Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:17 Good morning church. Hello. Joy. It feels weird preaching, but like being inside a building. Um, the last two times I've been on the rotor, um, we were outside, which was good fun. I love the, the baptisms. We had the party in the party. Is this on? Oh, that's why. There we go. Oh, beautiful. Um, we had the party in the park, um, the picnic in the park, and then we had the baptisms. It is such a joy to be outside. I love, um, what we do. I feel like part of my role, actually even like maybe a little bit as the, the young person on the team as just in the young people in general, um, it's a little bit what I'm gonna speak on today. There's a verse in John, and at the end of John it says, uh, in, um, when Jesus gives that commission, he says, the young will take you by the hand and take you to places that you don't want to go.
Speaker 1 00:01:03 So it's saying before you used to dress yourself, before you used to put on your own belt, but when you are old, you won't be able to do that. And the, the role of the young, this is what we're trying to celebrate as this family is just the the young and the old as they work together. Yes. This is the wrong. So part of like my job and like, maybe you'll hear a little bit in this message, um, and I'm, I'm kind of sorry to fill Anesta a little bit. Part of my role as the young adults pastor as being 21 and part of the team and what I'm kind of maybe encourage the young adults to do a little bit is we're gonna, we're gonna push, I think, I think part of our role as the young people in the church is to make sure that we stay moving.
Speaker 1 00:01:40 Yeah. And, um, I love being with Phil and Esther. They're, they're on board with that. They've kind of given a little permission to do that. Um, Phil and I, I think it's a really great, um, kind of conversation. He's very pastoral. I'll be kind of like, let's just go. And he is like, but what about those guys? I'm like, yeah, fair enough. Um, so this is kind of a lot of what, um, I think I'm here to do as part of the, the church part of the young adults, what we are here to do as a collective. So, um, I'm taking us into the devoted series, the part two of the devoted series. I wasn't originally gonna do this. I kind of got a one-off message, but when I messaged yesterday asking about this devoted series, I was like, I think it really fits with God's heart of what we're trying to bring this church into.
Speaker 1 00:02:18 We've kind of sensed as a team that there's this preparation phase that's going on that God's wanting to do this. And, and in order for us to walk in, this is the, the main thing today in order us to walk in this promise is we have to walk in this obedience. We have to be devoted to what God is doing. So I'm just gonna quickly read, um, a few sections and, um, if you wanna follow along with me, this is in Exodus. I'm gonna just skip through them 'cause they're jumping around a bit. Exodus, uh, 17, um, verses, uh, five. And it says this, this is to, to the Lord says to Moses, pass on before the people taking with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hands the staff, which you struck the Nile, and go, behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at her, and you shall strike the rock and water shall come out of it and the people will drink.
Speaker 1 00:03:09 And Moses did is so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massa and Marba because of the quarreling in the people of Israel. And because they tested the Lord by saying is the, is the Lord among us or not? The bit just before that, the people in Israel, they're quarreling, they're complaining, they're in the desert. They're just saying, God, like, what's going on? Like we, we, we, we were better in, um, Egypt. And then Moses, this was his response to this. And then in, in in numbers chapter 20, it's like a whole book later. And the people of Israel, the whole congregation came into the wilderness of Zinn in the first month. And the people stayed in Kadesh and Miriam died there and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and Aaron and the people quarreled with Moses and said, would, uh, would that we have perished with our brothers perished before the Lord?
Speaker 1 00:04:06 Why have you brought us the assembly of the Lord into the wilderness that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us to come up out of the Egypt to bring us to this evil place? Is this no place for gain or figs or vine or pomegranates? And there is no water to drink? The Moses and Aaron went to the presence of the assembly, to the entrance of the tent to meet God and fell to their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying this. He said, take the staff and assemble your congregation to you and Aaron, your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water so that you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give, uh, give drink to the congregation and the cattle.
