II SAMUEL
Listen to this study TH3123
Please turn in your Bibles this evening to II Samuel chapter 23 as we continue our study through the Word of God. This evening we are going to focus on David’s mighty men, 37 men who were fearless in their actions. This phrase, “mighty men” comes from the Hebrew word, GIBBOWR or GIBBOR, (ghib-bore’) and it speaks of excellence in the Old Testament. And keep in mind that these were not mighty men because of their strength, as Psalm 33:16 tells us, “No king is saved by the multitude of an army; A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.” No, they were not mighty men because of their abilities but because of their understanding and knowledge of the Lord as Jeremiah 9:23-24 tells us, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,’ says the Lord.”
This is also true for us, we are mighty men and women of God not because of our strength but because of the Lord and as we know Him we can learn to trust in Him more and more and walk by faith and see the victories He can bring in our lives! Now keep in mind that these men did not start out that way. In I Samuel 22:2 we see who these men were, “And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.” That is where they started, but what happened to them?
I believe they watched their leader, David, who loved the Lord and they learned from him and they grew into David’s mighty men. That truly is like every one of us. Where we came from, in debt, discontented, in distress and as we come to our Lord, He transformed our lives and we now have become soldiers in His army, mighty men and women of God!
Redpath
made these comments in regards to the need for mighty men and
women of God today. He wrote, “The triumph of the church
as a whole depends upon the personal victory of every Christian.
In other words, your victory, your life, your personal testimony,
are important to the cause of God today. What happens out in
Let
me say one more thing before we begin our study. This is one of
my favorite sections in the Bible. I know that may sound strange,
but I love the spiritual applications that the Lord is showing
us in the lives of these men. There are some great lessons for
us to apply to our lives and that is so important. It is not information
but it is also application, and as we do we are allowing the Lord
to transform our lives, make us more like Him. If you want to
see what a mighty man of God is all about, the Holy Spirit is
showing us here in II Samuel chapter 23. These are the characteristics
of a mighty man of God! With that said, let’s begin reading
in II Samuel chapter 23, beginning in verse 8 and see what the
Lord has for us as we study His Word and look at these mighty
men of God!
The first one listed here is Adino, no not an Italian boy even though I like to think that he is and he is listed first, which it makes me feel good. Adino was one of David’s mighty men and he killed 800 men at one time! Listen to how the King James Version puts this, “he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.” I think the picture that the Lord is painting for us here is one of prayer, that Adino lifted up his hand 800 times in prayer and didn’t stop until the enemy was wiped out!
To show you why I feel this way, that Adino’s actions are a picture of prayer; listen to what Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy 2:8, “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” Thus, the starting point for a man of God is that he or she is a man of prayer! It has been said that prayer is striking the winning blow and our service is just going in and taking the spoil or cleaning up afterward. It is our heavy artillery.
A good example of this is seen in the life of Jehoshaphat,
the king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, a godly king. And during
his reign there were 3 nations that rose up against the Southern
Kingdom of Judah. The Moabites, the Ammonites and the Edomites,
who were all blood relatives of
Listen
carefully to what takes place as we read in II Chronicles 20:3-12,
“And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the
Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all
Do you see what Jehoshaphat did? He got the nation together
and they brought this situation before God in prayer! How did
it turn out? Again, listen carefully. We are told in II Chronicles
20:22-29, “Now when they began to sing and to praise,
the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount
Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. For
the people of Ammon and
You see, it is the power of prayer for as they prayed God gave them the victory and it was such a great victory it took them three days to gather the spoils of this victory! And that is what we see here with Adino, a mighty man of God, a man who was persistent in prayer, lifting up his hands unto the Lord some 800 times, and again, he did not stop until the battle was complete and the enemy defeated.
We have to remember that as Christians we are in a war, a battle, not a physical battle but a spiritual one. You see, we tend to fight against abortion, pornography, the movie industry, the ACLU and-so-on, but the war is spiritual and it must be fought accordingly. These are just how this spiritual battle manifests itself, in the physical. Now I am not saying we don’t stand against these things, but we must understand who the battle is with! You can’t fight these battles using physical weapons and yet, isn’t that the way we tend to fight them most of the time? Prayer is our spiritual weapon that strikes fear into the hearts of the enemy and yet it is something that is not often used!
E. M. Bounds once said, “It was claimed for Augustus Caesar that he found Rome a city of wood, and left it a city of marble. The pastor who succeeds in changing his people from a prayerless to a prayerful people has done a greater work than did Augustus.” He also wrote these words, “What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.”
