Stepping In Faith
Stepping In Faith is a podcast that deepens your walk with Jesus each week by exploring the heart of faith, love, and relationships from a Spirit-led perspective. Each episode focuses on building intimate relationships with Jesus Christ, strengthening marriages, providing guidance for singles, and fostering healthy, God-centered connections.
Stepping In Faith
Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice
Is your faith walk feeling stuck? Maybe you’re giving, serving, and sacrificing, yet still wondering why you’re not seeing the breakthroughs you’re hoping for. This week on Stepping in Faith, Walter and Shanea explore a powerful truth: Obedience is better than sacrifice.
In this episode, we’ll explore what it really means to align your heart with God’s will—not just through outward actions but through true surrender. We’ll break down key scriptures, including the story of Cain and Abel, to reveal how obedience—not just offering—is what truly honors God and unlocks His blessings.
We’ll also tackle the common misconception that financial giving or personal sacrifice automatically leads to spiritual growth when in reality, a heart of obedience is what brings real transformation. You’ll walk away with practical steps to self-reflect, grow in humility, and position yourself to receive what God has for you.
Ready for a mindset shift that will deepen your faith? Tune in now, and let’s walk this journey together! And don’t forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe—we love hearing from you and growing in faith as a community.
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Welcome back to another episode of Stepping in Faith, where, together, we explore the importance of having a relationship with God and how that relationship with God can impact the relationship you have with others. I'm your host, walter. I'm joined here alongside my lovely wife.
Speaker 2:Shania.
Speaker 1:This is episode what 13?. Yeah. Okay, let's see Before we get started. We can get this started with prayer Tired. Did you pray last week? Yes, I did. I will pray.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Father God, as we come before you right now, we are grateful for your love, your mercy and your grace. We thank you, god, that even in the midst of everything going on, you are greater and there is none greater than you. We welcome you and we pray that your presence will flow throughout this. God. Holy Spirit, we yield and we submit ourselves to you. Allow this Father God to reach those who you desire for it to reach. Allow this Father God to reach those that you desire for it to reach. Allow lives to be changed and impact God as we get into what it is that you've given to us. We yield and submit ourselves to you even now. We welcome you in. Let your glory fill this space, god, let your presence fill this space. Father, lord, jesus, we welcome you, we acknowledge you, we submit to you, we surrender to you Even now, in the name of Jesus, we pray Amen, amen. Okay, he was looking at me like I forgot something, so oh, the title of the episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, today's episode title. You want to say that.
Speaker 2:Obedience is better than sacrifice, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Speaker 1:Obedience is better than sacrifice. Very simple, actually. That comes from a scripture right 1 Samuel. That's how it was given to me. I forgot what I was doing, but that's what dropped in my spirit is obedience is better than sacrifice. I forgot what I was doing, but that's what dropped in my spirit is obedience is better than sacrifice, and a whole bunch of stuff just started being downloaded into my spirit about the importance of obedience, and so let's get started.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Key scriptures this week 1 Samuel, 15, 22. Deuteronomy 11, 26 through 28. Deuteronomy 28, 1 through 2, and verse 15. Genesis, chapter 4, 1 through 6. Psalms 51, or chapter 51, 16 through 19, verse 16 through 19, and James 2, verse 26. So we're going to see how we can do this week on time.
Speaker 3:You think we can keep this down to 45 minutes? We could try.
Speaker 1:I know we got church, so where do we begin? I think, even as God was really dealing with me on this, and this is something that he dealt with me on before. Many think that the way you build up quote-unquote currency or prosperity or whatever may have you, how you're blessed, is based upon what you give we have.
Speaker 1:So many churches that teach that, that what you give, give and it should be given to you. Give your 10%, give your offering. Some churches believe in first fruit offering. It's all about give, give, give, give. It's all about money, money, money, money, money. And I guess the way that we start off is one of the things that God had dealt with me on is obedience is the currency of heaven. So let's start there the currency of obedience. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Faith is essential, but it is through obedience that we access the promises and blessings of God. There's so many different examples within the scripture that touches on the importance of obeying God and being obedient to God, in God and being obedient to God. Yet why? I don't understand why we continue to focus on giving instead. What do you mean? I get? Well, many believe that you find success in the kingdom financially, and it's a huge thing. That's pushed because we need resources to do whatever we need to do. Uh, it's by you giving. So they tell you you give, you give, you give, you give, you give. But the scripture tells us that obedience is better than sacrifice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but we don't give out of. I think with the church we give based off of religion, so like tradition. But it doesn't matter, because the heart posture is I'm going to get something in return, or your heart posture is I'm just doing this because I'm told to do it. No different than the pharisees. Um or king yeah, when jesus was talking to them and he said all you do is follow religious laws.
