Sermon

A Time of Mighty Men

Arise Church NC

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  1. Hello and welcome to the Arise Church Podcast.

  2. We are so glad you're here and want to thank you for joining us

  3. today for the audio version of our Sunday morning message.

  4. We want to invite you to join us in person at our Sunday morning

  5. celebration every Sunday at 10 AM.

  6. We are located on Old Jenks Rd. in Apex, NC.

  7. All right, if you have your Bible, let's go to Judges

    Judges 6 chapter mention

  8. Chapter 6. Judges Chapter 6 and I am going

    Judges 6 chapter mention

  9. to teach a message that is for everyone, but I'm specifically

  10. going to teach to the men of God today.

  11. The men in the house, not just the dads, but all of the men of

  12. our church and to those watching online or in one of our house

  13. churches. By the way, I meet every month

  14. with our house church leaders and you would just be so blessed

  15. of how they're able to receive the same spirit of what God is

  16. doing here through online. And so let's just give a big God

  17. bless you to all of our house churches and all of our friends

  18. who are watching and Indiana, Tennessee and here in North

  19. Carolina. But the title of message is this

  20. in the age of mighty men, in the age of mighty men, and I feel

  21. like we are in the age of mighty men were in the time of mighty

  22. men. And this is a phrase that's used

  23. very often throughout the Old Testament.

  24. And it would come as God was moving among the children of

  25. Israel and he would raise up mighty men.

  26. And I want to start with a familiar figure within the Old

  27. Testament. He's something I obscure, but a

  28. lot of us have heard about him and his name is Gideon.

  29. And then from there I'm going to move into somewhere else that

  30. even in today's reading, I just started to catch so many things

  31. in our Bible reading yesterday. But in Judges chapter 6, I want

    Judges 6 chapter mention

  32. to start in verse 11. If you don't have a Bible, no

  33. problem, you can follow up on the screen.

  34. I'm reading out of the new King James Version and this is what

  35. it says. Judges 6, verse 11.

    Judges 6:11

  36. Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree

  37. which was in Orpha, which belonged to Joash the

  38. Abyssirite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress

  39. in order to hide it from the Midianites.

  40. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him,

  41. The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.

  42. I love that the Lord just knows how to find you even when you're

  43. hiding and he'll tell you something that seems very

  44. opposite of what you feel like you are.

  45. So he finds Gideon and he says that to him in the verse 14.

  46. Then the Lord turned to him and said, go in this might of yours,

  47. and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.

  48. Have I not sent you? So he said to him, Gideon said

  49. back, Oh my Lord, how can I save Israel?

  50. Indeed, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh.

  51. It's a lot of confidence there. My plan is the weakest in

  52. Manasseh and I am the least in my father's house.

  53. And the Lord said to him, surely I will be with you and you shall

  54. defeat the Midianites as one man.

  55. Now this is phenomenal because the Midianites, their group of

  56. people who had been plaguing the children of Israel, harassing

  57. them, I said they were harassing them.

  58. And the Lord finds Gideon hiding and he wasn't playing hide and

  59. go seek. He was hiding.

  60. He was not signing up and enlisting and saying, I'm down,

  61. Lord, use me. He wasn't praying any of those

  62. prayers. He was trying to hide the crop

  63. from the Midianites. And that's who the Lord chose.

  64. That's who the Lord chose. The Lord chose the boy who was

  65. hiding. And he told him, you're a mighty

  66. man of valor. You're a mighty man of valor.

  67. You're a mighty man of valor. And I just said so strongly that

  68. we need to hear this and our men, the men of God, you need to

  69. hear this. You're a mighty man of valor.

  70. And Gideon said, how can I save Israel?

  71. I just love this questions that we have for God, right?

  72. It's like, how is this possible? How is this going to happen?

  73. And then he he he talks to the guy like you don't know what

  74. family I'm from. Yeah.

  75. The Lord doesn't know. You're right.

  76. The Lord doesn't know where you come from, what side of the

  77. tracks you're born on, where, what city you were born in, what

  78. house you're born in. He doesn't know your family.

  79. You're right. The Lord doesn't know any of

  80. that. Of course he knows that.

