Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: The circumstances of life, both large and small, have a tendency to block our vision of God’s faithfulness. And it is God’s will that you not forget His faithfulness. It is God’s desire that you remember all that He has done. Or even so, let’s put it this way: God’s past faithfulness demands our present trust.

Guest (Male): This is Abounding Grace online at aboundinggraceradio.com. Today and next time, we’ll be finishing up our series titled Greater. Pastor Ed Taylor will be speaking about Greater Remembrance. Whether times are good or they’re difficult, it’s always good to pause and remember God’s faithfulness. Today’s message will help us in that endeavor as we take you to 1 Samuel chapter 7 and Joshua chapter 4. Here is Pastor Ed.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Joshua chapter 4 and 1 Samuel chapter 7. Joshua chapter 4, 1 Samuel chapter 7. Today is the day now we will complete this series that I’ve entitled Greater. It’s the word that the Lord has given me for us, for our church, for the new year: Greater. And we’ve looked at various aspects of Greater that’s a little counterintuitive. We started with little by little, then we moved on to faith, then abiding, last week was sacrifice, and today, our title of our study is Greater Remembrance.

God wants you to remember His faithfulness. Or let me say it a different way: God does not want you to forget His faithfulness, no matter what you’re facing today. I’m sure you have seen this in your own life, where even the smallest of things can cloud and block our vision of God’s faithfulness. Now, of course, we get it where big things do that, where just heavy stuff distracts us, takes us off track, but little things can do that too. Here we are, when I take my glasses off I can’t see you very well, but I can see the room is filled, hundreds of people here.

But I have these hands here, and they’re not very big. If I took these small hands and I cover my eyes, I can’t see anything. Nothing. My whole vision is blocked just by—I mean, I could do that if I wanted to, if I wanted to hurt myself, I could do that with my fingers and now here I am, I can’t see anything.

And life can be like that, where the circumstances of life, both large and small, have a tendency to block our vision of God’s faithfulness. And it is God’s will that you not forget His faithfulness. It is God’s desire that you remember all that He has done. Or even so, let’s put it this way: God’s past faithfulness demands our present trust. I want you to answer out loud here: Can you think of a moment, yes or no, can you think of a moment in your life at any time that God has been faithful?

Congregation: Yes!

Pastor Ed Taylor: Okay, you guys over here, I want to hear you. You guys did good. I didn’t even ask the question. How do you know how to respond? Can you guys think, the whole church, of a time of God’s faithfulness?

Congregation: Yes!

Pastor Ed Taylor: How about many times?

Congregation: Yes!

Pastor Ed Taylor: Have you a tendency to forget from time to time? I know we do. We have a tendency to forget the things we’re supposed to remember and remember the things that we want to forget. That’s just life. And so God wants you today as you head into a new year—I know it’s just a calendar, I know it’s just a date and a number, but it’s very significant as you head into a new year that you remember the faithfulness of God, that you not forget.

Even the Bible has a verse in it for us, people like me, where the Bible says even when we are faithless, He remains faithful. It’s in 1 John. We’ll be there soon enough in our study in 1 John on our midweek Bible study where I’m sure we’ll spend a whole night just focused on the significance of God’s faithfulness, even with the backdrop of our unfaithfulness.

When you look back on your past, there’s a tendency to remember your failures and your mistakes and your regrets. It’s just normal human condition. But God, He’s saying to us today: When you think back, I don’t want you to remember your failures. I want you to remember my faithfulness. I want you to focus and be very laser-focused on faithfulness.

At least two times in the Old Testament, God instructs the children of Israel to do something practical with just ordinary stones to help their memory. The first one, I asked you to open in Joshua chapter 4. Would you turn there with me? Joshua chapter 4, it’s a momentous occasion in the life of the nation of Israel. They have just passed through the Jordan River miraculously on dry ground.

They’re about to take on all that God has given them, the things that their grandparents and their parents were telling them, that God is going to give us the land, He’s promised us the land. They’re just about ready to take it, and God miraculously gives them this time across the Jordan. You see, they didn’t get to enjoy or see or experience the Red Sea. They didn’t live that out. Their parents lived that out or their grandparents lived that out, but they didn’t live it out.

