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Obedience is not Sacrifice · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah 31, 14 said, God said, My people will be satisfied by my goodness.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: They will be fulfilled by my goodness.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want us to look at something, and we can go ahead and turn to Exodus 33, because there's a great, great story illustration with God and Moses here.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: We want to look at, hmm, believe it or not, I want to look at obedience.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: And I want to look at this and just get this all so straight and clear and show the beauty of this thing and clarify some things because here's the reason some people have a problem with the word obedience, because they think that it's obedience means that you have to sacrifice something.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna, you know, you're gonna do not what you want, but what somebody else wants, in this case, God.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: And so it means, you know, God's if you totally obey God, He's gonna ask you to sacrifice this, that, and the other.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Well, didn't God say that obedience is better than sacrifice?
1:02
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say obedience is the same as sacrifice.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say obedience is sacrifice.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: He said it's better than sacrifice.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: Why is it better than sacrifice?
1:11
SPEAKER_00: Because in truth, you're you're not giving up anything.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you don't believe it.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna read.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at that.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to see this in a way where you you won't ever think that that in following the Spirit, in going with what God says, in doing what he wants you to do, in living the way he wants you to live, that you won't ever think that he's taking something away from you.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: Now, in a sense, if you do the simple math, yeah, you'll you'll find you will find yourself letting go of this and taking on that.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: But it will, I promise you, if you if we if we get what we're looking at this morning, you will never feel like you're sacrificing anything for God.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: Exodus chapter 33.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: Um I want to begin in verse 9 here.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: And in this story, Moses, you know, he's been he's been leading the people into the um in the desert there.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: And God, God was talking to them about getting up and moving on and leading them on into now the promised land.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: And Moses, believe it or not, is very nervous about this.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: Moses is very overwhelmed with all of this.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Moses is gonna cry out for some help here.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: He said, I can't do this.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: And uh so in verse 9 it says, so Moses went up to talk to God, and it says, and so Moses would pitch this tent, and this is where he would meet and talk with God, and he called it the tabernacle of meeting.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Not the tabernacle of testimony where they had the Ark of the Covenant and all that stuff, but this was another tent that he he pitched that him and God could just sit there and talk.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: He could just talk to God there.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: And it says, and it came to pass when Moses entered the tent or the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended and it stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: So I love the I love the picture.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: He's out there, and he goes out to the tent to talk with God, and God shows up and it manifests in something that all the people could see, this big, big tall column of a cloud at the door of that tent.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: And all the people saw that pillar of cloud standing at the t at the tent door, and all the people rose and they worshiped each man in his tent.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: So obviously, this was an awesome thing that that brought about a sense of awe and glory and worship, and they're all everybody, all the millions of people come out of their tent and they're and they're they're they're worshiping God, looking at this marvelous sight, and here's this little man Moses in the tent.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: And we go down to verse 12.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: Moses talking to the Lord, and he says, Now, now see, you're telling me to bring this people up, but you've not let me know whom you're gonna send with me.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: He says, It's obvious I can't do this.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: I've got to have help here.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: You're telling me to do something I can't do.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: This is too much for me.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: He says, and you haven't let me know.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Who you're gonna send to help me with this?
4:16
SPEAKER_00: And he said, but yet you say, I know you by name.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: And you say that you found that I found grace in your sight.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: Now therefore I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show me your way, show me your way.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, remember God talked about uh in in uh in Hebrews, it's quoted where he talks about the whole generation of those people that were in the desert.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: And he says, for 40 years they saw my works, but they didn't know my ways.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: Well, here's a special thing going on here.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: God's about to show one person, Moses, he's about to show him his way.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: And he says, show me, he says, he says, show me now your ways so that I can know.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: I need to know, I need confidence, right?
