All right, if you have your Bible with you this morning, we are in Genesis chapter 49. Genesis chapter 49, while you are turning there, let me just mention that after the evening service tonight, we will be observing the Lord's Table. So if you wish to come and be part of the communion service, do join us this evening after the evening service. and we'll remember the Lord. Genesis chapter 49 and verse 13, one verse of scripture. This is one of these verses that sometimes, I love preaching out of these verses, okay? Because when you read the verse, you're gonna say, this is gonna be a short message. Okay, don't get your hopes up, okay? But you're going to say, what in the world is he going to say about this verse? That's what I would say if I were you. That's what I said when I read it. What in the world am I going to say about that verse? But the Lord has blessed, I think, as I studied it and learned some things about this tribe. It says, Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea. And he shall be for an haven of ships. and his border shall be unto Zidon. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you today for your word. We thank you, Lord, as we often say here, that not a drop of ink is wasted in the word of God, that it's all inspired of you, that every line and every word of every verse has come from the very breath of almighty God. And so, Lord, as we look into this little verse, we pray, Lord, that you would open our hearts to the truth. that you would move among us by your spirit and be our teacher, that you would lead us into all truth, that you would help us to see something of ourselves in this passage and passages relative to it, that we might grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Lord, help us not to gather here just to hear a sermon, but help us to come to do a sermon, to do what the Word of God asks of us, to commit ourselves to the Scriptures and their truths, and to really be changed, to really be distinct and different. as believers in the world all around us. So Lord, we just ask your blessing upon us. We ask, oh God, that you would indeed glorify your name today, and that through the preaching of your word, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, virtually nothing is said in the Bible of Jacob's son Zebulun. It's assumed that he gave his consent, along with his other brothers, for the selling of Joseph into slavery in the earlier part of this book. But other than that, we have zero information about Zebulun's life, until we come to Jacob's deathbed prophecy. And remember, here in this chapter, Jacob is on his deathbed. He's making certain proclamations. It's like he's reading the will to his children. And he is determining, by the means of prophecy and the Spirit of God, what their future holds for them and for their descendants, the tribes of Israel. Now, Zebulun was the youngest of Leah's children, and his name means dwelling. When he was born, his mother declared, And she called his name Zebulun. Now, that she longed for her husband to dwell with her seems like a very peculiar request, because Leah actually lived with Jacob and Rachel in the same house. So why would she request that her husband might dwell with her? Well, it wasn't just about living under the same roof. You know, people can live under the same roof and not really live with each other. And that was the case in this home, because Jacob was not honoring her as his wife. His love was really with Rachel, and the burden of her heart was that her husband would hold her in high honor, that he would esteem her as his wife. Perhaps the idea here is best stated in the New Testament, in 1 Peter 3, in verse 7, where the apostle instructs husbands to dwell with their wives according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life. So, the idea here of Zebulun's name is not just dwelling, but it really means to dwell with honor. Dwelling with honor. And this son of Jacob, as far as his descendants go, is certainly worthy of honor. As we read this single verse of proclamation from Jacob's deathbed, we find one word that sets out. And notice this word, it's repeated twice in the verse, it's the word haven. Sebulon shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for an haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Zidon. somehow, someway, the descendants of Sabulon would be associated with the sea. Well, the question is, what became of them? What became of Sabulon and the descendants of Sabulon and the tribe of Sabulon? Well, when the tribal allotments were being given out by Joshua, he located Sebulon just to the west of the Sea of Galilee. That's where they—in fact, much of the Lord Jesus' ministry took place in the region that belonged to the tribe of Sebulon. And so they were positioned right there to the west of Galilee. And in fact, if you were to look at a literal word for word translation of this verse, it may say something like this, rather than shall dwell by the haven of the sea, it might read something like this, that he will be one who looks toward the sea. So when you think about it, here he was, here was this tribe, and they were located to the west of Galilee. So as they looked toward the east, they could see the Sea of Galilee, and as they looked toward the west, they could see the Mediterranean. So they were quite literally positioned between two seas, looking toward the sea. But