wife and quick laid-back
ions
walk walking
walking
Your feet bangs
your Wikipedia
walk stay
don't come
outside
go outside
I get
white
Good morning, good morning, good morning.
Let me tell you how blessed it is to be sermon-lord.
I know Aaron and Caitlin are on their way here yet.
God willing they will make it safely.
They arrived late yesterday.
So we have had a crazy week between people being at the hospital, getting checked out
by the doctor, making appointments with other doctors.
And it's a really active week of service.
We're serving in the panning, serving at the light station, serving at the data entry dinner,
which was yesterday.
We had arts and crafts, a youth Bible study on Thursday night.
On Tuesday night we had a great lesson that R.J. bought about forgiving for debts, the
same forgiving for debt and what the Bible actually says about forgiving and or forgetting
and what you should do those things.
Really good lesson that was.
It was just a really active week.
But now it's a new week.
It's Sunday.
We're starting off the week with worshiping God.
And so whatever went on last week, as good as it may be, we can count that as victory
if you want.
But today is a new day and we are serving the Lord with, I hope, worship for the next
hour or so.
And will there be preaching?
Yes, yes there will.
That's right around my t-shirt.
I have to make that arts and crafts night a Friday night.
And it's the first time I've ever painted a night.
And that's my own estimation.
And I think Josh's as well.
That does look like a night.
So we agree that it does look like a night.
All right.
So praise God.
There is a membership meeting today after.
I do not know if there's anything specific on the agenda, but we will meet.
So if you need something on the agenda in the neighborhood of membership or in the neighborhood
of the Monterey Spencer, like you think the church should buy X or a neighborhood of the
minister, like you think the church should do X, you need to let us know what that is
before the meeting begins.
Once the meeting has begun, we start with a closed agenda so we don't do a bunch of
new motions throughout and then sometimes that causes meetings to drag on and that kind
of thing.
But you're welcome to put your motion on the agenda to pull it together.
You can give that to Amalia, who is our Treasurer and also our moderator, or to me.
And we'll make that happen.
So that is today.
Also upcoming, just in case you had forgotten or hadn't noticed, there are the two novice
role playing events.
They are this coming Friday.
So if you have never played a role playing game or want to try it and try it out, you
do have to be 12 years old or older.
Okay.
So that's our age limit on those two events.
And it's gotta be for folks who either 30 hours, sorry, 40 hours or less experience or
never played in a Christian environment before.
We do it distinctly Christian, no foul language, no discussing imagery, nothing like that.
We don't do any of that.
So that's Friday and we do have some people RSVP for the first one on that Friday.
So that's really what it feels to you to get your RSVP in soon.
And then the following Monday will be really, not the week following Monday, but nine days
later.
Okay.
Ten days later.
Okay.
So that's upcoming and you've got other stuff in your bulletin to be aware of and we're
in a quiet moment here, but depending on the weather or the daily importance and situation
going on in the room.
We're not in your Destination.
We're on 이
Don't don't think about romance
Just think about the Lord put your thoughts on God
and let the Lord speak to you as we try together to reach the light of Jesus. Let us pray together and we'll worship a little more.
Father in heaven we are grateful. It has been
well
It's kind of a funny phrase to say but the truth is it has been a wonderful life even in the midst of difficulty
even facing
diagnoses that we don't like
even dealing with vehicle struggles that we don't like
or
Trying to overcome relational difficulties
dealing with family members that we don't connect with well for whatever reason
Trying to overcome fatigue today for example if we had a really long day yesterday or
if we're off schedule for whatever reason trying to overcome health issues if we've been sick and we want to be
fully on path to worship you. So Lord we're just asking you now. Will you take care of all that?
Just help us set it all down and focus during this time on your holiness
on your mercy
Your love for us
You are incredible and to anyone else who's somebody who doesn't know you they might even consider you a contradiction
It doesn't make any sense how a just and holy God can forgive a
wicked
or repentant people
We have been wicked. We have done wrong willfully and we are repentant to turn to you today
So we are grateful that that forgiveness is available for Jesus your son and we're asking you to work in us now as we reach new heights
You Jesus we praise you together
We lift our voices our hearts our minds in your direction do as you will and this your people and we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Did you hear the mountains tremble? Did you hear the oceans roar? When the people rose to sing of Jesus Christ the risen one?
Did you hear the people tremble? Did you hear the sea roar? When the rocks began to sing of Jesus Christ the baby one?
And we can see the sky too lowly, a mighty river through the nations, the young head of the town of Jesus
We have been wicked. We have done wrong willfully and we are repentant to turn to you today
So we are grateful that that forgiveness is available for Jesus your son and we are asking you to work in us now as we reach new heights
You Jesus we praise you together We lift our voices our hearts our minds in your direction do as you will and this your people and we pray in Jesus name
Did you hear the darkness tremble? When all the saints joined in one song? And all the streams flow as one river to wash away our brokenness
And we can see the sky too lowly, a mighty river through the nations, the young head of the town of Jesus
We have been wicked. We have done wrong willfully and we are asking you to work in us now as we reach new heights
Did you hear the darkness tremble? When all the saints joined in one song? And all the streams flow as one river to wash away our brokenness
Soak down in your heart Soak down in your soul The waters of the land are quite darkened
Did you hear the darkness tremble? Did you hear the oceans roar? When the people lost to be now Jesus Christ the living one
Did you hear the waves? Did you hear the waves?
Oh, what I would do to have a kind of faith that takes to come out and explode
Come on!
I need to call out my name in the lap of fear Reminding me of all the times I tried before I failed I'm going to keep on telling me time and time again
I'm going to keep on telling me time and time again I'm going to keep on telling me time and time again
The voice of truth says do not be afraid And the voice of truth that takes before my knowing Out of all the voices calling out to me I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
Oh, what I would do to have a kind of strength that takes to stand before time
Just a singing school, surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors Shaking in their armor, missionaries have a strength to stand
I need to call out my name as you pass through me Reminding me of all the times I tried before I failed I'm going to keep on telling me time and time again I'm going to keep on telling me time and time again
Never win, never win
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says do not be afraid
And the voice of truth says this is for my own sake
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I was children too, and I didn't have to leave the boy's side
But the storm was just the right size with the giant all around
The waves they won't see so far, and the waves are just looking at us
I was so afraid when we were old, when I stopped and
I looked into the town and saw the dreams that we had all along
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says do not be afraid
And the voice of truth says this is for my own sake
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I was children too, and I didn't have to leave the boy's side
But the voice of truth says this is for my own sake
We come to that part in our service where we have an opportunity to share with one another
how the Lord has inspired us this last week, and sometimes it's just by something you've experienced, sometimes it's something you said
I encourage you to find your inspiration in scripture because then you know that it came from the Lord for sure
But even if you encourage to find something along the way, it's not difficult to verify that, make sure that it's scriptural, that it makes sense with what God is teaching us
And so if you had an experience like that during the week, you had the opportunity to come and share it with others
Realize that a lot of times when you're getting something from God, it's not meant for you alone
God's a big God, and yes he has a big message, and he has a big message for your life
But as disciples of the Lord, a disciple is a person who hears from the Lord and then shares what they have heard
And so while God may have affected your life, and you say I changed this, I did that, this was exciting to me, whatever
If you don't deliver that message to a lot of other people, then you miss out
Just yesterday, Ariana, so Ariana has been watching quite a bit of Right Now Media this week
And the reason she's watching quite a bit of Right Now Media this week is because she's working on her multiplication facts
And when working on her multiplication facts, when she falls behind on the schedule that she and I set, then she is only allowed to watch Right Now Media
Not any other TV, Right Now Media is purely Christian, Christian messages, Godly shows, kids shows, things like that that are all Christian
If you don't know this, you can get a free membership to Right Now Media through New Heights and many people
In fact, we have, I think we have like 300 or 397 or something like that folks across the state of Toledo who have gotten free Right Now Media membership through our church
And so if you haven't done that, I recommend you do that
Anyway, so she's watching this really cool show that she found on there called, help me, Ryan, what is it?
