Where There’s A Will There is A Way
We’ll jump right into our message ‘Where There’s a Will There’s a Way.’ We’re jumping into this today, so if you got your Bibles, you can get those out. Your sermon notes are in your worship guides. You can also go to the YouVersion Bible app and get the sermon notes on there as well. Every time we open the Bible, we expect God to speak to us. He wants to change our life through what he is saying, so we get excited when we open the Bible. If you have those Bibles this morning, open them up to Romans chapter 1! Whew!! Yes, Romans chapter 1. Where there’s a will there’s a way. I’m going to be talking to you about two powerful points today. A lot of times, I mean, I’m going to mention a few different things, but two things that I want you to take away for sure, church.
What we want to talk to you about today is the power of choice and the power of change, and what that means in our life. Romans chapter one I’m going to jump into it just for time sake. Verse 8 is just for our launching verse today and has been for our series. First I think 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 making requests. If by some means now at last 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, Mt. Carmel Church. That is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me.
I want to pray right now. Father, thank you for your word. Holy Spirit, I just pray that you bring it to life this morning. God, I pray you speak revelation into us fixed truth to a heart slower and we will hear what you’re wanting to say. That we’ll be changed from the inside out. So God, I just give you liberty and freedom. We thank you that you are alive and well and working in our life. So we praise you for everything that’s done today in Jesus. Awesome. Somebody say amen. Find a way in the will of God. Paul says there in verse 10 he said that I want to come see, this is what I want, but it’s not about just what I want, Mt. Carmel Church.
We can have a Will and a Want, but We don’t always Get our Way
It’s about the fact that I want to find a way in the will of God, so this is how he said it. I mean, he knows that we’ve wanted something, but just because we want it, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to get it. Last night, coming home from the parade, Mount Carmel Church had a great time at the Christmas parade.
We were coming home, just Lucas and I, and Dawn sends me a text message that says, “Hey, could you stop by Walmart and get a ton of things?” No, there was only three things, and I’ve walked out with 15 things, but that’s another story of my problems, Mt. Carmel Church.
Grilled chicken was on sale for nine 9 cents a pound. I couldn’t help myself. So anyway, we were in there and so I said, “Hey Lucas, we have to stop by Walmart to get these three things.” And he said, “And Legos.” I said, “Dude, that’s not on the list.” So we have to get grapes, Hawaiian rolls, and some cuties. Thank you, yes you are. We had to get grapes, come on somebody, grapes, cuties, a Hawaiian Rolls. And so I said, “Lucas, we have to get grapes, cuties, and Hawaiian Rolls.” He said, “And Legos.” I said, “No, it’s too close to Christmas. We’re not getting Legos. Maybe we’ll get you some for Christmas.” He said, “But I want them.”
Oh my bad. I didn’t realize that you wanted them. So I said to him, I know you want them, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get them. Who knows we can have a want, we can have a will, but we don’t necessarily get our way. Yours may not be Lego’s this morning, but there’s something that you want that you may not be getting, Mt. Carmel Church.
Finding a “Way” in the Will of God
Notice what Paul said, “I want to find a way.” That word find a way means to succeed in reaching or accomplishing something, to be successful in something. Everybody has a will to be successful in life. You define success how you want, but success really is just defined by a favorable or desirable outcome. So everybody’s wanting to succeed, or to have success in our relationships, in our school, in our athletics, in our health, in our finances, and in our careers. Everybody wants to be successful in one form or fashion, Mt. Carmel Church.
So there’s nothing big about finding a way, but it’s about finding success. In reality it’s what way are we going about reaching those successes? There’s a variety of ways you can build relationships. There’s a variety of ways that we can make money. There is a variety of ways we can advance our career, but notice what Paul said, I want to find a way to be successful in the will of God, the will of God. The will means intent or choices emanating from God’s heart’s desire or pleasure. So if the will represents God’s choice for you and I, it comes from his heart’s desire.
