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In 1 Chronicles chapter number 12, we're talking about the mighty men who followed David, these different warriors who assembled to him. If you remember in chapter 11, it talked about the whole house of Israel making David king. He'd spent seven and a half years as just the king of the tribe of Judah, but now the whole nation's going to make him king. And in chapter 11, it went through those 30 mighty men and then the three other mighty men, and then the original three mighty men. And we talked about that last week. Well, he's just continuing in chapter 12 to talk about different troops out of the different tribes who assembled themselves unto David. Now, how we could apply this to ourselves in 2018 is the local church, because David is a very strong picture in the Bible, and especially in the book of 1 Chronicles of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the son of David. So David pictures Jesus Christ, and of course, Christ is the head of the church. And unlike in David's day, we're in a battle that's a spiritual battle, not a physical fight. But all of these things that we see with these warriors, we could sort of apply that to a spiritual battle with Jesus as our captain, as opposed to David being our captain. And then we can kind of make application here. Now, verse number one says, Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish. And they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war. They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left, in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul's brethren of Benjamin. So it talks about here, their prowess with these various weapons. If you jump down to verse number eight, part way through, it says that they could handle shield and buckler. Later on in the chapter, it says that they were expert in war. Over and over again in this chapter, it emphasizes the various weapons that they could use, right handed, left handed. These guys are experts. These guys are professionals. They know what they're doing. They have great skill. How do we apply that today? Well, you know, we ought to strive to have the skills necessary to serve God to the fullest. If we're in a spiritual fight, as they were in a physical fight, then we should sharpen up our weapons, sharpen up our sword, sharpen up our tools, and sharpen our skills and abilities so that we could serve God in the best way possible. What am I talking about? Well, some of the skills that we would use today to win souls and to serve God would be, of course, being able to read well. We have to be able to read our Bible well, and to be able to read the Bible out loud, to be able to read the Bible to someone as we explain and expound the gospel to them. The ability to preach a sermon in front of people is an ability that you would want to acquire. The ability to lead the singing is another thing that you would want to have. So all the different types of abilities that you would acquire to serve God in the house of God. It could be playing the piano. It could be speaking a foreign language. All manner of different skills and abilities. Whatever those talents that you have, you want to use them for the Lord, and you also want to hone them and become an expert, become a pro, become good at it. There are people who are just really good at soul winning. They're good at preaching. They're good at leading the singing. These are the type of people that you can use in various campaigns, not to go out and slaughter the enemy, but campaigns to evangelize and to be able to not only get people saved, but also help teach people the Bible and help them grow in the Lord and so forth. So first of all, we see the skill level of those that came to David was high, and that's what we want to strive to do. God can use us whatever our skill level is, but we want to try to improve our skills. Spend time studying, practicing, improving, and being able to be used by God in whatever capacity in the local church. But secondly, look at verse 8. It says, and of the Gadites, they're separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might and men of war fit for the battle that could handle shield and buckler. And what I want to point out here is that these men separated themselves unto David, and they had to go out into the wilderness to do it. The Bible says, let us go forth therefore unto him, speaking of Jesus, without the camp bearing his reproach. In the New Testament, we're told to separate ourselves unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of the camp, outside of the mainstream, we have to step out of the typical 2018 American society and be different, be a peculiar people. The Bible says in Proverbs 18, one through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. See, it starts number one with a desire to serve God, a desire to please God. Then you separate yourself and then you seek an intermeddle with all wisdom. That's where you learn the deep things of God and you understand the Bible. But the most important component there is the desire. One question that I've never been able to answer for myself over all the many years is how can I make someone love God? How can I make someone desire to serve God? How can I pass that on to someone? I love God. I want to serve God. I want to read the Bible. I want to have a walk with God. I want to win people to Christ. I have that desire in me. How do I impart that to other people? Because it's like you can't make someone love God. You can't make someone seek God, but you want to, don't you? I mean, you wish that you could just bottle it and give it to somebody. But here we are, we're in a room full of people who love God. I mean, desire is what brought them here. They desire to serve God. They desire to be used by God. And it's just, you can't do that for someone. That's what they have to do for themselves. They have to bring the desire. And if they bring the desire, if they seek, they'll find. If they knock, it'll be open. If they ask, it'll be given unto them. Through desire, that's the key component that you must have. You must have the desire to serve God. Through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermetals with all wisdom. Don't tell me that there's a church that has all the right doctrine, but no separation. Because you don't get the right doctrine until you get the separation. You get the desire, you get the separation, then you get the wisdom. Then God opens up your understanding and knowledge and wisdom. So these liberal churches where anything