Defrades, I always mess up the word, Ryan Defrades, Secret Agent
And every one of the shows, Ryan's on an adventure, something happens, he's a secret agent
And then after just a little while, they pull his mom in and she's a secret agent too
And so it's really Ryan and his mom, but the show is still named after him
And then he doesn't really like his mom going along with him on missions, you know, but at first, yeah, but then he realizes that she's pretty useful
And so I think she saves his life once or twice, that kind of thing
So then after that, actually is like based on the story, she sees the one that actually teaches Ryan the lessons
Yeah, so she's teaching him along the way
But the point is, so she's watching that show and I was working on something at the table and lit some data entry stuff
And I was listening to the show in the background
It was like one show after another and the message was really cool, like the story was cool
It tied in the biblical message, it went into the verses from the Bible, the story from the Bible, it was really cool
And I said to Ariana, I said, you know what, this is a really cool show, you know
And we didn't even know it was there until she started poking around right now, right now, finding something else to watch, it's a really cool show
And then I told Ariana, I said, I think we should probably tell other people about this show, which is what I'm doing right now
But that being said, that is when the Lord jumped in my heart and said to me, yeah, if you know something really cool, if you know something right
If you know anything that's true, right, if you have experienced any consolation of the Lord, if you know love, right
Then you ought to say, you know, I think we should tell other people about this experience
And so not only is that what Christians are called to, talk about the King, talk about God, talk about Jesus, talk about Lordship, right
Talk about avoiding hell, talk about going to heaven, talk about abundant life, all those kinds
Not only are we supposed to do that, but then on top of that, you can bring it here to the inspirational moment
Where we're all going to be able to be inspired by the same things that you've experienced
And then we can learn better to listen to the Lord, which we'll talk about that a little more later, okay
So what do you got? Have you read something this week? Do you have it?
How's the Lord encouraging you?
How many days?
I'm just going to encourage everybody, I mean, the idea of inspiration is that you have to be inspired
So if you do have something, I'd love to hear it, because that's what inspires me when I hear something from somebody else
Or a show or something, I just like the voice of truth, that song that just played
Inspired me to just share quick testimony, because I'm just getting God and the glory
But I did what would be almost, I think, impossible to share Jesus in a meeting in front of a bunch of people at work
That may not want to hear about God, because we only had a quick comment, and I prayed for the team
And I just heard that voice saying, you can't do this, you're too weak, you're not smart enough
They're going to be upset with you instead
There was a couple people that said thank you, and maybe they never heard the gospel the first time
So I'm just thanking God that I could do that, that was the first thing I wanted to share
The second thing is, if anybody's here in the Bible Scholar, I'm going to throw a joke 38
Anybody know what joke 38 is? Anyone?
Alright, joke 38 is where God comes in the world when he talks to Job
It's the end of the chapter, it's one of the most amazing chapters I've ever read, joke 38
God does the unthinkable, he doesn't talk about angels, he doesn't talk about glory
He doesn't talk about his kingdom, he doesn't talk about anything but what he's created
He talks about the intelligent design that God has created
He says things like, do you know where the waves halt and when they begin?
Do you know how a mother bird goes out and gets food and brings it back to his young?
Surely you must know, Job, how she knows how much to bring back
You have to know these things, right?
Do you know why there's goats that can climb up on mountains, they're called the hyrax
They were called goats, we call them goats today
He goes through creatures and he goes through the waters and the oceans
He talks about dinosaurs and possibly dragons
He's like, surely Job, you were there when it happened, right?
You've got to tell me what's going on
I'm telling you, read it for yourself, it's so good
I was just thinking of two things from that
One comes from John chapter 3
Jesus said, how am I supposed to explain heavenly things to you
if you can't understand earthly things
And then finally, I was also thinking about the Tower of Babel
Because like you were talking about, the Bible just starts opening up all over
Everywhere, I could go way more in this, but going fast
But the Tower of Babel, we think that God has literally stopped in this Tower of Babel
because they're going to reach heaven, they might die
Is it that reason or is it because they're wasting their time?
Because God considers what is weak strong
He considers what we think is advancements and so much importantness
is not to God at all
It's watching God do miracles every day through everyday life
Because what he does is he confuses all their languages
And so they go out and they begin to live
And you just see how God is using every one of these people now
because they're not so caught up in, well, we can do this and we can finish this
And the reason I'm saying that is last night we were in the data entry
And this is what God really put in my heart
And it was funny, I'll tell you exactly what it meant to me
It was like Joe 38, we were listening to someone's brain tone
It was Mario, it was the old Mario song
And I was like, man, I wish I could hear the whole song
And not just the quick part of the Mario because I love that song
And so Brother Josh played the Mario song
And I said, isn't it amazing that God gave that person, that intellectual design
to make that song? I'm not like that
I would never think of three notes that could make a beautiful song
Or what everybody does in everyday
Even people that write art or do comic books
Because I don't enjoy comic books
Or people that put stories together
I mean, every time I think about God's creation
Or just animals that do amazing things
Or even the stars in the sky or the heavens
And I will finish with this because I was going to share it didn't come Tuesday
But I was challenged to read Genesis chapter
Or 50 chapters of Genesis
And I was like, oh my gosh, I'm not doing that
But I did, it was awesome
Thank God that I was there to do that
But I was so stuck in Genesis chapter 1
Because Genesis chapter 1 explains why God is God and we're not
Because let's just say I was God for a minute, just like Bruce Almighty
I would create the heavens and the earth
I wouldn't think about how to actually do it in order
If you notice, if you read it for yourself, every day matters
God says make light or take away darkness and make light
Because in light there's creation
You can't have creation without light because it's too dark
Things won't exist
I would be like, well I'm going to make animals
And they'll die and the cold will suffer
But every day specifically God does in the absolute correct order to do what he does
And so I just want to encourage all of us just to think about it
Because I can't go all day
But just the things that we do every day
The amazing things that we do every day
I mean, God has created us to do things that not everybody can do
So I just, for you yourself, God has also for me specifically done something for you
That you do for God's glory
It's just so awesome to think about how God does that through everybody every day
Amen
You are unique, you are equal because you are unique
Alright, who else?
Haley
I had one at one of my residents at work
His name is Harvey
He asked me to bring this so we could be frank, right?
And we were just talking and I told him I'm here for him
And he just kind of broke down and told me that a few years ago
He was a wrestling coach for this really well known wrestling team
And he was on his way to fight the game
And he got hit by a drunk driver
And then he went to rehab
He was on his way to his first rehab appointment
And somebody blew a stop sign and he got hit again by a drunk driver
And then he recovered and he did rehab
He still struggles to walk and struggles with a lot of day to day stuff
He was also just diagnosed with cancer last week
So just keep up with your mom's prayers
He's a really sweet heart
He's a progressive Christian
He goes to church every Sunday
So I told him that we would keep him in our house in prayers
And that we would love to pray for him
What's his name again?
Harvey
Harvey, okay
Alright, do we have another one?
Do you want to share your McDonald's story before you go to the bathroom?
Yeah, sure
Alright, go ahead
I was, so, two stores this week
Until day or above
But I was, I'm on my way to work deciding if I wanted to get breakfast
I decided to get breakfast
I was just getting a hash brown
I just had enough time to get breakfast and make it to work on time
No in between
Well, I pay and then as I'm paying I'm hit
Like, I need to pay for the person behind me
So I paid for her food
It was more expensive than my hash brown
And so I go up to the next window
And I'm waiting
And they tell me that they just ran out
And they have to drop fresh ones
So it's going to be a few minutes
And I'm like, great
So I pull over and I'm like watching the clock
I have to get work on time
And she, the lady who I paid for also was waiting
So she pulled up next to me and she knocked on my window
And she was just broke down crying
She asked me if she could give me a hug
And so we got out and we were talking
She had spent all day yesterday
And throughout the night driving
And as you can kind of see her granddaughter was hit
In a, with five drunk drivers two nights before
She was younger
I think she said she was only 20
And they were snow-cold
And were pulling her legs for that day
So she was there for her son
Buying breakfast for her and her son
So she hit me in the hospital
And she said that she was just very touched
That she just, you know, she was just
She was there for my breakfast that day
She thought she was there to buy breakfast
And to have an encounter with God in this church
That's good stuff
Alright, we've got time for one more
One more
We're going twice
Alright, let's pray together
And then we have a pause in offering
And then farmer two and then off the children will go off to their classrooms
And we'll go to the Word of the Lord
And I'm excited about that
And so, Brother Tim
Would you be able to send this prayer?
Sure
Our Lord, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
Thank you so much for all that you've done for us
God, it's so sweet
You've blessed us so much
In spite of what our country has become
You've still blessed us
And we are people that give you the third word
And take them to Herod the Heights
And guide us to where we need to go
Keep us growing
Teach us to give our time, our calendar, our money
Whatever we need to do to get to you
For the Kingdom
And for those who are starting with sin and sin
We have continued to reach them
And that's our hope
In other words, that sin will take our other life
And we'll continue to grow
Personally, with the very word of the name
I'm starting with sin and sin
And with the very word of the name
As the plates go round out, I'll share a praise from last night
I was intending to go to the data entry thing, but I couldn't make it
Later that night, about 7 o'clock, Becky called me crying
She blew out a tire on the highway and scared the life out of her
She was able to pull off, get off on Wills Road
And I went over there and changed her tire for her
She made a home save
She was already scheduled, had an appointment to go to Costco to get a few tires today
So, good thing, but I'm just glad she's safe
Amen
I could stop and count the steps in
Like diamonds in my hand
But those trophies could not equal to the grace
My wish I've done
In the night of the road
I'll make my choice
And find my glory in the power of the Lord
In every victory
When peace and harmony
Must hold such strength
Must hold such hope
His choice alone
In Christ the Lord where I glory
His grace I every be
And only His hand of mercy
Could reach beyond my weakness to my knees
Now I can sing no greater armor
Than just to know Him more
And to count my days well often
To the glory of God
In Christ the Lord
I'll make my choice
And find my glory in the power of the Lord
In every victory
When peace and harmony
Must hold such strength
Must hold such hope
In Christ the Lord
I'll make my choice
And find my glory in the power of the Lord
In every victory
When peace and harmony
Must hold such strength
Must hold such hope
In Christ the Lord
Must hold such strength
Must hold such hope
In Christ the Lord
There's a place
Where mercy reigns
And never lies
There's a place
Where streams of grace
Flow with life
Where all the love
I've ever found
Feels like a flood
It's flowing down
At the cross, at the cross
I surrender my life
I'm in awe of you
Where your love and prayer
And my sin washed white
I'm all to you
Jesus
There's a place
Where sin and shame
Are part of us
My heart
Where my heart
Has peace with God
And forgives
Where all the love
I've ever found
Feels like a flood
It's flowing down
At the cross, at the cross
I surrender my life
I'm in awe of you
Where your love and prayer
And my sin washed white
I'm all to you
Jesus
Where all the hope is found
On holy ground
Here I bow down
At the cross, at the cross
I surrender my life
I'm in awe of you
Where your love and prayer
And my sin washed white
I'm all to you
At the cross, at the cross
I surrender my life
I'm in awe of you
Where your love and prayer
And my sin washed white
I'm all to you
Jesus
If faith can move a mountain
Let the mountains move
We come with expectation
Waiting here for you
We're waiting here for you
You're the Lord of all creation
And still in all my heart
You're the author of salvation
Your love is from the stars
We're waiting here for you
With our hands lifted high
We're waiting here for you
For you
You've given everything you promised
Your faithfulness is true
And the blessed blood of your presence
All we need is you
We're waiting here for you
With our hands lifted high
You're the Lord
And if you need us all
We'll be here for you
I'm all to you
In spirit with you all
We will sing our praises
Sing hallelujah
We're waiting here for you
With our hands lifted high
You're the Lord
And if you need us all
We'll be here for you
We're waiting here for you
With our hands lifted high
You're the Lord
And if you need us all
We'll be here for you
I'm all to you
Sherry and I found a new action TV show
that we've been watching, streaming
I wouldn't say binging, but streaming
I can't think of what the name of it is exactly
It's about a rescue team
It's an Australian show, produced in Australia
And on that show there was a particular episode
and there was a young lady
and she was running
She had run from some guys who were trying to abduct her
and then she explained that the reason they were trying to abduct her
was because she had written a software for a company
It was a game and she had completed it
and she turned it over to her boss
and her boss took the game and was going to release it
and make a ton of money and not give her any of the rights to it
and so they were trying to get her
because she had gotten a copy of the game on a hard drive
and they were trying to get that back
so they could make sure that she wouldn't release it as freeware
and that was the whole kind of plot of the show
One of the men who was on the rescue team
was sitting talking with her and she was getting ready to run again
and he said, if you run now, you'll be running forever
they will always chase you
and I thought about that and how that theme has reoccurred a number of times
in various police shows and watching NCIS
and all these different shows
and it's, if you run from the law, you'll always be running
if you run from those who hate you, you'll always be running
The truth is that I think we kind of inherently know in ourselves
that if we're always running from our problems
if that's your go-to method of handling whatever the difficulty is that you're facing
is to run away
to not confront the problem, not try to talk it out, work it out, ask the right questions, get to the bottom of it
if you're not trying to do that
you'll wind up running pretty much from everything for your whole life
and the end result of that is not necessarily what people think it is
for example, people think, well, I'll eventually stop running
but the truth is, once you establish a habit of running away from your problems
you pretty much never stop running
you may face certain things that really are important to you
you'll wrestle with those things because you realize that you just can't go away
but I know people who have run away from their problems for their whole life
then been diagnosed with cancer and then just ignored the fact that they had cancer
diagnosed with stage one cancer or two cancer for whatever
they totally ignored it for several years until it was stage four cancer and it was untreatable
and they ran their whole lives and then they get to stage four cancer
and they're like, well, I guess I'm going to have to treat it now because I'm going to die
and they're like, well, I guess it's too late now
because you just ran for three years from it and pretended it wasn't happening
I've known people who had a calling by God
God said, I want you to come, be the church, follow the Lord, do this for me, whatever
they had a calling by God and they ran away from it
we sang the song, the voice of truth
the armies of Israel were called out to face the Philistines
and one particular Philistine from Gath in particular
Gathite, I guess you'd call him
a great big guy was coming out and he was challenging the whole Israelite army
if any one of them would stand up against him and none of them would
and as the song says, shaking in their armors they refused
and then young David who was a kid, not even an adult
agreed to go out and stand up against him
and he said, it's not my fight, it's God's fight and I'll do it
and you think after David defeated Goliath that that entire army went home
regretting the fact that none of them had the courage to stand up and let God fight that fight?
