welcome everybody to the well a testy essay and I am just to start off by saying how happy I am to see so many people joining us today because we are beginning a great adventure today so you came at the perfect Sunday because what we are doing as you saw it there in a little video as we are embarking on the great hunt we are going to try to answer over the next three weeks the one question that in my opinion like wherever I go and I meet people and people say oh father Anthony I always want to ask you this one question the number one question people want to ask is some derivative of what's God's will for my life father Anthony I'm so glad I got to meet you cuz I get this situation where I get this girl and then I got this girl my mom wants this girl but my friends would tell me this girl what's God's will for my life tell me the one that's gonna lead to perfect happiness forever and ever and ever and ever or you know I got this major or this major not really sure what God wants me to do so help me understand what is God's will for my life and we treat God's will kind of like the Indiana Jones movie okay which is as if it's some hidden treasure that's buried somewhere and we spend the rest of our life trying to find a little clues and little hints and then maybe like the lucky ones will be able to find this treasure and be able to live happily ever after well we're gonna try to understand that what is God's will and how do we find God's will and can we even know God's will like let's be honest like we're gonna take off all the spiritual answers like I'm gonna do my best during these next three weeks not to just give you priests freak okay or Bible speak and just give you the answer that that's supposed to be the right answer so let's be honest between me and you does anyone really know God's will or it's just something that we say that we say to people to keep ourselves in business yeah yeah yeah you gotta come to church to find God's will yeah come back to church it is something really that people know God's will there's everyone just really guessing in the end and some people just happen to be happy in life and some people don't and some people haven't be successful some people don't like I'm a logical person okay I'm a logical person my wife is not here in this room right now so I can say what I'm about to say safely without fear of repercussion okay cuz I can just L it's always easier to ask or forgiveness than permission when it comes to these things I'm a logical person is there like one person out there but God's will that I marry that one person and of course for me the answer is yes okay but for everyone else all right is there just like one person cuz I'm a logical person how many people in this world roughly seven-billion so you're telling me there you only way I'm gonna be happy is I married that one right person and what are my odds a finite one right person one in well three and a half billion okay will cut it in half okay one in seven billion would be ridiculous okay one in three and a half billion and let's think about it logically let's say I married the wrong person so I wasn't supposed to marry Marianne I was supposed to marry someone else so that means Marianne was supposed to marry someone else and that she married the wrong person and that means that person married the wrong person and basically if anyone messes up marriage that's it the rest of us are all doomed to marrying the wrong person is that how God's will is like logically is there such a thing as God's will and can we really know what that is for our lives well I believe this I believe that this is not a game of hide and seek I don't believe like what I wrote there on your handout I believe to be true which is that this is not a game and this is not something where God is trying to hide something from us as a father I will say on behalf of God that God wants you to know his will more than you want to know his will parents would you agree with me on that one that has a father I have two children I have plans for their lives I want you to stay plans I have dreams for their lives and I want them to know it more than they want to know it like it's my greatest desire that my child will come to me and say dad what do you want me to do you tell me what major you want me to do you to give me your advice about this like that's my greatest desire if my child comes to me and says dad I want to know what you want I'm not gonna say okay well try to guess you get three guesses and only if you get it right well I give it you and if not I'm gonna do mewn the other three point five billion people in the world as well God never intended his will to be a mystery some hidden Grail that we spend the rest of our lives finding so what we're gonna do over these next three weeks is we're gonna try to dig deeper into this and I can't promise you that for three weeks that you're going to know everything that God wants you to do for your life if I was promising you that then God's will be a pretty pathetic thing if I could give it to you in three weeks then it'd be something not even worth finding but God's will is something big God's will is something grand for each one of us like I say the word I don't like gods well like I like God's dream because I don't have a will for my children have a dream for my child I don't have a plan for them I have I have big dreams that I want them to accomplish and what we're gonna talk about is the process to find it so I'm not gonna give you the answer of what's God's will for your life but I hope that together we can discuss the process to discover it because what happens if you don't discover the process what happens if you don't know how to find God's will does that mean you don't look for God's will what I found that means that you make it up and you invented and you basically determine God's will by whatever spiritual game you were taught or you came up with in your own mind for example if this is your will you know this game like Here I am and I'm driving to someplace I shouldn't be going but I know I shouldn't and I've got probably just want me to okay but goddamn make it easy if the light is green it's your will that's great okay it's God's will if God doesn't want me to do this okay if God doesn't want me to go this place he'll let my phone ring now didn't ring God's will there was an episode of The Simpsons one time where Homer was basically playing that game and he said I came round water was about and