Man Deuteronomy chapter 20 the Bible reads in verse number 1 when thou goest
out to battle against thine enemies and see his horses and chariots and a people
more than thou be not afraid of them for the Lord thy God is with thee which
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and of course the spiritual application
here in the New Testament is that we're in a spiritual battle as New Testament
Christians we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities
against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against
spiritual wickedness in high places and when it comes to that spiritual fight we
are always going to be outnumbered right broad is the way that leads to
destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way which leads unto life and few there be that find it so
the majority is always going to be wrong when it comes to spiritual things right
the majority is not Christian the majority is not saved the majority
doesn't believe the Bible the majority is going to be wrong on all manner of
things as a result of not being saved and not believing the Bible and so we
shouldn't be afraid to be in the minority we shouldn't be afraid because
we're not part of the mainstream culture and obviously like I said the majority
of people in this world don't even claim to be a Christian but even among
so-called quote-unquote Christians you know the mainstream is a false religion
Roman Catholicism or these mainline Protestant denominations that teach all
kinds of pagan garbage and they teach a workspace salvation and so forth so
don't be afraid to be in the minority because if you've got God on your side
that's all that matters no matter how small the group is if God be for us who
can be against us so he says don't be afraid when you see the enemy as being
so huge because the Lord's with you the one who brought you out of the land of
Egypt which pictures salvation you know we have been saved as well spiritually
they were saved physically verse number two it says and it shall be when you're
come nigh unto the battle that the priest shall approach and speak unto
the people and shall say unto them here o Israel ye approach this day unto
battle against your enemies let not your hearts faint fear not and do not tremble
neither be you terrified because of them for the Lord your God is he that goeth
with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you and this is still
today one of the biggest enemies that God's people face is fear you know if
there's one thing that I could change about the pastors across America it
wouldn't be that I would give them some piece of knowledge that they don't have
or somehow straighten them out on Bible prophecy or straighten them out on end
times or straighten them out on the sodomites because I don't really think
that's the biggest problem I think the biggest problem with preachers is that
they're scared to preach what they believe I don't even want to preach what
I believe I just want them to preach what they believe think about how great
churches would be across America if every pastor just got up and boldly
proclaimed what he believes even if he doesn't have my exact doctrine or
believe exactly me just I just wish every Baptist preacher would just get
up and preach what he believes oh it's not the same as what I believe no
problem preach what you believe but the problem is these guys aren't even
preaching what they believe let alone what I believe because they're scared in
many cases to get up and just preach the Word of God boldly and in reality
there's no reason to be afraid the reason that I'm not afraid to get up and
preach everything I believe and to just get up and shout it from the house tops
and put it online and just put it out there for everybody here here's why I'm
not afraid cuz there's literally nothing to be afraid of it's not that
I am just pastor lionhearted up here cuz I'm not it's just that I just I just
realized there's nothing to be afraid of and so that's the thing it's not that
I'm like facing some great danger and you know standing it's just you know
what it's a big boogeyman out there because the Lord God is on our side to
protect us and defend us and the chances of something bad happening to me are
almost nil I don't even care even if this whole building is surrounded by
angry people with pitchforks and and torches like like they do it steadfast
now I'm just kidding but anyway you know even if even if our church were
surrounded by angry people and even if people are threatening us everything I
know that from reading the Word of God the vast majority of the time God
protects his people God protects preachers God is there and they're just
saying look don't fear don't fade don't tremble don't be terrified I'm with you
I'm on your side and you know I just believe that God's gonna protect me
that's why I'm not afraid because I just believe God's gonna protect me now in
the rare event that something bad happens to me well then you know what I
guess I just you know drew the short straw and I'm the one of the lucky guys
who gets to be a martyr of our Lord Jesus Christ but that's so rare because
the vast majority of the time God's constantly protecting people in the
Bible and they're constantly just getting away with preaching everything
in the Bible and so there's no reason to be scared I just wish that pastors would
somehow just realize that you know they can pretty much just get up and preach
