THINKING BIBLICALLY ABOUT OBEDIENCE - John 14:15-26

Hey, if you have your Bible or an app,

meet me in the Gospel of John this

morning. The Gospel of John.

We're going to be looking at chapter 14,

reading verses 15- 26. Now, if you've

been with us since the turn of the year,

we began a series called Thinking

Biblically. And the reason we dove over

the last two months into the series of

what it means to think biblically is

because we know that the culture that we

live in, in the society in which we are

raising families and trying to cultivate

our marriage and the broken world that

where sin runs rampant constantly in our

workplace, in our schools, in the

government, in in the world around us,

even in our own hearts and in our own

lives. We know that oftent times if we

are not grounded in the truth of God's

word. And when we talk about truth,

we're not talking about your truth or my

truth,

we're not talking about a a truth that

that is relative, but we're talking

about a truth that is firm, that is

solid, that is unchanging. And that's

the truth of God's word. That's the

biblical truth. the truth that reveals

to us God's nature, God's character, how

God moves and works in your life and my

life and how everything from eternity

past to creation to eternity future. How

all of it is an arrow and a blinking

sign that points to the goodness and the

glory and the majesty and the holiness

of God.

That if we are not rooted in that truth,

then we become swayed by the lies of

this world.

Parents can relate to this, how

oftent times we become desperate for the

future of our children. I I I shared

this with some friends not too long ago

that if there's anything that has taught

me what it's like to battle in prayer,

and I'm talking about callous knees,

white knuckle grip type of prayer. Not

that I attempt to pray in my own

strength. That's that's not the picture

I'm painting. The picture rather I'm

painting is this desperation

in prayer. If there's anything that has

taught me how to have that sort of

prayer, it's being a parent.

It's because I want a life for my

children

where they seek the Lord, they pursue

the Lord, where they are spared from the

perils of a sinful and broken world.

And so we seek the Lord through his

truth. We think biblically

the world around us. We think biblically

through the lens of truth. And when we

don't lean into truth more than we lean

into the things of this world, then the

things of this world are going to have

greater influence over our lives than

the truth of God,

than the lamb of God, than the King of

Kings and the Lord of Lords. And so, if

you've been with us, we've looked at

things

about what does the Bible say about sin?

What does the Bible tell us about God's

nature? About the mission and the

purpose of Jesus? What does the Bible

say about the Bible? What does the Bible

say about truth? Last week, we talked

about what does it mean to think

biblically about the Holy Spirit?

What does it mean to be indwelled with

the power of the Holy Spirit? And I

thought it would only be fitting to

conclude this sermon series by talking

about what it means to think biblically

about obedience.

oftent times particularly in western

culture and in America

we we rebel against obedience

and the reason is because obedience

requires something of us.

Obedience requires submission.

It requires a yielding of the will. It

requires a yielding of the self. It

requires a turning away from pride from

what the nature craves and it requires

turning in submission and in a yielding

heart to Jesus. And so I want to make

something absolutely clear this morning.

When you hear the word obedience, when

you hear the word submission, when you

hear phrases like yielding our heart,

giving our heart, submitting our heart

to the Lord, it must always and only and

forever be towards God. Because here's

the problem that we run into.

Some of us, we might agree with the

standard of obedience. We might even

agree with principles regarding

obedience.

The question is, what is that obedience

falling under? Is it obedience to the

truth of God? Is it obedience to his

will, his desires, his holiness, and his

majesty that reigns true and supreme

over our life? Or is it obedience to the

sin in your life? Is it obedience to the

powers and principalities that exists

for nothing more than to steal, kill,

and destroy anything holy about you or

anything in you that desires and craves

Jesus Christ?

And so as we look to John chapter 14, we

John 14 · chapter mention

get this picture into the heart of

Jesus.

This is what's known as the upper room

discourse.

Jesus is entering the final hours of his

life.

In just a moment, he's going to take his

disciples. They're going to sing

together on their way to the Garden of

Gethsemane. He's going to invite them in

to pray.

