 We're in 1 Samuel, chapter 7, and so what we'll do is we'll look at verses 1 and 2, and then I'll give you a basic introduction, kind of a review, and then move into those verses and go through the chapter. 1 Samuel, chapter 7, beginning at verse 1, verses 1 and 2. Then the men of Kyriath Yareem came and took the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill and consecrated Eleazar, his son, to keep the ark of the Lord. So it was that the ark remained in Kyriath Yareem a long time, it was there 20 years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Now in order to get up to speed, we need to remember what has taken place up to this point. We know that the nation of Israel has been basically under the rule, if you will, at least under the tremendous influence of the Philistines. The Philistines have been thorns in their flesh for a long time, and so what had happened is the Philistines had actually captured the ark of the covenant from the nation of Israel. The ark of the covenant was a place where God had chosen to use it as the place that he would meet with the nation of Israel while they're in the Tabernacle and all, and the children of Israel, while drawing up to do battle against the Philistines, had actually gone, taken the ark of the covenant, brought it out to the battlefield, and as a result, when they lost that battle, they also lost the ark of the covenant. And so what happens is the Philistines have taken the ark, and they've taken that ark captive, if you will, and taken it to their land. As the ark of the covenant is with them, they take the ark of the covenant into one of their temples that is dedicated to the fish god, Dagon. As they bring the ark of the covenant into that particular temple area, they place it in a place of submission, if you will, to Dagon, but the next day they walk in, the next day they find that the fish god has actually fallen before the ark of the covenant, which was a symbol of the fact that God is superior. They didn't understand that, they didn't regard it, and as a result of that, they put the idol back in its place, and the next day came back, this time the head and hands had been cut off, and they're on the threshold. And so they haven't gotten the message whatsoever. They didn't realize the futility of idol worship. They didn't see that the fact that their idol was lain before the ark of the covenant, that this was going to symbolize something that the nation of Israel worshiped a god that is superior to theirs. They didn't understand that at all. They should have made them aware of the fact that their idolatry is futile to be involved in, but they didn't awaken to that. I mentioned to you that in the Old Testament, God has made it very clear that we're not to have idols. From the very beginning, when God began to speak concerning the commandments that He gave to the nation of Israel, He said to them, I am the Lord thy God, you shall have no false gods before me. He also went on to say to them that they are not to have any idols and not to have any graven images of anything in heaven on earth or below the earth. And yet, the nation of Israel had a habit of falling into idolatry. God had said, I specifically prohibit you from this form of worship because it's taking from God and worshiping the creation rather than the Creator. And as a result of that, the nation of Israel found itself very often in bondage because it would go into idolatrous worship. Isaiah, when he was writing some 750 years before Christ, was writing concerning the futility of idolatry. And he said in Isaiah chapter 41, verse 7, speaking of the goldsmiths, he says the goldsmith fastens the idol with pegs that it might not totter. In other words, they have to fasten it down so it doesn't fall over. It was just another way of saying they have no real life within themselves. Men have to help the idol. The idol doesn't help men. In the same book, Isaiah chapter 46, verse 7, he wrote, they bear it on the shoulder. They carry it and set it in its place and it stands. From its place it shall not move. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer nor save him out of his trouble. He's saying this is lifeless. It has no way to help you. You actually have to carry it wherever you want it to go. It doesn't carry you. God, on the other hand, is the one who carries you as a shepherd, will carry a lamb. As a father, will carry a son. Even so, God carried the nation of Israel. But in idolatry, you have to carry that idol around. So the Philistines should have understood that this God, that the nation of Israel worships is superior to the God that they have been worshiping. But instead of returning the ark, what they did is they just moved it from place to place. And they did so for seven months. Now, they would take it to each one of their main cities. Philistines had five main cities. And they would take this Ark of the Covenant. And they'd take it to one of their main cities. And while it's there, a plague would break out. They'd have an infestation of rats. And so instead of returning it to Israel, they actually take it through all of the main cities of the Philistines and finally become aware of the fact that this bad that is happening to us is in connection with the God of Israel. And so they take the Ark of the Covenant. They put it on a cart. They have two milk cows. They send the cows off the road. And down the road they go. And they take the Ark of the Covenant all the way to a place called Bet Shemesh, which was a priestly city. And as they bring the Ark of the