Sunday School Lesson

1. 1 Samuel 5:1-6; 6:11-16
Worthy
June 19, 2016
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
http://berylloeb.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/one-finger.jpg
The glory of God!
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g
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HdKEr1hZ7iI/TWY2eWJdLoI/AAAAAAAAAgw/V0dVLTrGG1g/s1600/Glory.jpg

2. First Baptist Church Jackson Mission:
Multiply Disciples to Live Like Jesus.
June Memory Verse:
1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
One Camp June 23-June 27
Pray for the 114 students attending One Camp June 23-June 27.
We have students attending who are so close to accepting Christ as their Savior.
May God’s Spirit move like never before.
Every Wednesday from
06/22/2016 to 08/03/2016
Sunday, July 3, 10:30 a.m.

3. Sunday, July 3, 10:30 a.m.
“Let Freedom Ring”
Invite people to Sunday School and then attend the Worship Service.
Community Service Day
Sunday, July 10th
We Love Jackson
Our goal is 700!
Register at the Go Center, at the Kiosk, online or in Sunday School!
Sunday - July 17
First Baptist Jackson
at
The Mississippi Braves
5:00 p.m.
Tickets available on Sunday, June 26th
$5.00 each
Sunday
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1 Samuel 8:4-9, 19-22
King?
June 26, 2016
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

4. Today
1 Samuel 5:1-6; 6:11-16
Worthy
Jon Courson's
Application NT Commentary
Jon and Tammy Courson
http://blob:AC102410-43B9-4409-B828-3FBA7FEAD7DF
1 Samuel 5:1 ESV
The Philistines and the Ark
1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to
Ashdod.
The Ark of the Covenant is a chest 31”×31”×52” (<3’x<3’x>4’) gold-plated
acacia wood (shittim wood, mimosa, same wood as the burning bush).
A golden lid, the kapporet (traditionally "mercy seat") which is covered with 2
golden cherubim, was placed above the Ark.
http://cdn.isciencetimes.com/data/images/full/2014/01/10/5818-ark-of-the-covenant.jpg

5. When carried, the Ark was always hidden under a large veil made of skins and
blue cloth, always carefully concealed, even from the eyes of the priests who
carried it.
https://veritasdomain.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/uzzah.jpg
http://lamblion.com/images/publications/articles/ark_travelmap.jpg
1 Samuel 5:2-6 ESV
2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon
and set it up beside Dagon (father of Baal).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Dagon1.jpg/220px-Dagon1.jpg

6. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had
fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took
Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next
morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the
ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on
the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.
5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not
tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
6 The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified
and afflicted them with tumors (hemorrhoids), both Ashdod and its territory.
1 Samuel 5:2-6 ESV
So God struck the Philistines, He spanked them – with hemorrhoids – all of them!
Since they wouldn’t stand before God, now they would not be able to sit before
Dagon.
1 Samuel 6:11-13 ESV
11 And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice
and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of
Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to
the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as
the border of Beth-shemesh. 13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping
their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the
ark, they rejoiced to see it.
1 Samuel 6:11-13 ESV
http://biblestudyoutlines.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/img_309372_9374709_3.jpeg

7. 1 Samuel 6:14-16 ESV
14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A
great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the
cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the
Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set
them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings
and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 16 And when the five lords of the
Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.
1 Samuel 6:14-16 ESV
The Israelites had set up the tabernacle at Shiloh, and in it, the Ark of the
Covenant was kept.
Joshua used this location as the place where he divided the land for the
Israelites.
Shiloh was the major cultic center of Israel before the first Temple was built in
Jerusalem.
http://ferrelljenkins.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/tabernacle_timna_fjenkins082708_958t.jpg
Joshua 18:1 and 10 ESV
Allotment of the Remaining Land
1 Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and
set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.
10 and Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord. And there Joshua
apportioned the land to the people of Israel, to each his portion.
Joshua 18:1 and 10 ESV

8. Joshua 19:51 ESV
51 These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun
and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel
distributed by lot at Shiloh before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
So they finished dividing the land.
Joshua 19:51 ESV
Shiloh is located in the hill country about 30 miles north of Jerusalem.
The Ark remained at Shiloh for a few hundred years (369 years) through most of
the time period that we know as the “period of the judges”.
Shiloh is where Samuel grew up.
• When Samuel was born, Hannah, his mother, promised to give the child
back to God.
• When Samuel was old enough, she took him to live with Eli, who lived in
Shiloh.
1 Samuel 3:2-3 ESV
(1093 BC at Shiloh in the temple)
2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not
see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out,
and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
1 Samuel 3:2-3 ESV
http://www.godsoutreachministryint.org/SamuelHearsVoiceOfGod1.JPG
In 1 Samuel 4, the Ark was taken from Shiloh to a battle against the Philistines at
Ebenezer.
This decision turned out to be a bad one because the Ark was captured by the
Philistines at Aphek.