he was saying that I think he was saying I'm gonna skip Church so what it was and he was saying I'm gonna skip Church today and I'm gonna pray so he said lord I believe you want me to skip Church and if that is your will please give me no sign right now thank you this is what we do but we just we come up with our own system and then we just baptize it in spirituality like some people if you're very spiritual you know the whole like something a lot of people that we grew up with in church do the three pieces of paper you know the three pieces of paper like I want this job or this job and then there's a blank piece of paper and I put the three of them in a hat and I pray over them whatever pick out is the will of God that's not the way I want my children determining their future does not how a my children determining who they should marry in life I don't think that's the way God is either the worst way what's the worst way and I know a person who is named by this wake is the flip-open mm will of God you know that way you open the Bible and say I know a person who was actually named this way okay and his name is Ishmael which isn't even really a Christian name but his name is Ishmael because that's the page that it was opened up to is that will of God is there's a joke about a guy who wanted to know God's will for his life so he did this and he's very spiritual and he prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and he opened the Bible he prayed and said God's will for me is and it said Judas went out and hung himself so he said what we all say which is two out of three prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed open the Bible and put his finger down and it said go and do likewise third time's the charm pray pray pray pray pray open and the Bible said what you do do quickly not the best way to discover the will of God we need a process whereby over the course of the next however many years God gives you on this beautiful earth 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 whatever however many years that God's will is no longer a mystery box that we have to guess and we have to make up answers but it's something where we have a process that we can go through to discover God's will for our lives that's the point of this series here's the framework by which we're gonna operate actually the phrase will of God is a little ambiguous what is the will of God well I believe like this is not nothing scientific or or very deep that I'm about to say but just kind of how I view it okay and I think it'll help you if you understand how I view it as well there's kind of three components to the will of God I only look at it like a little field goal right here because we're approaching Super Bowl Sunday the first component is the sovereign will of God the sovereign will of God we have to know the difference between the three the sovereign will of God me like God's will in the world God's plan the sovereign will of God has nothing to do with whether I believe or don't believe or whether I pray or don't pray or whether I sinner don't sin has nothing to renew those things it's God's plan working in the universe a thousand of verses in the Bible but I'll just give you just a couple right here Jobe 42 to talks about I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you that's the sovereign will of God if God wants it to thunder and lightning sodom and gomorrah Thunder like if God wants something nothing can stop him God wants a virgin to have a baby virgin has a baby if God wants it nothing can stop him Daniel 4:35 all dean habits of the earth are reputed as nothing he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth no one can restrain his hand or say to him what have you done the sovereign will of God is those things that we have no effect over and for those who are here in the last series that we just finished up the waiting-room series that was mainly dealing with the sovereign will of God because sometimes the sovereign will of God is good which is you know someone was in a car accident and God saved them sovereign will have got alright or someone had cancer and God healed them sovereign will of God nothing nothing controlled that sovereign will of God God wanted this person alive no one can stop it but sometimes a sovereign will of God is not so good sometimes sovereign will of God is born to a family with no food no dad what did that child you remember when we talked about in the waiting room for st. Paul had a thorn in the flesh sovereign will of God it was God's plan to use st. Paul with his weakness not his strength nothing st. Paul could have done could have changed that sovereign will of God with the sovereign will of God is nothing that's not the will of God that we're talking about specifically right now all right the part of the sovereign will of God is usually difficult to see today but it becomes clear with time okay so we can also call this the hidden will of God the second component is the moral will of God the moral will of God is the opposite of the sovereign because it's 100% right now and there's no guessing involved with this whatsoever this is how God wants me to live morally or ethically what's the will of God the will of God is do not murdered what's the will of God the will of God is do not commit adultery well if God is do not lie the will of God is on your father and mother the will of God is that you forgive 70 times 7 the will of God is that you love not only your your neighbor but you love your enemy as as well this is the will of God so sometimes when people come talking about what's the will of God what's the will of God what's the will of God Wireless 8 is 90 percent of the will of God ninety percent of the will of God is right there between the sovereign will of God and the moral will of God between what God is doing in the world and what God has commanded you in the scripture and if you are not understanding those two components you will never get to the third component ok moral will of God 1st Thessalonians 4 3 for this is the will of God here it is this is the will of God which job which major will have God is much bigger than that is your sanctification and specifically abstain from sexual immorality someone who wants to know who to marry will of God but is not abiding by the will of God sanctification abstain from sexual immorality that person will never know who to marry because the the third component of the will of God you have the moral yeah