Rise Up, Mighty Man!

Father’s Day sermon at the park. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So I called this um this little sermon called Rise Up, You Mighty Man. And we still have more people coming. This is this is amazing. So this is called Rise Up, You Mighty Man. And guys, I'm just gonna read a little bit from Isaiah. Um Isaiah chapter 3, starting in verse 1. It says, See now the Lord, the Lord Almighty, is about to take away from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support. All supplies of food and all supplies of water, the hero and the warrior, the mighty man, the judge and the prophet, the soothsayer and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, the clever enchanter. I will make boys their officials. Mere children will govern them. People will oppress each other, man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the base against the honorable. And what Isaiah is teaching here, he's telling Israel, he's telling the leadership, he's telling the people of Israel, we are under the judgment of God. You know, uh Isaiah was in the kings of um, I wrote it down, Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. That was his range of kings that he were he was under. And it was one of the last sets of kings. I mean, there was only a few more after this one, and Israel was done. Babylon took over them, and they were in captivity for 70 years. I mean, the temple was destroyed, the walls of the city was destroyed, it was laid to ruin. There was nothing but rubble left, and everybody was scattered about. There was no more Israel. And and Isaiah's saying here, before it happens, we are under judgment right now. Okay? And here's what worries me about America. It says right here that when a nation is under judgment, that supply and support start to get harder to become by. What is this that we're experiencing? How it's much harder to pay your bills, how it's much harder to get food, harder to clean, get clean water. What if you've had an influx of people come into our um city of Wahala? And I I think in the last 10 years, they probably about three more times as many people on those water lines as there is right now. And we're all we're constantly having water problems. They're telling us to boil the stuff, they're telling us to be careful and like supply and support. I mean, groceries get more expensive, food gets harder to come by when a nation is under judgment. But here's the thing I want to I want to uh to to really emphasize. It says they're gonna be the mighty man, the hero and the warrior, people that can do stuff, real men are gonna be in short supply. It even goes on to say I'll make boys their officials, children will govern them. And I work as a as a teacher at an alternative school, and I witness it time after time where the parents will come in with the kids, and it is very obvious who rules that home. The kid rules the home. And the kids become more and more disrespectful and they don't care about the honorable adult, and they don't learn how to do trades, and they don't learn how to do skillful things. This is what it looks like when a nation is under judgment. And I want to to emphasize this that there's a lack of mighty men. When I ask a kid in a youth group or at school, does anybody in your house really serve and love and honor God? The answer is never my dad. It is never that. Every once in a while I'll hear of an uncle or a grandma that's a pastor, but most of them have nobody, or they say, My grandma really seeks and serves after the Lord. She's in the Bible all the time. She's this, or I have an aunt. It is mostly women, and I want to say, thank God for you women who are in the word and praying for us men who take forever to get it together. You know, I'm 50 years old, and I really don't think I really grew up till I was about 31. And that's ridiculous, you know. I get married at 24, and you know, I have my first kid at 31, and my wife has to sit me down at 30, about 31, 32 years old and say, look, we got these kids and we got responsibilities, and you're out playing golf all the time with your buddies, that's what you care about. And I get mad about it, you know. But when I really get along with this word, she's right. I'm not a mighty man. I'm still a boy who wants to go out and play. And how many boys do we have right now that are 30, 40-year-old men and they'll sit down on a video game for hours and hours? They don't know anything about this word. They're not mighty men of God. That's what it looks like when a nation is getting is becoming under judgment. But I think God today is saying, look, rise up you mighty men. Don't let the wife be the spiritual head of the house. Don't let her be the one that goes to church all the time, and you stay at home and you go play golf, you do all that, you stay home and play video games. Don't let the woman be the most spiritual in the house. It needs to be the mighty men. Now in 2 Samuel chapter 23, there is this amazing list of mighty men that, man, if they made a movie about it, I would love to see any of this. So I'm gonna go to 2 Samuel chapter 23, and we're gonna look at what the Bible calls mighty men. Now, this is Old Testament stuff right here, but it also reminds me of like watching the movie Gladiator. You know, that to me was like the last of the man's movies. You know, I could watch that thing over and over, you know, because he he just rises up, you know, like I just love it. You know, it's a it's kind of like my modern day picture, you know, of a mighty man as far as like a warrior goes. So 2 Samuel 23 says this. These are the names of David's mighty men. Um let's see. Uh Josh, Joshab Bashabeth, a tac a Tachmenite, was chief of the three. He raised his spear against eight hundred men whom he killed in one encounter. Like, that's amazing. Next to him was Eliezer, as one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pazdamim for battle. Then the men of Israel um retreated, but he stood his ground. Like everybody just ditched this battle. But this one dude said, I don't care if they all leave, I'll stay here by myself and fight. And he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines until his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead and take their stuff. This one dude hung on to his sword and fought until it said his hand was frozen to the sword. Now we know that this is our sword of the spirit, but how many of us are holding on to it with dear life? We are studying for it like our lives dependent upon it, like our families' lives are dependent on it. Like everybody we come into contact with that's going to hell and doesn't know God, like we're holding on to this word. Our hands