The Extreme Team

King David was the greatest military leader in Israel's history.

Everyone remembers David well, but very few people remember his

extreme team that made him king. The Bible tells us

that David became the king of twelve tribes of Israel

against every imaginable obstacle that he faced in life. He

was the youngest boy in his family, they brothers. He

had red hair. Anybody with red hair, hair, okay, red hair.

He had red hair. Hey, your hair looks brown to me.

But whatever, do you have any color blind people here?

Well, maybe you do. I'm just having fun with you.

He had red hair. He looked like a lion. He

was beautiful to behold. He was skilled as a musician

and singer. He was short. You ever have someone and say, well,

I'm short, I wish I was. People come up to me,

Pastor Mike, I wish I was tall.

Like you are.

And I said, well, if you want to be like David,

I wish I was short like you are. He was short,

and he was a skilled musician singer. King Saul was

a giant in Israel. He was heading shoulders by everybody else.

David was short. Yet none of these qualities in and

of themselves would naturally have made David a king. When

his brothers went to war, David went to the fields

to watch his father's sheep. The boy who had learned

to shepherd his father's sheep had no idea that he

would one day shepherd a kingdom. David's life was abruptly

changed by the arrival of Samuel at his father's house

when he was just a boy. The prophet Samuel had

anointed David, so David, as a young person, had been

anointed and set aside by God to be king. The

anointing service must have looked like a joke to anyone

standing by. When Samuel annointing to David, he was old

and tired. To make matters worse, Israel had rejected Samuel

as a prophet and a judge for most people in Israel,

and anointing at the hands of Samuel wasn't worth the

oil in the bottom of the bottle it emptied on

his head. And to complicate things, Samuel annointed David king

in a most unusual way. Take your Bible's turn with

me to first Samuel sixteen eleven, and let's see how

this story unfolds. And Samuel said to Jesse, are all

your sons here? And he says, there remains yet the youngest.

But behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said

to Jesse, send and fetch him, for we will not

sit down till he comes here.

And the key phrase is we.

Samuel insisted that David's father and his brothers stand in

his presence as he anointed the baby brother, King, King,

baby brother. It must have been a joke for them

as they watched this wanna bee prophet who had failed.

They thought anointing this little boy king it looked crazy,

but it was happening in real time Verse twelve. And

he sent and brought him in. And now he was ready,

had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And I liked that

he was ruddy. It means red, beautiful eyes, was handsome.

And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is he.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil anointed him in

the midst of his brothers. And the spear of the

Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And

Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. No sooner was

David annoying king than he picked up his staff, and

he returned to the field to shepherd the sheep. The

only immediate effect on David's life was the jealousy he

felt from his angry brothers. Because of Samuel, his brothers

now had a very good reason to despise him. One day,

David's father, Jesse, sent to David to the battle Lions

to deliver some food for his brothers. They met him

with a rather rude rejoinder. Look at first Samuel seventeen

twenty eight, now Iliob, his eldest brother, heard when he

spoke to the men, and Iliob's anger was kindled against David,

and he said, why have you come down? And with

whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness.

I know your presumption and the evil of your heart,

for you have come down.

To see the battle.

Pretty cruel thing to say to your brother. You just

want to see people die. The later David killed the

Philistine giant named Goliath. Glass name means to expose to

go into exile. He sent that giant camp away with

a single stone, and he picked up enough stones for

each of his brothers. Because David wasn't just planning on

taking out the giant that day, he had matched the

number of stones in his bag for all of Glias family.

He was going to bring all the giants down, if

God so willed. The word Philistine is the source of

our word Palestine. With a sling and stone in hand,

he killed the strongest men in Palestine. And some people say, well,

pastor Mike, is it true there were giants back then?

How many of you have wondered whe they're really giants?

We know from archaeological evidence. We have found the armor

of these giants, huge spearheads in Palestine from the Philistines.

It has been corroborated by archaeological evidence. With a sling

and a stone, he took him out. How does the

song go? I mean, I'm not a we got a

little bit of allergies. Me see, I go only a

boy named David, only a little only a boy named David.

