FROM THE PASTOR'S PORCH: Is obediance important??

[Lynn D. Walker]

Please visit us at COWBOY COUNTRY CHURCH

FROM THE PASTOR'S PORCH: How important is Obedience?? The summer of 2004 was a very hard time for me and my wife, Casey. I had quit my job in OKC and we moved down to Chickasha to be close to our daughter. She was was very ill and in the third stage of lymphoma cancer plus pregnant on top of all of that. Casey and I were broke and homeless so we moved in with Casey's mother at Ninnekah. We had an old minivan that was pretty much on it's last legs and no money for gas anyway. If it had only cost a nickle to ride the Queen Mary, all we could have done was run up and down the bank hollerin' “man, that's cheap!!” Just about in the middle of all of this, God said to me, “ I want you to start a Cowboy Church in Chickasha”. If you think this is a pretty strange story, it's even weirder than you think. Here I am at 54 years of age, no seminary training, and no pastoral experience what soever. I not only didn't know anything about being a Pastor or starting a church, I didn't even suspect anything about it. I had spent most of my adult life not even going to church and had just recently gotten back into church and had some experience as a Praise and Worship Leader. BUT, God said to start a church. Well, I certainly didn't know what I was doing, but I was pretty sure that God knew what HE was doing, and I was pretty sure that I should be obedient to His instructions. So, Casey went to work as a nurse to be the breadwinner for the family, which was something new in our marriage and pretty hard on my ego. I borrowed $150 from my brother to rent a meeting room at the Best Western and run a small add in the paper. I borrowed some musicians from Bible Baptist Church to start a service on Tuesday nights and COWBOY COUNTRY CHURCH was born with 85 people showing up for the first service. Going on eight years later, Casey and I have not starved to death and COWBOY COUNTRY CHURCH is strong and thriving. Do you think that might be a “God Thing”?? Do you think obedience has anything to do with it?? I didn't understand what was happening at the the time, but I have since learned something about obedience. God shows us in His Word that there is a pattern to how he works and how He uses our obedience to accomplish HIS purposes. First, he speaks to His servant about what He is going to do and gives the servant instructions. Second, the servant must be obedient and THEN God will accomplish His purposes through HIS Power and unlimited resources; not the abilities and skills of the servant. When this happens, there is no doubt it was a “God Thing”!! This is the point in time that the servant and all those around him experience God's Glory and their RELATIONSHIP with God becomes very intimate!! Is obedience all that important in this pattern?? Well, Moses was obedient in raising his staff over the red sea, but it sure wasn't him who parted the waters and liberated the Hebrew people. I was obedient when I started COWBOY COUNTRY CHURCH, but it sure wasn't me who made it what it is today. My question for you today is: Are you listening and being obedient to what God is calling you to do?? How can God be Glorified and do a “God Thing” if you are not obedient?? Please release the Power of God in your life today by being obedient. You and all those around you need to see His Glory!!! ~Pastor Lynn