The Battle for Courage—A Hill to Die On

It's gonna be on there and you can pass it out. You can hold on to it. You can read it for encouragement. And those who are watching online or listening later, if you look in the description of this video, that article will be posted. And the reason it's important is because all my sermon notes came from that article. So if you wanna reflect on some of the things that were said, pull that article from our website or there if you're on social media. Or if you're on Facebook, you can grab it from there as well. It should be right there on Facebook. I think it's in the higher area. It's not on the comments section. But anyway, you know where it is if you're familiar with social media. And what I did, some of you know that some of you don't, but there's a YouTube channel I started, Shane Eidelman under YouTube. And I'm gonna be posting encouraging videos and sermons and different things that aren't on the church website. It's just things I'm doing meant for encouragement, meant for motivation from fasting to theology. So you can subscribe to that as well. So with that said, the battle for courage, a hill to die on. And what I wanted to change the title to was speak the truth even if your voice is shaking. And I'm just excited that a lot of people are standing up. You see what's happening in the airline industry. So many pilots are standing up. And of course, the airline said it was because of weather. They're the only airline that canceled because of weather. And so the aerospace industry here, people making a stand, and it's just that forcing of things. And right now is a time to take courage. Now there are people on different sides of the debate. So I'm not really talking about one side or the other, just this whole battle for courage. And don't you wanna say something? I mean, Marvel just announced that they're gonna come out now with Superman being bisexual. I mean, I can shock you with some more news headlines if you'd like. The governor just signed that in all schools, there will be menstrual products. And also they're going to start putting them at least one men's restroom on campus as well. That just makes no sense. And what happens, Edwin Burke said it best, that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do absolutely nothing. Now here's where we have to be careful. Arrogance is not boldness. I mean, boldness is not arrogance. Being courageous is not arrogant and tirades and mean-spirited. What you're actually doing is you're being bold for those who have no voice. For example, in the abortion industry or for future generations. And I've been saying for a while that cowardliness simply leaves the battle for our children. So by remaining silent, we simply leave the battle for the next generation. And it even becomes even more difficult and more challenging. But God's word, thank God, is very encouraging. And that word inside of encouragement is what? Courage to strengthen. Courage, the biblical definition of courage is to do what is right in spite of the consequences or in spite of fear. It's really putting faith before fear. And it's courage on doing the right things. However, a lot of people, none of you here, I'm sure, but a lot of people online, amen, but they're arrogant, they're mean, they're being jerks, don't know a better word, and they're like, but I'm just courageous. No, you're just arrogant. You gotta be careful here. Because real courage comes from a love for God and His word. And when you're courageous, you're saying enough is enough. I'm tired of God's word being trampled. I'm tired of my rights and the rights of my children. And this is a whole nother sermon when we're talking about inalienable rights and when they frame the constitution of our nation. And a Christian, it's kind of hard to say, my right, you know, my right, my right, because really our rights die as we become a Christian. We become a doulos, a bondservant, or a slave to Jesus Christ. But there are God-given rights that we can, I believe, fight for. Those are what is important. When you can't get the gospel out, when you have to shut down churches, when you have to do things that absolutely make no sense, and you're forcing, you're mandating, you're controlling, you're instilling fear, there's ulterior motives, there's agendas, there is a time to speak up and to be bold. And where things are going, I mean, most of you can see this, especially how I preach and Pastor Abram and these types, you know, pastors could end up in jail because they're trying to label things that they don't agree with hate speech. Isn't it interesting that love speech is now becoming hate speech? We love someone enough to tell them the truth, but that's hate, they say, not love. And there's legislation, go to London, go to the UK, and see how far they've drifted in this area. And it's gonna take a lot of courage to stand up in the midst of adversity. And it may be a war of words rather than weapons, but America is divided like it's never been before, except, I believe, during the Civil War. And all of these things I'm going to go through are in your notes there, in the article, and the battle for courage, and the reason I say it's a hill to die on, what I mean by that is a hill to die on is a military term. Have you heard that term before? There were certain hills that they must take when they went into Iwo Jima, and they went into different areas of battle. We must take this hill. We must get this stronghold, D-Day. They must go in, they must take this. It's a hill on which we must die. Truth is a hill on which we must die. Now, I'm not talking