 Amen. All right. Judges chapter three. So here we finally have some judges in the book of judges. So it's a real nice transition into Judges chapter three from Judges chapter two. So God was kind of explaining to us in Judges chapter one and Judges chapter two, you know, the reason for the book of Judges, not necessarily for the book of Judges, but the reason for the judges and the situation that Israel had gotten themselves into at the time. And now in Judges chapter three, we get into the situation where we see the point in time where the judges actually come into, you know, the picture. And in Judges chapter three, let's just get right into it in verse number one. You know, we get a little bit more clarity on the situation. God explains a little bit more on the situation that the Israelites are in. In Judges chapter three in verse number one, the Bible says, now these are the nations with which the Lord left to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan. So last week we saw that we don't want to be surrounded by our enemies and then turn on the Lord, right? That's a really stupid thing to do, right? So we don't want to be in that type of situation. That's where the Israelites were. They would go, they went into the Promised Land, they were surrounded by their enemies, and then they forgot the Lord. They turned on the Lord and that's a bad situation to be. But here we see that there's another reason here. We see the reason that the Lord had for leaving them surrounded by their enemies. So we see last week that there was a reason that they didn't want to go in the midst of their enemies and then turn on the Lord from their perspective. But now we see here an explanation on why God left some enemies around them. And so he's very specific on who he left surrounding them. Look at verse number two. It's interesting because he says, in verse number one, he says, you know, to prove Israel by them. And then in verse two it says, only that the generations of the children of Israel might know to teach them war. At least, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof. So there's a lot to be learned here, okay? So basically we're going to talk about this and apply this at the end of the sermon. But I just want to point out that, you know, we're going to dig into these first two verses at the end of the sermon with some application. But I just want to point out just one quick little side note is that this is the kind of parent that God is. All right? This is the kind of parent. He's like, you know what? I'm going to leave some enemies around you. I'm going to leave some enemies around you. So parents, you know, listen up, learn something from this. You know, dads take the lead here. Okay? Because the reason for spending time with your kids is not to just do everything for them. Okay? Because they are going to need to be proven. You need to put some challenges forth for your children. Because look, I mean, when you're spending time with your children, you should remember that there should be lessons in everything. You know, spending time with your children is not just to, you know, give them candy and fun times all the time. It's to actually teach them and prove them so they'll be ready for when, you know, they have those challenges put forth to them. Because it will come. So watch for this. They will be surrounded one day. I mean, we are surrounded today. I can't imagine what it will be like for these kids that are growing up. So look, this is the kind of parent that God is. He put the children of Israel in the midst and then he kept the enemies around them to prove them and to teach them war. Okay? Look at verse number three. And then he goes into who he left around them. And he says, namely, five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and Sidonians and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon from Mount Belhermon until the entering in of Hamath. And they were to prove Israel by them, to know. So what were they to prove? To prove is to test. Right? It's to test something. David said, you know, when he put on Saul's armor, he's like, I haven't proven this. He's like, I've never tested this. I've never fought in this before. So God is putting these people around them, putting their enemies around them to test them. What? Test them in what? Well, the test is right here. To know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their father by the hand of Moses. So if you remember Moses and Joshua and all the leaders were just constantly, you know, talking about when you get into the Promised Land. Don't forget the Lord. Don't forget. I mean, it's almost, it was so, you know, repetitive that it's just over and over and over in the Bible. And it's so, you know, they would understand that, you know, they were going to need to hearken to the Lord. But how did they do in the test? Look at verse number five. And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites. They Hittites, the Amorites, the Parasites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. So here we see right away, here's your first problem. They weren't supposed to dwell with them. Okay? They were surrounded by them, the Lord said, but they weren't supposed to dwell with them. So what did they do? You know, they just, they moved right in with them is what they did. And they took their daughters to be wives and gave their daughters and their sons and served their gods. I mean, they just, they, they, I mean, talk about fail. I mean, they failed the test. Okay? Notice, you know, by the way, you know, not only did they move in with them and live, dwell with them in the cities, but they began marrying, intermarrying into these people. You know, I mean, there's a, there could be a whole sermon on, you know, marrying the wrong person, marrying somebody who's not saved because what happens? It always, by the way, it's always the bad changing the good. Just remember that in your life. Just tattoo that in your brain because it's always the bad changing the good. It's never the other way around. You know, women, this is a problem with women, young women especially. All right? They're like, they meet some, you know, some loser, right? Some unsaved loser. And they're like, I can change him. No, you can't. He's going to change you. That's what will happen. Okay? Women are, they're, you know, young ladies many times. I've seen this so many times in my life. A young lady who's got this, you know, this, I can fix him complex. Just get rid of that complex. Okay? Find