Father, I just pray that you would speak to our hearts from the story this morning, from the message.
Please just use this in all of our hearts, dear God, to build us up in the faith
and to help us be greater Christians, dear God. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Now the story that we just read in 1 Samuel 13 is leading us into the story
that we're going to get into in 1 Samuel 14.
Now, in 1 Samuel 13, we see Saul had reigned over Israel for one year.
We're just coming out of the period of the judges, and they just appointed their first king, Saul.
He's been reigning over them for one year, and the Bible reads in verse number 5,
if you look there, 1 Samuel 13, 5,
And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel thirty thousand chariots.
That's just talking about the vehicles that they have.
Thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen,
and people as the sandwiches on the seashore in multitude, that's how many soldiers there are.
Thirty thousand are in chariots, six thousand are on horseback,
and then just a throng of foot soldiers that is like the sandwich by the seashore, innumerable.
And the Bible says here that they came up and pitched in McMash eastward from Beth Avon.
So here they are, they're coming to take back.
Saul, when he became king, freed and liberated the children of Israel from the Philistines who ruled over them.
Well, now it's payback time. Two years later, they've gathered together this giant army, unbelievable size,
and they're here to take back the nation of Israel and to destroy and to conquer.
Well, look if you would at verse number 19.
Actually, look at verse 7 first, I want to show you the last phrase there.
All the people followed him trembling.
I mean, they're scared to death, the people that are with Saul.
And then to make matters worse, look at verse number 19.
Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel,
for the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears.
So basically the Philistines had taken away all the blacksmiths in the land
and it made it so that they could not make themselves weapons to defend themselves when they had oppressed them.
And so the Bible says here that all they had was like pretty much garden tools.
You know, they had shears, coulters, mattocks, axes, and that's all they had.
And so they sharpened those up and they did not have a sword.
The only person in this whole battle, and I believe it says in verse number 22, if you look there, 1 Samuel 13, 22.
So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear
found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan.
Saul is the king, Jonathan's his son, one of his great generals.
But with Saul and with Jonathan his son there was found.
So get the picture here.
Here's just a small army of people.
The only man who has a sword is Saul and Jonathan.
And they're leading two different separate factions of this army.
Everyone else just has tools, garden tools, you know, an axe, like you cut down a tree with.
Shears that you do gardening with, maybe a machete, something like that that they could use for a weapon.
And they're being faced with this innumerable multitude.
They're scared to death, they're trembling, they're fearful.
Well look at verse number 1 of chapter 14.
Now it came to pass upon a day that Jonathan, the son of Saul,
said unto the young man that bare his armor,
Come and let us go over to the Philistines garrison that is on the other side, but he told not his father.
So here he is.
He has separated himself even from his army right now.
His army's camped here.
Saul's army is camped here.
And Jonathan says to just his armor bearer, just his assistant there that carried his weaponry and so forth.
He says to him,
Let's just go over and let's just sneak up, just you and me, I mean just the two of us.
Let's go sneak up on this one garrison of the Philistines, just this one group of soldiers.
And I'm not going to tell my dad about it.
I'm not going to ask anybody's permission.
We're just going to sneak over there and we're going to do this.
Look at verse number four.
The Bible says in between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over
unto the Philistines garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side
and a sharp rock on the other side
and the name of the one was Bozez
and the name of the other Sina.
The forefront of the one was Sittu at northward over against Michmash
and the other southward over against Gibeah.
So what he's saying is he's going to sneak up on them.
There's a big rock on this side.
There's a big rock on this side, sharp.
And so it's just a very narrow area, a little bit of a narrow battlefield.
And he says, let's just the two of us go down
and fight these guys and just see what happens.
Look what it says in verse number six.
And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armor,
come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised.
It may be that the Lord will work for us
for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.
I mean look at this man's attitude.
There's a huge giant army innumerable.
He says, I'm not even going to take my army with me.
Let's just you and me just go fight and see what happens.
Who knows what God's going to do?
I mean our army's so small and we don't have the right weapons.
But God's not limited by what we have.
God's not limited by our resources.
God's not limited by the number of people.
He says, it's you and I.
They're scared.
They're afraid.
Let's just you and I go do it.
And look what the armor bearer says in verse number seven.
Do all that is in thine heart.
As armor bearer said in him, do all that is in thine heart.
Turn thee.
Behold, I am with thee according to thy heart.
And then they do a little acid test here where they say,
this is what they say, well, this is what we're going to do.
We're going to call out to them.
We're going to start yelling at them.
And we're going to call them to come down and fight us.
And if they say to us, if they come down and fight us,
then we'll run away scared.
But if they say, hey, come on up and fight us,
then we'll go fight them because that's
going to be the sign that God has delivered them
into our hand.
And so in verse number 12, the Bible says,
and the men of the garrison answered Jonathan
and his armor bearer and said, come up to us.
Remember, that was the sign that God was with them.
Come up to us and we will show you a thing.
And Jonathan, they said, hey, we'll show you something.
Come on up here.
We'll teach you a lesson.
Two guys.
And it says right here, and Jonathan climbed up
upon his hands and upon his feet.
He's climbing up this mountain.
I mean, everybody knows that the person up here
has the advantage over the person down here, right?
The person who says, oh, come up to where we are.
And he's on the bottom.
He's climbing up.
They're coming down.
Huge disadvantage, but look what the Bible says.
Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet.
He's climbing up the mountain on all fours.
