July 29, 2025 • 25 mins
In this episode, Brody unpacks the importance of remembering God's faithfulness by looking at the story in 1 Samuel—when he raised a stone of remembrance after God delivered Israel. That moment, and the phrase “Here I raise my Ebenezer,” challenges us to mark the moments God shows up in our lives.
Brody shares personal examples, including how Snowbird’s North Campus became a reminder of God’s provision, and reads a heartfelt letter to the SWO summer staff as they wrap up a powerful summer of ministry. He also shares encouraging feedback from readers of his new book No Sanity Required. This episode is a call to reflect, remember, and keep pressing forward in faith.
1 Samuel
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we're going into week 10 of our summer camp
here at SWO.
Swo 25 is going to wrap up thisweek and I'm actually recording
this on Monday morning of week10.
And I'm going to be sharinghere in a couple of hours with
our staff.
We meet, as most of you know,on Mondays and we just worship
(00:20):
together.
It's usually very brief and Ishare just a word of
encouragement from thescriptures.
But this last Monday I'm goingto share some things that I
thought I'd bring y'all alongand just give you my thoughts
before I go share this with thestaff, because I think it is
something that serves as anencouragement to all believers.
(00:40):
So this morning, or this weekrather, we're going to go beyond
the flannel graph and we'regoing to consider some lessons
from the early ministry and lifeof the great prophet Samuel and
we're going to hopefully beencouraged by that, and so I
want to share this to our staff,but I also want to share it
with y'all and I guess this iskind of a warm-up run before I
(01:04):
go out and share with our stafflater today.
So I'm looking forward to that,but for now I'm looking forward
to just sharing my heart and mythoughts with y'all and
hopefully this will be somethingthat will encourage and
motivate you in your own walkwith Christ this week.
So welcome to no SanityRequired.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of
Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters.
A podcast about the Bible,culture and stories from around
the globe.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I've written a letter to our staff and I want to read
that to you at some point inthis episode, and I plan to.
But first let me share with youthe passage of Scripture.
It's not a passage that I canshare all of and it's four or
five chapters.
But let me tell you the storyof what I want to share from and
where this comes from.
There's a line in a song.
(01:55):
The line is something to theeffect of here I raise my
Ebenezer, or now I raise myEbenezer.
It's a.
It's an old hymn and you mightbe familiar with it.
Uh, it's a hymn from.
Uh.
The song is called come thyfount, and the hymn writer's
name was Robert Robinson.
He wrote it in the seven 1750s.
(02:16):
But in the second line he hewrites here I raised my Ebenezer
, and it's one of those wordsthat you hear and probably for a
lot of people you don't knowwhy we sing that and what it
means and what's thesignificance of this word.
So I want to share it with you.
It comes from for this hymnwriter, robert Robinson.
(02:36):
It's part of his personaltestimony, but where it comes
from is in the story of the Arkof the Covenant and the early
ministry of Israel at the timeof the kings.
This is the transition periodwhere Israel has been ruled by
judges.
Samuel is the final judge andunder Samuel's judgeship, israel
(03:00):
will demand a king and Samuelwill then anoint and install
that first king, whose name willbe Saul.
But at the time that 1 Samuel,the book starts in fact it
starts before Samuel is born andit goes through his early life
and at that time there's a lotgoing on in Israel, and one of
(03:20):
the things that is going on thatreally stands out and gets our
attention is that theirleadership, the spiritual
leadership, the priests ofIsrael, are not faithful to the
Lord.
There's one priest whose nameis Eli, and Eli has been
faithful in times past, but he'sraised two sons who are now not
faithful.
They're very unfaithful.
(03:41):
These men remind us of so manypastors and ministry leaders in
our day that are using theplatform God's given them for
selfish gain.
They're using it for sexualgain, for monetary or material
gain.
They're using it for selfishreasons, and that's what Eli's
sons are doing, and Godeventually brings judgment on
(04:01):
Israel, and the way that thisjudgment comes in 1 Samuel,
beginning about chapter 4, Ibelieve beginning in chapter 4,
is that Israel goes into thisbattle with the Philistines and
Israel's getting whipped andthey're losing the battle.
So they go and they get the Arkof the Covenant, which the
significance of the Ark of theCovenant, which the significance
(04:24):
of the Ark of the Covenant wassort of multifaceted, but
primarily it represented thepresence of the glory of God in
the life of the Israelites.
And so they bring the Ark tothe battlefield and it's as if
it were some sort of magicalobject that is just going to.
If they bring this up here andmarch it out in front of the
(04:46):
enemy, the enemy will fall overdead, and that's not what
happens at all.
In fact, israel is destroyed inthis battle.
They lose thousands, tens ofthousands of soldiers die and
the ark is actually captured.
And so there's a really goodlesson there that it's an honor
(05:07):
and a blessing to have theprovision and protection of God
on our lives, and his presencein our lives is a great gift,
but he's not like a genie in abottle.
It's an important principle.
And so the Philistines capturethe Ark and then they take it to
one of their cities.
Now this is where the story getsinteresting.
They take it to one of theircities.
They put it in the temple ofone of their pagan deities, this
(05:30):
god named Dagon, which I thinkis the primary deity of the
Philistine people.
They put the Ark beside thisstatue to Dagon, this idol, and
then what happens is that idolfalls down face, first before
the ark, and this happens acouple of times.
Eventually it's broken, in factit's broken, and the hands,
(05:54):
like it's, dismembered, thehands they come off of it, these
people.
What would happen is they'dcome in in the morning and this
thing would be turned overbefore the ark of the Lord.
And so God, you know, know,there's a sort of a really
strong perspective of, eventhough god allowed israel to be
defeated, and it seems as if hisglory is being defiled, god's
(06:15):
glory is never defiled.
