It’s never wise to not obey God’s will for your life. In the Sound of Music, at the close of a frustrating day, the Reverend Mother asks Maria why she has come to the convent. Hesitating, the troubled girl replies, “To discover and do the will of God.”¹ You don’t have to go to a convent or a monastery to find God’s will for your life. There is plenty of God’s will to see in the pages of the Bible. When we look to obey the general principles of God’s will found in the scriptures God is then free to open to us detailed specifics of His plan for our individual lives. Why It’s Never Wise to Not Obey God’s Will for Your Life: that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why You Don’t Have to Be Sick in Light of the Bible

[Tweet “Jesus faced weariness and overcame it. He stayed perfect, obeying God’s will.”]

Read the Notes

You can view a basic transcript of this podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This week’s call is:

It’s always right to obey God’s will for your life. You have to avoid boredom, weariness, and loss of heart. Jesus warned against it. The Bible speaks of it. You can rise and do anything God said you could do.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: How have you kept the Word of God and His will for your life fresh in your heart? Please consider leaving your story in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

You can find additional information on the subject of John’s Gospel in the resources listed below.

1. 1. #S6-015: The Value of Knowing the Gift of God [Podcast]
   2. #S6-014: How to Conquer Prejudice the Jesus Way [Podcast]
   3. #S6-013: What Does It Mean to Be Born Again from God? [Podcast]
   4. #S6-012: Nicodemus: Is His Life a Positive Example to Follow? [Podcast]
   5.  #S-018: How Not to Be A Minister of Condemnation [Podcast]
   6.  #S6-019: Worshipping God: Why the Hour Is Here [Podcast]
   7. #S6-020: More on Praising God: Why the Hour Is Here [Podcast]
   8. #S6-021: The Big Scoop on Magnifying God [Podcast]
   9. #S6-023: Amazing Pointers on the Road to Lifting God Higher [Podcast]
   10. #S6-027: Why Jesus Shocking Bread of Life Statement is the Only Way to Heaven [Podcast]
   11. #S6-029: Why Mixing Holy and Unholy Is Not a Good God Thing [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Podcast Notes

Obeying Gods’ Will: How the Jews Didn’t Concerning the Feasts

John 7:1–2 (ESV) — 1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand.

• In a previous podcast, we mentioned how the Jews changed God’s intention for the feasts and turned it into something he had never designed.
• We showed how the feasts of the Lord became the feasts of the Jews, specifically the Feast of Booths.
• Since our focus is John’s gospel in this series of podcasts, know that there are more references to this ‘feast perversion’ in John.

John 5:1 (ESV) — 1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

• So, again, you see the words ‘feast of the Jews,’ not the Lord’s feast.

The Passover

John 6:4 (ESV) — 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

• Even the Passover became corrupt and became the ‘Jews feast.’
• See yet another Passover feast in John eleven and Jesus final Passover in chapter nineteen.

John 11:55 (ESV) — 55 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.

John 19:42 (ESV) — 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

• In each of these passages, the reference is to the Jewish version of these feasts.
• So, every one of these feasts had gone awry.
• But, what was it specifically that the Jews did?

Not Obeying God’s Will: Malachi’s Input

• The book of Malachi testifies to some of the Jewish feast perversions.

Malachi 1:7–8 (ESV) — 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the LORD’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts.

• They were offering polluted food to the Maker of food.
• The Jews were offering blind animals to the One who sees all.
• Crippled and sick animals, they offered to the Healer of mankind.
• All these offerings were evil things lifted up to the Highest and Holy God.
• The Jews were not obeying God’s will in the area of feasts.
• The Lord turned that back on Israel by asking them this question: “Would your Governor accept such offerings?”
• The point is this, whatever you are willing to do for a mere human man, you should be that much more willing to do for a divine all-powerful God.
• If you are faithful to your job, shouldn’t you be faithful to your God?
• Why would you offer the Lord sub-standard service?

God’s Will and Weariness

• So, we read Malachi 1:7, now drop down a few more verses to verse thirteen.

Malachi 1:13–14 (ESV) — 13 But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD. 14 Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

• The priest’s conclusion about obeying God’s will via His offerings and feasts was that it was all just weariness.
• The Hebrew word for ‘weariness’ means trouble, hardship, or toil.
• One Hebrew dictionary defined it as ‘a nuisance.’
• The priests knew that they had to offer sacrifices.
• The Lord had made His desire known to them in the Pentateuch but obeying God’s will was drudgery to them.
• They did not have their heart into what they were doing.
• The Jews were going through the motions.

