Be Watchful - Stand Firm & Act Like Men: Wk 2

Let's go, church. If you got your Bibles, and I hope you do, we're going to end up in First Peter chapter 5. It'll take me a couple of minutes to get there, but when men stand firm and act like men, everything goes better. And this sermon has the potential to have one of the greatest impacts of any sermon I've ever preached. Not because of the sermon, because this isn't about you. It's about what God wants to do in and through you. I hope you realize that.

So, we're in the second week of this series called Stand Firm and Act Like Men. You guys know that it's rooted in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, 13 and 14. The hub of the middle of this wheel is act like men. The imperatives around it are how we are to be these kind of men. So, it says this: be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all that you do be done in love.

That first imperative is to be watchful. This is actually a military term. Some translations translate it to be on guard, to be alert, to be on watch. For those of you that have served us in the military, first and foremost, thank you very much. But military and first responders, you know this. If you are on watch, that means you are put in a place, put in a position, and your role is not about you. Your role is to defend some other people that need you to defend them. And you've heard me talk about this a million times. Ladies and gentlemen, we are at war. That we have an enemy and he's a thief. He's trying to take something that's not his. And the only thing that he wants to do is kill, steal, and destroy. And when God anointed and appointed you to be men, he has appointed us to be providers and protectors. That we are called to stand on that wall, which means that we're at war. That the enemy is trying to take you out, men. Why? Because if he can take out the defender, then by definition, then the people that are most vulnerable that we know and love the most, they will be defenseless. In fact, most of the pain that is experienced in this room is because some man didn't do what he was supposed to do. I hope you realize that. One of the biggest hindrances to people understanding and knowing who God is is the pain that was caused by, a lot of times, their dad. Some man did not do what he was supposed to do. And so we are to watch out, to stay alert, to be on guard.

Now, when I think about what it means as a man to be the watchman on the wall, a scene comes to mind for me that there's a courtroom. Colonel Jessup is sitting there and you hear these words: "Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's going to do it? You. You, Lieutenant Weinberg. I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have that luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saves lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth, 'cause deep down in places that you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just say thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand on post. Either way, I don't give a darn what you think you're entitled to." And then Tom says, "Do you he he asked for the truth?" Remember this. And you you can't handle the truth. You you remember this?

Now, if you're looking for it in the Bible, you're not going to find it there. Men, we were created to be on that wall. We have been called to watch out on that wall. This is what Paul means when he tells men, "Watch out. Be on alert. Your own watch because we are at war." I'm so glad that we did child and family dedication. We picked it on purpose because I want you to hear this, man. Every time there's a great move of God, the enemy tries to take out a generation of children, especially young boys. You realize this? And what would you do, man? What would you do if somebody literally broke into your house and tried to take your kids? You would do whatever it takes. I heard shoot them. Praise God. That's what you do. Shoot them in the face. Would you call 911 if they're bringing something to clean up with? Yes. Amen. Amen. The first responders around here will be like, "Please do. All right. You'd help us out." Don't you realize it's happening every single day? But when we are not on guard, when we are not on watch, then it's like the enemy comes in and is just taking families, breaking them apart, taking kids out. And a bunch of men got to get off their blessed assurance and say, "Not on my watch."

Listen, for the next few years, one of the things that we're going to lean heavily into in this church is that we're not talking down to the upcoming generation. We are speaking life into them. Listen, if you are 18 and under, so if you're under 19, if you're 18 and under, I want you to stand up right now at all of our services, at all of our campuses. I want you to stand up. 18 and under. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Stay standing. Okay, stay up. Yeah, look around. Listen, the whole front three rows at St. John, just stood up. You got it. Listen to me, man. We are so for you. I want you to look around at all these people and all this influence and all these old people. Look at these old people next to you. Okay? We live in a world that's lying to you. We live in a world that's trying to beat you down. We're living in a world that wants to kill, steal, and destroy you. But not on our watch. We are here for you. I believe God has a purpose for you and a plan for you. And I believe this upcoming generation is going to be one of the greatest generations, 'cause God is rising up an army of world changers. And 11:22 is going to be the place that launches you into this world to push back darkness. We love you. We're fighting for you. And we will stay on that wall for your sake. Amen, church. Amen. You can sit down. Take a lot of notes. Let's go.

