Obedience to the faith lesson 1

Obedience

to the

Faith Lesson 1

Contents Chapter 1: Grace for a Reason ....................................................................... 2

Chapter 2: Jesus is the Author of Salvation to them that Obey................... 4

Chapter 3: Obedience is a response to Faith and Love ................................ 6

Chapter 4: Obedience Gives Us Confidence with God ............................... 10

Chapter 5: Knowing God .............................................................................. 12

Chapter 6: Obedience of Man the Eternal Purpose of God ....................... 15

Chapter 7: Salvation Restores the Power in Man to Obey ......................... 18

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Obedience to the Faith

Chapter 1: Grace for a Reason We are going to begin a series of lessons on obedience to the faith. The scripture reference we will start with is found in Romans 1:5.

“By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name. “ Here we see in Romans that we have received grace and apostleship for a reason. The reason is obedience to the faith wherever we may be among all nations and for His name. The name of the Lord, for this name sake, that His name will be glorified and magnified to the ends of the earth.

“Obedience to the Faith”, that is going to be our topic for the next eight lessons. Jesus lived a life of obedience as our example. He made the way for us to do likewise. He was obedient so that we can be obedient. He lived a life of obedience. Many times He said, “I only say what I hear the Father say, I only do what I see the Father do.” That is obedience.

When we call Jesus Lord, what are we saying? We are saying He is in charge. I’ll do what He says, and I go where you tell me to go, giving Him His rightful place as Lord. The reason we are able to obey is because his life was a life of obedience. He lived a life of obedience all the way to the cross, even died for our sake and having been one hundred per cent obedient he arose victorious out of the grave. Now we are empowered to be able to live a life of obedience by this grace.

It is not my intent to come across as legalistic in this teaching or to imply that I am trying to get you back under the law. These kind of things might Chuck Kennedy-2

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cross through your mind as we are going to discuss all this in the lessons to come in great detail. What I do want you to understand is that we are talking about obedience out of a love relationship. Because I love him I will obey him. I am not afraid of being cursed if I don’t obey him, although the curse is in the earth today but Jesus paid the price for us. I love him and because I love him I want to please him, I want to do things that please him, that is my motivation. My motivation for teaching these lessons is so that we might be pleasing in his sight and that we might bless him as he has blessed us.

So Romans 5:19 says: “For as by one man’s disobedience (that would be Adam right) many were made sinners so by the obedience of one (Jesus) shall many be made righteous.”

Please note here that these are my annotations and not the Holy Scriptures. Whenever I underline or highlight a word or use parenthesis, it is for my emphasis or explanation. Look at what this says, by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous. It did not say everyone will be made righteous. We have to choose to be saved. Just because Jesus went to the cross and legally died for everybody. Every person on earth could legally be saved, but they have to receive Him. Therefore, the word ‘many’ is important because many will be made righteous, but unfortunately some will be left out, some will reject Him for various reasons. Satan gives you a multitude of reasons as to why you should reject the Lord, and then we get to make the choice. Thus many, not all, will be made righteous.

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Chapter 2: Jesus is the Author of Salvation to them that Obey Hebrews 5:9 says: “And being made perfect, (talking about Jesus) he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”

So Jesus, being made perfect, became the author of eternal salvation to whom? All those who obey him of course.

There is that word obey. Salvation to all those that obey Him. Jesus is the author of eternal salvation. Here are the ‘many’ that we just read about in Romans 5:19. The many who obeyed the voice of God. Hebrews 5:9 tells us who the many are; those that obey Him. To obey is rooted in believing. If I believe then I act. If you believe something then you act on it. If you believe there is a hundred dollars waiting for you at the bank, then you will get in your vehicle and travel over there to claim your hundred dollars. If you think somebody is just pulling your leg then you just stay home and rest, you figure there is no sense in going there and wasting your time when it is not really there anyway. Believing is an action. When I believe, I act on it. You do this in all walks of life, not just in reference to the bible. You are today the result of what you believe. You are a product of your belief, whether it be good or bad. Obedience has roots in believing; in what we choose to believe. What you believe becomes an action.

Romans 10:16: Chuck Kennedy-4

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“But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith who hath believed our report?”

