GYC 2012 Acts: The Revolution Continues

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

GYC 2012 Seminar: The Calling - Living and Knowing God's Will For Me

Josephine Elia

The Prerequisite

This message was presented at the GYC 2012 conference in Seattle, Washington.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

The title is very long so I don't memorize it.

It's called The Calling, Living, and Knowing God's Will for Me.

So by way of introduction, My name is Josephine Elia and I will be co-presenting this seminar track with Adam Remdin.

You also saw him at the Divine Worship today.

So we'll continue on basically 6 sessions on principles of discovering God's will for our lives, which are to make it practical, as well as extracting biblical principles that we can apply on a day-to-day basis.

If you see the titles on your program, so I'll begin with the first seminar, obviously, and then Adam will be presenting the second seminar tomorrow.

And I have the third 1, And then the last 3, which is on Monday, the fourth and fifth will be Adam's, and the last 1 will be mine.

So that should help you a little bit to navigate.

But yeah, as people coming in, try to come up to the front a little bit more so that it's not too big, because I'm not very tall.

So maybe it's a little bit hard if you are sitting way back in the end.

So before we start, let's bow our heads to begin this session with prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to this session, we come to GYC and at this hour because we are deeply interested, Father, to know your will for our lives and what it means to follow it.

I pray that your Holy Spirit will come down and dwell amongst us at this hour and be our teacher also.

Okay, so 1 thing that I want to focus in the seminar track is obviously want to know God's will, But I had put this, for example, in this slide, discerning God's will, to make an emphasis that knowing God's will is not an intellectual exercise.

It's your whole life needs to be consecrated to God.

We want to know God's will, but not just knowing in our head, but to know it in our hearts and to follow it.

And so this first seminar, we're going to address this head-on basically.

And To start, let's immediately open our Bibles to Numbers chapter 22.

We'll look at a story here, a fascinating 1 in the Old Testament to begin our topic today.

And the title of our presentation is called the prerequisite.

If you're taking classes at college or university, there are certain courses that you need to take prerequisites on.

This is basically the important foundation before we embark on the journey to know God's will.

So open your Bibles to Numbers chapter 22 and I encourage you to follow along the story because it is hilarious to say the least.

I was going to pick up a few passages here and there but I think the whole story is just so funny.

We'll begin reading, essentially, yeah, we'll just read from verse 1.

The Bible says, I'm reading from the King James Version, And the children of Israel sat forward and pitched in the plains of Moab, on this side Jordan by Jericho.

So they're close to Canaan, right at this moment, they're around Jericho.

And Balak, the son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because there were many.

And Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.

And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, now shall this company lick up all that are around about us as the ox licks up the grass of the field.

And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.

So the introduction, the setting of the story, the Children of Israelites are close to Canaan, close to the promised land.

And this guy named Balak was the king of Moab at the time.

He was afraid because he saw what the Israelites had done to the Amorites.

Verse 5, he sent messengers therefore unto Balaam, the son of Beor, unto Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt.

Behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me.

Come now, therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people, for they are too mighty for me.

Peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land.

For I want that he whom thou blessed is blessed and he whom thou cursed is cursed.

Balak sent messengers to Balaam to ask a specific request for Balaam to curse the children of Israel.

Continuing in verse 7, and the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand.

And they came unto Balaam and spake unto him the words of Balak.

So they came to Balaam's house, they came with rewards of divination.

That means fees, you know, rewards, money, or whatever it is, the currency at the time, bringing with them, as well as the message from Balak.

In verse 8 he said, he said unto them, lodge here this night and I will bring you word again as the Lord shall speak unto me.

And the princes of Moab abode with Balaam.

Balaam is a prophet, was he an Israelite or was he a Moabite or was he an Amorite?

So he was a prophet of Israel, the Israelites were his people.

Balak sent messengers and in verse 8, the first thing that he did in this type of situation is that he said, tarry with me tonight, Right?

Now the interesting part is what God said to him next.

If you find a seat empty towards the front, please take that.

So reading, continuing in verse 9, God came unto Balaam and said, What men are these with thee?

And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent unto me, saying, Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covers the face of the earth.

For your venture I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out.

So Balaam has guests who is asking him to curse his own people.

Now he is going to God, asking God, I don't know what he was going to ask, but he's basically asking God to curse his own people, right?

In verse 9, Kenhubbah noticed, you know, God's, I don't know what the word is, but it's really funny because God obviously knew who the guests were, right?

And God is saying, who are these men with you?

And Balaam basically responded to God, I mean, I didn't do anything wrong, right?

In verse 10 and 11, these people just came to me.

