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[applause] Good morning. >> Good morning. >> Let's go to God's word as quickly as we can.

Father, we thank you today for for everything. Sometimes we thank you for food. Sometimes we thank you for clothes and shelter and friends, but everything comes from you.

>> [music] >> Every one of us today is a recipient of God's your grace. Your grace. So thank you.

Today we can sing about your faithfulness to the things in this world and but but you've been faithful to save us from our sins and keep us by your power. I pray this morning that your word will find root in somebody's heart and bear fruit in somebody else's heart. And I ask it in the name of Jesus.

And everybody said, "Amen." >> Amen. >> You can be seated. [clears throat] I think what I'll do is read uh from the beginning from Matthew 13:es 10-2.

Stephen's going to put it on the screen there. Matthew 13:10-12. And his and the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered and said to them, which is kind of a indirect answer, because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [clears throat] it has not been given.

For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have in abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Does that kind of make you shake your head?

Jesus is simply saying, if you use what you have, you'll get more. If you don't, it will be taken from you and somebody else will receive it. Two weeks ago when I preached on he made the stars also it was kind of a mindbender to get into all of those scientific facts and the speed of light and the largest of the universe and people were ooing and aawing and it it does it overwhelms you.

But actually that's not what really matters. It isn't the size of the universe. It boils down to this.

You ready? It boils down to me doing what this book says. You can talk about how many trillions of stars and galaxies there are and and be completely amazed by it.

But what God cares about is your your and mine. My obeying this word, every single word of it, that's my universe, walking in the truth. I cannot grasp all of that that he flung out with his hands and spoke with his mouth.

But he has given me this to understand and obey. I am so thankful this morning that I did not have to get up early and chop wood and kill an animal and [clears throat] drain its blood and gut it and then build an altar and start a fire and cook that animal on the altar as a sacrifice to God. Would anybody be thankful with me that you didn't have to do that today?

[clears throat] >> I am so thankful that I don't have to sit and calculate the days on which things should be done, feasts and festivals. I thank God that he has made salvation so simple that you just believe it and obey it. No more blood sacrifices, no more uh strict adherence to certain festivals and requirements, no more regulations about what you eat or don't eat.

You just come to Christ in this age of grace. You believe on him and you receive eternal life within a fountain of living water and salvation and rivers of living water through the filling of the Holy Spirit. That's the grace of God.

That's the goodness of God. But one thing has not changed from the old to [clears throat] the new. And that is the requirement to obey.

Obey. Lots of people have the idea that all you have to do in this age of grace is just trust. I believe in Jesus.

Why? The foulestmouth uh entertainer on television will tell you he believes in Jesus. Jesus said or James said uh the devils believe and they tremble.

So, I looked just yesterday just kind of perused through the scriptures and I was reminded again that every one of the patriarchs [clears throat] was required by God to do something impossible and they obeyed. I think about Noah. I don't need to get into that.

[clears throat] the vast vastness the largess of that ship that he had to build for 120 years. But the Bible says he obeyed. No matter what God asked him to do, he obeyed.

And in obeying, he saved his house. Then there was Abraham. God called him to leave everybody he knew and everything he had and he obeyed and he went out not knowing where he was going.

I'm reminded that God asked him to do the unbelievable to me. Kill your own son to show me that you love me. And Abraham would have done it had God not stayed his hand just before he came down with the knife.

I'm reminded that he had to walk where where his enemies were. He had to do things that were indescribably difficult, but they all obeyed. So let me tell you something about the word of God today.

While it thrills us and gives us enough to tantalize us about creation and all of that, the word of God is alive. It is powerful. It is sharper than any two-edged sword.

And it pierces. It pierces through the dividing of soul and spirit, bone and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and nobody can hide from God. All things are open and naked before him.

So, while the word of God thrills us all of the time, the word of God is doing surgery on us, too. And there comes that moment where God will stick [clears throat] you and stab you and remind you because we get caught up in the largeness of things and God is concerned about little things. He that is faithful in little things will be faithful in big things.

Jesus taught little things really matter to God. And so when you get to this subject of obedience, it is uh it is important for me to tell you as your pastor where you are right now. Every one of us is at a place where God is asking us to obey him in something.

And obedience is the first step to the next level of faith. So, I just I want to be sure and I want to be uh certain that everybody's hearing what I'm feeling. [cough] [clears throat] There is something in your heart, your life, your mind.

