The Cowards, the Careless, and the Conquerers | July 16, 2025

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at mylibertybaptist.org or just

look us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you it.

Judges chapter #7 We'll start with verse.

One, and we'll read through verse 7.

If I could just ask you, could we just stand as we read God's

Word this evening? Just out of respect of God's

Word? If you're, if you are able to

stand, of course. But Judges chapter #7 I'll read

verses one through 7. We'll pray and we'll get right

into it. Judges Chapter 7, verse one.

Judges 7 · chapter mention

It says this. Then Jurubal, who is Gideon?

And all the people that were with him, rose up early, and

pitched beside the well of Herod, so that the host of the

Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of

Moray in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon,

The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the

Midianites into their hands, lest Israel bought themselves

against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

Now therefore go to proclaim the ears of the people, saying,

Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return, and depart early

from the Mount Gilead. And there returned of the people

20 and 2000 and there remained. 10,000 And the Lord said unto

Gideon, The people are yet too many, bring them down unto the

water, and I will try them for thee there.

And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go

with thee, the same shall go with thee.

And of the Whomsoever I say unto thee, this shall not go, with

thee the same shall not go. So he brought down the people

unto the water, And the Lord said unto Gibeon, Everyone that

lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth him

shalt thou set by him by himself.

Likewise everyone that boweth upon his knees to drink.

And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to

their mouth, were 300 men. But all the rest of the people

bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

And in verse 7. And the Lord said unto Gideon,

by the 300 men that lapped, will I save you and deliver the

Midianites into thy hand. And let all the other people go,

every man unto his place. Let's pray and we'll get

started. Definitely, Father, we do.

Thank you once again for this evening.

Lord, you know how much prayer has been put into this service.

So Lord, please, as as much as we prayed into it, help us to

get something great out of it. Lord, I ask you, just please

speak through me now. Lord, let me be the the the

mouthpiece. Let me be the tool.

Let me be the vehicle that you would have for me to be for this

congregation at Liberty Baptist Church.

I do thank you again just for the opportunity to be able to

preach. And I actually just again, just

speak through me, Lord. And most importantly, let

everything that is said and done, let it be used for your

honor and for your glory. We thank you, love you prayer,

precious, holy and wonderful name.

Amen. You may be seated.

Thank you so much for standing. Just to give us a little bit

more context into Judges Chapter 7.

Judges 7 · chapter mention

We look at Judges chapter 6 verse #1 it says and the

Judges 6 · chapter mention

children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the

Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian 7 years you read

through the book of Judges. You actually kind of see an

unfortunate cycle that goes upon for the nation of Israel.

It starts out with them in that first verse right there, it says

that Israel did evil inside of the Lord.

That's always where kind of the cycle starts for them.

They do evil inside of the Lord and the Lord has to punish them

in a sense by having them fall to an enemy nation.

And in this case we have, they are in the hand of the

Midianites for seven years and then they repent.

They are they obviously are realizing, no, we don't want

this Lord, please save us out of this.

So, so they so they sin, they're into captivity.

Then they they repent and they say, Lord, get us out of this.

Then God sends a deliverer, a judge, hence the book of judges

that delivers them Israel from their captivity.

And then guess what? They are released from their

captivity. But then unfortunately it goes

back to then they did evil in the sight of the Lord.

You read through the book of judges consistent.

You could even go literally to the last verse of the Book of

Judges and it just ends with that unfortunate cycle where it

says in those days there was no king in Israel.

Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

It's unfortunate cycle. It's an unfortunate thing to not

learn from your mistakes and I pray Liberty Baptist Church that

we learn from our mistakes that we yes, yes, we make mistakes.

We are human, we are sinners, but when we are consistently

making our mistakes, the. Bible calls us.

As if we are a dog returning to our own vomit.

A very, very disgusting picture, but a very real picture.

Like you're like a dog returning to his own vomit.

That is what God sees when we continuously make the same

mistake over and over with no repentance and with no again,

just having that desire to do right and and just doing that

which is right in our own eyes. That's how God sees that.

But that's where we see here in the book of Judges this

consistent cycle. However, we do see that the Lord

does hear their repentance, and they do.

They do see the God's hand at work.

In this story, we see the Israelites fall into the hand of

the Midianites. And in verse #5 it's very

interesting. It says in Judges chapter 6,

Judges 6:5

verse 5, it says for they camp with their cattle and their

tents. Let's talk about Midian.

