SHAMGAR—A COMMON ORDINARY MAN! Dr. Jobe Martin Biblical Discipleship Ministries www.biblicaldiscipleship.org www.evolutionofacreationist.com

The God of the Bible wants to take common, ordinary people like you and me, with our common, ordinary things and do uncommon, extraordinary things in His power and for His glory!

JUDGES 3:31 31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

BIBLE STUDY HAS SEVERAL DIFFERENT PARTS: 1. Observation 2. Correlation 3. Interpretation 4. Application

Observation=What do we see. There was a man named Shamgar. Shamgar came after someone. His Father’s name was Anath. He killed 600 Philistines. He did it with an ox goad. He delivered his country.

Correlation Correlation=What Scriptures relate. In the case of Shamgar there is one other Scripture that correlates and that is Judges 5:6: 6 “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,” This is all we know about Shamgar, but we do learn some things about the days during which Shamgar lived in Judges 5.

Correlation the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. 8 They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? Judges 5:6,8

Interpretation=What does it mean. A Jewish man named Shamgar killed 600 Philistine soldiers. He was probably a farmer since he knew how to use an ox goad. He used an ox goad as a weapon because it appears that the weapons had been confiscated.

INTERPRETATION What is an ox goad? An ox goad is a stick or pole 6 to 8 feet long with a point on one end. How do you make an ox go? Our Creator, the Lord Jesus, made the ox with a sensitive spot where the hoof hooks onto the ankle. Touch that spot and the ox lifts its leg. When the leg comes down it is ahead of where it was, the other feet want to catch up and the ox is moving.

INTERPRETATION Shamgar’s father’s name was Anath. Anath was the Philistine God of sex and war. Shamgar’s family had probably sold out to the pagan Philistine culture. At the very least Shamgar’s grand parents had named his father with the name of a Philistine demon god. And yet this common ordinary man with his common ordinary tool saved his country!

BIBLE STUDY HAS SEVERAL DIFFERENT PARTS: Observation: what is seen 2. Correlation: where else 3. Interpretation: the meaning 4. Application: who, me?

APPLICATION God wants to take common ordinary people with our common ordinary things and do uncommon, extraordinary things in His unmistakeable power and for His own glory! Shamgar shows us the importance of over-coming family limitations. He shows us the value of perserverence—he is out there every day putting his life on the line for his God, his family and his country.

APPLICATION Shamgar shows us what Almighty God can do through a single person who is ready and willing to let our Lord do His will in our life, even if it means putting our life in jeopardy for His benefit and glory. Shamgar displayed a singleness of purpose. Shamgar is an example of unselfish servanthood.

APPLICATION Are we ready and willing to put our lives on the line for our God, our families, and our country? What is your oxgoad (weapon)—your life, your zeal, your words, pen, mind, computer, connections, family, church. Are you ready and willing to make the prayer of your life, “Lord, yet not my will, but Thy will be done?”

Acts 13:36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his Fathers, and saw corruption. (He accomplished all that God had for him in his generation.)

John 12:27, 28a Jesus said, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name.”

Concluding Application Jesus from eternity past, had a purpose and a plan. David accomplished all that God had for him in his generaton. What is your purpose, your plan, your focus for the remainder of your life? Will you accomplish all that God has for you in your generation?

Missionary/Mission Field? I led two lives as a youth. I left home as a mission field, not a missionary. (How have you left home? How will your children leave home?) Could our God use your time here to help you fullfil His purpose for you in your generation? Are you practicing truth (John 3:21) and does your life display Colossians 1:27?

Words Have Meaning Do our words still have meaning in our postmodern deconstructionistic culture? (What does “is” mean?) If words have no meaning, then the Bible has no meaning. Four frequently heard statements: No absolutes No right or wrong Everything is relative Who’s to say?

FOUR FORBIDDEN SENTENCES! THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG! The major assumption behind this sentence is that the person saying it is claiming he or she is right in saying that there is no right or wrong! We have a statement that negates itself.

FOUR FORBIDDEN SENTENCES! THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTES! This sentence is intended to be an absolute statement. If there are no absolutes, then this sentence is not absolute and it negates itself and means nothing!

FOUR FORBIDDEN SENTENCES! WHO’S TO SAY? This sentence intends to silence someone who is taking a position. In other words, “You have no right to say that!” This negates itself, if no one has a right to take a position, then no one has a right to say “Who’s to say?” because that is taking a position!

FOUR FORBIDDEN SENTENCES! EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE! The authorial intent of this sentence is that it is an absolute statement. If everything is relative, then this sentence is part of everything and is itself relative. Then it negates itself.

WORLDVIEW GLASSES DETERMINE CONCLUSIONS The worldview ideas of Creation or Evolution have certain inherent consequences. The assumptions behind the Creation/ Evolution controversy determine the conclusions you come to regarding the origin, purpose and destiny of life in general and your life in particular.

