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Heavenly Father, thank you for tonight through God. I thank you for your word, dear Lord, and I please ask that you please be with Brother Stuckey, dear God. Just fill him in your spirit, Lord, give him boldness and clarity to preach your word, God. Be with each one of us, God. I ask you to meet with us tonight, God. We love you and we thank you for all the blessings. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, we're there in Luke chapter 4, and it's always an honor to get to preach here, and if you're only kind of new to our church or maybe your first time visitor, it's not often that our pastor misses church. He preaches once a year in Arizona, so this is not common, and hopefully I'll do a good job replacing him. But we're here in Luke chapter 4, and as pastor said this morning, the name of my sermon is Weary and Warfare. Weary and Warfare. Now, if you're here tonight and maybe you've been getting exhausted in the Christian life, or maybe you're backsliding, or maybe you're getting tired, maybe you're not that motivated to read the Bible anymore, go soul winning, or you feel like giving up, this is the sort of sermon for you. And to be honest, I believe this is the sort of sermon for any of us, because any and all of us will grow weary in the fight at times. And in Luke chapter 4, this is a parallel passage with Matthew chapter 4 in the first 14 verses, where Jesus is being tempted by the devil. Now, in Matthew chapter 4, it is probably a much more common story, and the reason why I believe that is because people start in Matthew chapter 1, and they're excited to read through the New Testament. And they get through Matthew, they get through Mark, and then they hit Luke 1. And it's like a million verses, and they don't always make it to Luke chapter 4. But I'll be honest with you, I think Luke 4 gives us a little bit more insight into the story. We're going to see three different things here, but just one to start out. In verse number 2 in Luke 4, it's very clear when it says, being 40 days tempted of the devil. You see, if you're used to the story in Matthew 4, you might think that Jesus was only tempted after those 40 days, but that is not what the Bible teaches. He was tempted during those 40 days, and after those 40 days. He was being tempted 40 days of the devil. That's very clear in Luke chapter 4. If you read Matthew 4, it's not quite as clear, but in Luke chapter 4 it says, being 40 days tempted of the devil. And it talks about his temptation after those 40 days, because the devil ramps up that temptation even more when he's exhausted and tired and weary. We're going to look at a few things later on, but turn to Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7. And this sermon came to me when I was actually reading the book of Daniel, because Daniel 7.25 is the main verse I'm looking at. I was studying the book of Daniel and trying to take notes, because I was reading the last half of Daniel, which is pretty confusing. So I was trying to take notes so I could really understand everything. And this verse, Daniel 7.25, really stood out to me. In Daniel chapter 7 verse 25, the Bible reads, And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times in the dividing of time. And so the Bible speaks about the Antichrist, and the Antichrist is going to speak words against Almighty God, against the Most High. And the Bible says that the saints, which are believers, anybody who's put their faith in Jesus Christ is a saint, according to the Bible. They are going to be worn out. It says, And shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And so the first thing that we're seeing is this. It is inevitable that you will grow weary in the Christian life. The inevitability of weariness. It says, And shall wear out the saints of the Most High. It doesn't matter how righteous you are. It doesn't matter how many times you've read the Bible. Everyone will have times in their life where they get really weary and tired and exhausted in the Christian life. And what you have to understand, this is not just during the end times. The devil has a goal to wear you out in your life. You know, there was a very famous boxing match, I believe it was in the 70s, between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Now, Muhammad Ali is much more famous than George Foreman, but coming into that fight, George Foreman was a pretty heavy favorite. George Foreman was pretty much considered unbeatable. Nobody thought he could be beaten. And coming into that fight, George Foreman, he hit harder, he was younger, he was stronger, he was bigger. They thought he was unbeatable, pretty much. And going into that fight, I think Muhammad Ali understood that. So he realized, I can't win this battle versus him unless I outsmart him. So it's a very famous battle. The fight was called the Rumble in the Jungle, and Muhammad Ali did a famous move called the Ropa Dope, where basically what he did is he hung onto the ropes like this, and George Foreman swung away, and George Foreman punched himself out. That is a term in boxing or in fighting where you punch and then you just wear out of energy. Because punching and fighting, it's exhausting. It's tiring. So basically, Muhammad Ali made it look like he was going to get beaten, and George Foreman kept punching. He had no energy left. Then in the eighth round, Muhammad Ali knocked him out. So basically, when you look at the Christian life, it's the same way. We need to be aware that the devil is trying to wear us out. We need to be aware of what he's trying to do. Sometimes we can go through our lives and think that we're okay, but we have to understand that the devil is trying to wear you out until you reach the point where he can knock you out and get you to quit soul winning and quit on church and quit living for God. Now, there are many people in this room that are very devoted to the things of God that come soul winning every week. So I could use a lot of different people as an example. I'm actually going to use Brother Jared as my example here this evening. You don't have to come up here or anything. But, you know, when Wednesday night rolls around, I think we could all agree that Brother Jared and his family are going to be here at church. You know, I don't doubt. There's no doubt he's going to be here unless something major comes up, unless there's a major sickness or death or something major. They're going to be here every Wednesday because they don't just come out of duty, but they love the things of God. And that can be said for the majority of people in here. You're here on a Sunday night. Pastors not here, but you're here because you want to hear the word