Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Well, let's turn our attention now
to the book of First Chronicles, first
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chronicles, chapter eleven. I'm going
to begin reading in Verse Ten and Read
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Through Verse Twenty Five. So Verse
Ten through Twenty Five. Now, these
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are the chiefs of David's mighty men
who gave him strong support in his kingdom,
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together with all Israel, to make
him king according to the word of
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Jehovah concerning Israel. This is an
account of David's mighty men. JASS Obeam,
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a Hatchmanite, was chief of the
three. He wielded his spear against
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three hundred whom he killed at one
time. And next to him among the
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three mighty men was Eliezar, the
son of Dodo the AHOHITE. He was
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with David at pass Damim when the
Philistines were gathered there for battle. There
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was a plot of ground full of
barley and the men fled from the Philistines,
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but he took his stand in the
midst of the plot and defended it
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and killed the Philistines, and Jehovah
saved them by a great victory. Three
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of the thirty chief men went down
to the Rock to David at the Cave
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of odlum where when the Phillistine when
the army of the Philistines was encamped in
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the Valley of Rephaim, David was
then in the stronghold and the garrison of
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the Philistines was then at Bethlehem,
and David said longingly all that someone would
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give me water to drink from the
well of Bethlehem that is by the gate.
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Then the three mighty men broke through
the camp of the Philistines and drew
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water out of the well of Bethlehem
that was by the gate and took it
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and brought it to David, but
David would not drink it. He poured
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it out to Jehovah and said,
far be it from me, before my
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God that I should do this.
Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men,
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for at the risk of their lives
they brought it. Therefore he would
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not drink it. These things did
the three mighty men. Now Aby Shai,
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the brother of Joe AB, was
chief of the thirty, and he
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wielded his spear against three hundred men
and killed them and won a name beside
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the three. He was the most
renowned of the thirty and became their commander.
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But he did not attain to the
three, and Ben and I are
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the son of Jehoiadah was a valiant
man of Kabbazil, Cobb zeal, a
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doer of great deeds. He struck
down two heroes of MOAB. He also
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went down and struck down a lion
in a pit. On a day when
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snow had fallen, he struck down
in Egyptian man of great stature, five
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cubits tall. The Egyptian had in
his hand a spear like a weaver's beam,
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but ben and I a went down
to him with a staff and snatched
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the spear out of the Egyptian's hand
and killed him with his own spear.
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These things did. Ben And I, the son of jehoied and won a
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name besides the three mighty men.
He was renowned among the thirty, but
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he did not attain to the three, and David set him over. His
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bodyguard, God bless his word,
please be seated. Well, these are
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some pretty amazing stories, aren't they? These mighty men of David? I'm
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they're a little bit buried, aren't
they? In in the Bible. These
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are stories that were used to thinking
about when we think of David, for
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example, killing giants and lions,
defeating enemies with just a little bit of
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weapons, weapon power. But here
we read of these mighty men, of
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David, these men that God provided
him, and were reminded about a theme
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in the Bible that we might consider
tonight, this theme of soldiers, of
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armies, of serving the king.
If you're a Christian, let me ask
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you this question. What are the
various ways that you think about your life
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as a Christian? There are many. Perhaps you think of yourself as a
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child adopted by God, obedient and
to him, loved by him. Perhaps
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you think of yourself as a light
reflecting the glory of God as he shines
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in you. Perhaps you think of
yourself as a business man or a steward,
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a person investing the gifts God is
given you to increase them and please
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your master. Well, these are
all true, and there are many more.
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Another way to think about our lives
is as a soldier. Revelation thousand
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nine hundred fourteen, for example,
says that on the day of the Lord,
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the bride of Christ, clothed in
the robes made wipe by his blood,
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will ride with the Lord as his
army and strike down as he as
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he strikes down his enemies and even
before the day of the Lord, we
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are told in Ephesians, Chapter Six, verses ten through twenty, that we
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should daily put on the whole armor
of God, being strong in the Lord
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and in the strength of his might, UN walk in his ways, to
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fight the battle, to be strong
and courageous. On this passage tonight,
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God helps us to understand who we
are as his soldiers and what it means
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to fight in the strength of his
might, and he does this by telling
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them, telling us about David's mighty
men. And what we'll see is that
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just as a he, just as
God equipped these mighty men to fight for
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King David, God has also equipped
you to fight for King Jesus. So
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first let's begin at the beginning of
this passage. In verse ten, we
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read that now these are the chiefs
of David's mighty men, who gave him
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strong support in his kingdom, together
with all Israel, to make him king
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according to the word of Jehovah concerning
Israel. Well, these verses, these
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various phrases, these clauses, remind
us of what we've learned so far.