goes, fornication, drunkenness, foolishness is all just allowed to have free reign. That church is not going to be doctrinally sound. It's not a separated church. The Bible says, wherefore come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. And I'll receive you and I'll be a father unto you. And you should be sons and daughters unto me, saith the Lord. You know, we can't have fellowship Christ with Belial, the temple of God with idols, he that believeth with an infidel. There's got to be some separation. There's got to be a difference between us and the world around us. You can't just live exactly like this world that we live in, just exactly like mainstream America and expect to be in the Lord's army and expect to be in Christ's army and seeking an inner meddling with all wisdom. No, you got to separate yourself. You got to get out in the wilderness. You got to go outside the camp and you know what? It's going to cost you something. There's a sacrifice to be made. These people had to give up the easy life in the city or whatever. They had to give up friends because they had to make a decision. Are we with King Saul or are we following David? And if they're going to follow David, they had to do what? They had to make a break with Saul. They can't do both. And so these guys separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness. Now notice it says they separated themselves unto David. This reminds me of Romans chapter one where Paul said these apostle of Jesus Christ separated unto the gospel of God. Now it's one thing to be separated, but we want to make sure that we're not just separated from. We want to make sure that we're separated unto. There are a lot of people who live a really clean life. There are denominations out there where they're super strict and they're very clean and they have high standards of holiness, but they're not out soul winning. They're not out preaching the gospel. They're not doing the work of the Lord. So yeah, they're separated from the world, but they're not separated unto the gospel. They're not separated unto David. They're not separated unto Jesus Christ. So we need to separate from the garbage of this world and unto the work of the Lord. So it says they were separated unto David into the hold to the wilderness, men of might, men of war, fit for the battle that could handle shield and buckler whose faces were like the faces of lions and were as swift as the rose upon the mountains. So these guys are tough. They're mighty. They're strong. I mean, if you think of a lion, you think of the strongest among beasts, the Bible says, and it says that turneth not away for any. Proverbs chapter 30. A lion, which is the strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any. What does that mean? He has no natural predators. The lion doesn't turn away for anybody. And you know what? That's what we ought to be like as Christians, where we are steadfast, unmovable, our faces like the faces of lions, where we don't turn and run and hide no matter who confronts us. You know, no matter who persecutes us, no matter who puts pressure on us, we stand our ground. You know, one of the things that comes up over and over in this passage and in passages like it is this word valor. Valor means courage, right? Bravery. He says over and over again, these are men of valor. They're men of valor. Their faces are like the faces of lions. I mean, these eyes aren't going to turn aside for any. And then he says later on that these people could keep rank. They would not break rank. What does that mean? That means they're all lined up for the battle. Nobody's just going to break and run away and turn tail and run. They would stay and stand their ground. And, you know, there's too much cowardice today in the churches of America. The Christians today, they don't want to go in the wilderness. They don't want to be separated. They don't want a Christianity that costs them anything. And at the least little persecution, the least little opposition, they run away. They break rank. Their faces aren't like the face of lions. It's like the face of a chicken. You ever look into the eyes of a chicken? There's nothing there. I mean, it's the emptiest look. When a chicken looks back at you, it's the emptiest look you'll ever see in your life. There's no soul in there. There's just nothing in there. You know, it's just... Look, we need to have the heart of a lion, right? Not be a coward. I mean, today, you know, it's not even like, oh, somebody lost their job for the cause of Christ. So, you know, now they're quitting. No, people quit now just at the hint that they might lose their job. Just if there's a hint that family might come down on them. Or just a hint of getting sued or getting arrested or the smallest thing. And you say, well, those are big things. Oh, really? Because I don't remember that part in Fox's Book of Martyrs, the section of people who got sued. I don't remember that chapter. It's been a while since I've read it. Maybe I need to go back and find that chapter about people who lost their job in Fox's Book of Martyrs, people who got sued, people who God made fun of, or people whose extended family didn't invite them to a barbecue or something. You know, I mean, people are being sawn asunder and killed for the cause of Christ. But, you know, people today, they think every little thing is just a persecution and they run and they get scared and they quit the church. You know, we need to be stronger than that. We need to have more courage than that. We need to be like these. Why is this chapter in the Bible? I mean, why did God give us a book in 2018? All of this is profitable for doctrine in 2018. So why do we have chapter 11 all about these fearsome warriors and mighty men with David? Why do we have another chapter? Wasn't chapter 11 enough? Why do we have chapter 12? Because God's saying, be courageous, have valor, be strong, be like a lion. Hey, the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. And so he's just telling you over and over again, fear not, fear not, fear not, stand fast, be unmovable, have courage, be of good courage. The Lord's going to fight for you. You know, and this message is over and over again in the Bible. We need to get some guts today. We need to get a backbone today and stand up to the devil and his minions that want to intimidate us and try to back us down. Be like a lion. It lists off these different men that were such and that came to David. It says in verse 14, these were of the sons of Gad, captains of the host. One of the least was over a hundred and the greatest over a thousand. So