All right, here tonight now as we look and realize that telling the cows where to go. Take your Bibles over to 1 Samuel chapter 6 verses 1 through 21 and 1 Samuel chapter 7 verses 1 through 17. A lot of scripture, but if we get to going, we'll be able to deal with that because for the seven months the Philistines had been dealing with a lot of bad health issues. Back in chapter 5, For seven months their pride had brought destruction upon them, and for seven months they were unwilling to let their trophy, the Ark of the Covenant that they had captured, go. And all of a sudden, they realized that at one point or another, when the last place that they had the Ark of the Covenant was in Ekron, and ekron means to root up, uprooting. And so I'm glad God was pulling them up literally by the roots with the Ark of the Covenant being there. And I'm gonna tell you, they wanted to get up and get out of the way, amen. But it's sad because as we look and realize some of the things that they were going through and doing, that it was a very sad situation because as we get into our message tonight or our Bible study tonight, God so wants to do some great things for each and every one of us if we would just let him do it, amen. And so I thank God as we look and realize tonight that each and every one of us, we've got some things that we could really learn about the word of God tonight as we listen to how God can tell even the cows where they need to go, even if the cards are stacked against them. God can do what no one else can do. Amen. He can lead us and he can guide us. And so I thank God when we look and realize tonight that of all the things that was happening to the Philistines and all of the problems with disease, they were ready to get up and get out of there. Amen. And so I thank God. As we look and realize tonight, as we get into the marvelous Word of God. Tonight, this is July the 6th, 2022, the 7th of Tamaz, 5782 of the Hebrew calendar. And I thank God, as this all goes back in the time of Eli, where Eli had done wrong. as the priest and his sons were doing wrong and all of a sudden the battle came and the enemy did and all of a sudden while they were out in the battle God began to let the enemy the philistines overtake them they overtook the ark of the covenant amen That, man, that was their lucky charm as they looked at it, the Israelites. They thought, man, that's our lucky charm. They were out there, they were losing the battle, so they sent word. They didn't pray about it, they didn't ask God about it. They said, somebody needs to bring the Ark of the Covenant out here, we're losing the battle! And so what did they do? They didn't pray about it. They didn't ask God about it. So they brought the Ark of the Covenant out there at the battle. The Philistines defeated them, took the Ark of the Covenant. And then a seven-month period that had transpired between this time, that all of a sudden, one sickness upon another began to unfold upon them. And then all of a sudden, we begin to realize that, boy, they come up with a crazy idea about using some old dairy cows that had never pulled a cart and some calves that were newly born that you know that them calves wanted to get to them mamas and them mamas wanted to get to them calves because there's no greater desire for that milk. But all of a sudden God can take even those situations and he can control them. Here tonight we're talking about the battle at Mispah. Because later on, this is a battle that God begins to step in through the prayer of Samuel, and through the thunder of God, he scares the living daylights out of the Philistines. Man, I'm gonna tell you, I'm just giving away the whole thing at him. But it's a beautiful, beautiful Bible study tonight. God proved how awesome his power, his sovereignty is, the power to control the human events. And in verses 1 through 12 of 1 Samuel chapter 6, That's exactly what we're going to be reading about tonight. The Bible says that the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. Here we see after seven months that the Philistines take counsel how to send that ark back. They said, man, let's get this bubonic plague off of us. Let's get this heartache off of us, you know. And so here we begin to realize that of all the things that were transpiring, amen, they wanted to get rid of that ark because The Philistine rulers made the decision to return to Ark after seven months of suffering under the hand of God's judgment. Hallelujah! But in returning to Ark, they had to make sure that they did it properly. And so the sovereignty of God's power, all of a sudden the Dagon, which is their God of grain, And they dealt with a lot of mice and things like that. And so, all of a sudden, they begin to realize that what God had done to that statue of Dagon, He done broke that thing, broke the hands off of it, back in the fourth and the fifth chapters of 1 Samuel. And all of a sudden, the Philistines got the message, you know what? Our God ain't nothing compared to their God, amen? Why, He can do whatever He wants to. He's in control of whatever. And so they said, we've got to get rid of the Ark of the Covenant. We've got to get it out of here. And so I thank God, here is what we're reading about with seven months of just curse upon curse happening during that time. Here in the Ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines of seven months in the coastal plain from the Judeal hill country that you see. And don't worry, I have a lot more shots that I'll show you here a little bit later. But the Bible says in verse two of 1 Samuel 6, and the Philistines called for the priest and the diviners saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? Tell us, wherewith we shall send it to his place. Boy, I thank God. They were ready to get rid of it. They were ready to