
Date: Sunday 30th June, 2019 Sermon
Topic: ICHABOD
Text: 1 Samuel 4:19-21KJV
19 And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.
20 And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it.
21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.
From our text above, Ichabod means glory is departed. It is the name of the grand son of Eli, who was born by the wife of Phinehas on the day her husband Phinehas and his brother Hopni died at war front and the ark of God was taken away from Israel in a war against Philistines. Eli the priest also died when he heard the news of the death of his two sons and the taking away of the ark, so as the woman travail in labour and brought forth a son, she named him Ichabod meaning glory is departed.
The Almighty God who created man in his image, is a God full of glory, and he packaged man with glory, meaning God created man with glory and no man is born without glory.
Glory is the light of a man, it is the light that others see that attract them to such a life, glory is the beauty of a life, in fact the good thing about a life is the glory he/she carries. It therefore means that a life without glory is like an empty container, such a life exist physically to the eyes but in the spirit realm he/she is as good as death or extinct.
Everyone is made with glory but not everyone lives with glory, some lives are without glory, and so there is nothing to write home about their lives, they live but their living is rather a burden to others than a blessing, for such people living is more of curse than a blessing.
some lives are without glory because they lost it or exchange it. One major cause of lost glory is sin.
SIN: This is the major cause of lost glory, many have lost their glory on the altar of adultery, fornication, disobedience, greed, covetousness e.t.c, Gehazi lost his glory of becoming the next great prophet in Israel after his master Elisha because of greed and covetousness. He exchanged his glory for leprosy just because of the quest for wealth (2 Kings 5).
In Genesis 25:29-34, Esau also exchanged the glory of divine inheritance being the first son of Isaac, he traded his glory and the blessings of firstborn hood for a plate of portage from his younger brother Jacob. Esau despise his glory of divine inheritance and gave it to his brother, he sold his birthright to his brother for food, in later years the scripture said he sought for it with tears but could never recover it. (see Hebrews 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.)
Reuben also lost his glory when he committed adultery with his father’s concubine and instead of blessing from his father he received curses (Genesis 49:3-4).
Beloved, like Gehazi, Esau and Reuben many have exchanged their glory on the altar of greed, covetousness and most especially on fornication or adultery. Only God can restore the lost glory if only you can repent and seek God in prayer and obedience to his words. God bless you.
Another major cause of lost glory is faulty FOUNDATION:
The foundation of a man is very important in life, if the foundation is wrong or faulty it has a great deal of implication upon such a life.
A good biblical example is the boy Ichabod, who was named as such by the circumstances that surround his birth which was that his father, his father’s brother and his grandfather died the same day also the ark of God was taken from Israel. Ichabod himself was not at fault but his mother out of pain and sorrow gave him a name that meant glory is departed and really there was nothing to write home about his life, he was a descendant of a great priest in Israel and should have carried on the priesthood anointing but nothing was made mention of him.
Jabez is another example of a man with faulty foundation according to 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, His mother named him Jabez, meaning sorrow and so their was nothing good about his life, his life was an epitome of sorrow instead of success, so the glory of his life was out of place because of the foundation of his life, however Jabez was able to recover his glory and changed the story of his life when he prayed to God. He requested 5 things from God and God granted all his prayer requests.
Dearly beloved, your foundation is important, whatever, may be wrong with your foundation can be addressed in the place of prayer, God can repair a faulty foundation, He can give you a new beginning, just spend time with Him in prayer and fasting even as we wait on God today and He will restore your lost glory in Jesus Name.
The ministry of the devil according to John 10:10 is to steal, kill and destroy, so devil does steal glory of men, kill glory of men and then destroy glory and lives of men, but he cannot do that alone he has agents and vessels whom he uses to carry out his assignments.
Another cause of lost glory is the WORKS OF DARKNESS
From our Matthew 2:1-4 , when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the wise men saw His stars (glory), I will like you to note that evil people do see glory too not just good people. When the wise men saw the stars they were full of joy, but when king Herod’s heard of the star, he was troubled, sad and was making enquiry to know where Jesus was born.
He sought to kill Jesus but when he could not gathered exactly where Jesus was born other than it was Bethlehem, he sent out his soldiers to kill all children below 2 years in Bethlehem, however Jesus escaped this killings through the leading and instruction given to Joseph by an angel. Beloved, there are evil men and evil powers that steal glory of men, at times they exchange the glory of men for a life of misery and wastage, such powers are in the business of truncating destinies, turning a glorious life into a useless and meaningless life. They have no regard for anyone, they attack sinners as much as the attack believers.
Dearly beloved, the good news is that for sinners, they can repent of their sins and return to God for restoration of the lost glory, while believers can have their lost glory restored by praying to God and destroying the powers of the forces of darkness upon their lives. God bless you.
RECOVERING OF LOST GLORY& SUSTAINING YOUR GLORY
God made man with glory and also releases a measure of His glory upon man, so man can be a carrier of God’s glory but not all men carry God’s glory. The measure of God’s glory upon a man is a function of the presence of God upon such a man.
From our text above, the ark of God signifies the presence of God and its the glory that encompasses Israel and made them never to lose a battle. So long Israel goes to war with the ark of God and in purity of their heart, they never lose a battle and they were never defeated by any nation, no matter how big the nation is, but when the two sons of Eli, Hopni and Phinehas sinned against God and desecrate the altar of God with their wayward lives without yielding to God’s warning, they led a war against the Philistines, took the ark of God with them, but the Philistines killed Hopni and Phinehas, took away the ark of God from the Israelites to their own land. Eli heard the news, fell from a chair, broke his neck and die, Eli’s daughter in-law who was travailing to bring forth a child, out of her pain named the child, ICHABOD meaning the glory of God is departed from Israel.
Dearly beloved, the only killer of God’s glory in your life is sin, sin can deprive you of God’s glory, sin can make God seemed far away from you (Isaiah 59:1), in addition sin gives access to the devil to exchange the glory of God upon you with shame and reproach. David understood this clearly when he prayed this prayer in Psalms 51:11 “…. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of they salvation…”. Beloved, do not joke with the presence of God, it is the determinant of how much of God’s glory your carry and flee from sin, it is a killer of God’s glory upon any man. God bless you.
PRAYER:
* Father, where ever my glory is hanging I call it to come forth in Jesus Name
* Father, every man sitting on my glory, unseat them by fire in Jesus Name
* Father, let every evil hand holding my glory be consumed by fire
* Every evil foundation working against my glory be destroyed by fire in Jesus Name
* Father, every man born of a woman, enjoying their lives with my glory, uproot them by fire in Jesus Name
* Father, where ever my glory is kept, in the waters, in the ground, in the tree e.t.c let it be released by fire in Jesus Name