Equipped for the Battle: Hearing, Doing, and Trusting God's Presence

here we go you know when I first heard this theme it brought me right back to when I used to play sports as a kid and I played every kind of sport and every kind of team and I played all kind of stuff but there was only ever one time I was on a team that made it all the way to the championship game that was the 1995 Filmore Raiders yeah now I can tell you about the teams we beat I can tell you that got to play in the Rose bow stadium that year I can tell you about how we just came together and all these really cool things but the reality is is I can still remember how I felt when I first played man in the beginning of the season I felt nervous the reality is I actually

felt like I wasn't good enough and I felt like I wasn't strong enough I felt like the team actually didn't need me but you know what helped me through it it was the coaches because every afternoon for five days a week we got together and we ran and then we ran and then we ran some more and then we messed around and ran some more and then we would practice offense and defense and we would do all these things but the thing that I remember most about those practices were when we had to push the sled and the sled was this kind of big thing with pads and and it it was a metal frame and and here's what we had to do we had these little kids push the sled now here's what was crazy the

coaches would stand on that sled as if it wasn't bad enough for little football players to push a sled on its own now here's the thing I don't think we push that sled very far but this is what I remember when we were tired when we were pushing and kicking in the grass and our feet were slipping our coach would yell at us dig deeper you got this push harder you can do this fourth quarter fourth quarter fourth quarter man we would just lean in and week after week our Co our coaches pushed us and guess what happened we were stronger we were better than we thought am Church many of us have similar thoughts that come into our mind that discourage us in our relationship with

Jesus we tell ourselves I'm not good enough I'm not strong enough or the church the church doesn't need me we're filling the blank but here's the good news we have a Coach and he's given us a Playbook he's told us how we can do this this is what he's telling our team today he says in Hebrews 13:20 and 21 now may the God of Peace who brought brought again from the dead our lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the Sheep by the blood of the Eternal Covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom

be the glory forever and ever amen Church the great Shepherd Jesus has equipped you with everything good that you may do his will each one of you has been called into the game not by me not by any Pastor you've been called by God we don't have to worry about whether we're strong enough because he's going to give you exactly what you need it's just like we read in second Peter 1:3 his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and

Excellence I got to get real I don't know what you came into this place with today I don't know the state of your heart right now in this moment see some of you you came in here today maybe you came in broken some of you maybe you came in carrying shame some of you maybe you came in carrying guilt maybe some of you it's self-righteousness maybe for others it's aathy or Pride I don't know the state of your heart or where it's at but what I know is when we begin to carry those things we begin to see things in our lives through the lens of this world and all of a sudden we find ourselves in places we never thought we wouldd be we we see our marriages struggling we we feel like we're failing as parents we we feel like

we're struggling in our singleness or struggling with addiction and and maybe you're just someone in here who you can't get out of the cycle of sin that you found yourself in and you're feeling hopeless and all the stress and all the weight of this life feels like it's crushing you and and the reality is you tell yourself I'm not good enough I'm not strong enough and when you're in that place how can you expect to go out there and fight for Jesus when you can barely fight for yourself I'm going to tell you how it starts with giving you the truth are you ready for the truth yeah you want to receive the truth this morning you want to believe the truth this morning here it is you are good enough you are strong enough you are

righteous not because of anything you have done it's because the one who has called you is good enough the one who has called you is strong enough the one who has called you is righteous and he is the one who gives you everything so let's go out and be the Saints we're called to be [Applause] hey I'm going to start you off in Matthew 4:1 18-22 while walking by the Sea of Galilee Jesus saw two brothers Simon who was called Peter and Andrew casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen and he said to them follow me and I will make you Fishers of Men and immediately they they left their Nets and followed him and going on from there he saw two other men he saw James and

John in the boat with zebede their father mending their Nets and he called to them and immediately they left their boat and followed him Luke 5 says after this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth and he said Follow Me Jesus and Levi got up and left everything and followed him in 2024 I believe Jes Jesus is Calling each one of us to say yes to the higher calling of following him not just going to church not just reading your Bible not just praying when you feel like it's convenient but to give up everything and to follow him we have a saying that was born recently in jurny church women's

ministry that says no one stands alone no one stands alone at joury church no one sits alone no one drinks coffee alone no one suffers alone and no one does life alone instead our hearts are to build community if you are a woman in this audience would you stand up for me I'm calling you out at this moment and I want you to remain standing because I want to be able to look you in the eyes I want you to be able to hear my voice and I want you to look around and see the army of women that God has put together here today Jesus is Calling You Jesus is calling you to something more stay standing because I believe this Army of women will be Unleashed in our community this year these women will

