Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. This is week number two in our
series entitled, Not Mine, But God's. Everybody
say, Not Mine, But God's. And we're looking at
some things that are ours in Christ that we can
take hold of. So, here's a question. Who or what
is your source? I want you to think about that.
Now, it's easy when we're in church to just automatically
say God, right? Because it's church and the correct
answer is God or Jesus or something. I mean,
I would ask questions in doing children's ministry,
doing Vacation Bible School, I'd ask questions.
We even had a game show. You remember the game
show that we had at the table? and if the kid
said Jesus, no matter what the question was,
I'd at least give him a half point, even if it
had nothing to do with the question, all right?
So it's easy on Sunday morning to say Jesus is
my source or God is my source, but I want you
to really think about it. Who is your source?
Who do you rely on? Who do you depend on? Really,
I want you to think about it. What do you rely
on? What do you depend on? Who do you run to?
What do you run to? Who or what is your source?
See, so many believers love God and they trust
Him with their eternity, but they don't trust
Him with their everyday things. I believe we're
all guilty at times. We're all guilty at times.
But God wants us to trust Him with our every
day to the same level that we trust Him with
our eternity. We depend on and display who or
what is our source, who or what we draw from,
who or what we expect to draw from. That's who
we depend on and that is displayed in our life.
Everybody say source. Jeffrey shared this last
week, but it became all too real today. And it
wasn't on purpose. I don't know why. After you
get past a certain length, like the HDMI cable
at your house that you plug from your cable box
to your TV, it doesn't matter which way you plug
it in. It'll work either direction. But once
you go past a certain length, and maybe Jordan
could help us with this information, but once
you go past a certain length, the signal will
only go one way. After the service, if you don't
believe me, walk up here and look at this red
plug because it says source on this red plug.
And that red plug way up there in the air, It
says display. And today, I plugged in the source
up there, the display down here. We ran all the
wires, taped it down on the floor. You see, we
have this nice little, we keep everything running
together. It's not just jumbled up. We tape it.
on the floor, and then I cut on the computer,
I cut on the projector, we've got the screen,
and it's like, Jeffrey, it's not working. Now,
there's been times before when it didn't work,
when it was time to buy a new wire, because there's
about eight or nine little tiny wires in this
cable, and if they get bent too much or stepped
on too much, they might quit working. So, I didn't
even think to look. And finally, Jeffrey said,
you've got it plugged in backwards. You've got
display plugged into the computer, and it will
not work. For some reason, that information will
only go in one direction in that wire. It still
blows my mind that a wire knows which direction
the signal is going in. That's so... strange
and foreign to me. But your life will display
your real source. I will. Our lives display to
the people around us who or what is our source?
It's automatic. You can't fake it. You might
can fake it at church, but you can't fake it
after you leave church. Your life is going to
display your source, your real source. Now, some
people look at their jobs as being their source.
Some people look at other people as being their
source. Right? I could stand here today and tell
you that Gayna is my source because she has a
job. She gets a paycheck every Thursday. I've
been known to cut up and call her my sugar mama.
Just cutting up, of course. So I could look at
Gayna as being my source. She could look at her
job as a cook in Disney as being her source.
Right? But in reality, her job... Should be considered
an avenue. And not a source. Ultimately. God.
Should be our source. And that's just not. Only
talking about finances. It's talking about. Everything
you need. Somebody say everything. God. can be
the source of everything you need. And he wants
to be. If you're a follower of Christ, God wants
to be your source. He has already done everything
necessary to meet every need you have and every
need of your life. Some people think, okay, well,
I'm good with God being my source and I... I
realize that even though I have a job, that job's
an avenue, but God is my ultimate source because
he really is the one who gives you strength and
life and breath, right? He gives you life. But
what about when it comes to your other needs?
What about when it comes to your emotional needs?