there was something else about their tribal locality, because there was a trade route that ran from Damascus all the way down to Egypt, from the north of Israel all the way down to the south of Israel, and that road ran right through the territory of Sebulon. It was called the Via Maris, meaning the way of the sea. So the way of the sea ran right through the middle. So north, south, they were dealing and trading that came by the sea, by the way of the sea. East and west, they were looking to the sea. Isn't that remarkable? I mean, here he is. Here's Jacob. He's nowhere near the sea. He's in Egypt. It's sand everywhere. And here he is, predicting where Joshua is going to allot the tribal area of Zebulun. Later on, Moses says this of Zebulun, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out, for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hid in the sand. Now, there's a prophecy. They shall suck of the abundance of the seas. How are they doing that? Because they're situated on the way of the sea. And so you can imagine as these traders are coming from Damascus to Egypt, you know, they're not just waiting to get to Egypt to sell their goods. They're selling their goods along the way. And so Zebulun is benefiting from this trade route. And not only that, they're getting treasures from the sand. Well, what do we know Egypt for? It's the place of sand, okay? It's the place of sand, okay? And so either way, they're benefiting from the commerce that is taking place north-south right through their tribal territory. So because of that, because of their location on the way of the sea, because of their location between the two seas, this tribe is symbolized even to this day by a sailing ship. But the key to understanding this prophecy of Jacob's is in the repeated word heaven. There's the clue. Sebulon shall dwell, shall be for a heaven. And the Hebrew word for heaven is chuv, which comes from a root word meaning to cover. It actually refers to a cove or to a harbor. So he's saying that somehow, in some way, Zebulun was going to behave like a harbor at a seaport. Now, when you think about a harbor or you think about a cove, what does it do? It provides shelter for ships in a storm. Isn't that right? You know, we've all heard the phrase, any port in a storm. You know, when a captain of a ship is caught in a storm and he wants to get out of that storm, what does he do? He looks on his map and he tries to find which port is most amenable to him, which is most accessible to him, and where he can bring his ship into dock until the storm passes by. And that's the idea here of the Sebulonites. You see, the Sebulonites in their history played a critical role, a support role, to the nation of Israel in times of crisis. Just like a harbor supports a ship in a time of crisis, in the midst of a storm, takes it in and shelters it, Sebulon did the same thing as a tribe. You see, the Sebulonites are always seen as coming to the aid of someone. They're always seen as coming to support someone. They're always seen as coming to cover somebody, to take care of somebody in some way. And I want you to see this as we peruse the history of the Sebulonites throughout the Scripture. Now, I want you to turn with me to Judges chapter 5, and I want you to see that Zebulun First of all, came to the aid of those involved in preparation. Judges chapter 5. Now, the book of Judges, as you know, details historically a period of apostasy in the history of Israel. The nation was abandoning God. They were departing from the faith of their fathers. Every man was doing that which appeared to be right in his own eye. A time very similar to our own, where people, you know, make their own standards and live by their own morals and take no account of the scriptures or any other realm of influence. Everybody's doing their own thing. And so consequently, because of this behavior in Israel, God had rendered the men of Israel as powerless before their enemies. They were exposed to their enemies. And they would sin, they would suffer, they would cry out unto the Lord, and God would send them a deliverer. That's the pattern of the book of Judges. Now, in Judges chapters 4 and 5, you read about a judge, a woman judge, a female judge, by the name of Deborah. And Deborah, when you think about it, God has raised her up. When God raised up a woman in ancient Israel to be a leader, He did so, actually, as an act of humiliation upon the men. He did it to shame the men, because you appreciate that Israel of old was a patriarchal society. It was a society that was male-dominated. And so for a woman to rise to the heights of leadership was really considered in that society to be a matter of shame to the people. So Deborah lived in a time when the men had abysmally failed in their role as men of God. You know, I think we're living in a similar age today. I wish to God in the churches we had more men rising up to take their stand for the gospel. You know, I go into churches sometimes, and it's almost entirely women. And I think that's disgraceful. It's a shame. But you know what? It's reflective of the pulpits, because the pulpits have been feminized. And the preachers are preaching a Jesus which is rather weak and feminine in some respects, rather than preaching the Jesus of the Bible. And if they would preach the Jesus of the Bible, here's what you'll find. Jesus attracts men. You think about