The Search for Direction Series - Pastor Stacey Shiflett

Watch Part 1 here:

The Search for Direction Series

Part 1 - The Right Path

Proverbs 3

·        5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

·        6 In all thy ways acknowledge him,

Intro: One of the most common prayer requests that I get is prayer for direction.

People everywhere are in desperate need for guidance and instruction for life.

Our theme this year is “Following Jesus”.

If there’s ever been a need for godly, biblical wisdom in order to know God’s will and pursue His plan, it’s now!

A. The Unreserved Trust - Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;

The phrase “whole heart” is found in the Bible 13 times.

Man is notorious for being “half-hearted” when it comes to spiritual things.

Trusting in God is really not trust if it is not with “all thine heart.”

When your heart is fill of doubt and questioning God’s wisdom and providence, that’s not trust.

B. The Unreliable Tendency - …lean not unto thine own understanding.

For some reason, our default fallback is to lean on our own understanding.

This is one of the biggest reasons why we miss God’s will.

We lean on our own understanding, and the truth is, we don’t understand ANYTHING.

We have no idea what God wants or what God desires, yet we continue to fumble around in the dark.

ILLUSTRATION: It would be like punching in the destination in your GPS, and then when it give you the route, you take a screwdriver and dismantle the GPS to try and figure out how it came up with that route.

If we only do what we understand, we won’t leave the front porch.

C. The Unselfish Test – In all thy ways acknowledge him…

I call this the unpopular test because it’s difficult to acknowledge God in all our ways.

What does it meant to “acknowledge him?”

·        Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

ACKNOWLEDGE: to recognize; to admit; to confess

We must acknowledge His Person; His Preeminence; His Purpose; His Plan; His Parameters; His Precepts; His Path

Meaning, we recognize the SUPERIORITY of Him; His right to dictate to us our life.

Acknowledging Him has a whole lot with acknowledging who we are.

Acknowledge His Lordship; His Authority.

Acknowledge that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways.

We have no problem acknowledging what we want. What we prefer.

What we feel we should do. What we think.

But to acknowledge God in everything we do is the challenge.

This is where most Christians fail the test.

They dictate to God what they want, and then when it doesn’t happen, they claim it wasn’t God’s will.

D. The Undeniable Truth - …and he shall direct thy paths.

The unspoken truth is simply this: without God, you’re going to be lost.

Without God’s leadership and guidance, you are going to have NO IDEA where to go and what to do.

If you take these two verses, and reverse engineer them, this is what you get:

·        If you DO NOT trust in the Lord,

·        And if you DO lean unto your own understanding…

·        And if you DO NOT acknowledge Him in all thy ways,

·        He will NOT direct your path.

The first step to finding direction is to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life.

The secret to God directing your path is to start out on the right path.

Let’s be crystal clear – there is NO RIGHT WAY that excludes Jesus Christ.

There is A WAY, but that is not THE WAY.

·        Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

·        Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

The Bible has a lot to say about “the way.”

Jesus is “the way.”

John 14

·        4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

·        5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

·        6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

·        Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

The Christian life is called “the way.”

·        Mark 10:52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

I love this verse because Jesus told him to “go thy way” and he chose to follow Jesus “in the way.”

That should be every one of us!

The only way we should be interested in should be following Jesus IN THE WAY.

The Christian life is all about making THE WAY THY WAY!

Getting saved is repenting of THY WAY and choosing to follow Jesus in THE WAY.

Proper parenting is called “the way.”

·        Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

The correct, biblical doctrines of the Bible are called “the way.”

Acts 18 

·        25 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.

·        26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.

Here is the problem: we are all gone OUT of the way.

Everybody that has yet to be born again is OUT OF THE WAY.

Romans 3

·        10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

·        11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

·        12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

God went OUT OF THE WAY to save those of us that were OUT OF THE WAY.

This is where we get the term “lost.”

·        Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Mankind today is searching for answers.

We live in a very confused and deceived society.

There are over 8.2 billion people in the world today, and most of them have no idea why they are here.

They are being born, going to school, getting married, having families, working jobs, but have no direction.

·        Matthew 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

There are three basic groups of people illustrated in Luke 15.

1.      The Silver was Lost – It was lost and didn’t know it and didn’t care

2.      The Sheep was Lost – It was lost and knew it but didn’t know how to find its way back

3.      The Son was Lost – He was lost and knew it and knew how to get back

You are one of these four people today.

·        In need of direction, but don’t know it.

·        In need of direction, you know it but don’t know where to start.

·        You have been shown the right direction, but you’re not obeying it.

·        You have found your direction and you’re pursuing it with all your heart.

When God created man and put him in the Garden, he was anything but lost.

He had a home, a job, a position of authority and an intimate relationship with God.

But when he sinned, he lost the one thing that people today are seeking: Purpose.

His initial reaction was fear, shame, vulnerability, becoming withdrawn, confusion, guilt and failed experiments.

The biggest hindrance to finding direction is failure to admit that you are LOST!

I. The Condition of the Lost

·        vs. 7 “…the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…”

God created man perfect, and pure, and in an environment of peace and prosperity.

When a person is unsaved, or backslidden, their condition is anything but perfect, pure and peaceful.

Satan is a master of confusion and pollution.

He distorts, distracts, destroys, detracts and dilutes what God has given and what God has in mind for you.

He specializes in deceiving, confusing, frustrating, depressing, distorting.

He cometh but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. (John 10:10)

There must be an honest understanding of your lost condition.

The denial and lying has to stop.

·        The Ethiopian eunuch said, “How can know lest some man should guide me?”

·        The publican said, “Be merciful to me a sinner!”

·        The thief on the cross said, “…for we receive the due reward of our deeds…”

II. The Challenge of the Lost

·        7 “…and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons…”

They started trying to make it work.

They attempted to create a situation that would cover the reality.

Their efforts to “fix” the problem was inadequate and pitiful.

Imagine how hard it must have been for them to sew fig leaves together.

They had to make a needle. They had to find and make some kind of string.

They worked and labored and struggled just to come up with something that would hide their situation.

The world’s solution is “fake it until you make it.”

People today spend more time propping up their failures and mistakes than they do finding direction.

Their solution was temporary at best. No long-term solution.

God told the nation of Israel that he was sick of their weak and feeble efforts to fix their problem.

Isaiah 1

·        13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

·        14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

·        15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

There is nothing you can do to fix it.

The problem is bigger than you can handle.

You need God to help you!!

III. The Choice of the Lost

·        22 “…man is become as one of us, to know good and evil…”

They now knew the difference between good and evil.

They came to a fork in the road, and needed to make a choice.

When you are confronted by the fact that you are a sinner, and that God is the answer, you’ve got 2 choices:

Hide or Hearken

·        Genesis 3:8 “…they heard the voice of God…and hid themselves…”

This morning, you can run FROM God, or you can run TO God.

There are only two directions that you can take.

There are only two paths.

There are only two choices to make:

·        The path of life, or the path of death.

·        The path of right, or the path of wrong.

·        The narrow way, or the broad road.

For the unbeliever, it’s a path to heaven, or a path to hell.

For the believer, it’s either toward God, or away from God.

Conclusion: God put it as plain as possible in Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: