1 Samuel 4 Bible Study (The Philistines Capture the Ark/Death of Eli) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

If you have your bible, Psalm one nineteen verse one sixty five. I want you to see something before we go to our chapter in first Samuel. And let it be burned into your mind for the rest of your life. If you don't know this verse, know it now. Psalm one nineteen verse one sixty five.

Great peace have those who what? Love, not know, who love your law, who cherish your word, who adore your word. Great peace have those who love your law. I know a lot of people who know the word of God, but they don't have great peace. Because there's a difference between knowing it and loving it.

And one way you love it is you obey it. Right? Great peace have those who love your law. Now, what does it say next? Nothing can make them stumble.

Did he say most things? Did he say some things? No. He said, nothing can make them stumble. So if you wanna walk through this life without stumbling, falling, failing, love his law.

Cherish his word. Grasp it to your heart and hold onto it, and know it so that you can obey it. First Samuel chapter four. That's why we go through every book possible while we still have breath, and that's why we're still here in the book of first Samuel. That's why we're still in the Old Testament.

First Samuel chapter four is where we are starting today. Last week, if you were here, we studied the call of Samuel, and we received principles of how God calls man today, how he recruits them into his service. And we know that in Samuel's case, he was called to be a what? A prophet, a spokesman for the nation of Israel on behalf of God. And this young prophet, some believe he was 12 years old, received his first sermon.

And guess what it was? It was in John three sixteen. John three sixteen is a wonderful verse, and it should be our gospel message to the world. But in this case, at this point in history, it was a message of judgment. That God was going to wipe clean the spiritual leadership of his day, and he was going to make the nation's ears tingle at what he was about to do.

And so Samuel, this young boy, delivered that sermon, and the first person he was supposed to give it to was the man who was supposed to be judge himself, Eli. Eli, the high priest. And then we read that Samuel grows up and he becomes a prophet. People recognize him as a prophet, and the scene shifts now. Samuel disappears in the background, and we're not gonna see him for a few chapters because what we're gonna see now in chapter four is the fulfillment of that prophecy and the repercussions, what follows after this word comes to pass.

And so let's read in verse one of chapter four. Glad you have your bibles tonight. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek.

The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about 4,000 men on the field of battle. So what we're told here in verse one is that Samuel's ministry reached north, south, east, west. It was a nationwide ministry. Everybody knew about him. Everybody heard what he had to say.

Everybody revered the man. And when you read this, you almost get the impression that because of this influence, because of the word of God spreading, there is a war that is breaking out as a response of the influential ministry of this prophet. Meaning, because God's truth now is actually gaining ground. It's getting the attention of a a sluggish people, a morally corrupt and bankrupt nation. The enemy wants to do something to hinder it.

Now that principle can be founded on the word of God. Let me put it this way, if you wanna be a Christian or if you wanna be a part of a ministry that is serious about preaching God's word, you cannot believe for one moment that Satan is just gonna sit on his hands and let you continue to do that without a fight. Oh, he doesn't mind people joining churches that don't preach the truth, that preach pop psychology and different things to motivate you and your dreams and your desires. But when there is a people that preach the truth, you're gonna get the attention of hell. And if you wanna be a minister of God, not a full time minister, but just a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially in this day, you better believe that you're gonna have a target on your back.

You shouldn't be afraid because Romans tells us what? That Satan is underneath where? Your feet. So be encouraged by that. But that is not what is happening here.

What we're seeing here is that God is actually the one behind this war. This is not the nation of Israel being persecuted because of a revival. This is the nation of Israel being judged by their own God. How do we know that? Well, by understanding the nation's background, we know that they are in a place of perpetual disobedience.

Generally, specifically the spiritual leadership, they're not following the commands of God. And God gave us an entire chapter concerning the old covenant, the people of Israel, a whole chapter to describe what would happen if they continued on a path where their backs were turned on him. And I wanna read it. You don't have to turn there, but this is one of the curses. This is one of the consequences that would come upon Israel if they chose to continue to disobey.

And God is extremely merciful. He waits years upon years upon years. You have these people that criticize the God of the Old Testament like he he's someone different than the God of the New Testament, and those are people that do not know their bibles. I'm sorry to say that. Because when you come to the Old Testament, you see an extremely gracious and merciful God.

And you see it here. Years have passed by where the leadership is drowning in their own sin, not even a hint of conviction, and God's still letting them go their own way. But finally, you reach a limit because he is just and holy. And so in Deuteronomy twenty eight twenty five, just listen. The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies.

You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. God made a promise to Israel. Whenever you go to battle or if people come to war against you, you will know only victory. That's contingent. That's dependent upon what?

If you walk in my ways. And so one of the punishments is that when a nation rises up against you, instead of them fleeing seven ways, you're gonna flee seven ways. You're gonna suffer the loss as a result of your rebellion. But this chapter here, listen guys, it teaches us way more than that. That's a principle.

That's true. But there's so many other things here that we're gonna learn that is so relevant for today. You would be amazed. Because you know what you're gonna see here? You're gonna see something very strange.

You're gonna see an expression of faith. You're actually going to see we're gonna see together how these people, how this nation is actually gonna demonstrate an expression of faith. But the faith is false. It's a misguided faith. It's a belief about God that is not founded on God's word.

It's actually fueled and encouraged by self deception. And as you come here, you're gonna see some lessons of how not to relate to the Lord. What you're actually gonna learn here is that there is a type of faith in God that is misplaced in our generation. People that say things like, well, God to me is like, or my view of God is, you're gonna see from this chapter that that's not something new. That's here in first Samuel chapter four.

Now let's notice first in verse one. They encamped where? Ebenezer. Does anybody know what Ebenezer means? It's in one of our favorite hymns at this church.

Here I raise my Ebenezer. Be honest now. Have you ever sang and said, I don't even know what an Ebenezer is, but I'm just gonna sing it. Right? Ebenezer.

What does it mean? Help. More specifically, stone of help. But help is right. Here I raise my Ebenezer.

Ebenezer, in this time, was a memorial that was set up in the same book where the the people of Israel experienced victory, and they set up a memorial, a statue, so to speak, where every time they came to this place, Ebenezer, they realized God is faithful. God is willing to help us. God is able to intervene in our lives and actually change things for our good and for his glory. And this nation chooses to park their army at a place called Ebenezer. And every single one of us in this place, if you're truly born of the spirit, you should have an Ebenezer in your heart.