whatever however the Spirit leads and there's really nothing to worry about
especially in America I mean come on we have freedom of speech let's use it and
let's preach the Word of God boldly unashamedly why hold back why be scared
why not just get up and just preach it and you know obviously I think about
things from the perspective of a pastor because I am a pastor but even just as a
layman or even as a lady in the church a boy or a girl you know you've got to
overcome fear when it comes to just going out soul-winning getting out
soul-winning right that can be a little scary if you're not used to it you've
got to overcome that just like I have to overcome the fear to get up and preach
the Bible and maybe offend people you know you've got to overcome the fear of
going out there and knocking those doors and preaching the gospel because it can
be a little scary but again there's nothing really to be afraid of right I
mean what what could possibly go wrong you know if you you're gonna stumble and
and you're gonna say the wrong you're never gonna see these people again we're
in a giant city with 4.8 million people so don't even worry about it you got to
get over that fear and just get out soul-winning get out there and preach
the gospel do what's needed God's there with you though you know when you when
when Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission and said to go teach all
nations he said lo I am with you always even to the end of the world and so if
God's with us that should give us a boldness and a confidence to get out
there and knock those doors and face those lost people and you know in many
cases the people that you're witnessing to are more nervous than you are they're
nervous to be facing you you're at the door and you're confronting them with
the gospel and you're asking them if they're going to heaven you know they
might be just as nervous in that conversation as you are or more nervous
they're not judging you they're just they're just trying not to to you know
make a fool of themselves in many cases and so fear not God's with you God's
gonna protect you God's gonna take care of you don't let fear paralyze you from
doing the will of God Bible says in verse 5 and the officers shall speak
unto the people saying what man is there that had built a new house and it's not
dedicated it let him go and return to his house lest he die in the battle and
another man dedicated now here's what I like about this is that it shows that
God actually looks down at the enterprises and the goals and the
activities of human beings and he has respect for those things on some level
that he basically understands that there's a certain joy and fulfillment in
building your own home building a house and living in it and God says hey if a
guy has built a house I want that guy to be able to enjoy the house that he has
built I don't want him to build a house and then he dies in battle and then
someone else ends up dedicating it and then same thing in verse 6 what man is
he that has planted a vineyard has not yet eaten of it let him also go and
return into his house lest he die in the battle and another man eat me say look
you know you went through all this work you've planted this vineyard and you
haven't gotten to enjoy that yet I want you to be able to go home and enjoy that
and that it doesn't all just be in vain from your perspective and then lastly he
says what man is there that had patrolled the wife and had not taken her
let him go and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man
taker I believe that God looks down and he sees us doing these things in our
lives like getting married building a house building a vineyard right doing
our jobs and and maybe building a business or having a career or getting
married and these things are not bad things in fact God apparently respects
them on some level because he says hey you know you did that work I want you to
be able to enjoy that and that it doesn't just go to someone else because
you know some people can get overboard on the Christian life thinking that the
only things we could do have to just be directly serving God and anything else
we're doing is a big waste and you know we need to just be soul winning and
reading our Bibles 24-7 and there's no fun allowed no career allowed and how
dare you get married and there are even people out there who think it's more
spiritual to be single and that somehow if you get married it just is just some
kind of a spiritual weakness or something like that but yet in reality
as we study the Bible we find that for the vast majority of people it is God's
will that they get married God has ordained for every man to have his own
wife and for every woman to have her own husband that is God's plan a for most
people now of course there are exceptions to that and there are people
for whom it is God's will that they remain single and there are a lot of
people that are gonna be single and that's God's plan for their life and
that's God's will for their life and that's their best Christian life that
they can live is as a single person and the Apostle Paul was one who was single
and God used him greatly and he was following God's will just remaining
single but we don't want to impose that on other people or have this attitude
that everyone has to follow that path in order to reach you know maximum
spirituality you don't want to get a wrong view a perverse view toward
