Skip to content 11.25.2025 - 02 - In All Your Ways Acknowledge Him Part 2 By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Nov 25 · 26 min ...more
11.25.2025 - 02 - In All Your Ways Acknowledge Him Part 2 By Pastor Jeff Wickwire
November 25, 2025 · 26 min
Listen, dating is a complicated process! It can take years for you to find someone that you feel comfortable dating, and by the time you get to that point, it can become difficult to let that relationship go. But in today’s message, Pastor Jeff reminds you that even your romantic relationships should build you up in your faith, not tear you down or distract you from following God. So if your potential partner isn’t going after God in their own life, that relationship has the potential to be destructive for both of you.
Series Hardwired Podcast Hardwired Podcast
Listen, dating is a complicated process! It can take years for you to find someone that you feel comfortable dating, and by the time you get to that point, it can become difficult to let that relationship go. But in today’s message, Pastor Jeff reminds you that even your romantic relationships should build you up in your faith, not tear you down or distract you from following God. So if your potential partner isn’t going after God in their own life, that relationship has the potential to be destructive for both of you. ...more Show the full description Show less Listen, dating is a complicated process! It can take years for you to find someone that you feel comfortable dating, and by the time you get to that point, it can become difficult to let that relationship go. But in today’s message, Pastor Jeff reminds you that even your romantic relationships should build you up in your faith, not tear you down or distract you from following God. So if your potential partner isn’t going after God in their own life, that relationship has the potential to be destructive for both of you.
Series Hardwired Podcast
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0:00 You're listening to Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire. Here's what's coming up in today's edition.0:07 So what does God think about this person I'm about to date if you're single? Do you dare to ask God? You better ask him before you're in love. Because once you're in love, you're0:19 deaf, dumb, and stupid. You'll never hear God. Oh, I've talked to people in love and I knew it's too late. I can't tell them. Whatever I know about this person they've hooked up with, they're not gonna hear a word0:31 I say because they're in love. So I'm telling you straight up front, pray about the guidance of God before you date them.0:40 Listen, dating is a complicated process. It can take years for you to find someone that you feel comfortable dating. And by the time you get to that point, it can become difficult to let that relationship go. But0:52 in today's message, Pastor Jeff reminds you that even your romantic relationships should build you up in your faith, not tear you down or distract you from following God. So if your potential partner isn't going after1:04 God in their own life, that relationship has the potential to be destructive for both of you. Well, let's join pastor Jeff in the book of Proverbs chapter 3 as he continues his message, in1:16 all your ways acknowledge him.1:19 Without God's guidance, smart people, brilliant people, high IQ people make dumb decisions all the time. And you look at them and you go, how in the world you being so smart did you make that decision?1:31 Because our thinking is skewed by sin. That's just the fact. That's why we need God's word. Because every day, how many of you
1:42 are like me? I open up the Bible in the morning and I begin to read that word and things that I thought, the word goes the other way and tells me something different. And I realized
1:54 that's why I need my mind renewed. Paul said, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. He said, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
2:06 your thought life. We need our thoughts renewed. Our inner man is born again. It's good. It's going to heaven. Our inner man is saved. 100 percent. But our mind, we came out
2:18 of the world with stinking thinking. And we need our mind renewed, our thoughts renewed. We need to think right. And the Bible is a book of God's thoughts.
2:30 It is God thoughts. That Bible is 66 books of God's thinking, God's thoughts. And when I read it, it sharpens my mind. It
2:42 sharpens my thinking. It erases and replaces erases wrong ways of thinking with replacing it with right ways of thinking. I need that bible every day.
2:53 This is why David prayed, and David was a very, very bright man. But David prayed, show me your ways. Lord, teach me your paths.
3:05 Lord, guide me in your truth and teach me. Why would he pray that way? Because he realized without God showing me and teaching me and guiding me, I'm gonna go the wrong way.
3:18 So I need God. Show me Lord. Listen to the dependence that he's got on God here. Show me, Lord. Show me your ways. Let me come to know you better every day, your ways.
