Calvary Chapel Live Stream

[Music] together [Music] okay [Music] but i still couldn't see to the edge of your love for me and i walked on the wildest of [Music] for me [Music] no matter how high [Music] [Music] but just when i thought it was [Music] for me [Music] for me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] there's no [Music] me [Music] is [Music] foreign me [Music] [Music] is so why should i be cause you take good care of me [Music] [Music] the is brings yeah [Music] doesn't dwell in the past you take good care of i me [Music] [Music] [Music] i know there's got to be more goodness your kindness you take good care of me me [Music] i believe in a god who loves me i can't seem to make sense [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is hey good evening church so good to be here with you would you all stand with me put on your masks if you will and for those joining us online such a pleasure to have you with us we're going to worship together [Music] there is always hope [Music] he is of [Music] lords [Music] jesus [Music] comes from [Music] the king [Music] [Laughter] [Music] jesus reigns [Music] mountain shades [Music] jesus there is god who saves the one who is [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] it's giving praise together this evening [Music] is for your kingdom to come all creation and all of heaven join their voices god let your kingdom come [Music] rising as we look to is your name [Music] mayor will be [Music] the lord is at hand and his kingdom is yours lift up your hearts all who suffer and mourn the lord is at hand and his kingdom is [Music] yours [Music] is [Music] [Music] is may your will be done [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] is [Music] is god let your kingdom come may your will be your done come and i hear the savior say thy strength indeed [Music] faded [Music] he washed [Music] the heart of stone [Music] crimson stain he washed [Music] [Music] [Music] shall still be [Music] jesus [Music] crimson stain he washed in white as snow he washed it white as snow he washed [Music] raise this life up from the [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] alive [Music] so jesus made it all because jesus [Music] he washed it widest oh lord what a what a glorious wonderful gift you've given to us when you sent your son to pay the debt that we could never pay that we would have life that we could never deserve and so god we come into your presence tonight with grateful hearts we're so thankful for all that you've done how you poured your life out upon us and so god we come into your presence tonight with our hearts open wide and we say god pour your spirit out on your church stir us up and draw us to yourself we are so thankful to you for pursuing us with your love and we honor you tonight in jesus name and everyone said can we give the lord praise and glory and honor amen amen hey can we say thank you to the worship team also everybody amen wonderful go ahead and have a seat everyone welcome everyone in the sanctuary youth groups all upstairs welcome everyone joining us online hope you're all doing well and staying warm and all that sort of thing but would you all take out your smartphones i want to do the same thing and open the church app if you would do that and uh i like to remind because there's always a few that do not have it hey you're gonna need the app okay we use this for so many things around here and it's like really important that you have it so here's what you do you go to the app store or the play store and i'm also speaking to all of those watching online right now you're going to need the app as well go to the app store or the play store search for the words calvary hillsboro that's all you need calvary hillsboro first thing that pops up is the app it's free go get it this very moment and don't forget let me highlight a couple of very important things when you click on that main graphic it takes you where you can make reservations and now you're going to see three major sections in that area first major section reservations for the sanctuary the second one is reservations for the children's classes and you need to make reservations for them right we're now offering classes for uh five-year-olds through fifth grade won't be too long before we also offer the youngest grades but for now that's what we're offering and so if you can sign him up there that'd be great third section of course is youth group they meet wednesday nights during this service and uh sunday mornings 11 15. and uh so that's that section but let me also highlight this next one covet 19 response all of the updates that we're going to be seeing because we're going to be doing a lot of changing throughout this year all of those are going to be right there and let me just say um because of the weather i'm sure you're all following the weather right there is the i guess it's not just a possibility it's like heading our way there's a major snowstorm right and uh and so all of the updates are to be put also there although it looks like uh we may not be having in-person services this weekend uh it looks like there's going to be like many inches of snow which of course here in oregon we don't know how to drive in so therefore we probably will not be having regular in-person services but all of those services will be online aren't you so i am so thankful that we're gonna we're still gonna have church right we're going to do church in your house of course everyone's joining us online you're used to it but everyone we're going to do church in your house this weekend and to uh i'll confirm that and i'll put it in the uh that tab there cover 19 response plus of course i'll send the emails out and all that that are regular do so that's where the updates go devotionals of course are a great resource to strengthen faith and relationship to the lord go down to serving opportunities we're asking this week for those that would help us in our children's ministries speaking of all the classes we want to make sure that every class has teachers and helpers and everything that they need so if you would be willing to help us we'd love to have uh your help with that especially those who have done it in the past calling all teachers to come and help us and uh we want to provide all the classes as their children are coming back right so uh that would be great if you would do that and here's what you do here's how you let us know right if you got the app it's super easy you just click on that line right there and a form opens up fill in your info and then the submit button lights up as soon as you get that info in there and then they'll connect up with you there's a small background check um we've got everything unique curriculum crafts everything you just come with your heart for the kids now bless your life i'd love to have more hands with that uh go to highlighted events um we have been planning a kind of a special valentine's service uh for sunday night and uh of course this is a very unusual valentine's our thought was i'm saying was because it was all before the big snow storm that was heading our way our plan was and it was a great plan it was a grand plan it was the greatest plan we had ever come up with it was so good the idea was that everyone was going to go to your favorite restaurant or whatever and get your your valentine's dinner and bring it here we're going to have valentine's dinner here together and we were going to give you a special valentine's message and valentine's service and all that sort of thing wasn't that an amazing plan people this was awesome i i don't know about you but i'm like excited about everything i guess anyway so that was uh sunday night however now it looks like we may not be able to do it as planned because of the this big snowstorm so hopefully