Passage

1 Samuel 15: 22
"Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much 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."

Introduction

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the 2009 Men's Mission devotional service. Let us give all thanks and glory to God the Father who has guided us to have this devotional service.
I also give thanks to all you devotees who have prepared for this service with all your hearts, minds, and souls.
God the Father has given to you a message with the title 'Obedience'.
Men's mission members, please repeat after me the title of the message, 'Obedience'.
To obey is to follow the commands or guidance.
The kind of obedience that God requires of you is to follow His will.
Obedience is very important. There has to be someone who will obey for the will of the Father God to be fulfilled on earth.
Jesus, the Son of God, obeyed the will of the Father God, even to the point of death on the cross.
As a result, God's will was completely fulfilled to open the way of salvation for sinners.
God the Father also wants to fulfill His great plan through this church in the end time.
We can say that up until last year it was the preparation time to fulfill it.
For a long time we have been preparing the ground and laying the roads.
This year the kings of the nations will begin to come on those roads that have been completed.
Also, on the ground that is prepared, God's plan will reveal itself in full scale.
At this important time, God the Father wants you, the men's mission, to become the main pillars of our church. (He wants you to play the main roles and central part in various areas.)
God wants you to grow up as workers who will guarantee the power of the shepherd of this church that is accomplishing the world mission.
For this will of God to be fulfilled, first of all, you have to engrave 'obedience' in your heart.
You have to think, the first priority is obedience, the second is obedience, and the third as well is obedience.
When I explain to you how to completely obey, I hope you will gain life and power from the message.
In accomplishing obedience, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become men's mission members who give joy and satisfaction to God the Father.

