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The will of God. That's a big topic, right? That's a big subject. If I say, let's talk about God's will, all of a sudden I've made it a big the conversation today a big deal. I'll tell you kind of what I'm trying to get at here. So, for example, if I was to say to someone, hey, are you sure that that's what you should do? That's different than asking them, Are you sure that that's God's will for your life? Right? All of a sudden, if I bring God's will into the conversation, I've really upped the ante. I've just taken it from a little conversation to this ginormous conversation. Another example, if I said, Yeah, this certainly is God's will for my life, I've made it really big because what I've done is I've taken God. Think about God, his sovereignty, his supremacy, some of those things we just sang about in those songs, all of his awesomeness and his plan that's been working throughout all of history, and I've taken him and brought him into my context and my situation, or your context in your situation. And so that can get a bit squirrely. I'll give you an example of how that works. A couple of years ago, uh I was with a friend, there was a circle of friends, we were hanging out, and one of our friends, one of the guys there, said to us, he said, Hey, uh, God told me, that's always an interesting way to start something, isn't it? Uh, God told me that I'm gonna marry such and such, who was another friend of ours. And we're like, oh, okay, wow, that's significant, that's a big deal. Um, you know, how did that happen? You know, we had this conversation. I remember at that time being just a bit curious about what that meant and what the implications of what that meant. And so, fast forward a number of years, and here we are, and he is married to somebody else. Um, and she is married to somebody else, and they've got kids and they're happy, right? And and life is good. Both of them love Jesus, and they're actually both of them are really seeking to serve God with their lives. So that's great. But as I look at that situation, as I look at that scenario, I ask the question of what happened? Did God change his mind? Did God be like, oh, oh, nope, let's do it this way? You know, is that what happened? Uh, maybe some of you were not Christians in the room today, or maybe you some of you are a little skeptical of God, or maybe some of you believe that God doesn't really care about our lives too much. He just kind of created us and then left let us be. And if you have that view, you may ask the question, well, did God even actually speak in that circumstance, in that scenario? Does God even speak to us at all? And then maybe the third option would be, and this is the one that I land on, maybe something got lost in translation. Maybe something didn't quite go the way that it was meant to. And I would argue today that in that scenario, my friend got caught up in his own will and his own emotions and his own desires and decided and deciphered those as God's desires for his life. And so that's where things kind of got a bit hairballed there, right? Got a little bit sideways. Here's another example of God's will, or a conversation, illustration about God's will. I was uh at a very crucial time in my life. I'd spent three three months in America, and I'd gone back to Australia, and then I'd come back to America for another year, and both of those trips have been great, really fantastic, seeing God done do some great things, but in those times, I uh always had an end date, right? It was a three-month stint, and then it was 12 months in America, being an intern at a church. And as I got towards the end of that 12 months, I was asked if I'd like to come on and be on staff at this church indefinitely. And all of a sudden it was like, whoa, whoa, that's a serious question. Like the other ones have been like serious but not super serious. You know what I mean? Like there was an end date, I was only here for 12 months, and I remember at that time really, really wrestling with what is God's will for this situation? What does God want from my life? Does he want me to stay here in America or does he want me to go back to Australia? What does he want from me? And so as I wrestled with that, I remember uh going back and forth, I remember really seeking people's counsel, reading books and uh talking to different people. One of the good pieces of advice I got was hey, get away and just really seek God on it. So I remember I took a weekend and I got away to a retreat center and just there was nobody there, I was there by myself, turned everything off, and just spent some intentional time just praying and really seeking God about it. And in that time, as I prayed, as I really looked through it, I felt peace about staying here in America. I really felt this peace that that was what was the right thing to do, and I actually didn't feel peace about going back to Australia. I love Psalms 85.8. It says the Lord speaks peace to his people. And so as that peace came, I was like, I feel like I'm meant to stay here. And I wouldn't be standing here in front of you today if I hadn't made that decision. I wouldn't be married to my wife, Liz, I wouldn't have my beautiful kids. Like, none of that would have played out. Now, that's not to say that God wouldn't have blessed and worked in spite of that decision, but I really felt convicted that that was God's will. And because of that, I feel like I can stand