You see her, and that would be a great help. Take your Bibles, if you would, turn to the book of 1 Chronicles, please, chapter number 11. 1 Chronicles, chapter number 11. 1 Chronicles is right before 2 Chronicles. I'm just helping you out here just a little bit. 1 Chronicles, chapter number 11. Our main text is going to be found in verses 10 through 20. And we're going to talk tonight really about, I've titled this message here this evening, Unknown Heroes. I want to just highlight the first 10 verses here of chapter 11 before we actually get into our text beginning in verse number 10. Bible says in verse 11, all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. Moreover, in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that led us out and brought us in Israel. The Lord God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel. Thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel. If you take the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, and you really compare the chronological events of what happened, Saul being the first king, Saul died, David now becomes king, but David is not king over all of the people of Israel. For seven, I believe, and a half years, David was king over the southern district, if you will, and his place of residency, as far as the palace was concerned, was in a city called Hebron. It wasn't until seven plus years into his kingship is when he actually sends some men down to Jerusalem to go ahead and conquer that and that becomes David's city. That becomes the city of Zion. And so from the rest of that time on and David's reign, he then reigns in the city of Jerusalem, but not for the first seven or so years that he's there. But when David comes in to be king, really there's a lot of scattered people all through Israel. Israel's not unified like it got to be under David. So when Saul dies, his chief man in the army was a man by the name of Abner. And Abner really consolidated a lot of the northern people together And what Abner did is he took one of David's younger sons by the name of Ish-bosheth and he went ahead and placed him on the throne and he became a ruler. But again, as you read some of these books in Kings and Samuel and Chronicles, Ish-bosheth really was a very ineffective ruler. And you read on a couple of occasions that as the northern tribe of Israel under Ish-bosheth was gaining, was getting weaker and weaker, David's reign and his kingship was waxing stronger and stronger. Now you say, well, that must have been because David was smarter and maybe Ishvosheth wasn't as effective. Well, that could be some of that. But understand that God had something to do with all this as well. God had David anointed and God raised up David. And so that's why over the period of time, David's reign got mightier and mightier. What a powerful thing. Well, David deals with the first thing of finding where his capital would be. And so they come to Jerusalem. And then I want to come to our text here because we find the listing of some of David's choicest men. So now Saul had a lot of his men. But remember, David was the one that came in and out in battle. David was the one that did a lot of fighting, even while Saul was king. And David was the one that was known as he slain his thousands, ten thousands, that is. So David had accumulated, even before he became king and after he was king, some very choice men. But without looking at your Bible, when everybody look up here, I want to ask you, can you name any of the 30 men? Oh, come on, you've all been in church for a long time now. All right. I bet you could probably name a couple. Somebody said Abishai. Joab is one of them. All right. So there are some names, a couple of names that we're familiar with. But you would think to yourself that out of those 30 men that we would hear about their names like a Moses and a Solomon and the Apostle Paul. that these men would be up there and would be well known by us. But they're not. Look at verse number 10 of First Chronicles chapter 11. The Bible says these also are the chief of the mighty men whom David had who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom and with all Israel to make him king according to the word of the Lord concerning Israel. This is the number of the mighty men whom David had. Jashubim, Hachmanite, the chief of the captains. He lifted up his spear against 300, slain by him at one time. And after him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighties. He was with David at Pastamim. There the Philistines were gathered together in a battle, where is a parcel of ground full of barley. And the people fled from before the Philistines. They set themselves in the midst of that parcel and delivered it, and slew the Philistines, and the Lord saved them by a great deliverance. Now three of the thirty captains went down to the rock to David into the cave of Adullam. The host of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephraim. David was then in the hold, and the Philistines' garrison was then in Bethlehem. David longed and said, Oh, that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem that is at the gate. And the three Break through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David. But David would not drink it but poured it out to the Lord and said my God forbid it me that I should do this thing. Shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest. And Abishai, the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three. For lifting up his spear against 300, he slew them and had a name among the three." And then you can read through