Do we attempt to fight our battles on our own? God shall stand with you and for you. Be gentle and see how real greatness comes. (2 Samuel 16:5-14, 23:1-5; Psalm 18:35; Genesis 26)

Speaker(s): Chris Arman, Sam Muhima
Sermon 13026
Date: 2025-11-9
Time: Sun 6:30 pm

P. Sam Muhima –

Good evening. Praise God.

P. Schaller: You’re looking very good, isn’t he? I want to just introduce you a little more. P. Sam,
a disciple of P. Scibelli and then, – really. And then trained, leading and then multiplication of
churches happening so that there’s 71 churches, Greater Grace churches, that are under, you
know, the home church there in Uganda where he is the head pastor. Well that’s amazing. And
then another group of 12 of them maybe. Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo. 30 of them. Kenya.
Okay. Let’s see. Congo, Tanzania, Kenya. 45 churches. Okay. Wow. Well, thank you for sharing.
Love you.

P. Sam –

Thank you, P. Schaller, for the opportunity to stand before the congregation. Like God
has been doing amazing work in Uganda. Your prayers and support, we really feel it there.
Thank you so much for your ministry. Next year, we are going to be celebrating 30 years. P.
Scibelli came to Uganda in ’96 to plant a church. P. Scibelli is my pastor, my spiritual father. And
thank you P. Scibelli for your faith that we are learning to follow and we thank you so much.
And we can’t wait to have you next year to be with us and everyone is invited to celebrate with
us. Amen. Amen.

When I came here, I saw pumpkins here. Are they pumpkins? I think pumpkins. I grew up on
pumpkins, eating pumpkins. My grandmother, that was the food like every day. So, when I
came here, I was a bit tempted. Yeah. But I had to yield my members as instruments of
righteousness. That’s why they are still there, I think. Let’s pray. (Prayer).
Genesis 26, beginning in vs. 13. There is a beautiful story about Isaac. Vs. 13-14. They were jealous
of him. Vs. 15-16. There’s one translation, vs. 15 that says they got back at him by throwing dirt
into all the wells.

We from morning, there is something that they were talking about, the persecution of
churches. I want to look at Isaac possibly representing the church and the Philistines
representing the world that we are living in. And looking at the persecution that is happening
today in the church. It is said that approximately 365 million Christians face high levels of
persecution and discrimination globally. 365 million. That’s a big number. That’s a big number.
Those are statistics. It is said that 5,000 Christians were killed in 2023. And they say many in
Nigeria. I don’t know why in Nigeria but looks like it’s a repeating thing.

It is also said that over 14,000 churches and Christian properties were attacked. So, in other
words, the church I wouldn’t say is in serious trouble because Jesus Christ is with us, but the
church is under attack. The church is under attack. But we see why is it attacked? Like why is
Isaac attacked? Why are the wells being filled with dirt? Why?

When you read vs. 14, he said because the Philistines were what? They were jealous. They were
jealous. Do you think that the church is being persecuted because the world is jealous of us? I will say, yes. We may not see it that way, but that’s the reality. That’s the truth that the church
is under attack.
The church is persecuted because there are these blessings upon Ephesians 1:3. The Bible says
that God has blessed his church with spiritual blessings. They are spiritual blessings. We may
not see them, but the enemy, of course, we know the enemy is also a spirit, but he sees them.
He sees them. He sees how blessed we are, and he attacks. He persecutes.

The Bible is clear. Why does he attack? Because we got what he lost. And so he’s jealous. We
got what he lost and even beyond that, even beyond that, we are God’s children. He’s not. We
are beloved of God. He’s not beloved of God. We are saints. He’s not. And he will never be a
saint. We are redeemed. He’s lost and no one is looking for him. So, he’s jealous that we were
found by Jesus Christ and died on the cross and made us righteous.

As we heard this morning, purged our sins. He still carries his own sins. He’s jealous. And so
because he’s jealous, he kind of like projects this jealousness into the people in the world. And
there is that jealousy they have because of the blessings that God has poured on the church, on
us. So, the attack comes. That’s why they hate, they hate the church. That’s why they hate us.
That’s why in vs. 27, Isaac says, Why do you hate me? Why do you hate me? And that’s the
same thing. Jesus Christ said, They hate – when they hate you, John 15:18. He said when they
hate you, know that they hated me first. Because there is that jealousness that is there. They
hate the church and what do they do? Persecute. Persecute the church.