you can make a special valentine's dinner at home and play this service because we do have a special service we are going to do a special service but it may just be online but you can still have your special dinner and candlelight and everything and we're gonna join you in your house [Laughter] okay you guys are not excited about that as i am right i don't know why because that's a really good idea uh okay where was i uh okay so going back that's all i have for regular announcements this is normally when we ask ushers to come ahead and receive ties and offerings we will not be doing that that's a common surface we want to be so careful and that's just a reminder please everyone don't lower your guard be on be extra careful there's hand sanitizer stations you know all the things to do keep doing them because even though things are getting better we're not out of this thing yet and we want to make sure that we get out of this thing uh you know victoriously all right so here's what we're doing instead uh we have a agape boxes which we place at the back of the sanctuary that means love a place to put your ties and offerings and for those watching online let me recommend the app is a super convenient and secure way and for everyone in the house it's really quite easy and if you go to give donate online that tab is for one-time donations but if you scroll down to my account login there you can log into your account and we want every single person to have an account that's your connection to us and others and and it really is important to have an account because there you can set up regular giving uh get your tax receipts i know it's tax season and you can do all of that right there and if you don't have an account there's a tab right there right you can do that very easily so please i'll do that everyone watching online let me just say since you're online you can do this right at the website calvaryhisro.org that's the address about me click on members you can do everything there also however you do it thank you everyone for standing with us these are crazy days and it is so so appreciated that we would stand together in all of this craziness all right church that's all i have for announcements let's do a bible study in the book of judges would you all open your bibles tonight we're going verse by verse chapter by chapter through the whole bible and we're in the book of judges chapter 9. let's pray father we do open our heart to you and thank you for sending your word we know that you send it with your heart after us to pursue us and show us your ways your heart and to stir us up and to draw us into a nearness to our god a relationship to you so we open our heart to hear from your word tonight in jesus name amen just a quick review it tells us that when joshua was leading the people as a nation they were doing well they followed the lord fully it said but then joshua and that generation of leaders died and the next generation after them did not know the lord they had not seen the miracles that god had done for israel they did not know him and there for they did not follow they fell away and as moses warned them if they were to fall away they are god's people and if they fall away then many troubles will arise and sure enough that's exactly what happened they became weakened spiritually and we know that's the case a sin weakens a person but it will also weaken a nation when a nation turns away from god that nation will be weakened and i'll tell you what that should alarm us as a nation in the condition that we see our nation in now that'll be alarming but that's what happened to israel they became weak and as a nation the uh the enemies around them could arise and bring on more trouble and so when they got to really bad trouble they would call out to god and he would send a deliverer a judge which is where we get the name of judges there are 12 different judges throughout the book of judges and we were just studying recently about gideon he's really one of our favorite characters in the book of judges and for the most part he did very very well he he faltered a little at the end which we looked at last week but then it tells us in fact we're going to start in chapter 9 i know but uh just to take a little running start would you start with me in chapter 8 verse 28 because there it really kind of sets the stage for jumping into chapter nine it says that when so media those were the troublers the midianites were on the east side of the jordan and they arose and brought great trouble gideon was the deliverer and and saved them so gideon was subdued before the sons of israel and they did not lift up their heads anymore and the lord was excuse me the land was undisturbed for 40 years in the days of gideon so that's a long time they had peace and they were doing well then jerubbael otherwise known as gideon the son of joa she went and lived in his own house now gideon had 70 sons who were his direct descendants for he had many wives which is not advisable and it will bring great trouble to anyone and then he also had concubines because his concubine who was in shechem also bore him a son and uh he named his son abimelech i brought up this at the end of the service last week that was not really i would suggest it doesn't say this i'm going to suggest that really wasn't the best of names to name your son because here's what it means in hebrew well it can have a little bit of variation to the name you know the word abba in hebrew means papa or father one of the most intimate ways to say father abba and so a bee father my father malek is king and so here if you remember at the when he was victorious over the midi nights the people came to him and says you be king over us and gideon very well said no i will not be king let the lord be king over you and they even said let your son be king and your son's sons be king they were offering him a dynasty even and he said no he rightly answered when he said no there and he said let god be your king rightly answered so then why then did he name his son abi melek my father is king that's a that's kind of a was there something there that gideon had in his heart it's hard to say but it's the poor name because it can also take on the variant meaning is i am father the king and that's really where we have much trouble so it says he named him abimelech and gideon the son of josh died at a ripe old age and was buried in the tomb of his father joash in ulfra of the abuse rites then it came about that as soon as gideon was dead and here we go again that the sons of israel again played the harlot with the baal so that's an interesting way of saying it isn't it played the harlot that's not a very nice word that's for sure but he's referring therefore to uh the relationship that israel has with god should have a a nearness and closeness and it's like a a relationship of intimacy you could even say so to play a harlot is a powerful expression but that was exactly what he used that word with the baals and made the alberth their god that baritone there means covenant a covenant with baal thus the sons of israel did not remember the lord their god who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side nor did they show kindness to the household of jerubal which is gideon in accord with all the good that he has done to israel so not only are they not very appreciative and thankful to god they're not even very thankful to gideon and gideon's household that's what we're going to see next chapter 9 abimelech the son of jerubal went to shechem to his mother's relatives remember his mother was a concubine so therefore abimelech is not going to have the same stature as a let's say a regular sign so he went to his uh the household of his mother's father and he said now speak now in the hearing of all the leaders of