Obedience
Lessons from Balaam's Donkey
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all right good morning C3 Church as you can tell pastor Gene's not here so I am tasked with ringing the message and if you uh know I'm excited today because uh where are the talking donkey originated is what we're going to talk about today it actually came from the Bible the Bible initiated the talking donkey and we get a chance to talk about that I'm excited because I love the Old Testament and in numbers we're going to get a chance to see that there is a talking donkey in the Bible so we are going to go back to the book of numbers and we're going to see that and I love going to the Old Testament a lot of people skip over the Old Testament because we're New Testament right we belong in the New Testament but the Old Testament is a great place to start reading it is a place where God uses ordinary men to you to do his extraordinary will and so today I get to go back into the Old Testament because Pastor Jean is in the New Testament so I'm going back to the Old Testament and for those who don't know me my name is Tony I am a volunteer here my family volunteers here we've been going to this church for two years I was a pastor at what you would call mega church I was on uh executive Pastor staff as the next gen passer so I was over all students in children's ministry so I have a little bit of experience and that's why you see the video I'm used to dealing with a much younger audience but when I was dealing with them that video was old like I would make references to like Finding Nemo and they would be like who's who's Oh you mean Dory no I meant Nemo man that's the first movie that came out but I was way older than my crowd so I'm excited to be here with you today and deliver the message Pastor Jean has been talking about something he brought it up last week and he started the message on what how you identify as Christians how we are identified as Christians and we're identified by the fruit that we produce he even does a chart and if you want to look at that message and you want to look at the chart that's actually on our C3 app you can download that Shameless plug on any apple or I uh Google feature you want to so I'd encourage you to go back and listen to that because we're going to talk about something that lays the foundation for what Master Gene is going to talk about today we're going to talk about obedience because before you can bear good or bad fruits you have to be obedient you cannot bear good fruit and be disobedient and obedience is tough it goes against the world today if you look on political venues even in families and some Churches Rebellion is a common theme and Rebellion is much easier in obedience and so when we go to numbers today we're going to see that the first thing that we have to do in order to be identified as Christians true followers of Christ we must learn to be obedient now here's the deal let me put this plug if you don't like this message don't worry Pastor Gene is back next week and so if you're new here and you don't like it come back next week our pastor will be back on stage and it won't be the first time I got a great story I usually do if you've heard this one it's okay you'll hear it again but the first time so I went from being a banker and God called me back into the ministry actually graduated from Seminary and left the ministry shortly after that and then God called me back in and we had I I was on staff for about a year and a half as the next gym pastor and then the pastor's like hey I'm going out of town he would go out of town every July and he'd be gone for three weeks and so there was three separate speakers um and usually it's from those that were on staff and so I was the third week right before he got back I got to get up and preach and it was uh Forest Services Saturday night and then three on Sunday and I thought it went well people said it went well I watched it I was like you know that's pretty good well the fourth week when Pastor uh Brad is back this little old lady nicest lady in the world man she's the kind of lady that would bring you like mac and cheese and things like that she was awesome she walked up to me and she's like hey uh I got a question and she go I go yeah and she's like is Pastor Brad back and I'm like yes he's most certainly is and she's like good those other speakers they didn't add up and I'm just standing I'm like you think she recognized that I spoke last week and she said that to me so if you don't like it it's okay pastor Gene is back next week um so we're going to be in Numbers chapter 22 Numbers chapter 22. and once again we're going to see that God uses ordinary men and animals to relay his will and and we'll start with that Numbers chapter 22 one through six so I'm going to do a brief summary and then we'll get started so 22 1-6 starts with this it's about the moabites they're the descendants of The incestuous Offspring of lot go back and read that story they didn't like that the Israelites were beginning to lurk close to their lands during The Exodus so we're now in the stage where the Israelites have exited captivity so they're coming across the moabites and the moabite King balak knew how Israel had handled their other enemies like the amorites the descendants of Canaan these were Fierce Warriors and the and guess what Israelites just wiped them out and so balak is thinking here's this large group of people that are beginning to surround my land they've wiped out people that are better and more Fierce Warriors than us and he's beginning to get fearful he's beginning to think that they're about to wipe my kingdom out and so in his fear he summons a prophet named Balaam to come and curse Israelite people so we're gonna pick up that's one through six numbers 22 one through six just a brief summary and we're gonna pick up Numbers 22 7-14 and we're going to be introduced to someone who is not mentioned uh he's not previous and he's not