The Lord, Our Peace

Are y'all fresh and flourishing tonight?

You know, brother Cruz is a tough act to follow.

He was just a and this is our last Wednesday night.

That's not a healing Wednesday for the month of February, because next Wednesday starts that.

So why don't y'all stand up, stretch your faith and the rest of you two?

Everybody say this, say you can hold up your Bible if you want to, don't beat anybody with it.

Hallelujah.

Everybody say Lord, I love you and I love your Holy written Word and I love your Holy Spirit.

I give over my mind, my body and my spirit to fully receive all you have for me and to walk in the way in Jesus' name, amen, amen.

Well, so I always teach what you take for granted, and that's a motto that Pastor has given to us over time, and so I like to teach what I take for granted.

I got to thinking about all the goodness.

You know when is the last time you dwelled upon the names of God?

You know Jehovah Rapha we're going to learn about Jehovah Rapha starting next week the Lord, our Healer, and so I got to dwell in.

I'm going to take a little different direction though tonight, but at least the Lord, our peace, that's our title on my message tonight is Lord our peace, and that is Yahweh Shalom.

Some people say Jehovah, but Jehovah can be considered a mistranslation in some places.

So God's name is Yahweh.

That is His holy name, and so holy that the Jews didn't even say it, they had some substitute.

But His name is Yahweh, his Yahweh Shalom, the Lord our peace.

And my subtitle the Lord our peace, a warrior's name for God.

You know, you think it was just a really meek person, mild mannered person that may have made up that name for God, that called for first, called God, that God revealed himself as a Lord our peace.

But no, it was to get in.

You know, the guy famous for his little army that killed a lot of people and broke a lot of stuff, get in.

And so we're going to get into the book of judges a little later tonight, but I want to just dwell on the concept First of all.

The Lord is our peace, yahweh Shalom, health, prosperity and peace.

Yahweh means I am, I am, I mean God is everything we need.

He's our health, he's our prosperity, he is our peace, not in our absence of conflict, but our confidence in the victory of that conflict.

Amen, and so, god.

We know from 1 John 4-8 that God is love and we're mindful of that concept.

God is love.

He is love, but you know he also is peace.

His kingdom is about peace.

He just got done with the Christmas season, and how many times did we sing songs and quote Isaiah, chapter nine, verse six, has said his name shall be called wonderful counselor, almighty God, everlasting father, the prince of peace.

He is the ruler of all peace.

If we let him rule over our peace, he will rule.

If we have chaos, he can't rule over that.

So we don't have chaos.

Amen, we have peace.

Do you know?

His city is in Jerusalem.

Jerusalem means foundation of peace.

We someday.

We might not live in the earthly Jerusalem, we live right here in Houston, texas, but the heavenly Jerusalem is of our, it's our citizenship and we are of the place of peace.

That is our passport in the spirit.

We are from that place.

We didn't always deserve to be there.

We couldn't go there when we were alienated from God.

We weren't worthy.

If you have unpeacefulness that goes into the city of peace, what happens?

It messes it all up.

Now you got war where there's supposed to be peace.

So we weren't worthy to go there.

But if you want to turn with me to Ephesians, chapter two, verse 12,.

It says Paul is in the middle of encouragement.

He says remember, at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

It was chaos over there in that land.

But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, have been brought near by what the blood of Christ, for he himself, is our peace.

He is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation.

He has made us one with him.

He has brought us into himself, and so once we've been brought in, we ought to just stay there.

We don't choose to get dragged out of our peace, not by circumstances, not by other people's behavior, not by our own desires or our own distractions or our own anxieties, failures, problems, but, man, that other people's behavior though.

Let's sit there for a minute.

Let's sit there for a minute because a lot of us get really we drag.

We get dragged out of our kingdom of peace because there's a lot of chaos out there and we don't want that.

We are of Jerusalem and other people's behavior.

So I read a blog came my way this morning, my inbox, and it is one of these corporate blogs that talks about relationships in the office and how to keep things running smoothly and things like that.

I don't think that the guy who writes it is necessarily a Christian, and people write in and ask advice about their professional jobs and their careers and relationships that they have at work with their boss or coworkers.

Anyway, and I'm going to read to you this letter because it's so pitiful but y'all are going to relate.

Hopefully you don't relate too much.

This person is so Q&A.

Dear Lisa, I'm going to have to zoom in.

My eyes are healed.

My coworker walks in after 8 am every single day.