shechem this is what you say which is better for you that 70 men all the sons of jerub baal rule over you or that one man rule over you now remember that i am your bone in your flesh don't forget that bone what is the expression blood is thicker than water let's remember this shall we and his mother's relatives spoke these words on be his behalf in the hearing of the leaders of shechem and they were inclined to follow abimelech for they said well he is our relative and they gave him 70 pieces now let me suggest here there is intrigue and nothing good coming out of this this is not good the whole thing is not good and what we're about to see now is trouble arising it says that they followed after ba al-barith they went after these other gods and trouble therefore follows and this is the trouble however it's arising within them this is not some outside you know forests midianites or whatever this is within them and character is going to be the problem because here's let me just kind of say this in advance following after ba'al or molek or chamash or you name it does not produce godly living it does not produce character of heart and i suggest to you that how a person lives matters does anybody agree with me on this how a person lives matters and your faith in the lord is the foundation for living therefore when you have faith in the eternal everlasting god it therefore impacts who you become as a person it changes your character it changes your heart it changes how you live at least it should and therefore when you follow after god god the everlasting father it should change how you live and therefore you have character as well as faith faith should mean also character and integrity and the aspects of a good heart come from a good god and a good father that's very important to take hold of because sometimes people we we we separate those things we say oh well you know you can have faith over here and then you can live however you want over here no no no they they are combined together they are intricately a part of one another when you have faith in the living god it ought to translate into the way you lived your life amen all right so this is going to be not good so they're now going to follow abimelech and they gave him 70 pieces of silver from the house of ba'all barif so this is not good and with which then abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows riffraff and they followed him so then he went to his father's house at ofra and killed his brothers this is this is the tragedy of it this is this is abimelech i am father the king he killed his brothers the sons of jorubaal 70 men on one stone on one stone what what a breaking of the heart here but jotham however one one escaped the youngest son of jerubal joffam was left for he hid himself and all the men of shenkham and all of beth milo assembled together that's a means a house of milo it's a town nearby assembled together they went and made abimelech king this is the first aspect of a king in the in the bible but the oak of the pillar by the oak of the pillar which is in shechem now when they told jotham he went went and stood on the top of mount gerizim and lifted his voice and he called out to them mount gerizim which is by the way i don't know there's a picture that i was hoping to be able to show you of the valley here of shechem by which gerizim just sits right over when we think about this or that you know oftentimes we have the idea in our mind of a mountain you know mount hood you know which stands like a great you know 11 000 foot you know elevation peak but a a mountain jerusalem is not nearly what we're thinking of in our minds right mount uh um gerazim here i could run to the top of it like really fast i could almost throw three stones and get there right and so he by the way you ought to remember in your mind wait a minute didn't a lot of history happen here was there a lot of history of significance that happened here yeah you're right absolutely shechem is the very place that joshua before he died when he was a you know old and advanced in years it says he drew the people of israel and the leaders of israel together and he made that wonderful declaration calling them to renew their covenant with god and this is where he says you know if it's disagreeable and you're sorry to follow the lord then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve but as for me in my house we will serve the lord right that was a absolutely monumental declaration where did it happen shechem uh go back a little farther uh god said uh to moses you instruct the people that when they get into israel they are to go to the valley thereof shakum put leaders upon mount gerizim other leaders up on mount evil from their evil they call out the curses for not following god to warn them from mount gerizim you call out the blessings and favor of god upon them and and much history so it says that when they told jotham the only son that survived here he went and stood on the top of mount gerizim and he lifted up his voice and he called and thus he said now listen to me you men of shechem that god may listen to you now this is going to be an interesting speech and he's going to use like a parable of such to give a a prophecy or some might call it a curse it's a very strong word but it's very insightful too and he says it this way now once the trees went forth to anoint the king over them and they said to the olive tree they said reign over us o olive tree but the olive tree said to them shall i leave my fatness or my good oil with which god and men are honored and go wave over other trees i think not then the tree said to the fig tree you come reign over us but the fig tree said to them shall i leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go wave over the other trees i think not then the tree said to the vine or the grapevine you come reign over us but the vine said to them shall i leave my new wife with which shears god in man and then go wave over other trees i think not by the way notice each of these are productive in the purpose for which they were made of god shall uh which is a wonderful thing to to live in the purpose for which god made you honors the lord you feel his pleasure when you live in his purpose shall i leave my purpose and wave and do this thing i think not finally verse 14 all the trees said to the bramble what is a bramble bush well a bramble bush is a thorny stickled mess that just and there's not there's nothing yet there's no fruit you know we have an organ here we have our blackberries and uh you know they're like bramble bushes but they produce berries at least there's something that good comes out of them you can make blackberry pie but there's nothing that good comes out of a bramble nothing but stickers in trouble and pain and hurt so they said to the bramble bush you then you come reign over us and then and now obviously that's a comparison to bim malek isn't it that's the whole point you you call the bimelect he's nothing but a bramble so the bramble said to the trees the bramble abimelech is that's see the analogy if in truth you are anointing me as king over you then come and take refuge in my shade yeah like the bramble's got much good shade but if not then may fire come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of lebanon now therefore gotham continues if in fact you have dealt with truth and integrity in making abimelech your king and if in fact you have dealt well with yoruba all in his house and have dealt with him as he deserves let's not forget verse 17 my father fought for you and he risked his life for you and delivered you from the hand of midian but you have risen up against my father's house today and have killed his sons he's holding them to the account because they paid for it seventy men on one stone and have made abimelech the son of his maidservant king over the men of shechem because he's your relative this is why you did this if then you have dealt in truth and integrity and right there it helps us to see to live with truth and integrity is a right way to live if you have faith in the everlasting god as your father in fact it should therefore bring about a way of living that's truthful be honest in your dealings and god will bless it have integrity in your heart god'll bless it in your business dealings god will bless it in your relationships god will bless it be a person of integrity and in truth god will bless it but if not it will surely come back on you in fact that's the whole point of this this whole thing if in fact verse 19 you have dealt in truth and integrity and uh with jeruba ali in his house this day then fine rejoice rejoice with abimelech and then let him rejoice in you but if not then let fire come out from abimelech and consume the men of shakum and beth milo and let fire come out from the men of shechem and from beth milo and consumable like you guys deserve each other this is a marriage made in hell you might say and it's going to come back you be very careful these choose well choose very well the relationships that you have in your life that's one of the great lessons of life isn't it that's a life lesson i tell young people oh it's a life lesson for young people well actually it's for all people choose very well your friends because you will become like your friends you choose people that don't have integrity or truth and you're gonna find yourself compromised very fast but you choose people with integrity and honor and you make them your friends they will hold you to account of integrity and honor choose very well who you choose as friends anybody agree with me i tell you it's a life lesson and this is like if a young person can get a hold of this lesson it will do them well it will serve them the rest of their lives that will serve them choose good friends he says he's saying you guys deserve each other this is a marriage made in hell well he didn't say that but i added it but that was the idea then jonathan escaped and fled and he went to which means well and remained there because of abimelech his brother the errors down by hebron he went quite some distance no abimelech ruled over israel for three years now the rest of this story is how all of this falls apart they betray one another and how in fact that prophecy and so if there's no none of these are called judges but if anyone is the hero of the story it's jotham well and there's a woman that's going to come into the hero role too later but notice so he ruled three years only three years then god sent an evil spirit between abimelech and the men of shechem or he stirred up the evil spirit is a good way to say it and the men of shekel shechem dealt treacherous treacherously with the bim like oh surprise surprise because their character is coming out he stirred up their evil character eventually evil character is going to come out however you got see whatever your person is in his heart they become that that and so i mean jesus spoke to it right the good man out of the good treasures of his heart will bring forth what's good and the evil man out of the evil treasures will bring forth what's evil for a man speaks a man lives by the treasures in his heart uh verse 24 in order that the violence done to the seventy sons of jerubal might come and their blood might be laid on abimelech their brother who killed them and on the men of shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers yeah by paying for it and the men of shechem then now here's how the men of shekam they're tired of abimelech and now they're going to betray this is how they do it the men of shechem then set men in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains and they robbed all who might pass by this is going to really be a trouble because it's going to stir up the people against the boomer he they robbed everyone on the road and it was told to abimelech now here comes another fellow into the story his name is ga'al and all has got some gaul i'll tell you now gaal the son of ebed came with his relatives and crossed over into shechem and the men of shechem put their trust in him and so because they're tired of a biblic so they went out into the field and gathered the grapes of their vineyards and trod them and they held a festival in other words we're going to have a party and they went into the house of their god and ate and drank and cursed abimelech then all the son of ebed said now he's had a little too much to drink here and so he's getting a little braggadocious and he said who is abimelech and who is shechem that we should serve him is he not the son of jerubal and is zabool not his lieutenant served the men of homore that's the founder of shechem some years ago serve the men of ghamour the father of shechem but why should we serve abimelech what therefore that this people were under my authority then i would remove abimelech and he said to in bible he sent a message to a abimelech increase your army and come out he's like saying there's a new sheriff in town his name is coming and faced me well when the lieutenant of abimelech heard this when zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of all the son of ebid he burned in anger and he sent messengers to abimelech deceitfully saying behold really the word is secretly saying behold all the son of ebid and his relatives have come to shechem behold they're stirring up the city against you now therefore arise by night you and the people who are with you and lie in wait in the field and it shall come about in the morning as soon as the sun is up that you shall rise early rush upon the city and behold when he and the people who are with him come out against you you are to do whatever you can so abimelech and other people who were with him arose by night lane weighed against shechem in four companies now all the son of abid went out and stood at the entrance of the city gates the next morning and abimelech and the people who were with him arose from their ambush and when gaul saw the people he was standing there with zabul he said look i see people no it's very it's in the early morning it's dark it's just you know that that transition towards darkness and he says look people are coming down from the tops of the mountains but zabul said to him no no no i don't think so you're seeing things no you're just seeing shadows on the mountains as if it were a man no no no you don't see anything but gaul spoke again and he said look yes behold there are people coming down from the highest part of the land and then one company comes up by the way of the diviners oak so then zabul said to him okay now where's your boasting now with which you said oh who is abimelech that we should serve him it's not the people is this not the people whom you despise go now fight them so go all went out he had no choice now so all went out before the leaders of shakkam and he fought with abimelech and abimbalaq chased them and he fled before him and many wounded many wounded or fell wounded up to the entrance of the gate then abimelech remained at aruma that was where he had been staying but zebul drove out to all in his relatives so that they could not remain in shekhar now it came about the next day that the people went out to the field and it was told to abimelech so he took his people divided them in three companies and lay and went in the field when he looked and saw the people coming out from the city he arose against them and slew them then abimelech and the company who was with him dashed forward and stood in the entrance of the city gates and the other two companies then dashed against all who were in the field and slew them and