of God preached. You want to be around God's people. Now, when Wednesday night rolls around, I have no doubt they're going to come to church. But let's say, for example, this was April 2018, a year from now. Now, I hope they're still in church. I think they will be, but it is possible by that time the devil could start wearing them out now, and a year from now they might not be at church. And the bottom line is this, that could be anybody in this room because anybody could get worn out in the Christian life. And, honestly, we've seen lots of people come to this church and leave. You know, we've been here less than two years, my wife and I, but a lot of people have come. They've got excited, and they were zealous. They went soloing all the time, and they're not here tonight. They weren't here this morning. They won't be here on Wednesday. It could happen to anybody in this room. You see, the devil realizes, you know, when we go soloing, we knock doors, we get somebody saved, we invite them to church. Sometimes they're really enthusiastic that they want to come to church. And, you know, if you've been soloing for a long time, you realize even if they want to come, even if you think they might come, usually they don't come. Sometimes they do, but usually they don't. Now, I don't think all those people are lying to us at the door when they say they want to come to church. I believe that they want to come to church, but basically the devil will make them be like, oh, I'm tired, I'll wait till next week, or, you know, I have too many things going on. I'll eventually come, and then they never show up at church. See, the Bible says, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. It doesn't say he might flee from you. It doesn't say it's possible. It says he will flee from you. Now, when somebody's first saved, they're not that strong in their Christian life. It doesn't take much to get them to miss church. Now, if you've been here for a long time, though, if you're maybe a seasoned Christian, you've been soloing for years, it's going to take something pretty big to get you to miss church on Wednesday night. But no matter who you are in this room, including myself, the devil could start wearing you out, and eventually you could say, you know what, I don't want to be in church anymore. You know, there's too much. I'm giving up. All of us, we're going to have highs, but we're also going to have a lot of lows in the Christian life. And we have to be the type of people that say no matter what comes up, when the devil attacks, I am going to resist the devil. I am, and he will flee from me. Turn to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. See, what we're looking at right now is the first point, the inevitability of weariness. It is inevitable. Now, while you're turning to Ephesians chapter six, I'm going to read a verse in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 30. The Bible reads in Isaiah 40 verse 30, even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. The Bible says even the youths, even young people are going to get faint and weary. You know, we see kids run around, and sometimes it seems like they never run out of energy. They just run and run and run, but eventually they will get tired. Everybody gets tired eventually, physically, and that's an analogy to understand the spiritual life that everybody will eventually spiritually get tired as well. In Ephesians chapter six, very famous passage, starting at verse number 11, the Bible says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. The Bible likens the Christian life to fighting. It says we wrestle not. Now if you've ever wrestled before, it doesn't take much to wear you out. You know, even if you run all the time, you know, I used to run all the time, but when I would wrestle my friends after five minutes, you know, my hands are on my hips, I'm exhausted, you know, I'm out of energy. Wrestling and fighting, that is extremely tiring. The verse I just read in Isaiah where it says even the youths shall faint and be weary, you know, even the really dedicated Christians are going to get tired in the Christian life. Even someone who's read the Bible 10 times, 20 times, 30 times, been saved for 30 years, they are going to get tired as well. Everybody does. You look in the Bible at some of the greatest men. You look at Moses. He got exhausted in the Christian life. You look at Elijah in 1 Kings 19. He had that great victory in 1 Kings 18 over the false prophets of Baal. He outruns the chariot. You think, man, nothing could bring this guy down. In the next chapter, Jezebel threatens to kill him and he wishes to die. He's faint. He's weary. He's exhausted. Even almighty Elijah, even Elijah was such a great, great Christian, he got exhausted in the Christian life. He got exhausted serving God. You look at Job. Job survived all the trials that he went through, but he reached a point where he didn't want to go on any further. And so no matter who you are, you are going to get tired in the Christian life. The Bible likens it to a fight. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Now you might say, man, brother Stuckey, that's really a negative way to start off this sermon. But you know, actually it's not because here's the truth. You know, you will grow weary whether I tell you that or not. At least if I warn you about it, you'll be aware of it. Because it's going to happen whether you want it or not. We do get worn out. I mean, if you've only been saved for maybe a year, been soul winning for a year or less, maybe you haven't realized that yet, but I promise you, every single person has ups and they have downs. It is inevitable that you'll grow weary in the Christian life. In Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1, the Bible reads, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which sought so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. The Bible likens the Christian life to a fight, and it also likens it to a race. Running's tiring. I think we could all agree on that. And the Christian life is the most tiring run you're ever going to go on. It doesn't matter how often you run, it is going to be tough to continue. You know, when you go running, you might be in really good shape, but you know, if you eventually keep running, you're going to get tired. Even marathon runners, they're going to reach a point where they grow faint, they grow weary, it doesn't matter how much they run. It is inevitable. And the Christian life is likened to a race, and it's going to be tiring. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 25. Now I would say that that's an understood point, okay? Most of us would probably say, yes, I've grown weary in the Christian life, I've got exhausted before, that makes sense. But first we looked at the inevitability of weariness. Now we're going to look at the instance of attack during weariness. The instance of attack during weariness. And Deuteronomy chapter 25 verses 17 and 18, the Bible reads, remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when you were come forth out of Egypt. How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God. So we see here that Amalek, he attacks the people in the back, the people that are faint, the people that are really tired and really weary. It makes perfect sense. I mean, would you rather attack somebody who's really strong and powerful, or you can attack somebody who's weak? And so we have to understand the devil has the same sort of plan. He can't waste his time on everybody. He's not everywhere at one time. He will get the people that he can destroy now and hope to wear out the others so one day he can destroy them as well. Amalek was not a dumb man. He attacked the people that were faint and weary. Turn to 2 Samuel 17. 2 Samuel 17. We're gonna look at somebody else who was not an idiot either. In 2 Samuel chapter 17, starting at verse number 1, 2 Samuel chapter 17, starting at verse 1, the Bible reads, moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, let me choose out 12,000 men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night, and I will come upon him while he is weary, not while he is strong, while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid, and all the people that are with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only. Ahithophel wanted to get revenge on David. Ahithophel was mad at David, and he wanted to personally kill David, but he was smart. He wanted to kill him while he was weary and weak-handed. I mean, yes, David was an older guy, but in the Bible, when you think about the greatest, you know, military leaders, the greatest fighters, the greatest warriors who won so many battles, it's probably David. You know, before he even killed Goliath, he killed a lion, killed a bear, and it's like, good night. I mean, how in the world do you even do that? I mean, David had so many great military battles, and Ahithophel, he was a very smart guy when you read the Bible, and he said, I'm going to attack David when he's weak, when he's weary, because he knew when he was weary and weak-handed, he would be able to kill him. Turn it back to Luke chapter 4, where we started, Luke chapter 4. And there's a lot of other examples as well. We mentioned Jezebel and Elijah. You know, once he was exhausted and weary, that was when he was able to give up, he was willing to give up on his life. The Bible says jail killed Sisera. It says when he was fast asleep and weary, you know, she killed him at that time. Well, in Luke chapter 4, another person who isn't stupid is the devil. The devil is very conniving, he's very smart. It says in verse number 2, being 40 days tempted of the devil, and in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, if thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be may be made bread. You see, the devil tempts him for 40 days, and then once he's, it's been 40 days, Jesus is tired, he's exhausted, and then he really tries to lay down the hammer. Now, Jesus was sinless. He never sinned one time. That's why we have a Savior. I mean, nobody else could be that Savior. It says he who knew no sin. But here's the thing, when the devil wears us out, oftentimes he can get us to a point where we end up committing sins that we shouldn't, or we get to a point where we want to give up on the Christian life. And so the devil, he wears him out and tries to reach that point where he can destroy him. But if you look down at verse number 13 in that chapter, it says, and when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. So see, like the Bible says, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And so what you see is Jesus resisted the devil, and he departed for a season. Now, that is one thing we need to understand. When we resist the devil when he's attacking us, he is going to come back later on. He's never going to just give up on you. If you're a soul winner, you have to understand there are going to be attacks coming during your life. I mean, honestly, when you're a soul winner, you're living for the Lord, you're just trying to go about your business, you're working your job, you're going soul winning, reading the Bible, you got family attacking you, you got old friends attacking you, there's independent fundamental Baptists attacking you. I mean, everybody is attacking you trying to get you to quit. And it all comes from the devil who's trying to destroy your life. And if you're a Christian, it's going to happen. But you have to understand with each temptation, if you resist that temptation, the devil is going to flee for a season. And then in verse 14, it says, and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. You see, when you fight against those temptations, and you resist it, you come back to the victor. And that could happen for any of us in our lives. But we must understand first, it is inevitable the devil is going to attack you. And we need to understand the instance of attack during weariness. Turn back to Daniel 7. And the next thing I want to show you is the instruments of weariness, the instruments of weariness. What exactly is it that wears you out in the Christian life? Now we talked about running a race and being in a fight. So the way the Bible likens it, we understand we're going to get worn out. But I want you to look at that verse that we read in Daniel 7, verse 25. In Daniel 7, verse 25, the Bible reads, And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High. Let me read that again. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High. You see, when the Antichrist speaks blasphemous things against God, when he speaks things against the Bible, it wears out the Saints. And here's what you have to understand. This is not just during the end times. You see, when you turn on the television at your home, you know, some people in this room after Easter, the day where Jesus rose again, you probably went home and you watched the television, and you heard people speak against the Most High. You heard people blaspheme God. And that is going to wear you out in the Christian life. Every time you listen to that rock music, you listen to the rap music, the country, whatever music that you want to call it, you know, it's garbage. When they speak against the Most High, it wears you out in the Christian life. And for some reason, we live in a world where Christians seem to think, I can be filled with everything the world has to offer, and I'll be a bold soul winner till the day I die. But that's not going to happen. You are going to get worn out in the Christian life. It's very clear in Daniel 7 25, and he shall speak great words against the Most High. And what is the result of that? Speaking against the Most High and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High. And you know, this is nothing new at Verity Baptist Church. I mean, if you've been here for a couple weeks, you know our pastor preaches against the television. But you know, it's not good enough to be in a church where it's preached. You have to actually apply it to your life. And you know what? Honestly, I'm sure there's plenty of people in this room that you go home, you watch TV every week, you watch the movies, you listen to the music. And you know, it's one thing if you're newly saved and you're growing as a Christian. But let me tell you something, if you've been saved for a long time, it's time for you to grow up and get that stuff out of your life. I just don't, I just don't understand you. I haven't had a TV for a very long time. Honestly, I quit watching TV in college because I moved to an apartment and, you know, I couldn't really afford it or whatever. We didn't have cable there. And I didn't miss it at all. And honestly, you know, if you've never gotten rid of your TV, I promise you, you will not miss it. You're going to realize you've been wasting all your life. You're wasting years of your life on something that does nothing and something that's going to speak blasphemous words against your God. He's going to speak against your God who died for your sins, who loves you so much. And you know, here's one thing that's really sad about this, you know, in this room, in this church, you know, because I grew up watching television. I grew up just like everybody else. I got saved in college. And honestly, you know, anyone who's older is going to tell you this, that the stuff that went into your mind and into your head, oftentimes it's permanently stuck there. You know, songs that you haven't listened to for a decade. I mean, I was, I was somewhere the other day and I heard a song from Tom Petty that came on. I haven't heard this song in so many years, but every single word I knew. And that is really, really frustrating that some, that garbage has entered my head that I'm probably not going to get out of my head or at least for a long time. And honestly, the next generation is the kids in this room. And they pick up on the things that are being preached. And honestly, there's a lot of kids in this room that want to do something big for God. They could be the people that start the churches around the world. In this country, they could be the evangelists and the pastors that do big things for God. But honestly, some of these kids will never do it. And it's not because they don't want to do it. It's not because they're not at a church that doesn't preach it. It's because their parents don't get rid of their TV. Their parents are filled with worldliness and it's going to filter down to the kids. And those kids are going to wonder, why is it our pastor preaches against this and yet we still watch it? We don't obey the pastor. And you know, it's a good, it's a good question. And obviously, we have our own free will. It's up to us. But if you just look at what Daniel 725 says, it says, and he shall speak great words against the Most High and shall wear out the saints of the Most High. I don't think anybody in this room could argue with me that the television doesn't speak against the Most High. I think it's pretty obvious that the show's on there. I don't know what the shows are on TV, but has it gotten better in the last 10 years? Would anyone raise their hand and say, yeah, amen. It's all about soul winning and the King James Bible. No, I didn't think so. And so here's the thing in the last 10 years, it's probably gotten a lot worse. You know, when I was 14 years old, I was in France in 1999. And I remember seeing what was on the TV and I was I couldn't believe it. I mean, it was so bad what was on there. And I haven't been to France since then. But honestly, probably what was on back then is probably what's on the TVs now in America. Because worldwide cultures are just getting more and more wicked. And we don't realize it because we get desensitized. We're here every single day and it gets a little bit worse, a little bit worse, a little bit worse. I mean, in 1999, there wasn't that big of a sodomite agenda on the television like there is now. Now it's like every single TV show, that show Modern Family, where they have those two guys that are a couple that's really popular show. I mean, it is a huge agenda in our culture now. And honestly, if you allow your kids and your family to watch this stuff, they're gonna see things that are against the Most High. And here's what we have to understand. In our day-to-day lives, even if we try to avoid all of this, we're gonna run into it. I mean, you go to the grocery store, you're gonna see women dressed like they ought not to be, like you shouldn't have to see with your eyes. You're gonna hear people say things and blaspheme God, and just cussing left and right, and just all the things of the world, all these things against the Bible. Even in your day-to-day life, you will get worn out in the Christian life, because all of this is against the Most High. But you know, when you go home and you watch it on TV, you're like multiplying that by 20, because you're just filling yourself with it over and over and over again. You say, well, Brother Steike, I watched this show, and there's nothing wrong with it. Well, let me ask you a question, then. What about the commercials that come on? I mean, you could say, well, this show is completely clean. There's nothing wrong with it. I would doubt that, but even if that's true, it doesn't change the fact that those commercials that you're seeing are against the things of God. And honestly, I grew up a big sports fan, and I felt like you used to be able to watch a sporting match, and there wouldn't be stuff like that, but the commercials there are all about, you know, alcohol and the sodomite agenda. There's really nothing you can watch anymore. And honestly, it would be great. We should just all get rid of our TVs and start reading the Word of God so we can grow as Christians. Rather than getting worn out, we can get renewed in the Christian life. Turn to 2 Samuel 23, 2 Samuel 23. One thing that's kind of sad about this thing of growing weary, you know, if you've ever noticed this before, you know, you can start to get really tired, like, when you're working out, but you don't necessarily realize that you're getting really