Am I Doing God's Will?

Jesus Christ tells us to form our prayers according to an outline that He gave. And in that outline, He said, pray that your will be done, God, on earth as it is in heaven. Also in the next chapter, Matthew 7, Jesus makes the statement, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. So we are told to actively put in our minds as we pray to God that I need to do your will, help your will to be done on earth just as it is in heaven. And then Jesus said, as the one who has to make the determination of who lives eternally in the kingdom of God, He said, not everyone is going to be admitted, only those who do the will of my Father in heaven. So if we bracket that to say He's taught us to even pray daily to do God's will, and then He says, only those who do God's will will be in heaven. It begs a very important question from you and me. What is God's will? What exactly is God's will? Can you state what God's will is for your life? Let's go back to Romans 12. In verse 2, we'll break into the second half of verse 2 of Romans 12. We're advised here to consider what the will of God is, to come to know what the will of God is. Romans 12 and 2. In the second half, he says that you may prove what that good and acceptable and perfect will of God is. What is the perfect will of God? What is the acceptable will of God? What is the good will of God that you and I are to be doing daily that will enable us to be in the Kingdom of God? We might ask the question, am I doing what God wills me to do? Do I even know what his will is? How can I determine, or as it says here in Romans, prove what the will of God is? Well, today you and I can look in the scripture and not guess ourselves. We can look in the scripture and analyze the things where God talks about his will and we can find out what that will is that we are to accomplish. The title of the sermon today is, Am I Doing God's Will? The foundation for this can be found in Ephesians 5 and verse 17, where it says, Ephesians 5, 17, do not be unwise. Now, you and I can have a wisdom from God or we can have this self-knowledge. We feel wise. He says, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. It's something we have to be taught, in other words. We, as humans, can jump to conclusions and we say, oh, I know what it is. I know what God wants from me and I have this special relationship and I have these thoughts and feelings and I just feel and I know and all this. But, as we've already read, we need to come to prove what the perfect and right and excellent will of God is. And we need to not be unwise or wise in our own eyes, but rather understand what the will of the Lord is. It just shows here in this verse that the unwise will think God's will is something else. But where to be wise and have the wisdom of God? In my many years with the church and in the ministry, I've seen many members suffer from what I would call choice paralysis.

Misassuming or misunderstanding what God's will is and thinking somehow that the choices that God gives you and me on this earth have to be made by Him, not by us. I don't know what to do here. I don't know what car to buy. I don't know what job to have. I don't know who to marry. I don't know whether to move. I don't know whether this house or that house. So I have to find God's will.

See? So they suffer from choice paralysis, I would call it, being paralyzed when it comes to making a choice. An opportunity, a choice, a chance for change, something. And church members get paralyzed. They just stop like, who? Well, I don't know. I don't know what to do. I guess I'll have to find out if it's God's will. It's always interesting to hear someone saying, well, this came up and I'm asking God what His will is. I'm praying that I would know God's will. I'm fasting to find out what is God's will. And my question is, how will you know? Well, that kind of stumps people.

It's interesting. It's kind of like the song that Nora Jones sang one time. She said, she's sort of disillusioned. She says, I cast a stone up to the sky, hoping for some kind of sign.

And we as humans will tend to do that. It's called divining God's will. There's actually a term for it. People will try to divine God's will. They'll throw things in a bucket or they'll look for maybe a sunset. They'll lay out some parameter. I know I did this once when I was 11 or 12 years old. I wanted to know if that girl at school was going to be my wife. And so I wanted God to show me.

And so I set up this criteria and then I acted through the criteria and it didn't work out well. So I changed the criteria so that it could work out better. And it still didn't work out well.

And I didn't marry the girl. So I don't know. You do these things because they're important to us in life and you don't know. You see, you enter a paralysis. Not at age 12 getting married. I don't mean that. But we just have this desire to sort of create something for God and then say, okay, God, I'm looking for your will. Here are the parameters I've set out. Is that what God's will is that He says we are to pray about every day, that we're to come to know some sort of a divining, some sort of, I don't know, process that we go through? It's interesting to see some people will they'll pray about it and fast about it.

