3-Discovering the Will of God-Part 1

First Southern Baptist Church

Dr. Patrick Mead

Series: Everyday God

Discovering the Will of God – Part 1

Ruth 1:16-17; Jonah 1:14-16; Ruth 2:1-2, 7

Go ahead and take your copy of God's Word and turn to Ruth, chapter 2, as we continue our series called Everyday God. What we're doing is as we study the book of Ruth we're observing God's activity in everyday life. Let me go ahead and give you a heads-up. I don't plan on finishing this outline this morning, so you have to come back next week. Okay? And you don't have to bring it back, because… Some of you will. You can fill it out, but I'll probably expand upon this.

As I typed this sermon out last week, I realized I had enough material for at least an hour-long sermon. I know you probably think I preach an hour already. I really don't. I get close to it, and I had double that amount so I knew we would be in trouble this morning. So I don't plan on finishing this, and I want to expand upon this study. Also, just a reminder I put a little devotional for you on the back, and it ties into what we are doing here in this study this morning from Ruth, chapter 2.

The late George Truett, who was the pastor at First Dallas before Dr. Criswell became pastor… Dr. Criswell followed him and was there for 50 years. George Truett made this statement: To know the will of God is the greatest challenge. To do the will of God is the greatest achievement. As believers in Jesus Christ, those of us who are followers of Christ, our motto should be, "The will of God: nothing more, nothing less, nothing else." You've probably heard that before.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the will of God, at times we Christians can be frustrated and confused. The reason for this frustration, the reason for this confusion, is our lack of understanding concerning this term, "the will of God." For us to really, truly discover the will of God for our lives, we need to understand the different aspects of the will of God.

1. The preceptive will of God. The Bible is full of commands. It's full of precepts that we as God's people are commanded to obey, and we are to obey these commands. We are to obey these precepts. In fact, most of the will of God for your lives is already revealed in the revealed will of God, and it's revealed in the Scriptures.

That's why Paul says, when he says in 2 Timothy, all Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable. It's all you need for salvation. It's all you need to live the Christian life. You find the preceptive will of God in the Word of God, and so to do that you need to understand the Word of God. Let me give you an example.

I know because I am married it is the will of God for me to love my wife as Christ loved the church. That's the preceptive will of God. I know because I am a father and I have children, three daughters, it's my responsibility, it's God's will, that I teach my children in the ways of the Lord. I know from the Scriptures God calls me to be an imitator of Christ. He calls me to be thankful in all circumstances. He calls me to rejoice always. He calls me to pray without ceasing. That is the will of God for my life. That's the will of God for your life, and it's right there in the Bible.

It's the will of God that I walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the will of God that I live a life pleasing to God, walking in a manner worthy of him, that I bear fruit, that I grow in the knowledge of God, that I walk in the power of Holy Spirit, that I give thanks to God who has redeemed me from my sinful condition.

Those are what we consider the preceptive will of God. It's right there in the Bible, and the list goes on and on. You have the preceptive will of God, what you have spelled out for you in the Scriptures. It's not an option how I treat my wife. God says, "Here's my plan for you. You love her as Christ loved the church."

2. The providential will of God. Basically, this speaks of the circumstances we experience that are outside of our control. Much of what we are seeing with Ruth, she's experiencing the providential will of God, and we're going to see that unfold, especially as we go into the second part of this message next week about how God is guiding her steps.

There are things that happen in our lives. Some things are good. Some things are bad. Some things are ugly. They happen. They're outside of our control. God allows us to experience some things. We call that the providential will of God, and our responsibility as believers is to make sure when we find ourselves in a circumstance, no matter what it may be, that we respond in a way that's in accordance with what we just talked about, the preceptive will of God.

For instance, you find yourself in a situation that's outside of your control and somebody has wronged you, but you know, "How am I to respond to them in this circumstance? Well, I have to forgive them as Christ has forgiven me." So we have the preceptive will of God, we have the providential will of God, and here's the third part. Here's where I want to focus on today, because here's where we get really confused, where we really get frustrated, and that is what we consider…

3. God's plan for individuals. Here's where we struggle. I especially think of our young people who are college students. The questions like, "Where am I going to go to college? What job do I take? Is this job the will of God for my life? Where does God want me to serve? Where does God want me to go to church? What church should I go to?" Those are questions, but they're all ultimately a part of what we would consider God's plan for our lives.