someone who doesn't need to be fixed. Okay? Or you'll be, you'll be, you'll be broken by it is what will happen. Okay? I've seen it many times. All right? Look, the bad always changes the good. I mean, where are the stories in the Bible? Think about this. Where are the stories in the Bible of, you know, the good nation changing the bad nation? Like they moved in with the bad nation, and they all got saved, and they all became Christians. Finding that story in the Bible. It doesn't exist. You know how they had to, they had to go to war with the bad nations. I mean, they were, that's why God didn't say, hey, go there and, you know, preach the gospel to the Canaanites. No, because God, God's wrath was already full against these people. They were already wicked. They had turned against the Lord, and God was done with those nations. And what he knew that if they dwelled with them and especially married them, I mean, Solomon's another good example of this, that they would, they turned literally to their false gods. They not only moved in with them, dwelled with them in their cities, married them, and then they turned on the Lord. It was the final thing. Look at Judges chapter three and verse number seven. So, I mean, the test, you know, if God was proving the nation of Israel, you know, the test is not going well at this point, okay? You know, they're not, they're not really passing. They're failing horribly. Look at verse seven. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Balaam and the groves. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan Rish Shatham, king of Mesothetamia. Brother Ryan did a lot better job on that. And the children of Israel served Chushan Rish Shatham eight years, okay? Verse nine. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, and the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel who delivered them, even Othniel, the son of Kenez, Caleb's younger brother. So, here's our first judge, Othniel, okay? Now, this is Caleb's, the son of Caleb's younger brother. So, we know who Caleb is. Caleb was one of the twelve spies. Caleb was one of the heroes of Israel, that he was one of the two people that was allowed to actually come in to the Promised Land. And his nephew becomes the first judge of Israel. I mean, look, turn to Joshua chapter 14. It kind of doesn't really surprise me that it would be someone that's related to Caleb, because toughness kind of runs in this family. That's another thing. Dads, maybe you should think about, you know, think about, you know, Caleb and, you know, he's the uncle of the first judge. Just think about, you know, maybe your character, maybe that influences further generations of your family. You know, Caleb was an extremely driven, tough individual. Look at Joshua chapter 14 in verse number seven. This is Caleb speaking. He says, 40 years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord sent me from Kedesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swear on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God." So he was 40 years old when he was a spy. Okay? And he says, And now, behold the Lord hath kept me alive, as he had said, these 40 and five years. So he's talking about, this is 45 years later. So how old is he now? Well, the Bible tells us, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, and now, lo, I am this four score and five years old. So here is Caleb speaking, and he was 40 years old when he was a spy 45 years later. So 40 plus 45, he's 85, which is four score and five. A score is 20 years. He's four times 20 plus five. So he's 85 years old. And look at verse number 11. As yet, I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me, as my strength was then, even so it is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in. This guy is saying that I am still able to go fight and fight a physical battle when he's 85 years old. I mean, that's, that's a tough old man right there. Okay. Look at Judges chapter 3 in verse number 10. Reminds me of my grandpa, just a side note. I mean, I always, I, when I, before I moved out to the farm, I always had to tell my wife if I was doing any work, like putting fence posts in, she could never tell my grandmother that I was doing that work, because my 89-year-old grandfather would come out there and help me. Right. And I'm just like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be the cause of the death of my grandfather. You know, so one day I was putting in a fence for our chicken coop and I was putting, there must have been 100 fence posts and my grandpa caught word that I was putting in a fence and so he's on his way over. So Jake or Garrett, it was Garrett and I went out and we made sure all the fence holes were dug, you know, with the fence, the post hole digger. And, you know, so when grandpa got there, he wouldn't have to do any work. And I mean, there was like 100 holes and I was inside the barn, sheeting the barn and he came out and I was like, the holes are done, grandpa. No problem. You just tell me how to, you know, do the carpentry inside here. He went out and he dug every single one of those holes eight inches deeper. So anyway, that's just a side note that this story reminds me of that. Anyway, Judges chapter three in verse number 10, the Bible says, in the spirit of the Lord came upon him, so this is Othno, and he judged Israel and went out to war and the Lord delivered Chushan, the rich chatham, the king of Mesopotamia, into his hand and his hand prevailed against Chushan, rich chatham. And the land had rest 40 years and Othno, the son of Kina's died. So we see the first judge. So here's the pattern, right? The people turned from the Lord. This is the pattern that we learned from Judges chapter one, Judges chapter two. The people turned away from God. They went into servitude. They went into bondage and God then had mercy upon them and he sent a judge to free them from bondage. And that first one was Othno. Look at verse number 12. And the children, here's the cycle. I mean, are we seeing a pattern? Are we seeing a pattern? The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. And he gathered unto him the children of Amon and Amalek and went and smote Israel. That means he defeated them in battle and possessed the city of palm trees. That's Jericho, by the way. If you ever see that in the Bible, the city of palm trees, Jericho. So the children of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, 18 years. Of course, Jericho is kind of on the border, right? I mean, what was the first