So I'm in Judges 7, verse 8 through 15, and I wanna start with somewhat of a familiar story.

I've mentioned before I had a father who was very rigorous, very disciplined.

He was like a military man.

The rules around the house were very clear.

We knew our father loved us.

We had no doubt about that.

He provided for us.

In fact, my dad worked 70, 80 hours a week to feed four boys.

Came from a very poor family, worked very hard.

But he also had a lot of respect for what he called the objective word of God.

I think that's the first time I heard that word, that it is the word of God and you and I live our lives by it.

We don't question it.

Now we might study it to figure out the application of every truth, but my father believed that the Bible is the word of God and it forms us, it shapes us, our character, our integrity, those are important things.

And my father had rules around the house.

You just didn't disobey.

And if you did, there were consequences.

Not because he was the big bad house boss, but because he knew.

He wanted you to go the right direction and sometimes you need a little encouragement to go that way.

Our minds and hearts aren't bent toward doing automatically the right thing.

My father understood that.

He understood his job as a father is to nurture and care for us and instruct us, and yes, discipline us when we got out of line.

I remember when I was 16 years old, I've shared this before and I won't go into great detail.

I did something that was very bad and I was very embarrassed by what I had done.

I knew there was going to be significant consequences.

And strangely enough, my greatest fear was my father finding out.

Again, I knew my father would not approve of this and I knew I was in danger of severing that relationship.

This was that severe.

And I couldn't sleep all night trying to figure out what I was gonna do.

Again, I knew there was gonna be a penalty to pay for my actions.

And finally, I couldn't bear it anymore, so I just got up the next day and I went to my father.

And I said, I gotta talk to you.

And I'm sure I was shaking, and I was telling him what I had done.

Expecting my father to drop the hammer and to say, okay, here's your punishment.

Instead, my father, seeing that I had done wrong, moved over close to me, put his arm around me, said, okay, son, you've made a huge blunder, and there's gonna be a penalty to pay, I know.

But then he said to me, I'm gonna walk with you through this darkness, and we're gonna come out on the other side, better people for it.

And I remember thinking at that point, that is not at all what I expected my father to do.

I expected my father to drop the hammer, and basically, I was actually concerned, my sin was.

So...

Was so severe that I almost I started thinking about maybe I can't live here anymore.

I don't need to go into that All I can tell you is that moment in time Showed me what my father who my father really was.

Yes.

He was a disciplinarian.

Yes.

He was about character and integrity Yes, he was about consequences, but more than all of that My father loved me and he wanted to walk with me through one of the greatest blunders of my life The way I saw my dad after that was totally different in fact In fact, I was more rigorous in my obedience to my father after that event because I realized this father really is for me.

He's on my side.

And I'm truly sorry for those of you who didn't have a father like that because I know we're living in a different world now or a dad who modeled these things for you.

But I just want to remind you.

that you do have a heavenly father.

See, the reason you know your father is lacking because you have a benchmark, you know what a father's supposed to be like, and you only know that because you've been created in the image of your heavenly father.

So you know in your life there's something missing.

However, you and I have said that our lives are governed, not by external circumstances, good or bad father, good or bad parenting, whatever it is.

We realize that is part and partial to a fallen world, but we've said that we are governed by Romans 8, 28 and 29.

We know that God works everything together for good.

Somehow it all shapes.

Remember the Greek word there is taking two things that are detrimental in and of themselves and God turns them around.

He takes a disadvantage.

turns it into an advantage and uses it for his glory.

So we are Romans 8, 28 people.

We're also told that God foreknew that one day we would make the decisions we make and he saw it coming and he decided to shape all that together and conform us to the image of his son.

So in Christ, We have the son who is given everything.

And in the father, we have a loving father who will never ever give up on us.

Yes, he'll hold us accountable.

Yes, he'll discipline us, but he never gives up on us and he's on our side, he's pulling for us.

In fact, I like to put it to you like this.

We all, as Christ followers, have a lifetime membership to the Spiritual Fitness Center.

We're always gonna be, however, we have the most awesome personal trainer that you could ever have.

Now that leads us to the fifth resolution and our resolutions that we're making as we attempt to turn these external circumstances into wins, gains, victories, extraordinary victories.

And I wanna ask you, if you've ever been tempted, have you ever felt like just sitting down as you take introspection of your life and you just wanna cry?

You've heard all the sermons about the goodness of God, the fatherhood of God, and that he's doing and working things together.

You've heard all that, but you're so overwhelmed by everything that God is doing and allowing in your life.