Here's the deal. If you depend on someone else
to meet every emotional need that you have, you're
going to be disappointed a lot. If you depend
on another person to meet every emotional need
that you have, if you're depending on a person,
you're going to be disappointed a lot. But if
you depend on God, if you truly depend on God,
you will never be disappointed. Because He will
not fail you. He will not let you down. He is
God. But, the emotional needs that I have and
Gayna has, I mean, we can be an avenue that God
can use, right? As a husband and wife. But ultimately,
she'll tell you. She'll even tell you that God's
her real husband. I've heard her tell other people
that, and sometimes I want to get offended. Wait
a minute, I've got on a ring. Right? But I can't
meet all of her needs. She can't meet all of
my needs. And if I depend on her as my source,
again, I'm going to be disappointed. And there's
been times in her life when she did depend on
me and she was disappointed. Not because I wanted
to disappoint her. It's just, I'm human. I'm
not going to be perfect. Look at the person beside
you and gasp and say, do you believe the preacher
he told us he wasn't perfect? Most people depend
on... Listen, I'm... not your source for all
your spiritual needs don't hold me accountable
to that because I'll let you down I mean I try
and I study and I work hard but I cannot be the
source of all the spiritual needs that you have
only God can do that only God can do that so
There's a difference though. Now, I believe if
you're here at a Galatian church that I'm an
avenue that God can use, but I'm not the complete
source. Look at the person beside you and say,
that's pretty good. I hope you're getting this.
I hope. In every area, everybody say every area.
Not just the spiritual areas, but in every area
of life, we should learn to rely on God's supply
and God's ability instead of our own. Every area.
There's not an area excluded. Every area. We
need to rely on God. We need to trust in God.
We need to depend on God, His supply, His ability.
Now he will work through avenues in this earth.
But he's a source. He's a source. Acts 17, 28.
In him, everybody say in him. In him we live
and move and exist or have our being. Having
your being is. your existence. This is what God
wants. He wants us to live in Him. He wants us
to, every move we make, to move in Him, to exist
in Him when we're in Christ. Jesus was an amazing
example for us on earth. A lot of times when
we look at Jesus, we say, well, he's God. And
he is. Look at the person beside you and tell
them, Jesus is God. Jesus is God. But when he
came to this earth, he said that he laid down
a lot of things. Not that they weren't still
his. He just chose not to operate in those areas.
I don't know how to put it, of his godness, I
guess we could say. He chose to be led by the
Spirit. He chose to talk to the Father. He even
says, I mean, there's several verses I could
pull out. I'm just pulling out this one today.
But John 14, 10, Jesus said, the words I speak
are not my own. Now, he's God. And he's man.
He's not 50 -50. He's 100 -100. The math doesn't
quite add up, all right? He's 100 % God. He's
100 % man. He laid down a lot of things that
he could have held on to, but he laid it down
to function as a man. And what he's saying is,
the things that I say, like the Sermon on the
Mount, he's up there, he's preaching for hours
and hours and hours all day until everybody got
hungry and then he had to feed them. Anyway,
he's preaching and then he said, y 'all need
to know something. The words that I'm saying
aren't my own words. The words I speak are not
my own. But my Father, My Father, who lives in
me, is working through me, is basically what
he's saying. Every miracle is walking in the
Holy Spirit, living, moving, having his being
in the Holy Spirit, and doing and saying what
God tells it, what the Father tells him to do,
even though... He's 100 % God and 100 % man.
He's functioning as a man, which makes him our
example. Listen to me. It's not right for us
to look at Jesus and say, well, he could do that
because he's God. Are you with me? Some of you,
I see smoke coming out your ears. It's not that
we just say, well, Jesus could do that because
he's God, but I could never be able to do anything
like that. Well, look at the disciples and look
at the deacons and look at, I mean, look at the
things they did. And here's what Jesus said,
if I recall correctly, he said this. He said,
greater things. Everybody say greater things.
He said, greater things than I did will you do.
Greater things. Y 'all are thinking way too hard.
Just go ahead and smile and say this. I can do
greater things. God wants to speak through you.
God wants to empower you to do some amazing things
in this earth. Jesus said, the words I speak
are not my own, but my Father who lives in me
and does his work through me. 1 Corinthians 3
.9 says this, we are God's fellow workers. Say
this, I'm God's fellow worker. I'm working with
him. He's working with me. That's what a co -worker
is, right? We work together. We are God's fellow
workers. And then 2 Corinthians 6, 1, we then
as workers together with him. Has anybody ever
had a job where you had some co -workers? Sometimes
that's good, sometimes that's bad. But if you're
a co -worker with God, it's going to always be
good. Here's what he says. He says, I want you
to link up with me. He says, my yoke is easy.