They never get to work on time and are five to 15 minutes late every single day.

I have spoken to my manager, who has spoken to my coworker several times about my coworker.

Goes back to their old behavior.

I am disgusted with my coworker and it's causing resentment and even a feeling of I cannot stand this person.

Unfortunately, we share a common job and I have to sit near this person every day.

I am at my wit's end.

Can you advise Signed boiling pot?

They are five to 15 minutes late, so this person is.

Obviously we can't control other people's behavior.

How many of y'all know what advice?

They got Lighten up already.

Mind your own knitting.

No, you can have a conversation about how this is making you feel, but the bottom line was well, you need to find out the backstory.

You are angry about it because you are making up some back story.

This person is a slacker and the boss.

They always get by with stuff that I would never be able to, because the boss likes them better than me.

There is some other thing, there is some back story going on that is fueling this whole.

Maybe the person their kid's daycareer, they have to drop them off at a certain time, or maybe this or that.

Maybe there is some way to diffuse it.

Just give them the benefit there was, just dial it down.

But we can't let other people's behavior control us.

Sometimes there are consequences to their behavior.

If we are tied to them in some way, it can affect us.

It is okay to talk to that person in the spirit of meekness, peace, but don't let their chaos get on you, let your peace get on them.

You set the atmosphere in your home, in your office, especially in your own, but it starts in your own heart.

Let the prince of peace rule.

Let the peace of God rule and reign in your hearts and mount guard like an umpire.

Amen.

Y'all know that scripture.

I'm not going there tonight.

I got some stories tonight, you know, and Pastor had that, remember, on Sunday morning.

It was unusual.

He took kind of a long time explaining this very engineering, wonky type concept about the key, that the key in a gear system.

I'm not going to get the wrong, I'm not even going to look at you because I'm going to get it wrong.

I was journalism major, not an engineering major, but the key in some part of the drive shaft, right that, because I used to drive.

I did used to drive.

I don't know anything about cars, but I did used to drive in a standard transmission car.

That's how I learned to drive on a stick shift I did.

Thank you, mama, she taught me.

She took me to Klein High School parking lot and taught me how to drive it.

And I did know, because eventually I did wear out that clutch and so I do know what it's like to grind the gears when you're and the disharmony talk about lack of peace.

It was such a disturbing noise and then there's a loss of power because the gears and the drive shaft and the axle and whatever else is in there.

Sorry, dad, I got messed that all up, but the parts are not jiving.

They're not.

They are not synchronized.

The power from the engine is not, is there's a gap in the transmission and in something's grinding on something else.

You got metal on metal in there and then, and then it's not.

It's not turning the wheels, so there's slippage and there is a lack of power, and so he explained it much better than I did.

But that's not peace.

When you have peace and wholeness with God, you're synchronized all around him.

Your life is built around him.

You are locked in through the blood of Christ.

You are made one with him.

So you're not on a different track or a different wavelength, you're on his same rotation.

He's rotating, you're rotating.

I mean Ezekiel saw him as the wheel within a wheel.

I believe Ezekiel saw us rotating with him.

We're the wheel within the wheel and we're spinning with him in unison and with him humming along doing his work.

And that is what peace looks like.

That's its productivity in your life, it's fulfillment.

Colossians 1 19 puts it like that.

For it please the Father, that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself.

So we're reconciled to him, we're in his orbit, we're in his circulation, here and by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of the cross and you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above above reproach.

In his sight, we're locked in and we are fine.

All of our fulfillment is in him, all fullness dwells in him and we are locked in.

Everybody say I'm locked in and uh, and so that means that we're, we're listening to him, we're tuned into what he's saying, we're on his same frequency, we're in the right place.

Oh, every, take a deep breath.

You're in the right place at the right time.

Have you ever been in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Running late, crazy.

One time I was late for jury duty.

Yes, I was.

Uh, I was not synchronized with my timing and my schedule and I knew that I had jury duty downtown and I allowed 45 minutes to get downtown.

That was not enough time, because 290 and I was not used to commuting and when 290 was all clogged up and I couldn't get there and I ran, ran, ran, ran, I was three minutes late and by the time I got to the giant door they had two double doors about what are they like?

This thick?

I think they're mahogany or something.

They are wooden, big, imposing doors, and I just walked in the lobby and I saw them shut and I'm locking on the door.

I'm sorry, ma'am, you'll have to make another point.

You'll have to come back another day.

You'll have to come back another day.

