I have a rather interesting text for us today. Um, a text that I've been praying through and really kind of allowing to stir my spirit and I pray that it stirs yours. 2 Samuel chapter 23.
[Music] 2 Samuel chapter 23. I'm going to read to you two verses. I'll give you our subject matter.
We'll pray and then we'll begin to unpack it. Is that all right? In 2 Samuel chapter 23:1, when you got it, say, "I'm there.
" >> I'm there. >> Still making your way downtown, say, "Wait on me. I don't hear any weight on me.
" So, we're going to read the word of God. 2 Samuel chapter 23 reading from verse 11 it says and next to him was Shama the son of Agi the Herite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi where there was a plot of ground full of lentils and the men fled from the Philistines.
But he, Shama, took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines. And the Lord worked a great victory. And next to him was Shemma, the son of Agi, the Herite.
The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, and it defended it. and struck down the Philistines.
And the Lord worked a great victory. For a moment, I want to teach from the subject matter fields worth fighting for. >> Let's pray.
Dear heavenly father, we thank you for these moments that we have in your presence. I ask right now in the name of Jesus that you would speak to us both corporately and intimately tailor make this message for each individual that is listening to the words that you are about to speak. I thank you God that you would move across every location.
I thank you that you would move across our James River family that is watching online. I ask right now in the name of Jesus that you would begin to knit together the things and and put back together the broken pieces of those that are in desperate need of a touch from you. It is in your name we pray.
The name that is above every name. The name that remains undefeated. The name that is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.
Jesus Christ. And so we thank you in advance for what you are going to do. And everybody that's thankful he is still on the throne.
Come on real loud one time. Can you shout amen? >> You can take your seats in Jesus name.
As Pastor John mentioned, I am from North Carolina, a small town right outside of Raleigh Durm named Creedmore. And it is a bustling metropolitan city of about 1,400 people. I mean, it's just a metropolis.
There's there's so much to do there. It is baffling how much there is. Uh there is now two stop lightss in our city.
Incredible. God is moving. And um growing up, however, there were no stop lightss.
We had one-stop sign in our town square and uh this city it's it's a beautiful city and it's where my family grew up. As a matter of fact, my grandfather, he was a sharecropper in that area and uh he raised my dad and his siblings uh which were seven in a one roof 10 roof house, one room 10 roof house on this sharecropper's property. And so 10 people in one room with a tin roof and a potbelly stove in the middle of it to keep them warm uh stayed in this particular area.
They worked the the fields there. They would pick the tobacco. They would pick the crops.
And if you know anything about sharecropping, you know it doesn't pay much, but what you uh gather from the fields, you get a chance to keep a little bit to feed your family. And uh my grandfather did this for many, many years. He was paid $25 a month to feed eight kids, his beautiful wife, Virginia.
And uh he didn't complain. He felt like he had a call from God though in his life to do something more than just be a sharecropper. So he started preaching to the neighborhood, to the people around him.
And before he knew it, he was starting a church in the very same place that he was a sharecropper. My grandmother ended up getting really, really sick. And uh doctors told uh my grandfather that she would die and they admitted her into the hospital.
They did a procedure on her where they took one full lung and they took half of the remaining lung that she had left. They put an oxygen mask on her and they told my grandfather he needed to get his kids there uh to say last wishes and give their last remarks because she didn't have much longer to live. And so before the doctors pulled her off life support, my grandfather asks the doctors, "Would they give him a moment to go to the lobby to pray and he goes to the lobby and he prays?
" He drops down on his knees and he asked the Lord to save his wife. And he makes God a promise. And the promise that my grandfather made God was that if he would spare his wife, everyone that comes through his bloodline would serve the Lord.
and he went back into that prayer room and he went back into that hospital room and and the doctors pulled her off of that life support and would you know it she lived through the night and would you know it she lived through the next night and she lived through the next night and finally uh they kicked her out of the hospital and she ended up living till she was 92 years old. But because of that promise, my father felt a call from God on his life. A call that he could not fight.
A call that he could not run from. A call that he could not uh win in a wrestling match. And and he wanted to plant a church.
And and the church that he wanted to plant was somewhere in California. And God would not let him plant it in California. God told him, "You're going to stay in Creedmore and you're going to plant your church in Creedmore.
" He said, "God, why in the world would I plant a church in Creedmore? " And he said, God told him, "Because Creedmore needs more. " Come on, somebody.
And the same fields that my grandfather worked are the same fields that my parents end up purchasing for our church in Creedmore, North Carolina. Because my grandfather saw more than land, he saw legacy. He saw more than dirt.