But what did Isaac do? When they filled the wells with dirt, what did he do? He dug other wells.
He dug other wells. You see, when they threw dirt into his well, into the wells of his father, they
were looking for reaction. He didn’t give them that reaction they were looking for. He just
acted. And that’s what happens. Whoever throws that to you, they are looking for a reaction.
But Isaac just acted.

He said, Okay, I will dig another one. I will dig another well. And in vs. 20, he dug one well and
he called it Esek. I think Esek, something like that, means strife. Meaning strife, quarrel,
argument. Why? Because the world quarrels. When you read there, actually they are saying
that well is ours. He’s the one who dug the well and they are saying that well is ours and they
want him to believe like that.

You see there is a way the world wants us to believe. You know the value system of the world
definitely conflicts with our belief system. There’s that conflict that is there and because of
that, there’s that strife that is there. They want us to believe in what they want us to believe
but we are saying, no. So, they say persecute them. Vs. 21. So, because we don’t believe in
what they want us to believe in, now they call us Sitnah, speaks of enemy. Now they say you
are our enemies and they take us to be their enemies. And that’s why the persecution is there.
But we know for sure that though they persecute us, Jesus Christ reminds us that they did the
same to him. That’s what they did to him. But when they persecuted him, when they threw, they kept on throwing dirt on him, on Jesus Christ, he kept on going. He kept on going. And
that’s what we need to do.

In Mark 14:57-58, they throw mud on him. They throw dirt at him. They accused him of sedition
and rebellion. In Luke 23:2 and 13, they accused him of not paying taxes. Even when he paid
the taxes, they still said he’s telling us not to pay taxes. Even when he got, you know, time came
and he sent the disciples and he said, Go and find that fish and then there was money and he
paid tax. But they are accusing him. They kept on throwing dirt on him. They kept on throwing
it.

Mark 12:4, they called him. They said that he’s using demonic powers. In Matthew 11:19, they
accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard. They kept on doing that, but he kept on going,
but they kept throwing dirt until there was no dirt to throw at him. And the only solution was,
let’s kill him. Let’s shut his mouth. But little did they know that after the tomb experience, he
will speak more loud than before. They closed one mouth. Now they have 13 mouths to close,
the apostles. They tried to close their mouth. Of course, we know they killed them. But what
happened? Thousands and now we are millions. Now we are millions.

But you see when that is thrown at us in the church, remember we used it when we were
young in the rain. We would just pick mud and throw it at each other. You throw but at the end
of it, you look the same. You know we don’t do that. There is something – usually I speak with
my brother, P. Renaldo, the story of the donkey. And sometimes when someone is on your
nerve, I don’t know if you get that. Someone is on your nerves. And we talk about it and he
reminds me, he says, you remember the story of the donkey? I say, yes. The story of the donkey
is that the donkey wandered and then the owners started to look for it. But then they found it
in a pit. And when they found it in a pit, they tried to remove it, but they couldn’t.

So, they said, let’s bury it. let’s just bury it and stays there. Sorry for those who love animals. I’m
just telling you the story. Don’t throw the dirt! But what happened was this. That when they
started throwing dirt on it, it stared to shake it and then step on it. They throw again. Shake it,
step on it again. And these guys started to look at it. They were amazed.

So they started very fast to do that. And they would do shake and step. Shake, shake the dirt.
Shake, shake it off. Would shake it off. And then at the end of it, it came out of the pit. That’s it.
That’s what happens when that is thrown at you. Shake it off. Step on it. You will get, you will
get out that situation. You will get out. So, we usually use that when that happens. But how
about if they throw it into your well? You do like what Isaac did. You dig another one. You dig
another one. You keep digging.

What wells are we talking about here? My fellowship with Jesus Christ. What well? My
fellowship with the Holy Spirit. What well? My fellowship with the church. What well? It can be
that Bible study. It can be, it can be an outreach. It can be and the enemy is throwing dirt there.
But what happens? Did another one like Isaac did. And when he continued, vs., 22, he dug another one and he called it “enough room.” And when you continue to read there, it speaks of
fruitful, fruitfulness.

And then he dug, the last one, vs. 25 and vs. 32. And he called it Shebah. But I like this one, the
last one, that when he did this, the Philistines came to him to ask for forgiveness. And this is
what they said. They said, we have seen the hand of God in your life.
You see, that’s the whole thing. And that’s why we keep digging. Why do we keep digging? We
keep digging because someone, you see, the world that is throwing dirt at us is the same world
we’ve been sent to. But when they throw dirt at a place of work, whenever you are, when they
throw that dirt at you and you and you shake it off or you dig another way.

