Stand up and fight

Tuesday, 11 May 2010 13:41

During last week's preaching, I said something a little funny, but that unfortunately is true. If you remember, I told them when we make a conscious decision to follow Jesus, and when we will truly, that's when all the problems appear to come into our lives. If you remember, I said, at that time is when we lose our work, we killed the cat, the dog escapes us, and she stops talking. This is of course not without first all we burn the car and the bicycle is stolen.

I know I said foolish things, but unfortunately these are things that happen every day, and are things that if we are not aware of what they are, then we can weaken our relationship with God, and stop the blessings in our lives. From what we must be aware that these things happen we are attacks planned by our enemy, and that we are in a constant battle, especially when we are truly following Jesus. It is this same desire to speak on today. Today we are learning about the constant battle that we as Christians have to face. I've often said that we, the believers, are the army of God. We were elected by Jesus to defend and expand the Kingdom of God here on earth. But to achieve these purposes as important, there is a quality we possess. We now turn to the verses that we will be using in today and find some examples of what I speak.

2 Samuel 23:8-12 - These are the names of the brave David had: Josheb-basshebeth the tacmonita, chief of the captains, and this was the eznita Adino that killed eight hundred men at one time. ⁹ After this, Eleazar son of Dodo, Ahohite, one of the three brave men who were with David when they defied the Philistines who had gathered there for battle, and led away the men of Israel. ¹⁰ This arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. That day the LORD sent a great victory, and became the town after him just to take the booty. ¹¹ After this was Shammah son of Age, Hararite. The Philistines had gathered at Lehi, where there was a small field full of lentils, and the people fled before the Philistines. ¹² He then stopped in the middle of that field and defended him, and slew the Philistines: and the Lord gave a great victory.

When we read this entire chapter soon see here David was doing a reflection of his life analyzing how God was manifested in his life. In other words he was remembering the difficulties that had led to that point in his life and all those who had helped him. But here in this small portion of the chapter we see that David mentions three specific people. Three very different from each other, but all three had something in common, they served faithfully they called King. As we can see, the memory David had these three men, Josheb-basshebeth, Eleazar, and Shammah, is one of courage and military power. Take heed the Word tells us here when we read about Josheb, the Word tells us "the tacmonita Josheb-basshebeth, chief of the captains, and this was the eznita Adino that killed eight hundred men at one time." Mato eight hundred men On one occasion, no doubt this is a demonstration of courage and great military power, right? When we read of Eleazar, the Word tells us "Eleazar son of Dodo, Ahohite, one of the three mighty men that were with David when they defied the Philistines who had gathered there for battle, and led away the men of Israel. ¹⁰ This arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. That day the LORD sent a great victory, and became the town after him just to take the booty. "Can you imagine this? This man fought so hard and for so long that his hand was stuck to the sword . Here again we find a demonstration of military power, and courage, right? But I want to concentrate on these two men today, but I want to concentrate on the third. I want to concentrate on what happened to Sama, because This short section is where our lesson for the day today.

Mark my words came, the Word tells us "After it was Shammah son of Age, Hararite. The Philistines had gathered at Lehi, where there was a small field full of lentils, and the people fled before the Philistines. ¹² He then stopped in the middle of that field and defended him, and slew the Philistines: and the Lord gave a great victory. "

If you read this lightly, what happened at this moment we may look like something a little silly, right? I say this because here we find that this man was faced to fight a group of men on a field of lentils. In other words, something that in the grand scheme of life appears to be insignificant, right? But the meaning here is much deeper than just a field of lentils. Brothers, Sama was not fighting for a simple field of lentils, Sama was probably fighting because this area was the sustenance of himself and his family. I also wish we notice something very important, and it is here that the Word tells us that the land was "full of beans." It is important that we note this because this record shows that the land was not one that was growing, but it was a field ready for harvest. In reality, the Philistines were well smart, I say this because they had not worked the land they had not sown the seed, they had not been maintained to the ground, but now he was ready for harvest, they would attack and rob it .

If we make a contrast between what happened here and most of us, I think everyone here will agree when I say that our enemy works more or less like these Philistines. When we think in our life, and things often happen to us once we truly follow Jesus, I think we can all see that the devil liar uses more or less the same tactic used by the Philistines in our history. I mean a little . We all know that the enemy attacks the Christians, we all know that he mounts an attack against the people of God. But, have you thought about what starts when the attack is more intensive? If you think about this for a moment believe that all come to the conclusion that it was when we started walking. This is because the attack is intensified when we begin to serve God as He wants us to serve Him. The attack intensified when we begin to bear good fruit, it is then that he tries to destroy and steal what is with much love God has planted in us.

What frequently happens is not very different from what happened here with the people of Israel. Unfortunately, once the attack intensifies once the attack comes to us, many we do what we did this people. What did this people? The Word tells us that "the people had fled before the Philistines." This unfortunately something that happens often, many are running from the battle, instead of running to the front. Tell the brother that you have at your side, we can not escape. These people fled in fear, these people ran and abandonment the blessings God had given him, and there are many who do the same. Many are those who allow the enemy to come and destroy what God has given him. Brothers something that is very evident here is that these people had not the courage to defend what was theirs. They did not have the courage to defend what had been so hard. I say this because if you think about where they were geographically, then we realize they were for the most part a desert. This means that they could cultivate the land they had to spend a lot of work. They first had to irrigate land, tilling the ground second, third plant the seed, and most importantly of all, they had to give maintenance to this area for several months to make the seed grow. One would think they would be unwilling to abandon what the sweat of their brow succeeded, but the people ran from the Philistines, and drop everything. In essence, what these people did was to surrender before fighting. Tell your brother that you have at your side, you have to fight.

