FBC Morning Worship Service

Good morning to you who are moms. Happy Mother's Day. Say more about that in just a few minutes, but glad you're here today and trust you're going to have a good day celebrating mom. And if you are a mom that you are duly honored today for the very, very important critical role that you play in our lives.

So welcome moms and everyone else. We've come together today to worship the Lord and that's the main thing. And that will be the main thing of our service today. But also I want, before we begin, I want to express appreciation to all those who came and helped yesterday.

We had a really good turnout for this workday and got a lot of stuff done. One of the, some of the obvious things, if you look around, replaced the roof on the garage, put a new metal roof, steel roof on the garage out there, finished up the new, the bathrooms, the remodeled bathrooms in the back.

Those are fully functional now and ready to be used. Finally, and thank the Lord for that. And I've got some windows washed and power washed the siding and, oh, finished setting up the parents' lounge and did just a whole bunch of other little detail stuff too.

So let me do this. I was gonna rattle off the names of people who helped, but I knew I was gonna forget somebody. So if you came yesterday and helped, even for, you know, 15 minutes, would you just stand and let us, well, come on, go ahead, come on, don't hesitate.

Stand, let us say thanks. So appreciate it so very much. You guys, you worked hard and we got a lot done and we're done for most of us before noon. So that was a wonderful day, very good day. So a couple other things to bear in mind today, we get back to the six o 'clock evening service schedule.

So this evening we'll get, we'll be back here for evening service. We plan to begin a new series in the book of Mark. The Gospel of Mark. And I enjoy the gospels and each has its own unique flavor, if you will.

But we'll introduce the gospel of Mark tonight in the evening service. And then a week from Wednesday, so May 19th is the next gathering of the young married single adults time that'll be here at the church this, on the Wednesday night time.

But we originally were gonna have a light supper for that group, but we're this, the light supper is gonna be for everybody. Anybody who wants to participate Wednesday night at six o 'clock on May 19th, we'll have a serve a light supper and then go into our midweek times together with our different groups.

So plan on that. If you're planning to, would like to join the supper time, let us know, there's a sign up sheet on the foyer bulletin board. And obviously we need to know how many to plan for for that.

So again, this is Mother's Day and we like to recognize moms in different ways. And we're not gonna do any of the funny stuff today, you know, like who's the oldest mom, who has the, you know, all that kind of stuff.

We're not gonna do that. But as you leave today, we have the traditional flower for every mom and for everyone who has a mom. And ladies, ladies, today we have that for you. And then I got a book for some young moms that I want all the young moms to have and take home with you.

And you say, don't give me a book because I'm a young mom and I don't have time to read. Yeah, I get that. But nevertheless, this is a short one, okay? It's only 158 pages long and the last several pages are notes.

So you're in good shape. But anyway, this is entitled Created to Care, God's Truth for Anxious Moms. And so all the young moms. Now, I thought after I got this, I said, you know, I gotta find a book. If someone has written one somewhere, I gotta find a book for moms of adult children.

You know, I see some adult moms or moms of adult children saying, yeah, yeah, I mean, you wouldn't shake your head like this because your kids are sitting right next to you. But nevertheless, if I find one of those, we'll have books for everybody then.

But anyway, so young moms, please pick up a copy of this on your way out. All ladies, take a posy home and enjoy the added color to this drab, dreary day. Well, we have come together to worship the Lord today.

In Psalm 85, verses seven and eight, the psalmist implores the Lord and says, "'Show us your mercy, Lord, and grant us your salvation. "'I will hear what God the Lord will speak, "'for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints, "'but let them not turn back to folly.

"'I will hear what God the Lord will speak. "'He will speak peace to His people and to His saints.'". Let's worship our God who speaks. Jim, please come and lead us.

Pastor, it's on page number 57 in your blue supplements, your songbooks, number 57. Speak, O Lord. Let's all stand together and sing all three verses together.

Stan.

We praise you for your grace and your mercy this past week. Father, we're so thankful that we can come and worship you to hear your word, Father, which gives us light unto our paths, gives us purpose.

