For those of you who are visiting once a month, our associate pastor and I, Pastor Kim and I switch places. I usually preach in the morning. I've been going through the book of Exodus and So now I'm preaching something out of that series, a passage that is one of my favorite scriptures and something actually which I regularly use when I'm talking to men in the jail and also others in the community who are seeking wisdom and what to do in a decision. You see my sermon title tonight is He Will Show You the Way. Proverbs chapter three, verses five and six. And you'll notice in your bulletin at the end of the scripture reading, I will say this is the word of the Lord. Please respond, thanks be to God. And I hope you are thankful tonight that we have God's word. And we have it in our own language. And we have copies of it. And we have the privilege of hearing the word of God proclaimed. Hear the word of the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Yes, the grass withers and the flowers of the field fade away, but this is the Word of the Lord, the Word of God, and God's Word stands forever. You'll notice there is an outline for tonight's sermon on page 14 in your bulletin. We join me as we pray and ask for the Lord's blessing upon the ministry of the Word of God to our hearts tonight. Oh Lord, our God, we bow before you. We give you honor and reverence and praise and thanksgiving for who you are and for what you have done for us. You are worthy of our reverence and our awe, of our praise and our worship and our obedience. You're worthy of our lives. Because you made us, you gave us life and breath and health and strength. You've walked with us every single day of our lives. And you're the one who's also given us new life in Christ. You've not dealt with us like our sins deserve. You came to us and sought us and brought us to yourself. You, oh Lord, opened our eyes to see our sin and our need for a savior. You opened our ears to hear the gospel. You softened our heart and opened our heart to believe. It is all of grace from beginning to end. Oh Lord, how we thank you for your mercy to each one of us. We pray tonight you would draw near to each soul here. You know what each one needs. You know the current struggles and worries and anxieties and pressures and stress that each person in this room and those who hear my voice are facing right now. You're able to meet all of our needs out of the riches of your grace. We thank you that your word, the scriptures, your word is sufficient for all of our needs. There's nothing that happens in our lives that is not addressed in the word of God. Lord, give us a heart to believe. Give us a heart to submit to your word. Give us a heart to desire your word to love your word to walk in your word. Lord we pray that you would help us even tonight to understand your word and equip us to teach others. As we live in a world that doesn't know its right hand from its left hand. In a world that calls what is good evil and what is evil good. And yet there's people wandering around in darkness and don't know which way to go. And don't know where to find hope or where to find direction. So to that end, may we be the light of the world, what you've called us to be, to give guidance and blessing and direction to those who are walking in darkness, that we would lead them to the one who is the way and the truth and the life, to lead them to the one who is their only hope and savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord help me your servant to rightly divide your word and to proclaim it faithfully. We thank you for this time together tonight to consider the word of God for our own lives. May Christ the risen Savior be here proclaiming this word to his people. He would shepherd his flock here. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. It's important to remember that all scripture is God-breathed. All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for us. This brief passage tonight, verses five and six of chapter three in Proverbs, is profitable for us. It teaches us. It rebukes us. It corrects us. It trains us in righteousness. It answers the question, how do I live a life pleasing to God, especially in my decision making? When I have a choice before me, how do I live a life pleasing to God? Here is, actually, we find in Psalm 1, a sign of God's blessing. If you delight in God's word and you want to know it better, that's a sign of God's blessing in someone's life. Blessed is the one who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the path of sinners or sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of God or in the word of God. And in his law, he meditates day and night. So I hope you've come tonight with a hungry heart to know God's Word better, to know God better. That's what the Apostle Paul prays for in the book of Ephesians. He says he prays for the people in Ephesus, the Christians there, that they would come to know God better. Isn't that one of our biggest problems? That we don't know God as we should? If we knew God better, we wouldn't do some of the things we do, or say some of the things we say, or think some of the things we think. In fact, that's a wonderful prayer, to pray for your enemies, for people who are against you. If you say, I don't know how to pray for that person. Well, pray that they would come to know God better. Right? Because that's the source of their problems. This proverb gives us a great promise. I know many people for whom this is their favorite verse, a life verse. I encourage you to meditate on it and memorize it. It's not that complicated. There's a command. You see in my outline on page 14, there's something we're commanded to do. There's something we're commanded not to do. And then there's some instruction on how to do this, and then there's a promise. So there's a positive command, a negative command, there's some instruction, and a promise. This proverb has to do with our daily living. our conversations, little choices that we make, or weighty matters. Actually, this passage puts meat on or describes how it is that we walk with God. The Bible gives us all kinds of examples of those in the word of God who walked with God. I'll ask you tonight as we begin, would you say that you are walking with God day by day? And here's a way to encourage that for your own life, a way to do that. So what are we commanded to do here in making our decisions from day to day? Well, we're to trust in the Lord with all our heart. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. When there's a decision before you, When you have a difficult appointment on your calendar that you're really not looking forward to. When you don't know what to do. When you just wish you could be back in school where the bell would ring and you could just get up and change the room. Wouldn't it be nice some days, oh, sorry, that's the bell, gotta go. That doesn't happen so much when you're an adult. When your world comes crashing in around you, when sorrows like sea billows roll, as the hymn says, what are we to do? Well, God's word says we're to trust God. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. So what does that mean? What does it mean to trust in the Lord? Well, it's an unquestioned resting in something. That's what trust means, to rely on something or someone. If you trust someone, you believe them, you trust in them, you believe in something, you're trusting that thing or that person. It's as if we are helpless, face down before our king. Complete submission to him, like a servant waiting for his master. We cling to him. We place our confidence in him so that we act upon it. You know, you trust it actually in all kinds of things coming here tonight, if you think about it. You trusted your car to bring you here. You trusted the people who were coming the other way at the stoplight not to go through the stoplight. You trusted your legs when you got out of the car that they would take you from your car inside. We place our confidence in all kinds of things sometimes without even thinking about it. We go on autopilot for a lot of things that we trust. What are we to be trusting? Well, God's word says we're to trust in the Lord, in Jehovah. In the Hebrew, that's here in this particular place, Yahweh. We're to trust in the God who is the source of all being, the God of life, the one who spoke to Moses from the burning bush and said, I am that I am. We're to trust in the great I am, the God of life. We're to trust in him. We don't just trust in this nebulous idea about God. There's a lot of people out there who have some kind of a vague idea that there might be a supreme being out there. No, we're to trust in Yahweh, the one who has spoken, the one who has made a covenant with his people, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and fulfilled his covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator of the covenant. We believe in the God who's revealed himself in the scriptures. We don't have just some nebulous idea that there's God out there. We actually believe in the one who's revealed himself. We place our confidence in what he has said, in his promises. Before cell phones, you know, and the internet, I think of when someone, you made arrangements with someone, some of you young people won't remember this, but you, when you flew to a town, you just told someone what time to come pick you up, that your plane was supposed to land at a certain time, and you just trusted that they would be there. I'll be there, you can count on me. Sometimes you might call the airline to find out if that plane had landed back in the old days. But you had to believe that they would be there, that you'd walk out and they would actually be pulling up on the curb to pick you up or waiting inside the airport. Someone would say, I promise, I'll be there. And then you act upon their word, upon their promise. You have faith that they'll come. So too, by faith, we set our confidence in the Lord, in his provision, in his love for us, in his promises, in his goodness, Because He is reliable, He's never failed us yet. Well, how does this passage say we are to trust? How are we to rely on the Lord? How are we to believe in the Lord? Well, we're to trust God says, trust Him with all your heart. All your heart, not a divided heart, all your heart. Now, with someone who hasn't proved themselves trustworthy, you might reserve some trust. You might say, you know, I'll believe it when I see it. I'll be waiting. I'll be waiting to see if it's true. But God is completely trustworthy, so we place our complete trust in him. So what are some biblical examples of that? Well, actually, we find that all through the scriptures. You read through Hebrews 11, and you find all of those great heroes of the faith who trusted in the Lord. When you think of Noah, who was commanded by God to build an ark without having seen any water to put the ark in, and everybody laughing and mocking him. Or Abraham, who by faith went to a distant land that he didn't even know. By faith Moses chose to be mistreated. the Word of God says, with the people of God rather than enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. The children of Israel we saw a few couple months ago as they went into the Red Sea. They walked through on dry land. By faith, Hebrews 11 says, they crossed the sea on dry land. They had to believe and trust that that water wasn't gonna come crashing down