September 4, 2025 • 26 mins
In this episode of the 'One Yes At A Time" podcast, hosts Keidra and Susan discuss the importance of obedience to God, and why obedience is central to the Christian faith. The hosts explore the origins of obedience and disobedience, referencing the story of Adam and Eve and the consequences of their choice to disobey God's clear command. They highlight the importance of understanding God's commands as acts of love and protection. The hosts emphasize that obedience is not natural for humans but is learned, much like a child learns from a parent. They discuss how Jesus, God's son, "learned obedience through the things he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8), and his example serves as a model for believers. The episode highlights many benefits and blessings of obedience, including joy, happiness, comfort, peace, hope, wisdom and more. The hosts emphasize that obedience is not a means to earn salvation, rather it is a response to God's love and grace as a demonstration of trust. The episode concludes with a reminder that God is gracious and stands ready to forgive, encouraging listeners to take one step of obedience at a time and experience the benefits and blessings of living according to God's word and will.
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Episode Transcript
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Keidra Hobley (00:00):
Welcome to The One Yes At A Time podcast.
(00:02):
I'm Keidra, here with my friendSusan, and today we get to
discuss saying"Yes" toobedience.
Oh goodness.
Are we ready?
This is so good because it wasthe last episode when you made
the comment that obedience isGod's love language.
Mm-hmm.
That really stood out to me.
Susan Dies (00:18):
I knew that was gonna be our next episode.
Keidra Hobley (00:20):
It had to be.
How could it not be?
That's right.
And so, when you said that,like, just sitting with that for
a while, what came to mind isthat our obedience to God is an
indicator of our love for him.
Susan Dies (00:31):
That's right.
It sure is.
Obedience is one of those wordsthat people just have a natural
aversion to.
Mm-hmm.
No one wants to be told what todo.
Yep.
No one wants to be told how todo it or when to do it.
And I get that because we canall be that way.
As human beings we want to dowhat we wanna do.
Always.
Don't we?
Always...
we always do.
'Because that's our humannature.
But it wasn't always that way.
(00:52):
And I think that before we talkabout obedience, we should talk
a little bit about disobedienceand where that came from.
You know, we make the assumptionthat everyone listening already
knows how sin entered theworld...
but not everyone grew up inchurch.
Not everyone knows the story ofAdam and Eve..
Yeah...
even though that seems foreignto us.
But when God first created Adamand Eve, at least for a period
(01:14):
of time, and we don't know howmuch time because the Bible
doesn't tell us, but they livedin perfect harmony with God
before sin ever came into theworld through their
disobedience.
Yeah.
And God only gave them onecommand.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, just one command.
He said, you are free to eatfrom any tree of the garden..
Yeah...
only do not eat from the tree ofthe knowledge of good and evil,
because on the day that you eatfrom this tree, you will surely
(01:36):
die.
And so he told them what theycould do..
Mm-hmm.
He told them what not to do..
Yeah.
..And he even told them why.
And what did they do?
They did it anyway.
They did it anyway.
Adam and Eve, they were justhanging out in the garden
somewhere close to that tree,when Satan slid up to her in the
form of a serpent and temptedher to eat the fruit from this
one tree that God had told themnot to eat from.
(01:56):
And the kicker is...
the serpent tempted Eve to sin,not by dangling that piece of
fruit right in front of herface..
Mm-hmm...
but by simply asking her aquestion that began with the
words,"Did God really say?" Sohe was putting this seed of
doubt in her mind about what Godsaid, and then he tempted her to
doubt God's motive for thecommand that he gave, not to eat
(02:18):
from that tree.
He even called God a liar, bysaying you won't die.
Yeah.
Even though God said you willsurely die, he said God just
doesn't want you to be wise likehim.
And isn't that how temptationstill works for us today?
Still to this day.
Just like Eve, people who aren'tin God's word aren't exactly
sure what God said, or even whyGod gives the commands that he
(02:38):
gives.
And so just like Eve, people areeasily deceived into believing
that God doesn't really meanwhat he says.
Mm-hmm.
That the consequences for sinreally isn't death and that sin
will actually make us wiser...
to the ways of the world.
And so instead of running fromthe temptation to sin, like Eve,
people often begin to reason intheir minds why this thing that
(02:59):
they know is not good for them..
Mm-hmm...
really isn't that big of a deal,right?
Mm-hmm.
And that's exactly what Eve did.
Instead of walking away from theserpent who was trying to tempt
her to disobey God's clearcommand she engaged in the
conversation considered hiswords, and then convinced
herself..
Well, that tree does look goodfor food...
it's pretty to look at...
and from what the serpent toldher, eating from this tree would
(03:21):
make her wise like God.
And so, she got a piece of fruitfrom the tree.
Mm-hmm.
So far so good.
Mm-hmm.
God didn't strike her dead.
She took a bite.
I'm sure it was delicious.
Yep.
This didn't seem like a very bigdeal.
She gave some to her husbandAdam, who also took a bite.
Mm-hmm.
And the very next moment..
Yeah, they knew that they hadbeen deceived.
(03:42):
Yeah.
And instead of becoming wiselike God, which is what the
serpent promised, they now knewgood from evil.
They immediately knew thosefeelings that God never intended
us to experience.
They immediately knew the shameof sin.
Yeah.
And we know this because theycovered themselves with fig
leaves.
Yeah.
They felt the guilt of sin.
We know this because they hidfrom God.
(04:02):
Mm-hmm.
And they felt the anger and thedisappointment that we can feel
toward ourselves and others whenwe sin.
And instead of takingresponsibility, they began to
place blame on others.
Eve blame the serpent fordeceiving her.
Adam blamed Eve for giving himthe fruit, and then he blamed
God for giving him Eve.
And so all these thousands ofyears later, this same cycle
(04:25):
continues to repeat itself.
When we don't know what God'sword says...
and we don't know why he's givenus the commands that he's
given...
we just don't see the danger inthe temptations that we face, or
in our disobedience until it'stoo late.
Yeah.
And then often, instead of usbeing willing to accept the
responsibility, we put the blameon other people.
Yeah.
What do you think about allthat?
Keidra Hobley (04:46):
Oh my gosh.
I mean, the fact that it startedin the garden..
Yeah...
this whole concept ofdisobedience.
Mm-hmm.
And so I think even in what youjust said, it really shows that
God's instruction is for our ownprotection.
That's right.
And so when we disobey God,we're essentially forfeiting his
protection.
I love the fact that you pointedthat out and started us there.
1 Peter 2:8 says,"We stumblebecause we don't obey God's
(05:09):
word." We don't obey hisinstruction.
Luke 6 (05:12):
46 says,"Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do
what I tell you?" And so if Godinstructs us to obey him and we
don't...
that's sin.
And I don't think, we really seedisobedience as sin.
Right?