here today and say, man, God's done some awesome things because of that decision, because I took time to really pray and ask what he wanted to do with that. And so as we look at these two stories, I'm reminded that God's will is a big deal because it can be either really helpful or it can be incredibly hurtful, this whole conversation. Does that make sense? Think about those two illustrations. It can be really helpful because if God is God, if he can see everything, all situations, all scenarios, if he understands all things, which I believe is true, having a little bit of insight and grace and guidance from him would be awesome. That's a good thing. To walk in his plan, to be in the center, that's how a Christian talks about it, being in the center of God's will, that's a good thing. But if we we if we misconstrue it, if we bring in our own desires, our own will, our own emotions into the equation, that can really get things sideways quickly. And so I want for us to have a conversation about God's will this morning with two main thoughts. The first one is, how do we discern God's will? And then the second thought is what are the implications of walking in God's will? Now, this is like a high-level fast pass in this conversation because this this message really could be one that we would spend, you know, a whole series on. We're going to be moving at a million miles an hour, and I want for us to quickly talk about discerning God's will, but we'll spend most of our time talking about the implications of living out God's will. Because I think it's important for us to think about that because sometimes we struggle to hear and discern God's will, but then if we do, when things don't go the way that we planned or we envisaged that they should, all of a sudden we're like, oh, was God really in this? Was that the plan all along? And so we're going to do that today. We're going to look at this conversation by looking again at the life of Paul. We've been going through this road trip series, talking about the life of Paul and his buddies as God's used them powerfully to go throughout the Roman Empire, the known world at that time, talking about Jesus. And we've seen the message of the gospel just explode across the scene, right? And many people have been coming to faith. There's been churches started, there's been some awesome things going on. And today, what we get to see is how Paul really viewed God's will, and then how he dealt with the implications of living in the center of what God had planned for him. And so as we look at Paul's life, we're going to look at today his interaction with the great city of Ephesus. I call it a great city because even though most of you don't think of it as a great city because it doesn't exist anymore, back in the day, this was a happening place, okay? Ephesus was a very important place. Ephesus was the most important city in the region or the province known as Asia, which is now in modern day Turkey, okay? One of the reasons that it was important was because it was on a major trade route, okay? So there's like a crossing of commerce and trade. So there's a lot of people there, there's a lot of wealth, there's a lot of prosperity. But but the other major reason that it was an important city was because it was home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Okay? So that's a big deal. There's only seven. There's not a lot of things that were wonders in the ancient world, but it made the list. And it was this ginormous, I mean, absolutely huge temple to the goddess known as Artemis. That's her Greek name. She's also known as Diana to the Romans, okay? So there's this huge temple that people would come to the city for these festivals and to worship her. And it wasn't positive, okay? And we won't go into all of that today, but there was this giant temple, it was one of the ancient wonders of the world, and this was a happening city in that time. Just to kind of give you a picture of that, they've unearthed in the city as they've been doing archaeological digs there. You can go and visit the city. They've unearthed this theater that would seat 24,000 people. Okay? So just picture that. When you think of this ancient city, don't think of some like podunk little town with some ancient Greeks walking around. This is a city that is really happening in its day. So Paul makes a brief stop there in Ephesus, and we believe that this is his first visit in Acts chapter 18. And it's on his second missionary journey of three, okay? So if you read through the book of Acts, what you see is Acts and his companions went on three missionary journeys. And so on his second one, he makes this very brief, like a day or two stop in Ephesus. And as we understand it, as was his custom, he was there on a Saturday, he goes to the synagogue where the Jews and the Greeks who feared God are hanging out, right? And as he stops there, he has a conversation with the Jews. He starts to do what he does. What's that? Tell people about Jesus. So he tells people about Jesus, and he has this conversation, and the the guys there are actually interested in what he's saying. And then so as they're having this conversation with the Jews, they ask him to stop and to stay. And I want you to see Paul's response. We're not going to dive right into the text right now. I'll get you to turn there in a minute, but Acts chapter 18, verse 21, we get Paul's response, and it's very simple and yet profound. He says, I'll come back to