I submit to you, once you start running, you get good at running
that's what you get good at and the end is always the same
and it isn't that you eventually stop running and turn and face the difficulties
because people will go on and they get good at running and they just keep on running
what happens is you get run down, that's what happens
you wear out your shoes, you wear out your creativity, you get old
you think I'll never have to deal with this problem
and then the problem comes upon you and you're just run down
you don't have anything left
one who runs away always instead of purposefully gets run down
if you run purposefully like I'm running training for a marathon
then eventually you might be able to run a marathon if you did that training every day
or if you run for office and you really dedicate yourself to running for office
and you find people to vote for you and you get promotions
and you get yourself aired on social media
you might eventually run office, that's running purposefully with a goal
and then you either meet the goal or you don't
and then maybe you move on to another goal
and in the process of running purposefully like that
instead of getting run down you actually get built up
but running away from everything is exhausting
so I want you to bear that in mind as we look at a scripture today
and it's a relatively short passage of scripture
and the truth is it's a relatively short message I think
but it's poignant, it speaks to us, it speaks to me in particular
and I hope it will speak to you in a unique way
so maybe give me a little hoot holler or take just a deep breath
and kind of moan if that's all you can manage
as we go to 1 Chronicles chapter 11, here we go
Thank you, this is God's word, there's a moan out there, I heard it today
I miss the guy who used to yell Yahtzee every time we did that
I think somebody in here used to yell Uno
but anyway it doesn't matter, 1 Chronicles chapter 11
and we're going to read then from verse 21 and following
verse 21 says, of the three in the second rank
so these are people who are, they're not the top rank
they're not the heroes if you will that everyone looks up to
but they're pretty heroic, it says of the three in the second rank
he was the most honored and became their commander
however he did not attain to the first three, didn't rise up to be the first rank
Vinaya the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel
mighty in deeds struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab
so there's two soldiers and he went and fought them both
and they were big and mighty soldiers and he defeated them both
he also went down and killed a lion inside a pit on a snowy day
and he killed an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits tall
so cubit is generally speaking the measure from your elbow to the tip of your finger
and in most men it runs roughly 18 inches
so your height, you might be a little more or a little less
by the way if you measure that you'll never be without a ruler
at least not completely
this guy was five cubits tall that makes him seven and a half feet
alright and Vinaya defeated him
now in the Egyptians hand was a spear like a weaver's beam
so we're talking about a spear, a big very mighty spear
probably seven and a half foot long
and a weaver's beam would be about two and a half inches in diameter
so if you can picture you're talking about a spear that's about that big around
okay not talking about a beam, it's not as big as a two by four
we're talking about a big heavy spear
a spear like that will hold the weight of about a thousand
or about two thousand pounds, it'll hold a ton
you can stress it, it'll bend a little bit but it won't snap
it's a big stick okay
and it happened to be a big pointy stick
and Vinaya went out against him and defeated him
it says now in the Egyptians hand was a spear like a weaver's beam
but he went down to him with a club
those of you who are experienced in any way in melee combat
or know anything from the gaming background or whatever
realize that a club versus a spear has a problem right
what's the problem with a spear versus a club, Bron?
range on the spear
yeah, reach, right
so now he wasn't going to throw his spear
that's not that kind of a spear really
but so the spear always strikes first is the bottom line
so he went against him with a club
and snatched the spear from the Egyptians hand
and killed him with his own spear
these things Vinaya the son of Jehoiada did
and had a name as well as the three mighty men
so he didn't necessarily join the first rank
he was from the second rank
but he did incredibly and he had a name that was known
amongst all the people like the three mighty men
and we'll go one verse further
behold he was honored among the thirty of the second rank
but he did not attain to the three in the first rank
David appointed him over his guard
so he was promoted to be over the guard of King David
okay, so that's our verses for the day
there's a couple things I want you to see in here
the first is I want to talk just briefly about how it came to be
that Vinaya fought the lion in the pit on the snowy day
that's kind of a strange battle
first of all if you got a lion in the pit
you really don't have to fight him
nobody really has to fight him, right?
you can stand up at the top and throw spears at it until it's dead
so nobody really has to go down in the pit and fight the lion
that's not necessary
so why does one fight the lion then, right?
so first of all, you realize that Vinaya had prepared for just such a moment
he had prepared and certain activities in his life had prepared him for that moment
he had trained, he had trained with mighty men
he had fought, he fought the Egyptian, he fought the two brothers
or two warriors who were together, very powerful
he had fought a lot and shown up with a name
shown up with a capability, if you will
he'd spent probably every single day training
almost without exception
sometimes I wonder to myself, and we don't really know this side of heaven
but I wonder if it was the spear of the Egyptian that Vinaya took down in the pit to kill the snowy lion
might have been
the bottom line is he trained and practiced every day to be ready for that moment
also he had surrounded himself with heroic people
people who were also engaging in incredible activities similar to that which he wanted to be able to do
so he was training with other powerful warriors
he was engaging in the activities that powerful warriors engage in
and so we can get from that example
if we were going to ever arrive at a moment in our time where we're going to fight a lion in a pit on a snowy day
then we need to have the right people around us
we need to be engaged in the right activities
and we need to be training for that moment in time
now you're thinking to yourself, well I really don't want to fight a lion in a snowy pit anyway
notice also that there was a decisiveness or a seize the opportunity about Vinaya
he said, hey, here's a lion caught in a pit on a snowy day
hmm, wonder what I could do with that
wonder how I could use that
there is considerable risk here
but he responded with courage and I would say even faith
he had seized the opportunity in the past, fought the Egyptian, fought the brothers, done other things of heroic nature
he realized that when he had seized the opportunity in the past
it had benefited him
he'd come out good
he was getting promotions, he was getting recognized, he was standing out of the crowd
there were lots of mighty men
of the 30, he was on the rise to become one of the most known
he had not yet been called as the leader of David's guard
but he would love to do that
the king, that God would say that he would be the king
and that he and his descendants would reign on the throne of Israel forever
who wouldn't want to be the king, the leader of the royal guard of the God's king
who wouldn't want to do that
that would be awesome
and that yet had not happened
but in the past he had seized in major moments of triumph
he had past victories
and he realized that his past victories and his past seizing of the moment
his past courage and faith meant something in that moment
now a lion is a noble beast
a recognized warrior
and so the fact that it is a lion is something significant
the truth is, as I said, you and I would probably never fight a lion
most of us will never even be in the same room as a lion
you might see one in the circus or something
unless you get a career, a trainer, something, probably not
go to the zoo, right?