And so here they are coming to their own miraculous time, and notice what happens in verse one of chapter four. 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 twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe; and command them, saying: Take for yourselves twelve"—I want you to say this word with me—"twelve stones."

This is very important. Ordinary rocks. Just take twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm. "And you shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight." Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe.

And Joshua said: "Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel." So we didn’t have twelve men from the twelve tribes get a stone, but Pastor Everett went down to Home Depot and got 25 bags, put them up on his shoulders, took them to his car, and set this up for us today as a memorial stone for you before you leave.

This is what they were given instruction: I want you to take some stones from the Jordan and I want you to set them up. A very ordinary stone, nothing special about it. I want you to get some rocks, each one of the tribes because you represent the nation. I want you to get a rock and I want you to set it up.

And it says in verse six, this is the reason: "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’ll 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 the children of Israel forever."

For the sake of these rocks, it was when the kids asked. Now, I’m going around greeting and one of the kids, what was his question before even the Bible study? What did he say? "What are those rocks for?" They generate questions. They generate this desire to know: What is it for? What is this, Dad? I don’t remember the Jordan. I don’t remember the Red Sea. I’ve heard the stories, but I didn’t live through it.

And you get the opportunity to continue to tell your kids. Like some of you, I think you can’t take them here because we only have enough for the people here, but you can go to Home Depot and buy a bag like Everett did. You can do this. And you can set up something for your—some of you need to do this. My kids are too old, so it’s not going to work for my kids, but yours, it will. By not telling your kids what you’re doing, leave a pile of rocks, like a really significant pile of rocks in the middle of the living room, in front of the TV or by the video games. And just leave them. Don’t say anything, just do it. And wait. I hope they don’t just kick them over or throw them at you. You’re going to hear something in the house. "Hey, Mom! What are these rocks doing here?"

And it gives you an opportunity. You have to change your way of thinking to engage with your kids. The world doesn’t get our kids. They don’t own our kids. You know that, right? The world does not own your kids. God owns your kids. And He’s given you opportunity to raise them. And so we’re not just going to abdicate our kids to video games and to whatever the novels are.

With a stack of rocks, you can get your kids' attention. You can start talking about the things of the Lord. One of the decisions that Marie and I made with our kids is that we chose purposely at different stages of their lives to give them the age-appropriate description of our lives before Christ. Because we got saved in our 20s. We had a lot of testimony that goes with that, mostly mine, but really for both of us.

And we just wanted our kids to know what God did in their lives. What God, the kind of family... I think of my—we had our oldest son as teenage parents, but then my middle son and my daughter, they come along. They would have never existed had God not saved us because Marie and I wouldn’t be together. That would have never happened. And over and over and over again, while we haven’t used rocks in that way, I do want to encourage you a word from the Lord: Engage your kids. Talk to them about what God has done. Give them your story. Why? Because you’re prepping them for their story.

My kids didn’t grow up in the same home that I did. My home was very different. It was a very different home, same with my wife. Very different upbringing. I basically came home to an empty house. That’s how I grew up. They have a name for that and some of you probably were too. They called us latchkey kids. And I had a key to the house. Even if I didn’t have a key to the house, I could always climb in the window. I knew how to get in.

And I basically was home alone from the fifth grade all the way through high school. And it just wasn’t good for me. It just wasn’t good. It didn’t end well for me because you factor in a lot of all those temptations and such and absent parents, it just didn’t work out for me at all. But God knew what He was doing. And my kids needed to hear that story because we’re going to be there for them.

Even if we both work, we’re going to make different choices with our kids so that we can help them along the way and do a little bit better, or maybe a lot better, than our parents did. I’m sure that’s a lot of the testimony here. You just want to do a little bit better. You just want to make a little bit of changes. And so these rocks for the children of Israel were for the kids, but they were for the grandkids, they were for everyone. Why the rocks? Why the rocks? Well, let me tell you: God did a great work at the Jordan. We didn’t get here by ourselves. And from the Jordan, we go back to Moses. And from Moses, we go all the way back to Genesis, and the whole Word of God becomes a testimony of God’s faithfulness. God’s faithfulness.

