Everything in our scripture is meant to build us up spiritually. To increase our ability to serve the Lord effectively. By such an example of this, God says, I need you to be sensitive. to the spiritual war That you Are in, whether you not like it or not, whether you believe it or not. There are spiritual forces, there are unseen forces.
Trying to get you to go to hell. And I don't want that. Yeah. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville.
Pastor Rick is currently teaching through a topical series. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Courage and Caliber is the title of Pastor Rick's message. He'll be teaching today on Cross-Reference Radio. There's gonna be one group who gets on their knees and drinks the water.
It's going to be another group that stays standing and scoops the water up. Perhaps you're wading out into the water. And I mean, the whole thought of drinking river water that people are standing in is repulsive to me, but evidently it wasn't too bad for them. And so, by the time they get there, again, there are those who wasted no time. At the fort, got on their knees and drank their fill.
But the minority March straight through. Stayed upright. And they had to have come by ranks. There's ten thousand of them. You couldn't just all come down at the same time.
That would stretch out the army a couple of miles.
So they come down in ranks. And it comes down to How you drink shows how you think in this situation. This method of sifting the army was unassuming. Who knew what was going on? The men are being who they are.
They don't know this test is taking place. Whether they're failing or passing. None of the soldiers knew they were being tested. The 10,000, of that 10,000, this took a long time. This was a process, hours.
Do you get it? Completed. And God told Gideon to send home those who got on their knees to drink the water.
Now this is an important part of what I'm trying to say.
Soldiers who showed carelessness in proximity of the enemy had to be released. They were ripe for ambush with that style of thinking. With that style of soldiering they could be outflanked and defeated very quickly. Sucker punched. Nobody wants to be sucker punched.
We want to be on guard for You know, um when my children leave the house, I tell him, you better watch your back, Jack. When you're out in public, you be aware of your surroundings.
Somebody's standing too close to you, be aware of those things.
Well, that's what Gideon was saying. Don't make it easy for the enemy. and those who put thirst ahead of vigilance were eliminated. Verse six, the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men. But all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.
And so, those who were watchers as well as fighters remain for this critical mission. Imagine, we say, well, what are you talking about, Pastor? Everything in our Scripture is meant to build us up spiritually. To increase our ability to serve the Lord effectively. By such an example of this, God says, I need you to be sensitive.
To the spiritual war It's you. Are in, whether you not like it or not, whether you believe it or not. There are spiritual forces, there are unseen forces. Trying to get you to go to hell. And I don't want that.
And that's where the church comes in when she's behaving the way she's supposed to behave. And when she doesn't behave properly, we have A large problem. Anyway. Does this picture For you and me. the necessity for devotional habit.
Without personal time. Without being in the presence of the Lord personally, are you unconscious? of the enemy in the environment. Have you lost track of what you're here for as a believer, what your life is about? Again, Gideon, Judges chapter seven, verse seven.
The Lord said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped, I will save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go. Every man to his place. What he needed was reinforcements, not a depletion of his army. Again, the methods of God.
You're going to trust him. Or not. Faith is not superstition. Faith is built on facts. Facts that you're willing to admit are just that.
The story of God filtering out. Those of low courage and lower caliber. It's critical to us. The first test was that of courage. If you don't want to fight, you can go.
twenty two thousand leave. The second was that of caliber. Watch how they drink. Watch how they behave in close proximity. to the Midianites.
And we're told the Midianites was just over the valley. They were close enough to send out patrols. And the ancient armies did that. They would send out patrols, they would send out skirmishes. Pick little fights to find out how much of a big fight you were ready for.
That comes down to one. out of every thousand and six men. Fit for this critical mission. Who do you want to be in this story?
Well, your flesh would say, I'd like to go back home now. This ancient warfare is bloody. People swinging swords at you, no corn, no medics. This is ugly stuff. Who do you want to be?
Maybe you're the one that's, you know, look, I'm so thirsty, I don't have time to look around. I want to be the guys that are on their toes. that are ready.
Now I can't always be that. I mean, I have learned that there are high standards in life. Going at them makes me better, but I can't get em all no one can. But the ones we do get, there's where we excel. There's where the courage increases.
