God's moral will - where

One of the things that I'll need to do here because a number of you are not in the class that we've been having on the will of God. We've got three classes that are joining together here this morning. We've been going through for the last two months in what was a much smaller classroom the will of God and looking at that as a kind of a subject for for this last quarter. We're in the middle of it, but I think we have something to present, but I want to bring you up to speed if you'll allow me to do that for a minute here. We've got a chart that we presented before, and I want to put that in front of us so that we get the picture here. This is the big picture on God's will.

It's a little tough for you to see there. I don't know how to get out of the way. And this big picture that we put up in front of there, we show it as this colored bullseye, or target, and the idea that you've got three circles. And the bigger circle of the three is this one.

You've got the idea that there is an aspect of God's will that is sovereign. These are things, you and I aren't going to make any contrary choices to them. We are not going to make any decisions that are going to thwart them. These are things that scripture tells us are fixed in place. They're irreversible.

And some of them we brought up as examples. Well, let me ask you. What are some things that God has said are true of you as a believer, as we sit here this morning? Just absolutely, irreversibly true. We are heirs, okay? And that's not something we get to vote on this afternoon or decide, boy, I guess maybe I'm not one. No, this is something God's determined, right? Can you think of other things? What are some other things that God has determined are fixed and in place, irreversible? We have eternal life, yeah. We shall have, not maybe, not, you know, I hope so, not, gee, it sure would be nice, but yeah, these are fixed in place. In fact, what we did is we spent about five weeks going through the things that were sovereignly fixed in place.

And that's obviously hitting the high spots. But I think as we think through what is the will of God, there are some things that are just absolutely fixed in place by the Lord. And that's a good thing. It's not something that we're going to slip out of. We're not going to say, boy, I just totally blew a tire on that one. These are things that are fixed in place that are God's sovereign will.

And it's a good thing. One of them we introduced in Ephesians when we first started taking a look at it in verse 3, you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Is that something that's going to get slipped up? Is that something I can stumble at this afternoon and lose? No. See, those are things that are fixed in place and it's good. This isn't a straitjacket that you're forced to wear. These are good things that the Lord has put in place. The next thing we look at is God's moral will.

Let me ask this question. Is it possible that we somehow blow it in the area of God's moral will? Can we? Yes. We can. It won't thwart the things that he's got sovereignly in place though. I can blow it as a believer. Yes, me. I can blow it as a believer. Will that thwart that I've been predestined to be conformed to the image of his son? No. So that's one thing to keep in mind.

As we look at God's will, there's a tendency for a lot of believers to start getting real nervous. Oh no, did I miss the turn? It's kind of like on the freeway. Ever been on a freeway where you miss the turn off and it's ten miles until you can turn around? You've been in that. I see a lot of heads shaking like this. This isn't like that, in that you will be conformed to the image of His Son, and missing the turn-off is not an issue in this respect.

But there are indeed things that God has revealed in Scripture that are part of God's moral will. However, one of the things that we looked at was we're not under law, but under grace. So it's not simply a matter of Here's the 613 rules out of the Old Testament. 613 laws the Jews had, 365 of them were things not to do. It isn't a matter of a set of external rules, but it is instead the life of Christ. Now, one of the things that we see in the New Testament as we step into the pages of the New Testament, the apostles will lay out things like, we brought up the example in Ephesians, don't steal any longer.

Remember we pointed out that the people in Ephesus had this Temple of Artemis? And if you could get within a bow shot of the Temple of Artemis, the law enforcement agencies couldn't touch you. How about that? Anything you did, I mean that's amazing, anything you did was exempted if you got within a bow shot. So it was a magnet for criminals.

But here Paul wrote to the church there and he says, those of you who are stealing, and he didn't deny that they were, not on the basis of just a law, but on the basis of the life of Christ, on the basis of the position that the believer has, not just a set of external rules.

What we want to take a look at this morning, we've been through a number of topics on this topic of the will of God. And the one we want to look at this morning is God's moral will. Let me slide that up so we can see it. God's moral will, where is it? Now, when Christians think of the will of God, what are Christians commonly inclined to think of? Can you think of some things? What are Christians commonly inclined to think of when they think of the will of God? They think of the Ten Commandments.