What?

I was not in the right place at the right time.

I missed my opportunity.

I missed the timing by just nothing, but really it was like one second earlier.

I would have been through the door and um.

But we have peace with God, we're not going to miss it.

We have this word from God this is, this is a year of special blessing for us.

It's going to be our greatest year yet it's a time, it's a set time and, uh, and I don't think that I don't like to give the devil credit for knowing what's ahead, I just don't think.

But I think he senses, he hears what we hear, he hears the word of the Lord.

And, um, he does come.

He tries to deter us and uh, this week I was reading my regular reading.

I was in Mark four and uh, you know, remember Jesus, the mega storm, the mega storm came over and it and uh, and here he was asleep in the boat.

He had peace.

The disciples didn't have any peace, but he had peace.

He knew it was going to be okay.

And he was asleep in the boat and they had to get him up.

They had to get him up and he just spoke to it.

Peace be still.

And it had to bow.

But what was that?

That storm was such an unusual storm.

It was a mega, mega storm in the Greek, a great storm, a mega storm.

It was a demonic storm, a huge, crazy, out of proportion storm.

And his mission was he was on his way to the Ganeserate to cast out the demon, the demoniac, you know the, the, the demon possessed man that would come out of the, the demoniac that would cut himself all the time naked, running around the cemetery sleeping in other people's tombs.

It was a demonic stronghold over that region and Jesus was sent there to set that region free from that demonic oppression.

And he did, he got to his mission.

He had a storm to go through, but he spoke to the storm.

Peace be still.

The wind and waves obeyed him.

Everyone marveled.

He got there, he did the work.

Later he was able to come back to that same region and healed all who were oppressed to the devil in that region.

That same region.

God wants to do something in our region.

He wants to do something in your life, and I don't know that.

The devil knows all the details, but he senses something and he tries, doesn't he?

But we have Jesus, just like James was saying, we are intertwined with him.

We are waiting on the Lord, intertwined with him.

And so when he speaks, peace be still.

When we speak his word, peace be still.

Then we have peace.

Amen, I don't care what's going on.

And Jesus said I have overcome the world.

I love that promise of John 16.

These things I've spoken to you.

You might have peace in the world.

You're going to have tribulation, but be a good cheer, I have overcome.

I have overcome.

I have overcome the world.

Jesus said that and we say that I have overcome the world.

He has called us to be like as he is.

So are we in this world.

We are overcoming the world and so whenever we have, we have peace.

Peace leads to time of growth.

You know there are times of refreshing that come from the presence of the Lord.

Acts three says Peter's preaching right after Pentecost.

He says repent and be converted, and that your sins will be blotted out and that times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord.

So those times of refreshing, there's times of battle, there's times that we got to rebuke the storm, and then there's those times of peace and refreshing.

So I've always heard this.

I don't know if it's true, but people will say well, you know, kids, they only grow when they're asleep and a lot of parents use that when they're putting their kids to bed, y'all.

You know, hey, little buddy, be sure and go to sleep now, because you can grow while you're sleeping.

So it's time for bed.

So I looked it up to see if it was really true and it's not that simple.

But you know babies who take a lot of naps, for I think for every hour they sleep they're like 20% more likely to grow bigger.

And so sleeping in, because there's maybe while you're sleeping, you're producing growth hormone.

You know, and that's how kids, so you can get you know kids.

If your kids are little, just make them go to sleep faster, make them sleep longer.

No, it's time for your nap.

You've got to grow big and strong, but, um, but that time of refreshing is a time of growth.

It's a time of growth, you know, and it works in your own life when you can get away and get refreshed and get the peace of God again.

And even if you have to shut out certain storms and just push them away and uh, and just focus in on the Lord for a little bit, you can get that time.

Breathe in and breathe in that time of refreshing and you'll grow.

And it's true in the church too.

He leads us.

Besides still waters, he restores our soul.

People don't like to come to a church with a bunch of controversy, crazy, all the time.

There's a time of growth coming for us.

Amen.

It's a peaceful time.

It's a time of growth and refreshing.

Acts 931.

Listen to this.

Then they had a bunch of persecution, but then the church is throughout all today.

Galilean, samaria had peace.

Everybody say peace and we're edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy spirit.

They were multiplied, hallelujah.

So rest peace, it can bring about growth and uh and so um and and just just being on God's schedule, being at the right time.

So, uh, james told me there was a news story today.

