Convenience Or Communion?

What happens when we treat faith like a prop and God like a last-minute fix? We follow the Ark through 1 Samuel—from Philistine hands to Beth Shemesh to the long years at Kiriath Jearim—and watch how reverence, or the lack of it, shapes entire communities. The story hits hard when Saul tries to “bring the Ark” as a crisis tool, while David reorganizes his life to host God’s presence even after painful mistakes. That contrast becomes our compass for modern discipleship.

We talk about prayer not as a spare tire but as steering—before, during, and after the road gets rough. Along the way, we get honest about ego, titles, and imposter syndrome. When grace makes a gift feel natural, it’s easy to downplay it or hoard the applause. We share practical ways to receive praise without feeding pride, to keep skill anchored in gratitude, and to make excellence accessible so others can grow. A vivid dream about carrying the Ark exposes another trap: building beautiful coffins for glory. Upgrading the box won’t replace obedience. When God’s light shows up, it doesn’t break healthy churches; it reveals what was already hidden.

The takeaway is simple and demanding. Stop using church as a convenience or an identity badge. Seek God first, act with wisdom, and keep adjusting when truth challenges comfort. Be more like David—quick to repent, ready to learn, willing to change the process so the presence can stay. 

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Transcript

Satirical Promise Ring Lawsuit

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Were you or someone you love coerced to join True Love Weights or take part in a youth group promise ceremony? Were you given a ring symbolizing a commitment to purity only to find it broken, tarnished, or not what it promised to be? For years, youth groups across the country handed out promise rings as a symbol of faith and dedication. But for many, these rings were cheap, defective, or falsely advertised, leaving behind broken promises and emotional distress. Were you traumatized by the emotional high of your commitment only not to make it pass in your prom? Were you led to believe that a promise ring would strengthen your moral superiority only to ride the roller coaster of guilt and shame by not lasting past a fake-hill video of Samahayek walking down the street in Desperado? You're not alone. At Tertullist and Associates, we're investigating claims against manufacturers and distributors of faulty promise rings sold to churches and youth groups. If your ring caused you to break your promise prematurely, caused skin irritation, or didn't live up to the hype, you may be entitled to compensation. Join the thousands of others who trusted these rings and were let down. Our class action lawsuit holds these companies accountable. There's no cost to join, and you can receive a cash settlement. Call the number on your screen today. Offer not valid in Michigan or Idaho. And why I did not see this just blew my mind. The Philistines, if you go back to 1 Samuel, Samuel has a word that he gives to Eli the priest, that God hasn't approved due to the corruption of his sons, which he allowed, and he gotten old and tired and blind, basically, and fat. So there's this battle against the Philistines. They say, Oh, go get the Ark. His sons bring the Ark of the Covenant into the battle all willy-nilly, and they get slain as soon as Eli finds out that the Ark is gone, he falls back and breaks his neck. Sorry, I just had a flashback to Brother Ralph. She goes into distressed labor. The wife of one of the uh priests goes into labor and has a son as she's dying, she says calls his name Ichabod. Means uh glory of the Lord is departed. And I hear Ralph Kaufman saying, We don't get this right, we might as well name this church Ichabod. Uh good dude. But anyway, so there's the setup. The Philistines have the ark. They thought they were gonna put it in their temple, and that did not work. And so uh, yeah, they they were literally smitten with everything. So they decide to return the ark with a tribute, and they're gonna they put it on the cart, which you're not supposed to do, but the Philistines don't know that. So they just put this thing on the ark with the golden tributes, and we'll start at 1 Samuel 6, verse 13. Now the people of Beshemesh were gathering in their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and rejoiced at seeing it. And the cart came into the field of Joshua, the Beshemite, and stopped there where there was a large stone. They split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the saddlebag that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on a large stone, and the men of Beshemish offered the burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the Lord. When the five governors of the Philistines saw it, because they had been trailing behind to see what happened, they returned to Ekron that day. And it lists the tribute in verses 17. It says they placed it on the large stone when they did that. Verse 19. Now he fatally struck some of the men of Beshemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck down fifty thousand and seventy men among the people, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beshemesh said, Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God, and to whom will he go up from us? So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jerim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to yourselves. And the men of Kiriath Jereem came and took the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and they consecrated his son Eleazar to watch over the ark. From the day that the ark remained in Kirith Jereim, the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all of the house of Israel mourned after the Lord. So it's sitting there. So that you know, that's where I thought it happened, and that's really where it was till David sends for it. And then we have the incident uh with the threshing floor of Ornan and the account of Uzzah. And later on, you know, Uzzah struck down, David retrieves it, he's bringing it up to the city of the David. He later builds the tabernacle of David, which is the predecessor to the temple, but it was it was the most simple tabernacle that there was. It was Tent, a priest, and some offerings and the ark, and that was it. So David took a lot of risk in doing that. And so I'm just saying, well, that's that's a story. Till I read over here in 1 Samuel chapter 14, Jonathan is going on a raid. Saul is fighting against the Philistines. Jonathan goes on this raid, throws the Philistines into utter confusion.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

