What am I doing Wrong? - Pastor Kenneth Woolf

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New Life COTR Sunday August 5, 2007
WHAT’S GOD’S WILL?
“What am I doing Wrong?”

INTRODUCTION: Does God have a unique specific plan for my life? If He does how am I supposed to find that out?
Psalm 139:16- “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
How do I get what God knows about me into me? How do I figure that out?
Last week I gave you a fundamental foundational message to frame this whole series. We have God’s sovereign will, moral will and then His personal will for our lives.
Ephesians 5:17- “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
We must pursue and find out God’s will. Just because it’s in the Bible doesn’t mean it’s going to automatically happen.
Okay I’m in the zone of God’s sovereign will and moral will. I know God has a plan for my life.
Today’s message is dedicated to the things I’m doing wrong. The things that keep us from discovering God’s will.
The truth is that many of us use unreliable methods to try and discover God’s will. Fortune cookie Christians. Dr. Phil or Oprah. The latest magazine or our horoscope.
Proverbs 14:12- “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”
There are things or ways we think should work out but in the end they lead to death.
TRANSITION: So what are some things I might be doing wrong that hinder me from hearing God’s voice and knowing His will?

1. We hear to many voices
One of the reasons we can’t hear God isn’t because He’s not talking! It’s because we’ve got way to many voices competing inside us.
The truth is that many of us are just way to busy. Have I allowed too many things to pile up in my life?
(STORY OF FOOTBALL STADIUM)
There are just too many voices competing with God’s voice.
MANY TIMES THE VOICE COMPETING WITH GOD’S VOICE IS OUR OWN VOICE!
2Timothy 4:3- “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
Many times we say, “God I want Your will,” but do we really? Or is it God come and bless my will. God, here’s what I want now come and be a part of this.
Many times we can’t hear God’s voice because we’re listening to way to many other voices.
WE NEED TO SETTLE THE VOICES.
The second thing we might do wrong. Now this seems simple but it’s really profound.

2. We don’t ask God
James 4:2- “You do not have, because you do not ask God…”
Many times we don’t involve God. Or we don’t involve God until it’s too late.
We ask everybody but God!
James 1:5- “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given unto him.”
We hear too many voices and we don’t ask God.

3. We give up too early
We know God’s will but things aren’t working out like we thought they would. All hell breaks loose when you obey God.
(STORY OF PASTOR WHO PLANTED CHURCH AND ATTENDANCE DROPPED)
God is way more interested in our character than our comfort. I don’t like that but it’s true.
If God has the opportunity to teach us something in the middle of doing His will, He’ll do it! Even if it means we have to suffer for a while!
Sometimes God brings us through difficult times to build our character then He moves us into His perfect will!
Hebrews 10:36- “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.”
TRANSITION: We hear too many voices, we don’t ask God and we give up to early. Now here’s the big one that causes many people to miss God’s will.

4. We rely too much on logic.
We rely way too much on logic. Our minds literally get in the way of the process. I’ll figure this out myself.
YOUR MIND WILL KEEP YOU FROM GOD’S BEST!!!!
God’s ways are not your ways and His thoughts are not your thoughts. His ways are higher and bigger and better than your ways!!!!
IF WE RELY ON LOGIC WE’LL MISS THE BEST THINGS OF GOD! WHY?
God is often not logical. God hardly ever does it the way our minds would think!
OUR MINDS WILL LIMIT GOD’S ABILITY!
Let me say something you really need to understand. Your mind is keeping some of you from God’s best!
Parts of God’s ways are a little strange and some of you are a little uncomfortable with that.
We reduce God down to a size we can understand. The size of our brains! God can be no bigger than our own minds!
It keeps us from miracles! We serve a God who does signs and wonders!
1Corinthians 2:14- “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
(STORY OF A PASTOR WHO WAS PLANTING A CHURCH AND ASKED TO GO AND PASTOR A DEBT FREE MEGA CHURCH)
Sometimes when faced with God’s will it’s not always logical!
TRANSITION: So how do I get on the right track? How do I tune in to God’s will? What can I do to get on the right track?

If you’ll do the four things I’m about to share with you I guarantee you that you’ll get closer to God and hear His voice and discover His will for you’re life.
1. Eliminate distractions
Silence the other voices. For some of us it’s the voice of sin. The world will cloud you’re judgment.
Hebrews 12:1,2- “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”
How can I do that? One way is fasting. A missing discipline in the church. Another is to take a retreat. Get away.
God’s talking, we just can’t hear.
John 10:4,5- “When He has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger, in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
Eliminate distractions.
2. Give your whole heart to God
Here in the Bible belt it’s easy to be a cultural Christian. God’s a part of my life, He’s just not my life.
I have a Sunday and maybe Wednesday relationship with God. GOD WANTS TO BE YOUR WHOLE LIFE!
Jeremiah 29:13- “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Christianity doesn’t work even when you give God 99% . It only works when you go after God with everything you have.
Trying Christianity doesn’t work, YOU HAVE TO SELL OUT!
Psalm 37:4- “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Delight- “to adorn yourself like a bride does on her wedding day.
Then He’ll give you the desires of your heart. God won’t give you what you want, He’ll give you the want!!!
Your desires will start lining up with His desires!
Do you want to get on the right track? Eliminate distractions and give God your whole heart.
3. Trust God
When God speaks to you He’s going to give you the big free-fall. Go ahead and take the leap! God will do it every time.
Proverbs 3:5,6- “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Sometimes God is going to ask you to do something that seems like the big-leap. TAKE IT! God will never ask you to do something easy that you don’t need Him!
1Corinthians 1:20- “…Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world.”
TRANSITION: Get on the right track to God’s will. Eliminate distractions. Give your whole heart to God. Trust God! And now something very, very important.
4. Follow Peace
Peace is something the devil can’t counterfeit.
That still small voice deep down inside. The peace of God!
Philippians 4:6,7- “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
CONCLUSION: Some of you here today need to do these four things. For some of you, you really need to give your whole heart to God. Some of you need peace.
Let’s pray