Episode 19- How to Respond

In this episode we are staying in alignment with what we have been talking about, but taking it in a different direction. Today, I want to show you what responding looks like so that we know when we are correctly doing it to properly partner with whatever God is wanting to do. How we respond greatly determine our outcome. Listen in. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

It is all about Jesus, you've done this. Jesus, you've done that. You were faithful to me when I wasn't faithful to you. You made a way where there seems to be no way. You talked to this person that I have wronged, and you have made it right. You've helped me make it right. You have given me favor on the job. You've given me favor in the interview. You've given me favor with relationships. We we rehearse, we reflect on all these things that God has done and what he is currently doing, and we cannot help but actually respond by doing whatever he tells us to do. So over the last couple of episodes, about seven, I believe, we've been talking about the third and final belief system that I believe is essential in navigating the Christian life. We believe in the word, we believe in the importance of the word, we believe in what it's what it says, we believe that God is good because we have read that in his word. And because we know his word and we know that he's good, we are responding to that goodness, right? And so over the last episodes, I've laid it down, I've given you examples, I've given you kind of like what it what it actually is. But over the next couple of episodes, I want to I want to take a step in a different direction. I'm not leaving this uh because I do believe that it is important, but if I'm gonna say that responding to Christ, responding to Christ and what he has done is one of the most crucial things that we have to understand to navigate the Christian life in order to work with him, in order to partner with him, in order to move with him, in order to receive from him. If I believe responding to Christ is one of the main things that we need to understand and need to learn, then I need to actually show you how this works. So, over the course of this episode, my goal is to give you practical examples on where it shows in scripture where we how are we supposed to respond to Christ. How do we respond to God? Right? The next episode, if I don't have time on this episode, I'm gonna show you what it's not. I'm gonna show you uh what we do as Christians that we believe is responding to Christ, but in actuality, it's actually trying to get Jesus to respond to us. Okay? So to step into this, I want to preface this before we get into the scriptures and actually start seeing some examples. I want to re-establish some key concepts before that I've already shown you in the previous episodes, but I just want to do a quick summary so that we are all on the same page for those of you that might be just chiming in on this episode. So, first things first, the mandate of the New Testament is us responding to him. Well, and by definition, if we are responding, that means something has already happened. Right? Either something has already happened, or there is a course of action that is currently happening, and we are moving alongside the person that is doing the action. So that is what it means to respond. Okay? So if we are responding to Jesus, what that means is that we are aware of what he has already done or what he is currently doing. Those are the two things that we need to understand. That's what we are responding to. We are not trying, because this is where we get this is where we get into a pit, a pitfall, this is where we get into a hole, a ditch. We're not trying to get God to do something. He's already done it. What did Jesus say on the cross? It is finished. Well, what is finished? What is finished? My healing is finished, my prosperity is finished, my sound mind is finished, great direction, my peace, my joy, my love, everything that pertains to life and godliness, everything that we need to live this life in abundance, but also to navigate the the trips, the difficulties, the fires, the floods, everything that we require to live this life to the fullest has already been given to us in Christ. But our response is according to what we are aware that Jesus has already given to us. Okay? So again, we are responding to what he has already done or what he is currently doing. Our response is not trying to get God to do something for us. We are not trying to get him to respond to us. We are responding to him. Getting God to respond to us is a meth is a mandate of the Old Testament, right? But we are not going towards the cross like those in the Old Testament. We are coming from the cross, right? So we do everything, our responses, our actions are responses to what Jesus has already done on the cross or what he is currently doing because of the cross. Okay? So that's why it's important for us to understand what is recorded in the word, that we've rightly divided everything, and we understand what is going on. Okay? So, with that being said, let's look at some examples in scripture that express this very well. Okay? Now, if you have your Bibles with you, if you're not driving or anything, uh go with me to the book of Joshua, chapter 24. Now I kind of want to give you a preface on this. I want to kind of give you an idea of what is going on. Um in the book of