(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Well good evening everyone, welcome to Mountain Baptist Church. Take your songbooks and turn to song 158. Song 158 in your songbooks, we'll sing Oh for a Thousand Tongues to Sing. And if you would stand, we'll sing song 158. Oh for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim. To spread through all the earth abroad, the honors of Thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease. Tis music in the sinner's ears, tis life and health and peace. He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me. Hear Him, ye deaf, His praise ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ. Ye bind behold, your Savior come and leave, lame for joy. Let's pray, Heavenly Father, Lord again, we just want to thank you God for tonight. Thank you God for Mountain Baptist Church. Lord, all of the blessings that you've bestowed upon us each and every day. I pray Lord now that you'd meet with us, fill our paths with your power and spirit, for it's in Jesus' name we ask all of it, Amen. All right, you may be seated. And turn your songbooks to song 160. We'll sing Crown Him with Many Crowns. Song 160. Crown Him with Many Crowns, the Lamb upon His throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns, all music but its own. Awake my soul and sing of Him who died for thee. And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity. Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side. Rich wounds yet visible above, in beauty glorified. No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight. But downward bends His wandering eye at mysteries so bright. Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed o'er the grave. Who rose victorious to the strife for those He came to save. His glories now we see, who died and rose on high. Who died eternal life to bring and lives that death may die. Crown Him the Lord of heaven, one with the Father known. One with the Spirit through Him, gift from yonder glorious throne. To Thee be endless praise, for Thou for us has died. Be Thou our Lord through endless days, adored and magnified. All that stuff. And so this was just a practice run. There was no win. There was no win. It was a scrimmage. It was a pre-season. Do they? Are you sure about that? So we do need to find the time. I'd say, you know, probably at the bare minimum for the Harvest Party, if we could try to do it before that. But yeah, so fun time. But besides that, as far as announcements go, we do have that Harvest Party coming up, though, on the 31st. And so do we need to get a sign-up sheet, or as far as what people want to bring? I got no confirmation. So I guess, yes, I guess we'll put up a sign-up sheet. If no one wants to bring anything, that's fine. We'll get something. But we'll just figure that out. As far as service times, this week, this coming Sunday, everything should be normal. As far as the Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, but also the soul winning time at 1 p.m. will be a normal church-wide soul winning there. And then on the regional times there, just beyond the church group there for times, locations and everything. The women's prayer meeting, is that next week? So next Friday. And then the week after that will be the men's prayer meeting on the 27th. We have our chapter memory for the month is Psalm 110. And so a shorter psalm there, so I'll try to get that memorized this month. And then Matthew 10, 16 is our memory verse for the week. We have on the pregnancy list there, Jennifer, Alyssa, Anastasia and Tabby. And so be in prayer for all these ladies on the pregnancy list. And be in prayer for those that just had little ones on that recovery process and everything. I think that's about all I have for announcements. The offering box in the back there, if you want to give a tithe and an offering. Mother baby rooms for the mothers and babies only. We will be continuing our study through the book of 1 Samuel. And I think Brother David, you're reading this tonight, right? Brother David's going to be reading 1 Samuel chapter 7 after we do one more Psalm. All right. Take your Psalm books and turn to Psalm 202. We'll sing My Redeemer. Psalm 202. I will sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross he suffered from the curse to set me free. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer. With his blood he purchased me. On the cross he sealed my pardon, paid the debt and made me free. I will tell the wondrous story how my loss to stay to save. In his boundless love and mercy he the ransom freely gave. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer. With his blood he purchased me. On the cross he sealed my pardon, paid the debt and made me free. I will praise my dear Redeemer, his triumphant power I'll tell. How the victory giveth over sin and death and hell. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer. With his blood he purchased me. On the cross he sealed my pardon, paid the debt and made me free. Of my Redeemer and his heavenly love to me. He from death to life have brought me. Son of God with him to be. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer. With his blood he purchased me. On the cross he sealed my pardon, paid the debt and made me free. All right, take your Bibles and turn to First Samuel, chapter number seven. First Samuel, chapter number seven, we'll have brother David come and read that for us. First Samuel seven, if you found your place, amen. And the Bible reads, and the men of Kedzadzirim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill and sanctified Eliezer his son to keep the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass that the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods, and Ashtoreth among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam, and Ashtoreth, and serve the Lord only. And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizbe, and I will pray for you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizbe, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord, and Samuel judged the children of Israel and Mizbe. And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel gathered together to Mizbe, the loads of the Philistines went up against Israel, and when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord, and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near a battle against Israel, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them, and they were smitten before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizbe, and pursued the Philistines, and smelt them until they came to Bethkar. And then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizbe and Sin, and called the name of Ebenezer, saying, Hither to hath the Lord helped us. So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more unto the coast of Israel, and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath, and the coast of the web did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life, and he went from year to year, in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizbe, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord. That's very dear Lord, I thank you for this opportunity to come back to church, pray that you feel fast with your spirit, and help us to be edified. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen, so you're there in 1 Samuel chapter 7, and we are continuing our study through the book of 1 Samuel. And we see here, in chapter 6, we saw the ark coming back and all that, but we saw, actually I kind of went into chapter 7 a little bit there, to see where the ark ended up. It's going to be resting for a while, until David is going to be trying to take it out of there. But let's read those first two verses there. In verse 1 it says, And the men of Kirjedirim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eliezer his son, to keep the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjedirim, that the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. So we see that it's going to be there for a little while, and the ark will be moved eventually to Jerusalem, but there's a whole story involved with that, as far as when it's moved. But they do have the ark back, it's in Israel at this point. But we see here that Samuel is now going to be judging. And really this chapter is going to be hitting on the fact that Samuel is judging in Israel. And verse 3 here, notice what Samuel says to Israel. It says, And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If you do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and asherah from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Asherah, and serve the Lord only. Now what we can see here is that, well one, he's telling them to get rid of all their strange gods, but notice how if you were to look at verse 3 and then verse 4, and if you couple those together, you see the strange gods and Asherah, and then you see Balaam and Asherah. Now Balaam, if you think of Baal, is used a lot in the Old Testament as far as a false god. But Balaam, when you have that im at the end, a lot of times that's making it plural. So if you think of like a cherub or a cherubim, you'll see, or seraphim, you'll see that im ending is meaning it's more than one. So when you see they worship Balaam, it means they are worshiping strange, like other gods, right? Baal usually means like there's a typical, there's a specific god that they're worshiping. But Baal's kind of like a term to mean like a god, and a lot of times, and obviously in the Bible, there's like one case where the Lord says, call me no longer Baalai, but Ishtai. And the idea there is that it's kind of a generic term for god, but obviously most of the time in the Bible it's talking about the fact of like false gods, it's not talking about the true god. But either way, you can see how when you're talking about Balaam, you're dealing with strange gods, and Asherah obviously is a false god as well, but that's a specific name to that one. But you see here that he's stating that if you want to return to the Lord, then you need to serve Him only. When it comes to salvation, when you're talking about people getting saved, they need to believe on Jesus Christ alone, right? If you think about people that believe in like multiple gods, like Hindus and stuff like that, they can't just add Jesus onto their multiple gods. No, it's got to be Him only, and you have to get rid of all the other false gods. But especially if you're going to serve Him, so you can see that the idea of maybe the preparing your hearts unto the Lord and serve Him only, and the idea that we get saved, obviously we're believing on Christ with all our heart, but then we also need to serve Him only so you can think about the idea of salvation, but then you can think of discipleship, right? And how that would work there. But the thing that I want you to see here is that notice the if-then type of statement here. We're dealing with Israel, and we're dealing with them being delivered out of the Philistines actually in this chapter. And notice that in verse 3 it says, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away all the strange gods. Meaning like if you're going to do that, then this is what you got to do, right? Meaning like He's defining what that means to turn with all your heart, right? It's kind of like, you know what people say, like turn to God. It's like, okay, what do I need to do? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what you need to do, right? I mean, it's kind of like, okay, what does that mean? Well, here's what it means, get rid of all these strange gods and serve the Lord only, right? But then, notice in verse 4, Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Ashtoreth and served the Lord only. But notice in verse 3 there it says, And He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. So there's an if-then statement there, that if they get rid of these strange gods, and if they serve the Lord only, then He's going to deliver them out of the hands of the Philistines. Now, the recent events of this past week is kind of uncanny, that's what we're dealing with. You know that Gaza Strip, you know this whole thing with Israel and Gaza and Hamas and all that stuff? The Gaza Strip is the Philistines, that's the land of the Philistines. Now we would say Gaza, Gaza, it doesn't really matter how you pronounce it, right? But that's a city, that was a city, a prominent city in the land of the Philistines. And so that's literally who's at war right now in this chapter. And today, that's who's at war right now. But you know when people, there's a lot of so-called Christians out there, and there's a lot of actual Christians out there that think that we should be supporting the nation of Israel, or that God is behind Israel and that He's going to fight for Israel. Israel is a Christ-rejecting nation that God destroyed about 2,000 years ago. I mean, the kingdom of God was taken away from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 70 AD, they were completely annihilated, and it's been that way ever since. And just because America propped them up and genocides a whole bunch of Palestinians to put them back into their land, doesn't mean that that's what God was all about. But I'm sticking to people on both sides of the aisle. All the Palestinians, you know, that was, you know, celebrating that. No, they're both wicked. The Palestinians are wicked, the Israelites are wicked, they're both evil nations. And to think that God is behind Israel right now, like He's behind Netanyahu bombing innocent people, I think the toll was over 300 children had been killed in those counter-strikes. And obviously, you know, it's wicked of what the Hamas group did to the children in Israel and what they did there. I'm not saying, you know, there's false dichotomy. You're either for the one or the other. So I'm like, how about neither one? You're either for Satan or the Antichrist. Can I have option three? They're like, the false prophet. No! Option four, the Lord. You know, but it's this false dichotomy of like, oh, you know, if you're not for the one, then you're for the other. No, I'm for neither one of them. They're both wicked in their own ways. But they're both committing heinous crimes. They're both killing innocent people. And, you know what, the Bible doesn't teach that we should be supporting these wicked nations. And so, but it's interesting because, you know what, the world wants you to think is that support Israel no matter what. No matter if they reject Jesus Christ. No matter if they say that your Savior is in Hell right now. No matter that if you want to be a citizen over there, you have to recant Jesus Christ as your Savior. No matter that, you know what, one of their biggest cities, Tel Aviv, is the most homosexual city in all of the world. But yeah, I'm supposed to be supporting that nation. No, even back in their prime, God would only deliver them if they actually turned to God. And they're like, well, Romans 4 says they can be grafted back in. Well, yeah, if they don't continue in unbelief, let me know when Israel believed on Christ. 1948, yeah, right. I mean, Jerusalem right now is either Muslim, Catholic, Armenian, or Jewish. All unsaved. All unsaved. Now there might be some saved person roaming around the streets there somewhere. Some Baptist guy that wanted to go see the Wailing Wall or something, you know. It happens. I'm sure there's someone that's living there that, you know, is saved. I mean, it happens. But it's just interesting and just uncanny how we're in this chapter and I'm reading through here and we're literally dealing with the same two countries. The same two areas that are fighting against each other. But yet, when we're talking about Israel, you know what Samuel says? Is that the Lord will deliver you if you do this, though. It's not just all just because of your heritage, just because of who you are. No. And guess what? That's always been the case with Israel. In the book of Judges, they would be taken into captivity. They would be destroyed if they didn't follow the Lord. And then when they'd come back to God, God would deliver them. And it's going to happen throughout the kings, all of that. Throughout the history of the nation of Israel, it's always been this back and forth of them coming back to God. Well, guess what? There's no coming back to God, nation of Israel. It's already been taken away. He take it away the first, they may establish the second. That the nation was taken from them. The kingdom of God was taken from them and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And the only time that that nation is going to be righteous is when the Lord Jesus Christ is sitting on the throne. Whom they reject. Now, let's go to Exodus chapter 19. When it comes to the covenant of Israel, it was always this conditional covenant on the fact that He will bless them if they keep His commandments and they do what they're supposed to be doing. And by the way, this Rabbitic Judaism of today is the same Rabbitic, Pharisaical Judaism that was back in Jesus' day that Jesus condemned and said that they are going to receive the greater damnation. That Rabbitic Judaism, that Talmud touting Rabbitic Judaism is the same false religion that they have today, back then, and it was never right. Like, whoa, that's what it was in the Old Testament. Wrong. No, that was the traditions of the Pharisees that Jesus condemned. He constantly said, you do greatly err not knowing the scriptures. And if you would have believed Moses, you would have believed me. That's what Jesus said. Search the scriptures, for in them you think that you have eternal life, and they speak of me. You know, that's what Jesus said, is that the same scriptures speak of Him, but yet they didn't believe on Him. That means they don't believe Moses. And Christians can tout their, put their rabbi shawls on and their star-rimmed band behind them all they want, but it's just a target for the fact that they are for wickedness. They're supporting a wicked nation. And listen, I'm not putting a Palestine sign, flag up behind me either. I'm not up here saying like, hey, Hamas, good job. No, they're all wicked. So, in Exodus chapter 19, this is where the Old Testament, which now is the Old Testament, but it was the covenant for them when they came out of the land of Egypt. And verse 5 here says, Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. So, notice that if then statement, that if you do this, then you're going to be a peculiar treasure, then you're going to be that holy nation, that kingdom of priests. If you do that. In the New Testament, guess what? We are that holy nation. Those that were, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. We're not a people who are now the people of God, that we are that peculiar people, that holy nation, that royal priesthood. The strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, that's not Israel my friends. But guess what? It doesn't matter if you're a Jew, because you can be a part of that too. Because whether you're Jew or Greek, in Christ there's neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free. We're all one in Christ, and we're all of that same nation. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 30, Deuteronomy chapter 30. I don't want to belabor this point, because this whole sermon isn't about that, but this chapter is really hitting on this, and the fact that, hey, if they get rid of these false gods, and if they serve the Lord God only, then He'll deliver them out of the Philistines hands. The Lord is not behind Israel right now. And people are just like, well, this is lining up for end times prophecy. You know who's behind it? The devil. All that stuff is being orchestrated by the dragon, by the devil. If we're in that time, I'm not saying that this is the end, you know. I'm just saying the Lord is not behind that. In Deuteronomy 30 and verse 15, it says, See, I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil, in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them. Sound familiar to what Samuel's dealing with? I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him, for He is thy life in the length of thy days, and thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord swear unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to give them. It's never been this like no condition, like God, you know, chooses Israel unconditionally. You can keep saying that, but it's not true. Like, you know, these John Hagees and these Zionists out there, they keep saying that garbage all day long, but it doesn't make it true. And the Bible just constantly over and over again, if you read Leviticus 26, if you read Deuteronomy 27, all the curses that will be upon them if they don't keep the law. And constantly we see that throughout the Old Testament, where they don't keep it and God destroys them and allows them to be destroyed. And I don't see where Israel since 1948 has come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if there's some so-called Christian out there saying, well, they didn't come to Jesus, but they came to God and they're going to heaven, then you're not saved. Then you're saying that there's another name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Well, no, they believe in the Father, they don't believe in the Son, you know, but they believe in the Father. He that hath the Son hath the Father also. Who's a liar but the he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ, he is anti-Christ, that denyeth the Father and the Son. If you don't have the Son, you don't have the Father. And I don't see how Christians can't get this through their thick skulls, that this is exactly what the Bible teaches. And they just keep parroting off these stupid Fox News talking points about how the Jews are God's chosen people and that we as Christians should back them in everything that they do. Listen, let them go do their thing over there. They made their bed, let them sit in it. And listen, I have sympathy for the children on both sides. Because it's sad to see that on both sides. But listen, we shouldn't be getting involved in that garbage. So, that's another sermon for another day. By the way, our first YouTube channel got taken down because of the Jews. You know what got taken down? You know what? What happened? You know what? Two things got taken down and then immediately my YouTube channel was taken down. Was Judaism, the anti-Christ religion that I preached. By definition is what it is. And Martian Design. Martian Design happened to have 100,000 views on it and apparently it got their eye. So, you know what? The Bible says in Romans 11 that they are the enemies of the Gospel. It doesn't sound like it's changed much, has it? Well, no, these Jews are different. They're all about Christianity. No, they're all about weak Christianity that doesn't preach against them or preach anything other than what they want them to say. They're for that Catholic Christianity. The Jews and the Catholics go hand in hand. They just love each other. Whether it's in Hollywood or whether it's in the media. If you're a Catholic, then man, you're fine with the Jews and you guys get along great. But if you're a Bible believing Christian, then you're not going to get along. You're not going to get along with the Catholics or the Jews. I'm talking about religion, right? Because obviously a lot of Catholics get saved and obviously I want the Jews to get saved as well. But as far as religion is concerned, they're both horrible. So, go to 1 Samuel 7, verse 5. So, Samuel is going to make supplication for them. So, they actually do this, right? So, the good news here is that in this story, Israel actually does come back to God. So, throughout the judges we have them kind of going back and forth. A judge will stand up and then they'll basically come back to God. Well, here with Samuel, they do come back to God. And in verse 5 here it says, And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizbe, and I will pray for you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizbe and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, We have sinned against the Lord, and Samuel judged the children of Israel and Mizbe. And when the Philistines heard the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizbe, the Lord of the Philistines went up against Israel, and when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not the cry unto the Lord our God for us that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord, and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. Now, this