“You Must Listen”
Deuteronomy 18:15-22
Sunday, May 2, 2010

Introduction: One of our deepest desires, whether we know it or not, innately set in us, is the desire to know the will of God. People struggle with how to do this every day of their lives. I remember when I was growing up, the Ouija board was one way that kids thought they could get answers to their questions. Or maybe the 8 ball that you ask questions to, and it gives you answers like: Signs point to yes; Reply hazy, try again; without a doubt; concentrate and ask again. People also search their horoscope, or go to a fortune teller.
It may seem pretty foolish to get answers to life in this way, but people so much want to know the will for their life, that they will seek it out most anywhere. The good news is that God wants us to know His will for our lives. So this morning I want to take some time to learn how to listen to God and understand why we need to listen to God, so that we can know God’s perfect and pleasing will.

I. Prophets- (Deuteronomy 18:15-22; Jeremiah 2:4-9; 2 Samuel 12:5-9)
a. A prophets call- Our passage for this morning starts off by
saying: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” It has been a regular practice for God to put people on this earth that are prophets, whose job it is, is to speak God’s truth to God’s people. The Israelites were not to listen to those who worshipped false gods, or who practiced sorcery. They were given the prophet so that through the prophet’s voice they would be guided to where God desired for them to be.
That is why God told the people in verse 18: “… I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command.” It is clear that the prophet was to listen to God, then speak these words to the people, and the people were to listen to the words of the prophet. In essence, the words of the prophet were the words of God, as if God was speaking them directly to the people.
But the people had to be careful, because even though it was the prophet’s job to speak words from God, it didn’t always happen that way. That is why Deuteronomy 18:20 says, “But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” The requirement of being a prophet was 100% faithfulness, and 100% accuracy. That wouldn’t be a problem if you were hearing the voice of God, and repeating God’s words. But if you were making it up, or had gone astray, then you would pay a heavy price.
Why was the price so heavy? Because by speaking false words, you would be leading the people astray. Finding our way in this world is hard enough without having someone, who is supposed to be speaking from God, leading you astray.
So a prophet’s job wasn’t easy. First, you had to make sure you heard the words of God correctly. Then you had to speak those words to God’s people. More often than not, those words were not encouraging words, but rather words that challenged or rebuked the people for their misbehavior.
b. A prophet’s faithfulness- The prophet had to be faithful in the
midst of the people’s rebellion; in the midst of the people’s anger from being rebuked; in the midst of the calamity that God’s people often faced. A prophet had to be the voice of truth, the voice of reason, and the voice of correction.
Example- In Jeremiah 2:4-8 we hear the prophet Jeremiah say to the people: “Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, all you clans of the house of Israel. 5 This is what the LORD says: ‘What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. 6 They did not ask, 'Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?' 7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. 8 The priests did not ask, 'Where is the LORD?' Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. 9 Therefore I bring charges against you again,’ declares the LORD…” Jeremiah is rebuking the people on behalf of the Lord for following in their ancestors footsteps of not trusting God, and going astray from His will.
Second example- God also used prophets to speak to individuals, like when Nathan had to speak to King David concerning David’s sin. If you remember, King David was taken by the beauty of Bathsheeba. Even though she was married, King David wanted to sleep with her. So when her husband went off to fight the battle, King David had Bathsheeba brought to his palace, where he did sleep with her and where she became pregnant by him. King David brought her husband Uzziah home and hoped he would sleep with his wife, thus trying to cover up his sin. But Uzziah was concerned with the battle and his fellow soldiers, and would not dishonor them by sleeping with his wife. So King David had Uzziah sent to the front lines of the battle where he was killed, then King David took Bathsheeba as his wife.
God was not pleased with King David’s actions, and so God sent the prophet Nathan to rebuke King David. Of course, Nathan had to be careful how he did this, or he could lose his life. So Nathan constructs a story of a rich man who had many flocks, and a poor man who had but one little ewe lamb. One day a traveler comes along, and the rich man doesn’t want to kill one of his own flock for the meal, so he takes the ewe lamb from the poor man and cooks it for the meal. We pick it up in
2 Samuel 12:5-9, “Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. David said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die. He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’ Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own..”
In the end King David was convicted by Nathan and repented. The prophet’s job was not an easy one.