And, Father, as He brings your word, may the Spirit be receptive of the blessings this day. We pray these things in Jesus' name.

In the back of your bulletin is a psalm we want to read, Psalm 95, and then following the reading of it, we'll sing it from the psalter. As you notice, the tape is gone from the different pews. I do want to encourage you to continue spreading out as much as possible.

One of the things I kind of liked about the taping of some of those pews is that it compelled some to move forward. That's a pastor's thing, isn't it? Yeah, everybody sit up to the front. Well, anyway.

So we kind of spread those psalters out. Make sure there's one near you that you can use here in just a few minutes. But Psalm 95, follow along as I read this psalm together. Psalmist writes, so come, let us sing to the Lord.

Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God and the great King above all gods.

In His hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it. And His hands formed the dry land. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker.

For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness.

When your fathers tested me, they tried me, though they saw my work. For 40 years, I was grieved with that generation and said, it is a people who go astray in their hearts and they do not know my ways.

So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. So in the Psalter 203, Jim's gonna come and lead us with that song.

203 in the Red Books, the Psalter. We'll sing all four verses together now with joyful exultation. Who shall lead us to them. As we pray together today,.

Let's continue to pray for Jodi Knapp. Jodi's been transferred. I guess most of you probably got that prayer update the other day that she was transferred to a rehab facility in Sycamore. And when I got the word of that from her daughter, I wrote back and said, I assume this is a positive development.

And she wrote back and said, absolutely, it really is. And there's a lot of firsts, if you will, in her care. One of them is that she has survived when most others who got that sick have not. And she's the first one that received a tracheotomy at CGH and has been moved out to continue the facilitation of her recovery.

So the Lord has been very gracious in answering prayer for Jodi, and we wanna thank Him for that. But continue to pray for her. She's got a long road to go yet in her recovery, obviously, but pray for her and pray for Bob that God will continue to give him strength and encourage him in this whole ordeal in their battle with COVID.

So we also wanna pray today for Chuck and Ruby Kemp for Missionaries of the Week. Chuck serves as an evangelist, and Ruby herself has chronic ongoing health concerns. I'm gonna pray for that couple. Let's look to the Lord, shall we?

So our Father and our God, we're thankful that somewhere in our nation's history, it was determined that we should set aside a day where we honor our mothers. And it is certainly a worthwhile thing to do, to consciously set aside some time where we honor our mothers and their sacrifice of life and effort and time and energy for the care of their children, for all that they do in the home.

And we are so grateful for them, for the roles that they've played in our lives. Those of us who are married to women who are mothers, they have contributed so greatly to our families, to our marriages, and we are deeply indebted.

The men here today, to the wives and mothers that are part of our families, we thank you for the gift that they are to us, to our homes. We thank you for how you have, in your word, lifted up and elevated the role of motherhood and highlighted many mothers in the Bible who are praiseworthy and honorable.

Thank you even especially for the mother of our Lord, who showed such a wonderful example of submission of life and carried that throughout her earthly life and caring for and then submitting to her son as her savior.

And Father, we pray for moms today, those that are new and new to motherhood, we pray that you would give them strength and energy and wisdom, understanding, patience. We pray also for mothers who are old, whose children are grown and have left the nest, are living their own lives and pursuing their own families.

And their own careers and so forth. And I pray that all moms today, young or old, would be remembered and respected by their children. Father, we also pray today though for moms who are lonely. There are some who are confined in nursing homes today, and they will not be able to be visited by their children.

I pray that you would encourage them and give comfort to their lonely hearts. There are moms who are longing, longing for repaired relationships, longing for their children who've been estranged to return to them and to the Lord, to you.

There are moms who are grieving today because their children have hurt them deeply. Maybe they're grieving because they've had children that have, they've outlived, and it weighs heavily on them on this day.

I pray that you'd give comfort to those hurting hearts. But Father, we also pray for moms who are joying and rejoicing today, and thank you for them. And I pray that their joy would be directed to you.

Their praise and delight would be turned to you. Wouldn't just, would not just be joying in their children, but be rejoicing in the Lord who gave them their children, this heritage from you. Pray for moms that are well satisfied and just very contented in their motherhood, and thank you for them.