get it back, amen, to where it came from, praise God. And so each and every one of us tonight, and advising the rulers and the religious leaders of sending back the ark, they said, we better send it back with some kind of a guilt offering. with the ark. The purpose was to appease and to pacify the God of Israel, arousing him to stop the plague that had happened in the cities, the five cities of the Philistines because they had five leaders, amen, and because of that, that designated what the the purpose of the guilt offering would be. And so the guilt offering was a false approach to God, a detestable way to seek peace with God by the Philistines to send the Ark of the Covenant back, amen. And so the religious leaders instructed those five leaders of the Philistines, of the five cities of the Philistines, instructed the rulers, other words, to make those five golden images of tumors and five more of the rats a total of 10 images to be equal to the number of the Philistines' rulers, and these gold images were to be sent back with an ark in honor of the God of Israel, amen. And so it brings up a very interesting point, that the name Dagon means grain. The Philistines were afraid that if they did not worship Dagon, they would not have a good harvest. And so it may have been that maybe because of all the grain and the stores of grain that were overrun by rats, but in any case, the God of Israel had been proven minor than the philistines grain god that of dagon that they had and so praise god hallelujah they began to learn their lesson and ready to get rid of this uh hot potato that's then got into their uh domain amen the philistine as they come up with all of this the lord set up a plan that would absolve them of all the responsibility and the blame they would take two cows that had calves and they would separate them from the calves. They would hitch the cows to a brand new cart and put the ark on the cart and turn the cows loose. And if the cows didn't move at all, or if they went to their calves, it would be proof. that God, the God of Israel wasn't in control and the Philistines had nothing to fear. You see, this was what they did. And if the cows meandered all over without any sense of direction, then the lords could draw the same conclusion. But the situation being what it was, the cows would probably head for their calves because that was the natural thing to do, and that's how they set up the test. But the cows needed to get rid of their milk, and the cows needed the nourishment, but that wasn't all. The wise men decided that the nation had to send an appeasement gift. to Jehovah in the form of the golden models of mice and the tumors. And if the cows didn't head for the Israeli territory, the Philistines could always reclaim their gold. So that's how they looked at it. If the cows went over the border into Israel, the Lord would be appeased and wouldn't send Philistines anymore plagues upon them. So this plan enabled the Lord to receive glory without the lords of the Philistines being embarrassed. That's how they set it up. And when you consider that the cows were nursing their calves and lowing for them, that the cows had never ever drawn a cart before, the odds were that they wouldn't go down the road that led to Ekron, to Beth Shemesh, towards where they needed to go. The five lords and their wise men had it all figured out, amen. And so here we continue on. And they said, if you send away the ark of the God of Israel and send it not empty but in any wise, return him a trespass offering, a guilt offering, then you shall be healed and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. And so I thank God as we look and realize. He goes on, he says, Then said they, what shall be the trespass offering or the guilt offering which we shall return to him? They answered five golden emrods and five golden mice. Like I said, the only thing that we know what this is, and I'll have a little bit more explanation in a minute what that is, is like a part of the disease from these rats and all of the plague. These were like tumors, but they made up a little thing of emrods of gold five of them in the place of those tumors that were coming out, and five golden mice in the place of their god of Dagon, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on you all and on your lords. And so five of those and five of those is what they did, amen, at the council. When you look at all this, the Nile rap, When you look at the flea and how that everything begins to transpire, basically the Nile rat, native to the east of Africa in the Nile Valley, the flea in Africa with both the Nile rat and the plague, the flea moves to an additional host and the black rat, and so basically you got a flea that bites a rat, and all of a sudden, as you look at all of the infectivity that's going on, the low mortality of this, that all of a sudden it starts out that the flea does what it does, it bites the black rat-induced, and all of a sudden, out of all of this infection, that all of a sudden, with these rats being bit by the fleas, and then the flea sucks the rat's blood, which carries bacteria. Bacteria multiply in the flea's intestinal tract, the intestinal tract clogged with bacteria, and the flea sucks the human blood, regurgitating the blood, the bacteria, into the wound. And the humans and all of us are infected at that time. And so this is what's transpiring. This is what's taking place. God brought all of this on during the time when they got the ark. And they, for seven months, they thought, oh man, boy, do we got us a trophy. But they couldn't hold on to the trophy, the enemy. You see, God used the enemy to teach the Israelis a lesson. and so the ark in the hands of the philistines in the house of dagon of the gods of the philistines amen remember what i talked about last