Faith of Samuel Part II

If you’ve ever had that sinking moment where you realise you’re drifting again, this conversation sits right in that tension and refuses to stay vague. We pick up the story around 1 Samuel 7 and trace Israel’s rise and fall under Philistine pressure, not as ancient history, but as a mirror for our own patterns. The question underneath it all is simple and confronting: when you’re stressed, busy, or disappointed, what do you turn to first, and what does that reveal about your devotion?

We talk about faith as something that grows, not something you either “have” or “don’t”. Starting with the mustard seed picture, we unpack how every person is given a measure of faith and how maturity comes through a real relationship with God, not a perfect record. Along the way we share a personal wake-up call from a season of being in a wheelchair and what it exposed about a one-sided spiritual life. If you want practical Christian encouragement that stays honest about setbacks, this will land.

From there we get uncomfortably specific about modern idols. Footy culture, money, weekend plans, and “I’ll get to God later” can quietly take first place, even when we’d never call them idols out loud. We also break down the covenant pattern that helps the Old Testament make sense: blessing when hearts return, consequences when people rebel, and mercy when they repent. We close on Samuel’s intercession, the power of prayer and fasting, and why the new covenant in Jesus Christ means direct access to the Father without needing an earthly mediator.

If this helped you take stock of your priorities, share it with a mate, subscribe for the next conversation, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s the one thing you need to change to grow closer to God?

Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.

Transcript

Picking Up Samuel’s Story

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Now, if you remember, we finished off last week in 1 Samuel 7. And so this is where we pick up the story, and I've called this, although it's the faith of Samuel Part 2, it's basically talking about the rise and the fall. This is where Israel is under oppression from the opposing nation, the Philistines. But they had once again seen the light. I don't know how many times you have to have that epiphany realizing that you're going down the wrong path. But as we know, this is what grace is all about. Even though they're under the old covenant, God still had a heart for his chosen people. And it didn't matter how many times they messed up, he was always going to be there to bail them out. And this is one of the key factors that I'm hoping that you're going to get out of all of these um podcasts in relation to um not only in relation to um the different people and the level of faith that they had, but I want you to realize that and if you focus on it when you go through them, write it down, take take notes, um, because it helps it helps you get a better understanding of not only what I'm trying to tell you, but what the Lord's trying to tell you.

Oppression, Grace, And Returning Hearts

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Now, time and time again, you see that not only all these faith giants or um heroes of the Bible, they all continually fall away from God in some ways um that are really, really um not explainable sometimes, but the thing is grace is through faith. See, we're all given a measure of faith. And I've said this before, but you know, it's scriptural, so I've got to keep repeating it. Our faith is the size of a mustard seed, and if you've ever looked at a mustard seed, you see how tiny it is. But it that one seed has the potential to grow into this massive tree, right? And so your faith, irrespective of where you are, where you've come from, or where you're hoping to go, you got given that measure. Every single creation that God has made in his own image, and I'm talking about mankind, not all the animals and the creatures and everything else, all of us. We were all given the same measure of faith, and when you talk about faith giants in the Bible, you've got to look at their life as um from a holistic perspective, right? They started with the same level of faith you've got, and wherever you are in your Christian walk, you have a level of faith. Now, you may still be an infant with your faith, you may be a child, uh, an adolescent, a teenager, a an adult, or even a very, very mature Christian, and that is based on the relationship that you have, your personal relationship with God. I'm probably not going to get through this today, so I this is not in any of my notes, but

