Men of Valor

So, this week, my wife received a certain amenity that came in the mail from the Heart Quest event that she attended a couple of weeks ago in Oklahoma.

Now, I am not supposed to go into any detail about what she recieved or what they did on the event, as this is something that they want every person to experience with no preconceived ideas or expectations when they attend this event.

I can say that the prime goal with this outreach, is get the people, INDIVIDUALLY and as a group, unplugged from the world and plugged into Jesus the Christ!

I am also going to let you know that I will be attending the men’s version of this, which is simply called Quest, in November.

The organization that heads this up and runs it, is called The Fellowship of the Sword and they are doing an amazing job from all that I have seen and heard first hand!

Anyway, back to Desirae and the item that she recieved.

At the end of the women’s event, they are met by other ladies who have already attended before they head back to wherever they live, and they all come together as one (UNITY) and they yell out, “CHAYIL”, several times in a row!

This is a Hebrew word and actually there is an entire phrase that they have, that is, “ESHET CHAYIL”, which means, “woman of excellence”!

Now, I was originally going to talk about wisdom today, explicitly, and then I was reading yesterday in a book that I am into right now, entitled Wild At Heart, by John Eldredge.

This is an amazing book, so far, and as I was reading it, it struck a chord within me that made me look to some specific verses within the Bible, and VOILA, here we are this morning!

This book that I am speaking about, Wild At Heart, also has a men’s DVD study and I am seriously thinking about starting a men’s study from it!! ( It was written, like 10 years ago, and this is the updated version, where the author goes back and revisits some of the material as over a decade has come and gone since he first wrote it.

Anyway, as I was reading within the book and of how the author was reflecting back upon what being a boy was like and then becoming a man, it really got me thinking about the subject of manhood and of how it portrayed today, in society.

I was thinking back to my own childhood and of how BOYS are and the way that most of us probably grew up.

I grew up hunting and fishing, playing baseball (both backyard as well as for a team). I had an imagination that was long and endless as the universe itself!

ELABORATE ABOUT CHILDHOOD! (rappelling, fishing, camping, making guns and swords out everything, CLIMBING everything!, etc.)

Ask any of the men to share about a certain childhood experience.

The point with this, is that this is the way that God designed and created the male and the man to be!

Boys and men were not created and designed to be these little soft, tender and frail beings!

And yes, I understand that some guys are more subdued and quiet and not as daring and outgoing as others and that is fine! (Look at Jacob and Esau!)

Boys and men are naturally adventurers and curious and looking for the untamed and wild to become the conqueror over it, AMEN?!

This is why, coming from my generation, video games became so off the charts popular and addictive with young men and grown men as well.

Through these video games, boys and men can continue playing war and having battles, as they fight with other men all over the US and even the world, ONLINE, and testing their skills and having their bragging rights as they vanquish and conquer!

Xbox did a survey this past year and found that the average age range for their console market, was between 25 to 44 years of age and even then, there were many on both sides of that age spectrum!

So, you have grown men acting out their childhood love for guns and war on video games and you have grown men acting out these same scenarios with paint ball and laser tag and the like.

This why women have the saying that men are are just, “boy with bigger and more expensive toys”!

So, through my reading within this book and thinking about what it means to be a boy and ultimately a man, I came to conclusion. If you want to see what a “manly man” looks like all grown up, well, (STEP FORWARD FROM THE PODIUM wait for laughter and then continue over to someone else and ask them to stand!)

Seriously, look at what movies and magazines and tabloids and the music industry have done to the male image and the portrayal of what being a man is supposed to look like, for all of the young men growing up in this generation! (ELABORATE!)

Boys today are being raised in a society that embraces, more than ever, feminism and homosexuality and what they refer to metro sexuality and every thing that is a deviation from just strong, God ordained masculinity!

Then comes another major issue that is the hyper opposite of the effeminate male; the men that grew up trying to prove their masculinity through brawn and roughness and rude, crude gestures and treating the opposite sex like second rate life and most of this coming from either fatherless homes, or homes with men who are not godly role models for the boys!

These polar opposite portrayals of “men” are neither one what God designed or wanted for men.

The Bible tells us that God created man and woman in His own image.