  81. And yet he still chose you. And so here's Gideon.

  82. He's saying I am from the weakest clan.

  83. And you know what? He wasn't wrong.

  84. He was a Benjamite, Benjamin Knight.

  85. And he wasn't wrong. They were the smallest.

  86. And so he's he's telling them this doesn't make any sense.

  87. But you know what I've just found that's often how I feel

  88. with the Lord. And it's intimidating at times

  89. when God points his holy finger at you and he says, I want you

  90. and you're like, oh, you got to be kidding me.

  91. You know what? I look, you know what I'm going

  92. to look like if I step out there like, hey, guys, I'm going to

  93. save Israel. You know what I'm saying?

  94. I'm, I'm, I'm the one God chose. But you know, this is the

  95. pattern of the Bible over and over and over again.

  96. He chooses the most unlikely people.

  97. So if you feel unlikely, unqualified, you're in the right

  98. place today. If you feel like you have made

  99. too many mistakes to be used by God, you're in the right place

  100. today. Congratulations.

  101. Because you know what? We're in the day where God is

  102. looking for who will do exploits for him.

  103. We really are. We're in the time where God is

  104. looking for people who will audaciously believe that he will

  105. do wonders, that he still is on the move, that he still has a

  106. calling and assignments to divvy out to people.

  107. He is looking. Am I in the right church this

  108. morning? Anybody want to say Amen?

  109. Yeah. I'm like, have we been here for

  110. the last few months? I mean, God's hand is on our

  111. church. His hand is on us.

  112. And if I look around, I can say, Lord, we're not the biggest and

  113. the greatest and the grandest. But you know what?

  114. I just found that the Lord loves that because he knows if you

  115. have it all together, you'll take the credit.

  116. You'll be, if you're the most educated, then you're going to

  117. let your education take the credit.

  118. If you're the one who's got all of the history that makes sense

  119. for that position at that job, well, then you'll give all of

  120. that the credit instead of when God loves to find people, He's

  121. like, you got no experience, you got no education, you got no

  122. money, and I want you because you will give me the glory.

  123. Isn't that true? Some people want to know why did

  124. God choose the Jewish people? Why did he choose the

  125. Israelites? Because they were the least

  126. among the nations, and they still are.

  127. And God wanted the least among the nations because he knew it

  128. makes no sense for them to be as influential as they are today.

  129. Oh, I'm going to rabbit trail for just a second, just a

  130. second. And people leave the church

  131. every time I do this, but it's all right.

  132. I'm going to do it again is the reason why Israel grates on

  133. people today. I'm not saying they do

  134. everything right. I'm not saying that everything

  135. politically is right. You know, you and I don't even

  136. live there, so it's very hard to tell.

  137. But if they're like our government, our government

  138. doesn't do everything right nor righteously.

  139. However, God chose that group of people to make Himself known

  140. through because they're the least likely and they're still

  141. the least likely, and He's still moving through them even today.

  142. Again, I'm not saying all the political parts of it are right

  143. or wrong. I'm just saying this is His word

  144. says it about him, and you and I can relate to that.

  145. Hello. You and I can relate to that.

  146. We can relate to Gideon. I'm the least of the least of

  147. the least. There is no reason you should

  148. use me. There is no reason this should

  149. work out in my favor. And God loves to use people like

  150. that. You know, I love to just sit and

  151. remember that I grew up 45 minutes down the road in

  152. southeast Guilford County. Every time I drive by there, I'm

  153. like, man, this really was rural.

  154. I, I do, I mean, my mom's sitting right here.

  155. I, I drive by and I'm like, it really was not really

  156. Greensboro. It was SE Guilford County.

  157. That was the name of my high school.

  158. And when I think about the Lord of what has happened in my life

  159. and I'm not I'm not even halfway done yet, but what he's already

  160. done in my life, all the the nations that he's allowed me to

  161. go to and has used me in. And I think about the little

  162. bitty church that I came from in southeast Guilford County.

  163. It blows my mind. So I like to remember and being

  164. like that's I relate to Gideon. You might see me today, but you

  165. should have seen this 2530 years ago.

  166. It was homely. Amen.

  167. It was my my parents did not have money till I graduated high

  168. school. I don't know what happened, but

  169. and it wasn't it wasn't anything until we left.

  170. But you know what? I'm thankful for those roots.

  171. I'm thankful for those roots. I'm thankful for those roots

  172. because they helped me remember. You didn't come from something

  173. that makes all this makes sense. You really don't.

  174. Our church doesn't make sense that we paid off $1,000,000

  175. mortgage in two weeks time. It makes no sense.

