Discovering God’s Direction for Your Life- By Nolen Rollins

Discovering God’s Direction for Your Life

By Nolen Rollins, President

Board Member of TTI and Grace Global Network

Kingdom Mobilization

 

Can You Hear God?

 

Discovering and engaging in God’s purposes for your life is not a series of “trial and error” experiences. Seeking the best fit venue of ministry for your life by this method is costly and frustrating. After several years of coaching halftimers I have discovered that few followers of Christ really know how to hear God’s voice and discern His direction for life. One of the early steps on the halftime journey is to learn how to confidently hear from God.

What Is Your Personal Experience In Hearing God?

I want to encourage you to explore the following seven questions concerning your personal experience in hearing from God. The best way to process these questions is in an open, honest discussion with a small group of others who are also pursuing the success to significance journey.

1. Does God speak to people and give specific direction for life?  Defend your position.

 

2.   If you believe God speaks to you and gives you direction, how does God speak to you?

3.    If you do not believe God speaks to you and gives you direction, how do you make decisions in life?

4.    If God speaks to you, share some illustrations of God speaking to you.

5.    Have there been times you can remember that God spoke to you, gave your direction, and you did not obey or follow His direction?  If so, how did that turn out?

6.    Is there currently something He has told you to do and you have not done it?  If so, what is it you believe He told you to do?  What are you going to do about that now?

7.    Do you have difficulty hearing God’s voice?  Do you have difficulty getting clear direction from God?  If so, why do you think it is difficult?

 

How Can You Better Hear God?

 

The experiences of life are great teachers. Based on over fifty years of seeking to follow Christ and his will for my life, I have discovered the following fifteen principles for hearing God’s direction for my life. I have had the blessed privilege of having Dr. Henry Blackaby as a personal mentor for over fifteen years. I am indebted to Dr. Blackaby for most of what I have listed here.

1. Hearing God is based on an interactive relationship with Him.

 

2.    There is no step-by-step formula for discovering God’s will.

3.    Direction from God is initiated by God not by me.

4.    I must learn to watch for God’s initiation in my life.

5.    God’s direction never conflicts with His written Word.

6.    Finding God’s will requires having no will of my own.

7.    God’s direction for my life requires faith.

8.    God’s direction is often revealed progressively.

9.    Keeping a spiritual journal helps me understand God’s plan.

  10.  The on-going revelation of God’s will for my life depends on my

obedience.

  11.  Following God’s will brings a crisis of belief.

  12.  I must adjust my life to follow God’s will for my life.

  13.  Discovering God’s direction for my life takes time and diligent

         pursuit of His will.

  14.  God speaks specifically concerning His will.

  15.  Peace comes to me after the exercise of faith.

 

How Does God Speak To You?

I am sure that there are ways that God speaks to reveal His will and direction for our lives other than the twenty listed here. These twenty are shared from my own personal experiences. Some people believe that God speaks only through His Word, the Holy Scriptures. I believe God speaks to us in many ways but never in a way that contradicts His Word. I also never move forward with direction from God without having that direction confirmed by His Word.

1. Bible

 

2.    Prayer

3.    Holy Spirit

4.    Spiritual Teaching/Preaching

5.    Other Spiritual Resources

6.    Spiritual Counsel

7.    Other People

8.    Meditation

9.    Circumstances

  10.  Open and Closed Doors

  11.  Worship

  12.  Revelation of Needs

  13.  God-given Burdens/Passions

  14.  Silence

  15.  Signs and Wonders

  16.  Fleece Tests

  17.  Prophetic Word

  18.  Dreams

  19.  Visions

  20.  Angels

 

Why Do You Have Difficulty Hearing God?

God is not deliberately trying to make it difficult for you to hear His voice. He wants you to hear, understand, and follow His direction for your life. When God is silent he may be saying wait. At other times when God is silent, there may be issues that He wants you to address. The following list are reasons I have had difficulty in hearing God. If you are having difficulty in hearing God, take time to discover and deal with the reasons for the hindrance.

