Trust & Obey - Pt. 2

January 29, 2012

Psalm 19

Disobedience is what causes God to reject us. He rejects us because He has a standard. It’s impossible for Him to change and the minute He does He is no longer God. He says that clearly in His Word. That’s why some people are waiting for God to make a mistake. So they can say that He isn’t God but they can’t because God is true to His Word.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can understand His errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Trust & Obey

V1-6: God uses his creation to declare who he is. He makes a statement no one can miss through his creation. It’s a declaration statement. If you look up into the sky you see God’s handiwork. Anything that man puts in the sky it will eventually come down. The only one who hangs things in the sky that doesn’t come down is God. Even the rain after it comes down goes right back up.

People come to the conclusion that there is a higher power based on what they have seen. God has style. Just look at the flowers he has created. He’s got an apple tree, and an orange tree, and the grape vine. And they all have different tastes. God’s got style. God’s got power. God has strength. Look at the mountains, look at his majesty. God has beauty. Look at the countryside, the beauty and glory of God.

V2-3: Day unto day, creation speaks. The sun rises, warms and sets everyday; God is speaking. It never fails. It doesn’t slow down or speed up. Every day he speaks, no matter what language we speak.

V4-5: He comes out like a bridegroom. The sun comes out and struts its stuff and we are glad to see it. It’s contrast is darkness. But the sun comes out like a strong man ready to run a race.

God makes a declaration about who his is based on what he has done.

V7-9: God says I am the Lord God Almighty. Every proud artist signs his name to what he has done. He doesn’t want to leave anything, anyone to question who has done the work. God signs his name.
God’s Word is perfect and restores the soul. If you need restoration go to the Word of God. You will gain some wisdom. The way that seems right to man is the way of death. When we were simple we didn’t know. Now that we know to follow, it makes us wise. God’s Word, his statutes are right all the time and when I follow them my heart gets glad. It is pure, has no fault, and is totally and completely clean.

Purity has to come from above. All the cleaning we try to do from below will become dirty from the dust that comes from around us. God’s Word is coming from above, it is pure. When it gets twisted is here on earth. That’s when we twist it.

When we first encounter God we are in awe but there are two reasons we won’t follow him:

1. We say he expects to much;
2. We don’t understand God’s power and say the task is too hard.

God doesn’t want us to be caught like a deer in head lights before him. When he makes a judgment it is to keep us safe.

V10: We go after what we can see. We go after the money, the gold, the ice to find out we didn’t win. Above all, God’s Word is the thing to cling to. He is the one who provides and we should pursue him above all. If we do this there is eternal reward.

Who can understand their errors? We know we did wrong but when asked, “Why did you do that?” we wonder how we got caught. We really cannot understand our errors because at mainstream we have to realize it is because we are sinners.

V12-13: We try to sneak things passed God but we can’t. We try to take liberties. We try to overstep our bounds. David asks that the Lord stop him before he even gets there. We need to say, “Lord, HELP ME! Keep me from those sins I will deliberately commit and try to get over on you.” David wanted to live for God, we should too. David says he will do a self check-up. We do the check-up, see we need help but won’t go to Him for the help.

V14: We want the things that come from our mouth, which come from our heart, to be pleasing to God. I want you (God) to always be able to see me. David humbled himself because he is instructed by God’s Word to be obedient.

David wanted God’s attention because God has David’s attention. We want the blessing but we have to follow the Lord. Today, if God needed to make a declaration for the world to hear is there anyone that He could chose amongst us that would not change a word of what He wanted to say?

Every day, behold God’s creation, read your daily devotion and be challenged by it, read God’s Word and tell God thank you. Your life will change, your attitude toward trials will change. Your outlook on life will change. It’s because you are allowing God to have control. He will not force us. He makes the request of us. It is up to us to trust and obey.

Pastor Pete

If I Could Write My Life Story What Would It Say?

January 22, 2012

Philippians 2:5-13

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross! 

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 

 

If I could write my life story what would it say?

We live life carefree. In some cultures or religions they map out the life their child will take. They drill into their children the plan they have for their lives even if it means dying for their faith. His or her story is written and if he or she dies they feel they are fulfilling the plan for their lives.

If I could write my life story what would it say?

Jewish people teach their children that they have value. They are God’s children and they instill in their child their importance and what it means to be a Jewish man or woman. Their life story is being written.

