Festival of Light & Life – 2021 OBEDIENCE

 Festival of Light & Life – 2021

OBEDIENCE

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org

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This Document is a Sermon Outline. You may hear the full audio of the actual sermon by following the link Online Audio Files located above for this and other Full Sermon Audios.  For a complete list of Sermon Outlines, visit TruthDigest.org or Truth Digest on Facebook; for our Official Church website, visit PS127.org, or find us on Facebook at House of Faith Church

 

Audio from the service

INTRODUCTION

Good evening. Some of you here tonight know me. For those who do not, my name is Pastor Bruce Shields.

 ·        I have been serving the Lord since 1999.

 ·        I completed my studies with over 170+ hours at Dayspring Ministries.

 ·        Over the last 22 years, I have taught Adult Bible Studies, served as an Elder, and later, an Interim Pastor for the First Baptist Church, having my ordination recognized by the American Baptists.

 ·        I have published nearly 750 sermon texts and written two theological books: one on heaven and hell and another on the biblical ordinances of the church.

 ·        I started the House of Faith Ministries with my wife Terri in 2000, which eventually grew into the House of Faith Church, where I have served as Pastor for the last 16 years here in East Tawas, Michigan.

 

I am excited to be here tonight and take part in the Festival of Light and Life, and my hope is that our short time together can be a blessing to you and, in some way, help you draw closer to the Lord through the reading and understanding of His Word.

 

Because our time is short and we have a lot to cover, this message outline will be available along with the audio of tonight’s service on our church website, PS127.org

 

So, if I go too fast or give a scripture reference without reading the entire scripture, you will be able to go to our website and find the text or listen to the message again.

 

Let us open in prayer.

 

OPENING PRAYER

 

Father, we thank you for this opportunity to fellowship with each other and Your Holy Spirit.

 

We ask, Lord, that you bless this Word as well as those listening and that your Word will do a work in our hearts so that we may rightly represent you and your kingdom. 

 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

 

SERMON INTRODUCTION

 

When I was first asked to speak, it took me a couple of weeks to determine what message I felt the Lord had for me to give. Over that time, I felt it impressed upon me that what we need today, now more than ever, is a message on OBEDIENCE.

 

Now, I can already sense your moans and groans.

 

Obedience is not one of the more enticing or exciting scriptural topics.

 

In fact, it probably ranks right down there with sermons on sin and eternal hell.

 

However, obedience is something we need now, more than ever, in this world. Because the commands the Lord gives us to obey brings His presence into this world because we are the Body of Christ, His church.

 

If the world does not see Christ today, it’s not His fault; it is ours. We are not rightly representing Him and being His church here on earth.

 

My hope is after hearing what the Word of God has to say about the matter, you too will agree with this statement.

 

Not just agree, but desire to take action in obedience to the Lord’s commands and be a presence in these dark days.

 

SCRIPTURE READING

I have two scriptures I want us to keep in mind as we go through our message today.

 

John 14:15 Jesus says,

“If you love me, keep my commands.”

 

Matthew 22:35-40

“…an expert in the law, tested Jesus with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

 

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

·        Jesus says, “If” we love Him, we keep His commands. This is obedience.

 

So, we must then ask, what are His commands?

·        Jesus tells us, the greatest command is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and the next is to love our neighbors as ourselves.

·        So, when we love God and others, we are obedient and showing Jesus we love Him.

·        This brings up an essential question.

 

WHAT IS LOVE?

·        You see, we do not NATURALLY truly understand love.

 

·        In fact, by nature, we are born extraordinarily selfish and self-centered, only caring about ourselves and the desires of our flesh.

 

·        What baby refrains from crying when hungry at 2:00AM just because their mother needs her sleep?

 

·        Unfortunately, it is also in our nature to never “grow” out of this self-centered existence in some more than others. Thus, living out our lives truly loving only ourselves.

 

Many of us know people like this, or perhaps we were once like this.

 

To the world, LOVE IS feelings, emotions, and warm fuzzies.

·        It may be true that biblical love can bring about feelings and emotions, warm fuzzies; however, those feelings, emotions and warm fuzzies do not generally bring about true biblical love.

·        When we follow our feelings, emotions, or even “gut” instincts, we can find ourselves in trouble time and time again.

·        We see this exemplified in high school romances where, unfortunately, we follow our feelings and desires because we confuse them for true love.

 

 

Proverbs 28:26 “Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.”

 

What is this wisdom that guides us and keeps us safe?

 

I believe it is the Word of God.

·        As Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy Word Is a Lamp Unto My Feet and Light Unto My Path.”

·        The Word of God guides us along our path, lighting the way, so we do not stumble or fall.

·        God’s Word tells us what love is, and it contradicts the world’s definition of self-love.

 

 

Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

·        The Lord is telling us, don’t listen to what the world tells you, but change your thinking.