should be frozen to this word, and that is convicting to myself. It's a very, very much, okay? But the one I want to emphasize, I'm gonna go down a little bit. Y'all need to read 2 Samuel chapter 23 yourself, but I'm gonna skip down a little bit because here's my favorite one. Beniah, son of Jehoida, was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab's best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion, and he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Beniah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. Such were the exploits of Benaiah, son of Jehoida. He too was as famous as the mighty man. I'm like, well, I guess so, okay? So I want to first just kind of submit to you that I believe what Beniah was doing was patterning his life after David. Okay? Because David had the Spirit of God. God was with David, and it was very obvious, okay? And these mighty men, they became his mighty men before he became king. When he went out into the wilderness and he was running from King Saul, that's when these guys came out and said, You're our guy. We're gonna follow you. They didn't wait until he became uh king. Okay? I mean, look at how that applies to us. One day, Jesus is going to set all this right. He's going to be the ruler of this world. But you know, he has admitted that this is a very um dark kingdom that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and dark things that rule this world. And it's up to us as men to do this now. We know, like David, he'll become into his kingdom and we'll have been serving him the whole time. Jesus is coming one day. Let's serve him now, before the kingdom comes, before he comes back for us, before the thousand-year reign of Christ that you read about in Revelation. Let's do it now. And guys, I also want to submit to you, can you think of somebody in your life that really made a difference in your spiritual walk? I think of men right now, like my youth pastor, when I was 16. He was the first person that made the gospel come alive to me. And then the pastor of that church, all of a sudden I listened and he told the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and it came alive to me. And I was so thankful that he didn't just read the story, he loved the story, and he presented it with such passion, and it made me want to go home and read the word. And then I moved to a different church in West Union, and this guy named Jimmy taught me to sit down and read and apply this to my life. And I saw how blessed he was and how the Spirit of God was on him. And I wanted it. And I think that's what Benaiah did back in the day with David. Because when you look at what he did, okay, it says he killed two Moabites. Alright? Now we know what David did. David went out, and you know, the Philistine giant, Goliath, you know, he was like, all right, come, I want the best warrior. And so nobody wanted to fight him. David's like, I'll fight him. They can't, you can't, you're just a kid. He said, I'll fight him. I know how to do this. Remember, I've killed a lion, I've killed a bear all by myself, protecting my dad's sheep. I've done this, I know how to do this. I'm not gonna play defense, I'm gonna go play offense here, and I'm going to slay this guy. You know, I'm going to. And he did. Okay? Now, here's what I picture with Benaiah. Same thing's happening with the Moabites. And they're like, send out your best warrior. And I think Beniah said, This has been done before. Okay? If this guy was sick, if he's the best, who would you send in his place? And they said, Well, this guy. So let's take both of them all at the same time. And he wins. And he does it, right? And then he maybe he starts thinking, Well, you know, uh, David said he killed a lion. How amazing is that? And he said, Well, I don't, I'm not a shepherd. There's no lion probably coming after me. So I think I'll go hunt one. Like, what? And he said, you know what? I'll go to the to the lion's domain. And it says it was in a pit. So a very inconvenient place to be fighting a lion, you know. David had an open field, you know. He had he had he had places to go. He had he had the the area. And it also said it was on a snowy day. It was at a it was at an inconvenient time. I can't tell you how many people say, well, I don't want to follow the Lord right now because, you know, I'm I'm having too much fun. You know, and I'm like, it's never gonna be a convenient time to serve the Lord. But at an inconvenient time on a snowy day, he said, let's go lion hunting. Wow. Are you kidding me? And he does it. Why? I think he's patterning his life after his king, who the Lord is with. Okay, now we remember the David and Goliath thing. Well, here's another one. The Egyptians obviously do the same. This is this huge Egyptian. We don't know if he's as big as Goliath or whatever, but it says Beniah took a club, a very inferior weapon to a spear. Well, you remember what David did? He took a sling to a giant fight, right? He didn't carry a sword, he didn't do anything. He took a rock and slammed it into Goliath's head, took Goliath's own sword, and cut the dude's head off. And I think Benaiah's like, I could take a sword, I could take better weapons, but I'm gonna take this little club against that big Egyptian. He's got a way better weapon. And I'm gonna beat him down with it, and I'm gonna kill him with his own spear. What a mighty man. Now, as cool as that is, we have to know what that looks like for us today. How do we apply this to our lives, okay? Because we're probably not gonna have some giant person come and challenge us to a fight. Thank goodness, okay? I don't want to have to do it that way. But here's here's our application, okay? Remember first, he struck down two of Moab's best, a Moabite, okay? So I'm gonna go to Genesis 19, and I think you're gonna be as blown away by this as me. Okay. Uh, I know we got some younger kids here. I'm just gonna read this. I hope y'all don't mind. Don't leave, okay? Um, but here's what it says about Lot and his daughters, okay? I may make it sound a little better, okay? Lot and his two daughters left Zoar. This is after Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, right? Only Lot and his two daughters made it. Um, he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave. One day the older brother uh older daughter said to the younger, Our father is old, and there's no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom over all the earth. Let's get our father drunk with wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father. That night they got their father drunk. The older uh daughter went in, lay with him. He wasn't aware when um she lay down or when he got up. He