just makes me think about the fact that, one, they say, Samuel says, I'm going to pray for you. Then they say, you know, the Philistines are coming at him, and they're like, Cease not. Cease not the cry out unto the Lord for us, right? And I think about James chapter 5. You know, obviously we think about Elijah praying, and obviously his prayer in James chapter 5. Turn to James chapter 5 real quick. But I think about this, and the idea that Israel is coming back to the Lord, they're getting rid of all their strange gods and all of that, and the idea here is that Samuel is still praying for them for, think about their transgressions and all these things to get them right with God. But the idea of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man. And notice what it says here in verse 16. It says, Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and rain not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. So think about it, they just all are getting rid of these sins of these false gods, and then Samuel's praying for them, and this idea of this, the idea of Samuel being this righteous man that is availing, that this prayer, this effectual prayer that he has, that's availing for them. And the last thing we see in verse 9 is that when he cried unto the Lord, the Lord heard him. The Lord heard him. And so it's not that God doesn't hear the prayer of people that maybe aren't righteous, you know, they're in sin and stuff like that, because obviously God can hear everything. But when it says that he heard it, what you have to understand is that that means he's going to do something about it, right? It's kind of like, you know, getting audience to be heard, right, the idea there. And when it comes to this, that Samuel is obviously a righteous man that's judging Israel, and the Lord is hearing him. Later on in Samuel, he's one that's constantly, he's making intercession for the people. I want you to look at chapter 12 with me real quick. So 1 Samuel 12 and verse 23. 1 Samuel 12, verse 23. Now this is when they have a king at this point. But Samuel's still there, and he's still praying for them, even after they rejected him to be a judge and rejected his sons later on. But in verse 23 it says, Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. But I will teach you the good in the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things he hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king. Notice how this is consistent, right? It's like, if you do right, if you turn to the Lord with all your heart, he's going to save you, he's going to do great things for you. But if you continue in wickedness, if he continues doing what you're doing, then you're going to be consumed. But notice that they say to him in chapter 7, Cease not to cry unto the Lord for us. And notice how in the passage in chapter 12, he's saying, I'm not going to sin in ceasing to pray for you. Meaning that he's basically bound himself to Israel to pray for them, and make intercession for them, and he's still doing that even after Saul was made king. And obviously we'll get to that chapter later. But, so the Lord hears him, and in verse 10 here, it says, so you're back in 1 Samuel 7 that is, 1 Samuel 7 verse 10, it says, And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them, and they were smitten before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mispy and pursued the Philistines, and smote them until they came unto Bethkar. So we see here that the Lord thunders this great thunder. Now we don't know exactly what, I mean if it was just thunder, or what exactly caused them to be discomfited. It could have just very well put a whole bunch of fear in their hearts, as to where the Israelites could take them out. But the Lord obviously did something to where it just made, it just opened the floodgates for them to win this battle, right? But when I think about this idea of the Lord thundering, and the idea that the Lord thundered with a great thunder is the voice of the Lord. Like the Lord spoke, and this is what happened. Because go to Revelation chapter 10, I just kind of want to go down just a little rabbit trail real quick with this idea of this thunder, because there is something in Revelation or in the end times dealing with thunder, and as much as this is kind of like, I don't want to say ambiguous, but it's just kind of like cryptic as far as we don't really know what exactly, besides that there was a great thunder, right? But was it just a big crash of thunder and that's why they were afraid? Or was there something else going on with that thunder? Was there something said? Was there something done when that was thundered? But the interesting thing is that, what I'm going to read here is that there's going to be thunders, but it's not going to tell us what it's about. Even in Revelation, because Revelation is the book of Revelation, right? It's being revealed, but this one thing specifically is stated that John heard it, but he wasn't allowed to write it. And that's just interesting to me when you think about this idea of like the Lord thundering and his voice thundering, and the idea that even John wasn't allowed to write down what was said, and that we won't know until later what actually is being said here. But in Revelation chapter 10 and verse 1, it says, And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, and he had in his hand a little book open, and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roared, and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now, you could argue whether this angel is the Lord or whether this is just another angel. I'm not going down that rabbit trail right now. But obviously we know that the Lord is the, that Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. We can make the argument that obviously the Lord, in many, in other places, I'll show you where it talks about him, well I may not be showing you tonight, but the idea of like him roaring like a lion and his voice being like a lion. But notice what it says in verse 4, it says, And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not. Now