Obedience, Dominion & Sacrifice: Sermon By Rev. Sarah Muendo
God wants us to understand our origins, the altar, and the sacrifice. Re: the sermons shared about the same via the following links:
Origins: Part 1 By Rev. Daniel Kamau
Origins (Part 2): Resetting Foundations by Rev. Daniel Kamau
The Altar and the Sacrifice by Rev. Loice Achola
An altar is a place of exchange. It is a place where something goes out and something comes in.
An altar hears and it speaks. An authentic altar has to say something and has to receive something. An altar also acts.
An altar has a multiplying effect – whether good or evil – depending on what kind of altar it is.
You must be covered by the blood of Jesus when you come before the altar of the Lord.
Your flesh/carnality must not be seen near the altar of the Lord.
“Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.”
1 Samuel 1:1-2 NKJV
“Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord. And the priests’ custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fleshhook in his hand while the meat was boiling. Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; and the priest would take for himself all that the fleshhook brought up. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw.”
And if the man said to him, “They should really burn the fat first; then you may take as much as your heart desires,” he would then answer him, “No, but you must give it now; and if not, I will take it by force.”
Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.
But Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod.”
1 Samuel 2:11-18 (NKJV)
“Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!” So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”
And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down.
Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!”
So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” (Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.)
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.”
Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.”
1 Samuel 3:1-9 (NKJV)
When God talks about obedience, dominion and sacrifice, He is talking about the sacrifice of your life.
An offering is an acknowledgment of God. It’s an expression of who we think God is in our lives. An expression that we believe God is greater than we are.
“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated “king of righteousness,” and then also king of Salem, meaning “king of peace,” without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually.
Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better. Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives. Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.”
Hebrews 7:1-10 (NKJV)
Your dominion is not just dominion for your time, but it is transgenerational. We transfer dominion to the next generation by our obedience or disobedience.
We can lose our dominion by:
1. Having Contempt For The Sacrifice
The sacrifice is our life.
The sons of Eli showed contempt for the sacrifice.
We risk losing out on transgenerational blessing when we show contempt for the sacrifice that our forefathers made.
The sacrifice that you give is what differentiates men. Like Cain and Abel, your sacrifice will differentiate you.
Contempt for the sacrifice can look like what Ananias and Sapphira did. They withheld a portion of their best from the Lord. The Holy Spirit was upset because they wanted to appear in the eyes of men as if they had given everything, yet they had not.
Contempt for the sacrifice can also look like Acan’s sin. This is akin to not giving God the glory due to His name.
It is appropriating what God gives to us and then taking Him out of the picture.
“So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting,“The voice of a god and not of a man!” Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.”
Acts 12:21-24 (NKJV)
“And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.
Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes.
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.”
Acts 14:8-16 (NKJV)
Everything that you give to God has the ability to come to life and to bear fruit. Everything that you are able to lay down before God is able to come to life.
By laying down His life, Jesus gave life to generations upon generations of people.
Your obedience means something to you. It means something to your generation.
2. Passivity/Contempt To The Promise/Prophecy
“Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’
Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house forever. But any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them. Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.”
1 Samuel 2:27-35 (NKJV)
“Then the Lord said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
So Samuel lay down until morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son!”
He answered, “Here I am.”
And he said, “What is the word that the Lord spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said to you.” Then Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.”
So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord. Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.”
1 Samuel 3:11-21 (NKJV)
It is easy to lose/miss out on the promise/prophecy of the Lord when you are passive about it.
It is easy to lose out on dominion when we are passive about what God spoke.
“And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are deserving of death; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and because you were afflicted every time my father was afflicted.” So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, that he might fulfill the word of the Lord which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.”
1 Kings 2:26-27 (NKJV)
The passivity that Eli had toward God’s prophecy/promise made him not to seek mercy from God when He declared judgment over his household.
Eli’s passivity brought destruction to his house.
Our passivity/contempt for God’s word is what has limited our walking in the promise.
We prosper or fail by how we treat the word of God.
We trample on God’s word by our passivity, murmuring and complaining.
The danger with passivity is that you pick and choose what to obey and what not to obey according to whether you consider a prophetic word good or bad.
3. Impatience For The Promise
“And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.
And Samuel said, “What have you done?”
Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”
And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people present with him, about six hundred men. Saul, Jonathan his son, and the people present with them remained in Gibeah of Benjamin. But the Philistines encamped in Michmash.
1 Samuel 13:7-16 (NKJV)
The testing of time reveals:
- Your attitude when it comes to waiting on God – you must deal with your consideration/desire for the regard of men. Because people will scatter from you. You must deal with your care for your reputation in the eyes of men.
- Your wrong perception of the timing (delay) of God. God does not work with a clock, He works with the appointed day. A lot of the time that God gives you alludes to His mercy.
- How you perceive the enemy and the danger you are in, is something that you need to deal with. Saul had already adopted an attitude of defeat.
“Then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” “
1 Samuel 13:12 (NKJV)
You can compress time in one day with your obedience. And in contrast, what our forefathers secured by their obedience we can reverse in a day because of our disobedience.
A day in God’s eyes is not a day without purpose.
The day/ a day, refers to an appointed time. A time when we align ourselves to God’s purpose.
The question is: how much have you aligned yourself to the appointed time?
Our obedience means something.
“Then Saul built an altar to the Lord. This was the first altar that he built to the Lord.”
1 Samuel 14:35 (NKJV)
This is the first time he built an altar for the many years he was a king.
The problem with an altar that has not been dealt with is that it transfers trouble to the next generation. Your obedience is the key to breaking generational issues.
Read 1 Samuel 15.
The person who dealt with the Amalekites was Esther when King Saul should have seen to it as the Lord had commanded him to.
Obedience is what is going to enable us to walk in the promises of God over our lives, our nation and the world.
Obedience is the greatest form of worship.
God has 3 days: day of conception, day of revelation, and the day of execution.
Bishop Gobanga
Infinite Fellowship Ministries 
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