The Big Idea

"Determining God's will isn't a mystery for us to solve, it's a person to follow."

Welcome to the study resource for our sermon on discerning God's will. The goal of this page is to help you move this message from a Sunday idea to a daily practice.

Use the navigation above to:

Review the Sermon Outline: See the main points and logical flow of the message.
Explore Key Passages: See the scriptural foundation of the sermon, with notes on why each passage is important.
Go on a Deeper Study: Explore what the entire Bible says about "the will of God," organized by category.

Our prayer is that this resource helps you in your journey of "abiding" with Jesus and "imitating" his way in your daily life.

Sermon Outline

The Premise & The Problem

Theological Premise: We believe in a transcendent God who desires to reveal His will to us personally.
The Practical Problem: If that's true, how do we actually discern God's will in our everyday lives?

The Test Cases & Our Diagnosis

Our Test Cases: We face this question in our Circumstances, Relationships, and Vocation (C/R/V).
Our Flawed Methods: We tend to default to our own compass: Thinking (logic), Feeling (emotion), or Believing (conviction).
The Diagnosis: These are God-given gifts, but on their own, they are like a compass without a "True North."

The Big Idea: A New Framework

"Determining God's will isn't a mystery for us to solve, it's a person to follow."

The Pattern (John 15:9-10): Jesus shows us the way. He remained in the Father's love (will) by obeying His commands.
The Proof (Gospel of John): The sermon traces 7+ passages in John (1:, 7, 8, 12, 14, 17) to prove that Jesus is the perfect, full revelation of the Father's will.

The Mechanism & The Application

The Mechanism (John 15:4-5): Our "how-to" is Abiding. We cannot "do" God's will on our own ("apart from me you can do nothing"). We must "remain" or "abide" in Jesus.
The Application: The will of God for us in any moment is to Abide (stay connected to Jesus) and Imitate (do what Jesus would do).
The Framework Revisited: We apply this by asking in our C/R/V: "As an apprentice of Jesus, living from my abiding connection, what does it look like to imitate him in this situation?"

Key Passages from the Sermon

These are the verses from John that build the sermon's main argument: Jesus is the perfect revelation of the Father's will, and our job is to abide in Him and imitate His way.

John 15:9-10 (The Pattern)

"I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love."

Sermon Note: This is the pattern. Jesus shows us how he stayed connected to the Father's will (by remaining in His love through obedience). He then commands us to do the same with him.

The Proof: Jesus is the Father's Will

John 1:18

"No one has ever seen God, but the unique one who is God Himself, Jesus, is near to the Father's heart, and He has revealed God to us."

Sermon Note: This sets the foundation. If you want to know what God is like and what He wants, you must look at Jesus. He is the full revelation.

John 7:16-17

"My message is not my own. It comes from God who sent me. Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own."

Sermon Note: Jesus's words are the Father's will. He connects our desire to do God's will with our ability to recognize His teaching as truth.

John 8:38

"I am telling you what I saw when I was with my father..."

Sermon Note: Jesus's actions and message come from what he "saw" the Father doing. He is a perfect imitator of the Father.

John 12:49-50

"I do not speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know that his commands lead to eternal life. So I say whatever the Father tells me to say."

Sermon Note: This is one of the clearest statements. Jesus is in perfect, obedient alignment. His words are the Father's commands.

John 14:10

"The words that I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does His work through me."

Sermon Note: The Father's "will" isn't just words, it's "work." Jesus's actions are the Father's actions, done through him.

John 14:24

"Anyone who doesn't love me will not obey me, and remember, my words are not my own. What I'm telling you is from the Father who sent me."

Sermon Note: Jesus again connects love, obedience, and the fact that his words are the Father's.

John 17:6-8

"I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world... they have kept your word... I passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me."

Sermon Note: In his final prayer, Jesus confirms his mission: He successfully "revealed" the Father and "passed on" the Father's message (His will) to the disciples.

The Mechanism: How We Connect

John 15:4-5 (The Mechanism)

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine. You cannot be fruitful apart from me. I am the vine and you are the branches. Remain in me and I in you and you will produce much fruit. But apart from me, you can do nothing."

Sermon Note: This is the "how." This is our part. We cannot "do" the will of God on our own. Our only way to be fruitful (to live out His will) is to "abide" or "remain" in Jesus. Our connection to him is the non-negotiable source of everything.

Deeper Study: What the Bible Says About God's Will

The sermon focused on how Jesus reveals the will of God. Here are other key passages from the New Testament that specifically define what "the will of God" is for our lives. They are organized by theme for your study.

1. God's Will for Salvation

God's overarching will is for people to be saved through Jesus.

John 6:40: "For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
1 Timothy 2:3-4: "...God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is... patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance."

2. God's Will for Our Conduct (Sanctification)

God's will is our moral and spiritual transformation—that we become like Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 4:3: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;"
1 Thessalonians 5:18: "...give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
1 Peter 2:15: "For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people."
Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Micah 6:8: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

3. How to Discern God's Will

God's will isn't just something we do, it's something we understand through transformation.

Romans 12:2: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Ephesians 5:17: "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
John 7:17: "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority."
Colossians 1:9: "...asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,"

4. God's Will in Suffering

God's will also includes how we are to act and whom we are to trust during times of suffering.

1 Peter 3:17: "For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil."
1 Peter 4:19: "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."