after he's kind of like Melchizedek if you go back he's an old testament person that is mentioned he kind of appears and then this disappears but in that short three chapter frame that he's in he gives us a great illustration of obedience to God so we're going to pick it up uh in Numbers 22 7-14 balix Messengers who were Elders of mohab and Minion set out with money to pay Balaam to place a curse upon Israel they went to Balaam and delivered balak's message to him stay here overnight Balaam said in the morning I will tell you whatever the Lord directs me to say so the officials from Moab stayed there with Balaam that night God came to Balaam and asked him who are these men visiting with you as if God didn't know Balaam said to God balak son of zippor King of mohab has sent me this message look a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt and they cover the face of the Earth come and curse these people for me then perhaps I will be able to stand up to them and drive them from the land but God told Balaam do not go with them you're not to curse these people for they are blessed the next morning Balaam got up and told balix officials go home the Lord will not let me go with you so this is the beginning of our story we're introduced to Balaam he's a prophet look at the first thing that happens with obedience you're going to see the first thing is your obedience will stem from where your heart is your obedience will stem from where your heart is balaam's heart is identified almost immediately you'll notice that he is a prophet for hire in verse 7 and it's it says and set out with money to pay Balaam so they come up to pay Balaam to curse God's people so you're going to see immediately we see where balaam's heart is he's about the money he's about physical possessions as a matter of fact this is confirmed later on in second Peter 2 15. you don't have to turn there it says this and they have wandered off the the right Road and followed in the footsteps of Balaam Son Of bayor Who Loved to earn money by doing wrong balaam's heart is immediately identified in the wrong place and here's the thing your obedience will go based on where your heart is your obedience will be based on where your heart is if our heart's in the wrong place and we're following the wrong thing and our goals are not what God wants us to be Disobedience follows Disobedience follows as a matter of fact the Bible immediately addresses Matthew 6 the Bible immediately addresses the physical desires right the desire for money the desire for Fame in Matthew 6 24 it says no one can serve two masters for they will hate one and love the other you will be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve God and be enslaved to money so immediately the Bible identifies that you cannot desire physical needs and God at the same time as a matter of fact if you go back and read the whole chapter of chapter six it's discussing how we as Christians should not need or want anything because God Will Supply it goes into how God supplies for his own creation why wouldn't he supply for his chosen people so the thing about it is this there's nothing wrong with money money is not inherently evil it's not wrong to make lots of money it's not wrong to have money it's not wrong to have nice things it's when we begin to put those things over the will of God that those things become a problem because that's where our heart is that's what we're going to be obedient to it's going to affect our life choices but let's go beyond money in James 1 6 or 8 it says but when you ask him be sure that your faith is in God alone do not waver for a person with divided loyalty as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord their loyalty is divided between God and the world and they are unstable in everything we do you'll see that everything that a person does when your loyalty is divided when you're trying to serve two masters you're unstable you're unable to do so it is not possible to serve anything else and serve God so where your heart is that's where your obedience will be once again there's nothing wrong with it we kind of discussed it before some people their heart is in their family there's nothing wrong with family but when it comes above how we serve God it becomes an issue because our obedience and what we do shines more light to our family than It Shines on God so we instantly see here that Balaam is trying to serve the Flesh and that's where his heart is attempting to serve two masters will keep you from producing the good fruit that Pastor Gene's going to talk about listen he's going to get into things how you can produce good fruit and what causes us to produce bad fruit and if you're trying to serve in the world you're trying to be of the world and God it's not going to work you can't produce both good and bad fruit right you either bear one or the other and so when we begin to try to like divide our loyalties and we're like yes I know God says to do this but I really want to do this it begins to show bad fruit so our obedience is going to be determined by where our heart is that's the first thing the second thing is Balaam acted as if his obedience was a burden look in verse 12 it says the Lord will not let me go will not let me go with you have you ever had that before listen I have kids I have three boys and when you tell them to do with your chores you would love for your kids to react like yay we get to do chores I didn't react like that as a kid so I don't know why I expected my kids to do it right but there's that obedience where it's like fine I have to go do my chores and they sit there and as they're watching you as they're washing dishes they're looking at you with the face like I can't believe I gotta wash these dishes man or how about this like you know you want to go somewhere and you're like uh I'll give you a great example I'm I love to golf I'm not good at it I love to golf um I'm not good at it but you know there are times when I'm like all right man we get to golf I'm going Golf and I got a day off it's a beautiful thing and I will have forgotten as happens quite often my wife maintains my schedule she is like vital to my life I couldn't live without her that's a plug she's back here volunteering right now but that's the thing right and there are times when I'm like I set up a golf thing and I'm ready to go golfing and I tell her the night before I'm like going golfing tomorrow and she's like uh no and I'm like why not and she's like because we already have this planned and scheduled we've talked about this we did was I watching golf at the time that we talked about it maybe football was it I agreed to this yes and then you call up your friends you're like I can't go off tomorrow because I got to do something that's what balaam's like right now Balaam is like listen guys I'd love to go with you but man Jesus just won't let me go can you imagine if we acted like that when we had to obey like yes and your friends are going out to do something you know is completely wrong you shouldn't do and instead of me like you know what you you guys do Your Own Thing I Got I'm gonna do you know guys I would I would love to go with you and sin but Jesus says I can't it's just terrible can you imagine that's not the way we're supposed to be as Christians as a matter of fact first John 5 3 tells us that loving God means keeping his Commandments and these Commandments are not burdensome they're not burdens God's Commandments are not meant to be burdens we're not supposed to be walking down as Christians like oh there's so many rules I have to follow I can't believe this no as a matter of fact the Bible tells us that we should be we should have joy we should be more joyful than any other people it should be pressed down and boiling over people should look at us be like what do they've got that I don't but when we walk around like oh I can't believe I'm not allowed to do this we look like Christ gives us burdens and his commands are not meant to be burdens we can't look at them that way we can't see them that way we see Christ's Commandments as a way to live a better life as a way to be more christ-like as a way to direct people to Salvation understand that what we have when we've accepted Christ if you are a true Christian which means you believe Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins he rose again three days later and he's in heaven now preparing a place for you you believe all of that stuff you've you've bought into Christ you are now saved can you imagine you've just been saved from hell I know it's not talked about a whole lot but that's what salvation is normally we focus on the good things about salvation we don't focus on the anti-negative the negative is if you're not saved you're going to die and spend eternity in punishment okay Christ keeps us from doing that how can we be burdened by anything he asked us to do Christ's Commandments are not burdens let's continue on with our story back in Numbers chapter 22 verse 14 through 21 Balaam just keeps getting better then King Bala try it again this time he sent a larger number of even more distinguished officials than those he had sent the first time they went to Balaam and delivered this message this is what balak's son of zippoor says please don't let anything stop you from coming to help me I will pay you very well and do whatever you tell me to just come and curse these people for me but Balaam responded to balik's Messengers even if balik were to give me his Palace filled with silver and gold I would be powerless to do anything against the will of God sounds good sounds good right he but balaam's got the message but look what he says but stay here one more night and I will see if the Lord has anything else to say to me why would God change his mind that night God came to Balaam and told him since these men have come to you get up and go with them but do only what I tell you to so the next morning Balaam got up saddled his donkey and started off with the moabite officials what I believe we see here in these seven verses is this the first thing you see is that King Bala tries again and I'll tell you why there's probably two reasons first of all because of balaam's response so understand the messengers would have relayed the message that Balaam says exactly and they're like he said he was wanting to come but he told us his God wouldn't let him okay so he does want to come maybe he just needs to be more motivated and the second thing is he's probably heard about Balaam before and some of the things that he's done previously and how he's been bought off previously and so what we see here is the king sends even more distinguished officials more money and offers more wealth Balaam already had his answer but he entertains he gives a great answer here he said listen even if balik were to give me his Palace filled with silver and gold I I would be powerless to do anything against well God it sounds so good it's perfect and then the butt but stay here one more night he already has the answer he already knows what's going on he could be obedient he's obedient right there if there's no but in our lives where's the butt you know what I'm the will of God but there's this sometimes we have to realize that obedience requires sacrifice and faith and this is something that bothers me because what's going on in today is that our new gospel that is out there the Prosperity Gospel warps things to show you that prayer is a tool to gain what we want oftentimes using scripture out of context and we'll get to that in a second but what we've learned or what we've been trained Now by this newer culture of Christianity is that if you pray enough God will give you what you want if you pray or give enough God will give you what you're one listen there's no reason to sacrifice there's no reason to have faith because if you pray or give enough God's going to give you what you want and they point to verses Pastor Gene talks about this a lot when you read one verse out of context and don't read the rest of it you can make it sound like it says whatever you want it to I can take one line out of a two and a half hour movie and you'd be like oh well that movie's great and then you watch a movie like that's a terrible movie why would you watch that movie so listen this sometimes they'll point to James 4 too they'll tell you to be like hey James 4 2. you want what you don't have so you scheme and kill to get it you are jealous of what others have but you can't get it so you fight and wage war to take it away from them yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it listen the reason why you don't have that new car is because you haven't asked God hard enough the reason why you don't have that new job is because you haven't asked enough sometimes obedience is understanding that being obedient means you're sacrificing you're sacrificing and again our sacrifice Compares nothing to the sacrifice on the cross James 4 3 the very next verse is what is often not read and it says even if you ask you don't get it because your motives are all wrong you want only what will give you pleasure our motives and our obedience mattered they matter in balaam's example look what do you think he's motivated here when he says but stay here one more night stay here one more night and let me see if God changes his mind motivated to see if God did change his mind and wants to curse the Israelite people he's motivated because there's more distinguished officials and more money and all of a sudden he's thinking the king is going to give me whatever I want I am going to be set for life his motivation is now not obedience it's back to self our obedience cannot be motivated by ourself look he looks like he's doing right he gives a great phrase but his motives are in the wrong spot if our motives for obedience is because we want to gain something out of it we're no longer being obedient we are no longer being obedient listen if we're here in church today because our life is in shambles and there's something going wrong and I need something or I want something and we are in church for that very motivation if I just come back to church God's going to put my life back on track that's not the right motivation to be here now God can put your life back on track not a question but when our motives are strictly to gain things like listen I in the ministry we had lots of volunteers and I knew volunteers man fantastic volunteers and they would come to me like I want to volunteer great people and they would volunteer and they'd be like you know what I'm praying for this new job I want God to give me this new job and they would volunteer and be faithful every Sunday they'd be in church every Sunday and they we would pray together about this job and then they would get the job and then the job took away from church and then they were no longer here and I often thought to myself I'm like what were your motives in the beginning were your motives to be in church because you needed a new job and you wanted God to bless you is that what our motives are what if our what what is our motives for obedience because here's the deal if your motives are on in the wrong place you're not producing good fruit you're not producing good for good fruit now here's the deal what we're going to find out is God can still use you in spite of your obedience because we're going to find out Balaam gets used in spite of his Disobedience now God can still use you but you are not going to be producing the fruit that you should be producing and that's what this is about right where Pastor Gene is about to dive headlong into how we can produce good fruit how we can produce good fruit and in order to produce that we have to be obedient we have to have that Foundation our grounds got to be you got to toil the ground a little bit you got to make sure the soils now I'm not a gardener I'm not nobody in my family is all right so I don't know how that works but there's work that's put in in order for things to grow right you can't just go out to your yard and be like apple tree throw an apple out there and be like I'll wait for that to happen that is not gonna work so my wife is in this room and I will tell you she does not have a green thumb plants tend to die even cactuses I don't know how I thought they lived forever and like things listen that's the thing there's work put in to make things grow to produce fruit you got to work it you got to work it you got to work the soil it's got to be ready to go it's got to be it's got to be cultivated if we come in and we're like I want to produce good fruit but I'm not going to be obedient your soil is not right you're not going to retain there's not going to be good fruit there in order to move forward we have to understand that we are going to be obedient and it is going to be hard it's not easy now can you imagine balaam's excitement because we're going to get to a verse here we're going to get to the last two verses it says that night God came to Balaam and told him since these men have come for you get up and go with them wait a minute did God just change his mind huh hold on but only do what I tell you to do so the next morning Balaam got up and saddled his donkey and started off can you imagine Balaam is probably up before the sun rises because he's got what he wants he's like I'm gonna be rich I got money I'm gonna be powerful everybody's Gonna Know My Name I'm never gonna have to work again a day in my life can you imagine his excitement Balaam thought he had got it he thought he'd had it understand God didn't change his mind here God didn't all of a sudden go you know what babe let me write let's go curse the Israelites My Chosen People by the way Balaam probably knew who the Israelites were you probably had good knowledge so he probably knew he was not going to be able to curse God's chosen people if King balak had heard about all the Israelites