← Rick Renner Podcast (Audio)
Rick Renner Podcast (Audio)
Friday - The Result of Obeying God’s Word
00:28:30
Obeying God’s Word releases power and peace that can’t be shaken. Join Rick as he explains how to stand strong through every season.
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This program is made possible by the giving of the God called partners of Renner Ministries. Get ready for a teaching that feeds your spirit and your mind, where the Word is the anchor in uncertain times. And doctrine doesn't bend to culture. We keep it simple, but dive deep, revealing a truth that strengthens us, a love that emboldens, and a mission that touches the world. Let's join Rick Renner. Welcome to today's program. It's Friday. It is the end of the week and it seems like this week has just gone by like that. We've been talking about what Jesus said about the final say so of God's Word and I have really enjoyed this series and I pray that you've enjoyed it too. And I pray that you've made a decision that to give God's Word the final say so in your life. And if you'll do that, it will release a torrent of divine power that will deliver your soul. That's your mind, your will, your emotions. And when you get everything up here fixed and cleaned up, it affects everything else in your life. So my friends, please give God's Word the final say so in your life. But today I want to remind you about this series. The whole series is five parts. It comes in multiple formats with a wonderful study guide. Everything in this series is in this study guide because it's a fact that when you read all the material while you're seeing or hearing it, it really causes it to take root down deep inside you. And today's the last day. I'm mentioning to you the book by Kenneth E. Hagin that changed my life. It's called the Authority of the Believer. And if you don't have a copy of that book, if you've never read it, you need that book. It will establish you in your Christ given authority. And what happens when you give God's Word the final say so in your life. And today is the last day that we're offering you for free. It's our gift to you. A beautifully designed sheet of confessions about the Word of God. And we've designed it so you can display it in your home or at your place of business. You can see it and you can remind yourself about giving God's Word the final say so in your life. But to find out about all these resources, just go to our website or give us a call. And you know what, whether you're interested in the resources or not, if you've got a prayer need, we want to pray for you. So call the number that is on the screen and write it down. Please save that number. Maybe a day is going to come when you're not watching the program, but you need somebody to pray with you. We'll save the number and you'll always have a number you can call. That's usually we're always here. We are ready to pray for you and we will pray scripturally and we will pray confidentially. Jesus will hear and Jesus really will do what needs to be done. But hey, today I want you to reach for your Bible. This series is called what Jesus Said about the Final say so of God's Word. And my friend, I've been living my life to the best of my ability to give God's Word the final say so in my life. And. And as I've told you, when I was growing up, every summer I went to a vacation Bible school and every day at vacation Bible school, we quoted our Bible pledge which said, I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's holy word. I will make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I will hide its words in my heart that I may not sin against God. I guess I began to declare that Bible plus when I was about 5 years old. And from that time until the present, I've lived my life to fulfill that pledge, to really give God's Word the final say. So in my life, I've not done it perfectly. I don't think anybody has. But I've certainly made it my aim to really fulfill my commitment to the Word of God and to align my life according to what Jesus says and according to the Word of God. But today we're going to go to Matthew chapter 5, verse 18 one more time. And in this verse Jesus is talking about the Word of God. And he says, for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall nowise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. The words one jot are from the Greek word iota. And it describes iota, which is the smallest letter of the Greek Alphabet. It is little, tiny. Then it says, or one tittle. This describes one stroke of the brush or one stroke of a letter. And here Jesus is telling us that the Word of God is so anointed, it is so divinely inspired, even the smallest letter, the most minuscule brush of the pen, all of it is anointed, all of it is powerful and sacred. And he says, it shall in no wise pass from the law to law be fulfilled. And in Greek, here you have a double negative. It says it shall no not pass. No, it shall not pass from the law. And the word law here is the Greek word nomos, which is the word for a law that is to be obeyed and not to be broken. And here we have Jesus view of the scriptures. And Jesus in typical fashion of his age, called the Scriptures the law. And it refers to the scriptures as being the law or being the scriptures. It is holy text and it is a law to be obeyed. And my friends, it will not release its power in your life until it becomes a law for you. This is not so, you're legalistic. But my friends, it's aligning your life under the final say so of God's word. And when you do that, that's when you begin to really experience the power of God's word. But then we come to Matthew 5:19 where Jesus continues and says, whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments. And the word break, as we've seen is the word luo. It doesn't mean to break, like to break a vase or to break something. But really the word luo means to loose or to loosen. It means to relax. It means to let go of your grip. It pictures a non serious attitude. So here is a person who does not align his life under the final say so of God's word. He