You should really believe with an immovable faith that God is really for you and not against you. That God actually wants to lead you through this life so that you can prosper for his glory. I'm talking about spiritual prosperity. I'm talking about soul prosperity. I'm talking about you being what he wants you to be and what he's ordained for you from the beginning of everything.

And so you and I should trust that I have a God that when I seek him, he can step into time, so to speak, move things around, and let me be stunned by his grace and mercy. So God isn't this abstract idea. He's not something that created me, and then someday I'm gonna see him face to face and everything in between I just have to figure out. No. He is my help.

He is my help. He's my guide. He's my protector. He's my provider. He's my leader.

He's my friend. And what better place to park yourself when you're engaged with the enemy than the place of Ebenezer? But here's the problem. God's favor in our lives is not experience on our own terms. And so he sets the conditions for us to experience his helping hand, and if we fail to comply with his standard, then we forfeit the experience of his interventions in our own lives in the end.

Right? So they're they're going to the right place, stone of help. God is going to help us, but they're assuming that God is gonna do something based on how they think God should do it. And so I want you to see at least three ways how people today relate to the Lord, and it's not the right way. And I wanna bring it in the positive sense.

Let's read from verse two down to verse three. The Philistines drew up line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about 4,000 on the field of battle. And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies. Number one, we must relate to the Lord through his word.

We must be willing to take God at his word. So the first battle, the first clash between Israel and the Philistines was a great defeat. It was a great blow against this nation. They lost 4,000 men. And they had some idea of how God relates to them because they asked the question, why did God let this happen?

Isn't he supposed to step in for us? Isn't he supposed to do some kind of miracle and sweep away our enemies? And so they have the right thinking, but based on their answer, the solution that they conjured up will reveal why they were in this predicament in the first place. Because in the past, you've been with us long enough, when we've seen warfare between Israel and his enemies, God has stepped in every single time. And when God didn't step in, oftentimes the response of the people was, we gotta seek him.

And so they would come before God broken. They would rip their robes. They would put dirt on their heads. They would even fast sometimes and bring sacrifices to God. And depending upon their sincerity, God would answer, and it would show this needs to change.

This needs to be gone so that they can overcome their defeat. But you see no response here. They automatically have a solution, and their solution is wrong. It's wrong. It's not prescribed in the word of God because they say, let's go and grab the ark of the covenant.

Now brief lesson, the ark of the covenant was like a chest piece. It was like a a little box. God commanded the nation to build it and to tuck it behind a place called the most holy place. It was in the house of God at this time. Nobody could even look upon this ark except one man one time a year.

Who was that man? The high priest. The high priest, one time out of the year, was able, in that dark room, see the ark of the covenant. And there was no way if you you if you can't even look at it, there's no way you can even touch it unless God made it clear and said take the ark out and use it, which he has done in the past. There is no such instruction here.

There's this automatic sense of we have the right to do this, and we're gonna grab the ark and bring it out here, and God is gonna do something because that that ark symbolized the throne of God on earth. It was God's presence with the nation of Israel. And so they thought to themselves, well, if we can bring it out here, God is gonna join us. And if God's gonna join us, he's gonna bring about this victory. Now here's the problem with that.

Their foolish answer showed why they were in this trouble in the first place. You know why? They proved that they didn't abide by the commands of God. They proved that they had no sense of relationship with the word of God, that there was no framework that how they live was based on how God told them how to live. And Israel attempted to take God by the hand and say, you're coming where we want to go.

We're going here and you're coming with us. And all this time up to this point, they failed to allow God to take their hand and say, come with me. This is where you need to go. If they knew their Bibles correctly, they would know that they didn't need the ark with them. In Deuteronomy 20, you don't have to turn there.

God already gave a chapter to tell them what they should do when they go to war, and it's clear there is no need to bring the ark out. He said, I will be with you. I will be with you. And he gave all these instructions. So they had no sense of the word of God guiding their decisions.

That is fascinating because this is one of the strongest illustrations of people who believe they have a relationship with God, but not based upon the word of God. Have you met those kind of people? There are there is a growing number of people that refuse to be associated with a religion, but are free to say they are what? I'm spiritual. Have you heard it?

I'm spiritual. Christians, it's not getting unique now for us to say we have a relationship with God. The pagans are saying it now. It's just me and and and the spirit God up there. We just, you know, just me and him, we're doing our own thing.

That's not biblical. That's not scriptural. In fact, Psalm one forty five verse 18 says, the Lord is near to all who call on him. To what? To all who call on him in what?

In truth. Psalm one forty five eighteen. The Lord is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. We worship him in spirit and in truth. Truth.

God has revealed himself and through his revelation, he has showed us how we can draw near to him. How we should approach him, how we should understand him. And if you don't have that grid, if you don't have that path, if you don't have that direction, if you don't have that lamp, you're never gonna really know the nearness of the true and living God. It's truth. And if we don't build our lives on what he's already revealed, like these people here, how do we expect him to actually help us?

How do we expect him to actually relieve us? In fact, we're gonna learn that many of the griefs that are self inflicted are due to our ignorance of the word of God. So you have people that relate to the Lord like these men here. They have no sense of the word of God. They're just moving on their own assumption and their own ideas, which leads us to number two.

Those who relate to the Lord also relate him wrongly in this way. They view him with superstition. They view him with superstition. Verse four. So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim.

And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. So they actually did it, and the Holy Spirit is highlighting the team that performed it, Hophni and Phinehas. These two men who were supposed to be priests who should have known better had the audacity and the boldness to waltz right into the most holy place, grab the thing by its poles, bring it on their shoulders, and come and remove it from its rightful place. You and I read that and we think, how could they have done this without any sense of trembling? Why was there no hesitation whatsoever?

It was like a reflex. It was like nothing. It was like going to the store to grab a box of milk. How? Well, I'll tell you how.

In verse Samuel two twelve, we learned what? Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. That's how. Well, if they didn't know God, then why would they have hope in the ark that symbolizes his presence?

Makes you think. Right? If you don't know God, why would you go to his house and grab the ark to help you in your need if you don't know him? Because like thousands of people today, their understanding of God was warped by superstition. You know what I mean by superstition.

