Wednesday Night Bible Study
by Billy McCool
January 26, 2022 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: Bible study
Scripture: 2 Samuel 23:8-23, 1 Chronicles 11:22, 2 Timothy 4:10-18, Romans 12:18-21, Judges 7

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/billy-mccool--wednesday-night-bible-study-112
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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we greet you tonight in that wonderful name of the lord jesus christ that name that is above every name that uh we are baptized in that name we do whatsoever you do the bible said in word or deed do it all in the name of jesus john said i indeed baptize you with water so everything you do in word of deed do it all in the name of jesus but anyway it is so good to see each one of you in the house of the lord today and may i comment briefly on what pastor mccool said a minute ago a few weeks ago one of the sisters made mention to me that we were quite deficient in handicapped parking spaces that some had to had to walk quite a ways that needed to be up closer to the to the church and um i i i kept putting it off and now when can i do that i don't want to i know somebody that's that's a getter done person and that's brother anthony if i tell him he'll get it done so suddenly i mentioned it to him well he knows how to enlist helpers and he and brother courtney harvey i think do we have nine or ten more ten ten more uh handicapped spots and that uh that'll make it better on on i can say we who need to uh have a handicapped parking spot i used to not think much about that until i began to need it myself and anyway thank you so much pastor anthony and brother courtney harvey like father like son pastor anthony's like his daddy and courtney's like his daddy and anyway they they got it done and are you ready to get into the word of the lord tonight all right uh i'm going to do something tonight if i can i i'd like to before i read any scripture at all i'd like to i'd like to get my title on the screen and in so doing may i say once again i'm amazed at brother derek daniel and his staff and what they what they do i appreciate it so much and my topic tonight is the difficulty factor the difficulty factor we're living the day when uh they want to cut corners and uh you know they want to uh dress a man up in a woman's outfit and have him run against other women and uh call it a fair race or fair competition and um we've heard me say this we're in a sports-minded city with a university a major university university of tennessee and and uh at the beginning of the year every college team comes out with a finger up we're number one we're undefeated and they are because they haven't played a game and also you will notice that at the first of the season all these major colleges and major universities they they play against teams that are much weaker than themselves and after a few weeks two or three games then they'll starting with a call they they they go into the conference schedule but they're tuning up and they're they're they're getting ready for the real battle down the road and sometimes i noticed this last year i think the only undefeated team in the national championship game actually had no chance of winning the national championship and the reason that team was uh un undefeated was it really had not played the schedule that some of the others had had played now i have a i take my authority the apostle paul referred to sports several times that his writing and he he referred to the grecian games and uh they they uh uh many they they they play but they don't really play a hard schedule and uh i want to talk about that tonight the difficulty factor the difficulty factor now there are some uh olympic sports that they're judged not just against another person but they're judged according to the difficulty factor in that particular game it depends on how you look at it there is a uh there is an olympic sport which i could meet michael jordan in and uh that's exactly you see i can swim and he can't and that's uh that's a that's a swimming event but it depends on who i would be swimming against so there are there they're different scores and uh uh the uh gymnastics is one of those uh you can do the greatest skill things of their running and flipping and turning and all this business and and you may you may do the most stupendous thing but when you land if you step out of bounds uh you've lost you you you you didn't you didn't make the grade because it was too tough and you can and some of them you can choose the uh measure of difficulty that you want to display and uh this is the way it is many times in in our walk with god have a reason i'll be getting to this and a little bit and you'll understand why i'm telling you this in 1976 the age of 14 nadia kamenichi connor was the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10 at the olympic games at the same games of 1976 summer olympics in montreal she received six more perfect tens for events and route to winning three gold medals at the 1980 summer summer olympics in moscow kamenichi once won two more gold medals and attained two more perfect tens during her career coming in she won nine olympic medals and four world artistic gymnastic championship medals on july the 18th 1976 kamenichi made history at the montreal olympics during the team compulsory portion of the competition she was awarded the first perfect ten in olympic gymnastic histories for her routine on the uneven bars the official olympics scoreboard manufacturer had been led to believe that competitors could not receive a perfect 10 and had not programmed the scoreboard to display the score coming into perfect combinations perfect 10 thus appears as 1.00 the only means by which the judge could indicate that she had received a 10 that didn't even have a scoreboard that could reflect her perfect score because they did not believe that anybody could have a perfect score i began to think about this as i read in ii samuel and also in the chronicles i'm reading from second samuel chapter 23 david had 30 mighty men and as i studied this i took note of the fact that each one of these men who were mentioned it told of their accomplishment and the difficulty they faced and being chosen being chosen a mighty man these be the names of the mighty man whom david had and adino he left he lift up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time that's a pretty good accomplishment i would say after him was elie azer one of the three mighty men which david when they defied the philistines that were there gathered together to battle and the men of israel were gone away and that meant they retreated everybody left him they they ran heroes and smoked the philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword and the lord wrought a great victory that day and the people returned after him they came back those who run off scared they return to uh help gather up the spoils from those who have been slain i'm gonna read this entire story and then we'll come back in just a little bit because it's important that you understand where i'm going verse 11 and after him was shamai and the philistines were gathered together in a troop there was a piece of ground full of lentils and the people fled from the philistines but he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it now we're talking about the difficulty factor those who ran away but there were those who were willing to face the difficulty factor but he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it and slew the philistines and the lord wrought a great victory now everything that was accomplished by these men yet the next line says that the lord wrought a great victory and three of the 30. now listen to this and three of the 30 chief went down and came to david in the harvest time unto the cave of adulum and the troop of the philistines pitched the valley of rephraum and david was then in a hold and the garrison of the philistine was then in bethlehem that meant they had david pinned down he could not move because uh they had him surrounded and he was a a hostage of the situation and david longed david didn't make a a public request but david just kind of mused just kind of spoke uh under his breath rather softly and david longed and said oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of bethlehem which is by the gate and the three mighty men break through the hosts of the philistines and drew water out of the well of bethlehem and was by the gate and took it and brought it to david nevertheless he would not drink thereof but poured it out unto the lord and he said be it far from me o lord that i should do this is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives therefore he would not drink it these things did these three mighty men and abhishey the brother of joab the son of sir ui was chief among the three and he left up his fear against 300 and slew them and had the name among the three was he not most honorable of three therefore he was their captain however he attained not unto the first three now we'll be coming back to some of these points a little bit later but listen carefully and benigha the son of jehoiadia the son of a valiant man kept zeal who had done many acts he slew to lion like man of moab he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of snow first chronicles 11 22 calls it he slew a line in a pit in a snowy day he not only took on a great task but he did it on an unfavorable day that's something you and i can do on a snowy day we jokingly say sometimes that 19 drops of rain will keep 20 people out of church but there are times that the the weather is not favorable conditions are not favorable but that's a good time to shine that's a good time to take on your shoulders the responsibility of the difficult situation and he slew an egyptian a goodly man and the egyptian had a spear in his hand but he went down to him with a staff and plucked the spear out of the egyptian's hand and slew him with his own spear these things did binaya the son of jehodayah and had the name among three mighty men he was more honorable than the thirty but he attained not to the first three and david set him over his guard now we're going to go back up to the top you notice each one of these men who were david's mighty man now there were 30 but there was a he only gave the several names of those who became captains over the rest now he didn't say that such and such was a mighty man because he slept late in the morning or because he uh could uh eat more than anybody else he could eat more hot dogs or he could put away more no but each one of these men that the bible refers to as a mighty man it told why he was a mighty man because he overcame the difficulty factor and let me say to us tonight sometimes god allows us to find a lion-like problem in a pit on a cloudy or a rainy or snowy day because he's wanting to make a mighty man out of us he's wanting to make a mighty christian out of you it's not that he don't love you it's not that he's not going to stand by you because every one of these men when it told what they did unbelievable miraculous feats they accomplished under great difficult situations yet it turned around and said god wrought a great victory and yet these did not attain to the level of the of the first three and we're going to talk about the first three in a few minutes but what i'm wanting us to see right now go through things