9. When the news of this reached Eli, who was an old man by this time, he fell off
his chair in the gate of the city of Shiloh and died.
The Ark never returned to Shiloh again.
1 Samuel 4:1-4a ESV
1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.
Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at
Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines drew up in
line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the
Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. 3 And when
the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord
defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of
the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the
power of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the
ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, Who is enthroned on the cherubim.
1 Samuel 4:1-4a ESV
That was their big mistake, looking unto an “it” instead of looking unto the Lord.
When we look to an “it” (a program, a procedure, a discipline) it leads to a
defeat.
This is the key.
Are we going to read “it” (read the Bible in a year) or go to a place (the church
building) to find victory?
Both of those are a means unto an end, not the end itself.
The end itself is God! (John 1)
It is God Who brings about victory!
The Bible and church are to be vehicles for us to come into His presence to talk
with Him and to hear from Him, not just a box to check off.

10. They had a box, the ark of the covenant, and they were looking unto “it” instead
of looking unto Him!
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jUfLW3zpeE8/SptDWy1aG-I/AAAAAAAAAio/zBkUH_ipxTs/s400/Looking+Unto+Jesus.png
1 Samuel 4:10-11a ESV
10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to
his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers
of Israel fell. 11a And the ark of God was captured,
They looked unto an “it” instead of unto God and they lost 30,000 men that day
in addition to losing “it”.
The victory is in our relationship with Him, not in the vehicle that brings us into His
presence.
Check with the Lord, don’t just check the box.
http://www.specialeducationadvisor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/check-the-box-e1333060260467.jpg
Today’s text
1 Samuel 5:1
1 Samuel 5:1 ESV
The Philistines and the Ark
1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to
Ashdod.

11. The Philistines were a mighty enemy of Israel, much more of a threat than the
Amalekites were.
It would have been more like having the USSR as an enemy than just some local
border skirmish.
Ebenezer and Ashdod were two of the five major Philistine cities.
Each one of those cities had its own ruler.
1 Samuel 5:2 ESV
2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon
and set it up beside Dagon.
Dagon was an idol that the Philistines worshiped and considered him to be the
father of Baal.
Dagon’s upper half was human and his lower half was a fish.
1 Samuel 5:3 ESV
3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had
fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took
Dagon and put him back in his place.
They came in the next morning to the scene: “Help! I’ve fallen and can’t get up.”
And they said, “Dag gone it, how did this happen?”
They hit the reset button.
Isn’t that a sad story that people choose a god who can’t even get up by himself
over the Living God that created them and this fantastic universe?
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_IFOVkaLlWw/UlbqaLyN9aI/AAAAAAAAALQ/PwwxNE7dXsI/s1600/slide-12-creator-god.jpg

12. 1 Samuel 5:4-5 ESV
4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face
downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and
both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon (the
fishy part) was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the
house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
1 Samuel 5:4-5 ESV
When they saw this the second day, they said, “Wait a minute, this ain’t right!
Something is fishy is going on here!”
The truth is that Dagon could not stand in the presence of the Lord.
Exodus 20:3-6 ESV
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved 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. (fish) 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the
Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, 6 but
showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My
commandments.
Exodus 20:3-6 ESV
They should have admitted right then and there that Dagon was no god at all
and repented and turned to the One True God; but instead, they chose to honor
the spot where Dagon’s head quit rolling – the threshold.
Why try to justify and honor a so-called god who just lost his head and couldn’t
even take care of himself?
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~ichthus/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/dagon2.jpg

13. People are enticed by Satan to make up religious systems that enable them to
live the immoral lives that they want to live.
http://representationsofantiquity.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/passion-3.png
They knew Dagon was no real god but they wanted to indulge their flesh so they
kept this god alive in their minds and in their culture.
They wanted to do what their flesh wanted to do.
Romans 1:22-25 ESV
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and
creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the
dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the
truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the
Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen.
Romans 1:22-25 ESV
Even though evolution is a weak lie, it is an effective lie because people want an
alternative to God being our Creator.
When you believe in a Creator, you are responsible to Him and subject to living
the way He wants you to live.
But many people want to live life on their terms, not on His terms.
The Philistines’ god was powerless, Dagon had lost his head, yet they chose to
honor the spot where his head quit rolling rather than to honor the True and
Living God.