Right? Superstition teaches people that God can be manipulated by little tricks and traditions. That if you just perform a brief religious ritual, you can get God's attention and he can perform what you want him to perform. He can do what you want him to do, even if it's your endeavor to sin. Someone once said, in the beginning, God has created man in his own image.

And ever since then, man has been trying to return the favor and create God in their own image. They have imagined God, Hophni and Phineas, have imagined God to be someone that would ignore their lifestyle of sin, wink at their unrepentant state, and actually at the same time help them to achieve their own selfish purpose. Believe it or not, that is how many people view God today. They view God like a landlord. A landlord that doesn't live on the same premise premises.

I don't know if you have a landlord, but I'm sure I'm sure, unless you have a special relationship with him or her, that you don't think about your landlord a lot. But when do you think about your landlord? When you need something. Right? The boiler is broken, the sink is clogged, the pipes are busted, whatever.

And who comes to your mind? Your lovely landlord. All for a sudden now your thoughts are around contacting your landlord and setting an appointment with your landlord and getting the attention of your landlord. And then once the landlord comes in and fixes your issues, you go back to where you were before. You're not thinking about them at all.

You have too much going on in life. You have things to accomplish throughout your day. And that is how people view Jesus Christ. He is their divine landlord. I only think about him.

I only talk to him. I only call him when there's something in my life that's busted. And once he comes and fixes it, I'm back to square one. That is not what God wants from us. But what people don't realize is that this kind of activity, like what they're doing right here, is no different than a person seeking benefits from someone that is not their spouse.

They are trying to gain some kind of experience for their own pleasure outside of the realm of covenant, outside of commitment, outside of fellowship, outside of binding relationship. And in this case, they thought that if they had the physical arc with them, if we just have this box with us, we will succeed. And I used to before I would say that I would go out with some friends and stuff, and sometimes some of my friends would have they came from traditional Christian backgrounds. And we're on our way to do what Christians aren't supposed to do, and they will have a cross hanging from their rearview mirror. And what do they do?

What do they do before they're about to go get intoxicated? They'll rub the cross with their fingers, petitioning the protection of God over their car, like the physical piece of jewelry is gonna actually do something. You think this is strange that they're gonna come and bring this box and think this box is gonna do something. People are doing it every single day. If they wear this specific necklace with a specific symbol on it, it'll protect them from evil.

Where'd you get that from? If you have this foot, if you have this animal, if you have this thing, then you're gonna shield yourself from all these evil spirit. Where are you getting that from? Well, it's tradition. Well, it's passed down from this.

And sometimes it's mingled with truth. But is it in the word of God? And then we begin to now find security and affection upon an object more than the creator. That's exactly what's happening here. They're showing more reverence for the box than for God himself.

And so for many people, God is someone that they put in their pocket and they pull them out when they need him, and then they stick him right back into the pocket, sometimes forget about him, throw him into the laundry, and they bring him out, realize, oh, there is God. And that's how people think God is like. And they're living every single day with that superstitious mindset. And this will shock you because there are some people who think like that and they come to church every single week. It's crazy.

You meet them, and then you talk about the relationship with God, and it's it's all superstitious. It's it's like magic. Which comes to our third point, there are people who relate to God thinking that their sincerity will excuse willful ignorance, thinking that sincerity will excuse willful ignorance. Look at verse five. As soon as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout so that the earth resounded.

Now that should be, as brother Daniel mentioned earlier before the service, that should be a response when we have a right relationship with God, and we understand who he is and how he's willing to step into our lives. But everything about this right here, this reaction, was based on false confidence. So imagine, Hoth and Phineas are coming from the hill. They're coming from Shiloh. They're appearing now before the army, and they see in the horizon, and maybe the sun is hitting that arc, and it's shining, and it's glittering.

And they begin to shout, and they begin to scream. And some of them were probably jumping and high fiving and hallelujah, praise this and praise that. And if anybody passed by, they probably would have thought, what a passionate group of spiritual people. They pray so loud that even the Philistines heard them. Talk about passion, talk about enthusiasm, talk about something that's attractive, but their excitement is not warranted.

Especially as a people who had the word of God and are going against it directly. And this proves that they actually believed that their superstition was true. They actually believed this. It wasn't like, let's just try it out. No.

They're like, this is gonna work. You know what this shows me? Religious enthusiasm, emotional excitement, sincerity boils down to nothing if it's not found out on God's truth. Comes down to zero if it's not prescribed in the word of God. You have a lot of people today that are deceived by various ministries for one sole reason.

They have bought into the emotional investment that that ministry provides while bypassing the truth that is needed to actually set them free. Really. People will go to church, they'll go to a place with a cross in the front, and and what will they tell you is the thing that keeps in there? It's how they feel. It's how the worship makes them feel.

And even though the word of God is completely ignored or watered down. Now can we come as the people of God and sense something of his true presence? Absolutely. But the true presence of God is accompanied by the word of God. Let me put it this way.

Do you wanna know if God is really in the midst of a church? Do you really wanna know if God is really working in a local assembly? I'll tell you how. Look at the people. And if you can find the people of God that are surrendered to the word of God, then you know that God is in the midst.

You know that God is in the midst. When you have a people that tremble at the word of God, that love the word of God, that you know that the Lord is there, and he's working in the hearts of that people. So it doesn't matter how much people lift their hands and jump up and down and do backflips on stage and twirl around. If the word of God is not there, it's like this. It means nothing.

It means nothing. Now we might think, brother, you're being a little offensive here. This is getting too much. Well, let me show you how it's actually consistent with the Bible. So what do we see here?

You see two people with the ark coming on the scene, and there's wild passionate worship. Right? It's nothing new. In fact, we're gonna learn the ark is actually gonna be robbed from the people of God only to resurface in Israel many years later under the kingship of David. And David, who wants God's presence near him, says, now that I'm king, let's get that ark back because we lost it here in chapter four.

And so he gathers thousands of people. They go and they grab the ark, and I want you to see. You're in first Samuel. Go to second Samuel. And look at chapter six.

I want you to see the response of the nation of Israel when they retrieved the ark. Second Samuel six verse five. And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nachon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.

Talk about a buzzkill for a worship service. Hold on for a second. You have king David wanting the ark of God back, and he grabs thousands of people. And once they get it, they're twirling and dancing and jumping, and it was amazing. It was wonderful.

But to God, it meant nothing. It meant nothing. Saying, how did it not mean anything to God? Is he that difficult to please? No.

