Partial Obedience is Disobedience

Several weeks ago, our classes, Sunday school classes that do the Explore the Bible curriculum

were studying the books of Joshua and Judges.

And these are books that are not big attractions.

You know, you hear people offer revelation and people come out of the woodwork and want to study revelation.

Or even the book of Romans sometimes will draw people or James.

But when you say, I'm going to be speaking or teaching through the book of Judges, you usually don't have big crowds go out of their way to come

because it just doesn't sound that appealing.

Maybe it sounds, if you've not studied it, you know, in depth, it may sound like it has a lot of legal terms

or a lot of the law of the Old Testament, which is not the truth at all.

And I found great delight going through our Sunday school class studying the book of Judges.

There's some very rich biblical truths that are found throughout this book.

And I think it's things that we can learn from in our own lives.

You know, they say a smart person learns from their mistakes in life.

But a wise man learns from other people's mistakes.

And so I think the Old Testament in general, but especially the passages we're going to be looking at today,

are definitely passages that we can analyze the life of the Israelites and we can certainly learn from.

And hopefully we can avoid repeating the same mistakes that maybe they made in their lives and apply them to us.

But understanding, you know, the type of life that God certainly would have us to live

and the holiness and purity that he's called us to live and to be set apart and to be different.

And so I think today we're going to, you know, find a really rich truth in the word that we can also hold up as a mirror

and look back into our lives.

And to recognize that the commands that God gave to Israel can also be heard and applied in our own lives.

God commanded them to rid the people of the land because of their culture.

But we can apply that to our lives of what are things in our culture that we need to rid from our lives,

that we don't need to embrace or to filter into the community so that we can live lives of holiness and purity.

Now, before we get into this, let me explain.

Moses had led Israel for 40 years.

He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and led them for 40 years as they wandered into the wilderness.

And now Moses has died right at the cusp of going into the promised land.

And Joshua has become the leader now that is going to be leading them into the promised land

and conquering and defeating the people groups that are already living there.

And we see that beginning and taking place in the book of Joshua.

And the different tribes of Israel were settling into the territories that had been allotted to them.

But Joshua failed to lead the people to completely obey God's command of driving the people completely out 100% without exception.

And so in the book of Judges, we see some of that continuing.

We see the children of Israel, the different tribes, trying to go to battle

and deliver the people groups from the areas and territories that they had been allotted.

But to spoil the story for you, we're going to see that they continue to fail to do that and certainly disobey God.

God had given them the commandment to go in 100% without exceptions to defeat, to kill, destroy,

and rid the land of the people and the influence that they would have in there.

And we see Israel failing to do that completely.

It wasn't that the Lord wasn't with them when they initially set into the promised land.

It wasn't that they ran into armies that were bigger and more powerful than them and God could not defeat.

They ran into cultures and countries that had chariots like Egypt did.

And the scripture kind of makes it out like they couldn't defeat them because of the chariots.

But is a chariot bigger than God?

Can God not defeat an army of chariots?

We see that he did against the Egyptians.

And so there were others that Israel failed to bring out.

But it wasn't that God could not do this for them.

What it boils down to is one word.

And that word is disobedience.

Disobedience.

You know, Israel could come up with a lot of excuses of why.

We could sit here and analyze today and determine other reasons why they didn't.

But when we get into Judges chapter 2, we will see without any doubt.

Judges 2 · chapter mention

And Israel, when confronted, did not offer an excuse.

They wept because they knew they were guilty that they simply disobeyed God and did not do exactly what he had called them to do.

Now, while studying this book, the book of Judges, we can't help but to notice several themes that run throughout, you know, the book.

The first of those themes that we run into and we see over and over again.

Because the book of Judges is a book that spans, I forget the exact number, but something like 300, maybe 350 years.

And we see as many as 12 judges that were raised up to deliver Israel from oppressors.

But we see this happening every time God raised up a judge like a Gideon or a Samson or a Deborah and delivered the people.

And they worshiped and honored God.

And then when they died and the next generation was coming into adulthood, they forgot what God had done for them.

And this theme runs throughout the book.

It says, In those days, Israel had no king, and the people did what was pleasing in their own eyes.

They did what they thought was right.

And therefore, we see that theme of them drifting away from God, worshiping foreign gods, and God having to punish them, them repent, and then God raising up another judge to deliver them.

But one of the other themes that really caught my attention, and maybe it caught my attention the most because this is the message that God was speaking to me.

