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

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It is amazing to think that God is our father, that He was with us when we took our first steps, even when we lay in bed at night scared of the “bogey man” God was there!  The day we chose to follow Him, He was there!

 He is the perfect father, who will never abandon us, who will always be listening to us, always loving and caring.

For parents, this passage is very touching as it is very easy to apply this situation to your own family, and how you would feel in the same situation.  As parents we love our children unconditionally, they do not earn it!  How intense therefore the pain, if our Children were to rebel, or reject our love and care.

God’s love for us led Him to offer the biggest sacrifice He could ever have given;

“…How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure…”
Stuart Townsend 

Thank you Father God for your sacrifice, for your immense love.  Thank you for your Father heart, that loves us unconditionally, that extends your grace to those who seek you, that loves us as your very own children.

It is such an encouragement to find a passage like this in the old testament that really reminds me and drives home that our God is a loving Father God.  I rarely dip into the old testament as I am always focusing on the Gospel, and yet God was with man for hundreds of years before He sent His Son, and by reading what transpired, really helps us to build up a picture of our loving father, as well as see the events that led to that manger and eventually the cross.

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what the Bible says about commitment.

“…In a Bacon and Egg sandwich, the chicken is involved…. but the pig is committed…”    The chicken plays its part by laying the egg, where as the pig is “all in”, laying down its life.  We too are told to live our lives as a living sacrifice, Romans 12:1-2.  Doing work for the Lord isn’t just reserved for the weekend, and the odd week night.  We are called to be committed.  That challenged my own approach immediately.  I can list many things I am “involved” with, but if you were to ask to as to which one I was “committed” to, I would more than likely struggle to give you a straight answer….  The basic answer is none!

Margaret Mead said:  “…Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has…”

Notice she did not say, an army of people who are involved, but a small group of committed people!  Can we rise up to the challenge, and take a step, or even a leap forward into truly committing to something in our church, or a ministry?  Something we can truly throw ourselves into, glorifying the Lord.  I will be contemplating what I should be committed to, and if there is anything else I am involved with that could be in the way of me committing to that which the Lord intend, I pray I will be given wisdom, discernment and will know the right course to take.

My “memory verse” for today will be the following:  1 Corinthians 15:58.

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It takes some doing to be able to take a step outside of oneself, and begin to understand the benefit of forgiveness.  It does not come naturally, and we have a tendency to want revenge for when we have been wronged.  And yet we need to remind ourselves of the cross.  How our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ bore all our sin on that cross that we might be forgiven.  When we turn to Him and seek forgiveness of our sin, by His grace he is faithful

and forgives.

Colossians 3:13 – Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.

Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (NIV)

The Lord keeps on forgiving us, and as in the above verse, we are told to forgive anyone, of anything, whomever they are, just as the Lord forgave us.

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the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (NIV)

Without Jesus we are in the dark. The darkness of Sin. We are lost. Jesus died so that we may have life and never have to walk in darkness again. Yet some of us choose even after being saved to return to that darkness, and to loose our way again. Thankfully our Father never looses sight of us, however whilst we are in sin and have an unrepentant heart, the Lord cannot help us.

When Jesus was on the cross, he bore all our sin.

Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi,Some manuscripts Eli, Eli lama sabachthani?”–which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (NIV)

God cannot overlook sin, and although Jesus was completely without sin, that day he took it all on Himself. God could not look upon His own Son because of the Sin. What an amazing God whom would give His only Son to take the Sin of the world to save sinners like me and you!

As the Lord cannot overlook sin, when we are caught up in sin (darkness) for example a habitual sin or sexual sin (which can also be habitual) we cut ourselves off from the Lord, meaning he cannot hear help us until we come to Him with a repentant heart. The moment we say sorry the Lord is there quicker than a heart beat but whilst we harbour sin in our hearts and live in the darkness we will not benefit from His help.

Over the past few months, I have researched and discussed sexual sin with many brothers in Christ. Being caught up in the darkness of sexual sin can be like a slippery slope that you feel you can’t climb up out of. Sexual sin is different from all other sin as all other sin is outside the body, where as sexual sin is inside.

Our body is a temple to the Holy Spirit, in the Old Testament days no one would have dreamt of desecrating the temple in Jerusalem for example.

Sexual sin can manifest itself in many ways including self gratification, pornography, sexual relationships out of wedlock, un-natural relationships, affairs etc. For anyone who is captive to any of these, THERE IS HOPE! Jesus died on the cross so we don’t have to be caught up in darkness. Without Jesus we will always be searching to fill that God shaped hole we have made in our lives, and the deeper in sin we get to try and satisfy ourselves.

