How to Seek God’s Guidance Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How to Seek God’s Guidance Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 11:1-7.

Many of us are trying to figure out what are the next steps of my life? What is this new chapter in my life? How do I know what God’s will is? How do I know what direction to go? Friends, I want to encourage you to turn to the unchanging, unwavering, and true Word of God.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders and we welcome you to the Hopeworth Having radio program. Thank you for being with us and thank you for tuning in today and we’re excited to share God’s Word with you.

We’re gonna be in Acts chapter 11 today and we’re starting a new series on how to seek God’s guidance. So we’re looking forward to what the Bible has to teach us. So let’s get right into Acts chapter 11.

If you have your Bible, I want you to join me in the book of Acts chapter 11. Now I heard about a sign that was posted at a workplace and the sign read this, due to the heavy workload around here, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off until further notice.

I’m sure that you have felt like someone turned out the lights at the end of your tunnel. Our lives are seldom from point to point a nice straight lie. We find ourselves in many detours and we find ourselves in difficult situations and we wonder what really just happened.

Well, I have good news for you today and that is according to Romans chapter 8 that every one of us that love Jesus Christ, we are guided and we are led by our Lord and Savior Jesus. The Bible says in Romans 8 14 all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons or the children of God.

The Christian should never worry or even wonder if God is leading them. The key is for us to be surrendered to his leadership, to be submissive to his leadership. When we come to Acts chapter 11 verses 1 through 18, our main text this morning, we find the church, we find the Apostle Peter in a predicament and they are seeking God’s guidance on how to deal with this circumstance that they are in.

And this morning I want to speak to you on how to seek. God’s guidance in your life. So let me just give you a little bit of a background. When we come to chapter 11, Peter is giving a testimony to the church.

He is, if you will, giving an update to the church of what just took place in chapter 10. Those of you that have been with me, and we’ve been studying the book of Acts together, you remember in chapter 10 that Peter ended up on top of a house, and he had a vision, and God told him, do not call unclean what I have designated as clean.

This was profound to the Apostle Peter, because remember that he grew up as a young Jewish boy. He was taught in the very details of the law, not only in school, but in the synagogue, every aspect of his life.

He was told that we’re certain foods that are unclean, that he was not to eat those foods as a Jewish young boy. As he grew up in that, he was committed to that. It was a reflection of his devotion to God.

It was a commitment to his faith. You remember that Daniel was plucked out of his home. He was thrust into a secular environment, and as they were trying to change Daniel and his friends to embrace this new culture, this new philosophy, that they wanted Daniel to change his diet, and how he ate, and Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not eat the king’s meat, that he would not eat food that was unclean.

It was not that Daniel was some kind of a legalistic fanaticate who was out of step with reality, but rather, he was a young man like Peter who was devoted in his faith and did not want to disobey God in any aspect of the law.

When Peter received this vision in chapter 10, that he was not to designate anything unclaimed that was clain, anything that God had called clain, that he was also to stretch beyond his Jewish culture.

And he was to take the gospel to the Gentile world, that he was to associate with Gentiles, that he was to share Christ with the Gentiles, that he was to tell them about the good news that the gospel is not just for the Jewish nation and the Jewish culture, but it is for all who would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This created a great dilemma for Peter, but out of obedience and submission to God, he did that very thing. He went to the home of a Gentile named Cornelius. This is a chapter 10 of Acts. And he shared Christ and Cornelius the Bible says was saved and his family was saved.

and they were all baptized. My friends, when Peter had engaged in leading this Gentile to Christ and baptizing this Gentile and his whole family, the word began to spread because you know how church gossip can go, amen?

I mean they probably broke out their cell phones texting each other. Did you hear what the Apostle Peter did? Did you hear that he associated with the Gentiles? Did you hear what was going on? And friends, things were really happening.

The early church had been a little bit resistant to the gospel going out to the ends of the earth. They were okay with Jesus saying that we were to be witnesses for him in Jerusalem. But Samaria and to the uttermost of the earth, well that was a little bit difficult when you study the book of acts.

As you start watching, you see that there’s still this strong connection of these believers, these Jewish believers, still connected to the old covenant, still connected to the Jewish traditions, still involved into the Jewish mindset.

We see this in chapter 8, we see it in chapter 9, we see it in chapter 10. I want you to go back to chapter 10 for a second just so you can capture what I’m trying to say in verse 14 of chapter 10. The Bible says, but Peter said, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.