And then they'll make a decision, a choice that's not wise. Or most often what happens is the paralysis just paralyzes them and they make no choice. And then when the opportunity passes, someone else takes the job, someone else buys the product, someone else gets the house, someone else gets the the spouse. They say, oh, I guess it wasn't God's will. You know, it just paralyzed from making a choice. There's a world around you filled with potential things that you can do, that you can see, that you can have, you can choose.

You know, when you're young, you can you can skateboard or you can learn to water ski or you can snow ski or you can go track and field. You can do musical instruments, you can play in a band. You can get an education, you can add to that, you can take courses, you can get another degree, you can change companies, you can choose a spouse, you can choose children, how many children often?

You can choose those children's schooling needs. You can become a certified scuba diver, you can become a certified pilot, you can become a certified yacht captain, you can become a licensed boat operator, you can own a sports car, you can own a truck, you can own an antique vintage car or an antique vintage truck. You can cruise all around the globe to cities and destinations and places. You can own airplanes, you can own boats, you can go solo and sail or boat or backpack in wilderness areas, you can hunt, you can fish, you can buy acreage, raw land, you can design a house and build on that, or you can buy acreage with an existing house and you can fix up that house or live in it.

You can buy acreage and have various operations on that acreage. You can play ice hockey, you can go snow skiing, you can go water skiing, you can own a variety of vehicles, recreational vehicles, all sizes, types. You can go out and see the wonders that God has made in national parks, you can visit all the states in your country and other countries, you can make friends around the globe, you can start your own company, you can sell your own company, you can relocate to another region or another country, you can jump out of an airplane thousands of feet up and skydive, you can be a contestant on a tv game show, you can tour the white house multiple times, you can be the closest person to the president of the United States while he gives his whole speech.

It's unlimited what we can do, but one will tend to ask with all of those things, is that God's will for me to do those things as they pop up? Let me just say from the scriptures, we're going to now look at the Bible about these things, there is a time that God provides you with to make choices, personal choices, things that you would want to do, things that you would want to be involved in, things that you would want to see, things that you would want to experience, things that you would want to own. It's time to do your own will, and God assigns you time to do that.

Let's go to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 9. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 9. It's right in the 10 commandments. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. There it is. God has given you most of every week to do your labor and your work. He doesn't tell you what that is. It is for you. He's placed you on an earth. He is developed and designed and filled it with a plethora of opportunities to see his creation, to praise him, to have relationships, to...

There's so many raw materials and so many advancements in civilization. He gives you six days a week to labor and do all your work. There are opportunities and choices for you to make.

You can choose to watch others do these things on television, or you can get off the couch and go do some or all of them yourself. God's will for you begins in the next verse. And that is Exodus chapter 20 and verse 10. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do work, you nor your son nor your daughter. In other words, you and I have been given time to do our will, but then there is a day of the week which we're celebrating today, which is not time for us to do that. In verse 8 it says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. So God's will is for us to keep his Sabbath day holy. And on those six days of the week when we're doing our own will, meaning pleasure, our own pleasures, we are to do those in accordance with God's laws, with his commands, and under his guidance and direction as far as authority and commandments are concerned. There is a time not to do our own will. We see this in Isaiah chapter 58 in verse 13. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure, you could change that word pleasure to your will. On my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, honorable, and honor him, not in doing your own ways. Wait a minute. We were given six days to do our own ways, talk about our own things, pursue our own work, but now don't honor him by not doing your own ways, not finding your own pleasure or will, and not speaking your own words. So we begin to see here God exercising what his will is in your life and mind. He takes one seventh of it and says, I want you to do things related to the kingdom of God in holy time. I want you to have a focus on your eternal life, the purpose for your being here on earth. I want you to set aside what your will is on this particular day.

Remember that list of potential life choices I stated a while ago? Well, all of those things are things that Mary and I have done, every one of them. They're choices that we've made and continue to make in our life. Now, I'd like to note, not without God are those choices made or have been made, not without blessings or support from family or friends or others that doors open and things happened. And yet, there were choices that were made. And those things are very helpful. Let's go to Isaiah 56 and verse 4, just back a little bit. Isaiah 56 and verse 4, For this says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath. We begin to see how God's will for those who keep the Sabbath that gets exercised in the rest of their life forms a bond of support from God and choose what pleases me. The choices aren't against God's commandments. They're not selfish. They're choices in the rest of our days of the week that please God. They're in harmony with what God made. Perhaps they go out to build relationships with other people in other places or go see the majesty of His creation or to acquire some things, not just for me, but to share with others. Notice here, he says, and hold fast my covenant. See how this works together now.

Even to them I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than the sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. All of this can work together well. If we do God's will on the Sabbath and what He teaches us on the Sabbath flows into our week, then ultimately it's flowing into God's purpose for even creating us in the universe, which is to be part of His family. You can't separate one from the other.

God has given you the potential just in the country that you live in. Think about the country you live in. Think of the price of gas and the cheap price of things that you can have, acquire, do. I mean, God has loaded us up with this and then we come along and say, well, I don't know. I don't know if I can actually do anything unless God tells me it's His will. I mean, come on, what do we need? Just think about it. We are to have wisdom from God in making choices. It's kind of like David. If you look at the entire life of David in the Bible, what do you see? You see a man who makes choices. Does he make wise choices all the time? No, he does not. Does he learn from the choices he makes? Yes. Does he become more obedient? Yes, he does. Does he submit to God's authority more as his life continues? Yes, he does. That is part of the experience that we have. We gain experience. We learn some lessons. Sometimes they're hard lessons, but nevertheless, we need to be people who choose. God expects us to choose. In James chapter 1 and verse 26, if anyone among you thinks he is religion but does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, his religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this to visit orphans and widows and their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

During our six days of the week, this should be the flavor of our life. This is part of what begins to come to us and say, oh, it's not just all of these things I can go do for me, but rather, what can I do for God, for the family of God, for humanity? How can I serve? How can I help? How can what I do fit in with others? Let's go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verses 9 and 10.

Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 9.

Live joyfully with the life whom you love all the days of your vain life, your temporary life.

There's some choices there. You have to choose to live joyfully, you have to choose to marry, and you have to choose to maintain that relationship in order to love all the days of your life, which God has given you under the sun. God has given us this life under the sun with all the things he's created under it, all your days of temporariness, for that is your portion of life and in the labor which you perform under the sun. Your choice. Your choice. You know, we we we are born and we die, but the part in between is up to us as far as how we live it. Now, I'm not saying that everybody should, you know, just suddenly be some kind of an explorer and an individual wants to go out and sample everything. There are individuals who feel very happy just staying within the same county they were born in and have never left and never will their entire life. That's where they're comfortable. We're all different as human beings, but even that is a choice. And we need to make the choices that will work best. In verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Where's God's will here? God's will in verse 10 is whatever. That's God's will. Whatever. Whatever your hand finds to do.

That's your responsibility, my responsibility. Do with your might, for there's no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you're going. This life, six days of it, are up to you and me to do it in harmony with God's word, God's commandments. But it is something we need to be willing to make decisions and learn to make wiser decisions as we go along. So we ask then, what is God's will in my life? I see a lot of it's up to me. What is God's will in my life? Am I doing God's will? Well, it's time for us to get to know God's will and devote our life to doing it, along with whatever pleasures or whatever along with desires that we have in life. The word will in the New Testament comes from the Greek word thalema. It means a determination or a choice, something that is a desire the person has, and they act on that desire.

So God has a desire and a will, and he has acted on that desire. And then we are also filled with desires or ambitions that we can act on. And these should be in harmony with what God's will for us is.

In Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 13, we find an overall will of God. Here's kind of an overall will of God. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Ecclesiastes 12 verse 13.

Fear God, deeply respect God, keep his commandments, for this is man's all.

All right? So in your six days of the week and on the seventh, be sure you're deeply respecting God and keeping all his commandments, for this is man's all.

That's sort of a flyover of God's will. We want to get to a summary. Let's go to 1 John chapter 3.

Verse 21. 1 John 3 verses 21 through 24.

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. So as you live your six and seven days of the week, if your heart doesn't condemn you, in other words, what you're doing isn't disobedience to God, his laws. It's not rebellion. It's not sin. It's not selfishness.

If your heart does not condemn us, then we have confidence that what we are doing is okay in God's eyes. And whatever we ask, we receive from him. In other words, we receive things we ask from God. Why? Because we have this confidence and we're not condemning ourselves by what we're thinking and what we're doing. We're in harmony with God because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. So in the choices that we make, we need to be keeping God's commandments, doing the things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he has given us commandment. Now we begin to see God's will revealed. The will that you and I are to pray every day that God will do and his will will be done in your life and mine, ultimately in the lives of all humanity in the future. The will of God that we are performing that will allow us to be in to the kingdom is verse 23. We believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, that's faith with works, and we agape love one another as he gave us commandments.

Now as he who keeps his commandments abides in God and God in him, and by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit which he has given us. So all these things now work together for good. It's not some wealth and health and wealth gospel. Everything isn't just moving us up too rich. No, it's not the point. It's moving us forward and growing as children of God. All of these weekday opportunities that we choose, decisions we make, things we explore, some are dead in, some are really wonderful. These things that are given us as part of our life, as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, to exorcise men on the earth. When they flow together and we keep his commandments, we know that God is dwelling in us. We know that even some of the temporary physical things that come along are from God. There's just no other way to explain it. It couldn't have happened unless some little door opened up. That has happened in my life. I'd be glad to tell you sometime about it since I was a little boy. Things that were just absolute miracles out in creation that would just happen. I'm like, wow! God can work with an individual who is trying to be like him throughout his whole life or her whole life and pop in little things that just otherwise wouldn't have happened.

Within touching the range of President Reagan during his entire speech, sitting right in front of the presidential seal, closest man to him in the entire arena. How does things like that happen? Well, you have to put yourself out. If you're going to achieve certain things or take certain opportunities, you actually have to pursue certain things. But there are barriers that would normally prevent you and me from reaching certain things. And God can open those. And family or friends can provide little opportunities or means by which otherwise you wouldn't have. We need to be in harmony with God. And then things that happen in this life can be embellished to a degree by God. It's not why we do them, but he knows how to give us good gifts once in a while. Just to encourage you.

Just to encourage you. God's will is a life of obedience to God, loving everyone and submitting to authority. If you could boil down God's will to three things, that is it from the Scripture. First of all, obeying God. Secondarily, loving others. Thirdly, submitting to authority. That's what God talks about, about being his will. Why these three elements? Well, first of all, God is love. Let's go to chapter 3 and verse 10 here.

1 John 3 and verse 8. He who has sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. And we find up in verse 2, beloved, we are now the children of God. We are the children of God. We are here to submit ourselves to God and obey God.

When we look at verse 4, whoever commits sin commits lawlessness. We find here a relationship then between God and godly people and Satan and Satanly people, if you can use that. In verse 10, in this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest.

Whoever does not practice righteousness, that's obedience to God, is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. So we have obedience to the commandments, love your brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. So we have then God's mindset of love that we have to develop because God is love. The second element is we are to obey God's commandments. In chapter 2 and verse 3, 1 John 2 and verse 3, now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. And by this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in God ought himself also to walk just as he walked.

