The Possibilities are Limitless: When You Trust God
1 Samuel 7.1-13
This week is labeled super Sunday and the justification is because the 2007/8 football season comes to an end as it crowns its champion. This year different than those of the recent past the entire week is filled with super events. On Tuesday 34 states will hold their presidential primaries and if Tuesday doesn’t decide the democratic and republican candidate it will come very close to doing so. It is not hard to see the reason what the hype is all about. I want to declare for you that before the football began, before the primaries on Tuesday and before the all star weekend that this moment can be the kickoff of your super Sunday, super week and even the rest of your life. Doesn’t matter how it is gone up to now, doesn’t matter what got you here or how you got here in the matter of a moment this can be the kick off to the best days of your life. In order for the two teams that will meet on the field of play to participate in the super bowl they had to defeat every team they met in this year’s playoff. One team enters the game with the possibility of having a perfect season the first in 30 years. The other team won each of its games on the road to be the third team in NFL history to win three games on the road to make it to the championship game. One team has a chance to walk into perfection, the other team has a chance to derail the perfection and leave its name in the annals of NFL history. In order for the one to reach perfection it must win, and in order for the other to leave it’s mark it to must win. On Super Tuesday whoever wins will be the one that will go into the annals of American history as either the first woman or the first person of color to win a major party’s nomination for the presidency. For it to happen the combatants on the field and in the political arena must find victory. I got news for you as well, no matter what you are dealing with in your life, personal, financial, spiritual, relational for you to make this a super Sunday and a super beginning to the rest of your life you too must be victorious. Whatever battlefield that the enemy has you participating on or in, your marriage, your children, your job, the only way out is with a win. This battle is too costly, this battle is too important, this one cannot end with a loss, with a tie, the only way out is with victory. Because for the teams that will meet on the field of play the looser will be disappointed but it is just a game and they will go on, for the candidate that looses out on their run for president, disappointed, and broken but they will go on but for you the cost of lost is too high, defeat is not an option victory is the only option. I got news for you when it is this important you need to hedge your bet, you need an edge that will guarantee victory, guarantee success. That is exactly what our text offers us on this morning, it gives us the play book if you will, the strategy, and the plan that will guarantee success. The last time we looked in on Samuel he acknowledged and accepted the call of God on his life. In order for him to do so he had to recognize the voice of God, respond to the voice of God and react to the voice of God. We learned that it is the same challenge that we have as well if we are going to experience limitless possibilities. A lot has changed since our last visit Samuel has grew into adult hood and the prophetic promise of God has become a reality. The Philistines an indigenous group in Cannon rose to power and went to war with Israel. The Philistines defeated the Israelites killing over 30,000 soldiers. The house of Eli has come a horrifying end, both sons died in war, the ark of the covenant of God had been lost in battle. Eli fell and broke his neck after hearing of the loss and his daughter in law died giving birth to a son that was named Ichabad meaning that the Glory has departed from Israel. What a mess they were in. Over the next 20 years the people of God lived fearful of the Philistines, for twenty years they cowered at the threat of their presence, for twenty years they felt the emptiness of power that they were entitled, for twenty years they lived defeated. Finally enough was enough and it was time for a change. It was time to experience the possibilities that God had for them and it all came to fruition on that faithful day on what we will call Super Sunday. It is in the events of that day that a strategy for success is enacted.
1. They yearned the Lord: vs 2 The text says that “a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord” For Israel it took twenty years for the nation to turn back to God. Finally enough was enough, finally they came to the realization that they would not be able to do it themselves, not be able to manage without the Lord. They had gotten to a place where they had just simply had enough. It is not until you get to a place where you know that you have enough that you will do whatever it takes for change to take place. On whatever field of life that the enemy is pressing you the battle will not stop until you finally say you have had enough. Had enough of problems with your children, had enough with issues on your jobs, had enough with problems in your health, had enough of wrestling with your finances, had enough of social problems. You have had enough and it is time to turn this thing around. That is where the children of Isreal have finally gotten. The text says that all of Israel lamented after the Lord. They didn’t just get tired, they not only had enough but they lamented after the Lord. Lamented, they cried, they yearned, they pleaded, they begged, they mourned for the Lord. This is beyond just being tired, beyond just desiring the Lord this is them crying and pleading for the presence of the Lord. Not just one person, not just a group of devout believers, not just the Aaronic priesthood, but the whole nation lamented for the presence of the Lord. I want you to know if you are going to be victorious in this battle you are going to have to desire it with your whole heart, with all of your being. You are going to have to desire the Lord like you have never desired before.
