(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen. All right. Well, we're in first Samuel chapter number four this evening. And if you remember last week, God gave a very negative message to the child Samuel, who had to deliver that message to Eli. And with chapter four, it kind of continues that theme of being a negative chapter. And, you know, sometimes in this world, we need to learn negative messages. We need to hear negative messages because a lot of people are just living in la la land and they think that their sin has no consequences. But if we read the Bible and the stories in the word of God, we see a very different story, and that's what we're going to see this evening. I want to point out several things from this chapter this evening. Number one, I want you to notice the loss of God's protection. Look at verse number one. It says in the word of Samuel came to all Israel. So if you remember the message that God gave to Samuel, where Samuel was supposed to tell Eli that God is going to judge his house, that message was actually spread abroad throughout all of Israel. So basically, all of Israel knows the impending doom that is coming its way. Look, it says, And now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle and pitched beside Ebenezer and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel. So they're getting ready to fight. When they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines, and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. So this is a terrible situation here. The children of Israel are going out to war against the Philistines, and there's nothing wrong with going to war against the Philistines. This is something that God wanted them to do. But yet they still were beaten in battle. They still lost, says here, four thousand men. And it wasn't because fighting the Philistines was wrong. It was because their nation had lost God's protection. Now you could say there, I'll read for you. Romans 831 says this. What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? And so we know that if God has our back, there's no enemy that could destroy us. There's no weapon that's formed against us that can prosper. And it's the same thing back then for the children of Israel. If God was on their side, then they would not have lost this battle against the Philippines. Now, basically, when God's people are destroyed in battle or just even in our lives, when we suffer setbacks, it's usually for one of two reasons. It's usually either because of punishment, being punished by God, or it's because of persecution, attesting or a trial. Now, here in First Samuel, Chapter four, this is a clear example of them actually being punished by God. They're not just suffering for doing right. Their nation is suffering for having the wicked priests of the Lord Hophni and Phinehas, and for having Eli's very poor, weak leadership. Now, go to Judges, Chapter number 20, Judges, Chapter number 20. And I want to show you an example in the Bible where God's people lost a battle, but they actually weren't doing anything wrong. It was just simply a trial. Whenever we suffer a setback or a loss in our eyes, you know, we should always examine our lives and wonder, is this a punishment from God or is this a trial from God? So look at Judges, Chapter number 20, verse 18. If you remember in the previous chapter, there was the Sodomites that raped this woman to death, literally. And so the whole nation of Israel's gathered together and they come to the children of Benjamin and they're saying, hey, give us these sick freaks that we may put them to death. But Benjamin actually was defending these people and refused to give up these sodomites that had harmed, that had killed this woman. And this is what happens. Look at verse 18. And the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God and asked counsel of God and said, Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first. So notice God endorsed these people to go to war against Benjamin. He said, Judah will go up first. I want you guys to fight these people. Look at verse 19. And the children of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin. And the men of Israel put themselves in a ray to fight against them at Gibeah. And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day. Twenty and two thousand men. So here you have wicked people, or at least they're being wicked at this time. The children of Benjamin, who are harboring sodomites that had just raped and killed an innocent person. And God is telling the children of Israel to go out and fight against these people. Yet the good guys in this story lose. They have a setback. They have a really big setback because twenty two thousand men died. But yet we still know that these people were in the right. Why? Because God told them to go up and fight. And so, you know, one lesson there is that regardless of the circumstances and regardless of the outcomes, we should always do what God wants us to do. We should always do what God commands us to do. But that's not really the case of what's happening in First Samuel four. They're losing the battle. And if you read the book of First Samuel, we know why that is. That is because the glory is about to be departed from Israel, representing God's protection being removed from them. And I'll get to exactly why in a minute. But look at verse twenty three of judges. Chapter number twenty. We see this happen again. And the children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even and asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother? So they're confused. They're saying, God, you told us to go up. You told us to go fight these people. We're we're sad. We're weeping. You know, do you really want us to keep doing this again? Notice what God says. And the Lord said, go up against him. And the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day, and Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel. Again, 18,000 men. All these drew the sword. Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up and came under the house of God and wept and sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until even and offered burn offerings and peace offerings before the Lord and the children of Israel inquired of the Lord for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days. And Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, different Phineas, stood before it in those days, saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up for tomorrow. I will deliver them into thine hand. And so, of course, we know that sometimes even if you are on God's side, even if you are following God's will, sometimes bad things can still happen to you in this life. And, you know, the Bible says, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Persecution is not something that's fun or enjoyable or pleasant, at least not most of the time. All right. Maybe seeing liberals cry is kind of fun when related to persecution. But for the most part, it's not fun. For the most part, it's something negative that you're going through. And obviously, this situation was very negative. They're losing tens of thousands of men, really for no reason here. But yet in the end, we saw God come through for them. God delivered them. And, you know, that's how it is in a lot of things in life. When I think about Steadfast Baptist Church, when I think about Pastor Shelley, you know, Steadfast Baptist Church, Pastor Shelley went through a lot of negative things. At least you would say that looking on the surface. I mean, on the surface, just looking at things through a carnal lens. It's not a lot of fun to get a phone call in the middle of the night because a brick was just thrown through your building. And it's not a lot of fun to have to clean that up the next day. It's not a lot of fun to have to pick up all the trash and the filth that sodomites are leaving all over your property during the protest and spraying away their blasphemous chalk and their faggoty chalk with all the disgusting things they like to write on the ground for kids to see and to get evicted from your building and to have to go have church in a hotel. And then that hotel cancels you and you have to go to another hotel. And then that hotel cancels you. And sometimes you could just kind of feel like, God, shall I go up to battle? Like, do you want me to keep doing this? Because it just seems like everything's falling apart. It just seems like everything's failing. And it's just canceled and it's canceled. And then your docs and then freaks are at your home and you're getting the death threats and you're getting the calls. It just goes on and on and on. You just wonder, is this ever going to end? But the truth is, sometimes you're not going through something that's a punishment, you're just going through a trial. You're going through a tribulation. And how do we know that what we were going through at Steadfast Baptist Church was a trial and not punishment? There's a way to know that for sure. Here's how we know Pastor Shelley was preaching the word of God. You know, we weren't preaching our opinion. We weren't preaching, you know, our personality. The things that made people mad that was preached behind the pulpit of Steadfast Baptist Church was straight from the Bible. And so if you have any negative consequence that happens as a result of serving God, well, you know that that's a trial. That's a tribulation that the Lord is putting you through. But that is not punishment. And you know what? There's a big difference because I can sleep at night if I know I'm going through something bad, something hard. But I know that God is still with me and that God is still pleased with me rather than like the situation in First Samuel four, where you want to know why they're losing to their enemies is because their nation was completely corrupt and because their nation was just full of sin. You know, it would hurt my heart if we went through something like that. We got protested and we got evicted. And it wasn't for preaching the word of God. It was some sort of big sin issue. It was some sort of reproach on the name of Christ. You know, you can't really sleep well at night when stuff like that happens. There's no there's no win to that. There's no silver lining. It just is bad on bad on bad. And there's no positive to it, you know. But here's the thing. At the end of all those trials, God blessed us and God gave Pastor Shelley and Steadfast Baptist Church a great building, you know, and a great studio to have the Baptist bias. And the reason I said that it looked like we were losing on the surface is because during that time, we actually were never losing at all. The reason why is because we never stopped church a single time. We never stopped preaching the word of God a single time. The message was never dialed back. The soul winning was never toned down. The documentaries never stopped being made. The podcast never stopped getting pumped out. The hard sermons never stop. So while we were moving around and having all these issues, we were still winning the whole time. You know what, when you're doing what's right, regardless of the circumstances that you're going through in your life, you're still winning, because even if your life just sucks on this earth, but you did right, but you serve God, you know what? You're going to die and go to heaven and realize, wow, I was winning the whole time when you're greatly rewarded in heaven. You know, think about Job. Job was a person who went through a lot of terrible things through no fault of his own. He wasn't being punished by God. He was being tried by the Lord. And, you know, the devil basically taunted God and was saying like, oh, Job's only really serving you because you have this hedge of protection around him. If you remove this from him and let me let me basically kill his kids, take away his money, take away his health, then he'll curse you. And so a lot of times in an individual's life, in a church's life, in a nation's life, God can have a hedge of protection around us when we're doing right. You know, Job was the most righteous man alive at that time. And so he had a hedge of protection around him. And God was blessing him. You know, that could be true of you. That could be true of this church. That could be true of a nation. But what had happened to the children of Israel in First Samuel chapter number four? They lost that protection through sin in the leadership, through weak leadership from Eli. You know, God took away that that hedge of protection. And even though it's not like God likes the Philistines, it's not like God's letting the Philistines win because