Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Obedience: The Highest Worship Pt.1

I see some other folks went on vacation as well as ourselves. That'll teach us to leave town and miss the good weather. We were out having some time yesterday at the racetrack and they announced at the racetrack that this particular track had missed twelve Saturdays in a row; they couldn't run because of rain. Isn't that something? How many of you believe that? It's good to be back in the dry, praise God. It's good to be home.

There are a couple of things to mention. Some of you have seen the booklets that have come together. Richard, I would say, has done an outstanding job on these. Would you say "amen" to that? He's done a good job in laying out the covers and different things, and those who have worked in the proofing, outstanding. The layouts in these are just outstanding. What these are, are quotes and articles that had come from many of the teachings. It's really a blessing. It's similar to a devotional but with just a little more content and a little more weightiness than the average devotional book might have. It's really something that is thought-provoking. Richard said he has been reading through them and just really being blessed as some of the teachings have come back to his mind. It's something that we're excited about, and over 10,000 of these are going to be printed for Africa. We're excited about that, and we're looking to get them out in the hands of these pastors in Tanzania.

Last we heard, they are expecting between five and six thousand pastors, just senior pastors. They don't know how to respond to us, because usually people are more interested in crowds than they are in substance. So when they have a pastor's conference, everybody who is a pastor, an associate pastor, a Christian worker, a want-to-be somewhere pastor, shows up and registers and they come in. Everybody likes that because it makes the numbers greater. I told them, "I'm not interested in ministering to anybody that isn't full time in the ministry, the senior pastors that are overseeing the flock of God." That's what we've limited it to, and it's an exciting thing. They said that God is moving miraculously. This is the first time in the history of the nation that both major Pentecostal organizations (the Assemblies of God and the independent Pentecostal churches) have come together in the same conferences. That's exciting, isn't it, to see that God is possibly going to use this as a way to bring some unity of the Spirit into the ministry in Tanzania?

It's a nation that has not been as saturated with tradition as Kenya. Much of what they have is not from PTL or TBN. Many of these men that have the Spirit have gleaned it from some of the missionaries who had come over decades before and from their own study and their own pursuit of God. It's an exciting thing to be part of, and so we want to continue to pray and believe God that we can get over there somehow. [The major airline had cancelled all flights due to terror concerns.] Those of us that are signed up for the trip, again we're still believing God to open the door. We know that they're talking about closing the embassy, and it may already be closed, but God opens doors that no man can open. Those that are scheduled to go on the trip to Africa, be prayerful that God will open the doors for us and that we can go, the doors of utterance will be honored, and we'll be able to go out and share the gospel. That's an exciting thing.

In the latest e-mails, we found out the churches are continuing to grow. We're really excited about the fact that we're seeing this continued onslaught of growth. The Eldoret ministry is going along great for the conferences that are going to be there, and within probably ninety days, we're going to have another church going, praise God! That will be five. We have another one going that's not official yet. They say that they're a part of us; we just haven't said that. It's someone who was in our congregation in Kakamega. He was a retired police officer. He had gone back to his hometown--I can't remember the name--Kisii. He started a church and he said, "I'm one of you." We said, "Praise God. We'll find out." Ron was just there in that area. The brother is doing great. The church is growing. There were numerous other men that were in that meeting, that have been influenced either through the conferences or whatever, that are wanting to become part. We could right now, if we did it loosely like everybody else, we could have many, many churches that we say are affiliated with us. We're not interested in that. We're interested in committing to--say it. Faithful men. They don't know anything about that over there. Numbers are what it's all about. We're looking not for quantity but quality, people that are able to represent and emulate Jesus' lordship. That is happening, and the reputation is getting out. People are seeing that there is someone who will do it according to the Word of God, and that's appealing to a lot of folks who are hungry for the heart of God. What we're going to end up with, I believe, is the remnant that the Lord sent us to touch. That's fruit that is going to remain, praise God, and that's all that matters: that one day we'll be able to say, "Father, of those that You've given me, I've lost none." That's our hearts' desire.