Listen to this story and you tell me who had more faith in prayer, the Christian or the tavern owner. We are told:
A tale is told about a small town
that had historically been “dry,” but then a local businessman
decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local
church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting
to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter
lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner
of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation
were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court
that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his
initial review of the case, stated that “no matter how this
case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes
in prayer and the Christians do not.”
- J. K. Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 129
David had over 400 men but only a few were mighty men and Adino was the chief of the mighty men and why do you think that might be? I believe the Holy Spirit is showing us the importance of prayer, that it needs to be a priority in our lives if we want to be mighty men and women of God! Was Adino tired? Absolutely but it did not stop him from lifting his hands up, he persevered. Prayer is not easy, but it is what makes the difference in war! Persevere on in prayer!
The next mighty man of God listed here is Eleazar, the son of Dodo, not a great name if you think about it and I guess he needed to be a mighty man since he was the son of Dodo. He must have been teased a lot as a kid! But look at what this mighty man of God did. We are told that the Philistines gathered against Israel and all the Israeli soldiers retreated except for one, Eleazar! And this mighty man of God fought against the Philistines, by himself, with the sword and by the time he was done, and this victory was assured, his sword cleaved to his hand. In other words it had become a natural extension of his body, part of his life. It was as if his sword was glued to his hand and it was because of that relationship we see the enemy defeated! And after the battle was over, the people returned and took the plunder of this victory.
What does this mean to us as Christians? We saw that first of all a man of God must be a man of prayer. And now, a man of God must be a man of the Word! Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 6:17, that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit. Thus, our spiritual offensive weapon, besides prayer, is our sword of the Spirit or the Word of God, the Bible! And God’s Word should become a natural extension of our lives so that as Satan comes against us, as he tries to distort the Scriptures to cause us to sin, to doubt our faith, we can have solid assurance that what he is saying is not what the Lord has said to us!
Now
keep in mind that Paul is not speaking of the broadsword or rhomphaia
here. The broadsword was 3 to
4 feet long and double-edged. It was used to swing indiscriminately
to try to chop off people’s heads in battle! The sword that
Paul is speaking of is the machaira, which had a length of 6 to
18 inches and was used in hand-to-hand combat. The sword
was carried in a sheath which was attached to the soldiers belt,
and thus, always ready for use.
For us as Christians, Paul tells us that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit and it is powerful as Hebrews 4:12 tells us, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It cuts right to the heart of the matter if we would let it. It will also accomplish what God has sent it to do in our lives as Isaiah 55:11 tells us, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Now when Paul speaks of the sword of the Spirit being the Word of God, he is not using the Greek word LOGOS. This word means general statements or messages. Paul is not talking about general knowledge of the Scripture. Paul uses the Greek word RHEMA, which refers to individual words or statements. It is not a general knowledge but having a precise understanding of the Scripture. Paul is speaking of being able to expound on the specific truths within the Scriptures. Are you comfortable using the Word of God? You should be, it is one of two offensive weapons that we as Christians have. Dig into God’s Word, meditate upon it, get to know Him and His Word more! The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God! May it become a natural extension of your life!
You see, we are not to go around swinging God’s Word around cutting off people’s heads, not a good thing to do. But we are to do hand-to-hand combat you might say and like a surgeon use God’s Word in such a way that it cuts to the heart of the matter. Yes, the Holy Spirit does that but we must speak forth God’s Word, we must know God’s Word.
Listen to these words regarding the Scriptures. We are told:
There are words written by kings, by emperors, by princes, by poets, by sages, by philosophers, by fishermen, by statesmen, by men learned in the wisdom of Egypt, educated in the schools of Babylon, and trained at the feet of rabbis in Jerusalem. It was written by men in exile, in the desert, in shepherd’s tents, in green pastures, and beside still waters. Among its authors we find a tax-gatherer, a herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruit. We find poor men, rich men, statesmen, preachers, captains, legislators, judges, and exiles. The Bible is a library full of history, genealogy, ethnology [The science that analyzes and compares human cultures, as in social structure, language, religion, and technology], law, ethics, prophecy, poetry, eloquence, medicine, sanitary science, political economy, and the perfect rules for personal and social life. And behind every word is the divine author, God Himself.
