Trusting Him for Directions
Key Passage: Proverbs 3:5-6
Date: June 7, 2024
Proverbs chapter number three, if you would please. A very familiar passage in the Bible, Proverbs 3. We will read just two verses: Proverbs 3, verse number 5, and verse number 6. By the way, if you don’t have a Bible, there should be one in front of you, one of those chairs of Bible there. I’m glad people want to get the Bible. That’s a good deal. Proverbs 3.
Verse number five and verse number six. If you are there, would you say amen? Good deal. If you’re not there, you can say, “Oh me.” And if you haven’t found it by now, just open your Bible, look like you fell in. We’ll never know the difference. Amen. We’re good. Now, if you’re holding it upside down, we may have an issue; you’re not where you should be. Proverbs chapter number three.
Tell me your favorite Christmas gift you got this year. Say it out loud. We’re going on the count of three. Everybody here, we’re going at the same time. One, two, three. Got them, got them all, got them all. Good deal. Sounded good, whatever it was. I don’t know. I didn’t get them all in there, but good, good, good. Now I got your mind off on other things. How many of you have already taken a Christmas gift back to trade it in? Anybody like that?
Not too bad. We’re doing pretty good on that. That’s a good deal. Proverbs 3. Let’s stand if you are able, would you please, just to show the Word of God respect. We try to do that. The Bible is worthy of that. Proverbs 3, verse number 5. The Bible there says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
By the way, isn’t that a little opposite of the world’s philosophy? The world’s philosophy is to follow your heart. The Bible’s philosophy is to get your heart following the Lord. Two different things there. Then verse number six is the verse we want to focus on a bit here this morning. He says, “In all thy ways, acknowledge him.” Now, the last part is what I feel like the Lord wants us to focus on this morning. Would you read that last part of verse number six with me? Here we go: “And he shall direct thy path.” Would you do that again? Here we go: “And he shall direct thy path.” Isn’t that amazing? God can direct your paths. Life is made up of decisions.
Some of those decisions will bear consequences for the rest of our life.
I don’t know about you, but I get nervous sometimes when it comes to decisions. I can get what the Bible calls dismayed. I can be bad about that one. You ask, “What in the world does dismayed mean?” It’s when that squirrel comes out in front of your car, you slam on the brakes, and that squirrel goes back and forth about five times. It could have been across the road, but it just gets fearful and freezes. That’s dismayed. Sometimes we get dismayed when it comes to decisions. So many things can really set us in a bad pattern because of bad decisions. If you get anything this morning, I hope at least you get this: “And he shall direct thy paths.” You can have His leadership in making your decisions.
Young people here and others in the auditorium—young people, if you can learn right now that God can give you direction, He can lead you. God knows everything. You will be way ahead of the ballgame if you learn to listen and hear the voice of God in decision-making. For just a bit this morning, we’re going to talk about that: God gives directions.
Now, some of you men say, “I don’t want anybody to give me directions.” I understand. You never get lost. I understand that. Well, let me talk to your wife about that and find out what she says. But God gives directions. He does. “He shall direct thy paths.” He can direct you. That’s what you want from Him. Your life can be so much better because God’s been leading you, and you can have His leadership in your life. Just a bit. That right there—trusting Him for directions—will be the title for the internet: Trusting Him for Directions.
It’s the last day of the year. How many of you have already made some New Year’s resolutions? Anybody? I’ll tell you one of mine: Tuesday—not tomorrow, but Tuesday—my diet starts. Amen? How many are on board with me on that? You ask, “Why not tomorrow?” It’s the first day of the year because there are football games I’m going to watch tomorrow, amen. And I want to eat what I want to eat while watching a football game, amen, you know? So Tuesday it’s starting. I hope—I’ve been doing this, and I don’t have all the answers—but I’m asking the Lord for directions on some New Year’s resolutions, and maybe even my prayer life. We’re already talking about reading your Bible. How are you going to read your Bible this year?
