Address—Tim Roach
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Afternoon. Umm, let's start by seeing him number.
156 Praise ye the Lord again. Again the Spirit strikes the chord. Nor toucheth to our hearts, In vain we praise, we praise the Lord #156.
Praise ye, the Lord.
I can't. I am.
Errors by me by the Lord.
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Nsnoise.
I want to speak today about the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and in Psalm 32 verse eight it says I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye until the Spirit of God wants to guide us in our Christian pathway day by day. And there's different ways in which the Spirit guides us, and I wanna look at some of those. But the Spirit can guide us in the big things in life and can also guide us in the little details of life.
Some of the DE, some of the decisions we have in life and and experiences that we have, they're big choices. They're big decisions and there's big consequences if we make the wrong decision. But then there's little decisions that it's not gonna make much difference in our life if we do one or the other. But can we be guided? My my point. I'm going to attempt to address the point How how can can we listen to the spirit of God in the little things?
00:05:15
In life, and I'm sure some of these principles apply to the bigger things too. But let's go to Psalm Chapter 40.
So practically, how do we get better at listening to the Spirit of God in this busy world? We all have busy lives, and so is it possible for us to be guided by the Spirit in our daily responsibilities and the decisions in life that we have. But first, before we can be guided by the Spirit, first we need to have the word of God.
In our hearts. And then we will be able to do His will. So Psalm 40, verse eight, I delight to do Thy will. O my God, yeah, Thy law is within my heart.
And so this key to being guided by the Holy Spirit in the daily things of life, that's what we have in this verse. That's the key. So now, instead of, instead of perhaps delighting to be led by the Holy Spirit in order for us to do the will of God, we might end up doing nothing because our life becomes controlled by other people.
Or other things in life. And so we don't hear the spirit of God. There is a man in Maputo in Mozambique, and he was a quadriplegic and he was paralyzed.
He couldn't do anything for himself and so he got pushed around by others every day. And another man was pushing him around through the traffic and they're going from car to car at a stop light and they were begging. They were using the paraplegic as a, uh, as a source of income and to try to get some money at the traffic lights and they were using this helpless man as a tool to generate money for the other man.
And so the invalid, he couldn't even say, I don't want to do this. He was controlled by others and by outside forces. And so we often we often worry about the fear of really knowing what is the Lord's will for my life. And sometimes it results in paralysis and we get pushed around in life like the man in the wheelchair.
And we never hear the subtle suggestions of the Spirit of God.
Well, we get controlled by perhaps the standards of somebody we think is illegal brother or sister in the assembly. Or maybe we get controlled by our desire to be accepted at school or in our job, or accepted in this world.
And we get controlled by pressures from our peers and by the demands of society. We get controlled by our job and our schooling, and by our daily desire for success and our quest for pleasure.
And so let's go to Matthew, chapter 5.
We we tend to look to the to look for the will of God for the future.
Sometimes the future never comes.
We were always looking for the next day, for the next day. But what we need to be concerned with is the question of what is the will of God for me right now? And if we're faithful, I believe in the little things now. We'll be guided in the future with of things for things later on in Matthew 25 and verse 21 Says, well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things.
I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
So how do we know the will of the Lord for our life?
We have the word of God that instructs us what to do.
We also have the Spirit of God that dwells inside of us, and the Spirit guides us to do what the Word of God says.
And so the two work together. The word of God and the Spirit of God, they work together. And so maybe you would say, I'm waiting on the Lord to know his will about what I should do, or when I should do it, or where I should do it.
Or why? And so our search for the Lord's will in our life. It can sometimes be an excuse for inaction, and it might even be an excuse for disobedience.
00:10:15
In Galatians chapter 5.
Is it possible to be led by the Spirit to respond in a way that is on an as needed basis, maybe with our friend, or a child, or a spouse, or an acquaintance, or in any circumstance or for any decision? In other words, is it possible for us to be led by the Spirit of God on the spur of the moment?
Galatians 5 verse 25.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. If you are saved, you have the Spirit of God dwelling inside you, and that means that you are living in the Spirit.
And verse 25 says that if we live in the Spirit, then we need to walk in the Spirit. And so I need to allow the Spirit of God to guide my actions, my every actions, and my every decision in my daily life.
And sometimes we make decisions that are perhaps controlled by our carnal desires in the flesh.
Is that how we make our decisions, or or do we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit of God?
