Hey, this is Pastor John Ryan Cantu from PNEUMA Church in Houston, Texas.

Thank you for listening to the message today.

I hope that it blesses you and all those.

That you share it with.

God bless you.

Hallelujah.

Are you happy to be in the house of God this morning?

Man, I hope.

At least most of y'all are happy, amen, to be in the house of of God this morning.

It's always a good time to gather.

In God's house, I look forward to Sundays as tiring as they are, as tiring, as sleepy as I am, I look forward to Sundays.

I love Sunday mornings.

I want to remind just my my own announcement for anybody who has not, who's maybe a newer member to PNEUMA, we want to celebrate you and we wanna We want to give you some information.

We want to give everybody an opportunity to meet your leaders and your pastors.

And so on the 27th of January, this is a couple weeks, we're going to be having our meet and greet If you have not attended one of these before, this is your opportunity to do it.

And we will feed you.

It ain't like a gourmet five-star restaurant.

But um we will feed you.

Amen.

And um we'll we'll tell you a little bit about the church and the history and you'll get to to kind of plug into some uh ministries and It's just our way of you know giving all the information out.

So if you have not registered for that, you can do that.

Amen.

To PNEUMA for a long time and uh you are uh familiar with the first fruits offering that we do at the end of January.

I just want to remind you to be in prayer over that.

First fruits is just a way for us to uh to come to the Lord and present our first fruits offering, whatever that is.

And God will speak that to you and convict our hearts as if we ask him.

Amen.

So January is that time where we're thinking about sacrifice.

And so For those of you who are used to that, I want to remind you of that at the end of this month.

Amen.

God is taking this church somewhere.

He's been doing it.

I got a call.

I got a call this this week r from a random person.

This man lives out of state.

He doesn't even live here.

And he calls me and he says, Pastor, I've been praying for you.

I've been praying for PNEUMA.

And he says, I just feel in my spirit, he's like, I don't know why.

He says, I want to encourage you to step into everything that God has promised.

To do it.

He says, do it, do it now.

Start to do it.

And um and and he doesn't he doesn't know me that well.

I don't know him that well.

Um, but he knows the church.

And he said uh a few months back he he was here, he visited um for a funeral and and and he walked in and he was like man there's God is doing something in this place And since, I mean, this has been maybe like six months, he's been praying uh for our for our church.

And I didn't even know it.

And he calls me and he tells me, I want you to you to get ready.

God is preparing PNEUMA for whatever it is that God uh has in store.

And so um God is doing something.

When I say that it's not just It's not just me knowing, you know, just as a pastor what God is doing.

Like people are, God has confirmed it time and time and time and time again.

And so I wanted to share that with you this morning.

But I want I want to take you to 1 Samuel chapter 15.

Amen.

The book of 1 Samuel, you can stay seated for a moment and we're gonna we'll stand in a bit.

But the book of 1 Samuel Is a book that really teaches us how to move God's heart.

It shows us what God really cares about and what God isn't really impressed with.

And all of this is kind of demonstrated through two main characters of the book, Saul and David, two men who God establishes as king over Israel.

And if you zoom out, And you read Samuel, and you won't really notice it uh by one verse, but if you read the whole book and you kind of uh try to pay attention to what the author is doing, the whole book is a side-by-side comparison uh of Saul and David.

Saul looked like a king.

David did not look like a king.

Saul was publicly anointed.

David was privately anointed.

Saul feared Goliath.

David feared Yahweh.

Saul was jealous and insecure and prideful.

David was humble and confident.

Saul saw David as a threat.

David saw him as God's anointed.

Saul was rejected by God and David was accepted by God.

Now, the root of all of these differences was in their heart.

David was a man who loved God.

He was a man who pursued God.

The Bible calls him a man after God's own heart.

Now we know that David wasn't perfect.

If David was a modern figure, we probably wouldn't think That he was a man of God at all.

We would judge him by his actions and we would identify him by his transgressions.

He is a liar, he's a murderer, he's an adulterer.

But God looked at David's heart and saw something that no man could see.

This was a man who, even though he was deeply imperfect, sought to honor God with his life.

