Where There’s A Will There’s A Way Part 2
Introduction
We’re into our second week of this new series of talks called Where there’s a Will There’s a Way. I’m super pumped about today and what God’s going to speak to us and what he has for us. If you get your Bibles out, you do have sermon notes this week in your worship guide. I was able to get those to you this week. For those of you who enjoy those, they are also on the YouVersion Bible app. You can go in there and get those as well. Let’s open our Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 1. Woo! Yes, we’re just happy about the Bible, happy about what God’s speaking to us. We believe every time we open the word, God’s wanting to talk to us. God wants to talk to us more than we want him to talk to us. You have to believe that in your heart of hearts this morning. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, Mt. Carmel Church.
Have you ever wanted something and not gotten your way? You’re laughing because it has happened to all of us, right? Maybe you wanted your parents to buy you something like, “Please, please, please, can I get that?” And they said, “No.” You’re like, “You evil parents! How dare you not give me everything that I desire?” You know? Or maybe, you’re like this? Maybe you go out to eat with some friends or somebody like that.
Have you ever had this scenario where they’re like, “Where are we going to go to eat?” And you really had a place where you wanted to go, but you’re trying to be friendly, you know, so you play it off. Like you don’t really have this big desire on where you want to go, but you know immediately where you want to go. So you throw out, you know, maybe where you want to go.
Sometimes we have a Will, but we don’t Always get our Way
Then, then you say, or you name another couple of places just to be kind, but you really hope that they would stick with your first one. Then that other person jumps on your last suggestion. He goes, “Yes, let’s go there.” You’re like, “No, I really wanted to go to the first one.” Sometimes they come strong and so they got their way, but sometimes we have a will, but we don’t always get our way. We have desires either communicated or uncommunicated. Can we have a little marriage conference for just a moment, Mt. Carmel Church?
Uncommunicated desires. Maybe we had been moved off that topic. I’m not talking about marriage today, but man, that’d be good. Wouldn’t it? Wow. Okay. Let those run around the track. So where there’s a will, there’s a way. So do we have a will? Do we always get our way? Okay. Let me ask you these questions just to, for the context of the message. Does God, you don’t have to answer, these are kind of rhetorical, so don’t feel like you have to answer them, but does God have a will, Mt. Carmel Church?
Does God Have a Will for us and the World? Do we have a say in this Will?
Does he have a will for the world? Does he have a will for our individual lives? Does he always get his way? Is his will for the world and for individuals lives, completely out of our control or is some of it dependent on us? Good questions. How many of you ever heard this said, or maybe you’ve said it yourself, what if it’s supposed to happen? It’ll happen.
Maybe you’ve heard that everything happens for a reason. When it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go. There’s nothing you can do about it. Have you guys ever heard these? I’m just checking. You know, if somebody says this like any good sums out of a situation, we assume it has to be the will of God. Like we’ll say this. Well, if I hadn’t gone through that there’s no way I’d know what I know now. So it must have been the will of God, Mt. Carmel Church.
I’m not trying to challenge all of your theology this morning. I’m just wanting to lay the groundwork for some questions on how we just determine what God’s will is and how his will works with our will to get his way and our way. We throw out these things like, “Well, if it’s supposed to happen, it’s going to happen.” Like we have no say, so we have no control in it. We’re going to address some of that this whole series. It’s what we’re talking about, is where there’s a God’s will, Mt. Carmel Church.
There is a way where there is a will, our will. There is a way and how do we connect the dots? How do we get in our life? How do we experience what God wants for us? Is it just if it’s supposed to happen, it will happen? I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that wholeheartedly. I believe there’s context for that and we need to get that. We need to know the difference, so I’m going to get ahead of myself. Let’s just see what it looks like.
I want to start preaching on it, but let’s go to Romans chapter 1 and then we’ll get to what I want to talk about today. Romans chapter 1. I’m going to start reading in verse 8. Paul’s writing there and he says to first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers here he’s praying to God making request, Mt. Carmel Church.
