This evening, let us together consider an area that is of great struggle in my life, and possibly in some of your lives. It is the matter of obedience. For some reason, even in the mention of obedience, there wells some kind of a dread, a concern, a mental warning that cries watch out! Be careful! This isn't going to be pleasant! Danger!
	Maybe this is just part of me, but I doubt it. Too many human beings have decried the idea of obedience to God as a terrible loss of something. There are literally hundreds of thousands of books that have been published by those who see God as some kind of tyrant who only wants to run our lives. These authors have proposed all sorts of manners to defy God, to deny God, to deny the very existence of God all in terms of creating an arena of human choice and freedom from divine principles.
	Even in the Christian realm, there are those who are so supportive of the idea of human choice in opposition to God's will. They promote the misconception that we can choose to the best of our ability, and that God will honor that choice as best He can. All of the concepts and ideas and principles of humanity are an attempt to controvert the simple life of obedience to God.
	We definitely will not have time, nor have I the inclination to deal with all the human elements that are so opposed to the truth of Godly obedience. Rather, I would deal with the basic element held in the words trust and obey. The focus is in terms of the responsibility of men to trust God in every area of our lives. As that trust is established, obedience will be the natural outflow of our entire beings. 
	We have a position, not above others in any sense, but a spiritual position to lay our lives down for the fellowship, for the brethren, for our families, for our children. As men of God, if that is truly what we desire to be, we are called to be living testimonies of lives in such utter subjection to God, that His very thought is our earnest desire. Our lives are to manifest His very essence in every dealing with all who are brought into our presence by God.
	We know this as what our lives should be, but how many of us are really after this in our hearts? I am not referring to the idea that we want this because we know it should be true of us. I am asking in terms of is this the most important desire of our being? Is this something that we cannot live without God making true of us now, this very moment.
	Honestly, if I were asked this question right now, by Christ Jesus, I would have to admit that it is not the primary purpose of my life. I have too many other responsibilities upon my time that need my effort and my concern. There are the bills that need to be paid. There are the students and parents that I have to deal with on a daily basis. There are the concerns about my family, my wife and our times of strife. There are my children with each of their own situations. My life is filled with those pesky day-to-day things that are so over-whelming in themselves, that I just do not have the time required, nor the energy, nor the ability to deal with some spiritual truth that requires every fiber of my being!
	This is the dilemma of my reality. I know what should be, yet can not reconcile it with what is true in this passing realm. It is echoed by the Apostle Paul in Rom. 7. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law sin which is in my members.
	In several senses, it is good to know that the feelings and attitude that I have are not unique to my situation alone. The Apostle Paul also shared the reality that what we want in the Lord, and how we respond of our selves are in conflict. There is that battle which is waged in our beings between that which pleases the Lord and that which pleases self. And, thankfully, we do not leave the Apostle Paul in Romans Chapter 7, but are rather taken full force into Romans Chapter 8 where the power of Christ becomes our very life. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death... And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
	 Our call is to be available and willing to lay down our lives for the sake of others, and that call demands an utter trust on Him to be our everything! So often we find ourselves in situations and circumstances that are for the purpose of God having a means to bring us to the point of proving whether or not we rely upon Him and Him only. When situations seem to be out of our control, when we cannot help do anything else but trust God, it becomes easy to obey. The thing that the Lord is trying to deal in my life, and probably in the lives of others in this room, is to trust Him even when we think that we can handle the situation.
	What about those times when it is merely a careless word that we speak, or a simple desire for our own selves. When we come home from work and just want to watch a ballgame, rather than to talk to our children or our wives.
	No big thing, but still not pleasing to God. We are still not trusting Him with every avenue of our heart, with every thought of our mind, and with every word of our mouth. Still no big thing, right! Is God trustworthy enough to be looked to for even the smallest elements that we so often try to reserve unto ourselves? Those things that we want to keep to ourselves, because we want some standing on our own. It is not difficult to trust God with items that are beyond us, but what about those elements that we can do so well, yet even there need to be focused on God.
	Trust God with all our hearts. That is the way to come into a greater living relationship, not only with God, but with all those about us. It puts our hearts into the proper perspective of what we are to do in our daily lives. It sets aside those areas that we are holding back from God, and gives Him free hand to do all that He desires in our lives and in the lives of our family, friends, and workmates.
	As husbands and fathers, we need to be settled in our trust for God to provide every need of our family. MONEY WORRIES This in no wise means that we do not seek after work, neither forsake the duties that are a God-ordained part of husband and father, but rather than focus on our efforts through it all, and our worries if things do not proceed the way we think they should, we need to trust God. We need to put Him first and foremost. When we are at work, we need to so trust the Lord that He is our means and manner of survival. JOB SITUATION AT SEQUOIA JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL What we do, how we act, the manner in which we deal with others, all as we are more and more focused on God, and trusting Him to get us through each and every day. This takes a great deal of trust, I might add, when we are asked to do and to teach things that we just can not do. DARWINISM When we are told that this is the way it is, but in our hearts, the Lord is telling us, ever so gently, that we can have no part in it! SELF-ESTEEM To trust Him explicitly, to know that He will carry us through, no matter what the cost! BACK PAIN AND THE APOLOGIES TO STUDENTS To face the anger and the frustration without returning the same, and without a smugness that so often characterizes many of this realm. To simply know God, and work our hearts out unto Him!
	Yes, to work our hearts out unto Him. To give those in authority over us not 100%, but every measure of our being as unto the Lord, and yet to draw the line when they ask us to do that which we know is not pleasing to the Lord. That is trust in God.
	In dealing with our families, oh these wonderful wives and children that God has so blessed us with. Do they know how to cause us to go to God? When we are so much the loving husband and father, that we thankfully praise the Lord for our family, then it is easy to trust God. But, how about those times when our wives are God's instrument to expose that vileness of our self that needs to be cleansed. Or, when God uses us, in such an innocent fashion, to bring forth the fury of a woman that must be tempered by Him. Are we thankful and trusting then, or are we self-centered, hurt, and dejected? Do we trust God to bring about that which we desire in our family, or do we seek after some manner of a quick fix, using the words of trust in God, much like the words stamped on our coin. SCHOOL SITUATIONS BECKA/ TEACHER CHORUS, TICKET SITUATION, YET WORKED TO GET HER INTO GATE   LEAH HEALTH/EDUCATION/SAFETY/ BUS/ LIFE
	Proverbs 3:5+6 states Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. This is the key to our greater and deeper and increasing relationship with God. To trust Him. Not just to trust in Him, but to trust Him explicitly. And, this is where we may have the hardest time in our relationship with Him, because, so often, we want to understand with our minds what God is doing in our hearts and in the hearts of those around us. We are caught up in trying to see and to know and to understand with our human faculties, that which we can only know in our spiritual awareness, that God is in charge and in control and that He is working to His glory and His perfection, no matter what the outward appearance. We want to be able to quantify results, catalogue each success, to have a vital part in every element that involves us, and to be able to reassure ourselves with visual and measurable evidence that everything is all right.
	We can say that we trust God, but we are constantly searching for evidence to support our efforts in that line. My fellow believers and brothers, this is no way to trust God. This serves only to identify the fact that we do not trust Him, because we are continually seeking after temporal evidence to justify trust in our Heavenly Father. There is no course to seek after God to justify our trust in Him, but rather, we need to become so settled in Him that He can choose to manifest Himself in any manner that will serve to glorify Himself, whether witnessed or not on our part. We need to trust Him in such a fashion to just know that He is in charge and will have His perfect way, whether or not we see the evidence with our earthly eyes. When that becomes settled, and it will as we ask Him to make it truth in our hearts instead of in our heads, then we will find that the second aspect of obedience is not a trial, is not a struggle is not a test, but rather the desire of our beings. God will show us areas of our lives that need changes and we will ask Him to make those changes with the earnest desire for it to be God's way. 
	
	Trust and obey, not just in the big things, not solely in the small things, but in all things, in every area, every aspect of our lives. At work, at home, and yes, even at play, to trust God to work to His glory.
	It will be then, that we will be able to agree in our hearts with the Apostle Paul as he states in Rom. 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. We have heard this verse over and over again and God if faithful to prove it over and over again.
	COMING HOME TO FLOODED HOUSE
	MOVING IN WITH THERESE - ADJUSTMENTS/ LIVED ALONE/ NOT BE A NUSIANCE/ GRACIOUS FROM BEGINNING TO END/ DIDN'T WANT US TO LEAVE/ CLOSENESS/ SHE CALLS TO TALK TO ME
	4 1/2 MONTHS
	CABINETS - SMELL/CLEANING/COST/SLEEPLESS/PICTURES/INS
	CONTRACTOR - GOD PROVIDED IVARS AMAZED AT HOW IT DEVELOPED AND FLOWED TOGETHER
	BACK SURGERY DAD AND MYSELF
 We have been comforted by it in the direst of situations, but do we truly hold onto it as the very element of our daily walk with God, our relationship with Him. It involves love, trust and God's purpose in our lives. It means that we are set aside, in order that He is given every avenue in our lives to fulfill that which is in His heart, not ours. It means that the thing we hold near and dear need to be brought willingly to Him for His purpose to be satisfied, and that my brothers is the utmost of obedience - to lay our desires before God and ask Him to make us desirous solely after His desire to glorify Christ, no matter what the cost, no matter what the avenue, no matter what surgery needs to be done in us to cut away the refuse of this realm. To trust God to make us those men of God that He desires, every moment, and without dragging the worries of this realm into the place of Christ in our beings.