you again if God wills. If God wills. So you first fill in the blank this morning that I want you guys to put in your listening guides is this God's will is what should lead and direct our lives. God's will is important. Paul is giving us, just in this one sentence, a beautiful insight into how he lived his life. Paul was a man who was completely surrendered to God. He was like, God, whatever you want me to do, my time, my energy, my resources, they're yours. How do you want me to live? How do you where do you want me to go? So with this sentence, we can really and end other stories in Acts, we can really decipher that Paul would pray and ask and seek God and say, where do you want us to go next? Where should we go? Where should we head here or should we head there? And and he was one who would constantly be asking God to lead and direct his life. And so for us, life is not about our will, life is not about our gender, because we are God's, just like Paul was God's child. 1 Corinthians 6, 19. Beautiful scripture, just a snippet of it. It says, You are not your own. If you're a Christian, you're not your own. You for you were bought at a price. What was that price? It was the shed blood of Jesus. And that's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing that we're bought by Jesus because that means we have the right relationship with God. As we've been bought at a price, what that means is our lives should be surrendered to God because we are not our own. We are His. And so if we are His, how do we discern what He wants for us? And again, this is a whole, I mean, we really could do a four, eight-week series on how to discern God's will for our life. Let's do it in five minutes, okay? So, God's will for our life. Uh, here's a couple of very high-level quick thoughts on God's will for our life. If we want to be able to hear God's voice, his leading and discern his will, the first thought is this we have to listen to be able to hear. We have to listen to be able to hear. You're like, oh, thank you, Captain Obvious. That's that's a nice point. Think about what I'm saying. If we aren't listening, how are we ever meant to hear what God's will is for our lives? I don't know about you guys, uh who, those of you who are parents, but I have kids that came with this optional extra called selective hearing. Well, uh, it may be a downgrade, but that my kids come with this thing called selective hearing built into them. I'll sh I'll give you an example of what that looks like. My kids may be kind of playing or sitting around there in our living area, and I say to them, hey guys, I need you to pick up your toys and go to bed. We're gonna go upstairs, okay? And nothing happens. You guys ever experienced this? It's just like my words whisper off to nothingness. Now, in the same voice, I could even say it quieter, if I said to them, hey guys, do you want to go to Sonic and get ice cream? Boom! There's action, there's life. My house is full of movement in that moment. My skids are kids are like scrambling to get their shoes, and there's life in that moment. And we laugh about that because really they're giving a little insight into our own lives. The truth is we are like that with God sometimes. We're like, God, I'd love to know your will. I'm here in church on Sunday, I'm I'm worshiping you, and then I'm really busy. Right? I've got my will, my time, my agenda, my calendar that's running everything. And so, in all honesty, let's think about this this morning. If we want to follow God's will and his plan for our life, we have to listen. We have to take time and space. If Jesus needed to find time and space to find God's will for his life, we do too. If you read through the gospel, you hear time and time again, Jesus would pull away to spend time with his father, and then he'd go with a new direction with his disciples. If we want to understand God's will for our life, we've got to stop. We've got to listen. More could be said on this, but I'm gonna keep going. Second thought on hearing God's voice is this God's will is always, in capital always, in line with God's word. God's voice, God's will is always in line with his word. Psalms 119, 105 says this your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Great scripture. It's a good one to memorize, actually. Your word is a light to my feet and a lamp to my path. A lamp to my feet, light to my path. God's just really in that scripture illuminating to us that if we want to know his will, one of the best places to start at is knowing his word. If you're wondering, if you're sitting there this morning and you're like, man, it'd be really nice to know what God's will is for my life, if you start reading through the pages of this book, what you will discover is that God always has some certain things that are will, his will in your life. One of those is to love him, the other is to love people. As you read through the Bible, what you'll discover is that all of us are called to love God and love people. It says in the text that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and we're to love our neighbor as ourself. And so if you're like, man, I wonder what I should be doing in your neigh in my neighborhood, you should be loving your neighbors. It's there, it's in the text. God's will is always in line with his word. I hope not to step on anybody's toes too hard this morning with this thought and this illustration on this. But if you're a Christian and you're dating, I'm