Pastor Robert Smith
Pastor Robert: Praise the Lord, everybody. Hallelujah. Well, I wasn't expecting to be before you again for another month. Pastor Brian called me on Wednesday and said, “You are up to bet.” So, praise the Lord. We are here today. It's an honor and a privilege to bring the word to you this morning. I learned the importance of obedience very early as a child. I am the eldest of five children and was hit with a lot of responsibility very early. It was important for me to obey the instructions of my parents in order for the household to function properly. Having siblings underneath you, it was good to follow the instructions of the parents and, not only because of my own detriment, if that didn't happen, yeah, I grew up in a generation where we spanked our kids and I'm grateful for it, and I'm not going to be shy about saying it from the pulpit.That's probably another sermon for another day. But my parents did not spare the rod as the Bible says.
Obey and obedience, those are foreign words in our culture today. As a matter of fact, in this, “my truth generation”, nobody can tell me anything. Matter of fact, a few years ago, the number one song was “Can't Nobody Tell Me Nothing”. Obey and obedience is foreign to this culture. It signifies things that they don't want to do: follow rules, adhere to authority, follow instructions. It's something that goes against the foundation of our culture today that's taught to be self-reliant, that's taught to be rebellious to authority, that's taught to follow their own so-called intellect and wisdom.
I was listening to a conversation that my wife was having with our teenage daughter this week. We have a senior in high school that's going off to college. Yeah, pray for us. My wife was talking to her about the importance of not forgetting what she has been taught when she goes off to school. I wasn't a part of conversation, but I was ear mugging as they say, paying attention to what was going on in the house. At that time, I didn't know that I was going to be preaching, so it wasn't something I was looking for. But when I got the call to preach, it was something that struck in my spirit, the things that she was saying. And so I started meditating and praying about a direction for today, and then the subject of obedience came into my spirit.
Obedience is something that's very important to God and that's obeying God in all things even the little things that we think are not important. There is never anything that's important to God when it pertains to you, and especially in obedience, you are showing God that you are willing and able to obey whatever he asks of you to do. Obedience to God is a way of worshiping him. It's also a way of getting closer to him, establishing a relationship with him, and it prepares you for whatever he leads you to do. It also prepares you to grow as a person.
I brought up earlier about me learning obedience as a child because that's where it starts for us in learning how to obey God, that we learn how to obey, as the Bible instructs, to obey our parents. If you can't obey your parents, you are not going to be able to obey God. Let me speak to our parents again, those here and watching. It's important to instruct your kids on how to obey as children so they can grow up learning how to respect authority and obey the utmost authority. And that's God. It's not cute to not have children who don't learn to obey. It's not cute. It's not harmless.
I'm not going to get into your own home and tell you how to raise your children. That's up to you. All I am exhorting you to do is raise your children. Teach them to obey. It's important. My spirit cringes when I see little Johnny in the grocery store when mom is telling little Johnny to come back here or stop doing things, and you hear this “no”, which all children say no, and then there is no consequence except continually yelling and screaming for Johnny to obey you. I can tell you y'all have been praying for Patricia, my mom. Patricia, raised four boys. There was no multiple times telling us to do anything. Now, God forbid my dad or my stepdad, many times they didn't have to say anything. It was just a look.
It's important now that we are adult children, we may have thought mom was crazy back then, but we appreciate her for her instruction and learning the importance of obedience. Obedience can be life or death. I remember many times when I didn't obey and I put my life in danger. Thank God for his mercy that I didn't perish. But as the kids would say, real talk. I've been in situations growing up on the streets of Chicago, you better learn to quickly obey the instructions of authority and your parents when you are out there on the streets with people who are reckless and careless about your life.
I remember times where kids want to be rebellious and cute and sneak out the house and go somewhere where you are not supposed to be. I didn't know that I would do that and have guns drawn on me, knives at my back, bottles thrown at my head, watching a friend get beat half to death. I didn't know that when I thought I was going to be cute and not listen to my parents at the time. But it happened. I remember times when walking down the street and or walking in a building and hearing this, prompting this voice that says, don't do that, don't go there. That all comes from being instructed and learning how to obey authority.
