Memorials

From the Bible for you, Joshua chapter 4, few verses here. It says, "And it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Take for yourselves 12 men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them, saying, "Take for yourselves 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priest's feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the 12 men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe. And Joshua said to them, "Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of the Jordan. And each one of you will take up a stone on his shoulder according to the number of tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, "What do these stones mean to you?" And you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it crossed over the Jordan. The waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be a memorial to your children of Israel, to the children of Israel forever. For a little while today, I want to talk about memorials.

Memorials. Jesus, we're so blessed that you are here with us today in this place. Thank you, God, for the word that you've given us that's already anointed. But Lord, we ask that you would anoint our minds and our hearts today that we can receive what you have for us in Jesus name. Amen. Let the church say amen. Amen. You may be seated. Memorial Day weekend. I think it's right and proper to talk about having memorials in your life. They are important. They are essential. They help us hang on to our memories and things that are important. It is good that you and I have the ability to recall past events to bring back the things that have happened to us so that we can not just remember but we can learn from those things that are there. It is paramount for you and I to preserve these memories of the past so that they have the ability to fortify us in the right now that I can think back about what God has done for me in my life and it brings strength into my right now moment. The Hebrew word that's translated as memorial here simply is translated if you went into a literal word translation to be mindful or to think of something with intent. If there's anything that we need to do more in our lives, we need to be remembering constantly all that God has done for us.

I'm just curious today in the room if there's anybody who is a witness by raising of a hand that God has done something for you in your life. At least one something. Just keep it up right there. I think it's good to keep that hand up. Look around that when it's a God has done something good for us. Yes, he is a good and a faithful God. Why do we not talk about that more often? Why do we not bring those things back? Because they're important for me to remember what God has done for me. He has been a good God. Amen. Amen. What role should memorials have in our life? And how much influence should we per purposely give to them? because I feel like they can help us in our present time with trouble and problems. Anybody notice that problems and troubles have a way of just showing up. You don't really even have to order them up. They just pop up into your life when they're when you're not expecting. And we have disappointments and we have fears and we have frustrations. But embracing God and his promise for us, I feel like it's important that we tie back the right now to what God has done in our life. Memorials are a means of aid to help us in preserving something essential and something that is very vital. Memorials preserve the past experience or events to help us in our present circumstances.

God intended you and I to remember and dare dare I say even celebrate what has happened in the past. If we look at the word of God, there are many examples of how he established some things so that they could remember. When you look at all the feasts that were there that God put out and supplied for them and what he had done, the Passover and the unleavened bread and the first fruits and the Pentecost and the trumpets and the day of atonement and the tabernacles, each one of these feasts were meant for them to remember what God had done for them in those moments. They it wasn't just something, all right, he did that. Now I'll move on to the next thing. And life continues to go on. that there are there are times when life has a way of knocking us backwards or knocking us off our feet that need we need to remember that God has proven himself time and again to be faithful in my life big times and small times big events and small events. He is a good God and he's been faithful to me in my life. God is good. Amen. This past Wednesday night as I was teaching I made it made this statement and seeing if anybody remembered it. God is good all the time. all the time and all the time God is good. Even in the bad of my life, it does not negate God's goodness.

When I look back of my time in ministry here and with each passing year, I think the last 11 years of me being the lead pastor, God has brought us through so much. He brought us through a wonderful pastoral transition. He brought us through the building project that was here. And we went through groundbreaking and we faced battles with the city and battles of finances and battles remodeling and battles with supplies and battles with parking lot expansions. And we could go on and on and on about all that God has brought us through. It's good sometimes to just stop instead of being caught up with a spirit of complaint. Amen. To just remember, hey God, you know what? You have been good to me. You have been good to me. If I if I stop for a minute and think about what all you have done, if I if I begin to count my blessings and name them one by one, it all of a sudden brings me into a reflective moment of that my God is faithful and he is good. And yes, sometimes I have to work hard and sometimes things don't go according to my plan and sometimes things don't go according to my clock and things don't go according to my calendar. But when I look back at the whole of my life, God, you have proven yourself to be good and faithful and on time, God, a God who supplies my need.