about physically necessary, but it means that, at all costs, I can't give up this hill. I can't give up, I can't back away and not be courageous. I can't not stand for the truth, and I don't know his name, I don't wanna mispronounce or say the wrong name, but the Lieutenant General, I think it is, in either North Carolina or South Carolina, is in the media now, and they're trying to have him resign because he doesn't agree with transgenderism and homosexuality. And he said, I'm not resigning, I'm standing my ground. That is courage. That's in the midst of adversity, you do what is right, despite the consequences. Now, it's difficult because wisdom comes into play. You know, I'm gonna have courage, and the next week, I'm losing my job. How is that? Jane, where's the wisdom in there? Well, I believe God deals with a lot of us differently. And so, although there's principles here, you have to take your unique situation to the Lord. And I've never seen it more right for the gospel than it is right now. It's Wednesday, beginning Monday, I've talked to at least a half dozen people. Don't even go there. Here, helping with religious exemption letters, helping with questions, the fear, the force, the mandates. People are open now, they're looking, they're searching, and this is getting bad. Yeah, it is getting bad. You better have the one true source of hope. And it's just, it's amazing that God, even in all this, and, you know, hesitant to say this, but it's the truth. I can put up with a lot of what's going on if it's leading millions more to the gospel, especially in America, if it's waking them up and pointing it, because we became apathetic. We became lazy, spiritually speaking. And all we have to do is open the Old Testament and look what happened with Israel. They got broken up into southern and northern kingdoms, and here would come Isaiah, here would come Jeremiah. After 50 years of prosperity, the people have become apathetic to God, and history repeats itself. And so this is a time right now to be courageous. And I already noted this earlier, the right courage comes from actually humility. It's a boldness for truth and a love for others. There's a concern and a compassion. So being courageous, when a person came out of, I don't remember her name, Abby something. She came out of Planned Parenthood, and now she fights against abortion, and how the left tried to take her down and tried to ruin her character. And these doctors that are coming out, many of them losing their practice. I just talked to a lady today. Her doctor, she has a legitimate medical exemption. Like, she should not be getting the jab. But the doctor said, I can't do that. I can't write you a medical exemption. I could lose my license. There's some funny business going on. And that should make us want to sound the alarm. Say, hey, we want answers. And the one I've been saying since this began, really, is if it's about health, why is no one concerned about where your antibodies are? If you've got natural immunity, you've got high antibody counts, and you can fight off COVID, why isn't that being discussed? It's all an agenda. It's all pushing and having the courage, even at work. But I know, I can sympathize. I mean, if my job is on the line, which mine actually is in the future, just not immediately, I mean, it's just a matter of time before they start making churches capitulate. And who knows where all this is going? But I totally understand if someone's job is on the line. How do I take this stand and be courageous, but I don't know if I should lose everything. Lord, how is this gonna work? And you take it to God in prayer. But I do know this, it's often not until you step out in faith that God begins to move. I wanna see the next job before I leave the first one. I don't, right? But in counseling people, I do tell them to use wisdom. I don't think it's necessarily wise all the time. The lady I talked to today, a single mom. Jane, I'm raising my kids. How am I just gonna not have a job next week? And I said, that's a great point. Take it to the Lord. I don't have answers for you. God's word does. And then on the other hand, you have to encourage people if they decide to take the job, to keep their job, God's got their back too. God can do miraculous things. Maybe that was the right decision for them. I don't know. I just know a lot of the things that are coming upon us, we're feeling this battle inside and this lack of courage. And I think I have 2 Chronicles here for you to put up on the screen. 2 Chronicles 15. In those times, there was no peace. Does any of this sound familiar? In those times, there was no peace, but great turmoil was on all the land. Years later, Israel faced another insurmountable situation. We have no power against a great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do. I mean, this jumped out at me when I was reading. I mean, it was like, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. The same thing was happening. Obviously, they were being attacked by a foreign enemy. And if we're not careful, that could be right around the corner too, where you look at the, and I don't mean to go off on different rabbit trails, but it's so applicable to where Israel was and where America can find herself. And so we see here, no power against this great multitude. There's no peace. There's turmoil. What are we going to do? Can you relate? Now, fortunately, God does not leave us without a battle plan. And we can grab a lot here from just 2 Chronicles. If you want to be encouraged, read 2 Chronicles tomorrow, chapters 15 through 20, and just find out what God was doing