Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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I'm going to be reading a longer
section of God's word this evening, so
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I'll invite you to sit tonight.
This is first chronicles, chapters nineteen and
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twenty. This section, these chapters, for chapters nineteen and twenty, go
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together with eighteen as well, which
we considered because two weeks ago, and
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this whole account gives a to US
David as he comes to power, his
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defeat and rule over his enemies.
The here are the last two chapters of
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this larger section, nineteen and twenty
of first chronicles. Let's hear God's word
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now. After this, Nahash,
the king of the AMMONITES, died and
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his son reigned in his place.
And David said, I will deal kindly
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with Hannoon, the son of Nahash, for his father dealt kindly with me.
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So David Sent Messengers to console him
concerning his father, and David servants
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came to the land of the AMMONITES, to Hann to console him. But
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the princes of the AMMONITES said to
Hannan, do you think, because David
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has sent comforters to you, that
he is honoring your father? Have not
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his servants come to you to search
and to overthrow and to spy out the
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land. And so Han and took
David's servants and shaved them and cut off
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their garments in the middle at their
hips and sent them away and they departed.
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When David was told concerning the men, he sent messengers to meet them,
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for the men were greatly ashamed and
the king said remain at Jericho until
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your beards have grown and then return. When the AMMONITES saw that they had
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become a stench to David Hannan and
they ammanite sent a thousand talents of silver
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to hire chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, from Aram, Maaca and from Zoba.
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They hired thirty two thousand chariots and
the King of Maak with his army,
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who came and encamped before Medeba.
And they ammonites were mustered from their
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cities and came to battle. When
David heard of it, he sent Joe
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AB and all the army of the
mighty men and the ammonites came out and
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drew up in battle array at the
entrance of the city, and the Kings
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who had come were by themselves in
the open country. When Joe AB saw
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that the battle was sent against him
both in front and in the rear.
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He chose some of the best men
of Israel and arrayed them against the Syrians.
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The rest of his men he put
in charge of Abbeyshai, his brother,
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and they were arrayed against the ammonites. And he said, if the
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Syrians are too strong from meet for
me, then you shall help me,
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but if the ammonites are too strong
for you, then I will help you
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be strong, and let us use
our strength for our people and for the
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cities of our God, and may
the Lord do what seems good to him.
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So Joe AB and the people who
were with him drew near before the
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Syrians for battle, and they fled
before him. And when the ammonites saw
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that the Syrians had fled, they
likewise fled before Abyshei, Joeb's brother,
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and entered the city. Then Joe
AB came to Jerusalem, but when the
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Syrians saw that they had been defeated
by Israel, they sent messengers and brought
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out the Syrians who were beyond the
Euphrates, with Sho Fok, the commander
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of the Army of Hata Desert,
at their head. When it was told
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to David, he gathered all Israel
together and crossed the Jordan and came to
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them and drew up his forces against
them. And when David set back set
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the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him and the Syrians
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fled before Israel and David killed of
the Syrians, the men of seven thousand
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chariots and Fortyzero foot soldiers, and
put to death also Showfok, the commander
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of their army. And when the
servants of Hata deserts saw that they had
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been defeated by Israel, they made
peace with David and became subject to him.
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So the Syrians were not willing to
save the ammonites anymore. In the
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spring of the year, the time
when kings go out to battle, Joe
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AB led out the army and ravaged
the country of the ammonites and came and
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besieged Raba, but David remained at
Jerusalem. and Joe AB struck down Rab
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and overthrew it, and David took
the crown of their king from his head.
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He found that it weighed a talent
of gold and in it was a
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precious stone, and it was placed
on David's head and he brought out the
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spoil of the city a very great
amount, and he brought out the people
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who were in it and set them
to Labor saws and iron picks and axes,
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and thus David did do all the
cities of the AMMONITES. Then David
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and all the people returned to Jerusalem. After this there arose a war with
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the Philistines at Ghezzer. Then Sibakai, the hushathite, struck down Sippai,
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who was one of the descendants of
the giants, and the Philistines were subdued.
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And there was again war with the
Philistines, and El Hanan, the
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son of J are, struck down
Lammy, the brother of Goliath, the
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gettight, the shaft of whose spear
was like a weaver's beam. And there
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was again war at Gaff, where
there was a man of great stature who
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had six fingers on each hand and
six toes on each foot, twenty four
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in number, and he also was
a descend was descended from the giants,
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and when he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimia, David's brother,
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struck him down. These were descended
from the giants and Gaff and they
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fell by the hand of David and
by the hand of his servants. May
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God bless his word. Well,
the contents of these two chapters, I
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think, is pretty self evident.
