Field of Beans - Pastor Raymond Woodward

scripture simply doesn't say very much about him at all his story is obscure and seemingly insignificant the crowning achievement of his life is recorded in a scant two verses tucked away in the middle of the old testament among some dramatic adventures of far more important people the kings of israel we're forced to do some serious detective work just to dig up a few paltry details about his background which makes what he did all the more remarkable his family came from the lineage of the hararites men of the hills mountain dwellers the word is a combination of the noun mountain and the verb cursed because it was a difficult life trying to scratch out a meager existence in the hard unyielding rock of israel's desert hills and to make matters worse his father's name was a.g which means a fugitive or one who flees his dad had the reputation of a coward who ran at the first sign of trouble which makes what he did all the more remarkable names in ancient israel could either reflect qualities of the bearer of that name or they could commemorate a momentous event that just happened to coincide with his or her birth and that's why they would be given the name now we don't know specifically what israel was going through when shama was born but it must have been totally disastrous because his name means wasted empty desolate deserted devastated or it also means the emotions attached to that horrified appalled astonished abandoned all of which makes what he did all the more remarkable this young man who was born at a time of appalling desolation he determined that his history would not determine his destiny as he grew he refused to be confined by his meager mountain existence and somewhere at some time he moved to the fertile lowlands of israel now the nation was in serious trouble in those days because it was led by a backslidden king named saul whose reign was marked by the absence of an altar and the captivity of the ark of the covenant but there was another king in the wings and shama soon found him along with 400 other men these men didn't have much going for them but they found a hero in david the bible says everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented they gathered themselves unto him and david became a captain over them and there were with him about 400 men kind of sounds like church sometimes everybody that's in distress and everybody that's in debt and everybody that's discontented anybody ever fall into one of those categories yeah now later david would be crowned king of israel and some of these same loyal men would continue to serve him the bravest among them would be forever referred to as the thirty but there was a trio of soldiers whose exploits elevated them even further than that there was the thirty but then david called this trio the three mighty men adino was one of them he killed 800 men at one time with only a spear eleazar was another he fought until the muscles of his hand literally froze around his sword and shama became the third member of that valiant trio which makes what he did all the more remarkable here's the setting he only gets two verses in all of scripture and after him with shama the son of agi the hararite and the philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils and the people fled from the philistines but he stood in the midst of the ground and he defended it and he slew the philistines and the lord wrought a great victory the philistines were the most fierce and enduring foe faced by the ancient israelites the pages of the old testament are literally filled with the accounts of their bloody clashes for nearly 600 years and you can visualize with me the country of israel that little country along the end of the mediterranean sea but in old testament times the jews were largely denied access to the entire seacoast of the mediterranean because there was a pantopolis five strategically placed philistine cities they were strongholds ashdod and ashkelon and ekron and gath and gaza and they were all up the coast and they prevented israel from even having much access to the sea and the philistines had a huge tactical advantage over israel because they possessed the ancient technology of iron making and that made their chariots and all of their weapons superior so they were a tough and entrenched foe furthermore the philistines were a cruel and a ruthless enemy one of their favorite tactics which gives us the background for shama's two little verses in all of the scripture one of their favorite tactics was what we would call the harvest attack the philistines would lay low for months they would let the israelites plant and tend their crops for an entire season letting them toil under the blistering sun and doing all the back-breaking work of farming the fields and then the philistines would swoop down into the fields at the last moment just as the crops were ripe to steal the fruit of their labor robbing israel's family of food and robbing the nation's farmers of their livelihood nothing was more devastating than a harvest attack and it had happened over and over and over again and this year was no exception and the philistines were at it again they're invading forces struck terror in the hearts of the people and by now most of the people had fled in fear leaving their fields at the mercy of the enemy these jewish farmers were mere peasants armed with only handmade farming tools and they knew they had no chance whatsoever against a highly trained battalion of philistine soldiers remaining in their fields would mean almost certain death it wasn't worth risking life and limb to defend insignificant little plots of ground and so time after time including this time they dropped their farming tools and they ran for their lives and brothers and sisters that would have been the end of the story but fortunately for israel and unfortunately for the philistines there was one man in the field that day who was not just a peasant or a farmer he was one of david's three mighty men he had the heart of a warrior and he single-handedly turned the tide of the enemy's invasion that day while all his peers fled the scene to avoid the intensity of the battle while others abandoned