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It's a Battlefield Brother! · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, friend.
• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Mike McCurray.
• 0:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is Bible track echoes and I have something I want to talk to you about today.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're in Deuteronomy chapter 20.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Deuteronomy 20 each day of this week Now I fail on Monday and Tuesday.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: We talked about the same concept.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was kind of a carryover But today we're gonna go a different direction.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're in Deuteronomy not Daniel like we were in Monday and Tuesday
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to try each day of this week to dive into one concept, one brief concept, little rapid fire.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: In all sincerity, us Baptist preachers can get a little wordy sometimes, and so 13 minutes or 15 minutes or so that I have on this program,
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: It takes a little while to get the plane all revved up and ready to get on the runway.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And once you get up off the runway, sometimes you feel like you've got to turn around and land the plane.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I heard a say by a wise older gentleman in the faith, blessed is he who can land on a short runway.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what the radio feels like sometimes.
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to talk today about the qualities or how to be a good Christian soldier.
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: How to be?
• 1:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: a Christian soldier one that God can use.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna take our thoughts, the entire text, and the entire outline from one verse.
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're not gonna take it out of context, but I love diving into one verse and God giving me some rich, some good stuff, and even just one or two or three verses.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hold chapter seems like I can't even get through a whole chapter in an hour sometimes,
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: But one verse, we're going to do our best, all right?
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do it around me, chapter 20 and verse number one, I'm going to read it here in just a moment.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do it around me 20 and verse one as always.
• 1:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to hear from you.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I say this again and again, in just about every time I say it, somebody else, or maybe multiple someone's, they text and say, Brother Micah, I hear you say you want to hear from me.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I keep hearing you say that, I've heard you say it for, I think there's 260 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays in a normal year.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wrap your mind around that, 260, 261, maybe it's more than that.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe there's an account holidays, but anyway, this radio broadcast over 250 of them play every single year.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in many of them, I mention that I want to hear from you.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there are so many of you that haven't taken me up on it yet, you haven't, you've tuned in, you're faithful, you tuned in all the time, but you've never texted me.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love you to do that.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can text me as always.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Many of you can quote the number you've heard so many times.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want you to text me.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: 3-0-9-3-16-7-2-4-0.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You say, what would I text you about?
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Could you text me a blessing?
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe some gods done your life.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe your prayer request.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe if nothing else tell me where you're listening from or share me an anecdote from your life.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love here of them gods.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: People, gods, people are the best.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Text me at 3-0-9-3-16-7-2-4-0.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're in Deuteronomy chapter number 20 and verse number 1.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says this.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is God speaking through his man to his children of Israel.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Deuteronomy 20 verse 1.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: When thou goest out to battle, against thy enemies and seist horses, and cherish, and a people more than thou be not afraid of them, for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to talk to you about how to be a good soldier.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: How to be a Christian soldier.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Every Christian soldier should be a good soldier.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk first of all about how we as soldiers need to be in the right place.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: God's people need to be where they are supposed to be.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've said before that the where of God's will sometimes is a lot easier than the when.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: The place is easier than the pace.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: But sometimes we don't put ourselves in the right position.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do not only join in verse 1, when thou goest out to battle.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: That almost sounds like a presumption on God's part.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: God will never presume.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it almost sounds like he's assuming that his people, now we're talking to the children of Israel here.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to take some principles for 21st century Christianity, alright?
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not lumping us in with children of Israel.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when that goes out to battle, it almost sounds like he anticipated that his people will face battles.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: We need to understand.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: This verse really sets the stage for understanding that being in God's will often means being in challenging situations.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: The right place is an always comfortable or easy, but it's where God has called His people to be.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: That leads me to the second part of being a Christian soldier, not just being in the right place.
• 5:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: but you will.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can mark it down if you want to gods, children, you'll face real problems.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Realize this, soldiers face real threats.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think a first Peter 5A, be sober, be vigilant, because you're adversary the devil.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: As a roaring lion, walk at about seeking home, he may
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the Christian life is depicted in many different places in Scripture, including 1st Peter 5.8 as a battlefield, as a battleground, not a playground, what was it, old preachers saying it's a battlefield brother, not a recreation room, it's a fight and not a game, and that's a truth, however.
• 6:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: There is an assurance in knowing that these challenges, often times, are indicators of being in the right place, in the center of God's will, where opposition is expected.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't, if Jesus offended people, perfect Jesus.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: If he offended people, if they were offended at him, I think a Mark chapter was of Mark 6, they were offended at him.
