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I want to welcome everybody right now, joining at every other campus of River Valley and everybody watching online. Apple Valley. Can we make some noise for our church joining far and wide? We are in the second week of a series about the prophet Samuel. If you were here last week, Pastor Rob preached from the book of First Samuel, chapter three, which is where we get our vision statement for the year. And the vision of this year for River Valley Church is speak, Lord. We're listening. And so we're trying to be intentional to teach and preach and even create space for the Lord to speak. Lord, would you speak to each and every person? Speak to us. We wanna hear your voice. And if you missed it, you can watch that back online. We also had fun on Tuesday night. We're doing this during the whole series. Tuesday night, 8pm Live on YouTube. We're going back through each chapter that we're talking about on the weekends. And we're going verse by verse. We spent 90 minutes going verse by verse through First Samuel, chapter three, Tuesday. And everybody's welcome to join. You can watch it live. It'll be on Demand, just on YouTube. You can find it on the River Valley, Minnesota page. But it's gonna be a blast. We're in week two. We're going to First Samuel, chapter seven. And it's a heavy chapter. Pastor Rob joked with me. He said, hey, when you start, just say the phrase like, this is not good news. It's not gonna be good news. And I'll cut to the end and say, it is good news. Because the way that the Bible teaches leads to life. And we'll get there here in a second, but just context. First Samuel, chapter three is where Samuel hears the call of God for his life. He's called by the Lord. Samuel. Samuel, yes. Speak, Lord. Your servant's listening. And chapters four through six, it gets rough. And if you remember the high priest Eli, his sons were living in sin. Hophni and Phinehas. And there's this moment in chapter four, just giving context. Before we read chapter seven, they get this bright idea. Let's just take the ark of God out onto the battlefield and use it as some type of weapon that might gain us victory. And it was not instructed of the Lord. They did it in their own thinking, in their own mind. And it's in this moment. Hophni and Phinehas are killed. They lose their lives. Which was told to Samuel. That was the word in chapter three. It was told to Samuel, and Samuel told it to Eli. This is coming. And that's the moment and more than that, the Philistines is who they were fighting. They were being attacked by the Philistines, the enemy army, more than Hophni and Phinehas losing their lives. The Ark of God, the Ark of the Covenant is stolen. It's taken away. The presence of God on earth at that time was taken away from the nation of Israel. And as that's told to Eli, in that moment, he finds out his sons have been killed and the ark has been stolen, and he falls over and dies himself. This is tragic. This is tragic. And in this moment, Samuel steps up and he becomes, at this moment in the Bible, the most authoritative voice over the people of God since Moses 400 years before. Samuel steps up into this position of prophet, priest. And what we'll read in this chapter becomes judge as well. It's his credentials. While the Philistines have the Ark of the Covenant, God afflicts them. I love that God can solve his own problems. He can solve it. And he afflicts the Philistines with many ailments, like tumors. And he's afflicting this enemy nation who stole the ark. And they get freaked out, like, it's because we did this. It's because we have this. We gotta get it out of our possession. And they kind of freak out. And they put the ark on a cart and tie it up to two cows, and two cows deliver it back to the people of God on a cart. I mean, just an amazing scene. This is like. I mean, if you could watch this in a movie, that would be amazing. And let's read 1st Samuel, chapter 7 with that context. I'm going to read verses 2 through 12. This is an amazing story and important for our lives today. From that day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath Jearim, so the ark had come back into their hands, their territory. It says, a long time past, some 20 years, going through the life of Samuel and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. And Samuel said to the house of Israel, if you're returning to the Lord, if you would return to the Lord with all of your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Astaroth among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. And so the people of Israel, they did what Samuel said. They put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only. Then Samuel said, gather all Israel at Mizpah, gathers the entire nation. Now when gather at Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you. Verse 6. So they gathered at Mizpah and they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted on that day and said, there we have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard it, they, they were afraid of the Philistines. This moment. Just pausing. We'll go to verse eight in a second. They've gathered and they're repenting, they're returning, they're putting away their idols. And even in this moment, they're attacked by the Philistines. Verse 8. The people 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. And so Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion. And they were defeated before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them as far as below Beth Car. Then Samuel took a stone and he set it up between Mizpah and Shem and called its name Ebenezer. For he said, till now the Lord has helped us. The