"Obedience" Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr.

praise the lord amen hey it's tuesday night bible study it's been a minute since we've been here and it's a joy and a delight and i want to welcome you back tonight and one of the things about our church and i'm so grateful for that no matter when we take a break our people always faithfully come back and i'm thankful for all of you who joined us tonight as we begin now for our new year and many of you know that our theme for 2021 is that this is a new god's doing a new thing and i think it's important that i share with you what i want to share about tonight i think is critically important for it to be able to be a part of this for us to be able to take full advantage of what god has in store for us as it relates to experiencing a new thing god is ready and postured and wants to do a new thing in us through us around us he wants to do a new thing in your home a new thing in your family a new thing with your finances a new thing with your career your job whatever it is god wants to do a new thing and for the next couple of weeks i want to just talk about what you need to have evident and prevalent and postured in your life and i'm hoping that you'll take these teachings that we're going to do over the next week or two or three and actually apply them to your life make sure that you take it to heart and it may seem unimportant and don't dismiss it it's very very important so thank you again for joining us i'm i'm thrilled and i'm excited that uh all of you who've come back tonight have come so let's uh let's begin by praying let's take a moment and pray father we thank you for your loving kindness and your tender mercies to us thank you that you've been merciful and kind and thank you that you've awakened us to see a brand new day that we didn't deserve that wasn't a day that we earned but in fact you ex you shared your mercy with us and gave us grace and father we thank you and i pray tonight that you take these next few moments as we delve into what you've put on my heart tonight that people would receive it and embrace it and apply it to their life let it be your truth that prevails let lives be impacted and change and if they're persons joining us father who don't have a vibrant loving relationship with you will you draw them to yourself draw you draw them to your kingdom if they're persons un who are in a backslidden condition and need to be restored will you draw them to a place of obedience and a place of restoration i'm praying father that if they're persons here who are joining watching us tonight or whenever they're watching it and they're unsure of their salvation that you would help them know that they can have blessed assurance and know beyond the shadow of a doubt and never have to question a doubt again and then father they're persons who unchurched uncommitted will you draw them father and allow your name to get the glory and honor through their lives being committed to you put a shield around this place tonight rebuke and bind every demonic and distracting spirit let every person receive what it is you want to say to them through this message tonight in jesus name we pray amen all right praise god okay we're going to dive into the topic for tonight we're going to talk about being obedient obedience i know that's a curse word for some people and i know some of you probably already switched the channel but i want to tell you for you to experience a new thing from god is going to require a level of obedience in your life i don't know what god is saying to you and how he's challenging you and what he's directing you to do but here's what i do know i know for us to experience the absolute powerful presence of god and power of god and him working miracles on our behalf that there has to be a component of obedience in our life and that's what tonight is about it is about walking in obedience now i have a ton of scriptures i'm probably not going to get to read i'm not going to read all of them but please jot them down and i want to encourage you to read them when you have an opportunity because it it's it's it's the word of the lord that god has given to me for me to share with you and i know he's talking to somebody today about what he wants to achieve and what he wants to accomplish so i guess i want to start off tonight by taking a moment and talking about disobedience i want to spend a moment and highlight some people who didn't obey god and who didn't follow his his guidance and his word and his instructions and they suffered consequences that's why i want to spend a moment and talk about the consequences of people who did not obey what god told them to do and we want to start off at the very outset in in genesis chapter 3 where adam and eve didn't obey god adam and eve chapter 3 gives us the layout god gave them clear instructions of what they were supposed to do where they were to what what their responsibilities were and god gave them limitations boundaries the truth of the matter is all of us have boundaries we have limitations we can't just go and do whatever it is we want to do god gives us limitations and pride human pride doesn't want limitations human selfishness wants to do what humans want to do but god says no i've established some boundaries and adam and eve were given boundaries and and god gave them to adam adam gave them to eve and together they were supposed to ensure that they followed those boundaries that god gave them but unfortunately the devil started talking to eve and eve talked to her husband and both of them together disobeyed god adam was standing right there when the devil was talking to eve and eve made the suggestion and in fact eve and adam failed and disobeyed god and uh romans chapter 5 verse 19 says just jot that verse down i have romans 5 verses 12 through 19 up on the screen for you but verse 19 says that one man brought [Applause] one man disobeyed god and brought sin into the world one man one man made the choice let me read that to you real quickly romans chapter 5 and verse 19 gives us again the you know the the challenge and the the devastation that comes from even one man disobeying god romans 5 19 says this for has by one man's disobedience many were made sinners many we became sinners by one man's choice adam's choice passed down the seed of disobedience