And since we know that God is not a physical being, (, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.”) but He is a spirit, ( For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth."), then if we are in His image, then the image and actions of a man are not based upon physical images and ideas!

That is, a man’s masculinity is not confined to and defined by his physical strength and brawn and ability to chop down a 260 sequoia redwood tree with his bare hands!

True masculinity is more within the very heart and soul of the man!

Now take that thought about what a man is supposed to look and act like and then pair it alongside of the phrase that I mentioned for the women at the beginning, the “eshet chayil” and what do we get?

We get something that you find in numerous passages within the Bible, one of which, that is a more familiar one, is seen within book of Judges, in chapter 6.

IN , we find a very popular and familiar account about one of the great OT judges, names Gideon.

In the story of Gideon, at the opening, we find Gideon hiding in the winepress and beating out some wheat, instead of doing so, on a large scale within the wheat field as was common and much more practical. Why was this the way that we find Gideon/

Simple; Gideon was afraid of getting caught my the Midianites and them taking his wheat from him, or worse!

In verses , we read (HAVE SOMEONE READ THIS PASSAGE)

Judges 11–12 NLT

Now Jephthah of Gilead was a great warrior. He was the son of Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. Gilead’s wife also had several sons, and when these half brothers grew up, they chased Jephthah off the land. “You will not get any of our father’s inheritance,” they said, “for you are the son of a prostitute.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Soon he had a band of worthless rebels following him. At about this time, the Ammonites began their war against Israel. When the Ammonites attacked, the elders of Gilead sent for Jephthah in the land of Tob. The elders said, “Come and be our commander! Help us fight the Ammonites!” But Jephthah said to them, “Aren’t you the ones who hated me and drove me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now when you’re in trouble?” “Because we need you,” the elders replied. “If you lead us in battle against the Ammonites, we will make you ruler over all the people of Gilead.” Jephthah said to the elders, “Let me get this straight. If I come with you and if the Lord gives me victory over the Ammonites, will you really make me ruler over all the people?” “The Lord is our witness,” the elders replied. “We promise to do whatever you say.” So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their ruler and commander of the army. At Mizpah, in the presence of the Lord, Jephthah repeated what he had said to the elders. Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon, asking, “Why have you come out to fight against my land?” The king of Ammon answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they stole my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and all the way to the Jordan. Now then, give back the land peaceably.” Jephthah sent this message back to the Ammonite king: “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not steal any land from Moab or Ammon. When the people of Israel arrived at Kadesh on their journey from Egypt after crossing the Red Sea, they sent messengers to the king of Edom asking for permission to pass through his land. But their request was denied. Then they asked the king of Moab for similar permission, but he wouldn’t let them pass through either. So the people of Israel stayed in Kadesh. “Finally, they went around Edom and Moab through the wilderness. They traveled along Moab’s eastern border and camped on the other side of the Arnon River. But they never once crossed the Arnon River into Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. “Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, asking for permission to cross through his land to get to their destination. But King Sihon didn’t trust Israel to pass through his land. Instead, he mobilized his army at Jahaz and attacked them. But the Lord, the God of Israel, gave his people victory over King Sihon. So Israel took control of all the land of the Amorites, who lived in that region, from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, and from the eastern wilderness to the Jordan. “So you see, it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who took away the land from the Amorites and gave it to Israel. Why, then, should we give it back to you? You keep whatever your god Chemosh gives you, and we will keep whatever the Lord our God gives us. Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he try to make a case against Israel for disputed land? Did he go to war against them? “Israel has been living here for 300 years, inhabiting Heshbon and its surrounding settlements, all the way to Aroer and its settlements, and in all the towns along the Arnon River. Why have you made no effort to recover it before now? Therefore, I have not sinned against you. Rather, you have wronged me by attacking me. Let the Lord, who is judge, decide today which of us is right—Israel or Ammon.” But the king of Ammon paid no attention to Jephthah’s message. At that time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went throughout the land of Gilead and Manasseh, including Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he led an army against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory. He crushed the Ammonites, devastating about twenty towns from Aroer to an area near Minnith and as far away as Abel-keramim. In this way Israel defeated the Ammonites. When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. She was his one and only child; he had no other sons or daughters. When he saw her, he tore his clothes in anguish. “Oh, my daughter!” he cried out. “You have completely destroyed me! You’ve brought disaster on me! For I have made a vow to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.” And she said, “Father, if you have made a vow to the Lord, you must do to me what you have vowed, for the Lord has given you a great victory over your enemies, the Ammonites. But first let me do this one thing: Let me go up and roam in the hills and weep with my friends for two months, because I will die a virgin.” “You may go,” Jephthah said. And he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children. When she returned home, her father kept the vow he had made, and she died a virgin. So it has become a custom in Israel for young Israelite women to go away for four days each year to lament the fate of Jephthah’s daughter. Then the people of Ephraim mobilized an army and crossed over the Jordan River to Zaphon. They sent this message to Jephthah: “Why didn’t you call for us to help you fight against the Ammonites? We are going to burn down your house with you in it!” Jephthah replied, “I summoned you at the beginning of the dispute, but you refused to come! You failed to help us in our struggle against Ammon. So when I realized you weren’t coming, I risked my life and went to battle without you, and the Lord gave me victory over the Ammonites. So why have you now come to fight me?” The people of Ephraim responded, “You men of Gilead are nothing more than fugitives from Ephraim and Manasseh.” So Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and attacked the men of Ephraim and defeated them. Jephthah captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go back across, the men of Gilead would challenge him. “Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,” they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly. Then they would take him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites were killed at that time. Jephthah judged Israel for six years. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead. After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He sent his daughters to marry men outside his clan, and he brought in thirty young women from outside his clan to marry his sons. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years. When he died, he was buried at Bethlehem. After Ibzan died, Elon from the tribe of Zebulun judged Israel for ten years. When he died, he was buried at Aijalon in Zebulun. After Elon died, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years. When he died, he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Judges 6:11–12 ESV

Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

Judges 11–12 NLT

Now Jephthah of Gilead was a great warrior. He was the son of Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. Gilead’s wife also had several sons, and when these half brothers grew up, they chased Jephthah off the land. “You will not get any of our father’s inheritance,” they said, “for you are the son of a prostitute.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Soon he had a band of worthless rebels following him. At about this time, the Ammonites began their war against Israel. When the Ammonites attacked, the elders of Gilead sent for Jephthah in the land of Tob. The elders said, “Come and be our commander! Help us fight the Ammonites!” But Jephthah said to them, “Aren’t you the ones who hated me and drove me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now when you’re in trouble?” “Because we need you,” the elders replied. “If you lead us in battle against the Ammonites, we will make you ruler over all the people of Gilead.” Jephthah said to the elders, “Let me get this straight. If I come with you and if the Lord gives me victory over the Ammonites, will you really make me ruler over all the people?” “The Lord is our witness,” the elders replied. “We promise to do whatever you say.” So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their ruler and commander of the army. At Mizpah, in the presence of the Lord, Jephthah repeated what he had said to the elders. Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of Ammon, asking, “Why have you come out to fight against my land?” The king of Ammon answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they stole my land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River and all the way to the Jordan. Now then, give back the land peaceably.” Jephthah sent this message back to the Ammonite king: “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not steal any land from Moab or Ammon. When the people of Israel arrived at Kadesh on their journey from Egypt after crossing the Red Sea, they sent messengers to the king of Edom asking for permission to pass through his land. But their request was denied. Then they asked the king of Moab for similar permission, but he wouldn’t let them pass through either. So the people of Israel stayed in Kadesh. “Finally, they went around Edom and Moab through the wilderness. They traveled along Moab’s eastern border and camped on the other side of the Arnon River. But they never once crossed the Arnon River into Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. “Then Israel sent messengers to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, asking for permission to cross through his land to get to their destination. But King Sihon didn’t trust Israel to pass through his land. Instead, he mobilized his army at Jahaz and attacked them. But the Lord, the God of Israel, gave his people victory over King Sihon. So Israel took control of all the land of the Amorites, who lived in that region, from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River, and from the eastern wilderness to the Jordan. “So you see, it was the Lord, the God of Israel, who took away the land from the Amorites and gave it to Israel. Why, then, should we give it back to you? You keep whatever your god Chemosh gives you, and we will keep whatever the Lord our God gives us. Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he try to make a case against Israel for disputed land? Did he go to war against them? “Israel has been living here for 300 years, inhabiting Heshbon and its surrounding settlements, all the way to Aroer and its settlements, and in all the towns along the Arnon River. Why have you made no effort to recover it before now? Therefore, I have not sinned against you. Rather, you have wronged me by attacking me. Let the Lord, who is judge, decide today which of us is right—Israel or Ammon.” But the king of Ammon paid no attention to Jephthah’s message. At that time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went throughout the land of Gilead and Manasseh, including Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he led an army against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory. He crushed the Ammonites, devastating about twenty towns from Aroer to an area near Minnith and as far away as Abel-keramim. In this way Israel defeated the Ammonites. When Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, playing on a tambourine and dancing for joy. She was