And his armor bearer after him, and they
fell before Jonathan and his armor bearer flew after him.
And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer
made, was about 20 men within, as it were,
a half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow.
So it's a 16th of a mile by 16th of a mile.
And so here is just a very small patch is what it's saying.
So he climbs up on all fours, this man Jonathan.
And he didn't think it was him.
I mean, he very clearly said, he said,
I think God is going to do something.
And so he climbs up on all fours.
He pulls out his sword and just starts
slaughtering these Philistines one after the other
and killed 20 men, just one after the other,
one man by himself against this small regiment
of the Philistines.
Well, look at the result. It says in verse 15,
and there was trembling in the host of the Philistines.
There was trembling in the host in the field
and among all the people.
The garrison and the spoilers, they also
trembled and the earth quaked.
So it was a very great trembling.
And the watchman of Saul and Gibeah of Jonathan looked.
And behold, the multitude melted away
and they went on beating down one another.
Basically, this took them so by surprise
and they were so shocked by this,
to watch this one man climb up the hill on all fours,
jump up, attack them with a sword,
and kill 20 men single-handedly.
And the rest of them went running away.
And then when they come running away,
it created like a chain reaction.
They run back into their camp.
And then everybody in the camp is scared to death.
And they're tripping over each other, the Bible says.
Run away, they're scared now.
And they're all beside themselves and out of sorts
because this one man had done this great thing.
Well, if you go on down, I'm not going
to show you the whole story just for the sake of time.
But you can go down where it says in, let's see here.
Let me find the place I was looking for.
Find a long place here.
Oh, here we go.
And the Bible says in verse 17, then
said Saul unto the people that were with him, number now
and see who is gone from us.
Because they could see afar off.
They could see that the Philistines were distressed
and trampling one another.
And they were kind of in a retreat mode.
He says, what happened?
Who's missing?
And they said, we're all here except your son Jonathan
is missing.
And they realized that it was him.
And when they saw the other people, just to shorten
the story, when they saw the other people running away,
now they were encouraged.
And they went on and fought the battle and won the battle
because they were already kind of had that momentum of them
running away scared.
And they went after them.
And they won this great battle.
Now, the title of my sermon, well, here's
what I was thinking about.
My dad was in the Navy.
I don't know if I've told you that before,
but my dad was in the Navy.
And he was in a certain part of the Navy called the Seabees.
And Seabees stands for Construction Battalion.
And it's basically some people who do construction work.
And he was an electrician.
So he was in the Navy doing that.
And also they fight.
And so they have a motto.
They have a symbol, actually, of a bee.
It's like a bumblebee.
And it's holding a machine gun in one hand
and a hammer in the other hand.
I don't know if you've ever seen this.
And it's like a play on words, like Construction Battalion,
C-B, and then like C-S-E-A, B-B-E-E, like the animal.
And so the Seabees.
And they have a motto that goes like this.
We build, we fight, can do.
Those are the last two words.
Can do.
And I was thinking about that motto.
I was talking to somebody the other day.
And they said, boy, it's like some people just don't have
that can do mentality.
And I was thinking to myself, what does the Bible say
about that?
And of course, the first verse that popped into my mind
was Philippians 4-13.
I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me.
And I thought about the story of Jonathan, a man who said it.
I don't care what the situation is.
I don't care what the odds are.
We can do it through Christ.
We can do it.
It doesn't matter whether we have the resources.
It doesn't matter what people say.
We can do it.
And you see, we're living in a day where it seems that people
just don't have a I can mentality.
You ever work with people on the job?
And boy, if you want to succeed at your job, you must have the
can do type of an attitude.
You ever work with people that you give them something to do,
and then they come back to you and tell you all the reasons
why it can't be done?
Or they come back to you with problems, all the lists of
things why it can't be done?
Or maybe you've been like that before.
You know, the boss gives you something to do.
And you come to him and say, well, I can't do it because of this.
Instead of just solving the problem yourself, instead of
just finding a way to get it done, instead of just saying,
yes, I can do it.
Well, I read it.
I looked up several verses on this subject.
Let me just read them for you.
But the first thing we need to understand is that the can do
of the Christian life is through Jesus Christ.
It's not in the flesh.
It's through Jesus Christ.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Listen to this verse.
The Bible says, but Jesus beheld them and said unto them,
with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Even Jesus himself said in John 5.30, this is Jesus speaking,
I can of mine own self do nothing.
Because he was in human flesh.
I mean, he was the son of man and he was the son of God.
And so he said, I can of my own self do nothing.
He said, I'm relying on the Father.
You know, I'm relying on the fact that I'm relying on the
Holy Spirit upon me and in me.
Because he was a human being, even though he was 100% God,
he was also 100% man.
In John 15.5, Jesus said, I am the vine, you're the branches.
He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit.
But listen to what Jesus said next.
For without me, you can do nothing.
See, see the contrast there?
Paul said in Philippians 4.30, I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me.
And Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing.
You see that?
Because with Jesus, anything's possible.
You can do anything, no limit.
And without Jesus, you're nothing.
You can do nothing of eternal value.
You can be a nobody when it comes to the things of God.
I'll read a few more for you.
Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are
possible to him that believeth.
And Jesus, looking upon them, saith, with man it is impossible,
but not with God, for with God all things are possible.
Luke 18.27, and he said, the things which are impossible
with men are possible with God.
Matthew 17.20, and Jesus said unto them, because of your
unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a
grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain,
remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and
nothing shall be impossible unto you.