There's a lot of battles, a lot
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of fighting and a lot of winning
on the part of David and those who
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are under his command. The big
idea in all of this is that Israel
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trusts in God and God proves himself
to be true. Isn't that true?
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Over and over again, throughout this
chapter and the last, we see David
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and his coming to power through faith
in the Lord, Trusting in God,
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and in all this God proves to
be true. The theological center, we
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might say, is found in Joe
ABS words that he says back in Chapter
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Nineteen. He says, he says
to the men, he calls them together
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and calls them to be strong.
This is in verse thirteen. Be Strong
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and let us use our strength for
our people and for the cities of our
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God, and may the Lord,
May Theah Way, do what seems good
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to him. I wonder if these
words sound familiar to you, these trusting
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words, this call to put faith
in God as they go out against their
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enemies. Well, it's very,
very similar to several commands that are given
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to Joshua, and Joshua in turn
gives to Israel as they are coming into
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the promised land. Moses tells Joshua, the Lord tells Joshua, Joshua and
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turn tells the people be strong and
courageous, don't be afraid. These words
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then remind us that God is fulfilling
his promises that go back a long ways.
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This command that he's given to David
to go and defeat these enemies,
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to create peace in Israel, to
establish a land, a holy place for
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God's people, I'm has been something
that is promised. I've been promised by
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God to Abraham, I'm to Moses. But this faith that we see demonstrated
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here was not always the case.
Do you remember when the people came out
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of Egypt and first approached with Moses, the Promised Land? Do you remember
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what happened when the spies went into
the land to see what would be like?
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Can Soe you what it would be
like? They ammonites fear when they
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say to Han no, and hey, these these people aren't here to console
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us, they're here to spy out
the land and overthrow us. Well,
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you can see why they might have
thought that. That's because that's exactly what
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the Israelites did when they came into
the promised land. But you remember what
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happened. They saw the giants,
they saw these great mighty warriors and other
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things, fortified cities, strong places, and they said, we do not
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want this, this is too much, this is too great, and they
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ran away. God called them to
go and to be strong and to enter
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into the promised land, and they
didn't and they were judged for it.
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That generation died away before their children
were able to return and try again,
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so to speak. That time they
remained faithful, they trusted in what God
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said, and you remember what happened. They went up to Jericho and the
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walls fell down and victory after victory, city after city, they established themselves
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in the land. And this is
what Joshua's ministry was. It was this
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conquering ministry, this this Ministry in
which he was bringing peace for God's people.
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But it was a victory that remained
incomplete in many ways. When Saul
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comes to power, we see that
the Philistines and many others are still waging
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war. These same people's that had
been fighting had, throughout the book of
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judges, for example, continue to
and God but the but in David,
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God annoints a king who will do
what has what still needs to be done,
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what remains to be done. And
so that's what we have here.
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In Joe AB's words. We have
this call to faith. Be Strong and
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courageous, he says, or be
strong and let us use our strength for
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our people and for the cities of
our God. And notice the second part
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of it. He says. And
may the Lord do what seems good to
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him. He says. Ultimately,
this is in God's hands, it is
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his war, it is his desire
that is going to be fulfilled. That's
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what Joeab and David and all the
people are trusting in. Well, that's
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the call to faith there and then
throughout the rest of these chapters, filling
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around this theological center or this call
to faith. We have a faithful God,
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don't we? Victory after victory after
victory. I'm where there was fear
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initially, but with the people in
the land now there is great faith and
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we see these enemies of God odd
being defeated. Let's go through those a
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little bit and consider, consider a
little bit of the details. Here you
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have this movement, kind of geographic
movement, from east to West. It
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starts with the AMMONITES, who are
in the southeast of Israel. They're on
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the other side of the Jordan,
and then by the end of the chapter
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we get to the Philistines, who
are over on the west side of Jordan.
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This, by the way, is
exactly the same way that God's people
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came into Israel, crossing from east
to West, I'm, into Israel and
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establishing themselves in the land. So
let's begin in the east, but the
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AMMONITES. So we read at the
beginning that there is peace already. The
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chronicler here is summarizing a lot of
material. That happens that we have in
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second Samuel. But he tells us
that there is peace, genuine peace of
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some kind, kindnesses that have been
traded, and this prince's father dies and
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David, I'm desiring to keep the
peace and show kindness, sends messengers to
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go and console this prince. But
this prince receives bad advice, doesn't he?
