Just Let God Lead Part 1

One with endurance the race that is looking to Jesus, founder and perfecter of our its blink parchment days ahead have no history. We don't know what's coming and that's why it makes a lot of sense to allow God to order our steps in reinserting weeks and months to come.

Today's broadcast Erwin Blitzer will help us do just that. The Moody Church in Chicago. This is with Dr. Irwin looks her whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line after loser help us shine a lamp on the road ahead. And you know, Dave. The good news is this, that even though we don't know the road ahead.

God does and that I think is so important as we enter a new year and I've always emphasized that when it comes to the will of God.

It is so important for us to respond to his word and then allow him to guide us and then we will have a sure guide and you know as we come to the end of the year, we often contemplate.

I know that Rebecca and I do one of those ministries that we should contribute to as the year comes to a close. I hope that you'll consider making running to win on your list and I trust that many of you will give a special gift. During this time of year. Here's what you can do and I hope that you have a pencil handy you can go to RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337 you can call at any time. 1-888-218-9337 and so is 2022 is just around the corner.

Let us contemplate his leading in an unknown future daughter Lisa has sent applications to a number of universities and schools she's being accepted by them. What's confusing to her is she does not know which one she should attend.

It has to do with this thing that we call God's will. The easier you know if you sent in three applications and were only accepted in one school, but when you got three or four or five and it becomes more difficult. Some of you don't know whether or not you should get married and you've been in a relationship and sometimes it's on. Sometimes it's often that's very normal. It's only as proof that you're very human problem is yours is been going on for seven years.

That's about time that you made up your mind. I would suggest, but you don't know God's will.

Write your given a job offer and it seems reasonable enough, and it's in the South where it's warmer and you'd like to go. You've got some relatives that live in the north. That's another reason why you think that it might be nice to go to the South, but you're not sure about God's will. You may have illness and you don't know what kind of medical treatment to have. After all we have so many options and you don't know what is God's will.

This elusive thing that we keep calling but will of God. Don't you wish that at the beginning of every year, God would send us a day timer with every day laid out.

You simply go through it and you flip through it and you know, day after day what it is you're supposed to do and it would be even better if every single appointment and every single decision that you have ever been asked to participate in would already be written out and then you could just do it the easier, but you know I think that God even as something better than that, though it does require some faith but oh how we wish that he would just come down from heaven and say this is what will of God but were going to talk about. That will today and I want to begin with five presuppositions that are going to govern everything that I have to say five presuppositions five underlying truths that will support everything else number one God is willing to guide us. God is willing to guide us. He really is willing to guide us. I know that that's hard to accept because we've all been in situations in which it is as if God has folded his hands in heaven, and says you've got four options I dare you to choose the right one.

I just area so it would like to do is to read his diary and get out a magnifying glass and see what the fine print has to say and would like to appear into the mysterious hidden resources and recesses of the Almighty's mind, but the will of God is a mystery that is wrapped in an enigma. We say to ourselves and and now were supposed to find it easier to find a needle in a haystack. Well, I want you to know today that God is willing to guide you. God is willing to guide that he's not playing hide and seek. He's not trying to play hard to get. He's not trying to be does not delight in our confusion, was Archbishop Tran who said that regarding prayer Jesus prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance but laying a hold of dogs highest willingness so get over this idea that God is reluctant to guide he is not reluctant to guide you. Second presupposition is that God is able to guide you to be one thing if he be willing but then he be incapable of doing it. God has so many different ways that he can guide us. That is just unbelievable.

He can close the door.

He can open a door, he can give you PC can give you unrest. He can lead you to people who give you ideas and people who can give you wisdom and he can be can work out all these things according to the counsel of his own will, in my experience, I've often been guided by God. Though I have been totally unconscious of it. I've been guided specifically by God. When I haven't even prayed for guidance. I was just doing what you're supposed to do in your guided by God because most of the will of God is that clear some of you heard the story before but I should tell at least every five years.

A year before I became the pastor of Moody church which now is 17 years ago I was coming here and drop my family off. We've never attended here before and you know the story of how that man I can still see him today with his hand in his pocket.

It was clear to me he was getting his keys out and Annie was walking across the street and I waited for him to get a parking space and he drove out and I backed in. Have you ever had the difficulty of finding a parking space not around Moody church.

Have you, don't you know that that's the will of God. Why don't you rejoice when that happens you say this is God.

This is proof that he wants me here. We usually think the opposite.

Don't buy but anyway then I came in and pastor where's be a saw me in the lobby. As I was trying to find my wife and kids because we've never been here before and he said I'm sick.

I'm on my way home. Will you preach for me this morning and I preach that morning. I've been preaching here almost every morning.

