Choosing and Planning Wisely

Well, we do want to study God's word as well today. And I want you to grab the message notes that are in your bulletins. They're tucked right into the middle of your bulletins with this logo on the top. The Art of Living Well is our series in the book of Proverbs. That's a book of the Bible that's all about wisdom. And the essence of wisdom is really learning how to make wise choices. And learning how to make wise choices is always so relevant, isn't it? Because life is full of choices.

No matter what age you are, choices like, what should my major be? What kind of a career do I want? Where should I go to college? Where should I live? Should I get married? Who should I marry? When should I marry? Should we have children? When should we have children? How should we raise our children? How can I get my grown children to leave the house? There's all kinds of questions that come up all the time. Now, in most cases in your choices in life, when should I retire? How can I fund my-- there's all kinds of different questions we all face.

In most of those cases, almost all your options are moral. Almost all your options are legal. Almost all your options are allowable. So how do you choose? How do you decide which of the many options you should take? How do you know the will of God for your life for sure? I have no idea. Let's close in prayer. No, just kidding. Let's talk about choosing and planning wisely.

And I have to say there is not a subject of the Bible, probably, that I have wrestled with more than this one. Just a personal story some of you know. When I had to decide whether to come here to TLC as pastor years ago, I was pastoring at a church up at South Lake Tahoe, a church that I really loved. God was really moving there when Twin Lakes Church asked me to be a candidate here.

And frankly, I kind of went into an emotional tailspin because I obsessed on, well, what do I do now? And how do I know what to do for sure? I mean, I laid awake at night in bed wondering this. I thought about it in all my spare moments. And people had lots of advice for me. They told me things like, well, just ask God for peace in your decision. Or ask God to give you a sign. Or, Rene, what do you think God is saying to you about this right now? How do you feel God is leading you?

And many people told me, for sure, don't do anything until you're certain. When it comes to ministry, don't do anything until you feel called to it. And I heard other pastors advising me, saying things like, well, God led me here. I just sensed a calling. And yet, I felt no peace. I felt no certainty. I didn't have a sense of calling. Instead, I just felt more and more unsure the more I thought about it.

And I became paralyzed, waiting for a leading, waiting for peace, waiting until I knew for sure what to do, afraid of making any move. Because how could I be sure it was the will of God for me? And if I made a mistake, I thought to myself, who knows whether I'm going to set in motion some chain reaction that will ultimately lead to disaster for me, maybe a catastrophe for the entire planet. What could come out of this that's horrible?

And so I started to wonder, in the Bible, how are you taught to make decisions like this one? Are you taught to do the things that people are advising me to do? Are you taught to seek peace in your heart? Are you taught to ask God to give you a sign? Are you taught to wait until you get a calling, a clear leading? And I studied the Bible on decision making like a hungry man foraging for food.

And I found that actually none of those ideas that I just mentioned is prescribed for us as believers as a way to find out God's will in the Bible, not one. And yet that's the kind of advice I heard all the time, and probably you hear too. And I have to tell you, slowly, slowly, I started to be set free from slavery, emotional, spiritual slavery, to an unbiblical model for decision making that has infected Christian thinking and has led to crippling indecision and bad decisions in my life and maybe in your life too.

And my journey to freedom began when I read through the book of Proverbs and studied what it has to say about how God actually guides. Now, some of you are on the edge of your seats right now because you're paralyzed with indecision about something too, and you need to be set free from that starting today. Others here are making, frankly, horrible decisions because you are relying on unbiblical decision making ideas, and you need to be set free from that.

And so look down there at your notes. I want to tell you what we're going to do today. I'm going to spend by far most of my time today on that first scripture, the classic verses on making decisions from the book of Proverbs, which are almost always misunderstood, misquoted, taken out of context. You hear people refer to this all the time. In fact, let's read them out loud together. Proverbs 3:5–6. Let me hear you say these. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Now, if I can be so bold, you probably think you know what this means. I thought I knew what this meant, and it was something like this. If you're sincere enough, God will show you the way to go in every decision. Now, why did I think that? Well, I believe it's because the way I learned this verse in the King James version, that last phrase was translated, "And He shall direct your paths." He will direct. That implied to me He will reveal to me His direction. He will reveal His direction. He will direct, right?

