2 Sam 10:12, Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight." 
	We are in the midst of the encouragement that we are given throughout scripture to be strong and courageous in the Lord for the sake of His testimony. It is, as well, for the sake of showing His people that we can count on Him, trust Him, and completely immerse ourselves in Him and in His glorious victory forever and forever. There is a great need within all of us to find that strength in Him to meet each day and the challenges and trials that ebb and flow against us in the courage of Christ Jesus. We are not to allow anything to dissuade us from the fact that we are absolutely standing on His Victory and in His Lordship and nothing of this age, despite all the taunts and lies and accusations hurled against us.
	Last time, we were considering how the shepherd boy David maintained that courage in the Lord as he faced Goliath, a giant experienced in battle and in the act of killing other men. David, a youth just out of the fields of tending the flocks of his father, encouraged the entire army of Israel to be strong in the Lord. 
He, as well, made that tremendous declaration to Goliath that is recorded in 1 Sam 17:45-47. Please open to it, once again, so we can all reaffirm the truth that was declared before all the armies of the Philistines and Israel. It rings forth throughout the history of the people of God, including each one of us gathered together today.
	1 Sam 17:45-47, Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands."
	…that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's…. This is the great encouragement that needs to pervade our every thought and deed. We are here for the exact same testimony as was shown on that field of conflict. The battle is the Lord’s.
	As we proceed through each day that God allots to us for the sake of presenting to those who are witnessing the difference that it makes to live our sojourn on this earth as unto The Lord, we need to be as cognizant of this truth as was that young shepherd lad. 
	Our every step forth into this world is with the same battle before us. We are not only telling the world of the person of Jesus Christ, but we are living forth His victory in the midst of all the chaos and the hopelessness and the confusion and the stormy gales that careen down upon us. 
	That is a great part of the reason that we are here on this earth at this time. We are not hermits or recluses who hide away from any contact with other people. We live to express the Victory of Jesus Christ to all those who are part of our lives, or whom God brings into the fabric of the life that God has called us to, day in and day out. 
	Through it all we hold to the anchored truth that David proclaimed all those centuries ago. We do so with the refreshed comfort and conviction that we live unto Christ and obey Him and proclaim …that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord's….
	We next come to the encouragement that David offered as he was becoming the king of the nation, after the death of King Saul and Jonathan. In 2 Sam 2:5-7, David offered the encouragement to be strong and valiant to the men of Jabesh-gilead as they had put their lives on the line in order to gather and bury the bodies of the slain king and his sons. Those men had risked the attack of the Philistines who had won the battle which resulted in the death of King Saul. In their utmost desire to honor their deceased sovereign, these brave souls had searched out the battlefield and brought back the royal corpses and buried them with the honor that was deserved.
	The men of Jabesh-gilead were then in fear, not so much of the Philistines, but of any retribution from David as he solidified his power as the king of Judah and eventually of the entire nation. In order to dissipate those fears, David sent the message to the men to thank them for taking care of Saul and Jonathan. 
	In the same message David declared that he would appreciate the same kindness from these men in being strong and valiant for the service of David as well. They were to recognize that David was not angry, but grateful for the task they had accomplished and he was asking them to serve their new king with the same commitment and honor.
	2 Sam 2:5-7, And David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, "May you be blessed of the Lord because you have shown this kindness to Saul your lord, and have buried him. And now may the Lord show lovingkindness and truth to you; and I also will show this goodness to you, because you have done this thing. Now therefore, let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them." 
	David did an excellent job of encouraging those around him in the need to be strong and courageous and trust Jehovah as He will always go before those who honor and obey Him. David knew the loving kindness of God in ways that most people will never experience. His need for this living relationship with God flavored the every moment of this king’s life. 
He was not perfect, we know that. However, because of his great love for the Lord and seeking to always maintain that relationship with God in honoring Jehovah with all his heart and mind and being, David is considered a type of the Messiah to come. The prophesied Christ would trace a lineage back to David. 
	At the end of David’s life, when he was encouraging Solomon, his son as the next king over the nation, David was very careful to declare that it was only by the strength of commitment to Jehovah that Solomon, and his descendents would be able to lead the nation as the Lord directed and desired. There was that necessity to be strong in the Lord, to trust Him always, and to ever obey His commandments with all of Solomon’s essence unto Yahweh. 
This is put forth for us in 1 Kings 2:1-4. In the course of this encouragement, David expressed that truth of the promise that the Lord made concerning a descendent who would sit on the throne forever and forever.
	1 Kings 2:1-4, As David's time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, "I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that the Lord may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying,' If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.' 
	One of the later kings of the Davidic lineage was very much after the Lord. This was Hezekiah. He also trusted fully in Jehovah. When the nation of Judah was being threatened by the king of Assyria, Hezekiah encouraged the people to be strong and courageous in the Lord. This was because Jehovah was the One Who was going before them against this powerful monarch who seemed absolutely unstoppable. We have this recounted for us in 2 Chron 32:6-8.
