Title of this message is offensive Christianity.
What do I mean by offensive Christianity?
Well, I have a double meaning for this sermon,
and I'm going to give you two parts of it.
The first primary thing that I want you to understand
when it comes to offensive Christianity,
when there is a game that is being played,
a fighter that's fighting in a ring,
there are two ways in which somebody can win the game,
and that is offensively or defensively.
And we as Christians need not to be ashamed of the cause of Christ,
but we need to be fighting the Lord's battle offensively.
Too much nowadays do we see Christians being sorry for being Christians.
They're apologetic because they're Christians.
Within the schools, in the workplace, when something comes up,
a Christian matter, or something that is of moral significance,
Christians tend to just shut their mouths, put their head down,
see no evil, hear no evil, and say nothing.
And that's a shame that a Christian would not be willing to fight the Lord's battle.
Now, I'm not saying to go out and to cause trouble, stir up argument,
and things like that, but we need to not be defensive as Christians.
We should be bringing the battle to them.
When anything that has to come up with Jesus, the Bible, God,
and they're trying to belittle the thought of any of those things,
we should stand up and defend it.
That is ultimately what offensive Christianity means,
my primary thing that I want you to understand.
Do we see Jesus here being defensive in his preaching?
This is some of the most hardest preaching in the Bible,
that we see the Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Savior, giving the world.
And a lot of people pinning out Jesus Christ to be this long-haired,
hippy, soft-spoken, limp-wrist, weak, watered-down person,
who just is always going to the Pharisees and Sadducees with apology.
You know, like, oh, let me just tell you about, you know, I'm the Son of God.
He came right down their throats, and if you just saw what I just saw,
constantly there are exclamations of him yelling at them, telling them,
you're the hypocrite, and you're the one who has made the whitest sepulchres,
and things like that.
So Jesus Christ was truly the hardest preacher that there is,
and we need to be the same way.
Another way we can understand offensive Christianity
has to do with offending someone.
You know, the Bible teaches us that Jesus teaches us things
so that we are not offended.
Now, offended ultimately has a similar part with the first part of the definition.
To be offensive means to take it to someone, in a sense.
And if you're bringing information to someone's table,
and they're offended, you just brought something to their train of thought,
and they're kind of like, whoa, I never heard that before.
And a good example of that is found in the parable of the sower.
There are, you know, three kind of Christians that we see there.
We see those that are sown on stony ground, you know,
the choked up ground with the weeds and things like that,
and then the good ground.
But those that are sown on stony ground, the Bible teaches that
when persecution or tribulation or things like that arise,
by and by, he is offended.
It's not that he's not saved, it's just he's ashamed of the cause of Christ.
And understand this, if you're ashamed of Jesus to stand up for him,
one day he's going to be ashamed of you.
He'll be in heaven, you'll be cleaning the pearly whites,
but you're going to walk past Jesus and he's going to be like,
oh, hey, how's it?
He's not going to care too much for you because you didn't care too much for him
and to stand up for him in the world.
And like I said, at too much do I see lukewarm Christianity.
And we see that in Revelation.
And in the context, this is referring to people who are not saved,
lukewarm people, either you're hot or cold.
And God says, if you're neither one of those, I'm going to spew you out
if you're lukewarm.
But if we take a symbolic understanding of this,
to the Christian that is lukewarm, God's going to spew you out.
He can't use you.
If you're partially in the world and partially into serving him
and things like that, he wants people who are all in and all dedicated.
These are the seeds that are sown on good ground.
They'll bring up for 30, 60 or 100 some.
And whether or not the number of salvations you get in the lifetime
doesn't mean you're a greater Christian.
It ultimately just means you're willing to do the work.
You're not ashamed of the cause of Christ.
And let me ask you this.
How many of you have just seen that new movie that Roger Ximenez came out with,
The Being Baptists?
Raise your hand if you've seen that movie.
Well, that movie has a lot of what it means to be a Baptist
and the characteristics of the Baptist faith,
denomination and stuff like that.
It goes through a lot of specific things.
But one of the favorite things that I like that he pointed out
that he doesn't really touch on that much more towards the end
is confrontational soul winning.
And people hear that term, confrontational soul winning.
Why would we confront with people?
Well, that's what I mean by being offensive.
We bring the gospel to the lost.
You know, the world, unfortunately, is not doing anything.
