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A Fresh Wind Midweek
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A Fresh Wind Midweek
One Yes at a Time: How to Actually Find God's Will
Pastor Ryan and Pastor Tim dive into the "God Just Tell Me" series against the backdrop of recent national tragedies and personal loss, exploring how God's will operates even when circumstances are devastating and confusing. God's sovereignty, moral standards, and permissive will all intersect with His personal plans for our lives, creating a framework for understanding divine guidance.
• Understanding four aspects of God's will: sovereign, moral, permissive, and personal
• Exploring how God allows tragedy without causing it
• Recognizing that not everything that happens is about us personally
• Examining how God's sovereign purposes can emerge from terrible situations
• Prioritizing daily obedience over obsessing about future plans
• Learning to say "yes" to God before you even know what He's asking
• Finding freedom in knowing God is more concerned with who you're becoming than what you're doing
• Walking in God's ways to discover His will "one yes at a time"
• Realizing God's will isn't a destination but a relationship of daily faithfulness
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Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode of the Midweek Podcast brought to you by A Fresh Wind Church. Each week, our team brings you new content to help you take steps towards Jesus and discover more in Christ. Today's episode is hosted by Pastor Ryan.
Speaker 2:Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast. Pastor Ryan joined, as always, with Pastor Tim, and we have kicked off a new series here at Fresh Wind called God Just Tell Me, and I think that's a pretty common sentiment most of us have felt at some point in our life God just tell me. We've got all these plans, all these goals, all these dreams, and sometimes it can feel so paralyzing. God just tell me. And so Tim. I'm super excited about this series and you know, for those avid midweek podcast listeners you might have noticed we're a week behind here. Didn't get one out last week and last week was a pretty rough week.
Speaker 2:It was a week and so you know if your head hasn't been buried in the sand. You know about what happened with Charlie Kirk and just the devastation that's been to so many people, particularly his family. I mean his wife and his kids were in attendance that day and had to watch all that happen. Just horrifying and your heart goes out to them. The school shooting that took place, I think, the same day same day.
Speaker 2:Um, and you look up and you're just like what is going on. There was that girl who was, uh, knife down in, I think, charlotte. Yeah, um, you're like God, what on earth is going on in the world? And uh, then, personally, um, my sister-in-law was 38 weeks pregnant, was supposed to have a baby and a couple of days before she was set to be induced, started having all this pain and got rushed into the hospital and ended up losing the baby. Little Gracie didn't make it. And so, as a family, we've been struggling and so, as a family, we've been struggling.
Speaker 2:And I talked to a couple people this week. Tim and I was like God's timing is never an accident. That's true. We had just started this series God Just Tell Me and I had talked about, you know, kind of the four layers or aspects of God's will, god's sovereign will, the things he allows to happen, god's moral will, kind of the way that he has determined that, as humanity, we're to live and interact with him and one another. I talked about God's permissive will, those things that God allows that we don't understand. And then this week and I'm not saying God was giving me a sermon illustration, I'm not saying God was trying to teach us a lesson, I think. But I do think we had an opportunity to live it out. You know, sometimes we can preach a sermon and it's like well, that was good and we move on.
Speaker 2:This week we had to live it out and say man, is what I said on Sunday? Do I believe it on Monday when I say God's good despite the things that he allows? That I don't agree with that. I don't understand that. I don't want that. I would never pray for, even on my greatest enemy, is he still good in those moments and this week we had our family and our country as a whole we had to start living that thing out and say man, even even here, god's good.
Speaker 3:It's interesting Cause I had a tragedy last week too. My uncle died, but he died at 94 years old, with his entire family around him, ready to go home and be with Jesus, and I've been thinking how those things track together. All these sudden things happen, those kids in Colorado, the Charlie Kirk that are not what we expected. We can accept sorrow and loss when God does what we expect him to do or allows things we expect him to allow, like my uncle dying at 94 with his family around him going home to heaven to see his Jesus and his wife and him leaving preaching the gospel. He wrote the sermon that his grandson, who was the pastor, preached.
Speaker 2:When I heard you say that, I was thinking golly, I think I'm going to write my own sermon. I want to make sure they talk about me good.
Speaker 3:I think my wife's already written her sermon. But I look at that and what happens to us is, especially when we're talking about, if we're going to segment this in his different aspects of his will, especially in God's sovereign will, we make it about us. You know we have this. We're selfish people and you know and it's not wrong to say God, how does this affect me? What do you want me to do in this situation? Even though it's a tragedy, there's an earthquake, there's a tornado, there's whatever, and some kids or young families are tragically lost. Where am I in that? Yeah, um, and sometimes the lord just says you're not in this one. Pray for the families. I'll let you know when this is about you, and I think we need to be careful about that. I think World War II is a great example and people say World War II.
Speaker 3:How is that a great example about anything? It was a monster war. We went to war against monsters who had lost their minds and thought these horrific things were permissible. And so how is God's sovereign will him allowing Hitler to do what he did? What he allowed the well, the whole axis of evil to do what he did? He allowed the whole axis of evil to do what they did Back in World War II. That's what they called them, the axis and the allies. And so we struggle with that All the people in the concentration camps, all the not just war with dignity. Hey, I want your money and your resources. I'm going to come get them. You know, put your dukes up, which is a weird way to be when you think about it. But we have a whole um laws on the earth on how you're supposed to fight wars, and they were doing terrible things. And how can you say that was God's sovereign will, that he allowed that to happen? And that's a struggle.