  176. Except for God, except for the Lord.

  177. Except for the Lord, the math does math It doesn't.

  178. But yet when God says my hand is on you, nothing can stop it.

  179. I wish I was in a more Amen in church today.

  180. I'm going to preach to myself. I said when the hand of the Lord

  181. is on you, nothing can stop it. If I have to preach to myself, I

  182. will no these things. Because if you can't Amen here.

  183. When you're faced with challenges out there, you will

  184. forget. If you can't anchor into it

  185. here, you're going to have a hard time.

  186. And by the way, when I'm preaching a message on mighty

  187. men, don't, don't be shocked. I'm going to be a little bit

  188. strong. Praise the Lord.

  189. The Angel of the Lord said, go in this might of yours and you

  190. shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.

  191. Go in this might of yours. Isn't that fascinating?

  192. Go in this might of yours. He had little strength and he

  193. told whatever strength you got, go use it because what was the

  194. difference maker? He said I will be with you and

  195. you shall defeat the Midianites as one man I shall be with.

  196. That statement was going to ring very true for Gideon when his

  197. big old army, which wasn't even big got whittled down to 300.

  198. So don't think it coincidental that God says I'll do it through

  199. one of you. If it had gotten to just Gideon

  200. God would have won. Come on, y'all believe the

  201. Bible? These things that God says to

  202. you, lean into them because you think, oh it's a metaphor.

  203. It was not a metaphor. He whittled a a group of 10,000

  204. to 300. But God said if it was just you,

  205. I would have won. Glory to God, I'm encouraged

  206. already. Praise the Lord.

  207. Now let's look at first Samuel chapter 22.

    1 Samuel 22 chapter mention

  208. First Samuel chapter 22, you're going to be happy you came

    1 Samuel 22 chapter mention

  209. today. I'm just telling you right now.

  210. So just get your happy meter going because you're going to be

  211. really thankful because you know what?

  212. I, I received such strength from the scriptures, such strength

  213. from the scriptures. Look at First Samuel chapter 22,

    1 Samuel 22:2

  214. verse 2, and everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in

  215. debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him,

  216. him being David. So he became captain over them

  217. and there was about 400 men with him.

  218. Wow, Lord, thanks. He's like, I'm going to bring

  219. you a great group of guys and they're going to be all

  220. indebted. They're going to be distressed

  221. and they're going to be discontented.

  222. They're going to be just the most grumpy of men out there and

  223. they're all going to come to you.

  224. And by the way, there's going to not be a couple of them.

  225. I'm going to give you a 400 thanks.

  226. But you know, I love the details of Scripture because when we

  227. read in just a couple moments about the men that these men

  228. became, it's awe inspiring. It's awe inspiring.

  229. They were not the ones that made sense to make a great army out

  230. of. They weren't the ones that a

  231. kingly man would choose. They were the ones that God

  232. chose and God began to 1 by 1 by 1 by 1 call the right men at the

  233. right time and they gathered to David and David became captain

  234. over these men. These were the same men.

  235. They would go in and out of the caves and they would fight the

  236. for the Philistines sometimes, sometimes against the

  237. Philistines, but they were, the Bible says they were fighting

  238. the battles of the Lord. And so let's look at First

    1 Chronicles 12 chapter mention

  239. Chronicles chapter 12. By the way, if you, if you're

  240. not familiar, first and second Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, First

  241. and second Chronicles, a lot of them are telling similar stories

  242. and they're kind of crossing over one another.

  243. They're just from different accounts, but you get little

  244. bits and pieces from each one. And so this isn't the exact same

  245. place where we find David in First Chronicles, but you'll get

  246. the idea of it's the same men though a little bit later on at

  247. First Chronicles chapter 12 verse 16.

    1 Chronicles 12:16

  248. Then some of the sons of Benjamin and Judah came to David

  249. at the stronghold, and David went out to meet them and

  250. answered and said to them, If you have come peaceably to me to

  251. help me, my heart will be united with you.

  252. But if to betray me to my enemy, since there is no wrong in my

  253. hands, may the God of our fathers look and bring

  254. judgement. Then the Spirit came upon MSI,

  255. chief of the captains, and he said, We are yours, O David, we

  256. are on your side, O son of Jesse, peace, peace to you, and

  257. peace to your helpers, for your God helps you.