Joshua, it's all about moving into the promised land to basically possess it. Okay? That was the whole point of the book. Um, in the the first five books of the Bible, uh, especially when we talk about Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, it's the people are moving from Egypt, they're getting the law, they're getting God's standards of living, and they're wandering through the wilderness because they didn't go in and possess the land the way God wanted them to. And so now we get to Joshua, and they have been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, they're ready to go, and Moses is dead, and so Joshua leads the children of Israel into the promised land to take possession of the land that God has promised them since Abraham. Okay? Now, there is a theme in the book of Joshua where God consistently reminds them of everything that he does for them, not only in Egypt, but how he fights for them and with them in the battle. And I want to want you one, what I want you to do is I want you to connect this to our everyday living as Christians. When we start talking about the battle, I want you to kind of connect this and say, okay, and to see that the same way that God fought battles for the children of Israel, he has fought battles for us, right? And in the same method that he fights battles with Israel, it is the same pattern in which he fights with us. Okay? So I don't want you to disconnect and just say, okay, this is just a story in the Old Testament. No, no, no, no, no. No, no. This is a blueprint of how God still works today. Okay? So I am going to read chapter 24, verses 8, and I'm going to go all the way through 18. Okay, so bear with me. Now, in the first part of this, Jesus, I mean, God is basically explaining and basically reminding them of everything that he's done. Okay? Verse 8. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them, destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balam the son of Baor to curse you. But I would not hearken unto Balam, therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand. And you went over Jordan and came unto Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites and the Pharisites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Gergeshites, the Hivites, the Jubasites, and I delivered them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, not with thy bow bow. And I have given you a land, I love this part, verse thirteen. And I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you built not, and you dwell in them. If the vineyards and olives which you planted you did not eat. I'm going to read that again. I have given you a land for which you did not labor. I want to just emphasize this, guys, and this is even in the Old Testament. And how much better is this in the New Testament? We receive things from God that we cannot earn. We have, and this would be a good scripture for you to remember memorize, to go back to the confession piece I said at the very beginning of this podcast. This would be a great verse for you to write down and bring it to memory. For I have given you a land for which you do not labor. I have given you cities which you have not built, and you dwell in them. He has given us a life that we could not earn or deserve, and yet we live in it. Right? And of the vineyards and olives which you planted, you do eat. Not you do eat. Now, verse 14. So he has done all this. He's delivered the children of Israel from the Parasites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Gurkishites, the Hiphites, all the otherites. He's he's delivered them all. He's he's he gave them an example of what he did, of how he delivered them, all that stuff. Okay? Now look at verse 14. Now, therefore, the word therefore is our is your indicator to say, okay, this is what we're to respond to. This is our response to what God has done. Now, what has God done? Key thing, what has he done? We're not responding to, we're not trying to get him to do something, he has already done something. So in this scripture, what has he done? He's delivered them out of the Amorites, he's done, he's given them all the land, and so this is our response. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. For the Lord our God, he he it is that brought up out brought up our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwell in the land. Therefore, we will serve the Lord, for he is our God. Okay? So I want to emphasize this, guys. This scripture, this is the pattern that we should live in the New Testament. Yes, it's in the Old Testament, but just because we're New Testament believers does not mean we throw away the Old Testament. We just have to look at it with New Testament lenses, and that's what we're doing right now. Okay? God did, God delivered them out of the hands of all the natives in the Canaan, in Canaan, which is the promised land. He delivered them out of, and not only did he deliver them out of, he told them, I have delivered them to you as a possession. I have delivered, I have put their land to you. All you need to do is show up, do what I say, and you will take possession over what I have already given to you. Right? And that is the theme of the entire book of Joshua. And look at what they what look at what Joshua tells the people in response to the goodness of God, to him being faithful to what he promised to Abraham. What did Joshua tell them that they need to do? He said, serve