Are we standing with God?

Mrs. Hyun Shil Kang

The King’s Report Jan 21 2017

Are we standing with God?

From the Bible: 1 Samuel 15: 20-26

20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. 22 And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. 24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words: because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.

I want to speak of something today that is very important: As we lead or life of faith we need to always check ourselves to see where it is that we are standing. Are we standing with God or are we standing in a position that God does not desire?

A person may think, ”Sure I am with God!” but what about from God’s point of view? Are we really on God’s side from His point of view? The answer to that question would determine whether we are on the side of goodness or on the side of evil.

God sent prophets to Israel in the Old Testament age, so that through the prophets He could teach the Israelites about what was true and what was false. When the Israelites were escaping from Egypt and going through the wilderness, God gave the Amalekites an instruction about them.

Later God said to the Amalekites, “When the Israelites were coming out of Egypt, you made things difficult for them; I cannot forget this and I cannot just let it pass”. So, God told the Israelites that they should attack the Amalekites, kill them all and also all their cattle, and all their animals, and that they should capture the king alive. But they did not do as Samuel said; they did according to their own thinking.

Through Samuel God had said that the Amalekites needed to be destroyed; that they could not be allowed to live, but that they needed to all be destroyed completely. The problem is that the Israelites did not carry on God’s order through Samuel; they did not kill all the cattle and the animals as they had been instructed. Even King Saul did not obey God’s commandment.

The important point today is this: Samuel says to Saul, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice”

So I think the important thing for Christian saints today is to check ourselves and see to what extend we are obeying the word of God, and to what extend we are teaching others to obey the word of God.

This is very important, because this is not just a question of the individual. When the individual does not obey God’s word that contributes to the destruction not only of that individual but also of his nation, and even to the destruction of the world. This is very important because there have been many examples in history where individuals and families have been destroyed as a result of disobedience to God’s word. Not only that, but in the case that we see here, Saul lost his kingship because of his disobedience; it was taken away from him by God.

It says again that obedience is better than sacrifice: Korea is a country that emphasizes sacrifice. We offer sacrifices in respect to our ancestors, for example, and when Koreans do that, we offer a great deal of sincerity and dedication, and do it according to strict rules and very carefully.

But the Bible says that obedience is more important than sacrifice; so let’s be careful that in everything that we do, we are putting obedience before sacrifice.

The important thing is that when God speaks to us through his prophets we need to listen to His word. When God speaks to us and He tells us that we need to do something, then, to execute that command, to do what God wants is more important than anything else. It is more important than our spiritual training or anything else that we may be involved in.

In this Bible passage it says, “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry”. When we see how God took away Saul’s kingship and reduced him to a common citizen- in fact not just that, but he was reduced to the position of a sinner- when we see that, we can see how important it is to obey God’s word. Because Saul disobeyed God’s word, God said to him, “I will not treat you as king, I will no longer recognize you as king; I will no longer have give and take with you” .

Remember that in our life of faith, the most important thing is obedience; it is not sacrifice. This is the most important thing. It is more important than our spiritual training. So let’s be careful to always listen to God’s word, to obey, and to put into practice what He tells us to do.

There are many religions in the world today and these religions have many believers, but it is the believers and the followers of Sanctuary Church who have been separated from the world who stand on heaven’s side. The followers of Sanctuary Church need to always remember, and carve on our hearts that it is more important to obey God’s words than to offer sacrifices.

Our King has suffered a great deal; he has received a lot of criticism and persecution, but as long as he is on God’s side, God will bless him and God will bless this movement; not only the people who are here now but eventually all the people of the world will come to follow this church.

So let’s remember that it is the mission of the followers of Sanctuary Church- we are still in the pioneering stage but let us keep in mind what God wants us to do, and always be careful and be checking ourselves to make sure that we are obeying his word, and when we do that, I am sure that all the world will come to follow. Thank you very much.