To Love, Obey, and to Follow Christ
To Love, Obey, and to Follow Christ • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 11 viewsPreaching homecoming at Bethpage UMC
Notes
Transcript
Scripture
Scripture
The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.
Intro
Intro
Feb 3, 2019 - was supposed to be my last Sunday.
Leaving Bethpage
Marriages
Called Out
Called Out
Kindred Spirit with Abraham...
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
He didn’t know where or what his future held, but he knew the one that held his future.
He left everything he ever knew.
The Lord didn’t tell him his future, He just promised him he would be blessed in doing so.
Leaving Bethpage
One of the toughest decisions
Everything I knew and loved.
SPRC Meeting
Asked what should we tell our kids?
Thought I was nuts/crazy
Abraham would have been told he was nuts too when he heard the Lord test him by telling him to sacrifice Isaac, his only son.
But, in this, we are also told his faith was credited to him as righteousness.
It takes faith to step out and do what the Lord calls you to do.
We are called to walk in faith.
And our faith is shown in our obedience.
Blessings for Obedience
Blessings for Obedience
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
IF you do all of His commandments that He commands of you today....IF you obey the voice of the Lord your God.
Blessings:
You in the City
You in the Field
The Fruit of Your Womb
The Fruit of the Ground
Your Cattle
Your basket and kneading bowl
When you go in and go out
If the Church wants to lead and be a true witness of God and enjoy His blessings then it needs to be an obedient Church, and obedient people.
Blessings without Obedience
Too many of us are desiring the fruits, the blessing of God without giving Him our obedience.
It isn’t about the Law, the OT Law, it is about our desire to follow Him with all heart soul and mind.
It is the laying down of our lives, crucifying the flesh, so that we may live in obedience to how He says we are to live.
Repent and turn from sin, return from serving the flesh as an idol.
Stop being an adulterer against the Lord.
Like a husband, He wants His bride, the Church, all to Himself.
Remember He is a Jealous God.
The Covenant of Marriage
The Covenant of Marriage
Savannah and Christopher’s marriage
Counseling
When we come to Him,
We enter into a covenant - Marriage Vows
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
God had made a covenant with His people of old.
They broke it, serving themselves and not Him.
Jesus has made the offer, a new covenant available to us to be His bride.
If we say yes, then we agree to submit to, or to obey Him.
Not out of fear of rejection… but out of our love for Him.
Old wedding vows have the bride say,
“I take thee, to be my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance.”
It’s that too obey part, that much of the Church today has lost sight of.
It’s like we want to be married to Christ, reap all of His benefits, but we want keep on having our affair with our flesh, our own desires.
To obey, means to submit to Him. We are His, He purchased us as His own. And if we love Him, we want to honor Him, do what He wants us to do.
He says that if we love Him, we will obey Him.
Ephesians 5, Paul writes about how the wives are to submit to their husbands… as to what? As to the Lord.
He says the husband is the head of the wife as even Christ is the head of the Church. And the Church is to submit to Christ.
Warren Wiersbe writes:
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Nine: Love, Honor, and Obey (1 John 4:17–5:5)
The prospective bridegroom was extremely nervous as he and his fiancée were discussing their wedding plans with their pastor.
“I’d like to see a copy of the wedding vows,” the young man said; and the pastor handed him the service. He read it carefully, handed it back, and said, “That won’t do! There’s nothing written in there about her obeying me!”
His fiancée smiled, took his hand, and said, “Honey, the word obey doesn’t have to be written in a book. It’s already written in love in my heart.”
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Is the word obey written on your heart?
Is it seen in your daily life?
The Bible is God’s Covenant, His Marriage Offer
God chose us to be His lawfully wedded wife, to honor, cherish, and yes OBEY.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
If you love me, you will obey me He says.
Following Jesus
Following Jesus
When Jesus called His disciples, He called them to follow Him.
To do so meant they walked away from what they knew, and were comfortable in, to go where He wanted to take them.
Peter once told Jesus, “See we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?
Jesus said:
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
Will you follow Jesus with all your heart soul and strength?
Will you give up your personal comfort, your fleshly desires, and go where He leads you?
He’s calling you out. He’s calling you to heed His call.
Forsaking all others, be mine.
If you love me, you will follow me.
If you love me, you will obey me.
I’ve given my life for you, will you give yours for me?