his one and only child; he had no other sons or daughters. When he saw her, he tore his clothes in anguish. “Oh, my daughter!” he cried out. “You have completely destroyed me! You’ve brought disaster on me! For I have made a vow to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.” And she said, “Father, if you have made a vow to the Lord, you must do to me what you have vowed, for the Lord has given you a great victory over your enemies, the Ammonites. But first let me do this one thing: Let me go up and roam in the hills and weep with my friends for two months, because I will die a virgin.” “You may go,” Jephthah said. And he sent her away for two months. She and her friends went into the hills and wept because she would never have children. When she returned home, her father kept the vow he had made, and she died a virgin. So it has become a custom in Israel for young Israelite women to go away for four days each year to lament the fate of Jephthah’s daughter. Then the people of Ephraim mobilized an army and crossed over the Jordan River to Zaphon. They sent this message to Jephthah: “Why didn’t you call for us to help you fight against the Ammonites? We are going to burn down your house with you in it!” Jephthah replied, “I summoned you at the beginning of the dispute, but you refused to come! You failed to help us in our struggle against Ammon. So when I realized you weren’t coming, I risked my life and went to battle without you, and the Lord gave me victory over the Ammonites. So why have you now come to fight me?” The people of Ephraim responded, “You men of Gilead are nothing more than fugitives from Ephraim and Manasseh.” So Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and attacked the men of Ephraim and defeated them. Jephthah captured the shallow crossings of the Jordan River, and whenever a fugitive from Ephraim tried to go back across, the men of Gilead would challenge him. “Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,” they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly. Then they would take him and kill him at the shallow crossings of the Jordan. In all, 42,000 Ephraimites were killed at that time. Jephthah judged Israel for six years. When he died, he was buried in one of the towns of Gilead. After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel. He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He sent his daughters to marry men outside his clan, and he brought in thirty young women from outside his clan to marry his sons. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years. When he died, he was buried at Bethlehem. After Ibzan died, Elon from the tribe of Zebulun judged Israel for ten years. When he died, he was buried at Aijalon in Zebulun. After Elon died, Abdon son of Hillel, from Pirathon, judged Israel. He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. He judged Israel for eight years. When he died, he was buried at Pirathon in Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Did you see it? Did you see what the Lord called this man hiding in the winepress?

And I say Lord, because commonly, we refer to the phrase, “the angel of the Lord” as a theophany, that is, the Lord took on a fleshly appearance and came to man. Many assume this to be the Lord Jesus within the OT, which is called a Christophany!

He called Gideon a “mighty man of valor”! A man hiding and too afraid to caught gathering some wheat and down in this press and yet he is called mighty!

When you watch an action movie, who do find to be the MIGHTY MAN of the movie and who you want to be like. Is it the brawny and tough action hero, or some nerdy and weaker depicted character. (Do you want to be Batman or Robin, Super man or Clark Kent?

I was talking this week with Alex Tasca and we discussed briefly two movies that we both agreed were men’s movies, because they had men’s men within them: Braveheart and The Patriot!

Would you have found Braveheart as compelling and desirable to watch, if William Wallace, the hero of the movie, was found hiding from the English, instead of going out and picking a fight with them to let them know that he was leading Scotland in a revolt against English tyranny?

It was William Wallace who stirred us in our hearts in the movie, with such lines as, “Every man dies. Not every man really lives”, or, “Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!”

Now those lines come from a “mighty man”, who is resolved to fight, even when he knows that the odds are completely against him!

