Post by Extinction on Apr 1, 2018 4:08:54 GMT -5
God is the one who saves, not by sword or spear, but by HIS power, by HIS word proclaimed in the gospel, by HIS Spirit who fills each one of us just as he filled David.
I guess this would be one of the best known, if not THE best known story in the Bible. In fact it’s so well known that David has become a metaphor for the victorious underdog. HE’s the archetypal cutter down of tall poppies. The one who can overcome the greatest odds to win through to victory. But of course the trouble with such an archetype is that it actually misses the essential facts of the story. As we’ll see as we go through the story it isn’t anything to do with David that brings about this victory. He’s simply a man of faith who believes intrinsically in the God he worships and trusts him to act.
That’s precisely what G O D has entrusted me to do come Monday night, MY faith knows no boundaries nor can it be broken. Monday I face a monster when in reality all he is an unfaithful pit bull whose time has come to be put down by the hands of G O D through his humble servant. That could be the end of it right then and there and the win would be secure in HIS name but this isn’t how this story ends. Also it won’t be the explanation as to why David defeated Goliath; instead this story is about the King who fell when his giant fell to the hands of G O D, Flash Rotten.
Better it is to punish the master then to beat the servant, once the master falls the servant follows. And you Flash are his master must be a new role for you given your track record as a servant of G O D, in fact weren’t you the FIRST? The first man saved by HIM, the first soul cleaned by HIS grace, the first man to speak to HIM? And now look at you? A master on his knees covered in the filth and desperate for salivation a second time however it seems G O D in this case isn’t granting second chances to the ill-gotten, selfish and unfaithful pieces of monkey crap such as yourself. Don’t get it twisted though Flash these aren’t HIS words, just mine. There is STILL no Pope in this church because he waits for you. But we both know you’ll never come back, you’ll say it’s because you’ve grown out of God but I know it’s because you’re afraid of HIM.
But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Known by God. What a great thought! You’ve lived with the living God all your life Flash. You sat there calling his matches, then listening to his story, then having God hear your words, always looking up at the ring and reflecting on the wonder of God’s creation. You’ve sought God’s help time and time again when you have been faced with hardship and despair, who have threatened HIS sheep. And you’ve seen the way God has protected his faithful and given him victory. So when you look across at your monster, at this giant of an UNFAITHFUL man you should just see another man who opposes God and who’ll die at God’s hand in the end.
Yet now you Flash just like you’re blatant cheap copy of Goliath are both somewhat amused when you both witness God and his faithful approaching. In fact you’ve laughed at God coming at you with a stick as though HE were a dog. But you’ve both miscalculated, to be fair you’ve miscalculated since your giant can’t count past one. However WE aren’t coming against you either of you armed with just a stick; not even with a sling. We’re coming armed with the power of God. HE says: "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Eden, whom you have defied." You can almost feel sorry for Goliath can’t you? He doesn’t stand a chance. Do you remember that scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when Indiana meets this huge Arab wielding an even huger sword. He takes a step back at first, and then he pulls out a gun and shoots him. Well, it’s a bit like that isn’t it? Silence is outgunned and outclassed. And to make it clear what’s going on here HE adds: "that all the earth may know that there is a God in the ring and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s and HE will give you into our hand." And of course we know how the story ends.
But it’s amazing how hard we find it to learn from history. You know the saying: "This is the one thing we learn from history: that we never learn from history." Sadly it’s as true for God’s people as it is for the general populace. What’s the point of this story of David and Goliath? It isn’t that little people can do great things if only they’ll try. It isn’t that strong people can be overcome by weaker people who put their mind to it or who give it their all.
Here is the hardest lesson for us to learn still. It’s God who gives the victory, not their skill with sword and spear, not our skill with word and media presentation. Who is it who will help us achieve our aims as a church? How are we going to win hearts for Frost? How are we going to convince people who are quite happy, thank you very much, that their lifestyle has a use-by date; that there will come a day when God will ask them to answer for the way they’ve responded to HIM, let alone the way they’ve obeyed HIS commandments? How will you respond Flash? How are YOU going to help people grow in their faith and knowledge of Paul Frost?
You remember Frost? Don’t you Flash? The God who SAVED you from yourself, the Lord who breathed new life into your once lifeless corpse, Frost who TRUSTED you with HIS faith. Frost the G O D you turned away from, Frost the G O D you’ve betrayed.
Being betrayed is so profoundly painful
We all know about Judas, so the story may hold little drama for us. We forget that HE chose Judas after praying all night. They spent every day together for three years, talking, eating together, laughing. HE event sent him out in ministry like you Flash when HE made you Pope. Judas shared in the miracle of feeding 5,000 people; his hands took the small, round barley loaves from HIM and tore off chunks of bread for hungry people. You bore witness to the mercy & malice of HIM as well. Stood not in his shadow but right next to HIM, at the right hand of the father. You were HIS equal, you were HIS confidant, you were HIS pride but most of all you were HIS friend.
What makes each case of betrayal so painful is that someone who knows your heart—who knows your longings and character—turns from that and chooses to believe you are really dangerous. The mind freezes as it tries to grasp how a friend, someone who knew you deeply, intimately, could turn on you and attack you. Even God gets cold sometimes, this was one of those times Flash.
