Beniah The Lion Killer

Benaiah the Lion Killer

2 Samuel 23:20-21

• Benaiah was one of the top five soldiers in Israel

• He was a General in the Israeli army

• He was the Captain of King David’s bodyguards.

• 1 Samuel 23:20B

o “He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.”

• The Spirit of a Pursuer

o Emulated his KING!

o Their Giants were the breakthrough moments in their lives

o The giant was the thing that stood between them and their elevation

o CHAMPION – THE MAN OF THE BETWEEN

o The Giant in your life is anything that is standing between you and you complete –

 In healing

 In finances

 In relationships

 In purpose

o What lion do you need to chase?

 The lion of anger

 The lion of habits

 The lion of gossip

 The lion of jealousy

 The lion of excuses

o 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

• L – LOWER STANDARDS

o There’s a high cost for low living…

o The standard that I am talking about today is not one of man’s opinion

o The standard that I am talking about is still the one that has never changed.

o Kings and emperors have come and gone

o Presidents and governments, once powerful and renowned, have long been forgotten

o Churches have come and gone

o But one thing has remained unchanged.

 Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my word…

 John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

 Psalm 33:4 “For the Word of the LORD is right; and all His works are done in truth

o The Standard of Popular Opinion

 The standard of popular opinion says that it’s all right to do what you want to do because everybody else is doing it.

 After all, why should you be different from everyone else?

 Our televisions broadcast these standards right into our living rooms daily and we don’t even know it.

 Believers are fill their minds with the “popular opinion”

 But below the surface Satan is doing a masterful job of teaching us and our children that they can and should be willing to do or try anything and nothing is too outlandish if enough people are willing to go along with it.

 The standard of popular opinion preaches to the believer “just go with the flow.”

• 1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:”

 We’ve not been called to follow the trend

• We’ve been called to set the trend

• It’s time to bring holiness back

o I’m not talking about touch not, eat not, do not, ect

o I’m talking about how we act and how we love people.

o When we love people as ourselves as commanded in the Word, then the things we do will fall in line as well.

o What we think, affects what we do

• 2 Corinthians 6:17 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you,”

 Which is more important

• To be received b y this temporary world

• Or to be received by HIM?

 “I’d Rather Have Jesus”

• “I’d rather have Jesus is a song written by Rhea F. Miller with the tune written by George Beverly Shea

• This poem, written in 1922, was left on a piano in the She home by Bev Shea who wanted her son to find it and change the course of his life.

• The words, I’d rather have Jesus, moved George so much and spoke to him about his own aims and ambitions in life

• He sat down at the piano and began singing them with a tune that seemed to fit the words

• Shea’s mom heard him singing it and asked him to sing it at church the next day.

• George’s life direction did change

• He was offered a popular music career with NBC,

• But a few years later chose to become associated with evangelist Billy Graham and sang this hymn around the world.

o “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold

o I’d rather be Him than have riches untold

o I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands

o I’d rather be led by His nail pierced hand

o Than to be a king of a vast domain