So even in defeat, he preserveshis glory, he defends it
sovereignly, and so he uses the,the Philistines, to bring
judgment on the Israelites, butthen he judges the Philistines
for jacking around with the ark.
So they, and they move the arkaround from city to city, place
to place, and it's just more ofthe same continues to happen.
(06:35):
People get tumors and theybreak out in different types of
disease, and there's a, there'sa, there's a lot of there's.
There's, you know, a lot ofconsequence to even being in the
presence of the ark plagues anddisease.
And so, as God is defending hisglory, even in exile, the
Philistines decide, inconsulting with their own
(06:57):
priests, they decide we've gotto return this thing.
And so they return the ark andthey come up with their own
version of guilt offerings totry to appease Israel's God.
They don't know much aboutYahweh, but they know we better,
we better appease this God.
And so they go through thiswhole process.
They get this certain types ofcows, and then they make these
little idols and they offer them.
(07:19):
They put the Ark on this cartand so they bring the, they
bring, bring the ark.
They set the cows loose and thecows walk the ark back to
israel.
And then, when it gets there,it's a crazy little twist
israelites look at the ark and Ithink about 70 people look into
the ark and then they die.
(07:40):
So again, god is emphasizing hisglory.
Don't jack around with my glory.
So God's absolute holiness isof utmost importance in the
story.
So we were reminded of the, thecritical nature of how reverent
worship of Yahweh needs to be.
And so, uh, god's covenant,people are not exempt from the
(08:02):
same type judgment that thepagan people have endured if
they don't take God's gloryserious.
So in chapter seven, samuel,who's the prophet?
He leads the people of Israelinto like a revival of
repentance.
He calls them to return to theLord, to turn back to God.
(08:22):
They put away their foreigngods and Samuel intercedes for
them.
And then in that chapter, thePhilistines attack.
But there's a, there's a greatdefeat, and it's clear that that
defeat is from the Lord.
It's not from the Israelitesown ability.
God delivers them.
And so there's a place calledEbenezer and Samuel raises up a
stone at that place.
It's a, basically it's a stonemonument.
(08:45):
And Ebenezer and Samuel raisesup a stone at that place.
It's basically it's a stonemonument, and Ebenezer means
stone of help.
It's as if he's saying that theLord has helped us to this
point.
We are here because God hashelped us.
The Lord is the one.
Who's who's helped us, who'sestablished us.
For Samuel, chapter seven, verse12, samuel took a large stone
and placed it between the townsof Mizpah and Jeshanna.
He named it Ebenezer, whichmeans the stone of help.
(09:07):
For he said up to this point,yahweh has helped us.
And the point in that moment isthat in repentance, the people
turn to God.
Salvation doesn't just comethrough.
You know the fact that you'rean Israelite or that you
practice certain rituals, butyou're reminded that it is an
(09:29):
act of God's sovereign gracethat we receive salvation and
he's the one that delivers us.
And so I want to challenge this.
You know our listeners thisweek and I've been challenged by
this.
I want to challenge our staffat SWO that in our own lives we
need these sort of Ebenezer,these symbols of God's
faithfulness.
(09:49):
I don't know what that lookslike for you.
Some people you know might writecertain verses that have meant
a lot to them in times ofdeliverance and put those on the
wall of their study or theirroom or their living room, over
the mantelel, over the kitchentable.
Some people get tattoos.
Some people um, I know, somepeople have literal stones.
(10:11):
I remember years ago we had ourstaff all pick a stone, a rock,
and we carried it to the top ofthe mountain at snowbird, a
place we call swofast, and weput those rocks up.
There's raised up our Ebenezer,but it's just basically a
symbol of God's faithfulnessthat reminds us.
One commentator wrote thisEbenezer is a monument to
(10:32):
sovereign grace.
Israel had no strength of theirown.
They had just repented, that'sall.
Yet God helped them.
God's sustaining grace isemphasized in the past, giving
hope for the future.
It echoes the doctrine of theperseverance of the saints.
He's talking about the raisingof this stone.
God, who has helped, willcontinue to help.
And so in your life, I don'tknow maybe there's something
(10:58):
that you might want to do thisweek.
Maybe it's write something onyour hand that every day you
look to and remember, refreshed,you know, with new ink every
day, and you're reminded of thatverse for the week, or you
remember you commit it to memory, but there need to be these
things in our lives, that arethese monumental moments where
we're reminded of God'sdeliverance.
I know for me, every time Idrive on the North campus I'm
reminded of God's sovereignty inthe preservation and
(11:21):
advancement of this ministryduring during the COVID-19
pandemic, which was crazy.
But God not only preserved us,but he grew us.
And so I feel like every time Idrive down the four lane on the
bypass in Andrews, northCarolina, and I look over and
see Snowbirds North campus, I'mreminded of God's faithfulness,
his sovereignty, the idea thatGod's will prevails, whether
(11:42):
it's through judgment or mercy.
Sometimes God's faithfulness,his sovereignty, the idea that
God's will prevails, whetherit's through judgment or mercy.
Sometimes God's will isperfected through judgment, like
we saw with the Philistines andeven with some of the
Israelites, and well, all of theIsraelites.
In the story we see thejudgment of God as an, as an
outworking of his sovereignty,but then we see the mercy of God
, where he preserves his people.
Ultimately, we see the holinessof God.
(12:04):
We recognize that God is holyand that that holiness is
something that we should weshould fear and tremble in light
of.
But then also we see that Godis a God who restores.
He restores those that haveturned away, fallen away, have
walked away, and it's wonderful,um, it's wonderful to know that
we serve a God who islong-suffering, long-suffering,
(12:27):
impatient.