As Blacks, minorities, do we know what our life story would say? We are a people of secrecy. Things happen in families that never come out. All the secrets are part of our story that we don’t know. We see things happening in our families but are clueless because we don’t know the story.

Martin Luther King’s legacy and the lives of his children were shaped by the story of his life. He said, “I have a dream”. To some degree his dream has materialized. We can go to school and work in offices and be integrated. We can be supervisors to a rainbow of people. The dream that he had however, was not that we would destroy it. Many young people now don’t realize they are writing the story of their lives, and it’s not a good one. These life stories are detrimental to them and society.

V5 – Check out Christ's life and look at His story
No matter where you come from or who you are your story doesn’t have to be bad. Look at Christ's life, follow Him and adapt yourself to walk like Him.


V6 - Christ knew who He was and didn’t need to shout it from the roof tops. You’ve got to know who you are. There are things that have happened in our families that are shameful. We can’t dismiss it. What we can do is bring it to God. It's apart of our life story. It is what it is and impacts my life but it doesn’t have to be my future. 

V7 - When you know who you are you will determine what you will do. Don’t let anyone dictate what you can do. When you know who you are you can determine whom you will serve and whom you will help. A bondservant was one who chose to stay with his master once he/she received freedom. Christ didn’t just follow the orders of his Father. He accepted the challenge and said I will go.

V8 – Those with power always want to keep those without it oppressed. We want to be like Christ who was more powerful than us but humbled himself. Hebrews 2 says Christ became flesh, human. He humbled himself and was obedient to God even to the point of death. He had to die as a criminal but was exalted by God to the highest place. 

V9-11 - When we live our lives for God we receive our reward from God.
We need to write our story based on the life of Christ. When our teachers or parents are there we are on our best behavior. It's changes when the sub comes but we need to behave as if nothing has changed. This is what Paul tells the church; I may be gone but live as if I were still here with you.

V12 - People spend money to change their life story. Work out the issues of your life in God, with reverence to God. Let Him shape your life in spite of. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? The dump, the ghetto of Israel? Yes! A Savior. Jesus Christ the Lord. Jesus was hunted as a baby. You don’t think He knew that? That was His life story. Don’t you think He was affected when His father died and being the oldest He had to help take care of His brothers and sisters? That was His life story.

V13 – It is God who works in you, the story He has shaped for you. A great, amazing story so that you have a future and a hope (Jer 29:11). As you follow the Lord you can help change the course of someone else’s history like Dr. King did. His life story changed the life story for many individuals, nationalities and people groups. It is His will and you know it is working when you see how it touches the lives of so many others.

In 2012, let’s develop an attitude of not being ashamed of who I am and where I come from. Take on an attitude of humility and obedience to God for he does good in our lives. Statistics say that Dr. King’s children should have gone ary but I believe they knew who their daddy was and they used it to write their story; becoming lawyers, ministers, activists – for the glory of God. 

If you were to write your life story what would it say? 

 

Pastor Pete

Obedience God’s Way

January 15, 2012

Psalm 19:14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

What governs our humanity is mercy. God does not treat us in the manner in which we deserve to be treated. In his holiness he should be judging us every day and we would come up short everyday and face a penalty every day. You’re always worried about what will come next.


He governs our souls by grace. When someone shows you mercy you look at them and wonder what’s up. I deserve to be punished, what’s up with you? God wants to govern us by grace. It is favor by God, undeserved and there is nothing that you can do to gain it.


Obedience God’s Way

Our one desire should be to please God, to walk upright before Him, to obey Him. It all depends on how we look at ourselves and how we look at God. Obedience can freely be given to someone in authority who express love toward us. It is owed to a God who has shown time and again that He loves us. David says let the think that I say express that which is in my heart. We don’t want what’s in our heart and what comes out of our mouth be two different things. That’s lying.

Are we obedient to God? Not just with our words but with our lives. It begins in our hearts.

The children of Israel ask Samuel for a king (1 Samuel 8:19). Samuel is getting older and his sons are supposed to be the next in line but they are no good. They have not chosen to follow and obey the Lord. And the children of Israel want a king after seeing the other nations around them. God tells Samuel their not rejecting him (Samuel) but rejecting God.

Here comes Saul and he looks good. We have an image of what we want our leaders to look like. And Israel wanted Saul based on what they saw.