then and what he's doing now. And I think it's good to clarify. Have you ever said this or heard someone say it, or it actually says it in the Bible a lot, and God defeated their enemy? And I tried this week. Maybe you can find something, but I looked from Samson to David throughout the Old Testament and different illustrations. I couldn't find anywhere where God didn't defeat their enemy when they weren't walking in obedience to him and his word. I couldn't find one. And so we often say God defeated their enemy or God will defeat my enemy. But here's where I want to encourage you and strengthen that courage, the middle word. When we say God defeated their enemy or our enemy, it's actually his enemy too. They are enemies of God because when you line up with God, if someone is against you, they're now God's enemy. And so God will deal with them. And God doesn't need a multitude. I taught on that a few years ago. You plus God is a majority. And we get, oh, if we could just have enough voters, if we could just have enough, if we could just have enough people protesting and that's all good. I think it's needed. But the bottom line is, are we resting in God's sovereignty? Are we trusting in him? He says, get in, get rid of the thousands and thousands of men. Give me 300, I'll deal with it with 300. Some of these battles, they didn't even have to go out and fight, they just sang. Wouldn't that be nice? Next deployment, still team six. Hey, when we drop you off in Afghanistan at midnight, just start singing hymns. I don't know if that'd be wise. If God's not calling a person to do that, obviously. But let's learn how we can encourage ourselves and how can we prepare for this battle. And this has been, this sermon has ministered to me more than you'll ever know this week because hearing people every day, I hear somebody moving every day. It's just a daily thing. I'm moving by California, moving by California, moving by, oh, that's right. Nice to know that, thank you. Just an hour ago, and I had to realize that until God tells me something or you something, you've gotta dig in where you are. You know, I say, he didn't plant this church and start the radio station for me to just run and leave. And I don't think, people moving are running and leaving a lot of times. They have a better opportunity. There's something, God opens a door. There's no problem with that. But if you're wishy-washy, at least stay focused and courageous and be armed for battle where he has you now. Instead of planning on an exit, do battle here and let God open that exit. Let God open that door. And so we learn from 2 Chronicles 19.3. He said to, I believe it was Jehoshaphat. I went through these kind of quickly and pulled from the article there. Prepare your heart. God said, prepare your, so actually the king says, I prepared my heart for battle. Isn't that interesting? And my dad used to tell me, I think it was actually my mom as well, that you play like you practice. You play like you practice. And so when these battles come, it's what we've done in the meantime that leads to victory. We fight like we prepare. And so he prepared his heart. And here's the key, this is key. Courage, do we all want courage right now? Most of us, I hope. Nobody wants to be discouraged or fearful. Godly courage, encouragement or courage is really just an outflow. An outflow of what's going on in your life based on spiritual disciplines. So the more time I'm in God's word, the more time I'm worshiping, the more time I'm doing all these things and obeying God's word, the courage is an outflow. I can't say, Lord, make me courageous and then get on the negative news. Lord, make me courageous and then be doing things I shouldn't be doing, walking outside of his will, living outside of his boundaries, making choices that I know are wrong. Give me courage. Courage comes from the heart that is prepared for battle. This is how I fight my battles. Have you heard that worship song? This is how I fight my battles. In prayer and worship, that's one reason we are having the services every night the last week of October. We can turn off the TV for a week. Come on, what do most of us do when we get home? We eat, we watch something. We go to bed, most people. Or they read something. But to prepare our hearts for battle. Now this is interesting. It might be a little convicting, it's okay. But do you know we had a survey that went out? If you don't know, you need to fill it out because we have a survey out there on the electronic bulletin and the texting system that asked about the services. Will you be coming to some of those services? How many kids will you be bringing? So we can have enough snacks, we can have enough teachers prepared. We don't really know what to expect. And a lot of us were a little shocked that 30% of the entire church said they won't be coming at all. How hungry are we? Are we just playing around here? What am I doing up here at this pulpit? We just coming once or twice a month and hey, I got my church fixed. Folks, these are desperate times. They call for desperate measure. If you think things are gonna get better, you better wake up. If you think, oh, let's get back to normal, the normal is over, folks. It's time to dig in deep to God's word. It's time to be filled with his spirit. It's time to be built up and encouraged and do battle and stand your ground. It's not going back to normal. We've gotta fight our battles on our knees and in prayer and fasting. Now obviously people work and I didn't mean to come in and I know people have situations and different things. I don't need to go to church to be a