had done Balaam had heard about all the Israelites have done and he would have known that the god they serve is different is powerful and so God is moving Balaam into judgment because Disobedience leads to judgment listen here's the deal I'm going to be flat out honest either We Are Family Church we believe that as a family we come Together We believe that we Fellowship together we believe that we pray together we believe we help each other to grow through accountability there's a lot of things so there's a lot of open and honesty and that's this is who I am I'm telling you right now there was a moment in my life when I was set up to go to the ministry and Disobedience pulled me away and judgment happened in my life I stand before you today as a divorced man I was divorced I'm remarried now God blessed me with a beautiful wife but I'm divorced because of disobedience the Judgment part of my life was God said you're not obeying me we need to understand that there is judgment and discipline to disobedience we need to understand that your life can change due to Disobedience God's not changing his mind God didn't go you know what Tony you should get divorced that didn't happen it was because of what I was doing the judgment on my life was that and so when we gather into judgment when all of a sudden I would be concerned if something I'm praying for is not happening not happening not happening and then all of a sudden it's like up it's happening wait a minute why is this me am I pressing through doors that are not there they're not opening I'm making them open it's not God's will for my life but I'm going to make it happen and there's signs that tells us we're doing it it's not like it's a surprise it's not like you're walking to a cliff and you're just walking and all sudden you just fall off no there are signs along the way God is telling you this is not my will ah nope I don't want you to do this nah nope I don't want you to do this cliff we have signs of disobedience God will tell you and show you where he wants you to be if your heart is in the right place if he's your one master that you're serving it's not going to be a surprise Balaam knew exactly what was going on God didn't change his mind he's just moving Balaam into judgment and now we get to my favorite part of the story you're wondering why we showed Shrek in the beginning you're like what is that opening that's crazy you know it's the last time I may speak after the opening so I don't know we'll see what happens Pastor Gene's gonna watch this and he's he's probably watching right now going huh Shrek all right good way to open the message but we get to my favorite part of the story and listen this is why the Old Testament is really super cool these stories are amazing so in back to Numbers 22 22-31 but God was angry that Balaam was going but he said he could go no no he's angry he's out of his will so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way as Balaam and his two servants were riding along balaam's donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand the donkey bolted off uh bolted off the road into a field but Balaam beaten turned it back on the road then the angel Lord stood at a place where the road narrowed between two Vineyard walls when the donkey saw the angel Lord it tried to squeeze by and crushed balaam's foot up against the wall Balaam beat the donkey again then the angel Lord moved farther down the road and stood in a place too narrow for the donkey to get by at all this time when the donkey saw the angel it lay down under Balaam in a fit of rage Balaam beat the animal again with his staff then the lord gave the donkey the ability to speak gave the donkey the ability to speak and we're going to see something really strange here right other than the donkey speaking and the donkey says what have I done to to you that disturbs you beating me three times it asked Balaam and I want you to understand Balaam doesn't go a talking donkey are you serious you could talk have you been able to talk this whole time have I can I hear other animals talk these are natural questions if your dog walked up to you my dog would walk up and go hey man make me a peanut butter sandwich I do I make them peanut butter sandwiches but if they talk to me my first name would be like what I'm going insane I've lost my mind can I hear other animals talk what's the deal no no Balaam responds you have made me look like a full Balaam shouted he responds to the donkey so not only does he not question that the donkey can talk he actually legitimately responds to it any listen it goes on if I had a sword with me I would have killed you but I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life the donkey answered have I ever done anything like this before no Balaam admitted then the Lord opened balaam's eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before the angel understand what a crazy story but God gives us the opposite of Balaam here because Balaam is disobedient his heart's in the wrong place he doesn't want to sacrifice but the donkey gives us a great look at simple obedience the donkey gives us a great look at what simple obedience looks like listen it's a great example of an obedient believer the donkey is a great example of obedient believer so we're going to leave here today and the question is going to be this when you leave here today right this is your great deep theological question that I want you to answer am I the Donkey or my Balaam which one am I and so you're like listen the great thing about the if you have kids back there they're learning the same lesson we are and I would ask them are you a donkey is that what you are are you a donkey listen I did this once uh I I did this story in the children's ministry one time and I had them go all ask their parents are you a donkey my senior pastor then sent me a text message the following morning before a staff meeting goes hey I have people texting me asking why their kids are