The Blessings Of Obedience

Thank you.

Bibles up, wave them around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad.

Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm glad to be here tonight, hereby divine appointment.

I have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to me.

I'm listening for my benefit, not for somebody else, and I believe I receive revelation that will build my faith and grow my spirit so I can grow up in the things of God.

In Jesus name, amen.

Deuteronomy 11 and also Hebrews 11.

And Deuteronomy 11 is very familiar verse of scripture.

Kind of was the basis of our word that we had from God about the greatest year yet, back last September.

It seems like 10 years ago now.

I mean, you know, it's just like the Twilight Zone, you know.

Praise God.

Deuteronomy 11, verse 10.

Deuteronomy 11:10

For the land where the dalgo is then to possess it is not as the land of Egypt from whence she came out, where thou sowest thy seed and waterst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs and foot-powered irrigation is what they had to have.

But the land where you go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys that drinketh water of the rain of heaven, a land which the Lord, thy God, careth for or seeketh after the eyes of the Lord, thy God, are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even, unto the end of the year, from the head of the year, which is Rosh Hashanah, unto the end of the year.

And it shall come to pass that, if everybody shout, if If you shall hearken diligently unto my commandments, which I command you this day to love the Lord, your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the first rain and the last rain that thou mayest gather in thy corn, thy wine and thy oil.

And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle that thou mayest eat and be full.

And then, of course, hebrews 11, 6, very familiar verse it says for without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

The word seek, there in the Greek, means to crave, to worship, to inquire, to investigate, doesn't mean to skim the top, it means dig in.

And so tonight I wanted to share a message entitled the blessings of obedience.

The blessings of obedience, all the blessings of God, are conditional on obedience.

God told Israel that he would send the rain if.

If they diligently hearkened and obeyed, rain produced wealth and blessings.

See, without the rain, they had no crops.

With no crops, they had no money.

They had an agricultural society.

Rain also means the Holy Ghost in Joel chapter two.

Joel chapter two talks about the promise of the rain, and that brings abundance, restoration and removal of reproach.

Joel chapter two and Acts chapter two.

When the church was born at Pentecost, peter got up and preached to the Jewish crowd that had gathered from every nation under heaven.

They were there in Jerusalem on that day and they all heard them speaking in tongues.

They heard them in their native languages and he said these are not drunken, as you suppose, but this is that or this.

He amplified and says this is the beginning of that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.

In other words, this is the rain that Joel was talking about.

This is the rain that Joel was talking about.

So, really, when you think about it, the rain fell on Pentecost.

3,000 people got saved that very first day and opened up signs and wonders.

Let's look at Acts chapter two real quick.

I mean rain produced all kinds of blessings and it all hinged on the obedience of the 120.

In fact, paul said that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at one time after his resurrection and yet only 120 showed up at the upper room.

So only 24%, only 24%.

Just think about how much impact, more impact if everybody had simply obeyed.

But thank God, the 120 obeyed, and because they obeyed, everything happened in the book of Acts.

If they hadn't obeyed, just think about all.

Come on, I don't need that, that's not dignified.

No, I know enough.

I've spent three and a half years with the Lord, that's good enough.

And then he spent the next 40 days, but we don't know.

They had to obey.

When they did, when they obeyed, god pour out the rain.

So in Acts, chapter two, not only did did they get filled with a Holy ghost and 3000 people got saved, but it says that they in verse 43, the Holy fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

Boy, don't we need wonders and signs right now?

I kind of talked about daydreaming, about you know when Charles Finney would preach and sometimes the floor of the church would open up and hellfire would come up, flames and a brim smell of brimstone, sulfur screeching, and they would hear hell.

And you talk about repenting.

I mean people fell out in the church and they were screaming and asking for forgiveness and turning their life over to Jesus.

I mean it's pretty dramatic.

But I kind of daydream about maybe showing up at the Capitol and just having the parking lot open up and have hellfire come up for Nancy Pelosi to look at, melt her rosary right off of her neck.

How about scarf lady?

We burn her scarf off of her face.

Anyway, praise God, all right.

Enough of that.

That's just daydreaming.

That's not really spiritual.

That's just me, my personality, coming out.

Sorry, but in first morning we need the fear of God in this nation and what produces the fear of God is signs and wonders.