Well, that's not what this says. What this literally says is He will make your paths straight. And there is a huge difference between that and He will direct you on every decision. This means your direction will be changed. This means the kind of life you live, the kind of path you walk, your way of life, the way you're headed will be changed because your bearings have changed.

It doesn't say when you're sincere, God will show you the future. It doesn't say, God, if you just trust in Him, He will direct you as to whether you choose door number one, door number two, or door number three on any choice in your life. It doesn't even say you'll receive a sense of direction in your heart. What it says is you will change into the kind of person who is going the right direction.

Now let's talk about the implications of this verse and study this further. This implies that there are some things that God's will is not. Jot these down. God's will is not about finding the dot. Now I talk about this a lot here at Twin Lakes Church because this was a concept that really set me free. It's not about finding the one dot in a sea of dots that is the right choice for me.

Think of all your options when it comes to who to marry or what car to buy or what city you should live in or any fork in the road that you come to. It's not just binary usually. There's a lot of options out there. And the idea of finding the dot is that there is one dot. There's one choice that is God's perfect will for you. Like there is only one right person to marry. There's only one right place to live. There's only one right career path to take. And if I mess this choice up, then I'm going to be out of the will of God because of all the related choices for a long, long time.

But the Bible actually never teaches that. In fact, it teaches the opposite, literally the flip opposite. I mean, think about it. From the very beginning, God does not tell Adam and Eve, you may only eat from the one perfect tree in the garden for you. And that is my perfect will for you. And you'll be out of my will if you eat from any other tree. And you must try to discern which tree it is based on your feelings and impressions in your heart. Good luck on that.

No, what does he tell Adam and Eve? You may eat from any tree in the garden. Have fun. It's your choice, except for this one tree, which would be death to you. And to this day, it's the same ratio. God forbids a few things in his moral law made clear in scripture. But from any other tree in the garden, you are free to eat. And if you miss anything else today, don't miss this. There is a lot more freedom in God's will than most of us ever realize.

When I was trying to decide whether or not to come here as pastor, my wife asked me, what are you so afraid about? And I said, well, what if this is not God's perfect will for me? What if actually, like Satan is tempting me with this idea of going to reach the lost in Santa Cruz because he wants me out of Tahoe? This is how nuts I was. And Laurie looks at me and goes, yeah, that's one of Satan's most successful temptations, the temptation to evangelize. She says, are you crazy? She says, the Great Commission says, go on all the world, so choose a part of the world, right?

See, dot thinking produces craziness. It produces paralysis by analysis. It produces people who are afraid to do anything to make any choice because they're so afraid they might miss the dot. I would say this. That's based on if you have a perfectionistic personality. On the other hand, if you have sort of an overconfident personality, the way dot thinking affects you is you feel like after you've prayed and you got a little hunch, then that is God's perfect will for you. And no matter what people say, they cannot persuade you that that might be something you might want to reconsider.

It produces arrogance instead of paralysis. You say, I prayed about it. God revealed it to me. This is his will. Because you're making a hunch into prophecy. This is some of the fallacy that comes from thinking God's will is a dot. And God's will is not a technique. This is so important. So many books I have on finding the will of God teach some sort of technique for finding the will of God out. But listen, this is not a fundamentally Christian idea at all, the idea of having a technique for discerning the will of God in the future.

You know what the source of that thinking is? This is a pagan idea, most pagan religion. And by that, I mean Roman or Greek or Egyptian religion from the time of Jesus Christ and when the Bible was written. It was all about techniques for finding the will of God. They called it divination, divining God's will for the future. And divination is actually prohibited in the Bible. Those religions weren't about having a relationship with God. They were about using him-- well, they were about using God like one of these.

Do you remember these magic eight balls? How many of you ever had a magic eight ball when you were growing up? They were a lot of fun. Remember these? You'd shake them. And then the little thing would come up. And for example, this one says, it is decidedly so. OK. Wouldn't you like to know what I was asking it about? Let's try this. Should I have come to Twin Lakes Church as the pastor 20 years ago? Let's see what it says. My sources say no. I made the wrong choice!

Seriously, that's really what it said? Well, that is really what so much of pagan religion amounted to. They had all kinds of techniques like hepatoscopy, which was the study of the liver. They would slaughter sacrificial lambs. And then the high priests who studied this for years would slice open the livers based on livid spots or something. They would discern the will of God.

