Portions of a sermon preached at The Potter’s House in New Philadelphia, Ohio (June 1, 2011) Birds of Prey

If we will protect our sacrifices, God will bring us greater victory.

“And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. Then the people fled from the Philistines. But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. And the LORD brought about a great victory.” 2 Samuel 23:11-12

When they came to David, they were much like we are, in great need of direction, discipline and vision — disciples in the raw that needed somebody to believe in them, somebody to give them a purpose and David did so. In fact Shammah remembered where he had once been, where he came from and how he got there and he wasn’t going to let anybody steal that away — not for a moment!

What was at issue? Only a bean field? Yes, but this was Shammah’s bean field. God had given him so much he wasn’t going to give it back. As we put ourselves in this story, we can get a feel for what Shammah was thinking: “It might not seem like much, but it is MY life and MY future and MY relationship with God and nobody is going to come in here and take that back.” It may seem like a bean field to everybody else, but this is a culmination of everything good that God has done with you and the enemy storms in and tries to take it back, thinking you will just run away like you did every other time, right? Wrong. You have sacrificed and achieved and changed and become something for God and that means something doesn’t it? There is a real danger here if we are not careful…

“And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.” Matthew 13:4

So it is time to stand your ground. Our victories are a process of stepping stones, progress and growth that needs to be built on… The enemy of your soul comes in and tries to steal it away, like Isaac and his “re-digging the wells” — you end up trading land back and forth with hell… It is time to be finished with that and stand on what God has built. Protect your sacrifices. God is faithful to confirm our victory if we will not relinquish. Standards are valuable… they must be protected.

When God comes to confirm His end of the covenant, what will be left of your life?