FOLLOWING GOD’S DIRECTIONS
Intro:
Have you ever booked anything off the internet like a rental car, well you should try it sometime, it could be an interesting experience .
This last weekend Liz booked us a flight and succored a rental car through the internet. This company I have never heard of but it was one of the recommended companies of south west on their site. Well we get into L.A. and use a courtesy phone to let the rental car place know that we have arrived and they can send a shuttle for us. So they wanted us to catch this shuttle bus from some hotel that would take us to our destination……
gps wouldn’t work so were sitting there with wall to wall buildings around us streets we do not know, thinking to our selves how are we going to get to were we need to be . You see gps are great WHEN THEY WORK. WELL WE FIGURED OUT HOW TO GET IT TO WORK AND WE WERE ON OUR WAY. You see we all need a GPS system in our life to give us direction but we need to be tunded into the right area or els its useless . We also can have the right address but if we do not obey or listen to the gudince we will never reach our destination. because they … The title of this morning message is following Gods direction . Too many times we try to figure things out on our own we don’t plot a course or ask for direction we do it by our own strength . In 1911 TWO GROUPS OF EXSPLORERS SET OFF ON A MISSION to scale the mountains of ANTARTICA. ONE MAN NAMED AMUNDSEN WAS A NORWIGEN AND ROBERT SCOTT AN EXSPERIANCED CLIMBER WAS BRITISH …………. YOU SEE WE NEED TO ALLOW God to navigate because if we follow our selves we will chart the wrong course and will not be able to carry on but surely die in defeat.
One day a Roman army officer came to Jesus and said, “I have a servant who’s very ill. In fact, he’s paralyzed and he’s suffering in bed.’ Jesus said, ‘I’ll go to your house and heal him.’ And the Roman centurion said, ‘O Lord, You don’t need to do that. I understand authority and I’m not worthy for You to come to my house. But I know this obedience and authority thing. I’m a captain in the army. I give commands to my soldiers and they obey immediately. I make commands to my servants and they obey me immediately. They do whatever I tell them to do. So I understand authority and obedience. You don’t need to come to my house, Jesus. If You just say the word from right here I’m sure he’ll be healed instantly.’ Jesus looked at that man and said, ‘This is the greatest faith I’ve ever seen in Israel.’”
The greatest faith. Why? Because faith and obedience are interlocked. When you trust someone you do what they say. If you don’t do what someone tells you to do it means you don’t trust them. God has linked faith and obedience together so that all of the promises of God are conditioned upon you following the directions that He gives you.
Notice Deuteronomy 5:33 “Follow all the directions the Lord has given you. Then life will go well for you.” God has made some incredible promises in His word about obedience. And He gets very, very specific. In fact, there were so many promises about obedience in God’s word I couldn’t list them all. I just picked and chose a few of them. Notice what God promises if we obey Him.
God blesses those who obey Him.
God saves those who obey Him.
God watches over those who obey Him.
The Lord takes care of those who obey Him.
You will be helped – God helps those who obey Him.
The Bible says if you obey and follow God’s instructions you will live in perfect freedom. You will have greater wisdom. You will dwell in security and peace.
God often gives us rules and commands in His word they’re not suggestions; they’re commands – but He doesn’t ALWAYS explain why. He wants you to do them OUT of faith. Sometimes they sound unfair. They sound like they’re meant to cramp your style, that God is some kind of kill joy, that He’s limiting you. For instance, the Bible is very clear no sex outside of marriage.
It’s real clear about that – over and over. Sex is for husbands and wives in the bonds of marriage.
The Bible says when somebody hurts you, you are to forgive them. The Bible says you’re to take the first ten-percent and tithe it back to God. The Bible says when people do evil to you, you are to do good back to them.
A lot of these commands, they don’t make sense from a human standpoint. But God says do it. It’s a matter of trust. So then the big question is will I be blessed by obeying what God said to do even when I don’t understand it or by making up my own set of rules because I know more than God.
There’s no question about that.
Obedience is a demonstration of faith. Obedience unlocks the key to all of God’s blessings in life. God promises to reward you if you’ll just follow His directions.
How to Receive God’s Promises
When you know what God wants you to do, when you know what the will of God is, you do four things.
1. Obey God rightaway.
You don’t delay. You don’t wait. You don’t procrastinate. You don’t put it off. You don’t make excuses. You don’t drag your feet. Just do it. You do it now. You don’t do it later. You do it now.
Psalm 119:32 “I will quickly obey Your commands. ... Without delay I hurry to obey Your commands.” If there’s any time in life you really ought to hurry it’s when God tells you to do something. Don’t delay on that. You hurry. You obey God immediately whether you feel like it or not. Whether you understand it or not. Just do it immediately.
If you want the blessings of God, you must obey God immediately. When He tells you something to do you follow the instructions. Delayed obedience is disobedience.
If you want all the blessings of God in your life, you must also ...
2. Obey Him all the way.
Not just instantly or immediately but completely. You don’t say, “I’ll take this one and not that one... I like this command but I don’t like that one... I’m going to follow this one but I’m not going to follow that one.” You need to not be partially obedient, but totally obedient.
Psalm 119 says, “Lord, You gave Your orders to be obeyed completely.” In order to do this, to obey God completely, you need to understand two very important truths.
1. God’s standard of right and wrong has never changed.
It never has. It never will.
If something was wrong 6000 years ago it’s still wrong today. If it was right 10,000 years ago, it’s still right today.
Lying was wrong in the Ten Commandments. It’s still wrong today. Truth doesn’t change.
Culture changes, popular opinion changes. Lots of things change but truth does not change.
It is eternal forever. And what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong. Regardless of what the popular opinion polls say.
2. God has a bigger perspective than you. He sees things you can’t see.
You trying to see from God’s perspective would be like an ant trying to see from your perspective.
It isn’t going to happen. You’re not capable of seeing it all like God sees it all. You need to trust Him.
“Your job is not to decide whether God’s law is right or wrong, but to obey it.”
Every time you’re tempted he’s still using that same line on you in your conscious. “I know the Bible says don’t do this. But did God really say... Is it really for me?
I know the Bible says I’m supposed to do ‘this’ but really, does that apply in the 21st century.” “ Did God really….?” is to doubt God’s word. Don’t let Satan mess you up like that.
Faith is trusting God in the details of life.
Proverbs 3:5 “Trust God from the bottom of your heart. Don’t try to figure out everything on your own.”
One day there was a man who was ill named Naaman and he had leprosy. He went to Elijah and said, “I’m a very famous man but I’ve got leprosy.
What do I do?” and Elijah said, “I’ll tell you what. Just to show your faith, God wants you to go down to the Jordan river and dunk yourself under it seven times.”
Naaman says, “You’ve got to be kidding. It’s humiliating.” Elijah says, “Yes, it’s humbling yourself before God.” On the last time he comes up and he was cured of his leprosy. Was there special power in the water? Absolutely not.
It was because he was obedient to God. He had faith. And he obeyed God completely.
Jesus says if you trust Me in the details of life, if you are faithful in the little things, it means you trust Me and I will reward you with bigger things in heaven.
If you’re faithful in little things you will be faithful in much and you will have greater responsibility, greater rewards and greater joy in heaven. Incomplete obedience, partial obedience is not only disobedience. It’s a lack of trust.
Obey God immediately and completely.
3. You must obey God Happily.
Psalm 100:2 “Obey Him gladly.” Psalm 119:16 “I enjoy obeying Your commands.” Psalm 119:47 “I find pleasure in obeying Your commands.” How was it enjoyable to do what God tells you to do? To follow the instructions, to obey His commands. How is that enjoyable? Three reasons.
1. Because I’ll have fewer problems. If I follow the instruction manual for life that God the creator laid out it’s going to have a whole lot more benefit and fewer problems in my life. When you’re putting together a bicycle does it help to follow the instructions? Yes.
So you’ll have fewer problems in life, that makes it enjoyable.
2. I know I’m going to be rewarded in heaven and I can see all those promises that God has made.
3. It’s enjoyable because I love God. I know what He’s done for me so I love Him and I want to obey Him.
“Loving God means doing what He tells us to do.” In marriage, the longer you live together, the more you know what offends and grieves your partner – your husband or wife.
You don’t know that when you first get married but the longer you’re married the more you figure out what will offend that person. Like blowing your nose at the dinner table or passing gas on the couch or leaving the seat up. You learn what offends your partner. But if you love that person, the longer you’re married the less you do those things because you don’t want to offend them.
You love them. You don’t want to grieve them. You love them.
When you walk with the Lord through many years the more you realize what God has done for you, how good He’s been to you, the less you want to offend God. You enjoy doing the right thing.
You enjoy keeping His commands. You do it because you love God.
If you want the blessings of God in your life you obey Him immediately, completely, joyfully and...
4. Obey Him always
Life is not a 50-yard dash. It’s a marathon. You obey God not sporadically. Now this year, not next year, yes the next year, no the next year after that.
It’s all your life. Psalm 119:112 “I am determined to obey You until I die.” Have you made that choice? I have. I have made the choice that I am determined to obey God until I die. And the blessings in my life have been beyond my wildest dreams because I am determined to obey God for the rest of my life.
“Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it, Lord. As long as I live I’ll wholeheartedly obey.” Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it – make that your prayer.
You say, “Why doesn’t God tell me what to do? I’ve been praying what to do in this situation.”
I’ll tell you why He hasn’t told you. Because you’re not already doing what He’s already told you to do. God does not play games where you say, “God, tell me what to do and then I’ll decide whether to do it or not.” He’s not going to tell you that way.
No, you say, “In advance, I’m telling You I’m going to do whatever You tell me to do.” That’s faith.
Then He’ll tell you.
Why should God tell you what to do in this circumstance that you’re worried about when you’re not already doing the things you already know to be the will of God and you ought to have done and haven’t.
Why haven’t you already done it? Why is He going to give you further revelation if you have not acted on the truth He’s told you?
What we’re talking about this morning is the most basic fundamental thing of Christianity. Not everybody who claims to be a Christian is one. Not everybody who claims to know Jesus Christ is going to heaven. It’s an issue of obedience.
Matthew 7:21 “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to Me as Lord but they still won’t enter heaven. (This is Jesus talking.) The decisive issue is whether they obey My Father .”
Prayer:
