Welcome to the Cross Power Church podcast.
You're listening to a service from our church in Campbell, TX.
We pray this message strengthens your faith and points you to the
cross. Now let's join the service.
Boy, you can feel them old songs, can't you?
Them old songs were rolled under the anointing.
I like the new ones too, man. I can't, I can't get away from
the old ones. There's one thing I can get away
from is the right pair of glasses.
They seem to avoid me. Have your Bibles tonight going
to be in Exodus chapter 19? You're going to be in several
places here. I mean, he's glad to be here
tonight. Exodus chapter 19 Let's stand
the reading of the word. This is a it's a very good word
right here it finds the children of Israel wandering around a
desert. God had just brought him out of
bondage. He had just parted a Red Sea.
Can you imagine God seeing God part the Red Sea through the
staff of Moses? And it was once said somebody
had had researched that. I've shared this before, but
they said at that time of the year, the water was only so many
inches at that part of the Red Sea where they cross.
Some historian and he was telling some preacher that he
said, so the miracle wasn't really that big.
He said, Oh no, it's way bigger than what you think.
If it was only three inches of water, he said, or whatever they
were saying, 2 foot of water. He said God did even a bigger
miracle than I thought. He drowned the whole army of
Egypt in three foot of water. What?
People try to prove the word
wrong. It really proves it right,
doesn't it? But this finds Israel there.
It finds them at a place having to obey God.
Maybe you're there tonight. We must obey God, but after we
obey God, we need to leave the consequences.
Say it with me up to Him, Amen. It's up to him.
When I obey, it takes it off of me and it puts it on God, right?
There's still things I have to do.
But in Exodus 19 and verse one, it says in the third month after
the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the
same day they came to the wilderness of Sinai.
So they came out of Egypt, the place that they were eating and
taken care of, but yet they were in slavery.
But yet life finds them in the wilderness of Sinai, for they
had departed from Refidem and had came to the wilderness of
Sinai and camped in the wilderness.
So Israel camped there before the mountain.
And Moses, Can you imagine being Moses?
You're leading these people and you really have no instruction
except to get up and get them out of Egypt.
But how are you going to lead a bunch of wine and Israelites
that had rather died back there in bondage than they had to live
in freedom? I like a lot of Christians.
I know they, they think about the place they come from and
they're serving God. They love God, they know who God
is. But really deep down they still
like some of Egypt. The Egypt has not got out of
them. Can I get a witness?
And Moses went up to God to receive some instruction and you
can turn the radio on 2025 and almost 6000 probably.
Plus years later and they're still talking about today.
I heard it this morning on the 10 instructions that God give
Moses this day. They're still talking about
whether we should put him in a school, whether we should take
him out of a school. I heard one guy and I turned him
off. He's supposed to be educated and
talking and preaching and talking about truth.
But yet he said we got lots of bigger problems in our school
and our academic system than whether the 10 commandments are
on the wall. More like an education, more
like them. Lord, I said, never place
education above the commandments of God.
And education is a great thing, but without a Bible it's still
nothing, right? And Moses went up to God and the
Lord, and he called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you
shall say to the House of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel,
what do you want me to tell them you've seen?
He said, Tell them, you have seen what I did to the
Egyptians, and how I bore you up on eagle's wings and brought you
to myself. Verse 5 Get this now.
Therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, big key, if you
will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a
special treasure to me above all the people.
For all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a Kingdom of
priest and a holy nation. These are the words which you
shall speak to the children of Israel.
And you can go home and read the rest of it.
But it leads back and Moses give instructions for receiving it to
the people weren't supposed to get so close to the mountain or
they would drop dead. But shortly after this, the next
chapter, Moses receives the 10 commandments.
So that I want to preach to you tonight along about this, that
he says to keep my voice, obey my voice and keep my covenant.
Then you shall be a special treasure to me above all the
people, for all the earth is mine.
Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you that those words that you spoke to the children
of Israel still ring true to us today.
We thank you for your love and your mercy and your grace to
preach your word one more time. I pray that we get in our ears
and enter into our heart and just change us tonight about the
way we think about obedience to you and that we would just leave
the consequences of what you're calling us to do or the place
you're calling us to leave from or to go to and just do what you
what your voice is telling us to do.