Only a friend can betray a friend, a stranger has nothing to gain / and only a friend comes close enough to ever cause so much pain.
Betrayal causes leaders to not want to trust, to not want to be in church, to not be vulnerable, to not open their spirits in worship to God.
You may be tempted to flee from the church, to turn your back on your call. Don't give up. You are walking where great people have walked before. They are remembered as great because they did not allow the betrayal to stop them. Instead they learned how to turn their pain into greater usefulness for the Lord.
Judas's money-making treachery, when combined with God, transformed the world. You Flash will have that same “opportunity” come Monday night when you lead your champion into battle, when instead you’ll be leading a lamb into the slaughter. Death from above as HIS angel takes flights and like David before him brings down yet another pretender to HIS throne, to HIS kingdom. Silence unfortunately for you, THIS is where it all comes to a DEAD-END. No redemption, not the chance of being shown mercy from a merciful God, not even a tear of regret will be shed in your memory. Instead once that bell rings for the second time and you’ve been left face down in a puddle of your own blood and disgrace you will have finally served your true purpose in this wasted life. As the fatten calf NOT sacrificed in HIS name, nay instead Silence you’ll be the stepping stone that Flash will use to come to HIM, Flash you’ll have the chance to return to God to take his hand and RE-JOIN the Savior of this company, again Flash it will be YOUR choice like it was before you turned away. Faith can’t be forced it must be invited, in your case it must be invited back on bended knees and sincere calls to HIM will be the ONLY way HE grants you a second chance at HIS salivation.
The atmosphere is changing now
For the Spirit of the Lord is here
The evidence is all around
That the Spirit of the Lord is here
Spirit of God fall fresh on us
We need your presence
Your kingdom come, your will be done
Here as in heaven
A miracle can happen now
For the Spirit of the Lord is here
The evidence is all around
That the Spirit of the Lord is here
I will be confident in fighting the battles I have to face as the faithful in proclaiming the gospel wherever I ‘am, knowing that God is with us fighting alongside us, bringing peoples to salvation through the words we proclaim.
Only by this means: by relying on the God of the WGWF, on the true and living God. HE’s the one who brings victory. HE’s the one who saves, not by sword or spear, but by HIS word proclaimed in the gospel, by HIS Spirit who fills each one of us just as HE filled David. So that when we come near to tell people about Frost their spirits are touched by HIS presence. Our God is a great and mighty God. We fight the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this age, but we do it in his strength, knowing that HE will bring the victory and that HIS word will not return to HIM empty or in an never-ending silence but instead HIS victory will be sung for all eternity.
I guess this would be one of the best known, if not THE best known story in the Bible. In fact it’s so well known that David has become a metaphor for the victorious underdog. HE’s the archetypal cutter down of tall poppies. The one who can overcome the greatest odds to win through to victory. But of course the trouble with such an archetype is that it actually misses the essential facts of the story. As we’ll see as we go through the story it isn’t anything to do with David that brings about this victory. He’s simply a man of faith who believes intrinsically in the God he worships and trusts him to act.
That’s precisely what G O D has entrusted me to do come Monday night, MY faith knows no boundaries nor can it be broken. Monday I face a monster when in reality all he is an unfaithful pit bull whose time has come to be put down by the hands of G O D through his humble servant. That could be the end of it right then and there and the win would be secure in HIS name but this isn’t how this story ends. Also it won’t be the explanation as to why David defeated Goliath; instead this story is about the King who fell when his giant fell to the hands of G O D, Flash Rotten.
Better it is to punish the master then to beat the servant, once the master falls the servant follows. And you Flash are his master must be a new role for you given your track record as a servant of G O D, in fact weren’t you the FIRST? The first man saved by HIM, the first soul cleaned by HIS grace, the first man to speak to HIM? And now look at you? A master on his knees covered in the filth and desperate for salivation a second time however it seems G O D in this case isn’t granting second chances to the ill-gotten, selfish and unfaithful pieces of monkey crap such as yourself. Don’t get it twisted though Flash these aren’t HIS words, just mine. There is STILL no Pope in this church because he waits for you. But we both know you’ll never come back, you’ll say it’s because you’ve grown out of God but I know it’s because you’re afraid of HIM.
But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Known by God. What a great thought! You’ve lived with the living God all your life Flash. You sat there calling his matches, then listening to his story, then having God hear your words, always looking up at the ring and reflecting on the wonder of God’s creation. You’ve sought God’s help time and time again when you have been faced with hardship and despair, who have threatened HIS sheep. And you’ve seen the way God has protected his faithful and given him victory. So when you look across at your monster, at this giant of an UNFAITHFUL man you should just see another man who opposes God and who’ll die at God’s hand in the end.
