May God's Will Be Done - Making The Most Of Transition Series

“May God’s Will Be Done”

Making the Most of Transition

Matthew 6:5-13(quotes taken from The New King James translation unless noted)

Wakelee Church ~ May 29, 2005

Theme: Acceptance of transition comes when we allow God’s will to become our will in our lives.

Introduction – “Twelve Steps…”

This morning I need to tell you about a guy named Greg.

Greg pastored a country church for seven years, and as his tenure came to close, he wanted to give his congregation some way to deal with the inevitable transition that was about to occur.

Greg pulled out his Bible and looked for terms like change and transition, and stumbled across a passage in Proverbs that said it was the Lord who directed our paths, but that one passage didn’t answer all the transition questions.

So Greg read a bunch of books and read through some commentaries, but none of them seemed to fit the bill. Greg knew his congregation would need more.

So he went searching through his “sermons to be preached someday” files and stumbled across a sermon series he had always wanted to do, but never had done. For some reason, now felt like the right time.

The sermon series was based on the 12-step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and other recovery groups. But in it were solid Biblical truths that deal with God’s power, our free will, honesty, God’s mercy and grace, forgiveness, humility, setting priorities, and acceptance. Greg prayed. God said yes. And so we are here.

To some, we’ve probably talked about transition way too much over the last eight weeks. I have to

admit that it’s possibly the longest sermon series I’ve ever attempted.

To others, they might still want to hear more. If so, I invite you to Rosebush, where I’ll probably be

preaching some of these again.

And, unfortunately, there are others still, who instead of taking this opportunity to make the most of

the situation, are simply content to let this whole thing completely pass them on by.

Greg can’t help that. But what Greg can do, and what he is doing today, is to lead this congregation

into a point of acceptance.

Starting July 1, Pastor Greg and his ministry will be a part of Wakelee’s history.

Starting July 1, Pastor Nelson and his ministry will begin.

Today is the day, when we start putting the past behind us, and move on.

We’ve taken this journey for a purpose….to arrive here…to arrive at acceptance.

I – The Model Prayer – a prayer of acceptance

Acceptance is a part of our Christian life in many ways. In fact, each Sunday we pray the prayer that was read for us in our Scripture passage.

In this prayer, we celebrate the glory of God, we pray for God’s provision, and we look forward to God’s eventual reign among us…but there is one part of it that sticks out for me this morning, and that is verse 10…

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

And just in case God didn’t hear it the first time, we say it again as we close, “For yours in the kingdom and the power and the glory forever…” (Matthew 6:13)

This prayer is a prayer of acceptance. It is not our kingdom…it is not our will…it is not our power…it is not our glory…but God’s.

Did you hear and engage in the last two months worth of sermons? Everyone of our topics are covered in this astonishing prayer. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we do so recognizing…

 That God’s power is greater than ours.

 That we choose to follow him.

 That we need to be honest with our baggage.

 That we need God’s mercy and grace.

 That forgiveness is something to give and to receive.

 That when we stand in the Spirit, we don’t fall to pride.

 And, that it’s not about us, but all about God!!!

Once we accept these things, we recognize that God’s will is that we do all of these things.

There isn’t anyone out there who can pray each week “Your will be done” in a meaningful way and not see the results of it.

If we say, “give us our daily bread” meaningfully, then we accept God’s will to feed the hungry.

If we say, “forgive us as we forgive” meaningfully, then we extend God’s forgiveness into our

relationships.

If we say, “lead us not into temptation” meaningfully, then we don’t put ourselves into situations to

be lead from.

Is this making any sense out there????

If we’re looking for “God’s Will to be done on earth as it is in heaven” doesn’t that mean we have to

accept God’s will as our own? How else could anyone do it?