  258. So David received them and made them captains of the troop.

  259. Verse 19. And some from the NASA defected

  260. to David when he was going with the Philistines to battle

  261. against Saul, but they did not help them, for the Lords of the

  262. Philistines sent him away by agreement, saying he may defect

  263. his master soul and endanger our heads.

  264. And when he went to Ziklag, those of Manasseh who defected

  265. to him were Abna, Josabad, Jeddiel, Michael, Josabad,

  266. Elihu, and Zelathi, captains of the thousands who were from

  267. Manasseh. And they helped David against

  268. the bands of Raiders, for they were all mighty men of valor,

  269. and they were captains in the army.

  270. Look at verse 22. For at that time they came to

  271. David day by day, to help him, until it was a great army, like

  272. the army of God. For at that time they came to

  273. David day by day to help him until it was a great army, like

  274. the army of God. So they became a great army.

  275. Why? Because they came day by day

  276. because God was collecting them. You know, it's interesting how

  277. God will use practical things to draw people.

  278. He'll use people who don't even know they're being led by God to

  279. get them to the right place at the right time for his own

  280. purposes. Not everybody who's using being

  281. used by God is going to come and say thus, saith the Lord.

  282. In fact, most of the time people are unaware that God moved you

  283. here. Some of you are here today not

  284. because you had some sort of spirit LED plan that you knew

  285. of. You just are like, yeah, it's

  286. just a church. We're not quite sure we're here

  287. at the amount of times I've heard people tell me we're not

  288. quite sure why you're at their church, which by the way, is not

  289. the most encouraging thing, but it's OK.

  290. They're here. They're like, we're not quite

  291. sure why you're here inside. I'm like, I know why you're here

  292. because God's drawing people here.

  293. He's drawing people here. And I watch people come and go.

  294. And what you may not know is we're on the side praying, Lord,

  295. bring people. And may the people that you want

  296. here not be able to leave. And may the people that you

  297. didn't bring here who shouldn't be here, may they not be able to

  298. stay. And I test that every once in a

  299. while with some things that I say, but I do that.

  300. I can't think of a time where I didn't do it when it wasn't

  301. something based on the word of God.

  302. Last week I gave a very pointed message.

  303. How many of you got my e-mail this week with just a follow up

  304. statement? Yes.

  305. And I got wonderful emails of Amen, Amen.

  306. Thank you for saying it and all what not.

  307. I did get a couple people who left our church this week said

  308. please remove me from your membership.

  309. They didn't say why, but the timing is interesting, isn't it?

  310. And then I got another interesting e-mail which told

  311. me, oh, I'm right on track, that I should be saying these things.

  312. Basically told me that a pregnant person, not a pregnant

  313. woman, a pregnant person should be able to make whatever

  314. decision they wanted to, whether their partner is involved or

  315. not. This was on our e-mail

  316. distribution list. Somebody who got our e-mail,

  317. they don't go to our church. I didn't even know who it was,

  318. but I got their e-mail and I, I wanted to send them a thank you

  319. back and say thank you. You just filled my tank.

  320. I can run off this fuel for a long time because this tells me

  321. I'm right on track. This is why I need to be

  322. preaching the unadulterated, uncompromised Word of God to

  323. tell people that you don't listen to the doctors when they

  324. come in. And, and by the way, I had some

  325. people in our own church that said they're, they're, they're,

  326. they have conceived and they have child right now.

  327. They're, they're pregnant right now.

  328. And even without issues, the doctors asking them, do you want

  329. to terminate the pregnancy? They're giving them timelines of

  330. when they would need to know by the time they need to terminate

  331. the pregnancy. And then all the more, if

  332. there's any sign of any issue in the womb, they offer that and

  333. they push it. That's demonic.

  334. And I don't have any problem preaching it, saying it.

  335. I don't care how many emails I get it why or that I get from it

  336. why. Because this is the age of

  337. mighty men and you can't cower. You can't be afraid.

  338. You can't be. You just can't.

  339. You got to be able to stand. And if a pastor can't stand on

  340. the pulpit with confidence, then how can I look at you,

  341. straighten the eyeball, and tell you you should stand strong at

  342. work? For at that time they came to

  343. David day by day to help him until it was a great army, like

  344. the army of God. God is drawing people to the

  345. places that He needs them. Some of them are here, some of

  346. them are still coming, some the Lord has assignments elsewhere

  347. for the army of God, The army of God.

