The Local Vineyard Church Podcast
The Local Vineyard Church is a church located in Richmond, Virginia. The Local is a part of the VineyardUSA network. You can find more information about The Local and VineyardUSA by visiting https://localvineyard.church
The Local Vineyard Church Podcast
Stop Overcomplicating God's Will
Have you ever found yourself paralyzed by the pressure of discovering God's perfect will for your life? You're not alone. While we're busy analyzing every angle of tomorrow's big decisions, we often miss what God wants to do with us today.
The profound truth is that God's will is more about WHO you're becoming than WHAT you're doing. This perspective shift changes everything. We tend to overcomplicate God's will while underestimating His goodness, treating His purpose like a precise dot on a map that we must locate perfectly. But God's loving eye is guiding us even through our detours and mistakes.
Scripture speaks surprisingly little about specific future decisions—which college to attend, career to pursue, or person to marry. Instead, Jesus repeatedly emphasizes how to treat people today, use money wisely today, and cultivate right thinking today. He even explicitly warns against worrying about tomorrow. The best way to discern God's future will is actually to live faithfully for Him in the present moment.
God's moral will, as revealed through Paul's writings, is for you to be holy—set apart, different, and dedicated to Him. This doesn't mean judgmental superiority but rather recognizing your dependence on God and living in surrender. We're all surrendered to something—our trauma, others' opinions, or cultural influences. The question is whether we'll surrender to the One who created us.
Whatever your circumstances—your job, relationship status, parenting challenges—do it for God's glory. The path to making a big difference tomorrow starts with doing small things faithfully today. As you practice this daily surrender, you'll discover that these "small things" are actually where God meets you most powerfully.
Ready to transform how you view God's will for your life? Join our small group starting September 7th, where real change happens through authentic community. Because today is all we have, and it's the perfect day to live for His glory.
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Thank you for your generosity. For information on how to give, visit https://localvineyard.church/give.
All right, let's go ahead and jump into our message. We started a series last week called God, just Tell Me. God, just Tell Me. We want to know. Well, god, what's our purpose? Why are we here? So here I got a question for you how many of you sincerely want to know your purpose in life? I think everyone does. I've never really met anyone that's like I don't really care, you know they're probably out there, but I haven't really met them too much. Everyone wants to know what God's will is, what God's purpose is. See, here you go.
Speaker 1:I think most people don't struggle with wanting God's will. We struggle with waiting for God's will. We struggle with discerning what God is doing. People often face a decision and this is what they do, people. They often face a decision and then they say, well, let me pray about it, I'm going to pray about it, I'm going to ask people to pray for me. And then you pray about it. You say God, do you want me to do this? And then, after you pray about it, what do we often do? Write every reason why we should or shouldn't do something, analyze every angle of it, make our pros and cons list, and we never just wait for the Holy Spirit to tell us we want to take it into our hands, we want to take it, we want to take control of it.
Speaker 1:Deep down, many of us are afraid that we'll miss God's will, that perfect moment. We worry about choosing the wrong job, maybe marrying the wrong person, ending up with the wrong life, and that's a lot of pressure for people. That's a lot of pressure for people who can't even decide what they want to eat for dinner tonight. You know, how can we do it? How can we do it? The thing is, for so many of us, we don't realize that, while we're still chasing the perfect answer for tomorrow, we're often missing what God wants to do with us today. We're often missing what God wants for us today. One of the biggest mistakes that so many of us make when it comes to discerning God's will for our life is we overcomplicate God's will and we underestimate God's goodness. We overcomplicate God's. When we underestimate God's goodness, we overcomplicate it. We think it's kind of like this dot on a map of our lives and we got to get to that spot. Then we'll be in God's will, then we'll have God's purpose. But if we miss it and we miss it how can God redeem it? How can he redeem it? And what we miss is this we miss how good God is, that he guides us and he directs us and he counsels us, and his loving eye is upon us.
Speaker 1:Now I want to show you something through scripture today, through God's word, that I truly believe has the potential to change your life, and I'm not just like just saying that, I actually really think it can change, change your whole perspective on life. Okay, so many of us, as Jesus followers, we tend to think about God's will in terms of what we do. God, what do you want me to do, god? What do you want me to do after I do that thing? God, what do you want me to do next, god? What do you want me to do later? God, what do you want me to do in five years? God, what do you want me to do? That's often how we think about it. God, what do you want me to do?