Well, so many Christians have what I call a magic eight ball faith. You know, they can make the Bible into a magic eight ball. You know, just open it up. God, reveal your will to me somehow here in scripture. It's kind of like that old joke, which is always a good one, about the man who opens his Bible and says, God, lead me. And he just closes his eyes and points to a random verse, opens his eyes, and it says, Judas went out and hanged himself. And he says, OK, God, I know that wasn't you, but this one's for real now that I got your attention.

Closes his eyes, points to a verse, opens his eyes, and it says, go thou and do likewise. What? And he said, OK, God, one more chance. This time's for real. And he tries again, points his finger, opens his eyes, and this time the verse says, and whatsoever thou doest, do it quickly. What? We make scripture into a magic eight ball, and we make our emotions into magic eight balls. We pray, and then we go, OK, do I have a feeling of peace about this? God, here's the thing that I want to do. Yes, yes, I feel peace. I feel peace. No, no, I don't feel peace anymore. I don't feel peace. OK, now I feel peace. Don't feel peace.

And you know, we go back and forth based on whether we feel peace, and we're making our emotions into some kind of magic way to define the will of God. Is that really biblical? Listen, what if Jesus Christ had waited for peace before he went to the cross? He would have never gone to the cross, because he never had peace about that. In the garden hours before he was arrested and they crucified him, he was sweating drops of blood. He wasn't serene and at peace about it.

So personal peace isn't recommended in the Bible as-- now, I'm not saying you should ignore your feelings. Sometimes your feelings are your subconscious shouting at you, going, you really ought to take a second look at this decision. But you cannot make them the magic eight ball, you know, oram and thumam magic way of divining the will of God for your life.

So if it's not about a dot and it's not about a technique, then what is it about? Well, look back at this verse again. It says trust. Trust God. Trust God first that God's not going to trick you. You see, I realized that so much of the time when I was stalling and waiting to make a decision, and I said, I just want to know God's perfect will, what it really was showing was a lack of trust in God.

What I was really saying was, I can't trust myself to surrender to you. You show me first exactly where you want me to go, and exactly when, and exactly what my future looks like, and then I'll decide if I want to go there. Now, this says trust with all your heart and in all your ways. This is describing complete trust, complete abandonment, total surrender to somebody you absolutely can trust and love, like the ideal relationship of a child putting his hand in a loving, safe, and powerful father. That's the picture here.

What this verse means is finding God's will is about a relationship, not a technique, not a dot, a relationship. The question that God cares about is not where should I live, but do I love the Lord with all my heart? He doesn't want to be your magic eight ball. He wants to be your trusted father. And that kind of trusting changes me. It changes the kind of person I am. It changes the way that I make decisions.

You see, God's will is also about character. It's about transformation of my character, not about getting guidance for every little fork in the road. It's about becoming the kind of person who makes godly plans, not becoming the kind of person who has to ask at every step, is this OK, God? What about this? What about this? What about this one thing?

I mean, when your son is seven and asks you, can I go out and play with my friends? Fine. Fast forward. Your son is 22. He asks you, my friends are going out. Can I go and play with them? You go, what is wrong with you? Seriously? Now, there are parents who want to keep their kids that dependent. But God's not one of them. He wants you to mature so you can make wise choices based on your maturity.

That's why Proverbs 12:5 says, the plans of the righteous are just. They don't have to ask every second. Their character makes their plans just. So do you get this big picture? Super important. When you trust God as your sovereign loving father, your heart's going to turn into the kind of heart that is relaxed and doesn't get stressed about the future because you trust God. And so you're going to, in a relaxed, confident way, make wise choices.

Now, this is not what most people want to hear. This right here, frankly, most of the time when I'm facing a major decision in my life, that's not what I want to hear. I just want to get the right technique so I can find the dot. But Proverbs 3:5–6 means that God's main goal is not telling you the future. God's main goal for you is character growth.

OK, so what does that look like? How do I plan wisely? What does it look like to trust in the Lord and have him direct my paths? Because you're going to have to make decisions every single day. So how do I make wise plans within this structure? Well, Proverbs has so much to say about this. And in the remaining few minutes we have, I'm just going to rocket through some of the many verses that Proverbs has about how to make wise plans.

So jot this down. Number one, this is huge. Make your plan. Just make a plan. Make a choice. Make a decision. You know, it's not unspiritual to plan. The Bible says God makes plans. Jesus made plans. The apostles and the prophets planned. And the Bible says we should make our plans, counting on God to direct us. That's Proverbs 16:9 in the living Bible.

