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Judges chapter #7 We'll start with verse.
One, and we'll read through verse 7.
If I could just ask you, could we just stand as we read God's
Word this evening? Just out of respect of God's
Word? If you're, if you are able to
stand, of course. But Judges chapter #7 I'll read
verses one through 7. We'll pray and we'll get right
into it. Judges Chapter 7, verse one.
It says this. Then Jurubal, who is Gideon?
And all the people that were with him, rose up early, and
pitched beside the well of Herod, so that the host of the
Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of
Moray in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon,
The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the
Midianites into their hands, lest Israel bought themselves
against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
Now therefore go to proclaim the ears of the people, saying,
Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return, and depart early
from the Mount Gilead. And there returned of the people
20 and 2000 and there remained. 10,000 And the Lord said unto
Gideon, The people are yet too many, bring them down unto the
water, and I will try them for thee there.
And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go
with thee, the same shall go with thee.
And of the Whomsoever I say unto thee, this shall not go, with
thee the same shall not go. So he brought down the people
unto the water, And the Lord said unto Gibeon, Everyone that
lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth him
shalt thou set by him by himself.
Likewise everyone that boweth upon his knees to drink.
And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to
their mouth, were 300 men. But all the rest of the people
bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
And in verse 7. And the Lord said unto Gideon,
by the 300 men that lapped, will I save you and deliver the
Midianites into thy hand. And let all the other people go,
every man unto his place. Let's pray and we'll get
started. Definitely, Father, we do.
Thank you once again for this evening.
Lord, you know how much prayer has been put into this service.
So Lord, please, as as much as we prayed into it, help us to
get something great out of it. Lord, I ask you, just please
speak through me now. Lord, let me be the the the
mouthpiece. Let me be the tool.
Let me be the vehicle that you would have for me to be for this
congregation at Liberty Baptist Church.
I do thank you again just for the opportunity to be able to
preach. And I actually just again, just
speak through me, Lord. And most importantly, let
everything that is said and done, let it be used for your
honor and for your glory. We thank you, love you prayer,
precious, holy and wonderful name.
Amen. You may be seated.
Thank you so much for standing. Just to give us a little bit
more context into Judges Chapter 7.
We look at Judges chapter 6 verse #1 it says and the
children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the
Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian 7 years you read
through the book of Judges. You actually kind of see an
unfortunate cycle that goes upon for the nation of Israel.
It starts out with them in that first verse right there, it says
that Israel did evil inside of the Lord.
That's always where kind of the cycle starts for them.
They do evil inside of the Lord and the Lord has to punish them
in a sense by having them fall to an enemy nation.
And in this case we have, they are in the hand of the
Midianites for seven years and then they repent.
They are they obviously are realizing, no, we don't want
this Lord, please save us out of this.
So, so they so they sin, they're into captivity.
Then they they repent and they say, Lord, get us out of this.
Then God sends a deliverer, a judge, hence the book of judges
that delivers them Israel from their captivity.
And then guess what? They are released from their
captivity. But then unfortunately it goes
back to then they did evil in the sight of the Lord.
You read through the book of judges consistent.
You could even go literally to the last verse of the Book of
Judges and it just ends with that unfortunate cycle where it
says in those days there was no king in Israel.
Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
It's unfortunate cycle. It's an unfortunate thing to not
learn from your mistakes and I pray Liberty Baptist Church that
we learn from our mistakes that we yes, yes, we make mistakes.
We are human, we are sinners, but when we are consistently
making our mistakes, the. Bible calls us.
As if we are a dog returning to our own vomit.
A very, very disgusting picture, but a very real picture.
Like you're like a dog returning to his own vomit.
That is what God sees when we continuously make the same
mistake over and over with no repentance and with no again,
just having that desire to do right and and just doing that
which is right in our own eyes. That's how God sees that.
But that's where we see here in the book of Judges this
consistent cycle. However, we do see that the Lord
does hear their repentance, and they do.
They do see the God's hand at work.
In this story, we see the Israelites fall into the hand of
the Midianites. And in verse #5 it's very
interesting. It says in Judges chapter 6,
verse 5, it says for they camp with their cattle and their
tents. Let's talk about Midian.
