Tag Archives: obeying God

The Enemy Within

Turn with me in your Bibles to Judges chapter 8. When we ended last week, Gideon or Jerubbaal (Judges 7:1) at the direction of God led 300 men to utterly destroy the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the men of the east (other Canaanites). God only wanted 300 men with trumpets, clay jars, and lamps to come to the enemy. On smashing the clay pots and blowing their trumpets, the forces of Midian ended up killing one another with their own swords (Judges 7:22).

The Enemy Within

When you have a mountaintop experience with God, it doesn’t take long before the enemy will attack. The enemy doesn’t normally come at us from the outside, but the greatest enemy is the one who comes from the inside. When you serve God – Jesus said – “a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:36). It was prophesied that the Messiah – our Jesus – would be betrayed by “My close friend in whom I trusted, who ate My bread – he lifted up his heel against Me” (Psalm 41:9). Though Jesus chose Judas Iscariot to be an Apostle, and even gave him a trusted position as treasurer of the Apostles, Jesus did so knowing that Judas would betray Him with a kiss (John 13:18) for just 30 pieces of silver – the price of a slave.

The worst evil comes at us not from the outside,
but from within the house!… Continue reading

Posted in Judges, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Lord, Give Me A Blessing

I thought we’d start our new study in the Book of Judges. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, JUDGES. Most people look at the Old Testament as old news and unimportant to our faith. That’s not true. The Bible tells us that:

2 Timothy 3:16 ALL SCRIPTURE is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable …

God gave us the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. There are some cults that ignore the Old Testament – but that’s what makes them cults. God gave us the WHOLE Bible. He gave us the Old Testament to show us that God is always faithful to His promises, and always does what He says. God also gave us the Old Testament to show us examples that we are to follow – and examples we are to avoid. We are told by the Apostle Paul, who was a highly regarded Rabbi before finding Christ as Savior:

1 Corinthians 10:6-11 (ESV) Now these things {recorded in the Old Testament} took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction

Why study the Book of Judges? Judges is very applicable to America today. When our nation followed some semblance of God’s Laws (the Ten Commandments), we prospered and were blessed to become one of the most powerful nations in the world. But when we wandered from God (and we have REALLY WANDERED), it was long before that nation started to cripple itself…. Continue reading

Posted in Judges, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Importance Of Keeping The Word

I was watching a video from Prager University the other day called “The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions”. The phrase is often attributed to a French Christian named Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). Dennis Prager noted that in the 20th Century about 100 million people were murdered by despotic regimes. Most of those murdered were Communist countries, regimes supported by “nice people” who had or believed they had good intentions. It was American and British citizens who, with good intentions, delivered to the Soviet Mass Murderer Joseph Stalin the secrets to making an atom bomb. Many of the teachers who bring up topics robbing young children of their sexual innocence are motivated by good intentions. Those who vote for politicians who want to defund the police – a sure way of increasing murder, rape, and other crimes in our country – have good intentions. Those who seek to criminalize hate speech have good intentions, though what they seek is a serious threat to our First Amendment rights.

Prager went on to say that the only way we can have a better world is by seeking wisdom. Knowledge without wisdom is useless. You can learn knowledge in a laboratory – but WISDOM COMES FROM GOD. James has told us this four times. In

James 1:5 we read, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (ESV).

Wisdom is the proper application of what God has said is wise. King Solomon, a man who got wisdom from God, said “wisdom is BETTER THAN JEWELS, and ALL THAT YOU MAY DESIRE CANNOT COMPARE with {wisdom}. ‘I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion’” (ESV). You can find knowledge without wisdom, but the Bible calls you a fool. But if you find knowledge THROUGH WISDOM, through God and His Word, then you are wise. James told us in chapter three:… Continue reading

Posted in James, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment