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Understanding the will of God p.2 – Initiate a Scripturally Based Plan
Transcript
1 Corinthians chapter 16, let’s pick up where we left off this morning. We’re talking about understanding the will of God. What I believe is going to be three messages. This morning we talked about the first part, which is Becoming a Spirit Filled Person. If you’re going to understand the will of God, I believe there’s three separate parts you need to understand and the first one is that you need to become a Spirit filled person. Now at the end of that message we summarized the whole message and we talked about how that God’s will is for each one of us to live the spirit filled life, to walk in the Spirit. And as you’re walking in the Spirit, that means you’re dealing with sin as God exposes sin, you’re yielding to the Lord, you’re honoring the Lord and your decisions, the best you understand it. Now by the way, the Spirit filled life doesn’t mean a sinless life, now if you live the Spirit filled life you will sin less. But its not sinless. But what happens is when sin does find its way into your life, it doesn’t camp there, its not allowed to settle there, you deal with sin the way a Spirit filled person would deal with it. You get honest about it, you admit it, you confess it and you forsake it and you turn from it. And you go on with your life.
So we talked about how as you’re walking the spirit filled life, that the Holy Spirit is increasingly revealing to you the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen this thing of Christianity is about a relationship. Its about knowing a person. And even though I like to train and I like to teach and I like to lay out one, two, threes, but, but, but folks, this a relationship. And as you walk in the spirit its just not so you might get ahead or its not so that you might be successful, or so that the elders don’t get on you or something, folks, you walk in the spirit so that you might know him. Because the Spirit is equal to Him, and the Spirit’s going to lead you into holiness, because He’s holy. The spirit’s going to lead you into righteous living because he’s righteous, and the only way you can fellowship with him is walk in holiness and walk in righteousness. So all this is to the end of the relationship. So as you increasingly walk in the Spirit, and that’s God’s will, you will increasingly know Jesus. As you increasingly know Jesus, you will increasingly love Jesus. To know him is to love him. He’ll become more sweet to you every day, more precious to you every day, more wonderful to you every day, more valuable to you every day. As you walk in the Spirit, you will increasingly know him, as you increasingly know him, you will increasingly love him, and as you increasingly love him, he will become your joy. He’ll be the joy of your life, the source of your joy.
Other things come and go in our lives, and its proper to say, even biblical to say, that that brought me joy or that brought me joy, those things may bring us joy, but those things are not our joy. Remember what I told you this morning on our hearts, on the foundation stone of our heart should be inscribed the words, my joy is Jesus. Folks, that’s the will of God, that must be there. Everything else you try to seek, find, accomplish, plan, participate in, that you think might be the will of God, if you’re not serious about walking in the Spirit, knowing him, therefore loving him, and him being a joy, you’ll not find the will of God. It will not happen, it cannot happen. Because he’s not interested in you arriving somewhere, he’s not interested in your being, or going somewhere, or arriving in a place, of accomplishing a feat nearly as much as he is interested in you knowing him, and fellowshipping with him. Everything springs out of that foundation stone.
So this morning we talked about becoming a Spirit filled person. That that is the will of God. Now let’s go a step further and maybe a little more practical as far as everyday decisions in life goes, and that is the second part of understanding the will of God and that is Initiate a Scripturally Based Plan. Initiate a scripturally based plan. Now I said in this morning’s service, several times, that if you’re living the Spirit filled life then God’s will for you is to do what you desire to do. What do you want to do. If you’re truly walking in the Spirit, you can do what you want to do and be in God’s will. But now there are some other components that you need to consider.
Now let’s look at our text again, 100 percent in line with what Paul lays out as an example, 1 Corinthians 16, I’ll read it and then we’ll look at it and look at Paul’s example as he initiates a scripturally based plan. 1 Corinthians 16, beginning in verse 5. Paul writing to the church at Corinth says, “But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia; and perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go. For I do not wish to see you now just in passing; for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits. But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”
Now still by way of introduction, let me just talk about this in a broad and general way. That is taking the initiative, going for it, doing something, and making sure its a scripturally based plan you’re about to execute. Now that’s exactly what we see the apostle Paul doing here.