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In Chapter Eleven, that God had
anointed David as King over Israel, and
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had done so long before the people
ever decided to anoint him as king.
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You remember, back at the beginning
of chapter eleven, with people say.
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They say, and Jehovah, your
God, said to you you shall be
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shepherd of my people Israel, and
you shall be prince over my people Israel.
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There's a kind of anointing ceremony that
happens there, as the elders make
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a covenant with him, as all
Israel gathers around their king, and they
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do so all according to the Lord. So David, in a sense,
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has been crowned, anointed as King. Then in the next passage we read
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that he secures the capital, Jerusalem, in a marvelous victory. He takes
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the city, but again we are
reminded that this is because of the Lord
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David we read in Verse Nine,
became Greater and greater, for Jehovah of
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Hosts was with him. This phrase, Jehovah of Hosts, God of hosts,
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Lord of hosts, as a way
of speaking about our God, who
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has many armies, hosts of armies, and so speaks even in terms of
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as David rules and commands and is
strong, he only does so because God
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is with him. So he has
been crowned, he has a capital,
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but he still has work to do. A sense, he has been made
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king, but there is a kind
of establishing of that kingdom that still needs
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to happen, and that's why our
passage speaks about these mighty men working with
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all Israel to make him king.
It's not as though he needs to become
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king again or that he sort of
slipped somehow, but it speaks in a
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way of establishing that kingship, not
just in Jerusalem, not just with his
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people, but in particular overall the
Philistines, over the people in the land.
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David had work to do, and
this kind of work was not exactly
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it was not the temple work and
some of the building projects that his son
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Solomon would take up, but it
was bloody work. It was the work
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of war. God had commanded Saul
to take care of the Philistines, to
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send them out of the land,
much like Joshua began to do, and
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the judges did as well. Israel, at various points throughout this whole history,
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after Moses, continued to fail at
this task. Successes in some ways,
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victories in some ways, but many
failures as well. Finally, Saul
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is established as king and there is
some hope that this one, who has
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been commissioned to this task, would
do the job. But he did not.
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Saul, like David, was anointed
and saw, like David, was
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called to establish that kingship. Saul
failed to do that. Over and over
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again we see saul turning away from
the Lord, turning away from the commands
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that he had been given. Now
it was David's turn. God had replaced
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Saul on the throne by this king
who is to do his work. God
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had given this hymn this task to
do and he promised David that he would
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do it through him, that he
was established his kingdom and his name forever.
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Not this point, I'll just pause
very briefly and remind you all of
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something that we forget, that when
God promises to to do something in us,
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when he calls us to do something, he always provides the means to
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do that. This something we often
forget. It's something Saul often forgot.
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God gave him a call and he
often felt like God would not provide the
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means to do that. The philistines
were strong, the Philistines were powerful,
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the Philistines had more weapons. The
PHILISTINES had giants. Many, many reasonable
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reasons, but ultimately unreasonable. If
we remember that God is a God who
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provides, we must remember that in
our lives, as we live them,
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the things that God has called you
to do, whatever spetificate, particular thing
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you might think of God, God
is providing the means for you to do
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it. And so is the case
with David and what God provides him in
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particular. Many, many things.
But here the focus is on these mighty
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men, these mighty men who are
mighty in many different ways. Let's think
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about some of those. First of
all, we see that they are strong.
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These are they are strong and what
seems to be an almost superhuman way,
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and perhaps it is a superhuman way, they do these great heroic deeds
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that you can hardly imagine anyone accomplishing. But of course we're reminded throughout that
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it's because of the Lord that they
did them, that they were strong because
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of him, because of what he
was doing. Throughout we, throughout this
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passage is were reminded of God's provision. The focus always comes back to dot,
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always back to God, even as
we might hear the story and think,
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wow, what an amazing man.
Immediately we hear that it was God
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working through him, God winning the
battle. Nevertheless, think for a little
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bit about the instruments that God uses
here, think about how strong they are.
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The first example we have is Jashobeam, who wields a spear against three
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hundred and he kills them at one
time, probably not meaning instantly, but
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in the one battle he takes them
all down. Honestly, I can't even
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imagine what that would look like,
how that would happen. It seems well,
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it is amazing. We have another
story, then, of Eliezar,
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the El yet AISAR, who,
in the midst of not only great strength
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of the Philistines who had gathered there
for battle, but in the great fear
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of his brothers in arms, while
everyone's fleeing, while everyone is running away,
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Elias are, stands there in the
middle of the field and defends it
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and kills the Philistines. One mighty
man is missing here. We're not scholars,
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aren't sure why that is. It
could be that he's am considered under
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this second one. Elias are,
because we have these plural words, and
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the Lord saved them by a great
victory. Another possibilities. It's a scribal
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error as the author was looking at
the passages and second samuels jumped his eyes
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and we just are missing the bit
from the original text in the texts we
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have today. But either way we
have before us these three mighty men that
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God is giving and gives to David
and reminds us of his victories through them.
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But beyond these particular three there's yet
another class of men, also very
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amazing, but yet not so amazing
somehow that he will say and make these
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comments that they didn't quite attain to
the three, which is amazing considering,
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for example, verse twenty, Abby
Shy, the brother of Joe Ab,
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the chief of the thirty. So
this other class of men. He wield
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his spear against three hundred men and
killed them and one a name beside the
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three. He was the most renowned
of thirty, became their commander, but
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did not attain to the three.
So even these mighty men, in some
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ways there's a classes of mighty men, mighty men on top of mighty men.
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We read of the striking down of
this Egyptian, five cubits, seven
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and a half feet tall, held
his hand a spear like a weaver's beam,
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Ben and I ah comes at him
with a staff, somehow snatches the
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spear out of his hand and puts
him to death. You see that these
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men are strong, very very strong. We also read that they are are
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skilled in battle. This same Ben
and I ah, we read in Verse
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Twenty Two that one day he went
down and struck a lion in a pit,
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on a day when the snow had
fallen. Again, when we're reading
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quickly through the passage, these things
might be easy to skip over, but
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consider what that would mean for a
moment. The fighting, or I should
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say hunting, of lions was a
great sport of the King's, especially in
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the ancient Near East. There's pictures
of kings doing this kind of thing and
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in various places and inscriptions and descriptions
of them doing this. And here this
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kind of kingly activity of hunting lions
is ascribed not to the king, but
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one do if the king's servants.
I'm not to make David lesser but in
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some ways to make him greater by
showing these mighty men. And one of
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the ways that they would do this
is they would dig a pit, somehow
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lay this trap, a lion would
fall into it, they'd capture it with
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a net and then would jump down
in the pit and defeat the lion.
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This would, I imagine, be
a difficult task. I've never done anything
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even remotely close to this, but
notice the little detail that's added. Not
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only does Ben and I do all
this, but he does it when the
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snow has fallen. As a one
commentator I read, I'm forgetting who,
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but he said, well, while
other men are sitting close to the hearth,
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Ben and I is out there in
the snow capturing lions. You imagine
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the difficulty of having good footholds and
all the rest inta doing a task like
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this. Nevertheless, they're strong,
they are skilled. I'm later in chapter
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twelve will read of the Benjamites who
were able to sling a stone with the
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right or the left hand. These
descriptions go on and on. But perhaps
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even more importantly than them being strong
and then being skilled, these mighty men
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are also fiercely loyal, at least
at this point, to their king.
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And there are all kinds of ways
that this story will get qualified later on.
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The faithfulness of the king, for
example, is undermined when we read,
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I didn't read it to you tonight, but in verse forty one.