I suppose that, uh, if I get up in the morning and I listen to the news while I eat, and then I go to work and I turn the radio on all day long, then I come home to eat, I check the Internet, Maybe I play some game.
I checked the news, I watch a movie and I go to bed.
Well, the Spirit is not having a chance to be able to fill me, and the Spirit of God is not even able to have much space in my heart at all.
And if I have not allowed the Spirit of God any space in my daily routine?
How can I live in the spirit?
How can I walk in the spirit?
If the Spirit has no say in my life, how can I live by the Spirit so?
If we don't give any, give the Spirit of God any recognition in our life.
What happens when you're with your girlfriend and you begin to get intimate?
You need to walk in the spirit, even when you are with your girlfriend.
But if you are not walking in the spirit.
Each and every day, it's going to be difficult for for us to keep ourselves pure.
Suppose you have you feel homosexual lust growing within your soul.
What do you do about it?
Can can we say, well, God made me this way and God wants me to be happy?
So I'm just going to pursue my desires.
God will understand.
We need to look into the scriptures.
And to see if God pursues approves us of pursuing our desires.
And if God says no?
It might be a real struggle for us.
But if we have the Spirit of God inside of us.
We need to walk in the spirit.
And we need to depend on the Lord Jesus Christ for the grace to overcome. Let's go to Galatians 5 and verse 16.
This I say, then.
Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. In one way this sounds very simple.
But in another way, we may think, oh, this sounds awful, high and mighty.
But the things that we are occupied with in our daily life can can prevent us or keep us from hearing the uh leading of the Spirit. And so the more that we commune with the Lord Jesus through the Spirit of God, the more we're going to be prepared for the Master's use.
00:15:16
Let's go to Romans chapter 12.
And we'll consider receiving divine guidance from the Spirit through Scripture.
And as we learn to do and to obey the direct guidance of the Spirit through the scripture, where it will will begin to have our mind renewed. And so Romans 12, verse 2.
Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
When you have had your mind renewed by the Spirit of God.
You get to know the heart of God.
And when the communion of the Spirit is a regular part of our day, I I think we will be more ready to respond when the need arises. And so back to our question of allowing the Spirit of God to guide me in the little decisions of life.
Such as?
Do I go to Starbucks or McDonald's?
That seems a trivial thing, and I don't want to over spiritualize going out for lunch or coffee. But it may be that the spirit of God gives you a word of encouragement. And does the carnality of my selfish desire for a latte take me to Starbucks? Or do I allow the spirit of God to lead me into McDonald's? Because the spirit knows that someone in the parking lot needs an act of kindness or a word of encouragement? And I know we can't sit down and analyze every spiritually analyze every sit situation. And should we stop at McDonald's or Starbucks? But.
Just to get the idea that the spirit of God.
If we allow him.
He he can even guide us in those little choices in life.
As you pull into the parking lot of McDonald's, maybe you cut somebody off so you can get a good parking spot.
And then you try to be led by the Spirit of God to talk to somebody, to encourage them in the Lord Jesus.
Well, how does that work? Living by the Spirit?
Should be a whole life commitment and not just something that we turn on and off. Uh, when the CER certain occasions occur. And these are things that I myself need to be aware of in my own life. And so the Spirit guides us in the little things. So what about in the gospel? Does the Spirit guide us for sharing in the gospel? Umm, how do you know to listen to the Lord when he's telling you to go? Perhaps again?
To Burger King instead of Taco Bell. So you'll be able to give a track to the cashier who's been searching. Well, we don't know that cashier is searching, but the spirit of God does, and and so we need to be willing and available for the Lord. And what would you have me to do today?
When I I lived in, we were visiting in Karanga some about a year and a half, two years ago and.
We went into the market in and we we went to a certain restaurant there and there were two white women who came into the restaurant and that's very unusual there. Usually we're the only white people there, but there they were in the restaurant.
And later in the day we went to the Internet cafe and those same 2 white women were in the cafe and they had found out that we had had six gospel meetings that day in three different schools with more than 3500 students. And so they asked us, could you come to our school where they were volunteering and they wanted us to preach the gospel to the children at that school. And so we went the next day and somebody got saved. It was wonderful.
Was that a coincidence?
That we met these two women in the restaurant and that we accepted their invitation. Or was it the spirit of God at work? The Spirit of God. He is living. He is active in our hearts and our in our lives each and every day.
Let's go to Romans 8.
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And this question is about the Spirit of God guiding us in prayer. The Spirit of God is communicating with our spirit, and that is because God made us in their image.
We have a spirit that can communicate with God.
And so, in verse 16 of Romans 8, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. The Spirit of God can put a certain person in our thoughts at a specific time, and it may be that the Spirit of God wants us to pray for that person that pops into our mind.
Have you ever prayed for a certain person at a certain moment, not knowing that that person needed prayer at that very time?
Who knew they needed that special intercession at that time?
Was it a coincidence?
Or is the Spirit of God at work?
You might get discouraged in praying. You may not see any evidence of your prayers.
But don't give up because we may never know the outcome of our prayers until we get to heaven. So allow the spirit of God to guide us even in praying. And when's the spirit of God put somebody on your heart, Maybe you don't know anything about the situation of that person. Pray for them. It may be that the Lord wants you is putting that person through difficult time where they need the encouragement of your prayers. Let's go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8.
This brings us to a question of does the spirit of God guide us in our giving in Second Corinthians chapter 8?
In verse 11.
Now therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have, for if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath.
Not according to that he hath not. In other words, it doesn't matter to God if you only have $50.00 to give to the needy, or maybe you have $5000 to to share. On a bigger scale, God can use both of them. And it may be that the $50.00 that you have to share with the needy is a bigger gift to God than the person who just gave $5000.
But what does matter is that we have a willing heart. We have a willing mind so the spirit of God can communicate with your spirit, so God can guide your heart in giving. Let's read verse 13.
Says for I mean not that other men may be eased and you'll be burdened, but by inequality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality.
Another example back in Africa. Uh, a sister there. Her name is Laura.
And she had a difficult situation in her life.
And one day when we lived there in Malawi, we we received money.
For Laura. And when we took it over to her that that day, she was overwhelmed with thankfulness. Because one day previous to this her kids were walking home from school and her FA and their father who had beaten their mother and chased her away and he ran off with and he kidnapped the two children and wouldn't let them go back home for months and months.
And so.
But on this day, her kids, who had been kidnapped by her husband, were coming to visit her. She hadn't seen them for months, and her children were permitted on that day to come and stay with her for a couple of days.
She had no money.
She had no food.
Her children needed clothes.
And she wasn't able to care for her children. And that was the very day that we brought her the money.
Residence or was that God at work?
00:25:00
We didn't know Laura had that specific need on that specific day.
And the person who sends the money did not know the situation.
But the Spirit of God knew and he arranged that all would work together for good.
At just the right time.
Are we in tune to the Spirit in order to give money by faith? You know, the needy they receive by faith. I have many people asking me, give me, give me. I say, have you? Have, have, have you talked to God? Have you prayed to him? Why are you asking me? You need to have faith.
But sometimes we need faith to give, like what happened with Laura.
Acts chapter 8 I want to go over some examples of individuals who are being who were LED in the in the Bible of who were led by the Spirit of God in their everyday life and how they could act in faith.
You know, let's begin with Philip in Acts chapter 8. We're just going to read part of verse 26.
And the Angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go.
Well, an Angel of the Lord told Philip the Evangelist to go.
To the road that went from Jerusalem up to Gaza. I don't know, Maybe it was the Gaza Strip, I don't know. But it was a remote, deserted place. And so Phillip was told to go there to speak to an Ethiopian eunuch who is passing by at just that moment. And the Ethiopian.
Started listening to Philip and he was saved. Was it a coincidence, that coincidence, that Philip went off into the desert? Or was it the spirit of God? He was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness.
Then there was Samuel.
In uh, Samuel was living in the House of Eli the priest. And Samuel, he heard somebody talking to him in the night, and he thought it was Eli. So he got up out of bed and he went to Eli and said, you're calling me, what do you want? And so this occurred on three occasions. And Samuel heard God calling him Samuel, Samuel and Eli. After the third time, Eli sensed that it was the was the Lord.
Speaking to Samuel. So after that Samuel responded to the Lord and and Samuel from that time on he was able to communicate directly with God. Well, Samuel had to learn to recognize when it was the Lord who was speaking to him. In First Samuel chapter 3, Samuel gradually learned to hear the voice of God when God spoke to him.
We need to be regularly in touch with God so that we know when He is speaking to us. Let's go to Romans 8.