he's got his troops organized into smaller units. The Bible talks about in Deuteronomy rulers of tens, rulers of hundreds and rulers of thousands, a decimal system of organizing the troops. And today we need to do the same thing. We have fighting units as it were called local churches, right? And they might have a hundred people in them or 300 people in them, a thousand people in them, 50 people in them, whatever the case may be. But that's the unit of battle. And there are different captains of the host that lead each group, each section, these leaders of men. And that's biblical to have a leader of 10, to have a leader of a hundred, to have a leader of a thousand, because of course David himself isn't personally ordering every single troop, right? Do you think David just takes tens of thousands of troops and just tells them all? No, he's delegating a lot of that, isn't he? He's breaking it down into a smaller structure. And that's how we do it in the local church. First of all, we're broken into churches themselves, right? Because Jesus Christ is the head of the whole army, which is worldwide, right? Believers all over the world. But then there are various churches and each church has leadership. And then even within the church, you know, you break up into teams, you go soul winning, you go on this event, you go on that event and somebody leads you into this battle, the battle of Compton, you know, the battle of the White Mountain Apaches or whatever. These sound like real battles actually, you know. There have definitely been some battles in the Apache country and in Compton, you know, it's a daily thing, amen? No, I'm just kidding. But anyway, so the point is that, you know, we need leadership, okay? We need somebody to organize. And this is one of the most important things in a church. You got to be organized. I mean, how can we knock every door? How can we knock all the Indian reservations? How can we have a soul winning event with 125 people participating? You know, you got to get organized, right? You got to break into teams, you got to have leaders, you got to have captains, you got to have maps and you got to have just logistics, right? You got to have planning. Now, a lot of people, they just hate leadership. They just, any excuse they can do to just criticize the pastor, criticize other soul winning leaders or deacons or just anybody, it's because they just simply have a problem with authority. They just don't like anybody being in charge. They want it to just be anarchy and a free for all. But you know, that's a good way to get nothing done, to have chaos, anarchy, free for all. You got to be organized. You got to have leaders. You got to put people in charge and a mature godly Christian will follow the leader and not try to just do his own thing all the time and just blow off instructions. You know, when there's a certain instruction given that says, hey, we're going to start at this time. We're going to finish it this time. This is where we're going to meet up. This is how we're going to do it. You know, you want to follow those directives and be part of the team, be a team player, not just say, oh, I'm just going to do my own thing. I'm going to do, I'm on my own program. Well, you're not going to get much done. You know, you got to be a well oiled machine. And I guarantee you, when you read about David's Kingdom, as we get through the whole book of First Chronicles and get the whole thing in context, I'll tell you one thing about David's Kingdom. It was a well oiled machine. Solomon's Kingdom was a well oiled machine. I mean, these guys are organized. They got leaders. This month, this guy's in charge. That month, that guy's in charge. Okay, we're going to rotate these people out. We're going to rotate these people in. Hey, that's what we ought to be doing. And you know what? That is what we do right here. That's what Brother Segura is doing. That's what I'm doing. That's what other pastors are doing that are successful is they're basically organizing the soul winning and planning events and planning things. You know, you got to be organized. And in order to stay organized, you got to be willing to jump on and get on board with the program, follow the plan, and make it happen, right? And stay organized and you can do great things that way. He says in verse 15, these are they that went over Jordan in the first month when it had overflown all his banks. And they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east and toward the west. Now, this thing of Jordan overflowing his banks. Keep your finger here. Go to Jeremiah chapter 12. This is obviously literal, but it's also symbolic. What the literal meaning is that there's a certain time of year when the Jordan River would rise and become a mighty river. And so when it's a mighty river, it's going to be difficult to cross with an army, let alone to cross this river and then just go straight into battle and then win that battle across a river, right? This is very difficult. Look what the Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 12 verse 5. This is kind of the symbolic meaning. It says, if thou has run with the footmen and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace wherein thou trustest, they wearied thee, then how will thou do in the swelling of Jordan? The swelling of Jordan when it swells up and overflows all its banks. He's saying, look, how are you going to make it in the swelling of Jordan? When things are going good, if you can't handle the Christian life, when things are going smooth, what are you going to do when things get hard in the swelling of Jordan? If you can't even get yourself to church and get yourself out soul winning when it's legal, when we have peace in the United States, it's totally legal to go soul winning. There's no real persecution to speak of. And if you can't do that, what are you going to do in the tribulation? What are you going to do when the hard times come, right? If you can't even run with the footmen, how are you going to contend with the horses? If you in the time of peace are getting worn out, how are you going to do in the swelling of Jordan? So these people, if you want to flip back to 1 Chronicles 12, these people in 1 Chronicles 12, you know, they were instant in season and out of season, right? When it's the hardest possible time to fight the battle, when the Jordan River is overflowing all its banks, it's the worst possible time. You know what? They can still get in that battle and they can win that battle. These guys are 365 days a year. They're just on the program. I mean, it's