Steps in the Will of God

Before we read the scriptures together, let's just ask the Lord for further blessing on our gathering this afternoon. Father, we're very conscious of our need of our God. We give thanks for the one whose we are and whom we serve, the one that we belong to, who has loved us with an everlasting love, who has linked us with himself, who has given us a responsibility of work.

And each one of us are in this work, and we ask that we might have a desire, even as we leave this conference, to be more faithful in the work that he has placed in our hand. Each one of us has those things that the Lord has given us that he wants us to do. And we ask that we might remember what he has given us to do and desire to be faithful to the one whose we are and whom we serve.

For all the blessings of God upon us, for all the goodness of God to us throughout the conference, we give thanks. And now as we open up the scriptures, and as others will open up the scriptures, we ask for wisdom, we ask for help. And it is our desire that again, as yesterday, as the Word of God is opened up, that it might be that word from God that will find its place in many hearts, and it will make those impacts and those changes that it is designed and purposed of God to do.

And so we do leave our way before the one that knows our need. We would add our amen to every request, every prayer request, every need that is represented here. And we come to a God who knows every heart, who knows every need, and who's able to meet that need.

And we do leave all in his hand, rejoicing in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I would like to read a couple of verses in Ephesians chapter 5, by way of opening to the thoughts that I like to express.

I'm really just reading for a particular, one particular verse here, but we're going to read a little of the context, just to have it make the impact that we would like it to make. Ephesians chapter 5, and verse 8. Just to break in here, we've just been going through the book of Ephesians in our Bible study at home, in the assembly, and a very interesting book, a very instructive book. In verse 8, Paul says, for ye were sometime, or once, darkness, and the idea is you were all darkness.

But now are ye all light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit, or the fruit of this light, consists in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth.

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Another translation reads, the last part of verse 11, your conduct should be a rebuke to them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

But all things are reproved, or being reproved, are made manifest by the light. For whatever doth make manifest is light. The idea is there, after all is said and done, all that is left is light.

Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Christ shall shine upon thee. Now, the verse that I'm reading for is verse 10, and I want to look at another rendering of this verse.

It says, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And I found this translation that read this this way, your lives must be the manifestation of God's will. For verse 10, your lives must be the manifestation of God's will.

Now, you don't have those words in front of you, but that's really what I'm going to build on. Your lives must be the manifestation of God's will. So what I'm thinking about for a while this afternoon is a topic, a subject that we often maybe hear about, and you're not likely going to hear anything new, but something to, I hope, to encourage us, to help us leave the conference with a determination that there's going to be changes in my life.

I want to do things different, and a desire to know the will of God and to do the will of God. I just want to take a little look at what the Scripture teaches about this, maybe in a little different way than you're used to hearing, but I want to look at some examples in the Old Testament in particular. There's a lot of examples that we could give of men that live their Christian lives, and they lived them in a very unique way.

They just lived for God, and they lived... God was their total focus. They weren't asking every day, well, what's God's will for me today? Their attitude was, as they entered a day, I belong to the Lord. I am His.

I'm His servant. I want to work for Him today. Whatever comes my way, I want to honor God in it, and I'm going to move in that direction.

The Apostle Paul was one who moved that way, and the only thing that ever changed that is when God gave him direction in another way. And so in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 3, we read these words. We don't need to turn to it.

We're just going to make some reference to some Scriptures here. This is the will of God, even your sanctification. So when we talk about the will of God, one of the first things that we want to stress is that in the will of God, talking about it, we take it for granted that all our understanding that it's a Christian who wants the will of God, who wants to do what's right.

He's starting his life, his day, whatever it is, with this understanding or this knowledge. I want to please the Lord today. I want to serve Him, and I'm going to move, I'm going to step forward on His Word, what He, what I know, and go through the day, go through my life in that way.

I want us to notice some verses now that talk about our steps and our walk, and how it's the Lord that directs those steps in our walk. In Proverbs 16 and verse 9, a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. Take note of that, but the Lord directeth his steps.

In Proverbs 20 and 24, men's going are of the Lord. How can a man understand his own way? Really, we can't. We are dependent on the Lord leading and guiding our steps.

