GPS: God's Positioning System - Part B

There are, in the New Testament alone, three different places where it specifically tells us what God's will is for our life.

Let's just start there. Because what I've discovered is a lot of us get hung up on who should I marry? Where should I move? What job should I have? What car should I buy?

What house should I move to? All of that stuff when the Bible addresses a whole different issue. As if that's disregarded, though it's not. The real issue with God, it's not those things.

It's personal conduct. Don't miss your chance to dive even deeper into God's Word with Skip. Now, we want to invite you to get involved in connecting more listeners like you to Scripture.

Here's how you can do that. Now, we're in Acts chapter 21 as we dive into our study with Skip Heitink. Voices from other people that aren't what the Lord is saying to you personally help confirm what God is saying. Sometimes it balances it out and you need to adjust directions. At other times it just clarifies it.

So, let's take this one. Paul made the choice. It says in Acts, he purposed in the Spirit. Acts chapter 19, Acts chapter 20, I go bound in the Spirit.

So he's pretty dead set. Not everybody agreed. Look at chapter 21. We read it. Verse 4. Finding disciples, we stayed there seven days.

They're entire now. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go to Jerusalem. And the best way to look at that, I think, from the sources that I've read is that they got the same message that we will see coming up. And what Paul has already seen that if he goes to Jerusalem, he's going to get bound and suffer. And they interpreted that as, well, that means he shouldn't go. So they told Paul through the Spirit not to go to Jerusalem.

In the Greek, it's in the present tense. It says they told Paul again and again and again and again and again for how many days? Seven days not to go to Jerusalem. It was a hard week for Paul because he wants to go to Jerusalem.

Every time he has breakfast, lunch or dinner, there's somebody at the table going, hey, Paul, you know this whole Jerusalem thing you're on? Bad plan, buddy. Bad plan.

Back off of that. And he had to put up with that for seven days. Christians from Tyre. Number two, a clergyman from Judea. Look at verse 10. And when we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And when he had come to us, he took Paul's belt. This guy is very dramatic. And he bound his own hands and feet.

And he said, so everybody's attention is focused on him. Thus says the Holy Spirit. So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. Very reminiscent of Jeremiah the prophet or Ezekiel the prophet.

Visual demonstration. If you own this belt, Paul, you're going to suffer. Okay, there's a third origin of voices. That is Paul's traveling buddies, his companions. The very next verse. Now notice this, when we, see there's a change in voice here from they to we. This includes Luke, Silas, etc.

Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go to Jerusalem. All of that to say this, there will be competition when it comes to the voice of God. There will be other voices that don't agree with that. I can think of a number of sources.

One source is yourself. I mean, you may actually make the choice and feel very strongly that this is where God is leading you. But then you know what it's like late at night, you lay your head on the pillow and you start second guessing yourself. And is this like a lame idea? Is this stupid?

Should I should I not do this? That'll happen. Another source of voices is the unbelieving world. If you were to counsel with a non-believer, what if Paul were to counsel, hey, I'm thinking to go up to Jerusalem, but everybody tells me they're going to kill me there or hurt me there. Well, don't go. I mean, whatever you do, Paul, make sure that it's for your own personal comfort and benefit.

That's what the world would advise. Paul never would have gone had he done that. Third, the voices of other Christians will sometimes be well-meaning, but not necessarily what God is telling you to do. It happened with Jesus. His own disciples told Jesus he shouldn't go up to Jerusalem because he said, when I go up to Jerusalem, they're going to arrest me, beat me and kill me.

But on the third day, I will rise again from the dead. And they tried hard and long to dissuade him. It can be confusing. I had a woman come to me some years ago, came in my office.

Very interesting predicament. She was very confused about the will of God in marriage. She told me this story.

She goes, I'm dating this guy. I really want to marry him. He wasn't a believer, but I really want to marry him. I love him.

And I'm trying to discern God's will. I go. And she had counseled with her Christian friends and all of them and said, don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it.

Don't do it. So she came into my office, very confused. She goes, this is what I've decided. I told the Lord this morning I was going to come and see you. And whatever you tell me to do, that will be God's will for my life. You're dying to find out what I told her, right? I said, look, I'm not going to tell you what God's will is for your life, other than here are the principles to discern God's will for your life. You have to make the decision.

You can't hang that on me. I have enough problems discerning God's will for my life, following the same principles. So how do we then determine what God's will is? Is there any further help? It takes us to the fourth and final part of this, and that is the guidance particulars. That's four, the guidance particulars. Now I want to give you three satellites, so to speak, to navigate by.

