Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Simple Obedience | Jay Greiner
This message emphasizes that obedience to God is simple, powerful, and far better than sacrifice. True obedience flows from love and willingness, bringing blessing, joy, and supernatural favor. Using biblical examples like Peter walking on water and the 120 in the upper room, as well as personal stories of both obedience and disobedience, the message shows how following God’s voice protects, prospers, and sets believers apart. Obedience requires surrender, denying self, and trusting God’s Word above feelings or fear. It means receiving everything God has prepared—His provision, protection, anointing, and joy—without leaving blessings “on the table.” By keeping His commands, walking in love, and staying sensitive to the Holy Spirit, believers experience God’s best and avoid the heartache that comes from going their own way.
I just wanted to preach tonight about the simple obedience. Simple obedience, right, it's not difficult. You know we make it difficult, but God hasn't made it difficult. His yoke is easy, his burden is light, like we just said, and so the devil makes it complicated. He wants to complicate you and interrupt you and steal, try to steal, try to get in and kill and destroy what God has for us. But Jesus came that we might have life and we might have it more abundantly. We have it more abundantly because on Mark 11, 22, we have the God kind of faith on the inside, and so it's simple, right. And so God kind of faith on the inside, and so it's simple, right.
Speaker 1:And so you know, kind of, as I idle my motor to get started, you know we've heard things about obedience. Like you know you do all you can and God will do the rest. Have you ever heard that? And so there's really like a difference, like the scripture that starts, you know, psalm 107, 23,. They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters, they'll see the wonders of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. I've quoted that wrong. But basically you know God's not going to lead you until you get out of the shore. You get off of the dock and you start moving. That's where he's led. And so I'm not really talking about that. That's different. But I'm talking about people who just think they forget to put Jesus in the boat. You know, that only works when Jesus is in your boat. If you left him up on shore, you need to go back and pick him up. And it's the same with obedience If you've launched out into something on your own and in your own efforts, you're going to fail if he's not in your boat. And so people get effort focused instead of obedience focused. And so in 1 Samuel 15, 22,. And you can put that up in the New Living if you want to, miss Nancy, are you up there tonight? All righty, I hear you and I'm going to read it out of the old school living Bible, though. It says 1 Samuel 15, 22.
Speaker 1:Basically, obedience is better than sacrifice. That's what it's saying, right? And so it says has the Lord as much pleasure in your burnt offerings and sacrifices as in your obedience? Obedience is far better than sacrifice, everybody say far better. He is much more interested in your listening to him than in your offering of the fat of rams to him. And so you know, in the New Testament, jesus is the sacrifice, right, he's already paid for our sins, he's already paid for our mistakes. But how many of you realize that it's still better, much better, to just walk in his obedience and not on disobedience? And like Selena said to me I think I told this story, you know, we were riding down the road and she's like delayed obedience is still disobedience, and that just stuck out to me as soon as I figured out if she wasn't preaching directly at me. Sometimes she preaches to me like I need to do something. So as soon as I made sure that was for somebody else and not for me, right, then I could you know oh yeah, that's true, I'm going to write that down and so, but it's true. And so obedience is far better than sacrifice.
Speaker 1:You know, fairly recently I was ministering to a gentleman who had made a mistake on his job. He was up for a promotion and he just did something really simple, had a simple mistake, and he was threatened with not only not making having the promotion but possibly losing his job. And it brought me so much joy and it helped me so much to just walk him through and reminding him no, you're a tither and you're a sower of seed, you've got supernatural favor, you're surrounded with supernatural favor. And so you know, I just encouraged him to get the strategy from heaven that he needs to go to his boss and own his simple mistake and don't make excuses for it, but own it and and know that, you know, have confidence in God, that you're surrounded with favor is with the shield. And so you know, I'm waiting to hear a good report, right, and so you know, all of us, we have favor because we're tithers, we're givers, and so that allows us to have supernatural favor, that God protects our assets, that we have fresh ideas and concepts and insights from heaven. I got to play a little bit of that clip on Wednesday night from Oral Roberts and it was a good fun clip. Clip on Wednesday night from Oral Roberts and it was a good fun clip.