He saw destiny. And they believe that there were fields worth fighting for. And I believe that there's some of us in this moment today and we're contemplating running from the very thing God has called us to stand in because we've lost sight of the fact that the field that we are in is worth fighting for.
Some of us are on the verge of walking away from a dream that God has given us. Some of us are on the verge of stepping down from a position God has prophesied. Some of us are on the verge of settling in comfort and convenience instead of allowing the word of God to continue to pierce us with godly conviction because we've forgotten that the fields are worth fighting for.
And I just came to remind you today that no matter how difficult it may look, no matter how difficult it may seem, no matter how big the giants are, the fields are worth fighting for. And I wonder right here from the very beginning, do I have about 30 people that believe no matter what it looks like, the field is worth fighting for. What what I've learned about God is sometimes all God needs is a stubborn believer who rather die in the dirt than watch the devil dance on his promise.
>> Come on. >> I wonder, am I talking to any people stubborn in faith that won't allow the enemy to distract or to delay or to deny you from what God has promised you? And the beautiful thing about the field you may be standing on is it may look like a lentil field right now and it may look like a dirt field right now, but there's purpose underneath what you're standing on that you will never discover if you run.
>> To give you some context of who Shama was, he was one of David's mighty men. He was an elite warrior whose loyalty and courage preserved David's kingship. The field that he was standing in was a lentil field, which was basic crop, which seemed insignificant compared to a fortified city uh that was surrounded and protected by walls that would protect the people behind those walls and the treasures in that kingdom.
And the Philistines would often invade these fields during harvest time to steal the produce, attacking Israel's livelihood and their future seed. And as other people fled, Shama stayed. His stand was solitary, but the victory was communal because the field fed families.
>> If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. This is prophetic in nature. And I pray that it hits your soul like a ton of bricks.
Small stands protect big promises. Maybe you didn't hear me. I said small stands take big promises.
When everyone seems to be leaving the fields that God has called you to stand in, you have to remind yourself that small stands protect big promises. What are small stands? Small stands are praying when it's easier to binge watch your favorite television show.
What are small stands? Small stands are remaining faithful in the unseen things and the private things and the secret things when no one else would know what you've been faithful in. What are small stands?
Small stands are remaining diligent when it would be easier to settle for something in comfort and convenience. >> Small stands protect big promises. What I love about this passage of scripture is it brings me to the conclusion that if I can't guard what looks worthless, I can't ask God for something that looks impossible.
>> If I can't stand faithful in what seems insignificant, then I can't ask God for something that looks impossible. When the battle didn't look worth it, everyone else left. Shama, he stayed because he didn't see lentils.
He saw legacy. Am I talking to anybody right now? >> He knew surrendering small things invites greater loss later.
But the enemy hopes the enemy hopes you'll run from battles that don't look worth fighting. >> And some people, they pray for harvest, but they run from dirt. Some of you get that when you get home.
>> As I mentioned, I grew up in the country. And as I drive through Springfield, I see fields. And if you know anything about harvest time, you know harvest time is hard time >> because it means you actually have to reap what you've sown.
And in the church culture, we hear harvest time and people they rejoice and they shout, "It's harvest time. " >> But farmers know that when it's harvest time, it's hard time. >> Because it means you're going to be bent over.
>> It means there's going to be some blisters and blood on your fingertips. >> It means that hot sun is going to be beating on you. It means it's going to be some long days and some some early mornings.
It means that when when you when you sew the seed, you actually have to get out and do the hard work of rent reaping the harvest from the seeds that you've swn. And Shama understood that it's harvest time and I can't leave the harvest to defend itself. Someone has to stand faithful >> when everyone else has run.
The reality is is if you keep calling it small, don't get mad when it's stolen. And some of you keep calling what God has blessed you with small. You still working there?
Yeah, I still got that little job. You still married? Yeah, I'm still in a little situation.
Them kids still driving you crazy? Yeah, they still driving me crazy. Especially the little one.
>> And you can't get mad that the enemy tries to steal what you define as small. What you have to remember is that what you were stewarding God blessed you with. >> And there's a verse that I love.
It says, "Do not despise small beginnings. " >> Do you know what I've learned about God? God will not advance what I despise.
>> And some of us are standing in the field today and we despise the field that we're standing in because we only see dirt and we don't see destiny. We only see land but we don't see legacy. And we have to remember that as everyone else has run, God has called us to stand because comfort is cheap armor for the person with no battlefield.