  348. I love it. What?

  349. First, just a few verses down in verse 38.

  350. Still in First Chronicles 12, it says all these men of war who

  351. could keep ranks came to Hebron with the loyal heart to keep to

  352. make David king over all Israel and all the rest of Israel were

  353. of one mind to make David king. Now at this time, that was the

  354. purpose God was working on a a plan for David to become king.

  355. That's not the part that I'm applying here today.

  356. What I want to apply here today is that God was bringing people

  357. who could keep in line with his purpose.

  358. This this phrase that they were able to keep ranks is repeated a

  359. number of times within this chapter and other chapters like

  360. it of of a of an attribute of mighty men.

  361. Mighty men can keep rank. Mighty men can stay standing.

  362. Even in the midst of tremendous pressure, even in the midst of

  363. tremendous ridicule, they keep rank.

  364. We don't move. We don't get out of order.

  365. We don't get out of line. We stay right where we need to

  366. be. We face the enemy head on,

  367. unafraid. We keep rank that takes might

  368. and strength. Now I'm going to talk in a

  369. couple moments that we know our strength comes from the Lord,

  370. but I just want to for a moment lean into the fact though, that

  371. it is going to sometimes feel intimidating.

  372. But you cannot succumb to that kind of pressure.

  373. You have to keep ranks. We're in the day and age where

  374. we need the men of God to keep rank for our families, for our

  375. church, for their own assignment, for their own

  376. calling, for the Kingdom of God. You must be able to keep ranks.

  377. You, you know, many of you would have seen different movies,

  378. whether it be historical movies or just, you know, Hollywood

  379. type movies where there's the battle and you know, this

  380. overwhelming army is coming at another group.

  381. And then what they do, they break ranks, they turn around

  382. and they retreat. That is not us.

  383. Am I the right church? Amen.

  384. That's not us. We're not those the Bible says

  385. we are not those who shrink back.

  386. I'll tell you right now, I am not one who will shrink back.

  387. I'm not one who will shrink back.

  388. And neither are you going to be. You're going to be able to keep

  389. ranks. And we're going to be, we're

  390. going to do stuff with love. Even the people who love the

  391. church, I love them. They can come back next week and

  392. I'll hug them because it's not personal.

  393. But everybody who God has called here, I pray that there's

  394. nothing you can do except for stay.

  395. And I pray that anybody who comes for false motives, demonic

  396. motives, any other motives, may they not be able to stay.

  397. They got to go. Amen.

  398. That takes strength to say it. That takes strength to live it

  399. out. That's true.

  400. In your own life, friends, companions, things that you may

  401. have allowed in. It takes strength to hold ranks

  402. and say, no, you have to bend. I'm not bending.

  403. That takes strength. That takes might.

  404. And God chose indebted, distressed, discontented people,

  405. and he made them into mighty men who could keep ranks.

  406. That was not their predisposition in life.

  407. God made them that way. He caused them to be that way.

  408. I, this is not my predisposition.

  409. I, when I was in high school, half my high school day was in

  410. the creative arts. I was in band for 1/4 and I was

  411. in show choir and 1/4. So this is not my predisposition

  412. to be like, you know, that's not my predisposition.

  413. I was playing a trumpet and, you know, singing in dance tunes,

  414. you know, like that was that was my high school.

  415. OK, yes, it's true. I'm like, I can do the box step

  416. like anybody, you know, like, but that's not who I am anymore.

  417. Not that that's bad, but I, God needed me to be this way today.

  418. And he made me this way. He did, He caused me to be

  419. strong in the Lord. He did.

  420. And he will cause you to do the same thing.

  421. This is not a personality thing. This, this has nothing to do

  422. with the disk profile or with the enneagram or with any of

  423. those things. This is how God makes you when

  424. you enlist in his army. He makes you a mighty man of

  425. Heller. He trains you, he conditions

  426. you, he tests you. Glory to God so that when you

  427. get into the fight, he's like, you can keep rank.

  428. That's good. And I'm afraid that we're in.

  429. We've been through a season of the church where we, we, Lord,

  430. help me, I'm going to say it, where we trained a bunch of

  431. wussies so that when pandemics hit and cultural issues hit,

  432. they all break. Rakes come on, they disappear.

  433. They, they, they, they, they flood.

  434. And I don't blame as much the people as I do.

  435. There were many leaders who stopped training for war.

  436. They stopped holding strong. They stopped standing strong.

  437. They stopped calling people to discipleship, costly

  438. discipleship. We made it easy.