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: If he rub those Pharisees the wrong way, if he was killed for his stance, the truth he proclaimed,
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: You don't think we might face a little bit of some friction every once in a while.
• 6:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: You don't think there might be problems that we face, I'm not glorifying these things.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm telling you that if you're going to be a soldier, you're going to be a Christian soldier, you're going to be in the right place, you need to realize that real problems.
• 7:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not telling you that you need to be in the thick of it.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nor am I saying that you need to start the fires yourself all the time.
• 7:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: often there's a thick black line between faith and foolishness and we play on both sides of everyone so well we should be careful yes follow God's leading but if God's leading when it's God's will it's God's bill I heard it said.
• 7:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: the right place.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: You want to be a soldier, get the right place.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: You want to be a soldier, realize you're going to face real problems.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: How about this?
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're going to be a soldier, first number one of new Jeremy 20, when thou goest out to battle against, here's where we get the real problems from, thine enemies and seist horses and share it in a people more than thou.
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sounds like a problem.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is a Bible tell us?
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Be not afraid of them.
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: For the Lord, thy God is with Him.
• 8:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want you to remember the person.
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Remember God.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's your commander.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sing it Timothy chapter two verse three.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: No man that wareth, entangled with himself for the affairs of this life, that he may please him who have chosen him to be a soldier.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Friend, I'm gonna ask you, when's the last time in your deepest darkest time that you
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's powerful.
• 8:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a protector.
• 8:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he is everything to us.
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's our leader.
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's our caretaker.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: He loves us and remember as the Bible tells us, for the Lord that God is with the soldiers under divine command.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Christians are called to focus on pleasing their God.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Remember him.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: This involves sure, enduring hardships, staying focused, committed to the mission, remembering the one who has called and equipped them for battle.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: But due to on me chapter 20 verse 1, I'm going to finish with this, when thou go us out to battle against thy enemies and see us horses, and chariots and a people more than thou be not afraid of them.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: For the Lord thy God is with thee, which
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: he has provided.
• 9:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Recall all he has provided.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Josh would chapter 4 for 6, and that this may be a sign among you that when your children ask their fathers and time to come saying, what mean you buy these stones?
• 9:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Remember, the altar of the stones that were put together after they crossed the Jordan.
• 10:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then you shall answer them, that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off and these stones shall be immemorial under the children of Israel forever.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think of that line from the song, come now, found here, I raise my an Ebeneezer.
• 10:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is an Ebeneezer?
• 10:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: The kids were singing in my girls and their cousins were singing that song, Addy.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: My eldest nephew was singing that song and playing an actual piano.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just 9 or 10, 11 years old, you know, a wonderful job.
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: They sang that line and my mother-in-law.
• 10:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: She said, I asked the kids kind of question them.
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: What does that mean?
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here I raised my never knees and we could go to the biblical background of it.
• 10:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that ever knees are.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was an opportunity in a very similar way to Joshua chapter 4.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was of a membranese.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: When I raise my mine Ebony user, when I put up a place and said, I can look back at this place and I can remind my children and grandchildren about this place and I can remind myself about this place and what God has done with through and for us, oh friend, can you recall all he has provided?
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, the Israelites, of course, they set up memorial stones to remember God's provision and victory as it entered the Promised Land.
• 11:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Christian friend, Christian soldier, I encourage you to memorialize what God has done for you.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you look back on how good he's been?
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe just maybe today you're not in the right place.
• 11:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know you're not.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you have no plans on going to church this coming weekend.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know you should, but you're not.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you're facing real problems, but there are problems of your own manufacturer.
• 11:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not problems caused by serving God.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are problems of sin.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe just maybe we should let God help us solve those problems, start doing the right thing, start moving forward, and regardless of what you're going through, remember the person who recall all he has provided.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to ask your friend tomorrow and Friday.
• 12:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have two more thoughts of God lets us.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: We may only get through one more.
• 12:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to do our best.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to ask you to tune in.
• 12:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to thank each and every one of you that does tune into this broadcast.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't tell you what it means when I hear from people just like you, when you text in, you can always text me at 309.
• 12:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Three, one, six, seven, two, four, zero.
• 12:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love hearing from people that are listeners.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Text in, let us know what you thought of today's broadcast.
• 12:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's three, zero, nine, three, one, six, seven, two, four.
• 12:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Zero, my prayer as always, is that you have a wonderful day for his glory.
• 13:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll plan on talking to you very soon.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for listening, the Bible check echoes on Michael McCurray.
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: God bless.
• 13:11
  [UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
• 13:29
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• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for him.