[Faith-talk] Daily Thought

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all, whether that time of day be morning, afternoon or evening.  I hope and pray that, by God's matchless grace and His providential care, that your day is going well or went well.

Before I give you the article I've selected for today, I can't thank the Lord enough and those of you who, in your individual private prayer closets and even in private email messages, for the prayers you offered up to the Lord on my behalf relative to these Daily Thought messages.  Not only did the change give me more of a positive peace of mind, but my sleep pattern has dramatically taken a turn for the better, all firstly to the glory of God.  Again many thanks.

The article chosen for today is entitled "The Big Three" by James C. Book who ministers with the First Christian Church of Winter Park FL and originally appeared in the "Restoration Herald," published by the Christian Restoration Association of Mason OH in its October 2009 issue.  It is rendered as follows:

During the reign of King David, he developed a reward system for those of his soldiers who showed extreme bravery on the battle field.  Samuel refers to these warriors as "David's Mighty Men." In fact, if you turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 23:8-12 you will see three men mentioned for their valiant acts.  The reason I want to focus on these men is simply because I believe these particular men exercised the same qualities we need so desperately in our culture.

I had the opportunity this past July (2009) to speak to a fine group of men from the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ in the New Mexico and Colorado areas.  The sermons I preached revolved around God's men standing in the gap.  This theme was taken from Ezekiel 3:17.  God is admonishing Ezekiel to be a "watchman unto the house of Israel." The house of Israel is the church of Jesus Christ today.  The modern day watchman is the preacher, the elder and deacon serving in the kingdom.

On one of the nights I spoke, I devoted the time to this remote passage of Scripture in 2 Samuel 23.  The first of David's mighty men is a fellow by the name of Josheb-Bashebeth.  In verse eight he is mentioned as the "chief of the three." Why, you ask? Well, the Scriptures record that he "raised his spear against eight hundred men whom he killed in one encounter." Wow! One man stood tall and destroyed eight hundred men in one sitting.  You see, God does not need a lot of people to do His will and accomplish His task on this earth; He does look for men and women who are available.  Josheb-Bashebeth took advantage of the opportunity when it became available.  In fact, Jesus turned the world upside down with twelve available men we call the apostles.  Moses and Aaron led the entire nation of Israel out of the most advanced nation of its time--Egypt.  Let's not forget that Noah along with seven of his family members kept the human population going while taking refuge in the ark.  The point that I am making is this:  Our world needs soldiers of God's army who will make themselves available in the church and in the community to preach and teach the message of hope and redemption.  This man stood as one and didn't wait for the crowd to join.

The second hero mentioned in this passage is Eleazar.  Now this guy was really tough.  The Scriptures tell us that, when the dreaded Philistine army gathered for battle, his fellow Hebrew soldiers retreated, but not Eleazar.  On the contrary, he fought so hard that Samuel records these words, "He stood his ground and struck down the Philistines, until his hand grew tired and froze to the sword." This sounds like the kind of principled leadership our nation and church so desperately needs today.  Note that Eleazar stood his ground when everyone else around him retreated.  He also fought so hard his hand and his sword became one.  We need preachers who will once again marry their message and their Bibles together.  It is so disheartening to see preachers who will rarely incorporate Bible material in their sermons.  Paul reminds the modern day soldier of the cross to "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" into daily battle with Satan and his forces.  If we want to refute humanism, let's get handy with the Word of God.  If we want to challenge our children's school teacher on the fallacies of evolution we must get familiar with the Word.  If we want to combat Hollywood and the liberal agenda coming out of Washington, take out the sword of the Lord and go hacking.  Paul states it this way in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5:  "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.  Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God." The only way the church is going to take on the secular message of the world is to fight it, not with more musicians on stage, or more entertainment for the kids, or more family entertainment in the church gym.  No, folks! It is getting our churches familiar with the sword of the Lord.  John MacArthur in his book "Fools Gold" writes, "Self-esteem, self-confidence, self-this, self-that have replaced talk of God's attributes.  Ironically, it has created the opposite of its intention.  Without the knowledge of God in whose image we have been created, and the grace which has made us the children of God, narcissism or self-love, quickly evolves into depression." I want the Restoration Movement to be known as people of the Book; men and women whose hearts and minds have been intertwined with the Word of God.

Finally, we have a man named Shammah who learned to fight no matter where God placed him.  When his fellow warriors fled from him, he stood tall and protected what many would refer to as a worthless piece of ground.  Verse twelve states that he "defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the Lord brought about a great victory."

There are times when missionaries will come to our churches and encourage us to support mission work in countries we can barely pronounce.  At times, we may even view that as nothing more than an insignificant "bean patch." To God, they are so much more.  You may feel from time to time that the little congregation in which you are presently serving is nothing but a small, unimportant work, but let me remind you of this--that little bean patch is God's church.  Dr. Smith, retired professor from Florida Christian College put it this way, "We can defend our bean patch--our little congregation, Sunday school class, college or ministry.  Even though others around us may be willing to give ground before the enemy, we can stand firm."

These three men had one thing in common:  They stood firm when others around them retreated.  We desperately need godly men and women who will not flinch in the face of adversity or run from the spiritual battles of our day.  Let's raise up warriors who will fight the good fight of faith.

And there you have the daily thought for today.  Yes, I know that this article comes from a particular denominational publication with its own doctrine, but I pray that you were able to glean something from it, even if you don't belong to a Christian Church or Church of Christ congregation.  And, for the record, I don't, so please do not think that I'm trying to force you to believe their way.

And now until tomorrow when, Lord willing yet another daily thought will be presented, I remain your obedient servant of the Lord, Paul.