Speaker 1:But you know, selena pointed out to me later that you know she saw that as an if. And then because he was like if, you know, I know the Bible doesn't necessarily say if, but just but, you got to tithe, you got to be a tither. If you're a tither, you know, and love, not just throw it in the bucket, but love out of love I'm not receiving the offering, but I'm just, you know. So all of us need to obey what the Holy Spirit has for each and every one of us and not be effort focused, but be obedience focused. And so so that's my first point, six steps of obedience. Number one become obedience focused and not effort focused. So we just heard that, and the reason why and then number two, is simple obedience brings the blessing.
Speaker 1:And I'll just quote to you, before we read Deuteronomy 11, I'll quote to you Isaiah 119. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. So we are willing and obedient. So we have, we have willingness, so we don't leave out willingness, right, willingness just comes out of a heart to serve him right. And so you know, you can obey with, with the bitterness in your heart, and that's not a good, that's not a good place to be. We all know that as parents, right, we all have kids that have obeyed our voices, maybe with with, you know, not necessarily bitterness in their heart, but just they, they wanted to. You know they're only obeying because you said so, right. And so that was me a few times.
Speaker 1:We'll get into one of these stories here. I'll tell you in just a second. Deuteronomy 11,. I'm going to start in verse 1 and just skip around. It says therefore you shall love the Lord, your God, and keep his charge, his statutes, his judgment and his commandments always. You know, I thought for a second that I was reading the Amplified Bible, but all of those things are different right, his charge, his statutes, his judgments and his commandments. We'll flip over to verse 10, same chapter, for the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot and by vegetable garden as a vegetable garden, but the land which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot and by vegetable garden as a vegetable garden, but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of heaven. In other words, it's God that produces the rain, that grows your increase right, because your crops equal your money, your increase, and so that is being watered by heaven and it's being rained down by ideas and concepts and insights. I feel like a broken record.
Speaker 1:Verse 12, a land for which the Lord, your God, cares. The eyes of the Lord, your God, are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. In other words, god are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. In other words, he has your harvest in mind, he has your increase in mind, but you have to keep his statutes, you have to keep his commands, you have to be in obedience to his will, and then he's always looking out for you. Amen. He's right there to protect your assets every time and to cause increase, to grow in your life.
Speaker 1:And so in verse 13,. And it shall be that if you earnestly obey my commandments, which I've commanded you today, to love the Lord, your God, and serve him with all of your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. Praise the Lord. There's increase. He's talking about the former and the latter rain. He's talking about the Holy Ghost right and so, but he's also talking about increase, and it's the Holy Ghost that lives on the inside of us, that causes us to increase, amen. And in fact I'll just go ahead and say it's impossible to increase without them.
Speaker 1:And so verse 18, therefore, you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and in your mind and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as the frontlets between your eyes and you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them, when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. So this is constantly putting his statutes, putting his commands, putting his word. You're hiding it in your heart that you might not sin against him, but you're also you're teaching it to your kids and to your kids' kids. Right, then, there's a legacy of faith. Because you have faith, you have God's word coming out of your mouth and, like pastor said so many times this morning, god's word in your mouth is just as powerful as God's word coming out of his mouth, amen. And so you know.
Speaker 1:It reminded me talking about the former and the latter reign here. It reminded me of Acts, chapter two, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, and we won't turn there or go through those scriptures. But, as you remember, jesus, after the resurrection he appeared to about, the Bible says about 500 total people, but only 24% of them, or 120 of them, made it to the upper room. So that's really close to the whole three-fourths crop failure, right, and so that's about the same percentage that heard and obeyed. And so that's. We're not going to be part of the 380. We're going to be part of the 120. We're going to be part of the one quarter that hears the word and does it and allows the word to grow on the inside and not just be hearers only, but we're doers of the word, amen.