See, when we try to do it on our own, it can
get hard. It can get difficult. It can get stressful
when we try to do it in our own flesh and in
our own strength and in our own mind. But Jesus
says, my yoke is easy. Everybody knows what a
yoke is, right? You have two big oxen and you
put a yoke on them to plow a field. The yoke
connects both of those oxen together at the neck.
It puts their forces together. It combines their
strength together. They can do twice as much
work together than they can by themselves. It
would be very hard on one to plow a big field.
But when two are working together, it's a lot
easier. How many of you know? That if you link
up with Jesus, it's going to be a whole lot easier.
It's going to be a whole lot less stressful.
Probably not even stressful at all, right? Because
we're hooked up with someone whose power is limitless.
Whose resources are limitless. Whose love is
limitless. Come on, somebody. I'm preaching better
than you're amening right now. He's limitless.
And he calls us a worker together with him, God's
fellow worker. When you're hooked up to limitless,
your struggle disappears. As co -workers with
God, we have an opportunity to exchange our natural
for his supernatural. We have that opportunity
to trade what we have for what God has. I don't
know if you've noticed these things sitting up
here or not. You probably wonder, well, this
big old rock. represents what I have. And this
represents what God has. This is my natural.
This is God's supernatural. And in so many areas,
He calls for us to lay down our natural for His
supernatural. Some of us get very frustrated
because we try to take our natural and we take
sandpaper and all kind of stuff and we try to
make our natural. We work on it, work on it,
work on it. We try to make our natural look to
everybody else like it's supernatural. So we're
not talking about increasing your human effort
to be more like Jesus. We're talking about an
exchange. Everybody say an exchange. So as co
-workers with God, we have the opportunity to
exchange. This is me striving and working and
doing with me being the source or my spouse being
the source or my job being the source. It's always
going to look like this. God has something better
for you. God did not take up residence in you
for you to live your life apart from him. God
is in you. It's salvation. You move out of being
in yourself and in the world to being in Christ.
You move out of your unrighteousness and your
sin into being the righteousness of God in Christ.
There's a movement that takes place in your spirit.
Everybody say your spirit. That's where that
movement takes place. And it's immediate and
it's done. So the question is going to look like
this. Are we living out of our spirit? Or are
we living out of our soul? Trying to polish up
our soul. Are we living out of our spirit? See,
I'm not talking about working to be the best
you you can be. Because that can be frustrating.
I've spent a lot of time being frustrated. Because
I try to be the best I can be. You know, it's
just like Romans 7, where we looked at it in
our life group, right? Romans 7, it's like, well,
I want to do the right thing, wind up doing the
wrong thing. I want to, you know, and there's
just this turmoil. In Romans 7, turmoil. And
Paul gets to the point where he says, who's going
to deliver me from such misery? But he immediately
gives you the answer. Jesus. You don't have to
live in that misery. Romans 8, 1, because now
there's no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. We're dead to sin and alive to
God. But we have to live differently. I believe
this is key. It's not just trying to be the best
person you can be, but allowing God's life to
flow through us. There's a difference. Galatians
2 .20. I've been crucified with Christ and I
no longer live. It's not trying to be the best
me that I can be anymore. Because the best me
is crucified with Christ. I've been crucified
with Christ. I no longer live. But now Christ
lives in me. The life I now live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. There's been an exchange.
Not just my old life polished up, but new life.
See, we spend a lifetime learning how to live,
learning how to live in our flesh and how to
live in our soul. We spend a lifetime, but as
Christians, we must learn to live again, all
over again, as spirits who are in Christ. I wish
I could unpack this so beautifully and completely
for all of us to just be able to grab it. I just
got to tell you, I'm working on it. But it's
available. Let's cover this again. You are a
spirit. Everybody say, I'm a spirit. That's who
you are. You are a spirit. Now, you are a spirit.
Made in the image of God. God is spirit. Those
who worship him must worship him in spirit and
in truth, right? God is a spirit. He created
us in his image. Every other living thing in
this earth is not a spirit. Humans are spirit
beings. You are a spirit. You have a soul. And
you live in a body. One of these days, we're
not going to live in this body. We're going to
have a glorified body. Sometimes I think about
this. There's going to be a day where I'm going
to be able to travel really fast. How many of
you like to travel fast? Who doesn't like the
confines of the speed limit? And I thought about
it. I said, you know, Well, am I traveling the
speed of light? Look at the person beside you
and say, faster than that. Get this, as a spirit
being, it's just something that I've thought
about and thought about and thought about. It's
not in the Bible, so don't look for a verse.