time that god knocked this thing over and broke it head off then he knocked it over again broke its head off its hands off and everything well i'm going to tell you we do not know exactly what emrods were but we do know that they were a very destructive disease like tumors or bulls on the skin that's what we know about them amen and so Out of all of this, Ashdod was plagued with Imrods, and so all of this, the Ark, was taken to Ashdod. And I thank God, the curse of the Ark, as it goes on, and we see that Ashdod is right here. And so all of a sudden the other cities who received the ark had the same plague as Ashdod did. They said, man, let's send it somewhere else. Man, this thing is killing us around here. And so they sent it in Gath. Gath is right here. The disease immediately broke out and then they sent it on to Ekron to right here. And then the people in Ekron urged the Philistines to take the ark back to the Israelites. They had a curse of the ark upon them that was transpiring. And so here we look at the area This is the entire perimeter of the five Philistines of the of the Philistia of the Festilia, which is the Philistines Gaza Ashton Ashton and Ekron and Gath All of these are the five, that because of the five mice and the five emrods, that are a piece of gold that represent either a tumor or a bore of some kind, that they put as a guilt offering back on the Ark and to send this thing back, amen. And so I thank God. And wherefore ye shall make images of your emrods and images of your mice that mar the land, and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel. Peradventure, he will lighten his hand from off you and from off your gods and from off your land. They were in serious trouble with the curse because they had the Ark of the Covenant. It didn't belong to them. God will show you who's sovereign. He can tell the cows where to go. And so I thank God. Here's an image of those. The religious leaders, as they instructed, as I read a while ago, and what it all means that I read to you as well. we can't continue on in verse 6 where before then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and the Pharaoh hardened their hearts and when he had wrought wonderfully among them did they not let the people go and they departed They're remembering exactly what happened to the Egyptians when the plagues were upon them, when the children of Israel were there. And they are reminded of that. And they said, you know what? We need to do the same thing. We need to get rid of this, and we need to be able to get it back to the nation of Israel, and get this curse out of our lands of the Philistines. And so he goes on, and he says in verse 7, Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, what? Cows, two cows, on which there hath come no yoke, it's brand new, and tie the kine, the cow, to the cart and bring their cows home from them. You see, what a plan that I told you they had. returning the Ark to the Philistines seven months later and all of the things that were transpiring that they said, we need to get rid of this. And so all of a sudden they sent the two Milchkind cows taking away their calves on their way without any guidance. And the cows watched by the Philistines made their own way to Beth Shemesh into the field of Joshua. Beth Shemesh means shining temple, sun on the hill. You know, wow. They said it was the land of Joshua. And so, I'm glad that when this thing began to go, God began to tell the cows where to go. He told them exactly. And take the ark of the Lord and lay it upon the cart and put the jewels of gold which ye returned him for a trespass offering in a coffer by the side thereof and send it away that it may go. and see if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth Shemesh. Then he hath done us this great evil, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us, and it was a chance that happened to us." You see, they're saying that these cows don't go to Beth Shemesh. then we ain't got nothing to worry about. You know, God's not in control of this thing. But it didn't take them long to figure out that God is always sovereign and God is always in control, praise God. And so a test that suggested, determined that the afflictions were actually caused by the ark of God or were they just by chance? I'm going to tell you, the rulers were to secure a new cart to cows that had just had calves, never before being yoked to a cart. They were to hitch the cows to that cart, pit up the cows, and then they were to place the ark and the chest with the gold of the gilt offering on the cart. And after being loaded, they were to send the cows on their way, letting them to go wherever they wanted to go. And as the cows walked, the rulers were to keep a watch on them. Over the cart, hey, telling the cows where to go. And so, the cows left their newborn calves, which was unnatural like, and they returned the ark. And the Philistines would know this fact, that the affliction was the judgment of God upon them, not just a coincidence that happened by chance. Because when you're living in sin, you know what? You can live in sin for a season, but your day's coming. The test was executed by the Philistine rulers exactly what was needed. And so I thank God as we go on. Here we see Beth Shemesh is back over here. What did I say Beth Shemesh means? House of the Son, the temple of God. And all of a sudden, God is telling the cows where to go. Go back to the house of the Son. Go back to Beth Shemesh. And they're coming from Ekron over here. And so the road from Ekron to Beth Shemesh is right here. Boy, I thank God. And the men did so and took two milch kind cows and tied them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. And they laid the Ark of the Lord upon the cart and the coffer with a mice of gold and the images of their