Six Ways To Be in the Will of God: Saturday Night Sermon Notes

I love Saturday night church!

Getting all three kids ready for church on Saturday is so much easier that corralling them early Sunday for 8:45am service. Plus, it gives us a day of rest on Sunday.

The faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory. – Chinese proverb

My pastor mentioned this quote last night when he was urging the congregation to take notes to help the message sink in. For a few weeks now, I’ve gone back to handwriting notes after switching from using my iPad to follow along and take notes. I had to chuckle at myself tonight because I forgot my notebook so I had to use a scribbled up sheet I found in my Bible. 

Tonight’s message was good solid teaching so I thought I’d share sermon notes from my pastor's message at Saturday night church.

The topic: Six Ways To Be in the Will of God.

1. The will of God is sitting at Jesus’ feet. Mark 3:31-35  Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

We need to hear God’s Word and spend undistracted time in the Bible. Meditation = illumination = manifestation = action.

2. The will of God is giving to the Lord then through something He is doing through people. 2 Corinthians 8:1-7 

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. 5 And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

We are to give of ourselves, our time and talents. Then we are to support the work that God is giving through others like missions, volunteering for programs, etc. When we see God moving through a work, it is His will that we give to it.

3. God’s will is that you work hard and enthusiastically.

Ephesians 6:5-8 Living Bible (TLB): Slaves, obey your masters; be eager to give them your very best. Serve them as you would Christ. 6-7 Don’t work hard only when your master is watching and then shirk when he isn’t looking; work hard and with gladness all the time, as though working for Christ, doing the will of God with all your hearts.8 Remember, the Lord will pay you for each good thing you do, whether you are slave or free.

This scripture should be read in the context of employer and employee. We should work as if Jesus is our boss and not man. Don’t just do enough to get by but do your work and be happy about it. Even if you think you have a calling on your life, still work as unto the Lord until you are moved to your next assignment.

4. God’s will is that you be sanctified. I Thessalonians 4:3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality. Sanctified means set apart for God. We have to choose to live within the boundaries that God has set for our sexuality. God created us and sex. When God sets boundaries it’s for our benefit. He has our best interest at heart.

 3 Ways to Live Pure When You are Tempted:

1.     Run away! Joseph ran away from Potiphar’s wife who pursued him sexually—even to the point of leaving his beloved coat behind. 2 Timothy 2:22, I Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality.

2.     Make no provision for the flesh Romans 13:14 No provision = no advance planning. If you make provision for the flesh then you will fulfill the lust of the flesh.

3.     Renew your mind with the Word. Romans 12:1-2 . Change your thinking. Conform means to squeeze into a mold from outside pressure. The spirit of the age in which we live will squeeze you into its mold.

5.    God’s will is that you find something to be thankful for. I Thessalonians 5:18. Don’t be thankful for everything but in whatever circumstance you find yourself in you can find something to be thankful for.

6.    It’s God’s will that you turn to Him. 2 Peter 3:9 The first step in salvation is to turn from sin. There’s an SOS that goes out from every heart and God sent rescue through Jesus. This rescue can’t be fulfilled any other way or through any other relationship, not through noble works or religion.

Impressing God's Word on Little Hearts

As mommas, we are careful to teach our kids while they're young.

We teach them to brush their teeth. Wash behind their ears. Ties their shoes. Chew with their mouths closed. We teach them to say please and thank you. We do our best to equip for the world.

I realized I was going to great lengths to teach them all I could about how to navigate this big world they'll soon be facing on their own, but I was neglecting the most necessary thing: the Word of God.

Before baby girl was born, I would spend time in the Bible with the boys. But three kids + a tired momma soon squeezed out any extra energy I had for walking with them through the Bible. That is until I got a quiet nudging from the Holy Spirit recently.

Deuteronomy 6: 4-9: 

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

My kids go to a Christian school, but it's not the school's responsibility to teach MY children about the Word. We got to church every week, but it's not on the church to be the primary teacher of my children about God. Our role as parents is to impress God's word upon our children's heart.

Sure, we can wait until they get older and let them decide for themselves, but that's not what the Bible requires. Waiting means the impressionable years would have since passed and getting that Word on their hearts is not such an easy task then.

I believe we are to impress the Word on our children's hearts when they're young because that's when it will make its mark best. I think about all the Play Doh that the boys have played with down through the years. New Play Doh is so lovely. It's soft and moldable in your hands. A joy to play with. They would mold the clay in their hands and then stamp it with designs or carve smiles on Play Doh people. Down the line, the new Play Doh would get left out, the tops not put on tightly resulting in dry, hard balls of clay. Hard to mold and carve Play Doh when it's old. It's mostly just a crumbly mess that has to be tossed. 

I see my kids hearts like that new Play Doh: pliable and totally ready for the Word of God.  This is is why I'm taking every effort to impress it upon their little hearts right now.

So every night before bed, this tired momma pulls out the Bible, gathers the little people and we walk through the Scriptures as they are read aloud. And last night, wouldn't you know what our Bible verses were? Deuteronomy 6: 4-9. Just a little confirmation that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

And as I asked the boys what this verse meant to them, my oldest recited word for word a New Testament verse that supported what we were studying.

My making an impression is not in vain. And our time together has become a welcome part of their day.

I'm making it my business to walk and talk the Word of God not just during our evening Bible study but also when we're sitting at home and when we are riding in the car. When we wake up and as we get ready for bed. I want their roots to run deep and for them to have a genuine love for God's Word....not just on Sundays (or Saturday nights which is when we go to church). I want the Bible to be woven into their every day lives.