Markers on the Road - Pastor Kenneth Woolf

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New Life COTR Sunday August 12, 2007
WHAT’S GOD’S WILL
“Markers on the Road”
INTRODUCTION: Don’t you sometimes wish we could just call 1-800-GOD and immediately know God’s will? But the fact is that God really wants to talk with you and you may not realize it but He already is.
The key is, tuning in to what He’s already saying and doing. God has been speaking to you!
John 10:27(NIV)- “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.”
That’s the whole goal of this series. Hearing His voice and following Him. I’m reminded of what John Osteen said was the key to his success at Lakewood Church. “Hearing what the Holy Spirit is saying and obeying.”

THREE THINGS WE NEED TO DO TO ACCOMPLISH THE ABOVE
1. Eliminate the Distractions.
Even Jesus had to do this.
Luke 5:16- “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
2. Listen for God’s voice.
Isaiah 30:21- “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, This is the way; walk in it.”
Something on the inside pulling you.
How many remember the C.B. radio. “You got your ears on good buddy.”
“He that has an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit is saying.”
Eliminate distraction, listen for God’s voice and then,
3. Cooperate with what God says.
God works in ways we sometime don’t expect. God speaks to us in ways we sometimes don’t expect.
Matthew 7:24- “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
We build our house on a firm foundation when we here God and cooperate with Him!
TRANSITION: What does it look like when God speaks to me? How will I know it is God speaking to me?
There are some pretty predictable stages when God speaks to us. Today we’ll call these stages “MARKERS ON THE ROAD.”
Acts 20:22-24- “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”
Paul said “I’m compelled by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem.”
The following four stages are absolutely going to happen if you’re going to fulfill God’s will for your life.

I. The prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 20:22- “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I ma going to Jerusalem….”
Compelled- to be wrapped up with cords, like you’re being dragged toward something, bound up by it.
It almost feels like you’re pregnant. Something I just have to do, it just has to happen.
Job 32:18,19- “For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me; inside I am like bottled-up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst.”
It’s time to get stirred. It’s easier to stir yourself rather than be stirred by God.
Pray, read the Word, get involved in church. Get stirred up!
Proverbs 29:18- “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”
Many people are dying on the inside. Allow the Holy Spirit to STIR YOU! IS GOD STIRRING ME?
TRANSITION: The first marker on the road is The prompting of the Holy Spirit.

II. CERTAIN UNCERTAINTY
God will never give you all the information. He will leave out so many details it often frustrates us.
God put a stirring in our spirit (a vision) then He doesn’t give us all the information.
Why does God do that? (1) Because we couldn’t handle all the information (2) We wouldn’t need Him in the process if He gave us all the info.
GOD GIVES US JUST ENOUGH INFORMATION TO REQUIRE A STEP OF FAITH!
This is the part many of us don’t like. We want all the facts!
“The righteous live by faith.”
Acts 20:22- “….I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.”
Uncertainty- A step in the process a lot of us aren’t willing to take.
When God speaks to you it’s going to be a prompting, but then God’s going to require you to take the big leap!
Until you get used to that you can never learn to follow God’s will and His ways.
Look at how used the Apostle Paul got to uncertainty.
1Corinthians 16:5-9- “After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you-for I will be going through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay with you awhile, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.”
Can you see the uncertainty in the Apostle Paul?
For some of you it’s time to take a step. You’ve has a stirring but you’re waiting for more information.
MORE INFORMATION IS NOT COMING, GOD REQUIRES A STEP OF FAITH!
Some of us are going to stay in the same spot forever if we don’t take the step of faith!
TAKE A BOLD STEP, IT’S TIME TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THE CAUSE OF CHRIST AND HAVE A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE!
2Corinthians 5:7- “We live by faith, not by sight.”
TRANSITION: God gives us a stirring in our spirit, and then we have to take a step of faith.

III. PREDICTABLE RESISTENCE
All hell will break loose! Many times we interpret resistance in the wrong way. You think you’re messing us!
Here’s another way to put it. If you’re not butting heads with the devil once in a while you might be walking with him.
“In this world you will have trouble.”
1Tessalonians 2:18- “For we wanted to come to you-certainly I, Paul, did, again and again-but Satan stopped us.”
Satan cut a ditch in our road.
Many people change course and go around to the delight of the enemy.
OR, YOU AND I CAN BE MORE THAN CONQUERORS LIKE GOD HAS CALLED US TO BE!
The Lord never promised that life would be easy but He did promise to make us OVERCOMERS!
TRANSITION: Markers on the road. (1) The prompting of the Holy Spirit (2) Certain Uncertainty (3) Predictable resistance.

IV. UNCOMMON CLARITY
Nothing is going to stop me. I’m going to do this!!! A tenacious attitude that says, nothing is going to get me down.
Acts 20:24- “However, I consider my lie worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus Christ has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”
Paul said- “I’M GOING TO FINISH MY TASK!!!”
Nehemiah 6:3- “So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you.”
I’M STAYING FOCUSED!!! I’M DOING A GREAT WORK!!!!
CONCLUSION: What few things should I focus my life on now?
1. The prompting of the Holy Spirit
2. Certain Uncertainty
3. Predictable resistance
4. Uncommon clarity
IT’S ALL ABOUT VISION.
Getting something stirring on the inside of you and then taking a huge step of faith. Then being met with resistance requiring my undying clarity and focus!
Let’s pray