Saul, on the other hand, Saul looked like the part.

He was diplomatic.

He might have been the obvious choice for king.

Saul avoided the scandals, unlike David.

He was a man of the people.

But Saul was a man after his own heart, not God's.

And Saul drifted further and further away from God because I think we could argue that Saul really he never really loved God.

Saul's devotion to God went as far as was convenient for him.

And so God rejected Saul and he chose David because David represented the type of people that God wanted in his kingdom.

And I think this says something to all of us: that God is looking for a heart that is after his.

That's what he's looking for.

That's what he wants.

And that when we fall and when we stumble and when we sin, we would immediately get back up and we repent and we continue to pursue him.

We don't we don't stay bogged down by our iniquities.

We get back up and we continue moving forward.

God isn't impressed with how we look to people.

He wants to see a heart that longs for him.

And so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on David today, but I do want to look at Saul And chapter 15, that's when we begin to see Saul show his heart.

God, if you know the story, God commands Saul to destroy the Amalekites. to uh to devote to destruction.

You'll you'll hear that term a lot, devote to destruction in the old testament.

And that term means exactly what it sounds like it means.

Saul is to be devoted to the destruction of this people who would continue to be a threat. and a thorn in the side of Israel if they were not completely destroyed.

So that's where we pick up the story.

You can stand with me real quick.

1 Samuel 15, 8 through 23.

And just so I know that you're listening, tell the person next to you, get ready.

Amen.

It says this, it says this.

And he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive And he devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword.

But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them All that was despised and worthless, they devoted to destruction.

The word of the Lord came to Samuel.

I regret that I had made Saul king.

For he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.

And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.

And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning.

It was told to him that Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself.

And turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.

And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed be you to the Lord.

I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

And Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?

Saul said they have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God.

And the rest we've devoted to destruction.

Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop, I will tell you what the Lord said to me this day.

He said, though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?

The Lord anointed you king over Israel.

And the Lord sent you on this mission and said, go devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they're consumed.

Why then did you not obey the voice?

of the Lord.

Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?

And Saul said to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.

I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me.

I have brought Agag the king of Amalek and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.

But the people Took of the spoil, the sheep and the oxen, and the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.

And 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.

Can we say that together one more time?

To obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rent for rebellion is as the sin of divination and presumption.

As iniquity and idolatry, because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.

Amen.

Heavenly Father, speak.

Amen.

Take your seat.

I want I want to speak today using the title Convenient Sacrifice.

Convenient sacrifice.

This week I was processing something with God on this subject.

January is a time where we're thinking a lot about s uh sacrifice.

If you are make if you've made any goals for yourself, those goals likely require sacrifice.

If you're trying to take away some bad habits and adopt better habits, well, you're probably going to be sacrificing something.

Right now we're also in a time of our corporate fasting. or 21 days of fasting.

Um and that requires sacrifice.

The Christian life requires sacrifice.

You don't know.

It does.

Paul says it.

He says to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

Sacrifice is important.

It's what Jesus did on the cross for us.

And so this week I was I was thinking about all the sacrifices that I've made to God.

And I'm going to tell you why.

I want to be real with you, and it's going to make me look bad.

I'm be real, okay?

And I'm gonna before I say this, I'm gonna ask for grace from the church, okay?

I uh I broke my fast this week I said give me some grace man.

I broke my fast this week and I felt so bad afterwards man.

I I I was beating myself the whole week Yeah, I've been doing like 24 hour days, like solid, solid days, 24 hour days a couple times a week.

So I'll do like, you know, 5 p. m.

Monday to 5 p. m. on Tuesday. need anything.

And so this past Tuesday, I was I was fasting.

And it was a busy day.

And I I was on the phone like half the day with different people and I was just like mentally drained and I was I just felt out of rhythm.

I even text Melissa, I was like, I just feel off today.

I felt tired.

I was sleepy.

I was groggy.

And by three o'clock, I was really hungry.

And I I reel I I was thinking about my hunger.

I was thinking about how hungry I was.

Now I I do these 24 hour fasts.

You know, regularly.

It's nothing new.

It's not like I bit off more than I could chew.