Certainly, here's the ten list of things to make sure you do and don't do, right? By the way, are there any do's in there? Or is it all don'ts? The first ones are do's. Ah, okay, first ones are do's. Most of them are don'ts, right? Don't do this, don't do that. Alright, so the Ten Commandments a lot of people think of. Certainly, if I do those, then I'm in the will of God. Alright?

What are some other things that Christians tend to think of? Yes, it's a where am I supposed to be kind of thing. And the idea is if I'm not right there in that where, then I might be out of it, right? What else do Christians tend to think of? I think of the term full-time Christian service. Ah, okay. And what do you mean by that? Well, I think some people feel like they need to be doing something, whether they be a full-time missionary or a full-time pastor or, you know, these type of things. It would be the will of God.

Yeah. Does it seem that among some Christians, there's the idea that if I'm in full-time Christian service, of course I'm in the will of God, but if I'm doing anything else, it's questionable. Isn't that the way that a lot of Christian thinking goes? And they look at the rest of us, and we're not in full-time Christian ministry, like, we're questioned. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like there's a line there, and if you go into full-time Christian service, now think this thing through. Where are all those people who are supposed to be in full-time Christian service get their money from? Okay? Yeah. Some of this doesn't quite wash, but there's an idea out there, isn't there?

There's a strange idea out there, if you really want to be sanctified during full-time Christian service, anything short of that, you're just sort of spiritually held back. That's a weird stereotype, isn't it? It doesn't make any sense. Do you see any exhortation to that in Scripture? No, you don't. It doesn't fit, but it's a stereotype that's out there. Can you think of any others? Any other ideas about this is the will of God? Yeah, who I should marry, where I should go to school, what kind of job I should have. Sure. Yeah, all those questions, right? Should the Chevy be a blue one or a yellow one? Okay, yeah. And, yeah, Helmut? I had some other ideas. Oh, okay.

The statement of Christ going into all the world and preach the gospel. I mean, that's kind of an order, so to speak, for us to to get away from the comfort and do what's appreciated. You can't really shy away from that. Well, okay, let's take a look at that. It's true that he said that.

One of the things, and we've talked about it in some of the electives, I think, one of the things that's interesting is that the English talks about, you know, go into all the world, but it's interesting, the Greek comes up with a different flavor, and the different flavor is this. The go is not in the imperative mood. It's not a you must go. It's as you're going, and the imperative is to teach. The imperative in that sentence is teach. As you're going, you must teach!

So it's interesting, there's a little different slant on that. And it's also interesting to look at Paul, who, yes, he went out and did all these things, but he also made quite a point of everybody working with your hands, and he himself made tents, so there was a productivity, not just sort of an isolation in self-contemplation or something of that sort. But if you think about it, a lot of Christians, in addition to the stereotype that was brought up where if you're in full-time Christian service, of course you're in God's will. If you're outside of that, you're questionable.

There's also another idea, what I kind of call the yellow brick road, and that's the idea that was brought up here, and Marilyn was bringing it up, and that's this idea, I follow this track, and then I look at this fork in the road, and then now I go to another one, and now I get this fork in the road, and as if following God's will was picking the right fork in the road.

When it comes to God's moral will, we'll find a good deal of revelation in scripture. Certainly, this or that is not part of God's moral will. But what Christians torture themselves over is, am I following the yellow brick road? Am I following the golden path that's God's will?

And what's real interesting, and I want us to take a look at it some this morning, and we will be continuing to look at it in this elective, but what I want us to take a look at here is as we examine Scripture, that's not the focal point of Scripture.

Scripture does not say everybody ought to be in full-time service, at least not in the sense we think of. Scripture does not say follow the golden path, follow the yellow brick road. Scripture doesn't present things in that light. Scripture instead places things in a very different light.

When we ask the question where, it isn't the question... God's not terribly concerned, wringing his hands, pacing the floor, thinking, is Vern going to buy the right car? God isn't up there pacing the floor thinking, boy, I sure hope he doesn't buy that blue Chevy. the sort of thing that God's concerned about. What is He concerned about?

That's where we've got to take a look. Turn with me, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 2. And we'll start with verse 4. And we're going to be going these next couple of weeks looking at the first three verses. But I want to look at this particularly as Seeing God's will.