We we ask for the anointing to preach this word once again in
Jesus name, Amen. What a great promise for
obedience. We just read great discipline
and we have great promises if we obey God, and there's great
discipline and chastisement that come our way for not obedient
obeying God, right? But obedience can be
challenging. It doesn't matter what age you
are in your spiritual walk. It can be in your spiritual walk
of faith. It can be challenging, but
without believing in what you cannot see, that's kind of
backward saying that how do you believe in something you can't
see? That's what he's called us to
do. It's through faith.
It's impossible to please God if we cannot believe for what we
cannot see, because faith is what pleases God.
He is a faith God, right? And but most believe more of
what they do see than what they can't see, and that's natural.
But serving God is not natural. Can I get that?
It's not anything natural about it.
He created us with a hole within our heart, within our soul that
longs to be filled. And until we fill it with Him,
we will not be able to see those things in the spiritual.
But many believe that, believe in what they can see.
But we have to move on before the miracle happens.
We have to see it. We have to see it before we
believe it. We must receive it by faith to
see it in the flesh, right? Can I say that again?
We must receive it by faith to see it in the flesh.
That's how God works. Because what say it with me?
He is a faith God. I'm going to cover a few
scriptures here in Deuteronomy 11.
I'm going to read in 26, 28, I'm going to cover all these.
I want to just cover about 8 scriptures here pretty fast.
But he says, behold, I set before you in Deuteronomy 11/26
through 28. He says, behold, I set before
you today. You know, everybody wants to
wait till tomorrow, whatever it is.
We like many like to put it all, especially when it comes to the
things of God. But he said, I set before you
today a blessing and a curse. There's two things set before us
every day as we get out of the bed and we strap our clothes on
and put our boots or shoes on. It's a blessing or a curse.
They're set before us. The blessing if you obey the
commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today,
and the curse if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord
your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you
today to go after other gods. Boy, that's a huge realm, isn't
it? What gods do we chase in America
today? Many and I like what he says
here in this last deal. He says to go after other gods,
which you have not known. See, we know the true God that
gives us a beating heart, that gives us air in our lungs, that
makes the blood plump through our body, Amen.
That gives us the power to get wealth.
We know that God. Why do we go after other gods?
Is that what he's asking us here?
We go to First Samuel 15 and 22. It says so, Samuel said, has the
Lord as a great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices?
That's what he had a great a great delight in, in the in the
under the law. But he also says as in obeying
the voice of the Lord, does he have great That's a question
there. Behold, to obey is better than a
sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of Rams.
There's a lot riding on our obedience.
Isaiah 48 and 18, it says, oh, that you had heeded my
commandments. Then your peace would have been
like a river. You ever watch the river flow?
How peaceful it is. Why does Isaiah say that?
Because we hadn't obeyed the commandments of God.
So we don't have this peace like a river that we sing about, and
your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
See our righteousness and our peace run hand in hand.
But this is what I command them saying here it is again, Obey my
voice and I will be your God. Obey my voice and I will be your
God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the ways that I
have commanded you, that it may be well with you.
John 14 and 15 under the New Covenant of Grace and John 14
and verse 15, he says if you love me, keep my commandments.
My question is, if we're not keeping the commandments, do we
love it? You can flip it right around,
right? You have to answer that if you
love me, keep my commandments. He who, he who has my
commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves me.
So he answers that question. And he who loves me will be
loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest.
See, that's a cool thing about obeying, obeying God.
When you obey God, he's about to manifest himself to you.
He's about to make himself real to you.
Right. In Acts 5 and 9, Peter it says,
but Peter and the other apostles answered and said while they was
preaching, when they didn't want him to preach something, He said
we ought to obey God rather than man.
Man, I have to do this so many times in my ministry.
Instead of preaching what man wants to hear, I got to obey
God, Amen. When you're witnessing, you got
to obey God. When you're leading somebody to
Christ, we ought to obey God rather than man.
First John 2-3 and six that says, now by this we know that
we know him if we keep his commandments.
You see people running around acting crazy.
They don't know God, right? Because they're they don't know
his commandments. He who says I know him and does
not keep his command. Boy, this y'all ready for this?
I didn't say it, the Bible did. He who he who says I know him
and does not keep his commandments is a liar.