Christian. No, I got it. I've heard every excuse in the book, but there should be a hunger. There should be a desire to meet incorporately. So this issue of preparing your hearts. David said it a different way. Strengthen yourself in the Lord. David said, I encourage myself in the Lord. I strengthen myself in the Lord. And then you'll see there the next point if you do have that article. Focus, aim and pull the trigger. Focus, aim and pull the trigger. And when I was younger, many of you can relate, I went trap shooting a lot. Do you know what that is? You stand back 15 yards or so and clay pigeons shoot out, clay birds shoot out of the house there. It's built in the ground. Sometimes two, it gets harder. And my dad would take us all the time. We even reloaded our own shotgun shells. You remove the primer, you put the powder in, you put the water in, you put the shells, you put the bullet, they call them the BBs, size eight, size 10, whatever it is. We'd make our own ammunition. And I got really good and got involved in trap shooting, the Youth Trap Shooting Association. And all the time, it was just, without a shadow of a doubt, the key was, you know, you have the gun down. As soon as they release it, you pull and you have to find it. You can't take your eye off the target. Even if it's for one second, you miss a shot. It's a continual focus on where the target, you put the bead on the target and follow it. Same thing with the Christian walk. Jehoshaphat said right before that massive battle, but our eyes are set upon you. Our eyes are fixed upon you. I'm focused on you and you alone, God. I see the insurmountable army. I see the task and I see the difficulty. And like Peter, though, I'm not gonna look at the waves and the boisterous sea. God, I'm gonna fix my thoughts and my mind and my eyes on you. So I'm gonna hold on tight because you're not gonna let me go. You're not gonna let me fall underneath. I'm fixing my eyes at all, even though all hell is breaking loose. Lord, you will never forsake me. You will never leave me. Sometimes you gotta just start worshiping to yourself, even if you can't sing. Sometimes you gotta start quoting scripture and saying, Lord, your word says you'll never leave me or forsake me. You will hold me, Lord, but this yoke is getting difficult. Lord, cast my cares upon you and you will care for me. And you strengthen yourself in the Lord. Fix your eyes on the hope of the gospel. Fix your eyes on Christ. Every time I get off of that, I get fearful. And just as a confession to you, what really gets me the most about this, everything, is what we're leaving for our children. That's where I get fearful. Our grandchildren. God slowly reminds me, they're my children too. And so I get my focus off of that. And when I do, I get fearful and maybe react the wrong way or don't handle things the right way or make rash decisions. And it's so important to focus. But my eyes are, there's a New Testament word too, fixed. Or the Old Testament, fixed. It's kind of where we get our fixation, that word. It's not the same word, but it's that, I can't move my eyesight off of this. I'm fixed on this. And that's where I'm going, that's the path. You can come and try to distract me and discourage me, but I'm fixed on that. And it's a conscience effort to do that, to stay fixed. But it's hard to stay fixed if we're on everything, or if we're in everything but God's word. Right now, social media, good tool now and then, but it can really draw you away. It can really pull you away. Why would you willingly walk into the enemy's camp? If you're in battle, why would you willingly walk into the enemy's camp? And that's exactly what we do. And then the next point here, courage. Courage is caught. What do I mean by that? Well, the old saying is, you know, character is taught, is caught more than taught. What they mean by that is they see your kids in this example or people are watching you. I'm under a microscope right now. From all people, how's Shane gonna handle this? What would you do? I'm like, if he snaps, I'm snapping. It's a lot of pressure, right? So I'm like, you'd be amazed at what's going on out there in the United States and people looking. But courage is caught more than taught. I can teach you about courage. You can teach your kids about courage, but it's caught. They see it modeled. And you know the poem I like to quote a lot on Father's Day is the one that, it's a long poem, but the ending is so important. You know, talking about dads or even moms, I guess in this case. And the kid says something about the lessons you give me may be very wise and true, but I'd rather get my lesson by observing what you do. For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give, but there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live. And what's happening, a lot of our homes is our kids are seeing the fear. They're seeing the complaining. Why are you always talking about the vaccines? Why are you always talking about, what's going on? And then they see us. Instead of being this caring, nurturing, educate, yes, educate them, but at the same time, we want to encourage them by showing them what courage looks like. Second Chronicles again, 1911, you should read that this week. Act courageous. Act courageous and the Lord will be with you. Now, I thought about that a lot. Okay, so if I'm not courageous, the Lord won't be with me. Now, he's not talking about his presence or things right here. What he's talking about, especially in the context of Jehoshaphat, he will be with you in battle. So when I act courageous or when you do, we're stepping out in faith, we're