If by some means now at last I might, I may find a way in the will of God to come to you for I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gifts so that you may be established. That is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me. Let me just pray. Father, I thank you for your word. We just receive it as the living word of God. I welcome you Holy Spirit to bring life to it. Lord, I don’t want to give information today. I want you to give revelation. I pray that you open our eyes that we will see things that I’m not even talking about, Mt. Carmel Church. God. I pray that you will give a clarity into our lives about your will and your way. I trust you and I thank you for your presence. In Jesus name, somebody given amen.
Amen, here’s what we see in Rome in verse 11 Paul says, I longed to see you. So Paul has a will. Paul has what he wants to do. He ever wanted to do anything. So he has a will. I longed to see you. I wanted to, and we talked about this last week, but I just want to build off of this.
So we’ve got his will. But in verse 10 he says, but I want to pray. So he’s praying to God. I’m making requests, I’m praying to God. If my son means now at last I may find a way in the will of God. I want to find a way in the will of God.
I want to do this, but I want to find a way to do this in the will of God. So, I want to find a way in the will of God. So there is a way, this is what we need to know. There is a way in the will of God that can be found that I may find a way. I had to meditate on this and I’m always hopeful sometimes that you get things in seconds. It took me hours to digest, but sometimes I just kept saying this over that I may find a way in the will of God.
Find a way. This is how I get revelation on the word. I keep saying the same sentence over and over and over and over, and then he’ll start emphasizing certain words, find a way, find, find. I’ve got to find. There’s a find a way. I’ve got to find a way in the will, in the will, in the will of God. I just began to meditate on this until I started seeing what God’s trying to say to me. So I encourage you, if you’re reading the Bible, don’t read for a just, how do I want to say this? Don’t read for amount only, Mt. Carmel Church.
Don’t read just to read. Read to let the Bible speak to you. Let the Bible come into you that when you read a sentence you can digest a sentence. It’s much better than reading two chapters. We’re not on Bible reading, but I’m just throwing that in for free. So here in the will of God, there is a way to be found. So here’s what I want to find. He’s praying, God, let me find a way in the will. So do we pray to God that we find a way in his will? Here’s some things I wrote down. Do we pray to God to bless our day or do we pray so that we can find the day that is blessed Mt. Carmel Church?
Do we Pray for God to Bless our Day, Or do we Pray to find the Day that is Blessed?
I’m praying to God that they might find a way in the will of God, so what do you pray? God bless my day or do I get with God so that I can find the day that is blessed. I could say, God, I’m going to do what I want to do. Bless my day. That’s one way to pray. Or there’s another way to pray where I seek God. I seek the will of God, the desire of God, and through that I find the day that is blessed.
Do we pray for God to bless our relationships? We pray so that we will find relationships that are blessed. Oh God bless me and my boyfriend. Oh God bless him. Or do you pray so that you can find the boyfriend that is blessed, Mt. Carmel Church? I’m just, I’m just asking questions this morning. Do we pray for God to bless our jobs or do we pray so that we can find jobs that are blessed?
God just bless my job. I thank you. How about God, I’m just going to seek you and you’re going to show me the job that is blessed. That’s a better way to pray. I’m just trying to help us all out here. So are we praying to find out what God wants to do? Or are we praying, talking to, and trying to talk God into doing what we want to do? Check your prayers, check your prayers. What’s the motive? We need to find a way in the will of God. We talked about last week that the will of God, Mt. Carmel Church. Here’s the Greek word that means determination, intent. It talks about the heart’s desire of God. That God has a heart’s desire for you, and has the desire for me. He has a desire for your life. He’s not trying to control your life. He has a desire for your life. The pray that I might find a will in the way in the will of God. It’s an emotional word. It’s God’s heart’s intent for you.