his disciples. There weren't 12 women. There were 12 men. They were attracted to him. And men love the Lord Jesus when they understand who He really is and what He's really like and what He actually stands for. But nevertheless, here were these people in that time, much as in our time, when men had abandoned the faith and evidently were leaving the responsibilities of leadership to the women. And because of their poor decisions on the spiritual level, we read in the book of Judges that at this particular juncture that the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan. Consequently, Israel suffered political and military oppression at the hand of Jabin of Canaan. Deborah comes along, and she intends to right that wrong. She intends, first of all, to challenge King Jabin's oppression, but also to reinstate the worship of the Lord. And so she wants to put the Lord right back at the heart of Israelite society. And in the need of that hour was men of God, spiritual men and mighty men. Now go with me to verse 14 of Judges chapter 5. And I want you to notice a little commentary here. Here is Deborah and she is singing the praises of the Lord and she is commending the men of Israel who have joined her in the battle against Jabin. And you get to verse 14, and she says, Out of Ephraim was there a rout of them against Amalek, after thee Benjamin came among my people. Out of Machair came down governors, and notice this last line, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer. Now, do you see what the Bible says of this tribe? And out of Zebulun, they that handle the pen of the writer. That's a very unusual phrase. What in the world does it mean, they handle the pen of the writer? Well, it's describing their part in the battle. They're described as sending into the battle those that handle the sofer shebet, the rod of the scribe. And the rod of the scribe was a stylus of wood or metal that was used to inscribe ancient tablets or papyri. And so these men were actually using these pens as daggers. They had a sharp point on them, and they were using them as daggers against the enemy. Remember, you know, in ancient times when an enemy oppressed you, they often removed weaponry from you. And so they're having to use implements at hand, and at hand for them were these pens that they were using. You know, you've heard the saying that the pen is mightier than the sword? Well, in this case, the pen was the sword, okay? But far more interesting to me than that And really of greater importance than that is the fact, not that they just use these pens as daggers, but I want you to understand and to appreciate that Zebulun is given this name, and the reason they have these pens in their hand has to do with their relationship to their neighboring tribe, Issachar. Now Issachar is the brother of Zebulun, okay? In fact, it's kind of interesting. Issachar is actually the elder brother of Zebulun, okay? So when you think about Leah, she has six children. She starts with Reuben, then Simeon, then Levi, then Judah, then she has Issachar, and finally she has Zebulun. But between Issachar and Zebulun and the other four brothers, there's a bit of a time gap. So those two, Zebulun and Issachar, grew up as very close because they were of a similar age and there was a distance in time between them and their four elder brothers. So they're rather like Simeon and Levi in that respect. They're partners, they're brothers, they're soulmates. Everywhere they went, they went together and everything they did, they did together. Now the tribe of Issachar was traditionally known as having many scholars. You know there are places that are known for scholarship. In fact, the island of Ireland, I hate to tell you this, it is the land of saints and scholars. That's why you've got the pastor you got, okay? A saint and a scholar, what can I say? But nevertheless, that's what Ireland is sometimes called, the land of saints and scholars, all right? And that is because Ireland has produced over time some great Christian men and actually some very scholarly students of the Word of God. So the land of saints and scholars in ancient Israel wasn't Ireland, obviously, but it was Issachar. Issachar is the tribe of saints and scholars. And it's said that more scholars came from Issachar than any other tribe. Now here's the interesting thing. Those scholars from the tribe of Issachar were practically and financially supported by the people of Zebulun. As they devoted themselves to study and to the teaching of the law, the people of Zebulun, the men of Zebulun, took care of the needs of their brethren in Issachar, hoping that they would become so skilled in the Scriptures that they would actually be able to benefit from their learning. And so all they asked for in reward for the financial upkeep of Issachar's education was that the men of Issachar would convey to them the things that they had learned from the Scriptures and build them up spiritually. And so, you know, here's the thing. You know, we need some Zebuluns. You say, well, what do you mean? I'm being honest with you. We need men and women who are willing to help those who are training for ministry. You see, here's what I'm telling you. Our country is in terrible, terrible trouble. The churches are in an appalling state. Some of you folks say, Pastor, you write too much, you write too much. But I go places where there are no pastors. Actually, I'm going to say something to you, and I'm going to even apologize for saying this. You don't appreciate how good this church is. And I'm not saying that in a boastful or bragging way, but if you go to some of the churches that I go to and see some of the pitiful scenes, little congregations that have no pastor week in and week out, who are struggling along, who would love to come to a church like this, who would give their eye teeth to come to a church like this. But they can't. And so, you know, we need to raise up a whole generation of preachers, of those who can go and fill those pulpits, and minister to those men and women, and strengthen the saints of God, and preach the gospel, and win people to Christ. This is really an important ministry. And that's one of the reasons why we have, here at Milton, established our Bible College. Now our church is already benefiting from the Bible College. You know, these last two Sundays when I was away, you had Matt and JJ preaching. Both men did an excellent job, both of them. were very capable and able. In fact, I listened online and I can tell you that the sermon I heard was better than most I've heard from full-time pastors that I've heard on my travels along the way. I was impressed by the ability of these guys to handle the Word of God and our church is benefiting from that. Not only is our church benefiting from that but our society is benefiting from that because we have already one man Kevin placed in Spalding who's doing a great job and pulling together people there and ministering to that congregation at Calvary Baptist Church. We have Jim now launching out into a military service and he's going to be in the in the camps up and down, the barracks up and down our country, preaching the gospel, teaching young Christians, encouraging them along. You know, it's not he's been away for six months, but that's actually three years and six months. He's been away for the first half of the tribulation, and he's been gone. preparing. You know, he prepared three years and six months more down there. The Lord, I guess, guessed he needed the tribulation. And so he's been preparing to teach these soldiers and airmen and people to reach into these military communities with the gospel. You know what? He came out of this church, and you should be blessed. that our church educated him and educated Kevin. And you know, Matt and JJ, who knows what the Lord has for them. I know Matt is looking at a particular area of ministry and we're going to talk to you about that in a little while. But you know, what I'm saying to you is this, we need to raise up Isaac Connors. And we can develop our Bible college, we can cause it to grow. In fact, this September, We're anticipating having now about six students in the Bible College, so that's very encouraging. But we want to have more than six students, because we really want to benefit the nation. Our nation is in desperate trouble before God. And so we can build our Bible College, we can provide well-trained Isaacars, we can see these young men and young women who are schooled in the Scriptures, who are able to teach, sent out to all the nations, sent out into our nation, But what we need—and here's our primary need—zebulance. We need zebulance. You see, we need people who will offer them support and help. Now, here's what we need in the short term. We need those who'll simply provide a bed for a student. Now, some of the students, we've now reworked our Bible college so that some students can travel in and only have to spend one night in Stoke and then go back to their families or go back to their churches. And so we need you to think about this and pray about this. You know, some of us have a spare bedroom and it's sitting there and all it does is gather dust. Why not open it up and take in a nicer car? You're not going to be out of pocket. They'll pay for their provision. We're not asking you to fund them in that way. But they're willing to come. But maybe you could open your bedroom and say, you know what? If there's a guy coming just staying one night, I have a bedroom. He can stay in our house. We'll put him up. Because the big need and the pressing need of our Bible college, if it's going to progress, is to move along to where we can become a residential college. So I want you to start praying about the possibility of God giving us some provision in terms of accommodation. We don't need teaching provision. There's plenty of teaching provision here at the church campus. But we do need residential provision. And we're praying and seeking the Lord's will about what he wants us to do in that respect. But here's my vision for this. I want to see a day coming when this church is actually flooding our nation with young English preachers. You know, I don't want guys coming from Northern Ireland to do it, or folks from America coming to do it, much as I love people from America, and people from Northern Ireland. But you know what? It's English people need to do it. And the only way to get Englishmen in the pulpit is to train Englishmen for the pulpit. And that's what we want to do. And you are at the heart of this. You are part of this. You can be a Zebulun to an Issachar. You can hold the pen of the writer. You can be the one who helps the scribe. And you say, well, what's the benefit to me? Here's the benefit to you. Because at some point down the line, I hate