pray with you when I get to three if that's you and you want in on this prayer if you're troubled about the state of your soul would you lift a hand so I know who I'm praying for this morning here we go not any more time one two three all across this place if that's you today you want to make Jesus Lord go ahead just lift that hand up I see that here somebody's standing I see you sir well done god bless you even up the back I see you more importantly God sees you hands up in most sections you go and put them down we're gonna pray and I'm gonna give us some words and I wonder if maybe as a family we could say them together to help those they're gonna pray this for the first time listen I'm gonna give you words but these words inherently are not magical they're not mystical but the moment you tie sincerity of heart the moment you tie faith to these words that's when God meets you Bible says that when you believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth that's when the supernatural happens that's when salvation takes place that's when eternity breaks in so come on let's pray together would you repeat this with me say Jesus I need you I realize I can't do this life on my own I realized it's been revealed to me that sin has separated me from you and that you are my Savior and that she loved me and you gave yourself for me and you took the penalty for my sin so I trust you and I call you Lord and I call you Savior and I ask you to lead and guide me as you see fit it's in your name I pray amen amen amen come okay we give a round of applause of those that responded to Jesus Church that's what it's all about people come in to notice save you hey thank you for having me I love you guys what an amazing church you are pastor saying once you come thanks so much Harrison come on everyone everywhere you've been watching put a hands together what an amazing word [Applause] brilliant I can just take your seats just for a moment there's one last really important thing we want to do but just before I talk about that if you raised your hand and you made a decision for Jesus or maybe you know what after the prayer you thought I should have done that it's not too late for you either what we'd love to do is give you a Bible as a gift so and all the exits everywhere people are going to be waving these Bibles around and they're doing that so they can get your attention go to say how I prayed that prayer or maybe like I just actually need to know more about this and we'd love to give you one of these Bibles as a gift and if you're watching online on others information on the screen in terms of how you can respond to that which is absolutely fantastic look the other thing is to you don't have to wait til tomorrow before you turn the current start pointing it in the right direction we've actually got something straight after the service called engage the Brent is our service pastor at Brett now needs to stand up receipt and if you go to the next steps desk and say them hey I'd love to go to this engage thing we'd love to with love would love to host you and really help you actually take that next step and find their next step which would be great okay this is what we want to do church on Friday as you know a huge huge magnitude actually seven earthquake hit I think it's is it silhouetting in Indonesia in the city of Paulo and the surrounding region tsunami followed about two million people have been affected by it twelve twelve hundred dead at the moment and you know Church when when the earth is at its worst that's where the church is at her best bringing hope and help what we want to do is we want to be part of the answer we want to bring hope and we want to bring help and what we want to do is we want to partner with world vision World Vision is on the ground now one of the really big needs is really amongst the children there and on the screens is ways in which we're gonna do is going to be an online offering and opportunites gonna go all of its going to go to World Vision but look why don't you have other screens we actually got Tim Costello just talking a little bit about what's happened and what they're doing so check out the screen Hillsong Church is Tim Costello up here in Indonesia where first an earthquake then a massive tsunami has left nearly two million people absolutely destitute their houses destroyed them sleeping outside I just want to thank you for your big hearts in responding particularly to the children that we are seeking to predict children who normally look into their parents faces to see protection and I only see in their parents faces panic children who have lost their parents children who God loves and because you are giving you are saying to these children to these destitute people God loves you thank you so much for being part of this response so maybe you're watching a line please feel free to also support this it's Hillsong dot-com forward-slash appeal if you want to take a screenshot of that I'm gonna give you a moment to do that and then we're gonna pray we're gonna pray for the people there we're gonna pray for those that are actually on the ground helping and and then we're gonna just believe that God is faithful amen so what do you stand your feet [Music] father we just want to say thank you father we lift up this island - we lift up Lord what's happened and father we thank you for your sovereignty we thank you for your goodness and well we thank you for the P your people that on the ground father we pray that through this offer that everyone father that that's what's needed father for this moment would be there father we pray for those that are serving and father we pray that you'll grace them let your presence be so evident father to bring hope where there's hopelessness and father we thank you for it we thank you for your goodness in Jesus name Amen amen thank you Church is so generous okay I'm gonna sing her to come and close the service and pray a prayer of benediction Scott's sang us in ways is our location pastor in New Castle also can I say on singer yes you're actually one of our favorite preachers my mother-in-law you know confession time only comes once on a Sunday but she comes twice when you're preaching so I know there's a lot of people like that so we can't wait for tonight five o'clock at six o'clock five o'clock in our epicenter six o'clock here if you've never done Sunday night Church you don't know what you're missing okay so do everything can you be here but saying I want you Pro prayer benediction and we're looking forward to tonight father we thank you for your word today thank you for your power and your presence that goes before us father we pray God that you would continue allow us to walk in your favor in your goodness and in your grace thank you for it and we praise you in Jesus name amen be blessed [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah you love me [Music] you see [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Hillsong Church

Views: 49,447

Rating: 4.8527317 out of 5

Keywords: jesus, hillsong, praise, worship, Harrison Conley

Id: jJYEqO6uQM0

Length: 81min 36sec (4896 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 06 2018