Turn with me now to 1 Samuel chapter 7. 1 Samuel chapter 7. Different time in the life of the children of Israel. This is through the life of young Samuel. You know young Samuel. Young Samuel was the boy that was the miracle child. Hannah couldn’t have a child, but God gave her a son. And she dedicated that son. She told God, "If You give me a son, I’ll give him back to You." And so for Hannah’s baby dedication, she brought Samuel to the church and left him there! We don’t do that here. I’ll hold your kid for a minute or two and then you’re taking them.

But this was a special... Samuel’s a miracle kid. Absolute miracle kid. And now we have him as an adult. Through all of his experiences, he grew up under the leadership of Eli. Eli was a rotten priest and so was his kids. As you read the testimony, they were rotten. They did not represent the Lord. And under rotten leadership, the nation of Israel became idolatrous.

Now, I’m only developing a portion of this text. I’ve already taught through 1 Samuel and Joshua. Those studies verse-by-verse are all up on the web or on the app that I go probably in-depth. I haven’t looked, but I’m sure I go more in-depth on some of these things. But I just want to give you the backdrop of Samuel coming on the scene here. Under the weak, beggarly, idolatrous, lack of commitment leadership of Eli and his sons, the people became idolatrous. Their hearts veered from the Lord. They were rebels. They were not worshippers of God. But God placed Samuel there, not only to see the bad, but to lead people in the good.

And that’s where we pick up now in chapter 7 and verse 1. The nation just got the ark of the covenant back. It was stolen by the arch-enemy of the Israelites, the Philistines. They had just got it back and notice in verse 1 it says: "Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord. So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying: If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths and served the Lord only. And Samuel said: Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you. So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted that day and said there: We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah."

Samuel takes the leadership here in a new direction and he calls the people to repentance: "If you really want to come back to the Lord, then come back. But come back the right way." Again, I see a whole Bible study in this that I’ll probably develop later. If you want to come back to the Lord, you’ve got to do it the right way. That’s probably going to be the title. That’s the key.

So let me just say it for you today: If you’ve starting a new year and you’re like, "Man, I need to come back to the Lord. I want to come back to the Lord. I’ve strayed too far. I’ve wasted too many years." Great. Let me tell you this: You have to do it the right way. You go, "Well wait a minute, Pastor. What’s the right way?" Well, let’s look at a little bit of what Samuel said. First of all, notice he says: "If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods."

You’ve got to put away the foreign gods. I know that we identify idolatry as little statues and stuff and certainly they were using little statues, but that’s not the point. The statue is not the point. It’s your hearts, the point. It’s where’s your heart and who are you worshipping? Because notice what he says next: Not only do you need to put the false worship aside, but you also need to prepare your hearts.

The reason why you wandered away and the reason why you got into that and the reason why you’re fornicating and the reason why you’re lying—all of that is because it’s a heart issue. It’s not a church issue. It’s not a pastor issue. It’s not a Bible study issue. It’s not a doctrine issue. Those are all secondary to your heart relationship with God. It’s your heart. You left, as Paul would tell the church in Ephesus, your first love. You’ve got to get your heart right with the Lord. And heart in the Bible, both the Old and the New Testament, often refers to the totality of who you are. But it also speaks of emotions.

You’ve got to get your emotions in check. Temptations, they become very attractive when you start to like them and want them. It’s an emotional. Ask anybody that’s in advertising, they’ll tell you: They want to prick the emotions. Because when they got the emotions, guess what they got? A you! And when they got you, guess what else they have? Your money. More money, more money, more money.

More emotions... pay attention if you watch commercials, you see that it’s nonsense, has nothing to do with the product. They just want to prick your emotions. I was watching an ad recently. It was in a news article I was reading and they said Chevy did it again. And they had been making these ten-minute little advertisements for different trucks that they have. I’m not into Chevy or into trucks, but I am into good storytelling. And so I watched the video. It made me cry!

