WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM GOD?

1. Lord give me a wise mind and spirit, so that I can do your will.

Question:
What is the first priority to knowing God's will?

Romans 12:1-2
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Here's what I want you to do, with God's help;
Take your everyday, ordinary life; your sleeping, eating, going to work, your walking around - everything you do, and place it before God as an offering!

Question:
What is the best thing you can do for God?

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for God!

Romans says that we are not to become so well adjusted to the culture that surrounds us, that you fit into it without thinking!

Instead - fix your attention on God!
You must recognize what God wants from you.
Then you must respond to it in obedience.

Our culture brings the worst out of us, but God brings the best out of us, and develops maturity in us.

God's culture - His Good, Acceptable, and Perfect Will!

Question:
What is the will of God for you?
And how does He want you to live?

1 Thessalonians 5:14-22

2. Lord I want to completely understand the way in which God works!

Question:
Can I walk worthy of the Lord, and live my life according to His plan for me?

Ephesians 5:15-17
"See then that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Therefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."

1) Watch your step
2) Use your head
3) Make the most of every chance you get; these are desperate times!
4) Don't live carelessly - unthinkingly
5) Make sure you know what the master (Holy Spirit) wants

2 Corinthians 10:5
"Casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

6) Take every thought captive
7) Avoid evil.

3. Lord I want to be fully pleasing to you my God!

Question:
Do I have the character of Jesus?
If so, why do I walk like I do?
Do you please God with your walk?
What does the Lord require of you?

Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Deuteronomy 10:12
"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul."

They are the means of an everlasting obligation.

1 Samuel 15:22
"And Samuel said, has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

Hosea 6:6
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."

Question:
What is my responsibility towards my fellow man?

To walk humbly with thy God - passive and active obedience towards God.

The three moral duties here are summed up by our Lord "judgment, mercy, and faith".

Matthew 23:23
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone."

To walk with God implies constant prayer and watchfulness, familiar yet "humble" converse with God.

Enoch's walking with God is interpreted as he was said to have had pleased God.

Hebrews 11:5
"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."

Every thought within us must be brought into obedience to God, so we may walk comfortably with him.

This is that which God requires!

4. Fruitful in every good work!

Matthew 7:20
"By their fruits you shall know them."

The "works" (plural) of the flesh are spoken of as many (Galatians 5:19-21);
But the "fruit" (singular) of the Spirit is spoken of as one, many works, but one fruit.

The works of the flesh are - outwardly and openly apparent.
Such as; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, drunkenness, do so abound in all places, that you can openly look at them.

God knows, that the works of the flesh are every where and are to be made openly apparent.

WE MUST LEARN TO BE FRUITFUL IN THE SPIRIT!

1. The only way to have the fruit of the Spirit thrive in our hearts, is first to mortify the works of the flesh;

Weeds and thistles must be rooted up before grain can grow or thrive.

The refusal and disallowance of sin makes way for the plantation of the fruit of the Spirit.

2. Moral virtues are the fruit of the Spirit.

3. Compare the fruit of the Spirit with the works of the flesh.

5. Increasing in the Knowledge of God!

Proverbs 22:17-19
"Bow down your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to My knowledge.
For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;
They shall all be fitted in your lips, so that your trust may be in Jehovah, I have made known to you this day, even to you."

When a wise man speaks, all his words are to be carefully heard, and not merely his opinion.
He speaks with knowledge, giving truth in the doctrine he teaches, and confirms his life by observation and experience.

1) We are to listen with humility and concentrated attention:
"Bow down your ear."

2) A wise man must not only be heard, but meditated and pondered upon:
"Apply your heart to my knowledge."

3) This will yield high satisfaction and happiness to the soul:
"For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you."

4) The man who listens to the teachings of wisdom, will grow with a new knowledge of truth, and be able to speak about them acceptably, rightly and persuasively.
"They shall all be fitted in your lips."

To increase in the knowledge of God, we must listen carefully to His words and take to heart what the Spirit can teach us.
As you learn more and more how God works and lives and acts, you will learn how to do your work, what to learn, and how to live and act!

6. Strengthened with Gods Power to do the Impossible!

Romans 1:16
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

Holy Spirit Power - Jesus sent the Church forward in power, spiritual anointing, for life, ministry, and worship!

God's power is capable to overcome the obstacles in the way.
God demonstrates His power, not merely to prove His exists, but to accomplish salvation to man.
The gospel of Christ is mighty; therefore, it is called power, and the power of God.

When people become Christians, their hearts are changed.
The view of Jesus as being full of power, beauty and majesty, can be obtained only by a change of heart.
They see him to be the power and the wisdom of God.

The gospel is God's plan of putting forth to the believer - power and spiritual anointing, for life, ministry, and worship!


  Dale Boehs

10.01.2008