Speaker 1:But your heart posture is horrible, so it doesn't matter what you are giving me, because I don't want it yeah, yeah, we don't understand that and you are actually jumping ahead, but that's fine, because we touch on the importance of the heart posture a little further down. But, simply put, the seed is not the money, the seed is the obedience. The seed that you plant into the ground is obedience. So every time you obey god, that's a seed that's being planted in the ground. If, as you say, that your heart posture is right right, because god is always looking at the heart, heart posture, right. So the I think, the way that we go this is what was so interesting to me, because I was praying on it. I'm like, okay, god, but they're going to say faith, faith, faith, faith, faith, faith. Faith is what gets you through the door, faith is what allowed things to happen. God is looking for someone who has faith.
Speaker 2:You know, faith without works is dead.
Speaker 1:So faith gets us to the door. I'm so faith gets us to the door. I'm sorry. Faith gets us to the door, but obedience opens the door to God's promises. Right. Faith gets us to the door, but obedience opens the door to God's promises.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we see that throughout scripture we see that throughout scripture as soon as God tells one of his prophets, or like Abraham or Moses, to do something. They were fruitful because they were obedient when Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac he was being obedient.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he had faith and obedience. The faith was that even if I sacrifice. Isaac, you will bring Isaac back from the dead, yeah. Yet his obedience was so important, and so we see, example after example after example, showcasing the importance of how obedience and faith operates together. Faith without works is dead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Abraham's obedience proved his faith.
Speaker 1:Yes In God. That's good. His obedience proved his faith in God. So I think we can touch on this a little bit. And it's so important. Right, believing is great, believing is really great. Believing is needed, faith is needed. It's through our faith that we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and we confess it with our mouth and we believe the Bible says. We believe in our heart, yet we forget there's also works. So there's a level of obedience that we have to have in order to submit to jesus as being our lord and savior yeah well, the works is the works of the lord.
Speaker 2:It's not what you do. People. They use that saying and say um faith without works is dead, meaning there's something that you have to do in order for God to bless you. And it's not what you do. It's not your faith in what you decide you want to do. It's your faith in what God has told you to do. You still have to. The work is doing what God told you to do, based off of faith.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and once again, we touch on this all the time. You can do whatever you want to do, but it's your obedience to God.
Speaker 1:And we'll dig into that, because an example of that is Cain, which is a little bit further down Right. But here's the thing that's so important, and we talked about this before Faith and obedience must go hand in hand for transformation to take place. Obedience is more than a mere action. It's a heart posture that must align with God's will, and you just talked about the importance of your heart. God is always looking at our heart. It's not simply enough just to obey. What is your heart posture as you obey? Why are you obeying? Because, if you think about it, the Pharisees obeyed the commands.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they follow religious laws, religious practices, and I was just reading that in Matthew, matthew 23, when Jesus was talking to them, but their heart was full of pride.
Speaker 1:Their heart was full of pride and they felt that it was their obedience and we touched on this in a previous episode. They felt it was their obedience that made them right with God. It was their obedience. While obedience is God's love language, god is also looking at your heart.
Speaker 2:Posture yeah, and I have a verse here from Proverbs, Proverbs 21, 3. And it says to do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice To do what is right and just that's what Jesus came to do. It wasn't that he was going against the law, it was just I'm doing what's right. It's not written down in the law, but it's my heart posture. It's what God would want. It's who God is.
Speaker 1:That's the key thing. That's the key thing that we have to consistently remember. The fruit, the fruit your heart posture. So, even as we touch on obedience is better than sacrifice. One of the things that God was dealing with me on as I was compiling these notes is the importance of where your heart is, because there's countless examples of people being obedient in the Bible, but their heart wasn't right, right and so segment two, disobedience, leads to being spiritually ensnared or in debt.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy 11, 26 through 28. You want to read that, or you want me to read it.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you have it pulled up.