Speaker 1 00:04:52 And Moses took the staff before the Lord and he commanded. Then Moses and Aaron, they gathered the whole assembly together before the rock. And he said to them, here, now you rebels. Shall we bring water out of this rock for you? And Moses lifted up his hand and he struck the rock with his staff twice. And war came out abundantly. And the congregation drank and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the lords, of the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land I have given them. And it's so interesting, these two things you see on the screen, the two stories next to each other. There's two things that happen. So the the the people complain, this is just what goes on.
Speaker 1 00:05:37 Hey, we, we, we we're thirsty, we're hungry, we're tired. We've, we are living in tents. We've gotta move every time this cloud move. They're frustrated. So what does Moses do when the people complains? He goes to God. That's good. He, and then God gives him this command. He says, pass on before the people. So just go with the elders and strike the rock and water will come. So this is the first time this is in Exodus. And what, what God's saying here is he is, he is doing this testing. He's he's, he is, he is just saying, Moses, do you trust me? Take the elders. Take the those that have faith come forward and strike this rock. That was the command. What happens? Moses struck the rock and waters came. People were happy. Then all of a sudden we skipped like a whole book. There's just more and more of this story just after this rebuke of the people that, um, were in the land there in, uh, in Israel, sorry.
Speaker 1 00:06:29 Um, they weren't able to, um, go and enter the promised land because of their disobedience, because of their quarreling, all these things. So then God says, as these people are complaining, Moses there, and they go, they do the right thing, they go to God and he gives them this command. It's similar, but it's not the same. It's assemble the congregation. So this time it's not just in the private, but it's in front of the people. And instead of striking the rock with the staff, the staff has done many miracles. It's turned into a snake. It's split the Red Sea, it's done all the plagues to Egypt. There's this, uh, staff that, that represents a lot of God's miracles. But instead it's, it's says, speak the rock and that it will and it will yield water. So Moses is now in, in front of the people.
Speaker 1 00:07:10 He's heard this command, but he gets in this position before the people where he knows there's a miracle that's needed. He's he's got faith that God's done, he's done it again. But the thing that is different, one tiny little thing is he struck the rock twice rather than speaking to the rock. And I don't know about you, like for me, that just seems like, okay, cool. Like you could, you could maybe skip past it and like, okay, the, like the water still came. Like the, the people are happy. Like the the, the cattle can drink. We can drink like all is well. And this is for the whole of Israel. This is what it seems like. They didn't hear this command. They didn't know what God set. So this leader performs a miracle. Hey, praise God. But then in the secret, when, when God now draws Moses away, there's a rebuke.
Speaker 1 00:07:59 And it's such a harsh rebuke. It's like Moses like, Hey, you didn't trust me. You were meant to bring me glory. But instead, maybe this is what I interpret from this. Like, maybe he bought himself glory. Maybe it was the, it was, it was more of that. And it was, it was a lack of faith. Like it was a lack of faith that, that, that God wouldn't do the same thing in a different way. That it was more of a, a trust in, in the method. Like, Hey God, like I know you've done this before. Last time you gave this command, like strike the rock, the water will come. And I think Moses heard like there's this temp, there's this like tent here, like God's speaking audibly. Like it's not just like a confusion thing, it was disobedience. But the harsh rebuke was now, okay Moses, you'll lead the people to the promised land, but you yourself won't enter.
Speaker 1 00:08:49 And it seems like such a small thing. But when you, when you're, when you're taking these people into the promised land, what did they need faith for? They needed faith for obedience. 'cause what was the first command of Joshua? It was walk around seven times and the war will fall. This isn't normal battle strategy. No. Yeah. This isn't normally like, Hey, we're gonna rave this place. Like God's made ours. Like they go in, they see these giants like there's so much fruit, but they're these giants. There's this massive wall. And we've been in the desert. The faith is the thing that's important. And I'm gonna skip to another story that's kind of parallel and Moses disobeys, but like, he's the good guy in this stories. And I'm gonna skip to one Samuel chapter 13, and we're gonna look at a different person with a similar kind of story.