And the truth is not in him who said that?
Jesus, He who says he abides in him, ought himself also to walk.
Oh that's good, isn't it? Just as Jesus walked, so if you
walk in my ways to keep my statues and my commandments as
your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.
Psalm y'all stay with me so I get some people said I need to
read more scripture. We need to have Bible so I'm
reading your scripture. Amen.
No nobody said that. Y'all believe what you want to.
They did say it. Psalms 143 and 10 teach me to do
your will. We don't know the will of God,
but as He teaches us, teach me to do your will, for you are my
God. Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of uprightness.
Deuteronomy 5132 and 33 And Moses called all Israel, and he
said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statues, the judgments which
I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be
careful to observe them. Therefore you shall be careful
to do as the Lord your God commanded you to do.
There it is, obey, obey. And again it's all in the Bible.
Obeying again, you shall not turn the side to the right hand
or the left. You shall walk in all the ways
which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may
live, and then it may be well with you, and that you may
prolong your days in the lands which you possess bond.
Servants obey in all the things, your masters according to the
flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity
of heart fearing God. I don't think this one's on
there, but I'm going to read it anyway.
Colossians 322 and 24 And it says, and whatever you do, do it
heartily as to the Lord and not to men.
You know, we could, I could preach on that boy.
I want to preach on that. We have a job.
We do it heartily. And when God sees we do that job
and we're thankful for that job, He'll give you a better one.
But until you're proud of what God's already given you and
learn to operate that way, He's probably not going to elevate
you anywhere else. Knowing that from the Lord you
will receive the reward of inheritance, for you serve the
Lord and the Christ. I can read all many scriptures
about obedience in the Bible because as much as many don't
like to hear it, it's in there. Great promises for obedience,
great discipline and chastisement for not obeying
God. So see obedience, what it really
does. You know, a lot of people, they
think it's something they got to do.
I got to be a Christian, so I got to obey God.
It's just what we do, right? Many people don't realize that
obedience is really what it's doing.
It sets a framework around our lives that forms a hedge of
protection from the enemy. Can I say that again, I should
want to obey God. I should.
If I'm born again and I know Jesus died on a cross for me,
there should be something implanted within inside of me
that the Holy Spirit put there that I say I want to obey God.
It's not. I have to.
It's not, you know, well, I got to go to church.
I got to do that. I got to read my Bible.
No, it's an obedience sets the framework around our lives that
forms a hedge of protection. So when we think about it like
that, will obeying God cost me more than disobeying him?
Depends on how you look at it, right?
If you if you if you like the things of the world and you're
hanging on to the things of the world and you think giving up
those old things and those old habits are costing you, then
you're probably going to answer that question.
Will obeying God cost me more than disobeying him?
Some people would say yes. I would have to say, how would
you answer that question? Will obeying God cost me more
than disobeying him? In this world, Probably.
But in the afterlife, in the forever and eternity, it will.
It will be added to you in good measure, pressed down, shaken
together and running over. Will obeying God cost me more
than disobeying him? It'll cost you some friends.
I found out they weren't friends anyway, right?
It'll cost you a lot of things, but God will replace them.
The next question I want to answer tonight is, can I
experience greater happiness by committing this sin than I would
by obeying God? Sin is the here and now.
Sin looks good, it feels good, it tastes good, right?
Sin appeals to the flesh because the devil is a flesh devil.
He appeals to the flesh. The devil is not a faith devil.
He couldn't look through the portals of time when he was
leading choral worship in heaven and see that one day he could
have been in heaven, that the whole plan could have been
avoided. But no, he was a flesh devil.
He lived in the flesh, and he is not changed.
So when we look at this word, obedience, it's very
challenging, especially when we feel tempted to believe that we
stand to lose more through our obedience right than what we
might gain. But obeying God is essential
because you're putting out the framework.
You're building something that the enemy can't tear down.
Obedience is building a hedge of protection around us from evil.
It builds faith in us. When we choose to obey God, when
we choose the way of wisdom, He, he promises a blessing for
obedience that far outweighs the other consequences.
Are y'all getting this tonight? We must obey God, say it with me
and leave the consequences to him, whatever it may be.
Anybody ever had to do that Anybody ever had to do that cost
you a lot. I did it in rodeo business.