Again, I want to say this just because it’s important, because new people come every week and you need to know this. The foundation of this series, the will of God is based on God’s desire for you. So God has a heart’s desire for you, Mt. Carmel Church.
That’s what his will is based on. It’s not because he just wants to make you do it but because he has a desire for you and me. So if the will of God is his heart’s desire, then the way of God is the means by which we achieve that will. We all want success. But Paul said, I don’t just want success. I want success God’s way. That’s what we’re talking about. We want to do it God’s way.
So God does have a will for our life, but he does not have a will that is not accessible to you. He doesn’t have a will for you that you can’t get to, or that you can’t achieve. Look at your neighbor and say, “He’s made a way for you.” So here’s the question we’ll start out with today. If God’s made a way for you and you just told your neighbor that, and maybe you didn’t want to tell the other person, but you can tell them again that he’s made a way for you too.
Here’s the question, is partnership or connection with the way of God necessary for us to experience the will of God? Is partnership, cooperation or connection with the way of God (Paul said, I want to find a way in the will of God) is partnership or connection or cooperation with the way of God necessary for us to experience the will of God? It’s a great question. Is the will of God just arbitrary? It’s going to happen no matter what you do or is there a reason that you and I have to cooperate with the way of God to experience the will of God?
This is what we’re building on. This is what we’re talking about. We talked about last week in Ephesians chapter 1, how God predestined us to adoption. He predestined us to adoption as sons or daughters. That represents his will. He predestined us. That was the power of choice and the power of selection.
The Power of Choice and the Power of Change
There’s two powers that we’re going to talk about today. Number one is the power of choice, which is about selection. That’s will. Number two is the power of change, which is about connection. This means access. This is how we’re going to do it. So will means God selects it. He chooses it. This is what he wants, but this is also something that we have the power of will. We have the power of selection. We have the power of choice. I was sent to Walmart for three things, but why did I come out with 12? It is because I had the power of choice, Mt. Carmel Church.
Walmart didn’t tell me, no, you only came in for three things. They were more than happy to let me take out more things. You have the power of choice. You have that power of selection, but then we also have the power of change or connections which is the way. So if God predestined us to adoption of his sons, that’s his will, but doing it by Christ Jesus. In verse 5 this is the way, here’s the will. I want you to be a son or daughter of mine. I’ve a predestined you to be my son or daughter, but here’s the way you have to do it, through Jesus Christ. So God’s got a will, but he’s got a way. If you don’t do it his way, you don’t get his will, Mt. Carmel Church.
When God said he predestined us that means he predestined his choice and his way. It does not mean he predestined your will and your way. Predestined was what he made from himself of himself. I’ve predestined my will for you to be my son and daughter. That’s my choice for you, but I don’t know if it’s your choice for you. When God predestined something, he predestined his side, but he left our side open. God’s not manipulating your choices. He’s giving you the opportunity to have a choice because love is based on a choice. So that’s what we talked about. So, let’s go to the two types of power. Look at this. Wait, uh, Christmas lights. Let me ask you about Christmas lights. Some of you are laughing already, Mt. Carmel Church.
Do you have a will Problem or a Way Problem
Have any of you ever gotten frustrated by putting up Christmas lights during the Christmas season? My wife is raising her hand. She loves Christmas lights and, sometimes she gets frustrated with the Christmas lights, Mt. Carmel Church. Especially when they don’t work correctly. We all do. We’ve all been through it.
During Christmas times all the Christmas movies come out and there’s one Christmas movie that is always funny because it has this part where this guy’s putting Christmas lights all over his house. There is 25,000 lights you and he goes and has all the plugins and he’s getting ready to plug them in and boom, he plugs them in and nothing works.
So, he goes in and checks every single bulb, all 25,000 of them. He checks every single one to make sure nothing’s wrong. Most of us throw them away, and go buy new ones, but he’s checking every bulb and he goes and tries it, and nothing works. Ultimately we find out the problem was the switch in the basement wasn’t turned on.