emrods. And the kind, the what? The cows, took the straight way to the way of Beth Shemesh. And went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And to the lords of the Philistines went after them under the border of Beth Shemesh. Beth Shemesh is at the border right there where I believe the tribe that separates the border there from them. And Lord, I'm trying to think if it was between the tribe of Benjamin. And so they were telling the cows where to go. I thank God, as we look at the direction, we see the area of Beth Shemesh. Here, it came from Ekron on this area, from the Philistines' last location of the Ark of the Covenant. And it made a beeline all the way down. It went to Tena, come on or down, and went to Beth Shemesh. You see, God was telling the cows where to go, and they went exactly where he told them. They went over to the city of Beth Shemesh. I thank God, which is the house of the sun, is what it means. Hallelujah. And so here again, Beth Shemesh, another view of it, aerial view, coming from Ekron, the Philistines' territory. It come down to Timnah. over to the Sorek Valley, on into Beth Shemesh, of the overview that it has. And here is one of excavations of new things that have taken place out around Beth Shemesh, along the highways there. The Bessetine Monastery in this, the Middle Bronze Gate over in this area, the Iron Age excavations and reserves over in this area, as you go of an aerial view in the direction to Beth Shemesh along the highway. And so I thank God, the house of Son. God, all of a sudden, showed how people are to enter His presence. They're to approach Him through the substitute sacrifice and to honor Him as holy. And so I thank God as we get into that. The Bible says in verse 13, And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes, and they saw the ark, and they rejoiced to see it. Let me stop right there. There was a problem though. When the Philistines sent the ark on the cart, telling the cows where to go, nobody covered up that ark. You see, nobody's supposed to look at that ark. Nobody's supposed to touch that ark. But they were not supposed to look at it either. It should have had a cover over it. And so, just giving you that heads up, let's continue on. And the cart came into the field of Joshua. I'll show you some aerial views of that in a minute. Of Beth Shemite. And stood there, where there was a great stone. And they claimed the wood of the cart and offered the kind of burnt offering unto the Lord. The cow. And so, they bring it to a new cart with an offering unto Beth Shemesh. Can you imagine? So, The thing is, they take it, they bust that up, they do an offering, a burnt offering unto the Lord, and they claim the wood of the cart of the other one, they tear it up, and so We look and realize that all of a sudden they're getting everything ready as they come out of their fields and God leads the card into an interesting place in the field of Joshua. In this field is a place of reconciliation that was started right there. This field was a dedication of a burnt offering. This field of Joshua also showed the disobedience and the judgment as we see. And so it just happens that the word Joshua in the Old Testament is another word for Jesus. It means the Lord is salvation. So they roll into Beth Shemesh, into the land of Joshua, which means Jesus, and it's stopped by big rockets out there. Man, ain't the story getting good? In Jesus Christ, there's reconciliation. There's forgiveness. There's salvation. Notice the Ark was set upon a solid rock. Christ is the solid rock of the church. Christianity is built upon Jesus Christ. The Ark is like an arrow pointing to Jesus and Joshua. The burnt offering that God's people offered indicated that the people wanted to start over again. The burnt offering was the offering that signified the total dedication of the person. And in grace and mercy, the Lord accepts their offering, even though they did not follow directions. Notice, I gave you a heads up a while ago. They offered female cows. A male cow was what was supposed to be offered. Their hearts were right with the Lord at this point. The house of the Son. Here's another aerial view of this whole thing. The field of Joshua the Beth Shemesh. Man, this is a big area. Here, there was a large stone that was out there in the area of Beth Shemesh, Beth Shemite. And so it goes on, it says, And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the scoffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offering and sacrifices the same day unto the Lord. Amen. It goes on, the men of Beth-shemesh There they are. They're out reaping their harvests with the wheat. The Levites, they sacrificed the cows for a burnt offering, but somehow they desecrated the ark for the Lord was angry with them. Why? Because they did not cover up the ark and they looked in there. And that is wrong. He smoked the men of Beth Shemesh because It says 50,000 and three score, 10 men. So, man, that's a lot of people that died. I don't know how that could happen, because if they lined up, I don't believe that 50,000 line up and keep seeing somebody die. But how that occurred, whether it must have been at different times, I don't know how to explain that. Maybe one of these days the archaeology will be able to explain that. But the art was taken. the Kirith Gerium, a place in the house of by one of the priests of the name of Abinadab and his son Eliezer was assigned to the task of safeguarding and the Ark rested there for 20 years in that location. That's a giveaway. And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. And these are the golden emrods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering of the Lord for Ashdod won, for Gaza won, for Ashtalon won, for Gath won, for Ekron won. You see, I showed you all those five points on