the rest of the chapter, and again, seeing the names as they are listed. They are also found in 2 Samuel chapter 23, the listing of the names. Now, really what I'm driving at here tonight is David has these top 30 men. They're listed, and then some. They're grouped in threes with a chief that is among the three. And we find in our text here, especially 1 Chronicles 11 verses 10 through 12, the listing of the three mightiest. Then in verses 15 to 20, the next three are listed. And David asked a task of this next three, and they accomplish it. The only one that's mentioned of those three is in verse 20, Abishai, who the Bible says was chief among them. He had a name among them. Now you would think for just a moment if David or whoever pen this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is going to list out these three who braved themselves to get this water for David. You would think right off the bat it would say this man and this soldier and this individual. They're the ones that went for David. But outside of Abishai they're not named. You know when we think here through Christianity We think of ourselves that in a local church like this, oh, we're going to have our name listed. People are going to know who I am. But I'm here to tell you something, that there have been centuries upon centuries of Christians in churches all over the world that we don't even know their names. I'm amazed at how many times there have been people who have thought to themselves, well, I'm going to really do something and I'm going to be like a C.H. Spurgeon or others think to themselves, I'm going to be like a D.L. Moody. Or maybe on the opposite end, there are people who just think they won't amount to anything. I've got a great series of books, in fact, I don't have them all, but there's a man by the name of Herbert Lockyer. He has a series called the All Series, A-L-L. It's a great series for your own personal study. So it's all the men of the Bible, all the women of the Bible, all the parables of the Bible, all the prayers of the Bible. And they're great personal studies that you can take. But one of them I wanna reference here tonight is all the men of the Bible. And in it, Lockyer gives us a recording In one of the last pages, he gives a recording of all the anonymous people who accomplished something for God. Now, can you think through some of the anonymous people in the Bible? Usually we think of the Pauls, the Elijahs, the Abrahams. But I want to tell you something. There are many who are called that were not in the limelight, but yet they were mightily used by God. Here's a partial listing. Let me give you some of those. How about many of the men who helped build the temple in the Old Testament? Not named. How about the men who helped to oversee the repairs of the temple in Jehoashash's day who were above reproach in doing so? How about Gideon's 300 men? Not one of them are named. How about the 7,000 who refused to bow to Baal in Elijah's day? How about in Acts chapter 16, the jailer who led Paul or Saul to the Lord Jesus Christ? How about the eunuch whom Philip led to Christ? He's not named. How about the 120 in the upper room? Now we know the disciples and some of their names, but there was a great group of people that were in that upper room that we'd never heard their names before. How about the 3,000 people that were saved in Acts 2.41? How about the publican who prayed? He's not named. He's just known as a publican. He said, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. How about the 70 disciples whom Jesus sent out? And I love this one. We don't even know the name of the boy who gave his lunch so Jesus could feed a multitude. I could go on and on, but think about it. Many great deeds have been accomplished for the service of the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet We don't know their names at all. Well, I want to tell you how it's important, not necessarily that others around you, your contemporaries, your peers know you, but it is important that God knows you. And God knew these 30 intimately. God knew them well. And it is God who, through David, gave them the task. It is God who equipped them to do the job. And it is God who ultimately will unbelievably reward them in that last day. I want to just give you a few things here that God wants from you, whether people here on this earth know you or don't know what you do. First of all, if you're going to be used by God, you got to enlist in his army. I know tonight we're here with a Sunday night crowd, but I'm not going to take for granted that every person does know Jesus as their Savior. You see, these men, in order to be among the 30 of David, they actually had to enlist. Yes, I'm willing to be part of your army. I'm willing to go ahead and brave myself. I'm willing to go ahead and do what you asked me to do. They enlisted themselves. And just like David, found these 30 men and used them for some unbelievable tasks, I wanna tell you that God is enlisting for his army today. You are either on the side of the evil one, the devil, and you are part of his family, if you will, or you are born again, your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and you are part of God's family. But if you're part of God's family, it's because you've enlisted. You have prayed to receive Christ as your Savior. You've placed your faith in Him and that He is the only way to heaven. The decision to be saved, to be part of God's family, has to do with Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with you. It has nothing to do with who you are. It has nothing