The crucial role of the Holy Spirit in guiding believers, moving beyond abstract statements to practical application. It highlights the danger of task-oriented fellowships that can devalue people and the importance of maintaining a vital connection with Christ as the Head of the body. The core message centers on the question of how to be certain one's daily walk is a response to the Spirit's leading, rather than a selfish pursuit, by exposing one's life to the light of God's Word. The sermon concludes by urging listeners to commit to facing difficult truths in Scripture and to consistently examine their lives in light of Christ's example, ensuring their actions align with God's will.
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Good morning everyone. I have mentioned that our subject would be the leading of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. If you've been a Christian for a while, you know that it's easy to make certain lofty statements about the way we Christians function and are led in our lives. being practical about it is another thing. And it's my hope and prayer that during the mornings of this week we can do some very practical study in this great subject. And before we do our reading, which is going to be in Romans chapter eight, I want to just kind of think out loud with you for a few minutes so that we can really appreciate the need for a subject like this probably wherever you live you're involved in a local church fellowship of some sort our Lord has commanded us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together and so probably as a Christian you have a fellowship or a church home an
assembly somewhere where you are in fellowship I'd like to have you think about that fellowship for just a moment if you are in a fellowship or an assembly that is we might call it task or job oriented. In other words, the most important thing is getting certain things done. You know that there's a very high value placed on getting the job done. If on the other hand you're in a group that stresses the body of Christ as an organism, That last kind we might call an organization. And the organization, you know, the main value is get the job done.
But if you're in a fellowship that likes to stress the organism side, the living body side of the church, then you know that the most important value is people. And sometimes I'm afraid we get into situations where even for small matters the task or the job is more important than the people. And when that happens, we could have real problems. And so it's important then that we as Christians keep reminding one another that it's very scriptural, that the body of Christ is a body. It's an organism. It's a living thing. And relationships of the members, that's very important.
And so we need to study from time to time how we as people relate to one another. I'm afraid sometime that we plunge into a study of how relationships work, how people get along and relate to one another and speak to one another and hospitality and caring and all these things, and we pass over the subject of how the members of the body are connected to the head. And that's a very important subject because if we don't have a vital connection with the head, which is the Lord Jesus, and we're not able to respond to His desire day by day, then we could degenerate into a kind of a social club or a country club.
And so we need to take some time then and think about this matter of the leading of the Spirit, because that is how the head leads us. He leads us by His Word and through His Spirit. Now it is a basic doctrine of our faith as Christians that we are to be led by the Spirit. But as I said before, it's easy to say that, a little bit more difficult to explain it, how it works. And I wonder if I was to ask each of you, if you could say with assurance that you feel that you are daily led by God's Spirit in what you do and what you say, what kind of an answer I would get. I expect many Christians would say, well, I certainly hope I am, or I believe that sometime I am.
But I wonder how many that could say categorically, yes, what I do and what I say during the week, by and large, I do and say in response to the leading of God's Spirit. In other words, I am a member of the body that responds in my life to the head. What I hope to do this week is to pose a question, and I'll read that in a minute. And then I'd like to go over four little steps. or things that we might consider to make sure that we can answer that question. So let's do our reading this morning in Romans chapter eight. We'll read this week in Romans and Galatians, Romans eight and Galatians five, because those two passages are the classic passages in scripture on the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Romans eight beginning at verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, He is none of His. And verse fourteen, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Just briefly look to the Lord. Our Father, we thank thee for the grace of God that has saved us and brought us into the family of faith.
We thank thee for thy grace to come and dwell within us by thy Spirit. And Lord, we ask this week that we may not be those who assume that because we are Christians or because we are in a certain fellowship or because we have been saved for so long a time that we are, therefore, by so much, led by the Spirit in all that we do and say. Rather, our Father, we pray that we might be willing to face what thy word truly says and that we might all profit and grow together. We ask for thy help in our study together now. in the worthy name of Jesus our Lord. Amen. Let me begin by asking you a question.