Living in Auto Pilot

• Auto-pilot Judaism, you could call it.
• The New International Commentary of the Old Testament adds this comment.

They are bored with their duties. They have no fervency for or interest in performing the prescribed tasks. Because they are in the habit of despising the altar and defiling the offerings, and deeming it contemptible, they are experiencing their duties as something that causes weariness, as an unbearable burden. “The joy of restored worship at Jerusalem, experienced half a century ago, was gone” (Edgar).²

• I am sure you have heard the ‘left your first love’ verse in Revelation, right?

Revelation 2:4 (ESV) — 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

• The ‘you’ in this verse is the church at Ephesus.
• The Greek word ‘abandon’ means to abandon cognitively, that means they thought about it leaving the Lord and His ways.
• They entertained it in their thinking.
• The word ‘abandon’ further means to stop maintaining or insisting on; used of ideas or claims.
• They stopped maintaining God’s ways.

Jot and Title Obedience to God’s Will

• They stopped insisting on the exactness of His Word.
• You have to keep maintaining that God’s ways are ‘right ways’, that His plan and His Word is worthy of ‘jot and title’ obedience.
• You understand the phrase ‘jot and title,’ don’t you?

Matthew 5:18 (KJV) — 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

• Jot, or title means the smallest part of God’s Word will stand.

Matthew 24:35 (KJV) — 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

• If the smallest parts of God’s Word will stand, then obedience right down to the smallest iota is the standard.
• That’s where the Jews got off in this area of feasts.
• They didn’t obey God’s Word down to the smallest dot; they changed God’s Word.
• And why did they change it? – because they were bored, with doing it God’s way.

The Price for Not Obeying God’s Will

• There’s always a price for walking away from God’s will.
• Tickets for dancing at the ‘Do Your Own Thing Disco’ are extravagantly high.
• The richest man on planet earth can’t afford it.
• Recently, I went on a company-sponsored trip to Alabama.
• The company paid for everything: my plane ticket, my hotel room, the food I ate while I was on the trip and then paid me for my time there.
• They sent me.
• The sender always picks up the tab.
• Sharon came to me and said, “I want to go out of town in the fall.”
• No one is sending her; she wants to go.
• Guess who’s picking up that tab?
• Did you get the moral?
• If you are sent the expenses are paid, if you go yourself, you have to pay the price.

Boredom: A Key Indicator

• So, the priests of the Lord were bored with obeying God’s will.
• There’s a hint there for you and me.
• How do you know that your walk with God is going south?
• Here’s one way you know.
• Are you bored with obeying God’s will for your life?
• Bored is an adjective: it’s a descriptor.
• Similar adjectives include uninterested, unexcited, tired, wearied, exhausted.
• A bored child of God is uninterested in His God.
• He is not excited by Him or by His will.
• I say, ‘him’ but of course it could be ‘her’ also.
• Bored is bad.
• It’s a severe negative sign.
• Believers get slack when they are bored.
• They get sloppy about the discipline of the Lord.

Proverbs 3:11 (ESV) — 11 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof.

• God is life.
• Surely you aren’t bored with life nor the Life-Giver, are you?

Boredom Survey

• A recent survey found that the average adult spends about one-third of his waking time bored! Famed economist Stuart Chase once sat down to figure the calendar of his days. There is, he said, an ascending scale of human values and somewhere on it, there is a line between living and mere existing. How many hours of the week, he asked himself, had he truly and intensively lived? In how many had he just existed? Out of the 168 hours of the week, he found that he had been “alive” only 40, or about 25% of the total time!³³

Weariness in the New Testament

Galatians 6:9 (ESV) — 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

• The Greek word here for ‘weary’ in Galatians 6:9 means to be disheartened or to be or become discouraged or disheartened; lose spirit.
• BDAG has ‘lose enthusiasm.’
• EDNT has ‘grow tired.’
• Some translations have the word as ‘lose heart.’
• Look at the following verses as an example.

2 Corinthians 4:1 (ESV) — 1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

2 Corinthians 4:16 (ESV) — 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

• So, disheartened, discouraged or lose enthusiasm, lose heart are all good translations of the Greek word.
• The fact that we have encouragement from the Spirit of God via the scriptures on the subject of weariness is a telling point.

Why the Warning Against Weariness?

• Why the warning?
• Well, there are probably several reasons.
• One is because discouragement is a minefield of problems and the Lord in His compassion doesn’t want you to lose your spiritual legs as you walk through it.
• Second is plain awareness.
• To be forewarned is to be forearmed as the saying goes.
• It is possible to grow tired, be disheartened, lose enthusiasm, and become weary.