And they came as grasshoppers for multitude, for both they and

their camels were without number, and they entered into

the land to destroy it. It's, you know, you have some

big numbers, you have millions and you have billions and so on

and so forth. But when the Bible literally

says that they are without number, that's that that that's

scary that that there that God does not even give them a number

of how many are there. There is so many Midianites

here, but that's where it comes to God can do the impossible.

It doesn't matter what the number was.

God was going to be able to get this mighty victory because

again he heard the nation of Israel again saying, Lord,

please get us out of this mess and God being the wonderful just

an amazing God that he is is going to save them out of this.

So God calls a man named Gideon. We saw Girubal, whose name is

Gideon, but to deliver the nation of Israel and you could,

and through the Judges chapter 6, you could see he's Timothy.

Judges 6 · chapter mention

At first he's not really sure if this is what God would have him

to do, whatever the case is, but then obviously God proved

himself to be who he was. Therefore, Gideon finally was

like, OK, I'm on board, let's do this thing.

How are we going to get it done? How are we going to make this

thing happen? So in Judges Chapter 7, they're

Judges 7 · chapter mention

preparing for battle. They have 32,000 men getting

ready for battle. And Gideon, you know, at first

it took him a little bit to be convinced of this and he's just

like, all right, we don't know. We don't, we don't have a

number, we don't know how many are going to be on this other

side. But it seems like there's a lot.

However, God's going to do something great.

We've got 32,000 men. We're going to fight, we're

going to do something great. It's going to be awesome.

It's going to be fantastic. Then God, he taps Gideon on the

shoulder there and he says, Gideon, can I speak to you for a

minute? And Gideon says yes, Sir.

Sir, what would you, what would you have us to do?

What do you, what would you want us to do?

US 32,000 men and God says, OK, that's, that's where we're going

to start. There's too many of you.

There's too many of you. I don't know if I'm if I'm

Gideon. My my heart's beating a little

bit faster after God says that because I'm not again, it

literally says that there are grasshoppers for multitude on

the other side, that they are without number.

I put a number on my group and I'm confident with the 32,000,

but you're telling me there's too many.

OK, OK Lord, then what would you have?

What would you have us to do then?

And the Lord says literally just tell them if they are afraid, if

they are afraid, if they are scared, tell them to go home.

And Gideon says. OK, that's fine.

That's 100%. OK.

You know what? Maybe, yeah, you know what?

Let's separate the men from the boys.

You know what I'm saying? Let's let's get rid of this.

The ones that are, you know, scared or whatever.

Maybe a few 100. I'll even give like 1000.

But like, no way it's going to be that much.

And then we read in verse #3 It says therefore to go to.

Proclaim the ears, whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him

return and depart from the Mount Gilead and their return of the

people. 20 and 2000. And there remained 10,000.

Gideon is just like that wasn't supposed to happen.

Well, how did I I lost 2/3 of my army right now just because

they're scared. Interesting.

OK, You know what, God. All right, I understand.

Like you. Like I said, you separate the

men from the boys. We got 10,000.

We're ready to go, God. All right, what do you?

Want us to do now, Gideon? The Lord says.

Gideon, we still have a problem here.

And Gideon's like, what? What?

What is it? We still have too many people.

OK. If I'm Gideon, I'm like, God, is

your calculator broken? Is it like, do you, Are you sure

that this is exact like, like we're getting, we're getting

risky, like losing the thousands here.

And I might even go into the hundreds.

If we're going to keep playing this game.

What? What is it that you'd have us to

do then? Lord, what would you have us to

do? So we go into verse four.

He has, he has his 10,000. And then God says there's still

too many. So why don't you go down to the

river with the men and watch how they drink?

And the reason for that is when you are in battle, obviously you

have yourselves and then you have the enemy.

And when you are, you know, when you're tired and you want to

take a rest, you have to still be alert of where the enemy is

coming from. Therefore you don't want anyone

to drink water such as as it says in in scripture there it

says as a dog laugh if you don't want to drink like this because

you have no idea where the enemy is coming from.

So what what God was looking for was these soldiers, these men to

be alert and be aware and what they would do is they take the

water and drink as so that way again, they are aware of what

the enemy if if the enemy might not be they're already.

