"Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD." - Psalms 27:14 There are times in our life when God doesn't answer our prayers. What should be our response when we are waiting for God? Rev. Dr. Ken Fong Presented at West Coast Chinese Christian Conference, December 2018.

1. discerning God’s will
W H E N G O D S E E M S S I L E N T
Affiliate Associate Professor
Asian American Church Studies
Fuller Theological Seminary
Rev. Dr. Ken Fong
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Why is it so important for
Christians to understand
what God’s will is?
EPH 5 15 Be very careful, then,
how you live—not as unwise but as
wise,16 making the most of every
opportunity, because the days are
evil.17 Therefore do not be foolish,
but understand what the Lord’s will
is.
Too easy to waste time
or miss opportunities to
serve God’s purposes.
We don’t want to fail as Christ’s
ambassadors and servants.
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To avoid God’s penalties
for disobeying God’s will.
1 THESS 4 3 It is God’s will that you
should be sanctified: that you should
avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each
of you should learn to control your
own body in a way that is holy and
honorable, 5 not in passionate lust
like the pagans, who do not know
God; 6 and that in this matter no one
should wrong or take advantage of a
brother or sister. The Lord will punish
all those who commit such sins, as
we told you and warned you before.
Always tempting to
make regrettable
choices with our bodies,
and in many other areas
of our lives.
We don’t want to suffer lasting
consequences of our sins.
3
God Has Already Spoken:
We must learn to control our
bodies in holy and honorable
ways
We are never to tire of loving
fellow Christians in better and
better ways
We are to promote justice, love
mercy, and refrain from thinking
we know better than God.
Young lovers?
Self-petting?
Intimacy
when
engaged?
Adults on
dates?
Non-binary?
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When God Is Silent_God's Will_WCCCC - December 24, 2018

2. To be reminded of our
unending debt to love
one another.
1 THESS 4 9 Now about your love
for one another we do not need to
write to you, for you yourselves
have been taught by God to love
each other. 10 And in fact, you do
love all of God’s family throughout
Macedonia. Yet we urge you,
brothers and sisters, to do so more
and more…
So easy to stop loving
others, even fellow
Christians.
We don’t want to end up being
unforgiving, ungrateful people.
5
God Has Already Spoken:
We must learn to control our
bodies in holy and honorable
ways
We are never to tire of loving
fellow Christians in better and
better ways
We are to promote justice, love
mercy, and refrain from thinking
we know better than God.
Abusive?
Church splits?Creepy?
Scandal?
Controlling?
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God clearly wants us to
promote justice, to love
mercy and not to be proud.
MICAH 6 8 He has shown you, O
mortal, what is good. And what
does the LORD require of you? To
act justly and to love mercy and to
walk humbly with your God.
If we live like this, we
will be living out God’s
will in the world.
But too often we ignore
these stipulations.
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God Has Already Spoken:
We must learn to control our
bodies in holy and honorable
ways
We are never to tire of loving
fellow Christians in better and
better ways
We are to promote justice, love
mercy, and refrain from thinking
we know better than God.
What is just?
Unprideful
learning?
Limits to
caring?
Too merciful?
Apathy?
Fatigue?
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When God Is Silent_God's Will_WCCCC - December 24, 2018

3. What is just?
Unprideful
learning?
Limits to
caring?
Too merciful?
Apathy?
Fatigue?
Abusive?
Church splits?
Creepy?
Scandal?
Controlling?
Young lovers?
Self-petting?
Intimacy
when
engaged?
Adults on
dates?
Non-binary?
?
??
?
?
??
?
? ?
? ?
? ?? ?
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We are often still
confused &
perplexed
after reading what God
requires of us.
Has God given us a
central guideline?
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When in doubt, do the loving thing!
JOHN 13:34 “A
new command I
give you: Love one
another. As I have
loved you, so you
must love one
another. 35 By this
everyone will know
that you are my
disciples, if you
love one another.”
1JOHN 4:16 God is love. Whoever
lives in love lives in God, and God
in them. 17 This is how love is made
complete among us so that we will
have confidence on the day of
judgment: In this world we are like
Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love.
But perfect love drives out
fear, because fear has to do with
punishment. The one who fears is
not made perfect in love.
MATTHEW 22:37 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the
second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets
hang on these two commandments.”
God’s
Will
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And God’s Will Is That We Have
F R E E W I L L
GEN 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the
man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the
garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it
you will certainly die.”
JOSH 24:15 But if serving the LORD seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves
this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your
ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the
gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the
LORD.”
GAL 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called
to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge
the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
There is often more than
one good choice to
make.
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When God Is Silent_God's Will_WCCCC - December 24, 2018

4. How do we discern God’s will
W H E N G O D S E E M S S I L E N T ?
Pray with these revealed truths in mind…
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God wants me to use
my free will to serve others
humbly in love.
God’s foremost will is for me to love
God unreservedly and one practical way is
to love every neighbor the same way I love
myself. This includes my enemies, and even
those I am uncomfortable loving.
God’s love for me, every
person, and all creation is perfect and
without exceptions. So I can make
choices without fear of being punished
for making imperfect choices.
When in doubt, I
can choose to do the
loving thing, not the
judgmental thing.
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“Now what am I supposed to do?”
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“How am I supposed to respond?”
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When God Is Silent_God's Will_WCCCC - December 24, 2018

5. “Where should I go next?”
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“How long am I supposed to wait?”
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“What do you want me to change?”
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Where are you seeking
to know God’s will in
some specific way
today and why?
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When God Is Silent_God's Will_WCCCC - December 24, 2018