In chapter 5 and verse 2 and 3 of 1 John, 1 John 2 and 3 of 1, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. So we're to love and we're to keep his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. God and Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God are founded on authority. If we don't understand that and we don't submit to authority, there's no way we can be in the kingdom of God. Because God's authority is going to be extended. His son, who is being put in authority over all nations, is going to have a bride who shares that authority and she will rule with him. She will not be a lesser being than Jesus Christ. She will be like him, the Bible says. We will be like him. And if we were to be allowed to be like the Godhead but not submissive to the Godhead, it would create a rebellion that would just be unacceptable. And therefore it is unacceptable. And therefore God will not allow anyone into his kingdom who does not submit to authority. So we need to learn submission. Let's go to Ephesians 6 and verse 5. There's lots of reasons why you and I don't like to submit to authority. And that's to God's authority and all authorities that God has made. We have excuses because it's just one of the things about being human. All the things we ought to do are things we don't like to do. And so we have these challenges and we have to overcome them. We have to battle against them. We have to develop a different character, a different nature with God's help through his spirit. So we just have to learn these things. Ephesians 6 and verse 5. Bond servants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart as to Jesus Christ. Verse 1. Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. See, it starts with birth. We're being taught here to submit to authority. And he says in verse 6, not with eyes serviced as men pleasers, you know, faking it, but from the heart, doing the will of God from the heart. This is really a conversion that's difficult for us humans.

Verse 8. Knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord.

See, by submitting and doing good, God is going to reward that, whether you're a slave or free. In 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9.

You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who carled you out of the darkness into his marvelous light. Great!

I'm a super person, and therefore, I'm in charge of my own destiny. I don't have to submit to anything. Did you see all that? I'm priesthood. No, no, no, no. We can get this mindset as a church member, as a son or daughter of God, that we're above having to submit to other authorities. We can become our own authority. But is that what we're told? Is that what we're told? Let's drop down to verse 13. Therefore, since you are these things, submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. Oh, you notice I'm wearing a mask. This is not my favorite thing to wear, especially when speaking. I don't think anybody who gets up here enjoys that, and those of you in the audience don't as well. We didn't choose to do this. We're only doing it simply because the authority says, in order to hold a church service, we have to do it. So we are submitting to the authority. It says here, whether to the king as supreme or to governors or to those who are sent by him, not just the top level, but the governors and now those sent by the governor for the punishment of evildoers for the praise of those who do good. Verse 15, for this is the will of God. Want to do God's will? Here it is. This is the will of God. That by doing so, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Verse 17, honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. Servants be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only the good and gentle, but also the harsh. These are things that God says are his will. Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. Just a little pager over here. 1 Peter 5 and verse 5. It says, likewise you younger people submit yourself to the elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another in clothed in humility. God wants us to learn submission. You know, the levels of submission aren't just husband to wife or governor to you or whatever. They run all through everything. They run even through a family. Yes, a husband has a certain authority in a family, but so does a wife. You know, she gets to contribute, and there are times when the husband needs to submit to his wife. There are times when the pastor needs to submit to the deaconess.

You know, that's just the way it works. It's interesting in our church structure. I'm on the council of elders, so at times the president has to submit to me. There's times I have to submit, not only to him, but all the guys down the line under him that are over me. It's interesting being a member of the general conference of elders at the same time the GCE appoints the council of elders. So the council has to support to me, submit to me, or I have to submit to them, depending on what role we're in, you see? And that's a wonderful thing because we're not just some bastion of authority, any one of us. We are here even as Jesus Christ submitted to death for you and me. We are here to submit to one another and to learn that God's commandments, God's law, God's ways, God's values always are paramount in every situation.

So you and I have this wonderful opportunity to learn submission. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed in humility for God resists the proud. Anybody who thinks that, no, it's me in my way and I have it, God resists that, but he gives gifts to the humble.

Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. So be under God's authority and all those authorities that God makes so that he can exalt you so that he can raise you up at the first resurrection.

