“The Ever-Present Help of God”

“The Ever-Present Help of God”

Preaching Affirmation (Repeat after me):

I declare this is a blessed way to spend a few minutes of my time.

This is an appointment I’ve set with God; it is divine.

We touch and agree that our hearts and minds will align

With God’s holy word, we are the branches; He is the vine. 

I am focused and alert, and I have Heaven as my goal. 

I will receive a Word that will resound in my soul. 

I’m connected with my praise partner and ready to rock and roll.

This is my day; God’s word is in control!

This is what I’ve been waiting for!  I am excited about the Word! 

Scripture Text:

1 Samuel 7: 3 – 14 (King James Version); additional reference scripture Psalm 121 

1 Samuel 7: 3 – 14 

3 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 Ashtaroth 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.

4 Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only.

5 And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the Lord.

6 And they gathered together to Mizpeh, 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 in Mizpeh.

7 And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

8 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.

9 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.

10 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.

11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Bethcar.

12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.

13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

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.

The title of today’s message is “The Ever-Present Help of God.”

Introduction

Have you ever stopped to take the time to reflect on how God uses extraordinary conditions to prove who He is?  God is the only One that I know that has the power to know everything about our history—our good moments and our not-so-good moments, our potential and our hang-ups, our reputation with man, and who we really are—and turn our mess into a message, our fragments into a masterpiece, and our trials into triumphs.  While we may sometimes feel held back because of what we have been through, God uses our insecurities to show us who He really is.  I believe I have at least 5 witnesses in the house today who can testify that your past has not killed you like you thought it would—that your mistakes didn’t land you where they ought have, that your missteps didn’t pluck you out of the hand of God, and that your troubles just made you appreciate your good days even more.  Even if that were the entire message this morning, that would deserve a hallelujah from someone in here!  I can hear the song writer say even now, “I’ve had some good days, I’ve had some hills to climb, I’ve had some weary days, and some sleepless nights, BUT when I look around, and I think things over, all of my good days, outweigh my bad days, I won’t complain!” 

The Lord told me to share with you that today’s message is for two types of people in the house this morning.  And those two types of people are these– those in the house who feel like praising Him and those in the house who don’t feel like praising Him.  And if we were to be honest, we can find ourselves anywhere along that continuum on a daily basis because life has a way of rollercoastering us from joy to sorrow, from peace to turmoil, from highs to lows, and from abundance to lack on a day-to-day basis.  At my church, we have been preaching from the series titled “Apostolic DNA” this month, and since I am in a house that understands the rich inheritance that comes from our Apostolic roots, I’ve come to remind you that as a part of our Apostolic DNA, we must recognize that the worthiness of God is not predicated on how we feel at the moment or even what season of life we may be going through.  He is worthy just because He is God, and our praise, especially at the times when we don’t feel like giving Him the praise, confuses the enemy.  

I believe that UFWC may have a similar testimony to Endtime in that we can declare that God has been good to His people!  Maybe you are like us in that you have witnessed answered prayer, as God has spoken in the house, and the testimonies came back that God has done it again.  Maybe you’ve witnessed healing in the house, with people coming off of medications and the diagnosis of the doctor being reversed by the chief physician.  Maybe you’ve witnessed the baptism of the Holy Ghost and those who were lost giving their lives back to Christ.  Maybe you’ve witnessed cancer dry up, diabetes be eradicated, wounds being healed quickly after surgery, and the death angel passing over when it sees the blood after declaring that the Holy Communion of Jesus Christ could heal our mortal bodies while also saving our souls.  

Connection to the Introduction

And I just wonder if I have anyone in the house who truly believes that from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same God is worthy of all the praise?  God has been faithful to us even when we have been faithless.  God has given us second, third, and fourth chances for things that we have promised Him we would never do again.  God has opened doors to opportunities for which we know we were not qualified.  God has held back His hand of judgment to give us the opportunity to be more righteous.  And sometimes, if we are not careful, we will sit on our praise because we are so busy staying in our feelings about what we think He hasn’t done that we forget to put ourselves in remembrance of what He has already done.  And this is why I can declare with my whole heart if God never does anything else for me, I can praise Him all the days of my appointed time because He has already done enough.  