not talking to married people, but if you're a Christian and you're dating a non-Christian person, and you're like, man, I really wonder what God's will is for my life. It's in God's word. His word tells us that it's not good to be unequally yoked, that a Christian should be with a Christian. Now, again, I'm not talking to somebody who's married, that's a separate conversation. But I just want you to see that oftentimes we wonder what God's word is, or his will is, and it's right there in the text in front of us. And so I just want to encourage you with that this morning. If you're really seeking that and seeking to find God's will, turn to his word. His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Oh, I can say a lot more on that, but we're gonna keep going. Uh, the second thing, oh sorry, the second thing that uh God's will is always in line with is God's character. God's will is always in line with God's character. Hebrews 11, 13, sorry, Hebrews 13, verse 8 says this Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I love that about God. He is constant, he is unchanging. If you read through the Psalms, it'll tell you about all of God's character. They talk about his majesty, his might, his awesome power, his justice, his wrath, his love, his mercy, his grace. All of that is bundled into the scriptures. And so another example, let's say that you work for someone and there's some shady business going on where you work, and you're wondering what is God's will for me in this in this context, in this situation. God's will is for you to be in line with his character and to show the, to tell the truth, to be honest. God is a truthful guide, truth-telling God. If you're wondering what God's will is in your life and in that circumstance, it's for you to be a person of truth and light in the middle of that. So I want to ask you this morning, thinking about this, this idea of God's will and understanding his will for his your life, are you open to saying, God, I want to follow your will for my life? Are you open to saying, Yeah, God, I'm surrendered to you. What all that I have, I give to you. Because if you are, let's talk about some of the implications. What that means in your life, as we look at the story of what happens next to Paul. Because if we were to read the transition from Acts chapter 18 to 19, what you would see implied in the text is that Paul discerns that God's will is for him to return to Ephesus and to spend a significant portion of his life and his ministry there. It doesn't say specifically that, you know, Paul spent some time praying and heard that he should go to Ephesus, but that's implied in the text. Paul heads back to Ephesus and he he hunkers down there and spends a significant amount of time there. And we read the story, we pick it back up in Acts chapter 19. Sorry, yeah, chapter 19 and verse 8. And I want you guys to read with me now. Acts chapter 19, verse 8, we pick up the story of Paul on his third missionary journey. He just heads straight back to Ephesus. It's like God's helped him have a beeline to make sure that that's where he goes next. And so what we see here is interesting. He interacts with a couple of people as he first engages in the city, and then in verse 8, we see him re-entering the synagogue where the Jews would hang out. Says this. Then he entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, engaging in discussions and trying to persuade them about the things of the kingdom of God. But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them and met separately with the disciples, conducting discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. And this went on for about two years, so that all the inhabitants of both Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the message about the Lord. God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul's hands, so that even face cloths or work aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and evil spirits came out of them. What do we see here in the text? Well, we see that God's will, if we look at Paul's life, and we're going to talk about this in a several different ways, God's will sometimes leads to obstacles and blessings. So here is Paul, he's in Ephesus, he's convicted that this is where God wants him to be. But is everything perfect and amazing? No, it's not. As Paul enters into the city, what happens is there's all of a sudden, uh, you know, he he talks for a few months, and all of a sudden there's this opposition. Now, when it says that they they talked against the way, that's not some weird cult or denomination or sect. What that is, is the Christians, okay? That's what they were called before they were called Christians. And so these Jews start to speak out, and and uh there's like this uh all of a sudden this obstacle to the ministry that Paul is called to there in the city. And so as Paul struggles with that, he's not like, well, I'm gonna pack my bags and head on to the next city. No, he's like, this is where God's called me to be. For this time, I'm gonna stay here and be faithful to that call, even with the obstacles. And as he does that, we see these amazing blessings coming on his life. But I want you to think about the obstacles because as we look at this, we look at the difficulty and the hardship that Paul faces, we realize that following God's will does not equal everything is easy and amazing. I don't know how to articulate that better. Maybe in your notes you need to