4:55
SPEAKER_00: I need assurance here.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: I'm scared.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: I need assurance so I can know that I've found grace in your sight, and so that I can consider that this nation really is your people.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's an act of obedience.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: God's telling you, you're you're telling me to go and bring these people up.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: This this doesn't look good.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: And he says, I'm not confident in this.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: And show that this nation is your people, I'm really not confident that in how this is going to turn out.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: What if you're not?
5:33
SPEAKER_00: What if you're not for us?
5:35
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that kind of what you see?
5:36
SPEAKER_00: And why would he be asking that?
5:37
SPEAKER_00: And show us that that this nation really is your people.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: Even if God had said that before, he needs more assurance.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: He's not convinced.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: There's a part of him, there's a little something in there at least that's saying, maybe he won't, maybe it's not, maybe this won't turn out good, maybe we won't make it.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's too much for me.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we'll either get killed on the way there, maybe something will happen, maybe they'll overwhelm me, maybe, maybe I'll just have a nervous breakdown.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but it looks like Moses really is at the end of himself and he needs some help here.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: And verse 14, and God said, Moses, my presence will go with you.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Moses had said, Show me who's going to go with me, who's going to help me.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: He says, My presence, my presence.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Now, Emmanuel is the presence, it's God with us, right?
6:18
SPEAKER_00: This is what we have here, what he was about to show Moses.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: What Moses needed to know, what Moses needed to experience and see and feel was this very thing that we have with this always.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: That's why we want to be established and grounded in truth.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: That God is with you, you are with him, always, always, always, and with him, with him, what is possible?
6:39
SPEAKER_00: So there's comfort right there.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: You're never alone, you're never without hope, because with him everything's possible, right?
6:46
SPEAKER_00: And he says, My presence will go with you.
6:49
SPEAKER_00: And what's that presence going to do for you, Moses?
6:51
SPEAKER_00: Going to give you what you need.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: And you and I will give you rest.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: That's what Moses needs right now, right?
7:00
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need a supervitamin to make him physically stronger or or or or smarter or anything.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: He says, My presence will go with you.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: What you need right now is rest.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: You need confidence and assurance right now.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: It's not that you can't do it, but the way that you're feeling, you're feeling like I'm, you're not sure that I'm with you.
7:16
SPEAKER_00: You're feeling like you might be having to do this alone.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: You ever felt like that?
7:21
SPEAKER_00: Now, theologically, and you know, you've you you you've got it in your head that, well, you know, they say God's with us.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that God's with us, but but how many people have I dealt with and I have to have to try to assure them and try to talk to them to where to where they actually can feel like God's with them, where they believe that God's with them.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: Because if you believe that God's with them, then you're also believing that anything's possible.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: So no matter what this looks like, everything's gonna be fine with me no matter how it turns out, because everything is possible.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: God can do anything, and also all things work together for my good.
7:50
SPEAKER_00: So that's also why it's important that you know that God is good.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: And He's good for you and good to you.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: He wants your best.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: He's not trying to give Moses something hard that's only gonna benefit God's purpose, but not going to benefit Moses.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: And a reason people struggle sometimes with obedience is they just don't know the goodness of God.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: They think maybe what God's asking them might serve God's purpose, but it won't be the most best thing for you.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: When people struggle with obedience is because they think, well, maybe I'll be happier if I don't do that.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: And you might be prone to thinking that until you become so convinced of God's goodness that you're so in love that you'll do anything for him.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, you get to the place where it's not even a thought, it's not even anything.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: You're so wrapped up in his goodness, you you're you're so with him that there's no feeling that you have at all that whatever God's asking, I don't care if he's asking you to humble yourself, I don't care if he's asking you to go ahead and take the shorter end of a stick in a business deal when it looks like you're cutting your own throat.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: If he's telling you I want you to do this when it looks like that'll be more fun, he's leading you and he's guiding you?
9:15
SPEAKER_00: When he's leading you to go ahead and forgive somebody, but you're feeling like if I do that, I'll be a doormat and they're just going to run over me?
9:24
SPEAKER_00: And God wants me to just do that because that's the right thing, that's his rule, and that's his way, and he just wants that, but he doesn't care how they treat me and all that.
9:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, God is good, God loves you.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: I promise you, y'all know this.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Everything that God would lead you to do, it is good for you.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: Love is God is love, and love is not seeking his own.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: He's not just seeking, he's not asking for your obedience just for his purpose.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: He's asking your obedience for your purpose.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: He loves you, he wants the best for you.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: He wants you full, he wants you happy, he wants you fulfilled.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: And nobody knows what that means, what that looks like better than him.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Thank God he's Emmanuel, God with us.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: He says, Moses, my presence, will be with you.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna have rest for your soul.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna feel so confident, you're gonna feel so sure, you won't have any doubt about obeying me in this.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be, of course.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna feel so good about it.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: You won't have that, yeah.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: But if I if I don't do that, if I go my own way here, then maybe it'll be better for me.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'll be happier if I don't do that.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: You won't have that, Moses.
10:40
SPEAKER_00: You'll have rest about this.
10:44
SPEAKER_00: Down in verse 18 now.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: Moses says, Don't you love this part?
10:49
SPEAKER_00: He says, Please show me your glory.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: Now, I love the fact that heretofore God has rained bread from the sky, brought water from rocks, split the Red Sea, did all these things, and shows up in a gigantic column of cloud and a gigantic column of fire.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: And there's a cloud standing there right this moment.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: Moses looking at that cloud right there in the door of the tent there, and he says, I need to see your glory.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of us in church, if that happened right here, we would just like, whoo! I mean, that's the greatest thing that could ever happen.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: Man, we're ready to put up our revival shingle and let everybody know.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: And Moses seeing that, but he's been seeing that, and it was awesome and it was powerful and it was amazing.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: But he said, But that's not enough to do what I need.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: I gotta know something in here, not just see something out there.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: People think, well, if God would just do this, if God would fix that, if God would do that, then, oh, I'd be fulfilled and all that.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Don't you didn't you get the lesson from this?
11:57
SPEAKER_00: He said, I did everything they wanted.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: They never got fulfilled.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: Only my presence can do that, that they're aware of.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Now, the presence was with Moses, but he wasn't aware of that.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: He was aware of all the things that God was doing for him, but that didn't help him in here.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: And I'll repeat that because that I bring up once in a while, because that's a fallacy.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: That's a ri that's there's that's a stumble, stumbling block to obedience because you because if you're thinking it's all about out there, that's gonna be your fulfillment, that if God will let me do this or or give me that or or or do this certain thing, those are wonderful, they're blessings.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: God provides all uh, you know, uh supplies all of our needs and and and so on.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: But if we think that it's Him doing something out there is going to be our fulfillment and their joys and their blessings, but they are never going to be fulfillment.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Only fulfillment can come from God being with you, from knowing that there's someone who's all everything that so intimately and precisely loves you, wants your best, knows how to get your best to you, and that's why his leading, his speaking, that still small voice that says, This is the way, walk ye in it.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: It's all about his love for you, blessing you, and leading you into what is best.
13:19
SPEAKER_00: Thank God we have a wonderful counselor because in our puny little temporal-minded brains up here, we think we know what's best for us, and none of it has ever fulfilled.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: But God says, I know what's best for you.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: And the first thing is you need rest, Moses, because if you're at if you've got rest in your soul, you won't have a problem with doing this.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, you get to the point to where you don't have the stories anymore of like, I wrestled with God, he wanted me to do this, and I just said, Oh, God, no.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: And I don't, you honestly you get to the point where that's not even an issue.