Speaker 3:The Israelites were in war after war and it looked like the Lord was zagging them on, you know. But there are some things that God is setting up, and one of those and this is why World War II is a good example. It was the establishment of Israel. The Bible taught us that one day, or prophesied that one day, israel would be a nation again, and suddenly it is. And I don't know how you get Israelites from all over the world, jews from all over the world, to come and get another country without a war, because people just don't say hey, you know what? I got 100 million sectors or hectares, whatever they call them, I'll just give you, and you guys can be a nation. That doesn't happen unless something else happens. So God allowed this to happen and suddenly Israel has a country again. Now did God say okay, I'm going to make this guy named Adolf and I'm going to sick him on all these people, just so I can get a country? No, god didn't need to do that. He just used what people were already doing and his sovereign will established Israel as a country.
Speaker 3:Now I know a lot of people are mad that they got a country. Matter of fact, after they got a country. Matter of fact, after they got the country, the United States would not let any Jewish people have visas to leave the country because they knew Israel was going to be attacked. And the United States, if they don't win, they don't win. And so pilots from World War II left the country down in Mexico, got down to Argentina to fly back over to help them fight that six-day war, I think they call it. And right after they got their country, because they knew everybody said if they get a country, we're going to attack, and they said, well, it's their country. They knew everybody said if they get a country, we're going to attack, and they said, well, it's their country, they'll have to. So it wasn't like the united states said, hey, we're making a country over there, and you guys know they thought they were going to be destroyed. And so that's history.
Speaker 3:Guys, look it up, I know, um, you think that everybody on the planet loved what was going on at that time. No, most people on the planet thought they wouldn't make it. But god said this is my will, yeah, I'm gonna establish this country and uh, it's gonna come after you guys really screw up the world. And then, uh, this is what, this is what it's going to be like. And then Egypt, syria, jordan all of them got together and attacked Israel. God said you're not going to win. And that's how sovereign will works. Sometimes he says I'm going to allow. Sometimes he says I'm not going to win and that's how sovereign will works. Sometimes he says I'm going to allow. Sometimes he says I'm not going to allow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that the sovereign will, the way I talked about it in the sermon um, the sovereign wills the things that God does and no one can stop it. And this is a great example. Here's all these people saying we're going to, we're going to stop it, and God's like, no, you're not. This is my sovereign will.
Speaker 2:And I love what God says through the prophet Isaiah. He says I declare the end from the beginning and from long ago, what is not yet done, saying my plan will take place and I will do all my will. God says there are things that I'm doing in the world and it's going to happen, whether you like it or not, whether you vote for it or not, whether you fight a war over it or not. These are the things that I'm going to do, because this is my sovereign will, to bring this about, not just on the planet, in the universe, the whole realm of what God is doing. He says this is my will and it will be accomplished. And, man, we try to fight against it, we try to poke holes in it, we try to do all these things and, truthfully, I don't know that we'll understand it all.
Speaker 3:Well, here's how I learned this truth, and it's not very complicated. First of all, when you're talking about God's sovereign will, you're not always involved in it. You're not always the guy you have a drinking problem over there.
Speaker 2:I swallowed coffee down the wrong pipe, whew.
Speaker 3:We're not always the focus of what he's doing. And I'll put it this way I spent when I was young and really smart. I used to say things like when I'd debate people at school about different aspects of doctrine or whatever. I would say this phrase and it became one of my catchphrases God doesn't work that way, man. You were really smart, I was smart, and then he spent the next 10 years of my life working that way, working his will through what I said. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't do that, he wouldn't allow that. And I learned real close that that scripture that says my ways are not your ways and my ways are past. Finding out is truth. And I know we think we're smart, I know we think we can go get a PhD and whatever and you're the best thinker, but you'll never outthink.
Speaker 1:God.
Speaker 3:He's got a plan and he's in control.
Speaker 2:Well, the author of Proverbs said it right Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails every time, over and, over and over again. And I think it's good to dream and have big plans and to have big goals, but when it comes up against the will of God, you're just a vapor that appears for a little time and then, but a moment then vanishes away, changed after four, we, we have a we're.
Speaker 3:so I don't know if it's selfish, it's just humanity, we're just human. When something happens, how does that affect me? I'm, I'm hurt, I'm, I'm sorry about Charlie Kirk and the whole thing. How did we get to this position that you know someone who disagrees with you you have to silence? Why? Oh, he had a big movement. We had to stop the movement. What movement? You know, you got a bunch of kids standing up, looking at the data, looking at the issues and saying you know what? I think this guy's right. You're afraid of that. How can Americans be afraid of that? How can americans be afraid of that? And you're like well, he's hurting and he's well, show me one person.
Speaker 3:he's shot in the neck, show me one person that he's hurt. You know, if you're, if you think someone else's ideas are going to hurt you, you're, you're in revolutionary mode, yeah, and that's uh this. This country's supposed to be diverse enough that everybody can have uh an opinion and I mean, that's what we, that's what we stand for and we've got to let people have their opinions.