like, these are the guys that are going soul winning even in July, right? Even in August, they're out soul winning, you know, when the thermometer is overflowing his banks and the swelling of the mercury. And, you know, when you're out there and it's really hot and these are the people that in a cold climate, they're still out there soul winning even in January, February. You know, they're just instant in season and out of season. They're ready for battle at all times. He says that in verse 16, there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David. And David went out to meet them and answered and said to them, if you become peaceably unto me to help me, my heart shall be knit unto you. But if you become to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there's no wrong in my hands, the God of our fathers looked there on and rebuke it. That's a great verse. You know, there are going to be two kinds of people who show up at church. They're going to be people who show up at church because they want to help the cause of Christ. They're showing up for the right reasons. They want to serve the Lord. They want to be a part of the team. There are other people there that are there to betray Christ. Just like Judas Iscariot, just like the men of Belial, even that followed David, the Bible told us in first Samuel chapter 30, there are men of Belial that followed with David. And they're going to be in our church, people who creep in not to help us, not to help the cause of Christ, but rather to betray the Lord and to betray us. The Bible talks about it in Matthew 24 in the New Testament, how many will betray one another and hate one another and people will deliver you up to be killed and so forth. In places and times where that persecution gets that intense. So the Bible is talking about here the traitors that will come in the local church and be in our midst. But the ones who come peaceably to help, the ones who come for the right reason, you know, their hearts will be knit unto ours, right? And there's great fellowship in the local church and our hearts are knit together. We form wonderful friendships in the local church and we have a strong bond and ties between and sometimes those friendships and relationships that are formed in the local church, sometimes they even become stronger than blood relationships. You know, and Jesus alluded to this when he said, you know, who is my mother? Who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hands to his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brother, for whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same is my mother and my sister and my brother. And so we are knit together in our hearts with the people that we serve the Lord with. Now, if you go to a church where everything is just a spectator sport, right? You know, a lot of churches today, you show up, you sit down, you enjoy the show for an hour, and then you leave, right? You're not necessarily going to be knit together with those people. Your hearts aren't necessarily going to be knit with your fellow spectators. Okay. I remember I went to a liberal church when I was a teenager. It was like an NIV liberal church. I went there for like two years and the youth group had about 130 to 150 teens in it. It was a pretty big youth group. And I went to that youth group every week for like a year and a half, two years. And I did not make a single friend the whole time. I never even talked to anybody. I mean, there were a few people that I kind of already knew and they would come and say hi to me because they felt bad for me just because I didn't have any friends at the youth group. But you know, it's just one of those things where I was going to a church and it was a little ways off from my house. And I was in Christian school and these kids, they all knew each other from public school. So it was kind of like I wasn't in the group. You know, they all kind of went to the same schools. They all kind of knew each other. So I would just every week just kind of sit there and be uncomfortable, you know, for like five or ten minutes until it started. And just kind of sit there, be, you know how it is when you're a teenager, kind of shy, uncomfortable. This is when I was like 13, 14. And so I'd sit there, be uncomfortable. And then for years it was like that. And I had no friends in the youth group. I just kind of sat there, listened to the lesson. Why? Because we didn't work together. It was just, you just sat down, you enjoyed the show, and then you left. You didn't really get to know anybody. Then it was funny. So then we quit that church. We moved across town and quit the church, went to a different church. Two months after I left that church, I went to a summer camp. And I made a bunch of friends from that youth group at the summer camp. And I'm just like, where were you? All those years I needed a friend. I had no one. And now I have all these great friends. They live like a half hour away. It's like, oh, great. What good does it mean now? You know, why? Because at the camp you're actually doing stuff together. You know, they're like activities. You're playing games. You're memorizing scripture. Now, obviously, you know, playing games is one thing. I'll tell you what really bonds you together with people is when you work together. Think about how close you get with the people that you work with on your secular job a lot of times. You know, when you're in that work truck together, when you're working together and you're out in the field together and you're digging that ditch together or you're doing that electrical work together or whatever, you know what? You really get close to those people. Why? Because you have common experiences and common goals and all the fun stories. Hey, remember when this happened? Well, you know what? That's what soul winning does for you too. I mean, when you go soul winning, you usually end up with some stories and you build relationships. You build great friendships. You're knit together. Why? Because you're in the battle. I mean, when you're fighting on the battlefield side by side, that's going to draw you close together. And, you know, if you're one of these that says, you know, I've been going to faithful word. I don't have any friends. I just can't seem to get plugged in. I know, you know, nobody talks to me. Well, here's the thing. Did you come soul winning? Right? Because if you come soul winning, you have, I mean, is your silent, is your, is your partner just going to ignore you the whole time? I mean, if you spent an hour or two hours out knocking doors with somebody, I