the map, what all of these were. And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines' five I'm going to tell you. You know, curiosity killed the cat. Every one of us realize that, you know, curiosity can kill the cat. And as we go into a time of trouble to begin to remember how that happens, each and every one of us can have a different kind of curiosity, amen. And it's sad because All of us, as we try to look at something out of curiosity, what kind of curiosity do you have? Sometimes you can have a dangerous curiosity, and that dangerous curiosity will get you killed because the angels are curious about the gospel and salvation. God has made us a curious people as well. And just as our sight, our hearing, our smell, our touch can be used for what is good and our abilities, I'm glad that this same holds true for our curiosity. It can create a thirst in us to learn more about the word of God if we've got the right kind of curiosity, but there can also be a dangerous curiosity. And in that dangerous curiosity, God has established boundaries in that situation that we don't cross those boundaries. and only Moses was to come into the presence. That was God's plan, but anyone who would cross that boundary would pay for it with their lives, according to Exodus chapter 19. Curiosity about drugs, and alcohol, and premarital sex, and adultery, and pornography, and the occult, et cetera, is a dangerous curiosity. Yeah, curiosity killed the cat. I wonder, do you got nine lives to spare? I don't think so. And so there's different types of activities that can entrap, that can enslave, that can eradicate a person's life with addictions, with afflictions, with accidents, that can leave you marred and scarred for life for the rest of your life. Man, we're not to be curious about that which is evil or forbidden. We're not to yearn or crave that which is evil. Romans 16, 19, for your obedience has come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf, but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil. You see, a curiosity for the bid was demonstrated by Adam and Eve, and it got them in trouble. I'm going to tell you, not only is there a dangerous curiosity, there can be a distant curiosity. The Levite was curious about the man that had been robbed, beaten, and bloodied to the point that he looked upon him, but his curiosity resulted in indifference and apathy. He didn't want to get involved. And so, it's sad that each and everyone, the Lord had been taken into custody and Peter was in fear, following afar off to see what would become of him. Don't be too harsh on him because most of us Christians wouldn't even have followed that close to see what had become of the Lord. Hey, because we've got a curiosity. We wouldn't even have done what Peter done. So we better not give Peter a bad rampage, man. But you have that distant curiosity. Well, I'm going to tell you, every one of us also got that curiosity that dissatisfies of a curiosity. King Herod for a long time was curious about Jesus. He now, he stands before Herod in Luke 9, verse 9, on the verge of his crucifixion, and he was hoping to see something miraculous Herod was, King Herod. He questioned the Lord, who was falsely accused of Christ, but the Lord answers, not a word in his defense. His curiosity was dissatisfied because the Lord knew what was in Herod's heart. He was not searching for a savior. He was looking for a show. He was looking for a spectacle. Even today, people continue their search for their peace and their satisfaction, and they're looking for something miraculous. Oh, God. Oh, Zen, and that, oh, and hug a tree, and all this, oh, get down and meditate, and all that other junk. Listen, I'm gonna tell you like it is, but when you found the peace of Jesus Christ, you felt something. I'm going to tell you, there is that dissatisfied curiosity. There's a dominant curiosity as well. A dominant curiosity is what I call a very powerful curiosity. It draws you like a powerful magnet to an event, to a person, to a crowd of people, a man. It's so strong that you've got to see what's happening. You've got to see what's going on. You've got to go to that person, amen, because you've got a dominant curiosity, amen. And all of a sudden, as Lazarus was out there, amen, Lazarus' life was changed as he went forth from death to life again. People will be curious about you. when they see a change that Christ makes in your life, as you too have gone from a spiritual death to eternal life. The changed life of the Samaritan woman at the well, he drew a crowd, come see a man that told me all things, amen. He done been married, she was living with five, been with five men living with a man then at the time. Boy, the crowds, the Lord restored to somebody physical sight and spiritual sight. and the lives were changed because the man was day in, day out at the gate. Boy, I'm gonna tell you, amazing thing. But I'm glad that there's that good old down-home curiosity because the down-home curiosity is very simple. Everyday curiosity into things of life. God could take our curiosity over the little insignificant matters, hallelujah, and make something significant out of it. Praise the mighty name of Jesus. Amen? God used the simple down-home curiosity and the life of Moses to bring about the miraculous deliverance of an entire nation and the utter defeat of a world power. The first instance is when Moses was a baby floating in the Nile River. Pharaoh had ordered the death of all the Hebrew babies. and the mother of Moses committed him to the Lord and put him in an ark trusting the Lord to save him and God uses the down-home curiosity of a princess to come along and get in a bath out in the Nile and all of a sudden she sees that baby and man she's hooked, line and sinker. She wants that baby. That baby's gonna