Keep Cool
I.
The importance of being
led
A. Decisions determine
direction and direction determines destiny
1.
A
person makes hundreds of decisions everyday (if not thousands) each decisions
puts you on a course or direction and each direction leads to a destination-2
Kings 11
2.
If
you don’t want to end up at the wrong place you must not make decisions that
will set you on a course or direction that will lead you there and the only way
to make the right decisions is to be led by the Spirit of God
B. When you close yourself
off to the leading of the spirit you close yourself off to all the good things
that were going to come as a result of you yielding to it
1.
By
not being open many people are not allowing the Lord to do what He wants to do
for them-Psalm81:11
a. What are not open to do
that’s keeping you from God’s best in your life?
2.
Matthew
23:37-39-I would have protected you and prospered you, but you weren’t open,
wouldn’t hear, wouldn’t receive
II.
The Holy Spirit is the
Spirit of peace who leads by peace with peace
A. If you want to be led by
the Spirit and be sensitive to God’s direction and hear when God talks to you
then you’re going to have to get on the peace channel
1.
God
is a God of peace, the Word of God is the Word of peace, Jesus is the prince of
peace, The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of peace (1 Thess
5:23, Romans 10:15, Isaiah 9:6)
2.
Can
you live a restful life, a quiet life, a life where you’re soul is assured you
and you fear nothing? That’s the life of peace
B. Romans 8:14-15-The Holy
Spirit is not the spirit of fear and He doesn’t lead by fear, torment, and
chaos, and He can’t lead a person who is yielding
to those things
1.
1
John 4:18-The fearful, tormented life is not a still, quiet life, it is a loud,
restless, chaotic life
2.
The
Holy Spirit is the comforter and he is the spirit of peace-John 14:26-27
a. Comfort-Relief from distress of mind; ease &
quiet experienced when agitation ceases
C. It’s impossible to be led
by the spirit of peace when you are yielding to torment; if you’re follow
torment and yield to torment you’re not following and yielding to the spirit of
peace
1.
People who are mad,
upset, frustrated, vexed, worried, discouraged will be insensitive to the
spirit’s leading because while you yield to those feelings you’re resisting Him
a. God’s on the peace
channel and to hear Him you got to get on that channel; you have to get in His
vein; He’s not on the complain channel or the frustrated channel
b. Being a frantic,
basket-case, in a hurry, go-go-go, worried, frustrated, mad and vexed will lead
to you being insensitive to the Holy Spirit
2.
Frustration will keep you
from direction; Agitation will keep you from direction; Vexation will keep you
from direction; Depression will keep you from direction
a. Acts 8:26-Philipp was a
part of this huge revival in Samaria and Peter and John are going to continue
the revival, but God tells him to get on the road leading to Gaza, which was a
desert place where the church was struggling, and if he would have been pouting
and mad, he would have missed his whole assignment
D. Col 3:15 AMP-We are
supposed to be led by peace, by the spirit of peace and if your heart is
bothering you about something and you don’t have a peace about it then don’t do
it; if you don’t have a peace about it, then how could it be Him
1.
CJB-Let
the peace which comes from the Messiah be your heart’s decision-maker
2.
AMP-Let
the peace from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding
and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that
peaceful state]
III.
To be led by the Spirit
we have to be quiet, be still, and yield to peace
A. Your head and heart can
be so noisy and it can be so loud inside that you don’t hear what the Spirit of
God is saying and you can’t be led by the Spirit of peace while you yield to a
loud, restless, chaotic life
1.
The
noise is worry, discouragement, options, problems responsibilities, busy
schedule
2.
EX: Turn the music up
while I talk
B. ***One of the tactics of
the enemy is make life so loud that you miss the Spirit’s leading b/c he knows
in a pressured time all you’ll need to be victorious is the wisdom of God***
1.
Isaiah
7:1-The prophet of God is here with their answer, but what good is he if
hearing they don’t hear and seeing the don’t see and what good is the Holy
Ghost to the believer if hearing they don’t hear and seeing they don’t see
a. Quiet-Idle, settled, be tranquil, be at peace, be quiet, rest, lie
still, be undisturbed
b. Pay attention and be
quiet go together; It’s going to be hard to pay attention and hear what he’s
saying if they don’t shut up
1)
To
receive this direction you’re going to have to be quiet
2)
The
noise is the anxiety about this people that is going to attack them
c. They were under great
attack and God’s command was be quiet because to walk in victory they’re going
to have to hear from God and to hear from God you have to quiet yourself by
choosing peace rather than fear
2.
Jeremiah
41,42-Their fear and anxiety about the Chaldeans was so loud that when God
spoke they didn’t hear
3.
Job
3:26-Maybe something else could have happened if he would have been quiet; He
was a righteous man who had heard from God, but his life got to loud
4.
1
Thessalonians 4:11-Strive earnestly to be quiet
5.
1
Peter 3:4-A quiet spirit is of great value to God
6.
Acts
19:34-Be quiet and do nothing rashly
C. Will you quiet yourself
so that you can hear? – Psalm 46:10
1.
Still-Alone, idle, stay,
cease, relax, withdraw, quiet
2.