be Unleashed to encourage one another in the battles that we Face the battles over divorce and finances and children and aging parents weight self-esteem self-image self-doubt self-loathing addictions depression anxiety and fear sickness hopelessness or isolation the women of Journey Church you all will stand together and encourage and bring hope to one another the women of this church will battle for you they will pray for you they will put their hands on you when you are sick they will take a walk with you they will cry with you and they will laugh with you because no one stands alone ladies look around look around at the faces around you because the battle

begins with you and the equipping begins now we are starting to wage war tomorrow tomorrow we start a four-week Bible study called sacred Battlegrounds and as you heard me say last weekend if you have not signed up you must sign up today this is where the training begins this is where the equipping begins and this is where we learn to stand strong against the enemy we're going to learn how to read the god the word of God so it transforms us we will learn how to have an intimate and Powerful relationship with Jesus and we will learn how to defeat the enemy as he wants to lure us into battle for our hearts our souls our minds and our strength I am calling you ladies each one of you into battle

today for each of you standing as you close as as I close I want you to look around and I want you to reach out and grab the hand of a woman next to you to you here's what I know to be true we are all fighting battles as Ryan talked about we may look put together we may look like we've got our stuff together and we've got Smiles on our faces but I will tell you what's in on the surface does not often indicate what's in our hearts the battle is upon us you don't know what the woman next to you was going through you don't know the battle she's facing you don't know what she's going home to you don't know the strugg she will face this week and you don't know the addictions that she battles we have all got our stuff ladies

and it's time to be relentlessly real at joury church as children of God as a community of women we are going to follow him lock arms with the women around you and believe and be Unleashed be Unleashed to find Hope in community be Unleashed to find a deeper more intimate relationship and faith in Christ be Unleashed to love with compassion because at Journey Church ladies no one stands alone today right now in this sacred moment I asking each one of you to say yes to Jesus and to follow him in this new year are you ready to say yes are you ready to lay aside the desires of

your heart are you ready to say let it say set aside your own agenda and say yes to Jes Jesus because when you do it means you are ready to battle and you are ready to fight and I am going to stand right there with you in the midst of this fight finally ladies be encouraged by Isaiah 41 do not fear for I am with you do not be dismayed for I am your God I will strengthen you and I will help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand all who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced those who oppose you will be as nothing and will perish though you search for your enemies you will not find them those who wage war against you will be nothing at

[Applause] all wow wow wow guys that was amazing now you've heard about being equipped through Jesus and through the word of God but Journey Church I want to stress to you the importance of hearing the word of God and doing the word of God now Jesus said for those who hear these words of mine and do them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock where the rain fell and the floods uh came in and the winds blew and it be on that house but it did not fall because it had been founded on the Rock and today that's what we're going to do so note takers those in the room I want you to write something down super quick

I'm gonna go real quick point one hear God's word point two do God's word all right so let's dive in1 do go or hear God's word Ecclesiastes 51 says guard your steps when you go to the house of God to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools for they do not know that they are doing evil so listening is a huge part of our walk with Jesus and I believe God is always speaking to his people ready to give us Direction and wisdom when we ask for it but actually we'll do ourselves a disservice in the asking if we do not first draw near to Jesus after all it's actually hard to hear someone when you're far away from them or you ignore them it's like when you're trying to grab your child's attention and that

this habit of ignoring you grows and no they no longer hear you it's called selective hearing Journey Church don't do that don't have selective hearing with God where he tries to get your attention and he can't you don't hear him don't do it listen listen to his voice draw near and be attentive to it uh this is what James tells us this should be the first thing we ought to do when Temptations come and questions arise James 1:19 says know this my beloved Brothers let every person be quick to hear slow to speak and slow the anger this is not just with people in our lives but with the Lord as well be quick to hear it is important that we develop our ear to the spirit of Jesus Christ but it only comes through

intimacy and humility you must protect your daily appointment with Jesus in prayer this appointment is going to be the foundation on which your relationship grows with him where you will develop your ear and discern his voice from all others in this world you must also come to hear his voice with a posture of humility right after James talks about being quick to hear and slow to speak he says to put off all wickedness James 1:21 says therefore put away all filthiness and rampid wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your soul sin it's an obstacle to hearing from God if it goes unconfessed then it's actually going to hinder your time with him and it may even seem like his voice is now muffled to