On our trip, we were able to go out by Bethany Bible College. The campus was deserted. I guess school had just let out, and the campus was deserted. There was one class that was being offered, and I was grieved; the one class that was being offered was counseling. Our Bible colleges are full of counseling. The problem is that so much of it is just reworded Freudian counsel. They call it "Christian counsel." "Competent to Counsel." Tragically, if we'll present the Word of God, there needs to be a lot less counsel and a lot more admonition to be doers of the Word. If you're doing the Word, you're going to be emotionally stable. You're going to be single-minded. You're not going to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. You will not have received the spirit of fear, but of love, of power, and of a--what? Sound mind. The reason most people need counsel is because they're disobedient to the Lord as Christians. This was the class that was being offered.

I happened to come upon a professor, one of the professors that was on the campus. I was driving around. Santa Cruz is beautiful. How many of you have ever been to Santa Cruz? Anybody ever been to Santa Cruz, California? Gorgeous area. As Kenny Schmidt, my pastor, used to say, "Where the mountains kiss the sea, and we're right in the middle of the big smack." It's beautiful. Greer said it was one of her favorite spots. We went down on the boardwalk--"Under the boardwalk." We were on the boardwalk there, and it was one of those days, 80 degrees, perfect, not-a-cloud-in-the-sky days. We were strolling along the beach there, so pristine. Just from the beach, you could almost take a stone and stand on the beach and throw it and hit redwood trees. It's just gorgeous.

Bethany Bible College sits in a grove of redwood trees. I can still remember taking some afternoons there and just wandering off into the grove of redwoods and sitting down with my Bible and just spending some time in meditation, praise God, looking at the creation declaring the glory of God. We were enjoying the campus there, driving around. It's a small, quaint campus. I don't know how many students there are now. When I was there, there were only 500 students. I ran into this one professor, and he was there when I was there. He was just a kid then, I guess. He said, "Who did you have when you were here at school?" I told him, and it was all the old-timers that are gone: Ralph Riggs, John Tinsman, C.C. Burnett, mighty men of God! These men were right off the pages of the Bible. You could see another generation that was coming up that had not really dug their own wells. They were a people that were interested in the praises of men, in academia, rather than the supernatural. It was sad to see as we drove down the highway--they didn't even do a good job of it. They just kind of put a green patch over it. It's no longer "Bethany Bible College." It's "Bethany (patch) College." This was the school that was known in the Assemblies of God for putting out the missionaries. If you went to Bethany, you were known as someone who was serious about pursuing God. Now they're Bethany College, with counseling going on in the summer.

I was able to just share with this individual a little bit as to what God was doing in our lives and in the ministry, and he was taken aback some. He said, "If only these kids today could have that same vision and that spirit, but they just don't have it." My thought was, "Yeah they do. You're just not requiring it of them." We don't lack resources; we lack leaders, people that are willing to say, "As for me and my house, we're going to serve God." It made me so thankful for our young people here, for our young adults here, for what God has given us here as a fellowship. Let's not ever take it for granted. What we have here is precious. What we have here is a gift from our Father, and it's by the grace of God. It's something that we should never, ever take for granted, an exciting thing. It's good to be home.

I was able to take Greer down and show her the market where we got the cans that were all without labels and crunched up and you never knew what you were eating for dinner. As my mind hearkened back to those days, I immediately thought of the faithfulness of God, how faithful God is and how gracious He is. As we've experienced the opportunity to have a little more in abundance than the daily "give us this day our daily can," it's the same grace that provides. It's the same need to trust. It was an exciting time thinking back to where we were and how Father has brought us to where we are, and being so thankful that nothing has changed in our awareness of who is our daily bread.

As I looked at this one gentleman, to see after these many years the path that he is on, the path of the secular, the path of the natural, it caused me again to be so thankful for God's mercy and grace to have all these years, and with even a greater desire now, to walk in the Spirit so that you wouldn't fulfill the lusts of the flesh, to walk in the Spirit, to know His presence on a daily basis, to honor Him in obedience. That's what we want to talk about as we get ready to start our new series, the highest form of worship: obedience. We're going to talk about that aspect for a number of sessions here and see what God has.

