Hello everyone, Pastor Steve here. Hope you're doing well. Let's be praying together in our session for our missions conference. It'll be here very soon. Also, let's be praying for one another for good health, for God to continue to bless. Let's pray for all the visitors that God has been sending to our church. Also, we have the new Bible study with the Skidmore students, and so let's pray for that to go well that that will grow and students will come to know who Jesus really is. Now we're in our Bible here in the book of 1st Samuel. 1st Samuel verses, or actually chapters 5, 6, and 7. We're going to look at an amazing story so go ahead and find that place. you would. And enjoy the conversation. Let everyone feel like they can offer an opinion or an idea for the discussion. Also don't feel like you have to give an answer to every question out loud. And just kind of listen and enjoy and contribute. Basically contribute. Contribute Also, it means listening in addition to speaking at the right time to share something that's helpful. And so I encourage you along with that as well. I've been enjoying our scattered group. I hope the other six other groups, seven in total, are enjoying theirs as well. If you're not in a scattered group, we have seven meeting, some on Tuesdays, others on Wednesday, and there's one on Thursday as well. And so let's go ahead and pray and ask God to bless our study. Father, thank you for this time to study the scriptures. We thank you for the Kingmaker, Samuel, and his example to us. We pray you teach us today, let us grow and know you, know who you are in a greater way. Continue to bless the church. We pray for healing for those who may be hurting today. And we ask for a great Sunday of worship as we gather together. And now as we're scattered here in these groups, we pray that you would bless all the conversation, the interaction, and the study. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Alright, so back in BC, before 30 BC, not long after the start of the war between Athens and Sparta had begun, an epidemic ravaged the people of Athens and lasted for about five years. Some estimates say about 100,000 people died. The Greek historian at the time, Thucydides, wrote that people in good health were all of a sudden attacked by violent heats in the head and redness and inflammation of eyes and the inward parts, such as the throat or tongue, becoming bloody and emitting an unnatural, fetid breath. And so is it possible it's Ebola is what some historian medical people would look at this and see from the description they would say about that. In the modern industrial age there's new transportation that took place with all the locomotives and steam engines etc. made it easier for influenza. and this virus to wreak havoc on the world, really. In just a few months, the disease spanned the globe, killing one million people. It took just five weeks for the epidemic to reach its peak mortality. The earliest cases were reported in Russia, but it spread rapidly. Even before the advent of airplanes, because of the shipping and everything on boats, this virus spread all over the place. Well, in our passage here, We have an epidemic or a pandemic that takes place in a localized place in Israel. Now, do you like mice? Do you like mice? I wouldn't have a mouse or a rodent for a pet. Some people do, but I wouldn't do that. Historically, I think because the things that happen in history is a good reason why I'm not interested in mice But they sure are cute you see a little picture here of one or have an army of mice in our passage God sends an army of mice and these mice carry with them what we know today as The Bubonic Plague. The Bubonic Plague. So let's go ahead and read this. And I'd like you to understand as we read that God is bigger than any drama of the moment. God is bigger than any drama of the moment. So let's begin over in chapter 6. Actually verse 5 so remember last time the Israelites had taken the Ark of the Covenant into battle Eli's sons had died. He gets worried about the sons. He hears that the Ark was was taken and he falls over dead his neck breaks and then the next few chapters are about what's happening with the Ark of the Covenant and over there in the Philistine territory. So let's pick up a reading in chapter five, verse one. And the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and they set it by Dagon. We generally think of the false god of Baal as a Philistine god, but they also had this false god called Dagon, and he's the vegetation god, vegetables and things that are growing. In ancient literature, sometimes Baal is referred to as the son of Dagon. So they have a lot of false gods, a lot of false deities. That's one thing that differentiates Judaism from all these other early religions in the world. There's just one God. And the same is true for us as Christians. There's just one God. We don't have a pantheon of gods. We have a single God. And we know him in the persons of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So, verse 3, When the day of Ashdod rose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of God. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again. And when they rose early on the morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. So this time the statue is bowing down on the ground towards where the Ark of the Covenant is at. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left to him. So now the image is destroyed, is bowed down towards the Ark of God, the Ark of the Covenant. Therefore neither the priest of Dagon nor any that come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashdod until this day. Very superstitious, like let's not go there. What happened? Our God was destroyed just now. But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emeralds, even Ashdod and Kos Therau. So emeralds, if you want to circle that word, if you have a good study Bible, it will tell you what these words mean, some of the words we're not familiar with. A good study Bible will also consider the Hebrew words and the Greek words. I wouldn't want one that doesn't include some of those thoughts with that. And so, emerods, it's from the Hebrew word which means to swell. To swell. And it means tumors or boils. And so these are symptoms of a plague. In fact, when you study what kind of plague this could be, medical people would say, well, this sounds like the bubonic plague. Well, I'll try to identify what that is here in just a little bit. Now, there are some mice involved in our message here about mice and fearful men. Notice as we continue, when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, the ark of God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon our God. They sent, therefore, and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And he answered, Let the ark of God of Israel be carried unto Gath. Remember where Goliath was from, Gath. And they carried the ark of God of Israel about hither. And it was so that after they had carried it about the hand of the lord was against the city With a very great destruction and he smote the men of the city both small and great and they had emeralds in their secret parts So the bubonic plague it spread from not only their hands or their arms or their their neck There's a lot swelling in the neck with a bubonic plague, but it went down to their private parts on them as well spread all over their body And therefore they sent the ark of god to ekron what good neighbors right? Hey, this thing's destroying us. Let's send it to somebody else That's what they were doing. So now they send it to ekron Same thing happens the ekronites cried out And they have brought about the ark of god of to of israel to us to slay us and our people Hey, we don't want it either. Why are you bringing it to us is what they say? So they sent and gathered together the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not and our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city, the hand of God was very heavy there. The men that died not were smitten with the Emirates and the cry of the city went up to heaven So you have a lot of people dying you have a lot of people who are sore and are fighting with this illness and the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months and the Philistines called for the priest and divine are saying what shall we do to the ark of the Lord tell us and And wherewith we shall send it to his place and he said if he send away the ark of the god of israel send it not empty But in any wise return him a trespass offering Even these philistines knew about a trespass offering. We've sinned. We've stepped over the line. We've done wrong Maybe this will appease the god of israel so that we don't have these emirats or this bubonic plague that has really devastated our society. And so what shall this offering be? In verse 4, they answered, five golden emeralds and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on you all and on your lords. So there's five different cities. They drop off the Ark of the Covenant in three different cities, but all of the Philistines and all their region roundabout were affected by this bubonic plague that was caused by the next verse, these mice. Wherefore ye shall make images of your emeralds and images of your mice so they made gold images or pictures Or maybe they carved it out on plates of gold What what the boils were all about what the sickness was all about and then they they fabricated with gold these golden mice because that's where The mice were coming, they were coming from all over the place, and they were really spreading this sickness. Notice the mice, the images of your mice that mar the land. And he shall give glory unto the God of Israel. Peradventure, he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. And they even know about the Philistines, or the Egyptians rather, in verse six, Wherefore then do you harden your hearts because some guys were like no, let's not do this No harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts when they had wrought wonderfully among them Did they not let the people go and they departed now therefore make a new cart and take to milk kind that's archaic English for milk cows On which there hath come no yoke and tie the kind or those cows to the ark and bring their calves home From them and take the ark of the lord and lay it upon the cart and put the jewels of gold which he returned to him for a trespass offering in a coffer by the side thereof, and send it away, that it may go. And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bathshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil. But if not, Then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us, as it was a chance that happened to us. He said, all right, make a cart, put it on, and then if it goes to Bathshemus, Bathshemus