Speaker 1 00:09:37 Um, I'm gonna just use my notes on this just because it's a long passage and I'm gonna paraphrase. So, and you can check in the Bible if you want me to be like accurate and stuff. Like, I, it's pretty accurate. Um, SAS here, and he's um, he's the king of Israel. He's just won this great army against the Philistines, this great battle. The Philistines are mad. They've got, okay, we've just been defeated. It was quite embarrassing. So they gather their whole troops. So it's like the whole of the Philistine army are coming here and they're like, we don't like Israel. We're gonna attack them. So Saul's here, the Phile Army's here. They've got all of Israel, they've got all of Phile. It's massive, massive battle. And the, the, the Phil, the Israelites are just waiting. They're waiting and they're waiting and waiting. They're waiting for Samuel, this prophet.
Speaker 1 00:10:26 And they're kind of like, we've been waiting for seven days. We're hiding in caves, we're hiding in cracks like this. This isn't great. They're making lots of noise. We're not making lots of noise. But what did they do that every time they went into battle, they would, they would, the prophet would make a sacrifice that they would gain the victory through God. That it wasn't the army's power, it was God's power. And this is what they did. So it's always waiting seven days. He's kind of like seeing his army kind of flee. They're all going, he's a bit scared. Samuel hasn't arrived. So he is like, okay, we need to go into battle. But I know we can't go into battle unless we sacrifice to God. So I know what we'll do. I will sacrifice and then we'll go into battle. So Saul's, Saul's sacrificing the ba, the the people are starting to leave.
Speaker 1 00:11:13 Saul offers this burnt offering, offers this sacrifice. And it's a really awkward moment. I can imagine Samuel arriving, like literally as it's just finished, <laugh>. Like, it's just like, oh, okay. Samuel comes arrives. And, and he, he rebukes it. He says, today was the day that God would've established your kingdom over Israel. And this is the same promise that God made to David, that it would've been Saul's generational line that would've always been king over Israel. That actually would've been the same line that Jesus was a part of. This was this promise that was on the line. Saul didn't know, but because of this disobedience, Samuel says, like, you know the law, like you know what you're meant to be doing. You weren't patient. You didn't trust in God that this was the rebuke you lost, you missed this blessing. An amazing, amazing blessing. And what happens, the battle's still won.
Speaker 1 00:12:15 Jonathan, his son and his friend is, is quite a badass story. It's really, really cool. Chapter 14, they're kind of hiding and then just like they, they like walk across and like, if they say one thing, we're gonna stay quiet. But if they say one a thing, like God's gonna hand us over and they come over, the Philistine's get a bit leery, they shout something and they take on like 20 men, like just two of them. The whole like Philistine army goes into chaos. Like it was a really cool battle. And then the next one, literally next two chapters later, the next thing they win this battle. Chapter 15. If we can get the next side, please, James, this one's a bit more. So Sas Samuel now gives him the promise first. So Samuel says to Saul like, Hey, I have come to anoint you king, like in God's eyes you'll be king.
Speaker 1 00:13:00 And this is the message from God. Go to Amalek, kill them all. Don't spare anyone. Don't spare the cattle. I've seen the evil they've done. This is their consequence. Don't spare them all. So Saul goes, he defeats them, he spares the king and he keeps some of the cattle. Wow. And he goes on and then in this, in this evening, so Saul's done that. He's come back. God speaks to Samuel. This is hard. This is sad. It says at the end, like sa Samuel was in like mourning because of this. I regret making him king. Imagine being the prophet of this, this, this king. There's the Lord's anointed like Israel, like been asking for a king and not the right time. God says, Hey, I see this guy the low of the low, let's make him king. I regret making him king. And and during this time, Saul's seal's making a monument for himself.