So now can we know and understand God’s will or heart’s desires? When we are talking about the will of God, can we know or understand it? Ephesians 5:17 says this, therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. How many has ever heard this? People say, well, you never know what God’s going to do. There’s no way to understand the will of God. Well, this verse here in Ephesians 5:17 says, do not be unwise. Don’t be this way. Be this way. What is he telling us not to be? Don’t be unwise. What does unwise mean? Unwise just means don’t be uninformed or uneducated. Don’t be uninformed, Mt. Carmel Church.
Don’t be instrumented, but be understanding to what the will of God is. So why would God tell you to understand the will of God if you can’t? Why would he ask you or give you an instruction? Don’t be this way. Don’t be uninformed. Don’t be uninformed, but be understanding. Understand what the will of the Lord is. Well, how do we do it? Here’s what the word understand means. The word understand means to put together in your mind, Mt. Carmel Church. It means to comprehend by careful consideration to put together, understand the will of God. Understand the heart’s desire. God, how do I understand the heart’s desire of God from my life?
Trying to Understand God’s Will is going to be Confusing if we Approach it the Wrong Way
Trying to understand him is going to create massive frustration if we approach it in the wrong way. If we are like, okay, so I’m saying I need to understand the will of God. Like I understand God. I’m not trying to bring God down to my level of understanding. Here’s what the verse means and here’s what it doesn’t mean. It does not mean God’s expecting you to know the who, what, when, where, why, and how of every detail of your life. That’s not what it means to understand the will of God.
If we knew that then we wouldn’t need him. His expectation is not for you and I to understand the who, what, when, where, and why of all the details of our life. When he says understand the will of God, he says that we’re to understand members to piece together by careful consideration. So, what God’s saying is, how am I going to understand God’s heart’s desire for my life is that I began to piece together bits and pieces of information as I understand more and I begin to figure out what his heart’s desire is by relationship with him. Here’s what I mean. I wrote this down. The directive of understanding the will of God is omniscience to understand everything. It’s understanding who he is, Mt. Carmel Church.
It’s learning to understand him and his desires. I don’t know God’s will for my life and every detail I don’t have to, but I need to know his desires for me. How do I know? Don’t be instructed to be ignorant or instructed to not know. He said to be ignorant of the will of God is to be ignorant of the word of God. Here’s how we know God’s heart’s desire for our life. This is God’s desires for you right here. Everything he wants for you has it right here. So when I don’t read this, I will never know this.
Come on. I can know the heart of God for my life. If I never read the Bible I can’t do it. You can come to church every week and I’m glad you do, but the only reason I want you to come to church is so that you can understand how to get to know him. It’s not for this to be the end all be all. This is a means to the end. It’s a means to him. Our vision is to connect people with Jesus from all roads of life. It’s not to connect you to The Roads, Mt. Carmel Church.
We want you to get connected to the road. So get connected with Jesus and if we’re going to understand the will of God, we have to know the word of God because this is his heart’s desire for us. This is what he’s telling us. We can know he wants us to understand his will because he wants us to be like him Mt. Carmel Church.
We’re not Seeking what he can tell us, We’re Seeking Relationship with Him
Sometimes, maybe you feel this way. We come to God and I know I do this and I repent of it and I say, “God help me not to be this way.” Sometimes, though, we go to God just wanting answers. What can you do for me? I just need an answer. God all it needs an answer. God doesn’t want you to come to him for prayer only for answers. He wants you to come to him out of relationship. We’re not seeking what he can tell us.
We’re seeking him. We’re not seeking the information. We’re seeking the information giver. Why? Because if I only seek him for answers, I’m going to need another one. So when I get the answer I want and I’m satisfied for a day, guess what? Tomorrow I need another answer, Mt. Carmel Church. I need more information. So I keep going back to him and all I’m pulling on him for his information. If I go for him, then now he begins to train.
