Just Obey | Joel Osteen

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I like to start with something funny and I heard about this groom at the wedding rehearsal. He said to the minister, "I'll make a deal with you." "If during the vows, you'll leave out all that love,

honor, and obeys stuff, I'll give you a hundred dollars." He slipped a hundred dollar bill in the minister's hand, walked away with a smile. The next day during the ceremony, the minister said to him, "Do you promise to bow down before your wife,

"to take her breakfast in bed, "to fulfill her every desire?" He gulped in astonishment and said in a weak voice, "I do." Then he whispered in the minister's ear, "I thought we had a deal."

“The minister handed in his money back and said,”

"Your wife made me a much better offer." (audience laughing) Say it like you mean it, this is my Bible. I am what it says I am, I have what it says I have, I can do what it says I can do.

Today I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess, my mind is alert,

my heart is receptive, I will never be the same.

In Jesus' name, God bless you. I want to talk to you today about just obey. Many times, we don't realize that God is speaking to us. We have an impression on the inside, prompting to be good to someone.

That's not random, that's God talking to us. Or you're in a situation in you feeling unrest and uneasiness. On the surface, it seems fine. Looks like a good opportunity,

but down in here and alarm is going off. Something's saying it's not right, stay away. That's not just your nerves.

“It's not just you being overly cautious,”

that's God wanting to protect you. When you feel these impressions, these promptings, don't ignore it, don't talk to yourself out of it, just obey. If you follow that still small voice, it says in Psalms that God will lead you

down the best path for your life. And the scripture talks about our inner ear. Not a physical ear. You won't hear an audible voice, but if you'll be sensitive to what your inner ear is hearing,

the still small voice, the promptings, the suggestions, the alarms, then God will keep you from heartache and pain. He'll lead you into promotion and favor. He'll use you to be a blessing to others. Then the book of Deuteronomy, God gave Moses the tin commandments

and different instructions to follow. Then God said to the Israelites, "Don't add or subtract to what I've given you, just obey." God will say, "Don't debate it, don't reason it out, don't over-analyze it, just do what I'm asking you to do."

In two often, we feel these impressions. We have a knowing on the inside, but we dismiss it. Think I'll do that later. We override it.

I feel an unrest, but it looks like a good opportunity. Or we over-analyze it. That couldn't be for me. That doesn't make sense. Don't talk yourself out of it.

Don't come up with excuses. God is saying to us what he said to the Israelites, "Just obey." Years ago, a friend of mine was in church one Sunday. He was a young man, a new believer.

He looked across the way and saw this woman. Something said to him so strongly on the inside, go give her a gift. He felt an impression to be good to her, but his mind said, "You don't even know the lady."

She looks like she's doing fine. She doesn't need your money. He came up with excuse after excuse and he kept putting it off, but he couldn't get away from it. He looked in his wallet, all he had that day was a $5 bill.

He thought there is no way I'm going to go give her $5. I'd be embarrassed. The whole service, a debate, was taking place in his mind. The longer he waited, the more miserable he was, he knew he was supposed to do it.

Finally, he got his nerve up and after the service,

he went over to her and said, "Man, I know you don't know me." This may seem kind of strange, but I feel like I'm supposed to give you this. He placed the $5 bill in her hand. She looked at it and started weeping.

She said, "I only had enough gas to get to church." I prayed, "God, please give me the gas money to make it back home." She hugged him and said, "You're my miracle."

He can see things that we can't see. Don't talk yourself out of it. When you obey that still small voice,

“God will use you to brighten people's day.”

Now, here's the key.

Anytime you obey, a blessing will always follow.

You'll never be good to someone else without God being good back to you. Now, wonder how much higher we would go and how much more of God's favor we would see if we would just obey. Not argue, not try to reason it out.

Not come up with excuses. God wants to lead you down the best path for your life. He knows where the favor is, where the promotion is, where the right people are. If you'll be sensitive to his voice,

pay attention to what your inner ear is hearing. There's no limit to where God will take you. Today, my friend, that gave that $5, he's extremely blessed, very successful. But if he hadn't learned to be faithful with the small,

with the $5, how could God trust him with more? If you'll start being faithful in the small things, you know you need to do. You hear that voice?

“That impression tells you you need to get to work on time.”

That's not just your conscience,

bothering you, that's God talking to you. You feel that prompting. You need to quit drinking so much coffee. You need to take that course to improve your skills. You need to stop being sarcastic to your spouse.