put an equal and a cross through, right? God's will does not equal awesomeness, it doesn't equal comfort, it doesn't equal everything is just the way that you hoped and imagined that it would be. Now, there are pastors out there, there are churches out there that will preach a gospel, an inerrant gospel, that will tell you that if you follow Jesus, everything's gonna be comfortable and easy and you're gonna prosper. But look at Paul. He went to be in chains soon after this. He died a martyr's death following God's will, just like all the other disciples. And so this isn't some sexy message that you can put up on a billboard and everybody will flock to, but it's the reality. And there's no greater cause than for us to live for Jesus because what we lose in this life we gain in the next, guys. And the scriptures make that exceedingly clear. And there is no better place than to be at the very center of God's will. James 1, verse 2 and 3 say this: Consider it great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. He doesn't say, consider it great joy if you face trials. He says, whenever. The expectation is that it's going to happen. And so I just say this this morning because I want you guys to see as we read this story that life is going to involve both hardships and hopefully blessings, just like it did with Paul. I think this story is beautiful in that it gives us a pretty accurate description of life. There's obstacles and there's blessings. There's good things, there's hard things. That's normal life. And yet in the middle of it, God does some incredible things. In the middle of the hardships, God does some incredible things. As I was thinking about this, as I was preparing this week, I uh I was thinking about our team that was there in Mexico. And I was reminded that even as we were in Mexico this week, there were several obstacles that we faced. Not super hard, but things that could deter us from what God had called us to. This week, as we were there, we obviously had the obstacle of being in an unfamiliar place and experiencing an unfamiliar culture. The heat and the humidity was definitely an obstacle. It was hot, guys. I mean, really hot, really humid, okay? So we're out there just sweating and stinking. That was normal. Uh the language barrier, that was another obstacle, probably more for me than anybody else. Um I'm not muy paquito, very little English, okay? So that's not my thing. Uh so we've got the language barrier, and then we've got the awkwardness of talking with some people. We had some conversations with people that didn't go well. I'll be honest. Like, there were some conversations that we had, and we're like, that was awkward, okay? We tried to talk about Jesus and it was just weird. And yet I saw the team really step up and trust God in spite of those obstacles, and because of that, we saw some amazing blessings. We got to pray for some people, we got to tell people about Jesus, we got to love them and serve them, and there's people who are going to follow up with them. And that was all because these guys trusted that that's where God wants us to be, and in spite of those little obstacles, those little things that could pull us away from what God had called us to, they were faithful in the midst of that. Now, if we continue on in the story in Acts chapter 19, the next part is super weird. I'll just put it out there. Verses 13 through 16. You need to check it out and read it sometime this week, okay? It's interesting. I'll give you the Cliff Notes version, but basically, there's some Jewish exorcists. That's a good way to start any story, right? There's some Jewish exorcists there, and they're um traveling around and performing, you know, these um exorcisms, getting like demons out of people, and they decide with this one guy, I guess, that they're struggling with, there's a group of them. They say, Hey, in the name of Jesus, who Paul preaches, not even their own, we command you, demon, to come out of him. And the demon speaks to them, and it says, I know Jesus and I've heard of Paul, but I haven't heard of you. And he attacks them, and it says that they run. This is in the Bible, I'm not making this up. They run from that place, and they're bloodied and beaten and naked when they leave, okay? So this is serious stuff, and let's pick up what happens next. Verse 17 of Acts 19, because that actually leads to something. Verse 17, this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell on all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated the value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. In this way, the Lord's message flourished and prevailed. More blessing, right? More blessings coming as we read this. That's crazy. Like there's a lot going on here in this text. I love that part in verse 17 that says the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And so what we see here is that God's continuing to work and to move in the midst of this. I actually, just a little side note on this text. I like this text because it reminds us these were the believers that said, hey, we're still struggling with these occultic practices, with these books, with this witchcraft. And so God was sanctifying these people. A good reminder that when you become a Christian, there's a continual process of becoming more like Jesus. And through the things that were going on, God was dealing with some stuff, just like he deals with us. So if you're a Christian this morning, you're dealing