around them. By faith, David trusted God against Goliath. By faith, David trusted the word of the Lord that he should not touch the Lord's anointed when he was in that cave and he could have taken Saul's life. By faith, Daniel kept praying even when the edict by King Darius said you can't pray to anyone else but me. By faith, Daniel went ahead and prayed at his window like he always had. We're to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and follow in the footsteps of those in the scriptures that we read their stories of. Well, secondly, what are we instructed not to do? Well, we're not to lean on our own understanding. Well, what does that mean? It means we're not to trust in ourselves, and we're not to trust in our feelings. Our feelings should never trump the word of God. We're not to trust in our own wisdom, our thoughts, our gut. You've probably heard people say, well, I know the Bible says but. Then that's a recipe for trouble. Our trust is to be exclusively in God's Word, in the Lord, resting only in Christ. Well, why is that? Why should we not trust ourselves? Why can't we trust our gut, as some people say? Why can't we just trust our feelings? What's wrong with that? Well, our feelings are tainted by sin. It's clouded by sin all the time. Those who know themselves well know how foolish it is to trust themselves. When I start trusting in myself and go somewhere contrary to God's word, I fall flat on my face. You know that too. Our reasoning is flawed. And the evil one deceives us. We're on self-destruct mode if we follow our own passions and desires. We're spiritually bankrupt if we trust in ourselves. Proverbs 28 verse 26 says, he who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is safe. God's word says in Jeremiah 17, cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on his flesh for strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That's a sign of God's curse, to turn away from God and trust in yourself. Well, so what are we supposed to do with our own understanding? What are we supposed to do with our own reasoning? Hasn't God made us to be reasonable creatures? Well, we don't just ignore it. No, we submit it to the Lord. Our understanding must be trained and renewed by the truth of God's word. Well, can you think of some Bible examples, some examples in the scriptures of people who struggled with this? Well, sure, you can think of many of them if you go home tonight and improve on the sermon. You think of Sarah, who heard she was going to have a child. What did she do? She laughed. You've got to be kidding. She didn't believe God's word. And the Lord responded, is anything too hard for the Lord? Or you think of Naaman, we heard that a few weeks ago from Pastor Kim. Naaman, who was instructed to go wash in the Jordan River. Ah, what did he say? Aren't the rivers in Damascus better than the rivers here? Why did I have to come all this way? Or Elisha's servant in 2 Kings 6, when they're in Dothan, and he goes outside and he sees the enemy's horses and chariots all around. We're gonna die. And Elijah says, oh Lord, open his eyes so we can see what's really going on. And he opened the heavens and he saw horses and chariots of fire. There's all kinds of people who don't submit their understanding to God and they run into trouble. You think of Jonah. Jonah was instructed to go to Nineveh. Jonah didn't wanna go. He followed his gut. He followed his feelings. He followed his fears and he ran. Or you think of Nadab and Abihu in the Old Testament. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire in the sacrifices before the Lord. They thought they'd, you know, get some added color. I don't know what it was they offered, but they were trying to liven up things themselves. They were struck down. Or Achan in Joshua chapter 7 who kept back for himself some of the things that were consecrated to the Lord. Or Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5. Ananias and Sapphira thought they knew better. They saw Barnabas lay an offering at the feet of the apostles and everybody praised Barnabas and they thought we want that kind of praise. So they sold some land, only they lied about how much they gave or how much they sold it for so they could look good. And they died. The whole church was filled with fear. Many people submit God to their understanding rather than their understanding to the Lord. And we only run into trouble when we do that. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Oh, on the surface, it can look good. But if it's not in God's word, then it's gonna lead to trouble. That's why Paul says, don't be conformed to this world. We need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And don't lean on your own understanding. So what's the instruction then? Well, thirdly, we're to acknowledge God in all our ways. How do we do this? Acknowledge the Lord in all our ways. Here is what we must do. It's simple. We depend upon the living God all day long. One step at a time. One scene of our day to the next. Each thing that comes, each conversation. That's what it means to walk with God. That's the theme of the whole book of Proverbs. In fact, there's 31 chapters in Proverbs. You could read one each day of the month, one chapter. Here is wisdom, here is God's way. We're to acknowledge Him. That is, we're to recognize that He rules the world, that He knows the territory better than I do, that He knows the end better than I do, that He knows me better than I do, and He knows what's best for me better than I do. Before what's convenient, before what's easy, We're to acknowledge His commands and His promises, which means we need to know what His Word says. We must study it. That's why we study God's Word, so