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[ Silence ] [ Music ] ♪ And the royal home of the brave ♪ ♪ So praise the Lord ♪

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♪ Let's all progress for that ♪ ♪ With loyalty, loyalty ♪ ♪ Yes, loyalty to the pride of the brave ♪ ♪ Oh, dearly we do sound ♪

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♪ That golden anthem loud ♪ ♪ Yes, loyalty, loyalty ♪ ♪ Oh, loyalty to the pride ♪ ♪ On high to the air and blue ♪

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♪ With our full hearts we sing ♪ ♪ For loyalty, loyalty, it's loyalty to the foe ♪ ♪ On to victory, on to victory ♪ ♪ Rise and let the world know ♪

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♪ We're moving as the wind ♪ ♪ There's something that's for them ♪ ♪ And loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to God ♪ ♪ All to victory, all to victory ♪

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♪ I shall thank the land of God ♪ ♪ We will do things for them ♪ ♪ There's something that's for them ♪ ♪ With loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to God ♪

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♪ Honor, victory, honor, victory ♪ ♪ And the great November long ♪ ♪ We'll move in Easterland ♪ ♪ And soon possess the land ♪

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Loyalty, loyalty, yes, loyalty to God. Amen. And Wakaia said, as the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.

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And so he came to the king and the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall we forebear? And he answered him, go and prosper

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for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And the king said unto him, how many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord? This is 1 Kings, the 22nd chapter, the 14th through the 16th verses.

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King said unto him, "How many times shall I adjure you that you tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?" Micaiah said, "As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak." The subject of the message, the battle of truth, the battle of truth.

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It is a grand and glorious occasion in the history of Israel and Judah, the kingdoms that have been separated for some time with Israel on the north and Judah on the south, kingdom that was once united and took great delight in its prosperity and peace under David and Solomon. They've gone their separate ways for many years, but this is an unusual

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occurrence because the king of Israel, Ahab, has invited the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, to come and visit with him. And in those days, I'm sure what they did was something to compare with what we do today when we have an outstanding person from another nation to come visit the leader of this nation. He's entertained at the White House.

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There is a state dinner and so he have as great feast prepared to entertain the king of Judah. And while they are visiting with one another during this period. Ahab says to Jehoshaphat, "You know we are brothers and Ramoth in Gilead is ours, but we don't possess it. Let us join forces and go up to Ramoth Gilead and take our possessions.

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Now it so happened that Ramoth Gilead is a city that is located in the heights. In fact, it had been in the possession of the people of God before, in possession of Israel. And Israel had been involved in a war with Syria, and Ben-Habib had taken many of the cities that belonged to Israel and then Israel fought again against Syria and won the

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war and bin Hadad promised to give back the cities that he had taken and he gave back a number of the cities possibly most of them but Ramoth Gilead is one of the cities that remain under the control, under occupation by Syria. And so this is of concern to Ahab as he engages in his diplomatic talks with Jehoshaphat. You know

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"Oh, Raymond, then Gilly, it is ours. We don't have it. Let us go up and possess it. We are brothers. Let us join forces." And Joseph said, "Well, that's a wonderful thing for us to do. I think well of it. But before we go and fight, let's hear from one of the prophets of the Lord. Let's hear from what the prophets have to say.

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Don't you have some prophets? Oh yes, I have many prophets. And so let's get a word from the Lord. not a good thing to engage in a battle without getting a word from the Lord.

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What God has to say. It's always good as we approach the challenging situations of our lives to consult God. To get a word from the Lord. He says yes I have some prophets and so he summons his prophets 400 of them come and they all prophesied saying oh yes King go on up to Ramoth Gilead you're gonna get the victory God is gonna give you the victory

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Go on up and fight. Victory is yours. And evidently there was not something that was ringing true in their united voice,

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450, 400 prophets speaking with one voice saying going up. Evidently something didn't ring true to Joseph said, "Well don't you have somebody else? Don't you have another prophet?" He said, "Oh yes, I got another one, but I don't like him at all because he doesn't

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have anything good to say for me." A lot of times we want people around us who always have something good to say even when we are doing good. He said, "Every time I call on him he has some hard words some scathing criticism I don't want to hear from him but Joseph I said well why not just bring him in anyway let's see what

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he has to say so Micaiah did him lot his summoned by the king comes in and He says on his way the messenger who's bringing him tells him now, "Makai, Elsa, let me tell you what's happened." He said, "Four hundred prophets have already been before the king. They have prophesied and they have told the king that everything will be well. go on up to Ramoth Gilead and conquer because God has given you the victory.