marriage marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers
and adulterers God will judge he who so findeth a wife findeth a good thing and
obtain a favor of the Lord so that means God looks down from heaven and he sees
you young man getting married and he is pleased with that he likes that he looks
down and he smiles on that but I also would take it a step further and say
that he looks down and he sees you building that house and he sees you
building that vineyard and he appreciates that now obviously spiritual
things in our life are the most important things in our life we're to
seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness but the Bible doesn't say
seek only the kingdom of God and his righteousness no because obviously
there's nothing wrong with having a family having a career building a
business doing something with your life in fact God wants us as men to work hard
he doesn't want us to be lazy he doesn't want us to sit around and be
unproductive he wants us to go out and work hard in whatever our hand finds to
do whether that's a secular employment or whether that's some kind of a clergy
employment either way we're to do everything to the glory of God and God
loves us and doesn't just use us as his worker drones in the beehive and then
just kind of use us and abuse us and discard us no God loves us and cares
about us and he actually wants us to enjoy our life so he actually wants us
if we work hard at building house he wants us to be able to dedicate that
house he wants us to be able to eat you know eat of that vineyard he wants us to
be able to enjoy our wife and enjoy the family life God has provided those
things for us good clean fun good clean pursuits and ambitions that we have as
human beings it's normal for us to have those goals and dreams and wishes and in
fact if we'll put God first if we'll seek God first and his righteousness
he'll in many cases allow us to fulfill those things that we want to fulfill if
we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness the other things the food
and the clothing that we need will be added unto us say it the Lord but not
only that the Bible talks about how if we give up things for Christ if we give
up houses and lands and we give up brothers and sisters and a wife whatever
we give up for his sake in the Gospels he said he'll give us a hundredfold in
this life lands and houses and and all those things why because God will give
us the desires of our heart if we put our trust in him and so God's not
expecting you to be an ascetic living in a monastery with a bunch of other dudes
beating yourself and and and you know chanting the same prayer five million
times okay God understands the need to live a life of production when it comes
to even our physical needs and and work in the farm or work in the job building
the house he understands our desire for companionship and so he has allowed for
us to get married and he even takes pleasure in us getting married so that's
what I like about this passage is that it shows look you're fighting the Lord's
battle you're doing the Lord's work here going out with the armies of Israel
but if you're in these situations where you've just built a house or just
planted a vineyard or just gotten married you know I want you to get to
enjoy the fruit of your labor and I think that says a lot about God's
mentality toward those type of activities in general and then the Bible
says in verse number 8 and the officers shall speak further unto the people and
they shall say what man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted let him go and
return unto his father's house lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his
heart now what's interesting is that we actually see this happen one time in the
history of the children of Israel and and the thing about these laws and I've
mentioned this before is that sometimes I think that when we read books like
Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy we sometimes have the mistaken idea that
the things that we're reading actually happened the way that God says they
should happen so this is the law of God so God's saying hey this is what you
should do this should be the punishment for this crime this should be what you
do at the year of Jubilee this should be the rules but if we actually look at the
history of the nation of Israel they rarely follow God's rules right so we
have to understand there's a big difference between what God says to do
and what people actually do God's law as found in the Pentateuch was never fully
perfectly implemented in the nation of Israel at any time because it was always
implemented by human beings and they're leaving things out we don't see a single
instance of them ever celebrating the year of Jubilee for example you know and
actually following those rules and there are lots and lots of other rules that we
could point to and say you know they didn't follow this I mean for example
you know we we think a lot about this in 2023 just because of how weird our
country's getting but we think a lot about the command in Leviticus 2013 that
says that if a man lie with mankind as he also lied with a woman they've
committed an abomination they shall surely be put to death their blood shall
be upon them so we have this rule in Leviticus 2013 to execute homos but the
question is did the children of Israel always at all points in their history
execute homos because when you see a king like Asa come along he has to get
all the sodomites out of the land well what were they doing in the land in the
first place when did the land get infested with sodomites right obviously
somebody was dropping the ball on Leviticus 2013 and then Joshua fat has
to come along and get rid of the sodomites that remained from the days
of Asa his father because again some idiots were just allowing these fags to
exist and they didn't actually follow God's Word okay and so there's a
difference between what actually happens and what's supposed to happen so what's
interesting about this passage that every single time they go to battle
they're supposed to be sending home everyone who's scared every time every
single time they go to battle they're supposed to say all right who built a
house and you haven't dedicated it yet go home who planted a vineyard it hasn't
eaten up the fruit thereof go home who married a wife and has not yet gone in
under her go home all right anybody who's scared fearful faint-hearted go
home you never see the children of Israel ever do this the only time you
see part of this fulfilled is in the book of Joshua with Gideon right Gideon
goes out there with 32,000 soldiers and God specifically tells him in a vision
that he needs to send home everybody who's scared but really you know he
shouldn't have even had to tell him that in a vision that's just something they
should have been doing anyway and every battle they should have always been
making that announcement but of course Gideon makes that announcement and he
says all right whoever's fearful go home and it's the only time in the Old
Testament that you can find this actually happening and out of 32,000
troops 22,000 of them go home right so the the majority end up going home like
two-thirds of them end up being like oh great bye see ya I'm scared see you
later and you say well come on this isn't practical I mean how are you gonna
how you gonna win a war if two-thirds of the troops are going home but here's
what the Bible says it gives the rationale right here it says in verse
number eight what man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted let him go and
return unto his house lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his
heart so if you've got these scared people in the military it's actually
gonna weaken the entire army because what you have to understand about
warfare especially in the ancient world is that everything relied upon staying
organized staying in formation the way that they fought was you know they had
these battle lines and they didn't want to have any gaps in the battle line they
didn't want to get outflanked or outmaneuvered and so it's very important
that everybody's in their position everybody's keeping rank everybody is
following orders and not just cutting and running randomly because then it's
easy for things to just go to chaos right they didn't have the
communication techniques that we have today they didn't have modern weapons
and modern styles of warfare you know it's it's pretty much just a basic
arrangement of troops and they get out there and they need to stay in formation
and they need to have the guts to keep marching forward until an actual retreat
is sounded and so if you have a scared guy and he just turns around and starts
running away that can easily become contagious and so you don't want that
fear to spread and it's the same way today in the Christian life when you
have preachers who are afraid to stand up for the Word of God when you have
Christians who are afraid to do what's right afraid to preach right well then
that ends up spreading and then it ends up causing everybody to be scared of
their shadow everybody to be scared of nothing and then pretty soon the people
who are standing up and boldly proclaiming the Word of God are very few
indeed but at the end of the day God can do a lot with a few people who are
actually obeying now what's interesting is that before he sends home the scared
people he says in verse 3 look at the second half of verse 3 let not your
hearts faint fear not do not trample neither be ye terrified because of them
for the Lord your God is he that goeth with you to fight for you against your
enemies to save you now in light of that statement anybody who then turns around
and goes home in verse 8 is not right with God because of the fact that if
they had faith in the Word of God they would know I'm here I'm doing the will
of God God is on my side God has promised to be with me God has promised
to protect us and so scared go home well that would mean that I was doubting God
because you just finished telling us in verse 4 that God is on our side and that
we're doing the will of God we're fighting the Lord's battle here and so
if these people actually believe the Word of God that the Lord was with them
and they wouldn't be scared they wouldn't be going home would they and so
these people that are going home in verse 8 are not right with God you don't
want those kind of people around anyway you know you fast forward to the early
church in the book of Acts and you read about all those exciting times in the
early church where there's all kinds of great preaching going on by the apostles
and multitudes of people are getting saved and the apostles keep getting
thrown in prison then they get out of prison and there's all kinds of buzz
amongst the people of Jerusalem about Christians and it talks about how people
are just so amazed and blown away by what God's doing in the local church and
