Father, give me a heart that
desires to be with You more than anything else. That chooses to avoid anything
that displeases You. Help me humbly embrace a kingdom
mind-set and value making disciples. Create in me a heart that is
guided by Your word, that grows in generosity, that beats for
the lost. I want to discover how to use
the gifts You have given me. Holy Spirit, develop in me a
heart that gives and receives forgiveness quickly, that
worships you with everything I have. A heart that depends completely
on the power of prayer and chooses to serve others with
humility. [Applause] What's up church, say Jesus! Happy birthday, 19 years, can we
give the Lord a big hand for 19 years. Come on church. [Applause] When we started we had one
campus, there was no concept at least in our mind that we would
have multiple campuses. Other churches were doing, I
didn't believe in it. I was wrong. So glad that we have other
campuses. And give them a hand, big hand,
God bless you. And God has done amazing,
amazing things and welcome all campuses and people watching
online. The church has changed so much
in 19 years, I can't imagine what not only church will be
like or culture in 19 years or even if this is legal in 19
years. I remember when we moved in this
building in Point Loma and all of this was dirt and we had a
block party and sign side the cinder blocked on the walls and
intended to be covered with paint and stuff, and we left it
because it looked so much better seeing the prayers on the wall,
can I get amen. But I want to thank the people
that served and prayed and the people that battled with the
city and community and all the legal battles we had starting a
church. In Point Loma and Ruffin Road
and here, the three locations and thank the people that put
their life into this and looking forward to another 19 years
where I will be 70 something -- I don't know, to be 80 years,
that would be awesome. Moses was 80 when God called him.
I figure when I am 80 I will just be getting started. Anybody here 80 right now? You are 80 -- 80 what? Just 80. 85.
That's awesome. That's awesome. God bless y'all. [Applause] You look great. Look great. Almost 90 -- you look awesome. Say that again? Coming here --
Coming here helps you stay young, is that what you said. That's fabulous. What I am talking about. Anybody else 80? Anybody else 80. I didn't think so -- who -- God
bless you, God bless you, sir, you look great. God bless you. God bless you. [Applause] Well, I'm looking forward to 80. Looking forward to HUNID -- get
your Bibles out. How many want to be challenged
by the word of God, amen. I will challenge you and
encourage you actually every time you come to church. Say, God teach me something and
challenge me and renew a fire in me, every time you read the
Bible, should be every day, God speak to me, amen. Lift your Bibles on the count of
three, say word. One, two, three. Say word. Turn to Deuteronomy 4, we are in
the fifth book of the Bible, if you are reading through the
Bible, we start book of Deuteronomy, 1 and 2 and start
in 4, if you haven't been reading start in Deuteronomy
today, fifth book of the Bible. Deuteronomy 4, fifth book of the
Bible. Okay, let's all pray. Close your eyes and bow your
head, or bow your eyes and close your head. Lord, thank You so much for your
faithfulness. We pray that You challenge us
and encourage us. Reignite a commitment to be
guided by the word of God. As a disciple. Reignite a commitment, a passion
to be guided by the word of God, in Jesus' name, amen. We live in a spiritually dark
world. We have no idea what is going to
happen 10 minutes from now, a year from now. Our future is completely unknown
to us and out of our control. We are surrounded with spiritual
forces of darkness and without the light of God's word and
divine direction we are going to be lost and kind of walking in
the darkness. And it is our job to be guided
by the word of God. And let the word of God direct
our steps. The Bible says that the word of
God is a lamp unto our feet. And our job is to follow it, not
it follow us. For it to guide us and show us
the way we should go through the valley of the shadow of death. And not fear any evil. Even though we are surrounded by
evil. And I would think most of us
would want to do that. And as disciples our job is to
be guide by the word of God. And our job in the heart of a
disciple is to value being guided by the word of God. That we must see it important to
understand what the word of God is telling us. We must see and important how to
live our life, conduct our relationships and eat our food. But there are times in our life
that we turn our back on God's word and guidance and listen to
ourselves and other people. And that's when we get ourselves
in trouble and we start to get guided by the wrong influences
in our life. And we have demonic forces in
our life. Knuckle heads in our life. The lust of our flesh. The pride of life guiding us and
we find ourselves drowning. Whether it be in debt or having
