Date: 09-Aug-2023
Name: Michael Ngethe
Topic: DO WHATEVER HE TELLS TO DO.
Content:
John 2:1-4
Chapter 2
The Wedding at Cana
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.
Instruction
A direction or order.
A detailed information about how something should be done or operated.
“The one who obey's God's instruction for today will develop a keen awareness of His direction for tomorrow.”
Lysa TerKeurst.
“A wise person will listen and take in more instruction.”
Solomon.
Psalms 32:8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
Proverbs 4:13
Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go;
Keep her, for she is your life.
Question:
• When was the last time you explicitly heard or received instructions from the Lord?
• What is your number one response or process you follow once you receive the instructions?
Instruction requires an action, response and obedience to the latter.
• The instruction you choose to obey is the instruction that will ultimately be a blessing.
• Simply obeying instruction will bring rewards or result.
• The opposite is true (Disobedience will result into stagnation or even death.
Isaiah 1:19
If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
How to respond to Instructions.
1. Everything God created contains an invisible seed of instruction ,an assignment, to solve a specific problem. Within an individual is an invisible calling purpose or destiny.
Luke 1:31-33
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:38
Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Prayer Points:
Prayer point
Lord help us identify the seeds of instruction to complete our assignments.
2. Instructions can be ignored, disregarded, distorted or completed out of sequence. This will result into delays, stagnating in one season or even spiritual or physical death.
An example is Jonah 1:3
But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
Prayer point:
Lord help us to distinguish you voice from other voices, to understand your instruction in every season and to obediently run with the instructions we receive.
3. Instruction can be so simple makes no sense or what we don’t want to follow.
2 Kings 5:10-11
And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’
Prayer point:
Lord help us to have child like faith to follow the instructions no matter how simple it sounds. Let us not complicate the instructions or dismiss it because it’s too simple.
4. Take the first simple step in following instructions. Your obedience to the simple instructions will open doors to further instructions.
1 Kings 17:10-11
So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
Prayer point.
Lord help us to take the first simple step of obedience and to have the courage/tenaciously to run with further instructions. Let us always have a yes attitude towards the things of God.
5. Always go over and above to deliver on the instructions.
2 Kings 13:18-19
Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”
Prayer point:
Lord help us to go over and above the instructions. Let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we will reap the rewards.
PART 2
Four reasons why we don’t follow God’s instructions.
1. Fear.
• Fear in and of itself is not a bad thing. Fear is baked into our system to provide several benefits including keeping us safe in dangerous situations.
• When we talk about fear in a spiritual context, however, we tend to refer to the idea that we will choose the path of least resistance and avoid situations that make us feel uncomfortable.
• A strong relationship with God is one that gives us the courage to do what we would never do on our own.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Psalms 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psalms 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Prayer point.
Let us pray against the spirit of fear and draw not from our own strength but from the Lord.
2. Impatient.
• Many believers disobey God because they are not patient enough to wait for God’s appointed time.
• An example is in 1 Samuel 13:7-10 when Saul offered the peace offering because Samuel did not come at the expected time.
• Many of us loss hope and trust in God when we think that God has delayed and forget that God’s time is different from our own time.
• We can sabotage God’s plans by our impatience actions.
Psalms 37:7
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Prayer point.
Let us pray that we will patiently wait on the Lord.
3. The voices and opinions of other people.
• When the voice of the Holy Spirit is drowned by other voices.
• People will always want us to do some things but it is left for us to know if their want are in line with God’s instructions.
Exodus 19:5
Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.
1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel replied,
“What is more pleasing to the LORD:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
Isaiah 30:21
Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.
Prayer point.
Let us pray that the voice of the Holy Spirit and the word of God will be the loudest on our ears.
4. The love of the company of man.
• When we love to be pleasers of men rather than obeying God.
• Check the people who have access to your ears and your heart.
• in 1 Samuel 13, Saul decided to offer the peace offering because his people were scattered. That is to say, that he was abandoned.
• Therefore, there are times we disobey God just because we want the company of men instead of the company of God.
• It is not always easy for one to walk alone and avoid the crowd yet that is what it takes to stand out most time.
Psalms 1:1
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
Proverbs 13:20
Walk with the wise and become wise;
associate with fools and get in trouble.
1 Corinthians 15:33
Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”
Prayer point.
Let us pray for a greater level of discernment of what enters our ears/spirit man. Let us vet who has access to our ears and speaks into our lives.