You feel like you're under such enormous pressure that you just wanna sit down somewhere in a corner and just start to weep.

Well, resolution number five is for all of us because we move now from what God is doing in us, we're still there, but now we move into the fatherhood of God.

I don't know of any other passage of Scripture anywhere in the Old Testament that is a better example of God loving a man.

And resolution number five goes like this, God will send you encouragement when you grow afraid and weary.

or faint-hearted.

God will send you encouragement, always send you encouragement at that time when you're on that line, when you grow weary and afraid.

Gideon, if you know the story, is facing 135,000 Midianite warriors.

When this whole thing started, he had 32,000 men because we haven't talked about this yet.

He had blown the trumpet over in chapter six to call the other tribes in to increase the odds.

God allowed him to do this even though God knew he was going to sift the army, which is amazing in and of itself.

God had something else in mind.

Gideon, through his conversations with God, is learning a different way.

He's learning and experiencing the power and wisdom of God rather than his own power and wisdom.

Had God not built Gideon's faith earlier in chapter 6, there's no way Gideon would have sat by and agreed to allow God to sift his army.

In fact, let me read to you what happened in Judges 6, verse 33 and 34.

All the Midianites, Amalekites, and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abyssalites to follow him.

He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them." So these are all tribes of Israel.

Gideon's trying to bolster his numbers.

Now, the question is, if you notice in the text, God's the one who told him to blow the trumpet, so why would God tell him to blow the trumpet and call the other tribes, knowing that he's later gonna send them home anyway?

And this is a good lesson.

Number one, God is building Gideon's trust in baby steps.

Gideon's not ready to hear that God is going to sift his army.

So God operates under Gideon's present understanding.

He's being patient and guiding him along the way.

The second thing is God knows in his foreknowledge, and his omniscience.

that 300 men, some of them are gonna come from these tribes, to which Gideon has blown the trumpet and called them together.

So now Gideon's faith has grown, his trust in God has grown throughout the course of these events.

And through various experiences with God, he's now ready to obey the hard words.

So an already ill-equipped and outmanned army, God sifts the army, 22,000 becomes sorry, 32,000 becomes 22,000 through a fear test, and then 22,000 becomes 300 eventually through a seriousness test.

32,000 becomes 22,000.

22,000 becomes 10,000.

10,000 becomes 300.

Now the sifting is complete and the day of the battle is drawing near.

We're getting closer.

And you'll remember we said that God finds it essential to strip everything away from you that you depend on other than him.

So he's not only got to sift Gideon's army, what does he do?

But sift Gideon's arsenal, his artillery.

And he brings Gideon to a meeting and says, you know, I'm not going to give you swords and javelins and spears.

Not going to give these kinds of things to these Bedouin people.

He's saying instead I'm going to give you trumpets, clay jars, and torches.

And the only way through.

men could defeat 135,000 with torches, clay jars, and their voice as if God is involved.

Now you're Gideon.

How you doing?

The Midianites, verse 12 of chapter seven, the Amalekites and all the other Eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts.

Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.

So you're Gideon and you're here.

You got 300 men with no artillery and you're looking over the valley.

Remember the closest, the proximity there, Gideon is able to look over and see massive Midianites.

They look like a locust in the valley.

You ever seen locusts?

There's no empty space between them.

And I'm reminded of what I think would have happened to John 11 when Jesus approached the tomb of Lazarus and all those people standing by and Jesus raises his hand and say, come forth.

Okay.

So you can imagine it took a little while for Lazarus to come forth.

I mean, it takes a while.

And so I can imagine, I've always said it's like a tennis match.

They're looking at Jesus, Jesus saying, come forth.

And they're looking, you know, what's going to happen here.

I mean, is there anything really going to happen?

I mean, we're talking about a guy rising from the dead after being in the grave four days, which in the Israeli mind or the Jewish mind was impossible.

Too late, he's already in the presence of wherever he is and he's not coming back.

So I imagine this kind of tennis match to Jesus, you know, then to the stone and then back to Jesus and then to the stone and we're wondering what's going to happen.

Gideon's in this valley, and I think he's looking at his 300 men, a bunch of farmers, and with no weaponry, and he's looking at them, then he's looking over to the valley, and he sees these Midianite warriors, and he's overwhelmed, as you would be.

He sees this mass of people and this 300 helpless little bunch.

Now, God is omniscient, he knows what Gideon is experiencing, so God is going to ask Gideon an interesting question.

He's gonna say, Gideon, are you afraid?

Now, wait just a minute.