But not some dude hiding in the winepress, because he is afraid that some guys may steal his grain from him!

So, again, why did the Lord call him a “mighty man of valor”?

We could understand more so, if the Lord showed up and called Samson a “mighty man of valor”, because, Samson ,even though prideful and rebellious, was a fierce fighter, as a judge of Israel!

We can see and understand why David had those whom were called his mighty men. Guys who were well seasoned and battle hardened warriors who didn’t lose and who never backed down from the enemy!

Guys like, Eleazar, who stayed on the battlefield when other warriors fled and he kept killing Philistines until his hand was stuck clenched around his sword.

Josheb-basshebeth, who killed 800 men in one battle with a spear!

These are definitely mighty men, by anyone’s standards.

BUT WHY DID THE LORD SHOW UP AND PERSONALLY CALL GIDEON THIS?

In fact, Gideon, himself admits that there must be some mistake with what he was called. Look at verses

Judges 6:13–15 NLT

“Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!”

Gideon, first questions God about where He has been (like so many of us; we question God and His ways), and then he says the obvious, about the natural, physical state of things, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least (smallest/youngest) in my entire family!”

The Lord spoke to Gideon and called him, in the Hebrew, an “Iysh-Chayil”, a “mighty man of valor”!

When you hear of that title, “Iysh-Chayil”, a “mighty man of valor”, does not scream to you, a man’s man; A REAL MAN?!

And yet what made Gideon, this “man of valor”?

The answer comes from the Lord Himself in verses 14 and 34 of the same chapter, (HAVE SOMEONE READ EACH VERSE)

verse 14, “Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I AM SENDING YOU!”

verse 34, “Then the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon with power.”

This is what made Gideon a “mighty man of valor”; he was empowered with the calling and authority of God and clothed with, sealed with, the Holy Spirit to do all that God was commissioning him to do!

With the very first Judge listed in the book of Judges, Othniel, you see this same occurrence and source of power and ability, , “The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel's judge. He went to war against King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram, and the LORD gave Othniel victory over him.”

The great and mighty judge Samson, the fierce warrior that he was, had the exact same link to power as Gideon (the fearful winepress boy).

There was nothing special about Samson, except as we see in these verses: “At that moment the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion's jaws apart with his bare hands”.

“Then the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings”,.

“But the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists.”

What was the very thing that made Samson mighty? RIGHT......Holy Spirit came upon him!

Othniel, Samson and Gideon had the exact same source of strength, but each one was given a unique and special gift from that source to accomplish what God wanted!

Now, flash forward to the closing of Jesus’ earthly ministry and look at what He said to His disciples and to the birth of the church in ,

Acts 1:8 NLT

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Do you see that the exact same empowering presence that allowed Gideon to lead 300 men to battle with horns and lanterns and still defeat thousands and thousands of Midianites and that also allowed Samson to single handedly defeat thousands of Philistines, has empowered you and I as followers of Jesus Christ?

You are called, as Jesus said, “I chose you” and you are commissioned with authority, as Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And you are filled with the Holy Spirit of God!

If that does not make you a “mighty man of valor”, as God called Gideon, I do not know what does?!!!

You see, a mighty man of valor is not defined by brawn and physical strength, but rather by being a servant to the King of kings.

And that is what made the account of Gideon so amazing, is that God chose the least likely of men and equipped him with the least likely of an army and gave them the least likely of weapons, to accomplish a most amazing victory!

It’s not about the man, but it’s all about the one who has called the man. The victory is linked to our faith in the Lord. ,

1 John 5:4 ESV

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

(IF TIME, READ THIS STORY)

His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire

four years of college. He is brilliant, kind of esoteric, and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church.

They want to develop a ministry to the students but are not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no

shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely packed and he can’t find a seat. By now, people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just sits down right on the carpet.

By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is

thick. About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. He is a godly man, very elegant, very dignified, and very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves that you can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?

It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can’t even hear anyone breathing. The minister can’t even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty, he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships with him so he won’t be alone.

Everyone chokes up with emotion. When the minister gains control, he

says, "What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget. "Be careful how you live. You may be the only Bible some people will

ever read"...

Have the men stand and hold hands and on three, yell “Iysh-Chayil”, THREE TIMES!