8 Takeaways From Joshua to Ruth

The message this morning, faith must fight. Faith must fight. Eight takeaways from Joshua to Ruth.

I don't wanna rush through just to get through because there's so much, so much truth here. Practical application is so important for us today. So I'm gonna throw out, I'm gonna dangle a carrot.

Part two is going to be this Wednesday. So if you appreciated this message, it helped you, you might wanna come to part two on Wednesday because I'm gonna get into judges, the life of Samson, and how that he can play a role, especially for men, some great lessons there. So part one today, I wasn't able to get through all of it at the first service.

So part two will be this coming Wednesday at 6 p.m. I think John's doing worship for us on Wednesday as well. So let me begin with this statement, faith must fight. Faith must fight.

I don't know if there's any ushers, but you guys can go check and probably push the air conditioning button in the back or I'm gonna be seeing this the whole service. Or it might not work. I don't know, I think we've got as low as it can go.

When it's hot outside, it's hard. I think Palm Springs just beat the record, 124. Wow, I would just wanna go just see what that feels like and then drive home.

Two hours from here. So faith must fight. Like the battle of Fallujah that fought the insurgents, we must fight against the rebels within and the demons without.

The devil wants to dampen, distract, and discourage you. Be clear, Christian, this is what his agenda is. The devil wants to dampen, distract, and discourage you because if he dampens the spirit within you, if he distracts you with all these other things and then you're discouraged, you're not gonna do much for the kingdom of God, correct? You know how it goes when you're discouraged.

If you're like me, you don't wanna come to church. I don't wanna run into anybody and bonds and witness and pray for anybody. I just wanna, Trader Joe's or wherever you go, I just wanna get through my day.

And you realize weeks go by, you've done nothing for God because you're discouraged. And often it's because you're caught in sin and you can pull yourself out of that with the aid of the Holy Spirit and repentance and get back on the right track. But it's a good reminder that our faith must fight.

Our faith must fight. And this was a wake-up call for me. I remember coming back to the Lord and man, you know that time you're on fire and the word of God is living and you're single.

You know, that helps too because you can just focus on God. And all these things start to come in your life and now you're being discouraged and challenged and your faith is under attack. And you realize, okay, this is gonna be, this is going to involve some warfare.

So when we get into Joshua here, after the children of Israel eventually entered the promised land, God did not drive out the enemies immediately. How many of you are reading the Bible? You recognize, boy, Joshua had to fight. It wasn't like, oh, there's a promised land.

Hey, we want a few quick battles. It's been three months and we're good. It was a 25-year process.

And they still didn't take all the land. Joshua overcame 31 kingdoms. From Jericho to Ai to the sin of Achan to all the different things that went on in the book of Joshua, it was amazing.

But God is practical and He knows that Israel needed to build her spiritual muscle. So building faith and waiting on the promises of God can seem like a daunting process, but God knows the danger of moving too quickly. Anybody get into trouble by moving too quickly? That happened to Joshua as well.

Often the prodigals have to eat with the pigs and the wayward have to hit rock bottom before coming home. It often takes time to dig the well that reaches the water of faith. And that's one thing about faith is it's nurtured, it's built, it's fine-tuned, it's a process.

You don't become a Christian and have this tremendous faith usually. That faith has to stand trial. And that faith is often challenged.

So again, Joshua, the book of Joshua, in case you weren't here last week, we went through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Talked about creation, sin, the fall, the plan of salvation, the children of Israel, Exodus out of Egypt and now they're waiting for the promised land. The whole generation died.

All the murmurs and complainers. And so Joshua now is getting ready to take the people into the promised land. It's an incredible book.

Try to read it this week. It won't take very long at all. And one key verse that really stands out is in chapter one.

The book of this law shall not depart from your mouth. What is the book of the law? The first five books that we talked about. So this book of the law that Genesis wrote, God says, do not let it depart from your mouth.

You shall meditate on it day and night and you shall observe everything according to all that is written. So see, God gave the book primarily Leviticus. And there's some things in Numbers, of course, and Deuteronomy with the blessings and cursings.

And the children of Israel were supposed to follow God's word and their way would be prosperous and they would have victories. So what does that tell me? If we don't follow His word, there's lots of defeat. And actually, if you keep reading in the Bible, you see Israel, every time Israel relied on God, was in right relationship with God, they won.

Guess the only times they lost? Just take a guess. God was not on their side. They were fighting against God or they were actually rebelling against God and they were taken over by idolatry and worshiping false gods.

So God said, I have commanded you, Joshua. What have I commanded you? To be strong, be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is what? Wherever you go.

Let's not forget about that. He's with you wherever you go. So in the battles, in the victories, in your daily life, at two in the morning, you can call on God.

He's a friend that will not leave in ever-present help in time of need, the psalmist says. Where does my help come from? It comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. But it's interesting here.

