Not Mine, But God's: Following God's Will

Sharing good news of great joy to all people.

Elation Church. This is week number two in our

series entitled, Not Mine, But God's. Everybody

say, Not Mine, But God's. And we're looking at

some things that are ours in Christ that we can

take hold of. So, here's a question. Who or what

is your source? I want you to think about that.

Now, it's easy when we're in church to just automatically

say God, right? Because it's church and the correct

answer is God or Jesus or something. I mean,

I would ask questions in doing children's ministry,

doing Vacation Bible School, I'd ask questions.

We even had a game show. You remember the game

show that we had at the table? and if the kid

said Jesus, no matter what the question was,

I'd at least give him a half point, even if it

had nothing to do with the question, all right?

So it's easy on Sunday morning to say Jesus is

my source or God is my source, but I want you

to really think about it. Who is your source?

Who do you rely on? Who do you depend on? Really,

I want you to think about it. What do you rely

on? What do you depend on? Who do you run to?

What do you run to? Who or what is your source?

See, so many believers love God and they trust

Him with their eternity, but they don't trust

Him with their everyday things. I believe we're

all guilty at times. We're all guilty at times.

But God wants us to trust Him with our every

day to the same level that we trust Him with

our eternity. We depend on and display who or

what is our source, who or what we draw from,

who or what we expect to draw from. That's who

we depend on and that is displayed in our life.

Everybody say source. Jeffrey shared this last

week, but it became all too real today. And it

wasn't on purpose. I don't know why. After you

get past a certain length, like the HDMI cable

at your house that you plug from your cable box

to your TV, it doesn't matter which way you plug

it in. It'll work either direction. But once

you go past a certain length, and maybe Jordan

could help us with this information, but once

you go past a certain length, the signal will

only go one way. After the service, if you don't

believe me, walk up here and look at this red

plug because it says source on this red plug.

And that red plug way up there in the air, It

says display. And today, I plugged in the source

up there, the display down here. We ran all the

wires, taped it down on the floor. You see, we

have this nice little, we keep everything running

together. It's not just jumbled up. We tape it.

on the floor, and then I cut on the computer,

I cut on the projector, we've got the screen,

and it's like, Jeffrey, it's not working. Now,

there's been times before when it didn't work,

when it was time to buy a new wire, because there's

about eight or nine little tiny wires in this

cable, and if they get bent too much or stepped

on too much, they might quit working. So, I didn't

even think to look. And finally, Jeffrey said,

you've got it plugged in backwards. You've got

display plugged into the computer, and it will

not work. For some reason, that information will

only go in one direction in that wire. It still

blows my mind that a wire knows which direction

the signal is going in. That's so... strange

and foreign to me. But your life will display

your real source. I will. Our lives display to

the people around us who or what is our source?

It's automatic. You can't fake it. You might

can fake it at church, but you can't fake it

after you leave church. Your life is going to

display your source, your real source. Now, some

people look at their jobs as being their source.

Some people look at other people as being their

source. Right? I could stand here today and tell

you that Gayna is my source because she has a

job. She gets a paycheck every Thursday. I've

been known to cut up and call her my sugar mama.

Just cutting up, of course. So I could look at

Gayna as being my source. She could look at her

job as a cook in Disney as being her source.

Right? But in reality, her job... Should be considered

an avenue. And not a source. Ultimately. God.

Should be our source. And that's just not. Only

talking about finances. It's talking about. Everything

you need. Somebody say everything. God. can be

the source of everything you need. And he wants

to be. If you're a follower of Christ, God wants

to be your source. He has already done everything

necessary to meet every need you have and every

need of your life. Some people think, okay, well,

I'm good with God being my source and I... I

realize that even though I have a job, that job's

an avenue, but God is my ultimate source because

he really is the one who gives you strength and

life and breath, right? He gives you life. But

what about when it comes to your other needs?

What about when it comes to your emotional needs?