city that the Israelites invaded? It was Jericho. When they were coming up into the Promised Land, there was Jericho. So it makes sense that that's the first city that they would lose to an invasion. So the children of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, 18 years. So first, they were in bondage for, they were in servitude to the other king for eight years, right? Now they're in servitude for 18 years. So I mean, almost 20 years. But then in verse 15 the Bible says, But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer. So here's another judge coming to help the people. It's mercy from God. Ehud, the son of Gira, a Benjaminite, a man left-handed. And by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon, the king of Moab. Now it's interesting, all these little details in the Bible that you get. It just makes like reading the Bible interesting. You know, I mean, these are, I mean, who could say the Bible is boring? I mean, these stories, I mean, first of all, I mean, they point out that he's left-handed. Why is that? And then he is the one that goes to, goes up to assassinate the king who has them under oppression. So here's some interesting facts for you. About 90, maybe 95 percent, it's tough to get an exact number of people in the entire world, by the way, are right-handed. So everybody, pretty much, the vast majority of people are right-handed. Okay, this is why I think that the mark of the beast is going to be in the right hand, by the way. Because, you know, if you think about if we're going to put something in your hand and this isn't really part of the sermon, we're going to put something in your hand and we have to create a bunch of infrastructure and machines to read that thing. You know, everyone's right-handed, they're just going to choose the right hand. Right? Because that's the hand everyone's used to using. But look, the overwhelming majority, and the interesting thing is that it is homogeneous across the world this fact that everybody, pretty much 90 to 95 percent is right-handed. So turn to Judges chapter 20. Judges chapter 20. So we see that the Bible points out here that he's left-handed. Now this isn't serious doctrine we're going to get in, I just want to explain why the Bible points this out. Okay, look at Judges chapter 20 in verse 16. The Bible says in Judges 20 verse 16 it says, among all this people there were 700 chosen men left-handed and everyone could sling stones at an hare breath and not miss. So look, it says that there was all these warriors but 700 were special. They were chosen. They were left-handed. I mean they were either trained to be left-handed or they were chosen because they were left-handed. Alright, so look the reason for this is because I mean I don't know if you've ever followed boxing or any kind of fighting or anything like this, but look if you're generally if you're fighting someone who's left-handed you are at a serious disadvantage. You say why? It's because everybody that you train against to fight is right-handed. That's why. Okay, so what are they doing? They're sword fighting. They're swinging swords. They're fighting in manual hand-to-hand combat and look somebody that's left-handed I mean that throws a wrench in things. I mean you have to train different against that person and there's just not going to be that much training that you have against a left-handed fighter because there's not that many people that are left-handed. You see what I'm saying? If I have a you know a wrestling team or something and you know there might be one person that's left-handed you know so it's tough to get a training against that type of individual. I mean think about even uh used to play a lot of baseball. Think about baseball. So I'm a right-handed batter and I can hit with a lot of power to the left field because you're swinging the bat all the way around and you get that momentum you can really you can really just crush the ball the left field. It's very hard for me a right-handed batter to hit with power to right field. That's why everybody says that the worst player on your team where do you put them? Right field. That's why because you can't hit with a lot most people 90 to 95 percent of people they just can't hit with a lot of power to right field but then you get a left-handed batter that comes out and he just crushes one to right field you know that's why he's such a powerful player on that team. Okay if you can hit with power to right field. Okay so look it's just it's a twist it's a it's a thing that's unique and makes you a better fighter one on one or better competitor one on one. Okay so that's why and as we see I mean he goes in for a literal assassination mission here we'll see that that is an advantage to him go back to the story. Now notice another thing notice how this guy went himself so he was the judge. Okay so look I mean some things can be delegated in life but some things shouldn't be delegated. This guy went I mean something that's difficult and that is super important as a leader you should just do yourself. Okay and even after you I mean you need to realize that some things are just too important to delegate they need to be done by you that's just a side note. Look at verse 16 of judges chapter 3 verse 16 but but Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges of a cubit length so a cubit is about 18 inches they say a cubit generally is the tip of your finger to the bottom of your elbow is another measurement that I've heard but it's about 18 inches so we're looking at a knife a small sword that's about a foot and a half long and he brought and he and he hit he did gird it under his raiment under his right thigh so he kept it on his he's left-handed he kept it on his right leg and he brought the present under Eglin king of Moab and Eglin was a very fat man and when he had made an effort now I mean we're going to get some more details here that maybe we didn't want to hear okay but here here we go this is the bible all right and he that made an end to offer the present he sent away the people that bear the present but he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal and said I have a secret errand unto the oh king who who said keep silent so he goes there and he gives this present so he can get close to the king and there's all then then he's close to the king and then he says oh but king Eglin I have a secret for you I have a secret to tell you a secret mission that I'm on that I can tell you so this guy gets rid of everybody else and he who came