So the problem wasn’t the power supply. The problem was the connection to the power supply. So you get frustrated sometimes because you’re not seeing the results that you want, and we think we’ve got a will problem, but we don’t necessarily have a will problem. We have a way problem. We’ve got a connection problem. The problem isn’t that God doesn’t want it for you. The problem isn’t that God doesn’t want us to have it. It’s that we may not be correctly connected in the right way to what he’s given, Mt. Carmel Church.
How many of you know that if you would have go to plug in your Christmas tree and the lights aren’t working, but the refrigerator’s working and the lights are on, how silly would it be for you to call up the power company and say, “Hey the Christmas trees not on, can you send somebody? Can you send one of the big bucket trucks or something and come fix my tree?” How silly would that be? In the end, you know the power is being sent because it’s working in other areas, but it’s not working in that area. So we understand in the natural that it’s possible for the power supply to be sent, but we not have it connected in certain areas. Do we understand that? How come we don’t believe that spiritually, Mt. Carmel Church?
How come we don’t believe that it’s also possible spiritually, for the power to be supplied and we not be in it in every area of our life like we should. We may be connected and working fine in this area and not be connected at all in this area and we’ll blame it on the will of God when we really need to be looking at our connection to the will of God, and our connection to the way of God. This is what I’m looking at today. I want us to understand these two types of power. There’s the power of choice, and there’s the power of change, power of connection. We don’t necessarily have a will problem or a selection problem, but we’ve got a way problem. What if, what if this? Let me ask it this way. We may have been one with his will and our will, but choosing the right way is the issue, Mt. Carmel Church.
What about if we’re having trouble with the feelings or the thoughts that we’re dealing with? Maybe we’re having trouble with thoughts and we think, God, why am I having these thoughts or why am I having these feelings? So maybe is it a will problem or is it a way problem? Are we connected to something we shouldn’t be connected to? Philippians 4 verses 8-9 says this, finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just whatever things are pure, lovely, good report. If there’s any virtue, anything praiseworthy, meditate on that.
Oh, hold up. Okay, let me go through the list again because I’m not sure you were ready for that. It states true noble, just pure, lovely, good report, virtue and praise worthy. Meditate on these things. If we have to meditate on these things, are there other things? If there are these things that are noble, just pure, lovely, good report, virtue and praise worthy, are there other things? I’m just asking so if he says, meditate on these, if that’s his structure, if that’s his way, that’s his way from my thoughts to meditate on these.
What happens if I don’t do it his way? Look at verse 9. These things which you learned and received and heard and saw on Twitter. Sorry, maybe I misread these. These things which you learned and received and heard and saw on Facebook, Mt. Carmel Church.
If we aren’t getting His Will, then We need to Examine our Ways
Let’s try it again. The things that you learned and receive. Where’s he going to go with this one? That you heard and saw on TV, these do. No, he says saw in me, these do and the God of peace will be with you. It’s never that. The God of peace is not with us because his will is holding out on us. We may not be connected with his way by what we’re meditating on and wondering why. My thoughts. Why? My anxieties. Why? My fears are running rampant because I’m not doing it his way so I’m not experiencing his will
When I meditate on the negative things and not on the praiseworthy things, I should not be shocked when I’m not experiencing his peace. God, where’s your peace? God, how come you won’t give me peace? How come you won’t give your peace? Because you’re not connected to my way. When you’re connected to my way, you get my will. My will is peace for you. Well, I can’t help it. I’m just going to meditate on these things. The things that are good, lovely, noble, just, and praise worthy. Are you thinking of those things? I’m thinking about what they said to me, Mt. Carmel Church.
I’m thinking about what they said. I’m meditating on that. When we rehearse the things that are opposite of this, I cannot be shocked when I don’t experience what God has for my life. When I meditate on what God says… So here’s some problems with the way. If you say, “Chad, I’m not experiencing the will of God.” Here are some problems with the way that we might’ve been experiencing. I’ll give you three things that can be problems with the way. Number one, it’s unknown. We may not know it. We may not know his way. We may be just totally oblivious to it. Maybe we’ve never been taught. The power of our will is not the issue. If we don’t know the right way, it’s like, “Hey, everybody’s got willpower and I can have willpower.” Willpower is great, but if I don’t know the way to direct my willpower, my willpower is not going to help me, Mt. Carmel Church.