Speaker 1:I don't.
Speaker 2:You said Deuteronomy 11, 26.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy 11 26 deuteronomy 11 28, uh, yeah, 26 to 28.
Speaker 2:Okay, um nlt version says look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse. You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the lord your god that I am giving you today. But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before.
Speaker 1:We are in a climate right now, especially in America, where I think it's really important that we choose our God, because God made it clear to us the importance of being obedient to God versus what happens when we disobey God. When we obey God, our lives will be blessed. When we disobey God, our lives will be blessed when we disobey God, our lives will be cursed. Yeah, it's as simple as that and sometimes, sometimes we mistake the curses of God as suffering yeah. We mistake the curses of God as suffering in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, you're just being disobedient, because a lot of times many of us have suffered because of the decisions that we made outside of consulting god. So his people perish because of lack of knowledge and the lack of knowledge. Knowledge only lies within god, within the holy spirit. He reveals all truth.
Speaker 1:So if you don't go to the truth keeper, that's your fault, that you didn't know it literally it's your fault it's, and and really this is going to be something that we continue to express to you all time and time again, and just talk about, discuss the importance of consistently submitting your entire life to God, and I think people have a problem with submitting every area and every part of their lives to God and they don't understand that when you don't, you are walking in direct disobedience to God's word.
Speaker 2:Yeah. What they also don't understand is that right here, where it says you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the Lord, your God, and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before, meaning there are other entities that you will be obeying instead of God.
Speaker 1:No, but you being too deep, it's not that case. You too deep about demons. What are you talking about? Every time I turn around, you want to talk about demons.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, paul talked about it the entire time Principalities, demons. What principalities are? What Fallen angels? Demons. Demons.
Speaker 1:Rulers of the world.
Speaker 2:The unseen world. Unseen world in the heavenly places that means the air demons demons. We can't see heaven.
Speaker 1:I mean, some of us can see heaven, but heaven is not a, it's not on the earth the thing is we can say this right now pa Paul said Ephesians 6, 8, actually Ephesians 6, verse 12. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Paul said this is spiritual. He said we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, this is spiritual. So when we see a lot of the things that we see around us, we have to understand, and what I've been learning to do is look at it from the spiritual perspective. What am I missing? What am I not seeing spiritually that is causing what is taking place?
Speaker 2:I think the other thing too is I know a lot of Bible thumpers. I mean they don't believe in curses, but clearly the Bible is full of it. Clearly it's right here, but the thing is, people think of curses like you, I don't know. Curses is like poverty you can't ever get the job that you need to have. You never have.
Speaker 2:Money is always falling out your pockets. You aren't getting married. Your children are acting up, your children are born a certain type of way. You end up in some type of relationship. Those are all curses. Those are not blessings at all, and so I think people get confused about what curses is, just like people get confused about what witchcraft? Is, and so they don't really believe in it. They think curses are just something that a witch can put on you or some voodoo doctor can put on you.
Speaker 1:No, you could be cursed by disobeying God. God told you this. The Bible speaks of this.
Speaker 2:We just read it in Deuteronomy you make decisions outside of God and you're like, oh, I'm cursed, my marriage is cursed, and it's like, no, your family, your bloodline is cursed because, you guys keep moving in disobedience.
Speaker 1:It's the disobedience, and the thing is this this is so good. The debt of disobedience can be seen as a spiritual hindrance, holding back the blessings that God intended for us. The debt of disobedience can be seen as a spiritual hindrance, holding back the blessings that God intended for us.
Speaker 2:Of course.
Speaker 1:So my question is once again we touch on this what is it you are assuming is an attack of the enemy, simply because the enemy is warring against you because you are a believer, or that you assume is persecution, when in fact is actually linked to your disobedience?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because of decisions you've made, because of decisions that you've made and you continue to make. This is why it's so important to be obedient to God. This is why it's so important to have a relationship with God. This is why it's so important to know God, so you can know God's perfect will for your life and walk in total obedience and surrender to God. Outside of that, you will fail once again. It's just as clear as day here. Yet interestingly, deuteronomy 28, 1 through 2, tells us are you already there? Are you still there?
