Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, August 5th. Following the Lord isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it. In this final part of our series, you’ll be encouraged to strengthen your commitment to obey Him no matter what comes your way.
SPEAKER 01 :
God has planned the very best that a sovereign, omniscient God can plan for you. A God who loves you unconditionally. And therefore, whatever His plans are, they’re the best. And therefore, if He has a plan, He has a method by which that plan is to be fulfilled. And there’s a pathway that you and I are to walk. In order to do that, we must have a sense of direction. In order to get that sense of direction, we must come to him. And once we have that sense of direction, we must be obedient. That is, if God says, here’s my plan, here’s the best plan that I can come up with for you, and you decide that you’ll go about fulfilling the plan your way, then my friends, you’re gonna be disappointed. God always has the best for us, but it does require of us to be obedient to him. And oftentimes we think the little things about we should do or should not do are not significant. Every single command of God is significant. Every time He tells you and me to do something or not to do it, it is very significant. What we don’t realize is, we don’t realize how significant it is because we can’t see the future consequences of what’s going to happen. So I want to talk to you today, and I want us to open the Scripture to Luke chapter 5. I want to talk about this whole idea of the enriching rewards of obedience. Here’s what’s happening. Jesus is preaching on the shore. And naturally what happens when people are standing around, the people in the back always want to get a little closer. So what happens is they get a little closer to the people in front of them. People in front of them have to move. So they get a little closer. And what happens is the crowd moves closer and closer until finally Jesus is having to speak over their heads. And so he turns and he sees these two boats and he says to Simon, I’d like to borrow your boat, get in the boat, and if you just push out a little ways, and I can speak to the people a little better that way because I’m away from them and they can all hear me. There must have been large crowds. And so when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Now listen to what happens. Simon answered and said, Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But I will do as you say and let down the nets. When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets began to break so that they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet saying, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. for amazement had seized them and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men. And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. Now you may say, well, what does that have to do with obedience? That’s just another fish story. Oh, it’s a fish story, all right. But I want to tell you something. If you’re wise, you’ll get your pencil and a pen, and you will not fail to write down principles from a simple story of Scripture, but full of wonderful principles. So we’re talking about this whole idea of obedience. So here’s number one principle, and that’s simply this. Obeying God… never proves to be disappointing. God’s not going to disappoint us now. I may disappoint myself, but here’s what I want you to remember. Obeying God never leaves us disappointed. Look what happened. He got into the boat, took Jesus out there. And remember what he must have been listening to and what he was hearing sitting there so close to Jesus. And not only that, think about this. Peter, no doubt, was feeling a little better about himself the whole time because here he was, it was his boat, out in front of everybody. And this was the master, and he had chosen his boat. I can imagine knowing a little bit about Peter, how to while he can thought, absolutely, you have my boat, no doubt about it. I mean, and so here he was getting blessed, but going to have some lessons in his life. And he’s the one that the Lord chose, and he’s the one who had the big catch. And when you think about what happens when we obey him and how he responds. It’s not a disappointment. There’s nothing disappointing here. And sometimes a person says, well, I’ve obeyed the Lord Jesus, but it didn’t work out the way I expected it to. I didn’t say it would always work out the way you expected it to, but here’s what I’m saying. There is no disappointment in Jesus. There are times in your life and mine, certainly times in my life when I have obeyed him and that things didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to. I expected them to, but I can tell you this, every single time, they turned out better. Listen very carefully to what I’m going to tell you. If you will obey the Lord, He will give you more than you expect and more than you deserve. You need to write that down. I can tell you that is absolutely the truth. If you will obey Him in whatever He requires of you, He’ll give you more than you ask for, more than you expect, and more than you deserve. And that is in any facet of life. wisdom and knowledge and understanding and love and peace and contentment and joy and all the rest. He will enable you to face and He will enable you to walk through situations and circumstances and listen, and go through storms, whatever it might be, with the most awesome sense of contentment and peace and joy that you would never be able to expect. Why? That’s the kind of God He is. He will never disappoint you ultimately. Will we suffer sometimes? Yes. Hurt sometimes? Yes. You say, well, I think that’s not what I want in life. Well, you know what? You’re going to hurt