 

1.  Sin in my life

2.  Unbelief/Lack of faith

3.  Disobedience

4.  Failure to take enough time to hear God

5.  Lack of prayer

6.  Lack of Bible reading, study, and meditation

7.  Ignorance of how God’s speaks and His way

8.  Pride/following my own way

9.  Fear of God’s plan for my life

  10. Lack of interactive relationship with God

I trust these principles will assist you in discovering God’s will and direction for your life. Remember, God is for you!

TTI Testimony from Truman Herring- Senior Pastor of Boca Glades Baptist

TTI was an answer to prayer in our church’s search for more effective and fruitful involvement with direct international missions.  Our international mission ministry has been twofold: one we partner with our denomination and two we send teams from our church for short term direct mission projects.  We had been sending teams from our church to Brazil, India, and Columbia.  In India from a small partnership, God’s blessings were so great and the harvest so ripe that we were seeing thousands come to Christ.  Our ministry included a yearly pastor’s conference, crusade, and preaching in churches, and an ongoing evangelism ministry of the Jesus Video.  One three day crusade alone had around 55,000 in attendance and over 10,000 decisions for Christ.  We were able also to be partners with building church buildings for around $9,000 each, wells for $500 each, and support of an orphan for around $20 a month. 

I had personally never found a more effective way for our church to invest our direct international mission dollars.  But through God’s providence and answered prayer I was introduce to what I consider now a much more effective way to invest in direct international missions.    Dr. David Nelms shared with me the vision of TTI and we immediately changed our direct international mission approach.  Although all that we had done had been good the vision of TTI was better for us.    

It was better for us in that our ministry focus added church planting as our primary goal in direct international missions.  To invest in pastors and church planters and provide them with a basic bible diploma that gave them, not only a deep foundation in doctrine, but the biblical mandate to reproduce churches that reproduce churches seemed to us to be more effective than anything else we had done.

After our mission committee meet with Dr. Nelms and asked if TTI could help us establish church planting schools with our partner in India, everything was in place within a few months.  TTI sent their regional director to train the 10 pastors that we had selected to lead 10 schools of 25 pastors.  In about 5 months our 10 church planting schools were launched with 250 pastors who will become church planters and better equipped with a 10 course Bible diploma.  TTI network was broad enough in India that I did not have to make a special trip to India to help launch our schools.  We were able simply connect TTI with our partners in India and now we are expecting even greater fruit with our partners in India. 

I would encourage you if you have a burden for direct international missions and would like to add the vision of church planting through pastors and leaders in the countries that you are working in to contact TTI.  If you have not adopted a part of the international world as part of your church mission strategy, I would encourage you to contact TTI about adopting a region of the world where God is at work.

Truman Herring, Senior Pastor of Boca Glades Baptist Church, Boca Raton, Florida.

Church Planters, Check out these Great Sermons!

“Big Things Come in Small Packages- The Soveriegnty of God”

Speaker: Greg Kappas     Date: Sun, 04/11/2010

Series: BE RIGHT – A Devotional Study Of The Book Of Romans

Sermon: http://www.legacychurchonline.com/sermons/big-things-come-small-packages-sovereignty-god

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“Oh, Say Can You See?”

Speaker: Greg Kappas      Date: Sun, 09/27/2009

Series: BUILDING BLOCKS: Mission – Vision – Values – Strategy, The Philosophy and Culture of Legacy Church

Sermon: http://www.legacychurchonline.com/sermons/oh-say-can-you-see

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“Sharing in the Planting of New Churches”

Speaker: Greg Kappas    Date: Sun, 08/30/2009

Series: EVERY MAN WOMAN AND CHILD

Sermon: http://www.legacychurchonline.com/sermons/sharing-planting-new-churches

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“Moses: Deliverer of God’s People”

Speaker: Dr. Henry Oursler     Date: Sun, 07/26/2009

Series: FROM PARADISE TO PROMISE LAND Character Studies from Genesis through Joshua

Sermon: http://www.legacychurchonline.com/sermons/moses-deliverer-gods-people

What is a Healthy Church?

