How Can I Know God’s Will? | Joakim Lundqvist

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

A very big happy new year to every single one in our campuses, prison campuses, everybody watching online, and everybody in this building.

If you think God is about to do great things in your life, your family, and our church, can we make some noise for him in the house of the Lord?

Praise God.

Let me tell you, Gateway, my Swedish heart is super inspired and super excited about this upcoming year and also about the teaching series we're in right now.

We're gonna spend the month of January speaking about the book of Acts and the main character in the book of Acts, which is the Holy Spirit.

Now, if you were here last weekend, I started out by addressing the question: how can I hear God?

How can I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit?

And today we're gonna move on, and I want to address another question: How can I know God's will?

Or how can I be led by the Holy Spirit?

So before we dive into the Word of God, let's just pray that He Himself will lead us as we look through the Word of God.

Holy Spirit, we thank you so much that you have been sent by the Father to exalt the name of Jesus and to guide us into all truth.

We pray you will open our hearts, that you will open our eyes and ears, and we pray, Father, through these minutes we have together, that you will make us a little bit more like Jesus.

We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

And all the church said, Amen.

Now, when we approach the whole concept of knowing God's will, honestly, I think to myself, the very first thing we need to do, the very first key, is actually to try to get our eyes off of ourselves and get our eyes onto Jesus.

That's always a good advice, right?

Because I can only speak for myself, friends, but you know, when I ask God for his will, normally, like nine times out of ten, it's gonna be referred to his will for my individual life at this very moment.

Like, God, what is your will regarding the situation I am in right now?

And you might have those questions.

What college should I attend?

Who who should I marry?

Uh, what what career should I look at?

What should I make a change in my career path?

Should I sell my house or should I keep it?

All these questions, and we ask God, show me your will.

And Jesus kind of addresses all these questions in the Sermon on the Mount.

He He speaks about the questions that we have and that they are relevant and legit.

You know, the questions about what should we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear.

But his solution is basically this don't worry about that, but seek first the kingdom of God, and all these other things will be added to you.

Basically, do whatever you can to meet God's needs, and if you do, God will do whatever he can to meet your needs.

That was good, so I'm gonna say it again.

Do whatever you can to meet God's needs and the needs of God's kingdom, and God will do whatever he can, and that's a lot, to meet your needs.

And you might say, Well, God is omnipotent, he's almighty.

Does he even have needs?

Oh, yes, he does.

Because as far as sharing the gospel with the world, he's kind of um already made up his mind that I will do this in partnership with you as an individual and you as a church.

The gospel will never be preached to every human being unless we do our part in meeting this need of God.

Now, if you brought your Bible to church this day, would you turn with me to Acts chapter 1 and verse 8?

Acts 1 · chapter mention

And here we have one of those amazing scriptures that tells us about the needs of God, the needs of the kingdom that you and I shall seek first in order to have all these other needs in our lives met by the Lord Himself.

Acts chapter 1 and verse 8.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Now please note, Gateway, that these are the very last of the red letters in the Bible.

These are the final few words from Jesus to his disciples before he ascends into heaven.

And he says this Acts chapter 1 and verse 8.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses.

Can we say witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth?

That is the need of the kingdom.

The kingdom doesn't need healing or restoration or forgiveness, it's got that.

But what the kingdom needs is witnesses, people who will testify.

Now, the word witnesses really in Greek is martyres, which we know from English as martyrs.

Now we associate that word with people who die for their faith, but that was really not the original meaning of the word.

It came to be the meaning because so many Christians back then gave their lives because of the of their faith of Christ.

But the real original meaning of the word martyres or witnesses is someone with a firsthand experience of the truth that is desperate to share it.

Someone with a first hand experience of the truth who is desperate to share it.

So if you ask me, what is the will of God for my life?

Let me tell you, to be a witness.

God's will for your life is that you be a witness for the gospel of Jesus.

God's will for your life is that you be a witness for his love, that you be a witness for his peace, that you be a witness for his joy, that you be a witness for his grace and mercy and compassion, and that you be a witness for his victory wherever you go in life.

That is the essence of God's will for your life.

Now, if you focus on that, all these other things will be added to you.

God will take it upon himself to make sure you're at the right place at the right time.

You know what I was praying for this time we're gonna have together this weekend, and it was like as I prayed, I just saw this, I wouldn't call it a vision, but maybe an image.

