Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 <silence>
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Good morning, everybody. My name is Craig Jarvis. I'm the lead pastor at Village Church East, and it is my privilege to be able to bring God's word to you this morning, village Church East. Uh, you're probably thinking yourself, eh? This sounds like Village Church of Bartlett, and you would be correct. Uh, about six years, well, just a little over six years ago, we just celebrated our sixth anniversary. We started a, um, a location of Village Church East in Carroll Stream. Our goal is to grow small, uh, so that we can, like you have an influence and families and the community around us. This week for our church has been an amazing week. We had, uh, two major outreaches this week that, uh, uh, I worked our guys pretty hard on our gals. They worked pretty hard on, and so we, uh, we decided since I was speaking here anyway, we decided that we were gonna give them a day off. So a lot of east people are here with us today. So if you're sitting with one of them, would you just let them know that you're glad that they're here? Yeah. You don't know who they're, so why don't you just clap and, uh, be glad that they're here. All right? Yes. All right.
Speaker 1 00:01:11 Uh, we are, we're excited about what God's doing at Village Church East. And like I said this, this week, we had a, a unique opportunity to minister to a lot of folks that are really overlooked in our community. And, uh, and the Lord, Lord willing, planted some seeds through us of love and grace. One thing that I love that, uh, Bartlett does that we're starting to see the Lord do is that through our first impression or, or, uh, first responders and, uh, the people in our community, we are building a relationship with them so that they actually are now tapping into our resources. Even though we're not a large church, uh, we are an anxious church. We're, we are an active church, and we are anxious to see what God can do through us. And so we have big visions, and the Lord is really giving us an opportunity to, uh, to tap into our community in some pretty unique ways.
Speaker 1 00:02:00 So if you wanna hear more about that afterwards, uh, I would be glad to tell you about that. Or any of the east people here who are, who are here today, we'd be glad to tell you about that as well. Today, we have the unique opportunity of looking at, uh, the ongoing topic that you guys have been studying, as well as, uh, we have been studying, which is this area of discernment. Romans 12, one and two is probably one of one of my favorite passages in scripture. If you're up for memorizing, it's a good one to memorize. It's really easy to memorize, but there's so much meat to it. That's a passage we're gonna look at this morning. We're only gonna be dealing with two verses because there's so much there. But if there's one thing that I am really concerned about as far as my own family goes, this verse would, would come to the top of the list as to what I need to be reminded about so that I can encourage my family to keep on going.
Speaker 1 00:02:52 My family, I really want them to do God's will. Like it's nice that they're happy, it's nice that they're fulfilled, all that, all that's fine and good, but most of all, I know as a father of Jesus Christ, God's will is the best. And so if they do God's will, they're gonna be okay. If, if they, if they get in the way and start doing what they want to do, then it's gonna have an impact on how they live out Christ in their lives. And so, my passion and the, the thing that Beth and I pray about on a regular basis is that we would see these girls that are, uh, you know, part of our family and, and now, uh, a young man, uh, that we would see them do God's well. Okay, so I gotta take a little sidebar right here. My oldest, Abigail, we have four daughters.
Speaker 1 00:03:36 Uh, you don't see their pictures up on the screen because they're in person today. There they are right there. Could you girls just raise your hands there? Yes you can. Yeah, <laugh>, they love me for doing this, but, uh, our oldest, Abigail, she just got married, Abigail and Ben. So if you know us, you've been anxious to see Ben, Abigail and Ben were married last month on the cliffs of, uh, of Moore in Ireland. And so Ben is now part of our family officially, and we're glad to have him as a, so he's the one right there. Raise your hand, Ben,
Speaker 1 00:04:06 The son I never knew I wanted, and now he's here. So how do you know you're doing God's will? Like all of us want it. We want it for our kids. How do you know you're doing it? How do you know? Like, we don't get, we don't get emails from God, we don't get clouds in the sky. Pizza helps, gives us weird dreams. I know, and, uh, oh, God wants me to do this, but how do we really know we're doing God's will? Here's the verse, Romans 12, and let me just start with actually verse two. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God? What is good, what is acceptable, and what is perfect? In other words, what is valuable? Why do I want this for my family?