you now now protect it because intimacy with the Lord is more not not more about length of time but it's actually about the quality of time spent with him protect it choose the hear with a posture of humility now point two do God's word now hearing from God and His word is amazing and it builds you up and it builds up the church as a whole as well but it's not beneficial if you do not put it into practice you are meant to be a light in the world bringing the good news in the G the good news in the Gospel of Jesus we're not meant to just hear from God and then hold it in we have to put it into practice and do James 1:22 through2 says this be doers of the word and not

hearers only deceiving yourselves for if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like but the one who looks into the perfect law the law of Liberty and perseveres being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts he'll be blessed in his doing so you must tell others about him you must share what he's doing in your life journey be a doer of his word failing to do his word was is to miss his plan and his purpose for our lives there's no benefit in hearing something that God has told you to do and you don't do it

this may be harsh for a second but if God has told you the right thing to do and you do not do it that's called Disobedience that is actually sin James 4:17 says whoever knows the right thing and fails to do it it is sin be obedient a friend of mine shared this thought with me uh once and it still hits me hard to this day talking about this very subject he goes on to say if you say no to God then he must not be Lord if you say no to God then he must not be Lord in your life so when Jesus is Lord in your life you can't help but be obedient to the call so when you do God's word but not if but when you do do

it all the time in times of Affliction I got 28 seconds here so guys put this into practice real quick here's this one verse James 127 says religion that is pure and undefiled before God is the or visit the orphans and the widows in their Affliction keep yourself on stand from the world and Journey Church go here with a heart full of love go and do the word of God [Music] [Applause] Amen they're all doing good right everybody raise your right hand everybody do it all right everybody okay you just enlisted for the Army all right thank you Israel has over almost its entire history had to fight war after War battle after battle right we can turn on

the TV today and we see they're in the middle of a war uh it seems that throughout history people have hated the people of God people have hated and come against Israel yet today they still exist they still are number one news story every day but today I want to focus on their first war I want to focus on their very first battle we're going to be in Exodus chap 17 but it's this this time where they were hardly even a nation yet they had said yes but they weren't trained for war they weren't trained for battle uh in fact they had just come out of slavery out of Egypt after 400 years all they knew was how to make bricks all they knew was how to say yes sir no sir all they knew was this but in the days preceding they watched the plagues they watched the sea part they

watched uh Moses hit a rock and and and and water came gushing they saw mana come just in the days that that seeded and almost immediately an army came against them the army of amalec saw an opportunity to take down a people only recently freed and they were not prepared to go to war but Exodus 17:8 says then amalec came and fought with Israel at refidim so Moses said to Joshua choose for us men to go out and fight with AMCs tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God say staff of God staff of God in my hand Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with amch while Moses Moes Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill whenever Moses held up his hand Israel prevailed and whenever he lowered his hand amalec prevailed but Moses's hands grew weary

so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it while Aaron and her held up hands one on one side and the other one on the other side so his hands were steady until the going down in the Sun and Joshua overwhelmed amalec and his people with the sword amen the staff of God is important here because represents the power and the presence of God in our lives especially in a battle that seems like an impossible situation it was not a magic staff it was not not anything with special powers of its own but it symbolized the power of God all right over and over Moses was instructed to use this staff to display the mighty power of God and it was the same staff that Moses used that turned into a serpent okay it was the same staff that turned the waters uh in Egypt to blood

it was the same staff that caused the plague of frogs it was the same staff that struck the ground and the dust became a plague of gats it was the same staff that at the command of God he waved over to the Sea and the Sea parted it was the same staff that God told Moses to hit the rock with and water came forth the staff of God represented the presence of God so it is with the presence of God that these Israelites though untrained and with few weapons were Unleashed as an army you just signed up today all right but I want to tell you something it wasn't because of them it it wasn't the battle was not won on the battlefield the battle was won on the hillside right because if the if the hands went down oh sorry Bob right but

the hands went up it was go God right it was that that idea that that this is not so much about our own skill our own gifts it's about what God does with us all right and so we truly need to be tapped into our commanderin-chief God right we need Jesus in our lives we say it all the time here it's all about Jesus it truly is we give you tools we try to do things that that help you to find that place where where uh you can grow in your faith you've heard about it but rooted starts a week from Tuesday sign up today when you get home from church okay you will not be sorry because we are going to equip you but guess what whether you are equipped or not the battle is already started do you believe that the Bible says our enemy prows Al around looking to steal kill