·        This is what happens when we read the Word of God. As our faith grows from hearing God’s Word, so does our trust in Him.

·        We need to change our thinking and what we believe we understand so that we may have a RENEWED mind, uncorrupted by the falsehoods and poisons this world fills us from the time we learn to talk.

I Corinthians 2 explains all about God’s Wisdom and how we, through God’s Spirit, can have an understanding and wisdom to His ways, so we can have a mind like Christ.

·        We can think the way Jesus does and wants us to.

·        To understand what God’s idea of love is, we look to His Word.

·        If you have ever been to a wedding, you have probably heard this scripture reference.

 

       I.         WHAT DOES GOD SAY LOVE IS?

a.      I Corinthians 13:4-8 tells us what love IS and what it IS NOT

                                     i.      LOVE IS NOT

1.      Envious – jealous, resentful, spiteful

2.      Boastful – arrogant, bragging, conceited

3.      Prideful – self-righteous, superior

4.      Does not dishonor others – disgrace, humiliate

5.      It is not self-seeking – looking out for number one, greedy

6.      Easily angered

7.      It keeps no record of wrong

8.      It does not delight in evil

 

                                        ii.      LOVE IS

1.      Patient

2.      Kind

3.      Rejoices with the truth

4.      Always protects

5.      Always trusts

6.      Always hopes

7.      Always perseveres

                                     iii.      Love never fails!

 

b.     What if we do things for the Lord, but there is no love?

                                           i.      I Corinthians 13:1-3 tells us that no matter what we do “in the Lord’s Name,” speaking in tongues, prophesying, understanding all the mysteries and knowledge, incredible faith, but do not love, we are NOTHING.

 

                                        ii.       Even if we give everything we own to the poor but do not have love, we gain NOTHING.

 

                                     iii.      Isn’t giving everything to the poor a form of love?

1.      Sure, loving your neighbor as yourself. However, if you do not love God with all your heart, soul, and mind as well, then your philanthropy has gained you nothing with God.

 

2.      We MUST have both love for God and love for our neighbors.

 

c.      Doing these things without love is a “form of godliness.”

                                           i.      Scriptures such as Matthew 7:21-23; 13:13-15 warn us against having a form of godliness

 

                                        ii.      Going through the outward actions without faithful obedience to the Word

 

                                     iii.      Matthew tells us, these people have deceived themselves into thinking they are righteous and stand before the Lord for their reward; though they did all things in His name, they were not obedient in love and were rejected by Christ because He did not know them.

 

 

II.            SO HOW DO WE “LOVE” GOD AND OTHERS?

a.      Biblical love is ACTION, not feelings

                                     i.      This is a good thing

                                  ii.      You may not “like” your enemy, but you can love them

1.      Jesus says in Matthew 5:43-48 “…love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you….”

                               iii.      We are not called by God to “like” everyone, or for that matter, be liked by everyone, but we are called by God to love everyone.

                                iv.      Love is an action! The way you treat others, not feel about them

 

b.     Loving God with ALL your heart, soul, and mind

                                     i.      Action, not feelings being the case for biblical love

 

                                  ii.      How do we love God with all our heart? Have a heart for God’s Word

1.      The heart represents our bodies

2.      1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”

 

3.      1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

                               iii.      How do we love God with all our soul? Allow the Lord to redeem your soul

1.      Salvation and redemption of our everlasting soul is essentially the basis of everything the Lord has done.

 

2.      From the fall in the garden to the End of Days, the Lord has come to redeem us so we may face Judgment Day confidently, standing before our Lord wearing His White Garments.

 

                                iv.      How do we love God with all our mind? Renew your mind

1.      The Word and God’s very own Holy Spirit will begin work in each of us who have confessed and repented, receiving forgiveness and a portion of our everlasting reward. The renewing of our minds allows us to rightly serve God while here on earth and have a taste of the Glory to come.

 

                                   v.      Your heart, soul, and mind are the three aspects of your being, the physical body, your everlasting soul, and the way you think, your consciousness

 

c.      Loving your neighbor as yourself

                                     i.      In the same way, treat your neighbors as if they were you

 

                                  ii.      Or, in other words, “have empathy, compassion, understanding” for others

 

                               iii.      If you wouldn’t want someone yelling at you or giving you a hard time about something, don’t do that to others

 

                                iv.      The way you “treat” people, the action itself, is love

 

                                   v.      What are the love actions listed in I Corinthians 13?

