July 22, 2025 • 28 mins
Christian ; Follower of GOD Servant of CHRIST
Decorated Combat VeteranCorporate; U.S. Marine Corps Urban Warfare Instrictor;
S.R.T. Commander Active Shooter Response Team
Law Enforcement Los Angeles Police (L.A.P.D.) Police Officer / Fugitive Recovery
F.B.I. Instructor N.R.A Instructor
Competition Shooter; Multi Time State Rifle Pistol Champion
Hunting; Life Long Hunter Proffessional Hunter and Guide
Private Security Contractor; Several Agencies, Current.
GOD Provides / JESUS Saves
Decorated Combat VeteranCorporate; U.S. Marine Corps Urban Warfare Instrictor;
S.R.T. Commander Active Shooter Response Team
Law Enforcement Los Angeles Police (L.A.P.D.) Police Officer / Fugitive Recovery
F.B.I. Instructor N.R.A Instructor
Competition Shooter; Multi Time State Rifle Pistol Champion
Hunting; Life Long Hunter Proffessional Hunter and Guide
Private Security Contractor; Several Agencies, Current.
GOD Provides / JESUS Saves
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is going on Alpha Males. Now, this episode is
one that came out first on Simple Man Sermons. I'd
like to think that everybody here listens to Simple Man
Sermons and Gunfighter Life listens to Simple Man Sermons, but
I don't know that that's the case. My goal is
that everybody would listen to Simple Man Sermons. I hope
(00:20):
for the other two podcasts, Alpha Male Podcasts and Gunfighter
Life to kind of be funnels. The primary point of
life is to grow closer to God, to serve God,
to love God. All three podcasts, hopefully in their own way,
do that. That being said, this episode of Simple Man
(00:41):
Sermons I think has a lot of crossover with this audience.
So maybe this will get you over to Simple Man Sermons.
It's a Bible study and versus for Christian warriors. I
hope you enjoy and welcome to Simple Man Sermons, the
(01:05):
preachings of a simple man called by God to share
the good news of Jesus Christ. Today, I'd like to
do a dive into case study of being a warrior,
being a godly Christian warrior. What God himself has to
say about being a warrior and about being a man
(01:29):
of God. I like to go to the beginning. Let
us look all the way back to the creation of
man in the book of Genesis. Then God said, let
us make man in our image, according to our likeness.
(01:50):
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the year, over the cattle, over
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth. So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God. He created him male and female.
(02:14):
He created them. Then God blessed them and said to them,
be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the
birds of the air, over every living thing that moves
on the earth. We could do, by God's grace. Sermon
after sermon after sermon on just that one passage. There's
(02:35):
so much in that. In the image of God made
me the image of God, and it's a lifetime dedication
and focus to better understand God and grow closer to God.
People often wonder what the meaning of life is to me.
I think it's pretty clear. The meaning of life is
to grow closer to God, to better understand God, to
(02:56):
fall in love with God, to love him more. The
first of all the commandments is hero Israel, the Lord
our God. The Lord is one. And you shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
This is the first commandment that's from the mouth of Jesus.
When you love somebody, to be in a relationship with them,
(03:16):
you must understand them. You must understand them. There's so
much that goes into the character of God. But Exodus fifteen,
the Lord is a man of war. I don't shy
away from that passage. The Lord is a man of war.
(03:39):
I myself being a man of war. I don't often
talk a lot about my buyout on simple man's sermons,
but very much think sadly, before I knew that I
was supposed to be a Christian, I felt the call
to be a warrior. I joined the Marine Corps at seventeen,
(03:59):
have been to war twice. I have was a Marine
Corps infantry, which is kind of like the epitome of
a modern day warrior. I think I rose to the
rank of sergeant in the Marine Corps. Is also a
sergeant in the US Army. I was also a police
officer worked LAPD which is a different kind of warrior.
Been a private contractor, which is kind of mercenary work,
(04:22):
if you want to think of it that way. Also
been the commander of a tactical team to stop active
shooters here conis here domestically continental United States. I was
the commander of a team to stop active shooters. We
were modern day warriors. I see no contradition there. Why
(04:44):
because we are made in the image of God. I
mago day, made in his image. The Lord is a
man of war. Now that's not all that he is.