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He receives very bad advice and instead
of sending them a way, they
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do something quite terrible. They break
the piece by putting this undeserved humiliation on
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David's messengers. Do you remember what
they did. You read it in verse
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four and following. He took David
Servants and shaved them and cut off their
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garments in the middle at their hips
and sent them away, noticing the extreme
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nature of the humiliation. It's likely
that there was the bottom half that was
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cut off and they beards were shaven. This was a big deal. There
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are these letters that we have,
the Mauri letters, that are they are
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called, where in Assyrian King says
to his son, are you not a
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man? Have you no beard?
This is, of course, really fun
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for me to talk about, but
he the beards. The beards were a
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sign of virility, of strength,
of power, of manliness. I remember
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hearing a Shakespeare play, I think, once where someone was called a lackbeard.
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It's that same kind of that same
kind of idea and these and this
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culture especially, as what they were
doing. They were going to shame these
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men, they were going to shave
their beards, and that's why David says,
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will grow out your beards before you
come home. And this is what
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they do. They shave their beards, they send them off naked. Well,
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the piece that was there has now
been broken and David will not take
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this lying down. It says that
they became a stench to David, a
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word that's used an exodus, when
the fish die in the Nile and there
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is a great stink arising up throughout
Egypt. These people become a stench to
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David. And when Hannoon Heroes of
it, you know what he does.
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He says we are going to need
help, we are going to need help
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big time, and so he sends
a thousand talents of silver to hire an
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army, a thousand talents at thirty
kilograms, equaling a talent, which is
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an approximation. The estimates vary,
but that's on the low end. Thirty
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kilograms a talent. We're talking about
something like sixteen and a half million dollars
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in today's money. This is the
kind of money that the ammonites send,
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sixteen and a half million dollars,
and they say give us your men,
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give us your chariots, and the
Syrians say all right, and they send
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them down and they send down,
they send down this army and they encamp
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against Israel. Well, David Responds
in verses ten and following by sending the
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leader of his mighty men, Joe
AB, out to battle. It's Joe
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AB and Abbey Shy, his brother, and they come up with this plan.
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They say, we'll send some of
these people over to the Syrian side
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and will send other people over to
the ammonite side. They're kind of in
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the middle and if you are having
a hard time, will come and help
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you, and if you're having a
hard time, will come and help you.
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And this is what they decide to
do, and this is when he
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calls them to be strong and courageous. Imagine being on one side of the
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battle and having a victory, being
the better of the two, and then
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hearing the call from your brother,
Hey, we're having a hard time here,
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come help us out. It's kind
of a sacrifice, wouldn't it be,
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to leave your station, to leave
the battle that's being won and to
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go and help? In this way, we see a kind of solidarity in
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Israel. It's not just David going
out, but it's David and these armies
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and these leaders and everyone seems to
be acting in perfect unison. At this
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point. There is great focus and
vision in terms of what needs to be
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done and how it needs to be
done, how the call of faith is
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to be responded to. So there
they are, and are there in the
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middle, an army on this side
and army on this side. They split
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themselves up ready to do battle.
And you know what happens? The Syrians
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run away. It seems as if
there wasn't even a fight. And then
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when the Ammanite see the Syrians running
away, then the Ammanites run away and
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there's Joe AB and Abbey Shies left
standing there saying, well, I guess
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God is faithful. This is the
case, isn't it? Over and over
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and over again, Israel trusts in
God and God proves to be true.
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Well, when the Syrians back home
here about this in Verse Sixteen, they're
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not happy. They realize that this
poses a somewhat of a threat upon themselves.
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So when the Syrians saw that they
had been defeated, they sent messengers
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and brought out the Syrians who were
beyond the Euphrates. This is a fairly
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good distance now, and they have
showfok, the commander of this army,
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at their head. And then there
is another battle. David gathers together Israel,
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they cross over the Jordan, they
come to them and he defeats them.