3:30 But don't stop there, Teach me your path. I wanna walk the right path. I don't wanna walk down a wrong road. I don't wanna waste time on a wrong highway.
3:42 I want the right path. And he says, Lord, please guide me. Teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me. Listen to this. Show me. Teach me,
3:55 guide me. Show me, teach me, guide me. Dependence on God. Amen? And he said, and my hope is in you
4:07 all day long. And then God spoke to David and said, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my loving eye on you. So it's almost like God heard that prayer,
4:19 show me, teach me, guide me. And God said, okay, I will instruct you. I will teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my loving eye on you. So I want us to begin today to think, how
4:31 often do I ask God to guide me? Do I see him as the guide of my life, the shepherd of my life, the captain of my ship?
4:43 Is he guiding me? Am I seeking him for it? David was. Paul was. Peter was. All the bible luminaries were. They all sought the guidance of
4:55 God. And we're his children. So we got just not just a savior, we got a guide. We got a shepherd who wants to the Lord is my shepherd. I
5:06 shall not want. Oh, love it. And look, even in the 20 third psalm, he says, he leads me beside the still waters of quietness. He leads me in the paths of righteousness
5:18 for his name's sake. I will instruct you. I will teach you. Psalms 37 23, the steps of good men are directed by the Lord. He delights in every step
5:30 he takes. Amen. God is our guide. Can can I tell you, you individually, I'm talking right to everybody here individually, did you know that God wants to guide
5:42 your steps every day? He wants to be involved in your decision making. He he wants to go ahead of you, prepare the way, and lead you to the best place you could possibly be. He he
5:54 cares about the small stuff. He cares about the big stuff. He cares about the in between. He cares if you lose your car keys. I know because I've lost them, and I had to
6:06 say, God, please show me where they are. And he brought to me where they were. He cared about even the little things. He guided me. He guided me. Listen
6:18 to David bragging on the guidance of God. For this great God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide until we die. Now notice how he's pictured as a guide, as a shepherd,
6:30 1 who is who is leading and directing his people. Cloud by day, fire by night, he led them through the wilderness. When the clouds stopped, they stopped. When the cloud moved on,
6:42 they moved on. He taught them to follow the guidance of God. That was 1 of the messages of the wilderness. You wait for me. You don't go till I go. If I stop, you
6:53 stop. I want you to learn to trust me to guide you. Psalm 73 24, you will keep on guiding me all my life with your wisdom and
7:05 counsel, and afterwards you will receive me into the glories of heaven. Amen? Do you hear that? He's gonna guide me all my life. I don't know if you've been in Christ
7:17 maybe a year, 10 years, 20 years, but if you've been in Christ very long, you can look back and see he has guided you, He has directed you. He has counseled you. He has strengthened you. He
7:29 has protected you. He has made sure that you've gotten where he wants you to be. He's forgiven you. He has stood you back on your feet when you fell. He has dusted you off and breathed fresh life into
7:40 you. He is your guide all the way to heaven. He's your shepherd. In the book of James, James, God is talking right through through
7:52 James and says, if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. Why? Because so often we need his wisdom. And what will he do? He gives his wisdom. And he
8:04 doesn't upbraid us for asking for wisdom. So we need his guidance because our minds don't think as clearly as they should because of sin.
8:16 Now, it's also true because we don't see what God sees. We don't know what God knows. God sees things and no thing knows things
8:28 we don't see and we don't know. We're very limited in what we can see. We can see right in front of us, but not much beyond that. God knows it all. My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the
8:40 Lord. My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my
8:52 thoughts are higher than your thoughts. God thinks higher. He is higher. He sees it all. From 30000 feet up, he's looking down at the whole picture. We only
9:04 see a little part. And so we need his guidance because he knows what we don't know, and he sees what we don't see. Do you believe that? Oh, yeah. He does. Say, well Jeff, I
9:16 just learned to follow my heart. My heart has always led me right. No, it hasn't. Your heart hadn't led you right at all a whole lot of times. Some of the worst trouble you ever got in is because you followed your heart.