This is the posture of maturity that God is speaking of in the house, and we begin to understand that it is in our Apostolic DNA to offer God the praise He so richly deserves.  To understand that there are times that you have to put your feelings to the side and offer a Towdah praise.  A Towdah praise is a sacrificial praise– the kind of praise that says I’m tired in my body, but I have to lift up my voice and bless the name of the Lord.  The type of praise that says everything within me wants to complain, but when I look back over my life and see where God has brought me, I have to bless the Lord at all times and have His praise continually in my mouth.  It is the type of praise that God honors because he sees your maturity as a perfect praise, and it starts a chain reaction in your life.  You begin to go from maturity to perfection, from perfection to glory, and from glory to glory.  And I declare that God is in a dispensation where He will not give His glory to any old body.  His glory, church, is designed for the Yadah praisers– the ones that declare, “With my hands lifted up, and my mouth filled with praise, with a heart of thanksgiving, I will bless thee oh Lord!”  His glory is reserved for the halal praisers– who declare, “With my whole heart, I will bless you oh Lord!”  His glory descends upon those who are Zamar praisers… who don’t hide behind stringed instruments and organs, psalteries and harps, cymbals, and high-sounding cymbals and only play them when it is time to perform.  But to those who know that the best instrument they have to bless him is the joyful noise that God has blessed you with in your voice.  There shouldn’t be any less power in the house if the electricity goes out because even Webster’s dictionary understands that power and electricity are not the same!  Electricity is created by electrical current moving from one point to another, while power is defined as using what energy has been invested in you to do something.

You can sit in the house of God and have the electricity run right through you, charging you up week after week after week, but until you do something with the electrical charge that has been invested in you, it is possible that you can be in the presence of electricity and still not have any power.  

Get your praise partner’s attention as quickly as possible and say “Praise partner– don’t make me praise Him all by myself!”  And I wonder if anyone has a 30-second Towdah praise to offer God right in the middle of the message…. sacrifice for your King…. sacrifice for the lover of your soul….. sacrifice for the one who pulled you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  Sacrifice for Jehovah Jireh– the God who provides… Jehovah Rapha– the God who healeth thee! 

Contextual Evidence

You have to understand that when you see me shouting when you see me dancing, when you see me leaping and rejoicing in the Lord, it is not because I’m happy all the time– but it is because I have made up my mind that though happiness may come, and happiness may go, this JOY that I have, the world didn’t give it, and the world can’t take it away.  This means that when God designed me, He programmed me with the Apostolic DNA that would cause me to say “Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul!”  Get your neighbor’s attention one more time because we aren’t quite done praising God just yet and please, only if you mean it, look at that neighbor and say, “there’s a story behind my praise!”  My story might not be your story, and I’ll be honest and say I thank God that your story is not my story because I was not created to be able to withstand what God assigned for you to go through to get to where you are, but one thing that we all have in common is this– you are not here right now because of any goodness of your own.  Psalm 124 says it like this: “If it had not been for the Lord who was on your side, men would have risen up against you, they would have destroyed you with how angry they were with you, but blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a prey to the teeth of the enemy!”  The world may have you think that you are a self-made success and got here because of what you all by yourself to overcome, but the devil is two liars, and the truth is not in his deceiving lips.  Everyone’s story has the same thesis– but by the grace of God, there go I!  And if it wasn’t for the ever-present help of God, the enemy would have swallowed me up, but thanks be unto God, He has given me the victory.  Can someone shout “Hallelujah” in this place and give His name the praise?  

I believe we have set the stage for our scripture text quite well this morning, and since we are on one accord, let’s run together to see what the Spirit of the Lord is saying through 1 Samuel Chapter 7.  The text today opens with a beautiful account of the sentiment that God’s help is ever-present.  The Israelites find themselves in a position where they are looking to be delivered from their past and are approaching 20 years of servitude to the Philistines.  In their unwillingness to serve God as they were commanded, the Israelites lose the presence of God, as the Ark of the Covenant is now with the Philistines.  Samuel addresses the Israelites about 20 years older than when Israel was initially defeated in the days of Eli, and gives instructions on how the Israelites can return to right standing with God.  

