A MAN'S PLEAD

0. Introduction

a) A Man's Plead

i) “Lord, this is our plead to you. Our cry is to let you know the conditions of your church, the bride of Christ. We pray for restoration and change in spiritual climate in your church so that there is a beauty coming out from your bride when you would come to take her back and not reject her. Let not the conditions of the church during Eli’s time persisted and disintegrated but instead the beauty of the Lord in your bride be restored.”

1. Eli’s family’s problems

a) Eli spoke to his sons, “If a man sins against another man, God may intercede for him, but if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him? (1 Samuel 2: 25)

b) Eli’s sons did not listen to their father’s rebuke and God was planning to kill them.

2. Father of the House’s problems

a) Eli’s house was disarray and he did not discipline his sons in the ways of the Lord and allowed them to do what they thought it was right in their eyes. Thus, the wicked actions of Eli’s sons went beyond the family boundary into the priestly duties of God.

b) Eli’s sons were evil men who didn’t love the Lord (1 Samuel 2: 12 -17):

c) It was their regular practice to send out a servant whenever anyone was offering a sacrifice, and while the flesh of the sacrificed animal was boiling, the servant would put a three-pronged flesh-hook into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. They treated all of the Israelites in this way when they came to Shiloh to worship.

d) Sometimes the servant would come even before the rite of burning the fat on the altar had been performed, and he would demand raw meat before it was boiled, so that it could be used for roasting.

e) If the man offering the sacrifice replied, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must first be burned,” (as the law requires), then the servant would say, “No, give it to me now or I’ll take it by force.”

f) So the sin of these young men was very great in the eyes of the Lord; for they treated the people’s offerings to the Lord with contempt.

g) Eli’s sons disobeyed God deliberately by:

i) Cheating.

ii) Seducing. Even slept with women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (1 Samuel 2: 22).

iii) Robbing the people.

3. Consequences

a) God allowed Eli’s sons to die. Eli’s sons took the Ark of the Covenant into battle, thinking it would protect them, but God withdrew his protection, and the wicked sons of Eli were killed (1 Samuel 4: 10 – 11).

4. Prayer focus

a) Pray for the church to exercise her spiritual oversight authority and not overly concerned with the people’s contribution to her.

b) Pray for church leadership to use God's Word as a basis for guidance in their sphere of responsibility.

c) Pray for change in spiritual climate in the church … the pastors to have a shepherd’s heart in leading their own flock and to love them the ways Jesus would love them.

d) Pray against spiritual prostitution and adultery in the church of Jesus Christ. The people of God will not go for something strange in place of the Lord and the church will not have any other “gods” in their lives.