And you know that story as Jesus begins

to enter the final hours of his life.

He's praying desperately as he feels the

weight of the world's sin over him.

And anxiousness

and worry begins to set in as the fully

God and fully human savior begins to

feel the effects of your rebellion and

my rebellion.

And in that prayer, he calls upon the

father and he says, "If if if if there

is a way that I can be spared from this,

let's look at those terms."

But I think one of the most powerful

prayers, one of the greatest examples of

of prayers when it comes to yielding our

hearts in obedience to the plan of the

father, what does Jesus say? Not my

will, but your will be done. When we

talk about obedience, this is what we

are talking about.

It's not our will, but it's the will of

God being exercised in our life. Did you

know, and we talked about this last

week, as a temple through which the Holy

Spirit dwells, empowers,

and helps us to abide

that God flexes

his power of obedience in our life.

The power so that we can live holy

lives. So that we can live in such a way

that honors who God is.

in how we think and how we speak, in the

things that we do, the choices and the

decisions that we make. I want to

challenge you this morning. Take some

inventory of your life.

Maybe this past week, maybe this past

month, maybe this past year.

We're just going to complete two months

into 26.

and ask yourself, what parts of my life,

if not all of my life, what parts of it

point towards obedience

to God, to his plan, to his purpose, to

his design for my life? because to think

biblically and that's been the hope that

we would be a people who would think

biblically

not just about church not just about

relationships not just about ourselves

but that we would think biblically about

the world around us again that this

would be the filter the lens by which we

gaze into reality

and so to think biblically means that we

will live biblically

Because what enters into the mind gets

filtered into the hearts

and as a man thinks in his heart

so he shall be.

And so what do we need to do?

We need to lead,

watch over, filter the things that we

think on so that what we think on will

filter into our heart and so what's in

our heart would be made manifest and

clear in the things that we say and do.

So to think biblically means to live

biblically.

And so Jesus is in the upper room again

in a couple hours. He's going to be

betrayed.

This is going to be the last moment

prior to his resurrection

that he will have with his disciples.

Judas's Scariot, the betrayer, has

already left the group to go and betray

Jesus.

And so he has this moment with the

remaining 11.

a final call, a final plea so to speak,

a final word of truth

that he's going to deliver. And here's

what he says, beginning in verse 15.

If you love me,

you will keep my commands.

That's convicting.

If you love me,

you will keep my commands. Now, I'm

getting ahead of myself, but let's do an

exercise.

If you don't keep his commands,

what does that demonstrate?

That you don't love him.

Now, I hope and I pray that none of us

in here would seriously say, "I don't

love God."

And while we would never say that,

oftent times

our lives, our actions, the things that

we do, the choices and decisions that we

make speak louder than any words that we

would profess or proclaim. If you love

me, you will keep my commands. He

continues,

"And I will ask the Father, and he will

give you another counselor to be with

you forever." ever. We're going to

unpack this here in just a moment, but

let me just draw our minds to it right

now so that we're clear.

Christ ties obedience to what?

The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, you can only obey

because Christ fills you with himself.

He empowers you with himself. He dwells

in you,

not a force.

not an energy.

God himself lives in you so that he

would live through you and in living

through you, he would call others in to

be invited into his kingdom. Verse 17,

Christ brings clarity here. He is the

spirit of truth.

The world is unable to receive him

because it doesn't see him or know him.

But you know him because he remains with

you and will be in you. I will not leave

you as orphans. Ah what a loving savior.

He doesn't leave you alone.

He doesn't leave you to fend for

yourself

but he remains. This is this is why much

later matter of fact later in the

chapter and into John chapter 15 he will

John 15 · chapter mention

talk about the power of abiding.

what it means to remain connected. And

when we when we remain connected,

what happens? We begin to bear fruit in

our lives. The fruit of your lives

demonstrates and displays the roots of

your life. And if the fruit of your life

is one that is savory, one that is

beautiful, one that is

able to be shared freely so that others

would know and experience the goodness

of God in your life. That's indicative

of roots that have grown into the truth.