And this is the case, but Saul and his men don't know where Jonathan and his men are.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

This is first Samuel chapter 14, verse 16. Now Saul's watchmen in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and behold the multitude dissolved. They went here and there, so he's seeing this battle rage on. So Saul said to the people who were with him, Look carefully now and see who has left us. And when they had looked, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there. Then Saul said to Ahijah, Bring the Ark of God here. For at that time the Ark of God was with the sons of Israel. While Saul talked to the priests, the commotion of the camp of the Philistines continued and increased.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

So they whooped the crap out of the Philistines. But Saul gives an order. And I go, how convenient.

Prayer As First Line Not Last

SPEAKER_00 8:22

And I as soon as I read that, I'm like, wait a minute. I thought it's just in this tent. I didn't know you could go get it at this time. Well, evidently you could. But it got me to thinking, man, how how often do we do that rather than pursue the Lord like David did, where he wanted to go down and bring abide in the presence of the Lord. So he's bringing bringing the ark up, even though he made his mistakes. How many times do we treat God like a convenience? And I'm gonna do my own thing, but Lord, I'll call up, call on you when I need you. And then you can go back to that house where you're at. Really, that's the way we teach in and not not all of them by any means, but there's a certain segment of Christianity that teaches that kind of thought of well, you've got to go to the house of the Lord to get to interact at also. Um you just you come to church. That's and that's kind of this you gotta be in church all the time mentality. That's the flip side of it. They're like, well, really, to get close to God, you got to come to church. And come to church, you come to church, come to church. Where there's this idea, well, I'm having this time of distress, I need to guess I need to go to church. You can call upon the Lord right now, right? And not just do it while you're having a time of distress or need.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

I thought it was interesting here that he decided to go get the ark after the fact, um, not before. Um and and we teach that i i in some ways. Um we teach we teach prayer as a last resort. Oh yeah. Rather than the most that we can do. What's the least I can do is pray for you. No, that's the most you can do, actually. Um, but we teach it as the least, we teach it as the last. And and I don't think that everyone does that uh intentionally, uh, but I I do believe it is kind of subconsciously ingrained into our psyche, if you if you will, that um we we do things the best that we can on our own, uh, you know, that independence kind of thing. Um, you know, we're we're we're we're taught that in some ways too. You know, God helps those who helps themselves, um, which is not in the Bible actually. Um, but that concept is is taught. Um so yeah, I can see where people would will go out into their daily life, uh, take on the world, take on their job, take on life, do all those things, and then turn to the Lord as an afterthought uh to get them out of the hole that they dug themselves into. The good news is that, you know, God's a gracious God, uh, and He uh He pours grace upon grace, but what if we could avoid that hole in the first place?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Yeah, it it it it struck me that, you know, and first question I'm asking is Lord, when have I done this?