We don't lose destiny because people steal it from us. We lose destiny because we define it by small. And what we define by small, we ignore.
and we lose it one ignored patch after the other because we look over the very thing that God has called us to steward. But we must bring ourselves to the conclusion that this field we are standing in is worth fighting for. Oh family, I need you to hear me when I remind you of this.
A person who won't fight for small things has no business praying for big ones. And some of us are waiting on God to do something and God is waiting on you to do it. And you're saying, "I'm just waiting on God.
" And God is saying, "I'm just waiting on you. " And you're saying, "God, I'm just waiting on you to answer my prayer. " And God is saying, "I won't advance you beyond your last act of disobedience because I am a God of order.
" And a person who won't fight for small things has no business praying for big ones. Do you know where big promises rot and go to waste? Big promises rot where small stands go unmade.
A person who's too good to stand in an empty field is too small to receive the breakthrough that God has for you. I want us to take note at where this field was. It was in a place called Lehi.
There's another place we see this particular field. This is the same field that Samson defeated a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. And so this field has a rich legacy for being the battleground, for being the place that Samson won over the Philistines before.
And just as Samson won, God did not tell Shama, you will stand on the shoulders of past victories and not fight. He told him, "If you stand, I'll give you the victory just as I gave Samson the victory. " >> What you see in this passage is that the enemy always tests if you'll defend old miracles with fresh faith.
>> I'll say it again. The enemy always test if you'll defend old miracles with fresh faith. What does that mean?
You may be standing in a field that you've seen before. But today is a new day, which means that there's new mercies that God has given you, which also means that there's a fresh faith that you have to ignite on the inside of you to see the victory that God wants you to have today. What I've understood about God when I started following him is that glory does not look good on me but victory does.
And when I give God glory, God in return gives me victory. And some of us have been consuming glory for ourselves and trying to pass off victory. But you are not built for victory uh with with with you consuming the glory.
>> You're built for victory when you reflect the glory back to God. >> And hear me family. If the light that shines on you is brighter than the light that shines through you, you're being consumed by your own pride and ego.
What the devil test is, he'll always test if he'll defend old miracles with fresh faith. >> Some fields look ordinary until you remember the last battle God won there. >> And some of you need to remind yourself of what God has done.
You've gotten too comfortable. You've settled too much into convenience. >> You started to just go with the flow.
You started to just go with the crowd. One of the things that's so unique about human nature is that if we're in a crowd and somebody starts to run, everybody starts to run. Right now, if somebody stood up and there was another person that stood up and they just begin to run out of here, you would think to yourself, "Maybe I need to run, too.
Because we are more prone to follow fear >> than we are to follow faith. >> Shama had a decision. Am I going to run with the crowd or am I going to stand in faith in the field that God has called me to fight for?
>> Point number two is this. I want you to write this down. Your private battles explain your public authority.
Your private battles explains your public authority. What we have to stop doing, we have to stop shouting revival if we keep running from resistance. >> How many of us want to experience and see revival in our lifetime?
>> Right? We want to. We need to.
But here's my question. What are we killing so that God can revive? >> Paul said, "Every single day, I have to buffet this flesh so that the Christ in me can be revealed.
Every single day there has to be a funeral of our flesh and our will and our wants so that the Christ on the inside of us could be raised to life. And people don't hear our opinions, but they hear the mind of Christ. People don't see how we walk and how we talk, but they hear the mind of Christ.
People don't see our will and our way, but they see the purpose and the plan that God has in and through us. And when people see that, their lives are so much better because of it. What we must understand is that our hidden compromise speaks louder than our public speaking does.
And it's impossible to cast out a devil. We're enamored with sleeping with public can't cover private defeat. Eventually your giants come for the mic too and they will speak.
So I want to ask you this question. Are you standing in the field or are you running from the Philistines? Are you standing faithful in the field or are you running with culture and society?
Are you standing faithful in the field or are you saying what the naysayers say? Are you standing faithful in the field or have you become an echo to what everyone else is saying around you? Are you standing faithful in the field because the field is worth fighting for?
Or are you standing silent because you don't know what in the world you're going to do? The word of God teaches us if God before you, >> who or what can stand against you? >> Point number three is this.
Your absence costs more than the enemy's presence. Your absence costs more than the enemy's presence. You know, we have church language and we utilize language like church season and summertime isn't church season.
When the fall comes back around, it's church season because people take the summer off from church like the enemy goes on vacation. Starting at the end of May, you don't have to worry about tests. You don't have to worry about trials.