Speaker 1:And so obedience brings blessing, and so the Holy Spirit, think about that blessing. If they wouldn't have obeyed, if those 120 people wouldn't have gone to the upper room, the Holy Spirit would just be waiting to be poured out. When would he have been poured out, makes, you wonder? But instead they obeyed and they were patient and it took time and they spent time worshiping the Lord and then the Holy Spirit came and he invaded and intervened like rain. Amen. And it was a sign and a wonder to everybody, right, and Peter had to go out and explain it and he began preaching. And then people got saved, and so the church, the early church, grew very rapidly. And so here we are, um 2000 years later, still preaching the same word, still telling the same stories, with the same power, because of obedience is in our pastor's heart, it's in our staff's heart and it's in all of your heart. And so we work arm and arm together in order to meet the needs of the harvest, and so we're living a life of obedience.
Speaker 1:And so if you've got a sin problem and a sin consciousness problem, you're not spending enough time in the word, you're not realizing. You know, spiritual growth is the answer to sin, and worshiping the Lord is the answer to temptation. Praying in tongues is the answer to the squirrely thoughts of temptation that bombard your mind, and every yoke of bondage is destroyed. But you have to receive it. It's a gift, right? And so you know it's so important to teach your kids this the power of obedience and the power of not listening to any other voice but the Holy Spirit's and yours. You should be like Selena said this morning during the back-to-school blessing your voice should be the loudest voice your kids hear. Thank God, I had a really godly coach in the seventh grade. That really helped my life and turned my life around and um and spoke really good things and was a great encourager. It's my first year to play football and uh, and that really marked me. But I had a much louder voice at home, coming from my mom and my dad.
Speaker 1:I had a praying mama and I just wanted to tell a story about disobedience, what happened, ironically, in the same year, my seventh grade year. I haven't told this story in a little bit, but so I was in the seventh grade, my best friend, Chris. They bought some property like a little ranch or whatever, out in Normandie, texas, and I had been out several times to his place and he had a tractor and a motorcycle, a couple motorcycles and we would, you know, ride it around. And so, you know, he invited me to go back up to the ranch on this particular weekend and my mom's like no, I just, I have something in my heart, I don't think you should go this weekend, maybe another time. And then but I started, you know, protesting and negotiating and she got my dad involved and he said no, and I had to be really creative, but I was able to get around that no and go.
Speaker 1:And so here I was I think it was if I remember correctly, it was a Friday night and my friend Chris, he liked to listen to country radio, so we were listening to country radio. That was back in the day of, I think Garth Brooks just came out and and, uh, you know all that. So I'm, I'm, I'm like, singing these songs, trying to go to sleep, and the Holy Spirit's like you better start praying, you're going to need me tomorrow, and I didn't know what that meant. If I knew, if I knew what the next day had in store, I would have started praying even harder. But I did start praying and I was strengthened. And you're like, you know, when I, as I tell this story, you're you're. You know, I never asked the Lord why.
Speaker 1:I know the devil sends evil things, but it started out of disobedience, and so, anyways, the next day it was a morning time and his dad had underbrushed a good portion of the property. He had some brush piles stacked up that were maybe I don't know 40 or 60 feet long and 8 or 10 feet high. They had a tractor, so he had been able to stack those, and so we were working with him, just doing exactly. We weren't messing around on our own. I was doing exactly what his dad told me to do and we had lit one end of it. And so, since I was a little bit taller and had longer arms, he handed me the gas can and he's like here, jay, climb on up and start, you know. So we were at the. I was at the complete opposite end of the end that we just lit and it was diesel fuel. It smelled like diesel fuel. I don't know if you had gasoline in it, but I climbed all the way to the top and it was an old, you know jerry can, whatever, with the, with the spring operated. You know what I'm talking about? The, the you know from the sixties or something.