upon all of us and so we're all sinners we all disobey but here's what the hope of verse 19 says so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous one man chose to do the right thing and obey god and do what god assigned him to do and it brought righteousness and made us righteous when jesus obeyed god and died on the cross his obedience to god's will for his life helped you and i to be able to have a personal relationship with god his this one man's obedience and and i i want to press you to say that many of you make the right choice and do the right thing your obedience can bring blessings and favor upon your marriage upon your family your children for generations to come and so uh one man brought that that tragic horrible choice that he made and this was also uh located when when the bible talks about king saul first samuel chapter 15. first samuel 15 saul is the king of israel he's the leader of the nation and god gives them instructions has their conquering territory and how they're defeating their enemies and god tells saul on one occasion i want you to utterly destroy everything in this particular camp with this particular people i want you to destroy them all and when saul got there he instead of destroying everything unfortunately he made the tragic decision and choice not not to do what it is that god told him to do and when when god sent the prophet to his house to say uh you know you didn't do everything i told you to do you didn't follow my instructions i told you to destroy everything but you you kept everything you kept stuff that you shouldn't have kept and and uh it angered god it frustrated god matter of fact god god says you get a chance to read this first first samuel first champion chapter 15 god says to the prophet samuel he said i regret making him king i'm sorry that i gave him that opportunity because he hasn't obeyed me so so verse when when when god sends the prophet samuel to go and talk to saul he says you haven't obeyed god and saul came up with all of these excuses just like so many of you come up with excuses why you didn't do what it is god told you to do while you have somehow the enemy has made you feel as though you are justified in the choices that you've made and the behavior that you've exhibited and the decisions that you've yielded to we think we can we can justify it and saul tried to justify it and it is in verse 23 first samuel 15 23 that the prophet says this to to the king he says for rebellion is has the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is has iniquity and idolatry because you have rejected the word of the lord he has also he also has rejected you for being king wow matter of fact let me read verse 22 because here's what god says to to through samuel to saul that does the lord has the lord has great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices has it obeyed the voice of the lord in other words he said what god wants more than anything else is your obedience to him behold he says to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of lambs god's not interested in your sacrifices and your offerings if you don't obey what he told you to do to obey is better than any sacrifice you give god i've had people tell me you know i pay my tithes i go to church yeah but are you obedient to god what part of your life is negating the favor that would come with those areas of disobedience what are you doing and where where are you hanging out or what are you practicing and what's that you've embraced that you should not that is in fact affecting and destroying god's ability to give you the favor he wants you to give a matter of fact uh uh verse verse 23 god says i rejected you from being king because you didn't obey my clear instructions i'm i am rejecting you from being the king he lost his kingship and i and i feel that there's a lot of people who are losing out on what god has for them just because they refused to be obedient and that was saul's problem that one just saw hold up here's another here's another act of disobedience moses in chapter 20 numbers chapter 20. numbers chapter 20 moses didn't obey god let's let me read that to you real quick i'm sorry i don't have the script the scripture's up for you tonight uh we had him uh listed but you couldn't see him and so i have to apologize to you all for that but please jot them down and read them when you get an opportunity numbers chapter 7 uh chapter 20 verses 7 through 12. listen to this then the lord spoke to moses saying take the rod you and your brother aaron gather the congregation together listen to his instructions speak to the rock before their eyes speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water they were out in the wilderness and they were thirsty and god gave moses clear instruction speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drinks to the congregation and their animals so moses took the rod from before the lord has he commanded him and moses and aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock and he said to them here now you rebels must we bring water for you out of this rock then moses lifted his hand verse 11 moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with the rod and water came out abundantly and the congregation and their animals drank excuse me then the lord spoke to moses and aaron because you did not believe me to hallow me in the eyes of the children of israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which i have given them here's here's the word from god to moses because you didn't do exactly what i told you to do i told you to speak to the rock you disobeyed and struck the rock with the rod that's not what i told you to do moses i wanted to demonstrate the power of speaking the word i wanted them to understand it wasn't in their actions it wasn't they're not going to get life from what they do they're going to get life from what they believe and what they say but no moses instead of speaking to the rock unfortunately he struck the rock and it cost him his ability to be able to lead the children into the land into the promised land and and that's and and this is a lesson for all of us today god wan he's got miracles in front of us in store for us and breakthroughs and answers god wants to do the supernatural for you and i'm persuaded i and i know it's true i know this is the