Unknown Armor Bearer

turn your Bibles to 1st Samuel chapter 14 1st Samuel chapter 14 I want to thank brother J JD this is his first official time up in front of you leading the music team and uh taking over on this ministry and so did a great job this morning and we appreciate uh the music team he kind of had a couple things against him I put a big block in front behind him over here and then on top of that the part of their team is gone but did a great job and really appreciate that appreciate you being here both those of you upstairs and those of you downstairs as well and look looking forward to the message we're going to continue our series from Hebrews chap 11 God's Hall of Fame and in that series we're

talking about Broken People how that God heals broken people and that God also uses broken people and as we've gone through that chapter we've looked at different Heroes of the faith like Daniel and Noah and uh other ones and and we've got down to the end of the chapter and uh writer ran out of time ran out of room to write and so he just well there's others and we want to talk about those others in the in this series we're talking about the unknown Heroes of the Bible and so if you look at 1 Samuel chapter 14 1st Samuel chapter 14 we're going to learn about one of those unknown Heroes of the Bible because I I think most of us would consider ourselves to be unknown uh we're we're not one of

the famous people we're not one of the well-known people we don't always stand up in front of everybody and yet you're serving the lord and and being faithful to God and and maybe others don't know your name but God knows your name and so we're going to look at those people here in the Bible in 1st Samuel 14 and verse number one it says now it came to pass upon a day that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bear his armor come and let us go over to the Philistines Garrison that that is on the other side but he told not his father and Saul carried in the uttermost part of giba under a pomegranate tree which is in m migron and the people that were there with him were about

600 men and aah the son of um uh you know what this whole verse three is names I can't pronounce so uh it's just a bunch of the priests and leaders were with him all right and the the end verse says the people knew that not that Jonathan was gone and between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over onto the Philistines Garrison there was a sharp Rock on the one side and a sharp Rock on the other side and the name of one was boses and the name of the other CA uh the Forefront of the one was situate no northward over against mcmash and the other Southern word over against giba and Jonathan said unto the young man that was that uh that bear his armor come and let us go over unto the

Garrison of these uncircumcised it may be that the Lord will work for us for there's no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few and by and his armor Bearer said unto him do all that is in thine heart turn thee behold I am with thee according to thy heart so I want to talk today about this young man this Unknown man named the armor bearer of Jonathan and I want to see what we can learn from his life now before we look at this young man I want to start by talking about Jonathan most of you know that Jonathan was the son of King Saul the first king of Israel and was uh scheduled to inherit the throne and he had already won one great victory in battle before this and now uh they were

facing the Garrison of the Philistines and he decided you know what let's just go take them on God can win by a few or God can win by many and and so Jonathan uh there's certain things that we know about Jonathan and his character and one is that he was a brave young man in 1st Samuel chapter 13 and verses 2 and 3 it says Saul chose him 3,000 men of Israel whereof 2,000 were with Saul in mcmash in Mount bethl and a thousand were with Jonathan in giba of Benjamin and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent and Jonathan smoked the Garrison of the Philistines that was in gab and the Philistines heard of it and Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land saying let the Hebrews

hear so Saul had taken 2,000 Jonathan only took 1,000 yet he won the Victory and it was such a great victory that they wanted all of Israel to hear that we can defeat the enemy and so Saul Was A Brave Young Man in Ephesians chapter 6 and: 10 and 11 it says finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and the power of His might put on the whole armor of God that you be able to stand against the Ws of the devil you see as we learned from chapter 14 Jonathan's bravery didn't come just from within himself but he understood that that he could be strong in the Lord and I want to challenge you and I to be strong in the Lord we Face trials we Face battles in life we Face problems in life and we've got

to choose whether we're going to be strong in the Lord or not and Jonathan was a young man that decided you know what if God's on my side I can be strong in the Lord now if you look back at chapter 14 of verse number four as Jonathan was going into this battle it says it was between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over into the Philistines Garrison there was a sharp Rock on the one side and a sharp Rock on the other side in other words he was in kind of a a goal or Valley and on one side there was a cliff on the other side there was a cliff there was these giant rocks you ever heard the statement stuck between a rock and a hard place you ever heard that statement have you ever