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Oh man, come on.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

You know, it's I'm like, man, because if I said there wasn't just a little bit of conviction as I look back on my life, I'd be blowing hot air up your balloon. This is one of those things that's challenged me that hey, you know, we do everything you can, then pray.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Well, probably the best thing to do is pray a little bit before and pray during.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

Yeah, and do everything you can.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

Yeah. And there's a fine line too. Um I don't want to take away from from folks who would say that, you know, well, you do have some responsibility in all this. Um, because we do. Um God does allow us to take to take part in our own deliverance, so to speak. Um, so yeah, yeah, we do need to uh to pray beforehand, pray during and pray after while at the same time, you know, doing all that we can. That's that's the fine line to walk.

Authority, Ego, And Imposter Fears

SPEAKER_00 12:46

There's a little bit of James theology right there, you know. Hey, pray about it by all means, have faith, but you gotta act on it. There you go. You you gotta act on it. But it uh uh I I thought back reading this to a lot of us in our younger days. Right. Because here we have Saul who has who has the knowledge, he has the credentials, he's he's the first, he's he's the first to do it. And yeah, go get the ark. Now, there that never said that they did. But it said that the battle was complete. Saul's a very interesting and at times fickle character. Saul is concerned about his position. Saul a lot of times will play his card drone. Right after this, there's this oath that he administers. And he's going, I don't, I don't care who. We're beating the slacks off of him. I don't care who it is, nobody's eating nothing. Well, his son Jonathan's been down there on that raid, he don't know. So he sees some honey, he dips a stick in it, and have some honey, and somebody snitches on him, which that's about the lowest form of life on planet Earth is a snitch. They've got about three different motives, and ain't none of them good. Yeah. But somebody snitches on Jonathan, and now Saul's going to kill Jonathan, and then the people said, No, you're not. He's he's the one that instigated this and got us his victory. You ain't killing him, so well, maybe I ain't. And so you Saul's concerned about his position. He's a certain he's concerned about the opinion of the people, and and here you have Saul is almost a case study of how authority can negatively affect you. It sounds like a politician. Sounds like a politician. He sounds like some people with the ministry credentials that I have known over the years. They're way too concerned about their position and not their calling in the way that this is what the Lord's called me to do, but my calling as far as my titles and all my accolades and the praises of men that come along with this calling, the titles, the the the titles, yes, and and all this stuff. That but really when you look at that, man, there's a there's a deep seat of fear in all of that because you're afraid to lose it. And and you know, you you've talked about this before, and then I'm not gonna say I've never had to battle with this, uh, but that imposter syndrome, where you know deep down everybody's giving you all these accolades, and you're just like, well, I ain't really done all that. You know, it's talking about another endeavor. I had a buddy of ours, uh, more of a buddy of mine, but he came up with when I transferred to my place that I work now, and we had worked all three of us had worked together in the first place, and uh he goes, Hey Chrissy, he goes, uh they think you're a rock star over there.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

I'm like, Brad, what are you what are you talking about, man?

Dream Of The Ark And False Containers

SPEAKER_00 16:38

I'm just doing my job. He said, I know that's why they think you're a rock star over there. He said, 'cause because there's people over there that don't. Right. And you know, but the there's some things that I can do, and I do it all right. And everybody, oh, it's so great, this is so great, and I'm just like, don't get me wrong. But there's also been some times that the Lord has been like, shut up. Right. Shut up. You're better than you think you are because I you never fail to acknowledge that I'm the one doing it. So don't downplay their positivity. Don't in other words, it wasn't really about validating me as much as um there were some times where he did not want me to rain on their parade. Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Right.