way god operates and when we are obedient to him and we submit to his will for our life he has miracles in store for us and god wanted to use moses and he chose not to be obedient and he missed out on crossing over into the promised land and i'm wondering how many of you today are missing out because you're some area of your life some dimension of something god has told you to do you haven't done those are three key examples adam and eve saul and moses and we can find a ton of other examples in scripture of people who dishonored god and didn't do what god told them to do and they ended up suffering the consequences so my my encouragement to you today is let's walk in obedience let's walk through the specifics of being obedient to god and following what it is he tells us to do that's that's what that's what i feel the lord challenging us to do and to say and that's what that's what my encouragement to you this is what i want to press you for and encourage you tonight to examine components and areas of your life that you're not being obedient to god what might it be what might be the thing that's holding up god's incredible favor and blessings in your life obedience is the key as a matter of fact you'll find patterns through the scriptures that god always has conditions and that condition is primarily that we're obedient to him we're obeying what he tells us to do here's i got ten points for you today here's the number one here's my first one is first of all accepting no has a final answer there's something that god tells you no one except that and embrace that don't apologize don't don't don't justify doing something differently but when god gives you a word and a a a a a a direction of something be willing to actually follow what it is god's telling you to do and and in uh in second corinthians chapter 12 and i'm going to read verses 7 through 9 it says this and lest i should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelation a thorn in the flesh was given to me a messenger of satan to buffet me lest i be exalted above measure concerning this thing i pleaded with the lord three times that it might depart from me and he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness therefore most gladly i would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of christ might rest rest upon me here's what he's saying he's saying i had a i had an issue in my life that i wanted god to change and i begged him he said i asked the lord multiple times that this thorn in my flesh that was given to me uh i pleaded with the lord verse eight three times that it might depart from me did he take it away but the lord said no i'm not gonna take it away now now what would you do some of us if god told you you know that his answer to your thing is no you would figure out a way to still go out and do it you'd figure out a way to still go out and buy it even if god said no you figure out a way to still be in the in the chase be in the be in the deal fix it up you'd figure it out rather than when god said i your my grace is sufficient i've given you everything you need to handle this thing that has is buffeting you as a matter of fact god told him i put it there to keep you humble i allowed it to be in your life to present a level of humility paul in your life so that uh you wouldn't get arrogant and proud and and exalted above measure beyond what you're capable but the lord said my grace is sufficient and my strength my i i am my strength is made perfect in your weakest points and so that's why i've allowed it to be there some of you got some things in your life that you've been asking god for but he said no or maybe he said not yet or maybe he said not now but learn to accept it just because you got a credit card don't mean you should go and charge it and get it you got to learn to accept god's answer be obedient to what god says i've learned that if god wants me to have something he's more than capable in his time of providing it for me and if he doesn't provide it then there's a reason why he has not provided it for me so that that's the key that's another thing except god's no has an answer his final answer for you until he says otherwise don't circumvent his word don't circumvent his circumstances and what he's trying to do here's number two i got ten things then i'll be finished and then i'll take questions whatever god tells you to do act immediately do it right away don't push it off into the background act immediately no delays no objections no excuses don't do it don't you know that's one of my big problems with one of my kids i won't call johnny by name john junior but he when i tell him to do something he wants to do it when he feels like doing it i don't know if y'all got kids like that i got children like that but i have to i'm trying to teach him that when your father makes a uh give you some instructions it's not a suggestion it's not something for you to do when you get around to it when time works out for you know when i ask you to do something i want it done right away and that's the way god wants us to be do it right away and i believe that when god has his children his sons and daughters who are those who are willing to be obedient to him immediately when he can have that kind of confidence in you then he says you know when i tell them something they're gonna they're gonna hop on it now there was a time in john junior's life that when i called on him he'd come running yes dad yes what can i do for you dad but somehow another teenage years and adulthood or semi adulthood he ain't totally yet even though he got a job he ain't paying no rent yet uh somehow that makes them feel like they can do it when they get around to it but the god we serve is looking for sons and daughters who will have an attitude to say yes father yes lord right away i'll do whatever i can to make it make it exactly what you want and you know what when you're like that when you have that attitude and that posture with god god makes note of it he sees it he recognizes it in in genesis chapter 12 these verses i gave you in genesis chapter 12 god gave abraham instructions to leave where he was and go to a place that he didn't even know where he was going god just said go and he he immediately he packed up his stuff with his family and left and departed he didn't even know where he was going but he went that's