A couple wanted a “truly Christian” dog. So they went to a kennel that specialized in that particular breed. There they found a dog they liked.

When they asked him to fetch a Bible, he did it in a flash.

When they instructed him to look up John 3:16, he turned right to it.

“Oh, we’ll take this pup, he’s wonderful,” the couple said.

That night the couple invited friends from their church over to meet the remarkable dog. The guests were impressed with Fido’s ability to do Christian tricks,

“Can he do regular dog tricks, too?” they asked. The couple never even thought of that.

“Well,” they said, “let’s try this out.” So they clearly pronounced the command, “Heel!”

The dog jumped up, put his paw on the guests forehead, closed his eyes in concentration, and bowed his head

In 1 Samuel 13-15 we see a story of King Saul leading the nation of Israel in battle. At this point in his life Saul was impatient, prideful, and disobedient to God and the prophet Samuel. Ultimately, we know that Saul lost his kingdom to a man named David. Well, in the middle of these chapters we find a few verses about Saul’s son Jonathan, and that’s where I want to focus our attention today.

I want to remind you that God brings victory to people who what in faith. He’s never changed. What God did for Jonathan He will do for us too!

The next few weeks we are going to be talking about our Impact as a church. In fact, the backbone of our church is that we always have three things in mind as we operate, really they tie into our vision and mission as a church.

Our vision:

Our vision is to reach people with the truth, love them, teach them, and get them to do the same for others.

Our mission:

Our mission is to do all we can for as many as we can, knowing that God will do what only He can. 

With those things in mind we ask the following question:

How can we accomplish our Vision to reach people trusting God to do more than we can imagine locally, globally, and in the future?

Over the next few weeks, we dream together our about our impact as a church. We all have a part if we have a heart to put the kingdom of God first. John Maxwell said something that has stuck in my brain and I hope it will get caught in yours too:

“Anyone can steer a ship, but only a leader can chart a course.”

We have to have a plan.

But, none of our dreaming, planning, or hoping will mean anything if we aren’t willing to walk in faith. Victory ONLY comes through faith.

In your life, God wants you to walk in victory. He’s always wanted that for His people.

Look back at the old testament when God spoke this to His people:

Deuteronomy 20:4 NLT

4 For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!’

And then in the new testament we find that this is not just for the nation of Israel, but for all those who trust in Jesus as Lord:

1 Corinthians 15:57 NLT

57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

YOU are supposed to walk in victory! So, who’s walking in complete victory today? Let’s ask the question of ourselves…am I walking in victory over temptation? Over anger? Self-control? Faithfulness? Surrender? Patience? Love? Forgiveness?

You know what I think? We don’t grade ourselves very well. Most people give themselves a pass and think that overall they are “good” people. And good people have no need of Jesus leading them to victory because they think they’ve already arrived.

King David who was anointed King after Saul wrote powerful words of self reflection:

Psalm 51:17 NLT

17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

God wants us to know that we are broken, and that we are in need! We can’t do things in our own strength.

That’s what the Apostle Paul tells us that in order to walk in Victory even though we are struggling with our sinful nature we must depend on Jesus. Jesus told Paul how to walk in victory:

2 Corinthians 12:9 CEV

9 But he replied, “My kindness is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.” So if Christ keeps giving me his power, I will gladly brag about how weak I am.

Let me tell you a truth:

Nothing will Stop Jesus!

You can I can have the best plans, but they can be stopped. Jesus has NEVER been stopped. So, how do we get on His team?

That’s where this Old Testament story lends us some insight.

Jonathan Knew God

1 Samuel 14:6 NLT

6 “Let’s go across to the outpost of those pagans,” Jonathan said to his armor bearer. “Perhaps the Lord will help us, for nothing can hinder the Lord. He can win a battle whether he has many warriors or only a few!”

Saul wasn’t leading his army well. They weren’t trusting in the Lord’s strength to defeat their enemy. His son Jonathan had enough of the poor leadership and decided to take action.

Why did he make this statement? Because He KNEW God. In the past, God had led them to so many victories. He had a knowledge of who God was and what God could do!

As a church, we have a choice to make too. Are we going to sit back and wait or are we going to move into action? If we KNEW that God was able to do more than we can ask or think…would we hesitate? No way!

The key is that we have to know God!

Someone asked me if they can be saved and go to heaven without reading the Bible. My answer to that is YES, you certainly can. Remember there were many people saved and going to heaven who never held a Bible in their hand.

How are we saved?

Romans 10:9–10 CEV

9 So you will be saved, if you honestly say, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe with all your heart that God raised him from death. 10 God will accept you and save you, if you truly believe this and tell it to others.

When you surrender your heart to Jesus you are saved! Surrender is key. That surrender leads us to a transformed life in Christ. We are reborn and we don’t live like the world anymore. We are citizens of a kingdom that will never end.

So, if we are saved by grace, through faith in Jesus, why do we need the Bible? It’s how we get to know God! It’s where His voice speaks to our heart.

I don’t care if you read it, have someone read it to you, listen to it on your phone, or just read one verse a day, but in order to hear from God you need to include the Bible. That’s actually what we are doing right now.

You see, the story of Jonathon shows us God’s character, and if we see how God responds to Jonathons faith then we can step out in faith knowing that God never changes. He honors faith.

On Friday, Pastor Doug and I had an opportunity to go to one of our members home to pray for healing. Why would we pray for healing? Because we know Jesus through the testimony of the Bible. Jesus started His ministry by healing the sick.

