Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Lovest Thou Me? Pt.4

Hallelujah! Amen! Just a reminder to continue to pray for the family in Kakamega. As you know, they've been under some persecution there concerning the changes that we're making in our discipleship training. I think we shared with you a few of the details, but anyway there was a lot of confusion, a lot of threats that are being made to them. We just want you to lift their hands up that they'll be strong, stand in faith and realize that it's their responsibility to train their children up, not the state's and that we're going to do everything according to the Word of God. If God's for us, then, no one can be against us. Amen?

Let's turn to John, chapter 14. We want to continue with the topic that we've been looking at: "lovest thou me more than these?" (John 21:15) We were making reference to the "these," the provision of the Lord, the great catch of fish, the outward blessings that God bestows upon us. The admonition to the children of Israel was "guard your heart," because as I bless you and you go into to possess the land, make sure that you don't begin to love the blessings more than the Provider. Make sure that you don't misunderstand that somehow you've gained this in your own strength, by your own abilities. I think most importantly for everyone of us is don't ever come to think that you deserve it. I think that's what so many of us battle with. We just seem to think that we deserve the best in ease, and comfort. We're living in a generation that truly has made that the doctrine of our age. It's always been man's predicament from the Garden, the pride, the selfishness, the self-will that was the consequence of the original sin, but it's something that we're promoting. It's a doctrine. It's a belief system that's reinforced in our day. We have to guard against this and to remain so thankful for everything that Father has given us. Amen? So appreciative of the blessings of God and to develop in our daily experience a true spirit of contentment in our godliness, because godliness with contentment is great gain, praise God.

I was just sharing in the past, if we don't have contentment in the Lord, if we don't have the presence of God, we have nothing. I said, "I'd rather have no church in Kakamega than one that compromises." There's a religion on every corner. I'm not interested in religion. I'm interested in the presence of the living God. If we don't have that, we have nothing. If we don't have the reality of God's presence, if we don't have the functional experience--our steps being ordered, our hands being lifted up, our hearts and our minds being comforted--then we have nothing but religion. But the presence of God provides a peace that passes understanding. And that's what Jesus was trying to teach Peter on the Sea of Galilee. "Are you going to be content in Me or in what's provided for you? Do you need a miracle every day of a great catch of fish, or is the mandate that I gave you sufficient? I'll make you fishers of men. I'll go before you and make a way for you." Praise God! "I'll confirm the words that you speak with signs following," Jesus told him. The anticipation, the excitement of living in the supernatural. Yet, we want to constantly revert back to natural care, peace, and comfort in abundance, comfort in investments and comfort in insurance programs. And we have this mandate: Cast your care upon Me, for I care for you. Be anxious for nothing; "but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." What would you have, the hands of Allstate or the nail pierced hands of Jesus?

What are you going to trust in, really? You know, we say we trust in God, but this is what Jesus was confronting Peter with. "You say you trust in Me; you say you believe in Me. Then, why aren't you doing what I told you to do? Why are you out here in this boat when I've told you to be fishers of men, when I've told you to come and follow me? Take up your cross. Lovest thou Me more than these? You made the profession, you love Me more than all these other guys put together. 'Though they forsake You Lord, Peter will never forsake you." He was the one that forsook Him because he was trusting in his own strength. Peter had a natural agenda. Peter was looking at an earthly kingdom. Jesus stripped it all away and showed him that everything we were investing in was unseen and it was not natural, it was supernatural. It was not temporal; it was eternal. "Where a man's treasure is, that's where his heart is. Do you love Me?"