I did not happen to see it, but there was a news story where there were some Russian troops that were trying, you know, and Russia's kind of on edge right now.

It's a little scary.

Putin I just I did see this news story last week how he is kind of concentrated power.

He fired a bunch of his milk toast type guys and he just took the control and I don't need you, I'll just do it myself and he's kind of more dictatorial than he's ever been and you know.

So now he's sending these troops in.

They were going to come occupy some territory, but guess what?

The American troops were already there.

And so when the Russians marched in, they saw the American troops already there.

Just today this happened and there was not war, there was no conflict at all.

The Russians saw the American troops.

They know what the American troops can do, they know that the president is crazy, is going to, not afraid to defend, and they backed away.

Okay, you can have it, our troops were at the right place at the right time.

They had strength Everybody say strength and so therefore, they had peace.

The devil is crazy, but he wasn't crazy enough to attack them today, and sometimes the devil is going to just see you and not be crazy enough to go after you, because you, I mean we grow to a certain point and there are certain battles we don't have to fight anymore.

There are certain battles praise God.

There are certain battles no, it's all rainbow there are certain battles that you grew out of a while back and you will never have to fight those again, again.

And so the devil is he's.

He can be crazy, but he but we're not going to take to the same ground two times.

Amen, all right.

So now I promise I would go back to judges.

I love the Old Testament, I love to get it in every now and then.

You know, romans 15 says that when we that these things are written for our admonition, and it says that we'll have patience, comfort and hope when we read the Old Testament.

Patience we need that.

As these people fought.

They waited a long time for the promise to be fulfilled.

They waited a long time for Jesus to come, and so, when we read about them, they managed to still serve God under those, even though they felt far away from.

They must have felt far away.

They didn't have the Holy Spirit living in on the inside of them.

But look, they still triumph.

They still had victory.

That's comfort, that's hope.

Jesus, the promise, messiah did come for them and he's coming for us again, amen.

So I love the Old Testament, I love the stories here, and so these two stories.

Well, you know what we should start in in Psalm 83, because Psalm 83 is going to tie it together for us tonight Peace through strength.

The Lord is our peace and, uh, and Psalm 83 gives us a pattern of how, what exactly he wants to do to the, to the forces of darkness that attack us.

He wants to wipe them out and he will.

He is our mighty warrior.

The Lord is, for us, a mighty warrior.

83.

This is a pattern of.

You know, pastors have been talking about the principalities and the demonic squatters that are sitting in our inheritance, that are sitting in our land, and we got to kick them out, boy.

We've referred to that a lot, and so listen to this.

This is a prayer.

Typically, we actually pray this prayer, this very Psalm, right here for Israel a lot, because it's clear in the news that there are other nations attacking Israel all the time.

But it also applies to the demonic forces attacking God's people, which are us too.

Amen, do not keep silent of God, do not hold your peace, do not be still, for behold, your enemies make it to malt and those who hate you have lifted up their head.

They have taken crafty council against your people.

They've consulted together.

There's a cabal.

Ooh, there are a lot of people.

They're all you know.

I don't care how many people are against you.

You've got the Lord on your side.

Amen.

And then, down in verse nine deal with them.

And then it starts naming names.

Deal with those people, those people who are against me.

Deal with them, as with Midian, the nation of Midian, as with Cicera, who was the leader of the army for Midian, as with Jaimon at the Brook, kishon, who perished at indoor, who became as refuse on the earth.

Make their nobles, like Oreb and like Zaeb, yes, all their princes, like Zaba and Zalmuna, who said now, here's the motive of these people who attack Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God for a possession, all right.

And then it goes on to describe more utter defeat for them.

But now list all those names.

Who are those people?

When is the last time you read the story out of the book of Judges about those people and exactly how badly they perished?

Well, when we read those stories, that's how we've learned who the Lord, our peace, really is.

And so I'm going to let me see how much time I have.

Okay, I have seven minutes to tell you two stories, but I will All right.

So, in Judges 4, so you had Jaimon and Cicera, and Jaimon was the king of Canaan.

Y'all know Canaan was what they called the land of Israel before.

You know, in the middle of the time, when the Israelites weren't living there, canaanites moved in and they called it their land, canaan.

And that king, that demonic stronghold there, well, his name was Jabin, or Yabin, or whatever, however you want to say it.

And and then, and then he had a captain of his army named Cicera and who dwelt and we're in Judges 4 now y'all might want to turn there just to prove me that I'm not making this up and they who dwelt in Herosheth Hagoyim.