But five little stones he brings, you know, the song,

and then he goes on, you know, hew, He went, well,

you can do it better than I can. But the

rock went in and the giant came tumbling down. That's

how the song goes, Yeah, something like that. I had

fun with you a little bit. Why why don't you

come up here and singing it. Come on, let's come on,

come on up, why not? And let's uh hey, kids,

come on back up. We're gonna teach you a song.

This is a song that the King's heralds used to

do you know the whole song right.

Now?

I don't know the whole song. That's why I'm gonna

let you get up here. Just get right here, not

not to stand. Let's come right up here. Yeah, kids,

right up here. We're gonna teach you this song. And

then we'll get on with the sermon. We got sucked

into this one. Yeah, Okay, now.

Right here we go. We're on. Are they on? Okay?

Let's go now, Andrew, that's the kind of sound I

want on my mic?

Do you hear this? Just like that? Okay, let's go.

Oh, my named David, lead boy named David, and little

songs only boy named David.

Only.

Only a boy name, And and one little stone went

into sleep, and the sing went.

Round and round, and one little stone went into the sling,

and the sling went round and round, rounding, round and

round and round and round and round and round and round,

and one little sound went up up in the air,

and a giant came tumbleing it.

Go down, go down, everybody fall down like the giant.

Oh well, that's pretty that's what you call a deviation

for the sermon. Now, Andrew, I would love to have

that presence.

That let's see. Okay, is it close? It's not there?

Is it? Give me a little more on this microphone,

could you just.

A little bit right there? Not quite? Thank you. That's better.

I appreciate that. I may just take that mic for

the rest of the day. Well, we had a little

fun with the kids there, didn't we. Now where was we?

Where were we in this sermon? Okay, all right, here

it is. David's military victory made him a political target

for everyone everywhere. The shrewd King Saul indicted him in

the army to keep an eye on him. Rising stars

can take you out. Rising stars can replace old and

tired kings. Unfortunately for David, his brave victory of a

goliath of Gath had an immediate and negative effect.

On his personal career in the army.

David's military career was initially very successful, but every military

victory for David meant a political defeat for King Saul.

As David defeated the enemy, the young women of Israel

sang the song ever louder. Saul has thing his thousands,

David his what ten thousands. To say that King Saul

was insecure was with David's success as an understatement. Saul

was obsessed with David. Saul wanted to take David out.

Saul was sick of hearing about how good David was

and how poor a leader he was. In time, King

Saul tried to leave David. He killed to stop the

songs in Israel, just get rid of him. David escaped

death at the hands of Saul many times, but in

the end David was driven from his house. He was

stripped of his wife, He was bereft of his best friend.

He became a fugitive in a foreign land. And during

his best and most energetic years, David lived as a

one tented manned under the protection of his former enemies,

the Philistines.

Amazing, it was easy.

To feel like his life was a waste, like it

had gone nowhere. He had started out with his great

victory of killing the Giant, and now he was stuck

as an exile in the land of Goliath. As the

extreme insult of his life, he became a vassal of

a Philistine king in the city of Gath. He was

a lonely man. His life had come full circle. The

boy who killed the giant named Goliath of Gath lived

as a servant now in the city of Gath. He

was despised by his people as a trader. He was

hunted and harassed by the former king. His life had

come full circle. And no doubt, had you met David

at the end of his successful youth, he would have

been a failure. It would look like that all of

the anointing didn't matter a lick, and that his life

was going nowhere. Now, my sermon this morning is not

about King David. His life is merely background material. My

sermon this morning is about an extreme king that made

an extreme team.

That made him King.

David was a leader who surrounded himself with extraordinary people

who made him succeed. Take your Bible and turn with

me to Second Samuel twenty three, verse one. I'm reading

from the New International Version. These are the last words

of David, the oracle of David, the son of Jesse,

the oracle of the Man exalted by the most High

the man. And what does it say in your Bible,

the man what anointed by the God of Jacob Israel's

singer of songs? Israel singer of songs? A singer. Now,

if you had to be known by something, what would

you like to have as your title? What is David's

title here in this verse? A singer of songs. Now,

we were doing a little singing today, but not as

good as David. What is it that made the singer

of songs king over the Philistines, the Ammonites, the Moabites,

and every other kind of height you can imagine, from

the Euphrates down to Egypt. We find the answer laid

out clearly in verse eight. David gathered an extreme team

of men who believed in a king who was a

singer of songs. That's it, That's the key. David sang songs.