and we don't understand it sometimes and uh we go through uh uh seasons seems like and uh seems like that so many things go wrong and why is this happening to me why am i having to face what i'm facing it could be with your job it could be with your health now sometimes we don't understand why that we uh we are uh handicapped with some kind of physical uh condition but it may well be that god is allowing us to develop the proper strength to face the situation of difficulty that we're going to have to face in our life there's people sitting right here tonight and i wouldn't call your name for anything publicly but they're saying in this congregation tonight people that have gone through things that is very difficult some folks would have crumbled under the load some would have broken down but you're here tonight still standing firm and you're still slaying the outnumbered enemy that you're facing and god's going to call you a mighty christian and he's allowed some things to come your way not because he's forsaken you not because you've done something that and sometimes we mistake this so-and-so's oh i knew that was going to happen because i just saw they've just done this or they've done that but let me tell you something bad things don't always happen because you've done something wrong it may be because you've done something right there was a day when the sons of god came to present themselves before the lord and satan came also and god said satan where'd you come from how he said from going to and fro on the earth and walking up and down in it now look out just a minute would god sick the devil on you god said have you considered my servant job there's none like him a perfect and upright man a man that feareth god and he ensureth evil now would you like for god to talk about you like that to the devil tell you how great you are the devil said yeah i i realized that but said uh why not does job fear god for not devil said you built the hedge around him and and you've blessed everything he's going to do and and everything everything about him you've said why wouldn't a man as rich as he is and and got as much as he has why wouldn't that man serve god said you take that hedge down and let me get to him now god didn't deny that god didn't deny had a hedge built around him god didn't deny that he had blessed him when with everything he did he was one of the richest men of the east but when god began to tell the devil have you considered my servant job the devil said okay take that hedge down and i'll make him curse you to your face god may be setting you up to make a mighty christian out of you it's not always fun at that time but don't you let anybody tell you that because you're going through difficulties because your children may have disappointed you because your your mate may have disappointed you or your boss man may have disappointed you or your health may be failing you at a time when you need it there may be but let me tell you something god is going to stand with you and he's going to make a mighty christian out of you and only god knows all of that give the lord a hand clap [Applause] now there are folks here tonight the face thing that i've never faced and i don't want to face there's folks sitting here tonight and and and my wife is one of the only ones i can usually say this to because i there are things i'll take to my grave because unless it's to glorify god i i don't go tell things but i've seen people that's gone through things in their life at the system cool that that that person and and still the servant god and praising god still they haven't backslid they haven't turned against god you talk about david's mighty men god's got some mighty christians that's still standing and they're do they're they're they're they're defeating the difficulties in their life well let's go back um he rose the philistines until his hand was weary and his hand claimed to the sword well here was eleazar uh well at first there was a dino he lifted up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time now god wait a minute i believe you god i believe you're kind of letting the devil gang up on me now 800 and all the rest of my brethren that they've fled they've they've left me one against 800. you're letting the devil gang up on me that's all right just stand in there god's going to deliver you from those hardness he's going to deliver you from the difficulties if you'll just stand out notice what it says these be the names of the mighty men whom david had a dino he lifted up his spear against 800 who he slew at one time and after him was eleazar one of the three mighty men with david when he defied the philistines and were there gathered together to battle and the men of israel were gone away well i've heard many folks and maybe i'm as guilty as an ex but um we like to talk about um uh our friends turning their back on us and and they're no longer standing with us that's really not an unusual thing but it happens and the men of israel were gone away he arose and smote the philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave unto the sword and the lord wrought a great victory that day and the people returned after him onto the spoil now they had to pry his hand loose from the sword but he said i am going to stand i am going to stand and he arose and smote the philistines until his hand was weary and his hand claimed to the sword and the lord brought a great victory now god may sometimes allow you to get totally outnumbered and it looks like you're so outnumbered that the difficult factor is going to get the wait a minute hang in there god is making something special out of you there may not even be a school a scoreboard that's been designed to reflect your