Speaker 1:And uh, and I'm, I'm just pouring out and I'm trying to climb and not fall through, and uh and whoosh, and all of a sudden I'm on fire, and the whole stop, drop and roll thing, like I'm eight or 10 feet in the air, and so I ended up falling. And they're like Jay, roll, roll, roll, and so I'm still on fire and the last thing I wanted to do was roll in the dirt when I'm burning, you know, like I, and I knew it was bad. But so they, they had to like tackle me and push me down and roll me until the fire was out. And and then I got up and like I don't have any skin from like here down. It is bad, and I felt like I was still on fire. It was the most miserable feeling ever. I felt like I was still on fire. It was the most miserable feeling ever. It's burning so much. I would do anything to escape that level of pain.
Speaker 1:And so we tried to go inside and like get in the bathtub or get like running water, and it didn't matter the temperature of water, it was so miserable. And so we ended up getting in this car and going to the hospital and and uh, uh, down the street and down the road about 30 miles in Madisonville, and uh, and he had like a beat up Oldsmobile that only went 82. So you can't even go back to the future. You know, back to the future is 88. So 82.
Speaker 1:So that was the longest, 30 miles to the hospital, and all I could do was pray in tongues. So I'm holding my arms up and I'm praying in tongues, and whether the windows or the air conditioner didn't work, so none of that was a relief anyways, and I just wanted to get to the hospital. I got to the hospital and they gave me a whole lot of morphine and that was only slightly better, believe it or not, because I I could have. Just I wanted them to knock me out because it just I couldn't, I couldn't take the pain. And so my parents got there and, and you know, finally it took them a while to get there from spring, about 90 miles or so, and so I remember going to the bathroom and having to take the whole IV thing. This is later at night, after I'm all bandaged up and had seen the doctor, and I looked in the mirror and I didn't have any bandages on my face and I'm missing my hair and eyebrows and eyelashes, but I have no skin on my forehead and I'm looking in the mirror and I just began to cry and I said, god, I can't live the rest of my life like this. Please intervene, please heal me.
Speaker 1:And so you know, this weekend we got to attend Dodie Osteen's funeral service on Friday night. It was just so precious to hear all the stories of how much she loved people. But as soon as I got out of the hospital she called me at home and she prayed with me and it was so sweet and so kind. I treated her like the president, you know, like oh my God, dodie Osteen's on the phone, and so she was so sweet and kind and in my first service back she made a big deal about that and went and she was just so loving and we're going to miss her. But it reminded me to come back and tell some Dodie Osteen stories because I learned, like her life I didn't realize because it had been so many years the whole way we do prayer with prayer partners, with you know life team members down here. That's all really her in 1981 when she went through cancer. That's what started that and her ability to just love on people was like it got so many people down front she couldn't handle it, so they had. So they started a whole team for that and here we are, years later. That's the way we patterned that after. Anyways.
Speaker 1:But long story short, god completely healed me, as you can tell, and I have all the bubbling, all the pain. Lisa Jedrick was there. She came and visited me. I remember that we have a picture, rachel Jedrick's in like a little car seat, but all the oozing, like you know, it all stopped. But I don't have one scar anywhere on my body from that. I didn't have to have any skin grafts. I didn't. I mean, it was major, major thing and God just covered it Like it never happened. And so he can do the same for you and thank God for his mercy.
Speaker 1:You know when we screw up, you know, all I had to do was listen to my mom. I wouldn't have never known pain like that If I would just listen, if I was obedient to her voice. Hey, I don't think she wasn't saying no forever. She was like no this weekend. No, I just don't. I don't have a good feeling about this. Let's not, let's. Let's just hold off, maybe another weekend, and.
Speaker 1:But you know, we can operate in God's mercy or we can operate in God's obedience. Which is better? His obedience, right? We're so grateful for his mercy I have. I could tell you other stories on and on. Please, jake, what'd you do wrong, anyway? But you know I have operated in the mercy of God before. I'm grateful and thankful. We all have right. We've all been there when we've been doing something wrong that we know was wrong and it took, you know, it took a few, you know whatever years, even to turn your heart, but now you're 100%. And so, like you know, obedience is so much better than sacrifice, and obedience always brings blessing. And so there's blessing. It pays so much. There's so much heartache that will be nullified when you obey God the first time.
