Focal Point

Mike Fabarez: The Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit is working with our spirit and confirming things. I recognize that our emotions and our feelings can be misleading, and sometimes they're unreliable. I get it. But if my mind is bathed in the precepts of the Bible, I'm going to have the confirmation that will give me rest in my spirit that this is the right decision.

Dave Drewitt: Welcome to Focal Point with author and pastor Mike Fabarez. I'm Dave Drewitt. Following Jesus is a great adventure, but it's not always easy. There are times when that road will be marked by painful circumstances or difficult obstacles. It's why we need people who can inspire us to keep going. In our current series, Ambitions Faith, we're studying the biblical list of heroes who serve as examples for living the Christian life. Today, Pastor Mike explains what Abraham can teach us about boldly following God's path for my life.

Mike Fabarez: When it comes down to the simplicity and the difficulty of the Christian life, no one, I think, illustrates that better than the next person on our list, which we find in verse number eight: the man Abraham of the Old Testament. He was called, it says, to go to a place that he would later receive as his inheritance, to go 900 miles over and across the desert to a place called Canaan.

That was the call of God on his life, which really is the Christian equivalent of Jesus putting his finger in the disciples' chest and simply saying, "Come and follow me." And it says in the next three words, "Abraham obeyed and went." He picked up stakes and he left, and he followed God. But it wasn't easy, and it took a lot of faith to say, "Okay, I'll follow you," especially when God didn't map it all out for him. Talk about a blank check. Here was a guy who says, "I'll follow you wherever you lead me."

So it is in the Christian life that Abraham is a great illustration of New Testament theology because that's exactly what it is for us. Now, a lot of you say, "Well, that's great, but Abraham had this audible voice, apparently, and the disciples had Jesus physically present saying, 'Hey, leave your nets and follow me.' I don't have the audible voice of God coming out of heaven telling me what to do, and I don't have Jesus here with his finger pointing at me and telling me what to leave or where to go or the timetable to do it on. So how can I even really respond to that question? How would I even know?"

It's a great question. I'm so glad you brought it up. Let's answer that. Four things. If we're going to respond to the call of God, we need to know what that call looks like and how that works. Psalm 119:104, you're probably familiar with verse 105, but look first at 104. "I gain understanding from your precepts." What are those? The written Word of God. For David, it was looking back on everything the prophets had written and all that Moses had recorded in the Pentateuch. He says, "Those are your precepts. Those are your rules. I gain understanding from those precepts. Therefore, I hate every wrong path."

I understand that's a negative, but let's start with that. You'll know the roads you're not supposed to go down, according to this verse, if you are familiar with God's precepts. If the Bible is a daily part of your life, you'll start to say, "That's the wrong path." You'll begin to see it. He will enlighten that for you. Not only will you see the wrong path and learn to despise the wrong path, look now at verse 105. The Bible will also become for you a light to know the right path. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and it's a light for my path."

He may not, like he didn't do this with Abraham either, give you the whole roadmap. He will certainly show you what the next step is. The light and illumination of understanding God's Word will make His path clear to you. But it begins with biblical directives. We've got to get the biblical directives as the posts, as the guide of my life. I've got to get in the Word. Don't think you're going to know God's will for your life if you're not willing to do it, no matter what it is, and if you're not in His Word understanding His biblical directives. It starts with that.

Turn with me to the New Testament, 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse number seven. Paul is talking to the Corinthian church. He says, "I don't want to see you now and only make a passing visit. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits." Now, that's an interesting phrase. Apparently, there's going to be a way for Paul to figure out whether or not this is God's will for his life, whether this is the right thing to do.

He says, "But I'll stay on in Ephesus," this city in Asia Minor, "until the Feast of Pentecost because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me." That's an interesting discussion. He says, "I'm going to do this if I'm permitted to do this. I'm going to stay here and do that because the door has opened up to me." This is what we call providential circumstances.

Here in Paul's mind are circumstances that would close the door and other circumstances that would open the door. Now, if you think the open door, by the way, is that you have absolute no opposition to the decision, then you don't understand. Look again at the last phrase. "And there are many in this open door that oppose me." To do the right thing, there's often people that oppose you. But you will see through providential circumstances doors that are opening and doors that are closing. Circumstances are made available to me and circumstances are shut to me.

Now, let's put the two in combination. If my mind is being bathed in the principles and precepts of God's Word, I start to see which open doors are right and I start to see which open doors are wrong. But I need the combination of the two. There's another element in this. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse number 12. There are four things. Here comes the third. If I'm going to know what it is to follow God, Abraham knew he was to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and go to the land of Canaan. He knew that before the written Word because God was speaking to him.