Then we found out in John 14, in this little last bit of our review, the classic passage that Jesus said, "If you love Me, you'll keep My commandments." So really, the evaluation of how much we love the Lord can only be made by our obedience. Are we obedient in every area of our lives? Not by your emotions, not how close you feel to God today. Not, "I've really determined to serve the Lord and just lay it all on the altar." Not what do you feel. Not what have you determined. What's the fruit of your life? What is the fruit at this moment in your life that says you love Him more than all these other things put together? What is your life's accumulation of momentary decisions? Because that's all our life is, it's just the consequence and the accumulation of all of these momentary decisions that we make. Have your decisions been for His lordship or your lordship? Your will or His will? You see, the whole ministry of Jesus was summed up in the Garden of Gethsemane and not only the summary of Jesus, the summary of man. "If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me." Now, I don't know about you, but that's the way I approach all of what I perceive to be adverse situations in my life. You know, things get tough, the pressures whether they be emotional, psychological, spiritual, physical, you know, the pains, the sickness, the disease, the demonic oppressions, the financial pressures, the material lack, the discomfort of life. You enter into those situations, and the Word of God tells us that our first response to these things is to be this: "Ask for wisdom," James says, "when you fall into different temptations." Pray for wisdom. Ask God, "What's going on here? Why am I in the midst of this? Are You instructing me in this situation? Is the enemy trying to destroy me? Or am I off course by my own lust and trust in self? I need Your wisdom. Why am I being tried? What are the purposes of this trial?"

Then, the Scripture says, "Count it all joy when you fall into different adversities, trials, temptations, tests. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. If you'll endure in the goodness of God, let patience have its perfect work, you will be made mature, complete, strong, entire lacking nothing," James teaches us. Do you always pray for the easy way out, or do you pray, "Give me wisdom. This might be good for me"? What am I supposed to learn here? "Lord, if it be possible to accomplish Your will in Me and Me not have to drink this cup, that's what I'd prefer. Nevertheless, not My will but Thy will." "If you love Me, you'll keep My commandments."

John said we'll keep His commandments and they will not be grievous to us. It's not going to be difficult. Why? Because the chastening of the Lord, Paul said, is grievous, it's hard for the moment, but it works in us the peaceable fruit of righteousness. God's working in our lives. These times of pressure, trial, adversity and lack are the cross, the crucible that's causing us to come into the image of Jesus which is a life of absolute dependence upon God. Are you independent today or dependent? How much of your life is independent? How many decisions do you make independently? I'm talking about the little ones. Do you live your life and make all the little decisions and let God make the big ones? Don't you understand that it's all those stupid little decisions you're making that cause the big ones? Where are we today in our walk in His lordship?

We're really talking about pride verses submission and humility, obedience verses rebellion; that's what it all comes down to. As I was in prayer last night, just meditating on the services, this thought came to me. I'm sure it's not original, but it's something that came to me and I thought succinctly that's just a good way to understand that. Obedience is humility in action. Obedience is humility in action. You know, if a man humbles himself, God will exalt him. God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble, to the obedient, to the dependent man, the childlike faith. Not childish; childlike, dependent. God can write us off on His taxes. We're dependents.

Here we are, and we're just absolutely dependent. I'm dependent on God to feed me. I'm dependent upon God to clothe me. I'm dependent on God to nurture me emotionally, spiritually, intellectually. I'm not looking for man's intellectual input. I don't need that. All the little basics we need to get by where we can compete in the workplace with Jethro. "Aught plus aught is aught." If we've got sufficient education and excellent character, we can accomplish something for the kingdom of God. Yet, we've made a god out of education instead of the wisdom of God, the Word of God. People know far more today about psychology than they do about the book of Proverbs. People know a lot know more today about every new diet than they do the book of Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Those talk about diet. How much do you know about that? All of the different things that are natural that occupy our time, and we need to become masters of the wisdom of God, the Word of God that never passes away. How do we know if we're being obedient if we don't know what's being required of us?

So the Lord said, "If you love Me, you'll keep My commandments. They won't be grievous." So we want to talk about that obedience factor a little bit this morning. Obedience: humility in action, God giving grace to the humble, resisting the proud. Obedience is the requisite, the primary requisite, for a successful life. Because if we are willing and obedient, the Scripture says, we will inherit the land, the land of promise, that land of peace and contentment and the blessings of God.