there's no lion, no physical actual real lion going to come to your house
be in your yard or in this room
it's not likely to happen
Baniah trusted God with the possibility of perceived failure
he could have failed
he could have went into the pit that day
and that lion could have killed him
and the truth is, it was a somewhat theoretically unnecessary fight, wasn't it?
the lion's down in the pit, you can kill him from up above
you don't have to go down and fight the lion
so this is Baniah decisively, courageously seizing on an opportunity
that he believes God has given him to do something
and he trusted God with the possibility of his perceived failure
Christians are to do the same thing
the Bible says, Paul writes to Timothy
that God is able to bring to completion that thing which he's begun in you
and so each day, each time you face a trial or a difficulty
it's the same kind of thing
is God going to make me succeed?
well what if he doesn't?
what if it doesn't work out?
what if you don't get the promotion?
what if you don't get the health boost?
what if you don't solve the relationship difficulty or come to the bottom of the problem?
is that the end?
it's the young and the unwise that think that every problem that is in any way, shape or unsolved is the end of life
it's just not
the end of life is the only thing that's the end of life
I remember when there was a girl who came over to my house and I was in high school
and I thought she was kind of cute
and my girlfriend that I was dating at the time
had been very aloof, very standoffish or whatever
and I thought, well this other girl clearly likes me
and the girl that I'm dating
not really into me all that much at the moment
and so I called her on the phone and I broke up with her
so that I could pursue the possibility of being with this other girl
as soon as the other girl found out that I broke up with the first girl
she left and I'm like, ah, crud
why did I do that? that was really dumb
I gave up the first relationship for the risk of the second
but the truth was, the first one wasn't any good anyway
and that's how we're living all the time
we're thinking like, oh, I lost, I failed
now I'll never get by, I'll never be okay again
and that's just not true, you have to be ready to risk failure
if you never do anything that can end in failure
you're just not really alive
and there's a lot of people that are doing that
every opportunity that they could possibly fail
they run away from it and they avoid any risk of failure
they avoid risking their money, their time, their other people's opinions of them, etc.
notice that it came to that moment in time at which Vinaya had to decide
either go down in the pit or not
and at go time, Vinaya chose to go
there were a lot of men around
and many of them could have offered to go down and fight the lion
or they could have just stood up at the top
and nobody wanted to go down and fight him
eventually they would have just stood up at the top probably
and killed him from a distance
but at that moment in time, Vinaya was ready to go
when God wants to do something amazing in your life
and you've got an opportunity
you're going to need to be ready to go
that's a problem because life is filled with a lot of distractions
there are a lot of good things
a lot of good things
and you can fill your day every single day
now the same good things that we're talking about
a lot of people use to run from opportunities
so you'll play 40-50 hours of video games in a week
or you spend your time in the kitchen or painting or in the park or whatever
you do all of these things and miss the opportunity that God gives you
at the moment God says, will you do this?
you're like, but I already have plans to do this
and you can be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ
and still find yourself in that place
you can be saying, okay God
whatever you tell me to do, I'm ready to do it
and then God says, here's an opportunity
God doesn't say go and share with this person specifically or whatever
but you already know you're commanded to do that
so here's an opportunity, God makes it obvious
and you don't take it because you've already got plans
there are so many distractions
there are so many other things that Vinaya could have done on that day
then there are inconveniences
like he could have waited for a thaw
in the snow, in the cold of the snow
holding a spear is more challenging
and a lion is perfectly equipped to fight in the snow
they're not going to have any problem
in fact lions struggle with overheating
did you know that?
one of the primary things that keeps a lion from being a long-term fighter and runner
is they struggle with overheating
they get tired, their exertion requires so much energy and so much overheating
that on a cold day, a lion is actually probably more dangerous when it comes to fatigue
and so he went down on the cold snowy day
inconveniences were nothing to him
perceived hazards, the lion itself, lions are dangerous
did you know that a well-trained warrior with a spear probably will die to a lion nine times out of ten?
they're fast and they're wary and they're intelligent
and you probe the lion, you push forward with a spear
and then all of a sudden he lunges
they come so fast and get past that spear one time
and even if you manage to spear them
unless it's specifically a boar spear that has a cross piece
the lion will slide down the spear
and its claws will rip you open completely before you can blink
even as you run it through with a spear
you've got to hit it in the head or the heart
the neck, the body's not going to do it
the paws, no, none of that's going to stop the lion from coming
and people have died many times
one-on-one versus a lion
since the beginning of history
there's no reason
no logic
no thought process
that takes him down in there
except for he sees an opportunity
and he realizes that distractions won't stop him
inconveniences are not going to stop him
perceived hazards are not going to stop him
and he says by faith I will walk
not by sight, I see this
I will do what it is that God has prepared me to do
here is my opportunity
if you do anything other than following God
you wind up taking your cues from something else
CUE, taking your cues from something else
and at best you wind up in the cue
which means you wind up in line
because the whole world is taking their cues from what they see
what they feel, what they think, what they've been through
what somebody asked them to do
what somebody said to them, what they saw on TV
what they read in a book, what they read in a magazine, etc.
and you can become one of the most learned and intelligent individuals
and take your cues from the knowledge that you have gathered
and all that's going to happen is you're going to wind up standing in line
behind people that are stronger, smarter, faster, more capable
already thought of it
back in the day I was working at Radio Shack
1990, circa 1990
and we sold resistors and transformers
and diodes and every kind of little electronic part
you could build electronics from scratch back in the day
now if you want to get that stuff at Radio Shack
it's available in extremely limited supply
you pretty much order it online, pick it up at the store
or have it shipped to you
you can probably buy most of it on Amazon or eBay
but back then we were the only place in town
we commanded the market for diodes and resistors
and I had a guy come in and he said
I'm trying to build a converter
he said in fact the world knows now
that the next rich person, the next millionaire
is going to build a converter
that you can plug into the cigarette lighter in your car
and then plug an AC outlet
like you would plug in your house, a cord
into that cigarette lighter
it does not exist
in fact science says that you cannot convert
DC electricity to AC electricity
now, has anyone ever seen one of those things?
most people have them now, right?
because you can, by certain science, convert
now the way they do it is you have to
create a device that alternates the current
it switches the positive and the negative back and forth
then takes the 12 volt and steps it up to a higher level
and that's what they built, right?
this guy comes in and he says
everybody's saying if you can just build that
you'll be the next millionaire
and a millionaire was a big thing back in that day
now I'd say probably a billionaire
and he said, so I'm trying to build one
and I know other guys who are trying to build one
and I thought, well that's the first I ever heard of it
so later that day I had another guy come in
one guy after another
after another, after another
came in to buy the necessary diodes
resistors and whatever that they needed
to build this thing
this transformer from DC to AC power
and I'm thinking to myself the whole time
they're probably going to fail
they're probably not going to build it
science says you can't make it
then you probably can't make it, right?