Oh Jesus. Here’s God’s heart’s desire is to begin to mold you. The Bible says he wants to transform you and conform you into the image of his son. Why? Because he wants our desires to start lining up with his desires. So now, we begin to think like him. I started to get ahead of myself. He said, find a way. Sometimes we focus so much on the will. We forget about the way. Here’s what God’s saying, I want to find a way in the will.
Section 2.4
The word way means to succeed in reaching or accomplishing some activity or event. So where God has a will, he also has a way in order to experience his will. Please, understand this about God. Where God has a will for your life, he has a way for you and I to experience his will. God does not have a will that is inaccessible to you, Mt. Carmel Church.
Let me say that again. Did you write it down? Taking notes and changing the world. Come on. God does not have a will for you that’s inaccessible to you. We will say, “Well, I know that’s God’s will, but I can’t do that.” Yes, you can. “I know that’s God’s will, but I can’t do that. I can’t get there.” Yes, you can. Why? Because the Bible tells you in Philippians 4 that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God never has a will for me that’s inaccessible to me. He never has an attitude for you that is inaccessible to you. “I can’t love them.” Yes you can. “I can’t forgive them.” Yes you can. “I can’t get past this.” Yes you can, we just can’t do it through ourselves. God has a will for me. Chad, I want you to walk in forgiveness. Well, I would if they would do this, Mt. Carmel Church.
It’s always accessible to us, but we have to do it his way. His way is humble ourselves and submit to God. He’s going to give us the way. Where there’s a will there’s a way. So how many have heard this scripture used about experiencing this? Well, let me go back. Let me say this. Sometimes, we’re not experiencing. Have you ever been clear on the will of God, but you’re unclear on the way of God? You’re like, “Okay, I know this is what’s supposed to happen, but I don’t know how to get there.” Have you ever needed to go someplace, a town or location somewhere and you knew where you’re supposed to go, but you just didn’t know how to get there? This was before Google maps, Mt. Carmel Church.
There was a time you had these big paper things you had to unfold. No one knew how to fold them back, but you unfolded them and you had to learn North, South, East, and West. And so you know, I need to go there and I’m here. So how do I get from here to there? There’s a way. There’s a right way and there’s a wrong way. Sometimes God will take you on the short route, but sometimes we choose the longer route, so this is what we have to figure out, Mt. Carmel Church.
Even when we don’t have Success, we can’t Adjust God’s Will to Match our Own
Sometimes if we’re not experiencing success God’s way, instead of trying to understand his way better, sometimes we’ll just adjust his will to match our way. I’m going to drop a bomb right here on you. Sometimes if we know this is what God wants, this is where he wants us to get, but we’re here and we don’t understand how to get there. We will just change that and say that’s not his will anymore.
Come on now I’m with you. I do the same thing, but sometimes if we don’t know how to get where God wants us to go, if we’re not experiencing success on the way, then we will stop and change his will instead of changing our will. We do it in sincerity. How many times have people said, “Well, I did what I thought I was supposed to do but I didn’t achieve success, so therefore it must not be his will.” You could have trouble in a certain area. We can use all kinds of illustrations here, Mt. Carmel Church.
I’ll just use a car. For example, not long ago, I went to start my car. A few days before I noticed that it was barely turning over. And I thought, oh man, my battery’s going down because I’m a mechanic. So I thought I’d better go get it changed. So I kept putting it off and kept putting it off and I realized one day it wasn’t starting. So I kept trying and trying and it started on my last try. I was like okay, thank you Jesus.
My last day off I went and I said, “Hey, I need to get to this battery change.” They came out and they tested the battery and said, “No, the battery is good.” I’m like, “No, it’s not.” This person at this part store came out and tests it. I’m like, “I don’t trust them. It’s the battery.” So I go to another place and I asked them to test it and they said, “Yeah, your batteries not doing good.” I was like, “That’s what I thought.”