I mean, are you getting the point that God is making
throughout this Bible of ours that he's saying, the only
thing that's limiting here is your faith.
The only thing that's limiting here is your attitude of
it can't be done.
We can't do it.
I can't get it done.
I can't quit this.
I can't do this.
I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't.
He says, your I can't is what's stopping me from showing
you and the world what I can do.
He said, if you would just trust me and have the faith,
even just of a grain of mustard seed, he said, if you
have this much faith, you can do anything, because the
disciples said to him, Lord, increase our faith.
He says, you know what, your faith is so small.
He said, your faith is so minuscule, and these are great
men, don't get me wrong.
He says, your faith is so nothing.
He said, if you just had a faith as much as the smallest
seed known to man, you could say to this mountain, remove
hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing
shall be impossible unto you.
You see, the only thing that limits what God can do is our
I can't attitude, our defeatist, self-defeating,
failure attitude that says I can't.
I heard somebody say, I can make the great man.
Did you hear that?
I can make the great man.
I can make the great employee.
I can make the great Christian.
I can make the great soul winner.
I can do all things through Christ's
strength in me, just soul winning.
If you go out soul winning with an I can't attitude, if you
go out soul winning expecting to fail, usually you'll fail.
I mean, I've been with people who just, they don't expect
anybody to get saved, and they go out with this failing
attitude, and they never want anybody to look.
But if you go out just expecting people to get saved,
and look, people are not always going to get saved, let's face
it, and sometimes you have to spend many hours out soul
winning to get somebody saved.
But if you go out with an I can't attitude, you will see
many more people saved.
I guarantee it.
If you go out in faith, if you have faith when you go soul
winning, that God's going to do something, he'll do something.
And so I can is what makes the great man.
I was thinking about, I was thinking about a lot of
independent fundamental Baptists are messed up in this
thing called dispensationalism.
I don't know if you probably haven't heard of it, thank
God, but it's this doctrine that most independent Baptists
believe in, and it's a stupid thing that they do, they
take, this is part of the goofiness of the whole paradigm
of dispensationalism.
But in Revelation 2 and 3, you know how it lists those
seven churches, the Church of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos,
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, it lists those
seven churches.
And Jesus Christ has a message to each of these seven
different physical, local churches.
And he says to the Church of Ephesus, write, these things
sayeth he that walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candles, you know, he goes on and he says, you know, some
good things about the church, he says some bad things about
the church, some things they need to change, and then he
goes to a different church.
And none of the seven churches are the same, because every
church is different.
You know, they have different strengths, different weaknesses.
Well, here's what they do.
Instead of applying it like it says it, I mean, just the
literal, there's a church in Ephesus, that's what I'm going
to tell you.
The church in Laodicea is what I'm telling you, kind of like
the whole Epistles of Paul, same thing.
I mean, the book of Ephesians, the book of Galatians, here's
what they do.
They say, actually, those are symbolic of seven different
church ages throughout history.
And they got all the dates and everything.
So basically, a history book is interpreting the Bible for them.
And they say the Ephesus age was like from 100 AD to 275 AD.
And then the Smyrna age was like 275 to 450 or whatever it is.
And this is what they say.
They say, we're living in the Laodicea, you know, the last
one, the Laodicea church age.
And that's the one that, remember, Jesus rebukes for being
lukewarm, thou art neither cold nor hot, be jealous, therefore,
and repent.
And he goes on and says it.
So they say, we're living in a day, the last days, the Laodicea
and church age, and so it just can't be done anymore.
Churches are getting smaller.
That's what they say.
Churches everywhere are getting smaller.
People are not being saved.
We barely can get anybody saved.
We're just, we're just hanging on till the end.
I mean, notice the I can't mentality.
Notice the defeating, self-defeating attitude.
Now, first of all, let me say what's wrong with that doctrine.
Number one, it comes from a man who believed in the Universal
Church, Schofield, who wrote the Schofield Bible.
And so he's saying the church of Laodicea, if that's a time
period, then that would mean that there's one church, the
church of Laodicea, like every Christian today.
Wrong.
It's talking to seven different churches that are all different.
I mean, our church, maybe sometimes, maybe our church is
a church like the church of Philadelphia.
I've said before the, an open door, which no man should,
you know, positive message, where Jesus is praising what
they're doing.
Maybe another church could be a very worldly church like
the church at Pergamos, but I'm going to tell you something.
There's not just one big church.
There's all different churches and they're all different and
they all have different characteristics, but theologians,
and I'm talking about independent fundamental Baptists, by
and large, will use this as an excuse for why they're a failure.
And they'll say, we're in this Laodicean church age, it's the
last days, and the second coming is nearing, and we're
just seeing a time when people will not listen to the Bible,
they won't listen to the truth, and you can't get people
saved, and we just got to hang on.
No, I'm not trying to hang on.
I'm trying to do something big for God.
Look at you at Daniel chapter 11 quickly.
I'm just going to blow past this point, but look at Daniel
chapter 11.
And see, with that kind of an attitude, that kind of an
I can't, cannot do attitude, that's the type of attitude
where you won't see people saved.
Your church will fail.
You know, you will fail to see anything happen for God, but
that kind of a stupid attitude, that kind of a stupid man-made
doctrine that's not in the Bible.
You'll never read the Bible and think that those are ages
of time.
I mean, you just read it, it's church, and it's a Laodicea,
that's what it says.