I believe this wholeheartedly, that God has a plan for our individual lives, but here's where we really struggle. We kind of get messed up in our thinking. And I say we. I've done it. We know God has a plan for our individual lives. Right? But for some odd reason we think God is hiding it from us. We think, "Well, I have to seek the will of God. God has that plan around here somewhere. Let me find it. Where are you hiding it, God?"

We treat God like a game show host, and God is saying, "I have a plan for you. Is it behind door number one, door number two, or door number three?" as if God is hiding it from us. Do you ever feel like that? We say, "I have to find God's will in this situation. I have to seek God's will in this situation," as if God is messing with us, he's sitting back going, "Ha ha! They can't find their plan." We do that, don't we?

God doesn't do that. Nevertheless, we struggle, and here's why. Unlike the preceptive will of God and the providential will of God, which are clear in the Word of God and in our circumstances, when it comes to God's plan for our lives, where we work, where we go to school, what mate we marry, it's not clear.

Really, the reason it's not clear is really simple. God doesn't tell us his plan for our lives. He doesn't say, "Okay, now that you're a believer, let me just write it all out. Here's everything…" He does not give us insight into the future as it relates to the individual plan for our lives, and that's what we want.

How many of us want it? "Come on, God. Can't you just write it on the wall? Can't you just spell everything that's going to happen to me in my life? Why are you doing this, God? Why don't you put it in a book for me? Why don't you put it into a proposal?" Here is why. God says, "I want you to walk by faith and not by sight."

Do you know what? If God were to give us the plan, the proposal, some of us might go, "No, thank you. I don't like that plan." When I became a believer, even before I surrendered to ministry, just think when I surrendered to ministry if God said, "Okay, here's your plan. Here's everything that's going to happen to you in your life. Here's how I'm going to use you."

If I would've read that plan, there are some things that have happened to me that I would've said, "No, thank you." When I surrendered to ministry, that whole idea about being a pastor was the one thing I told God I was not going to be. "God, I'll do anything. Send me to the ends of the earth, but don't let me be a pastor. No, thank you, God." He didn't tell me I was going to be a pastor, not all at once. He wants us to walk by faith and not by sight.

Can you imagine Joseph, the story in Genesis? He gave him dreams and visions. He really didn't fully understand it, but he says, "Hey, Joseph. Here's the total plan for your life. You're going to be in the palace in Egypt."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but here's how you're going to get there."

"No, thank you."

Here's why we struggle with this whole concept of really knowing God's plan, because God does not say, "Here it all is. I'm going to lay your life out before you." He makes us walk daily with him, and he makes us walk by faith and not by sight. That's why we struggle. Not only do we struggle in this area; we become spooky. I've been spooky in my life. Let me give you a few examples. Maybe even I'll share one of my own.

I'll never forget a lady. She had some extra money. She felt like the Lord wanted her to give it to a ministry in her church, but she didn't know which ministry God was guiding her to. So here's how she discovered the will of God in this matter. She had her closed Bible just like this, and she said, "Lord, would you guide me to the ministry you want to give this money to?" She opened up her eyes, and then she opened up the Bible.

Fortunately for the children's ministry, she happened to land on the gospel where Jesus says, "Let the children alone. Don't hinder them from coming to me." That was a sure sign God wanted her to give to the children's ministry. I'm sure her pastor, after hearing that, wanted her to land on 1 Timothy, chapter 5, where it says, "Honor the elders with double honor, especially those…"

We get spooky. I know of a lady who married later in life, around 43 years old, didn't have any children, and she and her husband were at a missions conference at their church. She really felt God was calling her to the mission field, so she started praying about this. The next day at work one of her coworkers just happened to leave a vacation brochure on her desk.

It was for the Marshall Islands. She thought, "Well, maybe God wants me to go to the Marshall Islands." She goes home, and on the news there's a report coming out of the Marshall Islands. So what does she think? "God must be leading me to the Marshall Islands." Is that how God does it?

