 So we're going to be looking at this passage in a moment. But before we do that, I saw a video that some of you perhaps have already seen. It was out yesterday. Excuse me, it was on the internet. And I saw it. And I'd like you to see it with me. It's really convicting. And so if I get convicted, I'd like to share. And so why don't we turn the lights off and show this video. Let me finish with this story. We go to China from time to time. And we train leaders. And this time we brought up 22 leaders from the Hunang province. And they rode 13 hours on a train to get to a hotel that they came up two by two in these elevators so as to not draw any attention. And then they got to a hotel room, a little apartment room. It's only about 700 square feet in the little living room. No air conditioning, hardwood floor, 22 sat there. I came in and when you teach in China, you start at 8 in the morning and you don't get done till 5 at night. You teach the whole day. They were sitting there all 22 of them and I looked around. I said, now if we get caught, what will happen to me? They said, oh, you'll get deported in 24 hours and we'll go to prison for three years. I said, you're kidding. How many of you have been in prison for your faith? Out of 22, 18 raised their hands. I thought, no way. I looked at them and I said, you 22 people, how many people do you oversee? Because they were all of these small group leaders, underground church leaders in the Hunang province. I said, how many of you counted up all the people under your jurisdiction? How many would it be? And they counted them up and they said, a little over 20 million. I said, what? See, we forget there's 1.3 billion people in China. This is crazy. Well, I had 15 Bibles and I passed them out. Obviously, seven didn't get them. And I said, let's turn to 2 Peter chapter one and we're going to read it. And just then one lady handed hers to somebody next to her. And I thought, hmm, interesting. What we turned there anyway. And as we started reading it, I understood why she gave it away. She had memorized the whole thing. She just recited the whole chapter. When it was done, I went over to her at a break and I said, you recited the whole chapter. She says, oh, yes, I've memorized many chapters. I said, where did you memorize any chapters? She said, in prison. She said, you have much time in prison. So I said, but don't they confiscate the Bible? And she said, yes. So people bring in scriptures written on pieces of paper and they bring it in. So I said, but then if they find that piece of paper on you, won't they confiscate that? She said, oh, yes, that's why you memorize it as fast as you can. Because even though they can take the paper away, they can't take what's hidden in your heart. I thought, wow. Well, after three days, you fall in love with these people. And when it was done, I said, how can I pray for you? I'm going to go back to America and you guys have been just so wonderful. How can I pray for you? They said, you know, Wayne, you guys can gather like this whenever you want to in America. We can't. Could you pray that one day we'll be just like you? And I looked at him and I said, I will not do that. Big, incredulous eyes looked at me and they said, why? I said, because you guys rode a train for 13 hours to get here. In my country, if you've got to drive more than an hour, people don't come. You sat on a wooden floor for three days. In my country, if people have to sit more than 40 minutes, they leave. You sat not only here for three days on a hard wooden floor, but you did it without air conditioning. In my country, if it's not padded pews and air conditioning, people don't often come back. In my country, we have an average of two Bibles per family. We don't read any of them. You hardly have any Bibles and you memorize them from pieces of paper. I will not pray that you become like us, but I will pray that we become just like you. Convicting, huh? If you're not convicted, you're dead. Very convicting to think about that. I've had opportunity to be in China and I met with an underground church leader and they didn't give me his real name. They gave me a code name and I met him in a park in Beijing and sat there with this older man who gave me his testimony, he gave me his story, how that he had been arrested for being a Christian and he left behind his wife and I think it was like six children. And he spent many years in prison for his faith in Jesus Christ and he shared with me the cost that he had paid to preach the gospel and he had finally been released and he said when he got out, one of his children and only one of them was not a follower of Christ and that is the smallest child that he had left behind when he went into prison. We had smuggled Bibles in and I still remember when we arrived and made the exchange. We had some suitcases that were filled with Bibles. It was illegal to bring Bibles in but we would rather obey God than man and we took God's word in for these people. Even as you heard, they don't have Bibles but they have our scraps of paper and so we brought them Bibles and so I still remember when the Bibles were brought how that the people who were going to transport them to give them to those who were going to be receiving the gifts of Bibles, how they were looking down at the suitcases and crying and we, like Wayne was just saying, many of us have more than one Bible, they have none and how they were crying because they got the word of God and so for many years now the Holy Spirit has been working in my heart related to that and I'm going to say this before we get into our study. I'm going to say that there are people who don't understand the passion that some of us have for the things of the Lord. This world that we live in negates the passion of a person of Christ. They try to make wrong reason and guys like wrong including myself. They try to make us seem like we're the oddballs and we're out of step and we don't understand but in reality we see much more clearly than they do and we see where this world is going to and this world is going to hell. There was never a time when we would march in parades, when people would march in parades and men dressed as women for homosexual or transgender rights, that did not exist. You know, when you think of the storming of the beaches of Normandy, those were men who knew what right was and they knew what wrong was and we need to come back to those days. We need to, we need to and because we have many right now who