9:27 Listen to the Bible. It says, he who trusts in his own heart is a fool. Did it say that? Does it say that? I want everybody to read that with me. He who trusts in his own heart
9:40 is a fool. But he who walks in wisdom will be saved. He who listens to God's counsel, God's wisdom, the teaching of his word, the guidance of his
9:51 spirit. If you lean on the wisdom and the knowledge of God, you're a wise person. But if you follow your heart, it's gonna carry you into trouble. Emotions will get you in trouble. Your emotions and my
10:03 emotions will lie to us and tell us something is right when it's wrong, good when it's bad, from God when it's not. No. We need the sifter of the word
10:15 of God. We need the cutting edge of the word of God. We need God's word to guide us. Amen? He who trusts in his own heart is a
10:27 fool. The great apostle Paul, with all of his brilliant insights, his dazzling intellect, the guy was a genius, and all of his spiritual understanding, yet he admitted, now
10:39 we see things imperfectly. I see things imperfectly, so do you. When I think something is, sometimes it's not. We see things imperfectly like puzzling reflections
10:51 in a mirror. But then in heaven, we're gonna see everything with perfect clarity. Until we go to heaven, we don't. We see things imperfectly. And if Paul said that, where where does that leave us?
11:03 We see things imperfectly. So we need his word to clarify, crystallize what is true, what it's not, what is wise, what is foolish, where we should go, where we
11:15 shouldn't. We need his word. So we instead of leaning on our own minds to figure everything out, we need to admit my mind is
11:26 limited. I need God's wisdom. And I need to pray with David. Show me, teach me, guide me. Amen? So I lean
11:38 on. I trust in God's wisdom and counsel, not my own mind.
11:43 Do you find yourself being thankful and grateful for what God has done in your life? Or do you tend to focus on the things that are going wrong? If you look around, you realize that everyone has challenges and struggles,
11:54 but there are opportunities to see the silver lining in the clouds. What are you grateful for today? We'd like you to text grateful to 8 1 7 4 8 4 4 7 6 7 to
12:06 receive a resource that helps you focus on what matters and be truly in a state of thanksgiving to God.
12:13 And then he says, if you wanna position yourself for guidance, trust him. Don't lean on your own wisdom. And then he says, acknowledge him in all your ways.
12:25 Acknowledge. Acknowledge is an interesting word. It comes from a Hebrew word that just means to know. So when I say, when it says let me just quote it this way. In all your ways,
12:36 acknowledge, know, and recognize him. If you know him, it's talking about somebody that knows him. In all of your ways, know and
12:47 acknowledge and recognize him. He's there. Now let me tell you how that breaks down. It means first we acknowledge that he is. When I'm making
12:59 a decision, when I've got a fork in the road and I don't know which way to go, when there is a door looking at me and I'm being invited to walk through it, when I've got decisions to make that are
13:11 big, life changing, life altering. Okay? He says, acknowledge God then and there. So what do I do first? I acknowledge that he's there. Did you know there's a name for
13:23 God? Jehovah Shammah, and it means literally he is there. The Lord is there. You say where? There. Well, where is there? Here. He's with you. He's there.
13:35 He's not off doing something else. If you are his child, he's there. When you need to make a decision, he's there. When you're in trouble, he's there. When you're down and out, he's
13:47 there. When you need forgiveness, he's there. When you need deliverance, he's there. When you need healing, he's there. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there.
13:59 So first thing I say is when I've got a decision to make is, alright, he's there. Meaning he's here. Meaning he's right here with me. Alright? Then
14:11 I got to acknowledge who he is. Not just that he is, but who he is. Who is he? He's the creator of God. He's the mighty creator of the universe. There is nothing
14:23 hidden from his eye. He's the 1 who fashioned and made everything we see and hear and taste and touch and smell. We we serve the mighty creator, Elohim,
14:35 God. Amen. So I acknowledge him. I acknowledge him. Well, he's here, but he's also the mighty creator. I cannot avoid him. I can't act
14:47 like he's not there because he's there. And then you gotta acknowledge who he is to you. Who is he to you? Who is he to me? He's my redeemer.