They're not preaching the word of God.
They're not standing up for the cause of Christ.
They're kind of just hoping that their lifestyle will bring people to salvation.
This is what's known as lifestyle evangelism.
And there's a place for that.
I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that.
But to replace it for soul winning, that's where you've just made a mistake.
You know, confrontational soul winning, we should be known for going and preaching the gospel.
But not only that, earlier this morning,
I had us take a look at the story of Gideon and the 300,
showing that the quality of the people that was there,
God could use to bring a great victory.
And those who were afraid, God said, get rid of them.
I don't want them around.
If they're going to be afraid to go out and to preach,
to stand up in the hedge between life and death,
then I don't want to use them.
And it is true that God is patient. He's merciful.
But His patient is only so much.
Eventually, He may just say, you know what,
if you want to enjoy the things of this world,
as Demas has forsaken Paul,
then you know what, it's not that he's not saved,
it's just he's ashamed of the cause of Christ.
But turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians.
This is all by way of introduction, like I was saying.
Offensive. Let's be offensive as Christians.
Don't go to your school, don't go to your boss or your co-worker
and just start vomiting passages at them.
I'm saying when they start to touch on subjects of Christianity,
don't be ashamed of it. Stand up for it.
Say, yeah, I'm a Christian. You got something to say?
Of course, eventually people are going to respect you for that
and they're going to watch their tongue.
I remember so much in my workplace
and I'm sure a lot of the men here can attest to this.
You hear OMG bombs, you hear crude language
and all sorts of vocabulary that shouldn't be uttered.
When I'm around, I would tell people when they're blaspheming my Lord
using OMGs, I'd say, hey, bro, that's blasphemy.
Can you watch your mouth?
A lot of times when I'm around, they at least won't do it.
They may do it when I'm not around, but they see that I'm being serious.
That is a gruesome sin that I'm disgusted with.
It's not because I came up to them first saying, hey, David, don't blaspheme around me.
It's they went and did it and I told them, hey, I don't want to hear that.
You know what? Actually, because of that, they respected me for it.
I was offensive in standing up for the cause of Christ.
But we do know that every good offense has a good defense.
Anyone who has played sports, a lot of times I bring up basketball
because I played basketball growing up.
They say a good offense is a good defense.
And we have the best defense.
You know, the Bible teaches when it comes to the armor of God, we have the shield of faith.
The faith is what keeps us saved, sealed into the day of redemption.
It is that that we can walk around boldly and know that no matter what we say
that comes from the word of God, we know we're right.
So we are defensive in the sense of we're saved, we're sealed, we don't need to worry about it.
But offensively, we have a different tool.
And I'm going to go into that later throughout the sermon.
How not to be offensive.
How do you be a defensive Christian or be, you know, not an offensive Christian?
One of the things I've heard recently, and maybe you guys have heard a sermon from now Pastor Jonathan Shelley,
he touches on the subject of apologetics.
And I think this is the dumbest thing.
And I am in his sermon so much because apologetics, listen to the word apologetics.
What does it sound like? Apology.
I mean, the definition of apologetics is verbal defense for a faith, ultimately.
And people who study apologetics, they're trying to logic and reason with people on Christianity, creation.
They're trying to appeal to science, history, theology, logic, and anything outside of the word of God.
They're just trying to get people to start thinking on, you know, there could be a creator.
Well, who's the creator? Well, let me just get you to understand there is a creator.
What does it matter? Who is that creator? You know what I mean?
And it's like, well, I can prove to you that the earth is 6500 years old through science.
Look, scientists aren't convinced with the young earth creation science evidence.
There's plenty of evidence for a young earth. But the thing is, the secular scientists don't care to see that.
They're not convinced by that. You know, they're not convinced by anything that is outside their line of thinking.
And these Christian apologetics who are trying to appeal to both the world and Christians is ultimately a joke.
They're defensively defending on the cause of Christ. They're not doing what 1 Corinthians told us to do.
And any Christian apologetic ultimately that sees this passage, it just flies right in their face.
And they try to avoid it like the plague because it clearly just debunks and demolishes the idea of studying on apologetics.
And like I said, there's a time and place for everything. Is there something wrong with appealing to science?
Not at all. There's something wrong with appealing to history? Not at all.
But that's not our tool or instrument to go and preach the gospel and things like that.