- Source Unknown
Now, was this an easy task for Eleazar to do? Absolutely not! He was weary and yet he forged ahead in the work. The same is true for us as we study the Word of God. We must take the time to dig into it, to study it, to make it a part of our life so that it naturally flows from our life! Peter put it like this in I Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” May we be able to give a defense for our faith, may we be able to stand strong upon God’s Word!
Did you also notice that as this battle heated up, those that were not prepared for this battle fled for their lives? Any soldier who is not prepared for battle will not put his life on the line. The next time we see these people who retreated is when the battle was over and it was time to collect the spoils of victory. That is a sad picture and as much as they gained, they missed so much more. They missed out on seeing God bring these victories in their own lives and for those that don’t know God’s Word, they miss out on the joys of seeing that what God has said come to pass in their lives. They miss out on that stability that God’s Word brings to our lives. They miss out on the victories that come from knowing God’s Word! They miss out on knowing God more intimately through His Word!
Thus, God’s Word needs to permeate our lives. It needs to sink deep down into our hearts and change our lives. We must be like Eleazar and use our sword as a precise instrument for the glory of God. The Word of God needs to be a natural extension of our life because it too is a quality of a mighty man of God!
The next mighty man of God on this list is Shammah and listen to his story. It may not sound like much, but that is the point! Again we see the Philistines causing trouble for the children of Israel. They were very smart with their strategy. They would wait to attack their enemies until it was harvest time. And then when all the work was done, they would swoop down and take the fruits of their enemies labor, the grains and-so-on. Here we see that there was a piece of ground that the captain of the guard gave Shammah to watch over and protect.
“What was this piece of ground that he was to guard?” you ask. Did it hold all kinds of gold, maybe silver or precious stones? Not really. It had a bunch of lentils or beans there and that is what Shammah was to guard against the attack of the Philistines. “Shammah, go and save the beans” and he meant that literally!
Now I don’t know what you are thinking right now, but for must if not all of us, we are probably thinking, “Is it really worth risking my life for a field of beans?” Good question. And yes, if it were something that was better, more important, more valuable, of course we would risk our lives for that, but for beans, really? And that is what the rest of the soldiers also thought, and they left, all except Shammah!
And as Shammah defended this piece of ground, protected the beans, God brought about a great victory against the Philistines. I like the attitude of Shammah. He was called to guard the beans and no matter how insignificant that might be; he was going to be faithful in service to his king, David. He stood his ground and defeated the Philistines. Remember what we are told in II Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. . . .”
Who is God looking for? Is He looking for strong men? Maybe He is looking for wealthy men? Or maybe He is looking for educated men? What about good-looking men? No, the Lord is looking for faithful men, those who are willing to guard the beans you might say and do it faithfully, no matter how insignificant they think the task is!
It always amazes me, and it shouldn’t, that people in the church want the big ministries, the popular ministries, but not many come up to me and say, “Pastor Joe, can I watch over the beans?” You see, we categorize things like that and what happens is, when we have to watch the beans, we get mad, frustrated, we want more and God is saying that you need to be faithful with the beans, they too are important! There is no job or ministry that is small or big because God is looking at faithfulness in service not how big your ministry is!
Does that mean it will be easy? Absolutely not, it was not easy for Shammah, but he did it faithfully and look at the victory that God gave to him because he was faithful in service while everyone else fled! God never said it would be easy, but that He would be with us every step of the way, even when we are protecting the beans! Paul, tells us this very thing in I Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” And The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord [always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord], knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile [it is never wasted or to no purpose].”
Your service to God is never in vain; it is never worthless or insignificant, even if you are just guarding the beans. Shammah understood that and was faithful in his service to his king and may we be faithful in our service to the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ! It is as Paul said in Colossians 3:23-24, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
You see, we serve the Lord and the benefit of that service to the Lord is our fellow man! And it is something we must endure till the end, not give up as Paul did and at the end of his life he was able to say in II Timothy 4:6-8, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Paul
was released from prison for a short time but now he is re-arrested
by Nero and he knows his time is short, he knows he is going to
be put to death for his faith in Christ this time!
You see, Paul saw his life ending like a drink offering to the Lord, (Numbers 15:1-10). Think of it like this. First there was the burnt offering to the Lord, then the grain offering and the last offering was the drink offering. It is as Hiebert said, “His whole life has been presented to God as a living sacrifice; now his death, comparable to the pouring out of the wine as the last act of the sacrificial ceremony, will complete the sacrifice.”