Or the young high school student who was walking with Jesus and wanted to do the will of God in his dating. So he concocted a plan. He had a long list of the girls he wanted to ask out, and his plan in discovering the will of God was if he called them and the phone was busy that meant it wasn't God's will for him to ask that girl out. If he called and she wasn't home and the phone just rang, that meant he could ask her out, but he has to wait. Of course, if he called and she answered, that meant it was the will of God for him to ask her out.

Do you see? We get spooky like that. I wish I could say that has never happened to me, but it has. I look back, and you learn from those instances. I'll never forget. It was 2006. I was pastoring in Oklahoma, and one of my mentors, Dr. David Allen, who's now the dean of theology at Southwestern, at the time was pastoring MacArthur Blvd Baptist Church. He was stepping down so he could devote his full time to his new position at Southwestern.

One of my friends came up to me, because he knew Dr. Allen, and he knew I was good friends with him. He said, "Man, you ought to put your name at that church." It's a really good church, has a great history. It's in Irving. From their parking lot you can see the Dallas Cowboy training. It's in Valley Ranch. That was a sign from God. Looking back, now that they're playing, I'm glad it didn't happen, but…

I went home and told Christy, and she says, "No, we'll pray about it." Here's what we did. We said, "Okay." What was happening was within a couple of weeks Dr. Allen was going to come and do a Bible conference for us there in Oklahoma, and she said, "Okay, if he comes and if he says something about it, then we'll do that." That was our criteria. If this happened, then we'll move forward. We'd put in our name at this church.

So we get to the last day of the Bible conference, and we go to dinner with him before it starts. He says, "Hey, I want to ask you something. Would you prayerfully consider letting me submit your name. I'm going to submit yours and somebody else's to MacArthur Blvd Baptist Church."

I thought for a moment, "Oh, this is off. God is all over this." You say, "Well, how did it turn out?" Well, I'm here, right? It got really spooky after that, because I was pretty sure God was moving and leading us there. It got really weird. We got really weird. Everything we saw with MacArthur, all of a sudden, "Man, that's a sign. It's coming."

I'll never forget. I did a graveside for somebody who lived in Irving, and they were being buried in Purcell, Oklahoma. I was doing the graveside, and they gave me something from the funeral. She was a member of MacArthur Blvd Baptist Church. "That's a sign. I'm going to be the pastor there."

We were coming home from vacation, and somewhere in Louisiana there's a MacArthur Road. We thought, "There's another sign." It's pretty spooky, right? Really spooky. We learned a good lesson. Don't go by that stuff. How do we do that? How do we move beyond just being frustrated and struggling and even becoming spooky in trying to understand God's plan for our lives?

Our study here in the book of Ruth really brings us to this second chapter as we look at Ruth and as she is faithfully walking with God. We're going to see it unfold. We're going to see how an everyday God reveals his plan to us as individuals. In fact, what Ruth does is she is a perfect example of what it means to understand and to know and to do the will of God, how to move from that doorway of devastation to dream again.

There are several principles. I'm going to call these steps. We can't get into them all. To be honest with you, I have a lot of personal spooky stories I want to share with you throughout this. Hopefully, you can learn from my spookiness of what not to do. Here's the first thing. If you want to know and discover the will of God for your life…

First, you must have a proper view of God. Go back to verses 16 and 17 of chapter 1, because there we have Ruth's profession of faith. Here's what she says. "But Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.'"

The name she uses there is Elohim. "Your Elohim will be my Elohim," but notice what she does in verse 17. "Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried." Then she doesn't say Elohim here. "May the Lord [Yahweh] do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." I imagine some Hebrew scholar is going to say, "Preacher, you're making too much out of this."

I think there's something very, very significant in the fact that you have a young Moabite girl who is not just saying, "Yes, Elohim, God," but she is declaring Yahweh, which was the name for the covenant-keeping God. What I have found is now you have a Gentile who's making a declaration she has placed her faith in Yahweh, the God of Israel.

