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The Greater Faith Conference 2025 - Pt. 3 - Partial Obedience
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Thank youk. Thank youk, Candy. Thank youk, Steve. That's always so good. So anointed. Don't we have such wonderful people in our midst? I meant to say, and I let it slip me, but. Brother Kenneth Copeland, Ms. Gloria Copeland. You have inspired Phyllis and myself and our ministries. Your example and your inspiration has been something that God has worked with us for decades now. And we thank God for you and the gifts that you are and so the things that are happening in our ministry and a lot of ministries. You have heavy seed in it. Hallelujah. And the reward will be great. If you would look, please. Did you bring the Bible with you? Got it on your phone. Whatever it may be, they'll put it on the screen for us. Romans 16:26. We took a little extra time in the front of the service. Are you going to dock my time because of that or can. Special meeting, right? No service in the morning. Padded seats, air conditioning. You're believing with me, right? What we're looking at tonight is very significant. Like the word always is. He mentions in the last part of this 26th verse, the obedience of faith. Faith is a mystery to some. And some have the idea that some people have it, some people don't. Some people are born with it. God just graces some people with extra. But that's not how it works. Every believer is given a measure of the God kind of faith. It is not the whole thing, but a measure of what God used himself to create. The heavens and the earth and everything. You talk about. Potent, powerful stuff. Remember he talked about when the disciples said, lord, increase our faith. He said, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mountain be removed. It would obey you. That's how potent this is. And so when the devil tells you, I don't think you have enough faith for this, how much does it take? Yeah, you got just needs to be acted. It needs to be released. And the scripture tells us in James that faith without an action is dead. That's the thing. But what we saw in Monday and then a little bit last night, too, in talking about Abraham's faith in James, it says, faith was made perfect through what he did. Well, Genesis 22:18 said, in your seed, will all the nations of the earth be blessed because you obeyed my voice. What was the action that completed Abraham's faith? Obedience. He obeyed. It wasn't just some random thing that he did to show God he had faith. It was exactly doing what God told him to do. That was the action that perfected his faith obeying. And that's what it goes on to say. You could actually, for our purposes, you could use the word obeying in every one of these 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 times. It appears there in James two in a couple of verses. You could say it like this. Will you not know, O vain man, that faith without obedience is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by obedience when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? You see how faith worked with his obedience? And by obedience his faith was made perfect. Do you hear what he's saying? As the scripture was fulfilled, Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness. He was called the friend of God. So you see how that by obedience a man is justified, not by faith or persuasion alone. So it's not just some random action, it is obeying. Because of this, the enemy will fight you about obeying. And he's got a hook in the flesh that is not yet born again. And if you yield to your flesh, you will be annoying, you will be antagonistic, you will act like you feel. And if you don't feel good, you will act like you don't feel good. And that's exactly what the enemy is looking for. He will push and, and bring thoughts and bring feelings. And they are all anti authority. We saw in Ephesians where the prince of the power of the air is influencing the whole world through the spirit that works. Disobedience works in the children of disobedience. That's what's being pushed. And that's why you don't have to try to be rebellious. You just stop resisting it and you will be. Now don't raise a hand, don't raise a hand. But have you ever talked back? Have you ever refused to listen? Have you ever not obeyed every one of us in here? Why? Because the God of this world is the rebellious leader. That's his whole thing. He rebelled against God. And here's something amazing to me, he convinced a bunch of the angels to do it too. I don't really know how that happened, but it shows you how cunning he is, how subtle and cunning he is. But in order for you and I to be successful and go all the way, we must obey God, not our flesh, not what somebody else thinks and says. But find out what he said and then do what he said. Sounds so simple. But you will be tempted not to. Influences will come. And the two big ones are fear and pride. These are the big ones. So the more you yield to fear, the more disobedient you will Be. The more you yield to. To pride, the more disobedient you will be. This is why the Israelites, the first generation that God delivered out of Egypt, that's why they didn't make it into the promised land. Fear and pride. They wouldn't listen because of fear. Now the world around us justifies this. But we must not. And we'll find that God makes no allowances for it. He is completely intolerant of it. He will never accept it. He will forgive disobedience. He will never tell you it's okay or accept it not. The same thing we saw under the law. Stubbornness and rebellion was a capital offense. And the punishment was the same as for murder. The law was given to show how bad sin is. And so we need mind renewal. Because you'll hear people even in church talk about a little stubbornness, like it's a good thing. Same thing with pride. I've had people get irritated with me because I said there is no such thing as a good pride. Well, I'm proud of my kids. You going to say anything different? Yeah, that's you being proud of yourself. They're your kids. I'm proud of my country. You're not going to say, listen to me. Pride