There are so many things. This is a great time of the year to make some great decisions. “And he shall direct thy path.” You can have His direction in your decision-making. Just for a bit, we’re going to try to focus on that. Would you pray with me that God would speak to our hearts this morning? Would you do that? Father, Lord, we come to you. Lord, I would love to step down and if you’d come preach for us. I’m unworthy to be here, Lord. For some reason, you’ve chosen me; you want me here. So, Lord, I yield to you. I ask that you would step in and speak to hearts. Lord, you give me the privilege, Father, of being the glove; you be the hand, Lord. Please, Lord, let this truth just permeate. Father, I ask that maybe even a young person for the rest of their life will remember this saying: God will direct them. Lord, at least let us get that truth, Father. And Lord, we’ll praise you and thank you for what you do. We know the glory belongs to you. Bless this morning. In Jesus’ name, we ask, amen. Thank you so much for staying. You may be seated.
Years and years ago, we had some people in our neighborhood—they don’t live there now, haven’t lived there for years, moved out of town. But the grass got really, really, really high. I think they were just defeated, depressed, or whatnot. So my wife and I decided to go cut the grass. Well, a couple of problems with that. We didn’t know if our lawnmower would last through this grass. I’m talking about it; it was maybe—I don’t know—maybe up to here, literally. It had been like that for probably the whole year, at least a year, we’ll say. The only problem was we were worried about there being broomsticks out there, rocks out there, engine parts out there, and everything else in the world out there.
So we were really worried about it. We thought, “We don’t want to ruin our lawnmower.” I had a lawnmower cutting these people’s grass, you know. My wife drove the lawnmower, and I would get in front of it with a weed eater, a stick, or something, because the grass was so high. I’d have a stick or something just trying to poke and make sure there wasn’t metal rods and whatnot. There were some of those things in the yard—metal wire, whatnot—and we didn’t want to ruin our lawnmower. So I would walk in front of that.
I would try to pick up things to get out of the way, but sometimes I’d have to say, “Hey, Tammy!” You know, the lawnmower was running, and I’d try to yell at her. I said, “Don’t go there. Don’t go there.” I remember one place there was a rod—sometimes people put a rod down in the ground and hook a little runner on there for a dog. Some of these rods would not come out of the ground. I’d say, “Tammy, don’t! Right there! Don’t go there! Get up!” I would walk through that high grass and direct her path.
Now, the Bible says if you fulfill this promise, God shall direct your path. Anybody out there who would like God to be in front of the lawnmower when you are about to make a real bad financial decision and say, “Hey, don’t go right there”? Anybody like that out there? Yeah. The Bible promise here is just amazing. He said, “And he shall.” Now let’s talk about the word “shall” in the Bible. If God in His Word says He will do something, you can bank on it; He is going to do it.
Remember John 14 over there: “Let not your heart be troubled.” I’m misquoting, but I have it in my Bible here. John 14, many of you know it by heart. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” He said, “I will come again.” You can bank on it. He is coming, amen. He said, “I will.” God says He will. It is done.
But “shall”—when the Bible uses the word “shall”—it is an old English word, and it is a little stronger than that. It carries a bit more emphasis. Now, if God says, “I will do this,” He is going to do it. But when He says, “I shall,” that is even stronger. And God here says, “He shall direct thy paths.” Friend, I am telling you, you want that promise right there.
I hope Ms. Linda doesn’t mind me saying this, but I see Ms. Linda right here this morning. She has several foster children and adopted children. Ms. Linda, how many children do you have in your household? Five children are in the household right now. I promise you, Ms. Linda wants this: God directing her path. You have five kids! Tell you what, now you know. She is so good about letting all those kids come to church. Friend, you want this promise from God: “He shall direct thy paths.”