mean, I'm sure you're going to talk a little bit. I'm sure you're going to get to know each other a little bit. Right? But how much more if you go to Compton with someone, you know what I mean? I mean, you better have each other's back. You know what I'm saying? You know, you go to Compton together, you go to the Indian reservation together, you go on these missions, you know, you go to Jamaica or whatever, but you say, well, I can't go to Jamaica, you know? Hey, but you can go to Compton. You know, what's the difference? Right? Amen. And then the crime rate is probably similar. Seriously. Right? Who was in Jamaica? Similar crime, right? Yeah. Maybe a little worse than Jamaica even. But anyway, you know, when you go on an Indian reservation trip or something, I mean, you're going to, you're going to have some fun. You're going to have some stories. You're going to make some friends going out soul winning, you know, go out soul winning with a different person each week. I mean, you're going to, you're going to meet a lot of people like that. And so that's going to help knit your heart together when you work together, when you serve together, when you're in the Lord's army together. So that's the contrast. There are those whose heart is knit unto us. And then there are those who despise us in their heart. They hate us in their heart and they're fake. They're traitors. They're here just to cause problems. Look at verse 18. Then the spirit came upon a Maasai who was chief of the captains. And he said, thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse, peace, peace be unto thee and peace be to thine helpers for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them and made them captains of the band. Jump down if you would to verse number 22. It says, for at that time, day by day, there came to David to help him until it was a great host, like the host of God. You know what this verse made me think of? How they added to the church daily in the book of Acts, right? So there came to David daily those until it was a great host, like the host of God. Well, you know, we should be winning people to Christ daily as a church. Now, each one of us individually is not going to win people to the Lord every single day. But as a church, if you notice, when we count up the salvations, you know, somebody's getting saved every day around here, you know? And obviously there are other churches doing the same thing. All over the world, soul winning is happening seven days a week. Somewhere people are preaching the gospel, hopefully in a lot of places at the same time. And so daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. And daily they added to that church in Jerusalem. That church in Jerusalem had thousands and thousands of members, right? So there are new people coming every single day and joining the church because they had such a huge soul winning army. And, you know, would to God that our church would someday become a great host, even like the host of God, right? And don't be one of these people who wants our church to stay a certain size. I mean, there are people who literally quit our church because it got too big. It's too impersonal. It's stupid. Oh, well, I'm sorry. Can I hold your hand a little more and focus on you a little bit with a little personal attention for you? What a joke. I didn't know you came to church for the pastor anyway. I mean, you come to church for what? For the Lord, for Christ. You know, there's 300 people here. It's not, you know, it's like if I spent one minute with every person, that would take five hours on Sunday morning. That'd take five hours and it's like, all right, evening service, here we go. It's stupid, right? You have to understand that it's not about the personal touch. Well, I want the pastor to personally come and coddle me and tell me everything and hold my hand. No, wrong. You know, you need to understand that you're here for the Lord. You're here for Christ. It's not about a personality or a person. It's about the Lord. And so there's no limit to how big our church can get. Why? Because we delegate and you got your rulers of hundreds. You got your rulers of tens. You got your rulers of thousands. So, you know, it's not like, oh, this army is too impersonal. I didn't get enough personal time from David. You know, I mean, look, if there are, you know, a hundred thousand troops, you're not going to get a lot of personal FaceTime with David. Okay. But is that really why you're in the army? Just because you want to, you know, hobnob with David? No, of course not. You know, you've got to be in it to serve the Lord and you should want the church to grow. I want the church to grow. Now it's not growth at all costs. We're not going to compromise to grow. And you know what? If we have to compromise to grow, then we won't grow and we'll stay the same. But the good news is you don't have to compromise to grow. And we've proved that for 12 and a half years now by not compromising and growing every single year. We've never taken a step backwards. Every single year, our attendance go up every time. Okay. But, but you know, don't get this attitude. Ah, it's too big. We need a house church. We need to go to the living room. Really? Is David's army meeting in a living room? Did the early church meet in a living room with 120 people? That's a big living room. Did they meet in a living room after they added 3000 on the day of Pentecost? What about when they added 5000 in chapter number three? Did they, did they meet in a really big living room? No. So we have to be ready for growth. We should want growth and let's have a host like the host of God and let's just keep having other leaders that can step in and lead smaller groups. You know, so it gets a point where you go to someone else to lead you. You know, you don't always take everything to the pastor, right? You can take something to other men and women in the church that can help you out with this, that or the other. And we have staff and we have just other laymen in the church that, that help out. I mean, we have all these soul winning times. I don't run every single one of them. I don't show up to, you know, 14 different soul winning times a week. No, each one is run by a different person, right? And that person handles it and plans it, is responsible for it. That's how you get things done. So day by day, people are coming to David. That should be the goal of Faith Forward Baptist Church, would be to win people to Christ on a daily basis as a church. And also for new faces to be coming in every single week, right? Every single week