In this sermon, the speaker shares a personal story of struggling with a lie from the devil for seven years. The lie prevented him from pursuing marriage and having a family, causing him great sorrow. However, he was eventually encouraged by fellow Christians who told him that it was not God's will for him to believe this lie. The speaker emphasizes the importance of obedience to God's commandments and the need for discipline and submission to authority. He also highlights the rewards of obeying God, such as experiencing His presence, receiving His love, and having answered prayers. The sermon concludes with a reference to the story of the fall of Jericho, illustrating the power of obedience.

Good morning, my name is Roy Daniel. As you all know, I haven't greeted every single one of you. I'm going to bring a message today, the second in a series. Yesterday was on the Corinthian church, how they misinterpreted or mismeasured their spirituality, or what is spirituality and the problems that led to. Today I'm going to look at something different and ask the same question. How do you measure your spirituality? I'm going to ask the question with this in mind. And how did the Galatian church measure their spirituality incorrectly, and what problems did it lead to in that church? Let us pray. Father, thank you today that we can be gathered around thy word. Thank you that we can come and you hear us because we are thy children, and because we come through Jesus Christ. And Father, I ask you today that you would speak to us, Lord, of these lies. I've seen people so bound by lies of the devil, such as the people in the Galatian church that they are quivering and shaking for years under the lies of the devil. And I ask you today, if there's anybody that's going in that direction, that doesn't even might know it, that he's deceived of the devil, that you would set him free through the truth of Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ. Father, open up our eyes to see the wonders in thy word and the liberty that is in Christ Jesus. And bind the devil and his demons in the name of Jesus Christ. We give this meeting over to you, Lord. And you are faithful and you are powerful and you are able to take it into your hands and to do your will in the lives of men. In Jesus Christ, my dear Father's name. Amen. How do you measure your spirituality? You ask the question, how did the Galatian church measure their spirituality? Well, I'm going to read to you three verses. Galatians 5 verse 12 firstly. Paul says, writes to them, I would that they were even cut off which trouble you. Then in Galatians 2 verse 4, it's not speaking actually of the context of the Galatian church. It's talking about people who are influencing Titus and other people at Jerusalem. But it's being compared to the same people that Paul wishes were cut off at the Galatian church. Galatians 2 verse 4, And that because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. Galatians 4 verse 17, They zealously affect you, but not well. Now who are these people that Paul wishes were cut off, that he compares to the people of Jerusalem, which are bringing people into bondage, spying out the liberty which Christians have in Christ Jesus, and trying to bring them into bondage. And that he says in Galatians 4 verse 17, They zealously affect you, but not well. Zealously, but not well. Who are these people? Well, they are Jewish people, or Jewish Christians, who are telling the Galatian church that they must keep to a whole lot of Jewish rules, and rituals, to able to be spiritual, and to grow spiritual. They have to keep to all these Jewish rules to be spiritual, and to grow spiritually. Example in Galatians 4 verse 10, You observe days, and months, and times, and years, and these rules, these rituals, these, from circumstances, to days, to times, to months, to years, are bringing them, or were bringing them into bondage, away from the liberty which they had in Christ Jesus. You see, they thought that they were growing spiritually, they thought by keeping all these rules, all these rituals, all this history of what the Jews kept, that they were impressing heaven. They honestly thought that they were impressing heaven, but they were at the same time being brought into bondage. They were being brought into bondage. You know, soon after my salvation about six years back, I remember Glenville Bible College, everything in my life, all that cried out of my heart was one thing, I wanted to do the will of God. I wanted to do God's will, and I wanted to have His smile. But when you're just saving your little baby, then you don't always know who the devil is. You think he comes only to tempt you about sin. You don't know that he comes to you, and tells you, almost impersonates the Holy Spirit, and gives you rules and laws, and tells you these things are God's will. And he knows you want to do God's will so much that you'll listen to him and you'll say yes, anything for the smile of God. And I remember as a young Christian, I started to get these rules into my life. And I remember I so believed these rules that every time that I went over the line that the devil had given to me, let's say, of those rules, that I felt condemned, I felt in my prayer life as if there was a war between me and God, as if I knew God could not possibly answer my prayers. Unless I went to confess to people, and I confessed to God. And then the devil was so amazing in deep rooting these lies in my life, that when I confessed to men, and I confessed to God, then suddenly I felt in my prayer life that I had no war between me and God, I could pray to God and he would answer my prayers. And so as I broke these rules, I fell down. And as I confessed that I had broken these rules, I followed up. Until one day I came to a very godly person, I lay before him these rules and I said to him, are these sin? And he said no. And that was the beginning point by God's grace after a few months of struggling and darkness at times, going up into wonderful heights and going down into terrifying depths. I've been set free from the lies of the devil and rules of my life which is draining, bringing me into spiritual bondage. And I pray almost daily for Christians. I know and I've seen people land up in institutions that are so bound by rules. And I pray daily, I pray daily for many Christians and on the one side I pray for them that they will not be influenced by worldly music, or that they will not get bitterness in their life, or compromise, or the devil not tell them that things are right to do which are truly sin. And that they won't let idols come up in their life which keep Jesus Christ from being the center of their lives. But on the other hand, I pray for them almost daily. And I cry out to God and I say, God, oh Lord, do not let the rules and the lies of the devil which start to bind these people, show them the truth in every area of their spiritual life and let the truth set them free. Because I've seen what lies of the devil can do to people with a heart that longs to do the will of God and listen to the lies of the devil in