In Psalm 37 and 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. I'm going to refer to that a number of times. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way.

Then in Psalm 119 and verse 133, the psalmist prays, and he says, order my steps on thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Now, we could have read many verses that tell us much the same thing, but I chose these for particular reasons. The last one, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

How important in the will of God, if we want to know the will of God, and we want to walk in the will of God, that this would be our prayer, and that this would be our desire. We can't expect to know and to walk in the will of God, and walk in error or do things that are contrary to the word of God. This goes without saying that if we want to know the direction of God, and we want God directing us and leading us and directing our steps as we have here, this is one of those things that are very definitely underlined in this verse, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

Order my steps in thy word. That's, God will never lead us contrary to the word of God. The Spirit of God will never lead us contrary to the word of God.

And so we see from these verses that man plans his course, God plans his steps, and a man's steps are guided by the Lord. In relation to the will of God, one thing that is so vital and so important is an obedience to the word of God. God gives his word, he expects us to obey it.

And it is to the extent that we're prepared to obey the word of God, that God can lead us, and God can guide us, and God can use us. Sometimes in relation to the will of God, we have, I don't know what you want to call it, two schools of thought. There's the idea of, I don't move, I don't do anything until God guides me.

The second one is, I don't expect any guidance until I move. And I think we've noticed from the verses that we read, that we have a God who's very interested in steps. He's very interested in movement.

He's very interested that we take steps in the direction that we know he wants us to go. There's so much in our lives that we know what we should do, where we should go, choices that we should make. We know them.

We don't have to ask, what is God's will in regards to this? We just have to obey it. We're going to look at some examples of men that did this. So, God's desire that I want to focus on is, it's as if he says, please do something.

Take a step. Move forward. I think we can well understand that God will not be our driver.

But rather, he says, you drive and I'll lead. He wants us to move in the way that we know that we should move. Too often we might say, well, what if I make a mistake? I've just got to sit still and wait until I know.

Well, I don't believe that's God's way at all. Oh, all of us, especially those of us that are a little older, so much of what we learned is from mistakes. Steps that we took, maybe in the flesh.

Things that we did and things that we said that were contrary maybe to the Word of God as we were to learn. But it was because of those mistakes and steps that we took that we learned a lot of valuable lessons. So, don't be afraid of making mistakes.

You don't want to make mistakes, but if you make a mistake, you have a God that will pick you up. And as he picks you up, he'll say, take another step. Don't stand still.

Take another step. He's far less concerned about you making mistakes than he is about you standing still and going nowhere. He wants you to move forward with him.

And if you move forward, he will guide you. He will lead you. I want us to think about someone in this Scripture that we know a lot about.

We're all very familiar. Ruth, in the book of Ruth. We could spend a lot of time on her, but I want you to think about this couple that went into the land of Moab.

And the marriages that took place, the deaths that happened. But we come to that part of the story where we hear these words, Nehemiah asking Ruth to go back to her people. And we see the steps that Ruth takes, starts to take.

Thy people shall be my people. Thy God shall be my God. These were some of the first steps of Ruth that led to Boaz.

Had she never have taken those steps, like her sister, she would never have received the blessing. Naturally speaking, we would have said, well, it's kind of foolish, Ruth, to leave your home, to leave all that you're familiar with, and to go with Nehemiah, a widow, that naturally speaking, is going to live in poverty because they didn't have the welfare systems that we do. We have today to look after people that aren't able to look after themselves.

Ruth knew all this. Thy people shall be my people. Thy God shall be my God.

Some of us want Boaz, but we don't want Nehemiah. We want Boaz, but we don't want all the difficulties that bring us to Boaz. There is going to be a lot of difficulties in Ruth's life, a lot of gleaning in the field, a lot of sweat, a lot of labor, before a lot of steps that she would take, a lot of movement on her part, before she would be linked with Boaz.

I just want us to think about this and apply it to our own lives, situations in our own life. Are we afraid to make a step or take a step for God, as Ruth did? Or we look at things and we say, well, what about the cost? How can I ever do it? How can I ever handle this? How can I ever go through with this? And yet deep down we know, there is something that tells us, this is the way that God wants me to go. This is the way that I should go.

