5 and 6. Billy was running a little slow and I saw he was looking for it. I wanted to say it again, okay? Proverbs chapter 3, verse number 5 and 6. He says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lead not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. You may be seated tonight. We've been talking about the will of God, been dealing with the series on the will of God in our lives, and Paul said he wanted those Hebrew saints or professors that they might do the will of God, that they might pursue a course of action in the will of God. And sometimes it's hard to know exactly what the will of God is for your life. There's a written will and there's an unwritten will. If we're not willing to walk in the written will, we're gonna have problem distinguishing the unwritten will of our lives if we refuse to obey the written will of God for our lives. We've talked about several things. that the Bible lays down clearly as far as the written will for our lives. We'll not recap all those and go over those, but you can get the messages on those. But we said there's a prerequisite that before we really know the unwritten will of God for our lives, there's a prerequisite that we need to come for. In other words, and by the way it said in Romans chapter 12 verse number 2, he said, be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good, the acceptable and perfect will of God. In other words, that word prove means to establish without any doubt. It means to or anything with the expectation of finding it good, whether it's worth, to see if it's worthy to be received or not. And of course, it's to get in that gap, the good, the acceptable and perfect will of God, and that's the unwritten will of God for our lives. Now, we said there's a prerequisite that Romans brings out, Romans 12, one and two, that we need to attempt to walk in. Now, I know we can't have total victory in those without the help of God, I understand that. Even as a lost person, you need to attempt to obey what God says, what He shows you, what He puts His finger on. And if you walk in that, meet the prerequisites of that, and those prerequisites was surrendering that body, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. Say, it's too much to ask. No, he said, that's your reasonable service, verse one said. Then he said, be not conformed to this world. That means we're to be separated from the world. And of course, when you surrender your body, you're consecrated to the Lord in that sense. But you need to also be spiritually minded, have your mind set on finding, establishing what is God's will for my life. Where and what does he want me to do? What does he want me to be? in that sense, in the gap that he wants me, the good, the acceptable, and perfect will of God. And if we'll attempt to surrender our bodies, separate from this world, and have our minds set on spiritual things, then we can find, we can test to see the unwritten will of God for our lives as we run some tests upon them to find the gap that God wants us in. Now last week we started talking about some tests as far as tests we're concerned and there's eight tests that you can run on the unwritten will of God to where you can determine or not whether it's the will of God for your life. Now I realize if a man's blinded and deceived it's hard to know exactly even then as you try to run the test. you'll get wrong information, you'll get fiery darts, you'll get temptation, you'll get things that'll cloud your mind. I understand that, but at least we ought to attempt to move in that direction. So we said the first test you need to run on anything or any particular thing in your life about the unwritten will of God, the first test was, does this thing, whether it's a job, whether it's what I'm to wear, how I'm to act, where I'm to be, where I'm to be moved to, my job or whatever, This thing does it conflict with any clear-cut command of the Word of God. You see, the Word of God, anything that goes against the Word of God, just mark it off right quick. It's not God's will. God will never go against His Word. Amen. He'll never do that. And you see every fork in the road and every decision that we come up on should be checked by the roadmap. This is the roadmap, the word of God. And you can, and somebody said, well, I need to do this. And I feel like I need to do that. Well, does it go against the word of God? Now use some examples. I'll not deal with those again, but use some examples that right quick and tell you that's not the will of God because it goes against the Word of God. In other words, and so therefore, if it's against the Word of God, mark it off. It's not God's will for your life. It's definitely not your gap to be in. Then the second test we said last Wednesday night that you need to run is similar to this. Does it bring honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, the Bible said in Ephesians 321, unto him be glory were in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. The glory, if you bypass God's church in this dispensation, you're going to be wrong. You're going to be an error. Any organization, any so-called ministry that's bypassing the local church, and that's the true church, by the way, it's not of God. And so whatever you do, does it bring honor and glory to the Lord and that you run that test by whatever it is, whether it's a job, whether it's something, how, what your, where do you live, what's your, whatever it is, as far as the place, the unwritten will of God for your life. If it doesn't bring honor and glory to the Lord, mark it off. Amen. and it's gonna have to be through his church in that sense. Now, I know you're not in church all the time, but yet you're connected to the church, then God uses you wherever you go. And that's why I get a lot of calls and people want me to give here and give there, give to this and Fraternal Order of Police and this thing and that thing. Sometimes you don't know whether it's kosher or not. You know what I just tell them? I do all our work through the church, amen, through the church, amen. Do it all through the church. And if you wanna, go through the church and designate something above the tithes, then that's all right to do that, to anything. But that way I don't have to worry about those phone calls that's coming in. I just tell them that. Of course, they don't understand that. They