the harvest they had worked so hard for while everyone else decided that they would just have to live with the losses one more time shama stood his ground against the enemy in the english language we have a saying when something's of little value or negligible importance we say that's not worth hill of beans beans are small and on their own they are of little value even a whole hill of beans is where the statement comes from would be not worth very much nor would a field of beings which is exactly what shama finds himself defending on that fateful day of battle just a field of beans shama had only a moment to decide whether he was going to run away like his friends or whether he was going to steal his backbone and lock his feet and square his shoulders and stand up to the enemy we don't know from scripture there's not enough detail there we don't know exactly what was going through his mind as he turned to face an entire philistine battalion all alone maybe shama had worked extra hard that year planting that field of beans and maybe he just didn't want to carry home to his precious little family the bad news one more time that the philistines came and we don't have a crop maybe he was just sick and tired of the raids that left their crops in ruin and their fields barren and their children hungry and their homes depleted and all their hopes defeated maybe he was just sick and tired maybe something rose up in him that said this far but no further not here not now not today not this field not this time maybe shama just decided that day that he had finally had it up to here with the philistines or maybe shama had actually given this a lot of thought maybe it wasn't a split second decision after all maybe he had thought a lot about this while he was toiling day after day after day under the blazing sun in his field of beings no doubt he had anticipated this battle because the enemy had returned time and time and time again he knew the philistines would be back and he knew that the israelites would flee once again because the philistines always came and the israelites always ran after all it happened every few months at the end of every growing season he knew that it certainly wasn't easy to defend a field of beans because the field of beans is just a large flat feel with no cover and no place to hide and the bean vines are almost knee-deep so your feet get tangled up every time you move whenever you try to stand up you're an easy target to pick off by the enemy and the enemy can attack you from all sides because after all you're just out in an open field the terrain favors the philistines you are sorely outnumbered and anybody that could possibly help you well they've already hightailed it for higher ground and yet shama stood that day and he defended that field of beings as if it was a gold mine he stood his ground to deny the enemy even one seemingly insignificant piece of land because shaman knew something we need to know somewhere sometime you've got to stop retreating from the enemy somewhere sometime you've got to stand up to the devil somewhere sometime you've got to learn and recognize that the more territory you give up now the more territory you're gonna have to fight to get back later somewhere sometime someone has to engage in the battle so the question shama asked and answered is why not hear and why not now and why not me that's what happened in shama's heart that day it was just a field of beans not worth a hill of beans but god declared to israel in leviticus 25 and 23 this land i'm giving you this land shall not be sold forever god said for the land is mine you're strangers and sojourners with me this land is mine so shama said if this land is god's land then those beings are god's beings and this field is god's field and shama wasn't about ready to give up even a tiny part of his god-given inheritance to the enemy sometimes folks you choose your battles but sometimes in life your battles choose you king david chose shama as one of his three mighty men because when the battle chose shama sharma refused to run away when the battle chose shama shama refused to give in one inch to the enemy he stood and he defended a field of beans even when it wasn't a comfortable place or a convenient time to fight a battle we're the internet generation we've got so many celebrities telling us about how life should be and it's all fake and phony but we all want to dream big dreams and we all want to do big things but here's what almost everybody on this planet misses what we miss is the seemingly insignificant little things are the things that really count in the end little battles one day by day by endless day can result in big victories down the road there's so many people they want to do something big for god they want to be important in the kingdom but they don't realize you got to win one little battle here and one little battle there one little battle in the morning and one little battle in the evening one battle on tuesday one on friday one next monday you've got to win little battles over and over you remember this verse it's pretty short it's just six words but it's powerful paul said in ephesians 4 27 neither give place to the devil you see shama old testament he knew instinctively what paul in the new testament put so plainly don't you give the enemy even a little foothold in your life don't give place don't give space to the devil shama stood and he fought that day now i think the reason he fought so valiantly is because he knew if he gave up his somewhat insignificant field of beans he'd just have to fight the philistines later on some other battlefield shaman knew if they take the beans the barley will be next and if they take the barley they'll come back for the corn and if they take the corn the cattle will be next if you give up the field the fence will be next and if they take the fence they're coming back for the barn and if they get the barn they're coming for the house and if you give up the house the family will be next and if they take the family they'll take your future and it all started when you gave up a field of insignificant beans you see the devil is no dummy the enemy is going to fight until someone fights back he's going to push