the sovereign is the personal will but you cannot know the personal aside from the sovereign in the morgue and if you are walking outside of the moral will of God you will never never understand the personal will of God never I'll give you another analogy that I thought of this morning as I was driving in case you're not a football guy how about let's go soccer the sovereign will of God is the stadium is the field in general because nothing in this universe happens outside of that so anything that is involved in life is part of the sovereign will of God including bad things including evil things if God did not permit it it would not take place like if God did not want it to happen think of the worst thing Judas who betrayed Christ and who crucified Him if God did not want his son to be crucified no one could have done it if it was not part of God's sovereign will if God did not say this is part of the plan however on that field there's two halves there's the bad side like the defense side in the off inside our goal is to play on the offensive side in the moral will of God and that's what you see that in in Judas God allowed Judas to happen but clearly Judas was betraying the moral will of God even though he was inside the sovereign will of God does that make sense so I can't say look I'm Judas I'm doing a good thing I'm betraying Christ just like the prophecy said no that didn't work that way because you are betraying the moral will of God and just because God is permitting it doesn't mean as part of his will for you but then even beyond there you got the field you have the offensive side but our goal is that little box at the end the goal that's the personal will of God you cannot know the personal will of God unless you understand his sovereign will what he is doing in the world big picture and then you abide by his teachings given to us in Scripture those are the only ways that you will find the personal will of God the specifics the who to marry the what job to take though what do I do in this situation that give me wisdom of how all those things never find him outside the other two that's why I say this the key to the moral will of God is obedience the key to the sovereign will of God is acceptance until you accept his sovereign will and until you abide by his moral will and when I say obey it or abide by it I'm not saying be perfect none of us are perfect but striving okay to abide by his moral will you're never gonna know his personal will we don't like that why do we not like that why don't we like that because what do we like we like shortcuts we like abracadabra hocus pocus one two three will of God is that's what we like we don't like the work aspect but what this is saying is you want to make that goal you want to go between that up right you have to put some work in you have to get in the game with God and see what God is doing in this world and where you fit in this world you have to make sure that you are in the right arena and you understand and then once you get that you're gonna have to work hard are you gonna have to who to marry who to marry is different right now do you honor your father and mother because you're not honor your father mother I'm not gonna tell you my personal will and do you not lie not cheat not steal and then do you care about your neighbour and if you are not doing these things man it is gonna be really difficult to hit a goal from midfield it is going to be really I am sure in some weird way that can happen every now and then but if you want to get close to that goal you have to abide by God's will and those two components for example okay I'll give you an example why of how they have this kind of works right here when you understand the sovereign will of God what God is doing when you abide by his moral will he makes his personal will so so so clear the year was 2001 and I tell you story about myself about not that I'm anything smart but there was a time when God like I know sometimes you're sure about something and sometimes you are more sure about something add all the shores and there was one time my life where I had never be more sure about anything in my life and that was when I accepted to become ordained as a priest here was 2001 and the reason why not saying thing about me but saying that there came a point in time in my life I mean Marianne got married in May alright and we were happy and we were you know newlyweds and stuff you know what I'm saying and then get to yeah stuff yeah yeah don't read more into that than it is okay we get to Labor Day weekend all right it was Labor Day weekend so is the first weekend of September end of August or whatever that was that particular Thursday oh and let me it means backup during that time when we're first newlyweds like we're very very spiritual and I'm not saying like I always say I was better than than I am today like we prayed all the time and like we were very very much in tune with God and his moral will and abiding by his plan as much as we could and strive and I'm not taking credit for that myself it was just like that's just how it was and during that time we're really praying and really seeking God's will and we're praying about his sovereign will for our life and saying God what is it you wanted to do and and I told the story before how we were both working as like consultants and IT and we both said God whatever it is that you want us to do and God if you wanted to to go to Africa we'll go to Africa and God if you want us to be Trashmen we'll go to trash men if you want us to be like the worst possible thing if God wants us to be IT consultants for the rest of our lives we'll even do that like whatever it is you want God will do it and we're praying about this and we're seeking God and all this kinds of stuff Labor Day weekend rolls around so Thursday before Mary Ann gets laid off from work completely out of the blue surprise came out of nowhere I very nice supportive husband okay okay hopefully still but especially at the beginning you know what I mean said you know what like oh that's too bad sweetie but I still love you and I said all these kinds of stuff and I said you know what I took the day off of work on Thursday and left work to call out sick or took the day off home Friday took my wife and we went away for the weekend went to a bed-and-breakfast and during that during those two days was Friday Saturday we spent that whole time saying god we don't care about nothing when it comes to her career