You don't have to worry about tribulations cuz the enemy goes on vacation until September. And so, we can disconnect from our relationship with God. We can disconnect from church.
We can disconnect from our time in the word. We can disconnect from prayer because we don't have to worry about the enemy doing anything. He takes the summer off.
And we make our relationship with Jesus a part-time job because we've forgotten that the fields are worth fighting for. And if I'm being honest with you, we allow our children's schedule to dictate our schedules. We allow their sports routine to determine our faithfulness in church.
We will allow all of the different things that that are going on in our lives to become more of a priority than our relationship with Jesus Christ. But hear me family. Anything that you've made a priority over your relationship with Jesus Christ is a prophecy to you that it won't be in your future.
We don't want to hear that though because it makes us uncomfortable. But we need to be uncomfortable. We We need the word of God to pierce our soul and convict us back into a place of a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ.
We need to be reminded that God is not coming back for a comfortable church. God is not coming back for a convenient church. God is coming back for a bride without spot or blemish.
He's coming back for a bride that looks like the bride he desires for it to look like. He's not coming back for a people who are self-servancing themselves and are following their will and their way. He's coming back for a people who are desperate for a move of God in the earth to be a reflection of the move of God happening in heaven.
He's coming back for a people who have not forgotten that the field is worth fighting for. [Music] [Applause] I want to remind you of something in this text. Everyone else left.
Shamas by himself. There was no applause. There was no cheerleaders.
There was no worship team. There was no band. There was no stands.
There was no Instagram likes. There were no followers watching his stand. He was standing in faithfulness by himself.
And I want you to understand and know this. Standing in faithfulness is a lonely journey. But it does not mean you don't have to obey what God has instructed for you to do.
>> I don't care what everyone else is doing. God has called you to stand. >> He's called you to remember that the field is worth fighting for.
And so what we have to stop doing, we have to stop blaming the devil for ground we walked away from. Stop giving him more credit, more honor than what he has worked for. Stop blaming the devil for things that you are not disciplined in.
We have to remember the field is worth fighting for. One of the enemy's strongest weapons is a person who quits when the field looks boring [Music] or a silent person standing in the field. Because a silent person standing in the field is ammunition for the enemy to crowd their minds with the voices and the noises of the world.
[Music] We have to remember that our vacancy in the field is hell's opportunity. [Music] Point number four is this. [Music] It may look like dirt, but it's actually destiny.
Some of you are unhappy in your marriage and your marriage looks like dirt. You need to be reminded today that that is not just dirt, that's destiny. Some of you have been believing God for physical healing in your body and you you've kind of given up on it because you got faith fatigue.
I just came to remind you today, you're not standing on dirt alone. You're standing on destiny. >> Some of you are are praying about walking away from the business that you started.
You need to be reminded that's not dirt, that's destiny. And there's some of you watching me online right now. You've settled for watching online.
You need to get back into the building. You have to remember that this is not dirt. This is destiny.
[Music] [Applause] >> I want to point something out to you that the word of God says. It says, "And the Lord worked a great victory. God didn't say Shama worked a great victory.
It said the Lord did. And the reality is is if you do what God asked you to do, God will do what only he can do. And the Lord will work a great victory in your life.
It may look like you're standing in an empty field right now, but what you're standing in is the battleground that God is going to give you victory in. And when you fight for the things that heaven calls you to fight for, heaven fights with you. And if you stand long enough, you'll see what God saw in that patch of dirt that you may be standing in.
And the Lord will give you victory. God's going to give you victory in your mind. God's going to give you victory in your family.
God's going to give you victory in your marriage. God's going to give you victory in your finances. God's going to give you victory in your church.
God's going to give you victory in your friendships. God's going to give you victory in your relationships. And the Lord will get the victory.
I don't know who I'm talking to today, but I believe I'm talking to some people that are in desperate need of seeing the hand of God move on your behalf, and he's going to let you see the victory. [Music] So, what may look like dirt today is actually destiny under your feet. Because the Lord is working a great victory.
[Music] Let me tell you, James River Church, this field is worth fighting for. I said this field is worth fighting for. I said this field is worth fighting for.
You have not seen your best days. Your best days are still in front of you. Stand strong.
Stand faithful. Stand put in the thing that God has called you to stand in. And I don't care who comes and who goes.
You stay faithful to the things that God has called you to stay faithful in. Why? Because this field is worth fighting for.
[Music] Thank you so much for joining James River Church on our YouTube channel. Our prayer is that God encouraged you and your faith was strengthened today. And we would love for you to be a part of our online family as well.
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God bless.