that's what I'm thinking to myself
and they just kept coming in
and they're buying all the same parts
my boss is now buying these certain resistors
and he's buying cases of them to keep them in stock
because everybody and their brothers trying to buy the electronics
to build the DC to AC transformer
and that's several weeks
and then at the end, at the rush ended
and it came out in the
magazines and stuff, peer review
that somebody had already built the transformer
DC to AC and already applied for the patent
and we had a box of resistors of the right kind
unfortunately they're not very expensive
sitting in the back room at Radio Shack
and when I left there a year and a half later
that box of resistors was still sitting there
what I'm saying to you, it doesn't matter how smart you are
it doesn't matter how capable you are
if you get your cues from what you see in the world
or what you think is going on
if you don't have some kind of other worldly knowledge
some kind of spiritual awareness
then all you're going to do is wind up
waiting in line behind everybody else
and that is not what you're called to
you are called to walk
your life and deal with your problems
deal with the things that you're facing on a daily basis
you are
100% equal with every
other human being, not because you have the same
skin color, same financial background
same problems you've dealt with, same capabilities
skills, training, education, whatever
that's not why you're equal
you're equal because you're unique
right? One equals one
if it's a different one it's still one
if you compare apples to oranges, an apple is a
completely different thing from an orange
but if you have one apple, one orange, you have one
so well how many you got? One
I have one whole apple and I have one whole orange
an orange and an apple are not the same thing
but I've got one
and that's what you are, you're one
and people are less than one
when they start running away from their problems and start
taking their cues from the things of the world
instead of what God created them to be
well Baniah was not going to do that
it came to be go time and he was ready to go
he crossed the line of distractions
inconveniences, perceived hazards
he walked by faith, not by sight
and he said I'm going to do this
now I know a lion
not a thing that we're going to encounter
and so fighting a lion
seems like an unnecessary skill these days, doesn't it?
except, you know who else is characterized as a lion?
interesting
in your Bibles if you're following along
we're going to go to the book of Luke chapter 10
we talked about Luke a little bit on Tuesday
because somebody listed it as their favorite book
the week before and then we challenged ourselves
and so somebody listed it as their favorite book
and then we challenged somebody else to read the entire book
and then they gave us a little snippet
this past Tuesday that was an activity we did over the last two weeks
and it was kind of enjoyable
now in Luke chapter 10 Jesus is
God the flesh walking on the earth
and he's teaching the disciples about God
and there's a certain moment in time
in the earlier part of Luke chapter 10
where Jesus sent out 70 of his disciples
to combat evil spirits and demons
and they were seen healing people
and doing various things
and every time they would
cast out a demon or an evil spirit
their situation would be made better
and usually it was in health
then we get to verse, let's see
we'll start in 17
and so in 10, 17 it says
and the 70 returned with joy saying
Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name
verse 18 says
and he said to them
I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning
behold, I have given you authority to tread upon
serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy
and nothing shall injure you
and so while a lion is not mentioned here
you could see going down in a pit against a scorpion
or a serpent would be equally bad
maybe not quite equally bad but definitely very bad
and then it says all the power of the enemy is listed
and so then if you look at 1 Peter chapter 5
you can follow my logic here I think pretty easily
1 Peter chapter 5
and we're going to read in verses 8 and 9
so 1 Peter chapter 5 and verses 8 and 9
and it says
be of sober spirit
that means be in control of yourself
practice self control
beyond the alert
that means pay attention
understand what's going on around you
your adversary
that's the one who is against you
the devil
that's Satan
the one who God will ultimately cast into hell forever
prowls about
that means he's sneaking around the edges
like ready to ambush
like a roaring lion
that means he's scary
seeking someone to devour
so now we have an imagery where the power of the enemy
is being depicted exactly like a lion
so ultimately I submit to you
while the idea of fighting an actual lion
may not be valuable
we need to realize that it's entirely possible
that we may be fighting a lion on a daily basis
now notice that it does not say
run!
run! you're in trouble!
it says practice self control
submit yourself to what you know to be right in the Lord
practice self control
be sober minded, let's take this seriously
be alert and pay attention
because there is an enemy
and he is seeking to devour you
now he's not physically seeking to devour you
to my knowledge
I'm not sure if it's true or not
I guess it could be true in some way
but to my knowledge the devil does not eat people
he's not a cannibal
that wouldn't be a cannibal anyway
because technically he's kind of more like an angel
but he doesn't eat people as far as we know
but he certainly wants to bring your soul
down to the pits of hell with him
that is his goal
in fact he's not really even after you at all
he really wants to hurt God
now the truth is
with a little effort
you could avoid all conflicts with lions and pits on snowy days
it wouldn't take that much
all you got to do is go back and reverse the things that Baniah did
don't win any spiritual battles
in fact don't spend your time
with Christians
and don't fight in the spiritual realm
where the enemy is really proficient
if you can just avoid those things
then the truth is you'll never face Satan
or any of his tactics head on
he'll be prowling around the outside
and you'll be living your life avoiding any real trouble
in the spiritual realm
and you'll not have to face him
but what kind of person will you be
if you never win a spiritual battle
you'll be tempted
and you'll be giving in to temptation
you'll be living according to the way the world lives
taking your cues from what you know, what you think, what others have done
what they say, their example from your parents
and most young people grow up and don't want to be like their parents
while in Christian homes a lot of times young people grow up and go
I see my dad made certain mistakes
I don't want to be like his mistakes but I do want to be like his fate
but a lot of times that isn't the case
men who claim to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ
but don't practice to be ready to fight spiritual battles
their kids grow up and they want to be like them
and then they are unprepared for the spiritual battles that they face
so there is some variety there
the bottom line is if you don't want to face the enemy
one on one down in a pit on a snowy day
then don't win any spiritual battles
don't spend your time with Christians
or at least not in the active fellowship of called out believers that is the church
and don't train with the sword of the spirit which is the word of God
and by all means not jump into spiritual warfare or dabble in the spiritual
where the devil, the lion stalks his favorite prey
it's pretty easy to avoid that kind of trouble then
but if Baniah set any example for us
and if Jesus set any example for us
and the disciples set any example for us
then I don't think you really do want to avoid that trouble
what you really want to do is be ready for it when it comes
please consider that this lion has no desire to rip you apart
he actually wants to hurt God
and that desire means that if you do not once and for all overcome him
and Jesus has done that for us
then while you may escape the pit in this lifetime
you will spend eternity in the pit with the lion
and no weapons to protect yourself in the next one
that's the order of events as they unfold
when it says he is seeking to devour
it means he wants to bring you down with him
by the way that is how a lion fights
he grabs you with one paw, he grabs you with the other
and then if you've ever seen a cat fight
falls on the ground and rakes you with his hind legs
that's how a lion fights
now if you can just bite your head off in one fall swoop he'll do that
but most often they lead with their paw
just in case the enemy has some defenses
so they step up and that paw is mighty enough to literally pull your shoulder off
in a half strength swing
just go grab your shoulder blade and just rip it right off your body
while you're still standing there
that's the kind of power a lion has
and that's the kind of power this picture the enemy has
for those who will not stand against the enemy
take your stand
please consider that this lion has no desire to rip you apart
rather he really wants to hurt God
and his desire to hurt God means
that if you do not once and for all overcome him
and Jesus has already done that for us
and trusting in him will get that done
but if you do not do that in this lifetime
then you will eventually face him
or maybe you think you can run your whole life
you'll just keep running away from the fact that
God has already pronounced judgment on his chief enemy
which is Satan
and all of his enemies which are the demons and evil spirits
and all of his enemies who are humans
the Bible says that you were dead in your trespasses and sins
but it also says you were subject to wrath
we were subject to wrath
objects of wrath
which means we opposed God
when you don't believe in Jesus we don't trust
Jesus said I did not come to condemn the world
but rather you're condemned already by what you do with the son of God
why?