But look at you at Daniel chapter 11 verse number 32.
This is a verse that's talking about the last days.
This is talking about shortly before the second coming of
Jesus Christ.
This is within a few years of the second coming of Jesus
Christ. Read what God says in Daniel 11 32, and such as do
wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries,
but the people that do know their God shall be strong and
do exploits. You see that word exploits?
That's talking about great mighty deeds.
He's saying, the people that know God, he's saying down toward
the end, he says, yes, people are going to become more wicked.
Yes, the world's going to become more wicked.
Yes, America will become more wicked, but he says, but the
people that know God are going to be stronger than ever.
They're going to be doing greater things than ever.
It's going to be the greatest period to be living in the world.
That's the way I look at it, friend.
I don't, oh, woe is me.
I live in these last days, this layout of sea of days where
people hang and say, hey, people are getting saved in this
church every week.
People are getting saved all over America, every week by
people who say, I can do.
He says, the people who know God in the last days are going
to be strong.
They're going to be stronger than they've ever been.
They're going to do greater exploits than they've ever done.
And just to get a context to show you what I'm talking about,
you know, and you can study the book of Daniel another time,
but it's talking about the very last days and look at chapter
12 verse 1.
We saw that in 1132, but just to give you a chronological
bearing here, it says, and at that time, same time we're
talking about in Daniel 1132, and at that time, shall Michael
stand up, the great prince would stand it for the children
of thy people, and there should be a time of trouble, such
as never was, since there was a nation, even to that same
time. And at that time, thy people shall be delivered,
every one that shall be found written in the book, and many
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall await,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. And so here you see what we're talking about, the
time of trouble, such as the world's never seen, the great
tribulation, and then we see God saving his people from it
in the rapture, and then we see, it says that, you know, that
they're going to rise from sleep in the dust of the earth,
talking about the resurrection.
If it happens on the day of the rapture, tribulation, the
rapture, the second time, it's all so consistent, and God
is saying it's not a time in the last days to just try to
hang on till the end.
He says, no, it's a time for you to be stronger than ever.
It's a time for you to do greater things than ever.
It's a time for you to see more people saved than ever.
Jesus says, the works that I do, ye shall do, and greater
works, because I go to my Father.
So Jesus said that we are going to do greater works than
he did.
Now, are we talking about greater in quality?
How can we do better than Jesus Christ?
Obviously, we're not talking about a better quality.
He's saying you're going to do more.
I mean, he only had a ministry of three and a half years,
and he said to his disciples, the works that I do, shall ye
do, and greater works, because I go to my Father, and we saw
just in their lifetime the greater works that they did.
The disciples saw more people saved and baptized than Jesus
did, because it was more quantity, not more quality.
The quality is perfect with Jesus.
But he's saying you can do the greatest works that the world
has ever seen, but have an attitude that says I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
I was thinking about when I started this church, you know,
coming up on the one year anniversary a month from now,
and I was just thinking about just shortly before I came
here to start the church, a man sat me down.
I took a stand against some filthy sin and wickedness
that was going on in a place where I was, and a man sat
down with me for 45 minutes, told me, he said, you're going
to be a failure in life, I mean, for 45 minutes.
He said, you will fail.
He says, you'll never do anything for God.
He said, you'll dead sure never go into the ministry or
be a pastor or start a church, but he said, I don't think
you'll do anything for God.
He said, you're a failure, you're a loser.
I mean, for 45 minutes, just berated me up one side down
the other. This is weeks before I came here to start this
church, and I remember I was just thinking about the attitude
that he was trying to put in me, he was trying to tear down
my confidence.
He was trying to tear me down and make me feel like I couldn't
do what needed to be done through God.
I was thinking about when I was in Bible college, there was
a class which I never took, thank God, but there's a class
called How to Start a New Testament Church, talking about
how to start a church from scratch, and I remember I looked
at a buddy, a buddy of mine was in the class, and I said,
let me see your notes.
I'm going to start a church, you know, let me see what you
got for the notes, and I'm looking at the notes to see if
I could learn something, you know, so I'm looking at the
notes, and it was like they were just trying to make it
seem hard.
They're trying to make it seem impossible to like, okay, 12
months before, start working on this, six months before, you
need to start putting this, do this, this, and then at the
three month point, do this, this, this, at the one month
point, do this, this, this, and it's like, this is a list of
the 27 things that you must have before you have your first
service. 27 things you got to have, care, song books, building,
brochure, you know, just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you
got to vent, you got to vent, you got to vent, I mean, they
made it sound impossible, and I'm thinking to myself, this
is what I need to start a church, a King James Bible, and
a throat that can yell out, and shoes where I can walk up
and down the street, pray to the gospel to every creature,
that's all I need to start a church.
Pen, a pencil, a Bible, what do I need?
What do I need besides the Holy Ghost of God living inside
of me, and a Bible in my hand, to go out and preach the
gospel and start a church? Nothing. And I remember, you
know, I went home to my pastor in Sacramento, California,
he sent me out to start this church, he said, just get there
as fast as you can, I like that attitude. He said, don't worry
about it, he said, just move there. I said, hey, great, you
know, less than 30 days later, I was here. And what did I
do? I got here, pulled into town, got into town, I think
the night of the 21st, bought the house on the 22nd, trying
to unpack, knock doors, do whatever, you know, the first
Sunday we had like nine people in the first service, your
husband was one of them, and we had that great first service,
already seeing people saved, already had people coming the
first Sunday, already had, we're baptizing. I mean, hey,
because we had an attitude that said, I can do, I don't need
you to tell me how hard it is, I need you to tell me that it
can't be done. And I remember I was talking to a friend of
mine, and he was, you know, he just graduated from Bible
college, he was talking about starting a church, and he was
telling me, he says, I just don't, I don't know about the
finances, though. I just don't feel like I'm ready financially
to start that. I was, finance? What are you talking about?