then they hear about what happens to Ananias and Sapphira and and great fear
falls on everyone and so forth but one of the things is that in Acts it talks
about a lot of people really marveling at what's going on in that early church
but then it talks about how the rest of the people many people dared not join
themselves under them so a lot of people they're admiring what God's doing in the
church in the book of Acts they're excited about it they're praising God
about the mighty outpouring of his spirit but they themselves dared not to
join that church you know they don't want to get too close to the fire unless
they get burned you know and that church is on fire in a good way doing great
things for God in the book of Acts and some people are just scared to even be a
part of it well you know what we don't need those kind of people at the end of
the day you know some people might think that our church is a little too intense
which our church is not as intense as the book of Acts Church you know what I
mean like no you know we're not up here saying why did you lie to the Holy Ghost
and people falling over dead and you know where our church leadership isn't
in and out of prison every week or anything I mean you know yeah we have a
little excitement here but not as much as the book of Acts and yet some people
would dare not to come to faithful word Baptist Church they want to listen to
preaching online they want to admire maybe the soul winning and the mission
strips from afar but they don't necessarily want to get involved because
they're scared some people are literally scared to come to church here and they
want to go to church where it's safe you know they want to be they want to be
at the bumper bowling Baptist Church you know because they're afraid to bowl the
gutter ball you know they're they're over at a safe place okay whereas our
church is a church that there's action going on and that could be intimidating
to some people some people are afraid to come to church here or to come to
other churches like ours because they're afraid of what people will say or what
people will think they're afraid of getting a little bit of persecution or
something from being associated with the fundamentalist Baptist Church but at the
end of the day if people are scared nuts to them you know I'm not gonna change
our church to somehow make it friendly to the cowards of this world you know if
you're too much of a coward to sit in the congregation of faith for Baptist
Church and listen to a sermon you know then you're just a big-time coward and
you don't even belong here anyway keep listening online you know sucking your
thumb but at the end of the day you know we don't want to be surrounded by scared
timid people because then that could rub off on us we want to be surrounded by
bold Christians who aren't afraid to get out there and witness for Christ and
aren't afraid to go out there and preach the gospel to every creature and and and
so forth and you know some people are just they're so scared of so many things
and obviously there are dangers in this world you know and and and some mission
strips could be more dangerous than others some soul winning areas but
honestly like how dangerous is it really to go soul winning in the ghetto you
know I mean it's not that dangerous sometimes people freak out and they're
just like you know oh be careful in this neighborhood no look it's not like we're
there in the middle of the night or something you know we're there in broad
daylight we got the Bible we're winning souls I mean the chances of something
happening are so small yeah we could always get struck by lightning you know
something bad could always happen but the other day we go on these missions
trips and oh it's a high crime area yeah but we're out in the daylight we're
doing God's work God's protecting us we're staying in a group it's you know
we're not telling you to go soul winning in Jamaica at 1130 p.m. by yourself or
something okay obviously we're going so many in these places in the daytime and
we're being safe and at the end of the day God has to protect us you know it
can God protect us or not when we're out doing his work we're out doing his will
is God gonna protect us not you know I just believe God's gonna protect us
doesn't mean that we shouldn't be smart and take precautions the horse is
prepared against the day of battle but safety's of the Lord you know so yeah
take the precautions but at the end of the day you really got to rely on God to
protect you but people act like it's so oh it's so scary I remember we were
going to Dearborn Michigan we had a soul winning event back in 2015 called
marching to Dearborn and we did a big soul winning marathon in Dearborn
Michigan we had about 60 soul winners come out it's a great day we had a bunch
of people saved great time but I remember people contacting me and they
weren't kidding they were serious they're like pass or don't do it you're
risking your life it's the you know Dearborn's under Sharia law you're gonna
be beheaded and I'm just like what are you serious and you know I started so
many people were saying this stuff to me I started getting nervous like I
what am I missing something here like is this some really scary thing so then I
go online to try to you know because when everybody's telling you this you
know you start wondering like I'm is this really a thing I was like come on