different areas of their lives. The devil loves to give Christians rules. Like brother Don said, it's a sin to enjoy yourself almost. Now I did a terrifying, what a laugh, I did a terrifying thing at a young people's camp. I told them, I was trying to explain to them the difference between sin and enjoying yourself and I was thinking of illustrations. Eventually I checked, I was terrified. I said, you know, it's not sin to throw a water balloon. And that was just the wrong thing to tell young people. I won't tell you what we did. But after a few months later I met one of those young people, a person who longed to do the will of God but he was bound by so many rules and he came to me and he said, I don't know if it's a wonderful testimony but he said, Roy, you know that time you talked about the water balloon? I didn't know what was coming. He said, Roy, I always, through my life, thought throwing water balloons was a sin. Sin! He said, and then Roy Daniel said it wasn't sin. He said, Roy, I threw my first water balloon. Oh dear. I don't think his mother was too pleased with me. 1 Timothy 6 verse 17, God who giveth us all things to enjoy, including water balloons, in Africa, away from church buildings, agnostics. I don't know if agnostics have so changed their theology over the last, how many thousands of years? You'll get them from almost the first century A.D. But I'd like to read from a church history book from at that stage and this is before they changed to something a bit different. Matter is sinful. They saw in God's best gifts sources of danger and rejected the most innocent enjoyments for fear of contamination with what was material. That is agnostics at that stage. Later on they separated between soul and material and allowed you to do anything. But at that stage they felt it was the most innocent enjoyment where they could not do because of fear of contamination. I'd like to read of Charles Spurgeon just after his conversion. This was a man of God. Charles Spurgeon. The first week after I was converted to God I felt afraid to put one foot before the other for fear I should do something wrong. When I thought over the day if there had been a failure in my temper or if there had been a trifling word spoken or something donymous I did punish myself severely. You know many Christians, and you see it, those who are truly Christians seeking to do the will of God, feel like they're on a tightrope. On a tightrope over a big chasm. And they're walking in this tightrope and they feel so scared that they'll put their foot left or right because if they put their foot left or right they're falling. They believe. And instead of watching and praying, which God commands that you enter not into temptation, instead of watching and praying, and you must watch and pray because there is a devil, they fret and decay that they enter not into temptation. I'd like to ask you brethren, beware of becoming so introspective. Beware of becoming so introspective. And this can happen to any person I've seen at any point in your life. I don't know how many years you've lived in the joy of the Lord. And in a simple, wonderful relationship with God, at any point it can come that the devil will bring you into becoming introspective. That you start to make a million rules so as not to fall and to become holier. So as not to be fall and to become holier. I'm going to bring a little balance later. There's such a thing as standards and protections. There was a person in South Africa, Nick Prinsloo, lovely married man, lovely children. He wasn't always like that. When he was 24 years old, he got miraculously and wonderfully saved by God, through the grace of God. But he so desired to do the will of God. From that age when he got saved, everything in his life was just to do the will of God. And he wanted to lay himself on the altar of God. And let me tell you something, it's wonderful, there's so few people, so few young people whose lives are laid on the altar of God, but if your life is laid on the altar of God and you long to do the will of God, then I would like to say as well, that you are in danger. Because you so want to do the will of God, that when the devil comes to you with things, he will tell you things that are of God that are not of God. And you'll probably believe him. Nick Prinsloo at age 24, so wanted to do the will of God. He was so laid on the altar, which is wonderful, that he started to grasp at every single law that he could get, longing for God's will. The devil gave him this law and he took it and said, yes, that's of God. And he took another law, and he took another law, and he took another law, and he took another law, and he took another law, and so the devil gave him more and more, and more, and more until he was bound by these laws. And then he read in the Bible that we must pick up our cross and we must follow God. And when he read that, he suddenly believed that God was telling him that he should not marry. That he should not marry. And then he heard a sermon on absolute surrender from a godly man. Now the devil can use a scripture, he can use anything. And as he heard this sermon on absolute surrender, it's wonderful to hear sermons on absolute surrender. He believed that this was confirmation from God that he should not marry. And then he read a verse in Galatians 4 verse 27, for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband. You know, this was very hard for him, what he believed the Lord was telling him. It was extremely hard for him. From his childhood, he longed to marry. He longed to have little children that he could bring up for himself. He longed to have a family. And so he cried out to God and said, God, can I not marry? But every time that he went out and thought of thinking of marrying, he felt condemned. He felt that he was going out of the will of God. And as he read the Bible, he said to me, Roy, it was like I had glasses on my eyes. And he threw those glasses. All I saw was these laws, that I shall not marry. And he said, every verse, as I read through the Bible, seemed to be come in the context of this lie of the devil. That I was not allowed to marry. That I was not allowed to marry. That I was not allowed to marry. That I was not allowed to marry. And I couldn't see anything else. The lie was so strong in my life. The devil started to play with him, giving him desires for marriage and then telling him, Oh, you evil! Like a little mice. You know, this lasted for seven years. He said he used to cry. Tears used to roll down his face through the nights. Right through the nights, he used to cry as he longed to have a family. And yet this lie of the devil was keeping him back. Then people came to him. You know, this man was bound. People came to the same Christians and told them, this is not the Lord's will. This is not God's will. A very godly man in our land used the God wonderfully. I want to mention his name. Came to him as one said, you have to resist the lie of the devil in your life. You have to resist this lie which is taking hold of your life. He started having tea with a lady. Now I don't say