abimelech fought against the city all that day and he captured the city and killed the people who were in it then he raised the city which means destroyed it and he sewed it with salt which is a way of making sure that they can't plant their stuff anymore when all the leaders of the town of shechem heard this they they entered the inner chamber of the temple of el barith the temple of baal barith to hide and it was told to bimelech that all the leaders of the tower of shechem were gathered together so abimelech went up to mount zelman he and all the people who were with him and abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a branch from the trees and lifted it and laid it on his shoulder and he said to the people who are with them what you have seen me do hurry and do the same and all the people also cut down each his own branch and followed abimelech and put them on the inner chamber and set the inner chamber on fire now it's literally coming true what uh jotham said he set fire over those on the inside so that all the men of the child of shechem also died about a thousand men and women then abimelech went to the base and he camped against the beds and and captured it but there was a strong tower in the center of the city and all the men and women with all the leaders of the city fled there shut themselves in it and they went up to the roof of the tower so abimelech came to the tower fought against it and approached the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire it worked once he's going to do it again but there was a certain woman who threw an upper millstone bib malek got too close to the wall and she was looking over the wall she could see that so she took an upper millstone remember how a millstone works right if they are going to grind flour you've got a base stone then you have a top millstone with a hole in the center and it's turned about as you pour a wheat and then it stone ground flour that's what you get so she took she saw him down there so she picked up the upper millstone and she dropped it on his head which was a no-brainer i mean okay sorry that where was i oh yeah so she threw this upper millstone on his head crushing his skull then he didn't die from it but he called quickly to the young man his armor bearer and said draw your sword and kill me lest it be said that a woman slew him so the young man pierced him through and he died when the men of israel saw that abimelech was dead each one departed to his home thus god repaid the wickedness of abimelech which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers also god returned to all all the wickedness of the men of shechem on their own heads for the curse of jotham the son of jerubal came upon them now one of the great lessons in life is that how you live matters but also how you live comes back to you if a person lives with a despicable nature they will live in much trouble and will come back to them but that also is helpful to understand because when you are troubled by someone with despicable character sometimes we are very tempted to want to try to extract justice ourselves and one of the comforting truths or aspects of principle that come out of this is that god is the one who settles all accounts that's the point god is the one moving by his sovereign hand in such a way that god is settling all accounts now this is important because again sometimes when people are troubled has anybody ever had a despicable person in their life no you don't need to show your hands because i think everybody's had a despicable person in their life and it's very tempting to want to try to extract justice with that despicable person and then if they if they say despicable things well you think you got to say despicable things back and if they say angry things you think you got to say angry things back you know and if they say curse words at you you think you got to say curse words back but they have made you like them in so doing and so it's much better to understand god settles all accounts vengeance is mine i will repay says the lord let me handle it god is the one who settles all account has anybody ever seen that to be true it is very true and it has helped me tremendously in my life because there have been troublers but i i much rather not engage with that trouble i'd rather keep my heart and focus upon the lord and to live in his purpose and not be troubled by troublers don't be troubled by troublers keep walking in the purpose don't let them divert your course that's the important lesson do not let them divert your course stay on the course stay on the path of god's calling stay on the purpose for which he has set forth your life don't let them divert your course because what's the old thing never wrestle a pig you know that saying right never wrestle a pig because you get way too dirty and they have way too much fun amen stay on course this is such an important word stay on course don't be troubled by troublers stay on course don't let your character be compromised because god will see to it he settles all accounts all right chapter 10. now after abimelech died tola the son of the son of doda that word sometimes people like to tease oh his name is dodo it's doda and it means beloved in love which is actually a very good uh good name a man of issachar he arose to save israel and he lived in shamir in the hill country of ephraim he judged israel 23 years then he died and was buried in shamir that's all we know of him but it's important to know that there were other judges there are many stories but we don't get them after him jair the gileadite arose gilead is on the other side of the jordan remember and he judged israel 22 years and he had 30 sons who wrote on 30 donkeys and they had 30 cities in the land of gilead that are called levath jairo to this day and jair died and was buried in common that's all we know of him then the sons of israel again did evil in the sight of the lord and they served the baals ashtaroth but now oh now is he there's more this is they're extending their waywardness they're reaching farther now says even the gods of aram the gods of sidon the gods of moab the gods of the sons of oman the gods of the philistines they're just taking them all on thus they forsook the lord and did not serve him and we can predict what's going to come next the angel anger of the lord burned against israel and he sold him into the hands of the philistines and into the hands of the sons of amman on the amman ammonites are on the again the east side of the uh jordan in fact today when you go to the uh area of israel there's jordan on the east side and the capital is amman it's right from the same and they afflicted and crushed the sons of israel that year and for 18 years they afflicted all the sons of israel who were beyond the jordan in gilead in the land of the amorites and the sons of oman crossed the jordan to fight also against judah and benjamin and the house of ephraim so that israel was greatly distressed then the sons of israel cried out to the lord and they said we have sinned against you for indeed we have forsaken our god and served the balls and the lord said to the sons of israel did i not deliver you from the egyptians the amorites the sons of iman and the philistines also when the sidonians the amalekites the mianites oppressed you you cried out to me and i delivered you from their hands yet you have forsaken me and served other gods therefore i will deliver you no more go cry out to the gods which you have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your distress let baal help you let ashtrath help you but the sons of israel said to the lord no we have sinned to do to us whatever seems good to you but please deliver us this day so they put away the foreign gods from among them ah now you see the problem right