	2 Chron 32:6-8, And he appointed military officers over the people, and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, "Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the multitude which is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. 
	During the time of Hezekiah’s reign, Jehovah showed Himself mighty and gave peace to the people of Judah. Hezekiah honored the Lord as the True Sovereign over the nation and kept that encouragement before himself as well as the people. God was the One Who was going before Judah as the nation so honored and obeyed and showed itself strong and courageous, not in human power or prowess in any measure, but in the Victorious Strength and Might of Yahweh always as their Shield and their Victory.
	Later in the history of Judah, after the people sadly turned away from their honor and allegiance to Jehovah, and had been brought into exile, there was a return in their longing hearts for God and for the place that He had given them. One of God’s prophets, Nehemiah, was given permission to return to Jerusalem, to rebuild the city wall and the temple of God. This displeased those who were the enemies of the Jews living in the vicinity of Jerusalem. They banded together to frustrate and destroy what the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem, were trying to rebuild. 
	Accordingly, those Jews were in a panic situation when the news was brought to them that they were going to be attacked by those forces gathered against any who would rebuild what had been broken asunder. Nehemiah then had the task to encourage and to strengthen the resiliency of the people to the task at hand. This is recounted in Neh 4:9-15.	
	Neh 4:9-15, But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. Thus in Judah it was said, "The strength of the burden bearers is failing, Yet there is much rubbish; And we ourselves are unable To rebuild the wall." And our enemies said, "They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them, and put a stop to the work."  And it came about when the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, "They will come up against us from every place where you may turn," then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears, and bows. When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: "Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses." And it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plan, then all of us returned to the wall, each one to his work. 
	The entirety of the truth that we are absolutely without any power of ourselves to stand against those forces of darkness that would destroy the testimony of the people of God is declared by the Psalmist in Ps 60:11+12. Ps 60:11+12, O give us help against the adversary, For deliverance by man is in vain. Through God we shall do valiantly, And it is He who will tread down our adversaries.
It wasn’t just Hezekiah and Nehemiah who had to face the daunting task of the encouragement of the people of God to stand strong in Him! That they needed to maintain the trust and obedience unto God to save and to overcome the arrayed enemies in the witness that Jehovah Alone is the Only True and Living Lord God Almighty, the Creator of all that is in place. 
The reality of His Holiness and the Shalom that He brings into place in overcoming gloriously the chaos of sin and evil has ever been under attack. Yet, in it all, God is always and forever triumphant.	 
	It is in the Proverbs, specifically Prov 27:17, where we are heartened by God to bring forth this truth regularly in our gathering together and in the times of our being enjoined in the recounting of the Lord’s goodness and grace and faithfulness and power and sovereignty over and over and over again. That is the place that we have with each other as men and women of God.
	Prov 27:17, Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another. In that detailing of the goodness and the triumph of God over all that we have faced in our lives, we will strengthen, sharpen, and support and grow together in our triumphant trust in God. This will serve especially those who are in the midst of these constant battles against the truth of Yahweh as The Lord God Almighty!
	That is one reason that our coming together as the family of God, being joined with each other in corporate praise and worship and instruction in The Lord is so vital to our growth in Him! No one can grow alone. There is a need to be joined together, with singleness of heart as we encourage each other in the working power of God. That is how we come to know the greater measure of God’s goodness and grace and loving kindness as we share in His care and keeping together.
	The Apostle Paul picked up this entire theme of our consideration in a very short, yet all-encompassing proclamation as recorded in 1 Cor 16:13. 1 Cor 16:13, Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 
	In it, we hear the echoes of Moses, of Joshua, of David, of Hezekiah, of Nehemiah, and of the Psalmist in making it fully evident that we are to stand in the strength and the reality of the Lord against all the onslaughts of this age! The battle is the Lord’s! We are to hold to that truth and hearten each other to stand firm and resolute under the banner of His victory, strong in faith, and with fervent vigilance against any faltering on our part.
	We draw this session to a close with the declaration of the Writer to the Hebrews in Heb 13:5+6. Herein we are to recognize that there is nothing that this age can do to us in the terms of the attacks and the persecution and the tribulations that are aimed at those who belong to the Lord. We are to be very careful against the every temptation that would draw our attention away from our vigilant stand in Christ Jesus.
	Heb 13:5+6, Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you," so that we confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?" 
	When we are strong and courageous in Christ Jesus, we will not be thrown off the fact that it is God Alone Who is in charge of our lives. There is nothing that comes our way that does not first face His scrutiny and His Omniscient understanding of how we will hold firm to the Rock of our salvation. In truth, we may be shaken, but that shaking will show what is of true substance as opposed to that which needs to be dealt with and eliminated in our more and more perfect witness of the Victory of The Lord of lords and the King of kings. So be it.
	Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is 1 Peter 3:15. but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; Amen.