
Life Capsule for Today Date: 17th April, 20224
Theme: Obedience (4)
Memory Verse: 1 Sam 15:22b
22 …. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams KJV
Topic: God requires perfect obedience
Bible Reading: Deut 5:33
33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess. KJV
Words of the Ministry:
Today we intend to look at a bible character to further demonstrate that God requires perfect obedience. We would be considering the account of Saul and draw some life lessons as time would permit us. You may have to read 1 Samuel 1-30 to have a good idea of the passage we are considering. God gave an instruction to Saul through his prophet Samuel to utterly destroy the Amalekite, this was to include men and women, young and old, animals and all living things, God’s judgement was as a result of the evil they did to the Israelites many centuries before then as recorded in Exo. 17.8-14. Saul Obeyed God gathered his soldiers and attacks the Amalekites, he destroyed all as God instructed except for the king thinking he needed to have compassion, some choice animals and goods which in his opinion had a better use than to be destroyed.
Saul spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites against God’s instruction, although Saul killed every other living thing, men, women and children including certain animals, his decision to spare Agag and some animals was disobedience to God, so we could say that Saul obeyed God partially and was judged by God. The account said God sent Samuel to Saul again, when Saul was confronted on why he spared the animals, he said the people kept them to sacrifice to God (vs 15), Saul was told that in God’s estimation what he did was evil (v 19), although before men he did what was right but because he was led by his opinion against God’s instruction it was evil before God. Saul was told, his act was tantamount to rebellion which was same as sin of witchcraft (v 23). Saul giving the reason why he acted so said he was afraid of losing the support of the people, a result, he chose to obey them instead of God. Saul was rejected by God and his seat occupied by David.
From this Old Testament story, we can see that indeed obedience is better than sacrifice, we saw the account of a man who God picked out of many and made him a king, he enjoyed a rare privileged which naturally he was not due for. At the height of his reign, he chose to partially obey God thinking his ideas would suffice, he thought his opinion was better and wanting to remain in the good book of the people as their king forgetting he got there by God’s grace alone he chose to obey the people. So are many believers today, we start well with the Lord as brothers in the Church, parents, bosses in the office or even preachers, as time goes by, we begin to shift our allegiance to the people, in some cases it could be to our parent, spouses, friends, colleagues, church member or even associates, we forget that our source is God. God’s demand for complete and total holiness becomes old school, barbaric and inapplicable. We see churches lowering God holiness standards to please the crowd saying we are in the 21st century, married couples going to club houses with unbelieving friend just be appear social and to get more connections, Christian singles engaging in fornication to get a future partner or a job, pastors preaching worldliness to get more member and believers in politics joining the bandwagon of evil for political relevance, dear saint to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Join us next week Sunday for an explosive encounter at PENIEL, April Edition.
Bible in one year: 2 Sam 17-18 For further fellowship send us an email on godmanvideos@gmail.comor visit our youtube channel: @godmanmedia. You can also interact with us by dropping your comments on our facebook page. Our physical meeting, Word feast comes up every Wednesday by 5pm and Prayer Gym every Saturday by 7am while PENIEL comes up once a month, every last Sunday of the month from 4pm to 6.30pm at Suite A10, Ahser Office Complex, beside Living Faith Church, Opposite Hassan Stores, Arab Road, Kubwa Abuja.