You know, I've heard pastors often say some of the best sermons they preach are the ones that they're preaching unto themselves.

And so maybe that's the case for me today as I studied this.

But I see a theme that runs throughout the book of Judges that partial obedience is disobedience.

Partial obedience is complete disobedience.

Now, parents, help me.

What's the rest of that that you often tell your children?

And disobedience, come on, you parents, you've never said that to your children.

Disobedience is sin, right?

Am I the only one that's ever said this?

Okay, thank you, D.D.

Thank you.

Partial obedience is disobedience.

And disobedience is sin.

Now, let me give you an illustration.

Imagine on one of these hot days, you decide your car needs to be washed.

Maybe it's been a long time.

There's still the yellow pollen from the spring all over your car.

And your kids are home out of school.

And they're already saying, I'm bored.

I'm glad you said that.

I have a car that needs to be washed.

I've told my kids, every time they tell me they're bored, I've got a chore for them.

So, I need you to go out and wash my car.

The children are excited.

It's a hot day.

They're thinking more of playing in the sun.

I mean, playing in the water.

And so, they go out.

They move your car under a shade tree.

They soak it down with water.

They get the soap going in the bucket.

They sud your car up.

And their cell phone rings.

One of their friends is opening their swimming pool at their house.

And they want your kids to come over and swim.

And all of a sudden, that soapy car is lost in their minds.

And off they go to swim at their friend's house.

Lo and behold, you come out to check on your kids to see how things are going.

And what do you find?

You find a car that has dried soap suds all over it and has made a bigger mess.

Now, do you commend your children and say, well done.

You at least attempted to do what I asked you to do.

You partially obeyed or are you angry and furious that they've left a bigger mess than if they had just not done it at all?

You know, if you're like me, I'm going to be angry.

I'm going to that friend's house.

I'm getting them and bringing them back.

And they're not swimming the rest of the summer.

They're going to wash my car every week.

You know, because partial obedience is disobedience and they disobeyed us.

And we need to understand that as Christians today.

That when God gives us commandments, it's not good enough to just partially obey it.

You know, sometimes we partially obey to ease our conscience, to make us feel like, you know, well, we did what God wanted us to.

Or at least we gave it a shot.

But that's not how God sees it.

God sees partial obedience as disobedience.

And God cannot bless disobedience.

God had commanded Israel to drive the people out of the land because he was serious about them being his chosen people and to being a people of holiness and purity.

God is just as serious about his children today.

Those who have given their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

He's just as serious today about us being holy and pure and obedient people.

1 Peter 1.16 is just one place we find in scripture where he says,

You are to be a holy people as I am holy.

God wanted to bless the world through the descendants of Abraham, through the line of David, and bringing the Messiah into the world.

He wanted the world to come to know who he was through Israel.

And in order for that to happen, you know, they needed to remain faithful, pure, and holy people.

Not blending in with society.

The same is true today for us.

God wants us to make him known to the world.

To communicate the gospel message into the world that people may hear it and receive it.

Romans tells us, how can they believe if they have not heard?

And how can they hear if someone doesn't go to them and share?

But we must not blend into the culture or they won't listen.

You know, we've got to be set apart and different.

You know, so as we study this book today, I want us to walk away with a couple of things.

Excuse me.

We are to be set apart from the world first.

Second of all, I want us to walk away realizing that partial obedience to God is complete disobedience to him.

And so I want you to think about a couple of questions as we listen to God's word this morning.

Are there areas in your life where God has spoken to you that you have not fully obeyed?

Are there areas in the word of God that you have not obeyed?

Are there areas in the word of God that we don't like?

They're uncomfortable.

They're difficult.

And so we choose to not read them.

We choose to not pay attention to them.

And we kind of set them over to the side and focus on the ones that we do like.

You know, God says, you know, Jesus says that those who obey my teachings, those are the ones that will enter into the kingdom of God.

And so we can't just pick and choose the things that we want, but to read it in its entirety and be obedient to all of it.

So are there areas in your life where you're not completely obeying God and his word?

Or are there areas in your life where God's been convicting you?

Maybe he's convicting you of a sin that is in your life.

And up to this point, maybe you've made little efforts to, you know, rid that sin from your life, but you haven't completely done it.

You've compromised.

And you do just enough to make yourself feel comfortable or good about yourself, but you really know in your heart you haven't obeyed.

Or maybe God's leading you to commit more fully to him, to serve him, to be used of him in a certain capacity.