How does God speak to us? He speaks to us through the Word, biblical directives. He speaks to us through providential circumstances, open and closed doors. Thirdly, 2 Corinthians 2:12, he says, "Now, when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me." See, he's putting something in these circumstances here. God is working in circumstances. He said, "I still had no peace of mind because I didn't find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and I went on to Macedonia."

Do you see what we just read? Here is an open door, and he said, "Not having peace of mind about this, I'm not walking through it. Therefore, I'm going to leave and I'm going to go to Macedonia." Here's an interesting thing. The door is open. The circumstance seems inviting. It seems like this might be God's will. But because his mind is bathed in the scripture and the principles and precepts of the Bible, he has to look at circumstances and confirm those providential circumstances with something that's going on inside of his heart.

Literally, the phrase is "rest in my spirit." "I had no rest in my spirit." The Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit is working with our spirit and confirming things. I know this is a subjective element to this, and this is where a lot of people get off the track. I recognize that our emotions and our feelings can be misleading, and sometimes they're unreliable. I get it. But if my mind is bathed in the precepts of the Bible, I'm picking it up, I'm in it every day, I'm looking at doors opening and doors closing, I'm going to have the confirmation, according to passages like this, that will give me rest in my spirit that this is the right decision.

Even though there are people that may oppose the decision, the door is open, many oppose me. In this case, the door is open, I don't think I should go through it. I know there's an opportunity there, but I'm not going to do it because I don't find that rest in my spirit, which was based on some circumstances in his case—Titus wasn't there—so he was going to move on. Let's call it this: a spiritual resolve. Can you spiritually resolve to do it with a clear conscience? Is my mind, or as it's literally put here, is my spirit at rest about this?

Does it mean there's no opposition? No, there's going to be opposition to every decision you make. Any choice you make to follow God's will, you're going to have opposition. But are the biblical directives not only allowing it but giving me illumination about the path? Are the circumstances there open and available to me? And thirdly, do I have that spiritual resolve without inner conflict? Sometimes Paul knows it's the right thing and still feels some anxiety. He comes to Corinth and he preaches with trembling, but he's got in his heart of hearts the confidence and resolve that this is the right thing to do.

Biblical directives, providential circumstances, spiritual resolve. There's one more, and it's very important. Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 15, verse 21. If I'm saying to God, "I'll go anywhere, I'll do anything, and I'll go at any time. Whatever you want me to do, I'm your servant, I'm here to follow you," how do I know He's leading? Get your mind in the scriptures, look at situations with God's providence, you're going to see His hands and His fingerprints on your circumstances, and then look for that spiritual confirmation, that resolve in your heart.

But there's one more thing that helps make all of this a bit more objective. Proverbs 15:21, "Folly, foolish things, dumb things delight a man who lacks judgment. He goes down all kinds of crazy paths. But a man of understanding keeps a straight course. He stays on the right path." Ready? How does he do that? Verse 22, here's another key element. It's the fourth thing: wise counsel. There's got to be that confirmation that I've got godly people in my life that are saying this is the right thing. That helps the subjectivity of the third point.

The objective wise counsel of others helps confirm that the biblical directives and the providential circumstances are being read right, and my spirit gets even more confirmation and more rest when godly people in my life are saying, "Yes, here, this is right. This is the right thing." Will every counselor in your life agree? No, probably not. But you should be looking to godly people with integrity that walk with Christ who are able to say, "Let me look at your circumstances and yes, here's my godly counsel for you."

If you put those four together, you'll have such a strong, clear indication of God's call and leadership, you won't ever mistake it. It'll be as though God is saying to you, like Abraham sitting in that place in Ur of the Chaldeans, "Okay, get out. You're going to Canaan." It's crystal clear. Those of you that have walked with God and you've lived by these kinds of principles—biblical directives, providential circumstances, spiritual resolve, and wise counsel—you know that sometimes the call is undeniable, even when some people don't understand it.

It's happened to me in my life so many times, starting with my call to ministry. There was no hint in my background or life that I would be a preacher leading a church or being a pastor. That was God's prompting that came through these four elements, these four ingredients. Sometimes when God changes the path along the way, it becomes so crystal clear because these four things coalesce together to make the call of God so unmistakable that if I were to do anything else, I would be disobedient to the call of God. He makes His circumstances clear.

In one such very difficult adjustment in my life, I remember that old hymn written back in 1872, "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind." Verse number two, I love it because to me, there are times in my life where the biblical precepts, where the providential circumstances, the spiritual resolve, the peace in my heart, and godly counsel all coalesce to where if I don't see it, I'm blind. I've got to see it as though Jesus were standing by the Sea of Galilee saying, "Come with me."