Be strong and of good courage. And that's a foundational verse for us as well. And when you think things are going tough, think of Joshua.

Right, they're getting ready to enter the promised land. He sends in 12 guys. 10 of them came back and said, we will never win.

10 spies said, we will never win. Those spies actually died in the desert and never saw the promise. Only two came back, Caleb and Joshua, of course.

And they said, there are giants in the land. And there were. There are giants and armies and fortified kingdoms.

And so God said, Joshua, do not be afraid or dismayed. Basically, the battle is not yours, it's mine. All you have to do is position yourself correctly and let God fight your battles.

That's why I love that song. This is how I fight my battles. This is how I fight my battles, worshiping and praying.

It's spiritual warfare. So be strong and of good courage. And let me just give you a little bit of help here.

I actually might talk about it in a minute, but being strong and courageous, it's actually, I thought about this a lot this week because of teaching. It's a mindset that needs to shift, doesn't it? It's like, I'm fearful, that's not right. I've got to shift this thinking.

Bringing every thought into captivity toward the obedience of Christ. So it's not necessarily about doing things which it can follow, but it's about something that takes place in my heart and my spirit. When I say, Lord, this is not right.

I can't fear. I can't live in fear. I need to be strong and courageous.

I'm gonna step out in faith. It's an attitude shift. And so a lot of it, though, is based on what are you feeding on? Because if you're in the Word and you're reading passages like God, I mean, He would knock out armies.

He would send in hornets. He would take Gideon's 300 and devour an entire huge army. And we can go down the list.

I mean, God doesn't play. He can have the earth open. And so when He's on your side, you take strength in that.

And you're encouraging yourself in the Lord. The problem is that many times we're fueling the very fear we're called to run from. And I shared this at the first service.

There was an app I had where I could go in and I could see all the bad things that were happening in the valley. It's not a good thing to have. That happened on 10th Street.

That happened on Gadsden. That happened on East Palmdale. And I'm constantly feeding my fear.

And so you wonder, why am I so fearful? Well, what are you feeding on? Yes, bad things happen all around. We're not supposed to actually focus on those things. I don't know if it's healthy to know what's going on in every state in the Union.

And we become unthankful. We become afraid. And He actually says, be strong and take courage.

I am with you. So number one, faith involves action. Now, of course, there is a silent faith, where especially faith, when you trust in God, you believe in Jesus.

By the way, that is the only saving mechanism for those who need to be saved. The faith in Christ alone, it is a change of heart. It's a change of action.

It's a repentance. Your faith, it doesn't require works. It doesn't require action on your part other than that brokenness and humility.

What I'm talking about now is the type of faith where God wants us to walk out and claim the promises of God. I'm gonna explain that a little bit in just a minute. But I came across a quote this week.

The day I pray for God to move the mountain is often the day I wake up next to a shovel. Right? Get this mountain out of my way. And isn't that so true? There's mountains in our lives.

Lord, I have this... Man, I could think of so many. Lord, please move this mountain. Anybody have relational strains? Often, it's gonna require some prayer and fasting and humility on your part too.

And it begins to move that mountain. Sometimes God will move a mountain. No problem at all.

But sometimes it requires obedience on our part as well and changes on our part. Hebrews 11.6, without faith, it's impossible to please God. For he who comes to God, he must believe that he is.

Basically, when you come to God, you must believe that he is who he says he is through his word and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So it's a process of diligently seeking him and pressing in. And that's why a lot of the old saints, I love to read, I'm reading a book now, I think it's 70 years ago, In the Day of Thy Power from Arthur Wallace.

And it's one of the best selling books in the 1950s. In the Day of Thy Power. Read it if you can, if you can find it.

Another one, Revival Now by Prayer and Fasting from Gordon Cove. And it's amazing how these people, they pressed in. They sought God.

And we complain if worship goes 35 minutes. Were they pressed in and they sought God all night prayer meetings? They would say things like, we stayed and we prayed until the answer came. We pressed in.

We prayed through was the interesting language. They prayed through. In other words, they just didn't pray about it.

They prayed through. They sought God. They fasted.

They pulled down heaven until that answer came. Or at least until they had peace about the answer and felt, okay, I've given this to God. My duty of a prayer warrior has been fulfilled.

It's that pressing in, that word seek, as I've told you many times before, is a diligent application of spiritual principles. So faith, of course, is in the mind as well as in our attitude and in our actions. Correct? So let's say I'm exercising faith.

It's going to reflect to my attitude. I usually don't have good faith when I'm a grumbler and complainer. How about you? Grumbling, complaining, negative Nelly, judgmental Jerry, critical Kathy, doubting Debbie, what's some other ones here? Hypocritical Harry, legalistic Larry.

But faith is a positive, thankful attitude and our actions follow. By faith, Abel actually offered the right sacrifice. By faith, Noah built an ark.