sure don't understand that. But does it bring honor and glory to the church? Everything should be centered around the church. It's just bright, if you please, and everything it moves ought to be connected to the local church. in that sense because that's the way God gets glory. To Him be glory in the church. So the first two, as we think about the first two tests a lot of times, if we would run those two tests upon what we want to do or what we, a job we have or what we want to wear or what we want to put in our bodies and this thing and that thing, it automatically say, hey, that's not God's will for your life. That's not your gap that you need to be in. Stop it right quick. And you don't have to worry about any of the other tasks. And that stops a lot of them. Now you go back and study Moses. Moses, first of all, God in the beginning of his ministry told him to smite the rock and out of it would come water. And he did that. Now about 38 years later, he came to a place where they didn't have water again, and God told him, go and speak to the rock, because that was a type. Jesus will be spoken, was smitten once. He'll not go back to the cross again, but then he'll be spoken to. You can cry out to him. You can call on him. And so there was a type in that, but because the people had got Moses a little bit angry and because Aaron was all connected there, both of them smoked the rock in a sense. They was involved in that and as a result, Aaron died that day and Moses did not get to enter the promise land. A promised land, he died prematurely and God buried him out there in the valley somewhere. So you see, as a result of that, you realize something. Moses actually broke the first two tests on the will of God. It wasn't God's will. It was violated God's word. God said, strike the rock once, then speak to the rock. He struck the rock twice. He violated that first test and therefore it wasn't in the will of God for him to do so. And it didn't bring honor and glory. to the Lord in that sense. Well, those are the two things that we've dealt with last week. Now, we want to go to number three, the test you run up on whatever it is you want to do or something, whatever it is you need to realize, have I prayed about it? That's a test you need to run through your mind. In other words, have I prayed about, I'm talking about really prayed about it. Now, sometimes it's just bless me, bless me, my wife, my son, John, his wife, us four and no more and that type thing. And that's not just, that's not praying, really praying. You see, you need to really pray about something. Now, you go back and study some of the Old Testament things that happen. And by the way, The Old Testament may seem like it's dead, and it don't really tell us anything, but God said that he used the Old Testament scripture for hope, that we might have hope. And Romans says that. That's on this side of the cross, that we might look at it so there's some time. And there we find Eli had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who were sons of Beliah. They were wicked sons, and they went out to war one day with the Philistines, and they were being smitten down. They were being beat upon. And what did they do? They did what somebody had done years before. Well, even Joshua had done it around the Jericho wall. They took the Ark of the Covenant, and the walls fell down. They said it worked for him, it'll work for me, but they didn't pray about it. They didn't ask God. And they were priests, by the way, even though they were wicked priests. They didn't ask God about it. They didn't even ask their daddy about it. He wasn't right with God, but still had to ask him. He'd have probably said, don't do it, because he was concerned about the Ark going out there. But they didn't pray about it and they carried the ark out there. It wasn't God's will for it to be done because they hadn't prayed for it. And they got out there and they shouted out, it will save us! I won't tell you what, an object won't save you. It's the God of the object, amen? Somebody say, well, I thank God for the King James 1611. I won't tell you what, it's the God of the 1611 who does the work, you understand? Thank God for the ark. Thank God for the God of the ark. But you see, they just took the ark out there without playing about it and lost the ark and the glory of God departed from all Israel. And it wasn't the same after that. They didn't have really a place to meet God with at that time. And then another incident happened whenever Joshua was over there. Of course, this happened before the ark was taken away. But Joshua, after Jericho, and they'd had great victory, he just assumed God was going to do exactly what He said He would do. And He will do what He said He would do, which was that He'll fight the enemy. So they come to Ai. He said, there's no use to us care many over there. We whooped them at Jericho. Hey, we didn't whoop. Now I know he didn't say that exactly, but that was his thinking because he didn't pray about going to the battle of Ai. And he took a reduced number, but he didn't ask God's direction upon it. And when he went out there, they were defeated in a sense, and they took tail and run, and 36 Jews were killed that day. Israelites were killed that day, and left their wives and husband, Well, the wives and children without a daddy and without a husband is what it amounted to. And so as a result, Joshua fell on his face and began to more or less have a pity party and said, we ought to just stay over yonder on the other side, in so many words. And God said, get up off the ground. What had happened was he failed to pray about the will of God for the battle of Ai. And he lost, and he put men's lives in jeopardy because of it. So anything that you come up on, you need to pray about it, but you need to pray not just to hit and miss, you need to pray about, I'm talking about, really pray about it. He liked the preacher one time. The pulpit committee come to his house and called him outside and talked to him about what all kind of a package deal they had and what kind of salary they had and this thing and that thing. And he said, well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll pray about it. And left them there and they went off on their way. He went in the house and told his wife, said, honey, you pack while I pray. That's not praying about it, really praying