him. Right? Serve him. Why do we serve him? Because he is worthy of our service because of what he has done. Right? This is the mandate, this is the blueprint of the New Testament believer. He has done it, therefore we honor him with serving. And here's the thing, guys. There's a scripture we're talking about in the Corinthians where it says, I'm gonna take a little side journey here, but this is what the Lord is leading me into. You know where it says uh husbands, I mean, wives, submit to your husbands, and husbands honor your wives as Jesus as Jesus honors the church. Or I'm sorry, husbands love your wives as Jesus loves the church, right? Okay, that is the same concept. Okay, wives should be making it easy for husbands to love their wives because they're submitting to them. But wives, I mean husbands, should be making it easy for the wives to submit because they love them, because the husbands love the wives. Well, how do the husbands love the wives? The same way that Jesus loves the church, giving his life for the church. So again, why wives should be making it easy for the husband to do their part, but in and but in the same way, husbands should be making it easy for wives to do their part, okay? And I take that back to the book of Joshua, where we just talked about. Jesus, I mean, God has made it easy for us to serve him. Why? Because he's just that good. Right? I'm gonna read verse 13 again, because it's just that good. And I have given you a land for which you do not labor, and cities which you have not built, and you dwell in them. I have given you a family that you have asked for, that I have given you children that you have asked for, I have given you a job that you have asked for, I have made a way where there seems to be no way, I have provided for your family, I have healed your body. We could go on and on and on of what God has done for us in our everyday lives. We can go on and on, and and and because of that, because of everything that he's done, even when we messed up, even when we screwed up, even when we tripped up, he was still there, he was still faithful. Why? Because our unfaithfulness does not cause him to be unfaithful. He is faithful, and that is his that is his only thing, as that is his only response to everything that we do. He is always faithful, he is always loving, he is always caring, he it is his nature, it is his character, he is always faithful to us. And because he is always that, we could go off the deep end, we could do we could screw up totally, but he never changes. And because he never changes, it is so once we get that in our mind, once we get that into our heart, it is so easy. It is so easy to yield to him, it is so easy to submit to him. Why? Because he has given his life to us. If you are struggling to obey, if you're struggling to yield to God in a specific area, it's because you do not realize what he has already done for you in that area. If you're struggling to, if you're struggling to yield to him in finances, you do not know what he's already done for you in finances. If you're struggling to yield to him in the directions of your life, you have not rehearsed the things that he has done for you in the past. Right? This is, I mean, I keep saying this, but this is literally the blueprint of the Christian. We look at what he has already done, and we use that as a channel to influence our response to him in the present. We look at the past, see what he has done, and we use that as an influence into our present and and to navigate our future. That is how we live. It is all about Jesus, you've done this, Jesus, you've done that. You were faithful to me when I wasn't faithful to you. You made a way where there seems to be no way. You talk to this person that I have wronged, and you have made it right. You've helped me make it right. You have given me favor on the job, you've given me favor in the interview, you've given me favor with relationships. We we rehearse, we reflect on all these things that God has done and what he is currently doing, and we cannot help but actually respond by doing whatever he tells us to do. Right? Look at go with me to Joshua chapter 10. Joshua chapter 10. If again, if you are um if you are not driving, please don't do this with you not driving. Okay. Look at this. Okay, Joshua chapter 10, verse 8. And now this is the specifics of a battle. They're about to actually go into battle, okay? So we've talked about uh just reflecting on everything, but let's look at a specific detail, okay? Verse 8. Chapter 10, verse 8. You know what? Look at verse 6, because verse 6 kind of sets the stage of the story, okay? So look at verse 6. And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slap not thy hand from thy servants, come up to us quickly and save us and help us. For all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mounds are gathered together against us. So the people of Gibeon are requesting Israel's help, okay? Because they're being uh attacked, they're being messed with by the Amorites, okay? So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of the war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord, and so here's what happened. This is what's going to happen before the battle. So the battle hasn't started yet, but Joshua is taking his men and they're about to get ready for battle. Okay? And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into your hand. Notice, battle hasn't