under him and he was sitting in the summer parlor which he had for himself alone and he who said I have a message from God unto thee and he arose out of his seat and he who had put forth his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly now I mean he was probably coming up to the guy with his right hand either to shake his hand or to give him a hug with his right hand in the meantime his left hand is going up and getting the sword so I'm sure that a king who is used to war and things like this what hand is he probably watching on on this guy to see if he's going to cause him harm he's probably watching his right hand okay because everyone is right-handed all right and the half to mean the the handle also went in after so he stabs him he thrusts it into his belly okay and the half also went in after the blade and the fat closed upon the blade so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly and the dirt came out okay now I'm going to explain this to you okay now as a first of all let me just say this as a hunter I completely understand this this this verse number 22 I'm going to ask brother Johannes if you'll come up here okay so the bible says he stuck the the dagger into his belly and the dirt came out okay so I mean it implies some kind of you know contamination or something like that okay so as a as a hunter growing up so we always knew I was always taught that when you shoot a deer you're a deer okay put your arms out like this like you're a deer okay so when you shoot a deer the way you're supposed to shoot the deer is right behind the shoulder blades okay because what's up here it's the heart and the lungs are up here okay and you don't necessarily even have to hit the heart because both lungs are here and here what you don't ever want to do and you're I was always taught this since I was this tall is you never want to shoot a deer here you never want to what we would call gut shoot an animal okay number one the animal you can go sit down brother thank you but number one the animal would not die right away and it would be a bad deal we don't you never want to have something suffer you want to have a nice quick situation when you're hunting but number two it contaminates everything you say why because down here is your intestinal tract okay so you go and you clean out or you you feel dress a deer after it's been killed I'm sorry for grossing you out but this is I mean we're talking about the Bible here you feel dress a deer after you shot it in the proper place there will be a lot of blood in the cavity because the animal has bled out internally that's good that's what you want okay what you don't want is to have the intestinal cavity broken apart because there's bacteria and that contaminates everything inside it contaminates the meat of the animal okay it's contamination so where did he stab egg long he stabbed him in the intestinal cavity and this is what happened okay he the dirt came out that's the contamination came out the intestinal tract of the man okay that's as far as I'll get I mean the point is is that you know the Bible is just giving you a lot of detail here on exactly what happened and I mean it's very clear okay so verse 23 so so he's killed the man okay he has killed the man he has stabbed him he has killed him and then E hood went forth through the porch and shut the doors of the parlor upon him and locked them so he closes the doors of his bedroom his parlor and he goes out and when he was gone out his servants came and when they saw that behold the doors of the parlor were locked they said surely he covers covereth his feet in his summer chamber now I'm not going to get too much detail into this but covering your feet in the Bible is used several times king Saul in the cave with David it means he's using the restroom okay covering his feet obviously you know your trousers cover your feet okay so that's what that is talking about there so they're they're like okay he's he's using the restroom in his parlor is what they thought and when he was gone out his servants came they saw that and they okay verse 25 um and they tarried till they were ashamed so they waited and waited and waited and waited and behold he opened not the doors of the parlor therefore they took a key and opened them I mean imagine I mean they probably gave him some time because I mean who wants to walk in on the king when he's using the restroom right I mean that's probably not going to go well so they probably you know gave him a lot of time all right so the Bible says in verse 25 at the end it said they took a key and opened them and behold their Lord was fallen down dead on the earth and E hood escaped while they tarried and passed beyond the quarries and escaped into syrith and it came to pass when he was come that he blew a trumpet in the Mount of Ephraim and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount and he before them so he kills the man he he has some time bought for him by locking him in his room and he gets away I mean so this is uh it was pretty impressive he assassinated the king and gets away and then he says under the children of Israel he says in verse 28 follow after me the Lord that delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand and they went down after him so I mean he's probably got some credibility at this point too I mean he's like hey come let's go to war why well I just killed their king so you follow me I'm sure that you know it wasn't hard to get the entire nation to go to war after he um did a feat like this and they slew of Moab at that time about 10,000 men all lusty all men of valor and they're escaped not a man now this is another interesting point but there's a reason that Ruth is right after the book of judges because um this is the same time that Ruth and Naomi so of course Naomi um her husband he moved to Moab there was a famine in Israel and they moved to Moab they were part of the people that moved amongst the the heathen they moved to Moab and then their sons Naomi's sons married um married these two women of Moab of Ruth was one of them okay the only the only virtuous woman in the bible the only woman not that there's not any virtuous woman in the bible but of course Ruth is a great book and Ruth is called a virtuous woman in the bible so of course a lot of people think that in this war is where these two husbands were killed okay because of course Ruth and her sister lost their husbands and then that's when Ruth went back to um Israel with um Naomi okay but that's just a side note same