First of all he is initiating a plan, is he not. Look at his plan again, beginning in verse 5, here’s his plan, I’m going through Macedonia, but on my way to Macedonia, I’m not stopping in Corinth—but on the way back through or from Macedonia, I am going to stop in Corinth. verse 6, when I do stop, I’m not just going to stop a little while, my plan is to stay there for a season, even all winter, and then maybe you can send me on my way, which means he has planned to take up an offering for his ministry when he stops in Corinth. And then in verse 8 he says, but by the way, right now until I do any of that, I’m going to stay in Ephesus, because my plan is to preach the gospel here and to strengthen believers in Ephesus at least through Pentecost. And then in verse 9 he gives an explanation of why he believes he ought to stay until Pentecost, there’s a wide door for effective service and there are many adversaries.
So Paul definitely was initiating a plan. But let’s notice how scriptural it is. First of all, what was an Apostle to do, what were the instructions of the Lord to God’s called Apostles. Well, Matthew 28:18-20 was chiefly given to the Apostles, given to all believers, but chiefly specifically to those early church Apostles, where he said “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”. So as Paul says, I’m going to go check out Macedonia, and I’m going to stay in Ephesus and minister there for a while, then I’m going to check Macedonia, then I’m going to Corinth, what’s he doing. He’s going to all the nations, that’s scriptural. You see he has a scriptural base for what he’s about. As a matter of fact, Matthew 28:18-20 goes on, after you make them disciples, “baptize them and then teach them to observe all things that I’ve commanded you”. That means to train them, equip them, disciple them. And you notice in Paul’s journeys and in Paul’s epistles, what’s he doing. He’s following up on, he’s training, maturing, and discipling the people who he recently led to faith in Christ. So as he’s going back to Macedonia, as he’s hanging around presently in Ephesus, as he plans later to stay in Corinth, what is he doing, he’s teaching them to observe all things whatsoever Jesus commanded. Its scriptural what he’s doing. And presently he sees God’s really opened a wide door as revealed in verse 9, a wide door for effective service there in Ephesus, so he thinks, well, this must be God’s will for me to stay in Ephesus at least until Pentecost to keep winning the lost and keep discipling and maturing the saved. So I just want you to see, Paul’s initiating a plan, but its very scripturally based, he has real clear biblical criterion for what he’s about and what he’s doing and what he’s initiating.
Now, you’re not an Apostle, most of you are not even in the ministry as far as the way we define full time Christian ministry, but nevertheless, the principle holds true for all of us. I have had a couple of families approach me in the last twelve months or so and tell me in so many words, brother Jeff, God’s really blessed us in so many ways, and if things continue the way that they are, by the time I get to be a senior adult, by the time I die, I’ll have a large amount of wealth. And we just feel that God’s led us to leave a substantial portion of that wealth to the Lord’s work at First Baptist Muscle Shoals. Well, I shouted, praised God, ran around, you know, just had a fit for a while, thank God for it. But I got to thinking about that while I was studying this message. And I thought you know, they’re taking the initiative to do something, and its very scriptural what they’re doing. I’m not saying everybody’s suppose to do that or has to do that, but that’s what they are doing. They are taking the initiative, and its very biblical. For example, if God’s blessed you with wealth, what better thing can you do with it than spread the gospel. And if you’re going to give your wealth to spread the gospel, God’s method is through godly, Bible based, missions based, local churches. If you are already a member of this church, that’s a good place to start, amen. Now I need you to join me in prayer that these men would soon die. I’m teasing, I kind of like having them around. As a matter of fact, I believe they love the Lord and they’re good additions to our church. But nevertheless, it just came to my mind, what a very simple, very practical way for them to say hey, best I understand, that’s fully biblical and they’re initiating to get all that set up.
