February 19, 2017 - God Rejects Saul as King

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

To obey is better than sacrifice,

I Samuel 15:22b

Have you ever been left out?  Maybe someone didn't want to be your friend.  Maybe you didn't win a contest. We all know how it feels to be rejected.  Sometimes, however, we deserve it. Have you ever rejected food at a restaurant because they got your order wrong or burned it?  There are right and wrong reasons to reject something.

We've been learning about young Samuel and how God chose to speak to him even as a child.  Samuel grew up to become a great prophet and the last Judge that Israel ever had.  When Samuel had grown old, his sons were going to take over as Judges but, Just like Eli's sons, they were wicked and evil men.  The people of Israel rejected

Samuel's sons as Judges. Instead they told Samuel to give them a king like the other nations had.  There was nothing wrong with Israel wanting a king but he should have been a man after God's own heart.  The other nations had evil kings that didn't even follow God!  

Samuel tried to warn the people that a king like the other nations would treat them very badly but they wouldn't listen.  Samuel felt like Israel was actually rejecting him.  So Samuel went to talk to God about it.  God told Samuel not to feel bad because it wasn't it they were rejecting, it was God

Himself!  By wanting a king that didn't follow God, they were choosing not to follow Him either.  So God decided to give the people what they wanted.

God looked down from Heaven and saw a man names Saul.  He was tall and handsome and looked like he would make a good king

but God knew that his heart was not as it should have been.  God knew that this was the kind of man that the people said they wanted as king so he led Saul to Samuel. Samuel told Saul that God had chosen him to be the first King of Israel and then anointed his head with oil as a sign.  

For a while, Saul was a very good king and a great warrior.

 One day, God told Saul through Samuel that He wanted Israel to attack the Amalekites because they had treated Israel so badly years before.  God even said to wipe out all the animals as well as the people.  Nothing was to be left of the Amalekites.  

Saul gathered his army and attacked just like God told him to but he didn't completely obey.  He left the King of the Amalekites alive as a prisoner and kept all the sheep and cattle.  God then told Samuel that He regretted making Saul king.  This didn't mean that God had made a mistake, only that it hurt Him to have to teach Israel a lesson by giving them the kind of king they wanted even though he was bad for them.  Saul had proven that he was disobedient to God.

Samuel went to see Saul.  When he arrived he saw that Saul

had become so arrogant that he even built a monument to himself!  When Saul saw Samuel he said, "The Lord bless you!  I have carried out the Lord's Instructions!" (I Samuel 15:13)  

"Really?" Samuel said.  "Then

what is this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle I hear?"

Saul answered, "The soldiers brought back only the best and destroyed the rest so we could sacrifice them to God."

"But God told you to destroy everything!  Why didn't you obey Him?" Samuel asked.

"I did obey.  I destroyed the Amalekites and we only brought

back the animals to sacrifice to God."

"Do you think God would rather have you make sacrifices than obey what He tells you to do? To obey is better than sacrifice!"  Samuel told Saul. "Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He has rejected you as King of Israel!"

Samuel then turned to leave but Saul panicked and grabbed Samuel's robe, tearing it.  "Just like you have torn my robe," Samuel said, "God will tear the Kingdom from you and give it to another who is better than you.  I will never come to see you again."  Then Samuel executed the King of the Amalekites like Saul was supposed to do and then went home.

God does not want us to obey some of what He tells us to do.  He wants us to obey ALL of it. We do not get to pick and choose which parts of the Bible we want to obey.  God loves us and knows what is best even if we don't understand it.     

February 12, 2017 - 2nd Quarter Review Week

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

WE HAD AN EXCELLENT REVIEW WEEK.  GOOD JOB TO ALL. CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2ND QUARTER WINNERS.  YOU EARNED IT!  BE READY ON SUNDAY FOR GOD TO SPEAK TO YOU THROUGH A NEW STORY.  WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU. 

February 5, 2017 - Samuel First Hears God

TONY & MICHELLE PAWLAK

MEMORY VERSE

"Speak, for your servant is listening,"

I Samuel 3:10b

Ever wonder what God sounds like?  Is His voice strong, gentle, deep?  Would you recognize it if you heard it?  DO you think that God would ever talk to you?  Sometimes we think that we're not important or holy enough for God to speak to us. However, God will speak to whoever He wants to, right?


Last week we learned about the birth of the prophet Samuel, Israel's last judge, and how he was raised by Eli the High Priest.  Eli also had two sons of his own that were also priests, Hophni and Phinehas.  You would think that the sons of the

High Priest would be good and godly men, right. Absolutely Not! Both men were very wicked.

When people would come to the Tabernacle to offer sacrifices to God, the meat would be boiled first to separate the meat from the

fat.  While the meat was being boiled, the priests were supposed to stick a three-pronged fork into the water and, whatever meat came up on the fork, they were allowed to eat. This was how God made sure the priests were always fed.  Hophni and Phinehas were not satisfied with this system.  They liked their meat roasted.  They decided to send a servant to the people

offering sacrifices to take the best meat before it was boiled.  If the people didn't want to disobey God like this, then the servant would threaten to take it by force!  This was stealing from God and it made God very angry.

When Eli heard of these things, he confronted his sons but they would not listen.  Unfortunately, Eli did nothing to stop their wickedness.  God sent a prophet to speak to Samuel telling him that, because Eli did not stop his sons from sinning, that He would put a terrible curse on his whole family and no men in his family would ever live long enough to grow old.  So that Eli would know that the prophet's words were true, he told Eli that both of his sons would die on the same day.

One night, while young Samuel was sleeping in the

Tabernacle, he heard a voice calling him, "Samuel."  Thinking that it was Eli calling him, Samuel got up and went to where Eli was and said, "Here I am.  You called me..  "I did not call you.  Go back and lay down."  Eli said.  So Samuel

went back to bed.  Then he heard the voice again, "Samuel."  So he went back to Eli and said, "Here I am.  You called me."  "I didn't call you.  Go back to bead. " Eli said again.  This happened a third time and Samuel insisted that Eli called him.  Eli finally figured out that Samuel was hearing the voice of God

calling him.  "Go back to bed," Eli said, "And when you hear the voice again say 'Speak, for your servant is listening.'"  

Samuel obeyed and went back to bed. When he heard the voice again he said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."  The God said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do

something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.  At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end.  For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them." 

The next morning, Eli asked Samuel what God had said to

him. Samuel was too afraid to tell Eli such bad news but Eli said, "Tell me everything or God will deal with you severely!"  So Samuel told Eli everything and Samuel said, "He is the Lord, let Him do what He knows is right."

Later on, Israel was battling the Philistines and losing badly.  

Someone thought it was a good idea to bring the Ark of the Covenant into battle so that God's presence would be with Israel.  So Hophni and Phinehas carried the Ark onto the battlefield.  This was disastrous because both were killed and the Philistines stole the Ark.  So, Hophni and Phinehas both died on the same day just like God had said.

Did you know that it is a parent's job to make sure you do the right thing?  That is the responsibility that God gave them.  So, the next time you get punished for doing something bad, remember that they are only doing what God commanded. As for young Samuel, he grew to be one of Israel's greatest prophets.  Think about it, God chose to speak to Samuel when he was only a young boy.  Keep listening, you never know when God may choose to speak to you.