Obedience is important to God. If we look in his word, first John chapter two, verses three through five, he says, “And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.” Listen to this: if someone claims, I know God, but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love him. This is how we know we are living in him. When you obey the voice of God, people will see the hand of the Lord on your life. That's why I want to talk to you today about obedience, bears fruit. Obedience bears fruit. But what are we being obedient to? Are you being obedient to an ideology, a social media personality, a political candidate, a talk show host? I hear people every day. I come in contact with people every day and all one of the questions I get all the time is, have you heard so and so? Did you hear so and so? Did you hear this? Did you hear that? Did you hear so and so say this? My constant response is, nope.
I only have one authority in my life. That's God. We have all kinds of people today that are saying things and speaking things as if they are authoritative, and people are taking those things as authoritative and they neglect the very things that God has given us. You can see teenagers today, boy, they go to bat with saying, well, so and so said this. And you ask him about the Bible or the word of God, and they frown up on you like what? The Bible? God, what does God gotta do with it? God has everything to do with it.
It talks about living in Him. Living in God means that there is a relationship, a walking relationship with God, where there is this exchange, this exchange of communication information that we are saying to ourselves, I don't know it all, and that it's important for me to acknowledge the true authority in my life. That's God. If he is important in my life and I am in him, that means that I need to follow his way, follow his instruction in everything. It starts by understanding God through his word. That's why he gave us the word so that we can understand who God is.
What’s the acronym they give the Bible? The Bible, Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Basic instructions. It's the very basis of our existence, of our living, the words that are written in the Bible, and that was lived in the flesh through Jesus Christ as the word. It's the principles of the scriptures that allow us to truly know how to worship God. It's the scriptures that show us truly how to please God. Most of you listening today, you know that, right? This is not anything new to you. Let's take it a little further. Remember, that's the basics. That's the foundation, the instruction through God's written word. But as you establish a relationship with God, you have to learn to hear the voice of God. Those inner promptings, that inner whispering that comes as you grow in relationship with God, that he instructs you in the things that you do.
I know this generation knows to look at Google for all the answers, but as spirit people, you and I, who call ourselves Christ's followers, we are to be people of the Spirit, led by the spirit, guided by the Spirit. Jesus said, “I will go so that another comes.” We have Holy Spirit inside of us. That's not there to give us goosebumps and make us feel good, so we can jump up, down and be charismatic. It's to guide us in instruction in all truth, so that when I don't know which way to go, I have the spirit of God residing inside of me that I can tap into to know which way I should go, that when I think I have a good idea, I have to check and see if it's a God idea. Because every good idea to me is not a God idea. We sing the songs, and we say, Jesus is Lord. Is he really? Do you know what that means? Do you know what Lord means? Lord signifies submission. We submit to the Lordship of Christ. That means we submit to his instructions, his way of living. That means that we have a life in the flesh that's contrary to the life in the Spirit and you and I in flesh and blood, we have this war that we have constantly, constantly the flesh versus the spirit. There are things that our fleshly minds, our fleshly bodies want to have that are not necessarily good for us.
The only way that we can get around that is if we deny that flesh, those promptings, those lust, those cravings and submit to the leading of the spirit. Most believers who don't bear fruit– and I'm going to talk about what I mean specifically by bearing fruit. Most believers do not bear fruit because they have not settled it within themselves to follow the basics, the teachings of Jesus Christ. That means that their lives are not abiding in him because lives that are abiding in Christ means that we wait upon the Lord for his instructions in the things that we do, in the places that we go, in the words that we speak. There is a reflection, a self-reflection that we have. We don't look for likes on social media; we look for approval from the Almighty.
