Ordinary Men And A Great God

Notes: Ordinary Men And A Great God
Wednesday, September 10, 2014 — 7:00 p.m.
2 Samuel 23:8-17

Guest Speaker: Pastor Tom Hughes

Watched Message online at Harvest

Pastor Tom says we are going to be looking at ordinary men that work mightily for the Lord.

Pastor Tom was showing a really old Porsche and a new Porsche and was saying a long time and a really lot of hard work was put in to make the new Porsche what it is today.

He said God takes ordinary men or wrecks or men and do marvelous things in our lives. We have to be willing to surrender to Him first.

We are going to look at three of them in this study. These men are known as “the three”, this passage is encouraging and enlightening.

2 Samuel 23:8-17 (NKJV)

8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-Basshebeth[a] the Tachmonite, chief among the captains.[b] He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time. 9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo,[c] the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. 10 He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder. 11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory. 13 Then three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” 16 So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. 17 And he said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men.

David was nothing without his mighty men and they were nothing without him.

If you studied the life of David then you would recall, that his men came to him even 5 years before he was king. That was for over 40 years that they came for him. They came to him when he was powerful and when he was hiding.

When they were disappointed, disillusioned, depressed for all these things.

Psalm 34

I will bless the Lord at all times;

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;

The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

And let us exalt His name together.

4 I sought the Lord, and He heard me,

And delivered me from all my fears.

5 They looked to Him and were radiant,

And their faces were not ashamed.

6 This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him,

And saved him out of all his troubles.

Psalm 34 was written when he was in the caves of Adullam.

These men were loyal to David and he was loyal to his men.

We can be discouraged and beaten down, but if we haven’t let God come up to bat then how can we know if we have lost. 

God will be victorious, you just have to put Him in the game.

God takes ordinary things and does extraordinary work with them. It takes time, hard work and you have to be in the right hands.

Men can fight against all odds 

(2 Samuel 23:8-17 (NKJV)

8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-Basshebeth[a] the Tachmonite, chief among the captains.[b] He was called Adino the Eznite, because he had killed eight hundred men at one time.)

Is it possible for one man to kill 800 men? One of David’s men did.

It also says Jashobeam killed 300 Philistines at one time (11 And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jashobeam the son of a Hachmonite, chief of the captains; he had lifted up his spear against three hundred, killed by him at one time.)

How could they defeat such enormous numbers of men at one time? We don’t know exactly, the Bible doesn’t tell us. Pastor Tom says concludes that it is by the strength of the Lord.

In American history it is documented that small groups of 4 to 5 men have killed 50 to 300 men.

2 Kings 19: 35 Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead.

One Angel killed 185,000 men, we don’t know how. God did it for them.

If you have a problem, you get on your knees and pray to God. You have to lay out your request to God. You give God your ordinary life and He can do extraordinary things.

These men submitted to God and great things were done. It is true for them and it is true for us.

John 5: 6-9 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

The answer is simple to problems, give Jesus a chance to get involved in your situations. The hard part is submitting to Jesus so that He can take over.

Victory against overwhelming odds. 

Making a difference 

(2 Samuel 23: 9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo,[c] the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel had retreated. 10 He arose and attacked the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand stuck to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to plunder.

1 Chronicles 27:4 (NKJV) 4 Over the division of the second month was Dodai[a] an Ahohite, and of his division Mikloth also was the leader; in his division were twenty-four thousand.) 

Eleazar means “God has helped”. The people had retreated but Eleazar stayed and fought with David. When they had one, the other men came back to plunder.

Victory in the face of utter exhaustion.

1 Chronicles 11 (NKJV)

12 After him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men. 13 He was with David at Pasdammim. Now there the Philistines were gathered for battle, and there was a piece of ground full of barley. So the people fled from the Philistines. 14 But they stationed themselves in the middle of that field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.

The Lord gave them a victory, retreat is not an option for God’s people.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Eleazar had no armor for his back, so it was more dangerous to retreat and turn around. 

Like us Christians, we can not turn and go back. What would we go back to? 

Remember where you were before you came to Christ, so why would you go back to it?

If you are discouraged or beaten down, do not go back!

Standing Alone

(2 Samuel 23:11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.)

Shammah was all alone fighting, the Lord brought victory to him.

Sometimes you choose your battles. Sometimes your battles choose you.

David chose Shammah as one of his 3 mighty men.

Pastor Tom believes that Shammah knew if he retreated then he would just have to fight the Philistines later anyhow.

Sooner or later you’ve got to join the battle. Why not here? Why not now?

Are you in the battle? Are you pressing forward for the kingdom of Christ?

Pastor Tom is talking about all the effort we put into getting “stuff”. All that stuff ends up going to others or to the trash. Why build up treasure here?

Focus on the spiritual battle and build up your treasures in Heaven.

Pastor Tom is talking about how there is all kinds of sin. We are sinners in a world of sinners and we all die. We all can only be saved by God’s grace.

When we get saved, we can not turn our backs on others. We all need to be saved and we need to help with the kingdom of God. We are to be light in a dark world.

God sends us to dark places, that is a good thing. God is using us to share the Light! Get out of your box and be a light!

Always go forward, the enemy of our souls is not nice but we can not retreat.

Courage: He took his stand in the middle of the field.

Faithfulness: He defended it

Are you involved in the spiritual fight?

Nothing a pastor needs more than a church that says lets go forward, we are in the fight together.

 

A Genuine Sacrifice

(2 Samuel 23:13 Then three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15 And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” 16 So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. 17 And he said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men.)

These three men risked their lives for David, then David poured the water out as a sacrifice to the Lord.

All things go back to sacrifices for the Lord. We should all think back to the sacrifice that Jesus did for us.