You know, it's Belech, the son of, the king of Moab, they came to me and they're asking me these things.

Now notice that Balaam didn't ask God what he should do.

Verse 11, no, verse 12, because we read verse 11.

Verse 12, God said unto Balaam, thou shalt not go with them, thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed.

Before Balaam even asked God what he should do, God straight up told him, you're not doing anything with them.

I mean, this was God's people and Balaam was speaking with God himself and Balaam already knew.

He didn't ask God directly, he kind of already knew but to kind of skirt around the issue, he's just telling God Lord I'm just telling you what happened I didn't really ask you for anything, I'm just telling you what happened, I didn't do anything wrong.

And God was straight with him, you're not going with him.

Adam Ramdin

What I Feel and What God Says

Okay, this morning our workshop is called What I Feel and What God Says.

Yesterday our workshop was called, anyone remember?

And we looked at a couple of things, Josephine in the workshop, a couple of things on the prerequisite to knowing God's will.

So there has to be a purity in our hearts or our desires to want to know what God's will is.

And then be willing to follow it when it's revealed.

There's no point in us saying, Lord, reveal me your will, if when He reveals it to us, we're not going to do it.

Do you think God would waste His words on us?

I think God pleads with us and maybe He woos us.

It's not like He tells us just 1 time, that's my will for you and if you don't listen to me, I'm done with you.

We know He does chase us, like a parent who loves us, but at the same time we have to have obedience, purity of heart and a desire to do what God shows.

If there's not that desire to do what God shows, then I don't think God is going to just reveal to us all this great light if he knows we're not going to follow it anyway.

You know there is a passage of scripture, I think it's my next slide, it is, if you turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 20 and this kind of goes along with just reinforcing what we looked at yesterday, Ezekiel chapter 20, and I'm going to read a few verses there.

Now Ezekiel was written around the time when Daniel, kind of a contemporary of Daniel, and was Israel behaving themselves at this time in their history, yes or no?

You could say they were being pretty bad, or they were being rebellious.

God wants to talk to Israel but notice in Ezekiel chapter 20 and verse 3, notice what it says here.

It says, son of man speak unto the elders of Israel and say unto them, thus says the Lord God, are you come to inquire of me?

Answer, he answers himself, As I live, says the Lord, I will not be inquired of you.

God here has asked the question, are you come to inquire of me?

Then he answers his own question and says, as long as I live, I am not going to be inquired of you.

How many of you, if God said that to you, you would be just a little bit disturbed?

You're praying to the Lord and he says to you, you're asking me a question?

As long as I live, I'm not talking to you.

You'd be like, whoa, those weren't the kind of personal devotions Wes was talking about this morning.

But as you read on in the chapter, I'm not going to jump to verse 12 for right, let's read on a few of the verses after that.

And you kind of got to get a gist of the passage.

He opens and says, Are you come to inquire of me?

As I live, I will not be inquired of you.

What's the issue here in Ezekiel chapter 20?

Reading down, it says, Thus says the Lord in verse 5.

He says, In the day when I chose Israel, I lifted up my hand to them at the end of the verse saying, I am the Lord your God.

Verse 6, In the day I lifted up my hand unto them to bring them forth the land of Egypt into the land I aspired to them flown with milk Milk and honey he's going to recount in his history verse 7 at the end of it saying I am the Lord your God Verse 8 there's the key word there it is, but they did what?

They rebelled against me, and they would not hearken or hear me.

Neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt.

Then I said, I will pour out my fury on them to accomplish my anger.

Verse 9, it says, they polluted my name among the heathen.

Verse 10, wherefore I caused them to go forth from the land of Egypt into the wilderness.

Verse 11, I gave them my statutes and my judgments.

Verse 12, he says, Moreover I gave them my what?

Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them.

Verse 13, But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness, walked not in my statutes, and despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live in them, and my Sabbath they polluted." Do you get an idea of the picture now?

So verse 3 he says, Have you come to inquire of me?

That seems harsh, but when you read through the context, he says, listen, I brought you out of the land of Egypt.

I gave you statutes, I gave you judgments.

And he says, you despise my law, you despise my judgments.

You trampled on the Sabbath, which if you read in Ezekiel chapter 8, they started to worship the sun in the sanctuary.

He says, you did all these things and now you want to receive a new word from me.

He's saying, follow me in as much as I have already showed you, and then I may give you a new revelation.

Some of us are disobedient in our lives and wanting God to reveal something to us about something else.

God says, listen, I'm still working on you here.

Don't jump to level B or A until you've figured out level C.

And sometimes in our life decisions, we wanna jump forward ahead of God.