about it, amen? But that happens a lot of times that way. We go through the motion instead of really doing. You see, it's hard to get honest when flesh gets in the way. When your flesh gets in the way. Matthew 6, 6, he said, but thou, when thy prayers enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee open. Listen, prayer takes faith and prayer takes patience. And patience is the quality of the individual who's got a goal in mind. He doesn't surrender to the circumstances or succumb to the trial. He doesn't let the little things get him down. It takes faith and it takes patience. And the Bible said in Hebrews 11 too, which right after verse one said, define faith as a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And verse two said, and by it, by faith, the elders obtained a good report. They went into heaven, they found the mind of God, and they bound some things and they loosed some things. And that's what we've got to do. In other words, have you prayed about it, really, really prayed about it and get the mind of God. Test number four, to find the will of God. Have I allowed time for the Holy Spirit to work in my life? Have I allowed time for Him to work? We're in this hurry-up world today. I mean, and it affects us all, whether we want to admit it or not. You realize we don't have any patience in this hurry-up world. Get to a red light, and I'm just as bad as anybody. If the other car don't move too quick, you'll hear toot, toot, toot. Amen? And I'm liable to toot sometimes, you know, in that sense. But I have done that in the past. I'm trying to do a little better, okay? But we're in a hurry-up world. and it affects us, you see, and peer pressure. You realize something, peer pressure, it gets hold of you. Listen, did you know you girls, you listen, young girls, I mean, you think that, you know, you've got to have a boyfriend by the time you're 12 years old, and a date by 14, and then married by 17. If you're not, you're gonna be an old maid. Listen, girls, listen, you get the wrong boy, it's like getting a bus, you'll wind up at the wrong place. What am I talking about? Allow time for the Holy Spirit to work. See, you ought to find out, find the will of God concerning the mate for your life, even the one that you go out with, amen? Don't go out with one that wouldn't make a prospective husband or a prospective wife, okay? If you didn't do that, then you wouldn't marry the, you might not marry the wrong one, I'll put it that way, but you can still get flesh in the way and get messed up in that. But allow time for the Holy Spirit to work. Wait on the right one. And by the way, Isaac was 40 years old when he got married, okay? So you've got plenty of time, okay? Allow time for the Holy Spirit to work. You know something? God called Peter to go be a fisher of men, did he not? When he walked by and said, I want to make you fisher of men. But after Jesus died and was resurrected, they saw him after the resurrection. He appeared to them the first Sunday night and the second Sunday night, and other times they appeared to them, and yet what happened whenever I got out there one time and come to a place to where Peter said, I go fishing. I go fishing. Now, he wasn't fishing for fun. He wasn't fishing for a hobby. What he was saying was, I'm going to go back to fishing. I don't know what to do. He's not allowing time for the Holy Spirit to work in his life. In other words, and he influences six more to go with him. What would have happened if he'd said, let's have a prayer meeting? I believe those six would have said, let's pray. I'll pray with you. but they went fishing, and in other words, they were doing it for a living. They didn't, in other words, they didn't take time for the Holy Spirit to work. And we see that throughout the scripture. If you want to find the gap, allow time for the Holy Spirit to work in your life. John 16, 13 says, when he, how be it, when he, the Spirit of truth has come, he'll guide you into all truth, that's into your gap, the unwritten will, where God wants you to be. Number five, the test you run upon whatever it is that you're looking for, trying to find the will of God for your life, is there an open door or am I kicking the door down? Now, sometimes it's hard for us to know when we're deceived and blinded and dead in trespasses and sin. It's hard to know whether there's an open door that's opened by God or whether it's opened by you or whether you're kicking it down in that sense. But Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 16, 9, For a great door, an effectual, is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. The word effectual means an opportunity for the working of the gospel. Paul said an open door, and there's an opportunity for me to go preach the gospel. Now he tried to go to some places, but the Holy Spirit forbade him, and he was sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He didn't go to those places, but he heard, he waited to the point in prayer that he got to the point to where he heard the Macedonian call we talk about, come over and help us. Well, listen, folks, every open door may not be God's will, For instance, Balaam said, I want to go curse the children of God. God, can I curse your children? And God said, don't be foolish about that. Don't do it. God had already told him no, but because Balak offered him more money, he went back and said, I really want to go. And God said, finally, I'm going to let you have your way. Now, some people think that God's got a permissive will for your life and a divine will. That's really not scriptural. God's got a divine will for your life, and yet there's times He lets you have your own will, and you think it's an open door, and you go through it, and Balaam went through that so-called open door. God let him do it, and if he hadn't had it, been riding a smart donkey, he'd have died. Now I tell you, you might not be riding as smart a donkey as Balaam was, all right? But he would have died that day, and you say, what? I don't even know what you're talking about. Read it in the book of Numbers, okay? I can't give all of it, but the donkey saved his life. And so then also, talking about an open door, is the door open or am I kicking the door open? You think about the man in 1 Kings chapter 13, he was the prophet that went over and prophesied against Jeroboam's altar. And what