and to destroy what is he trying to do it's you so you are already in a battle and some of you might have noticed it already you've see you see the battle in your home in your marriage in your kids in your school in your workplace you see it all over the place the battle is already started you just haven't decided to fight yet but you have already been equipped because you already have God you have the staff of God already built into your life because he wants to do something great here's how I know that Israel learned something great in Exodus chapter 33 it goes on it's just a couple chapters after where we were uh they arrive at SI and it was here that Moses climbed the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments and he was up there for a while so the people decided to throw a party build some idols and sin greatly okay which is badly right and Moses came

down and you you remember the story it was a bad scene and and many died that day and God said you know what you guys go ahead and take the promis land I'll send an angel with you but I'm not going but I saw something new this week and it said I will have the angel drive out all your enemies you will be able to take the land and I thought about that that is crazy because that's such a good deal they're still fighting their enemies today but had they said yes to go without God and take the angel the angel would drive out their enemies but guess what they mourned in fact in in Genesis uh excuse me Exodus 33:15 it says Moses cried out to God if your presence will not go with me do not bring us up from here we abs absolutely people need God our commanderin-chief in our life leading Us in every battle that we experience okay that is the key to

victory that is the only way I don't care how equipped you are how many weapons you have God is the answer we absolutely need him in our lives we need him with us um if you have any questions see God Amen you were once dead in your trespasses and your sin you followed this world which knows nothing about living you were asleep and stagnant but God but God being rich in his Mercy because of his immeasurable love for you saved you embraced you and by his grace set you apart as his Saint and you are

alive together with Christ he has called you out of Darkness and into His Marvelous Light he has called you Ephesians 2:10 says we are his workmanship his Masterpiece created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them you are chosen he chose you before the foundation of the earth and when you heard the word of truth and you believed in Jesus is Lord he sealed you with the promise the person the Holy Spirit God's spirit within you he

rescued and redeemed you from the power of Darkness into his kingdom of light he removed the authority of sin over your life you are worthy of redemption I will say that again you are worthy of redemption you are not defined by your Brokenness what's been done to you or what you've done your identity is in Jesus Christ you are a child of God and you are chosen for his good works you are a new creation set apart to live out his kingdom here on Earth together church we are his Saints chosen we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to reveal his kingdom to this crooked and twisted

generation friends Jesus himself says in Luke 17 the kingdom of God is not something you can see people will not say look here it is or there it is because the kingdom of God is within you it's in your midst and it's already among you our gaze is on his kingdom and our hope is on his eternal promises this means fruitful work despite our Brokenness and our circumstances it means setting our minds on things above and not the power patterns of this world it's time chur Church to believe what he says is true about you and the power that's within you it's time to stop saying you're a Christian and actually live like a Christian the Apostle Paul

represented this so well you see through Paul's hardships he relied on the faithful prayers of the Saints and the power of the Holy Spirit within him so that everything he did for Jesus would be done in and through him Paul was an ordinary guy yet chosen for Extraordinary purposes and I believe so are you through your struggles and your sufferings you can know the outcome of a life well-lived for Jesus in fact your circumstances may be the very thing that Jesus wants to use to magnify and glorify him to a world that desperately needs the hope that's within you he will use your story for his glory because

that's our God and if like Paul your life is to be Christ Church we live not ashamed yet with eager expectation we live full of Hope and courage we are no longer wandering Exiles we are fruitful in our labor as we build his kingdom and transform this city right here on Earth we cannot Slumber and we cannot sleep we must take our gaze off ourselves and place it on him it must be on him wake up wake up you are not here to be entertained self-seeking you are not here to cancel or be content you are not here to live a stagnant mundane life because Jesus has too much for you to

sit idle and live in these distractions you are alive with the same power that Rose Jesus from the the grave so live like it act like it be renewed in the power of your m in the spirit and the power of your mind devote yourself to the teachings of gods abide in Jesus and be his image bearers he's using you in what he's building and what he's building is eternal Jesus is not done with you Church you are called to Abundant Living he's commanded you to seek and to save the lost to follow him to repent to be faithful to be full of joy to make disciples to pray to give to be characterized by love joy and humility to have compassion and mercy and honor to forgive to take courage to