I prayed for sponsorships. There was not many then it was
it was on your own daughter. They didn't have the the shirts
all over then and and guess guess what, The guess what I got
when I started praying. The first one was tobacco
products, a huge deal, but guess what, I battled with tobacco and
I done quit it and I was delivered from it.
But yet they going to give me thousands just to put it on my
shirt. You know, I boy, it come up real
fast. I said I don't I don't do that
anymore, but I what does it hurt?
The devil's whispering because it was my conviction.
It was something God had dealt with me about right.
And then the next deal, like it was curse.
I didn't drink. But, you know, at a young
Christian, I was 22 years old, they was throwing these things
out. It would have been real easy.
Believe me, it would have been real easy.
But see, anybody you've been in that situation, maybe it wasn't
a deal like that, but maybe it was about just being a little, a
little, a little this will this hurt?
You know, I had, I had a lady the other day asked me that.
She said if you tell a little bitty lie, but you're going to
receive something out of it, it's not going to hurt anybody,
was it? Will God forgive me that I said,
yeah, I said he'll forgive you of it.
But how do you feel now? Why are you asking me if
anything was wrong? I counsel this lady summon.
That's why you asking me if anything's wrong with it,
because if it wasn't, you wouldn't be asking me, right?
So that's the Holy Spirit. And that's a good thing He's
pulling at you. But see, it's at the point that
he become on somebody that he begins to pull that you have to
obey. And if you don't obey, you
suffer the consequences of it, right?
But we've all laid down things that and had those decisions to
make. But remember this when in the
valley of decision and the adversary says give in when the
devil's in your ear, it ain't going to hurt nobody but me.
He loves to do that right? But Satan, he always has another
goal in mind. God commands us to do what to
obey right. But as we grow in our walk with
the Lord, obedience becomes the cornerstone of our fellowship
with God, right? Anybody wonder why you can't
hear God? I can't pray.
I can't feel God. Start obeying.
When you start obeying God, He will meet you at the point of
your knee. He will meet you at your hour of
prayer. But until you do it, quit
disobeying God. It causes a little friction in
the communication, right? How many is ever?
Y'all know this true, But as we grow on our walk, obedience
becomes the cornerstone of what our fellowship with God.
If we obey him, what happens? He pulls us a little bit closer,
right? Always pulled Landry a little
bit closer and that kicked my son because she was obeying,
right? She was doing the things.
But yet those that ain't obeying, they don't get quite
the treasure. My son said, well you did this
for later. I said Landry obeying, you ain't
obeying. So why would I want to help you
right now? Right, you think God feels like
that. I mean he's our father, but then
how he loves us all the same. Keep this obese, keep disobeyed.
That's somebody one time tomorrow.
It's just easy for a kid that you know, peer pressure.
It's it's just always easy for you to to not do what we did.
I said, how's it any easier? The difference is, is I spend
time in prayer. The difference is I spend time
trying to please God instead of trying to find ways to not
please Him because I want the communication.
Amen. When I pray, I want Him to be
near. If we obey Him, He pulls us
closer. But there's something else.
When He pulls us closer, I think He teaches us more about His
love. I think He teaches us more about
His ways. Amen.
Because I know when I'm mad just to zip it and hold my tongue,
the next one knows to just go off cursing somebody.
But I know the consequence of that, right?
Because I've been there. So there's a difference.
If we obey Him, He pulls us closer.
This disobedience sends a message to the Lord declaring
that we know better than He does right when we disobey God when
we know that that He did. Let me back up.
Disobedience sends a message to the Lord declaring that He knows
that we know better than He does about our lives and our
circumstances. And how foolish is that?
Because he can see a head. He can see a head.
He commands us to obey because he knows the devastation that
disobedience brings. And maybe your mind's sitting
there now. Well, how do I, how do I hear
the voice? How to obey?
You know what, go read the six to the, the, the next chapter
there in Exodus 20, the 10 commandments.
That's a good place to start. God's already said it and we
can't master that. So it's a good place to start,
right? How to obey God.
I just don't know what God wants.
This church over here said it's OK to drink a six pack.
This one said you only have one. What did God say?
It doesn't say. It doesn't say it in the 10
commandments. We'll read the rest of the book.