And they came as grasshoppers for multitude, for both they and
their camels were without number, and they entered into
the land to destroy it. It's, you know, you have some
big numbers, you have millions and you have billions and so on
and so forth. But when the Bible literally
says that they are without number, that's that that that's
scary that that there that God does not even give them a number
of how many are there. There is so many Midianites
here, but that's where it comes to God can do the impossible.
It doesn't matter what the number was.
God was going to be able to get this mighty victory because
again he heard the nation of Israel again saying, Lord,
please get us out of this mess and God being the wonderful just
an amazing God that he is is going to save them out of this.
So God calls a man named Gideon. We saw Girubal, whose name is
Gideon, but to deliver the nation of Israel and you could,
and through the Judges chapter 6, you could see he's Timothy.
At first he's not really sure if this is what God would have him
to do, whatever the case is, but then obviously God proved
himself to be who he was. Therefore, Gideon finally was
like, OK, I'm on board, let's do this thing.
How are we going to get it done? How are we going to make this
thing happen? So in Judges Chapter 7, they're
preparing for battle. They have 32,000 men getting
ready for battle. And Gideon, you know, at first
it took him a little bit to be convinced of this and he's just
like, all right, we don't know. We don't, we don't have a
number, we don't know how many are going to be on this other
side. But it seems like there's a lot.
However, God's going to do something great.
We've got 32,000 men. We're going to fight, we're
going to do something great. It's going to be awesome.
It's going to be fantastic. Then God, he taps Gideon on the
shoulder there and he says, Gideon, can I speak to you for a
minute? And Gideon says yes, Sir.
Sir, what would you, what would you have us to do?
What do you, what would you want us to do?
US 32,000 men and God says, OK, that's, that's where we're going
to start. There's too many of you.
I don't know if I'm if I'm
Gideon. My my heart's beating a little
bit faster after God says that because I'm not again, it
literally says that there are grasshoppers for multitude on
the other side, that they are without number.
I put a number on my group and I'm confident with the 32,000,
but you're telling me there's too many.
OK, OK Lord, then what would you have?
What would you have us to do then?
And the Lord says literally just tell them if they are afraid, if
they are afraid, if they are scared, tell them to go home.
And Gideon says. OK, that's fine.
That's 100%. OK.
You know what? Maybe, yeah, you know what?
Let's separate the men from the boys.
You know what I'm saying? Let's let's get rid of this.
The ones that are, you know, scared or whatever.
Maybe a few 100. I'll even give like 1000.
But like, no way it's going to be that much.
And then we read in verse #3 It says therefore to go to.
Proclaim the ears, whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him
return and depart from the Mount Gilead and their return of the
people. 20 and 2000. And there remained 10,000.
Gideon is just like that wasn't supposed to happen.
Well, how did I I lost 2/3 of my army right now just because
they're scared. Interesting.
OK, You know what, God. All right, I understand.
Like you. Like I said, you separate the
men from the boys. We got 10,000.
We're ready to go, God. All right, what do you?
Want us to do now, Gideon? The Lord says.
Gideon, we still have a problem here.
And Gideon's like, what? What?
What is it? We still have too many people.
OK. If I'm Gideon, I'm like, God, is
your calculator broken? Is it like, do you, Are you sure
that this is exact like, like we're getting, we're getting
risky, like losing the thousands here.
And I might even go into the hundreds.
If we're going to keep playing this game.
What? What is it that you'd have us to
do then? Lord, what would you have us to
do? So we go into verse four.
He has, he has his 10,000. And then God says there's still
too many. So why don't you go down to the
river with the men and watch how they drink?
And the reason for that is when you are in battle, obviously you
have yourselves and then you have the enemy.
And when you are, you know, when you're tired and you want to
take a rest, you have to still be alert of where the enemy is
coming from. Therefore you don't want anyone
to drink water such as as it says in in scripture there it
says as a dog laugh if you don't want to drink like this because
you have no idea where the enemy is coming from.
So what what God was looking for was these soldiers, these men to
be alert and be aware and what they would do is they take the
water and drink as so that way again, they are aware of what
the enemy if if the enemy might not be they're already.