To break free turn to Jesus, repent of your sin, and ask for His help and before the words have finished leaving your mouth He will be there, and have brought you into the light. Of course it is hard for those who have been locked in darkness for so long, not to quickly return to the darkness and this is where you need to seek help. Pray to the Lord for strength, and also read His Word. But also seek Christian counsel from a Christian brother or sister. Bringing all your Sin to light to another brother or sister helps expose satan and all his tricks, and he will have to flee as he cannot stand the light! Sin brought into the light looses its power over you. The person you confide in can then offer advice, and also you can hold yourself accountable to them, and any time you fall, not only repent and seek the Lords help, but also talk with your brother or sister. It is less appealing to sin when you know you will have to look your brother or sister in the eyes and admit to them you failed.

I lived in darkness for many years and like a prodigal son turned to God. Like the loving Father He is, He came running to me and brought me back into the light. There is no turning back. I have Christian brothers to help me in my walk too, and the encouragement and wisdom they provide is invaluable.

It is hard, and the lie of the darkness can sometimes be overbearing. Whenever it gets that way, flee whatever the source of temptation is (literally) and look to the light of Christ. Don’t fight it alone!

For those who would like more information, check out http://www.settingcaptivesfree.com or drop me a line.

God Bless.

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Every now and again, a little doubt is sometimes entertained by my mind of God existence.  Thankfully any time that happens, within seconds I realise how foolish it to doubt!  Just looking up at the stars at night is such an awesome sight.  Beautiful celestial creations, powerful yet graceful, placed their by Gods hand.

Not just the stars in the sky, but the very nature we see around us is so amazing.  Take a look at this website www.edenpics.com, it is full of pictures of God’s glorious creation.  Awe inspiring landscapes, breath taking views, and science would have you believe that all that beauty was an accident!  A reaction that caused an explosion that created all we see?  Not likely!  All I can see is an awesome masterpiece made by a loving artist.  Our God.

Proof of Gods existence is everywhere.  It is humbling therefore to think that our Father God, loved us SO much that he sent His Son to take away the sin of the world, that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.  Do you sometimes doubt Jesus existence?  You only need to look at the history books, and how many people wrote about Him, saw Him and had heard of Him.  We believe in the existence of Julius Ceaser, and yet there is not a lot of evidence he actually existed!  We have the Bible, down through the ages, the written word.  The Bible is Truth.

So he existed, but how can we be sure he was the Son of God.  For me it is how everything he said so perfectly matched Gods promises in the Old Testament!  (Check out Isaiah for a start off!)  Check out this link http://www.sowhataboutjesus.com/who.php that looks in depth into was Jesus a Liar, Lunatic or the Son of God.  You will come to the same conclusion I came to long ago, that he really is the Messiah, the Son of God, sent to this world to pay the price for our sins.

Coming to this realisation really humbles me.  What amazing love that He would die for me.  I can’t thank Him enough.  Its at Easter time that I feel so sad and ashamed that my sin drove those nails into His hands and His feet.  But then I remember that He rose again, victorious over death, so we may too have eternal life.  That we may have a relationship with Him, and love him forever.

Thank you God for loving us so much.  Thank you for your sacrifice on the cross.  You are amazing God.  I love you.

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” Jesus

is the reason, for this season”

Like Christmas people often forget the true meaning of what is becoming more commonly known as the “Holiday Seasons”. Yes, many large companies are now taking on the term “Holiday Seasons” to avoid a direct relationship with Christian Celebrations so as not to offend others.  Television adverts during Easter concentrate on chocolate, and at Christmas, Santa and gifts!

Easter is the time we remember when our Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins on the cross.  He was the perfect sacrifice.  A lamb to the slaughter, untouched by sin, clean and yet he was willing to take the punishment we each deserve!  The part of Easter that fills me with joy is the fact that Jesus rose again.  Showing he had power over death and has gone ahead to prepare a place for each one who believes.

This Easter time, I pray that we don’t get carried away with chocolate and games, and forget the true meaning of Easter.  Of course chocolate and games are fun and I would highly recommend both, however we do need to make sure we spend time with the Lord, thanking Him for what he has done for us.  What he did was the most amazing gift of love.

Thank you Jesus.

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Yet another confirmation of our responsibility as Christians to imitate Christ.  His humility, love, compassion as well as kindness toward others.  There is no better way of expressing the Love of Jesus that through action.  In this self centred world, a lost person is more likely to be touched and challenged by a kind and selfless act.

Hebrews 13:2 - Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

Our Daily Bread today also focuses on kindness to others.  We live in a society where it is natural to make decisions and to act upon things that are in our own best interests.  Things that benefit us, in status, wealth, position, relationships or power.  Our Lord was completely selfless and gave up His life utterly and completely for our sins.  When he rose again he commanded us to make disciples of all nations.  It is therefore our responsibility to act as he did, being selfless and humble, showing the love of Jesus that others may see, experience and be saved.

And of course, don’t forget the above verse (Hebrews 13:2), you could be unwittingly caring for an angel!  How awesome would that be?!

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