I'm going to read it so I get it just right. And I'm going to read it again tomorrow, Lord willing, because it's the one that I want to have you think with me about during this whole week in the mornings. Here's the question. How can I be certain that my daily walk is a response to the Spirit's leading and that I am not pressing forward in a selfish dream. Can you read that again? How can I be certain that my daily walk is a response to the Spirit's leading and that I am not pressing forward in a selfish dream? Now, by that selfish dream, what I mean is someone who really lives for themselves, does what they want to do, and all the while says, I am a Christian and I live to please God.
You know, that's a possibility, isn't it? That's a very real danger, that we may as Christians do our own thing, what we want to do, what we like to do, and we put the name of Jesus Christ or even the Lord, Jesus Christ, over that. And I wonder sometimes, is it really His will that we follow or are we pressing along in a dream that is self-centered for the most part? That's the question I want us to look at this week. And as I mentioned, we're going to look at four steps, two of them today. We'll take the first two today, and it'll get a little harder as it goes. By hard, I don't mean intellectually complicated.
I just mean maybe it'll pinch us a little bit more to face some of the scriptures that we need to look at and we need to speak honestly about. So let's begin in Romans chapter eight and verse one, and we'll work up to our first little step. And by the way, if there might be anyone here this morning who is a new Christian, you've only found the Lord in, let's say, the last year or two. You may not be faced with a danger of pressing along in the self-centered dream. You may just have the simple question, now that I am a new believer, how can I walk in the spirit? And so we hope to really make that as clear as we can. Let's begin in Romans chapter eight and verse one. Paul says, there is therefore now no condemnation.
And in verse two, he says, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Notice those two expressions, no condemnation and free. Now that's a wonderful heritage, isn't it? No judgment, no condemnation and free. The question is, has God made me free Has he removed condemnation in order that I may now enjoy life and do what I want to do with my life? Well, no. He hasn't saved me so that I could do my own thing, as the young people say. He has saved me in order that I might live for him.
That's why there's no condemnation, and that's why he's made me free. Verse two or verse three. What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. If I could paraphrase or summarize that verse, I would say it like this. God condemned the sin of selfishness. Now you understand, we're not doing a theological study of Romans here. If we were, I would be very much more doctrinally oriented. But we're making some applications from the scriptures because we have a specific goal in mind to study the leading of the Holy Spirit.
But I think verse three, when he says he condemned sin in the flesh, one application of that is that he condemned the sin of fleshness or selfishness. Verse four. that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Thank God he doesn't say that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled by us because you can't keep the law and neither can I. He says that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. That is God's spirit who lives within us is able to do what we can't do in our own strength. But now I want you to notice very carefully verse five.
They that are after the flesh, in other words, they that who are walking after or following or pursuing, they that are walking after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. They that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. You'll notice in that verse the word mind. Those who are following the flesh mind or focus on or pay attention to or concentrate on the things of the flesh. And you know already that the flesh is the selfish part of us. And we can mind or pay attention to our selfish needs or we can care for the Lord and others.
Well, the mind, you know, is God's gift to man. Thank God that we all have a mind we can think and reason with. I heard a radio speaker recently and he was talking about the difference between the brain and the mind. And he said something very interesting. He said, the mind and the brain are not the same, you know. And I thought, now, wait a minute, where did he get that? And he says, when the rich man died and he went in the grave, where was his brain? Well, it was in the grave. And he said, but when somebody spoke to him, what did he answer him with? He could still think and he could still reason, couldn't he? because he spoke to Father Abraham.
And there is a conscious life after death, isn't there? There is the ability to think and the reason. And his point was that we have to be careful not just to think that when we die and are buried and our brain goes the way of the rest of this physical body, that it's the end of existence. We can't think or reason anymore, not true. So the mind is a great gift of God. And the mind sets the course of our life by deciding which voice we must follow. Are we going to follow the voice of the new nature, Christ in us? Are we going to follow the voice of the old nature that we got from Adam, the selfish side?
You understand what I mean when I say what voice. Maybe I should use the word what option. Now, you know, only we Christians have that choice. It's only the Christian who has the new man and the old man. Before we're saved, when we're in the world, we have only the old nature. There is no choice. But when we come to know Christ, we have a new man and an old man, and we have a mind, and we have a will. And God gives us that wonderful opportunity of choice, what we're going to follow. So based on that, then, I would like to suggest the first step that we may take in our study, and this is a very simple one, but very hard to do perhaps.