So they go and could put a new battery in. Normally this would just be a few minutes. You would simply swap out the battery. I’m like, “Okay, no problem.” I’m sitting here. You can just look through the magazine. Then the person walks out and says something to the person at the counter, and then walks back in. I’m not going to spend like a long time. It’s taking so long to put a battery in. I could have done that myself because I’m a mechanic and the person at the counter said, “Excuse me sir, could you come here for second? We’ve got a problem. Your truck won’t start.” I’m like, isn’t that why we’re putting a battery in it? Hello?
“No, it seems like the problem is not the battery. It’s actually the starter.” Say what? So I thought it was going to be one price repair and it turned out to be a whole other priced repair. I thought it was one thing but someone else who knew more than me eventually figured out something else. So what I’m saying is sometimes we can think we’re doing everything we need to do and we just figured out we’re not getting success. We don’t change the will of God, Mt. Carmel Church.
We figure out if we need to understand more. Sometimes we’re bringing the will of God down to our way instead of taking our will up to his way. So this is what he’s asking for us to do. So if God has a will, does he always get his way? Is God in complete control? Woo, I’m going to make some people nervous because when we talk about the will of God, most people throw everything under the umbrella of his ultimate plans or purposes or the sovereignty of God and they will save it. They will use that phrase, the sovereignty of God.
Yes, God is Sovereign, but what does Sovereign Mean?
They’ll say, “Hey, I’m just thankful that every detail of my life is in control of God. He’s sovereign after all. He’s in complete control.” So when people ask me, Chad, are you saying that God’s not sovereign? Then I usually say, let me ask you this, “What do you think sovereign means?” Let’s look up what sovereign means. This is according to Webster’s 1828 dictionary. Here’s what it means. Kids don’t like that dictionary. What’s the matter, Mt. Carmel Church?
Here’s it means supreme in power. This is sovereign: supreme in power, possessing supreme dominion, and superior to all others. A Supreme Lord or ruler, is one who possesses the highest authority without control. So is God supreme in power? Yes. It’s got supreme and dominion. Yes. Is he the supreme lord or ruler, and superior to all others? Yes. Does he possess the highest authority without control? Yes. I believe God is sovereign in that no one can control him, Mt. Carmel Church. It doesn’t say anything in there about him controlling me. Sovereignty. Is God superior above everything? Yes. No one is above God. No one can control God, but it does not say he controls.
It tells you from the very beginning of time in your Bible, God created, he had a heart. He had a will for relationship with mankind and not just with mankind. In the very begin, let’s go way back. God had a desire to have relationships and in his sovereignty where no one could control him, he had a plan. He said, I’m going to create an environment of relationship based on freewill and love.
How do I know it’s based on that? Let’s go back to a guy by the name of Lucifer who was an archangel. His sole job was to lead worship, but somehow an angel, I’m not talking about after the fall, I’m talking about before the fall Mt. Carmel Church. Somehow an angel was able to rebel against God and take one third of the angels with him. How is that possible? How could that happen unless they had a will?
Did God have a will for Lucifer and one third of the angels to leave him? Is that what he wanted? No, but he provided a freewill opportunity, and their will chose a different way. We can go forward now a little bit to Adam and Eve. God put them in the garden and said, eat of all these trees but don’t eat that one. So now they ate it. The one tree and they chose the way of the serpent. So, they had a will. We see from the very beginning, God’s will was relationship with us. Is he sovereign? Yes, absolutely. God is never out of control of what’s happening in the universe, but he’s not controlling every decision you make.
If he didn’t control everything that Lucifer did, why do you think he’s controlling everything that you’re doing? If he didn’t control everything that Adam and Eve is doing, why do you think he’s controlling everything that you’re doing, Mt. Carmel Church? Yeah, that’s very good. We need to understand what sovereignty means. We need to understand where there’s a will there’s a way. God has a will for your life, but it doesn’t guarantee you’re going to experience that will. The only way we’re going to experience the will of God is if we do it his way. This is what we’re understanding. This is what we’re trying to get out of the scripture. Does God always get what he wants?