Speaker 1 00:04:57 Because it's the most valuable thing that they could do. Like it's the most important thing that they could do with their lives. But in order to find God's will, apparently we have to be discerning people. Test and discern what God's will is. The reason we have to be discerning people is because the world changes fast. You are struggling with things today that you didn't struggle with even two years ago, even five years ago. I mean, for goodness sakes, my mom was scared to buy a microwave when I was a kid. We're all gonna die of cancer if she brought a microwave into the house. So we are struggling with things, and, and, and the world is changing at breakneck speeds. I want my kids, I want the people in my circle. I want my church to do God's will. The problem is the world is changing so fast.
Speaker 1 00:05:51 I don't know if this is God's will or if that is God's will stuff, stuff that we're facing today, we've gotta have an opinion on, but we don't, I don't know whether it's God's will or not. You, you, you gotta dig a long way to find the word. Marijuana in the book of, in any book of the Bible is not there. And so we've gotta figure out though, is, is marijuana okay to do? Like what form? Is it okay to do it? Is that something? Well, it's legalized now. So the world has changed. The world will change. And the world for my kids, it's not gonna be the same as it is for me. So it's one thing for me to know, want them to know God's will. It's one thing for me to pray for God's will be done in all of our lives. But it's another thing for me to pray that we learn to be discerning. Because if we learn to be discerning, we should figure out God's will according to Romans two. We can test and discern what God's will is for our lives.
Speaker 1 00:06:49 The changes we have to navigate through our multiple. If something is legalized, does that mean I should participate? If something is ridiculed, should I ridicule it too? If something is accepted, if an activity is now accepted, should I accept it as well? If something is seen as unloving in my culture, should I love it or not love it? And if I don't love it, am I the bad guy? Then I remember what Jesus said in Matthew seven 13, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide, and the way is easy. That leads to what church.
Speaker 1 00:07:28 The gate is <laugh> wide. And the way is what interesting. It's wide. Lots of people are on it, and it's easy, it's comfortable, but the end place you end up will destroy you. And those who enter it are many, but the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are what church? Few, few. Do you feel like you stick out in the crowd when you take a stand for Jesus Christ or for how your family is gonna live out God's will in their lives? You probably do, because the way that leads to life is narrow. And those who choose it are few according to Jesus. Popularity does not always equal healthy progression, but as culture pushes, it becomes the norm. It becomes the regular lifestyle. And I'm sad to say not only for individuals and for families, but also for churches. Churches will adapt and maneuver based on what they think culture is selling them and whether they're gonna buy it or not. And they'll say, whatever we're doing, we believe it's God's will, is it or isn't it? And I want to tell you, the confusion is great because you could have one view on something and you could find any church to agree with you these days.
Speaker 1 00:09:02 So how do you determine God's will? How do I determine God's will? Proverbs 1625 reminds us there's a way that seems right to a man, but the end is the way of death. Discernment means we need to test and determine what is underneath the surface, what is right for a given situation. And so the question I wanna ask you this morning is, is it possible to discern God's will for every circumstance? Is it possible for you to have a godly view about every situation that comes at you through culture? 'cause there'll be many and they'll change often. How do you feel about ai? There'll be many and they'll change often. How do you feel about genetic research? How do you feel about calling people pronouns that they determine that they want to be called? I'll bet you even in this group, we have different opinions on those things.
Speaker 1 00:10:06 My question to you is how do we know? How do we test to determine what God's will is for me, for my family, for our church, in any particular changing area according to Romans 12, one and two, I can discern God's will. Now that's a good news. We have the ability to discern God's will. A part of the Christian walk is that we are given a supernatural ability to test and discern, to validate God's will for our lives. But I want to tell you this, no man, no, no, no method of testing, no. No matter how much testing and discernment discerning you do, if you go into the test with a closed fist, you'll come out with the wrong idea. Testing and discerning requires first and foremost surrender. You've got to be willing to go into it, ask God about it, and be willing to lose it.