A God who has healed my body. A God who is a way maker. A God who is a storm calmer. A God who has the ability to reach down into the muck and the mire and the junk that I get myself wrapped up in. And he pulls me out and he establishes me on a firm foundation. I'm talking about Jesus. He's a good God. He'll meet you where you are in your moment of desperation. He doesn't leave you by yourself. What a good God we have. Oh, to remember the goodness of God. Hallelujah. And that feels like church now. Where y'all been all morning? God is good. I would have scripted so many things different in my life. So many opportunities that I felt like were a mistake and a and a failure and a frustration. God in his brilliance orchestrated my ashes and turned them into something beautiful. In spite of me, in spite of my failures, God said, "Look, I'll come along and meet you right down in the middle of your mess, and I'll turn it into something beautiful if you'll just trust in me." Oh, how wonderful God is. He doesn't leave us in our calamity, but he walks right into the mess of our life and meets us at our point of need. What a good God He is. Our past victories can prove to be a help in present uncertainty.

I'll say that again for you notetakers cuz it's a good one to remember. Our past victories can prove to be a help in present uncertainties. We need memorials in our life. We need an opportunity in the moment of confusion and frustration to re reflect back at a time when God intervened in my life. God did not bring us to this place for us to fail. Now, I'm going to say that again. He didn't get you here for you to fail. Hey, sometimes it's just a victory that you showed up. Hey, I'm in the house of God today. Devil, you thought you had me. And I may be limping walking into the house, but hey, I'm still here. I'm still here. You haven't knocked me out yet. Why? Because my God is good. Having a history of experiences is critical in your spiritual life because those moments let me know that God likes being involved with me. You think about that. He likes being involved with you. How awesome is that? that the God who created everything says, "You know what? I like you." He may not always like what you're doing, but he likes you. I'm thankful for that. He meets me where I am. The word remember is used 148 times in the Bible. 32 times the word memorial is used. The Bible is full of commands that say, "Forget not." This reason is for you and I to remember.

It's not to burden us down. No, that's not what it's for. It's not to make us feel guilty about what we had gotten oursel into, but it is to remind us of his faithfulness. Solomon and all his wisdom and all the proverbs that he wrote. I love what he says in the book of Lamentations says, "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Oh, that we would remember that that verse of scripture is a good one for you to commit to memory that I need to recall some things back to my mind. Especially when I'm facing an overwhelming situation, when I'm facing fear, when I'm facing depression, when I'm facing anxiety, when I'm dealing with all the stress and oppressor's life, I need to recall back to my mind, God, that you have proven yourself to be faithful in my life. Therefore, I have hope in this situation. I mean, I can see a way out, but I got hope. You're going to show up again just like you did last time, just like you did the time before because you are a faithful, faithful God. Amen. God commanded us to forget not because forgetting can bring tragedy. To forget the mercies of the past is to forfeit the faith needed for the present.

You see, what God has done for me gives me an ability for my faith to move me forward. Why? It's not based on my merit. It's not based on my ability. Thank God for that. I don't have I don't have the ability to work these things out. I don't go my I get myself involved in things that are way bigger than me. I don't know about you, but I do. I'll be transparent. Sometimes I get myself in a mess. Sometimes I say things I shouldn't say or act in ways I shouldn't act or have thoughts that shouldn't be that way. I'm thankful that I have a God I can call on who says, "Hey, I can handle that for you. I can I can re I can I can I can meet you where you are when I think back at what God has done. When I when I recall it back to my mind, I have hope. Why? Because he had done it then. There's no meaning to say he won't do it now. Oh, I'm grabbing for somebody that's already wrote God off and says he doesn't care about you anymore. Don't you know that's a lie from the pit of hell. He loves you just as much today as he has ever loved you in your life. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Nothing. No. No failure, no mistake, no title, no label, no disappointment.