And there’s a thousand and one, a million and one applications from one life to another. Now I’m not just mentioning these families because they happen to have money, nobody else has approached me about initiating this kind of plan. Most of the rest of you are like me, you just hope you got enough to eat on when you retire. But some others have been blessed in different ways. A man came this last week and said brother Jeff, at me, in my office, at my business—and he’s in higher management there at that particular business—he said, “I’m responsible for putting together a mission or a vision statement for our company”. And he said, “you know, but before I could put a mission statement together, I thought there need to be some core values of what this company believes in and what this company stands for”. And you know he showed me those core values, and he said, “I want you to read these and give me your insights, critique them, check them out”. You know as i read those core values, he doesn’t quote scripture, he doesn’t use the name of Jesus, but they are all biblical values. So what are we seeing. As he progresses in his certain area of responsibility, as he initiates a plan, he’s making sure as far as possible, he’s biblical in what he’s doing. And my friend, when you’re walking with God and you’re filled with the Holy Spirit and its your purpose and the pattern of your life to live filled with the Holy Spirit, you can do what you desire and just check it out with scripture and take the initiative. And go for it. And of course there are many of you sitting there now and as I’m talking, the Holy Spirit of God is bringing to your mind this plan after that plan, after another plan after another plan, where God just led you and you sensed this is the right direction and you sense it, its clear with the word of God, and you took the initiative on it. And that’s what God wants you to do. He wants to, you to initiate a scripturally based plan for your life.
Now, I want to give you six things about how to initiate a scripturally based plan. Six different things concerning how to initiate a scripturally based plan. Now, I am not talking about the small everyday decisions, alright. I’m not even talking about most weekly or even monthly type decisions that you have to make. Folks, in those decisions, you’ve got to have your quiet time, you’ve got to have the word of God in you, you’ve got to be walking in the Spirit and just do what you sense is God’s will. Do what you desire if you’re walking in the Spirit. But there are some major decisions. Some major plans, where these six things will be I think very, very essential. Now I’m not saying absolutely every major decision has to have all six steps involved. But I would try it, I would purpose to do it, if at all possible.
Number one, pray. You need to get in the word of God and pray. Now, here’s, here’s, I want to tell you something. Even at this point, you’re suppose to already be purposing to walk in the Spirit or you’ll never know the will of God, cause that is the will of God. You’re walking in the Spirit, you’re about to initiate some practical plan, whether its to move here or work there, or go to school here, or court this particular person, if you’re a young person, whatever it may be, first of all you need to pray. Now listen, 90 percent of your prayers should still be God help me to live the Spirit filled life today. Are you listening to me? Ninety percent of that prayer should still be, God help me to walk with you, to live humbly before you, to call sin what you call sin, to honor what you honor, to make your priorities my priorities, in my life today. You see, so many of us want to put God on the shelf right now, then go over here say now God, what’s your will way over yonder for that. God says, no you get it settled right here and over yonder will take care of itself. Spend 90 percent of your prayer time still saying, God, help me to be a man of God, God help me to honor you, help me to live that Spirit filled life. But only ten percent asking God about that specific plan that you think you need to initiate. Now I might have my percentages wrong, it might be 89 percent, 11 percent, you know, but I think you understand what I’m talking about. How often we’ve seen folks get out of balance here and miss the Lord. They begin to get slack on their quiet time, slack on memorizing and meditating on scripture, slack on being in church, they go, get over here and say, wonder what God’s will is for this next business venture. Wonder what God’s will is for me moving to that other town or taking that other job, you’ve got to get back over here and walk in the spirit again. Spend the major part of your time there in prayer and the minor part in thinking about that particular plan that you’re purposing to initiate. I’m not saying don’t pray about it, just don’t make it the majority of your prayer. Here’s a little statement that I wrote down while I was meditating on this: do you want to know God’s will, or if God will give you your will? Do you want to know God’s will, or are you just really wanting to know, will God give me my will? And we’re going to look at this a little more later, but when you’re walking filled with the Spirit, his desires become your desires. And its not an arm twisting thing, you just start having the heart he has, you start having the mind he has, you start having the priorities he has. And that’s God’s will. So pray.