And I do believe that if you could see into your future, into your 2025 from God's perspective, what you would see is a is a road, it's a path.

And that path has people next to it all the way, hundreds and thousands of people that God has planned for you to encounter in this year, that God has planned for you to impact in this year, that God has planned for you to bless this year.

Because when we ask about God's will, let me tell you one thing: it's all about people.

And I read those words somewhere on a gateway wall while being here.

It's all about people.

It's not so much about you and me, it's about us blessing someone else in 2025.

It's about us being a witness for the glory of the Lord in this upcoming year.

Because you know what?

He has prepared you to share the gospel, but he has also prepared your world to receive the gospel.

Let's go to the next chapter in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

And I want to read with you the story of the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Acts chapter 2, verse 1 to 6.

Acts 2:1–6

Well-known scriptures, often read by us spirit-filled believers.

Acts 2 from verse 1.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them, and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now, there was staying in Jerusalem, God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.

When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment because each one heard their own language being spoken.

I've read this scripture so many times, but a few years ago I came across it again in my Bible reading plan, and I had one of those moments that you sometimes have when you read the Bible.

It's like my eyes popped open a bit wider than before.

Have you experienced that?

That's because the word of God is alive, and God will open your eyes repeatedly to new truths in the word of God.

And the Spirit of God started speaking to me, and he said, Joachim, because he can pronounce my name.

And he said, Joachim, it's the same way today.

Like even back then, when I moved in my church, when I moved in the upper room, not only was one group of people prepared to share the gospel, but one group of people were also prepared to receive the gospel.

The group of people in the upper room were prepared to speak, but the people in the street were prepared to hear and to receive.

And he said, it's the same way today.

Every time you come together as a church in prayer and worship and sitting under the word of God, you are being prepared by the Spirit to go out into your world and share the love of Jesus.

But at the very same time, one of your neighbors, one of your friends, one of your relatives, one of your colleagues at work or fellow students in your school is right now being prepared to receive the gospel that you are being prepared to share.

Woo! And I'll tell you, that was like my heart exploded.

And I started teaching my church back home in Sweden about this, and we started raising the level of our faith that as we walked out of the weekend service, we will walk out into a world that is prepared by the Spirit to receive the gospel, the love, the good news that we have been prepared to share.

And we started seeing God doing amazing things.

Let me just tell you one about one of the testimonies, one of the many testimonies that happened as a result.

A few years ago, um a Muslim guy in his mid-20s came from the Middle East as a refugee, and he ended up in Sweden of all places.

Now he ended up in a city about one hour north of where we are, Uppsala, which is the city where our church is.

And as this young Muslim tried to make a new home in this weird frozen nation of his, um, he started having a very weird experience.

You see, every single night he had the same dream.

It was like on repeat, every night as he slept, the same dream came back.

And in the dream, he saw a big auditorium with thousands of people standing like this.

And this Muslim had no experience of spirit-filled Christianity.

He had no idea who these people were, what kind of auditorium this was, and why in the world they are standing like this.

So, but the dream kept repeating itself.

So he understood this must have a meaning somehow.

So he hit the street of Sweden, of his city, and he started walking up to random people, asking them, excuse me, do you know of a big auditorium where thousands of people are standing like this?

Everyone thought he was an idiot.

Because in Sweden people don't speak to one another.

I know that's a hard concept for you Texans to understand, because you are like world champions of social interaction.

You speak to each other all the time and to strangers.

This is why Swedes freak out when they come to Texas.

Because if you walk, if you walk into an elevator over here and there's a person inside the elevator, that person will initiate a conversation.

He or she will say something like, How's your day going?

Or what's up?

And a Swede will think he's a serial killer.

What do you mean, what's up?

Why are you referring to an app on my phone?

How am I supposed to respond to this?

So so this young Muslim didn't got did not get any response whatsoever, but the dream kept repeating itself, and after a while he thought to himself, well, it's a big auditorium that I see in my dream.

Maybe it's in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm.

So he gets on a train and goes from his city to Stockholm to try to find this mysterious auditorium.

Now, as you go from his city to Stockholm, the last station you pass by before arriving is our city of Uppsala.

So he passes us by, he enters, he arrives in Stockholm, he steps out on the platform, and a man, a complete stranger, walks straight up to him.

And this stranger tells him, Hey young man, you went one station too far.

You need to go back on the returning train, one station, exit the train, and you will find what you're looking for.

This young Muslim says, Uh, thank you.