Just before we get into the teaching, Kimberly and Greer in the back said, "You're always talking about stuff, and people don't know what you're talking about, so show them." They talked me into this. This is a little bit against my nature, but you know how that dripping affects you. Nah, it wasn't dripping, really. It was just wise counsel, an opportunity just to share the Lord. We had a great time yesterday as we were out running the cars and really had our first--we've had a class win with the truck, but this is actually our first opportunity to win a full event. We won our first event yesterday after all of this trying. It was an exciting, exciting day. You've heard us talk about the different trophies that were available. These are what Wallys look like. We won a good chunk of money yesterday, too. Somebody said, "Wow! There's an opportunity for five grand," or whatever. I said, "I'd gladly give you five grand for one of the trophies." So, if you've been wondering what a "Wally" is, this is what they are. This is what all of our effort has been for, these pieces of metal. Some people have raced for 30 years, every weekend of their lives, and never been fortunate enough. God has blessed us. I think what happened yesterday--the reason I kind of consented to sharing with you along these lines--they're kind of neat little men. Not a whole bunch of people really are able to, like I said, some people every weekend of their lives go out trying to win and after 30 years, have never been able to do it. We were trying hard and not having a lot of success, and the Lord, as I've shared with you, has really been dealing with my heart in this thing. I've purposed to cut way back on different things over the last weeks, and we have. I've rescheduled the remaining months of this year in obedience to the Lord. I've cut back many, many different things that we were going to be involved in to reestablish the more important things that were before us at that time as the Spirit of God was directing us. In pursuit of the seeking of the kingdom, we were able to be in such a place of rest and peace yesterday that I think that was part of what contributed to the day that we had. It was an exciting day. Star was doing a fabulous job of dialing the car, and Greg worked so diligently on keeping the thing running and all of that effort--just a lot of work. To share with you the ministry part of it--and I haven't taken a lot of time to do that, we've had people, as I've shared, through this ministry born again, in churches now, serving God in Great Britain, New Zealand, different areas around here. We have people who've been touched by the gospel that e-mail us of their lives. Just continue to pray. It's a great outreach. It's a good opportunity to touch lives that wouldn't normally be able to be touched.

Let's turn to the book of Deuteronomy, and I want to share a couple of things that are vital to us in this aspect of walking in the highest form of worship. Now remember, the word "worship" comes from worth-ship, what we put worth upon. Worship is what you direct your attention to because of its worth to you. You can worship your house. You can worship your hobby. You can worship your children, your spouse. When you put that worship before the Lord, it becomes idolatry. There are many things that we worship, or that we put worth upon, and we give accolades to, and we give attention to, that we serve. Worship always dictates service. Worship always causes us to serve that which we see of worth. It's done willingly as we worship our children. I'm not talking about idolatry--as we worship our children. As Kimberly and Jeff came home last night from the track--. That made it so much more exciting yesterday, not only to have our first event win, but to have the family there as Kim and Jeff and the girls were there, John and Hannah and Mike and Emily were there and many of the family were there, and we were able to enjoy that together. Then as there's the coming home, Kimberly worships the girls as they get home. In other words, tired. I got in bed last night; I got to sleep about three as we got back in. As they rolled back in--they left a little bit early and were able to get back in and get home at one o'clock--and to worship their children as they got them out of the car and got them their baths. It's so easy to take them and just throw 'em in bed; they're asleep. Wake them up; bathe them; prepare them. Give them that routine that they're used to. You're recognizing the worth, and you're making yourself servant to them, because you've placed value there.

So, whatever it is that you and I are worshipping, remember, it only becomes sin when it becomes idolatry, when it begins to replace God, when it begins to distract us in our communion, in our relationship, with Father, when it begins to fulfill our lives and we're not now needing the recognition of that presence of God. As we stop and think about this for just a moment, we begin to see that obedience to God is the highest form of worship because the one thing in relationship with God is, our service to Him is not because He requires anything. Children require attention. We, as humans, require affection and all of these things that are so necessary. God needs nothing from us, but He demands our obedience. He demands our recognition of His sovereignty, of His lordship. The only way that that can be expressed is in our actions, in our obedience. The thing that most of us get into trouble with is this. We seem to think that verbal recognition, or our verbiage of worship (telling God how great He is, telling Him how much we love Him, telling Him how much we know about Him, telling Him about how much we intend to do for Him) is sufficient. Yet He sets His own standard and says, "Obedience is better than [what?] sacrifice."

