Obedience is Better than Sacrifice (1Sam. 15:22b)

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This is a familiar topic, and as most of us know, it originated as a result of Saul’s disobedience to God. Some of us know the story; and also know the meaning of obedience, and sacrifice based on the story. But I must admit that in our activities, we tend to sacrifice this truth on the altar of pretense and ignorance.

Saul’s Disobedience

The entire chapter 15 of 1 Samuel that explains this topic points out that:

1.      God told Saul through Prophet Samuel to go and destroy the Amalekites and all that they own.

2.    Paul went and destroyed the Amalekites but spared their King and the best of their animals (an act of disobedience to God)

3.     When Samuel confronted King Saul, his reason for disobedience was that the plunder are to be sacrificed to God at Gilgal

4.     When Samuel told King Saul a piece of God’s mind, King Saul confessed the real reason for his disobedience – he was afraid of the people and so he gave in to what they want, he wanted the approval of people rather than the approval of God.

King Saul had heard the word of the Lord but thought he had a better idea. He was aware of what he was doing yet he went ahead to disobey God and wanted to use sacrifice as a defense mechanism. But the question is: Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

We cannot buy God

When we make sacrifices to God, we kind of see it as a way of buying whatever we want to get from God according to our needs which could be child, husband, wealth, etc. This makes us think that He owes us, so we sit and wait for what we ordered from God to arrive.

Then, before the birth of Jesus Christ, they used Peace offering, Burnt offering, the Sin-offering, Tithes, Duties, etc to appease God.  But in the present, it is First fruit, Thanksgiving, Vow, Tithes, etc. There is nothing wrong with offerings but they are not God’s priority. To God, obedience is better than sacrifice. God's salvation is freely given to us by our obedience to the lordship of Jesus Christ, not through our sacrifice.

We are as guilty as King Saul

We have many King Saul today in our worship centers. People who engage in fetish activities to destroy their fellow human beings, yet go to church with fat offerings, People who steal public funds, yet donate for church buildings, people who bear grudges and work against their fellow human beings as an act of jealousy, yet they sing cheering praises, serve in the prayer group or other church activities, people who refuse to work hard for God to bless the works of their hands but pray away their time, expecting God to release magical money, car, house, etc. Such people are all King Saul who thinks they can bribe God and cut corners to receive salvation and blessings. God is not a merchandise, He cannot be bought and He cannot be sold.

God is not interested and cannot be appeased by the magnificent cathedrals and churches we build; he is interested in the souls of men. Those cathedrals and church buildings shall be useless to Him if the worshippers are headed to hell. There is no short cut to total submission/obedience to God; we cannot bribe Him.

Just like King Saul, some men of God pretend to be interested in the souls of politicians and wealthy men; they become diplomatic in administering the Word of salvation to them when they are present; with the excuse that they may chase them away from the house of God if they try to use the gospel of salvation to appeal to their conscience; But in the actual sense, they don’t want them to go with their money. 

The Sacrifice of Obedience

The best sacrifice we can offer God is the sacrifice of our body and soul - to live a holy and righteous life; such a sacrifice is an act of worship to the Lord.  In 1 Peter 2:9, it is written, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; It is also written in Romans 12: 1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

We are worthless before God when we try to appease Him with material things knowing that he owns the world and everything in it. It is written in Mathew 5: 23 and 24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift". Sacrifice flows out of obedience. A sacrifice that does not flow out of obedience is disobedience and is not pleasing to the Lord. God will appreciate our offerings and tithe when we come to Him with a clean heart.

Religion is not Obedience to God

Some of us are so religious that most times, we tend to confuse obedience to God with our religious rituals like attending all church activities, serving in the church, following the order of service, observing the holy days, etc. It is written in Ephesians 2:8-9, For it is by grace, you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” We can’t earn or work our way into Heaven.

Conclusion

This is a challenging topic and I hope that after reading, not only ourselves but people around us will feel the impact and learn to choose obedience to God rather than empty sacrifices.                                                             

Wealth is Divine

Wealth is an abundance of valuable possessions or money; it is a plentiful supply of what we need, and desire. It goes with affluence, riches, substance, luxury, well-being, etc. All the promises of God to us here on earth are wrapped up in wealth and so, wealth is our inheritance as Children of God and therefore, is interwoven with Christianity. Over the years, many Christians have been living in falsehood, with an attitude that is repulsive to wealth, just for a weak self defense. No wonder, most of the celebrated scientists, entrepreneurs, leaders, celebrities, etc are either non Christians or non dedicated Christians.