time frame at any rate okay so Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel and the land had risk four score years so how many years did the land have risk four score four times 20 80 years okay and after him was Shamgar so here's your third judge now we have another judge and we're not going to really get into Shamgar there's only one verse here about him but Shamgar the son of Anath which slew of the Philistines 600 men with an ox goad and he also delivered Israel so Shamgar we don't know much about him in the bible we'll talk about him a little bit later he's basically the judge between Ehud and Deborah is basically what we know about him Deborah of course coming up but I mean the bible says that this man's no slouch I mean he slew 600 Philistines with an ox goat an ox goat is like a like a cattle prod basically like a stick that you prod animals with okay we would have called it a cattle prod when I was growing up but so we don't know a lot about him so let's look at a little bit of application tonight of Judges chapter three go back to verse number one if you would so we see the first three judges so we finally got judges in the book of judges all right but let's look back at verse number one I just want to point out a few things here in Judges chapter three look at verse number one the bible says now these are the nations with which the Lord left to prove Israel by them even as many of Israel as had not known the wars of Canaan look at verse number two only that the generations of the children of Israel might know to teach them war at the least such as before knew nothing thereof so tonight I want to give you as just a little bit of application tonight I want to give you two reasons that God lets you be surrounded by your enemies out of Judges chapter three so I mean the bible is pretty clear here that there was two reasons that God left their enemies around them and the first one go to first Timothy chapter three first Timothy chapter three look at first Timothy chapter three the first reason that God because look God hasn't changed all right we are God's people just like the the Israelites were God's people so the first reason that God will let you be surrounded by your enemies in your life is this it's to prove you it's to prove you did Israel pass the test I'll just read for you verse number four you turn to first Timothy chapter three and they were to prove Israel by them to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses and the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites the Hittites the Amorites and the others and they took their daughters to be wives and they gave their daughters and their sons and serve their gods look Israel failed the test Israel failed the test but before we get too hard on them you know think about you know maybe how are we doing today how are we doing today do you think we're doing well today I mean I often think I mean we're coming up on a on an election season right so we'll hear these words liberals and conservatives and you know let's even say I'll even give the conservatives a little bit of a benefit tonight I'll say a conservative Christian how are the conservative Christians doing today you say the Israel Israelites failed right I mean the enemies look the enemies around them here's another thing the enemies around the Israelites and it applies to us as well the enemies around the Israelites they didn't have to fight them they didn't have to fight them they just had to hearken unto the commandments of the Lord the Bible says I mean they didn't have to fight these people that were outside their borders they just had to hearken onto the commandments of the Lord you know don't move in with them don't live with them basically don't become them is what God put in front of them are you in 1 Timothy chapter 3 look at verse number 10 what are we supposed to do it's exactly the same the Bible says and let these also first be proved he's talking about so I just want to point this is for me to point out what it means to be proved he's talking about deacons in a church he's talking about people that would be put into the office of a deacon which is very similar to the qualifications for a pastor but one of those qualifications is their first proved they're tested okay they're not you don't just say hey hey you just you just came to church here you know you're a deacon now you know no you have to prove yourself look do you have to prove yourself through your works and your deeds and all this to go to heaven no but you want to be a deacon in a church you have to prove yourself okay so that's what the Bible's saying you have to be tested and you have to pass that test so how are the conservative Christians doing in our country I mean all the all the Bible requires is that you don't become these heathen people all right look they failed is the American let me ask you this is the American Christian standing up for anything today are they standing up for anything today are they standing up against sodomy in this country today the American Christian are they standing up against just general immorality in this country the American Christian today no they're not standing up against most most Christians today are joining in all this immorality these churches you know these churches that just you know these church there's a lot of churches that might have the right gospel but they're joining in they're just changing and forgetting doctrines they're just like you know what I just won't preach that part of the Bible and then you know what bring them all in bring them all in anything goes here I mean the American Christians are joining in with this stuff I mean they're just letting it all happen and then and then you'll find some that are really oh you know the the real hard core Christians you know you hear this a lot today the ones that I'm not putting up with it I'm moving out of California I just heard another story like this of someone actually moving out of California what if the Israelites took this approach think about it what if things got tough and they're like man these wicked people they're moving into our cities let's go back to Egypt maybe a short old testament I mean be short story the children of Israel that's not I mean these people are terrible let's get out of here let's go back I mean but isn't that really the attitude today retreat I mean California is a beautiful state why do we want to give it up to a bunch of freaks and immoral people I mean why would we abandon ship you know people and