You just sent 10,000 men home because they were afraid.

And now you're asking Gideon if he's afraid.

Are you afraid?

What's going on here?

I would think if Gideon says yes, God's gonna say, pack up your duds, pack up your tents, go home.

Now Gideon knows at this point that God is going to give him the victory.

He's confident of that.

But what Gideon does not know yet is God's strategy for the victory.

And God is preparing him, preparing him for what?

Gideon's going to be the attacker, the aggressor with 300 men.

Now you imagine 300 men chasing 135,000.

You don't take 300 men and attack 135,000.

You hide in the caves maybe behind the bushes and hope that things turn out well.

Gideon is ready for battle, but he does not realize yet he's going to be the aggressor, so God prepares him.

So here's what we read in verse 10.

If you are afraid to attack, ah, if you are afraid to attack, go down to the enemy camp with your servant, Purah, and listen to what they're saying.

Afterward, you'll be encouraged to attack the camp.

So our Heavenly Father knows, this is important, our Heavenly Father knows there are times we grow so discouraged.

We're trying to trust that he's building something special in us.

We're trying to obey the hard word.

But it seems to work out, at least for the moment, for the worst.

I mean, we're doing the right thing and bad things keep happening.

We're responding with faith and bad things keep happening.

Doesn't seem to be turning out the way we had expected.

We're trying to give God the victory and the glory for everything that happens.

We're allowing him to strip us of our idols, but we're so tired and weary.

We're just so tired we wanna sit down and cry.

When we see the odds are heavily stacked against us, when we see what we have here and what's over there, we think about the abuse that we've suffered at the hands of others in the course of our lives.

We think about the setbacks that we've experienced through the course of our lives, the relationship wounds that just keep mounting up.

I think most of us in our humanity start thinking, well, maybe, and this is natural, maybe I'm kidding myself.

Maybe God has left me alone to fend for myself.

Maybe there is no God.

Maybe Pastor Jeff is just a good cheerleader coach, but the fact of the matter is, his words do not represent reality.

Maybe I am on my own.

Maybe everything really is meaningless and there's no God that's watching from a distance.

There's no God involved in my life.

Life stinks and then you die.

Maybe the bumper sticker is right.

and depression sets in.

Now here's what happens.

I don't know of a better example, Old Testament narrative, of God who is loving the man who has grown weary, faint-hearted, and is disheartened.

God said, Gideon, array your army for battle.

And then he says, Gideon, do I sense a little fear in you?

Well, God, yeah, I mean, to tell you the truth, it's 450 to one.

I've done everything you've asked me to do and things seem to get worse.

Things seem to not improve.

God says, I understand.

Oh, this is beautiful.

Get your servant, Pura.

Do what I tell you to do.

I want you to go down to the enemy or the outskirts of the enemy camp.

I want you to get as close as you can and I want you to hear something.

Now remember, there are thousands of tents in the valley because there's 135,000 warriors, and God leads Gideon.

Oh, this is beautiful.

To the specific tent where God had sent Amidianite, a specific dream.

And the contents of that dream are so specifically designed by God in a way that Amidianite and Gideon both can understand.

The dream is quite amazing.

And these were people who considered or placed great worth in dreams.

Amidianite says to his friend, as Gideon and his servant, Purah, listened close to the enemy camp.

And the Midianite says, I had this crazy dream.

A loaf of barley bread came crashing down the hill, hit this tent, threw it up in the air, and the tent came crashing down.

And his friend says, what do you suppose that means?

And in verse 14, his friend responds, this can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon, son of Joash, the Israelite.

God has given Midianites, the Midianites, and the whole camp into his hands.

Now, if you're like me, and I have gone back to this passage, I have read commentary after commentary, I've even gone to Jewish rabbis and their view of the Old Testament, I've gone to scholars from the Messianic world or the world of Messianic Jews to try to discover.

You go wherever you can, what on earth is happening here?

How can you get this interpretation from this dream?

Is there something I don't see?

And the answer is nobody knows.

Nobody knows.

How is it that this barley bread rolling down and upending the tent up in the air means that God has given the Midianites into the hand of Gideon?

The point is it doesn't matter.

Gideon was so awed by what he saw and heard, you talk about God's sovereign timing, he leads Gideon to the right camp, to the right tent, thousands, 135,000 warriors, to the right tent, to the right dreamer, to the right interpreter, to hear the right words, and Gideon now knows, I'm going to be victorious.

Gideon is so pumped.

Do you know what he does?