Now, if you notice that, look back at verse number six. It is conditional. Sometimes there are promises in the Bible where God says, “I am going to do this no matter what.” Okay? You know, the sun comes up in the east, not the west. He is going to rain on the just and unjust. The rain does. But sometimes God says, “I will do this if you will do this.” It is a conditional promise. This is a conditional promise. Ethan here wants this, but God says, “Ethan, I will do this for you. I will direct your paths if you do this.” All right? Anybody out there who wants God’s direction in your life, would you raise your hand, please? Both my hands—well, okay, both my hands. My hand and a half is up, all right? I want that for sure, all right? But here is the condition. There is a condition to this promise God makes. It is actually not nearly as hard as you think it is. Look at what he says in verse number six: “In all thy ways,” what is the next word?
That is not as hard as you think: “Acknowledge him.” In all the ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Now, if you are like me—hopefully you are not like me, I’m a hibbly, amen, you know—but if you are somewhat like me, my mind goes to, “What does he mean? What does he really, really mean?” What does the Bible mean when it says, “In all the ways, acknowledge him”? Anybody else thought that already? Nobody else thought that? Come on. I am there. So here is the thing: Sometimes it helps us understand Bible words when we find the first time that word is used in the Bible. The Bible is the best dictionary of the Bible. You understand that. It explains itself very well.
So the first time this word “acknowledge” is used in the Bible is over when God was giving Israel specifically the law, their laws for their nation, their city ordinances, and all these different things. And He tells them this. He said, “Now look,” and I am not saying God is not for polygamy. In the beginning, God made Adam and Eve, and God made one woman for one man. That is God’s plan. But it did happen in Bible times. Sometimes a fellow would marry more than one wife. Okay? God didn’t want it. He didn’t like it. But since it was happening, God put some rules around it, all right?
In the Bible, there is this saying about the firstborn male, the firstborn boy, and that boy was supposed to get a double portion. Okay, are you with me on that? Double portion inheritance and things. The oldest boy was supposed to get that. If you are the younger child, the middle child—I know it is not fair, but we have to live with it. That is the way it was in Bible times, all right? And that is just what it was. Over here, the first time He uses the word “acknowledge,” He talks about if a guy is married to two ladies—one he loves, and one he cannot stand, but he is married to her. Are you out there? All right. Some of you are looking, “Is that in the Bible?” All right, we will get you a reference there so you won’t think I am making it up. Look over in Deuteronomy 21. Deuteronomy 21. We are trying to find out about this word, “acknowledge.” This is the first time this word “acknowledge” is used in the Bible.
It is talking about this man who has two wives. He loves one; he hates the other. And here is the thing: the one he hates is the one who has the firstborn boy. Notice what he says about it. By the way, that happened biblically. We will start in verse number 16. We will start in verse number 15, just so you get the feeling of it. The pastor is not making this up. Look at verse number 15: “If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated; and they have born him children, both beloved and hated: and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath; for he is the beginning of his strength: the right of the firstborn is his.” Did you notice that? Acknowledge. The first time in the Bible we have this word, “acknowledge,” it is simply God telling the husband, “Look, that boy is the firstborn, and you better acknowledge that he is the firstborn.” Acknowledge who and what he is.
Now, let’s take this. We are trying to learn about acknowledging Him in all the ways so that He shall direct. You get His direction in your life. So I have to acknowledge. Let me just talk about acknowledging: it is when I acknowledge or recognize that God is God.
Let me tell you a little bit about that. That means even though it is your life, He knows better—much better—how to run your life than you know how to run your life. It goes beyond that, not just that He knows better, but He deserves to have His way in your life because He is the one who made you in the first place. It is acknowledging God. He is God of the universe. He is omniscient. He knows everything. Someone said, “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?” You acknowledge Him. He knows better than you. That is why that verse number five in Proverbs—sometimes we say every verse is separated, but not always in the book of Proverbs—I think they are often more connected than we think. But I said, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.” You lose all your heart because your heart is going to think otherwise, and God says, “No, I need you to acknowledge that I am God.” He knows better than I.