aren't aware of what it means to be a man of God. We have been shouted down by strident voices but I really believe it's time for the men once again to take our place in the position that God has given to us to be the examples to our sons and daughters, to be the faithful husbands to our wives, to be that son who honors their dad, who honors their mom, to be men of character and strength and men of faith and we want to see that today and I want to show you that in 1 Samuel chapter 14 and so beginning at verse 1 and reading to verse 15, it happened one day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to the young man who bore his armor, come let us go over to the Philistines, garrison that is on the other side but he didn't tell his father and Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibe under a pomegranate tree which is in Migrone. The people who were with him were about 600 men, Ahia, the son of Ahitub, Icobod's brother, the son of Phineas, the son of Elie, the Lord's priest in Shala was wearing a Nephot but the people did not know that Jonathan had gone between the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines garrison. There was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side and the name of one was Bozez, the other, and the name of the other, Sene. The front of one faced northward opposite Mikvash and the other southward opposite Gibeah. Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, come let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised, that may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing restraints the Lord from saving by many or by few. So as armor bearer said to him, do all that's in your heart, go then, here I am with you according to your heart. Then Jonathan said very well, let us cross over to these men and we will show ourselves to them, if they say thus to us, wait until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them, but if they say thus, come up to us, then we will go up, for the Lord has delivered them into our hand and has designed to us. So both of them showed themselves to the garrison the flistings, the flistings said, look, the heavers are coming out of the holes where they've been hiding. Then the men of the garrison called the Jonathan and his armor bearer and said, come up to us and we will show you something. Jonathan said to his armor bearer, come up after me, the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel. Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armor bearer after him and they fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer killed them. That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about 20 men within about half acre of land that was trembling in the camp in the field and among all the people the garrison, the raiders also trembled the earthquake so that it was so that it was a very great trembling. I was in Germany just last week excuse me, I was there I picked something up and brought it home with me. It's a souvenir. It's a virus. Excuse me. So I'm hoping that I'll be able to share today without being too messed up. Now, let me ask quickly, is the volume okay because it feels like it's low. Is it okay? Is it alright? It's okay, okay. Louder, some deaf man over here. One of the greatest enemies that Israel ever encountered was the Philistines. The Philistines were a seafaring people from the island of Crete they migrated to southern Israel on its coast. By around a thousand BC they had established five major cities Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath and Gaza. Early in their history the Philistines became enemies of the nation of Israel. In Chapter 13 the Philistines had gathered an enormous army to attack the nation. They had 30,000 chariots 6,000 horsemen a huge amount of foot soldiers. Jonathan the son of King Saul had attacked an outpost of Philistine soldiers the Philistines gathered a huge military force to go against Israel. Again they had thousands of chariots, cavalry and foot soldiers. Now Saul the king of Israel had assembled his troops for battle but he could only muster 600. We need to remember that Israel's army was made up of militia. There were farmers. None of them had swords. That prevented them from making swords and spears. Only King Saul and his son Jonathan had swords so the rest only had farming tools. The Philistines were so confident that they simply assembled the troops to attack and they dispatched a garrison 50 soldiers to the pass of Mekhmas and they waited. Now it says in verse 1 it happened one day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor come let us go over to the Philistines garrison that is on the other side. He didn't tell his father so within two or three days Jonathan then made a decision to see what the enemy was up to and he crossed the pass that separated his position from the Philistines there in southern Israel. But he didn't tell his father according to verse 1. Now he didn't inform his father and he obviously would have said you can't do that. So he chose to enter into this operation accompanied only by an armor bearer and the armor bearer was a trusted assistant one who carried the commander's weapons. When you read about the armor bearer let me show you just a moment about armor bearers. When you read about the armor bearers and you'll see them often because all warriors of distinction had what were called personal armor bearers that were talking about them these were men that were well trained these were men that were fierce fighters these were men that were trusted that were trusted they would carry the large shield they would carry the weapons of war that would free up the commander to do what he needed to do he was courageous, he was fierce he had a great character well trained and he was someone who was loyal into the depth this is somebody who had your back you wanted near you this is somebody that if an enemy were to come against you this armor bearer would lay his life down in an instant without even thinking to protect you. There aren't very many armor bearers today there aren't very many men who would qualify as an armor bearer because there's not very many men who are courageous and loyal and fierce and willing to fight when necessary we have sysified the church and we fail to realize that there are times that you have to prepare for war there are times when you have to plant your feet on the ground and say this is as far as I'm going to go and I'm not going any further I'm going