Amen. Satan, however, has another goal
in mind. And it's just what I said to
tempt believers to disobey. He tempts us to disobey.
Did God really say that was the Can you believe That was the
words. That was the fall of man, the
enemy, the serpent. What did he say to Eve?
He said he got her. He said, did God really say Eve
would have preached him a message right there?
He said, yes, God really said it, and God really meant it.
And I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.
Life would have been much different today.
But see, he tempts believers to disobey and convinces us that
God's promises can't be trusted, right?
That's what he tries to do, and that we can enjoy life more
through doing what appeals and feels good at the moment.
The enemy is good at that. But remember this when you're in
the valley of decision and the adversary says give in.
Disobedience always has fierce repercussions.
The feeling of guilt. That's one of the things that
disobedience brings on. The feeling of guilt, the
feeling of shame. Anybody ever been there?
The feeling of worthlessness, broken lives, destroyed
marriages, bitter disputes. Sin doesn't mean that God
doesn't love you any less, but it certainly disrupts our
fellowship and it can alienate us from the blessings of God.
It makes us weak spiritually and unable to discern right from
wrong many times. See, that's what happens when we
keep going farther and farther into disobedience.
Pretty soon you wake up with what was once a great nation
under God, with liberty and justice for all, and we wake up
and it's nothing but sin and uncontrollable things going on
because somewhere along the lines we become unable to
discern right from wrong. People say I really don't feel
convicted and that that's where we're at today because God has
turned so many over to reprobate minds because they never turn
any attention to him. And what happens?
We sink deeper and deeper into the grasp of sin and we become,
it becomes harder and harder to get back right.
This all sounds good, but how do we do it?
I remember growing up in church, I'd get fired up.
A lot of preachers leave you hanging, man.
I want to do. How do I do it?
I'm going to give you some ways tonight.
The first thing we could do is trust God with our life and all.
Can I say that? Will you say that word with me
and all that concerns you? That's the key to obeying God.
When we're holding something back from God, we're really not
obeying God, right? We give God a little bit, but as
we have begin to to follow these principles in our life, we begin
to know that God can be fully trusted.
There's no way to go wrong if we place our hope and trust in God.
He created you, He loves you, He says, I'll never leave you, I'll
never forsake you. Even when you were unreachable,
guess what? He found you, Amen.
And He brought you back. So you, whatever you're going
through now, know that you can trust God with anything and all
that pertains to your life #2 wait on the Lord for an answer
to your problem or your situation.
When in doubt, sometimes we have to wait.
We have to refuse to remove ahead, to move ahead, unless we
know that God is leading us in that direction.
But when we hear that voice, when we hear that correction,
when we hear what God has for us, then it's time to act, not
to wait. Amen.
Many get caught in the waiting. Wait up on the Lord and you'll
renew your strength. But as your strengths being
renewed daily, there's something that's building inside of you,
not to stay where you're at and just be renewed, but to move out
to new realms and new things that God has for you, right?
There's a time to wait. There's a time to move.
Third thing is meditate on God's word.
I could preach right here a while.
I could read all the scriptures and I can know the scriptures
and I can quote the scriptures, but do I meditate on them?
See, when you begin to meditate on them, you begin to apply them
to your life. They begin to pass through your
intellect and into your heart, Amen.
I figured out a long time ago this Bible is not an
intellectual thing. It's not how much you know, it's
not how much scripture you can quote, but it's how much you
walk by daily and how much you apply to your life and every
situation. Then you can't.
We have far too many people that's just read the book.
Amen. When you saturate your mind,
what is meditating? I saturate.
I didn't just read it and it come out my mouth.
Come on, help me preach tonight. But I read it and I meditated on
and it saturated my mind. And then it moved from my mind
down into my heart. And then when it got into my
heart, I begin to talk different.
I begin to walk different. I begin to realize that
everything that I touch can become new and blessed.
When temptation comes, you will know right from wrong and you
can act accordingly when you've meditated on the Word of God.
Fourth thing, if you're writing these down, I'm trying to slow
down. Listen to the Holy Spirit
because He speaks, because He speaks, because He speaks.
When I was a Pew sitter, I tried to find the one thing that act
that just got under my skin the most that the preacher preached
and the thing that I disagreed with.