It may be vague and way off to the corner. There is something you know you you you've got to deal with that sooner or later. It needs to be done and you and you haven't forgotten it.

It's just that you [clears throat] had haven't dealt with it. I'm preaching to you from experience. And so God will occasionally pick up that sword and start gouging you between your bone and your marrow and your soul and your spirit and reminding you there's still one thing you haven't done.

And until you do that, I can't give you more. That's the verse we opened with. Until you deal with that, I cannot I will not give you more because this next step is the important step to the next step.

It's a rung on the ladder as you climb higher in faith. And it may not seem like much and it may have been a long time and it may not be a big deal. when you come to church, the noise can overwhelm it and kind of push it even farther away.

But there are times when it will come back and you'll say, you know, I I really need to do that because if I keep crying out for if I hunger for and thirst for righteousness, I'm not going to experience anything higher or deeper until [clears throat] I deal with what God is telling me about. And I guess the thing that's got me stirred up again, [snorts] I hate to be stirred up all the time, but I I guess I am. I heard about a another very famous church leader who admitted this week that he he had been unfaithful to his wife for the last eight years.

the last eight years of their 52 years of marriage. A preacher, a writer, an encourager, one of those on the loop, one of those every time his book comes out, you buy it. And when I heard that, didn't just hear it, I read it.

I I read his confession. I I started saying, "Lord, how is it? How how can people who know the Bible fall into such deep sin?

See, he didn't stumble. You don't stumble for eight years. >> He didn't trip.

It wasn't just a momentary lapse. It was a thoughtout, weighed over action of following the lust of the flesh, breaking the vows of marriage, uh, abusing the call of God, bringing a scourge on the people of God. Well, you know, it's you you don't just say, "Oops, I made a mistake." But what I want to know is how can a man have this book in his hand or a woman?

How can they read it, teach it, interpret it, study it, sell it, and yet not obey it? That's what I'm trying to get across to you because I love you and God loves you and I don't want anybody in here to to ignore. You know, last week I said, "Don't ever underestimate the power of physical attraction, folks.

Don't ever underestimate the power of putting it off, of waiting, of doing it later, procrastination because it will suddenly become less and less important. When Jesus said, "If you do what I tell you to do, I will give you more. But if you refuse to do what I tell you to do, you'll understand it less and less.

So when I read read that it, you know, everybody was kind of in a buzz about it in the Christian world. It's a very famous person. I said, "Dear God, this scares me.

Please God, I beg you. Keep me alert. Keep me awake.

Keep me aware. Keep me on my knees. Keep me in your word.

>> Don't let me become too familiar with your word. Singers, don't ever become too familiar with his word because you sing it all the time. I'm talking to preachers on the cameras there.

Don't ever get too familiar with God. Always tremble. At least do what the devils do.

They tremble at the presence of God, the name of Jesus. Don't take it for granted. Don't think it's your job.

Don't feel like once you've preached the sermon, you're off the clock. Don't give yourself permission to fall into sinfulness and fleshiness because you've done something for God. Don't give your flesh a reward because you've sacrificed something for God because it is so easy, my brother.

It is so easy. I'm going over to 1 Samuel and bring up to you this passage about Saul. There's a lot here about Saul, the first [clears throat] king of Israel, the the king that God said the people wanted.

And the Lord said to Samuel, "Go tell Saul, I will punish Amalecch for what he did to Israel." Now, folks, listen. That was hundreds of years before this. What am the the Amalachites did to Israel when they came out of Egypt and they restricted them, they blocked them, they threatened them.

And hundreds of years later, God said, "Oh, I haven't forgotten." No, the time is right. I want to punish Amalecch for what he did to Israel. How he ambushed him on the way when he came up out of Egypt.

This is what God told Samuel to tell Saul. Go [clears throat] and attack Amalecch and utterly destroy all that they have. Do not spare them.

Kill both man and woman. Folks, you can't I can't make this pretty. I can't make this politically correct.

killed both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them, 200,000 foot soldiers and 2,000 or 10,000 men of Judah. Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go depart.

Get down from among Amalecch, lest I destroy you with them." You You guys get out of town. Get out of dodge cuz I'm about to kill some people here. So Saul attacked the Amalachites from Hiv Havilla all the way to shore which is east of Egypt.

He also took Aag that's the king. He took Aag of the Amalachites alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. He almost obeyed.

