DIVINE INSTRUCTIONS (7)

"There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death"  PROVERBS 14:12 & PROVERBS 16:25. True life and abundant life does come with and from the DIVINE Manual of God. The Bible! It is the only healthy way into full and lasting manhood that will bless the family,community,culture,  city and the world.  DIVINE INSTRUCTIONS!

"IT IS FINISHED "

JOHN 19:30

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Praise the Lord, everyone. Minister Anthony Bonner of Truth Churned Up Ministries. The Gospel, the Game, and the Glories Podcast series. Another episode of the series Divine Instructions. This will be Divine Instructions number seven. We thank God for the words that He's sent forth in this season. We thank God for those who will have ears to hear, those who hunger and thirst after God's righteousness, who are not settled in this world, who will dare to believe him and go into the deep end of the kingdom of God. Not just normal, natural, man-constructed Christianity, but to actually put it all on the line to prove God and make sure that the word of God and the God of the Word will do exactly what He says he will do. That he is who he says he is. In Psalm 34 and 8, we have an invitation from God. Blessed is the man that trusted in him. That is your personal invitation to prove that God is who he says he is, that he will be your shepherd, that he'll be with you as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that he will equip you, that his will can be done in earth as it is in heaven, that he will be your shield and your buckler, that he will provide for all of your needs, that he will subdue all of your enemies, that he is healing to your bones, hallelujah, and countless other promises that lie within the 66 books of the divine instructions of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Creator of all. Hallelujah in the name of Jesus. Today in Divine Instructions Part 7, we want to talk about hearkening to your father. Hearkening to your father. Now, when we hear this word hearkening, it is obviously an old English word that in times past was used on a regular basis in everyday conversations as people went to and fro, not so much today. But nonetheless, it is a divine word given by a divine God because he allowed it to be included in the scriptures. So it holds great significance. So we want to understand the full meaning of this word before we proceed to know what God is demanding of us. He's not even asking us, he's demanding that we hearken to our Father. Uh in the natural as well as the spiritual. We know in the natural realm, one of the uh commandments, the second commandment, after uh having no other gods before him, he tells you to honor your mother and your father. That means to hearken unto your natural earthly parents, obey them, allow them to lead you, to guide you, to keep you from paths of destruction, from destroying your potential, from destroying your life, from walking in danger. They are to shepherd you, shield you, guide you, instruct you until you reach that age where they can send you out into the world, and now you have a foundation that will allow you to stand against the wiles of the devil, against the wickedness that's in the world, on college campuses if you go to college, within the armed forces, if you go within the armed forces, or within the workforce, if you just go within the workforce, uh they can equip you. But now we want to equip you on an even deeper level. We want to equip you to handle operating in the current climate of Christianity, the religious climate that talks about God, that knows about God, but do not submit and surrender to God on an intimate level to express and experience the fullness of God. Hearken to your father. So this word hearken means to listen to attentively. Did you get that? I'm gonna incline my ear to hear what he's saying, kind of like Moses when he was out in the wilderness and he saw the burning bush and he said, I'm gonna turn aside and see this bush. Because though it's called the burning bush, the bush was burning, yet it wasn't consumed. The flame engulfed it, but yet the bush was not destroyed because it was a supernatural illustration of God's power and his presence and how he has sovereign control over all things. So to hearken means to listen attentively to and to give respectful heed to. So when God speaks, when we read his word, we have to humble ourselves and go into the low place because 10 out of 10 times it's above our understanding, especially if we're babed in the faith and we have not matured spiritually, then we cannot understand it because we still have a natural mind. We're not in our spiritual uh place of operation yet, because we have not yet walked with him long enough. We have not yet renewed our mind. We have not yet submitted to the teachings of the word of God and allowed it to absorb us fully so that the Holy Spirit can give us revelation knowledge and not an interpretation, but revelation knowledge of how what is in the word applies to my particular situation at that moment or the divine instruction God has given me for another moment in life, the Holy Spirit, who came to lead and guide us into all truth, will allow me to understand what I am to hearken to. To hearken means to pay close attention to something. In this case, to someone. We're hearkening to our Father, our Heavenly Father. Because remember, he created you out of the heavens to hear his voice that he might instruct you. You can't receive instructions if you're not willing to obey them. That's vanity, that's foolishness. That'll lead you in a path that surely has an end that you do not want to make your own. Hallelujah. So let's look at some of these instructions, Generation Z, my young brothers and sisters, warriors for Christ, kings and priests unto the Most High