Speaker 1 00:11:09 What does it mean to surrender? Well, there's a new film out called Oppenheimer. Have you guys seen this movie yet? Oppenheimer? I won't give it away, <laugh> like it's history, but I won't give it away. Um, if, uh, if you've gone to see Barbie, this would be the next on your list. Uh, it's a little more in depth from what I hear. But, um, you know, if, if you're into Barbie, uh, Oppenheimer was called the father of the atomic bomb. He was a, he was a, his father and and mother were, were German Jewish immigrants. And he was born in America. Um, and he was tasked with helping to develop the atomic bond given the Manhattan Project. He worked on this for three years, and he was at the test in 1945 for the explosion they did in the desert. One month later, August, 1945. July was the test. In August, they dropped those two bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Speaker 1 00:12:07 America had declared that they were not gonna enter into the war. They were determined to stay outta the war. But once the attack happened on Pearl Harbor on December, in that early morning hour, they were forced to get into the war. And once they did, um, it became, it became a ma a matter of time before this bomb was developed. They had no choice. They had to get into the war. Uh, more people, many people were convinced that this war would never end because Japan refused to surrender. Um, they saw surrendering as a, as some something that was, you know, kind of beneath their, their honor. They developed common cossi pilots because, you know, surrendering was not an option. And so Japan determined that they were not gonna surrender. And so they, uh, they had to be convinced, and the president decided to drop these bombs.
Speaker 1 00:12:59 Um, America decided to drop these bombs, and once they were dropped, Japan had no option. In fact, I wanna read you a little bit of what happened in history. 16 hours after these bombs were detonated in Japan, American president Harry Truman called again for their surrender quote. He said, expect a rain of ruin from the air, the likes of which has never been seen on the earth. And the allies made a vow to the, to the Japanese, and they said there would be prompt and utter destruction of the Empire of Japan if they did not immediately surrender. Conditions of surrender were such as follows. They had to send a delegation to appear before their enemies, the allies, and they had to sign a document in the presence of their enemies declaring that they surrender on the U Ss s Missouri battleship. Uh, this is a picture of what that day looked like. It became a day of infamy. The surrender of the Empire of Japan was announced the 15th of August, but the signing took place on September the second. We call this day V-Day Victory Day. And it brought the war's hostilities to the, to an end. Finally, epic pictures came out of this ticker tape parades in New York City, as well as this is one of my favorite. This is the sailor that, that was kissing the, uh, this girl in Times Square. It became a day of celebration because the war had finally ended. Romans 12 calls for our surrender.
Speaker 1 00:14:32 Romans 12, one and two begins with a call that we surrender to God. In fact, verse one starts out this way. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice. Romans chapter one to chapter 11 is high test theology. Like you've never seen stuff in the Bible that you'll see in Romans one to Romans 11. It's about the depth of God, the, the character of God, the sovereignty of God, the power of God, the authority of God. You're impacted by this amazing God in Romans one to Romans 11. And Paul just keeps on writing about how God is, magi is, is majestic and oversees all that takes place. He's this, he's a sovereign ruler of all things. And then Romans 12 is like a hinge on a door. It takes us into another thought, a, a thought based on all the stuff we've read before Romans 12 begins with, therefore, I appeal to you. I'm begging you. Your Bible might say, I urge you. Basically, this word is Pero in the, in the Greek. And what it means, it's a judicial term. It's a judicial term, meaning that based on what you now have known to be factual, this is what you should do. Job used the same term in the Old Testament when he cried out and he begged God for mercy. Paul is saying, I beg you, based on what I have presented in Romans one to 11, I urge you present your bodies to God. Surrender.
Speaker 1 00:16:22 What do we now know that would make us want to surrender to this? God? It's right in the verse. He says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercy of God that you present, your body's a living sacrifice. What do we know about God? That this God all powerful, sovereign ruler, this holy, other than God loves you and wants to be merciful to you. And so he says, I appeal to you based on this merciful God, present your bodies as living sacrifice. Surrender is what a person does when they accumulate a deeper knowledge of an issue so that they can consider the best direction in their lives. Like the Japanese on the boat on that battleship, the Missouri battleship, they were given a set of facts they could no longer ignore, and it required them to do an action, namely surrender or be eradicated from the planet.