But by three o'clock Something I was I was hungry and I started to focus on my hunger.

What you're supposed to do and what I've preached Is that in these moments, you go to God and you say, Lord, I want to be more hungry for you.

I want to hunger for you right now more than this food that I want.

I and and you go to God and you maybe put on a worship song and you you get intimate with God and and and you seek the spirit because the the flesh is is weak, right?

The the spirit is what needs to be strengthened.

But I didn't do that And said I want the Chick-fil-A.

I at I at least kept it the Lord's chicken, right?

Kept it godly.

I kept it godly But can I tell man I I felt so bad man I felt I felt so bad I felt so much conviction taking that first bite of that chicken sandwich And later that evening, I was telling I was talking to God and I was like, man, God, I'm I'm sorry.

I forgive me.

I'm such a dummy.

I'm such I'm what a loser.

And all these things that I tell myself when I'm being hard on myself.

And I I'm like, God, I can't even, I'm sorry, I couldn't even keep this commitment to you.

And then I was telling him, Lord, I just I want to be a pleasing sacrifice to you.

I want to be holy.

I want to be an offering.

I want to be something that every single day you would be pleased with.

And out of nowhere I'm I'm telling all these things to God.

And I kid you not, it's like the Holy Spirit very clearly said to obey is better than sacrifice.

And I was like, well, okay, but I'm talking about sacrifice right now.

What do you are you saying you're cool with me breaking my fast?

What what do you what are you saying?

What are you saying?

And and and he said it again, he said it again, to obey is better than sacrifice.

I I I kid you not, this was like I was having a one-on-one conversation with God To obey is better than sacrifice.

And that caused me to really stop and think about what that verse meant.

I I consider myself somewhat of a theologian.

I know the I know the word.

I've gone to seminary.

I've studied all the biblical text and the context and all that stuff, but I've never really thought about that verse as much as I did this week.

And I started to ask God, Lord, why is it that obedience is better?

Than sacrifice.

Shouldn't they at least be of equal value?

Why is obedience better?

If you ask me, the best thing that Jesus ever gave me was Himself, it was His sacrifice.

God, you require sacrifice from the beginning of time.

Cain and Abel.

Abel brought the best that he had.

You require sacrifice.

Why is it that obedience is better?

And this is what God said to me.

He said a lot of what we call sacrifice isn't fully a sacrifice.

And he started to show me how even in our sacrifices, there can be a lot of selfish intent in what we call sacrifice.

For example, we we sacrifice great tasting food for healthier food so that later we can be healthier and stronger and more in shape.

We we sacrifice buying things that we don't need so that later in life we can have more money.

Now these things are good.

We can even argue that these things are godly, but we call those things sacrifice.

It's not really sacrifice, that's delayed gratification.

Gratification still comes.

And if gratification still comes, is it purely a sacrifice?

God was showing me how we have really diluted the word sacrifice And we can let's make it even spiritual.

Prayer.

Many times our prayers are so focused on ourselves.

On what we want, on what we need, on our families.

Not all the time.

Sometimes we pray for other people.

We pray selflessly.

We sacrifice our time in prayer.

We need a prayer life.

But even in prayer, it's not fully sacrificial because sometimes it's still tied to what I want or what I need.

Then I thought, okay, well, what about worship?

What about what we do in here?

Corporate worship.

Is corporate worship in any way self-serving?

And then I started to think, well, considering how some of us can worship harder depending on the song that's playing.

I think there is a selfish element even in our corporate worship.

And there's a reason that when they play the song you don't really like, you get up to go to the restroom.

And the moment you hear the song you are in love with, you come running back in straight to the altar.

Yes, Lord, speak to me.

There's an entertainment aspect.

There's there's a there's a me aspect.

I want the song that speaks to me and to my emotions and my situation, what I can relate to.

So even in worship There is a little bit of selfish intent, I thought, okay, well what about ministry, God?

Now people love ministry.

Some people actually love ministry, they love to be busy for the Lord.

Some people love to plan, they love to build, they love to teach, they love to preach, they like to plan the conferences and lead the meetings and spend three hours in a meeting that barely goes anywhere.