Now remember where we are, he and Pyrrha, how close?

How close do you have to be to the enemy to hear a dream and attempt?

You're on enemy territory.

You're right there.

And yet the Bible tells us in verse 15, Gideon is so fired up when Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshipped.

He returned to the camp of Israel, called out, get up, the Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.

Remember it's a nighttime.

And Gideon is so fired up, he's like, let's go.

He's not even going to wait for God.

Let's go.

Let's go fight him right now.

Go tag.

them.

And God has to settle them down, I would suppose, and say, okay, here are your instructions.

This is so awesome.

Purah and Gideon are right next to the enemy camp and they break out into worship.

Now here's something else really cool.

The typical Hebrew word for worship is shakah, which is like proskuneo in the New Testament, the Greek word, which is kind of like the reverence bending down on your knee and thanking God.

But there's another Hebrew word, halal, or halal, which is the Hebrew word for crazy, exuberant praise, okay?

You're dancing through the streets without clothes on like David did.

Well, he had some clothes on, but well, I don't know.

He's naked in the street.

He's so excited, he's so thankful for God, he's just bearing everything.

And then you've got shabbat, which is the Hebrew word for loud praise.

The word used here, folks, in Judges, is a word that is exuberant praise.

Now you think about this, this would not be a good time to bring out the instruments and start praising God.

You're right next to the enemy camp.

If they find you, they're going to kill you.

Gideon doesn't care, and neither does his servant, Purah.

They just start praising God.

They just start singing and dancing and praising God.

You know, our team is red hot.

Your team ain't got diddly squat.

Who knows what they say, but they're so fired up and so excited, it's so beautiful.

What happens?

They don't care, because now they know.

They believe whatever happened in that dream, something happened in Gideon where he believed that he was going to be a king.

Okay.

The victory's ours.

God has given it to us.

But the bigger point is that this is such a beautiful example of how God loves a man in his time of doubt and confusion.

It's how God demonstrates this act of kindness, this sensitivity to a man who had grown faint hearted, this unconditional love to a man who is willing to be obedient, and his sovereign power at a very strategic moment, at the right place, at the right time, to encourage Gideon in the midst of the battle.

Folks, there are a few things more powerful than hearing the right word at the right time when you're about to give up.

God knows that.

I can't tell you how many times in my ministry that I was willing or ready to give up, maybe move on to another geographical location, somehow thinking that my problems wouldn't follow me.

They always do.

We had a gentleman that most of us around here call Pastor Phil.

He passed away not too long ago, but he would meet me often backstage before I would preach.

And I remember this specific occasion.

I was really, really down and really worried.

And I came back for the prayer time and Pastor Phil put his hand on my shoulder and said, I know you're under a lot of strain and pressure and I know what you're dealing with.

And I'm thinking, no, you don't.

But then he started to tell me things about myself that there's no way he could know unless God had revealed it to him.

He was special like that.

And I was in awe that God was using this pastor to speak words of truth into my life.

When I was in New Zealand, many of my friends had told me not to go and start a church in New Zealand.

It's post-Christian, it's very difficult.

You'll work hard for years and years with very little success or converts, and of course that just drove me to want to be more successful.

And there was a runner in the country by Alison Rowe.

She's a famous New Zealand runner.

She had won the Boston and the New York marathons in the same year, quite a gifted runner.

She had come to the church that we planted in the early days and we just didn't seem to be making headway.

And one day she calls and, hey, would you like to go on a run with me now, a run with me with Alison Rowe?

She's just trotting and I'm sprinting trying to keep up.

But at the end of the run, she goes, you know, I wanted to ask you to come on a run with me because I just wanted to tell you, don't be discouraged.

You have changed my life and the life of my family.

And I'm sure there are many more lives to come.

And that just kind of gave me the right word at the right time.

And I think, I know that God knows when you're on that edge, when he's gonna do his work and we need the encouragement.

It doesn't mean he's gonna stop his pressure.

He's gonna still squeeze you till the good stuff comes out.

It doesn't mean that you're gonna know everything that he's doing.

You're not sovereign, you're not omnipotent or omniscient.

God is large and in charge.

He's not going to leave us alone.

He's going to pursue us.

He is the hound of heaven.

But you know what?

In that moment when we need him most, he always shows up.

In the book of Job, I love what happens in chapter 42 and verse 5 through 6.

It's as if Job is pondering the fact.

Is God near me?

God comes and delivers a message to Job and reminds him, I am the creator designer.

I am able to take all this chaos in your life and bring beauty, pattern, and design out of it.