Regardless of what is happening and how many of those soldiers

did that, Only 300. Only 300 soldiers ended up doing

the right thing. So 9700 had to go home because

they drank and but they were not ready for what was going to come

to them in battle. Therefore, we only see 300

people. And God had plans with those 300

people. In Judges Chapter 7, verse #16

Judges 7 · chapter mention

it says, And he divided the 300 men into three companies.

And he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pictures

and lamps within them. Pictures.

And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise.

You, whatever you, whatever I do, you follow me.

Wherever I go, you go, you follow me.

We'll do this together, and behold, when I come to the

outside of the camp, it shall be as I do ye, so shall ye do.

Verse 18 When I blow a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then

blow the trumpets also on every side of the camp, and they say

the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.

So Gideon and the 100 men were with him, and came unto the

outside of the. Camp at the beginning of the

middle of the watch. And they had newly set the watch

and they blew the trumpets and break the pitchers that were in

their hands. What is the significance of the

pitchers and the trumpets and and the.

Sort of the Lord of Gideon, what the situation is, is when you

have, usually you would have one trumpeteer in, in war that would

represent many thousand men. So when you have one trumpeteer

going off many thousand, so you have 300 trumpeteers blowing

their horns away and they're surrounding the camp.

Uh oh, that's a. Problem we're we're we're under

siege. That's an issue.

And they break the pictures and that also again, just represents

the clashing of the armor of them getting ready to prepare

for battle as they're about to charge in, if you will.

And again the lamps also you see the the lights of the lamps,

which also again, represent many thousand men, many thousand

soldiers. And it gets to the point where

the Midianites, they, they realize they're surrounded and

they realize, oh man, it's over for us.

And it gets to the point in verse #20 the three companies

blew the trumpets. They break the pitchers and held

the lamps in their left hands and the trumpet in their right

hand to blow with all. And they cried the sword of the

Lord hand of Gideon. And they stood every man in his

place round about the camp. And all the hosts ran and cried

and fled. And the 300 blew the trumpets.

And the Lord said every man's sword against his fellow, even

throughout all the hosts and the hosts of Beth Shida and, and the

Zaratha and to the the border of Abel Mawa and unto Tabath.

So it gets to the even the point where the Midianites are so

scared they're killing themselves because they're like,

I would rather die to us instead of be surrendered to the enemy,

which again was the Israelites. But it's only 300 men blowing

their trumpets and lighting their pictures.

And we just see the Midianites just crumble within themselves.

God saw a great and mighty victory with just three hundred

men. You know what's interesting

though? I just feel bad for the 31,700

men that God could not use. I just feel bad for those that

the 22,000 that were afraid. In my in my sermon, I have them

as the cowards. I have 9700 men that just didn't

think. I call those the careless and

then I have the 300 the ones that were there and they saw God

brought a great and mighty victory.

I call those the conquerors. That's the title of my message.

The the cowards, the careless and the.

Conquerors, easy outline. So you know when we get close to

the end. Amen.

The cowards, the careless, and the conquerors.

And we'll get to that point #1 the, the, the cowards in

Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse #6 I'll just turn there quickly.

Deuteronomy 31 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse #6 it says this.

Deuteronomy 31 · chapter mention

It said, be strong and of a good courage.

Fear not nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God, he it is

that doth good with thee. He will not feel thee, nor

forsake thee. I just want us to understand

something. There is nothing for us to be

afraid of when we know that we are on the right side.

And what is the right side? It is the Lord's side.

We have songs that we sing of the great hymns of the faith.

Who? Is on the Lord's side or we are

on the winning side and we have these, these great and mighty

songs. But sometimes when we're in the

battle, we kind of forget what side we're on and we allow

again, the anxiety, the worry, the, the anxiousness, if you

will, to, to, to sneak up on us. And it gets to the point where

we are unavailable or, or we are not being able to be used of God

because we're allowing the fear or allowing those things to stop

us from accomplishing what God already says we will have

victory over God is the mighty captain himself.

He is the greatest leader to ever exist.

He, he is losing, not in his character and he will never

lose. He is the all time undisputed

undefeated champion of Love but the 22,000.

Men did not experience that victory just simply because they

were chicken, because they were afraid, because they were

scared. Have a lot of, in a sense,

adjectives for these young people that were afraid, that

were scared. They were scaredy cats, if you

will. They were gutless, they were

wimps. They were babies.