We're talking about finances. How much does it cost to get
somebody saved? How much does it cost to go soul winning?
How much does it cost to buy a couple of chairs and a couple
of song books? I mean, I said, look, it cost me to start this
church out of my pocket less than $200, I told him. I said,
I'll give you $200 if you start a church. I said, I'll hand
you the $200 myself. Why are you so worried about the money?
I said, look, and I just explained it to him, and it wasn't
his fault, I mean, he just hadn't thought about it practically,
he'd been in that class, okay, about how to start a new
church. So I said, look, this is how it works, and I just
explained it to him real practically, this is how you do
it, this is what you can do, and he said, wow. He said, you
make it sound so easy. He said, you're making it sound like
I can do this. I said, that's why, because you can do it,
because God wants you to do it, because it's not something
where you need it, and this is what they want to teach you.
They want to teach that I'm supposed to, you know, start a
church by going around with my hand out for two years. That's
what they do, it's called deputation. You go around with
your hand out for two years and get some monthly support
from churches, although I thought we're supposed to be
independent, like not depending on some other church for
our money, but we're supposed to go around with our hand
out and, you know, sell ourselves for two years, you know,
God bless you, brother, you know, and not preach anything
that's going to make them mad, because then you won't get
the money, you won't get the dough. And so they want you
to go around and spend two years going around, getting
everybody to support you and pay your way, because they
say, otherwise, you just can't do it that way. You can't
do it. You can't just go there by yourself and start a
church. Well, you know what? That's what I've done, and
this church will succeed, this church is succeeding and
will continue to succeed. We've seen, what, over 200 people
saved. We're going to hit 20 baptisms by the end of the
year and beyond, God willing, and so we're right on track.
Why? Because we said, I can do, because we can do it. Hey,
look, are we going to hit the goals that we talked about
for salvation to baptisms? Absolutely. Of course we will.
We'll find a way to do it, because we have a can-do attitude.
If we get down to the end and we're not hitting the numbers,
hey, I'll take a few days off from work and just knock
doors off stinking day long, because I'm going to tell you
something we can do. We can get the job done if we have
an attitude that says I'm going to do what it takes to get
it done. Not just an attitude of, well, can't do it. Oh,
well, can't do it. Look, this church is important. If this
church wasn't important, I wouldn't have started this
church. God wouldn't have had me start this church. This
church is important. It's not just another church. This is
faithful word Baptist Church is an important church. And
so we must do whatever it takes to make this church
thrive and grow and do exploits. We got to do what it
takes to get it done. Say, well, I did my best. Hey,
do more than your best, because let's just get it done.
Let's just say can-do. I mean, if some worldly military
organization, the CBs can say, we build, we fight, we
can do. If they can say that, why can't we as Christians
say it? Why can't we say we got the Holy Spirit? They're
not even saved, most of them. They don't believe in Jesus
Christ, and they can say can-do. Why don't we as Christians
say can-do? Why does the faithful word Baptist Church
say we build, we fight, can-do? That's our motto. Why
can't we have an attitude that says we will succeed? We
will win. We will build faithful word Baptist Church
to the glory of God. I mean, I look at my children here.
I don't have an attitude of, well, I hope my kids turn
out right. I have an attitude of my kids will turn out
right, because I'm going to do what it takes to turn them
out right. Train up a child in the way he should go, and
when he's old, he will not depart from it. And so I want
to do what it takes to get the job done, not have an
attitude that just says, well, I did my best. I did the
best I could. No, let's just do what it takes to get the
job done, can-do. But not only that, I was thinking about,
well, let me turn you to another verse quickly.
Second Corinthians chapter one. Second Corinthians
chapter one in the New Testament here. Matthew, Mark,
Luke, John, Acts, Romans, and then First Corinthians,
Second Corinthians, halfway through the New Testament
there. First Corinthians chapter number one. I'm sorry,
Second Corinthians chapter one. I'm telling you the wrong
thing. Second Corinthians one. Everybody's in First
Corinthians two, right? No, I'm just kidding. Okay. Second
Corinthians one, and look at verse number seventeen. I
love this, I love this passage here, these few verses
that I'm about to read. Second Corinthians chapter, no,
I don't even know. Second Corinthians one, seventeen. And
the Bible says, when I therefore was thus minded, did I
use lightness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose
according to the flesh? That with me there should be
yea, yea, and nay, nay? But as God is true, our word
toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God,
Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even
by me, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, was not yea and
nay, but in him was yay. For all the promises of God
in him are yay, and in him amen. Unto the glory of
God by today. What's all about yay, yay, nay, nay? He's
saying, look, if it was me and the flesh, it'd be like
yay and nay. But he says with God it's just always yay.
Yay is the Bible word for yes. He said God is a yes kind
of a God. God's an amen kind of a God. He says God isn't
a God that, well, I don't know if we can do it or not.
He says yes, we can do it. Yes. Can we do it, God? Can
we get people saved? Can we build a fundamental
independent Baptist church in 2006? Can we do it, God?