to stand here the line is drawn in the sand and I'm going to stand up for Jesus Christ and what is right no matter what you say and God is calling us men today to draw that line in the sand and to say no, we will go no further we're going to stand true to Jesus Christ we're going to hold fast and that's what the armor bearer would do that's what the armor bearer was he was a warrior, he was fierce, he was courageous he was a good man and he was somebody who would take care of that one who was over him the one who was in charge of him and so we see that armor bear and as this is taking place according to verse 2 Saul was sitting in the outskirts of Gibea under a pump granite tree which is in Megron so just a few miles north of Jerusalem Megron was there and Megron is a common word for a cliff and so the area was mountainous, that's what it's pointing out and Saul's troops had dwindled to like said a moment ago around 600 men and that's where they were now according to verse 3 Ahia the son of Ahitub Iqamad's brother, the son of Eli well what you see here is you see Ahia, he's the great grandson of the former high priest Eli so this is what the group of people that are gathering right now and so verses 4 and 5 speak about the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines that's just a geographic marker Jonathan says and this is what I wanted to pick up on and share with you though in verse 6 Jonathan says said to the young man who bore his armor, hey come let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised it may be that the Lord will work for us for nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few I want to look at that with you for just a moment that's really the heart of what I want to share with you today that gives us insight into the faith and courage of this one named Jonathan now had you read up to this portion of scripture in 1 Samuel you would see that Jonathan has already shown great courage because he had already attacked their garrison but that wasn't enough for him he wanted to deal them an even harsher defeat so notice how first Jonathan says let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised notice that now when he speaks of him that way he's calling them pagans but it actually goes deeper than that he's saying they have no help coming from God because they don't know God so when he says let's go against these uncircumcised you have to take into consideration that circumcision in the nation of Israel is the emblem of Israel's relationship with God so as a believer in God in proper relationship with God Jonathan could expect the help of God and he could say let's go against these uncircumcised let us go against these pagans let us go against these who have no relationship with God God is on our side is the point he's making and God would never be on their side now there are guys who say they lost their faith in God because God didn't help them well sometimes they're complaining about not being helped by God well sometimes they're simply reaping what they've sown they've poured into their family a bunch of negativity as long as they've had a family they haven't been faithful to the wife they've been drinking doing their drugs and not raising their kids properly don't go to church they don't do any of that and the wife finally says I've had it with you I don't want to go with you anymore I don't want to be with you anymore God's abandoned me you haven't been walking with the Lord you're reaping what you're sowing and instead of getting upset at God you ought to get on your knees and repent because it's what you're doing you know we blame God for what we do now Jonathan was able to say God is on our side because Jonathan was walking right with God and that's why he would speak of him as an uncircumcised individual the Bible says in Psalm 66 verse 18 if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear so when we put something between the Lord he's going to deal with that thing which has been put between us and him before he answers anything we have to say so in Jonathan's case Jonathan had hope in the God who was there for him Psalm 146 verses 5 and 6 reads happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God who made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them who keeps truth forever so Jonathan was saying that he had a relationship with God and that God would be with him these Philistines didn't know God and therefore would not be protected by him notice again in verse 6 he says it may be that the Lord will work for us he trusted God he didn't presume on him and when you move out in faith you don't put God to a test it's an attitude of let's see what God wants to do through us God is able to do abundantly above all we could ask or think and when you read your Bible you see that God does amazing things and you see amazing men of God you see God doing tremendous things through people you see God moving you see a man by the name of Abraham being able to have a child and yet at the age of 99 you see him stepping out in faith and having relations with his wife Sarah who's 90 years old and they end up with a child you see that he had faith and he was moved by it you see Moses standing there at the red sea and the red sea parts before him why because his God was going before him you see Daniel and Daniel's in a lion's den and you see Daniel there before this lion the lion's mouths are shut and Daniel was walking right with God you see David you see King David who sees a Philistine giant 9 foot 9 probably weighed about 700 pounds and he just looks at him and he says God is going to give this man into my hands why because this is an uncircumcised man and God is on my side listen it doesn't matter how large your enemy is you have a bigger God and you need to remember that if God is on my side who can be against me if I'm following the Lord properly I'm listening to his voice who can be against me and God has a way of doing those things that we don't even understand you see he says nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few so Jonathan knew that the God that he worshipped is the God of the possible again God has a way of moving we have an awesome God who does whatever he desires Job 42 verse 2 says I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you Jeremiah 32 27 behold I am the Lord the God of all flesh is there anything too hard from me Luke 1.37 with God nothing will be impossible Luke 18.27 Jesus said the things which are possible