Covenant there, the people of Bet Shemesh see it coming. They get really excited. But they look into the Ark, which is another way of saying they treated it with disrespect. As a result of that, God's anger broke out against them. And now they're afraid. And so they say, we need to get rid of the Ark. Let's send it somewhere else. Well, in chapter six, verse 21, it says that they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiryat-e-Eurim, saying, the Philistines have brought back the Ark of the Lord, come down and take it with you. And so they got rid of the Ark because of what was taking place there. And that's what we pick up with here in chapter seven at verse one. So it says, then the men of Kiryat-e-Eurim came and took the Ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Benadab on the hill and consecrated Aliezer, his son, to keep the Ark of the Lord. Now I wish that it would just simply say, the men of Chino did that. It's easier to pronounce Chino than Kiryat-e-Eurim. That's been a tongue twister all this time. And instead of a Benadab, how about Bob? But what happens is what they do is they take the Ark and they treat it properly. It would seem that a Benadab was a priest and he consecrated his son to take care of the Ark. And so it's there. But I want you to see verse two because it says, so it was that the Ark remained in Kiryat-e-Eurim a long time. It was there 20 years. Now that is a long, long time. For 20 years, Israel remains under the rule of the Philistines. For 20 years, Israel continues neglecting God and pursuing false gods. 20 years is a long time. Sometimes we don't realize how long that is. But 20 years is a long time. Marie and I were in San Luis Obispo recently and the pastor of Calvary Chapel, there's a friend of mine. And so we were having lunch with him and his wife. And while we were there having lunch, his wife said something about 1970. And I said 1970 is when I was born again. That's the year I got saved. And her husband turns and looks at me and says, 1970 is the year I was born. You know, time is an interesting thing. It's an interesting thing completely. I mean, in fact, it's 20 years for us as we consider 20 years. It may not seem very long for some. It may seem like a long time for somebody else. If somebody told me you have 20 years to live at my age, I'd be thinking, well, I'll die when I'm 78. But if you're 20 and somebody says you have 20 years to live, that seems like a very short time because you'll only be 40 when you die. And so 20 years is a long time. It depends on how you look at it. Here in the United States, you know, in the last 20 years, we've seen a lot of things take place in 20 years. As a matter of fact, as I was preparing the study, I actually Googled historic events 20 years ago just to see some of the things that took place in 1989. Some of you are too young to remember this and others can't remember it because you can't even remember where you live anymore. I mean, it's kind of like me. But 20 years ago, 20 years ago, the world's population was 5.19 billion. Today, it's estimated at 6.76 billion. 20 years ago, the Berlin Wall was torn down and East and West Germany were reunified. Mikhail Gorbachev was named Soviet president and George H.W. Bush was elected president of the United States. 20 years ago, U.S. troops invaded Panama. The Exxon Valdez sent 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. There was a San Francisco Bay Area earthquake that measured 7.1 in magnitude and killed 67 people and injured over 3,000. 20 years ago, the federal debt was $2.68 trillion. Today, it's approximately $11 trillion. Unemployment was 5.3%. Average monthly rent was $420. The average house was $120,000. A new car cost $15,000. 20 years ago, the best picture of the year was Rain Man and the record of the year was, don't worry, be happy. Which is something we need today. The very first worldwide web server and browser was developed by Tim Berners 20 years ago with Al Gore's help, I'm sure. Anyway, 20 years ago was a long time. In the case of the nation of Israel, the children of Israel continued neglecting God and chasing after idols. But during that time, Samuel, who is a judge, priest, as well as a prophet, undoubtedly has been going throughout the area, the nation of Israel, bringing God's message to the children of Israel. Undoubtedly, he's gone from north to south, east to west, and he has been presenting to them the mind of God. We know that his voice was recognized as authoritative because in first Samuel in chapter three, verse 20, it had said all Israel from Dan to Beersheba from north to south knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord. And so as these 20 years continue and the nation of Israel endured 20 years, God is still bringing a message through the prophet, Samuel, who's going through doing his duties and sharing with people. And over 20 years, Israel finally came to her senses and returned to the Lord. Notice what it says in verse two, how it simply says all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Now the word of lament actually carries a joyful connotation to lament means to go after something in a morning, M-O-U-R, morning condition. It speaks of seeking after something with great humility. And so the point that he was making is during the 20 years, Israel became broken before the Lord and sought him. So gradually through the influence of Samuel, Israel sorrows over their sin and begins to seek after God. They have a sorrow over their sin, but also a joy and a renewed desire for