That's what it says right here. Look down at your Bible at verse 17. It reads,
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdoms of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
What good is it to sit there in logic with these people and explain to people anything outside the preaching of the gospel?
You know, and we're going to see what that says later on. It says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. What good is going to explain to them anything else other than these words?
This is the final authority for all faith and practice. This is where we're going to use our reasoning of what we believe.
Why do you believe in the Bible? Because the Bible says believe in it. Well, didn't a man write the book? Didn't your man write your science book?
Well, yeah, but, you know, these are just sheep herders. According to these words, these were holy men of God who spaked as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
So we understand that the Bible is our final tool to confound anyone who is trying to attack it ultimately.
Let's keep reading. It says, For it is written, once again, what does it matter what I think?
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Had not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
I mean, these people who are just trying to ultimately, as we saw in Matthew, strain out a gnat to swallow a camel.
They're not getting it. God has made stupid the people of this world ultimately. Foolish is what the Bible uses.
For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that belief.
For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. You know, and I know how often do we hit the door of people when we're soul winning?
And, you know, God told me God gave me this vision. I the Holy Spirit speaks to me.
What did they tell you? Well, you know, to flop on the floor like a fish and sing hysterical dog barkings.
You know, I was I died one day. I went to heaven. We've heard it all. What good is any of that?
You know, elsewhere in the Bible, it says, you know, we have a more sure word of prophecy.
Though I seen all these amazing things, Peter saw the transfiguration of Christ. He saw the miracles that happened.
And I'm not saying miracles don't happen. I'm just saying that we don't appeal to them when it comes to defending Christianity.
We use the Bible. The Jews require a sign with wonders, miracles, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
And it's so silly because I learned in my faith that someone at some time in history decided to deem the term of Christian faith circular reasoning.
And it's it just it makes me think it's like they think they got you when they bring that up.
Oh, you're just you're just stuck in circular reasoning. OK, what does that have to do with anything?
You know what I mean? But they're really they look down at you for that.
They're like, well, you believe the Bible. Why? Because the Bible told me to believe it.
Well, you're just a simpleton. You don't have out. You don't have your own thought.
You don't think critically and so on and so forth. It's like, well, that's what you said.
You know, the Bible is powerful, not not any other book. Never a man spake like this man, as the Bible said.
But we preach Christ crucified under the Jews a stumbling block and under the Greeks foolishness.
And unto them, which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
So the Bible is ultimately teaching us that the power of God comes from the words of God.
And it's these this is the tool in which we use to fight the Lord's battle.
What else do people what else do these apologetics,
these these defensive Christians use for their tactics to defend the cause of Christ?
They like to also use debate. You know, and I know that these Christian leaders in the movement,
these Paul washers, these James Weitz, these people who fight their Calvinist teaching or whatever.
They want to argue with people about it. They want to debate about it and turn, if you would, to Second Corinthians 12.
They want to sit there and debate on this subject, that subject, whatever. They're not preaching God's word.
They're sitting there in a cush, nice office building, studying a lot of books.
I'm not going to sit here and say they're not studied and learning people.
They're learning the foolishness of this world. They're not studying their Bible.
And not only that, the Bible tells us that we cannot just be a hearer of the word, but a doer of the word.
These people aren't going and doing the first loves, the first works.
They're not going to their churches, their communities, and doing anything that is of real value.
They may go to their abortion clinics with a bullhorn and scream at them, you know,
turn or burn or don't get an abortion and don't get me wrong. That is horrible what they're doing.
But do you really think that that's going to help the cause of Christ?
I mean, it may be that you may have stopped a woman from committing a gruesome sin.
But what does that matter if she dies and goes to hell? It doesn't matter.
And then that baby that's born doesn't get raised into a church and then he dies and goes to hell.
Ultimately, that baby may have been safe if she'd have committed the abortion
because he would have gone straight to heaven and only she would have ultimately gone to hell.
And I'm not advocating abortion. I'm just saying that for these people to invest in these things is stupid.
You know, they're full of debate. Romans 1 tells us that sodomites are full of debate.
You know, that list that explains all these horrible wicked things that they're full of, one of them is debate.
So that tells me false prophets and sodomites are full of debate.
So when you see these Christian leaders going up challenging people to thought,
it's like you're potentially and most likely a wolf in sheep's clothing.