And so even in ministry, there is a selfish aspect to it, even though it's a sacrifice.

Listen, none of this means that we stop doing these things.

Right?

Don't don't hear me now.

I mean hear what I'm saying.

It's okay that some of these things serve us in a very small way.

It's okay that we pray for what we need and what we uh what we desire.

That's okay.

It's okay that you use uh you enjoy the spiritual gifts that God is using you in.

That's okay.

Also, this doesn't negate the sacrifice that is required in much of this, but what I want to caution you with today is to not count your sacrifice as your obedience when your sacrifice is convenient.

You hear what I'm saying?

I was telling Melissa this this morning.

It's so easy for some people to preach sacrifice when they know how to do it so well.

Like I don't know has anybody like uh like a like a super fit some somebody who's always at the gym they eat super clean Have they ever preached to you the importance of keeping your temple holy?

And they're like, the reason I go to the gym all the time is because I want to keep it holy.

And the reason I eat so clean is because my temple, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

And I was like, bro, you were working out five years before you came to Christ.

It's it it's sometimes it's convenient the sacrifices that we're saying we're giving to God.

It's easy Now it doesn't make it not true, but a lot of times what we call sacrifice isn't fully a sacrifice.

Sacrifice has to cost you something.

It's also not an investment.

See, thankfully we have a good master and he rewards our sacrifice, but if the only reason you give is because You heard a preacher say one time that God will reward you tenfold?

That's not a sacrifice.

It's an investment.

How many parents in the room would literally lay down their lives for their children?

There's nothing in it for you.

Nothing.

It literally costs you your life.

But because you have love for your children, you will perform such a selfless act.

A sacrifice has to be selfless.

And maybe the reason uh some of us are not satisfied with our relationship with God, maybe the reason that we find it hard to commit fully in our faith.

And go deeper with God.

I know, I know that many of us want to go deeper with God this year.

It's because you have watered down what sacrifice is.

Listen, if if you find yourself focused on the wrong thing all the time.

You listening?

Because we we we do this.

And and there's there's a lot of good in this, but we can't this can't be the main thing.

If if you find yourself always focused on just the personal growth and the knowledge you're going to receive and The blessing you're going to get and the anointing you're going to get in return, and the man of God that you're going to find because you've been looking for a man of God, and the woman of God you're going to find because you've been looking for a woman of God.

If your sacrifice has even a thread of what's in it for me.

You have to look deeply into your heart and ask yourself if this is a heart that God even wants.

We should not confuse sacrifice for obedience Because many times the things that we consider sacrifice often distract us from the true obedience that God is calling us for.

Can I tell you today that God's not looking for your sacrifice?

He's looking for your obedience.

That's what he wants.

First.

He's not looking for your sacrifice.

He's looking for your obedience.

And the reason that David was accepted by God And Saul was rejected by God was because Saul wanted to bring a sacrifice that God didn't even ask for, and David brought a heart that he did ask for.

And because he brought the right heart, he was able to subjugate himself under a king who was literally trying to kill him every single day.

This is why, when he was anointed king, he didn't knock on the door and say, Hey, when is my time?

He went back to the sheep.

This is why he went up against Goliath when everybody was was turning back and feared over their life.

When God has your obedience, the sacrifice that He truly desires naturally comes with it.

You don't even need to think about it, the obedience becomes the sacrifice.

Obedience will require sacrifice every time, every single time.

God says, God says go, and you don't want to go, but because you love him so much and you want to honor him, you get up and you go, even even though you don't want to do it.

Why?

Because you want to be obedient to your master.

But sacrifice.

Sacrifice doesn't always require obedience.

So you can give God more of what's convenient for you to give.

You can keep doing the things that are easy while avoiding the obedience that He's calling you to.

I believe many Christians overcompensate their sacrifice because we don't want to deal with our disobedience.

There was a time in my life where I would I would choose sacrifice over obedience and I would say God I'm I'm here I'm giving you my time I'm giving you my time I'm always here I'm always serving, serving people.

So when I was under working under my dad as a pastor, whatever my dad needs I'm here leading worship.

I'll preach.

I'll teach every now and then.

I'm giving you my time.

It's like I'm always here.