fellowship with God. It's one of those things that it's almost like a paradox, you sorrow and yet you have joy. There's a sorrow, but there's the joy. And that's what took place because in their sorrowing over their sin, they were able to return to him and that's what's taking place. And so as they're lamenting after the Lord, as they're broken and they're beginning to seek, how they can get restored to God, notice verse three, Samuel speaks to them. It's as Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, if you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the asherets from among you and prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve him only. And he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. So the children of Israel put away the ba'als and the asherets and served the Lord only. And so they're lamenting, they're seeking after God. They're in misery. They've been in misery for so long. So Samuel says, listen, if you wanna get over the misery, you need to repent. If you have a sorrow over sin, God can forgive you. You need to follow the Lord completely and you need to produce fruits of righteousness. So he says, you need to return to the Lord. Notice that you need to return to the Lord and you do so with a completely sincere heart. What that is is a call to repentance. Now the word repent, a lot of times when you hear the word, it's a biblical word, a lot of people don't understand what it means, especially our society that we live in today doesn't use the word repent very often, therefore it doesn't understand it. When you think repent, sometimes people will have cartoons with somebody who's dressed in sackcloth and he's got a big sign and it simply says repent and they're always strange-looking people, naturally strange-looking people saying repent. The word repent means to change your mind. The original language in Greek, it's metonoeia, it means a change of the mind. It's a change of the way that you're thinking. When God would call the nation of Israel to repentance, he was saying to them, you need to change the way that you think. You need to stop thinking that you can get right with me chasing after idols or being involved in the things that you're involved in, God would say. You need to change your mind in what you think I appreciate and want from you. You need to change your mind and you need to listen to the prophet, you need to listen to the word of God in order that you might know what I'm pleased with and change your mind about the things that you're pleased with now so that you can now turn to me, you need to repent. And so what he was saying is you need to return to the Lord, it's a call for repentance and the thing is, if you repent, he's saying God will receive you. In the book of Isaiah 55 verse seven, Isaiah the prophet wrote, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man, his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Isaiah six once has come and let us return to the Lord for he has torn but he will heal us. He has stricken but he will bind us up. You know sometimes we think if I return to the Lord will the Lord receive me? Well the Bible says yes, if you turn to me I will not cast you out. And so that's what he's saying here, he's saying you need to return to the Lord. Come back to God with complete sincerity. He also says put away the foreign gods and the astronauts from among you. When he says put away the foreign gods he's speaking about Baal and Astarte. Baal and Astarte were gods that really originated, the worship of them originated in Babylon. They were also referred to at this time as Phoenician idols and they normally were together because they believed, the idol worshipers believed that Baal and Astarte were husband and wife. And so they represented nature. They represented reproductive power and the way that their devotees would worship them oftentimes would be including sexual orgies. It's similar if you will to the festivals of Bacchus that you have, the Mardagra which is a wild time of partying and a lot of sexual orgies and that's how they worship them. Astarte is also known as Ishtar. She's also been known as Aphrodite and in Jewish mythology was known as the demon of lust. And so what he's saying here is he's saying one, return to God and two, repent from your sexual immorality. Now in the Old Testament when you study your Old Testament you'll discover that God declares himself to be the husband of Israel. Isaiah 54 verse five says for your maker is your husband. And so when the nation of Israel would go after false gods they were called harlots. They would go into what is called harlotry. It was spiritual fornication. It was actually considered in the Old Testament spiritual adultery because they were betraying their covenant relationship that they had with God through the law of Moses. And as a result of that God would deal with them in a spiritual way because in they're going off into idolatry which very often included sexual immorality they were sinning greatly against God. And so God in his word would say to them you have committed adultery against me. Now in the New Testament according to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 as well as Ephesians chapter five the church is looked at as being the bride of Christ. In the Old Testament Israel is the wife of God the New Testament the church is the bride of Christ and yet the church as well as Israel are commanded in both the old and the New Testament to remain faithful to God. Now God said that they are not to have relationships with people