with men are possible with God and so he says let's see what God wants to do let's see what God wants to do you guys ever think that way you guys ever wake up that way do you think only pastors and missionaries and full-time workers think that way no you need to think that way too you need to wake up in the morning and say what does God want to do today what does God want to do today in my life what adventure does he have for me today you wake up that way Lord here I am I want to do what you want me to do I drive a truck doesn't matter that's still my ministry and where I go I have opportunity to shine for you now we're going to start it doesn't matter because what I'm doing is servicing to you it provides a paycheck for my family but it's my ministry for you so Lord what would you have me to do whatever it is whatever it is you need to realize that your life is a duty to God and it doesn't matter if you drive a truck or work in a store or business it doesn't matter what it is is your ministry and what is it that the Lord wants to do today what do you want to do and I want to be there at the place where you can use me to speak for you or to do something on your behalf and so he's saying let's see what God wants to do let's see if the Lord will work for us nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or few so verse 7 the armor bearer said to him do all that's in your heart go then here I am with you according to your heart if you turn around and move he's saying I will be right behind you you lead I will follow I will share in your dangers it's a way of saying I'm with you I'll tell you something when you have people in your life when you have people in your life who have your back who say you know what I'm with you let's see what God wants to do you'll be surprised at the amazing things God will do with you you'll be surprised at the amount of work that can be accomplished when you have somebody who says you know I've seen God working you and I know God does and I want to be part of the blessings whatever they may be I want to follow you I want to have a venture of faith I want to step out and I want to be part of what God does and God will bring men into your life that will be like that when you're doing something for Jesus when you're out there wanting to be a blessing on his behalf there will be people out there who will be your bearer do all that's in your heart go then here I am with you you lead I will follow according to Psalm 46 verse 7 the Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge so Jonathan's a man willing to take a venture of faith and his armor bearer supported this he didn't say anything to undermine the heart was in sync with Jonathan's he trusted in the same God you know I don't mind people when they share with me their reservations if I say you know I think the Lord would have us do this I don't mind people will say well have you thought I think that we need to have people we're accountable to but what I don't like to have around me is is those aeors I don't even know if you know what an aeor is when my kids were small there was a poo and there was that donkey named Eor and he was always always like that man I can't stand that I don't mind if somebody has reservations that's alright that means you're thinking and you're considering that's not a bad thing but if you're always saying that can't be done oh that can't be done I don't want a person like that around me because I know what can't be done but with God all things can be done I don't want a person like that around me who says let's do what God wants to do let's do what God wants to do and so this is one who didn't undermine what God might have wanted to do and so in verses 8 through 10 Jonathan said very well let us cross over to these men and we will show ourselves to them if they say thus to us wait until we come to you then we'll stand still in our place and not go up to them but if they say thus come up to us then we'll stand into our hand and this will be a sign to us now Jonathan wasn't tempting God he was trusting God he's trusting that God would reveal as he was leading him and he had a plan he says if the Philistines say we'll come to you well they're showing courage but if they say come to us well that revealed that they were afraid to leave their positions to fight so verse 11 look the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden the men of the garrison called to Jonathan in his armor bearer and said come up to us we'll show you something Jonathan said to his armor bearer come up after me the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel so the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and immediately noticed Jonathan sees that that God is in this and he tells his armor bear let's go with Jonathan leading the way and they began to slaughter their enemies in a small area of land a great victory is about to be won they killed 20 enemy soldiers they may have thought that there were more than just two attacking them and there was trembling according to verse 15 there was trembling in the camp the field among all the people the result was great fear a terror that weakened even the special ops troops on top of this was an earthquake that they understood us from God now ventures of faith ventures of faith continue to this day it requires trust in God it requires direction from God it requires confirmation from God it requires faith and courage on the part of the person who's stepping out for God ministry itself is a great adventure of faith it's simply trusting that God will go before you and we've seen God do that here and those of you who are pastors you can say the same thing for what you've seen in your own ministry we started in a home in May of 1981 we had Wednesday night Bible studies we moved to Ontario we occupied a church on Vine streets then central school, then Ontario Christian elementary school we purchased property on Maple Street we rented Ontario high school we bought this property we tore down structures we built bookstores, we built classrooms we built the sanctuary in every step of the way we've said perhaps God will work for us maybe God wants to do something bigger than we can imagine why would we limit him if we didn't think like Jonathan I'd still be teaching a Bible study in a home in Pomona but you have to believe that God wants to do something greater you have to have a vision an eye to see there's a need out there somebody has to minister to them why not you why can't