Number two, search the scriptures. Search the scriptures, and that’s obvious, because that’s our major heading. We’re talking about a scripturally based plan but search the scriptures to see if there’s any specific, practical instructions concerning that particular decision that you’re trying to make. Now for young people talking about a life partner, or that guy you want to have a Christian guy-girl relationship or that girl of things, there is some real clear scripture on that. And businessmen, there’s some things that Christians ought not to be involved in that the Bible condemns and forbids. So there’s some scripture on that. But you know I got saved at age 19 and I did not grow up in church and there’s some very obvious clear things in the word that I didn’t know about. And there were times that I was living filled with the Spirit, but I was still ignorant, I hadn’t had time to read all the Bible, much less understand it all. So when you’re about to initiate a major plan, you need to dig in the word of God. Maybe you can go to the leader of your small group Bible study, tell them about what you’re thinking about, taking the initiative on. And ask them, hey, do you know any scripture that would pertain or apply in this particular area. Go to a ministerial staff member and say listen, I need I need to know if there’s any any teaching in the word of God on this particular area.
As I was thinking on this, one particular example came to my mind so prominently and that is that back when I did a lot of counseling—as a matter of fact, one time counseling took up a big bulk of my work week, and we have a conviction here that our men don’t counsel with ladies more than one time if a lady comes in, the door is always cracked open, we counsel one time—but i’ve had a number of ladies over the years to come and these are ladies who had lost husbands, unsaved husbands. And just about all of the ladies who came in had already initiated a plan to reach their husband. Some were going to nag him into the kingdom of God. Just nag him into it, preach him into it, coax him into it, bribe him into the kingdom of God, and listen, their motives were pure, I believe most of these ladies were Spirit filled ladies, they were doing the best they understood to do, but it just so happens there is some very clear scripture on how to win your husband if he’s not a believer. 1 Peter chapter 3, and I would tell those ladies, you go home and you take 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 1-7, and I would tell them, you memorize that text so thoroughly that if I called you at two o’clock in the morning, and you sat straight up in the bed, you could quote it backwards word perfect. You pour that particular truth into your heart and your soul.
And the crux of that whole passage is that a wife can win her husband without a word. By her chaste and respectful behavior. And a wife has to get that scripture in her heart and her mind like we talked about this morning, she’s transforming her mind, she’s not thinking toward winning her husband the way the humanists think about it. The way the feminists would say think about it. She’s beginning to think toward her lost husband the way the word of God says to think about it. She gets the word of God in her heart and her mind and pretty soon she’s honoring him, she’s submitting to him, she’s respecting his leadership and his authority, even though he don’t deserve it, she’s doing it, because she’s honoring the position of husband, not the performance of her husband. And wise lady, or a wise anyone under someone’s authority learns to honor the position, not the performance. And I saw two or three men just during the song service that I know you’ve been won to Christ and part of the major reason was your wife learning that scriptural passage.
Had a lady come in my office said, “my husband’s not saved, he don’t want to come to church much, you know he’s one of these guys, kind of hit and miss, Sunday morning saint”. You know, good Baptist. She said “he’s not saved. He don’t do the things of God. What am I going to do?” She wasn’t familiar with first Peter three. And I showed her 1 Peter 3 and she did what I said. She began to model that truth before her husband. It wasn’t long till I was baptizing her husband in the baptistry. God saved him. He got on fire for God wanted to be in church. Every time the door is open. He decided it was God’s will for them to bring a tithe and then to bring offerings over the tithe.
Then you know what happened. Then she got in the flesh. She thought, well, Lord help, I didn’t want him to get this zealous and fanatical. But listen. So check it out with the Word of God. See if there’s some biblical teaching that applies in that area. My friend, listen to me. If it violates Scripture, it is not the will of God, and it will not be blessed by God.