There's so much to God and so much to unpack
and understand. It's a lifetime again, a lifetime dedication. But
the Lord is a man of war. I don't shy
away from that. We shouldn't, as Christians try to make
(05:06):
God what we want him to be and behave like
we want him to behave. No, that is a wrong
view and a wrong relationship of God Almighty. We should
we should conform ourselves to be like God, to behave
like God. Now, some things lie in God's power, and
(05:26):
we shouldn't usurp that. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against
the children of your people. That is straight up God's word,
God's law. But we see that the Lord is a
man of war. I don't know that every this is
getting into like personal conviction. I don't know that every
man is called to be a man of war. But
(05:47):
I see no contradiction there if we look at David,
a clear case study of this, a man after God's
own heart. He's a man of war. He slays beast,
he slaves men. It has sung about him that he
slayed tens of thousands. He was even what you might
call a mercenary. He went and fled his own government
(06:08):
and his own king and served the Philistines. He was
a man of war. He was skilled with his weapons.
He struck Goliath in the head with a stone with
a sling, which obviously God the battle is the lord's,
the victory is the lord's. But David seems to be
(06:30):
pretty skilled with that weapon. He also ran up and
cut goliaths head off with his own sword. He's a
man of war, make no mistake, a man after God's
own heart. But going back even further, we see Abraham. Abraham.
You might not think of him this way, because he's
(06:52):
many other things, but he is a you might call
militia commander, military commander, home guard command, or whatever you
might want to call it. He leads men in combat,
and he is victorious. He leads men in combat. He's
a military marshal, whatever you might want to call it,
(07:15):
militia commander. Genesis fourteen. Now, when Abraham heard that his
brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and
eighteen trained servants, whom were born into his own house,
and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided
(07:38):
his forces against them by night, and he and his
servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hoba,
which is north of Damascus. So he brought back all
the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and
(07:59):
his goods, as well as the women and the people.
And then King of Sodom went out to meet him
at the valley of Chaval, that is the king's valley.
After his return from the defeat of chadou Lamour the
(08:19):
kings who were with him. Then Melchizedek, king of Salem,
brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of
God most High, and he blessed him and said, blessed
(08:39):
be Abraham of God Most High, possessor of heaven and Earth.
And blessed be God most High, who has delivered your
enemies into your own hand. So we see David a
case study. And we see Abraham here are listed as
(09:00):
having around three hundred mighty men long before you see
like the Spartans in their three hundred. You see David
and his mighty men of war. We see Abraham before David,
one of the patriarchs. He leads men in battle. He's
(09:21):
many other things like David is many other things, a poet,
a king, but he's a warrior. Abraham here we see
leading men into battle and being victorious, being blessed after
that by Melchizedek. The whole other teasings on because the
deck you might want to get into, like in the
book of Hebrews. But we see here that he is
blessed after that, after he leads men into battle. Obviously
(09:45):
here and we see in the story of David doesn't
seem to be a thing that displeases the Lord. Again
Exodus fifteen, the Lord is a man of war, and
who wrote that Moses? Moses wrote that. And if you're
picturing Moses as an old man with a stick, I
think that's a pretty myopic view of Moses. Moses was
(10:07):
many things, like these other men in the Bible, just
like I am many things, hopefully by God's grace, first
and foremost a simple man called by God to share
the good news. But I'm a warrior. I'm also a
husband blessed by God in that respect. Multifaceted, yes, just
like God. But being a warrior is part of that.
(10:29):
Moses was a military commander. Whether you want to call
it a legit military, I guess because it was a nation,
a military right, the nation of Israel. So he's a
military commander, and today's vernacular he's a general. He leads
men in combat. He leads men in combat now, much
(10:52):
like a general today that we would think of. He's
not like running out there with a sword. I don't
know whether he did or didn't, that's not recorded. But
he is commanding, right, he is commanding the units. He's
a general is a pretty good word. We see many
of the patriarchs here, not to mention Gideon Samson, these
(11:19):
are men of God. These are patriarchs, a man after
God's own heart, warriors. Now, I don't want to give
the wrong idea there is clear delineation in the Bible,
in God's word on when it is lawful to take
life and when it is not lawful to take life,
(11:39):
And going back to Genesis when we started, the very
first verse that I think related to this was talking
about having dominion. Now, let me be clear, before the fall,
we don't see death. We see the recording of the
first killing of the first animal by God Adam and Eve.