There's where the caliber increases. There is where we are more useful to the king. What did Gideon think when he saw 9,700 men? Going over the hill back home, leaving him with only 300 against the Midianites, who are like the locusts just covering the land.
Well, he had already settled that God was going to use him. Later, God's going to say, Gideon, if you're still afraid, I want you to take your servant Pua, that's the servant's name. And I want you to at night. to get up close to the enemy's perimeter. Gideon does that.
And they hear these two sentries, these two guards. One says to the other one, I had this crazy dream. I dreamt this loaf of barley came rolling into the camp and knocked over the tents. And the other one, an unbeliever, interprets the dream. He says, This is nothing more than Gideon.
He's going to wipe us out. Gideon got all he needed, and it says at that point that he worshipped the Lord. He said, Lord, thank you, praise you. And he and his servant make it back to the camp.
Now he's bold.
Now he really knows God is with him in spite of having. Just this Rifle company of three hundred men. Against A brigade. An entire core against him, an army against him. It is possible for a church to lose numbers and gain in strength.
It is possible in every area of our life to To lose things that we think are critical to victory, but actually, They're not so long as we are near God, which brings me to my last point. Don't worry, you won't get out of here early. Any hopes like that? We got about another 20 minutes, if that. Anyway.
Nearness to God. Yeah, how are you gonna get that? Unless you're aware of where you are. what your life is about. Why you were born.
Where are you going after you're born? You're either going to listen to people fill in those blanks, or you're going to receive it from God. It's going to be human speculation or divine revelation. Which one's it going to be? And if it's divine revelation, you better get to the bottom of it to find out if it is genuinely divine.
Salvation requires no human effort, only faith, the work of faith. That's all it requires. Maturity, however, requires a lot of work. And what makes me serve better as a Christian Is the knowledge that I'm trying to finish well? I'm not just trying to get saved.
I'm not just trying to be a mature Christian. I want to go out with my boots on. I don't want to be caught. you know, flat on my back. I want to finish And Christianity is not for spiritual pacifists.
You cannot finish well if you think your life is about Spiritual peace. We have peace with God. We have that. But we do not have peace with the world, we do not have peace with Satan, and we do not have peace with that old nature of ours that just loves sin so much. Every one of us has it.
Even once you come to Christ, you're going to fight that old man. You're going to be waiting for you at the foot of the bed every single morning. And at some point in the day, he's going to make a move. And if you are not ready for them. Because you're unaware that you live in close proximity to the enemy, to the foe.
He's gonna take you down. You'll have to be macho To do this, This calls for Spiritual awareness. Nearness to God. And so Christianity. To finish well.
I must be careful, not careless. I mean, there are some times I'm going to mess up, and I trust God will help me wherever He does, and He does. But what bolsters courage and elevates the caliber of my service to the Lord is devotional habit. Personal time near God. One of the big things that will help you As a Christian, Now again, it's not bulletproof.
But It is hell-proof. You're still going to have struggles. But your courage will be elevated, your caliber will be higher. One of those things is scripture memory. When I was a little bitty thing, But compared to people in the NBA, I still am a little bitty thing.
Okay. Anyway. My mom taught me the Lord's Prayer. I never forgot it. As small as I can remember, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
I still remember the King James Version. I saw grateful there. It's ingrained in me. Later, I memorized many other verses, Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
But let me tell you something about scripture memory: there's two things that go with it. Scripture selection is one. You don't want to select all the verses that say, Jesus loves me. Oh, Jesus loves me. You better pick versus that you diversify.
You pick them for other various areas, and you watch what God will start doing with you. Not only is scripture selection important for drawing close to God. But um To go back. years later, and refresh yourself. Because you can forget.
Now how does that verse go again? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not get up, but that's the easy part. But as it moves on, he prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemy.
Somebody's not afraid of my enemies. I am, pretty much, sometimes. God is not. And therefore, if he is not, I'm not. That's courage.
That's where courage comes from. But how do you get to that caliber? You gotta do something. Review Scripture memory You want to draw close to God? Draw close to Him.