God talks to us about practical things. Sometimes we think he only talks to us about redemption, salvation, doctrine, righteousness, yes. But he also talks to us about keeping a house clean, about not staying up all night, watching television,

about not leaving the grocery cart in the parking lot, putting it back where you found it, about every day things. When I was in my early 20s, I had a ball game at 9.30 at night on the other side of town. I left with plenty of time to get there,

but there was construction on the freeway. I was delayed about 30 minutes. I had to make up a lot of ground to get to my game on time.

Once I got through the construction,

the freeway was wide open. Nobody was on it. I had a black sports car. I was feeling good. I thought I'm gonna open this thing up

and see what it'll do. I'd tell you how fast I was going,

“but my mother's sitting on the front row.”

I was flying the whole time down in here, something was saying, slow down, slow down, slow down. I answered back, no thanks, no thanks, no thanks. Nobody was on the road. I didn't see any other cars.

Then out of nowhere, this car came up right next to me. Started driving alongside. I thought, what do you know? He wants to race. (audience laughing)

He had an old beat up, run down car, I thought, what is he thinking? He didn't have a chance. I took off and floored it. He caught back up to me.

This time when I looked over, he held up his badge in the window. (audience laughing) He pointed at me and said very sternly, slow down. I drove 55 for the next seven years.

(audience laughing) But if we will obey these promptings, God will keep us out of trouble. We'll avoid unnecessary heartache in pain. And we know God says, go into all the world

and share the good news. But God also says, slow down on the freeway, quit eating so much junk, forgive your coworker, be kind to your neighbor, pay attention to the practical things.

The more you pass these tests, the more God contrasts you, the more favor you'll release in your life. But if God has to argue with you about everything, you make excuses why you shouldn't follow

those promptings, you'll get stuck. Isaiah said, if you're willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land. When you learn this principle to just obey, you feel that impression to call a friend

and encourage them, I'm gonna call them. You hear that prompting, be more disciplined in your spending, your obedient. You have that knowing on the inside. I know I need to eat healthier.

I know I need to visit my parents. I know I need to take that class. Here's a key. The I know's are God talking to you. You didn't just come up with that.

God is asking you to do it. Don't dismiss it. Don't put it off. The I know's will lead you down that best path for your life. In one way we know it's God, it doesn't go away.

It keeps coming up again and again. In the middle of the night, you're not even thinking about it, and there it is. That's God wanting to get your attention.

One version says by suggestions.

God won't force you to do something. He won't override your will. He'll suggest it. Hey, give the five bucks. It's up to us to do it.

“I've learned the more you obey, the easier it is to obey.”

The more sensitive you are to his voice, the more you respond, the easier it is to respond. You'll get to the place where you're guided by these promptings. You take the suggestions. You pull back when you feel in an arm.

That's how the Holy Spirit leads us. And Paul talked about being a vessel used for God's highest purposes. God is looking for people that he can count on. People that at the slightest impression.

The smallest suggestion they move.

God says go here, they go. Bless this person, they bless them. Change in this area, they change. They don't argue, they don't make excuses. They're not too busy, they just obey.

Psalm 25 says, the secret of the Lord is within that fear him. When you honor God, he will tell you secrets.

“He will whisper things in your inner ear,”

give you insight that you otherwise wouldn't have known. You don't know how you know it, you can't explain it. You just know it. Sometimes we hear about people getting into trouble for insider trading.

That means somebody on the inside of the company is giving information to somebody on the outside. This going to affect the price of the stock. That way they can sell off or buy more. They have an advantage because they have inside information.

That's what God does for us. He knows where the good breaks are. He knows how to propel you years ahead. If you'll be sensitive to that voice, God will give you insight information.

You'll know things that you shouldn't have known that will propel you towards your destiny. A couple of years after Victoria and I were married, we sold our town home and we're looking to buy a house. We found several nice houses, we really liked them,

but it didn't work out. We came to this one very rundown old house. Windows were broken out, water dripping from the ceiling. Foundation was all messed up. The house was in very bad shape,

but it was in a nice neighborhood on a large piece of property. Victoria and I looked at each other and said, this is it, this is the house for us. We had just moved out of a beautiful town home. In the natural, it didn't make sense.

Everything logically speaking said, this is going in the wrong direction. You're making a big mistake. But in our inner ear down in here, something was whispering, this is for you.

We purchased the property. What no one knew was the neighborhood was about to change the de-brestrictions where you could subdivide the laws. Two years later, we sold half of the property

from more than we paid for the whole property. That was God whispering secrets in our ear. Don't ignore what you're hearing on the inside. May not seem logical, but God can see things that you cannot see.