1 Samuel 13:8-11
Israel is about to go to war. The priest is supposed to bless them before they go to battle. Because the priest was late Saul does the blessing himself. This is against the law set by God. Isn’t it more important to wait on the Lord instead of jumping the gun to do it in your own time? What if the “delay” is part of God’s plan. Saul was elected based on popularity and he wanted to keep it. Because the people were grumbling and not looking at him he had to get it back


1 Samuel 15
Saul once again disobeys God. The Israelites are about to go into battle and God tells him to destroy everything but Saul keeps the king alive and some of the spoils that they were told to destroy. This time Saul is rejected by God (v26). The first time you can say it’s a mistake. The second time you cannot say you didn’t know better. It reveals your character.


Saul tried to fix it his way to make it look good and then throw some God in the mix.
Is it better to make sacrifices to appease God or to obey him? Sacrifices are usually done after we’ve screwed up. Sacrifices were done to fix the wrong that was done. But Samuel says it’s not about fixing the wrong but not causing the wrong in the first place.


1 Samuel 28
This is how far disobedience takes you. Samuel dies. When God rejected Saul, Samuel told Saul that God was done with him. So Saul knew he was out of the reach of God but with Samuel still alive he knew the voice of the Lord was in the land. Saul wants to hear from God but Samuel is gone so he goes to a medium. When Saul first became king he got rid of them but now that Samuel is gone he seeks one out.

We need to live upright before the Lord, to do it God’s way so that those who examine us can say like Pilot; "I find no fault with him". The tragic ending of Saul's life is that he committed suicide. He was going to be defeated; he was wounded in battle and fell on his own sword.


David tells us to check ourselves. The One we want to please is God. It’s about character. Truth could be in front of us but we would rather believe in other people’s opinions. Which would you rather live by: Someone's opinion or God's truth? It is important that we be honest before God and not let anyone change our stance for God. Let’s obey Him.

Pastor Pete

If You Bring the Vessel Empty, God Will Fill It

July 18, 2010

2 Kings 4:1-7

Last Sunday we discussed that we overcome the world by our faith. This is the story of a woman of faith – a spiritual woman.

This woman was a widow – the wife of a prophet who served under Elisha the prophet. The Testimony of his life was that he "revered God". 2 Kings 4:1 (NIV)

In those days the husband was the source of income for the family. With his death, she no longer had a source of income.

She had a need so she went to Elisha the prophet and stated her need – “my husband is dead, the creditors are coming to take my sons to be slaves”.

Elisha asked her “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” She answered “nothing but a little oil”. 2 Kings 4:2 (NIV)

He told her to go and ask all her neighbors for empty vessels - many empty vessels. Go into her house, shut the door and pour the little oil she had into the empty vessels she had collected. She and her sons did exactly as instructed. They obeyed the command of the prophet Elisha who was the “man of God” at that time. 2 Kings 4:3, 4 (NIV)

The miracle came in her obedience. As she did what she was asked to do, the little jar of oil kept filling the large vessels she has collected until all were full and there was not another vessel available. 2 Kings 4:5, 6 (NIV)

She then went back to Elisha the prophet and told him she had done what he told her to do. He then told her to go and sell the oil, pay her debt and live off the rest. 2 Kings 4:7 (NIV).

God provided a source of income from what she already had. In blessing the widow, she was able to bless others.

The question for us today is...

Do we know what we need? Can we clearly state the need? Do we go to God with a clear need? Do we follow the instructions God gives us? Do we do the necessary work (go out and ask for vessels)?  Do we go back to God and let him know we have followed His instructions so that He can tell us the next step? Our need causes us to recognize our dependence on God.

Application to our lives today:

• The prophet is the Word of God – Bible
• The seeking out of Elisha – Prayer
• The need – physical, emotional, spiritual, financial etc
• The little oil – the Holy Spirit
• The vessels – us as individuals

God pours his Holy Spirit into us to meet whatever need we may have. When we pray, God speaks to us through His Word. If we obey, our needs are met and we are able to bless others. When God blesses, He always gives us enough for ourselves and others. But God’s blessings are hindered when we move from where God can pour the oil into our vessel by not reading the Word, not praying, not obeying God’s Word and not fellowshipping with other believers, yet we expect God to be able to bless us. But He cannot.

Sometimes our vessel is full – full of sin, doubt, disobedience, self-righteousness and pride. But if we bring the vessel empty, God will fill it up.

Pastor Pete