Oh, you know, I, Made a mistake.
I made a mistake.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, that's a good one.
But what that is is sin, right?
(05:32):
And sin has consequences.
Susan Dies (05:34):
Right.
It sure does.
You know, the Bible has a lot tosay about obedience because
obedience is an essential partof our Christian faith.
It's through our obedience toGod that we come into a
relationship with him throughJesus.
Mm-hmm.
That's the first step ofobedience right there...
to simply believe him by faith.
And then it's through continuedobedience that we grow in our
(05:54):
faith.
So as we hear God's voicethrough the scriptures, as we
listen to preachers andteachers, and other believers
who are telling us and remindingus what God's word says and
shows us by their own examplewhat it looks like to put those
things into practice...
and then we choose to do itourselves...
God blesses our obedience andour faith grows.
(06:14):
And the more our faith grows,the more we trust God.
Yeah.
And the more we trust God, themore we love God...
and the more we experience hisfaithfulness.
And then we begin to tell othershow God is working in our lives.
And many times, it's through ourobedience that others are often
encouraged and inspired to obeyGod for themselves.
Keidra Hobley (06:32):
That's so good.
So there's many benefits toobeying God.
That's what I'm hearing you say.
That's right.
Susan Dies (06:37):
That's right.
And we're gonna talk about thatin a few minutes, but I wanna
bring up one other point that Ithink is so important for us to
remember, and that is, obedienceis not natural to us.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Yeah.
Obedience is learned, and justas a good parent teaches their
child the importance oflistening and obeying, God does
the same with his children.
When we come into a relationshipwith God as our father, because
(06:59):
he's a good father and becausehe loves us and he wants the
best for us, he teaches us thelessons of obedience.
Yeah.
And we know that even Jesuslearned obedience...
and you think, well, how couldthat be because he was perfect?
But in Hebrews 5:8-9 it saysthat even though Jesus was God's
son, he learned obedience fromthe things he suffered.
(07:19):
Yeah.
And once made perfect, he becamethe source of eternal salvation
for all those who obey him.
So even though Jesus was God'sson, God in the flesh, and he
was already perfect...
when he came to this earth, hecame the same way as all of us
do.
Mm-hmm.
He came as a baby, a humanbeing, who had to grow and learn
(07:40):
just as we do.
He had to learn to obey hisparents.
Yeah.
He had to learn to submit toauthority.
He had to learn from difficultcircumstances.
And of course we know he didlearn and he did choose right
over wrong every single time.
And so he experienced theblessings of those right
choices.
Mm-hmm.
The other thing we have toremember...
is the Bible tells us that Jesuswas tempted in all things.
(08:02):
We like to think, well, youknow, he was God..
Yeah...
so it must have been easy forhim.
But just as when we are tempted,he had to resist those
temptations.
He had to choose against it.
And the way he did it was bylistening to the voice of his
father..
Mm-hmm...
the same as we do.
By relying on the scriptures toguide him and on the Holy Spirit
to empower him.
(08:22):
And it says when he was madeperfect...
so this is talking about in hishuman flesh.
Yes.
We know that as God, he isperfect, has always been
perfect, but the word perfecthere means to accomplish
something or to complete.
So when he did everything thathe had come to earth to do..
Mm-hmm...
which was to live a perfect lifein order to be our perfect
example and our perfect savior,doing what we could never do...
(08:44):
he then gave his life for us onthe cross.
Then he rose from the dead.
He went back to the father inheaven...
and asked the father to send ushis Spirit so that we could have
the help that we need aschildren of God to live a life
that brings God glory.
That's so good.
Isn't that good?
He in essence, broke the powerthat sin has over us because we
(09:05):
now have the mind of Christ..
Yeah...
to make the right choices.
We have the spirit of Christ toempower us...
to help us to follow througheven when we're tempted to do
otherwise...
and as I said, one of theresponsibilities of the Spirit
is to remind us what God's wordsays so that we can make those
right choices and experiencethis blessed life that God has
(09:26):
for us.
Keidra Hobley (09:26):
I just wanna go back to when you mentioned about
sin.
Mm-hmm.
Because sin separates us fromGod.
That's right.
And as we know, the further awaywe are from a person, the less
we're able to hear their voice.
Mm-hmm.
It's the same thing with God.
The further we are from him, theless we're able to hear his
voice.
I get that question all thetime.
I don't hear from God.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Well, maybe we need to startwith, am I being obedient to the
(09:49):
last instruction that he'salready given?
I, I think that's a great thingto think about.
Susan Dies (09:53):
Yeah.
Sometimes he's silent..
Mm-hmm...
and he's waiting for us to makethat choice.
In Deuteronomy 30:19-20, itsays,"I have set before you life
and death..
Yeah...
blessing and curse." And then hetells us which one to choose.
Mm-hmm.
We don't have to even thinkabout it.
Nope.
He says,"Therefore, choose lifethat you and your children may
live..
Yeah...
(10:13):
loving the Lord your God, andobeying his voice, and holding
fast to him for he is yourlife..
Yeah...
and the length of your days." Sothe choice is pretty clear.
He wants us to listen to hisvoice.
Hold fast to him.
And it's not just good for us..
Mm-hmm...
we're being an influence onothers.
If we don't have naturalchildren, then we're being an
(10:33):
influence on the people who arelooking up to us.
Yeah.
And so, by our choices we'reshowing them whether or not we
truly love God...
whether we truly believe God'sword and willing to put that
into practice.
Yeah.
Are we choosing God's way or arewe choosing our own way?
And how is that influencingother people?
Keidra Hobley (10:53):
Yeah.
Lemme give a couple of verses onthat because you mentioned that
our obedience is displaying ourlove for God.
John 14:15 says,"If you love meyou will keep my commandments."
1 John 5:3"Loving God.
Means keeping his commandments."Mm-hmm.
So obedience is directlyconnected to our love, love with
him.
Susan Dies (11:11):
That's right.
God has our best in mind.
Yeah.
We know that as a good father,he loves us and he set these
boundaries for us..
Mm-hmm...
so that we can know how to livein freedom.
There is freedom within theboundaries that God has set for
us.
Yes.
We don't want the boundaries...
yeah...
because we think that God istrying to restrict us..
Mm-hmm...
from doing the things we wannado.
(11:31):
But a lot of times those thingswe wanna do are the very things
that are not good for us..
Right...
that bring heartache..
Mm-hmm...
and pain...
and difficulty into our lives.
He's trying to spare us fromthat.
He tried to spare Adam and Eveand they didn't listen.
Yeah.
He's trying to spare us.
Yeah.
Are we gonna be willing tolisten?
Keidra Hobley (11:50):
Yeah.
That's the key.
And it may not be bad initially,but long term he sees the end
from the beginning that we don'tsee.
Susan Dies (11:57):
Yeah.