they're godly. No, it's just he took away that hedge of protection. And the nation here is being punished. Now, why is it that this nation is being punished? Why were the children of Israel being punished? Well, because you had Hophni and Phineas, which were spiritual leaders, which were people high up in authority and power in their nation, in their society that were complete reprobates. You know, God is going to take away the hedge of protection from a family, from a church, from a nation that exalts and protects reprobates. You know, when you have a nation with, you know, Hophni and Phineas, and they're just committing rampant adultery in church, not a big deal to them. They're perverting the judgment of God. They're perverting the sacrifice of God. And that just goes on unchecked. Eli's not doing anything about it. The people aren't doing anything about it. It's just happening and no one cares. You know, expect to be judged in that situation. And, you know, I have some articles that I found because doesn't that sound a lot like America today? A nation that just exalts and protects reprobates. How do I know that? Well, this is the Pew Research Center, and this article says this. The one hundred and eighteenth Congress breaks record for lesbian, gay and bisexual representation. So in two thousand twenty three, our nation beat a record where we have the most faggots in Congress that our nation has ever had. And people are celebrating this. People are thinking it's a great thing. It says two senators and 11 members of the House of Representatives identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of lawmakers, official biographies, campaign websites and news reports. The previous record included a total of 11 lesbian, gay and bisexual lawmakers. There have not been any openly transgender members of Congress to date. And you know, what this is signifying is that our nation is basically having half nine finances in our Congress, and some people are happy about that. But let me tell you something. That's not something to be happy about. That's something to mourn, to be sad over, to be embarrassed over. You know, what a shame where our country has become in America, where not only are sodomites tolerated, not only are they just allowed to be married or even legally exist, but they're actually allowed to be our leaders, to be the example in our nation, to be the ones making the rules. The same people that hate God and don't want to retain him in their knowledge are going to sit down and make our laws that we are supposed to submit to. You know, it sounds like God could very easily remove the hedge of protection from our nation. Here's another article I found. It says, LGBT representation in government hits a fresh high. Twelve openly LGBT people are currently serving in Congress, with ten in the House and two in the Senate. Then it talks about state government. Voters in all 50 states, along with U.S. territories and the District of Columbia, likewise, need to elect an additional 319 openly faggot state lawmakers for equitable representation, according to Thursday's report. So some reports saying like, hey, we don't have enough, we don't have enough pedophiles in Congress, as we already do, and so in order for this to be considered equitable, we need you to go ahead and elect 319 more openly gay representatives, which, let me just tell you something, a lot of them are still faggots, whether they're open or not. You know, a lot of these politicians, where have they gone before? Epstein Island. You want to know what's going on at that island? A bunch of child molestation and sick and disgusting stuff that's worthy of death. And that's, you know, people that run our government, they want to blackmail individuals that come into power so that they can keep control. And that's why it seems like, man, why is it that when we have a Republican president and a Republican Congress, and a Republican judiciary, that still none of the laws that conservatives want to get passed actually get passed, it seems like? Why is that? It's because a lot of those people are not conservatives, they're not Republicans, oftentimes they're literal faggots. They're literal infiltrated enemies to our country. And it says this, representation in state legislators hit an all-time high of 226 this year, an increase of 18%. So 226 state representatives are openly LGBT. It says, still, several states are lacking in adequate representation. And four states, Idaho, God bless Idaho, I love that state. I see you, Pastor Jones. Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia have no LGBT individuals elected to power. Praise God for those states. You know what, we need to follow those states' example in Oklahoma. Why is Oklahoma not on that list? I mean, this is a conservative state. This is a place where Christianity is very popular. And if you don't think so, why don't you go visit Washington State? Why don't you go visit Oregon? Why don't you go visit California? And you'll realize that there's a church on every corner here. But the problem is not that there's just more faggots on the West Coast and less faggots here. The problem is that Christians oftentimes are the worst defenders and lovers of faggots. That's the case. Because here's the thing, Idaho is not a really Christian place. It's not a really great place to go soul winning. There's a ton of Mormons there. There's a ton of people that move to Idaho for the specific reason of getting away from other human beings and away from civilization, and they're not really interested in going to church. But you know what Oklahoma is full of? A bunch of bleeding heart Christians that think you should love everybody. But you know what? You're a fool if you love Hoffnoy and Phineas. Why? Because then your nation is no longer protected by God. You know, if I was the commander in chief of the United States right now, I wouldn't want to be starting any new wars. Not because God loves China or Russia or North Korea, but because, you know, our hedge of protection could be gone in our country. Why? Because we love faggots as a nation. Because we're exalting pedophiles, we're exalting false prophets, we're exalting reprobates. What a shame that is. Another article said the current administration, so the presidential administration, includes several LGBT