Three satellites. Satellite number one, your own personal conviction. This is more than a hunch. When I say personal conviction, I mean deeply felt spirit provoked sense that comes deep from within that God wants you to do something. It says Paul purposed in the spirit, but he wasn't shooting from the hip. This wasn't a spontaneous, you know, I just right now decided I'm going to Jerusalem. This is a deep, developed over time conviction. I want to show you that if I can. Turn in your Bible to Romans chapter nine, and we're not going to be turning back. So just turn to Romans chapter nine.

Look what he says. He's writing to the Romans. He has not gone there yet.

He wants to go there. This is before he goes to Jerusalem. Romans chapter nine, verse one. I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit.

Strong language. That I have a great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh that is the Jewish people who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises, and so forth. This is a deeply held conviction.

No wonder he felt the need to go to Jerusalem and give one final testimony to his people, because this is how strongly he felt about them. Deep, deep desire. When I was a young Christian, not immediately, but after a period of time, I had a desire forming deep within that I wanted to be a pastor. That's what I felt God was calling me to do. I didn't know how, didn't know when, didn't know where.

I just determined that. Now, not everybody that I knew had that same sense. Some believe that they wanted to go into business and that God was calling them into business. Others to go to medical school and finish that out.

Others to write music. But it was the desires they felt God put within them. And I think that's important.

I think it's important. I actually believe that God gives us certain desires. So that we'll want what God wants. It says in Psalm 37, now listen to this, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. I've heard that I think misinterpreted. You just get all happy about God and he'll give you your heart's desire. I don't think it means that. I think it means is you're focused on God and his plan and his will, that he'll actually give you, plant within you desires so that your desires match his desires. That's why I think that one of the guiding satellites is to determine how has God specially, uniquely crafted you with gifts and talents. What do you want?

What's your passion? One author talks about how important this is. He says, desire is the extra. It's that little extra that turns water into steam. At 211 degrees, water is hot enough for you to shave or to make a cup of coffee.

But add one more degree and that hot water changes into steam that will power a locomotive around the country or propel a steamship around the world. And the author said that desire, that passion is that one extra degree makes you go for it. So that's satellite number one, personal conviction.

Satellite number two, scriptural direction. That means a mind saturated with the principles of the word of God so that it becomes very second nature to walk in the will of God. It just comes instinctively.

You're predisposed to do his will because you've stored up his word in your heart. True story, there was a newspaper that reported a group of a family that survived a tornado. And as they were debriefing after the tornado, they discovered that when the wind came and started moving the house, like it was going to be picked up, one of the family members shouted out, Auntie Em! Auntie Em! Which is from Wizard of Oz. This person had so digested that movie that it was very instinctive at a time of a storm to shout out what Dorothy shouted out. Auntie Em!

Auntie Em! I thought, now that's cool. Think if believers could be so familiar with the principles of scripture that when the winds come, the storms come, instinctively have the principles of God's word right on their lips. Well that was the way it was with Paul's life.

Here Paul in chapter 9 of Romans talks about his deep internal conviction, personal conviction. I want you to see what it's based on. Chapter 10 verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire, that's personal conviction, and prayer to God for Israel as they might be saved.

Now I wish we had time to go through more of it. We don't. Go down to verse 11. For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame.

He's quoting a text. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And what was Paul? A preacher. And how shall they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring good tidings or glad tidings of good things. Verse 21 end of the chapter. But to Israel he, God says, all day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.

It's pretty obvious, isn't it, that Paul has been reading the prophet Isaiah and the prophet Joel because he quotes one after another. So he has a desire, a personal conviction that's based upon scriptural direction. Okay. Now the place for us to start, let's personalize it, the place for us to start to discern God's will is with biblical imperatives. Now just follow me here and trust me. We're going to go through this.

I'm going to bring it home to where we live. There are, in the New Testament alone, three different places where it specifically tells us what God's will is for our life. Let's just start there because what I've discovered is a lot of us get hung up on who should I marry, where should I move, what job should I have, what car should I buy, what house should I move to. All of that stuff when the Bible addresses a whole different issue as if that's disregarded, though it's not. The real issue with God, it's not those things.

It's personal conduct more so than a personal roadmap, personal conduct. And there's three areas where the will of God is spelled out. Number one, holiness. Number two, thankfulness. And number three, submissiveness.

Let's just start with that foundation. Number one, holiness. 1 Thessalonians 4, 3. It says, this is the will of God.

Ready? This is what God wants. Here's God's will for your life. This is the will of God, even your sanctification.

You could retranslate that. This is what God wants for you. Live a holy life. And then he defines what that means, that you should abstain from sexual immorality. So if by any chance you would ever wonder as a single person who has a fiancée, I wonder if it's God's will for my fiancée and I to have sexual relations before we're married. I wonder no more.