He cast vision with music. He was enamored by the

power of God in his life. Therefore, his life was

not just an ordinary something moving in no direction. It

was a life motivated by a song in his heart,

a kick in his feet, a purpose for living, a

vision for others. And David gathered an extreme team of

men who believed in a king who was the singer

of songs.

That's it.

His extreme team caught the vision, caught the tunes of

his life, and they made it happen for him.

Verse eight.

These are the names of the mighty man whom David had.

Joshivah Shebbeth. That's a hard name, the attack of Menite,

chief of the captains. He was called Adino the s

Knight because of a eight hundreds slain by him at

one time. It's one thing to take out a giant,

it's another thing to take out eight hundred men, kind

of like Sampson did. The first mighty man was Joshibashebbeth.

His name literally means in Hebrew, the one who sits

in the sitting place. Now what Daddy would name a

son or daughter a name like that. By the way,

I'm gonna name you the one who sits in the

sitting place. That's what he named you. He was the

mightiest man in David's army. He was attack of Minite,

which means literally, he will make me wise. David saw

in this man who was tagged from childhood as someone lazy.

He saw someone who could make him wise, who could

rise to greatness, not sit down and fail in life.

He saw talent that had not yet blossomed. He saw

energy where no one had recognized it before. Parents named

their children deliberately in ancient Israel. It was no accident

that Yoshibashebbeth was named the one who sits in the

city place by his father. His father didn't see any

good in his son. Every time he heard his name,

he was reminded that his name was meant for him.

To just sit down.

He was meant to be a person who was immobile,

who didn't have a purpose or reason. And yet yet

David saw something different. The man who was used to

doing nothing suddenly one day did something that mattered for God.

The man who was used to sitting down now stood.

Up for God.

He joined with a man who sang a different kind

of song than the tune his daddy had when he

named him. He aligned himself with a leader who had

a vision of what could be, not what was, but

what could be. And perhaps one day he heard David

singing the song recorded in Psalms twenty seven to one.

The Lord is my Light and my salvation. Whom shall

I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life,

of whom shall I be afraid verse two. When evildoers

sell me uttering slanders against me, my adversaries and foes,

they shall stumble and fall though a host in camp

against me. My heart shall not fear the war rise

up against me. Yet I will be confidence.

One day.

The man who said in the sitting place took a

spear in his hand and started singing David's song as

he went out to meet the enemy in battle eight

hundred against one, eight hundred against one. There is no

fanfare in the description of his victory. It simply says

he killed eight hundred men with one spear. A man

like that deserves a new name and a new family.

David called him a Dino, the s knight. Adino means ornament,

as knight means spear. He was the ornament of David's army,

the beginning of a new family line, the line of

the spear. Number two David's second mighty man of valorous

found in Second Samuel twenty three to nine. Look at

verse nine, and next to him among the three mighty men,

was Eleezer, the son of Dodo.

I mean imagine a name like that, Dodo.

I mean they named people the strangest things back then

the son of Dodo, son of Ah. He he was

with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered

there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. Next verse,

he rose and struck down the Philostines until his hand

was weary, his hand cleaved with the sword, and the

Lord wrought a great victory that day, and the men

returned after him, only to strip the slain. So it's

what we have here is a It's easy to stand

in life when others are standing with you, isn't it.

People are with you, It's okay, you can stand. You know,

I got five, ten, fifteen, one hundred and fifty people

with me.

But what if you're.

Standing alone for God? Now, people who leave the work

of God under pressure, proved by their character, they're not

worthy of the calling.

Did you hear me?

When God calls you and God calls me, he bids

us come and die and serve. And that doesn't mean

we're miserable in service. It means we are committed in service.

I've shared this with you before when this church building

was in its critical building phase. Diana's dad faced me

down when I was fearful. I had good support here.