to do with any of your good deeds. But it has everything to do with what Jesus Christ has already done for you on the cross of Calvary. How amazing here that the decision for you to be in God's army rests with you. The Bible says in John 1 15 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Acts 2, 21, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Acts 16, 31, that unnamed jailer who led the apostle Paul to Christ, he said, Paul told him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. A decision has to be made. Can I ask you this? Have you made the decision to receive Christ as your savior? I trust you have. Give me a hearty amen if you have. Wonderful. Number two, I want you to notice this. Here's what God wants from you, is for you now, once you've enlisted, is to find God's purpose for your life. Find God's purpose for your life. Do me a favor and flip over to the book of Romans in the New Testament, the book of Romans, chapter number 12. The book of Romans, chapter number 12. Now, there's no doubt, even though we don't know all of what these men accomplished, it's estimated that these 30 men were used to kill about 800 of the enemy. And there's other heroic deeds that they had done in their life. But I want to tell you that God has a purpose for you in his army. Look at verse one, Romans 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Do you notice in verse number two how God's will or purpose is characterized? Number one, it is characterized as something that is good. Can I say when you jump in to do God's will, there's nothing but looking back and saying, yes, that was good. It is good to follow God. But notice it is acceptable. That is, it is well pleasing. And then the word perfect is used about the will of God. That means it is complete. It is entire and lacking in nothing. So when God calls you to do something, he may call you to teach a class, to teach a Bible study. He may encourage you to get along some aside somebody and disciple them. He may use you at the homeless ministry. He may use you in some other ministry that's going to get started. He may use you to come on Mondays or Wednesday mornings or Saturdays is try to talk to some people at pickleball. And you can share the gospel with some people, but whatever it is, That will of God for you is something that is good, it is acceptable, and it is perfect. The purpose of God for your life is of a strong spiritual nature. And as God calls you to do something, I want to remind you that God is always interested before you do something that you be someone. Now, I'm not talking about being someone in this world, but be someone before him. Most people realize or aspire to something God wants them to do. But they really never understand that God also wants them to be something. What a person does for God is of critical importance. But it can never be fully accomplished without being the man or woman that God wants you to be. Notice how there's two elements that are coupled together. What God wants you to be and what God wants you to do. You know, there's great illustration of that in the Old Testament when God called Noah. You remember God's calling of Noah? Noah is going to go ahead and build an ark. Noah's gonna gather the animals two by two and in groups of seven He's gonna bring them into the ark He has a lot of preparation and he's got a long time to go ahead and do this and while he's building that ark He's preaching and sharing with people God's judgment is coming along But that's the job and that's what we think of about Noah Do you know why God called Noah? Because when you look at the book of Genesis, and I'm just gonna make reference to it Noah's greater work Not that he built the ark. It's not that we look back at the ark and we go, wow, Noah, you're quite a carpenter. No, no. Here's what was impressive. The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter six, verse number eight, that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Why? He was just. He was perfect. The Bible tells us he walked with God. The word just means he patterned his life after the righteousness of God. Perfect means he was didn't wasn't mistake free or sin free, but he was a man of integrity and he walked with God. He had fellowship and friendship with God. And so I want to tell you something. It's important that you be the right person. God wants you to do something for him through service. You might be here tonight and you say, well preacher, I got a job that I do. Yeah, but your job is secondary to what you're doing for the Lord Jesus Christ. Your job may provide for you financially so you can support your family. Your job may be something that is a career for you and something that you love. But I want to remind you that the things that you do for the Lord Jesus Christ as you witness at your job, as you become a man or woman of integrity at your job, those are the things that are so powerful and God desires to use you. So what is your ministry here today? What is your ministry? Be the person God wants you to be and accomplish that which God desires you to do. Third thing I want you to realize is that when you're going to go ahead and do something for God, you've enlisted in His army, you're going to go ahead and follow Him and do what He wants you to do, but you've got to give your weaknesses to God. You've got to go ahead and yield yourself and say, God, I have flaws. I'm weak in these areas. I don't know that I can measure up. I'm not like this person. I can't speak like that person. And we may have all sorts of excuses. But I want to tell