Speaker 1:And so if you find yourself in a period of disobedience, disobedience can come from any. This is nowhere in my notes, I'm just. Disobedience can come from unbelief it really can. It can come from doubt, because you doubt that God can't do it, and then your heart is hardened towards the Lord, and I know so many people that something bad happened to them in their childhood and instead of blaming the root cause, they blame God and they run from God. And then it causes them to not know his love. And it's so easy to just know how deep and how wide and how deep, I mean how wide his love is for us and he loves us. He's our daddy God, he's our Abba, father, and he takes care of us in grand style, and there's no reason to run from him or doubt him, but just trust him. And so if you find yourself in that situation, I just encourage you to turn around to repent Again. It's so easy. It's so easy to repent and do the right thing, stop doing the wrong thing. Replace your squirrely thoughts for his thoughts by spending time with him, and it doesn't take long, it doesn't take hours, it doesn't take weeks, it doesn't take months. He's right there every time. He is the perfect helper in time of need. He really, really is.
Speaker 1:And so, but again, you know, during kids camp, I found myself I didn't tell this story, but I told some other stories on, you know, late at night with some of our leaders, and it kind of reminded me, I think, one of our members, their son, is just super smart and about 10 steps ahead of me and about 100 steps ahead of I'm not, you know, comparing. I didn't mean to compare IQs here, but let's see. Anyways, how about 10 steps ahead of all of us? How about that? And so I was like encouraging them as parents. You know, you've got to get a strategy from heaven on parenting, because he's going to be like two years from now, three years from now. You know it's going to be interesting and he might not just respond to your voice, although he should every time, but you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:They want to know why sometimes, especially boys, me. I want to know why. My mom wasn't always good at explaining the why, and so you know I, you know. So I had to rely on just obeying, trusting her. Okay, I'll trust you, but at some point let's sit down later on, after this is over, and explain why, why I'm 50 minutes into my favorite one hour show and I've got to go to bed right now. What's like 10 more minutes, come on, how does it end? Anyways? Um, that was my childhood. Praise the Lord. But but you know, be good at explaining why. As they get older, when they're 12, 13, 14, you're going to have to have that reason, and you're going to have to.
Speaker 1:You know, again, it's a strategy, and so, anyways, surrendering let's, let's leads me to number three. Surrendering leads to obedience, so stay surrendered to God's will, and so God gives us the opportunity to follow him. So say yes every time, every day. He never makes us, he never forces us, he's not there to twist our arm behind our backs. And the will of God just doesn't happen automatically. It happens through our obedience, and it requires us saying yes every day, and so it requires us to surrender. I think y'all probably can guess what scripture I'm going to turn to next. But surrender is simply, it just means to deny yourself, and it also means to cease resistance. To cease resistance, in other words, not my will but your will being done, lord.
Speaker 1:You know like Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, right, he opposed his flesh. You know, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, john 1.1. And the word was with God and the word was God. So Jesus is the word and he became flesh. But he had flesh and he had flesh to overcome. He had temptations, tests and trials to overcome, and he always answered those temptations with the word right. And so here he was, in the garden, and he had an opportunity to say no, but he didn't. Where would we be if he would have said no, but instead he obeyed right? So let's turn to Matthew 16.
Speaker 1:This is a different scripture, where Jesus is talking to his disciples, and I want to turn there as well and not just read it from my notes Matthew 16, 24. And it says then Jesus said to his disciples if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it, for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? And so for the son of man will come in the glory of his father, with the angels, and then he will reward each according to his works. So we're going to get a reward for our good works, we're going to get a reward for our obedience, in other words, right and so. But Jesus is asking us if any man desires, if anyone desires to come after, to follow after him.