Speaker 2:28,. 1 through 2. You want to read that? Sure, you still here.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm 28,. One through two, you want to read that Sure.
Speaker 2:If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God. And it goes on to say your towns and your fields will be blessed.
Speaker 1:Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offsprings of your herds and flocks will be blessed. Your fruit baskets and bread boards will be blessed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed. The Lord will conquer your enemies. When they attack you, they will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven. They attack you, they will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The lord, your god, will bless you in the land he has given you if you obey the commands of the lord your god and walk in his ways the lord will establish, establish you as his holy people, as as he swore he would.
Speaker 1:Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord and they will stand in awe of you. It goes on. The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock and abundant crops. The Lord will send rain at the proper time from His rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lead to many nations.
Speaker 1:You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you listen to these commandments, or commands of the Lord, your God, that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's crazy, because we always use that verse.
Speaker 1:Out of context.
Speaker 2:Yes, we will be the head and not the tail.
Speaker 1:But we miss the important part of being obedient to God. That's what leads to all of these blessings. Yeah, so literally right. Obedience is linked to our prosperity, not just in material wealth, but in spiritual, relational and emotional growth. Obedience is linked to our prosperity not just in material wealth, but in spiritual, relational and emotional growth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it says that all right here in Deuteronomy 28.
Speaker 1:Everything is tied to your obedience to God. You growing in God is tied to your obedience to God. You growing in God is tied to your obedience to God. You prospering in God and in this world is tied to your obedience in God. You being at a good space emotionally and mentally is tied to your obedience to God. That's why the Bible says that God will provide you with peace that surpasses all understanding. It's not saying that you won't face trials. It's not saying that you won't face trials. It's not saying that you won't face tribulations because, let's be honest, we live in a fallen world. Yet the Bible lets us know that you will have joy even in the midst of what Suffering.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the peace comes by knowing that you don't have to do anything on your own. You don't have to think about what you're going to do, when you're going to do it, how you're going to do it, because God knows all things.
Speaker 1:It's only just submitting to God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's hard to do because we weren't raised to do that.
Speaker 1:But it's really just submitting unto God. That's the biggest thing that we can do, is submit ourselves unto the Father. So we have a few examples. You touched, we touched on this, uh, genesis 4, chapter of chapter 4, verse 1 through 6.
Speaker 1:Right, this is the story of cain and abel, the, the account um of cain and Abel, the account of Cain and Abel. It says this Now, adam had sexual relations with his wife, eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said With the Lord's help, I have produced a man. Later, she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, abel became a shepherd while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the harvest, cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock.
Speaker 1:The Lord accepted Abel in his gift, but he did not accept Cain in his gift. This made Cain very angry and he looked dejected. Why are you so angry? The Lord asked Cain, why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right, but if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out. Sin is crouching at the door eager to control you, but you must subdue it and be its master. Obedience will lead you to sin, disobedience, disobedience, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Disobedience will lead you to sin. Disobedience will lead you to sin. That's essentially what Jesus was saying to him. Yet at the same time, we have to remember both Cain and Abel gave an offering. Yeah, they both gave an offering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they both gave an offering. Abel's offering was accepted because it was the best he could give, coming from a place of true love and obedience. It literally Abel gave from a sacrificial place, cain just gave. I would say this right, yes, thank you. Abel gave from a sacrificial place, cain gave from a place of abundance. It's a difference. It's a difference. It's like. That's why jesus made mention to the uh lady who gave something that was less than a penny into the offering.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when everybody else was given all of this money and he told them what she gave because she came from a place with a sacrificial heart was more than what you ever like everybody else, no matter how much you put in this, it can't amount to what she gave. But we keep making this about money.
Speaker 1:And it's not about money. It sounds good, because the church need money. They want to keep the lights on, they want their salaries paid, they want to be able to live the way they want to live. Let's keep it at buck 50. They want the best praise and worship teams. They want the best churches, the largest places that they want land. They want all of those things. So it's easy, or it's in their best interest, to continue, to make this about money. It is not about money. It is about your obedience to God.