until someone pushes back he's going to invade our territory until we decide hey the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church and we start to invade his territory you could take this message a thousand ways but the lord directed me to take it this way what about your field of beings will you stand up and fight the little battles in your life that no one else sees seemingly insignificant seemingly inconsequential nobody is going to post your picture on social media and brag about you because you won over temptation on tuesday night or because you got victory over a lousy attitude on thursday morning or because you rooted out bitterness on saturday afternoon nobody is going to give you any props or any praise for any of that but if you will stand up and fight the devil where no one else sees in some of the insignificant places in life you will win a great victory down the road the enemy's going to push you until you push him back he's going to fight you until you fight him back but if you decide like shama this is my little field of beings you've come this far you're not coming one inch further it might not look like much to you but hey it's mine god gave it to me god gave me this life god gave me this body god gave me this mind god gave me my family god gave me my home and my possessions and whatever money i got so devil you were not getting one inch of it you were not getting any of it it might be insignificant on the scale of the world but hey it's important to me and if i fight him here i won't have to fight him later over there because i'll push him back i wish you'd lift up your hands and lift up your voice with a little bit of fight in it and say devil i'm tired of you messing with my mind and messing with my home i'm tired of you messing with my stuff this may be just a field of beans to everybody else but it's my field of beans oh i feel something in this room right now i feel something as the saints of god pray the devil's gonna fight you until you fight him back he's gonna push you until you push him back i wish somebody would just pray in the holy ghost for a minute we got a room full of holy ghost filled people i wish somebody would pray in the spirit there's something transmitted through a webcast when people pray in the spirit [Music] i refuse to give one inch of ground to the devil i refuse to give one family member to the devil i refuse to give my future to the devil i refuse to give my spouse my marriage my home my kids my grandchildren to the devil not one inch not one inch in the name of jesus in the name of jesus yes yes only you can answer it what is your little insignificant field of beings where the devil wants to invade now so he can get an advantage over you later will you stand and fight the little battles that nobody else sees will you look the enemy squarely in the eye stand your ground and drive in the ground of your field a no trespassing sign not my heart not my mind not my home no no no many people even christians have decided that the beans are not worth the fight those little battles those little skirmishes with the enemy they're insignificant nobody knows about them anyway and those people are too lazy or maybe too exhausted or too scared or too busy or too distracted to realize that any territory surrendered to the enemy becomes his launching point for the next assault from hell you can't afford to give him one bean patch you can't afford to give him one piece of property you can't because the bean patch you quit fighting for becomes the base camp for him planning his next invasion paul said it best i'll rephrase if you give the devil a foothold it eventually becomes a stronghold he doesn't need much he doesn't need much real estate in your mind to defeat you if you just give him a little bit he doesn't need much of a foothold in your home to set up a base camp where he can defile and destroy and discourage and debilitate every member of your family shama stood his ground all alone and yet not for one second do i think that he actually won the victory all by himself even though he stood there all alone no more than i think his mentor david defeated goliath all by himself not for a second what they couldn't see and what the enemy couldn't see is that when they decided i'm going to stand up to the enemy jehovah god stood up beside them and help them put the enemy to flight it wasn't i'm sorry if you think different i don't think it was david's precise skill with a slingshot i mean really this little leather thing with a couple of straps and he's swinging it in the air and it goes like a guided missile to a little patch of skin and skull on the forehead of a giant i think jehovah grabbed that rock as soon as it left that slingshot and i think he accelerated it like a bullet and took it right through the enemy's skull and took the enemy down and in the same way i don't think shama was all that great i don't think that he could grab one sword or one farming implement and wipe out a battalion of philistines but i think every swipe of that sword god just made every effort of shama go a little further and a whole battalion of enemy soldiers was left dead on the ground and the battle was won and israel was encouraged and they won the day because i believe jehovah stood beside shama and i believe god will stand beside you if you just say enough is enough is enough i put up with this junk this trash long enough devil you are not welcome here you are not welcome here you were not welcome in the square footage that i call my home you are not welcome in my children and my grandchildren you are not welcome when somebody decides this far no further this is my field of beings the enemy has no choice but to back off and back up shaman's name means it's not very pretty shaman's name means appalling desolation no wonder that's not a common name anymore this is our baby appalling desolation isn't she cute shaman's name means appalling desolation and that's exactly how we feel when the enemy is invading and the battle is raging and it seems like we are losing ground that's exactly how israel felt when they lost their beloved temple the beautiful city of jerusalem and they went into captivity it was appalling desolation but