If God had stopped there, it would be just an intellectual argument, but he doesn't.

After he comes to him as creator, designer, he then comes to him as revealer and comforter.

So much so that Job is humbled and he says, wow, before, remember my ears had heard, I thought I knew you, but I didn't.

Now my eyes see you.

and I know who you are.

You are a comforter and revealer.

The truth is, because of God's great love for you, he will send you encouragement when you grow faint-hearted.

Now, Pastor Jeff, I know some of you are going to say, and stay with me, you're going to say, Pastor Jeff, if God spoke to me like he did Gideon, I'd be encouraged too.

You know, if some dream God said, go to the camp, go down to the camp, hear this voice, hear this dream.

Man, if God spoke audibly to me and told me to do that and that happened to me, I'd feel comfort too.

But remember, you're forgetting something.

You got something Gideon didn't have.

We're getting this concern God showed up from time to time and you never knew when.

but you and I have God living in us through the Holy Spirit.

John 14, the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I've said to you.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.

I do not give you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid.

Here we go again.

You have the Holy Spirit, but here's the question.

And I hope that you've heard me say this over the last.

15 years.

Let's bring it all together now.

What ammunition does the Holy Spirit have to speak words of encouragement to you?

Hey, do you remember the only offensive weapon in Ephesians 6 as we put on the armor every day?

Verse 17, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is what?

The Word of God.

The Word of God in us cooperates with the Spirit of God in us to speak the right word at the right time, every moment and every day of our lives, not just in one great experience through some dream, but every single day of our lives.

Paul said, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

This transformed is the word metamorpho, which is the word from which we get the English word metamorphosis.

And that reminds us of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.

And the butterfly experiences things that the caterpillar can never experience because he's morphed.

He's experienced something that has changed him from the inside out.

We are the same way.

The Holy Spirit is in you, yes, but the Holy Spirit and the Word work in conjunction to give you the right Word at the right time and the right place so that you do not become discouraged.

In the very first Psalm, David says, blessed is the one who is not walking in the step of the wicked or standing in the way of sinners.

or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is on the law, you could say word of the Lord, and who meditates on the law or the word day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither, in other words, there's no depression to death, whatever they do prospers.

Again, take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Romans 8, six, the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit, the mind governed by the Spirit, the word of God, and the mind is life and peace.

Don't you see?

Faintness of heart comes to everyone, no matter how strong you think you are.

But we have a heavenly father, our father, Abba Father, who art in heaven, Uranus, closer than the air that you breathe.

Our father knows when we become discouraged.

Unlike the gods of the world religions, the Christian God is a personal God possessing empathy for every human being.

He's involved in your life immeasurably more than you could ever hope or imagine.

And no other philosophy or religion, when you say that all religions are the same, in the kindest way I can, you're clueless.

Modern or ancient, no philosophy, no religion.

Today or in times past.

presents a caring, feeling, personal God, a loving Father who deeply loves His children and comes alongside them in their time of need.

Now here's the question in the time we have left.

How does God release that encouragement?

Now we've already hinted the word of the Lord.

The Spirit fires the right word at the right time into your life.

Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, amazing passage of Scripture.

"'For the word of the Lord is active and alive," or alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.

It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow.

It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Now, what does this mean?

The Word of God is the only thing that can go down deep, past your actions into your desires and then past your desires into your heart and your true motivation.

One of my favorite stories I've referred to often is John 21, where Christ comes to restore Peter, and he asked Peter three times, do you love me, do you love me, do you love me?

And he's trying to get Peter to admit, Peter, you don't have the unconditional love for me that I have for you.

At best, you have a friendship love, and even that's been called into question now because you've denied you even knew me.

At the end of that, the third time Jesus asked Peter, do you love me?

He asked him, are we even friends?

And Peter says something interesting.

He says, Lord, you know all things.

He knows Christ is omniscient.

You know all things.

You know that I love you.

Here's what Peter's saying.

Don't look at my actions.

I know what I did.

Look into my heart and you know.

You know in my heart I love you.

Man, that's so good.

The Spirit of God is able to look past even your failures and your actions and all your sins and knows who you really are.

And if you have the Spirit of God living in you, that Spirit is able to speak a direct word to your heart contingent upon your willingness to live a posture of life that constantly feeds on the Word of God.

There's a heavy price to pay when we are ignorant of God's revelation to us.

There's a reason Jesus established the church and formed a community of believers.

There's a reason pastors tell you to get into community where the word is being read.

I love what Peter says.

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart.

