From His Heart

Jeff Schreve: We're in a series on attitude. And today we want to talk about the attitude of obedience. The attitude that says, "Yes, Lord. Now what's the question? Yes, Lord. Now what's the command? Yes, Lord. Now what's the request?" I just have an attitude of, "Yes, Lord. Yes, yes, Lord." Amen. Do you have an attitude of obedience?

Larry Nobles: Perhaps one of the most loved hymns ever—at least it's in my top five—is the hymn, "Trust and Obey." "For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." And now you may be singing that tune all day. Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, he'll remind us of the power, the purpose, and the profound truth of that simple lyric.

The lesson today is called, "Trust and Obey," and it's from his series, "Attitude for Altitude," that we're in for the rest of this month. It's a lesson that'll point to the fact that we don't like to be told what we have to do and have to obey. We, at heart, are rebels. But today's truth will help us to see why trusting and obeying is really for your benefit and my benefit by far. Now if you miss any of this lesson, you can go to fromhisheart.org and click the "Listen" link. Turn in your copy of Holy Scripture to the Gospel of Luke chapter five as Pastor Jeff Schreve provides real truth about our real need to trust and obey.

Jeff Schreve: Do you have an attitude of obedience? Do you have an attitude that says, "God, what You say to me, that will I do"? Do you have an attitude when the Lord whispers, as He does to His children as it says in the book of Isaiah, "This is the way; walk in it," that you say, "I'll go that way, Lord. I'll do what You say"? Or do you have the attitude like so many who kick against the goads, who don't want to go in the direction the Lord wants them to go?

You know, the Scripture talks about that in Acts. That's what the Lord said to Paul: "Paul, it's hard to kick against the goads." The goad was that sharp, pointy stick that the person that was plowing used. When the oxen started to go in the wrong direction, he'd jab them in the ribs with this sharp, pointy stick. And what would the oxen do? He'd kick. But he'd kick behind, and he's getting jabbed in the side. So no matter how hard he kicks, he's not going to hit the goad. It's hard to kick against the goads. You're never going to be able to do it.

And is that kind of your attitude? You don't want to go in the direction the Lord wants you to go. You don't want to do what the Lord tells you to do. Jesus said in Luke chapter 6, verse 46, "And why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" Great question. "Hey, why do you say I'm your Lord and then you don't obey Me? Why do you call Me Master and King and then you don't do what I say?" That's the sad truth for so many who call themselves Christians. They say "Lord, Lord," but then they don't obey the Lord.

Why is that? Hey, maybe you're here today and you know that you're not obeying God. You know that your heart's attitude is not one of obedience. The Lord wants to speak to you. The Lord wants to encourage you. The Lord is not angry with you. He's not coming after you, but He wants to get you to have a heart that says, "Yes, Lord." Because a heart that says, "Yes, Lord" is a heart that experiences the fullness, the joy, the glory of God.

So let's look at a story in Luke chapter 5—a great story, one of my favorites in all of the Bible. And it teaches us about obedience and an attitude of obedience. God's word says this, Luke chapter 5, verse 1: "Now it came about that while the multitude were pressing around Him, Jesus, and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret," which is the Sea of Galilee. It's really a lake, but they call it the Sea of Galilee.

And He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the multitude from the boat. And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."

And Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but at Your bidding, at Your word, I will let down the nets." And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break. And they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink.

But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of the fish which they had taken. And so also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear. From now on, you'll be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

What does God want us to learn about obedience from this great passage of Scripture? I want you to notice with me three key lessons, three insightful lessons. Lesson number one: some people are too busy to obey. Not Peter, as we see from this story, but as you read between the lines, you see that some people are too busy, feel they're too busy to obey the Lord. "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not obey?" "Well, Lord, it's because I'm just so busy."

Now here's the picture. Jesus is there at the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. It's probably 9:00, 10:00 in the morning, something like that. The people are coming. There's a big crowd of people. Why are they coming to hear Jesus? It's because Jesus was healing people. Jesus was casting out demons. Listen, even in today's world, if you just tell people, "Hey, come, we're having a big healing service and so-and-so's going to be here and we think so-and-so might be able to heal, we think he has the gift of healing"—if people just think that somebody's going to come that could possibly heal them, you'll get a big crowd.