Some of that might be in your prayer life about this decision: “God, I want you to get your way. God, you know much better than I know about this thing. Even though I have studied it and studied it, and I have all this knowledge of what I think I should do—look, hang on what I think I should do. Lord, I want what you think I should do, because you are God.” In all thy ways acknowledge Him. Did you notice that first part of verse number five? He said, “Lean not unto thine own understanding.” He did not say, “Don’t have understanding.” I make this statement a lot of times. I say, “Hey, before we make this decision, let’s make a knowledgeable decision. Let’s try to get all the facts together we can about this decision.” I like to have understanding the best I can. But at the end of the day, He said, “Lean not unto thine own understanding.”
What are they going to do on that decision where they are leaning this way? It means, yes, study all you can, find all you can about that decision. By the end of the day, who cares what I think? I want what God wants. It does not mean you do not find out. Sometimes God’s will goes in line with conventional wisdom. Sometimes it does not. It was not conventional wisdom to march around Jericho every day. Y’all know what I am going to talk about? Seven days, seven times, blow the trumpet. That was not conventional. Sometimes it is conventional. Sometimes it is not. But you are saying, “Lord, I am not going to lean to my own understanding. Your leading always trumps my understanding,” is what it means. All right. You acknowledge it. Now, something else about this verse. Are y’all still with me this morning? Are y’all stuffy? Is it hot, y’all? No? Okay, are you cold?
How about we just get air flowing? We are lukewarm. What about that? I do not want to spew you out of His mouth. We are just not turning the temperature; we will just get air flowing, all right? Look back. Proverbs 3. Look at that. Here we go. I want you to catch up now. It is verse number 6 right there, Proverbs 3:6. We are trying to find out how to have His direction. He will give it to you if we acknowledge Him. Watch this. Verse number 6. Are you in verse number 6? You are there? The first word is “In.” What is the next word? “All thy ways.” Acknowledge Him.
Here is what we are tempted to do: “All right, Lord, I go to church, I serve you, and I’ll do—you know, I’ll put a little bit in the offering and play whatever—but my finances are mine beyond that.” Oh, you acknowledge Him in your finances. “God, you are God. You know what and how I should handle my money.” In all your ways, acknowledge Him. In your marriage: “All right, Lord, you know what kind of husband I should be, you know what kind of life I should be. You are the one that created marriage. You are God. You know me. You know my passion. You know our future. You know what is going to happen next year.” In my marriage, I acknowledge you. And simple things: you have work around your house, and you have a job to do, and you say, “Lord, you are a carpenter. You are the best carpenter in the world. You know the best way to do this, even if it is a different area. You always know the best.” You acknowledge Him. In every area of your life—child rearing, yes; work, how you handle your stuff at work, yes—in all thy ways, acknowledge Him.
Friend, can I be honest with you? Though nobody is perfect at this, it is not quite as hard as the devil can make it seem to you. You simply acknowledge Him in all your ways. “In every area of my life, I want to acknowledge you. You are God. You know better than me. Your will trumps my will every time. I am after what you want.” And God says you acknowledge Him in all your ways. Help me out. And He said, “And he shall what?” I hope that sticks with you. He can direct. He shall. He will. He promised. “He shall direct thy paths.”
Years ago, I had to make a decision for our church. There was a leadership position void or empty, and I had to get somebody to fill that position. I prayed about it. You know, as you pray, “Lord, who do you want there? What do you want there?” I was truly and sincerely seeking the Lord’s direction on that. I had, oh, maybe a week or two; I had to make a decision pretty quick. I was just praying over that thing. And the time came; I had to do something. Honestly, in my mind, “All right, this is what I am going to do. Best I can tell, Lord, this is what you want.” Isn’t it amazing? Even when I am going to make my own decision, He still directs, if I am acknowledging Him.