You're a false prophet. You like debate. I don't like debate. I like to fight.
But I'm not going to go into a fight that I don't think I can win.
You know what I mean? And I'm not talking about a physical fight. I'm talking about a spiritual fight.
Just today, I hit the door of this guy and in a nutshell, I'd assumed that he was a Jehovah's Witness
because when I asked him, you know, God forbid you die today, do you know for sure you're going to heaven?
He goes, well, no one knows. I said, if you could know, would you like to know? I'd like to show you.
Well, nowhere in the Bible does it say the promise of heaven, that term, the promise of heaven.
And I'm thinking to myself, well, actually, it tells us how we can know how we're going to heaven and have eternal life.
Hey, I didn't say eternal life. You said go to heaven. That's what made me think.
I'm like, maybe this guy's a Jehovah's Witness. He's into like 144,000. I'm about to walk away and leave it as that.
But then he's kind of like, you know, baited me. He's like, I'd believe it if you show me it.
I'm like, okay, let me take you to Romans 323. I know the plan of salvation. You don't need to go through all that.
Show me in the Bible where it says you'll go to heaven. Well, I mean, if you already know all these answers,
what good is it that I show you anything? So I take him to Revelation 7, you know,
the famous 144 passage that J-dubs like to take people to, to say, see, only the 144 go to heaven and so on and so forth.
But in a nutshell, I and then you who are in this church know that if you read it,
then later on says that there was a multitude that no man can number of all kindreds and tongues and people that were up in heaven in the throne where Jesus was.
Yeah, but where I tell them, where's the throne? Well, you know, God's omnipresent.
So therefore, it's not that you're there in heaven. God's everywhere. It's just like, but he's in heaven, right?
So if I am where he is in the throne and there's no satiating, these people can't be placated in these thoughts.
So we as Christians can ultimately get caught up in debate.
I know I have from time to time. I'm human and not trying to go out and debate.
But when I go soul winning, you know, forgive me, you know, I may have debated once or twice.
It happens. But most cases I like to just say, you know what? I have other doors to knock, you know, and we need to practice that a lot.
But in the early Church of Corinth, the second epistle from Paul to the Corinthians, it says this. Excuse me.
It says in Chapter 12, verse 20, the Bible reads,
For I fear lest that when I come, I shall not find you as I would, and that I should be found unto you, such as ye would not.
Lest there be debates, envying wrath, strife, backbiting, whispering, swelling, tumults.
You know, he's saying, I don't want to come back and there be all these things, one of which is debate.
You know, earlier today, I preached a sermon to talk about your guys's unity.
You guys are very united on doctrine, and it shouldn't be that you guys are debating on stupid issues.
You know, whatever it is that's not critical, it's not worth debating over.
Debate is nothing that we should be getting into.
But another way, you want to know another way to not be an offensive Christian? Just don't go soul winning.
Stay home, like I was saying. Be one of those lifestyle evangelists. Be a Calvinist.
Do you think they're going out to the highways and hedges and compelling people to come to the Lamb's wedding?
They're just doing nothing, hoping that eventually someone somewhere at some time might call out to God and then wind up in their church.
You know, we need to go to the lost, the Great Commission, Jesus Christ, the hardest preacher there was,
what we just saw in Matthew 29, at the very end of the Gospel, and all the Gospels, the final commandment given to us,
the New Testament Church, is to go into all the world to preach the Gospel,
baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and teach them to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded.
That is the Great Commission. That is what we are here to do, to preach the Gospel to the lost.
But if you don't want to be offensive, like we said earlier, as I learned from Verity Baptist's documentary,
Confrontational Soul Winning, just do nothing. Just sit home. Type on your keyboard and complain at every sermon you don't like.
That's a joke. No one cares about that. The only things that matter are the works that you do.
How do we become offensive and right with God? How do we become offensive, Christians?
Turn, if you would, to Ephesians. Ephesians 6. How do we become offensive, fight offensively?
Well, the Bible tells us that we are to use the weapon that he gave us, our offensive weapon.
And if we look at the list of the armor of God, everything that is listed is defensive. Let's take a look.
Look at verse 13. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day,
and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.
Is the breastplate a weapon you use to fight? It's a weapon to defend or to keep your body safe.