with an addiction or a hurt or a struggle, that's normal, that's okay. But God does want to deal with it and work those things out just as he was doing in the church in Ephesus as Paul and his companions were being faithful to stay there because that was God's will for them. So we see God's great hand of blessing here again. But what I want you to know is from what we're about to read next, there's a big storm looming in the background as these guys continue. You see, there's this guy named Demetrius, who's a silversmith. He's an idol maker. That's his job, his trade. And he gathers together all the craftsmen of the city. The craftsmen, their job was to build these little idols, these little statues to Artemis, that people would come and visit Ephesus to see this great seven wonder of the world. They'd take that home. And as he gathers them together, I want you to hear his words as he speaks to them. Verse 25, it says this Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business, idol making. You both see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hands are not gods. So not only do we run the risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin. The very one that Asia and the world adore. And if you read on what it says next, it says that the men are filled with rage. All of a sudden, this chaos breaks out. It's like there's been a some tremors and some rumors and some stuff going on, I'm sure, in the city where things weren't going exactly well. And then all of a sudden, through this guy, Demetrius, there's like this eruption of anger and pushback of opposition against Paul and his companions. And it says in the text that they rush into the amphitheater. The city is thrown into chaos. Everybody knows that something's not right. And so there's this back and forth, and these guys are like just struggling in the city. There's so much confusion. Some people, it says in the text, don't even know why they're there. They're in the middle of this riot and they don't know why they're there. And so Paul decides that he wants to go in and to address these men to talk to them. That's typical Paul, right? Well, I'll go talk to them, I'll figure it out. And so his friends are like, no, no, you're not going out there. They'll literally tear you from limb to limb. They will kill you. That's how angry these men were. And so they hold Paul back, and one of the prominent men of the city, who happens to be a Jew, manages to get in front of the crowd and quiet them down. So he eventually quiets them down and he starts to speak. He gets his first word out, and they hear that he is a Jew, and that just throws them into an even greater anger. And so the men they start yelling at the top of their lungs together for over two hours. Great is Artemis of Ephesus. And they yelled that for two hours of the Ephesians. Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. Over and over and over, there's like this demonic atmosphere as these guys are yelling at the top of the lungs. Eventually, the town clerk, like the mayor, comes into the comes into the scenario and says, Hey guys, you've got to quiet down. So this is after a couple of hours of this chaos going on with this hate for the Christian. He comes in and he quiets them down and says, Hey guys, we could be in really big trouble with the Romans for what we're doing. This writing is not okay with Romans. They could come in and wipe us out for what we're doing. If you've got an issue, you need to bring it up in the courts. And the thing is put to the side and it's done. But as we look at that, what I want for us to see this morning is that sometimes being in the center of God's will doesn't just mean obstacles, it also can mean sometimes opposition. God's will sometimes leads to opposition. How does that make us feel? That following God may just not lead to an obstacle, but something even more than that, opposition, a fighting, a tension, a pushing against. I have a friendship with a guy who looks at the world very differently to me. What I believe and what he believes are in opposition to each other. And there have been moments in our friendship and in our conversations where we've had very raw and honest conversations about what we believe. And in those moments, sometimes the conversation's been raw enough that I've said to, not said out loud, but in my mind I've thought, is this relationship even worth it? How can we even be on the same page? Like, I mean, we look at things so differently. And as I think about that, should I abandon this friendship? The answer is no. Because I believe that I'm right where God wants me to be. I'm in that relationship with him to love him and point him towards Jesus, even when he's prickly or harsh or things are weird or tense. Like, that's okay. God wants me to be there. And that's just a small example of opposition. For you, you may be facing more. Some of you are in the middle of trying to seek God's will for your life, and you're facing really hard opposition in the form of your finances, in the form of your relationships, in the form of your fill-in-the-blank. I don't know what it is for you this morning, but think about that. First Peter 4 says this Dear friends, don't be surprised when the fiery ideal comes among you to test you as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, rejoice as you share in the sh the sufferings of the Messiah. God's will may lead you to opposition. And this is why it's so important for us