The Mustard Seed Measure Of Faith

SPEAKER_01 4:58

I just wanted to make it very clear that see the first time I was in a wheelchair, uh, and some of you may know this if you've read my book, and if you haven't read my book, um you can click on the the link below, or you can go to Amazon Books, uh, or you could contact me directly if that's something that you're interested in is getting a copy of my book, which is called Walking on Sunshine. But the point that I'm trying to make is that the one thing that I learned more than anything else, that my personal relationship with God, it was not where it was meant to be, or it was not where God intended it to be. Once I changed that, once I spent more and more time with God, the way that I spent more and more time with other things in my life, then it came to that stage where I truly knew that my relationship with God had to be so much bigger, so much better than it was. And so once I did that, I got to the stage where I was able to just speak to him on a daily basis like he's my best friend, because that's what he needs to be, right? It can't all be one-sided, it can't all be about what you want from God or what you want God to do for you, okay? What can you do for him? And you he's the master and the creator of the whole universe. I mean, what does he need you to do for him? Because all he wants is a relationship with you. So, what I'm saying is it did not matter how many times the Israeli nation messed up. God was always there waiting for them to have that epiphany, come back to that realization that they needed God in his life. So their desire to turn back to the Lord, you know, was for them to actually see the light and have a repentant heart. Because when all gets said and done, that's what he's after. He's after the heart of man, the heart of every woman, the heart of every child. Okay, 1 Samuel 7, 3 to 13, and it said, and Samuel said to all the house of Israel, if you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the ashtaroth from amongst you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, he will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines. Now you may think that that's uh conditional love, but it's not. It's not conditional love or anything like that. It's it's what God desires of his people, right? And to put it on, I mean, there was this song I remember singing in Sunday school. Um, I'm not gonna sing it, I've got a terrible singing voice, all right? Um, but it's called Turn Your Heart Towards Jesus. Uh, and it says, Look well in your wondrous way. Um, but look it up if you want to. Uh it's called Turn Your Heart Towards Jesus. So getting back to this, otherwise, we're never going to get there. So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashturus. Now, these are so if you haven't read through one and two Samuel, they're the false gods among the Canaanite people. And um, and so what what God is saying, because you know, he's a jealous god, okay? He he wants you all to himself, so he doesn't want you idolizing false gods or anything like that, and and that's i in a natural term as well. I was watching the footy last night, and you see fifty six thousand people crammed into Optus Oval to watch a footy game because and if you look at it, not so much here in Western Australia, but definitely in Melbourne, you have a look at when the camera pans into the crowds, when something uh either controversial or something really spectacular happens when they're playing the footy, uh, and you see some of these people, they are they are dressed from head to toe with everything in relation to their football team, badges and banners all over them, even to the extent where some people color their hair and paint their faces, you know. Now that's from my perspective, and it's only my personal opinion, I could be wrong, but basically that's idolizing something, you know, in the world. Okay, uh another classic example is if you read scripture, it and it

A Wheelchair Wake Up Call

SPEAKER_01 11:12

says that um love, faith, hope, love, and faith, right? And of the greatest of these is love. Without love, there's nothing else, okay? And then you get so the lover of money is the root of all evil. Now, people don't really listen to the whole scripture, they see the very start of that, okay, they go, Oh, we can't have money. Well, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what the Lord is saying. He's saying, if you love money more than you love me, then that's not good. If you love anything more than you love the Lord, that is not good. And so what God is saying here to his people is that forget about Baals and Ashtaroth, the false gods that the Canaanite people worship and serve the Lord only. The people had a history of inconsistency, walking with the Lord in Moses' day, in Joshua's, and with some of the judges. They were up and down, they were rising and they were falling, but mostly down at this point in time. This is why they had the flood, this is why um the Israeli people always find themselves in captivity. This is why they walked around in the wilderness after they were liberated from you know the Egyptians. Um, you know, all of these things. So there are consequences to us not, you know, walking with God. And it's the same as today. Uh, we've got the Father, and we've got the Son, and we've got the Holy Spirit, and we are under a new covenant. So are we walking with Jesus? Is he first and foremost in everything we say and everything we do? Do we put him before your worldly things? Now, I know someone in particular, no names, okay, um, this person still around. But you know, just talking about something like football, uh, if your team is playing on a Sunday, uh you don't go to church because you want to stay home and watch the game. If um there's a special event on, and to you that's more important, then you might sort of like not go to church for Easter or Christmas or you know, during um special events or anything like that. You've got to make sure you put in first. What am I gonna do today? Am I gonna go to the markets or am I gonna go to church? Am I gonna spend some time with the Lord? Am I gonna do this or am I gonna do that? Now, you know, they say don't call the kettle black, you know, and people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. So I'm talking myself as well as I'm talking to you. The thing is, we have been given free will. We have a choice, you know. Is our life gonna be better if we put God first and foremost in everything we say and everything we do? Without a shadow of a doubt. Now, I know that sometimes in the natural, that's not possible. Yeah, you can't get there and go, Oh, my daughter's sick, so I'm gonna stay home and look after her. You know, oh no, gotta look after her, I'm going to church. No, no, no. No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that your faith and your relationship with God has to be first in so many different ways, and there are many different ways in which you can do that, right? But I could go on and on and on, right? But the key word is that we have a covenant, okay? In several key places in history, God made a covenant that's an agreement or a contract.