title of this message is when you need renewal, when you need to be renewed. Let's pray together as we go. Lord, we thank you for your word. We honor your word. We're not going to skip a chapter that may feel heavy. And I just pray that you would speak to hearts. I've been praying all week for somebody across our church, somebody watching online, somebody in this room right now that is ready for renewal, ready for God, you to do a new thing in their life. And there's this pathway modeled for us in First Samuel chapter seven. And I just pray that we would model it. Not just instructions and a checklist and a to do list. And if I just do this, then I'm gonna get what I want. No. A posture of our heart. Lord, let us have the right heart posture. And I pray for renewal. In Jesus name, I pray everybody said amen growing up. I'm Pastor's kid grew up in the church. And just giving some context, I got in trouble a lot growing up. I was one of, I had three siblings, one of four kids in the family. And I was maybe like the stereotypical, maybe what you've heard of what a pastor's kid would be like, not so much at a young age, but through high school. And I just, I remember my dad disciplining me. And this is at all ages, to be honest. I remember my dad. There was times that if we were riding in the car and I did something stupid in the backseat. Anybody have a dad like this? He had some type of vice grip. I mean, he like, it was just like, anybody have a dad that would reach back, like get back there and grab your leg and get like. It was like my leg was gonna fall off, you know, it's like, anybody, anybody? Nobody? Okay, okay, okay, that's good. Confession is good. This is, we need this. Anyways, I didn't enjoy it as a child, but now I'm a father to two young boys and two young girls. And just a story the other day, it just made me think like, wow, I guess I'm a fan of godly discipline and correction. And one of our boys, I won't say which one, just. Cause that doesn't really matter in the story, but he was deliberately disobeying. And you know, pastor's kids are kids, you know, and it's okay, nobody's perfect. But we're gonna correct that, we're gonna bring some level of discipline. And in this time, I brought a little bit of intentionality, some could say intensity. And I did the vice grip leg squeeze on one of our five year old boys, you know, just enough to get his attention, like, oh, dad's serious. And moment of correction. And he kind of whimpered a little bit and he said, he said, dad, that hurt me. And I said, yes, discipline hurts, but I'm trying to teach you that you gotta obey mom and dad. And we discipline in our family for deliberate disobedience. And in this moment of conversation, he goes, well, are you gonna apologize? I was like, no, I'm not gonna apologize. You should apologize. And I love this, love this little boy and I love being a dad. And it just made me think, you know, reading this chapter and what we're gonna talk about in this message, that there are times where the Lord brings correction, there's times where it requires repentance, it requires confession, it requires lamenting. We're talking about lamenting. And again, I'm just believing that in our church, there are people that are ready to be ministered to by the Lord, ready to be delivered, ready to be set free, ready to gain victory in some area of life. But. But there's a path to walk down that's modeled to us in scripture. And you will find freedom. You will find victory. It kind of made me sad thinking about that moment, that if my boy, if he just did apologize and if he just said an apology, if any of my kids ever just do what I'm telling them to do just so that they would get out of trouble, that's not what I'm looking for. And can I tell you, that's not what God is looking for. I'm hoping that my children, in moments of correction, they realize right and wrong. They're being taught, they're being instructed. And in those moments, there is a heart shift. It's a heart thing. God doesn't just care about the things you do or say or where you go. What he cares about is what's on the inside. There is a heart dynamic that God wants to look at that God cares about. And in those moments where you humble yourself. And the first point of this message is, is if you're looking for renewal, you're ready. You need renewal in your life. You need to return. You need to let your heart shift back to God. There's people in the room, people in the service, people across our campuses. You've never given your life to Christ, and today is your day. And there will be a huge heart shift from the way you once lived towards Jesus Christ. And I just believe people are getting saved this weekend. But. But there are moments as Christ followers, because this is the people of God. The people of God, they had to return. And Samuel gives this instruction, and it says that Israel laments. We don't talk about that word a lot. And I know, you know, we've got a lot of visitors, baptism weekend, and you're like, dude, this is like, I was hoping for a little bit more. You know, We don't talk about lamenting a lot. What does it mean to lament? Lament is honest mourning before God. It's naming the hard reality while still affirming his sovereignty. There's grief, there's sorrow throughout the Bible. Of the 150 Psalms, there's about 60 that are lamenting psalms. There's an entire book of the Bible called Lamentations. Jesus lamented on the cross, quoting Psalm, chapter 22. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This is not passive resignation. Lamenting is active appeal, recalling God's promises and even contending with him in the middle of suffering. There's space for this in the Christian walk. And you need to lament in this world that wants you to ignore it, sweep it under the rug, soothe it with some type of vice. No, you need to lament. There's space for that, to say, God, I have grieved you and my heart grieves. I acknowledge it. I acknowledge God. It grieved your heart and it grieves mine. Lamenting is an opportunity that sin is exposed, that it's had a grip on us and it clears the path for repentance. In the prophets, the grief of lamenting, it's not just human. They wouldn't have thought about it like that. It's not just a human thing. It's God's own heart that is moving through his people. And I want to have the heart of God. When I fail, when I fall, when I screw up, when correction comes my way, when discipline comes my way as a Christ follower, I want to respond saying, God, I recognize I'm not just trying to get out of the discipline. I'm not just trying to speed this up. I'm not just trying to ignore it. No, I'm going to. I'm going to say, God, I recognize that it hurt your heart and it hurts my heart that I did that. Would you forgive me? This story goes into Samuel. He gives direction. He gives direction before he gives comfort. Sometimes it's like, well, it's easy to point the finger back, like, nobody cares about me, or, you didn't do it. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, Samuel gives direction. Hey, let's focus on what is the next step for you. I think that's the best thing is I wanna look inward. Why does he give direction first? Because repentance requires a change in direction. He says, return to the Lord with all of your heart. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 says this, Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Hophni and Phinehas their own understanding and it cost them their life. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Jeremiah 29, verse 13. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. The Gospels say, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, all of your strength. And there's people here, there's something else has had a grip on your heart and Today's the day you let that go and you give God all of your heart, all of your heart here and at every campus. When we close this message, the worship team will come back out in a little bit. There's gonna be an altar moment just like Samuel set up the Ebenezer Stone. There's gonna be a moment where anybody in lament confession, in repentance, in turning of heart, saying, God, you get all of my heart. Samuel said, put away. Put away the idols. This is not a small adjustment. It's get rid of it completely. There's people thinking about something in their life, something in their thought life, something in their habits, something in their speech, something you're thinking about. And the Lord would say to you, put it away. Get rid of it completely, totally, all the way. No more done. To completely get rid of something that has taken the place of God might be an idol, a habitual sin, an addiction, a thought pattern, a belief. Today is the day to put it away. Samuel said, serve him only. Only, only, only man can I tell you, it is there, it is challenging to serve him only in this world that we live in, with all of our comforts and all of our technology and all of our distraction, all of our pursuit of achievement, of success, of money, of whatever it may be. It's. It's challenging, but it's. It's a directive of the Lord. Serve him only. That's the goal of life, is to serve Jesus Christ and him alone. To. To establish yourself in him. That I am a follower of Christ, I'm going to set IT firm. Matthew 6:24. No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. You cannot serve God and your own personal pursuit. Yes, you've been given gifts and passion, anointing, a call of God, but detached from him, it is you. And let's put that away. I don't want any of that in my life. God, I want you and only you. This happens all throughout Scripture. People of God. New Testament Old Testament there's sin, there's repentance, there's salvation. And just a reminder midway through, victory's coming, salvation's coming, renewal is coming, life is coming. AW Tozer said this God, being who he is, must always be sought for himself, never as a means towards something else. Whoever seeks God as a means towards desired ends will not find God the mighty. God, the maker of heaven and earth, will not be one of many treasures, not even the chief of treasures. He will be all in all, or he will be nothing. God will not be used. Charles Spurgeon says this. I just like using these guys because they were ripping. It's the best. Charles Spurgeon said this in March. March 8th, like 135 years ago. There are men in the world who want to go to heaven, but they want to keep on the road to hell and yet go to heaven. They would not get to the north by traveling to the south. You want heaven without holiness and forgiveness, without repentance. And this can never be. Hey, that was Charles Spurgeon. So that's. You can blame him. Repentance. What does it mean to return? Repent. Repent. It's a heart posture. Repent. Even as Christians who have been forgiven of all sin, past, present, and future, there are times in this walk where we fail and we need to repent. It's covered by the blood, but you need to repent, lament, and then repent. I like that. That's cool. They did it with humility. They did it in First Samuel, chapter seven, with fasting. They did it with confession. They said it as a nation gathered. We've sinned against the Lord, And it's good. Confession brings healing. This is all about removing all obstacles between me and Jesus, Lord. I don't want there to be any separation. I don't want there to be anything between me and my