1.      Being patient with people

2.      Being kind to people

3.      Don’t be jealous of others

4.      Don’t brag to them

5.      Treat them with respect

6.      Don’t overlook others needs for your own gain, don’t take advantage of others

7.      Don’t get angry easily with others

8.      Don’t keep track of “wrongs” done to you. Forgive!

a.      Matthew 6:14-15 “if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

9.      Do not delight in evil. Rejoice with the truth

10. Always protect

11. Always trust

12. Always hope

13. Always persevere because love will never fail

 

III.            WHY IS OBEDIENCE NEEDED MORE TODAY THAN EVER?

a.      2 Timothy 3:1-5 Paul warns us of a dark future without LOVE

                                           i.      “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”

                                        ii.      This form of godliness is used to deceive those who want to truly serve the Lord into a complacent life, never fulfilling their call by the Lord to be obedient to His commands. Instead, they believe they are “OK” with God and never mature spiritually.

 

                                     iii.      The scripture goes on to say in the following two verses, “They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, they are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

 

                                      iv.      No matter how much church, bible, bible studies, godly talk, reading Christian books, their form of godliness gives the appearance they are a follower of Christ, though always “learning” they never come to a knowledge of the truth.

 

                                         v.      In other words, they never renew their minds. They never change their thinking and go on living in their sins.

 

 

b.     2 Timothy 4:3-4

                                           i.      “..the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

 

                                        ii.      We sometimes think the tickling of ears is a warning about teaching fads, gimmicks, acceptance of sin, false teachings, etc., in the church.

 

                                     iii.      However, one can have their ears tickled with a fluffy talk from scripture while never teaching sound doctrine such as repentance, obedience, Judgment, everlasting hell.

 

1.      When Satan tried to tempt Jesus into disobedience in the desert, he used scripture, although misapplied and out of context, to suit his needs.

 

2.      Talk of blessings, benefits, healings, Spiritual Gifts, Fruits of the Spirit, the Whole Armor of God, answered prayers, heaven. These topics, though all true, can tickle one’s itching ears and foster an environment of complacency and create in a believer a form of godliness while denying its power if we never talk of

 

                                                                                                i.      Confession to God

                                                                                             ii.      Repentance

                                                                                          iii.      Submission to the Lord

                                                                                           iv.      Obedience

                                                                                              v.      The reality of Judgment Day

                                                                                           vi.      The existence of an eternal Hell

    

 

c.      PAULS VISION OF A TERRIBLE FUTURE IS NOW

                                     i.      This world has the wrong kind of love

1.      Lovers of self, lovers of money

2.      They are boastful, prideful, abusive, disobedient, ungrateful, and unholy.

3.      They are without scriptural love

4.      They are unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, and brutal.

5.      They are not lovers of good

6.      They are treacherous, rash, and conceited

7.      This world is overflowing with lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

 

 

CONCLUSION –

 

This disobedient generation is filled with every imaginable love, except for the love of God. Therefore, those of us who have renewed our minds, submitting to Jesus as Lord, wanting to show our Love for Him, must do so through obedience.

 

·        Loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves.

 

The Lord has called every one of us to be His presence here on earth.

 

We are called to be lights in this dark world to draw others to Him so they too can be freed from the bondage of their sins and receive forgiveness and Salvation, which is only found in Christ Jesus.

 

I John 5:2-5

“This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

 

·        This world needs believers to be obedient to Christ

 

·        Beacons of hope, drawing the lost to Him who can remove all guilt and shame and give us a heart where there used to be a stone.

John 15:9-10

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”

 

·        Jesus makes it clear; we must be obedient to His commands if we genuinely love Him.

·        And when we are Obedient, we, in turn, love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and our neighbors as ourselves.

 

 

So, I ask tonight, are you obedient and love Jesus, or are you living a form of godliness?

 

Or, perhaps, you have never submitted yourself to the Lord?

 

For years I believed I was a Christian simply because I thought there was a God, and Jesus and the Bible was His Word.

 

James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

 

We need to confess and repent of our sins to be called children of the Living God.

 

Without confession and repentance, there is no forgiveness.

 

We remain lost, regardless of what “works” we do in Jesus’ name.

 

This is why the cry of the prophets is “REPENT.”

 

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

 

Though I believed I was a Christian, it wasn’t until I confessed and repented, having true faith and trust in Christ Jesus, fully surrendering to Him, it was that day I truly “believed.”

 

CALL TO COMMITMENT

·        We have all sinned, both by nature and by choice. So Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”

·        Romans 6:23 tells us, “for the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

 

·        Romans 5:8 says, “But God showed His love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

 

·        We must trust and surrender to Jesus as Lord, and when we do, Philippians 1:6 promises, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

 

 

Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

 

 

There are no particular words, no magical phrases to say.  No oaths to swear.

 

Declaring Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart is the beginning of your walk with Jesus.

He promises to make available to you His Holy Spirit and begin a work in you, and as you read His Word, you will grow in Faith and Trust in the Lord.

 

 

As we close tonight, I would like to ask my daughter Lori to come up and share a little with you about her walk with the Lord and how she came to know Jesus Christ as her Savior.

 

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