Except Dean chapter 2, verse 7, maybe. It might
be there. Listen, I believe we're going to travel
at the speed of thought. I would say God travels
at the speed of thought, but that would be incorrect
because God's everywhere all the time. He doesn't
have to travel anywhere. He doesn't have to travel
to you for the breakthrough in your life. He's
already here. He doesn't have to travel. I believe
he would travel at the speed of thought. That's
fast. Anyway, I don't know why I got on that.
You can forget that. By the time you walk out
the door, it won't matter. You are a spirit.
You have a soul. You live in a body. Just to
give you some verses, if you haven't thought
about this, 1 Thessalonians 5, 23. Now may the
God of peace make you holy in every way, and
may your whole spirit and soul and body... Hello?
May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept
blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
So if you say, Dean, where did you get that I'm
a spirit and I have a soul and I live in a body?
Well, that's a good one. Here's another one.
Hebrews 4 .12. For the word of God is alive and
powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two
-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit.
There's a difference between your spirit and
your soul. Between joint and marrow, everybody
say body. The Word of God helps us to divide
these parts of us and to see it and to function
and to operate in it. It exposes our innermost
thoughts and desires. Your soul is made up of
your mind. Everybody say my mind, my thoughts,
my desires. Well, that's the next one. Your will
is your desires. Everybody say, my will is my
desires. Your desires could even include your
plans. And then your emotions. See, that's part
of your soul. So, we're supposed to depend on
God in all these areas. In every area of life.
We're supposed to rely on God. Last week we talked
about having the mind of Christ. Everybody say
the mind of Christ. We talked about how it was
available to us. And we can... Receive the mind
of Christ through relationship and through saturation.
And the mind of Christ can have dominance over
our mind and our thoughts by exchange. But the
exchange comes through saturation. Everybody
say saturation. And relationship. That's when
we can discern. It's a skill to come to the point
where you can discern the difference. And it's
like, through the word of God, it's like a sharp
two -edged sword. And it will help us to discern
between our mind and the mind of Christ. Somebody
smile. Our mind and the mind of Christ. So we
talked about that through saturation and relationship.
You can go back and listen to the podcast, YouTube,
whatever. All right. But today, here's what we're
talking about. Today, we're talking about exchanging
our will, our plans, our desires for God's. Does
anybody remember when Jesus said, He was sweating
drops of blood because he knew the pain and things
that he was going to experience on the cross.
He came to the point where he said, Father, not
my will but yours. Now that doesn't mean that
for you to follow the will of God means that
it's going to be pain and suffering all the time,
okay? I don't want to... present that to you.
It may not always be the easiest path. Hello?
It may not always be the easiest, but it's always
going to be worth it. Jesus said this. He said,
for the joy that was set before me. The Holy
Spirit spoke this through Paul. How many of you
know if the Holy Spirit is speaking it, it's
Jesus speaking it too, right? He said, for the
joy that was set before me, I endured the cross.
You might say, joy? Being whipped and beaten
and crucified? Joy. On the other side of that,
hello? On the other side of that was our salvation.
Without it, we're hopelessly and helplessly lost.
And Jesus knew that walking through that was
going to make it possible for us. To be in relationship
with him. For us to experience his life. So,
I want you to consider exchanging your will,
your plans, your desires for God's. And here's
a funny thing. It could look the same as it looks
today to everybody around you. To exchange your
will for God's, it could be just what you're
doing. The life where you are. You know? God
doesn't always tell you to quit your job and
go on the road to follow His will. Did that to
me. But it don't mean he's going to do that for
everybody. When we were in college, we talked
about this all the time in our Bible studies
that we would have in college. We would talk
about the permissive will. Everybody say permissive
will. And the perfect will. Everybody say perfect
will. Have you ever heard this? Has anybody ever
heard those terms before? Because as we were
praying and as we were studying, everybody, you
know, you're at that point where you're in college
and you're like, what am I going to do? What's
next? And we were seeking God and wanting to
do and wanting to go and be exactly where he
wanted us to be. But how many of you know that
you don't just pray one prayer and all of a sudden
God answers that prayer? It's like, oh, well,
you're going to, this is your path. How many
of you know that sometimes your path changes,
and you're still following God's will, but your
path changes? Has anybody ever experienced some
of that before? See, I'm glad you've experienced
it. I don't have to tell you all my stories.