Let's look at a couple of passages. Turn over to Joshua for just a second. A classic passage for us in Joshua that most of us are familiar with. You know, Joshua's life was one of pursuit of God, of obedience. He was a man that was under. He knew what it meant to be submissive in the natural; therefore, God could exalt him into a position where he would just rank under the Lord Himself. But we learn obedience by the things that we endure, by the things that we are proven faithful in. A very interesting statement in Joshua 1:5-9. Joshua's being overwhelmed. As you know, Moses has been taken out because he was provoked by the people. Moses took a little too much upon himself, actually. The people provoked him. They continued to rebel and to doubt God and Moses had known the anointing of God, the power of God. You know, it's an amazing thing when you've known the presence of God; you have to guard against thinking at all times that your thoughts are God's thoughts. You can hear from God so much that you can begin to think that you're one with Him, and that's a dangerous place to be. We need to hear from Him specifically every time, every incident. I need another fresh visitation from God. I need to hear from the Lord. I need to realize I am absolutely dependent. I can't make these decisions in my own strength. There's too much in me that's defiled, corrupt and natural. I've got to hear fresh from God.

Tragically, Moses made that mistake. A man supernaturally preserved for the moment of delivering God's people. A man who had practically learned that it wasn't in himself to be the deliverer, as in his own strength he murdered the Egyptian and had to flee for his life. Not until he was encountered by God in the burning bush was he reinvigorated and set back on course. He began to look at his own abilities and say, "There's nothing in me. I can't deliver these people. I tried, God, it is not possible." God said, "Why don't you give Me a shot at it?" "Okay Lord, I'll go, but I can't speak." God said, "Okay, I'll give you a mouthpiece, a high priest. Here's Aaron, your brother. He'll be the spokesman." Aaron never got to say a word.

It's amazing how when you obey, God brings the sufficiency. Amen? What was lacking in Moses? Humility. God brought the sufficiency. Moses truly saw his need of dependence upon God. The adding of Aaron to him was a very real need in Moses life at that time until he learned dependence, until he learned humility. Then he saw the sufficiency of God. "I have nothing to offer." "What do you have in your hand?" "I don't have anything but a rod." "That's enough," praise God. Will you be obedient? I'll make a rod sufficient to deliver My people. What do you have in your hand this morning? Take whatever you have this morning and combine that with the spirit of obedience and humility and I want to tell you something, it's enough. Amen? It's sufficient, praise God. Are you going to be obedient to offer up everything you have to God? He'll make up the difference. That's enough; let's go. He learned that dependence, and God confirmed His word with signs following and the miracles evidenced themselves to the point where Pharaoh was overcome. Moses stood and said, "Let my people go!"

Many of us are held in just as great a bondage to the world's system, to our own lusts, to our own flesh as that nation was. It's going to take the same total obedience and dependence upon God if you ever want to be free. You're not going to get out in your own strength.

Of course, as the people were being delivered, we know the story. Pharaoh's heart was puffed up again; the pride that dominated this man could not be overcome. So, as Moses stands at the Red Sea with Pharaoh at his back and the sea before him, having experienced all of the power of God--you can't live on your past experiences. They needed a fresh miracle. "You know, if I could have enough visitations in my life, then it would establish me finally in a thought process to where I'd never doubt again." Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. You need a fresh rhema, a fresh word, spoken to you in this situation. God speaks to Moses anew and the rod is extended. The shekinah glory holds the armies of Pharaoh at bay. The Red Sea divides and the people go across on dry land. The spirit of worship and praise breaks forth in the heart of Miriam and they declare the horse and rider have fallen into the sea, praise God! Momentary dependence, every situation, and now the presence of God to lead them, the fire by night, the pillar that brought refreshing by day.

They moved in a natural wisdom and looked for a guide to get them through the wilderness. I want to tell you something. There's no natural man that can take you through this wilderness called life, only the Spirit of God. No GPS (Global Positioning System) is going to get you there, only the Holy Ghost. I can see it now; you punch into the GPS the fastest route to the Promised Land. That thing comes up and it goes like this, (drawing a spiral in the air). You'd be banging--you'd send it back to the manufacturer. God's ways aren't our ways. Amen? Are you confident in where God's leading you today? Are you confident in your steps being ordered by the Lord? Are you at rest today? Are you going to be obedient to continue to do it God's way? Or is it not sufficient for you? It's not fast enough for you? It doesn't make enough sense to you? "This just doesn't seem to be wisdom." Whose wisdom? Man's wisdom is foolishness to God and God's wisdom is foolishness to man. Now, which wisdom are you going to choose? The two do not work together. They are totally, diametrically opposed. You can't amalgamate them. The double-minded man is unstable in, say it, all his ways.