outside of the tribe of Israel and there's a reason why. It's because if they were to pursue the women of a foreign nation or the men of a foreign nation the gods of that nation would infect the nation of Israel. Solomon is regarded as the wisest man. The Bible tells us that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines and the Bible also tells us in 1 Kings chapter 11 verse three that Solomon's wives drew his heart away from the Lord. He was influenced by their idolatry even when so far as beginning to build high places so that their wives, his wives could worship their idols there. And so that's what takes place and God is saying turn away from this idolatry, turn away from it because it has a spiritual core in the book of numbers. There's a man that we know of by the name of Balaam. Balaam was a prophet, he was not a Jewish man but he's used as a prophet in the book of numbers. There was a king by the name of Balaam who wanted to have the nation of Israel whom he feared. He wanted the nation of Israel to be cursed because he was afraid of them as they were marching in and taking the land. So he went to this man by the name of Balaam and he says, I'll give you a great sum of money if you'll curse them. Well, Balaam wanted the money desperately but he knew he couldn't curse the nation of Israel. He said, I cannot curse the ones whom God has not cursed. So three different times he's approached and three different times instead of bringing cursed scenes Balaam brings blessings on the nation of Israel. So Balaam is really upset with him and says I would have made you a very rich man. Well that caused Balaam to be greatly upset so he came up with a plan. He devised a way to deal with it and what he did is he said listen, the children of Israel have a jealous God. All you need to do is get the people of Israel to intermarry, to have relations with the pagan women around them and though I cannot curse them, God will chastise them and you'll get exactly what you want. You'll find the nation of Israel being dealt with by their God. I can't curse them but God indeed will deal with them and when you study through the book of Numbers and you get into Numbers chapter 25 you see that they followed the council of Balaam and God brought judgment on the nation of Israel. So God does not put up with any false gods. Christians are to worship God alone. Believers are to worship God alone and so one, we have Samuel saying if you want God's hand of blessing to be on you you need to return to him. Two, you need to put away those false gods and then three, he says prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve him only. That word prepare means to settle or arrange. In other words, you shall have only one God, you shall have no foreign gods. Deuteronomy 13.4 says you shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him, keep his commandments and obey his voice and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. Jesus said no one can serve two masters, either he will hate the one and love the other or also be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot worship two things. You can only worship one thing with all of your heart. Worship God or worship the world but you cannot worship both. You have to make a choice. Well the result here is the children of Israel put away the ba'als and ashras and serve the Lord only. Now notice in verse five it says and Samuel said gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you. So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted that day and said there we have sinned against the Lord and Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah. The word Mizpah means watch tower and what this is is he's saying I want you to come to this high region, this region that can be seen by all. See when you're on top of this high hill looking down you can see everything below but everybody who's down there looking up the hill can see you too. And so what they did is they were there on a hill that was capable of anybody looking to be able to see. Everybody would see them. So this would be an outward declaration of faith in God. You're gonna do this in the open. If you're gonna have a relationship with God it's not gonna be in a closet, it's gonna be in the open. It's gonna be in such a way that people all around you can see that you have made a choice to follow God. That's what he's saying. Christians aren't supposed to be living in the closet in other words. Believers aren't supposed to have their faith in the closet. We don't just take it on and use it on Sunday and then the rest of the week we just go off and hide our faith. We're to do it in an open fashion. When we have open invitations here in this church that's the point that we're making. We're saying listen we're not asking you to be a chameleon Christian. We're not asking you to be an undercover kind of person. We're saying if you're gonna follow the Lord do so openly and so you have an open invitation where people will come forward in front of witness and say yeah I'm gonna follow the Lord Jesus Christ and that's what he did. He says you're gonna make your relationship renewed with God, you're returning to the Lord in the open and not only that, notice in verse six he poured out some water. Now pouring out water is a symbol of repentance. All you need to do is go into the desert and you understand that water is life in the desert. So pouring out water symbolizes a pouring out of a person's life. I am dependent on you completely and so they're repenting and opening up to the Lord