Speaker 1 00:13:56 He's like, Hey, like I'm the king. It would look great if there's a statue up there. Like, let's do that. Like, I've just secured the anointing. Like I did what God wanted me to do. And then Samuel confronts Saul, he comes to me, he goes, Hey. And then, and, and this is, it is quite a funny interaction as well. Um, Saul's like, Hey, like, bless you. Like we praise you God. Like, look at what we've done. And then Saul, and then Samuel's, just like, what's that? I hear what's like the, the cows and the, the the sheep and the sacrifices that you should have killed. And Saul's like, oh, like we were going to sacrifice them to God. Like they were, we just took them like we killed the bad ones, but we kept the good ones to like sacrifice to God. Um, and this is, this is again a really harsh rebuke, Samuel says to Saul as you have rejected the word of the Lord, so he has rejected you as king.
Speaker 1 00:14:52 And at the start, like Saul was, um, Saul was like, oh, like I did the right thing. Like we won the battle, but he missed out the detail. And then there's this another this like as they carry on, like Saul repents and Samuel's, like, he's like, Hey, come with me to the temple. Like, let's public for your repent. Samuel's. Like, no, like the law's rejected you. I can't be with you. So like goes to like stop him from leaving tears like the, the, the tassels off his garment. And that's an interesting thing of like the, the like authority, the tassels, they represent like the law, but the authority that people carry. So by taking that, and then this is another like, it's such a cool line. Like, like Samuel like turns around. He's like, as you have like taken this authority. So the Lord has taken Israel from you, then Samuel as, and like before, the Lord kills the king that was spared.
Speaker 1 00:15:43 And then they never see each other again. And Samuel's. So like for two years he's like, he anointed him as king, like journeyed with this guy, this young leader. But because of his rebellion, like the, the, the, the voice piece of God, in that time, there was no Holy Spirit. There was a prophet there, never see each other again. And saw rains for probably now another 20 years. So these are the two stories. And then the thing in common, if James, we can get to the next slide with Moses. People put pressure on that. They're complaining as we, we heard in the words, it's like we're, we're, we're tired, we're hungry, we have no water. God gives a command. So they do the right thing, goes to goes to God. Moses obeys the command and sees God's result. But in numbers, people put the pressure on, God gives a command.
Speaker 1 00:16:36 Moses disobeys the command and they still see a result. But what's the thing that gets missed? Moses does not enter the promised land. There's a consequence. And on the next one for Saul, in these two different ones, God gives a command. People put the pressure on Saul Disobeys the command. It says in, in this, it was saying that the, it was the people. It was the people that, um, was the reason that, that they wanted to keep the sacrifices. And it was, it was the, the under the pressure of the people loses the promise or loses the promise, but they still see a result. They still see the victory. God gives a command, no. Oh, sorry. And then in this one, God gives a promise. The promise is first all you gotta do is obey this and you'll get this promise. God gives a command.
Speaker 1 00:17:24 So does three quarters of the command, doesn't fully wipe everyone out. He claims the reward early. Hey, look, I'm gonna build this monument. I'm king. He loses the promise and he acts as king without the anointing for around 20 years. What does Israel look like with the Lord's anointed? Not having the favor of God ruling their land. And if we go to that, that next slide, please. Why is the disobedience here? As I was like looking through in these, these two stories and the top ones of Moses, the bottom three are soul. Like, like what's the fear? Like what's the challenge for us as a church? What do we learn from this as a leader? It was so hard to hear these things and be like, okay God, like we wanna, we wanna honor you here in this house. Like we are a house of obedience before anything else.
Speaker 1 00:18:15 If God says like, get rid of the stage. Just Lawson here a guitar, nothing plugged in, and there's five of us here, we'll go. If God says like a thousand seats a building, like all of the, the high spec or that kind of stuff, like let's go. We're a house of obedience here. What do we, what do we do to stay in the obedience, to secure the promise in the future? I'm tired of seeing results. I'm tired of seeing those things. But we wanna see a promise in the future. We wanna go to the promised land. We want our descendants to be secured. We want the Lord's hand and favor upon us. So for Moses, it was a lack of belief that God will deliver in front of the people. It was, it was a trust in, in history more than God. It's like, God, I I know, I know this like, like we've done this before.