Thank you for that gift that you've given to them to just find a great joy and satisfaction in this indispensable, vital role of a mother in the world as well as in the family. So Father, we pray for each one and ask your blessing upon each mother today.

We pray especially today for one mom whose life is still hanging in the balance. We pray for Jodi, and we just pray that you'd continue to strengthen her. Thank you so much for answers to prayer regarding her life.

Thank you for sparing her for the successful procedures that she's gone through that have allowed her to continue living. And I pray that as she continues into this rehab phase, that as sedation is further reduced, you would give her calmness from restlessness.

I pray that she would be understanding and be able to respond well to directions. I pray that she would be encouraged by just the answers to prayer that you've already shown in her life as she comes to be aware of them.

I pray also for Bob, that you would bless and encourage him and give him strength, and not only physical strength, but strength emotionally, as he has been through so much in these last several weeks.

I just pray that you would meet the needs of this family in a special way. I also pray for Chuck and Ruby Kempf today, and thank you for Chuck's faithfulness in preaching through these years. I pray that you'd use him even this year in the different meetings he can get to.

I pray that there would be much fruit from his labor. And give grace to Ruby as well. Strengthen her in her infirmities and her affliction, we pray. So Father, we commit these things to you today, and we ask for your grace and for your blessing and your meeting with us in the remainder of this service.

And this we ask in Jesus' name.

In your regular hymnals, page number 385, 385, My Life is Thine, before a pastor comes with a morning message. Also a reminder to those who have young children, and we have Children's Church, if you desire for your children to be there.

You're dismissed on the third verse to go there. And also we have the finished, and what we call, I guess, the crying room. I'm not sure what the politically correct, what is it? Parents' Lounge. Oh, the Parents' Lounge, yes.

We have that finished. Parents' Lounge, yeah. I might go back there myself. It sounds pretty, very comfy looking. And I walked by there just yesterday morning during work day and saw a pastor installing the brand new whiteboard.

And so it's really all complete and ready to go. So keep those things in mind if they concern you. But let's all stand together, please. Number 385, My Life is Thine. Cycling, my Savior, I humbly pray.

Receive the gifts I bring today Lord Jesus, my life is thine. My talents and my time, Jesus, I need Thee every day Lord Jesus, control my thoughts, I pray My Savior, to Thee I bow.

Come melt me, mold me, use me now, Jesus Here is my heart, and fill it in most part It is Thy will I see, my Savior, my God and King Accept the simple gifts I bring, Lord Jesus, I am Thine own

For our scripture reading this morning, I want to turn to Romans chapter 12, likely deal with this entire chapter, but I want to read verses one through eight. Romans 12, verses one through eight. Apostle Paul is writing to the church, this is a local church in the city of Rome.

We have no idea how large that church was. We don't know a lot of details about that church, but it was a local church. And he says to this church, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God hath dealt to each one the measure of faith.

For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them.

If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith, or ministry, let us use it in our ministering. He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

Brief word of prayer. Father and our God, I pray that we would realize the incredible importance of life in the body. Open your word to us today to see this importance, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. I realize that what I'm about to say is to relegate myself to a period of ancient history in this world, but here you go.

Do you remember the television show back in the 1960s called The Addams Family? Some of you are going, yep. Most of you are going, the what? Because I'm relegating myself to ancient history. I mean, that television show was so old, it was in black and white, but I still remember some of the jingles associated with that, and there was one, I don't know if it was actually used, that television show's jingle to create a commercial, or if we did it in school, but it went like this.

They're creeping and they're crawling, and Uncle Fester's bawling, he's bawling, because he lost his favorite Parker pen, his Parker tee ball pen. I think it might even have been a commercial, but it had to do with The Addams Family.

Well, there were a lot of creepy characters in The Addams Family. The main parents, Gomez and Morticia, were themselves a little off, although they looked sort of semi-normal, but then there were others in the family.

Cousin It, Cousin It was like a big ball of hair and then there was Lurch, big, tall, creepy kind of guy, Lurch, and then there was Uncle Fester. He was a little different as well, but really, the creepiest thing, the creepiest thing in The Addams Family was thing, thing.

