R1678 When God’s Will Becomes Clear

Clarity is something we pursue in every area of our life, and today, Dr. Don Wilton's message is when God's will becomes clear. The Encouraging Word As we open God's Word together, know that we're open to connect with you on our website, 24 hours a day at www.tewonline.org. While you're there, sign up for the daily encouraging email.

It's absolutely free. The Encouraging Word And now today's teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. I want you to open your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 2. Alright, we've been looking at Nehemiah with an enormous, gigantic, almost impossible task that God gave to them.

And we, Lord, how did they go about it and how did they get clarity that goes further than that? Because every person, if you're a Christian person, a Christian young person, you're a teenager or you're a parent, you're a business person. And whatever your circumstance, the single two greatest things you and I can ever do. Number one is to give our hearts to Jesus. Because without the forgiveness of God, we've got no future anyway.

That's the number one. That's why I invite you to give your life to Christ. But the second most critical thing we need to do is to ask God to give us clarity as we live out this life pleasing to the Lord Jesus. Lord, show us.

How do you do this? We're God people, but it's true of you as an individual person. If you belong to Jesus, what you want is clarity about this person that you've fallen in love with. You want Jesus to give you the yes.

Ultimately, that's what we should all strive. You've got a business decision to make. You're about to embark on a business decision. And it's like back and forth. What do you do? Well, there are a lot of nuts and bolts to making the right decision, but what's the ultimate one you want?

Is this what God wants me to do? My daughter, many of you know Shelley, she lives in Zimbabwe in Africa. And she's married to Dan, who's a wonderful Christian man, who's a pilot, flies for the United Nations and for the Swiss Red Cross and all that other good stuff. Well, we talk to Shelley and Dan all the time. And just maybe a day ago, my wife Karen and Shelley were on WhatsApp and having just the best time, talking eight hours a part in time, just talking. And I hear the conversation and Shelley and Dan are trying to make a decision about something in their life. And I heard mom and daughter talking and talking. And then finally, Karen says, well, you know, Shelley, your dad's been listening to the whole conversation.

Why don't we let him have something to say? I like that. It kind of brings me into it. I was driving my motor car. I heard every word. So she just hands me the phone. This is what I said to my daughter. I said, sweetheart, you're trying to make the right decision, aren't you? Yes, daddy. I said, let me ask you something. How many times does God need to say yes to you before you get on and do it?

Now, let's put it on the other side. How many times has God got to say no to you for you not to do it? You're saying, Lord, I just I'm a Christian.

I to know and to do what you want me to do, please, through friends and family and circumstances and all these things, just show me. And he does it. A, B, C, D, E, F, G. It's like open door, open door, open door, open door, peace in your heart, affirmation, confirmation, affirmation, confirmation. And you still go back to him and say, Lord, what do you want me to do? So what do you want him to go all the way through?

Z? Can you hear that? Alternatively, every time you deal with this, every time you think about it, every time you look at this job offer, you got more questions than answers. Maybe the job means you've got to not only accept the job, but you've got to relocate and it just doesn't sit every time you deal with it. It's like, man, yeah, I mean, how many times has God got to tell you not to accept it? Are you trying to convince God to change his mind?

Which is quite normal, right? Sometimes we want something so badly we're just not willing to listen. There may be someone here today. You keep going, hanging with a certain group of friends and going to certain places over the weekend.

You know what I'm talking about? Every time Monday morning comes around, you find yourself saying, man, I just don't know whether I should be doing this. Well, how many times has God got to tell you not to go there?

Or does he need to bring about a catastrophe in your life in order to really get your attention? How many times are you going to dabble in whatever it is you're doing and you know God said don't do it? But you very quickly say, well, Lord, I'm going to do what you want me to do, but you just keep doing it. And he's already said no or he said yes. Well, Nehemiah got to the point at which he and all the people around him knew that God had told them what to do.

That's what we've been looking at, clarity. So what I want to speak to you today about is when God's will is made clear. When God's will becomes evident, you ought to go and serve him in this country. You ought to buy this house.

You ought to go to this college. You need to sing this song. You need to preach this message. You need to be in this passage.

You need to apply for this position. When God's will is evident, how do you begin getting on with it? Let me read a few verses, okay? I'm going to be in Nehemiah chapter 2 and verse 11. So now God's spoken, this is Nehemiah, so I went to Jerusalem and I was there for three days. Then I rose in the night, I and a few men with me. I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem.

There was no animal with me, but the one which I rode. I went out by night, by the valley gate to the dragon spring and to the dung gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates had been destroyed by fire. Then I went up in the night, in the valley, and inspected the wall.

I turned back, entered by the valley gate and so returned. And the officials didn't know where I'd gone or what I was doing, and I'd not get told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials and the rest who were to do the work. Then I said to them, see the trouble we're in now? How Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates are burned.

Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem so that we may no longer suffer derision. And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good. And I also told them of the words that the king had spoken to me. And so they said, let us rise up and begin to build. So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshim the Arab heard about this, they jeered at us and despised us. They said, what is this thing that you're doing? Are you rebelling against the king? And I replied to them, the God of heaven will make us prosper and we his servants will arise and build.

But as for you, you have no portion, no right, no claim in Jerusalem. Well, we've gone into the background and we've arrived at a point. You've spent whatever time analyzing your situation in life.

You're going to visit those campuses. You are dating that person that you love. You're pondering and God has spoken to you. God's told you.

The door's open. That's what happened to Nehemiah. So what did he do?

Let me just give you some thought through here. Number one, he went to Jerusalem. It's the first thing he did. He went to the spot. He was present.

He didn't do this remotely. Now, in his case, we understand because he was living in Persia, remember, and this was in Jerusalem. So up to this point, he couldn't well get to Jerusalem. Now God told him, this is what you're going to do. So he went to Jerusalem. The second thing he did when he got there was that he spent time there. Now, you and I might not be impressed, just three days, right? But for Nehemiah, that was impressive.

Can I tell you why? Because he was cupbearer to the king. That meant for three days, the king was without his primary protection because he was the cupbearer to the king. He was totally trusted.

He was an honored member of the inner circle of the king of Persia. So he went to Jerusalem and he unpacked his bags and he stood on the spot. When he got there, the third thing that he did, knowing God was in this, is that he got his leaders and he strategized with them. I'm going to apply this to you in just a minute. I think God's already doing that.

I'm not sure that I even need to do it. Whatever decisions you're making right now, right? He strategized with his leaders. God's always raised up leaders. The church is no exception. This Bible is filled with spiritual leaders.

The Bible is full of it. Go all the way back to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, going to the New Testament, every page of the New Testament. Go to Jesus and the 12. Who were they? The 12 apostles.

Go to the deacons, to the elders, to the leaders, to the men and women who had such great influence. So what did he do? He went to Jerusalem. He spent time there so he could do it right. He strategized with the spiritual leaders. Number four, he did his homework. Well, I'm not going to read to you verse 13 through 16 again, if you don't mind, but it's great stuff. In fact, I mean, he outlines it.

And by the way, when you get into chapter four, chapter five detail, hello. I mean, this year goes, he did his homework. It's like a church.

A church is not just sit down and do it. He did his homework together with the leaders. Number five, he then gathered everyone together.

Everyone. He got them all together. The Bible tells us in verse 17, he went out, he got everyone who was relevant to that circumstance in Jerusalem.

Got a picture of the church there. Some people might use the word membership. Those who are in a part and parcel of that particular thing that God is telling those people to do. He gathered them all together. Bible says, and what did he do?

Number six. He called for their blessing. He called for their blessing. Watch this, folks. Look at verse 18. Bible says here, I told them the hand of my God, et cetera, and they said, let's rise up. Let us do this. We bless this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Which brings me to point number seven, which I'm sorry. And I'm going to tell you, I don't even like talking about it, but he dealt with the opponents. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. These three were three governors that served under the Persian king. They were not part of Jerusalem.

They had allegiance to the Persian king, not to God. And they began to speak up. You can take that and apply that in the world in which we live. So I'll make a general statement.

Do we suffer from that overtly? I'm not overcooking the chicken here, folks. But don't kid yourself. The non-Christian world, the lost world, don't have anything to do with what God's people are doing. If you're a student and you love Jesus, I pray you'd be the best athlete at your high school. I pray that you would go on and accomplish wonderful grades, succeed, etc. But I'm going to guarantee you something. As a believer, you are going to be opposed by the non-Christians on your campus.

Did I just say everybody? There is no fellowship between God and the devil. Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the rest of today's message in just a moment. But if you haven't been by our website, TEWonline.org, you may have missed out on this wonderful book from Dr. Wilton. My book, Saturdays with Billy, is about an extraordinary relationship with a precious man who impacted lives across the world. You don't want to miss this opportunity to be inspired by his life, too. It's such a powerful resource. I pray you'll consider getting your copy of the book Saturdays with Billy on our website at TEWonline.org. Or you can call about receiving your copy at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Precious friends, you are making a decision today. You don't sit down at the table with the devil and try to negotiate. What is Nehemiah telling us here? He recognized these people for who they were.

He dealt with them and he moved on. Here's what the human heart does. Can we be open with each other? Well, I know that I'm doing A, B, and C and I know it's not all that pleasing to the Lord, but Lord, could we kind of find a happy medium here? Can I sort of behave like this and would it be okay if I did, but only on Saturday nights?

Could we negotiate something? Our world today is, we are replete with that because that's the human heart. Lord, I know that this is wrong, but I'm only going to go so far and I won't go any further. Lord, I know that I love my wife and I'm totally devoted to her, but on this particular trip, I'm going to get friendly enough, but I'm not going to step over the line.