13:54
SPEAKER_00: You just you just love doing it.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Like God says, I want you to do, and you just like, oh, sure.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: You've been around him enough to know that whatever it is, like, oh, there's gonna be something good.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: And it overcomes, it starts to overwhelm our carnal little temporal thinking that used to lead us and guide us.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: And we're growing more and more in that Romans 8 14.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Those who are led by the Spirit of God is because they're the sons of God.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: Now that's not a qualification to be a son, that's just telling us what we have.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: We have God with us.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: And now, what he was talking about, instead of being, instead of being ruled by rules and following rules, we follow the Spirit, which is God with us.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: So he says, My presence will go with you and I'll give you rest.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: Moses said, Well, please show me your glory.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: Next verse, and God said, I'll make all my goodness pass before you.
14:57
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah 31, 14, he said, My people will be satisfied, fulfilled by my goodness.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Now, what makes this life so good?
15:09
SPEAKER_00: The goodness of God.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: That God is good.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: I love, you know, when Judy, when she she wrote that book called The Fresh Fruit of the Spirit, and uh, and a lot of it, you know, I could I knew and concur, and I was reading along there, and I just love how she puts things into words.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: She's my favorite writer, but then but then you know, when it got down to those, those lower list, the lower ones on the on the list down there when you read them, like gentleness, goodness, kindness.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what is the difference between kindness and goodness?
15:41
SPEAKER_00: I never quite saw it.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: I saw that, well, uh, I don't know.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: And I and I was reading until you brought out to where kindness is actually what it says.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: You're treating someone with kindness, you're treating someone good, loving, respectful, and so on, being kind.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: But goodness gives extra.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: Goodness goes beyond just being kind to people, being nice to people, being pleasant with people.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: Goodness always gives something extra.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and uh, and and here, this is the way God we're looking at is goodness.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: What's he doing?
16:19
SPEAKER_00: He's always giving more than we could or would ask or think.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: You ever thought, we we'll say this every once in a while, that you know, you know, if God never answered another prayer, if nothing good ever happened in my life from this point forward, I have already got so much more than my money's worth with God.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: Of course, I didn't pay anything, but I got so much more than I bargained for, so much more than I thought I would.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: God has outdone, God has done in my life more than I've ever asked for, more than I ever thought.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: When I first started, all I wanted was a ticket to paradise.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Show me your glory.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: I will cause all of my goodness to pass before you.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before you, and I'm gonna be gracious.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: To whom I'll be gracious, I'm gonna be merciful.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: To whom I will be merciful, I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: He's seeing God differently for the first time.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: He's seeing goodness in God.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: And as he's seeing, not only is God powerful, not only is God able, not only is God holy, not only is God awesome, but he's good.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: He's good.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: And what he's doing here is not giving me something hard.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: And God leading me in this, he's being good to me.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: He's being good to me.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: What do I have in my life, or what do you have in your life?
17:57
SPEAKER_00: Where you ever obeyed the leading of God, and now you're sorry you did it.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: Now, I can tell you, especially as my younger as a Christian, I can I can tell you some stories of where I didn't go with that, and I am sorry.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't I go with it?
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Because I knew better than him, I thought.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: I know God, uh I mean, even in things like I think the first time, the first time I learned that, and that boy, it has stuck to me this day, is that that I was I was I was I was I was buying a car, young man and just newly married, and and I was wanting a uh you know a certain type of car, and uh and uh found one, and man, I want I checked that thing out, man, it looked so good.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was just like, whoo, what a deal.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Diamond tucked leather seats, and I mean it was just it was so so so cool.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: Test drove it.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: And uh so you know so I went went went went getting ready to go to the bank and get the money, and I got this forbidding in me, like, oh Rick, don't do that.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: I just felt just like this isn't something ain't right here.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: And so I just like no, I checked it out, I drove it.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: I know better, God.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: So I bought that thing.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: That was to this day, that was the biggest lemon I ever bought in my life.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: I was paying for a car for a long time, but after that car wouldn't run anymore.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: Making payments on something that was just sitting there on the blocks.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: But God, I want this.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: What I didn't know was that God wanted better for me than I wanted, He had something better.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: Now that lesson, thank God, that lesson is stuck.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: And it's not that I that I wasn't perfect in all of that.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: You know, I grew in it, and when I as the more you get convinced that he wants your best, then it's just whatever.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: You can always have peace with it and always have joy in it.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: Then you don't feel disappointed when certain things that you wanted didn't happen because God's always got better.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: All things are possible with God.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: Go with me to um Psalms 23.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: We know this passage, right?