And we think sometimes we'regetting away with something..
Mm-hmm...
because we don't immediatelyhave to bear experience the
consequences.
Bear the consequences.
That's right.
But there's a verse that says,"Be very sure your sins will
find you out." Mm-hmm.
I mean, that verse has alwaysstuck with me.
Yeah.
I learned that verse probably 20years ago, and I've thought
about it for 20 years.
(12:17):
Right.
You know, God already knowseverything that we're struggling
with...
every sin that we commit.
There's no point in trying tohide it from him.
He wants us to bring it to him,acknowledge it..
Mm-hmm...
confess it, and let him cleanseus from it.
Yeah.
And not just cleanse us...
the Bible tells us that he alsoremoves that shame.
Yeah.
And so we can always go to him.
Yeah.
(12:38):
What are some other verses thatGod brought to your mind with
regard to obedience and ordisobedience that you think
would be good for our listeners?
Keidra Hobley (12:45):
Luke 11:28 is a great one.
"Blessed are those who hear theword of God and keep it." Like,
that's it.
We're, we're blessed just forobeying him.
Isaiah 1:19,"If you are willingand obedient, you shall eat the
good of the land.
Mm.
But this command I give them,obey my voice, and I will be
your God and you shall be mypeople, and walk in all the way
(13:09):
that I commanded you, that itmay be well with you." Like
that's a lot of good promises.
It is.
In that verse just from beingobedient And who doesn't want it
to be well..
I do...
I want it to be...
well in our lives?
I mean, that's what we allwant...
is to live a blessed life, butwe have to live it on God's
terms.
You just said a mouthful rightthere.
Yes, yes, yes.
Susan Dies (13:27):
I love this verse, isaiah 1:18 because this shows
the relationship that God wantsto have with us.
Mm-hmm.
He says,"Come now, let us reasontogether." Like he wants us to
talk about it.
Yeah.
"Though your sins are likescarlet...
they shall be white as snow."Mm.
He wants to cleanse us..
Yeah...
but he wants us to acknowledgeit.
(13:49):
For us to experience theblessings that God has for us,
we have to first come to him andreason it out together.
Yeah.
He already knows, but he knowsthat when we talk about it,
we're gonna understand itbetter.
Keidra Hobley (14:01):
Yeah.
That's so good.
And so that would suggest thatsometimes it is a struggle to
obey him.
Oh, it's a struggle.
So what, what are some of thereasons why you think we might
struggle with that?
Susan Dies (14:12):
I think one of the biggest issues when it comes to
obedience to God is that wedon't necessarily understand why
he created us.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we don't understandthat God created human beings in
his image..
Mm-hmm...
for his pleasure...
and for his purposes...
and for his glory.
And I think that's part of therub.
You know, we think God createdus for us.
Oh wow.
And that free will is God justgiving us the choice to either
(14:35):
live his way...
or live this life however wechoose.
Mm-hmm.
And whatever way brings us themost pleasure, the most power,
the most fame, the most money,the most glory.
Mm-hmm.
We've just made life all aboutus instead of about him.
Yeah.
Yes, you know, God did give usfree will...
to choose to love him or not...
to choose to obey him or not...
(14:56):
to choose to trust him or not.
But free will is not about uschoosing us.
Yeah.
It's about us choosing.
God.
Yeah.
And so God gave us the free willto love and to trust and obey
him or not.
But he also told us theblessings that come from
choosing him..
Mm-hmm...
and the consequences ofrejecting him..
Yes...
and choosing our own way.
(15:16):
Yeah.
So, we haven't been left in thedark.
That's why he says, I've laidbefore you the blessing and the
curse.
Yeah.
Life and death.
Yeah.
Choose life.
Yes.
Choose the blessing.
And so he's given us all theinformation we need in order to
make a good choice...
based on his word.
All we have to do is open up hisword and find out how good and
(15:37):
faithful and loving he isbecause he's proven that he has
nothing but our best in mind.
Yeah.
And yet it's our own humannature that wants to reject
authority because we think weknow better.
Mm-hmm.
And yet, God has promised thathis plans are better.
He's got great plans for everysingle one of us if we will just
choose to believe him, andfollow him, trust him, and obey
(16:00):
him.
That's so good.
What are some reasons you canthink of that make it such a
struggle?
Keidra Hobley (16:04):
Listen, I, I believe at the root of it is
that we still wanna be incontrol.
Hmm.
That's the big one.
We refuse to relinquish control.
I think that we want enoughJesus to get us to heaven, but
we don't want enough Jesus tofully surrender.
And that's just not the way itworks.
Right?
Yeah, last night I was thinkingabout the statement,"Partial
(16:25):
obedience is disobedience." AndI think there's so many ways in
which we think we're obeyingwhen we're really not.
And the Lord just startedshowing me some examples of
those.
I wanna rattle some of those offthat he showed me last night.
The first one that I got wascounterfeit obedience.
Mm.
You heard the story of thelittle boy?
The teacher tells him to sitdown, and eventually he decides
to sit down...
(16:46):
but he tells the teacher, I maybe sitting down on the outside,
but I'm really standing up onthe inside.
Yeah.
That, that.
So it's about the spirit.
It's not just about what we do.
Yeah.
It's the attitude with which wedo it.
Exactly.
It's not just about ouremotions, it's about our
motives.
Yes.
It's not just our lips.
Matthew 15:8 says,"You honor Godwith your lips, but your heart
(17:07):
is far from me." Right?
That's counterfeit obedience.
That's lip service.
That's lip service.
Literally.
Here's a few more...
controlling obedience.
I'll do what God says, but I'mgonna do it...
my way.
Mm.
Like he told you to go left,right then straight to get to
your destination.
But you said to yourself,"Well,isn't the shortest distance
between two points a straightline?" And you just go straight
(17:27):
mm.
You end up at the samedestination, but you did not do
it his way.
Right.
And you also missed out on theblessing along the way that he
had in store for you.
Come on.
That we have no idea about.
That's controlling obedience.
Then coincidental obedience.
You just so happen to have donesomething in line with the will
of God, but it's not like youheard an instruction and made a
conscious decision to obey.
Convenient obedience.
(17:48):
If obeying God fits in with whatyou already have planned, then
you'll do it just as long as youdon't have to go out of your way
to obey.
Oh...
I know..
That's convicting.
What about conditionalobedience?
If God does this for me, thenI'll do that for him.
That's conditional.
Mm-hmm.
Come on.
These are, these are not trueobedience.
Right.
Circumstantial obedience.
It depends.
(18:09):
Maybe I obey God when it comesto my marriage, but I'm not
trying to obey him when it comesto my money.
That's conditional.
Right.
Right.
Or maybe I'll obey him when itcomes to my friends, but I'm not
gonna do what he tells me to dowhen it comes to my enemies.
I got a couple of more.