  439. We're like, oh, you can, you know, you can sip your, your,

  440. your, your latte and it won't cost you anything.

  441. This is just going to be smooth ride.

  442. This is like your best life ever.

  443. And I'm like, where did you see that in Scripture?

  444. Jesus said, if you want to gain life, you have to lose it.

  445. Paul said, I have been crucified with Christ.

  446. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.

  447. That's that's the language of mighty men.

  448. That's the language of mighty people.

  449. So it's no wonder that it's those kind of people who are

  450. still around. I look around and I see the ones

  451. who are like, well, I don't want to be legalistic.

  452. Where are they today? Hello.

  453. Where are the ones who are like, well, we don't want to, we

  454. don't, you know, we just believe it's all under grace.

  455. Well, I believe in the grace of God to do the will of God.

  456. So when you stop doing the will of God because it's all under

  457. grace, you have misinterpreted scripture.

  458. And honestly, you probably are under the sway of a doctrine of

  459. demons. Because when you have the Spirit

  460. of God, it is to empower you to do the will of God.

  461. Not to hang at home in a lazy boy chair to just what I just do

  462. whatever the Lord tells me to do.

  463. I just do whatever I feel like doing on any given day.

  464. Well, that must be great. I heard a message this last

  465. Wednesday night. I brought it to our team and

  466. they're like, well, that must be nice that you get to do whatever

  467. you want to do. But because I've been crucified

  468. with Christ and that's what Scripture says, that I have to

  469. live that way. And I just look around and I'm

  470. like the the people who are still standing are mighty men

  471. and women of God who live that way.

  472. Everyone else that I heard that had all this kind of lazy

  473. theology, they get swept out 1 by 1 by 1 by 1.

  474. Everyone's like, what happened? We know what happened.

  475. They were not able to keep ranks.

  476. Just kidding, but this is Bible. Men need to hear this kind of

  477. preaching. You are not snowflakes.

  478. Praise the Lord. You will not melt.

  479. Glory to God, right? You're not.

  480. You can take it, we can take it. The God designed us.

  481. He created us to be able to take truth in love.

  482. He created us to be able to, to, to stand up straight and to take

  483. it. Praise the Lord.

  484. Second Samuel chapter 23, chapter 23, verse 8.

    2 Samuel 23 chapter mention

  485. These are the names of the mighty men whom David had.

  486. So remember the indebted, the distressed, the discontented,

  487. these are their names. Joseb Bashabeth, the Tachmanite,

  488. chief among the captains. He was called Adino the Eznite

  489. because he had killed 800 men at one time.

  490. Is this in the Bible? And after him, what is this list

  491. keeps going. After him was Eleazar, the son

  492. of Dodo. I could pronounce it different,

  493. Dodo or something like that, to make it sound more

  494. sophisticated. The Alhite, one of the three

  495. mighty men with David, when they had to, defied the Philistines,

  496. who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel

  497. retreated. He arose, he won, arose and

  498. attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hands

  499. stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great

  500. victory that day, and the people returned after him only to

  501. plunder. He took He took control of the

  502. situation and he fought back. Why?

  503. Because God was with him. When you fight the battles of

  504. the Lord, it's no longer you who's fighting.

  505. It's God who fights with you. And when he fights with you, you

  506. will do things you never thought possible.

  507. You will do things that you never thought possible.

  508. We no longer sling us a sword and kill people ourselves.

  509. But when you're talking about the battles of the Lord and

  510. you're talking about taking territory and fulfilling God's

  511. assignment, you better believe you'll know when you come up on

  512. a supernatural battle. I have faced many, many, many in

  513. my life, both in this ministry and in the ministry that I came

  514. from. Supernatural things have

  515. happened. Some of them are in the book

  516. that I have written and that is coming out on September the 1st.

  517. Praise the Lord, but a lot of those stories are in there.

  518. Why? Because the the title of that

  519. book is Battle Ready Faith. So this has stirred in me that

  520. there are great victories that happened when you follow the

  521. Lord. Verse 11 And after him was

  522. Shema, the son of Aji the Ahurite.

  523. The Philistines had gathered together in a troop where there

  524. was a piece of ground full of lentils.

  525. Everybody say beans. This was the bean field.

  526. So the people fled from the Philistines, but he stationed

  527. himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed

  528. the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a

  529. great victory. Did you hear me?