What is a wonder?

It makes people wonder.

Can you imagine the floor opening up and hell comes up?

I mean that'll make you wonder.

Am I going there?

Is that why this is going on?

And the fear came upon every soul Verse 43,.

And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were together and had all things common, and so their possessions and goods, and paired, parted them to all men, as every man had need I mean every need was met and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house.

They had to eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved.

So you had church growth.

It wasn't a program, it was just a Holy ghost.

And so rain produced all that.

And so here, when we're talking about Israel and their land, that God is his eye upon it from the head of the year to the end of the year, we're talking about our inheritance.

The land stood for their inheritance.

The land is not a type of heaven.

The land that Israel, the promised land, that was their inheritance.

It's also our inheritance, not just physical land.

It's what God has for us, that he has in mind.

Every one of us have a purpose and every one of us have an inheritance.

We're all heirs, joint heirs with Christ.

That means equal heirs.

And so so, when the rain fell, the obedience of the 123,000 people got saved.

He had signs, wonders, miracles.

You had one accord.

That's a miracle all by itself.

Get people all in one accord.

It's like herding cats sometimes in church.

There's only one way to keep unity, that's let the Holy ghost have his way.

But that's an individual.

Every individual member of this church has to decide am I gonna have my way or am I gonna yield to the Holy ghost?

And sometimes people have a little trouble because they want to have their way, but it's always God's way.

Obedience brings blessings.

I said obedience brings blessings.

They obeyed God, they obeyed Jesus and they showed up.

You know, 90% of success is just showing up.

Some people aren't gonna succeed because they just don't show up.

So ifs exist in the Old Testament, they also exist in the New Testament.

Obedience is not optional and numbers 14, it talks about what happened when the 12 spies went into the land and Moses sent them to spy the land out and bring the fruit of it.

And they did.

They brought it back and they said, just like you said, it's a land of milk and honey.

It's wonderful.

Here's the fruit of it.

Nevertheless, there are giants in the land and they have walled cities, walled up to heaven.

See, a little bit of an exaggeration.

They did have giants, but the cities were not walled all the way to heaven.

They weren't that big.

And so they were intimidated.

He says you know, we're just like grasshoppers in their side and we're like grasshoppers in our side.

We be not able.

They brought a bad report.

10 out of the 12 spies two spies Joshua and Caleb said no, what's wrong with you, they're bred for us.

Let's go up at once.

If God be for us, he'll be with us.

We will possess this Only two out of the 12.

The other 10.

And so the people wept all that night, wept and wept and wailed, and wailed, and they brought an evil report.

And Joshua and Caleb tried their best to turn the tide, but they could not.

They couldn't turn the tide of the mob mentality.

That's what a mob mentality is.

It's the devil, and every time we couch out to it and yield to it and bow to it, you kneel down on the ground.

No, we're not kneeling on the ground to anybody.

I thank God for our president, we only kneel to God Almighty.

I love that, anyway.

So they, they brought a bad report.

So those 10 guys died on the spot.

They didn't make it.

And then the group that Moses is talking to here in Deuteronomy about the land, about how God looks at it, all day long, all night long, from the head of the year to the end of the year.

He's looking, he's longing, he's checking on it.

He's wanting to see if you've possessed your, your land or not.

He wants to know if you've gained your inheritance or not.

He's looking for a good report.

And when we say, oh, we've been unable, it's just too high.

We're no better than the people that died in the wilderness.

See the rest of the people that complained and whined all night long.

They weren't the spies.

They were the fathers and mothers of these people that Moses is preaching to in Deuteronomy.

They died over 40 years in the wilderness.

They took them all.

They lived out their life.

They lived to 670, 80 years old, but they died in the wilderness.

They did not go into the promised land.

They never saw it.

And the ones that they were so afraid for, oh, our children, they'll be in soon, their children went in.

That's just like God, isn't it?

I mean, he can make things come to pass if we're distrusted.

And so in 1 Samuel 15, 22, it says to obey is better than sacrifice.

I heard a preacher say this years ago.

He said you cannot make up by the sacrifice of prayer what you lose through disobedience.

You cannot make up by the sacrifice of prayer what you lose through disobedience.

When you disobey what God wants you to do, you can pray all you want to till your voice gives out.