Faint hearted yellow bellied Lily liver since.

I'm going Southern here. Watch out.

They were, they were intimidated, they were fearsome,

they were timid, they were frightened, they were panicked,

they were terrified. And when we read through this

story, they were afraid for no reason.

The victory was already theirs to claim.

There was nothing for them to be afraid of.

There was nothing for them to be like, as if, Oh no, how are we

going to get through this? How is this going to, how are we

going to get through the impossible?

Here again, God is the God of the impossible.

Trust in him. Just remember that you as as a

Christian, you have the opportunity to have faith in

God, not fear in man. And when we allow our fear and

man to over seed or supersede our faith in God, that's where

us as Christians have a really big problem.

It's really where it's like, we're afraid of what?

People think of us when we already know what God wants to

have in our lives, but it's just that person next to us that that

fear that that that that again, afraid Ness we have just because

what are my neighbors going to think?

What are my Co workers going to think?

What's my what are my family members going to think?

What is my best friend? Whatever, whoever.

Why are you going to let that fear stop you from what God has

for you To see victory over these 22,000 men.

They were not inducted into the Hall of Fame but unfortunately

into the Hall of shame. Just want to grab your

imagination for a second. Can you imagine those 22,000 men

going back home? Could you just imagine an army

of feared soldiers going back home?

If I was, if I was watching the, the army men coming back, I

would think, wow, we got the victory.

It's over. We we've seen, we see the

victory, we see the men come. Hey, we got victory.

I could just imagine if, if I was, if I was a young person

too, like, and my father was a soldier.

He's like, Dad, what happened in the battle?

Hey, what happened in that? What happened in the fight?

Tell me what happened? Did you did you see anyone get?

Did you see? Did you?

Did you see? Victory.

My father would have to look at me dead in the face and say,

sorry son, I didn't see any victory.

I was a coward. I was afraid.

I just think of how fear can just ruin Christianity.

And unfortunately in Christianity and in, in our

Baptist churches today, Liberty Baptist Church, we have a lot of

people that are afraid, a lot of Christians that are afraid.

What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of failure?

Are you afraid of giving something up?

You know what fear does it it, it stops it.

It paralyzes you. It paralyzes churches, paralyzes

ministries, it paralyzes people, it paralyzes productivity.

But in Second Timothy 17 For we are not given of the spirit of

fear, but of power. And of love and of sound mind.

That's what fear is. It has no part of love or of a

sound mind in any way, shape or form.

The thing is, this thing of fear is it's like as if the the devil

just whispered just a little something in your ear and it

just freezes you for a moment and it's just enough for you to

do nothing. It's just enough for you not to

take that extra step of faith, but to take a step back in fear.

And then guess what? You just stay there and then you

don't do anything for the Lord and then you don't see.

It's like, why don't I see victory?

Why don't I see the blessings of God?

Because you're not allowing your step of faith to move you.

You're allowing the fear to hold to you.

Don't be a coward. 22,000 men. Let's say there's, let's say

there's 32 people here, 22 of you leave just because you don't

want to. That leaves a big gap, leaves a

huge gap. Think about it, 32,000 then

boom, 22,000, The worst church split I've seen before the

church was even invented. Don't be a coward.

We're going right into it. Hey, we're going quick.

Praise the Lord, No, Amen #2 the careless.

The careless in Second Corinthians chapter 10.

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

I'll just turn there very quickly and then read the verse

that I have for that Second Corinthians chapter 10 verse #12

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

it says this. 2nd Corinthians 1012 It says, For we dare not

make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that

commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by

themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are

not wise. Are not wise.

This thing of being not wise, it's not a good thing.

God, God, God, we have a whole book of proverbs that talks

about the wise and the foolish, the wit, the, the prudent man

and the scorner and, and so many different of the, the righteous

and of the unrighteous, the, the, the, the good and the bad,

the, the, the holy and the wicked.

So much of that because it's geared toward you going for what

is the right, what is good, what is holy, But this thing of not

wise, this thing of wickedness, this thing of sin.

Yes, we are born with this thing called the sin nature.

However we have, we don't just have a sin nature, we have

available to us the Savior. And I'm very aware of I, I, I

want to say everyone here is accepted Christ.