Speaker 2:Right, because even if the church takes this, their obedience will bring them everything that they need.
Speaker 1:Yes, the church will stop having to rely on the members and they can rely on God. The problem is, the church relies on the members more than they rely on God. The pastors rely on the members more than they rely on God, which is why you already always so caught up in trying to give people, to give first fruit. Give this, give that, give all of these things.
Speaker 2:And it disconnects people from God. That's why they don't know him. Because you're telling the church that it's through their own works that they are going to be blessed, when you should be telling them hey, go to God and see what God tells you to do. And this applies to every area If this is what he wants you to do, then you do that.
Speaker 2:This applies to every area, but that comes by teaching people how to hear from God, but they're not teaching them to hear from God because they're telling them to give from places of their own self.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's unfortunate. It's very unfortunate because, once again, true obedience involves sacrifice.
Speaker 2:So it's confusing, because they'll teach you to rely on God, yet they also teach you to rely on yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I want to get this out and I want people to think on this. True obedience involves sacrifice, but that sacrifice must come from a heart of humility and submission to God's will, which is what you're talking about. You have to rely on God and you have to be submitted to God's perfect will.
Speaker 2:And that doesn't always mean that it's something that you want to do, because obviously Jesus didn't want to die on the cross, but he did want to please his father.
Speaker 1:He did it with the heart of submission and even when it came down to doing it, he did it. He had a moment of praying, but when it came down to doing it, he did it. He had a moment of praying, but when it came down to doing, the work he did the work because of his love for the Father and his love for us, because he realized how important it was, which is why we have to always come right back to what's your heart posture, what's your heart posture, and let's get away from thinking that your seed is financial.
Speaker 1:Your seed is not your finances. This is going to be such a hard thing to break on people, but your seed is not your finances. Your seed is your obedience. That's in everything you do. I don't see nowhere in the Bible where Joseph gave money. But what we did see is that Joseph and what we know is Joseph was submitted to God. So what I believe we saw with Joseph, without the Bible even having to say it, is a man that had a heart of obedience to God, a heart of humility to God, a heart that just desired to serve God and to submit to God, even to the point to when the Pharaohs called him. When the Pharaoh called him to interpret his dream, joseph presented that back to God and say it's nothing that I can do, it's only by the power of God. That's a heart of humility. So, side note, if you are prideful or if you see a leader that's prideful, that's not God. That is not God. Pride is what Satan is. Right.
Speaker 1:Pride is what caused Satan to fall. Pride is what got Satan kicked out of heaven.
Speaker 2:Pride is when people say this is what I've done, this is what I can do, this is what I can do. This is what I have done before. This is what I've accomplished. They use I, even if it's them suffering, it's like I suffered well.
Speaker 1:What do?
Speaker 2:you mean, you suffered well?
Speaker 1:And I think it's just the important thing that you have to consistently submit yourself to god and have a heart of humility, and I think, uh, psalms 51 is perfect for that. Psalms 51, verse 16 through 19, and I'm sure um many people know the scripture.
Speaker 2:You can just scroll back at the top, babe.
Speaker 1:Oh, there are there, right, mm-hmm, but that's New King James Version. Oh, they put it on there.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you need New King.
Speaker 1:James. So it says you do not delight in sacrifice or I will bring it. You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, oh God, is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart you God would not despise. And what I want to go further in and let's read this from NLT. It says you do not desire. Verse 16, you do not desire a sacrifice or offer one. You do not want to burn offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart. O God, contract being repentant heart, repentant being that you turn from your ways.
Speaker 1:You turn from your wicked ways. You change how you move. Look with favor on Zion and help her rebuild the walls of jerusalem. Then you will be pleased with the sacrifices, or with sacrifices offered in the right spirit right with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings, then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar. This goes right back to what god was saying before. It's about your heart posture. If your spirit isn't right, god is not going to accept your offering, because it's about obedience from a space of humility or from a place of humility.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not one of those. Oh God knows my heart, but I'm still going to do this anyway. You have to just not do it.
Speaker 1:Yes, and it's not easy to say that.
Speaker 2:Because your heart posture is saying I really don't care about what God is saying.
