Discovering God's Will — Proverbs 15-16

0:00 Yeah. Thank you, Andy. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

0:04 Alright. Good morning. Alright. We're we're so glad to be here. This year, we have, two young men that are graduating, and we're we're very very happy for them, very excited for them for what god has for their future.

0:19 We have seen them grow up here, and how excited can we be about it. Right? Now they're gonna give each a little speech to talk about what god is doing in their life but before we do that, let's pray, alright? Father, we are so grateful for the lord Jesus and we're so grateful for the Bible as we were singing ancient words ever true. Hopefully, god's word is still transforming us and and renewing us and thank you that god's word led us to salvation.

0:50 We thank you for Jeremy and Mason. Bless them, Lord. Bless their plans, and we're looking forward to hearing what you have to say through them. We commit them to you. In Christ's name, amen.

1:01 Well, they were doing the rock, scissors, or whatever you do that to determine who's gonna go first and I think Mason won out. So, where where's Mason? Come on, Mason. He's gonna go first. The will of god at this particular stage in life, the the question is always, what is God's will?

1:22 What what what do I do? What does God want? And so I'm gonna make it easy for you. Here it is. Very good.

1:29 Okay. So if for for all of us, here you go, discovering God's will. My Jama Carta, I like to put it, when a person is saved, sanctified, submissive, suffering, and thankful, he is already in god's will. So, how do you like that one? And I I added on the bottom there and praying and praying.

1:50 So the the the main thing is what is God's will for my life? For you to be saved. Well, what did he say? What does it matter if you gain the world and lose your soul, right? So, the most important thing, number one, which y'all gave clear testimony to and I praise god for that is that you're saved.

2:08 Secondly, sanctified. This is an ongoing process, right? Where god set us apart for himself but we're also allowing the holy spirit to sanctify us. Alright? So, submissive, submissive to his word, to his will, right?

2:22 You're you're bending to him. God, what do you want from me? Suffering. Yeah. I didn't think we were gonna throw that one in there.

2:28 Right? But especially now, as things are going worse, pretty soon, you're gonna start suffering more and more for your faith, for your testimony. They're gonna laugh at you more. You're gonna become the enemy because of the way the trends are going and the culture's going. So, yeah, suffering and thankful.

2:47 Lord, I thank you. Whatever comes in life, we thank you, we praise you, then we're already in god's will and then we're praying constantly, of course, right? We are praying. Now, not that one, this one. Yeah, I think one of you all read this.

3:03 Proverbs sixteen one, we can make our own plans but the Lord gives the right answer. And all of us are always making plans. Isn't that true? We're thinking about the future. And so, I like the way the ESV puts it, the plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the lord.

3:24 And then six two says, all the ways of a man are clean in his own sight but the lord weighs, examines his motives. And so basically what he's saying is, we have dreams, plans, ambitions, and and we're we're trying to plan things out and so we lay out a plan. We all do that, right? Hopefully, then, what god does is he looks into our heart and he checks the motives and so he goes, well, that's a good plan but your motives are kinda not really for for for what I want and and so, I'm examining your heart and I'm looking at your motives. So, this all plays into how to discover god's will.

4:08 God knows the motives behind our decision making. Sometimes he says, good job. I agree. Sometimes he'll say, well, we need to tweak him a little bit. Now, look at Proverbs sixteen three.

4:39 Total trust and submission to his will. So, you say, lord, here's my plans, here's my thought, here's what's in my heart. I put it upon you so that you can bless it and it needs to be tweaked, then, let me know and we're submissive to that. We roll our plans. We commit our plans to the lord.

4:59 Then, sixteen nine, the man, the mind of a man plans his way. You know, we make our plans but the lord directs our steps. So, we have this dynamic in that we are intelligent, independent people who make plans but then we have our god, our sovereign god who creates us and he has a plan for our lives and so you're making your plans and in our mind, we're thinking them out but the lord directs our steps. Let's let's connect that real quick. Let's unfold this a little bit.

5:35 Alright. So, MacArthur, the sovereign god overrules the plans of man to fulfill his purposes. Of course, because we know god and we know his heart, we know that his plans are always the best. Amen? They're never going to be wrong.

5:52 So, let's look at it this way. A a small boat. This is your individual life. You make plans. Then, god moves the current to direct your boat where he wants it to end up, right?

6:04 So, there's a boat, you're in it, you're making all these plans, and god says, well, that's a good plan but I kinda want you over here. So, he'll move you towards where he wants you and eventually, all of us end up doing god's will. He directs our steps that way. Right? He sovereignly overrules because he knows what he wants from us.