And God may be keeping us at a certain place in order to teach us things about our character before he may give us insight as to the next step in life.

I mean, what are the big decisions that we seek God's will for at this age in life?

15 to thirty-five, well that's a big age range, but you know...

Education, where should I go and study or what should I study?

Life partner, I mean that's a big 1 right?

Job, What job should I do or where should I go?

These are the big decisions that we kind of ponder in our mind.

But it may be that, for example, in life partner, you're asking, Lord, I want a partner.

And the Lord is saying to you, listen, I'm still trying to work your character out here before I would entrust you with someone else to be close to.

And then sometimes we get frustrated with God.

God, why aren't you giving me that what I'm praying for?

You're missing what I'm trying to teach you.

And so, Ezekiel chapter 20 and verse 3 and verse 12.

I believe the issue was the Sabbath God would stop speaking to Israel, and if we're ignoring God, don't expect Him to give us new light.

It's from 2nd Selected Messages, page 93, paragraph 3.

It says, when persons yield their will in perfect submission to the will of God, the Spirit is what?

Humble and even more important, it is what?

The Lord will correct them by His Holy Spirit and lead them into safer paths.

We have to yield our will in what kind of submission?

Guesswork?

Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord for this opportunity to talk about what you want for our lives.

Father, I pray that you will honor our desire to actually do this and have this be our experience.

Okay, so in terms of thinking the big questions of life, right?

Sometimes we feel, or I don't know if you feel that way, you feel like you're playing mind reading games with God.

He's sitting, you're sitting on a table, he's sitting across the table, and we think that He wants us to do this.

Okay, I have something for you, guess what it is.

And we keep guessing until we find the right answer somehow, whether it's testing by our feelings or by our reasoning, all these things, and then we think that this is the way to go.

1 thing that we should know before we even try to discover what God's will is, we need to know of His character.

Is that we have a God who longs to reveal His will to us.

And that is the first thing that we need to remember, right?

God doesn't want us to be confused forever.

He doesn't want to be confused people, confused children of God.

If you have that purity of heart, if you have that obedience, why wouldn't God want to reveal to you?

He wants, He shows He's a God who reaches out to us.

He's a God who wants to tell what he is thinking.

And so we are not here trying to find out God's will.

We're not apart, He's not far from us, He's not aloof from us, He wants to be close and be in the process with us.

So we talked about the biblical principles, what God says, and contrasting with how I feel.

And in the previous seminar, I mentioned about how God in his word reveals principles, guidelines to live our lives.

There are principles, there are things we should avoid, his law, his commandments, and that sets up boundaries, kind of a fence around our life, things that we should avoid.

The big questions, where do I need to go next?

There's not any formula or list in the Bible that we can see, okay, this is where I need to go.

So how do we approach or try to answer these questions?

I'd like to submit that what we need is wisdom.

And we'll be talking a good amount of this hour about this wisdom, this thing that makes you make the right decision.

The Bible says, For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things 1 may desire cannot be compared with her.

I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion.

It's this thing, I don't even know how to describe it, it's this thing that is a combination of prudence, of knowledge, of discretion.

It is that thing that makes you make the right decision.

In the Old Testament, in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Bible talks about wisdom as something that is very, very precious.

Right here, it talks, it elevates wisdom, this thing, in such high level, it is so much more precious than rubies, than gold or silver.

And if there's anything that you want to seek in life, you should seek wisdom.

Wisdom isn't just obeying a bunch of rules.

It's when you don't know all the information, what makes you choose certain things, what makes you make the right decision.

Let's open to a story in 1 Kings 3, verses 16-28.

If there's anyone that we call wise in biblical history, who would that be?

This is a story that perhaps a lot of us are familiar with growing from childhood, for example, perhaps we grew up in the church.

Then came there 2 women that were harlots unto the king and stood before him.

And the 1 woman said, oh my Lord, I and this woman dwell in 1 house and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.

And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman delivered also, and we were together, there was no stranger with us in the house, save we 2 in the house.

And this woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it.

And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thine handmaid slept and laid her dead child in my bosom.

And when I arose up in the morning to give my child suck, behold it was dead.

But when I had considered it in the morning, behold it was not my son which I did bear.

And the other woman said, nay, but the living son is my son, and the dead is thy son.

And this said no, but the dead son is thy son and the living is my son.

As a king, King Solomon is faced with so many different situations every single day.

2 women who were harlots, they lived together in a house with just the 2 of them.

And after 3 days that she gave birth, the other woman also gave birth to another son.

So there are 2 babies, 2 women in the house.

1 night, 1 of them slept on her own baby, and the baby died.

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