But Saul and the people spared Aag and the best of the sheep. Uh oh, it's getting worse. And the oxen and the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good.

And were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything, listen to this, everything despised and worthless, that's what they utterly destroyed. what they didn't need and what they didn't want, they destroyed that.

But the things they wanted, they kept. Now, the word of the Lord came to Samuel and said, "I'm sorry I let Saul be king, and uh I want you to go deal with it for me." Samuel went to Saul and said to him, "Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord." This is Saul talking to Samuel.

I've done what you told me to do. But Samuel said, "Well, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and loing of the oxen which I hear?" Well, what's this noise I'm hearing here? I'm hearing animals.

And Saul said, "Well, they've brought them from the Amalocites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to give to God. Do you get that? They dedicated their disobedience to God.

They justified disobedience and said, "We do this in the name of the Lord. We want to HONOR HIM." YOU NEVER HONOR God by breaking his commandments. >> Then Samuel said to Saul, "Be quiet." One translation says, "Shut up.

I'll tell you what the Lord said to me last night." And Saul said, "Speak on." Samuel said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not the head of the tribes of Israel, and did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, "Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalocites, and fight against them till they are consumed." Why did then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of of the Lord?

And Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me and brought back Aag, king of Amalecch. I have utterly destroyed the Amalocites. But the people took the plunder, the sheep, the oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.

Folks, that is typical human justification. I did do it. I did what God told me to do.

But but see, anything less than utterly is not God's will. And that's where you get this famous passage. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as obeying the voice of the Lord.

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. What he's saying is God is not after a sacrifice. God is not after you doing something good or nice for him.

God wants you to do what he said. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Folks, we've gotten to the day we'd rather make a sacrifice, do something in the flesh, than to simply obey the word of the Lord.

And to heed, to hearken. That means not just listen, but hear. Hearken unto me, the Lord said.

That doesn't mean just listen. It means do it when you hear it. Hearken is better than the fat of rams.

And I fear today in our church culture, our church society, we've let so much of the world's values seep into our pews and onto our stages that we are justifying our ways. Do you know how many churches are doing stupid, sinful things in the name of Jesus? And they say, 'But we're trying to get people on the pews.

God is not interested in ungodliness and disobedience just to get somebody on the pews. The kind of people you get to come to church by using secular music and worldly WAYS WILL BE SECULAR PEOPLE AND WORLDLY PEOPLE ON THE PEWS. >> I hope preachers are hearing me today.

Nothing will ever be a substitute FOR GOSPEL BIBLE PREACHING. NOTHING WILL EVER TAKE THE PLACE OF THE WORD OF the Lord being spoken TO HIS PEOPLE. NOTHING WILL EVER TAKE THE place of sincere holy LIVING AND WALKING IN OBEDIENCE BEFORE AN ALMIGHTY GOD.

NEVER. AMEN. [applause] Then there's that passage to this day.

This one gets me in Exodus chapter 32. Remember when the the children of Israel have come across the Red Sea and they've walked around in the wilderness and Moses is up on the mountain and they are impatient. We need a word.

We need some leadership. Where's the man? Ah, and he stayed too long.

So when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him. So, we'll just change leadership.

Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, your daughters, and bring them to me." Break them up. I don't know what that means. Jerk them out or seems a little painful to me.

They didn't have pliers. I don't guess they could snap them. What does it mean?

Break them off. So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and he fashioned it with an engraving tool.

And he made a molded calf. Then they said, "This is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt." When Aaron saw it, here it is. When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it.

And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Ready for this? Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. [clears throat] We're going to take this golden calf, this idol, and we're going to dedicate it to the Lord.

This is about God. This is all about God. And they took what was an abomination and in their own mouth and mind, they sanctified it and declared it to be God.

We're going to dance around naked and we're going to swap husbands and wives and we're going to drink and eat ourselves into a FRENZY IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. Be very careful, brothers and sisters, what you call obedience. >> Because if it's less, if it's anything less than utterly, it is disobedience.

In fact, there is no such thing as partial obedience. >> No such thing. Did everybody hear what I just said?

There's no such thing as half halfway or partial obedience. You're either obedient or you're disobedient. >> And God's not playing around here.

And I don't know about you cuz I can't read faces right now, but this this strikes [clears throat] a a bit of terror in my heart. Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Aaron knew it was wrong.