think about this, I mean, the book of Revelation is just like, it even ends with the fact that seal not this book, right? Whereas Daniel is saying seal this up and, you know, basically craft is going to prosper. You know, like all these things, but basically it's not time yet, it's not to the time appointed, but in Revelation at the end it's like, seal not up these things. But there's this one thing that's like, seal this up and don't write it. It's interesting because then, and for Samuel, seven, when he's thundering, it doesn't really give us a bunch of information as far as what's going on with that. But go to Psalm 18, Psalm 18, Psalm 18 and verse 13, Psalm 18 and verse 13, just to show you that, that the thundering, like God's voice is like nothing to thunder, just to show you a place where it states that. And I'll read what it says in 1 Samuel 7 again, it says, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited them. I want you to remember that wording. Then it says in Psalm 18 verse 13, it says, the Lord also thundered in the heavens and the highest gave his voice hailstones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows and scattered them and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them. I mean, I don't, I can't like definitively say that that same thing is what happened with the Philistines, but it's kind of interesting that it's worded the same way. And the fact that it would be likened unto, you know, what was going on at that time, right? Go to Psalm 29, Psalm 29, remember there was how many thunders, the voices of the thunders, seven, right? Look at Psalm 29. Psalm 29, and look at, I mean, it's a small psalm here, so let's just start in verse 1. It says, give unto the Lord, O you my men, give unto the Lord glory and strength, give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of his holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the glory, the God of glory thundereth. I want you to count how many times it says the voice of the Lord. So there's one, right? The Lord is upon many waters. Verse 4, the voice of the Lord is powerful. 2, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. 3, the voice of the Lord breaketh cedars. 4, yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like calf in Lebanon and Sarion like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. There's five. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness, the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kedish. Right, six, right, one, two, three, four, five, six, yeah, six. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calf and discover the forest and in his temple that everyone speak of his glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood, yea, the Lord sitteth King forever. The Lord will give strength unto his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. Seven voices that are mentioned, specifically starting off with the fact that his voice is thundering. Now, is that what's in Revelation? Maybe, okay. I'll say this, if we really needed to know, it would have been written down. Does that make sense? Like it would have been written down if it was pertinent for us to know. But I do think that there's maybe some inclination when it happens to be like, I knew it! Psalm 29, you know, or whatever. Or if we can look back at what happens with the Philistines here in this chapter, 1 Samuel 7, that we can look at Psalm 18 and be like, oh, there we go. That's what happened. That's what happened. He thundered, but there was hail with that thunder, right? There was lightning with that thunder. You know, you think about how does thunder even happen with lightning, right? And then that's what causes the sound of it. And so anyway, just something interesting to think about. Sometimes just kind of digging a little bit into it where there's something that's said. Because if you think about it, they got destroyed by the Philistines before this. Whatever happened here must have been something great to where they won this battle. And actually, after this battle, like the Philistines didn't mess with, I mean, basically the hand of the Lord was against them from that day forward under Samuel's judgment. And so it's a big deal what happens. And the Philistines were like enemy number one in the book of Judges, too. I mean, that's a lot of the oppression was coming from the Philistines. And you know what, it's like reading a newspaper, right? Right there, still at it today. And obviously, nowadays, we're dealing with the fact that they're worshiping their false god in Israel. And, you know, Gaza is worshiping their false god in their area, right? So now we just have like two unbelieving nations fighting each other. Now, going back to 1 Samuel 7 and verse 12. So they win this battle. It says in verse 12, it says, So usually when there's a name given, it kind of explains what the name is, right? Like Bethel will be like, this is the house of God, you know, and it will just kind of spell it out and give you the definition. So we know that it has to do with like the Lord helping or something to do with helping, right? If you were to look up the etymology of it, it's basically just like a stone of help. It's like if you broke the word into two different pieces, one means stone and one means help. But literally, what does the verse say? The verse say, Samuel took a stone and set it between Mispy and Shen, so it's between these two places, and then he called it Ebenezer, okay, where that stone was at, okay? And the reason I bring this up is because one of my favorite songs is Come Thou Fount. And if you've ever read that, or that one, I think it's the second verse, it says, Here I raise my Ebenezer, hitherto, thy help I'm come. You know, what is that talking about? Well, if you know the story of why this place is called Ebenezer, it's because hitherto hath the Lord helped us, right? So even in the verse, and this is why the hymns are so great. You know, when you think about the contemporary Christian songs, they don't have any substance to them. There's a lot of good doctrine and deep stuff. I mean, did you know that Come Thou Fount, they're