14. Idols in your heart are far more dangerous than idols in the temple.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p-pm8JKaO0E/T96M9gBEuSI/AAAAAAAAWJQ/xSV5P-5Vchg/s1600/idols-of-the-heart+(1).jpg
Pastor Tim Keller describes idolatry as “turning a good thing into an ultimate
thing.
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=0
Rather than bowing down to metal or wooden statues, we in the West usually
commit idolatry when we take something good and make it into something that
we can’t live without.
This might happen with technology (iPhone), relationships, money, comforts,
possessions, etc.
Such an act is evil because you and I were made to worship the one true Living
God of the Bible.
Idolatry is an act of rebellion and anarchy against our Creator–it is telling God
that I refuse to worship You, even though You created me for this very purpose.
It’s also self-destructive, as these false gods only enslave us and lead to our
ultimate ruin and death.
A good way to know this is happening is to ask yourself: Am I trusting in (fill in the
blank) rather than God for my ‘hope and happiness, significance and security’?”

15. Consider getting Keller’s book:
http://cdn2-
b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/2b/29/2b291226f8eeebb14d7c4e757f2a9543.jpg?it
ok=KRaE6jxJ
20 Idol Crushing Questions to Diagnose Heart Idols
by Tim Keller says J.A. Medders --
“Life only has meaning/I only have worth if…
1. I have power and influence over others.” (Power Idolatry)
2. I am loved and respected by _____.” (Approval Idolatry)
3. I have this kind of pleasure experience, a particular quality of life.”
(Comfort idolatry)
4. I am able to get mastery over my life in the area of _____.” (Control
Idolatry)
5. people are dependent on me and need me.” (Helping Idolatry)
6. someone is there to protect me and keep me safe.” (Dependence
Idolatry)
7. I am completely free from obligations or responsibilities to take care of
someone.” (Independence idolatry)
8. I am highly productive and getting a lot done.” (Work idolatry)
9. I am being recognized for my accomplishments, and I am excelling in my
work.” (Achievement idolatry)
10.I have a certain level of wealth, financial freedom, and very nice
possessions.” (Materialism idolatry)
11.I am adhering to my religion’s moral codes and accomplished in its
activities.” (Religion idolatry)
12.this one person is in my life and happy to be there, and/or happy with
me.” (Individual person idolatry)
13.I feel I am totally independent of organized religion and am living by a
self-made morality.” (Irreligion idolatry)

16. 14.my race and culture is ascendant and recognized as superior.”
(Racial/cultural idolatry)
15.a particular social grouping or professional grouping or other group lets
me in.” (Inner ring idolatry)
16.my children and/or my parents are happy and happy with me.” (Family
idolatry)
17.Mr. or Ms. “Right” is in love with me.” (Relationship Idolatry)
18.I am hurting, in a problem; only then do I feel worthy of love or able to
deal with guilt.” (Suffering idolatry)
19.my political or social cause is making progress and ascending in
influence or power.” (Ideology idolatry)
20.I have a particular kind of look or body image.” (Image idolatry)
On page 176 of his book, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller says: “We think we’ve
learned about grace, set our idols aside, and reached a place where we’re
serving God not for what we’re going to get from Him but for Who He is. There’s a
certain sense in which we spend our entire lives thinking we’ve reached the
bottom of our hearts and finding it is a false bottom. Mature Christians are not
people who have completely hit the bedrock. I do not believe that is possible in
this life. Rather, they are people who know how to keep drilling and are getting
closer and closer.”
Tim Keller
Prayer: “Father, keep my hart teachable. May I never stop drilling but spend my
whole life shedding the things that get in the way of You.”
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bz3oRReRDxI/Uhlw6DwnYBI/AAAAAAAAAqU/sA6SNWTzmdc/s1600/2.jpg
1 Samuel 5:6 ESV
6 The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and He terrified
and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.
The men of Ashdod said, “This isn’t working out, this has not ended well. Our
affliction is problematic; we are not in a comfortable situation so somebody has
got to go.” So they decided to go with the fishy one, the headless god, Dagon.