By faith, Abraham obeyed God. By faith, Moses' parents hid him. And if you go through Hebrews 11, it's amazing.

By faith, they shut the mouth of lions. By faith, they did this. By faith, they did great exploits.

By faith, you see, genuine faith often produces action. There's no way around it. Faith steps out, but it's God who fights the battle.

Thank God for that one. So when I step out in faith, it's not me fighting the battle. I'm the vessel.

You're the vessel of what God wants us to do. And of all places, you guys are really stepping out because we're in Los Angeles County, in California. It's right up there with New York.

Maybe you surpassed it in some areas. And I hear that a lot. So do you.

Why do you live in California? How can you live? I don't know. Why don't I just step out in faith and watch what God does? We see healings taking place, mentally, emotionally, physically. We see families restored, and prodigals coming home, and marriages.

And we see God moving in a powerful way. So I don't necessarily see what CNN sees. Because we step out in faith.

Yeah, it might get more challenging. It might get more difficult. But faith has action.

God parted the sea and the river. He sent hornets. He sent the sound of armies.

He brought illusions to enemies. He brought fear in the midst of the enemy's camp. He even brought division in the camps of the enemies to aid His people.

We don't know what resource God will use, but we step out in faith. Here's the interesting thing too, is when we step out, do you ever step out and there's no results? Or things get more challenging? Did you know that that's actually a greater step of faith? Do you think that's a deeper faith that's building? Because Lord, even in the midst of obstacles, I don't actually see, but I'm trusting You. Boy, your faith meter just doubled.

Because that's genuine faith. It's impossible to please God without faith. And faith, as we know, we've talked about before, is the evidence of things not yet seen.

It's the substance of things hoped for. How many people, and this definitely lines up with God's Word, you're praying for a prodigal. And it's been years.

I don't see anything. You have two choices, you give up or you press in. That's it.

Or you can stay neutral, I guess. But that faith, that's the faith. God said, look at that mom.

Look at that dad. They're dedicating Monday to praying and fasting while they can for their prodigal. That draws the heart of God.

Could it be that we're not seeing more answered prayers because we're not pressing in? We're not contending for our families? And then number two is so important as well. Faith is a process, it's a journey. Don't get sidetracked, don't get discouraged.

Often God will give us a glimpse of something, but then it's a journey. It's a long process. God didn't drive the enemies out immediately.

Isn't that interesting? He could have just drove the enemies out and they have the promised land. Hey, that only took us two weeks, not 25 years. But it's a process.

Actually, it's pretty interesting. I don't remember what passage it's in, probably Joshua, where God didn't drive the enemies out because the beast of the field would have become too numerous. So nobody's there, that means here comes the lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

The land's vacant, people will keep the animals out. Now here you've come all these lions. I don't know if you've ever seen one of those in person, but I'm glad we don't live with lions anymore and bears, some of those films up in Alaska with the, my goodness, the huge jaguar, a leper.

That's a big cat and it's gonna kill me. So the animals, the beast, God would actually judge people by allowing the beast of the field to go in and ravish the people. Terrible thing.

So that He waited, God's practical. Maybe that's for someone this morning. God is practical.

Don't over-spiritualize things. God is practical. Yes, there are supernatural things that takes place, but He's very practical if it lines up with wisdom, with the wisdom of His Word.

Walking in faith, it trains your spiritual muscles for spiritual battles. Did you know with a little infant, if we assist them too much, they won't learn to walk as quickly? If you pick them up, oh, let me help you get there, let me help you. They need to try to press up.

They need to try to stumble. Why? Their muscle is being developed. Their muscle is being developed.

So now they can walk as they get older. And they can begin to, what then? Run. It's a process.

It just didn't start out right away. And so that's what it does. It trains our spiritual muscle.

Streams in the desert said this, the Lord never builds a bridge of faith except under the feet of the faith-filled traveler. If He builds a bridge ahead, it would not be a bridge of faith. So it's this picture of, oh, okay, I don't see anything, but I'm trusting You.

I don't see, it's kind of like those automatic gates. You know, they're shut, but until you get up to them. And I think many times we just, God, I don't see You moving.

But remember, we look by sight. God doesn't. He doesn't use our sight.

He lives outside of that. Not by sight. Not by power.

Not by strength. But by Spirit, saith the Lord. So faith is a process.

It is a journey. And then the next point here. Faith prepares.

Faith prepares. I forgot to tell this service, but I'm doing this every time I see someone yawn. Is that a good idea? So I'll just stand here and preach.

All right, Joshua said to the people, sanctify yourselves. Sanctify yourselves. For tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.

What I mean by faith prepares is, in order for you to do what God's called you to do, or to step out in faith, whether it's witnessing, whether, I mean, there's tons of things. There's a preparation process that has to take place in our heart. Sanctify yourself.