I could care less about a TikTok or Facebook or Instagram like if it's displeasing to the father. At the end of every day, Pastor Robert, he has this time where he says, “God, did I do today, what I did today, was it pleasing to you?” That's something that I do every single day of my life. Lord, did that conversation that I had with my wife today, did it please you? The way I responded today, did it please you? The way I instructed or told my children what to do, did it please you? I wish I could stand here and tell you to say that every time the answer was yes. But I'm not looking for a yes all the time. What I'm looking for is if there is a yes, okay, I know to keep doing it, but if there is a no, then Lord I repent and I want your instruction on what I need to do so that the answer is yes. Because my life is not my own.
If you say you follow Jesus, your life is not your own. Who are you trying to please? If you are trying to please him, then you need to ask him and not make assumptions. We can assume a lot of things that we think we are doing are good. That's relying upon our own way of thinking. If you let the Holy Spirit direct you and direct you through his word pertaining to your life, you will live that abundant life that Jesus promised, and the hand of God will be evident in you. Now, let me make a disclaimer here. I am not a prosperity gospel preacher; I don't believe in the prosperity doctrine as it has been traditionally preached. The Bible says that we should prosper. But what does prosper mean? Let me tell you what it doesn't mean.
Prosperity does not equal money. The wicked are wealthy. I know a lot of wicked people with a lot of dollars. Wealthiness does not equate to a sign of biblical prosperity. Bearing fruit is not measured by how much money you have in your pocket. I know people with big pockets and they are miserable in their life. I'm not saying that money is not good. I like to have some more money, so I'm not against having more money. But I don't gauge my life's prosperity on how much is in my checking account. It's by the fruit that I bear. And what do I mean? Fruit bearing means that your life produces something that's good, that's lasting.
There are times in our lives just like there is in our natural lives– when trees have bad seasons, they don't produce much fruit. So it is with our lives. I'm exhorting you today to show you that there is a way that you can always bear fruit, and that's by obeying God. We bear fruit, the fruit that we see– Fruit bearing doesn't mean that you don't experience hardship. Let's not be like the self-righteous that points the finger at people they see with some hardship and try to discern their God relationship. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about fruit bearing that produces something, tangible things that we can see that the hand of God is on you and the things that you do, even in the midst of hardship, even in the midst of struggle, even in the midst of lack, and it comes through obedience. We talked about obeying the words of God through the scriptures. I'm growing us to the point to understand that even beyond that, which is the basics, it has to start there. We have to have the foundation in the word of God. But then you mature in growing how to hear that inner voice that comes from God. And you learn to obey that and not ignore it.
Some of us were talking this morning, talking about strategic things that happen, that God orchestrates things strategically because he knows more than us. He knows what he wants to accomplish on any given day. And so, there are things, our steps are ordered by the Lord for his will, not ours. We may have things made up in our mind that we want to do or the way we would like things to go, but God's sovereign will says, this is what I want for this day, in this time, in this hour. As we are obedient and listen to the promptings of his voice, then we can walk in God's perfect will, not only for our lives, but in the lives of others.
Do you know that your obedience to the voice of God not only affects you, but it affects other people? Not only does it affect other people, it affects communities, it affects nations, it affects systems. You know that? Let me prove it to you. I'm going to be transparent about something. So, the parties involved. Forgive me if I didn't get your permission you can deal with me later. I know you love me, and I love you. As I came to Hope Community Church, many of you have heard our story of how we came, which I believe was an act of obedience. And as I came, there was a certain young man that the voice of the Lord told me, you need to reach out and restore. This man was in a broken place. That seems like, okay, I can do that. But here is the one thing that in the natural.
Me and this young man haven't spoken in years. The relationship was broken. So, it's like I could have been like, God, I don't know about that. But I heard it strongly, you need to restore him. So what did Pastor Robert do? He obeyed God and he reached out. Now, here's the fruit that man Minister Welton is here, leading us in praise and worship, and through him, other people have come into our faith community and people are still coming. We are blessed for having him. We are blessed for the formation of his team. We are blessed for what it's doing in this community and beyond. That's the fruit of obedience even when it seems improbable.