Speaker 1 00:19:01 We've, we've had this problem like he sought God, that's great. But he is like, Hey, I know if I strike it, what will come out? So in front of the people, in front of the, in front of the pressure where, where there's people complaining and I've gotta deliver this. I'm gonna trust in what I used to know and what I've seen will happen before rather than walk in obedience. Yeah. And for Saul, it's, it's that the people leaving, it's in this, that the army is going, the army is fleeing. He's like, I've, I've gotta do this. It's, it's, it is methods without devotion. Hey, like I, before we go into battle, we've gotta sacrifice. So I'm gonna sacrifice and then we'll go into battle. He knew the law. He'd grown up with it. He knew that it was the prophet's role. There was, there was a a, a devotion that the prophet had.
Speaker 1 00:19:54 There was a a, a set apart, um, anointing on the prophets. There was, there was rules that they had to obey to keep them holy and set apart so they could approach God. And it was again, a fear of people that they're there, they're winning this fight. They've, they've killed most people. And the army are like, well, well they look pretty nice. Like, can we have them? And like, and we will sacrifice them to God. Like it'll be a great thing. And, and like maybe, I don't know, like maybe he didn't want to like kill the king. Like he's like, I've killed like everything from you, like maybe I'll save you. But in his, in his mind there at the back, he was like, it's easier for me to please those people. I won't have a rebellion here 'cause I'm tired, like I've just won this war.
Speaker 1 00:20:36 Like all this kind of stuff. But it cost him so much more. If we could get to that next slide, please, James. So these are the methods, these are the things. I put the verses there like it is from the Bible, I promise. Um, Moses, so God, the first time God taught him in secret, it was, it was with the elders. It was just provision that the team saw, that the elders saw for the people. And then God brought him before people to bring God glory. This was the rebuke. It was, it was, it was, it was about, it was about God. It was like, you didn't bring me glory when you didn't speak to the rock and you struck it. And what was the reason he had it? He had that lack of faith. And this is what, what God was saying because of your lack of faith.
Speaker 1 00:21:19 This is what happened. He trusted in the previous methods, I've done this before, I know this. Like this is just routine. Now we can rely on those things to see a result. So he trusted in the old, the old is not bad. I wanna say this church like please hear me as like I'm, I'm 21. Like I'm so excited, like the new things God's doing. But like God's worked with me. You've gotta have like the old is not bad. God has moved in the past and we've gotta be aware of that. But the problem was he stuck to the old and didn't step into the new, that he continued to strike the rock when the new command was speak. And the thing is with this, like you'll see a result like, like we can stick to our traditions. Like we can, we can Sunday gather, we can do that kind of stuff. We can stand up, we can sit down, we can do three songs one fast, like too slow, whatever, like, like it, it might work.
Speaker 1 00:22:20 But that's just for the short term. It's the long-term promise. I dunno about you. But as a church and in my life, I'm after the long-term promise. I look at the story of David the king after Saul, and I see the blessing of his obedience. And it, it says even in this, in, um, I think it's kings. Um, and it's saying that it talks about David. He did everything right in the sight of the Lord apart from the Bathsheba bit. It mentions that sight apart from that bit that wasn't good. Like he did everything right in the sight of the Lord. And what happens, his son is the richest and the wisest man to probably ever live. True. And the blessings. And the blessings. Solomon's disobedience split the kingdom. Yeah. That there was no one that probably was ever richer or wiser than him. But because of his disobedience, his ancestors went down rather than up.