to break this to you, I'm going to die. Okay, and I know you'd like to prop me up when I was dead and hope that I keep preaching, but that's not going to happen. So here's the thing. I'm going to die, or I'm going to retire, or I'm going to take terribly ill, or something, and I may not be here. Now, here's the thing. Who's going to step into this pulpit? I'll tell you what the problem is. A lot of churches, they don't see this far ahead. They don't see this far. You know what? Back home in Northern Ireland, a number of years ago, we started a little Bible school. Nothing like our Bible college. Our Bible college is far more involved than that. But we started a little Bible school just for the training of young preachers. And we tried to get the churches involved. We invited them to send teachers and support it. You know what? They didn't see the need. They said, we're not interested. You know what? Here they are now, 20 some years later, and their pulpits are emptying of the older pastors. Their older pastors are retiring. And these churches are crying out for pastors. And now there are no pastors of a younger age in the land who hold to the same doctrinal position as those churches, and they are in trouble. Now, here's the thing. Our church will benefit, because here's the thing. If we're raising these young men up, the day comes and you've got to replace me. I'm hoping there's an army of young men that'll be queuing at the door and saying, I'd like to be the pastor at Milton. and you will have somebody to step into my shoes. Or we'll see other pastors having somebody step into their shoes. Now, I appreciate you may not be able to teach theology to them, you may not be able to do all the things that we do in that Babel College with them, but here's the one thing you can do. You could be a Zebulon. You could say, well, I'm happy to give a bed for a night to a young person, to a single man or a single woman. You know, I'm happy to open it up and maybe, you know, here's when I have David and Ricardo. We love David and Ricardo, OK? We have a great time. But you know what? There's only so many Bible school students we can take in our house, OK? And we may have a third, but I think we're getting to breaking point, OK? It's starting to affect our marriage. Hazel and I don't get a lot of time to ourselves. We sit in the living room. We have two Bible school students there. And as much as we appreciate them, sometimes we like to kick them out. But nevertheless, we're glad to do what we do. But here's the thing. We can't take in six Bible college students. There's too many for one family. And so I want you to think about being a Zabulon. I want you to think about what you can do, how you can help. If you can open a room, you know, like I say, you'll not be out of pocket. I promise you that. It's just a case of giving somebody an evening meal and a breakfast. They'll be gone the next day. And you won't see them for a whole week. And then they'll come back, give them an evening meal and a breakfast, and they'll be off again. And you won't even see them during the day. They'll be coming in in the morning, a Thursday morning. We'll be teaching them all Thursday afternoon. We'll be teaching them all Thursday night. They'll not be back till 10 o'clock Thursday night. They'll come home. They'll go to bed completely shattered. They'll get up and be out 7 o'clock, half 7 the next morning to be in class for 8 o'clock. They'll be in class all day Friday, and then they'll go home. How good is that? But you can play your part. You see, you can help a student. You can be the brother or the sister of a scholar. You can be a friend to some young man, some young woman who wants to train for full-time Christian service. And I'll tell you what, your investment in their lives will pay off because you will be the one who's spiritually benefited in the long term because of your investment of time and care and patience. Actually, you'll find that you will befriend this person. and you'll find that they will ever be in your debt. They will always remember their years of Bible college, and they will think about the person they stayed with, and they will bless God for you. But you need to think about being a Zebulon and saying, I will hold the pen of the writer. And the only thing I would ask for in return is that somewhere down the line, I am spiritually benefited by their studies. Sebulon came to the aid of those involved in preparation. Now look in verse 18 of chapter 5 of Judges. Sebulon came to the aid of those involved in confrontation. Here again is Deborah, she's singing a song of praise to the Lord for victory over King Jabban, and she mentions Sebulon for the second time. And notice she says, Zebulun in verse 18, and Naphtali, were a people that jeopardized their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. You see what they did? They jeopardized their lives. They hazarded their lives. They put themselves in danger that they might help Deborah secure victory against King Jabin of the Canaanites. Did you know that Zebulun is one of the vanguard tribes of Israel. You say, well, what do you mean by that? I mean simply this, that when Israel went into battle, they went in on a certain order. They always followed the same order. The tribes took a particular position. There were three tribes at the front, and then three tribes after that, and three tribes, and