I'm like it's the United States of America they're not beheading Christians
in Dearborn you know so I went on you know I went to get to the bottom of this
I went to YouTube you know to get the facts and I go on YouTube and and I I
type this into YouTube and you know Dearborn Sharia whatever and this video
comes up Christians stoned in Dearborn and I look at this video of Christians
being stoned in Dearborn Michigan and it turned out the Christians being stoned
was that there were these obnoxious Christians going to like a Muslim event
and heckling they were heckling some Muslim parade street preaching or
whatever and basically some of the angry Muslims threw empty water bottles at
them and that was them being stoned like an empty plastic bottle that weighs like
one ounce is like like bounced off a Christian's head and it was like
persecution level 1000 according to these people but that was you know
Christians being stoned ever of course we went to Dearborn and it was it was
the most normal soul winning thing we've ever done there was never any danger I
mean all of the Arabs and Palestinians and and various types of Muslims that
were in Dearborn were offering us cookies and they were having us come in
and and eat and and yeah and the funny thing was I think it was even during
Ramadan and they even gave us cookies they were like we can't eat but here eat
these cookies and so I was served cookies by Muslims during Ramadan in
Dearborn and I'm telling them like you guys aren't saved you got it you know
you got to believe that Jesus is the Son of God or you're gonna go to hell when
you die like you got to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you got to get saved
and there and it's just like all right you know here have another cookie nobody
tried to behead me or stone me or anything like that but but but I then
literally I kid you not I go to the airport after we're done with the
sowing event I go to the airport and I run into a guy guy walks up me hey
aren't you pastor Anderson oh man so cool to meet you he said I was gonna go
to that Dearborn event but I ended up not going because I was scared because I
heard about all the hype about the persecution of Christians and so I
actually just stayed away from the event just to be safe you know and and I told
him I said there's nothing to worry about and this guy missed out on the
event because of fear right and and that's how it often is we get scared of
these things and really we're just scared of a phantom we're scared of a
boogeyman you know if God's with us God can protect us and so if you know if
people are fearful and faint-hearted and that and somehow that keeps them out of
church well then maybe they just don't belong in church you know if they're
gonna have that mentality now look I want people to come to church but they
need to they need to get a little bit of a backbone and show up to church because
we don't need a we don't need a spineless congregation you know I'm glad
think about this you say well don't we want all these scaredy cats to come to
church so that we can have three times as many people you know instead of
having 10,000 we'd have 32,000 don't we want all those people here's why we
don't though okay because let's say persecution comes and all the sudden
persecution came and all of a sudden from one day to the next all of a sudden
our church two-thirds of the people are gone don't you think that'd be kind of
demoralizing if faithful or Baptist Church we're in a fight and we showed up
on Sunday morning and the auditorium is two-thirds empty that would be a little
bit discouraging and then that could even cause other people to think oh man
you know the ships going down I'm out of here this this place is is in trouble
whereas in the past when we've had big fights battles protesters whatever the
persecution we usually only lose a small handful of people and it's not really
noticeable when we have a big fight or something we only lose a few people and
then it doesn't have this feeling of oh everything's falling apart retreat you
see what I'm saying I mean can you imagine if we came under fire and then
three-quarters of the church leaves people would start thinking like whoa
what's going on here you know whereas 90 some percent of people have the backbone
to fight and stay well then we're you know it's gonna be like nothing even
happened and so that's why we don't necessarily want our church to be filled
with cowards and people who just run away at the first sign of persecution
now I still think that those people should have a chance to serve God and
God loves them and God could still use them and so that's why we have all these
watered down namby-pamby churches for them to go to and you know I like I
don't want namby-pamby churches to stop existing because God has a plan for the
namby-pamby church to babysit all the little you know pants peers that you
know need a place to go to church you know what I'm saying I'm not and I'm not
even being facetious right now I'm being dead serious because you know what all
of God's children should be going to church and they should all be serving
God and if they don't have the guts to go to big boy church then they need to
be down at the baby church because at least I just wanted to be in church
somewhere and so you got some some namby-pamby watered-down preacher if
he's right on the gospel then I'm thankful to God for him because
somebody's got to babysit those brats and I don't want to do it so he serves a