had happened was, said there's going to come a time in Josiah's ministry, he didn't name it, and then the word 300 years, and this altar is going to be destroyed and boy, it made the king mad and he reached out to get hold of him. When he did, his hand became leprous and then he said, he said, pray for me that my hand won't be leprous. That was a feared disease. And he prayed for him and his hand was made whole. He said, come on over and eat bread with me. I like you now. You know, he'd forgot about the other part, I guess you say, but I know it doesn't say that in the scripture, but you understand. And he said, no, God said, God's will for my life is not to do this, and don't eat bread, to return a different way, and don't eat bread or drink water while I'm here, and so he left. But yet, the boys, a couple of boys of an old has-been so-called preacher, I guess your prophet should say, wasn't really a man of God, but he was a try-to-be, wanna-be, I guess you could say, but he went over, and they said, hey, we saw what, and they told him what transpired with this prophet, and he went after him. And he told him, he said, come on, eat bread with me. And he said, no, God told me, God told me to go back a different way, don't eat bread or water. And he said, I'm a prophet like you are, and God told me to tell you. Whoa, let's wait on that. Listen, I want to tell you, if God can't tell you, now God, you may use preachers to preach something, but God's got to quicken it to you, amen? You stay put till God tells you to do it. Amen? I mean, we can, you see a lot of preachers got an idea of what's right for you and what's right for you. And I want to tell you, they don't know. They're not God. They may think they are, but they're not God. You let God speak to you. Amen? You let Him speak. And that man stepped through what looked like an open door and wound up losing his life because he didn't take heed to what God had already told him. Now the devil will send some people along and try to make it look like an open door to you to do this or do that, and to get you in the wrong gap, get you in the wrong place, and you might come up meeting a line in the way like that false prophet did at that particular time, you see. And it was not the will of God. The Bible said in the book of Revelation, chapter number three, verse number seven and eight, and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right. These sayings saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. In other words, now, he said, I've set before you an open, and when God opens a door, You can walk through it. You can, and you won't have to kick it down. You won't have to force things to fit in order. Now, I know that some say, well, to delay is to disobey, and that's true in one sense if you really know it's God's will, but yet the Bible says in the book of 1 John 4, verse number 1 through 3, he said, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. In other words, he's saying that the spirit of Antichrist, the devil's spirit's out there. It's a false spirit. It's an unholy spirit. And he'll disguise himself and tell you he's Jesus, tell you he's God, tell you he's the Holy Spirit, and lead you astray. That's why you've got to try the spirit. And I know when you're deceived, and I know when you're blinded, And I know when the God of this world has us in that shape, as far as seekers are concerned, it's hard to know sometimes what's of God and what's not of God. Listen, it'll agree with this book. It'll be truth. And if it doesn't lead you in truth, if it's not truth, then you mark it off. It's not of God. And if it's not of God, I don't care how much hoopla that so-called spirit gives. If it doesn't lead in truth, it's not a Holy Spirit. And if it's not a Holy Spirit, it's an unholy spirit, okay? All right. Because the Bible said, try the spirits. Why? 2 Corinthians 11, 14, he said that no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. In other words, when you're going down the road trying to find something and you don't have enough light on the subject, what do you do? You know what most of us do? We try to do what we make it look good for ourself. Well, if you're going down a path, and you know it's a rocky path, and you know they're subject to rattlesnakes being down that path, but in the daylight, you can dodge them. You can stay away from them. Now, if there's too many there, I don't even want to be on that path. But I've got news for you. The path you're taking, spiritually speaking, there's a lot of rattlesnakes out there. Amen? And if you don't have, if you've got light, you could dodge those rattlesnakes, but just all at once, you're walking down that path, and the lights go out. The sun just automatically, or something, I mean, it's an eclipse or something, and it becomes totally dark. What are you going to do? No light. Rattlesnakes. Well, I'll just, I'll run back. No, you'll get bit if you go back. Stay put. Don't move. Well, I think I need a better job, I think I need this, I think I need that. Don't move until you've got light from God on it, amen? Till the Holy Spirit move, because if you do, you're liable to get bit by a rattlesnake, amen? You say, they're biting me a whole lot where I'm at now, but just wait, there's some other bigger ones out there somewhere else, okay? In other words, don't, and to delay is to disobey, but don't move, even don't go back. Wait till you get more light. Let the light come. In other words, because it's dangerous to move anywhere because it's rattlesnakes. I'm talking about the physical thing. And it's the same way spiritually. You see, the Lord wants us to be cautious. He wants you to learn to be cautious. Did not God use those that were cautious in Gideon's day? 32,000 came out, wasn't it? 32,000 came out to battle. Oh boy, we're going to whoop the socks off of those Midianites. And God says, too many, too many. Trimmed it down to 10,000. Well, maybe we can handle it with 10,000. He said, I've got news for you. I want you to go out there and let them go down to the brook and drink. And says, you watch them. The ones that goes down and just laps it up like a dog in this sense and just gets down there and sticks his head in the water, you put them over here. And then those that go down there and more or less put their hand to their mouth and they're watching for the enemy. He said, you