is the nature of the devil. There is no good version of it. When Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan and he came out and the Holy Spirit came on him, the Father spoke and said, this is my beloved Son. I am so proud of him. No, no. There is no good pride. It's evil, just like fear. And you and I need to be on a crusade to eliminate fear from our lives and eliminate pride from our lives. It's a constant thing. But by the grace of God, we can. And tell me, who gets the grace and the help. The proud get resisted, but the humble get the help. Get the grace. Now go with me to 1 Samuel, the 15th chapter, and buckle up. You said you're believing with me, right? We're going to read most of this chapter. And this is the account of Saul. And you know, if you're familiar with the Scripture already, that he failed to obey God in this. But what we should know about the Scriptures, this chapter, for instance, it is a treatise. It is an exposition on obedience and disobedience. It is eternal truth and a revelation of God's ways. Some today are neglecting what we call the Old Testament. And, oh, that is a grievous mistake. It is so serious. Because if you'll notice, the writers of the New Testament assume you know the Old Testament. They keep referring to it and quoting it. Why? And from the time are little ones even, they're learning to walk, they're learning to hear. They need to hear about Adam and Eve. They need to hear about Noah and the Ark. Come on. Are y' all with me? They need to hear about Daniel and the lions. Den y' all with me. Why? Because these are not just stories. This is eternal truth. And every one of these individuals, see, we're talking about millennia of time and generations and things. And out of all that has happened, God selected this because it's timeless and it fits everybody everywhere. It is living word of God. And you'll find that in life when you're dealing with people, if you know the word some, a lot of times, maybe you just first meet somebody and a Bible individual will come to you. They made you think of them because it's a template, if you will, for every kind of character and every kind of spirit that's influencing them. So if you understand what we call Bible stories, if you understand it, then you have information and you're ready and anointed and enlightened to deal with situations in life. You know already how to do it. One of the big things is that when. When people are in the midst of sometimes missing it badly, they don't see it. They don't realize what they're doing. They're deceived. And this is what the scripture says. In John, what James talks about, if you know to do good and don't do it, it's sin. But John talks about walking in the light. Brother Hagin referred to this Brother Kenneth Hagin Sr. Numerous times. He said, it's dangerous not to walk in the light that you have. Why? Because like James says, if you are a hearer, and that implies you understood something, but you don't implement it, you don't do it, what's the result? You will be self deceived. You can't even blame the devil for deceiving you. You deceived yourself. And this is so dangerous and serious because if you're in a situation and you seek God and you say, lord, give me the answer. He's faithful, he will. You can count on him. But when you see it, spiritual things are not natural things. Have you ever been in a situation where something was so clear to you and something said to you, write it down. And you thought, I'll never forget this. 30 minutes later you're going, what was that? Because you were more in the spirit than you realized you were when you got it. And now you're more in the flesh, and. And you didn't get it from the flesh. So the key to not losing it is embracing it, doing whatever you need to do to remember it, and immediately doing it, putting it into practice. Because if you don't, if you don't, a day can turn into a week, month, and then you haven't thought about it for weeks, and you can get to the place where you don't even remember it. But you still got the problem. But now if you hear the answer, you think you already know it, but you haven't done it. You're looking for the answer you already have, but you don't recognize the answer anymore. You've deceived yourself. Can you see why? He said, it's dangerous not to walk in the light that you have. When you see something, put it into practice, make the change, implement it. Us coming together like this and camping out on some of these chapters, it puts in you some things stronger than even before. So that when it does come up and the enemy is pushing you to do something, you recognize it quickly. You go, oh, no, no, boy, the Lord spoke that real clear to me during that service or this thing. I see what this is, and I am not giving any place to it. Can you say amen? 1st Samuel 15:1. Y' all okay? Everybody happy? First Samuel 15:1. Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel. Now, therefore, hearken to the voice of the words, which. This is really significant. Now, you know, Samuel and Saul had spent some time together, and they had had meals together and what have you. But this is not Samuel. Your buddy. Samuel is a prophet of God. I mean, if you read the whole previous chapters, everybody through the whole nation knew Samuel was a prophet of God. Nobody would even doubt it or question it. And everything he said came to pass. This is no wannabe. This is the real deal. Man of God called anointed, seer, prophet to be respected. Y' all with me? Why am I saying this? Because your respect for God himself is shown in your respect for his people. No such thing as treating God's people flippantly. And you have all this great respect for God himself. And he told us to give honor to those to whom honor is due. He's instructed us many things along that line. So what I'm saying is Saul should have been all ears at attention. Are y' all with me? When the man of God comes to him and starts the conversation with this, He's saying the Lord sent me. I'm not talking for myself. Just like he sent me and anointed you to be king. And see, prior to that, Saul is wandering around trying to find his donkeys. He's got