Mighty Man of Valor – 5.20.08

And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. (Judges 6:11-12)

Several years ago back home in Alabama, a stray mutt adopted my family. He was a black lab/chow/retriever mix. We decided to give him a Bible name and ended up choosing Gideon. My dad likes to call him a "mighty dog of valor" (he did kill a 'possum under the deck once).

Now, I'm sure we're all familiar with this man who was the 6th judge of Israel. And I believe there is an interesting lesson the Lord would have us learn from his life.

The fact that the angel of the Lord addressed Gideon as a "mighty man of valor" is really almost comical. In fact, when we read the story of Gideon's life, it seems there is much that would contradict the statement.

• When the angel addresses him in chapter 6, he's out back behind the winepress threshing his wheat because he's afraid of the Midianites who are ruling over Israel at this point. He then argues with the angel and with the Lord and tries to offer up some excuses as to why he couldn't possibly be the one to deliver Israel from the Midianites.
  

• That night, God tells Gideon He wants him to throw down the altar of Baal his father had set up and build an altar to the Lord. Gideon took 10 men and did what the Lord had said, but he did it in the middle of the night because he feared his father's household, and the men of the city (v. 27).
  

• At the end of chapter 6 God gathers an army of men for Gideon, but Gideon decides he needs another sign. He puts out a fleece at night and asks the Lord to put dew on the fleece only and let the ground be dry. Gideon went out in the morning, and it was done. So he goes off to battle and destroys Midian…well no, actually he asks God for another sign. He puts out another fleece and asks the Lord to let the dew be upon the ground but let the fleece be dry. Again, God makes it happen.
  

• In chapter 7, God reduces Gideon's army from 32,000 to 300. Then God told Gideon, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host…Did you catch what just happened? God told Gideon, go down if you're afraid, and Gideon went…and he did overhear one man telling another about his dream…a cake of barley bread that rolled down into the host and flattened out the tent. And his fellow answered…this is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.
  

And you know the rest of the story, Gideon and his 300 did go out with a pitcher in one hand and a trumpet in the other and they did defeat the Midianites that night under the battle cry of The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.

All that to get to a very simple lesson. God called Gideon a mighty man of valor. God told Gideon to go in this thy might. But in Gideon's life, we see plenty of evidence of fear.

Now, if we were to examine our own lives, I'd believe there would be an occasion or two where we knew what was right, we knew what needed to be done according to the word of God, but we were afraid to do it. I'm sure there has been some occasion when we had a wide open door to witness but were simply too afraid to walk through that door.

We must realize that living the Christian life the way God wants us to live it according to the Bible is something that is going to take some courage. Moses' last charge to Joshua was to be strong and very courageous to observe all the law (Joshua 1:7). David told Solomon in his dying days to be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed (1 Chronicles 28:20).

But here is the blessing we learn from the life of Gideon. God can use a fearful man who submits his fear to the will of God. Gideon was definitely afraid, but his fear was overcome by his obedience to God's word, and God granted the victory.

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

Enjoy Your Family – 5.16.08

In Deuteronomy 28, the Lord is laying out for the Israelite people the consequences of obeying or disobeying the commandments He had given them. Verse 1 says, And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee…and follows 13 more verses describing the blessings God would pour out upon the Hebrew nation for their obedience.

Verse 15 then begins, But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee…and follows 52 verses describing how God would judge the Israelites for their disobedience.

That's the context. Now, the thought for us to consider today is found in verse 41. This is part of the curse God prescribed for Israel's disobedience to His laws. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. Parents and kids having lousy relationships was to be a result of the nation's disobedience to the Lord.

Here's the question. Could you, would you describe your relationship with your parents as enjoyable? If not, I believe the Bible would have us know that is a spiritual problem. In other words, if there is something wrong in my relationship to my parents, there is something wrong in my relationship to God.

How can I say that? Well, God did say, Obey your parents. God did say, Honor thy father and mother. And He really didn't put any conditions on it. He didn't say obey and honor…if they're godly Christians. He didn't say obey and honor…if they believe and heed the Bible. He didn't say obey and honor…if they always make the right decisions. He didn't say obey and honor…if you're absolutely sure they have your best interests at hear. He didn't say obey and honor…if you're convinced their intelligence and/or common sense is greater than your own. He said obey and honor…because they're your parents. That's the order He has set up (1 Corinthians 14:40).

Are you able to enjoy your parents? We're not talking about their faults. We're talking about our having a proper attitude toward them…resulting from a proper attitude toward the word of God.

I believe all of us really have a lot to be thankful for. Your parents aren't perfect, and mine aren't either. And when we get to be parents, I doubt we'll be perfect. But I'm willing to bet your parents love you and you know it. It's evident they take care of you. They feed you. They clothe you. They shelter you. They bring you to church, or they let you come. Most people in the world can't say that.