the kind of obedience god wants from us that we are we are instantly immediately responding in genesis 26 isaac did the same thing he he dwelt in gerar and god instructed isaac to leave gerard and go elsewhere and again he did it exactly what god told him to do there was a famine in the land it says in verse 1. there was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in the days of abraham and isaac went to abimelech king of the philistines in gerar he went there and uh go ahead to the next verse and then the lord appeared to him and said do not go down to egypt live in the land of which i shall tell you he didn't know he's going dwell in this land and i will be with you and bless you for to you and your descendants i give all these lands and i will perform the oath which i swore to your father to abraham your father and i will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven i will give to your descendants all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge my commandments my statutes and my laws i love that because they're disobedient so isaac dwelt in jerome he did exactly he did just like abraham did he honored and obeyed god and that's the thing that god's looking for is our obedience to his instructions and when you are when you are a person of obedience you you will get the favor and blessings of god i i i don't know who i'm talking to but whoever you is it's a challenge from god for you to be obedient to him and and not only uh to or to obey him but cheerfully follow his instructions cheerfully respond to his requests do it with joy do it with delight do it with excitement be thrilled about it be happy if you got an attitude about it you got the wrong you got the wrong deal here's with first peter 2. now i'm going to read this first peter 2 verses 13 through 20. it's a little lengthy but hang with me because i want to point out a couple of things in this here's what verse 13 says first peter chapter two therefore submit yourselves or be obedient to every ordinance of man for the lord's sake whether to the king has supreme or to governors hes to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good for this is the will of god y'all see that this is the will of god for us to listen to the authorities in our lives unless they're asking us to do something illegal immoral and ethical and scriptural i'll talk about that more next week but this is the will of god that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men anybody who doesn't listen to the authorities the bible says are foolish but yet you do it as free yet not using liberty has a cloak for vice but has bond servants of god they see you you're a bond servant of god honor all people love the brotherhood fear god honor the king servants verse 18 be submissive to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle look at this listen to their servants employers employees i'm sorry be submissive to your employers with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh have an attitude of being submitted to those who don't always treat you the right way but also it says to the harsh for this is commendable if because of conscience toward god one endures grief suffering wrongfully the scripture says for what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently but when you do good and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable before god when you do what's asked when you follow the instructions this is commendable before god this is the way that god is on it ephesians chapter 6. let me look at that one too real quick give me just a moment to look at ephesians chapter 6 because it also says it's bond servant or employers employees be obedient to those who are your your masters or your boss according to the flesh with fear and trembling insincerity of heart has to christ not with our servants has men pleasers but his bond servants of christ doing the will of god from the heart from the heart this is the thing i want you to see about this particular passage is that this is done from the heart that we are taking our stand and our posture and our position in this regard and we're doing it from the heart and we're doing it with the right attitude uh with the right spirit uh with the right mentality uh with good will doing service has to the lord not to men that's what description scripture says we're doing this unto god unto the lord that's who we do it too so we you know some of y'all have attitudes with your boss and you you're resisting you don't do stuff because because you don't like your balls so you're resisting your boss and and the scripture is teaching us we don't do this as unto a human we're doing this as unto god you don't you don't uh resist or or fall back and hold back or have the an attitude that you're not going to give your best or your all because because you don't like your boss because they're not treating you right promotion doesn't come from human beings y'all need to understand that god is the one that elevates and promotes and no human being can stop you from being promoted no human being if god has determined that he wants to promote you nobody can stop it can stop what god wants to do and i believe god is looking and watching and observing um to see who he can bless and who he can favor he wants to do that god wants to do that so we want to do what we do verse 7 says with good will doing servants has to the lord and not to men we're not doing it unto men but we're doing it unto god so cheerfully respond to the requests that's given to you the direction both from people uh um because god is the one who rules and gods i'm gonna talk about that in a few moments but you're ultimately doing it under the lord that's point three let me go to number four number four says find ways to overcome any obstacle in your way if god tells you to do something find ways that you have the capability and the ability to do it and don't let negative thinking don't let um people saying it can't be done if god tell if god tells you to do something look for ways to get it done one of the things i've had i've had to teach our staff here today is rather than coming to to leadership with all of the reasons why it can't be done let's f if god gives us direction to do something let's figure out a way that it can be done let's figure out what needs to be to happen to make it