(12:03):
When they sinned, they realized they were naked, and God
and his great love and mercy decided to clothe them
with skins. We see death as a result of the
fall of sin. So we see death and destruction and
(12:23):
warfare after the fall, but it is part of our
world now, and in that God gives us instructions, clear instructions,
and part of what got me thinking about this today,
by the Holy Spirit, in God's grace that kind of
snowballed into this episode. We see these two things in
(12:48):
the prophets. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning
hooks into spears. Let the weeks say, I am strong.
See that in the prophet Joel. Some translations have it
like this, hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning
(13:12):
hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors,
or be your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks
into spears. Let the weeks say, I am a mighty man.
(13:32):
We see John the Baptist when soldiers come to him
and ask him what to do. Then some soldiers asked him,
and what should we do? He replied, do not extort money,
and don't accuse people falsely. Be content with your pay.
(13:55):
He does not tell them to stop being soldiers. Soldiers,
you know what is submission of a soldier. He doesn't
tell them they can't be soldiers. He tells them to
be a good soldier, much like Paul, and I want
to be clear and not misrepresenting this. Paul is not
talking to actual soldiers. Maybe some of them are soldiers,
(14:18):
but he's talking to the general population of Christians. Paul says,
join me in suffering like a good soldier for Christ Jesus.
He uses the analogy of a soldier, and not in
a bad way, in a good way. Be like a
soldier in this way. And now I'd like to kind
(14:42):
of transition into some of my favorite verses for warriors.
We've discussed Exodus fifteen. The Lord is a man of war.
How about Joshua Chapter one? Joshua chapter one, No man
shall be able to stand before you all the days
(15:04):
of your life, as I was with Moses, so I
will be with you. I will not leave you nor
forsake you. Be strong and of good courage. For to
this people you shall divide an inheritance in the land
whige rise order to their fathers to give them. Only
be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to
(15:26):
do according to all the law which Moses, my servant commanded.
You do not turn from it to the right hand
or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,
but you shall meditate in it day and night, that
you may observe to do according to all that is
written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous,
(15:50):
and then you will have good success. Have I not
commanded you be strong and of good courage. Do not
be afraid or be dismayed. For the Lord, your God
is with you wherever you go. From Second Samuel, For
by you I can run against a troop by my God,
I can leap over a wall. Also from Tewod Samuel
(16:13):
twenty two. For who is God except the Lord, and
who is Rock except our God. God is my strength
and power. He makes my way perfect. He makes my
feet like the feet of a deer. He sets me
on high places. He teaches my hands to make war
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
(16:35):
You'll find similar verses those in Psalm eighteen and one
of my favorites, Psalm one forty four. Blessed be the Lord,
my Rock, who trains my hands for war and my
fingers for battle. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who
(16:56):
trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.
Now this is probably its own sermon, its own case study.
But the Spirit of the Lord we see the Holy
Spirit given at Pentecost to the Church. But we see
in the Old Testament instances where the Spirit of the
Lord comes upon men. And not always, but sometimes when
(17:18):
we see the Spirit of the Lord, and the Lord
doesn't change, right, the Lord changes not. We see when
the Spirit comes upon men, sometimes it's to help them
in battle, to fight literally for combat, to slay philistines
or the unrighteous, that's a thing that happens. Again, I
(17:44):
think it's important to not try and make God who
we think he should be, or act how we should
think he should act, because that's not how it works.
We are to act and behave like God wants us
to act and behave. Our view of God should be
a sober one, not about what we like or don't like,
(18:04):
but who He actually is. Again, this is not all
of who God is. But the Lord is a man
of war. Another great verse passage. You'll find this in
Deuteronomy twenty. When you go out to battle against your
enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous
than you, do not be afraid of them. For the
(18:24):
Lord your God is with you, who brought you up
from the land of Egypt. So it shall be when
you are on the verge of battle, that the priest
shall approach and speak to the people, and he shall
say to them, Hero is real. Today you're on the
verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your
heart faint. Do not be afraid, and do not tremble
(18:47):
or be terrified because of them. For the Lord your God,
as he who goes with you to fight for you
against your enemies to save you. The twenty sixth chapter,
you will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by
the sword before you. Five of you will chase one
(19:07):
hundred and one hundred of you will put ten thousand
to flight. Your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. Now,
as you heard the bio, I have a little bit
of experience being a warrior, an actual physical warrior, And
(19:28):
I also want to not neglect that there is more
than we can see in touch and experience with our
normal senses. Most of the time, there's a whole other
realm going on. There are angels and demons and principalities
and powers. Hopefully you and I even me. You spent
(19:50):
most of my adult life, you know, as a professional gunfighter.