20:19
SPEAKER_00: How y'all doing?
20:27
SPEAKER_00: I can assure you, whatever God is leading, many times it might look like you're doing it to your detriment.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: But I can tell you, if you know that God is good to you, he is doing nothing to your detriment.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Ever.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: He's doing it for your benefit.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: And this is why it's so good to have somebody with us who is God, because he knows everything.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Abraham.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: You and Lot are gonna divide your land.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you give Lot the choice?
21:06
SPEAKER_00: Just let Lot have anything he wants.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: Now, Abraham's, I shouldn't, I'm not gonna make, I'm not gonna make a joke about that.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: Abraham's like, that's not good business.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about it, let's divide this evenly, let's all, you know, do a schoolyard pick and we'll get this and that and the other.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: And he says, and and and he's leading Abraham.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: So Abraham, and we don't really see that whole that whole thing between Abraham and God going on.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: What we see is a man who's already learned obedience.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Abraham is known, if he's known for anything, is known for faith and obedience because of his faith is why he was so obedient.
21:48
unknown: That's right.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: Right?
21:49
SPEAKER_00: Because he believed.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: And he believed that God had the best for him.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: So he freely, so he says, Lot, whatever you want, just tell me.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: You get that one.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: You choose that side.
21:59
SPEAKER_00: This side.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: That side, whatever.
22:01
SPEAKER_00: So Lot looks at it.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: What's he do?
22:02
SPEAKER_00: He looks at what his brain tells him is the best land.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: There's the best pasture land over here on this side.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: In fact, there's already cities over there, so anything I need, I got it over there too.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: And it's the more beautiful land that's going to be good for my for my for my for my flocks and my herds.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: Abraham, there, you can have those rocks.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Abraham says, It's yours.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: I can freely give that.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: So then Lot takes off and says, Lot departs, and there he goes to his land that Abraham lets him have.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: Abraham looks out, here's his whatever this is.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: Apparently, whatever it looks like is not as good as that.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: Or else Lot would have grabbed it.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: And God says, Abraham?
22:49
SPEAKER_00: It's not just right here.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: It says, as far as you can see, see all of that?
22:54
SPEAKER_00: All those hills, all the rivers, all that.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: As far as your eye can see, that's what you get.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: That's why I wanted you to let him have what he wanted.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Because I wanted to give you more than you could have gotten yourself.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: You got to know he's good.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: You gotta know whatever he's leading you to, it's for your good.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: That God is about you.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we may be about him, but don't forget God is about you.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: Not only is he what you were looking for, you I mean it, you are what he was looking for.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: He received you into him because of his love and his goodness.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: Love just wants to be good to somebody.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 23.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: Verse 1, the Lord is my shepherd.
23:40
SPEAKER_00: We know this, but let's just let's look at it.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not what?
23:46
SPEAKER_00: Shall not want.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Why?
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Something about the fullness of God.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: My people will be satisfied by my goodness, says the Lord.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: What happened to Moses in that tabernacle there?
23:56
SPEAKER_00: He got satisfied, he got full, he was assured, and now he could come out of that tent and he led the people to the promised land.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: With nothing but the presence of God was always there, but he needed assurance of it.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: When he saw that he was good, when he saw the goodness of the Lord, he was convinced, of course he'll be with me.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Of course he'll do this, of course he'll make a way.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Because he believed that he was good.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: He's not giving me something that's hard for me, he's not torturing me here, he's not putting heavy burdens on me.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: He's with me in this.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, when he saw the goodness of God, it took all the burden off, not on.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: Obedience is not some heavy burden.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: How are you doing, Christian?
24:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm just trying to obey God here.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: Judy postponed her salvation or tried to because people try to lead her to the Lord and she starts, and then she finally gives in.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: She gets saved instead of crying for joy, she started crying out of something else.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: And what are you crying for?
25:04
SPEAKER_00: I just know that if I get saved, God's gonna send me to Africa.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: Why?
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Because she didn't know how good he was yet.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: She just thought this this thing about receiving God and then obeying him and doing what he wants, I just know he's gonna send me to the worst place I can imagine.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, where'd that come from?
25:24
SPEAKER_00: She didn't know yet how good he was.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: She'd find out later.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Because he sent her to Africa.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: She loves talking about Africa now.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: Ask her about it, man.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: She'll pour it out to you.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: He said, This is one of the most enlightening times in my life, one of the best experiences I ever had in my life.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: First, he might send me to Africa just because he likes to do things hard, put me through hard things, test my obedience.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: Hope I'll be obedient, hope I'm strong enough to do it, to pass the test.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: So you don't know how good God is.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: That's another thing.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: You think God's always just putting you through hard tests.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: I can't, it's been so many years and years and years and years since the last time I thought God was putting me through hard tests.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Not that I haven't had to deal with some hard things in life, but I know God's good.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: He wouldn't put me through none of that.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: He was just some the one that was there with me in all these things.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: He didn't send storms to test me and see how strong I was.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: He don't care how strong I am.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: He's my strength.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: I'll go with you.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: My goodness will be with you.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: So the Lord's my shepherd.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: My Lord's my shepherd.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm the sheep.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's my shepherd.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: I shall not want.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: Why?
26:38
SPEAKER_00: Because the shepherd knows.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: The shepherd knows more than the sheep.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: The shepherd knows what's good for us.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: He knows where the food is.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: He knows where the where the where the pasture is.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: He knows what's best for me.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: He cares about me.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: I care about the sheep.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: He makes me lie down and I shall not want.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: I shall not lust.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: I shall not.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, I won't have this.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: It's not that we don't like and enjoy things and say, well, we want a boat, so we're going to save up and get that or whatever.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: It's not that, but it's this lusting thing.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: I shall not want.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: I've got to have.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Won't be happy unless.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: He makes me lie down in green pastures.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: He leads me beside still waters.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: He leads.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: He leads.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: What's he doing here?
27:22
SPEAKER_00: He's bringing me to the best.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: Always because he's good, right?
27:25
SPEAKER_00: He leads me beside still water, beside still waters.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: He restores my soul that's fullness.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: Knowing his goodness.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: Now you've already got him with you.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that good?
27:35
SPEAKER_00: You're not trying to get more of Jesus because you got him.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: He's with you.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: And he took you into him.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: But it's knowing his goodness.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: See, this is why it's got to be preached.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: This is why we've got to know.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: Our gospel's got to be right.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: And let it be Jesus focused because in him you see the goodness in all this.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: The gospel is beautiful, it's not harsh.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: He restores my soul.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: What did he do for you?
28:03
SPEAKER_00: What did he do for me?
28:04
SPEAKER_00: What he did for Rick was that he restored my soul.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: He brought me to where it to where we were in the Garden of Eden, in essence.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Restored.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Home.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Fulfilled, maybe naked, but no shame at all because He's with me.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: He leads me.
28:24
SPEAKER_00: He leads me.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: He leads me.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: What's that?
28:26
SPEAKER_00: There's an obedience there because you have to follow Him.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: He's leading me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: And even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that's going through this stuff in life, I will fear no evil.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: Why?
28:42
SPEAKER_00: Because God told you don't fear.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: No, not just because of that, it's because He says, because you're with me.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: Now it's a fact that He's with you, but when you know it, isn't that see, it's when you know it's what makes all the difference.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: You'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: We grow in this, don't we?
29:02
SPEAKER_00: We get more and more to where it's like, it's like things just don't, evil just doesn't shake you like it maybe did at one time in your life.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't scare you, it doesn't spook you, it doesn't make you so nervous.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: And like, well, what if, what if?