But now here's Jesus. He's not somebody that folks think what He might could heal. They know He can heal. He's healing people all over the place in the region of Galilee. And so He's got a huge crowd. And then He preaches. It's not just healing and casting out demons; it's sharing the word of God. And here is the sinless Son of God—the Word, as John calls Him in John chapter 1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." And the Bible says in Luke 5:1 that He is sharing the word of God. The Word of God, Jesus, is sharing the word of God.

The people are coming from everywhere, and there are so many people, the Bible says they're pressing in on Him. And He keeps having to back up to accommodate the crowd. He's getting ready to get into the water. And so what does He do? He sees two boats there, and one of them happens to be Simon's. The other one is probably James' or John's. They were all in the fishing business together—Peter and James and John, those three. And Jesus gets in the boat, and He says to Simon—Simon who is out of the boat, who has been fishing all night and is putting up for the day and is washing his nets—He says to Simon, "Hey, take me out a little way in the boat so that I can preach."

And Jesus wanted to get away from the shoreline, and He could do that from the boat. And water's a good conductor of sound, and He has this little amphitheater there and all these people and He can share the word of God with them. Now notice this. What is Peter doing when the Lord says, "Hey, put out a little way from the land so I can preach to the people"? What is Peter doing? He's washing the nets. He's washing this huge net that they used in fishing, this thing called a dragnet. That's how they fished back then. He was a professional fisherman, and that's what they used.

And so he's washing this net. And you had to do that every morning because you'd fish at night. You'd wash it in the morning, you'd clean it, you'd mend it, and then you'd dry it out because if you didn't do that, the net—in the materials that they used to make it—the net would rot and the net would not be any good. So you had to do that every time you used it. So here's Peter, and he's busy. And the Lord says to him, a very small request but it's still a request, He says, "Hey, put out a little way from the land."

That required Peter to put down his nets, put down what he was doing, get in the boat, move it back some, stabilize it so Jesus could sit down and speak and preach to the people. And Peter did it. But did you know that there are some people in our world, in our city, perhaps in this room, watching on television, listening on radio, watching on the internet, and they're so busy with their nets? They are washing their nets, so to speak. They're so busy with their lives that they don't have time to drop everything and do that for Jesus.

They're focused on their own thing. Peter was focused on the nets. He was washing the nets, but when Jesus said, "Hey, I need you to do this," he put down the nets and he got into the boat and he stabilized it for the Lord and he got it in the right distance for the Lord so He could speak to the multitudes. Hey, let me ask you: how focused are you on your things, on your agenda? How busy are you with your life and what you want to do?

Lots of people are so focused on their nets and the Lord asks them to do something, they're like, "I can't do that, Lord. I'm busy here. I'm working here. Do you not see that I'm working here, Lord? How dare You ask me to drop everything I'm doing to do for You?" Too busy for the Lord. Hey, what's more important: cleaning nets so you can catch fish, or preaching the Gospel to catch people? I love what J. Vernon McGee says about this passage and about Jesus getting into Peter's boat. He says every pulpit is a fishing boat, a place to give out the word of God and attempt to catch fish.

Larry Nobles: Did you catch that? Do you understand that putting first things first—God's things first—is God's plan for you and for me? This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve, and today's lesson, "Trust and Obey," part one. He'll be back in just a moment to continue this second part of today's broadcast. Do you have trouble trusting and obeying God? When people answer yes to that question, their lives are usually, honestly, a mess.

Have you ever noticed how hard life can be when you're disobedient to God? Are you tired of the trouble? Are you tired of the struggle? Are you tired of the constant battle? The inability to handle grief and sorrow and depression and illness and loss of opportunity and so much more is so difficult. Listen, this month we have some very special resources from Pastor Jeff to help you overcome the obstacles before you and to get your life back on track.