Speaker 1 00:17:24 And for us, it's the same deal based on what you have read about God, Romans one to 11, I urge you by the mercy of God, surrender, present your bodies. He says, Paul likens this to an offering, not an offering that you stick up an altar. And we talked about this, uh, in Leviticus, uh, series that we did, not an altar that you offering, that you stick up on the altar and it burns up and you go home empty handed. But this is a living sacrifice. This is like coming to give yourself to God and then walking away completely different. You come to give to God and you walk away changed. It's not a dead offering, a burned up offering. It is a living sacrifice. It is living for Christ and no longer for me. It's making his wants, my wants, and we need to show up in person to do it. That's why it's called a living sacrifice. We don't die to our faith. We live to faith in our bodies. We bring our bodies to God so that we can put them into submission to God. Paul Beseeches, the followers of Jesus, surrender your body to God.
Speaker 1 00:18:44 It is through our bodily surrender. God's will can be done in our lives. Okay? That is a weird statement. Let me say it one more time. It is through the surrender of our bodies that we can see God's will done in our lives. You're probably thinking yourself. Ah, I don't know. I think it's more of a, a, a spiritual thing or a a psychological thing. Well, let's look at that a little bit. Have you ever had a conversation with somebody where you're just really nervous going into the conversation and you think to yourself, I don't know what to say. I don't know where, where I'm, I'm gonna, you know, I gotta talk about this really serious subject and, uh, I I just need some help. And you spend some time in prayer and just say, God, give me the words that I should say. Have you ever done that? I've done that all the time. I have found out that my words are not very good. His words are much better. Even before I preach here today, I prayed that his words would come through me, not mine. I can be confusing. He's always direct and very clear.
Speaker 1 00:19:45 And what I found is when you surrender your tongue, your words to God, he has the ability to speak through me. A lot of times, like to say things like that was kind of brilliant. I didn't know I had that in me. I, I don't know if you experienced the same thing, but then I remember it's not me, it's him speaking through me. Listen to this. Proverbs 16, one, the plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from God. Here's another one, Jesus. When, when he, uh, when he told his disciples he was going away and he said, okay, uh, they're gonna kill me, and they're probably gonna kill you two, and it's not gonna be fun. And they gotta arrest you first, and it's gonna be really miserable for you. You're gonna lose your families. It's, it is just, it's, it's not gonna be a lot of fun, but you should do it with a glad heart.
Speaker 1 00:20:31 The disciples were nervous and they said, well, what, what do we do when this thing happens? And Jesus said to them, the same thing I just said to you. Listen to this. When they deliver you over <laugh>, I wish it was if, don't you? Jesus starts the conversation. He says, when they deliver you over, it's gonna happen. Do not be anxious about how you are to speak or what you are to say for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father speaking through you is that great. A reminder that if you want God to speak through, he will. Because if you surrender this to God, he can use this in amazing ways. And if you don't, you should read James three. It'll keep you up at night.
Speaker 1 00:21:20 It is terrifying. But if you surrender this to the Lord, you can speak words that are almost God words, part of your body not buying it. How about another part of the body? What about my sexual life? Well, God can't have a part of my sexual life. I, I want to tell you, God wants the surrender of your sexual life too. You are meant for one person in marriage before, during, and after that marriage. There, there is no gray area here again, you can go to a church where you can hear different things, but if you crack open the Bible, it's pretty hard to neglect this one. So our sexual lives are meant to be surrendered to the Lord. That's a hard one I know because it involves a part of our bodies. It involves our minds and organs. But look at one Corinthians six, uh, 18.
Speaker 1 00:22:18 Flee from sexual immorality. What does it mean to flee? Run <laugh>. Fire run <laugh>, flee. Don't hang around it. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the what? Church. Isn't that interesting? Every other sin is outside the body, but this one, the sexually amor person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your, our surrender requires our bodies surrendered. Still not buying it. Lemme take it to Jesus'. Sermon on the Mount. There's a lot of stuff in here. Jesus starts talking about hands. You know what he says? Matthew? Five 30. If your right hand causes you to sin, can you imagine your hand causing you to sin?