you that according to 1 Corinthians 1 27, the Bible says God has chosen the foolish things of this world. God has chosen the foolish things in this world. Think of the things that God has done throughout history. to show us how he can use us. Listen to this. The creator of the dust when he made or the creator of the universe, when he made you, made you out of dust, not uranium. When God spoke to Moses, it was from a burning bush, not a huge and beautiful cedar tree. When God was working with his children in Israel, he chose to dwell in a skin covered tabernacle and not one of the magnificent temples that were known in the world at that time. When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River on route to the promised land, Joshua chose 12 ordinary stones to commemorate God's victory. And he didn't have some polished marble thing that was there. Speaking of stones, David was just a boy when he killed the giant, but he selected five stones and it was one single stone that knocked the giant down. And really, that was just shot from a sling. Five loaves and two fishes were all it took to feed a hungry multitude. Again, I could go on and on through the scriptures and tell you how God uses ordinary things, but you have to get with God and you have to realize that all of the weaknesses and all the flaws and all the problems and inadequacies that you may have, God can overcome every one of those and He can use you. But you have to be willing to step forward. I remember the first time that I preached. I'm not sure it was any better than what it is today, but I'll be honest with you. I'll never forget that first time I stood at the pulpit. It was the church that I grew up in. I was doing my internship, and I had worked on this message. In fact, I probably didn't even like the message anymore, and I tossed it because I just felt like I did such a crummy job with it. But I got up there. And my knees smoked together. And I don't know if I got all the words out correctly, but I spoke not as long as I speak now, but I spoke for just a little while. And then I sat down and I thought to myself, what a failure, what a failure. But, you know, as I realized that God's call was on my life, I kept saying to God, God, I don't know that I can do this. I don't know that I have the abilities. I don't know that I'm like and I started naming people I went to school with and I thought, I'm not like that person. I can't speak like that person. That person does a great job. And you know what? God came back to me and basically didn't say this audibly, but this is what the Holy Spirit spoke to me about. He said, I don't care what all those other people do. I want to use you just like you are. And can I say that when God calls you, he wants to use you right where you are, exactly who you are. God knows all your flaws. God knows all your problems. And yet he still comes to you and says, come on, I can use you. Remember, Moses, we looked at a couple of weeks. He gave all these excuses. I can't speak. I can't do that. I don't want to do that. And God says, no, no, come on. And what did Moses do? Moses led all of those Israelites out of the land of Egypt. You may feel that your height, your looks, or something of your physique will be a hindrance. You may not feel competent at what you do. You may be lousy at organizing and using creativity. But now God has got you in charge of a group. You may have a hard time at speaking, but God has given you opportunities to share His Word. You may be shy. His strength is made perfect in weakness. But now, lastly, I want you to just see this, and that is, If you're going to be used by God, determine to be faithful rather than famous. These 30 that David used, most of you could name all, you could maybe name two, three of them. But you could name 20 plus of those. In fact, 37 of them are listed. Some of them had died. Uriah was one of them. David had him killed in battle, if you recall. But I'm telling you, God, don't determine that, hey, I'm going to do this so I can be famous, so I can be well-known. Determine to be faithful to God. Proverbs 20, verse 6, Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. 1 Corinthians 4, 2, Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. God is looking for those who will be loyal to Him, conscious to the work, and exact in their duties. Loyalty is a trademark that we seem to be missing in today's society. People treat God's work as if it could come and go. But I want to show you that some lost soul is depending on you. In the early 1900s, There was a London newspaper that carried an advertisement which read, and I quote, men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness and constant danger. Safe return, doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success. The ad was signed by the famous Arctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton. This inquiry brought in thousands of responses to this. Men and women wanted for difficult task of helping build his church. You will often be misunderstood even by those working with you. You will face constant attack from an invisible enemy. You may not see the results of your labor and your full reward will not come home till after all your work is completed. It may cost you your home, your ambitions, even your life. I want to say to you that God is looking for faithful people. The ministry, whether you're called full-time or you're just a volunteer, the ministry is not easy. The ministry is one of those things that there is a lot of downfall. But I want to encourage you in this. Whether you're helping to