Because if this passion wasn't rooted in truth, just like our seeking of him, it has no value. Because what happened? The ark is there, it stumbles, and one man puts his hand on it, and the bible is clear, you shall not touch the ark. He touches it. And when he touches it, God strikes him dead.

And all the instruments, I'm they just stop playing, right, simultaneously. They said, what just happened? And we think, God, this is severe. This is extra. He was actually doing a good thing.

He was actually trying to help God out. But good intentions is not a supplement for obedience. You have many people today that that are with good intention or trying to organize the church and organize programs and organize their preaching with with the idea of what we're trying to help God out because his way doesn't seem to be working. And when a ministry does that, just like Uzzah, it will die. There won't be fruit in it.

You're saying, well, what was he supposed to do? I'll tell you what they were supposed to do. Where was the mistake here? It was before Uzzah touched the ark. You would know it.

Tell me. The ark of the covenant, what happened with it? It should have been carried by the priests. They put it on the cart. God told them strictly, if you ever transport the ark, it's supposed to be on the shoulders of men.

It's not supposed to be on a cart pulled by a beast. And so the very reason why it stumbled in the first place was because they did it wrong to begin with. So everything about this was a string of disobedience, but it was drowned out by what? Hallelujah. Praise God.

All these noise. All these things. It means nothing. It means nothing if it's not grounded in the word of God. So don't measure a ministry.

Don't measure anything based on the emotional investment that it provides, and see if it's filtered through truth. Now with all that being said, if you have a people here that have have a false faith, a false confidence, a misguided understanding of who God is, and they're this passionate, how much more those who have truth? So then you have the other extreme where you have truth, truth in your heart, truth preached to you, truth that has set you free. And sometimes church services feels like it's a funeral. I don't understand it.

Sometimes you come in and it's like, who died today? Jesus is alive. He set you free. He delivered you. He has a plan for you.

Why the long face? And so we're about to learn some things here from a different group of people other than the people of God. Look at verse six. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, what does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean? When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid, for they said a god has come into the camp.

And they said, woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us, who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods. These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. So here the Philistines in their own camp, and they hear the base, and they hear the the booming voices, and they perhaps even felt the ground shake by the worship from these Israelites. Word came to camp.

They have their God with them now. And you know how they responded? They trembled to the core. They were freaking out because they realized now we have to deal with deity. Now we have to deal with a supernatural being.

And when I read that, I'm convicted. Why are you convicted? What's going on here? I see those who are the enemies of God's people and the enemies of the God of Israel have more reverence for God than the people of God. They pronounce woes on themselves.

They were like, God is here. God is here now. God is gonna show up. God is gonna do something. And listen, they didn't have perfect theology.

They thought there was multiple gods. They said these gods, thinking that the Israelites were polytheists, these gods. K. They didn't have it altogether, but with their limited knowledge, that was enough for them to tremble. Because they got one thing right.

This is the gods that they worship that actually did something to the Egyptians. They had history. They had a knowledge of what God has done in the past. And guess what? Unlike many professing believers today, they actually believe that God can do things today.

It's like, that's the God that's here now, and they began to tremble and have a holy fear of this God. While the Israelites just waltz into the most holy place, walk and take it out and move forward, and they're just dancing around like it's nothing. Where's the reverence? Where's the sense of holiness and the majesty of God? That God can actually do something in a service like this.

God can actually show up in our lives miraculously and do something powerful. God can actually expose things in in the middle of the service. Do you know that God can redirect the service right now? He can do it. He said, prove it.

In Acts chapter five, God interrupted his service by killing two people. I don't want that to happen. I hope he saves two people at least instead of killing. God is actually involved. God is in the midst.

Well, I don't see him and I don't feel him. Be careful. He can make himself known. So, see, we don't believe that. We don't really believe that.

See, for people, they come here and they're just gonna hear a moral story from the bible about a god who well, I don't know. One day I'll see him, I guess. Wrong. Wrong. He's in the midst.

He's in the midst. And I don't know what your experience of that is, but if you hunger enough, and if we as a church pray enough, we can see him do what this Bible says he can do. Save and restore and renew, and bring the backslidden home and change the sinner's heart. We can see that. But this is also a disappointing thing.

You know why? Because they had some kind of knowledge of this gods or god. They had some kind of understanding of what he's done in history, and they even emotionally were affected by that, but they still resisted him. You don't see him saying, well, here is the God of Israel. Let's turn away from our gods.

They fought him even more. They still stood their ground against God. See, there are people in this world today that have a knowledge of the bible that know bible stories that would even say, I believe the stories of this bible. And it actually affects them emotionally to a certain degree, but they still resist him. They haven't surrendered to him.

They haven't laid down their lives to him and said, Lord, here's my life. This is who I know you are. And the Philistines are showing us that. But surprisingly, we have more to learn from the Philistines. Isn't that sad?

I mean, we wanna learn from those who are the chosen people of God, but now we're actually learning more of elements of faith from the enemies of God. Verse nine. Look look what the Philistines say. Take courage and be men, oh Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be men and fight.

Wow. So now there's an obstacle presented. There is a hurdle. There is something that is actually even causing them genuine fear, and guess what they didn't do? Throw their weapons to the side and say, let's pack up and get out of here.

It triggered a persistence. It actually made them fight more. And I read this and I thought to myself, if you have a bunch of people that are set on doing evil that can find courage to persist, how much more us who are advancing the kingdom of God? I wanna say this, and I'm including myself in this, believers who serve the Lord are easily dejected. Doesn't take much.

Doesn't take much for us to lose hope and lose vigor and lose lose the fight. All it takes is one comment from somebody and we just we deflate. How can God allow this to happen to me? How is this going to turn out? Oh, look.

It's been a few weeks and people haven't been showing up like they've been used to showing up. Is this something I said? Is this something I did? Look. People are causing trouble in the ministry.

I don't even know if I'm really called for the ministry. I don't know God, I don't know if I don't maybe you didn't even actually call me. What is that? What would happen when things come against us and the enemy tries to intimidate us? What if we just said, you know what?

If the enemy is gonna do this, then let's pray more. If the enemy actually wants to fight against this and actually wants to stifle with this, then let's seek the Lord with greater intensity. Okay. I'm gonna serve God with a greater zeal, a greater humility, and a greater love. Like, you wanna throw off the enemy?