because there has to be a moment in time
when you wrestle with the truth
and if you will not wrestle with the truth
and come to grips with reality
and you will instead take your cues from everything you've learned
and everything you've seen in the world
then you'll always wind up standing in line
how many people are standing in line right now
and ultimately will plummet into hell for an eternity
and they're standing in line waiting for their ship to come in
they're standing in line waiting for things to go better
standing in line waiting for somebody to tell them what they need to know
standing in line waiting for somebody else to defeat their enemy
to give them that easy path to glory
a side job that can make a million dollars today
whatever they are
everybody's waiting for something
and then those people who are waiting
they get to panicking because it isn't working out
and then they wind up under the control of the enemy
and now you've got people who will vote a certain way
act a certain way
live a certain way
talk a certain way
whatever
because somebody else is telling them
that it's really urgent or important that they do that
don't take your cues from the world
take your cues from God
don't stand in line for destruction
rather stand in line for the opportunity that God has given you
whatever that is
and when it comes, be ready
be ready to fight in the spiritual realm
do spend your time with Christians
do prep yourself
do be more like Jesus each day
engaging in the activities that Jesus gave us to engage into
so that we will be more like Him
do get involved with training
do spend time with the church
do seize opportunities
and then as each opportunity is seized
and you see how God has glorified success or failure
use those things to launch yourself on new opportunities
and keep building on what you have learned
past victories mean something
they mean that God has been at work
when we got to that moment in time, Sheri and I did
where we were going to lose everything
both houses going into foreclosure
the one we couldn't sell in Ohio
the one we couldn't live in anymore in Michigan
both going into foreclosure
she called me on the phone right before that
and she said, I'm losing my job
we're going to lose everything
and in that moment I could have said anything
and almost anything I could have said
80% of what I might have said might have ruined my marriage
it might have been the end of our relationship
we might have never been together in the way that we were
in Christ ever again
but God lead me to say this
He said, all that matters is, we'll be together
now I wouldn't have said that normally
all that matters is, we'll be together
I might have said, we'll figure something out
listen, when you're faced with an opportunity
to stand down in a pit on a snowy day, don't you ever say
we'll figure something out
God doesn't want you to figure something out
God wants you to seize the opportunity
to act the way He created you in Christ
to do what it is that He's leading you to do
go on go
God says, 1, 2, 3, go
you go on go
God says, jump
you don't say how high, you just jump
God will determine how high
the difference is, you're walking by faith not by sight
so you give, you serve
you worship, you show up
you do the work of the Lord to
combat the enemy every day
I read a story
so long ago I couldn't remember
where I read it at and I couldn't
quote the person, this is not meant to be plagiarism
or anything like that, it was a story about a dog
a man got a dog
a fighting dog, and he thought, well I'm gonna
get this dog for my kids
well you know how well that goes, right, once a dog's been a fighting dog
it's hard to get a dog to ever be calm
with your kids after that, because frankly
kids are mean, and when a kid's mean to the dog
the dog's gonna respond like he would to another dog
who's mean to him, so he got a fighting dog
and he thought he was gonna, well he couldn't keep with his kids
and so they wound up when the kids were playing
in the house and stuff, a lot of times they wound up having to keep
the dog in a cage
so that their dog and the kids
wouldn't have a problem
and all the dog tried to do all the time
was a fighting dog, he was just always trying to get out of the cage
and on at the cage, where the fighting dog
is pretty big, and so fighting dog
got out of the cage
while they were gone
big dog got out of the cage
only to find out he was in a cage
now what do I mean by that?
still in the house
still in the house, right
so then he starts fighting to get out of the house
he's fight chewing up the door
busting it, finally, finally he managed
to bust a window out, or I think he pushed an air conditioner
out the window, pushed the air
conditioner out the window and got out of the house
only to find out he was still
in a cage, what do I mean by that?
he was in the yard, the yard was fenced in
he couldn't get out of the yard, so he spent all
day, all afternoon trying to
dig, and he dug under the neighbors
he dug, I found a soft spot, he dug
under the fence, into the neighbors
yard, only to find out
he was still in a cage, because
the neighbor had a fence too
you see, this is what we do, we go
from one problem to the next
and all we want to do is solve it the way the world
solves a problem, and all you do is wind up in another
cage, hear me now
your life can be one of two things
it can be moving forward
serving God, seizing the moment
to kill the beast, and take on
the opportunities and things that God has given you
to do, and the way that God would have you to do them
and how do you do that? You spend your time with Christians
you learn the way God would have you learn, you sharpen your
sword of the spirit, which is the word of God
it means you learn what the word says, and you're prepared to use it
and if you would really do this the way
it was meant to be, if Satan himself
which is unlikely to ever happen, but if Satan himself
came up to you, you would be ready
with the word of God to rebuke him just the way Jesus
did. Jesus did not rebuke
Satan as the son of God, God in the
flesh, he rebuked him as a man
who knew what God says
why? Because he was setting
an example for us to rebuke Satan
the same way. Satan if he ever
came in person, and every evil spirit you ever deal
with, and every problem you ever arrive at, you ought
to have a word for that moment in time
and you get that by perfecting your use
of the sword of the spirit which is the word of God
the point is
if you will think of it this way
there are two roads, two choices
that you can make. You can be ready
to go down to the pit on a snowy day
if that's what it takes to seize
the opportunity and do what it is that God has for you
you can do that, and you learn to do that
by those things that I'm talking about
or you can say, no, we just
kill it from a distance
take the easy road, not do
it God's way, not walk by faith
but take the easy road
running, and the easy road
running away from the problem
see a lion in a snowy pit, he's going up
somebody else will take care of it
I don't have to overcome inconvenience today
I don't have to overcome distractions today
somebody else will take care of it
I'm so sick and tired of Christians
saying somebody else will take care of it
what if you are the only person
in this room
now, I will tell you I believe in Jesus
I love Jesus, I'm following the Lord, I hope I'm going to heaven
I'm trying to live for the Lord every day
but I could be
somehow some kind of eloquent speaker
and the truth is, I could be going to hell
but even if I am, this is the
word of God, and you better figure out
what it means and apply it in your life
and be ready to go down in a pit on a snowy day
because if I'm not ready to go down in a pit on a snowy day
you still have to be ready
to go down in a pit on a snowy day if that's what the Lord
has you do. What if you're the
only person in the room who is for sure
walking into glory? You're just going to
let the rest of us go to hell?
Seriously?