honoring God, we're holding the line, we're living according to his word, we're upholding his word, we're highlighting his word, we're proclaiming the truth, we're being courageous, we're taking a stand, he's with us. But what's the opposite of going forward, retreating? And then now it's fear, and now it's anxiety, and now it's worry, and now it's doubt. He said, I can't be with that, I can't help you in this battle if you're retreating. And so that's why that verse is so important. And act courageous, and the Lord will be with you. Courage meets fear with faith. Basically, fear is hit by faith, and that's what courage is. Courage doesn't mean you're not scared, did you know that? Courage is strength in the midst of fear, and knowing that God has your back. Let's just, you know, I don't wanna give anybody the wrong idea, you have to take it to the Lord, but let's just say, if someone said, Lord, I'm really convicted about this, I don't feel good about this, I need to take a stand, I feel I'm being pressured, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, I'm not for what they're trying to push or mandate, Lord, I could lose my job, but I'm gonna trust in you, I'm gonna honor you. God, would you please see me through? I'm putting my faith in you, not my job, I'm putting my faith in you. You think God's gonna go, oh man, they're gonna lose their job, I don't know what to do now. Oh, this is a toughie. I think that would honor the Lord. Now, I'm not telling people to do that, because he might want people to stay right where they're at and use wisdom, and that's why these are hard waters to navigate, because it's not a clear-cut decision here. Let your children see you praying and seeking God rather than living in fear, and you know what they gauge, too, a lot of what we're watching. So you don't think they're listening? They're listening to the false news and the ranting and the raving of those politicians, and then our fear, and what are we gonna do, and I don't know, and what we're subtly telling people is God can't get us through this. We can't really trust him. Isn't that the message we can almost send if we're not careful? Hey, God can't get us through this. We cannot trust in him. God's great for Sunday, but I've gotta focus on this today. This is Monday, and we can really hurt them at a deep level, and others as well that are watching. Again, cowardliness leaves the battle for our children. So clearly, courage is a hill on which to die, and so the encouragement that I really wanna give you tonight is that it can be fostered again. It can be built again into your heart, into your life. In the midst of discouragement can come great courage, and I, without a shadow of a doubt, after being now, coming back to the Lord 20 years ago, I'm finding this season by far has forced me to be the most courageous I've ever been in my life, right now, the last year and a half. So God took this difficulty, like he's doing in a lot of you, and out of that comes a stronger. My faith is much stronger. Man, this would've took me out 15 years ago, but it develops the courage that you can stand and look people in the face when they think you're a hater, and you're arrogant, you're unwise, you're stupid, you're naive, you don't trust science. I don't trust anybody right now, because the science contradicts the science. I mean, there are things I could share with you, which some of you know, that there's like tens of thousands of doctors that have signed on to this statement that they don't wanna show you, they don't wanna release, and other physicians coming out, and physicians losing their job if they can't, and personal doctors can't give you the vaccine, it has to go from a vaccine center to make sure. It's just, there's so much confusion out there. There's a lot of, it should tell Christians, hey, there's something not right here. And being courageous, we've had employers, employers call the church, and basically not really threaten, but say, are you really telling people not to get vaccinated? Say, we've never said those words ever in life. We are open to either side. We are, our stance is people are free to choose. It's their body, whatever they want to do. How dare you make that accusation? And having the courage to do that, having the courage to keep preaching when you get criticized every day, because you're not preaching exactly what someone wants you to preach, or I'm talking too much about our former president, or I'm talking too much about this topic, or I'm talking about too much, constant, constant criticism. You gotta strengthen yourself in the Lord, and be courageous, and know, if you know God has called me for such a time as this, God has called you for such a time as this, he's got you in the workplace, he's got you in marriage, he's got you parenting those kids, he's called you for such a time as this. There's strength in that. I don't know about you, but I find a lot of strength in that. Say, Lord, you built the church, or in your case, Lord, you've guided my life. You've brought me back to you. You've got me this job. You gave me these wonderful kids. I'm married to my spouse. You called me to do these things. I'm gonna walk that, I'm strengthened in that, because I am a child of God. I am on your side when I'm obeying your word, when I'm lining up with you, and a lot of Christians, especially in America, you don't hear the same type of fear in China from the underground church, or in different areas. The American Christians, we've become very comfortable, and we don't like to come out of our comfort zone, and so these things are even highlighted