to be convinced in the first place of what God's will is. You've got to be able to look back and be like, I'm certain that that's where God led me. I'm certain that I'm in the middle of where God wants me to be. Now, if you in the very first place are like, I think this is God's will, and then you face opposition, you're done. You're like, I'm out of here. This isn't where God wants me to be. I'm sure it isn't. Look at all this hardship and difficulty that I'm facing. But if you're like, yes, this is where God wants me to be, even in spite of this opposition, you can stand with his help and with his love and grace in that moment. So we see this opposition, and we see that there's this struggle and this tension between Paul and the people there in Ephesus. And as that goes on, it's interesting to note that then Paul pretty soon after leaves that city. He says, Okay, God's leading us on to a new place. We're gonna head on out. But that's not the end of the story of Paul and Ephesus, because if you read on into the next chapter, what you see is that as Paul passes back through, he's on his way to Jerusalem. He's on his way to Jerusalem, and he realizes God's shown him that that's where he's going and that he's gonna be put in prison. He knows that that's what's gonna happen next. He calls his friends from Ephesus, these friends that he's spent over two years investing in love and relationships with, he says, Hey, come and visit me. And so they come down to the port near where he is and interact with him. We find that in Acts chapter 20, verse 17. I want to read some of this to you, his interaction with you, with them, after some time. It says this. Now from Miltus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders, the leaders of the church. And when they come to him, he said to them, You know that from the first day I set foot in Asia, I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and with trials that came to me through the plot of the Jews, and that I did not shrink back from proclaiming to you anything that was profitable, or from teaching it to you in public and from house to house. I testified to both Jews and Greeks about the repentance towards God and the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He's basically saying, I've done what God's called me to be do. I lived out his will for me in your lives and in your city, and we engaged each other, and it was a beautiful thing. He goes on to explain how he was calling them and challenging them to live. And then at the very end of his conversation, pick it back verse, pick it back up in verse 36. He says this. After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them. And there was a great deal of weeping by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him. These guys loved Paul. There was a deep relationship, there was a deep connection, and because of Paul's desire to follow God's will, to stay in Ephesus, even when the Jews didn't want him there, or the idol makers were pushing against him and opposing him, we see several things came about. We saw salvation. People came to faith. A church was started in that city. We see kingdom relationships. We see people being mutually edified, people who are who are encouraging each other in the Lord. We see people who are proclaiming the gospel and leading the church. Good things are happening from this. And so as we look to this last interaction between Paul and Ephesus, well, last physical interaction, he writes a letter to them later on. What we see is that God's will always leads to fruit. I don't know if you notice this in your notes, but all the other ones are sometimes. Sometimes God's will leads to obstacles, not always. Sometimes it leads to blessings, not always. Sometimes it leads to opposition, not always, but God's will always leads to fruit. The fruit may be produced through blessings, or the fruit could also come about as a result of hardship. Think about what a diamond is with me. You know the jewel, a diamond? How is a diamond made? It's a piece of carbon, it's a piece of coal, essentially, that's pressed and it's got heat on it over time. Like a hardship. And so in the middle of the hardship, if you believe you're walking in line with God's will, you can know that the pressing, that the heat, that the time has a purpose. God's able to use that. And like Paul, in the middle of the difficulty, in the middle of the right, you can know that God is there with you, working all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Romans 8 tells us that. I love that scripture. Love that that was a part of that song that we just sang. That God works all things together for our good and for his glory. Amen? That's a good thing. That's a good thing. Let's put Paul and Ephesus to the side for a second. I want you to think about this with me. The struggle and the tension of understanding God's will and living its implication was ultimately played out, not in Paul and Ephesus, but ultimately played out for us in the cross. In Jesus Christ. Think about this with me. Christ struggled with the will of the Father. We know that. We've got recorded his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane as he's about to suffer this terrible death for all of humanity to cover their sins. He's there in the garden, he says, God, please, Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me. But he didn't end the prayer there, did he? What does he say next? He says, But not my will, but