And a voice spoke to him again the second time what God has cleansed. You must not call common. This was the dilemma that was upon Peter. The early church was loyal to Judaism. Peter was loyal to Judaism.

because it was an expression of his devotion to God. But God was leading the church to leave behind Judaism, to understand that all that the law required was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And he was step by step leading the people of God away from Judaism and into Christianity, the new covenant, he was leading them to reach out beyond the regions of Judaism and Israel.

And instead of them abstaining from foods, God was communicating to Peter and the church that the Gentiles could be welcomed into the community of faith, and that all foods and all people would be welcomed if God had blessed and called.

This was a new mindset for you and I today. We wonder what’s the problem, but I want you to see the context so you can get what’s happening in chapter 11. I want you to pick up with me in verse 1. Now the apostles and brethrens who were in Judea, this is the church, heard that the Gentiles had also received the Word of God.

And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contented with him, they argued with him, saying, you went into the uncircumcised men and you ate with them. But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance I saw a vision and object descending like a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners and it came to me when I observed it intently and considered I saw four -footed animals of the earth,

wild beasts creeping things and birds of the air and I heard a voice saying to me rise Peter kill and eat but I said not so Lord for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth but the voice answered me again from heaven what God has cleansed you must not call common.

Now this was done three times and all were drawn up again into heaven at that very moment three men stood before the house where I was having been sent to me from Caesarea then the spirit told me to go with them doubting nothing moreover these six brethren accompanied me and we entered the man’s house and he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house who said to him send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter who will tell you word by which you and all your household will be saved and as I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning that I remembered the word of the Lord how he said John indeed baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit if therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ who was I that I should I could withstand God when they heard these things they became silent they glorified God saying then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life this story that unfolds for us in Acts chapter 11 gives us four principles that helps us on how to seek God for guidance in our life and I want you to see that the first principle is that we see his guidance through the confirmation of God’s word.

Let’s go back to verse one, and again you see that in verse one, that the people heard that the Gentiles had received the word of God. Jump down to verse nine, the Bible says, but the voice answered me again from heaven, what God has cleansed, this is God’s word, from you, what God has cleansed, you must not call common.

Then jump down to verse 16, then I remembered the word of the Lord. How he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. God was calling on Peter and the church to move beyond Judaism and to move into the new covenant to believe in the fulfillment of Jesus Christ.

It was a perplexing decision that was before Peter. It was a humongous shift in the life of the church in the early days in Jerusalem. And as they’re trying to figure out, is this the right thing to do?

Do we go this direction? We see that in the life of Peter and in the life of the church, that their understanding of what was God’s will for my life, what is God’s will for our congregation, what is God’s will for us as a people who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they found confirmation.

Through God’s word, God’s word was the message that the apostles taught. It was the word that the Samaritans received. It was the message that the Gentiles received as Peter proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But friends, as you and I are trying to seek what is God’s will for my life, we must seek it through the confirmation of his word. We must open this Bible that we have been blessed with, a letter from God Almighty, and we must remember the words that he has spoken to us.

we must align our obedience to God and following his plan for our life in relation to his word. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13, for this reason we also thank God without ceasing because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

Now many of us face decisions every day. Many of us deal with complexing situations and circumstances. Many of us are trying to understand how to deal with difficult people in our families or in our workspaces or perhaps even in our community.

Many of us are trying to figure out what are the next steps of my life? What is this new chapter in my life? How do I know what? God’s will is, how do I know what direction to go? Friends, I wanna encourage you to turn to the unchanging, unwavering and true word of God, to find confirmation from God in his word, because wisdom comes from the Lord.

The Bible teaches us in Proverbs two and verse six that the Lord gives wisdom from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. God speaks to his children through his word. Some of you may be wanting God to just rend the heavens and you want him to directly tell you, but God has given us his word.

And you can look to the Bible to understand what is God’s will for my life. How do I know what I should do? Come to the word of God and let him show you the path. The scripture says in Psalm 119, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Think about it, God’s word is a lamp to my feet. You know what that tells me? That God’s word helps me to know where I’m at, where I stand with him. Sometimes I don’t know where to go because I don’t know where I’m at, because I don’t know where I’m at spiritually with God.

I don’t know where I’m at in my obedience to God and what I need to do. And so we need to get into the word. The word is about revealing to us what we need to change, what we need to correct, what we need to commit to him, what we need to call upon him about.

