Sacrifice for…

Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. 1 Samuel 15:28

This should be a sobering wake up call for those of us in ministry, that God will take his hand off of you.

A couple of weeks ago I went over this verse with those that serve alongside of me. God has brought some incredible college students into my life, who sacrifice so much of their time for ministry. Some who start early on Sunday mornings setting up at FOTH, serve during the service, tear down, grab a bite to eat, set up again for Revolution, serve there, tear down and then go hang out with kids after. Their Sunday's start at 8:00 am and end at 10:00 pm. That doesn't include what they do during the week in preparation and planning! What a sacrifice!!

I thought it was important to cover this verse because all of the sacrifice, the effort, the sweat, the man hours, the labor, they put in because if God's hand isn't on us, is it worth it?

God's wants our obedience more than our sacrifice.

Our challenge as a group was to remind each other of that fact and to have the courage to hold each other accountable in our obedience to God. We committed to do that because we care enough about each other and we are learning to love God with everything we are. I also asked them to hold me accountable and at anytime if they thought I was getting full of pride to confront me. And if I tore their robe instead of my own, the whole group needed to know.

Have you ever felt like God has taken His hand off?

Interesting thing, no one else in Israel knew that God had taken his hand off of Saul, except for Samuel and he kept it a secret. Not only that, Samuel knew he must worship alongside of Saul until God found a replacement. He showed great patience waiting on the Lord to remove him and deal with him as He saw fit.

Be obedient, especially if you are serving in a ministry, if not it maybe costing your team a great deal!