You can kneel down until your knees wear out.

You're not going to turn anything around to you.

You obey God.

Obedience is just not optional and this is worth turning over to Joshua.

This has really really got some revelation in it, if you'll look at it, joshua, chapter 11.

Joshua 11 · chapter mention

And these are the enemies of Israel.

These are the people that were on.

There were the poachers and the trespassers that were in the land.

So Israel had to possess their inheritance by dispossessing all of the poachers and trespassers, that is, the Canaanites, the Havites, you know the Jebusites, the Budlights, the, you know the Pentecostal, the Pentecostal, the Pentecostal, the Pentecostal, the Pentecostal.

And so they had to be dispossessed.

And so in Joshua 11, verse 19, there was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Havites, the inhabitants of Gideon.

Joshua 11:19

All others they took in battle.

For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly and that they might have no favor.

Man, that song that we sung tonight about the favor of God, and I had Linda come up and some others come up.

I mean, man, that's, that is our inheritance to have favor, and you don't want to be on the wrong side of God, because when you're on the wrong side of God, he will let you keep going that way and he'll even harden your heart.

Oh, pastor, that's the Old Testament.

Well, it applies right now.

People that are believing the lies are getting harder and hardened in their hearts, and God is handing them over to a mind void of judgment, void of common sense.

That's the time we're living in right now.

We're seeing it.

And so it was of the Lord to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle.

He might destroy them utterly, that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them as the Lord commanded Moses.

Why would God be so angry?

Well, they'd had 400 plus years when God started noticing, under Abraham, the sin of Canaan.

I mean, they had abortion, they had worse, they had child molestation, they had child sacrifice, they had all kinds of horrible, horrible things that are going on right now in this country, in the greatest country on the face of the earth.

There's a blight.

There's a blight that's being uncovered Are you with me now?

And so their sin filled a cup, a cup of judgment.

It had to be poured out.

Once it gets full, it gets poured out.

Once it gets poured out, there's no favor to be had, there's no mercy.

It's over.

That nation gets destroyed.

I said that nation gets destroyed.

There's going to be some nations that are existing right now that won't make it long term.

They're goat nations and primarily, they're going to be destroyed because of how they treat Israel.

I'll give you three guesses who some of the candidates are.

And so God hardened their hearts that they would have no favor, so he could destroy them.

And so I said well, that's Old Testament.

How about Ananias as a fire?

They didn't make it too well.

They had a chance to repent and didn't repent.

Peter gave them a chance to own up to what they did.

They lied about an offering.

Why was that so terrible?

I'll tell you why it was so terrible.

They lied to the Holy Ghost.

That's what Peter said.

And the Holy Ghost was in such manifestation then that even when Peter walked down the street close enough for his shadow to hit somebody, they got healed.

I'm talking about the power of God in manifestation.

That was so powerful that there was no way the church could wink at something like that.

All that woman had to do and all that man had to do was say, yeah, you're right.

I don't know what came over me, please forgive me Fall on their knees and mercy could have been had.

He gave them each a chance, and neither one of them.

They kept lying.

So they said, you know?

So they had a ministry there of people that would call you know, haul dead people out and bury them.

I mean, I don't know the Paul Bearer ministry or something I don't know.

The minister of helps, took care of it, wrapped them up, and that's what he said wrapped them up and hauled them out.

I mean, I don't think I want that ministry, but anyway, we're going to see some pastors fall dead in the pulpit.

Who much is given, much is required.

When you know better and you don't deliver it, there's going to be some those kinds of wonders.

I didn't intend to get this heavy here tonight, but anyway, oh, keep the blessings flowing.

Keep the blessings flowing.

And so Hebrews 11 6 says you know, without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that come into God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligent and Rica him diligently, seek, crave ya iro right Ha, sometimes we need to.

That that's, aileri it, what I pursued this.

You had that decision to make and you paused.

You were investigating.

You're doing exactly what I'm preaching right now.

You're, you had a decision to make.

You didn't hurry up and make it, you waited and you said God, on which way to go on this thing.

You didn't or intimidated by the decision, not afraid.

But you are dedicated to getting it right.

You want the proper decision, you want the proper course of action.

That's isn't that what we were talking about tonight during ministry time.