Here's the second verse of that great old hymn. "In simple trust, like theirs who heard beside the Syrian sea, the Sea of Galilee, the gracious calling of our Lord, let us like them without a word—no complaining, no fighting it—rise up and follow thee. In simple trust, like theirs who heard beside the Syrian sea, the gracious calling of our Lord, let us like them without a word, rise up and follow thee." When you have those things come together in your life, and you start with a willingness to do His will, you will have the absolute confidence that you're walking right in the center of God's will. And that's where you want to be.

Will it be easy? Well, what happened to Abraham? Let's go find out. Back to Hebrews chapter 11. It didn't turn out so great for Abraham. The first few steps were kind of painful. Actually, if you look at the text in verse number eight, it started with uncertainty. He didn't even know where he was going. And when he got there, verse number nine, he didn't have a palace set up for him. He was like a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. It doesn't look good.

Look at verse 13. He had to live by faith. He didn't even receive the things that he thought he was going to get, the things that were promised about the promised land. He never fully realized it. He only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted—Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Isaac—that they were aliens and strangers on earth. That doesn't sound like a wonderful plan for your life. That doesn't sound like the path is primrose and perfect and broad and wide. It sounds like a narrow road.

As a matter of fact, if you know the story of Abraham, it'd be good to look at it. Turn with me back to Genesis chapter 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. These are chapters where if you look at them and just kind of skim through them, you go, "Wow, this is cause for questioning the direction of God." And yet Abraham was right in the center of God's will. Let's go to Genesis chapter 12. Just for review, here's the call in context. Verse one, "Yahweh said to Abram," that's before God changed his name, "leave your country, your people, your father's household and go to the land I will show you."

So Abram left, as the Lord had told him. That's it. "Follow me." He said, "Okay." That's it. That's the simplicity of the Christian life tied up in an Old Testament example. Now, how did it go for him? Well, drop down in the passage to verse number 10. He gets to the promised land and you have this word that starts with an F. What is that? Famine. That doesn't look good. That would make me wonder if I'm in the right place. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. I'm starting down the path. Boom. Famine.

All he did, verse number seven, he builds an altar. That's about all he's got time for. He goes to the hills of Bethel, then all of a sudden they run out of food. Now where does he have to go? Egypt. Drop your eyes down to verse number 14. Now you've got the Pharaoh's officials starting to hit on Abram's wife. Now this is bad. Not only did I go to the promised land where you told me, as soon as I got there we ran out of food, then I got shuffled down to Egypt and now I'm in trouble with Pharaoh's household and they're hitting on my wife. This is not looking good.

I bet at that point Abraham might have been thinking, "Wow, is this really God's path for me?" Do not be deceived. I understand it sells a lot of books in Christian bookstores, but do not be deceived about the path of God. He calls you on a path that he wants you to walk down, and it won't always be filled with wonderful feelings and a wonderful sense of affirmation. It will be filled oftentimes with bumps and bruises and pain. And the Bible says you just need to change your expectations about this because the goal is not here and now, it's then and there.

It's about then and there. And the Bible says when we walk down the path that God calls us for, it may be filled with some difficulty. As a matter of fact, look at the heading in chapter 13. What does your heading say? "Abraham and Lot Unified." Is that what it says? No, yeah, this is part of the problem. God calls Abraham into this place and all of a sudden now there's a rift. There's a split. And then Abram, of course, because he's the good guy following God's path, he gets the best of the land in chapter 13, right? Do you know the story? No, he doesn't.

Matter of fact, he gets the worst of the deal. And Lot gets to go out into the fertile valley of the Jordan, and all of a sudden now he's in the best spot. And Abraham now is able to just go on his merry way and God rebuilds him and he's all fine. Well, not really. Look at chapter 14. What does Abraham have to do now to his little sleazy nephew, Lot? Go rescue him. I mean, this wasn't just, "I'm going to go pick you up at the airport because you don't have a ride home." He had to put together an army and go out in the valley and fight these people. He's putting his life at risk now for the problems of other people.

Then chapter 15. What happens in chapter 15? God now makes a clear and convincing covenant to Abram and he says, "You're going to be the father of a great nation." So in chapter 16, you see Abraham's and Sarah's baby shower. Is that what you see there? No, you see two names that seem to be foreign to the whole context of God's plan. Hagar and Ishmael. What are you talking about? You Sunday school graduates know what this is all about. What's going on here? They can't now even have a child.

At this point, you're saying, "God, what are you doing?" And the Bible says that here in this text in Hebrews 11, that they had to look beyond the immediate. They had to look beyond the temporal. They had to look beyond the immediate path for their life to the ultimate fulfillment that wouldn't be found here and now. It had to be found there, down the road in the next life. As a matter of fact, it's so crystal clear in this text that he is a man who's walking right in the center of God's will but suffers some difficult consequences.