that he should have done that. But he went to this lady and he started having tea with her. But every single time he went to have tea with this lady, then he felt extremely condemned as if he was going out of the will of God and even spoke to someone. And eventually upon the word of God, he made a decision and he married this person. Do you know that the lie of the devil was so strong in his life that for one year after he got married, the devil told him that you've gone out of the will of God and you'll never be able to walk with God ever again. This lie so bound his life among all the other rules, but this particular lie so bound his life that it quenched all feelings of love he said that he had for his wife. He didn't even feel the slightest love for his wife for one whole year. He was in such darkness. And then in one moment, in one day, God came and set him free from the lies of the devil. And shortly after that, he set him free from the other lies that the devil put in his life, all these rules. And you know what happened? He has got one of the most lovely families on earth. And he's found a liberty in Christ Jesus away from rules. I know another person. Oh, I love this man. Haki Vensel. He gave me permission. Oh, I love him. What a wonderful lovely man. My daddy knows him. Shining face. Lovely conservative family. Oh, I love them. They stand up for truth and are standing. Nothing wrong with that. And you know what? He said as a younger person when he got saved, oh, he was in fire for God. He used to go out doing street work. Full time. He was proud of street work, so for going out in the streets in the night time, late at night, confronting people, drunkards, about their souls. It was what he did, what he lived for. He was full time in street work. He was on fire for God. And he said as a young person he experienced the fullness of the Holy Spirit in the sense that he had joy. He knew he had such a wonderful relationship with God. It was so wonderful. But listen, Roy, one day, one day I didn't feel as wonderful as I understand what happened. And I felt there was something wrong with me. Surely there's something wrong with my relationship with God. And there's something I'm doing wrong. And suddenly I thought, perhaps it's this, and the devil gave me a law. A rule. And the devil said, yes, it is that. And he took this rule and made it part of his life. He thought, this is what I have to do to impress God so that I can have a right relationship with God and continue in the joy of the Lord. And the devil didn't stop there. He gave him a second rule. And a second rule, and a third rule, and a fourth rule, and a fifth rule, and a sixth rule, and a sixth. The devil never stops. He hates us. And eventually he was bound by these rules. Do you know that if he ate sweets, or cakes, then he had to go to his knees and ask God for forgiveness that he ate cakes. If he enjoyed himself, if he laughed, if he smiled, he felt from the condemnation. He used to walk miles and miles and miles trying to impress God. This is a safe person. He used to walk up mountains with little clothes on, so that he could make himself cold, just to impress God. He later became so bound. This was a person who had the joy of the Lord at one time. And then one day he came to our Bible college. And Mr. Peter Schultz. Oh, I love Mr. Peter Schultz. A godly man, born again in a revival with such a wisdom. He was preaching out of Romans 7. I can't remember exactly the verse. And he was perhaps taking it a bit out of context. But he was preaching about that when the first husband dies, until the first husband dies, you're not allowed to have a second husband. And this one husband was the Lord. Now you're married unto Christ, that you can serve him. And you don't have to be hold fast by the law. And I'm not talking about obedience to the law. We must honor the law as Christians. And he took it a bit out of context. But suddenly God started to work and hack his mind and heart. To show him there's another person in my relationship with God. It's all these laws. All these laws. There's another person. And then he read the book by Jessupon Lewis, War and the Saints. And in there he read these words. 1 Timothy 4 verse 1 to 3. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. Now when you read that you kind of think, oh the demons are going to come and tell them to do terrifying evil things. What did the demons tell? What are the doctrines of demons? Verse 3. Forbidding to marry and abstaining and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving. You know the devil does stuff like this? He did it in Nick Prince's life. He told him you're not allowed to marry. Forbidding to marry. He did it in Hackey Benson's life. He told him it's sin to eat cakes and sweets. It's not very good for you. But you know what's wonderful about Hackey Benson? When he came out of these rules he didn't go over to the other extreme. He didn't jump out of the Galatian church straight into the Corinthian church of liberality. He didn't suddenly bring a television into his house or allow his wife to wear modest clothing. He still had a standard. A standard is a protection. But he was freed from these rules in his own spiritual life which had bound him. And he had to start to learn to live. Imagine for many years not eating sweets. That first sweet. You had to learn to live. That's the problem of having too much ice cream. You know the devil can make anything sin. The devil can make anything on earth sin. I've seen it in people's lives. He can make coffee sin. Now coffee is very bad for you but it's not sin. I remember working with a missionary and we were driving around Africa. We went from town to town and we don't always have much money. You have to get petrol money for the next town and you pray on your knees. But the one thing we sometimes have money for definitely is coffee. We say some of these coffee shops were made for us pilgrims. Oh it's wonderful. Anyway I was enjoying myself. It was about the third missionary I worked with and I was driving around with him. I said let's go to the coffee shop. Oh he said no. Roy I feel so. I cannot do that. What about the poor, poor people? We're supposed to give food to them. And this poor person is born to bondage and I know it's wonderful. The Lord loves the cheerful giver. But he felt that if he'd gone and treated himself with a little bit of coffee then he was going to have done wrong before God because he didn't give the money to the poor. You know how I cured him of that habit? I took him to the coffee shop a few times. You know the devil can make anything sin. He can make encouragement sin. I remember my dad has got a lot of wisdom. A lot of wisdom. He gave me a lot of spankings at prison. But I remember once at a convention many years, a few years back I was preaching and I came out the door and someone said to me, he came, Roy that was a lovely message. I so enjoyed that message. It was of God. And I was angry with that person as a young Christian. I remember I went to my room and I was angry because I thought he was going to make me