And so God’s word is a lamp unto my feet, but it is a light unto my path. It not only reveals where I’m at with God, but it shows me my next steps. It is a light to my path. It shows me where I need to go.

Now hear this, God will never call you to do anything that contradicts his word. Do you understand that? Many many years ago when I pastored in Indiana, I know this is hard to believe, but it’s the honest God truth, God is my witness, that there was a man and woman who came into my office and they said, pastor, God has told us that we should leave our spouses and marry each other.

And I said, no he hasn’t, because it’s not in the Bible. There’s nothing in the Bible that teaches in principle or in detail that teaches us that. What the Bible teaches us is totally different. So sometimes you may be led astray by the world, the flesh, or maybe even the devil.

But I want you to be assured that how do I know God’s will? It aligns with the Word of God. That’s how I know. So, when you are seeking God’s guidance, seek it through the confirmation of His Word. Second of all.

You are to seek God’s confirmation, or God’s guidance through the conviction of your spirit. Now go back to verse 11. Here Peter, he is being called to make changes in his life that are deep rooted in his faith of Judaism.

Now the new covenant is upon him. It is the confirmation of God’s word that helps him to make this change. But in verse 11 and 12, we see the conviction of his own spirit. The Bible says at that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was, having been sent to me from Caesarea.

Then the spirit told me to go with them, doubting nothing, moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. The spirit of God had convicted the heart and the spirit of the apostle Peter that this is what he is supposed to do, that this is what God was calling him to do.

And friends, I want you to understand something that the spirit of God lives in all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the spirit of God, just like he pointed Peter into the direction that he wanted him to make, and the change in the person that he wanted him to go see, that God works in his spirit through you.

We are led by the spirit of God every day. We must get up every day and ask the Lord to lead us and to guide us through his spirit. We are not to be led of the flesh. We are not to be led by the world or the philosophy of the world.

But we are to be led of the spirit of God. You see, what Peter is pointing out is that the providence of God in this situation was being offered. unfolded before him, and the Spirit was leading him to go to this man’s house, share the gospel, and how wondrous was it that this man got saved, his whole family got saved, this man gets baptized, his whole family gets baptized, the Spirit of God had convicted him that this is what he needs to do,

and there are times that the Spirit leads you to talk to someone, the Spirit leads you to text someone, the Spirit leads you to call someone, the Spirit leads you to send a card to someone, to reach out to someone, to minister to someone, to just be a blessing to someone, and when the Spirit of God is leading you, you know that you are following the will of God in your life.

Now you might wonder, how do I know when the Spirit is leading me? How do I know? when the Spirit is leading me? Well, let me give you a few things that’ll help you understand the leadership of the Spirit.

First of all is prayer. Prayer will always help you to sync up with the Spirit. When I take time to just shoot arrows of prayer to God, Lord, are you leading me? Is your Spirit telling me to do this?

Are you telling me not to do this? Some of you have been prompted to get out of your bed in the middle of the night and to pray for your children and your grandchildren. It’s the Spirit of God that is moving you.

And you don’t know, and you may never know until you get to heaven all that the power of that prayer did for your children and your grandchildren and how it may have protected them from a very difficult situation from the attacks of the devil or the attacks of this world upon their lives.

But I assure you this, that as we are praying, we are gonna be more sensitive to the Spirit of God. The second key word to knowing the leadership of the Spirit is peace. You see, there is a peace that comes from God.

The Bible tells us that He gives us a peace that passes all understanding, may not make sense to the world, may not even make sense to our own understanding. Remember in our scripture reading that we learned in Proverbs 3 that we’re not to lean on our own understanding, but we’re to acknowledge Him in all of our ways.

One of the ways that I acknowledge Him is I seek Him in prayer, and He gives me His peace in my heart to know, listen to what the prophet Isaiah said. He said, you will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed or focused on you because He trusts in you.

You see, I want you to know that I can know the leadership of the Spirit in my life through the peace that God gives me. That as I am praying, I am seeing God at work and I recognize that He fills my heart with His peace and so I reach out, I minister, I walk up to that stranger and I share the gospel of Christ or I.

and minister to whatever their particular need is. This is the work of God in your life. Church, we have to be more sensitive. We have to recognize that God is always at work. He is not only at work in me and through me, but he is at work around me.