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There's some question as to what exactly
these numbers are in Second Samuel,
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the number is seven hundred. On
the chariots here at seven thousand. There's
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also some question about exactly what the
these these numbers refer to, whether their
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chariots or chariot teams. But the
basic point is perfectly clear. David Wins
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and he wins strong and he puts
them to death and the commander of their
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army. And when we read in
Verse Nineteen, the servants of Hotta desert
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saw that they had been defeated by
Israel. They made peace with David and
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became subject to him. And then
this great line. So the Syrians were
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not willing to save the ammonites anymore. No thanks, you can keep your
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money. We are done. But
isn't this a great I love this sentence
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because it's a great contrast. Where
the Syrians are unwilling to save the ammonites
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anymore, God, we see,
is willing and able every time to save
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his people, Israel's help and Israel's
great support, never backs down. He
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always succeeds in the battles that he
desires to win. Am Non lost his
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help, but David, and US
included, will never lose his well with
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the Syrians, defeated. The ammonites
seemed to be a relatively easy pickings.
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Now they go into that country in
the war time, in the spring,
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and they lay siege to various cities
and they even take the crown of the
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king and take it from his head. Take it from his head and put
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it on David's. We read that
in verse two, he found that it
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weighed a talent of gold and it
was and in it was a precious stone.
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But this talent of gold would be
about sixty six pounds. That's fairly
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heavy crown. Perhaps it's symbolic,
perhaps it was placed on for a short
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period of time, but whatever it
was that, you can imagine that it
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was fairly dramatic this large, heavy
crown, with probably a rather large jewel
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on it as well, being placed
on King David. David or the ammonites
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now are not just a vassal country
or a country which there's various political dealings
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with that the ammonites have a new
king. David is not only King of
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Israel now, but he is king
of the AMMONITES. These people are set
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to work and David rules over them
and the people of Jerusalem of Israel.
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So these are the battles in the
east, on the east side of the
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Jordan. And then in the final
verses of Chapter Twenty, we read of
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the West side, of the Philistine
side. And here those mighty men,
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these great giants that we read of
back in Exodus, are no longer feared.
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Instead, they're taken down one by
one. First there is this SIPPI,
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and then lammy and then a nameless
one, but very memorable. Six
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fingers on each hand and six fingers
on each foot, twenty four in number,
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these three giants mentioned. And again
it's it's not David going out right
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JD David, the giant slayer,
the Goliath killer, it's his servants,
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it's his men that are going out
and defeating them. And see this power
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that is invested in David, this
anointing that God gives to him, is
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not just in this one person,
but it extends out to the people.
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In David. Israel is blest in
him. They are strong and even as
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the Boy David defeated Goliath, we
see these other giants going down. Strong
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men, powerful men, a shaft
whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
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Weaver's beam is about two twenty,
two and a half inches in diameter.
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That's something like this big. That's
a big piece of wood, and rather
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heavy too. These were big men, but of course never too big for
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God. So here David is king
of Kings, is he not? He
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is defeating Kings, ruling kings,
becoming supreme in his own country and and
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and end in the area surrounding so
here, in these ways, we see
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the call to faith and we see
God's faithfulness, his promises being fulfilled.
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Well, how does all this apply
to us? How are we to read
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these stories and understand them and think
about them? Well, one of the
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things that we've been reflecting on as
we've been going through first chronicles is that
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David's covenant is our covenant. The
promises that are made to David are fulfilled
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in Jesus and we in him.
Therefore have a pardon that you remember.
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What David Prom are what God promises
David Right. He promises to establish him
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and His throne forever, unto eternity, through his son. This doesn't happen
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with Solomon, it only happens with
Jesus. He promises defeat over his enemies
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and a great name for David and
his kingdom. He promises peace in Israel,
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all things which we see here to
a degree with Dave, but not
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even closed, not even close to
the degree that we see them in Jesus.
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Hebrews tells us that Jesus, that
in that God I'm crowned Jesus with
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a great, great glory. We
read in Philippians that after Jesus did his
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work, he ascended on high and
God gave to him the great reward of
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his obedience. We read of Julie. Jesus is rule and power and authority
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in all places throughout the New Testament, an authority that comes to him as
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the son of David, this expected
child that we read of in Matthew.
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Jesus is the fulfillment of this covenant, and we in Him are like those
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who were under David. We are
called to be strong and to be courageous,
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to not fear and to trust in
God. Now, for the enemies
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of Christ, this fact is a
dangerous thing, that Jesus is a king,
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and a much greater king and infinitely
greater more powerful King Than David was.