purpose he has a function and I'm not saying that in a mocking way I'm
actually dead serious that literally you know there need to be the weak churches
out there for the weak Christians because it's better than going not going
to church at all at least they can do something for God even if they're not
ready to go to the actual front lines of serving God and so he says you know we
don't need these scared people send them home and it shall be when the officers
have made an end of speaking out of the people verse 9 days shall make captains
of the armies to lead the people so verse 9 tells me that there's an
expectation that a lot of people are going to be sent home because if only a
few people were gonna leave if only a handful of people are gonna leave you
could actually make the captains at the beginning but he says you know don't get
organized don't get too organized or make captains yet because entire swaths
of people are gonna leave and then you're gonna have these like half-empty
battalions and half-empty platoons and squadrons so you know send all the
scared people home then get organized for battle once you know how many troops
you have because you don't want to organize the 32,000 guys and then two
thirds of them leave you know you might as well just get organized with the
final 10,000 and of course in the Gideon story that's a special story so they
end up sending home the rest of the people as well and only keeping 300
people and God's showing them that he can do something huge with 300 people so
answer me this if if God could do something big with 300 people in the
book of Judges can God do something huge with a church of 300 people in 2023
absolutely so you know you'd rather have a church with 300 quality people in it
300 people who are you know trusting in the Lord they're not scared they're
ready to take a stand they're ready to fight the good fight you'd rather have
those 300 quality warriors than just 10,000 people of dubious merit and so
yeah there are lots of other churches out there this is not the only church
but I think that a lot of the people who go to our church are special and you
know because they they really are serious about serving God and I think
that's great and I'd rather have a group of just warriors for God even if it's
only a few hundred people then to just pastor a church of thousands and well
very few of them are really that serious about serving God and again
there's a place for those people you know the thousands and you know it's the
watered-down Church down the street so verse number 10 says this when thou
comest nigh unto a city to fight against it then proclaim peace unto it and it
shall be if it make the answer of peace and open unto thee then it shall be that
all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee and they
shall serve thee and if it will make no peace with thee but will make war
against thee then thou shalt besiege it so he's giving them some rules of
engagement he wants them to give the enemy a chance to surrender and to avoid
bloodshed if possible but he's very clear on this that this is only for the
cities that are far from them look at verse 15 thus shalt thou do unto all the
cities which are very far from thee which are not of the cities of these
nations but of the cities of these people which the Lord thy God did give
thee for an inheritance thou shalt save nothing alive that breatheth but thou
shalt utterly destroy them namely the Hittites and the Amorites and the
Canaanites and the Parisites and the Hivites and the Jebusites as the Lord
thy God commanded thee so when it comes to Canaan land itself they are supposed
to completely wipe out the nations of the Canaanites because these nations
were super evil super perverted and God didn't want his people mixed in with
these super perverted evil corrupt people and so he wants them totally
wiped out verse 18 that they teach you not to do after all their abominations
which they have done unto their gods so should he sin against the Lord your God
so he says you know these people are super wicked and they're right in your
backyard you got to wipe all these people out don't keep anything alive
that's breathing but when it comes to other cities and nations that you'll
fight against in the future well proclaim peace unto them try to resolve
it without actually fighting if you do end up fighting then he says to them in
verse number 13 when the Lord thy God at the limit into thy hands thou shalt
smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword but the women and the
little ones and the cattle and all that is in the city even all the spoiler of
shalt thou take unto thyself and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies
which the Lord thy God hath given these they can take prisoners of women and
children and they're not supposed to kill the women and children only the man
because wiping out the Canaanites is a special circumstance because they were
so perverted so evil and because God is giving them their land and so that was
kind of a one-time special deal to completely wipe those people out now
look at verse 19 we'll read this last part and then be done it says when thou
shalt besiege a city a long time and making war against it to take it thou
shall not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them for thou
mayest eat of them and thou shalt not cut them down for the tree of the field