We need to make up our mind now at the outset of our study that there may be some things that are hard for us to face and there may be some decisions that we need to make that are difficult. In other words, we have a mind and maybe God is going to call upon us as Christians to face some hard things about our life. I wanted to start with that one and just say that right up front because a lot of times, you know, as you get into studies and people are faced with the conviction of the Word of God, they say, well, now, wait a minute, this is a little heavy for me. I can't make it this morning. But before we go any farther in our study, let me ask that question.
Are you willing to make a decision, not to me or to anyone near you, but only to the Lord in your heart, that you are at least willing... to face difficult issues that are posed in God's word. I think it's very important that as Christians we be able to face God's word, any part of it, any part of God's word. I'm not saying we can always obey it. I'm not saying it's always comfortable, but we should be able to face it. During the war, I was watching the news one night and they interviewed a lady from Iowa. They said she was a grandmother working in a plant that made bombs. And they interviewed her and they said, what do you think about this war?
And I was really delighted in her answer. She said, we can either face this madman Hussein now or face him later, and it'll be much more difficult. I think we need to get it over with now. Now, wholly apart from what your thought was on the war, I just like the fact that She was willing to face a difficult thing and let's get it over with. Let's do it now. It's a tough decision, but let's face it. And I know that sometimes people say that older people can't learn new things. I know some folks up north use that statement. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, I want to tell you, when I get to the day that I can't face God's word and learn a new thing, I think it's time the Lord takes me home.
And I'm sure you feel that way too. So we need then not to just go along thinking that, you know, I'm fine and there's nothing that I can learn. So my first step, make up our minds, use those minds to really be willing to make difficult decisions or face difficult issues if necessary. And you know, some of you may want to say a little prayer in your own quiet time to the Lord. Lord, help me. to be willing to face your evaluation of my life help me to set aside my evaluation of my life that's not easy facing the Lord's evaluation as his word shines upon our lives setting aside my evaluation of my life Lord I really want to be led by your spirit let me know honestly do I mind the flesh, am I a selfish person or do I mind the spirit?
Well, let's go on and look at verse six. Verse six says, to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Notice he doesn't say to be carnally minded will be death. He says is death. It's a present state. Now, you know, in the Garden of Eden, the Lord said to Adam, in the day that you eat of the fruit, you shall die. And some of us as kids, when we read that, we wondered why Adam and Eve didn't fall over and die the day they ate the fruit. And then as we grow older and we went to Sunday school and we were taught, by the way, that lady that you've been praying for, Aunt Mabel, we call her, was my Sunday school teacher when I was the ripe old age of eight years old.
And I've appreciated her all through my life. But we learned that when God said to Adam, in the day that you eat, you will die, he was right. There was a death that occurred. There was a separation. Adam died spiritually. The relationship he had with God was severed. And later his body followed, but it began with a spiritual separation. And so when he says here to be carnally minded or fleshly minded or have the mind set on self, is death, you can't possibly be in a state of fellowship with God if your God is yourself.
That's a danger that even Christians can face. Notice verse seven. Because the carnal mind or the fleshly mind or the self-centered mind is enmity against God. Enmity means hostility. That's a strong word, isn't it? Hostility. But it's true. The self-centered or carnal mind is hostile toward God. Notice what else he says in verse seven. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. The selfish or self-centered mind, that that we received from our Father Adam, is not subject, will not submit to the revelation of God.
it does not and according to this scripture it cannot now you know the new nature the new man that we received in Christ loves the revelation of God and when I speak to young people up home and they tell me they don't know whether their mom and dad is a Christian or not and they see such good things in their life and that makes them think maybe they're saved and then they see some things they're ashamed of and that makes them think maybe they're lost I tell them well look expose them to God's Word and see what response you get. Now, there'll be some part of them that doesn't like it, because we all have a part of us that isn't submissive to the Word of God. We understand that.