In other words, get ready, get pure, before tomorrow the Lord is going to do great wonders among you. 10 spies saw the giants, but Joshua and Caleb saw God. They said, let's go up at once and possess the land.

We can take it. So I wanna ask the question though, how can we see the same thing, but respond so differently? How could, you had 10 spies and the two spies. How do they see things so differently? Well, it's simple.

Joshua and Caleb were prepared. They were prayed up, no doubt, and that built them up. Living in the word overcomes living in fear, and worship drives out worry, and a thankful heart brings peace and assurance.

Another one, okay. So here's the key. Instead of being like Joshua, who loved to linger in the presence of the Lord, the 10, no doubt, loved to sit around the campfire murmuring and complaining.

It's interesting, in Joshua, it says actually, and Joshua loved to linger in the tabernacle. I always love that verse when I come across it every year, trying to read through the Bible, is they would, it says they built a tabernacle outside the camp, and this is where the presence of God was. That's where he would meet them, the ark and the whole process there, the cherub and the 10 commandments were inside there, and the tabernacle, and it says Joshua loved to linger in the tabernacle.

Like, what about all the other people? There was a desire to serve and to seek God. What they were filled with eventually came out. What they were filled with eventually came out.

So here's what is gonna happen with faith in your life. When those times are needed where you need to exercise great faith, right? When you're hit with that situation, what's already inside of you is gonna spill out. So what spills out? Anger, resentment, bitterness, doubt, fear? Is that what's flowing out of us? Because that's what's inside of us.

And so in order to build faith, you have to identify the faith killers. You ready for this? Faith killers, this will kill your faith. Sin, besetting sin, unrepentant, besetting sin.

When you're living in sin, have you ever been there? You just keep falling, you keep falling, or you don't wanna repent, I love my bitterness, I love my jealousy, I'm so angry at these people, I'm never gonna forget, and you're just living in that junk. You have no, your faith has been quenched. You don't have the excitement of the Lord or the faith in your heart.

And then, of course, fear and worry. We already talked about that. Faith killers rushing ahead.

Anybody rush ahead? Emotional decisions? All of these things drain spiritual power. They cloud our vision and they zap our strength, these faith killers. So remember that, faith prepares now.

You want to finish strong, you have to prepare now. And then number four, faith is a battle. Faith is a battle.

How many of you are painfully aware of that? J.C. Ryle said, the child of God has two great marks about him. He may be known by his inward warfare as well as by his inward peace. He is a child in the Father's home and he is a soldier in the Savior's war.

That's why life as a believer is so challenging. I'm a child of God, but I'm also in a war against sin and Satan. Talk about a struggle.

Talk about a difficulty to overcome. There is no conquest though without warfare. If you want to conquer something, I'm sure many people came in even, I need to conquer this battle.

I need to conquer this area of my life. Anybody relate? Mm-hmm, I know there's a lot more of you. I'm gonna hit the drum.

Conquer this area of life. Understand, there is no conquest without warfare. Sometimes you have to retake the ground that was taken from you.

Sometimes you have to get up and fight again. There is no conquest without warfare. The internal warfare, the battle going on within, struggling against these things.

Scott Hubbard wrote, when I entered the Christian life, I had no idea I was walking into war. But soon, I landed in a country I didn't recognize amid a fight I wasn't ready for. I still enjoyed a measure of peace in Jesus, amen? But it felt now like peace under siege.

And it's interesting because we live in this, I don't even know what, I don't want to say dilemma, but we live in like a peace but friction. Hope but a struggle. Freedom, but sometimes I can struggle with bondage.

And that's why it's so important to realize faith is a battle. The same Gospel that brings peace with God brings war with sin. Think about these verses.

I had about seven or eight, but I shortened it up to these three. Fight the good fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith.

Put to death the deeds of the body. Put on the whole armor of God. Huh, sounds like we've got some responsibility here.

On Saturday, I'll let you in on this a little bit. Maybe I shouldn't, because now the guys won't want to come. But I'm talking about one of the most important aspects of your walk with the Lord.

And that is discipline. I've come to the conclusion that discipline is so important. Paul said, I discipline my body and I bring it under subjection so when I preach to others, I don't become disqualified.

Now, what does that mean? Well, qualified to preach means you're walking out what you're preaching. You know the old saying, what is the old saying? Yeah, well, the walk and the talk, you guys know. All right.

What is it? Yeah. Oh, practice what you preach, there we go. And so, we have to, and if he's not practicing what he's preaching, he's disqualified because who wants to listen to that? And so, all these verses, fighting the good fight, I mean, we can think of many others.

Crucify the flesh. Oh, sounds like I got some work to do. Make no provision for the flesh.

In other words, don't plan ahead to sin. And you can think of other ones as well that talk about discipline, flee sexual morality. That requires some discipline.

