* We wrote a book - Beauty In Battle: winning in marriage by waging a war. * Premise - “fighting together draws you together.” * Four levels of community - you grow close with those you: * 1) Study with * 2) Share with * 3) Serve with * 4) Suffer with * CrossFit Sign - “I hate you. I hate this place. See you tomorrow.” * God built us this way so we would need each other. * God is not all we need! (Adam & Eve) * EX: 911 story. * Random Number Generators based on earth’s electromagnetic field. * When everyone grieved together, they all synced up. * Backstory - early church had intense suffering. * Apostles beaten, killed, thrown in jail. * In the midst of that, they prayed: * Vs 29 - they had a “whatever the cost” mindset. * Vs 30 - answer our prayers so people know Jesus is alive! * Vs 31 - God responds to boldness! * He gives you the power you need to do the job. * Vs 32 - “All the believers were one in heart and mind…” * Fighting together draws you together. * Unity as the result of suffering yields power! * Problem - Satan wants people to fight face-to-face against each other rather than shoulder-to-shoulder against him. * Three Battles: * Personal - fight over sin. * Relational - fight with people. * Kingdom - fight for people. * The more you win the personal battle and stay out of the relational battle, the more powerful you are in the kingdom battle. * The personal and kingdom battle involve suffering - that’s why God wants us to do it with others. * Fighting together draws us together. * Matthew 18:20 - “Where two or three are gathered…” * Matthew 16:18 - “…and the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.”
Acts 4:29-32 (6/29/22)
Beauty in Battle
June 29, 2022
Acts 13:49-50 (4/17/24)
April 17, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Acts 13:49–50
* God uses people to accomplish His will on the earth. * He uses both good and bad people. * Satan uses people to accomplish his will on the earth. * He uses both good and bad people. * Backstory - Jesus was off the scenes and now the growth of the church was the responsibility of the apostles. * Paul and Barnabas were preaching like crazy! * Jews and Gentiles were getting saved by the droves. * vs 49 - “The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.” * Through their witness the kingdom of heaven was advancing forcefully against the kingdom of hell. * Then something happened: * vs 50 - “But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.” * A “God-fearing” person who’s a “leader” is a Christian Influencer! * The Christian Influencers of the day were now on the wrong side of God’s Kingdom expansion! * We need to always remember the four spiritual players at work here. * Revelation 17 shows us: * Dragon - Satan himself. * Beast - Antichrist spirit (any idea that stands against God). * Babylon - (PEC) Political, Economic, Cultural system of the Beast. * The goal of Babylon is to turn people away from God. * Harlot - Religious system of Babylon that gives credence to the Beast. * The only way people will desire Satan’s way more than God’s way is if there is a religious system that legitimizes it. * That’s what happened here in Acts 13. * Satan needed good-hearted Godly people to buy into his lies and hinder God’s work. * Note - These influencers were first convinced by the “religious” leaders. * “…the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women…” * What are our pastors teaching us today? * How do we make sure we don’t get used by Satan? * 1) Wrap knowledge around our zeal. * These influencers certainly had a zeal for the Lord, but they didn’t have knowledge. * They needed a Biblical worldview to filter the lies being spoken into their ears. * We need to “study” Scripture to be intimately familiar with the truth. * We need to study it through the lense of a battle. * 2) Look and listen for the spirit behind what’s being said or done. * EX: Jesus with Peter. * EX: Stanley - teaching Christians to stay out of the “hot topic” issues. * “If you need an enemy to prop up your leadership, you’re not leading.” * People clapped - but the Bible is a book about God’s enemy. * 3) Ask God what He thinks. * Then pause and listen. * 4) Sit under leaders with a “Fatherly” spirit (and Motherly). * They’re willing to talk about all things. * They teach about boundaries.
Psalms 119:44-45 (4/17/24)
April 17, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Psalm 119:44–45
* You might have heard it said that rules without relationship lead to rebellion. * It’s true, for the most part. * But relationship without rules leads to rejection! * Love is “compassion with standards.” * If we don’t operate by the standards, we don’t have love. * It’s our commitment to following the rules that shows our surrender to the rule-giver. * God’s fences (boundaries) are not to keep you from good things, but to keep bad things from you! * Look at what David says about rules in these verses: * vs 44-45 - “So I will keep Your law continually, Forever and ever. And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts.” * David loved God’s rules because he saw how God’s blessings were found inside of them. * Why rules? * His boundaries bring freedom! * Freedom is the greatest blessing you can have. * EX: One boundary in the Garden - don’t eat the fruit. * If they obeyed, they were free forever. * If they disobeyed, they were enslaved forever. * EX: Doctor Dobson playground experiment. * Without properly defined boundaries we don't have freedom. * When boundaries are clearly defined we can move about freely and not be scared. * EX: Balcony with no railings. * Boundaries bring freedom, and God's boundaries are the answer to our fear. * Like a kite held by the boundary of the string, so we are free to fly so long as we don't let go of God's boundaries found in His Word. * If we want true freedom, then we need to operate within God’s boundaries.
Jeremiah 4:19 (4/10/24)
April 10, 2024 • Benham Brothers • Jeremiah 4:19
- When you draw near to God, He gives you eyes to see and ears to hear. - You will see & hear the spirit. - When Jesus returns, we’ll see Him and hear Him physically. - But we can do it now if we focus our spiritual eyes and tune our spiritual ears. - We won’t just see and hear God, we’ll see and hear the enemy. - EX: Jesus calling Peter “Satan.” - All through Christ’s ministry, He talked about those who don’t see or hear. - Jeremiah shows us what it looks like. - His culture was going to hell in a hatbasket, but everyone was having a great time. - They were building their churches and having their conferences and enjoying themselves. - All while the culture was going down the tube straight to hell! - vs 19 - “Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me; I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry.” - Jeremiah heard something nobody else did. - He heard it because his ears were tuned into God. - He saw it because his eyes were focused on the Lord. - We must do the same. - When we see God moving and hear Him whispering, we can prepare for what lies ahead. - EX: David and I speaking at a men’s event and charging the men to be bold. - Some of the staff might not say anything - maybe even distance from us. - But other men flock to us and are ready to fight! - They heard the battle cry! - But Jeremiah didn’t simply hear the battle cry, he also heard something else: - vs 31 - “I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child— the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath…” - He was soft-hearted toward people and hard-headed toward principle! - How do you tune your ears to hear God and focus your eyes to see God? - See like a Soldier - recognize that we’re in a spiritual battle. - Soldiers are always on the lookout. - They are surrendered to authority. - Process like a Parent - your role is to provide and protect. - So you speak truth in love. - Your provide boundaries for their blessing. - Study like a Scribe - devour the Scripture. - Don’t just read, but “study.” - 2 Timothy 2:15 - “Study to show yourself approved.”