Well, let's open our Bibles together to 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel. We're gonna look today at chapters five and six, which is almost like a miracle because I usually will only do a few verses in, but today we're gonna look at two chapters. As you're opening up your Bible to those chapters, tonight we do have our ministry for those couples who are infertile and wanna pray, it's called Hannah's Hope. It's at five o'clock and we invite you to be part of that prayer meeting. Then we have our evening service that follows that at six o'clock tonight. This upcoming Wednesday we continue our study in the Gospel of Luke. We're in chapter 24 on a Wednesday night, continuing and coming to a conclusion in that particular study. But today we're in 1 Samuel chapters five and six. Let's begin reading together here in 1 Samuel chapter five. I'll read verses one through seven and we'll get into our study. 1 Samuel chapter five, beginning at verse one, reading to verse seven. Then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashtad. When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagan and set it by Dagan. And when the people of Ashtad arose early in the morning, there was Dagan fallen on its face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord. So they took Dagan and set it in its place again. And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagan fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. The head of Dagan and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagan's torso was left of it. Therefore neither the priests of Dagan nor any who come into Dagan's house tread on the threshold of Dagan and Ashtad to this day. But the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashtad and he ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashtad and its territory. And when the men of Ashtad saw how it was, they said, the Ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is harsh toward us and Dagan, our God. So we've been going through 1 Samuel and as we were recently in chapter four, we saw that the nation of Israel was battling against the people called the Philistines, the Sea Peoples. These are people who were living in southern Israel, normally associated with the Mediterranean coastline there, south of Jerusalem. And these people had gone to battle against Israel. Israel had gathered its army and had gone into a Shiloh and had taken the Ark of the Covenant out of the Tabernacle. The Ark of the Covenant is a chest that represents the presence of God amongst the people. And so the children of Israel, the military personnel came, took that particular Ark, took it with them onto the battlefield. But while they were there in battle, 30,000 soldiers died, the Ark was captured, and two priests, Haphne and Phineas, were also killed. Now, Haphne and Phineas are the sons of Eli, the priests of Israel. And so word comes to Eli that his sons have died as well as the fact that the Ark of the Covenant has been captured. Now he took the death of his sons well, but upon hearing that the Ark was captured, he fell over and he died. Not only that, but his daughter-in-law who was married to Phineas, who was pregnant when she was giving birth, died, and named her son whom she had given birth to, Ichabod, which simply means that the glory has departed. This is something that found its way into the history of Israel and was remembered for centuries to this day. When you read, for example, the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, in chapter seven, verse 12, God actually uses this as an example, as a warning to the nation, when he says, go now to my place, which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people, Israel. Shiloh was no longer there. And he's saying, go and see that the remnants of Shiloh, all you have there is just evidence that a city at one time had been there, but it's been devastated, and he actually uses that as an example of what he's gonna do in the nation. In the Psalms, in Psalms 78, verses 58 through 64, the Psalmist said they provoked him to anger with their high places, moved him to jealousy with their carved images. When God heard this, he was furious and greatly abhorred Israel so that he forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent he had placed among men and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hand. He also gave his people over to the sword and was furious with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men, their maidens were not given in marriage, their priests fell by the sword and their widows made no lamentation. And so this had taken place. And the nation of Israel has lost the Ark of the Covenant. And so what is happening is we're picking up now what was taking place, and so chapter five verse one begins by simply saying, the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. And so they captured the Ark and they took it 35 miles south from a region there in north there in Israel, 35 miles north, they took it 35 miles south to a place called Ashdod, one of their five main cities and that's where we pick up the story. It says in verse two in the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. Now all scholars agree that the name and worship of Dagon originated in ancient Babylon. And so Dagon was a God that was worshiped by these pagans that had the representation of being half fish and half men, half man as they say is like a merman. You know, half fish and half man and that was their God. This particular God named Dagon means little fish and so they would worship him as the one that was the chief deity of their pantheon. He was believed by them to be the father of the nature God Baal and so he was of high esteem amongst these pagans and so what they did is they brought the Ark of God into their temple, the temple of their fish God and they set this Ark next to the idol Dagon. Now the reason they put this Ark next to Dagon was because it was to symbolize that Dagon was superior to the God of Israel and so they brought this Ark in, they placed it in their temple next to their statue of their God Dagon as a representation that they had gained victory over Israel through the strength of their pagan deity and they left him but when they left him notice what happened, it says in verse three when the people of Ashtad arose early in the morning there was Dagon falling on its face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord so they took Dagon and set it in its place again.  