When that Old Testament term of "sacrifice" is used, remember what it is. It's not sacrifice meaning we have to give something up to God because we blew it, and so now we have to come back and somehow appease God; and if we had been obedient, it would have been better than sacrifice, because now we're having to pay a price for not being obedient. That's not what that means. The sacrifice there was the sacrifice of worship. He's saying, "Don't come to acknowledge Me. Don't come and tell Me how great I am if you won't obey Me. Obedience is what I've asked of you, Saul. I didn't ask for you to go out and do great exploits in My name. I didn't ask for you to bring the finest animal sacrifices without spot or blemish and offer them up. I wasn't looking for pomp and circumstance. I'm not interested in all of the liturgies that are taking place in churches, the beautiful songs, the prose, and the poetry that has been constructed by man. I'm just looking for simple obedience. I just want you to do the things that I told you to do."

As we're here this morning, we're surveying our own lives and we want to know within ourselves how much we really love God. Well, how much do you love your husband? How much do you love your children? It's by how much you serve them. It's by the preferring them better than ourselves that it's seen. It's not in words. As we relate to Father, it's that same type of communion that He's looking for. As we examine our own hearts, we really can only know our hearts through our obedience because, as we were talking about in the teaching that we had been doing, we're so easily deceived. The heart is so desperately wicked. We think so perversely about ourselves and our intentions. "I was well meaning," and "Someday I hope to" and "What I really meant was" But the Bible says, "By their fruit, they're known" and "Out of the abundance of their hearts, they speak." We want to judge ourselves by all standards other than those two that the Lord has given us. It's what we do that reveals who we are. So the Master said it this way. He said, "Listen. Don't say that you love Me if you don't keep My commandments; and don't think you're keeping My commandments in love if they're grievous to you." "I have to. Everybody else gets to go out and do this, and I have to go pray. All my friends are going out to play golf, and I have to go up for prayer. We used to play in this softball league in the evenings, and now we have to go and pray. Other people get to work out in their yards and enjoy the rain, and I have to go and pray. It's the first sunny Saturday in twelve weeks, and others are going to go out and enjoy the weather, and I have to go with the Home Fellowship Group out witnessing." "If you love Me, My commandments are not grievous to you," the privilege of relationship, the honor of knowing Him. The highest form of worship: obedience.

Deuteronomy, chapter 10, verse 12, says, "And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God [to fear the Lord, your God], to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul." What does the Lord thy God require of you? We've studied this so many times, one of the classic Scriptures revealing the heart of God. Ecclesiastes 12:13, "The whole duty of man, fear God and keep His commandments." We've talked about it before, and it never ceases to amaze me how the greatest minds have wrestled with that question. We have the perverse explanation for man's existence: there is no real purpose of man, that man is an accident of nature, a creature from the ooze, the creature from the black ooze. The Bible says we're the creation of God in His own image for His own purposes, and there's a duty that we have. You're not an accident. Before you were formed in your mother's womb, the Lord knew you; you could be called by name. The hairs on your head are numbered. In a day when humanity--the growth of our population is phenomenal! You don't realize until you get on the freeways the growth. You know, it's amazing! Have you noticed? Where is everybody coming from? Some people that just keep getting pregnant need to figure that out. Where are all these folks coming from? You go out, and everything is crowded. You try to go to a restaurant, and nine o'clock at night you've got to stand in line. What's going to happen as this continues, the growth, the masses of people, is that people will begin to feel depersonalized. All of a sudden, you're just a number and you're part of this mass, but not so in the kingdom of God. He knows your name; your hairs are numbered; you're here for a purpose. We're here called to be witnesses. We're here to be salt. We're here to be light. You and I have a reason for being, but we'll never realize that if we don't allow ourselves to fall into God's method of using us in His kingdom. That's the demand that you and I fall into, the worship of obedience, the willingness to say, "Here am I, Lord. Send me." The whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments.