Verse 19, he continues, "In a little

while, the world will no longer see me

because he's going to die.

but you will see me.

Now, the disciples didn't get a lot of

things right.

And if we're not careful, we can we can

read the gospels

and we can look into the moments where

they didn't get it right and we can

think, how could they not get it right?

Now, we need to be careful because we're

looking at it through the lens of a

Christ who's been resurrected.

Christ hasn't died yet.

He's prophesied. He's he's talked about

how these things will come to pass, but

I love this. He says, "In a little

while, you won't see me. I'm going to

die, but but death won't be the end of

my presence with you." Isn't that

incredible? You will see me because I

live. You will live, too. Verse 20, on

that day,

you will know that I am in my father.

You are in me and I am in you. This is

beautiful. Often times theologians will

point to the fact that Jesus is probably

referencing Pentecost here and that's

part of it because 40 days later when

Christ ascends back into heaven, what

will take place?

Pentecost.

Pentecost will take place 10 days after

that and the Holy Spirit will fill the

room. But it isn't just a reference to

Pentecost. I think this is what's

incredible. It's a reference to a

post-resurrection

spiritdwelling, spiritgiving,

spiritfilled era. And this is why oftent

times I will remind us of this that you

and I church, we are living in fulfilled

prophecy.

Right now, we are on a path towards the

final prophetic fulfillment of what God

has declared in his word through the

inspiration of the Holy Spirit that

moved within men to write. We're living

that right now. We're walking in this

truth, this post-resurrection

spiritgiving, spiritindwelling,

spiritfilled era where God accomplishes

his mission

where you and I live out the commands

and expectations of obedience to God

through the indwelling power of the

spirit. And the one who loves me will be

loved by my father. I also will him and

will reveal myself

to him. I I love this. I will love him

and reveal myself to him. As we walk

hand in hand with the Lord, as our love

and our affections and our passions and

our desire for God grows, the more

attuned we become with how God moves and

works. And maybe you've noticed this in

your own life when you are far from God.

Whether that's for a season or whether

that's been a prolonged period in your

life when you are far from God, what

often happens is the blinders begin to

keep you from seeing God fully moving,

working in your life.

But when we are in tune with God and and

and for for the sake of the message in

the context of John chapter 14,

John 14 · chapter mention

particularly this passage, we're talking

about how we do that through obedience,

not as a means for approval, but as an

overflow of a relationship that we have

with Jesus. Because what do we notice

here? We notice who is Christ talking

to?

He's talking to the remaining 11.

He's talking to believers.

And Christ is telling them this will be

the reality of your life. Come what may.

Persecution, hardship, darkness,

mountain tops, blessings, the excitement

and the beauty of life, all of it

empowered by the spirit.

So whether valley moments or mountaintop

moments, you can live a life that honors

God. You can live a life in obedience

to him. Verse 22, Judas, and I love how

how John makes it a point to say, "Not a

scariot." This is the other Judas.

He said to him, 'Lord, how is it you're

going to reveal yourself to us and not

to the world? Jesus again answers, "If

anyone loves me, he will keep my word."

How do you experience more of the Lord?

How does he reveal more of himself to

you? How do you understand more of his

will for your life, his plan, his

purpose, what his desire is for you? Not

just as a corporate body of believers,

because indeed God has a plan for the

Grove Church, but how do you discover

more of God's plan for Roland? Insert

your name there. How does God reveal?

How do you discover how God is revealing

more of his plan for your family, for

your marriage, for your work, for

everything about you? You live in

obedience to him.

you walk hand in hand with him. And

again, and I want to reiterate this

because what I don't want this to turn

into is a misunderstanding that

obedience is what is what earns the love

of God. It does not.

We live in obedience because God already

loves us.