I'm here to tell you, none of that can separate you from the love of God. You need to lean in and trust that God is going to meet you where you are. Why? Because he has always met you where you are. He hasn't let you down, not one time. It may not have been when you wanted it, but I promise you, God shows up when he needed. Amen. Oh, I wish some faith would rise up in this room. Feel like I'm the only one with faith today. Anybody else got some faith in the room that God can do something? I know y'all dreaming about hamburgers and broughtwur tomorrow, but I'm dreaming about a miracle in the room today about a God who's right now and on time. We'll get to the hamburgers later, but we're going to miss out on all the glory that God has for us in this moment right now. I don't want it to pass me by. I don't want to forfeit my faith for today by forgetting what he has done. We see an example of this in the scriptures. Mark chapter 6, it's an interesting chapter. Starts off by Jesus dividing up the disciples two by two to go out. They're beginning their ministry. They're starting them off. He's basically taking the training wheels off the bike. He says, "Look, this is what I want you to go do.

I don't want you to take anything with you. I don't want you to take an extra pair of shoes, an extra coat. I just want you to go two by two. I want you to go in and you're going to have a moment where somebody maybe not receive you. If they don't receive you, just be kind to them and shake the dust off your feet and walk on out the door. And he has some interesting things about what happens when people don't receive them. And that's another message for another day. But then they come back. They come back to Jesus. Come back, brother Marino. They want to give a report about what's going on. They're excited. But in the middle of them giving their report, they get some bad news. You ever been having a real good day and bad news come? You ever been having a real good day and that one text message from that one person comes through? You don't even you don't even open it. You just see the name that's there and you're like, "Oh, ain't nothing good gonna come out of it." You know, it's not. Everything was great. You were having a wonderful day and they had to text you. That phone had to ring that one time, right? So, this is what's going on. They're giving a good report and then they get a bad news. You know what the bad news was?

John the Baptist done lost his head. That's a bad day right there. It's never a good day for your head to be separated from your shoulders. and they're a little they're a little distraught about the whole situation. Jesus is even upset. So he decides, you know, we need to get away. We need to get away. We just need to have some talk, some time of conversation. The problem was he'd been doing his ministry too good. You know what happens when you do your ministry too good? His ministry never goes away. So they begin to follow him everywhere he went. So he's just trying to get his disciples say, "Come on, let's talk about this. Let's get away. I want to talk about your adventures that you've been on. I want to talk about the two by two and what you did there. But I know we got to deal with this." John the Baptist situation. I'm a little disheartened by it. I know you're a little discouraged about. Come on, let's get away. But they get away and they had a few people follow them around 5,000. That's a lot. You just want to be with your buddies for a minute and 5,000 people show up. It's kind of how hard to have a private conversation with 5,000 people leaning in. Y'all get nervous when I get over here? What are you giggling about? So, in the middle of this, Jesus looks up and says, "Hey, look, it's getting the evening time and disciples like, "Yeah, we probably need to send them back cuz we way out here.

There ain't nothing. There ain't a 7-Eleven. There ain't nothing out here." And Jesus said, "Well, whatever you got, you feed them." And they're just like, kind of like me asking y'all for something. You like, I ain't got nothing in my pocket and some lint. He says, "Well, go take an inventory and see what you got." We got a couple of fish and five loaves. That'll work. And Jesus performs a miracle. Now, stay with me. All right? Don't get lost in this story. Now, what are the accounts of the chapter? They get sent out for ministry. They come back. They're having a good day and then they get some bad news. Jesus says, "Let's go away. Let's handle the bad news. Let me let me let me minister to you." Well, they get out there and they realize they still have a need, right? Ever been there? a good day, but you still got needs. And then Jesus supplies the need, right? He feeds the masses. In fact, when they get done, they take up how many baskets of leftovers? How many? How many disciples were there? Look at there. Each one of them got their own basket of grub. There's a whole message in there about serving first and God will supply your needs. You know what? I'm too fat to button this anymore. It aggravates me. If I button it, I can't preach. I'm afraid it's going to shoot off of somebody.