tired. Like, you know, if you're doing bench press and you do lots of sets, you feel like, oh, I can do another set, and then you can't even get the weight off. You know, it's just too much. Oftentimes, it's the same thing spiritually. Oftentimes, you're getting weak spiritually, and you don't even realize it. And that's the sad thing, because there could be people in this room. You know, a lot of people are here. I'm sure there's people here that have been backsliding or tired or exhausted, and you might not even be aware of that. And that's why we need to make sure we do everything we can to avoid allowing this to enter our minds, because this will wear you out in the Christian life. You know, just a week ago, a bunch of us guys went to the basketball courts to play, you know, several games. It was me, Brother Oliver, Brother Scott, Armando, and Evan. And Brother Carlton was there as well. And, you know, after we play games of basketball, we try to give the people the gospel afterwards. And there was this one guy who was, you know, a little bit drunk, and he just would not let us give the gospel to everybody else. And he just started blaspheming God. And he wasn't just blaspheming God a little bit. I think all of us guys that were there would say, that's probably the worst thing we've ever heard in our lives. I've never heard anybody say the things that came out of his mouth. You know, I grew up listening to, like, ACDC and Aerosmith, and what they said was nothing compared to what this guy said. He was blaspheming God. We got our stuff. We left. But we could not avoid hearing him just blaspheme God. Now, we had to hear that because we were down there. We were trying to give people the gospel. We didn't want to hear it. I mean, it made—you could ask anybody who was there. I was angry at what I was hearing. I wanted to give those people the gospel, and I was angry that I had to sit there and listen to that guy just blaspheme God. But what's interesting is some people go home, and they willingly hear people blaspheme God. And it's not a big deal to them. I mean, we were there, and it happened to us. But I'm not gonna willingly go home and try to hear people blaspheme God. That doesn't make any sense. That'd be like turning on a bunch of rock music, and, I mean, you're gonna hear people blaspheme God. And the music and the TVs that's out there, it's not of God. It is of the world, and it will wear you out. It wears out the saints. You're in 2 Samuel chapter 23, and first thing we saw is the inevitability of weariness. Then we saw the instance of attack during weariness. We saw the instruments of weariness. But now let's look at the impact of weariness. Let's see what happens when you grow tired and faint in the Christian life. In 2 Samuel chapter 23, in verses 9 and 10, the Bible reads, And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahoy, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered to battle. And the men of Israel were gone away. He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword, and the Lord wrought a great victory that day, and the people were turned after him only to spoil. You see, Dodo is able to kill a lot of people until he gets weary, until he gets tired, and then he's not able to kill anybody else. And see, it's the same thing in our Christian lives. You could be a mighty soul winner and get lots of people saved. Be excited to go soul winning every single time. Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays. But you know, once you get weary in the Christian life, you're not going to be a soul winner anymore. You're going to end up giving up once you get extremely weary and extremely faint. I mean, you'll see people that come to church, they're really excited about soul winning, and oftentimes that will start to fade, and sadly, usually it doesn't get revved up again. And the impact is this, you're going to get, there's going to be a lot less people to get saved once you grow weary and faint in your Christian life. I remember when I was soul winning probably 11 or 12 years ago, and I had heard preaching against worldliness, and I reached an understanding in my mind. I was going soul winning every week, but I wasn't getting a lot of people saved. And I started to wonder in my head, you know, if I didn't watch these movies and didn't watch these TV shows, I wondered, would these people have gotten saved? And I believe some of them probably would. And you've got to ask yourself, is your worldliness worth people dying and going to hell forever? I mean, hell is not a joke. It's a real place. The lake of fire, which burns, it says torment day and night, forever and ever. Is watching that movie, watching those TV shows, is choosing to live a worldly life and not giving all to God, is that worth people in Sacramento dying and going to hell forever? You got to ask yourself that question. Now, I hope the answer for most of us would be, it's not worth it to watch that. But you got to make those decisions. Turn to Numbers chapter 32, Numbers 32. You say, well, Brother Stuckey, I really don't think that watching TV is going to affect whether or not people get saved. Well, why in Luke 8 14 does it say the people that are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life bring forth no fruit to perfection? Those that are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life bring no fruit to perfection. You see, when people get caught up with money and entertainment and excitement, they no longer soul winners. They don't get people saved. When you're choked with the things of the world, you will stop being a soul winner. And honestly, I've known plenty of people that were great soul winners that are not today. It could happen to anybody in this room. In Numbers chapter 32, look at verse number six. It says, and Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, shall your brethren go to war and shall you sit here? And wherefore discourage you the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given him. Thus did your fathers when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel. They should not go into the land which the Lord had given them. So basically, you see these groups of people, they do not go to battle and now everybody else doesn't want to go to battle either. See, the impact of your weariness when you end up quitting on God, it's gonna make those around you quit on God. When you quit soul winning, other people are gonna lose their zeal. When you decide I'm not gonna be at church anymore, other people are gonna start quitting church. That's just the way it is. You must realize that if you backside on God, if you grow weary in the Christian life, you are not just affecting yourself, you're