Bible Study Outline: God's Promise to Guide His Children
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Scripture Reading
Psalm 25:1 To You, O Yahweh, I lift up my soul. 2 O
my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed;
Do not let my enemies exult over me. 3 Indeed,
let none who hope in You be ashamed; Let those who deal treacherously
without cause be ashamed. 4 Make me know Your ways, O
Yahweh;
Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me
in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation;
In You I hope all the day.
I thought this passage of Scripture would be appropriate for our topic today. Verse 5 again; “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; In You I hope all the day.”
I chose it because we are seeking guidance from God concerning the future of our church. I hope that you’ve received a couple of letters from me detailing what we have been discussing during our Wednesday evening prayer meetings. This week we are meeting at 6 p.m. here at the church, with Dr. Bob Mills. Dr. Mills has the official title of “Director of Church Health” for our Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptist. And his job is to help Southern Baptist churches in Kansas and Nebraska assess their health, and think about how they can move forward from where they are.
So, with that in mind for our church, the message this morning is around the topic of “God’s promise to guide His children.” Did you know that Scripture is full of God’s promises to give guidance and direction to His children? When we have big decisions to make, when change is in the wind, when the future seems uncertain, one thing we can count on is God showing us the way. And it’s not just about church decisions.
Life is full of big decisions in a believers life which call for guidance. Psychology today had an article in 2021 entitled “Life’s Big Decisions.” And they ranked them in two lists; 20 most common decisions and then a list ranked by importance.
The most common decisions were, see if you’ve had to wrestle with any of these.
1. Start a new job/position (or not) - 60%
2. Get married (or not) - 59% This was ranked # 3 in importance though it is # 2 most common.
3. Pursue a degree (or not) - 52%
4. Have/adopt a child (or not) - 44% This was ranked # 2 in importance though it is # 4 most common.
5. Buy a home (or not) - 37%
6. Quit a job/position (or not) - 33%
7. Move to a new state (or not) - 30%
8. Choose where to study - 26%
9. Get divorced (or not) - 24% This was ranked # 1 in importance though it is # 9 most common.
10. Other - Family - 23%
11. Other - Education - 23%
12. Buy something (or not) - 23%
13. Get a pet (or not) - 21%
14. Begin a romantic relationship (or not) - 21%
15. End romantic relationship (or not) - 20%
16. Move to a new city (or not) - 18%
17. Make a decision for your child (or not) - 18%
18. Start a new business (or not) - 17%
19. Care for a family member (or not) - 17%
20. Get treatment/medicine (or not) - 15%
Ranked by importance
1. Get divorced (or not)
2. Have/adopt a child (or not)
3. Get married (or not)
4. Move to a new state (or not)
5. Make a decision for your child (or not)
6. Buy a home (or not)
7. End romantic relationship (or not)
8. Other - Family
9. Move to a new city (or not)
10. Care for a family member (or not)
What these lists tell us is that life is full of big and small decisions. And those decisions impact our day to day living, and many of them have moral, ethical, and spiritual elements to consider. So, I think we can agree that seeking God’s guidance in our decisions should be a regular and important part of a Christian’s life.
Well, today we are going to look at God’s promises to guide us in our life decisions and our church decisions. Because the first step for us in our church has to be for us to strongly believe that God will guide us, and then to seek that direction.
Prayer
Psalm 25:1 To You, O Yahweh, I lift up my soul. 2 O
my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed;
Do not let my enemies exult over me. 3 Indeed,
let none who hope in You be ashamed; Let those who deal treacherously
without cause be ashamed. 4 Make me know Your ways, O
Yahweh;
Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me
in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation;
In You I hope all the day.
But how does God guide?
I. God's Promise to Guide His Children: There are 3 ways.
Through His Spirit, Through His Word, Through Prayer
A. God's Guidance Through His Spirit
The first and primary way that God leads us is by His Spirit. Jesus said in John 16:13 "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth."
I mean, look at that promise. "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth." How much of the truth will He guide you into, “all the truth.” The Holy Spirit is our Helper who leads us into understanding God's complete will and truth. So we have the assurance that if we are confused, if we have multiple options in front of us, we have decisions to make, the Holy Spirit will guide us.
He will guide you. Jesus says “He” will guide you into all truth.” That lets us know that the Spirit of God is not some sort of blind force, or empty power that comes to the believer, He is a He, a person, a personality.
Let me say it again, He will guide you! Listen to the rest of the passage.
12 “I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.
Now there are a couple of things you need to know. First, you have to be a Christian to receive this kind of guidance. Second, He only guides you into the truth. Not your truth, but the truth. And third, He guides you by the Word of God and prayer.
1. You have to know the Lord.
You have to be a Christian. You may say, well that’s not fair. Why won’t God give me guidance even if I’m not His follower. The first answer to that question is “Why should He give life directions to a non-believer? Do you know what the job of the Holy Spirit is in the world for unbelievers?John 16:8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment;
It is the Spirit’s job to convince the unbeliever that they are sinful, unrighteous, and headed to judgement. That is His primary message to unbelievers. And if you haven’t accepted His primary decision, why should He direct you in smaller decisions?