nothing going on. Are y' all with me? I don't think he had any clue. Not the foggiest idea. He could be king and it would not have happened without this man of God. And so this man should have great place in Saul's life, should have great respect. I know. The Lord said to me, back a number of years ago, we talked about, we've been going long enough now to have young folks come up under us and even ministers come up under us. And I was thinking about how to help people. And the Lord said this to me. He said, many of my people are working without a net. That's a circus term, trapeze term. What happens if you fall and no net. Splat, right? What if you had a net? I said, what if you had a net? Something to catch you before you splatter on the hard floor? And he went on to say, they are not giving the full place in their lives to the gifts I have given them. And he's talking about the ministry gifts because it hasn't been taught a whole lot. And it's just our generation is so disrespectful just in the world. And whatever is in the world tends to get in the church and just loose. But we begin to see that people who did give us place, God would give us a word in the middle of the night. He would do something with us for them that would actually save them from something they were about to mess up big time on. There was a net. Can you see that? And Samuel is Saul's net. And Saul is young and inexperienced and certainly knows nothing about the spiritual things of the prophet's ministry or the things of God. So Samuel says, hearken to the voice of the words of the Lord. When something this way and this real happens, the music should stop. Don't you dare look at your phone and see if there's a text on there. Somebody didn't like that. Are you listening to me or not? We're talking about how to be spared destruction down the road. There are times you need to have enough discernment to know. There's times maybe y' all just hanging out, you're talking and that's one thing. But here comes the Spirit of God and he quickens and he gives something, and somebody that's got a proven ministry that knows the real thing they look at you and they say, okay, now, God used me in times past to tell you some things. Listen, this is the word of the Lord. It is time for everything to stop. And you give your absolute full attention. Now, this is a big deal because we live in a society where people are perpetually distracted. They are addicted to technology. If something buzzes, they can't help themselves. It doesn't matter how important something is going on. They will reach and get it and look and do. And that's how you miss God. We need to know the difference, be able to distinguish. Okay, this is not play. We're not joking around. This is not just us having a good time. God said something. Now, before we can obey, what do we have to know? What did he say? Right, and we need to be what, absolutely crystal clear about what he said. Because as surely as the Lord gives you a word, the enemy will come and try to trip you up about it. Isn't that what he did with Eve? Did God say so? You can't be too clear on what the Lord told you. So he said, the Lord of hosts. Thus says the Lord of hosts. So this is not even Samuel talking. He said, I heard God say this. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. I remember what Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek. Utterly destroy all they have. Spare them not. Slay man, woman, infant, suckling ox, sheep, camel ass. Wipe it out. Now people read that and they go, yeah, that's too extreme. I know. Back at Rhema, years ago, and of course, one of our instructors, Brother Mel Piper, some of y' all might know him, he was teaching us Old Testament. And of course you come across things like this. And he said, students, he said, let me give you some advice. He said, no matter what you think or know or don't know, always stay on God's side. That is some good advice. Is that right? Always stay. What do you mean, no matter? You may look at it and go, hmm, that's pretty serious. But what? Where do you stand on that? With him? I'm with him. Yeah, but. Yeah, but I know, and I don't understand it either, but I'm with him. And he's right. He's right. Yeah, but. Yeah, but. No yeah buts. He's right. Every time, every situation, every way, he's right. Always stay side. Stay on his side. And that's just faith in his character, faith in his justice, his mercy. And if you'll do that. You can get to the place where you can understand why some of these things happen. Some things we won't know in this life. But let me give you just a little bit of background on this. You remember Exodus 17 when the Bible said Joshua, under Moses instruction was told to fight against Amalek. And that's when Moses and Aaron Hur went on top of the hill. And you remember that when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. That's Amalek. They've been having troubles with them way back, but this was the thing. Deuteronomy 25:17 Put it on the screen, please. Deuteronomy 25:17 they angered the Lord God, and he told his leaders and his people, he said, you remember what Amalek did to you, by the way, when you were come forth out of Egypt. Now this is when they first got delivered out of Egyptian bondage. Verse 18, How He Met you. Now this was their armies, by the way, and smote the hindmost of you, ambushed them in the rear when they were tired and weary and hit the weak points. And he didn't fear God. Now one of God's names is the God of vengeance, and he's the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies. And he has committed to take care of his people in this regard. And he has told us, don't avenge yourself. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. And he will. And anybody with any understanding would not attack God's people and hurt God's people. Because if you don't repent, God will remember it. And it may not be the next year. What's happening here in 1 Samuel 15, that was many years after this. But God never forgets and he has committed his word. Here's the issue now, Romans says this, let me see, Romans 3:5. He said, Is God unrighteous who takes vengeance? God forbid. For then how shall God judge the world? That's what the judgment seat the white throne, judgment and all of that. He's the only one qualified to do so. But just settle this. He's right. And if he said, I want this done, he has good reason why he wants it done. And if you question him and you find it disgusting, it just means you don't trust him and you question his character. And that's the big problem. You've been alive how long? He said, in other words, they hit you when you were weak and faint. And it will be verse 19 when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about. See, this is a word they could stand on. But because all those things are still in front of them and they can know, hey, we're going to get there. God's already said there will come a time when every enemy is defeated and we have rest in the land. And the Lord is going to give you an inheritance to possess. And you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And you will not forget it. You will blot them out. Put up second Thessalonians 1. The God of vengeance is the righteous judge of all the earth, the God of the armies, the God of hosts. The Lord of hosts. You know, these are Jehovah compound names that show eternal truth about who he is and what he is. We should thank God that He is, because this is also our protection into the future. We don't know all that's out there. People look up in the night sky and they say, do you think there's life out there? Are you kidding? Whoa. We have no idea. But we do know this. There is no God beside our God. He said so. Hallelujah. He said, there's not any other. And there's nobody wiser than him, or more powerful than him, or more faithful than him. And we call him Daddy. That secures our place in the universe and in eternity. And it's because we made the choice here and now in our ignorance, in the darkness, to bow the knee and confess Jesus as Lord over our life. Which means obey. Now, notice this is something that's coming. 2nd Thessalonians 1:6. He said, It's a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to. To them that trouble you so. Woe be to them that trouble you. We need to have faith in this, too. This is Bible. I can say it like this. These are people who won't repent. That's what's going on. If they'd repent, it would be a different story, but they won't. And to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Is he coming? Church, is he coming? Is it going to be something off the charts? I mean, when the trumpet sounds and he comes and all those angels in power, we're closer to it than others have been. And notice what's going to happen. Verse 8. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on who? Them that know not God. And them that what don't obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Hebrews says. It's A fearful thing to fall into the hands and the vengeance of the living God. And the Bible said, when he comes, we're going to have confidence in the midst of all this. Go back to 1 Samuel 15. Don't want to spend too much time on this. Just setting the stage, though, for what was going on. Is this important to God, this charge he just gave Saul about Amalek, it goes back generations. And he told them he was going to keep his word. And he remembered how they attacked his people, and they killed them and they hurt them and they slaughtered them. When they were down and they didn't repent, they attacked them after that and again after that and after that. And God said, I'm wiping them off the face. And so when Saul became king, that's the situation. They're not fighting a bunch of other wars. He said he spoke to his man, Samuel. He said, you go tell him this, and tell him to do it just like this. Are there reasons why God tells us to do things? So 1st Samuel 15. Keep going. We were there. Verse 4. Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in telium, 200,000 footmen and 10,000 men of Judah. They got a fighting force of 210,000. So far, so good, right? I mean, this takes work. This takes resources to muster these kind of forces. The logistics of getting them ready, arming them, feeding them, moving them. This is good. Doing what God told you, right? We're not playing with this. Brought full forces. We mean business. Saul came to the city of Amalek, laid wait in the valley, and Saul said to the Kenites, you better get out of here. It's about to go down. Get out from among the Amalekites. Didn't the Lord tell us, be separate. Get yourself out from among them. Revelation, you don't want to partake of their plagues. How many understand? Lot and his wife and family made the worst mistake of their life moving into Sodom. There are places you and I have no business being. You don't want to be there when judgment hits. Oops. Wasn't supposed to be here. Yeah, but you're in trouble now. He said, the Kenites, get out of here, lest I destroy you with them. Because just the opposite. You showed kindness to the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites said, you don't have to tell us twice. We're gone. And they departed from the Amalekite. Well, they saw 210,000 troops, right? Armed and ready for battle. Verse 7. Saul Smote the Amalekites sounding good. Just what God said. This is hand to hand. This is bloody, this is dirty. And when they won a battle, they didn't stop. They kept going and pushing them back to the next city, to the next city, past borders, past towns, past areas from Havilah until you come all the way to Shur over against the border of Egypt. This is taking care of business. This is doing it. And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive. Is that okay? And utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. That's what the Lord said. Do. Why is Agag an exception? Verse 9. But Saul and the people. This is important because later on you'll hear about this. But the Spirit of God tells us it was both of them, Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatlings and the lambs and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them. But everything that was vile and refused, they utterly destroyed that. How is it going? Is this okay? Well, you've read the chapter. You know what follows. But up to this point, they have defeated all the armies. They've wiped out the population of the Amalekites in all these areas. I'd say they're 75% mission complete. Don't you get some points for 75%? I mean, this is a lot of fighting. This is a lot of money spent. 