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We read of these mighty men and
one of them is named Ariah, the
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hittight, and we know was greatly
sinned against by David and likewise on some
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of these men will sin against him. But here that picture is somewhat idealized
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for us and it's showing us who
these men were, particularly at the beginning
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of the history. They were strong, they were skilled and they were fiercely
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loyal. The best example of that
comes from this small story. In Verses
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Fifteen through nineteen, we read that
there was a Philistine, a group of
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Philistines, or the army of the
Philistines, rather garrison, that were encamped
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there at Bethlehem. You remember that
David was from Bethlehem, and David is
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says longingly in verse Seventeen, Oh, that someone would give me water to
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drink from the well of Bethlehem,
that is by the gate. Now many
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commentators, especially the ancient ones,
spent a lot of time, spend a
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lot of time looking at this verse
and considering the difficulties that we have with
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food and hunger and desires, not
controlling our appetites. But I think something
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different is going on here. It
seems to me that David is is not
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necessarily requesting something but, as it
says, he's longing for something. He
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sees his hometown run over by the
Philistines and he sort of want longs for
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a taste of home, we might
say, a sense of home, even
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victory over home. He expresses this, this expresses this thing, not necessarily
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asking for it. But what happens? What's the response? Three mighty men,
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in their loyalty to David, break
through the camp of the Philistines,
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draw water out of the well of
Bethlehem and bring it back to David.
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This is not about a victory necessarily. This is about showing loyalty to their
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commander, isn't it? They love
David so much that they're willing to risk
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their own lives for something that's maybe
a silly request, just a bit of
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longing for home. And they say
will do it, and they go and
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they're victorious, says these mighty men
tend to be, and they bring back
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David this water. But David,
recognizing their loyalty and in thankfulness for it,
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does a very wise and loving thing. He doesn't drink it, which
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I think in some ways would perhaps
make him look like something of a tyrant
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making and risking making his men and
risk having them risk their lives for just
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a cup of water. But instead, and neither does he throw it away
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and say hey, I didn't ask
for this, what is this for,
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and again waste their their work.
Instead, he takes the drink and he
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pours it out to God, he
makes a sacrifice salad of it, he
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dedicates it to Jehovah, who is
the one who is giving them victory in
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all of this anyway, and says, far be it from me, before
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I god that I should do this. Shall I drink the life blood of
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these men, for, at the
risk of all their own lives, they
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brought it. Therefore, he would
not drink of it. These things did
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the three mighty men. So,
you see, to go back to the
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the original thought, David has a
task to do. David is King and
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God is equipping him with an army, in Army led by mighty men that
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are courageous, that are strong,
that are skilled and very, very loyal
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to their king. Well, this
teaches us about our own position to Jesus.
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Jesus also has battles to fight.
Jesus also has been crowned as king
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you remember that when Jesus died on
the cross, that wasn't the end,
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was it? He rose victorious over
sin and death and was and even ascended
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to the right hand of God.
This great sign of victory which he did
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in his glory. We read in
various places of scripture that this is exactly
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what this meant. We read in
Colossians, for example, that in Jesus
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is death on the cross, in
his ascension, in his victory. In
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this way he became a king and
ruler over all powers and authorities, principalities.
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But this victory that Jesus achieves on
the cross in a sense going up
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to Mount Zion, ruling over it, taking it from the stronghold of Satan.
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It's a victory that has to be
brought to completion, and so even
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today there are battles that are still
going on. You might think about the
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spread of the Gospel, the conquering
of people's hearts, the putting away of
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sin and blindness. You might think
of him doing that great work that Solomon
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did of building up the temple,
of establishing the worship of God through the
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people of God. You might consider
his complete victory over evil to come when
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all of Satan and those who love
him will be a cast forever and bound
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and banished forever and ever. These
are the kinds of battles that are still
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going on and the kind of a
battle that is to come on the day
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of the Lord. And just as
Jesus has these battles to fight, God
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has given him instruments to do this
work. Not that Jesus is dependent on
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them in some way, that he
would somehow fail if they weren't given to
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him, but God, in his
great wisdom, gives Jesus an army,
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hosts, you might think, for
example, of the angels. Let me
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read a few verses from Matthew,
Chapter Thirteen. In Matthew Thirteen versus forty
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and forty two. We read of
the last days. We read Jesus says
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the harvest is the close of the
end of the age, and the reapers
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are angels. Just as the weeds
are gathered and burned with fire, so
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it will be at the close of
the age. The son of Man will
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send his angels and they will gather
out of his kingdom all causes of sin
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and all lawbreakers and throw them into
the fiery furnace in that place where there
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will be weeping and Nashing is nashing
of teeth. God has given to Jesus
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this great hosts, this these mighty
armies. But among these hosts are included
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his people. The beginning of the
sermon I quoted from a revelation, Chapter
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Nineteen and all. Let me read
it to you now. The revelation nineteen.