been there have you ever been stuck between a rock and a hard place it seems like no matter which way you go you got a tough decision to make maybe you've been in a situation financially where you had to decide well which Bill am I going to pay am I going to pay for the food or for the rent am I going to pay this debt or that debt and and it kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place so which way am I going to go and pay my bills or or maybe you've been in a situation where you have to choose in this situation uh Jonathan had choose am I going to uh follow my father who was really being kind of a a coward right there he was he was indecisive and not willing to go into battle and Jonathan

said do I follow my father or do I follow my heavenly father and go into battle and win this battle that I know we can win and he was stuck between a rock and a hard place you ever been like that you ever been like you had to choose between your your spouse and your parents you had to choose between your children and one or the other maybe choose between somebody at work or and you kind of face with that dilemma or or perhaps you've been a situation where you have to decide who do I B at work you got two different bosses telling you what to do and if you do this one you're going to be in trouble with that boss and if you do this what this boss says you're in trouble with the other boss and

you ever been stuck between a rock and a hard place and that's where Jonathan was now you know when you're in that situation you need to remember this Jesus is your rock the Bible says in Matthew chapter 16 verse number 18 and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and Upon This Rock I will build my church and the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it you see Jonathan understood that even though he was in a very bad strategic position you don't want to be in the low ground you don't want to have to climb up to your enemy you don't want to give your enemy The High Ground and Jonathan was in a bad strategic position but he understood that God is my rock and I can depend on him I can

stand upon him now when Jesus said that Upon This Rock I will build my church he wasn't talking about Peter he was talking about Peter's statement in verse number 16 Peter said thou are the Christ the son of the Living God and upon that statement he said I'm going to build my church because I am the rock of the church I am the rock of your life and we remember when we're stuck between a rock and a hard place we're stuck in a difficult situation and and we're facing a battle we need to realize that Jesus Is My Rock and we need to look to him in Psalms 18: 1-3 it says I will love thee oh Lord my strength the Lord is my rock and my Fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will

trust my Buckler and the Horn of my salvation and my high tower I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised so shall I be saved from my enemies he says when I go into battle the one I can depend upon is the Lord of my salvation I can depend on on Jesus Christ to give me strength I can trust in him he's my high tower he can help me to see ahead what is there and to be ready for that and we need to remember that the Lord is our strength and when we're going into the battle and when we're facing difficult situations we need to look to him as our Rock we need to look to him as our strength he is our Salvation it says now let me ask you a question is he your salvation in 1 John 5 and:

12 and 13 it says he that hath the son hath life he that hath not the Son of God hath not life these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life you see whenever you go into battle it's good to know where you're going to go when you die it's good to have that confidence in your salvation to have that confidence in your relationship with the Lord to know that he will be there for you because he's the god of your salvation and I wonder today do you know that if you died today that you'd go to heaven do you know that you have eternal life do you know that your sins are forgiven do you know that he is your salvation you

see your salvation is not your good works in Ephesians chap 2 and: 8 and9 it says for by grace are you saved through faith than not of yourselves it's the gift of God not of Works let's sayen shabos you see if I'm depending on my Works to get give me to Heaven I I'm going to fall I'm going to fail you see I cannot depend on what I do I can only depend on what God did for me for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life you see I can depend on his love for me I can depend on my salvation because I have called upon him as my personal Savior and I wonder today have you called Upon Jesus Christ in Romans

chap 10: 9- 10 it says that if thou sh confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and Shall Believe in thine heart that God has raised from the dead Thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth under righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation in Romans 10:13 it says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and today you need to call upon him to be your savior because when you face the battles of life when you face those difficult choices in life when you're faced with with uh times where you just don't know what to do you want to be able look to the Lord as your rock you want to be a look to him as your strength you want to be a look to him