we know how to walk with God better. We must read it prayerfully. It's not enough to just hold a Bible in your hand and go to church. We need to know what God's Word says. The Holy Spirit must write the truth on your heart and sanctify you and change you. You cannot trust in the Lord with all your heart if you don't know what he says. Right? So, when? When do we acknowledge him in all our ways? What's included in all your ways? Acknowledge him. What's included in that? Everything, right? Is there anything excluded from all your ways? No. In everything you do, acknowledge Him. Look to Him in all your ways, in your business, in your dating life for you young people, in your schoolwork. in your social affairs, in your choices for housing, in your neighborhood, relationship with your neighbors. When something upsets you and you don't know what to say, when you're happy about something, in all your ways, acknowledge him. I got a call not long ago from a young man who's preparing for the mission field and had just met someone he thought would make a wonderful wife. But he was looking for some sign from God that this was the right person. I said, why are you looking for a sign? God has instructed you on what to do, how to find a wife. In fact, he who finds a wife finds what is good and receives blessing from the Lord, the scripture says. So what has God instructed you about how to find a wife or what kind of a person you should marry? He said, well, I need to marry a Christian. I said, good, that's number one. Put that down. And I'm going to go on the mission field. I should find someone who wants to go on the mission field. I said, okay, that's number two. So he made a list of all the things that he thought God would be pleased with or that would be pleasing to God in finding a wife. And I said, okay. Does she meet all those? He said, yes. And I said, well, spend some time with her. But what if she's not the right one? I said, I think you'll know. Ask wisdom from other people. Ask people what they think of you together. Seek the wisdom of other counselors. And then you know what? I said, you're free in Christ to marry her. If she's a believer and you're a believer, and you both want to live after God's commands together, you're free. You don't have to worry about whether it's the wrong person or not. If everything fits according to God's word, God has blessed you with wisdom and the wisdom of other counselors. In everything we do, personal things, political things, even when you failed God in your sins, in all things, Lord, I made a mess of things today. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. Even in your sticky situations, what am I gonna do? What do I say? Oh Lord, give me wisdom and strength. There's a wonderful example, I encourage you to read this later tonight, in Nehemiah chapter one and two. Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the king while he's in exile. That means he's the guy who tested the wine to make sure it wasn't poison. If Nehemiah didn't die, the king could drink it. So while he came to the king's presence, to Artaxerxes, He was sad. He had just received news about the walls in Jerusalem that were still in disrepair. And if you were in the presence of the king in the ancient Near East and you were sad, you could have your head cut off. So the king says to him, as he brought the wine to the king, he said, what's going on? Why are you so sad? This is only a sadness of heart. Nehemiah says, I was very much afraid. And the king said, what do you want? And the word of God says there, I wanna read it so that I don't get it wrong. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Nehemiah chapter two. He says, I had not been sad in his presence. The king said to me, why is your face sad seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart. Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad when the city, Jerusalem, the place of my father's graves lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire? Then the king said to me, what are you requesting? Now remember, Nehemiah's life is on the line. because he was not allowed to be sad in the presence of the king. I was very much afraid. The king said, what are you requesting? Listen to this next line. So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king, I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king. How long do you think that prayer took? I don't think he said, hold on just a minute, I need to go back to my chamber and get on my knees and pray. I don't think he took off his hat. I doubt that he even bowed his head. I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. That's what Nehemiah did. He acknowledged the Lord. I think he said something like, oh, Lord, help me. Oh, Lord, give me wisdom. Oh, Lord, direct me. Oh, Lord, what do I say? Oh, Lord, save my life. In your sticky situations, acknowledge the Lord. In your difficult confrontations, Lord, guide my words. In hard decisions, When you've been accused falsely or unjustly, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him. What does God's word say about Christ who is falsely accused? Peter says, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. That's how we acknowledge the Lord. When someone accuses us falsely, Lord, I follow in the footsteps of Christ. In your hard decisions and in your easy ones, even when it seems plain, don't just go on autopilot. Lord, order this as you see fit. Lord, bless what I'm about to say. Bind my tongue if it's wrong. In all your ways, acknowledge him. Lord, what I'm about to do, is that in accordance with your commands? Is this right? It means we let God into everything. We don't hide anything. Our attitude should be as though we're