I mean their God needed some help to get up and so they walk in, they see it and he's laying there and they say oh he fell over somehow and they pick him up and set him back up on his pedestal now the bottom line is this is God had brought this idol symbolically to a position of doing homage to the greater God that was what God was saying to these people he was letting them know that there was no God other than the God of Israel that the God of Israel is superior to their idol and their pagan belief system that's what he's basically doing here you see it was not a good idea for them to put the Ark of the Covenant next to their God and God deals with it because God is represented as being above all that is a so called God he is exalted above all false gods. So God himself overturns Dagon by forcing the image to appear to be giving homage to him in Isaiah 44 verse 6 the Bible says thus says the Lord the king of Israel and his redeemer the Lord of hosts I am the first I am the last besides me there is no God. Isaiah 44 verse 8 says do not fear nor be afraid have I not told you from time from that time and declared it you are my witnesses is there a God besides me indeed there is no other rock I know not one. Well the next day they return and once again they find the idol on the ground but this time it's head and both hands are broken off and that symbolizes that God has judged the idol because during that time enemies would have their heads and hands removed which would symbolize that they are dead and useless and that's why the head and that's why the hands have been removed from this idol God is saying I am victor over this this enemy has been vanquished I am chief I am above I am exalted beyond. You know when Isaiah speaks concerning idolatry he speaks concerning the man who goes out to the forest and cuts down a tree he says a portion of the tree that he cuts down he breaks into kindling and he uses it to start a fire and to cook his food he says in the remainder he makes into an idol he overlays it with gold or silver and he bows down before it and he says to it you are my God and what God is saying there is idolatry is useless he's saying that these idols have no power no abilities to help to save to be there in your time of need eyes they have but they do not see ears they have but they cannot hear noses they have but they cannot smell mouths they have but they cannot speak hands they have but they cannot feel feet they have but they cannot walk and those who make them are like them say of the Lord and so he points that out and he says idolatry is useless to have an idol is a useless thing you need the living God and so with Dagon he's presenting to them the fact that their so called God is no God at all and that's what he's doing he's warning these people about that well just to show you how they are instead of them understanding what they do is they set up a tradition it says it in verse five it says neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house and tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashtad to this day they don't tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashtad to this day they won't walk on the threshold they actually would leap over it in superstition in memory the fact that at one point this head and the hands were there at the threshold instead of repenting instead of awakening instead of saying there's something wrong here we need to hear something that's going on here our God is on his face well this the Ark of the Covenant is obviously being worshiped by this God there's a symbol here that we ought to see instead of doing that they just accommodate their paganism and continue being pagan they didn't even get the message that the Lord was given to them but God's hand is heavy upon them notice what he says here he says in verse six the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashtad he ravaged them and struck them with tumors both Ashtad which is a city and its territory and when the men of Ashtad saw how it was they said the Ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us his hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our God therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the Lords of the Philistines and said what shall we do with the Ark of the God of Israel and they answered let the Ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath so they carried the Ark of the God of Israel away so it was after they had carried it away that the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction and he struck the men of the city both small and great with tumors and they broke out on them therefore they sent the Ark of God to Ekron so it was as the Ark of God came to Ekron that the Ekronites cried out saying they brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us to kill us and our people so they sent and gathered together all the Lords of the Philistines and said send them send away the Ark of the God of Israel and let it go back to its own place so that it does not kill us and our people for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city the hand of God was very heavy there and the men who did not die were stricken with the tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven Dagan's hands were cut off but God's hand moved in judgment against the Philistines they were struck with tumors and they had an infestation of rats you'll see that in chapter six verses four and five and it's possible that these rats were carrying bubonic plague and so all the territories of the Philistines are being destroyed they were unwilling to release this Ark and the reason is is because the Ark symbolized their victory over Israel so instead of releasing it and sending it back they simply began moving it around from Ashdod and went to the city of Gath went on to Akron it eventually went through all five major cities and