The breastplate of righteousness, lifestyle evangelism, being a good person, following after Christ, denying yourself,
picking up your cross, and following after him, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. That's a good thing.
But is that how we fight? No, that's how we defend ourselves. And they're gonna glorify God in heaven when they see your good works.
Like I said, it's not that there's something wrong with that, but to replace that is where it's wrong.
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel. Are shoes an offensive weapon?
I mean, they kinda can be, you know. If you have a steel-toed boot, that can definitely hurt someone.
That's why the feet shodding is a tool in which we bring the gospel to people. Above all, take the shield of faith.
We know that the shield is not an offensive weapon. You can push someone with a shield, but the shield is to protect you.
As we said earlier, faith is what protects us from the devil trying to sneak into your mind, saying,
Yea, hath God said? Are you even saved? Is this the word of God? And so on and so forth.
Faith keeps us safe from those stupid thoughts.
Wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation.
We know that the helmet also is not an offensive weapon. And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
This book in your hand, the King James Version of the Bible, the sword of God, this is our offensive weapon.
Whatever this thing says is how we fight the Lord's battle. It's not by words of wisdom which we have thought,
but it's by God's perfect, inerrant, preserved word we are able to fight the Lord's battle.
This Bible cannot be confounded ultimately. We know that the martyr, the very first martyr in the Bible,
Stephen himself, the disciple Stephen, he used the Bible, he preached to the Pharisees and Sadducees,
and he went through the Old Testament and all the stories, and at the very end he says,
And you're the one who killed the prophets. You do always resist the Holy One and the truth.
And they killed him because of that. But here's the thing, did they have the victory?
He got to be ingrained in the eternal word of God because of what he did, because he fought the Lord's battle,
and because he has the victory. One day we're going to go in heaven, we're going to see Stephen,
and we're going to be like, that is that man of God that stood up for the things of God and the word of God.
But the Bible also says in Hebrews, if you would turn there, Hebrews 4 verse 12, the Bible reads,
For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
referring to a physical sword, piercing it even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The thoughts and the intents of the heart. Like I was saying earlier, these Christian apologetics,
don't you think they say, they're using the Bible, don't they all say the same thing?
Sola Scriptura, we believe in the preservation of God's word in the original Greek, not in the English.
What about the Spanish? Can we find it in the Spanish? Can we find it in German?
We believe in God's inner preserved word in English is right here, and they don't necessarily believe that.
Well, if I cross-reference it with my Greek concordance that I don't know anything about,
I can explain how this is wrong. Whoa there. That's a bold statement.
You know, 54 brilliant scholars translating this, and you think you and your one thought can outthink those brilliant men,
let alone just the holy men of God speaking as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. It's just, it's stupidity.
But this Bible is our tool to fight the Lord's battle. And go back if you went to Ephesians.
I'm sorry, I should have had you keep a finger there.
But how else? How else can we fight offensively as Christians? By offending people.
Right here in Ephesians 6, we need to speak boldly. Don't be sorry when you're at the door and you're giving the gospel to someone.
Hey, do you mind? Is it okay if I? I'm here to help you to understand how to get saved.
You know, we should be bold and not be embarrassed to be bringing the gospel to the lost.
You and I know so many times we go soul winning.
There's someone out there who's always trying to stop you, make you out to be wrong.
How dare you knock on their door? Who are very aggressive? Yes, that's right.
I want to get them saved. You know, and so many times it blows my mind when you're giving the gospel.
You hit the door. You know, there's a child there. Your parents' home? No. Okay.
Can I give you the gospel? You give them the gospel. Someone comes in and just snatches up the kid and takes them away.
And it's just like, you know, the child does need to be under the protection of their home.
And if anyone came to my house, you know, wanting to talk to someone, they better come to me first.
And that's why we address parents before we address children. But we don't neglect the children. We suffer the children.
You know, Jesus says, unless you have faith like a child, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
But with that being said, it just it blows my mind.
Sometimes you need to stop them and say, hey, wait, I'm giving him the gospel.
Is there something wrong with telling someone to hold up for a second?
Hey, wait, before you take him, can I finish giving him the gospel? And some people are afraid of that.
They're like, ah, it's not my place. I'm kind of nervous. It's their kid. And that is true.
But you're potentially going to get this person to go to heaven forever. And I've done that.