II. Jesus- (Deuteronomy 18:15; John 6:14, 14:24; Acts 3:22; 1 Cor. 2:16)
a. Having the mind of God- If you look closely at Deuteronomy
18:15 you will see that the verse references something else as well. Let’s read it again: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” The verse is speaking of the succession of prophets that God will use throughout the years. But there was a time when the voice of prophecy fell silent, in between the Old Testament times and the New Testament. This term “a prophet” was recognized as a messianic title; a title for the coming of Jesus.
When Jesus came upon the scene, the crowds said in John 6:14, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” And after Jesus had left this earth, in one of Peter’s early sermons we read in Acts 3:22 Peter quoting from Deuteronomy 18:15 referring to Jesus as “the Prophet” who was to come. Although Jesus was more than just a prophet, so not just one more prophet in the succession of prophets, He was the fulfillment of this prophecy given to us by Moses in Deuteronomy.
How was Jesus a prophet? Let me give you a couple of ways: first, Jesus listened to God, and brought to us all that was from God. That is why Jesus said in John 14:24, “…These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” Jesus went around speaking the truth of the Father and rebuking people of their sin in the name of Father. In this way, Jesus was a prophet.
Second, Jesus had the mind of God, and wanted to pass that on to us. Since Jesus was God in the flesh, He had the Spirit of God residing in Him. So even more than the prophets of old, Jesus knew the mind of God, and was able to speak God’s words to us with complete accuracy and authority.
Jesus wanted us to know that in and through Him, we could discern what was from God, and what was not. Paul, speaking on behalf of God, tells us this in
1 Corinthians 2:16, “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” By having the mind of Christ we can hear what Christ speaks to us, and know what is and isn’t God’s truth to us!
b. Why we need to listen- So we know that we can listen to God,
and discern God’s ways. The question is, will we? Why do we need to listen to God? We need to listen because there are many voices out there telling us what we should do, what we could do, what they want us to do. But not everything we are told to do is good for us to do, or will benefit us, and others. Let me play a VIDEO CLIP for you about a dog named “Ricochet.” This clip illustrates this point powerfully….
(http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=BGODurRfVv4)
We need to listen to God so that we can choose to do what God calls us to do; choose what God has created us to do. Sometimes to know what God is calling us to do, we have to be convicted of the sin that is in our lives, which is keeping us from stepping out for God. God provides people in our lives (ministers, prophets, friends, teachers) who help us to get right with God so that we can listen to God; who speak the words of God so that we won’t miss what God has to say to us.

Conclusion: This text in Deuteronomy reminds us that God has chosen to speak to us and wants us to listen. If we will choose to listen, then we will be much better off because we did. Just like God spoke to the Israelites so that they might know what they were to do, and keep them from going astray, so God speaks to us. We must listen. Amen.

“Why Do You Persecute Me?”
Acts 9:1-22
Sunday, April 25, 2010

Introduction: Persecution is not a word we think about much in the United States, because we live with so many freedoms. We are free to believe in God and worship as we want. And yet, there still is persecution, it is just more subtle. From taking out prayer in schools, to trying to remove the phrase “under God” from the pledge of allegiance, to trying to remove “in God we trust” from our money. These are all types of persecutions that we are facing as Christians.
The problem is that people are using “separation of church and state” in the wrong way. When this nation was established, it was a Christian nation. Most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Christians. Back in England the king was always trying to control the church. There was a constant battle between the pope and the king for control. And so they established a “separation of church and state” to keep the state out of the church, not the other way around. They established this separation so that there would be more freedom in religion.
Yet, like in all things, God can use persecution for good.