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He said, "And of course, Mackay, it would be well for you to say what they said. I won't just let you in on what they've done, and it will sure make the king feel good if you would say what those other prophets said." Mackay said, "Well, I can't promise you that.

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Whatever God says to me, I've got to say to the people, because you see, I am God's spokesperson. I am the mouthpiece of the eternal, and whatever God says, I am just to be a channel that He uses to speak for Him to the people. whatever he says I must say. He goes on before the king of the Eastlanders and

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"Makiah shall we go up to Raimund Gilead?" and he said "Oh yeah go on up there and win the victory." He said it rather lightly and so he said "Now now now I want you to tell me the truth I want you to be serious with me shall we go and he said well I I saw I saw sheeps scattered as without a shepherd on the hillside you go to

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Raymond Gilead and fight you will be defeated you'll be killed people will be without a leader. So there was one prophet there named Zedekiah of Cana and he has slapped him on the cheek. He said, "You don't talk like that to the king. There's always a price to pay for truth." And they said, "Well we're gonna take this man and we're gonna,"

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the king said, "You put him in jail and let him stay there until I come back from the war and Micaiah said you're not gonna come back from this war. The proof of what I have to say is going to be the fact that you won't come back. So they went on to fight the war. That's the story they went on to fight the war. The

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King Ahab and Jehoshaphat went into battle. Jehoshaphat kept on his royal robes and Ahab disguised himself as a soldier and in the course of the battle Ahab was slain. And they finally discovered that the king had been killed and the soldier says all over now the king is dead you can go home. It's all over. Well that has a lesson for us about truth,

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a battle of truth, battle of truth. In the first place, "Rameth Gilead" means the high places. That's what the word means, high places in Gilead. "Rameth and Gilead is ours, let's go get it, let's possess it." The high places, the heights, the heights belong to us. In other words it's ours as the people of God to possess our

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possessions and our possessions include the high places, the highest and best, the highest and best. That's what we're to have, it belongs to us. God has promised us the highest and best. It's ours but often we don't possess it. A lot of our possessions you know it belongs to us but you have to go and get it you have

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to go and get it you know getting getting training getting a degree getting a high school diploma that's that's that's yours but you have to go get it a whole lot of work involved in that going on the college getting a degree that's that's yours the way is is prepared there are all kinds of

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scholarships there are all kinds of means of assistance but you have to go get it. Ramoth and Gilead is ours but we have to possess it. Well that's true of the church. Ramoth and Gilead, the heights when it comes to evangelistic activity the heights and evangelistic activity belong to us but we have to go

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get it I was reading some time ago several years ago now about the early history of Ebenezer and I saw where one occasion they had a revival that lasted for a month and a hundred people came into the church oh my and I thought about today it's hard for us to get people to come for a week. But the heights in evangelism,

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the heights in reaching out and touching those that are unchurched and are not rightly related to Christ that's ours but we have to possess it. It takes a lot of dedication, a lot of commitment, a lot of prayer. It's ours, but we have to possess it. Raymond Gilead not only means heights,

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but it means frontier. It was a frontier town, right there on the frontier. So it was out there, town that you reached before you got to the other towns, reached Raymond Gilead. Frontier town. Our church has been a frontier church. We've been out ahead. We go back to 1875.

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Frontier. Downtown church. Tremendous history. Frontier. Leaders in many respects. Leaders of the community we are in many respects.

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Frontier time. frontier church. That's true of most of the the historical churches, the downtown. But many of them in the course of time become feeders to other churches.

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And you'll find most of the people in the town saying, "You know, I used to be a member of Ebenezer." But they are members of other churches in their neighborhoods as the town has grown and expanded they have joined those churches. There is a task of being on the frontier that is always

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present that you've got to continue to to work at it. If you're going to lead, you're going to be on the frontier, you've got to continue to work. If you don't continue to work, that was once a time when

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when China was considered one of the frontier countries of the world. The printing press and many other things and you go back

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supposed to have been originated in China. Glorious history, Chinese history. But China built a wall around herself And when she built a wall around herself, when she woke up,

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the other nations of the world had far exceeded her in the progress that they had made. So there's always a responsibility to be a frontier people.

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The responsibility of commitment. It's a responsibility that's ongoing. Ramoth and Gilead is ours, but we must possess it. Now there's a battle that goes on. It's a battle for truth. It's a battle. Here,

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Micaiah ben Emler represents the prophetic presence in this experience. He represents God in this experience. God, as the message is to be given to the Kings,

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But on the one hand, there are 400 prophets. You're talking about the odds, 400 to one? 400 saying yes, go on, this is the popular thing to do, this is the thing we know you wanna do.

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You know, so often somebody comes to you and they ask you about something, say, you know, do you think I should do so and so? You know, wouldn't it be nice if I did so?

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And they want you to say yes to what they have in their minds. So 400 to 1. Anna, most of the time when you're

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in a group like that where you stand alone, people say, you mean it to all the other people you know are saying this. But Micaiah said, well, whatever God says, that I will do.

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Whatever God has said to me, that's what I'm going to say to you. The battle of truth means that many times you have to stand alone, battle for truth. I think that when it comes to witnessing,

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when it comes to being a channel of communication for the truth of God, there's always a price to pay for that. There's some insults. I know a number of people that have gone forth to witness to a lost person and they've been insulted. A lot of people say well I'm not going to do that because I'm not going to to be faced

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with insults. So they don't want to take that risk. Micaiah Ben Emler was willing to take that risk. Even from one who was supposed to be a prophet of God but was in reality a prophet of Baal. He is is struck on the cheek but he's willing to bear it. He's willing to bear it and he takes his stand for God. He's a little-known prophet. Most of the time

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when we talk about prophets we forget about Micaiah, Ben Emlon, but here is one who stood up for God, who was willing to do what God required of him. So the The battle of truth is a struggle in which all of us are engaged. Service, missionary service is the task of everyone who is committed to Jesus Christ

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and that service involves sacrifice. Ramoth in Gilead is ours, but we do not possess it. I think that's a message for you and me right there. I think that there's a message for every one of us

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when we begin to look at our history and look at our challenge. I think there's a message there for every one of us. Sure, we have great things to work with

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when it comes to resources. I'm reminded of a story that Howard Thurman tells in one of his books. It's a story of a man who was on a plane,

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on a train rather. He was going to a city called Everywhere, and he was riding on this train, and he looked down and he observed

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that the people who were sitting there on that particular coach didn't have any shoes. He thought that was rather strange, and as he went on to this city,

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he saw that there were factories saying we build the best shoes in the world. And as he got off the train and walked through the streets, he observed that all the people that he saw had on no shoes. And he went on into one of the factories and he saw them working there,

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making shoes and he looked at the person that was standing there beside the machine and he looked down at his feet and he had on no shoes. And he went on

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to the church there and he noticed that all the people who were sitting in the church had on no shoes. Minister who was standing in the pulpit had on no shoes. He was preaching about shoes and about how they made the best shoes in the world but he had on no shoes.

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And so the man asked one of them, he said, "Why is it that you all don't have on any shoes?" He said, "Do you all believe in shoes?" He said, "Oh yes, we believe in shoes." So we believe that everybody ought to wear shoes and we have a minister who stands in the pulpit who is most eloquent and he talks about shoes, how you ought to have shoes. And we have the best workmen in the factories about shoes. He said, "But we don't wear them."