Do you want to know why you're not at peace? You want to know why there's no rest? You want to know why you're confused? Double-minded; it leaves you in a state of confusion, of discontentment, of disquietness. But, once you determine to move in God's wisdom, peace comes, assurance comes. You know who you are.

You know, we were just down in Tennessee. Our young people represented the Lord in a great way down there, praise God! Our kids went down and repeated their national championship. We'll be giving honor to whom honor is due at a little later moment. But, the kids did a good job and showed some character. One of the referees came up to us after this one game and told us that they had actually even heard the other coach tell his players, "Go in there and begin to foul and grab these guys and get them frustrated!" Our kids couldn't be flustered. They couldn't bring them into their type of game. The ref was impressed with that. It was great to see our kids are able to keep their composure and show some character, and that's what we're training these kids to do. It's not about basketball. It's about character. It's about learning how to conduct yourself in adversity. It's about honoring the Lord. I went in and talked to the kids before the final game. They were playing this same team. There was kind of some bad blood from their side. Their coach was kicked out and wanted to fight Ronnie Simoneau. He picked the wrong guy out of that whole group. It was kind of interesting. There was all of that and I just talked to the boys before the game and I shared with them. I said, "One thing you need to know in playing this team, they can't beat you; only you can beat yourself. Don't go into this game to fight them, to humiliate them and annihilate them. You go into this game to honor the Lord. It's not about them; it's about the Lord. It's not about you; it's about the Lord. You go into this game to honor the Lord, play for God's glory, have fun and enjoy the fruit, praise God. The kids did a great job. That's what we're trying to cause them to learn through all of this. Because these basketball games and all of this stuff, it's just a little microcosm of what life is. There are ups and downs.

Moses was, at this time, experiencing that need of dependence. And God delivered the children. God delivered them through the Red Sea. God brought water as the children murmured and the Lord provided. Then, at another time Moses finally said, "You rebels! Must I fetch you water from this rock?" Moses did two things wrong there. Number one, he separated himself from the people; he thought he was above them. "You're rebels. I'm obedient." Then, he proceeded to be disobedient. He proceeded to put himself in God's place. "Must I fetch you water?" You tell me, Moses, how are you going to get water out of a rock! Oh, beloved, how easy it is to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, to think that somehow we've arrived at a place spiritually where God owes us, or that we can depend upon our own spirituality. We are absolutely totally necessarily dependent upon Him for every moment of our lives. And because of that spirit God said, "I'm not going to let you take the people in. You did a good job. I'm going to honor you, but you're not taking the people in." Don't you want to finish this thing? Don't you want to be able to lead in your children, your grandchildren? Then, there needs to be a constant humility and obedience.

Joshua watched Moses. He was with this guy in the big decisions that had to be made. When Moses was on Mount Sinai, you remember that Joshua went up as far as he could go. When the shekinah glory appeared in the tabernacle, Joshua, the only guy that wouldn't leave the tabernacle, concerned that God would show up and he'd miss it. "If God shows up, I'm going to be there to see Him, praise God!" Where's your heart today? Where's your hunger and thirst for righteousness? If you're hungering and thirsting for righteousness, one thing is guaranteed. You will be filled. Amen? When you seek God with all your heart, one thing is guaranteed. You will find Him. Do you believe that this morning? Then, why are we in the condition we're in? Now, I'm not saying that in a derogatory way. The question that I'm presenting to you and me this morning is have we accessed everything available to us? If not, then, why don't we press in and get some more, because if you seek, you find. You knock, it's open. You ask, it's given to you. If you hunger and thirst, you will be filled. There's more for us. If we would stir up our hearts and the gift that's in us, God has more for us in direct proportion to our pursuit and our obedience.

So, here's Joshua now getting ready to assume the oversight. The thirty-fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, a few verses before we start Joshua. Verse nine says: "And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him..." Can I encourage you to do something this morning? Survey who you're hanging out with. Who has been laying their hands on you? Whose spirit are you imbibing? It will affect your life. You will not live independent of your environment. Make your environment God--His prophets, His people--and you'll take on that character. You make it the world, you'll take on that character.