29:14
SPEAKER_00: You'll fear no evil because you know He's with you.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: See, a lot of times when we become outward-minded, we try to we try to manipulate, we try to control the circumstances because we think that God, if you'll make this happen, a lot of times we pray things that when God's got something better for you.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: God give me this, God give me that.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: And you can let your request be made known to God, but but but see, when you're aware of God with you and God's goodness, then you become more sensitive to his leading.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: Where it's time where God would say, you know what, why don't you put that aside?
29:51
SPEAKER_00: I've got this for you, I've got something better.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: And it becomes just as natural, right?
29:55
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know what I'm talking about?
29:57
SPEAKER_00: I'll fear no evil because you're with me.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Didn't say you might not see evil, but he said, I won't fear it.
30:07
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I have to face evil, bad things.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: But God's with you.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: He's always with you.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: We want you to know it.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: Want you to be aware of it.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: Want your soul at rest all the time.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: And don't try another thing, quit making it about you.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Quit trying so hard to be at rest.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Just know the Lord that is good.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: Know the Lord that is good.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: Know that he's good.
30:41
SPEAKER_00: I'll feel no evil because you're with me.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: Now, another thing about obedience, don't make it such a hard, weird, mystical type of thing.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: Oh, like the guy I used to know that, like, what are you gonna do tomorrow?
30:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I'm even getting out of bed unless the Lord directs me.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm only obedient to God.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: If He doesn't tell me to get up and out of bed, then I'll stay there.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, oh, you weirdo.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: Obedience is not like that.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: He says, Your rod and your staff come for me.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: You know what that meant to me when I uh many years ago I got this revelation.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: Said, you know what?
31:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm just following God the best I can.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: He's with me.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm with him.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: I may not have this thing perfect, but you know what?
31:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm just walking with God.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: And if I go left or if I go right, he's with me.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: His rod and his staff, they come for me.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: And there's been times going left has not been the right path for me.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: But I'm okay with that.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm okay to just keep on walking because his rod and his staff, what does that, what's that that rod and staff do?
31:36
SPEAKER_00: It takes that sheep and it puts them back on the right walk there, right path.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: I know that he can do that.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: See, that's my comfort, is that if I start going the wrong way, I got somebody with me.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: He'll start, he'll bring me back in.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: He'll say, No, Rick, that's not it.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: This is the way.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: Walk in it.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: You can be comforted with that.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: Why?
31:52
SPEAKER_00: Because he wants your best.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying, no, Rick, that'll make you too happy.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you doing that.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Come back over here where you can be miserable.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: He's never doing that.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: That's certainly no fear.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: What's that table?
32:13
SPEAKER_00: That's a festival.
32:13
SPEAKER_00: That's a feast.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: That's a celebration meal, is what that's talking about there.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: Why is it a celebration meal?
32:21
SPEAKER_00: He says, In the world there's tribulation, but be of good cheer, celebrate, have a good time.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: I've overcome all that.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: But there's an enemy, but I'm with you.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: You have a good track record with God.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: So far.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: So far, you have with God lived through every enemy and every trial that you've ever been through.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: And here you are going forward.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: You anoint my head with oil.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: You honor me.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: What do they do when they honor a guest?
32:54
SPEAKER_00: They'll anoint his head with oil.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: You got your favor and your honor upon me.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: My cup runs over.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: What's that?
33:01
SPEAKER_00: It's not that I'm just learning to be satisfied with a little bit of Jesus here.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Be miserable because I don't have these other things, but go ahead and do the right thing and just try to act like I'm happy enough with Jesus.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: He said, My cup runs over.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: I learned, you know, I used to think that I was an optimist, and when I'd look at a glass that it was it was half full, not half empty, but now what you see is a cup running over all the time.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: You're full.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all here?
33:24
SPEAKER_00: He says, My cup runs over, and surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: Would you all stand up?