SPEAKER_03 17:32

And you know, we when you're good at something and you understand that the only reason you're good at it is because of God's grace. Then when people are showering you with praises, they're showering God with praises. Yeah. So and sometimes you have to let them do that. Um, you have to let them do that. Just know that you know you don't let the ego get puffed up. Because um and another thing too, man, when you're good at something and you're doing good, a lot of times you don't realize um how good you are. How good you are, yeah, because it's just so it becomes easy and natural to you. You know, uh, it's like it's like breathing, it's like breathing air. Oh man, you're you're good at breathing. I just kind of do it every day, you know.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

You know, yeah. So well, one one of the things that took me as the Lord kind of bought me out of the funk, so to speak, and the trying to duck under a rock when when everybody's singing your praises, is he goes, Well, you need to know how to deal with this. Right. Because number one, it is his grace, but I also, since I realized it it's his grace, I never wanted it to come across as something that was inaccessible to others. Because I don't believe that it is, because I believe that when certain things, when God has blessed you in certain things, you do them well, I think all it really takes is some cooperation. And it might not look exactly the same, but man, if anybody finds out what God has called them to do and they start cooperating, right, and and they're willing, man. I'm the Bible says too many times that God's no respecter of persons. Yeah. You know, he if he's doing it for one, he'll do the do it for the other. Just realize that your callings are a little bit different, so it's not going to look exactly the same. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:44

Doing the right thing is is not hard. Uh once you yield, once you you know, resign to do it. It's just not difficult.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

You know, when we put it in the light of Samuel, that you could have had the ark at any time, but you also have this mindset of, well, guess we need the ark, let's go get it. But you didn't want to keep it, you just want to send it back to Abinadab's place. That's the plan. Send it on back. You know, that it seems really disrespectful. But if we overemphasize going into the house of God rather than relationship with Christ, uh we do the exact same thing with but but we're trying to sound holy and righteous and pious when we do it. But it's the exact same concept.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Yeah, I I thought it was interesting here that the ark sat there for twenty years.

Glory Exposes What Buildings Hide

SPEAKER_03 20:54

Um no one built uh a tabernacle for it, no one built a place for it. It just kind of sat there. Um which I think kind of shows the uh the people's um I think kind of shows their mindset or or or your their uh their their priority anyway. Um that you know it really was just uh something that we got, and if we need it we'll we'll we'll whip it out when we need it. Um and church can be that way too. Yeah, I think that's what we're trying to say. You know, if you have church, well, if you go to church, you know, and and church becomes so much of an idol that um you fail to realize that there's so much you can do outside the church too. They're outside of the building anyway. Um but then there's the folks who who see church as I will go to it when I need it. Um use that I'll use that I'll pull that card when I need it. And that's not a very good place to be either. Because both of those positions uh lack relationship with Jesus Christ. That's that's the problem. They're on both ends of the spectrum, but they lack they lack Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Well the the one that's I'll go to church when I need it, they're at least a little bit more honest.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Exactly. They are they're very honest.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

The others are putting them on a little bit of airs.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

Yeah yeah yeah and I think God ought to work with that honesty. Uh yeah he'll he'll bring you back around to that.