And so God's means of grace forus might be different from day
to day.
It might be different for youin the season of life that
you're in or the situationyou're in, but in your life I
wonder what might be yourEbenezer.
You're in, but in your life Iwonder what might be your
Ebenezer.
Do you have an Ebenezer momentyou can look to?
Um, I know that most of us do.
I certainly do.
(12:48):
I have many of those.
So, sharing those thoughts withour staff, I want to read to you
a letter that I've written tothe SWO 25 staff.
To finish and this week'sepisode is going to be a little
shorter, if you'll bear with uswe're wrapping up our summer and
we'll be back next week in thesaddle with some longer form
type content, but hopefully thiswill be a very encouraging
(13:13):
episode for you as we wind downthe summer.
So here's a letter to the SWOstaff that I plan to read this
week To the SWO 25 staff.
This includes everyone whoworked at SWO in any department
this year.
It's hard to believe that weare down to one final week.
I can honestly say, afterworking and serving alongside of
y'all for these last 11 weeks,that of all the summer staffs I
(13:36):
have worked with and it's a lot,31 to be exact of all of those
summer staffs y'all are one ofthem.
It's really been amazing thissummer, and it's crazy when I
think back almost 30 years towalk in this property and
praying for those the lord wouldsend to do the work.
(13:56):
The work that is being done in2025 was prayed over in 1997,
1998, my favorite, 1999.
As we walked in the new year.
That year, also known as y2k,we're walking the property and
praying.
None of y'all were even bornthen.
Well, it's not true.
Carter was born in may, havehad a driver's license, probably
already had a mustache.
For those of you listening tonsr carter's uh gown staff, he's
(14:18):
a.
He's a few years old, he's like26, he's a little older, but he
gets picked on all the time forbeing the old man.
So inside joke there.
But most of y'all were not bornthen.
Little's grandmother, charlene,walked the property and prayed
over it in the 1960s.
We began walking and prayingover that same property in the
1990s and I genuinely and trulybelieve that y'all are an answer
(14:39):
to that prayer.
The Lord impressed on your heartto come and serve at SWO and
you responded to that call.
You answered that call.
You set aside a summer when youcould have done so many other
things, could have pursued somany other things.
You could have served wonderfulnumber one combos at
Chick-fil-A, snow cones atPelican Snowballs, or you could
have gone on vacations with yourfamily.
(15:01):
A lot of options, a lot ofoptions.
And yet you chose to be here.
You came here, you took a seatin the galley of this ship that
is on a voyage and a missionthrough the choppy and
tumultuous cultural waters ofyour generation and you put your
hands to an oar and you beganto row.
It's not a cruise ship, it's abattleship, it's a mercy ship.
(15:22):
It's engaging the darkness torescue the souls of those who
are lost and dying.
It's a lifeboat that is caringfor those who have been pulled
from the icy waters of abuse,broken families, addiction and
simple and immature, childlikeapathy towards the things of God
.
You've all done your part onthis mission.
It hasn't been without conflictand there have been some tense
(15:43):
moments.
Hopefully all of the grown menin the room have learned
valuable lessons about what'sappropriate and what's not
appropriate physical contactwith other men.
That's an inside joke, by theway Just as we knew they would.
The days have been long, butthe weeks have gone quickly.
At times ministry feelsoverwhelming and at other times
it seems to be flying by, andit's easy to stand here and look
(16:04):
back wondering where the dayswent and how we got to where we
are.
But I'm so thankful that, whilewe have not been perfect, we
have been faithful.
We've all taken part insomething bigger than ourselves
and we've learned lessons thatwill shape and inform the rest
of our lives.
The testimonies of sons anddaughters brought into the
family of God, adopted as heirsand co-heirs with Christ, will
(16:26):
fill our memories and motivateour steps in the months ahead.
We can trust that the word ofGod never returns void and as it
has been proclaimed from thestage and in share groups and on
bus rides and in early morningconversations over coffee and
over the word, neither will itreturn void in our mission of
SWO 25.
It's a mission that woulddeclare the glory of God for the
(16:48):
good of his people.
I've kept the screenshot ofevery text I've received
informing me of another studentwho had professed faith in Jesus
.
I look back on those in longand dark days of winter or the
long and dark seasons ofministry that we all encounter
and go through in our lives, andI'll find encouragement.
They will be to me a type ofEbenezer.
I'm grateful.
(17:08):
We will turn our attentionrespectively to the various and
varying tasks that God iscalling all of us to as we go in
a couple hundred directions.
Next week let's go realizing andrecognizing what it's like to
be a part of a team whereeveryone puts their hand to the
plow and labors together for aprize that will not tarnish,
perish or fade.
There's great power, efficiencyand efficacy when God's people
(17:32):
unite together inlike-mindedness and on mission
to make Christ known and to workso that his glory may fill the
earth and our days on the earth.
There are no perfect churches,no perfect ministries, and
that's because there are noperfect people.
But when imperfect people trustin the call of a perfect and
glorious God and surrender tothat call, great and mighty
(17:53):
works are accomplished.
And here we have seen great andmighty things accomplished over
these past three months, andthere's more to come.
We're not finished.
There's yet work to be done.
As we enter into our 10th andfinal week of ministry, we do so
realizing that in all reality.
This is week one, so let's putour hand to the plow.
Let's look forward, not back.
Don't be a chump, don't be apunk, don't take days, hours or
(18:17):
even minutes off.
If you do, you just might getkilled by a lion.
The gospel in this calling isfoolishness and folly to those
who are perishing.