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Verse Fourteen, we read that the
armies of Heaven, a raid in
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fine linen, white and pure,
were following him on white horses. Well,
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who are these armies? A raid
in linen and lighting on white forces
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will just previous US Lee? In
Verse Eight, we read that it is
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the bride of Christ. It was
granted her to clothe herself with white linen,
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bright and pure. In other places
we read of robes of white being
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given to the saints, Robes that
are made white by being washed in the
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blood of the lamb. Well,
these armies of Heaven, arrayed in fine
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linen, these saints of the Lord, he goes on to say and describing
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in phrases reminiscent of Psalm. Too, from his mouth comes a sharp sword
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with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a
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rod of iron. He will tread
the wine press of fury, of the
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wrath of God the Almighty. On
his robe and on his thigh he has
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a name written, King of kings
and Lord of Lords. You see how
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God is describing for us the Great
Day of the Lord, this great king,
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this great and powerful king, riding
forward conquering the nations and as we
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know from Matthew and as we see
from revelation, that he is flanked by
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angels and Saints Doing His bidding,
powerful and mighty. All of this,
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these things that are pictured here,
are given in earthly terms in first chronicles.
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These pictures of David going out to
the Philistines and conquering these enemies of
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the Lord with these mighty pet men
equipped by the power of God. Well,
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all this reminds us of something very
important that I said at the beginning.
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It means that you are equipped,
just as these mighty men were,
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because of Jesus and who he is, because of who we are in connection
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with him, as his bride,
as his body, as his army.
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It means that his victory is our
victory. It means that when God has
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placed us in him, he has
given ev US everything we need to fight
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those battles, both now in our
lives here as pilgrims, and on the
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last day, on the day of
the Lord. We think of these mighty
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men and wonder at their great strength. Wonder at your own strength. Be
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Amazed at the miracles God does in
you in bringing forth the fruit of holiness,
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in putting to death sin and evil
desires. You think of his disciples
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going out into the world, risking
their lives and indeed even giving their lives
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for the sake of the Gospel.
But that work these particular mighty men.
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It extends beyond that. It extends
to each and every one of us,
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whom God has equipped, whom he
has given to us strength and guaranteed victory
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even over death. And so,
with that we consider his words in Ephesians.
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Finally, 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,
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 in the evil day and, having done all's to stand firm.
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Stand therefore, having fastened the belt
of truth, having put on the breastplate
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of righteousness and his shoes for your
feet, having put on the readiness given
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by the gospel of peace. In
all circumstances, take up the shield of
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faith, with which you can extinguish
all the flaming darts of the evil one,
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and the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the spirit, which is
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the word of God, praying at
all times in the spirit, with prayer
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and supplication to that end, keep
alert with all perseverance, making supplication for
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the Saints. You are mighty man. Indeed, in many ways you are
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even mightier than these men described here
in first chronicles eleven, because you don't
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just defeat flesh and but blood,
but you put out the flaming darts of
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Satan himself. You fight against great
cosmic powers of evil and when this is
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who you are and this is how
God has equipped you, so fight alongside
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the Lord Jesus, knowing that victory
already belongs to you. It means that
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you can be brave courageous as you
fight your enemies, Sin and death and
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the evil one. And you can
be brave too, as you remember that
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your weapons are not real swords and
or I should say physical swords and physical
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shields, but they are truth and
righteousness and holiness and the truth of God.
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You can be brave, for example, and powerful in extending grace,
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in forgiving someone who is hurt you, in seeking the Lord for the resolution
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of conflict and unity and communion in
the church. It means that when you
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fight your personal sins and temptations,
that you can be strong in Him who
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has equipped you, because just as
the Lord had fought for David and for
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these mighty men, he also fights
for you. And in that strength,
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in his strength, seek to grow
in these skills, not in hand to
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hand combat, but in the war
of the soul. And Ask yourself,
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are you growing stronger? Are you
becoming faster? Are you becoming more adept
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and wise to the wiles of the
enemy? If not, then seek the
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Lord. He will teach you,
he will strengthen you, he will equip
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you, because you belong to his
armies. And in all this, let
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us pray that God would help us
to remain fiercely and intensely loyal to him,
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to be willing to do anything he
asks at the drop of the hat.
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At the drop of a hat,
at the slightest request, let us
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go and serve our Lord with gladness
and courage and strength. May God grant
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these things to us, his soldiers. Let us pray