So, we've got an enemy. He wants to kill us. Men, my friend Josh Albertan says the birthmark of the Christian is a bullseye. Especially if you're a man. Especially if you're a dad. Especially if you have been given shepherding responsibilities. Why? Because if he can take out the shepherd, then the sheep run away. So, here's what you got to pay attention to in 1 Peter chapter 5. That's where we're going. 1 Peter chapter 5. I'm going to pick it up in verse 6. And in the context here, Peter is talking to the men of the church. And the reason I know this is because he says, "So I exhort the elders among you." And so he's talking to the men who are elders. And then everybody in the church, he's talking about you should live your life in such a way where you could aspire to be qualified to be an elder. So this is what he's talking about in the church. He's talking to the men. And then he says these words, 1 Peter chapter 5:6: "Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. Casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be sober minded. Be watchful." That's our word right there. Be on guard. Be on watch. Be alert. For your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. And when he says amen, this is let it be so. This is what he's saying.

Now, here's what I want you to see here. What Peter is doing is Peter knows the schemes of the enemy. Peter knows the methods of the evil one. And they're pretty common among men. And so what Peter does is Peter gives us like the photo negative of how men ought to act and behave so that they could win the war against the enemy so that we could keep our position on that wall. Again, why? Because the enemy is trying to take you out. And if he can take you out, then the women, the children, the people that are most vulnerable, they will by definition be defenseless. And so here are I see in this text I see five things that most often take men off that wall. You see, here's what's crazy about the Bible, man. This is not simply a 2,000-year-old document. It's not an old book. It's a timeless book. The Bible doesn't just tell you what happened. It tells you what always happened because it is a revealed word of God. Here are five things that take men out and how we men, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are to war against it.

The first thing is this. The first thing that often takes men out is pride. Pride. Now, let me tell you what happened in those of us that struggle with pride. You just thought of somebody else. I'm gonna send this to my brother-in-law. That son of a gun. He needs to. Peter says this: "Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you." Pride is when you don't trust God to exalt you, so you think you have to do it. That's what pride is. Pride is simply thinking too highly of ourselves. Paul says in the book of Romans, you should not think too highly of yourself. You see, pride is when you compare yourself to everybody else instead of comparing yourself to the holy, magnificent, almighty God. Pride is when you think the world is about you. Pride is when you see a group photo and your eyes immediately go to who? You. And you determine if the picture is good or not based on you. And no one admits it. No one admits it. It's one of the hardest things to see in the mirror when you're prideful because you like what you see. And men, we're the worst. We just think about ourselves. We think the world revolves around us. C.S. Lewis says that pride is the granddaddy of all sins. That it was pride that got the devil of hell kicked out of heaven. We've talked about this in the worship of war series. That Lucifer was the angelic choir leader. He was dressed in or made of gems. God was a source of light and the light was refracted and reflected through Lucifer. And one day he got tired of being looked through and he wanted to be looked to. And he said, "I want to sit on that throne." And God cast him out like lightning. So let me ask you fellas, are you prideful? And I know you're like, "Well, I mean, I, you know, maybe a little." What a prideful thing to say? There's some questions. Do you seek credit? Like, do you have to have credit? You know, like when you're at work and you know it was your idea that pushed the thing through and you're just waiting for them to say your name. That's pride. Do you have a problem complimenting other people when you know that you were responsible for the deal? How about this one? Do you require a thank you and are you put off when you don't get one? You know how easy it is for me to write these questions because it's me. Listen, every single one of. Don't say amen on the front row here. Every single one of us live on a continuum between gratitude and entitlement. Here's what struck me one day. Like my work love language is gratitude. I love it when people I work with are grateful about what we get to do. And then one day I realized I'm entitled to gratitude. Uh oh. I expect everybody to say thank you. Well, that's all about me. Do you require a thank you? If I were to scroll through your social media, does it tell the story of the greatness of God or does it tell the story of the greatness of you? Do you always have to be right? See, this thing is rooted in pride. Well, the antidote is humble yourself. Do you realize that humility is not a feeling? That humility is a posture. That's it, man. Humility is not a feeling. Humility is it's like working out. You could have great intentions about going to the gym, that's not going to do anything for you. You actually have to reposition your body there for something to go different. Humility is that way. Humility is bending the knee before God. Because the reality is is you will be humble or you will be humbled. The Bible says every knee will bow. This is great, man. If you bow your knee in humility to Jesus and say, "I'm not the boss of me. I submit and surrender to you. You are the boss of me." Then one day you will be lifted up when he returns. If you do not bend your knee to Jesus as Lord and King, then when he returns, you will bend your knee, pee your pants a little bit, and you will be humbled. Period. And there will not be this one. I'm going to ask Jesus question. No, you ain't. You're going to fall on your face, wet your diaper, and say, "Please don't kill me." And he's going to send you to hell. That's what is going to happen. So, you will be humble, you will humble yourself or you will be humbled. Man, God has given us the antidote to humility. And one of them is this, or the antidote to pride, which is humility. And one of them is worship, worship, worship, worship. Nothing is more humbling than to say, "I'm not the point." That when we worship God, it's anti-pride. Because here's what we're saying. Ain't singing to me. I just want to speak the name of Jesus, not my name, not your name. And when some of you are like, "Well, I don't like that song." I don't care, cupcake. We ain't singing to you. That's actually the point. This ain't karaoke. We ain't doing Top 40. There's no voting. That is not what we do. Every single time we get together and we declare Jesus is Lord, we're also saying, "And I am not." And we're also telling the devil of hell, you can go back to the lake of fire you were created for. 'Cause I know you wanted to sit on his throne, but you don't get to. We ain't singing songs to you, okay? We're only singing to the name of Jesus, men. Part of the reason you don't sing is 'cause you're prideful. Part of the reason you don't lift your hands is because you're worried about what other people will think about you. You're prideful. Part of the reason you don't get your butt down here to the altar and fall on your face in humility and repentance is because you're more concerned about what somebody else thinks, and that's called pride. And it could take you off that wall. Humble yourself. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. You see, sometimes we stand before God instead of just submit and surrender to him. You realize that's what Job does. I read, I've read the book of Job this week just because of some events going on in my friend's life. At the end of the book of Job, Job wants to put God on trial. You should read it. He says, "God, I want you to stand here. I got some questions for you." God takes it for a second and then he says this: "Gird up your loins and take this like a man." And for the next three chapters, God begins to ask Job questions like, "Oh, Job, you got opinions? That's adorable. Let me just ask you a couple questions there, Job. Where were you when I established the foundations of the earth?" Job's like, "Well, yeah. I mean, you know, I'm like 30, right?" He's like, "Do you know where I store up the snow? Do you know when the next lightning strike's going to happen? Like, by my power I hold things together. Job, you can't lick your own elbow. So what was your question again?" That's what he says, kind of. Yeah. You see, when when we're filled with pride, it's because we have our eyes not fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. We have our eyes fixed on ourselves. The best way to get your eyes off yourself is to humble yourself and worship God.