Well, guess where Herosheth Hagoyim is?

That's Galilee.

God had to clear out Galilee, as we know.

That was where Jesus worked and did his ministry later.

I mean God's cleaning house here.

It was up to these people.

Now I mean the Israelites are.

We're just one chat one, a few chapters out of the book of Joshua.

Joshua has just marched the people into the promised land and they've been trying to drive people out.

But they haven't driven out all the inhabitants yet, and you'll see that they are still bothering.

These inhabitants are still a problem, and and so so they were.

Now the Israelites were were under the rule of these people, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord verse 3, for Jabin had 900 chariots of iron.

I don't care how many chariots of iron the devil has against you.

It is nothing for the spirit of the Lord, amen.

And for 20 years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.

And now Deborah took a woman, now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth.

Nobody ever heard of Lapidoth, but people named their kids after Deborah because she was awesome.

She was judging Israel at that time.

She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel came to her for judgment.

And then she sent and called for Barak, the son of Abinoham, from Kadesh in Naftali, and said to him now, here she is.

She prophesized something, and I want you to see this, because in both of these stories, in this story and in the Gideon one, there's a the whole victory starts with a word of God.

It starts with the prophet speaking something, and we have a word of God.

Even if Pastor didn't get his message that he already gave us, even if he never got it, we have a more sure word of prophecy right here in the New Covenant.

We have the word of God, but even then he still sent a prophetic voice to tell us this is a special time for you.

And this is what Deborah said too.

Has not the Lord, god of Israel, commanded go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor, told him where to go, take with you 10,000 men of the sons of Naftali and of the sons of Zebulun, and against you I will deploy Cicera, the captain, the commander of Jabin's army, and his chariots and his multitude, by the river Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand.

And so Barak, who, here now she's prophesying this to this guy?

He's probably a real military mighty guy, but he says I will go if you go with me, but if you will not go with me, I won't go.

And she said, okay, well, I will surely go with you then.

Nevertheless, there will be no glory for you in the journey that you are taking, for the Lord will sell Cicera into the hand of a woman, and so that's exactly what happened.

They chased down.

The army of the Canaanites begins to flee.

The commander of that army gets scared.

He runs into the tent of a Kenite woman.

Now, the Kenites were Moses's, from Moses's father-in-law, and these people were still Cicera.

I thought they would be loyal to him.

But this woman.

So he comes into her tent.

She said, oh, come in here and rest.

And he said, oh, I'm so weary, I need some water.

She said, oh, I'll do better than that, I'll give you some milk.

And so she opened her jug of milk it was not plastic and she gave him the jug of milk and he drank milk and he fell asleep in her tent.

And y'all know what she did.

It's so fun, ben.

What did she do, ben?

What did Yael do to that Cicera?

He's learned about this in Bible class.

He likes all the gory stuff.

She took a tent peg and she had.

She was laying on the ground and she just nailed it right through his temple and it went all the way down, staked him to the ground.

And so when the Israeli army came, she said oh, I've got your man right here.

Here he is.

And so that's the.

That is the utter defeat that God wants to bring on the enemies of his people, amen.

And so then Deborah said to Barak up, for this is the day Everybody say, this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Cicera into your hand.

And so then, from that time on, in verse 24, the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Javon, the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Javon, king of Canaan.

So it took a while, that was the.

They got the lynchpin right there.

But then, uh, and but then, slowly, you know, little by little, the hand of Israel grew and the hand of the devil shrunk, amen.

And then.

And then Deborah comes back and then judges.

Five is her entire song of Deborah.

She wrote a song about every detail of that battle, about how she felt and about Barak and all the people and who helped her and how God came through.

And she wrote this whole verse about Yael, most blessed.

Well, I can't imagine what the tune would have been.

Most blessed among women is Yael, the wife of Hebrew the Kenai Blessed is she among women in tents.

He asked for water, she gave him milk, she brought out cream and the Lordly bowl.

She stretched out her hand to the tent, peg her right hand to the workman's hammer.

I mean, it's so victorious, she just grinds it in is awesome.

And then, uh, and then so the land.

And the last verse of five, verse, chapter five, says so the land had rest for 40 years.

Everybody say 40 years.

40 years the land had rest, but then the Midianites came in the the in that rest.

See, this is the thing when we have the peace of God, we have to be careful to stay in it and not get distracted by other things and not get drawn away into idols or just not that we would worship another God, but we just get selfish, we get lazy sometimes.