But see if there's any part of them at all that says, you know, there's something in me that I really do enjoy hearing the Word of God. Or just any kind of a thing. Can you hear any small part of them that likes or receives God's revelation. Now, of course, we're not the judge to judge our parents or others as whether they're saved or lost, but often that's a good indicator. That brings us to the second spiritual principle or step that we could take. Number two, expose your life to the light of God's Word.
Now that may sound so trite and easy to do. Oh, yes, you mean read the Bible. May I suggest that this is not for educating us, but it is for exposing what might need to be exposed? There's a difference, you know. If we have only an intellectual approach to Christianity, our minds, Scripture says even the demons believe and tremble. In other words, there's an intellectual approach there. They know certain things. And many people sit in churches and they can say, yes, yes, we believe that. That's our creed or that's the way we were raised. But I'm not talking about just an education. I'm talking about letting the light of God's word fall upon our life and reveal and expose what may need to be revealed and exposed.
Let's take a look at two scriptures. I know these are basic truths, but possibly some have not really... even gone through the basics. So if you turn with me to First Corinthians chapter two, we'll look at two scriptures. And then I want to make some practical suggestions on this second point. First Corinthians chapter two and verse fourteen. Paul writing says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them.
Now we know that this is an unbeliever that Paul is referring to. The natural man is not saved. But you may have a note in your Bible if it's a reference Bible, and it will tell you that the word natural there is the word soul in the Greek. The soul man. That is to say, the man who is led in his life by his soul he's not led by his spirit because of course his spirit is dead doesn't mean that it's expired or that he doesn't have a spirit as long as there's life we have a human spirit even unsaved people have a spirit it just means that it's dead it has no fellowship with God it's dead to God and so the unsaved man then we may call the soul man the man who is led by his soul now you know that's possible for a Christian too That's what we call a carnal man.
And Paul goes on to speak about the carnal man. But just keep that in mind there, that description of man, the possibility of being a soul man, or we might call it a selfish man, a self-centered man. Turn over to Hebrews chapter four for our other scripture. Hebrews chapter four, very well-known verse in the Bible, Hebrews four in verse twelve. Hebrews four in verse twelve says, For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Now you see there where it says the word of God is so sharp that it's able to discern or divide between the soul and the spirit? That doesn't just only mean that it's able to discern between a saved man and a lost man. It could do that. But it also means within us, as Christians, the Word of God is able to help sever or divide or cut between what is of my selfish self and what is of God. Why, that puts some light on it, doesn't it? That's very helpful to know. The word of God is that tool or blessing that God has given to us in order that we may know what is of God and what is of self.
Now, you know, I expect that all of us in one time or another in our life and quite likely constantly struggle with what is really the Lord's will in a matter. What is really the Lord's will in a decision that we must make. And when we pray, we may say to the Lord, Lord, I want to do thy will and not my will. And by saying that, we recognize that God has a will and that we have a will. And our desire is to please God and do his will. Well, that's why I gave this second step that we are to expose our life to the word of God, to the light of God's word. Now, of course, if we do that and we're really willing to be open about it, it brings us back to our first step because we may have to face some difficult things and make some difficult decisions.
And of course that's going to carry us on into tomorrow's lesson. Let me make a few suggestions about exactly how this is going to work. First of all, I am talking about a commitment to expose myself personally, corporately, and systematically to the teaching of God's Word. Personally means that I am going to have a committed time each day where I read the Word of God with the express purpose of not only learning and being educated, very important, but also that I let the light of God's Word search my life.
I am shocked at the number of Christians who do not do that. They think that the Christian life merely consists in an ongoing education, a collection of facts. And if you talk to them, they can just shower you with facts, Bible facts. Now, it's wonderful to know the Word of God. I'm a firm believer in it. We're not to live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of God's mouth. Amen to that. But my appeal is that there is more to it than that. We are not just Christians who collect Bible facts. the Word of God is also to be the searchlight that shines into our lives. And as we read it, we need to be able to say something like this to the Lord.