as the one who is your savior and you have that confidence in your relationship with him so is he your salvation but then when you face those challenges you got to be ready to climb the mountain in sec in 1st Samuel chapter 14 look at verse number 13 you can go back later on and read through this whole chapter but in verse 13 they they had called out to the men of the Philistines and and they answered back said come on up so they decid okay we're going to go on up and verse 13 the men of the Garrison answered Jonathan his his armor Bearer and said come up to us and we will show you a thing and Jonathan said unto his armor Bearer come up after um after me for the Lord ha delivered them into

the hand of Israel Jonathan said listen if they ask us to come up then we know that God's in this because you know the way the best way to do it was wait for them to come down when you're trying to go up and attack the enemy you remember during DDA World War II had they had to climb those lifs Cliffs on Normandy it was a very difficult battle it's a very challenging battle way to go into battle and yet this is what they had to do they had to climb the mountain in order to go into battle and sometimes in life we have to climb the mountain in Joshua 4 14 in verse number 12 it says now therefore give me this mountain wherefore the Lord spake in that day for thou heardest in the day how the

amans were there and that cities were great and fence now listen to the next statement if so be the Lord will be with me now look back at 1st Samuel chapter 14 and look at verse number six and Jonathan said to the young man that bear his armor come and let's go over into the Garrison of these uncircumcised it may be that the Lord will work for us for the there is no restraint to the Lord to say by many or by few see both Jonathan and also Joshua understood if I'm going to win the battles of Life I Can't Do It In My Own Strength I can't do it my own power I need God to be with me and we need God's strength and we need God's power but Joshua said listen give me that mountain and I'll go and

take that mountain because God has promised me and whatever you're facing today in life whatever mountains you're standing in front of right now it may be a mountain of debt it may be a mountain of depression it may be all kinds of mountains that you're facing your life you can overcome that mountain but you've got to be ready to climb that mountain and in order to climb that mountain you needs God's power in Zechariah 4: 6 and 7 it says then he answered and spake unto me saying this is the word of the Lord unto zerubabel saying not by might nor by power but by my spirit sayith the Lord of hosts who art thou oh great Mountain before for zerubabel Thou shalt become a plain and he shall bring

forth The Headstone thereof with shoutings uh crying Grace Grace unto it see Zechariah says Listen by God's power you can climb that mountain by God's power you can take down that mountain by God's power you can have the victory over that mountain I don't know what you're facing in life I don't know what you're dealing with in life right now but I can tell you whatever that mountain is God will give you the victory you see God gave Jonathan the victory look at 1st Samuel 14 look at verse number 15 and there was a trembling in the host in the field and among all the people The Garrison and the spoilers they also trembled in the earthquake so was a very great trembling did you hear about the

earthquake in New York this week and then there was one in Taiwan as well you ever been through an earthquake well that's what happened when Jonathan his armor Bearer went up there to go into battle all of a sudden there's this great earthquake that came and what's interesting is that a t the earthquake and it was a great trembling the word great there is the word Elohim now if you're in my class on Wednesday night on Wednesday night here at the church in our Bible study and online as well we're going through a series on Theology and as part of that series last week last two weeks we' going through the names of God you know we have such a limited vocabulary about God we call him God we call

him Lord we call him father and that's it you know there are over a hundred different names for God in the Bible and and you ought to understand what those names are and expand your vocabulary in your prayer life and in your in your talking about the Lord but one of the key words one of the names of God in the Old Testament is the name Elohim which means mighty one and God is the mighty one and so the Bible is saying here that that earthquake wasn't just the Earth trembling that was a great um it says a great quake that came from Elohim that came from God and God is the one that gave them the Victory and we need God's power if we're going to overcome that mountain but sometimes you not only

need the power of God to overcome the mountain but you need the power of God to move the mountain it takes Faith to move a mountain in Matthew 17: 19- 21 it says then came the Disciples of Jesus apart and said why could we not cast him out and Jesus said because of your unbelief for verily I say unto you if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed you shall say unto this mountain remove hence To Yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you how be it this kind cometh not out goeth not out but by prayer and fasting there's times that we just need to trust in God there's times that we just need to face that mountain and say by the power of God by the strength of