We don’t know what We don’t know
I’ve got to have the right way. So it’s like if I don’t know God’s way, then I can’t experience his will, so sometimes we don’t experience God’s will because we haven’t been taught his way. Here’s what the Bible says in Hosea 4:6: my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. We go on trips sometimes. I remember the first time I traveled internationally, not the first time, it was actually the second time. We were traveling early on.
So, when you’re traveling internationally and you go to plug in to the wall socket (I don’t know if you know this about international travel, but they don’t have the same voltage that we do.)
So when you go to plug in a device, if you don’t have the right adapter, you can fry your device. But, if you have the right adapter, then it works perfectly fine. So the problem’s not with the supply being sent. The problem is me learning the right way to connect with it. So I didn’t know I had to bring this certain adapter. So I just went and I plugged into my device and all of a sudden this thing just got hot and just quite working because of what happened. I didn’t know, I didn’t know. Some of our problem with experiencing the will of God is we just don’t know. We don’t know what we don’t know. Look at what it says in Psalm 32:8; I will instruct you and teach you in the way. Everybody say “the way.” I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, Mt. Carmel Church.
This is God speaking. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. You know what that means. That means there is a way that has to be instructed and taught. If God says to you and me that I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, then there is a way that I have to be instructed and taught. It’s too easy for us to adopt the ideology and the mindset that the will of God is just going to happen whenever. This means that I don’t have to learn anything and I don’t have to be taught anything. I just get to sit there and be me and God’s going to do whatever he wants, but that is not what our Bible says. There is the way that I want you to go, but I have to instruct you in it and I’ve got to teach you in it, Mt. Carmel Church.
We might have to Learn the Way of God
I have to teach you the way. You have to learn the way of God. We have to learn how to act. I mean, you teach your kids how to act. They don’t walk out saying, “Yes ma’am.” They don’t walk out saying, “Please.” Last night, I’m walking through the parade, handing out little glow sticks and I don’t know how many times a parent said, “What do you say?” Why did they do that? They did it because they’re teaching them manners. They are teaching them to be grateful. So why would we think there’s a way of God that doesn’t have to be taught? We have to learn how to talk. As believers, we have to learn how to treat other people.
Yes, we have to learn how to think. We have to learn what thoughts to think on, and what thoughts not to think on. There’s a way. There’s a way we have to learn how to handle our finances. We have to learn how to take care of our bodies. Let’s just talk about the will of God.
Doing the Will of God isn’t always Easy
So number one, it’s unknown. Here’s number two. We’ve have to move forward. Number two, it’s hard the way. God’s way is hard. Number two, the reason why we aren’t experienced the will of God sometimes is because it’s hard to work with great, Mt. Carmel Church.
Matthew 7:14, it says because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are a few who find it. The word narrow means restricted or limited by obstacles. So sometimes we’re not experienced in the will of God because there are obstacles. I thought about this and I thought about obstacles the other day and I made a little video post about it. Maybe you caught it, but if you didn’t I want to mention it. When I was thinking about it, sometimes there are obstacles along the way. It’s hard. I began to think about the military. I began to think about people going into boot camp and training camp and how they go through these courses. They literally intentionally build obstacle courses.
The do it on purpose. They create obstacles. Why do they do that? Because an obstacle is made to impede or hinder progress. So why would you intentionally create obstacles and force people to go through them? That’s insane. You’re going to hinder and slow people down. If you look at it from that perspective or you can look at it from their perspective. They’re not concerned about the difficulty of the obstacle, as much as they are concerned about the development of the soldier. They’re not focused on that obstacle themselves, Mt. Carmel Church.