And you may go ahead with it. And it may seem like it’s something that prospers and something that’s blessed. But listen to me. If you violate a scripture, it’ll just grow to be a great curse to you. If you’re in business ventures as a man of God and some of your business clearly violates Scripture, I’m going to tell you, God may have blessed it in the past, but it’ll come back to be a curse to you.
Check it out with the Word of God. And that’s again, you may be Spirit filled, your heart may be pure, but you just need to get in the Word of God. Look at it right quick. Ephesians chapter six, verses five and six. Ephesians 6:5-6. Here’s the example of slaves. And remember in the New Testament they not all slaves were bond slaves. Some were more like our employees. But anyway, employees, slaves, whomever should should honor those in authority over them according to the word of God. So Paul said in Ephesians six five, “slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not by way of I service or men pleasers” don’t just do what’s right when folks see you, and they’ll give you credit for it. “Not by way of I service as men pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart”. What’s the principle there? There’s only one way you’re going to genuinely, with a zeal in your heart, want to go to the Word of God and really check out is this plan I’m about to initiate really honoring to the Word of God?
And that is if you want to do the will of God from the heart. If you want to do the will of God from the heart, it will not bother you to check it out with the word and to have some diligence about doing that. And that’s the way we ought to be. Number one pray. Number two, search the scriptures. Number three, seek the blessing of your God. Ordained authorities seek the blessing of God ordained authority. I don’t know who that may be for you. If your wife that’s first of all, is your husband. If you’re a man in this church, that next that first of all, for you would be the leadership of your church. If you’re a young person, that would be for you, your mom and dad.
God has structures of authority for society to function under. Have you ever wondered why when Satan tries to destroy destroy a culture, the first thing he does is bring disrespect for authority. If you notice that whether it’s children not respecting the parents, whether it’s wife not respecting authority, their husbands, whether it’s men not respecting the authority of church leadership, or whether it’s citizens not respecting the authority of government. All those are clear, emphatically taught biblical principles of authority.
So for key and major decisions, check it out with biblical authority, whoever it is for you, and you’re to go in there humbly understanding and trusting that God guides your life through the structures of authority that he set up on planet Earth. If you go to your biblical authority and you say, hey, this is what I’m planning to initiate, and they say, you know, I’m really troubled about that. This gives me a real concern. This gives me another real concern. Boy, you need to be cautious about that. I’m telling you, I’m the authority of the word of God. You are a double fool if you’re going with that. After the person or the people that God’s put over, you say there’s a real serious question mark about doing that and going in that direction.
I’ll never forget one of the first times I heard this principle taught the illustration that was shared. True story. A man had a small business, and 2 or 3 times, through his carelessness and his recklessness, he almost lost the business, and every time, against her husband’s blessing, the man’s wife would rush in, pull all the pieces together, fix up all the bills, and get the business back on its feet again.
Well, what this lady did not know was that her husband had started having a relationship with another woman, and the business was in trouble again. It was about to go under. Once again, against her husband’s wishes, she rushed in, took over the reins, took the authority, saved the business, but lost her husband. He left with that other woman and what God was actually doing was he was using the loss of the business to bring that man to his knees and get him out of that relationship.
Listen, you don’t have the mind of God. You don’t have the wisdom of God. Trust God’s principles. If you’re about to initiate a significant decision in your life, find out the best you can. Does it harmonize with biblical teaching? And does it have the blessing rather of my spiritual authorities?
Number four establish accountability in your life. Establish accountability. Man, if I’m about to make a major decision, if I’m about to to to enter relationship with a young lady, if I’m a single man and I’m praying to see if this is God’s will for my life, if I’m about to make a major decision about where I’m going to go to school, if I’m about to make a major decision about moving my family to another place to take a job, if I’m about to make a major decision about a business venture or an investment or anything of that situation, I want to make sure that I stay right with God as I execute that, as I initiate that, and as I carry out with that decision, because we can so easily fall back into the flesh and we can do things that we shouldn’t do.