I'm very grateful for the godly people that some of

them died to give us this church building. But I

wasn't yet ready to make that decision. And Diana's dad said, Mike,

you've got to be willing to die. The weak in

nature die. You have got to dig in and nothing

will prevent you from winning. If you can't win, then die.

And you know what, that's exactly right. We've been called

to victory in Jesus, not failure. We've been called to

stand for the Lord though Heaven's fall. We've been called

to take our Bibles and stand for Bible truth irregardless

of the consequences. Sometimes he was like, well, you know,

church is not meeting line needs rip.

Friend.

God called you to the church to glorify God. He

called you to fight battles for righteousness in your lifetime.

He called you to be an advocate for truth and

to stand for Jesus. If you're alone doing it now,

there are people here. He will stand with you. But

I tell you we are strengthened when godly people form

together an extreme team of faithfulness to the Lord. God

would rather work with Gideon's three hundred. God would rather

work with Oh, I thought you were bringing me a

water bottle. Do you realize Abraham poor Asani, our former deacon,

used to have a water bottle just like that for me,

right up here, with warm water so I could drink

from it. For just a second, I thought of Abraham.

You know how Abraham died. He was in this foyer.

He was advanced in age. He would walk from his

house after having suffered a stroke. He would stand here

and guard this church early on time as our head deacon.

He collapsed in the stroke, and his last injury was

there in the four of the church, watching it, guarding

the new church for the glory of God. So you

just reminded me of him, just a flashback Jesus standing

when others are standing with you and you're standing alone.

It's not.

Elieser's name literally means God brings help. That's what his

name means, and he needed help that day from God.

Perhaps Eliezer had learned to seek help from God and

David's song recorded in Psalms twenty eight seven, the Lord

is my strength, my shield in him, my heart trust.

So I'm helped and my heart exalts, and with my

song I give thanks to Him the Lord is the

strength of his people. He is the saving refuge of

his anointed. Oh, save thy people and bless thy heritage.

Be thou their shepherd and carry them forever. The Song

of David second Samuel twenty three nine. The Bible says,

the men of Israel gathered for battle together, and when

things got tough, they withdrew from battle. That is, everyone

withdrew except elie eats or they went out. Eliezer stood

his ground for God. How does one man or one

woman stand for God when an entire army rises up

against you. How does one man or woman stand for

God when everyone else runs and leaves you standing alone?

The answer is found in Elzer's name. Eliezer means God

brings help. Eliezer knew that his army was ultimately God.

God is my army. It didn't matter how many people

were not with him. It didn't matter how many people

were with him. God plus one person equals of victory.

Every single time Eliezer grew so tired, the sword stuck

to his hand. There's a paradox here. Because of his wicked,

his weakness, and his weariness, no one could pull the

sword out of his hand. You see, when you're weak

in life and you feel like you can't go on,

and your hand has a God's word, you grasp the

sword in your hand, and because you're so tired, it

just clenches on. You become strong in weakness. And with

his sword in hand, he was able to defeat the enemies.

The third mighty Man of Valor is Tewod Samuel twenty

three to eleven, and next to him was Shamah, the

son of Aggie the horror right sounds like something out

of a horror movie. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi,

which means for life in Hebrew, where there was a

plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled

from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the

midst of the plot called in the Hebrew language for life,

and he defended it and slew the Philistines the lord

Radagrat victory. Shama's name means desert in Hebrew. These daddies

naming their sons these awful names. Your son comes, You're

so happy you have a boy. What are you gonna

name him?

Jack? Frank?

Now I'm gonna name him desert, named Shamah, Desert it's

an awful way to name him. His father was named Aggie,

which means I shall increase. His dad was probably full

of himself. They were both horror rites, which means mountain

people in Hebrew. That means they were hillbillies in Israel,

not the Beverly hillbillies, Israel's hillbillies. They had to scrounge

for a living on the top of mountains where nothing grew.

Life for them was hard living. Maybe that is why

his father named his son after the desert. Shamah had

fought many battles in life, but this was the first battle.