Yet now you Flash just like you’re blatant cheap copy of Goliath are both somewhat amused when you both witness God and his faithful approaching. In fact you’ve laughed at God coming at you with a stick as though HE were a dog. But you’ve both miscalculated, to be fair you’ve miscalculated since your giant can’t count past one. However WE aren’t coming against you either of you armed with just a stick; not even with a sling. We’re coming armed with the power of God. HE says: "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Eden, whom you have defied." You can almost feel sorry for Goliath can’t you? He doesn’t stand a chance. Do you remember that scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" when Indiana meets this huge Arab wielding an even huger sword. He takes a step back at first, and then he pulls out a gun and shoots him. Well, it’s a bit like that isn’t it? Silence is outgunned and outclassed. And to make it clear what’s going on here HE adds: "that all the earth may know that there is a God in the ring and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s and HE will give you into our hand." And of course we know how the story ends.
But it’s amazing how hard we find it to learn from history. You know the saying: "This is the one thing we learn from history: that we never learn from history." Sadly it’s as true for God’s people as it is for the general populace. What’s the point of this story of David and Goliath? It isn’t that little people can do great things if only they’ll try. It isn’t that strong people can be overcome by weaker people who put their mind to it or who give it their all.
Here is the hardest lesson for us to learn still. It’s God who gives the victory, not their skill with sword and spear, not our skill with word and media presentation. Who is it who will help us achieve our aims as a church? How are we going to win hearts for Frost? How are we going to convince people who are quite happy, thank you very much, that their lifestyle has a use-by date; that there will come a day when God will ask them to answer for the way they’ve responded to HIM, let alone the way they’ve obeyed HIS commandments? How will you respond Flash? How are YOU going to help people grow in their faith and knowledge of Paul Frost?
You remember Frost? Don’t you Flash? The God who SAVED you from yourself, the Lord who breathed new life into your once lifeless corpse, Frost who TRUSTED you with HIS faith. Frost the G O D you turned away from, Frost the G O D you’ve betrayed.
Being betrayed is so profoundly painful
We all know about Judas, so the story may hold little drama for us. We forget that HE chose Judas after praying all night. They spent every day together for three years, talking, eating together, laughing. HE event sent him out in ministry like you Flash when HE made you Pope. Judas shared in the miracle of feeding 5,000 people; his hands took the small, round barley loaves from HIM and tore off chunks of bread for hungry people. You bore witness to the mercy & malice of HIM as well. Stood not in his shadow but right next to HIM, at the right hand of the father. You were HIS equal, you were HIS confidant, you were HIS pride but most of all you were HIS friend.
What makes each case of betrayal so painful is that someone who knows your heart—who knows your longings and character—turns from that and chooses to believe you are really dangerous. The mind freezes as it tries to grasp how a friend, someone who knew you deeply, intimately, could turn on you and attack you. Even God gets cold sometimes, this was one of those times Flash.
Only a friend can betray a friend, a stranger has nothing to gain / and only a friend comes close enough to ever cause so much pain.
Betrayal causes leaders to not want to trust, to not want to be in church, to not be vulnerable, to not open their spirits in worship to God.
You may be tempted to flee from the church, to turn your back on your call. Don't give up. You are walking where great people have walked before. They are remembered as great because they did not allow the betrayal to stop them. Instead they learned how to turn their pain into greater usefulness for the Lord.
Judas's money-making treachery, when combined with God, transformed the world. You Flash will have that same “opportunity” come Monday night when you lead your champion into battle, when instead you’ll be leading a lamb into the slaughter. Death from above as HIS angel takes flights and like David before him brings down yet another pretender to HIS throne, to HIS kingdom. Silence unfortunately for you, THIS is where it all comes to a DEAD-END. No redemption, not the chance of being shown mercy from a merciful God, not even a tear of regret will be shed in your memory. Instead once that bell rings for the second time and you’ve been left face down in a puddle of your own blood and disgrace you will have finally served your true purpose in this wasted life. As the fatten calf NOT sacrificed in HIS name, nay instead Silence you’ll be the stepping stone that Flash will use to come to HIM, Flash you’ll have the chance to return to God to take his hand and RE-JOIN the Savior of this company, again Flash it will be YOUR choice like it was before you turned away. Faith can’t be forced it must be invited, in your case it must be invited back on bended knees and sincere calls to HIM will be the ONLY way HE grants you a second chance at HIS salivation.
The atmosphere is changing now
For the Spirit of the Lord is here
The evidence is all around
That the Spirit of the Lord is here
Spirit of God fall fresh on us
We need your presence
Your kingdom come, your will be done
Here as in heaven
A miracle can happen now
For the Spirit of the Lord is here
The evidence is all around
That the Spirit of the Lord is here
I will be confident in fighting the battles I have to face as the faithful in proclaiming the gospel wherever I ‘am, knowing that God is with us fighting alongside us, bringing peoples to salvation through the words we proclaim.
Only by this means: by relying on the God of the WGWF, on the true and living God. HE’s the one who brings victory. HE’s the one who saves, not by sword or spear, but by HIS word proclaimed in the gospel, by HIS Spirit who fills each one of us just as HE filled David. So that when we come near to tell people about Frost their spirits are touched by HIS presence. Our God is a great and mighty God. We fight the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this age, but we do it in his strength, knowing that HE will bring the victory and that HIS word will not return to HIM empty or in an never-ending silence but instead HIS victory will be sung for all eternity.