proud. I said to my daddy, it's so terrifying these people who come to you and tell you that your message was lovely. My daddy looked at me and my daddy's got a lot of wisdom. He knows how to put me on my spot. He said, Roy! He said, Roy! I don't know if he said it was the same people or the same nation that shouted Hosanna in the highest or when Jesus Christ came on Palm Sunday. They soon cried, crucify him, crucify him. He said, the devil's going to get enough people in your life to discourage you. You can take a little encouragement now and then. It's not sin. I think one of the most lovely illustrations that illustrates this is a man, a great preacher I think it was in the 1800s or early 1900s. He came out of his church a wonderful anointed man of God who used the God and he came out of the church and somebody came to him and said to him, oh Mr. let's say Bailey. Oh Mr. Bailey, your sermon was so wonderful. Every little point of alliteration was perfect. Oh the blessing of God upon your sermon. He said, oh as the man left him he looked up to heaven and he said, oh Lord, don't let him puff me up. Then he walked across the street and there was a person right in front of him and this lady came to him and just started women should keep quiet in the church. But this woman started saying, that was the worst sermon in my entire life that I heard. Every doctrinal point was wrong. It was totally terrifying and destructive and I can't remember the words that she said. And as she walked away he looked up to heaven again and said, oh Lord don't let her puff me down. See there's a balance. Anything can become sin. You know many people instead of being crucified with Christ unto obedience, they are in the flesh Christians crucify themselves with rules. They crucify themselves. Mr. Peckham he said of some Christians that he had come among he said they're always they're always dying. They're always dying. You see they never ever get to the point where they live. Some Christians are like that. You know you can sow to the spirit by obeying Christ's commandments. We read of that in Galatians. But you can sow to the flesh I believe in two ways. Either by sinning or making a million rules in your own spiritual life which you have to keep. I'd like to read a quote by Charles Spurgeon. He said, I have found in my own spiritual life that the more rules I lay down for myself, the more sins I commit. Now I'd like to quickly mention there's a difference between rules and discipline and submission. Rules and discipline. I might get unpractical. If you're in the morning it takes discipline to get up early in the morning. I have not met an undisciplined person who can get up early in the morning to seek the face of God. Let's say at five o'clock. It's not sin to say I'm going to wake up at five o'clock. That's not a rule. When it becomes a rule is when you are dead tired and in the morning you somehow sleep through your alarm clock and you wake up a little bit late and you wake up, oh I'm a sinner. The devil has got me this day and the Lord is not going to bless me because I slept through the alarm clock and I haven't prayed as much. Then that which was discipline has become a rule. It's not wrong. I've never met an undisciplined person who could take a day off and pray to God. It takes discipline to seek God's face and pray. And of course submission to those in authority above you. The Bible cries it out. In our mission there's rules I don't agree with. But I do because I'm under authority. It doesn't bound me. It's not part of my spiritual life. I do it because God said in at least seven places in the New Testament concerning different types of people that you are under that you're actually supposed to submit to them. Imagine no words. Submission. Someone said the greatest mission is not the foreign mission. It's not the home mission. It's submission. Wise person. Galatians 3 verse 3 now saying concerning rules that the devil can make anything become sin. Anything. And Paul warns and rebukes the Galatians 3 verse 3. Are you so foolish having begun in the spirit are you not made perfect in the flesh? Having begun in the spirit are you now made perfect in the flesh? I'd like to go on a bit on rules. You know how the devil sometimes brings about rules? They're the smallest little things. You know one of the things I love. Let's go to the prayer meeting. In the prayer meeting it's one of the most wonderful things to see people on the ground crying out to God on their knees. I love that. There's nothing wrong with that. But and I've seen this in people's lives. At times they start to see God on their knee. And then when they sit up and actually sit on their chair they feel like somehow a little less holy and God won't accept their praise as much because they're sitting down. And what was wonderful has become a rule. I've seen some people on their knees they're on their knees every single time and they look at you and they wonder when are you going to get your knee? You unholy person. I've seen people like that. It's become a rule to them. What should have been just a lovely thing that we get down and humble ourselves before God. The coloured nation, we have the black nations and the coloured nations and the white, two white nations in South Africa but the coloured nation have a million of them. They in South Africa are a very funny nation they speak Afrikaans and they've got a Bethel work among them and they hold large conventions in South Africa. And this mission they work by faith was having a convention. They had a problem. They didn't have meat for the convention. And so the workers of this mission were getting together to pray. And my dear friend Reverend Fredericks when he was in his younger days he said he was sitting there and he had a sore foot or something and he was sitting up and the rest of them were on their knees they were crying out to God. He said that he was going to pray while he sat there. He prayed something like this, Oh God as I remember Oh God please do a miracle today. He said please send someone in a car or something with a big lovely what do you call this thing? Bull. Opposite of a cow. And you know what? He said Amen and as he said Amen around the corner came this big truck and on the back of this truck was this big bull. You know this was a revelation to the people who were on their knees. They were on their knees and they said in Afrikaans they said the Lord heard the sitting man's prayer. It was a revelation. I don't think God worries much about that. I remember one person I agree with my daddy I love my daddy. When he says that you must not pray in public I agree with him totally the Bible says so. To the last degree of what he said in that sermon. In the sense that we must not pray like the Pharisees to be seen of man. But it's not wrong to pray in public. Jesus prayed in public. When you pray two of you together you're playing with someone next to you. And I know people have been brought into bondage through that verse. I remember standing in a at a mall and I was outside this mall and there wasn't anywhere to go we were