The answer is absolutely not. This is the will of God, your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality. And what's strange to me is that those who are often sexually involved like this spend their time wondering about what God's will is for their career or where they should move when they haven't even started here. That's number one, holiness. Number two, thankfulness.

This is 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16 through 18. Always be joyful. Continually be prayerful. In everything be thankful because this, this trio of responsibilities, this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

And again in the Greek language, it's in the present imperative. Keep on being joyful. Keep on being prayerful. Keep on being thankful. So if you ever wonder is it God's will for Christians to be prayerless grumblers as they complain their way through life, the answer would be, uh-uh, never-er-er. I got to say that because I've met Christians, I know people personally, they have, man, they've made complaining into an art form.

You can't be with them but a few minutes and it just goes from this high thing to just down in the dumps really, really quick. This is the will of God. So just knowing these two biblical imperatives of purity and attitude is a good place to start. Third one is submissiveness. 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 13 through 15.

Here it is. For the Lord's sake, submit yourselves to every human authority, whether to the king of supreme or governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and praise to those who do right, for it is God's will that by doing right you should silence ignorant talk of foolish people. Be submissive to authority. What's really interesting is Peter doesn't differentiate between only if it's a good government or a bad government.

It's all government. When he wrote this, Caesar Nero was in charge and he said submit to them. So should a Christian ever fudge on his expense report or cheat on income taxes or let's get even more personal, speed so they get to church on time? The answer would be no.

No. So these biblical imperatives are a good place to start to discern the will of God for our lives. And it's foolish to see God's will for our career, our education, et cetera, when we ignore these basic things. Moreover, as your mind is soaked, imbued with biblical principles, listen, God's will will be second nature to you. You'll just walk in it daily. Personal conviction, scriptural direction.

Here's a third satellite and I close with this. Accountable instruction. The wise counsel of others around you. Asking advice from other people. The Bible's filled especially Proverbs with why this is vital. Proverbs 1 5. A wise man will hear and increase in learning. A man of understanding will attain wise counsel. Proverbs 12 verse 15. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.

Proverbs 15 verse 22. Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors, they are established. You might be thinking, wait a minute.

Time out. What about Paul? This dude completely disregarded the counsel of others, right? Wrong. He didn't disregard it. He waited carefully and that counsel actually helped him clarify that those voices aren't the ones I'm to follow.

I was right. I need to go to Jerusalem because the Holy Spirit didn't say don't go. He just said the one who goes is going to suffer. And Paul said, sign me up.

I'm willing to die. This is God's will. He clarified it for him.

So here it is. When you're looking for counsel from people, be discerning. They've got to be a believer first, right? Psalm 1, blessed is a man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Find a person who's going to tell you biblical truth and straight up, not just somebody who wants to tell you what you want to hear. So in looking for counsel, be discerning.

And also, if you go against counsel, be careful. Don't be arrogant. Don't be prideful. Be humble. You know, you don't have to say, well, you're wrong. You're not listening to God.

I am. Just thank them for their advice and just say, you know, I really feel strongly, however, that this is where the Lord wants me to go. You weigh it out, but ultimately you make the decision.

It's between you and God. In the old days, the ancient ships, the vessels, seagoing vessels had two compasses, one on deck and one on the top of the mast. And the one on deck was so that the captain could look at it, relatively speaking, throughout the journey as he's steering the wheel. But he would have somebody climb up on the mast and tell him what that one reads. And there was a passenger aboard one of these ships. So what's the deal with two compasses? And the captain explained, this is an iron vessel. The one attached to the deck is affected by its surroundings, the metal.

The one on the mast is above the influence. We always set our course by the one above. Balance it out. May God put a magnet in your heart, a compass in your head as you discern his will. Now, I don't think the will of God is a huge maze or puzzle. I think you just live by faith and you trust the Holy Spirit is going to guide you.

To sum it up, one person put it this way, I love it. Love God with all your heart and then do whatever you want. It's actually good advice because if you love God with all your heart, you're going to read his word. If you love God with all your heart, you're going to seek his face. If you love God with all your heart, you're going to ask his people for counsel.

Love God with all your heart and do what you want because God will give you, put within you, desires. That wraps up Skip Heitzig's message from the series The Biography of God. Right now, we want to share about an exciting resource that will answer your questions about who God is and how you can know him more intimately.

Hey, I want to let you know about my latest book. It's called The Biography of God. Now, the very subject matter of God is the loftiest of all topics and the pinnacle of all human pursuits. As we discover who God is and how aware he is of the human condition, we will be inspired to know him more each day. But we cannot stop with just gathering information about God. To truly know him, we must believe and act in the light of that information. I'll share how you can do just that in my newest book, The Biography of God. Here's how to get your copy. The Biography of God is our way to say thank you when you give $35 or more today to help expand this Bible teaching outreach to more people.

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