What's God particularly concerned about? Let me begin by saying that the things that God is most concerned about, He has made sure can't be blown. How about that? The things that God is most concerned about, He has made sure can't be blown. As we had that circle, there are the things in the outside circle. And what we need to understand and to know about is revealed in scripture. Let's look at starting with verse 4 here. But God, being rich in mercy, and this is after he describes the desperate state of man without God. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, and he inserts in there in parentheses, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This addresses the where question. Our tendency is to think, boy, am I supposed to be here or there? Am I supposed to be in this spot or that one? Should I buy this condo or that house or should I live in this apartment or whatever it is?

And what we see is God made quite certain of this ware, didn't he? God made quite certain of this ware. This is the ware that counts. This is the ware that counts. Suppose that it really did matter whether you bought the blue or the yellow Chevy. What if it really did matter whether you bought one or the other? then he probably would have put him in court. Yeah. Yeah. We'd be grieving. Yeah, that's right. It would be revealed.

Frequently what happens is we look at what really counts, because what happens is this is what really counts, right? This is what really counts. When we look at what really counts, our tendency as Christians is we think of either the, gee, I've got to be in full-time service, or I need to follow the yellow brick road and make sure I take the right fork in the path. And we tend to focus on those kinds of things. Boy, I don't want to miss God's will. Let me put it this way. The things that really matter, He has made abundantly clear. The things that really matter, He has made abundantly clear.

The important where is not primarily, does He want you in Denver or Timbuktu? I've tried living in both places, but anyway, the important where is not, is it this place or that? The important where is it in the front seat of a blue Chevy or a yellow one? The important where he's already taken care of.

And it's from that where, okay? It's from that where, from that position, that we are in a place to make the rest of the decisions. You see, if I'm in a fork in the road kind of situation, I've got to decide this job or that. And maybe the job is big enough that it takes the family from one place to another. I need to keep this where, this place front and center, because this is going to matter a whole lot more than the other decision, as momentous as it might seem.

Does that make sense? It's a huge relief for us as believers to recognize that the where that really counts, we can't blow it. We can't blow it. Yes? Are we to pray about these things that doesn't concern God, but they do concern us? Should we ask these things in prayer? Where should I be, Lord? Certainly. Let's kind of back up. I'll go to the big picture here.

As we look at God's individual will, and that's what you're really asking the question about, we certainly should be in a place of prayer over that, but also recognizing that the place from which we are praying is seated with the Lord and the heavenlies.

And that we're not in a position of making some sort of fork in the road decision that's going to displace us fundamentally out of God's will in areas like this. And certainly we should be in prayer and can be in prayer about it, but it's the starting point. It's the believer who looks at God's will entirely as the right fork in the road. is going to be concerned about that. And what's that? That's an earthly decision. It is not that we should not be concerned about the earthly decision. And you're right to ask the question, should we be in prayer? By all means. But the starting place is, where am I praying from? I'm praying seated with the Heavenly Lord. Seated with the Heavenly Lord.

If you think about it, the folks at Ephesus had all sorts of decisions to make, didn't they? If we talk about going places, they were a port city, and Ephesus was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. So here's this major port city, and in fact their big claim to fame was their port, from which there were Roman roads that fanned out into the entire what we now call Turkey, into Asia at that time. And so here they are, a port city with all kinds of shipping paths leading to them, and on land all kinds of Roman roads going out. They had lots of decisions to make about where do I go. And once you're even in Ephesus, it was a fairly good-sized city. roughly a quarter million people in Ephesus.

And so now, here they are. There's lots of decisions to be made. They're in a somewhat similar position to us in terms of, well, do I do this or that? Do I go here or there? And what does Paul start off writing to them? He says, here's where you're seated, in the heavenlies. That's the starting place to make good decisions. That's the starting place to find God's will.

Let me ask you one other question. When we think of these fork-in-the-road kinds of decisions, Christians oftentimes just get terribly disturbed and agitated at times trying to figure out what's God's will, as if we're trying to figure out the yellow brick road or the golden path.

The book of Acts. We're talking critical stuff in the book of Acts, right? It is a couple dozen plus chapters. It covers a span of about 30 years. How many times, and we're talking apostles here, miraculous things happen with these guys. How many times throughout the book of Acts, here's the apostles in a miraculous period of time, covering a span of about three decades, how many times do you see the Lord specifically telling them Go here, don't go there. A couple of times. Probably one of the major ones is Acts 16.