be hers to save Moses's life and all of a sudden go find me Miriam's daughter was right there She said go find me a nursing mother Why who do you think Miriam's gonna go get but her own mother the nurse her own son? God has a down-home curiosity man Praise the mighty name of Jesus. Boy, Moses is out in the desert and curiosity aroused when a bush catches on fire, but it's not consumed. Oh man, Moses says, I got me some down-home curiosity here. Man, let's go see what's going on over there. I ain't never saw nothing like this. While the bush is on fire, but it's not consumed. It's not being burned, praise God. Moses' curiosity pointed him to the Lord. And our curiosity about life and God's creation brings us back to the Lord as well, that we can meet. There's that desirable curiosity. That's the kind that gives us a thirst. That's the kind that gives us a hunger to know what is good, what is truthful, what is healthy, what is helpful, praise God. It's the kind of curiosity that motivates a person to want to know God, The mighty all-living God, hallelujah. That's the kind of curse that'll lead people to hear, to see John the Baptist preach, hey man. The desire for curiosity that drew Zacchaeus, that he got up into a tree and he looked, he wanted to see Jesus. Boy, I thank God every one of us today. But there's another kind of curiosity, a curiosity about the wonder of God. I'm glad that as Zach Giss saw the Lord, he sought the Lord, he ought to seek Him too. He had a thirst to know Him. I'm glad there was a curiosity about the Word of God. Hallelujah! Because after I had the wonder of God, when I tell you the convicting power knocked upon my heart in 1972, the month of September, praise God, curiosity about the Word of God began to come. We ought to get curious about knowing the Word of God. and the attitude that we have to go with it, praise God. And so every one of us as people today wait to see if God's word will be fulfilled in Bible prophecy, the second coming of Christ. They're curious if there's anything to this matter of salvation in Jesus Christ. People are watching right now. They're watching you. They're curious. Boy, a cat, curiosity killed the cat. What else? Curious about the will of God, amen. I thank God, every one of us. Do you wanna know God's will for your life? Boy, you got some curiosity in you, but you better get the right curiosity. Curiosity about the warmth and the love of God as well, praise God. I'm gonna tell you, the love of Christ will not only give you security, it will give you peace. It will give you the love for others. Are you curious about knowing the Lord in your life? One of the reasons that he made us this way, that we would seek him out, God helped us to be curious about him. And so I thank God, each and every one of us, when we go through life today, we begin to realize that, as he said, God has established boundaries in these situations that were not to cross. Only Moses was to come into this presence. If you cross that boundary, you would die. The same with the Ark of the Covenant, amen. And he smoked the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the Ark, I told you earlier, of the Lord. Even he smoked of the people 50,000 and three score and 10 men. And the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great laughter, a slaughter, excuse me. He said, man, it just got home. It got out of the hands of the enemy, yes. And it didn't have a covering on it. And so the cows, God began to tell them where to go. I'm glad when we look as it struck down the people of 70 men and the people that mourned. Well, I'm gonna tell you, the house of the Son, as we look at Beth Shemes, we continue reading, and the men of Beth Shemes said, who is able to stand before this holy Lord God, and to whom shall he go up from us? They said, man, we need to send this on somewhere else. We need to be able to get it on where it needs to go. And so I thank God, each and every one of us, as the Lord is sovereign and powerful in everything that he does, amen, that we give into account that he's doing everything that we need in our lives today, amen. And so during this time of festivities that was taking place, I believe that that rock was that monument, that great book of Samuel that was written, amen, that field of Joshua that this went out into, amen. But I thank God during that time, many of the Israelites, they were honoring the Lord, amen. And so as this was transpiring, all this death that began to take place, it's sad to realize that The request of the Granite Ark was to move to Kirith-Jerim. And that's the next location that the Ark is going to go in. People must approach God just as He dictates. and he alone is the Lord. And therefore, he alone has the right to dictate how he's to be approached. God's holiness sets him apart as distinct, different from all other creatures throughout the universe. God dwells in perfection. He lives in perfect holiness, righteousness, and purity. He is the very embodiment of perfection and holiness. And therefore, when God says that he must be approached through the substitute sacrifice, and be honored as a holy person that approaches God, as he says, through sacrifice. We've got to be able to do that very thing. And so through that approach, that's what began to take the lives of these ones that were there, amen. And it's sad that that happened. And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirajoth-Jerim, saying, the Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord. Come ye down and fetch it up to you. In other words, get it out of here because it's going to kill some folks, amen. And so here, we see that of the locations, first of all, Beth Shemesh. This, the House of the Sun, the Temple of the Sun in Hebrew, this is where it got to from Ekron of the Philistines. It's going