so in verse 10 it says that they sent the Ark of God to Akron so in Akron God's hand is most severe and his judgment begins to escalate it's been escalating from city to city and now it's reaching its greatest sense of his anger and wrath in Job 31.3 we read is it not ruined for the wicked disaster for those who do wrong as you read this with me though think about this for just a moment it's interesting how the Lord had to repeat the same process five times everywhere the Ark went plague and pain broke out but they wouldn't send it back they could have sent it back when they first found their idol on its face they certainly could have sent it back after they found the idol with his head and hands removed but they didn't when the first city was hit by plague they could have sent it back but they didn't and it's because of the hardness of their heart and the resistance that they kept that Ark with them and kept undergoing God's displeasure there's something inside of us that I think is called human nature that causes us to have to go through the same kinds of lessons over and over and over again it's human nature it's bound up within our hearts the rebellion is bound up in the heart of a child and that's true human nature I have a brother named Frank who has a son Frankie we used to call him little Frankie and when he was little over a year or so little Frank had come over with his parents to my parents house and my brother and I were inside of the den watching TV when little Frankie came walking in and as he walked into the den he saw the TV was on now he was fascinated with the TV set and so my brother turns to me and he says he's gonna walk up to the TV and he's gonna put his hand on it and he knows he's not supposed to do that because every time he touches the TV we say no Frankie don't touch it and we actually spank his hand but he is drawn by the TV set watch what happens so the toddler comes walking in sees the TV and looks at his dad and looks at me and begins to walk to the TV set and he walks very slowly and he finally is standing in front of the TV and as he's standing there looking at it my brother says Frankie don't touch the TV and little Frank turns and looks at his dad and then looks back at the TV set and my brother says watch Frankie's less than two years of age and he's standing there with his hands on it dropped to his side and he starts to shake and as his hands are shaking he's lifting one up he looks like a TV evangelist his little hand is shaking and he turns and looks at his father with his shaking hand and Frank my brother says Frankie I'll have to spank your hand little Frankie's there his hand six inches away from the screen he closes his eyes bang he touches the TV set and he knows it I mean he's like that waiting in human nature human nature he knew he'd been told don't touch it your hand is going to get spanked there's something within us that when the Lord speaks to us and says thou shalt not we say but I want to it's when you're walking past the sign that says stay off the grass what do you do you stand on the grass you just I have a picture of me laying next to a sign that says stay off the grass I'm laying there like that hole in the sign there's just something inside of you that says if you tell me not to I'm gonna do it God says you are not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the enemy says but it's beautiful to look at it's gonna make you wise and I'm sure it must taste good too and Eve just wants it there's something inside of us that we have inherited that came through the fall the enemy uses outside but now there's something on the inside called a sin nature that is drawn by that drawn by it and God will say don't do it because I will deal with you and we say I don't think you will you're raised in a Christian home your mom and your dad teach you that your purity is a very special gift to give to your husband or wife when you get married but somewhere along the line you make a decision that you don't think is that important because after all I'm in love with this person and therefore eventually you yield the Lord speaks to you doesn't he and he says it was wrong what you did you need to repent your dad and your mama saw what you did it would break their heart and you know it breaks mine but you know what the next time it was a little bit easier wasn't it and then the next time it was a little more easy wasn't it and the Lord is still speaking saying it's wrong I'll have to deal with you the first time you were on the job site and you saw whatever it was that you wanted for yourself and it wasn't yours so you stole it something spoke to your heart and said to you that is wrong that's called stealing and it's wrong and you know it is inside you said they're insured they don't pay me that much and I need it and they'll never miss it and you stole it sometimes we might even steal thinking that we're doing God's service we had somebody in this fellowship over 20 years ago now I can say this openly now over 20 years ago who used to make deliveries and was given cash whenever he'd make the delivery and his wife came and spoke to us because he had been taking some of the cash and keeping it and she said and I spoke to him and found out that he'd been stealing from his company and I said to him you shouldn't be stealing from your company but he said I only need to steal $200 more because I'm wanting to buy a guitar so I can lead worship in children's ministry seriously and I told Mike you shouldn't have done that you can't sing anyway no no they were literally this is a true story I could multiply stories like that I won't that's just one stealing money from the job to buy a guitar to lead worship for children never connecting that this is a sin even when confronted trying to make it seem spiritual people do that all the time the first time you took that drink and your body told you this is not good the first time you took if you hit me if you drank on me I drank hard liquor and so when I the first time I ever drank some whiskey you know my body told me this is not good you know there's a reason that worms dead in that bottle this is not good but you know what you get used to it