takes the word of God as another optional voice. Maybe he'll take it, maybe he won't. Maybe he'll listen to it, maybe he won't, maybe he'll obey it, maybe he won't. He has kind of a non compliant, non serious attitude toward commandments. And the Bible says this person will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. And the word least in Greek. Are you ready for this? It describes that which is least, the smallest, the tiniest, or the most insignificant. Well, most of us would like to be significant. But if you ignore the word of God and you have a non serious attitude toward the word, if it's not a law for you, then you've placed yourself in a category of the insignificant. But Matthew 5:19 also tells us how to be significant. And it says, but whosoever shall do and teach these, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And we've seen and seen that the word do is a form of the Greek word poieo, which means I do. But it carries a creative flair. And here we find that when we hear the word of God, we are to find a way to do it. And if we can't conveniently find a way to do it, then we're gonna find a way to do it. We're gonna be creative. We are going to align our lives under the final say so of the word of God. And if we hear something we don't quite know how to apply, we're gonna ask the Holy Spirit to help us until we find a way to do what Jesus has commanded, the final say so of God's Word. And this verse says, if you'll give yourself to the doing of the word of God, you'll be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And the word great, on the contrary, the word least describes that which is great, that which is magnificent, or it depicts one who is significant. So if you want to be significant, then you need to find yourself among them that are aligning their lives to obey the final say so of God's Word. But then we come to Matthew 5:20, where Jesus adds, for I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Well, who are we talking about when we discuss scribes and Pharisees? Well, the word scribes is from a Greek word which describes scribes, or one who copied Scripture and safeguarded documents which were related to. To the teaching of the Torah and to the advising of the Sanhedrin. And these really were scribes. They dealt with the written part of the law. And the word Pharisees describes a religious sect in Israel was the biggest and the most pronounced that demanded strict obedience to the written law of Moses. It was a sect whose influence reached into every village and every synagogue and was one of the most visible molders of the Jewish faith in the first century. But Jesus said, if your righteousness doesn't exceed the behavior of the scribes and the Pharisees, you're not even gonna make it into heaven. Well, when we come to Matthew 23:3, we find that the Pharisees were really great at telling others what to do. But they didn't do it themself. They didn't do it themself. They pretended that they had an adherence to the Scripture, but in real life, they didn't do what they told other people to do. And that made them hypocrites. But in Matthew 23:3, Jesus said, All therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe and that observe and do, but do not ye after their works. For they say and do not, they say and do not. So they love external things. They love telling other people what to do, but they themselves don't obey the Scriptures. And in fact, Matthew 23:4,5 says verse 4. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themself will not move them with one of their fingers. And then Jesus explains in verse 5, but all their works they do to be seen of men, to be seen of men. And this leads us to hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. What does the word hypocrisy mean? Well, I'm going to tell you. The word hypocrisy or the word hypocrites describes a stage actor, one who presents an insincere image for the approval or the applause of those who are watching. It denotes those that are bogus, fake, a pretender, a phony, one who is insincere or inauthentic, one who performs according to the expectations of those that are watching, one who readily changes his outward appearance as needed for the sake of spectators. And in the ancient world, actors like these were viewed to be the lowest scum in society because of their insincerity and readiness to change faces or to change outward behavior simply for applause. That is what the word hypocrite or hypocrisy means. Now, Jesus grew up in Nazareth, but nearby was the city of Sepphoris. And Jesus grandparents lived in Sephora, and that's where Joseph worked in his industry. So Jesus was often in the city of Sephora. And it was very unique that in the city of Sepphoris there was a theater. Theaters were very rare in Israel. There was a very small one in Jerusalem. But in Sephora there was a large theater that seated 5,000 people. And it is likely that as Jesus was growing up and he visited his father who was working in Sephora, or came to see his grandparents, he may have found himself in the theater, and he saw the actors on the stage. And that word actor is the word hypocrite. That really is the word. It describes a stage actor. And back in those days, actors wore masks, and they changed their masks depending on the role that they were playing. And suddenly, if they were to play another role, they would remove that mask and they would put on another mask, and they would actually don any mask to get the approval and the applause of the crowd. And in the ancient world, actors really were viewed as the lowest scum of society because they would do anything, say anything, play anything for the people that were watching. They were considered to be bogus, fake phonies, completely insincere and inauthentic. And in fact, actors were viewed so lowly that when they died, they weren't even allowed to be buried in a common cemetery with other people. They were buried in an actors cemetery because that's where all those low level actors were buried. All of that is in this word hypocrisy, or the word hypocrite. Now keep that in your mind and we're going to go to Matthew 23:13 where Jesus says, but woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you. Shut up. The kingdom of heaven against men, for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer them that are entering to go in. But Jesus called them hypocrites. Why would Jesus call scribes and Pharisees hypocrites? Because they were insincere. They really did not take God's word as the final say so in their life. They just performed as if they were taking it serious because people were watching them. They were just actors. And when Jesus called them hypocrites, it was the equivalent of saying, oh, I know who you guys are. You're just actors on the stage putting on a religious mask because people are watching you outwardly. Or then we go to Matthew 23:14 where Jesus said, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. There he uses the word hypocrites again. It's the equivalent of saying, I know you guys, you're just a bunch of stage actors. You're only performing religiously because people are watching. And Jesus continues to say, for you devour widows, houses, and for a pretense, make long prayers. In other words, their prayers were not even sincere. They were just carrying on and carrying on and long, long prayers because people, people were watching and people were listening. It was all an act. That's what the word hypocrites means. Then we come to Matthew 23:15 and it says, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. There it is again. It's the equivalent to saying, I know who you guys are. You're just a bunch of actors. You're insincere, you're bogus. You're just performing religiously because people, people are watching. And Jesus continues to say, for you can pass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he's made you, make him twofold more the child of hell than you are yourself. Aye, aye, aye. Then you come to Matthew 23:23, and Jesus says, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites there it is again. You're just a bunch of phony actors. You don't need a word of what you're doing or saying. And then he says, for you, pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, but have omitted the weightier matters of the law. Judgment, mercy and faith. These ought ye to have done and not to have left the other undone. Or they were really involved in giving offerings that people could see and people would talk about. But the weightier matters of the law having to do with judgment and mercy, mercy and faith, those were invisible things of the heart. They were just involved in doing those things that would cause people to watch and to applaud them. That's why Jesus called them actors. You're just performing for those that are watching. Then you come to Matthew 23:25, 26, and Jesus says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Boy, I'm quite sure that Jesus was not winning any points with the scribes and Pharisees, but it was the equivalent of saying, hey, I've been to the theater. I've seen guys like you. You guys are completely bogus. This is just pretend. You are phony as can be. You're just a bunch of stage actors carrying on because people are watching. And then Jesus says, for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Or Jesus says, you're just doing outward things. You're not dealing with the deeper issues of the heart. You're just doing outward things because people are watching. And then he says in verse 26, Thou blind Pharisees cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, and the outside of them may be clean also. Deal with the heart. You guys are just dealing with externals. They weren't real in aligning their lives to the Word of God. Then you come to Matthew 23:27 28, and again Jesus says, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. There it is again. For you're like unto whitened sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly. Again, it's all outward. It's not inward. You're not sincere. You've not really given God's word the final say so in your life. You're just carrying on because people are watching. And then finally we come to Matthew 23:29 to 32, and Jesus says, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Stage actors. Because you build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. The word garnish has to do with outward activity. Again, it's all outward activity. And because they weren't sincere and they hadn't really given God's Word the final say so in their life, but they were just performing because people were watching, Jesus said seven times, hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites. You're just a bunch of phony actors. But my friends, when we do the word of God from our heart, when we obey it, because we've given it the final say so in our life, there's nothing hypocritical about that. That's the real deal. And this is what Paul said to Timothy. In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul said, When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you. Unfeigned faith. Unfeigned faith. Unfeigned is the Greek word a with the word hupokripomai. The a has a canceling force. And the word hupo kripomai is the word for a stage actor. But when you put these two words together, it describes those who perform sincerely. Sincerely or those that are the real deal. There's no play acting, there's no pretense. They are sincere or they are without hypocrisy. And Paul says to Timothy, I know one thing about you. I know one thing about your mother and your grandmother. All of you had an unfeigned faith. There was nothing fake or phony about you. You did it all from the heart. You were doing your best to give God's Word the final say so in your life. And friend, we don't want to be insignificant in the kingdom of heaven and we don't want to be called hypocrites. So, my friends, we need to have an unfeigned faith. We need to really give God's Word the final say so in our life and align our will under it and determine going to obey it. And that will make us the real deal. I'll be back in just a moment and I want to pray for you.
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God's Word is not optional. It's a law to us, just as it was to Jesus. In Rick Renner's new series, what Jesus Said about the Final say so of God's Word, you will learn how fully surrendering to scripture brings the full power of the King into you. In this series, Rick teaches that God's Word must be your final authority in every decision, that obedience to God's Word opens the door to his creative power and blessings and more. This powerful series is available in digital or physical formats starting at just $11. In addition to this teaching series, we are offering you the book the Believer's Authority by Kenneth E. Hagin, a deeply impactful classic about the power and authority available to all believers when they act on the Word. The Believer's authority can be yours for just $10. As our free gift to you, we also want to offer you your own copy of the beautifully designed Pledges to the Word of God Print filled with declarations about the Word of God. Don't miss this special offer. The series what Jesus Said about the Final say so of God's Word, the book the Believer's Authority and the Free Pledges to the Word of God Print. Call the number on your screen now or go to renner.org to order. Call or go online now.
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This is Rick Renner and I want to say thank you to those of you who are partners. You're helping us to do our part in fulfilling the great commission to take the Gospel and the teaching of God's Word to the ends of the earth. And one major focus of mine has been the riv, which is the Renner Interpretive Version of the New Testament. To do a new interpretation of the New Testament takes reams of hours, literally thousands of hours of studying and studying and studying the original language of the New Testament and then figuring out a way to express it in words which people understand today and to bring all the flavor and all the nuances of those Greek words into an up to date interpretation. That's the riv and I want to say thank you for your gifts because of what you give. It allows us to focus on the teaching of the Bible and to take the teaching of the Bible to the ends of the earth. And what you are doing is really making a difference. And if you're listening to me today and you're not a partner yet, I invite you to become a part of our partner family. Our partners really are family to us and together we're making a difference in people's lives. So if you're a partner, I say thank you. And if you're not a partner yet, I invite you today to join us as we take the wonderful teaching of the Bible to the ends of the earth. Well, I just wrapped up my series called what Jesus Said about the Final say so of God's Word. I've been doing my best to give God's word the final say so in my life since the time I was a child. I haven't done it perfectly. I doubt that you have either. But we're all trying our best. And my friends, we have to know what God says. We've got to give God's word the final say so in our life and align ourselves in obedience to it. That is what releases power to change us. And when we're doing it sincerely and giving it our best, it removes us from the realm of the insignificant and it removes us from the realm of hypocrisy. This is really important for us to understand. But this series comes with a study guide. And today is the last day that I'm mentioning to you the book by Kenneth E. Hagin, which is called the Authority of the Believer. It is such a powerful book. And today is the last day. We're offering to you a beautifully designed sheet of paper with confessions and declarations about the power of God's word in your life. And I want you to have it. And you can get yours by going online and downloading it, or you can reach out to us by calling us about all of these various resources. And when you do, let us know how to pray for you. And I'm going to pray for you right now. Father, we do not want to be called insignificant, nor do we ever want you to call us hypocrites. So Lord, help us to give your word the final say so in our life, to align ourselves under it and to find a way to do it. And Lord, we pray that as we do, it will release power to change our lives. We make the decision to do it in Jesus name, amen. Well, I have really enjoyed this week with you and I wanna say thank you for being with me and I'll see you in the next program. But remember, Ecclesiastes 8:4 says, where the word of a king is, there is power. Hey, friends, this is Rick Renner. And Denise and I are coming to the United States for a brief trip and we want to invite you to come to some of our meetings. On Sunday, April 19, we'll be ministering at Vertical Church in West Haven, Connecticut with pastors Ken and Kathy Vance. Then on Wednesday through Sunday, April 22nd, 26th, I'll be speaking at Perry Stone's wonderful 2026 Prophetic Summit in Cleveland, Tennessee. Then on Sunday, May 3rd, I'll be speaking at Resurrection Life in Granville, Michigan with pastors Duane and Jeannie Vanderclos. Friend, if you can come to any of these meetings. Denise and I would just be so thrilled to see you, but please go online or give us a call to make sure none of the dates or times have changed. If you've never received Jesus as your Savior and Lord, now is the time for you to experience a new life. Jesus has to give you. Pray this prayer with me right now. Lord, I repent of my sin and receive you as my Savior and Lord, wash away my sin and make me completely new. I thank you that my sin is removed and Satan no longer has any right to lay claim on me. I faithfully promise that I will serve you as my Lord for the rest of my life. And Amen. Renner Ministries is proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ through every available media avenue to the uttermost parts of the earth. Discover the many ways you can help us make a difference in lives around the world with the Word of God. We invite you to partner with us in teaching, strengthening and rescuing lives for the glory of God. Together, we can make a difference that will last throughout eternity. This program was made possible by the giving of the God called Partners of Renner Ministries.