The word of God though, I want you I want you to follow me. Okay. It was good there. It's life, right? It's the roller coaster where ministry is good. Then we come back down. We got some bad news. Then we go out. We're going to spend some time with Jesus. And then we got a need. And then Jesus fills the need. Anybody been on this life roller coaster? Yeah. You've been there. All right. So now we've had a miracle. God has supplied the need. And then I want you to notice Mark chapter 6 verse 44. Now those who had eaten with the loaves were about 5,000 men. 45. What's that first word there? Immediately. Anybody confused about what that means? That means as soon as possible, he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side of Bethesda while he sent the multitude away. And I love this cuz this is what Jesus does. This is how Jesus works. He says, "Look, I you guys, you've had a good moment. I don't want you to forget this moment. I want you to get in the boat right now. Get in the boat. Get in the boat. Get in the boat before anybody gets to you before cuz sometimes, you know, sister so and so will come and she'll rob your joy. Don't point fingers. Brother so and so, like you're just trying to get to your car and he'll catch you and he will wait.

He will burden you down. And he's like, "Oh, I" And before you know it, just your joy is gone. But Jesus knew this and he said, "Look," he's speaking to the ministry and say, "Look, just get in the boat. I look," he says, "you go and I'll take care of the people." So they get out there. Now, what happens when they're out there in the water? Y'all know the story. What happens? Who said that? Yeah, there's a storm. That's right. There was a storm. Somebody been reading the word of God. There's a storm. Now, isn't that interesting that God's like, "Just get in a boat. Just get in a boat." Do you think that after all they've been through, he'd be like, "It's just going to be an easy sail over to the shore. Just calm waters, little moonlight, little twinkling stars, twinkle, twinkle, little star." They didn't get that version. They got crazy chaos. I mean, this boat is going backwards and forwards and they're fearing for life. Now, these are not noviceses. These are fishermen. These guys have spent their life on the water. They're out there and it says they're worried about going under. Now I love in the middle of their chaos that Jesus just comes strolling out onto the water. It's a good day. He's not worried. And it says he would have passed them by, right? That's what the word says that he would have just strolled right on by.

Now they're in the middle of hanging on. And in my version, they're like, "Lord, we're going to die." And in the m get that back on center. And in the middle of all that, Jesus is like, one of them says, "There's a ghost out there." And begin looking, you know how it goes. And Peter finally called him over there and they calm the storm down. Now, what I find interesting is the is the order of events. ministry is good. Tell the story. John the Baptist is dead. Let's go away and talk, spend some time with you. All of a sudden, we got to feed a bunch of folks. And God provides a miracle. He seeks me out in the boat. Here comes a storm. In the middle of the storm, Jesus comes walking on the water. And now he calms the storm. Now, what I find is you'll notice here in verse 52 of that same chapter as they're going through this story, it says, "For they had not understood about the loaves because their heart was hardened. They missed the point. You got to remember what God has done for you. You gota because even if he puts you in the boat, there's probably going to be a storm come. All right. Life happens to us all. Just because you have followed after him does not mean you have a stormfree life. But what it does mean is in the middle of my storm, I know who it is that's going to walk out on the water and meet me in the middle of my troubled boat.

Now, you would think that they wouldn't have been worried because they had just immediately immediately was immediately they got in the boat, went out, faced the storm, but they're afraid for their life. Who told them to get in the boat? Jesus. Who? Jesus. Who told them to go out in the middle of that ocean? Jesus. So, don't you think he had knowledge of the storm? Do you think he was sending him out there to die? Or was it maybe another opportunity for him to show them how powerful he really is? They forgot the lesson of the loaves. I'm here to tell you, you got to have memorials in your life. They are there for a reason. To remember what God has done. Gives you faith to face the storm you're in right now. Has he been good to you? Has he been faithful? Remember, recall it back to your mind. Why? Because it gives you hope. Hope. You got to have hope in this life. The devil's going to try to rob you of that. Going to try to make you forget it. Going to try to make you focus on the storm. Don't focus on the storm. Focus to the one who's walking on the storm. He is good. He is good. They missed the point. It was a memorial of God's provision. Troubles of the night can cause us to forget the miracles of the morning.