we should be having visitors, you know, visitors on Sunday morning, visitors on Sunday night, visitors on Wednesday night, every week being people being baptized. This is what we strive for. This is what the early church looked like. And this is what's being signified here in First Chronicles chapter 12. He says in verse 23, and these are the numbers of the bands that were ready armed to the war and came to David to Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul to him according to the word of the Lord. The children of Judah that bear shield and spear were 6,800 ready armed to the war. You know, this is like where the Apostle Paul said, as much as in me is I'm ready to preach the gospel. We're armed with the sword of the spirit. We're armed with the word of God, the Holy Spirit, prayer, the whole armor of God. And you know what? We're ready to give somebody the gospel. We're ready to win somebody Lord. We're ready to preach a sermon. I'm ready to lead a song. I'm ready to pray, whatever's needed. I'm ready to step in and do something for God. That's what he's saying here. They were ready for the war. He says in verse 30 and of the children of Ephraim 20,800 mighty men of valor, watch this, famous throughout the house of their fathers, famous throughout the house of fathers. Why famous? You know why? Because we need role models today. You know, the famous warriors, the famous men of the army, these are guys that other people can look up to, men of renown, men wondered at. You know, it's good to have some godly role models besides all the whores and whoremongers of Hollywood and besides all the pro athletes who don't even go to church because they're too busy throwing a ball around on Sundays and they got their little ecumenical chaplain that comes in and holds some prayer service with every denomination. You think he's preaching hard, ripping face? No way. You know, we need men and women of God that can be looked up to as a role model so that our young people don't idolize rock stars, rap artists, models, Hollywood actors, athletes, namely all the wrong people, politicians. Now, wouldn't that be disgusting? I mean, can you imagine your kid idolizing a politician wanting to be Hillary Clinton when she grows up? You know what? Oh, I want to be Donald Trump when I grow up. I mean, think about it. Like, I wouldn't want my kids idolizing Barack Obama or Bernie Sanders or, you know, who else is there? Ted Cruz, bunch of adulterers, bunch of corrupt phonies. I mean, wicked people. I don't want any, Republican or Democrat. I don't, Republicans or Democrats, I don't want my kids idolizing any of them. Okay. You know, I'd rather, I'd rather have them look up to somebody like Pastor Dave Burzins or Pastor Roger Jimenez or Pastor Joe Major, you know, Pastor Tommy McMurtry or, you know, just who, Pastor Logan Robertson. Amen. You know, look up to these guys and say, you know what? I like that guy. You know, that I want to be like him when I grow up. And you know, this is very important. Let me tell you how important it was in my life. When I was a young child, I wanted to be a missionary. Okay. I always wanted to be a missionary. And I, you know, I love the Lord. I love the Bible. I love church. And I love more than anything else when missionaries would come and would play their slideshow. Now I, nothing bothered me more when they switched to the video. I didn't like the video. I liked the slides. Not every, I didn't like the prerecorded. I wanted it live. So I always liked it when the missionaries would come and they had the little rotating slideshow. Every church in those days, it's like the late eighties, every church had a slide projector. It was just, you're not a church if you don't have a slide projector. Okay. And overhead projector too, by the way. So they have a slide projector and then the missionary, they didn't even bring a projector. They just brought the slides because every church has the projector. So they had their box of slides and I, I loved it because I've always just loved geography. It's always been my favorite. I always loved to just look at maps and study, learn about different countries, different places, languages. So these missionaries would come through and they would do the slideshow and they would explain, Hey, this is where we, you know, we want these people Lord, or Hey, this is where we started the church here. Here's the pastor here. Here's this. And you know, I just love that. And I wanted so much to grow up and be a preacher and specifically to be a missionary. But you know what? When I was about 11 years old, 12 years old, we, we eventually pulled out of the fundamental Baptist churches because our fundamental Baptist church, we were going to, it went kind of liberal. They had a church split. A bunch of weird things went on. So we couldn't find a new church that my parents liked. So they kind of just threw up their hands and said, you know what? I give up trying to find a good fundamental Baptist church. They said, you know what? All our friends are going to the liberal NIV Baptist church. Let's just go there. Cause that's where all our friends are. Everything else is dead anyway. You know, and they, they shouldn't have done that, but that's, that was, you know, how they felt at the time. So we started going when I was about 12 years old to the NIV preaching church, the rock band, the liberal watered down and we went to those style churches for five years. And I can tell you something during those five years, my desire to want to be a preacher or my desire to want to be a missionary just completely died during that time because the pastors were not role models that you would ever look up to. You didn't look at them and say, I want to be hit like him. They were weak. They were soft. They were water. They didn't have faces like the faces of lions. Okay. They were, you know, they were, they were just, they were watered down. They were weak. And so for all that time, I completely lost all desire to go into the ministry. Now, what, what, think about that. Just think about how powerful that is. How, when you got a certain role model, you're like, yeah, let's go in the ministry. And then just when there's no role model, you just don't have that desire. And then when I turned 17, started going to Regency Baptist church, you know, and I, and I remember just shortly after I started going to Regency Baptist church, I told pastor Nichols, I walked up to him and I said, you know what? I, my whole childhood, I wanted to be a preacher. And I lost that desire for the last five years or so. And I said, you