Lord, I know that I shouldn't touch that stuff that I keep putting in my body, but if it's okay if you don't mind, you know my situation, if I just did this in moderation. I've heard people say, you know, that's one of the things I can't stand about Christians. God doesn't mind.

Well, Nehemiah, a little verse there. You know, I love point number eight. Point number eight is powerful. This is what to do when God's will has become clear, it's just evident. No question about it.

What's point number eight? He pointed everything to the God of heaven. You know, I'm saying this very lovingly, you know, when all else fails, just put it on God. At some point with the will of God, you've just got to say, yes, Lord.

That's what he did. And I mean, that's a powerful statement. The God of heaven will make us prosper. Faith in God to show us what he wants us to do is so critical that when he shows us what to do by faith, he doesn't say, well, now that I've shown you, you no longer need faith. We walk by faith. By the way, the word walk by faith means every step we take in life is a life in full trust of the God of heaven. We walk by faith. We don't just decide by faith. We don't explore by faith. We don't just trust by faith. We walk by faith.

God made us well known to Nehemiah and to all the people. All right, let's put this into practice. You ready for this?

Here it is. I'm going to ask the question. So how can you and I best, according to the scripture, engage God's will for our lives?

Ready? Number one, be present. Be present. Be present in the issue at hand. Don't deal with God remotely concerning the thing that you're doing. Be present. Which means number two, be engaged in what it is. Don't slip it in every now and again. Don't develop an, oh, by the way, at some time, Lord, I need to talk to you again about this thing. Be present in it.

Get immersed in it. We're big procrastinators. We say, I'm just going to wait until next week. Well, you know the time's not right.

Oh, I don't know whether, oh, we just do this and we do it. There's a thousand things that are going to stop you. Second thing, be engaged with the decision you've got to make before the Lord. Number three, be detailed about it. Don't run away from the details. Don't run away.

Be detailed, man. Unpack the bag. Put it out. I've got friends who when they're trying to figure out what God wants them to do, they get, you know, they write down one list of why they shouldn't, one list of why they shouldn't. Do that. I'm not trying to be simplistic here, but if you why your shouldn'ts dramatically outweigh why you shoulds, you think God's playing a game with you? Or if everything is yes, yes, yes, yes, it's time to do it.

Get on with it. You could find yourself 10 years from now saying, oh, man, if only I had, we all do that, don't we? If only I had, if only God told you to do it 10 years ago. What do you mean if only you had? Well, does God punish us for that?

I don't think so. But I think we lose a lot of fish in the sea when we go and fish in the wrong pond for 10 years. Number four, be mindful. Be mindful.

You know, if you're giving yourself two details, number four, be mindful that God's in it. You find this all the time with Nehemiah. He just goes back. It's like, it's all about Jesus. There he is. He's back with God again. I mean, it didn't matter whether he was talking to the king or to the elders or to the overseers or to Sanballat.

He didn't matter. He was always going back, being mindful, the God of heaven, the God of heaven, our God will do. Spoke to a friend this week who's going through a difficult time with surgeries and things. This person said to me just repeatedly in our conversation, yeah, but, you know, my God, I know God, I go back. I mean, it's like just nonstop. If I wasn't a Christian, I would have said to him, man, could we just cut God out for a little bit? You know, you've got to put God into this so much. Well, to what extent is he so much? The God of heaven.

He'll prosper us. Number five, be inclusive. Be inclusive. Then you do all of that.

You're mindful of God's hand. Then you're inclusive. He was inclusive. He got everybody involved together. Everybody involved. Inclusive. God speaks to all of us. Be inclusive. Then ask God's people.

Bring them all together. God's brought us to this point. We know this is what God's told us to do. God has spoken. So the sixth point you need to do in your own life is be honoring to the Lord. God's told you where to go.

He's told you which school. He's told you what to, what not to. Yeah, here's what will happen many times, guys.

You will make a decision today. And then you will say, yes, Lord, I'm going to do it because God's in it. And 20 years later, you'll look back. You look back in the rear view mirror and you've honored the Lord and you say, wow, God prospered us. Some of you look, you say, man, I remember when I was just dating this wonderful lady. Look at us now. Look at our children. You look back and you say, wow, man, has God been with us?

So what's the final one? Be trusted. I mean, he makes the statement, you know, our God will give us success. What a powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton and an understanding of how God gives us true success.

But it all starts with a decision. You've heard Dr. Wilton as he's been teaching from the pulpit. Now, as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton moments ago to give your life to Christ or rededicate your life to Jesus, we want to celebrate with you. We want to pray for you and we want to put free resources in your hands.

Dr. Don has prepared just for you. If you'll call us 866-899-WORD, we'll send those resources out right away. Our number again is 866-899-9673 or we can meet on our website as well at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share this time of lifting up the name of Jesus with you and thank you to many of you who are prayerfully and financially supporting the ministry. It's because of your involvement that we're seeing lives changed every single day by the Encouraging Word Ministry with Dr. Don Wilton.