What is the "fear of the Lord" talking about, really? It's talking about a reverence for God. It's talking about an awareness. Reverence not just in the awe that we have of His majesty, but a reverence in His selection of us. We look, many times, at people who have been born into certain families with a silver spoon in their mouths and we think, "Man, how lucky! Look at the luck of the draw." From the material aspect, that's probably the case. When we were out West, we stopped by Hearst Castle--just thought we'd stop in and see some friends. It never ceases to amaze me. A lot of people don't realize that Hearst didn't make the fortune: he just expanded it. His dad actually left him a boatload of money. His dad was the guy that really worked his tail off for the fortune. I thought it was interesting. His dad was from Missouri and walked from Missouri out to California and started the Comstock Mines. As they were mining this land that everybody thought was worthless, they came upon this substance that everybody thought was lead. He knew it wasn't lead because being from Missouri, he had mined lead, and he said, "This isn't lead." They took all of the ore out, and it was silver. It was one of the largest silver strikes there in the area. Of course, he became very wealthy and in the process, started the newspaper and let his son take it over. He compounded the empire from there, the San Francisco--I can't remember if it's The Examiner or The Herald. I used to read it all the time. It went from there and then, of course, all the other magazines, and this guy got this vast fortune.

One of the things that I thought was interesting was, as you're there in San Simeon, they built the house on top of this mountain. For natural man, this seems to be the ultimate. As far as he could see in every direction, he owned. Would that be cool or what? How many of you would like that? You know, it's cool for people like me who like their space. I like my space. I want to sit on the end of a row. How many of you like sitting on the end? Let me say that again. How many of you like sitting on the end? What are the rest of you doing in the middle? You didn't get here early enough, huh? Don't you like a little bit of elbowroom? I like folks and I like visiting, but I like my space. He had some space: as far as he could see. You can't replicate that today. Gates, I think, is still--is he still the richest guy in the world? He would have trouble reproducing this, because you know, Hearst owned fifty miles of the California coast. Fifty miles! That's a big front yard--and it was all coastline! Gorgeous! If you've driven down through there, this is beautiful stuff. Three hundred square miles! That's cool stuff!

I'm going through all that to say this. Those that were born into his family, like some of his grandchildren, like Patty, really appreciated what they had been given, right? You see the picture of her with the machine gun. She convinced everybody that she had gotten kidnapped. She was just a rebel. She grew up--in the natural. She was telling a story about how it was as a little kid living in Hearst Castle. She said it was kind of neat because they used to go up there, and they would go swimming. This was even after they had given the house over to the state. They would have the tours, and they were supposed to wait until after the tours ended to go swimming, but they would jump in the pool and swim around in between the tours. A tour group would come up and wonder why the water was all troubled in the Neptune pool. The kids had been in there and they'd jumped out and hidden behind some of the statues of antiquity. They didn't have what you and I would think of as typical decorations around their pool. The whole portico had been dismantled and sent from Greece, ancient ruins in Rome, from Egypt, four-thousand-year-old artifacts around the pool--those of you who enjoy antiques, Steve. The main room was filled with fourteenth-century tapestries.

Patty Hearst was born into that and didn't really appreciate it. That's the point I was making. Here's a young lady and now she has to run off into the 60s and the rebellion of that particular era. How thankful are we for the family that we've been born into? We can sit back and look at some of these in the natural who have been blessed and we say, "How fortunate to be born into that family." How fortunate to be born into this family! What are we doing to worship our Father? What are we doing to show our appreciation for our adoption? The fact of the matter is this: God didn't just have to "take what He got." He chose you. He adopted you. He knows what you are, but He knows what you're going to become if you'll allow His Word to continue to work in you. Don't worship God restricted by the limited perspective of what you are now, but worship Him based upon what you will be in Him, the finished work, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let's begin to worship Him through what obedience will make us, the doors that it will open, the character that'll be formed in us as we give place in our fear, our reverence, our honor, our awe, and our respect. Fear is respect. You just respect your dad for who He is, for what He has accomplished. In our situation, how easy is that, the God of all the universe being our dad? I'd say our dad is an overachiever. God's a Type-A personality, from our limited perspective, yet He accepts you for what He's made you, what you are, what you're to be.