He fought for food. And he fought this battle on

the plot of land called leche, which means for life

chi or for life is the better Hebrew. The men

who grew up, the man who grew up with nothing,

who was a hillbilly, saw this fertile field for life,

and he took his stand. Perhaps Shamah heard David sing

the Song of the Desert in Psalms one hundred and seven,

verse four. Some wondered in desert places, finding no way

to a city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their

soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord

in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

I liked the drama recorded in Second Samuel twenty three twelve.

But he took his stand in the midst of the plot.

He got right into the middle of the ground.

He fought for it.

Now, some of you may not know this, but just

a little beyond here as a house that used to

exist which was arson to the ground, and on the

ashes of this arson, our church has been built. We

had people stalking our children number of years ago, and

me and I just showed one of the members of

the evangelistic team. Of course, that Hayman's noose in my

office that was stuck there in the building of the church.

Those days are far behind us. But do you realize

for us to have Reaching Hearts International sub Dams Church,

we risked our lives to do this.

Are you aware of.

That that we could have died. The FBI, the ATF

came in here and they went through this entire community

to find out who did that.

And some people said we should just quit the project,

give up, go away.

We are in a church that was won by the

victory of the faith of all the people here who

stood their ground in the midst of the field and

would not let it go for God's glory. And that's

what we see in this mighty man's life. You know,

he had a scrounge for a living all his life,

and now he was in the right place. Life for

him was hard. Maybe his father's name had got to him,

but he overcame. The man named after the desert, who

had scrounged for a living, took his stand in a

rich and fertile field with red lintels. Does anybody make

good red lentil soup around here? My wife?

Does anybody else make good red or you do?

Yeah?

It's worth dying for or fighting for him? Perhaps? Yeah.

All his life he dreamed of such a day all

his life. He yearned for such a fate all his life.

He had fought for life, and now he stood on

good ground worthy of fighting for. And that day he

stood his ground with God on the plot, the ground

called for life, full of lentils. He was not going

to give it up. He stood and he took it

for God. These three men learned to value the songs

of David, the song of courage in times of adversity,

the song of Help from God in times of distress,

the song of God's victory in the desert of life,

in times of need. While it is true that these

three men were known for their individual valor and honor,

they were best known for their ability to work together

as a team to help their king. Sometimes when people

are leaders in the church, they say, you know, I

need to be important, I need to be preaching, I

need to be preaching, pastor why don't you step aside.

I'll preach twenty sermons out of the year, and you know,

because I'm gifted as a preacher. Other people may say, well,

I'm just a great leader. I want to lead this, this, that,

and so on, and while other people are left out.

And then we may have a children's division where we

have one leader but not enough. What defines us as

a church is our ability to work together as a team,

surrendering our need for greatness so we can work for

the goodness and greatness of God in our life. Now,

I'll confess to you, I do a lot of work

that I don't feel bad about. That's very humble around here,

like many of you do. Because the church is worth it. It's

worth it, It's worth cleaning a bathroom when it needs

to be cleaned suddenly. It's worth being here early and

on time so we can open the door up. It's

worth staying up a little later or a lot later,

so that we can get a message done if we

have other things that are going on. But you see

that the work of God is not dependent upon a

great leader.

The work of God is dependent upon the effectiveness.

Of an extreme team of good people relying on God,

but not full of themselves. And that humility is what

defined these three men. They were out to make their

king great, not themselves great. While it's true that these

three men were known for their individual valor and honor,

it was their meekness, their humility, their ability to work

together that made them the extreme team for God. Tewod

Samuel twenty three thirteen and three of the thirty chief

men went down and came about harvest time to David

at the cave of Adullam, which means justice of the people,

And when a band of Philistines was encamped in the

valley of Rafeem. David was then in the stronghold and

the garrison the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. Amazing development

Bethlehem was David's home city. The Philistines were living in

David's town. Probably they were living in David's father's house

verse fifteen. And David said, longingly, Oh, that someone would

give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem,

which is by the gate. That was like saying, there's

a fish in the mouth of that crocodile in the zoo. Oh,

that someone would pick it out with their hand and

give it to me to eat. That's what's really what

they're asking Verse sixteen. Then the three Mighty Men broke

through the camp of the Philistines. They drew water out

of the well of Bethlehem, which was by the gate,

and took and brought it to David. But he would

not drink of it. He poured it out on the

out to the Lord and said, far be it from me, o, Lord,

that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood

of the men who went at the risk of their lives.