receive and be filled with the Holy Spirit to walk in obedience to preach the gospel to worship God in spirit and Truth to hear his voice and church to Rejoice every time a Salvation is claimed to stop sinning to shine his light to understand scripture to honor your parents to honor your marriage to to endure till the end to uh seek his uh sorry to take up your cross to cry out to God to be free from his Affliction to earnestly seek his gifts to build this church to believe in his miracles to avoid all false teachers to love and to PR

come [Applause] on these people dropping dimes up here Revelation 12:17 says that the dragon became Fierce with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her Offspring on those who keep the Commandments of God and hold Jes testimony this is a snapshot of the war raging for The Souls of humanity started in Genesis chapter 3 and we'll go through through Revelation 20 and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the leg of fire now we know they overcame him the Devil by the blood of the lamb and of his their testimony so if there is an overcoming is it possible there could be a losing if we miss the principles of war in the Kingdom Jesus says Matthew 16 I will give the Keys of the Kingdom to you whatever you loose will be loose whatever you bind will be

bound he also said seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and these things will be added unto you the problem is that we tend to want all these things more than God's kingdom God's kingdom might look different than I think from John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of it there is an aggression in God's kingdom against the kingdom of darkness don't find it surprising when you find yourself in a battle some of us are still fighting the war of opinion and we've forgotten the enemy is fighting for your families some of us are playing for clicks but the enemy is Playing for Keeps but here's what I know the kingdom of God is the kingdom of the

forgetful well what do you mean 1 Corinthians 1 Paul said I thank God that I baptized none of you except Christus and gas so that no one may say you're baptized in my name oh I did baptize also the hospit of stefanus beyond that I don't even know who I baptized see Paul couldn't remember because that wasn't the point he knew that when I focus on what I've done I forget what Jesus has done the kingdom of God can't be the kingdom of me so when John in third John 1:9 writes of a man named dehes who loves to be first he's seeing a problem say when I want to be first Jesus can't be and when you enlisted as a soldier of of the cross a moment

ago the kingdom of God now has to become the kingdom of forget about me when I have that heart of the Kingdom then I can begin to fight with the weapons of the Kingdom Paul tells us second chapter 10 for though we walk in the flesh we're not Waging War according to the flesh for our weapons have of our Warfare are not of the flesh they have divine power to destroy strongholds the problem is some of us are taking Earthly weapons to fight spiritual battles and it's like taking a BB gun to war today I want to give you four weapons weapon number one is forever and always the truth the immediate after Paul writes about spiritual weapons he says we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion rais against the knowledge of

God and we take every thought captive to obey Christ these arguments against the knowledge of God are the strongholds of the enemy and rooted in the lies he believed from the devil now we know this is true because Jesus said of the devil in John 8:44 when he lies he speaks his native language where he's a liar and the father of Lies so everything the devil says is a lie if that's true we tear down his strongholds which wore against the lies with the truth what Jesus said John 8:32 and know the truth and the truth will set you free so weapon number one is the truth not emotions not feelings not opinions not YouTube not my preferences but the

absolute unchanging truth of God rooted in his word now Paul goes on he says we think every thought captive to obbey Christ being ready to punish every Disobedience when your obedience is complete weapon number two is my obedience see he has permission to deal with the roots of my sin when I confess and turn from my sin until I choose obedience I will continue to be saddled by the Yoke of slavery weapon number three could go by a few names I'm going to call it the language of warfare some might call it a prayer language others might call it the gift of tongues Paul says Romans 8:26 the spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know what to pray for as we ought but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings

too deep for Words there are time times I don't know how to pray but this weapon is engaged and the spirit intercedes through me it's the language of warfare weapon number four is simply God's glory I don't understand it all but when God gets the glory god fights the battle when God gets the glory god fights the battle Exodus 14 tells us the story of the Israelites and their deliverance from Egypt they're stuck at the Red Sea Pharaoh behind them Moses tells the people don't be afraid stand firm you see the Deliverance the Lord will bring you today the Egyptians you see today you'll never see again the Lord will fight for you you only need to be still and then God says to Moses I will gain

Glory through pharaoh and all his army through his chariots and his Horsemen Egyptians you know know that I am the Lord when I gain Glory through Pharaoh when God gets the glory god fights the battle so from John the Baptist till now the King has been forcefully advancing and the forceful men lay hold of it this is the kingdom you were destined for one that advances and changes the city one battle at a time