three tribes. And the first three tribes, the three tribes at the front, were the tribes of Judah, Zebulun, and Issachar. Sebulon was a vanguard tribe. They were ever on the front line. You know, they fought. Notice, it says here they fought in the high places of the field. What does that mean? What does it mean they fought in the high? Well, think about it. Here they're living in an apostate town. Here they're living in a period that's given itself to idolatry. What took place in the high places of Israel during times of idolatry? It's where they erected the idols. And if you're an idol worshiper and you're in battle and the success of your battle depends upon your God, what are you going to do? You're going to send some of your crack troops to defend the high places and protect your God. Aren't you glad that we've got a God who protects us and not a God that we need to protect? But the men of Zebulun attacked the high places. They took on the correct troops of Canaan. And they fought against the idolatry in the land. And God blessed them because of it. You know, we need that. We need some frontline Christians. You know, it's interesting what the Bible says of Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter 15. It says they were men who hazarded themselves for the gospel. They endangered themselves for the gospel. That's the testimony of the church at Jerusalem concerning those two. They had put their lives on the line for the gospel. You know, listen to what Paul's own testimony was in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. He says this, he says, You know what? I would dare say if we went out evangelizing and we got whipped once, When we announce next week we're going evangelizing, you say, I'm not so sure. Paul took it five times. Beaten within an inch of his life. He says, thrice I was beaten with rods, with sticks, once I was stoned. You know what happened when they were stoned? They threw you off a cliff and dropped rocks on you to finish you off. In other words, if he was stoned, he was in a pretty bad state by the time they were finished. He was close to death, if not dead. It's possible he may even have been resurrected. But nevertheless, he says he was stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I've been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen. in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils amongst false brethren. You see, he spent his entire ministry in peril. You say, well, why did he do that? I'll tell you why he did it. He did it because he believed in the resurrection of Christ. Because in the resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he says this concerning the truth of the resurrection. He says, if that's not true, if the resurrection isn't true, why are we baptizing people? And why are we imitating resurrection and the process of baptism? And he says this, why stand we in jeopardy every hour? He says, why am I jeopardizing my life if there's not going to be a resurrection? If this is it, if all there is to life is here and now, why in the world am I taking beatings and stonings and whippings? I should just stay at home. He says, I believe in the resurrection. I believe in eternal life. I believe that souls that are lost will die in their sin and go to hell. And I believe that souls that are saved will die in righteousness and go to heaven. You know, the problem with most of us is we're far too cozy. We have a comfortable Christianity that knows little or nothing of frontline evangelism. We shrink sometimes the very sniff of danger. We're not prepared to put our heads above the parapet in case we take a strike. We're afraid of what our neighbors might say about us, or we're afraid of what our colleagues might say about us, or we're afraid that our family is going to abandon us. You know what? That's very far from early church Christianity. Early church Christians didn't worry about their neighbors, their colleagues, their family. They preached the gospel. They were frontline believers. They were vanguard Christians. And this country is crying out for vanguard Christians, for Christian soldiers. You know, we've lost that in our time. We've lost this idea that the Christian is a soldier. on a battlefield which is hostile toward him and his message. You know, you get around a lot of the modern worship songs and it's all about how much God loves me and he's my lover and how special I am and how good it is to sit and bask in his grace and so on. You know, let me see some modern songs that talk about soldiering. Where's the stand up, stand up for Jesus type songs? Where's the onward Christian soldiers type song? You don't find those songs today. You know why? Because the church has lost sight of its battle plan. And we need some soldiers. We need some fighters. We need some people on the front line for Jesus. You see, here was the testimony of the tribe of Zebulun. Anytime there was a storm, they were there. Deborah twice praises them. Look in Judges chapter six. In Judges chapter six, in verse 33, here we are with Gideon and Gideon's army. In what we read in Judges chapter 6 in verse 33, and he blew a trumpet, and Abiezer was gathered after him, and he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered after him, and he sent messengers unto Asher, and look, lo and behold, unto Zebulun, and unto Naphtali. And what did they do? They came up to meet him." In