And so, we don't want to turn into legalistic Pharisees, it's all about rules, but the Bible's pretty clear that we have choices to make. And then as I make these choices, or you make these choices, I'm putting to death the deeds of the flesh. Lord, I don't want to feel this way, I don't want this, I'm gonna fast, I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna, whatever, accountability, whatever you need to do, God, and as a result, the byproduct of discipline is being filled with the Spirit.

And actually, a fruit of being filled with the Spirit is self-control. So, it's very interesting, because some people, I won't name names, but there's famous Bible teachers and different people who don't have a lot of practical application in their sermons because they say, it's the Holy Spirit's job to change me. Now, that's true on one hand, but He also requires obedience on my end.

Basically, it's like, God, if you do this, I will do this. I mean, Galatians and Romans, do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, right, do not walk according to the flesh, but walk according, so do I have a choice in that? Those are, you can get real technical and it's a present participle or present tense verb, basically means, even in the Greek language, it's an active word that says, walk in the Spirit, you're walking in the Spirit, so you don't fulfill the lusts of the flesh. That sounds like a choice to me.

That sounds like a discipline that we have to achieve. Again, I want a big disclaimer, I'm not talking about anybody doing this perfectly, amen? It is a fight, it's a struggle. Here's why, man, I'm walking in the Spirit, I'm doing good, I did great today, doesn't mean I didn't sin, I've sinned, right? Am I mentally what I thought or got mad when I shouldn't have? And I'm walking in the Spirit, things are going good, Monday wasn't too bad, here comes Thursday.

Because you're making right choices and you're fighting the good fight of faith and you're putting on the armor of God, but sometimes you get worn out. Sometimes you get hit with a right hook that you didn't expect. Everything's going good.

Everything's going good. And then you get hit with that. Anybody been there? Wow, it hits hard, doesn't it? I don't know what day it is, but me and my wife will laugh at it, I'm sure, later.

But this week, I was just getting some time alone. Oh, I felt so great. You ever been there where it's just like, you're praying, you're worshiping the Bible.

It's like, oh, working on the sermon, no care in the world. And then I get a video from her. It says, hey, the jacuzzi's completely empty and the pump's on, it's sucking all, there's no water.

It's like, it's broke and it's making a weird noise. I'm like, what? Shut it off, shut it off. We gotta get the pool guy there.

And it's just, everything changed. Everything changed. And just a matter of time.

And we get healed with those things. And that's what the walk of faith is. It is a battle.

Get up and fight again. Maybe some of you need to hear that this morning. Get up and fight again.

Yes, you've fallen. Yes, you've made mistakes. But faith gets back up and it finishes strong.

It doesn't say finish perfectly. It's, Paul says, I finished my race. I finished well.

I got back up and I moved forward. And we know that Paul didn't do it perfectly because he goes on to write, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death? For with the mind, I serve the law of God. But with the flesh, I serve the law of sin.

I've got this, Corinthians, I think it is, I've got this battle going on within me. The good I will to do, I do not do. And those things I want to do, I don't do.

Oh, wretched man that I am. The apostle Paul. But he didn't say, oh, forget it.

He got back up and he fought again. But I want to go back to this for a minute. The devil wants to dampen, distract, and discourage.

The devil wants to dampen, distract, and discourage you. This is from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. He said, we always have a vision of something before it actually becomes real to us.

Anybody relate? When we realize that the vision is real but is not yet real in us, Satan comes to us with his temptations. And we are inclined to say that there is no point in even trying to continue. Instead of the vision becoming real to us, we have entered into a valley of humiliation.

God gives us a vision, and then he takes us down the valley to batter us into the shape of that vision. It is in the valley that so many of us give up and faint. Every God-given vision will become real if we only have patience.

And if any of you guys ever want the slides, just contact the office. We can get those to you. And he said, allow the potter to put you on his will.

You know what a potter's will is? Reminds me of Romans, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So they would put the clay on a potter's will. And who was in charge, the clay or the potter? The clay would simply go into the shape that the potter wanted.

Surely as God is God and you are you, you will turn out exactly in the likeness of the vision. But don't lose heart in the process. If you've ever had a vision from God, you may try as you will to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never allow it.

And this is so important because this is where our faith will sometimes fail. It's sometimes when we give up. And I want to explain this for a minute.

There's three principles about this. Some of you, when I say we always, God gives us a vision for what He wants us to do. Some people say, amen, I know exactly what you're talking about.

Other people say, I have no clue what you're talking about. Or some might say, I had that when I was younger. I don't anymore.

So I think it's important to explain. Vision follows surrender. I had zero vision in my life.

I remember clear as day until I was 29 of what God wanted from me. Absolutely no idea. Do you know why? Because I had my plan.

I wanted to retire at 40 with a 12 pack of Corona down in Mazatlan. That was my plan. 20s, retire at 40 years old.

I want to do what I want to do. Here's what I want to do. So obviously there's no calling of God upon my life.