not just affecting your family, you're affecting every single person in this room. It's a fact. You know, if you quit on God, I know that if I quit on God, it would discourage other people around. I guarantee anybody, whenever anybody quits, I'm always discouraged. It doesn't matter who it is, I'm discouraged. It's sad to see people leave. And if you quit, if you backside, if you grow weary and quit soul winning, you will discourage the people around you. You know, I'm gonna use, I wish Brother Joel was in here, I'm gonna use him as an example today. But you know, Brother Joel and I, I like using him as an example because we kind of have a similar background. We've both been independent Baptists for a pretty long time. We've listened to a lot of the same preachers that aren't even preachers in this camp. And you know, I don't know all the trials Brother Joel's gone through in his life, but I know that if you've been a dedicated soul winner for a long time, you've had a lot of downs that you had to fight through. Now, I don't know all the individual downs he's gone through, but I know he stayed a soul winner the entire time. Now, most people, once life gets tough, they end up quitting on God. Now, the reason why I'm using it as an example is because he's training to be a pastor, and I believe one day he will be a pastor. I believe he's gonna be a great pastor and lead a great group of people that love the Lord and go soul winning and do something big for God. I'm just being honest. If he were to one day say, you know what, Brother Stuckey, I don't want to be a pastor anymore. I don't want to preach. I don't want to go soul winning. It would discourage me. And I guarantee you it would discourage everyone. I guarantee you it would discourage Pastor Jimenez because we want to multiply this church, not just here in Sacramento, but across the nation, across the world. We need churches like this started, and we need men of God who rise up and be that man. And you know what, if the men end up quitting, it's gonna discourage everybody else around. We need to realize that when we get weak and weary, we're affecting other people, and we're all gonna reach those points where we get tired and exhausted. We must fight through that. If we quit, it's gonna harm everybody, not just yourself. It's gonna harm everybody. Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. So the first thing we saw was the inevitability of weariness. The second thing we saw was the instance of attack during weariness. The third thing we saw were the instruments of weariness, and the fourth thing, the impact of weariness. So the question comes up, well, how do you stop this? What is the impediment of weariness? How do you stop this problem? How do you impede this problem? In 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16, the Bible reads, For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Let me read that again. For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day. You see, one of the big answers is a day by day renewal. See, every single day you need to get down on your knees and pray to God to give you strength. Every single day. Every single day you need to open this book and read it to be renewed. That is how you're gonna grow as a Christian, and if you don't, you'll get weaker every single day, because the way this world is set up, even if you do everything to avoid it, you will be worn out by the devil's plans. You're gonna see things you shouldn't. You're gonna hear things you shouldn't, and you will grow weak and weary in the Christian life. Every single day you're getting weaker. Every single day you need to get renewed. You need to get stronger, and if you don't read the Word of God to renew yourself, if you don't pray to ask God to give you strength, you are just gonna get weaker and weaker and weaker every single day, and I'm sure there's people in this room that every day you go through that battle where you say, man, I know I should read the Bible, and you don't get around to it, and then tomorrow some of you are gonna say, man, Brother Stuckey, you preached that sermon. I need to read the Bible first thing in the morning, and you're just like, ah, I just feel like getting on Facebook. I just feel like checking out my email. I just feel like getting on, watching the TV or something like that, and then once the end of the day rolls around, you're like, man, I missed my Bible reading again. You just need to set aside all distractions and make it a point. You must read the Word of God every day. You must pray every day. You need to get renewed every single day, and I'm sure a lot of people are in here, and you wonder why you're not excited to go soul winning. You wonder why you're not excited for the things of God like other people are. It's not that other people have some special gift from God, that they're always excited. Nobody has a gift like that, but these people are reading God's Word every day. They're praying every day. They care about the things of God every day. They're not filling themselves full of worldliness, and that is why they're doing big things for God. And if you don't get renewed every day, you will grow weaker. I'll be honest with you, you know, there's times in our lives where life gets really busy, and some days I don't get much time with God. Even when I only spend a little time with God, I feel weaker spiritually. You know, I'm easily quick to anger when I'm usually not. Just everything about my attitude and everything is worse when I don't have time that I spend with God every single day. That's why for me, first thing in the morning, I try to just spend time reading the Bible and praying, because I want to make sure I at least get that done. No matter what spins out of control the rest of the day, at least I got in my time with God, because that is number one. There's nothing more important than your time, personal time with God every single day. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Actually, turn to Isaiah 40. Actually, never mind that. I'm actually gonna do something different. Actually, can you grab your hymnals? We're not gonna sing a song, but I want to show you the words of some of these songs. Grab your hymnal. You know, one other thing that I think is a great thing you can do to stay renewed and stay strong is actually reading or singing the songs in this hymnal. The Bible says sing songs, spiritual songs, hymns. We ought to be singing God's songs, and honestly, when you sing these songs, it will help revive your heart. It will help you feel better. Even just this afternoon, before I was preaching, you know, I was trying to study over my sermon, make sure I had everything. I was like, I need to just take a break and start singing some songs from the hymnal to get kind of lifted up a little bit. Look at song number 351, which we started with this evening. Because what we're talking about is weariness in warfare. And look at the first words of Tell it to Jesus. Song number 351 in your hymnal. Song number 351. The first words, are you weary? Are you heavy-hearted? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Right when it starts out, are you weary? You know, singing this song, it's gonna help lift you up. And the answer, what they say in the song, is right as well. Tell it to Jesus. Pray to God, and He's gonna help lift you up. He's gonna give you strength. Turn to 355. 355. And look on the third stanza, or the third line, where it says, are we weak and heavy-laden, cumbered with a load of care, precious Savior still our refuge? Take it to the Lord in prayer. You've got burdens. You've got things that are dragging you down. You're weary. Take it to Jesus. Pray every single day. Turn to 356, which we just read. And look at how this song starts off. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone. In my distress, He kindly will help me. He ever loves and cares for His own. The answers are in, right here in this book. You know, the modern-day songs are a bunch of garbage. You know, they're just singing these generic things. They will not change your life. But singing these songs, they will change your life. You know, you might not be aware of this, but this hymnal is divided into categories. So when you start at song number 351, that is the first song that is really about prayer. And it goes to song number 362. Those 12 songs are dedicated towards prayer. And so, honestly, this idea of weariness, if you sing songs 351 through 362 at home, it's gonna help give you your answers. Look at 358. 358. Look at the chorus from "'Tis the blessed hour of prayer. What a balm for the weary. Oh, how sweet to be there. Blessed hour of prayer. Blessed hour of prayer. What a balm for the weary. Oh, how sweet to be there." The answers are in this hymnal. Turn to song 361. We'll just look at two more. It says in 361, did you think to pray in the chorus, oh how praying rests the weary. Prayer will change the night today. So in sorrow and in gladness, don't forget to pray. Look at 362. 362, the last one. And honestly, when I was singing songs this afternoon, I knew I was already preparing to sing these songs, but I just randomly was singing, the fight is on. I think that's when I saw. And it talks about weariness as well. So I mean, the answers are here in this hymnal. 362, you know, I like the whole song, but it says, cast all your care on him. He careth for you. His promise is given. His word is true. He clothed the lilies, the sparrows he feeds. So tell him your burdens and needs. See, God wants you to be revived in your Christian life. He doesn't want you to grow spiritually weak. I mean, we're the ones who've been given the ministry of reconciliation. We have to have strength if we're going to be successful in the Christian life. He doesn't want us exhausted and tired and weary. But sadly, people are exhausted. And you've heard a preach plenty of times that you need to pray to God, you need to read the Bible, and unfortunately, a lot of us aren't doing it. And I know the times that I don't do it, I am just exhausted with the Christian life. You start thinking, what's the point of all this? But you know, if we would actually pray to God every day and read the Bible every day, it would greatly help us out. Turn to Isaiah chapter 40, Isaiah 40. And one of the big answers was just not allowing worldliness to enter into you. You see, it's inevitable you'll grow weary, but you can greatly speed that weariness up when you get filled with the things of the world. When you sit there and watch blasphemous TV shows and listen to blasphemous music, that is going to speed up that process quite a bit. And while you're in Isaiah 40, let me just read here in Hebrews chapter 12, starting verses one, starting verse one. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. And see, the Bible says we're running a race, and it says to run it with patience. And it says look towards Jesus. Look at what Jesus Christ did for you. See, the other big thing you can do, think about the people that have suffered before you when you're growing weary. When you think of the people that have lived and gone through major trials in your life, your trials will not seem that bad. You know, Jesus Christ who was tempted by the devil, he was crucified to die for our sins. And the Bible says looking on to Jesus, and that is going to help you run the race with patience. You know, when I see that verse, running the race with patience, I think of something called the second wind when you go running. When you go running, even if you're an avid runner, sometimes within the first five minutes you just hit the wall. You run out of energy, you don't feel like you can go any further. But if you just keep going, eventually you get your second wind. You get re-energized. And that's how the Christian life is. God will give you a second wind, he'll give you a third wind, he'll give you a fourth wind. You're going on the Christian life, you're getting beaten down, you're tired, you're weary. You have to understand if you're patient, keep running that race with patience. God will give you the strength to keep going. And look towards Jesus Christ who died for you, that is going to help you as well. Turn to, well you're in Isaiah chapter 40, but let me just say the Bible also gives the example of Job. It says, take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and patience. And it talks about Job who lasted through the temptation. You look at what the people in the Bible did who lasted through these temptations. They fought through them and they came out victorious many times. We can look to those people as an example and that will help us run the race that we're running. Now you say, well Brother Stuckey, I go soul winning every week, I read the Bible every day, I pray every day, and I still feel like I'm getting weary. And I feel like I'm being patient and God isn't helping me. Well you know in Luke chapter 4 we saw that eventually the devil is going to depart eventually from you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. But look at Isaiah chapter 40 verse 27. Isaiah 40 verse 27. In verse 27 the Bible reads, Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. So we see that God does not grow weary. God does not grow tired. And then it says in verse number 29, He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. So even young kids or even zealous Christians are going to get tired in the