and then it says that he fasted that day and said we have sinned against the Lord. Fasting is symbolic of mourning over sin and so they're confessing, they're returning to the Lord and they're repenting and they're confessing their sin. No more excuses, no more blaming my sin on somebody else. I completely own my sin, I did it. They're mourning over their sin, they're overcome with moral grief. You know as a minister there are times that I'm speaking to somebody and they're telling me that their life is not going well. I mean a lot of people's lives don't go well sometimes periodically, sometimes through seasons. Sometimes it just doesn't go well for a long time and as I've talked and ministered to people over the years there are times when I'm talking to somebody and they'll say you know I'm just not doing well and as we begin to talk and well I need some prayer and I'll say of course what can we pray about and we begin to talk and then it turns out that they've been involved in particular sin or a sinful lifestyle for a while and then you say well you know you need to turn away from that, well you don't understand. You know I was raised this way, you don't understand. That's how it's always been, you don't understand. When I hear that I can tell you that person's not gonna get well, they're not. They're gonna stay exactly where they're at. They're not going anywhere, why? Because they don't hate the sin, because they don't hate it. You know I was raised in the Catholic Church and there are some people here who may recognize this phrase. You know we used to go to the Catholic Mass. It was in Latin, the Latin Mass, Tridentine Mass. And there was a point that we would repeat in Latin mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. My fault, my fault, my most grievous fault. And we would pound our chests as we did it. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. It is my fault, it is my fault. It is my most grievous fault. I was taught very early that it is my fault. It's easy for me to blame other people. I can say well I didn't get a puppy when I was six. I wanted a bicycle when I was 10. That's why I became a thief and stole other people's bikes because I really wanted that Schwinn bicycle. I mean I can do that, anybody can do that. The reason I drink is because drink was around the house all the time, my parents partied all the time and so I would find the glasses and they still had some vodka or they still had some whiskey or beer or whatever and I would drink it and I started doing that when I was six years old, someone could say. And for me it was just a natural thing for me to continue drinking and then I eventually just began to drink because that's just the way it is. We can do that, oh yeah I get mad at people but you know what, you don't understand. You know I'm from a culture that we just, we get mad easily and we take it out on people easily. I mean that's the way it is with us and that's the way I am. All of these things are excuses, not a single one of those things am I saying, listen I'm sick of this and I don't wanna drink anymore, I don't wanna fight anymore, I don't wanna be angry anymore. We're not saying that at all, what we're saying is, well I am that way but there are reasons for it. You're never gonna get well if that's what you do. Never, you are gonna give yourself excuses until the day you die to remain exactly as you are and then you're gonna wonder why you were never set free, you were not set free because you wanted to continue having that, you were entangled with that and you kept it. Me when I got saved I finally said I hate the way I am. I hate it, I hate how I treat people, I hate how I'm always drunk, I hate the drugs that I'm taking, I'm hating the life that I have, the hopelessness and the helplessness and all of the anger that I'm feeling, I hate it, I can't take it anymore, God help me, forgive me and I hear the gospel that says you need to repent and I say I agree with you Lord in Jesus' name, I am that, I am that person, Lord in your name forgive me a sinner. That's what God calls you to do, not make excuses for the things that we're doing but to actually walk away from those things. In Psalm 51 verse four, the Psalmist said against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge. And so they're getting right with God and they're doing so in the open. I'll notice verse seven. Now, when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mitzvah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel and when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. So the children of Israel said to Samuel, do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines. So the Philistines upon seeing what is taking place immediately moved to destroy Israel. You see, not everybody's happy when you get right with God. Not everybody rejoices the day that you get saved. And as a matter of fact, you might have some people who don't like you saved. They don't even like the fact that you're even saying you're saved. Before I got saved, I was a joke. I was a party. I was the one that the people used to laugh at, not with, laugh at. And I did so intentionally. I was the joker. That's what I did. I can still remember, for example, I was about 18, 19 years old. A friend of mine had a 1963 Ford Galaxy convertible. A good-sized car. And I climbed on the hood and he drove it down the street in front of my house. And I stood on the hood as a living hood ornament. I stood with one foot out like that. My arms outstretched and we drove on down the street, you