Speaker 1:The challenge is this that I would suggest at a deeper level, god isn't thinking about what you do, but God is more interested in who you're becoming. God's will is more about a who than a do, and that's very hard for our American worldview, where everything is based on how good you can be, how good you can pretend to be in front of people. Instead, maybe, just maybe, god is more interested in the person, the person that we are becoming. Let's look at this. Let's look at this. I truly believe God is more concerned about the who than to do, because you can do a lot of things. Here's the crazy part you can do a lot of good things. You can feed the poor, you can help people out. You can do a lot of good things, and in the process of doing good things, you can become a very bitter person. You can do a lot of good things that people are like oh look how great they are, look how wonderful they are, but then you treat your spouse and your family behind closed doors the way that God doesn't want you to do it. So it's not just about doing things, because I think we've all gotten good at doing things in public and letting people know how good we are in the limelight, while God is more interested in who we are when no one else is watching. See, god cares more about the who because, before God guides your steps, he actually wants to shape your character. He wants you to be conformed to the image of Christ. And so when you look at God's will, it's not just about what do I measure in, what job do I take, where do I live. It's about your heart and your character and your relationship with God, with God. That's why knowing God's will starts with knowing God's heart, knowing God's heart. Who is he and what does he want for me?
Speaker 1:When we talk about God's will, again, many of us we're tempted to do. What we're tempted to do is lock in on what we consider the big things, like the big things in life. Right, we all have kind of this list. Like God, what's your will for the big stuff in life? You know where should I work. You know where should I work, what job should I take, where should I live? You know, should I rent or should I buy? Should I marry this person or is there an upgrade coming? When should I get married? And then, do we have kids now? Do we have kids later? Two kids, three kids? Lord, help me if there's more than that. In schools, do we do public or private or homeschool? Because it's a whole different commitment based on what we tend to obsess over, the major life moves. This is what I want you to get.
Speaker 1:We tend to overthink, we tend to obsess over the major things in life while we rarely make our beds in the morning. Tish Harrison Warren said it this way. I love it. She says everyone wants a revolution. No one wants to do the dishes we focus on, like which college am I supposed to go to? While we give little thought of the time that we're wasting scrolling through social media. We tend to think about, well, who am I supposed to date or marry, with little thought about how we treat the person God put right in front of us at the grocery store.
Speaker 1:When you look at God's word, it actually says very little about our future. It says very little about your future. The Bible doesn't talk about who you should marry in the future, or where you should live in the future, or what job you should take in the future, in fact. In fact, when Jesus, when Jesus talks about jobs, one of the things that often happens when people begin to follow Jesus you see it in scripture they leave their jobs and come follow him, and the reason is God's not telling you to quit your job today. He might be, but he's not. What's happening is, when people have an encounter with Jesus, their responsibilities change, the level of importance change, and so if I'm following Jesus, of importance change, and so if I'm following Jesus, he's my number one responsibility and everything else flows from there. This is hard for us to take that concept, then, because we want to do everything our way, because we love control, we love the perception of control, we love the deceit of control. But here you go. In fact, when Jesus talks, he doesn't talk often about the future, but he talks a lot about how you should treat people today, how you should use your money today, how you should think today, what you should do with your time today.
Speaker 1:When Jesus talks about the future, he actually says this. He says don't worry about tomorrow, don't for tomorrow. Well, tomorrow has his own worries, but today's trouble is enough for today. Ain't that true? He's like we got to think about what's God doing right now. James says this in the Bible. He says. He says this Now listen, you who say today or tomorrow will go to this city or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, make money.
Speaker 1:Why? You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? This is a little harsh, but it's good. He says you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. He continues Instead. Instead, you ought to say if it is the Lord's will, if it is God's plan, if it's what God is doing in my life, if God's calling me to leave my home and do something big, if God's calling me to help this person, if God's calling me to let go of that habit so I can gain better habits, so that I can be the person that he has called me to be, if it's the Lord's will for me, then to that thing, to that thing, we will live and do this or that. When we're looking at God's will, we're not trying to get you to figure out the future.