For your special gift of support to From His Heart this month of any amount, we'd like to say thank you by sending you Pastor Jeff's five-lesson series, "Life Goes On: How to Face a New Normal." And you can get it in the format of your choice. And we'll also send you the companion full-length book, "Life Interrupted." Again, both for your gift today. Pastor Jeff receives no income from this ministry. He is strictly a volunteer.

Everything you give goes to helping us share these lessons on over 800 radio stations in the US alone, not to mention around the world on television and online. Listen, it's only because of our faithful partners that we're able to be here each day. To get yours, go to fromhisheart.org and simply make that gift. You can also call 866-40-BIBLE—866-40-BIBLE. And thank you for your generosity today to join us in reaching the world with the love of Jesus. Now let's get back to the second half of today's lesson called, "Trust and Obey."

Jeff Schreve: Hey, are you so focused on your job that you don't have time to obey the Lord? Are you so focused on your schoolwork you don't have time to obey the Lord? You don't have time to seek the Lord. You don't have time to gather with other believers and worship the Lord. "I'm just too busy. I just have all this stuff going on. I don't have time for that. I'm too busy with sports. I'm too busy with my workout. I'm too busy with my activities. I'm too busy with my family to have time for the things of God, to obey the Lord and do the things that He wants me to do." Wow, too busy.

You know how you can tell if you're too busy, if you're just so focused on your own thing that you're losing sight of the things of God? The folks that are like that—the too-busy crowd, the too-focused-on-their-own-thing crowd—they tend to view the Lord's requests, the Lord's commands as an imposition on their life. "Oh, well, I can't believe You'd ask me to put down the nets. I'm working! I've worked all night and now I'm kind of in the wind-down stage and I've got to clean these nets and put them up so we can fish again tonight."

"And I need to go to bed. And so I don't really have time. And Lord, it's kind of an imposition. Can You not see that I'm working here, Jesus? I mean, why would You even ask me to stop what I'm doing to put You out in the boat and stabilize the boat for You? Why would You ask me to do that?" And you know, there are lots of people and they have all sorts of excuses as to why they don't obey the Lord in different areas of life.

See, what I've found is we'll obey God as long as we agree with it. But when we hit something where we don't agree with what God says to do, then we're like, "Nah, I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that." Well, why don't you? You ask people, "You know, you really need to be involved in what the Lord is doing in the church." "Well, I don't have time for that. See, I'm just so busy." "But you know, you really—the Bible says don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together." "Well, yeah, but you don't really realize my situation."

The Bible says seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. "Yeah, but Jeff, you don't understand. I mean, I've got to be at work early and I don't have time to spend time with God." All sorts of excuses. You know, in the Gospel of Luke chapter 14, Jesus tells a parable about a man who is giving a feast, and he was inviting people to his feast. And it says, "But they all alike began to make excuses."

The first one said to him, "I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. Please consider me excused." And another one said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen and I'm going to try them out. Please consider me excused." And another one said, "I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come." Excuse, excuse, excuse. Let me ask you: do you make excuses as to why you don't obey God in things that He clearly asks you to do?

Very first insight: some people, they think, "I'm just too busy to obey." Insightful lesson number two: some people think they're too smart and they're too proud to obey. Now look at verse 4. It says, "When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, 'Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.'" And Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing."

What's the request? "Hey, I'm through preaching now." It's probably around noon, hottest part of the day. The sun is at its apex; it's beating down on the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus said, "Now put your nets out. Go into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Well, Peter is thinking to himself, "You know, Jesus, let me tell You something." This was going on in his mind. He didn't utter this, but you know he's thinking this.

"You know, You are a carpenter turned preacher. Now I've seen some of the things You've made; You're a great carpenter. You're a phenomenal preacher, incredible preacher. I mean, God is all over You." I don't think at this time Peter understood that Jesus Christ was and is God, but he knew that God was all over Him. "And so here You are, You're a carpenter turned preacher and You're incredible. But I'm a fisherman. I know about fishing. I know that you don't go fishing at noon. I know that you fish at night. And I know, Lord, there aren't any fish right around here."

"We fished all night and caught nothing. I know better than You do about this, Lord. I'm smarter than You are about this area, Lord. And you know, there's something within me, some fisherman's pride that says I'm not going to do this. This is stupid. This is dumb to let down the net." There are lots of people out there, they think they're just too smart, they're too independent, there's just too much "I've got to be me" within them, too much pride within them to do what the Lord says to do.