In my office, I typically have a cell phone and then the landline. I went to pick up that landline, intending to call someone to fill that position. They are not a bad person, but years—I do not know, maybe twelve years later, whatever it is—it would have been the wrong decision. I know that now. At the time, I was trying to do God’s will, and I was acknowledging Him in all my ways, but I was about to make the wrong decision. Literally, before I could pick it up—about to pick it up to call this guy—that person called before I could pick it up. They were calling me. And as they began to talk, the more they talked, it was like a neon sign from God saying, “Paul, that is the wrong decision.”
And God directed me. That is the promise from God. If you acknowledge Him in all your ways, friend, can I just say this? You do not have to live in fear that God is not capable of leading you. “He shall direct thy paths.” That is a promise. The key is: acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He shall direct. He has promised to. He is bound by His word to do it. He does not lie, Timothy says. In Psalm 23, you know that shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” You know that Psalm? I love it: “He leadeth me beside the still waters.”
“He leadeth me in paths of righteousness.” He is your shepherd. A shepherd does not drive sheep; a shepherd is always in front leading sheep. God is the best shepherd in the world. He is a good shepherd, a chief shepherd, the great shepherd. And He said, “Look, I will lead you.” That is His promise. “He shall direct thy path.” Psalm 48:14 says, “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.”
Now, here is what happens so often. Are y’all with me this morning? Are y’all with me? Help me out here. Help me out. All these young folks on the front row, help me out here. Come on. Let’s get everybody awake here. You are stuck here with this old ugly preacher; you might as well listen a bit. There we go. Let’s talk. Here is the thing: I am just trying to get us all—you know, Christmas time, we are all out of whack schedule—so I am trying to get us all listening to Him for a second here. But here is the thing: when it comes to a major decision, what happens? Sometimes we do not know what to do. You know what? Satan comes along and tries to put fear in there. Satan is good at putting fear in there. By the way, he can speak to your heart; Satan can. Acts 5:3 is a verse where he says, “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?” So it just shows me Satan can fill my heart. When it comes to a big decision, Satan fills my heart with fear: “What should I do here?”
Here is the reason why Satan does that. By the way, that is why he is a roaring lion. He is not just a lion; he is a roaring lion. That roar puts fear into people. So our lion roars—this is my pride, they call it—into protecting it: fear. Satan roars because fear is a bad decision-maker. I begin to make decisions out of fear—some of the worst decisions in the world. A girl will just kind of accept the guy who is below the standard she wants for a husband, out of fear that she will never find the right one, rather than waiting and regretting it for her life. Do you all see what I mean? Fear.
Fear can be such a bad decision-maker. Israel came to the Promised Land. God wanted them to enter in. Remember they sent in the twelve spies? Ten of them came back and said, “No, we cannot take that.” Out of fear, they said, “We are not going to enter into the Promised Land.” For the next forty years, they just wandered around and died of natural causes. Fear leads to being dismayed—we talked about what it means to be dismayed earlier. Fear leads to hasty, dumb decisions sometimes. Fear leads to, “I do not want to go through the process of acknowledging God in all my ways to find out what He wants.” I am just fearful, so boom, I just make it based on my own understanding. Fear is a bad decision-maker. So many people have made the wrong decision out of fear. That is what the devil wants us to do.
So what do I do when fear comes? What did He say in verse number five? Go back to verse number five right there, Proverbs 3. Look at verse number five. What does He say? What does He start off with? What is the word? Trust. Yeah. I remember something from Psalms: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Trust Him that He will direct. Trust Him that His promise is true. If I acknowledge Him in all my ways, He shall direct. There is going to be fear. “I do not know if I am making the right decision here. I am prone to this or that.” Trust Him. He shall direct. He is not a weird, chaotic God trying to hide His will from you. If you are trying to do His will, you are acknowledging Him, and He shall direct. Are you with me out there?