on our knees or even on our knees. It's a simple dependence on God's promises and commands. That's what it means to be praying without ceasing and giving thanks in all things. The Apostle Paul prayed for the Colossian believers. He says, we've not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will. Where do we find God's will? We find it in the word. Through all spiritual wisdom and understanding in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way. Now, it's not just enough to know His will. Paul goes on and says that you may be strengthened with all power in His glorious, according to His glorious might, that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father. It's one thing to know God's Word. It's another thing to submit to it and to honor His Word. You can know what God's Word says about gossip, right? You can know it's wrong. It's another thing to acknowledge it. It's another thing to turn away and realize this is not what I need to be involved in here. You can know what God's Word says about honoring your parents. It's another thing to pray for strength to do it. It's one thing to know what God's Word says about lying or cheating or stealing or intimacy or lust. It's another thing to acknowledge it and turn away. God's will may be very plain and very clear, but that doesn't make it easy because our hearts are stubborn. And our flesh wants to do our own thing. In all your ways, acknowledge him. Oh, Lord, help me to do what is right. And lastly, what's then God's promise? What does God promise? He will make straight your paths. As God directs your decisions and your plans and your problems in light of his word, there's a wonderful promise here. He will prosper your ways. How does he do that? I don't think he does it usually by an audible voice. He doesn't do it by angels from heaven. He doesn't do it with signs in the sky. How does he do it? Through his word and by his spirit. He will bless you. He will direct your steps through his word. All we need is here. As we study God's word, as we apply it, as we roll it around in our minds, as we seek wisdom and counsel from others, Proverbs 15, verse 22 says, without counsel or advice, plans fail, but with many advisors, they succeed. There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors. If you've got a big decision before you, don't just go with your gut feeling. Don't just go with what feels right. Study God's word, think about all the scriptures that have to do with it, and seek godly advice from people whom you trust. People want more than what God has given in his word. They want to do it their way. Again, people will say, I know what the Bible says, but, oh, I'll follow the Lord, but this case is a little different, and I don't think God would have me do that. No, if you put yourself under divine guidance, you will always benefit from it. God will give you wisdom, and he'll show you what is not according to his word. But I guarantee you, no decision, no step, no choice that is well prayed over, sought with counsel, sought the scriptures, will be regretted. As you go forward believing, this is what God's word commands me, counsels me, encourages me, promises me in this decision. What if we're off just a little bit? Is that a problem? What if we go on autopilot? Is that a big deal? Yes, it is. I remember back in, right at the end of my college years, 1983, do you know the story of Korean flight 007? They took off from Anchorage flying to Seoul. Somehow they messed up putting it in on autopilot and they drifted over Soviet airspace. That 747 was shot down as they went on autopilot. It's all the fault of the pilots. They weren't careful. And I say that too as an illustration that when we just go on autopilot and we don't think about the implications of something, but just because we want to do it or because it's easier or because we're tired, we can have consequences. A slight navigational error in life can bring big problems. As we conclude, you know, all this is about a relationship with God, it's walking with God, and there's only one way to walk with God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. And so Jesus says, come, follow me. Follow me. Abide in me and my word, and you will bear much fruit. Walking with God means looking to Christ in everything. Oh Lord, be my wisdom in this. Oh Lord Jesus, give me clarity. Oh Lord, give me strength by your spirit. Oh Lord, forgive me for I just botched that all up. Oh Lord, I made a mess of things today. looking to Christ in everything, for wisdom, forgiveness, mercy, guidance, love, comfort, hope, eternal life. As we look to the author and perfecter of our faith every day. Praise the Lord. Praise God, he's a God of grace. Because there's so often we don't trust, so many days we don't trust in the Lord with all our heart. We don't ignore. Or we ignore this and we do things our own way, trusting in our own understanding. And we don't acknowledge Him in all our ways. And we end up in sorrow over our sins. Praise be to God for His grace. He's not dealt with us like we deserve. I call you tonight to turn again to Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, to lead you and guide you and bless you and prosper your way. Praise be to God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, have mercy on us tonight as we leave this place that we would resolve to trust in you. in everything, in all of our ways, we acknowledge you, that you might direct our paths. Bless, Lord, now the giving of tithes and offerings, that you would multiply these gifts and use them to bring others to know the God of truth, to know the Savior who came into the world to save sinners like us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.