Now again, some of you are thinking, but how can I know for sure that my plan is in God's will? You know what? You can't. I'm telling you, in my experience, much of the time you can't. Now, of course, I'm not talking about a choice that's revealed in the Bible as being a sin. I'm talking about something that is apparently allowable. God, in most of those times, you can never be 100% sure. So stop trying to be. In most cases, that's a waste of time. And just make a choice, as it says, counting on God to direct us.

Like they say, you can't steer a parked car, so get moving and then count on God to help you steer. I love what Kevin DeYoung says. And I got some copies of a book that I love, one of the best books I found lately on finding the will of God for your life. It's called Just Do Something by this guy, Kevin DeYoung. I love this quote. He says-- I have those available at the information desk for you if this is an issue that you guys want to explore more. But he says, "Too many of us have passed off our instability and endless self-exploration as looking for God's will, as if not making up our minds was a mark of spiritual sensitivity. Instead, take some responsibility, make a decision, and just do something." I like that.

And then second, the book of Proverbs talks a lot about this, make no evil plan. Make no evil plan. At first, I thought, well, this is kind of like a no duh issue, right? But I thought I have to include it in this outline because Proverbs actually talks about this a lot, like Proverbs 3:29. "Do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells trustingly beside you." Or Proverbs 6:18, "There are six things that the Lord hates, and one of them is a heart that devises wicked plans." So I was thinking about this, most sins, you have to plan them out ahead of time.

You're actually planning, how can I get away with this? When can I do this? How can I get that drink and relapse without anybody finding out? How can I get a hold of those pills? How can I watch that porn? How can I do this? How can I lie about this? And so when you find yourself planning evil, stop because that's the easiest place to stop it, is when it's just up here. You're going to sin anyway, right? Just impetuously. So don't plan it. Make no evil plan.

Now, by the way, evil doesn't just mean being some James Bond movie villain. I am evil. What I mean by this is don't plan to do things explicitly forbidden right there in the Bible-- adultery, cheating, lying in business, et cetera. Don't plan evil. And then number three, pray throughout your plan. Notice I didn't say pray about your plan. I said pray throughout your plan, and there's a difference.

Look at Proverbs 16:3, another classic verse on decision making. In fact, let's read this one out loud together, too. Let me hear you. "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Now, what I thought this meant for many years was commit your plans to the Lord in prayer, and then your actions will succeed. And maybe that's what you thought, too. But Proverbs are kind of like the hard candy of scripture. They're kind of like a good job breaker or something. You've got to kind of let them soak around for a while and meditate on them and really do some word study here, because that's not what this says.

It doesn't say commit your plans to the Lord, and then your actions will succeed. This says commit whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. And there's a huge difference. This echoes Proverbs 3:5–6 again. Let me show you. The word translated commit in English means to roll over onto, to give everything over. The idea is that you've got a burden on your back, and you're rolling it onto somebody else's back. I love that word picture.

And so this verse means don't worry about the future. Roll all your burdens about the future onto God. This verse means say to God, whatever you will, whenever you will, however you will, give me or don't give me whatever you choose. Say to God, Lord, from this moment on, I am going to obey you, whether I understand it or not. I will accept anything you send me, whether I understand it or not. And then you will become the kind of person who plans wisely and successfully.

I was praying for months about the church building and this new building plan, which we're going to talk more about in a couple of weeks on Vision Day. Should we build it? How big should we build it? And how much should we try to raise? And those are all fine things to pray about. But I realized that God's priority for me is to not pray about, Lord, should we have a commercial kitchen or not in the new building? God's priority for me is to pray every morning, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, my strength and my Redeemer, just committing, surrendering all my ways and my worries to Him.

And then the Bible promises I'm going to become a more wise and godly person with more wise and successful plans. So you pray throughout your plans, seeing your plans as part of the big picture will of God revealed of the Bible. I commit my whole self to God as I do my planning. And then number four, get advice on your plan. Get advice on your plan. You know, it's amazing to me how people will ask advice about what color shirt they should wear or what size pants they should wear or something. But then they don't ask advice on who they should marry, because they're afraid to hear it.