God I can overcome that mountain and then there's other times that we just need to have faith that God's going to remove that mountain and he's going to change that situation and whatever it takes and God's going to give us that Faith to trust him as we face that mountain but there are other times where you need to climb the mountain if you go back to 1 Samuel chapter 14 it tells us that uh what they did is they climbed the mountain verse 13 and Jonathan climbed up upon his hands upon his feet and his armor bear after him they shall fall before Jonathan and his armor bear slew after him so Jonathan in order to go go into battle against the Philistines had to climb up that mountain on his

hands and his feet you know I I I built a a climbing wall here to use as my illustration and and so I'm going to ask Ricky blessley to come up here and he's going to climb this climbing wall for you this is what Jonathan have now imagine here they're getting ready to go those of the military understand this they're going to battle it's not on a level plane and in battle you always want to have The High Ground because that's the advantage and the enem is on top of this cliff and they're looking down the side of the cliff and there's Jonathan climbing up the mountain go ahead see how we can do here all right go ahead ah not too bad good job there all right now come on down and now we're going

to have him do it while carrying a sword and a shield no I'm not going to make you do that you can go sit down all right he got a little nervous there with that one but here's my point folks sometimes God doesn't move the mountain sometimes God says you need to climb over that mountain some of you here today you need to climb out of that depression and that's a long hard climb but you just need to say you know what I'm going to start climbing out of that depression some of you are in debt and you got to climb out of it yeah God could give you thousands of dollars God could pay off all that debt and sometimes God by his grace does that but other time God says you know what you need to buckle

down get a budget and start climbing out of debt $1 at a time some of you need to climb out of that sin you need victory over that sin and the only way you're going to get the victory over that sin it's like a big mountain how do I ever get over this how do I ever get over victory over this sin and the way you're going to do it is just to climb up one step at a time and that's not easy this little wall right here wasn't hard to climb over but if you're climbing up a big cliff and while you're climbing up the cliff the enemy's got good eyes on you shooting down at you that's not easy and I realize that when you're in depression the enemy is shooting at you and hitting you hard and he's

quaking and shaking and trying to get you to fall I understand when you're dead it just seems like I can't do anything I can't overcome this I understand when that sin is in front of you you say how can I get victory over the sin because what you've got to do is you got to say God give me the strength God give me the faith and I'm going to start climbing see a lot of us say God give me the strength give me the fa faith and I'll sit here wait for you to move the mountain and God does sometimes move the mountain but more often than not God says you need to climb that mountain and you got to do just one step at a time go to Psalms chapter 37 Psalms chapter 37 keep a marker in 1 Samuel we'll

come back there but Psalms chapter 37 and look at verses 23 and 24 Psalms 3723 and 24 the steps of a good man are or by the Lord and He Delight us his way though he fall he shall not be Ed to cast down for the Lord upholds him with his right hand how many of you ever done rock climbing raise your hand if you ever done any rock climbing that's not easy to do is it you got to work it one hand at a time one foot a time you got to this has got all these grips on it but sometimes you're going up that wall and you got to find that little grip and you got to find that little indentation and and you got to search around for it and it's just one step at a time climbing up that mountain and that's the

way it is if you want victory in the situation if you want victory over that mountain that you're facing you got to do it one step at a time in Psalms 37 again Psalms chapter 37 and look at verse number five it says commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass I can imagine Jonathan down there at the bottom of that goalie the enem is up at the top of the cliff and the only way to get to him is to climb up the side of that mountain now I can imagine every you know I thinking back to reading about D-Day when they were climbing up those Cliffs at Normandy I I I I just can't even imagine what it must been like trying to climb up the side of that Cliff knowing the

enem is up there ready to shoot you ready to knock you off ready to it could drop a rock and hit you but you just got to keep going and trust in God go to Psalms chapter 121 Psalms chapter 21 look at verses 1-3 Psalms 121 verse number one says I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from which cometh my help my Help Cometh From The Lord which made Heaven and Earth he will not suffer thy foot to be moved he that keepeth thee will not Slumber God is the god of the mountain as well as the god of the valley he said he'll be with me in the valley the shadow of death but he also promised me I'll be with you when you're up on the hills and the mountains as well and so folks I want to challenge you