Speaker 1 00:23:15 But the only reason they stayed on the throne was because of David. And my prayer often is, God, let my my children walk in dis Well, I don't, I don't pray for that bit. But even if my children walk in disobedience, let my obedience to you cause them blessing, that's good. Let my obedience to you cause my generations favor that even in their disobedience, they'll be blessed. Not because of the things I do, not 'cause of what I've built, but because of the obedience. And sa So he is, he's, he's grown up in church. He, he's, he's, he's brought, he's brought up with the law. He knows the things and he offered the birth sacrifice, the, the, the tradition that he knew and knew and knew he didn't have reverence over. He saw it only as a method, but didn't see the, the holiness behind it.
Speaker 1 00:24:10 And it says even in this rebuke, um, I wanna read this. It's, it's kind of scary, this rebuke that, that Samuel gives. He says, has the Lord a great delight in burnt offerings. This is Samuel 1522, has the Lord a great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of the rams. For rebellion is the sin of deviation, witchcraft, and presumption is as in iniquity and idolatry. It's immoral. It's like having an idol. If you assume because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. This assumption, Hey, I can do the things. I can, I can. I like, we know the routine, we know the rhythm. I've seen it so many times, but it was the wrong person. There wasn't reverence and holiness towards God in that sacrifice that is the same as immorality and idolatry. Wow.
Speaker 1 00:25:19 He didn't wanna go into battle without God. Hey, good job that, you know, it's not your strength in theory, but then you disregard the specifics. There's, there's a, there's a reason and there's an order behind these things. You've got to know the things that we do aren't just for going through the motion. If you look at your life and you, you pray at the mealtime, is that because you are grateful to God because of the things that you do? Or is that just 'cause you've been brought up in it? How many times when you pray, do you actually speak to God? When you come to church on a Sunday? Is this just what you've done as a family? Like if it is, you are welcome, like be a part of our family. But we don't just do this out of rhythm and routine. We know there's a God that we are so, so grateful for.
Speaker 1 00:26:12 And he understood the practice. He, he knew knew the ins and the outs, but the depth and the reverence was not there. Can we get to that next side? This is of people. So God brought him before the people to show God as holy. Even just like in my own studies, like God's been really showing me like what's, like, what's the point of Andrew's, um, healing. Like it's to bring glory to the father. It's not like, hey, look, Phil prayed for him. How great's our leadership team? Like it's how good is the Holy Spirit when you respond to him? How good is the father? Why does he do it? Why doesn't, why didn't God do it in private again? 'cause there's these people who are in the desert, he wants to increase their faith to see the good things of God. He wants to be shown as holy.
Speaker 1 00:27:03 This is why we, we, we pray and we, we praise and we expect the things that we expect not 'cause we want rediscover church, Newton Abbot to look good because we want God to be seen as holy. And this is the thing that the Moses desired the result more than the obedience that he's like, Hey, like if I strike this, I know it'll happen. I don't need a new faith in God. He's already given me this faith that when I strike a rock, the water will come. But in order to step into the new thing, the new obedience, you can't desire the results. You have to only follow obedience. It's not God, I'll only obey you when you worked the ways you've worked in the past. It's not like, okay, let, let, let's get really run for all here. Like there we go. That's not wrong.
Speaker 1 00:27:58 As a team, none of us are, um, paid by the church. This last year I've received support like, like a, a monthly income that's came every single time. And that stopped in September. This this, the couple that were, they're supporting me. Like they were so, so generous. They extended it like double the time they was even gonna do. But like right now, I'm frustrated because like, God, God provided in in such a clear way for me to be able to be here. And that's not come for the last two months. And I, I've gotta, I've gotta work in different ways. Like right now what this provision, I was chatting to the young adults like last week, like this provision is just like random jobs that give me like, just enough to like pay rent and stuff like that. And it's, it's, it's a frustration because like, God, you, you worked in such an easy way for me last year and I was working for you.