There was a brokenness in our relationship. God said, I don't care. I have a plan. I need you to do something because it's something that I want to do. We are blessed. We are blessed out of obedience. I could have said, no, I'm not doing that. You want this man to give me some nice choice words. But no, I didn't wrestle with God on that. I obeyed immediately. My wife can tell you. I obeyed immediately. I'm not perfect, but I've learned to be very sensitive. I used to tease my son, he is going to Fourth Baptist School; he is in kindergarten. He learned this song, “I will Obey the first time I'm told, never with a sigh, never asking why. I will obey right away.”
I remember the first time he came home with that song, I said, “What are you singing? I like this school.” This school cost a lot of money. But I like this school. I like where this is headed. Sing that song again. I will obey the first time I'm told, never with a sigh, never asking why. I will obey right away. That's how we need to approach God's voice when he gives us something. I will obey right away, never with a sigh, never asking why. I will obey right away if I say that I trust God, I'm not going to argue with God with something he tells me. I'm stubborn, but I'm not that stubborn. But that comes in your growth with the Lord. It's not something that's right away. I'm not going to sit here and try to fool you and tell you that's something– That's something I had to learn to do.
When you have the consequences of not obeying God's voice, his promptings or in his word– let me get back to that in a minute. I don't want to gloss over that because just living your life according to the principles of scripture is enough to keep the enemy off your life. Where are my building blocks students? We've been learning spiritual warfare. It's a different spiritual warfare series, right? We'll talk about casting out demons and all of that. But I'm telling you, the devil's defeated. He is not your number one enemy. You are your flesh. You are, your sin nature. That's your number one enemy. But the Lord gave us something powerful and that's his word, that gives us instructions on how to live according to godly ways and righteousness.
If we can just teach our children to learn to obey the instruction and God's word, it keeps them from a whole bunch of things that are harmful for them. Thank God for people who instruct our children in the ways of the Lord, because that's the first buffer in their lives. When the enemy and society and things come against them, they have a foundation of God's truth planted inside them. What does the word say? Hide your truth in my heart so that I not sin against you. Right? That's where it starts. We have the truth inside of us. We know not to sin against the Lord because we know the truth. We know right from wrong because we've seen it in his instruction.
Obedience is about choices. Galatians 6, 7, and 9: Don't be misled. You cannot mock the justice of God. You'll always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the spirit will harvest everlasting life from the spirit. Let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time. We will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Just like I tell my children, yeah, it's hard to do the right thing all the time amongst peer pressure, amongst your own desires, your own wills. There are things that we want, not that we need, that we want, that people want. That pressures are put inside. It's hard, but you reap what you sow. We can't get around that.
In Christ, we can't say the devil made me do it. Christ has freed us from the bonds of sin. So, if we sin it is because we chose it. Well, what do you mean? I was tempted. Yep, but Jesus said in him, you are no longer a slave to sin. So you don't have to obey the law of sin. But through him you have the grace to not abide in sin, but to abide in him by the spirit. If we don't, that means we choose to do the things that we do. Don't get quiet on me now. It's about choices. Obeying is about choosing either to do my will or to another, and in this case, to do God's will versus my will. If you look at the summation of your life, you can summarize your life as a summation of choices. If I choose to eat Krispy Kreme donuts every day of my life, I don't know how much rebuking of the devil is going to work to improve my health. I think I'm going to reap the consequences of my choices to eat Krispy Kreme donuts every day. I don't think that's going to be good fruit.
In our life, we have choices, and we can go back and analyze those choices to see, did we even inquire the Lord before we made those choices? And if you do that– yeah, I'm giving you homework. Go back and see the results of the times that you didn't inquire of the Lord. How did that turn out for you? Or how many times have you been prompted by the Lord to do something, to say something, to not say something and you disregarded it as a small thing. How did that turn out for you? That small thing turned into a big thing. Even something as mundane as turn to the left, turn to the right. Well, what are you talking about Pastor Rob? It doesn't have to be that deep. Oh yeah?
