i samuel 7:9-12 (nkjv) 9 and samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to...
TRANSCRIPT
I Samuel 7:9-12 (NKJV)
9 And 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. 10 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,
I Samuel 7:9-12 (NKJV)
and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car. 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
If It Ain’t Broke… There is probably nothing more
frustrating than when something breaks
Our kids got a trampoline for Christmas…
We obviously only fix things or work on them if they are broke
If It Ain’t Broke… You don’t spend money to work
on or replace something that is working just fine
The same goes for most everything in life
If your system of doing things works, then why change it?
If It Ain’t Broke… How about our spiritual life? There may be times when things
aren’t going like they should That’s usually when we spend
some time in self examination We find what’s wrong and do our
best to fix it
The Israelites The Israelites were often broken They have never been credited
as being the brightest bunch They also have never been
tagged as the most faithful to God in their existence upon this earth
There was often a formula there
The Israelites We see that formula laid out in I
Samuel 7 Israel’s disobedience to God had
given place to the Philistines Following 2 prior defeats at the
hand of the Philistine army, the Israelites were told what to do to be victorious
The Israelites They followed the command from
Samuel and God gave them the victory over the Philistines
Following this Samuel raises up a stone and calls it Ebenezer
“Thus far the Lord has helped us”
(v. 12)
The Israelites As long as the Israelites were
obeying God, He was with them and helped them
When they turned from Him, He also turned away from helping them
God had helped the Israelites through so much in their existence
God’s Help Just a few chapters earlier, the
Philistines were recounting; something that the Israelites should have been doing
The Philistines recognized that God had helped the Israelites against the Egyptians (4:8; 6:6)
God’s Help It’s a shame that others saw
what God had done, but the Israelites seemed to always forget it
When God defeated the Philistines, the COI were grateful
So the stone was set up to signify God’s help
God’s Help A quick look back would have
revealed:• God led them out of slavery
• God led them through the Red Sea
• God destroyed the Egyptians
• God sustained them in the wilderness
• God brought them to the Promised Land
God’s Help The Israelites would not have been
where they were had it not been for God
As long as they were willing to serve God faithfully (and Him alone), He was willing to help them
This stone was set up to memorialize that fact
God’s Plan Worked What Israel must have
recognized that day was that God’s plan always worked
Never could they look back over their history and see where God’s way didn’t work
Yet they continued to try to change the plan to suit themselves
God’s Plan Worked God said to worship Him alone,
but they brought in foreign gods God commanded adherence to
His law, yet they followed it only when it suited them
God prescribed certain ways to do things, yet they changed it over and over
God’s Plan Worked It’s clear to us that God had a
plan that worked God commanded, they obeyed,
He blessed them We can see where they went
wrong…it always happened when they strayed from His commands
What About Us? Are we guilty of trying to fix what
isn’t broken? God’s will was established 2,000
years ago, yet it’s still relevant today
However, it seems as though most are itching to change God’s word and will
What About Us? Many are trying to change the
way God is worshipped Many more are changing the way
salvation is achieved Those claiming to be God’s
children are eliminating commands of God because they aren’t popular
What About Us? Is it the gospel that changes
people’s lives today (Rom. 1:16) or is it the show we put on to attract them to come and hear a watered down version of it?
Many wish to change what isn’t broken because they simply haven’t tried it