there if you go back to just a couple of verses they cried out to the lord we have served the bowels and then he says go cry out to them for help let them save you then they cry out even more even more deeply no do we have sinned we do whatever seems good to you but please deliver us then it says and then they put away the foreign gods well what happened two verses back well they didn't put them away that's the problem you see they they secretly held on to these other gods they put them maybe in the pantry or in the cupboard or something you know they kind of put them away but they didn't get rid of them and for 18 years they would be they were troubled for 18 years took 18 years to call out now right there it's like 18 years it took 18 years to call out have you ever met someone that just won't learn you know what i'm saying it's like they get into trouble and and then they don't learn from that trouble and then they get into more trouble and they don't learn from that trouble and then they get into more trouble and they don't learn from that trouble and they get into even deeper trouble and they don't learn from that trouble and then they get into even worse trouble and you think what is it going to take sometimes they have to reach the very end of themselves it's like the prodigal son it had to get to the point where he was feeding pigs before he would come to his senses it's kind of like that and then when they finally called out to god to god for help they still had some balls in the dresser and god says you don't mean it see you don't mean it that's the problem you don't mean it it'll be really really good if we come to the lord and cry out for help it would be really good if we meant it if we said to the lord i repent i repent god i see now that the way in which i've been living is not right i can see now that all of this trouble that's come in my life has been by my own doing i see now god that i need to walk in the ways of the lord i will follow after you it would be really really good if you meant it god is saying that to me to you to all of us amen and so it says finally then they put away the foreign gods from among them and serve the lord and so he could bear the misery of israel no longer and then the sons of amman were summoned and they camped at gilead he's going to save them and the sons of israel gathered together and camped at meespa and the people the leaders of gilead said to one another all right who is the man who will begin to fight against the sons of amman they knew the the thing god's going to send a judge a deliverer who is it he shall come he shall become head over all the inhabitants of gilead chapter 11. now jephthah the gileadite he's from gilead from israel on the east he was a valiant warrior but he was the son of a harlot and gilead was the father of jephthah now that's an interesting background he's the son of a harlot and therefore i suggest that he's not going to um have much self-worth they were not respected but he's a valiant warrior and it says that gilead's wife his legitimate wife bore him sons and when his wife's sons grew up then they drove jephthah out okay now he's giving us the background here they drove jephthah out and they said to him you are not going to have an inheritance in our father's house you are the son of another woman at least they said it halfway nicely which is also interesting by the way that jeff is the oldest that father of his was not very nice verse three so jeff that fled from his brothers and lived in the land of tov or tobe it means good the good land and the worthless fellows gathered themselves about joshua and they went out with him similarly to david you know when david ran from saul he he took rabble rousers with him but he made men out of them verse 4 and it came about that after a while that the sons of oman fought against israel and it happened then that the sons of ammon fought against israel that the elders of gilead went to jephthah from the land of tob and they said to jephthah come be our that we may fight against the sons of ivan jephthah said to the elders of gilead do you not hate me did you not drive me out from my father's house why have you come now when you are in trouble and the elders of gilead said to jeff for this reason we have now returned to you that you may go with us and fight with the sons of oman and become head over the inhabitants of gilia so jeff has said to the elders of gilead if you take me back no which is interesting it suggests that he wants to come back you know there's a there's a lot of heart you can interpret in this story it's sad right the rejection of this jephthah and all that he's carrying with him you can just imagine the uh the brokenness of his own heart and how it's turned out the way it's turned out and it's made him angry he's made him hard it's made him fight he's a valiant warrior as a result of it so then he comes they come and ask for his help do you not hate me we want to take you back if you take me back verse 9 to fight against the sons of iman and the lord gives them up to me truly will i become your head like this really and the elders of gilead said to jeff them the lord be witness between us surely we will do as we have as you have said then jephthah went with the elders of gilead and the people made him head and chief over them so then jeff the spoke all his words before the lord at mizpah now in other words he told everyone this the arrangement now jeff then sent messengers to the king of the sons of ammon so his first effort is going to be diplomacy which you've got to appreciate what is it between you and me that you have come to fight again against my land and the king of the sons of amman said to the messengers of jetha because israel took away my land when they came up from egypt from the arnon as far as the job can the jordan therefore return them give them back give them back our land return it peacefully now and i'll tell you what this does does this not remind you of the very conflict over land that's happening in the middle east right now this conflict over land that's been happening in the middle east can be traced oh it's so important to trace it back to its roots and by the way what they are saying right now is not actually this is not an accurate depiction of history i'll just give you a quick reminder when when israel came up out of of egypt they came you know to mount sinai then to kadesh and then they asked the the sons of edom that's their relatives cousins you might say for permission to pass denied they had to go around them they asked the sons of moab for permission to pass denied they had to go around them by the way did you know that the sons of moab and the sons of oman are actually relatives of israel actually distant cousins 150 times removed no a little sarcasm there they are relatives if you can go back in in time uh abraham's nephew lot if you remember abraham's nephew lot um had two boys moab and aemon and they became the fathers of the ammonites and the moabites so they are related in some way so therefore when they when israel came around the dead sea and up to the land of the ammonites and the moabites god said to moses don't touch their land i gave that to them and so that is the history you can read it in deuteronomy that is the history so this is not accurate important to note i have much to say on that when it comes to the history of israel and the palestinian issues in israel but we don't have time for it but i love to teach on that because it's really important to understand the historical aspects of the battles and tensions that are in the middle east today it really is helpful when you understand that backdrop as how it relates to what is happening in the world and how that relates to the prophecies which will be fulfilled in the latter days it's