No vision for what... Now He'll use your past for what He's called you to do. But once full surrender takes place, you say, Lord, my life is yours. My finances, my work, my employment, who do you want me to marry? Lord, my life is yours.

Now He's willing to lead those who are willing to follow. And as you begin to do this, now you'll have a sensing as you're reading the Word, what God wants you to do, what He's called you to do. Do you know you can talk to worship leaders and they'll say, I sense this calling to do that.

Pastors, preachers, ministry leaders, people who write books, social media influencers, Christian, I just had this sensing. I had this vision from God. And I don't mean some vision getting way out there, but there's something that happens where, and I believe like an ax.

This is that which the prophet Joel spoke of. In the last days, I will pour out my spirit, thus sayeth the Lord, your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. So these things do not take the place of Scripture.

They are there to supplement and to help. For example, about a year and a half after I fully surrendered, I'd have many dreams where I would say, I'm in front of people speaking to a sea of people. And I hated that because I was not speaking in public.

It was like up there with a root canal. I did not want to speak in front of class. That was the last thing I wanted to do.

But then I began to read Billy Graham's autobiographies and the same thing would happen to him. So I think what happens is God will show you certain things in order to prepare you. You're not there yet, but here's where I'm going to bring you.

Some of you, many of you, maybe he's called to teach. Teach the Bible. You have that desire maybe to write some curriculum, maybe to have a home group, maybe because I have that vision, I have that desire.

You know, and what happens is you see it, you're like, yeah, that's exciting. And then you go through the valley of humiliation where God gets you ready. Won't go into all the details, but I quit my really good job, custom home in Quartz Hill, and moved back home with mom.

And I went to dig ditches for a couple of years. Talk about humbling. But God says, Shane, here's where I'm gonna call you over here, but I hate to break it to you, but you're not yet ready.

So let's get that. Man, there's a lot of pride on that shoulder. That chip on that shoulder must go.

There's a lot of junk in your head. Man, and you're chipping, you're humbling, and you never arrive at perfection, but it's a daunting process of humility and brokenness. And God begins to, okay, we gotta reshape your whole, go back on the potter's wheel and begin to shape, you know, okay, you're not there yet, and He begins to keep shaping you into that, what He's called you to do.

It's a process. And when we don't get there quick enough, we lose motivation. We lose motivation.

Or number two, we can't see clearly when we are quenching and grieving the Spirit. So I don't know what God wants me to do. We pray for that a lot in the prayer room.

Not all the time, sometimes it's a journey, sometimes it's a process, sometimes God withholds in order for you to seek Him more. That's a sure way to get you on your knees, is to remove the, I wanna know this, when am I gonna do this? Who am I gonna marry? Where am I gonna move? Do I take this job? When all that is pulled away and the answers don't come, it forces you, hopefully, down on your knees, and you begin to seek Him even more. But when we're quenching and grieving the Spirit through sin, it clouds our vision.

And then principle number three, if you're not in His Word, your vision may be off. Way off. Because what happens is we have ideas.

That's why we have a saying around here, is it a good idea or is it a God idea? Big difference. Before we start a ministry or do something, is it a good idea or a God idea? That's the difference between night and day. So if you're not in the Word, because what happens, the Bible says it, the Word literally transforms your mind.

And I know I'm trying to be careful here on my language, but the more you're in the Word and praying and things, the more you think like the character and nature of God. So things you wanna pursue, you don't wanna pursue anymore. The closer you get to God, these dreams you have, they're gonna seem dead.

Like, for example, I would never in a million years trade my life for the life of a top athlete. Shane, if you could become Tom Brady, you wouldn't? Absolutely not. I'd be miserable.

And so, because now the Word of God has changed my mind, my whole priorities are different. Because you can have $100 million and be miserable. And so the Word of God will literally change your mind.

And so maybe we can pray for all three of those types of people in the prayer room. If you want, Lord, and what about, well, I'm gonna go over in just a minute. Here's the key, I know this is a little bit towards the end, but I wanna just say this right now because it might help.

Why are so many Christians miserable or confused on what God's called them to do? Often, instead of looking for a place to serve, they are looking for a platform to shine. Let that sink in. Instead of looking for a place to serve, they are looking for a platform to shine.

Because we have that mentality where it's all about numbers, right? I'll do a home group if I have 30, but not two. I'll write some curriculum if I can be a best-selling author. Make sure the priorities are, because think about it, if you're there to serve, then the platform doesn't matter.

And often, God will raise you up the lower you go. The way to go up is to go down. Humility, humility.

Shane, I don't know about that. Do you have a Bible verse? Yeah, I think so. There's a few.

Humble yourself, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and in due time, He will exalt you. A man's gift makes room for him, but it's God who puts them there in that position. And I don't know what it is.

We can go through, this might help if I just go through some examples. Maybe God has put that in your heart, the more calling of an evangelist. You know, to, man, I could see myself ministering to kids.

