What's God's Will? - Pastor Kenneth Woolf

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New Life COTR Sunday August 19, 2007
“WHAT’S GOD’S WILL?”

Text: 1John 4:1(NIV)
SEVEN QUESTIONS TO ASK
I. Does it agree with the Bible?
Luke 21:33
II. Am I in a right relationship with God?
Romans 12:2
III. Does it make me more like Christ?
James 3:14-17
IV. Have I sought godly counsel?
Proverbs 11:14
V. Is it my responsibility?
Romans 14:4,12,22
VI. Do I sense God’s peace?
1Corinthians 14:33(KJV)
VII. Is it my will or God’s will?
Matthew 26:39

MY WILL OR THY WILL?
1. I want what I want.
James 4:13-15
2. I want what God wants—but.
Mark 10:21-22
3. I want what God wants—period!
1John 2:17
Luke 9:23

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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

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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

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Keeping it Between the Lines - Pastor Kenneth Woolf

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New Life COTR Sunday July 29, 2007
WHAT’S GOD’S WILL?
“Keeping it Between the Lines”

INTRODUCTION: One of the most asked questions among Christians is “What’s God’s Will for my Life?”
Life is a series of crossroads, decision points. How do you make all these decisions and them be the right decision.
Is God’s will so specific that if you mess it up it sends a chain reaction throughout time?
Is there just one person God intends for me to marry? If so and somebody messes that up by marrying the wrong person then what?
How can I be sure I’m hearing God’s voice and doing His will for my life? In the next few weeks I’m going to be sharing with you some valuable information that will help you discover God’s will for your life.
I can’t tell you specifically what God’s will but I can give you some very important guidelines that will help you know God’s will. GOD DOESN’T WANT IT TO BE A SECRET!
Through these series of message I can put you in the zone to discover God’s will.

HOW DO WE FIND GOD’S WILL?
THREE CATAGORIES TO GOD’S WILL
(Golf illustration)
1. The sovereign will of God. (What God is doing on the earth.)
God wants you to know what He’s doing in the earth. “On this rock I will build my church.” Jesus is coming back one day!
2. The moral will of God. (What God has already said in His Word.)
Is it God’s will for me to have pre-marital sex?
God is not motivated to give you more information if your not already following what He’s written in the Bible.
3. The personal will of God. (What God desires for my life.)

Psalm 139:16(NIV)- “…all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of tem came to be.”
What if we get off of God’s plan, what does God do next? God has the unique ability to take whatever we add to the book and make the last chapter still fit.
Romans 8:28- “And we know that in all things God works for the god of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
TRANSITION: Get to know God’s sovereign and moral will. In golf it’s called the hazards when you get out of the fairway.
Do you have decisions you don’t what to do? It could be because you’ve gotten out of the lines (fairway) and are now in the hazards.
You can find out if you’re outside the lines by asking two questions.

OUTSIDE THE LINES
1. What am I doing that I should not be doing?
Outside of God’s moral will you have a hard time hearing God. Is there sin in your life?
Romans 6:1,2- “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”
God is calling us to holiness. Get rid of the junk and get back inside the boundaries of God’s moral law.
What am I doing that I should not be doing?
2. What am I not doing that I should be doing?
Its sin to not to do the things I should be doing.
James 4:17- “Anyone, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
God wants us to move toward Him.
To many of us have been living outside the boundaries of God’s sovereign and moral will.
You will never find God’s personal will until you get within the boundaries or the zone!

KEEP IT BETWEEN THE LINES
Proverbs 24:25-27- “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”
TRANSITION: Long before you ask God His personal will, do these four things.
1. Give your life to God.
(a) If you’re not sure you’re a Christian your life will never make sense until you connect with God who wrote the book on your life.
God calls people that are away from Him –LOST!
Matthew 18:14- “In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”
(b) Some of you are Christians but you still dabble in the world. Part-time Christians.
1Peter 4:2- “As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.”
2. Allow God to transform you.
Allow God to change you. This is called sanctification. God wants to bring you through this process of setting you a part from the world. We need to be transformed.
Romans 12:2- “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
You can be a Christian and never connect with God’s will because you allow the junk of the world to remain in you. We become clouded and never hear God’s voice.
How can I get the junk out? One of the best ways is small groups. Become accountable and correctable.
1Thessalonians 4:3,4- “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable.”
Give God your life and say “I’m living for this.” Some of us are just messing around!
3. Develop your gifts and calling.
God’s will for you is going to be connected to what God’s already up to.
Ephesians 2:10- “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
God has something for you to do. Find out what God has called you to do. Your life will never make sense until you connect with your purpose.
CONCLUSION: (1) Give your life to God (2)Get out of sin (3)Do something with your life, discover your gifts and calling
Then you can discover the ultimate will of God for your life.
4. Give your life for others.
Look at me and hear this: You’ll never be closer to the will of God until you’re making a difference in the life of another person.
1Peter 4:10- “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”
You will never be closer to the will of God until you’ve figured out a way to use your life to make a difference in the life of another person.
GOD HAS A WONDERFUL PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE!
1Timothy 6:18,19- “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

STAY BETWEEN THE LINES
1. Give your life to God.
2. Allow God to transform you
3. Develop your gifts and callings
4. Give your life for others.
LOVE PEOPLE

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