Could you imagine if you came to my house and we're having a little conversation in the living room and you're sitting in the couch by the end table and there's a box on the end table and we're just chatting away and all of a sudden, the corner of your eye, you see the lid on that box open by itself, I mean, it just opens up and you're a little startled and you turn to look and as the box opens up, a hand comes out of that box and offers you a piece of candy or worse, wants to shake hands with you.

I mean, that would certainly knock you off the couch. That was thing. Thing was this disembodied hand that would do different things to help out around the house and so forth. I even had, when I was a kid, I had a bank.

I think it was a battery-operated bank, but I had a bank that was a thing bank and you would put a coin on this little slot at the top of the bank box, it was like a box, and when you put the coin in that slot, the lid would open up and thing would come out and grab the coin and take it back and drop it into the box.

Now look, if I had such a thing in my home, you would not wanna hang around there because you would recognize that a hand, disembodied hand that functions by itself running around a person's house that's stored in a box, you would rightly conclude there's something wrong with that house.

There's something wrong with those people. There's definitely something wrong with thing. No, we understand and we recognize that hands belong connected to a body and ideally, or normally, that hand would operate in orchestration with the rest of that body.

It would be orchestrated by what happens with the rest of that body. We understand that, but look, this is the way it is with the church. One of the three main images of the church is that of the body of Christ.

It comes out in this passage that we just read a minute ago. And remember, we said there are three main images that the New Testament presents of the church. And each of those images has to do, or emphasizes a different relationship that the church has and a different relationship role or function of Christ in that image.

So, for example, we said, first of all, that the church is the bride of Christ. And the emphasis in that image of the church as the bride of Christ is our relationship to Christ himself. And Christ in that relationship is the bridegroom.

So the church is the bride of Christ. But then another image of the church is the building of Christ. And the emphasis of the church as the building of Christ is the relationship of the church to the world.

And the role that Christ plays in that image of the church as the building is he, Christ, is the chief cornerstone. But then this third image of the body of Christ, the church as the body of Christ, it emphasizes our relationship to each other.

And in this image, the role of Christ is that of the head of the body, to which all the members of that body of Christ are connected and are controlled. So, Romans chapter 12, this passage that, we read part of it, read about half of it.

Romans chapter 12 elaborates on life in the body. Life in the body. And what Paul makes clear in this chapter is that for you as a believer, you are not to be a thing. You're not to be a thing. Functioning as some kind of disembodied appendage doing your own thing.

No, you're not to be a thing. Instead, you and I are to be consecrated, integrated members of the body of Christ, functioning in loving harmony with the rest of the body. This is the thrust of Romans chapter 12.

Now, I may not actually get through this whole chapter this morning. I kind of am doubting that I will. But if not, then you'll have to come back tonight to get the rest of it. But anyway, and then I'll put Mark off for a week.

But anyhow, let's notice first of all that the foundation of life in the body is personal consecration. The foundation of life in the body is personal consecration. This comes out in verses one and two.

These are probably the most, two of the most familiar verses in the book of Romans, and certainly in the New Testament, when talking about the subject of the will of God. You know, I want to know what God's will is for my life.

All right, and you get taken to Romans chapter 12 verses one and two. And it's important to go there. But I want us to realize that these two verses are not in isolation. And we can tend to do that when we zero in on favorite or popular verses of the Bible.

We can lift them out of the context, we memorize them, and we can then apply them in different ways. And sometimes when we do that, we end up applying those verses not necessarily in wrong ways, but not in the primary way in which the writer, in this case Paul, intended it to be understood.

So let's look at this foundation of life in the body, because look, from verses three and following, Paul is addressing life in the body. So verses one and two are just kind of setting the stage or laying the foundation of actually being a productive, integrated member of the body that is living in harmony with the rest of the body.

Personal consecration. What is involved in that? Well, let me suggest a few things. Obviously, the first thing is presentation, because he says, I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

That sacrifice, obviously, is the idea of consecration. Presenting of your body. And this presentation of your body is a response to God's infinite mercies. Paul has been really just elaborating on and laying out that infinite, the infinite mercies of God in the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans.