What are the things that comprise the will of God as we've seen? Why are they his will for us? In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 5, we see that all these things are working together for a certain purpose that God has. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 5. Having predestined us to sonship as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. God's ultimate will is for you to be in his family through Jesus Christ as sons, real family, not adopted, not adoption, something that wasn't family that got patched in. That's a wonderful thing when it happens, but this isn't what that's talking about. We were created by God. We were always God. We might have diverted off to an imposter for a while, but this is the sonship that God has predestined us for according to the good pleasure of his will. In verse 7, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin. So he's bringing us back here to his family.

God's will is for humans to join his family. Join his family with the same values, the same mindset, the same goals. Jesus said in Matthew 12 and verse 50, whoever does the will of my father, here it is again, whoever does the will of my father is my brother, my sister, my mother, family. See? Family.

In John chapter 6 and verse 38, he shows us clearly what the will of God is toward us. John chapter 6 and verse 38.

It's stated so many times, but it's wonderful when we have these dramatic statements, as it were. John 6 will begin in verse 38. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will.

Now, Jesus could have done his own will. He could have done it six days a week. He could have gotten married. He could have had a business. He could have come and sort of said, well, I'll keep all your commandments, but I'm really here to have a great life, kind of like yours and mine. But he didn't come down to do his own will, but rather the will of him who sent me. He was sent here with a mission and a purpose. And this is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all he has given me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day. So his life had a specific purpose of coming, showing the way as the first pioneer of the first fruit harvest, and providing an opportunity for us to join in to that process of the new covenant and then be raised up at the last day as that harvest. Verse 40, and this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him with works may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. So we see God's will and Jesus's will. We see what their will is for us, and that really needs to convey into how we live our lives. Not the physical choices we make, except they need to be in harmony with how God wants us to live our lives. We are not boxed in and waiting for God to make every decision, in what color car, and whether I should get a TV, or whether I should move, whether I should be with family, whether I should do this. No, but all of those things should be done with a loving, godly mindset for all involved, including God.

Don't confuse your daily choices with this goal of God, that we can be raised up at the last day with Jesus Christ. The creation is very inspiring. It's very amazing. God created all these things for you to enjoy in your life, opportunities, if you want to partake in them. However, before He did that, before He even made all that creation, let's notice in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4 why He made this creation. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

Having predestined us to sonship as sons by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will. So all these things are created, but they're for the purpose that we should be holy and without blame before Him and all that we choose to do. Make the choices. Make the choices that you feel are wise or that you want to accomplish or things that you want to do or see. But do them in a way that is holy and without blame before Him for the greater goal of sonship. God has given you the most amazing high-definition eyesight that can be imagined. Do you ever go into one of those stores and they have the TVs there, the QLED, Super, Density, Hi, Ultra, and the image there that's playing is just so rich with color and so high in definition? How do you know? I mean, how can you experience that? Because the definition of your eyes is higher than that. It is better than the highest, highest definition. When you go into some studio and it has surround sound and they can make things sound like they drop here and there, the only reason you know that is because your two ears work much better than that. And the EQ, the equalizer, the frequency ranges of sound are much greater in your ears and in your brain than anything that man has ever made yet.

You and I have touch and feeling that is extremely sensitive in every millimeter of your body, including internal organs, including your teeth. You don't realize that sometimes that your teeth have feeling in them until you get a tooth pulled and they put in a fake tooth and suddenly you're missing some feeling. You've lost some sense.

God filled the universe with things that feel and they all feel different. They all feel unique.