put them over here. Well, he got done. It's 300 over here and 9,700 over here. And probably Gideon thought, well, 9,700 ain't too bad. God said, no, 300's the ones I want to use because they're cautious. And God used the cautious ones in the will of God to destroy the Midianites. Amen. You see, God wants you to be cautious and don't move. Then somebody says, to delay is to disobey. That's true if you know it. But if you're in doubt about it, you're better off and say, God, I just don't know what I need to do. I'm gonna have to stay here even though I know some things is not right. I'll stay here until I know there's an open door and I won't kick it down and the Spirit of God's leading me and guiding me, giving me the light I need and then I can find my good, acceptable and perfect will of God. the gap that he wants me to be in. Well, you realize something, let's go on to the sixth one. Now we've talked about first test, does this thing that I want to do or whatever it is, does it conflict with any clear-cut command of the scripture? Will it bring, number two, will it bring honor and glory to the Lord? Number three, have I prayed about it, really prayed about it? Number four, have I allowed time for the Holy Spirit to work in my life? Number five, is there an open door or am I kicking the door open? Number six, What's my heartfelt desire? What's my heartfelt desire? Mark chapter 11, verse 24, the word of God says, therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. And the Lord taught us to pray in Matthew chapter 6, verse number 10, in what's really, it's not the Lord's Prayer, we call it the Lord's Prayer, but it's really the prayer, model prayer, if you please. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In other words, and so he taught us to pray, to do your will, and he wants you to have his will, that should be the desire of your heart. Now real desire that comes from a saved person, the real desire that's correct with God is the same as God's will. In other words, when you're saved and you meet the prerequisites of being surrendered to your body, separated from the world, and being spiritually minded, then you won't desire anything that the Lord don't want you to desire, if you're really in there 100%. I know we let flesh get in the way, and I know like Paul said, I've got to buffet this body, and things do come in, I understand that, and let me say this, a lot of temptations are going to come to the flesh, a lot of fiery darts are going to come from the devil during that time, but listen, if you're where God wants you to be, and you're really seeking that, you'll hear from Him, He'll show you what He's worth. He'll put a desire in your heart and you can pray. And God said, I'll grant that. In other words, you can have not only your needs, but you can also have the desires of your heart. They'll be met because what you desire in that situation is what the Lord's will is for your life. And he said this in 1 John 5, verse number 14 and 15. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if any ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we desired of him. You see, what we need to do a lot of times is just use plain old ordinary common sense, amen, about some things. Horse sense, if you please, all right? You see, for instance, you want to say, well, I think I want to do this and that. Listen, if you've got a problem riding in an airplane, you sure don't need to be a pilot. Amen? If you're allergic to bee steam, you don't need to be a manager of a bee farm. Okay? I mean, you use some common sense about some things, talking about he'll give you the heartfelt desires, in other words, in death. You see, Balaam didn't meet the prerequisites that God had to surrender his body of being separated from the world and being spiritually minded. He wanted what he wanted, what flesh wanted, and as a result, he desired the wrong thing. Wanted to die the death of the righteous, but he didn't die that death. He was lost and went to hell. Number seven, have I sought godly counsel? I'm saying godly counsel. Now, and by the way, let me say this, Ann Landers, and dear Abby, and dear Annie, or whatever they call it now, is not godly counsel, amen? I mean, they'll tell you homosexuality's all right. That's wrong, amen? I mean, have you sought godly counsel instead of rushing into something? Now, where do you get godly counsel from? Well, you can get it from your parents if they're where they need to be. There is some godly counsel. And by the way, sometimes your parents may not exactly be where they want to, but in some areas, they may have some advice that's pretty good for you, young people. You know? But I remember when I was about 16, Daddy didn't know nothing. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Pretty dumb, wasn't he? By the time I got 25, I found out he was pretty smart. He learned a whole lot in those last eight, nine years. Y'all know what I'm talking about, don't you? Now, you young people think, boy, my daddy and mama's just dumb. They just don't know what's going on. Well, I want to tell you what, if they're where God wants them to be, if they're trying to lead you in the right direction, there can be some godly counsel. They've been there. The reason they don't want you to do some things is because they know what they're suffering, the consequences of some things in their lives, and they don't want you to have to go through that, amen? And yet, you're not gonna listen. I understand a lot of times that's true, but you see, they know more than you think they know. They really do. So you need to seek godly counsel from godly parents, and if they're not godly, well, there's still some advice they can give you about some practical things. that you ought to take heed to, at least consider it, amen, consider it. Well, what else? Godly counsel, not only from your parents, but godly counsel from your pastor. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17, he said, Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your soul, that they must give an account, that they might do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable to you. You see, we need wisdom. You need wisdom. I need wisdom. But you say, I know what my pastor is saying, I don't want to ask him. That's because you want to do what you want to do. I remember back years ago at Southside, there's a boy, there's a man, he was wanting to get a divorce from his wife. And he wouldn't come to me and ask me about it because he knew what I was going to tell him. Amen? He knew I was going to tell him. Now she wasn't running around on him. She wasn't doing it. He just decided he wanted to get his foot loose and fancy free is what it was. And so instead of him coming to me, he went to a neighbor pastor over the way. And it happened the neighbor pastor knew me and I knew him and he believed like I did and he told him the same thing I told him and he didn't like him from then on. You see, because he told him what he didn't need to do, you know, in that sense. Well, what I'm saying is, listen, if you're looking for somebody to tell you what you want to hear, you can find them. They call themselves preachers. But I'm talking about those that tell you what the word of God says, the roadmap, you see. It's not always easy to say what needs to be said. Y'all know that? It's not always easy, but this is what God said. Finding your will, in other words, his will in your life. Now, that fella didn't wanna hear. He wound up, I think, after, I can't remember, but I think he wound up doing what he shouldn't have done. But at any rate, he didn't want the truth. He wanted somebody to tell him, listen, you can see and you can find it. You can find it whether you're seeking or not. There's some preachers out there to tell you what you want to hear. And you pretty well know what they're going to tell you and that's why you go to them a lot of times and everything's going to be okay. I get so tired and sick of some of these. They talk about just come on as you are. Y'all hearing that on the news and advertisements and these churches that don't even want to put Baptist up on the front? I mean, little bitty words, you know, where you can't see it even driving by, you know? I ain't calling no names. Y'all figure it out. I mean, listen, I'd hate to be a horse in Texas that wasn't branded. It wouldn't even be good for glue. You know, and so I don't want to be some Baptist. I understand. I had somebody tell me the other day, I don't want nothing to do with Baptists. Some of them said, you Baptists, y'all all stuck up and this thing and that thing. I've had a little of all of it said, but I'd still rather be branded in this day what our old Baptist used to stand for. Amen. And if they don't stand for that, well I don't want no part of that either, you understand. But the thing about it is, you can find somebody to tell you what you want. I think about Ahab and Jehoshaphat. They joined up and yoked up. And of course Jehoshaphat, he had a little spirituality about him, but Ahab had none. And so he went to all of his magicians and astrologers and prophets, so-called prophets, false prophets, and said, what can we do about going to battle here? What can we do about this battle? Oh, go on, everything's gonna be hunky-dory, okay? I'm paraphrasing the Hebrew, okay? Hunky-dory, well, and Jehoshaphat said something. Let me see if I can find that in the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 18. verse number six and seven. But Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? I don't believe those guys, is what Jehoshaphat, he ought to went back home is what he ought to have done, but he didn't do it. But he said, I don't believe those guys. And the king of Israel, who's Ahab, said unto Jehoshaphat, yeah, in essence there's a man, there's yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him. for he never prophesied good to me, but he always evil. The same is Micaiah, the son of Imola. And Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say so. In other words, and he goes on to say, call him, let's hear from him. So they sent a messenger down to Micaiah. Now the reason he didn't like him is because Micaiah told him the truth. And he didn't like the truth. Well, they got down there in verse number Verse number 12 of chapter 18 says this, And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent. Let thy word, therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good. And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak. Now, the amazing part about it, when you read this, Micaiah had a good sense of humor. And he went up there, Ahab asked him, said, what about the battle? Oh, everything's going to be fine. And you know what Ahab said? Tell me the truth. He knew he wasn't telling the truth. He was just tongue in cheek, just saying everything's going to be fine. And he told him what was going to happen. You're going to die. And then the Bible said in verse number 25 through 27 of chapter 18, he said, Then the king of Israel said, Take ye Micaiah, and carry him back to Ammon, the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son. And say thus saith the king, Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction, and water of affliction, until I return in peace. And Micaiah said, If thou certainly return in peace, then hath not the Lord spoken by me. And he said, hearken all ye people. In other words, he said, you're not coming back. And he didn't come back, you understand. But the thing about it, he wanted somebody to tell him like it was. But Jehoshaphat said, we need somebody to tell us the truth. And then they still didn't follow the truth. Jehoshaphat should have went back to Judah. That's what he should have done. And it caused him a lot of problems later on in that life. Well, he didn't want to hear the word of God. He wanted to hear what he wanted to hear. He didn't want to hear truth. And that's the way a lot of people are today, trying to find the will of God when they're looking for counsel. Godly counsel through parents, godly counsel through the pastor, and godly counsel through some Christian friend. One that uses wisdom, by the way, and you know what? There are few and far between, okay? But one that will say what's right, not what you want to hear. That's who you need to look to. One that'll tell you the truth about whatever it is you're looking for. And sometimes they don't know. And they have to say, my counsel is, I don't know. Wait on God, in other words. Well, we're talking about what to do. Now, we said there's seven tests we've talked about. Does this thing conflict with any clear-cut command of the Scripture? If it is, mark it off. It's not of God. Does this bring honor and glory to the Lord? If it don't, mark it off. Have I really prayed about it? Have I allowed time for the Spirit of God to work in my life? Is there an open door or am I kicking the door open? Number six, what's my heartfelt desire? Number seven, have I sought godly counsel? Now let me say this. You can run those seven tests upon some things and every one of them come back in a positive way. They don't violate. And you're still not exactly sure what you need to do and when. So there's an eighth test that you've got to run, and that is, is the timing right? You see, you can have God's will in your life. God want you to do something, but it's not time yet. It's not time yet. And I know there's a lot of frustration while you're waiting for the time to get right in that sense, but you see, Ecclesiastes 3.1, he said this, He said, to everything there is a season, and a time to every person under the heaven. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 said, but when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, right on time, in other words. You see, if you're too early on something, it's not God's will, you're out of the will of God. If you're too late, you're out of the will of God. And therefore, you will suffer the consequences, so you need to wait on God's timing. For instance, an example is Moses. Moses grew up in Pharaoh's house. God called Moses, you read in the book of Acts, where he knew he was called to be a deliverer for the children of Israel. And he chose to suffer affliction with the children of Israel rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season in Pharaoh's house. He got back with his own people and made brick with them, I would suppose. In other words, how long, I don't know. But he knew he was going to deliver. He knew that, and by the way, that was his call to the ministry, and yet he hadn't even been saved yet. Hadn't even been saved probably until his backside of the desert when he met God in the burning bush. But he knew he was gonna have to preach, in essence, be a deliverer, and he had the call on his life. And so as a result, he got over there, and when things got just right, he took it in his own hands to try to deliver that one Jew, in essence, there, the Israelite, and as a result, killed that Egyptian. But God let him be found out because it wasn't time yet. God wasn't ready to bring the children of Israel out. He had to prepare Moses, even though it looked like Moses was prepared. He knew all about the Egyptian. Now he's got to go out to the back side of the desert. See, Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody. And then he spent the next 40 years thinking he was a nobody, but then the last 40 years he found out that God can take a nobody and make somebody out of him, amen. And he led the people out. But the thing about it, he got his time and all. So you may seemingly pass all seven of those tests, finding your gap, the unwritten will of God for your life, but if you're out of God's time, then you're in trouble. You're in trouble, in other words, and you'll suffer the consequences. Wait on God, wait for God's time. Now, we've said you've got to really get in your gap, you've got to meet the prerequisites, you need to run the test. And let me say this, you need to acknowledge Him, and that's our text verse tonight. You need to acknowledge Him in everything that you do. In our text verse, what did He say in verse 5 and 6? He said, trust in the Lord with Proverbs 3, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. In other words, you need to acknowledge him. Now the word acknowledge means to understand, to know. It means to be well acquainted with. It means to know as, in other words, as Cain went out of the land and knew his wife. It means to become intimate with. Loving him supremely is what it's talking about. Loving him supremely. That's the equivalent of the New Testament word which means to abide. Bible says this in the book of John about all the saints of God. He said in the book of John, verse number, chapter 15, verse number 4 through verse number 7, He said, Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, so no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and there burn. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. In other words, abiding is equivalent of the Old Testament word acknowledging, acknowledging him. Now to abide means to have no known sin, unjudged or unconfessed. It means to have no interest into which He is not brought. It means to have no life which He cannot share. It means to take all your burdens to Him. And it means to draw all wisdom and life and strength from Him. It means letting nothing be allowed in one's life which separates you from Him. And by the way, it says acknowledge him, okay? Him, the word him is a pronoun which means he himself, not another. Oh, you think about what the Bible says. You know, the Bible said in the book of Acts chapter 1 verse number 11, when Jesus was out there on the Mount of Ascension, whenever he ascended up, and what did the angels promise? Don't be worried about this. For the Lord himself, himself, not another, shall descend from heaven with a shout. Well, that's what it says. He'll come back. In other words, the Lord himself is going to come back, Acts says in chapter number 1, verse number 11. In fact, it said, you stand gazing up, this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go. And then Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. Dead in Christ arise, we which are alive remain, caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. himself. In other words, acknowledge he himself, not some other. He said this in the book of John chapter 14 when he was about ready to leave out to go to the garden of Gethsemane and on to the cross. He said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In the Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place. And if I go, and he did go and prepare a place for you, he said, I will come again, he himself. not another, and receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. In other words, he himself, you see, he's talking about him, the one who gives personal attention, that's the omnipresence of our God. The one who has power to do what he says, that's the omnipotence of our God. The one who has wisdom and knowledge, that's the omniscience of our God. Now you notice