know what? You have given me that desire back because you are a role model. You know, you're a good preacher that I would want to be like. And so, you know, now I have the desire to preach again. Why? Because I had a preacher that I could look at and say, you know what? This is a role model. This is somebody that I would like to emulate. This is somebody who has a face like the face of a lion. You know, that's who I want to be when I grow up. And I remember sitting there listening to the preaching and thinking to myself, you know what? I'm never going to be as good of a preacher as pastor Nichols. I'm never going to be able to preach as well as he preaches. I'm never going to be as powerful and dynamic as he is. But you know what? I can try and I can be a Baptist preacher. And he was somebody that was, you know, a role model that I could look up to and follow. It's so important that children have a good role model. And obviously parents should provide a good role model where their children want to grow up and be like them. Parents are a good role model. Grandparents can be a good role model. Aunts and uncles, just members of the church, pastors, preachers, missionaries, whatever. You know, we need to have these role models. Now some of these role models in our lives are going to let us down. But you know what? It's better to have a role model that lets you down than to have no role model at all. Because you know, I've had role models in the past and people that I look to, preachers that I look to, and men of God that I look to, and they helped motivate me to want to serve God as I looked them as a role model. And you know, eventually they ended up departing from the faith or departing from sound doctrine or quitting the ministry or whatever. But you know what? It doesn't matter because ultimately my focus is on Christ anyway. But that role model was there when I needed him, you know. And then if they stay with it, you know, Pastor Nichols has stayed with it, great. But you know, other preachers that failed or whatever, you know, at least they still provided me some kind of a target to aim for at the time, right? Rather than, you know, I'd rather be following some preacher that turns out to be bogus, but at least he motivated me to read my Bible more and go soloing or whatever, than to be following some athlete. You know what I'm saying? That's for sure a dead end. When you're following your rock stars and your rap artists, that's for sure a dead end. You know, don't just think, well, you know, I don't want my kids to look up to these preachers and missionaries because we don't know which ones are going to turn out to be bogus or whatever. You know what? You know, I'm constantly making new preacher friends, and I don't know which ones are going to turn out to be bogus. But you know what? I don't care. I'm going to keep making friends and keep having fellowship and keep loving people and keep looking up to people and keep saying, you know, I'm not just always just going to be cynical saying like, oh, well, how do I know this guy is going to make it all the way to the finish line? Well, you know what? Christ is ultimately our focus. But if a guy like, you know, Logan Robertson comes along and does something great for God and you know what, then let's just get excited about it and let's just follow him and let's just, you know, get motivated. Amen. We need some famous men of God. We need some role models. You know, I mean, who's famous? Kenneth Copeland? Joel Osteen? We need some real men of God that are famous in the congregation that we can actually get behind and support and get excited about following. There's nothing wrong with that. People get mad like, oh, you know, you're lifting up a man. You know what? That's just spoken like an insecure, immature fool because all throughout the Bible, God always lifted up leaders. Now, obviously, Christ is the focus. Obviously, we don't blindly follow man. But you know what? Where would you be in the Bible without all the great leaders? I mean, what would the Bible even be about at that point? Without Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, you know, where would it be without Moses, Joshua, all the judges, right? Where were they when they didn't have the judge? When they didn't have the famous preacher? Where were they? Doomed. You know where they were? They were with the Philistines. They were with the Moabites. They were with the Midianites. You know, when the children of Israel thrive is when they had David, when they had a strong leader, when they had Solomon, when they had Hezekiah, when they had Josiah, you know, when they had strong people leading them, you know, we need to have some famous mighty men of valor to get behind and follow them. Amen? And rejoice when they're there and weep when they're not there. Because when I didn't have them there as a young person, I lost my whole focus. I lost my whole, you know, obviously it's God's will for my life to be a preacher, you know, and I felt that way my entire life. But yet, what if I hadn't found that church when I was 17? You know what? I never would have become a preacher. This church wouldn't be here. We wouldn't even be here tonight. None of this would be here. None of this would be happening. It was because I had a role model. Without him, I wouldn't be here. Brother Jimenez wouldn't be here either. You know, he needed that church too. We all need leaders and guides. You know, I'd be sitting in some youth group somewhere and nobody'd even be saying hi to me. You know, that's where I'd be today. Amen. So anyway, look at verse number 32. And the children of Isaac are which were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. That's a pretty good verse too, isn't it? You know, we in the church, we ought to understand the times that we live in. This is where the preaching on the tribulation and the rapture comes in. You know, where you learn about the end times, the new world order, the things that are coming. You know, this is where the preaching on the Jews and Israel comes in. You know, we actually kind of understand the times that we're living in and not just be completely oblivious to what's going on in the world and what the master plan of the devil is versus what we should be doing as Christians. So we want to, if we want to understand the times, you know, yeah, we need to study Bible prophecy and study the Bible on these things. They understood the times to know what Israel ought to do. Of course, we mentioned it earlier at the end of verse 33, they could keep rank. They were not of double