Obedience

Obedience

-How many here tonight made a New Years resolution?

-How many have already been broken?

-Do you know what the #1 resolution is every year?

-lose weight/get in shape

-Some others are to quit smoking, call grandma more, etc….

-How about adding one more?

-How about being more obedient to god?

-Well Scott what do you mean more obedient?

-I already study my bible, go to church, I even TITHE!!!!

-Hey that’s great!! But are you as obedient as you should be?

-I believe if you look a little closer you’ll find room for your

improvement

-you could even ask god

( read matt 1:18-25 )

-Whoa wait a minute!! This is Christmas scripture

-I think of obedient people Mary and Joseph come to mind

-They didn’t ask for what was about to happen to them

-they had options, the didn’t have to obey god

-Let’s look at Mary for a minute

-Here she was betrothed to Joseph, now in Jewish laws they were

legally bound together not like our common engagement

-it was broken only by divorce

-so here’s Mary not quite married… pregnant

-Now Nazareth was a small town

-small town gossip…..travels fast

-I grew up in a small town ,smaller than Moulton

-And I could get in trouble at the ballpark and dad would know

before I could get home

-Little Susie Mae dumped Bobby Joe on Sat. nite we all knew by

Sunday school

-and I bet the little ladies at the Nazareth beauty parlor was all in a

tizzy about Mary

-Mary knew the talks were coming…the whispers…the stares..

-this wasn’t going to be easy

-Mary had options… she didn’t have to obey God

-she could’ve put the baby up for adoption

-she could’ve left Joseph

-She could’ve pleaded with God not to do this to her

-this was much to pain to go through

-But Mary was obedient unto God

-God chose Mary for this divine task because she was pure

and obedient

-Mary was obedient unto God during the inconvenient times

not just the convient times

-Maybe this is where room for improvement is

-Are you obedient to him during the incovient times or just during

the convient times

-Let’s talk about Joseph for a minute

-he finds out Mary is pregnant

-knows the child is not his

-Joseph hears the rumors, the whispers

-can you imagine what was going through his mind?

-in verse 19 it says Joseph was a righteous man and did not want to expose her public disgrace he had in mind to divorce her quietly

-now in my study text it says he would sign the necessary papers

and not have publicly judged and possibly stoned

-now in verse 20”an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream

Son of David don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife

because what is conceived in her is of the holy spirit.”

-but Joseph had options… he didn’t have to take Mary as his wife

-the gossip would only hurt their marriage

-the child wasn’t his anyway

-he could take her away and divorce her

-but Joseph was obedient unto god

-there were countless others through out the bible that

brave and obedient

- if you’ll turn to acts 7:54-60

-Stephen was talking the Sanhedrin

- they took Stephen out to stone him

-in verse 59-60

59) while they were stoning him, Stephen prayed lord

Jesus receive my spirit

60) then he fell on his face knees and cried out lord do not

hold this sin against them when he said this fell asleep

-Stephen was being stoned to DEATH

-yet he was still thinking of others

-Stephen was being obedient during extreme inconvience

-John Harper also comes to mind

-who was John Harper you ask

Born in 1872.. saved at 13..preaching at 17

- he got married but his wife died giving birth to his daughter Nana

-when she was 6 he decided to move to America to do revivals

-John, Nana, and his sister in law boarded a boat for Chicago

-awakened in the night by bells and alarms

-the boat was sinking

-he forced his sister-in-law and daughter in a life boat and kissed

his daughter goodbye then started asking for women,children

and unsaved to get in the boat

-minutes later the boat was exploding people began to jump

John Harper was one of them

- it was said John swan in the chilly waters leading people to Jesus

-His last words were said to be “Believe in the lord Jesus and you

will be saved….

-Instead of trying to save his own life he witnessed to others

- John Harper was obedient unto god

-another comes to mind..someone that could’ve had anything

he ever wanted, but yet chose to obey the father