14:59 He's my healer. He's my savior. He's my provider. He's my shepherd. He's my banner. He's my guide. He's my
15:11 lord of lords and king of kings. He's the soon coming king. He is everything to me. So I acknowledge him. I acknowledge him at
15:23 the point of decisions. See, a lot of people don't even stop and think, does God care about this decision I'm about to make? Does does he wanna be involved? Is he out flinging other stars into space? Or is he really here
15:34 for me when I've gotta make this decision? No. He's really right there, and he wants to guide us. He wants to say, this is the
15:46 way, walk ye in it. He wants to say, follow me. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am meek and lowly of heart, you'll find rest for
15:58 your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I want you to take my yoke upon you. When I'm yoked to somebody, when I'm double yoked, when I've got somebody here, they're yoked and I'm yoked, double yoked with
16:10 them. Where they go, I go. When they stop, I stop. What they eat, I eat. Jesus said, take my yoke upon you, and let's let's walk through life double yoked. And and where I
16:21 go, you go. When I stop, you stop. Where I graze, you graze. And I will lead you into pastures of tender grass and waters of quietness. Amen?
16:36 So acknowledge him. Acknowledge him. Acknowledge him. You acknowledge him at every fork in the road, at every turn, with every decision we make. We acknowledge his
16:47 lordship. We acknowledge his supremacy. We acknowledge him when we go to the mall with that card. And you walk into that store and you see all those things, you really believe
16:59 it's God's will for you to have. Have you ever stopped to think, he cares about what I'm about to do. So I'm gonna pray, Lord, should I buy this? A lot of people don't even wanna pray that. They don't wanna hear
17:11 no. So they just say, I I'm just gonna claim that whatever I get, Jehovah Jireh's gonna help me pay it off. Forget the interest rate. Forget the debt. No. He's gonna help
17:23 me. But here's the thing. How about praying about who you're running with? Pray about who you're hanging with. Have have you ever thought about praying, Lord, I'm starting to run around with these people. What do you
17:34 think of these people? What what is your take on these people? What is what do you think about this person as my friend? Choose your friends wisely, the Bible says. So what does God
17:46 think about this person I'm about to date if you're single? Do you dare to ask God? You better ask him before you're in love. Because once you're in love, you're deaf, dumb, and
17:58 stupid. You'll never hear God. Oh, I've talked to people in love and I knew it's too late. I can't tell them. Whatever I know about this person they've hooked up with, they're not gonna hear a word I
18:10 say because they're in love. So I'm telling you straight up front, pray about the guidance of God before you date them.
18:24 I can hear some of you, boy, I wish I'd have stayed home today. Now you're in the right place. God wants you to hear it. Because do you know that getting with the wrong person can affect you for the
18:36 rest of your life? Oh, yeah. In all your ways,
18:49 with every decision, acknowledge him. Okay, Lord. Here I am. You're there. You're creator of the universe. You're my
19:00 savior. What do you think? What do I do? Show me. Teach me. Guide me.
19:13 God's guidance can save your life. God's guidance can save you many a tear, many a regret. God's guidance. 1 of the best examples
19:25 of this is David. Do you know that I did a little count? 1 and 2 Samuel are the biographical books, dedicated to telling us about David. And do know that I
19:37 counted 9 times in 1 and 2 Samuel that it says David inquired of the Lord. He inquired of the Lord before he went into a battle. He inquired of the Lord when he was in the battle. He inquired of
19:49 the Lord after the battle. He inquired of the Lord about how to where to run and hide from Saul who was trying to kill him. God's guidance literally saved his life. Saved his life?
20:02 Lord, do I stay in this city? Is he coming here? God said he's coming here. Get out of here. And saved his life. God's guidance can save your life and mine.
20:14 He inquired of the Lord 9 times, but I found 2 times he didn't inquire of the Lord. He did not inquire of the Lord about Bathsheba. And he did not inquire of the Lord about moving down into Ziklag.
