Obedience? - Associate Pastor Matt Passmore - May 10, 2026

Sermon from Associate Pastor Matt Passmore on Sunday morning, May 10, 2026.

Ministering to the heart of the Western Arkansas River Valley for over 165 years. Welcome to Chapter and First- the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church, you'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg Addison, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. Thank you for listening!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church. You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. Thank you for listening.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Man, I am honored today to be a part of this. Some of you are saying, Well, it's Mother's Day. Why didn't the pastor preach? Well, uh these kids have been a part of my life for many years. And now I get to uh close it with them as they head off to school. And I cannot be more excited. Thank you for the privilege of doing this, and I'm honored. But first off, before we do that, it makes me think of, as Mother's Day, it makes me think of my mom, how grateful I am of my mom, how grateful I am of my wife. But you know what? I think about how great my mom was and how she helped me do really become the person that I am. Probably the greatest influence in my life. But I also think about all the ladies over the years that taught me in vacation Bible school, that taught me in Sunday school, taught me in different areas. When I would go over to friends' house, they would discipline me as well. How many mothers or ladies in my life have influenced me, and I am so grateful of that. But also, many of you don't know, some of many of you do. I was a children's pastor for years before, five years ago on back. And um, I will say this women, moms, thank you for what you do in our church.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

When something needs to be done, the women take care of it. And I am so grateful today. We want to honor you, but I want to say thank you. And so then it takes me to these seniors. When they gave me this list of seniors who were all going to be in the seniors, I got to look in, and did you know almost every one of them? I think there was 12. 10 of the 12 I took to camp. Or I did vacation Bible school, or I taught them. As they come across and I shake their hand and they're being taller than me. I don't see them that way. I want to show you what I see them as. Can we show some of these pictures? So you can see now a little bit how it means a little bit more. I went to camp, I've cleaned off boo-boos, I've seen them pull their teeth, I have um seen them cry, and we had to call mom at camp, and now all of a sudden they're coming across taller than me, shaking my hand and with a deeper voice than I have. So I am grateful to be a part of today. And so as we were preparing for today, thinking about what message or what should I say that includes moms that also includes kids. And I just, oh, I forgot one. I have to show this picture because the leader that was up here doing all the talking, this is Abigail Woodry. I took her to camp when she was in third grade, and when I was flipping through and saw pictures, I had to show you that picture. Thank you, video, for not passing that by. So that's Abigail Woodring, our leader, and so grateful for Abigail. She did a great job today. But as I was preparing for today's message, I was thinking, what can I tell seniors? What can I tell parents? What can I tell all people? And so I think about this: the word obedience. And when I think of the word obedience, I want to put a question mark at the back because sometimes do we understand what obedience is? You know, the other day I was at a funeral and pastor uh Brother Dale was preaching the funeral, and Brother Dale said, What is truth? The world's trying to tell you this is truth, your truth is more important than that truth. The same thing with obedience. What is obedience? And so many times we get wrapped up in what does the world say about obedience, or what does our friend say about obedience, or what does the book say about obedience, but we forget sometimes to do what? What does God say about obedience? What does the Bible say about obedience? And so today I want to dive into obedience, but I want to start with a story. If you have your Bibles, take out your Bibles, if you will, and will you open it to 1 Chronicles 13? 1 Chronicles 13. And as you're flipping there, can I just pray so that the Lord will bless this service, please? Pray with me as you're flipping to 1 Chronicles. Dear God, I thank you so much for these seniors. Lord, just thank you for their lives and just thank you for their families, and Lord, just thank you for the picture of the Bible and how just the picture of parents investing in their kids. Their kids are growing, and just like the little girl said, it just keeps on going. They become parents and they have kids. And Lord, we ask you to bless that. Lord, we ask you today, as we think of obedience and we study obedience, Lord, help us today leave here different because you spoke to us, not because Matt spoke to us. Lord, use our time together to challenge us and encourage us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Now, in this story here, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about it. I was gonna read it, but then all the towns and all the people, it was just gonna be brutal. So I just thought, I'll tell you part of the story. So um, so King David was around, and all of a sudden he was already, he was the king of all of Israel. He things were going pretty good, and he thought, you know what? I need to go get the Ark of the Covenant. We need to go get that and bring it back. In fact, if you read through some of this, he says this, he goes, We haven't done anything with the Ark of the Covenant for a while. In fact, we didn't do anything during Saul. We need to go get it. Why was the Ark of the Covenant so important? Because all those years the Israelites were marching through, it was God's mercy seat. Between the two cherim angels, it's the Bible says that God sat right there. This was God, in fact, no one could go into the presence whenever they wanted to. It was God's presence here on earth. So it was important to them. And so David's like, let's go get it. So he get, whoa, just like David, he gets the leaders together and he says, Let's, what do you guys think? Should we go get it? You think it pleases the Lord? And the men said this, yeah, I think we should go get it. So the Bible says