Speaker 1:And we say that about a lot of stuff. We say that about a lot. We constantly say that.
Speaker 2:A lot of people say I used to say it, God knows my heart. I'm just too lazy to do it. I really just don't want to do it.
Speaker 1:Oh, you want to do what you want to do.
Speaker 2:Right, I know I shouldn't be doing this, but God knows my heart. I really don't want to do it, but I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1:He'll forgive me, he'll forgive me. Let's be real.
Speaker 2:He does know your heart. Your heart is saying I don't surrender.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you will be judged for that.
Speaker 2:So you psych yourself into thinking that God is just going to forgive you.
Speaker 1:You will be judged for that. That's why the Bible, we say this scripture all the time. Jesus said what Many will come to him and say Lord Lord, we prophesy in your name, we heal the sick in your name, we cast out demons in your name, and he will look at them and say turn away from me, for I never knew you, you workers of iniquity.
Speaker 2:Right, it's a remnant, literally A remnant, and that comes from a place of total surrendering to God.
Speaker 1:Total surrender to God, total obedience to God, radical obedience to God, because the importance this is good, the importance of brokenness and humility before God. So let me, I don't like the way. What was this? Give me one second because I'll put this in time. There we go, what? So I wanted to read this and they didn't put it in here.
Speaker 2:So it's fine, okay.
Speaker 1:You got it, and they didn't even put this in here. Listen to this. True obedience begins with the heart posture. Obedience with the wrong heart posture isn't obedience at all. Obedience with the wrong heart posture isn't obedience at all yeah we psych ourselves to think that we're being obedient to God, when we're not.
Speaker 2:No, because our heart is wrong.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. We psych ourselves to think that we're being obedient, and we're not being obedient to God. And it's so important that, as we go before God, we have a heart of humility and brokenness. That's so important. That's the only way that our offerings are going to be accepted, whatever that offering may be. And let me keep saying that an offering is more than materialistic. That's why the Bible says our lifestyle should be a life of worship. It's not just a song. You sing your life is a life.
Speaker 2:It should be a reflection.
Speaker 1:It's a reflection of you worshiping God, how you live. So your offering is everything you do to God, everything that you submit to God, excuse me, everything that you submit to God becomes an offering to.
Speaker 2:God. That's what Romans 12,. You have to be a living, breathing sacrifice. That means your life has to be a reflection of a sacrificial offering to God.
Speaker 1:And you touched on James 2.26 earlier, right. Oh yeah. And I told you we had that in here. James 2.26.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't know what verse that was.
Speaker 1:I just remember and I want to read it from James, I want to read it from the NLT, and we've been reading the NLT. 2 and 26 says this Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works. And what God was dealing with me on is the good works is your obedience. Faith without works is dead, so faith without obedience is dead. It's pointless to have faith without obedience. The obedience part is so important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what came to me is what I was reading earlier in Matthew 23, when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and he called them whitewashed tombs, because on the outside they look all holy and righteous, but on the inside they're dead. They're full of sin. They're full of sin, they're full of bones. You're out here doing religious works, but on the inside you're dead.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we touched on that before. Right, it's not about what you do on the outside, it's about you allowing the Holy. Spirit to work within you to change you and transform you in, which will impact what you do outside.
Speaker 2:That's why we're always emphasizing people's character. Yeah. What are your fruits? Your fruits should be on the inside of your basket.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the key thing. That's good, it's true, and you look at a person based on how, the fruit that they showcase, because, once again, there's millions of people that claim to know Christ in. America. There's very few people that really have a relationship and you can go based off their fruit. The end thing to be now is Christian Once again. I think we touched on this before or not. You have to remember slavery in America was carried out by white evangelicals. European evangelicals carried out slavery, one of the greatest atrocities known to mankind.
Speaker 2:That's a big word.
Speaker 1:I know they carried it out. We can sweep it under the rug as much as we want, but they carried it out. We can sweep it under the rug as much as we want, but they carried it out.
Speaker 3:and peter was checked by god for his prejudice, him being prejudiced.