far from anywhere else there was lots of people walking around no one knew us and I decided it's time to pray and I said to one of my friends let's pray he said no it was wrong. The Bible says we must not pray in public. Therefore we cannot pray with all these people around I don't know you poor person that was just the principle if your heart if you out of your heart are doing it for other people then you should go and get right with God like my daddy preached the other day. But it's not wrong to pray where other people are if you can't get anywhere else Jesus thanked for the bread in public and Jesus Christ was blessed but he didn't do it to impress others like the Pharisees did. That was what Jesus Christ wanted to bring out there. I remember as a younger Christian I used to feel condemned if I went up to someone and told them I was praying for many people and I used to go up to one of them and say I'm praying for you and afterwards they'd say oh no I've prayed in public I've told them of my secret prayer now it's not secret anymore and I got in this little whirlwind and then I remember in the Bible it says Paul often said I am praying for you. I used to be scared of telling people of when people met with God under my ministry in case somehow a little drop of the glory had come to me and these people would somehow backslide because of that oh I was confused. And then I read in the Bible in Acts that they came together the disciples, the apostles and they told each other what God had done through them he wasn't giving glory to man he was talking about what God did through them not what they did for God. I know of a person oh the devil is clever at using that verse. A person who prayed for three days. Three days he was on his knees. He went to a special place where he was just seeking the face of God and he took I know him personally as a friend he came out of that place and as he came out of that place just for a little midday walk in between his prayer time across the street a lady from somewhere else in the country saw him and said hello what are you doing here? And in that moment he just said well I'm seeking the Lord and as he said that word it was the second day after two days of seeking God's face I mean what else could he answer the devil came put a lie down upon his heart and condemned him and he felt he said he felt as if there was this great weight that came over his body and he felt that he had lost everything over the last two days because now it was no longer secret prayer. And he came under condemnation he felt that he could do nothing he felt oh no, no I've lost it all, all that work, all that effort. And he had to resist the lie of the devil to be set free and God did honor that prayer so yeah you know John Wesley is a wonderful person among others but most of the revivalists even though they are so wonderful and I revere them and I use their illustrations and I love them listen to the lies of the devil at times John Wesley wrote two books on all the mistakes he made but he admits he made mistakes as far as rules and things like that go. One of the things he said as a young Christian as he went around preaching is this, if you in your quiet time now imagine this, if you in your quiet time have thoughts that wander if your thoughts ever wander in your quiet time then there's no way that you have the deeper work of God that you are filled with the Holy Spirit there's no way that you are right with God in that sense and you can just imagine all the young people going to their knees to test it out and they go to their knees in their quiet time and they start praying to God and then a little bee comes past the window and their thoughts wander for a moment and then oh no I am not deep with God and the bondage that came through that man wonderful man preaching in that stage. You know Charles Spurgeon John Wesley by the way changed, he had so much wisdom at the end of his life it was amazing I can tell you stories but Charles Spurgeon said a prayer he said it's like two hammers the one is an ivory a lovely ivory handle, the other has a wooden handle, simple plain wooden handle he said that's the difference between many people's prayers the one elaborate and wonderful, the most perfect words, the most perfect prayers and the other one just very simple he said the point is not what the handle looks like or what it's made of the point is do you hit the nail on the head do you ask for anything so many people they pray, there's nothing wrong with that but they pray those wonderful prayers and it's lovely, godly people many times do, but the point is just this, do they actually ask for something God's not looking at how wonderful the prayer is or if you struggle through your prayer or if you stutter through your prayer do you ask for anything I know a child, a family a wonderful family, a Fonzeo family in South Africa, father minister children in the ministry but they weren't always like that some of the children were in the world and their one child got wonderfully saved but he had a problem after he got saved at about the age of 18 if I remember right, he had a problem he had a memory problem and a concentration problem in which he could not pray aloud he could not even pray he tried to pray and he couldn't, he couldn't concentrate to pray and you know his father came to him, his father had wonderful wisdom his father didn't say to him my little boy you are so unspiritual that you can't pray aloud and that you struggle and that you can't concentrate, no his father said to him, yeah he has a little black book and I'm going to ask you to write your prayers down write your prayers down God understands that you can't concentrate enough to say it out loud this poor struggling boy about a year later or so they couldn't find him, he didn't come back from where he was working, he was driving in a car and eventually after two days they found him in his body in a mortuary, he was dead been hit over by a car and you know the father took through that by the way, the older brother and younger brother and was mightily met with God and went into the ministry, one of them being used mightily of God in the Western Cape of South Africa Riddy van Zyl but this child the father came and looked at that book and opened up and read the prayers that this child had written down and he found groaning, you could see the groaning in the letters and the words as this child called out to God as he wrote down prayers for the souls of men and they saw one very evil man that he had prayed for there, that he'd groaned out, that he'd written down, please God work in that man's life and he went to try to find that person and found that he'd been wonderfully saved God answered that prayer God didn't mind if it wasn't the most elegant or wonderful prayer or that he muttered it in his mind as he wrote it down with his hand you see God loves your prayer because you are his child, not because of the way that you say it or where you say it in your heart or God loves and answers your prayers because you are his child, in the Bible Hannah, we read in 1 Samuel 1 verse 