See, I believe God has a permissive will. There's
not a verse on this, but I believe God has a
permissive will. He will let you follow your
own will. Look at the person beside you and tell
them, I'm not a robot. I mean, God will let us
follow our desires, follow our will, follow our
plan, follow our path. But I want to tell you
today, God will let you follow your own will,
but God has a perfect will for you, for you to
follow, a perfect path. We're going to talk about
the difference between the two, but God has that
for you. Jeremiah 29, 11. Very familiar verse.
Who's memorized Jeremiah 29, 11? This is God
talking. He says, I know the plans I have for
you. I want you to personalize this. God knows
the plans that he has for you. Let's say that.
God knows the plans he has for me. Not for you,
for me now. Personalize it. God knows the plans
he has for you. God knows the plans he has for
me. And you know what? Chances are, chances are,
God's not going to tell me his plan for you.
God's going to tell me his plan for me. Now,
there are some plans from God that's all the
same, right? It's not his will. Everybody say
will. It's not his will that any should perish,
but all should come to repentance and faith in
him. That's his will for everybody. But there
are specific things, specific plans that God
has for you. God has for me. And he knows those.
And then he gives us a description of his plan.
Everybody say my plan. Everybody say God's plan.
Everybody say my will. Everybody say God's will.
Everybody say my desires. Everybody say God's
desires. We can exchange. Ours for his. His plans,
his plans look like this. His plans are to prosper
you and not to harm you. His plans are to give
you hope and a future. That's what his will is.
That's what his plans are. Some of you are choking
on this, but it's okay. Go ahead and choke and
swallow real good. One time, the doctor prescribed
a penicillin pill that was so big, I didn't know
if I could swallow it or not. But if I swallowed
it, it would help me get better. If I didn't
swallow it, because of the flavor that it put
in my mouth or because it was too big to swallow,
it wouldn't help me. So just go ahead and swallow
this. See, God's plan will never harm you. Never.
How many of you know that your own plan can harm
you sometimes? How many of you know somebody
who has a desire for some negative thing that
harms them on a regular basis? Hello? Right?
But that's their will. That's what they want.
That's their desire. I'm going to go ahead and
tell you. Just apply this across the board. Because
I know you are thinking about something that,
oh, I would never, right? I know somebody who
has a will and desire for something, but I would
never do that, and I can see how that's bringing
destruction to their life. It's easy for us to
see it in others, right? But apply it across
the board. God's plan is to prosper you and not
harm you. God's plan always, always, always,
always will give you a hope and a future. Your
plans may or may not. There's no guarantee on
your plan. There's a guarantee on God's plan.
Plans. There's the Hebrew word. You pronounce
it if you want to. I've decided to quit trying
to pronounce these words. But the plans. God's
plans. For you. Or his thoughts. For you. His
plans. For you. His purposes. For you. His intentions.
For you. That word plan. I know the plans. I
have for you. Declares the Lord. That's what
it means. It means his thoughts. It means his
plans. It means his purposes. It means his intentions.
He has that for you. And for me. And his plans
are to prosper you. I think I shared this back
in the spring, and then we talked about who God
is, and his name is Yahweh Shalom. Everybody
say Shalom. There's multiple ways to spell it
when you put it in English, but it's the same.
It's Shalom. And for the majority of my life,
if I heard the word Shalom, I always just thought
peace. Peace. Peace is important. Peace is also
an indicator of who your source is. I'll just
throw that out there. That word prospers is the
word shalom. And here's what it means. It means
peace. Everybody say peace. It means health.
Everybody say health. That's God's plan. Hello?
God's plan for you is peace. God's plan for you
is health. God's plan for you is completeness.
Everybody say completeness. Not lacking. Complete.
God's plan for you is welfare. That's God's plan
for you. And some of these cross over. With agape,
with love, with the definition of love, right?