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You can hear in these words in
revelation nineteen, nineteen, verse eleven.
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Then I saw heaven opened and behold
a white horse. The one sitting
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on it is called faithful and true, and in his and in righteousness,
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he judges and makes war. His
eyes are like a flame of fire,
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and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that
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no one knows but himself. He
has clothed in a robe dipped in blood,
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and the name by which he is
called is the word of God.
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And the armies of Heaven, arrayed
in fine linen, white and pure,
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were following him on white horses.
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with
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which to strike down the nation's and
he will rule them with a rod of
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iron. He will tread the winepress
of the fury of his wrath of God
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the Almighty. On his robe and
on his thigh he has a name written,
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King of Kings, Lord of Lords. After this, an angel calls
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and calls to all the head birds
of the heavens to come and gather for
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the great supper of God, to
eat the flesh of kings, the flesh
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of captains, the flesh of mighty
men, the flesh of the horses and
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their riders, and the flesh of
all men, both free and slave,
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both small and great. This is
Jesus, US, Jesus with his great
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and powerful armies, riding like David
did, to defeat the enemies of the
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Lord. For those who are against
Jesus, just as those who were against
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David, there should be great fear. But to those who fear the coming
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wrath of God in his son,
the anointed King, who will smash all
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his opponents with a rod of iron, there is a call by God himself
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not to remain there in fear,
but to trust, by faith, in
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the promises of peace. There is
a way to have peace with God other
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than being smashed, other than being
destroyed by him. It is to trust
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in the one who was smashed and
destroyed and suffered under the wrath and curse
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of God. For us, Jesus
is victory over sin and death will for
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the devil began on the cross,
where he secures for us eternal life,
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where he transfers us from the bad
guy side to the good guy side.
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Or, instead of us being those
who are fighting against him and his king
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him, he brings us into his
kingdom, makes a citizens of Heaven,
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citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Through faith, we can kiss the sun
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and be saved. To those who
belong to him, then, let me
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ask you, shall we be any
less courageous than these mighty men who stood
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face to face with the AMMONITES and
face to face to the the seert with
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the Syrians? Are we going to
back down and cower? If they could
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be strong under David, can we
not be strong under Jesus, the King
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of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the one who didn't extend his empire
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just to one kingdom a little bit
to the east, but to all the
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heavens and the earth? In that
light, consider a passage like Ephesians chapter
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six, where we're called a together
in the plural, in unity, two
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verse ten. Be Strong in the
Lord and in the strength of his might.
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Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand
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against the schemes of the devil,
for we do not wrestle against flesh and
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blood, but against the rulers and
against the authorities, against the cosmic powers
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over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
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Therefore, take up the whole armor
of God that you may be able
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to withstand evil or withstand in the
evil day and, having done all,
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stand firm you see what Paul,
the servant, this Minister of Jesus Christ,
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calls us to do. He says
be strong, be courageous. Your
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Joshua, your David, your king, is doing battle, is ready to
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do battle, and you must withstand
the forces in our evil day. But
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how do we stand firm? What
is the armor we put on? The
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battle is somewhat different now, in
this age, in this time, we
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fight not with swords and spears,
but in this way, stand firm,
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therefore, having fastened on the belt
of truth, having put on the breastplate
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of righteousness and, as shoes for
your feet, having put on the readiness
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given by the gospel of peace.
In all circumstances, take up the shield
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of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil
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one, and take the helmet of
salvation and the sword of the spirit,
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which is the word of God,
praying at all times in the spirit,
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with all prayer and supplication. To
that end, keep alert with all perseverance,
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making supplication for all the saints.
And then, Paul adds, and
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also for me, that words may
be given to me and opening my mouth
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boldly to proclaim the mystery of the
Gospel. This is how the enemy is
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of darkness will be defeated, with
faith, with the word of God,
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with the Gospel being proclaimed boldly and
powerfully. Is this not how the forces
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of evil that are in you were
overcome? Is this not how you were
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transferred from the dominion of darkness to
the Kingdom of God's beloved son? It
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is, and it's with these weapons
that we also fight with strength and courage
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in the name of the Lord Jesus. We fight with grace and with patience
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and with hope and with love.
We fight with faith against much more powerful
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enemies than the AMMONITES, but we
win. We win because the Lord Jesus
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is at our side. So the
big idea as we end is again to
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trust in God, to put your
faith in him and see how faithful he
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is to you. Let's pray