The Word of God is for your life and success.

It's for your shalom, your peace, your joy.

Now the question is, if it's the Word of the Lord, where do we find it?

And the answer is, first of all, we fight it in the house of the Lord.

Do you remember what David said in Psalm 122?

I rejoice with those who said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord.

May those who love you be secure.

May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.

For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, peace be within you.

He's saying peace within the house of the Lord.

For the sake of the house or for the sake of the house of the Lord, our God, I will seek your prosperity.

Not his prosperity.

I seek for the prosperity of the house of the Lord.

What does he mean?

David wants the house of the Lord to prosper.

Why?

Because it's a place where you hear the voice of God.

It's the place where you find rest and peace and prosperity.

There's a reason that Jesus says, there's a reason that Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, inspires the writer of the book of Hebrews to say, do not forsake meeting together in the house of the Lord.

There's a reason that pastors tell you, make weekend worship a non-negotiable in your life, because it's the vehicle through which you and I are encouraged in our most difficult times.

We're not trying to manipulate you or coerce you to come to church.

We're simply trying to save you.

The house of the Lord is where you hear the word of the Lord, but also the people of the Lord.

This is beautiful.

I mentioned a few weeks ago, I was at a very Volatile place in my own life where I was experiencing something very difficult And I was trying to get my head around it and I came to Our young adult event and there was a guy named Carlos who came over and prayed for me And I mentioned that when he prayed for me, he doesn't know me and I don't know him But when he prayed it was like God was speaking through him at that moment to give me the right word at the right time For the encouragement that I so desperately needed A lot of my friends that I've been praying for for a long time are now in the same growth group at our church.

So there's a lot of guys I've been praying for from the golf club and all around my one life and they're all in this one group now.

And I've got a photo I want to show you here on the screen.

Beautiful photo of a beautiful community of men who are encouraging each other and finally have come to the realization that you can't do life alone.

I had three men here that I was going through a difficult time, three of my friends.

They asked me to come over to their home, nine o'clock in the morning this past week.

I got there and I realized what they wanted.

They just wanted to surround me and pray for me and cover me with prayer.

They gave me a sword that I'm going to put on my office door to remind me that I'm in this good fight with you.

Together we're in this fight, but we need each other to give each other the right word at the right time when depression comes, when we're overwhelmed, when we just feel like sitting down and crying.

And let me tell you something, when you feel like sitting down and weeping, you better have friends around.

Because if not, you'll go into a deep, deep place of depression and the enemy will gain a foothold and he will come in and rob you of your joy.

But if you are not forsaking the house of the Lord and you are living life in community with those who can speak the right word at the right time into your life, listen, Acts 2 17.

In the last days, God says, "'I will pour out my spirit on all people.

"'Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

"'Your young men will see visions.

"'Your old men will dream dreams.'" The language of God occurs not only in the house of the Lord, but God does give us visions and dreams.

He helps us see things on behalf of one another so that when we're in community and there's this trust and faith that has been built, we can actually speak into each other's lives the right word at the right time given by the Holy Spirit activated in community.

Bette Midler did a song a long time ago, and the title of it was From a Distance, that God is watching from a distance.

Well, she's wrong, he's not watching from a distance.

He's closer than the air that we breathe, so close you can hear his voice.

In John 10, Jesus said, "'My sheep, listen to my voice.

"'I know them, and they follow me.'" And in John 1, we're told that in the beginning was the word, the logos.

The word was with God, the word was God, the word became flesh.

This Holy Spirit is in us, ready to speak the right word at the right time if we live a posture where the house of the Lord is a non-negotiable.

Community of friends that hold us accountable, encourage us, is part of our everyday life, and we saturate our minds and hearts with the word of God.

Philip Yancey said, "'The needle of a compass constantly turns to the north.

"'Our present thoughts go in a certain direction.

"'When we lean into our relationship with Jesus "'and our pursuit of him through word revelation, "'our thoughts will go in the direction of the Spirit, "'and he will open up a direct line of communication "'that will sustain us.' God becomes the pole star of our beings as we sense his nearness throughout the day.

through the Word of God written and proclaimed through the Word, his church, and through community, we hear the voice of God every single day.

When we become too busy or preoccupied with the things of the world, the loss is ours.

We serve a God who's a loving Father, who wants to give us every good thing, who wants to squeeze us till the good stuff comes out, who wants to shape and conform us into the image of his Son, who wants to use us for extraordinary victories, But we have a decision to make.

And that decision is that we spend our lives drawing near to God so he will draw near to us.