  530. He stationed himself and the bean field.

  531. You know why? Because when the Spirit of the

  532. Lord comes on you, you're like, I'm not given one inch.

  533. Someone says, well, it's just a bean field.

  534. It's my bean field. And I'm going to stand in the

  535. middle of it and you're going to back off until, until every

  536. single one of y'all slayed, hello, this is my bean field.

  537. Just turn your neighbor and say, this is my bean field.

  538. This is my bean field. This is my, you know how many

  539. bean fields the body of Christ has given up in recent years

  540. because it was just a bean field.

  541. And then when you turn around you realize, Dang, we all gave

  542. up bean fields and that means he took tons.

  543. The Satan took tons of territory, tons of territory,

  544. tons of people, tons of people because we would just stand and

  545. hold our ranks and allow the Lord to do a wonder through us.

  546. So the Lord brought about a great victory.

  547. Verse 13. Then the three of the 30 chief

  548. men went down at harvest time and came to David at The Cave

  549. Cave of Adolam. The troop of the Philistines

  550. encamped to the valley of Raphaim.

  551. David was then in the stronghold, and the Garrison of

  552. the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

  553. And David said with longing, Oh, that someone would give me a

  554. drink of water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.

  555. So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the

  556. Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by

  557. the gate, and took it, brought it to David.

  558. Nevertheless, he would not drink it, but he poured it out to the

  559. Lord. And he said, Far be it for me, O

  560. Lord, that I should do this. Is this not the blood of the men

  561. of who who went in jeopardy of their lives?

  562. Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the

  563. three mighty men, 3, 3 not 100, not the whole Garrison, not the

  564. whole army, 3 just three, just three.

  565. So I just wonder sometimes what would happen if all of us took

  566. on this kind of strength of the Lord and started functioning as

  567. God had assigned us to. What would happen if you would

  568. stand in the middle of your bean field and fight for it and fight

  569. for it and you fight for your family, you fight for that

  570. relationship that seems irreconcilable.

  571. And you stand in that bean field and you pray and you pray and

  572. you pray and you beat back every demonic onslaught, every fiery

  573. dart. Come on.

  574. That's, that's what's happening today in this culture.

  575. And you stand there and you say, I will not yield 1 bean to the

  576. devil. Hello.

  577. And some of us, we're, we may even feel convicted today that

  578. we've allowed too many bean fields to be taken.

  579. And I'm tired of seeing bean fields being given over and over

  580. to the enemy. And I just have felt from the

  581. Lord like he's tired too. And so he is calling up an army

  582. of mighty men that were in the age of mighty men.

  583. This is the time of mighty men. This is the time where men are

  584. called to arise. This is the time where men are

  585. called to arise. Had an amazing conversation with

  586. someone in our church the other day.

  587. They're just telling me about how God's called them to

  588. ministry and all of these things.

  589. And I knew and I read this chapter the next day after

  590. talking to him. I had this was in, in, in our

  591. daily reading, the first Chronicles 1 and it was in our

  592. daily reading. And as I'm reading, I'm like,

  593. this literally just happened to me where it said day by day

  594. they're coming, day by day they're coming.

  595. And I'm having a conversation and he's telling me that God's

  596. calling him up And I'm like, yes he is.

  597. And so I enlisted him and he starts this week.

  598. Praise the Lord. Hello.

  599. So to me, this is not a theory. I live this, you can live it

  600. too. Let's tell.

  601. Stand to our feet. Are you ready to be enlisted?

  602. 3 people? Praise the Lord, I'll enlist the

  603. three of you because that's all I need according to this

  604. Scripture is 3 mighty men, glory to God, lift your hands and

  605. let's just begin to receive strength from the Lord.

  606. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 says, finally, my brethren, be

    Ephesians 6:10

  607. strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

  608. And I just declare that over every single person here today,

  609. especially the men, the men, the men of a rise church, be strong

  610. in the Lord and in the power of his might.

  611. The strength that these men receive to do great exploits

  612. from the Lord is available to you in the power of the Lord

  613. Jesus Christ. We want to thank you again for

  614. joining us for the Arise Church podcast.

  615. We hope you were encouraged by what you heard today.

  616. You can find [email protected] and

  617. on Instagram at Arise Church NC. If you need prayer or support or

  618. are interested in learning more about Arise Church, we encourage

  619. you to connect with us online or in person at our Sunday morning

  620. service. Thank you and God bless.