How many can say that? Eight-year-olds or nine-year-olds. I can see that. Why isn't it happening? We get frustrated.

It takes time. A quick example, I had even, and I'm not like, you know, I had a dream. I rarely, I'm open, but I'm very cautious.

Like, I don't know. Most dreams, I don't take it. But when it's a constant pattern, and it lines up with Scripture, I would also have dreams.

I was a bleacher. I remember it was a stadium, and it was prisoners. Like, that's weird.

And then through a series of events, other people confirmed, I won't say who they are, but just like, have you ever thought about, and so reaching prisoners, reaching the prisons. So four and a half years ago, myself, Pastor Abram, we went through a process of, because I'm gonna do things my way, right? Okay, it must be, let me go to a close prison here, California City. And filled out 40 pages of paperwork, the tuberculosis test, physical, background check.

You had to watch these videos. I mean, it was like a part-time job. And so finally get approved.

We go there, I think for an orientation, fingerprints. Okay, you can't visit, you can't preach yet, but next time, okay. And we're getting ready, and then COVID hits.

And they shut down everything for a couple years. And then went back through the process again about a year and a half ago, and finally submit everything and said, oh, by the way, now the prison's shutting down. What is this? I'm like, I said, forget it, Lord.

I don't know, was this me? This is not me though. What is this? And then through that time, I mentioned last week that the Pando app became available. It's one of the only apps allowed in correctional institutes in the United States.

And for every, we pay a certain amount, and each prisoner gets an iPad to watch the videos. So I just went online yesterday, it's almost at 50,000 sermon views in three weeks. How is that? How is that possible? And I don't say that, oh, there's nothing to brag about.

Prisoners don't tithe, it's a hard group that a lot of people don't want to reach, but we have a passion for that. We want to reach that, not everybody else does. Somebody has a passion for the libraries going in there.

Somebody else for Care Net. Somebody else for the mission field. And people keep saying, why aren't you more missions oriented? I am.

Well, good, you do it and we'll back you. I can only wear so many hats here, guys. Why don't you do it and we support you? Because that's your heart, that's your vision.

So God will give you evangelists or missionary or an influencer, social media influencing now, needing more Christians on there and apologetics or some people may be called to preach and to teach. And what about parents? Parents, we've had a plan God has showed us. And I remember praying for our kids and wanting all of them to be saved or we didn't even want kids.

And we still have, I still have hopes. And I remember, Morgan, we prayed about this when our kids were young and we'd love to see them at the altar. And now seeing some of our kids at the altar, genuinely worshiping God, things that seem impossible.

And the way things are going sometimes and you get discouraged and you lose sight of that vision because it's not happening quick enough. Get rid of quick enough. God lives outside of time.

Microwave Christianity has done more to harm us than almost anything else. Right, microwave, push, let's go. Come on, God, let's go, get it going.

When micro Christianity, you don't build character. You don't go through the furnace of affliction and develop patience and fortitude and strength and faith. There's no shortcut to spiritual success.

It is a process. And a lot of times when you see Christians fall, they were promoted too quickly. Lay hands on no man suddenly.

And that's why I love a lot of these, the social influencers, a lot of the guys that are Christians and many of you know them, I won't go through the names. But I do get kind of worried because that size of an audience and you're so young, you haven't developed the patience and the strength and been tested by temptation and come out a strong believer. We have to pray for them because it is very challenging right now.

What about an intercessor? Intercessor, parents, grandparents, has God given you, has He showed you your spouse coming with you to church, but they're not a believer? Hang on to that promise because I guarantee that's not the devil giving you that vision. It could be a good idea, it could be yourself, but also that's God's principles. Praying for your siblings, praying for your spouse and your siblings and just diving in to God's Word.

Now you see why the devil wants to dampen God's Word and he wants to dampen God's fire. He wants to distract you from your vision and discourage you from moving forward. That is one of the greatest challenges in the church today.

Obviously the number one thing is salvation, correct? But a close second for a believer actually, I'd say this is number one, for a believer in Jesus Christ is to be mightily filled and used by the Holy Spirit. That by far is what the enemy is after. Because if I just come to church, check it off, don't do anything for God, what threat am I? It's what I call what the DMV gives out, a certificate of non-operation.

You ever have those cars sitting in your driveway or your neighbor? It sits there for years. Some of those people need to call the junkyard and get that thing removed. They'll give you a lot for your metal, so do it.

But you can go get a certificate of non-operation. So if the enemy can give us that, what's the point, even as a pastor? Okay, you preach, but do nothing else throughout the week. Don't go and lead people to the Lord.

Don't get involved in ministry or congregation. And we don't do anything. We are miserable because we've been dampened by Satan's attacks.

We've been distracted. Distraction is easy. It gets us off course.