This is the overflow

of the God of creation through the son

Jesus by the indwelling power of the

Holy Spirit has demonstrated his love to

us. And it's out of that overflow that

obedience

comes. We'll dive into that more in just

a moment. My father will love him. This

is the end of verse 23. And we will come

to him and make our home with him. The

one who doesn't love me will not keep my

words. The word that you hear is not

mine, but is from the Father who sent

me. I have spoken these things to you

while I remain with you. But the

counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the

Father will send in my name,

will teach you all things

and remind you of everything I have told

you. And all God's people said,

>> Lord, would you bless your word? Holy

Spirit, would you stir our hearts this

morning?

Such powerful words.

And again, I I love how this is tied to

the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

This is tied to union with Christ. The

the loyalty that you have

for God.

The loyalty that is stirred and birthed

within you through faith, trust, and

hope in the son Jesus Christ

leads to a life of obedience. We say,

"Well, Roland, I'm not always obedient."

And I'm not either.

And I always say that cautiously because

oftentimes we can misunderstand that in

such a way where it leads into what we

call license.

License meaning well if God loves me and

my obedience is not the avenue by which

I earn God's love but comes from the

overflow of God's love then maybe I

don't have to o obey as much maybe

disobedience can be a thing in my life

and this is where I would really caution

us

that is thin ice theology

was texting with a buddy this week and

You reminded me how often we try to find

loopholes in the Bible. We're all guilty

of that. Well, what about this or what

about that? Well, they did that. What if

God means this?

And if our theology is always based on

loopholes, then we've missed the point.

Our focus should be on the holiness and

the majesty of God. And when we are

loyal to him,

when he is above all central to our

life, when we find our being in him,

when we understand what Paul will tell

us multiple times in the New Testament

that in Christ, it through Christ, it by

Christ, it for Christ, everything

exists, then I understand my life, the

hinge of my existence, the reality of my

life is all dependent on Christ.

And that's transformative. That's the

key. That's the goal. This is what Jesus

is getting at.

Obedience is the transformed experience

of those who have placed faith in Jesus

Christ. And so Jesus is giving a

framework here

for obedience.

It's not license.

It doesn't mean, well, God loves me

anyway. Let me do what I want. Again,

that's a cautionary tell. thin line

theology, which Paul several times in

the New Testament will allude to the

fact that's probably coming from a heart

that doesn't really know Jesus.

Because if you love me, you will

keep my commands.

Love and obedience are rooted in union

with Christ.

And so, here's what I want to do. I want

us to go back through the passage and I

want us to call out some things that we

see in this discourse Jesus gives his

final words to his believers that will

really provide for us a framework of

obedience. Now, this isn't the only

framework for obedience. And here's what

I mean. All throughout the scripture

from Old Testament to New Testament, you

see these frameworks of obedience

provided. And they're often done in the

context of where the Jewish people were,

where the nation of Israel was. What is

it? Was it in the midst of war? Was it

in the midst of rebuilding? Were there

in were they in exile? Is it during the

birth of the New Testament church as we

read in the book of Acts? What's the

framework that we see here? The

framework that we see here again is

union with Christ by the indwelling

power of the Holy Spirit. So, let's go.

Let's pull out three things that we see

from the passage. If you're taking

notes, here's the first one. This is a

no-brainer. Obedience flows from love.

That's what it flows from.

Now, I don't have this in my notes, but

I I think I think it's worth mentioning.

We we need to describe and understand

the type of love we're talking about.

Love is thrown around so freely today,

is it not? So much so that that often

times when when someone says I love fill

in the blank, especially in American

culture, especially in um

the way everything is so polarized

today,

if you're deep in the truth and and have

truth as your filter, you can easily

determine, well, that's not really the

love of the scriptures.

The love that the enemy wants us to

embrace is a love that says live the

life the way that you wanted. If you

love someone, you won't hold them

accountable for any sin in their life.

You won't tell them where they're

getting off course.

You won't point them to the truth, to

the one who truly and authentically and

genuinely and passionately loves them.