God intends for us to enjoy our family relationships. And if our heart is right with Him, I believe we will. Is thy heart right with God?

Remembering Amalek – 5.13.08

God gave the following charge to the Hebrew nation in Deuteronomy 25:17-19…

Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.

When I read the above passage, my mind went immediately to 1 Samuel 15:1-3…

Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

The date given for Deuteronomy 25 is 1451 BC. The date given for 1 Samuel 15 is 1087 BC. So the repetition of this mandate follows over 350 years after the original commandment given in Deuteronomy 25. In 1 Samuel, Israel is almost 400 into the covenant they made with God, and they still haven't carried out what God told them to do at the outset (nor did Saul complete the task).

A simple thought arises from this observation. What did God convict us about a long time ago that we still haven't yielded to Him? What commandment did the Lord bring to our attention so long ago we can't even remember…and yet we still haven't obeyed? What thing did the Holy Ghost once lay upon our heart to do that we still haven't carried out?

The Lord apparently remembers those things, and He seems to bring them to our minds from time to time (like today, hopefully).

Now, will we be like Israel and continue to miss out on God's blessings due to our incomplete obedience? Or will we do what's right and seize the day and redeem the time and complete the task that God has given us?

…Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…

The 10 Plagues – 5.9.08

Numbers 33 is one of those chapters that sometimes makes you wonder why God put it in the Bible. It's a list of all the camping sites the Israelites set up during their 40 years in the wilderness. They started on this day and came to this place and camped there so many days, then removed and came to another place and camped there so many days…and so on and so forth.

Bro. James gave a great take on this chapter one time. The question that plagued his mind as he read was "Who cares?" And the obvious answer to the question was that God cares. And the blessing lies in the fact that no matter where you are and regardless of whether anyone else cares where you are, God knows and God cares.

Now, in reading this chapter this morning, I came across an interesting statement in verse number 4. For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgment.

This matches the statement made in Exodus 12:12, For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment: I am the Lord.

So among the reasons for the 10 plagues God sent upon Egypt prior to Israel's deliverance was to execute judgment on the Egyptian's gods. Below is a list of some of the major gods the Egyptians worshipped and the plagues that took a blow at each.

Hapi – the Nile river god (water turned to blood)

Heqt – the frog goddess (frogs covered the land)

Seb – the earth god; protector against things that come out of the ground (plagues of lice and flies)

Imhotep – the god of medicine (boils on men and beasts)

Hathor – the mother goddess with the head of a cow (murrain on the cattle)

Nut – goddess of the sky; hail and locusts both came from the sky

Horus – the sun god (3 days of darkness on all the land)

Amun-re – the god of the firstborn (death of the firstborn on Passover night)

*taken from the Chick tract It's the Law

I think that's pretty significant…and I think it's pretty cool.

Psalm 86:10 says, For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Solomon said in 1 Kings 8:23, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath.

What a blessing it is to have a personal relationship with the Almighty Creator of the heavens and the earth! Do you count yourself privileged to be called His son? Are you happy and content to live your life in His service?

Ever been street preaching with Gerald Sutek? I remember being on the streets of Victoria on Vancouver Island and hearing Bro. Sutek preach, "If your god is (money, Buddha, fashion, Mohammed, etc.), my God is bigger than your god." It was great. And it's true. He is. He is the One true and living God. Does He not deserve our all?

False Freedom – 5.6.08

And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlicks… Numbers 11:5-6

I'd say their perception was off just a bit, wouldn't you? Do you really think they ate freely as slaves in the house of bondage? Freely is defined as…

• At liberty; without vassalage, slavery or dependence
  
• Without restraint, constraint or compulsion; voluntarily
  
• Plentifully; in abundance; as, to eat or drink freely
  
• Without impediment or hinderance
  

So all the rigorous labor they sought deliverance from was voluntary? So they had all the fish and cucumbers and melons and leeks and onion and garlick they wanted? So they were at liberty to eat what they wanted when they wanted? Don't think so. But don't we all have this tendency from time to time to consider walking after the lusts of the flesh freedom?

Let's take 2 lessons from this section of the book of Numbers.

1. The life lived in the pursuit of the lusts of the flesh is one of bondage, not freedom.

Romans 6 (read vv. 12-23 when you get a chance) teaches that we will always be in service to someone or something. We can serve sin or we can serve God. The logical decision would be to choose the one that pays better. And so verse 23 says, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You can be free from God but a servant to sin or you can be free from sin and a servant to God. There's an element of freedom and an element of bondage to both. It is obvious which is a better choice.

2. The influence of the mixt multitude.

It was when this group fell a lusting that Israel began to weep for the freedom of Egypt. 2 Peter 2 (vv. 18-22) warns of those who will allure through the lusts of the flesh and promise liberty, but themselves are the servants of corruption. And their latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

Turn a deaf ear to those who would tell you that a Christian is free to live after the lusts of the flesh. Turn a deaf ear to those who would categorize what you know to be true, biblical Christianity as legalism. Beware of the mixt multitude.