In the world's eyes, the typeof calling we've embraced is
foolishness, but thanks be toGod, the foolishness of the
world is brought low in light ofthe wisdom of the gospel of
Jesus.
As Paul said, if we are fools,we are fools for Christ's sake.
The sanity and wisdom of theworld is not required for
(18:40):
carrying out the mission thatJesus left us with.
We've tasted and seen that theLord is good, but let's be
reminded there is yet much workto be done in each of our lives.
And as long as we have breath,let's grip the plow, hold fast
to the sword of the spirit,which is the word of God, expose
the darkness, fight for thesouls of men, minister the
(19:01):
healing love of Jesus to thosewho are hurting and let's
ultimately advance the gospel ofJesus.
I love you all and I'm thankfulfor you and proud of you.
Plow on Brody.
So there's a message I'll besharing today with our staff by
the time this episode drops.
We will share that.
And just a final word ofencouragement and gratitude to
(19:22):
them, grateful, and I want tosay to our listeners it's easy
to get caught up in thinkingthat we live in a time and an
era and a day where there's noreal faithful young men and
young women.
But I'm surrounded by themevery day and none of them are
perfect and they're young andthey're immature and they make
stupid mistakes.
But I'm old and mature and Imake stupid mistakes.
(19:44):
And so we're all just in thisthing together, trying to honor
the Lord and be faithful to thecall and he's given us, and I'm
grateful that he would call somany young men and women to come
take part in this and it's anhonor to serve with him and it's
been an honor to ministeralongside of him, so grateful.
So thank you all for yoursupport and for the way you've
(20:07):
followed along, and a reminderthat the book is flying off the
shelves.
I want to close this episode byreading to y'all just some
quotes and some comments on thebook that I think are an
encouragement and that I thinky'all will enjoy hearing.
Let me read a few comments.
Here's one Started and finishedthe book yesterday.
(20:27):
Thank you for writing this.
I'm going to be promoting it toour church so they know exactly
why we choose SWO over everyother camp.
That's from a youth pastornamed Evan who brings his
students about 20 hours, 18maybe from Wisconsin.
So that's pretty cool.
Kevin writes good morning.
Read the book last night,enjoyed it very much.
(20:49):
I could say a lot about howmuch Snowbird has meant to me,
but that would be a long text.
So I will just say I didn'tknow it and she didn't either,
but I was one of the people thatgrandma Coleman was praying for
.
That's a reference to um,something I explained in the
book about a little grandmotherwalking and walking the property
and praying over it.
Man, the book must be greatbecause my son read the whole
(21:12):
thing on the ride back from camptoday.
That boy hates reading.
I can't wait to dive into it.
That's from a buddy named Kyleuh, from Northern Virginia.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I think maybe not.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Northern Virginia, but from Virginia, so that's
pretty cool.
Um, mike writes this.
Hey, brody, I know it's late,but I bought the book.
It came today.
I started it after supper andjust finished it at 1115 PM.
It was good to read all thebackstories about the vision and
origin of SWO.
I have to admit I was a bitemotional over the retelling of
(21:42):
the 2007 year.
Those staff members who losttheir lives worked with our
group.
The church is called Eastviewfrom Rock Hill Baptist Church.
It hit our group, me and mywife very hard.
It's a great read.
Thank you, that's pretty cool.
John says just finished yourbook today.
It was great.
So much to be thankful for.
God did good in putting ittogether.
(22:04):
Of course, also loved your nodrifting NSR this week,
something this old man fightseach day.
Love you, my brother.
Keep the steam.
Thank you, john Appreciate that.
And then Randy writes I saw thatyou wrote a book, so I rode up
(22:24):
to get one.
Okay, so this was last Monday.
At 11 in the morning I saw youwrote a book.
Well, I rode up to get one.
This guy, randy, rode in on hismotorcycle from Atlanta and
then at 10 o'clock that eveninghe wrote finished your book
isn't God good.
I love that.
So phenomenal, phenomenalresponse to the book.
It's so cool just thefaithfulness of the Lord and to
(22:47):
see that he's using the noSanity book.
For those of you that have acopy, let us know what you think
.
For those of you that have notpicked yours up yet, get a copy,
read it and let us know whatyou think.
It really is more than just akind of a how to or a little
story of how snowbird came to be.
It's, there's layers to thisthing, and I think it it's.
It's helping people understandwhy we do what we do the way we
(23:10):
do it, and so please read it.
You can see from those messagesI read it's a super fast read.
People are reading it in just afew hours and, um, and I think
you'll be encouraged by it.
Thank y'all so much.
Please pray as we wrap up ourfinal week here, and then the
staff most of them will beheading out for some much, uh
much needed, much earned, muchdeserved rest.
(23:31):
It's been a phenomenal summer.
Could not be more thankful forthe Lord's faithfulness.
It's just been awesome.
So thank y'all and uh, yeah,look, the next few weeks we'll
be back in the saddle with somelonger form, uh, longer, longer,
a little bit longer episodesand, uh, some, some folks you're
going to be hearing from thatI'm very excited for you to hear
from next week.
If we can get all the editingdone, you will.
(23:53):
I believe JB's about done withit, but you will get to hear
from and see an interview I didwith John, a young man named
John Pollock.
John is a student pastor inAlabama, but he came out of the
Catholic church an awesomeconversion story of how he came
to faith.
But also he sheds, I think,very insightful and helpful
light into the world ofCatholicism and he does so with
(24:16):
a lot of endearment because hisfamily is still there.
He loves those people andunderstands the error in their
doctrine, but but it's not uh,but has a lot of love for the
people that are still there.
So, uh, looking forward to thatepisode next week and um hope
that you guys have an awesomeweek again.