Speaker 1 00:23:18 That's kind of weird, isn't it? According to Jesus, your body can be used to cause you to sin. If that happens, you should. Holy smokes. What does it say there? I think I got it written wrong down here. You should what? Cut it off, cut it off and throw it away. Any mincing of words with Jesus here, you don't surrender your hand. Cut it off and throw it away. But why? Because it is better that you lose one of your members of your body, then your whole body go to hell. What about the eyes that's there too? Matthew 6 22. The eye is a lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?
Speaker 1 00:24:06 When God calls for surrender, he calls for surrender of our bodies. It's amazing to me that we have turned religion into a mindset and not full body surrender. Your body can make or break the life of that you have with Jesus Christ. And where do your bodily actions begin? Where's the battlefield in the mind? I can't do anything without my mind declaring that I should do it. So you wanna know what? That's why verse two gives us hope and help. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your what church, renewing of your mind. That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, what is acceptable, and what is perfect. The battleground of the mind is where the battle is won or lost.
Speaker 1 00:25:01 The conform word here, by the way, don't be conformed to this world. This word is system zo, which means nothing to you other than what it means, which is really cool. It means to fit in a mold. I have my birthday and my kids brought me, bought me an espresso machine. It's a lot of fun. Yeah, if you miss my birthday, it's okay, you can still make up for it. But I got this espresso machine and I found that if you put the espresso in there, it's, you want it fine, you want it dusty, it gets on the cupboard. I'm like blowing it all over the place. You know, I'm, I'm trying to put these little beans back in the, if I can salvage some of the dust, it's just fine dust. And then you cram it down in the mold and then you stick it on the machine.
Speaker 1 00:25:45 And what I found is if you leave that thing in there for any length of time a day, two days a week, and then you take it off, good luck getting it outta there. I'm taking a hammer to it, trying to get it outta there. And when it comes out, it's like a hockey I could play. I could play hockey with this thing. It's like a puck. You know what happened? This fine dust got stuck in a mold and then it got solidified in there and it turned into exactly with that machine wanted it to be, listen, don't be conformed to this world. This world is after one thing from you, and it is absolute utter conformity. That is why the gates to heaven are narrow and the gates to hell or wide, because conformed people follow the crowd. And if you feel like you stick out, you must be doing something right. You fit into this mold, and that's exactly what the devil needs you to do. He needs you to fit into the mold. The modus opera operandi of the world is to conform my mind to its mold. And man, that is really obvious today. Don't you think we are not even allowed to think differently than the people around us? Why? Because the devil has a hold on this world and he is determined to fit you into his mold.
Speaker 1 00:27:17 But the Bible goes on to say, be transformed. Transformation is our alternative to confirmation. And you know what the Greek word for transformation is? It's really cool. See if you recognize it. Metamorpho, I, what does that sound like? Metamorphosis. What does metamorphosis means? It means to change the essential nature of something. We put our bodies on the altar, we get off the altar and we are transformed. Our essential nature is changed, then we can do the will of God. Look what it goes on to. Say that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable, and perfect. When our minds begin to transform outta the mold of this world, then we can test and determine what God's will is. We have the ability to know God's will. But the big question is, do the desires of my body? Can the desires of my body thwart God's plan for my life? I grew up in a church that said, if you don't do the will of God, God's gonna chase you for a lifetime with a baseball bat. He's gonna make your life miserable until he gets you attention and then you're gonna change. I don't think that's real. That doesn't go with I be seated you by the mercies of God. Very well, don't you think? They don't. They don't coincide. But this is true. I think we have the ability to thwart God's wants for our lives. Otherwise, why would we test and discern?
Speaker 1 00:28:59 Let's talk about instead of the will of God, let's talk about God's wants versus His plan, what God wants for us versus his plan for this world. The Bible speaks of two categories in this idea of God's will. Lemme give you a couple of examples. Joseph's brothers beat the tar out of him, sold him into slavery, took the money and lied to their dad. Was that God's plan or his wants? It wasn't his wants, but it was his plan. The reason I know that is because when Joseph met his brothers later on, when, uh, when <laugh> they were starving and eating their own sheep, they came down to Egypt and he saw them. And you remember what he said to his brothers, what you intended for evil, God intended for good. It is not God's wants that they would beat the tar outta their brother, lie to their dad, sell 'em into slavery. But it was his plan. Lemme give you another one. Did Jesus want to die on the cross? No. Was it God's want? Was his want to die on the cross? No. Was it his plan? Yes. Otherwise Jesus wouldn't have prayed If it possible, let this phe me we're supposed to see his desire in that area. Was it God's will? Or I'm sorry, was it God's uh, plan or his wants for Eve to listen to the serpent Eve and the garden listens to the serpent. She eats from the, uh, from the fruit that she's not supposed to.