Lord, is there anything in my life that hinders my ministry or hurts another Christian? Is there anything that I now do or have done that hinders my witness or dishonors your name? See, that's the kind of searching of the Word of God that we need And for some reason, we haven't heard very much about it today in this day. That is going to not only say something about my personal commitment to read God's Word, it's going to say something about my corporate commitment. In other words, it's not just sufficient to go off and read our Bibles by ourselves. Scripture also tells us that we ought to hear the Word of God when we assemble together.
The teaching, the public, systematic teaching of the Word of God. Some of you may make some decisions, may need to face some decisions about the kind of church you attend. Now, you know, that could be very difficult. We have people up home all the time who say, well, you know, my parents and my grandparents have been here in this church or we're charter members and we've been there so long or we built a church or something. Really, I tell them, I'm not the judge. I don't pass judgment and I don't tell you what church to go to or any sort of thing. If you ask me, I can make a recommendation, but really, What you need to do is open God's Word and compare what you're receiving to what God's Word teaches.
And are you sitting under the systematic instruction of the Word of God on a regular basis? May make a decision, may be a tough decision to make. It may have something to do about my attendance. You know, some people go to church when it's comfortable. We get a little rain shower, well, I can't go. get a little maybe a little stiff joint well I can't go how far be it for me to be critical of people's ills I've had a few of my own and I know sometimes it's very difficult but really if I am committed to this as God's word and it's going to be the light that shines into my life it should have a high priority I was at a church one time a Christian man asked me to go and visit the place where he fellowshiped and there was hundreds probably a couple thousand people that were there And the minister came out and he read a little scripture and then he preached a sermon and basically what it came down to was, you people are all great people.
Whatever you're doing is great. God bless you. Have a good day. And afterward he said to me, wasn't that wonderful? Wasn't that uplifting? I thought to myself, you know, you could be a mafia hit man and come out of there feeling pretty good about yourself. There wasn't a thing in there that might convict your life. You could live for anything. You could believe anything. You could be involved in any kind of a business pursuit or have a problem in your family or your habits or personal life. There wasn't a single thing that might speak to it. It was just basically, God loves you all, have a nice life, and have a good week. Well, it's no surprise to me that there was a thousand people pouring into the church. So it may say something to us about the kind of church where we fellowship.
Now, secondly, it may mean a new attitude toward the Word of God for us. I wonder how many of us consider that when this Scripture is read, when this book is open and read, it is God speaking. That's almost a lost truth today. In fact, if you'll notice in public, in public places, rare as it is where there is the reading of Scripture in prayer, When someone reads the Bible, people come in and they clamber and talk to one another and there's all kinds of commotion. Not here, of course, at Park of the Poms, but I mean out there in the world. But when somebody stands up to pray, everybody says, shh, and there's a great hush that falls.
Do you ever think about that, how silly that is? Well, we can make all kinds of racket when God speaks. But when we speak to God, everybody be quiet, take their hats off and be reverent. That's backwards, isn't it? We ought to be much more reverent when God speaks. When the word of God is read, it should still our hearts. Sometimes a poem, some of our young families have the Christian radio station on. I'm very thankful for Christian radio. I wouldn't say a word against it. But you know, there is a danger, isn't there? Because I've been in homes where Christian radio is on and someone is reading a passage from the Bible and the conversation goes on.
And if I can say it reverently, it's almost like, well, you know, don't mind that's just the Lord and he'll just kind of talk away there in the background and we'll have our conversation. You know, something about that bothers me. It makes me uncomfortable. When God's word is read, I need the reminder this is Almighty God speaking. And I have to listen to him what he says. So it may mean a new attitude for us to the word of God, an attitude of reverence. Job said, I have esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food. And David in Psalm nineteen spoke about how pure and delightful the word of God, the law of God was.
Thirdly, we need to have faith in the power of God's word to work in our lives. Back in the Old Testament, when they had those great revivals, you know, they brought the book of the law and they read it. And sometimes a good king like Josiah tore his clothes and put earth on his head and cried out and said, we have not done this. Why, God's word has been found and it's been brought and it's been read and we need to start doing it. And they had a great revival. I was asked to speak in an assembly some time ago and they said to me now, brother, You know, we have so many other activities in the morning on Sunday here. We'd like you to really keep your marks at twenty minutes if you could.