love and my life for you, Lord. The second point is rely on. And we're gonna move through this pretty quickly, the last two points, and then we're gonna respond. While they're gathered, the Philistines attack. And you're like, they were doing the right thing. How could they get attacked? Like, where's God? Like. And just so you know, when you confess, when you humble yourself, when you repent, it doesn't mean all attack is gonna dissipate and disappear. If anything, you will be tempted. There will be a spiritual attack. There's a spiritual dynamic at play. Why? Because you're turning to Jesus. The enemy wants to stop that. And the Philistines come out of nowhere and it says they're afraid, but I love it. They don't do what they did previously. They rely on the Lord, depend all in all of their heart on the Lord God. They know without him, they're going to die in this moment. And they say, don't cease to cry out to the Lord God for us, to Samuel, Samuel, cry out for us, Samuel. We lean into God. God needs to save Us. And Samuel, he sacrifices a lamb. And while that's happening, there's an enemy army descending. And I just think this is the victory part. When you, when you return to God and when you rely on God, it's the ingredients, the heart posture for a great victory for God to show up in your life. And when you fail, there's a way to respond. There's a pathway forward that leads to such victory. When you, when you're in moments of correction or discipline, you can have eyes that have vision and faith and hope that God, I'm returning to you and I thank you, thank you that you're going to provide a great victory here. And the Lord thundered, We read it. The Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines, so loud that it threw them into confusion and they were defeated before Israel. God brought the victory. It's similar to what David said to the philistines. Later in 1st Samuel, chapter 17, David and Goliath in front of the enemy army. This is what you can have. As you have this heart posture for the Lord, he's going to infuse you with a great courage. Hey, I'm taking this discipline, I'm taking this correction. I'm lamenting. God, I've grieved your heart. God, I'm repenting. Would you forgive me, God? Would you create a path for victory? And he's going to infuse in you a courage like he did young David 17:47. And that all the assembly may know, talking to the Philistines, that the Lord saves, not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand. Oh, my goodness. There's things that are going to come against you, but because of your humble heart, contrite, repentant God, I want, I want you get every distraction, obstacle out of my way. God will deliver you a great victory into your hand. Revelation, chapter 19, verse 1. After this, I heard what seemed to be a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out hallelujah. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. That is your future as a Christ follower. Last point is remember, I want to return when I need renewal in my life. And some of you already know you're going to respond and come down to the altar and just kneel before the Lord. Stand before the Lord. You already know. You already know. God wants to set you free. God wants to give you victory. Remember, do you remember? First Samuel, chapter four. The ark is stolen. The presence of God is stolen in this city. Guess the city's name. I know you all have the Bible memorized. The city's name is Ebenezer. Where they had a great defeat, a loss. The greatest loss of all time. They lost the presence of God and Samuel at this great victory. Because they had the right heart posture. They returned and they depended fully. They relied fully on the Lord. There's this moment of remembrance and you can set up a memorial in your life. It's called a testimony. And he sets up this stone and what does he name the stone? The same name as the city where it was once defeat, once loss, once grief, once, once failure. This is who I once was. And he names it Ebenezer. Now that word would carry victory, strength of the Lord. Future hope, eternity with the Lord. Forever and ever and ever. It is the stone of help. God is our helper. Can I tell you and just remind you it's only a few weeks ago. There's another stone that would serve as a reminder of the help of the Lord. The tomb of Jesus Christ that once represented death, hell, the grave, the payment for all of our sin. All hope was lost. Yet the stone was shifted and moved to a new position. And no longer does the tomb for the Christ follower mean death, hell and the grave. But the empty tomb means Jesus. I've got life in you. No matter what comes hell or high water. No matter what comes my way. I am a victor in Jesus Christ. Anybody been through some things and your response was repentant and God lifted you up. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. He will lift you up here and across all of our campuses. Can you stand to your feet right now? Anybody got a testimony? Anybody remember what God has done? Anybody looking for renewal in their life right now? Jesus wants to renew you. Lord, I thank you for your word. There are moments where we fail and fall short. And Lord, I pray that you would help us. We want to be renewed day by day. Our help comes from the Lord. So help us return. Rely and when you give a great victory, help us remember. Help us testify. Let it be a witness to this world that there is a God. The maker of heaven and earth. Lord, I thank you that Samuel's mom, she prophesied. She prophesied there is no rock. There is no God like our God. As we close, speak to each and every heart to turn back to you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.