Speaker 1 00:30:35 It was his plan. It wasn't his want, otherwise he wouldn't have told her not to. And we wouldn't have this verse, Ephesians one, four to five, where God says He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, which means he knew planned what was to come. Did Eve thwart God's wants? Yes. Did she thwart God's plans? No. Is is it God's will that any should perish?
Speaker 4 00:31:07 No.
Speaker 1 00:31:08 Clearly. Second Peter three, nine. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise of some count slowness, but is patient toward you? Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Will people perish? Yes. Is it, is it God's wants that they perish? No. Is it his plan? Yes. The important question is this, who is responsible for these actions? Were the men responsible for killing Jesus, nailing him to the cross? Were they responsible? Yes. Was Peter responsible for denying Jesus? Yes. Was Judas responsible for betraying Jesus? Yes. Were Joseph's brothers responsible for selling 'em and lying to their dad? Yes. Yes. Yes, yes, they are. Was Eve responsible for eating the apple? Yes. We are responsible for our decisions. I must decide which is more important. Church. You have to decide which is more important. God's wants or your wants. That's how you know God's will.
Speaker 1 00:32:20 Transformation must occur in my body so that my wants transform into his wants. I have to learn to love what he loves in the way that he loves it. That's the image changing in me from glory to glory. That means I'm becoming more like Jesus Christ. And when that happens, I'm able to test and discern what his will is for my life. But when I'm testing and discerning, I can't do it without my own wants in a grip. I've gotta be willing to test and discern with an open hand. The proper question is not how do I know God's will? The question we need to answer is, am I willing to test wisely so that I can discern God's wants properly?
Speaker 1 00:33:03 How do we test and approve number one? This is just a quick list. I know Michael likes lists. So here's a list for you, <laugh>. How do we test and approve? Number one, does it agree with God's moral will revealed in scripture God will never contradict himself. No matter what people tell you the God of the Old Testament, God of the New Testament, same God. God never contradicts himself. Does it agree with his moral will? Number two, can God get what he wants from my life through this decision I have to make? This is why we pray thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Can God what? Get what He wants from my life if I make this decision, number three, did I seek and and honestly, listen to Godly counsel. This is a truth of scripture from beginning to end. Seek godly counsel. Number four, have I prayed about this properly?
Speaker 1 00:33:58 You shouldn't do anything before praying about it. No. Make any decision. Have I prayed about it properly? Because the Holy Spirit will prompt me, and I need to be aware of that. Number five, what open doors and closed doors have I seen judge them correctly? God will sometimes close doors you really want to go through. If it's closed, you gotta change direction. Number six, has the Spirit given me a clear direction? He'll speak to us in a multiple ways, I think in multiple ways these days communicating to us what he wants from us. But we really need to listen. Follow this list and listen with an ear to hear what God is saying to us. Use the resources that God has given to you. God has given you to a mind so that you can use it. When you come to faith, we don't shut down our minds.
Speaker 1 00:34:45 When we come to faith, we use our minds. We test to discern what God's will is for our lives. Don't let go of your facilities and don't let your emotions take over. And sometimes you'll be required to make really wacky decisions. To be honest with you, I had one guy I love. He determined in his life, his lucrative career that he was gonna retire, sell all his stuff, and go to the mission field. All his family said, you're nuts. You should stay home. You've worked hard your whole life. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. And he decided he wasn't gonna do that. And he sold everything. And he went to the mission field and he served on the mission field in some pretty amazing ways. God, God used that guy. Listen, sometimes the decisions God calls you to make you make, once you test and discern what his will is for your life, God is planning to receive glory from your decision one way or another.