even more, the opposite of courage is cowardliness, and that is highlighted even more. When we begin to, when the pressure's applied, and to me, the lines are being drawn in the sand right now, especially in churches, even. There's a lot of churches. I mean, night and day, right? Some churches going this direction, other churches going this direction. You know, you go in our, we're labeled the rebellious church, whatever that means. Some of you are laughing, because you know, you told me other churches have said that, so we're the rebellious church. No, no, no, but it's not rebellion. It's a love for God, and His word's boldness. You're the cowardly church. What would you rather be? And so there's a battle between cowardliness and courage, and I'm not gonna keep my mouth shut, and then finally, the next point, this is how I fight my battles. This is how I fight my battles. 2 Chronicles 20, 22. When they begin to complain and bicker, what, did I read that wrong? When they begin to do things in their own strength, in their own wisdom, you're paying attention. When they begin to sing and praise the Lord, He defeated their enemy. Now again, I wouldn't encourage, I wouldn't discourage, but I wouldn't encourage our army to go out and do that necessarily. You know, it's a context and different things. This is a people devoted to God, holy. They prepared their hearts, and so that had a lot to do with it. But what is so significant about this? Well, what's significant is spiritual warfare requires spiritual weapons. Spiritual warfare requires spiritual weapons. So what praise and worship is, that is warfare. That is how you pull down heaven. The battles we face are not flesh and blood. It's not with human resources, and your department over your job and employment. The battle that we face, the Bible is clear. It's not flesh and blood. Our enemy is not flesh and blood. Our enemy is spiritual, the only weapons that work. That's why I say it's not a full gun closet. It's a full prayer closet. And being full, spiritual warfare requires spiritual weapons. Praise, I don't know what it does, but it pulls down heaven. And you come in negative. You come in upset and angry and fearful. And then after 20 minutes, you find yourself at the altar, broken, crying out to God and saying, Lord, forgive me for not being trustful. Forgive me for not being obedient. God, oh, would you fill me again? And then that praise and that worship turns into strength and encouragement as you begin to pray. And then you look to his words. You begin to obey his word and walk in faith. And then there's something strengthened in you. You start to walk a little taller. You start to draw the line in the sand. You start to be a little bit bolder, loving, yes, but very bold. Isn't it interesting? Jesus has said, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we behold, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The boldness, when people say Jesus was a bold, I don't know what Bible they're reading. I really don't. If you're going to church and you're gonna throw over money changer tables out in the lobby, and you're gonna make a whip, and you're gonna whip them out of that place, why? Why was he so bold? Why was he so courageous? Because zeal for my Father's house has consumed me. This is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. You have come with the right heart, wrong heart. You have mocked God. You're trying to make money from him. And I will drive that out. Zeal for God's house has eaten me up. And zeal for God's house should consume you. It should be your passion, your daily devotion, and your strength. And you begin to cry out and praise God, and you're strengthened from that. Man, if I could tell you, if I could just get more men to praise God. But we think tough guys don't worship. I don't worship. I'm a guy. Do you know all the strong guys and tough guys in the Bible were worshipers? You're not a tough guy unless you can compete with David. He killed men, lots of men, giants. And the Bible said he worshiped God. They would worship God. Elisha, Elijah, they would fall down in the presence of God. Isaiah, Jeremiah fall down in the holy presence of God. They were worshipers. They were worshiping warriors. And so many times men come and they're just bored in church. It's like they're handcuffed. And there's such a new audience now. I can tell you some of my old stories. That's one benefit. A lot of new people is they don't remember what I said a couple years ago. But often, I think what I would hear over the years more from more men than anything else, men's conferences, even at this church, you know, they're just not engaged in worship. They don't wanna come to morning worship. They're just not worshipers. And the main thing is, you know, Shane, I'm just not emotional. So, well, you express anger real well. Is that not true? That's an emotion. You express anger real well and frustration and you yell. See, it's not that we're not emotional. It's that God hasn't captured our hearts. We haven't been truly humbled by him. So, what I would encourage you to do, exchange your social media binges with worship marathons. They begin to praise in God and worship him and God defeated their enemies. We cannot fill our minds with the world and expect to develop courage. When we worship and walk in obedience, God fights for us. Isn't that encouraging? Anytime I'm outside of God's will and disobeying, cowardliness follows. Speak the truth even if your voice shakes. And I'm gonna tell you what the missing ingredient is. I'm excited about this because I'm also gonna go into more detail on