I've never been taught that before, so I'm going to throw it
out. I tried to take that thing.
I've never heard it. Maybe there's something there
and I just begin to chew on it. God, what do you want me to do
with this? I hadn't heard it, but then I
was searching and I will see if it's in the Bible, but far too
many people, they just throw it out because they hadn't heard
it. Hey man.
Because they had never read it in the Bible because they lot
don't read their Bible much. So maybe they never heard it.
There's a lot in the Bible that I've never heard still.
And when I hear it, I want to listen to it because it's the
Holy Spirit speaking. God continues to speak to his
people today. Go read the book of Exodus and
what all God began to do for the children of Israel, man.
And you know, we say, if I could just see that today.
Well, we do see it in different forms and realms, but He speaks
to us through His Word, the Holy Spirit, through the words of a
pastor or trusted Christian. Yes, God still speaks.
We must become sensitive to the Holy Spirit of God and seeking
Him through His Word and listening and spending time with
Him praying and studying the principles of the Scripture.
Listen to the Holy Spirit #5 be willing to wait or walk away
when the way before is unclear. That's a very important one if
you desire to please God above all others.
Obedience to God will require you to remain firm at all times.
If you do not sense clear guidance in your situation, ask
God to confirm it. God, show me a sign He will.
God show me. Show me what I'm supposed to
preach tonight. And I walk in and they're
singing the very song that I had wrote down.
Confirm with signs and wonders, give me guidance in my
situation. Ask God to confirm it through
his word or his will. He'll never contradict
Scripture. I've had so many people before
come to me. Well, God told me this and I
would think, man, that, you know, that's that's really not
even biblical and it's going against some things that the
principles of God, things like this, you know, I know I got a
wife, but I love her. I've heard those things.
It's not scriptural. It contradicts His will for our
life and always lines up perfectly with what the Bible
says. That's when we don't want to do
it sometimes. I know, I've read it, I know it
says it, but I want to do this. Here's the sixth thing.
You ready for this? Because a lot of Christians fail
right here. When obeying God, leave the
consequences up to Him. Be willing to endure conflict.
A lot of Christians don't want conflict.
We want the we want the smoke and gun lights and we want the
dark, the darkness in the church where we can't see our neighbor
worship. That's not really scriptural.
Somebody asked me one time about that here.
I said they'd never see it here because dark, lightness cannot
stay together. What flees darkness?
Very scriptural, right, but we're like that with conflict.
When Israel entered the promised land at God's direction, it had
to face a strong enemy opposition.
See God rarely write this down. God rarely empties our lives of
trouble and conflict. Like the lady that come to the
church one time and she said, man, I not this church, but it
was another church. She said I just don't I just
don't feel love there. There's no love in that church,
Pastor Asker said. Did you got love?
I'm full of love, the lady said. He said, then why are you
leaving the church if the church needs love because of conflict?
Many Christians leave because of conflict.
Many people don't come to church because of conflict.
You've ever been driving to church with your spouse and had
an argument turned around? Raise your hand.
It's OK, I haven't. I couldn't turn around.
I was preaching. I didn't say there hadn't been
conflict, but I was preaching. I said get thee behind me Satan.
I'm going to preach today. I wouldn't call him her Satan,
but the conflict was Satan, right?
Right. Y'all don't go tell her I called
her Satan. I said get thee behind me, not
her. But the conflict, right?
The people you don't like in your life, it's not them, it's
the enemy working through them to get to you.
Just look at me, Chris. I know what you're up to, devil.
You're just trying to make me see you in this, their face on
you. And I'm not falling for you.
You're stupid. I'm not going to enter into that
conflict. But we have to be willing to
enter conflict because God will rarely.
We have a lot of Christians. They're looking for God to just
empty their life of trouble. Oh, if I could just stand up
there and preach, Pastor. Oh, no, you don't know the
trouble that that causes. Hey man, Oh, if I was a
preacher, I'll be OK. I'll trade you.
God rarely empties our lives of troubles and conflict.
If he did, what would happen? Our dependence would not be on
Him. It would fade.
He did it to the Apostle Paul that endured every kind of
conflict. You know, I often think about
the Apostle Paul. It looks like what all the, you
know, just my thinking. All he did for the Kingdom, all
he's doing for us today, it looked like God could have
removed that thorn. All he had to do was speak the
word. You know, I pray to God.