1. Observation 1—God can deliver us from our extraordinary circumstances, but we have to come correct!  What are the conditions for deliverance?  
1. Return to God with all thine heart
2. Put away all strange gods 
3. Put away the spirit of Ashtaroth—influences of demonic forces
4. Prepare your heart to receive the blessings and instructions of God
5. Serve Him Only—He will have no other god before Him.
2. Israel listened to Samuel, and did what was required of them, only to find out they had more work to do if they were going to get the help of God.  Observation 2—You cannot depend on yesterday’s anointing to fight today’s battle.  Don’t just get ready, stay ready!  What did the Israelites have to do to be prepared for where God was taking them?
1. They put away worldly possessions (Baal and Ashtaroth) and served the Lord only.
2. They gathered together to talk to God in prayer.
3. They poured out water as a physical symbol of their spiritual outpouring to God in prayer. 
4. They fasted!  Some things only go out by fasting and by prayer.
5. They confessed their sins to God 
6. They received judgment and made things right with one another. 
7. They depended upon God, knowing He was the only one who could help them (talk here about how underprepared they must have been being under the captivity of those they were about to come against). 
8. They offered an acceptable sacrifice unto God and cried aloud to Him! 
3. The Israelites were prepared to receive their help because they aligned themselves with the Will of God.  Observation 3: When the enemy feels like he is losing you, be prepared for him to give it one last shot!  The encouraging news is when the Lord speaks, even the devil has to listen! 
1. God protects His chosen people in miraculous ways!  
1. He delivered Lot in Genesis using angels.
2. He got Abraham and Sarah out of trouble by plaguing Pharaoh 
3. He showed up in a burning bush
4. He stopped the sun and moon in Joshua
5. And He sent His voice through a great thunder for the Israelites 
6. All of this is good—but shake your neighbor and say I want to know what He’s done for you?  
1. What has He spoken over you that made the devil tremble?
2. What has He spoken over you that amazed the doctors?
3. What has He spoken over you that has given you favor in the courtroom?
4. What has He spoken over you that paid off that bill? 
5. I dare you to give your neighbor a high-five and say I serve a speaking God! 
4. The Israelites, even though they were accustomed to the greatness of God at this point, had to be amazed at how quickly God moved on their behalf once they lined up to His will.  Our last observation is one that you can shout about, however.  Remember that man will try to use your past against you, but verse 1 Samuel 7:12 shows us that God can use your past to remind you that He is a very present help in the time of trouble, and that if He did it then, he can do it now!  
1. The story in 1 Samuel ends with the Philistines going from the conquerors to the conquered and the return of everything that was taken given back to Israel.  Today, I don’t necessarily shout over the recovery, however, because I know that God owns all of that stuff anyway.  Today, I am shouting over the memory!  What are you talking about, preacher?  
2. Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen and named it Ebenezer, saying, this is where the Lord Helped Us!  We are going to use Psalm 121 today as our Ebenezer!  (a Minister or Elder to read Psalm 121 one verse at a time).  
1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help! (Mark it in time!  That’s a stone!)
2. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. (Are you worried about how you are going to make ends meet!  Mark it in time with a stone that if God can make heaven and earth by speaking it into existence that He can deliver you out of your trouble!  That’s a stone!)
3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.  (God is a driver who has never fallen asleep behind the wheel!  He is a keeper and will not let your foot slip if your steps are ordered… that’s another stone!)
4. The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.  (The Lord will keep you in perfect peace if your mind is stayed on Him!  Why are you sweating the small stuff?  Just go back and look at the stone!)
5. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. (God will not let your trials harm you.  Aren’t you here right now to talk about what God has brought you through?  Talk to your neighbor and tell them about your Ebenezer experience.  How he picked you up, turned you around, placed your feet on solid ground, saved your soul, made you whole, healed your body, protected your loved ones, and if you can’t think of anything at all how he woke you up this morning and started you on your way, gave you the activities of your limbs, the articulation of your speech, you’re in your right mind, you can hear, you can breathe, you can shout, you can wave your hands, look back at your stones!!)
6. Because of all of this, the Lord will preserve you!  He is not only a very present help (meaning He will come when you need Him), but He is an ever-present help (which means He is always there!)