they go get it, they find it, and they're about to carry it back to Israel, and that's where I want to read. If you'll join me, we're gonna be in 1 Chronicles 13, beginning in verse 7. So they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab. And Yuza and Ahio drove the cart. Then David and all of Israel played music before God and all with all their might, with singing on harps and stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets. When they came to the Kidon's threshing floor, Uzziah put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uriah Uzah, and he struck him because he put his hand to the ark, and he died there before God. And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Yuzah. Therefore they placed, therefore, that place is called Perez Yuzah to this day. David was afraid of God that day, saying, How can I bring the ark of God to me? As we read that, I think there's a few points I want to just bring out just right away. I think one of the first things we see here is good intentions are no substitute for obedience. Good intentions are no substitutes for obedience. Now, we think about this just for a second. I really truly think David had good intentions. David went with a good heart to go get the Ark of the Covenant. He even seeked counsel. He went to the men and said, What do you think? Should we go get it? And then they did something special. They went with a new cart. They didn't even use an old cart. They went with a new cart to do what? Put the ark on it and carry it away. The problem is in Numbers 4.15, when they were told how to carry the ark, it said a certain group of men, the Levites, were to carry it, but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die. Listen, we have to be very careful that our worship or our time with the Lord becomes all about us. As the band here was practicing today. By the way, the band did awesome. Thank you guys. But I will tell you this there were some nerves up here on the stage. In fact, one of them said, Do you get nervous? And I said, I stay nervous. But you know what I was able to encourage them? Because listen, them singing today was not about them. It was about leading us to worship. So good intentions are no substitute for obedience. Number two, responding to our mistakes says a lot about us. That's important. Responding to our mistakes says a lot about us. We see here right away what did David do as soon as Yuza reached up and touched and died. It said he became angry. Then it says he was in fear. Now this fear is not the righteous, holy fear that we're called to be in. This fear is like scared. Look with me in 1 Chronicles, right there where we're at, 1 Chronicles 13, 12. Listen to what David says. How can I bring the ark of God home to me? Let me read that one more time. This is David saying this. How can I bring the ark of God home to me? Does God need that ark? Did Israel need that ark? They had God. And David's thinking, you know what? If we're not careful, it can always be, or we can change it to be about us. So as we see here, when God is disciplining us, or we're going through a trial or a temptation, the first place we should go is to God and ask what? What have I done? I need help. And we're going to see David eventually gets there as we continue. Okay? Number three. We see in here, what does the presence of God look like? Verse 3, or the third point, what does it look like to seek God's presence? We see that David thought he was doing good. He got his guys together. He said, What should we do? He even says, if you read up there, he even says something along the lines of, well, if it pleases God, let's go do it. But the part he had forgot about was what? Seeking God. Let me read a passage. This is David. This is David also. But look at the difference here. This is when David seeked God. Now he does it a lot through scripture, but this is one of them. And this is just right after here. Listen to, just listen to this. 1 Chronicles 14, verse 9. Then the Philistines went and made a raid on the valley of Rephiim. And David inquired God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands? See the difference? He didn't go to a group of guys and say, Do you think God wants us to go fight them? He went straight to God and said, What? Hey God, should we do this today? What does the presence of God look like? It looks like it's all about Him and less about us. Listen to what Psalms 105 says. Now listen to this real quick. Psalms 105, David wrote it. Now David went to get the ark twice. Okay, and we're going to get into that. He went this first time, Yuza died, and then eventually he's going to go back and get it again. When he goes back and get it again, during that time, you remember they're praising and worshiping, and David writes this Psalm. Listen to what David writes at this time. This is Psalms 105.4. Seek the Lord and his strength and seek his face evermore. Having a heart that longs for God puts us in the presence of God. Did you hear that? Having a heart for God puts us in the presence of God. How many of you in the morning have read your Bible? And honestly, you shut your Bible. I read my Bible today. But you read that just a lot for yourself. I've been there. But have you ever read the Bible? And I love our the study we're doing with the five questions before we start. It just prepares us for reading our Bible. Says, Lord, help me today as I hear your word, help your word change my thoughts, my actions, my desires. If there's something in my life that is wrong, point that out to me. And it gets us ready for our time of reading. Just yesterday I was reading it in the Psalms and just being encouraged, and then I read in a little bit of the same story in 1 Samuel. And it's funny, when my heart is ready to go into my quiet time, how much more I get out of my quiet time. And it never fails. When my heart is right in my quiet time, guess what? I do a lot better job of responding throughout the day. And guess what? It has very little to do with me. It's because I'm in the presence of the Lord. He changed me that morning, and guess what? It carries on throughout the day. I was telling the students I was able to talk to them on Wednesday. It's amazing how I can do the same thing twice and have a different reaction. When I'm in the presence of the Lord and having a quiet time, let's say later on the day I can be hammering and I can smash my thumb, and let me tell you, it still hurts. But I'm controlled. But have you ever been there those times that I'm not in the presence of the Lord, not having my quiet time, and I hit my thumb and it still hurts, and things come out of my mouth that should not? What's the difference? It's the picture of what I'm trying to say here. What does it look like to seek God's presence? And then number four, I think a huge thing that we take for granted, granted, is God is holy. Think about that just for a second. I think Isaiah 40, I could have read the whole Isaiah 40, but I'm only going to read one verse. But listen to this. Isaiah 40, 28 says this. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. You know, as we started reading, I've never really got into this, but as we started reading this, the chronological Bible this time, I've never even noticed this, but what do they call God? Yahweh. But if you really look at it, when they talk about God, they don't even use vows in Yahweh because there is no word that can describe God and who He is and His holiness. And so many times, and myself included, if I'm not careful, me and God are on the same level. We're peers. I forget sometimes the righteous, reverence, fear that I should have of the holy, just, perfect God. I was at a student deal one time, and the guy was up giving a testimony, and he was doing a good job, and then all of a sudden he says, I have such a great relationship with God, I don't call him God anymore. I call him G Dog. And I started looking around for lightning. You hear what you do now. God wants a relationship with us, but not to the point that I change him to be like me. So then that leads us to number five. God's presence brings blessings. And it starts with this the holy, just perfect God wants a relationship with me. You know, that blows my mind. I can sit up here with my pink tie on and impress you, which I'm probably not, but I can. If you knew what was going on here and sometimes in here, you would be with me realizing how in the world can a holy, just, perfect God want to have a relationship with me. You get where I'm going with this? The holy, just, perfect. And this is why the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God loved us so much that He gave us a way to still what? Have a relationship with Him. Students, what a gift! And many of you, we've been I've been fortunate to get to baptize you. And so many times we can get running so fast it becomes about us and we forget about who God is and the love that God has for us. God's presence is not to bring judgment, even though it can. God's presence is to bring about a blessing. Listen to what happens forward, some, in 1 Chronicles 15, 13. David says this. Because we did not consult him about the proper order, the right procedure. David finally realized what? He forgot everything except who God was. And if I understand right, I was not there, but it was a party when they did it right. Um About a year and a half ago. Well, actually, about two years ago or so, my daughter and my son-in-law had a baby. And it was for a year he stayed in the NICU, just battling through different things. And Lisa and I's anniversary was coming up, and we were praying through should we go, should we stay? He was doing better at that time, still in the hospital, so we went 10 hours away. And we were having a great time. And all of a sudden, Pacey calls and says, Hey dad, they've put Caseen on palatal, or they're thinking about putting Caseon on palatal care. There's nothing else they can do. We're supposed to call the family. I'll never forget. We get the phone call, we're 10 hours away, we get in the car, we start driving. And I'm just going to tell you, it's easy for me to look at the story of David and be critical of David, but in this particular instance, when the call came, I'll be honest, when I got in the car, I was angry at God. I was mad. God, really? We've battled for almost a year, and we're still gonna do this, and now we're gonna call in the family. Now he's not gonna make it. And we start gradually driving, not talking. And I switch from anger, and I see in Davis to a fear like I'll be honest, I was doubting what I believe. I was frustrated. And about five hours into it, the Lord started saying, I got this. And when we talk about just being in his presence, we were listening to the Christian radio station, just hearing songs as we drove, the Lord just kept. For by the time we get to Little Rock to go into the hospital, I was in a way different place. Because I realized how holy God was, that he knew what was best for me. I just need to let him be God. I walked in the hospital, we said a prayer, because I had no idea what was going to be said. But I was to the point now, if God wanted to take Case and He knew what was best for Caseon, if he was going to leave Casein, he knew what was best for Matt Passmore. And I had to get into the point or the space in my life that he was holy and he knew what was best. Today, as we close, listen to this. Obedience to God proves our love for him, it demonstrates our faithfulness to him and glorifies him to the world. And it opens avenues of blessing for us. Listen, as we look at David's story, the first time he messed up, but our gracious, perfect God forgave him, gave him a second chance, and the second time he was able to bring it back successfully, and the whole time he did that, he honored and he praised the Lord. If you'll bow your heads with me today, bow your heads. Maybe there's an area in your life that you realize, whether that's through things you're going through your life, or just an area in your life that you know you're living in rebellion with God, and you've got to realize that God wants a relationship with you, and He is a holy, just God, and we should be grateful for that relationship. So today I just want you to get right with God. Get where are you at? And then I want to say this if you have never came to know Christ today, I want to challenge you today. We're gonna have men in the aisles, Pastor Leonard, to come pray with. Dear God, I just come before you today. Thankful for your word. Thank you that you want to have a relationship with us, and Lord, thank you that you are holy and perfect. Lord, we want to come before you today and worship you as we sing and honor you as you sing, because living in your presence is so much better than living in our own.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name we're praying. Amen. We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus. Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you. Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can. Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.