whatever you're facing in life be strong in the Lord whatever Mountain you're fac in life ask God to give you the strength to conquer that mountain ask God to give you the faith maybe to move that mountain but ask God to help you to start climbing that mountain and it's going to be one step at a time until God gives you the victory but God will give you that Victory the other thing about Jonathan is not only brave and strong in the Lord but he was also a good friend in 1 Samuel chapter 18 1st Samuel 18 and verse number one 1st Samuel 18:1 it says it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as

his own soul in Proverbs 18:24 it says a man that would have friends but show himself friendly and there is a friend that sticketh closer to the brother when you read the story of Jonathan the Bible when you read about his life you can tell that he was a good friend he he not only had friends but he was a friend and folks if you want to have friends then you got to be friendly you've got to reach out to others around you in 1st Samuel chapter 23 and verse number 16 1st Samuel chapter 23 and verse number 16 the Bible says and Jonathan Saul's son arose and went to David into the wood and strengthened his hand in God David was at a low Point David was ready to quit he was discouraged he was

done and Jonathan heard about it and Jonathan dropped everything and he went to David and he said' David let's pray together and he opened up the Bible and read scriptures and prayed with jonath David and encouraged him and strengthen in the Lord you know I think it's interesting if you look at 1st Samuel chter 30 and verse number six 1 Samuel chapter 30 and verse number six this is after Jonathan is now passed away he's dead he's no longer there and David comes to another very low point in his life and he was very discouraged and verse number six it says and David was greatly distress for the people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved every man for his sons

and for his daughters but David encouraged himself in the Lord as God and I believe the reason why David that phrase David encouraged himself in the Lord as God is almost identical to the phrase about when Jonathan strengthened him in the Lord you see Jonathan was no longer around but because of what Jonathan did for him before David was able to encourage himself in the Lord even though Jonathan wasn't there and and that's the kind of friend that we need to be a friend that will encourage and strengthen those around us we'll pray with them and encourage them and share with them scriptures and help them to do what's right in 1st Samuel chapter 23 and verse number 17 Jonathan was also a very

humble Man 1 Samuel 23 and verse 17 and he said unto him talking to David fear not for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee and thou sh be king over Israel and I shall be next unto thee and that also my Saul my father knoweth see Saul again Jonathan was the son of the King Saul he was the heir to the throne but God had chosen David for the next king and Saul hated David for that reason and was trying to kill him but Jonathan stayed on jaid David's side and he said listen David I know that you're going to be the next king now he could have said wait a minute I'm the king I've got the Heritage I should have this job why are you taken away but he didn't do that because he's a humble

man the Bible says in 1 Peter chter 5 and verse number six humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time and so we learn about Jonathan he was a brave man strengthened himself in the Lord he was a humble man and I think that's important to understanding his relationship with the armor Bearer in just a moment but I also want to look at Saul very briefly go back to 1 Samuel chapter 13 now again Saul is the king he's also Jonathan's father and 1st Samuel 13: 13- 14 it says and Samuel said to Saul that thou H has done foolishly thou has not kept the Commandment of the Lord thy God which he commanded thee for now would the Lord have established thy

kingdom upon Israel forever but now thy kingdom shall not continue the Lord has sought him a man after his own t and the Lord hath commanded him to be a captain over his people because thou has not kept that which the Lord commanded thee now see Saul was not doing his job he was not doing what he should have done and God said I I can't use you if you're not going to do the right things and one of Saul's problems was he's very indecisive in 1st Samuel 14:3 I talked about all those people he's gathered with that was all the priests he was gathering a council he said list let's do a committee let's do a study you ever watched government studies a government study is just a way of not getting

anything done I I have a a favorite saying that's this for God so loved the world he did not send a committee you can't make decisions by committee yes you want to get counsel you want to make sure you studied it through you want to make sure you know what you're doing but but Saul instead of going to battle when he had the upper hand he was just kind of in decisive and and couldn't make a decision and couldn't go into battle we see that later on in verses 18- 19 even after Jonathan had won this Victory Saul still hesitated he he wanted to wait he called for the priest to come and he wanted to wait and consult with them now it's a good thing to do but Joshua 24:15 says and if you seem evil

