WEBVTT

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,. Amen.

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There's a certain stereotype that goes with being a PK. Pastors

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Kids are said to be rebellious and misbehaved and like most

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stereotypes, this largely inaccurate.

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In fact, as I look around here.

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I see quite a few PK's among us who at least so far have shown

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themselves to be responsible and fine, upstanding Christians, many of

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them even preparing for

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service in the Pastoral office. And I'm confident

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yes, even in you Josiah, a PK, that you'll be serving quite faithfully,

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But then there are also those who are the reason we have that

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stereotype, those who do end up being rather rebellious.

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And why is that? I think one of the reasons is because often they are

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reacting against a different stereotype, the exact opposite, for those

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who will say to them.

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Well your dad

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is a pastor and therefore that must mean that you are a prude, you are

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closed minded, you are raised so that you wouldn't respect anybody who

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doesn't believe the exact same way that you believe.

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And so as a result, not wanting to be typecast and stereotyped,

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according to what that child's father may do as a vocation.

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There's a reaction against that.

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They try to make sure that it's clear that they are not defined by

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what their father does.

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Now

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that's a good reminder, that there is not a Biblical office of PK nor

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is there, a Biblical office of pastor's wife.

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Now, people are going to create their own list of expectations and

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qualifications for the pastor's family.

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But scripture doesn't do that. People will create that list, but the

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only thing expected of the woman married to a pastor and the children

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of that Pastor is what is expected of everyone

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on the basis of Holy Scripture.

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Now, you can't control the expectations of others, but you can set the

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example in word and deed that you expect nothing more from your wife

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and children

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then what scripture

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expects of any Christians. And when you are blessed that Christ has

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given you wife and children, let the congregation see how you cherish

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and revel in that great gift. So that they too can see that your family

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is not a stereotype but a gift given by God.

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Now, I believe there's another reason why some PK's are rebellious.

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It's because they have a bull's-eye right on their chest simply

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because they are the pastor's family.

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It's a far more Insidious bullseye than congregational expectations.

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It is Satan's bullseye the old evil foe

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knows that one of the qualifications for the Pastoral office.

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Is that you manage your household with dignity.

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And so he knows that if he can drive a wedge between the pastor's

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family and the congregation.

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Well, the pastor's delivery of Christ will at least be hampered.

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Perhaps he will even bring his service in the Pastoral office to an

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end.

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And for that reason, I invite you to join me in praying every day for

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PK's and pastors wives.

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That they would be kept safe and secure in the church.

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That it would be evident to them that they are cherished by husband

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and father who just happens to be a pastor and that they would know

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the love of a congregation that doesn't see them as a stereotype.

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But as unique children of God through whom the spirit works beauty.

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Now tragically today, we are confronted in our text.

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In first Samuel chapter 4 with two PK's priests kids who have fallen

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just about as far as you can fall.

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The text doesn't tell us what drove Hophni and Phinehas into sin.

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Whether it was the devil, the world or their own sinful nature, all

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three colluding together.

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Their fall is great. And this isn't the first

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 time that we have heard about Hophni and Phinehas the sons of

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Eli. Two chapters earlier, and first Samuel chapter 2.

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We are told that they are not only the sons of Eli, but they're also

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the sons of worthlessness, who did not know Yahweh. And that is a

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shocking description because they're not only the sons of the priest,

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Eli they themselves serve

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serve as priests.

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And what did they do with the Holy office and to which they were

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called.

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They used it to ingratiate themselves by putting the Divine means of

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forgiveness as their means to get what they want.

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Rather than it being all about, delivering the Lord's forgiveness to

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his people.

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They treated the offering of Yahweh with contempt manipulating the

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sacrificial system

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so they would get the choice cut of meat that they longed to have.

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And if that were not enough, we're also told that they laid with the

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women who served at the tent of meeting.

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They have fallen just about as far as you can fall.

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So Eli calls them to repentance but they will not listen to their

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father.

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So Yahweh determines that he's going to put them to death.

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He sends a man of God, a prophet to Eli with the word of Yahweh that

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because of the grievous sin of Hophni and Phinehas.

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They're both going to die on the exact same day.

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And furthermore, the house of Eli is going to be cut off. You see when

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Yahweh's servants despise his gifts destruction ensues.

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And that brings us to our text today where the prophetic word is

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fulfilled

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and then some

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Not before Hophni and Phinehas are killed in battle.

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They further dishonor

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Yahweh by taking the Ark into battle.

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Remember the Ark it is led the children of Israel all the way from

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Sinai through the Wilderness and now into the promised land.