17. The key should have been to focus on God, not on their problem.
Bring the Lord’s peace into your life when you are faced with a difficulty, focus
on Him, not on the difficulty.
Bring the Ark (God) in and watch Dagon fall.
Bring God into the picture and watch Dagon go down, see God’s victory
triumph!
1 Samuel 5:8 - What shall we do with the Ark? Let’s send it to Gath. But they got
spanked in Gath too!
1 Samuel 5:10 - Ekron also - 3 of the 5 Philistine cities got the ark and they all
said, “We got to get rid of this thing!”
Instead of turning to the Lord when He spanked them, they turned their backs on
Him and wanted nothing to do with Him.
Sad to say, we often do likewise.
1 Samuel 6:1-2 - The Ark had been in the land of the Philistines for seven months
and they said, “This thing is a pain in the drain, how do we get rid of it?”
The priests told them – “Don’t return it empty!”
The men then asked, “What shall the trespass offering be?”
The answer was, “Five golden tumors (hemorrhoids) and five golden mice.”
Five golden tumors (hemorrhoids) and five golden mice.
Five because that equaled the number of the lords of the Philistines.
Mice because they may have been the vector that transmitted the disease.

18. The lost see God as a pain in their rears and they want to send Him away.
They want to get Him out of their culture just as the Philistines did not want to
deal with the reason for their disease and difficulties.
They wanted relief but they did not want to get to the bottom of the disease.
The same is true of the US today, people want God out of our culture, out of our
government, out of our schools, out of our marketplaces.
They don’t want the mass shootings and terrorism that comes when God
removes His hand of protection; the pain – but they do not want to do what it
takes to bring God back into their culture.
1 Samuel 6: 7 – New cart, two nursing cows that had never been yoked.
1 Samuel 6:9 – If they go to Israel, then God had a hand in this, if not, then all this
was by chance. This test was set up against God so the outcome would be
supernatural – holy cows!
1 Samuel 6:11-12 ESV
11 And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice
and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of
Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to
the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as
the border of Beth-shemesh.
The cows took the road straight to Israel, lowing all the way – they did not turn to
the left nor to the right.
The Philistines utterly ignored this supernatural outcome.
Jon Courson said that he had to milk these analogies for all they were worth.
http://bibleencyclopedia.com/picturesjpeg/Ark_returns_1168-36.jpg

19. 1 Samuel 6:13 ESV
13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the
valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see
it.
Verse 13 – Beth-shemesh in the month of June, the Israelites rejoiced greatly – in
the field of Joshua during the wheat harvest, they took the wood from the cart
and offered the cows (female animals were not to be sacrificed).
1 Samuel 6:16 ESV
16 And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.
Verse 16 – Watched at a distance and returned to Palestine – one ruler for each
of the five cities (represented by the golden emrod) and the gold mice
(represented each of the rulers over that city).
Verse 19 – The Lord smote Beth-shemesh because they looked in the ark.
Who is able to stand before the holy Lord?
30,000 slain in battle and now 50,070 more slain – a great slaughter!
This was Horrific price for removing the mercy seat.
They looked inside to see if the law was still there.
Don’t attempt to remove mercy from the law.
You can’t remove mercy from the equation.
It will kill you if you try to remove God’s mercy from His plan.
It will rob you of your joy.
Your joy will be killed.
Be careful!
We all know it brings misery and depression and sadness of soul.
The English phrase mercy seat is a translation of the Hebrew word, kapporeth.

20. Kapporeth is probably derived from kaphar, which is often considered to mean
cover, the literal meaning of kaphar however is wipe out, implying that
kapporeth means thing of wiping out/thing of cleansing.
The ark and mercy seat were associated with the presence of Yahweh.
http://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=OIP.M30600e211a2bf6e1b9ecb7e80deeabd8o0&w=299&h=224&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0&
r=0
The Yom Kippur ritual was a shadow of things to come (Hebrews 10:1).
The continual sacrifice for sin became obsolete once Jesus had died.
Exodus 25:18 KJV
And thou shalt make two angels of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them,
in the two ends of the mercy seat.
John 20:12 KJV
And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the
feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
Genesis 49:10 KJV
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Jesus replaced the Ark of the Covenant with God's New Covenant because the
Ark of the Covenant disappeared from the Jewish Temple somewhere before or
during the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
In anticipation of the Ark's disappearance, the prophet Jeremiah wrote:
Jeremiah 3:16 KJV
And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those
days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, the ark of the covenant of the LORD:
neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it;
neither shall that be done any more.
Jeremiah 3:16 KJV