asking if they're a donkey and I was like that's so great man kids will do whatever you tell them to do you're like go ask your mom and dad are you a donkey yes you should be but you're not right the donkey is a great example of simple obedience look what it does first of all it moves according to God's Will and not his own it attempts to go one way and the other it moves according to where the angel is God is directing its path the donkey's trying to take it the donkey's like nope I'm not doing this I'm gonna go this way or that way in Proverbs 3 5 and 6 it says trust in the Lord with all your heart do not depend on your own understanding seek his will and all you do and He will show you which path to take simple obedience means we move according to God's Will and not our own we move according to God's Will and not our own now here's the deal uh my wife will tell you this again I am not a guy that picks up signs easily like so I often pray in my prayer life which is painstaking to do but I often pay pray God make this where you want me to do this obvious help me out here God to lay on my heart what you want me to do in this situation have somebody come into my life and tell me let me know exactly what you want me to do because here's the deal God I don't know I don't know I don't know what's going on listen I can tell you this when I was growing up and I grew up independent fundamental Baptist totally nothing like I am right now right we're non-denominational um we believe everybody that believes there is nothing that we should disagree on except the cross right that's the only thing that should ever be in question as long as you believe in the cross and what it means the rest we can talk about and do whatever with but I grew up independent fundamental Baptist and so here's the deal I always heard these stories about how like when you're obedient and things happen God takes care of you and they always have these these great examples of like God did this exact thing he did this I asked him and he did this exact thing usually it had to do with giving usually it had to be like you know what I gave my last bit of money and the next day there was a check in the mail like that was crazy examples of that and I never had that happen to me and and a couple years back five years now maybe six six years back we left Tampa uh where we were at the mega church we came down to a church on Marco Island and we began to work at a church in Marco Island and the move was was totally different and so I was all I was nervous about where we were going I was like all right I fasted uh 13 days without food which is a long time to go without food by the way but I was really serious about finding God's will in this scene of my god do you really want us to leave Tampa because things are great we've got a nice nice townhouse things are going well my wife is in the ministry with me moving down here meant she wasn't going to be there were scenes that were changing I'm moving my entire family to Naples I'd never been to Naples before it's beautiful but I'd never been here before and I was thinking God are you sure this is what you want me to do is this your will for my life and so we got down here and at first we were staying uh some things happened and we ended up coming down quicker than we thought we were going to and we ended up staying in a condo of one of the nice people at the church they gave us a condo to stay in and it was a very nice condo on a very nice golf course by the way I was like oh this is impressive if this is the ministry down here I'm in we weren't supposed to stay there the entire time so we're trying to find a place to live and in Naples it's a little bit expensive even six years ago and so we finally find this perfect place that we can afford on a monthly basis and you know how it is you find a place and you're like I can afford this monthly payment and then they're like but you've got to pay first last and security deposit and you're going what I got to pay like nine grand to move into this place are you kidding me and so here's the deal we are two grand short of being able to move into this place we are two thousand dollars short of you know moving to this place and I'm like God I I we're looking for a place to live this seems like the place you want us to go it's affordable is this where you want us to go or is there somewhere else I had a friend in the ministry who called me up he was at the church we were at he former Pastor who came to the church where we're at in Tampa and he called me when I was down here when first down and moved down to Marco and he's like hey man God's laid it on my heart to send you a thousand dollars and I'm like oh that's awesome bro I appreciate it I am so grateful for that we had a great conversation he's like I just want to say we appreciate all that you and your wife and your family did we're gonna send you a thousand dollars so in my mind I'm like all right thousand dollars down a thousand dollars to go again I had never had anything like this happen so seven days later a check comes in the mail and I open the check and I look at it and it's for two thousand dollars from this individual and instantly still get goosebumps thinking about it because I'm sitting in my sitting in my pastoral office and I'm almost in tears because I'm shocked that this is happening and I call up my friend and I'm like hey man I did you miswrite this like I you said you're going to send a thousand he's like you know man he's like we got off the phone and this guy is a prayer Warrior and he's like I begin to pray and God just put two thousand dollars on my heart he's like I don't know why so he put two thousand dollars on it so I wrote the check for two thousand and I said we needed exactly that to move into this place and I was like and I was praying if God was not going to give us the 2000 to show us where to move and so in that instance God confirmed my obedience he confirmed my obedience what an amazing