And the second reason why is, it’s not so much that God is withholding wisdom from you, it is that you wouldn’t receive it if it was presented to you. Look at 1 Corinthians 2:9-13
9 But just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 [b]But to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, 13 of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, [c]combining spiritual depths with spiritual words.
God has promised to reveal the deepest of secrets, through His Spirit, to those who love Him. But vss 14 goes on to say,
1 Corinthians 2:14-16 14 But [a]a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined.
These passages in John and the one in 1st Corinthians are both addressed to Christians. Only believers have the indwelling Spirit. Only believers will listen to the Spirit.
There are some other truths that come out of John 16:13 that I should point out.
2. He only guides you into the truth.
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth." He is called the Spirit of truth. Jesus gives Him the same title in John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him. You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. John 15:26 “When the [a]Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me,And just to be completely clear, the Spirit will not guide you into “your truth” He guides you into the truth. Contrary to the belief of our time age, truth does not change for each individual. What is the difference between “my truth” and “the truth?” “My truth” is you looking at the pictures you made of yourself posted on social media. Can anyone say, photoshop. “The truth” is when you look at yourself in the mirror.
In the same vein, He will teach you all of the truth, not just the parts I agree with. Acts 20:27 For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
The third thing you have to know is that…
3. He guides by Scripture and prayer.
He doesn’t burn directions into your toast, guide you by the position of the stars. His guidance will always be given in the conversation with Him; our requests in prayer, His response in Scripture. Before we move on to the next point, let’s pray again.
Prayer
Psalm 86: Incline Your ear, O Yahweh, and answer me; For I
am afflicted and needy. 2 ….O You my God, save Your
slave who trusts in You. 3 Be gracious to me,
O Lord, For to You I call all day long…..
5 For You, Lord, are good,
and by nature forgiving, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who
call upon You. 6 Give ear, O Yahweh, to my prayer; And
give heed to the voice of my supplications!
7 In the day of my distress I
shall call upon You, For You will answer me. ….11 Teach
me Your way, O Yahweh; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your
name.
B. God's Guidance Through Prayer
The second way that God gives guidance is through prayer. What that means is that you have to ask.
James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."
God promises wisdom to those who seek Him in prayer. I think many of us know this, but we don’t necessarily practice it. We know that we have important decisions to make. We know that they will affect the rest of our lives. We know they have moral, ethical, and Spiritual implications. But we don’t ask God for wisdom. Why?
1. Well, I think the main reason is because we do not walk in the Spirit.
Romans 8:4 so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? To walk in the Spirit means that we yield to His control, we follow His lead, and we allow Him to exert His influence over us. And first and foremost that means that I am constantly aware of the Spirits presence in me, I communicate with Him through prayer, and I search the Word of God for His answers.
If I could summarize what it means to walk in the Spirit, I would say that it is living every moment of my life with a “God consciousness.” Let me illustrate. When you are married, you spend a lot of time around your spouse. And, to one degree or another, your behavior is different when you are with your spouse, as opposed to when you are apart. Come on, admit it. Sometimes I may eat things apart from my spouse that I wouldn’t with her. What we watch, how we speak, and most importantly, we are aware of their presence, and of the relationship.
If Denise has been gone all day to some event that she was a part of, and I have been home all day, when I see the van pull up in the drive, I get up, I unlock the front door, sometimes I go out to help bring things in, I greet her, I ask her about her day.
When we are both home, I let her know things that I am doing, if I make a sandwich, I ask if she wants one too. If she is reading, I don’t just turn on the TV loudly. I am aware of her presence, and of the relationship we have. All my decisions become “we,” not just “me.”
And if that is important with a spousal relationship, who is not with me all the time, how much more important is it with my relationship with God, by the indwelling Spirit, who is with me all the time?
There are other reasons that we don’t ask or pray about our decisions.
2. Another big one is that we’ve already decided what we want to do, so we don’t want God to tell us different. We’ve already got our own ideas. James 5:16 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective [a]prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
James 5:16 connects answered prayer to righteousness. So obviously if we have already decided on an unrighteous path, we can’t expect God to guide us further down that unrighteous path.
We get that way with church. We may say the words, “Lord lead, guide, and direct us into Your will.” But we already have a list in our hearts of the things that we will and will not do.
3. Sometimes we don’t ask because we have given up.
4. Fervently ask—it is essential
The passage we read in James says “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask.” 2 Timothy 2:7 7 Understand what I say, for the Lord will give you insight in everything.Psalm 32:8 I will give you insight and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
FervencyJeremiah 29:12-13 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
prayerProverbs 2:3-7 3 For if you call out for understanding, Give your voice for discernment; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of Yahweh And find the knowledge of God. 6 For Yahweh gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and discernment. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright, A shield to those who walk in integrity,
God guides by His Spirit, when we seek Him, and by His Word.
