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Sorry it's a little sloppy! I spent a lot of time working on it, and I've had a CRAZY last few weeks, and honestly I just don't care enough to make the Weekly News tonight!
So.. maybe the only PC news that matters this week is the newest chapter Bible 101: Different Age should be out by the time you read this! Head on over to our sub-profile PChangeLives to check it out!
Continuing in our What is Worship series, our next topic is obedience. Obedience is not the only part of worship but is one of the most important. The purpose of this is to help you guys step into a deeper level of relationship with our loving and fulfilling God, and that is the most important thing we could ever do on PC! Even though our relationship with God is very different than our relationships with friends and family, it's no less real and personal!
Earlier in our series we talked about the power of praise to show and recieve God's love, to overcome trials in faith, and to move things spiritually! We're going to break apart all the ideas that make up a life of worship, a life that pleases God and has a real relationship with Him!
What is Obedience?
Obedience is so simple in idea, but a whole lot harder in action! It just means to do what God tells us to do in His Bible and through the Holy Spirit, and not do what He doesn't want us to.
It's not a rocket-science subject, but it's just as important as it difficult. And believe me, it is difficult.
Why is it important?
Obedience necessary for Salvation
It's one part of the difference between heaven and hell.
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 KJV
This wasn't addressed to people who've never heard of God before. Paul was warning the church that disobedience and sin will still bring you to hell, no matter how saved you are.
Some people believe in Once Saved Always Saved. That once you do a certain scripture or number if scriptures, you're set for life and "grace will pardon all your sins automatically" or whatever.
And I guess we could waste hours and paragraphs arguing about it. Some Greeks believed Once Saved Always Saved, especially the Corinthians, and Paul gave them 100 billion reasons or more why they were wrong and needed to repent and live Holy in his letters. But I'll give you one reason.
The Bible says that He will call those who get to Heaven good and faithful servants (Matthew 25). If a man is commiting the act of adultery when Jesus comes and takes all the Christians to heaven, is God going to PULL HIM OFF of the woman he's cheating with, throw him a towel to wear, set Him next to his wife and kids he betrayed, and tell him "Well done, my good and faithful servant?"
I'll leave that up to you.
But yeah. Obedience to God and the whole Bible, and repentance (asking for forgiveness and turning away) every time we sin, is necessary to be saved. If you don't believe me or want to know where some of the many verses that tell us that are, comment here and I can shower you with Bible verses, and I'd be happy to do so!
Luckily for us, Jesus died on the cross so that whenever we are disobedient and do something God told us not to, we can pray to Him for forgiveness and help to turn away from that sin, and God will help us! (1 John 2:1-2)
We need to repent, not just one time or once in a while, but we need to repent EVERY DAY in prayer and prayerfully do everything to turn away from sin in the power of Jesus Christ.
Obedience Authenticates Praise
"But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
1 Samuel 15:21-22 KJV
Without obedience, the praise we talked about last WM is worthless. That's not to say that praise isn't one of the most important parts of a relationship with God; it only means that all the nice words and raised hands you gave in church Sunday look hypocritical to God when He catches you being hurtful to someone or doing something sinful on Tuesday. Obedience is the fundamental expression of love and respect towards God, and it makes your praise mean something; all the compliments in the world don't mean anything if you don't really respect Him!
Israel's first king, Saul, disobeyed God by attacking a city before the priest blessed them like God commanded, and refused to destroy what he wanted of the cursed city, and thought he could cover or make that up by praising with a burnt sacrifice.
Boy, was he in for a rude awakening. God took away the kingship from his lineage. Saul praised without worshipping by being fake and disrespectful towards His commands, and his relationship with God was tarnished.
Obedience is self-explanatory. It's showing love and respect for God by following His commands. While, once again, I'm not knocking praise or saying it's less than necessary in our lives, all the songs and poems and prayers in the world can't compare to serving God, doing what He wants and resisting the rest. When we are disobedient, we personally backstab God for our own selfish dssires. It's the respect that every relationship cannot live without, and we need obedience to make our praise authentic and genuine to God.
Obedience As A Form of Praise
There's no love story as powerful as a one where someone sacrifices something they love to please someone. You probably know some story of someone changing themselves and leaving their old ways for someone they love. Maybe they quit drinking for their family or overcame some things for someone they love. My parents stopped smoking joints and goofing around when they realized I was about to come around. I can't think of any more sincere love than giving up your wants for others.