appointees, including secretary of transportation Pete Booty Gig, however you say his name, the first openly faggot cabinet member and assistant health secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender person confirmed by the Senate. So it's just like every level of our government, state government, Congress, the White House are all just filled right now with literal sons of Belial. And so what a fool's errand it would be to go to war right now in the United States. You know, I would I would highly discourage anyone from joining the U.S. military right now. Because, you know, in times past, well, while I don't think World War Two was a godly war whatsoever, and I think that there's a lot of lies when it comes to why that war was started and I think it was wicked as hell for British and Americans to go bomb a bunch of innocent women and children in Germany and in Japan. Yet still at that time, our nation itself back home was a lot more godly place. And so I think that the reason why we won that war is because God still had enough of a hedge of protection around the United States to allow us to win that war. And it's it's you know, here's the thing, like Germany is a wicked nation, was a wicked nation back then. God judged them by causing them to lose Japan even more so an extremely pagan and godless nation and God judge that nation. But don't ever think that just because you're an American, that that can never happen to us. We like to boast about how much money we spend on our military and all the nukes that we have and all the missile defense systems that we have. But, you know, if God decides to take away that hedge of protection from our nation, he can cause us to lose in battle any time that he wants to. And so I would I would caution against anyone joining the military and anyone in position of power. I definitely wouldn't be going to war anytime soon. I'd be worried about fixing the problems that we have spiritually here at home before we worry about doing anything like that. Go back to First Samuel, chapter number four. We talked about the loss of God's protection. Number two, I want you to notice the superstition of the people, the superstition of the people. Look at verse three. And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that when it cometh unto us, notice these words. It may save us. Out of the hand of our enemies. So what are they saying? They're saying, whoa, whoa, why are we being beaten battle? What's going on here? Hey, we need to go get the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Now, here's the thing. Getting the ark in and of itself isn't a bad idea. You know, you got the Ten Commandments in there representing the word of God. You've got the manna. You've got Aaron's rod that budded. You know, the ark of the covenant is a representation of God's blessing. And there's no issue with the ark of the covenant. But what was the problem is where they said, hey, let's go get the ark of the covenant that it may save us. Did you notice there how they didn't say that God may save us, that the Lord may save us? Where was their trust and confidence? It was in the ark itself. And, you know, this is a superstitious attitude that nobody should have. And here's the thing. There's a one point four billion people on this earth that share this exact attitude. It's called Catholicism. And Catholicism today, they're not looking for the Lord to save them. They're not looking for the Lord Jesus Christ to save them. You know what they're worried about? They're worried about all their icons, all their good luck charms. You know, I see this bumper sticker all the time. On the back of someone's car, you'll see something that says, pray the rosary. And who's seen that sticker? I mean, it's just everywhere, right? And here's the thing. They're not saying pray to God, ask God to bless you, ask God to bless our nation. No, they want to get out some little rosary. And they're just like, oh, you know, just messing with these little beads. It's like, what is that? That's completely vain. It's completely worthless. It's just a trinket. It's just a icon or whatever. And it's superstitious to think that that's going to give you any type of blessing. Go to Exodus, chapter number 20, Exodus, chapter number 20. Notice what the Bible says in verse four of Exodus, chapter 20. Verse four says, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And this is exactly what Catholicism is centered around, making graven images and bowing down before them. And in fact, we went to Germany. Me and brother Alex went to Germany this year in Pforzheim, and they had this super, super old Catholic cathedral there. And the entire city of Pforzheim, virtually the entire city was destroyed in one night during World War Two. Eighty percent of the city's population died in one night there. It was one of the worst bombings of all of World War Two, terrible carnage. You know, basically it created a firestorm where the air itself was on fire in their stories of women literally running into the river to purposely drown their children so that they would not burn to death. That's how bad this place went through extreme just judgment and peril, just hell on earth, terrible place, terrible thing that happened. But you know what survived in that city? The Catholic Church, the Catholic cathedral survived, and because of that, you know what a lot of people did? A lot of people said, wow, these icons are special, wow, this little cross right here is special. And you know what? It just solidified in their mind the stupid false religion that many of them already had of Catholicism. And how sad is that, that your whole country is being destroyed? I mean, Germany was completely flattened. And when I went out throughout Germany, it was just crazy. Every city you go to, there's this little hill on the edge of the city, and it's not a mountain, it's not a hill. You know what it is? It's rubble from World War Two that everyone just excavated to the side of the city and just trees started growing over it and grass. It's just it's not even a real mountain. The whole country was destroyed. And you would think they would say, wow, let's turn to God. Wow, let's ask God to save us. No, what do they do? They still rejected him. And today the country is not a Christian nation today. Today, many of them