If they throw it in your way and you dig another one, someone is going to say there is the hand
of God in your life. And that’s the whole purpose why we are here. That’s why we are here.
Amen. For Jesus Christ said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. It will not. Yes, persecuted, but we are not forsaken. Amen. Let’s keep throw – let’s keep
shaking it off. Let’s keep digging other wells. Amen. God bless you.

P. Chris Arman –

All right. Here we go. That was awesome, P. Sam. I don’t feel bad if someone
calls me a donkey anymore. I’m just going to shake it off and take a step up. Wow. That’s
happened quite a bit. Oh, see, there we go. First step right there. Shake it off. Shake it off. All
right. Wow, man. That’s great. Let’s pray. Let’s pray. (Prayer)

Great to have P. Dion here from Pennsylvania. He’s American African. He’s from South Africa
but he’s living here in America and he’s pastoring a church. So, he is, great to have him here
and great to have all of you here. It’s amazing. Just to continue that thought that P. Sam was
talking about, if you can turn in your Bible to 2 Samuel chapter 16. And this is the story of
David, after he was being persecuted by his own son, Absalom. And his son through years and
years of stealing the hearts of the people has a coup and takes over the nation of Israel and
David escapes with his family and it’s interesting how there’s this opposition that comes like a
persecution, like P. Sam said.

That comes against David but how he handles it is a great picture of how God gives us his
character and how God put strength in us, which is really interesting. And Donnie Fisher is here,
too. Where’s Donnie Fischer? Fish. Right there. All right. He’s looking around. he’s an
encourager. Always when I was going back and forth to Malawi, always would stop me and say,
I’m praying for you and I just so thankful for your life.

So, let’s read it. let’s start in vs. 5. 2 Samuel 16:5, we can say for this application, he threw dirt
at David, vs. 6-7. He’s talking to the king, King David. Vs. 8. Wow. Such an attack, right? That
came against him. Then look at vs. 9. Do we have any friends like that? Likes to fight guy. Like
something goes wrong and they’re like, they’re ready to punch first and ask questions later.
Douglas Limba, one of the guys at our church in Zambia. That’s what he does. He punched first,

asked questions later. That was, that was these mighty men. Like let me just take his head off.
He won’t talk anymore. We’ll stop, you know, we’ll quiet him.
And then I love what King David says. Vs. 10. He said that a lot to these guys. These guys are
always, you know, always ready to go. And he was like, Hey, easy. It was like, it’s like Jesus
2000, a thousand years later where has the same thing. Christ is the Son of David. He had his
sons of Zeruiah and we have them all over the place. They’re and it’s great to have them really,
to have your back.

Vs. 10, Wow. What a maturity that David said. He said, Leave him alone. Maybe God told him to
curse me. And that’s so similar to what P. Sam said. Like Isaac didn’t fight his own battle. He just
said, God will take care of me. God will fight my battle for me. And that’s what we can say.
You know, we go through things in our life and troubles and we kind of ask God like, Why is this
happening and really we can just surrender and say, God, I can’t. it’s too much for me. It’s too
much pressure for me to take on. I have to defer it to you. I have to put, I have to take my
burden and place it on you. I can’t fight my own battle. And God says, I’ll fight for you. I’ll fight
your battle. And David learned this.

This is something that through the ups and downs of King David’s life he learned that if you
could, if you were to compare King Saul and King David, really King David did a lot worse things
if you want to put it on paper than what King Saul did. But what was the difference between
the two of them? It’s that King David wanted to know God. King David cared about his
relationship with God. He wanted to get closer and closer to God.
And so here towards the latter end of his life, he says, I’m not going to fight my own battle. I’m
not going to throw stone for stone. I’m not going to throw dirt where dirt is being thrown
against me. So, he says, Maybe the Lord told him to cure David. Who will then say, wherefore
why have you done so? Vs. 11-12. That’s amazing. And we can say that, too.

People may come against us. People may say things against us that might not be true. But we
don’t have to fight our own battles. We can just trust in the Lord and rely on the Lord and just
say the Lord will do it. And as David, vs. 13. There’s the dirt throwing right there. He cast dust.
And now it’s interesting, vs. 14. So, even though they were weary, even though they had an
attack against them, they got refreshed. Amen. And God does that. God refreshes us even in
the time when people are coming against us, God will refresh us in the way.

A couple more verses. I love this verse. That’s the first one about David. 2 Samuel 23, this is the
story about David’s life and it’s also the story about our life, too, because this again shows the
nature of God. And this is David singing his song of deliverance. He gives his last words in 2
Samuel chapter 23. And it says, vs. 1-2. That’s the inspiration of the Holy Spirit on the men of
the Bible that wrote the Bible. That’s how it happened, right? God put his words in their
tongue. God used them as a vessel.