Regardless of what is happening and how many of those soldiers
did that, Only 300. Only 300 soldiers ended up doing
the right thing. So 9700 had to go home because
they drank and but they were not ready for what was going to come
to them in battle. Therefore, we only see 300
people. And God had plans with those 300
people. In Judges Chapter 7, verse #16
it says, And he divided the 300 men into three companies.
And he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pictures
and lamps within them. Pictures.
And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise.
You, whatever you, whatever I do, you follow me.
Wherever I go, you go, you follow me.
We'll do this together, and behold, when I come to the
outside of the camp, it shall be as I do ye, so shall ye do.
Verse 18 When I blow a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then
blow the trumpets also on every side of the camp, and they say
the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
So Gideon and the 100 men were with him, and came unto the
outside of the. Camp at the beginning of the
middle of the watch. And they had newly set the watch
and they blew the trumpets and break the pitchers that were in
their hands. What is the significance of the
pitchers and the trumpets and and the.
Sort of the Lord of Gideon, what the situation is, is when you
have, usually you would have one trumpeteer in, in war that would
represent many thousand men. So when you have one trumpeteer
going off many thousand, so you have 300 trumpeteers blowing
their horns away and they're surrounding the camp.
Uh oh, that's a. Problem we're we're we're under
siege. That's an issue.
And they break the pictures and that also again, just represents
the clashing of the armor of them getting ready to prepare
for battle as they're about to charge in, if you will.
And again the lamps also you see the the lights of the lamps,
which also again, represent many thousand men, many thousand
soldiers. And it gets to the point where
the Midianites, they, they realize they're surrounded and
they realize, oh man, it's over for us.
And it gets to the point in verse #20 the three companies
blew the trumpets. They break the pitchers and held
the lamps in their left hands and the trumpet in their right
hand to blow with all. And they cried the sword of the
Lord hand of Gideon. And they stood every man in his
place round about the camp. And all the hosts ran and cried
and fled. And the 300 blew the trumpets.
And the Lord said every man's sword against his fellow, even
throughout all the hosts and the hosts of Beth Shida and, and the
Zaratha and to the the border of Abel Mawa and unto Tabath.
So it gets to the even the point where the Midianites are so
scared they're killing themselves because they're like,
I would rather die to us instead of be surrendered to the enemy,
which again was the Israelites. But it's only 300 men blowing
their trumpets and lighting their pictures.
And we just see the Midianites just crumble within themselves.
God saw a great and mighty victory with just three hundred
men. You know what's interesting
though? I just feel bad for the 31,700
men that God could not use. I just feel bad for those that
the 22,000 that were afraid. In my in my sermon, I have them
as the cowards. I have 9700 men that just didn't
think. I call those the careless and
then I have the 300 the ones that were there and they saw God
brought a great and mighty victory.
I call those the conquerors. That's the title of my message.
The the cowards, the careless and the.
Conquerors, easy outline. So you know when we get close to
the end. Amen.
The cowards, the careless, and the conquerors.
And we'll get to that point #1 the, the, the cowards in
Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse #6 I'll just turn there quickly.
Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse #6 it says this.
It said, be strong and of a good courage.
Fear not nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God, he it is
that doth good with thee. He will not feel thee, nor
forsake thee. I just want us to understand
something. There is nothing for us to be
afraid of when we know that we are on the right side.
And what is the right side? It is the Lord's side.
We have songs that we sing of the great hymns of the faith.
Who? Is on the Lord's side or we are
on the winning side and we have these, these great and mighty
songs. But sometimes when we're in the
battle, we kind of forget what side we're on and we allow
again, the anxiety, the worry, the, the anxiousness, if you
will, to, to, to sneak up on us. And it gets to the point where
we are unavailable or, or we are not being able to be used of God
because we're allowing the fear or allowing those things to stop
us from accomplishing what God already says we will have
victory over God is the mighty captain himself.
He is the greatest leader to ever exist.
He, he is losing, not in his character and he will never
lose. He is the all time undisputed
undefeated champion of Love but the 22,000.
Men did not experience that victory just simply because they
were chicken, because they were afraid, because they were
scared. Have a lot of, in a sense,
adjectives for these young people that were afraid, that
were scared. They were scaredy cats, if you
will. They were gutless, they were
wimps. They were babies.
Faint hearted yellow bellied Lily liver since.
