Rule 4: The Need for Righteous Obedience

Announcements

OCC - Nicole

Night of Prayer - September 28 at 6:30pm

Homecoming - October 2 at 10am

Reading: Matthew 7:24-27

Matthew 7:24–27 ESV

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Prayer

What is the difference between a wise man and a foolish man?

Jesus’ Answer - the wise man listens and obeys God’s Word.

Revival Comes When God’s People Seek Him in Righteous Obedience

If we really want to see God move in our midst, it’s not enough to pray for it. It’s not enough to confess our sins and plead for forgiveness. It’s not enough to prioritize the reading of God’s Word. All those things are vital, but they are not enough by themselves. It’s not until we actually do what God has commanded us that he can empower us with his Spirit. We do not know the presence of God any more abundantly than when we are actively involved in doing his will.

When We Obey God, We Experience the Blessings of God

Hosea 14 ESV

1 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. 2 Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. 3 Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.” 4 I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. 5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; 6 his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. 7 They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. 8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. 9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

Obedience Requires Commitment to God’s Commands

Deuteronomy 5:32 ESV

32 You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

Misprint in bulletin: 2 Chronicles 34-35, not 33-34

Story of Josiah

2 Chronicles 34:1–3 ESV

1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images.

2 Kings 23:25 ESV

25 Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.