But if you haven't, hey, guess what, today is a great day to

accept Jesus Christ, your personal savior.

Hey, guess what? You never will have to worry in

a day in your life where Jesus Christ, he, he, when he died on

that cross, he didn't have any exceptions.

He didn't just say, oh, sorry, I can't, not for you, brother Joe,

sorry about that. Maybe next time, but not this.

This time, no, no, no, no, no, there's nothing like that at

all. Hey, guess what?

When Jesus died on that cross, guess what?

All sins were paid for, all were covered under the blood, all

because of a Savior who, who died for God, so loved the world

that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believe in

Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That is the joy that we get to have.

That is where we get to continue to expand and continue to grow

and to continue to have a relationship with God.

When it comes to having a relationship with God, it starts

with Jesus Christ because guess what?

This thing of sin is separating you from your heavenly Father,

you, you do not have that excess until the mediator Christ.

He takes the sinner's hand and he takes God's hand and guess

what? Boom, you're back together.

Hey, you have a relationship and then guess what?

You can talk to him through your prayers.

He talks back to you through the preaching of God's Word and you

reading the God's Word on your own and studying God's word and

getting involved and doing something great for God.

But hey, listen. Take advantage of the

relationship that you have. I wonder how often you talk to

people, you know, you maybe you have like a what is it on

Snapchat? You have these like snap

streaks, right where you just like send pictures to each other

every day and you have these streaks.

It's like I got a 500 day streak with my my cousin over in

Timbuktu. Whatever, I don't know.

But then it goes. I haven't opened my Bible ever

since last Sunday because the preacher told me to bring it.

Or I haven't even gone to church recently and I haven't opened my

Bible ever since the last time I've been to church.

Or maybe you don't even bring to church at all.

Maybe I'm just giving you too much credit.

But it comes to the point where it's like this thing of wisdom

and the foolish, 2 very different things and God does

not want you to delve into the foolish things.

And why am I going into that? Because.

We see here these 10,000 men that remain.

They're not afraid. And that's great.

Hey, they're ready. They want, they are ready for

the battle. They they said, Nope, we're

going to stand our ground. We're here and we're going to do

something. OK, great.

However, God obviously knowing what is supposed to happen here,

knowing that the 300 is supposed to be the final number for him.

These 9700 men unfortunately did not continue simply because they

did not stop to think for a moment.

Remember, these are not just I, I believe these were men that

were soldiers. These were people that again,

they were not afraid. So they had something in their

belt, if you will. They, they, they were not just a

fear. They weren't afraid.

They were ready for the battle. So I believe all of them had

this opportunity of training, getting ready for the battle, if

you will. So in a sense they had this

opportunity to this test for them to see if they are ready

for the battle. And then we see as a result, a

lot of them forgot their training.

A lot of them, they, they, they probably were again, they were

just, they were just so thirsty and they just, they were just

drinking instead of just being prepared because that was what

their training involved. And then I think again is the

9700 go back home. And they can't say they had

victory either, unfortunately, because simply they did not stop

to think. They were weak thinkers, if you

will. They were lazy brained, thick

headed in a sense. Some, I mean, I don't want to

swear on the pulp. They were dumb.

Sorry, I didn't mean to say that, but I pastor will forgive

me. No, he probably won't invite me

back if I say that again. No, but hey, I like it.

A preacher with integrity. No, no, unfortunately, these,

these men, they just forgot their training.

Hey, Liberty Baptist Church, I want to say you got some good

training here. I want to say you have the

opportunity to know what God's word says.

I want, I want knowing Pastor Adam Rivero, I love, I love him

with all my heart. And I've and I've and I've seen

a lot of things that he's preaching, a lot of things he's

taught. And I've even snuck some notes

that I've gotten from one of my best friends that he's taught

him. And your pastor, he loves his

word and he tries to bring it to you so that you can have the

proper training in order to be ready for the battle.

And then guess what? When the test comes, it's on you

to remember your training. It's on you to remember what you

got from God's word. However, a lot of you might just

forget your training. A lot of you just might not

remember. And we telling you right now

we're we're in a battle today. We cannot afford to forget our

training. We cannot afford to in a sense,

leave what God has given to us. I bet some of those men were

just so disappointed in them saying saying, man, I knew

better than that. All I had to do was drink,

right? That's all I had to do.