Speaker 1 00:28:55 So like praise you God. But but why can't it be the same? And this is like the thing that I've been really wrestling with like this week. Oh, this wasn't, this isn't part of the sermon. And like, I don't know, for me, like I've, I've, the promise is so much more like there's, there's gotta be a promise that I'm holding onto. There's worth me trying to push through this because like, the frustration is that I could, I could just like, I could, I could, like I've, I've been in the church for, while I could like put a letter out, I could do a monthly email like probably raise support as a missionary here. Like that's great, but that's not what God's wanting me to do. And, and it's, it is this wrestle that we're always gonna have. And for Saul, like it's, it is trusting in in people more than God that this, this sacrifice was tradition.
Speaker 1 00:29:52 It was just a habit. But actually when you look at it, his faith was more in the army more than God. He said, I'm gonna do this sacrifice so I can fight with these people. Not that when we sacrifice this, no matter who I have with me, we'll win because the Lord is on our side. He didn't want people to leave. He liked the crowd. He liked the big, the big army where you look big, you look strong and you look like you are in control. He didn't want people to leave. He'd rather keep the crowd than obeyed God. And this is a funny message that I've even said to Phil and Nesta, we, we are gonna be stepping into something and we want every single one of you to be here.
Speaker 1 00:30:35 But, but what I learned from this alone and just walking with God is we value obedience more than we value your seat on a Sunday. And like, like, I'm sorry but it's true. Like one day I'm gonna be before God and he's gonna hold account of every decision that I've made in my life. And he's gonna say, did you do that to keep people in the seats or did you do that because I asked you to. And church, it's gonna be hard. We were saying as well that we feel like everyone's like locking arms. Like we are, we're really drawing in close. So like, church, let's lock arms and let's go. Like there's so many things that we do here that I probably wouldn't do if it was by himself. Maybe Esther the same, maybe feel the same, maybe you guys the same. But like we've gotta put those things aside and we've just gotta run for what God is asking us to do.
Speaker 1 00:31:32 He feared the people that it was, it was their demands. It was, it was their, their constant nagging, their, their things that they're wanting, that he obeyed them. He was open this to this debate, to this, to this reason. That's like, I don't know, like did, did like this is the devil with Jesus. Like did God really say like, was it really that? Or like, like, like we've killed them like we've won the war, but like let's keep some of the sheep, like let's keep some of the cows and like be careful. That's all I'm saying. Like be careful. 'cause if you open to debate and reason around the things that God has called you to do, it might cost you something you never wanted to pay for. So James, if you can get to that next slide please. The full obedience. Moses missed one action.
Speaker 1 00:32:21 It was speak not strike Saul. Miss one detail. It was Samuel to offer the sacrifice, not Saul. Saul miss one word, all destroy all, not some. If you spare the detail, you might, it might cost you something you'll later regret. And it's, you've gotta fear God. Like, like do you really fear God? This is, this is the thing that that draws from that. Like, like do I like God's a father, he's loving, he's kind. Yes, but there's also heavy consequences when you don't obey him. You can go, oh, like, like I, like you can't smooth talk God. Like, like we, I I kept the king, but like all the others died. Like, no, it has to be full obedience. Is there one more slide, James? There is. And what is the response to the consequence? This is the bit that we've gotta hold because this is grace.
Speaker 1 00:33:23 Like this is, this is how we act in grace. Like grace isn't like, hey, you get off like it is get off free reign. Like we get to heaven, like praise God. But grace isn't like, I'm gonna walk in disobedience and disobey and disobey and disobey and I'll not see a consequence for it. This is not grace, but what grace allows us to do is respond out of these consequences. So Moses, what did he do? Like he, he hears this rebuke like, I'm not gonna enter into the promised land. Like you could be mad, like maybe he probably was sad a little bit, probably a bit mad. But what did he do? He prepared Joshua, he journeyed he prepared the next leader. He got taken up to Mount Nebo. He show he was shown the promised land with God that I look at what I'm gonna bring your descendants into.