I prepared all week long and drove a long distance, and they said, keep your remarks at twenty minutes. One man said to me, I wonder why we don't have the great revivals today. Why, years ago, they used to see revivals and thousands saved. I looked at him, I said, Brother, years ago when the man got up to speak on Sunday morning many times he spoke for two or three hours you're not going to have a three hour revival on a twenty minute homily we don't want to hear the word of God today and yet we want great revival won't happen some of you may be young Christians as I mentioned let me say a word to you again thank God for the daily bread we use it up home it's a great little booklet but if all the spiritual nourishment you're getting in the week is the daily bread You're going to remain an infant.
Use that as a supplement. But it's only this book and the power of this book that's going to bring you to maturity. And then finally, we need to read Scripture with a thankful spirit. Each time we come across something, we can say by the grace of God, not in pride, but by the grace of God, yes, I'm doing okay in that. We give thanks to God. It's only by His grace that we're doing well in a certain area, but let's not use that as an excuse now to cover those other parts where we have to face some tough things. So a thankful spirit. Now let me make one other suggestion because our time is drawing to a close here.
All the while that you read God's Word, no matter what part of it you read, all the while you read the Scriptures and allow that light to shine on your life, make sure that you are also reading a little bit in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And read with this one specific question, what would Jesus do in this situation? Each situation that he faces, we need to ask that question. What would he do? How did he act? What did he answer? We need to always be reading a little bit in the Gospels and looking at the life of the Lord Jesus. Now, the reason for that is because the same scriptures that reveals and exposes my sin displays his perfection.
And so that gives us our perfect standard. We're always comparing our life to his excellence, his perfect standard. Let's look at Matthew chapter seven for a closing scripture. Matthew chapter seven and verse twenty one. I'm aware of the fact that this scripture has its particular context, but I want to make an application for our lives in connection with this second point that we're dwelling on. Matthew chapter seven, reading from verse twenty one.
Not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out demons, and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity. Now listen, this is a most solemn passage of Scripture, because it says that a day will come when individuals will come to our Lord, and they will call him Lord. In every question they ask him, They say that it was done in his name.
And you know, he doesn't contradict them. When they say, in thy name we did this and this and this, he doesn't say, no, you didn't. In fact, the implication is that they did do these things. And notice what it is that they claim to have done. Very interesting. We have prophesied in thy name. In other words, we have exercised spiritual gift in our service. We have cast out demons. In other words, we have done battle against spiritual forces. In other words, we have waged spiritual warfare in thy name, the name of Jesus. And they have done many wonderful works, deeds of loving service and all the rest. That's what their claim is.
And what does he say to them? I never knew you. No, he doesn't say I knew you and I forgot you. He says, I never knew you. Depart. You work iniquity. You work sin. Well, you know, as I read that, I thought, Lord, how can any of us be certain that when we stand before Him, we're safe? And of course, the answer is right here in the passage, isn't it? It's in verse twenty one. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father. And that's the key. Religious activity is not the key, is it? And I say that because some of us may be involved, deeply involved in religious activity.
Well, if we serve in response to the will of God as led by His Spirit, then thank God for every act of service that is done. But I just think that we need to be very careful not to get the idea that anytime we're busy, that that automatically means that God is pleased in its good work. just because we're busy with something religious. We have to be very careful. And all of that brings us to a question. Now when I do this and allow the light of the Word of God to shine on my life and the Spirit of God reveals through Scripture something in my life that is not pleasing to God, what am I to do?
That takes us to our lesson tomorrow morning. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank thee for this gathering and the time that we can face thy word and let it shine on our lives. And we thank thee that thy word is a light on our pathway. It's a lamp for our feet. And Lord, we ask thy forgiveness for any time that we have assumed that whatever we do and we say must be pleasing to God. Lord, help us, we pray, that we shall not make assumptions But we shall gladly, daily, allow thy word as a search line to search our hearts and know us and try us and see if there may be any wicked way in us so that we may be led in the way everlasting.
We thank thee for thy word. We ask thy blessing on all thy dear people gathered here this morning. Pray that thou will help us to walk in a manner that is well pleasing to thee. We give thee our thanks in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.