after a while you can get used to doing all kinds of things your body tells you it's wrong your conscience tells you it's wrong this is wrong you were not raised this way and the Lord's hand will become heavy on your life there'll be a sense of conviction in you a sense of where'd God go in all of this what happened you know I pray but it feels like my prayers are going nowhere it's because you're entertaining remaining in sin with no heart to repent now even pagans God speaks to them through this he says I brought my judgment on you you need to know that there's something you're doing that I'm dissatisfied with but instead of them initially dealing with it even though on two occasions they find their God at the feet of the Ark of the Covenant and even dismembered instead of dealing with it and seeking out answers at first they simply move that Ark from place to place in every place that it goes the same thing happens plague breaks out people are dying and it's getting worse and worse and worse and so in verse one of chapter six the Ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistine seven months and the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners saying what shall we do with the Ark of the Lord tell us how we should send it to its place so they said if you send away the Ark of the God of Israel do not send it empty but by all means return it to him with the trespass offering then you will be healed and it will be known to you why his hand is not removed from you then they said what is the trespass offering which we shall return to him they answered five golden tumors and five golden rats according to the number of the lords of the Philistines for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that ravaged the land you shall give glory to the God of Israel perhaps he will lighten his hand from you from your gods and from your land why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts when he did mighty things among them did they not let the people go that they might depart and so they're concerned what is taking place here what is happening it's interesting to note though and notice verse one that the Ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months so God actually gave them a long time in several location changes until they got the message again God doesn't ignore sin he does move to deal with it and sometimes he may not move in a way that is immediately noticeable but over time you become aware that he has been bringing conviction your life has been dealt with by God David who later on becomes the king of the nation of Israel he's a very powerful man he could basically have any wife that he wanted but on one occasion as he was there in his in his home his royal home looking down the hill he sees a young woman by the name of Bathsheba she's outside taking a bath it was a time when kings went off to war but David had remained behind and let his men go and do the battles that he should have been leading them in he sees her and his heart is inflamed with lust he has her brought to him he has a relationship with her she sends word to him I have become pregnant by you we all know the story of David in Bathsheba she has a husband who's one of David's loyal followers a mighty man in the military Uriah he brings Uriah in off of the field a couple of times tries to convince him to go home and be with his wife so that if Uriah has relations with Bathsheba Uriah is going to think that the baby that is conceived by Bathsheba is his but he's more noble than that he refuses to go and he doesn't he doesn't go to be with his wife my men are in their tents in the battlefield you would have me to enjoy my wife in my home I can't do such a thing he refuses to go his nobility that he has is so beyond anything David expected so David sets it up for him to go be placed in the heat of battle troops around him are removed and he's killed news comes to David this is how it's going on the battlefield and Uriah has died David waits a little while marries Bathsheba thinks that his sin is covered over ultimately prophet comes and speaks to him gives him a parable lets David know that his sin has found him out that trouble will never leave his house David has a son through Bathsheba but the son dies David finally gets the message finally does and he writes a Psalm Psalm 32 and in this song he says this he says blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit when I kept silent my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long for day and night your hand was heavy upon me my vitality was turned into the drought of summer I acknowledged my sin to you and my iniquity I have not hidden I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin day and night I was withering up inside your hand was heavy upon me that's what happens when you're in a relationship when you're in a relationship with sin and God is speaking to you and God is saying this needs to be removed so that I can take my hand off of you and I can begin to bless you and God does that work and these people here recognize that they knew that something was taking place God's hand was heavy upon them and they're saying maybe this is gonna satisfy him maybe this will remove his hand and so what they do is they get hold of their priests and they get hold of their diviners now a diviner is one of the religious leaders they were the ones who were consulted in all important matters and these diviners used things like witchcraft and astrology, sorcery, necromancy, spells, dreams, soothsaying and omens to deceive the people this particular group of people, these diviners were people that God had forbidden the children of Israel to have anything to do with in Deuteronomy 18 verses 10 through 12 God said there shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire or one who practices witchcraft or a soothsayer one who interprets omens or a sorcerer or one who conjures spells or a medium or a spiritist or one who calls up the dead for all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you you are not to have these people who practice what we call today occult arts occultism, all of us in this room have heard the word occult that guy's in the