{"id":148,"date":"2018-11-06T16:43:50","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T00:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrate.bettersermons.org\/?p=148"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:40:53","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:40:53","slug":"when-giving-fails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/when-giving-fails\/","title":{"rendered":"When Giving Fails"},"content":{"rendered":"
When Giving Fails<\/span><\/div>\n

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Key Passage:\u00a0<\/strong>Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the\u00a0Lord? Behold, to obey is better than\u00a0sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (verse 22).<\/p>\n

Key Thought:\u00a0<\/strong>The need to obey God is not diminished by our\u00a0gifts and praise. Supreme love for God is best demonstrated through\u00a0completely following His will.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Scripture:<\/strong>\u00a01 Samuel 15 (read verses 1-23)<\/p>\n

Idea:<\/strong>\u00a0Generosity and giving are established Christian principles. Paul says, “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Giving our time, money and affections to bless others is what we are called to do. But not at all costs! Giving is not an end in itself. There are times when our gifts are unacceptable. The following story illustrates this point.<\/p>\n

Story:\u00a0<\/strong>Saul’s disobedience<\/p>\n

Samuel\u00a0informed Saul\u00a0that God\u00a0wanted him, as Israel’s first King, to\u00a0punish Amalek for their mistreatment of Israel\u00a0as they\u00a0passed by\u00a0their borders on their journey from Egypt. God said, “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them” (verse 3).<\/p>\n

Saul destroyed everything and everyone, but kept back the best of the sheep, oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good. In other words, Saul did not completely fulfill God’s command. Saul also refused to kill Agag, Amalek’s king.<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Samuel asked Saul why he hadn’t obeyed, Saul said, “I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” Then, referring to his soldiers, Saul said, “They have brought them [livestock] from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly\u00a0destroyed” (verse 9).<\/p>\n

Saul was selectively obedient. He was comfortable with obeying God, as long as he could\u00a0do it his way!
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Submitted by Rich DuBose.\u00a0 Better Sermons \u00a9 2005-2008. Click here for\u00a0usage guidelines<\/u><\/a>.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Giving Fails Key Passage:\u00a0Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the\u00a0Lord? Behold, to obey is better than\u00a0sacrifice, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}