I. Saul’s persecuting the church- (Mark 3:1-4; Acts 4:1-21, 7:51-53)

a. How it began- I have chosen this topic today because the whole idea of
persecution began with the arrest of Jesus; which was the last days of Jesus’ life. This is an important follow-up to the Lent and Easter season. Persecution was actually started from the religious leaders, because they didn’t like to have any competition. First and foremost they didn’t like how Jesus was drawing the people away from them, with what they thought were false teachings. They thought the teachings to be false because it was different than what they were teaching.
For example, the religious leaders had set-up strict rules of what it meant to not work on the Sabbath. Of course this was a command from the Ten Commandments. The object was to cease from working so that you could focus on worshipping God; so you could give yourself over to God more fully. But the religious leaders got carried away with the explanation of the rules and what it meant to not work. When Jesus healed a man’s hand on the Sabbath, in Mark 3, they questioned Jesus. Listen to Mark 3:1-4, “Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, ‘Stand up in front of everyone.’ 4Then Jesus asked them, ‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ But they remained silent.” Jesus did what was good, which in the end was lawful. Jesus was doing this regularly, and the religious leaders were angry and embarrassed by Jesus. Jesus even called them “white washed tombs” for their hypocrisy.
So the religious leaders plotted to have Jesus arrested. Of course we just went through all of this during the end of Lent. We remember how Jesus was arrested, tried, wrongly convicted, and then killed. The religious leaders thought that this would be the end of Jesus’ following; Jesus’ teachings. But they were wrong, because after Jesus was resurrected from the grave, He appeared to many people, and the Christian movement began.
So they decided that they would persecute the Christians, hoping that by perse-cuting them, they were discourage them from meeting. The religious leaders did not want to let, what they just believed was a movement, to gain steam and become credible in any way. They believed that this persecution was a service to God, to keep the religion from being tainted by other false religions. They were very misled by their beliefs and their practices, because they were caught up in their own religiosity.

b. Saul’s zealousness- So the religious leaders were the ones who were in
charge of the persecution. Time and time again we read how they tried to stop the disciples and Jesus’ other followers from teaching about Jesus. Really, this is much of what the book of Acts is about; the disciples carrying on the teachings of Jesus, and the religious leaders trying to stop them. Let’s take Acts 4 for an example:
Acts 4:1-3, “The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.” Peter and John knew that they could get in trouble for speaking about Jesus, but they knew speaking about the truth of Jesus was more important, and they were willing to be persecuted for it.
After their arrest they were brought before the council of the religious leaders and were questioned about the authority by which they spoke. Peter responds in verses 8-12: “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is " 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Peter speaks with courage, which scares the council. But they needed to exert their influence over Peter, and so they threatened Peter and John, told them not to speak in this way anymore or they would be punished, and then let them go.
This aspect of persecution is picked up by a Pharisee named Saul, who takes it to a new level. After Stephen is arrested for doing great signs and wonders by the power of God, he is questioned. Stephen gives a long discourse on a range of topics from the appearing of God to Abraham, to Moses, then Joshua, David and King Solomon. Then Stephen concludes his long speech with these words in Acts 7:51-53, “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”
Probably not what you want to say to those who have power over how in you will be punished. Consequently, the council was so enraged that they dragged Stephen out-side the city and began to stone him. Acts 8:1 tells us that Saul approved this killing.

II. Paul’s conversion- (Philippians 3:6; Acts 8:1-3, 9:1-18, 26:14; Rom. 5:8)

a. God’s grace is not sudden- Led by his anger against Christians, Saul
became the most zealous of persecutors against the Christians. Even Saul himself admitted this (later after his conversion when his name was changed to Paul). We read in Philippians 3:6 Paul says: “as for zeal, a persecutor of the church.” This zeal leads him to go on a rampage of persecution, as we read in Acts 8:1, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” This persecution of the church causes the Christians to scatter all throughout the land.
Saul then goes to the High Priest to get authority to go to Damascus to arrest all that are Christians. But God has a different plan in mind for Saul, because on his way to Damascus, Saul has an encounter with God. This encounter is really the “grace of God” coming out. God knows that if Saul could have a different heart, his actions would be quite different. And so in this passage in Acts 9, we read of Christ laying hold of Saul. Remember Romans 5:8, which says “For God demonstrates His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ meets us in our sin. Paul is “breathing murderous threats” towards the Christians. In the midst of this, Christ comes to Saul.
What a great story we have here. Saul is in no mood to consider the claims of Christ. His mind was poisoned with his prejudice against Christians. And yet he finds himself having a conversation with Jesus Himself. He is made aware of Jesus’ presence by a flashing of light from heaven. This of course gets his attention, and then the conversation begins: Jesus says to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “5’Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 6’Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’
7The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.”
We read this and think that Saul has a sudden conversion. However, this is the culmination of a process by which God was speaking to Saul. In Acts 26:14, when Paul (Saul’s name after his conversion) talks of his conversion experience, he adds these words from Christ to the conversation: “We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”(Theologians say that this is referring to Paul’s continual resistance to his conscience). In other words, in all that Saul was doing, God was prodding his conscience, but Saul was fighting against it. This encounter on the road to Damascus was the final prompting, which led Saul to give himself over to the “ongoing grace of God.”