God, those who are going to turn the world upside down, hallelujah. Those who will be the vessels through which God will usher in a wave of supernatural experiences, occurrences that the world has never seen only because they're being equipped to do so. That things in the world are going to get so bad, that doors are going to close so fast, that opportunities are going to disappear so rapidly that you will have to turn only to the one who can open those doors, who can right those wrongs. Hallelujah. Who can make your enemies be at peace with you because your heart is set on pleasing God in the name of Jesus. So let's look at the book of Proverbs. We're gonna look at several verses throughout Proverbs when we talk about divine instructions, part seven, and hearkening to your father. God tells us in Proverbs chapter 23. One of the things we know this world has a fascination and obsession with is being rich, right? And not rich spiritually. Not rich really health-wise, even though we do live in a culture where people are fanatics about health, weightlifting, proteins, being vegans, uh uh fasting, not for spiritual connection, but fasting so that they can just be uh skinny or to be culturally correct to fit in and not look obese or fat or whatever it is. We live in a culture that has a fascination with natural health, okay? And natural wealth, but not necessarily spiritual wealth, through which the other things naturally flow out of. That's what God is talking about, or Jesus was teaching his disciples in the beatitude when he says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these other things will be added unto you in Matthew 6 and 33. When I seek God's kingdom, financial well-being, uh physical well-being, relational well-being, financial well-being, spiritual well-being, they all flow out of my position in God through Christ Jesus. I can have it all. God wants me to have it all, but I have to hearken to his voice. I have to hearken to my father's instructions. I can't do it my own way. I can't construct or re-devise life as God has planned it for me. There's a plan in place for my life. Yes, I get to make some choices. I have free will, but God has total control over all the circumstances of my life. So my free will is not completely and totally free. It's partially free. Yes, I can make decisions and I can probably start walking the path in the direction in which I've made the decision. But we should not be surprised if it's brought to a complete halt, to a complete stop, if it's interrupted, if a relationship breaks off, or if I'm fired from a job, or if I get a sickness, or uh, you know, my finances dry up, or many of the other things that can happen if I'm forced to move to another city. These are not coincidences. A lot of them are ordered steps. We just don't recognize it as that because, again, we're not spiritually mature. We have not renewed our minds to go into the indeptness of the divine instructions, and because we don't obey them on a regular basis, when things like this happen, instead of praising God and being able to go through the trials and tribulations with a sound spiritual mind, we become emotional and we begin to operate from a place of our feelings, and our feelings make us a victim and not a victor, and it causes us confusion, not uh operating from the place of being more than a conqueror, understanding that when life uh turns upside down at times, we are to simply be still and know that he is God. We are to simply trust the word that we've written in our heart, that we've renewed our mind upon, and think back on past victories from which God has delivered us through. We are to bring to remembrance pastimes when I hearkened unto his voice and what the end result was. It was complete deliverance and victory because that's who God is. He is a deliverer. Salvation includes deliverance. Salvation is not the salvation that the modern-day church and Christianity teaches about. Their salvation is all about a later victory. Dying and going to heaven, everything will be okay. I'm gonna be with Jesus, I'm gonna live forever. That's great, that's amazing. We celebrate that, we embrace that, we want that. But I got a hundred years to live. I gotta have some victory here now. I gotta learn how to fight the good fight of faith now. I gotta learn how to wage war against the enemy right now. I want what Jesus said. He said that he came that I might have life and have life more abundantly. I want to come out of the world system. I want to live in the kingdom system. Faith is the currency of the kingdom system. The Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. The Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight. The Bible says death and life lies in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. The Bible tells us that a man's gift will make room for him and bring him before great men. The Bible says the blessings of the Lord make it rich and addh no sorrow. I want to experience that. I don't want to just study that. I don't want to keep just repeating that. I want to make that my portion. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus. Because the Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Yes, I want it. It's mine, it's part of my inheritance. The blood of Jesus and his promotion on the cross opened up the door for me to be reconciled and come back into God's presence. And because I've been born again, because I've accepted him as Savior and laid down my life to allow him to be Lord, and with him being Lord, I must hearken to his divine instructions in the divine book. And as I spend time in the divine book, my mind will be renewed. I will store up weapons and strength to walk this thing out. Because when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Bible says the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. Yes, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. He's gonna come, he's gonna attack. He's a thief. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He doesn't want me to realize that I'm more than a conqueror. He doesn't want me to realize that I'm made in the image and likeness of God. He doesn't want me to operate in John 14 and 12 when Jesus says, He that believes on me the works that I do, shall he do also in greater works than these. He doesn't want you to know that. He wants you to labor to be rich, to only attain material things. That's why he told Jesus in the wilderness that if you fall down and worship me, I will give you the glory of all these kingdoms. He has no problem with you being important in the natural, but he has a huge problem when you activate your spiritual self and begin to live, move, and have your being in Jesus Christ, taking authority, operating in dominion. Hallelujah. Doing what the original command was to be fruitful, to multiply, to replenish the earth, to operate in dominion, to exercise your God-likeness in the earth, to not bow down to the wickedness of the earth and the ways of the earth and the systems of the earth that promote some, not all. Yes, that acknowledge some and diminish others. Yes, that will open the door for the few, but block out the masses. God says, I have room for all in my kingdom. But in order to enter into this kingdom, in order to enjoy this privilege and this precious place, you have to be shaped, you have to be uh sculpted, you have to be crucified, so that your will, your earthly and worldly knowledge, is secondary to my divine instructions. I need you to hearken unto me. So in Proverbs 23 and 4, it says, labor not to be rich, cease from thy own wisdom. But you see, we live in a world that tells you to labor to be rich, to sell your soul to be rich, to wear your health down to be rich, to neglect your family to be rich. That riches is your identity. Yes, do what it takes. I gotta get mine, you gotta get yours. But the divine instruction says, labor not to be rich, cease from thine own understanding. Your own understanding is the understanding that the world and the world system has given you to seek after riches. One of the ways now for people of poverty, or people who have great dreams and great aspirations that have been given them by God, and they don't know how they're going to attain them, or older people who live life to for such uh uh many, many years, and they're in the latter years and they're worried about retirement or uh not having enough funds and running out of funds, not knowing that God will supply their needs and trust them. They play the lottery and they play it regularly, and they'll go buy hundreds of dollars of tickets because they think they're gonna win the lottery. Hallelujah. God says not to lean on, trust in, depend upon our own wisdom. We gotta depend on the wisdom of the kingdom of God, but in order to do that, you gotta get in the word to know what that kingdom is, what their requirements are to be a kingdom citizen, how that kingdom operates. Hallelujah! What's yours in that kingdom? Amen. And this is all a redirection of purpose. The Bible says in Isaiah 53 and 1, he says, Whose report will you believe? The Bible is a report, it is a divine report. They're divine instructions given by a heavenly father who parlayed them through the Holy Spirit, who came upon men, who were the instruments and women who wrote this book, this book that has stood the test of time, the all-time bestseller, constructed over more than 1,500 years by more than 40 authors, was perfectly aligned, even though it was written in different ages. Because God is, he was, and he who is to come. He's in our past, he's already in our future, and he's with us in our present. He knows everything that has happened, that is happening, and that will happen, that he can give us divine instructions that if we're wise, if we're seeking his wisdom, we will take heed to him, we will hearken to his voice, and we will experience the life more abundantly. We'll know what it's like to live in a place of joy, to live in a place of peace, that although adversity and storms may come upon us from time to time in life, we will understand that that adversity and those storms are not for my destruction, they're for my development. We will understand that I'm not to get emotional, but I am to remain stable because my hope, my faith, my trust is upon the rock of Jesus Christ. I know that he knows the way that I take. And the Bible says in the book of Job, when he has tried me, I shall come forth this goal. The book of Job also says that though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. Will you trust in God when life doesn't make sense? You see, it's when life doesn't make sense and it's not lining up, and what you want and what you think you need is not happening. We rely on the divine instructions. What has God said? What is God saying? Maybe God has a different plan. He most certainly has a better plan than you have for your own life, young people. God doesn't want you doing it the way your parents did it, he don't want you doing it the way your friends do it, he don't want you to do it the way other people have done it. God says in Isaiah 43, 18 and 19, it says, Remember ye not the former things, nor consider the things of old. He says, Behold, I will do a new thing. Shall you not know it? Now it shall spring forth. God wants to do a new thing in your life, a better thing, the very best thing, a thing that has never been accomplished before in the earth. God wants To use you to do it, young people. But the problem is we lean toward our own understanding. We want to be copycats. We're envious of other people's lives and the gifts God has put upon their lives, but we don't dare want to pay the price