1
Peter 5:7-8-Cast your care on God and be calm and collected b/c there’s an
enemy out there trying to kill still and destroy and you need to be led by the
Spirit
3.
This
quiet, still principle we are talking about is not just something you do, but
it’s a way of life; it’s a lifestyle that will keep you in a position to better
receive direction from God
4.
Numbers 14-If they
would’ve just shut up and they would have heard
D. The wisdom of God, the
direction of God is in the peace of God-James 3:16-17 (AMP)
1.
13-Meekness
of wisdom-When you are walking in wisdom and you’re being led by the Spirit you
are walking in a mild (warm, pleasant) disposition, gentle spirit
2.
14,15-If
you’re harsh, indignant, angry, contentious, self-seeking you’re not yielding
to peace and you’ll not walk in wisdom from above and be led by the Spirit, but
you’ll walk in the wisdom of the world
a. You yield to this
“non-peace” life and that’s where confusion is
b. This people are not being
led, they are not seeing and hearing
c. You yield to envy and strife,
that’s not peace and you won’t have wisdom
d. Some people never hear
because they love drama
3.
17-Wisdom is peaceable-It is connected to peace, brings
peace with it, it loves peace
a. Wisdom and being led is
connected to, related to peace-you can’t get wisdom while you resist peace; Wisdom
loves peace; you can’t resist peace and get wisdom
1)
EX:
You can’t refuse Amber and get me-1 John 5:1-2
b. Wisdom is gentle-mild and patient
c. Wisdom is easy to be entreated-Easily obeying,
compliant
d. Wisdom is full of mercy-Kindness, goodwill
IV.
There’s a quality of
stillness, slowness, quietness, rest, and peace that is required if you’re
going to be led by Him
A. John 8:1-10-When Jesus
needed to be led by the Spirit, he got quiet and yielded to peace
1.
She’s
committed adultery and the Word says stone her so you who preach love and mercy
and forgiveness what should be done to her? --- Tough question
2.
3-7-They
are testing him and wanting an answer; they want it now and surely they’re not
waiting quietly (They set her in the middle where everybody can see)
3.
This
is a pressured situation, a hectic situation, a loud situation and in the
middle of all it Jesus gets quiet, gets still, and yields to peace because he
knows he can’t get want he needs yielding to all this frantic loud stuff
B. John 11:1-6-Particularly
in times of pressure we have to guard against getting worried, frantic, or even
frustrated because it will keep us from being led by the Spirit
1.
This
a serious situation, but rather than moving frantically Jesus got quiet and still
2.
It’s
important that we be slow at all times because it bests positions us to be led
by the Spirit (James 1:19, Proverbs 15:18, 16:32)
a. It’s hard to receive
directions when you’re doing something else; but if you’ll stop, slow down, and
get quiet you’ll be better positioned to receive direction
b. EX: If we filled this
room and everybody was talking and meanwhile you’re setting up the room it’s
going to be hard for you to be led by me, but if we left the room and you
stopped doing what you were doing and got quiet it’d be easy
3.
41-Before
he speaks to Lazarus, he yields to peace
a. They’re accusing him,
they’re in unbelief, Mary is crying this is chaos
4.
A person that hears from
God won’t get caught up in the chaos of the situation, but in the middle of
everybody else’s useless unbelief and loudness they’ll yield to peace and quiet
themselves
C. Isaiah 28:16-Not being in
a hurry reveals faith and there’s joy and peace in believing
1.
If
you’re in faith and yielding to peace, you’re calm, you’re quiet, you’re slow
and you’re positioned to be led by the spirit
2.
Haste-Rashly, pressed, early,
ripe, heedless eagerness,
V.
How you do you get on the
peace channel and quiet yourself to a place where you can actually hear God
when he speaks? You get your mind fixed on the Word and you’ll get into peace
and be led by the Spirit
A. Romans 8:6, Isaiah
26:3-When you get your mind on the Word of God it gives you peace and keeps you
available to being led by the Spirit; If you think on the wrong things the
results will not be peace, but it will be frustration and vexation and you’ll
miss the leading of the spirit
1.
Being
carnally minded will rob of you peace and keep you from being led by the Spirit
a. Acts 10:19-Paul was led
of the Lord as he gave his mind to the things of God
2.
If
you’re frustrated, anxious, tormented, or vexed it’s because you’ve been
thinking on the wrong stuff and it’s entirely your fault
a. If it’s brining you
frustration then stop thinking about; you can’t afford to allow the spiritual
atmosphere of your life to be loud, dark, and chaotic
b. Thinking and talking
about things that are negatively effecting the spiritual atmosphere of your
life is dumb and you need to stop
c. It’s all an attempt of
the enemy to get your life so loud and chaotic that you can’t hear from the
Holy Spirit
B. Yielding to carnality
will cause you to miss the leading of the Spirit
1.
If
you yield to carnality and get unthankful, frustrated, critical and feed on
darkness it’ll get darker and darker and you’ll become more and more dull to
the leading of the Lord
C. To fix your mind on the
word of God you’re going to have to fix your mouth on the Word of God because
you’re mind was created to stop and hear what you’re mouth has to say-2
Corinthians 10:4-5, Matthew 6:31
1.
You’re
just going to have to put the plow to the ground