And we do that primarily through his word as it makes its way into our lives so that the Holy Spirit can fire it at the right time and the right place for ultimate victory.

You know, to kind of solidify this, I want to go back to a familiar story.

Dane Johnson was our men's pastor at One and All for many years.

It was Christ Church of the Valley in those days.

And if you know Dane, he's a big burly guy, you know, he's just bigger than life.

And his stories are fantastic.

You can sit and listen to his stories about his Uncle Donnie and about just his entire life growing up in Oklahoma.

It's quite a trip, quite a journey.

But my favorite story, and I want to go back and remind us because it fits so perfectly here, is when Dane told me that when his son Matt was a high school freshman at West Covina High School, he said the best way to describe Matt as a freshman was he was the Pillsbury Doughboy.

He was round, rosy cheeks, lots of flab, hadn't grown into that body yet, one big, big, soft, white marshmallow.

And Dane said he just started wrestling in middle school and believed it was the road he wanted to take, but now he's in high school as a freshman.

And so Dane said one weekend, or whether it was a weekend or not, he said, but it was a wrestling match.

The fresh sophomore matches were happening, and he expected to see Matt wrestle, even though Matt was a freshman, very good wrestler.

He said, when I arrived at the gym, and the meet was about to take place, I had a conversation with Matt, my son, and Matt said, dad, I'm wrestling varsity tonight.

Our 215 weight division participant is six, so coach asked me to wrestle in his place." And Dane said, you know, Matt didn't weigh 200 pounds.

He was underweight, under strong.

He was a 14-year-old and he was going to wrestle a 17-year-old.

That's a big difference in age gap, especially at that age.

And Matt said, or Dane said, he wasn't just wrestling.

you know, a varsity wrestler, I found out he was actually going to wrestle the defending varsity league champion.

So this was a senior now, going into a senior year versus a freshman.

This was a kid entering into puberty versus a kid with chest hair coming out of a cingulate.

This is a boy versus a man.

Dane said, I took one look at this big kid and I just began to pray, God, I pray Matt comes out of this physically and mentally intact.

Lord, don't get him injured.

Lord, don't let him lose his confidence and want to quit wrestling.

Lord, I pray for a miracle." Dane said, it would have been a miracle.

He said, I sat at the top of the stadium, as far away as I could from the match, but then my pride got the best of me.

I found myself yelling out, and if you know Dane, it didn't take him long to yell out, go freshman, come on.

He said, I wanted everybody to know this was a freshman wrestling this champion.

Hold your position, hold your ground, he shouted.

Dane wanted everybody to know, this is my son, and he's a freshman, and he's wrestling a senior.

He's a freshman.

He's a freshman.

And Dane says, the senior beat up on my boy for three periods.

He opened up a can of hurt from cross face to arm barn to chicken wing, everything but a pen.

And that was surely coming.

Ultimate insult after blatant injury, he said.

Now before the match, Matt had told Dane, his father, coach told me that my goal is just not to get pinned.

I don't have to win the match.

I just, if I can, if I get pinned, the other team's gonna get six points.

and the whole team will lose the match.

But if I can avoid the pin, the most they'll get is three points and our team will still win the overall match.

So all I have to do is not get pinned.

And coach said, just stay away from him.

And Matt, he said, if you wrestle and you don't get pinned, I'm going to give you a varsity letter.

That's big stuff coming to a freshman.

Dane said, two and a half periods sprawled out on the mat, on his belly was his son, getting thoroughly and decisively punished.

And halfway through the match, Matt managed to score five points because this guy was so in control of the match that he would take him down to get nine points just to let Matt up.

But when he did, Matt got five points.

He was just scoring points.

Now the funny thing is, says Dane, that it's hard to turn a turtle over.

Matt was so roundabout.

and flabby that when the championship wrestler tried to turn him over and pin him, he just kept rolling.

And finally, age and strength took over and Matt found himself turned over, belly up on the mat, very close to having both shoulders touching the mat, which would be a pin and a win.

Suddenly, Dane said, I couldn't resist any longer.

I started yelling, go give up!

Nothing for free!

Hang in there!

You can do it!

Never say die!

Arching his head and rocking back and forth with his shoulders getting closer and closer to the mat, running out of courage and running out of strength, Dane gets up on his feet and yells to his son, fight, fight, fight!

You can do it!

Suddenly there was a noticeable change.

Dane sent the champions trying to pull away from Matt.

Because in an effort to pin Matt, the champion wrestler got too much of his weight over to one side, it was in danger of being flipped over.