then here's another thing these people in all these other states and I know plenty of them I've met plenty of them I used to be one of them all these people in other states they're driving around and they're pick up with their rifle next to them and they're like yeah you know we're tough you know and we're not going to put up with this you know what it's there too and things happening here are gonna they're either happening now in those states and nothing's being done or they're about to happen in those states that's what those people don't realize the same problems that exist here look the blue-haired devils are coming to you too coming to a city near you it's it's going to happen it's already happening I used to live there it's the same you had a pickup and a rifle and some tough talk and gun shows that's all it is it's talk and then I'm just gonna the american christian today I'm gonna watch fox news until it changes and if it doesn't change I'm gonna watch harder nobody's doing anything I mean where did this attitude for christians come from that as soon as we get surrounded we run away turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 what are we supposed to do what are we supposed to do what are we supposed to do I'll tell you one thing we're not supposed to run away we are not supposed to run away look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 look at verse 17 the bible is very clear what we're supposed to do it says wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate sayeth the lord and touch not the unclean thing and I'll receive you we're to be separate look that's what that's why we preach what we preach here all this stuff on all these standards and all this kind of stuff look it's not about going to heaven it's about being in good standing with your heavenly father and you know harkening under the commandments of the lord as we're surrounded by our enemies it's about not doing what they're doing it's not becoming what they are and it's about you know that is what we're supposed to do we must resist we must separate you know that's what we're supposed to that's why we teach separation here it's the same exact doctrine that god had for the children of israel the exact same nothing has changed so i mean we must resist we must separate that's what we're doing here that's what we're doing you know what you can do it it's possible it's possible you know it's possible to separate from the school system it's possible to separate from the world men we have to go out in the world and work in the world but we're not you know we don't become the world that's why you need to be a strong christian now i mean you can make the argument of what if it becomes illegal to separate okay well now we have something to talk about what if it becomes illegal to you know first of all it's not happening today it's not illegal to homeschool your kids it's not illegal to you know preach the bible yet i mean i can see it coming but it's not illegal okay now what if it is you know illegal all of a sudden in a state to homeschool your kids well now we have a problem because there's no way i would ever put any of my kids in public school never knowing what we know now so i mean then you have a problem then you have to separate further right that's not running that's separating separating so first we see that you know we're to be proven we're the reason that we're surrounded by all of this is there's many reasons for it but the reason god allows us to be surrounded by our enemies is because that he's he's testing us he's proving us okay we are to harken up to the commandments of the word doesn't matter how bad the enemies get we're to harken onto the commandments of the lord we're to love the lord we're not to become that we're to separate what's the second reason the second reason is this to teach the next generation war that is another reason that god left the enemies around them now i already talked about my grandpa but i'm going to talk about him again my grandpa a couple years before he died so my my grandfather you have to kind of understand this it's probably difficult for for people from california to understand this but my grandfather was someone and somebody in north dakota when when i was growing up we never really went anywhere and especially my grandfather he never went anywhere you were on the farm in the middle of north dakota you never went anywhere going to town was like a special thing and you know you never saw any of the world well my grandpa saw the world in 1944 he saw the world in the south pacific he was in all these big theater engagements he joined the navy and he was at okinawa he was at iwo jima he was in the philippines all these massive things that if you've ever read about world war two you've heard about these epic places these battles and he never and then he came home after the war in 45 and he just never really wanted to visit anywhere else after that i mean he said many times he said and this is a common theme in north dakota my father-in-law is very much the same way he went to vietnam and he fought in vietnam for a long time and he came back and he just wanted to stay on the farm for the rest of his life he's like i've seen the world i'm good and you know the thing is my grandpa never really talked about these types of things until the last couple years of his life and then he started and i should have recorded it we would sit around the dinner table and he would talk to me and garret probably even remembers this his great grandfather and he would talk about you know these situations these battles and he always talked about it from the perspective of you know how terrible it was and you know all the people that they offloaded on the ships they never saw again he's like we offloaded all these he drove a a troop transport have you ever seen those in the movies and he's like you know you get to know these people going over you know it's a long boat ride to the south pacific you get to know these people you drop them off and you never see them again and then you see the ones coming back you just talked about how terrible it was it was terrible but yes guess what you can really never know war until you fought in one you know i mean i i've never been in a situation like that and you know my father one never never talks about it and i've had some friends who who's who've been to war that have they'd have talked about it a few times but you can never really understand war unless you fought in a war that that's that's the reality