that those people have gone through. We say we want to be close to God. We sing songs, make a move, God. But when God makes a move, he's gonna move some stuff. And a lot of that stuff we don't want to let go of. A lot of that stuff blocks our relationship and our ability to hearken unto the Lord to do the tough thing. We'll talk about the cross, never even have picked it up. We'll talk about how much we love him, but we don't obey him. He said, if you love me, keep my commandments. He says, if you love me, your father and your mother, your wife and your children, none of them can be more important than me. Hallelujah. And we'll have people who know that, who hear that, but they don't live that. They don't live it. So you don't hearken, so you disqualify yourself from the anointing, from the ability to be used greatly in the kingdom because you made your choice. Hallelujah. Your choice is you want your will to be done, you want to do it your way. You love the things and the people God has given you more than the God who gave you the things. Amen. And that's just the way it is. He still loves you, he'll still use you, but you can't perpetrate and act like you're all in because you're not. That's what's going on now in Christianity. We act like all is well, and everybody's where they're supposed to be, and we know that is not the case. It's a cotton candy Christianity. People go to church, they hear the word, and they go right back to their solitary lives, doing the same thing they did the week before, never going deeper, never getting out of the boat. I said before Christianity uh can be illustrated the night that the twelve were in the boat and Jesus had sent them to the other side, and a storm came up, and Jesus came walking to them uh on the water in the wee hours of the night. And they all were panicked and afraid, and Jesus says, It is I, be not afraid. And Peter, only Peter, out of the 12, said, It is the Lord bidding me to come. And Peter got out of the boat and started to walk toward Jesus. Well, the other eleven were believers, the other eleven were Christians, the other eleven had seen the miracles, they walked with him, they knew what he represented, they had read the uh law of Moses and knew that the promised Messiah was coming. Hallelujah! But they were paralyzed and stuck in the boat in fear. The moral of their story is don't let Christianity keep you from being a water walker. Yeah, they're in the boat, they know who Jesus is, but they won't get out of the boat to lead the next generation into the supernatural. They're comfortable. Yes, they built towers, but God doesn't want the tower. God wants you to walk on water, God wants you to defy the system, God wants you to come into the kingdom of God, God wants you to accept the riches that He set aside for you in your divine will and your divine inheritance, which is set aside for you in heaven, that you can bring in the earth, because he said the kingdom of heaven is within you. It's already in you. God has put it in you. Now, when you give your life back to him and you lay down your life that you can take it again, it is activated. God begins to illuminate you, he lights you up, he sets you on fire. He begins to show you things that are too wonderful to even be whispered, things that past generations didn't know, maybe didn't even have the ability to know. Hallelujah. But now you live in an age where nothing shall be impossible with God. But you gotta fight the good fight of faith to get it because the flesh is going to resist being crucified. The flesh is gonna resist being kicked off the throne. The flesh will submit to other people in the flesh, trusting that they know more than the creator who gave the divine instructions in the name of Jesus. He says, Labor not to be rich, cease from thy own wisdom. And then he goes on in verse 5 and says, Will thou set thy eyes upon that which is not? Like riches are really not. Yes, they serve a purpose in the natural world. When you have money and credit, you can do some things, you can't do all things. He says, For riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. That's God telling you He in control. When people go broke or people make bad investments, or people lose money, or people trust too much in money. God is so sovereign he will move that out of the way if that's what's keeping you from getting to him. If that's what's keeping his plan or his will in your life from being accomplished, then it has to go. He says plainly, riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Isn't that amazing? God says the rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all. God said, I'll bless who I want to bless, and I'll curse who I want to curse. Those are God's words. God says that he'll make you the head and not the tail, he'll make you the lender and not the borrower. That is all concerning money and position. God is the ruler. God decides who wins and who loses. God decides who sits high and who sits low. That's why he warns us in the book of Matthew that if you exalt yourself, you're going to be abase. But if you humble yourself, God said, I'll exalt you in due time, in due season. Once you hearken unto my instructions, once you listen to me, once you learn to hear me consistently, once you learn to discipline yourself to follow me, once you learn to abide in the uncomfortable place. Hallelujah. You must learn to rest in me, you must learn to reside in me. You must learn to be still in me. Those are the divine instructions. He says, Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats. He who has an evil eye is one who operates outside of the will of God and prospers. They're doing it their own way. God said, Don't eat that way. Don't build your house on those plans. Because it may look like he's winning, but he's not gonna win long. You see, because