Speaker 1:He was checked by god and you? You have those out here who are white evangelicals still to this day, who are actually all outright racist yeah then let's dig a little bit further. The people of the Bible were black and brown people. Let's just call it a fact of what it is the original people of the Bible were black and brown people. Yes, by all accounts, nowadays, today, in our current society, 2025, you would have considered them to be what? People of color.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean they were from the Middle East and Africa. They were in Egypt.
Speaker 1:And let's go even deeper. All of us, including you and I, we've been mixed down. So you look and you see people how they are now and you assume that those were the original people. They weren't. I'm sorry, that's just science. This is just geography. This is scriptures that reference how they looked, their skin being black and bronze. This is scripture referencing it, and it don't matter because, at the end of the day, god is God of all. You have the Jews and the Gentiles, but the reason I'm making this point is because, even in today's current climate, you have white evangelicals not all of them, but you have those that are white evangelicals that claim to serve and love God, that claim to serve and submit to Christ, yet hate people of color. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That don't make sense.
Speaker 2:It doesn't.
Speaker 1:Because the very Bible that you read is about black and brown people. It's about the encounter that black and brown people have with God. Right. When you see Paul going to the Roman church and all of those different things, or to the Romans, that's when you start seeing it move over onto Europeans and all of those different things.
Speaker 2:Right, Because in those areas when God scattered them from Babel.
Speaker 1:Yes. The tower yes, so please, we just have to be honest with this.
Speaker 2:And the fact of the matter is, Jesus loves everybody.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So if you're going to walk and talk like Jesus, you can't be prejudiced, you can't be racist and it doesn't matter. It really does. I mean it matters what color Jesus is and what the original people were. It matters. But it doesn't matter in the context of who we are supposed to love.
Speaker 1:No, and I want to go here because this is scripture and this is New Testament, because people really, they really get this misconstrued, that we have to stop this division. We have to. This is Acts 10, verse 9. The next day, as Cornelius met messengers, when nearing the town, peter went up on a flat roof to pray. It was about noon and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles and birds. Then a voice said to him get up, peter, kill and eat them. No, lord, peter declared I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean. But the voice spoke again Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean. The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheep was suddenly pulled up to heaven. It goes on further down, because this is, we'll continue.
Speaker 1:Peter was very perplexed. What could this vision mean? Just then, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house standing outside the gate. They asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there. Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs and go with them without hesitation. Don't worry, for I have sent them. So Peter went down and said I'm the man you were looking for. Why have you come? They said we were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout and God-fearing man, well-respected by all the Jews. A holy angel angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he could hear your message. So Peter invited the men to stay for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.
Speaker 2:God was checking Peter before he had him be sent out Right, because Cornelius was a Gentile. He was not an original Jew.
Speaker 1:And Peter has something against Gentiles. And God said who are you to have something against Gentiles? So once again, God is not a God. Racism is not of God. That's division, that's of Satan. So I'm sorry to my white evangelical sisters and brothers. If you are claiming to serve God, if you are claiming to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, there is no way that you can tell me that you stand on the side of racism.
Speaker 2:And if this offends you, you have to go back to God and say God, why am I offended? There has to be something in me.
Speaker 1:That you need to take out of me that.
Speaker 1:I need to give to you that I need to submit to you and anyone, because we are in a climate where they're trying to do everything they can to create a race war. Anyone that is on the side of this foolishness. I will come out and just be outright and tell you that you are not on the side of God. You are not on the side of God because God is not someone who side with racism, with racists, with those who think that they're better than other people because of the color of their skin.
Speaker 2:No, he took from the original tree and grafted in new people that weren't even from the tree he originated.
Speaker 1:Now, let's be honest. You can make your own version of God.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But that's not the one and true, only God. We're living God. That's not the true God. This isn't.
Speaker 2:Jesus Christ. He is accepting of all.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. Please miss us with this. This also go to the black Hebrew Israelites. Yeah. The same thing goes for you. You can't be out here spewing hate either. Yeah, it's on both ends. You can't say that you're doing this in the name of god, because god checked peter for his prejudice he did he checked peter for it, and if you truly know god and you truly serve god, he would check you too.
Speaker 2:Bottom line and again, if this offends you, you need to go to god and say god, why am I feeling offended? Exactly? Why, do I feel the need to defend myself right? Now because you can't defend being racist. No, you can't defend being prejudiced no because that is not the god we serve no, that's division the only one you should be prejudiced and racist against is the kingdom of darkness.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Is Satan.