Do that. Like, I can't do anything. This guy just the more I touch him, the more he gets passionate. Does it seem like it seems like there's like a a lukewarmness that's blanketed over the church, and people don't seem to be into it as much before. Well, you come and you lift your hands and you worship God.

I worship you, Lord, whether people wanna worship you, and it doesn't matter to me. I don't know where people are at with their faith. I'll pray for them. I'll encourage them, but between me and you, I'm gonna give you what is your due. You have the Philistines here that are being intimidated, and they look at each other and say, don't be let's let's go forward now.

Let's advance now with greater zeal and passion. And they're on the evil side. Don't give up so easily. You have God the father, God the son, God the holy spirit, and two thirds of the angels of heaven on your side. How can you be discouraged?

How can you give up so easily and believe the word of God? If he began the work in you, he'll bring it to completion. He'll bring it to completion. Like, there is no losing in the Christian life. No losing.

All things work together for the good for those who love God. All things. All things. All things. So what do I lose?

Now if he said 99% of things, I have a reason to be discouraged. If he said, most things, but there are some things that I can't really put a finger on and help you out on, okay. You you can be upset and you can say, I don't know if I can move on. But all things work together. So what happens?

Verse 10. The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for 30,000 foot soldiers of Israel fell. And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. You know what's so sad about this?

In the first battle, how many did they lose? 4,000. And the ark wasn't with them. Now that they brought the ark with them, they lost even more than when they didn't have the ark. 30,000 foot soldiers.

And we might think, well, why? Could God not have defended them? No. Actually, he purposely didn't defend them, and he wanted to show Israel a lesson. What was that lesson?

I'm not a good luck charm. Dangerous Christianity is a Christianity that thinks that it centers around me and not around God. The moment we make this thing called faith about me and God and everything the church and my everything revolves around me, you're gonna you're gonna inherit death, spiritual death. But the moment we set it on him and everything revolves around him, that's when life comes. And in this case, they didn't believe that.

And it's in these verses that we read the fulfillment of the prophecy, Eli's sons died. You know what's amazing? God says, Eli's sons, your sons, they're gonna die. He didn't say how they were gonna die. Because because God doesn't have to tell us how he does everything.

He says it's gonna happen, and it happened this way. He could've struck him dead right there, like the sons of Aaron in Leviticus 10, but he didn't. He used natural means for it to be accomplished. More importantly though, something has happened with the nation of Israel that has never ever happened up to this point, and it's this, the ark of God was captured. That's never happened before.

And this is about to be a shock to the core of the nation as they're about to find out how this happened. The very thing that made Israel distinct from the nations was what Moses prayed. Lord, if your presence doesn't remain with us, how will they know that we are your people? How will they know? And now that, that's been taken from them.

So what's left for them? So we read as we close in a moment. A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. If they had just done that before the war, they probably would have seen a turn of events. When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching for his heart trembled for the ark of God.

So you have Eli, this high priest, who's the leader, the spiritual leader of the nation, the father of Hophni and Phinehas, and he's sitting on a chair looking out with whatever eyesight he had left and was trembling in his heart. And you know, why is he trembling? Well, it's not for his sons primarily. It's for the ark of God. I wonder what it looked like for Hophni and Phinehas to come to the house of God initially, and they're saying, move out of here, old man.

We're coming for the ark. And he's trying to hold them back. No, sons. Don't do this. He wasn't able to restrain them before.

He wasn't gonna restrain them now. So they pushed the old man away. They took the ark. They moved forward. And the very thing that was running through Eli's mind that whole time was I just I know this isn't gonna turn out well.

Because if Eli had anything left, he had this idea that was right. You can't treat God that way. You can't treat God like he's some kind of good luck charm. So the only thing he's thinking about is I hope the ark comes back in good condition. That's all he cares about.

And what happens? Verse 14. When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, what is this uproar? People are starting to now uproar and not because the ark is there, but it's because the ark is gone. Then the man hurried and came and told Eli, now Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

And the man said to Eli, I am he who has come from the battle. I fled from the battle today. And he said, how did it go, my son? He who brought the news answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.

As soon as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died, for the man was old and heavy. So this old fragile man, if you have grandparents or if you have parents that are in their nineties, you know that all it takes is one fall and things can go bad very quickly. This old man is sitting there, and he is so jarred by the news of the Philistines taking the ark, that it pushes him back and the way he lands snaps his neck, and he dies. And you read that, and you might be interested to realize that it goes out to say, and the Holy Spirit highlights that he was heavy. He was overweight.

And that's more than just to tell us the physical description of the man that contributed to the neck not being able to support him. No. You heard it a couple weeks ago. Why is this significant? Who remembers?

The reason why he was fat is because of first Samuel two twenty nine. In first Samuel two twenty nine, an unnamed prophet looked at Eli, and he says, why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves? By fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel. So here's what was happening. Hophni and Phineas took what belonged to the Lord.

What portion belonged to the Lord of the animal? The fat. No human had the right to touch the fat. The fat of the animal in this covenant when they worship God and ask for forgiveness, they had to slaughter an animal. When they took the pieces of that beast, the fat would sizzle alone, untouched by human hands, and that would be dedicated to God.

Why? Because the fat was the best part. And it's a picture of giving God our best. But you know what this man did with his sons? As they smelled the fat roasting on that grill, they thought, what a waste.

This is just gonna sizzle and disappear. Why don't we just add it to our meat and get some flavor? And so they would add it. And over the years, Eli began to become overweight. And a contribution to that, he was eating what belong to to God.

Now I want you to think about this. Throughout the years, don't limit it to thinking that Eli just ate some fat. That's why he was big. No. It's much more significant than that.

Eli robbed God of what solely belonged to him to satisfy his selfish desires. It's a deadly game when a man steps in and takes what belongs to God and applies it to himself. It's deadly. And this can be viewed in light of pride. Praise belongs to God alone.

It's just like the fat. The priest could eat the meat of the animals, some portions of the meat, but there is one thing that belonged to God alone, and that was the fat. And I wanna say this, Isaiah 42 verse eight tells us that the Lord is my name, and my glory I shall give to no other. God shares his love. He shares his mercy.