I'm going Southern here. Watch out.
They were, they were intimidated, they were fearsome,
they were timid, they were frightened, they were panicked,
they were terrified. And when we read through this
story, they were afraid for no reason.
The victory was already theirs to claim.
There was nothing for them to be afraid of.
There was nothing for them to be like, as if, Oh no, how are we
going to get through this? How is this going to, how are we
going to get through the impossible?
Here again, God is the God of the impossible.
Trust in him. Just remember that you as as a
Christian, you have the opportunity to have faith in
God, not fear in man. And when we allow our fear and
man to over seed or supersede our faith in God, that's where
us as Christians have a really big problem.
It's really where it's like, we're afraid of what?
People think of us when we already know what God wants to
have in our lives, but it's just that person next to us that that
fear that that that that again, afraid Ness we have just because
what are my neighbors going to think?
What are my Co workers going to think?
What's my what are my family members going to think?
What is my best friend? Whatever, whoever.
Why are you going to let that fear stop you from what God has
for you To see victory over these 22,000 men.
They were not inducted into the Hall of Fame but unfortunately
into the Hall of shame. Just want to grab your
imagination for a second. Can you imagine those 22,000 men
going back home? Could you just imagine an army
of feared soldiers going back home?
If I was, if I was watching the, the army men coming back, I
would think, wow, we got the victory.
It's over. We we've seen, we see the
victory, we see the men come. Hey, we got victory.
I could just imagine if, if I was, if I was a young person
too, like, and my father was a soldier.
He's like, Dad, what happened in the battle?
Hey, what happened in that? What happened in the fight?
Tell me what happened? Did you did you see anyone get?
Did you see? Did you?
Did you see? Victory.
My father would have to look at me dead in the face and say,
sorry son, I didn't see any victory.
I was a coward. I was afraid.
I just think of how fear can just ruin Christianity.
And unfortunately in Christianity and in, in our
Baptist churches today, Liberty Baptist Church, we have a lot of
people that are afraid, a lot of Christians that are afraid.
What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of failure?
Are you afraid of giving something up?
You know what fear does it it, it stops it.
It paralyzes you. It paralyzes churches, paralyzes
ministries, it paralyzes people, it paralyzes productivity.
But in Second Timothy 17 For we are not given of the spirit of
fear, but of power. And of love and of sound mind.
That's what fear is. It has no part of love or of a
sound mind in any way, shape or form.
The thing is, this thing of fear is it's like as if the the devil
just whispered just a little something in your ear and it
just freezes you for a moment and it's just enough for you to
do nothing. It's just enough for you not to
take that extra step of faith, but to take a step back in fear.
And then guess what? You just stay there and then you
don't do anything for the Lord and then you don't see.
It's like, why don't I see victory?
Why don't I see the blessings of God?
Because you're not allowing your step of faith to move you.
You're allowing the fear to hold to you.
Don't be a coward. 22,000 men. Let's say there's, let's say
there's 32 people here, 22 of you leave just because you don't
want to. That leaves a big gap, leaves a
huge gap. Think about it, 32,000 then
boom, 22,000, The worst church split I've seen before the
church was even invented. Don't be a coward.
We're going right into it. Hey, we're going quick.
Praise the Lord, No, Amen #2 the careless.
The careless in Second Corinthians chapter 10.
I'll just turn there very quickly and then read the verse
that I have for that Second Corinthians chapter 10 verse #12
it says this. 2nd Corinthians 1012 It says, For we dare not
make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that
commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by
themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are
not wise. Are not wise.
This thing of being not wise, it's not a good thing.
God, God, God, we have a whole book of proverbs that talks
about the wise and the foolish, the wit, the, the prudent man
and the scorner and, and so many different of the, the righteous
and of the unrighteous, the, the, the, the good and the bad,
the, the, the holy and the wicked.
So much of that because it's geared toward you going for what
is the right, what is good, what is holy, But this thing of not
wise, this thing of wickedness, this thing of sin.
Yes, we are born with this thing called the sin nature.
However we have, we don't just have a sin nature, we have
available to us the Savior. And I'm very aware of I, I, I
want to say everyone here is accepted Christ.
But if you haven't, hey, guess what, today is a great day to
accept Jesus Christ, your personal savior.