As a warrior, I don't every day get in a
physical fight, but we are in a battle every day.
As Christians, you are in a spiritual war. There are
spiritual wickedness in this world that are seeking you to
(20:14):
devour you your adversary. The devil prowls around like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. The Bible says
you are in a spiritual war. The weapons of that
spiritual war are not carnal. They're not physical weapons. They're
spiritual weapons like the sword of the spirit, just like
(20:38):
we can glean. If you are a good warrior, you
will understand analogies and you will understand warfare. There are
spiritual weapons for spiritual warfare, and there are physical weapons
for physical warfare. But a good warrior, I think we'll
(21:01):
understand even better spiritual warfare because they understand warfare. They
understand understand, you know, tactics of the enemy, they understand
the enemy's weapons. A good warrior will do that. Here's
another mark of another good warrior. Obedience, obedience. Any good
(21:27):
warrior will understand chain of command, obedience, and mission. Jesus
is God. All the aspects of God, all the character
of God can be found in Christ. And the beginning
was the Word, and the world was with God, and
the Word was God. Jesus, I want you. When he
(21:49):
came here, he was on a specific mission, a glorious
mission to redeem mankind from sin, to become our sin,
sacer vicen er sin offering. That's his mission. That was
his mission. When he came from year zero to let's
say thirty three to thirty five AD, whenever that was
(22:13):
That was his mission those years of ministry. That was
his mission, and he followed that mission. Doesn't mean he
couldn't do other things. Do you remember when he tells
his followers, do you not think that even now I
could command Matthew twenty six? Do you not think I
cannot call on my father and he will at once
(22:36):
put up my disposal more than twelve legions of angels.
Go look at what a few angels did to Sodom
and Gomorrah. He has that power, but he's on a
specific mission. And like any good military man will tell you,
(22:57):
discipline restraint is a good good quality for any warrior
throughout any culture, throughout any warrior culture. Jesus was on
that mission, just like Jesus. It says in the Bible
he didn't baptize his disciples baptized. That doesn't mean that
Jesus couldn't baptize, just that wasn't for whatever reason, something
(23:19):
he felt like he was his mission at that time.
That was the mission that he was on. But if
you think Jesus can't be a warrior, I would say,
have you ever read Revelation when the people cry out
to the mountains and say fall on us and hide
us from the wrath of the lamb. The wrath wrath
(23:43):
of the lamb. The Lamb is Jesus. He has wrath.
He just has restraint and knows when to use it
in the right time to use it because he's perfect.
He's a perfect in every way. And if the Lord
is a man of war, then he's the perfect man
of war. He doesn't use force unjustly at the wrong
(24:04):
time if he uses it, if he does it, it's
at the right time in the right way. That's something
I would like to probably conclude on that verse we
already quoted. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning
hooks into spears. Let the weak say I am strong.
(24:26):
That's from Joel and from Isaiah. They shall beat their
swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation
shall not lift upsword against nation, neither shall they learn
war anymore. And that's not a contradiction there. Let's look
at Ecclesiastes. To everything, there is a season and a
(24:52):
time for every purpose under Heaven, a time to be
born and a time to die, a time to plant
and a time to pluck. What is planted. A time
to kill and a time to heal, a time to
break down and a time to build up, a time
to weep and a time to laugh, a time to
(25:14):
mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast
away stones and a time to gather stones. A time
to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A
time to gain and a time to lose, a time
(25:36):
to keep and a time to throw away, a time
to tear and a time to sow. A time to
keep silent and a time to speak, a time to
love and a time to hate. A time of war
and a time of peace. A good warrior, a good
(26:03):
soldier has many qualities, some of those being wisdom, self discipline, restraint,
obeying the chain of command. Our ultimate in our chain
of command is God. Least you think this message is
just a carte blanche to use violence, there's very clear
(26:29):
times and rules and regulations guarding the use of force,
and it should not be taken lightly. Do not be
one who is swift to shed blood. A good soldier
is not one who is swift to shed blood. A
good soldier is one who is good at it, acquainted
with it, but has restraint not that you don't have
the power, but that you wield it justly at the
(26:53):
right time, because you answer to the ultimate commander of
heaven and earth, the maker of all things, the one
who made you, God Almighty. Make no mistake, he is
in charge, and one day every niche shall bow and
give an account with that. Thanks for listening. I don't
(27:16):
often mention this on Sabbath normal sermons on Sabbath, but
if you want to support the messagers a link in
the show notes. It is also written you shall not
musly ox while it treads out the grain. That's all
I'm gonna say about that. I'm also gonna put this
out after it comes out on Simple Man Sermons on
(27:37):
Alpha Male podcast if you don't know, that's a podcast.
