Do you look to God for guidance? Do you give much thought to His will for your life?

If we don't seek God's will and guidance, why not?

God invites us to ask for His guidance. However, to really grasp this, I must first ask this question - how does God really regard my life? What role does He desire to play in my life?

Acts 17:24-26 tells us, "The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 

and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation." >>>Watch on YouTube

How is the will of God working in our lives, even in the midst of deep suffering and pain?

In our last episode we talked about living in God's moral will, which has to do with His design for our lives. Today we are discussing God's sovereign will.

But if God is in control of everything, do humans really have free will? It's a good question. We're going to cover that in this episode.

Romans 8:28 tells us, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." >>Watch on YouTube

What is the will of God for our lives and how do we find it?

As you think back over your life, how many times do you remember saying the Lord's Prayer? Remember this part - "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done..."

I often wonder, even in my own personal life, when we say The Lord's Prayer, are we just repeating it, or do we really mean it?

Isaiah 30:18 tells us, "Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!" >>Watch on YouTube

How do we understand Jesus Christ in relationship to the Old Testament?

Two points to remember about Jesus:

• We properly understand Jesus of Nazareth as the author of the Old Testament. He is the primary agent of writing and giving the scriptures of Israel. John 1:1 tells us, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus is the author.

• Not only is Christ revealed in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ is the revealer of the Old Testament. Luke 24:27 tells us, "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He (Jesus) explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself."

Jesus is describing Himself in the law, the prophets and the writings of the Old Testament, and He's inviting you into that act of discovery yourself.

Jesus doesn't tell us exactly where to go—He simply lets us know that He is everywhere. He is the reason for life. He is tell us, "Pursue me and follow me there." >>Watch on YouTube

Dr. Mark Gignilliat is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, where he teaches courses in Old Testament and Hebrew. Mark also serves as theologian in residence at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Birmingham. Dr. Gignilliat is married to Naomi, and they have four children.

How important is truth in our society today?

I've been reading Truth Triumphs by Bible teacher John McArthur, and have really gained some new insights into this, which kind of helped open the door to this study.

MacArthur believes that all of life is about the truth. In fact, he believes it's the most important reality in the universe. Think about how the issue of truth is so important in all of life. Not only do we have moral, spiritual and theological truth, we also have fixed truth in the physical world that we live in.

Most rational people care about the laws of nature and science, and they realize the harm that violating those laws bring into their lives. But some of these same people are willing to split the reality of physical laws with the spiritual moral laws. 

So we have to ask, how do reasonable people do this?

The Lord gave this reply to the Israelites through the prophet Isaiah, "Because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, for we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.'" - Isaiah 28:15

And in John 8:31-32, "To the Jews who had believed Jesus, He said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'” >>Watch On YouTube

Can we really love God if we don't know him?

We have to set aside time in order to get to know Him, and also to love Him. And at the heart of our faith is learning how to trust God with our hearts and with our lives.

If you want to be a healthy, vibrant, dynamic Christian whose life makes a difference, three things have to be taking place in your life:

• The inner life of devotion. deepening your relationship with God.
• The intellectual life of rationality—developing your mind and the ability to reason and think.
• The outer life of service to others.

Life moves fast. Bodies age. But your soul can still grow strong, resulting in a vibrant inward life. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:16: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

You were made to know God, flourish spiritually, live with purpose, and pass your faith on to others. 

​​As this new year unfolds, how will you seek Him daily and let Him renew you from the inside out? >>Watch on YouTube

What final words would you leave to shape the faith and direction of your children for a lifetime?

Drawing from David’s last instruction to Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28:9, this message emphasizes four enduring priorities to pass on to the next generation:

• deeply knowing God (not merely acknowledging Him),
• wholeheartedly serving Him,
• living with right motives that please God rather than self or others, and
• actively seeking Him with the promise that He will be found.

Through Scripture, illustration, and personal reflection, this study challenges believers to examine their relationship with God, reminding us that spiritual growth and blessing flow from intentional pursuit and obedience—and that we are always only as close to God as we choose to be.

So if your life and legacy were distilled into a single message, would it point others toward truly knowing, serving, and seeking God?

I Chronicles 28 9: "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, he will let you find Him. But if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever."

There is a thirst in the soul of every human being that seeks to be satisfied. King David writes in Psalm 42:1-2:

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"

Many people are not looking to God to satisfy their souls. Instead, they are driven and ruled by unsatisfied desires, desperately looking everywhere they can in hopes of finding satisfaction, turning away from the fountain of living water, the only water that can satisfy the thirst of their souls.

We then come up with our own strategy for life. So we come up with ways to make our own cisterns, thinking we can fill those cisterns and we'll find satisfaction and a quenching of the thirst of the soul.

But what does God tell us? He says that the problem with human cisterns is that they're all broken. They leak. They can't truly quench the thirst of the soul.

Today we will discuss three tendencies that seem to creep into a man's life when this happens. As you listen today, think about your own life and how this applies to you.

What truly satisfies us? 

Today we are looking into the book of Psalms. We can find in the Psalms the reality of our human fallenness, our human fickleness, our sinfulness, our need for redemption, and God's offer of love and forgiveness.

The Psalms are like a mountain range–they are the heights. The Psalms are also a valley–they are the depths. In the Psalms you can be met in both places. The book of Psalms is waiting to meet you in the instability and the unfixed character of your own life.

Of all the major themes of the Bible, here in the Psalms you can find the revelation of God and His goodness.

John Donne, the great 17th century English preacher, poet and Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, famously said that the Psalms are manna for the soul.

For us to understand who we really are requires a knowledge of God and knowing who God is. This in turn sheds a spotlight on who we really are. Studying the Psalms gives this to us.

Dr. Mark Gignilliat is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, where he teaches courses in Old Testament and Hebrew. Mark also serves as theologian in residence at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Birmingham. Dr. Gignilliat is married to Naomi, and they have four children.

How can we know God? Is He knowable?

Yes He is!

Today we're studying Jeremiah --- Many Bible scholars, including Tim Keller, view this as the most famous prophecy of the Bible. Though it was written almost 800 years before Christ was born, the New Testament writer Peter felt this passage was important enough that he wrote it in its entirety in Hebrews.

God is knowable—He is not a god who is hidden. He reveals Himself so that He can be known.