b. God’s grace is not compulsive- It is also important for us to
understand that God’s grace is not compulsive. When Christ appears to Saul, He does not coerce or compel Saul into believing, or turn him into some sort of robot. What He does is blinds him for a time. Why does Christ do this? I believe it is because it gave Saul the opportunity to think about his life; to think about his actions; to think about his sin. As his conscience was trying to speak to him, his eyes were keeping this from happening.
We see here that Jesus does what God has done time and time again; ask a probing question. God asked Adam and Eve the question, “Where are you? (knowing that they were hiding because of what they had done). God asked Cain the question, “Where is your brother?” (knowing that Cain had killed Abel). God asks these questions to poke at our conscience and get us to admit and confess our sin. Saul responds back with 2 questions: “Who are you, Lord?” AND “What do you want me to do?” Thus the cause of Saul’s conversion was sovereign grace; grace that was gradual and gentle.
This grace is seen all the more when God calls Ananias to go to where Saul is, lay hands on him, and remove his blindness. Saul is moved by this act from both God and Ananias, shown to him a sinner. Saul gives his life to Christ, and so that he will remind himself of his new nature, takes on a new name. PAUL.
Story: A soldier approached his superior one day, knowing him to
be a Christian. He told his superior that he would do anything to
believe that God would forgive his sins, but then added: “I cannot believe He will forgive me if I just turn to Him. It is too easy; too cheap. His superior, Dr. Morgan responded: “You were working in the mine today. How did you get out of the pit?” The soldier answered: “The way I always do, by getting into the cage and being pulled up.” Dr. Morgan continued: “You didn’t pay anything to get out, right? You just trusted yourself to the cage and those lifting you up, right? Isn’t that too cheap?” “Oh no,” the soldier answered. “It isn’t cheap. The company paid a lot of money to sink the shaft.” With that, it hit the soldier; just as there wasn’t anything he could do to get out of the pit on his own, God paid a great price by allowing Jesus to die for our sins and give us salvation. It is the price he paid, not anything that we can do.
Through Ananias, Paul understood God’s grace, and how it was through Christ that he received the forgiveness of his sins, and put in a place to now really serve God.

III. Paul’s ministry- (Acts 1:8, 9:15-21; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Luke 11:23)

a. To the Gentiles- Through Ananias Paul finds out about his call; his
ministry. We read in Acts 9:15- “But the Lord said to Ananias, Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” Paul is given the call by God to go to the non-Jews. This would not be an easy ministry for at least two reasons: one, is that Paul had been sent to dispose of the Christians. Paul’s reputation would go before him. It was because of Paul that Stephen was killed. It was because of Paul that the Christians had to scatter.
Second, Jews did not associate much with non-Jews, or also known as Gentiles. That is why the disciples we so surprised that Jesus had talked to the Samaritan woman at the well, because she was a Gentile. Likewise, because of the Jews attitude towards the Gentiles, the Gentiles were not real receptive to the Jews. Paul would have to break down the barriers between the Jews and Gentiles. We see that even though Paul was forgiven of his sins, he would bear a difficult path to make up for them.
And we see this questioning of Paul happen right away, as we read in Acts 9:19b-21, “…Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, Isn't he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn't he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” The people couldn’t believe that this was the same man as before. He had gone from one who was out to persecute Christians, and wreak havoc on the Christians, to one who was making more Christians! WHAT A TRANSFORMATION!!
We see 2 Corinthians 5:17 coming true: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” Paul was indeed a new creation; a creation of Christ, to do the great work of Christ.

