in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths.
20 sermons cite this verse
… even want you to stop doing what you're doing. All I need you to do is, everybody say, acknowledge me. That's why the Bible tells us in Proverbs 3, 6, in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will be so good. He'll be your GPS. He said, and I will direct your path. And some of you have been on the wrong path because you stopped acknowledging the one who made the path. And I don't know who I'm talking to today, but that was the key you came for is that I am going to start acknowledging, But I'm here and I thank you that you allow me to be here. God, I acknowledge that you can make a good situation out of a bad one. God, I acknowledge that the only reason I have my right mind right now is to be able to bless people and help people. Father, I acknowledge I was about to cuss them out. But I acknowledge that you helped me. Keep my, like, we got to acknowledge God. …
of the verse that you brought up a few weeks ago, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all of your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. I just think of the fact that don't lean on your own understanding. Cause I think for the most part, we're not going to understand. We're not going to know what God is doing. We're not going to understand why is this person treating me this way? Why, why is, why am I coming up against this wall over and over and over again? And I think the key is that we're not leaning on what we can see or understand, but we're trusting God. And so I'm, first of all, so sorry that that's happened. I can't imagine that kind of grief and pain, but I also know that what God is building up in you to trust Him and to be desperate for Him and His plan for you. …
… This is where most of us make a mistake is somehow we think that we did this and we made this happen. But Bible tells us in Proverbs 3, 6, that in all of your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. Look at the contrast. One acknowledged God. The other one assumed of God. Let me show it to you. It says in verse 24, the servant who had one bag of silver came and said, Master, I knew you were. Hold on one person acknowledge you gave it all to me and the other one says I know who you are See when you assume you know how god wants to bless you When you assume that this is all god has for you You start walking in a level of pride where you discount god's grace and goodness in your life And this is what the one who was broke-minded did He dug a hole. He had the fear of failure and then he assumed that god was not who he was Can we make a very clear distinction? Who gave you the one talent that you had? …
… keep in God's word Proverbs 3.6 says this listen for God's voice in everything you do everywhere you go he's the one who will keep you on track. This is the most amazing statistic I've ever read. Marriage Magazine published a national study and discovered one out of three marriages ends in divorce. But when the couple is married in a church service that number drops to only one out of every 50 ending in divorce. and when couples are married in a Christian service, attend church regularly, and maintain some form of regular family worship during the week, that means you pray together or you read the Bible together, the divorce rate plummets to only one out of every 1,105 marriages. One out of three or one out of 1,105. Think about that. Thank you. That's the difference Jesus Christ makes in a marriage. When you're growing toward God, and your husband or your wife's growing toward God, he naturally brings you together. You know, I've got a redwood tree in my backyard. …
… This is where most of us make a mistake is somehow we think that we did this and we made this happen. But Bible tells us in Proverbs 3, 6 that in all of your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. Look at the contrast. One acknowledged God. The other one assumed of God. Let me show it to you. It says in verse 24, the servant who had one bag of silver came and said, Master, I knew you were. Hold on one person acknowledge you gave it all to me and the other one says I know who you are See when you assume you know how god wants to bless you When you assume that this is all god has for you You start walking in a level of pride where you discount god's grace and goodness in your life And this is what the one who was broke-minded did He dug a hole. He had the fear of failure and then he assumed that god was not who he was Can we make a very clear distinction? Who gave you the one talent that you had? …
… and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall correct your paths. Father, we pray today that you would be our strength both in giving the word of God out in this gathering and receiving it as students. We pray, Father, that we would leave this building today. When the actual church leaves this physical building today, we thank you that this building is not the church. We are the church. and when you turn us loose today may we be a people that go out and affect and influence the world for Christ in such a way Lord God that it is worthy of these last days worthy of your gospel worthy of your near return worthy Father in the sense also that we've got the greatest message that this nation could ever hear within our hearts and Lord may we no longer be shy about it. Father we pray that you'd make us influencers filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by the Holy Spirit and speaking by the Holy Spirit the word of God. …
… Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path. Heavenly Father, we make this our prayer this morning. Lord, in any area of our lives where this might be lacking, we pray that you would change that. We know that that's your will. We come this morning with eager hearts to worship you in the word. And so, Father, we anticipate your Holy Spirit to bring us in line to walk in your will. and if we do that we will not only be influencers to our wives our husbands our kids our neighbors but Lord we will be influencers for righteousness for all with whom we come in contact with so Lord we pray for your anointing we pray for your ability to make us good students and more than that after we've learned it that we would do it we pray now in Jesus name and all God's people said Amen. You may be seated, church. And as we get into this, by way of introduction, some recap, some intro into this section, there's an observation that I want to make, and that is that the Bible desires your life and my life to be a blessing. God wants your life and my life to be a blessing. When we talk about being an influencer, which is something that everybody talks about these days, biblically, to be an influencer, you and I are to represent the Lord …
… Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. He'll make your path straight. He'll make you successful in your journey. The word acknowledge there, in all your ways, acknowledge Him, it's the same word as in Genesis and Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bore a son. It's an experiential knowledge. In all your ways experientially come to know God in that way. So I have different ways in my life. I'm a dad. I'm a grandfather. I'm a pastor. I'm a writer. I'm a friend. I'm different things. I can come to know God as a pastor and not come to know Him as a father. So my fatherhood will be short-sighted because I don't intimately know Him as Father. Maybe a business person. He's the ultimate business person. Come to know Him in that part of his nature. And in that intimate connection with God in that part of your life, that's where he helps to enable and empower you, me, to be successful in what he's assigned us to do and to become. …
… And again, it's in your notes if you scan that QR code. Proverbs 3, verses 1 through 6. Note this, everybody. This is a style of teaching that is known as couplets or twins. You'll see it. It'll be obvious, and I put a little help in there. Verse 1 begins with the instruction. What is it? My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands. Look at verse 3, the instruction. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. Look at verse 5. Instruction again. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Look at verse 6. The instruction. In all your ways acknowledge him. Very powerful. Those are the instructions. Watch the couplet. Next slide. The blessing. So there's the instruction. and if you obey the instruction, then there's the blessing. Listen, everybody, as followers of Jesus, we want the blessing, but we're not too keen on following the instructions. You can't have one without the other. Impossible. It's not going to happen. You've often heard it said in this church, God blesses obedience. And obedience with God is not a heavy deal. It's not a burden. …
… And lean not on your own social media understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. Ecclesiastic 11 says, As you do not know what is the way of the Lord, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. You know, you can be a doctor, professor, you can be whatever. However, you will still not be able to understand the amazing work of God. You see, those who went to space and just came back. I think their faith is even stronger right now. After having seen all of this. And by the way, earth is round. Never mind. But all of that, they are with greater faith now. So has God rejected Israel? It makes me laugh. You know why? Because I'm standing here against all odds. Not only that it's against all odds when it comes to history. There's no way the Jews are still alive. …
… sight. Is there anybody at Zoe Church that's willing to trust in the Lord with all your heart? Lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your past. Somebody clap and give him praise if you believe he's worthy of your trust. So many of us walk by fear because it doesn't make sense. You don't serve the God of the natural. You serve the God of the supernatural. And if you never walk in faith and trust God at his word, you'll never see the blessing on the other side. And I just love Mary. Mary's like, this is crazy. I'm a teenager. okay I'll never forget when God spoke to Pastor Julie and I to move from Seattle to LA we had two kids Winston was not even one years old and the Lord told us I want you to move to LA to start a church there was no promise attached he did not say if you move to LA I will do X, Y or Z He just said, go. …
… is acknowledge him. in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight the word here this this word really i'll show you what it means in just a second but it's it's more clear acknowledge in all your ways so when the people come with the moldy bread and the sandals acknowledge him Thank you. when people have a ruse, acknowledge him in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight most of us probably memorize this text somewhere along the way right but this is it if you'd like to add a few to it I'll give you some really quickly psalm 32 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Isaiah 30, 21, whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. James 1, 5, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you. Psalm 25, 4, Show me your ways, Lord. …
But how are you going to do that without God? Bible says, Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. That's way better. That's way better. Number four, survey says, get smart. Some of us are old enough to remember get smart. Who was anything but smart. Bible says, Proverbs 4, verse 7, Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. And in all you're getting, get understanding. You can be, I don't, remember, we talked about this last week. I don't care how smart you are. That doesn't save my life. You being wise can save my life and your life and the whole group. There's a lot of smart people doing very bad things with their smarts. But if you're wise, you will not do bad things. survey says number five acknowledge your biases we all have them it's true that's why i can't trust myself i was talking to somebody recently i don't know i don't remember where but i i reminded them of something or i told them what i always have to remind myself i'm the worst part about me i am my greatest danger oh satan is going to satan satan sure but hey here's the deal I think Satan is saying let's just let Jack make his own decisions for a while this would be great for us if I'm thinking on my own …
… do not rely on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight to insight trust him when you set yourself to prepare a sermon and God says I will help you I'll strengthen you. I'll guide you with my eye upon you. You believe that? You believe him? Or you say, no, that's not going to happen. He doesn't like that. Distrust dishonors Jesus. his eyes run to and fro to look for pastors who trust him and third prayer if you call out for insight insight and raise your voice for understanding if you seek it like silver search for it as for hidden treasures then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God Thank you. James 1 if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask God and he gives generously to all who without reproach and it will be given to him so start your study with prayer you sit down at your desk to work on the sermon you start with prayer oh God please help me is what I did on Friday to write this. …
… Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. In all your ways, acknowledge Him. He'll make your path straight. He'll make you successful in your journey. The word acknowledge there, in all your ways, acknowledge Him, it's the same word as in Genesis and Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bore a son. It's an experiential knowledge. In all your ways experientially come to know God in that way. So I have different ways in my life. I'm a dad, I'm a grandfather, I'm a pastor, I'm a writer, I'm a friend, I'm different things. I can come to know God as a pastor and not come to know him as a father. So my fatherhood will be short-sighted because I don't intimately know him as father. Maybe a business person. He's the ultimate business person. Come to know him in that part of his nature and in that intimate connection with God in that part of your life, that's where he helps to enable and empower you, me, to be successful in what he's assigned us to do and to become. …
… faithful. Number three, renew your trust in him daily. trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path. When we give our lives to Christ, it's not just one and done. It's one and daily. It's walking with Jesus. It's talking with Jesus. It's showing up at church. It's showing up in your small group. It's giving. It's serving. It's loving. It's daily. It's a daily desperation. Renew your trust in him daily. Thank you. number four restore let him restore you let him restore to you the joy of your salvation when did you give your heart to jesus and if you haven't yet, I'm going to give you an opportunity to in just a moment, but we need to remember that our salvation isn't based on us. It's placed on us, and also there's a joy to it, and sometimes we can let it fade. Sometimes we can let it just kind of be like, oh yeah, I love God. …
… Lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him. What will he do? Direct your path, establish your thoughts. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him. He will direct your path. He will establish your thoughts. I'm trusting God. I'm not trusting my own wisdom. I'm not trusting my own ability. I'm not trusting in my own plan I'm not trusting in my name I'm trusting in the Lord this is my trust fund I'm I am giving my money to God to let God know you didn't just win my heart you won my life amen to that that's our prayer that's our desire that we'd follow God with everything we got amen
… With all your heart and all your ways, know him and he will make your paths straight. Here's the bottom line. you cannot analyze your way into peace. You trust your way into peace. And that will always take faith. will you occasionally or even often be unsure? Yes. Will you know all the details ahead of time? Never. Will you have the perfect map for the next five years of your life mapped out by the Holy Spirit? No. Will you be nervous at times? Yes. Will you be uncomfortable when you take a step of faith? Yes, obey God anyway. Obey God anyway. When he says it in his word, you live it in your life. Doesn't matter what your flesh says, doesn't matter what your desire says, doesn't matter what your emotions say in the moment, you do his will written in his word, even if you're afraid, even if you're hesitant, because you will never fulfill your calling if fear gets the final vote. It takes faith. …
The Lord was with him. In Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6, this is a text that is our life verse. and I know it's many people's verse that you hold on to. When you're in a pit, when you're going through layer after layer of lasagna and you bite down on the glass of betrayal, trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. in all your ways, even in the pit, acknowledge and submit to him and he will keep your paths straight. Now that's easier said than done, isn't it? That's what Joseph did. I've only experienced quicksand one time in my life. years ago several of us from the church went to one of the most remote spots in the Yucatan Peninsula it was in the literal jungle I'm talking about I'm talking about super poisonous snakes salt water crocodiles army ants quicksand it was a pretty wild situation a couple of Mayans they were little guys were our guides, and they spoke broken English. …
… And he says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. He says, don't lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. Acknowledging what about him? Acknowledging his will for our life, acknowledging his trustworthiness, that he is a faithful God who is going to keep His promise to us, and He is going to do exactly what He promised to do. So when you think about the fact that all of us are going through changing seasons of life, and we need some anchor, something to encourage us when those seasons of life become very negative, very, very hurtful, very painful, very disillusioning, very discouraging, and oftentimes very hopeless, and at times we feel very helpless. Is there some principle? Yes, there is. It is the faithfulness of God. And not only has He promised it to His people in the Old Testament and the New Testament, He's promised to be faithful to every single one of us because He is, by nature, a faithful God. …