heart. These people didn't have a plan B. You know what that means? They didn't have an escape plan of like, well, if I quit the church, here's what I'll do. Well, if I divorce my husband, here's my plan B. Well, if I divorce my wife, here's what I'll do next. Well, you know, if I quit solany, if I quit reading my Bible, if I quit going to church, no, no, these people are all in. They weren't of a double heart. You could rely on these people that six months later, they're still going to be there. Nine months later, a year later, they're not half in, half out. They're dedicated. They're not going to get scared off. And when the tribulations come, when the battles come, when the person accuses come, you know, they'll stand with you. They're not going to be the ones that just fold and fall away at the first sign of a battle. Verse 36, they're expert in war. Verse 38, all these men of war that could keep rank came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David king over all Israel, and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king. They have unity, right? They all are of one heart, of one mind. And it says in verse 39, and there they were with David three days. I like this part. They were eating and drinking for their brethren had prepared for them. Now why is that important that they're eating and drinking? And it goes into some of the food they had down in verse 40. It talks about the meat and the meal and the cakes of figs and the bunches of raisins and wine and oil and oxen and sheep. I mean, they've got the beef, they've got the sheep, they've got the bread, the fruit, they've got all this. And then at the end, it says there's joy in Israel. You know, in the local church, fellowship is important. You know, the battle is important, but fellowship is important too. Yeah, the work of the Lord is important, but it's also important sometimes to sit down and enjoy a meal together, right? So that's one of the great things too about these soul-winning trips that we go on, you know, where we go to Panera and we all eat of that same spiritual meat and drink of that spiritual drink. And you know, we go to Panera and have fellowship. You know, think about all the meals that are on these trips and, you know, we sit down, we eat together, we talk together, you know, and a lot of people that are holier than thou, and I hit on this the last couple services about the holier than thou's, they think that's a big waste of time, right? They say, hey, let's just streamline that and let's just skip lunch, eat in the car, you know, but here's the thing, you know, when I plan a missions trip, I schedule an hour and a half for lunch. You know why? Because I see that as an integral part of the trip, you know, because we want to sit down, yeah, yeah, we want to go out, and you know what, isn't it amazing how on the missions trips that we go on where we take the hour and a half lunch and we take the hour and a half dinner, isn't it amazing how we still get a ton of people saved and God still blesses our work, even when we take some time to enjoy a meal together? You know, don't be a holier than thou that says, oh, you know, it's just all work and no play, and you know what, go join the Catholic church, you can go beat yourself and go lock yourself up in a monastery or something, you know, it's a Baptist church, and you know what, we understand the balance of going out, fighting the battles, slay the enemy, but then you know what, sit down and enjoy the beef, amen, and enjoy the carne asada and enjoy the meal together, spend some time together and fellowship. You know, great church members, they, yeah, they come to the services, yeah, they go soul winning, but you know what, they also fellowship. That also, you know, some of the best church members also are the ones who fellowship the most. Why? Because that's an encouragement to others. You know, man has a need for friendship, man has a need for camaraderie, we need community, we need our brothers and sisters and the fellowship, don't downplay it and act like it's of no importance, or here, let's just cut that out and just, let's just go soul winning 12 hours a day, and you know, we're gonna eat on the road, or just, actually, you should be more spiritual and just be fasting anyway, you know, we're gonna proclaim a three-day fast for the whole trip, so the last meal is gonna be before the van leaves, and we won't eat till we get back, right, because prayer and fasting, you know, you know, don't be a holier than thou, work hard, work hard, amen, work hard, but then also take the time for fellowship, for eating the meal, it's valuable, it's important, you're encouraging people, you're helping people, and here we see a great picture of fellowship in this, even in this chapter about fighting and war and battling and everything, it says, hey, they also got together and had a great meal, you know, and had a great time together in fellowship, and we see the same thing in Acts, where it says they continued in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and they're breaking bread together, and they're praying together, and they're going soul winning, they had the whole package, okay, so we need to also have fellowship, so this is a beautiful picture of the local church in chapter 12 here, people that are courageous, people that are strong, people that are organized into groups, they've got the leaders, they've got, they've got sub-leaders, they've got rulers of 10, rulers of hundreds, rulers of thousands, they're adding people daily, they're separated, they're following Christ, they're enjoying fellowship, their hearts are knit together, they're of one accord, of one mind, and you know what, they win, they go out and they fight the enemy, and they win, they defeat the enemy in battle, and you know what, they go out and they go soul winning, and they get people saved, and they succeed, they get the victory, so this is a beautiful picture in first chronicles 12 of what? The local church, and this is a picture of what we can strive for in our local church here, let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer, Father we thank you so much for this chapter Lord, and we just pray that you would just continue to bless our church, please just bless our upcoming soul winning campaigns, missions trips, the week in week out soul winning, the week in week out services and fellowship, Lord help everything honor and glorify you, and please just continue to add to our church the right kind of people Lord that will have their hearts knit unto us Lord, and in Jesus name we pray, amen.