occult the word occult literally means hidden things that's what the word occult means, hidden things and the reason it's referred to as the occult is because they are trying to discern those things that are hidden from their sight so they will use Ouija boards they will use palmistry they will use astrology they will use calling up the spirits of the dead they go to their mediums and their spiritists and all of that to try and get direction they're trying to find out something that has been hidden from them but God tells us the secret things belong to the Lord the things that I reveal belong to you your children and the following generations after them there are some things God says that belong to me that no matter what you do I will not reveal to you there are other things that I am willing to reveal to you but people practicing occultism going to the spirit is going to the medium reading their horoscope and all the rest these are people who are circumventing the will of God God has given to us his mind he gives us his mind through his word and God has given to us his Holy Spirit so by his spirit and through his word we can discern the will of God in our lives we don't need to go to the occult we don't need to go to astrologers we don't need to go to necromancers we don't need any of that and that's what God had said he said you're not to have anything to do with them but they had their diviners that they went to and in this particular occasion their diviners actually knew something and they gave them proper understanding what they do is they propose a trespass offering because they knew that somehow the people had dishonored the God of Israel so they fashioned their tumors and rats into images to show that they recognized why God was angry and then their advice in verse five was simply give glory to the God of Israel because perhaps he will lighten his hand from you the question is asked in verse six why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs they had heard of what God had done in Egypt so they remind them of his past deeds they're saying don't harden your heart God brought 10 plagues on the Egyptians you've already had five why go any further Hebrews 313 says exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin sin always looks better when you're involved in it and never looks so bad as when you see your sin being practiced by somebody else it's amazing to see alcoholics trying to counsel other alcoholics and guys who are doing their drugs trying to counsel other people not to take drugs and guys who are going out or women are going out on their husbands or wives trying to counsel other people about how to have a good marriage physician heal thyself how many times does God have to say something they're saying until we hear it do not harden your heart as the Egyptians did you've suffered through five they went through 10 we have to do something is what their counsel is and so they give this direction they say look go get two milk cows put them on a cart you'll come to a cart take their calves that are nursing put them in stalls put the Ark of the Covenant and these tumors and rats on that cart and release the cows and see what the cows do you see they're trying to prove whether or not they're actually understanding what is taking place and so they do a very hard test because a cow that is nursing its calf is not going to abandon the calf also a cow that has never had a yoke placed over their shoulders is either going to rebel against the yoke and try and fight it or they'll just stand still and not move and so if you put this yoke on them hitching them to the cart and they actually abandon their calf that tells you that the God of Israel is upset and if they go towards Beth Shemesh which is a priestly city if they go off to a city of the Jews then we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the God of Israel is behind all of this and so they do that they put the cart on the cows and the cows are moaning their internal desire is to go to their babies not to be taken in the other direction and off they go it says in verse 10 the men did so they took two milk cows hitched them to the cart shut up their calves at home they set the Ark of the Lord on the cart and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh and went along the highway lowing as they went and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left and the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley and they lifted their eyes and saw the Ark and rejoiced to see it then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stood there a large stone was there so they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord the Levites took down the Ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it in which were the articles of gold and put them on the large stone then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the Lord so when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it they returned to Ekron the same day these are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a trespass offering to the Lord one for Ashtod, one for Gaza one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron and the golden rats according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords were fortified both fortified cities and country villages even as far as the large stone of Abel on which they set the Ark of the Lord which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and so as the cart come and they hear the cows moaning the people of Beth Shemesh being priests this is a priestly city rejoice because they see that the Ark is finally returning it's been seven months and so they take the cows and they slaughter and make the cows an offering because the cow had been used for a holy purpose of carrying the Ark it couldn't be used for domestic purposes any longer so they make it as an offering to the Lord and they're rejoicing over this it's kind of like happy days are finally back again and so you see them rejoicing but something happens notice verse 19 he struck the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the Lord he struck 50,000 and 70 men of the people and the people amended