So this is exactly what I'm talking about.

You had to investigate, you had to, you had to come, you had to go into a little deeper.

You couldn't just hit it just real quick as oh, okay, I'll do that.

No, you're going to wait, you're going to investigate, You're going to crave, you're going to inquire, and I and I, we need to do that.

I remember years and years ago I I had sold everything in my inventory as a home builder at the time.

I'd sold everything.

I had one house for sale and it'd been for sale for a while and but it was a nice house, there was no reason for it not to sell.

I cut the price and then you know you're out of business.

I mean, for a home builder you can't just sit there with no inventory.

It means no money.

You know he makes cash flow on every house you got and you know if I needed at least five, six, seven houses at any one time under construction so that I have enough cash flow to pay myself a little something and keep the, keep the business afloat with cash flow.

And so once I had liquidated my inventory and had one house for sale, it was finished.

I had already drawn all the money on it.

So there's no money coming in.

And about a year before, brother Osteen called me and asked me who I was, what I'm like, what do you do for a living?

I told him and he said well, be careful, pastor.

I mean be careful, john.

He said you know rough times coming, just don't get over extended, just be real conservative.

Well, you know I thought let's see no about home building.

He's a pastor, you know, hell dumb.

Oh, and I just didn't pay enough attention, I didn't investigate, I didn't.

I didn't take that and say, well, what about this, god?

What do you?

I mean?

Hey, I have no cash flow.

My pastor said be careful.

What?

What does that mean?

Anyway, long story, I'd done some other things that brought money in to my business finish in houses that other builders couldn't finish because they went broke.

Well, that ought to be a hint right there that people are going broke.

You could go broke, you know, don't get over extended, but I did.

And so, anyway, I got a call from the sales force and the sub vision I was active in and they said oh, john, we've got a deal for you Should have run the other way.

And we've got these.

We've got these four lots.

They're oversized, they're almost three quarters of an acre.

They eventually they back up to Cypress Creek, but they're up high, they're way above the flood plain and and then there's an easement, so you don't really back up to it.

You're not owning property on Cypress Creek, but it's.

There's nobody going to build behind you and and they're wooded and they're beautiful lots and we're selling them and it was a giveaway prize, it really was a good deal in the natural.

I said, well, I don't know, I'm just kind of waiting.

Well, you know, we can't leave, keep this open.

We just thought about you, I'd like to see you get these, and and so, gladys and I, we talked about it back and forth, back and forth and finally, you know, I just didn't, I didn't inquire and investigate.

See, I mean I, was it a sin?

Were they presenting me a business proposal that was sinful?

Well, no, there was nothing sinful about about building another few houses.

The question is, what was the Holy Ghost telling me to do?

Is Jesus Lord or not?

Then we need to obey him, right.

And so so I, I, they prepared the contract and they had it all written and said, yeah, come on by and sign it.

And I sat down at that table and there's two people there and me and this and this piece of paper and I, I got physically ill.

I mean I, my stomach started kind of, I felt, felt nausea, really, I mean I really did physically, I just I, and I just looked at that and I thought, gosh, if I don't sign this, they're going to think I'm a goofball, say, fear of man, fear of man.

I'm kind of young in the Lord.

I've been saved about three years.

I didn't know what I know now.

But I'm just the reason I'm preaching this.

I'm not beating myself up.

I'm giving you an illustration of what I've been through and what can happen when you don't obey the Holy Ghost on the inside of you.

Is it a sin?

Well, it's not exactly, but it impacts you like sin does, because God has a will for your life and he's looking out for you.

He knew there was things on the horizon.

I didn't know, and so I went ahead and I overrode the witness and I signed my name to that contract and the eventual end of that.

I won't go into all the detail, but it sent me down a road that was 10 years before I got out off of that road, and it was a road of barely enough, just enough to get by.

Glad it's.

Glad it's raising her hand, and so is Claire, and Jay Wood too, if he were here.

They had to live through it with me.

See, it impacted my family, impacted everybody in my family, and I've had people say well, pastor, you went through that because you're a pastor, or perhaps I mean I think everything we go through is for somebody else's benefit.

That's what Smith Wigglesworth said.

I'm persuaded that all the challenges I've been through has been for the benefit of somebody else.

