Narangba Baptist Church

Introduction

Last week we looked at the topic of Dealing with Temptation. And if I had to summarise what I said in one sentence it would probably be: “Stay away from the tree!” – based on the principle “If you can’t reach it, you can’t eat it”. This week we are going to think about a different topic and as we commence I would like you to think about this question:

How many decisions do you think you have made in the past week? – 50, 100, 1000? Some decisions are easy aren’t they? Should I have two scoops of ice-cream for my dessert, or three? - The answer of course is 3 – I need lots of ice-cream! Some decisions are a bit harder. Should I buy a blue shirt, or a green shirt? – That’s not too difficult – but what if I am buying a car – Should I buy a Holden or a Ford – or a second hand Daewoo? Some of these decisions are not all that important – but what about decisions like “Should we stay in our present home, or move to another home or situation?’ – “Should I get involved in a particular situation involving my wider family?” – “Should I be going on a short term mission?” Sometimes the decisions are not personal ones – for example they may relate to our church. Should we build a building? Should we call a particular person as our pastor? etc

Guidance defined

If we had to put a label on this kind of decision making we would probably call it “seeking guidance”.  At one level it sounds easy – just pray and God will show you the way to go! That is true isn’t it – we can pray and know that God will guide us. But if it is that simple, why then do so many Christians find guidance so difficult? And they do! In my work with Alongside Ministries I spend a lot of time mentoring pastors. The men I work with generally have a good knowledge of the Scriptures – they are accustomed to people coming to them seeking advice about decisions they need to make. But when it comes to making big decisions themselves, the don’t find it so easy e.g. Should they make themselves available for a call to another church? Should they confront a person in the church who is causing a lot of trouble? What should they do about their teenager who is refusing to go to church?

God’s plan for our life

Most Christians I talk to believe that God has a plan for their life – and they are keen to follow that plan. The Bible tells makes it plain that God has planned “good works” for us to do. We read this in verses like Ephesians 2:10

Introduction

As I thought about what God would have me speak about over the next two Sunday mornings I began to think about the question “What are some of the areas in which Christians struggle in their walk with God?” When I say “Christians” I include myself in that group – because I too seek to walk with God and there are areas in which I struggle, even after 34 years of being a Christian.

When I thought about that question I came up with two topics – the second of those is “Guidance – discovering God’s will for our life” – God willing we will think about that question next week.

But this morning I want to think about a topic which is probably even more of a problem for Christians than that of Guidance. But before I do, let me ask you some questions:

Think back to yesterday morning, Saturday morning. Put your hand up if, as you lay in bed thinking about getting up, you said to yourself “I wonder how much sin I can get involved in today?” “I wonder how many ways I can disobey God today?” Nobody! Let me ask you another question: Put your hand up if, when you went to bed on Saturday evening and looked back on the past day you could honestly say to yourself “Well, I just had a perfect day. All of my actions, all of my thoughts were God-honouring. I had a completely sinless day.” Nobody! – and notice that my hand is not up either.

So here we have a group of Christians who started the day with a desire to honour God and obey him completely – and none of us achieved it. Why is that? How could that possibly happen? Let me read to you a passage that will begin to give us some answers.