In the bible, we read the account of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We saw how God blessed the works of their hands and made them the envy of the heathens. We also read the account of David and Solomon, chosen by God to become Kings in their time and how rich and favoured they were. Noah was a righteous man and favoured by God, yet, he built an ark that never sank during the event of a mighty flood. Bezalel was equipped and called by God; He possessed the Spirit of God and is filled with wisdom and knowledge in all manner of workmanship to design artistic works. (Exodus 35: 30-35). It was Prophet Nahum who saw the vision of motor cars we are driving today (Nahum 2:4). The list can go on and on.

Bible made us to understand that “The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). It is God who gives power to create wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). It is written in James 1:17 that “every good gift and every perfect gift (which includes money) is from above, and comes down from the father of lights (God) with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning”. It pleases God when His children use their God-given potentials to create wealth and manage it appropriately. What offends Him is when we acquire wealth through evil means or spend money carelessly. Did God not tell us that He will open the strong gates of heaven and rain down so many blessings, that there will not be room enough for us to gather them? He did promise us lots of blessings but only if we are willing and obedient (Isaiah 1:19).

When God said that His people perish for lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6a) it is because He saw that we are so ignorant and myopic. The same bible that said “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim 6:10) also said, “Money answers all things” (Ecclesiastes 10:19). He instructed us in Genesis to multiply, to subdue the earth and replenish it. But we chose to fall for the deceit that separated riches from godliness and that is why we are suffering.

God is searching for those who will make Him proud in all fields of endeavour. God is in need of innovators who will invent and create new things to His glory. He needs sons and daughters who will create jobs and use same to evangelize for Him.

This is a wake up call for Christians to sit up, discover who they are in Christ Jesus and use it to serve God. God has set before us an open door that no man can shut (Rev. 3:8). We need to key into God’s blessings of open doors by discovering our areas of service and reaching out to achieve it. We need to work hard to multiply what God has put in our hands. Let us not disappoint God like the wicked servant in Jesus’ parable of talent who hid his money and gave same to his master on return. Our God is a business man and He has invested much in us and expects return. That is why the bible tells us that to whom much is given, much is expected.

Christians should channel their mindsets on how to create and transfer wealth. Man’s need is inexhaustible. There are so many problems yet to be solved and we need to discover and solve them, and by so doing, our God is glorified. To key into God’s open door covenant of wealth creation and transfer, we are required to make sacrifices. Nothing good comes easy. There are still many areas that are untapped and genuine effort should be made to learn new skills, so as to fit into the new areas and break new grounds.

Are you considering setting up a business or getting employed first, to get paid? Consider and work on the following:

     Discover yourself. What do I want to achieve? What can I do best or better and how can I do or achieve that? Where is my service needed?

Do a market survey, seek knowledge and raise capital; you can raise capital for your dream business by doing those petty businesses that require little or no cash.

Plan and execute, start with what you have.

If you are already in business, consider and work on the following:

Develop yourself constantly; always upgrade your knowledge on the new trends.

Review your location and announce your presence; make sure you are strategically located.

Review your budget from time to time; have a short, mid and long term budget.

Acquaint yourself in financial management and learn how to cut your coat according to your cloth.

Network among your business colleagues; advertise your business using social and electronic media, etc.

Work with God, study your bible

Consult experts when necessary

Study your environment and be security and safety conscious

The time to act is now!

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

EASTER WHISPERS

Hallelujah! Jesus Christ Arose and is Alive Forever. Celebrate Him!

We celebrate Easter and get carried away by the events of the season, but we really do not think about the ideal ideas behind God's method of redemption; which seems foolish and fictitious to so many people.

On that Good Friday, on an old rugged Cross, the emblem of suffering and shame that stood on a hill far away, Jesus was crucified to His death. He left His glory above, to bear it to dark Calvary. You remember that song by George Bernard? (Paraphrase mine)  “From His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did ever such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?” This is another good one from Isaac Watts. But on the day of His resurrection, “vainly they watched His bed, vainly they sealed the dead, death could not keep his prey, for He tore the bars away, and Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph over His foes, He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever with His saints to reign. He arose! Hallelujah He arose”! This is from Easter most loved Hymn “Low in the Grave He Lay” by Robert Lowry (paraphrase mine).