He knows where the advantages are. He knows how to accelerate your dreams, how to make things happen quicker than you thought. I talked to a gentleman recently, he had applied for a job at this large company.

The interview went well, they really liked the man, but they told him the position wasn't going to be available for at least six months. They weren't going to make a decision on who to hire for some time, and when they did, they'd let him know.

About a month later, he woke up one morning and something said to him so strongly,

“you need to call the company and check on the position.”

They just told him that it would be six months. He didn't want to seem overly anxious or do anything that might put them off, but he couldn't get away from it. That afternoon, finally, he picked up the phone and called. The man said, I can't believe you're calling.

The position is not supposed to open up till next year, but earlier this morning, we had a meeting and decided to fill it right now. He asked the man, can you start next week? Friends, God knows it all.

We have inside information, don't ignore those promptings. That's God whispering secrets in your ear. If you'll just obey, God will give you an advantage.

He'll make things happen that you could never make happen.

In the scripture, there was a man named Naomi. He was a captain in the Syrian army. A very well-respected and influential man, but he had leprosy and incurable disease.

that if you go see the prophet Elijah in Israel,

“Elijah will pray for you and you'll be healed.”

Naomi took the young ladies at Vise, traveled a great distance, showed up in Elijah's house. But Elijah didn't go out to meet him at the door. He didn't go pray over him. Elijah told his assistant to go tell Naomi,

if he were washed in the Jordan River seven times, he'll be healed. Well, Naomi was offended. He thought, does he know who I am? Does he know how far I've traveled? And if I need to wash in a river,

it's not going to be the Jordan River. That's dirty. We have much cleaner rivers back at home. He came up with all these excuses. That doesn't make sense.

That's not logical. God is not going to explain everything that he asked us to do. This is what faith is all about. You just have to trust him.

Naomi and almost missed his miracle.

“He turned around and was about to go back home”

until his assistant said, "Namon. If he were to ask you to do something hard, you would have done it. Why don't you do this small thing?" Naomi said, "Well, I thought Elijah would come out and wave his hand over me."

Like magic, make me whole. He had a preconceived idea of how God was going to do it. You can't put God in a box. He may not bring your dream to pass the way you're thinking. He may not turn the problem around in a traditional manner.

God's ways are not our ways. They are better than our ways. Stay open and let God do it his way. Naomi didn't want to do a small thing. But I've learned small acts of obedience

lead to big blessings. It's not necessarily what you're doing. It's the obedience that activates God's power. When you obey in small things, when it doesn't seem like it matters, when nobody's watching, when you don't feel like it.

But you keep doing the right thing. You're faithful. You're a person of excellence. Obedience in the small leads to God's blessings in great ways. This assistant talked Naomi and Ian to go

and down and watch him in the Jordan River. I can imagine when Naomi and God Ian thought this is dirty, it stinks, I don't like it. Everything in his mind was saying, you're wasting your time. This is not making any difference.

If you allow it, your mind can talk you out of your miracle. Negative thoughts can keep us from God's best.

Naomi and dip down in the water the first time.

He came up, he checked his skin, nothing had changed. Dip down the second time, nothing, third time, nothing, fourth time, nothing. I'm sure he thought, if this was going to work, I'd be getting better by now.

I've done the right thing, four times in a row. I've done exactly what that profit said. And I'm not any better. He was discouraged, felt like going back home again. He thought, come this far, Mars will finish it out.

Dip down the fifth time, nothing, sixth time, nothing. What's interesting is, Naomi didn't have the faith that it was going to happen. He didn't believe he was going to get well. He wasn't singing praises.

They can God that the answer was coming. He was complaining, negative, sour. Going to tell his major, not getting a raise this time. Some profits you sent me to. He dipped down that seventh time when he came up,

his skin was perfectly normal. Look like a baby skin. Here's my point. The healing wasn't in the water, or he would have been healed the first time.

The healing was in the obedience.

“Could it be that your healing will come when you obey?”

Your promotion, your breakthrough, the restoration will come

if you'll just keep doing the right thing? Well, Joel, I'm being my best. I'm honoring God. I don't see anything happening. Don't worry.

Your time is coming. You may be on number four. Number five, the good news. Number seven is on the way. God rewards obedience.

Your healing is coming. The right people are coming. New opportunities are coming. Freedom is coming. Keep being obedient.

Stay on that high row. It may be uncomfortable. It may not be fair, but God is in complete control. He's a rewarder of those that honor him. I love the fact that Nehemen's obedience

overwrote the fact that he didn't have the faith.

This is how powerful obedience is.