Hey, guess what? You never will have to worry in
a day in your life where Jesus Christ, he, he, when he died on
that cross, he didn't have any exceptions.
He didn't just say, oh, sorry, I can't, not for you, brother Joe,
sorry about that. Maybe next time, but not this.
This time, no, no, no, no, no, there's nothing like that at
all. Hey, guess what?
When Jesus died on that cross, guess what?
All sins were paid for, all were covered under the blood, all
because of a Savior who, who died for God, so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believe in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
That is the joy that we get to have.
That is where we get to continue to expand and continue to grow
and to continue to have a relationship with God.
When it comes to having a relationship with God, it starts
with Jesus Christ because guess what?
This thing of sin is separating you from your heavenly Father,
you, you do not have that excess until the mediator Christ.
He takes the sinner's hand and he takes God's hand and guess
what? Boom, you're back together.
Hey, you have a relationship and then guess what?
You can talk to him through your prayers.
He talks back to you through the preaching of God's Word and you
reading the God's Word on your own and studying God's word and
getting involved and doing something great for God.
But hey, listen. Take advantage of the
relationship that you have. I wonder how often you talk to
people, you know, you maybe you have like a what is it on
Snapchat? You have these like snap
streaks, right where you just like send pictures to each other
every day and you have these streaks.
It's like I got a 500 day streak with my my cousin over in
Timbuktu. Whatever, I don't know.
But then it goes. I haven't opened my Bible ever
since last Sunday because the preacher told me to bring it.
Or I haven't even gone to church recently and I haven't opened my
Bible ever since the last time I've been to church.
Or maybe you don't even bring to church at all.
Maybe I'm just giving you too much credit.
But it comes to the point where it's like this thing of wisdom
and the foolish, 2 very different things and God does
not want you to delve into the foolish things.
And why am I going into that? Because.
We see here these 10,000 men that remain.
They're not afraid. And that's great.
Hey, they're ready. They want, they are ready for
the battle. They they said, Nope, we're
going to stand our ground. We're here and we're going to do
something. OK, great.
However, God obviously knowing what is supposed to happen here,
knowing that the 300 is supposed to be the final number for him.
These 9700 men unfortunately did not continue simply because they
did not stop to think for a moment.
Remember, these are not just I, I believe these were men that
were soldiers. These were people that again,
they were not afraid. So they had something in their
belt, if you will. They, they, they were not just a
fear. They weren't afraid.
They were ready for the battle. So I believe all of them had
this opportunity of training, getting ready for the battle, if
you will. So in a sense they had this
opportunity to this test for them to see if they are ready
for the battle. And then we see as a result, a
lot of them forgot their training.
A lot of them, they, they, they probably were again, they were
just, they were just so thirsty and they just, they were just
drinking instead of just being prepared because that was what
their training involved. And then I think again is the
9700 go back home. And they can't say they had
victory either, unfortunately, because simply they did not stop
to think. They were weak thinkers, if you
will. They were lazy brained, thick
headed in a sense. Some, I mean, I don't want to
swear on the pulp. They were dumb.
Sorry, I didn't mean to say that, but I pastor will forgive
me. No, he probably won't invite me
back if I say that again. No, but hey, I like it.
A preacher with integrity. No, no, unfortunately, these,
these men, they just forgot their training.
Hey, Liberty Baptist Church, I want to say you got some good
training here. I want to say you have the
opportunity to know what God's word says.
I want, I want knowing Pastor Adam Rivero, I love, I love him
with all my heart. And I've and I've and I've seen
a lot of things that he's preaching, a lot of things he's
taught. And I've even snuck some notes
that I've gotten from one of my best friends that he's taught
him. And your pastor, he loves his
word and he tries to bring it to you so that you can have the
proper training in order to be ready for the battle.
And then guess what? When the test comes, it's on you
to remember your training. It's on you to remember what you
got from God's word. However, a lot of you might just
forget your training. A lot of you just might not
remember. And we telling you right now
we're we're in a battle today. We cannot afford to forget our
training. We cannot afford to in a sense,
leave what God has given to us. I bet some of those men were
just so disappointed in them saying saying, man, I knew
better than that. All I had to do was drink,
right? That's all I had to do.