And he goes back on the train, goes back to one station, exits in Uppsala, goes out to a random person in the street, asking him, excuse me, do you know of a big place where thousands of people are standing like this?

And this guy says, That's word of life church.

Everybody knows that.

So he gets directions, he takes the local bus and he up and he he um arrives at our church.

This is Saturday night of our annual conference.

He comes into our church auditorium, the first time he's ever been inside a church, and he recognizes the auditorium in detail.

He recognizes the stage, the balconies, the color schemes, and the whole church is packed with people who are standing like this, worshiping the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Come on, gave way.

And the first thing he hears is me doing the final altar call.

Maybe you're in this room tonight and you don't know Jesus.

And this Muslim man hears the gospel for the first time.

He opens his heart, he lifts his hand, and he accepts Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Praise God.

And only later did we understand how much heavenly coordination that went into this process.

How God gave this guy a dream and put it on repeat.

How God had an angel appear on the Stockholm train station.

Let me tell you, Gateway, this is how much God loves one single individual.

And again, we were reminded that not only is God preparing us to share, He's truly preparing our world to receive.

Amen.

So if God prepares us to share, and if God prepares the world to receive, what is our part to play?

What is our obligation?

I'm glad you asked.

Let me just give you two things that are is on our uh responsibility, so to speak.

Number one, dare to believe that the Holy Spirit is with you.

Dare to believe that the Holy Spirit is with you.

Would you go with me to John chapter 14, please?

John 14 · chapter mention

John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

Now, John 14, 15, and 16 are very unique chapters and should be read repeatedly by any believer.

These are the last words of Jesus to his disciples before he goes to the cross.

And one of the main themes of these chapters is his intro his introduction of the Holy Spirit who will replace him on earth.

And in chapter 14 of the Gospel of John, we'll read from verse 16.

This is as Jesus starts to introduce this comforter, this Holy Spirit, who will come after he has ascended into heaven.

And he says in verse 16, John 14, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever.

Can we say forever?

The spirit of truth.

Be with you forever.

How interesting that when Jesus introduces the person of the Holy Spirit, the first thing he wants you to know is not that the Spirit is big and powerful, although he is, and it's not that the Spirit will give you goosebumps and emotional experiences, although he might.

Because you see, the Spirit is not with you because you feel him, he is with you because Jesus promised that he would be.

Because Jesus promised that he would be.

And you might think, well, Pastor Joachim, holy man of God.

I bet you were praying for the salvation of his soul at the time.

Nope.

I have to be honest with you, Gateway.

I was not in prayer mode at all.

I was in annoyment and irritation mode.

If I was praying for anything, it would be to move this guy to another seat.

God upgrade him, downgrade him, whatever grade him.

Just get him off of me.

He's messing with my holiness here.

And then all of a sudden, the captain came on the speaker saying, Ladies and gentlemen, we just heard news from the Faroe Islands.

There is a storm over the islands, and we will not be able to land tonight.

We have to turn the place to plane around and go back and make another attempt tomorrow morning.

We're sorry for any inconvenience.

And the whole plane went, Oh, that's Swedes expressing intense anger.

If you ever hear a hear a Swede go, oh, run for your life.

Everybody went, oh, apart from my neighbor who started to scream and shout, going, No, get the plane down.

I want to see my family tonight.

And I went, Oh, this is not happening.

Then all of a sudden he turned to me and he looked at me, he looked at my Bible, he looked back at me, and he said, Man, you better pray right now.

And I was caught completely off guard.

I was not prepared for this scenario at all.

And now the whole plane is listening.

And I thought, what should I say?

So I thought for a second or two, and then I said, uh no.

I will only pray if you pray with me.

Yeah.

The plane went, oh, and and and my my neighbor thought for a while, and then he said, No, I don't believe in God.

Isn't it amazing that he wants me to pray to a God that he does not believe in?

And I said, Well, if you don't pray, I don't pray either.

And then he thought for a while, and then he asked me this if I pray with you, will we be able to land tonight?

The plane is now dead quiet.

Everybody wants to know what's the Bible guy gonna say now, and how I prayed at that moment, God speak to me now, or forever hold your peace.

Send an angel, Gabriel Michael.

I don't care, anyone really write with your hand on the wall in fire.

Yes, Joachim, you will be able to land.

I just wanted some kind of heavenly confirmation.

Let me tell you, there was nothing, it was quiet.

I didn't have any emotional experience, I didn't have a word from the Lord.