So I can be a witness or I can testify about how to handle yourself.

And we went through and the day that that ended was the day we started this church.

We're no longer in that condition, at the corner of barely get along Boulevard in Lack Lane.

You know we left that intersection a long time ago.

So keep the blessings flowing.

That's my point here.

And number one I've got three things here.

One number one put God first.

Put God first.

We could say it this way put His word first, because God and His word are one.

Matthew 633,.

Jesus said seek ye first, seek ye first, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and His way of doing things.

You could say it that way and you wouldn't be going against the word Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His way of doing things.

And all these things shall be added unto you.

What things?

Well, everything you need a place to live, all your food, all your shelter, all your clothing, everything that you need to be blessed, will be added unto you.

God wants to add.

He doesn't want to take things away from you, he wants to add to you, as Claire was talking about.

He wants to multiply things towards you, but you have to put Him first in His ways of doing things.

I know it sounds so simple.

If I could have left that meeting and went, I said you know what?

I need 24 more hours.

I'm not ready to sign.

This is a lot right here on this paper.

This is four lots, and eventually we added two more, so it was six lots six, and so you're talking about $100 and some odd thousand dollars worth of real estate.

That's a lot for me and I've got to go then and start the process of finding the houses I want to build on those lots and then go find construction loan financing at my lender and all of that.

Well, what if I can't find any financing and then I'm on the hook for those lots?

That was kind of dumb.

I had every reason to say, look, I just can't, I'm not ready to sign, I need more time.

I'll call you tomorrow.

I could have said anything and I believe I would have drawn.

I believe I would have investigated.

I believe, god see, I would put him first.

Put him first, don't put other people first.

They got a conflict of interest.

They're going to get a commission off of this sale and that's all they can see.

They don't care about me.

I'm not their favorite builder, I'm just a sucker that showed up.

All right, so All right, put God first.

Number two obey his word.

Obey his word.

There's the obedience.

In other words, for instance, like Philippians 4-6, the message don't worry about anything, pray about everything.

With Thanksgiving.

I mean, you know, it's easy to worry, it's easy to fret, but the Bible tells you exactly what to do.

Don't do that, don't be anxious for anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passes all understanding.

May your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus, so be obedient.

Brother Hagin talked about how, when he came out of a worry worrying household, his mother worried, his grandmother worried and of course, he worried because he worried that he was going to die.

He's 15 years old, bed fast, has a malformed heart.

He's got I don't know how many blood diseases, eight blood diseases that make his blood messed up, and he's heard the doctor.

There's no hope for him.

He's heard the preacher.

You need to get him to accept his soon death.

He's still struggling.

Well, who doesn't want to live when they're 15?

So he worried a lot.

Every symptom, everything that happened to him.

He worried and when he came across that scripture he said oh, I can't do that.

And he wrestled with it for several days, nobody preaching to him, nobody teaching him anything, self taught.

Oh man, I admire Brother Osteen, brother Hagin and all these wonderful men of God, teal Osburn, the privilege I've had to know these men of God and be around them and learn from them.

Wow, lester, some raw, amazing men of God.

And so, obey his word.

I mean quit worrying, quit fretting, quit allowing your mind to run away with you.

Control your thought life.

Another one is obey the love commandment.

First Corinthians 13,.

Read it in the amplified and check your life, check yourself.

Are you walking in love?

The first thing if my blessings got interrupted and suddenly the blessings that I had enjoyed suddenly dried up, the first place I'd look is my love wall.

I'd make sure I wouldn't carry any grudges.

I'd make sure I wouldn't be in rude or crude to someone.

Amen, obey the word.

There's no substitute.

There's if, if, if.

If is in the Bible.

If there are conditions, the blessings of God are conditional.

Put God first, obey his word, obey his spirit, and that's what I just described about my testimony about business.

Those promptings, those urges, those unctions Say I suppressed it, I pushed, I pushed it down.

I had an urge to flee that meeting, I had an urge to get up out of my chair and walk out the door and I sub, I just I wouldn't, I just I didn't, I didn't do that.

Instead, I took that pen and I signed my name and I signed, I signed a 10 year sentence of lack and attached it to me and my family.

Amen.

So obey his spirit and, as you do, you'll enjoy the blessings of obedience.

Come on, lift your hands and receive.