But I, I, I I messed up. I failed the soldier.
SAT test, if you will. I should have taken time to make
the right decision. He just sent 22,000 of my
chicken friends home and I wanted to make the cut.
I was. I wasn't afraid.
I was ready, but just because I didn't.
Think I'm not able to move forward just because I didn't
think in the moment, I wasn't able to see God do a great and
mighty victory through my life. When I was when I was a young
boy, I'd say, oh man, I can't believe I did that.
What was I thinking? And my mom would just say back
to me, you weren't thinking, Anthony.
You weren't. It was more Spanish.
I thought, you know, she I got a Puerto Rican mom, you know, So
it's, it's hard. It's hard.
You pray for me, you pray for me.
But no, it's this thing of thinking, this thing of the
mind. Remember, God gave you that
thing of mind. But The thing is, however, your
mind unfortunately is the spiritual battlefield where God
wants your mind. And guess what?
Satan wants your mind as well. And he's going to, again, he's
going to try to put that fear in your mind.
He's going to try to put so much garbage, so much nonsense.
Hey, he's going to try to put so much of your past all up in
there. You know why?
Because he knows that'll paralyze you.
That'll stop you. That'll hey, listen, he bring up
the past and people get people get nervous.
People get nervous. However, it's God.
Remember who Christ saved you from?
It's not it's not again, it's just like, yeah, but God can't
use me because I did XY and Z. But remember it's XY and Z.
It's in the past. It's not ABC now what I have
moving forward now, it's not what is to be of me now.
We know that the Bible is the word of God and we know if we
follow the word of God that we will have no worries in terms of
following right. However, there are just still
times we decide to think on our own solutions instead of what
the Bible says in Proverbs 3. Five and six says trust in the
Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own
understanding. And all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall. It's a promise He shall direct
thy paths again. Your pastor, he'll preach to you
on Sundays and tell you not to do something and be bold about
him. Be and be serious about it.
But then some people just are going out doing it the same
exact thing he told you not to do that next day.
We have this unfortunate thing in churches called Sunday
Christianity, where you come to church on Sundays and you and
you'd be the best Christian you could possibly be on Sunday.
But then guess what? All that gets thrown out the
window Monday morning. And then you just go back to
your routine and then you go in Tuesday and then Wednesday, hey,
you're here back in church. I'll still show a little bit of
Christianity and then guess what, You'll go back and then
Thursday and Friday and so on and so forth.
And it's like you're playing two sides of the field here.
God said he can't, you cannot serve both God and man.
There's, there's there's no opportunity.
God says he spews the out of the mouth this thing of a lukewarm
Christian or you just play both sides of the field here.
Listen, success is based on a series of good decisions.
So take your time to not just make the right decision, but
listen, the best decision, the best decision possible.
When I was younger, one of my biggest things was chess.
I love chess now I'm not great at it, but I, I like it.
I'm, I'm OK at it. I don't play it often, but
there's, there's one thing about making like the right move.
They they have like computer based programs that show you
what is the right move and then they show these moves that are.
Known as like. Brilliant moves which go even
further than the right move because it forces checks and
checkmates. If you know the game of chess,
if you will, it's it's better than just the right move in the
moment. It's the best move possible
which or which forces the opponent in in a sense to
basically face defeat. And I want you to understand
when it comes to your decision making, we shouldn't just settle
with. I just know this is the right
thing. We shouldn't be so involved with
making the best decision possible so that God can use
this to the fullest capacity possible when it comes to you.
You just again thinking, well, I know this is right, so I'll do
it and that's and that's good. But you should want it.
You should have such a desire to do God's will that you just go a
step beyond saying no. I guess this is the right
decision, but I'm go even further.
Make the best decision I can possibly make.
Listen, think before you open your mouth.
Think before you cuss. Think before you steal.
Hey, think before you get drunk. Hey, think before you smoke that
last cigarette or think before you do drugs.
Hey, think before you participate with those friends
that you know you should not be involved with.
Hey, think before you go on social media and post something
that you know you're most likely to get in trouble.
For hey, think before you read that book.
Think before you take that job that makes you stop being able
to go to church on Sundays. Hey, think before you yoke up
with those unbelievers. Hey, think before you decide to
choose a different version of the Bible you're going to read.