happen and and i'm i'm finding out that that the god we serve if you have the mentality and the heart to want to do it especially if it's if it's a command from god he will he will help you get it done he'll work it out he'll he'll perform miracles for you just to help you accomplish that and we have again we have uh uh scriptures to to tell us that in uh genesis chapter 6 verses 11. i'm not going to read verses 11 through 22. read it when you get an opportunity but but god gave noah an assignment to build an ark because it was going to rain and he built the ark i don't i don't think he'd ever built an art before the bible doesn't tell us but he figured out a way how how to do it he figured a way how to make it happen and he built the ark uh he he completed the assignment of what god gave him to do god gave him the specifics of how to build it and rather than him saying i don't have enough people he could have thought of a lot of reasons not to build the ark he could have thought of it ain't never aimed before but he didn't let those excuses stop him from achieving and accomplishing what the lord gave him to do and my my push to you today is when god tells you to do something be obedient and and don't it might take you a long time but don't don't let excuses keep you from following the commands of the lord in numbers chapter 32 jot this down numbers 32 verses 10 through 12 when the children of israel were going leaving when they left egypt on their way to the promised land they got to a place called kadish barnea and they sent out spies to check out the promised land they came back in a certain period of time and when they came back they sent out 12 spies when the 12 spots came back 10 of the spies said we can't the giants in that land and they thought of all of the reasons why they shouldn't do it they say yep it flows with milk and honey and it's got all the stuff that god said it has but there's also some giants in that land and we cannot overtake them but two of the fellows joshua and caleb the only two of the 12 spies that went out to check out the land the only two to come back and by faith said yes but god is on our side we can take it we should move forward we can overcome we have god on our side they were people of faith and they were willing to be obedient to god and they didn't let the let the fact that there were other people in the land deter their faith to believe that god can make it happen that's the same thing god wants for you and me not to allow other people's lack of belief and confidence and lack of willing to be obedient to god don't let that stop you from doing what god wants you to do and when it's all said and done god didn't let any of those people who doubted god go into the promised land only from the original crew was joshua and caleb the two who had faith when when they first the spies first went in those two believed that they could take it and god saw to it that those two crossed over into the promised land that's that's amazing to me everybody else died they had a thousand reasons and it took them 40 years because of their lack of belief in god i think the spies went out and came back in like six weeks some some relatively short period of time that they went out and came back and and they could have they could have traveled all the way there in six weeks they could have made it but because of their lack of faith and their lack of belief and and not willing to uh be obedient to god some of you will allow the opinions of people you will allow the logic of people you will allow so many things to stop you from being obedient to the thing that the lord has instructed you to do and we want you to be people of faith and i want to challenge you to try to figure out ways to overcome any obstacles that come your way here's number five i want to tell you number five is you got to fulfill little commands as well as big ones be obedient to the little things again that's how this whole thing gets started god knows he can trust you with the big because he's watched how you handled the little he knows that you can handle the bigger things because he sees how you can handle the little luke chapter 16 and verse 10 says this he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much so my point here today is be faithful and obedient in the little commands and god knows he can trust you with the big ones our church took in a lot of money last year we god bless us in supernatural ways because he watched how we managed what he gave us 30 years ago he watched how we managed it took care and were careful with spending the resources we gave us 30 years ago so he noted today he can trust us with a whole lot more he watches how i manage my personal finances to know that i handled a little bit of finances that i have personally to know he can trust me with the great big finances that our church has and god wants to do again i'm trying to be an example and lay down some truth to you today that i know how god operates and i know how he functions and i know what he wants to do i know he's measuring and watching what you do are you spending money on stuff that you don't need that's not healthy are you subscribing to pornography are you buying pornographic books are you gambling are you drinking you know i could go on and on and down those lists of god watching you to see how faithful you are in the little and it is from that that he knows he can trust you with much here's number six following all the directions the first time following all the directions the first time now jot this this verse down but i'm gonna tell you the story second samuel chapter six verses one through eleven let me talk you through this for a moment i want you to to get this story god uh gives david gets an assignment to go and get the ark of the covenant and to bring it back to jerusalem it has it has ended up in a place it should be and he has the responsibility and the assignment of going and getting the ark of covenant and bringing it back to jerusalem where it belongs so he goes and he gets it and he carries it and matter of fact they they go just a few feet and and almost instantly one of the one of the soldiers is killed when he touches the ark he's carrying the they're carrying the ark and he sees it about to fall he does what any normal person would do he sees it leaning over and he reaches up to stop