know, about 30 miles an hour as I was like that. And we drove by my house and my mom was home and my mom looked outside and saw her son driving by as a living hood ornament. That woman was not happy. She was not happy at all. And when I went into the house, my mom let me know how unhappy she was. She wasn't safe, so she used certain language that I don't want to repeat in public, but she was a very upset woman when that happened. She was very, very mad. What kind of idiot are you? And I said to her, mom, what's a big deal? You could have fallen off that car. You could have gotten killed. What's wrong with you? You need detention. That bad, you're willing to be that stupid. And I just looked at my mom and said, you know, whatever, you know, you don't have a sense of humor. I wasn't gonna get hurt. It's okay, I'm in control. That's the way I was. I would go to parties and I would start out my Friday nights when I started partying on Friday night with a quart of beer and a half gallon of wine. That's how I started out the night. I drank a quart of beer and a half gallon of wine when I was 18 years old. That's how I began my night and then I moved on from there into the drugs and everything else. That's the way it was. That's how I drank. That's the way it was. And I was drunk and I was loaded all the time. That was my lifestyle. And so when I'd go to the parties and I'd be drunk, they'd have some music playing. Kids usually would be dancing. Nobody's dancing. I was drunk. I'd get up and I'd start dancing in the middle of the dance floor, like Joe Cocker or somebody just acting all weird and silly and people would laugh. And that's what I did. I was the joke. I was the person that the people laughed at. And for me, having attention was better than feeling nobody knew you were alive and that's what I did. And then I got saved. When I got saved, I stopped doing that. When I got saved, I started getting sober-minded. When I got saved, I stopped being that kind of person. And then I have my friends saying to me, you changed. We don't like the way you've begun to be. How come you're not any fun anymore? How come you're not doing these things anymore? You used to be so much fun to be around. You don't drink anymore. You're not doing the dope anymore. You're not doing those things anymore. How come? What's wrong with you? They were not happy. You know what I'm talking about. Some of you have friends who did the same thing. Some of you have family members who felt the same way. What happened to you? I could handle you when you were a drunk. I could handle you when you were doing drugs but I can't handle you as a Jesus freak. What happened to you? And they don't like it. I met a girl named Marie. Marie came to Christ in my Bible study. Marie, and I began to date a couple months after she got saved, we'd go to church together on Sunday nights. She'd go to Mass with her mama Sunday morning. Then she'd come with me on Sunday night. Mama's a very strong Catholic woman. Used to come into the room with holy water and sprinkle it on her when she was asleep. Very strong Catholic gal. I love her to pieces. Love her to pieces. Well, Marie's walking with the Lord and she's saying, you know what, I want to be water baptized. So we're at church on a Sunday night. They're having a baptism. And she goes and is water baptized. And she, you know, I drive her home. Her hair is soaking wet. And we're pull up into her driveway. And she says, my mom's not going to be real happy when I go in right now with my hair all wet. She's going to ask me what happened. And I'm going to tell her I got baptized. And my mom's going to be very angry. So I look at her and I say, do you want me to go in with you? She says, no, I'll go in by myself. And I said, thank you, Jesus. I burned rubber and took off. Well, Marie went in to her doom. Mama was not happy. Exactly what we expected. Mama was not happy. I baptized you as a baby. I've raised you right. What are you doing? The whole thing. Not everybody gets excited when you completely turn to the Lord. Not everybody does. These Philistines were not happy at all because they lost the people who at one time had been under their thumb. They got angry. That Israel was now coming back to their God. And so what do they do? Well, it says in verse 7, the Philistines heard the children of Israel had gathered together at Mitzvah. The lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. So the children of Israel said to Samuel, do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines. And so there's this fear as they have taken the step and they say, please keep us in prayer because we know that we're about to go into a very tough time. Well, in verse 9, Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Then Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel and the Lord answered him. Now, as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mitzvah and pursued the Philistines and drove them back as far as below Beth-Kar. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mitzvah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer, saying, thus far the Lord has helped us. So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel from Ekron to Gath and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. And so notice with me that Samuel takes the succulent lamb. A succulent lamb was around seven days old. The succulent lamb is small and is tender and so that represents the new and fresh life Israel has in the Lord. It's a picture of conversion. And he burned this lamb whole because a whole burnt offering is a picture of complete consecration. Now as Samuel's offering up the burnt offering the Philistines drew near to battle. So the lamb's being sacrificed and the armies of the Philistines are drawing up to battle and Israel now has great fear. But as this is taking place God now steps in and thunders against the Philistines. In Isaiah 59-19 it says when the enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. You see the result is that God is strengthening Israel. The Philistines begin to flee in confusion. The scripture says what then shall we say to these things if God before us who can be against us? One of the things that you're gonna learn is when you open your mouth up for the Lord when you begin to live openly for him and you say God here on my use me you're gonna be amazed at what happens when God gives you opportunities to just open your mouth and be used of the Lord. You know I began to do that when at first God saved when I was going to school in the early 70s you know I went to the military for two years God out went to Bible college for a year and then I went to secular schools for another year then returned to Bible college but when I was in secular schools when I went back to school you know I walked in there and I was still a relatively new Christian I really didn't know that much I was learning, I was studying, I was trying to grow but I would go into class and I would say God you need to fill my mouth with your wisdom I'm reading your words so I have something that can come out but I need you to give me wisdom because in classes and that was back in the 70s there was still an antagonism towards the things of God and I asked the Lord very early as I encouraged you to do this, to teach me to have the courage to be like Paul when Paul said pray for me that God will give to me boldness and I might speak the way that I ought to speak and so I would enter in and I knew that if I don't declare myself, if my colors are not clear people do not know that I believe in Jesus Christ that ultimately a lot of class days are gonna go through where things are being said so I might as well say something from the beginning when given an opportunity and that's what I would do and I was in secular college I would stand up and I would say I'm a Christian this is what I believe and this is where I stand in these things and I would draw a line I did that every time that I'd go in class and they'd give me an opportunity the reason was because I did not want to hide my colors I did not want to be a closet believer I was gonna be open for Jesus Christ I believed it then I believe it now you need to be open for the Lord and you'll be surprised when you begin to stand up and say you know God here am I used me here's my mouth use it for your glory you'll be surprised how the Lord will actually meet you there Jesus said if you keep his word he says my father and I will come with you he said it and will be in you and I will manifest myself to you and there are times when the Lord will just manifest himself it's found in John 14 21 he will manifest himself you will say something and you'll say my goodness that was the Lord and God does it and there have been times when I've spoken and I'm not a wise man especially when I was in my early 20s just out of drugs and alcohol abuse you know what did I know I was once lost now I'm found I'm blind now I see I was deaf now I hear that's all I really know but you know what I was willing to give what I had and God would use that and he'll use you too all you need to do is be willing all you need to do is say here my Lord I want to be used by you and I'm willing that people know what I am I'm a believer in Jesus Christ and God began to move here and he did so in a wonderful way now as a victory comes notice verse 12 Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mitzvah and Shen called its name Ebenezer saying thus far the Lord has helped us they had a significant victory so he puts the Ebenezer the stone of help it's a memorial stone he's saying God has helped us but we continue to need his help and as a result the Philistines were subdued this significant victory was something Israel would remember and so they put the stone of remembrance there to keep the victory before their eyes constantly whenever they would pass by they would see the Ebenezer they'd see the stone and they'd remember God met us here in a special way I have many stones of remembrance I was in Hollywood not that long ago and we were driving and we passed by this place called the Hollywood Palladium and as we drove by I turned to my wife Marie and I said the Hollywood Palladium I haven't seen this for years I can't remember the last time I saw the Hollywood Palladium but I got saved there in 1970 and as it was going by that to me is an Ebenezer it's a stone of remembrance I have a lot of places like that I go past my parents' house where I began to teach Bible studies in 1973 my mom and dad sold their house a long time ago but I drive by that every once in a while when I'm in the area drive by the house that I grew up in and it's an Ebenezer to me it's a place that God met me that's where I started teaching Bible studies or here in Ontario I'll go by the Vine Street there's a little church on Vine Street I drive by that every once in a while just to remember how God met us there when our church had 60 people or I go past a house in Ontario that my sister-in-law owns now it's a place that this church began in and I go by that and that's a stone of remembrance or I'll go