Pray for us that we finishedstrong hand to the plow, no
(24:37):
looking back and that we get itdone this week and that God gets
the glory.
Appreciate you and we'll seeyou next time.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Thanks for listening to no Sanity Required.
Please take a moment tosubscribe and leave a rating.
It really helps.
Visit us at SWOutfitterscom tosee all of our programming and
resources, and we'll see younext week on no Sanity Required.
Well, we're going into week 10 of our summer camp
here at SWO.
Swo 25 is going to wrap up thisweek and I'm actually recording
this on Monday morning of week10.
And I'm going to be sharinghere in a couple of hours with
our staff.
We meet, as most of you know,on Mondays and we just worship
(00:20):
together.
It's usually very brief and Ishare just a word of
encouragement from thescriptures.
But this last Monday I'm goingto share some things that I
thought I'd bring y'all alongand just give you my thoughts
before I go share this with thestaff, because I think it is
something that serves as anencouragement to all believers.
(00:40):
So this morning, or this weekrather, we're going to go beyond
the flannel graph and we'regoing to consider some lessons
from the early ministry and lifeof the great prophet Samuel and
we're going to hopefully beencouraged by that, and so I
want to share this to our staff,but I also want to share it
with y'all and I guess this iskind of a warm-up run before I
(01:04):
go out and share with our stafflater today.
So I'm looking forward to that,but for now I'm looking forward
to just sharing my heart and mythoughts with y'all and
hopefully this will be somethingthat will encourage and
motivate you in your own walkwith Christ this week.
So welcome to no SanityRequired.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of
Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters.
A podcast about the Bible,culture and stories from around
the globe.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I've written a letter to our staff and I want to read
that to you at some point inthis episode, and I plan to.
But first let me share with youthe passage of Scripture.
It's not a passage that I canshare all of and it's four or
five chapters.
But let me tell you the storyof what I want to share from and
where this comes from.
There's a line in a song.
(01:55):
The line is something to theeffect of here I raise my
Ebenezer, or now I raise myEbenezer.
It's a.
It's an old hymn and you mightbe familiar with it.
Uh, it's a hymn from.
Uh.
The song is called come thyfount, and the hymn writer's
name was Robert Robinson.
He wrote it in the seven 1750s.
(02:16):
But in the second line he hewrites here I raised my Ebenezer
, and it's one of those wordsthat you hear and probably for a
lot of people you don't knowwhy we sing that and what it
means and what's thesignificance of this word.
So I want to share it with you.
It comes from for this hymnwriter, robert Robinson.
(02:36):
It's part of his personaltestimony, but where it comes
from is in the story of the Arkof the Covenant and the early
ministry of Israel at the timeof the kings.
This is the transition periodwhere Israel has been ruled by
judges.
Samuel is the final judge andunder Samuel's judgeship, israel
(03:00):
will demand a king and Samuelwill then anoint and install
that first king, whose name willbe Saul.
But at the time that 1 Samuel,the book starts in fact it
starts before Samuel is born andit goes through his early life
and at that time there's a lotgoing on in Israel, and one of
(03:20):
the things that is going on thatreally stands out and gets our
attention is that theirleadership, the spiritual
leadership, the priests ofIsrael, are not faithful to the
Lord.
There's one priest whose nameis Eli, and Eli has been
faithful in times past, but he'sraised two sons who are now not
faithful.
They're very unfaithful.
(03:41):
These men remind us of so manypastors and ministry leaders in
our day that are using theplatform God's given them for
selfish gain.
They're using it for sexualgain, for monetary or material
gain.
They're using it for selfishreasons, and that's what Eli's
sons are doing, and Godeventually brings judgment on
(04:01):
Israel, and the way that thisjudgment comes in 1 Samuel,
beginning about chapter 4, Ibelieve beginning in chapter 4,
is that Israel goes into thisbattle with the Philistines and
Israel's getting whipped andthey're losing the battle.
So they go and they get the Arkof the Covenant, which the
significance of the Ark of theCovenant, which the significance
(04:24):
of the Ark of the Covenant wassort of multifaceted, but
primarily it represented thepresence of the glory of God in
the life of the Israelites.
And so they bring the Ark tothe battlefield and it's as if
it were some sort of magicalobject that is just going to.
If they bring this up here andmarch it out in front of the
(04:46):
enemy, the enemy will fall overdead, and that's not what
happens at all.
In fact, israel is destroyed inthis battle.
They lose thousands, tens ofthousands of soldiers die and
the ark is actually captured.
And so there's a really goodlesson there that it's an honor
(05:07):
and a blessing to have theprovision and protection of God
on our lives, and his presencein our lives is a great gift,
but he's not like a genie in abottle.
It's an important principle.
And so the Philistines capturethe Ark and then they take it to
one of their cities.
Now this is where the story getsinteresting.
They take it to one of theircities.
They put it in the temple ofone of their pagan deities, this
(05:30):
god named Dagon, which I thinkis the primary deity of the
Philistine people.
They put the Ark beside thisstatue to Dagon, this idol, and
then what happens is that idolfalls down face, first before
the ark, and this happens acouple of times.
Eventually it's broken, in factit's broken, and the hands,
(05:54):
like it's, dismembered, thehands they come off of it, these
people.
What would happen is they'dcome in in the morning and this
thing would be turned overbefore the ark of the Lord.
And so God, you know, know,there's a sort of a really
strong perspective of, eventhough god allowed israel to be
defeated, and it seems as if hisglory is being defiled, god's
(06:15):
glory is never defiled.
So even in defeat, he preserveshis glory, he defends it
sovereignly, and so he uses the,the Philistines, to bring
judgment on the Israelites, butthen he judges the Philistines
for jacking around with the ark.
So they, and they move the arkaround from city to city, place
to place, and it's just more ofthe same continues to happen.
(06:35):
People get tumors and theybreak out in different types of
disease, and there's a, there'sa, there's a lot of there's.
There's, you know, a lot ofconsequence to even being in the
presence of the ark plagues anddisease.
And so, as God is defending hisglory, even in exile, the
Philistines decide, inconsulting with their own
(06:57):
priests, they decide we've gotto return this thing.
And so they return the ark andthey come up with their own
version of guilt offerings totry to appease Israel's God.
They don't know much aboutYahweh, but they know we better,
we better appease this God.
And so they go through thiswhole process.
They get this certain types ofcows, and then they make these
little idols and they offer them.
(07:19):
They put the Ark on this cartand so they bring the, they
bring, bring the ark.
They set the cows loose and thecows walk the ark back to
israel.
And then, when it gets there,it's a crazy little twist
israelites look at the ark and Ithink about 70 people look into
the ark and then they die.
(07:40):
So again, god is emphasizing hisglory.
Don't jack around with my glory.
So God's absolute holiness isof utmost importance in the
story.
So we were reminded of the, thecritical nature of how reverent
worship of Yahweh needs to be.
And so, uh, god's covenant,people are not exempt from the
(08:02):
same type judgment that thepagan people have endured if
they don't take God's gloryserious.
So in chapter seven, samuel,who's the prophet?
He leads the people of Israelinto like a revival of
repentance.
He calls them to return to theLord, to turn back to God.
(08:22):
They put away their foreigngods and Samuel intercedes for
them.
And then in that chapter, thePhilistines attack.
But there's a, there's a greatdefeat, and it's clear that that
defeat is from the Lord.
It's not from the Israelitesown ability.
God delivers them.
And so there's a place calledEbenezer and Samuel raises up a
stone at that place.
It's a, basically it's a stonemonument.
(08:45):
And Ebenezer and Samuel raisesup a stone at that place.
It's basically it's a stonemonument, and Ebenezer means
stone of help.
It's as if he's saying that theLord has helped us to this
point.
We are here because God hashelped us.
The Lord is the one.
Who's who's helped us, who'sestablished us.
For Samuel, chapter seven, verse12, samuel took a large stone
and placed it between the townsof Mizpah and Jeshanna.
He named it Ebenezer, whichmeans the stone of help.
(09:07):
For he said up to this point,yahweh has helped us.
And the point in that moment isthat in repentance, the people
turn to God.
Salvation doesn't just comethrough.
You know the fact that you'rean Israelite or that you
practice certain rituals, butyou're reminded that it is an
(09:29):
act of God's sovereign gracethat we receive salvation and
he's the one that delivers us.
And so I want to challenge this.
You know our listeners thisweek and I've been challenged by
this.
I want to challenge our staffat SWO that in our own lives we
need these sort of Ebenezer,these symbols of God's
faithfulness.
(09:49):
I don't know what that lookslike for you.
Some people you know might writecertain verses that have meant
a lot to them in times ofdeliverance and put those on the
wall of their study or theirroom or their living room, over
the mantelel, over the kitchentable.
Some people get tattoos.
Some people um, I know, somepeople have literal stones.
(10:11):
I remember years ago we had ourstaff all pick a stone, a rock,
and we carried it to the top ofthe mountain at snowbird, a
place we call swofast, and weput those rocks up.
There's raised up our Ebenezer,but it's just basically a
symbol of God's faithfulnessthat reminds us.
One commentator wrote thisEbenezer is a monument to
(10:32):
sovereign grace.
Israel had no strength of theirown.
They had just repented, that'sall.
Yet God helped them.
God's sustaining grace isemphasized in the past, giving
hope for the future.
It echoes the doctrine of theperseverance of the saints.
He's talking about the raisingof this stone.
God, who has helped, willcontinue to help.
And so in your life, I don'tknow maybe there's something
(10:58):
that you might want to do thisweek.
Maybe it's write something onyour hand that every day you
look to and remember, refreshed,you know, with new ink every
day, and you're reminded of thatverse for the week, or you
remember you commit it to memory, but there need to be these
things in our lives, that arethese monumental moments where
we're reminded of God'sdeliverance.
I know for me, every time Idrive on the North campus I'm
reminded of God's sovereignty inthe preservation and
(11:21):
advancement of this ministryduring during the COVID-19
pandemic, which was crazy.
But God not only preserved us,but he grew us.
And so I feel like every time Idrive down the four lane on the
bypass in Andrews, northCarolina, and I look over and
see Snowbirds North campus, I'mreminded of God's faithfulness,
his sovereignty, the idea thatGod's will prevails, whether
(11:42):
it's through judgment or mercy.
Sometimes God's faithfulness,his sovereignty, the idea that
God's will prevails, whetherit's through judgment or mercy.
Sometimes God's will isperfected through judgment, like
we saw with the Philistines andeven with some of the
Israelites, and well, all of theIsraelites.
In the story we see thejudgment of God as an, as an
outworking of his sovereignty,but then we see the mercy of God
, where he preserves his people.
Ultimately, we see the holinessof God.
(12:04):
We recognize that God is holyand that that holiness is
something that we should weshould fear and tremble in light
of.
But then also we see that Godis a God who restores.
He restores those that haveturned away, fallen away, have
walked away, and it's wonderful,um, it's wonderful to know that
we serve a God who islong-suffering, long-suffering,
(12:27):
impatient.
And so God's means of grace forus might be different from day
to day.
It might be different for youin the season of life that
you're in or the situationyou're in, but in your life I
wonder what might be yourEbenezer.
You're in, but in your life Iwonder what might be your
Ebenezer.