That's the hope is that men come there from many
things and find find the good news, find the Word
of God. Anyway, with that, have a blessed day. I'm
humbled to be able to serve you. Amen.
What is going on Alpha Males. Now, this episode is
one that came out first on Simple Man Sermons. I'd
like to think that everybody here listens to Simple Man
Sermons and Gunfighter Life listens to Simple Man Sermons, but
I don't know that that's the case. My goal is
that everybody would listen to Simple Man Sermons. I hope
(00:20):
for the other two podcasts, Alpha Male Podcasts and Gunfighter
Life to kind of be funnels. The primary point of
life is to grow closer to God, to serve God,
to love God. All three podcasts, hopefully in their own way,
do that. That being said, this episode of Simple Man
(00:41):
Sermons I think has a lot of crossover with this audience.
So maybe this will get you over to Simple Man Sermons.
It's a Bible study and versus for Christian warriors. I
hope you enjoy and welcome to Simple Man Sermons, the
(01:05):
preachings of a simple man called by God to share
the good news of Jesus Christ. Today, I'd like to
do a dive into case study of being a warrior,
being a godly Christian warrior. What God himself has to
say about being a warrior and about being a man
(01:29):
of God. I like to go to the beginning. Let
us look all the way back to the creation of
man in the book of Genesis. Then God said, let
us make man in our image, according to our likeness.
(01:50):
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the year, over the cattle, over
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth. So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God. He created him male and female.
(02:14):
He created them. Then God blessed them and said to them,
be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the
birds of the air, over every living thing that moves
on the earth. We could do, by God's grace. Sermon
after sermon after sermon on just that one passage. There's
(02:35):
so much in that. In the image of God made
me the image of God, and it's a lifetime dedication
and focus to better understand God and grow closer to God.
People often wonder what the meaning of life is to me.
I think it's pretty clear. The meaning of life is
to grow closer to God, to better understand God, to
(02:56):
fall in love with God, to love him more. The
first of all the commandments is hero Israel, the Lord
our God. The Lord is one. And you shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
This is the first commandment that's from the mouth of Jesus.
When you love somebody, to be in a relationship with them,
(03:16):
you must understand them. You must understand them. There's so
much that goes into the character of God. But Exodus fifteen,
the Lord is a man of war. I don't shy
away from that passage. The Lord is a man of war.
(03:39):
I myself being a man of war. I don't often
talk a lot about my buyout on simple man's sermons,
but very much think sadly, before I knew that I
was supposed to be a Christian, I felt the call
to be a warrior. I joined the Marine Corps at seventeen,
(03:59):
have been to war twice. I have was a Marine
Corps infantry, which is kind of like the epitome of
a modern day warrior. I think I rose to the
rank of sergeant in the Marine Corps. Is also a
sergeant in the US Army. I was also a police
officer worked LAPD which is a different kind of warrior.
Been a private contractor, which is kind of mercenary work,
(04:22):
if you want to think of it that way. Also
been the commander of a tactical team to stop active
shooters here conis here domestically continental United States. I was
the commander of a team to stop active shooters. We
were modern day warriors. I see no contradition there. Why
(04:44):
because we are made in the image of God. I
mago day, made in his image. The Lord is a
man of war. Now that's not all that he is.