there was a prophet who labored and ministered and lived among them in captivity his name was ezekiel and we have his prophecy in our bible and israel he prophesied to the captives but he prophesied hope for their future and israel ends his 48th chapter prophecy by prophesying of a day when there will be this new and glorious temple that will be rebuilt and the very last verse the very last word of the prophet ezekiel as he tells about hope for the future and he tells about how god can step into appalling desolation and because he steps in it turns it around the very last verse of ezekiel reads like this describing that temple it was round about eighteen thousand measures it was big and the name of the city from that day shall be the lord is there in hebrew the lord is there is written jehovah shama because god can step into appalling desolation and when he steps in and he's there it doesn't matter what you are going through it doesn't matter how many defeats you've experienced it doesn't matter how many times the enemy has knocked you flat on your face in your own field if you'll stand up and push back jehovah says i'm going to be there and where there was appalling desolation and emptiness and loneliness and defeat and discouragement i'm going to show up shama thought he had a rotten name all his life he actually had a pretty cool name the the hebrew language is strange just vowel points being changed can change the inflection or the meaning of a word who would ever thought that appalling desolation would become the lord is there i got one better than that who would ever thought a group of people that were born in sin shaping in iniquity who would have thought a group of people that never knew anything about jesus and never knew anything about apostolic who would have thought we'd be sitting here in a service on a sunday night in the month of january in the year 2021 and we would have the holy ghost in our hearts see where there was appalling desolation now jehovah is there now jesus lives there and so you are not going to be standing alone when you stand up to the enemy you are not going to be fighting by yourself when you decide devil this far but no further i preach this message i come to this church family today because there's just something that is rising up in the people of god at this time and here's what we've got to come to i know we'd all love to see this big explosion of spiritual victory and see god just whoop the devil and put him to flight but god is way more interested in what he does through your life on your turf because if we have one big victory at 71 downing street that's one thing but if we have a victory in that house and in that house and in that neighborhood and in that apartment building and over there in that house and in that subdivision all of a sudden the victory gets won on a thousand battlefields your life is a battlefield i don't want to insult you but your house is a field of beans you say yeah that's right my house isn't worth a hill of beans where you live that's your field of beans where you live that's your battleground and if god can win a little battle over here and here and here and here and here and here that pales in comparison see we think that's the lesser that's the least that's the little god said no that's the big that's the massive if we can take what we've got and put it in every house so every house becomes a prayer meeting so every house becomes a place of victory so every house is a place that loves the word so every house is making disciples out of every family member and neighbors and friends all of a sudden shaman's little victory that only gets two verses in the bible it doesn't look so tiny after all it looks like it just might be the key to what we need to do in 2021 the devil will push until you push back the devil will fight until you fight back so i come to our church family with a war cry i'm really kind of ramped up about this i'm just telling somebody it's got to rise up in your spirit pastor can't do it for you the ministry team can't do it for you the great singers and musicians can't whip up a song that will do it for you you've got to do it for you devil i am so tired just about the time i think i've got a victory just about the time i think i'm making progress you sweep in and you steal the harvest that i've prayed so hard about and i've worked so hard for and i've fasted and i've sought god and you just swoop in and steal it well this time you've got another thought coming i'm gonna stand my ground and i am going to push you back and shama appalling desolation when you stand up jehovah steps right in beside you and besides shama is jehovah shama the lord is there i want you to raise your hands tonight your hands aren't all that important right now i'll tell you what is way more important than your hands is your voice would you get your voice up in the atmosphere would you get your prayer up in the airwaves and would you just lift it to god the devil's fighting some families that are in this room the devil's fighting some families that are in our other building the devil's fighting some families that are watching me right now online and somebody in that family has to stand up and pick up your weapon as meager as it is and say no further this is where i draw the line devil you're not getting a foothold to turn into a stronghold i push you back i push you down i push you out in the name of jesus in the name of jesus that needs way more than a 35-second prayer that needs a little push in the spirit that leads a little intensity in the holy ghost yes yes yes yes yes that's good why don't we all stand right now and why don't we lift our hands and if you're with somebody and you're in a bubble with them would you grab them by the hand and lift that hand with yours and let's pray right now one for another one for another families together couples together homes together let's pray one for another you don't know who's fighting a battle it might be little to you but it's significant to them it might be little to you but it is where life and death is going to be decided for their future so we need to push in the name of jesus i speak against the debilitating depression that is trying to bind