Speaker 1:God wants you to seek Him and know Him today. Today, he wants you to serve Him. Today, he wants you to be led by His Spirit. Today, he wants you to have the fruits of the Spirit in your life Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. He wants you to think about those things today. And so, if you want to know God's will, you got to get to know God's heart. And I want you to get this because the more you spend daily time with God, the more your mind is renewed and you begin to hear His Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:You begin to walk by faith instead of sight. You begin to hear his Holy Spirit. You begin to walk by faith instead of sight. You begin to die to your flesh and let his spirit live through you, producing fruit that impacts the world. And instead of chasing your own will, you let him guide your steps. And the more you walk with him, the more you know him, the more you enjoy him and you begin to see that he enjoys you too. And once you understand that my God, my creator, I am his beloved and he loves me, then the things and the worries and the doubts and the fears and anxieties, well, they just all kind of fell in comparison to the great love of my God for me.
Speaker 1:But that love doesn't happen with just logically thinking about it. It doesn't happen by just reading a self-help book. It doesn't happen by listening to your podcast on two speed. It's by spending daily time with the Lord. It's by spending daily time with Him. And the more you enjoy Him, the more you realize the best way to find God's will for your future is to live faithfully for Jesus today. Let me say that one more time. The best way to find God's will for your future is to live faithfully for Jesus today. Today, it's a game changer. It's a game changer. God's will is not as much about what you do, but it's about who you're becoming. And the better you get to know him, the more faithful you live for him today, the more confidence that you have that he's going to lead you where he wants you to go in your tomorrow. So again, last week I introduced these four concepts of God's will and I encourage you to look back and listen to that message. We'll hit on them for the next couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:But today I want to look at this God's moral will, his moral, his revealed will for your life. Now, what is that? What is God's moral will for you? What is His revealed will and what we see? We see this in the scripture. What it is. But let me first tell you what it's not. God's moral will for you is not that you become a graphic designer. It's not that you become a YouTuber I guess that could be fun. It's not that you are just a stay-at-home parent. God's moral will for you is revealed in His Word and, according to the Apostle Paul, god's will for you is to be holy. To be holy that don't sound like the most exciting thing, you know, but holiness and hopeness, that's what God wants for you. That's what God wants for you. We looked at this again last week and I want to build upon it a little bit more. That Greek word for holy it means to be set apart, different, sacred, dedicated to God and God's will for you is to live differently from the selfish patterns of this world, to live set apart, sacred and fully.
Speaker 1:Paul gives us an insight to this. He says this Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Can I just say something real quick about that? The patterns of this world. What does that mean? Don't conform to the patterns of the world.
Speaker 1:What Paul is saying is just don't go with the flow. Just don't find yourself going with the flow. Oh, they're negative, so I'm negative. Oh, they talk bad about people, I talk bad about people. Oh, they do this, I do this. Oh, this is something that happened to me and I never dealt with it, and so, because it happened to me, I'm a victim. I'm never going to get the healing I need.
Speaker 1:He said just don't flow it with the drift of life. Instead, instead to be an everyday person who's learning how to become a Jesus follower, there's a level of intentionality that we must have. There's a level of intentionality here you go. You're never going to just accidentally become the person you want to be. You're never just going to fall into it. You're going to have to intentionally pursue it. And so what Paul is saying is hey, don't think you're going to fall and coast into the person you want to be, but be transformed by the what Renewing of your mind. Then you can add only then will you be able to test and approve of God's will as His good, pleasing and perfect will. The more you get to know God's heart, the more you live in His will. So, before you worry about His future, for you worry about how he wants you to live today, and that is to be holy.
Speaker 1:But, jacob, you may say. But, jacob, I always thought God had his huge calling on my life, like he wanted me to be like a missionary or something, or that he wanted me to be an influencer, or that he wanted me to be a pastor, that he was calling me to be a programmer, or maybe he was calling me to marry someone rich who has a second home in Hawaii. It's a good one. No, no, no. Remember God's will. God's calling for you. It's more about a who than a do. He's calling you to be holy. Paul says it this way, for God saved us and called us to what? To live a holy life.