we were made in the image and likeness of God, we are allowed to build towers of Babel. We're allowed to do amazing things, but if they're not done according to the divine instructions of God, they don't last and they bring great sorrow. That's what he means when he says the blessings of the Lord make us rich and addeth no sorrow. The blessings of the world can make you rich, but they add great sorrow. Are you not familiar with many men who've been rich who lost their wives and their families? Many men who've been rich when they've lost them, they've taken their own lives, many men who've been rich who go into great depression or sadness. Many people who've been rich who have no purpose. God is saying when I make you rich, it adds no sorrow because my riches are from within. That even if the money were to leave again, you will still know you had value in me. You would still know that I love you. You will still know that you're the son of a king. You would still know that you're gonna rule and reign with me in the next life. When your elder brother, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, returns to bring the new heaven into the earth. You are going to sit on thrones and rule. You will judge angels, my dear one, God is saying. So once we have a full understanding to hearken to his voice, to feed ourselves spiritual food, we begin to elevate over the natural means and ways of the world. We begin to put ourselves in position to always sit in the high place. We begin to create a new identity, the identity of being a chosen one of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The identity of one who's able to function apart from a fallen world who likes to give instructions that lead to destruction in the name of Jesus. Verse 23 and 7 is very important because he says, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. God is telling you, he's already told you in Proverbs chapter 4, guard your heart, guard it, for out of it flows the issues of life. God said, Guard your heart, guard your heart. Don't let men's education take over your heart. Study it by all means, but give me your heart. Don't let the education of men completely absolve absorb your mind. Because I'm gonna renew your mind with spiritual principles and kingdom principles that far exceed those. The principles they teach you about your effort and what you can do. The principles I'm gonna teach you is about what I've already done in the name of Jesus. The principle of the world requires you to see what you can do for yourself. The principles of the kingdom is what your elder brother in his blood has already done for you. You see, hallelujah! In the world, you're a victim. Racism, uh socialism, capitalism, individualism. It goes on and on and on. But see, in the kingdom, the spirit overrides all that. You don't know people by their color or their economic status or their worldly positions. You know them by their position in Christ Jesus, you know them by the way they live their life. That's what he said. You shall know them by their fruits, the fruits of the Spirit, the degree that they've been transformed, the degree that they hearken unto the instructions of their father. This is the highest position one can operate in. This is the kingdom of God. This is the place that affects your family, your finances, your future. Hallelujah. This is the crown you put on, this is what has been promised to you in the name of Jesus. We'll skip over to 23 and 12 as we wind down. Solomon tells us, apply thy heart unto instruction, and thy ears to the words of knowledge. Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thy ears to the words of knowledge. See, when we apply our heart to instructions, we're saying, God, examine me and prove me. Try my reins and try my heart. That's Psalms 26 and 2. Examine me, oh Lord. Prove me, try my reins, try my heart. You're telling God to show me that I'm real, show me myself, and we want to apply our heart to what the entire Word of God says. Hard in the natural, but already done for you in the spirit realm. All you got to do is get in position, travel the course, go through what you got to go through, trust the Holy Spirit to take you through. Trust that he's gonna supply your needs. Trust that he'll bring your emotions in line to the degree they need to be brought in line. Trust that he's gonna move the people that need to be moved, he'll bring the people in that need to be brought in. Trust that you're gonna survive, you're gonna be okay. All you gotta do is read the divine instructions from Genesis to Revelation and read about other human beings who were just like you. Confused, afraid, lost, bewildered, challenged, all at the instructions of God. But because he's the creator of all creation, he knows exactly where you are, what you're going through, how to get you through it in the name of Jesus. Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thy ears to the words of knowledge. The words of knowledge are the words of God, the holy words, the words of the scripture are the words of knowledge, not the words of a university, not the words of another podcaster, not the words of an influencer on social media. We're talking about the Holy Spirit, the teacher of all men, the subduer of all men. We got to get to that place, young people. If you want to win and win big, if you want to be glorified, then you got to glorify your Heavenly Father. You glorify him, and God said, I'll put you on top of the hill. God said, I'll magnify your name, I'll give you a voice that will be a blessing to people because it's all for my glory, not for your glory. You want to advance my kingdom, not build your own kingdom. You want to be an instrument of light, not of darkness. Hallelujah, in the name of Jesus. We're talking about hearkening to your father, listening to his voice.