He says yes, yes. Not yes and no, yes. But God, can we
preach old-fashioned Bible standards like seem to have
fallen off the face of the earth? Yes. Can we win
souls and knock doors and win people to Christ and see
the power of God, see people's lives changed, baptized,
people? Yes, yes, you can. If you believe you can, you
can. He says, but if you're going to be one of these
dispensational deadheads who doesn't believe you can,
who doesn't believe in the power of God, who doesn't
believe in soul winning, then you can't. If you're in
the flesh, he said, you can't. Nay. But he says, if you're
relying on Jesus Christ, it's yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I love that verse there. But look if you would now, one
more place. Look at Ephesians chapter 4, and I'm going
to show you another aspect quickly while we're drawing
to the end of the service, but look at Ephesians chapter
4. I'm going to show you another aspect of the can-do
attitude. The I can makes a great man. Look if you would
Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. And I want to
tell you now that not only you can do what God wants
you to do, yes, you can be a soul winner. You say, I'm
shy. You can learn to win people to Christ. Anyone can
learn to win people to Christ. You can be like Jonathan
and transcend the people around you and do great exploits
for God alone or with one other person. Two by two soul
winning, for example. And you can. You say, well, I can't
speak well. You can do it. You can win people to Christ.
You say, well, I don't know the Bible. Look, you can
learn two or three verses or whatever it takes. You can
memorize the Romans road. You can learn some verses
of the book of John. You can mark up your Bible. You
can put little tabs that point you where to go. I've
seen people do this and highlight the verses. When I
was a kid, my parents and their Bible, they had it
where Romans 3 23 had a little arrow that said now turn
to Romans 6 23, you know, now turn to Romans 5 12 and
it told them where to go next. I mean, it was a little
map in their Bible. They showed them turn here now, now
turn here. And then they had a list in the back of their
Bible. If they ask this, show them this, you know, and
they just, they said, hey, we're going to say can do
and we're going to make, we're going to write it out on
our Bible. We're going to find a way to do it. We're
not going to use anything to be an excuse. And so can
do. Yes, you can go soul winning. Yes, you personally
can bow your head with somebody and win them to Christ
after preaching the Gospel to them. Yes, you can be a
door-to-door soul winner. Yes, you can do what God wants
you to do. Yes, you can come to this church Sunday morning,
Sunday night, Wednesday night. You can be involved. You
can make it happen. You can be a part of it. But not
only that, but here's the second aspect that I want to
touch on before, before we close. You can give up the
sin in your life. You can. Let me show you how. Look
at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 20. Before this, there's
a big list of sin and wrong things and talking about
the Gentiles that are, that are unsaved. But look at
Ephesians 4 20. But you have not so learned Christ. If
so be that you have heard him and have been taught by
him as the truth is in Jesus, that he put off concerning
the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust. The old man, that's
who you were before you got saved, that's who you still
are in the flesh. When you're in the flesh, you're still
the old man, the Bible says. So he says, put off concerning
the former conversation, the old man, which is present
tense, which is corrupt, even though you're saved, the
old man, the flesh is still corrupt, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the
spirit of your mind. And that he put on the new man, which
after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
See the new man is that brand new creature that God made
your spirit when you got saved. And one day at the rapture
at the first resurrection, your body will also be made
the new creature and you'll be in the likeness of his
resurrection. But he says, put off the old man, don't walk
in the flesh like we saw earlier, the yay and nay is if
you're in the flesh, put off the flesh, put off the old
man, be renewed in the spirit of mind and put on the new
man, which is created, it says, in righteousness and true
holiness. So the old man is corrupt according to deceitful
lust, he's corrupt. And the new man is created in righteousness
and true holiness. Look at Galatians 5, one book backward
in your Bible from Ephesians, just turn back one book,
there's probably two pages in your Bible. Galatians chapter
5, look at verse 16, Galatians 5, 16, this I say then, great
verse here, this I say then, walk in the spirit and you
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now that's a
promise from God. He says, walk in the spirit and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You say, wait a minute,
so if I'm walking in the spirit, I will not fulfill my
lust by looking at that pornography magazine? He says,
no, not if you're in the spirit. He says, walk in the spirit,
you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. You say, wait a minute,
if I'm walking in the spirit, that means I'm not going to
commit fornication? Yes, while you're walking in the spirit,
you won't commit fornication. But see, that's something that
you have to choose every moment of every day. You have to
choose every day whether you're going to walk in the flesh
or in the spirit because they're both there and any time,
either one of them can take over. Any time, either one can
be in the driver's seat and he says, you can walk in the
flesh and I could wake up tomorrow morning and say, I'm
walking in the flesh and I can do all manner of ungodly sins
even though I'm saved and I'll still be saved, of course,
but if I decide I'm going to walk in the spirit and I'm
filled with the spirit, he says, you won't fulfill the
lust of the flesh like that when you're walking in the
spirit. Walk in the spirit, the promise from God. Take a
hold of that promise. Walk in the spirit and you shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh lusteth against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these
are contrary to one to the other so that you cannot do
the things that you would. He's saying, you know, you want
to overcome a particular sin in your life. You know, you
want to do what's right. He says, you can't because there's
this war going on between the flesh and the spirit. He
says, you've got to kick the flesh goodbye. Kick it, kick
it away and say, no, I'm going to subdue the flesh. I'm
going to be renewed in the spirit of my mind. I'm going
to walk in the spirit and I will not obey the lust of the
flesh. He's saying, you can overcome sin. I remember when
I was a teenager listening to preaching at 17, 18 years
old, listening to preaching, you know, against like rock
music, for example, preaching against the movies and
ungodly things. And I remember thinking to myself, this
is literally what I thought myself. I can't. I mean,
this is just even the words that I put in it. I just
cannot give up my rock music. I mean, I can't. I mean,
it's just so much a part of my life. I mean, it's just
something that it's just the lust of the flesh, you know,
it just feels good to listen to that music and I love
listening to it. I just said, I can't give it up. And I
remember it just, I thought, you know, I could never give
up all these movies that I watched. I used to watch a
lot of movies. I used to love movies, love all the worldly
stuff, the rock music, and I loved it. And I said, I cannot.