First Timothy, chapter 2 says for this as good and acceptable in the sight of God, our savior who desires all men to be saved? Who desires? Let’s read this here together because this is a good and acceptable in the sight of God, our savior. Who read this part desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth? How many people does God want to be saved? That desire means to will. There’s a will. God has a will for all men to be saved. Not all males, all people, all males, all females, to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth. How many people does God want to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth? Now, I’m not sure you’re guessing at how many people does God want to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, Mt. Carmel Church?
Jesus gave his Life as a Ransom for All!
Okay, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for how many? He gave himself a ransom for all. All the elect, only the selected ones, only the predestined ones gave himself a ransom for? No, he gave himself as a ransom for all. Come on. He desires all to be saved. We talked about second Peter, that he’s not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So, does God have a will that everyone is saved, Mt. Carmel Church?
Yes. Is he getting his way? Hmm. Go to Matthew chapter 7, if you’re writing some of this down and I’m not clarifying it, I want to be very clear. I’m not trying to create a theology argument. Theology arguments are not fruitful. I’m just trying to create an understanding of what I believe the heart of God is. If we don’t understand the heart of God, then we want to understand how he wants to connect with our lives. So God has a will where we understand that he desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, all people to be saved.
He desires all to be saved. He gave us a ransom for all. He’s not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. Are you catching me? Okay, so we got that. Are we clear? You want me to say it again? God desires how many people to be saved? All, and that all people come to knowledge of the truth. So now, not willing that any should perish, but that all should, Mt. Carmel Church.
I’m just reading my verse here. Should appear. Let’s go to verse 13, enter by the narrow gate set. Matthew 7 verse 13: for enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way. There’s a way. There’s another way. Broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many. Oh, are we reading the Bible together? Okay. You may not have your Bible, but I’ll put it on the screens for you so you have no excuse for not participating in this part of the service.
Does that leads to destruction and there are many who go. Wait a minute, he’s not willing that any, but yet there are. See what I did there with that rhyming. He’s not willing that any should perish, but many are. Wait a minute. I thought if it’s supposed to happen, it’s going to happen, Mt. Carmel Church.
There’s a Broad and Easy Way, and a Narrow and Difficult Way
Yeah. I thought God’s will always happens. God’s not willing that any should perish, but many are. How can many be perishing if it’s not God’s will for any two that many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way. So there’s a way that leads to destruction and there’s another way where there’s a will of God. There’s a way of God. Where’s the will of man? There’s a way of man. We said that narrow’s the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. There’s few who find it. So God’s not willing that any should perish, but many are. He wants all to come to repentance, but only a few are. Why? Because they’re not finding it because it has to be found. Notice one is broad and easy, and one is narrow and difficult.
God’s not trying to eliminate people from coming. He’s trying to help them find it. And this is what he’s saying when we’re talking about where there’s a will, there’s a way. We have to understand that we want to help people find them. Paul said that I might find a way in the will of God.
Do you want to get to heaven? Do you want to spend eternity with Jesus? Well, there’s a way. There is a way, Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father, but by him. Attending church, does it get you to heaven Mt. Carmel Church?
I want you to come to church. Please come church, but you need to know Jesus. You need to know Jesus as the way. I’ve been coming to church a long time and tell you I’ve heard people say I’ve never killed anybody. It’s amazing how we say what we have never done that and it automatically makes us righteous. I’m good. I help people. That’s great, but that doesn’t get us to heaven.
Well then, what gets us to heaven is what Jesus did for us and he says there are few people that’s finding that way because we want to go the way that is based on ourselves, but there is a way that is not about ourselves. It is by grace, through faith, not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Whew. He says there’s a way to get to heaven but, not many people are finding it, Mt. Carmel Church.
The few that are finding it, how do we help the others find it? Go last place. Let’s go to Luke chapter 14. When you walked in this morning, there were little invite cards in your seat. It wasn’t because your seat was saved, it was saved for you. I want you to pull that little invite card out. I’ve got one here somewhere. Yep, so the invite card, I want you to get ready because God’s going to speak to you on how are we going to help people find a way. Luke chapter 14, turn there.