In fact, look at how chapter 11 ends. Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. And he ends in this expression of praise and exaltation to God for his ways, his marvelous ways, his incredible, incomprehensible ways.

Ways that are expressions of his mercies and so forth. So Paul says, on the basis of those mercies, or as a response to those infinite mercies, present your bodies. And do so, he goes on to say in this presentation, as a living sacrifice that is pleasing to God.

Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Which means this is an ongoing, this is an ongoing thing. Be presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice, as an ongoing sacrifice, as a day-by-day, moment-by-moment sacrifice to God.

Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. And in this presentation, he ends verse one by saying that this presentation of your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God is your reasonable service.

That could be translated as your logical worship. Your logical worship. I like to think of it this way. This presentation of your body as a living sacrifice to God, set apart to God, it's pleasing to God, this is the logical starting point in your spiritual service.

In your relationship as an integrated member of the body of Christ. This is the logical starting point. This is what Paul is saying. That word that's translated service here is not talking about what a bunch of people did yesterday in serving the Lord.

You know, coming here to the church and doing a bunch of work and so on and so forth. And by the way, as I think I mentioned last week, serving the Lord isn't limited to that kind of thing. I mean, it's a broad topic and I'll save that for another time.

But nevertheless, what you who came here yesterday did was, I believe, this is your heart, you came serving the Lord. You helped out with things that need to be done here at the church, but you did this because you love the Lord and you were serving the Lord.

But that's not what this word is talking about. It's not talking about some kind of work. The word that's translated service is really a technical word that has to do with worship. It's the kind of activity that would be engaged in in a worship service, if you will, in a time of worship.

So what Paul is emphasizing is that your worship of God as part of the body of Christ begins here. It begins with personal consecration, the presentation of your body. Well, this personal consecration secondly involves separation, separation.

Because verse two says, and do not be conformed to this world. So you begin with this, this personal consecration begins with the presentation of your body to God, but then also involves separation from the anti-Christ and anti-God system that functions dominantly in this world.

You could literally translate the beginning of verse two in this way. Stop being assimilated into the world system. Stop being assimilated into the world system. Stop being assimilated into the way the world thinks, into buying in to the values that the world holds dear.

Stop assimilating yourself to the norms of the world. What the world says is these are the standards, this is the standard, this is the normal way of thinking, the normal way of living. Now let me apply this in one particular way.

Because I think this particular influence of the world system is subtle and has made its way into the thinking of many in the church, broadly speaking. So in your bulletin there is a little blurb about a new book that we put out on a bookshelf.

I'm trying to remember the name of it.

Off the top of my head. It's something about being bad people, that we are the bad people. And the point of that book, the idea of that book is that Christians that used to be thought of as being good, contributing members to society are now looked at as being the bad guys.

We're the bad guys. Well in that book, one of the things the author brings out is the dominant idea that authenticity or being quote true to myself has become one of the highest quote virtues in our day.

And I just want to share with you what he has to say here. Because, and then I want us to draw a parallel and a connection, help us understand how that has affected the church. All right, so here's what he says.

He says, authenticity, that idea of being true to myself is a solo game. It's a thing.

It's a thing.

It's a disembodied member thing. It's a solo game. Here's what he writes. He says, in our culture, being true to oneself is the goal of life, the pathway of happiness. Now having just said that, are you like, well, yeah, of course it is.

If that's your response, then what I want you to get is you've assimilated. You've assimilated into the world's way of thinking. Let me continue on and help us understand this. He says, we have developed this a priori conviction that self-fulfillment is our highest good.

Such a view would sound strange, indeed almost incomprehensible, to someone from, say, Eastern Africa, where, listen, individual desires are subordinated to social, religious, and family commitments. And authenticity is about fulfilling one's duty to one's community.

He goes on to report that missionary friends among Mozambique's Yao people report how even walking alone is not a thing there. When I asked him how an introvert could exist within such a culture, I was told that if you are walking along the road in a group, you don't have to speak, and people will respect that.