Does anybody have a memorial in your life? A time when God met you somewhere special? You got to have those because I promise you, ladies and gentlemen, if you live long enough on this world, you're going to be faced with storms that are going to overwhelm you. It's going to it's going to fill your boat with water. It's going to try to drown you. It's going to try to take you down. Therefore, you have to recall back things that God has done. You got to remember that. Why? Because it's hope. It's hope. It's faith that'll get you through. It's faith in him in spite of the storm. He got in there and the first thing you did was rebuke him for their little faith. Guys, didn't you not did I not just feed you on the shore over there? Did you not just see me do the miraculous? What is wrong? Why have you lost your faith in me? Don't lose faith in God. In Genesis 28, you can read an account of Jacob, whose name is later changed to Israel. Jacob had left his father's house under his dad's command to go find him a wife. He leaves home and he goes out and he finds himself with the night setting in. It became dark. He decided to make camp. And he lay there drifting off to sleep. All of a sudden, he has a visitation from heaven.

and he was surrounded by glory and he seen an amazing vision of things to come. God begins to speak to Jacob and tell him things that he needs to do. And when he woke up, he says this in Genesis 28:16. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and says, "Surely the Lord was in this place and I did not know it." And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Then Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put at his head, and he set it up as a pillar, and he poured oil on top of it. and he called the name of the place Bethl. He set up a memorial to remember a visitation with God because you need to have places you can go back in your memory and remember when God met you. You need to have some times because I promise you, you're going to get rocked at some point in your life. I remember I' I've preached about this a couple times in my own life about moments when I've been rocked off center and I had to go back to some memories in my life. I remember at 14 when I first and now understand it was God talking to me. at 14, didn't really know what was going on.

I just remember being in my mom and dad's house in that living room and having some choir music, praying and just feeling this heaviness that in prayer again, not knowing what it was. I don't know how to explain it. I I'd been in church all 14 years of my life up to that point. I was familiar with being in the presence of God, but this was something different. And remember him speaking to me and I feeling this impression inside of me. now know that's how God talks to me. But feeling this impression 14 of God saying, "Give me your life and I will take care of you. Give me your life and I will always take care of you." There's been times when I've went back to that some moments I've had I preached about when I was in Woodbury that first daughter work that bishop banished me off to when I said I want to preach. He was testing me. I remember moments there just pouring my heart out before God and that that nursery room floor that was there. I remember those moments. And why am I bringing this up? Because there's been times and be a hard time believing this or not, but there's been times even since I've been pastor when I've been so rocked at the core of who I am that I had to go back to those moments.

When there's been times when I felt like just walking away because of the pressure and this and the stress and all the anxiety of dealing with what goes on and helping helping people with all this stuff, just feeling like God is this is am I am I right? Do I even know what I'm doing? when you when you face the criticism and the hardship and all that stuff, brother Moore, and just thinking, I missed that somehow. I've had those moments where I had to go back and remember those memorials that were there because if it wasn't for those memorials, I don't know that I would be here today. Those moments when I know that God met me. He met me. He met me in those moments. And he recalls those things back to my mind. And I say, "All right, God. I remember that moment. I'm going to hang on because yes, you have been good to me. Yes, you have proven yourself to be faithful. I'm not going to allow my present frustrations to cause me to walk away from what I know you have always done for me in my life. I'm trying to grab from somebody today that you're on the verge of giving up and walking away. I'm here to tell you, recall some memories back to your mind. Recall some memorials back up. Pull that stuff back up. Why? Because you need some hope today.

You need something to hang on to. God hasn't forgotten you. He hasn't walked away from you. He's right where you walked away from him. He's not changed. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is still good and he's still faithful and he is still for you. You got to have memorials in your life. In our opening passage in Joshua 4, Israel had come to the land of their promise, the land that they had been longing for. But they faced a major issue here. According to the previous chapter, the Jordan River was swollen from floods and it was running out of its banks and it was raging. and it was impassible. But God gave the command to let the priest bear the ark and step into the river. Now, here's what we see is they've been wandering around for 40 years. Wandering around because of a previous generation's failure to recall back a memorial. Listen to me now. It wasn't their fault. It was a previous generation's failure to remember the faithfulness of God that had caused them to wander for 40 years in the desert. But God is a good God who always keeps his promise. The land was theirs. It was given to them and God was going to give them the land. But they come back up to a moment. Now again, they have the memory of grandparents and parents who have faded away because of their lack of faith in the word of God.