Now, let’s do this. You say, “How is He going to direct me?” Can I say this? He has thousands of ways to direct you. Thousands. He is God. Infinite ways of directing you. Let me give you a couple—about four or five major ways. First of all, His Word. He will guide you through His Word. He said, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” It will guide you—the Bible. By the way, God will never lead you away from or against biblical principles. Somebody says, “Hey, I had this guy say, ‘Hey, I don’t want my wife anymore. I think it’s God’s will for me to divorce her.’” And I said, “No, no, friend, it is not a matter of whether you love her or not anymore; it is a matter of what does God say about that.” He is not going to lead you against the Bible. God does not do that. Whatever it may be, He is not going to lead you against His Word, all right?
Let me say this: this is the Holy Spirit—that still, small voice inside you. He will guide you into all truth, John says. Obey every impulse of the Holy Spirit of God. Circumstances: God uses them sometimes to guide you. I knew an old preacher—he is in heaven now—but he was in Texas, and he was praying and thinking about maybe going to Hammond, Indiana, and taking a church there. He was asking, “Lord, is this Your will or not?” He was driving down the interstate in Texas and happened to get behind a semi—the back of the semi, real big—it had the word “Hammond.” He thought, “Well, this is God’s way.” And God was leading him that way.
Now, there were a whole lot of preachers after that riding down the interstate seeking God’s will, looking at the backs of semis. But God does not always lead the same way. He has a thousand ways to lead and guide you. Sometimes it is open doors, sometimes closed doors. Sometimes it is the Word, and it is very direct. He leads you. Sometimes the Spirit of God gives you an inclination. Can I say there is sometimes just the peace of God? God gives you peace about something. God can give you such a peace about His will, what He wants you to do—such a peace that sometimes even when things are bad, you still know, “I did what God wanted me to do.”
I thought about the beginning of our church. Twenty-four years ago, we had moved from Indiana down to start the church. We had tried to follow the Lord’s leadership in that. I was reading a book—a very good book about starting a church—and it said it had some get-acquainted meetings on Thursday night. So we had our very first service, if you will, in a little daycare center—a get-acquainted service. I thought, you know what? I was in Middle Tennessee. I knocked on thousands of doors. You knock on doors and say, “Hey, we are starting a church. Would you come to the new church?” Everybody says, “Well, we are going to come. We are going to come.” I thought, “Man, we are going to have so many people come.” So I went out and bought a couple dozen donuts and got orange juice and all that. We met at that daycare. I think it started at 7 o’clock. We got there around 6:00, set it up, got it ready to go, you know.
By a quarter till seven, nobody was there. Well, that is all right. Down South, everybody is fashionably late, you know. At seven o’clock, people pull in. Seven o’clock, nobody was there. Just me, my wife, and my two kids, two and four years old at the time. Somewhere around 7:15, 7:20, we realized nobody was coming. Now, look, we had moved. I quit my job. We had rented a place down here, all that. Did you have fear that night? I will be honest: God had already given us such peace. We were just so happy that our memory that night was how we just had joy and peace, even though nobody came.
The funny part I always tell is John was four years old, and it was a get-acquainted service where we were trying to introduce our family to the people. Nobody was there, you know. John was four years old and said, “Hey, stand up, John. This is my son, John,” whatnot. John stood up. He was just four years old, but he was so scared and nervous, as if there were a thousand people there when nobody was there, you know. But we had peace. God can lead you through His peace to where even when things are bad and it is rough, you have a peace. You know God is in this thing. Just God: “He shall direct thy paths.”
Now, the last thing—we are done. We are going to baptize here. Last thing. Let me say this about this. Here is the tough part: His direction. Now listen, are y’all with me? Do y’all want to be out there? His direction comes in His time. “I want Him to direct me right now.” God says, “No, I will direct you when you really need it.” At that time when I am acknowledging Him, “Lord, I do not want my will; I want Your will. You are God, You know better than that.” At the time that I am going through the process of acknowledging Him, God is doing something, I promise you. Often He is growing us. He is growing our faith. He is purifying us. He is getting our attention. Often He is humbling us. He has that time period for a reason. Do not jump ahead of Him. You just wait. He said, “He shall direct thy path.” He always gives direction when needed.