God, all you got to do is speak the word.
And this can happen in the life of this person.
Why don't God do it? Because many times the conflict
in the trial that we're going through is what's causing our
dependence on him. It would take us away from him.
He allows enough difficulty many times to keep us turning toward
him because he knows the final outcome and the seventh thing
tonight I'm going to close leave the consequences to God.
I think we want to obey a lot of times, but then it begins in our
head. Anybody ever felt the Lord
calling you away from your job? I mean, you just miserable there
just killing you and you just, you felt God calling you away
from it, but and you knew God wanted you to leave.
Anybody ever been there and stayed or left?
I've left. I've left before.
I'll never forget. I was I was working.
I was leaving here at 3:00 in the morning to get the middle
oath in working a shutdown. I was not, I had, I hadn't been
winning on the rodeo circuit. So I come home and got a real
job and all them old men at the coffee shop and told me I'd
never make it in the rodeo world.
I had to get a job. Older, wiser men.
I wanted to prove them wrong. But I had to come home and get a
job because I wasn't writing good enough for the professional
level to make a living. So I was working in Midlothian
at a steel mill, and it was a union.
Maybe unions are good, but if you ain't in them, they don't
like you, they don't want you there.
I was working for a contractor and I did and then I was payout.
You know down here I was making 5-6 dollars and four $5.00 an
hour on a day job. Down here you get lucky, get
home $40 a day. I know some of y'all can't
imagine that young people, you give them a hundred, they want
150 to show up, not do nothing. But I was getting $4.00 an hour,
but I'm talking about leaving the consequences up to God.
So when I went up there, they was going to pay us like 10.
And man, I was like hungry. I said this will work.
And I just got married and newlywed and man, I had rodeo.
I went to 190 ninety something right at 100 rodeos traveled all
across the United States that year and won $11,000.
My entry fees was 20. I don't know how I did it.
I was working on the side, but I wanted it.
I wanted it, but I was working up there and man, them union
guys, they were snarling at us every day and you know, I was in
good shape and then I was wanting to punch some of them
and it was just building. But this was the best job I ever
had. And I go home, tell my wife and
I quit this job. She's not going to be happy.
All I've done spent rodeo in that year before I started
riding good enough to win the pro level, you know, But
everybody says, oh, it was easy for you had a buddy home.
It was easy. I you don't know the price I
paid. So they give me this job one
day. Our job was we, we was doing
some pretty cool stuff building and I was learning some stuff.
But then there was always this thing called clean up that had
to be done. And they were putting these big
old water pumps down in a down in a hole, a concrete hole about
as big as this. And they were taking cranes and
dropping them down and we had to go in there.
Them guys, there was no restroom, so they would just use
a bathroom in the corner. They would just urinate in the
corners of it and then trash everywhere.
Well, they give me that job to clean that up that day and the
guys up here driving the truck so I could drive them better
than him, but I wasn't union. I couldn't do it.
So man, I had this hard hat and there's something about hard
hats and me ain't never got along.
Even when I was in my drilling business, I I got about get run
off jobs because I wouldn't wear them and I left the job one
time. I told him I said it's paid
really good When I was drilling, I said if I got to wear this,
I'm going home. I said ain't nothing going to
fall on my head out here. They made an exception for me
because it was getting a lot done.
But anyway, back to the other story.
I was in this pit. I said, God, I'm like Joseph,
I'm down here in this pit. Yeah, I mean, it was bad.
And you know what? This thought come to my mind.
I think God put it there. He said you ride way too good to
be in this pit. I said, you know, I don't know
where that come from, but I like it.
But then I looked at the circumstance, right?
Oh, really? You're right.
Good. You spent 20 and 110 this year.
You're good. But I walked up there and I told
that guy said, look, He said you got to give two weeks.
I said I ain't got two weeks. I said I'm giving you today, I'm
going home and I left and I put the consequences up on God.
God, I heard your voice back there.
I heard you got a plan. And you know, at that time I
wasn't ministering at rodeos. I was trying to find my way, you
know. But it wasn't long after that I
heard God heard that same voice that I'll make you one of the
best if you'll do something for me.