So what does God require of you? As we go on in the study, we're going to see that He doesn't require the same thing of all of us from the standpoint of production, but He requires the same thing of all of us from the standpoint of relation. We're not all going to produce the same thing for the kingdom, but we're all to have the same heart for the kingdom: one hundred percent about the kingdom. It's why I live. It's why I move. It's why I have my being. What is it that God is requiring of you and me? To fear Him, to walk in all of His ways, the Spirit constantly saying, "This is the way; walk in it." We've been contrasting for weeks now the personal agenda versus the eternal perspective of God. Have you come to that place now where you can truthfully pray, "Not my will, but Your will be done. Father, I understand the hour that we're living in. I understand what You're saying to me specifically as an individual and I come to bow my knee. I come to recognize the worth of Your kingdom far beyond any of my own personal expectations, desires, and goals. My desire is to walk in all of Your ways, to be content in what You've made me and how You've placed me in the body of Christ, to be that profitable servant"?

Turn over to Matthew for just a second. Keep your place here in Deuteronomy. We'll be right back. Look over at Matthew 21 at a passage that we've all read so many times and meditated on. The Lord, speaking, brings forth this parable and He's responding to the question of the Pharisees about the authority in which He moves. "[What do you think?] A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, [No] I will not: [I've got other things I have to do, other responsibilities, other priorities. I'm just not available today, Dad.]" (verses 28-29). Now, I know what would have happened if I had said that to my father! What an experience, as I was driving back through and seeing all my childhood homes. I was showing Greer, "We lived there and we lived there." She said, "Man, you moved a lot." I said, "Yeah, they came to collect the bills." No, actually my father was very diligent. He was an interesting guy. He was a hard, hard worker, old-school. I've shared some about the family there and the history. There are so many things about my father that I respect. His work ethic was phenomenal, just a kid that didn't have an eighth-grade education; didn't have a pair of shoes until he was eight years old or around that time. He ended up doing good for himself, ended up in civil service, retired as a GS-15, worked hard.

I was able to go to that house where we'd split all that wood. I've told the story about my brother and me splitting the wood of those trees. The guy that owned that home happened to be there, and I got talking to him. He said something about the trees. I said, "Yeah, all those that got cut down, I split that wood. There was a real big tree." He said, "I know which tree you're talking about." That thing had a stump like this. [Arms open wide.] I was sharing with him that my brother and I had to split all that stuff by hand, with just a sledge and a wedge. We'd be splittin' wood; my brother would be settin' that thing, and we'd be swinging the sledge--bang!--splittin' wood all day, eucalyptus wood, green eucalyptus wood. Pow!--splittin' that stuff. That's not easy stuff. We'd hear the kids up at the park playing ball. Crack!--oh, the handle broke off over the wedge. Work's done! Go to the park, man! So dad comes home and asks, "What happened?" "We broke the handle." So he gets another handle, and the next day we're splittin' wood, the kids are playing ball, and the handle breaks, and we go up to the park. Dad comes home and says, "Okay. Next handle that breaks, you pay for it. So what you'll do is when the handle breaks, you will not go to the park and play ball; you'll go out and work for somebody and make some money to buy a new handle. And if you break any more handles, I'm going to kill ya. [That's basically a paraphrase.] There's no way you can hit a baseball coming at 80 miles an hour and not hit that thing sitting still, but I'll tell you what I'll do because I'm fair. You don't have to work all day. You don't have to work from eight to four splitting this wood. You can finish at noon and go up and play if you get the same amount of work done by noon that you got done by four." So we did!