Years ago, about twenty-one years ago, we were looking for a house, and we found a house down on Horde Road in Murfreesboro. Anybody know Horde Road in Murfreesboro? Some of you do; I was right on Horde Road, kind of down towards the end of it. We loved it. It would have been our first house we ever bought. We put a contract in it; it was accepted. Oh, we are going to get a house, you know. We had two little kids and whatnot, and we were thrilled about it. In fact, this is how much we were into it: we had the contract, they had accepted it, we were getting very close to the closing day. We knew there was a leak in the sink, and we did not want to rot the wood. So we actually went in there a day or two before and fixed the sink. Don’t tell it. Don’t tell it. There is a real estate agent here; she is looking at me like, “Oh, you didn’t.” Don’t tell anybody we did that, you know, but we did not want to fall out of the deal, you know. We had already purchased the paint for it. We were just—we were set on that.
We were trying to acknowledge God. We were not perfect, but we were trying to acknowledge God in all our ways. Our hearts, our minds, we were set on that house. We were all in. I cannot remember if it was one day or two days—Tammy says one day; she remembers those things better than I. One day before closing, I think maybe the surveyors went out there, and they found a sinkhole in the backyard. Of course, everything is off then. At the time, we did not know, but we have seen it many times over the years: when it rains hard, that whole yard literally just floods. God prevented it. God was walking in front of the lawnmower saying, “Nope, don’t go there.” My friend, I am telling you, God says He shall. Do not live in fear. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and you rest in His promise. Trust Him. “He shall direct thy paths.”
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? You hear this morning, and you say, “Preacher, I am going through a decision right now. The wills are turning. I have to make a decision over something, and God spoke to me. I am going to trust Him. I am going to wait on Him. I am going to acknowledge Him in all my ways. I am going to trust Him to direct me in this decision that I am facing right now. There is a decision in my life, and I am just going to acknowledge and trust that He is going to direct.” God spoke to my heart about that. If that is you this morning, just lift your hand up. “Preacher, that is me. I am going through a decision right now.” Many hands. Maybe somebody else. “I am going to acknowledge Him. I am going to acknowledge Him.” God bless you. “I am going to trust Him that He shall. He promised. He promised, and I am going to hold Him to it. I am going to acknowledge Him in all my ways, and I am going to trust you.”
“Now, He shall direct.” Is there anybody else? Just lift your hand. Many have already raised your hand. God bless you. Good, good. God bless you. Many, many hands. Thank you so much. You can put them down. Maybe you are not there right now, but you said, “Preacher, when that time comes and I have to make those decisions, by the grace of God and with His help, I am going to do my best to trust in Him that He will direct. I am going to acknowledge Him in all my ways. I am not going to run off and do my own thing. I am not going to make my decision out of fear. I am going to trust Him.” You said, “I have acknowledged Him in all my ways; He shall direct.” When that time comes, I am going to do my best to remember and to keep acknowledging Him, and I am going to trust that He will direct my path. God spoke to my heart about that coming decision. Anybody else like that? God bless you. God bless that. So important, so important. Friend, you can bank on His Word. He said He shall direct your path.
Thank you so very much. Maybe here this morning you said, “Preacher, I have never made the decision to put my faith in Jesus to pay for my sins and to be my personal Savior.” Maybe out of fear, maybe out of just doing my own thing, I thought I had to be good enough, but I need to make a decision to put my faith fully in Jesus Christ to save me, to pay my sin debt, to take me to heaven. Preacher, I need to make that decision. I have not made it yet. I know the Spirit of God is pulling me, tugging me. I need to make that decision to put my faith in Jesus Christ. I need to get saved. If that is you this morning, “I need to get saved.” God is speaking to my heart. He is tugging at my heartstrings. If that is you this morning, “I need to make that decision,” just lift your hand up. “I need to make that decision to put my full faith in Jesus Christ to be my personal Savior.” Would there be anybody? “I need to make that decision.” I see one hand. Would there be another? “I need to make that decision to put my faith in Jesus Christ to be my Savior.” Would there be anybody else?
