Men of War

 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them.j They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and savedd them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relentede because of their groaningf under those who oppressed and afflictedg them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupth than those of their ancestors,i following other gods and serving and worshiping them.j They refused to give up their evil practices and stubbornk ways.

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The New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011. Print.

Series: Men on the Move

Text:

Title: Men of War

Title: Faith Factor

Introduction:

Early on the morning of September 11, 2001,

19 hijackers took control of four commercial airliners en route to California (three headed to LAX in Los Angeles and one to SFO in San Francisco) after takeoffs from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts; Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey; and Washington Dulles International Airport in Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Virginia.

The four flights were:

American Airlines Flight 11: a Boeing 767 aircraft, departed Logan Airport at 7:59 a.m. en route to Los Angeles with a crew of 11 and 76 passengers, not including five hijackers. The hijackers flew the plane into the northern facade of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City at 8:46 a.m.

United Airlines Flight 175: a Boeing 767 aircraft, departed Logan Airport at 8:14 a.m. en route to Los Angeles with a crew of nine and 51 passengers, not including five hijackers. The hijackers flew the plane into the southern facade of the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City at 9:03 a.m.

American Airlines Flight 77: a Boeing 757 aircraft, departed Washington Dulles International Airport at 8:20 a.m. en route to Los Angeles with a crew of six and 53 passengers, not including five hijackers. The hijackers flew the plane into the western facade of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, at 9:37 a.m.

United Airlines Flight 93: a Boeing 757 aircraft, departed Newark International Airport at 8:42 am en route to San Francisco, with a crew of seven and 33 passengers, not including four hijackers. As passengers attempted to subdue the hijackers, the aircraft crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m.

Following [the] attack by hijacked airliners on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, President Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office about the incidents. He said the U.S. was resolved to find and punish those responsible

“Good evening. Today our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes or in their offices: secretaries, business men and women, military and Federal workers, moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.

The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our Nation into chaos and retreat, but they have failed. Our country is strong.

A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shattered steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

Today our Nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature. And we responded with the best of America, with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could.

America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in - ˜Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me."™

This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day. Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.”

As Christian Men, we must resolve that some things are worth fighting for! We cannot just sit idly by and watch the enemy attack and kill our families and say or do nothing about it. We cannot sit in a corner and watch our young men and boys spiral out of control and not redirect them.

I declare war against poverty. I declare war against the enemy who comes to steal, kill, an destroy!

The Book of Judges spans a period of several hundred years. During this time the people of Israel consistently turned away from God, seduced by the religions of the peoples they had been commanded to drive out of Canaan. The “judges” (numbering 12) of this era were charismatic leaders, who typically led one or several tribes to military victory over oppressing peoples. They then served as civil and religious leaders, and during their lives the people they judged typically remained faithful to the Lord.

The story of Gideon focuses on his struggle to overcome fear. The Midianites, along with other eastern peoples, had oppressed Israel for seven years. The Lord came to Gideon and challenged him to lead Israel like a “mighty warrior.” Gideon passed his first test of faith by tearing down the altar of Baal that belonged to his father. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he prepared for battle against the Midianites. By setting out a fleece of wool, he devised a test to learn that God was with him.

A faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted. Too often, what people think is faith is really only a “warm fuzzy feeling” about faith or perhaps just “faith in faith.” I recall being in a board meeting of an international ministry when one of the board members said enthusiastically, “We’re simply going to have to step out by faith!” Quietly another board member asked, “Whose faith?” That question made all of us search our hearts.

J.G. Stipe said that faith is like a toothbrush: Everybody should have one and use it regularly, but it isn’t safe to use somebody else’s. We can sing loudly about the “Faith of Our Fathers,” but we can’t exercise the faith of our fathers. We can follow men and women of faith and share in their exploits, but we can’t succeed in our own personal lives by depending on somebody else’s faith.

God tests our faith for at least two reasons:

first, to show us whether our faith is real or counterfeit, and

second, to strengthen our faith for the tasks He’s set before us. I’ve noticed in my own life and ministry that God has often put us through the valley of testing before allowing us to reach the mountain peak of victory.

Spurgeon was right when he said, “The promises of God shine brightest in the furnace of affliction, and it is in claiming those promises that we gain the victory.”

To be Men of War would entail “sifting and maintaining” (Warren Wiersbe)

I. Sifting Out Pride & Maintaining Humility (2)

Yahweh raises a problem before Gideon, but it is quite the opposite of what we would have expected.

From a human perspective we might have anticipated, “The people who are with Midian are too many for me to give them into your hands,” but the problem here is the opposite (lit.): “The people who are with you are too many.” (The Pulpit Commentary: Judges. 2004)

Boast (vaunt) - honor, endow with splendor, i.e., give high status to another and so honor with a wonderful object or state; glorify oneself, display one’s splendor; 2. boast, i.e., speak words showing improper pride and haughtiness, and so exhibit a confidence not warranted. (Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages)

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (They started with 32,000)

II. Sifting Out Fear & Maintaining Faith (3)

Fearful - be afraid, be frightened, i.e., be in a state of feeling great distress, and deep concern of pain or unfavorable circumstance;

be in fear; frighten, intimidate. (Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages)

Send the scary folk home! (, “And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.’”)

This was a test of courage. (22,000 men retreated, and 10,000 remained)“God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.” ()

“We walk by faith, and not by sight.” ()

III. Sifting Out Inattentiveness & Maintaining Vigilance (4-7)

God put Gideon’s surviving 10,000 men through a second test by asking them all to take a drink down at the river. We never know when God is testing us in some ordinary experience of life. (Demonstrate the test:)

The reader can only imagine Gideon’s increased dismay when he saw the response of the troops to the refining conditions prescribed by Yahweh. While ninety-seven hundred knelt to drink water [like dogs], only three hundred brought the water up to their mouths with their cupped hands and lapped from them. But this handful of men represents the pure gold which Yahweh desires in his service.

This was a test of alertness. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour…” () (9700 men have retreated and we are left with 300.)

IV. Conclusion (8) –

All we have left is faith!!! “What shall we say to these things, If God be for us, who can be against us?”

I have been trying to complete reading a book by Pastor Levi Lusko entitled I Declare War. In it gives 4 keys to winning the battle with yourself:

Declare War on What You Think

Declare War on What You Say

Declare War on What You Do

The Help You Need to Win this War is “Phantom Power”

(24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.)

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.)

ILLUSTRATION: One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters." The Christian faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known.