He shares his provisions. He shared his son. There's one thing that God doesn't share, and that's his glory. And when a man fails to redirect the glory to God, when a man fails to recognize God as the source and the strength of all that he is and all that he does, and he begins to nibble on what belongs to the Lord alone, it becomes deadly. Pride is a dangerous thing.

But it goes beyond that, because in the Old Testament, you gave sacrifices of animals. You gave God certain sacrifices that solely belong to him. Now that's done with because Jesus was our ultimate sacrifice. We don't need to perform these rituals anymore, but the principle of sacrifice doesn't end. It doesn't end.

What we sacrifice changed. The first sacrifice is Christ's sacrifice. We embrace him. We receive him, and that's the final sacrifice. We don't have to shed blood anymore.

We don't need to convince God that we are in need of forgiveness apart from what Christ has done. He is our source of eternal life and nothing else. But people ended there, and they failed to realize that there's something of sacrifice that you have to give to the Lord that solely belongs to God. You know what it is? Romans twelve one.

I beseech you brothers, by the mercy of God, to offer up your bodies as a living sacrifice. Holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Praise God. I'm thankful being in the ministry that I don't have to minister like those priest did in the Old Testament. This you know what it would this place would be a butcher shop.

You would come in here and you would smell blood, see blood stained everywhere. You would hear animals over here crying. That's what it was in the old covenant. In the new covenant, Christ comes, he's a fulfillment of those sacrifices. But the principle of sacrifice doesn't end.

I don't come to God now and give him a piece of fat. Do you think God wants fat? God wants something more valuable. He wants you. He wants me to be placed on the altar every single day.

What does that mean? It means that this doesn't belong to me. It belongs to God. That's a different caliber of Christianity, isn't it? You can feel it.

But it's standard Christianity. The only reason why it sounds foreign is because it's not declared as it should be. You and I are living sacrifices to the Lord. The pleasing aroma has shifted. It's not about now the best part of an animal, it's about your life.

Every single day saying, Lord, my life is yours. Let me how do I know if I'm living this way? Very simple. When was the last time you've said in your heart to God, whatever you say, Lord, I will do. If you say go, I go.

If you say stay, I stay. Even if it's difficult, even if my flesh fights against it, if this is what you want, I'll give it to you. When you do that, an aroma comes before God. And that is spiritual worship. Have you ever thought about this?

If you want motivation to fight against sin, he says your body as a living sacrifice is spiritual worship. So we've limited worship to three songs, break two songs. No. Spiritual worship, in part, is when you say no to temptation. Have you ever thought of it like that?

When I say no to this temptation, an aroma goes before God. When I resist this invitation to do something that would break the heart of the Holy Spirit, an aroma comes before God. Say, really? Yes. Because it's spiritual worship.

It's pleasing to him. He's satisfied by that sight. And so it's not just about, no, because God has his arms crossed and he's like, good. I'm glad you did that because if you didn't, I was gonna mess up your life. Is that how you feel when you choose not to cheat on your wife?

Is that how you feel when you choose not to cheat on your husband? I hope not. Spiritual worship, we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. And here's the beautiful part. First John five tells us that his commands are not burdensome.

It's not burdensome. So this man broke his neck because he robbed God of glory. Not just because he ate fat, he robbed God of glory and it took him out. I know it's a sad chapter. It's only gonna get sadder.

I'm sorry. On a Friday night, we're just going book by book, chapter by chapter. There's some happy chapters, and there's some sad ones. Verse 19. Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant.

That's nice. That's wonderful news. About to give birth. Okay. She's right there.

And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. Now imagine that news. You're about to announce to your husband and maybe your father-in-law, the baby is coming. And when you're saying, where's Phineas? The baby is coming.

Where's Eli? The baby is coming. News came and says, your brother-in-law, your husband, and your father are dead. Oh, by the way, the nation is in disgrace because the ark of God has been captured. That's how she's going into labor.

And so she hears this news, and on top of all these sorrows, this is like a different version of Job's story, like everything crashing at you at once. Your family members are dying. The nation is in disgrace. And here's another thing to add to the tragedy, verse 20, and about the time of her death, her labor is not going very well. She herself is dying in this procedure now.

Her life is escaping her. And about the time of her death, the woman attending her said, do not be afraid for you have born a son, but she did not answer or pay attention. That's how gloomy this was for her. I mean, especially in this culture when you had a boy that would carry on the family's name, that was a glorious thing. And upon the news that you're gonna have a son, there's not even a peep of praise from her.

She is so overcome by the reality. She's just trying to even digest what she just heard. My husband's gone. The nation's in trouble. I'm dying.

And you know what's incredible through this sad scene? You know what's actually hopeful It's how she responds because how she responds actually reveals the quality of her spiritual sensitivity. Verse 21. And she named the child Ichabod. To this day, I've never met somebody named Ichabod.

Saying, the glory has departed from Israel because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. Did you catch it? What was the main source of her grief? Before her husband, that's a natural thing. Before her father-in-law, that's a normal thing.

What was the main source of her pain? The presence of God is not with us. God has left the house. And with all the craziness going on, that's the thing that she's thinking about the most. Think about that.

I believe that says something about her relationship with the Lord to a certain degree. The glory of God has departed. How can this be? You know what that reveals to me? That reveals to me that, you know, there are many people in this life that have figured out how to go day by day without fellowship with God.

I don't know how. But if you have walked with Christ in a real experiential fashion, you know very well that life is not life without Jesus. I've met plenty of people that are satisfied with going to church once a week. Many of them. Nice people.

Good people. Good hearted people. But there are very few that have determined if Jesus is not near me, then life is not worth living. If Jesus is not walking with me, then Lord take me now. If Jesus will not use me, then bring me into your presence.

Very few people like that. Very few people that are concerned about the glory of God in modern day Christianity. This woman was. She was so overcome. She was so disturbed.

She was so shaken. She says, I'm gonna name my son this, which probably, that's a debate whether that's a good idea or not. That every time His name was mentioned, they would realize that God was gone. Everything in life loses its color and becomes gray and dim if God is not in the picture. Right?

What more could be beautiful than a sun coming into the world? And even in that, she couldn't see the full color of it because now she knows, well, God's not even here anyway. Think about that. You know who I feel bad for during Thanksgiving time? Atheists.

What are you thanking and who are you thanking? What do you do when you come upon a hillside and you see a beautiful sunset? Like, where does your heart go? I'm thankful for the big bang. It was wonderful.