That should justify me not giving you my tithe.

I said I'm always giving him my time.

That's the way that I give to God.

God don't need my money.

And I was I was I was disobedient.

I was disobedient in another one, another area, trying to overcompensate My sacrifice in another.

This is exactly what Saul did.

He justified his disobedience for what he was calling a sacrifice.

And the thing is, man, this way of thinking.

It will fool you.

The enemy will use your sacrifice against you.

Because look, sacrifice makes us look and feel holier than we actually are.

The text shows us that Saul greeted Samuel.

He was proud, he was confident, he was celebrating.

Look, look at what we did.

We destroyed all the bad, but the good stuff we're gonna give to the Lord.

How honorable!

How noble.

How many of us do approach God that way?

Like God, look at look at what I said no to so I could be here.

Look at how many times I'm here at church.

Look at how many times I'm here.

Look at how many times I'm saying no to my family.

Look at how often, look at how how early I wake up.

To pray.

Look look at look at my playlist.

Nothing but worship songs.

I deleted all bad bunny.

It's all for you, Jesus.

Look, look, look in my sacrifice.

Look at how how good I'm doing, God.

All for you, Lord.

All for you, Master.

Some of us are so proud that we're fasting.

Makes us feel holy.

And so they they pull up to work with the breakfast tacos and you're looking like this.

Yeah.

I can't eat that.

I'm about fasting.

Shh fast.

Don't tell anybody because the Lord doesn't want everybody to know, but I have fasting.

Yeah.

So proud.

We're so proud.

We're so proud that we gave to Project Vision.

I'm gonna need more of y'all to be more proud of that one.

We're so proud.

We're so proud that we that we serve in ministry, that we disciple people, that we're proud to be used by God.

We're proud that we come to church every Sunday.

And you know what?

Praise God for that Praise the Lord.

But what about the obedience that God has asked from you?

What about what's over here?

What about the mess that you've neglected because you've been working on something that God isn't even asking you to work on anymore?

What about what's over here?

What about the assignment over your life?

Some of you have a prophetic word that you are walking around with And you're keeping it in your pocket.

I don't know what you think is gonna happen, but God is saying, get up and go.

What about the door that is that has been opened to you?

And God is saying, just walk through it already.

What are you waiting for?

What about the door that's that's been trying to be shut, but you leave it open because it's security?

And God is saying, I need you to close it.

I need you to shut it.

I asked you to shut it in twenty twenty-four and I asked you to shut it again in twenty twenty-five.

It's twenty twenty-six and you still got it wide open.

What is your obedience?

And and and we're over here trying to overcompensate for the stuff that we're not doing Thinking that we're holy and pleasing to God because that's what He requires, the sacrifice.

God says, obedience is better.

My heart my heart rate's gone.

Listen, if if all we're giving to God is what is easy and what is familiar and what is convenient, and it no longer costs us anything.

If the oil has dried up, and what you have given to the all-worthy God that we sing about, I fear that we will be rejected from the things that God previously anointed us for.

I believe that.

I believe it.

I said this a few weeks ago.

God has no problem skipping over a generation.

It was promised to you.

It was promised to you, but because you ain't taking things seriously, it's gonna have to be passed over to you.

God is gonna have to bypass you because you're not taking it seriously.

You who chose comfort Over obedience, who chose to fear instead of to conquer, who chose to play it safe all the time.

Everything that God meant to be yours will be given to another with the right heart.

I I love all of you.

I love all of my fellow brothers and sisters.

But if God meant something to be mine, I do not want it to be yours.

If God says this has your name on it, Ryan, I anointed you for this.

This is your assignment.

This is your task.

I'm not comfortable with somebody else taking it.

And neither should you.

If God meant something to be yours, he knew what he was doing when he called you.

If God meant something to be mine, I want that to be the thing that I carry.

Not because I want what he has from me, but because I love the one who's handing it to me.

I don't want to turn down a blessing from God, but you know what?

I also don't want to turn down the burdens that he wants to give me.

I want to take his provision, but I can't say no to his trials.

That's my trial.

That's my burden.

That's my weight.

That's my cross.

