CCF International Church

Part of the Message delivered at the recent conference at Ministerio Terra Fertil in Rio de Janeiro 

2 Sam 20:13-22

When he was removed from the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bichri. 14 And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth Maachah and all the Berites. So they were gathered together and also went after Sheba. 15 Then they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth Maachah; and they cast up a siege mound against the city, and it stood by the rampart. And all the people who were with Joab battered the wall to throw it down. 16 Then a wise woman cried out from the city, “Hear, Hear! Please say to Joab, ‘Come nearby, that I may speak with you.’ ” 17 When he had come near to her, the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your maidservant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” 18 So she spoke, saying, “They used to talk in former times, saying, ‘They shall surely seek guidance at Abel,’ and so they would end disputes. 19 I am among the peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?” 20 And Joab answered and said, “Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy! 21 That is not so. But a man from the mountains of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has raised his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city.” So the woman said to Joab, “Watch, his head will be thrown to you over the wall.” 22 Then the woman in her wisdom went to all the people. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. Then he blew a trumpet, and they withdrew from the city, every man to his tent. So Joab returned to the king at Jerusalem.

Prov 3:13-15

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.

This is a season when the voice of the wise woman must be heard. We must use every strategy to build and to plant. Prov 1:20 20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; The story in this scripture is that Sheba leads a rebellion soon after the death of Absalom. We all know the grief and anxiety that Absalom caused his father David. The trouble he caused Israel. Joab and his men just came out of one military exercise. There was much bloodshed; many lives were lost. People are tired of fighting. Now there is a new uprising by this man Sheba. There must be a way to stop another war. You see military action is not the only option; we must learn to reason with one another; we must listen to the voice of wisdom that is being raised in the public squares. There are too many conflicts not only in the world but in the Body of Christ. Polarisation and isolation is not the answer; we must engage the voice of wisdom. The voice of wisdom will expose error. Listen to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet.

Jer 31:27-28

27 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals. 28 Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD

 So I believe that these are the days when the Lord will bless His people as they begin to lay down their weapons of carnality and begin to develop new strategies to build and to plant.

 Nothing we build will succeed if Jesus is not the architect.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.

 The wise woman stood up for the city and interceded for its survival. The problem threatening the whole city was Sheba. Instead of the whole city being wiped out, one man’s life was required, this man being a sinner. Error must leave if we are to experience dominion in our field of operation. In this season we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Our battle is against operating systems that function in rebellion and defiance to Christ the anointed One. We need to learn a little about this town called Abel-beth-Maachah.

Abel-beth-maachah – meadow of the house of Maachah, a city in the north of Israel, in the neighbourhood of Dan and Ijon,in the tribe of Naphtali. It was a place of considerable strength and importance. It is called a “mother in Israel”, i.e., a metropolis (2 Sam. 20:19).. It is elsewhere called Abel-maim, meadow of the waters. Ref. Nelsons Bible Dictionary

 

All the intelligence in the city could not match the wisdom of the wise woman.

1 Cor 3:18-19

18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.

This city was referred to as the “mother city”. This city was known for its considerable strength and importance. The wisdom of man is not going to help us from resolving the challenges that we face today. We need the wisdom of God. WHEN A WISE WOMAN SPEAKS JOAB, THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF DAVID’S ARMY LISTENS

17 When he had come near to her, the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Hear the words of your maidservant.” And he answered, “I am listening.”

The wise woman discerned who she was dealing with. She realized that she had to approach this military man carefully because he is ready to wipe out the whole town. The wise woman is respectful. The voice of wisdom is respectful. This is what gets attention. We are sent to build. A respectful attitude will cause the hearer to say “ I am Listening” I am going to give you some practical examples on how to relate to people who are not like us.

John 9:25

25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

There is an important lesson for all of us through this simple story of a blind man who received his healing. The lesson to be learned here is that it is almost impossible to influence an individual away from the one thing that he knows. For many of us, there is that ONE THING that we know about the Lord. The blind man knew he could not see….now he could. Nobody was going to steal his testimony; no intimidation; no manipulative reasoning, nothing could change his encounter with the Lord. Many of us are like this. We gather regularly to learn and study the Word of God; we are always looking for ways to improve our knowledge and our understanding about the Kingdom of God; we submit our hearts and minds to be influenced by our teachers and our mentors. But there is that one area that is beyond influence….that ONE THING that we know; that which we know through an encounter with Him. Just ask a man who lost all his precious material possessions through bankruptcy, yet after everything was gone, after a period of famine, he saw a cloud the size of a man’s hand. He stood in the refreshing rain as God began to bless the land again. The season of lack has just come to an end. After you experience this kind of Divine intervention no one is going to talk you out of believing that there is a God in heaven who maintains His covenant with the righteous.

Just ask the single mother who has struggled to bring up her children without any help from anyone…going from one job to the next. All she did was to be faithful to the Lord; she tithed from the little she had. And God found extraordinary ways to ensure that the flour and the oil did not run out. No one is going to talk this lady out of believing that tithing does not work. It is the ONE THING she knows. And no one is going to tell her differently.

David knew what it cost him to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem. He knew why he was dancing and celebrating so expressively and in such a manner not befitting a king. But only David knew the struggle associated with the assignment. Michal his wife could not understand his joy.

This was exactly the case with the blind man. Nothing will convince him that Jesus cannot heal. If we can understand this principle, we will begin to enjoy greater victories in our dealings with others. For example the charismatic/Pentecostal Church really expresses itself in praise and worship. Many of us have come from this environment. In the context of what we have been talking about, this is the ONE THING that they know. We are not going to get anywhere by trying to persuade them otherwise. Rather work from what they know. Many children have the habit of breaking something and then try to fix it.

No one could tell the apostle Paul that he imagined the light from heaven or that Jesus actually spoke to him. You cannot dismantle a personal encounter with God.

THE ONE THING IS NOT EVERYTHING

We all know the story of Apollos the mighty preacher.

Acts 18:24-26

24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

However as discerning believers in the Lord we must realise that the one thing is not everything. It is the starting point. The ONE THING Apollos knew was the baptism of John. He spoke powerfully from a limited base of knowledge and understanding. This is the reason we continuously submit ourselves to the instruction of the sent ones. These instructions would add value to our ministry as Apollos had experienced.

Isaish 29 13 -14

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. 14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

 For a long time it was noted than when apostles entered a city they caused an earthquake; they left the church in a chaotic state. We have come only to seek the head of Sheba. The one who has raised his hand to the king. The one who stands defiant against the knowledge of Christ. We believe that the words we speak will expose error.

2 Cor 10:5

5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Our assignment is to discern error; to discern the hand that is raised against the king. We are ambassadors here to represent the interests of the King and His Kingdom. We are sent to build the people of God so that we can function more efficiently in our assignment. We understand clearly that every one of us carries a measure of grace. We have simply brought our grace into the city inorder to compliment the work of the ministry.