Welfare, well -being. God is love, so his plans
are always going to be for your welfare and your
well -being. Everybody say well -being. Everybody
say safety. Everybody say prosperity. And we
get to the point where, ooh, prosperity is a
bad word. It can't be a bad word. Some people
misuse it to say that God wants everybody to
have a Bentley and an 8 ,000 square foot house.
The Bible doesn't promote that. God's not against
that. I don't think anybody in here has a Bentley
or an 8 ,000 square foot house, but God wouldn't
be against it. I mean, just look at Abraham and
look at David. I mean, if the man can give an
offering in the multiplied billions, he must
have been doing okay. And he's a man after God's
own heart. But he knew who his source was. Anyway,
God's plans for you. God's plan, God's desire,
God's will, God's thoughts, God's intentions
for you. If you'll connect with his will, the
result, hello? The result is always going to
be peace, health, completeness, welfare, well
-being, safety, and prosperity. I'm looking for
one smile. If I can't find one smile, I'm going
to have to say it about four more times. Let
it sink in. Swallow that big old pill. I wish
I had one of those. God's plans are to give you
a hope and a future. When you look up the Hebrew
words for Hope and future, I didn't put the spelling,
our spelling for those words. But hope in the
Old Testament, here's the picture. Hope is a
cord binding you to a confident expectation.
You know, I talk about Elpo, the Greek word hope
in the New Testament. It's a confident expectation
that you are anticipating with pleasure. That's
the Greek word. The Hebrew word, you get this
picture. Have you ever seen somebody tied to
something? Most of the time that's bad when you're
tied to something. I'll never forget, you know,
camp. Taking a single mattress and tying somebody
to the mattress with duct tape. Camp is so fun.
Anyway, he deserved it. I want you to see this
in a good way, not in a mean way, but a good
way. Hope is a cord binding you. to a confident
expectation in God. It's like you're tied to
it. Put it together. Put it together. I know
the plans I have for you. All those things that
we just said, the plans I have for you are peace
and health and completeness and welfare, well
-being, safety, prosperity. And when you swallow
that pill, you can be tied to that shalom with
a confident expectation. A confident expectation
of a good outcome. When it's just you, you don't
know. When it's God, you know. Good outcome.
The future is a good outcome or a victorious
end. It should make sense to all of us. Right?
If we want a guaranteed, I mean, we can go on
our own and just be a gamble, but we can have
a guaranteed. Good outcome and victorious end
if we will follow God's plan, God's will, God's
way. How do you know it? How do you know God's
will, God's plans, God's desires, God's purposes
for your life? How do you know it? I'm going
to go ahead and say this is probably not the
full disclosure of every Bible verse that could
possibly be in Scripture that would connect you
to God's will and His plans and His purpose.
But this is a good starting point. Look to the
person beside you and say, this is a real good
starting point. Take delight in the Lord. And
he will give you your heart's desires. When you
delight in the Lord, his desire becomes apparent
to you. It's revealed. It's not just going to
fall in your lap. I can't tell you how many times
in college we were just praying, God, we want
to do your will. Please show us your will. God,
I don't know what I'm going to do when I get
out of college. God, show me your will because
I really need your will. And I'm just kind of,
right? Begging. Everybody say begging. Begging
is not the way to find it. delighting in the
Lord is a step in the right direction. Take delight
in the Lord. He will give you the desires of
your heart. Real quick, I'm a preacher's kid.
My daddy was a preacher. My mom's dad, that grandfather,
jumped sides of the family, but he was a preacher.
His daddy was a preacher. When I took my driver's
test to get my license, when I sat down with
the policeman, I messed up a few times. But as
we were riding, he says, well, what does your
mom do? I said, well, she's a school teacher.
She taught public school. What does your dad
do? He's a preacher. And when we finished the
driving test, he said, well, normally... You
made too many mistakes to get your driver's license.
But he said, but you need to get out of the house.
That's what he told me. Got my license. I did
not make that up. That's for real. Anyway, he
said, you need to get out of the house. You know,
I never desired to be a pastor. As a matter of
fact, when Gannon and I started dating before
we were married, I said, Honey, you ain't got
to worry about it. I said, We can sing. We can
go around churches and sing because we like to
sing together and we like to praise God and we
like to sing songs about God. But I said, Honey,
you've got nothing to worry about. I'm never
going to be a preacher. That's what I said. This
was not my desire. I had other plans. I had other
desires. I'm going to go ahead and tell you.