21. Even before Jesus, Jeremiah's prophecy revealed that there would be no more
need for the Ark of the Covenant in the future.
God had a better covenant He would bring to pass -- the new covenant in His
Son, Jesus Christ.
Even though sin has been forgiven and washed away, we still try to say: “Yeah,
but what they did to me was really bad!”
Forget about it!
Jesus paid for it, keep mercy over the law – even if the law was broken and your
heart was broken – you’ll never win by trying to remove the mercy.
Jesus went on to say in Luke 6, “How you show mercy to others is the same
degree and it is given to you when you need mercy.”
Put a lid on it.
It is merciful to neutralize these terrorist and mass murderers.
Mercy requires it.
With each person that they kill, they are digging a deeper hole for themselves in
Hell.
Jesus said – Some are beaten with a few stripes and some are beaten with many
stripes.
There are degrees in Hell.
You are doing a murderer a favor by stopping him from killing others.
It is not a vindictive action because he is damaging himself and others - so it is
an act of mercy.
God was merciful when He said to Joshua, “I want you to destroy every
Canaanite in the land” because God had given the Canaanites 400 years to
repent and they didn’t and wouldn’t.
Their culture had become so polluted by sin, by deviant sexual activity that they
were doomed and damned and needed to be taken out.
That’s mercy!

22. If a rabid dog entered your house and attacked your children, the merciful thing
to do would be to kill the dog.
He was dying anyway and there is no reason to allow him to harm your family.
It is not right to allow certain things to continue.
That is why God will take an errant Christian home to Heaven when he is
attacking God’s man (the pastor) or hindering God’s work.
The Israelites knew that God did not want them to look in the law because He
always wants mercy covering the law.
He never wants mercy lifted off nor set aside.
He always wants mercy to be covering the law.
They lifted the lid and died that day.
As a matter of fact, 50,070 died that day!
1 Samuel 7:1-2 ESV
1 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord and
brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son
Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the Lord. 2 From the day that the ark was
lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the
house of Israel lamented after the Lord.
1 Samuel 7:1-2 ESV
Everyone feared the ark.
They had heard what happened to the Philistines and they had seen what it did
to the men of Beth-shemesh and they were very cautious.
They had the fear of the Lord, something that is lacking in our culture today.
God is love and good and grace and merciful but He is also awesome!
They knew that He must be respected and deeply revered and that is the place
that they were in.

23. 1 Samuel 7:3-4 ESV
Samuel Judges Israel
3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with
all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among
you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you
out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals
and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only.
1 Samuel 7:3-4 ESV
God told them to get rid of the other gods and He would deliver them from the
Philistines.
If there ever was a verse that we need today, it is this one.
If we want to be free from the terror of our enemies, the key is to serve the Lord
only!
The USA is now celebrating plurality when it comes to gods.
We now say, “Any god, any religion, it is OK since we are united!”
It is politically correct but it breaks God’s heart and it should break our hearts
also.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was the God that the pilgrims relied on
and it was never a question of Who God was - but that is not true today.
Jesus clearly stated;
John 14:6 ESV
6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except
through Me.”
The extremist of other faiths and their radical actions cause the world to lump
dedicated Christians who believe that Jesus is the only way into the same
category.
Satan wants us to backpedal and give in to the “modern thought”.
Political correctness puts pressure on us to capitulate, to not be so exclusive.
Satan would love to get us to deny what Jesus said so clearly, “I am the only
way!”

24. The lesson here in 1 Samuel is if you want God’s blessing you must put away all
other gods and serve the Lord only.
The sin of Israel was not in turning their back on God but in adding other gods to
the land.
End Jon Courson
The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 ESV
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes
in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
John 14:6 ESV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.”
Romans 3:23 ESV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a ESV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
 Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
 Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the
penalty for our sins.
 The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in
Revelation 21:8.
Revelation 21:8 ESV
8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the
sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the
lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Romans 6:23b ESV
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:8 ESV
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.

25. Revelation 21:7 ESV
7 "The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will
be my son.”
 Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be conquerors.
Romans 10:9-10 ESV
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart
one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:13 ESV
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
If you have questions or would like to know more, please, contact First Baptist
Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/