I'm so glad that the universe collided in such a manner for us to experience such aesthetic beauty. I feel bad for you, man. You know what it's like, right, to drive on the highway after a long day of work, and you see the colors in the sky, pink and purple and blue. And you're there in traffic, and as you look, you ignore the lights in front of you, and you ignore the people doing things in different cars towards you. And you say, my God is an artist.

Lord, you're amazing. What's the point? What's the point? The only joy that people who don't believe in God have is that they have so suppressed the truth so that they can enjoy the little sin that they can enjoy before they stand before God. Most atheists are atheists not because there is credible evidence that there is no creator.

No. Most atheists are atheists because they wanna suppress the reality of a judge that will judge them based on what they do. This woman is so overcome, and this chapter doesn't end on a high note. You know why? Because from this moment on for years, Israel will now succumb to the religious experience being down to formality.

Think about it. The ark of God is gone, but they can get new priests. They can find new spiritual leaders. They still have the house of God. They still have the tabernacle.

They could still perform sacrifices. But one thing's missing, God is not in the midst. God is not there. God is not among them. They're just gonna go through it, and it's just gonna be hollow.

And dare I say that over many ministries today, should it be written Iqbal? We have the buildings. We have the programs. We have a board. We have elders.

We have a charismatic speaker. But where's God? Where's God? Saying, brother, what do you mean where's God? I'm saying, where is the sense that God is actually working in the midst?

Where are the lives being changed? Where is the sanctification? Where is the sense of awe and worship at the reality of Jesus Christ? Where is that? That can only be provoked and prompted by the Holy Spirit.

And that's what you have many people today. You want a sad picture? Imagine that. The most holy place is empty. It's just a dark room, and you have people coming, sacrificing, doing all these different things, and people are doing the same today.

Let's just go in and out. It doesn't matter if we hear from God. It doesn't matter if we give to God what he deserves. It doesn't matter if God does something. Ichabod.

Ichabod. But let's end on a high note. One verse, you know it very well, but let's look at it with our own eyes. And this is the last verse, I promise. James chapter four verse eight.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. What an amazing verse. Someone insightfully pointed this out. It doesn't say draw near to God, and he will save you. And say, draw near to God, and he will forgive you.

Those are wonderful things, and those things are true. It says, draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you. Everything about that is fellowship. Everything about that is the knowledge of the nearness of God, the warmth of who he is, the sense in your heart that you're walking this life with a living savior. Draw near to him.

And in his own way, he will make sure that you know that he is near to you. I want that. But the ball is in whose court? God's or mine? Mine.

I draw near to God, and when he says, here's a heart that wants me. He'll draw near. He'll draw near. Maybe your parents have said this over you, especially you young ladies. Don't ever throw yourself at anybody.

Right? Let a man see your worth, and let him pursue you. If he desires you, he'll pursue right? Have you heard that? No?

Yes? Maybe? Yeah. Why? Because your your mother, your father wants you to see your value and how precious you are.

How much more God? How much more beautiful and splendid and glorious? Does God pursue us? Yes. He's pursued us in Jesus Christ.

But look, we have to finish this. Draw near to God, and he'll draw near to you. Well, how do I draw near to God? Cleanse your hands, you sinners. This is James talking to Christians, by the way.

This isn't an evangelistic letter. So if strong preaching is not your forte, I don't recommend the book of James. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. That's how I draw near to God. Know your worth, know your value.

If somebody really wants you, they'll they'll forget everybody else and they'll come after you. They'll let go of their specific lifestyle so they can honor you, and God is the same way. God is holy. He is precious. He is majestic.

And God draws near to the person who says, Lord, I'm pursuing you even if I have to let go of my sin, if I have to let go of my worldly friends that don't love you, if I have to let go of whatever you want me to let go of so I can have you, I'm gonna show you that you are worthy. And And when he sees that kind of a heart that's saying, I'm willing to wipe my hand cleans, bid this world goodbye, and no longer be a double minded Christian. One month, I'm with you. Two months, I'm not. Four months, I'm with you.

One month, I'm not. No. Lord, I'm I'm coming to you, and I wanna be near you so that you can be near me. God says, I will do it. I will do it.

See, if they just did that in first Samuel four, no matter how much Hophni and Phineas did, this is how merciful God is. God would have changed the event. We have every reason to believe that, but there was no drawing near to God. There was my version of God that's gonna actually now do it my way because my life is about me and God's gonna help me. And so as one preacher said it, for many people, God is a cheerleader.

He just encourages you and helps you do your thing and he says, keep going. You're gonna do it right. No. Our lives are centered around him. It's about him, his playbook, what he desires, and we enjoy that more than if our lives were centered around us.

I guarantee you that. And so as Christians today, two prayer requests as we pray together. Number one, that in this church, it would never be said Ichabod. It would never be said Ichabod. We pray here every Wednesday.

And here's our prayer as we are planning and praying for an expansion. Who cares if we get a bigger building if there is no God? Who cares if we have a better platform, better speakers, more people? What does it matter if God doesn't intensify his glory and majesty in our midst? I'd rather be, and I say this before the Lord, I'd rather be stuck and shoved in some cave with the glory of God than in some splendid building with the absence of his presence.

Because that's what they have in China. They have caves with roots from the top of the caves, and they have footage of this of Christians weeping. Because every morning the Christians go there, the Chinese Christians, and they pray for two hours at 4AM. And the glory of God meets them there. Doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter what we have, what we don't have. Doesn't matter who's up here. If God is not here, pray that God would keep his presence in this place. Secondly, you, in this house, tonight, is God near you? You know if you're not close to God.

I wanna encourage you today. I wanna encourage you that in this moment, tonight can be the turning point of your relationship with God. And what is he waiting for? You to draw near to him. You to draw near to him.

You have many people say, well, if God wants me, prove it. He did two thousand years ago. He sent his son. What else do you want? He didn't just send his son to get your attention and write in a book.

He died on a cross. So he's waiting for you now to draw near to him. How do you draw near to him? Well, what the verse just says, Lord, Lord, I know I'm not new to you for one main reason. I'm double minded.

One day I'm in the world, one day it's about me, I'm my own God, and some days it's about you. But Lord, in this moment, it's all about you. I want my life to be about you. I've tried it my own way. I failed.