75% is worth something. It's worth a good boy. Good job. Y' all are quiet. You know where I got that? The Lord asked me that a couple of days ago. This very thing. Partial obedience is disobedience. And God will forgive you. Forgive me? For disobedience. Thank God. He will. He will not accept partial obedience. He will not. Because it's not a technical thing. It's a heart thing. And sometimes even a small omission can reveal a big heart problem. Because the question is why? Why didn't you do what the Lord told you to do? Didn't understand it. Yeah, they understood it. Then why didn't you do it? Now what we've seen is that Abraham's faith was revealed in his obedience. We talked last night about Moses. Didn't listen to the Lord and hit the rock instead of spoke to it. And he said, you didn't trust me. You didn't obey me because you didn't trust me. Well, that's a heart thing. That's not a miscalculation. That's not a mistake. And the problem with this is if you do what he just did and you won't repent, you're headed for destruction. There's no off ramp. If you'll repent. Oh, somebody say, thank God. Thank God. If you will repent, God will forgive. Is that right? God will forgive and cleanse. But if you won't. If you won't repent, if you harden your heart and you stiffen your neck and you cop your attitude and you keep arguing and fussing, this proverb says you, you will be destroyed suddenly, without remedy. So tell me what you're going to do when you mess up. Tell me. I want to hear it loud and clear. Tell me, what are you going to do when you mess up? When? Immediately. Come on, are y' all with me or not? This is 1 John 1:9. This is it. If you mess up, if you sin, confess it. Oh, this is so important. Acknowledge it. And that sounds like this. Lord, I messed up. You told me not to do it, and I did it. There's no excuse. I shouldn't have done it. I didn't have to do it. I sinned. I messed up. Forgive me. Any variations? Well, Lord, I didn't mean to do it. But you're not. How so? And so they wouldn't help me. You're not repenting. You're not even acknowledging that you're responsible for anything. Keep going. So he's 75%. Y' all don't like it. Did they partially get the job done? The armies of Amalek don't exist anymore. And the occupants of the towns don't exist anymore. Yeah, they got something done. So isn't that worth something? See, we saw a similar thing last night with Moses. He hit the rock and the water came out. So the end justifies the means. It does not. Not with God. And partial obedience with a rebellious heart is never going to be okay with God. He will not accept is not okay. Without taking the time to go into the detail right here, Solomon's relationship with God ended right here. And right after this, just a couple of verses after this, into the next chapter, the anointing leaves him, and a bad spirit gets on him. And he is a conniving, betraying, murderous mess the rest of his short life. Next thing you know, he's inquiring of witches in a cave. Did y' all hear me? And this is where it happened. This is where it happened. And it didn't have to be this way. It could have been totally different. But notice what happened. The word of the Lord came to Samuel saying it Repents me that I set up Saul to be king. This is God. That word repent means to sigh. God looked at Saul when he was doing this stuff, and he went, Wished he would have put somebody else in there. Now, the. That raises some questions, doesn't it? Don't you know the end from the beginning? What you see is that everything is not written in stone because we really do have a free will. Are y' all with me? It's not all written in stone, so keep reading. He said, it repents me that I set him up to be king. For he has turned back from following me. Now, I want you to notice this next phrase. He has what? He has not performed my commandments. 75%. He didn't do the 25. No. He said he hadn't done it. He didn't do it. Tell me what God is looking at all the time. He's looking at the heart. He's looking at your heart. And he has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel. And he cried to the Lord all night because he knows. He is a spiritual man. He knows how serious this is. He knows if there isn't a major change, Saul is done. He's done. And people will say, yeah, but aren't we so glad God is not like that anymore? God is exactly like that. He's never changed and he never will. No. And he is right. Come on, y', all, help me out with this. He's right, and I'm with him. If he says kill them all, I say kill them all. He's right. I'm with him. He's right. There's a lot of things we don't see yet. But I assure you, when the light comes, we get out of here and we begin to learn things on the other side. Everything we learn, we will see. Yea, let God be true and every man a liar that you may be justified when you are judged and condemned. What will we see? God was righteous. He was true. He was perfect. He was merciful on everything. You'll see it. We'll see it now. We don't see it, but we will. But we can believe it Now. Now I'm convinced He is. Keep reading. Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told, Samuel saying, saul came to Carmel. And behold, he set him up a place. I saw something a day or two ago. Another translation said he set him up a memorial. What memorial? Saul. Saul Memorial. Why? Well, they've had a great victory. Big campaign. Giant victories. We need a statue to commemorate this. And he's gone about passed on, gone down to Gilgal. It's gone to his head, being king, having the victories. But why did he have the victories? This was God to start with. What did God intend to do? He just wanted to use them. But he's the one that gave them all the power and the strength and the strategies and all that. Or they wouldn't have won. Samuel came to Saul. Now notice what Saul says. Saul said, blessed be thou of the Lord. Now I want you to notice how many times Saul talks about the Lord. Blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. What did we just get through reading that? God himself said, he has not performed the commandment of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. Samuel says, well, what's these sheep I hear? And I hear cows going moo. What is all this? He's not laughing. He said, what is this? Verse 15. Saul says, they, that sounds like that woman you gave me. Now we're laughing. But this is why Saul wound up oppressed. Demon. Oppressed. Distracted. Died young. Died wrong. Right here. It's happening right here in front of our eyes. He said they brought from the Amalekites for the people. You know them people. The people they spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord. To the Lord your God. And of course the rest we have totally destroyed. Just like you told us to friend here with your ear. There is a talking about God that is actually rebellion. You'll hear people say, the Lord this and the Lord that and for the Lord and. And it's actually God is so displeased with them and they are so rebellious, but they are justifying it with the Lord this and the Lord that. Have you seen it? Have you heard it? When you hear it, it irritates you. And hearing about the Lord shouldn't irritate you. So what's going on here? What you're sensing is they are talking about the Lord in glowing turns. And. And the Lord said, I am upset with them, so keep looking. Samuel said to Saul, stay. Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night. And Saul said, well, say on. Serious lack of respect here. And he said, when you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. Well, Samuel was the one that was there. He was the one that told him by the word of the Lord, prophesied you, remember? He told him what's going to happen to him when he leaves there and who he's going to meet and what word of knowledge and word of wisdom. He was there. And the Lord sent you on a journey, and he said, go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Is that unclear? Why then, did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you fly on the spoil and. And you did evil in the sight of the Lord. Now, when your elder, your man of God, is talking to you like this, tell me, what should be your response? Come on, help me out. You should already be on your knees going, o God. Oh, God. O God. But he's not. I said he's not. Listen to what he says. Yes, I have. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. This will get you destroyed. Oh, child of God, let's get this real clear in our hearts and minds. It wasn't the disobedience that destroyed him. It was his absolute defiance and refusal to submit. And refusal to submit, to repent. That's what did it to him. God will forgive you. Know this. If you genuinely repent, he will forgive you. But that's not Saul. See, he's king now. And he's had a major victory. Everybody knows it. Through multiple nations. He's not depending on this preacher prophet anymore so much. And how dare he come get in my face? I'm the king. Got my new statue right over there. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. And I went the way the Lord sent me, and I brought Agag, the king of Amalek. How does that not stand out to you, that you didn't do it? This is what we were talking about earlier. He is deceiving himself. He is believing his own lies. He's justifying it. Yeah, we did it. And, you know, we were there on the ground, on the scene, and I made a call because I was there in the thick. Made a call. No. You are rebellious and disrespectful. And you disobeyed God and won't repent. That's the worst thing. Repent, he said. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. Oh, friends, can you hear with your spirit how bad this is? Can you hear this? I have obeyed. No, you have not. And we brought Agag, and we utterly destroyed the Amalekites. We did it. Just like you told us. We wiped them out. Except for Agag and the livestock. Verse 21. But the people. The people, they took the spoil and the sheep and the oxen and sheep of the Things that should have been utterly destroyed. But it was the sacrifice to the Lord. I told you it was all for the Lord. And this is where this famous word comes. Samuel said, does God have as great delight in your burnt offerings and sacrifices as in you obeying Him? Obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, this is timeless truth. To obey is better than sacrifice. If God says, go serve on a team in the church, no amount of writing checks and giving money instead is going to work. Come on, y', all with me or not? I'm telling you. Well, I won't do this, and I'll give up this. People think they're negotiating and you don't know who you're talking to. He already knows the end from the beginning. He's already considered every possible situation, and he says, this is it. Do this. And he has so many reasons why, most of them we won't even know in this lifetime. But if we're smart, I mean, if we got, as my momma used to say, a lick of sense. A lick of sense. We will humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. And like we've been singing, we'll say, yes, yes, yes, Lord. Yes to youo will, to youo way. Yes, I'll trust yout and obey. And if we do mess up, if we do, tell me what you're going to do. You told me earlier. What are you going to do? When are you going to do it? Immediately. You get serious with God. You don't play games. You don't blame other people. You don't rationalize it. You don't reason about it. Here's the words. I have sinned. Period. Y' all with me? I have sinned. And if you'll do that, I mean, before the afternoon is over, you can be good. You can be free of any condemnation. Are y' all with me? You can. You can be back on track because of the blood of the Lamb. But if you won't repent, there's no help out of it. There's no escape out of it. It will just get worse and worse and worse. He said to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams is literally what he's talking about. They said we brought it to give to the Lord. No, see, you changed the thing. He didn't tell you bring it to give to Him. He cannot say, okay, I know. I liked my plan, but yours is just as good. Sure, we'll go with that. I like that job you did wiping out the armies. Now, that was. So we can. We can skip this? No, because it's not a technical mistake. It's a heart problem. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Rebellion, spiritually is the same as sorcery and witchcraft and stubbornness. Spiritually is the same as iniquity and idolatry. Most of the church does not believe that at all. People even brag on being stubborn. Well, I know maybe it's not that good, but I get stubborn sometimes. That's like me saying I'm not into a lot of witchcraft, but I have a room in my house and I do a little. Not a lot, just. Just a little witchcraft. Yeah, I know I'm hard headed, but you know, it's my Italian, it's my Irish. Everybody knows that's like me saying I'm not a big idolater, but I got a little statue in the garage and once in a while I. How much witchcraft is okay in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Come on, help me out. How much? How much? Zero. So how much rebellion is okay? Absolutely zero. How much idolatry? So how much stubbornness? Everybody say it out. Father God, reveal to me. Help me to see in my own heart, my own mind, my own life. Rebellion, stubbornness. Help me to recognize it, to realize it, that I do not yield to it anymore. Ask it in Jesus name. Because you have to see it first. You have to realize what it is, what you're doing. And you'll see that it includes this. Arguing. Just won't quit. Arguing no matter what, just won't quit. So is he arguing with Samuel, the man of God who was hearing God's voice clearly before he was ever born? He's arguing with him. He said, you didn't do what the Lord told you to do. He said, I did. Keep reading. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. They are spiritually the same. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king. That's why Samuel cried all night. He knew this was coming. Maybe he had hopes that Saul would repent and change. But he probably being a prophet, he probably perceived it and saw it that he wasn't. And he has to tell him, even though it breaks his heart. You read the verses after this chapter. He's still crying and mourning for Saul even after all this. And God had to tell him, quit it. You see, I've rejected him. Now get up, fill your horn with oil and go anoint one of Jesse's sons. And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned really? Finally. Why? Well, when Samuel told him this, there was power in it. This was something else. When he looked at him after he keeps arguing with him and denying he's contradicting the Lord himself, Samuel looked at him and said, you have rejected the word of the Lord and he has rejected you. Saul said, I guess I've sinned. But now read the rest of it. He's not repenting. He said, I transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words. But, you know, it was the people. I was scared of them. Big old tall guy, king, got armor bearers and bodyguards. Yeah, right. And I obeyed their voice. Therefore, I pray pardon my sin and turn again with me and come with me to worship the Lord. What? He wants to make a show. He's still trying to do the parade, and he wants to use Samuel's reputation. How many understand? If you understand what God just told you, that ought to be the last thing on your mind, Right? It's making some appearance in front of people, and yet it's the main thing on his mind. Keep reading. Why are we reading all of this? It started to say, class, why? Well, number one, it's Bible. It's eternal truth. It reveals the ways of God. If we will never do this, we'll be safe. Come on, y', all, with me. If we recognize it happens or even in the middle of while it's happened and seriously repent, what happened to him will never happen to us, and we won't be replaced and we will finish our job. Hallelujah. This is about saving us. This is about protecting us. This is about not being ignorant of the enemy's devices. Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you because you have rejected the word of the Lord. Now, everybody listen. 75% success. Any points for that? You've rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. Samuel is not trying to be hard. He is the Lord's mouthpiece. He only says what he told him to say. He can't change it. He, in contrast to Saul, actually respects God. And as Samuel turned to go away, Saul grabbed his clothes and going to make him stay, going to make him stay and go with him out in front of the people. And it was so violent that he ripped his mantle. He tore it. Ripped it. Samuel turned around and said, the Lord has rent the kingdom of Israel from you today. And he's given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. Not it might happen. Not it could happen. It's done. But what got him here? Arguing, defying, disrespect, rebellion. How many think even in this messed up, dishonorable, ungodly world, our little ones need to learn the value of honor and respect from the time they're able to think or listen. Do you believe this? And then our whole life, it needs to be reinforced, and we need to grow in it and develop in it. That's one of the reasons we got these words right here. Those who what? Honor me. Oh, and there's nothing better than God honoring you. I mean, just him showing up at your meeting is honor. Is that right? Him being there is great, great honor. Sensing his presence. Presence. Getting answers, getting help. You honored him by coming to the meeting, Is that right? You honored him by sitting and not despising some things that we said. You honored him by being willing to obey him before you even know the next thing. And that means he will honor you. He has. And he will. More and more and more lift a hand, say, lord God, teach me. Teach us. Reveal to me much more about yout honor and show me how to honor your. And you'd people and you'd word and you'd spirit and your church and your ministries and ministers, your gifts, your things. Set a watch over my mind and at the door of my mouth and alert me, lest I say a foolish, disrespectful thing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Keep