accomplishment they hadn't built a scoreboard yet to to give a perfect score to anybody but somebody did i want you to know the devil's i'll get them oh no you're not going to devil we've got some mothers and fathers and saints of god that's been through torrent david said if i make my bed in hell thou art there and i want you know when you go through the most difficult situation just hold on god is going to be with you and some of you have been through a lot of things and and and others would not know it but god knows it and there may not be a scoreboard to put up here to say she was faithful or he was but god is keeping score and he's got some mighty christians because you have withstood the difficulty of the situation well let's go on and those that ran away after the battle was over and he slew all the enemy they came back to help rob the the corpse ii timothy 4 16 paul writing to timothy that said at my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me so i gave up and quit i know you know what it said in this same chapter paul said i've fought a good fight i've kept the faith and i finished the course henceforth there is made up of they're laid up on me a crown of righteousness at my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me verse 10 for demons hath forsaken me having loved this present world and is departed unto thessalonica christians to galatia titus unto dalmatia only luke is with me take mark and bring him with thee for he's profitable to be for the ministry and tashas have i sent to ephesus the cloak that i left at troas with corpus when thou comest bring with the the books but especially the parts miss when i read this i think of paul the great exploits that uh he had performed and the great things he did but stop and think for just one minute he was in a prison actually waiting on the executioner's chop block where he's going to lose his head he was in in prison now notice what he was pleading for the cloak that i left said said bring with us the winter's coming on i'm needing just i'm needing a coat and i said my book says i need something right bring my book and said parsons i need something to write with his meager request in a damp dark lonely miserable prison cell but just think had he not been there i wouldn't be preaching from this scripture tonight had he not been there you and i would not be reading his epistles he would have preached one time in the the congregation but because he was in prison he was needing more writing material because billy mccool the first apostolic church in knoxville tennessee needs what i've got to say and god's making a body man out of it oh hallelujah hallelujah would you give him a hand clap [Music] hallelujah hallelujah somebody down there in knoxville tennessee needs what i've got to say and and bring me some paper to write on bring me my parser there's some folks that's going to be going through some things like i'm going through and they're going to need to hear this and they're they're going to need to be able to endure difficult situations be of courage i don't know what all you've been through but let me tell you something you've stood you stood the test of time and god knows what you've been through now notice the cloak that i left that troll has with corpus the maker thing when that comes bring it with you and the books but especially but if you forget my cloak all right i'll shiver if you forget my books okay but especially the parchments i got to have something right on because knoxville tennessee needs to hear what i've got to say there's some people there that's going to be going through some of the things that i'm going through and they're going to need the encouragement and they're going to be mighty christians and they're going to be facing the difficulty element then it goes on to say alexander the coppersmith did me much evil the lord reward him according to his works now he didn't say you do this earth but said alexander the accomplishment did me much evil but i'm going to turn him over to the lord and let the lord take care of it there may be a coppersmith in your life there may be an alexander in your life that's done you much harm caused you much heartache there may be somebody whose name comes to your mind right now don't try to take revenge god said vengeance is mine i will repay saith the lord said i'll turn him over to the lord the lord will take care of and record him according to his works of whom be thou where also for he hath greatly withstood our words at my first answer no man stood with me but all men pursued me i pray god that it may not be laid to their charge he didn't say that so and so mistreated me so and so talked about me so-and-so told lies on me so and so did me much harm and god get them he didn't say that he said at my first answer no man stood with me but all men for i pray god that it may not be laid to their charge god you've got a purpose in everything that happens in my life notwithstanding now he said no man stood with me i was outnumbered i was forsaken notwithstanding the lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the gentiles might hear and i was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and there's a little basement church over there it's not even a country right now god but the way down there hundreds of years later there's a place over there on a continent called the united states of america and there's a city that needs a church and they go they're going to be in a little basement they're going to have a leaky roof and and they're going to be cold in the wintertime and hot in the summer they're going to but god they need my my my parchment they need what i've got to say now god oh and i want you to know he said that by me the