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

Don’t Worry, We Happy. Trust Jesus!

January 8, 2012 

Matthew 6:24-34

Don’t worry, be happy. Trust Jesus!

How do you get rid of the worry? Just to say, “don’t worry be happy”, what does that mean? As we look at Matthew (this passage is part of the Sermon on the Mount) Jesus says the first place we need to look to is the Father. Everything we have is because of God. If God does not give us the ability to wake up in our own mind we can be strong as an ox but be locked up in an institution. And we can be in our right mind and be aware of what is going on but not be able to tell our bodies to move. We have a lot to thank God for.

We want to please everybody but it is impossible. Jesus says we cannot serve two masters because at some point you have to give one up; you will have to choose (v24). One will demand of you more than you can give. You can juggle it awhile but the weight of it all will press you down. As it happens in the natural so it happens in the spiritual. 

We understand the concept of not serving two masters but when it comes to God we don’t think that way. Unless we have committed our hearts and minds to the Lord the way that God says, we have two masters sitting on the throne of our lives and one of them is us. We want to rule God and tell Him what is good for us. There can only be one person sitting on the throne – you cannot serve God and mammon.


To not live a worried life

 We must place God on the throne of our lives 

If we make the choice for Christ we need not worry about our lives (v25). We put so much effort into food and clothing but isn’t life more than food and our body more than clothing? The spirit side of us has a greater need to be fed but we focus only on that which we can see. We worry about things that are trivial. Food is important and clothing is important but should not be a priority. A priority should be knowing Him, serving Him, trusting Him.

If God provides for the bird their daily bread how much more will He provide for us? Why worry about your height? You can’t change it. We can get the greatest landscaper for our property but it is not more beautiful then God’s creation; kept and landscaped by Him. We don’t consider the things that God has done, has kept, has provided. We don’t have to worry about what we drink, what we eat, what we wear. (v26-31)

Jesus tells the Jews that the Gentiles want what they have (v32); a God that provides for their needs. In the same manner, as believers, we have what the world wants; a Heavenly Father who knows exactly what we need. He knows our wants but they are not the important things. He knows and will take care of it.

Want to be happy? Trust the Lord, seek him. We live in a world of trouble, trials, and tribulation. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Somehow, somewhere in the midst of the struggle He gives me happiness and a peace that the world cannot give. If you come to God complaining and blaming him you are not walking in his righteousness. Ask him instead to fortify us, to be with us. 

When we worry we lose sleep (Psalm 127:2). Jesus says don’t worry about tomorrow (v34). If God is in the right place in your life, worry not about tomorrow but commit it to the Lord. God does it (all things) in our lives. HE'S GOT US. When you persevere in the Lord you can sit back and see what the Lord has enabled you to do. We don’t need to be worried about what tomorrow holds but know who holds tomorrow and that He holds your hand.

Pastor Pete