are still Catholic, and today many of them are being overrun by Muslims. And doesn't that sound a lot like this story in First Samuel, chapter number four, where your nation's being destroyed by heathen and it's like, look, stop trusting in the icons, stop thinking that the Ark of the Covenant is going to save you, stop thinking that the stupid Catholic Church is going to save you or the icons in that building, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, believe in the true God, the living God. I'll read for you Ezekiel 14, verse six, it says, Therefore, say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, Repent and turn yourselves from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations. You know, sometimes it just blows my mind whether we're talking about Israel, whether we're talking about Germany, whether we're talking about a certain family or certain individual. Sometimes it just blows my mind how you could see God just punishing them over and over and over and destroying their nation, destroying their lives. And sometimes just how hard hearted and stiff necked people can be and how stupid people can be to just not repent and turn to the Lord, to not repent of your idolatry. And it's just like, I'm just really interested in the history of Germany. I'm just thinking, like, how many times does your nation need to be destroyed before you become Christian? Was World War One enough for you? No. Was World War Two enough for you? No. Was being overrun by a bunch of liberals and Muslims enough for you? No. It's like, when will you repent? When will you get right? It's like, how many people need to die fighting against the Philistines before the children of Israel just figure it out and trust in the Lord? And Israel today still hasn't figured it out. You know, throughout Israel's history, there was times where it ebbed and flowed, where they believed in the Lord, and then a wicked generation didn't. But where are they today? They're the children of the people that curse the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're cursed to this day. Look at verse four. So the people sent to Shiloh, 1 Samuel, chapter number four, verse four. So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. See, the problem wasn't that the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was there, it was the fact that Hophni and Phinehas were there. Verse five. And when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. So here, the children of Israel, they're feeling really good, they're feeling really happy, they're feeling really excited, so much so that they're screaming and the earth echoes back from their shout. They're feeling excited. But you know what? Your emotions are not indicative of whether or not you're actually right with God. And a lot of people today, they kind of view Christianity like this. Even sometimes Christians view Christianity like this, where they're not right with God, they're backslidden, and then something really terrible happens in their life. Their marriage falls apart, their children forsake them and become heathen, something really bad happens in their life, and then they're like, well, you know, I want to seek to the Ark that it may save me. And they're not really interested in turning to God, they're just interested in walking through the doors of a church. And they think like walking through the doors of a church is somehow going to magically make their life better. Like church is some sort of good luck charm. Like if I just do something really spiritual, if I just attend a church service, then maybe all my marriage problems will get better. Then maybe all my child rearing problems will get better. And you might even hear a sermon, you might just start feel really, really good. You might start to feel positive. In fact, if you go to just about any church in America, they're going to make you feel positive. They're going to make you feel like you're spiritual. But you know what? That feeling isn't going to reverse 20 years of you being a crappy spouse, and it's not going to reverse 20 years of you being a crappy parent. And just because you're shouting, just because you're excited, doesn't mean that God's actually on your side. Doesn't mean that you're actually right with God. No, what matters is actually where your heart is and that you're trusting in the Lord, not just like using God as some sort of good luck charm or church as some sort of good luck charm. And look, if your life's falling apart, I hope you come to church. You know, I hope you read the Bible, but don't get this idea that, you know, God's a genie in the bottle that I think about every once in a while when I'm having an issue. And if I just walk through the doors of a church, my life will get better. No, you know what? You could have a terrible, terrible life and come to church and your life not get better. Because you know that walking into the church doesn't help with anything if you don't actually do what the Bible says. You're like, you can go to church every single time the doors are open and your life never improve. In fact, it could get a lot worse if you don't actually do what the Bible says. So don't think that coming to church is just some magical little trinket that's going to fix your life. No, you actually have to do what the Bible says. Number three, let's look at the great slaughter of Israel, verse six, 1 Samuel chapter four, verse six. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us, for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us, who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O you Philistines, that you be not servants unto the Hebrews as they have been to you. Quit yourselves like men and fight. You know, even though this phrase is said by a bunch of unsaved Philistines here, this is still a good attitude to have today. Be strong and quit you like men. You know, this last week I spent a lot of time in downtown Oklahoma City. And there's been several times where I've had to interact with someone where I'm like, I don't know if this is a male or female. And I kind of have to like, wait until the voice comes out before I have an idea. And I'm just thinking like, man, this country is so effeminate right now. And like, even the Philistines understand that you need to quit yourself like men. And would to God our whole nation would quit themselves like men today and stop dressing effeminate, stop talking effeminate, stop looking effeminate. You know, get rid of the preachers with the skinny jeans and the glass pulpit and the smoke and the purple lights. You know, that's a red flag of a church right there. That's a I don't care anything else. I'm not going to a church that has a pastor that looks like that is just not going to happen. But look at verse 10 and the Philistines fought and Israel was smitten and they fled every man into his tent. And there was a very great slaughter for their fell of Israel, 30,000 footmen. So notice the first time they went to battle, they lost 4000, now 30,000. What happened? They were shouting. They were so excited. They felt so spiritual. They felt so good. They had the ark of the Lord with them. The Philistines were even scared of them. Yeah, but God wasn't with them. And, you know, that that should be a lesson to us that your outside circumstances, your emotions shouldn't dictate what you do, what you think, what should dictate those things is what the Bible says. And it doesn't matter if you think you're doing well. It doesn't matter if you think you're successful in the moment, because the next time you go to battle, you could lose 30,000 footmen in one day right after you were shouting, right after you were happy. No, God destroyed them because they were trusting in the item itself and not in the Lord. And let's think about this. People do this today all the time. How about salvation? You know, when it comes to salvation, what's going to determine whether someone is successful in reaching heaven or they're defeated in battle? Like here with the story of the Philistines, the children of Israel. Well, the people that trust in the ark to save them are like the people that trust in going to church to get to heaven or they're trusting in going to the homeless shelter and feeding ham sandwiches to the poor to get them to heaven. They're trusting in some sort of item or some sort of deed to get them to have to heaven. Many of them are very happy. Many of them have a good attitude and they're filled with joy. But you know what? When they die, they're going to lose that battle and they're going to wake up in hell. Rather, the person that actually gets salvation, that obtain salvation of the Lord is not the one that trusts in the ark, but trust in the God of the ark. And rather than trusting in some sort of item or icon or trinket, is actually trusting in God himself to save them to bring salvation. Now, go to Psalm 45, Psalm 45. You know, there's other ways we could apply this. You know, some people just in your everyday struggle of life, battles of life that we face, there's some people that trust in the Lord and there's some people that trust in other things. You know, sometimes you have people that trust in their own physical strength to get them through life. And while you're turning there, let me read Jeremiah 17 five. The Bible says, Thus saith the Lord, cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. The Bible says that it would be a curse to a person that trusts in a man or in the arm of flesh. You know, this is someone that trusts in themselves because they're so strong. You know, there's many men today that think that they're just on top of the world and nothing can touch them because they're really strong in the gym or they're really strong financially. They have a lot of money and they think nothing can touch me because I have a lot of money. The Bible says that man is actually cursed if they're trusting in those things rather than trusting in the Lord. You know, there's other people that like to trust in physical weapons to keep them safe. Look at Psalm 40. That's how you go to 45. I think it's Psalm 44, Psalm 44, verse five. It says, Through thee will we push down our enemies, through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. Now that's the good attitude. Notice verse six, For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me, but thou has saved us from our enemies and has put them to shame that hated us. So notice the Psalmist here has the right attitude. He's not trusting in his bow to save him or his sword. Who is the one that's saving him from his enemies? God is. And here are the children of Israel. They're not trusting in God to save them. They're trusting in the ark to save them, the physical item to save them. And, you know, you should never trust just in your physical weapons to keep you safe, even if you have lots of physical weapons, even if you have a bow or a sword or Glock or an AR-15 or an F-15 fighter jet or whatever you have, you know, don't put your trust in those things when it comes to battle, trust in the Lord. You know, I'm a huge proponent of firearms and training and being very skilled and capable when it comes to having physical weapons. But at the end of the day, my trust is not at all in those physical weapons. It's in God. You know, in my life, there's actually been several instances. I know Brother Gore is not going to be able to believe this. I've actually had several instances in my life where I've had a very close encounter with death and I've never once used my weapon during those times. And yet God has saved me every single time. And it's because, excuse me, my hope is not in my weapons, it's in the Lord. Now I'm ready to use them if I have to, but I've just never really had to. You know, for example, when I was a child, I must have been 10 to 13 years old. I don't know exactly how old I was. The first time I ever went hunting, it was me and my dad. And we're at the hunting spot super early. It's dark. It's just the sun is not even up yet, but it's starting to be a little twilight where you could see off into the woods. And me and my dad are drinking coffee. Yes, I drink coffee at that young age. That's my problem in life. All right. But we're just drinking coffee and we're looking off to the woods and we get our guns and we just step into the woods. And like as soon as we step into the woods, this giant mass starts sprinting at us. And it's a black bear. And a black bear just charges me and my dad as a child, the first time I ever went hunting. And it happened so fast that my little child brain didn't register what had just happened to me until it was over. But does