One of the things that takes men out, pride. Another thing that takes men out is worry and anxiety. Look at verse seven. He says, "Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you." Cast all of your anxieties on him because he cares for you. This is a classic devil move. You see, everything God creates, the enemy corrupts. And so God gives to manhood. He gives us men responsibility to subdue and cultivate. And so like I'm responsible at work. I'm responsible for my family. And then the enemy comes in and takes responsibility and then he changes it to worry and anxiety. You see, when we worry, when we're anxious about things, it's because we think we actually are in control of these things. That's what begins to happen. And we hide behind this idea that I'm just trying to provide for my family. But in actuality, what's happened is you've made work an idol because you're so concerned that your validation is going to happen at work. You see, worry is simply this. Worry is just misplaced faith. That's what worry is. Worry and fear are first cousins. You get this? That worry and fear are looking into the future. And if you think you are in control, of course, you're going to be worried. Faith is looking into the future and seeing that God still has the whole world in his hands. That he's a good dad and he knows how to take care of his kids, even you. So, let me ask you, do you struggle with worry and anxiety? Are you worried? What are you worried about? Another question to ask is, what can you really do about it? I mean, listen, when Jesus is teaching, he's like, "Look at the birds. Look at the flowers. If God's taking care of birds and flowers, don't you think he can handle your life? Don't you think he can handle your 401k and the job market?" You see, because what you're doing is you are putting your trust in you. And when you do that, you will not be able to sustain you. Are you putting your faith in your circumstances or the sovereign savior over your circumstances? And so, what do you do if you're worried? What do you do if you're anxious? Well, I've got good news. The Bible addresses it directly. Peter says, "Cast your anxieties on him because he cares for you." The word cast means to throw, to chuck. And I was in a disciple group a bunch of years ago and this young man said, "I think the problem is we don't cast our cares on Jesus like they're talking about. We cast our cares like a rod and reel." Like we come to the altar and we cast our cares on Jesus. Lord, I just want I just want to cast this on you. And then we reel that worry back in, put it in our pocket, and take it back to our seat with us. Don't do it that way. Paul has a direct message. If you're worried in Philippians chapter 4, beginning in verse 6, Paul says, "Be anxious for nothing." I love if Paul was a counselor. Oh my gosh. That's why I don't do counseling because I fall under the Apostle Paul type of counseling. Can you imagine going to a meeting with Paul? Paul's like, "What's your problem?" Well, I'm worried and I'm anxious. He's like, "All right, step one. Ready? Don't see you next week." How does that work? That doesn't work, Paul. I mean, I'm That makes me more anxious than four times with four different words. He says, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to use your anxiety and your worry as a trigger for you to go to God instead of you diving deeper into yourself." That's what he says. He says, "Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Let me put it down on dummy talk 11:22 style. Ready? You worried? Pray, pray, pray, pray. That's what he says. He just uses all the words for it. Prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, requests made known to God. The first pastor that hired me out of seminary, he used to say this to me, Dr. Bill Ross. He said, 'If you're going to pray, why worry? And if you worry, why pray?' That worry is just anti-prayer. That prayer is taking the circumstances that have you stirred up and saying, "God, I need help with this and I trust you." And worry is taking the circumstances that got you stirred up and saying, "Give me that, God. I got this." That's what it is. So pray. And then look at the promise. He says, "Pray, pray, pray, pray, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Have you ever met somebody that's walking through a thing that would be your worst nightmare? You know what I'm talking about? And you look at them and you're like, "I don't even know how you're upright." And they'll usually go, "Me either. Me either." But what's happening is the personification of what Paul said. Why? Because they they did the thing the thing that they were most worried about. They were most anxious of that thing happened. Their worst nightmare. And so what did they do? How did they respond? They came to God through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. They made their request known to God. And the peace of God that transcends understanding. Which means this doesn't even make sense on paper. The diagnosis came in, the loved one was lost, she left, whatever the thing is, and I don't know how to explain it, but I know the one that does. And it's almost like the creator of the universe is guarding my heart and guarding my mind in Christ Jesus. And the reason it doesn't make any sense to the rest of us, I've told you this before. Jesus says, "Don't worry about tomorrow." You stick with right now. You stick with the day. Why? Because new mercies come in the morning. And he's going to give you the mercy that you need every morning for the day that you're facing. And if you're worried about what might happen then, you don't have the mercies that will sustain you now. So fellas, are you worried? Are you anxious? In about 30 minutes, I'm going to invite you to come down here and cast it on him. Please don't let the first one, pride, take you out on the second one, worry and anxiety.