unto you serve the Lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the amorites whose land you dwell but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord see too many of us we're indecisive am I going to live for God or am I not are we going to go to church or we not are we going to have devotions we not we're indecisive and you've got to make a decision you see it's one thing to wait on the Lord and I understand that in Psalms chapter 27:14 it says wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say un the Lord and it's a good thing to wait on God and not rush ahead of

the Lord but listen to me don't wait to do the right thing don't wait to do the right thing the Bible says in James 4:1 17 therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin you know if you're saved and you're waiting to get baptized why Bible says after you get saved you should get baptized if you're a Christian and you're living together why are you waiting to get married that's what the Bible says you should do you see don't wait on the Lord to do what's right you need to do what's right you need to obey the Lord in Isaiah chapter 40 turn over there with me if you would Isaiah chapter 40 and look at verses 28-31 Isaiah 40 and beginning with verse number 28 says

hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the Everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of the Earth fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength even the youth shall faint and be worry and the young men shall utterly fail but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall Mount up with wings as eagles they shall run and not be worried and they shall walk and not fade there's a time to wait on the Lord and I've seen a lot of Christians Rush ahead of God not waiting on the Lord Lord not praying not seeking the Lord's will not do getting counsel and

there's a time to wait in the Lord but there's also a time we say you know what we just need to get up and do what's right we need to get up and get going we need to make the decision we're going to we're going to start tithing we're going to start serving we're going to start doing whatever it is stop waiting the Lord to do what's right and S Saul's problem was he was indecisive and and kept waiting and to make a decision and and wasn't willing to make that decision ision so he calls the priest together now when he called the priest he had him wear What's called the Yum and the thurm and this was a robe that they had with two rocks that were there and a lot of people think that the yman THM

was a like a casting a lot so if you didn't know what to do you would call the priest and you would say this is what I want to do and should it be Choice number a or Choice number B and then they would reach in and pull out one of the rocks and whatever it was that's how it would work out it was it was like uh rolling the D you know when you when you roll the dice to decide something in Proverbs 16:33 it says a lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing there is of the Lord and and a lot of Christians what they do is the way they make decisions kind of like you roll the dice and see well what's going to work out and that's not how God does I don't believe that's what the UR and therm

or for I don't believe it was supposed to be used that way in any way the word urum means light in Psalms 119: 105 says Thy word is a Light lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path the word Thum means perfection in Romans 121:2 it says I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a Living Sacrifice wholly acceptable unto him which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove was a good and perfect will of God the the idea of the urum thorum was you were seeking God's light what does the Bible say and you wanted God's perfect will for your life so stop making your

decisions by rolling the dice or by flipping a coin or whatever else it might be but start making your decisions by seeking the light of God's word and seeking God's perfect will for your life so Saul was not only indecisive he was disobedient I don't have time to go in the whole story but 1 Samuel 13 He disobeyed God by bringing the sacrifice when that wasn't his job and later on in 1st Samuel chapter 15 he didn't obey God completely and and uh and and and because of that uh God brought him under judgment I want you to look at 1st Samuel 15 real quick with me 1st Samuel chapter 15 I want you to see verses 22 and 23 1 Samuel 15 and verses 22 and 23 and Samuel said hath the Lord as great

Delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Rams for Rebellion is as a sin of Witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry because thou has rejected the word of the Lord Heath also rejected the from being King when you look at sa Saul's sin it doesn't seem so bad the first one is he sacrificed the Lord when he wasn't supposed to and the second one was he kept some of the sheep and the cattle and and the King instead of destroying everything like God told him to and it really doesn't seem to bad to us but God say listen Rebellion is a sin he said pride is a sin Pride go Before