Christian life, but God will give them strength, he will renew them, he'll give power to the faint. And look at verse number 31, I love this verse, it says, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Now the Bible says they that wait upon the Lord. If you just quickly read that you might be confused. It's not saying that, well, I'm not gonna do any Bible reading, I'm not just, I'm not gonna pray, I'm just gonna wait on the Lord to give me strength. That's not what it's saying. You know, we saw in Hebrews 12 and James 5, it talks about running with patience. You know, the Bible talks about Job who ran patiently in dirt, and so basically it's talking about the same thing, being patient. You need to keep doing your part, and while you're running that race, you wait, and eventually God will renew your strength. It's not that you're just gonna spiritually die, you lasted two years, you're never in church ever again. No, God wants to renew that strength, but sometimes you have to be patient. Sometimes you have to wait. You know, if you haven't been following the steps that I've told you, you need to start having that day-by-day renewal, get the worldliness out of your life, and look towards those that came before you that fought the good fight. But you know, if you are doing that and you say, man, I feel like I'm backslidden, I feel like I'm getting weary, and I'm trying to do everything I can, and I feel like I'm losing, wait upon the Lord. And I love the three examples it gives. At the end of this verse, it says they shall walk and not faint. You know, when I do Bible memorization, I always like to walk while I'm doing memorization, because when I'm moving, I think it's a little bit easier to memorize. You get away from distractions, and supposedly through exercise, you can remember things better. You know, I don't know if that's true, but I know for me, when I walk and I memorize Bible verses, it really helps me. But you know, when I go out and memorize verses, I have a plan sometimes to memorize for a long time, but once you hit about an hour or an hour and a half, you are exhausted. You get weary, and you're like, man, I don't want to do this anymore. And the Bible says that people will walk and not faint. And it also says run and not be weary. When you run, you get tired after a little while. But you know, the Bible says you can run and not be weary. And I love the other example, it says they shall mount up with wings as eagles. Now, I wondered when I read this at first, what exactly does that mean? Why is the eagle given as an example? You know, if you remember in Proverbs chapter 30, it talks about four things being, you know, really amazing. It talks about the way of a serpent on a rock, and it talks about the way of an eagle in the air. So I was watching and reading some articles about eagles this week, and you know, I don't consider myself an expert on birds or anything. I'm just telling you, you know, what I saw in my research and why I think God gives this example. Eagles can not only fly for a really long time, but they fly effortlessly. They had this one guy in this video I saw that talked about, they naturally will put their arms out when there's air, and they said they basically exert no energy whatsoever. They just kind of glide through the air. And I was watching videos, it was pretty amazing, just seeing eagles. Once they got up into the air, they were just kind of flying through the air, just without any trouble whatsoever. And see, God wants us to have the strength to keep going day after day after day, and just not run out of energy and just keep going. Yes, we're gonna have times where we feel like we're gonna fall, but if we wait upon the Lord, He will renew our strength. I actually bought a scripture CD many years ago that had this verse set to music, and I'm actually gonna sing it for you real quickly, and you can take it home maybe if you listen to sermon. I've been singing, you could ask my wife pretty much every single day, she's embarrassed for me to say this. But anyways, I'll just quickly sing this for you. I think it's a great song that you could take in your own personal life if you wanted to. But the way this song went, it said, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Teach me, Lord, teach me, Lord, to wait. And you know, if we would sing songs like this, scripture songs and hymns, honestly, they would change your life. One last place I want you to look. Turn to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6. I will say this, on the CD, it was much better than what I just did. Galatians chapter 6. I want you to see one last thing. And in Galatians chapter 6 verse 9, the Bible says, And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. What I want you to see in this verse, in conclusion, is this. The responsibility is on you individually. It says, Let us not be weary. You know, if you quit this church one day, if you backside on God, don't blame our pastor. Don't blame this church. Don't blame other people. Don't blame anybody. You are at blame. You say, Well, you don't understand, Brother Stuckey, my situation, you know, because of my husband or my wife or my kids. I can't live for the Lord because of my job. No, the Bible says, Let us not be weary in well-doing. The responsibility is on every single person in this room individually to decide that you will not grow weary. Every single person in this room has to decide if they're going to renew themselves every day or whether or not they're going to fill themselves with worldliness. Are you going to spend an hour reading the Bible or an hour in TV? That is your choice. And when you backside on God, don't blame somebody else. Blame yourself. And I'm being dead serious about this. If one day I quit on God, I would love it if somebody at this church would come to me and say, Hey, remember that verse, Galatians 6, 9? You said that if you end up backsliding, it's your fault. You're backslidden, Stuckey. People are going to go to hell as a result of this. You're not soul winning anymore. And now you're not going to start that church and people are going to go to hell because you are backslidden. And if I don't want to listen to it, I want you to burn that CD and tell me, Hey, listen to what you personally preached, because this could happen to every single one of us. And the responsibility is on you individually tonight. You've got to decide. It says, Let us not be weary in well doing. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to gather in your house this evening. I ask that this sermon could be a blessing. We could take it with us, God. And I pray that we will apply this to our life. And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.