13, now Hannah she spoke in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard therefore Eli thought she was drunken Hannah spoke in her heart to God many people say you have to pray this way, I read all books of it, every little rule on earth, praise God if they want to pray that way and they find it works wonderfully, well that's wonderful but this prayer in her heart was more answered than most prayers that people pray out of their lips and it was a prayer in the heart and God saw it and God honored it and raised up Samuel who affected an entire nation with the prayer of a mother called Hannah Moses, when he lifted up his arms he struggled, he couldn't he didn't find it easy to lift up his arms in prayer you know many people think when they're struggling in prayer, that God isn't going to work just because Moses struggled to lift up his arm didn't mean that there wasn't spiritual warfare going on, when he eventually lifted it up and his friends helped him God's army started to win, and when you in your quiet time and you're praying and you're struggling and you don't have a feeling don't let the devil get you down and say that God's not going to work and that it's not spiritual warfare, one of the greatest spiritual warfare is when you're struggling in your prayer time, I know a man who prays for hours and hours and hours in South Africa and God uses him mightily, he said if you've never struggled in your prayers then you've never prayed I'd just like to say again look at the time oh dear it wasn't so oh dear so different rules Galatian church was bound by rules, I'd like to go on now and start tomorrow I'm going to go on the second session on what God can do through faith but today I'd like to look at practically a bit of obedience you see often when people get released as I say from from the extremes the devil is standing there the devil, you can see it through church history when people get released from extremes that the devil is standing there to take them over to another extreme and I've seen it so many, it's so sad that people, as I said before, get taken out of the Galatian church, out of rules and they realize it's wrong, these rules and they suddenly jump straight, as I said earlier into the Corinthian church, into liberality into no standards into having televisions with stuff that defile their children's minds because they found out that they were in rules before you see Galatians 5 verse 13 says to brethren he had been called unto liberty and he used not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, yesterday we saw and I talked about at the very last commandment of God which he taught these disciples to teach others was this teach them to obey my commandments and Matthew we read he shall be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven who keeps his commandments and teaches others to do likewise you know what the difference between rules and the commandments of Christ are my commandments are not greedy my commandments don't bring you into bondage, my commandments are blessing through my commandments and a heart that loves and obeys God you will go deeper with God it's not like rules that you make up in your own spiritual life which drain you of all spiritual life you know I love that new book of Bill Gothard the commandments of Christ you probably read it yourself but I'd like to read again some of the rewards that we have for obeying God and his commandments Galatians 4 verse 21 I got this from his book God will reveal himself to us John 14 verse 23 God will dwell in us, John 15 verse 10 we will receive God's love John 14 verse 15 we will know we love God, we will love others Christ will be our friend, our prayers will be answered you know I often feel obedience obedience is like, you can best illustrate it perhaps in the fall of the Jericho's walls, yeah you have in Canaan the fall of Jericho, these walls just crumbled down but what happened before that they had to walk around those walls seven times and then on the seventh day seven more times and then they cried out to God they didn't bring down the walls the obedience didn't bring down the walls but the condition for God bringing down the walls was obedience and until we have a heart of obedience and seek to obey God's word and submit ourselves in true absolute surrender then there are walls in our lives which will never fall down and God will never bless us and live through us and manifest himself through us see obedience is faith in action many people know the gospel but they don't obey it, many people, Christians get sidetracked from obedience they know the word of God which says what we should obey but they want to grow like the Corinthians through experiences through knowledge through miracles, through feelings or they want to grow like the Galatians be perfected as Paul said not through the spirit but through the flesh by many rules and they're distracted away from the way God intended them to live through obedience by these Corinthians experiences and Galatians rules you can meet people they're so full of rules they will truly say but they don't they've swapped these rules, commandments of men to the commandments of God I don't know if there's anybody like that here today focusing on the wrong thing experiences like the Corinthian church or rules John chapter 15, 13 verse 17 says if you know these things happy are ye if you do them, it doesn't help knowing the commandments of God, you meet so many people on earth missionaries, I look at them and I don't want to judge but they can talk about the commandments of God but in their everyday practical life they're just so much above the world but they're not, it's not on the top shelf to obey God even if it takes radical obedience I'm not talking about fanatical obedience that's a bit funny people go off into rules I'd like to mention, you know the world I'd like to compare quickly, the world is so different to what Jesus spoke the world's ways and it's philosophy and it's spirit is so different to the spirit and philosophy and the commandments and ways of Jesus Christ, in the world oh so young, young people at such a young age, it's getting younger and younger and younger and younger that people want to rebel against their parents in the last days shall come perilous times, children shall be disobedient of their parents Matthew 15 verse 4 we are told to honour our father and mother you know my dear daddy, he phoned me once, my daddy can be not irritating but wonderful, I don't know how to explain it, because I want to honour him, and it's terrifying, and then he phones you and he takes all the fun out of life I remember once, my dear daddy and that's not true, he's so wonderful he takes me for coffee I love him, there's no one like my daddy I don't know if I said something wrong I could speak for hours and hours and I wonder who my daddy and mommy are you know that I really could, because it's true they gave me spankings and they just loved me through my life, my daddy used to sing to me as a little boy and he gave me spankings as a little boy and then he sang to me and then he