b. The first real missionary- We see in Paul the first real missionary.
Before Paul, the Jews had no vision to take Christ to the world. Even though Jesus told them before He left the earth, in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” It took someone like Paul to get the ball rolling. Later we will see Peter reach out to Cornelius, and Cornelius and his family become Christians. But Peter would not have been prepared to do this had it not been for Paul’s conversion, and Paul’s ministry.
Because of Paul, Christians now have the vision to do ministry outside of their comfort zone. Our church has ministry to Hispanics; a food ministry; a computer ministry. There are other churches that minister to gangs, prostitutes, and those in prison. Just a quick glance online came up with these ministries:
www.yourcross.org, a ministry to gangs. On their website it says: Gang Outreach is a faith-based, award winning, multi-racial, multi-cultural gang prevention
and intervention program in Lake County, Illinois,providing services designed to positively influence the lives of at-risk youth in four areas: Developmentally, Emotionally, Socially and Spiritually.
Jericho Ministries Inc. is a ministry to prostitutes. On their website it says: Jericho Ministries began in 1997 as a desire from God placed in the heart of a missionary to reach out to those trapped in prostitution. The ministry began very simply with evening visits to a high prostitution area in Tegucigalpa, Honduras where coffee and truths about freedom in Jesus were shared while sitting together on the curbside. Once the women began to trust Christ with their lives, it became clear that they needed help finding jobs that would allow them to work with dignity and integrity. Out of that was born the sewing workshop of Jericho….
I could go on, but I think you get the point. It is about being in ministry to others.

Conclusion: In the Bible Jesus says in Luke 11:23, “He who is not with me is against me…” Anyone who is not seeking to build the kingdom of God is against God and therefore persecuting God. God asks the question: “Why are you persecuting me?” Maybe this question comes to you, as you haven’t been seeking to build the kingdom. Maybe it is a question that needs to be posed to someone you know. I ask you these questions: “What do you need to do to give yourself fully to God?” What can you do to help others leave their life of persecuting God, and instead build the kingdom of God?
Let us be people who accept the grace of God, like Paul did, and seek to turn our lives completely over to God. Then we will live a life that is fulfilling and meaningful, and powerful! Join with me in doing this, starting today! Amen.

“Delight in God”
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Psalm 37:3-5

Introduction: Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” I believe what she meant by this, is that if you expect to be happy, more often than not you will be disappointed because there are too many things in life that can make you unhappy. You will be setting your expectations to the point where you will be let down time and time again. But if you live the right kind of life, then happiness will come to you; it will be a by-product of the way you live!
The truth is, the way to bring happiness into your life is to delight yourself in God, and let God lead how you live. As you walk down this path, when you get to the end of your life, you will be able to smile and be happy knowing that you made a difference with your life; you impacted the lives of others; your life counted for God. So this morning, let’s see how we can understand more about delighting ourselves in the Lord.