Joshua's full of the spirit of wisdom and yet he's overwhelmed at this time with the task that's at hand of leading these children into the Promise Land. We come to verse five: "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life..." Don't you love this promise? I love this promise. Now, each one of us can take the spirit of this promise. We're not all Joshua, none of us are. None of us can ever hope to be. But at the same time, we're the priests of our households. We're ambassadors for Christ in this world, the Scripture says. We're the light of the world; we're the salt of the earth. Now, we look at this promise and, I don't know about you but I always try to put myself in that position. Can you imagine being Joshua standing there and God says this to you. "Hey, guess what, Joshua, no man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life." I just envision myself. Nobody! I could whip Ali and George Foreman at the same time. Run through a troop, leap over a wall. Think about it. God said nobody can defeat you. Whoa, glory! Can I put it to you in the new covenant? "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Amen? "If God is for me, who can be against me?" Praise God! The Lord said I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will not leave you comfortless. The Scripture says to you and me in this new covenant, I give you all power and all authority over all the power of the devil and nothing shall by any means harm you. Do you believe that this morning? Those are promises to the obedient. Those are not unconditional promises to anybody that says they're a Christian. As we go on in the study this morning, I'm going to show you that they are not unconditional. These are promises to the obedient, and the obedient not only experience the fruit but rest in the presence of the promise.

So here's this comment made. He says, "No man will be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." Now this applies to you and me. "As I was with Moses, I'll be with you. As I was with Joshua, I'll be with you. As I was with Elijah, I'll be with you. As I was with David, I'll be with you. As I was with Jesus, I will be with you." Jesus said it. "The Father loves you just like He loves Me." Jesus said that. "Anything you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you." Who? The obedient. The dependent man. The humble man. The man without a personal agenda. The man without self-will. The man who is not selfish, but is a servant.

The Scripture goes on and He says: "...I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. [Hallelujah! I like verse five.] Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. [Now you want to inherit the promises? Verse seven.] Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do..." This thing takes courage, man. It takes strength. It takes resolve, because it takes the putting down on a continual basis of the greatest enemy of us all, self. Do you understand that to be obedient to God you have to war with the strongest, most intelligent, most lovely creature on the planet: you? Now, I don't think that about you, but you think that about yourself. I think that about me. All these decisions that we're making are decisions against this most intelligent person on the planet; this most deserving person on the planet. I have to decide that he's not deserving; he's not right and he is not king. So I have to be strong and very courageous. I have to truly believe that to live, I've got to die. To be great, I've got to become least, and it's not real easy to sell that to self.

As God's speaking to Joshua, He says: "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee..." All of it, can't pick and choose, all of it. Now, you know, we think of it in the light of sin and transgression in the overt, but we all know that there's a biblical principle that the Scripture teaches. If you're guilty of one, you're guilty of all as it pertains to the law. Now, He says here, observe to do all of the law. You can't pick and choose. When we begin to make conscience decisions that that doesn't really apply to me, then you've negated all of the blessings of the law. You've put yourself back into a position of independence, of lordship.

James says it this way: When you're a hearer of the law, you say, "Yes, Amen! Praise God! That's good for everybody else. Amen, that's truth until it applies to me." We might be able to show you some practical examples that we can all identify with. Amen, until it comes to our children, discomfort of our household, the diminishing of my material goods, the inconveniencing of my schedule, etc. So many amens to the Word of God until the commandment requires you or yours to go to the cross. If we're hearers of the Word and not doers, we deceive ourselves. The truth is not what governs us. It's not in us to the practicality of application.

As the Lord's speaking here to Joshua, He said, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law, the Word of God, the bread of life, Your Word that is more than my necessary food, the man of God said. This Word which is true, this Word which is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path, these promises that are sure to a thousand generations, this Word that is the foundation though heaven and earth pass away, Your Word will not pass away. Don't turn from it to the right hand or to the left. Let God be true and every man a liar. If you'll live that way, you'll prosper, you'll inherit the land. You will prosper wherever you go.