Modern Idols And First Priorities

SPEAKER_01 15:57

He made one with Abraham, he made one with Moses and the nation of Israel. He made one with David, all of whom we have spoken about in previous podcasts. The one to focus on right now is the covenant God made with Israel through Moses. Moses went up on the mountain of Sinite and he was given the Ten Commandments, which are representative of that covenant. Now, the basic elements of a covenant are threefold. Now, isn't it ironic that it's threefold? Because we have the Father, the Son, and we have the Holy Spirit, and we have a three-core string could not easily be broken. And all of these things are relevant. You know, numbers mean something. Forty days and forty nights it rained, 40 days in the wilderness, Jesus, you know, fasted and prayed. Okay. Forty years, you know, uh walking around waiting to go into the promised land. Everything you see in numbers has a significant point. And this is what I'm talking about now. Now, the basic elements to a covenant, right? The Lord calls his chosen people of Israel to follow him, to love him, obey him, serve him, and fear him. Now it's reverential fear, not fear that I'm scared of you.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Now, when they do that, it says that he will bless your people in a magnificent way. Joy, fruitful land, wealth, happiness.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Rather straightforward, but not easy, but as straightforward. So it's fairly simple to say, okay, well, if you if you put him first and foremost, okay, and just do those basic things, he will bless you in magnificent ways. Point two, the Lord warns Israel if they rebel against him, turn their hearts from him, committing spiritual adultery and worship other gods, then he will bring curses on them and their lands. So very, very simple once again. It says, I will turn my heart from you even to the point of kicking you out of the promised land. Now, if you look at these, these are very, very simple and very, very profound statements. God is making it very, very clear what He wants. And thirdly, it says that the Lord gives a promise of mercy. If in your stubbornness you finally repent and turn back to me, then I will show mercy, I will forgive you, I will bring good to you, and I will defeat all of your enemies, and I will bring you back into the land. Now, so in other words, that's under the old covenant. Now we are under the new covenant, so we have our own covenant with God through Jesus, and so that's why we have grace through faith. Alright?

SPEAKER_00 20:05

I mean, because all of this sounds pretty simple, and us as God's creation, just we have to just keep testing the waters, don't we?

SPEAKER_01 20:22

So if you understand the basic covenant and remember this, you will understand much of the old testament. This circle, I call it the circle of life and death. Okay, we're not looking at more faster from Lion King, circle of life. It's called the circle of life and death, and it's what happens over and over and over and over in the old testament. I just want to add my two cents with.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

So getting the the concept here.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

So remember the essence of God's covenant is to his people, and the old testament begins to make more sense. So with

Covenant Basics Blessing Curse Mercy

SPEAKER_01 21:57

that in mind, but don't let's go back, but we just want to have a quick reflection on 1 Samuel 7.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

All right. Now we have to remember the importance of all of this. This is why. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

If we are to criticize. Israel, we have to take the log basically out of our own eyes. Jesus said, in order to remove the speck in someone else's eye, okay, you gotta first pull it out of yours. So let's go back to the people of Israel for a minute. Now, after 20 years of lamenting, okay, their hearts were changing. So Samuel calls them to wholehearted devotion, and they actually listened to Samuel. And Samuel said this, gather all Israel at Mizapath, and I will pray to the Lord for you. So that's called intercession. Right? Samuel fears the Lord and is a man of faith. So with good godly leadership, he calls all the people together. A place in Israel for a time of national repentance. He wants to pray to the Lord for mercy for the nation, for humanity, and for forgiveness. Now, like I said before, Samuel feared God. No, it's reverential fear. It's like being in awe of his magnificentness. Is that a word? Magnificentness? Moving on. See, Samuel always walked by faith. And prayer is a strong indicator of that. So when was the last time you prayed?

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Was it today? Was it yesterday? Or last week or last month?

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Now, I'm not saying this in a condescending way, by any stretch of imagination.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

There was a time in my life where I was the latter part of that statement.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

As I was studying his life, I was surprised at how many times he prayed. Chapter three, chapter seven, chapter eight, chapter twelve, chapter fifteen, and chapter sixteen, he followed in the footsteps of his faith-filled praying mother, Hannah. Told you get back to Hannah. So all the nation of Israel, they gathered in Marzapah. Now I'm probably saying this wrong. It's M-I-Z-A-H. And he 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 people of Israel. Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mezepah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. Now this is interesting, right? Since Israel was still under oppression for the Philistines, it's possible the Philistines had forbidden them from congregating and praying because they might have, you know, like been an uprising or a rebellion. And it says this, and when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines, and 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 hands of the Philistines. 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. See, this is where it gets really interesting. But you don't need someone like Israel to pray on your behalf. You can do that yourself. And if you combine, you know, fasting, prayer, and giving, once again, it's a threefold thing, like I mentioned before, there's power in that. So if you if you spend time in prayer and you fast or go without something that gives honor and glory to God, and then give into the kingdom of God, that is more powerful than any one of them on their own. See, this is what I'm talking about now. It was a terrible, but it was a beautiful moment. The enemy was marching out to crush the apparent uprising. So they thought they were rising up against the Philistines, but they weren't. They were just gathering with Samuel to repent and give their hearts back to the Lord. So how did the people of Israel respond? They didn't panic, they didn't turn to man-made solutions, they turned to the Lord in prayer. See, Samuel is not only the judge like a governor, he is also a priest, and he interceded on their behalf to the Lord. See, priests are essentially mediators between God and man. So under the covenant through Moses to Israel, they needed priests to speak to the Lord on their behalf. We don't need that anymore. We no longer need an earthly priest to intercede for us. For we have the great high priestess, Jesus. Through him we have a direct access to God the Father.

Mizpah Repentance Prayer And Victory

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Jesus is the only mediator that we need. So as we read on in Samuel, Samuel was offering up a 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. They started killing each other. So Israel didn't really have to do anything. The power of spending time with the Lord. So I can go on a little bit more about that, but I'll leave it. Okay. So if you've been in the Word of Faith church, you most probably heard an old hymn that uses the name Ebenezer. It means the stone of help. Throughout history, God's people have had memorials, objects to help them remember the deeds of the Lord. Some of those memorials were commanded by God. For example, the feast of the Passover, remembering God's deliverance of the people from bondage in Egypt. For us today, in Christ, we've been commanded to a memorial called breaking of bread. To break bread and wine and remember, remember Jesus who gave up his body and his blood to pay for our sins and to bring us to God. That is the covenant that we need. See, in chapter seven of Samuel, you read that the covenant of Israel, they had rebelled, so the Lord brought judgment on them. But here we see that the Lord, after they repented, the Lord himself, as the commander in chief, basically, big boss man, strategically attacked the Philistines and restored his people to prominence. He blessed them once again. I encourage you to read through 1 Samuel 8. So in chapter 4, 5, and 6, Israel fell. In chapter 7, they rose. Now in chapter 8, they fall again. They just can't get their act together. They keep messing up. So but there was a turning point in biblical history. Israel had 300 years of the judge's system. This is really all they knew since Abraham. The people of God never had a king, they were always somebody who was in charge, but not them. Alright? So the point that I'm trying to make here is that we are now under a new covenant, and that new covenant is Jesus Christ. And so the new covenant of God's Son, everything has changed for the better. God has bought a better lamb to sacrifice for sin, Jesus. He has bought a better high priestess to intercede for us, Jesus. He has committed to never leave us nor forsake us, guaranteeing through the Holy Spirit we can still sin like Israel. We are inherently no different and no better. But God has done a beautiful, powerful, eternal

Ebenezer Memory Stones And New Covenant

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work through his son. All that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, and David were promised had finally come true in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, all you who believe in him are in a beautiful, glorious place, and we should rejoice in the work that God has done in his son. We should rejoice in the work that God has done in our hearts. Today, just look at your relationship with the Father and ask yourself, are you in the best place that you can be? Are you spending enough time with the Lord? Are you spending any time with prayer, fasting, or giving? You know? And what is it that you need to change to have a better relationship with our Heavenly Father through our Lord Jesus Christ? Amen. Alright, new subject next week. I'll keep you waiting on tender hooks. Bye for now.