When we refuse to continue in sin in order to be obedient and show love to God, we show God how much we love Him.
"That dirty website would please me, but I want to make God happy because I love Him."
"I'm scared to do this, but I'll do it for God."
My youth pastor put it this way: You'll probably hear someone say "Yes Lord, yes" in praise, asking God to move in them, and that's great, but what really worships God is saying "No." in obedience. God sees the "No's" we give to sin, peer pressure, ungodly pleasure, unwillingness to pray and selfish tendencies, and His heart is moved more than any shouting or singing or dancing or tiring yourself out for Him will ever accomplish. Obedience over sacrifice.
No, I won't do that thing God hates. I love Him and want a relationship with Him.
No, I won't cower to peer pressure or act like my values aren't important around my friends. I respect God too much to backstab.
No, I won't live for myself. I have a greater life purpose, to love my neighbor as myself and love my God with all of my heart, mind and soul.
Nothing worships more than that.
How to Be Obedient
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word."
Psalms 119:9 KJV
By knowing God's Word, we not only know what we are and aren't supposed to do but allow Him to out those words to action in our hearts. If we want to be obedient to His will, we have to be consistent with His word. We need to read it, pray it, live it every day of our lives. His written and spoken Word has the power to change us, but only if we invest in putting it inside of ourselves and allowing Him to!
We have to know Jesus personally in order to obey Him.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
John 10: 4 KJV
In John 10, he compares us often to being His sheep. In the first sheep metaphor the sheep hear His voice and follow Him because they KNOW His voice. They don't turn to other voices, they don't folIow the first person that draws them in with a little sheep treat, because they know exactly which voice is their Shepherds.
I might not recognize someone's voice if they're some far-off acquantance or someone I only sort of know. But you can bet that I'll recognize my parent's voices when I hear them. I won't mistake my best friends or closest relatives for anyone else. If we are close to God, we'll be able to tell what He wants for us, what is good for us, what is right and wrong to do. We cannot be obedient and follow Him without first knowing Him. And that only comes through prayer, bible study and fasting.
We can remove the things that lead us to disobedience. In the same way I might not go anywhere near the cookie jar in a diet, or throw the cookie jar away entirely, we have to be willing to remove any TV, movies, games, books, hobbies, lifestyles, internet places, and even people who draw us in to disobedience and evil. We talk about this a lot in RealTalk. Jesus expects you to remove the things in your life that cause you to sin (He even metaphorically said to gouge out your eyeballs if your eyes cause you to sin!) ,and despite our best efforts to believe we're totally all powerful over our will, we will find ourselves walking in all the wrong places if we keep all the wrong things with us.
And finally - the most complicated idea ever in human history - we just ask Him to help us be obedient.
So simple, but few seem to get it. He won't beat you over the head with a Holy Stick for admitting your weaknesses. In fact, He'll respect that and answer your prayer, and give you what you need to make the decision to resist temptation. Remember the Lord's Prayer? It's on Matthew 6.
One of the lines says,
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Even though God won't make sin impossible or never let a temptation come up, if we consistently and fervently pray that He will protect us and help us to be obedient, He is more than happy to.
Your Mission: I could go on and on about obedience, but I've already made this Weekly Message long enough. Our obedience is also directly tied to how good of a relationship we have with God, how much we can be used by Him, how our lives on this earth will play out, and so much more.
Without obedience, the total act of worship that sets a true Christ-ian (person like Christ) apart cannot exist. If we want to Go Deeper in God, we desperately need to grow in our obedience to Him. We need to set a standard for ourselves, that if the Bible says it, we will do it, no matter what the cost. And if the Holy Spirit says it, we will do it, no matter what the cost.
We need to set a standard in prayer this week, that obedience will be the defining factor in our daily decisions. What do I do tonight? Will I have fun with ____? Will I watch ___? Will I do ___? What does obedience to God say?
If we are not obedient, we are not His people. Jesus said His sheep know His voice and follow Him. To follow everything that looks good to us means we don't belong to Jesus or respect Him enough to be consistent.
But to follow Him, to walk in His footsteps, feel His touch, and know His Amazing Grace for yourself, will set you up to have a real relationship with the Universe Creator. Obedience is a part of Worship (the total act of love and relationship with God), and Worship will change your life, change your eternity, and Change the World.