"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success" (Joshua 1:8). When the big decisions have to be made. To the wisest man in the world, self, do you go back to what you were trained as a child by your parents? Does tradition come in? Are your decisions made on consequences to genealogy? Do you go to your financial consultants? Do you go to the psychologists? Do you go to those that excel in academia? Where do you go? What's your trust in? Meditate day and night; don't let it depart from your mouth. Then shall your way be made prosperous, then you shall have good success. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Now, the fact of the matter is the wisdom of God is foolishness to man. The natural mind cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him, Paul tells us in Corinthians. So why would we look to anything in the secular or natural? You can't find God there. Why bother? "Oh, I've got this decision. I have this business decision. I've got this..." you know, whatever. "I've got this social problem, this family problem." Why bother? There's no answer there for those of us that are at peace in the wisdom of God, for those of us that are meditating upon the Word day and night, for those of us who are dependent solely upon God, who live not for ourselves but for His glory. For me to live is Christ. Are you obedient? Are you doers and not hearers alone, continuing in the perfect law of God, James tells us?

Let's finish with this for this morning. Look over at Deuteronomy 30. Just again to catch the spirit of what the Lord's telling us. Revelation 22:14 says that obedience is the tree of life to us. Deuteronomy 30:14-20, this thirtieth chapter is full of great principle for success. Verse 6 says that God wants to circumcise our hearts. He wants to cut off all the flesh out of our lives. That's what circumcision was a physical sign of, the cutting off of the flesh; all that was common to the world. You're going to be a unique people. So the Lord circumcises the heart. Look what He goes on to say in that sixth verse of this chapter. "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live."

Verse 8, "And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments..." Then the Lord will bless you and the work of your hands, verse 9. Verse 14: "But the word [of the Lord] is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, [This great passage that we're all very familiar with, it's near you. It's in your heart and in your mouth] that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes, and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, [Children, those who I died for, those who I've called, those who I've prospered, and those who I've blessed, I want you to understand this,] that ye shall surely perish...[verse 19] I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore [you, individually, can't do it for your kids, can't do it for your friends. You] choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: [and we're going to end with this for this morning, beloved; listen] for he is thy life..."

Father, we thank You this morning for Your Word and Your visitation in our lives. How easy it is to think that assenting to the truth of the Word is obedience. How easy it is to deceive ourselves that partial obedience is sufficient. "You know, I do better than most people in obeying the Word of God, that prejudicial obedience is acceptable to You. I accept that as truth. I choose that. I reject that. That doesn't really apply to me or to mine." Father, to disobey your Word, disobedience is rebellion at work. Rebellion is the fruit of pride. We ask You to humble our hearts before You and cause us to choose, this day, life as we bow our knee and say, "Without You we can do nothing." Solely 100 percent dependent upon Your momentary presence for our victory. We ask You for that Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

As our hearts are bowed before Him and we just continue in His presence, let the Spirit of God speak to you. Don't hear this as just a generic teaching again on the necessity of knowing the Word of God and applying the Word of God. But what is God saying to you this morning specifically? As our sister plays for us, and we just rest for a moment here in His presence, what would God have you to change this morning? What areas are you holding to yourself that need to be yielded up in a dependence upon Him? You see, we don't come to service just to be taught, we come to change and to affect one another's lives. That's why we gather. What's the Spirit of God saying to you this morning? As we prepare to sing this together, just stand and allow the Spirit to encourage your heart. Let's sing it together and minister to Him. "As the Deer Panteth for the Water..."

Thank you, Jesus! Hallelujah! Father, it's our hearts' desire to come and, as a child, to be an empty slate that You could write upon. Father, nothing that I've learned to this point is adequate to deal with this current situation. I must be instructed again. I need to hear Your Word afresh because that fresh Word is the source of faith and faith is the power of God. So as You speak, I will obey. I will hold Your Word up against nothing else for comparison. Your Word is truth. You speak; I will obey. I need Your voice to continue in Your power for Your glory. Work Your will in me, Father; it's my heart's desire and I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before you go, turn to someone next to you and say, "Obedience is better than sacrifice." Amen. Go in peace. God's love go with you.

Back to Top | Audio   |   Purchase Audio   |   Bible Teachings   |   Print