But I, I, I I messed up. I failed the soldier.

SAT test, if you will. I should have taken time to make

the right decision. He just sent 22,000 of my

chicken friends home and I wanted to make the cut.

I was. I wasn't afraid.

I was ready, but just because I didn't.

Think I'm not able to move forward just because I didn't

think in the moment, I wasn't able to see God do a great and

mighty victory through my life. When I was when I was a young

boy, I'd say, oh man, I can't believe I did that.

What was I thinking? And my mom would just say back

to me, you weren't thinking, Anthony.

You weren't. It was more Spanish.

I thought, you know, she I got a Puerto Rican mom, you know, So

it's, it's hard. It's hard.

You pray for me, you pray for me.

But no, it's this thing of thinking, this thing of the

mind. Remember, God gave you that

thing of mind. But The thing is, however, your

mind unfortunately is the spiritual battlefield where God

wants your mind. And guess what?

Satan wants your mind as well. And he's going to, again, he's

going to try to put that fear in your mind.

He's going to try to put so much garbage, so much nonsense.

Hey, he's going to try to put so much of your past all up in

there. You know why?

Because he knows that'll paralyze you.

That'll stop you. That'll hey, listen, he bring up

the past and people get people get nervous.

People get nervous. However, it's God.

Remember who Christ saved you from?

It's not it's not again, it's just like, yeah, but God can't

use me because I did XY and Z. But remember it's XY and Z.

It's in the past. It's not ABC now what I have

moving forward now, it's not what is to be of me now.

We know that the Bible is the word of God and we know if we

follow the word of God that we will have no worries in terms of

following right. However, there are just still

times we decide to think on our own solutions instead of what

the Bible says in Proverbs 3. Five and six says trust in the

Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own

understanding. And all thy ways acknowledge him

and he shall. It's a promise He shall direct

thy paths again. Your pastor, he'll preach to you

on Sundays and tell you not to do something and be bold about

him. Be and be serious about it.

But then some people just are going out doing it the same

exact thing he told you not to do that next day.

We have this unfortunate thing in churches called Sunday

Christianity, where you come to church on Sundays and you and

you'd be the best Christian you could possibly be on Sunday.

But then guess what? All that gets thrown out the

window Monday morning. And then you just go back to

your routine and then you go in Tuesday and then Wednesday, hey,

you're here back in church. I'll still show a little bit of

Christianity and then guess what, You'll go back and then

Thursday and Friday and so on and so forth.

And it's like you're playing two sides of the field here.

God said he can't, you cannot serve both God and man.

There's, there's there's no opportunity.

God says he spews the out of the mouth this thing of a lukewarm

Christian or you just play both sides of the field here.

Listen, success is based on a series of good decisions.

So take your time to not just make the right decision, but

listen, the best decision, the best decision possible.

When I was younger, one of my biggest things was chess.

I love chess now I'm not great at it, but I, I like it.

I'm, I'm OK at it. I don't play it often, but

there's, there's one thing about making like the right move.

They they have like computer based programs that show you

what is the right move and then they show these moves that are.

Known as like. Brilliant moves which go even

further than the right move because it forces checks and

checkmates. If you know the game of chess,

if you will, it's it's better than just the right move in the

moment. It's the best move possible

which or which forces the opponent in in a sense to

basically face defeat. And I want you to understand

when it comes to your decision making, we shouldn't just settle

with. I just know this is the right

thing. We shouldn't be so involved with

making the best decision possible so that God can use

this to the fullest capacity possible when it comes to you.

You just again thinking, well, I know this is right, so I'll do

it and that's and that's good. But you should want it.

You should have such a desire to do God's will that you just go a

step beyond saying no. I guess this is the right

decision, but I'm go even further.

Make the best decision I can possibly make.

Listen, think before you open your mouth.

Think before you cuss. Think before you steal.

Hey, think before you get drunk. Hey, think before you smoke that

last cigarette or think before you do drugs.

Hey, think before you participate with those friends

that you know you should not be involved with.

Hey, think before you go on social media and post something

that you know you're most likely to get in trouble.

For hey, think before you read that book.

Think before you take that job that makes you stop being able

to go to church on Sundays. Hey, think before you yoke up

with those unbelievers. Hey, think before you decide to

choose a different version of the Bible you're going to read.

Hey, think before you give up your virginity in a sense.