Dane, a seasoned wrestler himself, jumped out of his place at the top of the arena and ran down right next to the mat, as verbal parents would.

And he sat down and he said, stick him!

Yelling to Matt, just a few feet away.

Stick him, stick him!

Matt, using his opponent's weight, headed in the wrong direction, manages to swing him over and onto the mat.

He actually pinned the champion, but the official was out of, or the referee in this case, was out of position and didn't see it.

And then suddenly the bell goes off.

Match is over, but the referee awards Matt two points for the reversal, three points for the near fail or almost pin.

Matt ends up winning the match 10 to nine and the champion's defeated.

The crowd went crazy.

Dane laid there on the mat exhausted as if he himself had wrestled.

All the people in the stands rushed down to celebrate the victory.

Then someone shouted, whose boy is that?

And Dane said, I shouted to the top of my lungs, that's my son.

That's my kid.

That's my boy.

That's how he pops out of the crowd.

His son's or Dane's head pops out over the crowd as well.

They spot each other, they run to each other, they bear hug and fall to the ground, refusing to let go.

Dane said it's the tiredest he's ever been.

And at the same time, the happiest he's been.

Dane said after that experience, the Lord spoke to him later on when he was contemplating everything.

And through that endeavor gave him three immutable truths.

That's how I wanna end.

Number one, your heavenly Father's pulling for you and knows you're in over your head.

He knows that you're limited in your understanding of everything that's going on.

He knows you're outmatched by the circumstances of this world.

He knows you're outmatched by an opponent who wants to pin you and have you surrender and give up.

He knows that.

But second, while you're in this battle, oh, Jesus is standing at the right hand of the Father.

He's up in his chair, giving you a prevailing presence, cheering you on.

He's standing up in heaven exclaiming, don't fight or don't give up rather, fight, fight, fight, don't give up, don't give in, hang in there, you can do it.

Stick this, pin that, persevere, endure.

The victory is right around the corner, even though you can't see it, even though you can't fathom it.

Fight.

You may not see why God is allowing this to happen.

You may wonder if this is the hand of God, the hand of the enemy, or the hand of a fallen world, but none of that matters.

You will search for answers and you probably will not find them.

Your eyes may be open to your own fight nightness and you're starting to wonder if you're worthy.

Remember that you have an infinite Father in your corner.

He has made you worthy.

He is pulling for you.

He's watching you.

And your loyalty and worship in the midst of this unforeseen, unknown circumstance proves your worth and authenticity.

And the way you're hailing this wrestling match is compelling to everyone around you.

The way you live and the way you die brings people far from God into His presence forever.

And when you've won the match and completed the task, your Heavenly Father will run out on the mat and will celebrate with you and yell to the top of His voice, that's my boy, that's my son, that's my daughter, welcome, enter into your rest, good and faithful servant.

And finally, no matter how much noise and confusion is going on around you, no matter what the enemy's trying to pin you down, you'll always hear the voice of your dad.

Don't worry, you're underweight and overmatched.

Don't worry, your opponent is intimidating or even life-threatening, but I'm right here.

And greater am I in you than he that is in the world.

Fight the good fight.

Keep the faith.

Sometimes...

Extraordinary things are just around the corner.

You're so close now.

You may wanna sit and cry, and you wonder if God's given up on you, or your friends have given up.

Don't give up, don't give in.

Fight, fight, fight.

And your heavenly Father says to every one of you the same thing he said to his own son.

You are my son, you are my daughter.

I love you, I'm proud of you, keep going.

Father, thank you for the power of your word and reminding us you're for us.

Never give up, never give in.

For he who began a good work in us will complete it until the day of redemption.

You will pursue us, you will often squeeze us, Sometimes you are the hammer, the file, and the furnace.

You are the potter, we're the clay.

But thank God, the potter loves the clay.

Our Father loves us and wants us to be victorious in every endeavor.

Help us to trust you and to see the connection between the spirit of the living God in us and the word of God revealing to us the right word at the right time, essential for the victories, the greatest victories of our lives in Christ's name, amen.

Thank you for watching our sermon on our One and All YouTube channel.

If you haven't subscribed, I want to encourage you to do so and click the notifications because we're going to have a lot more content as we move forward, especially in this series.

If you haven't found it yet, but we have Unpossible Conversations where we sit down with Jeff after he records this message just to go a little more in-depth and to talk about what he wasn't able to during his messages.

So I want to encourage you find those videos.

Watch them throughout the week so that way we can help you along your faith journey.