You say, How do I do that? Prayer, of course, is critical. Fellowship is very important. That's where you get to find out if you got moves or not. If you just want to read your Bible and have scripture memory, but you're not locking horns with other Christians, you're not getting your toes stepped on, you're not called to serve, your caliber is going to be low, and so is your courage.
You'll end up burying your talent, and that won't be good for anybody but the worms.
So we talk about our shield of faith, our body armor as Christians, the breastplate of righteousness. Boots ready, having your Feet shod with preparation for the gospel. You gotta love that. You don't suddenly get good. When things come your way, you're either ready for them or you're not.
And the boots of readiness, the helmet of salvation, that assurity. Yeah, I know I'm saved. What's this stuff about I'm not saved? When Satan talks to you, quote scripture back. Acts 2:42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.
That is knowing what the Bible says through the right authority. A fellowship. Again, that's where the friction is. Breaking of bread. The communion table with other believers.
They're sharing in that testimony. and of course dialogue with God, prayer. You know, much of my prayer is fussing with God, and I'm not proud of this. This is not a confession. It's just the way it is.
It's like, Lord, what is with this? Why is that? And at one point, I thought God said, you know, you complain a lot. And my response was, I know. I know, there's so much to complain about.
But I do it with you, Lord. Not everybody else. I that's not for them. If I'm going to hammer out solutions, I got to do it with you.
Now, God doesn't need me to tell him this. He knows everything already. I'm the one that needs to articulate what's going on in my heart. To a superior being we know. is the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son.
And so, those of you who have been serving here in this church for years or anywhere. Are you still excited? Are you still eager to serve? How would you like to hear when your pastor comes in on a Sunday morning and is, oh gosh, I got to go back there? Who would want to go hear a man like that?
Listen, preaching is not motivational speaking, it may motivate you. Preaching is supposed to be anointed speaking because everything it says is based on what scripture says. And that's why you get the scripture verses when I make points. That's why I say, look with me at this verse.
So you'll understand I'm not concocting these things in my own genius. Anyway. I'm still excited. When I drive in, other than looking for deer, Yeah. I am excited to get here.
I like when I unlock that door and come in here, it's sort of like. Lord boots on the ground. I push that coffee machine. Yeah. Just for a little bit.
Yeah. And I'm ready to go. And I've asked the men, don't get here before 7.45. is my time with the Lord. I'm in his presence.
I'm hammering out things. I'm trying to say things in the right way so that I'm not unnecessarily. hurting anyone. That truth does hurt sometimes. But if all you have is truth, then you're just going to be a brute.
You've got to have more.
Well, coming back to this. This presence that I'm talking about, if you want to increase your courage as a Christian, if you want to elevate your caliber. Uh Gideon, in this section, in chapters six, seven, and eight of the book of Judges. Ten times we read, and God said to Gideon, or, and God said, and speaking to Gideon. Ten times.
Now, you know, when the Bible sets those kinds of patterns, there's a message there. Here is our sword. Ephesians 6:17, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. You want to be in God's presence? God's word's got to be part of it.
You have to listen to what He says, it'll never contradict what He has in print. Offense is critical. But you can't win, or defense is critical, but you can't win without offense. At some point, you've got to make the hit. I think about this every now and then.
And I'm not promoting pugilism or nor am I condemning it. But some of you remember the Ali Foreman fight. And those of you who don't, you missed it. You'll never, now you'll just live in shame forever. For those of you who don't, Muhammad Ali was a boxer.
George Foreman was his opponent. Foreman was notorious for punching people so hard, people in other counties went unconscious. And so they're fighting, and Ali can't, you know, he's just taking the punches. That was his defense. And he wore Foreman out.
And when Foreman was spent, he couldn't lift his hands. Ali took him out.
So at some point, You've got to have offense. You can't just have defense.
Now, I mean, there's little tricks and stuff. I mean, for instance, the shield of faith.
Well, a shield can be used on offense. But the idea from the scripture that I'm trying to make. Is you've got to have the word of God. And you've got to use it as a sword to cut through the lies of Satan. You are not trying, we as Christians are not trying to wound the individual whom we are privileged to speak to.
But we are trying to do as much damage to wrong ideas about Christ as we can from the Scripture. And it's okay to say someone, no, that's not what I believe in. Here's why. And then you give the scripture verses, you give the logic. That's using your sword.