How about be a man and get down here on your knees and say, "God, I need help." The third thing, this is not a complete list. You know, there's all kind of things that take men out, but here's the five that Peter's going to talk about. The third one that he mentions is this: laziness and abdication of responsibility. Grown men were not supposed to be sitting on their couch just having a few beers, smoking weed. That's not what you were made for. Just with your amp in the living room playing guitar. That's not That's not what God has created you for. Now, we live in a world that has a relentless pursuit of comfort. I hope you realize that. It is antithetical to the calling of God on a man's life. Laziness and abdication of responsibility takes men out. Peter says, "Be sober minded. Be watchful." Some of you just need to be sober. Period. You just got to start there. Listen, man. We're in a war. Soldiers don't get to do that and go to battle. We're like athletes running a race. There's a bunch of things we just say no to because we're in this race and we got to throw off anything that hinders or entangles us. Be soberminded and be watchful. Be on watch. You got to wake up, men. Are you lazy? Are you just pursuing a comfortable life? That is not a biblical value. We are supposed to be taking the good news of the gospel to the very ends of the earth, to every tribe, to every tongue, to every nation. We're supposed to be dedicating our entire life to God, to love him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength, and then loving our neighbors as ourselves. No Christian man should be lazy or bored. If you were lazy, if you were bored, you were completely out of step with what the king has commissioned us to do. You got to get in the game. Are you lazy? Do you need to wake up? Let me ask you some questions. What are the distractions in your life? Are you more consumed with your hobby than your responsibilities, with your calling, with your family mission? What are some things God has called you into, but you're avoiding them because it's hard? If you want to be a Christian, man, you got to do hard things. Do you know what it means to be a follower? This is not a trick theological question. You just follow the leader. I mean, should you just go where he goes? Where did Jesus go? The cross. Anything comfortable about that? No. And then he says, "You want to be my follower?" Cool. All you got to do, die to yourself daily, pick up your cross, and follow me. I mean, I talk about it all the time, but when did David's life go to utter hell? It's in the time of year when the kings went to war. David abdicated his responsibility and he was a lazy man sitting on the couch because he thought he had earned the time off. And then he makes a series of decisions and everything goes bad. So, what do you do? Something. Some of you just men, you got to do something. You got to get off your blessed assurance and you got to get in the game. You could serve. How about that? That's a good idea. You want to fight for this upcoming generation, serving kids, serving students. Go on that mission trip. Get into the advancement of the kingdom of God. You see C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, he says, listen, our problem as human beings is not that our dreams are too big, our dreams are too small. That the King of the universe has offered us a vacation, a calling at the beach, and we are just satisfied with far too little in the shiny things of this world. Listen, I got a text from Dr. Paul, one of our elders today, 'cause he's going to Maloi, not Maui. Maloi. Google it. You don't even know where it is. He wants to start a medical clinic there. He's 91 years old. So tell me your excuse again. Listen, one of the biggest fights I ever got into with the elders is out of very pure hearts. The elders came to me and they're like, "Hey, I need you." They said, "We need you to talk to Dr. Paul because he won't listen to anybody, but maybe he'll listen to you and he needs to slow down and maybe not go on so many mission trips." And I was like, there's no way I'm having that conversation with Dr. Paul. Why are you afraid he's going to die? He's 91 years old. He's going to die. Don't you think he wants to go out swinging out in the mission field somewhere pouring it out? What are you going to just get comfortable? Comfort has killed more grandpas than almost anything else. I hope you realize that. Get in the game, man. I hope and pray I'm half the man Dr. Paul is. See, we live in a world that just just wants you to pay too much attention to yourself. My gosh, men, get in the game. Don't be lazy at home. You were called to subdue and cultivate. You will be held accountable. I will be held accountable for the heart, soul, mind, and strength of my wife and my children. So don't give all of your attention to work and then give your family the leftovers. No, no, no, no. They are your first church and your first priority. Husbands, I and listen, I need to get way better at this. A confession. If I have to be a black belt at everything I teach, it'd be very limited sermon material. Okay? So I got to get better at this, too. But husbands, pray over your wives out loud. You want to get in the game? We don't have the opportunity anymore to fight off the grizzly bears on the homestead to just display our love for them. You realize that? But you know what we do have the ability to do is to fight on our knees against the devil of hell as he comes to steal, kill, and destroy our wife and our children. Husbands, pray out loud over your wife. And and I know what some of you are like, "Well, I ain't a good prayer. Biggest word I know is delicatesscent. Don't know how to work it into discernment." All right, Leroy, let me help you out here. Okay, I'm gonna put this on the bottom shelf. Ladies, don't listen to a word of this. Don't listen. Okay, here's how what you do. You just go to your wife. You say, "How can I pray for you?" She's going to say words. Pay very close attention. And then when she gets done, it's going to be a lot. Pay attention. Then you go, "Okay." And then you take her by the hand. And here's what you do. You bow your head. You close your eyes. And you say, "Dear God." And then you just repeat word for word exactly what she said. And then you say, "Amen." Now listen now ladies, listen. Don't correct this theology. Don't let that's not what I said. Don't just Okay. No drippy drippy drippy. We'll talk about that one day again. Okay? None of that. Now, husbands, if you haven't been doing this, when you get done, you're going to look up and she's going to be crying. And you think every time I know you like tears bad. What did I do? You're nailing it, bro. You are nailing it. Now ladies, here's your response. Ready? Here's your response. Because again, men are like puppies. They repeat what's rewarded. You go Hercules. Hercules. That's what you do. Got it? All right. Don't be lazy.