There are times in our life that we don't feel like we have the faith we need. We want to believe, but we don't see how we could get well,

Here's the key. Until your faith grows, just keep being obedient. Doing what you know to do, following that still small voice, your obedience will override the fact that you don't have enough faith.

“I can't prove it, but I believe that Nehemen got healed while he was complaining.”

I don't like this water. It's dirty, it smells bad. He came up the seven times. I told you it wasn't going to work. Looked at his arms.

Couldn't believe it. He went from complaining to giving praise. He said, "Now I know the God of Israel is the true and the living God." And I'm not for complaining, talking to being negative. There are examples where that keeps people out of their promise land.

But in this case, obedience overrode all that. Light Nehemen, when you face situations, you don't lie, you don't understand it, the odds are against you. If you just keep doing the right thing, your breakthrough is on the way. When you obey, miracles happen.

Healing is released. New doors will open.

“See, every time you obey, you're so in a seed.”

When it's difficult, you're uncomfortable. You don't feel like it, but you do it anyway. You are so in an extraordinary seed. That means you're going to reap an extraordinary harvest.

God will never ask you to do something and then not give you the power to do it.

When he asks you to walk away from a friend that's pulling you down or to get rid of a habit that you know is ruining your health, he's not trying to take something from you, he's trying to get something better to you. If you will just obey, you'll come up to a new level of your destiny. Growing up, we knew this man that loved to play the piano.

He was very talented, but he had rheumatoid arthritis. Over the years, it kept getting worse and worse. He came to the point where his fingers were all been over like a fist. He couldn't open them up. His joints were swollen, very painful and obviously he couldn't play the piano anymore.

One day, he heard my father talking about the importance of forgiveness and how we should let things go and how when we carry bitterness and hold a grudge, it poisons our line. He felt convicted. He had held something against his parents for many years. He felt like they had done him wrong and he'd carried around this bitterness year after

year. He knew to let it go. He'd heard the still small voice and hey, move on with your life, but he wouldn't do it. But that day when he heard my father, he made a decision that he was going to forgive his parents.

He didn't feel like doing it. He didn't think they deserved it, but out of an act of obedience, he let it go. Over the next few months, little by little, his fingers started opening up. The swelling started going down, the pain started subsiding.

A year later, he could sit down and play the piano like he'd never missed a beat.

The healing was in the obedience. He sold an extraordinary seed for given somebody that heard him. He reaped an extraordinary harvest. His health was restored.

“Because there's something you've been putting off, you know you should do.”

Maybe like him. You feel like you have a great right to hold a grudge to be angry. They did you wrong. All that's going to do is poison your own life, affect your dreams, affect your health. You have to forgive so you can be free.

Forgive so your healing will be released. Not just physically, but when you let it go, God can make you emotionally home. That's when he'll give you beauty for ashes. You'll start loving again, start laughing again, start dreaming again. I know faith gets God's attention, but obedience activates God's power.

You can have great faith, but if you're ignoring the still small voice. If you're overriding what you know, God wants you to deal with, it can keep you from your miracle. And sometimes God asks us to do a hard thing. God told Abraham to take his son Isaac. This was the son that Abraham and Sarah had waited 20 years to have.

They had prayed and believed now finally little Isaac is here.

Abraham was to take Isaac upon a mountain and sacrifice him. They took a three day journey, went way up on this mountain, but just when Abraham was about to follow through, God said Abraham, don't do it. I just wanted to see if you would be obedient when it was extremely difficult. Abraham looked over and saw a ram caught in the bush and he knew that was the sacrifice.

That's not natural to them, but when you do what God's asking you to do,

“every step you take in obedience, the ram is taken a step towards you.”

You may not be able to see it, Joel, I'm doing the right thing. Doesn't look like anything's changing. What you can't see is on the other side of the mountain.

Your healing, your provision, your abundance, your breakthrough is making its way towards you.

Like with Abraham, we're not going to understand everything God asked us to do. Maybe difficult. It's hard to forgive someone that hurts you. It's hard to keep a good attitude when the medical report is negative. But if you're so this extraordinary seed and be obedient, then get ready,

you're going to see God's favor in extraordinary ways. I'm asking you today to just obey. Don't try to figure it out. Don't over-analyze it, just do what you know God's asking you to do. Pay attention to the still small voice.

Start listening with your inner ear.

“God wants to whisper secrets, give you inside information that will propel you towards your destiny.”

If you'll do this, I'll believe and declare. God is going to lead you down the best path for your life. You're going to see favor, increase promotion, healing, vindication, the fullness of your destiny in Jesus' name. If you receive it, can you say it in the day?

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