Speaker 1 00:34:13 And he was buried by God. Now God called him up to the mountain, said, now's your time to die. And God buried him at the top of the mountain. Wow. He understood the consequence, understood a mighty God that he is no one to, to, to go against that. And it caused him to pursue obedience. But what was Saul's response? He remained king for around 20 more years. He attempted to kill David. This person, it says there's um, oh, I can't find it quickly enough. There's when, when this rebuke for David, he said, I'm gonna give it to someone who is better than you. This is like what Saul says, this Samuel says to Saul that I'm giving it God's giving it to someone better than you. And when this person arises, Saul sw attempts to kill him. He chases him down for several years. And what happens to Saul, he dies this embarrassing death.
Speaker 1 00:35:10 His army's all around him. It's him and his, I think his son or something like this. His descendants will die and he has to land himself on his own sphere. An embarrassing death for a warrior. So church, what's our response? And this is why I wanna say to you, there's, there's even prophetic things. God's spoken to me about this, about the state of the church, things like this. A lot of it was in Brazil as well. A lot of what I saw from this is like, let's, let's, let's, first of all, let's just commit to obedience. Like this is, this is the, the the harsh kind of sides of God that we've gotta go. If like, if we are locking arms, like we're just telling you right now as a church, like obedience is the priority. Like it's, it's, it's, it's nothing else other than that.
Speaker 1 00:36:01 But I don't know about your life. And yes, there's grace and there's forgiveness and there's not always such a firm consequence. But I actually think for some leaders in the church in today's age, there may be acting in their authority, but there's no God's authority in there. And you'll see it because the methods will work and they'll see a response, but there won't be a continuation of these things. And like right now, like there's things that are happening like there, there's a revival that's happening in the UK in the southwest and we're part of it here in Newton Abbot. And we want to continue in this. But in order for that, like we can't rely on methods. We have to be attentive to the word of God. Like every time I come to a sermon, it's not just like an old Bible study, I find out like I have to say, God, what's your message right now for your people?
Speaker 1 00:36:58 Like is it go? Is it stay? Is it build or is it take down? So what's our response to maybe we are as we're in some of the consequences. I don't know. Only you can discern that. But what's the response? Do we prepare a way for the new to come in or do we fight and hold on to what we think we can hold and reject the new thing coming? And this is the final thing as we're gonna close. And also we're probably not gonna do a response time. We're just gonna do that as a final thing. What we've, we've seen in the church, I love Mark <inaudible>, pastor and Exter. He really, oh, he's amazing. Um, what we've seen in the church generation after generation, after generation is an orphan generation rise up. It rejects the old things of God and it moves in the new things of God and but gets established and either drops straight away or fizzles out.
Speaker 1 00:37:56 And then a new generation rises that are orphaned, that are rejected by the old move of God. They say, this is not God. 'cause he didn't move the way he moved when we were here. And then the orphan generation, they go, we've gotta run, so we're gonna leave you behind. But if we wanna see a move of God that will last. If we wanna see a church here that's planted and not just rise and fall, but sustains and has, has, um, children, after children, after children that we'll plant from this church, we need a family. We can't have orphans rise up and reject the things of the past, but to the older church, we need your help. We can't have you reject the new things that God is doing. We need your support. We need your wisdom, we need your prayer, and we need to do this together.
Speaker 1 00:38:55 So I'm just gonna pray now and uh, it's a response. If you wanna respond in your heart, I'd love you too. Also just, just pray along with me. Whatever, whatever words in your head or out loud, whatever Lord, we're so grateful for who you are. Lord, we're so grateful that we can hear your commands. God, holy Spirit, help us. Help us to walk in obedience. God help us understand the things you are asking us to do. Let us not fear people. Let us not rely on methods. God, we wanna do the new thing that today, that you are asking for us and for whatever the consequences that we're walking in, in our lives. Lord, help us have the right heart. Help us prepare for the new things that you are doing, Lord, and unite us as a family, young and old, to encourage each other to walk in obedience.