And so today we're not facing Midianites and Amalekites of the ancient world as the Jews were. But this war ain't over, this war between heaven and hell. There are still Midianites, there are modern Midianites.
Some young man says, I feel a calling. To be a pastor. And he's encouraged to go to seminary. which I would never encourage any man to do. And he goes off to seminary, and those liberal professors get hold of him.
They're the Midianites. They begin to tell me, Yeah, the Bible's not enough. You also need some psychology to go with that. Ah, you know what, that's not enough. I don't believe that part.
That part's mythological. And they strip the faith of that young man. Those are the Midianites coming into the land. taking away the harvest. Everything you've toiled for, you've worked for, they strip it till that man leaves the seminary.
A Midianite. Everything's stolen. If you want to If you're called to the ministry, you get with a man of God who loves the word of God. And let him build you up. It's called discipleship.
Where do we find that in our New Testament? Everywhere. God says That he has given pastors For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, like I'm trying to do right now. And I'm part of this too. I'm not talking down to you.
I too need to be built up. and I get built up in my preparation time.
Well What brought victory was Gideon being in touch with God, that interaction with God. And these Midianites that we face today, 2 Corinthians, Paul called him out. He said, Who's mine? Whose minds the God of this age is blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, was in the image of God, should shine on them. I'm not proud that at one point I was raised to love the Lord Jesus.
I became an Antichrist, and God in His mercy grabbed me again. Man, I came that close I don't want to think about it. I don't want to talk about it. Let's change the subject. Yeah.
The hordes of the Midianites they come taking as much as they can carry back with them. leaving you to try to survive. And if you're not grounded in the Acts 242 formula, Of doctrine. Fellowship of communion and prayer. If you're not grounded there, it may be too much for you.
You won't survive. once the Midianites of life are finished with you. You will scurry off the battle line. You'll get down on your knees and you'll satisfy yourself, and you'll be oblivious to what really is happening. You be careless about your environment.
Devotional habit as a Christian is not magical. It's a weapon of war. 2 Corinthians 10. Remember, I said, no Christian is a spiritual pacifist, not if he's. being obedient.
Weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God. for pulling down strongholds. I have never met a man in history that can take What Paul took You know, history describes him as a somewhat frail, small man, but oh man, what a dynamo. Who can I mean, it's tough. Anyway, I'm almost done.
To keep off the casualty list, remember such verses as this. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. is not of the Father, but is of the world. Because of these 300, the others are able to come back, and the Midianites are defeated. And so the others benefited.
Those who Yeah. possibly classified as cowards. Those who were released for their carelessness on the field of battle. They were brought back because of the 300.
So in those three groups, which one would you like to be? You say, well, I'd like to be part of that 300. But I don't know if I've got what it takes. You don't. God does.
And you can get As much as you need. If you get with them. You stay with him. We'll close with this verse. Galatians 6, this is about.
Those who aren't that strong in the faith. We don't shoot our wounded.
Well, let me rephrase that. We're not supposed to shoot our own wounded as Christians. Happens all the time.
Somebody stumbles in sin, let's kill them. Let's get them out. And it's just sometimes it's pretty tough to see that. the proper way is to look for a solution. If the person will, of course, own whatever guilt that belongs to them.
There, here it is, Galatians 6:1. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one. in a spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself. Less you also.
Be tempted. Man, the Bible is balanced. Let's pray. Um Our Father, your word, a lamp to our feet, a light to our path. We thank you for it.
One of the great things about Coming to you, Lord, submitting to your lordship. is a desire to share who you are with others who don't know you. Um Thanks for tuning in today to Cross Reference Radio, where Pastor Rick has some answers for various questions that have been asked. We can't fully express how grateful we are that you've been with us today. But if you're ever looking for more teaching and content from us, you're welcome to subscribe to our podcast.
Just go to your favorite podcast app and look for Cross Reference Radio. For any other information about this ministry, go to crossreference radio.com. You'll also be able to find out details about our service times and location. Just scroll to the bottom of the page and click on CCM. Once again, head over to CrossreferenceRadio.com.
Thanks for listening today and come back again for the next edition of Cross-Reference Radio.