Credit obedience.
I cracked up when he told methis credit.
I know...
Credit?
What in the world?
Essentially you're obeying Godnow, so he'll bless you later.
(18:32):
That's credit.
He knows the motive of ourheart.
Exactly.
Doesn't work that way either.
And then we finally get to somegood ones, some committed
obedience.
You've made the decision thatyou want to obey God.
You're reading his word, you'relistening to his voice and
you're ready to respond.
You made the commitment, you'reready to obey.
Susan Dies (18:48):
That's right.
That's the love the Lord yourGod..
Mm-hmm...
with all your heart..
Mm-hmm...
with all your soul, with allyour mind, and all your
strength.
Keidra Hobley (18:54):
Yeah.
I think that also falls intoconsistent obedience.
'Cause we can be committed andstill not be consistent.
Consistent.
Yeah.
So consistent obedience...
when you've died to self.
You know your life is not yourown.
You live to serve Christ and toobey His every instruction with
the help of the Holy Spirit.
You give him your"Yes" before heeven gives you his instruction.
(19:16):
Yes.
Like that's consistentobedience.
Susan Dies (19:18):
I love that.
Yeah.
I love that.
That leads into why it's soimportant for us to obey God.
Yeah.
Because it demonstrates our lovefor him.
Mm-hmm.
It demonstrates our trust inhim.
It demonstrates our faith inhim, but most of all, it
glorifies him..
Amen...
in this world.
I was thinking about the factthat every good and healthy
relationship is built on loveand trust.
(19:40):
Yeah.
Like we cannot love someone anydeeper than we can trust them.
Mm.
Yeah.
And trust is based on truth andtruth is based, not on words,
but on actions.
Yeah.
Because it's what we do thatreveals our true heart.
And so it's the same in ourearthly relationships as it is
in our relationship with God.
What we do reveals what's reallyin our hearts, and that's why
(20:04):
our obedience to God is soimportant.
We can say that we love him allday long.
Yeah.
But love for God is demonstratedby our willingness to love him
through our obedience.
That's so good.
How bout the Benefits andblessings of obedience?
Yeah.
There's an old saying"Good isits own reward", but you know
what?
God wants to give us more thanthat.
Yep.
A lady named Stacy Salisbury, onThe Revive Our Hearts website,
(20:27):
was talking about Psalm 119Mm-hmm.
And she mentioned about 20benefits that go along with our
obedience.
And I'm not gonna read all ofthese..
Mm-hmm...
but I am gonna post'em on ourwebsite..
Okay, good...
so when people go to listen tothis podcast, if they look at
the transcript or they look atour show notes, they're gonna be
able to find these verses andthese different benefits.
But listen to some of these: Verse 2 joy and happiness. (20:48):
undefined
Mm-hmm.
"Blessed or happy are those whokeep his word." Yeah.
And that's so true.
We're happier when we're doingwhat God's asked us to do
because we have a clearconscience.
Right?
Yeah.
Obedience keeps us from sinning.
Mm-hmm.
That's just the bottom line.
You know, we want to do what Godwants us to do and anything
(21:09):
that's outside of God's will isa sin..
Yeah...
no matter how big or how little,whether it's a thought, whether
it's an attitude of the heart orwhether it's something we
actually say or do.
Yeah.
All sin caused Jesus to have togo to the cross.
Yes.
And so it is a big deal.
It may not seem like a big dealto us, but it's a huge big deal
to God because it cost himeverything.
Yeah.
(21:29):
God's word is free counseling.
Mm-hmm.
"Your law is my delight.
They are my counselors." Youknow, we could save some money,
couldn't we?
Come on...
a lot of money?
Obedience guards againstselfishness.
Obedience gives us hope.
We've talked about the fact thatobedience gives us freedom.
I like this word picture inverse 45.
"I shall walk in a spaciousplace for I have sought your
(21:51):
precepts." You know, we're notboxed in..
Yeah...
or restricted.
God says, we shall walk in aspacious place.
Comfort in times of trouble.
"Your promises give me life"verse 50.
Beautiful.
Something to sing about.
"Your statutes have been mysong" is what it says.
It's an anchor for our hearts.
We talked about that on ourpodcast on Hope.
Mm-hmm.
Verse 81,"I hope in your word."Verse 93,"I will never forget
(22:15):
your precepts, for by them youhave given me life." Verse 106.
Your word is a lamp into myfeet..
Yeah...
and a light unto my path." Ittells us exactly what to do..
Right...
and what not to do.
It acts as a shield around us.
I love this word picture...
verse 114.
"You are my hiding place and myshield." Mm-hmm.
And then finally, it gives uspeace.
(22:35):
And so this is not an exhaustivelist, but these are a lot of
incredible benefits that we getwhen we're willing to obey God.
But What if we've been living indisobedience?
Yeah.
Because we all have...
to some degree or another, atone point in time or another, we
struggle with this.
We just wanna remind you todaythat our God is gracious.
All we have to do is ask him forforgiveness.
(22:57):
Yeah, we can do that today.
We don't have to waste any moretime.
God is waiting and ready toforgive us and to cleanse us
from our sin.
And so my question today as wecome to a close is really, what
is one thing that God's askingyou to do today?
Just do that one thing.
Just begin today...
to experience the less guilt.
Yeah.
And the less shame and the lessregret.
(23:19):
Let's give our whole heart andlife to God and allow him to
give us the fresh start thatonly he can give.
Let him wash us clean.
Let him lift our head.
And go and send no more.
Yes.
That doesn't mean that we'regonna live this life in perfect
obedience.
Yeah.
And God's not asking us forperfect.
He is perfect.
(23:39):
He's perfecting us day by day,choice by choice.
And one day we will be perfect,as he is perfect, when we get to
heaven.
But until then, he's simplyasking for us to love him with
our whole heart, and if we'll dothis, then we will obey him more
often than not.
Yeah.
And the more we obey him, themore we're gonna experience his
goodness.
(23:59):
The last thought I wanna leaveus with today is this: obedience
is not the way to earn salvationor the way that we earn God's
love.
Our obedience is simply ourresponse to God out of a heart
of gratitude for God..
Yeah...
for the gifts of His grace andHis mercy and his salvation out
of his love for us.
So beautiful.
Keidra Hobley (24:19):
Amen.
Father, we thank you so muchjust for the privilege and
opportunity that we get to obeyyou.
Oh yes.
We thank you that yourinstruction is for our
protection, that you know theend from the beginning.
So Father, we just surrenderright now, all of our thoughts,
all of our will.
Dear Lord, we surrender andrelinquish control..
Mm-hmm...
so that we can be led by you andwe choose to fully obey you.
(24:43):
We thank you for it.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Susan Dies (24:47):
Well, this topic of obedience was a lot to take in
today, but we hope that you wereencouraged by what you heard and
if you were we just wannaencourage you to share the link
to our podcast with others sothat they too can be encouraged.
