OBEDIENCE—SAYING YES TO JESUS
LAST WEEK WE COVERED ELEMENTS OF TRUE WORSHIP.
- Honoring and Adoring: Worship involves acknowledging and celebrating God’s greatness, holiness, and perfection.
- Submission and Obedience: It requires humble submission to God’s will and obedience to His commands.
- Love and Gratitude: Worship is an expression of deep love, prized above all other things, and born out of thankfulness for God’s nature and actions.
- Praise and Exaltation: It includes giving praise to God for His worthiness and exalting Him above everything else.
- Awe and Reverence: Worship is a behavior marked by awe and reverence in God’s presence.
SUBMISSION AND OBEDIENCE
What does it mean to submit to Christ?
- We cannot submit to God without humility.
- God resists pride—the opposite of humility—and the arrogance that fosters that pride.
- Having a humble and submissive heart is a choice.
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” Matthew 16:24-26 NLT
- Jesus doesn’t force us, he invites us.
JESUS CALLS US TO WALK BY FAITH, IN OBEDIENCE.
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” John 14:15-21 NLT
- Obedience is worship to God.
- Obedience is doing the right thing, right now.
1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 2 We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. 3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:1-3 NLT
BAPTISM IS MARKING A PIVOTAL MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE.
20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So, I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 NLT
- Baptism is making a statement / declaration.
- Baptism is obedience, surrender, change, and worship.
1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Romans 6:1-4 NLT
- Baptism doesn’t save you or cleanse you, only Jesus can do that.
- When should I be baptized?
- After you put your faith in Jesus for Salvation.