preacher might be fully known and that all the gentiles might hear and i was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever amen give him another hand clap back to david's mighty men after him was shaman and the philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a piece of ground full of lentils and the beans and the people fled here we go again they was running from the philistines there was a piece of ground that had lentils in it and the people fled from the philistines but some i but he stood in the midst of the ground and defended it and slew the philistines and the lord wrought a great victory knoxville is a burn over territory it's a preacher's graveyard you can't have revival you sure can't have a church there i starve to like to starve the dead yeah but that's a little field somebody's going to claim that lentil field somebody's going to say these are my lentils these blood you're not going to have knoxville you're not we're not we're not going to give it to your devil we're going to stand in that bean patch and dare you to try to take it god's got some mighty men and women that's not going to give up give him a handy glass praise there's a little patch there others may not recognize it others may not know what is this value but i want you to know there are some people in that city god's got some bean patch god's got a little patch up and somebody's got to stand in the middle and defend it and claim it for god and three of the 30 chief went down and came to david and went down and came to david in the harvest time under the cave of adulum and the troop of the philistines pitched in the valley of reprimand david was david was pinned down david couldn't even move he couldn't get her ahead to stay quiet he couldn't do anything and david and his terrible condition he just said oh if i just had a i i i'd love to have a drink of water from that well if i just had a drink from the well at bethlehem which is by the gate and there was three of his mighty men that hurt him he wasn't talking to them but they overheard him and the three mighty men break through the host of the philistines and drew water of the well of bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to david nevertheless he would not drink but he poured it out into the lord and he said be it far from me o lord that i should do this is not this to others it looks like water but to david it looked like blood men so loyal men so faithful men so dedicated that that could easily bend their own blood i can't drink it but i'll just pour it out and make a drink offering to the lord and i'm going to give god the glory i can't these men have sacrificed too much for me they've given too much for me and i can't drink the water i'm going to pour it out unto the lord their faithfulness their dedication is so important these were the three everybody else had said they did great exploits eight hundred and one time defended a little field on and on but these did not attain did not reach the level of the first three the level of faithfulness and obedience and love of these three superseded the killing of 800 with the staff let me tell you something your faithfulness means more to god the way you love your church the way you love your pastor the way you've stood by the work of god i want you to know that's the greatest thing you can do is be loyal and loving and faithful to the work of god and stand by the work of the lord therefore he would not drink it these things did these three mighty men and the bishop the brother of joab the son of zoro ui was chief among three and he lifted up his spear against 300 and slew them and had a name among the three was he not most honorable of three therefore he was their captain howbeit he attained not unto the first three god can save by many of our few god may use you to kill giants bring down walls of jericho he may use you to cut off jordan across the red sea but there's nothing you can do that's going to supersede and be greater than your love and loyalty to the work of god remember what i said a while ago banaya he saw a lion like man and he went down into a pit on a snowy day and slew a lion he didn't let the snow scare him away he didn't let the inclement weather he didn't like the he didn't allow the negative elements scare him away but his love and loyalty was paramount sansa god i hope you understand i'm talking about you tonight i hope you can understand what god thinks about you and your love and your loyalty and your faithfulness to the work of god i've said this several times and i'll repeat during this pandemic we've been outnumbered many times there were times i stood here and preached pastors trying to preach when every pew in this church was empty every view the only people here were the men and women taking care of the technical end to get our voice out over the internet but we preached anyway we preached anyway we had to send off pastor got online and found her and bought him a secured mailbox that mounted to the wall you couldn't and you couldn't get into it without a key we had to do that because god's people didn't have a church to go to during those but they came by and put their tithe in that mailbox these did not attain to the level of the first three their love and loyalty and faithfulness you've been faithful and and oh how i thank god for this church for each one of you and binaya the son of jehoday the son of a valiant man of kept seal who had done many acts he slew two lying like man of moab he went down also and saw a lion in the pits in the midst of a pit in time of snow and he sue an egyptian a goodly man and the egyptian had a spear in his hand and he went down to him with a staff he had a spear and he had a staff and he plucked the spear out of the egyptian's hand and slew him with his own sword these things did deny the son of jehoiada and had the name among the mighty men he was more honorable than the thirty but he attained not to the first three and david set him over the guard romans 12 18 if it be possible as much as life within you now we're looking for some mighty men now but now the preface sounds very ominous this is pretty scary stuff right here if it be possible what great feat is he getting ready to introduce us to if it be possible as much as life in you live peaceably oh nothing you could do more important if it's just live peaceable with all men deliver love avenge not yourself but rather give place rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine i will repay saith the lord therefore if thy enemy hunger what are you going to do feed him get angry get even with no if your enemy hungers feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shall heap coals of fire on his head you don't have to do with that just be kind and be good and then he said be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good there are some who are assigned greater difficulty seems like and i've already mentioned the classic example of job and the devil had a discussion with god and and god took the hedge down wound up taking his his wealth cattle and camels his wife and she came around to said honey why don't you just curse god and die and he said you speak like a foolish woman then he had three friends and the bible called them they came to comfort job and when they got through they you you couldn't be more discouragement than they were but job continued to hold his integrity before god the richest man most successful man in the east it was not difficult to be perfect and upright let's take down the protective fence and apply some difficulty to his life and see how he scores and i'm going to the finish line shortly and then i'm going to call your attention to gideon when i'll not go to the background all things about getting thrashing and hiding behind the wine press but god finally convinced him he was a mighty man he asked for volunteers to go with him to fight against the midianites and gideon's volunteers assembled he had 32 000 citizen soldiers who stood in the ranks judges 7 although there were 135 000 midianites encamped in a nearby valley you talk about the difficulty factor a hundred and thirty-five thousand well he had thirty-two thousand volunteers but god directed gideon to thin out the ranks after dismissing the fearful and afraid only ten thousand remain gideon's ban was now outnumbered now 13 to 1. there's still too many god said you got too many what wait a minute god i've got yes yes i are delight in difficulty i want the odds to be unmistakable yes sir you still got too many bring them down to the water and i'll test them for you see those who left the water with their hands never taking their eyes off the horizon were retained by gideon's army those who got down under the knees to drink forgetting to keep watch for the enemy were dismissed now only 300 remain the midian midianites outnumber gideon's man gideon's men 450 to one i'm talking about the difficulty factor god delights in difficulty god delights in going against the stream god delights in delivering you when it looks like it's impossible for you to be delivered god delights in delivering you was not abraham our father justified by works when he had offered isaac no abraham was called the friend of god and he had to believe god even when he was an old man his wife was old god gave him a son of his old age the bible said abraham believed god it was in peter named for righteousness and he was called a friend of god and when that little boy got up so old god said get in i got one more thing i want to ask of you you see out delight and difficulty i want you to take that boy and take him up there and sacrifice him to me give him as a sacrifice what wait a minute god i've done everything i left my when you told me to leave my my father in my land i left my father in the land god when you told me i was going to be the father when i was like god i've died but now that god god said i delight in difficult situation so we put the bond of wood on the sun and they travel go up the mountain and the little boy said daddy uh i've got the wood and got the fire but said where is the sucker you talk about asking for something that was hard to face and abraham said son god will provide himself a sacrifice god did provide himself a sacrifice and abraham's in his in god's son he became the sacrifice for all humanity when he got up and got the fire ready to slay his son god said hold your hand there god said now i know that thou was not withheld thy son then only son isaac so look in the in the bushes there was a ram caught with his horns in in the there's your sacrifice god delights and dealing with difficult situations would you stand your feet with us therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus and the things those heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier let us pray father we thank you tonight for this congregation and thank you lord for this church family and lord we know that many of those in this congregation have faced many difficulties many disappointments lord you're the god that deals with difficulty and may we be encouraged tonight to understand realize and know and take confidence that we can be mighty christians we're going to be loyal and loving and faithful and we're going to continue to win souls for the kingdom of god all this we ask in jesus name you're dismissed in the name of the lord shake hands and be friendly bump knuckles elbows or whatever your protocol is i love each one of you