There's no way I can give this stuff up. I know it's
wrong and I'm listening to the preaching, it's wrong, but
I just can't do it. And I remember studying my Bible and
I was studying the book of 1st John and I was really
confused by some of the things that 1st John said and I
was just praying for God to answer me and to reveal to
me. I was saying, God, I'm trying to understand the Bible
here. I'm confused. Show me what this means. And he started
to show me as I studied that book and started just reading
it over and over. I had it on cassette, the Alexander
Scurvy, the Bible on CD. I just left in that tape of 1st
John, the part that had 1st John on it and just kept going
over and over again, over and over and listening to it.
I was listening to it and listening to it and listening
to it. And I remember I began to realize that the new man
and the old man have nothing in common. I began to realize
that the new man, he only loves what's right. I mean, he
only wants to do right. He hates sin. The new Steve Anderson
is what I'm talking about. When I got saved, the new
creature, he only likes, I mean, he hates rock music. He
hates the television. He hates the movies. He hates cussing.
He hates stealing. He hates pornography. He hates rock music.
He hates alcohol. He hates cigarettes. He hates drugs.
He hates everything that's wrong. He hates it. And then
I realized that the old man, he loves all those things
and he hates church. I mean, he hates the hymns. He wants
the rock music. He hates soul winning. He hates reading
the Bible. He hates prayer. And I realized that both of
these two natures warring against each other inside me,
the flesh and the spirit. And I realized, Steven Anderson,
the way that you're going to overcome the sin in your life
is to walk in the spirit and you won't have to torture
yourself daily and say like, oh man, I just want to listen
to my rock music so bad. Oh, I just want to go watch the
movies. Oh, I just want to do everything that's wrong.
Oh, I just want to be around all this sin and ungodliness.
No, I realized that if I would walk in the spirit, my desires
would change. If I would walk in the spirit, I could do
all things through Christ because I'd be the new man
who hates sin. He loves righteousness. He's created in
righteousness and true holiness, not according to the
corrupt lust of the flesh. But see, the old man, these
carnal, worldly, backslidden persons, they don't like this
kind of preaching and they come in the door and they
don't like our music. Our music is great, by the way.
I love our music. Our music, we don't just have some kind
of a, this is what we have because we're just starting
out and so we don't have all the fancy things. Hey, I
love our music here. I love these hymns. I love to sing
these songs. These songs will stir your heart. They move
you. They grip you. They're great songs. If you don't
like them, it's probably because you're the old man.
You want to come in here and have the, you know, you
want to have that kind of stuff because you're in the
flesh, buddy, because that's a fleshly, worldly kind of
music that's patterned after the world. It's patterned
after Nashville. It's patterned after Hollywood. It's
patterned after the world's crowd. And you say, well, I
like that kind of music. Hey, get in the spirit. You
won't like it anymore. Get in the spirit and you want
to sing to God be the glory and blessed assurance and
verily, verily and these great songs. That's what you
like to sing if you're in the spirit. You'll love to
think that God loves. You say, well, I like to drink.
You know, what can I say? Hey, that's the old man
talking. Yes, the old man loves to drink. Of course he
does. You're not going to change the old man, but
walk in the new man and you won't fulfill the lust of
the flesh. You say, I can't quit this and that addiction.
I just can't give up this and that sin. I just can't
throw away, you know, this and that that's in my closet
that's, you know, that's wrong and it's videos or see
whatever it is. Hey, you can, you can, can do. I can do
all things through Christ who has strengthened me.
Second Corinthians, I'm trying to hurry. Second
Corinthians chapter 10. If you turn there just back
a few pages, we're moving just backwards one book at
a time. We saw Ephesians. We saw the same thing in
Galatians. Now let's go back one more book to Second
Corinthians and look at Second Corinthians chapter 10.
Second Corinthians chapter 10. Look if you would at
verse number three and you'll see this theme all
throughout the Bible, the flesh versus the spirit. The
flesh is the old man who you were before you were
saved and it did not change when you got saved. It
did not change. You say, well, this person got saved.
They prayed and got saved and their life did not change
at all. I guess they never really were saved. Wrong.
No, you can get saved and your life can change zero.