And we'll look at Paul.
Uh, this one's Romans. Sorry.
OK, the Apostle Paul. He experienced the leading of the Spirit in his daily life, and he learned a great spiritual principle in his Christian life.
And he shares it with us in Romans 8 verse 14 it says as many as are led by the Spirit of God.
They are the sons of God.
This verse here says the sons of God. A child of God is a person who is saved.
But the Son of God is one who is saved, but has also developed a an intimate relationship, a fellowship, a communication with the Father.
A son or daughter of God is one who is led by the Spirit of God. That's what our verse says. As many as are led by the Spirit of God. They are the sons of God, and so a person who wishes to know the leading of God.
Must yield himself completely to the control of the Spirit of God, and I believe this includes both our minds, our hearts, our personalities, our imagination, our will. We need to give it all to the control.
Of the Spirit of God. Let's go to Acts chapter 16.
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And we'll consider here divine guidance from the Spirit through circumstances.
And how how were Paul and Silas led to give the gospel to Lydia and to the jailer there at the Philippi prison? Well, here in Acts 16, I'm not going to read a specific verse. I'm just going to tell you what it says here. Paul and Silas, they were forbidden by the spirit of God to teach the word in Asia.
They were forbidden by the Spirit of God, and then the Spirit did not allow them to go into Bithynia. And I have been invited to share the Gospel in the countries of Burundi and the DRC Congo.
And to encourage the Christians there, well, the visa applications have been sent to the embassies in the in Washington. DCI don't know if the visas are going to be approved. I have my tickets, but I don't know if I'm gonna be able to go to to these countries. I may be forbidden by the spirit from going to these countries through the circumstance of having my visa denied. And so we do not know always what method, the spirit of God. I'm sorry, we don't know what method the Spirit of God used.
To forbid Paul and Silas from going to Asia and Bithynia, but somehow they were led by the Spirit to not go, and later on the Holy Spirit directed Paul and Silas to go to the city of Philippi.
Into the region of Macedonia and we get that in verse 12 here of Acts 16.
And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia in a colony, and we were in that city certain abiding certain days.
And so Paul and Silas, they were led to go there.
To to Philippi by the Spirit of God. Well down in verse 13 we read about Lydia. Lydia and the Holy Spirit had LED Paul and Silas to go to a prayer meeting down by the Riverside where he met Lydia. And verse 13 tells us about that. On the Sabbath day we went out of the city by a Riverside.
Where prayer was won't to be made. And we sat down and spake unto the women, which resorted thither. Was it a coincidence that the spirit of God LED Lydia, or Paul and Silas to meet Lydia there at the Riverside?
Or was it the Spirit of God? I think it's the Spirit of God who guides and directs and allows us to come into contact with certain people at certain times in certain places. So we need to allow the Spirit of God the freedom to guide us and direct us where to go and.
If we if we meet someone there, will we speak to that person? And I know it's easy for some people to to get a conversation going with somebody you don't know and for some of us it's rather difficult. But be willing for the spirit of God to be able to use you whenever he desires. And acts 16 verse 23 here we talk about the the the jailer the Philippian jailer and while while Paul and Silas are in the same city of Philippi.
Paul and Silas were put into prison because of preaching the word of God, and this was a circumstance. It was the Spirit of God guiding through circumstance that led to the jailer's salvation.
Verse 23 says. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely.
And so Paul and Silas, they've been preaching the gospel here in the in the city. And they were arrested. They were thrown into the prison the the. They were whipped and beaten and they were thrown into the stocks and chained there and the door was shut and locked. And round about midnight Paul and Silas started singing hymns and praises to the Lord. And as they were singing the.
There was a great earthquake and the whole building shook and the chains fell off the prisoners. The doors, the locks broke open off the doors. The doors were thrown open and the people, they easily could have escaped. Well, the jailer, he got frightened.
And so he came and got his sword, and he was ready to fall on his sword and to kill himself. But Paul crawled out and said, do thyself no harm, for nobody has escaped. We are all here. Don't. You don't need to kill yourself.
00:35:06
And so the the the jailer. He comes running in to Paul and Silas, and he's trembling. And he says, Sir, what must I do to be saved?
Well, the answer was Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
The jailer was saved.