But for one excuse after another, you've not obeyed and followed through with that.

Well, let me ask you this.

How are you going to respond today?

How are you going to respond to the word of God today so that when we leave here, we are walking in total and complete obedience to God and not just partial obedience?

Now, before we get into Judges, I wanted to read a passage in Deuteronomy because I wanted us to understand the commandment that God had given Israel.

And then I want us to look at how Israel responded to that commandment and then what are the consequences of that.

So let's look together at Deuteronomy 7, verses 1 through 6.

Deuteronomy 7:1–6

It'll be on the board, but I'd love for you to open up your Bibles.

That's one great thing about Pickens First Baptist.

We always still hear people opening their Bibles and following along.

We're probably one of the one denominations that people really still carry their Bibles.

They can still find Deuteronomy in the Scriptures.

And I'd hate for us to lose that.

Continue to open the Bible, read along, make sure I just haven't put something up there that I wanted it to say.

But make sure it really is God's Word and to not lose the skill of opening your Bible and finding, you know, the words.

If you've got an iPad or something, that's fine too.

That's still fine and it may be even quicker.

But let's look together at Deuteronomy 7, verses 1 through 6.

Deuteronomy 7:1–6

When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it

and clears away many nations before you,

the Hittites, the Gergesites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites,

seven nations more numerous and mightier than you.

And when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them,

then you must devote them to complete destruction.

You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.

You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons,

for they would turn away your sons from following me to serve other gods.

Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you and he would destroy you quickly.

But thus shall you deal with them.

You shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars

and chop down their ashram and burn their carved images with fire.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession

out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Again, God didn't choose Israel so that they would be exclusive and he only cared about them.

God chose Israel to use them to bless the world.

That's why we're sitting here today.

He wanted the world to come to know the one true God

and it was through Israel that the Messiah would certainly come

that he would die for the sins of the world.

But God commanded Israel that when they went in to take possession of the land

that they were to devote the people to complete destruction.

Now this sounds unlike anything a loving God

that we often understand God to be in the New Testament.

It sounds unlike anything a loving God would certainly command his people to do.

And sometimes people really struggle in the Old Testament

of how God could give such a commandment.

When I was in college, I had a friend that got saved

through the Baptist Collegiate Ministry now.

It was the Baptist Student Union back then.

But he had not grown up in a Christian family.

Grew up in Montana.

Not in a Christian environment.

But he came to faith in Jesus Christ.

But as he studied the Bible

and he got into the Old Testament,

he really had a problem.

And he didn't understand the full scope

of, you know, really the penalty of sin.

And so he said, if that's who God is,

I don't want to have anything to do with him.

And he walked away from Christianity.

And I've lost touch with him over the years.

So I don't know if he's ever come back or not.

But he really struggled with that.

So I want us to ask the question this morning,

why would God give such a commandment

as he told the children of Israel to go into the Promised Land?

Why would he tell them to go in and conquer and destroy

and defeat all the peoples

rather than telling them to go in and evangelize

and enrich them through Judaism?

Well, let's look back at Deuteronomy chapter 7

Deuteronomy 7 · chapter mention

and look at verse 4

and we will see exactly God's wisdom

and God's purpose behind giving such a command.

He said,

For they would turn away your sons from following me

to serve other gods.

Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you

and he would destroy you quickly.

God gave this commandment

in order to protect the holiness of his people.

He was not fearful or afraid

that the people living in there militarily

would rise up and defeat the Israelites

because God is mightier and more powerful

than any of those nations.

One word from his mouth would destroy all of them

without any problem.

But God was more concerned with their influence.

You know, their worship of false gods

and their culture.

He knew that that would be a constant temptation

to draw Israel away from worshiping the God of Abraham,

the one true God,

and that they would slide away into worshiping these false gods

and committing spiritual adultery against him.

And therefore, he commanded them

to go in and to get rid of anything from their lives.

Get rid of any of these people in the promised land

that would ever serve as that temptation.

Do you see the correlation that we could make

between that commandment that God gave there

and the commandment that he gives us in our lives today?

Jesus said that if your right eye causes you to sin,

it would be better to gouge your right eye out

than to enter into eternity separated from God.

Now, obviously, that's a passage more talking about salvation.

But as Christians, is it not saying,

isn't it better for us to get rid of things in our lives

that would hinder us from growing in our relationship with him

and being faithful and obedient to him

and honoring and worshiping him with all that we have?

Jesus makes it very clear over and over.