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They're Yahweh

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dwelt among his people enthroned on the cherubim.

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It was

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His means to graciously dwell among his people.

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And what are they doing?

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They're using the Ark for their own desires.

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And that's why Hophni and Phinehas died, but the destructive wave of

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their sin does not end there.

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Eli's house is not only cut off, but he dies as the news of the Ark's

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capture reaches his ears, and he falls over, and breaks his neck.

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And if you read, just beyond our text today in the next few verses,

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you find further tragedy.

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As the pregnant wife of Phinehas dies, but not before she gives

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birth to a son whom she named Ichabod, Hebrew for no glory.

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The glory of Yahweh had departed from Israel.

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The Ark had been captured.

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Talk about a heavy chapter and I was blessed to be assigned of preach

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on this.

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Now, Hollywood cannot rival a story like this.

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But what are we to make of this?

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What does this mean?

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Well, first Yahweh will not be mocked.

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He will not be the tool of humans to get what they want.

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He will not be

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the means to some supposedly greater end.

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Like defeating the Philistines. The sons of Israel will struggle to

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learn this lesson throughout history.

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Nearly six centuries later

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it will be another man of God who has sent by Yahweh to speak his word

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to his people calling them to repentance for the exact same

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sin. Jeremiah and his message are clear, repent of your idolatry

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O Jerusalem or you will fall.

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But Jerusalem will not have ears to hear.

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Instead

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they will say Jeremiah

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you don't know what you're talking about.

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As long as we have the temple

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we can't be touched.

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It is our divine insurance policy against any problems happening

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 to us.

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So what does Yahweh do?

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But withdraw, his gracious presence from the temple and the

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Babylonians come in level Jerusalem and the temple as well.

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Yahweh's glory is not a means to gain security.

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His glory is the end, the telos for us to cherish and the church

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continues to struggle to learn this lesson.

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Yahweh's glorious presence right here in his church is not the means

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to the greater end of financial peace or political stability or

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whatever it is that you so greatly desire.

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Yahweh will not be mocked.

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But there's something else for us to learn and that is, Yahweh is

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faithful.

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The man of God, not only told Eli that his sons would die and that his

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house would be cut off.

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He also promised that Yahweh would raise up a faithful priest and that

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promise is fulfilled in Samuel.

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Now, why would Yahweh even do that?

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Why would he make sure that he raises up a faithful priest

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who's going to deliver his grace to his people?

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After all, it wasn't just Hophni and Phinehas who had sinned.

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It was the Elders of Israel Israel as a whole who came and took the

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Ark out of the Tabernacle and took it into battle, as if it was their

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tool to use

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as they desired. They had sinned.

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But yahweh's desire to dwell among them was greater than their sin.

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You see, Yahweh is relentless in delivering his grace to his people.

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The Philistines even knew this. When the ark was brought in to battle.

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The Philistines said woe to us, who can deliver us from the power of

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these mighty gods.

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These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague

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in the Wilderness.

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They heard what Yahweh had done to Egypt in The Exodus.

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Now they didn't know nor did they trust in Yahweh.

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But they knew his name.

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They knew his reputation.

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They knew his renown as the one who fights for his people.

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Because he longs to dwell among them with grace.

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The Philistines captured the Ark, but it wouldn't be long before they

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send it right back to Israel.

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Because, wherever that Ark was taken, the people would break out in

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tumors.

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You see, Yahweh long's to dwell among his people.

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So he makes sure that he has means to do so.

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Now it would be that same way

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six centuries later. Jeremiah would see the temple destroyed because

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Yahweh's Glory

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departed from the temple.

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But Yahweh would then call Ezekiel to promise that the day was coming

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when the glory would come back to Jerusalem returning to the temple.

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No more Ichabod because Yahweh's thirst to dwell among his people

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cannot be quenched.

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And it remains that way today.

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Yahweh longs to dwell among his people.

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He cannot help himself.

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So he took on flesh

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so that the kavod Yahweh, the glory of the Lord might dwell among us.

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That Glory dwells among his people still today, right

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where he has promised, it will be.

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So that Glory keeps coming to you.

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The glory is going to be placed into your mouth on Wednesday.

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Just as the glory took up residence

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within you in the Holy baptism.

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The day is coming

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when the glory in all his fullness will dwell with his Israel with his

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church bodily.

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Kavod Yahweh, the glory of the Lord oh much more than the means to

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an end. Kavod

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Yahweh

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the glory of the Lord, the end, the telos the fullness of Grace.

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.