The Ripple Effect of Leadership

Send us a text

Stories have power. The biblical narratives found in 1 Samuel aren't merely historical accounts—they're divine revelations that speak across millennia directly into our lives today. These ancient tales reveal not just what happened, but what happens in every generation when we either embrace or reject God's wisdom.

Samuel's story begins with miraculous birth and unfolds against a backdrop of dysfunction. Raised first in a polygamous household with inherent tensions, then handed over to serve in a temple overseen by a weak high priest and his corrupt sons, Samuel's journey demonstrates how God works through imperfect circumstances. Despite this challenging environment, Samuel became one of Israel's greatest prophets because "God hears" (the very meaning of his name).

Chapter 4 marks a pivotal moment when Israel faces devastating military defeat. After losing 4,000 soldiers to the Philistines, the elders make a fatal error—treating the Ark of the Covenant as a good-luck charm rather than respecting it as the symbol of God's presence. The result? A catastrophic loss of 30,000 more soldiers, the capture of the Ark, and the fulfillment of prophecy through the deaths of Eli's corrupt sons. All because a father "failed to restrain" his children from dishonoring God.

This painful lesson echoes through the centuries: when we fail to train our children properly, we risk creating entitled individuals who reject authority and responsibility. "If we fail to train our children, we will become their slaves." The balance between responsibility and privilege must be carefully maintained—too much responsibility without privilege breeds resentment, while too much privilege without responsibility cultivates entitlement.

The good news? We can break destructive cycles. God has equipped us through His Spirit to raise children who become spiritual giants. Our goal should be to serve as "catapults, not anchors," launching the next generation further than we've gone. Every parent has the opportunity to establish a higher starting platform for their children in matters of faith and character.

Are you raising entitled children or empowered ones? Are you a leader whose personal life strengthens or undermines your public influence? Let's learn from Eli's mistakes and embrace God's design for family and leadership. Email us at [e-mail] to continue the conversation about raising a generation that will go further than we ever dreamed possible.

Support the show

Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearoundthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
we've been looking into the book of 1 Samuel for
the past few episodes, and thereason that I love the book of 1
Samuel actually 1 and 2 Samuel.
When they were originallywritten, they were one scroll,

(00:22):
one writing, but because of theneed for space in the
conservation of scrolls, thescribes put the book of 1 Samuel
into two books, 1 Samuel and 2Samuel.
And so the reason, though, thatI personally one of them anyway

(00:45):
love reading the book of Samuelis because of the stories.
I love stories.
I learn a lot from stories.
In fact, the scriptures arefull of stories.
In fact, the scriptures arefull of stories, and that's

(01:11):
again one of the chief reasonswhy I love the scriptures,
because the stories in themspeak volumes of what took place
, but they also speak into mylife, into our lives currently,
because it's the word of God andit's eternal.
It has weight both then and now, and, furthermore, it will

(01:32):
continue to bear weight becausethe Word of God has that ability
, because and this might sound abit obvious, but because it
comes from God it just comesfrom God, not a smart man or a

(01:55):
smart woman, but from God, thecreator of the universe, god of
the universe, god, the conceptof there being a supreme being

(02:15):
is more than just a conceptdivided by men.
It's the reality that's beenplaced in our heart, because we
are created in the image of Godby God, image of God by God.
And so the stories, they carryso much power and many of them

(02:36):
are really inspiring.
And then some of them are,they're hard man.
And we're going to be enteringinto a time in the book of 1
Samuel where we're looking, inthe next 12 chapters, looking
into some very difficult timesin the nation of Israel, and in
that respect, some of us canrelate to the fact that there

(02:56):
are times in our life where wego through some difficult things
, whether they're brought on bythings that we've done or things
that have been done to us.
We go through hard times.
Man and Israel went throughsome very hard times, but God

(03:18):
does not spare us from seeingthose hard times.
He doesn't just give us thethings that make him look good
even though he is good right buthe shows us things that are
difficult so that we can seethat in them he's able to rise

(03:43):
above them and lead us into aplace when we follow him through
them.
And so, in reviewing the firstthree chapters of first samuel,
we really find out a lot aboutSamuel himself, the namesake of

(04:05):
the book, samuel and the nameSamuel means God hears and
Hannah, his mother, who wasbarren for years, prayed
desperately to God for a child,and God heard her prayers and so

(04:27):
Samuel, when he was born, wascalled Samuel or God hears, and
he became one of the greatestprophets in all of Israel, in

(04:49):
all of Israel.
But his upbringing we find thathis upbringing wasn't really a
picture-perfect upbringing.
He was raised in a home thatwas a polygamist home, which had
friction in it by nature of thewhole arrangement in polygamy
competition with the wives,difficulty with how things are

(05:12):
done.
And then, at the age of three,sammy was handed over to the
temple of the Lord that was atthat time overseen by a priest,
a high priest, and his two sons,eli, the high priest, and

(05:34):
Hophni and Phinehas, his twosons, and their home life was
dysfunctional, to say the least.
And if you want to find outmore about that, just read the
first three chapters of 1 Samuelor listen to the previous few

(05:56):
podcast episodes and you'll getthe point.
And so we've looked at that andnow we're beginning to look a
little bit further into the rolethat Samuel is going to play,
but also some of the things thatwere going on in Israel that
really led to its downfall.

