From Ichabod to Ebenezer
November 21, 2010 Evening Service
Immanuel Baptist Church, Wagoner, OK
Rick Boyne
Message Point: God honors those who honor Him.
Focus Passage: I Samuel 7:1-14
Supplemental Passage: 2Corinthians 12:9 ‘And he said unto me, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”’
Introduction: If I had a car with the engine that was ready for the grave, I'd have a new engine put in. I'd take the car into a mechanic who would put it in for me. If when I got that car back, it ran just as poorly, I'd begin to wonder if the old really had been replaced or just cleaned up. It is not different with our new lives in Christ. (Henry Eerdmans, Christian Personal Ethics, 1957, p. 383ff.)
Ebenezer = "Thus far the LORD has helped us."
I. The Israelites LOST the Ark in the same place (I Sam 4) along with 30,000 men
a. They had taken God into their own hands
b. They did not honor God
c. Phinehas' wife called her child Ichabod because of the lost Ark
II. Twenty Years had passed
a. Israel lamented their sin and wanted to return to Him
b. Samuel said to throw out the idols
c. They had a great revival when they confessed and repented.
III. The Philistines heard they were rallying
a. They came against them in the very field where the Ark had been taken
b. Samuel prayed for them and God caused a great confusion so that the Israelites won
c. Samuel raised a stone of remembrance called “God’s Help”
Invitation: The journey from Ichabod to Ebenezer, from the absence of God’s presence to the Help of His hand, can happen today. But the only way it will happen is when we stop playing church and make our lives a temple for God to dwell in.