Speaker 3:If you don't want to hear them, you don't have to listen to. To hear them, you don't have to listen to them, Just walk away. You don't have to go to those rallies or whatever they're doing. They've been a lot of people have been doing this for years, but I never watched one. You know it's like this is not worth my time. It was worth Charlie's time. This is not worth my time. It was worth Charlie's time and I think we need to step back and as we look at last week and we say, God, how does your sovereign will apply here? And I think the Lord, as my dad would say, swings a lot of straight licks with a crooked stick now and do I think that god wanted charlie kirk to be assassinated?
Speaker 3:no, did he call that guy to make him assassinate charlie kirk? No, god obeys his own commands.
Speaker 2:Thou shalt not murder, but god does direct his will after these tragedies happen yeah, and so this is where the sovereign will of god bumps right up against his permissive will you know, and it's.
Speaker 2:It's two sides of the same coin. You know, there is God. Says I'm going to do some things in the world, it's going to happen, and you can't stop it. And then his permissive will says but I'm going to, I'm going to allow some things to happen to things that I didn't even will um, things that I didn't choose, things that you chose, things that someone else chose and you don't like it. And this week that's really what I've had to wrestle with.
Speaker 2:You know, God, why would you allow little Gracie to not make it? We sat out there in the waiting room praying all night long. How could you allow that, God? How could you allow this to happen to Charlie? How could you allow it to happen to his wife and his kids Dad's?
Speaker 1:not coming home anymore.
Speaker 2:How could you allow that to happen? How could you allow it to happen to those parents at that school whose kids were shot that day? Parents at that school whose kids were were shot that day. God, this is the that permissive will of god that did god cause it. No, I mean, you just talked about it. God god's not out here calling people up to come shoot charlie kurt. But we live in a sinful, fallen, broken world and that we're responsible for.
Speaker 2:And because God loves us. He has given us the freedom to to choose, and he wants us to choose to love him, to live a holy life. The problem is, many of us we choose evil and it's not. And I don't think people understand how big the sin is, Because it's not just like sin hurts us. The entire universe, the entire planet was affected by sin. Scripture says that creation groans because of sin. I mean when Adam sinned. I mean all of a sudden the ground started producing thorns that it never produced before. All of the entire planet changed when sin entered the world, and part of that was death and loss entered the world, and so God doesn't choose it.
Speaker 2:God's will is that none should perish. He wants all to have eternal life, life abundant, full and free. That's who he is, that's his will. Full and free, that's who he is. That's his will. But he allows these things because we chose other things other than him, and he allows it Because, if not, he's a robot, we're robots.
Speaker 2:You know you will love me. You know that was my joke on that first sermon I preached was. You know, if I look up joy every morning and say you love me now. That's not real love. It's love when she chooses to love me anyways, even when I get it wrong. Man, I'm so grateful that she does over and over and over again, and that's what God has done for us, over and over and over again.
Speaker 2:But in the midst of all that, there's a lot of pain, there's a lot of sorrow that comes and and God, while he didn't choose it, he allows it. Um, but then to say, you know, what did Paul tell the Romans? He's working all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. I think there's, you know, three, two or three kind of big ideas there. One well, what is good, you know, and we, we think good means our prosperity, our happiness. You know, the good that God is working in your life is that you look more like Jesus, Absolutely, and so that means it might not feel good and it might not end good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look at all the disciples. Yeah, look at Charlie. Yeah, the end goal here, the good that God's going to work, is in that pain and in that sorrow. You're going to learn to look like Jesus and it's going to hurt, it's going to work is in that pain and in that sorrow. You're going to learn to look like Jesus and it's going to hurt. It's going to feel like walking through hell, but you're going to look like my son.
Speaker 3:So we look at God's sovereign will and then that everything's going to work out the way he has planned. But he gives us permissive will inside that plan. And so it's like, why? Why are you doing this? And God is saying, look, I've given you what you need for this not to happen. That's God's moral will. For this not to happen, that's God's moral will. This stuff doesn't have to happen.
Speaker 3:If you'll do my will, which is Thou shalt not murder, Right? Thou shalt not do all these other things. Don't eat the apple, and Gracie would have never died, Right? And that's, that's the. It gets big and these all this the will of God is you're starting to see as a universal concept, not universal as huge like the universe. This is how things happen.
Speaker 3:And one thing I respect scientists about. A good scientist when you ask him what is the speed of light, he'll say 186,000 feet per second in our solar system, Because they don't know really how fast light is in another solar system with different gravity and all that kind of stuff. A good scientist will say we think that star did this this many years ago, based on the light in our solar system, and we forget those. There's bigger things out there. God allowed this to happen because, well, I don't understand. Well, because you don't have all the data, you don't know what's going on. You don't know what God's doing, but he wants to teach us. Hey, it doesn't have to be this hard. Here's my moral will. If you'll do this, I will bless you. I will bless you in the way that I want to bless you. That's better for you than the way you want to bless yourself, and those are hard concepts to grab a hold of because they all go together. You know what's your moral will.
