Against All Odds, Part 2

The title gives you a clue that we are looking at the topic of being “against all odds,” a rightful description of the hero in 2 Samuel 23 named Adino. He had the “Rambo” experience of facing down 800 Philistines at one time and he kick serious backside. If you have forgotten the story, it’s just below this blog. Let’s continue…

The characteristic necessary to advance someone to this level of heroism is simply tenacity. You see it in his resolve to not give up or give in to the pressure of the hordes of opponents coming at him. It is an uncommon characteristic unique to heroes – they just “hunker-down” and refuse to quit. It’s “to the death” and they have no intention of dying! They cannot look at the odds-maker’s report, the pundits, or the press, they are in this to win regardless of the personal sacrifice or the buckets of sweat required. You just can’t help but admire this characteristic even if you don’t like the guy. It’s very rare.

 

Unfortunately, we ARE in an “against all odds” scenario today. The church is now the underdog, the one the odds-maker is betting against. Looking at the current statistics in church growth and development clearly explains this paragraph more succinctly. We are now in the lower 30^th percentile in the nation. And that’s in the Bible belt! We are fighting uphill against immeasurable numbers and each year that continues to become more and more frightening. This once Judeo-Christian, ethically-focused land has all but abandoned her former cultural norm in favor of a more socially antagonistic mindset that blatantly stands against basic Christian doctrine and principles. Today it is at least 800 to 1, and we are looking more outnumbered every day. Get yourself in shape, mighty warriors, because the battle is just cranking up!

Adino is translated as "slender," or "spear." You would think it meant "super-buff, gun-show, or ripped," or something of that nature. However, it shows a principle that is a part of the true makeup of a hero of God - the power not found IN the man, but "WITHIN" the man! The power of Almighty God working through the natural fabric of a simple, slender man that has chosen to sharpen himself with the 'whet stone' of God's Word, making every strike with precision, not wasting effort or energy since the battle demands that he work on such a way so that he remains standing in the end. This is the Adino of today! This is the demand for men of God today! We need men with tenacity.

Issachar Intel, Part 2

“Of the sons of Issachar, who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command.”  (1 Chronicles 12:32)

To go to war without strategic intelligence (intel) is just plain stupid! The sons of Issachar were blessed with the tools to accomplish two great skills: 1) to understand the times and 2) to know what Israel should do. Last week we looked at the first one and now we focus on the second.

The phrase, “knowing what Israel ought to do,” is actually not as “crystal ball-ish” as one might think. Yes, it did have a certain appearance of prognostication, but the truth is they simply put two and two together! It’s really not a supernatural, out of this world gift given to a special few. Since they could see the “times” and realize that Saul’s continued disobedience in refusing to listen to the wise counsel of Nathan (just like he did with Samuel), his obsession with trying to kill David (a more godly man, one called a “man after God’s Own heart”), and the abuse of power (along with the wasting of military resources) was a recipe for disaster. They saw the current losses to the Philistines in subsequent battles was only going to continue under the current leadership and policies and “knew what Israel ought to do,” i.e., get back to God-fearing governance and national obedience like they had under Joshua.

The sons of Issachar were also listed as mighty men of valor, a picture of able-bodied men that were a force to be reckoned with. This demonstrated a level of comprehensive, well-rounded development in these guys, spiritual acuity along with physical discipline and preparedness. Now is a good time to quote the passage in 1 Timothy 4:8, “Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things.” These sons of Issachar understood this principle as they “exercised” godliness even more than they exercised their bodies, yet they were physically an intimidating lot.  They clearly understood authority, or the chain-of-command principle, as it stated that the 200 chiefs had the command over their brethren. This shows such a genuine level of wisdom being able to put themselves under authority. In Matthew 8, Jesus saw the centurion understand this principle and He claimed He had “never seen such faith, not in all of Israel.”

The cry for heroes today that can see current trends and patterns from a biblical worldview and give futuristic advice, warnings, and strategy is at DEFCON 1! We have never had a more drastic abandonment of our children away from the evangelical church than we are currently experiencing. Oh my dear leaders, pray that God will raise up in your ranks some "sons of Issachar" that can give clear, confident, godly counsel to this emotionally-driven church culture.  The time for godly heroes that can demonstrate and express what the church must do is NOW!

Gadite Gridiron - Part 1

Ok, we’ve looked at some of the ways the modern church has hindered the proper development of manly heroes, now let’s look at some of the characteristics of biblical heroes found throughout the pages of Scripture. The purpose here is to stimulate men to introduce the specific characteristics necessary and then envision themselves being that type of man, a man called for such a time as this. Here is the first group of heroes called, “the Gadites.”

 “Some Gadites joined David at the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for battle, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as gazelles on the mountains… These were the sons of Gad, captains of the army; the least was over a hundred and the greatest was over a thousand. These were the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it had overflowed all its banks; and they put to flight all those in the valleys, to the east and to the west.”  (1 Chronicles 12:8, 14-15)

Our first illustration is found in the book of 1 Chronicles, a group of eleven men from Gad that were quite impressive. The initial paragraph above (in italics) lists their accolades. Verses 9-13 gave the names and families of each of these 11 men, but the verses quoted above describe six key elements of what made these men Biblical Heroes. Here is that list:

        “mighty men of valor”
  “men trained for battle, could handle both shield and spear”
     “faces like the faces of lions”
        “swift as gazelles on the mountains”
     “captains – of hundreds – of thousands”
      “crossed the Jordan…when it overflowed all its banks”

 These were some really tough hombres! Notice some of the phrases used – mighty men of valor, trained for battle, faces like lions, swift as gazelles, my gracious, these guys would bring home the Lombardi Trophy every time! Did you catch how they crossed the Jordan during the monsoon season!? These guys were beasts! When you consider it would take a very strong, healthy man to cross the Jordan on a normal day, imagine the stamina required to cross it when it was overflowing its banks! There is only one way these men could accomplish such feats of wonder and that was selfless discipline. They were in it ALL the way! Men, this is your first characteristic to grab – selfless discipline.

Think about it. Ezer (the first Gadite listed in v. 9) did not wake up one morning and say, “Hey, I’m going to cross the Jordan today while it’s overflowing its banks, just to see if I can do it.” Hey, this is like trying to survive a flood! The amount of training involved, muscle development, increased respiratory and cardio function, along with the sheer determination to accomplish such a superhuman feat required a significant amount of personal discipline that can only be measured in time. Ezer had to have trained for months, crossing the Jordan at normal levels first, adding to his strength and stamina, working out steadily with increasingly more resistance and challenges until he was at his peak. Put more succinctly, it didn’t just happen! Discipline is an everyday kind of thing that requires TIME! It’s not the singular event that makes a hero, but the preparedness and commitment to do what is right consistently because it is right. This is the first lesson to being a hero – selfless discipline.

 Part 2 of Gadite Gridiron to follow.