It was interesting as we went around and got to see all the houses. I was looking at that place. This guy asked a question. He said, "Who lived in that bedroom?" I said, "That was my brother's bedroom." He said, "You know, that closet is still purple [original paint from when we lived there]." We sold that house for seventeen thousand dollars. I said, "What's this thing appraised at?" He said, "Six hundred thousand." I said, "We'll give you eighteen thousand for it." You hearken back as a child. I got to go back by the house where I first heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. That lady had Joy Club. I stood there and, of course, all of these thoughts were flooding through my mind of how many other courses I could have taken, but how God got me where I am. You didn't just happen to be here. Your life has been ordered. Some of you young people, God put you in the family you're in. Don't resent it. Rejoice in it! Thank God for your parents. Thank God for the instruction that you've had placed into your lives through the gospel and your counselors and your teachers that are here. Begin to understand from the eternal perspective the privilege it is to serve in the kingdom.

This young man said, "No, I don't have time." I can think back to different things when I was younger that were a hardship to do for my father. It imposed upon my schedule. I had "important" things to do, like go out and cruise. I had important stuff, man. I mean, I had to go out and cruise Alvarado Boulevard, man, in the car my dad bought me. I had important stuff to do. I couldn't serve him. As you get a little older, you mature and realize what it took to provide the things you have, the love that is given to you that you don't deserve. It can cause you to say, "No. I've got a plan. I've got a kingdom I'm building. I've got responsibilities here to my goals, my family." Then your eyes are opened. It says that this young man had said, "I will not." "And afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, [Yes, sir]." I grew up around the military. About half the kids that went to my high school were military, from Fort Ord. They shut Fort Ord down. It was interesting driving through and seeing some of the different things. The barracks that used to be back behind our house--not the new ones, but the old ones from Word War II--my mom actually lived in some of those back there. They had abandoned them years before we lived there. It was really kind of cool as a kid. I lost count, but I know I shot out at least four or five hundred windows with my slingshot. It was so cool, just destroying all that glass. To watch all that stuff being torn down now and the change that's taking place. Being raised around the military kids, you'd always hear this. The father would say something, and "Yes, sir!" I never said "Yes, sir" to my father. Many are taught that; I know from the south here, people are taught that, but you've got to remember I was in California. In the military, "Yes, sir!" I can still remember "Yes, sir!" They had no more intention of doing it; they were going to go out and do the same thing I was going to do, only they said, "Yes, sir!" It sounded so great, sounded so disciplined, so subordinate. They had no intention of doing what their fathers told them to do. One of my buddies was a "Yes, sir." I'd take him to the Catholic church and sit outside waiting for him when he went in for his "mess." We were going out drinking, so I'd sit out there with the car, and he'd go in and do what they did and come back out. Then we'd go out drinking. He was forgiven, and I was going to hell. Ha! This is part of what's taking place here. God is not looking for rhetoric, for liturgy. He's not looking for outward appearance, but the circumcision of the heart.

This young man says, "I go, sir: and went not. [Which of those two] did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first [obviously]. Jesus saith unto them, [Truly] I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him." It's not the first impression that your flesh throws up. There's an opportunity to do the will of God, and you think, "What's wrong with me? I don't seem to be so willing. I don't want to do this thing." When I talk about "grievous," I'm not talking about the flesh's natural reaction to want to do its own thing. When I'm talking about His commandments not being "grievous," I'm talking about an ongoing heartsickness--this term may be a little strong--a resentment, one that's ongoing, that's calculated. I'm not talking about just the natural man's natural response, many times, to not getting its own way. That's the flesh. "Go work in my vineyard." "No." That's the flesh, but he repents. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Don't base your life on anything but the finished product. Many people have an initial willingness ("Yes, I'll go. Yeah, okay. I'll show up. I'll be there.") and they may show up once and that's it. They make a whole life commitment of 15 minutes.