There's so much to God and so much to unpack
and understand. It's a lifetime again, a lifetime dedication. But
the Lord is a man of war. I don't shy
away from that. We shouldn't, as Christians try to make
(05:06):
God what we want him to be and behave like
we want him to behave. No, that is a wrong
view and a wrong relationship of God Almighty. We should
we should conform ourselves to be like God, to behave
like God. Now, some things lie in God's power, and
(05:26):
we shouldn't usurp that. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against
the children of your people. That is straight up God's word,
God's law. But we see that the Lord is a
man of war. I don't know that every this is
getting into like personal conviction. I don't know that every
man is called to be a man of war. But
(05:47):
I see no contradiction there if we look at David,
a clear case study of this, a man after God's
own heart. He's a man of war. He slays beast,
he slaves men. It has sung about him that he
slayed tens of thousands. He was even what you might
call a mercenary. He went and fled his own government
(06:08):
and his own king and served the Philistines. He was
a man of war. He was skilled with his weapons.
He struck Goliath in the head with a stone with
a sling, which obviously God the battle is the lord's,
the victory is the lord's. But David seems to be
(06:30):
pretty skilled with that weapon. He also ran up and
cut goliaths head off with his own sword. He's a
man of war, make no mistake, a man after God's
own heart. But going back even further, we see Abraham. Abraham.
You might not think of him this way, because he's
(06:52):
many other things, but he is a you might call
militia commander, military commander, home guard command, or whatever you
might want to call it. He leads men in combat,
and he is victorious. He leads men in combat. He's
a military marshal, whatever you might want to call it,
(07:15):
militia commander. Genesis fourteen. Now, when Abraham heard that his
brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and
eighteen trained servants, whom were born into his own house,
and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided
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his forces against them by night, and he and his
servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hoba,
which is north of Damascus. So he brought back all
the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and
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his goods, as well as the women and the people.
And then King of Sodom went out to meet him
at the valley of Chaval, that is the king's valley.
After his return from the defeat of chadou Lamour the
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kings who were with him. Then Melchizedek, king of Salem,
brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of
God most High, and he blessed him and said, blessed
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be Abraham of God Most High, possessor of heaven and Earth.
And blessed be God most High, who has delivered your
enemies into your own hand. So we see David a
case study. And we see Abraham here are listed as
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having around three hundred mighty men long before you see
like the Spartans in their three hundred. You see David
and his mighty men of war. We see Abraham before David,
one of the patriarchs. He leads men in battle. He's
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many other things like David is many other things, a poet,
a king, but he's a warrior. Abraham here we see
leading men into battle and being victorious, being blessed after
that by Melchizedek. The whole other teasings on because the
deck you might want to get into, like in the
book of Hebrews. But we see here that he is
blessed after that, after he leads men into battle. Obviously
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here and we see in the story of David doesn't
seem to be a thing that displeases the Lord. Again
Exodus fifteen, the Lord is a man of war, and
who wrote that Moses? Moses wrote that. And if you're
picturing Moses as an old man with a stick, I
think that's a pretty myopic view of Moses. Moses was
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many things, like these other men in the Bible, just
like I am many things, hopefully by God's grace, first
and foremost a simple man called by God to share
the good news. But I'm a warrior. I'm also a
husband blessed by God in that respect. Multifaceted, yes, just
like God. But being a warrior is part of that.
(10:29):
Moses was a military commander. Whether you want to call
it a legit military, I guess because it was a nation,
a military right, the nation of Israel. So he's a
military commander, and today's vernacular he's a general. He leads
men in combat. He leads men in combat now, much
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like a general today that we would think of. He's
not like running out there with a sword. I don't
know whether he did or didn't, that's not recorded. But
he is commanding, right, he is commanding the units. He's
a general is a pretty good word. We see many
of the patriarchs here, not to mention Gideon Samson, these
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are men of God. These are patriarchs, a man after
God's own heart, warriors. Now, I don't want to give
the wrong idea there is clear delineation in the Bible,
in God's word on when it is lawful to take
life and when it is not lawful to take life,
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And going back to Genesis when we started, the very
first verse that I think related to this was talking
about having dominion. Now, let me be clear, before the fall,
we don't see death. We see the recording of the
first killing of the first animal by God Adam and Eve.
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When they sinned, they realized they were naked, and God
and his great love and mercy decided to clothe them
with skins. We see death as a result of the
fall of sin. So we see death and destruction and
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warfare after the fall, but it is part of our
world now, and in that God gives us instructions, clear instructions,
and part of what got me thinking about this today,
by the Holy Spirit, in God's grace that kind of
snowballed into this episode. We see these two things in
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the prophets. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning
hooks into spears. Let the weeks say, I am strong.
