Obedience is greater than sacrifice.
The difference between obedience & sacrifice is... alignment vs. assignment.
Alignment with God is greater than the assignment from God.
The problem is you have God 1st in your bio and not in your obedience.
& God may not be giving you NEXT instructions because you don't have NOW obedience.
We want blessings from the Lord but does the Lord have your obedience?
In ministry, it's not about speed, but the process.
World: success loves speed.
Kingdom: God loves obedience.
The fruit of the spirit grows in a garden of obedience.
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. (1 Samuel 15:22)
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)
The 4 levels of obedience
Conditional
Transactional
Relational
Unconditional
#1 Conditional Obedience
Your condition dictates your obedience.
How you feel is based on how you serve.
12 Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:12)
This is the transition from Egypt heading into wilderness with the Israelites.
They are speaking a language that they are used to, which got triggered from the very Egyptians that kept them in bondage.
As we study the Israelites leaving Egypt and dwelling in wilderness, we see based on how they feel, is how they speak.
Conditional obedience is also emotional obedience.
Let's not our emotions rule us which is being soul lead.
We want to be lead by the Spirit of God.
5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:5-6)
Because of the condition of a man...
#2 Transactional Obedience
Do you only do things just to get a blessing?
Do you only go to church just so you can expect to get something from God?
Is your relationship with the Lord transactional?
18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:18-19)
Simon the sorcerer tried to buy the power of God.
20 But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” (Acts 8:20-23)
#3 Relational Obedience
My relationship with God, is why I'm obedient.
Because of what Jesus did for me, I want to be obedient to Him.
Relational obedience starts with a heart of repentance.
Peter had a heart of repentance.
8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8)
Peter had bad moments.
Judas had a bad heart.
There is a difference, both are disciples.
But one launched the book of Acts church as an apostle.
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:16-17)
You must have a revelation of who Christ is.
How to have a relationship with God?
Know God the Father.
Know who the Christ is.
Know who you are in Christ.
Know the Holy Spirit.
#4 Unconditional Obedience
No matter what you did, God still loves you.
His love is unconditional.
God's grace & mercy is unconditional.
Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve.
Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve.
6 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:6)
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