Collective Consequences And Zeal Without Wisdom

Saul Blames, David Changes

SPEAKER_00 22:38

No I I remember you know as we were talking I I wasn't planning on bringing this up but we've talked about it in another podcast when we were talking about supernatural things that we had experienced 2000 I had this dream. It's 2000 or 2001 I hadn't even started over at no it's 2001 I have this dream and we crazy still I still see that thing like it just happened but it's one of those dreams that stuck with me. And it was me I was in the I was on the bottom I was in the back right and next thing you know I'm in like these priestly garbs like old Israelite priest and I've got um three guys one one who I knew at the time the other two guys I ended up meeting uh about a year one one about six months later the other one about a year year and a half later and so it is nuts. Anyway we're carrying the ark and it's kind of like dusk is sunset and you can see the purple and the pink and the orange and the and the sunset very very beautiful. We're walking along this riverbank and uh somebody rush rushes up and touches it and it they die. And so the people lament and then they try and put it in this ornate box is really kind of like a sarcophagus um which is nothing but an oversized coffin and they go and we try and pick that thing and it's actually more beautiful it has all these encrusted gems on it and all this stuff it it was actually more beautiful outwardly than the arc but it didn't have the glory you know so we try and pick this thing up and it was just awkward. It's just off balance and the third time we tried to pick that thing up the lids just the lids were like they would slide the third time we picked that sucker up the lids blew off of it. And let's say we just set it down. Yeah and I go well I got to see parts of that play out uh in that particular congregation I was attending at the time but it's also kind of a message you know for me personally uh I thought it I thought it applied to the church in general here here in America that we want to contain it but God ain't going to be contained. And uh I remember he kind of reconfirmed that word uh back in 2019 when the riverbanks were flooding this is right before this is right during the formation of what would become you know what we're doing now these this is in the formative experiences when the Lord really started opening up and and talking again that or I say it like that I probably started hearing again better. I'm not going to say the Lord wasn't talking because I know if we were to actually run the numbers I know what's probably the case. It was probably my fault. So but anyway there there's there's a price that gets paid to be willing to carry or to be able to carry and proper properly minister in the glory of God and and and wh when I saw the David thing he had the heart to do it didn't have the knowledge. And I th I think it takes a little bit of both it was the lack of knowledge that got Uzza killed. Right and and that was us. Oh yeah um I was telling you beforehand I saw somebody shouldn't have done it but as somebody was talking smack to a friend of mine and I knew knew both people uh and and it's like both people but I played a little game I used to play back in the day and it it was called I'm gonna type two sentences and I'm gonna get you to type four paragraphs and that's what I did. And somebody just made themselves look a little bit more foolish and you know I shouldn't have done that so yeah but that that was kind of the way we were all the time though right at least I was and it was just like all this stuff that you're doing is nothing. Wrong approach we had all the zeal back then uh we had very little of the tact that is required um we definitely had a Peterish heart about us a little bit more like uh James and John in a way Lord just call it down judge them all that's right and it was it's interesting that you called uh that ark a a coffin because yeah the sarcophagus that they tried to put it's a coffin that's that's an interesting term because the Hebrew word that translates to ark that we see in the Bible the first place that that word is used in the old testament is is coffin is translated coffin.

Comfort, Compromise, And Closing CTA

SPEAKER_03 28:34

Is it Joseph Joseph's yeah it's Joseph's coffin so uh now if we apply um there's a certain uh seminary uh teaching that uh the first mention of of a word in the scripture is is the way it's defined or the the first mention of a word sets its definition throughout the scripture yeah it's a standard yeah it's a standard so if that's the case then what we're calling the ark of the covenant should be the coffin of the covenant uh but uh that's just that's man's teaching that's not God's teaching anyway but I do think it's interesting that the Hebrew word that we translate as ark which we see as glorious and and beautiful and everything um originally started off as a coffin to hold dead bones it's hard to move life around in death yeah it doesn't it it doesn't fit it's and I'm not being I I'm not trying to be flippant but there there was a movie called Weekend at Bernie's you know back back in the 80s and stuff and then they have one that was part two where they tried to do some make-believe uh voodoo charm to get bring Bernie back and they instead of they didn't want to sacrifice a live chicken so they used some Kentucky fried chicken and old Bernie would kind of waltz through whenever music played you know and that that was a gimmick but it was really awkward and stuff like that and and that's what happens though when you're trying to have the very essence of life itself the essence of creation um if if we're not recreated it's going to be very awkward in us and if our congregations and our organizations if they are not retrofitted so to speak um if they were not adjusted redone to be able to handle the glory of God I'm telling you I've seen the glory of God come in and tear up a church.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

People are well that wasn't the glory of God no what what happened was you weren't prepared to handle it and it exposed all that darkness that had laid hidden and the cockroaches come ascurrying and you're like how'd all these where'd these rats and cockroaches and snakes come from they were there the buddy they was there it just got the Holy Spirit came in and the light of God shone. Yeah and the darkness could not overcome it because the darkness was exposed.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