The repentance--and we'll finish with this for this morning--is the changing of course, the changing of attitude, the changing of the recognition of who is in control, the lordship, who deserves the worship. As we close a little bit for this morning, give some thought to starting to judge your heart now and the quality of your worship by the fruit of your obedience. When push comes to shove, what decisions do you make, for God or against Him, for self or against self--habitually? What wins out habitually? What dominates your life? When your life is over--. You know, I was just out in California and it's kind of sad that Janet's sister, she really had some negative responses to what the Lord did in our lives. I could understand some of it, but even from the secular perspective, my brother, who is not born again, was talking as we were out there in Bakersfield. He asked, "Is Peggy still ticked off at you?" I said, "Yeah, last I heard." He said, "I don't understand that." I said, "What do you mean? I can appreciate where she's coming from. What happened was very abnormal." He said, "Yeah, tell me about it. That was my initial response, but I've seen the fruit. I've seen what happened. Not only that, but even if what you did was not right, what about the 35 years of faithfulness and service? That's who you are. [That's a secular person!] That's who you are. That's not who you are even if that was wrong--and I don't agree with that." Now, in your lives, who are you? What are you habitually? Many of us make a decision to do something right ("Okay, I'm going to go to the field.") and then we expect everybody to perceive us as a proven worker. Walk in humility. Praise God for your repentance and your willingness to go. Now stay. Now produce some fruit. Now do something that will honor God. Now worship Him in obedience, because it's by our fruit, habitual and abundant, that we're known, not in word, but in deed.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God this morning, and as we go into this study, we have hearts that are open to seeing who we are. In a day when the draw on our natural man is to self-service, to ease and comfort, in a day, Father, when disciplines, sacrifices, commitment, faithfulness, character seem to be foreign to so many people around us, let it become our treasure. Let it become our purpose. Let us see it as the duty of man, as the request, the requirement, of our Father. What does He require of you? What is Father requesting? That word "require" is not some kind of a command. He's just saying, "I'd like you to do this for Me. Here's what I'd really like you to do. If you love Me--and that's not attached to it; it's implied, assumed--then here's what I'd like you to do: walk in My ways. Find a way to get involved in My kingdom, to serve others, to become a light, to fulfill the admonition of being salt, to produce some fruit that remains, to hear, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'" Father, make it a reality, we ask in Jesus' name.

As Gary plays for us, take a moment to reflect on the privilege of being children in this household. Some of us think, "Man, what a privilege to be a part of the Rockefellers, the DuPonts, the Hearst family; the privilege, the carefree life." The men that made those fortunes had that character from the natural, not necessarily moral character, but the work ethic, the disciplines. The second and third generations become debutantes, drunks, destroyed through abundance and ease, so abundant that they forget God. "Don't make me so wealthy that I forget You" (Proverbs 30:8-9). The greatest treasure in life is to have a purpose. The highest calling of God is to be an ambassador, a representative, of Him. I'm just a servant of the most high God. I don't want my own business; I am content working for my Father. Have we taken for granted our privilege? We're an elite people, those that know the Lord, not those that name Him, those that know Him, those that have repented and gone. The churches are full of people that said, "Yes, sir. Yes, I'll go. Yes, when I get around to it, when it serves my purposes." The first son had things to do. He would not have said "no" if there was not something that was strong in his heart that he desired to do, and he repented. He acquiesced to the father's priorities. That's a true son. That's true worship. It's the highest form of worship: obedience. As we sing this, just thank Him for what He's doing in your life, because it's not natural. If it's in you, it's a gift of God; it's supernatural and it's something you need to thank Him for this morning because not everybody has experienced it. Let's stand and worship Him this morning and thank Him for His goodness. We are thankful, Father.

"Lord, I give You my heart/I give You my soul/I live for You alone." Father, it is our hearts' desire. "Every breath that I take," let it become that intimate, that practical. Let us all think back to a time when we couldn't take a breath, when the wind was knocked out of us, when the asthma was kicking in. Let us see how every precious breath that I take is a gift of God. Let it be the awareness of Your Spirit breathed into our very nostrils. By You we live and move and have our very being. Now let us take that gift and pour it out in thanksgiving as our strength, our energies, are used for You. Be glorified in Your church, we ask, Father, in Jesus' name, amen. Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Obedience is better than sacrifice." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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