Don’t Focus on the Obstacles, Focus on what it is Developing in You
They’re focused on what the obstacle is doing to them. When you go through that obstacle and you get over it and you overcome it, and eventually as you overcome once, you begin to overcome faster and you get better and more adept at it. Now you’re overcoming these obstacles. You become a better soldier now because the obstacles aren’t the focus, but your development is the focus. So God’s spoken in my heart, he said, “Chad, you’re worried too much about the difficulty and not as much about the development.” Sometimes they get talking too fast. I’m sorry, slow down. It’s had a lot I want to say. I have a lot of words in here bubbling up, Mt. Carmel Church.
Pray for me. But it’s in that he writes, I’m dealing with some obstacles. Chad, I know we are. We’re all dealing with obstacles, but you have to be thinking about what is this obstacle doing for me when I overcome it? When overcome fear, what does that do for me? That helps me the next time fear comes. What do I do when I overcome jealousy and insecurity? What I do when I overcome and forgiveness and bitterness? What do I do when I overcome the next time when bitterness and unforgiveness knock on my door? That was me jumping over an obstacle right there. Okay. She didn’t know, Mt. Carmel Church
Some of you liked it, some of you didn’t. That’s all right. Come up with your own obstacle illustration next time, but here’s the point. Sometimes it’s hard, but let’s not focus on the difficulty. Let’s on the development. Let’s go to the third one. It’s number three.
Number one, it’s unknown. Number two, it’s hard. Number three, it’s long the way of God. God is long sometimes, Oh, it’s long Lord Jesus. It’s long. The problem is that we don’t know the way. We just have trouble staying connected to it, Mt. Carmel Church.
God Creates in us Endurance
Sometimes it’s stuff that we don’t know the way of God. We just get tired and want to unplug. I’ve tried that, Chad. I want to do something else. Sometimes it’s just long. Here’s a scripture for us. Hebrews 10:36; for you have need of endurance so that after you’ve done the will, after you’ve done the will of God, you may receive the promise for you have need of endurance. You know what? You and I, we need endurance. We want microwave answers. God says you need endurance, Mt. Carmel Church.
That’s the way we feel, right? When you’re like, “Can you do that to God? What do you mean?” Sometimes how we feel too, might as well be honest like I don’t want to have to wait again. Waiting time is my obstacle, but when I understand what God is building in me that now I’m not connected to time, so I’m not antsy and anxious. I’m patient. That’s why he’s building endurance in us because the word endurance means capacity to continue under difficult circumstances. We have to be able to be connected, and to stay connected to the right way to experience God’s will. I believe it’s a big deal because I see one of the challenges in church, one of the good things about church, and one of the challenges about church, if you pastor long enough, you see people come and go, Mt. Carmel Church
I’ve got nothing. I really, So, you said that was one of them leaving, right? That was a car door. They’re out. They said the sermon is too long. I’m out. But here I said I didn’t have anything, but I believe I did. But focus people, we’ve got a real suspect here. What was I talking? I don’t even know. I just had an Olaf moment there. I don’t even know. What was I talking about? Stay connected and determined. Yeah, man. It was going to be good. Oh yeah, I remember. So anyway. I was thinking I’ve be pastoring long enough and see people come and go. One of the biggest challenges I’ve had in my life, and I’ve seen it in other people, is staying power. It’s easy to get hyped in the moment. God’s going to do it. Whoo! Yes. Amen. He’s faithful and true. It’s written on his thigh, Mt. Carmel Church.
He is a faithful God. Then two months go by, faithful God. The year goes by, faithful. Good Lord. Where’s he at? Five. Faithful. Faithful, faithful to the tithe. Faithful. Eh, I’m not seeing the result. Faithful and pretty soon we unplug because we don’t have staying power. God says, I want to build endurance with you, that you can stand up under difficult circumstances. He’s not building mealy mouth people. I’m like, man, a check. You can’t say that. He’s not building wimpy people. Second service will be better. Just pray for me. He’s building people that have some endurance. He doesn’t want Christians that avoid confrontation. He wants Christians that overcome. Do you guys just want to start over? Is that what you want to do? You’re letting me but you’re thinking like, “This guy’s a moron.” You could be right.