No change because if you walk in the flesh, you're
the same flesh that you ever were. Only when you
decide to walk in the spirit will there be any change
that's a real change. And so you look at the person
that's saved. They prayed and got saved. They said they
believe on Jesus Christ. They said, I believe Jesus Christ
the son of God. I believe it's eternal security, eternal
life. Once saved, always saved. But I don't know. I mean
they're still living the same way, still drinking, still
partying. Hey, look, if they're in the flesh, they're
going to stay the same forever. Only if they decide
to walk in the spirit are they going to put on the
new man. That's the only difference because the old
man did not change when you get saved. You say, I'm
going to change my old man. I'm going to straighten
him out. You can't. Your old man or old woman is a
loser and will always be a loser. Period. Your old
man will always love sin. That's why you say, well,
I would never go back to the sinful life. Hey, your
old man's waiting to take over. Any time waiting to
take over. You got to keep that old man at bay by
putting on the new man daily, by getting in the word
of God, by being filled with the spirit, filled with
the word of God, filled with singing songs and hymns
and spiritual songs or else the old man can take over
any time and you can go back exactly back to where
you started because the same flesh has not changed
at all. That's why it's so stupid about our prison
system. You take some pedophile, you take some pervert,
you take some rapist and put him in jail. We've
rehabilitated him. No, you've not rehabilitated him
unless he's been born again and blood washed. He'll
never be rehabilitated because he's just going to get
worse and worse. Only if he gets the new man in there
will he seeks to be sinful, wicked, and even then
it's his choice whether he's going to walk in that
new man. But that's where the choice even becomes
available. But look at 2 Corinthians 10. We'll see
the same exact theme, the flesh and the spirit.
2 Corinthians 10 verse number 3, for though we
walk in the flesh, he's saying look we're walking
around in a flesh body. That's just reality. He says
for though we walk in the flesh, 2 Corinthians
10 3, we do not war after the flesh. He says we
don't war with fleshly, you know, we don't war
according to the flesh. Look at the next verse. For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. The word
carnal means fleshly, like Spanish, you know Spanish
the word carnal means meat, carnal means flesh. And
so he's saying for the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God, see through
Christ, through God, to the pulling down of
strongholds. See a stronghold is something that's
taken hold of your life, some sin that you can't
get rid of. It's a stronghold, it's something that
Satan has allowed to be there for so long that it's
built up like a fortress in your life. And it says
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but
mighty through God, to the pulling down of
strongholds, casting down imagination, and every
high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ. He's saying I'm going to
just take hold of every thought, say don't think that
way, think like God wants you to think. Take every
thought into captivity. That's why I love memorizing
the Bible because you can just captivate your
thought and say you're going to think on the things
of God. He says the weapons of our warfare, it's a
fight, we've got to fight the flesh, we've got to
fight the old man, and our weapons are spiritual
weapons like the word of God and prayer and soul
winning. And he says we use these spiritual
weapons, we can cast down any stronghold, any
addiction, any sin that's taken hold of your life,
you can do. You're going to say well I tried, I can't,
you can do. With the addict, I tried, there was your
problem. Don't try, just do it. Don't try, do it.
Look at the next passage, Romans chapter 6, and I'll
be done, it's the last one, Romans chapter 6. So this
is his back two books again, we're moving the same
direction in the Bible, we saw Ephesians and Galatians
and 2 Corinthians, go back two books, it'll be in
Romans 6. Romans 6, and this is the last scripture
we'll turn to, Romans 6 verse number 1, the Bible
reads in Romans 6, 1, what shall we say then? Talking
about saved, born again Christians. What shall we
say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound? Because we just learned in the chapter
before that, if you keep on sinning, just more
grace, you're still going to go to heaven, can't
lose your salvation. And he says, okay, well, shall
we just keep on sinning then? What shall we say
then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound? God forbid, how shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? So when's the time to
quit sin? Now. He says, how shall we that are dead
to sin live any longer therein? And he's like, why
would you want to live any longer in the flesh?
Why would you want to be living in the old carnal
man? One more minute. I mean, didn't you live in
that old man all the way until you got saved? And
all, maybe other times when you weren't right with
God, you've been walking in the flesh and walking
in the old man. Aren't you sick of it? He says, don't
you want to be just dead, just standing alive to
righteousness? Don't you want to just no longer walk
in the old man, no longer obey the lust of the
flesh, no longer be the person that you don't want
to be, but say I can do all things for Christ for
the sake of me. I can be the Christian that God
wants me to be. I can do what God wants me to do
because I'm going to walk in the Spirit and I'm
going to say, how can we that are dead to sin live
any longer therein? No more. Just stop right now.
Hey, you can be who God wants you to be. You can
get rid of the sin that God wants you to get rid
of. You can do the great things that God wants
you to do. You can win the souls that God wants
you to win. If you have an attitude that says, I
can do. You say, well, that's arrogant. That's
prideful. No, because get the next two words. I
can do all things through Christ. That's the
humility because we know it's not us. It's God.
But let's bow our heads and have a word of
prayer. Father, I thank you so much for a Bible
that's a yes kind of a Bible, a yay yay kind of a
Bible, not a yay and nay Bible. And God, I just
thank you so much that you tell us that we can
do. We can do the things that you want us to do.
We cannot do the things that you don't want us
to do. We can if we'll just have that attitude
that we can, dear God. And please, Father, help
all of us to have the right attitude. Help all
of us to be renewed in the spirit of our mind
and not walk after that old man that's corrupt
according to the deceitful lust, dear God. But
help us to daily and sometimes even hourly put
on the new man, which is created in righteousness
and true holiness, dear God. Help us to be the
people that we want to be and the people that
you want us to be, dear God, and the people that
we can be. Father, we love you and thank you so
much for dying on the cross for us and setting
us free, dear God, from the power of sin in our
lives. Please just help us to take advantage
of that by walking in the spirit, dear God.