We heard about that this morning, like Isaiah was a gifted writer and God used him like a wind
pushing a sailboat. Like the sailboat is the person. They’re the vessel of God and the Holy Spirit
pushes them and directs them and directs their gifts and they wrote the Scriptures. And it
happens similarly today. Instead of foretelling and telling the Scriptures, they’re already there.
But we forthtell. We tell what’s already there. And the Holy Spirit takes our gifts and he
influences our gifts and he pushes us along and to minister to people. Just like P. Sam said, too.
So, vs. 3. You know, that’s Christ. Isn’t that true? Yes. Justice is important and we need to fight
for it. It has to be a staple of what we are doing. Vs. 4. That’s what the standard is. The standard
is the standard. But guess what David says? Vs. 5. That standard of justice, you know who
meets that standard? It’s Jesus Christ himself and no one else. And that’s what’s going to
happen.

When we see all the injustice that happens in the world, when we see all the corruption in
different forms and you know, you think that it doesn’t happen in the West. It happens
everywhere. There’s corruption. The whole world lies in wickedness. Probably all those
conspiracy theories that we, that are said, they’re probably all true. I can’t wait to get to heaven
and see which one of them were true and which one of them were not. But I just know the
whole world lies in wickedness and so that’s the standard is Christ.

And then David, who’s a great king, but he knows I can’t live up to that standard but I have this.
Although my house be not so with God, yet he’s made with me an everlasting covenant. Amen.
That’s the covenant that he made with his blood, that he shed on the cross. And he says, If
you’ll just trust me, just like that other thief that was right next to him and said, lord, remember
me when you enter your kingdom. And he said, Today you’ll be with me in paradise. That was a
covenant.

That was a covenant that he made while he was dying. While Christ is dying, he’s still serving.
Amen. And so, we’re like David and we say, My house my not be so with the Lord. I know what
it should be. I know what my standard should be and I don’t live up to it. But God has made a
promise to me. He’s made an everlasting covenant to me and he’s ordered all things and made
everything sure and this is all my salvation, vs. 5.

That’s our desire and we say you will do it but I don’t see it here on the earth. I don’t see my full
victory here on the earth. Maybe we don’t see justice done here on the earth, but we will see
ultimate justice happen when Christ comes, when Christ rules the earth. And we believe that,
and that’s why we serve. That’s why we go out. That’s why we tell people and say that you can
have an everlasting covenant. And maybe you’re going to get dirt kicked in your face, but you
have an everlasting covenant that goes beyond it.

And you can be a king and people cursing you and dust kicked at you and you can say, Let them
do it. Be gentle with people. Even our own brothers and sisters that may be navigating through
this time, be gentle with them. Matthew 7:1, don’t judge them. Give them space. There’s a
comedian. He’s not a very clean comedian, but his name is Louie C.K. He did an interview with

Konan O’Brien one time and he was just talking about nowadays people with technology. You
know, they’re like, they’re looking at their phone like, Oh, there’s no signal! What’s going on?
Come on. He’s like, Give it a second. It’s going up to space and coming back. Give it a minute,
right? Let’s have some patience. And we can be patient with people. Be patient with people.
Pray for them. Don’t write them off, right? Don’t write them off. Believe God for them because
God’s patient with us. God’s made a covenant with us. And love our brothers and sisters.

And in closing, this last verse in Psalm 18:36. Thanks, P. Sam because that was a pregnant
thought. Your message gave birth to all these other verses. Ps. 18:36. Sorry, vs. 35. And this is a
beautiful psalm. Vs. 35. What made David great? Thy gentleness has made me great. God’s
gentleness with us. God’s gentleness with people. Like we write people off. I forgot the
quarterback. Who’s the quarterback of the Raiders right now? Gino Smith, right? He said,
people wrote me off but I didn’t write back! And then he had a great season. This season,
people are starting to write him off again.

Like, don’t write people off. Be gentle with them like God is gentle with them. That’s what will
make people great. I’m realizing that with my children. The strength of sin is in the law and if I
lay down the law, it’s just going to push them away. But the gentleness of the Lord made King
David great. And then he became gentle to Shimei. Shimei was kicking dirt in his face and he
just shook it off like that donkey and he took a step up and just got his way out of that pit.
And so be gentle with people. Be gentle with yourself. Don’t condemn yourself. Give yourself a
lot of grace. Be longsuffering with yourself and then be longsuffering with people. Amen. All
right. Let’s pray. (Prayer)

 

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