is a good town for it to go to, it's a Levitical city, then we know that this plague of these mice, which bring this bubonic plague, has come from God, and God is judging us. If it goes somewhere else, if the cows go somewhere else, then it's just, it happened by chance. Well, there is no chance or accident when it comes to God's judgment and the Philistines have found that out God sends a army of mice And they bring the bubonic plague into the Philistines' lives. Folks, God is bigger than any drama that we have in the moment. Five Philistine cities are attacked with his army of mice. Overrun, bubonic plague, sores, all get rid of the Ark was their new goal. Let's consider these emeralds here. It's a form of boils. It's a fleshly sore. The Cleveland Clinic says about the bubonic plague, plague is an infectious disease caused by a specific type of bacterium called Yerisinia pestis. Y. pestis can affect humans and animals and is spread mainly by fleas. So you have these flea infested mice as an army that are just totally overriding the philistine cities that's why that's why i don't really want mice because they they're known even in new york city today rats they're known to carry sickness so that's why you got to exterminate them and get rid of them because of their dirty habits and how they can spread disease. Bubonic plague is one type of plague. It gets its name from the swollen lymph nodes, the buboas, caused by the disease. The nodes in the armpit, groin, neck can become as large as eggs and start to ooze a pus. Bubonic plague deaths exceeded 25 million people during the 14th century which was about two-thirds of the world's population. That's just hard for us to even fathom. Now that is a pandemic. That is an epidemic. That is a disaster the world over when two-thirds of the world die. At that time rats traveled on ships and brought fleas and plague with them most people who got the plague died and many had blackened tissue due to gangrene and Bubonic plague was then started to be called the black death now even today the bubonic plague is not totally eradicated, there are about seven cases of bubonic plague in the United States today. And it's usually in places where there are mice that are left uncontrolled. And most of those cases, half of those cases, the seven cases, are involving people 12 to 45 years of age now this pandemic for the philistines lasted seven months they bring the ark back and then as soon as they bring it back day gone falls down you have people starting to uh see these mice everywhere and then also they start to come down with this sickness and god hears the cries of their pain in chapter 5 verse 12 we read that god heard from heaven they're crying out what do we do with the ark and about the pain that they were in Judgment affected all the Philistines not just the three cities and they decide let's send a an offering back To make payment and maybe God will stop what took place. Well the men of Bathsheba's presume when they get through the ark look at our passage if you would, they get excited because they see the milk kind pulling this cart, they open up the lid, they open up the covering, probably have it covered up on a wagon, and they open it up, then they open up to look inside, they see the Ten Commandments, they see Aaron's rod, they look down at the mice that the Philistines added, and also these gold images of the boils, and they kind of presume They they should know better because these are Leviticus a Levitical city. These are Levites who knew the law and the teachings of Leviticus and yet they presume and notice what happens in verse 15 of chapter 6 the Levites look down Took down the ark of the Lord and the coffer that was with it and We're in the Jews jewels of gold were and put them on the great stone And the men of Bathsheba's offered burnt offerings and sacrificed offerings the same day to the Lord. So that's good. That's fine They had the five different Emblems that were made out of gold and you have the different cities listed here Ashdod Gaza Ashkelon Gath and Ekron in verse 18 and the golden mice they had all of those as well in addition to the gold boils and notice what happens though and Because they set down the ark, in verse 18, the ark of the Lord, on a stone which remained to this day in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite. And he smote, God smote the men of Bethshemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. This is amazing. These guys should have known better. Now, it's one thing to identify what it was they looked in. The idea is that they left it open and were allowing people to walk by and gaze in and just kind of look at all of this that had previously been very revered And according to earlier passages in the Old Testament, it was to be closed and to be highly respected. And notice what happens. He smote of the people 50,000, three score and ten men. The people lamented, for the Lord smote many of the people with a great slaughter. Now they don't get the emirates, but they die. And they are judged for what took place here. They presume and they gaze into the ark. God executes them for their presumptuous sin. The ark was to be treated reverently, but they don't treat it reverently. But they should have known better. Now they send it away to Kirjath-Jerim in verses 20 and 21. And in verse 1 of chapter 7, the men of Kirjath-Jerim came and fetched up the Ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the Ark of the Lord. And it came to pass, while the Ark abode in Kirjath-Jerim, that the time was long, for it was twenty years. All of Israel the house of Israel lamented after the Lord now Samuel becomes a judge but for these 20 years there's not much happening and the people are lamenting. They have a great fear that falls upon them because when the ark came home they didn't respect it in a proper way. Now sometimes we wonder about this, why would God do this? Well they were violating some passages in Leviticus and in Numbers as well to unlawfully look into, peer into the ark of the Lord. You can look at that in Numbers 4 verse 20. Now from this story I'd like you to know that God is bigger than any drama that we may face. Any drama of the moment. Three observations to take home. Number one, God knows all about plagues. God knows all about plagues. They can be part of judgment, as in this case. They can be used to bring about change. Change is being affected the world over because of the pandemic from two years ago that our world experienced. The World Economic Forum is pushing to have a global tax, global leaders, no national borders, a single currency, a digital currency, a currency that's attached to your body some way via a health passport, and money and currency on that, an ID, health ID. And oh, a lot less people living on earth as well. The Economic Forum, great leaders around the world, mighty ones and also political ones, are working together and they talk about it. You look at their website on the worldeconomicforum.org. Now, God knows all about plagues. Now, it could be as part of God's plan because God has bigger plans. Even what we're experiencing, God has bigger plans. I can rest in that. I can take comfort in that. And also, plagues and problems like this can be used from Satan. God can allow them, and maybe Satan's using them to orchestrate things the way he would like. to see things be. And so all four of those are possibilities with this, but God knows all about plagues. Number two, God is to be feared. We should fear the Lord. Now His presence is not a light thing. His decisions are not to be laughed at. The Philistines did not have a proper fear of God. They feared their God, Dagon, this vegetable God, and he wasn't able to do anything. They recognized, wait a minute, this God, the God of the Hebrews, And by the time it gets to the next, the third city, they say, we don't want that ark here. You want us to die as well? And so they send it on back. The Jews in Beth Shemesh, those Levitical guys, they didn't have a proper respect for God, a proper fear. Well, Numbers 4 verse 20 says, they shall go, they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die. That's something they should have known. It's from Numbers. They shouldn't be looking in that lest they die, like the passage says. But they were so excited. That moment captured them. There's the ark. We've been waiting. It's been seven months. It's been gone. And this is so good. We get to see it. We get to experience it firsthand. and yet they died because of their disobedience. Now, disobedience, in this respect, would bring death. The sin of the people of Bathsheba was deliberate. It was a high-handed violation of the clear will of God. Now, the word fear means awe and respect. We should respect the power and the authority of our God. It was Oswald Chambers who said, the remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else. Whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else. We're not to live afraid, but we should have a great awe and respect of the majesty, the power, authority, and might of our God. And then number three. God's will should be followed. Why was the ark gone for seven months? Because of the corruption, because of the sin, because of all the wrong that people had turned their back on God. And God judged him. He said, all right, my presence is not going to be there anymore. The symbol of my presence is not going to be there. They were not following God's will for their lives. And so we should, however, follow God's clear will. Samuel judges Israel for the rest of his life we find the story of him as he is entering into this passage as well and we find it and we should find God's will just like Samuel and Do God's will just like he did for 40 years. We we find that he follows the Lord God has a plan for every Christian and young adult, teenager, older adult, young person, child, God has a will for you, find it. At different life stages, it could change a little bit, but God has a plan for your life. God's will, find it, find it, and follow it. God has good plans for you. He wants good things to happen in and through your life. So rest assured that God is bigger than the moment. Whatever you're going through, however you perceive the craziness of our world right now, God is bigger than the drama of this moment. When Henry Norris Russell, a Princeton astronomer, had concluded a lecture on the Milky Way, A woman came to him and asked, If our world is so little and the universe is so great, can we believe God really pays attention to us? To which Dr. Russell, a believer, replied, Yes, ma'am. It really depends on how big you believe your God is. How big is your God? He's bigger than any problems and any drama that we may be experiencing. Please take some time to answer these questions and then pray with your scattered group. God bless.