How important accountability is. Proverbs 27:17 is the verse we put on our accountability notebooks. “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” And there’s been there are more a few men than more than a few women in this church sitting here right now. And you’ve made some major blunders in your Christian life that would have been and could have been stopped, prevented had you had accountability with somebody established in your life, had there been somebody that you’d given the freedom to check up on you regularly?
Hey, God designed us to function that way. God designed us to need that accountability. Who do you have in your life that has the freedom to check up on you, to make sure you continue to walk in the Spirit, and someone who can alert you to any violations of Scripture that slip into your life.
Wasn’t too long ago when a person spread some awful, awful things about me and said things that were just totally untrue and matter of fact, the things he wrote and said were true? You should have fired him as your pastor. But as I read with this man said about me, they were obviously untrue. Matter of fact, I had I witnesses that could prove 90% of it was totally untrue. And I took that sheet of paper and and got along with the Lord. And I want you to know, I answered every one of those things. I wrote out the exact truth and how things were distorted and just lied about and twisted to make it look a certain way when it was really right the opposite. And I had this long dissertation defending myself. But you know what? I’m so thankful I had accountability with a group of men called the Pastor’s Council, and I met with those men and we prayed together. They heard all of that spill, and they said, Brother Jeff, you know, we don’t know that it’s really wrong for you to defend yourself when you’ve been lied about the way you’ve been lied about. But they said, you know, your integrity and your reputation speaks for itself here. We don’t think you need to answer these things. And I said, really? They said, yeah, we don’t even think you ought to answer those things. Just go out and briefly state what the church’s position is and what it always has been, and then just go on. I’m telling you, I would have never done that had it not been for accountability with those men. I needed their objective insight before I took off with that plan. And I’m so grateful today for those men and the many times when they’ve taken what I’ve chosen to do, and they’ve been used to God to sharpen and critique and redirect and refocus what I’m about to do. Men, listen, ladies, listen. Establish some accountability with a man or woman of God that you can trust. And you know they’re mature enough in the Lord to correct you and you need it. Establish some accountability.
Number five seek wise counsel. Seek wise counsel. Now that could be the accountability person. But sometimes you’re about to partake our initiate a plan. And and the person you’re in accountability with has no wisdom in that particular area. Maybe it’s a business venture. Well, you want to find preferably man of God, but somebody that has a lot of experience in that area of business, if possible, and sit down with them and say, hey, check this thing out, look at this thing with me. And from an investment, our business perspective, what do you think about this? Try to find some wise counsel from someone who has wisdom in that area. Look at Proverbs 15:22, Proverbs 15, verse 22. Listen to what the the Solomon says in his wisdom: “Without consultation, plans are frustrated”. We’re talking about initiating a plan. But the Bible says if you don’t get consultation, your plans can be frustrated. “But with many counselors, they succeed.” Get wise counsel. Boy, that’s so important.
If I was a young man going into business, you know what I’d do? I’d find 5 or 8 business men in my church, had been in business 20, 30 years or more, and I’d buy them lunch. And I just picked the brain. I’d ask them questions and I’d pick their brain. I’d ask them questions and I’d quiz them about this and that. You men that have been in business 20 or 30 years, that wouldn’t bother you, would it? You’d be glad to take a younger man of God and just say, hey, here’s what I’ve learned. Here’s how you borrow money, here’s how you don’t do just all that stuff.
I’ve seen so many young men in business just blow it, just go belly up. And if they just saw some wise counsel, they could have avoided most of that. Some of you men sitting here right now, I believe God wants to advance you a lot further in the business world than you’ve advanced, and you just need some insight. I’m not talking about the tricks of the trade. I’m not talking about under the table stuff, just basic wisdom and counsel. And if you’ll get that kind of counsel, you’ll see your career advance and soar. That’s part of God’s plan.
Now, we know we don’t live for wealth and we don’t live for the things of this world. But nevertheless, God wants to bless some of you in that way so you can be a blessing with that. Seek some wise counsel.