The one thing I had was the promise of Jesus that the Holy Spirit will always be with me and will never ever leave me.

So I took a deep breath and I said, Yes.

If we pray together, we will be able to land.

So help me, God.

And he said, Yeah, well, let's let's pray then.

And he folded his hands and bowed his head, and and I put my hand on and I prayed and I prayed for a long time.

I wanted to allow God maximum time to perform this miracle.

This is like director's version, extended cut prayer.

I pray for his family, his business, his life in general.

And then when I ran out of things to pray for, I just said, God, I pray that we will be able to land tonight in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And he said, Amen.

And the whole plane said, Amen.

No, they didn't do that.

I kid you not.

Five seconds later, the pilot is back on the on the speaker saying, Ladies and gentlemen, we just heard news from the Faroe Islands.

The storm has cleared, and we will be able to land tonight.

And my big fat drunk neighbor just went.

And friends, I'm not sharing this story to make me look like a spiritual Superman.

Rather, the opposite.

I'm sharing it to remind us all that sometimes you will feel nothing.

But when you dare to believe that the spirit is there, that's where you will unlock a miracle.

Can we give some praise to the Lord God?

Dare to believe in 2025 that the Spirit is with you.

Dare to believe that when you wake up in the morning, He's there, ready to support you, ready to speak to you, ready to speak through you, and ready to work his way in and through your life.

As we do, Gateway 2025 will be an amazing year.

Can we say amen?

The second piece of advice I want to give you in regards to knowing the will of God and following along with the will of God as in being prepared to share the good news with the world, prepared to receive it, is simply this step out of the boat.

Step out of the boat.

And this refers to a story in Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

Many of you will know this story well.

The 12 disciples of Christ are in a boat together on the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus comes walking on the water.

There's a conversation between Jesus and Peter, ending in verse 28 of Matthew 14.

By Peter saying, Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water.

Come, he said.

Now we have to remember at this point, Peter was a fisherman.

Matthew 4 says he was the son of a fisherman.

All he knew, the basic foundation of his life and his truth, was the fact that in order for you to transport yourself on the Sea of Galilee, you need a boat.

And now Jesus is questioning this reality.

And he says, Come, step out of your boat, Peter.

And when Peter does, he experiences a miracle.

Now, how does that relate to us?

I don't know, maybe you all have boats.

I don't have a boat.

But in a way, we all have a boat.

Because the boat represents your area of security.

Just like Peter was safe and secure inside his boat, we all have a boat, an area in which we feel confident, in which we feel we have control of things.

We have a boat that relates to our experiences so far.

We have a boat in which we feel safe.

Now the beautiful thing is that when Jesus first comes into your life, he comes inside your boat.

He comes to you on your own terms.

How beautiful is that! When Christ first met Peter, he came to him in his boat.

Luke 5 and verse 3 says, He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore.

So initially Jesus stepped inside Peter's area of security, but there came a day when Jesus came walking on the water and says, Come, step out of your comfort zone.

Do something you've never done before, so you will see something you've never seen before.

And somehow in my heart I feel that word ringing out for Gateway Church in 2025.

Let's step out of our boats, let's obey the call of Jesus.

Step out of our area of safety and security.

Let's take a new step of faith.

Let's dare something new for the sake of Jesus, for the sake of the gospel.

And as you do, as you step out of your boundaries, out of your safety zone, as you share the gospel of Jesus with someone this year for the very first time, as you take a step and as you do something that the enemy told you you cannot do, you will see the faithfulness of God.

And you will see that the world around you is much more prepared to receive God's love as it flows through you than you could ever imagine.

So can I pray a prayer with you?

Just where you sit right now.

Would you close your eyes and and would you pray a prayer with me?

A prayer of dedication to the ways of the Lord as we enter into this new year 2025.

I'll just try to repeat a few words at a time, and you can just repeat this prayer after me.

But even though it might not be your own chosen words, pray it from the bottom of your heart.

And I know that as you do, God will respond to this prayer of dedication.

Let's pray like this.

Dear Jesus, thank you for using me in 2025.

I pray I will be a witness for the gospel of Jesus, a witness for your love, a witness for your joy, a witness for your peace and mercy and compassion.

This year I will dare to believe that the Holy Spirit is with me in a brand new way, and as you call me to step out of my boats, out of my safety zone, I will obey, and I will dare to believe that you have prepared me to share, but you have also prepared my world to receive in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.