anyone know what a bluff charge is? OK, a bluff charge is when an animal sprints at you and at the last minute it tails off. It's kind of just saying like, hey, this is my territory, get out. It doesn't really want to hurt you, doesn't really want to kill you. But here's the thing. If God wanted me to die that day, it would have been very easy for him to do so, because there's literally a bear right there. And even though me and my dad both had weapons, we didn't even have the time to use it. So your weapon is not always going to save you, because if that bear wanted us, he would have had us. And I remember just thinking like, wow, that was a bear that just charged us. And I look at my dad and he's like, the adrenaline dumped, you know what I mean? And it was just like, whoa, we just got charged by a bear. OK, there's another time I was camping with my little brother. Idaho is just a wild place. OK, another time I was camping with my little brother was me, my little brother and our dog inside of a tent. And we had a bear come up against our tent and just circling our tent, sniffing the tent, brushing up against his tent. And I did have a weapon at that time. I did have a gun. I was ready to use it. But thankfully, I didn't have to do that. OK, there was another time, this time it was in Montana. I was a child, I was a teenager and I was by myself and I didn't have a gun. I did have bear spray because of earlier experiences that made me want to have bear spray. And I was walking alone with my fishing gear and I was trying to find a good place to go fishing. Bad idea to walk alone in the woods, especially when you're a teenager and especially when you don't have a gun. But this time I didn't encounter a bear, but I encountered a mother moose with its baby, which arguably was scarier than the bear, because moose, if you've ever seen them, they're way taller than a horse. They're massive. They're just terrifying. And the thing like had its legs spread out and its head down like it was really aggressive. And I remember just like pulling out my bear spray and thinking, like, if this thing moves towards me, I'm dumping this. If it walks away, it walks away and it just walked away. OK, what am I trying to tell you is that a weapon will not always save you? Yes, you should have a weapon. Yes, you should train with it. But still, God can kill you any time he wants or God can preserve you from anything. Hey, if God be for us, who can be against us? But if God's not for you, you're in trouble. It doesn't matter what kind of gun you have, doesn't matter if you have bear spray or a 44 Magnum or anything. If God wants you dead, he can kill you. God wants you to lose battle. He can cause you to lose that battle. And so, you know, I thank God that God preserved me through those times. And I look back at those lessons and I think about that today that, hey, you know, I carry a gun. I believe in those things. But those things are not what's keeping me safe, really. What's keeping me safe really is the Lord. Now, the Lord may, you know, guide my hands to use a weapon successfully someday. But even if I do that, I'm still giving God the credit for that victory because he is way stronger than any of us. Now, go back to 1 Samuel, chapter number four. Lastly, here, we're going to look at the death of Eli. Verse 11, and the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas were slain. So here we see the fulfillment of God's promise back in 1 Samuel, chapter number two, where the man of God came up to Eli and said, hey, I'm going to kill your sons in one day. Here we see, you know, God did follow through with his promise. I'll read for you Galatians 6, 7. The Bible says, be not deceived. God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And, you know, these people that thumb their nose at God, the people of this world that want to mock God, make fun of God, lightly esteem the Bible, lightly esteem church. You know, God will lightly esteem those people back someday. And all the Hophni and Phinehases of this world that are reprobates, that hate the Lord, that make a mockery of church. You know, God may just literally kill them someday. And even if he doesn't, they'll still spend eternity in hell, burning and suffering forever and ever. And so don't think that God's not going to judge people like Hophni and Phinehas. You know, he says, hey, I will do this. And then he did it. And for us, we see, hey, there is a promise of a hell for people that are unsaved. And those people better realize that promise is true. And when they die, he will do that. The lake of fire someday, he will do that. Look at verse 12. And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head. When he came low, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside, watching for his heart trembled for the ark of God. So notice he already knows what's going to happen. He's already had the man of God preached to him. He already had Samuel also preached to him. And so why is his heart trembling? Because he knows what God's about to do, what God has done. And when the man came into the city and told it all the city cried out, when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, what meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily and told Eli. Now, Eli was 90 and eight years old and his eyes were dim that he could not see. And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army and I fled today out of the army. And he said, what has there done, my son? And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines and there have been also a great slaughter among the people. And my two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas are dead. And 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 break. And he died for he was an old man and heavy and he judged Israel 40 years. And so, you know, this is the last, you know, mention of this guy, Eli and Eli himself, you know, he's not a reprobate. He is saved, I believe. But yet his name and the word of God is not very good. And why is that? Because he wasn't a good leader. Let me read for you. James three, one says, my brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. You know, we should take this example that if you sign up to be a spiritual leader in any capacity and look, that's not just a pastor, that could be a soul winning