As I studied this, I found something very significant. I want you to turn over to Jonah, chapter 1. As I studied the use of a Gentile using the name Yahweh, I believe whenever you see the name Yahweh and it's used in context of people, they are people who have a relationship with God. In Jonah, chapter 1, of course, you have Jonah running from God because God told him to go to Nineveh. "Go to Nineveh and pronounce judgment," but he runs from God because Jonah…

Really, Jonah is not just about a disobedient prophet, but it's about the people of Israel failing to do their mission. They were to be a light to the Gentile nations. He didn't want to go to Nineveh. He didn't like the people of Nineveh, and he knew God was gracious and compassionate and if they repented God would relent in the judgment.

So what does he do? He gets on a boat going to Tarshish. He's on a boat with a bunch of Gentile sailors, and he's underneath, down below. The storm comes, and these pagans are frightened for their lives. They're wondering, "What's going on here?" Of course, Jonah says, "Well, I'm a Hebrew, and my God is Yahweh, the Lord."

So they elect, "We're going to throw him off," but I want you to hear what these pagans… Remember these are Gentiles. Here's what they actually pray to God in chapter 1, verse 14. Who's calling out here? It's not Jonah, not the Hebrew here. It is the Gentiles, the pagans. It says, "Therefore they [the sailors] called out to the Lord, 'O Lord [Yahweh]…'" They're not using Elohim here or Adonai. They're using Yahweh.

"'O [Yahweh], let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O [Yahweh], have done as it pleased you.' So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging," and I want you to hear what these men do. See what they do.

"Then the men feared the Lord [Yahweh] exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord [Yahweh] and made vows." Don't be surprised if when we get to heaven you see the sailors who were on the boat with Jonah, because the language they're using is covenant language. Can you believe that? God in Jonah's disobedience leads pagans to faith in Christ.

Do you see? We go back to Ruth. That's why I say this is a profession of faith here in chapter 1. What Ruth is doing is she's saying, "Yahweh is my God. He is the covenant-keeping God," and so she places her faith in God, the God of Israel. I want you to think about the decision she made, because by placing her faith in the God of Israel…

If you remember from last week, Orpah, her sister-in-law, went where the grass was greener. She turned her back on God. She says, "I'll go back to my people. I'm going to go back to my gods," but not Ruth. Here's what Ruth did, and I want you to see what a sacrifice she made, because earthly speaking, humanly speaking, on paper she left her security.

As a widow she left her home. She left Moab. She left her people. She left her many gods, and all she did is say, "Listen. I'm leaving all that security alone. I'm leaving that earthly security, I'm placing my faith in Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God, and I'm going to enjoy his eternal security."

How could she make a decision like that? I'll tell you. She had a proper view of God, that the God of Israel is a faithful God. He keeps his covenant. He's always faithful to his people. Therefore, she was willing to give up earthly security for eternal security. She was a true disciple. She denied herself, and she followed the God of Israel. She followed Yahweh.

You will never discover God's will for your life if you haven't come to a place as a believer to where you're trusting God without any reservation. The only way you can do that is to have a proper view of God. You can't say, "Well, listen, God. I'm going to trust you up to this point, but after this point I'm taking things into my own hands."

No. The Bible says, "Do you want to know the will of God? Do you want him to make your paths straight? Do you want to see him guide you in your life? Here's what you have to do. Trust him with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." That's what Ruth did. She trusted him.

When you have a proper view of God, you realize God will never ever drop the ball on you, he who did not spare his own Son. Look what he did to save you. He is a faithful God. He is for you. He's not against you. He's always with you, and he will always provide what you need when you need it if you continue to trust in him. Here's what James, chapter 1, verse 5, says.

"If any one of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without partiality, and he will give it. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave on the sea, tossed about by the wind. For that person should not expect he will receive anything from the Lord because that person is a double-minded man. That person is unstable in all he does." You say, "Well, I'm trying to understand the will of God for my life." It begins with a proper view of God that causes you and leads you to trust him without any reservation.

Secondly, you have to be faithful in the things you can control. As we come to chapter 2, here's what's going to happen in our story. Naomi is actually moving back to the background. Ruth comes to the forefront. She becomes one of the main characters, and in verse 1 we are introduced to another main character, a very important character.

It says in verse 1, chapter 2, "Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz." We're going to learn more about him in subsequent stories, but let me just say this for this study. What is Boaz? He is an agent of God's grace. I want you to think about this, because I'll expand upon it next week.