yours be done. And so as Jesus surrenders his will to the Father, we see him obediently go to the cross, like a sheep to the slaughter, right? And he, as he does that, yeah, in his life he faced, he faced obstacles, he had blessings, but he faces opposition. But all of that bears ultimately in the fruit of salvation. As he goes to the cross, as he dies, we am then made right with God. God's will always bears fruit. The fruit that Jesus bore was the fact that you and I can be in relationship with him again. That's awesome. That's amazing. That's something that we should celebrate. That's something that we do celebrate. We sing about the praises of God because of what he's done through Jesus for us. And so in Christ we have the perfect example, and we have the perfect example of submission. That's really what this conversation's about this morning, right? Submission. Christ gives us the perfect example of that. And so what I really want to bring this around to this morning is this Are you submitted to God? If you're a Christian or not a Christian, are you submitted to God? If you're not a Christian, if you're not sure where you stand with God, this is a great question for you. Are you willing to surrender your plans, your will, your agenda to God's? Because there's more to life than living for your own things. You can have all the success, you can have all the fame, you can have all the money, the cars, the houses, all the stuff that you want in the world, and you will find that ultimately it is hollow. There is nothing that will fulfill you like living in the center of God's will for your life. And his first will for you, if you do not believe in him, is to come to know him, to have a relationship with him, to be in a right place with him. And so if you have questions about what it means to be a Christ follower, come and talk to me. Come and talk to one of our prayer team this morning. Talk to the person who brought you along. This is the ultimate and best decision that you can ever make. If you are a Christian, this is a good question for you as well. Are you submitted to God? Are you also okay with the fact that you may face or even be facing now obstacles and opposition? I'm not trying to like hide anything from you guys this morning. I just want to be really raw and real and say following God's will can be tough this morning. Are you okay with that? There's no greater place than to be at the center of his will. It may be hard, but there's no better place to be. My encouragement for you this morning is this if that you are in the middle of a hardship, if you're in the middle of a difficult time, and even if you're not, think back over the blessings and the fruit that you have experienced in the journey so far. If you're a Christian, think back what God has already blessed you with. Think back over the things that He has provided for you, the fruit that you have seen coming from a life of following and being surrendered to Him. As you think back on those things, you can engage in the future. You can engage in a life that says, God, I'm completely yours. I'm completely surrendered to you. And so this morning I really want to kind of finish up with us really asking this question Are you surrendered to God? And as you're in that process and journey and understanding the full implications of that, let's worship Him. Let's praise Him and know that He works all things together for the good of us who are called according to His purposes. And so that's my encouragement for us this morning. I'm not immune for this. I daily struggle with God, what is your will for me today? What is your will for my life? And so, as much as I've said these things to you guys this morning, I'm saying them to myself as well. I really want for us to be a church that speaks honestly and truthfully and encourages one another in following God's will, because nothing else will bring satisfaction like that does. Let me pray for us. God, thank you that we can look to your word this morning and we can look to the life of Paul and just just in this have a beautiful, beautiful story of what it looks like to walk in your plans and your purposes for our life. God, I just want to pray with my friends here together this morning that you would help us to live lives surrendered to you like Jesus was surrendered to you. God, help us to live lives that are obedient to you even in the midst of hardship. God, help us to be able to look back and discern clearly, God spoke to me, and this is where he wants me to be. And even if I'm in the middle of a hardship or a difficult thing, I know that he is with me. I pray that that would be true for people in this room this morning who are struggling with that, struggling in the middle of a difficulty. God, I pray for salvation for those who don't know you this morning. God, would you bring light and hope? Would people surrender to you and their your will for their life for the first time? God, there's no greater decision that they can make. God, I guess more than anything, what I'm praying this morning is that we would just be open to you. God, help us to be soft to you, open to your working and your will for our lives. Help us not to be hard and callous by our own schedule, our own agenda, our own busyness, our own distractions. God, we want to be open to you and to your leading. And so would you speak in this time as we reflect and as we process what you've um shown us through your word this morning? Thank you. Amen.