because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter the men of Beth Shemesh said who's able to stand before this holy Lord God and to whom shall it go up from us so they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiryat Yareem saying the Philistines have brought back the Ark of the Lord come down and take it up with you interestingly what they did is here comes the Ark but it says in verse 19 that the Lord struck them because they looked into the Ark of the Lord now it was a chest some would say that they lifted up and looked into this chest, this Ark as a result of that God judged them the literal reading in English at least says that the Hebrew carries another connotation which could be to be looking at the Ark with disrespect or no reverence but in any case God brought judgment to them because of the way they regarded that Ark they showed disrespect to it there was no reverence now what's interesting on the one hand is these are priests that should know better they know how to handle the Ark and they should have known better in terms of how they received it and all of that they should have had a reverent attitude but they didn't they had an improper attitude the pagans on the other hand didn't really know anything that's why they went to their priests their diviners and said what do you think we should do so the pagans who were living in darkness actually acted finally in a better way than those who should have been walking in the light it's interesting how that in Luke chapter 12 verse 48 Jesus said he who did not know yet committed things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with few for everyone to whom much is given from him much will be required and to whom much has been committed of him they will ask the more the more you know the more you're responsible for the children of Israel knew and didn't act appropriately James says let him who knows to do good and does not do it unto him it is sin and so they knew the right thing to do and how to handle that Ark and the proper way to look at it but instead of doing that they were disrespectful towards it as a result God broke out upon them and dealt with them so they're upset they don't know what to do they say in verse 20 who's able to stand before this holy Lord God to whom shall they go from here let's get it out of here is what they're saying so they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kajat Yareem which is a city about 10 miles a little to the north and they actually get rid of the Ark they send it up there they removed it they didn't seek God for advice they didn't they didn't seek God for direction at all in this they simply got rid of the Ark and sometimes when the Lord deals with us we don't repent and we don't seek Him we just stop going to church we just stop reading we just stop fellowshiping with God's people instead of saying God what have I done wrong because I want to have fellowship with you sometimes we do the same thing we just try and send Him away we don't want this in my life you're causing problems not blessings instead of us saying my God says He wants to bless my life therefore I must be doing something to displease Him because I know He wants to bless me we simply say no instead of blessings He's bringing cursings I'll just get rid of them and that's what they did they said you take the Ark we have to get Him out of here because look what He did to us so rather than saying God forgive us what did we do wrong they simply try to avoid responsibility and try to get rid of the Lord's presence from them something we can learn from when the Lord speaks to us we had to listen the first time our Father we ask that you would work in our lives you have given us your word you have given us your spirit you've given to us wise counselors who love you Lord and know your word and follow you by your spirit you've given to us provision Lord may we take advantage of that what you've given to us when you speak to us once may we hear Lord may we not stay in sin relishing and enjoying it more than our fellowship with you so I ask Lord that we would learn lessons even as we read through your word that will help us to live lives that are blessed by you forgive us Lord for the areas of our life that we indeed quench your spirit and thank you Lord for blessing us in those areas that we have yielded may we yield even more to you even today our eyes are closed our heads are bound perhaps we have some right now we need to get right with the Lord and you know it I wanna pray for you as we're quietly seated before the Lord if the spirit of God is speaking to you saying you need to get right with me there are things that you need to have dealt with and I've been speaking to you about them and it's time to release and yield these things then you need to do that now our eyes are closed our heads are bound and if you need to get right with the Lord right now would you raise your hand let me pray for you right where you're at just raise your hand so I can see you Father you see these hands and you know the reason why they're being raised to you I'm asking now in Jesus name that you would reach down and touch these lives Lord in Jesus name that as they empty themselves before you and say God forgive me that you will fill them with your spirit your presence may they open themselves to you now and I ask that you'll give them the ability Lord from this day forward to rejoice even as David when he said blessed is the man whose transgressions have been covered may they have the joy of knowing that their sins are forgiven even now Lord and may they walk with you from this day forward bless you Lord you can put your hands down and I ask that you keep moving in all of us Lord to your glory in Jesus name amen let's all stand we'll close with a word of prayer and with a song our Father we ask that you would now move in us and through us we leave this place and enter into a ministry field a missions field in Jesus name go with us as we serve you and we ask this Lord because it brings glory to you bring us back tonight bring us back throughout the week Lord that we might continue in fellowship continue growing in you in Jesus name we pray amen God bless you