20:26 Because Ziklag is where he went to escape from Saul after being stalked for 10 years. Saul tried to kill him every day of 10 years. Finally, he said, just gonna go over the Philistines are, and I'm gonna take cover
20:38 under the Philistines' protection. He went to Ziklag, and it does not say he inquired of the Lord. He did not inquire of the Lord. He just went, and he got under the umbrella
20:50 of the enemy's protection. God didn't lead him. And you don't find 1 Psalm written by David while he was in Ziklag.
21:02 It's like the well of inspiration had run dry. You know why? Because he was out of the will of God. God wanted him to trust him, not Philistines whose champion he had
21:14 already killed, Goliath. And he lived a lie on Ziklag. He lived a double life. He told king Akish of the
21:25 Philistines, I'm going out every day and I'm killing your enemies. But he was in fact going out and killing the king's allies. And David had to lie. He lived a
21:36 lie. He lived a double life, and he went there out of the will of God. And we know from the story, he almost lost everything because the Amalekites raided it, took his family, his wives, his children, his
21:48 belongings, and those of his men. And he almost lost everything. Why? You can track it back. He did not say, should I go live in Ziklag? He didn't inquire
22:00 of the Lord. Amen. It pays to inquire of the Lord. It pays to inquire of the Lord. There's 2 kinds of people in life. Those that
22:12 acknowledge the presence and the wisdom and the lordship of Christ, and they make wise decisions, and those who don't even think about inquiring of God. Psalms 10
22:24 verse 4, the wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. But the wise man or woman will first
22:35 think when a decision is there, an opportunity, a fork in the road, a juncture, a point of decision, will go and inquire of the Lord. What do you say?
22:48 What what are you saying to me? You say, well, Jeff, how do I know if God is guiding me? You're going, well, sure. I can go inquire of the Lord. What do you say about this? Where should I go? What decision
23:00 the decision should I make? How do I know? That's next week. How does he direct your path? How do you know he's directing your path? What does it look like when he's direct what are the
23:11 signs that he's directing your path? Don't shout me down. I gotta deal with this in bite sized chunks. This is a lot. Guidance is
23:23 crucial. How many of you can look back at some point in your life when God was trying to break through with his wisdom into you with a decision and you didn't listen
23:34 to the wisdom and went your own way. How many of you remember? How many of you are still hurting a little bit from that decision? How many of you can look back and say, there was a time when
23:46 God stopped me from making a decision and led me his way, and I went his way, and I'm so thankful I did. Oh,
23:59 yeah. Oh, yeah.
24:06 The Bible teaches you to honor God with every aspect of your life. Because as a follower of Jesus, every decision you make is an opportunity to point people towards him. King David is an
24:18 example of someone who constantly sought the Lord's direction for his life. And we see that the times when David experienced his greatest failures is when he failed to seek the Lord's direction. Our own
24:30 wisdom and feelings will lead us down the path of destruction. If you'd like to learn more about Hardwired, here's some info.
24:37 If you're enjoying pastor Jeff's messages here on Hardwired, we invite you to listen to more like these in person. If you're in or near the Fort Worth, Texas area, why not be a part of what's happening at
24:48 Turning Point Church? All the information you'll need is on our website, hardwired dot org. Once you're there, just click on the tab TPC family. 1 more time,
25:00 that website is hardwired dot org. I'll hand it over to Daniel again as he explains what's coming up.
25:07 So now you know that it's best to trust God with every decision, big or small in your life. But how do you know what God is guiding you to do? Well, next time on Hardwired, Pastor Jeff will share the 3
25:19 main ways that God uses to guide his children into making the right decisions. By relying on his word, his peace, and his opportunities, you will be able to discern the path that God has laid out
25:31 for you and walk in the way of righteousness. That's all the time we have for today. Thanks for tuning in for this edition of Hardwired with Jeff Wickwire. You can listen to more messages from this and other books
25:43 of the Bible by visiting hardwired dot org. Join us next time to continue our study in the book of Psalms right here on Hardwired.
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