Matthew 4:23–24 CEV

23 Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in the Jewish meeting places and preaching the good news about God’s kingdom. He also healed every kind of disease and sickness. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people with every kind of sickness or disease were brought to him. Some of them had a lot of demons in them, others were thought to be crazy, and still others could not walk. But Jesus healed them all.

Like Saul, some people are doing their own thing. They are fighting battles on their own terms, but those who know Jesus step up in faith and say, EVERY kind of disease and sickness can be healed, EVERY demon must obey.

Nothing stops Jesus.

In order for you to walk in Victory you must KNOW Jesus. Trust in Him to do what seems impossible. He makes a way where there is no way. Turn your eyes on Him, He is our deliverer, He is our Savior, He is ABLE. He cannot be stopped.

Jonathon had a Friend

Now, we are a church looking to impact the world with an unstoppable Savior. Individually we can accomplish lots for the kingdom, but TOGETHER we are certainly stronger.

A guide took a group of people through an atomic laboratory and explained how all matter was composed of rapidly moving electric particles. The tourists studied models of molecules and were amazed to learn that matter is made up primarily of space. During the question period, one visitor asked, “If this is the way matter works, what holds it all together?” For that, the guide had no answer.

There are things that God holds together for His purposes that we have a hard time understanding, but He is the one who binds things together. We don’t have to know exactly how or even why, we have to trust that it’s all for a reason.

We as a church are all here to play an important part. You aren’t spectators. I am not your entertainment. You are a KEY component of what God wants us to do in this world.

The word of God says we are like a body working together. What holds all of us together? I mean, some of us a strange! Jesus holds us together, He knows we need each other to walk in faith.

So, Jonathon says, let’s go over to the enemy’s camp, God can when the battle whether we have a whole army or just a couple people.

CRAZY! Jonathon is nuts. The Philistine army was BIG. They were bad. They were ruthless. They had all the things they needed to take over whatever they wanted.

And Jonathon looks at his friend and says, “Hey man, I think we can take them! What do you say?”

Listen to what his friend says:

1 Samuel 14:7 HB:ERV

7 The young man who carried Jonathan’s weapons said to him, “Do what you think is best. Whatever you decide, I am with you all the way.”

Look at your friend sitting next to you and tell them, “I am with you all the way.” Now, look the other way, and say, “I am with you all the way.” Now, stand up and look across the room and tell someone, “I am with you all the way.”

Folks, this is what it’s going to take. We have to have friends that listen to our CRAZY ideas of faith and tell us, I am with you all the way!

Have you ever been there before? You have an idea that you feel is aligned with God’s word and you run it past someone just to see if you’re nuts?

I think that’s what Jonathon was doing…he was asking a true friend if he was nuts.

Once that friend agreed to walk in faith what did Jonathon do?

1 Samuel 14:8 NLT

8 “All right then,” Jonathan told him. “We will cross over and let them see us.

He said, let’s go!

I’m telling you, LET’s go! We have a lot to accomplish in this church. You have a lot to accomplish in your life. We know Jesus and we are bound together as the body of Christ, let’s walk in faith together.

One of the best things about my wife is that she has this attitude. I’ve told her so many crazy ideas and she says time and time again, I am with you all the way. The journeys we’ve gone on have proven that God is the same yesterday today and forever. Trust in Him in your own life.

Now, let’s get to the part of the story all the teenage boys are going to like. The battle scene!

Be the Tipping Point

I once read a book called the Tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell - It’s not a Christian book, but I found it valuable because it teaches about human behavior.

The book tells how ideas, trends, and social behaviors can rapidly spread like a virus, reaching a “tipping point” where they suddenly become widespread; it explains this phenomenon through three key principles: “The Law of the Few” (certain influential individuals drive the spread), “The Stickiness Factor” (the message itself needs to be memorable and impactful), and “The Power of Context” (the environment and situation significantly influence how an idea is received) - the point of the book is that small changes in the right context can trigger large-scale social shifts.

Jonathon and his armor bearer are tipping points in this battle against the Philistines.

1 Samuel 14:13–15 HB:ERV

13 So Jonathan climbed up the hill with his hands and feet, and his helper was right behind him. Jonathan and his helper attacked them. In the first attack, they killed 20 Philistines in an area about one-half acre in size. Jonathan fought the men who attacked from the front. His helper came behind him and killed the men who were only wounded. 15 Great fear spread among the Philistine soldiers-those in the field, in the camp, and at the fort. Even the bravest soldiers were afraid. The ground began to shake, and they were completely overcome with fear.

Two people, who knew God, agreed together in faith, became the tipping point that changed everything.

The whole army was down the hill, but only two people crawled on their hand and feet up the hill to fight the battle. It’s epic! Now, the Bible doesn’t say they beat the whole army, they just defeated 20 people that’s a big victory for two guys for sure, but it wasn’t enough to win the war.

Listen to this truth: we aren’t enough to win the war. BUT we are enough to start the flame. Our church. YOUR life. is enough to tip people into joining the battle.

After this happened, King Saul, got his troops together and they defeated the enemy. But would it have happened if Jonathan didn’t step up and walk in faith.

I don’t think so. I think this is the point of the story.

God uses people who know him, who are united as His body, and are willing to be the tipping point that motivates others to battle.

I want to remind you that God brings victory to people who what in faith. He’s never changed. What God did for Jonathan He will do for us too!

Where are you today? What are you supposed to be doing? Where is the battle in your life? Who are you helping.

Nothing will stop Jesus!