This scripture in Romans 10:16 is taken from Isaiah 53:1. I am using this scripture because it says ‘they have not all obeyed the gospel’. We are talking about obedience here linked to believing. Then it tells us Esaias said “who hath believed our report”. From this we see obedience is directly linked to believing, scripturally speaking. When you believe, you obey, if you do not believe, you will not obey.

Again let me repeat, if you believe, then you act. If you do not believe, then you do not act because you give it no value. It is just that simple and it applies to all walks of life, in everything.

Jesus said in Mathew 7:21: “Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven.”

That is a sobering thought. Right out of the mouth of the Master. I did not say it, Jesus said it. He continues in the same verse: “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the Kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Who? The obedient one. It is the person who obeys with actions and calls Him Lord that enters in. You can call him Lord all day long but if you still go about doing your own thing, He is not really your Lord, you are self-deceived.

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Obedience to the Faith

Chapter 3: Obedience is a response to Faith and Love Obedience is a response to faith and love. It is not legalism based upon fear or cursing, but instead it is the outward show of our trust, love and devotion to our God. If I trust him, I will do what he says. If I love him, I will do what he says. As we realize that yielding our will to God is the measure of the power he gives us, we will see that surrender to full obedience is nothing but complete faith that God will work in us. (Andrew Murray) If I understand that the measure of the power from God that I walk in on planet earth is based upon my yielding my will to God, then I will see that full obedience is nothing but complete faith that God is working in me.

The promises of the New Covenant rest on this, Ezekiel 36: 26-27: “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit within you, I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.�

Now how is he going to accomplish that? By the Holy Ghost! He is going to circumcise our hearts and we are to be born again. This is New Testament terminology, and we are going to be empowered with the Holy Spirit to walk in obedience. So let us believe that God will work this in us and we will have the courage to yield ourselves in unreserved obedience even as Jesus did unto death. Even if it looks bad for me in the natural, I will follow him. Even if my mind is screaming that I am going Chuck Kennedy-6

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down, or that it is not working, or that I am in trouble. When the Word of the Lord says to do it, then I will follow the word even if it seems it is to my hurt at the moment. However, I can assure you that you are not going to get hurt by Him. He’ll always take good care of you. Your mind is going to be screaming at you that you have jumped off a cliff, but you will be fine. The Word of God is always right no matter how it may look.

The act of our surrender to God will lead to the submission of our will to His, conforming us to His image, and He always does his Father’s will, counting on His Father’s power. That is what we are learning, that the power of God in us will cause us to be obedient.

So obedience is the outward expression of our love for God. My obedience to God is my outward expression of my inward love for him.

Why? Because I am doing his will. I am purposed, no matter what, to choose his way.

John 14:14 “If ye love me, Jesus said, keep my commandments.”

Keep my commandments means obey them. If you love me, then obey.

John 14:21: “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loves me, and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.”

The one who keeps His commandments, His word, that is the one that loves Jesus. The one that loves Jesus will be loved of the Father. This Chuck Kennedy-7

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scripture tells us Jesus will love the one who obeys and God will manifest in the obedient person. Manifest means to make visible, to show. If God is going to show himself to us, well that is an exciting life! Not a dead religion where there is no visible God. This God we serve is saying if we will put ourselves on the line, giving up ourselves in exchange for his will, then He will show Himself strong on our behalf.

John 14:23: “Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.�

This was not possible in the Old Testament. Saints, you live in a blessed time! This was not possible for Old Testaments saints to experience like we can today. Jesus says if we will obey Him, out of love, keeping His words, the Father and Him will love us and come to us and abide with us.

John chapter 15 talks about abiding in Christ. We have often thought that possibly we may need to pray more in order to abide in Him. Possibly we need to attend more church to be able to abide in him. Maybe we need to fast more in order to abide in Him. The fact of the matter is that the way to abide in Christ, is simply to do his will. Just obey Him. This scripture shows us obedience from a heart of love brings benefits.

God will manifest himself to us; that is a tremendous benefit. In other words, God is not just a religion nor just a denomination, but God is real and manifests Himself to us vividly by fighting our battles in a manner where we can actually see His miraculous first hand deliverance. God

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will come to us and abide with us. That is a double blessing, it is nothing short of tremendous. These are the benefits.

Chuck Kennedy-9

Obedience to the Faith

Chapter 4: Obedience Gives Us Confidence with God Furthermore, obedience gives us confidence with God. 1 John 3:22: “And whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandments, (we obey) and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”

Whatever we ask of Him we are confident we can have it because we have been obedient. We do not have to shy away from him due to a sense of guilt or condemnation or anything else. It is because we are obedient and this obedience is pleasing to Him. It produces confidence in us that He hears and answers us, there is no blockage. What we believe, our faith, demands a corresponding action. You cannot have obedience without an action. Faith and obedience are linked inseparably together.

1 John 5:14-15 “And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us and if we know he hears us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

We see the confidence in this scripture is in doing the will of God. Living in accordance with that will. How do I know the will of God? It’s in here in the Bible. It is not some weird feeling that comes over us. When you read your Bible God will speak to you in various ways. I don’t know too many people that have audibly heard the voice of God, I do know some Chuck Kennedy-10

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say that they have. I have never had the privilege. But I can assure you that if you never hear the voice of God as far as audibly on planet Earth you can hear it right here in the scriptures. And those people who are seeking audible sounds and visible signs are opening themselves up to counterfeits which cause them to fall into trouble. Just a word of caution.

As a matter of fact, beware of praying only for a blessing, let us seek first obedience and God will supply the blessing.

Instead of you seeking God's blessing, say instead, how can I serve you today? How can I walk in your will today? When I pray that way, the blessings will abound. A good example is found in Malachi, where God says for you to prove Him by bringing all your tithes into the storehouse and see if He will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you won't even have room for. This is exactly the same thing as what we are saying here. Instead of just praying ‘God give me money’, act in obedience by giving all your tithes and then God will open up the windows of heaven and pour you out the blessing you were seeking.

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Chapter 5: Knowing God 1 John 2:1-6: (verse 1)"My little children these things write I unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.”

This scripture is intended for the person who is pursuing God, or in other words, somebody who is wanting to do the will of God. In that case even if he stumbles or makes a mistake, he has an advocate with the Father. It is not talking about intentional sin or willful rebellion to God. There is a big difference and the reference here is not to the one who is stubborn, rebellious or to someone who chooses to sin when they know better.

(verse 2) “And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Here we go refer back to the blanket coverage of Jesus on the cross. He died for everyone, but not everyone receives that benefit, sad to say. (verse 3) “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep His commandments.”

This explains how I can know that I know him.

When I keep his

commandments, when I obey him, that is, if I don't deceive myself and say Lord, Lord, but yet run around and do my own thing like I've used to live. Unfortunately, I did that for many years after I got saved. I didn't understand these things. I didn't understand faith. I didn't understand a lot of these things I teach now and so I got saved, I loved God, and I am Chuck Kennedy-12

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sure I would have gone to heaven because I loved the Lord with all my heart. I would read my Bible, pray every once in a while, and I would go to church. It is not that those things get you into heaven, but what I am saying is they were the result of my salvation. I had really been touched

by God and wanted to serve Him. However, I because I did not yet understand these things my life was still a wreck. I kept questioning God about it but was too spiritually dull of hearing to get the message until later in my life. I wish I had known then what I know now.

The scriptures tell us here that we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says he knows Him but lives his own life or continues in his own ways, is not keeping His commandments. (verse 4)”He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

The Bible doesn't pull any punches, I'm sorry, I can't sugarcoat this when the Bible says “that person is a liar” found right in the King James Bible, and the Truth does not lie. (verse 5) “But whoso keeps his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”

This is how we know that we are abiding in him. (verse 6) “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”

John 17:3, Jesus said: "And this is life eternal…”

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This is the biblical definition of salvation He is about to tell us. I know there are a lot of people that say you only need to pray asking the Lord to save you and you will be saved. They tell you not to worry, you are safe, no one can snatch you out of His hands. The prayer of surrender is most certainly the first step you need to do, but salvation is so much more than just an initial prayer. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, (that they might know thee, that is eternal life, knowing God) the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.�

Knowing Jesus through an intimate relationship with Him, the Christ, on a daily basis, this is salvation. Salvation is more than just a prayer prayed, it is an intimate relationship of obedience through faith, love and trust, in an all knowing, all powerful, redeeming God, who gave everything for us to be able to have that benefit. It did not come cheap.