See that in the prophet Joel. Some translations have it
like this, hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning
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hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors,
or be your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks
into spears. Let the weeks say, I am a mighty man.
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We see John the Baptist when soldiers come to him
and ask him what to do. Then some soldiers asked him,
and what should we do? He replied, do not extort money,
and don't accuse people falsely. Be content with your pay.
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He does not tell them to stop being soldiers. Soldiers,
you know what is submission of a soldier. He doesn't
tell them they can't be soldiers. He tells them to
be a good soldier, much like Paul, and I want
to be clear and not misrepresenting this. Paul is not
talking to actual soldiers. Maybe some of them are soldiers,
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but he's talking to the general population of Christians. Paul says,
join me in suffering like a good soldier for Christ Jesus.
He uses the analogy of a soldier, and not in
a bad way, in a good way. Be like a
soldier in this way. And now I'd like to kind
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of transition into some of my favorite verses for warriors.
We've discussed Exodus fifteen. The Lord is a man of war.
How about Joshua Chapter one? Joshua chapter one, No man
shall be able to stand before you all the days
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of your life, as I was with Moses, so I
will be with you. I will not leave you nor
forsake you. Be strong and of good courage. For to
this people you shall divide an inheritance in the land
whige rise order to their fathers to give them. Only
be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to
(15:26):
do according to all the law which Moses, my servant commanded.
You do not turn from it to the right hand
or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,
but you shall meditate in it day and night, that
you may observe to do according to all that is
written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous,
(15:50):
and then you will have good success. Have I not
commanded you be strong and of good courage. Do not
be afraid or be dismayed. For the Lord, your God
is with you wherever you go. From Second Samuel, For
by you I can run against a troop by my God,
I can leap over a wall. Also from Tewod Samuel
(16:13):
twenty two. For who is God except the Lord, and
who is Rock except our God. God is my strength
and power. He makes my way perfect. He makes my
feet like the feet of a deer. He sets me
on high places. He teaches my hands to make war
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
(16:35):
You'll find similar verses those in Psalm eighteen and one
of my favorites, Psalm one forty four. Blessed be the Lord,
my Rock, who trains my hands for war and my
fingers for battle. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who
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trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.
Now this is probably its own sermon, its own case study.
But the Spirit of the Lord we see the Holy
Spirit given at Pentecost to the Church. But we see
in the Old Testament instances where the Spirit of the
Lord comes upon men. And not always, but sometimes when
(17:18):
we see the Spirit of the Lord, and the Lord
doesn't change, right, the Lord changes not. We see when
the Spirit comes upon men, sometimes it's to help them
in battle, to fight literally for combat, to slay philistines
or the unrighteous, that's a thing that happens. Again, I
(17:44):
think it's important to not try and make God who
we think he should be, or act how we should
think he should act, because that's not how it works.
We are to act and behave like God wants us
to act and behave. Our view of God should be
a sober one, not about what we like or don't like,
(18:04):
but who He actually is. Again, this is not all
of who God is. But the Lord is a man
of war. Another great verse passage. You'll find this in
Deuteronomy twenty. When you go out to battle against your
enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous
than you, do not be afraid of them. For the
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Lord your God is with you, who brought you up
from the land of Egypt. So it shall be when
you are on the verge of battle, that the priest
shall approach and speak to the people, and he shall
say to them, Hero is real. Today you're on the
verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your
heart faint. Do not be afraid, and do not tremble
(18:47):
or be terrified because of them. For the Lord your God,
as he who goes with you to fight for you
against your enemies to save you. The twenty sixth chapter,
you will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by
the sword before you. Five of you will chase one
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hundred and one hundred of you will put ten thousand
to flight. Your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. Now,
as you heard the bio, I have a little bit
of experience being a warrior, an actual physical warrior, And
(19:28):
I also want to not neglect that there is more
than we can see in touch and experience with our
normal senses. Most of the time, there's a whole other
realm going on. There are angels and demons and principalities
and powers. Hopefully you and I even me. You spent
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most of my adult life, you know, as a professional gunfighter.
As a warrior, I don't every day get in a
physical fight, but we are in a battle every day.