Sunday. I'm gonna close in just a minute. But here's the missing ingredient. All week, something has always fascinated me. I'm gonna tell you about it. And this week, I just took it to prayer. I've got books on the prophets. I study the prophets. I love reading the prophets, probably more than anything else. But what fascinates me is their courage. It's amazing. Like, we do not see that very often, the courage. There was one prophet, his name, he's not popular, really. It's not a book about it. It's Machiai. It kind of sounds like Malachi or Micah, but it's spelled differently. It's Machiai. And he came and prophesied. And he said, at first, he kind of mocked and said, yes, Israel will be fine. You go into battle, you'll win. And the king said, I know you're joking. I know you're not being upfront with me. Why don't you be upfront with me? And he said, you will be destroyed. I saw the sheep on the hill and the shepherd. They were scattered and you will lose. And when you talk to a king like that, it usually costs you your life sometimes. And the king said, take this man away, feed him with the bread of affliction, put him in jail. And when I return, I will deal with him. You'd think he'd say, oh, I'm so sorry. He said, if you return, then the Lord has not spoken to me. Whatever the Lord speaks to me, I will speak with my mouth. And he's going into the dungeon. Elisha upsets all of the kingdom. And the king actually said, Elisha, is that you, oh, troubler of Israel? And he would call out the king. Daniel would not bow. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego would not bow. They weren't necessarily prophetic, they were prophets, but where are these men getting this strength and this courage? I mean, they just would tell the, I don't care if I die, John the Baptist. So what made them so bold? How was God's word burning in their heart? And I sympathize sometimes with Jeremiah, because he would preach and nobody would listen. That's why he's called the weeping prophet. And God even said, nobody's gonna listen. In our case, people listen, so praise God for that. But he was saying, I'm so discouraged, I'm not gonna preach anymore. I've been there, I can relate. But he said, but your word was in my heart like a burning fire. He would go to the king, he would go to the rulers. Jeremiah, Isaiah would do the same thing. And it's interesting how it's often people say, Shane, we shouldn't be in politics. Did you know all the kings had a prophet just about? That all the prophets you read about in the Bible were political in the sense of they were speaking to the king about kingdom things, how it affects the people, how to lead the people correctly according to God's word. They had voices speaking at them, challenging them, confronting them about national matters. Just about every king. What they're really saying is shut your mouth, don't talk about those issues. So how were they so bold? Very easy. They were men filled with the spirit of God. Are you saying most people are lacking that? Absolutely. They said it 60 years ago, A.W. Tozer said, the greatest need in the church today is for men and women to be filled with the spirit. Apart from salvation, that is the greatest need in the church. What do you mean, Shane? If everybody who went here, calls this their home church, was mightily filled with the spirit, you can call it whatever, an anointing, an unction, a fully surrender, the Holy Spirit has captured me, I'm on fire for God, I'm anointed to, I just feel this burn. If you couldn't, we wouldn't have enough room. You would have a full service at morning worship. You would have people on fire for God. Ministry serving, we'd have too many volunteers. We'd hear of conversions throughout the valley every single day. Grumbling, complaining, bickering, fighting in the church would be over, to some degree. There's always a little bit, it'd be more unity and focused on unity and loving each other. It's those who are not filled that are often the most difficult. And those who are not filled, do not have a passion for God's word, they're not gonna be courageous. So let me ask this question of you. If I'm ruffling feathers, it's okay. I want you to go home and be upset and take it to God. Is he saying what I'm thinking he's saying? Is Shane saying what I'm thinking he's saying? He better not be saying what I'm saying. Go home and examine your heart. Are rivers of living water flowing out of you? Jesus said, if you believe on me, from time to time, you might have rivers of living water. Did I misquote that? If you believe on me, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. It begs the question, where is the living water in most Christians? I see stagnant, dry, dead, critical, complaining, caustic, cancerous, diseased, dead, spiritually speaking Christians. There's no rivers of living water. Now I'm only saying this because it's the truth in love. I can be stagnant and dry as well if I empty myself and quench the spirit, empty myself of humility and become prideful and arrogant and negative and critical. I can quench and grieve the work of the spirit. And trust me, I argue with God a lot about preaching a lot of what I'm saying this week. Not to mention what I'm saying on Sunday. I'm like, Lord, please, I don't wanna say this. And I like it when I know it's not me. It's not me, it's God really wanting to penetrate the heart. Because the more you seek him, the more you find him. And the more you find him, the more you seek him. And not only that, God gives us confirmation just every other day, sometimes, maybe a couple times a week, even just, aunt saw it, read