Luke 18:1 (ESV) — 1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

• Is there something about the prayer life that could cause a believer to feel tempted to lose heart?
• Yes, how about the patience part of answered prayer?
• Some ‘lose heart’ because they expect an ‘instant answer’ not realizing how faith and prayer works.
• Sometimes there are instant prayer answers.
• They are thrilling and astounding to our hearts.
• But, the way of faith and patience is the way to spiritual growth.
• Look at the book of James here.

James 1:3–4 (KJV) — 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Faith and Patience is the Right Way

Hebrews 6:12 (ESV) — 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

• Now, you don’t need a Greek dictionary, in this case, to know what the word patience means in verse twelve.
• If you keep reading a few verses ahead, the word defines itself.

Hebrews 6:13–15 (ESV) — 13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.

• Patient waiting obtains God’s promise.
• And it obtains it, every single time.

Launching Out on God’s Word

• With that thought, here’s the illustration of the day.

The Flying Roudellas, who were trapeze artists, said there is a special relationship between flyer and catcher on the trapeze. The flyer is the one who lets go, and the catcher is the one who catches. As the flyer swings high above the crowd on the trapeze, the moment comes when he must let go. He arcs out into the air. His job is to remain as still as possible and wait for the strong hands of the catcher to pluck him from the air. The flyer must never try to catch the catcher but must wait in absolute trust. The catcher will catch him, but he must wait.⁵

Do You Have Need of Patience?

• Waiting on the fulfillment of God’s Word is what patience means.
• It’s throwing yourself out there on God’s Word waiting for the strong hands of God to catch you.
• Patience implies a waiting period, and that’s why some are tempted to lose heart.
• But, here’s the thing: what happens if you give up when you have already thrown yourself up in the air?
• You’re going to fall on the floor because you weren’t patient enough to wait on God’s strong hands.
• When you give up, when you say it won’t work this time, or it won’t work for me, you won’t receive it because you are out of faith.
• You’ve heard the saying, ‘Good things come to those who wait,’ haven’t you?
• Abraham waited twenty-five years for the beginnings of the fulfillment of God’s promise to him for a son.
• Isaac was the beginning of ‘Surely I will bless you and multiply you.’

Guarding Against Getting Pulled Away from Obeying God’s Will

• So, it’s possible to become weary and lose heart, and if it is, then we have to number one, be aware of that possibility, and number, two, guard against it.
• All of which means that in your Christian walk, there will be days when you fight this little ‘g’ giant of discouragement.

Temptation Is Not Your Identity

• There is a singular fact about temptation that you need always to remember.
• The temptation is not your identity.
• Just because you have a temptation in an area doesn’t mean that’s who are.
• Now, the enemy will try to help you in this area.
• He will speak in your head and tell you that if you were more holy, more of a child of God, than you are that you wouldn’t be having these feelings of weariness and boredom.
• Don’t listen to him.
• It’s all a lie.
• That’s all Satan can tell is a lie.
• He’s not able to keep a straight word in his mouth to save his life; you understand that expression?
• Everybody faces and or fights through these issues, that’s why the warning is in the Bible.
• Jesus in His earth suit had to deal with this temptation.
• The Bible says so.

Jesus and Temptation

• Hebrews tells us that Jesus experienced temptation in all points like we do.

Hebrews 4:15 (ESV) — 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

• Back up a bit to chapter two and reread it.

Hebrews 2:17–18 (ESV) — 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

• Jesus faced weariness and overcame it.
• He stayed perfect, obeying God’s will.
• If He did it, you could do it.
• Why not?
• You have the same Holy Spirit in your spirit that Jesus had.
• There aren’t two Holy Ghost’s, only one.
• Same Spirit, same attributes, same God lives in you today.

The Illustration of the Day

WHEN I was a little boy, my father bought me a punching bag. It was basically a painted balloon. I would hit the punching bag every which way, but nothing I did kept that punching bag from popping right back up. I could slam it to the ground and BOOM! It came right back up. I could kick it and BOOM! It would come right back up. The only way I could keep the punching bag from coming back up was to destroy it. The reason it would come back up is that, at its base, there was a weight, and the weight forced whatever external pressure you put on it to bring it right back up.

That’s biblical happiness. No matter what your circumstance is, Bang! Bing! Back up! No matter what your situation is, Bang! Bing! Back up! Your ability to recover is because there is weightiness on the inside. Whatever external pressure you experience only brings you right back up. This is the power of the blessed life. This is the power of overcoming.654

Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 216.

#S3-052: Why Faith Demands the Eviction of Ishmael [Encore Podcast]

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