But Proverbs 15:22 says, plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed. And Proverbs 20:18, get good advice and you'll succeed. Don't go charging into battle without a plan. Now, this is not some method of divination. Just because somebody tells you to do something doesn't mean that's necessarily the word of God to you. But listen, it is foolish to not get advice from mature people whose lives you respect who love Jesus and then take their advice seriously. So get advice.

And then number five, work your plan. Work your plan. The Bible says the plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everybody who is hasty comes only to poverty. Circle the word diligent. Lots of people make plans, but don't follow through. So work your plan, step by step. Now, how do you do this? What does it mean to work your plan? Well, I put some tips for plans at the end of your notes. A big one is write it down. Write down deadlines, timelines. If it's all just in your head, it's going to stress you out.

Now, some of you are natural planners and you're going, well, of course you write it down. Why are you even saying this? But others of you, like me, are not naturally organized people. And this comes as a revelation to you because you've been trying to keep it in your head and that's just led to worry. And this is like the one thing you're going to apply that's going to change your life. Write it down? That's brilliant. You know, when I first heard this, it changed my life. So write it down and include margin for fun, for unanticipated delays, including your plan days off. Working your plan does not mean your plan works you.

In January, we took the family to Disneyland. And it was weird, one time we went into one of the restaurants there in Fantasyland, I think it was. And I looked around and every single dad was on his phone typing something. And I thought, it's kind of weird they're not here in this moment at Disneyland. They're probably working their plan. No, their plan is working them. You know, their plan that day should have been have fun with the family at Disneyland. Include some margin.

And accept the size of your plate. Accept the size of your plate. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, some of you, the size of your plate is huge. It's a giant platter like this, right? You can go to the buffet of life and all the choices. And you can just cram all kinds of activities, and all kinds of commitments, and all kinds of committees. And you're just going to be able to load that thing up and go back for seconds because you just have a massive plate.

Others that are here today, your plate is more like a dinner roll plate. That's about the size of your plate right now. You can fit one thing on there, one dinner roll. And if you decide, like, I'm going to do two things today, that is one thing too many. Because your plate's just small. Your capacity right now is small. Now, don't judge people for the size plates that they have. Because you know what? Your plate size changes throughout your life, in different seasons of your life.

Sometimes you're well rested. The batteries are charged. You've got a big plate. You can do lots of stuff. And it's hard to adjust when because you've got a bunch of little kids in the house, or because you're grieving, or because you're going through some other major emotional life transition, your plate size just shrunk in a major way. You've got to be cognizant of the size of your plate. And you've got to be aware of what's on your plate.

So make a plan. Make a choice. Don't make evil plans. Pray throughout your plan. Get advice on your plan. Work your plan diligently. And finally, adjust your plan. Be ready to adjust your plan. Be flexible. Why? Because God will, at times, step in and change your plan. Again, Proverbs 16:9 in the ESV, the heart of a man plans his way. But the Lord establishes his steps. You see, God is sovereign over everything. That means God's ultimately in control. It means God works out everything. Everything in accordance with his will, it means, listen, you are being navigated, even if you don't think so.

Now, this actually helps me relax. Because I know that if God really wants to direct my steps super specifically, he just is going to do it. It's not all on me. Proverbs has this balance. Plan. Be diligent. Work the plan. But also realize, hey, God is sovereign. Some of you are going, well, this all sounds just like common sense. Don't you believe in the supernatural? Don't you believe that God can lead in visions? Don't you believe God can step in and direct people another way? Absolutely, I do. He does in the Bible.

But it's never prescribed in the Bible that you pray for God to show up and speak to you in a vision about something. Look at in the Bible, every time God shows up and does that, the people were not praying for that. He just shows up. They had other plans. And he goes, redirection time, go this way instead. And God can do that for you and me too. And it doesn't have to be a vision.

Example, our India team got back about a week ago from doing an incredible medical dental mission over there in rural India. Every night, they had their team devotions in the dining room of the orphanage. That was the plan. They made a plan. They worked it. They stuck to it. But one night, out of the blue, one of our team leaders, Jim Holderman, says, you know what? Tonight, let's have the team meeting in the guy's cabin. And everybody says, yeah, the guy's cabin. Let's go. Off they went.

Meanwhile, in the guy's cabin, apparently sleeping on a cot, is one of the guys from our team. The team gets there. My wife goes over to shake him and wake him up. And this guy basically rolls onto the ground. He was slipping into a diabetic coma. The nurses got to work, and he was OK in about a day. But listen, they never would have tried to awaken him until morning, when it would have been too late. If for some reason, Jim hadn't said, let's go to the guy's dorm tonight for our meeting. That wasn't their plan. But God adjusted the plan.