reading. We'll finish this up. He said also, the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent. He is not a man that he should repent. And Saul says, I have sinned. Yet what? Yet what? Honor you for what? Disobeying God. Yet honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel that I may turn again. And do what? Worship. He's so far from God, and he's still talking. God this and God that and God the other. Should he be concerned about his situation right now? And yet he's concerned about making a big show in front of the people. He's got this pageantry planned out in his mind. This is our triumphal run. And of course, Samuel is big stuff all over the country. Everybody knows him and they respect him highly. And so he wants to use that. He wants him on his arm. Honor me now, I pray you. And at that point, Samuel probably knows his life may be in danger. Not long after this, Saul is throwing spears at people. Keep going. Samuel turned again. After Saul. He went with him. Saul worshiped the Lord. I doubt the Lord received any of it. Then said Samuel, bring me agag. Boy, prophets were prophets back in the day. Bring me Agag. Agag came delicately. And Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is past. I mean, we're having celebration now, right? I mean, Samuel said, as your sword has made women childish because you remember they have killed so many Israelites. They hit them when they were down. They hurt them. They took advantage of them. And God had said, I'm going to wipe them from the face of the earth. Except Agag. No, he said that. And Samuel whipped out the blade and sliced and diced him pieces. So there were Agag pieces on the ground. Then Samuel went to Ramah. We always knew Rama was a good place. That's where Samuel lived. And Saul went up to his house to gibeah to Saul. And they never saw each other again. That was the end. Somebody said, that's hard. No, see, there's more to it than this. Samuel represents God. He can't act like everything is okay. Saul would take it that way. Keep reading. He didn't come to see Saul anymore until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul. And the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. And if you read the very next chapter, it's when he told him to take his horn of oil and go and anoint one of Jesse's sons. You know the story, the first one, the firstborn, tall, good looking guy, handsome, well built, kind of like Saul. And so Samuel thought, surely the Lord is anointed. He said, no, I refused him. And they went through all the boys and said, don't you have any more? Yeah, we have one. He's out with the sheep. They didn't think he had a chance in this. They didn't even call him home from the pasture. He was the long haired boy that played his guitar loud. And practiced with his weapons all the time. But they came and got him. And when he walked in the room, the Lord spoke to Samuel and said, this is him. Get up. Anoint him. And the Book of Acts records this in other places. It said, I have chosen a man of the sons of Jesse, a man after my own heart. Listen to the rest of that in Acts. That will do according to all my will. People sometimes have misunderstood what makes a person a person after God's own heart. It's somebody that will do exactly what he tells them to do and fulfill his will. And that's what the scripture said. Turn in closing to first Corinthians. I want to make sure that we see this scripture. I know a lot of you Would know it if I quoted it. But First Corinthians 4:1, because this will set us up for what comes next. Is this okay tonight? Thank youk for being patient and hooked. Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. A steward is not an owner. A steward is a manager. And Luke 16, the whole thing is talking about stewardship and management. And that's where we talked about a night or two ago, that if you're not faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? How are you faithful in that which is another's? Many have thought you do the best you know how, and that is not true. That's diligence. Diligence does not make you faithful. God didn't call us to do the best we know how. Look at the next verse, verse 2. It is required in stewards, managers, those that are given trust from the Lord that a man be found. What? Faithful? That's the big thing we want to hear past this life. Now listen to the living Bible, if we have that. Put it up the living Bible on verse two. Now, the most important thing about a servant is what? That he works real hard? No, he's willing to sacrifice. No, he's willing to get up early and stay up late. Only if that's what you were asked to do. Are y' all with me? No points for trying to break a record to show how committed you are. You can wind up showing how rebellious you are because you're doing that instead of what you were told. The most important thing about a servant is what that he does just what his master tells him to do. Is that your heart, child of God? Everybody, stand on your feet. Stand on your feet, please. Hallelujah. Thank youk for being patient, staying hooked with us. Close your eyes, if you would. I heard these words. Oh, thank God. I heard these words. It's not too late. Yes, you've made a lot of mistakes. Yes, you have been stubborn, very stubborn. You have not listened. I have sent repeatedly even your elders, and you refuse to listen. Oh, but the mercy of the Lord endures forever, and it is not too late. Humble your heart, humble your being, and trust me and commit to do only what I tell you and to do it exactly the way I tell you. Make no changes, make no substitutions, make no excuses, no justifications, no reasonings. Do it exactly the way I tell you, and you will rise. And the things that have eluded you for years and the things that your heart has cried for without seeing and reaching for years, you will now be able to reach for you could never do it on your own. And it's only when you humble yourself under my mighty hand that I am able to raise you up and lift you up to that which your heart has desired. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Let's sing the song as an answer to the word.