And then the other person gets saved. So we need to speak boldly. And it says that in Ephesians 6, verse 19, it says,
And for me, this is Paul the apostle asking of the church for prayer.
And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel,
for which I am an ambassador in Banza. Therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.
We need to be bold as Christians. We need to be offensive as Christians, not defensive, not weak,
limp-wristed, watered down, and cross-legged, skinny gene.
You see these guys in these evangelical churches that are just, you know, I look at them and I think,
you know, how does anyone take you seriously? You know, like, I'll watch it for like whoever,
if it's something on my YouTube feed, this preacher comes up. And look, you look at him, you're like,
this guy is pretty weak looking, but I'll give him a benefit of the doubt. And then he opens his mouth,
and he's like, everyone turn if you would. And it gets very soft with his language, and it's just, you know,
it's a joke. We need leather lungs. We need bold men of God, hair-legged, hairy teeth, you know,
men of God preaching the word of God, fire coming from pulpits all across America.
And in doing this, we will be able to take back again, potentially a nation, and if not, at least the church house.
Churches are getting worse and worse. You know, people look at our church, our movement, and things like that,
and they're like, you guys are just hateful. You're just a bunch of simpletons who aren't educated. Really?
Yet none of you can answer any of our questions. You cannot confound the Bible as they couldn't confound
Stephen the Disciple. It's the same story repeated over and over again.
Turn if you would to Jeremiah. We need to not be afraid. That's how we can also be offensive.
And look, like I said, in a gaming event, in a boxing match, you need to have both offense and defense.
But let's face the fact, to have a good defense, you will have a good offense.
So that means, therefore, never press the person. Never bring the ball to them. Take the ball from them.
Never, you know, eventually, you know, engage them in battle. No, we need to put fear in the hearts of their minds.
With using these words, they should be flat-footed ultimately. We should be on our toes ready to move forward.
So to say, you know, the Bible teaches with Jeremiah, the prophet, that when God told Jeremiah that he was to become a prophet into the nation,
this is something that Jeremiah had to struggle with, was fear. But this is what God told him.
And look if you would at verse 8.
Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
Back to where the power comes from, the word of God, the sword of God. And the Bible says that Jeremiah was afraid.
And he says, don't be afraid of their faces. Don't be worried about what they can do.
We don't fear them which can destroy body. Rather, we fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Do I have to obey God or men?
You can't sow in here, it's against the law. Well, then you must do what you got to do, because I'm not going to stop.
And we need to take the fight to them. Oh, but he's intimidating looking. I don't care what he looks like.
Fear not their face. We're not afraid of them. And any false prophet or anyone like that wants to challenge you as well.
I'm not afraid of you. Now we do need to study to show ourselves the proof and not get into these debates and strife.
And we need to be ready to give an answer to any man to ask us of the hope and the reason that is in us with meekness and fear.
So the second part of that is with the fear. But Isaiah, and if you would turn to Isaiah, you know the Bible says in Isaiah 58, but turn if you would to 54.
The Bible says in Isaiah 58, to cry aloud, spare not, lift up our voices like trumpets, and show my people their sins and the house of Jacob their transgressions.
I am sick and tired of seeing Christians being sorry to be a Christian. And you know it and I know it.
There are Christians out there who are just, you know, cowarding in their boots because the world is after them.
All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution if you're living godly in Christ Jesus.
If you're not living godly, you're not going soul winning, you're a keyboard warrior, you ain't got no worries. You're fine.
But you know one day you're going to see Christ and he's going to be ashamed of you.
Isaiah 54 verse 17, the Bible reads this.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn.
This is the heritage of the servant of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.
We don't need to be afraid of their weapons, they need to be afraid of this weapon.
We have the shield of faith, no weapon formed against us can hurt us.
Kill me, good luck, to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord.
And the Bible says when they persecute the people of God that they will grow more and more significantly.
They're ultimately in a lose-lose battle. When they afflicted the people of Israel and Egypt, they grew.
When they killed Stephen the martyr, Paul came to the scene.
When you try to attack the people of God physically, if you put your hand against the Lord's anointed, he's going to make sure he busts the hydra effect.
Now you have two of them to worry about. So, you know, no weapon formed against us can ever hurt us.
So we need to, as Christians, be offensive in Christianity and press towards the mark of the high calling and keep moving forward in our faith.
Spour our heads and have a word of prayer.