Seek the Lord with all of your heart.

You know, pursue him with all that you have.

Lay down your life as a living sacrifice.

You know, what is it that could be in our lives

that is hindering us?

How have we blended in to the world?

You know, they say that if you look at the morality

of Christian churches today in the United States

that we typically just lag behind society by about 20 years.

That means that the morality within the church today

is somewhere around 1997.

Now, how many of you remember 1997?

Were they very moral years?

Was society a godly, holy society in 1997?

No, I can remember back when it turned 1980.

And everybody's like, man, it's the 80s.

We've got all this freedom to do whatever we want.

And TV shows like Three's Company came out

and stuff like that.

And it was like another 1960s

where we had the freedom to do whatever immoral things

we wanted to do.

But that's not for the children of God, is it?

We are not to infiltrate into the world.

We're not to be friends of the world.

We are to be set apart.

We are to be different.

We are to be separate and holy and pure as God is.

For if we're not, then we're only partially obeying

the things God has commanded us to do.

And how will the world ever see God in us

if we are not a reflection of God?

If we are not holy and pure and righteous,

and if we are not set apart and different,

then how will the world ever come to know God?

How will they know Jesus Christ?

I hear different studies that say

one of the reasons why people don't want to come to know

or be a Christian today

is because they see no difference

in Christians and the world.

Well, how will your friends know God?

How will your schoolmates know God?

How will your coworkers know God?

How will your families know God?

If you are not different,

if I'm not different,

set apart and separate

from the things of this world.

God had chosen Israel to be a special people.

Again, not to be exclusive,

but to use them to bless the world.

It was God's purpose to bless the world,

that the world would come to know God through them.

And there is a tremendous correlation

between what God was using Israel to do

in their day and time and Christians today

and what he desires to do with us

by allowing us to make Jesus Christ known

around here and around the world

by going and taking that gospel message.

God knew that if Israel did not go in

and conquer and defeat the people groups

that were living in the promised land,

that they would be a constant temptation

to draw them away from faithfulness to him.

And we see it over and over.

Because they failed to do it,

we see exactly what God was trying to get them to avoid

of being pulled away,

worshiping other gods

and committing spiritual adultery

to the one true God.

Now this may seem to some

as very barbaric still

of why a loving God

would command his people to go in

and totally kill all the people there.

But maybe the right question is not

why would God give that command?

Maybe we're looking at it

from a different and a wrong point of view.

Maybe the better question

that we should be asking

is why doesn't God kill all of us?

Instead of asking why doesn't God

or why did God command Israel

to go in and kill these people,

why doesn't God kill us?

Because God told Adam and Eve

that if they ate from the tree

of knowledge and good and evil,

then what would happen?

They would die.

Romans tells us

that the wages of sin

is death, right?

Hebrews tells us

that without the shedding of blood,

there can be no forgiveness

of sin.

And also in Romans,

we understand that all have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God.

So every one of us in here,

myself included,

we are sinners

sinners.

And we deserve to die.

We deserve to die

and spend an eternity

totally separated from God

because God is a holy God

and God cannot allow sin

into his presence.

He can't ignore sin.

He can't sweep sin under the rug.

And this might shock you.

God cannot even forgive sin

unless the law is fulfilled.

God cannot forgive sin

unless the law is fulfilled.

And the law was fulfilled

when Jesus Christ

entered into the world,

lived a perfect sinless life,

and went to the cross

taking our sins upon himself,

and the wrath of God

was poured out upon him

because of you and me.

Because Jesus spilt his blood

and died satisfying the law

is why you and I

can be here today

worshiping him,

entering into his presence,

going before him and praying,

and knowing that our sins

are forgiven

and that one day

when we enter into eternity,

we will be able to enter

into the presence of God

and spend an eternity

in heaven with him.

But it is only through Jesus Christ

that that is possible

for without Jesus Christ,

we deserve the same fate

that the Canaanites

and Parasites

and all those people

received

when the Israelites

went into the promised land.

We deserve the same fate

that Sodom and Gomorrah received.

You know, we might live

a little bit more moral lives

than Sodom and Gomorrah,

but a sin is a sin

in the eyes of God,

and he cannot allow it

into his presence.

And so you and I

deserve the same fate

as those people did

except for Jesus Christ.

And so the question isn't

why would God give a command

to go in and destroy the people?

The question is better,

why doesn't he kill all of us?

Excuse me.

And the answer

is because he poured his wrath

out upon Jesus.