and suffer anyway. Without Jesus, you’re going to hurt and suffer. With Jesus, you’re going to hurt and suffer. So if you’ve got any rationality about you all, you want to hurt and suffer with him. Don’t hurt and suffer without him. Hurt and suffer with him. So you see, there is no excuse for disobedience. You say, well, I’m afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid that an omnipotent, omniscient, all-supportive and loving God can’t take care of you. Yes, He can. And see, that first step, that little step is so extremely important. I cannot tell you how important. The first little thing that God requires of you today, tomorrow morning, next week, whatever it might be, the first one, remember this, It is a stepping stone and could be a stepping stone to the, listen, to the most fantastic aspect of your whole life. If you’ll just do what he says. So here’s the principle. The principle is you’re not going to be disappointed. And he’s in control. And you think about, think about what happened to Peter. Because he said, you can have my boat. Because he said, I’m willing to push out in the deep. One day he was out in the deep in a big storm. And this same Jesus said, who controlled the waters, controlled the fish, was the same Jesus who answered Peter’s call when Peter said, Lord, if that’s you, call me to come to you. And he called Peter, and Peter walked on the water. Do you think he ever forgot that? Because he remembered that the Lord and Master, his Master, had such control over those waters that he could fill up two boatloads And he must have thought in those moments, if he can control the fish in the water, he can control the man on the water. And he walked to Jesus. And in that moment of doubt and fear and anxiety, when he began to sink, all he had to do is to say, Lord, save me. You know what? It doesn’t make any difference where you are in life and what you are facing in life. And listen, how difficult the situation may be, if you’re in a situation where you’re obeying God, all you have to do is to say, Lord, save me. Lord, help me. Lord, here’s my request. And you know what? You won’t have to wonder if he’s listening. He’s always listening to his children. He is honored by our obedience to him. Because what we are saying is we acknowledge you for who you are. Next principle. The next principle is this, that obeying God allows Him the privilege to demonstrate His awesome power in our life. Obeying him allows him to demonstrate his power. For example, suppose Peter said, no, not going. Peter would have seen this itinerant preacher as who he was. But what happens? Jesus demonstrates his awesome power. And listen to Peter. He goes to his fishing spot, fills up two boat-sinking loads of fish. He demonstrated his awesome power. Suppose Peter said, no. He would have missed. He would have missed an awesome miracle in his life. What are you saying to the Lord Jesus about your life? Are you saying something? Are you saying no to him? And not realizing that you are, listen, you are preventing him from demonstrating his awesome power in your life. Because he’s not going to come up short. Jesus isn’t going to come up short anywhere. If you disobey him, you don’t know what he would do, what he could do. If you obey him, what you do is you position yourself and your relationship to him so he can demonstrate his awesome power. Listen, he didn’t stop performing miracles in Peter’s day. Jesus is still in the business of performing awesome miracles in people’s lives and situations and circumstances. But you’ve got to obey him. You’ve got to trust him. and allow him to do it his way. And if you look at the scripture, this is exactly what happened. He obeyed the Lord, and God did an awesome work in his life. And think about this. He transformed this fisherman into an awesome leader. He transformed him into a powerful preacher. At Pentecost, who was the chosen man to preach the message at Pentecost when the church first started and the Holy Spirit had come upon them all? It was Peter who preached. Three thousand people were saved, and the church got off to a fantastic start. This was a fisherman. But he walked with the Lord Jesus three years. He learned to be obedient to him. Was he always in agreement with Jesus? No. One time Jesus had to say to him, Peter, you’re acting like the devil. You’re acting just like the devil. Be quiet. You’re interfering with the plan of God. But you know what? He never gave up on Peter. And Peter never gave up on him. You know where it all started? Down by the seashore. When he said, Peter, I’m getting in your boat, push me out a little ways. You never know the far-reaching results of an act of obedience. You say, well, you’ve said that about 40 times in this message. You know why? Because I want to ring in your ears that those small acts of obedience are stepping stones. Listen, to awesome blessing, unforeseen blessing, transformed life. We could go on and on and on of what God can do in a person’s life once they allow the Lord Jesus to have his way and to be obedient to him. Have you ever said in your life, Lord Jesus, whatever you want, that’s what I want. Would you say to him as Peter said here, I will do as you say. You know, there should come a time in our life when we make that commitment. However you want to word it, this is how simple it is. Lord, from this point on, I will do what you say. By the help of the Holy Spirit, I will do what you say. That is a commitment to be obedient to him regardless of the circumstances, not a matter of preferences. I prefer this and prefer that. On a basis of conviction, I’m going to do what you say. You know what happens? You fling the doors open in your life for God to bless you, meet you in ways that you never dreamed God could meet