They're thinking of heading off into the area that Peter ended up writing to in 1 Peter, and the Holy Spirit said, no, don't go there. Basically, I want you to come over to Thessalonica, and they headed off to Philippi. That's the major fork in the road where the Lord said, do this, don't do that.

The rest of 30 years, you just don't see it. You look in the epistles and you don't find a lot of, you know, I'm going to go here or I'm going to go there because the Lord had some revelation or something. You see, here's Paul and you read through his letters and he says, I hope to come here. I hope to go there. Isn't that interesting? In some cases, we have no record that he ever went to some of the places he hoped to go.

The fork in the road and the golden path and the yellow brick road idea that a lot of Christians have kind of gotten in their thinking doesn't appear to be supported in Scripture. Here's something else about what's interesting as you look at those incidents and acts where they had specific revelation. There is no evidence that the believers who received the revelation questioned the decision at all. if we're really looking for God's will, I don't think the Lord's going to sit there and torture us over it. Isn't that good news? I mean, you think about that.

There's no evidence that the apostles sat there and just tore their hair out, not that I'd have any to tear out, but that they tore their hair out over trying to figure out, did I follow this path or that one? And I certainly don't want to miss this one because then I'll be permanently out of God's will, or be out for a year or something. There's no evidence of that kind of thinking, and yet that's what tends to sink into most people's thinking, doesn't it?

It tends to be the place where Christians fall, and we get these kind of artificial things superimposed. When you start looking at this, here's God's sovereign will, and you can't blow it. God's moral will is certainly revealed in Scripture, but is to be lived by the life of Christ. And as we start turning the corner here into God's individual will, the kinds of things that often guide a lot of Christians in their thinking, sort of the, you know, if I'm in full-time services, a case in point, or if I'm going to follow the right, you know, fork in the road, those kinds of things, you just don't see those in Scripture. We have a lot to rest in. A lot to rest in. Isn't that neat? Great deal to rest in. Bob, you were starting to say something? What I was thinking a little bit about here, Vern, as you've been going through this, is God's sovereign will is fixed and irreversible, isn't it? Yeah.

But if you think about the kinds of things that separate us from the love of God, as outlined in Romans 8, one of those is distress. And so, what's the answer to that? The answer is that we're more than conquerors in Him who loves us, right? Yeah. the issue is these yellow brick road pathways often lead to some uncertainty that can lead to distress, right?

Sure. In a sense, something can separate us from His true path, which is already fixed. Yes. In fact, the Christian can make no mistakes when we're in the sovereign will of God, correct? Yeah. Because a blue Chevy versus a black one is, in fact, God working all things, you know, for His good, right? Yes. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think the moral will of the flesh can certainly take us down the wrong path. That's clearly a path that he would not have us in. But that's not lived by the life of Christ within. That's right. You bring up a good point. In other words, the moral will of the flesh is the only thing that's going to lead us off track in what would show here as a green circle.

Basically, in dependence upon the Lord, we can't go on the wrong path. And as we look at the individual will of God, Art brought up the question, should I be praying? By all means. We can be praying for wisdom because, in fact, as we make the point here, godly wisdom rather than worldly wisdom is going to be the basis for making those choices of individual will.

But there is so much for us to rest in. There is so much for us to rest in. As a matter of fact, let me make this bold statement. If you are anxious about finding the will of God, Shame on you. Don't do that. No. And I say that jokingly. The truth is that there is no basis for us to be anxious about finding the will of God. Okay? There's no basis for us to be anxious about finding the will of God. Yes, Marilyn. Boy, that caused some energy there. Yes. Uh-huh. Yeah, there are decisions that seem more momentous than the blue and the yellow Chevy, right? Yeah.

And that's where, you know, I think it comes into the kind of questions that Art brought up, that yeah, there are indeed things for us to pray about and to look to the Lord in. Those are, in fact, things we'll be going into in more detail in the weeks ahead. I'm sorry we won't be able to share that all together. Tapes are available. Nancy, you had a question?