an intriguing study and i wish we had more time but we don't so let's go on return the land verse 14 all that to say return the land verse 14 jeff has sent messengers again to the sons of iman listen to this speech and they said to him thus says jephthah israel did not take away the land of moab nor the land of the sons of amman let me remind you when they came up from egypt and israel went through the wilderness to the red sea and came to kadesh israel sent messengers to the king of edom or esau their cousin please let us pass through your land but the king of edom would not listen so then they sent to the king of moab and he would not consent so israel remained at kadesh actually quite some time then they went through the wilderness around the land of edom and around the land of moab came to the east side of the land of moab and they camped beyond the arnon the river but they did not enter the territory of moab for the arnon is the border of moab and israel then sent messengers to sahan he's still going back over the history king of the ammorites that's a whole different thing they're not related at all the king of heshbon in israel said to him please let us pass through your land to this place but saihan did not trust israel to pass through the territory so sahan gathered all his people and camped in jihad and fought with israel and the lord the god of israel gave sahan and all the people into his hand of israel and they defeated them so israel possessed all the land of the amorites not the ammonites there's a big difference the inhabitants of that country so they possessed all the territory of the amorites from the arnon as far as ajamic another river to the north and from the wilderness as far as the jordan since now the lord the god of israel drove out the amorites from before his people israel are then you to possess it do you not possess what chamash your god gives you to possess so whatever the lord our god has given out before us we possess that and now are you any better than balak the son of zappor he's reminding them here of a little story balak tried to hire balaam to bring a curse did not work god would not listen are you any better than balak king of moab did he even strive and see when it didn't work this is important to know when it didn't work did he strive with israel did he fight against him he reminds them no while israel lived in heshban and his villages and in aurora in his villages and in all the cities that are on the banks of the arnhem 300 years why didn't you recover them then within that time i therefore have not sinned against you this is a really great speech by the way but you are doing me wrong by making war against me may jehovah the lord the judge judge between today the sons of israel and the sons of oman you got to just love his moxie here but the king of the sons of ammon disregarded that message with jeff the sentiment now 29 verse 29 the spirit of the lord came upon jephthah now we see it's the power of god so that he passed through gilead and manasseh then he passed through mizpah of gilead and for mispa of gileadi went out to the sons of amman in other words to face them and jephthah made a vow to the lord and here we come to this very critical moment and it's a vow that he makes that he should never have made and it's a tragic vow jephthah made a vow to the lord if you will indeed give the sons of ammon into my hand then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when i return in peace from the sons of the lord it shall be the lord's and i will offer it up as a burnt offering now this is a vow this is going to be a tragic vow so jeff the cross over to the sons of vermont to fight against them and the lord gave them into his hand and he struck them with a very great slaughter from aurora to the entrance of beneath 20 cities and as far as abel karamin so the sons of oman were subdued before the sons of israel now when jaffa came to his house at mizpah it was his daughter behold his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing she's so happy to see her father now she was his one and only child besides her he had neither son nor daughter and it came about that when he saw her he tore his clothes and he said alas my daughter you have brought me so low and you are among those who have troubled me for i have given my word to the lord and i cannot take it back so she said to him my father you have given your word to the lord do to me as you have said since the lord has avenged you on your enemies the sons of oman and she said to her father let this thing she said let this thing be done for me let me alone she's going to make a request special request give me two months that be alone for two months that i may go to the mountains and weep because of my virginity now this is an interesting thing i and my companions then he said go so he sent her away for two months and she left with her companions and wept on the mountains because of her virginity which is a you might think why she did why didn't she web weeping for her death it came about at the end of two months that she returned to her father who did to her according to the vow which he had made and special note she had no relations with a man thus it became a custom in israel that the daughters of israel went yearly yearly went yearly to commemorate the daughter of jephthah the gileadite four days in the year all right let's look at this story because it's really important this vow why does a person make a vow back in those days and sometimes even today people make a vow to the lord why would he make such a vow why would he make a vow at all well the idea is to try to kind of coerce the lord maybe twist his arm a little bit let's make a deal i'll make a deal with you here's the thing you bring this victory to me and i'll do this for you and that's that's uh the idea of a vow in such a way is to try to get god to do what you wish no vow was needed the spirit of the lord was already upon him the lord was going to bring about a victory of course he didn't know that we have the bible he didn't but nevertheless he uses this vow to try to coerce god sometimes people do that today people will do something you know they'll get into a sticky issue a problem and they'll say god if you'll help me if you'll help me i'll do this and and it's very tempting to see oh maybe i can convince god maybe i can coerce him you know if i promise him something and i tell you what i've been in some sticky wickets which is minimizes the danger i've been in danger i've been in times in africa that i thought how in the world did i get here how did this come to this place but that's i i i know the heart of the lord a vow is not needed faith is now what's needed trust that god is with me in the midst of every trial that god is with me in the midst of every storm that god will make a way where there is no way i've seen god make a way where there is no way over and over and over amen and so it's a tragic vow it did not need to happen secondly it's important to know a little hebrew here because i am convinced that he did not offer her up as a as a burnt offering it says let me go back to the verse the vow then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors i'm in verse 31 to meet me when i return in peace from the sons of ammon it shall be the lord's it will be the lord's i will dedicate it unto the lord and i will offer it but the word and there is hebrew love and it could be interpreted and or what if he let me ask you this question what if he came home and you know it's very common for uh animals to be about what if uh what if something unclean came out of his house that would be most improper and it certainly is very improper to offer a child it's strictly forbidden strictly forbidden in in the hebrew scriptures strictly forbidden absolutely