(06:18):
At this point in time,no-transcript.
So Scripture says prophet ofthe Lord.

(06:54):
The Lord continued to appear atShiloh and there revealed
himself to Samuel through hisword.
And Samuel's word came to allIsrael.
Chapter four Now the Israeliteswent out to fight against the

(07:16):
Philistines.
I'm just going to pause for amoment and look at that word now
.
The Philistines went out tofight against the Philistines.
Now really means we're going tobe taking a look at things as
they happen.
Now Kind of gives us an ideathat there was a span of time

(07:38):
that had gone on from chapter 3to chapter 4.
Kind of like picking up fromwhere we left off.
We find out that the Israeliteswent out to war against the
Philistines.
So now doesn't mean like itjust happened in sequence right
away.
There was a span, but now we'repicking it up.

(08:02):
So now the israelites went outto fight against the philistines
.
The israelites camped atebenezer and the philistines at
afek.
The philistines deployed theirforces to meet Israel and as the
battle spread, israel wasdefeated by the Philistines, who

(08:24):
killed, about 4,000 of them onthe battlefield.
When the soldiers returned tothe camp, the elders of Israel
asked why did the Lord bringdefeat upon us today, before the
Philistines?
Why did the Lord bring defeatupon us today, before the
Philistines?
Let us bring the Ark of theLord's Covenant from Shiloh so

(08:48):
that it may go with us and saveus from the hand of our enemies.
So the people sent men toShiloh and they brought back the
Ark of the Covenant of the LordAlmighty, who was enthroned
between the cherubim, and Eli'stwo sons, hophni and Phinehas,
were there with the Ark of theCovenant of God.

(09:12):
When the Ark of the Lord'sCovenant came into the camp, all
Israel raised such a greatshout that the ground shook.
Hearing the uproar, thePhilistines asked what's all
this shouting in the Hebrew camp?
When they learned that the arkof the Lord had come into the
camp, the Philistines wereafraid.

(09:34):
A god has come into the camp.
They said we're in trouble.
Nothing like this has happenedbefore.
Woe to us.
Who will deliver us from thehand of these mighty gods?
They are the gods who struckthe Egyptians with all kind of
plagues in the desert.
Be strong, philistines.

(09:55):
Be men, or you will be subjectto the Hebrews as they have been
to you.
Be men and fight.
So the Philistines fought andthe Israelites were defeated and
every man fled to his tent.
The slaughter was very great.
Israel lost 30,000 footsoldiers.

(10:17):
Israel lost 30,000 footsoldiers.
The Ark of God was captured andEli's two sons, hophni and
Phinehas, died.
Now, as I said, the next 12chapters are pretty hard, but

(10:55):
we're not going to avoid them.
In fact, sometimes pretty bleak, in the sense that Israel was
defeated, people died in aslaughter and the Ark of the

(11:16):
Covenant, the very symbolpicture of God's presence, was
captured and taken away fromIsrael, and two of the priests
that were leading the processiondied.

(11:37):
Eli's two sons that wereleading the procession died
Eli's two sons.
Now, remember, in the previouschapter, the Lord said to Samuel
, when he called him to be aprophet, he spoke to Samuel some

(11:59):
things and he said see, I'mabout to do something in Israel
that will make the ears ofeveryone who hears it tingle.
At that time, I will carry outagainst Eli everything I spoke
against his family frombeginning to end, for I told him
that I would judge his familyforever because of the sin he

(12:22):
knew about.
His sons made themselvescontemptible and he failed to
restrain them.
Therefore, I swore to the houseof Eli the guilt of Eli's house
will never be atoned for by thesacrifice or offering.
And it was spoken to Elipreviously that his two sons

(12:48):
would die at the same time, sameday, and they did.
And they did because they mademockery out of the priesthood
and the offerings of God and Eli, eli, even though he didn't do

(13:16):
exactly what his sons did, hegot fat off of the offerings
that his sons skimmed from thetop, literally.
But what was really the problem?
What the real problem was?
Eli failed to restrain his sons.