when it comes to her career god we don't care about money I'm willing to sacrifice money we're praying and praying whatever it is did you want God please make your will very clear because we're seeking you and all this kind of stuff and we ended up deciding and we didn't care she was thinking at the time like to go into teaching which would be like a financial step back but whatever God whatever it is that you want we're praying about it and then we're super spiritual Friday Saturday and wake up early on Sunday we come to church on Sunday morning okay and we prayed together it's just a beautiful day go to church father Bishoy priest at the church tells me after church says hey I want you and Mary Ann to come over today I said okay so you know whatever we finished church should go home and I say Mary Ann oh by the way father for sure he said to come over tonight and she said why I was like I don't know he said to come over he said dude what does he want I was like I don't know he didn't tell me what he wants he just said come over she said why wouldn't you ask like I don't know he said I said okay this is how it works I don't think I just obey he said come over I come over and then she said what is it that you think that he wants boom right there on the spot we didn't discuss it at the time but later on on the spot both of us knew in our hearts 100% God had put inside both of us he's gonna ask you to be ordained as a priest and you're going to say yes and never has the will of God been clear for me we didn't say it okay and the joke is that we drove over to his house together in utter silence okay no one opened them out because we both kind of knew it but you didn't want to say it so it's kinda like what do you think oh nothing what do you think are nothing but we both knew and people asked me how is it so clear like how come like you didn't even think about it like you didn't even like you're supposed to like just was to pray about it like you mean prayer out it easy you know why because when you are obeying the moral will of God and you understand the sovereign will of God but God wants to do something big with you and God you want it you want to be part of something bigger and that specific mat comes easy maybe the problem isn't that God's will is so secretive maybe the problem is that we're not doing our part to discovery Ephesians chapter 5 verse 15 and 17 says that God's will is very clear see then that you walk circumspectly not as fool's but as wise we're deeming the time because the days are evil therefore do not be unwise but understand what the will of the Lord is very very clear I do not want you to be in darkness regarding my will I want you to understand my will and I want you to walk every step in confidence because you know like I know that when I know God's will for my life is this man I could run through a brick wall I've got Thome run through that brick wall I know that's what God wanted I put my head down and go through it if I was unsure of myself and you put a piece of paper in front of me I'd be scared from the paper when we know what God wants this is how God wants to live in confidence of knowing that this is why I'm doing this this is what God is calling me to do and I walk straight through there put my head down and I go through whatever it is until we reach that point we got some work to be doing to understand what the will of the Lord is can I tell you the will of the Lord for you know but I can help you hopefully go through the process so that you can discover it for yourself over the course of the remainder of your life I always tell people and I think I wrote these two questions down on your handout is that if you're struggling with the will of God two questions to ask yourself number one what is God trying to tell me and number two what did he ask me to do that I haven't done yet and actually I would start I'd flip that order anytime someone comes to me and says what do I supposed in this situation I can't hear God's voice first thing is what has he already told you to do that you haven't done because if you already told you to do something that you haven't done it's unlikely he's gonna ask you to do something else like if I told you to mow the lawn and I told you to wash the dishes and you come to me and say do you need anything else from no I told you what I want you to do you're not gonna get new stuff until you follow up on the old stuff so what if God asked me to do that I didn't do what did I read in the scripture what did I hear in a sermon that was just kind of in one ear and out the other and I chose to ignore him purpose and then secondly step back it's got trying to do in this world and lady came to me one time and her dream job from her dream job and her dream job and she wants this job and she applied a thousand times as a job and a thousand times she didn't get this job and I won't tell ously you're never gonna get this job but I want to be rude okay you're never gonna get this job you were not qualified they do not want you you never get this job probably literally I'm not even Jeremy it's probably three years later in this process she gets the job she gets the job a week later she finds out she's pregnant this is you laugh I laugh she couldn't see it I want to say this is the only way God would get you to stop a pike is to give it to you and then take it away from you ask yourself what is God trying to tell me what is it that he asked me that I haven't done yet okay that's the the the arena the sovereign will of the moral will now what I want to spend the rest of today and really the rest of the next two weeks is focusing on that personal will but everything that I said is predicated on what I just said so everything I'm about to say now I'm gonna say pray this and everything that I'm about to say over the next two weeks and the rest of today is predicated on what I just said so if you ignore what I just said they say yeah forget that do not commit adultery problem do whatever you want but I'm gonna find the will guy you're not gonna find the will of God everything is predicated on what God is doing in the world and you abiding by his principles and his teachings and after that everything applies there but do not remove this part but now let's focus on this part you know why because that's the best part that's the best part the best part is the goal the sweet spot every one of us has in our life a sweet spot that God dreams for us see God's general will