Speaker 3:Well, if we all live God's moral will, it wouldn't be this tough.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, I'm trying to figure out. It can't be a third side to the same coin, so that doesn't work, but these do all start to go together. You know you were given this illustration before we jumped on the podcast is? You and I were just kind of talking through some ideas about you know God wants, if God needs you to be at this park this time, at this day, or need someone to be at that part, you don't even have to be you, um, but if that's his sovereign will I need someone to come do this thing? He'll. He'll make sure someone's there to go do the thing that he needs to have done. And all along the way you're. You were talking about how you'll make all kinds of choices during that process. Right, and, but you'll end up at that park.
Speaker 2:You'll end up at that park at the right time to see the right person. And you're, you're thinking, well, how? How does all that make sense? Cause I, I chose this part and I chose this, and I didn't choose this. You know, my car didn't start or whatever, or, you know, got stuck in traffic. I didn't choose that.
Speaker 2:But then, you know, then God's moral will kicks in. Well, because you know I'm I'm going to live God's way. I went the speed limit, or you know, I, I saw someone over here and they look like they needed, they needed help, and so I pulled over to help that person, because that's the kind of person God's called me to be. And all this stuff starts to factor in. Right, I'm trying to live God's way, or I'm choosing not to. And then I chose this thing here and, in my frustration and anger over the car, I stormed and I threw a fit and it blew up. This whole thing. That was a choice. And then, in all of it, you ended up at that park to talk to that person that God needed someone to talk to, and you're like how does it work?
Speaker 3:Right, because I made bad choices and I still ended up there. You know, and I think that's God gave us emotions and you guys out there, you need to feel these next few weeks. You need to feel. Look at our country. I know everybody's accusing um, everybody who said about charlie, about not caring about the kids in colorado, but nobody's mentioned the 19 people who were shot in uh chicago last weekend either and two of them died, and and I can go on, nobody's mentioning the people in nigeria that are persecuting for their Christianity.
Speaker 3:Nobody's mentioning all these different things everywhere that's going in the world, unless somehow it applies to their agenda. And there we go again, saying this is all about me. If it applies to my agenda, then I care. And then if I don't, and I get it. I'm a student of humanity and I have been for most of my adult life. Why do people do the things that they do? And if you've got a connection to someone, you're going to notice things bad that happens to that person more than you would from someone that you don't know. So I think we should stop this. Why don't you care about these people? Because there's eight billion of us and I guarantee you our tragedy last week little gracie, my uncle and charlie kirk there was a lot of people affected by a lot of other deaths around this world that need to be cared about too.
Speaker 3:So let's lay that down we're all hurting. This is crazy On both sides of the political argument, which I don't know why that's an issue, but let's face it. Everybody knows that if we let this kind of stuff go on, it's going to be war. Right, and we know what wars look like. The last one was only 80 years ago, so, and the United States has been fighting a war, and I talk about the big war. And they're saying, well, you didn't mention Korea, you didn't mention Vietnam, you didn't mention, you know, the middle east war that we've been in. And I'll say, yeah, and I didn't, um, mention the indian war we're in, for we were in for 60 years as we drove them all over the map. Uh, I didn't mention that one either. Oh, and the mexican-american war? And what about the war of 1812? You, you didn't mention that one.
Speaker 3:It's like come on, guys, let's be thinking human beings. We need to put our foot down, all of us, and say, hey, this isn't right. We have outside influences that are trying to divide us and destroy us. Russia, china, they're all commenting on this Any way that they can spark something in the United States. We're getting them out of Europe. Iran, of course we think of our enemies, but we're getting kind of weird bots from nations that we think are our friends. And that's not even the biggest issue. The biggest issue is that Satan is influencing us and we're writing things that we never should have written. You know how? I know that's true Because people's first reaction online has been brought down Ah, that was crazy. I shouldn't have said that. And I know that's going on. And listen, at this church we forgive you. We forgive you because we're angry Everybody's angry and sometimes, when we're angry, we don't do the righteous thing. The problem is anger is God's gift and they're like oh no, here we go.
Speaker 3:But it is. It is God made us in his image and God gets angry, but it's a righteous anger and we get angry when there's senseless loss and it's okay to feel that way. But, man, I tell you, we need to watch it. When something happens under God's sovereign will and his permissible will, we need to watch it when we jump in there and get mad because someone's using it to their advantage. Back off, back off, you are messing with a God who hears and a God who sees and you're stepping all over that, saying well, this was this and that was that. And sometimes God says, no, that was just me, right, and you're not that important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we love to come up with an answer for all the things that God does. You know, and sometimes you know you talked about how you were so smart God doesn't do it. Sometimes be smart enough to say I don't know. Yeah, you know, even my son, gavin. He was writing a card to hope after everything had happened and he had started to write that verse. You know, god works all things together for good and he goes Dad. It just doesn't seem right in the moment and I said, gavin, it's true. It's true. Now we've got to talk about again.
Speaker 2:What that good is Right, but it's a hard truth to hear in moments like this, yeah, and, and we, we try and sometimes it's with the best intentions as christians, to we try to say encouraging things god's gonna use this in your life and sometimes it just sucks. Yeah, just sucks, and we don't know. We don't know what God's sovereign will was and all that. But I can trust that God is good and I shared it in the sermons. I don't want to reshare it again.