Just this morning, I was standing here on the steps and one of our newer church members came up and he said, well, Jeff, I want to ask you something. He was seeking my council on something. He said, I know of a church and I’ve got some friends in it. And I walked in that church the other day, and there’s some things in the foyer area that really I thought were wrong, just wrong. There were things that shouldn’t be there. And he explained what the things were. And, you know, at first thought I agreed totally that it does sound like they shouldn’t be there, he said. So I was going to love my my brothers and sisters. I was going to correct them. I was going to reprove them. That’s what you’re supposed to do. We said, before I do that, I want to ask you about it. What do you think about it? And I thought about it a little bit. And in the process of our conversation, he brought up the illustration of Jesus cleansing the temple. When inappropriate activities were going on in the Jewish temple. Jesus went in and turned the tables over and ran out those money changers with a whip. The Bible says, cleaned house at God’s house. And I got to thinking about that. And you know, what those folks did in the Jewish temple was they would sell animals to the people who pilgrimage to Jerusalem, who were coming to obey God’s law and offer sacrifices of those animals. So it wasn’t really wrong to sell the animals to the pilgrims. It’s actually doing a good service to them. It was the fact that they were gouging people over charging people and just using that setting to become wealthy and to take advantage of others.
And so I told him, as we talked again about those things in that particular church foyer, I said, you know, if their hearts are right in their motives are pure, that might be okay. Then again, if their hearts are impure, the most are impure. It could be wrong, he said. You know, that’s exactly right. He said, boy, I’m glad I ask you first before I went and corrected them. Well, that’s just a small illustration happened this morning. Now, I don’t seek my wise counsel about a business deal, don’t know anything about business, but I know a little bit about churches. So he sought somebody in the area. He is about to initiate a plan in initiate and do something in seek wise counsel.
Now you’re ready for number six. Take the initiative. Take the initiative. You’re doing the best you can to be humble before God and walk in the Spirit. You’re spending most of your prayer time saying, God, keep me right. I’m the problem. Lord, make sure you keep me humble and keep me yielded. You’ve checked it out with the word best you can. Some things aren’t really clear in the word, but the best you understood. You checked it out with the word. You sought your biblical authority. You’ve got some accountability in your life to to check on you. You’ve sought wise counsel the best. You understood that there were people that could give you wise counsel.
And now, folks, if it’s the desire of your heart, do it. Go! Go for it. Don’t stay behind. Don’t sit and rest. Don’t wait for God to open door. Listen. You head out and trust. God’s going to open the door. Go for it, man. We need some Holy Ghost initiative in some of our lives. Matter of fact, all of these steps are actually played out as you’re heading forward for the glory of God. Are you with me? All six of these are to some degree a part of the process. You’re not sitting at home waiting for six months until you get something done. You should be sensing out of your Spirit filled walk that I’m going in this direction now. God, you stop me or redirect me. Here I go. And it could be along the process. Boom! You see a scripture you didn’t see before and you got to stop or change directions. Could be 1001 things, but you’re going, you’re taking the initiative.
Adoniram Judson is one of the patriarchal fathers of the modern missions movement, a man who actually became a Baptist after he left for the mission field Adoniram Judson was a godly man, I believe a man who walked in the Spirit, also a brilliant man. He graduated valedictorian from his graduating class at Brown University in 1807. Adoniram Judson had is the desire of his heart to share the gospel with the unreached lost heathen in the in the country of India. So he journeyed by ship a long journey, when all the way to Calcutta, India. But upon arriving there, with the desire of his heart to go into India, he found out they wouldn’t let him in the country. He couldn’t get into India. That didn’t deter him. He just bounced east with a couple of countries over to another major country called Burma, and there he was allowed to enter the country of Burma and preach the gospel for many, many years. And God gave him great success. And there are hundreds of thousands that know Jesus today because of Adoniram Judson.