Love is accepting of all. Here's the

caveat. Love says come as you are but

don't stay as you are

because it's the love of God that

transforms you. How do we see

transformation? In a life of obedience.

If you love me, you will keep my

commands. Now several times you may have

picked up on this in our passage. Jesus

uses the word keep.

And keep here as translated from the

Greek usage means to treasure, means to

hold fast to, means to be passionate

about. And so one could look at verse 15

and read it this way. If you love me,

you will be passionate

about living out my commands. You will

be excited about living out my commands.

This isn't mechanical compliance.

This is not like a soldier snapping to

attention when the drill sergeant walks

into the barracks.

No, this is someone who is so

passionately in love with Jesus

that the only the only response is to

live in loyalty to him. It's not cold

performance.

And so what what does that teach us? It

teaches us this that love for Jesus

cannot

be simple sentiment.

In other words, it's very easy to get

emotional

about the love that we have for Jesus.

It's very easy to experience the

goosebumps and butterflies of sitting in

in a worship service that moves us,

sitting under a preaching or Bible study

that stirs our affections.

And there's nothing wrong with emotions.

God has given us those emotions. Sin

when it came into the world is what

robbed our emotions from living in

obedience to Jesus. Which is why we need

to be really intentional about the

emotions that we embrace, the emotions

that we step into and how we need to

reorient our emotions oftent times so

that they honor Jesus.

But obedience is not just sentiment.

It's not just, oh, I feel good, so I'll

obey Jesus.

Biblical obedience walks in truth, walks

in loyalty when your life is in

shambles.

It's the even if moments.

You remember the story of Shadrach,

Meshach, and Abedneo?

It's an Old Testament story. If you grew

up in Sunday school, this was a popular

one that was taught.

The king issues an edict

to worship himself, to honor himself, to

bow to himself, to pray to himself. And

anybody who doesn't do that, and mind

you, the people of Israel are in exile.

They've been stripped of their homeland.

They they lack an identity that they

were once given when God freed them out

of Egypt.

But three teenagers, Shadrach, Meshach,

and Abedneo,

despite what was happening around them,

chose loyalty, chose obedience, not as a

means to experience the love of God, but

as an overflow

of the love of God. And so, they don't

worship the king. They don't bow down to

the earthly king. They don't pray to the

earthly king. And so, what happens? You

know the story, where do they get

thrown? Into the furnace, into the fire.

And before they enter into that furnace,

they're given one last chance. And how

do they respond? You remember this is so

powerful. Our God will deliver us. He

has the power to deliver us. We're

exercising our faith in the God of

deliverance. But even if he doesn't,

we will still obey him.

We will never bow down to human kings.

We will only and forever bow down to the

King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And

what's the what happens?

How does that story go?

The king looks into the furnace and that

furnace is so hot it burns the soldiers

on the outside of the furnace. The king

gazes in, he hears singing and he sees

not three people, he sees four.

And you remember what he says about the

fourth man. Man, there's glory shining

around him.

It's a beautiful picture of obedience

despite.

What does that look like in your life?

Do you obey when it's easy

or do you remain loyal

when it's not? You say, "Well, Roland,

well, life is difficult." I know.

I know. I I am not hear me. I am not

devaluing your experience. I am not

saying that your hardships don't matter.

But what I am saying is that God

provides the power,

for us to remain steadfast,

for us to remain connected,

for us to remain abiding with him. Later

on, Jesus is going to talk about

abiding.

In the gospels, we have the story of

those who built their house on the rock

versus those who built their house on

the sand. Neither is immune to the

hardships of life. They both faced the

storm. Some of you are facing some

storms today. Some of you are enduring a

hardship you wouldn't wish on your worst

enemy. But what does God do through it

all? He provides himself. And that's the

greatest thing that we can ever have.

And let me just do this. We're running

out of time. I can relate with this and

I think you could probably relate with

this, too. There are believers in this

room that struggle.

When we talk about living in obedience,

we're not talking about living a perfect

life.