It was so nostalgic. Like, they got me. I’m not buying a Chevy. I don’t know what your view is, but like, it got me. Whoever put this together, super talented in communicating this nostalgia surrounding a truck, for goodness' sake. It was a truck. Did I say what it was? A truck. It’s a heart issue when you walk away from the Lord. It’s a heart issue. You’ve got to prepare your hearts. Get rid of idolatry, prepare your hearts and then notice the next thing: Gather together and pray.

They ask Samuel to pray, but really the instructions for all of us to pray. You want to come back to the Lord, you need to amp up your relational time with the Lord through prayer. Not only that, notice what happened: Samuel, as they gathered, they drew water in verse 6 and poured it out as a drink offering before the Lord. They’re making it... they’re doing something that they would remember. "This is our drink offering to You, God. We are back." And then notice they did in verse 6: They fasted. They started to sacrifice. They gave themselves to the Lord. And then they moved forward.

So good. So powerful what God wants to do. Because change, any change is really worthless without putting God first. So yeah, I mean, I’m all for New Year’s resolutions and new decisions and new commitments. I’m all for all that. But I’m telling you: Change without putting God first ain’t going to get you anywhere.

I mean, you can make some changes, but you won’t be able to keep up with it because you don’t have the power to navigate in this Antichrist world to keep those commitments. It’s better to what? We learned the new year’s going to be filled with what? Greater abiding. Just stay put. Protect your heart. Be anxious for nothing, but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make those requests be made known to God.

And then what is the promise? The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will do what? Guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Notice in verse 7 now: Great day of revival, amazing things are happening. Verse 7: "Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords"—or the leaders—"of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines."

This is interesting. Philistines are the arch-enemies of Israel, just like the "ites"—Canaanites, Perizzites, Amorites, all the "ites" enemies, but the Philistines were the arch-enemy. You see them over and over and over again. They lived on the coastline and they fiercely protected their land and did not do well with all of their competing tribes, especially Israel.

When they hear that Israel has turned their lives back toward God, they’re upset. What difference does it make to them? What do they care? They have a group of Israelites that have really nothing. They’re growing, but not significant. They’re wandering and trying to... what difference does it make to them?

I’ll tell you: Because the Philistines here become a picture and a type of the enemy himself, the devil. And the devil hates it when you’re happy. And he hates it when you’re committed. And he hates it when you make sacrificial steps toward God. Every time you make progress, the enemy is there to give you pushback. Have you noticed that? You take three steps forward, he is ready to push you four steps back.

And this is what happens. Great things are happening and the Philistines are like, "Oh no, we’re not having that." And they do the right thing because they’re in the right place spiritually with the Lord. They do the right thing. Notice verse 8: "So the children of Israel said to Samuel: Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines."

They do not take things in their own hands. They don’t muster an army. They don’t rally the people. They say, "Would you pray? We need God’s wisdom." And it reminded me that it’s always a mistake when you choose to take things into your own hands. You are so powerless compared to God’s power. You don’t know everything. You don’t have all the resources that God has. It’s always best to let God be your defender. And that’s what they do here.

Notice what happens as they’re asking for prayer. It says verse 9: "Samuel took a suckling lamb and he offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord of Israel and the Lord"—what does your Bible say?—"answered him." And notice what He did: "As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord"—don’t you need to circle that phrase?—"But the Lord."

Whatever you’re facing right now, whatever’s coming your way, whatever 2026 has, you don’t want to be able to answer, "But I have" and "I’ve done." You want to be able to answer: "But the Lord." Look what He does: "He thunders with a loud thunder." Can you make it thunder with a loud thunder? No. You don’t have that power. But God does.

Not only that, it says He did this for the Philistines, so it was localized that that day and He so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and drove them back as far as Beth Car. Victory because they turned to the Lord. Victory because they put their idols aside, checked their heart, began to pray, fast, come together, offer themselves. And when trouble comes—which it does every time you turn back to the Lord—they turn right back to the Lord. "Hey, pray for us. We don’t know what to do. We’re not going to do it like before. We’re not going to respond like before."

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Abounding Grace with our Bible teacher and Pastor Ed Taylor. To give this a second listen, all you need to do is visit aboundinggraceradio.com or oneplace.com. You can also listen through our app and that can be found in the App Store or Google Play. Just search for Ed Taylor.

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