Chuck Kennedy-14

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Chapter 6: Obedience of Man the Eternal Purpose of God

1 Peter 1:2: "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied."

Look at what the scripture is saying here. The foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification, which is a setting apart from the world, unto obedience. Here is the reason, unto obedience! When Gods people obey, it is His heart’s desire. Let me remind you of Adam when he was in the Garden of Eden, there was only one requirement, only one; to obey, and he blew it.

This scripture, 1 Peter 1:2, points to obedience of man as the eternal purpose of God. This then is a chief factor in the salvation Christ purchased for us.

Let's read it again.

"Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied."

Through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, grace is yours, peace is multiplied. This is pointing to the eternal purpose of God in redeeming you, so he would have a people that Chuck Kennedy-15

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would be able to obey Him, and bless him and love him. So obedience and love are similar. Obedience and faith are too, they are all intertwined.

1 Peter 1:14-15 "As obedient children, not fashioning yourself according to the former lusts in your ignorance: (In other words, not like you use to live, when you were lost and did not know any better. Don't fashion yourself that way any longer.) But as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.�

I would say that obedience is the starting point of true holiness. That is powerful. How do we do that? Obedience, not fashioning ourselves to the former lusts in our ignorance when we didn't know any better. Now we do know better. He which called us is holy so we are also to walk holy, as he walked. We are to be holy in all manner of conversation, not just words, but every part of our life.

Hebrews 12:14 says: "Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."

This is the Bible. It is not me saying it, this is the Word of God.

Romans 6:22 says: "But now being made free from sin (now that we are saved) and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life."

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The one thing God asked of Adam in the Garden was obedience. (And Adam blew it) The one thing by which a creature can glorify God or enjoy His favor and blessing is obedience. The single cause of the power of sin in the world and the ruin it has caused is disobedience. Murray, Andrew (2004-04-01). A Life of Obedience (p. 24). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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Chapter 7: Salvation Restores the Power in Man to Obey

One way we can give Him the glory that is due Him is to do what he says, and the single most cause of the power of sin today is disobedience. The object of salvation is to restore the power in man to obey, for God to make himself a people who love him in their actions.

It was prophesied in Daniel 7:27. It said that: "The kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him."

This is the final curtain and it involves the saints of the Most High whose kingdom is a forever kingdom. This is the eternal Kingdom we are a part of. All dominions, which includes everything, shall serve and obey him.

This was seen in Jesus when he walked as He stilled the waves and the wind. He stopped the funeral and gave the young man back to his grieving mother. He raised the dead in many instances so death obeyed him. The wind and the waves obeyed Him. There was nothing outside the realm of his dominion, He was never caught off guard and that is what Daniel is prophesying, that all dominions will serve and obey him.

Look at our example which is Jesus our Master.

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Hebrews 5:8-9: "Though he were a son yet learned he obedience (we are talking about Jesus here) by the things which he suffered and being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."

I pray that you see from this lesson how obedience is a real key to a victorious life. It is not something that we can just flippantly pass over.

Obedience is the key that will unlock the door to the power of God in your life.

Let us pursue a life whereby our will is completely yielded to the will of God in every way and in everything. God's will is his glory; it is Himself manifested. As in the case where Saul thought he had obeyed God in the matter of the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15, but in fact, he actually disobeyed by sparing King Agag as well as the best of the sheep and the oxen. He thought he obeyed God but it was not accepted because he did not give 100% obedience. May God reveal to us whether we are indeed doing all He asks, seeking utterly to destroy all and spare nothing that is not in perfect harmony with His will. It is wholehearted obedience, down to the minutest details, that alone can satisfy God. Let nothing less satisfy you. Because while we say, ‘‘I have obeyed,’’ God says, ‘‘You have rejected the Word of the Lord.’’ Murray, Andrew (2004-04-01). A Life of Obedience (p. 15). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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Exodus 19: 5-6: "Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people for all the earth is mine, and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel,"

This was also quoted in the New Testament when Peter calls us a royal priesthood and a holy nation. Now begin to walk in it.

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Lesson 1 For more information or to order the next lesson:

Faith International Christian Center Pastor Chuck Kennedy PO Box 14931 Bradenton, FL 34280 941-794-1713 ficcpastor@yahoo.com www.ficcwordchurch.org

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