for us like I'm saying his sovereign will is moral is general and in general I okay all of the dads in this room we share like our will for our children 90% of it is about the same did they'd be healthy that they do well in school that you know they don't go to jail like we have a general will for our children but the sweet spot is what me I know my boy and what I'm planning for my boy when I'm dreaming for my boy that's different than everyone else's dreaming for the airport Super Bowl MVP anyone elses okay I said I'm dreaming for my boy like as a father like I have big dreams for my boy and that's where I want to focus on right now 90% of God's will for all of us is the same love our neighbor okay it'd be kind to one another it's not it's the same but it's that 10% I won't even say five months a ninety five and five that's the sweet part of life that if you missed that part you miss out on what it really means to be a child of God because even God Himself said that I has not seen ear has not heard nor has come upon the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him that sweet spot so with that said we're gonna talk about now how to discover that sweet spot and I'm actually not gonna tell you today because we're still in the preparation phase but what i'mma tell you is what not to do because I'm gonna talk about three mistakes that we commonly make when it comes to discovering God's will for our life that personal will of God three things that we want to avoid and we'll go through them and they should be pretty pretty easy to comprehend number one is we don't ask number one mistake is we do not ask the Bible says it clearly in James chapter 4 verse 2 you do not have because you do not ask logic dad how come you didn't give me a cookie cuz you didn't ask for a cookie dad how come you never gave me advice about what major to do cuz you never asked for advice about what major to do you do not have because you do not ask ask yourself and be honest be honest how much time do you spend asking God for his will versus how much time do you spend discussing it with and then fill in the blank you discuss it with your friends forever you discuss it with your friends about what decision you should make and you don't spend two minutes discussing it with God you go through and you try to read books and you try to the the fortune cookies and the horoscopes and the question the doctor feel and all this kind and you spend hours hours discussing it with everyone in the world who has no clue he's av guys they work hard or here what was I saying horoscope ya know we don't even ask God like I'll tell you for me for me it's none of those things but I'll tell you for me what where I fall short and asking God is I ask here ask myself I'm a logical person I'm gonna analytical person I like past behavior predicts future results that's how I am that's the way I've always been so what I like to do when it comes to know God's will thank you Peter good what I like when it comes to know God's will is I don't need to ask because I went through this scenario back in 2006 ah that's right in 2006 and I kept good note because I keep very good notes about when this scenario happened this is what you do this is the result and I rely on my experience you know the thing about God is even God Himself even God Himself when you ask God God never works the same way twice and that is one thing that is clear when you look in the scriptures that one time a sick person came to Jesus and Jesus touched them and healed them next time mystic person came to Jesus Jesus just spoke to them but he touch I need the touch one time a blind person came to Jesus and Jesus did mud and spit smacked him right in the eyes with it the issue isn't the mud or the touch or the word he wears different weight like if you say mud it's all about mud anyone needs any answer mud mud mud mud mud I saw one time Jesus did miracle with mud everyone mud on the forehead by AIDS Day right in the eyes and they say sick coming up I will get you right in the eyes with the mud I'm doing you a favor you thank me later it's not the mud Jesus doesn't have formulas or systems he's not plug-and-play where you insert problem here he goes through a little computer and gives you the solution that's what we want you wanna know the will of God where every one of these mistakes we're gonna come up with an action aim because I believe in action items it's very simple you don't know the will of God ask just ask and what I am challenging you to do today I'm gonna give you three action items to do with each one of these three mistakes that we make just ask just ask just say just commit you're praying you you you're thinking about something debating something just commit to every day for the rest of this week just for one minute like you stress about it for an hour stress about it for 59 minutes and just for one minute break this until you still have your 59 minutes of stress but just one minute say God give me an answer God guide me God show me what you want me to do I got didn't even take ten seconds I did there's three ask in 10 seconds just commit to asking God well we're gonna do here what you're gonna see the process I'm talking about again I'm not saying I'm gonna do ABC and I might get the will of God but I'm saying is that these things I'm gonna do them I'm gonna put them together and they're gonna inch me closer and closer and closer and closer until eventually they're I hit it you will never know the will of God unless you ask cuz God is not a machine God is a father and as a father my child wants to know what to do he asked floodgates are open he doesn't ask he's on his own and God is no different number one we will ask number two the second mistake we make we don't ask secondly we don't listen we hear what we want to hear we hear what we want to hear we choose what to hear based on what we want to do we know what we're gonna do in the end and we know what decision we're gonna make but we just need to find a way to spiritualize it so you know what like I'll tell you a secret and don't tell you when this secret this is secret just between us just and the people who are listening oh my I can find a Bible verse to do anything I want did you know that sneaky I know that's abuse of power I know but I can do it you tell me what you want to do I can find you a Bible verse to do it and you know how I know because you guys have taught me this game because you come to me and say you know I