happened, swords haven't hasn't clanged together, the battle has not even started, but God is telling Joshua, I have already done it. Okay? So again, our response is not what is not trying to get God to do something. Our response is based on what he has already done, right? Well, in this case, what has God already done? He has already given the Amorites into the hands of Joshua and the children of Israel. Okay? So this is why God's saying, do not be afraid, because I've already done it, right? Some of you might be going into a job interview, do not be afraid, because he's already done it. Some of you might be going into a difficult conversation, don't be afraid, because he has already done it. Right? That's our that's that's that's our response. Okay? So um, for I have delivered them into your hand. There shall not a man of them stand before you. Okay? Verse nine. Joshua, therefore, came unto them suddenly. In other words, he didn't hesitate, he didn't freak out, he didn't try to create a logical, tactical advantage. No, no, no. He said, he said, he was thinking, okay, God has already given them to me, so why am I wasting time? So he came, he comes unto them suddenly and went up from Gilgal all night. Now, look at verse 10 and verse 11. Now notice, verse 8, God says, I've given them to your hands, right? Verse 9 is Joshua's response to the certainty of victory. Right? As New Testament believers, we do not fight for victory, we fight from victory. Who has heard that statement? And you might be wondering, well, what does that even look like? This is what it looks like. God has said, I've given you the victory. So what is the response? They did it quickly, they didn't hesitate, okay, we trust God, so we're moving out, right? We're going, we're going to do this suddenly. Now, in the suddenly, in when they stepped onto the battlefield, God that in verses 10 and 11, we get an explanation of what God actually does in the battle. Okay, so I want you to notice this real quickly, guys, that there are two pieces, there are two sides when working with the Lord. Okay, there's two sides. The first sign is it's a done deal. Okay, victory is ours, victory is secured, it's already done, right? But there is still that side of we still have to go through the process, we still have to go through the procedures to make what he has already promised come to fruition. It is already done, it is already completed, it has already been, it's already finished, but on the but on the flip side, we still gotta show up to the battle to bring what he is what he has said to that to bring what he has already said is true into fruition, right? Verse 8, God says, You have the victory. Verse 9, Joshua says, Okay, we're gonna respond to this. Verse 8, I mean verse 10 and 11 is what God does in the response, right? And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goes up to Beth Betharon, and smote them to Azica and unto Makeda. And it came to pass as they fled from before Israel and were in the going down to Betheron. That the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Ezekiel, and they died. They were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. I love that because, in other words, God did all the work. He did all the heavy lifting, right? So you can say, so I can say this with confidence, guys. When God says you have the victory, it's not based on your ability to hold a sword. It's his ability to do the supernatural. Okay? So I hope that this is this is being this is helping you navigate the Christian life. That this is our our our everyday life, guys. We learn what is God's nature, what is his character in his word. We know that he is good. We know that he is faithful to me, even when I'm not faithful. We know that his nature is provision. We know that his nature is healing. We know that his nature is comforting. We know his nature is gracious, merciful, um, logical. He he he fights for us, he fights with us, he he he he demands justice on our behalf, right? He does not hold our iniquities against us. Okay, I could go on and on and on about the goodness and then the the the nature of who he is, but it's we can learn all this, we can be aware of all this, but it's fruitless. We do not get any benefit from us from this if we don't respond. And this is what Joshua did. He said, God says, You have the victory, and Joshua's like, You're right, I do have the victory. So what does he do? He quickly responds. And what we see in the next verses is God actually performing the acts that are required to make what God said come to pass. Okay? I believe I'm probably going to in the future episodes, I'm gonna go into greater detail about this two, these two sides of partnering with the Lord because it's all throughout scripture. Okay, I'm gonna I'm actually gonna write that down, and and we'll come to a time when we do that. Okay. So to this episode, I gave you two examples of how we respond to Christ or how we respond to God, how this works. On the next episode, I'm gonna show you what we don't do. It's one way to it's one thing to tell you what we do do, but to tell another thing entirely to explain to you what we don't do. Okay? So again, I hope this has been a blessing to you. I hope this has been liberating. I hope some things have come into place and to clarity so that you can continue to navigate the Christian life the way God wants you to. So I hope you have a good rest of your day or night.