6:28 He knows how he wants to use us where we're gonna best glorify him. So this includes couples making their plans, dreaming about the future, college students planning their career and thinking about a future spouse, parents planning for the future of their children, and adults planning for retirement. What is your will, god? Direct my life. I like Isaiah 4,610, my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.

7:01 Wow. So, god is going to accomplish his pleasure, his will but it's always good. Notice it said his good pleasure. Now, sixteen thirty three, Proverbs sixteen thirty three, the lot is cast into the lap but if every decision is from the lord. New Living Translation, we may throw the dice but the lord determines how they fall.

7:27 Alright? So, I can guarantee you, we get some of you who are in their forties and fifties and sixties. Did you know that you were gonna be where you're at right now? When you were 18 to 20? I had no clue.

7:42 I don't even know how I got here, but here I am. Alright? Here I am. Was it just luck? No.

7:50 God sovereignly directed us and has us here. No one is here by accident. You're here to be a blessing and to serve God and to do his plan. Amen? Amen.

8:09 Alright, Proverbs nineteen twenty one. Many are the plans in a man's heart but but the council of the lord, it will stand. So, there it is again. The Bible's consistently teaching us this, that there's plans in your mind that we make plans in our hearts, that we make just overall plans, and the lord directs our plans to fall into his overall plan which is perfect. You can make many plans but the lord's purpose will prevail.

8:42 The New Living Translation. Vance Havner, he's a preacher that passed away already but this is what he said. I thank god for the unseen hand. Sometimes, urging me onward, sometimes holding me back, sometimes with the caress of approval, sometimes with a stroke of reproof, sometimes correcting, sometimes comforting. My times are in his hands.

9:08 Wow, I thought that was some great insight into understanding god's will. Proverbs twenty twenty four, man steps are ordained by the lord. How then can a man understand his way? The New Living Translation again saves us or saves me many times because it's basically a translation using more modern words. The lord directs our steps.

9:30 So, why try to understand everything along the way? Many times as we just are going through life, we're a little confused as to exactly what god wants. Just submit to him and keep going and he'll make it clear down the line. Ryrie, god's sovereignty over man's ways is beyond our full comprehension. So maybe that'll bring a little comfort to you if you're wondering how you ended up here.

10:01 Alright. Vance Havner, one more time. The unseen hand may be obscured at times by the fogs of circumstances, but just because we can't see the sun on a cloudy day doesn't mean that it isn't there. So, god is always supervising our lives to bless us and he has that plan that he wants us to be in. His plan.

10:26 His plan. Deuteronomy twenty nine twenty nine. I love the way he puts it here. The secret things belong to the lord our god but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever that we may observe all the words of the law and so basically, we're saying is god has a lot of things he's not gonna reveal to us but what he has revealed, we should go ahead and obey and do what he has revealed to us. That is our blessing.

10:54 What is revealed in the word of god? Let's do it. In other words, let's obey it. Let's follow it. Verse Proverbs 2,130, there is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel against the lord.

11:08 Wow. And so, we don't even realize that sometimes that we're fighting his will and he's got his counsel. He's got his plan and again, he's directing us back to it. Back to it because that's the place of blessing. No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the lord.

11:31 And Proverbs twenty one thirty one kinda gives us an example of what he means by that. The horses prepared for the day of battle but the victory belongs to the lord. Alright. So, there's a lot of battles in history that don't make sense. How did the Greeks defeat the the the Persians when they had the massive army that were it was like three or one.

11:57 And they were totally overwhelmed in size and yet somehow the Greeks won. But we know as we look at scripture that god had already determined that the Greeks were gonna win. And they did. That was god's plan. It doesn't make sense.

12:12 Now, the battle of Midway, how did the Americans beat the Japanese navy? They were they were totally outnumbered, 10 to one. It didn't make sense that they won that battle. And yet we can see that it was God's hand. And thus here we are now because The US won that battle.

12:53 Seek it from them. Ask them questions. What did you do? How should I do this? Let's pray together.

12:58 Let's let's seek God's will. I don't know how to make this decision. That's why all of these guys can bless you. I've been blessed by these guys here. So without consultation, our plans are frustrated.

13:12 Alright. So let me go back to number one. Alright. The person who is safe, sanctified, submissive, suffering, thankful, and praying is already in god's will. Alright?

13:28 So, guys, little thought for you. Polydescent will help you as you are trying to discover God's plan for your life. Alright? So now, Roger is gonna bring you up and we're gonna pray for you and commit you to the Lord. So...