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Today, we will focus our attention on the book of First Samuel. Our passage for today will be the fourth chapter of First Samuel verses 16-22. And it reads: 1Samuel 4: 16-22 16And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done my son? 17And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. 18And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years. 19And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her. 20And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. 21And she named the child I-chabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel:: Because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. 22And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken. May God add blessing to the hearing and the reading of his word. The title of the message is called “Remembering the day of Ichabod.” The name Ichabod is mentioned in the 21st verse of our passage. The name Ichabod means “no glory” or “no greatness.” At the time of her death, it is recorded that Ichabod’s mother constantly repeated these words, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.” The day that Ichabod was born was a terrible day. A terrible turn of events occurred the day that Ichabod was born. His father (Phinehas), his uncle (Hophni), and his grandfather (Eli) all died in the same day. The thing that was interesting about this is that all three of these men were priests. One may ask the question, “Well, how did these three men come to such a terrible end?” That is a good question concerning how this came to be, but it is imperative that we understand the full context of this passage. According to the Bible, Eli was the high priest in Shiloh, and his sons Hophni and Phinehas served as priests in the priesthood. However, the Bible says that Hophni and Phinehas did not know God. They were serving in the priesthood, but they did not know God. These men seemed to have disrespected God and the people of God in just about every way that you can imagine. The scriptures reveal that Hophni and Phinehas were taking the offerings of the people by force. They were strong-arming the offering. The Bible says, that it was customary, at that time, for the meat to be seething or to be boiling before giving it to the priest. However, Hophni and Phinehas took the meat by force, because they did not want to eat any boiled meat. They wanted to eat roasted meat. The Bible says, “That the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.” The word abhor means to hate and to be disgusted by something. This means that Hophni and Phinehas were causing the people to hate the offering time. They caused the people to be disgusted with the offering of the Lord. Not only did the sons of Eli defile the offering of the Lord, but the Bible says that they were sleeping with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. What made the situation more problematic is that Eli heard of all of the evil things that his sons were doing. The Bible teaches us that Eli corrected his sons, but he did not restrain them. There’s a revelation in that, because here you can see God wanting Eli to fight to insure that God was respected as God. The Bible teaches us that Eli did not restrain his sons which means that God wanted Eli to restrain His sons. God wanted Eli to fight for him even against his own beloved sons. God wanted Eli to fight for his relationship with God. So, the Bible tells us that Eli warned his sons telling them that the things they were doing was evil in the sight of God. Eli also warned his sons that no man can rescue them from God. However, the young men did not listen to their father, and they continued their lives as usual. The issue is that they did not know God. When you really know God, you know that He must be respected as God. You must give him the utmost respect. Not only should we treat Him with respect, but we should treat each other with respect. It seems as though many of us are living in a state of Ichabod. Many of the same acts that Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas committed are happening all around us. Brothers are committing fornication and adultery with the women in the church. Brothers and sisters in the church are shacking up with no intentions of solidifying their commitment before God. Sisters are asking the preachers for sexual favors. Preachers are asking for women in the church to provide sexual favors. Many of us are defiling the Lord’s offering, because we want the chiefest of things. We want the best of jewelry. We want the best of cars. We want the best of houses. We want jets and we want airplanes, but we don’t even realize that we are causing God’s people to hate the offering of the Lord. We are living in a state of Ichabod, because we have perfected the ceremonial and the ritualistic portions of the service. Yes it’s true. Hophni and Phinehas knew all of the priestly duties, but the did not know God. They were so distant from God that they lived lives of disrespect towards God and God’s people. This is the state of Ichabod that we are talking about. In reality God is not with some of us. The reality is that God is not pleased with some of the selfish things that we are doing in this life. We have to stop telling God we love him when we don’t even bother to respect Him. We don’t even bother to give Him honor. We don’t even bother to listen to Him. Sometimes we treat each other with such disrespect. It seems as if we don’t respect God, the things of God, or the people of God. The actions of these men angered God so much that he sent a man to prophecy to Eli. This is interesting, because we live in a day when people only believe that a man is a prophet if he tells them God’s gonna bless you with a house or a new car. They believe the prophet has to tell them that God’s gonna send you a check in the mail. They don’t believe that you’re prophet unless you tell them that you’re gonna come out with your hands lifted. However, the Bible says that God sent a man to prophecy to Eli, “The man of God told Eli that both of his sons will die in one day.” The man also told Eli that he was going to die, because he honored his sons above God. This is the sin that Eli committed. Eli loved his sons more than God. He gave more honor to his sons than to God. The Bible says that, “ God is a jealous God, and He will have none before him. Jesus said in His Word, “If any man come unto me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Jesus is saying you gotta love me more than anybody. You’ve got to love Jesus more than your frat brother! More than your mother. More than your son!! Jesus says, “You must love me more than anything in this world. You must love me more than anybody in this world.” Can’t you see the sins of Eli all around you? So many of us turn a blind eye to wrong doing. We turn a blind eye to wrong doing, because sometimes its our family member thats doing wrong. Sometimes it’s our dear friend that’s doing wrong. Sometimes we act as if nothing is going on, but I can remember when God spoke to Ezekiel. God commanded Ezekiel, “Cry aloud and spare not.” You cant afford to be silent. You cant afford to turn a blind eye to wrong doing. God says, “If you see a man on his way to destruction and you don’t warn him, his blood will be on your hands.” You don’t want to be the one standing in judgement with bloody hands, because their blood will be on your hands. Do you know what that means? If their blood is on your hands, that means that God will see you as a murderer in the day of Judgement. You don’t want bloody hands in the day of Judgement! Judgement Day is drawing nigh! Judgement days is drawing nigh, and you don’t want to be lost when Jesus comes. God bless
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