Speaker 2:But what Troy Reed said when they lost their son the problem's with me, not with God Right, he's still good man. That's been one of those things. It marked me that when times like this happen, if I feel like God's not good, if I feel like God's not holding up his end of the bargain, whatever the situation that problem's with me, god is still God. He is faithful. Even when I am faithless, god is still God. He is faithful even when I am faithless and somehow, in his sovereignty and in his permissive will and even in his moral will, and using how I, however imperfectly, I try to follow him, he's going to make sure his plan gets accomplished.
Speaker 3:And in all that, we have to go to his personal will. For me, what am I supposed to do? And here's the problem. This is what I preached about on Sunday, so we'll just roll right into that one. We look at all those God's sovereign will and we drop them below God's will. For me, right, because it's about me.
Speaker 3:It's about me. I don't know if you knew it, tim, but this is about me, right? And so when someone dies, we're like God. What are you trying to show me? And sometimes, you know, god's still small voice is saying I don't kill people to teach you a lesson. It's not about you. And that's when you have to say the just shall live by faith. God is good, I believe it and I'm going to live by faith. But everything that anybody says anywhere at any time is about me. And because humanity is selfish, and sometimes it's, it's hard to uh, get off the high horse, and and as you get older, though I think you'll all agree that you realize I can't fix that.
Speaker 2:I remember when Ty was little and he had this eye that started to cross, and when we started taking him to the doctor, they said, man, he's a little old for that to start happening. We'd like to run some other tests. And then you're like well, what are those tests for? Like well, in a lot of kids, we start seeing this if there's a tumor or something developing. And, man, I, a lot of kids, we start seeing this if there's a tumor or something developing.
Speaker 2:And man, I remember going home standing in my shower crying, god, why would you do this to me? And it was that still, what are you talking about? You think I would do that to your son to teach you a lesson? What kind of monster do you think I am? But, man, we do. We turn it all about me and so, yeah, it's easy to do, we've all done it. We take God's personal will for us and we put it on top of this pile, because it's the most important thing what is your plan for me? And it's like, man, if you wouldn't, if you'd get the first couple right. And this is kind of, I think, where your sermon was going on Sunday. And man, I remember calling you saying you had offered to take the sermon because of everything going on this week, which I appreciate. Thank you for doing that, by the way.
Speaker 3:You're welcome.
Speaker 2:I was like man don't screw it up. This is my favorite sermon.
Speaker 3:I know, and this is your opportunity to say everything I didn't preach.
Speaker 2:But, man, if we would get the first three right, this one kind of takes care of itself. You know, the problem is and I said this the first week when I was talking about kind of God's moral will is we want the fruit without the faithfulness and we want the blessing without the obedience. Right, we want God's big, superseding plan for my life. Who should I marry? Where should I work? What do I do with my kids, you know? What school do we send them to? We want all of these things, but then we don't want to be faithful right here, and so that's what you were talking about on Sunday. We can lose sight of God's plan and purpose for our life because we're so focused on the future, we won't be the kind of person God's telling us to be today.
Speaker 3:Didn't Andy Stanley say something about that when he was talking about dating and marriage? What was it?
Speaker 2:He said something.
Speaker 3:Okay, I quoted Andy Stanley. Let me say again I don't believe everything about anybody who says anything that I mentioned. I don't believe everything written in a book that somebody might have read as soon as you say one name and agree with one thing they've said.
Speaker 2:you've signed them up right. Every letter sermon anyone's ever preached on that. Yes, I'm with it. But I think what he was saying is are you the person that the person you're looking for is looking for? And the idea of being? There's someone out there and God, I'm praying for that person. God, who should I marry? And well, hold on. Are you the person Because you want God to give you a spouse that loves Jesus and loves you and knows how to be respectful and treats their mom well and is going to be a great father for your children and is generous and is strong, and you have all these things that you want, and then God's like well, if I gave you that person right now, you'd ruin them. Right, you would ruin it.
Speaker 2:Are you the person that the person you're looking for is looking for? And that's when God's personal will starts to the rubber meets the road here is well, are you becoming the person that God has called you to be, and that's so much more important than what you do? Well, are you becoming the person that God has called you to be, and that's so much more important than what you do. You know one of my favorite verses. We've talked about this. I think we did a whole podcast on our life verse before.
Speaker 2:That was back at the old building, I think. But one of my favorite verses is since I was little Isaiah 30, 21. It says 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. And I love that verse because it talks about hearing God's voice and his direction, having a plan and a purpose for your life. God guides and directs our steps and I love everything about it. I'm like, yes, that that became my life verse, except what was so confusing. It says, whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice and it's like well, hold on, wait, do.
Speaker 2:I go right or left?
Speaker 3:Right, exactly.
Speaker 2:And it's almost as if God's saying I don't care, go either way, just do it my way, because if you'll walk in my way, I'll lead you in my will.
Speaker 3:And I used Psalm 32.8. I will instruct you with my eye on you. I know what's going on. I'll lead you the way that you need to go. I'll let you make decisions, but you'll get where I'm. If you'll obey, you'll get where I'm taking you. And I think sometimes, well, here's a better example In the forge, we started studying Peter, so we're in 1 Peter, peter, so we're in.