The next thing is, is Brother Jim mentioned in the gospel last night after salvation a believer should be baptized. And so the the Philippine jailer, he was baptized and he was so happy. He he had his whole household baptized along with them. He wanted them to follow Christ too. It didn't matter that they weren't saved. They had to be baptized because they lived in his house and he wanted them to follow the ways of Christ as well. And so there were good reasons why the Spirit of God sent Paul and Silas to Philippi.
And subsequently an assembly was established in this city. And later on Paul wrote the book of Philippians to these Christians. And we are able to benefit from that circumstance that happened there in the city of Philippi.
1St Corinthians 2.
And we can receive divine guidance through reason, through our minds, and so now that we are saved.
It is possible for us to think in godly ways, because we have been given the mind of Christ in First Corinthians 2 verse 16. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ.
As we read the word of God and we become familiar with it, we are able to understand its meaning and and we are able to understand it through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who who dwells within us. And so the Spirit, it guides us and directs us into truth and it guides us into our actions. And so when we have the word of God in our hearts, our minds can then bring to us that which we should be doing.
And so Romans chapter 5 of chapter 8 and verse five, it says for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded as death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
When we allow the Spirit of God to be active in every aspect of our lives, and I believe our thinking will also be guided by the Spirit of God.
I know that none of us are infallible because we still have a carnal mind, we still have the flesh, and so we're still capable of having wrong thoughts or missing the mind of the Spirit. And we might even pray.
Or say or even do the wrong thing.
How many, how many times have we prayed about something that we really wanted to do, about something that we really wanted to buy?
And The funny thing is that if it's something that we really want, the answer is always yes.
Is that the carnal mind?
Or is it being led by the Spirit of God?
I remember a Christian husband and a wife and they were having some, uh, marriage difficulties and they were struggling and they talked to us and they said they were praying about buying a $7000 diamond ring that they found on Craigslist and they thought it would solve their marriage problems.
Well, they're praying. Well, guess what the answer was?
The answer is yes, buy that ring. And so they were so happy.
And now they are divorced. That ring didn't help them. Was that really the spirit of God they were listening to?
We need to be careful what we pray for because we might get it.
And so we need to be aware that we believers are guided by either the Spirit of God.
Or our carnal minds. Let's go to Romans chapter 14.
00:40:13
In verse 17 tells us what happens when we allow the Spirit of God to have control in our lives. Verse 17.
The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The natural man.
We do enjoy the physical pleasures of meat and drink.
And that is OK if we do not allow it to control us or distract us.
But the natural man needs to be controlled in the light of the Kingdom of God.
By righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in the Holy Spirit and John John 14. Let's look at another verse in John 14.
In this in this verse it shows us another effect.
In our life when we allow ourselves to be submitted to the will of God in verse 26.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Imagine the change in our meetings if we were occupied with Christ in our personal lives and we learned to listen to the Spirit of God in the little things in life.
I think the Spirit of God would be given more liberty when we come into the meetings.
And he could bring to your remembrance those things that you have learned in your personal study time.
So you could be a help to the assembly. Maybe you're younger, maybe you don't know very much, but the spirit of God wants to use you to be a help in the assembly, and he wants to draw from your knowledge of what you have understood and learned and practiced in your life so that you can be a help to the assembly. But before you can be a help like that, first.
You need to study, you need to read, and you need to meditate. So the Spirit of God has something to draw from, and the Spirit of God is able to draw from those things that you have learned both in the perhaps in the meeting, but also in your daily interaction with other believers or or other situations, perhaps with other people, that you might experience every day. And so let's go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 13.
And.
So if we if we want to be led by the Spirit of God in the many decisions of life.
We need to have a good fellowship with God.
A good communion with God. And so in in 2nd Corinthians 13 and verse 14 we are called to a communion to a fellowship with God through the person of the Holy Spirit. And so verse 14, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.
And so the more that we are in communion with God through the Holy Spirit, the more we will be filled with the Spirit, and the more we will be able to respond to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the little things.
In our life.
That's all I've had today, so but I just want us to understand that.
When we are filled, our minds are filled, and our hearts are filled, and our life is filled and guided by the Spirit of God. If we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh and will be ready and available for the Spirit of God to use us.
When we even in the little things, even in the little decisions of life, let's close by seeing #23.
Is Jesus the 1St and the last? Whose spirit shall guide us safe home, will praise him for all that has passed and trust him for all that's to come.
Nsnoise.
That's great.