way to do it it was awesome I was dumbfounded shocked I'd never had that story before growing up in church being in the ministry had never had that happen before and God did it when we move according to God's will God uses our obedience to take care of us now listen I know what you're thinking because I think that way sometimes too I'm being very obedient this year God can I get a 1999 Dodge Viper fully loaded any minute now and you wake up excitedly looking out the window that's not the way this works God takes care of our needs not necessarily our wants when I look back with my wife at the Times we're in the ministry and I'm like how did we make it like I I look at what we make now compared to what we made then and I'm like how did that happen God took care of every need we had never a question when we're obedient and we live according to God's will our needs are met we move according to God's will so the donkey moves according to God's will listen to this it remains obedient through tribulation it beat three times by Balaam it's beat three times by Balaam sometimes we're obedient once it doesn't turn it doesn't work out well for us we go through tribulation we're like oh I'm not doing this again I'm not doing this again I'm done walking away I obeyed God and look what happened I obeyed God and I lost my job I obeyed God and I lost my job I can't do it that way I obeyed God and my family doesn't care about me anymore they don't love me they don't want to talk to me I obeyed God and I'll set my friends walked away my life is not as fun no see we go through tribulation with obedience and we tend to think you know what I can't do it I'm being obedient I don't understand why my life isn't perfect it's because it's not guaranteed to be that way as a matter of fact in Hebrews 5 8 it tells us this even though Jesus was God's son he learned obedience from the things he suffered now this is not saying that Christ was ever disobedient but as a hundred percent man and 100 God he learned obedience means enduring suffering think about his final plea right before the cross if there's any way for this cup to pass over me praying and sweating drops of blood if there's any way to avoid this suffering and then he says not my will but thine be done God realized that obedience Jesus realizes that obedience means enduring suffering oftentimes our obedience will mean tribulations because it's not understood by those who are around us it's not understood why we would need Sundays off it's not understood why we should be in church on Sunday listen I'll give you a story again I'm pointing myself here we went through covet right and everybody went virtual everybody went virtual church and church became a lot more convenient I don't know about you guys but watching church and worshiping while eating syrupy waffles in my pajamas never better I still want you to come to church okay but I'm just telling you from a human perspective I enjoyed it I I was sitting there eating a waffle and like this is a great message it became convenient and you know what a little it became a little more convenient because the message was recorded so now I could do stuff on Sunday morning and I can come back and watch the message and I didn't feel bad about it so I began to play golf on Sunday morning like play golf come back and watch the message only after time you didn't watch the message and you're like ah just watch it sometime throughout the week and it became very convenient to not suffer I've played golf I got to do what I wanted on Sunday I was free and then I realized something my boys are watching this they're watching me not care about church what does that say about the God that I apparently love can you imagine if we said we loved our parents our wives spouses kids and then we never spend time with them like oftentimes I give the example you say you love God but then we're only here for an hour and that hour sometimes we're like was he almost done is he about to wrap this up I gotta go well covet allowed us not to even worry about the hour there was no suffering and listen sometimes to come to church it's a process right we're human it's been a long week I worked last night I have kids that I have to get up and get ready for those that little kids God bless you I'm over that stage I don't have to do that anymore there's things that like sometimes it's not easy to come to church and so the easy decision sometimes is yeah just catch up with it later no suffering obedience requires us to suffer sometimes and endure it listen we need to understand this the donkey gives us a great illustration here his last thing that he gives us the last thing I love the donkey understands that obedience can be spurred by the fear of God not reverential we're talking legitimate fear I'll give you a great story my dad was military army hardcore Army now I knew my Dad loved me and I love my dad there's no question I just got done with Tennessee I went up and helped my dad do some things I love my father and my father loved me he showed it all the time he told me it was great but you know what I oftentimes didn't obey my dad because the love Factor right that was not always the time I was legitimately afraid of my dad I watched that man do things no human should be able to do like when I I played football so I was in decent shape I thought I'd outrun him nope former Army he just runs I'm like how he's like 50. how am I not keeping up with this guy I've watched him pick up things that no person like tree some to use he came back and did landscaping for a while and he'd pick up these logs and he'd throw him on his shoulder and I was like man not only that I got spanked by my dad we had a paddle all right we had a paddle we had tape around the handle it felt like it was like nine inches thick but it was only like two and you pleaded to be spanked by your mom like when you got home you're like Mom I was really bad in school you can spank me now the worst thing is when