Speaker 3:We're in first Peter, and he's writing a letter to the exiles, the Christians that were driven out of Jerusalem because, remember, they were being hunted and put in prison and and they, they were all left, they were all having hardship. And I know, I just want you to see how Peter, who walked with Jesus, denied Jesus, was unloyal to Jesus, who Jesus? He repented and Jesus brought him back in, and all you just know who Peter is. He's the one who heard for three years the mind of Jesus. Listen to what he says when he's writing a letter to those exiles who are in trouble, and it's about them, but it's not about them. Listen to what he says, peter. This is his greeting an apostle of Jesus Christ to those chosen living as exiles dispersed abroad in a bunch of hard words around the Mediterranean. Okay, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Okay, to be obedient? Wow yeah, and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 3:So here we go. What, what, oh? This horrible thing has happened to us. What do we do? What is God's will? Well, let's start with obedience, stick with obedience. Well, when I get further down the road, you know what is God's will To be obedient, let's start with that. And I told the guys I said look, so this is what Peter's going to say. And it's all going to swing on one hinge Obedience, obedience. Everything in 1 Peter that we try to pull out and we say well, this God it starts with the context is be obedient in your suffering, in your exile, in your mess. And when we're talking about God's personal will for you, for you to get there, it's going to hinge on obedience. He wants you to become more like Christ. So what does that look like today? And if you keep saying yes to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, you'll end up where God has sent you.
Speaker 2:Now, you know, it kind of reminds me of you know fall's coming up and we love those corn mazes. You know that farmer was cut out into a big field and you walk in there and you never know, am I going right or left? And everything starts to look the same. It's almost as if God's got the you know sky view cam in the all 22 and he's looking down on that maze and he can see exactly where you need to go. He can get you right where you're supposed to be. He knows your, his plan and his purpose for your life and you're like well, god, do I turn right or left here? And he goes either way. Go either way on this one and as long as you keep doing it my way, I'm going to get you where you need to go to get out of this thing, to fulfill your purpose and your plan that I have for you With my eye on you. I'm going to tell you whether you go right or left. This is the way. Walk in it.
Speaker 2:And I think here's why this is freeing and this is why it's one of my favorite sermons to talk about is because we have always at least I grew up believing God's will was this destination, this thing, this dot, and I had to get that right. And if I didn't get it right, then then I'm never going to be happy, I'm never going to be satisfied in life, I'll never experience joy or live and understand what it means to live with purpose and potential, because I missed it. You talked about marrying the wrong person. And if Johnny marries the wrong person, johnny marries Susie, but Susie's the wrong person, well then Susie married the wrong person and the guy that was supposed to marry Susie now he married the wrong person and the whole plan is just screwed up. All because one guy had a rough night on a Saturday and woke up in Vegas and said we should get married. He screwed up the whole thing. We think we minimize God's will to this minute little thing.
Speaker 2:His will is so much bigger than that, and God is so much more interested in who you're becoming than what you do. So you could be a pastor, you could be the next Charlie Kirk, or you could be the greatest mom, you could be the greatest doctor, you could be the you know, we got tractors moving all across our backfield here at the church. You could be the best backhoe driver on the planet. And if you do it God's way, then you will begin to walk in his will. And when you get it wrong, god say hey, man, I know you were stepping out in faith there and I appreciate that I need you to come back this way a little bit. He's going to guide you.
Speaker 3:He's faithful to do that and I think a great example is right after service on Sunday, a guy came up to me one of the guys back there directing those backhoe drivers.
Speaker 3:He said I really appreciated your sermon. I'm a missionary and I've been all over the world. And he listed all these places. The only one I can remember now is Nigeria, where they've been persecuting Christians so bad. And he said this is how it looks you look at what Jesus wants you to do today, and then the next day, and then the next day, and then the next day you're in Nigeria, and then the next day're in Nigeria, and then the next day you're in South America, and then the next day you're at a fresh wind church spreading dirt on their back thing.
Speaker 3:And the pastor greeted you last week and invited you to come. And so, while you were in town, you came and you heard a sermon about your own life. And here I am because I just said yes to God all the way through. And so he said it happens exactly like that, and every time I say I'm a missionary to someone, they say, well, oh man, how do you come to that decision? And he goes because I chose to live for Jesusesus every day. One yes at a time. One yes at a time. Um, my mom's favorite scripture. Oh no, I can't remember the reference.
Speaker 2:I better look at it prove it.
Speaker 3:I've preached about that yesterday. Let me, let me look it up. Oh my gosh, how embarrassing is this my mom's favorite verse.
Speaker 2:It's on her tombstone. Yeah, you better, don't get this one wrong.
Speaker 3:Anyways, it says sorrow lasts for the night, but joy comes in the morning, and it's Psalm 35. That's close Psalm 35. That was close and does sorrow last. For tonight is important because we're going to go through sorrow, but joy comes in the morning and we think, well, joy will come in the future. No, it comes in the morning the next day God says look, I want you to live like me and when you do, you'll have joy in the morning the next day.