Like Ruth, she had heard enough about God, saw enough about God. We might ask, well, did he take your husband? Did he take your father-in-law? God's hand has been very heavy on that family. Obviously she did not blame God.

How easily she could have blamed God. How often when situations come into people's lives, they tend to blame God, rather than look to God for the help that he wants to give them. A misunderstanding of God and his ways, attributing to him what isn't, of which he is not the source at all.

It's a very important thing that just comes to my mind. I've often said it to some of my younger brethren in Bible studies, that in interpreting the Scripture, if there are some difficult things that come up, always interpret them with this in mind, that if you have an interpretation, or you have a thought in regards to that verse, that goes contrary to the fact of God being just, God being righteous, and God being holy, you've got the wrong interpretation. And Ruth was one.

Though she saw a heavy hand of God in her family, yet she didn't blame God. She saw the hand of God. And she made that decision.

She took those steps in the direction that she knew that she should go. Hesitated not, even though persuaded to go the opposite way. Thy God shall be my God, and thy people my people.

There's a danger of us, as I mentioned earlier, to some degree of us parking our life, putting it in park until we know the will of God in a certain thing. God never wants you to park your life for that reason. God wants you to keep taking steps.

God wants you to keep moving. God wants to lead you, and God wants to guide you. It would have been so easy for Ruth to park her life, but all that she would have missed, because she did so.

Parking their life, standing still. Yes, I'm not saying that there aren't times when we need to stand still and wait on God. But generally, we're going to see from other examples in the Scripture, men who didn't just stand still, they didn't just park their life.

They took steps in the direction that they knew God wanted them to go, and the doors opened up for them. Let's think in 1 Samuel 14 of Jonathan for a while, and his armor bearer. The situation is extremely grim.

The people of Israel are surrounded by the Philistines. They're hiding in the caves and in the rocks. They're in a desperate condition and situation.

And if we were to take time to look at the details of that chapter, because of time, we can only mention them. In chapter 14, the people are gathered together with Saul. Saul has 600 men with him, and they're in park.

But there's someone who isn't. Jonathan and his armor bearer. And Jonathan says to his armor bearer, I'm paraphrasing it a little bit, you'll forgive me.

But Jonathan says to his armor bearer, let's go pick a fight with the Philistines. Was it God's will for Jonathan to pick a fight with the Philistines? No doubt about it. Jonathan had absolutely no thought.

He knew it was God's will for him to pick a fight with the Philistines. He knew that this was a people that God had no place for, that God hated. They're the enemies of Israel.

And he knew what God wanted him to do with the Philistines. And it's interesting that some of the words that Jonathan used, phrases like this, perhaps God will help us. And then he says, well, if they come out and ask us to engage in a fight, that will be a sign to us that God wants us to do so.

Anyway, as we all likely know the story, they engaged in battle, Jonathan and his armor bearer. And just backing up a little bit, I think I would, and maybe most of us would be like this, that if I was Jonathan's armor bearer and he said, let's go fight the Philistines, I would likely have said, Jonathan, are you crazy? What's wrong with you? What can you and I do against the host of the Philistines? Jonathan knew God. He knew that God was able, and he says it doesn't matter whether it's few or with many, God is able.

And so, knowing his God, knowing what God was able to do, Jonathan does not stand still like Saul was doing, inquiring of God as to what he should do. He took steps forward, knowing in the direction that God would have him go and doing what God, we knew God wanted him to do. He went and fought the Philistines.

And he says, perhaps God will help us. And as you read the story, they met them in the pass, slew 20 of the Philistines, and then God stepped in. Not that he hadn't stepped in before, but we read of an earthquake.

And the end result is a fleeing army of the Philistines. They turned their swords against each other. There's a great victory won.

Why? One man was determined to take steps. One man was determined to do something. One man was prepared to be used of God to free his people.

So my word to all of us is, are we prepared to be like Jonathan? To take steps. Jonathan was prepared to point his life against what God hates. And we point our life against what God hates.