I failed miserably. It's only leading me to greater darkness and destruction, and thank you for saving me from much trouble. In this moment, I've heard your voice. I'm coming near you. I need you.

I want you. God will. You'll know it. Your spirit will bear witness of it. Why wait anymore?

You know He's merciful. He's extremely gracious. He is so wonderful. He is so glorious. I think about my life and I think about some decisions that I made in my life, and I thought to myself, it's only by the mercy of God that Satan didn't take me out while being outside of covenant with God.

It's only by the grace of God that I didn't plummet to my own death. He's allowed me to have another day with the ability to breathe so I can confess him as Lord and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead. I wanna encourage you today that God has brought you here tonight for the sole purpose that you would draw near to him so that he can draw near to you. He's made your spirit and he yearns jealously for the spirit that he's made in you to be in fellowship with him. The God that we preach about in this book and in this church is a God of love.

A God of extreme love. A God that is so loving that the creatures that he's made, he wants fellowship and relationship with them. He's not like the gods that you see in this book that are anti the God of this Bible. He's not a God that takes pleasure in your pain. He's not a God that wants you to suffer and prove them through your own blood and your own ritualistic behavior that you're worthy to have him even look upon you.

No. He's a God that shed his own blood, that sacrificed himself so that that bridge that's been broken by sin can be built again and that you can have relationship with him. I'm talking about a real God. I'm talking about a living Christ. I'm talking about a resurrected king that is able to make himself known in 2021 in your daily life.

I can't imagine my life without Christ. I can't imagine waking up every morning without the knowledge that Jesus is there ready to hear my voice. I can't imagine knowing that human hearts can only bear so much, but there's a God in heaven where he's never burdened by my burdens. I can come to him every single day and repeat the same thing, and I can cast every anxiety because I know he cares for me. I know it, and you can know it too.

I thank God that my days ahead are ordained. They are ordained by God so that every event that occurs in my life, if it's not in my favor, I know because I am near him and he's near me that this is for my good. I know it. You can know it too. I've used this illustration before.

I grew up in the nineties. I grew up in the day where you got in a car with your family, and in order to get directions to get to a certain place, you open up a giant map that covered three quarters of the windshield while you're driving. And thank God, by the time I was able to drive, there was something invented called the GPS that I can stick on my phone, put on a magnet on my car, and listen to whatever voice and version of the voice I want for that day to tell me beautifully how to go to where I need to be. I can't imagine being in that map generation. There was a generation before that.

I use that to say, thank God for God. I don't know how people do it. People say, I don't know where I would be without a GPS. GPS? How do you do it without God?

Never mind your GPS. How do you maneuver? How do you plan? Where's your security? How do you know when you need to be redirected?

How? But see, what I'm saying right now is so foreign because church is just about the sermon on the Sunday morning. Right? Where is he Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday? Where is he?

Saying, are are you saying it's available? Yes. I'm saying it's available. You have to draw near to him though, and he'll draw near to you. Some of you in this place perhaps, you have been near God but you are not near God now.

It's been months. It's been months and it got so normal that you're used to it. You've actually figured out how you can do this, and you've made your faith borderline superstitious. And it's just about, let me just do this and make sure that my religious conscious is satisfied, and there's no living relationship with Christ. Draw near to God.

He'll draw near to you. Let's pray. Two responses tonight in your heart, in this place. Lord, over this church, please protect us from Ichabod. Please, Lord, let your glory remain in this house.

Let your glory fill this house. Actually, let's just pray together. Let's do that right now. Father, in Jesus' name, in this place, Lord, as a response of first Samuel four, Lord, we refuse to read your word as though it's the newspaper. It's the living word of God, and it applies to us right here, right now, and we hear your voice through your word.

Lord, in this moment tonight, we pray over this church, God, and protect us from the pain of going through even a season where your glory is not in the midst. Lord, we pray that your presence would be known that when people come here and they meet with us as the temple of the Holy Spirit, they would say, God is in you guys. The love of Christ shines through you guys. Lord, please, may that be the testimony of this ministry for your glory. Protect us from a hollow faith.

Protect us from a superficial Christianity. Take us from superficial to supernatural. Lord, we ask that in this house, no matter what kind of building we have, no matter if it gets stuffy or if it's not stuffy, Lord, that Your glory would be known. Your presence would be known in this place, Lord. And that people would encounter the living Christ through the written Word of God.

And Lord, we ask right now over every soul that feels distant. Not because of a test that they're going through, but because they know in their own lives, I'm not walking fully with God. I'm double minded. I know what's true, but I'm overcome by my flesh. I fear man more than I fear God.

I love the pleasure of sin more than the pleasures at your right hand. Lord, if there's even one, Lord, may they not sense for one moment a hint of condemnation, but may they sense the radiating mercy of Jesus Christ. The compassion of Christ that says, my son, my daughter, why are you there? What I have for you is so much greater, so much greater. Lord, may every heart that is in that place sense the invitation to come to you again.

And Lord, help us believe that in times where we feel, and we know that we're not near you, all you're waiting for is us to say, God, I'm I'm coming back. I'm coming back to you, Lord. I'm sorry, Lord, that it's been so long since I've sat at your feet. I'm sorry, Lord, that I got distracted with this world. Lord, help us know that you don't hold it against us when we turn to you wholeheartedly.

Thank you that you are a good God. Lord, we want to know your nearness. And so Lord, in this place tonight, may we all testify that you touched our hearts. You touched our hearts. And Lord, finally, we ask that all of us can be able to testify that without God in the picture, without the Lord being the author of our lives, life is not worth living.

But because you live, life is worth living. Thank you, Lord, that even the things that bring us joy such as family, husbands, fiances, kids, as much as those things bring us happiness, Without you, they would not be possible anyway. It's all about you, Lord. It comes down to you. We give you worship, Lord, and adoration.

Not from a place of false security or confidence like the Philistines saw in the Israelites. But Lord, because we're in the truth, and we can rejoice that we're in the truth. Thank you, Lord. We give you praise and glory in this place. In Jesus name, amen.

If you wanna stay seated, you're you're free. If you wanna stand up, you're free. I just encourage you to say, lord, I want to know your nearness. Even if you're near God today, say, lord, I want even more nearness to you. I want to know that my life my life is hand in hand with Christ, step by step, day by day.

Please, Lord, I need you. I want you. Watch what God will do in your life. He's such a faithful God. Let's worship.