she would send you to a room and be like wait till your father gets home the anticipation was worse than the spanking and out of fear there were times that I obeyed my dad's rules out of fear I remember one instance I was late for curfew I was I just now got my car I was free at last 16 years old driving into Sentra I was going where I wanted to go and I was supposed to be home by 11 and it was like 11 12. I turned off my car and pushed it into the driveway from like three houses down I was like I'm pushing this car I'm sure the neighbor's like is that man is he pushing his car he's pushing his car nobody came out and offered help by the way but out of fear I pushed my car into the driveway listen we should have that fear of God as well I know it's talked about that it's reverential where we're in awe of God no no no no no no God controls Every Breath You Take and we have the nerve to be disobedient I was afraid of my dad paddling and yet I'm not in fear that God goes you know what your Disobedience has gone too far and you know what here's the deal that fear is very biblical Ecclesiastes 12 13 one of my favorite verses in the Bible Ecclesiastes 12 13 says this that's the whole story so he's concluding The Book of Ecclesiastes uh Pastor Gene talks about it you know there's a time and place for almost everything right vanities of vanities all vanities and he goes into this whole thing and then Ecclesiastes 12 13 he said that's the whole story he's going to conclude here now is my final conclusion on Life by the way what is it all about he says this is my final conclusion fear God and obey his Commandments for this is everyone's Duty fear God we need to have a good healthy fear of who God is I know there's the phrase no fear know when I was growing up that was a big deal no fear no no it should still be you should be afraid you should know fear because God is in control of everything and he set down Commandments for us to obey so if there are times you can't obey a God out of love you should obey him because what are the consequences to my disobedience what are the consequences to my Disobedience and listen there's nothing wrong with that you're obedient you're obedient because the Bible tells us to because here's the deal if I don't obey this is what could happen can you think if Balaam would have thought this way how this story would have been different the first time if he would have sent him away like hey no nope nope those are God's chosen people don't even ask me that question I'm not going to pray about it I don't want you to stay around those are God's chosen people you can get up out of here man I've seen what God has done to those who have turned against God's people you can leave had he done that that's probably the right response but he didn't and listen we're going to stop here but this is not the end of balaam's story I want you to go home and I want you to read the rest of 22 23 and 24 go home and study this because this is not the end of Balaam story Balaam continues on with God's permission listen the only reason God gave him permission is because Balaam asked another dumb question he's like I'll only continue if you want me to so Balaam shows later on that hey I'm still listen God I I did wrong I'm going to repent and I'll only continue if you want me to of course God doesn't want you to continue he doesn't want you to curse his people but what we see is Balaam goes and actually against King Balaam God uses Balaam to actually bless the Israelites instead of cursing them as a matter of fact on three different occasions from three different locations Balaam blesses the children of Israel and sort of cursing them and then in the fourth one he actually gives a promise uh Prophecy of the coming Messiah it cost Balaam everything it not only cost him his opportunity to be a true servant of God because in the beginning he's disobedient but balik is like you can go away and leave you can get out of here and you best believe just like the the talk when in the beginning when balik is like King baelic's like man who can I look for oh this guy Balaam you pay him enough he'll curse somebody for you well now King balak is like hey I offered this guy everything and he didn't do what I asked him so now his racket is ruined so he's not only disobedient to God and facing the wrath of God he now faces a Wrath of man and the fact that his racket is ruined he's done he's no longer going to get money for being a quote-unquote prophet and he disappears out of the Bible as quickly as he shows up listen if if we are to Bear good fruit we must be obedient we can't live in the flesh we must choose who our Master is realize obedience is not a burden we must move according to God's purpose and realize obedience May mean trials and pain but they are temporary now here's the deal we're going to end on a Christ teaching because I can't out teach Christ Jesus was the ultimate teacher I can't add or take anything away from what he said and so what I'm going to do is I'm going to close we're reading this passage and I just want you to think about and let things settle about what Jesus is about to say about obedience what Jesus he's about to lay down a lesson to some Pharisees about obedience Matthew 21 28-32 but what do you think about this a man with two sons and this is Jesus talking a man with two sons told the older boy son go out and work in the venue today the son answered no I won't go but later he changed his mind and went anyway then the father told the other son you go and he said yes sir I will but he didn't go which of these two obeyed his father they replied the first then Jesus explained this meaning I tell you the truth corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you do for John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live but you didn't believe him while tax collectors and prostitutes did and even when you saw this happening you refused to believe and repent of your sins thank you very much