“What is a Healthy Church” is an article by Greg Kappas and Gary Rohrmayer. They give thriteen key marks of a healthy church through looking at the Ancient Church of Antioch in Syria as recorded in the book of Acts.

The Ancient Church of Antioch in Syria is an example of a Healthy Church because…

1.      They experienced God’s approval and His power was with them.   Acts 11:21

         “The Lord’s hand was with them…” vs. 21

2.      They experienced great conversion growth.  Acts 11:21

        “and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” vs. 21

3.      They embraced help from others.  Acts 11:22-24

         “News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”  vv. 22-24

4.      They were a place where leaders were developed.  Acts 11:25-26

            ^“Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.”  vv. 25-26

5.      They deeply and broadly penetrated their culture.  Acts 11:26

         “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” vs. 26

6.      They were people of great generosity.  Acts 11:27-30

         “During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.  One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.)  The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea.  This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.”  vv. 27-30

 7.      They were a church led by cross-cultural, multi-ethnic leaders.   Acts 13:1                

         “In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.  vs. 1

 8.      They were a church that had leaders who prioritized ministering to the Lord, fasting and prayer.  Acts 13:2

         “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting…” vs. 2

 9.      They were a church whose leaders listened to the Holy Spirit and obeyed His call.  Acts 13:2

        “…the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”  vs. 2

 10.    They were a church who willingly released their top leaders for God’s appointed ministry.  Acts 13:3

         “So after they had fasted and  prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” vs. 3

 11.    They were a home base for cross-cultural church planters.  Acts 14:26-28

         “From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.  On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.”  vv. 26-28

 12.    They were a place where theology was developed and corrected.  Acts 15:1-33

         “Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.”  vv. 1-2

 13.    They were key players in seeing a movement of churches started.  Acts 18:22-23  

         “When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.  After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.” vv. 22-23

 

Church Jobs of the Future- Will Mancini

The following is an excerpt from Will Mancini on “Church Jobs of the Future” posted on his website June 7, 2010. We encourage you to go to his site and read the full article. Click Here

“As I continue to visit with churches and watch the horizon, I believe that the trends above as well as others will keep fueling change. What will this look like ten years from now? Here are four new pastoral titles for the church of the future. I will provide some initial thoughts now and drill down with follow-up posts.”

1.The Neo-itinerant – The Neo-itinerant is a strategic outsider who doesn’t work for one church, but many. There are many, diverse forms of the neo-itinerant emerging and each type will likely bring its own title. (See my post on Trends in Church Consulting.) This is the way the Auxano ministry works. We consider ourselves “navigators” as we leverage learning and bring specialized help as strategic outsiders in the area of vision clarity.
2.The Truth Jockey (TJ) – As the teaching function separates more and more from the leadership function, expect the use of team teaching and multi-media formats to find their full expression in the Truth Jockey. Why can’t a leaders mix the best teaching and the best teachers for his congregation’s time, place and life-stage?
3.The Community Catalyst – How will the small group functions as we know them today evolve? To understand the role of a community catalyst, think of the fusion between a barista, a personal trainer and a chamber of commerce help desk.
4.The Pastor of Story – As the organized church gets larger and more complex, and the organic expressions of church become more linked, we will need better “meaning-makers” who connect everything to the larger story of God, in a both a personal and local way.

Welcome

Welcome to The Timothy Initiative (TTI). This blog is designed to be a resource center for church planters, pastors, and really anyone who is interested. Some posts will be from TTI leaders such as Greg Kappas, David Nelms, and others, while other entries may point to outside resources and articles. Overall, it is our goal to help in training and encouraging the body and to build a healthy and striving church as the bride of Christ. If you find the material on this site to be a blessing please leave comments and pass the word along to others who will benefit from what God is doing here.

If you want to know more about what TTI is doing, you can visit the website at http://www.ttionline.org or view recent photos and stories at thetimothyinitiative.wordpress.com