Speaker 3:God says look, I want you to live like me and when you do, you'll have joy in the morning. You'll have joy in your sorrow and you might not always be happy and it might be really rough, but you'll be like Paul talking to the Philippians it's funny how Philippians flowed into this next sermon series. Like I said, it's never an accident, right, and you're going to have joy um, chained to a Roman guard sitting in your house and you got all these letters to write and you're like Lord, how am I going to write all these letters? And people come in and say, hey, I'll write them and deliver them and explain them to everybody.
Speaker 3:I mean, the Lord was just working and he, he had joy, even in the midst of what everybody else would say would be disaster. And so walk in his ways. Walk in his ways. Your personal will of God is to live God's moral will, to live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when you do, you'll end up where you're supposed to be, at the right time.
Speaker 2:When you walk in his ways, God will lead you in his will.
Speaker 2:It happens every time. It's why we start just about every service by saying yes before we even get started, and I know a lot of people probably have heard me say that so many times now. I think you've got a t-shirt, don't you? I do, I do. A lady made me a t-shirt for it one time that it might be easy to just tune out at that point. No, yep, that's what he always says. I say it because I believe it with all my heart.
Speaker 2:If we would say yes before we even get started God, I'm not putting any strings or conditions on this.
Speaker 2:Whatever you have to say today, I say yes to it.
Speaker 2:If you'll begin to live that way, god will put you in the right moment to meet the right girl, and he'll teach you all the things that you need to know to be a great dad or to be a great mom, and he'll teach you how you should be a boss or how to be an employee at this organization and how to shine light there and how to find purpose and significance in something that you didn't even think that you were called to.
Speaker 2:God will lead you into all of that and, all of a sudden, doors and opportunities begin to open and you start to sense God's leading and calling and hey, this person's going through something and I need you to go pray with them. And all of a sudden you're like is this why I'm here? And it's one of the things I love about Bridget. Bridget has worked a lot of jobs that she hasn't necessarily been thrilled with all the time, but she's constantly asking God, why do you have me here? What is my purpose here? And she wants to live in that, to be the person God's called her to be today. And if we could get that, then you step away 20 years from now and you look back and say, man, I can see his will and his purpose all over my life.
Speaker 3:Most of us, though, when we're talking about that, we can't get out from under the will of God, so we take his personal will for me, and then we look at his permissive will.
Speaker 3:What do you want me to do? So I can choose not to do that if I don't like it. That's where we're at as Christians. If you grew up in the church, I guarantee you this has crossed your mind. If I knew God's will, then would I choose it or would I not choose it? Then would I choose it or would I not choose it? And sometimes the Lord says that's why you live for me every day, and when we get to those decisions, you'll be ready to follow me Right, that's man.
Speaker 2:this is powerful and I know Tim told everyone on Sunday that this is a sermon that changed my life, this idea, and I think you know here's another one that a lot of people get all upset about if you mention them. But steven ferdick preached a sermon called god's will is whatever and we don't agree with everything ferdick says, and we don't agree of his footwear.
Speaker 2:That idea, dude. It changed so much for me because I was panicked. I lived as a panicked Christian, thinking I'm going to miss it, I'm going to miss it, I'm going to miss it. And that pressure of constantly searching for some perfect plan and all the while neglecting who is God calling me to be right now, because I'm so focused on that thing and missing it and I think a lot of Christians are in that missing it point.
Speaker 3:I think I missed it. I'm not the person that I expected to be at this time. Well, when you're living the Lord, if you're going to choose to live for the Lord day by day, moment by moment, circumstance after circumstance, he'll show you how to fix it. That's right. He'll show you which way to go from here. Well, man, I'm really off the path. Matter of fact, I think I circled back and I'm back at camp and the Lord says that's fine with me, live for me today, because today you don't have tomorrow unless I allow it. So live for me today. What are we going to do together?
Speaker 2:today. You know, the only time, the only day, the only moment you are guaranteed to live for God is right now. Right now, it's great to have goals, it's great to have dreams, and I want you, I want you to to dream big about what God wants to do in your life. I do what god could do in your family if, if you'd be the person he called. I want you to dream about all of that and then go live for him today we, we quote a guy um.
Speaker 3:His name is charles spurgeon, which he's a great preacher great theologian and I don't agree with everything he ever said.
Speaker 3:Okay, just so. But he was fantastic. He wanted to be a pastor, he wanted to be a preacher, he wanted to be effective and he was. He preached.
Speaker 3:The power of prayer he used to describe the prayer room in the bottom of his church was this basement. You couldn't stand up, and he called it our power room. This is what powers our church, and it was people that would go in there and pray while he was preaching. He wasn't a great preacher and his wife would get mad every now and then and walk up the middle aisle in the church and grab him she's a big woman, he was a little guy and drag him out of the church in front of everybody.
Speaker 3:So when he thought, when he was like I'm gonna serve god, I'm gonna be this great pastor, I don't think he had that in mind. Right, and so um, so um, you're going to be what God has called you to be today, and it might not be what you have in mind, but you need to say yes before you even get started, and that's why everybody says Jesus got up in the morning. He went off to the Lord by himself. He went off to say yes before he even got started, and that's what our prayer life, our devotional life, should look like For sure. I'm afraid, sitting with you, we could talk about this for about a month. So I I think we covered anything else that I didn't say. That, uh, you really wanted, said on sunday, because I know this was your sermon you know I'm I'm planning on preaching this sunday, so if there's anything else, I'll get it in there I'll just go ahead and
Speaker 2:re-preach his tim's tim's the right way right I I just to say this because I don't want you to miss this point If you will walk in God's ways, he'll lead you in his will. I want you to get that. I know we've we've covered a lot of ground today. We've talked again about those four layers and aspects of God's will. Um, and I want you to walk in God's purpose and his plan and his will for your life as your pastors. That's what we want for you. We want you to walk in his plan and his will for you.