He was Moses' brother. He knew it was wrong. He was afraid of the people.

He didn't want them to attack him. They didn't want He didn't want them to do away with him like they had just done away with his brother. So he said, "I tell you what, we'll have the best of both worlds." Now, that is a Leoysian church.

That is a worldly church. And I don't care what anybody says, there are tens of thousands of them in this country today. Having the best of both worlds.

Ever so often, and occasionally, people will bring me a video they want me to see of something going on in a church. I've seen everything from uh uh truck pools, is that tractor pools and uh people dancing around halfdressed? Oh, all you got to do is pull it up and you'll see things in the name of the Lord.

It's a feast to the Lord. We're dancing for the Lord. And folks, it's nothing it's nothing less than disobedience.

And that's why you can fill up churches, but there is no power in those churches. >> We are in the last days and people are denying the power of God. They are thinking that full pews and and lots of people and lots of activity is what God is after.

I beg to differ with you from scripture. God is after a holy man living a holy life. God is after a church that preaches the whole council of God.

He is after those that are after him. HE IS FOR THOSE [screaming] THAT ARE FOR HIM. I don't want there to be any compromise in my life.

Folks, you have to be unmerciful with yourself. You can't preachers listen to me. You can't study and pray and deliver a message and then after it's over and people are gone say, "Woo, I'm glad that's over." And give yourself permission to do worldly things.

You're still A PROPHET OF GOD. When Abra WHEN ELIJAH CALLED DOWN FIRE FROM HEAVEN, you remember Oh, I'm about to Do you remember WHEN HE CALLED DOWN FIRE from heaven? THE BIBLE SAYS AHAB WENT BACK TO THE PALACE AND HE HAD A PARTY, BUT ELIJAH WENT AND FELL ON HIS FACE BEFORE GOD.

BECAUSE JUST BECAUSE THE OCCASION IS OVER, JUST BECAUSE THE CHURCH SERVICE IS OVER, DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU'RE OFF THE CLOCK. YOU'VE GOT TO KNEEL BEFORE GOD AFTERWARD, JUST LIKE YOU DID BEFOREHAND. IT DOESN'T CHANGE.

YOU GOT TO LIVE IN OBEDIENCE TO THE CALL OF GOD ON YOUR LIFE. >> AMEN. >> [applause] [snorts] >> AT THIS VERY MOMENT, I felt the Lord speak to me.

Council members and wives, come down very quickly, please. Here's what I want to do. And if nobody comes, that's fine.

And and I'm not mad about that. But I'm just saying that's the way it is. If you heard the message this morning, and certainly you did, and there is something in you that you have not yet dealt with, and you can't figure out why things are not progressing for you.

Could it be that disobedience has tethered you to the place where you are right now? And you will not be able to move forward until you deal with it. We may have more prayers up here than anybody that will come down, but it's an opportunity.

Cuz I've learned this about church work. It really doesn't matter what people think. This is [music] between you and God.

Right? This is between you and God. [music] And I bring it back to this.

Hey, don't go do a great big old study on the sun, the moon, the stars, the galaxies, the nebuli. [music] Don't don't don't waste time with that. Get in here.

Say, "Lord, what would you have me do? And if I'm not doing it, give me the grace to do it." [music] >> Sorry, I get emotional because I want everybody to move up. I want you to move out.

I do. I want more of God, [music] BUT I CANNOT GET MORE OF God until I deal with where I am right now. Anybody agree with me this morning?

>> If you are, if you feel so disposed, people are watching now. I don't tell people to bow their heads and close their eyes cuz this is public stuff. If you'd like to come down and just have somebody agree with you, not that you'll think about it, but that you will go do it.

[music] Come on down. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

And the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He answered and said, "Because it has been given to [music] you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." But to them it has not been given. Whoever has, to him more will be given. [clears throat] He who he will have in abundance.

But whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away. If you know to do good and you don't do it, it's sin. The Bible said.

So if you do what you are supposed to do, God will give you more. More revelation, more everything. So so, so, so pay the man his money.

If you owe somebody, just go pay him. Go pay the bill. Quit playing that [music] little thing of, "Well, I'll keep it till the end of the month.

I'll make more interest." He may need it worse than you do. Just pay the bill. Jesus could come anytime.

And here we are messing around with the little things that keep us from growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. I love you, church. May the Lord be with you.

And may you be astounded at what God will do for those who obey him. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.