conflicts with people in our life or not good health because
we are not following God's word. At some point in your life that
you realize you are overrun by evil. You are being overrun by lack of
blessing in God's life because you are not following him. That you turn back and say Lord
I want to be guided by your word. So today we are going to talk
about how you can be guided by the word of God. How you can increase the value
of being guided by the word of God and become someone who says,
I am going to obey what God has called me to do in every area of
my life. Let's bow our heads and pray. Lord, thank you so much for your
word. Thank you so much that you
provide for us wisdom, instruction, discernment,
understanding, for us to conduct every area of our life. And I pray if there is one thing
that we get out of today, that we make a commitment to place
high value on being guided and directed by your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
Can I get amen. Come on now. [Applause] Before we start, before we read,
I want you to take out your lesson plan and I want to direct
you to the very bottom of the first page. If there is one principle in the
Bible that is more important than every other principle. It's what we are going to talk
about today. The Bible says to love God with
your heart, mind and soul, it's your number one commandment and
that simply means obeying God. It doesn't mean feel good about
what God wants you to do. It means you do what God tells
you to do. And doesn't mean you are a robot
but you are a thinking, breathing, reasoning,
intelligent creature of God that makes a conscious decision that
obeying God is better than not obeying God. You are a living sacrifice and
holy and acceptable, I move my hands and make a decision to run
my mouth. I make a decision to pause. I am making a decision to obey
God or making a decision not to obey God. So the number one commandment
you can obey to make a conscious decision to acknowledge that
obeying God is better than not, and therefore I will obey God
whether I always understand why or whether I feel like or not,
can I get amen. So you know that's the number
one thing that the whole Bible is summarized in that one thing. So to set us up for today, to
give us context for your specific life, I want you to
look at the bottom of this first page of the lesson plan. Two questions. I want you to answer one, and if
you have a pen, please write it down. It says write one thing that God
told you to do that you haven't done. Say amen if you know there is
one thing that God has been telling you to do or stop doing
say amen. Say it with conviction. On the count of three, say it
with conviction. One.
Two. Three. Amen. Thank you, and God is saying
I want you to do or stop doing this and you consciously very
aware said no. And God is telling us and we
will learn today that the number one thing that God wants you to
do and as a disciple, I need to value saying yes. That's your whole life right
there. You want to know what success in
life is? Turning that no into a yes,
period. Whether you make a lot of money
or not. Whether you have a lot of
friends or don't have a lot of friends. Do you obey God? And do you value being guided by
God's word. That's the entire Bible, Matthew
24:7 Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love
God with your heart, mind and soul and the second is like it
and that commandment comes from the book we are getting ready to
read today, Deuteronomy. Right that down, where you need
God's guidance. If you can learn to do that, the
rest of your life will be so much easier. Amen. So the first question I ask you,
do you even care. Whenever we ask God for his
heart, this acronym, these three steps in your lesson plan. When you ask God for his heart,
you do three things assess and knit your heart together, ASK. So ask. Do you even care. Well I am at church, that
doesn't mean you care. You can come to church because
of a habit or come to church that your girlfriend or
want-to-be girlfriend, said well you come to church with me. And you said okay, and you are
here and putting in time. You come out of church out of
guilt because all of your life you did it. But do you really, really want
to have as a value that I am guided by God's word. That's number one. Number two, search the
scriptures and what is the Bible says, what we will do in a
minute. And then ask God to knit our
hearts with his. Look at Deuteronomy, Moses is
getting ready to die and the Israelites are getting ready to
go into the Promised Land and Moses isn't going to go with
them. And last week we saw that a
disciple values making disciples. And last week, Moses said God if
I am not leading them into the Promised Land who will. And he said, Joshua. And before I die, let me stay
this to you. By the way if every pastor could
preach one sermon before he died and knew it, and probably this. And three sermons I will
summarize them all. The first sermon was God has
been faithful. Has God been faithful to you? Absolutely.