And build in place that which God loves. We will never be out of the will of God. We have to just look at the book of Hebrews.

And we know that living for God, being faithful to God is a dangerous life. Hebrews chapter 11 gives us quite a list of things of what different ones suffered. The faith that they exercised.

The steps that they took. Sawn asunder. Beaten.

There's quite a list there. So the will of God is not something that is always going to be rosy and pleasant. It might be hard.

And we see with all of the ones that we've looked at so far. These were all individuals. It wasn't easy.

But they were determined to take steps for God. And to honor God in their life. We've stressed it already that God is looking for clean, holy vessels.

Morally. Motively. He wants vessels that He can use.

That will step forward. That will move for Him in the direction that He wants. Amazing how He chooses to use failing, faltering vessels.

And sometimes, as I said earlier, they may falter. They may fall. They may do it the wrong way.

But He takes them up and says, take another step. How dangerous it is in the Christian life if we don't keep moving for God. I remember Mr. Ray.

A man that was instrumental in reaching our family back in 1961. 60 and 61. He always taught us not to sit still.

He said, you're either going forward or you're going backward. Well, as a young Christian, I just, okay, fine. But now as I look back, yes, that's true in the Christian life.

There's no such a thing as standing still. We need to take steps. We need to move forward.

Hypothermia can so easily set in before we even realize it or know it. And we are not what God would have us to be in usefulness for Himself. I just said to someone during the interview, we're talking about something.

And we can get ourselves into habits, conditions that we might call them ruts. And you get yourself in a rut when you don't take steps in the will of God. I remember Mr. Arnold Adams used to say that a rut is just a coffin with the ends knocked out.

And too many of us too often find ourselves in our walk with God. And in our Christian lives, we find ourselves in a rut. And God wants us to move.

God wants us to not park our life, but to know and enjoy that fellowship with Him as we take steps for God in the will of God. It has often been said, and it is true, that whatever field God calls us, you know, often when we talk about the will of God, we're thinking about big things. The mission field or some big work for God.

But let me tell you this, that it's something that we all know. And I've heard our brethren here that preach to us so much. If you don't honor God in the little things, if you don't take steps in the little things, if you don't seek the will of God in little things, how can God use you in big things? So, an encouragement to all of us, take steps in little things.

Take steps for God. Just to, in passing, Abraham comes to mind. Remember, he was in Ur of the Chaldees, a heathen background, a heathen city.

And God called him. And God said, Abraham, get out. And the Scripture tells us that he went out, not knowing where he was going.

What an example of a man. He knew what God wanted him to leave. He knew where God wanted him to step to.

But he didn't know where those steps were taking him. But he was a man that obeyed God. That which God placed in his heart, that which God gave it in his life, he obeyed it.

God honored him. And we know that he was, all his life, looking for that city. He was a wanderer all his life, looking for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

But I just love the account of Abraham. He went out, not knowing where he went. When it came to offering up Isaac, he didn't know the outcome.

But in obedience, because he had learned God in taking steps in that earlier part of his life, God was going to put him to the test when it came to offering his son. And in faith, he steps out, he takes Isaac up the mount. God will provide himself a sacrifice, a lamb.

And in faith, he knew that if he had to offer up Isaac, that God would raise him from the dead. All because in his younger Christian experience, shall we call it that, he had learned to take steps and to move forward with God. I would like to, just for a few minutes in closing, I have a long list of them here.

We could spend a lot of time at them, but there's not time, and I just want to pick out a few. I want to bring this down to our lives. Every day of our life, in the homes, in the different responsibilities that God has given us, in the assembly, in the workplace, how am I faring when it comes to taking steps for God? I believe that the will of God is something that we should place into every part of our life.

Everything that we do, God has given us things in our hand, and he wants us to be faithful with what he has placed in our hand. There's parents here tonight, this afternoon. You have young children.

God has given them to you. And he has given them to you, and you know what the will of God is for you. One of the things, one of the many things.