know that he's bad and I know that you know we're sinning and I know and I know I know but we read her Bible together and he brings me closer to God and it says that no one can declare that Jesus is Lord unless he has the spirit of God's therefore he's the Holy Spirit in my life therefore reading America you can convince yourself of whatever it is that you want we are experts and I want this and I want to go this way that ways close I'm gonna go this way and I'm gonna find a way and I know just enough Bible verses to be dangerous and spiritualize it in some way shape or form 2nd Timothy chapter 4 verse 3 says for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables this is why one of the things that I have stopped doing they don't do as much I don't answer the questions from people I don't know about what they should do in their life because what I discovered is the person who's coming to me that I don't know and says here's the situation what do you think I should do that nine out of ten times that person has gone to someone that they trusted and heard the answer that they didn't want so then they went to somebody else I didn't get it and then II went to somebody else they would somebody else here comes lowly old father Anthony who doesn't know his left hand from his right hand just showed up out of nowhere and she convinced him cuz he's not that smart to just agree with you and then go around say father Anthony gave a wish and so if it's wrong it's on his head not on Mike I don't do that stuff anymore I don't give a pinion someone says I need your opinions I know truth and if you want truth I tell you truth and I teach you the principles that it says in the scripture and that's what I teach in and you make whatever decision you want but you hold yourself responsible Friesen you don't hold me responsible for it the truth is the lying is wrong and lying is wrong and no matter how you try to justify it lying is wrong the truth is that no matter how much you want God to bless that relationship he will not bless that relationship because he's clearly against that relationship and everything you are doing is against God God will not bless it that's the truth you can convince yourself of whatever it is you want you one time it's your story one time someone came to me and told me that they were praying about living near to their fiancee okay seems innocent enough right praying good thing living near I don't think they were engaged but their boyfriend girl whatever it was I discovered later on that praying about living near meant his and her sinks in the bathroom they were moving in together and mask my advice about living near each other I don't give advice no more our action item for here is we are going to listen we're going to listen listen to what God is saying to us and again we know it through the Scriptures we know it also through godly counsel and when I say godly counsel I mean I go to my doctor and I ask him my spiritual doctor my spiritual my father spiritual father and I go to him and I Kim and what he tells me I do I don't go get an opinion here I've been a second opinion there and then I go to this person's cousin over there I go I give myself I I speak and I listen and I receive guidance and obey what it tells me to do number three we don't ask number two we don't listen number three mistake is reira lie we rely on logic now before we go too deep into this one am i against logic i am mister logic like i'm logic to a fault okay soon as my wife even questions whether i have emotions inside me this is a debate we have on a regular basis so i'm not saying it is bad to use logic but it is bad to rely on logic and there's a difference between the two I absolutely positively you should use logic some of you this is like the number one thing that we should focus on is using more logic like I am Pro logic and so is God but he is not Pro relying on logic and what I mean by that is this is it sometimes I think to myself if God could come down here right now and say God here's a group of people who love you like how many peoples in this room right now who love you who want to know your will give us one message like tell us one thing about how to know your will I think God would say this I think he would say Isaiah 55 verse 8 and 9 he would say just trust me on this one my thoughts are not your thoughts nor your ways my ways says the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts like I said I like one plus two equals three I like past predicts future but God doesn't always work that way does that mean that God never uses logic is that what I'm saying no I'm not saying that and I'm not saying that God's will is never consistent with logic but I'm just saying he is not bound by our logic give you an example have you ever been in a situation where you thought you were right about something and you were convinced you were right and it was a logical thing to do only to later discover that you had no idea what you were doing back when I was in college I used to play basketball all the time one time I was playing ball I think it was a junior or senior and I turned my ankle came down on someone that turned my ankle I ain't a doctor or a medical student but I watched plenty of NBA basketball and I know that when Michael Jordan turned his ankle what did he do play it on because and I had fully convinced myself and all my idiot teammates as well you got to keep it loose that's what I convinced myself is that if you sit it will tighten up you got to keep it loose I didn't even know what was in there but I know I wanted it loose so I continued to play I played another two hours on that ankle and I came home like a champ okay just thinking that I am the greatest thing since sliced bread I totally defeated the sprained ankle until the next morning when I thought I'd broke my foot and I couldn't walk when I went to the doctor he said what happened told her sprain the ankle so what'd you do after that I said don't worry doc I played on it for another couple hours exact words that was the dumbest thing you could have done because apparently you don't want it loose okay you want it not loose okay anyway the bottom line is I don't want to get into the medical side of things but she basically told me you had a small sprain now you have a major sprain and because of that I was on crutches for several weeks and things like that my point is in my mind it made total sense but just because it makes sense in my mind there