Speaker 1:So first you've got to deny yourself, you've got to deny your flesh, you've got to deny your will and your way and your way of thinking and your past and all of your way of doing things that you've held on to your whole life. And you must surrender, you must cease resistance to his will and you must deny yourself, which is right here. Deny himself and take up his cross. And again, you know Jesus's cross was heavy. He needed help. I forgot that man's name.
Speaker 1:Any Bible scholars remember the man that helped Jesus with the cross? I'm just seeing if anybody, anybody, anybody. All right, simon. Okay, simon, there you go. It was Simon. And so Simon helped Jesus carry his cross up the mountain, right, and so we must take up our cross and follow him. But our cross is much lighter and you're able to bear up underneath it, right, and so you're able to carry your cross after you deny yourself. And so if you've only half denied, that cross is going to get really heavy. If you haven't fully surrendered your will to his will and opposed your flesh, it's going to be miserable for you, it's going to be hard sledding for you, right, and so surrendering leads to obedience every time on time, right.
Speaker 1:And so it leads me to number four. Well, I'll just say this real quick that if Jesus isn't Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. Dad likes to say that all the time. So if he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. And so it's so easy to compartmentalize our lives. It's easy to compartmentalize our heart and hold on to emotions, or hold on to the past, or hold on to past hurts, or hold on to negative words that were spoken over us a long time ago, and we like to cry about it and to stir up all these. You know, stop it and deny yourself and allow yourself to be healed of that and allow Jesus to be Lord of all and let that go and let your past go and grab a hold of the brightest future you'll ever know, like he has so many good things in store for us. All we got to do is Mark 11, 22,. Grab a hold of it. Grab a hold of the God kind of faith. Grab a hold of it. Make a decision tonight to grab a hold of it. Amen, all right, so it leads me to. You know, number four obedience sets you apart. It sets me apart. It sets you apart.
Speaker 1:And we're just going to flip over two chapters to Matthew 14, verse 25, and we'll read about Peter walking on the water. Right and now, on the fourth watch of the night, jesus went to them walking on the sea and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying it is a ghost, and they cried out for fear. You know, here they had spent all this time with Jesus and still didn't recognize him. Right, that always stands out to me, like if he walked in the room right now, would you recognize him? You know, it's our job to recognize Jesus. It's our job to recognize the Lord moving in our lives. We have so many areas in our life. If we're not familiar with what he's doing, we can be like these disciples and not recognize him, and it causes fear, it causes us to shrink back, it might cause us to go backwards. But Jesus is saying he's standing right here and he's saying to come right. And so it said in verse 27,.
Speaker 1:But immediately, everybody say immediately, jesus spoke to them saying be of good cheer, it is, I do not be afraid. And Peter answered him and said Lord, if it's you he still was a little shy, a little confused, really it's you. And so, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water. And so Jesus said to come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Everybody say he walked on the water. It says that right here he walked. Peter did it, he walked on the water. And, spoiler alert, nobody else did right. And so your obedience sets you apart. It set Peter apart. It separated Peter from the rest of the disciples.
Speaker 1:But what happened? But when he saw, when Peter saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid and began sinking and he cried out saying Lord, save me. And what happened? The Lord, just you know, walked the other direction and he drowned, no. And immediately, everybody say immediately. Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said to him oh you of little faith, why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased and then those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying truly, you are the son of God. So this was another sign and a wonder to them that that require or had a response of worship. Rather, that's what I want to say it had a response of worship.
Speaker 1:But, but Peter walking on the water, he started to when he saw how big the waves were, he fear gripped him. But how many of you realized, how many of you saw the mercy of God in this story? Lord save me. Boom. And immediately he was there. So God hears you when you cry out. God has mercy on you. You don't have to wait, you don't have to be afraid. Anytime you need him, for whatever reason, he's right there. When you feel all alone, he's right there. When you feel your emotions and you're tempted to be afraid, he's right there every single time. But God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of what Power? And of love and of a sound mind. We have a sound mind. We don't have to walk in fear. We can walk in his power. We can share that power with others. And so, uh, obedience sets us apart and and um, you know, um, peter, really, you know Peter, really you know he went on.
