November 9, 2009 ~ Obedience vs. Sacrifice

Which are you doing today...is it really what God wants?

Today's Scripture:

Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams."

1 Samuel 15:22

Imagine that your boss enters your co worker's cubicle or work area and asks her to drop everything she is doing and prepare a report for a 3:00pm meeting. She says "sure" and gets busy. She looks for some data and finally finds it in a stack of papers to be filed, and so she files the stack while she's at it...killing two birds with one stone. As she does so , she finds two other half-finished reports and decides to quickly finish them. Then printer problems require twenty minutes. Your coworker returns to the 3:oo pm report. You take pity on her and try to help. But it isn't enough. At 3:00pm., your boss shows up and the report isn't quite done. "But, I worked hard all day," your coworker moans. You know it's true. You feel for your coworker, but you understand your boss's perspective: though your coworker did some good things, she didn't follow the boss's orders.

Saul had the same kind of problem. He was sacrificing to God, and that appears to be a good thing to do. It's good, that is, unless God has told you to do something else. Saul didn't want to follow God's directives, so maybe he thought God would excuse him if he did other good things instead. But it didn't work that way. God wanted obedience. I found this in my call into ministry personally myself. I had my wife, my family, my job and all the many jobs that God put me into in the church; Sunday School teacher, Sunday School Superintendent, Secretary of the Men's group, Chairman of the board and council, Lay leader and even a call to serve a lay speaker. All of these involved sacrifice and were good for me and my church and community but were not full obedience to what He called me to do. Today I can reflect on how things were in my life then and how more fulfilled they are now that God has taken control and I am on the path He intended for me and my family.

Selah people' and friends sometimes it's easier for men and women to sacrifice time, resources and energy for God instead of just doing what he told them to do.

No matter how great your sacrifices, God would rather have obedience as His word commands.

"As you and I obey God, the work of his kingdom will get done more efficiently and effectively. Sacrifices for God are good - but obeying his Word and directions is more important."

Your pastor,

Rev Patrick Muston

This weeks sermon shared by our very special guest who was raised up in Selah Church ~ Rev Jean Hood He shared this message during a our Veteran's Day service held at Selah Christian Church on November 8th, 2009...

Sermon: "Remember The Day"

Scripture: Exodus 13: 3-5,8-10,14

Twenty Third Sunday after Pentecost ~ Click link to listen to both parts of Rev Hood's message:

http://selahmedia.tripod.com/

Selah Christian Church Disciples of Christ
Four Oaks, NC ~ Website: http://selahchurch.com/