it from falling and he instantly dies and david leaves it right where it was goes back home to try to figure out you know i better treat this with a little more carefulness and and here's what david discovers here's why this young man lost his life here's why david wasn't able to bring it home the first time because the instructions that were given to to the people of god to israel about how the ark was to be handled and how it was to be moved and how it was to be managed was not being followed david had other people doing it when god's instructions to them was clearly this only priests are to handle the ark of the covenant only priest but instead of him having priests on there he had gotten some some some soldiers to carry it he thought it didn't make a big deal he minimized the instructions that god gave him and he didn't take it to heart the way god wants him to take it to heart god wants us to do every every the little commands as well as the big ones but he also wants us to follow the instructions exactly the way he tells us to do it the first time not only was it only supposed to be priests but they were also supposed to be carried on polls uh jot these verses down for those who are taking good notes numbers chapter 4 verses 15 through 20. just jot it down numbers 4 15-20 were the instructions that the priesthood was supposed to carry it and uh exodus 25 verses 12 through 15 talks about the ark was to be carried on poles and they weren't carrying it on a pole they were carrying it on a cart david was was carrying it the ark of the covenant on a cart and not on poles has instructions had been given and so when he got back and realized that he hadn't done the exact instructions that god gave him to do he went back got himself together and went back and got the ark of the covenant matter of fact i love this story because david handles it with priests puts it on the pole and the bible says they walk six paces i had to preach on this one day again they walked six paces and after they went six paces however far that was six steps six miles i don't know how long it was but whatever six paces was he stopped and they shouted they had they hadn't gotten back home yet they hadn't gotten back to jerusalem yet but he knew then because nothing happened and nobody died and nothing it didn't kill over he knew he was going to be able to carry it all the way back home now because he was being obedient to god and what i love about that story is he knew that now he had done it the way god had instructed him to do it and he knew he was going to be able to bring it back home and i'm telling you uh when you obey god you don't have to wait till the battle is over you don't have to wait till you get all the way back home you can go ahead and shout while you're even in the process that's one of the things i've learned i've learned to shout and give god the praise when i know i'm doing it right and i know i'm following his instructions i know he's going to work it out i go ahead and shout now they walked six paces and they shouted but the key here is they were following the instructions and i'm telling you today do it the right way the first time when you pay your tithes pay the whole thing don't do it don't do a net and then try to figure out why everything ain't going your way and stuff still breaking down follow the instructions all the way when god tells you to go when god tells you to go and apologize to somebody apologize fully don't don't be proud and arrogant go go and say i was wrong will you forgive me all the way dive into the deep end of the apology apologetic to the apology pool don't don't say if i did something wrong if i offended you no be obedient when god tells you to apologize apologize fully whatever god tells you to do it the right and the complete way the first time who man okay let me roll on that y'all i could be here on this the rest of the night here's number seven follow instructions first and understand later follow instructions first and understand later i think one of the huge mistakes a lot of people make is they want to understand all the way they they want clarity and an understanding all the way i'm not going to read all these 21 verses to you but i'm going to tell you what the story is about uh while i'm challenging you to read this when you get an opportunity joshua chapter 6 verses 1 through 21. one of my i don't have favorite scriptures but if i did this is one of the stories that i love this is the time when god tells the children of israel to march around the walls of jericho they were trying to invade jericho but the gates were locked and shut and the children of israel couldn't get in because the gate was locked and closed and they couldn't get in so god told them here's what you do walk around the walls of jericho one time each day for six days and then on the seventh day march around seven times and after you march around the seventh time after you finish marching around the seventh time have the priest blow the trumpet and have the people shout that didn't make sense god gave him instructions that didn't make sense in the logical human understanding thing just it just didn't make sense but the truth of the matter is he obeyed god and did what god told him to do and that's what they did for six days they marched around one time each day for six days on the seventh day they marched around seven times the priest blew the trumpet and the people shouted and the walls came tumbling down because he obeyed god even when he was told to do some things that he didn't understand and i surmised to a whole lot of us today there are things that god has instructed us to do that we don't understand we don't like we don't maybe we don't want to understand but my instructions to you and my challenge to you today this is not a question god's not asking us to understand he's asking us to trust and obey trust and obey and then leave the lead the results to him leave it up to god to work it out he will he has shown me and demonstrated to me he's more than capable of working it out whatever we're facing and whatever you're facing he's more than capable of working it out read that joshua chapter 6 verses 1 through 21 when you get an opportunity i'm i'm taking my time like i got all day here but i'm trying to uh i need to hurry up so if you got questions i'll be able to take any