(13:43):
Folks, there's a high chargethat's been given to parents, to
parents, and that is that weare called by God to train up
our children, not just have them, not just produce them, but to

(14:09):
train them.
Train them up in the ways thatthey should go, so that when
they're old, they're not goingto fall away from those things
or, even if they do, they'llreturn because they've been
trained.
And Eli failed to do that.
You see, if we fail to trainour children, we will become

(14:32):
their slaves, because anentitlement in their mentality
will take over.
They will feel entitled.
They will feel entitled topreferential treatment and when
others don't give it to them,they will act out or they will
deny all authority and takethings upon themselves to do

(14:58):
things their own way.
Sometimes they'll take it uponthemselves to do absolutely
nothing, because if nothing isrequired of someone, the
tendency of human nature is todo nothing.
We tend to rise to the level ofexpectation that's placed upon

(15:19):
us and sometimes to theresponsibilities and privileges.
You see, with responsibilitymust come privilege.
If there's too muchresponsibility and no privilege,
must come privilege.
If there's too muchresponsibility and no privilege,
we tend to breed resentment anda legalistic mindset.
But if there's too muchprivilege and not enough

(15:42):
responsibility, we breed thatentitlement thing, and Eli bred
that entitlement thing.
But we can break from that.
The good news is it doesn't haveto be that way.

(16:03):
In fact, we can learn from thisexample what not to do and the
example that we have, what wecan do.
Man, we have ample examples allthroughout Scripture concerning

(16:27):
the way that you would raise achild and how they should go.
Abraham raising Isaac Wonderfulexample.
Wonderful, beautiful, powerfulexample.
So we have in front of usexamples on how to, but

(16:57):
sometimes we need a clearpicture of what can take place
if we don't, if we don'trestrain our children and teach
them respect, they will becomedisrespectful.
Strong word, but a good word Ifit's applicable.

(17:30):
Don't shrink back from it.
Embrace it and make someadjustments.
If you're doing a great job ofraising your children, praise
God, be encouraged.
It will pay off.
And if you know people who arein a situation where they're

(17:51):
letting their children runroughshod, pray for them and
find ways to help.
Don't judge people and justcluck our tongues and say, well,
isn't that a shame?
And then walk away.
We can help.

(18:12):
In fact, we're called to loveone another.
We're called to help oneanother.
We're called to be a body thatjoins together to help one
another.
Because, you see, not everyoneis raised knowing how to raise
children.
That's why we need, at times,children.

(18:36):
That's why we need, at times,older women teaching younger
women how to raise children in afeminine way, as well as men,
older men teaching younger menhow to be a father period Not to
be absent, but to be a presentfather, because the outcome

(18:56):
didn't just affect Eli's house,but it affected all of Israel,
because they were leaders.
And that point right there.
If you're a leader and you haveyour house that's in disarray,
it's better to take a step aside.
There's no shame in taking timeout and getting your house in

(19:23):
order versus just barrelingthrough for the sake of keeping
your reputation intact, eventhough what you're producing
isn't healthy.
And we reproduce after our ownkind.

(19:44):
And so we have an opportunityin front of us to do things
right.
That that, that, that rightthere.
We have that opportunity tomake things right.
We have the ability to repent,to change, to turn, and all of

(20:06):
us can make some adjustments.
But the encouraging point isthis we're not alone in the
process of doing it.
We've not been left on our ownto do it.
We've been empowered by God,his very life, the spirit of God
within us, who's at work toboth will and do his good
pleasure, and he's called us toit, he's equipped us to it.

(20:32):
He's equipped us to it.
He has equipped us to fulfillthe task.
You've been equipped to be agood parent.
Let the Holy Spirit draw thatout of you and establish that
within you, and we can see ageneration that's raised, that

(20:56):
can do some great things.
Because our children begin, getthis.
Our children begin at ourhighest level, and I'm not done
growing yet.
So that means that the childrenon my are going to continue to
have a platform that they beginwith that's higher and higher

(21:18):
and they're going to go further,because I'm a catapult, not an
anchor.
I want my children to gofurther in the things of the
kingdom than me and I celebratethat.
And God empowers us to be thatway by his spirit.

(21:40):
Let's learn lessons from Eli andfrom Israel that when we allow
spiritual decay to come into ourlives, it starts to erode the
very foundation of an entiresociety, of an entire church,

(22:02):
group of people.
But the opposite is true whenwe have good seed, the harvest
becomes even greater, becausethere are more seeds in one
grain when it falls to the earthand dies than if it should

(22:25):
remain alone.
And God is into the harvest,and God is into the harvest.
So let's be in league with him.
Hallelujah, let's pray.

(22:48):
Father, thank you for thelessons that you teach us in
your scriptures and, lord, I askthat you would go beyond what's
just been communicated by meand that things that I haven't
even said, but they come fromyour scriptures, that those who
are listening would be impactedbecause you are leading and

(23:11):
guiding Holy Spirit, transcendmy words, go beyond them and
work your work in our hearts toestablish the likeness of Jesus,
and we stand here in his nameand we believe you for that and
we say amen, amen, amen, amen,hallelujah.

(23:39):
Folks, we love you and if youhave any thoughts, questions,
concerns, please feel free todrop us a line at
LifeAroundTheFire at gmailcom.
That's our email address, oryou can type in
LifeAroundTheFire and look us upon the web.
We would love to hear from you.
In the meantime, god bless you.
Adios amigos.