It was one of those moments as a public speaker, you’re like, “Which way do I go?” I’m going to bring it home. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to bring this baby home. We’re going to land this bad boy. Turbulence is in the air, but we’re going to bring it down. Oh man, overflow. We love you. The power of choice, Mt. Carmel Church There are power of choices about selection. You and I, we all have the power of choice. We all have a will. God has a power of choice for you. He has a selection for you. He has an ideal for you, and a goal for you. He has a desire for you, but will we experience his will? We will not, unless we do it his way.
We won’t Experience the Will of God Until we Do it His Way
Dawn and I were talking the other day, and we’re just having conversation about the fact that we’re not going to experience the will of God for our marriage unless we do it his way. I can’t blame God for why the way it’s going if I’m not being the husband the way he wants me to. I was just talking about me. I can’t blame God for how this is going on for, when my attitude doesn’t line up with his way. Well, I’d have a better attitude if they hadn’t done it. Well no, no. His way, his way says bless your enemies. Love them. Do good to those who do evil to you. That’s his way, huh Mt. Carmel Church?
Chew on that for a while. Right? But if we do it his way, guess what we give his will. Do you want his peace in your life? Do you need his peace in your life? Then we need to be connected to his thoughts. Whatever things are noble, just, lovely, and praiseworthy, those things I’m going to meditate on. I’m not going to meditate on what they tweeted about me. I’m not going to meditate on what they said about me. I’m not going to meditate on what they did. I’m going to meditate on what you say. I’m going to get connected to him. So is it this morning that you have a will problem or do you have a way problem? Is it that God’s holding out on you or are you just not connected to the right source?
Bow your heads with me this morning. This is a different kind of landing. I believe we brought it to the ground, Mt. Carmel Church. Before we get into our visioning offering, I just want to give an opportunity for prayer. That is, for you to respond right now to this word. I know it was a little bit crazy, but man, I hope you heard from God. I hope the Holy Spirit spoke into your heart. I, I just tried to speak from my personality and, I trust most importantly that you hear Jesus speaking to you that right now as you’re praying, I want you to think, God, what do you want to say to me out of this message? Some of you already know what it is that there’s, you’ve been trying to stay connected. It’s trying to stay plugged in to the power of God and to have the power source, but you didn’t know. You didn’t know. There’s some things you need to learn. There’s a way that you need to be taught, Mt. Carmel Church.
There’s a way I need to be taught. It’s why you need to get in church, and stay in church. It’s why you need read your Bible. God wants to teach you his way. Maybe you’ve been on it and you’re just like, man, it’s hard, Chad. I’m trying, but it’s hard. I want you to see those obstacles as your development and not your difficulty. I want you to overcome them by the blood of the lamb and by the word of your testimony. I want you to be strengthened in the Lord in the power of his might, but you can overcome the adversity and not just be susceptible to all the scheming of the enemy. I want you to say, “No, I’m not going to think that way anymore.”
I’m going to press into what God says or maybe it’s just been long. Maybe you’ve been in a season where you’ve been battling long and you’re like, “Chad, I’m getting tired.” I get it. We all go there. It’s not that we go there once and we’re done. We’ll go there multiple times. In our life and our walk with God, but God says, you have need of endurance. You have need of the capacity to stay the course under difficult circumstances. Maybe you’re in a difficult circumstances right now and you hear the Holy Spirit saying to you, “Stay the course.” Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Do it God’s way. Do it the right way. Come on, you can make it. I’m with you. I will never leave you and I will never forsake you, Mt. Carmel Church.
I will guide you with my eye, but let me teach you my way to talk. Let me teach you my way to think. Let me teach you my way to love. Let me teach you my way. You’ll experience his will if you’ll do it his way.
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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