We can't let ourselves do that, we can't give into that.

And that's what the children of Israel did and they started kind of identifying more with the gods of all around them.

Because now it's the Midianites coming in, and the Midianites and I, I know, y'all know the, the story of, of Gideon's army, uh, but there are some parallels that happen with Deborah.

So so now Midian is oppressing Israel, midian is coming in like locusts.

The Bible says, and here's the Israelites are trying to possess the land.

God's raining on their land a little bit and they're growing some crops, but they can't keep any of their stuff because the locusts, the Midianites, come in and steal it and eat their stuff and live in their houses.

And it is the opposite of the blessing of God.

Blessing of God says I come in, I move into the city with that I didn't build and I eat crops.

I didn't have to plant and I have the blessing of God in the rain.

When I do plant crops, the rain of God comes.

And so you see that there's like a, there's a curse on them and, uh, because they're not walking under God's blessing.

And so the angel, the Lord, came, sat under a terribent tree.

This is Judges 611, belonged to Jewish and Gideon is in the wine press and he's hiding from the Midianites.

And the angel of the, he has a, he has a word from God.

He has a word from God and the Lord appears to him and it's so holy to him that he doesn't even he thinks he's gonna die.

He offers God an offering.

Wait right here, god, don't go anywhere, I'm gonna go get an offering, I'll be right back.

And so he goes, he prepares his offering, he brings it, he brings it back and he gives it to.

And he said, oh God, I'm gonna die.

He's not used to being in the presence of God.

God said I'm not, you're not gonna die.

Have peace, you know, have peace, you're not gonna die.

And then, and that's how he sees that God is, then that's why he's when he says that that God is my peace, the Lord my peace.

And so anyway.

But the prophet starts the whole thing.

The prophet prophesies it's time, it's time I've called you as a deliverer, gideon.

And then he has that.

And then he has that same experience with God.

And so at the end, so then he, okay, so Cicera and Javen belong to Deborah.

They beat those.

And then we're, so we're still left with Aurebs, zaeb, zaba and Zalmuna.

And and so Gideon with his first, he has a big army.

Then he widdles it down to like 10,000.

God said, oh, that's way too many.

You're gonna try to get the glory for yourself.

You're gonna think you did it.

And so then he widdles it down to how many?

300, 300.

And he eventually I'll cut it short, but he eventually you should go back and read it he kills all four of those kingpins of Midian.

And let me show you.

So he gets the first two, and then he has, and then he's really tired and he has to get a second win and go back up and get.

And he's still going out searching for Ziba and Zalmuna.

And verse 10 of chapter eight.

He says now Ziba and Zalmuna were at Carcor and their armies with them.

Listen to how many.

There were about 15,000.

All who were left, of all the army of the people of the east, for 120,000 men who drew the sword had fallen.

300 people started this battle and 120,000 men plus about 15 more thousand end up falling.

Now, after the 300 start the battle, now a bunch of people on the sidelines start wanting to jump in.

So they didn't have to finish alone.

They started it.

They had the faith to start something.

And then their success led everybody else to jump on the bandwagon and pretty soon there were other tribes of Israel jumping on the bandwagon to help pursue.

But how did they get them in pursuit?

They had a strategy from God.

Those 300 men had in one hand a trumpet.

The other hand, they had an empty pitcher and a torch so that they could break the pitcher, make a really loud sound and they could blow the trumpet.

And so, in this case, the enemy killed each other Initially.

That's what happened.

The enemy starts to kill each other.

Then they start to flee.

Now there's pursuit, and then people are joining in on the bandwagon and everybody wants in on the pursuit because that's the fun part, right?

Oh, they're running now.

And so, anyway, I just have five things I'm going to say.

I'm just in succession and we'll close.

But even in the midst of torment and oppression and look, median was really oppressing the Israelites they felt really under the gun.

They hadn't had a proper meal in a long time, they were not comfortable living conditions at that time.

And I just, I know people go through different battles, I know that it looks sometimes it could look really dark, but there's always a word from God.

There is a word from God.

We have a word.

It says this is our year, this is our time, and look for that word.

He sent a prophet to them, he sent a word to us, and we have his word.

And then, number two receive strength and courage from God.

You know, barak didn't want to go unless Deborah went with him, and Gideon didn't want to go.

He didn't want to go.

God had to tell him, you, mighty man of valor, and he was hiding.