are people that we have to assume are smarter than us and we have to go by their logic because at some point time we reached that point well what does never seen my logic in gaad's logic his name is roomie and the doctor like I was the dumbest person in the world next to a doctor who you know I'm sure she was very smart but I'm saying she wasn't Einstein or anything like that but to her out of the dumbest person in the world how about the difference between God what is that difference and sometimes we'll say something and we'll say no god this is logical that says it's the dumbest thing in the world we say no god this makes total sense you know what it is it's my child in my child's logic eating chocolate for dinner makes sense it actually is extremely logical it tastes better you want me to eat I eat plenty of that logic says you want me to eat chocolate makes more sense it is perfectly logical but I listen carefully this one I as a father in my child's eyes that is logic I as a father a big person I am NOT bound by that person's logic their logic I cannot deny that's how makes sense in their eyes I as a big person am not bound by their logical constraints I am above their logic so there'll be many times well I will make decisions about what time to go to sleep but what to eat for dinner about many things in the house this should be done and it will be different than their logical constraints but that doesn't mean it's against logic it means that it's above logic once upon a time Jesus and His disciples were hanging out on a mountain and roughly 20,000 people showed up and followed them five thousand men plus women and children roughly 20,000 people jesus said a very logical idea let's make lunch you and twenty thousand of your closest friends I had a great idea let's feed them let's make sandwiches for them and we're in the middle of nowhere and we have no money and we didn't have like it's all men Middle Eastern men like not even one lady who knows what she's doing twelve twelve Middle Eastern men responsible for feeding 20,000 people this is not logical you said no this is actually perfectly logical all I need is five piece of bread into a piece of fish seeing God's logic feeding 20,000 with five loaves and two fish is illogical or is above logic Bible says in Luke 18:27 it's perfectly logical to feed five to 20,000 people with five loaves and two fish because the things which are impossible with men those things they're possible with God and just because you can't see how five and to make twenty thousand doesn't mean it's against logic it just means that it's above it what's her action item here for not relying too much on our logic and I'm taking this one to heart myself is trust Trust trust in the Lord proverbs 3:5 trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding maybe we've heard that verse one too many times to understand what it means trust in the Lord with all your heart and you will show that you are trusting when you are not leaning on your own understanding meaning there's two walls in life here's the wall of God and here's a wall of my logic and the way I would say okay I trust you God isn't many of us do I trust you God very very much very very much God I trust you God very very very much you want to trust God you get away from your logic and you lean on this wall really not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him trust that he shall direct your Pat's truth truth you were better at this before you were I know you were because what I discovered about the spiritual life the beginning of the spiritual life it is very easy to trust God but I think you'll agree with me the more we gain experience the more we think we know what we're doing the harder this verse becomes the more that hey you know what I've done that I've been there done that seen this before the more difficult it is so maybe some of us need to go back a little bit in our spiritual lives and go back to trusting like a child I'm always reminded of the story of Joseph in the Old Testament Joseph was someone who sovereign will of God moral will of God person the will of God Joseph always abided by the moral will of God and Joseph liked no one abided by God's principles like the way Joseph didn't he was a man of upstanding character integrity sovereign will of God God wanted to use Joseph and he told him from a very young age I'm gonna use you in a great way to do great things in this world and Joseph ended up saving the half of the world from dying from a famine okay God you have a plan for me in my life to be a very influential person in the world to one day being Egypt which is the strongest country at the time and to be like the second man in control of Egypt what's the path to get there what's your will to get there probably I'll be valedictorian in my high school class probably I'll marry like a very rich girl like a very influential girl probably like you know make it big in business you know probably like I'll invent you know like fire or you know the cure for something or other cure for leprosy like probably that's how God will give me that platform to be able to affect the whole wide world okay I got a slightly different approach Joseph here's a more logical approach you're thrown into a well and be left for dead you're gonna go into Egypt as you said like in a limousine sort of as a slave okay so it's kind of like a limousine and it will be a limousine but you will be the one who's like pushing the limousine not really once sitting inside the limousine and then I'll put you in Egypt and you will be in the palace but your pilot you're gonna be in the dungeon of the palace for quite some time how's that sound Joseph is that against logic or is that above logic sometimes God closes ten doors to open the perfect one doesn't he like sometimes God takes you left to get you right sometimes God says you know what okay let me make this practical okay make this practical God you know I want to get married God you know I want to get married and I found this boy and he's not the best boy but you know I want to get married that's the desire of my heart you want to get married let me tell you what you let me get you married as soon as possible and that relationship but I want to go towards marriage I'm gonna get you towards marriage how run away from marriage sometimes another example God I'm struggling financially and you know I heard a message about like giving and tithing and I'm doing that stuff I don't