Ever since that was a very important piece in God's leadership and guidance. But I was unconscious of being guided I was just doing like everybody doesn't looking for a Parking Pl., God said I'm going to guide you. My life has had those kinds of eyes, spies, and yours has to my situation is not unique. You can look back and you can say yes God was there so I didn't know what I sometimes it felt like Jacob, I was in the presence of the Lord and didn't know what to second presupposition God has many different ways to guide us. He is capable of it. Third, God God's priority isn't first of all, our happiness, our happiness isn't his first priority. What is interested in is what is best for us and not necessarily what makes us the happiest. Now there's another way in which we could say that. Certainly there is no place to be as happy as within the will of God. But what I'm trying to say is that sometimes the will of God is very difficult sometimes the will of God involves suffering. Sometimes it involves death you think of the martyrs over there in first century Rome or in this century you find out that the will of God for them was to die young when they Jesus said to the disciples. He said I want you to get into this boat and I want you to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, were they in the will of God before they in the will of God. Would you like to have that kind of guidance Jesus talking to you and saying get in that boat and go across this. See couldn't get any clearer than that. Finally, you've got the guidance that you've always been looking for. It's the daytime or right and right smack in the middle of the will of God in obedience to Christ they encounter the greatest storm that they've ever experienced.

I want you to know today that just because you are having difficulties does not mean that you are outside of the will of God.

Just because you have a job you don't like doesn't mean that that isn't God's place for you. Moses had a job he didn't like for 40 years and was God's place for him just because you're struggling in your marriage.

That doesn't mean you married the wrong one. You see, sometimes in the will of God. There difficulties so it's not always easy not always easy.

Presupposition number four is a little more difficult to accept. And that is that ordinarily, ordinarily God does not show us his will until were willing to do it. That's the catch. Ordinarily God does not show us his will until were willing to do it using most of us look at the will of God.

This way we sable God so you have a will fine. Tell me what it is and I'll decide whether or not to do it we do it a little bit like we do it on a job search.

If you have a number of different options you know what you want to know is what the salary is you want to know what the benefits are.

You want to know what perks come along with it and you want to have them fax all that material to you and then you negotiate a little bit and you encircle some of this and sad like to have this changed and this changed and then they give you a final offer and you write back and say I don't think that I've had your best offer.

That's why we wish God would do it. Lord, show me your will and if I like it all. Do it and goddesses, no what you have to do is to do this a little differently.

You agree to do whatever I'm going to show you you sign on the dotted line and then you let me fill it in and that's the difficulty with us.

We don't like to do it that way.

But ordinarily God does not show us his will until we are willing to do it doesn't guide us unless we are willing to be guided first and finally the will of God is a lot clearer than most of us think we think that it is this mystery wrapped in an enigma actually so much of the will of God is clear it's only sometimes there is some big decisions.

True, where we wrestle with. But most of life is is very clear. In fact, the Bible has a lot to say about God's will.

And a lot of things are clearer than we would like to believe it's just that we struggle with giving up control of our lives. That's the problem there so much that is clear.

In fact, by the time this message is over, you'll know exactly what to do exactly, you won't be able to leave here today and say well you know he preached but he didn't tell us what to do today. You're going to find out exactly what to do and I don't want anybody coming up to me afterwards and saying you know it was a nice message but I don't know what to do know if this was a nice message then you know exactly what you're supposed to do all that you need to do is to get on with it. That's the agreement so you hang in for the next 15 or 20 minutes. The passage of Scripture that were going to look at is Matthew chapter 7 verse seven Jesus is in the middle of the sermon on the Mount, and someday I'm going to preach a message entitled the sermon on the amount that's before we have an offering, but this is the sermon on the Mount, Jesus is in the middle of it and he says these words and he's talking about prayer, but certainly this includes guidance is not what a lot of our prayers are all about his guidance, Christ says, ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that ask of receive it than he that seek find that to him, but not of the chill be opened very clear what Jesus says. First of all is. He says I want you always to learn to ask you and ask so those of you are confused with God's will because you don't know what to do. I begin by asking you. Have you asked that you have to ask for the right motive because you just can ask for anything you can't be like a schoolboy was heard praying after an exam, and he kept mumbling Tokyo Tokyo and some is it what are you praying about me is that I'm praying that God will make Tokyo the capital of France you know God doesn't answer all of our prayers even if they are absurd or silly or or just plain selfish.

James is he asking you receive not, because ye ask amiss that it might be consumed upon your own loss so you ask what you ask for wisdom you ask for guidance you asked for all those things that will make you holy that's what you ask for, and you ask for guidance. Now, in the Old Testament. David and Saul had a lot of interaction many differences between David and Saul to hold message. Actually, on how they handled crises in their lives, but one of the things about David is whenever he came across an important decision.

It says that David inquired of the Lord. Yesterday I took a concordance and I looked up inning of the word inquired discover that sometimes it is spelled with an eye and sometimes with any but David inquired of the Lord. David said that Laura shall I go to battle against the Philistines and the Lord said yes and then some of his advisors try to talk him out of it. And so it says in the inquired of the Lord a second time. Just wanted to get it straightened out in those days God spoke to David directly. You see, David actually heard words so that was a little different because God doesn't do it that way today because he has already given us enough of the word by the point is that David kept asking and Saul on the other hand, it only says once the soul inquired of the Lord and the Lord did not hear him because you see, Saul was living in disobedience. He was into his own agenda. He wanted God now to come along and to help him in his own rebellion and God didn't hear him so. Interestingly, the very next verse says that he went then, and he inquired of the sorceress member.