I don't want to do anything else now than what
I'm doing. Some people read this verse, God will
give you the desires of your heart, and they
say, well, God, if you want it bad enough, God
will give it to you. I think that's a misinterpretation
of the verse. As you delight in the Lord, he'll
give you the desires. He'll give you the plans.
He'll give you his will. This is part of the
process of exchanging your will for his. Delight
in the Lord. Delight, there's a Hebrew word.
Needs to delight to take pleasure in. And I'm
going to tell you, what do you take pleasure
in? What's the thing that you delight in the
most? What's the thing that you get the most
pleasure in? Pulling your toes. Well, if you
want God's desires and God's will, your delight
and your pleasure needs to be in Him. Not in
the things of this world. Our passion needs to
be towards him and not towards the things of
this world. And it's not a one and done commitment.
It's a continual adjustment in our lives to delight.
In the Lord and take pleasure in him. You might
say, well, you know, I've never done that and
look where I am today. Well, guess what? You
can start today to delight in the Lord and take
pleasure in him. Just start where you are. Start
today. Jeffrey read these verses last week. Proverbs
3, 5, and 6. We probably memorized them. If you
memorize much scripture at all, you probably
memorize these. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Do not depend on your own understanding.
Jeffrey focused in on this for having the mind
of Christ, not depending, not relying on just
your own mind, but relying on the Lord, trusting
in him, depending on him. Depend on God. Don't
depend on your own understanding. Depend on God.
He knows everything about everything. Depend
on Him. And it goes on to say, seek His will.
It's not going to drop in your lap. You're going
to have to seek. Have you ever played hide and
seek? You seek. It's an active thing. Seeking
is active. Seek his will in all you do. And he
will show you. He will reveal it. Which path
to take? But you got to seek. Seek. There's a
Hebrew word again. Seek means to know, to perceive,
to understand. And to acknowledge. We use that
word acknowledge a lot around here recently over
the last year. So seeking God. Let's break it
down. Know God in everything you do. Know Him.
Relationship. Everybody say relationship. Know
Him. Perceive. Everybody say discernment. Perceive.
That's one of the spiritual gifts, right? It's
to discern. Understand. You might say, well,
he's too big for me to understand. Well, you
shouldn't stop trying. Understand what the will
of God is. Perceive, discern what the will of
God is. Know what the will of God is. And acknowledge.
We need to think about this word a lot. It says
acknowledge God in everything you do. Everything.
We all do a lot. Just think about the rest of
your day. What are you going to do? Do you already
have plans? Think about Monday. What are you
going to do? Do you have plans? What about Tuesday?
Well, the Word of God says, acknowledge me in
everything you do. Do you want to know what His
will is? Do you want to know the steps to take?
Acknowledge Him. Acknowledge the Holy Spirit
who is living on the inside of you. Acknowledge
God. Acknowledge who you are in Christ and what
you have in Christ. Acknowledge. Not just on
Sunday morning. In everything you do. Acknowledge
God. Acknowledge Him. Somebody smile again or
I'm not going to go any farther. Acknowledge
Him. Look at the person beside you and remind
them, acknowledge God in everything you do. Everything.
Go ahead and say everything. Everything you do.
Acknowledge God in everything. Not just the big
things. The everythings, if you can put it that
way. Everything. While you're working this afternoon,
acknowledge God in everything you do. Right?
Everything. In all you do. Here's the Hebrew
word. All you do. Your way, your road, your path,
your journey, your course of life. Look to the
person beside you and say, that about sums it
up. How about it sums it up? Here's the deal.
If we will live our lives exchanging our will
for His and acknowledging Him and delighting
in Him, see, I can't help but believe there's
going to be some people that get to heaven who
are going to get there by the skin of their teeth.
You know, they accepted Christ and at least I
hope they are. Right? They've accepted Christ.
I believe some people are going to get there
by the skin of their teeth. But the goal, everybody
say the goal. The goal is to hear these words.
Well done, good and faithful servant. The only
way we're going to hear well done, good and faithful
servant is if we will exchange our will for his.
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