Numbers 11 ends in Kibrothhattavah: because there they buried the people that lusted. Don't let your love and zeal for the Lord die out because you want to pursue a freedom that doesn't exist.

Good Ol’ Bez – 5.2.08

Exodus 31 introduces us to a great Bible character by the name of Bezaleel. Off the point, but maybe interesting…I knew a guy once by the name of Bezaleel Melchizidek. He had a few brothers…who were also named Bezaleel Melchizidek. (If I remember the story correctly, his parents were trying to confuse Big Brother.) He went by "Bez" (which probably made kindergarten a bit easier), and I'd be willing to bet the brothers went by "Mel" and "Zeke."

Anyway, I believe it'd do us all some good to become more familiar with the Bezaleel of the Bible.

EXODUS 31:1-6

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee…

A couple quick lessons we can all learn from the record of this great man.

1. You don't have to be a "preacher" to be in need of power and wisdom from God.

2. You don't have to be "called to preach" to accomplish something for the cause of Christ.

Bez wasn't leading the nation, he was making some furniture. He wasn't a clergyman, he was a craftsman. But God gave Him His Spirit, His wisdom, understanding, knowledge…so Bez could accomplish a work that would be pleasing to the Lord. The command is given in Ephesians 5:18 for all believers to be under the controlling influence of the indwelling Spirit of God. Are you? James 1:5 says that any of us who lack wisdom are free to ask of God. Do you?

No matter what your calling, the Holy Spirit can enable and empower you to be a profitable servant of the Lord and build up the body of Christ. So study hard, get good grades, learn a trade, have a successful career, be the best at what you do. But do it for the Lord!

3. We all need help.

In addition to God's spirit and God's wisdom, Bez was blessed with some buddies to help out in the work. And none of us can live this Christian life the way God would have us live it without the exhortation, encouragement, reproof, etc. we receive from our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Our minds should be made up that we would serve the Lord alone if we had to, but for right now, none of us has to. We all ought to take full advantage of the opportunities we have to fellowship with saved people around God's word and around God's work. And we should all be fully engaged in the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, and the edifying of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12).

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men: Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23-24)

Waste – 4.29.08

Exodus 16 records God's provision of and instruction regarding the "bread from heaven" He sent to feed the children of Israel in the wilderness. In reading that chapter this morning I saw a name given to our Lord I hadn't noticed before. Beginning in verse 33, And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony to be kept. Here the Lord calls Himself "The Testimony."

There are 3 reasons I believe this to be so:

1. It fits the context of verse 33, where Aaron was told to lay the pot of manna before the Lord.

2. This is the only time of the 110 occurrences of "testimony" or "testimonies" that the word is capitalized.

3. "The testimony" in the OT has reference to the tables of stone on which God wrote His law (Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:15; Exodus 34:29). These were not yet in existence.

Here are 2 interesting points that came to mind as I then ran the word throughout the Bible:

1. "The testimony" formed the centerpiece of Israel's relationship with Jehovah. "The testimony" was placed in the ark, beneath the mercy seat, where God communed with Israel (Exodus 25:22; Leviticus 16:13). The ark was known as the ark of testimony (Exodus 26:33, others). The holy place was referred to as the testimony, its location within the veil (Exodus 27:21, others). The tabernacle was called the tabernacle of testimony (Exodus 38:21, others) and the tent of testimony (Numbers 9:15). So the Bible forms the basis of our understanding of and fellowship with God.

2. What is the significance of "The Testimony" being a name attributed to God? This situation is similar to that of the written word (the Bible; Hebrews 4;12) and the incarnate Word (Jesus Christ; John 1). You've heard it said that a man is no better than His word. And the testimonies of the Testimony are sure. They've never failed. We can stand firm upon them and Him.

But that's not what I intended to write about. There's another phrase in chapter 16 that caught my attention and I believe would be worthy a couple moment's thought. Verse 19, And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Wouldn't you concede it'd be safe to say that God is opposed to waste.

This is true in a practical sense. We ought to do our best not waste food. We ought to do our best not to waste money. We ought to take care of the material things God has blessed us with.

But even more importantly, this is true in a spiritual sense. What talent do you have that's not being employed in the service of the Lord? It's a waste. What spiritual gift have you been given that you've failed to use for the glory of God? It's a waste. How do you make use of the 24 hours God gives you every day? Ephesians instructs us to Redeem the time because the days are evil. Has God given you breath? Psalm 150 says, Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord: praise ye the Lord. Do you waste God's air?

Let's not squander the life, and breath, and time, and gifts, and abilities, and opportunities God gives us. Let's strive to use all we have been given to its fullest potential for God's maximum glory. Because He's worthy.