help anyone except myself but God if you gave me more than I would give more we've all said that before right God if you gave me more than I would give more so logic if you want me to give then you will give me more God says I do want you to give more that's a great idea you know I'm gonna do as soon as you pray that god I want to give more you know what you do can't lose your job as soon as you lose your job then not just you to lose a job just you job make it easy you're gonna lose your job and then you're something to happen your car gonna need to pay $2,000 to fix that car and God's gonna say give you say nope that's not logical logic is you fixed the card you get me the job I'm not even asking about the promotion anymore I feel like I was asking too much there that's the start of this whole mess and then I will give that's logic did you know it's above logic above logic is that 90% of your money is actually greater than 100% of your money that's logic God's logic it's above our logic I don't get how that works but 90% of my money is actually greater than 100% of my money and that's tried and tested and proved I don't understand if I also didn't understand how the mud did the eyes I don't understand how Joseph went from a well to the palace I don't understand how a virgin has a baby so when you explain all those other things then I'll agree with you God is not bound by our logic three action items we don't ask we will ask we here we want to hear we will listen to what he's saying that we want to hear and we rely on logic we will trust because the most important thing and again next week um and again in some of the specifics but like I feel like what I'm doing today is we got we narrowed down the ballpark God's wheels this big thing we narrow down the field and then we started to prep the soil next week we'll start planting some seeds in there and the most important thing leave you but tell us the people everywhere if I could leave you one thing discover the will of God it's not a formula it's not a gimmick will of God is to seek it sincerely like the number one thing leave with this one thing like ask and you shall receive I said that verse on your handout deny okay right there asking will be given to you seek and you will find knock and I'll be open to you for everyone who asks receives he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be open we will seek God's will sincerely because I promise you with all my heart as a father you know this if your father or a mother you know this that God wants us to know his will more than we want this is not a game of hide and seek this is not an Indiana Jones movie this is real life and God is desiring like yelling screaming here's what I want for you and my greatest desire is to show it to you but I can't because you are not ready for it because you are outside the stadium you on the wrong end of the field and the worst thing I can do for you is show you that personal will where you are in the other field you are on the wrong have your score on the other guy's goal you need to get in the right place and understand my sovereign will abide by my moral will and then ask listen and trust give me another verse from Jeremiah 29:13 you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart we want quick fixes we want like I said say this prayer we want short cuts solution to God's will no short cuts it's pray it's asked its listen it's trust and it's continued to do those things sometimes someone will tell me you know I did all those things I saw it God's will I did everything you told me to do what I didn't discovered okay let me give you another example I was driving to Florida and you gave me advice said drive 95 south I say I did that for an hour I didn't get to Florida I give up okay but you got to drive more than an hour I drove for two hours on 95 sounds just like you told me I didn't leave 95 south I drove for two hours you told me to ask how to get to Florida I didn't it to Florida what would you say to that person keep going man keep going is not it's 95 stop but keep going you ask you listen you trust and you get up next day to do the same thing this how God's will work as far I'm saying is it's not a gimmick no gimmick this is life I don't need God's will from tomorrow honey God's will for the next 50 years of my life honey God's will for the rest of my marriage for the rest of man in the next 20 years the rest of my life any God's want me to just a quick fix action item for today for this week is we're gonna stop the gimmicks who are gonna do what God is challenging us to do which is ask listen and trust and you do that you are going to say this verse at the end of this series not the end of this series and that's not my goal the end of your life you're gonna say this verse you were going to say Hebrews 11:6 that he God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him that's the goal but you are going to say that that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him because that's his greatest wills to reveal himself to us let's stand together and say a prayer in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one God Amen Lord we thank you that you do have a plan for our lives and you do have a dream for each one of us as your children what we're asking you that you would help us to take steps closer to finding it that we're done trying to do things our own way and try to figure things out on our own we want to do things your way Lord we need your help we ask that you would revealed your will to us to is coming weeks and not just reveal your will but reveal like the process and show us how we can get closer to it every aspect of our lives that should help us to listen to what you're saying not just what we want to hear and most of all that you'd help us to have the childlike trust in you that we would trust our father he always wants what's best for us he always knows what's best for us and he desires nothing more than to proclaim that and give that to us his children we ask these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ with the prayers of all your saints here says we pray thankfully our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one in Christ Jesus our Lord for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever amen just a reminder that anyone's here for the membership group information session we're gonna get started just in that room right across that hallway in a few minutes hope to see y'all there