2. They followed the plan of the man of God: vs 3-6 The next step in the strategy or victory is that they listened to and followed the plan of God. The text says that after all of Israel lamented after God that Samuel, the priest, gave directions to how a change could occur. His prescription given over 4000 years ago is the same prescription required for change to occur in our lives today. Listen to what he says to them “put away the foreign gods and the Astartes from among you. Direct your heart to the Lord, and serve him only.” Let me spell it out more clearly “Stop, Repent and Serve the Lord.” The action steps that he demand are the same requirements for us. Stop doing the things that are against the will of God. Stop sinning, stop failing to honor and obey the will of God for your own life. Clean out your closet, get things in order. For the Israelites that had to stop worshiping idol Gods, they had to stop the worship to Baal, and tear down the high places. For you it may be that sin that so easily beset you, the one you can’t let go, the one you can’t surrender, the one you can put behind you but if you are going to be victorious in the battle you are going to have to let it go. I know somebody hurt you, I know if anybody had a reason to complain it’s you, if anybody every had a reason to do what you are doing it’s you, you been hurt, you have been mistreated, you have been over looked, you have been made to feel the fool, but I got news for you, you are going to have to let it go, you are going to have to release it, you are going to have stop. Not just stop but repent the text says that Samuel had them to fast and to repent. They repented, the text says that they said “we have sinned against the Lord.” A basic step in repentance is acknowledging ones failures this is what they do and in that moment they served the Lord. God did not wait, God did not say let me see how this is going to turn out, let me see if they are serious, let me see if they are committed. No in the very moment that they stopped sinning against he lord, in the moment that they repented in the moment that they served the Lord. God accepted them in that moment. I want you to know that God accepts in a moment. In a moment God accepts your repentive heart, in a moment God sees you faithfulness and when God sees, I want you to know that the battle is won.
3. God showed up: vs 10 Watch this the text has given us a strategy for victory. We have learned that we have to stop sinning, turn to the Lord, repent serve the Lord. Look what happens in our text and I promise you that what happens in this text is the same thing that will happen in your life as well. When you decide to stop the foolishness, to live and do right, to repent and serve the Lord the devil will get mad. The bible says that when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah. When they heard, how did they hear, who told them, how did they get the news? When they heard the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. Now watch what happens, when the Israelites heard of it they were afraid of the Philistines. It doesn’t say when they heard the Philistines coming, but when they heard of it. How did they hear of it, who told them of it, who spread the news of it. The same source that had told the Philistines is the same source that told Israel. That is how the enemy works, that is how the enemy keeps you bound and defeated. When you try to turn it around the devil is busy, when you try to move in the right direction the devil is busy, when you try to move in a way that is right the devil is busy. You try to do the right thing and the devil is busy. You try to change the way things are going and the devil is busy. But there is some good news in this text, before the devil spreads the news to your enemies, before fear over takes you there is someone else who has heard about it. God has already heard about it, God has already gotten the news and what God is waiting for to know if you are going to trust when the road gets tough, when the way get’s rough, when the fire starts burning will you trust God through it all. Look at the process, the Philistines hear that the people of Israel have gathered. The Israelites hear that the Philistines are coming. Fear got a hold of Israel but they told Samuel keep interceding on our behalf. What had been messing with them for twenty years was coming back for more, what had beaten them for twenty years was coming this time to finish the job. That is what fear will do, fear will remind you of all your failures, will remind you of all of your defeats, will remind you of all of your yesterdays. You have to hold your ground because God has heard your prayers, God has seen your heart, and God has responded to your repentance So the text shows us that God showed up, that the Lord answered Samuel. So when the Philistines drew near to attack Israel, but the Lord thundered. .