she said, in all thy ways acknowledge him. And how many ways? In all thy ways. All thy ways. How many ways is that? Well all is all. In the Hebrew, you know what it means? It means the whole. It means all. It means everyone. And the ways is talking about your goings. your walk, your journey, your course, refers to the actions and behavior of men. It covers the whole area of one's actions, life's actions, whether it be all of its acts, all of its undertaking, all of its spiritual and secular side as well. And really, there ought not to be a secular side. It all ought to be spiritual. Do you know that? 1 Corinthians 10 31, he said, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Everything, your job, your play, your hobbies, your fellowship ought to be dedicated to God and be done for the glory of God, therefore there's really no secular side. It's all spiritual, if you please. But for the humanist's sake, you have to divide it between, in other words, spiritual and secular. But it means all. Matter is not what it is, and public or private in your life. Do all. This guards against our acknowledging God only in great crisis, or in other words, or even in solemn acts of worship, just regarding him. Not all time. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and the promise, he, not another, shall. Do what? Direct thy paths. The word shall is a conditional promise. If we do, he will. He shall, in other words. And he's never lied. Did you know that? He'll do. He will direct our paths. Now the word direct means to make straight. It means to be level. It means to be beaten out flat. In other words, the word path is talking about our way of life. You see, he's our road maker. He's our road maker. He makes straighter level by moving all obstacles out of the way. In other words, he'll either move the obstacles out of our way, and sometime we do have obstacles in our way. And you know why you have obstacles in your way? You know what you've got to do? You've got to wait. You ever been driving down the highway and a storm come up and blow down a tree across the road? And then blow one down, I mean, the people behind you can't turn around, you know? Sometimes you got obstacles with wrecks on some, I remember being in some places sometime and people trying to drive out across the way and get stuck in the trailer trucks, you know, trying to find, get up on that side road. I remember some were, you know, people, we get, we get, hurry up, amen, hurry up. And I understand. But I, you know what I mean? But, but you see, you've got to wait till God moves those obstacles out of your way. Got to wait on that. He'll clean it out of the way, like a highway department to clean up that thing. If they got somebody to tell them what to do, amen. But to clean it up, Isaiah 40, verse number 31, he said, but they that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. In other words, you see, he'll either move obstacles out of our way, or he'll carry us over the obstacles, or under the obstacles, around the obstacles, or through the obstacles. He'll do it if we wait up on Him. And he said, he's our road maker, and he's our guide, by the way. He's been there before. In other words, we're going places we've never been before in our life, but he's been there before. He knows all about it. He knows the way. Therefore he said, in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. We're talking about the unwritten will of God for our life. We need to meet the prerequisites of that and run the test upon that and acknowledge Him. But then what do we need to do once we come to that place is do the will of God. do the will of God. Psalm 143 verse number 10, the psalmist said, teach me to do thy will of God, the will of God, to pursue a course of action, to carry out the will of God in my life, the written will and the unwritten will. In other words, he says, you probably already know more than what you're doing, you just need to do it. You just need to do it, amen. In other words, not just teach me about it, but do it. That means to labor, to work, to toil, to accomplish something. Make me willing to be made willing is what we need to do, and when will that happen? In the day of His power, Psalm 110, verse number three said. Paul prayed for the saints at Colossae to be filled with knowledge of the will of God. When he talked about this in Colossians chapter one, verse number nine, he said, for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. He said, I'm praying that you may know the will of God, not just the written will, but the unwritten will. Epaphras labored in prayer for the Colossians to stand in the will of God. Colossians 4, 12, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluted you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers. What? That you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Now the psalmist said, do it. Do it. You know more than you're doing, do it. Pursue a course of action. May we find the written will of God for our lives and the unwritten will of God for our lives, and do it. And you know what? You'll be recorded as someone said, blessed is the man. Who does that? Blessed is the man. Spiritually prosperous is that man who's found his gap, the good, the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. Run the test, decide what it is, know it, and then do it for God's glory. Father, I plead the blood tonight just asking your will be done. I know there's a lot of material we cover, but I pray someway, somehow, that it'll set up on somebody and somebody get hope and help in these days. And find their gap, their glitch, if you please, that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God for their lives. and walk therein by doing it. Teach me to do thy will, the psalmist said. And yet, we sometimes not willing, but oh, in the day of his power, we long for that, that we might be made willing to do your will. Walk therein, whatever it is, whatever the consequences, even though it be contrary to the flesh many times, but help us, Lord. Help us to know you placed us You'll place us again when it's time to go. And until then, may we just continue to give you glory in that place where you placed us, in that gap. And we'll thank you for what you do. For we ask it in Jesus' name, for his sake we pray. Heads bowed, eyes closed, altars opened. We remind the Lord as she plays.