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 It
is good to be with you. I already heard you had a great Thanksgiving. I did,
too, by the way. My name is Andy and I am still the student pastor here at Ginghamsburg.
We are going to focus on being will powered. God's will, that is. We have heard
already that it is not about us. As I was preparing and getting ready, showering
(aren't you glad I showered before I came), I was thinking, "Lord, I know it
is not about me, but I want to look decent and I tried to fix my hair just right."
You can never really fix the back of your hair. Is that a frustration for some
of you? You just can't see it in the mirror, no matter how quickly you turn
around. I had this idea that with our technology here at Ginghamsburg, that
I would finally be able to fix the back of my hair by looking at the monitor
as the camera zooms in. Are you ready? (Looking at back of head and balding
spot on back of head.) What in the world? Lord, I said I wanted to preach like
Mike, not look like Mike! Let me get to my message while I still have a job.
 We learn that life is not about us.
Eventually, somewhere along the road that shakes us. Before I get to that part
I would like to talk to you about the aspect of the Christian retirement package.
That is a good deal, huh? I mean heaven . . . perfect! Take your wildest retirement
deal with all your 401k plans, and compare it to heaven. Heaven blows it out
of the water. Heaven is perfect. Me, frankly, I am banking on that southern
island down in the Pacific with the point break, warm water, and white beaches.
But even in that little thought, God's retirement package for Andy is going
to blow that out of the water.
God has said that those who
get the inheritance are going to be those people whose lives please
God. In other words, if you live a life that is according to the plan
that he has scripted for the world, you are going to be rewarded for
it. That is not a salvation by works. Salvation is by grace through
faith. Jesus teaches us that we are going to be rewarded for the kind
of life that we lead as followers of God. God has scripted a plan for
history. Many times Christians become preoccupied in what that plan
specifically is for their individual life. A long time ago someone wrote
this little pamphlet that said, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan
for your life." If you could just figure out what that plan is, then
everything would be great. As I became a Christian, almost 29 years
ago, I wanted to be in God's will. I heard that God had a will for me.
I opened my Bible and read. I wanted to be in God's will for my life.
Just about the time I was feeling pretty secure that I was living God's
will for my life, someone came along and said,  "Andy,
are you living in the center of God's will for your life?" That threw
me for a loop because I was just getting comfortable with the idea of
being in God's will, let alone in the center of God's will. Not too
long after that I opened my Bible and fasted and prayed some more and
tried to really work to be in the center of God's will for my life.
Someone ruined that for me because not too long after that they wrote
this little book that said, "You may be in the center of God's will,
but are you in the center of God's perfect will for your life. I am
paranoid by now. I am waking up in the morning saying, "Okay, I have
a blue sweater and a red sweater. God, what is your perfect will for
my life?!
 Many
Christians are caught up in the trap of trying to understand the minutia of
God's will for their life, when that is really the wrong question to be asking
in the first place. Asking the question, "God, what is your will for my life?"
is the wrong question. Why is it the wrong question? It is not your life, remember?
You gave it to God a long time ago when you said, "God, I want to follow you.
Here is my life, take it." You gave up the control. It is not your life. Also,
most of us don't approach the table of God with a blank sheet of paper. We have
this plan figured out for our lives. We know how much money we want to make,
where we want to live, what our marriage should be like, where we want to retire,
how many kids, what kind of cars we want to drive, etc. We approach God with
this blueprint that we pretty much have, but there are some details and blanks
here and there that we need God to fill in. So, God, if you could just weave
your will through the plan that I already have laid out, that would be great.
When we approach God asking Him what is the will for my life, it reduces God
to a will-call handyman in our life. "God, I am sorry to bother you. I know
you are really busy running the universe and all, and I am doing pretty good
at running my own life, but there are these few areas that I really need some
help in. So, God, if you could help fix my marriage, or take care of that irritating
dog next door, that would be great." That makes God a sort of 'fix-it' person.
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