of war and the problem is this is that the lord left those enemies there as a reminder that you always need the lord and as soon as they would turn away the enemies would rush in and then they would have to learn what war was about because it says the next generation after joshua died and after the elders died because those were the guys that fought the wars the next generation knew nothing of the war well they learned they learned about the war they literally found out how to fight war after they turned for the lord so the point that i'm trying to make here is there is no replacement for actual struggle there's no replacement for actual struggle this is why and let me apply it here this is why you should not strive to give your children this life of ease with no problems that should not be your goal no matter what they said to the next generation what moses said what joshua said what the elders said nothing could replace the actual struggles because the people that weren't involved in the actual struggle struggles turned to john 16 the people that weren't involved in the actual struggles it didn't matter the words that they heard they forgot turn to john chapter 16 and look at verse number 33 so the point i'm trying to make is that struggle is good for you okay and please a little side note of what i'm not saying when i talk to your talk about raising your children you will you will meet especially as you become separated christians you will meet these idiots in your life that will tell you that because you're homeschooling your kids and separating from the world and all these different things that hey you need to let your kids experience some they're talking about letting your kids experience sin you need to let them experience life they're saying you need to let your kids experience sin you need they need to go out and and fornicate and drink and they need to they need a taste of sin you will meet people like this it is wicked as hell that is not what i'm talking about you i mean you rebuke those people openly when they say that to you because that is wicked as hell and god forbid your kids hear that those people that are pushing that type of stuff you keep those people away from your kids because those are the same type of people trust me on this listen those are the same type of people that when you are not around will plant seeds in your kids minds about seeds of doubt seeds of discontent about the life that they're living okay look at john 16 verse 33 the bible says these things have i spoken under you that in that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer i have overcome the world turn to roman's chapter eight roman's chapter eight struggle struggle overcoming actual challenges i'm not talking about sin overcoming challenges and and pushing through those things is good for you look at roman's chapter eight verse 18 the bible says for i reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us it says that look we're talking about sufferings we're not talking about sin we're talking about tribulations we're talking about people that would persecute you that would put you in bad situations that would harm you or harm you know a christian for for their faith the bible says that what you suffer for that will not even compare to the glory that you will see turn to first peter chapter five struggle struggle will perfect you as a christian struggle will will perfect you as a christian look at first peter chapter five look at verse number ten the bible says this is but the god of all grace who have called us into his eternal glory there's that glory by christ jesus after you have suffered a while make you perfect so look it says after you've suffered it will make you perfect establish strengthen settle you struggles and sufferings in this life will make you perfect they will establish or establish you they will strengthen you look if you're older you know what i'm talking about they'll settle you they'll strengthen you they look it will make you stable it will make you a stable person that's why you know look people who are older are generally going to understand this a little bit more because they've gone through more struggles they've gone through more struggles in their life but no matter your age look past listen very carefully past struggles should should make you stronger past struggles look but they have the ability to weaken you past struggles have the ability to weaken you but the bible says that they should make you stronger what am i talking about if you're constantly we preached about this a few weeks ago if you're constantly looking back if you're constantly angry about your past or something that happened or somebody that did something or did you wrong or whatever if you're constantly looking back on that or resentful towards others you know that by by the way that's why our instructions in the bible forgiveness is to be a one-way street look ideally if brother george and i have a problem if you know he does something wrong to me ideally he's like sorry i wronged you brother and i'm like i forgive you brother that's the ideal situation but i have to forgive him no matter what forgiveness is to be one way because that way i move forward in my life if i'm constantly looking back that attaches me to him i'm a that's a weight to me that's how struggle will hold you back that's why you're supposed to forgive and you're supposed to move forward in your life look it can slow you down or stop you but it is supposed to strengthen you turn to roman's chapter five you say how i'm going to show you i'm going to show you the how struggle the bible says will strengthen you think okay now think before we read this think of a struggle that you have gone through think in your mind about a struggle that you've recently gone through or one that's uh big in your past or whatever look at roman's chapter five look at verse number two the bible says by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of god funny how that glory keeps coming up look this glory is going to be so great you can't even imagine it this glory that's why i mean paul is saying here he's like look he's just like whatever you're going through right now it's like it's nothing compared to the glory right but there's more and not only so he's like but there's more not only so but we glory in tribulations also why he's like okay there's this glory in front of us there's this glory that awaits us eternal life the glory is going to be like something we we can't even imagine he's like but