Do you have an Ebenezer momentyou can look to?
Um, I know that most of us do.
I certainly do.
(12:48):
I have many of those.
So, sharing those thoughts withour staff, I want to read to you
a letter that I've written tothe SWO 25 staff.
To finish and this week'sepisode is going to be a little
shorter, if you'll bear with uswe're wrapping up our summer and
we'll be back next week in thesaddle with some longer form
type content, but hopefully thiswill be a very encouraging
(13:13):
episode for you as we wind downthe summer.
So here's a letter to the SWOstaff that I plan to read this
week To the SWO 25 staff.
This includes everyone whoworked at SWO in any department
this year.
It's hard to believe that weare down to one final week.
I can honestly say, afterworking and serving alongside of
y'all for these last 11 weeks,that of all the summer staffs I
(13:36):
have worked with and it's a lot,31 to be exact of all of those
summer staffs y'all are one ofthem.
It's really been amazing thissummer, and it's crazy when I
think back almost 30 years towalk in this property and
praying for those the lord wouldsend to do the work.
(13:56):
The work that is being done in2025 was prayed over in 1997,
1998, my favorite, 1999.
As we walked in the new year.
That year, also known as y2k,we're walking the property and
praying.
None of y'all were even bornthen.
Well, it's not true.
Carter was born in may, havehad a driver's license, probably
already had a mustache.
For those of you listening tonsr carter's uh gown staff, he's
(14:18):
a.
He's a few years old, he's like26, he's a little older, but he
gets picked on all the time forbeing the old man.
So inside joke there.
But most of y'all were not bornthen.
Little's grandmother, charlene,walked the property and prayed
over it in the 1960s.
We began walking and prayingover that same property in the
1990s and I genuinely and trulybelieve that y'all are an answer
(14:39):
to that prayer.
The Lord impressed on your heartto come and serve at SWO and
you responded to that call.
You answered that call.
You set aside a summer when youcould have done so many other
things, could have pursued somany other things.
You could have served wonderfulnumber one combos at
Chick-fil-A, snow cones atPelican Snowballs, or you could
have gone on vacations with yourfamily.
(15:01):
A lot of options, a lot ofoptions.
And yet you chose to be here.
You came here, you took a seatin the galley of this ship that
is on a voyage and a missionthrough the choppy and
tumultuous cultural waters ofyour generation and you put your
hands to an oar and you beganto row.
It's not a cruise ship, it's abattleship, it's a mercy ship.
(15:22):
It's engaging the darkness torescue the souls of those who
are lost and dying.
It's a lifeboat that is caringfor those who have been pulled
from the icy waters of abuse,broken families, addiction and
simple and immature, childlikeapathy towards the things of God
.
You've all done your part onthis mission.
It hasn't been without conflictand there have been some tense
(15:43):
moments.
Hopefully all of the grown menin the room have learned
valuable lessons about what'sappropriate and what's not
appropriate physical contactwith other men.
That's an inside joke, by theway Just as we knew they would.
The days have been long, butthe weeks have gone quickly.
At times ministry feelsoverwhelming and at other times
it seems to be flying by, andit's easy to stand here and look
(16:04):
back wondering where the dayswent and how we got to where we
are.
But I'm so thankful that, whilewe have not been perfect, we
have been faithful.
We've all taken part insomething bigger than ourselves
and we've learned lessons thatwill shape and inform the rest
of our lives.
The testimonies of sons anddaughters brought into the
family of God, adopted as heirsand co-heirs with Christ, will
(16:26):
fill our memories and motivateour steps in the months ahead.
We can trust that the word ofGod never returns void and as it
has been proclaimed from thestage and in share groups and on
bus rides and in early morningconversations over coffee and
over the word, neither will itreturn void in our mission of
SWO 25.
It's a mission that woulddeclare the glory of God for the
(16:48):
good of his people.
I've kept the screenshot ofevery text I've received
informing me of another studentwho had professed faith in Jesus
.
I look back on those in longand dark days of winter or the
long and dark seasons ofministry that we all encounter
and go through in our lives, andI'll find encouragement.
They will be to me a type ofEbenezer.
I'm grateful.
(17:08):
We will turn our attentionrespectively to the various and
varying tasks that God iscalling all of us to as we go in
a couple hundred directions.
Next week let's go realizing andrecognizing what it's like to
be a part of a team whereeveryone puts their hand to the
plow and labors together for aprize that will not tarnish,
perish or fade.
There's great power, efficiencyand efficacy when God's people
(17:32):
unite together inlike-mindedness and on mission
to make Christ known and to workso that his glory may fill the
earth and our days on the earth.
There are no perfect churches,no perfect ministries, and
that's because there are noperfect people.
But when imperfect people trustin the call of a perfect and
glorious God and surrender tothat call, great and mighty
(17:53):
works are accomplished.
And here we have seen great andmighty things accomplished over
these past three months, andthere's more to come.
We're not finished.
There's yet work to be done.
As we enter into our 10th andfinal week of ministry, we do so
realizing that in all reality.
This is week one, so let's putour hand to the plow.
Let's look forward, not back.
Don't be a chump, don't be apunk, don't take days, hours or
(18:17):
even minutes off.
If you do, you just might getkilled by a lion.
The gospel in this calling isfoolishness and folly to those
who are perishing.
In the world's eyes, the typeof calling we've embraced is
foolishness, but thanks be toGod, the foolishness of the
world is brought low in light ofthe wisdom of the gospel of
Jesus.
As Paul said, if we are fools,we are fools for Christ's sake.
The sanity and wisdom of theworld is not required for
(18:40):
carrying out the mission thatJesus left us with.