by Central School in the city of Ontario I can drive by that and I remember that we started our Bible studies there when we left Vine Street or I can go to Ontario Christian Elementary School and I'll go onto the campus there and I'll remember we used to meet here or Ontario High School or a small little building there on Maple Street in Ontario all of those places are stones of remembrance places you can go by and you can say God met me here God met me here God met me here in a special way and that's what the Ebenezer is and I wonder if you have a stone of remembrance a place where you got saved a place where God met you a place where you asked your girlfriend to be your wife a place that is just a beautiful memory in your life that you know God brought this together and he made this a special memory for us the stones of remembrance and that's what they had in Ebenezer every time the nation of Israel would go past that stone they'd remember God met us here in a very powerful and a very special way we all have places like that in our life Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life he went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel Gilgal and Mitzvah judged Israel in all those places but notice verse 17 but he always returned to Roma for his home was there there he judged Israel and there he built an altar to the Lord he always returned home God gives us opportunities to do ministry and we get to go various places but you always return home a place where God meets you he set up an altar there where he would offer sacrifice people of Israel could come offer sacrifice to God ministry begins in your home I have people approach me on occasion who say to me I'd like to be a pastor I feel called by God to be a pastor are you married? yes I am I'd like to eventually meet the wife because I have discovered that if a man can lead his wife in the things of God he can lead other people but if that wife doesn't respect him if that wife won't follow him well she knows him better than anybody else see it's easy for a man to come up and stand behind a pulpit just like this on a platform just like this and to give a great message because the people there in the congregation only see you for that period of time then you go into the back and me I have a woman who's waiting for me there my wife and if I can lead her I can lead this church if she can respect me as a man of God then I can speak with sincerity to this congregation but if my wife will not listen to me and follow my lead if my mom my wife rather rejects that from me rejects the word of God then I'm really not able to minister the word effectively am I? so when people say I want to be a minister ministry starts at home it starts in your house if you're married it starts with your wife your first youth group your children your first group of seniors your parents do they respect you? do they see the call of God on you? do they say I can learn from you? my first Bible studies were to my mom and my dad if you can teach your mom and your dad the ways of God you can teach anybody because they raised me and they saw the changes that God brought in my life and so what we have is a man who went from place to place ministry but he always came home and there he offered his sacrifices and there he had his ministry it always begins Father I ask that you would work in us Lord I ask that you would continue just to show yourself strong on our behalf Lord and that we might have a sincere love for you and serve you Lord with all that's within us I lift up this congregation and do pray in Jesus' name that you Lord that you would just bless us Lord as we love and serve you we thank you Lord that we can run for twenty years even as Israel did but it only takes a moment to return and some in this room Lord have been running for a long time but this is their moment to return our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed and perhaps I have some in this room right now we need to get right with the Lord I want to ask you as our eyes are closed right where you're at if you need prayer you need to get right with Jesus you can do so right there you can open yourself up and say to him God be merciful I need you I believe Lord and I want to pursue you come into my life fill me with your spirit and if you have a desire right now to be right with the Lord I want to pray for you would you raise your hand wherever you are let me pray for you Father you see these hands you know the reason why they're being raised I'm asking that you would reach down now and touch them and I thank you Lord because you are a God who is merciful and you say just return to me and Lord that's what we're doing even now I'm asking that your hand would be honest all Lord especially with their hands raised to you that you'd wash and cleanse that you'd fill them with your spirit and peace and I ask that they would have a freshness in you from this day forward and we thank you bless you you can put your hands down and Jesus I ask that you keep moving amongst us all to your glory in your name amen let's all stand we'll close with a word of prayer and a song and again tonight we do have our how to give away your faith if you want to learn to be equipped I encourage you to be part of that our Father would you work in us and would you use us to glorify Jesus we give you praise for this as we go into the mission field may we be found faithful as we serve you we ask this in your name amen amen we'll have our we'll have our meeting for the Israel trip in a few minutes God bless you guys