Hey, think before you date that guy or girl.

Hey, you better think before you marry the wrong person here.

Hey, you better think before you make decisions that will change

your life and your family's life and everyone that is involved in

your life. You better think before you

quit. You better think before you give

up. You better think before you run

away. You better think before you sin

against God. You better think before you mess

up the life that God has given you.

Think before you do anything. Think about what is moving

forward. What is the, the, the, the, the

domino effect, if you will, that will follow if you make that

decision. Right or wrong, who is it going

to affect? Every decision that you make

doesn't just affect you. I don't think any decision will

just affect you because guess what?

Your family, everyone again, that you're supporting, that

you're around your church every, they're all going to feel it.

They're all going. To feel it.

You say, hey, I'm not going to pass her.

I'm all set. I'm not, I'm not I'm not going

to be involved with the Sunday school anymore.

Hey brother, I'm very thankful for this.

I'm just not I don't want to be involved with the soul wedding

anymore. I, I appreciate it, but I just

sorry, church is just not for me.

I, I, I'll watch on the live stream.

You know that that'll be good for me.

I'll watch on the live stream. Hey, it's still church.

I'm still, but I'm in the comfort of my home and I'm good.

I'm OK. Doesn't just affect you.

It affects everyone around you. It affects everyone.

You better make the right decisions or you're going to see

God tell you, sorry, can't use you because you just simply

didn't think. And if you read your Bible,

you'll see the right type of thinking.

In Philippians chapter 2 verse #5 it says let this mind be in

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

What is that saying? It's saying you better think

like Jesus thinks. Remember we're Christians.

What does that mean? It means little Christ, or

Christ like if you will. We are supposed to be like Jesus

and that. Verse Right there we ought to

have the. Mind of Jesus, because guess

what? Jesus never thought a bad

thought, never thought a wrong thought, and he always thought

the right things, the right way, the right time, all the time.

Think like Jesus Philippians chapter 4 verse #8 it says

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

finally, brother, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever

things are on is whatsoever things are just, whatsoever

things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever

things are of a good. Report if there be any virtue

and if there be any praise. Think on these things.

And just a quick little insert here, whatsoever things are

true, you know it is true. The Bible, you know whatsoever.

Things are honest, the Bible, you know whatsoever.

Things are just the Bible whatsoever.

Things are pure, the Bible whatsoever.

Things are lovely, the Bible whatsoever.

Things are of a good rapport the Bible.

If there be any virtue and if there be any praise that comes

from the Word of God, think on these things.

We should consistently have the Word of God running through our

minds. Guess what?

You'll never get in trouble with that.

You'll never get in trouble just constantly having the word of

God running through your mind. It says in Psalm 119 verse 11,

Psalms 119:11

it says, let thy word, the word hid in my heart that I might not

sin against thee. You're not going to have your

Bible on you 24/7. You got it.

You got to have it in your mind and in your heart.

And guess what, when Satan tries to attack you, when the enemy,

when the opponent is coming at you, you could be like Jesus

where he says no Satan, the Bible says.

This or it may be again, when it comes to your anger, when it

comes to your pride, when it comes to so many different

things that that again Satan will try to attack you with and

try to hate your weak spots. You can say no Satan, the Bible

says this, no Satan, the Bible says this and then therefore we

get to again resist and resist the devil and he will flee from

you. Romans chapter 12 verse #2 Be

Romans 12 · chapter mention

not conformed to this will be transformed by the renewing of

your mind. That you may prove what is that

good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

In Proverbs 16, verse 3, it says, Commit thy works on the

Proverbs 16:3

Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established, said Corinthians

10/5. It says, casting down

imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself

against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity

every thought to the obedience of Christ we ought to be.

Fearless. Not like the cowards.

We ought not to be careless, we ought to think, and we ought to

be like these 300 men, these conquerors, these conquerors

point #3 the conquerors. We either have the conquerors or

the courageous. You know, when you're getting an

alliterated point or an outline, whatever, you just, you use

whatever. But I call them the conquerors.

Romans 837. It says this Romans chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

verse #37 Romans 837. It says this, it says nay.

And all these things. We are more than conquerors

through him that loved us. These 300 men, they saw those

22,000 just walk because they were afraid.