didn't know what happened. Okay? The next day, the older daughter did the same thing. They got dad drunk and got impregnated by him. Now, watch this. Both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son and she named him Moab. That is how the Moabites came into existence. The other had a kid, his last name was Ammon, which is the Ammonites. After this, you read Israel having all kinds of trouble with the Moabites and Ammonites. So, guys, for us, we've got to slay Moab in our own hearts, especially us men, because it was it was sexual temptation. It was just men not being able to control their own desires that caused this to come into existence. So I'm gonna submit to us men, guys, we know what we gravitate towards that goes against God, that could birth some sort of sin, that could birth some sort of testimony killer in our lives. And we need to slay that just like Beniah did. Go to war with that inside of you, whether it's greed, whether it's lust, whatever your temptation is. Go to war with it. That's what mighty men do, not passive men who, oh well, if God wants to, he can, he knows how. No, pattern your life after a godly man that you know of and you go after God yourself. And the second one, it says, He hunted and killed a lion. All right? If I go to 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8, I want you to read this. I want you to listen to this. 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8 says this be self-controlled and alert. That's what a mighty man is. He's self-controlled and he's alert. Now, why? Because your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith because you know your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering. And guys, what we do as passive men is we wait for something bad to happen. And then we go to church, then we pray, oh God, help with this, fix this, please do this. But I want to submit to you. Baniah went hunting for that lion. That lion was just sleeping in the cold in his den. And he went hunting for him. And what we do as Christians is we play defense all the time. We just wait for defense. And guys, we've got armor for that. We got the helmet of salvation, we got the breastplate of righteousness, we've got the belt of truth, we got the shoes of the gospel, we've got armor. But we've also got a sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And that is the only thing in that armor that will allow us to play offense. You remember what Jesus did in the wilderness? First temptation. Oh, I know you're starving. You hadn't needed for 40 days. Turn this rock into bread. No, because the Bible says we don't live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. He resisted that temptation. He fought back. Where are the mighty men who fight back, who place some offense against the devil, who kneel down and say, Lord, I put a shield about my family, that God, that the devil cannot touch them. Evil cannot touch them like Job. I make the sacrifice, which you are the sacrifice, Lord, and put a hedge of protection about them. I pray for my children that they will come to know you, Lord, despite me and my shortcomings. Help me to be a mighty man. And then the third one, it says he struck down a huge Egyptian. Okay? Now, if I go to Hebrews 11, which is the hall of faith, okay? If I go to Hebrews 11, and I find Moses. I want you to listen to this. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He could have spent his life. Being a very much a somebody in Egypt. Okay? But look what he did. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. Guys, especially in America, it offers a lot of useless mind-numbing pleasure. Okay? We're legalizing drugs, you know, that haven't been legal forever. All of our stuff that people are taking is more powerful than it used to be. We're in a very addictive society. Games are designed for you to spend tons of money. Back in my day, I know we had Nintendo and a game was like 60 bucks. But now you pay like 60 bucks for a game and then you keep paying inside the game. And you know, I've heard kids say they've ragged up thousands of dollars like in a game. And they're getting older and becoming 20 and 30 years old, and they're not stopping this. This world is designed to just numb us. We call, you know, back in our day, you know, like I had to be home at Friday at 8 o'clock because the Duke's a hazard was coming on. Like if we were out town, let's go. But I mean, for that hour, every Friday I wanted to do it. But today we binge watch stuff. Entire seasons of stuff come out in a day, and people watch it all. And I'm like, what are you what are you doing? This world is designed for us to just waste our lives on useless pleasures. But look what it said, Moses did. It said he chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than joy the pleasures of sin for a short time. And when we forget, guys, we are only here for a little while. This Bible says, what is your life? It's just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Moses did all this by faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger. He persevered because he saw him who is invisible. And guys, what I'm asking us to do, and myself, do not think I have it going on. I'm fighting this just like everybody else. And because there's such a shortage of mighty men, other people that you can do this with, it's easier for you to be passive. But I'm asking you today to be a mighty man of God. Forsake the pleasures of this world. Forsake the lusts of this world that we gravitate towards that's so easy in America. And I mean pursue God. Pursue the Holy Spirit in your life. Read this word, learn the word, know the word, apply it to your life, and as you live it out, help others become mighty men. Because is there any doubt that right now that America is starting the beginning stages and maybe further along than I think of being under judgment? Because when you look around, if you took a hundred men at random in this country, one hundred men, how many of them would know, love, and serve the Lord? I I think it'd be single digits, man. I really do. I mean, and I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm being like Elijah right here. Remember when Elijah went and he's like, Lord, I'm the only one who serves you. I'm the only one. And you know, you did all this cool stuff with the prophets of Baal, and now she wants to kill me, and you're gonna kill me too. And and God's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You are not the only one here. I got thousands of people who have not been back. So I'm hoping that's the case, right? I'm hoping it's just in my world. But guys, I'm asking you today, okay? Become a mighty man of God.