Let us pause here for a moment and examine our life. Ask ourselves, do we like this town? "We fled in certain situations or problems? Do we allow the enemy to steal the blessings God has given us? As God's people we are, we can not be just like this town. We can not run and run because it means that we do not trust in the Lord of hosts. This means that our loyalty to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is not strong. Estrus say because when our loyalty to our king is genuine, then we act and act according to His word. Then we act and act with confidence that He gives us victory in every occasion such as found in John 16:33 we read "These things I have mentioned that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but take heart I have overcome the world. "This is Jesus' promise to his people. This is our king's promise to us. Take heed here Jesus tells us clearly that we will be attacked, here Jesus tells us clearly that there will be fights and battles, but through it all, and after all, He gives us the victory. Tell your brother to have at your side, have to fight.

As the people of God, we must follow the example of Sama in this case. We must stand firmly on the rock of our salvation, and fight. Take heed what happened, Sama stood in the middle of the field and fought. He did not run, he was confronted, he defended the blessing that God gave him. He did not complain, it's not critical to the people to flee, he acted quickly and in a successful way. He stood in the middle of the ground and fought. The Word does not tell us how many fought against, and this is an indication that the number does not matter, what counts is that he did not allow that what God had blessed it was stolen. He confronted the situation, he did not send others to peel or give orders to an army, he did it alone, without anyone's help. Now ask yourself, "we do this?

Brothers, we also have to defend what is ours. We have to defend the blessings God has given us. It is time for God's people stand firmly to counter enemy attacks. Time to say! "Is my blessing and you can not remove me!" Defend what God has given us, and we act boldly. When we are brave, when we trust in the Lord, we see that happen in our life just as happened here. Sama killed the Philistines, the Lord gave him victory over his enemies. Lord will do the same with us, he will give victory over any situation or difficulty. But we must be brave. Tell your brother that you have at your side, you have to be brave. We must be willing to fight for what God has given us.

We must take this lesson seriously Sama. Failure to do so, for then the Kingdom of God here on earth will suffer. Let me give an example and at the same time to inform you of something alarming. Did you know that statistics show that all the seventieth week Christian and two churches close their doors for good in the U.S.? This is somewhat alarming, this is something that shows that the people of God there are many people like the people who ran the Philistines. This shows that there is a great need for brave men. Tell your brother that you have at your side, get up and fight. I repeat, we are the army of God here on earth. We are the soldiers that he used to fight enemy forces, and as an army, we must fight together. For an army fighting with an army that conquers all opposition, an army fighting with an army that conquers. But it is easy to be brave in a group it is easier to fight knowing that we have another on our side, but we also have to be willing to fight even when there is nobody on our side.

We possess the most powerful weapon in the universe, we have the Word of God which is able to overcome all opposition. Now, I want it clearly understood that I am not referring to the Bible. Of course we all know that the Bible is the written Word of God, we all know where we can find the answers to our questions or concerns. But the Bible, if we do not know, then it is just a collection of old books. So the Word of God is much more than the Bible, I say this because I'm sure none of us walk with a bible over 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I can tell you that although I am a pastor I took my Bible with you at all times. But if I can say I took the Word of God. I have the Word of God in a place where it can not be stolen, in a place where you never lose or forget me, I take the word of God in my heart. But this is something that can only be achieved when you take the time to consider, when we take time to meditate on it. The people of God is the best armed army in the world, but not all loaded up his gun, and not all are willing to fight.

Let us remember always that we are in spiritual warfare, as we find in Ephesians 6:12 to read "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. "Let us remember that the enemy does not rest in their attacks because they want to destroy what God has given us, we can not be just like the people at the time. We must follow the example of Sama trusting and knowing that despite the situation, however be apparent how large the opposition, Christ has given us the victory as we find in Revelation 2:1 we read "Do not be afraid of what you are going to suffer . Behold, the devil will put some of you into prison to test you, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. "We must resist the attacks, we have to face and be ready to fight even if we can find themselves. We have to trust and be loyal to our King, we must submit to their authority and will, once we do, the enemy is left with no choice but to run from us as we find in James 4:7 to read "Therefore submit God Resist the devil and he will flee from you. "

To conclude. Let us be brave, we are the example to follow, we fight against the opposition without worry of what might happen, trust God and receive his blessing. Trust in God and receive the victory. Sama not let the Philistines steal the blessing God had given him. Do not let the enemy steal what God gave us, it's time to defend our families, it is time to defend our homes, our friends. The moment of truth has arrived, be brave and let us face the enemy without hesitation. Remember that Jesus always be with us as we find in Matthew 28:20 we read "... here I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." We will never forget this, but also know that in order to achieve more His glory, majesty and power, we must be brave!