You know, the belly of a stingray is, in my experience, the belly of a stingray is the closest thing to the tenderness of a woman's cheek. And yet they're different, markedly different. You would never confuse the two. And so it is, if you touch any and everything, you'll find that God created all of these sensations and all these minerals, metals, and then we come to taste. What two things taste the same? Nothing. It's an unlimited arrangement of taste, even between the same type of meat, let's say, be it fish. You know, you could do a blind taste test and you would find that, nope, we're eating this species or this species or this species. Or the age of a particular species has a different flavor, a different texture, a different taste. I mean, God has given us everything possible. And then he filled the world with smells and aromas. Do two things ever smell the same? And how many things are out there that all smell different? I don't know. God has given us so much. And now he says, go out and flourish in creation. Go out and experience it. Go out and sample it and enjoy it and live your life while you pursue God's rule, his authority, God's commandments, obeying them, and loving others. Is there anything missing? Any trace element that God forgot? Anything missing in life that he could possibly have done for you and me? The creation shows how much God has given his all for mankind. And yet there's more. John chapter 3 and verse 16. Beyond this physical creation, which is so amazingly loving from God and complex, he now says in John chapter 3 and verse 16, God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. That is the big will of God. The other is his will too. Believe me, all of the senses and all of the things in the creation, that's God's will for you to enjoy, to sense, to participate in. But eternal life, you see, that's what's important. That verse 15, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God wants us to be in his family and his kingdom. And giving all is a family trait of God. That's why loving others is so important. This love of God is so important. It's a family trait. You can say they've given everything. Jesus Christ has given up everything. His majesty. It's returned to him now in spades, as we might say. Let's go to Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. We'll read through verse 11. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it, the word robbery shouldn't be there, did not consider it something to hang on to like a robber would hang on to your possession and steal it from you. He did not consider it vital to never let go of being equal with God in his eternal spirit state. He let go of that. He let go of that. Verse 7. Made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even to the death on the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow to those in heaven, those on earth, those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. We have to obey God's commandments. We have to have the love of God. We have to submit to that authority that Jesus Christ has established or God established in him. You and I have to make big choices. We have to do these on our own.

Jesus even gave a parable about choices, and choice paralysis, by the way.

Remember that parable about choice paralysis?

Don't go putting the Holy Spirit in a napkin. Don't wrap it up and not use it and say, oh, I didn't know what to do with that. I was afraid, so I just didn't know. So I just didn't do it.

In 2 Peter 3, verse 9, there are some choices that you and I have to make.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. Some count slackness, but he is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but here comes the choice, that all should come to repentance. We have to choose to repent, to change. Verse 11, therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? We have to choose every day to build in holy conduct, obedience, godliness, that love and submission. Verse 14, therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace and harmony without spot and blameless. So, God has clearly defined his will for you and me. How loving, how obedient, submissive am I? That's how we would ask the question, am I doing God's will? Well, rephrase it. How loving, obedient, submissive am I? God is love. Be like us. In Luke chapter 6, verse 35, Jesus talks about what the us of the God family is like in Luke chapter 6, verse 35.

In these decisions and choices that we make every day, notice here, verse 35, Luke 6, but love your enemies. Love your enemies. Do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return. In your six days of the week, live your life like Jesus did, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. And therefore, be merciful, just as your Father in heaven is merciful. And don't judge, and you won't be judged. Don't condemn, you won't be condemned. Forgive, you'll be forgiven. Verse 38, give, and it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. That's how we should live our lives, as we go about making the decisions that we do.

What is God's will for you today, tonight, tomorrow?

If we wrap this up, let's get the best summary from Jesus Christ himself. It's simply in Matthew 22 and verse 37. Matthew 22, beginning in verses 37-40.

Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, all your soul. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And these two commandments hang all the law and all the prophets. So the love God is to obey God, is to submit to God, submit to the authorities of God. And it's to appreciate what God has made and done, what Jesus Christ has made and done.

And to do these things fervently, as he says here, with all your heart.

Do them fervently. He wants us to win. That's what overcome means. He wants us to win this wrestling match with Satan. He's searching us for evidence that we are sons and daughters of his, like him, that we are performing his will daily. So in conclusion, you and I have been given a brief lifetime to develop God's mindset of love, his conformity to his commandments, and submission to authority. And he's looking for that in us. Let's conclude by reading 1 John, chapter 2, verse 17. It simply says, and the world is passing away, and so are you and I.

These things move on. And the lust of it, the things contrary to God. But he who does the will of God abides forever. So brethren, may God richly bless you as you strive to fulfill his will in your life every day.