I've got to pick that up, even though I don't want to do it because I have to be obedient to my master.

That is what I'm willing to sacrifice.

If God wants to build me, if He wants to challenge me, if He wants to break me, if He wants to refine me, if He wants to lift me up And if he wants to humble me, a heart that is after God's will take whatever it is because the one who gives it is worthy.

I man I never never and this this is why I was so upset the other day at myself when I broke my fast I was saying God I never want to displease you.

I want to be right in your eyes.

And that's that's such a when when when you're close to God and when you love God so much, like you fear so much just disappointing him.

And so I was God.

I never I never want to trample on the anointing that has been given to only me.

Can I tell somebody this morning?

Man doesn't anoint you, God anoints you.

God anoints you.

Saul was anointed by God, not by the prophet.

He was selected by God.

God said, there is a man of the tribe of Benjamin.

Saul is his name.

That's who you are going to anoint.

God knew that he was gonna fail, but Saul had every opportunity to make his heart right before the Lord.

But because he didn't take obedience seriously, because he thought that God could be bought with a sacrifice, with an offering, God rejected him.

And we replaced him with a lying, adulterous, murderer who at least had the right heart.

Obedience is better than sacrifice.

And it's so easy for us to call sacrifice obedience, church.

And what I want to happen this morning is I want God to really Bring some conviction to our hearts to make us look at at what we've been calling sacrifice, but it's actually disobedience.

God is saying to somebody, I need you to stop giving me what you think I want.

And start to listen to what I want from you.

In Isaiah chapter 1, God delivers this very harsh rebuke against Israel.

He says, What to me is a multitude of your sacrifices?

I've had enough of burnt offerings, of rams, and the fat of well-fed beasts.

I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats.

When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?

Bring no more vain offerings.

Jesus said, if you love me, obey me.

If you love me, obey my commands.

Can we just talk about that for a second?

We we can get into what exactly Jesus meant by that.

Was he talking about how much of that was Old Testament law and new covenant?

What what I I don't want to get into that right now, but he says, if you love me, obey me.

But man God, if I'm being honest Sometimes it's easier to serve you than it is to obey you.

So we got a lot of ministers in the church who are being disobedient in so many other aspects of their life, calling it service to God.

Well, God is looking at everything that you are neglecting.

But God is easier to serve you than it is to obey you because at least I can choose how I serve you.

God, it's easier for me just to fall down on my knees and worship in this therapeutic worship session and have you minister to me than it is to say yes to what you're calling me to.

God, it's easier for me to give you money than it is to give you my time.

It's easier for me to give you my time than it is to give you money.

God is saying no more vain offerings No more vain offerings.

The the the offering that matters the most is the one that he asked for.

Now I wanna I wanna end with something practical real quick.

Still with me, right?

Almost almost done.

When we talk about obedience, sometimes obedience is hard for us to measure.

We don't always know if if where exactly God wants us to be.

And so I talk about this, and maybe you're thinking, what does obedience look like?

So I want to I want to make it practical practical for you.

If you're really trying to prioritize obedience over sacrifice, start with the word.

Start with the word.

When you read the word of God and you know the word of God, you begin to understand the heart of he who spoke the word.

You understand that God is calling us into holiness.

He's calling us into wisdom.

You want to be obedient?

Start with being obedient to his word.

Stop the sin.

Stop the foolishness.

Seek his presence.

Keep in step with the Holy Spirit every single day.

That's the obedience that we can measure because we're all called to it.

Nobody can say, nobody in this room can say God told me to disobey his word.

Nobody can say that.

Rejecting God's word literally is a rejection of Jesus, who is called the Word.

Obedience begins with the word, okay.

But then there's the obedience.

Listen, listen, if you haven't listened yet, listen now.

Then there's the obedience that is specific to you That's the Holy Spirit's dealing with the person, calling the person, assigning to the person, rebuking the person.

This one is hard because the obedience that God might be calling you to doesn't require the same sacrifice that everybody else is giving.

And I'm just speaking for myself.

When I see everybody else giving the same sacrifice, I'm like, dang, well, I feel like I should be doing the same.

Everybody else is there, I should be there too.