The Heart of God is Always Many
Would you look at verse 15? We’re going to close with this passage. Now when one of those who sat at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then he said to him, (this is Jesus telling a parable) certain man gave a great supper and invited how many? Many! He invited. When I pause it’s because I want you to say the next word because I want you to stay engaged. Some of you are drifting off. Stay with me, Mt. Carmel Church.
A certain man gave a great supper and invited. Thank you. Maybe I need to do hand gestures help you out a little bit. Somebody be a little slower and sent to serve as suppertime to say to those who were invited. Come for all things are now ready, but they all with one accord began to make. I even started for you. Makes excuses. Does anybody ever make an excuse to God? I do. I have made excuses on why you can’t come to church. Excuses why you can’t read your Bible.
I have excuses why I don’t have time to read but I somehow have time to stay current on my Instagram feed with a thousand followers reading off. The first said to him, I bought a piece of ground and a mess to go and see it. I asked you to have me excused. Now that said, I bought five yoke of oxen. I’m going to test him. I ask you to have me excused still. Another said, I’m married to a wife, therefore I cannot come.
Let’s just move on. There’s the other side. There’s nothing to say here, so there’s nothing good to say here. So, he came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of his house being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame, the blind and the servant. He said, master, it is done of you as you commanded. And still there is. Then the master said to the servant, go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in that my house maybe, wait a minute. What is his desire? That his house may be filled!
Does that sound like many or few? Many. The heart of God is many. The heart of God is always many. Look at your neighbor and say your mini. His heart is for many. His heart is not for few. His heart is not just for a few, Mt. Carmel Church. Select people, his heat’s for many, many, many, many. My kids know that joke. Sorry, inside joke, but his heart is for many. That’s what he says. I want my house to be filled. Why? Because his heart is for many, but just because he desires for many. He said few are finding. Why are a few finding it really? Why are a few finding it or are you finding it? Are you ready? I’m not sure. Some of you want to go. Why are a few finding it?
It’s called building anticipation. There’s quite a few finding the way to Jesus. If God has a will and he desires many, how come few are finding it? I believe it’s this, because the ones who know the way are not giving directions, Roads Church. I’m talking to you. It’s a rhetorical question. You don’t have to answer right now. When is the last time you yourself invited someone to church, Mt. Carmel Church?
This whole parable we just read. He said go out and what do you say to them? Compel them. Compel means, I put it in your YouVersion notes. It didn’t have time to throw it in the paper notes, but it means to drive or urge with force, irresistibly to necessitate either by physical or moral force. This is Jesus’s words. Compel them to come in. Here’s how we compel or we’ve been taught to compel. Listen, I know you’re busy and I know you’ve got a lot of stuff going on at, you know, I understand. I get, don’t get me wrong, Mt. Carmel Church.
I mean it’s okay if you say no and I don’t want to pressure you. I want you to feel uncomfortable, you know? But I just, I just wonder if you’re not, if you like, I mean, I don’t know. Now it’s not like you have to come every Sunday, but if you’d was, maybe you might, would you ever consider possibly come to church? If you ever thought about going to church, does that sound compelling? It sounds like you’re almost apologizing because you don’t enjoy it yourself.
If I have something that’s giving me life, why would I not want to give it to somebody else? Why would I not want to say you need to come, not because of Chad, not because of the people, but because of Jesus is here! Jesus said, Chad, it’s not about you. Stop making it about you. It’s about me. Compel them to come. I desire many, many, many that my house will be filled, but you’re satisfied with it.
Thanks so much for watching with us. We love our online Mt. Carmel Illinois Church and Norris City Illinois Church family and we invite you to connect with us. We have a few different ways you can do that. Our website is theroads.church. We are on social media as well.
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