Gets us off course. And so the closing point for faith, again, I'm gonna do part two on Wednesday. Go deep into even the life of Samson and some key points.

But the final point here is faith. Faith must fight is the topic, but the point is the fight for saving faith. This is an interesting verse.

I've unpacked it before, so I won't do it again. But Luke 13 says, "'Strive to enter through the narrow gate.'" Strive to enter. "'For many will seek to enter and will not be able.'" That word strive is a fighting word.

Look it up yourself. You know what, take my word for it. We have an English word that comes from that word.

That English word is agonize. The Greek word, I believe, is agonizo. And it means, it's funny, we get our word agonize, right? You don't work for your salvation.

Oh, I'm agonizing for my salvation. What you have to do is you strive against the pull of the flesh, the world, and the devil to keep you away from Christ. Because, right, the flesh just wants to be removed from God.

I don't want anything to do with God. So you have to agonize, you have to strive and say, Lord, You are my Lord. You are my Savior.

I repent, I bow my knee to Jesus Christ today. I strive, God, I'm pressing in, even though I don't feel like it, even though my pride is trying to stop me, even though the enemy's trying to sidetrack me and I've got these fiery darts, I've got these things coming into my mind, I have to fight against that and I need to repent and believe. That person enters the narrow gate.

But he says, many will seek to enter and will not be able. Well, that doesn't make any sense. Well, again, the word is important.

That's why the original language is very important if you want to really study the Bible. That word doesn't mean seek as we talk about in the Old Testament. The word seek in the Old Testament, Q-U-A-S-H, I believe it's a pressing in to seek and to find God.

I have to find what was lost. This seek as a Greek word means to ponder or to contemplate or to think about. So many people, even hearing this on the radio later, maybe today, they'll think about, I see what he's saying.

Yeah, I'll ponder that. That makes sense. That's a good point.

I guess there is a God. Maybe Jesus did die on the cross. I don't know.

Yeah, maybe He did. That sounds good. Maybe I'll be a Christian.

That sounds like a good thing, fun thing, safe thing, safe thing. But they're pondering. They're thinking about.

That person will not enter the narrow gate. So those who fight against the pull of the flesh, there's no other way to say it, they strive to enter through that narrow gate. It's also narrow because Jesus said, I am not one of many ways.

Do you know Jesus said that? He didn't say that. But people think He did. All paths lead to God.

All religions lead to God. Jesus said, I am, that's pretty narrow. I am the only way, the only truth, the only life.

Nobody comes to the Father except through me. That's pretty narrow. And any time on this point people get upset, like, you narrow-minded Christians, have you heard that? Just remind them that the chemical breakdown of oxygen's pretty narrow.

Gravity's pretty narrow. Two plus two is always four, unless you're progressive. They can be whatever you want, and what's right for you is not right for me, and vice versa.

No, things that are true are narrow. Things that are true are narrow. There's just no way around it.

So Christian, this morning, build your faith. Build your faith. It's built and sustained in the prayer closet.

Prayer opens the heart to God, and it turns my mind and your mind to Christ. None but the earnest heart captures the ear of God. Get silent before God, and you will silence the voice of sin.

Prayer is the pulse of the soul. It is the passion of the saints. In Isaiah, God told the people, come, my people, come, enter your chambers.

Shut the door. He's talking about the prayer chamber, possibly, or the tabernacle there, that they would go and they'd shut the door. He said, hide yourself from the coming judgment.

Is it possible that the prayer closet can hide yourself from the coming judgment? Could it be that your prayer closet protects your family and strengthens your marriage and cause you to draw back to God? Jesus said, when you go and shut the door and stand before God Almighty and cry out to Him, and again, He is an ever-present help in time of need, where else are you going to run that will fix your problems? The internet might go down. The stock market isn't even guaranteed tomorrow. You have to look to God and God alone.

There is a place of protection. There is a place of calm before the storm. There is a place for the hope for the hurting.

There is a place that is a sanctuary for the sinner and rest for the oppressed, and that is the prayer closets. Why do I end with prayer? Because that is the driving force of faith. E.M. Bowne said, when faith ceases to pray, faith ceases to live.

Think about that, because as you have oxygen for the physical body, you're taking a breath, there is spiritual oxygen, so to speak. Prayer is my lifeline. Prayer, think about that.

You are moving the hand that moves the universe. You are moving the hand of God by prayer, and that's why the verse I read before it actually goes on to say, you will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. That word stayed is interesting.

It means the person who has his mind paused on you. Paused, that is so cool, paused on God. We pause YouTube, we pause TikTok, we pause Instagram.

It's paused on God. Lord, I want nothing more but you. I'm pausing, I'm abiding, I'm lingering in your presence, and that's why Jesus said, come to me all who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Pause your mind on me. Abide in me just as a vine abides to the branch, and I will give you nutrients, and come to me and I will give you living water of water of which you drink. You will never thirst again.