Destruction a hotty spirit before a fall stubbornness is a sin Psalms 19:13 keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins that's the same word as stubbornness let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression you know what presumptuous sins are is when I'm going to do it my way instead of God's way stubbornness and God says these are like witchcraft these are like idolatry and they're wrong and there are some in this room that are saying well my sin's not so bad i' I've never murdered anybody I've never robbed the bank and and we kind of justify ourselves but God says listen when you disobey that's sin when you Rebel that's

sin when you're stubborn that's sin and that was Saul's problem now let's end by looking at the armor Bearer 1st Samuel 14:7 I love this young man I I believe he was a young man and because the armor Bears generally were young men that were just coming into the to the being soldiers and they were put under somebody to kind of learn from them OJT and and and the Bible says as when Jonathan said let's go into battle against these Philistines this is what he said in verse 7 his armor bear said unto him do all that is in thine heart turn thee behold I am with thee according to thy heart he said listen whatever you want to do I'm with you why was he willing to do that because he saw that Jonathan

was strong in the Lord and Jonathan was a committed friend and when you have somebody like that in your life you will follow them anywhere he says I'm with you wherever you go about nine years ago when Caleb first came to come on staff here my son Caleb in most know he's going to be leaving this summer to go to law school but when he came on staff he gave me a card I don't know if he remembers this or not but I got the card from him and I opened it up and inside it said Dad 1st Samuel 14:7 love Caleb that was it but I broke out in tears and that's what he's been is my armor Bearer he's been there to support me as I follow the lord and that's what is amazing about this young man this young

man was the kind of man who was ready to follow he was loyal 1 Corinthians 11:1 says be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ he was Brave 1 Corinthians 16:1 13:14 watch ye Stand Fast in the faith quit you like men be strong let all your things be done with Charity or love he loved Jonathan he loved God he said listen I'm going to do what's right he was the armor Bearer in Ephesians chapter 6 it tells us put on the whole armor of God when you read these stories read them as real stories often we read our Bible like a book of fairy tales but these were real people one of the things I like to do is when I read about people in the Bible I try to imagine what they were like and I

usually think of them as somebody in that I know for example with the armor Bearer I'll tell you who I thought of immediately when I read this story I thought of a young man in this church named Tristan Tristan's downstairs right now Tristan I want you to stand up if you would I I can't see you downstairs but I want you to stand up and I'd like to ask those downstairs and those upstairs also I'd like to ask give Tristan a hand if you would and I'll explain why in just a minute Tristan is a young teenage boy who decided he wanted to serve God he got involved in our Ministries here he does a lot of what's done with the sound system and the audio and the video system he's down here during the

week he's down here on Saturdays he puts all the slides together for my sermon he's down here Sunday morning getting everything ready to work and he's just faithful he's the armor Bearer and that's the kind of people we need in church is we need people are going to be faithful armor Bears they're going be loyal and serving God and the other thing I like to think about him as I I look at I like to really read the story to learn the little details I want you to look at 1 Corinthians 13 this is what we're going to end with look at verses 20 and 22 now remember the story we're studed about the armor starts in chapter 14 but look at verses 20 and 22 but all the Israelites went down to the

Philistines to sharpen on every man his share and his culture and his AXS and his mad yet they had a file for the madx and for the cters and for the forks and for the axes and to sharpen the goats so it came to pass in the days of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan but with Saul and with Jonathan his sword was was son was there found okay understand the Philistines they were in charge of the land and so in order to keep the Israelites as slaves they said we're not going to let you have swords so they controlled all the blacksmiths so if you wanted anything sharpened or anything metal made you had to go to

their blacksmith and so they wouldn't allow so there was two swords throughout the whole Israeli Army two Saul had one Jonathan had the other now think about this what did this armor bear have he's following Jonathan into battle he's got no sword but he says you know what I'm going to go the only thing he had maybe was a spear or a pointed stick or maybe a rock I I don't know what he had but he still went and some of you are saying well I I don't have much talent I don't have much ability but what do you have God gave Jonathan and this armor Bearer the victory they defeated a whole Garrison and because of that the whole process of kicking the Philistines out of the land has started and all because of one unknown young man that we call the armor Bearer what about you