Speaker 1:And now, holy doesn't mean let me just say something real quick. Holy doesn't mean judgmental. Holy doesn't mean oh look, I'm better than those people over there. I'm better than people who don't go to church. I'm better, no, no. Holy means that I recognize my desperation for God. I recognize that I can't, but he can, and I'm living from a place of surrender and submission to the one who can actually heal my heart. It's not like oh look, how holy I am. You've heard the saying holier than thou. Those people, no, no, the people who act so holy are the people who are desperately in need for God's touch.
Speaker 1:But to be holy is a place of surrender and submission. I know we don't like those words now, but I'm going to tell you this You're surrendered to something we all live in a place of surrender. You're either surrendered to your trauma, you're surrendered to the opinions of other people. You're surrendered to the influences of our culture. We all live in a place of surrender. Don't deceive yourself. You can choose to be surrendered to the one who made you, loves you and has a plan and a purpose for your life. And so I'm going to choose to be surrendered to God. I'm going to live in that. Again, that's what being holy means. Okay, and so I live in this. God did this. I love this. God did this, not because we deserve it this is amazing. This is the gospel but because that was His plan before the beginning of time to show us His grace through Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1:And that's why, when it comes to seeking God's will, you might want to change the question you're asking Now. Now, here's what most people are asking, and it's not a bad question. This is not a bad question to ask, and you should ask this question every once in a while, but we may want to change it. The question that most of us are asking when it comes to God's will what does God want me to do, God? What do you want me to do, god? Where do you want me to go, god? What do you want me to do Instead? A better question, a better question that we may want to ask is this who does God want me to become? Who does God want me to become?
Speaker 1:Literally, this can change how you treat people. This can change how you wake up in the morning, because right now you may be waking up in the morning and you have this feeling of depression the moment you wake up because your whole life is focused on about the what you're doing instead of the who you're becoming. Because you might not be in the job you want to be, you might not have the circumstances that you want, you may have a health scare and you're like I don't really understand this, but when we're just thinking about the what we're doing instead of the who we're becoming, it changes things. So now I can wake up and, instead of having this heaviness of depression on my chest because I'm thinking about what I'm supposed to do, I'm waking up feeling a little bit overjoyed because, even though I walk through the valley, the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because he is shaping me and he's taking this thing to shape me and form me and move me and this job that I have. It may not be my forever thing, but God's going to use the people, he's going to use the circumstances, he's going to use the challenges, he's going to use the good things to form me and shape me. And I'm on mission. I may wake up and I got to take care of my kids, and they're driving me nuts, but God's trying to teach me something about patience that I could never learn without being in that situation.
Speaker 1:Because we're changing the question, we're flipping this question. It's about a who, not a do, and again, again. We live in a society that's all about what you can produce, and that your value about what you can produce, and that your value and who you are is based on the production that you can have, and where the kingdom of God says it's not about what you do, but it's about whose you are, and your value is found on that empty tomb. Then Jesus rose again because he valued you yeah, that's worth some more clapping for that one Because he values you. So let me try to unpack this again. Let me try to unpack this. I want to ask you a question. I can be a little sensitive sometimes because it's about me, so I need you.
Speaker 1:To be honest, though, how many of you would say, probably, that God's will for me is to preach the gospel Show of hands, you'd probably say that that's fine, okay, yeah, good, that's awesome, thank you, thank you. But who in here would actually say that God's will for me is to be holy? To be holy, absolutely, I love it. To be holy, absolutely, I love it, I love it. If we look at it objectively, I would say this Preaching is a calling, but it's absolutely and completely a secondary calling, because my primary calling is to be holy.
Speaker 1:It's a who before a do. God's will for me is to have integrity, and God's will for me is not to conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. Then I'll be able to test and approve His will for me. God's will for me is to die to my selfish desires and to live for His glory and how I love and treat people. God's will for me is to lay down my life, to love my wife as Christ loved the church. God's will for me is to live in life in front of my children that inspire them to live for the glory of God and to live a life behind closed doors that nobody sees but reflects the truth of God's word. Preaching is a secondary calling. Living a holy life is my primary calling and that's just not the calling of a pastor, but that's the calling of an everyday person. Life is my primary calling and that's just not the calling of a pastor, but that's the calling of an everyday person who is learning how to become a Jesus follower. That's the calling of every everyday person.
