Following God's Directions

FOLLOWING GOD’S DIRECTIONS

Intro:

Have you ever booked anything off the internet like a rental car, well you should try it sometime, it could be an interesting experience .

This last weekend Liz booked us a flight and succored a rental car through the internet. This company I have never heard of but it was one of the recommended companies of south west on their site. Well we get into L.A. and use a courtesy phone to let the rental car place know that we have arrived and they can send a shuttle for us. So they wanted us to catch this shuttle bus from some hotel that would take us to our destination……

gps wouldn’t work so were sitting there with wall to wall buildings around us streets we do not know, thinking to our selves how are we going to get to were we need to be . You see gps are great WHEN THEY WORK. WELL WE FIGURED OUT HOW TO GET IT TO WORK AND WE WERE ON OUR WAY. You see we all need a GPS system in our life to give us direction but we need to be tunded into the right area or els its useless . We also can have the right address but if we do not obey or listen to the gudince we will never reach our destination. because they … The title of this morning message is following Gods direction . Too many times we try to figure things out on our own we don’t plot a course or ask for direction we do it by our own strength . In 1911 TWO GROUPS OF EXSPLORERS SET OFF ON A MISSION to scale the mountains of ANTARTICA. ONE MAN NAMED AMUNDSEN WAS A NORWIGEN AND ROBERT SCOTT AN EXSPERIANCED CLIMBER WAS BRITISH …………. YOU SEE WE NEED TO ALLOW God to navigate because if we follow our selves we will chart the wrong course and will not be able to carry on but surely die in defeat.

One day a Roman army officer came to Jesus and said, “I have a servant who’s very ill. In fact, he’s paralyzed and he’s suffering in bed.’ Jesus said, ‘I’ll go to your house and heal him.’ And the Roman centurion said, ‘O Lord, You don’t need to do that. I understand authority and I’m not worthy for You to come to my house. But I know this obedience and authority thing. I’m a captain in the army. I give commands to my soldiers and they obey immediately. I make commands to my servants and they obey me immediately. They do whatever I tell them to do. So I understand authority and obedience. You don’t need to come to my house, Jesus. If You just say the word from right here I’m sure he’ll be healed instantly.’ Jesus looked at that man and said, ‘This is the greatest faith I’ve ever seen in Israel.’”

The greatest faith. Why? Because faith and obedience are interlocked. When you trust someone you do what they say. If you don’t do what someone tells you to do it means you don’t trust them. God has linked faith and obedience together so that all of the promises of God are conditioned upon you following the directions that He gives you.

Notice Deuteronomy 5:33 “Follow all the directions the Lord has given you. Then life will go well for you.” God has made some incredible promises in His word about obedience. And He gets very, very specific. In fact, there were so many promises about obedience in God’s word I couldn’t list them all. I just picked and chose a few of them. Notice what God promises if we obey Him.

God blesses those who obey Him.

God saves those who obey Him.

God watches over those who obey Him.

The Lord takes care of those who obey Him.

You will be helped – God helps those who obey Him.

The Bible says if you obey and follow God’s instructions you will live in perfect freedom. You will have greater wisdom. You will dwell in security and peace.

God often gives us rules and commands in His word they’re not suggestions; they’re commands – but He doesn’t ALWAYS explain why. He wants you to do them OUT of faith. Sometimes they sound unfair. They sound like they’re meant to cramp your style, that God is some kind of kill joy, that He’s limiting you. For instance, the Bible is very clear no sex outside of marriage.

It’s real clear about that – over and over. Sex is for husbands and wives in the bonds of marriage.

The Bible says when somebody hurts you, you are to forgive them. The Bible says you’re to take the first ten-percent and tithe it back to God. The Bible says when people do evil to you, you are to do good back to them.