And if you have an extra minutetoday, we'd love to hear from
you.
You can leave us a comment, arating, or a review right from
the platform that you use tostream our podcast, or you can
(25:09):
go to oneyesatatime.net andleave us a text.
We'd love to hear from you.
In the meantime, keep loving Godwith your whole heart, put his
word into practice, obey him,and find out for yourself just
how incredibly good and faithfulour God is.
Welcome to The One Yes At A Time podcast.
(00:02):
I'm Keidra, here with my friendSusan, and today we get to
discuss saying"Yes" toobedience.
Oh goodness.
Are we ready?
This is so good because it wasthe last episode when you made
the comment that obedience isGod's love language.
Mm-hmm.
That really stood out to me.
Susan Dies (00:18):
I knew that was gonna be our next episode.
Keidra Hobley (00:20):
It had to be.
How could it not be?
That's right.
And so, when you said that,like, just sitting with that for
a while, what came to mind isthat our obedience to God is an
indicator of our love for him.
Susan Dies (00:31):
That's right.
It sure is.
Obedience is one of those wordsthat people just have a natural
aversion to.
Mm-hmm.
No one wants to be told what todo.
Yep.
No one wants to be told how todo it or when to do it.
And I get that because we canall be that way.
As human beings we want to dowhat we wanna do.
Always.
Don't we?
Always...
we always do.
'Because that's our humannature.
But it wasn't always that way.
(00:52):
And I think that before we talkabout obedience, we should talk
a little bit about disobedienceand where that came from.
You know, we make the assumptionthat everyone listening already
knows how sin entered theworld...
but not everyone grew up inchurch.
Not everyone knows the story ofAdam and Eve..
Yeah...
even though that seems foreignto us.
But when God first created Adamand Eve, at least for a period
(01:14):
of time, and we don't know howmuch time because the Bible
doesn't tell us, but they livedin perfect harmony with God
before sin ever came into theworld through their
disobedience.
Yeah.
And God only gave them onecommand.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, just one command.
He said, you are free to eatfrom any tree of the garden..
Yeah...
only do not eat from the tree ofthe knowledge of good and evil,
because on the day that you eatfrom this tree, you will surely
(01:36):
die.
And so he told them what theycould do..
Mm-hmm.
He told them what not to do..
Yeah.
..And he even told them why.
And what did they do?
They did it anyway.
They did it anyway.
Adam and Eve, they were justhanging out in the garden
somewhere close to that tree,when Satan slid up to her in the
form of a serpent and temptedher to eat the fruit from this
one tree that God had told themnot to eat from.
(01:56):
And the kicker is...
the serpent tempted Eve to sin,not by dangling that piece of
fruit right in front of herface..
Mm-hmm...
but by simply asking her aquestion that began with the
words,"Did God really say?" Sohe was putting this seed of
doubt in her mind about what Godsaid, and then he tempted her to
doubt God's motive for thecommand that he gave, not to eat
(02:18):
from that tree.
He even called God a liar, bysaying you won't die.
Yeah.
Even though God said you willsurely die, he said God just
doesn't want you to be wise likehim.
And isn't that how temptationstill works for us today?
Still to this day.
Just like Eve, people who aren'tin God's word aren't exactly
sure what God said, or even whyGod gives the commands that he
(02:38):
gives.
And so just like Eve, people areeasily deceived into believing
that God doesn't really meanwhat he says.
Mm-hmm.
That the consequences for sinreally isn't death and that sin
will actually make us wiser...
to the ways of the world.
And so instead of running fromthe temptation to sin, like Eve,
people often begin to reason intheir minds why this thing that
(02:59):
they know is not good for them..
Mm-hmm...
really isn't that big of a deal,right?
Mm-hmm.
And that's exactly what Eve did.
Instead of walking away from theserpent who was trying to tempt
her to disobey God's clearcommand she engaged in the
conversation considered hiswords, and then convinced
herself..
Well, that tree does look goodfor food...
it's pretty to look at...
and from what the serpent toldher, eating from this tree would
(03:21):
make her wise like God.
And so, she got a piece of fruitfrom the tree.
Mm-hmm.
So far so good.
Mm-hmm.
God didn't strike her dead.
She took a bite.
I'm sure it was delicious.
Yep.
This didn't seem like a very bigdeal.
She gave some to her husbandAdam, who also took a bite.
Mm-hmm.
And the very next moment..
Yeah, they knew that they hadbeen deceived.
(03:42):
Yeah.
And instead of becoming wiselike God, which is what the
serpent promised, they now knewgood from evil.
They immediately knew thosefeelings that God never intended
us to experience.
They immediately knew the shameof sin.
Yeah.
And we know this because theycovered themselves with fig
leaves.
Yeah.
They felt the guilt of sin.
We know this because they hidfrom God.
(04:02):
Mm-hmm.
And they felt the anger and thedisappointment that we can feel
toward ourselves and others whenwe sin.
And instead of takingresponsibility, they began to
place blame on others.
Eve blame the serpent fordeceiving her.
Adam blamed Eve for giving himthe fruit, and then he blamed
God for giving him Eve.
And so all these thousands ofyears later, this same cycle
(04:25):
continues to repeat itself.
When we don't know what God'sword says...
and we don't know why he's givenus the commands that he's
given...
we just don't see the danger inthe temptations that we face, or
in our disobedience until it'stoo late.
Yeah.
And then often, instead of usbeing willing to accept the
responsibility, we put the blameon other people.
Yeah.
What do you think about allthat?
Keidra Hobley (04:46):
Oh my gosh.
I mean, the fact that it startedin the garden..
Yeah...
this whole concept ofdisobedience.
Mm-hmm.
And so I think even in what youjust said, it really shows that
God's instruction is for our ownprotection.
That's right.
And so when we disobey God,we're essentially forfeiting his
protection.
I love the fact that you pointedthat out and started us there.
1 Peter 2:8 says,"We stumblebecause we don't obey God's
(05:09):
word." We don't obey hisinstruction.
Luke 6 (05:12):
46 says,"Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do
what I tell you?" And so if Godinstructs us to obey him and we
don't...
that's sin.
And I don't think, we really seedisobedience as sin.
Right?
Oh, you know, I, Made a mistake.
I made a mistake.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, that's a good one.
But what that is is sin, right?
(05:32):
And sin has consequences.
Susan Dies (05:34):
Right.
It sure does.
You know, the Bible has a lot tosay about obedience because
obedience is an essential partof our Christian faith.
It's through our obedience toGod that we come into a
relationship with him throughJesus.
Mm-hmm.
That's the first step ofobedience right there...
to simply believe him by faith.
And then it's through continuedobedience that we grow in our
(05:54):
faith.