leader, that could be a song leader, that could be an usher, that could be an evangelist, a deacon. There's all sorts of ministries for spiritual leaders. If you sign up to do that and you do a really bad job, God is going to judge you for that. And here, Eli, he's judging the whole nation. But you know what? He did not do his job well at all. Why? Because he was respecter of persons, practiced nepotism, honored his children more than God, didn't correct his children, allowed all this wicked sin to go on in the house of God. He was a bad leader, folks. And so how does his life end? Well, he's fat, he's blind, he falls down backwards and he breaks his neck. The end. There's your bedtime story, kids. I mean, that's that's the end of his life. It's not a pleasant or happy story. It's just bad on bad on bad. Why? Because, you know, God's serious when it comes to spiritual leadership. God's serious about the house of God. And, you know, if someone just takes that upon themselves and does a terrible job, you know, that's a serious thing in the eyes of God. And he will judge those people for it. I said lastly, but I have one more point. I want to go over this last point, the effect of your sin on others. Look at verse 19. I'll make it quick. And his daughter-in-law, so Eli's daughter-in-law, Phineas's wife, was with child near to be delivered. So she's pregnant. 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. So notice this woman, Phineas's wife, is pregnant and she's so shocked and horrified by this terrible news that it just immediately causes her to go into labor. She just immediately now has a medical emergency because this wasn't just her body naturally going into labor. This is just like a shock and traumatic event, sending her body into labor. You know, just by the way, it's very important to be very careful around pregnant women. That's why we don't want any children running in this church because we do have a pregnant lady in this church and God willing, we'd have a lot more in the future. And so you never want to just be flipping or allow your kids to be flipping around a pregnant woman because a traumatic event could just actually send her into labor. In that moment, to where it could be a medical emergency, to where her or the child could die. And so here's an example of the Bible of a situation like that. Look at verse 20 and about the time of her death. So she she passes away. The woman that stood by her said, Fear not, for thou was born a son. So the midwife is trying to encourage her, hey, it's going to be OK. You're burying a child here. But notice she answered not, neither did she regard it. So she doesn't care at this point. She's not really paying attention. She has no joy that she's giving birth to a child. Why? Because she's literally about to die. Before she dies, though, verse 21, it says, and she named the child Ichabod, saying the glory is departed from Israel because the ark of God was taken because of her father in law and her husband. And she said, the glory is departed from Israel for the ark of God is taken. So notice here we see the effect of sin on others. You know, Eli, being a terrible father and a terrible spiritual leader, not ruling his house, not ruling the nation of Israel, Hophni and Phineas, the wicked sins that they did, it did not just affect them. God didn't just kill Hophni and Phineas. Eli didn't just fall down and break his neck and died. No, also tens of thousands of other people died in combat because of their sin and because of their selfishness and just their lack of care and lack of diligence of doing what's right. You know, they caused the entire nation to lose their hedge of protection. You know, it just goes to show the importance of leadership and the great responsibility that leaders have. And, you know, every single person in this room, virtually speaking, unless you're a child or something, is likely a leader to someone. You know, husbands, you are a leader to your wife and to your children. And when you sin, when you despise the commandments of God, when you're a bad father, when you're a bad leader, you know, that could have serious effects on your children. And you can't see in the future, well, if I do this, how is this going to affect my family? You don't know whether or not you being a bad dad is going to cause your kids to grow up to be literal reprobates and spend eternity in hell. You don't know if that's going to be the case. So you know what you should do? You should just trust the Lord, trust what the Bible says and diligently do what it says, whether you understand it, whether it makes sense or not. Just do it because you don't know the effect that your life is going to have on people you influence. You know, it's the same thing for moms. You know, you are a leader to those children and how you take, how seriously you take being a mother, how seriously you take being a Christian will affect your children. And it could have serious positive or negative effects on them. Proverbs three fives is trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways. Acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. So whether you understand something or not, whether you think, oh, I don't know if this is actually going to affect him that way, you know, you just need to trust in the Lord with all thine heart and do what the Bible says anyways. You know, when it comes to serving God, when it comes to obeying his commandments, it's not just about us. And that's what I want you to understand as this parting thought this evening. You know, your life is not just about you. The things that you do doesn't just affect you. It affects everyone around you. So, you know, let us tonight as a church or as a father, if you're a dad or as a mother, if you're a mom, let us take all of our actions in our life very seriously because they could affect our spouse, our children, our church, our state, even our whole country. So with that, let's pray. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for the word of God. Thank you for the warnings here in first Samuel chapter number four. I just pray that you would help us as we continue to go through this study to glean lessons from your word and that you would just help us to apply it to our lives. We love you so much. Thank you for all that you do. In Jesus' name we pray.