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
-his name was Jesus
-you see he didn’t have to walk on water
-heal the sick…blind to see…lame to walk…deaf to hear…
-feed the multitudes…save the thief on the cross…
-he didn’t have to die in Calvary
-he could’ve gotten 10,000 angels to come to get him
- he died for you and me… our past, present, and future
when he died he gave us life in heaven
-he was obedient unto the father during agony and pain
-you see Mary and Joseph was obedient and they were blessed
with Jesus
-Jesus was obedient and we were blessed with eternal life
-what about you are you where you need to be with god
-Are you here tonight a Christian, and not as obedient as you should be….
-may be god has spoken to about something and your not obeying
him..
-tonight this altar is the right place to make a New Years resolution
- maybe you’re here tonight and your lost never accepted Jesus
-Romans 10:9 says “that if you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from
Dead you will be saved”
-you will be saved… not you should be saved or you might be
saved YOU WILL BE SAVED!!!!!!
- Tonight is the night to make a new years resolution..