Easter is a day mapped out by Christians all over the world to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus after His crucifixion on the cross of Calvary as He foretold His disciples. Easter is the grand-finale of the passion of Christ. His teachings and miracles were the theories; His crucifixion and death on the cross are the practicals and production processes of His love and passion for us while His resurrection is the end product, evidence or the confirmation. "Christianity begins where religion ends...with the resurrection." (Herbert Booth Smith) "Easter says you can put truth in the grave but it won't stay there." (Clarence W. Hall)

Many scholars have come up with different events that led to Easter of which majority of the histories point to the fact that it came from a pagan figure called ‘Eastre’ who was celebrated as the goddess of spring by the Saxons of Northern Europe. The festival as described was held during the spring equinox to honour the goddess whose symbol is the rabbit known as a symbol of fertility. This celebration is normally associated or focused on Easter eggs and all the fertility stuff.

Whatever the case may be, what we should understand is the fact that “the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof”. (Psalm 24:1) "If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine, and all its fullness. (Psalm 50:12) Even the physical things created by man, together with man’s wisdom and ideas all originated from Him. The fact that some creatures turn His good intentions to evil will not stop Him from enjoying the works of His hands as he deem fit. He can use anybody or anything and can convert any event or situation to His own glory and nobody can question Him. So whether Easter is a pagan idea or not, the fact remains that God has taken back the glory that belong to Him.

Is God Not A Fool To Accept Such Inhumane Death?

We were not there from the beginning when God created the heavens and earth and therefore do not know the proactive measures, standards, principles and ideologies He has set for Himself to guide Him. I feel we are also possessed by His nature and that is why we set rules, principles, etc for ourselves to help us function well on planet earth. It is therefore not for us to question His ways and why He has to send Jesus to redeem mankind through suffering and death. Just thinking……., may be, that is the measure He has established from the beginning and found that it is the best way to redeem mankind; and it has really worked. He arose with countless benefits; keep reading!

The dignity, freedom and authority of man as well as the friendship man enjoyed with God in the beginning were all stolen by the devil at the Garden of Eden. Jesus descended into hell, unlocked the gates of hell, recovered all that man lost and rose from the dead with them. The Zoe that died in Adam was resurrected in Jesus. Today, Easter reminds us that once again we are friends with God and free to use the authority he has given us to His glory. We pay or sacrifice something to get what we need. Jesus sacrificed to give us back our heritage from God that was stolen.

“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it”. (Col 2:15) His resurrection disarmed the principalities and powers and restored the dignity of man hence, the disciples of Jesus then and now had reason and courage to continue where Jesus stopped. Because Jesus arose, we can defend ourselves in His name and fight the good fight of faith and come out victoriously.

Principalities and powers, without knowing that they are fulfilling all righteousness, crucified and killed Jesus. The guarding of the grave and the seal that was put on a big stone at the entrance of the tomb are all indications that the devil wants to make sure that the plan of redemption was frustrated. Therefore the resurrection brought the principalities and powers to their knees. They were totally confused because all their philosophies have been brought to naught and their aim defeated. At resurrection, Jesus proved to the world/principalities and powers that indeed, He is the Firstborn of creation. “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation”. (Col. 1:15) “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy”. (Col. 1:18) There has been commotion in the dark world ever since. They fought Joseph the same way, to ruin his destiny but he ended up as a minister in Pharaoh’s cabinet. In the same way they have fought many wonderful and talented musicians, writers, doctors, actors and actresses, etc. and while some were silenced, others lived above such challenges and attacks and their products are blessing the world.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ made it easy for us to be saved. It is an invitation to all even the worst sinners to accept salvation and thus have access to heaven if they so wish. “Come now and let us reason together saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool”. (Isaiah 1:18) “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus; because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:1-2) He paid in full the penalty for sin; purchasing eternal life for all who might believe. His death is more of Him saying: “I am guilty, take me and kill me, but let them go free. I take the responsibility of their sins”. It is now up to us to accept it or not.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ brought new life to Christians. It woke Christians up from slumber so they can overcome their weaknesses and face their challenges of being heirs of the kingdom. It brought a new dawn; restoring the true identity of man which is brought to limelight when man accepts Jesus as his Lord and personal Saviour. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new”. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ solidified our faith as Christians. Knowing that Jesus conquered death creates consciousness in us that we can move mountains. ‘He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm”. (Mathew 8:26) The disciples of Jesus couldn’t do much when they were with Him because of lack of faith; even when he died, they scattered but resurrection brought them together and motivated them to work wonders. The faith that triggered our desire to press on amidst all obstacles came in full force because of the resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus taught Christians that eternal life is certain. Today, if we lose a beloved one, we are certain and comforted by the fact that we shall meet again on the last day. “I am the resurrection and life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die”. (John 11:25-26). When at the point of death and if we have Jesus, we are certain that we shall live again because through Jesus we are sure that there is life after death. Isn’t that awesome?