Speaker 3:And listen. Here's the key aspect of that. That will free you from this burden of becoming this thing that you think God wants you to be. He wants you to be like him in every situation. That might be tough, it might be easy. I love my wife Well, I want you to be a guy that loves your wife better than that. Well, I'm all in right. So when we say yes to God and then we're like, okay, I've got to make this decision, which way am I going to end up? We want to free you from that. Just live for him, live a life worthy of the gospel, and wherever you end up is where God wanted you to be.
Speaker 2:Right and be free. Yeah, be free from that. Live free and say yes to him and trust that he'll. He'll get you where where he wants you to go. He is faithful Even when we're faithless. Even those times when you step out in faith thinking this might be what God wants, and you get it wrong, he is faithful to bring you back. This is the way that you should walk in. He's going to do it for you and so be encouraged in that. I hope in all of this it sets you free when it comes to God's will and pursuing God's will for your life. Just begin to walk in his ways and God will lead you in his will.
Speaker 2:He's done it over and over and over again. He's done it in Tim's life. He's done it over and over and over again. He's done it in Tim's life. He's done it in my life, and I don't know if this is where I thought I'd be when I was, you know, 13, 14 years old and God called me to pastor. There's nowhere else I'd rather be.
Speaker 2:You know God is. He's got me where he wants me and I'm doing it with people I love and got a wife that I love, kids that we adore, you know, and we're just trying to do it God's way, day by day, saying yes to him, and so I want to encourage you to do that. Scripture doesn't say a whole lot on your future and who you should marry and where you should live, but it talks a whole lot about how you should live right now, the kind of person you should be right now, and so I'm trying to remember how you said this, something along the lines of the best way to find God's will for the future is to live faithfully for Jesus today. I think that's how you said it and that's true. Live faithfully for Jesus today, and he'll lead you where he wants you to go. Will you pray for us, pastor Tim?
Speaker 3:Father, we want to lift you up here. I know Ryan and I circle the wagons on this and I don't even know what he's going to preach about next week, about this but this is something that trips us all up. God, I need to angle my life to where you want me to go. It's important to me, and I want to know, and God says, yes, it's very important. Live for me today and I will take you there. And, lord, we just that's part of living by faith is having faith that God will get you where you need to be and we can take the pressure off.
Speaker 3:Lord, I know there's a lot of people say well, I fail every day. I got this habit or this addiction, and it goes back to this being obedient. Do what I have for you today. Worry about obeying me in that situation today. You might not even be here tomorrow. And, lord, it's hard for us, especially as we everything's about us and we self judge ourselves. And, man, if I was like this person or I was like that person, you know I wouldn't be in this mess. And and and, lord, I pray that they'll hear your voice. Quit worrying about those people. Worry about being more like me and I can walk you out of this mess and, father, that's a faith that we just don't trust you to be good to us. We're expecting you to pound us because we didn't do what we were supposed to do for the last five years, and now I'm useless.
Speaker 3:We know in our heads that that's not true, but I pray that you'll teach us in our hearts that the best time to be what God wants you to be is today. Father, I don't know. That's why I'm praying to you, lord. I pray that you'll open our hearts and minds so that we can see that we can walk away from our past by choosing to live. Walk in your ways. Today we can choose to live, walk away from our past, our mistakes, no matter what they are, if we choose to live for you.
Speaker 3:Today, father, I want to thank you that you're in control. Father, I want to thank you that you're in control. Yes, you've given us choice and sometimes we desire for you to take it all away and just make us. And, lord, I know in my own life that if you would have shown me what I was going to be doing, I would probably did everything I can to go the opposite way, and I'm sorry for that. I know a lot of people feel the same way. But I can tell you now I trust you, father, I trust you. So I want to become more like you today and let you worry about my tomorrows.
Speaker 3:Father, I lift up this whole church. I'm sorry, church. Tomorrow, father, I lift up this whole church. Sorry, church, if you're listening to this prayer, I started praying for myself, but that's us right. We're always praying how it's going to affect me, but, lord, I pray for our whole church right now, as we go through the suffering that we've been through this last week and the suffering that's coming, and we'll realize that you are good, you always have been good and you'll be good in the future. And that joy comes in the morning of a day lived in obedience In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:Amen. Thanks again for joining us for this episode of the Midweek Podcast. We'd love to hear from you. Let us know how God is using this resource in your life, or send any podcast questions or topic ideas to podcast at afreshwindorg. If you would like to support this ministry financially and help us continue offering new resources that equip you to discover more in Christ, simply text any amount to the number 84321. We're so grateful for your support. Make sure to tune in next week for a brand new episode of the Midweek Podcast. Be blessed and have a great week.