No question. Sermon 2, you need to obey him. You need to obey him. That's a statement, not a
question. You need to obey him. So what Moses is saying, God is
faithful and y'all are getting ready to go into the Promised
Land but you need to obey him. If this is my last sermon, I
would say obey God, for real. I would say thank you, it's been
real but then say, you need to obey God. And then the third sermon -- by
the way, I'm out, going to heaven. But the third sermon that he
preached, if you obey him, you will be blessed. Look at the person next to you
and say, I want to be blessed. Come on now, how many of you
want to be blessed? Raise your hand high. Give the Lord a hand, I want to
be blessed. [Applause] Then obey him. You will not be blessed if you
don't obey him. It doesn't mean that you won't
make more money than that person, it's not about that,
it's not about comparison. You won't be blessed. And blessed is not things, it's
peace, which is your relationship with God. If you have that, you don't need
this other stuff. Okay. And if you disobey him, the
third sermon, if you disobey you are cursed. What does curse mean? Lack of blessing. Let me say it this way, the
wages of sin, the blessings of sin is death. That's your blessing. You don't want that, okay. That's what Moses says. Now when we say obey God, what
do we mean? The written word, God's word is
written, the Bible. It says that the Bible is
inspired by the Holy Spirit and it's active and it can save your
soul and the word of God is a lamp unto your feet and sweet
and honey and bread, all of these attributes of the word of
God. It's profitable for training and
righteousness and study, etc., etc.
That's the Bible. However, when God says obey him
he is also talking about his truth, revealed in your
consciousness. In Romans 2, asked what happens
to people that don't hear of Jesus. Paul says that God gave them a
conscious. Your conscious is given to you
by God. Your conscious may be seared
because of your culture but God has given us a conscious and it
can direct us from right to wrong. If I said about a child being
assaulted. There is something wrong with
that, rape you know it's wrong. It's your conscious. So if you don't have God, I will
judge you on that, because I gave you a sense of right and
wrong on conscious. And God communicates truth
through dreams. Some of y'all see visions and
dreams? Acts 2 that the spirit will come
on people and communicate through people through dreams
throughout the Bible. Yes, he can communicate to you
through your dreams. If you had a dream that you are
going to marry Brad Pitt next year, probably not from God. And Romans 1:20, every since the
creation of the world God's invisible attributes are seen in
the things that he made. What does that mean? That God made everything and in
a way that you if you study, you will find God. What does that mean? Next time you go to the doctor,
and quiz the doctor, explain what they are doing, looking
down your throat. Looking at your eye, if they
look in the eye and turn away, ask them what they are doing. They are looking at something
God made that is amazing. Take a pen and paper and quiz,
as a matter of fact ask the doctor, can I look in your eye. Well, no -- I'm paying so I
should look in your eye. I'm paying. You don't think I have looked in
doctor's eyes and everything they do to me I do to them --
almost, almost. [Laughter] Easy fella, easy fella. The design of your body
glorifies God and the design of your body points back to a
creator that is organized. Your brain is a 3.5 pound
computer, it's organized. It glorifies God. All science does is tell you
what already is. Science tells you what already
is. It was already there first. Science didn't make it, it just
explains what it is. If you study the eye, the hand,
the stars, water, plants, it tells you how fascinating it is. I don't know if you know GMO,
genetically modified organisms. What that means is in short that
there was a living thing that was supposed to grow out of dirt
that didn't. In other words, God made a seed
that it die in the dirt. Gather nutrients from the dirt
and water and create a plant and have a seed to replicate the
whole thing and we have food to eat and get the nutrients from
the ground and process through the plant, 90% water so we can
live. GMO says to bypass that product
and make in a dish, bypass dirt. We will improve on dirt. The only problem you can't
improve on anything that God does, you can't. And my point, you have what is
called proprioceptors in your stomach, they are nerve
mechanisms that tell you where parts of your body are in space. In other words, if you are not
drunk you should be able to walk without looking at the ground. You should know that the ground
is now, now, now. I'm not looking. I can look up. Now, now, now. You got it. So your proprioception tells us
where your body is in relationship to around you and
when drunk it's thrown off. And those scepters in the
stomach and when you eat certain amount of food, they say stop,
you're full. What we do, I don't want to say
it's sin, we override. No, I am full but I am still
going to eat and you keep eating. Raise your hand that you have
eaten so much that you have sinned against the Lord God. Okay, you get what I am saying. God speaks through our conscious
and science and word. And here's the cool thing, all
of that is consistent with the heart of God. So when I say that you value
being guided by the word of God, you are being guided by the
truth that God has given us. Science will tell you that if
you pray, you are happy, if you are generous you are happier, if