There are these young guys. I had a relationship with the Lord early. There are these young guys walking down the streets of Chicago or leaving movie theaters seeing a movie on my birthday. And I felt in my spirit that I was not supposed to go down a certain neighborhood street. It was as strong, Sean, as me looking at you right now. Did I obey it? Nope. So instead of going down this one street, me and my friends went down another street. What happened? Not good. We encountered some guys that were not so good, and I had three knives at my back. Some other things that happened to me and my friends. Go left; go right. I have hundreds of stories like that to tell you. It's even in what we consider the little mundane things that God is concerned for us because he is omniscient. He knows it. He knows everything. He knows before us. He knows what's around the corner. He knows what's behind that handshake with that person.
We need to learn to obey him. Obedience means that we are seeking the will of God rather than our own. Proverbs 3, 5 through 7, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. I like this one. We very rarely read this part. Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. We can think we are so smart, especially in the areas that we do, that we are gifted in. I know how to do this. I went to school. I got this degree, I got this certificate, I got this trade. I've got these accolades and praises and honors, and I got all this. I know what to do. I don't need to inquire the Lord for I got this. How many times have we done this? I've seen this before. And that voice is saying, oh yeah, but this is what you need to do right now.
Again, our own understanding is limited by our circumstances. God's wisdom transcends our circumstances because he knows our going and our coming. We need to pay attention to what he tells us in all circumstances. Obedience to God brings benefits not only to us, but to other people. The benefit that it brings to us is that we grow closer to him. The more obedient we are, the closer we get to him, the more he trusts us to give us more, to show us more. The more we are obedient to him, the more others are blessed. The Lord gives us promptings: go, and tell so and so this go talk to. Go say hello. We never know what fruit will come forth, but God does. And that's why he instructs us to do it.
Our obedience to the Lord bears the fruit of his blessings. And it becomes evident in people's lives. Because you hear me say this prayer a lot, when we have the offering. I, when I pray about God's blessings, that it brings multiplication. It's not just the principle in, in financial matters, it's in our lives, in people. We are sharing about reaching out to our brother, Welton. Look at the multiplication that is brought here in our own church. And the thing about multiplication is that it expands because we have factors of multiplication. The more people that I know, more people that Welton knows, the more people that we know together, those are factors of multiplication, the more people you know.
When you are obedient to do something that the Lord prompts you to do, without question, do it and see the fruit that it produces in your lives. When the Lord prompts you to say something to your children or even deny your children something, don't compare it to the neighbors down the street. Do what the Lord is instructing you to do in your household and watch the benefit and the fruit that bears because you obeyed his word for you. Many people before I came to this church said, Pastor Rob, you should go left, you should go right, you should start your own church, you should do this, you should do that. You know what I told him, you know what my answer was? This is not boasting or bragging or I'm not putting on a pretense. The Lord hasn't instructed me on that. Yeah, but you– the Lord hasn't instructed me in that. Man, you could have run your own church 10 years ago. The Lord hasn't instructed me in that. You should try that. You can use that. I give you permission to use that. When people come to you and they try to get you to do something that you know you are not supposed to do, you can tell them. Come on. The Lord hasn't instructed me to do that. We get pulled on. Oh man, you are a great preacher. You could do this. You can do this in your sleep. Yeah, that's probably all true. But what fruit is it going to bear? My motivation was not to please people.
When I was ordained twenty something years ago, I said to the Lord, “I do” to him. In a sense like Jesus in the garden, not my will be done, but your will be done. My life is no longer my own. It's yours, Lord. Do with it what you will. My desire at the time, starting a new family, I was thinking about money. How am I going to support my family? That was my priority in my heart and in my mind. That was what I was focused on. The Lord said, I have a calling for you. Other people's lifestyle and ways are not yours. My wife knew that, so she prayed, Lord, you need to do something with this guy to get him back on track, to stay focused on what you called him to do. And so even though I was discouraged in ministry, my heart was broken. I obeyed the voice of God. And here we are as brothers and sisters today producing fruit.