you do that why can't you reach somebody why can't you speak faith into their heart why can't you present the gospel of Jesus Christ why do we have to rely on other people God is relying if you will on us just to be obedient because he gave us what we need he gave us the word of God he gave us the power of the Holy Spirit and he gave us commission go out and speak watch what God will do when you obey that's a venture of faith at stepping out in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ God wants to do something you see there's Jonathan Jonathan says let's see what God wants to do today what an attitude what an attitude let's see what God wants to do perhaps God will work for us so there's a Jonathan but there's also an armor bearer there's somebody who says do all that's in your heart here I am with you none of what we have in ministry would have happened if God didn't bring to us armor bearers children's ministries armor bearers greeters armor bearers armor bearers parking lot attendants and worship teams armor bearers we're able to have men's conferences we're able to have outreaches we're able to have retreats we're able to have breakfast we're able to have small groups we're able to have hospital visitations we're able to go on missions we are able to have follow up ministries we're able to have Easter choirs because people see the big picture and there's so much that can be done when you have somebody like that next to you are you an armor bearer are you somebody who says what is in your heart and you know that it's right before God what is it in your heart my heart is with your heart let's go and see what God wants to do today what an adventure that is when you have a heart like that there's so much that can be accomplished when you have armor bearers Jonathan could have stood there alone even questioning himself but for his friend you can have all the faith in the world but so many times God will bring others alongside sometimes you have a task that's just for you like when David stood before that giant Goliath nine foot nine as mentioned a moment ago six to seven hundred pounds of warrior but David wasn't afraid of him not because David was a great warrior but because he had a great God you come to me you said with your with your javelin and all but I come to you in the name of the Lord and I'm going to cut your head off today now that's a man that's a dangerous man to have as a friend but is a good man to have in a pinch David and so we know there are times when God will say no you're going to do a work I'm going to show you how great I am on your behalf but there are other times where God says it's always going to take a team really in normal ministry it takes a team it takes a number of people it's not just one person sometimes it is most of the time it's many and I have to have we need to have people who are alongside of us who lift our hands up they're doing the work that I can't do I can have all the faith in the world but God needs to bring others alongside there are times that God calls you to serve alongside of others in the task he has before you and that requires an armor bearer in Philippians 2 19 through 22 Paul said it like this he said I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly that I also may be encouraged when I know your state for I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state for I'll seek their own not the things which are of Christ Jesus but you know his proven character that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel I can tell you as a pastor of a few years experience now that I like Raul was sharing a little earlier I know the joy of having loyal men beside me I know that joy men who are like Jonathan who say what's in your heart I'll go along with it let's find out what God wants to do I've had plenty of men like that and then I've had men like Judas I think of how that Judas heard every message that Jesus ever gave he saw the works that Jesus performed and he still betrayed him and there are plenty of people who've heard plenty of messages and have seen God do plenty of things who still in the end don't have a a faith in their heart to trust that God could do something on their behalf I believe that God wants to make us into in these last days he wants to awaken us to the fact that that we're warriors that you're a warrior you need to know that you need to know that you're a warrior you were not born again to sit on the sidelines watching the women leave the church you were not born again to let your wife run the home you were not born again to let other people train your children in the ways of God you were born again to be the captain of your home to be the warrior in your house that's what you are and you need to understand that you need to understand that I thank God for my godly wife she's more than I deserve and there's no doubt about that but my wife isn't the boss of the home Jesus Christ is and I am under him and she is under me and that's how it works in the house and my children, even as their adults still know who is the boss of the home it isn't mama it's daddy under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit I take these things seriously why? because that's how God established it and why is our society so poor today in terms of what it should be it's because the men have vacated their position of leadership so I'm calling us this men today to take that mantle back God has called you to be a leader ask God how can I best serve this family how can I best serve my wife how can I best serve my fellowship how can I become the man you want me to be because lord there's just not enough time when I look and I see what's going on in our society today cities that are filled with filth and syringes on the ground and feces on the sidewalk and I see what's going on with people saying hey you know what let's take care of the eagles but you can kill babies there's something wrong with this society and it's time for men to stand up and say no we're going to stand up for Jesus Christ and we're going to say the things that are true be a man be a man that's what God created you to be be a man and may God help us to learn how to be velvet and steel velvet in our tenderness towards others steel in our character and strength God help us to be that to be the men that God would have us to be because if there's anything this society needs today it's an awakening in the men to be the men that God created us to be no doubt there's no doubt