you forgive people you are healthier. Science will prove that, why? Because God said to do that, God
said that is best for us. Science is catching up. And when I say guided by the
word of God, God tell me how to live my life. This is important and can't just
come to church. No,I have to treat and do
everything according to God's wisdom and let them be my
council and not those that don't accept God's wisdom. Do you value that. In Deuteronomy, Moses says God
has been faithful. You need to obey him. The word says we need to obey
God. The word says that God's word is
eternal, it's trustworthy and living and active. So God says my word is
trustworthy. I will never let you down. And you say, I asked do you want
it? And then we knit our hearts
together. Now receive these three points
and fill in the blanks. This is -- after this we will
read some scripture. If you want to knit your heart
with his heart the three things to be guided by God's word and
council. Number one, father give me a
heart that searches your word for guidance. You need a heart that is looking
in the Bible on a daily basis for his guidance. Now even when we are reading
through books like Deuteronomy. I don't get it, I don't
understand what is going on. I tell you three steps. Read it really slow for insight. And what I mean by that, this is
probably one of the most important things you can do. Is read the Bible really slow
with a pen in your hand and paper, or if you like to type,
pen and paper is better kinesthetically for your brain
and computer is not good for your brain -- that's another
thing. Read it and say, Lord say
something to me. And you are reading about
killing an animal here and here and killing an animal. And then you realize every time
that God says he wants a sacrifice, he wants one without
blemish. I want everything that you want
to be pure. That's it. And we will read something and
you will get something out of it. But read real slow, reflect on
it and what is God saying. My encouragement to you is
always read slow until you hear something that you can actually
write down for you. If you just read and just check
the box, do it again. And read and say, Lord -- don't
just da-da-da--- okay, dear God bless me today. Don't do that. Read it slow and if you don't
hear anything, read it again. Say God speak to me. And if you have an issue and God
here's my issue, read it slow and say God speak to me. And he will speak to you. That's something that you have
to perfect. If you don't get over that step,
then you can't follow the light. You may come here and get
something but you got to learn how to feed yourself every
single day. You have to learn how to hear
the voice of God, because God is going to whisper something so
soft and specific, and if you get in a habit in reading and
get a habit in conversation with you. As someone is yelling at you,
God will say, ask them how their mom is. And you will be like, how's your
mom and then they will say their mom has cancer. And that's why they are yelling
at you because they are stressed out and now you have ministry. That's walking with God, that's
a disciple. That's not a religious person,
that's a disciple and this is where we are going, are you
following what I am saying. Start in the morning, God I will
read and reflect and respond and act on that one thing. 2, Jesus give me a heart that
blessings follow obedience, everyone say blessings follow
obedience. Jesus, oh, I believe if I follow
your word and what would happen. Remember that one thing you said
you are not doing -- oh, oh, what. That one thing you said you are
not doing -- say what. Fill in the blank. God, if I do what you said, what
would happen? I dare you to write nothing. The word nothing. God, if I obey you nothing is
going to happen. I dare you to write that. What you are telling that God is
a liar. Okay, if I do this, God will... Reunite me with my wife. Get me a better job. Get me off drugs. Change my friends. Anything you write is going to
be good. Anything you write. By the way the Bible says that
the just walk by faith. Doesn't mean it's going to be
easy. That's what the third one is,
Holy Spirit fill my heart with your motivation. Come on, give me the courage. Be like the lion on the Wizard
of Oz. I need courage --
On the count of three say courage. On the count of three -- one,
two -- count of three. Y'all had some issues in first
grade counting to three. On the count of three, say
courage. One, two, three. Courage. Holy Spirit give me some
courage. Deuteronomy 4. What I will do, read the verses
slow and you are going to listen for God to speak to you, and I
want you to read it in the context of your issue, of your
disobedience that you are exercising against God. Say amen if you are with me. Okay, listen very carefully. Chapter 4 verse 1... The land that he's giving them
is code for your blessing. In our context. Chapter 5:1... Chapter 6:1-3... That means to respect him. Everyone say all his statutes. Everyone say therefore... Land flowing with milk and honey
is code for your blessing. Turn to chapter 7:12-13... Everyone say, I want God to love
me. Say, I want God to bless me. Say, I want God to multiply me. That doesn't mean make you
bigger. It means -- it means he's going
to multiply what he's done in your life in other people. By the way, whenever it says the
fruit of your land, your crops and animals and camels, he's
saying I want to bless every area of your life. He does. He wants to bless every area of
your life. Chapter 8:1... That means God wants to bring