And now,

there's only one way

to respond to that.

When we come to understand

what God did for us

through Jesus Christ,

how do we respond?

Do we respond

by infiltrating the world

and living it up

and having a great time

and thanking God,

woo-hoo!

Or do we come before God

and we bow before him

and we worship him

and we praise him

and we thank him

and we glorify his name

and we pray that our lives

would 100% bring glory

and honor to him.

We ask him that he'll search

the depths of our heart

and anything that is in us

that is impure,

that is unholy,

that is ungodly,

that he would reveal it to us

and through the power

of the Holy Spirit

working in our lives,

help us to rid it

from our lives

and become more and more

like Christ.

Romans 12, 1 says,

in light of all that God

has done for you,

when you consider

all that God has done for you,

is it too much

to ask for you

to offer your life unto him

as a living sacrifice?

Is it too much

to ask that we die to self?

Is it too much

to ask that we sacrifice

our wishes,

our cares,

our desires

in order to seek

and pursue Jesus Christ

and to offer our lives unto him

as a living sacrifice,

honor him,

obeying him completely

and helping the world

come to know Jesus Christ?

Is that too much to ask?

What is there in your life

that when you stand before God

on judgment day

that you're going to think,

man, I wish I had done

a little bit more of that?

If you devote,

let's say you really devote

everything to the Lord

and you live that,

you know,

living sacrifice for God

and when you stand before him

and he says,

well done,

good and faithful servant,

are you going to really think,

man, I wish I had partied

a little bit more?

I wish I had worked harder

and made more money

or climbed the corporate ladder

a little bit more,

got more education,

had a bigger house,

but let's flip that around.

If those are the things

we're living for now

and when we stand before God,

Christians entering

into the kingdom of heaven,

but we see

all that could have been ours,

are we going to say,

man, I wish,

I wish I had lived a life

more separated from the world.

I wish I had pursued God more.

I wish I had studied

his word more.

I wish I had been obedient more.

I wish I had told more people

about Jesus

so that they would be here with us.

You know,

when we consider

all that God has done for us,

is it too much

to ask

that we lay our lives down

as a living sacrifice

unto him?

Now, I've got to get moving here.

Let's look at Judges 1.

We see what God

has commanded them to do.

Now, let's look at the reality

and I'm only going to read

one couple verses here,

but if you read the whole

chapter 1,

you'll see this

repeated over and over

with all the different tribes.

And the Lord was with Judah

and he took possession

of the hill country,

but he could not drive out

the inhabitants of the plain

because they had chariots of iron.

And Hebron was given to Caleb

as Moses had said,

and he drove out from it

the three sons of Anak.

But the people of Benjamin

did not drive out the Jebusites

who lived in Jerusalem.

So the Jebusites have lived

with the people of Benjamin

in Jerusalem to this day.

Excuse me.

God had commanded Israel

to devote the people

living in the promised land

to complete destruction.

But what did Israel do?

You know, they did,

they ran into some militaries

that were,

or armies that were bigger than them,

more powerful than them,

that had chariots.

But is that a problem for God?

They had already defeated Jericho.

They had already defeated Egypt

40 years earlier.

They had already experienced God

doing so much in their lives.

Are you telling me that a chariot

is going to stop them?

Is going to stop God

from doing what He's promised?

That He would do?

You know, what I also find

very interesting

if you read throughout chapter 1

is you see some of the tribes

put the people to slavery.

So obviously they conquered them.

Obviously they ruled over them.

But instead of obeying God

and destroying them,

they made them slaves.

God said no treaties,

no compromises.

Just devote the people

to complete destruction.

And yet they did not do that.

And we could look

and we can come up with lots of excuses

of why the people were unable to do

what God had commanded them to do.

But God sends an angel of the Lord

to them to confront them with their sin.

And it's summed up in one word,

disobedience.

And you'll notice that the people

do not argue.

They don't offer excuses.

They don't rationalize why they didn't do it.

They wept because they knew

they were guilty.

Look with me at Judges chapter 2

Judges 2:1–5

verses 1 through 5 now.

Now the angel of the Lord

went up from Gilgal to Bochum.

And he said,

I brought you up from Egypt

and brought you into the land

that I swore to give to your fathers.

I said,

I will never break my covenant with you

and you shall make no covenant

with the inhabitants of this land.

You shall break down their altars.

But you have not obeyed my voice.

What is this you have done?