As Christians, you are in a spiritual war. There are
spiritual wickedness in this world that are seeking you to
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devour you your adversary. The devil prowls around like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. The Bible says
you are in a spiritual war. The weapons of that
spiritual war are not carnal. They're not physical weapons. They're
spiritual weapons like the sword of the spirit, just like
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we can glean. If you are a good warrior, you
will understand analogies and you will understand warfare. There are
spiritual weapons for spiritual warfare, and there are physical weapons
for physical warfare. But a good warrior, I think we'll
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understand even better spiritual warfare because they understand warfare. They
understand understand, you know, tactics of the enemy, they understand
the enemy's weapons. A good warrior will do that. Here's
another mark of another good warrior. Obedience, obedience. Any good
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warrior will understand chain of command, obedience, and mission. Jesus
is God. All the aspects of God, all the character
of God can be found in Christ. And the beginning
was the Word, and the world was with God, and
the Word was God. Jesus, I want you. When he
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came here, he was on a specific mission, a glorious
mission to redeem mankind from sin, to become our sin,
sacer vicen er sin offering. That's his mission. That was
his mission. When he came from year zero to let's
say thirty three to thirty five AD, whenever that was
(22:13):
That was his mission those years of ministry. That was
his mission, and he followed that mission. Doesn't mean he
couldn't do other things. Do you remember when he tells
his followers, do you not think that even now I
could command Matthew twenty six? Do you not think I
cannot call on my father and he will at once
(22:36):
put up my disposal more than twelve legions of angels.
Go look at what a few angels did to Sodom
and Gomorrah. He has that power, but he's on a
specific mission. And like any good military man will tell you,
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discipline restraint is a good good quality for any warrior
throughout any culture, throughout any warrior culture. Jesus was on
that mission, just like Jesus. It says in the Bible
he didn't baptize his disciples baptized. That doesn't mean that
Jesus couldn't baptize, just that wasn't for whatever reason, something
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he felt like he was his mission at that time.
That was the mission that he was on. But if
you think Jesus can't be a warrior, I would say,
have you ever read Revelation when the people cry out
to the mountains and say fall on us and hide
us from the wrath of the lamb. The wrath wrath
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of the lamb. The Lamb is Jesus. He has wrath.
He just has restraint and knows when to use it
in the right time to use it because he's perfect.
He's a perfect in every way. And if the Lord
is a man of war, then he's the perfect man
of war. He doesn't use force unjustly at the wrong
(24:04):
time if he uses it, if he does it, it's
at the right time in the right way. That's something
I would like to probably conclude on that verse we
already quoted. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning
hooks into spears. Let the weak say I am strong.
(24:26):
That's from Joel and from Isaiah. They shall beat their
swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation
shall not lift upsword against nation, neither shall they learn
war anymore. And that's not a contradiction there. Let's look
at Ecclesiastes. To everything, there is a season and a
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time for every purpose under Heaven, a time to be
born and a time to die, a time to plant
and a time to pluck. What is planted. A time
to kill and a time to heal, a time to
break down and a time to build up, a time
to weep and a time to laugh, a time to
(25:14):
mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast
away stones and a time to gather stones. A time
to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A
time to gain and a time to lose, a time
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to keep and a time to throw away, a time
to tear and a time to sow. A time to
keep silent and a time to speak, a time to
love and a time to hate. A time of war
and a time of peace. A good warrior, a good
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soldier has many qualities, some of those being wisdom, self discipline, restraint,
obeying the chain of command. Our ultimate in our chain
of command is God. Least you think this message is
just a carte blanche to use violence, there's very clear
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times and rules and regulations guarding the use of force,
and it should not be taken lightly. Do not be
one who is swift to shed blood. A good soldier
is not one who is swift to shed blood. A
good soldier is one who is good at it, acquainted
with it, but has restraint not that you don't have
the power, but that you wield it justly at the
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right time, because you answer to the ultimate commander of
heaven and earth, the maker of all things, the one
who made you, God Almighty. Make no mistake, he is
in charge, and one day every niche shall bow and
give an account with that. Thanks for listening. I don't
(27:16):
often mention this on Sabbath normal sermons on Sabbath, but
if you want to support the messagers a link in
the show notes. It is also written you shall not
musly ox while it treads out the grain. That's all
I'm gonna say about that. I'm also gonna put this
out after it comes out on Simple Man Sermons on
(27:37):
Alpha Male podcast if you don't know, that's a podcast.
That's the hope is that men come there from many
things and find find the good news, find the Word
of God. Anyway, with that, have a blessed day. I'm
humbled to be able to serve you. Amen.
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