Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

June 9
Sunday


OBEDIENCE IS
WORSHIP

READ:
1 Samuel 15:13-23
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To obey is better than
sacrifice.
__1 Samuel 15:22
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While I was traveling with a chorale from a Christian high school, it was great to see the students praise God as they led in worship in the churches we visited. What happened away from church was even better to see. One day the group discovered that a woman had no money for gas__and they spontaneously felt led by God to take up a collection. They were able to give her enough money for several tankfuls of gas.

It's one thing to worship and praise God at church; it's quite another to move out into the real world and worship Him through daily obedience.
The students' example causes us to think about our own lives. Do we confine our worship to church? Or do we continue to worship Him by obeying Him in our daily life, looking for opportunities to serve?

In 1 Samuel 15 we see that Saul was asked by the Lord to do a task; but when we review what he did (vv.20-21), we discover that he used worship (sacrifice) as an excuse for his failure to obey God. God's response was, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (v.22).

It's good to be involved in worship at church. But let's also ask God to show us ways to continue to give Him the praise He deserves through our obedience. __Dave Branon

```````````````Lord, I want my worship of you to extend beyond````````````````
`````````````````the walls of my church. Help me to listen to`````````````````
`````````````````Your prompting and to serve others wherever`````````````````
``````````````````````I can__no matter what day it is.````````````````````````
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Our worship should not be confined to times and
places; it should be the spirit of our lives.

*****************Today's Bible Reading __ 1 Samuel 15:13-23************************

13 Then Samuel went to
Saul, and Saul said to him,
"Blessed are you of the
LORD! I have performed the
commandment of the LORD."

14 But Samuel said, "what
then is this bleating of the
sheep in my ears, and the
lowing of the oxen which I
hear?"

15 And Saul said, "They
have brought them from the
Amalekites; for the people
spared the best of the sheep
and the oxen, to sacrifice to
the LORD your God; and the
rest we have utterly
destroyed."

16 Then Samuel said to
Saul, "Be quiet! and I will
tell you what the LORD said
to me last night." And he said
to him, "Speak on."

17 So Samuel said, "When
you were little in your own
eyes, were you not head of
the tribes of Israel? And did
not the LORD anoint you king
over Israel? 18 Now the LORD
sent you on a mission, and
said, 'Go, and utterly destroy
the sinners, the Amalekites,
and fight against them until
they are consumed.' 19 Why
then did you not obey the
voice of the LORD? Why did
you swoop down on the
spoil, and do evil in the sight
of the LORD?"

20 And Saul said to Samuel,
"But I have obeyed the voice
of the LORD, and gone on the
mission on which the Lord
sent me, and brought back
Agag king of Amalek; I have
utterly destroyed the
Amalekites. 21 But the people
took of the plunder, sheep
and oxen, the best of the
things which should have
been utterly destroyed, to
sacrifice to the LORD your
God in Gilgal."

22 So Samuel said: "Has the
LORD as great delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the
LORD? Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice, and to
heed than the fat of rams.

23...Because you have
rejected the word of the
LORD, He also has rejected
you from being king."