Speaker 1:I like to preach about Peter a lot. Sometimes I can see myself in Peter, I don't know, you know. I see myself in Paul as well, and we would all like to be the Pauls, being shipwrecked and snake bit and everything else and overcoming. But every now and then I found myself in my life being a little bit like Peter, a little bit of a slow responder. He was quick to respond in this instance, but then he denied Jesus and he went to Deniers Anonymous and he got restored, went through the 12-step program and no, jesus restored him. Right, if you love me, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Three times. Jesus restored him, fed him some fish tacos on the beach, that was nice. I think that could restore me, or any man, right? I'm hungry, okay, but seriously, like I'm hungry. Okay, but seriously, like anytime.
Speaker 1:Peter was in a jam, jesus was right there, even when Peter denied him, jesus forgave him, took him back, restored him, and Peter was part of the start of the first church. And that's important. That's important that Peter was full of the Holy Ghost. Well, without the Holy Ghost he wouldn't have been. You know, you can kind of see the pre-Holy Ghost Peter and then the post-Holy Ghost Peter. And I'm telling you we relate to the post-Holy Ghost Peter, right and the well, not post, but you know what I'm saying the full of the Holy Ghost Peter, anyway. So obedience sets you apart.
Speaker 1:Number five obedience brings joy. So in John 15, starting in verse nine, jesus is talking and he says as the father loved me, I also loved you. Abide in my love, for you, keep my commandments. I mean, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. So obedience brings joy. And so you know, I thought I've never thought of this scripture like this, the way I'm about to explain it. But last, during the older kids camp testimony report, michael, you gave your report and it was outstanding. But I got to thinking about that. Greater love has no man than this, that he laid down his life for his friends.
Speaker 1:And I began to see these volunteers laying down their lives for these kids, even though it was only three days, they lost, they took off of work, they used their vacation time Some of them own their own business, some of them work hourly, so they were. They missed out on hours. They don't get paid vacation, and so it was a huge sacrifice for some of them to serve. Michael owns his own business and so it's a sacrifice to serve. But they laid down their will, they laid down what they wanted to do to serve others.
Speaker 1:And I'm telling you every time you do that that obedience brings joy. It doesn't bring pain, it doesn't bring hurt, it doesn't bring hurt, it multiplies joy back to you. And again, obedience brings blessing. And so they can't lose, they're not, they're not, uh, they're not losing, they're gaining right. And so, verse 11, these things I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you. So the joy that you have belongs to the Lord. It's his joy. If you're getting your joy from somewhere else, it's not going to last, but his joy is lasting and is overwhelming you and it fills you to the fullest. We're full of his joy, amen.
Speaker 1:And so that joy is brought from keeping verse 10, from keeping his commandments and abiding in his love. We must, there's no way to obey what he says and not do it with love. Love is a requirement, right, and it's not manly, you know. It's not human love, it's agape love, it's God's kind of love that's never ending, and so it fills us to overflowing. And so, if we're lacking in love, we just haven't met him recently, we hadn't been spending time in his presence, we haven't been filling up on his joy, and in his presence is fullness of joy. So we hadn't been in his presence, right. And so I just encourage you if you find yourself being judgmental, if you find yourself lashing out at others, get your joy back, get in his word, spend time in his presence, amen.
Speaker 1:And then my last point of the night is obedience. I got this one this morning, and I'll tell you the story in a second. Obedience means to receive everything God has for you. And so you know James, my brother James, not James in the Bible, but he was leading our volunteer huddle this morning in the lobby at 9 am and we have that once a month for all of our volunteers. We meet in the lobby at 9 am and we just have a really good powwow huddle and it's kind of like being on the football field. We get from the quarterback, we have exact instructions and encouragement and it's impossible to leave there sad or confused. And so Mr Stephen Hatcher Sr, over here, he prayed, was one of our prayers and then Ace, one of our teenagers, was the other prayer and they both just hit it out of the ballpark. They did a great job praying.