gave me spankings and it was a wonderful cycle of love and spankings and I mean that just created me but I remember you know I'm 24 years old, that's not very old I mean but if you look out in the world when they're 13 years old, when they're 12 years old they start thinking I want to get out not out of the home but out of authority I remember my dad phoned me and I was getting openings at this wonderful big church and these people were in Bonin and I was loving to preach at this church and my daddy phoned me and he has wisdom through the years which I don't have and for some reason he asked me, Roy please stop that openings at that church, I want to ask you to withdraw from that church from taking openings there and I didn't see any reason on earth why on earth I should do that and you know the only reason I obeyed him was because he's my daddy even if I'm 24 years old and daddies deserve to be obeyed for some reason, but he wasn't there to spank me you know in the world, divorce we're looking at the world comparing to Jesus ways, it's like the opposite ends of the poles of the earth is Jesus ways to the world ways I walked into a shop once and it was so sad it was a telecommunications shop like you have telephones and cell phones and so on and they had contracts there which they gave out to the general public for their cell phones and so on and I remember listening to this lady behind the counter and the lady at the counter speaking and it seemed that the lady at the counter was having problems because she had divorced her husband not only had she divorced her husband but now that her husband's name was still on the contracts and she suffered and had problems in paying bills and things like that because it was still in her husband's name and I was listening, it seemed like an everyday occurrence that people should speak about I don't know, but behind the counter this lady then said something she said, you know, I'm also divorced I'm also divorced and she said these sad words, and I'm not harping on divorced people, but she said these are so sad words, she said, what's a divorce why have they got a problem, it's such a little thing and that's the philosophy of this world today the spirit of this world, is marriage is not a holy thing it's just a little thing what, it's just a divorce God says on a marriage Matthew 19 verse 4 to 6 in Romans you read that God is not in all their thoughts in the world, so often you meet people God is not, honestly, they don't think of God at all, we're not to be like that in Mark 13 verse 36 and 37, we are told to be daily watching, thinking about God, thinking about the coming of God preparing ourselves daily for God's coming, we're not to be like the world whether it's a marriage, whether it's been honoring our parents, whether it's been in what we do and think, in our thoughts even in our time the world is no time for God we are to practice discipline we are to spend time with God's word, we are to discipline ourselves you know what I long for, I long for young people, I sit in Africa, it takes months sometimes to get a young person, you work with them and work with them and work with them and they just don't see it, they're so bound with no discipline in their life, they grew up that way that they can't see the importance of taking a day off to see God almighty and to spend hours with God's word, and eventually they get to the point, it takes months almost sometimes it just doesn't get there, they just don't see it and they start to realize the importance of spending time in prayer I want to challenge you people, don't be like the world go out, take your calendar say to yourself, there's a day that I'm off, and I must say to my family, family time is holy time by the way but, if I can, let's get one day off there and I want to from about 8 o'clock in the morning, not making it a rule if I'm 5 minutes late, to about 5 o'clock at night, with a little time in the middle for a meal or a little sleep, let's spend the day reading the bible and praising and praying and seeking God, and I can guarantee if you do that once, you'll want to do it again in the world, the banks are on the doorstep, seeing this with farmers in Africa, I don't say they should ever have gone into debt in the first place but, this is the world banks smile to you when they give you, and I don't believe in debt, but they smile to you when they give debt to you but when you can't pay back, I've seen it with so many farmers in Africa, they're at your doorstep almost daily, they're asking, give give, give if you don't give, we're going to take everything that's the world that's not the Christians we read in Luke chapter 6, lend, hoping for nothing in return and that's hard, but that's God's command have you ever tried to obey Luke chapter 6? read through it I have rarely met a few Christians probably in my hand that I can say that obey Luke chapter 6, it's such a high standard it's a sermon on the plain with a sermon on the mount, it was in Matthew chapter 5, 6, 7 I tried to obey that obviously you can't obey that and disobey another part of scripture you can't go into debt to give people stuff you can't lend other people stuff and not expect it back you can't get stuff from your mommy and she says, you're not allowed to lend this out and they lend it out expecting not to get it back because then you're dishonoring your parents but it's so wonderful to try to obey this I've got a video in Africa, it still hasn't come back it's terrifying I remember this video it's a missionary from somewhere and I loaned it out to this other missionary and he said five years back or something he would give it back to me he's still saying he's going to give it back and you know I said at the beginning I was a little angry, I thought, you know, please he's taken so long and he said he'd give it back and then he loans it to this person and he keeps on saying he forgets and then I remind myself Luke chapter 6, lend hoping for nothing in return you must be impractical and anyway I just ignore it, but you know how God has blessed that that video has gone around to so many people, it means such a blessing to so many families God has blessed that, God blesses obedience and I still haven't got it back so if any of you if I ever lend anything to any of you and I don't mention it to you it's not because I don't want it back you see the world is so different, the world is friendly only to those who are friendly God in Mark chapter 11 you know it's terrifying you see Christians, the most lovely Christians in the town they are angry and they are unfriendly and they have bitterness towards people who are not nice to them but they are also friendly to everybody who is nice to them the standard Christians I've rarely met a Christian and I say this to the shame of Christianity who is kind to its enemies I've rarely met a Christian among conservative circles who are kind to their enemies Mark 11 verse 25 we are not to be like the world and when you stand praying forgive if you have ought against any that your father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses to the world time is money Jesus said lay up treasures in heaven oh I love that anybody can fall into that trap there's a man in the Hebrew revival he started off with the presence of God as he prayed and later on there was nothing of that and they just said one thing, he'd become rich, he'd sort money I know a man in Africa he's gone absolutely bankrupt he wants to give everything away all the time his fanatical is interesting and now when he's going to get an inheritance he wants to give it away he's been poor for so long of his life and when he gets an inheritance where he can finally do something with something he wants to give it away I'm not saying that it should go legalistic but it's so lovely to see a giving heart so lovely to see a giving heart you know the world they're only happy when they win the lotto none of you should play the lotto same one but they're only happy when things like that happen they're not happy when things go badly they don't rejoice, they don't offer the sacrifice of praise which God in Matthew 5 11-12 says we should I'd like to mention François Dutoy François Dutoy was a singer, not like me he could sing and he was preaching years back in South Africa, he had garage meetings and as he came to this place for the first time Mr Finnimore, that thin old man that I spoke to you of was a lot younger and he was there and he used to sing but he sang everything wrong he sang, you know that song, count your blessings name them one by one, he said that's totally wrong he said count your blessings, name them by the score and it will remind you that there are millions more and you know he used to take he had this thing that he threw over his car for the weather, and he used to throw it over his car and one day he threw it over the car, and remember it was the first time that Mr Finnimore had seen him in that little period of time he threw it over the car and it totally it cut down pulled down the middle and he said praise the Lord and Mr Finnimore he was a bit more practical then he came to him and he said brother I don't understand he said you threw your car canopy over your car it tore down the middle and then you said hallelujah now that doesn't make sense well the Lord does say give thanks and everything and he was trying to obey it, and he did go a bit off the rail doing it, but you know what I want to see in Christians is people trying to obey the word of God but they make mistakes at times you don't see that we are not of this world, we are not like the world I'd like to end off on this section my friend's dad at school, you know the world doesn't have a deep desire for the spiritual welfare of other people the world does not have a deep desire for the spiritual welfare of other people my friend at school, I went to public school there they were in sin every weekend during the week my friend Andreas Hoff, his father, Mr. Hoff paid for the party that his child had on the weekend got drunk with his children he didn't have that we are not to be like the world, we are, Jesus Christ said to every person, preach the gospel to every creature preach the gospel to every creature you are like the world if you don't go out to preach the gospel Jesus Christ died for the spiritual welfare of this world and you are like the world if you're not even willing to give a track for the spiritual welfare of this world some people are like that, but Jesus Christ died we are not of this world Hebrews 11 verse 13 to 14 says, and they confessed that there were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things, they bear plainly that they seek a country because you are not of the world therefore the world hateth you I'd like to end off now just with this thought Jesus Christ our example in obedience Jesus Christ is our example in obedience I'd like to read you three verses, John 14 verse 31 but that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandment even so I do, arise let us go hence Jesus Christ showed his love to the world for his Father, through what? through obedience Gethsemane, Luke 22 verse 42, not my will Jesus cried, with blood falling to the ground but thine be done and oh he was rewarded, Philippians 2 verse 8 and he found fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, God blessed his son for obedience and now us just as Jesus showed his love for his Father through obedience we can too, John 14 verse 15 if you love me, keep my commandments just as Jesus Christ cried, not my will but thine be done so we are told in Matthew 6 verse 10, to cry out, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and just as Jesus Christ had blessings for his obedience, so we as I've mentioned earlier, have countless wonderful blessings if we are willing to lay down our lives to obey Christ not to go off into many rules, not to go and look for experiences like the Corinthian church but to live a life of obedience to God and I end off in Revelation 3, it talks about the lukewarm church, it talks also of the church that lost its first love you know what God says to that church return, repent and turn to your first works in other words, when they had their first love when they had their first love, these Christians then their will, what they wanted to do was the will of God and they were living in obedience to him but they went off, and when they lost their first love, they lost their desire to live in accordance to the word of God in obedience to Christ and what is the answer? Go and have experiences like the Corinthian church, no if you want your first love go and have rules to get right with God if you've lost your first love, no God just said this, repent go to God and ask for forgiveness and humility, and then get back to your first works, start obeying God again it's as simple as that let us pray Father yesterday we looked at the Corinthian church and how they went off the rails and in the wrong direction and started to try and grow in the way that you never intended to grow, through funny experiences and through miracles and through knowledge, and through feelings and experiences and Lord you just simply wanted them through faith and obedience to grow and Lord then today we looked at the Galatians church and how they Lord saw off and go off into rules and the devil gives us rules which take out the life out of our Christianity and it's so easy to believe that they are of God and yet you simply want for us to live in obedience and through faith to grow into what we have in Christ Jesus Father I want to ask you today Lord that if there's people here and I know there probably is Lord because in every place I've been almost there's people who are bound by rules of the devil, to keep them back from living Lord as you would have them live, to keep them under condemnation to keep them in darkness, Father I ask you for these people that you in your mercy will let the truth set them free and I trust you to do miracles in that sense after and through this message and even in other people's lives as you have set other people free in the past in Jesus Christ name my dear Father Amen Thank you very much