other words, they said, there's a fight? Count me in. I like people like that, don't you? There's a fight? You can see them just spitting on their fists. Pulling out their pens. Just show me where the fight is. I'm in the fight. Sabulonites. I love these guys. Love them. You know, later in this book, Judges chapter 12, if you look there, we encounter a minor judge by the name of Elon. He's not a very well-known figure. In fact, there's only a couple of verses that refer to him. Verses 11 and 12 of Judges chapter 12. But notice what it says, and after him, Elon, A Sebulonite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. And Elon, the Sebulonite, died and was buried in Ejolon in the country of Zebulon. You know, could it be that this judge of Israel, this deliverer of Israel, this one who God raised up to save the nation, could it be that he is He's one of those men who benefited from the teachings of the tribe of Issachar, to where he was convicted about the truth, to where he understood the truth, to where he determined, I'm going to be a fecal for the truth, I'm going to be a mouthpiece for God, I'm going to be God's deliverer in this hour. Could it be that he was one who benefited from handling the pen of the writer? Who knows? But what we do know is this, that every time there's a battle there, Zebulun came to the aid of the conflict. Zebulun aided those who were faced with confrontation. And now go with me to 1 Chronicles chapter 12. 1 Chronicles chapter 12, we read of the gathering of David's mighty men. And what I want you to see here is that Sabulon came to the aid of David in his persecution. He came to the aid of those who were in preparation. They came to the aid of those who were in confrontation. They came to the aid of those who were in persecution. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, We read of the gathering of David's mighty men, and here's an army that went out to join David in a sick lag whenever he was on the run from King Saul, when he was being pursued by Saul to death, and he was trying to escape that murderous pursuit. And the record tells us that all those who came to David—notice in verse 1, All of them were mighty men, helpers of the war. It says, Now these are they that came to David, to Siklag, where he yet kept himself close, because of Saul the son of Kish. And they were among the mighty men, helpers of war. And notice verse 33, because counted among those helpers of war, no surprise, there's the vanguard tribe of Sebulon. Such as went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war. 50,000 which could keep rank, they were not of a double heart." You know, I love that. What a testimony. Three things the Scripture says about this warring tribe. Number one, they were expert in war. You know how you get to be expert at something? You practice it. It wasn't a new thing for them going to battle. You can see they've been at battle since the time of the judges. So the time David comes along, this is a warring tribe. They, you know, forgive me Scottish people, but they're like the Scots. They're a warring tribe. The Irish are a warring tribe. Whenever the Irish were fighting in the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon said, these men don't know when they're beaten. And they didn't. They were the only ones who broke the French ranks. They fought to the death. And the people of Zebulon are rather like our Celtic nations. They don't know when they're beaten, okay? And they're experts at war. And so they had so much frontline experience by this time, after generations of battle, that David was glad to receive them into his army. Notice this, they were those who would keep rank. They could keep rank. They never abandoned their post. They never forsook the battle. They never shirked from the heat of the front line. But perhaps the next comment is perhaps the most telling of all concerning this honorable tribe. Notice what it says. They were not of double heart. And I love that. What does that mean? You know, the secret to their stability as a tribe and their success as warriors was their singleness of heart. They were determined. They were focused. They were committed. You know what Hosea said of the men of Israel in his time? He said, their heart is divided. Now shall they be found faulty. But is that not a problem we all suffer from? A divided heart. You know, we just can't decide. David the king prayed, teach me thy way, O Lord, and I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart. Give me a single heart to fear thy name. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Psalm 86. You know, there's a part of me, and there's a part of you, and we want to be more involved. and we want to be more engaged, and we want to be more hands-on. There's part of you that even when I was preaching a moment or two, you were saying, I would like to be a Zebulon. I would like to open the door and have a Bible college student come into my home. But there's another part of you that says, but at the same time, that's going to disturb my lifestyle. And I'm not so sure that that's the best thing for our home, or for my life, or for our family. You see, we're all like that. I'm like that. There's a part of me that wants to serve the Lord, but there's another part of me that is resistant to serving the Lord. That's the flesh in me. The flesh tells me, protect yourself. Take care