Hey, they saw those 9700 men go home just because they didn't

think right. So what were the two

stipulations just for these 300 men that they were not afraid,

that they just thought right. They just had a right thought

life and they just were not afraid.

They were courageous and they saw victory.

They they were the conquerors of that nation as a result.

Again, they were just simply not afraid.

And they thought before they acted.

They didn't necessarily have a 1000 IQ, but they trusted God

and they did not allow the devil to intimidate them.

You know what? You know what they had?

They had a story to tell. I bet when, when it was all over

and those 300 men got back again, 31,700 men, we're all

back and nothing to show for. But those 300 men, they were

able to show, Hey, we saw God do a great and mighty work.

We played those trumpets, we broke those pictures, we showed

those lamps and we shouted. The Sword of Lord Head of

Gideon. And we just saw those

Midianites, they were just, they were, they were afraid.

They were scared, they were killing themselves.

We didn't even do a thing. But we just, we just obeyed what

God had told us to do. And as a result, we saw God do a

great and mighty victory through US, just playing our trumpets,

being obedient to God. They had a story to tell.

I bet they're children when they when they would ask him how was.

What happened in the battle? They were just they had the joy,

they had the excitement they had they were ready to tell them

something great because guess what?

When you do the right thing, you can talk about it.

Guess what? When you don't do the right

thing, you keep to yourself. You don't like talking about the

bad things. You like it when hey, you like

it when God saves you from the bad things and you get to tell

your testimony of what he saved you from.

Hey, you love that. But when it's time to.

If you did. Something wrong?

You're not, you're not putting that on the stage.

You're not showing that out for people to see.

You're showing them, hey, God did something great.

Hey, God did a great work. I bet those, I bet those

soldiers, I bet they've got to keep those trumpets.

I bet they got to keep those things.

And they probably put it on their trophy shelf next to their

participant trophy. I don't know, whatever.

And they just look at that trumpet and I can see God did

something there. God did something great there.

And I, and I just saying again, they were just simply obedient

to God. You understand, they were going

into battle, they were going into war.

So what does Gideon give them for war?

OK, here you get a trumpet, you get a pitcher, and here's a

lamp. We're talking about war here.

Where's my bazooka? Where?

Where's my AK4? Why?

Why am I not getting weapons? What are we doing it?

Didn't it didn't say that they question any motive.

Gideon say you do what I do, you follow what I do, and we're

going to see God do a great work and they did it.

That's just obedience. That's just obedience.

Hey, listen. It's it's like.

It's so crazy how often everyone is just continuously questioning

why do we have to do this? Why do we have to do that?

Why does Bible say this? Why do we have to get involved?

That what? Just obey, just obey.

It says Jesus said if they if you love me, keep my

commandments, just keep them. But why?

Why do I have to? If you love me, keep my

commandments. But I don't understand, what if

you love me? It's just obedience.

It's just knowing that there's no going astray when I follow

what God has me to do. And then like I said, guess

what? You have something to tell

about. I wonder how often we just think

about the great things that God has done in our lives.

And we just pray that the next generation that comes up, they

say, I want to serve God, but I don't know, I've never seen him.

And then you could just jump on and say, hey, listen, serving

God will be the greatest thing you ever do with your life.

Why not? Just if I read it, I've

experienced it. Hey, I've seen the hand of God

fall on my life and I've seen him do some great things in my

life. The Bible, if it was just the

Bible, hey, listen, that's good. And I pray, Listen, the Bible is

the word of God. You'll never falter with it, but

when you have a story to tell how God saved you from all the

nonsense of the world and all the nonsense of the flesh and

what Satan has gotten you involved and entangled with,

when you could say God took me from that, I'm in his hand.

No one's going to pluck me out of his hands.

I'm I'm secure, I'm safe. Salvation is only a one time

thing. You don't need to do it 345

times a week. You're in that hand and you're

good to go, but then you get to see God in his hand, do some

great and mighty things because you know you're safe, you know

you're doing the right thing, and you know, as a result

there's nothing to be afraid of. And hey, what my thought life,

it's in the right spot. Don't be a coward.

There are many cowards, 22,000 cowards.

There are a good amount of careless people, but there are

very few conquerors. Of the two crowds, which one

would you be a part of the thirty 1700 that God couldn't

use? Or do you want to be a part of

the 300 that God was able to use and as a result have a great and

mighty victory? Which side would you want to be?

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.