forbidden and also interestingly enough in the book of leviticus there is a provision for a person who makes a foolish foul if a person makes a vow there is a way of redemption god has made a way in his law the hebrew law a way of getting a a foolish vow redeemed all of that to say the word vav means and or or i will offer it as a burnt offering now the fact that she is uh wanting to mourn her virginity suggests that to fulfill this vow he is going to uh give her over to the service of the lord that she will serve the lord all the days of her life she will never marry and thus she is mourning her virginity because she will never marry never bear a child which is one of the ways a woman had value in those days and it's a tragedy and it's a greater tragedy because he has no children he will never see a grandchild and so he's broken-hearted and i suggest that this tradition of the daughters of israel going yearly to commemorate means that they go visit her every year for four days to commemorate this valk because that it's never done afterwards all right chapter 12. and then the men of ephraim were some were summoned and they crossed to zephon and they said to to jeff though why did you cross over to fight against the sons of amman without calling us to go with you we will burn your house down for doing that don't you just love these people of ephraim aren't they nice and jephthah said to them i and my people were at great strife with the sons of vermont when i called you you did not come he did call the sons of ephraim you didn't come oh now you come and you're mad because you don't you didn't get part of the victory but you didn't come when i called you you got to love jephthah in the sense that he's you know he says it like it is verse three and when i saw that you would not deliver me i when i saw that you weren't going to come help me i took my life in my own hands and i crossed over against the sons of a man without you and then the lord gave them into my hand why have you come up now to this state you're going to fight against me then jephthah gathered all the men of gilead and fought ephraim and the men of now that's a tragedy this whole thing is just sad this is pride it's nothing but pride i tell you pride is our great undoing and the and the men of gilead defeated ephraim because he said you are fugitives of ephraim or gileadites in the midst of ephraim and in the midst of vanessa and the gideonites gileadites captured the the fords of jordan opposite ephraim and it happened that when any of the fugitives of ephraim said let me cross over because they're blocking them the men of gilead would say are you an aphromite and if he said no then they would say to him say shibalef but he would say sybileth because he could not pronounce it correctly the people from ephraim had an accent and they couldn't say shibaleth they had to say sybileth and so therefore they would seize him and slew on the forge of the jordan and thus 30 42 000 fell of ephraim that's an interesting story don't you think you can't say shibboleth no they say it's sibilance and that's how they know who's from ephraim i don't know about you i just find that very interesting it reminds me a lot i know we're out of time i shouldn't tell you the story okay i'll tell you anyway when i was in when i was in russia you know whenever i travel to this country that i like to learn the language you know wherever i'm going if if it's you know africa i'll learn french israel i want to learn hebrew right and i'm in russian i'm trying to learn russian and with this family and we're eating and uh i said what's the word for cheese and they said sir and i said oh it's sader no you didn't say it right it's eater no you're not saying right it's theater theater no no you're not saying it right i am saying it just exactly as you are saying it i said no it's the ear that's what i said it's the ear no you're not saying it right let's move on shall we so a little time later after dinner we were uh socializing and i i took out a little gift a little toy a little squirt gun for a boy and so uh it's all that what do you call that in english and i said oh that's squirt gun and they said skirt gun no no no that's not how you say that you say squirt you say skirt no no no no no i would not let this drop my friends ephraim verse seven judged uh israel six years by the way this whole thing with ephraim is that not just pride you know this conflict what happens with pride would you agree with me that sometimes this happens in marriages okay but don't raise your hand don't raise your hand whatever you do there's like glares right now don't you dare raise your hand it happens in marriages well you know you said i didn't say that yes you did you said you did not you said that i did not say that you said that say shibalev it's pride all right back to this uh let's see jeff had judged israel six years then he died and was buried in one of the cities of gilead verse eight now is ibzan of bethlehem judged israel after him he had 30 sons and 30 daughters whom he gave in marriage outside the family and he brought in 30 daughters from outside for his sons and he judged israel seven years then ibzan died and was buried in bethlehem now elon the zebulonite judged israel after him and he judged israel ten years then elon the zebulun knight died and was buried at adjulan in the land of zebulun now abdon the son of hillel the appearance of the fight judged israel after him and he had 40 sons and 30 grandsons who wrote on 70 donkeys and he judged israel 80 years then abdom the son of hillel the pair tonight died and was buried in pyrethon in the land of ephraim in the hill country of the amalekites that's four chapters my friends amen next week we will meet samson what an intriguing story what life lessons are in store for us in the story of samson you must come and find out father thank you so much you reveal to us so many ways principles of which to walk and god i just pray that we would understand your heart that how we live matters i pray god that we would be a people who believe you with all our heart will follow you with all our heart and let it then change how we live god we want to be a people of integrity and truth and honor we want to honor you with how we live and we know that's born out of our relationship to you it's borne out of our faith and trust in you that you by your spirit and your presence in our lives transforms us god we want to live to your honor church how many would say that tonight i want to live to your honor lord i want my life to truly honor you do you say that to the lord would you say that with your heart would you let him know it simply by lifting up your hand to the lord i want my life to honor you i want to live according to your ways bless bless god because you've changed me you've transformed me we honor you and thank you in jesus powerful name and everyone said let's give the lord praise and glory and honor amen let's worship let's close with this one last glorious celebration song let's all stand to our feet put your mouth on if you would let's worship the lord with joy and celebration god bless you church see you this weekend online god bless [Applause] [Music] as we wait seek your face come and make your throne upon our praise here in this [Music] are place show us your glory show us your glory in wonder and surrender we fall down show us your glory show us [Music] here [Music] before our eyes us your [Music] show us glory [Music] your glory show us your glory show us [Music] fear jesus you change everything lies here now [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] let's give it praise together this evening yes

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Length: 99min 55sec (5995 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 11 2021