They weren't praying for guidance. Where should we have our meeting tonight? God just stepped in and said, guy's dorm now. They didn't even sense a leading. Sometimes God does this. And ultimately, he will work out all things, good things and bad things, in accordance with his ultimate plan. Like Proverbs 19:21 says, many are the plans in the mind of a man. But it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Isn't this nice to know? Your destiny is not just in your own hands. God's plans will stand. So relax.

When God wants to direct you, he can and he will. If he wants to direct you, even though you don't know you are being directed, he can and he will. He's not going to trick you. He's not going to make it hard. So relax and trust him. Now with all this in mind, here's what I want you to do. I want you to ask yourself, where do I need a better plan right now? This is a much more productive question to ask than, what is God's precise dot will for my life? This question is different. Where do I need a better plan?

Where do you need a better plan right now? You make a plan counting on God to direct you. Where have you just been drifting along? Your health? What's your exercise plan? Your family? What kind of a relationship do you want with your kids? OK, how are you going to get there? What's your plan? What about your marriage? How would you like your marriage to improve, those of you who are married? OK, you know probably some ways you'd like it to improve. What's your plan? How are you going to get there?

Don't just drift waiting for specific leading. Do something. Make some plans. Get some advice counting on God to direct. He's much more likely to direct you this way, move you along, than when you're sitting around praying for a sign to drop from the sky before you do anything. Now let me close with this. We talked a lot about plans, and maybe it's a lot for you to take in. So let's keep it simple, come full circle, go back to the very first point.

We started with Proverbs 3:5. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." If you forget everything else, just trust him. He's good. He's sovereign. Example, Apollo 13. It's supposed to be a mission to the moon. Well, an explosion crippled the ship, and they had to get back to Earth. One big problem was they had to shut down electrical power for their computer to preserve power on their flight.

And on the flight back to Earth, they had to make a critical course correction, or they'd fly right past the Earth. So they have no computers, because they have no electricity running to their computers. So how in the world are they going to do this course correction without their guidance computer? They'd never done this before. Well, astronaut Jim Lovell realized if they could just keep a fixed point in space through their tiny window, they could steer to that point. And that point turned out to be their destination, Earth.

Watch this. One more burn. Eight, seven, six, five, four. Oh, it just go. Two, one, ignition. This is burning. Oh, yeah. That's their arm off. OK, here we go. Bring it around, Fredo. It's fine, but it's dragging. 10 seconds. She's dancing all over the place. Come to the right a little bit. 15 seconds. Where is it coming from? Bring it down, Fredo. Just put that one down. OK, I got it. A little more. A little more. That's mine. That's me. Round. A little more. Come on, baby. That's it. Hold it. Hold on. That's it. Hold it. Steady. Nine. Shut down. Houston, we have shut down.

I love that movie. But really, guidance in your life is just like that. You keep one fixed point in view. Your destination. The author and finisher of your faith. Jesus Christ. Because he'll never change. The options that you have in life, they multiply and change all the time. But the Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus is rock solid.

And so in those times that you don't know how to act, and you don't know what to do, you don't know where to go, you know this is God's will for you. Follow Christ. You can trust him. You can surrender to him. Love like he loved. Sacrifice like he did. Ultimately, this is the key. Keep your eyes on Jesus. If you forget everything else, that's how to navigate.

Now, I suspect that some of you are almost dizzy from all the choices and options facing you. I just want to urge you to calm down and focus on the Lord. He loves you. He won't trick you. He won't abandon you without guidance. You can trust the Father who sent the Son, who sent the Spirit. They will live inside you and guide you.

And in fact, let's close by doing kind of a course correction like that as a group this morning here or in venue or wherever you're watching. Let's close by focusing on Christ, the way Christians for 2,000 years have been doing it through communion. So let's prepare our hearts for that right now. Would you bow in a word of prayer with me?

Our Father in heaven, help us to make choices in accordance with your will. And the most important choice that we can make is to choose to follow Jesus every day. And so in every heart right now, I pray that people who are listening to me are just saying to you, yes, God, I want to follow Christ. I want to beam in on Him. I want to make Him my guiding star, my Lord, my Savior. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.