toward Jerusalem to Kairith Jirim, the Arabic of Deir Ezzar, of the Arab tongue. It'll be going here, from here, they're sending it here. And I'm glad that as we look at all of the locations. It goes on that Samuel leads Israel to repentance, a callful confession, and total commitment to the Lord, amen. I'm glad that in our time that as we look, a callful confession and total commitment to the Lord, and the men of Kharith-Jerim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill and sanctified Eliezer, his son, to keep the ark of the Lord. Remember, it stayed there 20 years, all through the time of Samuel's battles, and it did not leave there until David came on the scene as a king. And David, after that 20 years, took it out of the house of this location, of Abinadab. And so I thank God the cows were on the move again. God was telling the cows where to go, praise God. And so I thank God as we look and realize, again, the house of the son, the road to Beth Shemesh here. And so it came to pass while the ark abode in Kiriath-Jerim, that the time was long for it was 20 years and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Here in this area close to this is the tomb of Samson and Manoah at Zorith. This is close in the same area that this is. Zoran, here, is this area. Everything that we've been talking about, the land that was taken by the Philistines is in this yellow area. Here, Geh, Ekron. We see Eltika, Ashdod, okay, all of these were the five areas in the areas of the Philistines area, but this was the land that was retaken over, but here that tomb of Samson is in Zorah right in this area as well. And I thank God. 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 Ashtoreth 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. Samuel was the bridge builder that began to get things back on track for them. Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Ashtoreth, and served the Lord only. Praise the mighty name of Jesus and Samuel said gather all Israel to misfit This is what the battle is going to take place for tonight of the battles in the Bible the battle at misfit And I will pray for you unto the Lord. I'm glad we look at misfit Mispis was the place that Samuel would always end up at, that he would judge the people and come to, amen. And so I thank God as we look. Here, Samuel said, gather all the Israel at Mispis, and I will pray to Yahweh, to God, for y'all. And so here was that area, in that area. Notice how big, how tall this wall was here. Here's a man standing here. And they gathered together to Mishpath 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 Mishpath. I'm glad that here they repented at Mishpath. That they were able to go forward. But as Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mishpath and all of these rocks and all in this area of the summit of Mishpath to this day. This is actual photos. battle at Mispas we go on a little bit further because Samuel stirred the Israelites to a defeat the Philistines at this battle that they were not trying to be a part of but because they were gathering to worship and to pray and to confess and to repent that the Philistines were following close behind and they thought that they were gathering an army to attack them where they come to attack them and that's the story and but Through victory and deliverance from bondage, it all happened through the prayer, the powerful prayer of Samuel that he began to pray when they were assembled at Mishpah. And when the battle underwent, God began to whoop them. And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mishpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. You see, they thought they were gathering to attack them. They weren't. They didn't even have an army they could do that. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines because they were gathering to do worship and make a peace and repent according to what Samuel was calling them to do. 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. And I'm glad. And Samuel took a suckling 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. Thank you, Jesus. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, where the battle at Mizpah comes in. They're bringing the battle to Israel. But the Lord, listen, I underlined it, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and disconfited them and they were smitten before Israel. That's the power of prayer. When was the last time you prayed with a power like that? That God would win, He would consume, He would overdo whatever sickness and whatever catastrophe was in your way, in your marriage and in your home. He thundered with a great thunder. And when He did that, the battle of Mishpeth was won. God's glory thunders. I thank God we look at Mishpeth where they were gathered. Here, the Philistine attack from Beth-Horon coming from the ridge on down into Mishpeth to attack them. Here's Gabion right in here over aerial view of this. And as they come into here to meet for the attack, all of a sudden God thundered. And oh, and the men of Israel went out amidst them and pursued the Philistines and smoked them until they came unto Beth-char. They gathered what little bit of weapons they had. They didn't come prepared for battle. They came to worship and to repent as Samuel called all of them to do. But God gave them the victory through the power of Samuel's prayer. Boy. We see, Mithpat, the Israelites from this point pursue in. The battle occurs here with the Philistines coming in from Beth-horon, and here the retreat takes place and they start coming back this way toward Beth-horon Ridge. That's Mithpat. And then the Beth-horon lower, upper Beth-horon, And then, as we look, as they're trying to retreat, then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mishpath and Shin, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. The