questions and just in case somebody has some questions i hope i'm being clear with you and giving you clarity about this about this whole principle about these principles and this truth here today here's number eight submit to your authorities here's another tough thing that people have difficulty in doing is submitting to the authorities in their life and as long as those authorities are not asking you to do something illegal immoral unethical or unscriptural you should be submitted to the will into the direction of your authorities i know you know better i know you smarter than they are but that's one of the key components of being obedient i know y'all heard me talk about this a million times because it's one of the key elements of my life it's one of the key principles that has provided guidance to my life for me to be in the perfect will of god is when i submitted to the authorities that god put in my life proverbs 21-1 says that the king's heart is in the hand of the lord and like the rivers of water he turns it wherever he wishes he meaning god god turns their heart where he wants it to go and i trust that verse i i lean on that passage that's the passage that i i lean on for my life to know that that uh and i teach this over and over again that you can trust god to he knows that i'm trusting him to give me direction through the authorities in my life so submit to the authorities here's romans chapter 13 verses one and 2 that also talks about um being submitted to the authorities in your life and i let me just i wasn't going to read that one but let me go ahead and just uh read that one very quickly because i i want y'all to get the just and the full uh piece of this here's uh romans chapter 13 verses 1 and 2 let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from god and the authorities that exist are appointed by god so they got you they can't even get in that place unless god puts them there therefore listen to verse two whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of god and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves when you disobey your authorities you're resisting god that's what the scripture says i didn't make that that that bible was here when i got here and let me say this too i just i want to throw this thing into i just want to spend a few moments i think it's important that people consult their authorities in their life before they make life altering decisions i think it's critical and important i think i've learned in my life when i watch people make decisions and some of them make a lot of people make decisions and they never even consult the authorities in their life and i've seen on so many occasions people make choices and never even consult the authorities and then find themselves in troubled situations but i wish i could emblazon that on the plaque and posted somewhere i've had a lot of people come and inform me they never they didn't ask me they didn't seek what my heart was about their decisions or choices and i've seen them make horrific decisions and i tell you when somebody comes to me and they inform me i don't try to tell them they should you know ask first or sought because this is how god works i didn't ask them as their pastor if they if they make the choice a decision that they don't they don't want my counsel they don't want how god has governed their pastor's heart i release them to go and trust that things work out for them but i'm telling you today y'all hear me today that it's important that you go through and check how god has directed the heart of your authorities that's what this bible teaches this is again another one of those verses that's a significant verse that i want you to you know if you don't have this ver these verses these two verses uh in emblazoned somewhere on your uh in your bible please do remember those who rule over you who have spoken the word of god to you whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct remember those who rule over you who have spoken the word of god to you whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct go to verse 17 obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account let them do so with joy and not with grief for that would be unprofitable for you that would be unprofitable for you so i uh i want to i want to challenge you today um i want to encourage you i want to uh you know tell you how important it is that you need to do that i want to tell you how important that is it is significant and important here's number nine uh i'm almost finished put all your energies into the task and this kind of falls back on what i said a little bit earlier about uh about uh putting all of your heart into it but also all of your energies into it um not no not half-hearted not with attitude not holding back uh about it but do all that you do the bible says wholeheartedly in the name of jesus colossians 3 right i'm not going to read these verses just jot them down colossians 3 17 and 23-25 jot these verses down set in chronicles leave that up there for a few minutes so they can zoom in give them the full thing so they have time to to read and jot it down because sometimes y'all go a little fast second chronicles 31 verses 20 through 21 uh in ephesians chapter six verses five through eight jot those verses down read them and and also jot this one down i didn't it's not up on the screen but ecclesiastes 9 10. all of these verses talk about giving it giving god and doing what it is that you do with all of your mighty with all of your heart do it now finally let me give you this final point 10 and then i'll be finished obedience is based on what is true and right i'm not telling you to be obedient to somebody telling you to do something that's wrong don't hear me please don't hear me say that it's always based on what's true and what's right to do acts chapter 5 verse 29 says we ought to obey god rather than men when they gave the apostles uh and told them they couldn't preach anymore peter said and answered them and said we ought to obey god rather than men we're not we're not going to submit to what you're asking because it's not right we always want to do what's right before god and if somebody asks you to do something that's not right and it's not in harmony with the will of the lord i'm going to teach you next week how to handle that what do you do when