So now I say,

I will not drive them out before you,

but they shall become thorns in your sides

and their God shall be a snare to you.

As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke,

spoke these words to all the people of Israel

and the people lifted up their voices and wept.

And they called the name of that place Bochum

and they sacrificed there to the Lord.

Because Israel failed to obey God,

God said that he would not go before them.

He would no longer go before them at that point

and continue to drive out the people.

And therefore,

the people would continue to remain in the land

and be a thorn in their side forevermore.

You ever watch the news?

You ever look at what's going on in the Middle East?

You ever see the turmoil

that's always constantly in Israel?

Could it be because they did not obey God

when Joshua led them in to destroy the people

and rid them from the land?

That they continue to have strife and difficulty.

And not only that,

but the people remained in the land

and they constantly served as a temptation

to lure the people away from the worship of God.

We even see that in one of the most well-known judges in this book

and that's Samson.

Even a man that God raised up,

he continued to have problems with, you know, Philistine women

and being pulled away

and focusing on things that he shouldn't have been.

And so the people continued to live in the land

and they continued to lure Israel away.

And every time that happened,

God had to punish them.

As a loving parent,

God would punish them for the purpose of bringing them back.

Now, if you're a parent,

you realize we're not perfect

and we don't always discipline in love, do we?

But the great thing about God

is that he's a perfect, holy God

and his discipline is in perfect love

to bring his people back to him.

Unfortunately, throughout the ages of Israel,

thousands of people had to die

to bring them as a nation back to him

because of their disobedience

and their wandering over and over.

Just in the book of Judges alone,

the cycle took place 12 times

to where they wandered from the Lord,

the Lord had to punish them,

they repented,

God would raise up somebody like a Gideon or a Deborah

to deliver them

and then the cycle would be repeated again and again.

And it's because they disobeyed God

and did not rid the people from their lives.

I wonder what we have in our lives

that God has really said,

you need to get rid of that.

You need to remove that from your life

because it's not helping you worship me,

but it's a constant temptation pulling you away.

Dads, what have we got in our lives

that we're setting a bad example for our children?

Moms,

are we teaching our children

to seek and to pursue the things of God?

Or do we allow some things to live in us

that causes our children

to pursue the things of the world

more than God?

And what are we going to do about it?

How are we going to respond?

Are we willing to turn loose

of some things in our lives in this world,

no matter how hard it might be,

so that we might establish a legacy

in our children

and in our grandchildren

and in the generations to follow?

Or are we holding on to things in the world

that are going to send the wrong messages

to our children

that will impact their lives

and then they will live pursuing the same things

and they'll hand that on to their grandchildren

and their great-grandchildren

and on and on.

So let me ask you this morning,

are there areas in your life

that God has been speaking to you

areas in your life

where God has been showing you things in your life

that you need to make a change?

There's areas in your life

where you've not completely obeyed,

maybe partially thinking,

well, you know, I did what I could,

but we've not completely obeyed.

We've made compromises.

We've made excuses.

And how do you need to respond?

How do you need to respond today?

Are there areas in the word of God?

Are there things that God has said in his word

that we've thought,

I just can't live up to that?

But God keeps tapping on your heart going,

read my word,

study my word,

obey in its entirety.

So I want to ask you today

as the musicians come and play

and as we go to the Lord in prayer,

I want you to be very open

to listening to what God

is saying to you in your heart.

And if there are areas in your life

that you need to make a change in,

you need to repent

or you need to step up

and completely obey,

surrender those areas over to the Lord today.

And I'll also be down front,

be more than happy to pray with you.

Let's close in prayer

or have a word of prayer

and then William will play while you pray.

Father, we just thank you for your word.

Thank you for your truth.

We thank you for the lessons

that can be found here.

And we ask, Lord, for each of us

that your Holy Spirit

is speaking to our hearts right now.

There may be some sitting in here

knowing that they need to surrender

their lives to you.

That they need to make you Lord of their lives.

And yet,

they just haven't been willing

to turn loose of things.

And in fact,

they've not done that yet.

And I pray, Lord,

that you continue to speak,

helping them to understand

they need you.

But for the rest of us,

Lord,

I pray,

there may be areas in our lives

where we're disobeying.

There may be areas

in our lives

where there's sin

that we need to repent of.

And Lord,

I pray that your Holy Spirit

is speaking to us

loud and clear

and that we'll recognize

how we need to respond

and give us the power

to do that,

Lord,

in Jesus' name.

Amen.