We've tasted and seen that theLord is good, but let's be
reminded there is yet much workto be done in each of our lives.
And as long as we have breath,let's grip the plow, hold fast
to the sword of the spirit,which is the word of God, expose
the darkness, fight for thesouls of men, minister the
(19:01):
healing love of Jesus to thosewho are hurting and let's
ultimately advance the gospel ofJesus.
I love you all and I'm thankfulfor you and proud of you.
Plow on Brody.
So there's a message I'll besharing today with our staff by
the time this episode drops.
We will share that.
And just a final word ofencouragement and gratitude to
(19:22):
them, grateful, and I want tosay to our listeners it's easy
to get caught up in thinkingthat we live in a time and an
era and a day where there's noreal faithful young men and
young women.
But I'm surrounded by themevery day and none of them are
perfect and they're young andthey're immature and they make
stupid mistakes.
But I'm old and mature and Imake stupid mistakes.
(19:44):
And so we're all just in thisthing together, trying to honor
the Lord and be faithful to thecall and he's given us, and I'm
grateful that he would call somany young men and women to come
take part in this and it's anhonor to serve with him and it's
been an honor to ministeralongside of him, so grateful.
So thank you all for yoursupport and for the way you've
(20:07):
followed along, and a reminderthat the book is flying off the
shelves.
I want to close this episode byreading to y'all just some
quotes and some comments on thebook that I think are an
encouragement and that I thinky'all will enjoy hearing.
Let me read a few comments.
Here's one Started and finishedthe book yesterday.
(20:27):
Thank you for writing this.
I'm going to be promoting it toour church so they know exactly
why we choose SWO over everyother camp.
That's from a youth pastornamed Evan who brings his
students about 20 hours, 18maybe from Wisconsin.
So that's pretty cool.
Kevin writes good morning.
Read the book last night,enjoyed it very much.
(20:49):
I could say a lot about howmuch Snowbird has meant to me,
but that would be a long text.
So I will just say I didn'tknow it and she didn't either,
but I was one of the people thatgrandma Coleman was praying for
.
That's a reference to um,something I explained in the
book about a little grandmotherwalking and walking the property
and praying over it.
Man, the book must be greatbecause my son read the whole
(21:12):
thing on the ride back from camptoday.
That boy hates reading.
I can't wait to dive into it.
That's from a buddy named Kyleuh, from Northern Virginia.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
I think maybe not.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Northern Virginia, but from Virginia, so that's
pretty cool.
Um, mike writes this.
Hey, brody, I know it's late,but I bought the book.
It came today.
I started it after supper andjust finished it at 1115 PM.
It was good to read all thebackstories about the vision and
origin of SWO.
I have to admit I was a bitemotional over the retelling of
(21:42):
the 2007 year.
Those staff members who losttheir lives worked with our
group.
The church is called Eastviewfrom Rock Hill Baptist Church.
It hit our group, me and mywife very hard.
It's a great read.
Thank you, that's pretty cool.
John says just finished yourbook today.
It was great.
So much to be thankful for.
God did good in putting ittogether.
(22:04):
Of course, also loved your nodrifting NSR this week,
something this old man fightseach day.
Love you, my brother.
Keep the steam.
Thank you, john Appreciate that.
And then Randy writes I saw thatyou wrote a book, so I rode up
(22:24):
to get one.
Okay, so this was last Monday.
At 11 in the morning I saw youwrote a book.
Well, I rode up to get one.
This guy, randy, rode in on hismotorcycle from Atlanta and
then at 10 o'clock that eveninghe wrote finished your book
isn't God good.
I love that.
So phenomenal, phenomenalresponse to the book.
It's so cool just thefaithfulness of the Lord and to
(22:47):
see that he's using the noSanity book.
For those of you that have acopy, let us know what you think
.
For those of you that have notpicked yours up yet, get a copy,
read it and let us know whatyou think.
It really is more than just akind of a how to or a little
story of how snowbird came to be.
It's, there's layers to thisthing, and I think it it's.
It's helping people understandwhy we do what we do the way we
(23:10):
do it, and so please read it.
You can see from those messagesI read it's a super fast read.
People are reading it in just afew hours and, um, and I think
you'll be encouraged by it.
Thank y'all so much.
Please pray as we wrap up ourfinal week here, and then the
staff most of them will beheading out for some much, uh
much needed, much earned, muchdeserved rest.
(23:31):
It's been a phenomenal summer.
Could not be more thankful forthe Lord's faithfulness.
It's just been awesome.
So thank y'all and uh, yeah,look, the next few weeks we'll
be back in the saddle with somelonger form, uh, longer, longer,
a little bit longer episodesand, uh, some, some folks you're
going to be hearing from thatI'm very excited for you to hear
from next week.
If we can get all the editingdone, you will.
(23:53):
I believe JB's about done withit, but you will get to hear
from and see an interview I didwith John, a young man named
John Pollock.
John is a student pastor inAlabama, but he came out of the
Catholic church an awesomeconversion story of how he came
to faith.
But also he sheds, I think,very insightful and helpful
light into the world ofCatholicism and he does so with
(24:16):
a lot of endearment because hisfamily is still there.
He loves those people andunderstands the error in their
doctrine, but but it's not uh,but has a lot of love for the
people that are still there.
So, uh, looking forward to thatepisode next week and um hope
that you guys have an awesomeweek again.
Pray for us that we finishedstrong hand to the plow, no
(24:37):
looking back and that we get itdone this week and that God gets
the glory.
Appreciate you and we'll seeyou next time.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Thanks for listening to no Sanity Required.
Please take a moment tosubscribe and leave a rating.
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Visit us at SWOutfitterscom tosee all of our programming and
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