So as we hear God's voicethrough the scriptures, as we
listen to preachers andteachers, and other believers
who are telling us and remindingus what God's word says and
shows us by their own examplewhat it looks like to put those
things into practice...
and then we choose to do itourselves...
God blesses our obedience andour faith grows.
(06:14):
And the more our faith grows,the more we trust God.
Yeah.
And the more we trust God, themore we love God...
and the more we experience hisfaithfulness.
And then we begin to tell othershow God is working in our lives.
And many times, it's through ourobedience that others are often
encouraged and inspired to obeyGod for themselves.
Keidra Hobley (06:32):
That's so good.
So there's many benefits toobeying God.
That's what I'm hearing you say.
That's right.
Susan Dies (06:37):
That's right.
And we're gonna talk about thatin a few minutes, but I wanna
bring up one other point that Ithink is so important for us to
remember, and that is, obedienceis not natural to us.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Yeah.
Obedience is learned, and justas a good parent teaches their
child the importance oflistening and obeying, God does
the same with his children.
When we come into a relationshipwith God as our father, because
(06:59):
he's a good father and becausehe loves us and he wants the
best for us, he teaches us thelessons of obedience.
Yeah.
And we know that even Jesuslearned obedience...
and you think, well, how couldthat be because he was perfect?
But in Hebrews 5:8-9 it saysthat even though Jesus was God's
son, he learned obedience fromthe things he suffered.
(07:19):
Yeah.
And once made perfect, he becamethe source of eternal salvation
for all those who obey him.
So even though Jesus was God'sson, God in the flesh, and he
was already perfect...
when he came to this earth, hecame the same way as all of us
do.
Mm-hmm.
He came as a baby, a humanbeing, who had to grow and learn
(07:40):
just as we do.
He had to learn to obey hisparents.
Yeah.
He had to learn to submit toauthority.
He had to learn from difficultcircumstances.
And of course we know he didlearn and he did choose right
over wrong every single time.
And so he experienced theblessings of those right
choices.
Mm-hmm.
The other thing we have toremember...
is the Bible tells us that Jesuswas tempted in all things.
(08:02):
We like to think, well, youknow, he was God..
Yeah...
so it must have been easy forhim.
But just as when we are tempted,he had to resist those
temptations.
He had to choose against it.
And the way he did it was bylistening to the voice of his
father..
Mm-hmm...
the same as we do.
By relying on the scriptures toguide him and on the Holy Spirit
to empower him.
(08:22):
And it says when he was madeperfect...
so this is talking about in hishuman flesh.
Yes.
We know that as God, he isperfect, has always been
perfect, but the word perfecthere means to accomplish
something or to complete.
So when he did everything thathe had come to earth to do..
Mm-hmm...
which was to live a perfect lifein order to be our perfect
example and our perfect savior,doing what we could never do...
(08:44):
he then gave his life for us onthe cross.
Then he rose from the dead.
He went back to the father inheaven...
and asked the father to send ushis Spirit so that we could have
the help that we need aschildren of God to live a life
that brings God glory.
That's so good.
Isn't that good?
He in essence, broke the powerthat sin has over us because we
(09:05):
now have the mind of Christ..
Yeah...
to make the right choices.
We have the spirit of Christ toempower us...
to help us to follow througheven when we're tempted to do
otherwise...
and as I said, one of theresponsibilities of the Spirit
is to remind us what God's wordsays so that we can make those
right choices and experiencethis blessed life that God has
(09:26):
for us.
Keidra Hobley (09:26):
I just wanna go back to when you mentioned about
sin.
Mm-hmm.
Because sin separates us fromGod.
That's right.
And as we know, the further awaywe are from a person, the less
we're able to hear their voice.
Mm-hmm.
It's the same thing with God.
The further we are from him, theless we're able to hear his
voice.
I get that question all thetime.
I don't hear from God.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Well, maybe we need to startwith, am I being obedient to the
(09:49):
last instruction that he'salready given?
I, I think that's a great thingto think about.
Susan Dies (09:53):
Yeah.
Sometimes he's silent..
Mm-hmm...
and he's waiting for us to makethat choice.
In Deuteronomy 30:19-20, itsays,"I have set before you life
and death..
Yeah...
blessing and curse." And then hetells us which one to choose.
Mm-hmm.
We don't have to even thinkabout it.
Nope.
He says,"Therefore, choose lifethat you and your children may
live..
Yeah...
(10:13):
loving the Lord your God, andobeying his voice, and holding
fast to him for he is yourlife..
Yeah...
and the length of your days." Sothe choice is pretty clear.
He wants us to listen to hisvoice.
Hold fast to him.
And it's not just good for us..
Mm-hmm...
we're being an influence onothers.
If we don't have naturalchildren, then we're being an
(10:33):
influence on the people who arelooking up to us.
Yeah.
And so, by our choices we'reshowing them whether or not we
truly love God...
whether we truly believe God'sword and willing to put that
into practice.
Yeah.
Are we choosing God's way or arewe choosing our own way?
And how is that influencingother people?
Keidra Hobley (10:53):
Yeah.
Lemme give a couple of verses onthat because you mentioned that
our obedience is displaying ourlove for God.
John 14:15 says,"If you love meyou will keep my commandments."
1 John 5:3"Loving God.
Means keeping his commandments."Mm-hmm.
So obedience is directlyconnected to our love, love with
him.
Susan Dies (11:11):
That's right.
God has our best in mind.
Yeah.
We know that as a good father,he loves us and he set these
boundaries for us..
Mm-hmm...
so that we can know how to livein freedom.
There is freedom within theboundaries that God has set for
us.
Yes.
We don't want the boundaries...
yeah...
because we think that God istrying to restrict us..
Mm-hmm...
from doing the things we wannado.
(11:31):
But a lot of times those thingswe wanna do are the very things
that are not good for us..
Right...
that bring heartache..
Mm-hmm...
and pain...
and difficulty into our lives.
He's trying to spare us fromthat.
He tried to spare Adam and Eveand they didn't listen.
Yeah.
He's trying to spare us.
Yeah.
Are we gonna be willing tolisten?
Keidra Hobley (11:50):
Yeah.
That's the key.
And it may not be bad initially,but long term he sees the end
from the beginning that we don'tsee.
Susan Dies (11:57):
Yeah.
And we think sometimes we'regetting away with something..
Mm-hmm...
because we don't immediatelyhave to bear experience the
consequences.
Bear the consequences.
That's right.
But there's a verse that says,"Be very sure your sins will
find you out." Mm-hmm.
I mean, that verse has alwaysstuck with me.
Yeah.
I learned that verse probably 20years ago, and I've thought
about it for 20 years.
(12:17):
Right.
You know, God already knowseverything that we're struggling
with...
every sin that we commit.
There's no point in trying tohide it from him.