Speaker 1:And again, let me unpack that If I'm a good preacher but I neglect my family, I'm not in God's will and you can play it out however you want. If you're successful at whatever you do but you're unkind to people, you're not in God's will and you can play it out however you want. If you're successful at whatever you do but you're unkind to people, you're not in God's will and I am convinced. I am convinced that God would rather me do anything else in my career, do anything else with my integrity, than be a pastor without integrity, because God's primary will for me is to be holy and that's foundational.
Speaker 1:Paul says it like this. Paul says I love how he says it. He says whatever you do, whatever you do, just do it for the glory of God. Whatever you're doing, do it for the glory of God. Like wherever you live, live there for the glory of God. Treat your neighbors with the love of Jesus and don't pretend like you don't have neighbors by never talking to them. Whoever you're dating, date with integrity and purity and the fruits of the Spirit in an honorable way, for the glory of God. If you're married, if you're single, to be married for the glory of God. To be single for the glory of God.
Speaker 1:Wherever you work, work there for the glory of God. If you work at the front desk of a bank, do it for the glory of God. If you mow yards on the weekend, make it the best straight, god-honoring green grass lines possible. Treat people well. Exceed their expectations for the glory of God. If you own your own business, treat people well and add value to them. Be generous and believe in others for the glory of God.
Speaker 1:If you're changing diapers, wipe them butts for the glory of God, of God. If you're changing diapers, wipe them butts for the glory of God. Whatever you do, whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Do it for God's glory, because we all want God's will for the future. But tomorrow's not guaranteed. So I will say this. I will say this to us today LBC the best time, the only certain time to serve Jesus was today. It's today. It's today Because today is all we got. We can't change yesterday, the future hasn't happened yet, but we got this moment and this day and I say let's live it for the glory of God, let's live it for His glory and that's why I want to encourage you to join a small group starting September 7. Like I said, we have our tailgate party next week.
Speaker 1:Small groups are a place where you can connect, protect and grow and getting around people, where you can ask the tough questions in a safe place. Man, that is game changer. And so because I would say this again, again if we just want to do what the patterns of the world is doing, we can get all the help we need by listening to our podcast, listening to our YouTube book, doing our YouTube video, watching our self-help book. We can do all that. But real life change happens when you're vulnerable in front of somebody, when you share a little bit about yourself and doing life together. The real life change you're looking for happens in the context of healthy relationships. So that's why I encourage small groups, that's why I encourage it. But here you go.
Speaker 1:Now you may say I feel like I got a really big plan for my future and I think you should, but there's no vision that people will perish. I want to make a bigger difference. I want to be successful for the glory of God. I want to be able to give more in the future. I want to do big things for God in the future. Let me tell you, let me tell you real fast, how do you do big things in the future. Do small things for the glory of God today. Do small things for God's glory today and I promise you, if you do small things today for God's glory, you will see that the small things well, the small things are actually the big things. He wants to meet you in those things. So, god, jesus, holy Spirit, we say more of you, more of you, jesus. We just say today, we say today for you. I even feel right now, the Holy Spirit is saying that you are hoping for someone to change in the future. You're even planning ways on how to help them get help. And I feel like the Holy Spirit is saying today, give that person to me Today, love on that person for me. I feel like the words of Jesus are saying specifically to someone don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow has enough troubles of his own. But give your entire attention to what God is doing right here and right now. Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit here and right now. Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. We say more of you, jesus.
Speaker 1:Even as I was preaching, I felt like there's a few people in here that could relate to that kind of heaviness in the morning time when you wake up. You would even describe it as it feels like there's a heavy weight on your chest. Come, holy Spirit. That's what the Holy Spirit is saying, that he sees you, that he's with you. Guys, just go with me here. I see the Holy Spirit saying I want to lift that weight off your chest. And the way you activate that is by saying when you wake up in the morning God this day for your glory, god this day for your glory, come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. God wants your yes. I feel like the Lord is saying God wants your yes to get gritty, but find a healing for your life.
Speaker 1:Come Holy Spirit Today. Today is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and I will be glad in this day. So, lord, I pray that people can win the battle of today. They say today I'm going to follow you. Today I'm going to think about you Today, I'm going to trust in you Today, I'm going to think about you Today, I'm going to trust in you Today. Lord, I offer you today. So we love you in this place today and we need you In Jesus' name. Amen, amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here.