you can glory in the tribulations also why that doesn't make sense i'm supposed to glory in tribulations something bad is happening to me or happened to me and i'm supposed to glory in that let's keep reading we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope make it not a shame because the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost which is given unto us notice the trend here this is where struggle should take you this is the trend think of a struggle you've gone through you should go from tribulation to patience what do you mean i mean that sometimes when you're going through tribulation you just got to grind it out you just got to get through it right you go through tribulation and if you're thinking about a struggle that you've gone through i'm hoping you're thinking about something you've gone through that's in the past didn't you come out of that aren't you here didn't you come out of that now you can look back and you're like wow i i i made it through that that took some patience that took some patience so you have look you have confidence you have now proved patience if you have made it through that struggle and you know you can be patient i mean there's some confidence there i know i can do that i can know i know i can come out of that that's patience and guess what patience leads to when you know you can do something you know i know i'm i'm pretty good at some things you're gonna get older you get i'm not i'm not good at other things like you know reading names out of the bible but i mean look you get when you get experience at something when you get patient you get through something you get what you get experience you get experience so now you've made it through you prove patience patience leads to experience and whatever that look whatever that struggle was you say what do you mean experience whatever that struggle was you are smarter and you are wiser now are you not i mean like look whether it was your fault or whether it was not your fault now you know say it wasn't your fault there was somebody bad doing something bad to you now you know now you know now you're wise now you know what to look for now you know the signs and guess what guess what people that have not experienced that battle that have not fought that war that you've been through they don't have that experience you know what that means that means you have the ability to be an incredible blessing to people do you know that because you know that you've gone through something terrible if you've gone through something terrible in your life say you've met somebody evil and wicked and you got that patience you got through it you have that experience now look there's no there's no replacement for war there's no replacement for what you went through somebody that didn't go through that they they can't understand what that's like they may fall into something like that but you have that experience now and guess what i mean guess what there's no replacement for if i'm walking through a jungle and i know nothing about jungles it should be nice to have somebody walking with me that knew every deadly snake and every deadly insect and everything about that jungle wouldn't you say wouldn't you say it would be nice to have somebody with that experience it would be great look this is why look this is why by the way that you don't want to teach your kids to never have struggles you want to teach your kids to never quit because there's gonna be struggles and if they struggle and they get through struggles and they get that patience that leads to experience they get through those temptations and those tribulations look you will not always be there for these kids do you know that you will not always be there back to our trend back to our trend remember that with your kids you will not always be there when you're raising these kids it's not all about the lollipops and fun now you're patient now you know you can handle things you're experienced you know how to recognize and deal with things you know what this gives us you know what this gives you and it gives the people around you you know what it gives them hope it gives them hope it gives those around you hope you know just like i said it's nice to be around people that are experienced and wise when it comes to things that can that can help you because look i i mean i'd rather not to have to have everybody go through the same war wouldn't you you don't want to have to have everybody go through the same battles and the same struggles as you so if you've gone through certain struggles you can give hope to others that they won't have to go through those struggles hopefully kids look hopefully kids have parents like this is all i can say parents that recognize that struggle is good because the ultimate you know we saw that that it started with tribulation right it started with tribulation tough times struggles and it ended with the best thing hope hope in what i mean hope and ultimately the glory of god it should not trip us up these struggles that we go through in our life it should make us stronger it has the great possibility if you are not listening to what the bible says to trip you up though look i mean just take some parenting advice from god from judges chapter three that's all i have to say look it's it's parenting advice from the lord it's it's we don't want to do everything he he's surrounding us with enemies our children they are going to go through struggles we will not always be there let's remember what the bible says they they need to be ready to be proven okay there's teachable moments in everything don't ever forget that as parents but don't ever forget that as individuals either that these struggles in our lives and i'm going to preach a whole sermon on this one day but these struggles in our lives they are not supposed to trip us up they're supposed to give us hope and if they're tripping you up you're looking at it wrong you're looking at it wrong because here's the thing if it trips you up if your struggles in your life trip you up you're not going to be that blessing to other people you're not going to give that because it's not just hope for you it's hope for other people you're like man that was rough what i went through there i don't want other people to go through that i have that experience now now i have hope to give to everybody around me you can be a great blessing to other people if we just follow what the bible is teaching us judges chapter three let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer