Tag Archives: obedience

Better than Sacrifice – 1 Samuel 15

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The subject for my second sermon which I preached at New-Life Church this Sunday gone was:  “To obey is better than sacrifice”.

It was based on when King Saul only partialy obeyed the Word of the Lord.  I examined motives, the excuses and God’s hate of disobedience, and he delight in obedience.  To finish I spoke on the help we have from the Holy Spirit and the importance of not trying to “go it alone” like King Saul was doing!

See below the Sermon Notes (Leader Notes for the House Groups) and the Discussion Points.  Feel free to use at your own churches.  If you have any feedback, please do contact me.

Recording will be available soon.

Leader Notes – To Obey is Better than Sacrifice

Discussion Points – To Obey is Better than Sacrifice

Taxes – Romans 13:6-7

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How many times have you thought that you would do a better job with Tax payers money than the government of that time? I think only the other day I was complaining at what our government was doing! As much however as we disagree with what our government(s) may be doing for our country, we still have to respect them and to continue to pay our taxes. Government officials may or may not know it, but they are in a highly responsible position where they should be carrying out Gods will for the land. Therefore regardless of what we think, we need to continue to support them. After all, should they make mistakes, or decisions displeasing to Him, it will be Him they answer to and not us!

It is also our duty therefore, as we read on into verse 7, that we treat out government with respect. They have been given a position of high responsibility, and therefore we should not become caught in the web of negative words against them. The media today picks up very much upon the faults of government parties, as well as the individual faults of members in the name of entertainment and news. People gloat over this information, and use it to fuel their dislike of that person or party. We must not get involved in that world. Avoid reading papers that do this, or watching programs of a similar nature. We are to be obedient to the Lord: (Acts 23:5, Exodus 22:28).

Mark 12:17  – Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.

We do therefore have a responsibility to fund our government.  It helps support all the services that are provided, including the security and safety the police and fire services bring.  We should render unto our government the taxes they require without complaint.  If we get the “cash in hand” jobs, as tempting as it may be to keep, we should seek to do the right thing and ensure all taxes have been paid on all amounts of money in.

Why do this?  We do this as a sign of respect for those in Government that God has placed there, and also as an act of obedience to the Lord who has commanded we do this.

Honesty – Acts 5:1-11

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A short while ago Stuart led a discussion on Obedience at our Lifegroup. One of the passages was this very passage about Ananias and Sapphira, who sell their land to give the money to the church, and yet they secretly try to keep back some of the money for themselves. The result of their actions is very difficult to read, and I can imagine this is not the most popular portion

of scripture in the Bible! Stuart emphasised though that we should not pick and choose what portions of scripture we read and obey, but we must consider the entire Bible, and strive to do all the Lord asks of us.

3Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal

? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.” (NIV)

The Our Daily Bread picks up on Ananias and Sapphira’s lack of honesty. And although the result of their dishonesty is very extreme, it acts as an example / reminder of the consequences of sin and the need to be completely honest with God. God is everywhere. He knows all and sees all therefore we should not consider trying to hide things from Him, or trying to lie to Him.

In any situation in life we need to be honest, not only with each other, but to our Creator God. There is not half way house for honesty, we can’t be 90% honest, and keep something back for ourselves, or to protect ourselves. Is not honesty a key part of any loving relationship? How much more so, is honesty important with our God?

Honesty is a requirement, therefore we must be obedient to God. I will end with a quote from today’s Our Daily Bread:

There are no degrees of honesty.

Resisting Temptation – Luke 4:1-13

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First of all I am reminded that temptation is not a sin.  Jesus lead a sinless life on earth to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  Even Jesus was tempted in the desert and yet He was able to resist temptation.   It is our calling as Christians to be obedient to the Lord and to resist

the devil and his temptations.

How did Jesus resist temptation?  Notice verse 1

 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert…

The Holy Spirit.  Our God is so amazing, that he pours out His Holy Spirit upon us to help us, to guide us, comfort us and give us strength.  Leaning on our own strength and willpower, and stood staring temptation in the face, we don’t have a hope.  Especially those Christians caught in a habitual sin, they will understand that even though they know they do not want to partake in it everytime, they can’t seem to help themselves.

How can we resist temptation?  By leaning on the Holy Spirit.  By reading Gods Word as regularly as possible thus focusing our minds on Him, and filling our hearts with truths as opposed to the lies of temptation  (Note; Jesus used scripture when resisting temptation).  By fellowship with other Christians that we may learn from each other, share our problems and thoughts and encourage one another.  By getting rid of those things that cause us to Sin or are a source of temptation, that could include drugs, friends, internet, music etc.

By resisting we are being obedient to the Lord.  John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command”.  It is our duty as followers of Jesus to strive to obey Him.  Resisting temptation is one of the many ways we can Glorify our Lord.  Take a look at these two portions of 1 Peter:  1 Peter 3: 1-2,  and 1 Peter 3: 15-16.  Remember that old saying that I have no doubt used many times within my journal?  Actions speak louder than words.

Complaining – Num. 14:1-5,26-27

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Today’s devotional picks up on complaining!  I am going to lean heavily on the verses it recommends in my journal for today as it is extremely useful in giving clear guidelines on how to eradicate a complaining heart, and be obedient to Him.

Phillipians 2:14 – Do all things without grumbling or disputing

As we see in Numbers, complaining doesn’t get the Israelites anywhere!  Looking back at yesterdays reading we see that being negative, letting bad words leave your mouth does not help to encourage or build up yourself or others.

It is so important, therefore, that we try to grow in Christ leaving the old complaining heart behind us.   The steps from Our Daily Bread are as follows:

Disciplining our thoughts (Romans 12:2): By feeding on the Word and counting our blessings.  Focusing on worldly things and desires have us loose sight of what is important.  Our relationship with God.

Confession (1 John 1:9): Confessing, and committing ourselves to obedience.

Accepting Help (John 14:26):  Humbling ourselves and admitting our need for help!  We cannot break chains with our own strength!  We need the power of the Holy Spirit, and the help

and support of brothers and sisters in Christ for support and encouragement.

Whatever the sin, be it as in this example, or any other that you struggle with, these steps I think will be of such value.  Kudos to the writer Anne Cetas from Our Daily Bread!

What a Friend – John 15:9-15

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What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

Words: Joseph Scriven, 1855. Music: Charles Converse, 1868.

Above is an old hymn that once I hear, the tune repeats itself in my head for pretty much the rest of the day.  It talks of the absolute truth and perfection of our friendship with Jesus.  Our true friend.

Reading this Bible passage you see how close the disciples were to Jesus and how much he loved

them. His love is was not just limited to his disciples however has he died for ALL that WHOSOEVER believes in Him, will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

3 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus will never let us down, He is always loyal, loving and faithful to His promise. He is our comfort and our strength. Where earthly friends can at times let us down, we can always rely on Him. Don’t know Jesus as your best friend? Then please check this link out: http://bygrace.co.uk/believe/

10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

and

14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

Tie in very well with a recent talk on Obedience that we had at our life group. I recommend you read the notes and comments at: http://bygrace.co.uk/2008/02/07/obedience/

Obedience

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Today Stuart challenged us to think about the things that we don’t always want to think about or discuss.  The word Obedience is one of them!  We first looked at how we have never needed to be taught to be dis-obedient!

Yes, my daughter aged 1 knows very well how to be dis-obedient!  It was described really well like this:  Any one born from a human father inherits the original sin of Adam back in the Garden of Eden.  That’s why it comes to naturally!  This also explains why Jesus was able to be on earth, without Sin and be the perfect sacrifice for our Sin as he, although born of a human woman, was the son of God!

Once we determined where dis-obedience stems from, we moved on to look at reasons that we should be obedient to Gods word and do as he wishes.

We looked at several verses (and I wish I had noted them down, I will probably ask for them) that described it as the desire to do Gods will, to be obedient.  I can’t describe exactly how Stuart put it, but will explain what I understood:

When we are born again as Christians, we accept the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.  It is the GIFT of God!  We did not earn it!  This of course does not mean we should then continue to live for ourselves.

Living for Christ, and being obedient to him, allows us to lead fulfilled lives, allows us to grow a strong relationship with him, as well as allowing us to do his will, including bringing others to the Lord.  I have never met anyone in my life whom has lived for themselves, and could tell me that they were truly happy.  And from my experience, when I have lived for myself and been dis-obedient, I have been miserable!  When you accept the Lord into your life, he sends the gift of his Holy Spirit who convicts your heart, and makes his desires your desires!

Before I was saved I could sin and feel no remorse!  Now if I sin, I immediately feel terrible and seek the Lords forgivness for it is our hearts desire to be obedient, to do his will, to reach the lost, and to be fulfilled.

Stuart also pointed out that although we are saved we are still to be judged, therefore if we are saved yet don’t live for him, we will still feel some loss when we reach heaven and realise there were blessings we could have benefited from!

In a nutshell, being obedient to his will allows us to grow and to be used for his glory.   And store up those blessings in heaven as you can’t take your possessions with you!