Here's the deal. If you depend on someone else

to meet every emotional need that you have, you're

going to be disappointed a lot. If you depend

on another person to meet every emotional need

that you have, if you're depending on a person,

you're going to be disappointed a lot. But if

you depend on God, if you truly depend on God,

you will never be disappointed. Because He will

not fail you. He will not let you down. He is

God. But, the emotional needs that I have and

Gayna has, I mean, we can be an avenue that God

can use, right? As a husband and wife. But ultimately,

she'll tell you. She'll even tell you that God's

her real husband. I've heard her tell other people

that, and sometimes I want to get offended. Wait

a minute, I've got on a ring. Right? But I can't

meet all of her needs. She can't meet all of

my needs. And if I depend on her as my source,

again, I'm going to be disappointed. And there's

been times in her life when she did depend on

me and she was disappointed. Not because I wanted

to disappoint her. It's just, I'm human. I'm

not going to be perfect. Look at the person beside

you and gasp and say, do you believe the preacher

he told us he wasn't perfect? Most people depend

on... Listen, I'm... not your source for all

your spiritual needs don't hold me accountable

to that because I'll let you down I mean I try

and I study and I work hard but I cannot be the

source of all the spiritual needs that you have

only God can do that only God can do that so

There's a difference though. Now, I believe if

you're here at a Galatian church that I'm an

avenue that God can use, but I'm not the complete

source. Look at the person beside you and say,

that's pretty good. I hope you're getting this.

I hope. In every area, everybody say every area.

Not just the spiritual areas, but in every area

of life, we should learn to rely on God's supply

and God's ability instead of our own. Every area.

There's not an area excluded. Every area. We

need to rely on God. We need to trust in God.

We need to depend on God, His supply, His ability.

Now he will work through avenues in this earth.

But he's a source. He's a source. Acts 17, 28.

In him, everybody say in him. In him we live

and move and exist or have our being. Having

your being is. your existence. This is what God

wants. He wants us to live in Him. He wants us

to, every move we make, to move in Him, to exist

in Him when we're in Christ. Jesus was an amazing

example for us on earth. A lot of times when

we look at Jesus, we say, well, he's God. And

he is. Look at the person beside you and tell

them, Jesus is God. Jesus is God. But when he

came to this earth, he said that he laid down

a lot of things. Not that they weren't still

his. He just chose not to operate in those areas.

I don't know how to put it, of his godness, I

guess we could say. He chose to be led by the

Spirit. He chose to talk to the Father. He even

says, I mean, there's several verses I could

pull out. I'm just pulling out this one today.

But John 14, 10, Jesus said, the words I speak

are not my own. Now, he's God. And he's man.

He's not 50 -50. He's 100 -100. The math doesn't

quite add up, all right? He's 100 % God. He's

100 % man. He laid down a lot of things that

he could have held on to, but he laid it down

to function as a man. And what he's saying is,

the things that I say, like the Sermon on the

Mount, he's up there, he's preaching for hours

and hours and hours all day until everybody got

hungry and then he had to feed them. Anyway,

he's preaching and then he said, y 'all need

to know something. The words that I'm saying

aren't my own words. The words I speak are not

my own. But my Father, My Father, who lives in

me, is working through me, is basically what

he's saying. Every miracle is walking in the

Holy Spirit, living, moving, having his being

in the Holy Spirit, and doing and saying what

God tells it, what the Father tells him to do,

even though... He's 100 % God and 100 % man.

He's functioning as a man, which makes him our

example. Listen to me. It's not right for us

to look at Jesus and say, well, he could do that

because he's God. Are you with me? Some of you,

I see smoke coming out your ears. It's not that

we just say, well, Jesus could do that because

he's God, but I could never be able to do anything

like that. Well, look at the disciples and look

at the deacons and look at, I mean, look at the

things they did. And here's what Jesus said,

if I recall correctly, he said this. He said,

greater things. Everybody say greater things.

He said, greater things than I did will you do.

Greater things. Y 'all are thinking way too hard.

Just go ahead and smile and say this. I can do

greater things. God wants to speak through you.

God wants to empower you to do some amazing things

in this earth. Jesus said, the words I speak

are not my own, but my Father who lives in me

and does his work through me. 1 Corinthians 3

.9 says this, we are God's fellow workers. Say

this, I'm God's fellow worker. I'm working with

him. He's working with me. That's what a co -worker

is, right? We work together. We are God's fellow

workers. And then 2 Corinthians 6, 1, we then

as workers together with him. Has anybody ever

had a job where you had some co -workers? Sometimes

that's good, sometimes that's bad. But if you're

a co -worker with God, it's going to always be

good. Here's what he says. He says, I want you

to link up with me. He says, my yoke is easy.