What he needs is the patience that is spelled out for us throughout the whole book of Hebrews, but specifically in chapter 11. The faith that's able to say, "I can wait on the fulfillment and gratification of God's promises." Number two on your outline, let's just jot it down that way. When it comes to the Christian life and God's call for you, you need to patiently bear the difficulties because the path He's called you to walk down will have them. There's no mistaking it, and you and I should not be surprised by them.

Abraham, I'm sure, had his hard days thinking, "Is this really the path for me?" You will have them too, but do not be surprised. The bumps mean you're on the right road. 1 Peter chapter four. Peter, like so many books of the New Testament, you've got a group of people he's trying to manage their expectations about the Christian life. Remember what's going on in Peter's day. Nero's in charge. The church is being persecuted. There's a lot of suffering. And these people are supposed to be the privileged children of God, and God is supposed to love them and have a great plan for their life.

What's going on? Verse number 12, 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12. "Dear friends, don't be surprised at the painful trial that you're suffering, as though some strange thing were happening to you." That's helpful right there. I just got to know when it's hard, it shouldn't be a surprise to me. If there's suffering or a painful trial, I shouldn't say, "Wow, what's going on, God? I'm on the wrong path." No, rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ. Because here's the problem: when Christ walked the right path for His life, what kind of reception did He get? A good one or a bad one? They crucified Him.

And then He turned to His disciples and He said this before He went to the cross. He said, "No servant is above his master. Remember this? If they hated me, they're going to hate you. If they didn't accept my word, do you think they're going to accept your word?" He said, "No, the world would love its own if you were still of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world. So you're going to have some trouble. And when you experience that trouble on the narrow path, just remember you're participating in the sufferings of Christ."

And if you recognize this is what Christ's life was filled with, you can be overjoyed when His glory is revealed because for Christ, it was the cross before the crown. And for us, it will be the same thing. And when I get there and finally get to see the fruition of our faith and the fulfillment of our desires spiritually, the Bible says much like Christ, we'll be able to throw our hats in the air and say, "This is what it was all about. The cross before the crown."

If you're insulted because of the name of Christ, verse 14, you're blessed. As a matter of fact, when you incur the trouble on the path God calls you to, you're not only blessed, but the spirit of glory and the spirit of God rests upon you. I'd much rather have that than a nice, easy life. I'd rather have the support and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of glory resting on my life, than to be able to say, "Yeah, you know, I kind of led my own life and my own path and kind made sure I avoided all the suffering and trials of the Christian life."

If you suffer, it shouldn't be because you're a bad person, verse 15, not because you're murdering people or stealing stuff. But, verse 16, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed but praise God that you bear that name. If it wasn't an easy path for Christ, it won't be an easy path for us. It wasn't an easy path for Abraham. It won't be an easy path for us. But my ultimate hope is the fact that I'm going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Dave Drewitt: You're listening to Mike Fabarez on Focal Point, in a message titled Boldly Following God's Path for My Life. You can revisit today's lesson at focalpointradio.org or grab the free Focal Point app and carry the full library with you everywhere you go. Today is actually the last day to request this month's featured resource, and it's one that connects directly with what you heard in today's message. The Journals of Jim Elliot takes you inside the day-to-day interior life of a man who never kept faith at arm's length.

Jim Elliot was killed by the very tribe he gave his life to reach with the gospel. And yet, reading what he wrote in the years before that day, you find no regret, no hesitation, just a man completely given over to God. Today is your last chance to make The Journals of Jim Elliot yours, so don't wait. Reach out with a financial gift to Focal Point before the day is done. Call and give over the phone by dialing 888-320-5885 or donate online at focalpointradio.org. Well, now here's Pastor Mike with a quick word.

Mike Fabarez: Thanks, Dave. I'd like to invite you to join me September 19th through the 26th, 2026, on a Christian cruise through New England and Canada. We'll sail Holland America's Zaandam, known for its elegance and exceptional hospitality, to historic cities like Boston, Halifax, and Quebec City. We'll gather for devotional times in God's Word, followed by thought-provoking Bible teaching throughout our journey.

Grammy-winning musicians Keith and Kristyn Getty will lead us in worship. You'll enjoy the stunning autumn landscapes as we explore charming coastal villages, all while building friendships with like-minded believers. It's a unique opportunity to deepen your faith and see some of the most beautiful scenery on the Eastern Seaboard. Space is limited, so don't wait to sign up. Secure your cabin today at focalpointradio.org.

Dave Drewitt: Again, that's focalpointradio.org. Well, I'm Dave Drewitt. Pastor Mike wraps up his message titled Boldly Following God's Path for My Life Wednesday on Focal Point.

Mike Fabarez: Hi, Pastor Mike here. God's Word promises it'll never return void. So I wonder, how is God's Word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line, let us know. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org and then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of scripture. We'll see you then.

Dave Drewitt: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.