is man's life to employ them in the siege only the trees which thou knowest
that they be not trees for meat thou shalt destroy and cut them down and thou
shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee until it be
subdued so the Bible is saying look when you besiege a city and what does it mean
to besiege a city this is when they surround the city and don't let anyone
come in or out so in the ancient world cities are walled and that is a very
strong defense against attack being inside of a walled city makes it very
hard for the enemy to conquer and so what the attackers would often have to
do instead of trying to attack the city and then they've you know they've got
the low ground as it were people are up on the wall throwing things down and
shooting at them and just picking them off and they're just open targets instead
they would just be patient and just surround the city not let anyone come in
or out and eventually they're just gonna run out of food run out of water
and eventually they're just gonna have to surrender now in the meantime
sometimes the attacking army would create machines of warfare for actually
assaulting the city and breaking down the walls breaking down gates or hurling
projectiles into the city so they could burn the place down or whatever and so
these type of weapons of war they wouldn't necessarily always bring them
from home but they would often manufacture them on the spot so they
would show up to besiege a city and then they're gonna start chopping down trees
and building wooden instruments of war right building machines and catapults
and battering rams and whatever else they're gonna use to attack that city
and so what he's saying is don't chop down the fruit trees only cut down trees
that don't bear fruit because the fact that the fruit trees you know that's
people need those to live people need those to eat and you guys yourselves are
gonna be able to eat of those throughout this process and so only chop down the
trees that are not fruit bearing and then use those for your engines of war
for your bulwarks if you want to make a battering ram or a blockade or whatever
you want to build now the spiritual application you could take here is that
the Bible used the term trees to refer to preachers or prophets in the New
Testament it talks about trees that bring forth evil fruit as being false
prophets and it talks about trees that bring forth good fruit as being good
prophets or good preachers and you'll know the tree by its fruit right and so
a spiritual application you could take here is that if there's a tree that's
bearing fruit we shouldn't chop it down meaning that we shouldn't attack our
fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that are actually winning souls for
Christ that are actually fruit bearing Christians they're not damnable heretics
they're not teaching damnable heresy they're not unsaved and if they're
actually out there winning people to Christ or preaching the gospel and
getting people saved then we should leave the fruit trees alone right we
shouldn't chop down the fruit trees you know if there's some false prophet out
there that's for sure not bearing good fruit well then you know we'll take the
acts of the Word of God and chop down at the false prophets and false teachers
because all throughout the New Testament the Apostles are warning about heretics
and false prophets and calling them out by name and often warning God's people
of false prophets and false teachers and so as a pastor that's my job to
point out the heretics and the false prophets and the false teachers but if
there's a saved man of God who's a soul winning Christian I'm not gonna attack
him just because he's doing something I don't like or teaching something I don't
like you know I'm gonna reserve my attacks for unsaved preachers or
heretics or non fruit-bearing trees and I don't want to just attack my fellow
saved Baptist pastors who are just you know wrong on this or wrong on that you
know we should give a lot of grace to those who are actually saved and bearing
fruit and and be hesitant to want to cut them down even if they do make a mistake
or preach something that's wrong if it's not a deal-breaker as far as damnable
heresy if they're saved and they're bringing forth fruit well then we should
not cut them down right we should we should leave the fruit trees alone and
so this chapter is a great chapter about going to war against the enemies of
Israel and today we would apply it to the spiritual warfare that we're all
engaged in we need to have the boldness to get out there even though we're
outnumbered knowing that the Lord is on our side get out there and proclaim the
Word of God whether it's a pastor behind the pulpit preaching the whole counsel
of God or whether it's a man woman boy or girl out there knocking doors winning
souls to Christ or witnessing on the playground or wherever you know let's
all get out there and fight the spiritual battle and let's have the
boldness to realize that God's gonna protect us and so we can go out there
and preach the gospel knowing that of God before us no one can stand against
us those birds in a board of prayer father we thank you so much for this
passage Lord help us to apply it to our lives and and help us to let these
things really sink into our ears and and that we would not fear to serve you Lord
help us to always have the the courage to do what your word tells us to do and
in Jesus name we pray amen