The word that Paul uses for “departure,” ANALUSIS (an-al’-oo-sis) in the Greek, carries with it a few different ideas. It speaks of the unloosing of a ship from its moors, as Paul is ready to set sail home to heaven. It speaks of the unyoking of a weary team of animals after a hard days work, and Paul has finished the work that God has called him to do, he is going to enter that rest. It is the striking of a tent, taking it down so you can move on and Paul was going to leave this earthly tent for a mansion! Paul knew he was going to die and he is passing the mantle of ministry to Timothy, his son in the faith.
Thus, Paul uses his life as an example to Timothy. He fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith and he is waiting to receive his rewards for faithful service when the Lord return’s, which tells me he expected the Lord to come soon. Are you fighting the good fight, finishing the race, keeping the faith, awaiting the Lord’s return? Paul is encouraging you to do so and receive the rewards that you will one day present at the feet of Jesus for He is the one who has enabled all of us to do these things!
We need to let our light shine in the work we are doing for the Lord. We must not give up, we must not think it is worthless or not important but persevere till the end no matter what anyone else does! And as we do we will hear those beautiful words from our Lord, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” Matthew 25:21. That truly was Shammah and that should be our hearts desire, that we serve the Lord faithfully even if it is just to protect the beans!
Here we see three mighty men of God and once again the Holy Spirit is painting for us a picture of what a mighty man of God is all about. We see first of all that a mighty man of God must be faithful in prayer. Then a mighty man of God must be faithful in the Word of God. Then a mighty man of God must be faithful in his service to God. And now we see that a mighty man of God must be faithful in worship. Do you see how these all build upon each other? Now, in regards to this issue of being faithful in worship, let’s look at this story a little closer.
David was in the cave of Adullam and the Philistines had a garrison of men located in the city of Bethlehem. And as David sat in this cave he thought back on how the water from the well in Bethlehem was cool and refreshing to him. He remembered back to when he was a child and how good that water was and just longed for a drink of that water as he sat in this dry cave in Adullam. Now David must have been thinking about this out loud because some of his men heard what he was saying, how he longed for this water and they risked their lives to break through the camp of the enemy and get to this well and then return with this water for David.
So as these men broke through the enemies’ camp, drew out this water for David and they return with it to the cave of Adullam, where David was at, David refuses to drink it. He not only refuses to drink from it but he pours out this water that these men risked their lives to get! What in the world is going on here? How could anything good come out of this? How can this be applied to my life? Again, let’s look at this a little closer and see what we can glean from it.
First of all the word, “Bethlehem” means, “house of bread” and it was where the well was located. Water is symbolic of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures. Thus, what we see here is that the living water is found in the house of bread or the Word of God! You see, the Word of God brings us life, times of refreshing as the Holy Spirit strengthens us. If you want that living water you will find it in the house of bread or the Word of God because that is where God reveals Himself to us! But that is not that main point of this passage.
Also, who is trying to keep us from getting to the house of bread? Just as the Philistines were trying to keep David’s men from getting to the house of bread so too we see Satan and his demons trying to keep us from the house of bread or the Word of God. Who are these enemies that are trying to do this to us, and many times succeed? We see them as work, sports, movies, television, being too tired; the kids are acting up and-so-on. Anything that gets in your way of being in the Word of God is an enemy to your faith! I am not saying you can’t be involved in some of these things, but if they are taking your time away from the Word of God, then that is an enemy that is keeping you from the living water, from Jesus!
You see, without those times of refreshing we become weak, we become dry in our spiritual lives. That is just what the enemy wants! That is why he stands in the way of us getting to our Bethlehem, our house of bread, the Word of God! It is as Paul said in Hebrews 4:12, which we have read before, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” As important as that is, that is not the point of this passage.
The point here is what David did with this water when they brought it back to him. He just poured out that water that these men risked their lives to get. How could he do that? What a waste! What David did here I think is important for us to understand! David rightly recognized that he did not deserve that kind of devotion; only the Lord deserved that. He saw himself as totally unworthy to receive this. And so David gives back to the Lord that which was most precious to him, this water as he pours it out on the ground unto the Lord as an act of worship unto the Lord!
Remember what Paul said in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.”
Why should we live unto God? Because of all the mercy He has shown us, like justification, sanctification, election, adopted into the family of God, God’s Spirit indwelling us, the love of God and so much more that Paul has already covered in the first 11 chapters of Romans. It is as Harrison said: “Whereas the heathen are prone to sacrifice to obtain mercy, biblical faith teaches that divine mercy provides the basis of sacrifice as the fitting response.” You see, how can we not live unto God with all the mercy He has bestowed upon us?
Now Paul tells us that we are to be a living sacrifice unto God. That is our lives are to be placed on the altar to be offered up as a burnt offering, totally given to God, and it will be a sweet smelling sacrifice unto God as we do. Too often we give God portions of our lives but not our entire being. He wants it all and as we do, He gives it back to us so we may bring Him glory! As we give ourselves to God, Paul tells us that it is our “reasonable service” or literally “spiritual worship” for the word “service” in the Greek is LATREIA (lat-ri’-ah), which speaks of the worship of God! So not only is a life given to God reasonable service but it is also our reasonable or spiritual worship unto God!
You see, as we give our lives unto God as a sacrifice, yielding our bodies to Him, it is a form of worship unto Him. We are to present our bodies as instruments in God’s hands so that He can mold and shape us into the men and women He wants us to be and accomplish the work that He has called us to do. We are to give to Him what is most precious to us, and that is our life! No one else can do that for us, no one else can worship for us, we must worship God ourselves and to do that you must give Him your life!
We are told in I Chronicles 16:28-36, “Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; And let them say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns.’ Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; Let the field rejoice, and all that is in it. Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, For He is coming to judge the earth. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. And say, ‘Save us, O God of our salvation; Gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles, To give thanks to Your holy name, To triumph in Your praise.’ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! And all the people said, ‘Amen!’ and praised the Lord.”
Thus, David gave back to the Lord that which was most precious to him and this was an act of worship. A mighty man of God must also be a man of worship!
Here we see Abishai listed, interestingly enough, his brother Joab is not listed in this section and the Lord is showing us that He was not pleased with the actions of Joab. Yes, through human eyes you would pick Joab as one of David’s mighty men, but God saw differently and I think we will be surprised at what God accepts and what we thought He accepted. Those who will be given honor in their service and those that won’t.
Here we see Abishai lift up his spear and he killed 300 men! Not a bad days work! What does that mean to us? In the Hebrew the word “lifted” speaks of awakening or opening your eyes and “spear” speaks of thrusting through. I think the idea here is that a mighty man of God needs to have pure eyes. He can’t let his eyes wonder, allow in things that are evil because they will bring him down. Instead, he is to bring down those things that are evil because his eyes are open to the truth and he is willing to take a stand against ungodliness and not allow it into his life, through his eyes you might say! He, in a sense, has thrust it through with his spear; he has killed it because his eyes were open to the truth!
Let me share with you a few verses to show you what I mean. In Psalm 19:8 we are told, “The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” God’s Word is pure; it opens our eyes to the truth and helps us to continue to walk down that path! In Psalm 101:3 we are told, “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me.” Notice that David is determining not to allow evil things to come before his eyes! Also, in Psalm 119:37 David said, “Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way.” What a prayer and God will do His part if you are willing to give Him those worthless and destructive things in your life. And in Psalm 119:18 we are told, “Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.” God wants to show us what is good and that is found in His Word if we would only place that in front of our eyes instead of worthless things!
And thus, a mighty man of God must have pure eyes, he must thrust through and destroy those things that will only hurt him or destroy him, those wicked things and cling to what is good. But, to do this his eyes must be open to the things of God and as they are, God will show him the good things and the wicked things will be exposed. Again, they must be done away with! Yes, like with Abishai, it is not a popular thing to do, you may not get recognized in a good way, but it is the best thing for us!
We will not be able to finish this section on David’s mighty men tonight, we will do that next time and we will finish up looking at II Samuel. But as I close tonight, look at what we have seen so far in regards to what God sees in His mighty men!
A MIGHTY MAN OF GOD IS A MAN WHO IS FAITHFUL IN PRAYER
A MIGHTY MAN OF GOD IS A MAN WHO IS FAITHFUL IN THE WORD
A MIGHTY MAN OF GOD IS FAITHFUL IN HIS SERVICE
A MIGHTY MAN OF GOD IS FAITHFUL IN WORSHIP
A MIGHTY MAN OF GOD IS FAITHFUL WITH HIS EYES, THEY ARE PURE
May we not lose sight of that, because the Holy Spirit is showing us these lessons so we can learn from them, grow in them as we apply them to our lives. May we be men and women who are mighty men of God!