Folks like this think they know best. Peter, for sure, he thought he knew best. And if you had been a fisherman, you would have thought the same thing. If you had to decide between Jesus' way to fish and Peter's way to fish, we would have all said, "Yeah, Peter, he's the one that knows how to fish. Jesus, what's He know about fishing? I mean, how many carpenters know a lot about fishing? How many preachers know a lot about fishing? Peter's a fisherman. This is his boat. These are his nets. He knows what he's doing."

Lots of folks think well, they know what's best. They know what's best for their lives. And see, when the Lord comes and says, "This is what you're supposed to do," they kind of evaluate that in their minds because there's not this attitude of, "Yes, Lord." So they evaluate in their minds. "Hmm, that just doesn't sound right. I don't think that's a good thing. I don't think that's right for me." Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 16:25—the same verse; God lists it twice. It says this: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

Anytime you take the clear commands of God and you weigh them in the balance of your mind to determine whether you agree with that or not, whether you think that's right or not for you, and you decide, "No, not right for me. I know what's best. I know what will make me happy. And I'm going to do what I want to do." You know what you do when you do that? You take on the role and the persona and the decision-making of the prodigal son, who said to his father, "I can't sit around here forever waiting on you to die. Give me the share of the inheritance that falls to me."

And as soon as he got his money, he was out of there and he was on his way looking to satisfy his soul, looking to do the things that would make him happy, that would make him fulfilled. And you know where the road sign for "my way," you know where that heads? It always heads to the same place. It heads to the pigsty. You live life going your way, doing what you think is best for you when it's in clear contradiction to what God wants for you—where do you end up? Pigsty. Pigsty.

And now listen. Along the way to the pigsty, you'll experience some pleasure. Is there pleasure in sin? Of course there's pleasure in sin. I mean, the devil is too smart to go fishing without any bait on his hook. Of course there's some pleasure in sin. You talk to the catfish that's on the plate, if you could talk to him, say, "Hey, was there pleasure in that stink bait you grabbed onto?" He'd say, "It was pleasurable for a little bit. But it wasn't so pleasurable once I felt the hook. It wasn't so pleasurable once the fisherman gutted me. Then it wasn't so pleasurable."

But sin has pleasure for a season, for a time. And so here's the prodigal, and he's going and he's experiencing wine and he's experiencing women, he's experiencing all these sexual gratifications and pleasures of the flesh. And then it ends up, you know those things are over, and then boom, here I am and I'm broke and I've got nothing and I'm at the pigsty. Hey, prodigal, how'd this work out for you? Going your own way, doing your own thing, saying phooey on God's commands? "I'm going to do what I want to do because I know what's best for me."

How'd that turn out for you? "I'm longing to eat pig slop. Nobody's giving me anything. I have gone to the far country. I am so far from where God wants me to be." There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Larry Nobles: When we're so intent on seeking our way and not God's, we're always headed for disaster. Never seems that way at first, does it? Until we've hit rock bottom in a far country. Well, Pastor Jeff's not finished with this lesson. Be here tomorrow for part two of "Trust and Obey." And remember that for your gift this month to From His Heart of any amount, we'll send you Pastor Jeff's series, "Life Goes On: How to Face a New Normal," and the companion full-length book, "Life Interrupted."

Just go to fromhisheart.org or call 866-40-BIBLE and get these resources in the format of your choice. Well, I'm Larry Nobles, and we hope you'll be back on Thursday as we continue to discover the power that we can have when we trust and obey. Here's part of what we'll hear then.

Jeff Schreve: Do you have an attitude of obedience? Do you have an attitude that says, "God, what You say to me, that will I do"? Or do you have the attitude like so many who don't want to go in the direction the Lord wants you to go, you don't want to do what the Lord tells you to do? That's the sad truth for so many who call themselves Christians. They say "Lord, Lord," but then they don't obey the Lord. Why is that? Join us tomorrow as we open God's word to share From His Heart.