three today. Prison ministries, prisoners all over the United States have a tablet in prison. They're listening to our podcast being changed and transformed by the power of God. A couple hundred prisoners in California City are listening every week. Other people throughout, they're listening, they're listening saying, it wasn't until I was cut to the heart, it wasn't until that hit me right between the eyes. I didn't like what you said, but I needed to hear it. I took it back to God. See, sometimes you gotta have the courage and leave here and drive home knowing people do not like what you had to say. They wouldn't care if you were sick and dead. You've gotta have the courage because you're helping people be filled with the spirit of God. They have to have the courage to do that. So the missing ingredient, the bottom line with courage is you have to be filled with the spirit. I actually don't even have it here and it's been kind of gnawing at me for about 20 minutes now. So I'll just throw it out there. But during our closing worship, I would encourage you to come to this altar. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. People think I got it all together. I'm not doing that. I'm a man. Do you know that a real man worships God? A real man loves his family instead of yells at them. A real man gets rid of his addiction and focuses on God. A real man leads his family spiritually. We have the wrong definition of masculinity. Chapter 20, 12, we have no power against a great multitude that is coming against us, nor do we know what to do. 2 Chronicles 15, seven, be strong. Do not let your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded. I'm a person that takes God at his word. If he says it, it's gonna happen. So knowing my work will be, if I just stand strong, if the heart's right, if we've humbled ourselves, if we try to remove pride, repent of any besetting sin, and be strong in Lord's worship, Lord, I'm gonna hold the line. I'm gonna be strong. The image here, let your hands be weak. It's like you're holding on something. You're holding, I'm holding the ground. I'm holding a weapon. Do not let your hands be weak. Fall to the side and bow and quit. If you maintain that and hold strong, your works will be rewarded. And I'll close with this reminder that we just talked about. When they began to sing and praise, the Lord defeated their army. It's amazing, when God would defeat an army, he didn't mess around. He did not mess, he would just rain hell stones, or huge stones, or fire, or he'd send swarms of bees, or he'd send noise up on the trees, and they would think that armies are coming. They would begin killing themselves, or he would just, in the Assyrian army, a death angel wiped out 185,000 Assyrians when they slept. God doesn't mess around. But we have to position ourself. Courage comes from within. Spiritual warfare requires spiritual weapons. And let me declare to you tonight that I only have one hope. I only have one chance at this. I only have one set of, my eyes are only focused on one thing. My hope is not in the election. My hope is not on vaccines. My hope is not on things. My hope is on the cross. My hope is on holding on to Jesus Christ. Although he slay me, yet will I trust him. No matter what I go through, God, whatever you bring me through, I will trust you. Whatever health issue is hitting me, whatever spiritual attack is coming, oh, they're gonna close down the churches. I hear that all the time. How are you gonna stay in California? You won't last another two years. No matter what they say, Lord, what do you say? I'm holding on to you and you alone. I have one hope, one Redeemer, one Savior, and we bow at the knee at the cross of Jesus Christ. And God strengthens us. And I want you to remember that verse. They begin to sing and praise, and the Lord defeated their enemy. Do you have an enemy right now? Is fear and uncertainty and chaos and confusion that we all have been dealing with? The uncertainty of employment? And I mean, I've gotta hand it to a lot of you guys. I mean, it's a tough, tough, I'm not in that boat. We're in the same storm, but we're in different boats. If you're about, man, it's being forced, I'm gonna lose my job. But let me encourage you. Taking that to God will strengthen you like never before. When you step out and you say, Lord, I don't know, I don't know what's happening. This could be the greatest test of your faith you have ever known. This could strengthen you more than you've ever been strengthened. Because what you're saying is, Lord, I have to give up everything. I don't know where, but I'm not giving up on you. I'm stepping out in faith that you will see me through. And that courage comes up and that strength comes up. These are life-changing moments. These are defining moments in your life that do not come around very often. You will not have a chance to stand up for what is right every single week of your life. And again, that could mean different things in different scenarios. But we can all agree, no matter what side you're on, we can all agree that something is fishy. Something is not right. Something is not making sense. And we need to be united in that. How did they defeat their enemy? They worshiped. And there isn't really anything, I mean, it's not just me singing lyrics. You know, break every chain, worthy is the lamb. I can be, that's false. If I'm just singing, going through the motions, looking at something on a screen. Worship, what he's talking about is heart engagement. The word actually comes from worthy. He is worthy, worthy of my worship. And so it's readjusting our heart.