Speaker 1:But before that James was kind of he read all of Psalm 23. And when he got to the part about preparing a table, I'll just read it Psalm 23, 5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. So this table that he's prepared for us in the presence of our enemy, it's in the witness of all, of anybody who's trying to get in your way.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes you may think like some person that wronged you from 20 years ago is your enemy. But really, who your enemy is is the devil. It's not a flesh, you know. It's not a flesh thing, it's a spirit thing. You don't have a flesh problem, but people really are. They are turned over to those spirits sometimes and they get in our way and they become our enemy. But really it's still the devil. It's not, you know, lucy or Jim over there in the next cubicle next to you at work, and so remember that, remember that it's a spiritual war. But here you're. You know God is rewarding you. He's provided for you a table in the presence of your enemies and despite them trying to hold you up and get in your way and distract you and stop you and stop the Holy Spirit on the inside of you from proceeding. You know.
Speaker 1:You know so many times we have you know God will put us in front of important people and we're able to. You know God will put us in front of important people and we're able to, uh, have a gain, a strategy from heaven and squash the devil where even like all the way into, like the state, um, political world, right, all the time, james and Claire like they walk into the craziest situations and I'm always in awe of how God comes in, gives them a strategy, gives them they talk to the right people, they're at the right place at the right time. They sacrifice their lives and it's always something random that they they honestly like James never wants to go. Like it was on a Friday night at five and he's in Austin by seven 30. Like it's one of those crazy type things. And I didn't even want to go and I found myself in the truck. One of those crazy type things. And I didn't even want to go and I found myself in the truck, and then God opens the door Right and so, um, but God is rewarding us with a table and the presence of our enemies.
Speaker 1:Are we going to receive all of it or just eat the little crumbs off to the side, the little crackers on the side? Are we going to go to the middle of the table and eat the feast that God has prepared for us? What are you leaving on the table? Because obedience means to receive it all. All you got to do is receive it. All you got to do is begin to eat. All you got to do is see yourself sitting at that table because he's already prepared it. But we're like, no, that's all right, I'm good, and you go by.
Speaker 1:No, our life is not Luby's, it's not pick, that doesn't look good, and that, no, he's prepared a table. It's our job to receive and eat, and, and, and then our cup runs over. We have abundance, and that abundance is not just for us, it's for our kids and our kids kids and for those that you come in contact with. So you better take advantage and eat what he's prepared for us Amen, partake of it and be excited about it, and then you're filled to overflow and your cup runs over. He's anointed your head, and that anointing is not again. It's not just for you, it's for you to make an impact all over this world. And so don't quit, don't stop and don't be lazy about it and don't take it for granted, but honor it. Honor the anointing. Come into this house honoring the anointing that's in here for you to receive, but you're not really here to receive. You're here to pour out, aren't you, gertrude? You're here to pour out, aren't you, gertrude? You're here to pour out, to be a blessing, to be a blessing to others, to be a blessing to the Lord, to give him our praise and our worship and to reign honor onto him and to lavish our love.
Speaker 1:I was looking for that word lavish to lavish our love on him. And it takes time, doesn't it? We don't just rush through it. It's not over in two minutes, no, we're lavishing To lavish. It takes time, it takes sacrifice, but then there's a joy in that sacrifice. And while we're worshiping, while we're praising, he's trading things in our hearts. He's doing things you don't even recognize until the service is over. And all of a sudden, while you're praising and while you're worshiping, he's changing out, changing dreams, dropping new desires in your heart, taking out the old, taking out the bad, taking out the bitterness, and he's filling you with joy and your cup then runs over Amen, amen. So I hope this blessed you tonight. But we have to keep our joy and we do that through obedience. And it's simple, right? It's not complicated, it's simple Amen, amen, hallelujah. We're grateful for the word of God, aren't we? Amen.