Therefore he would not drink it. These things did The

Three Mighty Men, Josheba, Shabbeth, Eliezer, and Shamah became an

extreme team for God. They were not satisfied to live

an ordinary life for an extraordinary God and King. David

never forgot what these three men did for him. He

never forgot the men who learned to sing his songs. Well,

he never forgot that he became a king only because

of them and God, as they became mighty men of valor,

humble men working together for the cause of God and

extreme team. How many of you want to be a

part of God's extreme Team? Really? Really raise your hand?

I do.

I don't care how low the position is. I want

to serve the Lord with all my heart, all my soul,

and all my might, no fear, no fear of the future.

I'll share with you a little story as we end.

One of the ladies that's coming to help us here

in our meeting from the Connection Community Church. She's had

health challenges. I'm not gonna mention her name, but severe

health challenges. She put in a man's work this last week,

a man's work to help us set up. And I

went up to her and I said, sister, your heart

is good, but men ought to be doing this work.

And then a man began to kind of justify, well,

she's okay. She's trying to says, no, God calls men

to be men at this time of age in the

Adventist Church, there is a need for manhood strength, for

men to rise and be protectors of the family, to

be protectors in the church, to stand their ground with

moral courage and strength, and to throw their energy into

the effort though the heavens fall, and our children need

to see fathers doing that. Did you hear me? So

I told her you call me. I will not let

you be demoralized. No way on earth am I going

to let that happen. Because I and then someone said

to me, well, pastor, you know you're over worked too.

You're overworked. I'm concerned that. Here here's my answer. I'm

a young man. I'm sixty two. I'm a young man.

Don't give me weakness talk. We stand for the Lord.

We protect those who don't have the same energies. So

I'm gonna make a special call of hands. Men, do

you want to be a man of God or not?

Raise your hand?

Hi?

A man of God? Now you know what that means

based on what I've just said. Now, I don't want

to leave the ladies out.

Ladies.

The word mighty man in Hebrews gover, and you can't

be a gover okay, but you can be a mighty

woman for God. Like Mary, my soul magnifies the Lord.

God made women to have a unique strength in the

Bible that guard the heart the rib. He was made

from the rib to guard the heart of Adam, to

guard the emotions. Do you realize by your attitudes, your smiles,

your service, your humility, that you create calm and peace

in the church, that if that feminine strength.

Is not there?

Now we had one of our church members who I

am not going to mention it by name, they know

who they are, who came to watch the children in

our meeting last night and I don't know if we

had any children, Do we have any children to show

up last night? How many four? And they were willing

to come and stand alone if that's what it took.

And I texted that person, you know, thanks for holding

the fort up. They don't blow a trumpet, they don't

talk about how they important they are. They have strength,

they have the feminine qualities of carrying and nurture. The

church vitally needs this. Our Sabbath schools need TLC from

godly women and godly men. So, ladies, I ask you

the question, do you want to be a mighty woman

for God. Raise your hand, raise your hand high. That's you.

May God strengthen you toward that end. And let me pray.

Before we have our song. We'll have another prayer. I

just want to pray. Lord, thank you for Jesus, Thank

you for the extreme team of the Father of the Son,

the Holy Spirit that from love created the universe. And

thank you Father that in love Jesus died for us.

He's the most mighty man this world will ever know.

Yet he is the most humble being in the universe.

Thus he is king. So Lord, help us not to

be about greatness, not to be trying to prove ourselves something.

Lord, there are people to win. Jesus is coming.

Take every one of these hands that went up and

make it happen in their life. Get weakness, excuses, victim

talk out of our heads. Have been called to greatness

for God's sake, not ours. And Lord, thank you that

the one who starts the work finishes it well. Thank

you and bless these dear men and women of God.

Our extreme teen at reaching hearts in Jesus name.

Amen.