But the thought that you would walk alone would not even cross the most introverted mind.

Why?

Because of that commitment to the community. He says, even in the West, such community bonding was evident until quite recently. Christianity, rooted in less transient communities than we have now, Christianity assumed that self-denial, not self-expression, was the path to social cohesion and common good.

To refuse self-denial was to refuse life. He says, he asked, why am I making so much of this? He said, because this, because we too, Christians who sign off on the creeds, who recite the prayers of confession and share communion and the occasional lunch, we Christians are steeped in the individualistic narrative of the authentic self.

Now, what I want us to understand is that this thinking has resulted in what is really an unprecedented situation in relationship to church. We are living in an age now, in an era now where, for the first time in our nation's history, fewer than half of the people of this nation identify with a local church.

That's unprecedented in our land. And so what has developed in this way of thinking that I live for myself, I live for myself, self-fulfillment is the greatest good, it's the highest good and all the rest of that, this way of thinking has resulted in an unprecedented, listen, it's resulted in an unprecedented isolation from the local body of Christ while at the same time using it for personal self-fulfillment and not engaging in any self-denying commitment.

Do you get that? Let me say that again. This idea, this notion that being true to myself and self-fulfillment's the highest good and I am committed to myself, what this has done in so many of even professing believers' minds is it has resulted in the unprecedented isolation from the local body of Christ while using the church for personal self-fulfillment and there is little, if any, self-denying commitment.

We just don't do that. Now see, to the extent that believers in Christ have come to think that way, because remember that statistic I mentioned a minute ago that fewer than half the people of our land, far fewer than half now, are members of a local church.

There's still far more than that 40 some percent, far more than that who attend church. So what they're doing is they are using that place, that body for personal self-fulfillment but not committing themselves to it.

Well, this is the way of thinking that has crept into the church from the world and we have assimilated ourselves to that way of thinking. Consecration of the self, personal consecration, involves presentation, it involves separation, and thirdly, thirdly in our text, beginning of verse two, it involves the transformation of our entire worldview.

It says stop being conformed to this world and be being, literally here, be being transformed by the renewing of your mind. The ongoing, the ongoing present tense transformation of the mind that results in a completely different worldview from that of the rest of the world that is trying to squeeze you into its mold.

But this aspect of personal consecration, the transformation of your entire worldview is what's behind the motto of our church. It goes, one of the things we say a lot here, that we seek, here at Faith Baptist Church, we seek to discover what God is like and what God likes.

Why?

For personal self-fulfillment or whatever? No, no, we seek to discover what God is like and what God likes so that we might love him and love others more deeply and live for him more faithfully. Transformation of your entire worldview.

And then, fourthly, consecration involves not only presentation of myself, the presentation of my body, separation from the world, transformation of my entire worldview. It involves, in the last part of verse two, a demonstration of God's will.

We present ourselves to the Lord, our bodies, in response to the mercies of God, as a starting point, a logical starting point for our spiritual service. We reject conformity, we don't let the world squeeze us in its mold, and instead we're transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we might demonstrate what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

And what I indicated earlier about verses one and two is that we generally tend, and I'm speaking broadly here in Bible-believing churches that are interested in what God has to say, we generally think of Romans 12, one and two, and especially this last part of verse two, from the standpoint of God's will as the framework of my life.

But what Paul is talking about here, he's not so much talking about what God's will, or now let me get this distinction here, what God's will is for my life, he's concerned about what God's will is for my living.

Here's what I mean by that, that distinction. Our cultural American interpretation of Romans 12, one and two, and especially the end of verse two, is that God's will has to do with the framework of my life.

The framework of my life. I wanna know what is God's will for my career. What career does God want me to pursue? And the younger we are, the more interested we are in figuring that out. What is God's will for my career?

Does God want me to be a businessman? Does God want me to be a homemaker? Does God want me to be in full-time Christian ministry? What is God's will for this big framework decision that I have to make for my life?

What is God's will for me regarding marriage? Does God want me to be married? Does God want me to stay single? Well, if he wants me to be married, what is God's will for me for a spouse? Whom does God want me to marry?