Think about all the people God has put into your life, and do you know what you need to see them as? Agents of God's grace. That's what Boaz is. Do you know what? Ruth doesn't know this yet, because she hasn't met Boaz, but Boaz is a part of God's plan for her life. She doesn't know it. Why? Because she does not see into the future, and nor do you.

Here's the one thing she does know. She knows, "I have to be faithful in the things I can control."
She knows, "It's a new day. I have to get up. I have to work. I have to provide. I have to go and provide not only food for myself, but I have to provide for my mother-in-law." So we see that happening.

Look at verse 2. It says, "And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, 'Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.' And she said to her, 'Go, my daughter.'" The author wants us to make sure we realize and remember. Don't forget this for one moment. This Ruth is a Moabite. Sure, she's a foreigner but not just any foreigner. She is a Moabite, which means Ruth probably didn't expect to be accepted by the people of Bethlehem. Why? She's a Moabite.

Do you know what? She didn't let that stop her. She got up, and she asked for permission. She says, "Let me go out and glean from the fields. Let me go glean." What she's talking about here is in the Mosaic law God set up a welfare system. In that welfare system he commanded the landowners, "When you harvest, you leave the corners of the land for the people, the orphans, the widows, the foreigners. You leave it for them so they can have food, so we can take care of them." So they would go out and glean.

Do you want to know the difference between an American welfare system and God's welfare system? In God's you actually have to work. They had to go out and work for it. Do you want to eat? You can't sit around. You can't go stand in line at a government… You have to go and work and glean. That's what she did.

What we learn from verse 2 are two things she can control, two things you can control. You can't control the future. You can, but you can't. What you can control which will influence your future will be two things: character and conduct. Those are the two things we see with Ruth. Look at verse 2 again. In my translation it says, "Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain…" but in the Hebrew it's actually a polite request.

Some of your translations say, "Please let me go." Do you know what that reveals? It reveals a woman who was polite. She was respectful. The very fact that she was respectful to her elders, to her mother-in-law… She was taking care of her mother-in-law. She didn't want her mother-in-law to have to go out and work. Listen. You know she's a godly woman if she's doing that for her mother-in-law. Amen? She is taking care of her mother-in-law. We see a politeness. We see it in her character.

We also see the fact when she says, "Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor," Ruth understood she was dependent upon the favor of the landowner. She says, "Let me go, and maybe possibly a landowner will have mercy, a landowner will have grace upon me." She did not feel entitled one bit. She didn't say, "Hey, I deserve this." No, she said, "If I could just find favor…" That's a woman who has character. She's humble. She's lowly. She's polite, respectful to her elders.

Not only that, she was a hard worker. Listen to what they were saying about her. Go to verse 7, because Boaz shows up and he asks about her. In verse 7 this is what the servants were saying about this Ruth. "She said, 'Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.' So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest." She was a hard worker.

Ruth didn't know her future. She couldn't, but she knew what she needed to do now. Do you want to know what God's plan for you…? Do you want to discover his will? Do you want to know what college to go to? He may not tell you today, but listen to this. What are you doing now? Be faithful.

You could reword this. Be faithful in what you can control. Or put it this way. Be faithful in the small things. God is not going to tell you your plan. He's going to unfold it as you walk with him daily. So you need to do what you need to do now. You say, "Well, what do I need to do now?" If you are a believer, you need to know the preceptive will of God, and I can guarantee you God wants you to walk with him humbly every day.

He wants you to have a consistent walk with him. He wants you to spend time in the Word of God every day. He wants you to pray. He wants you to worship. He wants you to be a part of a local church. He wants you to make disciples right now. He wants you to use your spiritual gift. He has given you spiritual gifts. He has given you the Holy Spirit. That's what he wants you to do now. He wants you to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. He wants you to bear fruit. He wants you to grow in the knowledge of God. He wants you to pursue holiness.

Yeah, I know that doesn't help you in terms of, "Where I work or what church I serve in or where I should go, pastor," but what it does do is it begins to open up doors for you. Listen. God is going to look at you and say, "What are you doing now? What are you doing in the present?" I have young people coming to me, "Pastor, it's about time. What does he want me to do?" I always say, "What are you doing now?"