Speaker 1 00:35:50 Don't fret about the minutiae. Listen to this verse. Proverbs 16 three, commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. Your goal is to learn what God loves so that you could do what God wants you to do. Every time followers of Jesus, mu must love with discernment so that they can love what God loves in the way that God loves. That's really the key. And surrender is how we get there. Now, you might be asking yourself, how do I know I'm really surrendered? Well, you gotta come back next week for that one <laugh>. We're gonna talk about how you can discern the depths of your own heart, your own deceitful heart that tries to tell you different things. The motives of the heart is next week, and that's not mine. So I don't know anything about it. The conclusion to this week is don't get so concerned about what the decision is as to what the decision can accomplish.
Speaker 1 00:36:43 If the glory of God is your ultimate goal, make a decision, work through the list and give it to the Lord. God does not chase people around that he loves. With a baseball bat, make a decision and you'll be amazed at the sovereign Romans one to 11, God, how powerful authority driven this powerful God who rules the universe can use any decision you make for his glory. Ultimately, you have to decide, will you be the kind of person who uses your life to worship him? And in light of that, we're going to read this verse backwards. You ever play your records backwards? You go. You ever see? Yeah. No. All the young people are going, I, I don't know what he's talking about, but the older people are going, yeah, I remember that. So we're gonna read this verse, Romans 12, two to one because I think it's good backwards and it's good forwards. But in this case, listen to this. Don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That by testing you can discern what is the will of God, what is good, what is acceptable, what is perfect. So I appeal to you. I beg you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Speaker 1 00:38:26 This is how we live the glory of God On a daily basis, followers of Jesus can discern God's will to the extent they're surrendered, and they can live lives of worship that go from the walls of the church to every part of their lives. Few. So what's for you? Number one, I must remember my heart fights against surrender. How many of us like to surrender? <laugh> liars. How many of you're married? <laugh>? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love to surrender to my wife Craig. I don't know what you're talking about. Okay. Uh, used to do a marriage conference, um, or go to a 12 step program. Um, so how many of us like to surrender? None of us.
Speaker 1 00:39:14 We are prone to confirmation bias. What we are prone to do is when we test to discern, we are prone to see what we wanna see and not surrender our test. Our tendency is to test, to justify our own desires. We find no difficulty in conforming. It's the transforming. That's the difficult part. We need God's help. And here's the good news. As a follower of Jesus Christ, you have the help of God. You have prayer awareness of scripture, seeking the Holy Spirit's direction. You, you can know God's good and perfect will for your life. But if you start the process without a surrendered heart, you're gonna come up with the same solution you had going into it.
Speaker 1 00:39:58 You gotta come to God. Open-handed tests don't matter if you're not actually surrendered. Here are three points. What it looks for like to have a surrendered heart. Number one, the glory of God is paramount. That is the most important thing for my life. If that's not at the top of the list, you've already got your clenched fists clenched. Number two, the foundation of all my comfort is my peace with God. I don't care if it puts me out of my comfort zone. My goal is to have the peace of God that brings me comfort. Number three, I see all of life as an extension of God's purposes being carried out in the world. I think I want the glory of God. I say I want the glory of God, but my commitment to the glory of God is found in my willingness to surrender. Number two, I can be sure what God's path is for me.
Speaker 1 00:40:50 Can you be sure of what God's will is for your life? Can you be sure of what God's wants are for your life? What are you thinking about marrying this person or that person going to this school or that school smoking marijuana or doing the, the gummies or whatever it is you're gonna do? How do you decide what you're supposed to do in this changing world? Can you know for sure church? Yes you can. In fact, you can know it boldly. One Corinthians two 14 says this, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God. They're foolishness to him. He's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. But you know what? Verse 15 and 16 says, the spiritual person judges all things because we have the mind of Christ. That's crazy. But what that means is you can judge what you should do based on any circumstance that comes your way. Any, any situation, because Christ's mind is working in you. How do I grow in discernment?