So why am I sharing this? I try to be as practical and transparent to let you know there are tough tests that come. There are struggles that we go through, and we have to make up our mind and make up decisions. There were things going on that we had to trust God, that we heard from God and that we were going according to his will. Even though it's scary, even though you have doubts and skepticism, that's why you gotta learn to trust and obey the voice of God.
I want to give you one more scripture, John 15 verses 1 through 5. I think this was one of my first memory verses that I had to learn: I am the true grapevine, and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit. And he prunes the branches that do bear fruit. So, they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine. And you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing.
We remain connected to the vine as we continue to obey the word and the instructions of the Lord. When you stop obeying, you are cut off. I'm not saying that we don't trip up sometimes, you know, we are hardheaded, we are stubborn, we have issues. But if there is a warning, my warning is this: if you keep turning off that voice, how do you turn off the voice of God? From disobedience. If you keep choosing to disobey, then you are in jeopardy of not being able to hear that voice. Because God doesn't force us to do anything.
He is long suffering. Thank God he is long suffering. I don't know the measure of that long suffering. I don't want to know. I don't even want to tempt it, but I reassure you, he is long suffering. He wants you to get it right. He wants you to turn around and he waits for you, patiently waits for you. But God is not going to continue to press upon you and press upon you and press upon you when you constantly willfully disobey him. He will cut you off from the vine and woe to you. As I span the audience and even just discerning for the people online, you are not close to that, so don't worry. But just keep in your heart and mind that even when you think it's a little disobedience, it's not worth it. It's not worth it.
It's just like chronic diseases in our bodies. They don't fully manifest in our bodies the first day. There's years of progression. The more time that goes by that is not detected or treated, then it is worse for you in the latter years. What I'm saying to you, and I'll leave you with this, learn to obey God early and often. Obey right away, never with a sigh, never asking why. Obey right away and you will bear much fruit, and everyone will know it. And they'll desire to have a relationship like you with the Lord. Let's pray.
Father, forgive us for the times that we've ignored the instruction of your word, the promptings of your spirit, and decided to do things our own way. Lord, our one true desire is to please you. Help us, Lord, to grow in our relationship with you. Help us grow in our relationship to the Word. So, we have nourishment of the word that grows inside of us, so that we know your way. And as we grow in your word, we learn your way. We know what's good for us. And through your instruction, we know how to apprehend what's good for us. And as we feel ourselves more of your word, let us not neglect spending time in your presence and so that we can daily exercise our hearing. And as we grow in faith, we will assure that we please you.
Help us Lord, especially in the hard places when it's not necessarily convenient to obey your instruction, but remind us that it is better to obey the Lord than to obey man. King Saul lost it all, because he chose to obey man and meet the expectations of men rather than fully obey the instruction of the Lord. He tried to justify his actions because he made what he thought was a sacrifice in honor of you. But you told him through the mouth of the prophet that the Lord wasn't looking for sacrifice; he was looking for obedience. You stripped the kingdom from Saul for that disobedience.
Lord, we may not have a kingdom like King Saul, but we have families, we have jobs, we have relationships that we've acquired because of you. And we wouldn't dare want to put any of those things in jeopardy because of our lack of obedience. So Lord, as we remain faithful to you in all things, we thank you for your steadfast hand upon our lives in all things in Jesus' name, amen. Hallelujah.
Can we all stand together? I hope the word has nourished you today, and I pray that the Lord will continue to bless you and that the Lord's hand would be evident in your life, and that as you continue to grow your relationship with him, that you will continue to bear much fruit. So I bless you all in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. May you go in God's peace. In Jesus' name. Amen. We have ministry today, and I think Lou and Dave are serving communion. So if you would like to have communion, we would like you to come. If you would like to have prayer, we ask you to come forward and receive prayer as well.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 10-22-23. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.