They had walked away from it. And because of that, God let them die off in the desert. But he gave the promised den down to the next generation. And they come up. And it wasn't like it was just an easy road to walk into. Instead, this time, instead of them being able to go over and spy the land out, he just said, "Look, we're going to cross the river." And they're like, "River? It's like an ocean out here. I can't even hardly see the other side over there. There's been a flood. The banks are swollen up." And God says, "Yeah, put the ark on the priest's back and tell them to start walking." That was the moment that most of the people looked around and said, "I'm glad I'm not in ministry. Let them jokers go first." Now, you got to go with me for just a minute because I'm staying in the word and you check me on the word, but it says the priest had to put their feet in the water. Now, I think what happens to most of us is we think about the Red Sea party when they left Egypt. That's the vision we have in our mind. But this is not that story. In that story, Moses goes up to the water and he's like, "We need him when I play golf." Cuz if there is water, my ball finds it.

Yeah. But we're back. And guess what? We don't have Moses. We got Joshua. And Joshua's he don't have a stick. Joshua says, "You guys got to step out there." Now, here's you got to stay in the word of God because it says he walked, they walk out into the water and it says up at Adam was the city's name. You look on the map, that's 20 miles upstream. 20 miles upstream. All of a sudden, a divine hand enters into the stream and cuts the water off. Now, if it cuts off 20 m upstream, how long do you think it takes to get to their feet? All right, this wasn't a moment where they walked out and dry ground, the priest walk out there. We like those moments, right? I like when God says, "Step and I step and everything moves." But this was a little different story this time. Because it required obedience without seeing anything happen. There's going to be times that God's going to ask you to do something in your life and you're going to wonder where in the world he is because God, I took a step out in the water and all that's happened is my feet got wet. But 20 miles up river, brother Moore, the water stopped. And as they continued to stand, as they continued to be faithful, as they continued to not move, as they continued to recall back to their mind what God has done, as they continued to say, "We're not going to be like the previous generation.

We're not going to make the mistake of not trusting you, God." All of a sudden, what was ankle deep got down around their heels. Oo, wait a minute. I don't know about you, but I think it got a little lower right there. Yeah. And eventually it dried up and they were able to cross over. And when they crossed over that river, 40 years of failure and frustration was wiped away. Why? Because he's a good and he's a faithful God. But it doesn't happen ever the way you think it's going to happen. Amen. At some point, you have to trust that God is a God who keeps his word. He keeps his word. He's a He's a God that you can trust. Do you do you realize that in the moment when God shut off the water 40 years past and you're going to face things in this present hour when you're going to need a memorial to go back on and understand that God is faithful and you can trust him. I don't know who I'm reaching for today, but I feel like somebody somebody's have been lost because things haven't worked the way you want them to work in the time that you want them to work. But I'm here to I'm here to encourage somebody today. Has he ever been faithful to you? Recall it right now. Recall it back in your mind right now.

Has he ever been faithful to you? If he's ever been faithful one time, he'll be faithful every time. Has he ever been faithful to you? As I start to bring this to a close today, I purposely didn't build a long message because I knew that it's family Sunday and we got kids in here. I know you guys are going to think about hamburgers and brought worse and you're not going to be all carnal and fleshly and I was going to have to fight that today. Maybe it was just me. Let me leave you with this. Musicians are going to come because I feel I feel strong. God's God's got something for somebody today. Let me let me let me tell you something. Israel in 1st Samuel 7. Israel had not lived in the way that it should. But the prophet Samuel was making some changes and you could see, it's great reading. Go back and read 1st Samuel 7. The prophet's trying to get them back on track, back where they need to be. This is before they ask for a king. Okay? It was right before chapter before they asked for a king. He's turning them back. They're realizing the error of their ways. They're admitting their faults. They're admitting their admitting their failures. They're admitting their mistakes. So, we see this and all of a sudden the prophets making some changes and they're turning back towards God.