So, we got pride, anxiety, laziness. The fourth one is this. We talk about it all the time. It's isolation and men are isolation experts, bro. Oh, we can hide. Camo is not just a thing we wear. It is like a face that we hide behind. Peter says, "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." You've seen the animal planet. Which one does the does the lion take out? It's the isolated one. Man, you got to get in the herd. And if you are prideful enough to think, well, I don't need men. Repent. But have you ever considered it ain't about you? And since you're awesome, maybe there's some other men that might need you and your incredible amount of strength. You ever realize that? Maybe the reason that you needed to join a disciple group and for you because you're almost Jesus apparently. So maybe we need you in there to be such the protector to all these young souls, right? Everything about that or you just focused on you. Listen, my buddy Jeff Cop told me the three most dangerous words a man can say is, "I got this." Listen, the beginning of the gospel is, "I ain't got this." I hope you realize it, man. Are you connected? Are you isolated? Let me ask you it this way. Who are you praying for specifically right now? If you don't have a group of men that you're praying for, what good are you to the kingdom of God? You got to actually know some men. Maybe more important, who is praying for you right now? And you're like, "My mom." Bro, you ain't honest with her. You cannot tell me like, "Hey, mom, I've got a lust issue. Can we talk about that?" Let me give you this. Jesus, second person of the Trinity, God the Son, who spoke all things into existence. His very power holds all things together. He's in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he's going to get crucified. And what does he do? He tells his disciples, "Will you come with me and pray?" And then he gets Peter, James, and John and says, "Will you come a little farther and will you watch and will you pray?" So if the God of the universe who is going to be resurrected from the grave finds himself in a place where he needs a band of brothers around him to pray for him, then who in the heck do you think you are to think I got this? You're a fool. That's who you are. You're a fool. Get plugged in. It doesn't have to be one of our disciple groups, but do you have four Matt carriers in your life? Do you have some men that you can be honest with and that will pray for you? You better get into it. Don't wait. I've told you before, Christian Brotherhood is like a retirement account. If you wait till you need it to build it, it's over, dude. Get involved. Join a disciple group. Go to a discover group or start one yourself. Don't be isolated.