He wants us to bring it to him,acknowledge it..
Mm-hmm...
confess it, and let him cleanseus from it.
Yeah.
And not just cleanse us...
the Bible tells us that he alsoremoves that shame.
Yeah.
And so we can always go to him.
Yeah.
(12:38):
What are some other verses thatGod brought to your mind with
regard to obedience and ordisobedience that you think
would be good for our listeners?
Keidra Hobley (12:45):
Luke 11:28 is a great one.
"Blessed are those who hear theword of God and keep it." Like,
that's it.
We're, we're blessed just forobeying him.
Isaiah 1:19,"If you are willingand obedient, you shall eat the
good of the land.
Mm.
But this command I give them,obey my voice, and I will be
your God and you shall be mypeople, and walk in all the way
(13:09):
that I commanded you, that itmay be well with you." Like
that's a lot of good promises.
It is.
In that verse just from beingobedient And who doesn't want it
to be well..
I do...
I want it to be...
well in our lives?
I mean, that's what we allwant...
is to live a blessed life, butwe have to live it on God's
terms.
You just said a mouthful rightthere.
Yes, yes, yes.
Susan Dies (13:27):
I love this verse, isaiah 1:18 because this shows
the relationship that God wantsto have with us.
Mm-hmm.
He says,"Come now, let us reasontogether." Like he wants us to
talk about it.
Yeah.
"Though your sins are likescarlet...
they shall be white as snow."Mm.
He wants to cleanse us..
Yeah...
but he wants us to acknowledgeit.
(13:49):
For us to experience theblessings that God has for us,
we have to first come to him andreason it out together.
Yeah.
He already knows, but he knowsthat when we talk about it,
we're gonna understand itbetter.
Keidra Hobley (14:01):
Yeah.
That's so good.
And so that would suggest thatsometimes it is a struggle to
obey him.
Oh, it's a struggle.
So what, what are some of thereasons why you think we might
struggle with that?
Susan Dies (14:12):
I think one of the biggest issues when it comes to
obedience to God is that wedon't necessarily understand why
he created us.
Mm-hmm.
You know, we don't understandthat God created human beings in
his image..
Mm-hmm...
for his pleasure...
and for his purposes...
and for his glory.
And I think that's part of therub.
You know, we think God createdus for us.
Oh wow.
And that free will is God justgiving us the choice to either
(14:35):
live his way...
or live this life however wechoose.
Mm-hmm.
And whatever way brings us themost pleasure, the most power,
the most fame, the most money,the most glory.
Mm-hmm.
We've just made life all aboutus instead of about him.
Yeah.
Yes, you know, God did give usfree will...
to choose to love him or not...
to choose to obey him or not...
(14:56):
to choose to trust him or not.
But free will is not about uschoosing us.
Yeah.
It's about us choosing.
God.
Yeah.
And so God gave us the free willto love and to trust and obey
him or not.
But he also told us theblessings that come from
choosing him..
Mm-hmm...
and the consequences ofrejecting him..
Yes...
and choosing our own way.
(15:16):
Yeah.
So, we haven't been left in thedark.
That's why he says, I've laidbefore you the blessing and the
curse.
Yeah.
Life and death.
Yeah.
Choose life.
Yes.
Choose the blessing.
And so he's given us all theinformation we need in order to
make a good choice...
based on his word.
All we have to do is open up hisword and find out how good and
(15:37):
faithful and loving he isbecause he's proven that he has
nothing but our best in mind.
Yeah.
And yet it's our own humannature that wants to reject
authority because we think weknow better.
Mm-hmm.
And yet, God has promised thathis plans are better.
He's got great plans for everysingle one of us if we will just
choose to believe him, andfollow him, trust him, and obey
(16:00):
him.
That's so good.
What are some reasons you canthink of that make it such a
struggle?
Keidra Hobley (16:04):
Listen, I, I believe at the root of it is
that we still wanna be incontrol.
Hmm.
That's the big one.
We refuse to relinquish control.
I think that we want enoughJesus to get us to heaven, but
we don't want enough Jesus tofully surrender.
And that's just not the way itworks.
Right?
Yeah, last night I was thinkingabout the statement,"Partial
(16:25):
obedience is disobedience." AndI think there's so many ways in
which we think we're obeyingwhen we're really not.
And the Lord just startedshowing me some examples of
those.
I wanna rattle some of those offthat he showed me last night.
The first one that I got wascounterfeit obedience.
Mm.
You heard the story of thelittle boy?
The teacher tells him to sitdown, and eventually he decides
to sit down...
(16:46):
but he tells the teacher, I maybe sitting down on the outside,
but I'm really standing up onthe inside.
Yeah.
That, that.
So it's about the spirit.
It's not just about what we do.
Yeah.
It's the attitude with which wedo it.
Exactly.
It's not just about ouremotions, it's about our
motives.
Yes.
It's not just our lips.
Matthew 15:8 says,"You honor Godwith your lips, but your heart
(17:07):
is far from me." Right?
That's counterfeit obedience.
That's lip service.
That's lip service.
Literally.
Here's a few more...
controlling obedience.
I'll do what God says, but I'mgonna do it...
my way.
Mm.
Like he told you to go left,right then straight to get to
your destination.
But you said to yourself,"Well,isn't the shortest distance
between two points a straightline?" And you just go straight
(17:27):
mm.
You end up at the samedestination, but you did not do
it his way.
Right.
And you also missed out on theblessing along the way that he
had in store for you.
Come on.
That we have no idea about.
That's controlling obedience.
Then coincidental obedience.
You just so happen to have donesomething in line with the will
of God, but it's not like youheard an instruction and made a
conscious decision to obey.
Convenient obedience.
(17:48):
If obeying God fits in with whatyou already have planned, then
you'll do it just as long as youdon't have to go out of your way
to obey.
Oh...
I know..
That's convicting.
What about conditionalobedience?
If God does this for me, thenI'll do that for him.
That's conditional.
Mm-hmm.
Come on.
These are, these are not trueobedience.
Right.
Circumstantial obedience.
It depends.
(18:09):
Maybe I obey God when it comesto my marriage, but I'm not
trying to obey him when it comesto my money.
That's conditional.
Right.
Right.
Or maybe I'll obey him when itcomes to my friends, but I'm not
gonna do what he tells me to dowhen it comes to my enemies.
I got a couple of more.
Credit obedience.
I cracked up when he told methis credit.
I know...
Credit?
What in the world?
Essentially you're obeying Godnow, so he'll bless you later.
(18:32):
That's credit.
He knows the motive of ourheart.
Exactly.
Doesn't work that way either.
And then we finally get to somegood ones, some committed
obedience.
You've made the decision thatyou want to obey God.
You're reading his word, you'relistening to his voice and
you're ready to respond.
You made the commitment, you'reready to obey.
Susan Dies (18:48):
That's right.
That's the love the Lord yourGod..
Mm-hmm...
with all your heart..
Mm-hmm...
with all your soul, with allyour mind, and all your
strength.
Keidra Hobley (18:54):
Yeah.
I think that also falls intoconsistent obedience.
'Cause we can be committed andstill not be consistent.
Consistent.
Yeah.
So consistent obedience...
when you've died to self.
You know your life is not yourown.
You live to serve Christ and toobey His every instruction with
the help of the Holy Spirit.
You give him your"Yes" before heeven gives you his instruction.
(19:16):
Yes.
Like that's consistentobedience.
Susan Dies (19:18):
I love that.
Yeah.
I love that.
That leads into why it's soimportant for us to obey God.
Yeah.
Because it demonstrates our lovefor him.
Mm-hmm.
It demonstrates our trust inhim.
It demonstrates our faith inhim, but most of all, it
glorifies him..
Amen...
in this world.
I was thinking about the factthat every good and healthy
relationship is built on loveand trust.
(19:40):
Yeah.
Like we cannot love someone anydeeper than we can trust them.
Mm.
Yeah.
And trust is based on truth andtruth is based, not on words,
but on actions.
Yeah.
Because it's what we do thatreveals our true heart.
And so it's the same in ourearthly relationships as it is
in our relationship with God.
What we do reveals what's reallyin our hearts, and that's why
(20:04):
our obedience to God is soimportant.
We can say that we love him allday long.
Yeah.
But love for God is demonstratedby our willingness to love him
through our obedience.
That's so good.
How bout the Benefits andblessings of obedience?
Yeah.
There's an old saying"Good isits own reward", but you know
what?
God wants to give us more thanthat.
Yep.
A lady named Stacy Salisbury, onThe Revive Our Hearts website,
(20:27):
was talking about Psalm 119Mm-hmm.
And she mentioned about 20benefits that go along with our
obedience.
And I'm not gonna read all ofthese..
Mm-hmm...
but I am gonna post'em on ourwebsite..
Okay, good...
so when people go to listen tothis podcast, if they look at
the transcript or they look atour show notes, they're gonna be
able to find these verses andthese different benefits.
But listen to some of these: Verse 2 joy and happiness. (20:48):
undefined
Mm-hmm.
"Blessed or happy are those whokeep his word." Yeah.
And that's so true.
We're happier when we're doingwhat God's asked us to do
because we have a clearconscience.
Right?
Yeah.
Obedience keeps us from sinning.
Mm-hmm.
That's just the bottom line.
You know, we want to do what Godwants us to do and anything
(21:09):
that's outside of God's will isa sin..
Yeah...
no matter how big or how little,whether it's a thought, whether
it's an attitude of the heart orwhether it's something we
actually say or do.
Yeah.
All sin caused Jesus to have togo to the cross.
Yes.
And so it is a big deal.
It may not seem like a big dealto us, but it's a huge big deal
to God because it cost himeverything.
Yeah.
(21:29):
God's word is free counseling.
Mm-hmm.
"Your law is my delight.
They are my counselors." Youknow, we could save some money,
couldn't we?
Come on...
a lot of money?
Obedience guards againstselfishness.
Obedience gives us hope.
We've talked about the fact thatobedience gives us freedom.
I like this word picture inverse 45.
"I shall walk in a spaciousplace for I have sought your
(21:51):
precepts." You know, we're notboxed in..
Yeah...
or restricted.
God says, we shall walk in aspacious place.
Comfort in times of trouble.
"Your promises give me life"verse 50.
Beautiful.
Something to sing about.
"Your statutes have been mysong" is what it says.
It's an anchor for our hearts.
We talked about that on ourpodcast on Hope.
Mm-hmm.
Verse 81,"I hope in your word."Verse 93,"I will never forget
(22:15):
your precepts, for by them youhave given me life." Verse 106.
Your word is a lamp into myfeet..
Yeah...
and a light unto my path." Ittells us exactly what to do..
Right...
and what not to do.
It acts as a shield around us.
I love this word picture...
verse 114.
"You are my hiding place and myshield." Mm-hmm.
And then finally, it gives uspeace.
(22:35):
And so this is not an exhaustivelist, but these are a lot of
incredible benefits that we getwhen we're willing to obey God.
But What if we've been living indisobedience?
Yeah.
Because we all have...
to some degree or another, atone point in time or another, we
struggle with this.
We just wanna remind you todaythat our God is gracious.
All we have to do is ask him forforgiveness.
(22:57):
Yeah, we can do that today.
We don't have to waste any moretime.
God is waiting and ready toforgive us and to cleanse us
from our sin.
And so my question today as wecome to a close is really, what
is one thing that God's askingyou to do today?
Just do that one thing.
Just begin today...
to experience the less guilt.
Yeah.
And the less shame and the lessregret.
(23:19):
Let's give our whole heart andlife to God and allow him to
give us the fresh start thatonly he can give.
Let him wash us clean.
Let him lift our head.
And go and send no more.
Yes.
That doesn't mean that we'regonna live this life in perfect
obedience.
Yeah.
And God's not asking us forperfect.
He is perfect.
(23:39):
He's perfecting us day by day,choice by choice.
And one day we will be perfect,as he is perfect, when we get to
heaven.
But until then, he's simplyasking for us to love him with
our whole heart, and if we'll dothis, then we will obey him more
often than not.
Yeah.
And the more we obey him, themore we're gonna experience his
goodness.
(23:59):
The last thought I wanna leaveus with today is this: obedience
is not the way to earn salvationor the way that we earn God's
love.
Our obedience is simply ourresponse to God out of a heart
of gratitude for God..
Yeah...
for the gifts of His grace andHis mercy and his salvation out
of his love for us.
So beautiful.
Keidra Hobley (24:19):
Amen.
Father, we thank you so muchjust for the privilege and
opportunity that we get to obeyyou.
Oh yes.
We thank you that yourinstruction is for our
protection, that you know theend from the beginning.
So Father, we just surrenderright now, all of our thoughts,
all of our will.
Dear Lord, we surrender andrelinquish control..
Mm-hmm...
so that we can be led by you andwe choose to fully obey you.
(24:43):
We thank you for it.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Susan Dies (24:47):
Well, this topic of obedience was a lot to take in
today, but we hope that you wereencouraged by what you heard and
if you were we just wannaencourage you to share the link
to our podcast with others sothat they too can be encouraged.
And if you have an extra minutetoday, we'd love to hear from
you.
You can leave us a comment, arating, or a review right from
the platform that you use tostream our podcast, or you can
(25:09):
go to oneyesatatime.net andleave us a text.
We'd love to hear from you.
In the meantime, keep loving Godwith your whole heart, put his
word into practice, obey him,and find out for yourself just
how incredibly good and faithfulour God is.
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