Back in 1998, finishing up my undergraduate, going to go into my master's, I thought, "Well, I'm ready to pastor a church. Okay. Here's what I'm going to do. It's the first of the last semester of my undergraduate. I'm going to start sending out my résumés to churches around the Dallas-Fort Worth area so I can still go to school and finish up my master's."

I started doing that, and do you know what I thought? "In a matter of weeks, I'm going to be a pastor," and I waited and I waited. While I waited, do you know what I did? Nothing. I did my school work and stuff like that, but I wasn't really serving the Lord. I waited and did nothing. Then I had some opportunities that came, but, "No, I can't do that. I'm going to be a pastor." I turned them down.

Then one of my pastor friends came up to me and said, "Hey, I have an opportunity here. It's at a local hospital in Dallas, and what they need is for somebody on Sunday mornings to go and…" This is no joke. "…teach the Bible study in the psychiatric ward." Do you know what I told him? "Hey, no, I can't do it. God has called me to be a pastor."

"Well, what are you doing now?"

"Nothing."

"Don't you think you ought to be faithful in what you can control? Don't you think you ought to be faithful in the small things?"

Yes, God used that to convict me, and so what did I do? I went to teach a Bible study at the psychiatric ward. In hindsight, that's all about God. You go to teach a Bible study in a psychiatric ward, and don't tell me that won't prepare you to be a pastor, because this is what we are. We're a hospital.

Do you know what I started doing? I started preparing sermons, and sometimes I'd have four around a table. Sometimes I would only have one, but that's what God told me to do. You have to be faithful with what you can do now. Here I am dreaming of what he's going to do in the future, and I wasn't doing anything in the present.

Do you want to learn something from Ruth? Listen. Ruth didn't have a clue. She doesn't have a clue, and we do. We see her story unfolding. Really, it all comes down to this, and it gets better next week. You have to be here for next week. It's really this simple. Are you walking with God right now? Are you consistently walking with him? Are you seeking him in prayer and Bible study? Are you being faithful in what you need to do right now in the present?

God is not going to say, "Here's my whole plan for your life." He's just not going to do it, so I want to encourage you today as you try to understand this will-of-God thing for your life. Don't become spooky. I want to ask you this: Are you faithful in the small things? Are you walking consistently with the Lord? Are you allowing Christ to work in you and through you and around you? God will give you opportunities only as you are being faithful in the small things.

Be faithful. What are you doing? I know for some here today the first step of discovering the will of God begins with a personal relationship with Jesus. That was the first step of discovering God's plan for my life. That's his plan for everyone. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that those who believe in him shall not perish."

It's God's desire if you're here today and you don't know Christ that you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. It all starts right there, but it doesn't stop. For some of you, you need to start, and you need to trust Christ Jesus. You need to trust in his death, burial, and resurrection and trust him as your Lord and Savior. He will come and live in your life. I'm here to tell you he'll give you life and give it to you more abundantly.

God has a plan for you, and ultimately, that plan is to save you from your sins. He has a plan for your individual life. He does. He's not going to tell it to you all at once, but what you need to do is be faithful. For some that means you need to be a part of a local church. Listen. You have to be a part of a local church. The Bible says that. To be involved and using your gifts and serving the Lord is part of being faithful.

That doesn't stop. I've found nothing in the Bible that says, "Oh, when you get to this age, you don't do anything." I realize some people can only pray, but you continue to pray, because I have a lot of people say, "I can't do this. I can't do that." I understand that, but here's what they say. "I can pray." Do you know what? If you can pray, you can be involved in the most important ministry of the church. Be faithful in what you can do now. Let's pray.

If you're here this morning, and you do not know Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, it's God's plan that you trust him. It's God's plan that you know him in a personal relationship. In a moment after this prayer we're going to have a time of invitation. Will you trust Jesus Christ today? For some of you that means you become a part of this fellowship, you become a part of our church through membership.

Father, we just pray that you have your way this morning. We thank you for your Word. We thank you that you have a plan for us. God, help us to be faithful in the things we can control. In Jesus' name, amen.