And then the fifth one is this. You can't talk about men being taken out without covering this. This is a little bit of a stretch on the text, but I would ask for a little hermeneutical license. Okay. Verse nine. "Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world." The commonality that I see in 30-some years of marriage, I mean of ministry. The one area that the enemy takes out more dues than anything else is this: lust. It's lust. In my opinion, this is the granddaddy of them all. And here's what's very interesting is the Bible tells us exactly how to battle against lust, men. Ready? In every other area of spiritual warfare. Next weekend, we're going to talk about spiritual warfare. Talking about put on full armor of God, stand firm. That word stand, it means to stand up or to stand against or to take a stand. It means to fight. In every other area of our life, when it comes to battling the enemy, we're supposed to fight against the enemy toe-to-toe, face to face. Why? Because greater he greater is he who is in me than this servant of hell that I'm staring down. When it comes to lust, you're not supposed to fight. You're supposed to flee. Do you realize how powerful that is? For every single one of us who have failed when it comes to sexual immorality, it simply comes down to this: we didn't flee. We flirted because we thought, "I got this and you ain't got this." Let me explain it this way. If when our service is over today that you men, you were to walk out to your truck and the devil of hell is sitting in your truck, then I got good news. Get a couple of your brothers, put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the feet fitted in the readiness of the gospel. Take up the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and you stand in authority over the devil and you say, "Devil, you better get out of my truck. That truck don't belong to you. It belongs to me. I belong to Jesus. He has authority over you. You got to get out of here." And in the name of Jesus, the devil of hell has to flee from your truck. Praise God. If your ex-girlfriend is in your truck, run, Forrest, run. You can't handle it. What I'm saying that's what I'm And you think you can handle it. The writer of Proverbs says this: "Can a man hold fire close to his chest and not get burned?" And everybody goes, "Of course not." Every time you have fallen to the temptation of lust, it's because you thought, "I got this." You ain't got this, man. You ain't got this. And many, many, many families have been torn apart. Children have grown up without a dad. Women have not been valued but have been abused. Those are not just pictures. Those are people. And when you participate in pornography, you are participating in the abuse of little girls in human trafficking. And not only the tearing down of your family, but the tearing down of that girl's family. You realize she's somebody's little girl, too. And created in the image of God. And this is not just something that you fight against. You have to war against it. And the first step is to flee, flee, flee sexual immorality. If you if you want to fight the devil in the dark, you're always going to get your butt kicked. We go back to isolation. This happens in isolation. One of the first things you better have some Matt carriers be like, "Hey, listen fellas. I got a real struggle." And actually, I've told you this before. You ever notice Christians don't sin anymore? They just struggle. How many have guys like, "I'm struggling with porn." No, you're not. You're sinning. That's called sin, dude. Stop. Run away. If you actually were struggling, if you actually were fighting, you know what Jesus says to do? Gouch out your eye, chop off your hand. You're like, "That's a little extreme." This is extremely important. So, you put some serious guardrails in your life. If this dumb phone is causing you to sin, then why in the heck do you have it in your bedroom next to your bed at night? You know where this thing needs to go? To the Atlantic Ocean. And then go get you a dumb phone instead of they actually have phones called wise phones now and you can't get on the devil's internet there. If that's what you need to do, do it. If you can't be on social media, don't. And if you're a young guy and you're like, "Well, I'm not even married yet." Here's what you're doing. You're just setting up your family for failure because you're killing your heart. And you won't be able to love a woman, right? Because pornography is going to rewire your brain to teach you that a real woman is not enough. That one woman is not enough. And that that woman is not enough. That's what it is going to train you. Because the devil of hell is trying to kill, steal, and destroy. Not just you, but your children's children and their grandchildren. And if that legacy is important to you, then get in the game and wake up and resist him firm in the faith knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being expressed by your brotherhood throughout the world. You got to confess it out loud. You got to go, "I'm going to fight this thing and I need help. Will you help me hold this thing accountable?" And then you got to pursue Jesus. Your heart has to has to be overcome by a greater affection. And when you see him as more lovely and more beautiful and more holy and more magnificent, then the things of this world will just get smaller and smaller and dimmer and dimmer. And when you begin to stack up some time and stack up some victories, and those failings become farther and farther and farther away, then you will be able to walk in freedom and in victory. Listen, man, I'm a Pharisee when it comes to this one. An absolute Pharisee. Do you know why? 'Cause I love that woman right there more than I have words to describe. I love my kids more than I can even tell you. And I love you as a church. I love you. Not as much as them, but I love you, too. You know how many mega church pastors have been taken out on this one? And every time they do, man, our staff comes to me like, "What happened?" Here's what happened. Some pastor who got into this thing, man, to teach the word and make disciples and all the things, right? And he saw a temptation and instead of fleeing early on, he began to flirt and he got to this one step that was way it wasn't even a sin yet. It was just stupid. It was a text. It was a website. It was a lunch. It was a I'm going to go out of my way just to talk to her because she tells these jokes and she gets me. Oh, she gonna get you. And he began to take that one step. And I'm telling you, when he began to take that one step, the spirit of God tapped him on the shoulder. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And he went, "Get off me. I got this." And then everything else is just details. Yeah, man. So, I am a legalist about this. I don't travel alone anywhere. You know how much this church has to pay? So, I don't go alone. You know who thinks it's worth it? My wife, my kids, and this church. I'm going to do whatever it can. And I've had some people like, "Well, that ain't normal." You know what normal is in our life? And our word normal is broke, lonely, and medicated. You can have normal. I don't want any of those things. I want to be different. So, you better go to war 'cause the enemy is trying to kill, steal, and destroy.