pulling from 1 Samuel chapter 7, right? When you think about the showers of blessing, that's coming from Ezekiel, my friends. Now when you're coming from Ezekiel, you're going deep, right? You're going to my boy Ezekiel for a hymn song, like you have studied your Bible a little bit. So a lot of these songs, I mean, don't get me started on Hark the Herald Angels Sing. By the way, brother Dave, we've got to get started on the kids' choir when it comes to Christmas. I mean, I know that's really off topic. If anybody's listening to the sermon, they're like, well, we know what's coming up. You know, Christmas is apparently coming up over there. But I think it's, you know, one of my favorites, and I remember, like, because I really like this song, but I'm like, what in the world, like, raising Ebenezer? I'm thinking it's like a banner or something like that. But if you think about it, like a stone of help, like, obviously he set up this stone because the Lord helped them, and he named the place Ebenezer, okay? Now, what's interesting about that, too, well, one, you kind of understand the song and what that even means, right? Why are you talking about Ebenezer? You're like, Ebenezer Scrooge? Like, you got to get out Charles Dickens, got to get into the Bible, right? But, so you kind of understand where that come down found, where I was talking about that. But go back to 1 Samuel, chapter 4. Where was the victory won? Ebenezer, right? Ebenezer. Now, when we were in chapter 4 and 5, what I was mentioning is that I believe that place was called Ebenezer after what happened in chapter 4 and 5. Meaning that in chapter 7 is when it was named that. And that happens a lot where it'll say, in Jerusalem, which was called Jeebus. Meaning that when you're writing the story, you're talking about the place that it's now called, but then a lot of times it'll state, well, now it's called this, right? Or it'll say, like, Samuel the Seer, because this is a four-time, the prophets were called Seers. But it is obviously, when it was written, they were now called prophets. They weren't called Seers anymore, but it's kind of inserting that just so you know what was being said back then. But this happens a lot with places where when you're reading it, it's not actually called that at the time. But who's writing it is called that when they're writing it. And so, when you're looking at chapter 4 there in verse 1, it says, The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle and pitched beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. So where were they pitched when they were in battle? Ebenezer. Look at chapter 5 and verse 1. When the ark was taken, so at the end of chapter 4, the ark was taken, Eli dies, his sons die, you know, Ichabod is born. Chapter 5 and verse 1 it says, And the Philistines took the ark and brought it from where? Ebenezer unto Ashtad. Coming full circle after the failure of Eli and his sons and Israel at Ebenezer, they got a victory at Ebenezer with Samuel and the Lord winning the victory. Same place. I think that's interesting on just how it comes full circle that it's not about the place, it's about whether the Lord's on your side or not. Whether you're right with God or not. You know how I believe it's in the end of 1 Kings with Ahab, right? And Ahab actually wins a battle, like he actually does something for the Lord at one point. But they won, I can't remember if it was in the mountains or in the valley first, but I think it was, they won in the mountains. They were like, and then they said, well he's the God of the mountains, he's not the God of the valleys, right? It's like it's not about the place, it's about who's on your side. If God before us, who can be against us? And it doesn't matter if you're in the valley, if you're in the mountains, if you're in the ocean, wherever you're at, if the Lord is on your side, then you're on the winning side. And it didn't matter that, well it was the area that they were in, no, it's because they weren't right with God. Because they had two reprobate priests that were bearing the ark, and they weren't right with God. That's why they lost the battle, and God wasn't fighting for them. Fast forward though, when Samuel's judging now, and he is at the reins, and he's praying unto the Lord, the Lord hears him, and makes, and he wins the victory. Same place. So I think that's interesting, and I think it's something that we should take to heart. Going back to 1 Samuel 7 and verse 13, it says, So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coasts of Israel, and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. So it wasn't just that battle, it was like some fluke or something like that. No, all the days of Samuel, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. They were no longer being oppressed by the Philistines while Samuel was judging. Verse 14, And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel from Ekron even unto Gath, and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. I mean, maybe I've watched too much of this, the stuff that's going on, but literally like Ekron is in Israel right now. I mean, it's just like reading a newspaper, I'm just like, all these same places, and all of that. The only difference is, God's not for Israel, because they haven't turned to the Lord. And so I see Israel saying, hey, we're now a Christian nation, we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that, no, that's not happening, by the way. That nation is not turning to the Lord. That nation will be desolate until the Lord Jesus comes and sets up his kingdom, and we're rolling and reigning with him. And so, but it's just interesting, and I just read through it, and I'm just like, man, this is just, the timing is what's crazy, and I'm not saying like, oh, well, you know, I really had the spirit when I decided what book and what time, you know, no. But I do think that it's just, it's interesting how the Bible's just always relevant, and it's just timeless. First Samuel, chapter seven, verse 15, it says, And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life, and he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord. So