I spent a few years finding out that that was telling people
about Jesus. And when I put Jesus in the mix,
we took off 2 years later I was at the National Finals Rodeo.
So we have to throw things out there and we have to speak them
into existence. So I'm telling you tonight,
wherever you're at and you hear that voice, we said, well, was
that the voice of God? I believe it was.
But when I looked at my circumstance and look crazy,
right? And then I Fast forward that
first year, that next year, boy at that was 1990.
Well, 91 should have been a miracle year.
God, you know, but it was very difficult.
I got hurt and about the same result.
I think I won 20 and spent 40 and then in 1992, I wasn't going
to Denver, Co and my granddaddy's going on to be with
the Lord with putting out. Hey, he's you're not going to
Denver. I said, no, I ain't got the
money and as the first rodeo of the year and he said, well, I'm
going to give you 500. I want you to go and if you
don't win it back, first time I'd ever took anything to go
rodeo. And he said if you don't, if you
don't win it back, you can work it when you get back.
I said, OK, so I entered Odessa on the way.
I went Odessa, I went to Denver, I went, I went in there, I went
to Houston, I went in there, I went to Foy.
Just boom, boom, boom. It just started happening.
So I'm not saying anything about what I did, but I'm challenging
you wherever you're at. When you hear the voice of God,
it may not sound like it. It may look crazy if God's
calling you to start a new business.
What? I've been there too.
Whatever it is, when you hear that voice, obey God.
Don't look at the circumstances. If you look at the
circumstances, you'll never do it right.
You'll never do it, and the enemy will trap you in a shell
and he will keep you there forever.
Hey, when I heard the same voice, it was that same type of
voice. Start a church.
I said no. I ran for five years.
I said I like preaching and smiling and leaving.
I don't want to stay around and hear them talk about what I told
them because I might tell them something they don't like.
And I said start a church, God. I even got a building.
I said I ain't got no singers. God give, I said.
I told God. I said give me some singers and
I'll start a church. And Candy invited Chrissy.
She was doing her hair to our church that we were going to.
And then she came and they said we'll try it for a little while.
And then I said I was just kidding.
God, I got the singers, but I still don't know about starting
the church. But whatever God's calling you
to do, I promise you're going to have conflict.
I promise it's going to look like you can't do it.
I promise there's going to be people in your ear that's never
done anything telling that you can't right but obey God and
leave all the consequences up to him.
Why do we do this? Because verse 5 says as we stand
tonight. Now therefore, if you will
indeed obey my voice, but it's powerful.
You know, I don't think there's anybody in here tonight.
If you knew it was God that you wouldn't obey his voice.
But see, it's hard to know it's God sometimes because we look
with the fleshly eyes of what we can see, and God is able to
provide anything we need if we obey.
But he says you got to obey first.
First, when we were meeting in the hallway of the barn, you
know, this ain't that big a building to somebody.
They talk about it being little, but to me it's big compared to
that little hallway of the barn that we'd set the piano up in on
Wednesday nights with a few of us.
And Chrissy would play when we didn't have a building.
We got kicked out of one building and we were looking
right. But if you obey, if you will
indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, my commandments, you
should be a special treasure. Bow your head tonight and tell
yourself, tell the enemy I'm a special treasure because I obey
the voice of my God and I keep his commandments, and I'm above
all the peoples of the earth because all the earth belongs.
Can we say that all the earth belongs to my God?
Hey man, even California belongs to God.
It doesn't look like it, but it belongs to God.
Even you're messed up life. I'm not going to try to get to
preaching tonight. I was trying to stick to
teaching, but even you're messed up life.
How many have been there had a messed up life?
Look at the hands. We had a messed up life, but it
was still God's because He created you.
He just had to discipline you till you heard His voice.
But God sent me here for somebody tonight.
God's calling you for something. Now, I'm not saying the
ministry, maybe a career, I don't know what it is, but God's
moving you maybe to start your own business, to step out in
faith. But to do that, you got to leave
your security blanket behind. Thanks for listening to the
Cross Power Church podcast. May you know that true hope,
peace, and salvation can only be found in Jesus.
If you're near Campbell, TX, we would love for you to join us in
person. You can find service times at
crosspowerchurch.com.