But what’s the key ingredient? He took the initiative. You see, Adoniram Judson had the right direction. He just had the wrong city. But he’d never known if he didn’t take the initiative. We’re not sure where we’re going to land, and I’m going to talk about that sovereign steering of God down the right path next Sunday morning, Lord willing. But folks, take the initiative, you say the Spirit filled believer. He’s not one that stumbles around, mumbling around, trying to find out what God wants. He goes. He heads out.
Let me ask you something. How many times have you heard me pray a prayer? Something like this. Now, dear Lord, this is the best we understand scripture and the best we understand your will. This is where we ought to go. And that means we’re already going somewhere. All right. But I can tell you, as we’ve had a head out on all the different journeys I’ve led you to head out on, I want to tell you the place we arrived in. It all look like the place I was headed toward when I started. But it’s even better than what I thought. But we went. We took off.
Do you remember about seven years ago, me standing up here and preaching to you and praying with you about being in a church? They might impact the world for the glory of God, and we would have never fathomed in a hundred years we’d commit a half $1 million to missions, but we had to take the initiative. We had to go. We had to move out.
I’ll never forget hearing a Christian teacher one day at a men’s conference say a little thing. I’m not talking about leadership. He was talking about leadership, but he made this illustration. He said, there are two things that are essential in a leader. You take the initiative and you pay the price. When you stop taking the initiative and you stop paying the price, you stop being a leader. Well, there’s a lot of truth to that, but we need to take the initiative.
If you still desire to do it, go. Don’t sit on your blessed assurance and wait for some celestial crane to move you. Do something. Find a job. Go for it. Say I’ll be a group leader. I’ll be an outreach leader. I’ll take up the money in our small group. I’ll do it. Go for it. Take the initiative and it’ll blow your mind where you wind up. But you’ve got to be willing to go for it. Take the initiative. Do something. Man. If you’re a young person out here and you’re thinking, man, I want to marry a godly girl, call one up. That’s God. You sit at home being spiritual, you might not ever get a date or nothing else.
Go! Now listen as you go for it. Your spirit… I’m going to cover this next Sunday morning is the most exciting part of this whole thing. We’re going to cover this next Sunday morning, Lord willing. But as you’re going, you’re saying, “God, if you want to stop it. Hallelujah. That’s fine with me, because I ain’t going to marry somebody that you’re not telling me to marry. But I’m going to head out”. Are you saying to Brother Jeff, am I supposed to date somebody just because they’re pretty? No. Godly and pretty. Amen. Is that the desire of your heart? You know what I got? Faith. The Holy Spirit. Pam was still pretty to me, and I got filled with the Spirit. God didn’t say no. You got to find an ugly woman. No. Listen.
God, God’s not a cosmic killjoy. You’ve got to take the initiative on some things and let God the just and change and stop and start things. It’s just… Absolutely… It’s going to be so fun. Next Sunday morning when we talk about how how God sovereignly steers you on the right paths, but you first have to head toward something following those criteria.
Now, let me review them and I’ll close. Number one, pray and spend 90% of your time praying that God will help you stay filled with the Spirit, and only 10% on that particular plan.
Number two, see if there’s any scripture that applies. Look in the word best you can with some folks help.
Number three, go to those who are your biblical authorities and say, “do you see anything here that violate God’s Word?” Now, some of you men listen to me. Don’t you make a major decision before you go to somebody that’s over you and the Lord and say, “Pray with me about this.” And you tell me if you see things wrong because you want your your children to honor your authority, don’t you? But you don’t want them to honor your authority just because you want to be the warlord over them and control them. You want them to honor your authority because you know you can protect and guide them best, and God wants that for you.
Number four, establish some accountability in your life. Somebody that can check up on you and keep you walking in the Spirit, nudge you, encourage you to reprove you. If you get in the flesh, somebody can point out if you get a scriptural violation in your plan.
Number five seek wise counsel. Look for somebody that’s got expertise and wisdom in that particular area. Talk to them by them. Lunch. Spend some time with them.
Number six, do what you desire to do and watch what God does.