I. TRUST in the Lord and Do Good- (Psalm 139:13; Proverbs 3:5-6)
a. Crash course- All too often the unhappiness we experience in life
comes from a collision of values. Meaning that we might say some things matter to us, but the way we live our lives shows something different. For example, people will tell you that their health is important to them, and you want to believe them. But if you were to look closely at their lives you would see this is not true, because they do not do the things that allow them to be healthy. They don’t get enough sleep, and/or they don’t eat well, and/or they don’t exercise. And on and on it goes. If health was really a value, they would design their lifestyle around this value.
And in fact you see this change happen when someone goes to the doctor, and doctor tells them that if they don’t change their diet, or quit smoking, or exercise more, they will die soon. It is then, when the end of their life seems imminent, that they change their behavior, and start to live out this value of health.
The good news is that we can evaluate our lives and see where the way we are living collides with the values we say we have. We can begin to make changes that will allow us to live out what we say we value.
This is really a collision of wills. Our will is colliding with God’s will If you think about your life, you realize that you have been created. The Bible tells us that we are created by God. As Psalm 139:13 says of God: “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Each of us has the same 24-hour day to live our lives. You can’t do everything that you want to do in this 24-hour day, and so you have to make choices; set priorities. If God designed our lives, and God designed our day, then the best way to make choices is to do what God intends for us to do in that 24-hour period.
Here is where we come to the collision point. Many times during each day the choices we make do not go along with God’s will, but rather follows our will. We choose to do the things we want to do; things God never intended us to do. We choose the path we travel each day and make the decisions. But the truth is, when we choose our own way, at some point it is like driving down a one-way street; there will be a collision with God’s will. As Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
b. Willpower- The question then becomes, ‘how do we stay in the
middle of God’s will? As we read Psalm 37:3-5 for our scripture reading, we were told to “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this.” But how do we avoid our will getting in the way of God’s will; God’s good and perfect plan for our lives?
The passage actually gives us 3 ways or principles for staying in God’s will.
Principle One is an issue of trust. “Trust in the Lord and do good.” To trust God means to obey what He tells us to do; to believe that what he tells us to do is the good and right thing for our lives. If we don’t trust God, then we will want to do it our way; we will want to follow our will; we will want to take control.
Illus. Think for a moment back to your driver’s ed. Training. Remember how the car had 2 steering wheels and 2 brakes? Why was that? That is because if we did something wrong, or if we panicked, the instructor could take control of the car and make things right. Our life is an issue of control. Who is in control, you or God? It really is a struggle over control of the steering wheel.
We seem to always be wrestling with God for control. Why is this? Because we don’t like the direction God is taking us. It is because we think we can do a better job than the God of the universe; the creator of our lives. Sounds kind of silly when I say it like that, doesn’t it? You see, we let God drive as long as He is taking us down the path we want to go.
EX. It is like the university in Texas that built some new buildings, but they didn’t pour any sidewalks. Instead, they waited and watched as the students walked from building to building. After a while the students started to wear a path in the ground. The university officials learned from this the path the students wanted to take, and then they built the sidewalks along the worn paths. We want God to do the same with us, but this isn’t how it works.

II. DELIGHT Yourself in the Lord- (Psalm 37:4; Ecclesiastes 2:1-11)
a. Staying in God’s will- The second principle of our scripture
passage is to stay in God’s will by delighting ourselves in God. Hearing again Psalm 37:4, it reads: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” The word ‘delight’ in the Hebrew means ‘to enjoy.’ When you delight in someone, you enjoy their company; you want to spend time with them; you are blessed by being present with them.
This verse is telling us we need to delight in God. We need to learn how to enjoy being in God’s presence. We need to “want” to spend time with God. We need to let this time we spend with God be a time of blessing in our lives. So many people haven’t learned how to be with God; delight in God. Consequently, they struggle to be happy in life. Without delighting in God, we will not know how to be happy in the midst of struggles and hardships.
What is it you desire in life? More often than not the answer to this question might border on the selfish…A nicer house; a faster car; more money; or for my kids an Xbox 360. We all have these desires, and want to receive the fulfillment of our heart’s desires. The problem is that for the most part if these desires are fulfilled in us we will still not be happy. If you aren’t happy without these things you desire, these material things will not make you happy. Happiness comes from a relationship with God.
b. Fulfillment of our heart’s desire- Let’s look at an example in the
Bible for a moment. Let’s look at King Solomon in Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, “I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. 4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
What do we see in this passage? We see King Solomon seek after pleasure; accomplishments. possessions; wives; concubines; gold and silver and livestock. Just the gold alone that King Solomon received from the leaders of other nations was estimated to be 1 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR! That is billion with a “b.” That is a lot of money in our time, so think about how great a sum it was back then, almost 3,000 years ago. What is King Solomon’s take on all of this? He says in verse 8 that he had “the delights of the heart of man.” Then in verse 10 he says: “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired.” And what came for King Solomon in all of this? What did he gain? His answer is found in verse 11: “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, EVERYTHING WAS MEANINGLESS, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
The desires of people will not gain us happiness or ultimate satisfaction. But we can have the desires of our heart satisfied. How? By delighting in God. As we delight in God, we begin to delight in the things of God, and our desires are changed to become what God desires. Now we are in a place to receive from God. Now we are in a place to find fulfillment. We must delight ourselves in the Lord more than we long for our own heart’s desires.