Hey, think before you give up your virginity in a sense.
Hey, think before you date that guy or girl.
Hey, you better think before you marry the wrong person here.
Hey, you better think before you make decisions that will change
your life and your family's life and everyone that is involved in
your life. You better think before you
quit. You better think before you give
up. You better think before you run
away. You better think before you sin
against God. You better think before you mess
up the life that God has given you.
Think before you do anything. Think about what is moving
forward. What is the, the, the, the, the
domino effect, if you will, that will follow if you make that
decision. Right or wrong, who is it going
to affect? Every decision that you make
doesn't just affect you. I don't think any decision will
just affect you because guess what?
Your family, everyone again, that you're supporting, that
you're around your church every, they're all going to feel it.
They're all going. To feel it.
You say, hey, I'm not going to pass her.
I'm all set. I'm not, I'm not I'm not going
to be involved with the Sunday school anymore.
Hey brother, I'm very thankful for this.
I'm just not I don't want to be involved with the soul wedding
anymore. I, I appreciate it, but I just
sorry, church is just not for me.
I, I, I'll watch on the live stream.
You know that that'll be good for me.
I'll watch on the live stream. Hey, it's still church.
I'm still, but I'm in the comfort of my home and I'm good.
I'm OK. Doesn't just affect you.
It affects everyone around you. It affects everyone.
You better make the right decisions or you're going to see
God tell you, sorry, can't use you because you just simply
didn't think. And if you read your Bible,
you'll see the right type of thinking.
In Philippians chapter 2 verse #5 it says let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
What is that saying? It's saying you better think
like Jesus thinks. Remember we're Christians.
What does that mean? It means little Christ, or
Christ like if you will. We are supposed to be like Jesus
and that. Verse Right there we ought to
have the. Mind of Jesus, because guess
what? Jesus never thought a bad
thought, never thought a wrong thought, and he always thought
the right things, the right way, the right time, all the time.
Think like Jesus Philippians chapter 4 verse #8 it says
finally, brother, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever
things are on is whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of a good. Report if there be any virtue
and if there be any praise. Think on these things.
And just a quick little insert here, whatsoever things are
true, you know it is true. The Bible, you know whatsoever.
Things are honest, the Bible, you know whatsoever.
Things are just the Bible whatsoever.
Things are pure, the Bible whatsoever.
Things are lovely, the Bible whatsoever.
Things are of a good rapport the Bible.
If there be any virtue and if there be any praise that comes
from the Word of God, think on these things.
We should consistently have the Word of God running through our
minds. Guess what?
You'll never get in trouble with that.
You'll never get in trouble just constantly having the word of
God running through your mind. It says in Psalm 119 verse 11,
it says, let thy word, the word hid in my heart that I might not
sin against thee. You're not going to have your
Bible on you 24/7. You got it.
You got to have it in your mind and in your heart.
And guess what, when Satan tries to attack you, when the enemy,
when the opponent is coming at you, you could be like Jesus
where he says no Satan, the Bible says.
This or it may be again, when it comes to your anger, when it
comes to your pride, when it comes to so many different
things that that again Satan will try to attack you with and
try to hate your weak spots. You can say no Satan, the Bible
says this, no Satan, the Bible says this and then therefore we
get to again resist and resist the devil and he will flee from
you. Romans chapter 12 verse #2 Be
not conformed to this will be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. That you may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In Proverbs 16, verse 3, it says, Commit thy works on the
Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established, said Corinthians
10/5. It says, casting down
imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ we ought to be.
Fearless. Not like the cowards.
We ought not to be careless, we ought to think, and we ought to
be like these 300 men, these conquerors, these conquerors
point #3 the conquerors. We either have the conquerors or
the courageous. You know, when you're getting an
alliterated point or an outline, whatever, you just, you use
whatever. But I call them the conquerors.
Romans 837. It says this Romans chapter 8
verse #37 Romans 837. It says this, it says nay.
And all these things. We are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. These 300 men, they saw those
22,000 just walk because they were afraid.
Hey, they saw those 9700 men go home just because they didn't
think right. So what were the two
stipulations just for these 300 men that they were not afraid,
that they just thought right. They just had a right thought
life and they just were not afraid.