Everybody else gave a hundred bucks, I I should give a hundred bucks.

And and you don't want to be seen as rebellious and disobedient in the eyes of the people.

And so you feel pressured to sacrifice something just because everybody else is presenting that sacrifice.

Ooh, this is a real problem in the church.

I call it a guilt offering, but it's not it's not a guilt offering before the Lord, it's it's guilty before the people.

If they don't see me fasting, that's a problem.

If they don't see me show up at seven o'clock on a Saturday morning to pray, they're gonna think I'm not committed.

If they don't see me drop offering in the offering plate, they're gonna think I don't give.

And we sacrifice to the Lord.

For the they're in our life.

Is that really a sacrifice?

See, Saul says it in verse 21.

He says, the people Took the spoil, the sheep, and the oxen, the best of the things that were devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God.

So listen, Saul forwent the command that God gave to him to please the people who were with him.

This act alone showed God that Saul's heart was not in the right place.

Saul was not prepared to give his full heart to the Lord.

Saul was going to self-preserve.

He was going to protect his own interests, his own image.

It was to please the people.

Can I give you permission today to tell somebody no if it means disobedience to God?

Can I tell you that it's okay to tell your pastor no if it means disobedience to God?

Your sacrifice, your obedience might not look like everybody else's obedience Your sacrifice might look might look differently.

Obedience for you might look foolishness to some people, it might look like rebellion to other people And might welcome judgment from God's people, but listen, God alone is owed my allegiance.

God alone is owed my heart God alone is owed my sacrifice.

I don't answer to the to the days of my life.

I answer to the God Almighty who is worthy.

And when we look at the example of Jesus, if you would stand with me, when we look at Jesus Every time Jesus spoke about sacrifice, nobody understood it.

You know what I mean?

Like every time Jesus said that he was gonna have to go to the cross to be crucified, nobody understood it.

His disciples rebuked him Because they didn't understand the sacrifice that Jesus had to offer.

Because Jesus' sacrifice didn't look like everybody else's Jesus didn't come to bring a bull offering.

He didn't come to bring the best goat or the best sheep.

He didn't come to bring anything else that everybody else was doing.

And so nobody understood it.

Not even the people of God, not even his own disciples could understand why Jesus are you going to bring such a weird Offering that is not of the Lord, and Jesus says, You don't know what I came here to do.

I I didn't come here for you.

I came here to be obedient to my father and to serve my father.

And if my God is calling me to give up myself as a sacrifice, that is my obedience.

Obedience to the Lord.

His obedience.

His obedience produced the greatest sacrifice that the world would ever see.

To obey Is better than sacrifice.

And so I don't know what God wants to do this morning.

I don't even have an altar call, which is rare.

I always have an altar call.

But I don't know what God is exposing right now in your life.

Would you just close your eyes with me as the Lord ministers?

Holy Spirit, I pray that you would expose the things that we have neglected That we have not protected.

My God, I pray against overcompensating for the things that we're not doing, Father God.

Lord, I pray that you would bring us into alignment with your will, Father.

I pray that we would begin to be obedient.

Obedient to you and every aspect of life.

Some have been over-serving in the ministry and neglecting your role as a husband.

God is saying, No more.

I need you to be obedient to your spouse.

I need you to be obedient.

To your role as a father, to your role, as a husband, as a wife.

Stop over-serving and neglecting what is yours.

My God, reveal what needs to be revealed, Father.

You've been giving so much of what's convenient, it's so easy, and you're calling it a sacrifice, you're calling service.

And God is saying you are rejecting my very word.

You are rejecting the thing that I've put in your hand to preserve and to protect.

God is saying, I want your obedience.

I want your obedience.

Let your obedience be your sacrifice.

Let your Obedience be your sacrifice.

If that's you this morning, if you need to have a moment with God at these altars and you need to repent of some things and you need to offer your obedience and your submission to Him, or if you just need prayer, these altars are open.

Come forward, these altars are open.

Thanks for listening.

If you'd like some more information on PNEUMA Church, visit us on our website at mypneumachurch. com If you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe or share it with your friends on social media and tag us at mypneumachurch.

Thanks again and God bless