you. That’s the God He is. And that’s the simple principle. That is… We obey Him and give Him the privilege to demonstrate His awesome power. And you and I could go through all kinds of verses and chapters in the Bible about how many times God demonstrated that awesome power. When someone will obey Him, how did He demonstrate that awesome power? In many, many ways. If you’re looking for God to do something in your life, change your life. You don’t like your circumstances. You don’t like what’s going on. You want God to change it. Here’s what you do. Get on your face before the living God on your knees and say to him with an open Bible. You can take this chapter. Lord, today I say to you with Peter, with all of my heart, from this moment on, I will do as you say, no matter what that is. Now listen, Peter didn’t say I’ll consider it. He didn’t say, I’ll think about it. He said, nevertheless, I will do what you say. Next principle. When you think about how he operated in these men’s lives and allowing God to demonstrate his awesome power, then here’s what I want you to remember. When we obey him. We get a better understanding of who he is and a better understanding of ourselves. Now think what happened here. When he saw what the Lord did, the scripture says, he fell down. Look at this. Verse 8, when Simon Peter saw that, the boat was full and sinking with fish. He fell down at Jesus’ feet saying, go away from me, Lord, for I’m a sinful man, O Lord. He saw the Lord in a whole different light. This was a son of God. This was God’s only begotten son. Now he didn’t have that full understanding at the time. But he was getting it fast. He knew that he was the Lord and master could control the waters. He had a better understanding of who Jesus was, but he also understood who he was. He was a sinful, vile fisherman. And you know what? When you start obeying God, there’s no room for pride. When you and I start obeying Him and see how awesome God is, you want an intimate relationship with Him. And people say, well, I want an intimate relationship with the Lord. I want to understand Him. I want Him to understand me. I want to have this relationship with Him that I feel His love and feel His presence and feel His power in my life. Here’s the way. Do the next thing God tells you to do. You say, well, I think there’s some things in my past I should do. Whatever He brings up to you, do it. And here’s what will happen. You’ll begin to understand yourself better. You’ll begin to understand who He is. And here’s what I’ve discovered in life. The more I understand who He is, the better I understand myself. The more I understand Him, the more holy… I see Him to be. And the most sinful I can be if I’m not walking in absolute, total obedience to Him. We are all sinners by practice at times. It should not be our lifestyle, but an exception. We can walk holy. We can walk obedient before him. But it begins with that little act of obedience. It may be that God will tell you, I want you to go and apologize. I want you to go give this person something. I want you to be baptized. You see, people oftentimes say, well, I don’t understand why I don’t have this kind of an intimate relationship with Jesus. And so as I begin to talk to them, never been baptized. He didn’t say, I suggest that you be. It is a command. When you violate, when you refuse, when you ignore, when you rationalize, when you reason away, when you get somebody to agree with you about disobeying God, what you do is you short-circuit your relationship with Him. You close the door to the blessings of God upon your life. You will never understand His best for you. You’ll never experience. And you’ll have to go through life wondering, I wonder what I missed if I had only obeyed Him. Now listen. You don’t want to live an if-I-da life. End up at life saying, if I’d have done this, and if I’d have done that, and if I’d have listened to this, and if I’d have obeyed here, and if I hadn’t done, if-I-da, if-I-da, if-I-da. If-I-da life is a life of failure, disappointment, listen, discouragement. It is a life that’s unhappy. Think about what happened to Peter. One little act of obedience. Here’s my boat, master. I’m going fishing with you. I’m going to spend the rest of my life fishing for men. Look what he did. One simple act, and I come back to the first simple act, simply borrowing his boat. Is it something that God is wanting you to do? Something very simple, something that’s not all that significant at all. And when I look at Peter’s life and simply realize that when he saw who Jesus was, he was willing to obey him even to give his whole life. I want you to see this. You cannot rationalize away God’s commands. You cannot do it. You want his best? Then do the next thing he tells you to do. Last principle, and that’s this. Simply obeying God in small matters. You say, well, didn’t you start with that? Yes, I did. But obeying God in small matters. can result, and I would say will result, most of the time, in dramatic changes in your life. Peter moved from fisherman to preacher, from an insignificant Galilean to a significant man of God. Why? Because he was willing to listen, willing to obey a simple command. Bar your boat, take you out into the deep. I want to tell you something. Nothing is worth missing God’s best for your life.
SPEAKER 1 :
Nothing.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s a choice you’ll have to make, and you won’t make it once. There’ll be many decisions, and remember this, every single one of those decisions is important because beyond that lies the blessings of God in ways you’ll never be able to foresee.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to part two of The Enriching Rewards of Obedience. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