He went to the switch at an door and I thought yesterday as I was looking at that that that's a lot of reason why many people are into the New Age movement today. That's why so many people read the horror horror scopes and it's because they pray to God and they think will you know God is listening. God does not hear them. That's true they are not coming to God in the name of Christ, they are not coming to God on their own terms and so God is silent in the heavens are silent and so they turn to all of these other occult forms of guide which God incidentally abhors well what does it say it says ask why is it that we don't ask two reasons.

Number one, we think in advance that we know what the will of God is. I've often thought that I just thought will. This is the will of God. This seems like a reasonable decision and it turned out that it was quite unreasonable.

The other thing and I think that now were getting to the heart of the matter is the reason that we often do not ask is because we fear.

We fear that God is going to actually give us the answer that does not agree with who we really want to. We would rather not ask, what's the most important decision that you could ever make in life.

It is whether or not you become a Christian.

What is the second most important decision. It is with whom you marry. That's the second most important decision. Now it's interesting that in the process of time when you do some marriage counseling and you try to help couples solve their problems i.e. I sometimes ask them a question which you can ask unless you ask in the right way, unless you built a relationship and unless you have really gotten close to the situation because you don't want to just ask a question like this, but I sometimes ask people later on in reflection, did you really pray about your decision.

Did you ask and give God a good saying decent chance to break you up. See, unless you do that you're not really asking you're only pretending to ask. Here are some of the answers. As I remember them no, we didn't. I felt uneasy about it but I had invested so much in the relationship.

I couldn't back out there somebody else know I didn't ask because I assume that because she was a Christian it would work out all right.

And then here's the real winner here. Yes, I did ask I didn't have peace about the decision, but I prayed until I did. I want to tell you something today. Peace is only one part of the puzzle of the will of God. And if you really want to do something and you're determined to it.

You can pray your self into peace. Even the devil will give it to you if you want it bad enough.

I've seen people do some very foolish things because they had peace about it. They had disregarded some good counsel in and they throw it all out and they said well I have peace watch that piece because it's only one piece of the puzzle will my friend, this is a message that we need, especially as we contemplate a brand-new year seeking the will of God doing what is right. Following his way. You know frequently.

You've probably heard me say that running to win is in 20 different countries in three different languages but I need to emphasize. We'd like to expand this ministry with gods help and your support. We can be in other languages as well. Would you consider making a special gift as we come to this year and I hope that you have a pencil in your hand because I'd like to give you some information as to how you can connect with us here is what you can do. Go to RTW offer.com. As you might guess, RTW offer is all one word and then here's a phone number and you can call right away. 1-888-218-9337 now because this is so critical and we want to give as many people as possible an opportunity to be able to help us. I'm going to be giving you that contact info again, thank you. The new year is just around the corner and we believe that you are going to become a part of what God is doing through the ministry of running to win.

Here's the contact information. RTW offer.com that's RTW offer.com or you can call you can call right now 1-888-218-9337 it's time again for you to ask Pastor lutes or a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Today's question deals with the nature of God. Roger asks us. I don't fully understand the Trinity.

When Jesus was on the cross he said father why have you forsaken me. That shows me some separation between God the father and Jesus. If Jesus is God who was he praying to will Roger. I just can't believe it. You mean you don't understand the Trinity fully.

I want you to know that the best human minds have struggled to understand the Trinity and I can say confidently that there is no human being on planet Earth that fully understands the Trinity so Roger, you're in very good company. Couple of things. Yes, there is father son and Holy Spirit.

And when Jesus died on the cross and said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me there wasn't an ontological break in the Trinity and Roger.

That's a big word but what I mean to say is that it's not as if in the essence of the Trinity. There was some kind of a break but there was a break in fellowship between the father and the son. Because Jesus became sin for us and the father and his fellowship was removed from Jesus that much seems to be clear, but we need to grasp the fact that when Jesus prayed, he prayed to the father.

Yes he was God. But you have also God the father, he prayed to the father then you also have been Scripture, the deity of the Holy Spirit and by the way, because of the Trinity, God was able to have fellowship long before the worlds were created, God was fully satisfied with himself and within himself and yet at the same time as we think about the Trinity. We need to keep in mind that Jesus made it clear that the three persons are equal, and I think that's why he said in the baptismal formula go into all the world and preach the gospel and baptize them in the name singular in the name of the father son and holy spirit Roger that's the best I can do in two or three minutes keep thinking about it and remember we worship all three God in one thank you Dr. lutes. Or if you'd like to hear your question answered. Go to our website@rtwoffer.com and click on ask Pastor lutes or or call us at 1-888-218-9337 that's 1-888-218-9337 you can write to is running to win 1635 N. LaSalle Boulevard Chicago, IL 60614 as the future unfolds what lies ahead in the plan of God for believers is God try to make his will. Hard to find the best advice for all of us.

Is this one step at a time on our next running to win more thoughts on the guidance of God, as we all face the uncertainties that lie ahead. This is Dave McAllister running to win is sponsored by the Moody church