See, when we try to do it on our own, it can

get hard. It can get difficult. It can get stressful

when we try to do it in our own flesh and in

our own strength and in our own mind. But Jesus

says, my yoke is easy. Everybody knows what a

yoke is, right? You have two big oxen and you

put a yoke on them to plow a field. The yoke

connects both of those oxen together at the neck.

It puts their forces together. It combines their

strength together. They can do twice as much

work together than they can by themselves. It

would be very hard on one to plow a big field.

But when two are working together, it's a lot

easier. How many of you know? That if you link

up with Jesus, it's going to be a whole lot easier.

It's going to be a whole lot less stressful.

Probably not even stressful at all, right? Because

we're hooked up with someone whose power is limitless.

Whose resources are limitless. Whose love is

limitless. Come on, somebody. I'm preaching better

than you're amening right now. He's limitless.

And he calls us a worker together with him, God's

fellow worker. When you're hooked up to limitless,

your struggle disappears. As co -workers with

God, we have an opportunity to exchange our natural

for his supernatural. We have that opportunity

to trade what we have for what God has. I don't

know if you've noticed these things sitting up

here or not. You probably wonder, well, this

big old rock. represents what I have. And this

represents what God has. This is my natural.

This is God's supernatural. And in so many areas,

He calls for us to lay down our natural for His

supernatural. Some of us get very frustrated

because we try to take our natural and we take

sandpaper and all kind of stuff and we try to

make our natural. We work on it, work on it,

work on it. We try to make our natural look to

everybody else like it's supernatural. So we're

not talking about increasing your human effort

to be more like Jesus. We're talking about an

exchange. Everybody say an exchange. So as co

-workers with God, we have the opportunity to

exchange. This is me striving and working and

doing with me being the source or my spouse being

the source or my job being the source. It's always

going to look like this. God has something better

for you. God did not take up residence in you

for you to live your life apart from him. God

is in you. It's salvation. You move out of being

in yourself and in the world to being in Christ.

You move out of your unrighteousness and your

sin into being the righteousness of God in Christ.

There's a movement that takes place in your spirit.

Everybody say your spirit. That's where that

movement takes place. And it's immediate and

it's done. So the question is going to look like

this. Are we living out of our spirit? Or are

we living out of our soul? Trying to polish up

our soul. Are we living out of our spirit? See,

I'm not talking about working to be the best

you you can be. Because that can be frustrating.

I've spent a lot of time being frustrated. Because

I try to be the best I can be. You know, it's

just like Romans 7, where we looked at it in

our life group, right? Romans 7, it's like, well,

I want to do the right thing, wind up doing the

wrong thing. I want to, you know, and there's

just this turmoil. In Romans 7, turmoil. And

Paul gets to the point where he says, who's going

to deliver me from such misery? But he immediately

gives you the answer. Jesus. You don't have to

live in that misery. Romans 8, 1, because now

there's no condemnation for those who are in

Christ Jesus. We're dead to sin and alive to

God. But we have to live differently. I believe

this is key. It's not just trying to be the best

person you can be, but allowing God's life to

flow through us. There's a difference. Galatians

2 .20. I've been crucified with Christ and I

no longer live. It's not trying to be the best

me that I can be anymore. Because the best me

is crucified with Christ. I've been crucified

with Christ. I no longer live. But now Christ

lives in me. The life I now live in the body,

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me

and gave himself for me. There's been an exchange.

Not just my old life polished up, but new life.

See, we spend a lifetime learning how to live,

learning how to live in our flesh and how to

live in our soul. We spend a lifetime, but as

Christians, we must learn to live again, all

over again, as spirits who are in Christ. I wish

I could unpack this so beautifully and completely

for all of us to just be able to grab it. I just

got to tell you, I'm working on it. But it's

available. Let's cover this again. You are a

spirit. Everybody say, I'm a spirit. That's who

you are. You are a spirit. Now, you are a spirit.