Speaker 1:That's the only thing that you should be trying to destroy. That's the only thing that you should be trying to destroy.
Speaker 2:In his race. That's it Of demons. That's the only race you should hate. Y'all fighting against the wrong.
Speaker 1:You fighting against the wrong thing, all in the name of God, and it's not God that we serve. It's not the God that we serve, it's not the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob.
Speaker 2:No, it's the spirit of chaos and it's the spirit of division.
Speaker 1:That is tied to the Leviathan spirit, hey, do with it as you may. We know where we are, do as thou will. So here's the thing. Faith can move mountains, but obedience opens the door for God's promises to come through, come to fruition. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Obedience is everything. Faith is so important, yet obedience is everything Right. So I think what we would say here is it's just really, hopefully, everyone can examine their heart and just make sure that in everything you're doing, you are being obedient to God. And your heart posture is right as you practice obedience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't say I'm going to bring this to God and ask God if he's going to bless it or not.
Speaker 1:So let's address the elephant in the room, those who are desiring relationships, those who are desiring to be married. I'm so sorry, but this further proves you can't go out here and pick who youiring to be married. I'm so sorry, but this further proves you can't go out here and pick who you want to be with. That's disobedience to God's original design. We see it within Genesis 2. Read it for yourself. That shows God's design for marriage. Anything outside of that is disobedience to God. Don't bring out different scenarios. What if this? What if that?
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter if you don't know, or you didn't know, or Paul said that or this or that.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry. I'm going to always take you back to what God said and what Jesus took you back to, which was God's original design for marriage. So please stop trying to find justification to continue to live your life in disobedience.
Speaker 2:Right, which is, even if you're bringing up Paul and all these other scriptures, it's. Did you go to God first and God said yes, this is where I want you to be.
Speaker 1:And you should go there before you even start pursuing anything with this person, because it's so easy to hear a yes.
Speaker 2:You should go to God. Matter of fact, you shouldn't even have to go to God. God will come to you and say, hey, you know what it's time for you to get married, just like he went to Adam and said, hey, you know what it's time for you to have a helper.
Speaker 1:I'm going gonna make you, but there's over a billion people out on earth. How are we going to even know this is going to be the case?
Speaker 2:just saying that's what they like to say like I said, if you are doing what god called you to do in the first place, he will make you a helper he will say he's already made you a helper.
Speaker 1:He will.
Speaker 2:he will bring that helper to you because he's gonna he, he, he, he laid out in the beginning how it's supposed to go. We are supposed to do the will of the Father and, unto us, he will bless us with all the things that we need, because he knows what we need and when we need it.
Speaker 1:Key word when we need it, key word when so people please.
Speaker 2:Because if you're going to God and you're like God, I really need a husband. I really need a wife. That sounds like you're idolizing you have idolized marriage and you will if God. God is never going to give you something that you are going to put before him. He's not going to give you finances. He's not going to give you finances. He's not going to give you um that job that you want. He's not going to give you that person you want.
Speaker 1:But satan will yeah, because god is not going to do something or give you something that's going to draw you further away from him or that's going to cause you to create an idol of that thing or that relationship, anything that's going to cause you to create an idol of that thing or that relationship.
Speaker 2:He's not going to give you anything that's going to cause you to sin?
Speaker 1:No, the enemy will definitely do it.
Speaker 2:Which means being disobedient.
Speaker 1:And we will leave it at that. So hopefully this has been a blessing, Baby. Is there anything else you want to add?
Speaker 2:No, I think we're good.
Speaker 1:Okay, hopefully this has been a blessing to you all. We got to get ready to go to church. We pray this has blessed you. We pray that everything that God has been placing on our heart to provide, or other things that we've been discussing, has been a blessing to you. If so, like comment, share, subscribe.
Speaker 2:I will say one thing. Before we go, though is in your time in prayer or conversation with God, really ask him to show you where you are being disobedient.
Speaker 1:And be open to it, really be open to it, really be open to it. All right, then, I think that is everything. Um, you all be blessed, enjoy your week and we'll see you next time okay, bye-bye all right bye.