C. God's Guidance Through His Word
Psalm 119:105 "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
There are several things about this verse that we should note when we think about God guiding us by His Word.
1. The context of the passage.
Psalm chapter 119 has 176 verses in it. It is the longest chapter in the Bible. And the whole chapter is about seeking to serve God by reading, studying, meditating on God’s Word. The first verses of the chapter say this
How blessed are those whose way is [a]blameless, Who walk in the law of Yahweh. 2 How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, They seek Him with all their heart. (They seek Him with all their heart.)
When I look [c]upon all Your commandments. 7 I
shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous
judgments. 8 I shall keep Your statutes; Do
not forsake me utterly!
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word. 10 With all
my heart I have sought You; Do not let me stray from Your commandments. 11 Your
word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.
So, when we say that God guides us by His Word, it is not just some trivial magic eight ball search of His Word. “Lord, should I buy this house?” Then let our Bible fall open where it will, close our eyes and point. “Signs point to yes.”
You seek Him in His Word, with all their heart. You say, how do I search the Word for specifics about my life? It is easier today than it has ever been. First off, you need to be in the Word of God daily. You need to be taking in the whole counsel of God as a regular part of your life, so that you are familiar with the whole of its message. It is saddening to know how many professed Christians haven’t read the whole Bible. And even fewer continue to read and study it beyond what they hear in a Sunday sermon.
But secondly, you can get some basic study aids, like a Bible dictionary, concordance, idea index, that will significantly help you on a search for specific answers. For example, in asking about buying a house, you would search for Biblical wisdom on topics like debt, or pride.
And third, the internet has made the search for specifics in the Bible very easy. Using the previous example about debt, I can type into my search engine, Bible verses about debt. And the first article I landed on gave me 50 verses about debt from Scripture. Now of course you have to be discerning when searching the internet. Often you will need to find a verse, and then look at the whole chapter in which the verse is found. But, the amount of information available today is a vast untapped treasure, leaving 1st world Christians with now excuse for not seeking God’s guidance directly from His Word.
But there are also some interesting elements within the verse inform us about how we use God’s Word to ask for guidance. God’s Word is available to give direction.Psalm 18:28 For You light my lamp; Yahweh my God illumines my darkness.Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
And again this is not an encouragement to “seek your own path.” “seek your own truth.” “You be you boo.”
We’ve noted this passage before. The lamp at the feet indicates that He is directing you so you don’t stumble. So, you don’t step into a hole. The light to my path indicates that He will show the path in front of you. He will provide enough guidance to keep you on the right path. It shows us light and darkness. Right and wrong.
This guidance is very concrete. The Bible tells us what to do, and what not to do in certain circumstances. It directs us to do what is right, and not to do what is wrong. Of course, it doesn’t always give us specifics when we have a decision where none of the choices are wrong. Job A or Job B. But we can break down our choice options to our motives, what things will change, whose lives will be impacted by our decisions, and how will my choices affect my spiritual walk, and then search the Word concerning those areas.
And that’s what we do when we ask for guidance regarding the church. We ask questions like, Are we doing what a church is supposed to do? Are we doing anything that we shouldn’t be doing? Can we be more effective? What is our motive for seeing Parkview revived? Are our motives Scriptural? Are any of our motives selfish?
So, in order to receive the guidance from God that He promised, we need to come to Him first. If we are Christians, the Spirit is already in us. We need to James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Then we need to ask for guidance. James 1:5-7 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and [a]without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, doubting nothing, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
Then we need to search the Scriptures.2 Timothy 2:15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.Joshua 1:8This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Prayer
18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things
from Your law. 19 I am a sojourner in the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments
from me. 20 My soul is crushed [f]with longing For Your judgments at all times.
24 Your testimonies also are my delight; They are [h]my counselors.
Elisabeth Elliot (née Howard; December 21, 1926 – June 15, 2015) was a Christian missionary, author, and speaker. Her first husband, Jim Elliot, was killed in 1956 while attempting to make missionary contact with the Auca people (now known as Huaorani; also rendered as Waorani or Waodani) of eastern Ecuador. She later spent two years as a missionary to the tribe members who killed her husband.
Elizabeth Elliot tells of two adventurers who stopped by to see her, all loaded with equipment for the rain forest east of the Andes. They sought no advice, just a few phrases to converse with the Indians. She writes: "Sometimes we come to God as the two adventurers came to me -- confident and, we think, well-informed and well equipped. But has it occurred to us that with all our accumulation of stuff, something is missing? She suggests that we often ask God for too little. We know what we need--a yes or no answer, please, to a simple question. Or perhaps a road sign. Something quick and easy to point the way. What we really ought to have is the Guide himself. Maps, road signs, a few useful phrases are things, but infinitely better is someone who has been there before and knows the way.
Elizabeth Elliot tells, A Slow and Certain Light.
Ron told a story Wednesday night-got off in a strange city with his kids in the wrong end of town-ended up talking to a man-can I get directions back to the highway-the man started giving him directions but then said “no” I need to lead you back-you are in a dangerous territory.