Celebrating Easter is creating a legacy or leaving a memory behind for the present generations to carry on with. There is every reason to pass on the story of the sufferings and the death of Jesus Christ and the reasons behind this story to our children and the generations unborn. Celebrate Jesus Christ! He arose and is alive forever! Ideal olive wishes you a joyous Easter Celebrations.

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

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Richest Pastors in an Impoverished Nation

For quite some time now, the gossip about the richest men of God and questions about tithe and offering has been on social media. Nigerians have been furious about how some men of God acquire wealth by compelling their members to sow seed, to double their tithes and offer God fat offerings for God to bless them. Many people have continued to question the fact that these men of God feed fat on their poor members without minding how these members are faring. Most of these men of God measure God’s goodness and presence in their lives by the number of cars they ride on, number of churches and how big their cathedrals are, in addition to the competition of who owns a private jet.

Church members on the other hand have become so gullible that they believe everything their pastor says; whether it is working in their lives or not. They believe and trust their pastors that they seldom reason in line with God’s word and purpose for their lives, in order to flow in the direction God has specially planned for them. Some have become beggars after giving all they had in obedience to seed sowing command from the ‘prophets of God’, in the name of pleasing God and getting reward.

When Elijah met the widow at Zarephath, he asked her for water to drink and bread to eat, and just like he told the widow, who complained that she only had a square meal for herself and her son, the widow was blessed and she never lacked again until the drought was over. These days we see helpless worshipers who continually sow seed, pay tithe, give fat offerings without anything to show for it; in the long run, some of them will lose faith in God or even cause Him for what is not His making.

The richest pastors or General Overseers according to media ranking as published by Naij.com are:

1. Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Tabernacle also known as Winners Chapel who is worth about N54 billion. He controls churches in 45 African nations as well as in Dubai, the United Kingdom and the United States. He is also the owner of Covenant University, Sango Ota, Ogun state.

2. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy who is worth about N18 billion. He is the founder of Believers’ Love World Incorporated where he has shot a lot of top Nigerian gospel artists into limelight. He also owns three separate television channels that gather up to 2.5 million views per nightly event.

3. Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) who is worth about N14 billion according to the list of the richest pastors. He began his career in preaching while still maintaining a professorship at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). Pastor Adeboye has a goal to put a church ‘within 5 minutes’ of every home in the world with about 14,000 branches in Nigeria alone.

4. Prophet T.B. Joshua of Synagogue Church of all Nations who is worth about N3.6 billion. He has over 1.5 million Face book fans

So many others who are eyeing the success of these men of God in ministry and are imitating them are in the pipeline.

Almost all these pastors have universities built with the seed of the majority of the poor in their midst, yet, those poor people cannot afford to send their children there. They have packed jets which are consuming instead of generating money. They have many churches worldwide, yet crime increases on daily basis. In most of these churches, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer, and when the expectations of the poor are not being met, frustration will drive them out into the streets. A hungry man has the need of food and should be fed before he or she responds to preaching and praying. Preaching, prophecies or prayers administered to a hungry or needy person has no life in it. In fact, it is an insult to God Almighty, especially when it comes from the person who can do more than pray.

Peter and John told the lame man they saw at the beautiful gate that they have no silver or gold to give him but they made him walk, which is what that man needs most to enable him mine for gold and silver by himself instead of begging. There are many jobless, hungry and frustrated people in our churches who can’t even open up because the men of God around them and big men and women in their churches are no go areas for them. Their problems will be solved when jobs are created, their problems will be solved when they are empowered intellectually and financially to do business, their problems will be solved when they have food on their tables.

Violence, crime, destruction of lives and properties have become a tradition in Nigeria and poor people suffer it the most, yet all we hear from the men of God is pray. The prophecies that come to us concerning the current happenings are prayers, prayers, prayers, and nothing but to pray. Are we going to continue praying until we are all wiped out?  Are God’s ears not itching because of our too many unnecessary petitions, as a result of our  dumbness and inability to read and understand the times? God cannot come down from heaven to engage in the fight or battle of words when we are here. The men of God who have eaten fat from their poor members and are swimming in billions should please rise and speak because they have all it takes for their voices to be heard, if not, they are not being relevant because the politicians also swim in billions, as a result of exploiting the masses, it makes them all the same; no difference.

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi

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