He wants you to raise that family, those children, for himself. Now, in seeking God's will in a daily basis for your life, as parents, you need to make it your desire, your exercise, that you're going to teach these children the way of God, and the word of God, and the truth of God, the best that you know how, remembering that time flies very quickly before you know it. That two-year-old that is sitting beside you is going to be 20 years old.

And you'll look back. Many of us are there. And as we look back, it's with this.

I wish I'd spent more time. Whether you're a parent, whether you're a teenager at home, whatever place you presently find yourself in, it's where God has placed you. And in that place, you know God's will.

You know steps that God wants you to take, that you can take, that you know will bring glory to Him. There's such a danger of us coming to a stage in our life when we feel there's no more steps to take. Never, never come to that stage.

Never come to the place where you think, well, the will of God is insignificant in my life now. I don't care what age you are here today. God's will is very significant in all our lives.

No matter what age we are, we don't have to ask God what His will is for us to do in that sphere, in that place, what He is putting in our hand. There is so much that we know, what we could do and should do, and we fail to do, and we don't have to ask for any more. If we only fulfill what we know, the examples that we looked at scriptures, if we fulfill what we know we should do, if you get all the work done, let me tell you, God will put more in your hand.

He will give you more. You won't have to ask for it. He'll give it to you.

We are bombarded in this world today with so much, with everything that is contrary to the will of God and the word of God. And so, we live in a day when more so than ever, we must be careful not to park our lives. We must be careful to take steps for God, and to move forward for God.

The advertising world, the media, pushes its ideals before us and on us. We have to have this, we have to have this kind of lifestyle. We need this, and on and on it goes, you owe it to yourself.

You know all the ads. We need to look at all that and say, we're not of this world. We have a much higher calling.

God has placed those things in our hand that are far superior to all that we see around us. And we need to make those choices that are more excellent. Choices that say, well, if I buy this or if I do this, I won't be able to take the steps for God that God wants me to take the way I should.

We need to make sacrifices in order that we can take the steps that God wants us. In the assembly, most of us are in the assembly. Have we parked our lives in the assembly? Yeah, we come to all the meetings.

We sing a little bit. We might even occasionally pray. Sometimes take a little part in the Bible study if we have to.

And if we get asked often enough, we will participate in the gospel meeting. Can I encourage all of us here today, not just the brethren, equally the sisters, in the assembly, God has a work for all of us. We don't have to seek and want somebody else's work.

Each one of us has our hands full. And if we're faithful with what God has given us, we'll know the blessing of God. We will be led to Boaz.

So can I encourage you, brethren, as an example, in all that you do in the assembly, whether it's setting up the chairs, whether it's cleaning the hall, try to do it a little better. Try to make those improvements. Don't get in a rut.

Take steps. In everything that you do, do it well. I remember a brethren, a meeting at Kenora years ago, I always admired the way he set up the chairs.

He took great pains in setting up the chairs. They were straight as straight could be. You could pull a line along them.

He took pride in setting up the chairs. In all our activities, one with another, can we ask ourselves, how can I be a help to this person over here? I sense that maybe he or she could do with a little help. How can I help them? What a danger that we park our lives and say, well, I think somebody else will do that.

Somebody else will look after that. In participation, how's my praying? Do I pray the same as I did 20 years ago? Has there been some changes? In my preaching of the Gospel, in my presentation of the Word of God, has there been changes? Or do I have an attitude, well, I'm pretty average, so I'll just keep going here and everything will be all right. Take steps to excel in whatever you do.

Take steps to excel for God's glory. And so, older ones in our gathering, full-time workers, the same challenge goes out to all of us. Am I preaching better today than I did 10 years ago or 5 years ago? Or have I put my life in cruise control? I've got enough experience, I've got enough behind me that I can cruise the rest of the way.

You can't. You have to take steps for God and ask God to give you fresh, new things. And to be faithful with the Word of God, to learn more of its truth and to be able to convey it in a way that God can use in a unique way to meet unique needs.

And so, I would just encourage you all, as you leave this conference, to know God's will is the greatest treasure. To do God's will in our life is the greatest pleasure. Know that pleasure.

Experience that pleasure. Walk in it. Take steps.

Don't park your life. Take steps for God.