Made in the image of God. God is spirit. Those

who worship him must worship him in spirit and

in truth, right? God is a spirit. He created

us in his image. Every other living thing in

this earth is not a spirit. Humans are spirit

beings. You are a spirit. You have a soul. And

you live in a body. One of these days, we're

not going to live in this body. We're going to

have a glorified body. Sometimes I think about

this. There's going to be a day where I'm going

to be able to travel really fast. How many of

you like to travel fast? Who doesn't like the

confines of the speed limit? And I thought about

it. I said, you know, Well, am I traveling the

speed of light? Look at the person beside you

and say, faster than that. Get this, as a spirit

being, it's just something that I've thought

about and thought about and thought about. It's

not in the Bible, so don't look for a verse.

Except Dean chapter 2, verse 7, maybe. It might

be there. Listen, I believe we're going to travel

at the speed of thought. I would say God travels

at the speed of thought, but that would be incorrect

because God's everywhere all the time. He doesn't

have to travel anywhere. He doesn't have to travel

to you for the breakthrough in your life. He's

already here. He doesn't have to travel. I believe

he would travel at the speed of thought. That's

fast. Anyway, I don't know why I got on that.

You can forget that. By the time you walk out

the door, it won't matter. You are a spirit.

You have a soul. You live in a body. Just to

give you some verses, if you haven't thought

about this, 1 Thessalonians 5, 23. Now may the

God of peace make you holy in every way, and

may your whole spirit and soul and body... Hello?

May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept

blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

So if you say, Dean, where did you get that I'm

a spirit and I have a soul and I live in a body?

Well, that's a good one. Here's another one.

Hebrews 4 .12. For the word of God is alive and

powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two

-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit.

There's a difference between your spirit and

your soul. Between joint and marrow, everybody

say body. The Word of God helps us to divide

these parts of us and to see it and to function

and to operate in it. It exposes our innermost

thoughts and desires. Your soul is made up of

your mind. Everybody say my mind, my thoughts,

my desires. Well, that's the next one. Your will

is your desires. Everybody say, my will is my

desires. Your desires could even include your

plans. And then your emotions. See, that's part

of your soul. So, we're supposed to depend on

God in all these areas. In every area of life.

We're supposed to rely on God. Last week we talked

about having the mind of Christ. Everybody say

the mind of Christ. We talked about how it was

available to us. And we can... Receive the mind

of Christ through relationship and through saturation.

And the mind of Christ can have dominance over

our mind and our thoughts by exchange. But the

exchange comes through saturation. Everybody

say saturation. And relationship. That's when

we can discern. It's a skill to come to the point

where you can discern the difference. And it's

like, through the word of God, it's like a sharp

two -edged sword. And it will help us to discern

between our mind and the mind of Christ. Somebody

smile. Our mind and the mind of Christ. So we

talked about that through saturation and relationship.

You can go back and listen to the podcast, YouTube,

whatever. All right. But today, here's what we're

talking about. Today, we're talking about exchanging

our will, our plans, our desires for God's. Does

anybody remember when Jesus said, He was sweating

drops of blood because he knew the pain and things

that he was going to experience on the cross.

He came to the point where he said, Father, not

my will but yours. Now that doesn't mean that

for you to follow the will of God means that

it's going to be pain and suffering all the time,

okay? I don't want to... present that to you.

It may not always be the easiest path. Hello?

It may not always be the easiest, but it's always

going to be worth it. Jesus said this. He said,

for the joy that was set before me. The Holy

Spirit spoke this through Paul. How many of you

know if the Holy Spirit is speaking it, it's

Jesus speaking it too, right? He said, for the

joy that was set before me, I endured the cross.

You might say, joy? Being whipped and beaten

and crucified? Joy. On the other side of that,

hello? On the other side of that was our salvation.

Without it, we're hopelessly and helplessly lost.

And Jesus knew that walking through that was

going to make it possible for us. To be in relationship

with him. For us to experience his life. So,

I want you to consider exchanging your will,

your plans, your desires for God's. And here's

a funny thing. It could look the same as it looks

today to everybody around you. To exchange your

will for God's, it could be just what you're

doing. The life where you are. You know? God

doesn't always tell you to quit your job and

go on the road to follow His will. Did that to

me. But it don't mean he's going to do that for

everybody. When we were in college, we talked

about this all the time in our Bible studies

that we would have in college. We would talk

about the permissive will. Everybody say permissive

will. And the perfect will. Everybody say perfect

will. Have you ever heard this? Has anybody ever

heard those terms before? Because as we were

praying and as we were studying, everybody, you

know, you're at that point where you're in college

and you're like, what am I going to do? What's

next? And we were seeking God and wanting to

do and wanting to go and be exactly where he

wanted us to be. But how many of you know that

you don't just pray one prayer and all of a sudden

God answers that prayer? It's like, oh, well,

you're going to, this is your path. How many

of you know that sometimes your path changes,

and you're still following God's will, but your

path changes? Has anybody ever experienced some

of that before? See, I'm glad you've experienced

it. I don't have to tell you all my stories.