WORLDVIEW THINKING IN THE HISTORY OF THE U.S.A. Christian Theism: Personal God Young Universe Creation Traditional Deism: Reduced God Old Universe Theistic Evolution Secular Humanism: Dead God Darwinian Atheistic Evolution Pagan Mysticism/Metaphysical Naturalism I am God/All is God/There is no God Evolution is God! Harry Potter is God!

ARE WE SUBMITTING TO THE AUTHORITY OF GOD’S WORD? For example: Harry Potter is a wizard. Leviticus 19:31: Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

DEUTERONOMY 18:10-14 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

Are we submitting to the authority of the Bible in every area of our lives? Or are we submitting to, and incorporating into our lives, more and more of the folkways and mores of the false, anti-God and popular worldviews of Satan’s deceptive world system?

ROMANS 12:1, 2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

So what do we all need to do? ACCORDING TO BARNA: “Teenagers are only mirroring adult attitudes, 96% of whom do not reflect the attitudes or actions of Jesus. We are not living the faith we profess.” So what do we all need to do?

2 CORINTHIANS 13:5 KJV 5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? NAS Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

ACCORDING TO JOSH McDOWELL: We are witnessing “The Last Christian Generation.” Only 1/3 of “church-going” teenagers say the church will play a roll in their future lives. According to pollster George Barna: 63% of teens do not believe Jesus is God’s Son. 60% believe all faiths teach equally valid truths. 51% do not believe Jesus rose from the dead. 66% do not believe Satan or the Holy Spirit exist.

93% of all youth have lied to a parent. 75% of Christian and non-Christian youth have cheated on a test. 66% of all youth have physically hurt someone. 70% of churched teens believe there is no absolute moral truth. [This is called “Moral Relativism.”] Barna research reports: 98% of professed born-again youth “…do believe in Christ, but they do not reflect Christ-like attitudes or actions.” Does Satan believe in Christ?

In other words, there is a “disconnect” between “knowing Truth” and “practicing Truth.” John 3:21: “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

WHAT ARE CHRIST-LIKE ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS? Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance [self-control]: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

WHAT ARE CHRIST-LIKE ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS? Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

So what do we all need to do? ACCORDING TO BARNA: “Teenagers are only mirroring adult attitudes, 96% of whom do not reflect the attitudes or actions of Jesus. We are not living the faith we profess.” So what do we all need to do?

2 CORINTHIANS 13:5 KJV 5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? NAS Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

This means death to pride and selfishness! Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. This means death to pride and selfishness! “I die daily.” 1 Corinthians 15:31b

WE ARE LOSING 57%-88% OF “CHRISTIAN” YOUTH AFTER FOUR YEARS OF COLLEGE WE ARE LOSING 57%-88% OF “CHRISTIAN” YOUTH AFTER FOUR YEARS OF COLLEGE! [published statistics] Friends with Campus Crusade for Christ tell me, “If we don’t get the ‘Christian’ kids within the first six weeks of their freshman year [of college], we’ve lost them to the competing worldviews.” How do we lose you?

How do we lose you? 1) A huge percentage of young people are going off to college after being raised in “Christian” homes and evangelical churches, but their intellectual knowledge about the Lord Jesus has never been combined with saving faith. They call themselves “Christians” but they are not truly saved! So test yourself to see if you are in the Faith!

How do we lose you? 2) Many, perhaps most, [young] people raised in the church cannot defend the Faith. Can we defend the virgin birth of Jesus? Can we defend the miracles of Jesus? Can we defend the crucifixion of Jesus? Can we defend the resurrection of Jesus? Can we defend the basics of Christianity?

ATHEISTIC EVOLUTION ASSERTS BY FAITH THAT: There is no Creator/Designer God, And, therefore, that purposeless, Non-directed, Accidental, Mindless, Chance, Random processes produced the universe and everything animate and inanimate in it. The “Big Bang” created space and time?

LUKE 10:27 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

ROMANS 12:1, 2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

What are some of the anti-Biblical worldviews popular on the campuses of the world?

Evolution CREATION Secular Humanism Marxism/ Leninism Cosmic Humanism Biblical Christianity Sources: Humanist Manifestos I, II Writings of Marx and Lenin New Age writers: Ferguson, Bailey Bible Theology Atheism Pantheism Theism Philosophy Naturalism Dialectical Materialism Non-Naturalism Supernaturalism Ethics Relativism Proletariat Morality Absolutes Biology Evolution CREATION Psychology Self-actualization Behaviorism Collective Consciousness Mind-Body-Soul Sociology Non-Traditional Family Abolition of Home Church and State Non-Tradition Home Church and State Traditional Home Church State Law Positive Law Self-Law Biblical Law Politics World Gov. (Globalism) New World Order New Age Order Justice, Freedom Order Economics Socialism Enlightened Production Stewardship Private Prop. History Historical Evolution Historical Materialism Evolutionary Godhood Historical Resurrection Postmod Summit.org Islam

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7 Behavior Values Respect for life Wealth Truth “Fruit of the Spirit” Happiness Health Loyalty www.summit.org Summit Ministries Manitou Spgs. CO Worldview A set of beliefs or ideas / a system of thought Ethics Biology Psychology Philosophy Theology Politics Economics History Law Sociology “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7