Remember he was hiding.

Well, god, I'm just the least of my tribe, just the least of my tribe.

And then my tribe is low and I'm the least of all of them.

God had to build them up and give them, step by step.

No, I'll show you.

I will show you how you can do it.

God didn't make him do it that day.

He put him through a little.

He gave him some assignments.

Okay, first, break down your dad's altar, the altar of Baal.

Yeah, burn that up.

And he did that.

And then he drew, and he had to put his life on the line to do that.

And then God sent him down to the camp of the Midianites to spy on them, and he overheard them talking about how scared they were of Israel.

Oh, the sword of Israel is going to come.

I had a bad dream, oh, I had this dream that a loaf of barley fell and it knocked my tent down and the guy said that's, the sword of Israel is coming upon us.

And so, when they shouted, when it came time to attack, they attacked.

In the middle of the night, between midnight and three o'clock, they attacked, they blew their trumpets, they broke those pitchers and they said the sword of Israel, because God had whispered to them the thing that the enemy feared the most.

God gave them a strategy and he'll give you a strategy, amen.

So receive that, take time and spend time with God.

And then, number three bite off more than you can chew.

Bite off more than you can chew.

That woman led army by Deborah.

They chased away 900 chariots of iron.

There's no mention that Deborah had any chariots of iron.

She was a lady who sat under a tree giving out advice.

They overcame 900 chariots of iron, getting, I mean, 120,000, with 300 people.

Bite off more than you can chew.

Go ahead.

God didn't call you to do something small.

Go ahead and have that.

Step out in faith and see if God won't back you up, all right.

And then, number four the battle is the Lord's.

He is the Lord's.

It is not yours.

You do not have you.

That's what the peace of God is.

All of this stuff it we.

We have the peace of God when we do his will.

It's not necessarily a feeling all the time.

I mean, these men rushed out to battle, but they had the peace of God because they had a word from God and they were in sync with his plan.

So then they were doing his word.

And look what God did.

He used, he used to want, he used two women.

He used Deborah to lead the battle and he used YIL to tent peg sister.

His head, all right and, and then that's unlikely.

And then he used a, and then he in, in the case of getting in, there was infighting among the enemy In fighting, in fighting, in fighting.

Jesus said the house divided against themselves itself cannot stand.

So we have to guard in our own hearts against infighting.

No, I will not complain against my brother or my sister.

No, I will not spread gossip.

No, I will not be divided.

I will not cut off my own kind, my own brother and sister in Christ.

I will not do anything to harm the body of Christ.

I will not chop off my toe with a hatchet.

No, that's my body, that's the body of Christ.

I'm going to honor and care and love that.

Yeah, you know what?

That toe might be infected?

It might be infected, but I'm going to put medicine on it, right, I'm going to do everything I can to save that toe, all right.

Something about toes lately, all right.

But so the devil is the one infighting.

I'm going to wait for that.

I mean, the devil's going to be the kingdom divided against himself and he's going to fall, not us.

Amen, all right.

Now number five and last one praise God for victory.

So the song of Deborah man.

She rehearsed every detail of that battle.

You got to read it.

So it's humorous Now looking back, but she is awesome.

She remembered the details and she praised God and she gave honor to people and groups of people and the tribes of Israel that came out and fight, fought, and the ones who didn't, the ones who stayed on the other side of the Jordan and did not come and help she, by the way, she mentions those you know, and so she gives honor where honor is due and she just tells it like it is.

But she praises God for the victory and so we ought to do the same.

Amen, and then we'll see it happen.

Amen, amen.

It's still before nine.

Y'all welcome your pastor as he comes and closes us out.

Praise God, wasn't that good?

Makes me want to have a tent peg service.

Everybody's sharpening your tent pegs.

Let's drive a few tent pegs for a few devil skulls.

Let's all stand.

She takes after me.

She's bloody.

She's a bloody girl man.

I'm telling you she's blood and gut.

We call her old blood and guts around here.

Praise God, did you enjoy that?

Thank God for the peace of God.

The Shalom is so much.

More the pastor Cruz talked about is health, prosperity and peace.

Amen, father, thank you for giving us the peace.

You are our peace.

Jehovah, shalom and Father, we thank you that in these days we walk it in supernatural peace and we are biting off more than we can chew.

We're walking by faith, by what it looks like, and we're followers of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.

Father, we thank you that, with your help, we're driving out all of the trespassers out of our land.

In Jesus' name Amen.