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He said, "But one day we are going to wear them. One day we are going to wear them." Ramoth and Gilead is ours but we must possess it and it involves our commitment, our loyalty in this battle of truth. The battle of truth, this battle against falsehood. Micaiah ben Emlid, it was a battle against profession. One can

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profess without being. It's a battle against numbers, 400 against one. It's a battle against unanimity. All of the 400 say the same thing, but Micaiah differs. But in this battle of truth, Micaiah is vindicated because he represents God. He speaks for God, and every one of us is on the battlefield, the battlefield of this world.

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It's a battle of truth against falsehood. It's a battle of justice against injustice. It's a battle of decency against indecency. It's a battle of God against Satan.

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And in this particular battle, the word goes out that the king is dead, the king is dead. You can go to your tents, you can go home. The king is dead.

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We have a king. We have a king who somehow went up to Ramoth Gilead. He went up to the high places. He went up to a high place called Calvary.

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And as he goes to that place, he has to encounter Satan. Satan tempts him. Satan comes saying, "If you are the son of God, "why don't you make bread of these stones?

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"If you are the son of God, just bow down and worship me. I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world, but he does not yield to Satan's temptation. We have a king who loved us so much that he went to Calvary and died on that mountain. And that's the king that speaks to us.

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He speaks to us telling us to leave home and to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's his command. And we sang a little early in this service, "On to victory, on to victory cries the great

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commander on." Loyalty, loyalty not to the preacher, loyalty not to the deacon, loyalty not just to the leader of the circle, loyalty not to the president of the brotherhood, but loyalty to Christ. That's where our commitment is to be.

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And without it, somehow we miss the victory, but Christ has promised to give us the victory. It's the victory that comes to those who engage in the battle of truth. Put on the right garments, put on the helmet of salvation, put on the belt of truth, and go forth with the shield of faith, and have your feet shod with the gospel of peace, and

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God gives the victory. For Jesus says in this world, you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.

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And he enables us to conquer the high places. He enables us to win the victory because he is our leader. As we sing the hymn of invitation, now we extend the privilege of the church.

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We invite you to come as we sing this hymn, The Door Is Open. [ Music ] [MUSIC]

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[MUSIC] ♪ Lord, as my feet on high are bound ♪ ♪ Forgive me, O God, that we stand ♪ ♪ As we forget, as we forget ♪

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♪ How I am glad, that I am found ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm glad my people are around ♪ ♪ My heart and soul is there to stay ♪ ♪ Where love survives and fear disdains ♪

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♪ Oh, something there, where peace abounds ♪ ♪ Where he's around ♪ ♪ I pray my angels guide your way ♪ ♪ For here we are ♪

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♪ And there she stands ♪ ♪ A dream for years ♪ ♪ A dream for days ♪ ♪ All I have heard ♪

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♪ That I have found ♪ ♪ My path, my people, what a world ♪ ♪ I want to live ♪ ♪ A better world ♪

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♪ Oh, say does that star ♪ ♪ That be our own ♪ ♪ Oh, say does that star ♪ ♪ A joyful sound ♪

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♪ The sound of strings of joy ♪ ♪ To the world ♪ ♪ For to be loved ♪ ♪ I'm glad to share ♪

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♪ My grateful share ♪ ♪ My stable land ♪ ♪ A higher name ♪ ♪ Where I have found ♪

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♪ God plant my feet on high, on high ♪ ♪ On this great land ♪ ♪ I gladly stand ♪ ♪ I faith on heaven's stable land ♪

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♪ I am free ♪ ♪ And I am found ♪ ♪ Lord, can my feet no longer move ♪ - Let us pray.

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Gracious God, our Father, help us as the family of God here at Ebenezer to know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, that we do not possess it. the frontiers of faith, the heights that you have set for us to attain, all ours.

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We must engage in the battle of truth. It's a battle in which you always give us the victory when we show forth that commitment to the struggle, that spirit of sacrifice. The victory is already ours through Jesus Christ.

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us to go forth with this faith burning in our hearts as we face the challenge of this new week. Grace, mercy, peace be with you from God our Father in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]