And they were an altar and they're beginning to work on building an altar where their changes are going to be made. And this is where we pick up the story. They've admitted their failures and admitted their mistakes. They admitted that they've been wrong in their approach to God. They're wanting to get back. They're listening to the man of God. They're saying, "You preached to us and we're going to make the changes." This is where we pick up the story. 1st Samuel 7:9. 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. Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to the battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day. And so confused them that they were overcome by Isra before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mispa and pursued the Philistines and drove them back as far as Beth car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mesba and Shin. And he called his name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us." I think it's fascinating to me that every time somebody tries to come back and get their life right with God, everybody Every time somebody tries to come down to the altar, the enemy starts fighting harder.

You picked up on that? How many times in our life when we're like, "God, I'm drawing a line in the sand." It's like the moment you do that, the devil's like, "Oh yeah, he likes to erase the line." Right? This is what's going on. They're trying to do this and all of a sudden the Philistines say, "What's interesting to me is the Philistines were afraid the chapter before because the ark of the covenant had showed up and their god Deeon had fallen on his face." And then the Bible Bible has an interesting language interesting language. You know, it says that that all of a sudden they started afflicting all kind of ailments on them and they started having tumors and all kind of stuff and they decided to send them back. You know, if you get to dig around that tumor is actually hemorrhoids. God then gave them Philistines hemorrhoids. That was before there's preparation H. I'm going to get in trouble for this one. First of all, it says that it says that they sculpted a hemorrhoid and sent it back. Who was the model and who was the artist is all I want to know. Just leave that one with you for today. I'm sure there's something deeply spiritual there. I just hadn't figured it out yet. So, they were afraid. They're not one to fight because their God in that ark is too powerful.

One chapter later, they're trying to get right with God and all of a sudden they're like, "You know what? I think we can whoop him again." Because isn't that the way the enemy always is? But I love that God fights for us because when they were trying to get right with God, when they were at the altar, building the altar, the enemy is trying to sneak up. And guess what God did? He thundered. It thundered so loud that they It says that they discomfitted. King James language. They didn't know their right from their left. They didn't know who was for or against them and they started fighting themselves and the enemy began to fight themselves and wipe themselves out. Why? Because God will fight for you when you're trying to get your life right with him. So, I'm reaching for somebody today that needs to make a memorial, needs to remember, needs to recall back, needs to bring back hope, needs to bring back faith in your life. I promise you, the enemy is trying to fight you right now. But there's a God who fights for you. That's what God does. Samuel picks up a stone and he makes another memorial and says, "Thus far the Lord has been for us." Hey, I can tell you right now in my own life, thus far the Lord has been for me. It hasn't always been easy.

It hasn't always been smooth. It hasn't always worked according to my plan. It has definitely has not worked according to my calendar and my clock. But thus far, the Lord has been for me. I wonder how many other people can say Ebenezer, thus far the Lord has been for me. And if you can't, there's an altar today. And God's desire is to do something great on this Memorial Day weekend. Will you help me pray right now? Jesus, God, I have done my best to preach your word to this your church today. I know Lord from our time together this morning in prayer that your desire is to do something wonderful in this service because you're a good God who's faithful and you love to meet your children where they are in the middle of their need in the middle of their trial. I pray today God for courage and boldness to come over someone who is facing an overwhelming situation to know that you are a God who sees and a God who hears. Lord, I pray today that they could recall back to their mind a time that you have met them and you provided and you healed and you made a way and you restored and you reclaimed. Bring that to their memory right now in Jesus name. And God do a work in our midst today that only you can do. Lord, I pray you take the ashes and the broken pieces of our life and God that you today would make something beautiful out of them in Jesus name.

In Jesus name. This altar is open. I would encourage everyone who is here to evaluate your life. Today's a good day to build a memorial. Today's a good day to put an Ebenezer stone out there and say, "Thus far, the Lord has been faithful to me. Thus far, God has been good to me." Will you come, church? It's time to pray. Ministry, will you come and help me pray with those who are coming?