Now, here's what some of you are thinking. Well, this would have been cool 25 years ago because I got taken out. Whether it was through lust or isolation or pride or anxiety and worry or laziness and abdication, and you're like, "Yeah, that cool. This is a great message for all the 18-year-olds that just stood up. But I'm 48 and my my life is a train wreck." Listen, I got some really good news for you, man. At the men's conference, Pastor Brian Laritz was preaching and he said this about 10 times: Failure is not final. Not in the kingdom of God. Failure is not final. And then a mentor of mine, Jim Bergen at Saturated last year said these words: "In the kingdom of God, there's not second chances. There's the blood of Jesus and from now on." So man, I've got really good news for you. I want you to see after Peter goes over, here's five things that take men out. Here's the antidotes to the attack of the enemy. And then he finishes with this. Look at verse 10. "After you have suffered a little while." So let me ask you, are you suffering? Are you in the fight? Are you in the struggle? I don't know if you've been in a fight, but when you get in a fight, people punch back. If you don't wake up with a bloody nose every once in a while, it might be because you're not in the fight. If you don't feel an incredible resistance in this lost and broken world against the way that you're living, it could be because you're just going with the flow. If you haven't felt like the enemy is trying to take you out, this may be offensive. So listen closely. It could be because he's not your enemy. You don't play for team Jesus. You're playing for the team world, team devil. This is a war. This is a fight. And so he says after you've suffered a little while. And so what if you've taken one on the chin, man, and he got you? What do you do? He says, "The God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever." Do you know what you do? You know what you need? You need grace. Do you know what you're offered through the blood of Jesus Christ? We're offered grace. And when we stumble, and when we fall, and when we sin, and when we fail, guess what? We fall down on the same grace that brought us to Jesus to begin with. And we serve the kind of heavenly father that does not condemn you. He may not rescue you from the circumstances, but he does not condemn you. By

His grace, he picks you back up and he sets you back on your feet. It says the God of all grace who has called you. Hey divorce guys, he has called you. Hey, guys that have struggled with substances, he has called you. The guys that have failed over and over and over to pornography, he has called you. And I'm talking about the you with your birthday and your social security number. You see, you think this verse is for the guy sitting next to you. You think this is for the verse of the guy that's just just on staff. No, no, no, no, no. That he knew exactly who you were, dude, when he gave his life to purchase you. And that same grace that saved you will sustain you. And the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory. I don't care what it is. God can use your story for his glory. God is in the business of taking the biggest message and using them to share the greatest message of the grace of God. He has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself. That Jesus came to do for you what we can't do for ourselves. This ain't a man up talk, man. Just sit and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Where? I don't What does that even mean? Try it. It won't You just do this. It You won't go anywhere. It's impossible. You need somebody else to do for yourself what you can't do for for you. And look, he Jesus, the one who came out of the grave for the joy set before him, endured the cross. That's talking about you. Here's what he wants to do in your life. He wants to restore. Restore where you have fallen short. He wants to fill in the gaps and put you back on that wall because that's what he created you for.