you in your Promised Land when blessed. Chapter 10:12... Say God wants all of my heart. He wants all of my soul. Verse 13... Say obeying God is for my good. Come on now. Chapter 11:1... Say always. Say always. Verse 8, chapter 11:8... Chapter 11:13... Say earnestly obey. God, I want my heart to want to
obey you. I want my heart to want to be
guided by your word. I want my heart to want to
understand your word. Verse 14, say then, and say only
then. You say God I'm going to disobey
you now, bless me. Doesn't make any sense. Then I will give... Verse 18, therefore... I will end with this right here,
if you carefully keep these commandments which I command you
today, say I need to be careful -- you need to rearrange your
schedule. You need to make this a
priority. What? Reading the word of God. Listening to the word of God. Understanding what God wants for
you, seeking out his wisdom as gold. It needs to be a priority if you
want it. Verse 22... The Goliaths in your life he
will deal with. The obstacles in your life he
will deal with. And every place that the sole of
your foot... In a minute we're going to pray. My hope is that anything you got
was not only the importance of obeying God and letting God's
word guide you. But you have come to the
conclusion that I am a living, breathing living sacrifice, the
Bible says. I am reasoning. I am intelligent, I understand
what I read and what I feel and coming to the conclusion that
it's better for me to obey God and follow God than not. You follow what I am saying. If you come to that conclusion
therefore I got to do whatever I got to do to make sure I have
time to hear God's word. By the way, you will get up in
the morning and you will hear a little voice saying, you are
behind schedule, you are behind schedule. You got to shut that down. And you want to read and get it
over, you got to shut that down. And sit there and patiently say,
God speak to me, and get in a habit of moving at God's pace. You remember when I was
following that light and I was moving and come on light, it's
not up to me, I move at his pace. So in a minute, I'm going to ask
you to bow your heads in a minute and close your eyes. You wrote that thing down in the
beginning, one thing I'm not obeying God. What are you going to do? It's very clear, black and
white. If you say God I need to be
value being guided by your word. I'm going to obey you and then
watch what he does. You have to watch what he does,
write it down. God, I'm not doing this. I'm going to do it and I'm going
to write down what you do. This is a great thing. God doesn't do things in secret,
he will do it in your face. And here's what is going to
happen, something cray-cray is going to happen. God will go, you asked for a
black car, I gave you a black car. That's a coincidence? Because if you obey me, and
bless you, and guess what happens. You will obey him again and obey
him again and obey him again and then your life is changed. Let's bow our heads and pray. Lord, we all know what you want
us to do. It's not a secret. Sometimes we come to church
wanting you to do it for us. Or wanting to hear a message
that gets us off the hook. But Lord there are people here
who You have been calling to get saved. There is people here that You
called to stop doing crazy stuff or innocent stuff that You don't
want them to do. And they know it. I want to challenge you to pray
this prayer with me no matter who you are. I just need you to obey me. If I can get you to obey me in
little things, I can get you to obey me in big things. If you would like to adopt a
heart that values being guided by God's word, pray this prayer
with me in the privacy of your heart. Say, God, take my heart. I surrender my heart to You. Jesus, I surrender my heart to
You. Stir my heart, give me a desire
to follow the word. To be led by Your voice. To submit to Your authority. To follow the light. I surrender my life to You. I surrender my authority to You. I submit to You. And that decision to disobey You
in that one thing I surrender it to You. Take over my life. As our eyes are closed and heads
bowed, if you prayed that prayer and you said I want a heart that
values following the Lord. In a minute I'm going to ask you
to stand and by standing you are following what He's telling you
to do now. If you want someone to stand
with you, grab their hand. Someone that came with you. On the count of three, I'm going
to ask you to stand if you prayed that prayer on all
campuses. If you are online. One, two, three. Stand to your feet. God bless you, God bless you,
God bless you, God bless you. If God spoke to you during that sermon and and you feel like you want to ask Christ to be your savior, it's as simple as A-B-C. Admit and accept that you are a sinner. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died for your sin and rose from the dead. Then confess yourself a sinner and say, "Jesus, please forgive me of my sin." If you would like to ask Jesus Christ to be your savior, just look at me right now and pray this prayer with me in the privacy of your heart kinowing that God knows you and loves you very much. Say, "Dear God, I believe that I am a sinner. I know the penalty of my sin is death. I don't want to die and go to Hell. I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died and rose from the dead for my sin. I confess myself a sinner and ask Him to forgive me of my sin. Jesus, please forgive me of my sin. Fill me with the spirit of God. In Jesus name' amen." If you prayed that prayer, if you just asked Christ to be your savior, we want to know. We want to email you some resources. If you just prayed that prayer with me to accept Jesus as your savior click on the link that just appeared We want to send you some free resources. God bless you and we will see you in Heaven.