Ebenezer Stone. And so the Philistines were subdued. They came no more into the coast of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel from Ekron, even Undegad. Those yellow places that I showed you on the map. And the coast there did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. winning the battles through prayer. The backbone of the Philistine army as a major power was broken during Samuel's leadership and judgeship in 13. The territory formerly conquered by the Philistine army was regained and included the city stretching from Ekron to Gath and the power of Israel struck fear in the surrounding Amorite nations, the Canaanites, so much fear that they sought and made peace with Israel. Here, again, is that area that was retaken. Ekron, Gad. And so, look at all of this area they regained. Man, Samuel closed the era of the judges and launched the era of the kings. A lesson of faithfulness. And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, to Gilgal, and to Mismath, and judged Israel in all of those places. And here, is that area from that that he circled around to do his judging for those length of time in Ramah. And his return was to Ramah for there was his house and there he judged Israel and there he built an altar unto the Lord. Well, I'm glad. Telling the cows where to go. Every one of us today, we all need to trust the Lord in our life and all the things that we do each and every day. Jesus Christ is our Ebenezer. He takes us from the pit of sin and he sets on a sure foundation every one of us, Amen. He shows us how the Lord takes us from a pit to having a purpose and being productive, Amen. And so Israel had been under attack before. They had suffered two defeats. The third battle was fought in the hearts of the people against Satan, and Satan lost. But in the first two battles, the people were not yielded to the Lord, and they were not praying for His direction. And they were depending on a piece of furniture to give them victory, the Ark of the Covenant. Now they're relying upon the Lord, and they're victorious. David put it this way, the Lord is my shepherd. and I shall not want. The Philistines are subdued, and Israel is at peace. The Bible says in Proverbs, when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. The cities of the Philistines had taken were restored back to Israel. God can restore what sin and Satan has taken from you and destroyed in your life. Joel put it another way, in Joel chapter two, verse 25, in closing, and I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, and the canker worm, and the caterpillar, and the pommel worm, my great army which I sent among you. When the fir begins to fly, the Lord can bring peace and calm into your life. I hope and pray that you have made the Lord the Ebenezer Stone of your life, that you can use him for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ. Each and every one of us have so much to be thankful for tonight. that we're a part of the family of God. God has given us a tremendous victory on the cross of Calvary. And so I thank God. Just as Samuel prayed and victory was given over the Philistines, so a triumphant life of victory, deliverance, and salvation comes through prayer. It's God that delivers us and gives us victory. And I'm glad over our enemies that confront us and that try to attempt to defeat us. Throughout life, enemy after enemy is going to attack your family. Enemies such as people that slander, assault, that trap, that try to bond and enslave you and hurt you with pain and suffering. All of that, that is going to come upon you. Death, disease, all of the kinds of enemies that attack us during life. In addition to people, there are other enemies in this old corruptible world. There are enemies such as germs and diseases and drugs and alcohol and tobacco. There's cravings of the flesh that enslave us as adultery. and breaks up families and causes pain and suffering. There are innumerable enemies that seek to destroy us as we walk throughout our life and the way of conquest. Victory over the enemies of life comes through the power of prayer. God and God alone can deliver and save you and your family from defeat. A life of enslavement to the flesh and the ways of this world. If we crave deliverance, prayer will arouse God to hear. and to save us. God will hear prayer. I'm so glad that he will ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. I'm glad that each and every one of us as we go through life tonight that we can look for the Lord. The Lord can give us something that no one else can and I'm glad that as we look for that that God knows exactly what it is that we need when we need it. God is the great provider for all of us if we would just look to him during that time and that hour that he does this. Let's pray as we close out the night because God is so sovereign and so powerful that he can tell the cows where they need to go and he can direct our path as well. Father, thank you so much tonight. We close out. with the power of almighty God, intervene into that individual. They want salvation right now tonight. They want to come back into the fellowship of God tonight. Lord, I pray for that individual. I pray for that one that's hurting, that's out. like on their own with no peace and no mercy and grace. God will bestill that upon them. God will give them strength, courage, and faith to overcome the fear. Thank you, Father, for taking us into your life and your family and forgiving us of our many sins. Now bless those tonight that are listening to the mighty word of God. The God that can tell the cows where to go and He can tell them where to go as well. They can come right into His very presence. By whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. In Jesus Christ we pray tonight. Amen.