Even if your past has been a train wreck, failure is not final. He wants to restore and confirm. He wants to speak a good word over you fellas. Not based on your performance or your pretending, but if you are in Christ Jesus, his word over you is behold my son in whom I'm well pleased.

That we get to fight from victory and not for victory. He wants to strengthen you because if you're in the fight, you're going to get tired. You're going to feel weak. And the good news is you don't have to fight in your own strength. It's not by sword or by might, but by my power, says the Lord. And the same spirit of God that brought Jesus out of the grave, that put death to death, lives inside of every believer. And often times the way that he's going to strengthen you is in community. When we link those shields of faith together so that when our brother goes down, you've got another brother to cover you for a little while so we can pick you back up and get you on that wall and establish you back to that position on the wall to be a protector and a defender. Here's what I'm trying to say. Failure is not final. Get back on the wall, man. That we are in the kingdom business. And in the kingdom, there's no second chances. You know, when you hear people say, "We serve the God of second chances." I know what they mean. It's just dumb. It's just dumb. If I fought Jon Jones, you know who Jon Jones is? You don't? Oh, he's an evangelist in the UFC. If I fought Jon Jones, it wouldn't go good. I met him one time. I met him in DC. He's that big. His hands are this big. And he's the baddest dude on the planet for a long time. If I fought him, how do you think it would go? Not good. Okay. And if I thought, oh, what I need is a second chance. I would get a second can of butt whooping. That's what I would get. And a third and a fourth and a fifth. I would need somebody to do for me what I can't do for myself. You get that? You don't need a second chance. You need the blood of Jesus in from now on. And the blood of Jesus tells a different story. The blood of Jesus calls you by a different name. The blood of Jesus has wiped away your sin. It does not define you by it. The blood of Jesus says, "We're not going to define you by your scars. We're going to define you by mine." The blood of Jesus says that you are more than a conqueror.

You ever think about that? What's more than a conqueror? A conqueror wins the battle and gets the spoils. What's more than that? More than a conqueror is the son of a king.

That means you still win the battle. You still get the spoils and then you get to go sleep in the castle with the king because he's is he is your dad. That's what this means. He will establish you. So failure is not final. Get back on that wall. In the kingdom, there are no second chances. There's the blood of Jesus. And from now on, and so, men, we want you on that wall. We need you on that wall. I'm telling you, for the sake of this church, for the sake of our children, for the sake of your family, regardless of what your situation is right now, may the power of Christ restore you, confirm you, strengthen you, and establish you as the man that you have been called to be. And so this response where we sing and we bring and we pray. We're just doing these things. Do we struggle with pride? Probably. Let's worship. Got it. Do we struggle with anxiety and worry? Do we look at ourselves and be like, "I can't do this." Then we're going to come and get on our faces and pray. Do we have a tendency to isolate ourselves? Cool. Why don't you grab somebody and be like, "Will you just come pray with me?"

That we're not going to be defined by the things of this world and be easily pleased. We're not going to be lazy. We're not just going to give ourselves to to the rat race to what this world says that we're supposed to pursue, but we're going to worship God by bringing him first and best. To put some dry powder in the armory of God's advancing kingdom. That's what we're going to be about, men. I mean, last week I asked the wives and the women to pray over over us. Gentlemen, this is an opportunity for us to wake up, to be alert, to be on watch, to go to war. I know we've been through hell and yet God rules and reigns. And we're going to fight. We're going to fight for that hard fought. Hallelujah. By singing, by bringing, by praying. Would you just stand up? Let me pray for you. Our good and gracious heavenly father. God, I pray for every man in the room. All those young men that are on their way to manhood in this place and those old men who were here and we need their wisdom, God. We need them to be sages. And all of us in between, God, we confess and we repent. We ain't got this, Lord. The enemy's had too many victories in our lives. And so Lord, I pray by the by by the power of the spirit, you would humble us as we declare your name, God, we would cast all of our anxieties upon you because you care for us, God. That we would not be lazy. We would be sober minded. We would be awake to the realities of your kingdom coming, God. That you would join us together as one body, as one army, as one family in this fight together. And to God we would flee from the lust of our flesh and we would come running into the loving arms of our heavenly father and that would just be more beautiful and better and sweeter than anything in this world. God, I'm not sure why you designed it this way, but you created us in your image. Male and female, you created us. And by the power of the spirit of God, by the evidence of the empty tomb, by the love displayed on the cross under the love of a heavenly father, God, may we stand firm and act like men. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. So men, humble yourself. We're going to sing. We're going to bring. We're going to pray. Let's go to war like the world depends on it because it does. Let's respond.