Obedience, Disobedience, and the Journey of Faith
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "If you make a mistake, that's okay. But realize that when you make a mistake and your confidence goes down, that's a perfect opportunity for you to start doing some investigation, some seeking of, well, okay, I was really confident. I made a mistake. I don't know everything. Well, how can I become an expert? But a lot of us stop there. We stop it and you're going to, you'll see how I'm going to work this into our Christian life. But a lot of us stop there. We make a mistake and we go, forget it. I'm done. I'm not going to try that again because I thought I knew it. I made a mistake. It was too difficult. I know nothing. I'm just going to quit." [07:35]
2. "Don't be the fool who thinks he knows it all. Based on, again, Proverbs 12, 15, and Proverbs 18, verse 2, don't be the fool who thinks he knows it all. A couple of examples, nobody in this room, a couple of examples for you to try to kind of build this idea of who this, this fool is and how you can avoid being that fool. Think about a person like this. One example of mine is showing up to work at Pioneer, or I was at Pioneer, taking auto tech. I was hired to work at Whitey's Auto Mall. They've changed the name to Mansfield Motor Group since then. Shows how old I am." [01:30]
3. "If I want to be closer to God, I need to know him. And you can do that by reading his word. And you can grow in your faith. It's not going to look like this graph, by the way. You're not going to just gradually, perfectly smooth, become a mature, obedient follower of Christ. You're going to have bumps in the road. It's going to be more like a staircase, probably. Like, man, some days you feel amazing. And you feel like you got all the answers that are asked about God. And then you're going to go to the next day, like, you're going to make mistakes. Somebody's going to ask you a question. You're like, I don't know. I don't know where that's in the Bible. I don't even have an answer for you. But that's growth. That's okay." [24:16]
4. "I believe every believer is indwelled with the Holy Spirit. That's what scripture says. Some of us, I don't say reject it. I don't say reject it because we may even very much try to be obedient and do what Christ says. But I think even the Holy Spirit's at work and people who don't think that the Holy Spirit's at work, they just don't realize it. And I've seen people's lives so strong and say, man, that can only because God working in their life, because they weren't like that before. They were not the kind, gentle, patient person before meeting Christ. And then now they are. That seems to be a work of God to me." [28:35]
5. "Are you going to listen to that, though? Are you going to accept it and say, man, Jesus truly is our Savior? I believe there's a God who created this world and created humans and everything else that's in it. There's complete order. When I look at the vastness of the cosmos and the planets and the stars, like, man, there's got to be a creator. But who is that creator, Jesus Christ, and John the Baptist said, he is the one. He says, I am that person. But are you going to receive it? Are you going to accept that message?" [19:47]
### Quotes for Members
1. "God, our relationship with God is so important. Our relationship with God should be so great that we're willing to surrender everything else for that relationship. Because what Saul did, we are often guilty with as well. Well, man, this thing that I probably shouldn't be doing, I really don't care about. Okay, I'll stop doing that. God, I'll give you that part of my life. The one that I don't really want anyway, you can have that part. But this other part that, man, I've done this my whole life. I might even be addicted to it. Can't give you that part though. That's kind of what Saul and his troops did. God says, destroy everything. And they say, well, we'll destroy the worthless parts. That's not enough." [13:38]
2. "Here's the problem is that unbelief is at the core of our disobedience. For Saul and his troops, when God said, go to war, destroy everything. Ultimately, they didn't believe him completely. They believe them a little bit. God, I know you called us to go defeat our enemy. That's easy. I mean, the battle's not easy, but I accept that part of what you're telling me to do. The destroy everything. I'm not so sure about that part. I don't know if I believe you on that part. I'm going to, I'm going to test you. I might even disobey and see how that turns out. Because ultimately it was their unbelief. They didn't take God at his word completely. And that's what cost him his kingship. So unbelief is at the core of our disobedience." [15:24]
3. "If you have, I want to share with you an encouragement about your spiritual walk, because you might experience that same graph as you try to attempt to be a disciple of Jesus. If that's what we're here for, if the Great Commission says to go and make disciples and then teach them all things about God and about Scripture and about Jesus, what does that look like? Well, a lot of times when you first become a Christian, you're very enthusiastic. You're excited. Like, man, I've just been saved from hell. I've been forgiven of my sins. That's amazing. I'm so excited. Then you make a mistake. Then you start facing some troubles. And then you start thinking, man, this isn't as easy as I thought it was. This isn't everything they told me it was going to be. And then you realize that you're going to have struggles and you can respond similar to the graph I showed you earlier." [21:19]
4. "I think if we put the effort in, and not that this is our own works type salvation, I don't believe that. But if we take the initiative and say, all right, I'm going to study God's word to get to know who he is. If I want to be closer to God, I need to know him. And you can do that by reading his word. And you can grow in your faith. It's not going to look like this graph, by the way. You're not going to just gradually, perfectly smooth, become a mature, obedient follower of Christ. You're going to have bumps in the road. It's going to be more like a staircase, probably. Like, man, some days you feel amazing. And you feel like you got all the answers that are asked about God. And then you're going to go to the next day, like, you're going to make mistakes. Somebody's going to ask you a question. You're like, I don't know. I don't know where that's in the Bible. I don't even have an answer for you. But that's growth. That's okay." [24:16]
5. "I find it so encouraging when somebody says, I've been wrong. Now, I hope it hasn't caused problems. They've been wrong, but to just hear somebody say, you know what? I actually put my own preconceived ideas of what God was like or what the Bible says and put that aside for a minute to actually study it. And I came out with a different opinion. That shows me that that person is not a fool, but they're wise because they sought counsel. They let God work rather than just sticking to their own. Traditions, the way they've grown up, all that kind of stuff." [25:37]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "If you make a mistake, that's okay. But realize that when you make a mistake and your confidence goes down, that's a perfect opportunity for you to start doing some investigation, some seeking of, well, okay, I was really confident. I made a mistake. I don't know everything. Well, how can I become an expert? But a lot of us stop there. We stop it and you're going to, you'll see how I'm going to work this into our Christian life. But a lot of us stop there. We make a mistake and we go, forget it. I'm done. I'm not going to try that again because I thought I knew it. I made a mistake. It was too difficult. I know nothing. I'm just going to quit." [07:35]
2. "Don't be the fool who thinks he knows it all. Based on, again, Proverbs 12, 15, and Proverbs 18, verse 2, don't be the fool who thinks he knows it all. A couple of examples, nobody in this room, a couple of examples for you to try to kind of build this idea of who this, this fool is and how you can avoid being that fool. Think about a person like this. One example of mine is showing up to work at Pioneer, or I was at Pioneer, taking auto tech. I was hired to work at Whitey's Auto Mall. They've changed the name to Mansfield Motor Group since then. Shows how old I am." [01:30]
3. "If I want to be closer to God, I need to know him. And you can do that by reading his word. And you can grow in your faith. It's not going to look like this graph, by the way. You're not going to just gradually, perfectly smooth, become a mature, obedient follower of Christ. You're going to have bumps in the road. It's going to be more like a staircase, probably. Like, man, some days you feel amazing. And you feel like you got all the answers that are asked about God. And then you're going to go to the next day, like, you're going to make mistakes. Somebody's going to ask you a question. You're like, I don't know. I don't know where that's in the Bible. I don't even have an answer for you. But that's growth. That's okay." [24:16]
4. "I believe every believer is indwelled with the Holy Spirit. That's what scripture says. Some of us, I don't say reject it. I don't say reject it because we may even very much try to be obedient and do what Christ says. But I think even the Holy Spirit's at work and people who don't think that the Holy Spirit's at work, they just don't realize it. And I've seen people's lives so strong and say, man, that can only because God working in their life, because they weren't like that before. They were not the kind, gentle, patient person before meeting Christ. And then now they are. That seems to be a work of God to me." [28:35]
5. "Are you going to listen to that, though? Are you going to accept it and say, man, Jesus truly is our Savior? I believe there's a God who created this world and created humans and everything else that's in it. There's complete order. When I look at the vastness of the cosmos and the planets and the stars, like, man, there's got to be a creator. But who is that creator, Jesus Christ, and John the Baptist said, he is the one. He says, I am that person. But are you going to receive it? Are you going to accept that message?" [19:47]
### Quotes for Members
1. "God, our relationship with God is so important. Our relationship with God should be so great that we're willing to surrender everything else for that relationship. Because what Saul did, we are often guilty with as well. Well, man, this thing that I probably shouldn't be doing, I really don't care about. Okay, I'll stop doing that. God, I'll give you that part of my life. The one that I don't really want anyway, you can have that part. But this other part that, man, I've done this my whole life. I might even be addicted to it. Can't give you that part though. That's kind of what Saul and his troops did. God says, destroy everything. And they say, well, we'll destroy the worthless parts. That's not enough." [13:38]
2. "Here's the problem is that unbelief is at the core of our disobedience. For Saul and his troops, when God said, go to war, destroy everything. Ultimately, they didn't believe him completely. They believe them a little bit. God, I know you called us to go defeat our enemy. That's easy. I mean, the battle's not easy, but I accept that part of what you're telling me to do. The destroy everything. I'm not so sure about that part. I don't know if I believe you on that part. I'm going to, I'm going to test you. I might even disobey and see how that turns out. Because ultimately it was their unbelief. They didn't take God at his word completely. And that's what cost him his kingship. So unbelief is at the core of our disobedience." [15:24]
3. "If you have, I want to share with you an encouragement about your spiritual walk, because you might experience that same graph as you try to attempt to be a disciple of Jesus. If that's what we're here for, if the Great Commission says to go and make disciples and then teach them all things about God and about Scripture and about Jesus, what does that look like? Well, a lot of times when you first become a Christian, you're very enthusiastic. You're excited. Like, man, I've just been saved from hell. I've been forgiven of my sins. That's amazing. I'm so excited. Then you make a mistake. Then you start facing some troubles. And then you start thinking, man, this isn't as easy as I thought it was. This isn't everything they told me it was going to be. And then you realize that you're going to have struggles and you can respond similar to the graph I showed you earlier." [21:19]
4. "I think if we put the effort in, and not that this is our own works type salvation, I don't believe that. But if we take the initiative and say, all right, I'm going to study God's word to get to know who he is. If I want to be closer to God, I need to know him. And you can do that by reading his word. And you can grow in your faith. It's not going to look like this graph, by the way. You're not going to just gradually, perfectly smooth, become a mature, obedient follower of Christ. You're going to have bumps in the road. It's going to be more like a staircase, probably. Like, man, some days you feel amazing. And you feel like you got all the answers that are asked about God. And then you're going to go to the next day, like, you're going to make mistakes. Somebody's going to ask you a question. You're like, I don't know. I don't know where that's in the Bible. I don't even have an answer for you. But that's growth. That's okay." [24:16]
5. "I find it so encouraging when somebody says, I've been wrong. Now, I hope it hasn't caused problems. They've been wrong, but to just hear somebody say, you know what? I actually put my own preconceived ideas of what God was like or what the Bible says and put that aside for a minute to actually study it. And I came out with a different opinion. That shows me that that person is not a fool, but they're wise because they sought counsel. They let God work rather than just sticking to their own. Traditions, the way they've grown up, all that kind of stuff." [25:37]
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