They were courageous and they saw victory.
They they were the conquerors of that nation as a result.
Again, they were just simply not afraid.
And they thought before they acted.
They didn't necessarily have a 1000 IQ, but they trusted God
and they did not allow the devil to intimidate them.
You know what? You know what they had?
They had a story to tell. I bet when, when it was all over
and those 300 men got back again, 31,700 men, we're all
back and nothing to show for. But those 300 men, they were
able to show, Hey, we saw God do a great and mighty work.
We played those trumpets, we broke those pictures, we showed
those lamps and we shouted. The Sword of Lord Head of
Gideon. And we just saw those
Midianites, they were just, they were, they were afraid.
They were scared, they were killing themselves.
We didn't even do a thing. But we just, we just obeyed what
God had told us to do. And as a result, we saw God do a
great and mighty victory through US, just playing our trumpets,
being obedient to God. They had a story to tell.
I bet they're children when they when they would ask him how was.
What happened in the battle? They were just they had the joy,
they had the excitement they had they were ready to tell them
something great because guess what?
When you do the right thing, you can talk about it.
Guess what? When you don't do the right
thing, you keep to yourself. You don't like talking about the
bad things. You like it when hey, you like
it when God saves you from the bad things and you get to tell
your testimony of what he saved you from.
Hey, you love that. But when it's time to.
If you did. Something wrong?
You're not, you're not putting that on the stage.
You're not showing that out for people to see.
You're showing them, hey, God did something great.
Hey, God did a great work. I bet those, I bet those
soldiers, I bet they've got to keep those trumpets.
I bet they got to keep those things.
And they probably put it on their trophy shelf next to their
participant trophy. I don't know, whatever.
And they just look at that trumpet and I can see God did
something there. God did something great there.
And I, and I just saying again, they were just simply obedient
to God. You understand, they were going
into battle, they were going into war.
So what does Gideon give them for war?
OK, here you get a trumpet, you get a pitcher, and here's a
lamp. We're talking about war here.
Where's my bazooka? Where?
Where's my AK4? Why?
Why am I not getting weapons? What are we doing it?
Didn't it didn't say that they question any motive.
Gideon say you do what I do, you follow what I do, and we're
going to see God do a great work and they did it.
That's just obedience. That's just obedience.
Hey, listen. It's it's like.
It's so crazy how often everyone is just continuously questioning
why do we have to do this? Why do we have to do that?
Why does Bible say this? Why do we have to get involved?
That what? Just obey, just obey.
It says Jesus said if they if you love me, keep my
commandments, just keep them. But why?
Why do I have to? If you love me, keep my
commandments. But I don't understand, what if
you love me? It's just obedience.
It's just knowing that there's no going astray when I follow
what God has me to do. And then like I said, guess
what? You have something to tell
about. I wonder how often we just think
about the great things that God has done in our lives.
And we just pray that the next generation that comes up, they
say, I want to serve God, but I don't know, I've never seen him.
And then you could just jump on and say, hey, listen, serving
God will be the greatest thing you ever do with your life.
Why not? Just if I read it, I've
experienced it. Hey, I've seen the hand of God
fall on my life and I've seen him do some great things in my
life. The Bible, if it was just the
Bible, hey, listen, that's good. And I pray, Listen, the Bible is
the word of God. You'll never falter with it, but
when you have a story to tell how God saved you from all the
nonsense of the world and all the nonsense of the flesh and
what Satan has gotten you involved and entangled with,
when you could say God took me from that, I'm in his hand.
No one's going to pluck me out of his hands.
I'm I'm secure, I'm safe. Salvation is only a one time
thing. You don't need to do it 345
times a week. You're in that hand and you're
good to go, but then you get to see God in his hand, do some
great and mighty things because you know you're safe, you know
you're doing the right thing, and you know, as a result
there's nothing to be afraid of. And hey, what my thought life,
it's in the right spot. Don't be a coward.
There are many cowards, 22,000 cowards.
There are a good amount of careless people, but there are
very few conquerors. Of the two crowds, which one
would you be a part of the thirty 1700 that God couldn't
use? Or do you want to be a part of
the 300 that God was able to use and as a result have a great and
mighty victory? Which side would you want to be?
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.