Main

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and other church members, there are different kinds of obedience.
First is to obey by force with reluctance.
People will obey if they are to face punishments immediately upon disobedience.
For example, what does a dictator do with the opposition when he wants to keep his power?
He makes it impossible to live in that country or society.
He takes away their fame, money, and even their lives.
So, even though the dictator is not right, most people obey him.
Second is to obey only when you think you have the physical ability or capability. Also, it includes the case in which you obey only when you agree with the command or order.
These people obey only when they can obey.
If some things do not agree with their thoughts or mind, they disobey.
The third is unconditional obedience.
Whether they can do it or not, or whether the command is consistent with their personal ideas or not, they just obey without having any opinion of their own.
This is the obedience that Abram showed when he left his home and the house of his father. He just obeyed and left when God commanded him.
Peter once obeyed unconditionally.
In Matthew 17:27 Jesus said to Peter, "¡¦go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me."
Peter just obeyed Jesus' command.
Fourth and last, it is to obey willingly understanding God's intention in giving the command.
They realize from heart why God commands such a thing.
They can also project to some extent the result of the obedience.
That is why they can obey completely even the things that they cannot understand at all with human thoughts.
It was the obedience that Abraham showed when he gave his son Isaac.
Abraham could obey because he believed in the good will of God.
He could also foresee to some extent what the result of his obedience would be.
He believed that if he gave his son Isaac as a burnt offering, God would revive him.
The apostle Paul also showed this kind of obedience.
When Paul was about to finish his third mission trip, he knew that he was going to be arrested and persecuted if he returned to Jerusalem.
Other disciples whom he met in Tyre urged him through the Spirit not to go to Jerusalem.
Moreover, a prophet named Agabus, whom Paul met in Caesarea, prophesied that Paul would be arrested by the Jews if he went to Jerusalem.
When people heard this, they begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
But Paul understood the will of God more than anybody.
So, he said in Acts 21:13, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."
Though many people tried to stop him, he understood the providence of God correctly and obeyed His guidance completely.
And what was the result? As the Holy Spirit had revealed to him, Paul was arrested in Jerusalem.
But because of that, he came to preach the gospel to the Roman governors and a Jewish royal family.
He also came to preach the gospel to the Roman Empire and enlarged the kingdom of God greatly.
Dear devotees, I talked about four different kinds of obedience.
Then, which one does God the Father desire the most?
It is the fourth type. It is to understand the will of God in heart and willingly obey.
And for God to use us freely, we have to at least obey unconditionally.
Those who reluctantly obey or those who obey only what they can obey, are not proper for the kingdom of God.
If you men's mission members can just obey all the time, all of you will be able to receive blessings.
Furthermore, if you can understand the heart of God and joyfully obey, you will receive great blessings.
Also, you will be used as noble vessels for the kingdom of God.
Then, what do you have to do in order to obey as God wants you to?
First, you must not have selfish motives and second, you have to walk the path of righteousness. These two aspects are a match, and I will explain them together.
If you have selfish motives, you cannot walk the way of righteousness and finally, you cannot obey.
What is a selfish motive? It is the desire to fulfill your personal greed.
It is to seek one's own benefit, trying to get more for oneself, and to be acknowledged and loved by others.
Of course, it is fleshly recognition and love.
To the extent that you have selfish motives, you will walk away from the way of God.
James 1:15 says, "Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death."
If you walk away from the way that is righteous, whether just a little or much, you have to realize that you are walking the way of a sinner.
If business men cast off greed for money and walk the right way, all of you will succeed.
You face difficult situations because you go astray from the right way due to selfish motives.
If you violate the law to gain more profit, you may fall into even more difficult situations.
Let me give you the example of 'tax'.
Suppose you have to pay 30% income tax by the law of the country. Then, it is to walk the right way to obey it.
You shouldn't think it is wasteful to pay all 30%, but it is something natural and obvious.
You have to walk the right way without selfish desires even from the time you have a small business so that the business can keep on growing.
But some people evade taxes due to their greed. They walk away from the right way.
Suppose you just have one million won income, then the amount of evasion is not so big.
But if you have 10 million won income, it will be 3 million won, and if you have 100 million won income, then, the tax evasion will be 30 million won.
If you violate the law this way, you may have more profit for the moment. But if you keep on walking away from the righteous way, eventually you won't be able to avoid the consequences.
Finally, it will become your snare to lead you to a trial, and you will have to pay the penalty, which is very likely to be much more than the amount of tax evaded.
I just gave you the example of tax for easy understanding, but I want you to remember that the way of success is to walk the right way in all other areas.
If you keep this word in mind and obey, you will walk the way of righteousness.
But if you have selfish motive and desire, your eyes will be closed. Finally, you walk away from the right way.
1 Timothy 6:10 says, "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
Some walk away from the righteous way due to their desire for fame.
For example, we elect the leaders of mission groups considering the qualifications of leaders that God has taught us. And the church prohibits any kind of election campaign.
But if you distribute some presents or money because you want to be a leader so much, this is also disobedience.
Because of the selfish desire for fame, you walk away from the right way.
If this kind of a person is elected, that person and the particular group or the mission will suffer.
It's because they have given the chance for Satan to test you.
When church leaders are doing something for God's kingdom they should not let their selfish desire to be motivated.
Some have excessive desire to bear much fruit and utilize human methods. Then, they may walk away from the right way.
They might hurt others' feelings or break peace between people.
If you plan something and do it with human thought, and you don't receive guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it means you are going ahead of God.
Then, you cannot bear the kind of fruit that God desires, but rather you will cause damage to the kingdom of God.
Thus, the leaders should realize that to walk the right way, they should cast away all their frameworks and self righteousness to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Only then will they be able to obey the will of God completely.
Men's mission members, if you just cast off selfish motives, you can walk the righteous way fully.
God will attest to such a person and lead him to the way of blessings. But when people have selfish motive and desires, it is useless to teach them the right way with the word of God.
They just do what they want. They just try to get whatever they want utilizing any kind of method they want.
But in the sight of God the Father, they only bear the fruit of disobedience.
I urge you in the name of the Lord that you will only bear the fruit of joy for God the Father with your obedience.
Dear devotees, I explained that, to obey the will of God completely, first you must not have selfish motives, and second you have to walk the right way in righteousness.
If you cast away your selfish desires and walk the right way, you come to love God the Father to the utmost degree. And to love God the Father to the utmost degree is the third condition for complete obedience.
If you have selfish motive and follow it, it means you love yourself more than God.
On the other hand, if you cast away selfish desires and follow the will of God, it proves that you love God more.
The patriarchs who loved God so much considered God's will more important than anything else. I already talked about Abraham and the apostle Paul.
Abraham could obey completely because to him God's will was more important than the life of his only son Isaac.
Paul also obeyed completely because God's will was more important than his own life.
God the Father is still searching for those who can obey like this. He is looking for those who can obey even the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit, without using their thoughts.
God will give His command to such a person.
Then, the person will obey as it is commanded because he loves God. When he obeys, he will receive blessings.
His soul will prosper more, and his faith will also grow up.
Then, God can give him greater commands.
He will obey again, receive more blessings, and his faith will grow up even more. This is the good circle of obedience and blessings.
However, what are disobedient people like?
God commands them something to give them blessings, but they cannot receive the blessing because they don't obey.
It's not that God is not giving to them, but it is that they are not receiving it while God tries to give it to them.
I hope you men's mission members will cast away selfish desires with your love for God and be able to obey unconditionally.
Then, you will continue to receive greater and greater blessings.

Conclusion

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, all church members, today's reading passage says, "Has the LORD as much 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."
To be used for the kingdom of God and become God's workers, you have to imprint 'obedience' deep in your heart.
I explained that to have complete obedience before God, firstly, you have to cast away selfish motive and secondly, walk the way of righteousness.
And this kind of a person, thirdly, will obey completely loving God to the utmost degree.
I ask you men's mission to become great strength of the shepherd in this church accomplishing the world mission. I urge you men's mission to make the church members and me proud of you.
In 2 Samuel chapter 23, it briefly writes about the names of the warriors of David and what they did.
There were three great warriors who didn't mind risking their lives to get the water from the well of Bethlehem for David.
David didn't even command them; he just said: "Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!"
But the three warriors loved David so much that to quench the thirst of his heart, they risked their own lives to do it.
David must have been strengthened and encouraged just by the fact that he had such warriors.
I ask you men's mission to make the church members and me proud when kings of the nations come to this church.
I really want to boast that we have many excellent workers of God who obey only with faith and give glory to God.
This is not fleshly boasting but a boasting that gives glory to God the Father.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you men's mission members and all other church members will be joy and pride of God the Father with complete obedience!

[AMEN]