It's a good question, but doesn't that really come down to stewardship and other areas that are actually lined out in Scripture for us? Being wise in how you spend your money. Scripture does address the area of what is wisdom, because that's when you get in the individual will of God. It's a question, does Scripture provide some sideline principles for me to operate with? And we look to Scripture for wisdom, and sometimes we're in a position, maybe it is either an area where we have no experience, or it takes special knowledge, or something of that sort, and we may need to go and gain the wisdom of others. as we look to what's the right thing to do here. But it's important for us, as we look in the middle of that, that God is not standing there ready to put his finger on you and say, Aha! You picked the wrong fork in the road. I got you now. That is not God's intent.

It's interesting. There are five crowns given in the New Testament. And as you look at those five crowns, It's very interesting. None of those crowns is a fork-in-the-road kind of reward. Isn't that interesting? The crowns instead have to do with, for example, one of them is a rapture lover's crown, looking for the Lord's coming. Now, is that a fork-in-the-road kind of thing? But one of them is a martyr's crown. If you look at the things the Lord is wanting to reward us for as believers, One of those isn't a fork in the road, yellow brick road, golden path kind of crown. Isn't that interesting?

The last words of our Lord that we have recorded in scripture are in the last chapter of the book of Revelation. If you have one of those red print Bibles, you'll see it easily. But what he says there in that last chapter He says, Behold, I am coming quickly, my reward is with me. He is seeking to reward us, not to say, Aha! I gotcha!

You picked the wrong path and now you're going to pay. That's not God's perspective at all, is it? He's not looking for how can I sting this guy because he blew it. How can I really rip this guy up one side and down the other because he didn't pick the right path. You do not see that. The Lord is not looking for that.

If we look at the beginning of Ephesians, here's Paul starting off. He says, you've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. Just after he gets done saying, Hi, I'm Paul. You've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. The Lord has already blessed us. He is desiring to reward us. And there is no such thing as a loss of reward for some obscure Gee, you picked the wrong fork in the road here.

That's a neat thing. It should be a comforting thing for us. Certainly we want to look for wisdom. Certainly we want to make good, wise decisions in those areas where Scripture doesn't lay things out crystal clear. And that's good. But I think as believers it's a tremendous comfort to recognize and to realize what the Lord has already put in place.

Let's turn to Colossians 3. Colossians 3, unlike the passage we just looked at, goes from, here are the things that are fixed in place. Now, here's what makes sense for you as a believer. Here's something that you as a believer, based on your position, should be doing.

So unlike the passage before where it just says, this is a fact, what he does is he lays out facts and he says, okay, based on that fact, Here's the logical decision to make. Here's the logical direction to head. See the difference there? Let's take a look at the first four verses.

Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, and he's making a logical if here, if you've been raised up with Christ, which of course you have, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. One of the things we're inclined to do is look at this fork in the road versus that one, The priority here, this doesn't say you can't make those decisions, or you shouldn't, or you shouldn't seek them wisely. You should. As Art brought up, we should be praying about them. As I think Nancy pointed out, we've got plenty of Revelation and Scripture to work from.

But the key thing, what's the fork in the road here? The fork in the road is not horizontal. See that? The fork in the road is vertical. Ah, we've got a vertical fork in the road. If I have a choice, do I seek what's down here or seek what's up there? I know the answer. There's Scripture's perspective. It's no longer, here's two forks on the road horizontal. It's like this. Now that's an important insight. That's wisdom. So how does he spell it out here?

Keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God and where we are seated with Him. Keep seeking there. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." You have died. The things that the earthly person is concerned with first and foremost, are they unimportant? No. But what is most important? What's most important? He's setting the priorities straight.

It's no longer a horizontal fork in the road. It's a vertical fork in the road. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. And that's another aspect of this perspective that we have. It's no longer just a horizontal, but a vertical fork in the road, but there's a time frame with it that this world doesn't understand. this world cannot comprehend, that it's not just from cradle to grave. The decisions are made in the context of a much bigger picture.

What did Paul say? The things that we wrestle with here and the things that we struggle with here are not worthy to be compared. Not worthy to be compared. Do you see the perspective here? That rather than following the yellow brick road and finding the golden fork in the road, that we've got a vertical perspective to this thing and we've got a time perspective.

Is the world going to understand that? No. The world is just not even going to comprehend that. We as believers are called to make decisions about God's will based on an understanding that this world simply does not have in terms of its vertical character, vertical dimension, and in terms of time. The world does not comprehend it.