III. COMMIT Your Way to the Lord- (Psalm 37:5; Luke 11:28)
a. Centering ourselves in God- The last principle in bringing
happiness to our lives is to commit our way to the Lord. To do this we must center ourselves in God’s will. We have to come to the place where we commit o following God’s will. We often ask God to show us His will, but when we do this, do we mean to follow it if it is different from our will? God says back to us: ‘You have to commit to following My will, and then I’ll show you what it is.’ It isn’t about knowing the plan first, analyzing the plan, and then deciding if you want to follow it or not. It is about saying to God that you are committed to His will for your life, and then as you live each day, God reveals what you need to know of His will each day.
Do you believe that God has a plan for you? This is of utmost importance, because if you don’t believe this, you won’t seek to be committed to it or seek to live it out. EX. There are a number of people I am mentoring right now. And this is exactly what we are doing in our mentoring time; seeking to know and follow God’s will for their lives. I love to walk with them, and seek with them the discernment of God’s will; God’s plan. It isn’t always easy to figure this play out, or even live it out when you know it.
Why is this? It is because we have trust issues. I know many people who have trouble trusting others. Consequently they have trouble trusting God. It is difficult, if not impossible to commit yourself to God’s plan if you don’t trust God. The answer really is to take the step in faith. To commit to God is not about pretending. To commit to God is about really giving ourselves over to God and living the life He sets before us.
Committing to God is about reading your Bible regularly, or doing a devotion regularly. I have a daily devotional reading I send out to many people via e-mail each day. If you are not on my list and would like to be, talk to me afterwards, and give me your e-mail address. You also need to pray regularly each day. Prayer is not just asking God for things, it is about learning to listen to God’s promptings in your mind. On top of this you need to find ways to serve God, whether it be in the church or outside. The best way to do this is to think about how you are gifted and what you enjoying doing. Then find a service project that matches your talent.
b. Having a quality life- When we understand that following God is
the path to lasting happiness, we will start to experience this happiness in our lives. We have to put good habits into our lives. Maybe you spend a lot of time on the internet. You need to set aside some of that time for reading God’s word and prayer. Maybe you only come to church once or twice a month; you need to make it a weekly, if not bi-weekly practice to be in church. As Jesus says in Luke 11:28- “.. ‘But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God AND put it into practice.’”
We need to understand that our net worth is not our real worth. If this were true then those who have a great amount of money would be more happy than we are, and more loved by God. This is not the case at all!! In fact, so often you hear of those who are wealthy not being happy. You regularly hear of those with money going bankrupt. You see those with money fighting with family members over money, or trying to take from each other. Our net worth is not our real worth!
Happiness starts and ends with trusting God; obedience to God. We step out in faith and allow God to take the steering wheel and drive the car and take us to where He wants us to be. But it’s not a passive process like riding in a real car is. God wants us to pay attention and take action along the way. Our enduring legacy in life with result from the actions we take in our lifetime. We need to know what we value, and then set goals that allow us to achieve those values. If our value is our family, then we need to make sure we are spending quality time with our family. If we value our health, then we need to eat right, and sleep, and exercise, and see a doctor regularly. AND if we value our relationship with God, we need to do the things that keep us in a strong relationship with God!!

Conclusion: We say we want to be happy. This comes from living the right way; living according to God’s plan. This comes from making an eternal difference with our lives. Our time on this earth is limited. If we truly want to ensure that we’ve fulfilled our purpose when it’s time to go, then we must stay squarely in God’s will, trusting ourselves to Him, delighting in Him, and committing ourselves to His path.
Let me close with this STORY: There is a story of a young girl who got a canary for a present. She loved to hear the canary sing; to make its beautiful noises. As spring came and the weather got better, she thought the bird might like to be outside with other birds; to hear their sounds. She had her father connect the bird cage to a tree branch and hung the cage outside. The canary heard the chirps and tweets of the sparrows, and before long the canary started to imitate their unmusical sounds. In the fall the girl brought her bird back inside, but to her dismay the canary no longer sang beautifully, but only made the unmusical chirps and tweets.
This is a sad but true story. Even more, it can be the story of you and me. If we choose the path that is not God’s will, we will be influenced by the world, and will begin to imitate the world’s way, NOT GOD’S. This will only lead us to heartache and unhappiness. Remember, “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” A by-product of trusting in the Lord, delighting ourselves in the Lord, and committing ourselves to God’s plan. Amen.