Right and in those times um if you can't handle if you can't handle God's glory if you're not willing to yield um you'll end up well you'll end up uh with the substitute sacrifice is what you'll end up with and and you'll you'll end up uh having your own sacrifice in your own image you'll end up with your own six pound eight ounce baby jesus uh so on and so forth whatever whatever movie other movie reference we can throw in there uh to stimulate the mind um that's what you'll end up with and it won't be right it won't be it won't be powerful it won't be right um people won't be delivered it won't be set free um you'll have a lot of a lot of talk you'll have a good time but nothing will get done if the mission will not well the mission will continue it just won't go on there what what I saw both with the men of uh Kirith Dream they look into the ark shouldn't have done that 50 000 seven fifty thousand and seventy dead now I wondered there I I wonder did all 50,000 seventy peek into the ark or did just a couple and then everybody else suffered I think a couple of just everybody suffered think about that's that that's a lot of people to just go and look that's that's a lot of uh that's a lot of other other folks catching the um the consequence for a few people's actions man uh another reason why it was so harmful that we were bulls in China shops back in the day yes uh because that can happen and one of the reasons we weren't allowed to be put in any kind of leadership position at that time um anything we did was very limited because the way we would have handled the glory was not going to be palatable it it would have magnified our ego but we wouldn't have been humble enough to help others to grow no and we'd we'd have we'd have grown ourselves yeah and and that's exactly what would have happened I did see one other thing here that happened with both David and what happened with the time of Saul uh as as we're kind of wrapping it up here though you see these this destruction happening and then the the glory's there it's not handled properly there's damage done whether it's ooza or whether it's 5070 but there's damage done and it goes back to let's play it safe let's play it convenient now the difference is you know kind of asking are you a Saul or are are you a David and I think this is part of why David and Jonathan kind of got together because Jonathan Jonathan saw this and he's like man my father's doing this but he's he's not you know he he he he doesn't have the heart for it right and this David does because this is what I would do and he was probably thinking when I'm king man I'm gonna pursue this we're we're not just gonna relegate it to what's convenient but you both see you see both David and Saul after the damage is done there's disrespect to some degree uh what wasn't being handled properly there's damage and then they go put it back to where it's convenient the difference is David looked in how he did things and he looked to see what needed to be done to do it right. David was willing to change he looked inward yes Saul was not yeah and that's easy to spot in our society today someone who looks inward will look at themselves and like David did and try to figure out what what you know what can I do different what did I do wrong uh how can I please you what what can I they'll they'll take responsibility for their actions. The Saul in this day and age will put the blame on everybody else. Yeah it was this person's fault. It was that person's problem. I'm not the one that's not my problem and number one it ain't my job all of these things that deflect uh responsibility and um I don't think God has time for that. Uh he don't want a part of it.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

The the Sauls will do whatever they can to maintain the status quo.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

And at the expense of having God's best.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

David will look inward and find a reason to win. So it was just find a reason to do better the next time find a way to do better next time um totally opposite of uh of what Saul was doing which you know and it's very easy to become Saul it really is really is uh it's a it's a lazy person that can become Saul but um the Davids of the world will will not blame the circumstance or the situation they will simply accept it and find a way to do better next time.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Yeah he even even David uh when you look at when he has some of his missteps one of the biggest ones the one with Bathsheba was the time when the kings go out to war. He didn't go out to war you start to get comfortable in the status quo.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

Right right and that comfort which we're all familiar with these days is I tell you what it it's it's the enemy of the modern day Christian. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Hey everybody thanks for listening we hope this challenges you and causes you to grow you can always check us out at woefoyo.org find out how to contact us there or subscribe on Apple Podcast Spotify or Audible or even check us out on YouTube. Remember folks if you're going to grow you got a Woefoyo. Get in the word for yourself