Right there you said—you say, “I know I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died on the cross and rose again. I want to make the decision to call on Him, to trust fully in Jesus right now.” Right there you said, “Would you call on Him?” Just let Him know: “Dear Jesus, I do admit that I know I am a sinner. I understand there is a penalty on my sin. But Jesus, I believe He died for me, three days later rose again. And right now, Jesus, I am making the decision to call on You. I am putting all of my faith, my belief, on You, Jesus, to be my Savior. Take me to heaven.” In Jesus’ name I pray. Now, hands by now as close. You said, “Preacher, I just call on Jesus to be my Savior. I just put my trust in Jesus alone to pay for my sins, take me to heaven.” If you just did that, would you slip your hand up? Anybody like that, just call on Jesus to be my Savior. God bless you. God bless you. Would there be anybody else? God bless you. God bless you. Best decision of all your life. Best decision of all your life. Anybody else? “I just put all my faith in Jesus to pay for my sins. I made that. It was a clear decision. I made it in my heart.” Anybody else? Just let me know. I pray. I call on Jesus.
In just a moment, we are going to stand. We are going to have a word of prayer. When I say amen, we are going to start our invitation. We call it the invitation because we are inviting you to come to an old-fashioned altar. God is tugging at your heartstrings, maybe a decision. If you want to come down and acknowledge Him, you do that. The Lord has you standing right where you are; that is fine. You just obey the Lord, let the Lord lead you. Maybe you want to make a decision at an old-fashioned altar this morning. When that time comes, I am going to remember the promise: “He shall direct,” and I am going to acknowledge Him. Maybe you raised your hand saying, “Jesus, I just ask you to be my Savior.” There will be a man standing down front. There will be a man standing in the back. Would you go shake their hand? They will get someone to take the Bible and, from the Bible, show you how you can know for sure you are going to heaven. You have settled that. You made the decision. They will give you assurances, Bible verses about that. Would you do that? Let’s stand, would you please? We will all stand.
We will stand. I am going to have a word of prayer—just a quick prayer. When I say amen, if God is tugging at your heartstrings, would you come? If you are going to get baptized, when we say amen, that would be the time to come forward. There will be a man here to help you, a lady to help the ladies go back and get ready for baptism. Let’s pray. Would you just obey the Lord’s tugging at your heart? Father, thank you for the promise, Lord. “He shall direct.” Help us to acknowledge Him in all our ways. Father, help those that made the decision of calling You to be their Savior; let them get assurance and get it settled, a good, sure foundation on You, Jesus. Bless these next minutes in a great, great way. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Would you come? If God spoke to your heart, God is talking to you, would you come? That is right. God is tugging at your heart. Would you come? “Lord, I am going to acknowledge You in all my ways.” Let Him know that. “He shall direct.”
When that time comes, I want to make the right decision. I want to acknowledge You, Lord. Would you come? Lord, I want to do that. Feel the Lord tugging at your heart. I want to acknowledge Him in all my ways. Maybe there is a way you are not acknowledging Him: your marriage, your school, your finances, your work. Lord, I want to acknowledge You in all my ways. Let Him know that. Every way you want to acknowledge Him, let Him know that. It would be a good thing for a married couple to do this. Maybe a married couple says, “Hey, together, Lord, we want to acknowledge You in all our ways.” Maybe a young couple says, “In all things, we acknowledge Him. He shall direct.” We will have another verse, if you would, please. Amen. You can be seated.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Trust in God With All Your Heart - Sunday PM 12312023