See, I believe God has a permissive will. There's

not a verse on this, but I believe God has a

permissive will. He will let you follow your

own will. Look at the person beside you and tell

them, I'm not a robot. I mean, God will let us

follow our desires, follow our will, follow our

plan, follow our path. But I want to tell you

today, God will let you follow your own will,

but God has a perfect will for you, for you to

follow, a perfect path. We're going to talk about

the difference between the two, but God has that

for you. Jeremiah 29, 11. Very familiar verse.

Who's memorized Jeremiah 29, 11? This is God

talking. He says, I know the plans I have for

you. I want you to personalize this. God knows

the plans that he has for you. Let's say that.

God knows the plans he has for me. Not for you,

for me now. Personalize it. God knows the plans

he has for you. God knows the plans he has for

me. And you know what? Chances are, chances are,

God's not going to tell me his plan for you.

God's going to tell me his plan for me. Now,

there are some plans from God that's all the

same, right? It's not his will. Everybody say

will. It's not his will that any should perish,

but all should come to repentance and faith in

him. That's his will for everybody. But there

are specific things, specific plans that God

has for you. God has for me. And he knows those.

And then he gives us a description of his plan.

Everybody say my plan. Everybody say God's plan.

Everybody say my will. Everybody say God's will.

Everybody say my desires. Everybody say God's

desires. We can exchange. Ours for his. His plans,

his plans look like this. His plans are to prosper

you and not to harm you. His plans are to give

you hope and a future. That's what his will is.

That's what his plans are. Some of you are choking

on this, but it's okay. Go ahead and choke and

swallow real good. One time, the doctor prescribed

a penicillin pill that was so big, I didn't know

if I could swallow it or not. But if I swallowed

it, it would help me get better. If I didn't

swallow it, because of the flavor that it put

in my mouth or because it was too big to swallow,

it wouldn't help me. So just go ahead and swallow

this. See, God's plan will never harm you. Never.

How many of you know that your own plan can harm

you sometimes? How many of you know somebody

who has a desire for some negative thing that

harms them on a regular basis? Hello? Right?

But that's their will. That's what they want.

That's their desire. I'm going to go ahead and

tell you. Just apply this across the board. Because

I know you are thinking about something that,

oh, I would never, right? I know somebody who

has a will and desire for something, but I would

never do that, and I can see how that's bringing

destruction to their life. It's easy for us to

see it in others, right? But apply it across

the board. God's plan is to prosper you and not

harm you. God's plan always, always, always,

always will give you a hope and a future. Your

plans may or may not. There's no guarantee on

your plan. There's a guarantee on God's plan.

Plans. There's the Hebrew word. You pronounce

it if you want to. I've decided to quit trying

to pronounce these words. But the plans. God's

plans. For you. Or his thoughts. For you. His

plans. For you. His purposes. For you. His intentions.

For you. That word plan. I know the plans. I

have for you. Declares the Lord. That's what

it means. It means his thoughts. It means his

plans. It means his purposes. It means his intentions.

He has that for you. And for me. And his plans

are to prosper you. I think I shared this back

in the spring, and then we talked about who God

is, and his name is Yahweh Shalom. Everybody

say Shalom. There's multiple ways to spell it

when you put it in English, but it's the same.

It's Shalom. And for the majority of my life,

if I heard the word Shalom, I always just thought

peace. Peace. Peace is important. Peace is also

an indicator of who your source is. I'll just

throw that out there. That word prospers is the

word shalom. And here's what it means. It means

peace. Everybody say peace. It means health.

Everybody say health. That's God's plan. Hello?

God's plan for you is peace. God's plan for you

is health. God's plan for you is completeness.

Everybody say completeness. Not lacking. Complete.

God's plan for you is welfare. That's God's plan

for you. And some of these cross over. With agape,

with love, with the definition of love, right?

