Sermons on Obedience
When we talk about the prayer of forbearance, we are talking about prayer that is characterized by patience, endurance, and long-suffering (or another way to think about it is would be “suffering long”). In your community groups this past week, you talked about some of the reasons why God does not answer prayer as quickly…
In our message today, I want to explore some of the most audacious and grandiose teachings of our Lord during His time here on earth. Teachings so extravagant that we struggle to know what to do with them! How can our Lord Jesus say to us: “Ask, and it will be given to you”? This…
On this snowy, Sunday morning—broadcasting from his home—Pastor Wade spends a few minutes considering the concept of praying with boldness and authenticity while also praying in obedience to the will of God. Looking first to the book of James to consider this issue of obedience, he then looks at the example of Jesus in the…
As we enter into the New Year, many people are making New Year’s Resolutions with the hopes of improving their lives. Some resolutions are grandiose and unrealistic while others are more practical and feasible. But what if there was a resolution that was guaranteed to succeed? Wouldn’t that be worth your time? Listen in as Pastor David shares what the Bible has to say about the kind of resolution that lasts.
When Jesus was ministering on Earth, He taught and did many things. On one such occasion, He went to a desolate place to take a break and rest with his disciples only to be interrupted by a crowd who wanted to see Him perform miracles. What He did at that time provided His disciples with several key lessons that we can still learn from today.
God said that this was the most important thing in the entire Bible—love Him with all our heart, soul and might. Learning to love God teaches us how to love others! The problem is that we have a skewed understanding of what it means to love one another. The three Hebrew words used in Deuteronomy 6:5 (translated heart, soul, and might) provide a clear biblical definition of love: Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object.
When thinking about the ways in which God leads His people, R. Kent Hughes said, “God can use unhappy, perplexing failures to bring fresh purpose and direction to our lives… Even when we are at fault, God will use our failures to bring greater blessing… God will lead us according to his own perfect plan for our lives and ministries. We must be careful not to box God in by our prior experience. The most important thing by far is our attitude… We need to yield to his caring hand.”
Realize that God will pursue you. Recognize that you are helpless without Him. Refocus upon god and godly things. Rely upon God to rescue you from despair. Remember the Lord with prayer and thanksgiving. Respond in obedience when God directs you.
After spending seven weeks looking at the first three chapters of the Book of Judges, we will be studying all of chapters 4 and 5 this evening. These chapters are unique in that chapter 4 is an historical accounting of the story of Deborah, Barak and Jael; while chapter 5 relates the events through the eyes of a poet or song writer, which provides us with a greater understanding of the story as a whole. Chapter 4 provides us with some understanding of the passage, but it is not until chapter 5 that we are able to see the hand of God continually at work to bring about His plan and His purposes.
In our study today, we will spend some time thinking about the transformational work of Jesus in the life of Saul. Saul was a brutal and bloody man whose goal was nothing short of the complete annihilation of those “belonging to the Way.” God interrupted Saul’s plans with a miraculous encounter with Jesus. This encounter dramatically changed Saul’s life, but we cannot overlook the years and years that it took to prepare Saul/Paul for his eventual mission to the Gentiles. It takes time to build a life that can be effectively used in the service and ministry of God. In the same way, God is still working on you and me—shaping us according to His will.