someone's mind and spirit i speak against temptations and addiction and bondage that are trying to twist somebody's spirit into knots and pervert god's image in them i speak against the attack and the onslaught of the enemy in the name of jesus jehovah is there jesus is here devil you are defeated i push you back in jesus name yes yes yes yes yes yes yes i'm not ready to let go of this just yet there's something happening as the saints of god pray i believe it's happening right now though i can't see it in our other building i believe it's happening though i can't see it in your home right now [Music] [Music] in the name of jesus in the name of jesus right now i don't want you to let go of your bubble but i'd like you to turn around every different angle in this building i'd like you to face some other family some other person and i'd like you to just lift your don't touch them that's against the rules we'll be fine i just want you to raise your hand toward them i know the holy ghost if it can be transmitted across the internet it can be transmitted between your hand and your voice and that person so turn towards somebody and just pray for them pray for their home pray for their family pray for their kids pray for their grandchildren pray for their spouse if you don't even know their name just pray jesus show up in their house show up in their life stand beside them stand with them [Music] i rebuke sickness i rebuke disease i rebuke cancer i rebuke covenant 19. i rebuke every infirmity that is trying to attack the people of god in the name of jesus in the name of jesus [Music] in the name of jesus in the name of jesus let [Music] you got five minutes in your church it's about four minutes after seven i'd like to turn this place into a prayer meeting you can kneel you can be seated you can stand out of the other building you can kneel you can be seated you can stand why don't we give jesus five minutes of intense prayer five minutes of sword swinging spiritual activity to say devil i am not going home the same as i walked in i refuse to go back and lose the battle all over again in the name of jesus it's different in the name of jesus i'm pushing back in the name of jesus i'm gonna fight for [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] seasons so yes in the name of jesus in the name of jesus satan the blood of jesus is against you satan the word of god is against you satan the holy ghost is against you church the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are mighty your god to the pulling down of strongholds you don't have to put up with what the devil has been trying to put on you you don't have to put up with what the devil has been trying to put on you in the name of jesus in the name of jesus [Music] christ in the name of jesus i wish somebody would clap your hands and with every snap of your palms together i wish you'd envision chains breaking the devil isn't stronger than the name of jesus the devil isn't stronger than the blood of jesus the devil isn't stronger than the word of god the devil isn't stronger than the holy ghost greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world so stand your ground fight back push back in the name of jesus in the [Music] can you grab your bubble one more time take their hand if you're in the same home the same bubble with them i want to pray over you before we go lord jesus i don't know any specifics but i know why you laid this message on my heart so strongly it's because while your church is trying to push forward we got some people that are disconnected at home and day after day and week after week and month after month now they've been losing some little battles they didn't think it would be all that significant when they yielded to this or when they gave into that or when they allowed this in their home or they allowed this to have space in their thoughts they just thought it was a field of beans not very much at all not very significant but now the days have turned into weeks and the weeks have turned into months and they feel defeated and disheartened and discouraged and they don't know how to get back to where they were jesus i don't want to oversimplify their life or insult their emotions but the answer is actually pretty straightforward jesus put it in their heart to fight the devil put it in their heart to push back because the devil will fight until somebody fights back and the devil will push until somebody pushes back so put it in their heart to push and put it in their heart to fight and let this be their day and their week of victory over what the enemy has tried to take from them i refuse to give him an inch when you purchased the whole field i pray this over my friends over our church family and over everyone that will hear this message in the name of the lord jesus christ who always giveth us the victory somebody shout in jesus name that wasn't a good shout one more time somebody shout in jesus name and that's how you got to go home and that's how you got to go to sleep and that's how you got to get up in the morning and that's how you got to live every day this week don't think those battles are insignificant every one of them are important and if you'll win a few of those little battles you will be stepping on clouds by the time you get back to the house of god i speak it over you because i believe in you because you are god's people and you're his kids and with a god like that who who is for us who in the world could ever be against us don't you feel it it's amazing jesus you're a mess and god's people are amazing i love you so much thank you for being here thank you especially for being in the other building where it's a little less convenient and you're watching everybody on screens thank you for watching online our church family at home we're so thankful for you

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 9,290

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Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, preaching, sermons, sermon, raymond, woodward, jack, leaman, matthew, bible, study, biblical teaching, field, of, beans, field of beans

Id: Rmk_RjuYGcE

Length: 45min 23sec (2723 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 31 2021