Speaker 1 00:41:52 Now, number one, the more knowledge you have, the greater chance you have of making being a good discerner, you gotta know who Jesus is. You gotta know who God is. You gotta know scripture and you'll be a better discerner. It builds my trust in this powerful God. Romans one to 11 comes becomes before Romans 12 for a reason. Get to know this powerful God. Number two, the more humility you have, the greater chance you have of being a good discerner, you gotta have humility. Go into it with open hands. Maybe you're wrong <laugh>. Maybe you're not, but usually you are. The more humility you have, the greater chance you have of being a good discerner. It acknowledges your place. And number three, the more love you have, the greater chance you have of loving, of, of, of being a good discerner, because that reveals your heart. What do you love? Do you love what God loves in the way that God loves more? You do that, the more you'll discern. Well. Number three, last one. Take heart. Take heart. Church. God's will is being done all around you. Sometimes we think this world is going to hell in a hand baskets and probably is. Sometimes we may look at me. You may say, God doesn't seem like he's in control, and that's a lie from the devil. But it sure seems like truth.
Speaker 1 00:43:04 You look at all stuff that's happening around you, and all you do is fret and you think, oh, my kids are gonna just be that messed up. 'cause I didn't have to face all these things. Giving God his rightful place in his sovereign authority requires us to respond with absolute trust. I trust God to accomplish his will. The evil in this world cannot thwart God's plans. God never wakes up one morning and goes, ah, didn't see that coming. The evil in this world can never thwart God's plans. God wins every time. Proverbs 1921. Many are the plans of the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand in God's sovereignty. God gets what God wants, and in the end, God wins. It's not God's will for us to live anxiously about the world's direction around us. It's not God's will for us to live anxiously at all. That's Satan's D deal. God doesn't want you to be anxious about whether or not you're making the right decision or the world's falling apart. Paul knows this is an ongoing challenge for us. And so through Paul, God gives us encouragement in Philippians four, six to nine. Listen to this. Don't be, in fact, it's so good. Why don't you read it? Don't be anxious about, can I be anxious about anything? Can I be anxious about some things? It's pretty blatant, right? I didn't write it by the way. I'm just stealing it. Don't be anxious about
Speaker 4 00:44:44 Anything.
Speaker 1 00:44:45 That's pretty blatant. Satan can make you impotent if he can make you anxious. God says, don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Ay, don't forget to give thanks. Let your request be made known to God. And verse seven says, this is where I need you to help me with it. Here we go. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. My two oldest moved away from home. One went to LA and one went into Atlanta, and they found places to live. Do you know LA and Atlanta
Speaker 4 00:45:33 <laugh>?
Speaker 1 00:45:35 So I said, where? Where are you living? And they said, oh, it's safe. It's good. All right. Are there gates? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's gated community. Okay. Okay, we're halfway there. That's good. Do you know God promises that his peace will guard your heart and your mind. His peace is posted to guard so that anxiousness doesn't break through and you have peace in its place. Let your mind be transformed. Learn to love and dwell on godly things, not on evil things. Let the God of peace, not the God of anxiousness rule in your life. Train your mind to love what God loves in the way that He loves. And you'll find it easier to determine what God wants you to do tomorrow and the next day and the next day. This is the pathway that God's will gets done in this planet through us giving him this path in our own lives. But take heart, his plan will be done regardless of whether you want to jump on board. His plan will always be done. The good news is he invites you to be a part of what He is doing. Let's pray. Father God, we are grateful that you've called us, those of us that follow you to be able to test and discern your will. Sometimes we get so anxious about what we should do if we're making the right decisions or the wrong decisions. I'm grateful. Father, you've given us Romans 12, one and two, and that Romans one to 11 precedes it, telling us how great you are
Speaker 1 00:47:19 And that you want us to be on your side.
Speaker 1 00:47:22 Thank you. That we can surrender our bodies so that your will can be done through our lives. And I pray, father, as we, as we consider what we've heard, that if there's somebody here and they've been using their bodies and their mind in a way to get their wants and not your wants, would you hammer their hearts with, with with only the spiritual sledgehammer that the Holy Spirit has? And may you break through that surface that that wall that they've created and let them know that they're not damaged goods. They have a hiccup, they have sin that needs to be confessed, but they can be brought back like the prodigal and be family again. Thank you Father, that you allow us to participate in what you're doing in this world. May we test and discern so that we do that really well? May your glory be our paramount goal. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