pick up boys and girls on Wednesday nights, or you're working in the children's ministry, or you're helping out as a deacon or a trustee, or whatever it is that you're doing, or you're witnessing to people that faithfulness is the key to your ministry. You may not be famous, but you sure can be faithful, and God wants to bless those efforts. There's someone out there that just may be impacted by your faithfulness. I love the story that's told about a man. I don't know if you know who this is. I've shared this story before, but it's very interesting to me. A man by the name of John Eglin. He had never preached a sermon in his lifetime. It wasn't that he didn't want to. He just never needed to. But then one morning he was forced to do so. It was a particular morning there in Colchester, England. When it had snowed so bad, it just left a huge blanket of white throughout the whole area. So John Eglin wakes up that morning, that cold Sunday morning, January of 1850, and he really looked outside and he thought about staying home, but he said, no, he said, I got to get to church. After all, I'm one of the deacons and I got to be at church. And so he thought to himself, if the deacons didn't go, who would? So he put his hat, his boots on. And these are the days here, 1850, he walked the six miles in the snow to church. Well, he wasn't the only member who considered staying home. In fact, he was only one of 13 people that were present in church that morning, 12 members and one visitor. Even the preacher didn't show up. He was snowed in. Someone suggested that they go home as they gathered together, but Eglin wouldn't hear of any of that. They had a visitor, and surely somebody needed to preach, and because he was the only deacon there, it fell on him. Well, his sermon lasted about 10 minutes. They said about the sermon, it kind of drifted a little bit, it wandered, it made no point but several. At the very end of his message, he lifted up his eyes and he looked straight at the young visitor, who was about 12 years old, And he challenged that boy. He said, young man, look to Jesus. Look! Look! Look! And that challenge made all the difference. Because here's what that boy said years later about that cold January day. He said, I did look. And then and there the cloud in my heart lifted. The darkness rolled away. And at that moment, I saw the son who was that visitor, that young boy. It was a great preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a young 12 year old boy. And he was impacted by the faithfulness of a deacon. Who probably was not well known up to that point and has probably been long forgotten. Well, I want to tell you here something. God desires to use you. He desires to use you. And you may not be recognized here. A preacher may forget to say something about you. Others may not recognize what's going on in your ministry. But I'm telling you, there is somebody above who's recording everything down. He knows what you're doing. He knows the long hours, the time that you put in in your ministry. He knows the people that you've impacted. He knows the investments that you make. He knows about all of that. And there's coming a day, it may not be here, when He will reward you. The year was December 16th, 1944. 18 members of a reconnaissance platoon held off a battalion of German stormtroopers in the Belgian hamlet of Lanzareth. There is few history books that note their gallant stand, but it gave the Allied forces enough time to begin mounting the defense which actually won the famous Battle of the Bulge. One of those platoon members was a man by the name of Will James. who after the war slipped into oblivion for nearly four decades. During that time, he underwent numerous surgery as a result of some of the wounds that he had suffered while he was in war. And it was not until 1981, through the efforts of the U.S. House Speaker at that time, Tip O'Neill, and columnist Jack Anderson, that Will James was awarded posthumously the Distinguished Service Cross for Extraordinary Heroism. There's coming a day when God's going to reward you for what you've done. Famous or not so famous, small or great, those given big tasks, those given little tasks. But I'm here to tell you that if you're faithful to God, someday you'll hear those words from the Lord Jesus Christ, well done, thou good and faithful servant. That book I referenced earlier by Herbert Lockyer, I saw this and I added this to my notes. He says here about these unnamed, and he concludes with these words, For ourselves, it is sufficient to know that, whether our names are blazoned abroad or unknown, Easy or difficult to pronounce. Short or long. Full of meaning or unattractive. They are written upon God's palms. And in heaven, every child of His is to have a new name. I think your new name will be based on the work that you did possibly. I don't know what it will be. But God will give you a name and He'll know you. He'll be able to say that. regardless of what goes on in this church, regardless of the things that happen, regardless of the ministries that go on, regardless of who gets recognized and doesn't get recognized. Stay faithful to God. Do the task that God has called you. God didn't call you to be famous. Hey, let me tell you something. If you don't get called up for music, just rejoice. Enjoy it. But if you do get called up, do the best you can, not for others, but for God. If you get called up to go ahead and be involved in a particular ministry, do it to the best of your ability. But recognize that God is the one who rewards, and He's noting every single aspect.