What we are talking about is living with

different desires,

following after Jesus. There are

believers in this room who would say

things like this. I really want to obey,

but I keep failing.

I really want to honor Jesus,

but I keep losing sight. I want you to

hear this clearly if this is you.

Obedience is evidence of love,

not the ground of it. What do I mean by

that? And I want to make this absolutely

clear because this is where you can get

into dangerous grounds. So, please hear

what I'm saying. Don't hear what I'm not

saying.

God's love for you is not dependent on

what you do or don't do.

And often times we struggle with

obedience because somewhere inside us we

think that is how we earn God's love.

God loves you already. Not because of

you but because of who he is and what

his son has accomplished on the cross.

And so therefore what we need to do is

draw closer to Jesus and understand more

of his love. And out of that, the more

you grow in affections for him, the more

you will desire to obey him. Because if

you love me, you will obey my commands.

And let and let me just comfort you with

this.

The fight itself,

the spiritual battle that we face

between obedience and rebellion, it's

not permission to sin. It doesn't mean,

oh, I failed. let me continue to fail

more. No, the very fact that you might

be struggling with that issue could be

clear evidence that the spirit is

drawing you to him. So in the words of

Paul as he wrote to first Timothy, keep

fighting the good fight of faith.

Don't stop pursuing. Don't stop seeking.

And don't fall into the trap of thinking

you have to do it alone.

We are called a church family for a

reason. So that we can come alongside

you in your struggle.

To empower, to pray for, to be a a

shoulder to lean on, a hand to hold, an

ear to listen. And often times, and I'm

preaching to some people here, often

times we don't share our struggle

because we're embarrassed. We're

prideful. We don't want a pe people to

see beyond the mask.

Listen, I love this church family and I

love you, but my my obedience above and

first of all is to Jesus.

And so I will never let people

I will never let the people around me

be my primary course of influence

outside of Christ for the way that I

should live my life.

It's going to be Christ first. And out

of that

would would be a seeking for good,

godly, proper relationships that

influence and point me in the right

direction. Now, here's what I love. I'm

going to I'm going to go through these

pretty quickly. Jesus then doesn't leave

us alone to obey. What does he do? He

ties it directly to divine empowerment.

We caught this. Here's the second thing.

Obedience is empowered by the indwelling

spirit.

So there's are there are a couple of

verses right here in our passage that I

want us to see again. Let's start with

verse 16. Verse 16 says,"I will ask the

father and he will give you another

counselor to be with you forever. He is

the spirit of truth. The world is unable

to receive him because it doesn't see

him or know him, but you do. You know

him because he remains with you and will

be in you."

Now go with me to verses 25 and 26.

Again, he clarifies and reiterates, I

have spoken these things to you while I

remain with you, but but given what I

just said in the earlier part of of the

passage, I'm going to be with you just a

little while longer. So, what's going to

happen when I'm gone? I'm not really

going to be gone. This is what Jesus is

saying. the counselor, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name,

will teach you all things and remind you

of everything I have told you. Now, I

love this. I always love to to see the

parallels and the echoes of what Christ

accomplishes in the New Testament to see

how it took place in the Old Testament.

And if you remember in the story of

Ezekiel, and if you're in our Bible

reading plan, we'll get to Ezekiel at

some point this year, but we see in

Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel prophesies to the

people of Israel about how God is going

to give us the spirit. And he says these

words, I will give you the spirit. I

will put my spirit in you and cause you

to walk in my commands.

Obedience is tied. It's empowered by the

indwelling spirit, which is incredible

because if you know this story

in the following chapter in Ezekiel,

what is it about? Ezekiel 37, the valley

of dry bones.

So God through Ezekiel is telling his

people, "My spirit's going to be in you,

and my spirit will give you everything

necessary for life and obedience to

follow my my commands." And then in the

following chapter, there's this valley

of dry bones.

And what happens to the dry bones?