you when you've been when you've been told or requested or challenged to do something that's not acceptable to god i'm gonna i'm gonna tell you how to what are the steps you should take in that regard okay so here's my challenge to you i want i started off at the start of this with this and i want to conclude and then i'm going to take a couple questions try still trying to be finished by eight o'clock but here's here's a here's a few uh here's the ultimate thing i'm saying to you today examine your life and what is it that god has told you to do that you haven't done what is his what is his instruction by the way when god tells you to do something it's not a suggestion it's not a suggestion when god speaks it's a command and by being his child we're called to be obedient to him so his call to you is to be obedient to him and obey him okay i do have a number of questions let me take a couple of them how do we know if god is telling us no rather than wait or not yet how do we know well here's one thing for sure if god wants you to do something he is going to make it possible for it to be done he will make provisions for you this is one of the ways you know when god wants to done he provides where god gives vision he gives provision so if if there's no provision that it's not time now and i'm challenged because people will circumvent the process and go around god's restrictions or things that god hindered and to to make it happen if god wants you to if he wants you to have and he wants it done he will make provision he will make provisions okay uh here's another question how do you know when god is talking to you another good question god talks to us in a variety of ways i would encourage you to call the bookstore or go online to our bookstore and get my series on how to hear the voice of god there are 10 different ways god speaks and it will tell you exactly how god speaks and you gotta you gotta start looking for the ways that god communicates with us but in the meantime here's one way you can be sure that he speaks is always through his word if you can find a scripture verse that speaks and give uh instructions for us you can always trust god to follow that and if you have any questions about whether it's accurate get with a seasoned believer who can tell you exactly whether which the way you interpret the way you are interpreting the scriptures is right but you can always trust that here's another question you said act immediately when god tells you to do something if you waited will god give you that opportunity to act on what he told you to do yes god is a god of another chance he will give you another chance but i think it's also a matter of your level of maturity and i think if god told me to do something because i know better god holds me to a higher level of accountability because i know i know his voice when i was a younger person and younger in my faith and didn't know or had doubts or questions god dealt with me based on where i was at that point but when you've been saved for 10 years 15 years by this point you should know how he talks and communicates and there's some things he clearly speaks to us in his word to do and you know it's the right thing to do do it yeah so do it what do you do if someone has to make a decision that affects you but refuses to be obedient to what god says so you can't control what somebody else does what you can do is be obedient in the areas that you can be obedient so so you just do your part you do what you're supposed to do you'll be obedient to god based on what you have the capacity to do i wish i knew a little bit more about what you were saying but the bottom line is in the area in the circumstance of your life where you can be obedient you'll be obedient and god's will always take care of you because you're obedient to him okay all right i'm going to stop there thank you all so much for tuning in you know i always i always am so honored to be the pastor of the first baptist church at glennard and i'm super honored that no matter what the circumstance is you all always regularly consistently faithfully come back and it it thrills me that i pastor the great i feel the greatest church on the planet and i love you all for that and all of our friends are a part of us i love you for that i want to encourage you today if you don't know the lord jesus if you haven't accepted christ in your life today would be a fabulous day for you except jesus i want to make an appeal for you to say yes to him he loves you the lord jesus loves you here's the time you can be obedient to him by surrendering your life to him if you're backslidden and you need to rededicate yourself to him don't keep putting it off this is a this is a season of god doing new things and he wants to do something new in your life and so he's calling you to say yes to him if you're not sure of your eternal status i want to make an appeal to you to come on and get sure we can help you we can settle you to get sure in the lord or if you need a church home we'd love to be have you as a part of our family i'd love to be your your pastor i'd love to be your father in the ministry i'd love to cover you i invite you to you can call that phone number you can hit the click button hit the click click link you can email us we'll give you direction father i thank you for this privilege tonight to talk to your people about obedience help us examine ourselves help us almighty god to be submitted to your will and to do what you tell us to do and not come up with excuses and justifications and but help us to walk in humility and in obedience in the name of jesus i pray for those who are watching right now unsaved backslidden unsure or unchurched and i pray that you draw them to your kingdom in the matchless and wonderful name of our resurrected savior jesus christ we pray amen

Channel: Inside FBCG

Views: 26,233

Rating: 4.8636365 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr., John K. Jenkins, John Jenkins, FBCG, Church, Bible Study, Powerful, Powerful Teaching, Powerful Word, God, Lord, King, Gospel, gospel in bible, Worship Center, Ministry Center, First Baptist Church of Glenarden, Bible-based church, Developing, Dynamic, Disciples, ministry, Worship, Praise, Praise and Worship

Id: 5mQIvGuFrEk

Length: 57min 7sec (3427 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 15 2021