of your needs, your wants, your desires. Don't be worried about the glory of the Lord. Let other people deal with that. You're just having a good life. Carry on. Enjoy yourself. There's a part of me that wants to yield to Christ, but there's another part of me that wants to yield to the flesh. And because I know there's a price to be paid for yielding to Christ, I'm very happy sometimes to just let the flesh have the victory. That could not be said of the Zebulonites who joined with David at Siklag. Their commitment was wholesale. They were not of double heart. They were committed. They were sold out. They were all in. They were completely there. You see, we've got to do away with this half-hearted Christianity that has stalked our nation. You know, Christians are half-hearted. They're half in the world and half in the church. You know what happens when you're half in the world and half in the church? You get an infection. It's called worldliness. Worldliness creeps into the church. And we don't want worldliness in the church. We want the church in the world winning men and women to Christ. Not the world and the church. Polluting the house of God. You see, we've got to do away with this half-hearted Christianity where I'm a half in and half out and I'm half up and I'm half down and I'm half baked. That's what Hosea said. He said the people of his day were like a cake that was half turned that was not turned. It's only cooked on one side. He says you're hot on one side, you're cold on the other. Half beat, that's where you get that phrase from. We need people who are all out. People who are holding rank. People who are staying the course. People who are single-minded. People who are happy to be part of the fellowship of the unashamed. People who are willing to stand with Christ. People who are willing to take the brunt of the world's accusations that you're a bigot and you're a phobic about this. You're homophobic, you're Islamophobic, you're transphobic, you're whatever-phobic. You know what? Some people are just truth-a-phobic. They fear the truth. And the truth is in the Word of God. And we need Christians who are committed to the Word of God, who are unashamed, who are unafraid. You know what the Apostle Paul said? And this was the testimony of his whole life. He says, this one thing I do. See, the problem with us, if we were to write something down along those lines, we would not be able to write, this one thing I do. We would write, these many things I tinker at. But we need to be one thing Christians, single vision Christians, one hearted Christians, completely committed Christians, all in, not half in and half out, half up and half down, half baked, half turned, half cold. No, we need to be all in. Get in there. You know what? I'm excited about what God would do if we would get fired up about this. I'm excited about what the Lord will do. I'm excited about what the Lord is doing. Thank God for Sebulonites. I love this tribe. You know, I think they're one of my favorites. You know, Sebulon shall dwell at the haven of the sea. He shall be for an haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Zidon. It doesn't seem at first glance to be much of a blessing. It doesn't seem that Jacob is really taking any careful stock of Sebulon's future, until you see how it works out for the descendants of Leah's son. You know what? Our day is crying out for Zebulunites. We need Christians who will answer the battle cry with the same resolve and the same determination and the same single-hearted commitment as this son of Jacob. I wonder, will you put your neck on the line for Jesus? I mean, really put it on the line. You're gonna go into work tomorrow and the Spirit's gonna prompt you to witness assembly and the devil's gonna say, don't do it. You do that, you'll get fired. You know what the Sabulonite would say? I'm going for it. Here's the pen. I'm getting into the battle. You know, you're going to meet your neighbor and he's going to say something to you and you're going to be tempted to speak to him about the Lord and then the devil's going to say, don't do it. You'll spoil your relationship with your neighbor. Sabulonite? No, I'm doing it. I've got the dagger. I'm stabbing the guy, okay? Not literally, I stress. I don't want you to literally stab your neighbor and blame it on me. That would be bad. But you're going to take the Word of God to him. The pastor says, hey, you know what? We could build a real Bible college, but we're at the early stages here. We need some help with accommodation. The devil says, don't do it. Don't do it. You'll end up with somebody like David and Ricardo. But the Zebulunite says, man, I'm doing it. I got my dagger out. I got my pen out. I'm going to handle the pain of the rider. I'm going to encourage these young people. I'm going to be a blessing to them. I'm going to support them. I'm going to pray for them. I'm going to make them nice lunches. I'm going to make them lovely breakfast. They're going to love living in my house for one night or for one week or however long you can take them in. And we're going to see an army of young Christian men rise up with the Bible in their hand and challenge this godless society in the name of Jesus. But we need Sebulonites. May God make Milton Baptist Church an army of Sebulonites that we may become a dwelling of honor. May God bless these thoughts to your heart. Let's pray.