Welfare, well -being. God is love, so his plans

are always going to be for your welfare and your

well -being. Everybody say well -being. Everybody

say safety. Everybody say prosperity. And we

get to the point where, ooh, prosperity is a

bad word. It can't be a bad word. Some people

misuse it to say that God wants everybody to

have a Bentley and an 8 ,000 square foot house.

The Bible doesn't promote that. God's not against

that. I don't think anybody in here has a Bentley

or an 8 ,000 square foot house, but God wouldn't

be against it. I mean, just look at Abraham and

look at David. I mean, if the man can give an

offering in the multiplied billions, he must

have been doing okay. And he's a man after God's

own heart. But he knew who his source was. Anyway,

God's plans for you. God's plan, God's desire,

God's will, God's thoughts, God's intentions

for you. If you'll connect with his will, the

result, hello? The result is always going to

be peace, health, completeness, welfare, well

-being, safety, and prosperity. I'm looking for

one smile. If I can't find one smile, I'm going

to have to say it about four more times. Let

it sink in. Swallow that big old pill. I wish

I had one of those. God's plans are to give you

a hope and a future. When you look up the Hebrew

words for Hope and future, I didn't put the spelling,

our spelling for those words. But hope in the

Old Testament, here's the picture. Hope is a

cord binding you to a confident expectation.

You know, I talk about Elpo, the Greek word hope

in the New Testament. It's a confident expectation

that you are anticipating with pleasure. That's

the Greek word. The Hebrew word, you get this

picture. Have you ever seen somebody tied to

something? Most of the time that's bad when you're

tied to something. I'll never forget, you know,

camp. Taking a single mattress and tying somebody

to the mattress with duct tape. Camp is so fun.

Anyway, he deserved it. I want you to see this

in a good way, not in a mean way, but a good

way. Hope is a cord binding you. to a confident

expectation in God. It's like you're tied to

it. Put it together. Put it together. I know

the plans I have for you. All those things that

we just said, the plans I have for you are peace

and health and completeness and welfare, well

-being, safety, prosperity. And when you swallow

that pill, you can be tied to that shalom with

a confident expectation. A confident expectation

of a good outcome. When it's just you, you don't

know. When it's God, you know. Good outcome.

The future is a good outcome or a victorious

end. It should make sense to all of us. Right?

If we want a guaranteed, I mean, we can go on

our own and just be a gamble, but we can have

a guaranteed. Good outcome and victorious end

if we will follow God's plan, God's will, God's

way. How do you know it? How do you know God's

will, God's plans, God's desires, God's purposes

for your life? How do you know it? I'm going

to go ahead and say this is probably not the

full disclosure of every Bible verse that could

possibly be in Scripture that would connect you

to God's will and His plans and His purpose.

But this is a good starting point. Look to the

person beside you and say, this is a real good

starting point. Take delight in the Lord. And

he will give you your heart's desires. When you

delight in the Lord, his desire becomes apparent

to you. It's revealed. It's not just going to

fall in your lap. I can't tell you how many times

in college we were just praying, God, we want

to do your will. Please show us your will. God,

I don't know what I'm going to do when I get

out of college. God, show me your will because

I really need your will. And I'm just kind of,

right? Begging. Everybody say begging. Begging

is not the way to find it. delighting in the

Lord is a step in the right direction. Take delight

in the Lord. He will give you the desires of

your heart. Real quick, I'm a preacher's kid.

My daddy was a preacher. My mom's dad, that grandfather,

jumped sides of the family, but he was a preacher.

His daddy was a preacher. When I took my driver's

test to get my license, when I sat down with

the policeman, I messed up a few times. But as

we were riding, he says, well, what does your

mom do? I said, well, she's a school teacher.

She taught public school. What does your dad

do? He's a preacher. And when we finished the

driving test, he said, well, normally... You

made too many mistakes to get your driver's license.

But he said, but you need to get out of the house.

That's what he told me. Got my license. I did

not make that up. That's for real. Anyway, he

said, you need to get out of the house. You know,

I never desired to be a pastor. As a matter of

fact, when Gannon and I started dating before

we were married, I said, Honey, you ain't got

to worry about it. I said, We can sing. We can

go around churches and sing because we like to

sing together and we like to praise God and we

like to sing songs about God. But I said, Honey,

you've got nothing to worry about. I'm never

going to be a preacher. That's what I said. This

was not my desire. I had other plans. I had other

desires. I'm going to go ahead and tell you.