notice that he judged in all those places, right? And I think the thing that you have to realize is that Israel is a bigger place for, it wasn't just one person, there was multiple judges. So it's kind of like there's multiple prophets, right, but there was kind of like these prominent ones, but for example, when you think about Elijah, he wasn't just over every place, Elijah was more in the north. So that's why you'll see Elijah mentioned, and Elisha mentioned in the kings, because it's dealing with the northern kingdom. And then you'll see different prophets mentioned, like in the chronicles, like Nathan the prophet, and different ones like that, because they're now predominantly in the southern portion of the kingdom. Same thing with the judges is that where he's at is actually more in Benjamin. And that was in the realm. But I cannot read this where it says he went from year to year in circuit, and not think of like this old IVB type of like this circuit riding preacher, John Wesley. And how like, I don't know how many times I heard that, it was just like that circuit riding preacher. Because I guess he went in circuit, you know I'm always just thinking like circus. So he was like in a traveling circus, is that what you're saying? Obviously it's not the same thing, you're like oh you're too, you don't know the difference between a circuit and a circus. But you know obviously the circuit's like going around the same time, you know, like in circuit, and he would hit all these places. But I can't read that without thinking of like John Wesley, and just how like these preachers would be like just puffing him up. I mean the guy was not saved. The guy wrote whole sermons and whole dissertations on why eternal security is wrong. The guy's not saved, the guy's in hell right now. But it's just like people are always just wanting to grab on to people from the past. Like Charles Spurgeon, and like these other people. Listen, if they're popular and they're still, especially back then, if we have their writings and stuff like that, if they're popular, they're probably not good. Think about all the popular preachers today. Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, here's some other ones. Obviously like the John Hagees, Joyce Meyer. Joyce Meyer, I mean that's who we're going to be looking to in the past. And all that circuit riding preacher, Joyce Meyer, the Joker, just went around all of America. Lord, I hope the Antichrist comes before then. And that the Lord comes and like everything is gone. By the time we get to the point where people are looking back to like Rick Warren and Joel Steen, they'll be like, man, these old preachers back then, it's Saddleback Baptist Church. But that would be about the same thing as pulling up these people from the past that were popular. The Bible talks about those that are unknown yet well known. Anybody that's a hard preacher is never going to be popular with the world. Popular with the majority of Christianity. They're usually going to be hated like Micaiah and like Jeremiah, the preachers that are usually put into the dungeon for what they preach. They're well known to God and they're well known to us, but the reason that they're well known to the majority of people is because God wrote it with a pen of iron, with a point of a diamond. So the last thing I want to mention here is the fact that Samuel in the next chapters we're going to see is they're going to want to replace him because he's old and they don't like his sons and you can understand why they don't like his sons when we read about that later. But Acts mentions that the judges went up until Samuel because they're going to ask for a king and I just want to read that to you in Acts 13 and verse 19. It says, and when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by law and after that he gave unto them judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king and God gave unto them Saul the son of Sis and a man of the tribe of Benjamin by the space of 40 years. So we'll be getting into that in the next chapters. They're going to be asking for a king and then we get into the story of Saul, but Samuel is the last of the judges. Even though his sons are technically going to be made judges, the people don't really recognize that and they want a king. So we're really seeing the last of an age, if you will. I hate even saying that, right? It's like all dispensing the age of the judges, you know? But really there is kind of that space where you had from Joshua to this point of Samuel where the way God wanted it to be was that there was to be judges, there was his law, but he was to be the king. That God was to be the king. But then they asked for a king. So we see kind of the end of God's plan on how he wanted the government to be and where they go in the kings. And obviously God is still going to work through Israel and all that even with the kings, but that's not originally how he wanted it to be. So that's 1 Samuel chapter 7. Definitely some interesting stuff in there and we'll be getting, Lord willing, into chapter 8 next week. But let's end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for your word. Pray that you be with us throughout the rest of the week and, Lord, give us safety in our travels and keep us healthy. Lord, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the book of 1 Samuel. Help us to, one, learn the stories, but also, Lord, to be admonished and to learn everything that we can learn and lessons from these stories from the past. And, Lord, we love you. Thank you for your word. We pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Pray that they will come and sing one more song and that will be dismissed. Alright, take your songbooks and turn to song 154. Song 154, we'll sing Blessed be the tie that binds. If you would stand, we'll sing song 154. Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds is light to that above. Before our Father's throne, we pour our ardent prayer. Our fears, our hopes, our aims, our want, our comforts and our cares. We share our mutual woes, our mutual burdens bear. And often for each other flows the sampan.