If I'm not saved, I'm waiting
to be saved for sure
I want to be saved, I want to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ
and there are other people in this room, young people and
adults, people you know in your life, family members
people that you work with, people you go to
school with, that need to know about
the truth that Jesus Christ died on
the cross for sins and your sins can
be paid for and there is a once and
for all final victory in Jesus
and that as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, He
teaches us how to live so that we
are ready to go down in a pit on a snowy
day if that's what God calls us to
Now if you arrive at a pit on a snowy day
and there's a lion down there and God says don't go down there
that lion will kill you, then you'd be an idiot to jump
in the pit and fight the lion because you're going to die
even though God told you not to
God's not telling you to waste your life
He's telling you to live your life
The greatest tragedy would be that you arrive at the end of your
life, fall into the grips of Satan for eternity
not that he's going to rule over hell, he's going to be suffering
just the same as we are, but he gets
to take us with him into hell
never having lived
What a waste
Don't do it, instead
prepare yourself for those moments
and opportunities, it starts with accepting
Jesus Christ as Lord, that means He tells
you what to do when you do it
It starts with believing
in the salvation that He provided
having victory over the enemy who
would bring you down, whatever that is, your own sin, your own
temptation, the world's system, evil spirits, demons
Satan, whatever who is trying to bring you down today
having victory over that in Christ
that's where it starts at
the old you is now dead
He can go to hell
and He would have
but now He's been reborn, transformed
made new, and it's you, and you're walking
for Christ now, put the rest of it
behind you and say, okay, God sends me into a
pit on a snowy day versus a lion, I'm going
and realize that lion
is in your life
and so you're either in a cage
with Him, or
you're free
and if you're not free in Jesus Christ
then you're in a cage with that lion
right now
accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
and say, okay, God, I'm ready at go time
but the truth is
for the big thing that God has for you
down the road, a year from now, five years from now
ten years from now if you're still here
for that moment in time, your particular
down in a pit on a snowy day
with a lion, you're not ready
right now, as you sit here right now
you're not ready, now Jesus is
and so if you went in that situation, you could be
Jesus could come as the fourth man in the furnace
and He can say, okay, I gave you ten years to get
rid of this day, it's not happening
you didn't do it, ten years, you could have studied
every day, you could have served every day, you could have
gave every day, you didn't do it, but I'm here with you
now, we're going to get through it, it's going to be fine
and that's what He promises, that's the minimum
but what He desires for you
is that when you get to that moment in time of ten years
He's there with you, and you and
Him are rejoicing through the moment
see, this lion, He's a pussycat
He can't touch me
greater is He that is in you
than He that is in the world, means
that when you arrive at the moment where you truly
have to fight, the devil
if you would, or evil spirits or temptations
or whatever it is, when you have to fight in that moment
you run roughshod right over
top of it, we're acting
like we're subject to temptation
like anybody else, you're not, you've got
the Holy Spirit in you, conviction, God's Word
spiritual gifts, you're thirsty
for chocolate, sing praises
it literally has the same effect
science will tell you, it has eating
chocolate, singing praises to God
check the endorphins in your brain, literally
the same effect
but most of us don't want to sing at all
in worship with other Christians, on the
road, we were, Ariana and I got
in the van, we were going to the YMCA
to practice basketball
and the truth is
the last couple of weeks
I've had some pretty vicious
days
days where one thing after another came against me
and I was trying, I was just
taking them on with Jesus, I'm like, Jesus
we got this, we're going to do this, we've got this, we're not going to quit
and I'm keeping a harrowing
schedule as it is
we're driving to basketball, and I thought
I'm going to put on Turbulent
Skies by Lauren Daigle, because when I did my Sabbath
two songs, Turbulent Skies and These
Are The Days, it means, Turbulent Skies
means you're going to go through some rough stuff, but it's going to be okay because
he's going to be with you, that's what the message to that song is
and the other song was, These Are The Days
means even if you're going through rough stuff, these are the days
that God has promised, something amazing, something
incredible, God is doing something
so I'm going to put on Turbulent Skies by Lauren Daigle
push the button
on my phone
and Alexa says
Amazon Music is currently streaming on another
device, would you like to stream
Amazon Music on this device instead?
Well Sherry's driving back from Columbus
so clearly she's listening to Amazon
Music, and so I said no
I'm not going to take Sherry's Amazon Music away
not anytime under the sun would I ever do that
Amazon Music might be next to nothing, not even be a big
deal to you or to anybody else, and it might not have been a big
deal if I had taken it away from her, she could have listened to something
else, but no way, I'm taking anything away
from my wife at any time if I can help it
and so I said no, and Ariana said
what'd you say no for?
and I said well because mom must be listening
to Amazon Music right now and I'm not going to take that away from her
and she said, oh, that's
nice
the rest of the way to the YMCA we started picking out
praise songs
I Will Call Upon the Lord
Sanctuary
I only know like three
I've been a Christian for 30 years and I only know like three
almost, and I only know like three praise songs
so we started picking out praise songs and singing them
and you know, as I look back
at my week this week, even in victories and talking
to other Christians and cool things going on
that moment, that drive
it feels a little bit
like down in a pit
with a lion on a snowy day
and those praise songs
feel like a little bit like
that spear
that belonged to that Egyptian
when we got to
basketball and practice and
we got some dinner
it was good
are you good?
are you better than okay?
are you facing something?
maybe this is your pit
on a snowy day
and maybe you're not ready because
the last several years you were supposed to get ready
well don't worry, Jesus is not going to
abandon you, he's going to get you through it
but learn something from it when he gets you through it
and go, okay, I probably should
be
practicing my sword of the spirit
which is the word of God, I probably
should be active in my disciplines, I should
be hanging out with Christians instead of the other things
that I'm doing, I should be serving in the church
when I have a couple hours of my schedule in the middle
of the week, I should be praising God
or studying or praying or reaching out to
somebody in the church and saying how can I help, what can I do
who can I serve, I should be going out, I should be
Caitlyn paying for the people
food behind me at McDonald's assuming I have
enough money to do so, I should be doing that
and when she says
can I give you a hug, I should be saying yes
because she clearly needs a hug
you see?
you can't do this
you can't keep living like Christians
who go, we're just going to stab it in the pit
and when it's out of the pit
we're going to run
no
you need to live like a Christian who's preparing, who's fighting in the spiritual realms
making a difference for the people
around you and winning the day
it's go time
ready to go?
I'm going to ask the praise team to come forward
and read our, sorry, sing our
final song today and as we sing
this song I'm asking you, if you're here today
and you're not in your earnest, if that's the least price of your Lord
and Savior, then all you gotta do
right now, you should be doing it right now
do I need to do this?
am I supposed to turn my light?
and you'll hear God saying, that's you
you'll feel that little tug
you may not recognize your voice very well
because you might not have a lot of experience with it, but if you're here
and you're doing that, you just listen, you'll feel it
I need to earnestly give my life
over to the Lord right now
and if you've already done that
and you realize that you've not been prepared for this fight
you've been maybe running away from your problems
or you've been
trying to stab it down in the pit rather than
taking on where God says, walk by faith
not by sight, and taking these things on by faith
then you repent today
and you turn your life over to the Lord
you commit yourself to do the things that God
has given you to do, to be the kind of person that
God has made you to be
and anything else is less
anything else is less
so as we sing this song
you respond to the Lord's leading tune, you come forward
and you say, Pastor Dan, I gave my life
to the Lord today, or, Pastor Dan, I
recommitted my life to the Lord today, I'm gonna live the way God
comparing me to whatever it is
maybe you're here today
and you say I need to be baptized, or you need to join the church
or I need to be
a local church near me that I can be part of
a fellowship with real Christians, and people really want to serve the Lord
ordinary people
screw ups
serve in Jesus and made powerful
because, not because
power or anything, but because Jesus
is Jesus
that's the kind of church we are
reaching, we like Jesus, and no matter where we're at
we're gonna be one more step
so as we sing this song, you respond to the Lord's leading tune
you do that, and you let us know what's on your heart today
great, would you stand with me and sing
the song coming up on the screen