I don't want to do anything else now than what

I'm doing. Some people read this verse, God will

give you the desires of your heart, and they

say, well, God, if you want it bad enough, God

will give it to you. I think that's a misinterpretation

of the verse. As you delight in the Lord, he'll

give you the desires. He'll give you the plans.

He'll give you his will. This is part of the

process of exchanging your will for his. Delight

in the Lord. Delight, there's a Hebrew word.

Needs to delight to take pleasure in. And I'm

going to tell you, what do you take pleasure

in? What's the thing that you delight in the

most? What's the thing that you get the most

pleasure in? Pulling your toes. Well, if you

want God's desires and God's will, your delight

and your pleasure needs to be in Him. Not in

the things of this world. Our passion needs to

be towards him and not towards the things of

this world. And it's not a one and done commitment.

It's a continual adjustment in our lives to delight.

In the Lord and take pleasure in him. You might

say, well, you know, I've never done that and

look where I am today. Well, guess what? You

can start today to delight in the Lord and take

pleasure in him. Just start where you are. Start

today. Jeffrey read these verses last week. Proverbs

3, 5, and 6. We probably memorized them. If you

memorize much scripture at all, you probably

memorize these. Trust in the Lord with all your

heart. Do not depend on your own understanding.

Jeffrey focused in on this for having the mind

of Christ, not depending, not relying on just

your own mind, but relying on the Lord, trusting

in him, depending on him. Depend on God. Don't

depend on your own understanding. Depend on God.

He knows everything about everything. Depend

on Him. And it goes on to say, seek His will.

It's not going to drop in your lap. You're going

to have to seek. Have you ever played hide and

seek? You seek. It's an active thing. Seeking

is active. Seek his will in all you do. And he

will show you. He will reveal it. Which path

to take? But you got to seek. Seek. There's a

Hebrew word again. Seek means to know, to perceive,

to understand. And to acknowledge. We use that

word acknowledge a lot around here recently over

the last year. So seeking God. Let's break it

down. Know God in everything you do. Know Him.

Relationship. Everybody say relationship. Know

Him. Perceive. Everybody say discernment. Perceive.

That's one of the spiritual gifts, right? It's

to discern. Understand. You might say, well,

he's too big for me to understand. Well, you

shouldn't stop trying. Understand what the will

of God is. Perceive, discern what the will of

God is. Know what the will of God is. And acknowledge.

We need to think about this word a lot. It says

acknowledge God in everything you do. Everything.

We all do a lot. Just think about the rest of

your day. What are you going to do? Do you already

have plans? Think about Monday. What are you

going to do? Do you have plans? What about Tuesday?

Well, the Word of God says, acknowledge me in

everything you do. Do you want to know what His

will is? Do you want to know the steps to take?

Acknowledge Him. Acknowledge the Holy Spirit

who is living on the inside of you. Acknowledge

God. Acknowledge who you are in Christ and what

you have in Christ. Acknowledge. Not just on

Sunday morning. In everything you do. Acknowledge

God. Acknowledge Him. Somebody smile again or

I'm not going to go any farther. Acknowledge

Him. Look at the person beside you and remind

them, acknowledge God in everything you do. Everything.

Go ahead and say everything. Everything you do.

Acknowledge God in everything. Not just the big

things. The everythings, if you can put it that

way. Everything. While you're working this afternoon,

acknowledge God in everything you do. Right?

Everything. In all you do. Here's the Hebrew

word. All you do. Your way, your road, your path,

your journey, your course of life. Look to the

person beside you and say, that about sums it

up. How about it sums it up? Here's the deal.

If we will live our lives exchanging our will

for His and acknowledging Him and delighting

in Him, see, I can't help but believe there's

going to be some people that get to heaven who

are going to get there by the skin of their teeth.

You know, they accepted Christ and at least I

hope they are. Right? They've accepted Christ.

I believe some people are going to get there

by the skin of their teeth. But the goal, everybody

say the goal. The goal is to hear these words.

Well done, good and faithful servant. The only

way we're going to hear well done, good and faithful

servant is if we will exchange our will for his.

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