Let me ask this. What helpful advice is the world going to give you with regards to the will of God? Probably not a lot, right? Probably not a lot. And it's because the world lacks this perspective. Yeah? I was going to say, George Bush has said that he prays about decisions. I mean, he has just been lambasted everywhere. Oh yeah.

How foolish can one be to be appealing to some unknown source? I mean, that's exactly what the world says. Yeah, to the world's thinking, an appeal to this, like I say, the vertical fork in the road is absolute idiocy. What an insane thing to do from the world standpoint, okay? And for the world, they look at, you know, we're talking about this eternal perspective, they say, you must be kidding. Now, the world's perspective, they're not going to understand this, are they? It will make no sense to them at all. Then, as we look at decisions we have to make, Because we do run into decisions. Should I buy this? Not buy this? Should I buy this one instead of this one? Should I live here and not there? Yes, there's a multitude of decisions to be made. And the question is appropriate.

Sometimes it's a lot more momentous than what color Chevy I'm buying. But the truth is, as we look at this larger perspective that's laid out for us, these are the things that God cares about. We will want to make good, wise decisions, but it's exceedingly valuable to realize what God's perspective is on this thing.

He's not somehow looking at you with a jaundiced eye because you haven't decided to be in full-time Christian service. Whatever decision that happens to mean. God is not looking at you with a jaundiced eye or looking at you eager to accuse you because you took the right fork instead of the left fork. The encouragement at every step is instead to look at what's the vertical perspective here? The encouragement at every step is instead to look at what's the eternal picture? How does this fit in view of eternity?

And that's just a radical difference, a huge difference from what we're going to get from the world. And frankly, even from a lot of Christendom. A lot of Christendom will be looking for the will of God, and they're trying to find the yellow brick road. They'll be looking for the will of God, and of course, every push is to go into full-time Christian service, as if that guarantees the will of God. But they turn it upside down.

Bob, did you want to say something? I was just going to make the point that one of the errors in the Church of Ephesus, which I'm sure you'll get to, is they had not so learned Christ. When we hang up our trust in where we're positioned above, our decisions then become more consistent with our citizenship, right?

Yeah. Yeah. It's a matter of looking at his face and the picture in the mirror, that constant reflection allows these decisions often to be made, you know, realistic from God's perspective. Yeah. Even the Cadillac Chevy comparison. Yeah. Because his will will work through that situation. Sure. And if you make the wrong choice, he'll let you know about it, right? Yeah.

I mean, if in fact we go against his quote sovereign will in terms of the outworking of the Lord Jesus Christ in us, the Holy Spirit shows up. Yeah, yeah. We have the explicit testimony of Scripture on those things that are sovereign, their God-sovereign decision. We have the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. We have every means to know what God's will is in terms of what really counts, what really matters, what He really cares about. And that to me is marvelously comforting as we look at decisions that have to be made.

And some of them are hard decisions, aren't they? I mean, let's get real. Some of them are real hard things. We will run into difficult things, but the thing that we should not superimpose on those difficult decisions is the idea that somehow God is waiting there as a cosmic killjoy just ready to nail me for picking the wrong fork in the road that I just somehow mystically didn't pick.

And that's just a wonderful thing to depend upon as we look at this. And it's exceedingly valuable to know what really matters. What matters to God? What is God looking at as we make those day-by-day decisions. Some of them, as Marilyn pointed out with her question, some of them are momentous. But as we make those decisions, what comfort, what assurance we can have, and also what a relief not to have this big finger pointing down on us saying, I gotcha.

It's not God's. God is not sitting there waiting to condemn. That's why he starts off Romans chapter 8, There is therefore now only 50% condemnation. Okay? Occasional. No. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who incorrect Jesus. God is not anxiously waiting to see how he can nail you for missing the right path. Instead, he says, how can I reward you? I'd love to. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you that as we look at this, certainly there are decisions to be made, some of them difficult. And yet we know from your word here, what is your perspective? What matters to you and what matters eternally? And Lord, how delightful it is to know that even this issue of your will is one in which you show such marvelous grace. And we look to you and count upon that. And we ask that you would indeed guide and lead us according to your word, by your Holy Spirit, and by the wisdom that you've conveyed to us in so many ways. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.