The breath of life

is spoken into them. And what was dead

becomes alive. Listen, there are things

in your life that may be dead. And the

Holy Spirit brings them to life. And

when they are brought to life, the Holy

Spirit doesn't then go away and said,

"Hey, well done. You been brought to

life. Those things have been renewed.

They've been refreshed. They've been

rescued, redeemed. No, the Holy Spirit

continues to empower you.

So, let me talk to the men in the room.

This is how the Holy Spirit moves you,

fellas, to lead

and to love. Well, when it's difficult,

when it's not easy, when you want to

throw in the towel, when you say enough

is enough,

you remember this promise that what's

dead can be made alive through the

spirit of God.

and he brings restoration

to help us live the life that we're

called to live. This is not a one-time

thing.

It's a sustained rhythm. That's the key.

That's the goal because what

what Christ is doing and and we're doing

this uh throughout our sermon series

through the book of Acts. What we

recognize Christ doing in his gospel

ministry, it continues

into the book of Acts as the Holy Spirit

explodes

with new believers being drawn into the

kingdom and it continues today.

Can we just stop for a moment and

recognize that God is doing something in

our community? He's doing something in

this church.

A and and and the way that we bear

witness to what God is doing is through

Holy Spirit empowerment. The way that

you bear witness to what God is doing is

through obedience in your

life, here's here's the last thing.

Obedience results in abiding fellowship.

And I'll just I'll I'll close with this.

In John 15:10, Jesus will say that

John 15:10

keeping his commands is how we abide in

his love.

If you want to grow in your affections

for Jesus, then you need to start living

for Jesus.

If you want to overcome the sin in your

life, you need to start living for

Jesus.

You are going to obey the loudest voice

in the room.

What's the loudest voice in the room in

your life?

What voice do you listen to the moment

that you wake up? So, so let me just be

transparent here for a moment. I love

early mornings. Now, not everybody has

their one-on-one time with the Lord in

the morning. Some people do it late at

night. Some people do it whatever works

best for the schedule. But here's what I

found in my own life. Maybe you can

glean something from this. I love early

morning because it's quiet in my home.

There's less distractions.

and my mind and my body have not for

hours been under the voices of the world

cuz I've been asleep.

And so when I wake up, I know for me and

I I need to remain intentional and

disciplined with this. If I want to live

a life of loyalty and obedience to Jesus

to grow in my affections for him, then

the first voice I want to hear in the

morning is the voice of God.

And maybe that's a challenge for some of

us. What what's the first voice we are

listening to in the morning? And I'm not

talking about the alarm clock. I'm not

talking about time to wake up. Let's get

ready, help with the kids. I'm talking

about what is the first voice that we

hear

that filters through our mind into our

heart and therefore is a product in our

actions.

I pray I pray that it would be the truth

of God. Let's be a people, church.

Let's be a people who just don't feel

love for Jesus,

but who guard the truth of Jesus

as something precious,

as something worth living out.

And if we think biblically about

obedience,

we'll neither try to earn his love, and

we won't presume

upon it. will be the very people God has

called us to be. A people who exist to

reach the grove and make disciples.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your

word.

We thank you for how you move in and

through this place.

We thank you for the people present here

today.

God,

I pray that you would just continue to

do a work

and that you would call us call us out

of disobedience

into a life of obedience. And m maybe

for some of us this morning that means

for the first time placing our hope,

faith, and trust in you as Lord,

repenting of sin and turning to you for

salvation.

All these things we ask in the name of

Jesus Christ our Lord. And all God's

people said, "Amen." Hey, let's stand

together.

We're going to sing. We're going to

close our service. We're going to lift

up the name of Jesus. We're going to

call upon him. We want God to have his

way in our life. Let's be submissive to

that. Let's yield in obedience to that.

Our altar is going to be open. If you

want to come and have some one-on-one

prayer time with the Lord, this is a

moment of availability, a moment for

you, an opportunity to respond. Pastor

Eric and myself will be available. We'd

love to pray with you. However the Lord

is stirring you this morning, we invite

you to come. I love you, church.