And he wants to use you like he used Peter to help others to know Christ. Have you ever thought about that? What if Peter would have said, you know what, God, I’m not doing that. I don’t know Cornelius.

I’m not going there. I’m going to just stay at home where it’s more comfortable. I’m just going to do my own thing. And I’m going to let Cornelius do his thing. But no, he was led of the spirit. The spirit told him to go.

And he went, he went. Friends, I want you to know that you can be sensitive to the spirit and you can be led of the spirit by prayer, by peace. And let me give you the third one, by God’s principles, or God’s word.

Now again, the Spirit will never lead you in contradiction to the word of God. The Spirit will lead you through the word of God. The word of God and the Spirit work simultaneously together in your life.

That as you’re reading the word of God, He is prompting you, He is convicting you, He is challenging you to get out of your comfort zone. He is calling you to a particular task. He is calling you to a particular cause.

He is calling you to a particular mission. And so we must be sensitive to these principles in God’s word that are instructing us and leading us and even convicting our own spirit that we should do this.

I promise you that every day of your life, God wants you to make an impact upon someone. He wants you to make an impact upon someone. Some of you would like to make impact upon people that you don’t even know, but I would recommend you start with the people you do know.

God wants you to influence the people that you know, and then He’ll use you in a greater way as you are faithful and saying, Lord, how could I be a blessing to my children? How can I be a blessing to my grandchildren?

How could I be a blessing to my spouse? How could I be a blessing to my church family? How could I be a blessing to the people that are already all around me every day? Help me, Lord, to respond in grace and to be led of the Spirit of God in ministering to people.

As I’m seeking God’s guidance, I not only want Him to guide me and confirm to me His will through His word, but I want Him to convict me in my spirit. Now, the leadership of the Spirit is a unique thing that we must understand, sometimes as believers.

we don’t know is this the flesh, is it the devil, is it the world, is it the spirit. Keep in mind this as you are trying to discern the leadership of the spirit, that the devil and the world and the flesh are always condemning you, but the spirit of God is always encouraging and building you and calling you to a greater work.

Many times I meet with believers who feel very convicted in their life, perhaps maybe about unresolved sin in their hearts, maybe unresolved anger and there is some bitterness in their life and there are struggles in their hearts about these things.

And they say to me, pastor, is this God speaking to me or is this the world? Listen, the devil condemns you. The devil says you’re a loser. The devil says you don’t have a relationship with God. The devil tries to tell you that you’re never gonna amount to anything.

But let me tell you what the Spirit says. The Spirit says you’re more than a conqueror. The Spirit says that you are led in triumph with God Almighty. The Spirit says that Jesus Christ went to the cross and if you confess your sins and you bring it to God and if you’re honest with him and humble before him, he’ll take that sin and he’ll cast it as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more.

The Spirit tells you that you have a new creation, a brand new start in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the work of the Spirit. It is not the work of the devil. And so I want you to listen what you’re hearing.

I want you to discern what you’re hearing and that’s how you’ll know whether you are being led of the Spirit or you’re being led of the devil or the world. Now the third way that we seek God’s guidance is not only through his word and through the Spirit, but I want you to see through the circumstances of your own decision.

In verses 13 through 17, here what we see is an amazing unfolding that these circumstances seem to take place in the life of Peter that he cannot fully explain. But he says in verse 13, he told us how he had seen an angel standing in the house who had said to him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter.

Now while Peter is receiving a vision, you remember in chapter 10 that Cornelius was receiving a vision. And God was bringing the saint and the sinner together that the sinner might find Christ. God was working providentially in the life of Cornelius and he was working providentially in the life of Peter.

It’s no accident that your path is crossing people who are hurting. It’s no accident that God is putting people into your life that are struggling. You might feel like, hey man, this is too much drama.

I can’t handle all this mess that people are in, but I’m here to tell you that God is bringing about people in your path so that you can minister to them and make a difference in their life. Well, the good news is that God does guide his people.

Sometimes we may feel like we’re not sure what to do, which direction to go, what decision to make, but I want you to know that God is leading his people and he shares through the life of Peter in Acts chapter 11 some of the ways that he does that.

And I want to encourage you to follow these principles on how to seek God’s will. And I think one of those ways is through the word of God. And so as you are under the word, in the word, saturated by the word, you’re going to have more wisdom.

You’re going to have the mind of Christ and you’re going to have the understanding of God’s will. So make that effort to be empowered in the word of God. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.