Sunday Morning and Evening, July 13, 2008, 

God has certainly been good to us this week! Sis Tracy was involved in a two lane, two car head-on accident on Saturday morning on her way home from work. While her car was totaled, everyone left the scene of the accident with no serious injuries.  This includes the 6 young people in the car that hit her (their car went left of center as they were passing an I-pod back and forth). Sis Tracy was taken to the emergency room by squad for tests but the results all came back favorable. She is very sore and bruised up a bit, but we are thankful that she is still with us as this accident could have very easily ended the lives of all involved.

Bro Dale brought a 2 part lesson titled "When I begin, I will also make an end". It outlined the life of Eli and his two wicked sons. The stories in the Bible were written for our learning and we should be able to draw from their lessons a meaning for us today. 

In I Samuel chapters 1-4, we see Eli’s 2 sons who had no relationship, with nor calling from God, to participate in the priesthood.  No doubt, they were just put in Priestly positions because they were the High Priest’s sons.  God had given a commandment in Lev. 7:31-35 concerning the burning of the offerings and how much the priests were supposed to take for their livelihood.  But in I Sam. 2:13-17, we see Hophni and Phineas had their own way of doing things.  They just took as much as they wanted. They even exercised the power of their priestly position and let the people know that they would do what they wanted even if they had to do it by force.  In other words, like it or not, they were going to let people know that they were in control.  As a result, the people got to the place where they didn’t want to offer up sacrifices any more since they felt they were just aiding the priests in their sins. “Who cares how much meat they got?” one might ask.  Yet it wasn’t that which bothered the Lord.  It was the blatant disobedience and attitude of independence God hated. 

On and on these two priests continued to work evil until finally God’s presence left the ark and God promised an end to the old, and a new beginning.  Unfortunately, the congregation was unaware that God had left, and used the ark, the symbol of God’s presence, as a substitute for His presence.  They turned the ark into an idol thinking it would save them in battle (I Sam 4:3).  Sadly, we read how the ark was taken and Eli and his sons perished. 

What lessons can we draw from this story today?  God will only tolerate disobedience for so long  until He withdraws His presence.  Yet if we aren’t careful, we will not recognize this and will continue “having church”, substituting symbols of God’s presence (our church name, doctrines, form of godliness, traditions, way of dress, etc) for His real presence.  We might even rejoice and shout that these substitutes are yet in our midst (I Sam 4:5) but these things do not make us nearer to God.  In the end, He will put an end to what is going on.  But remember, He never leaves us without hope.  When He makes an end, He will always make a new beginning.  We have no monopoly on God or the way He works and if He can’t work through a particular set of people, He will find another that He can.  What a sobering thought!

You can read the outline of this lesson by clicking here