(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now, this is of course the familiar passage about David committing adultery with Bathsheba and this is obviously the low point in David's life. He commits this awful, horrible sin and he reaps the consequences for this sin for the rest of his life. I mean, for the rest of his life, the punishment just keeps on coming because he had done this awful thing of not only committing adultery but committing murder because he had Uriah killed and the Bible says later on that Nathan told him, you've killed Uriah with the sword of the children of Ammon. He blamed David and basically accused David of murder which he was guilty of adultery and murder here. But I want to focus on verse number one where the Bible reads, And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him in all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David tarried still at Jerusalem. So the Bible's being very clear here to tell us a couple things. Number one, that this is the time when kings go forth to battle. And number two, that David stayed home and did not go to battle. And then it says in verse two, And it came to pass, in an evening tide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. Of course this leads to him committing adultery with this woman. But you have to ask yourself, you know, what kind of a frame of mind are you in when you're in bed in the evening time and you're just getting out of bed and just walking around on the roof, you know, you're bored. Now I don't know about you, but when I go to bed at night, I don't get out of bed again. I'm done. I stay in bed. And the reason why is because I'm so tired that when I hit the bed, I'm just thinking, I always think of that scripture. I believe it's Daniel who said that he went to sleep and he said, my sleep was sweet unto me. You know, that's how I am when I hit the pillow at night because I've usually worked hard all day. I'm exhausted. And when I go to bed, man, I'm tired. But see, when people are idle and when people are not doing their job, then of course at the end of the day, they're just sitting around, they go to bed, they can't fall asleep. They're walking around the roof, nothing to do. And pretty soon they're looking at Bathsheba. And they're committing adultery with Bathsheba. But what I want to show you tonight in the New Testament, and if you would turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 9, is that our Christian life is often in the Bible likened unto warfare. And if you remember David, the reason why he committed this sin with Bathsheba is that he wasn't where he was supposed to be. His function as a king, his job was to be a commander in chief of those armed forces and to be there on the front lines leading the troops. Instead he sent Joab to do it for him. He stays behind with nothing to do, not fighting the battle that he was supposed to fight, and consequently because he's not in the battle, he starts getting into sin. He gets idle and he gets into this lustful sin. Look at 1 Corinthians 9 verse 7. The Bible says, "'Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charge? Who planteth a vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Or who feedeth a flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man? Or sayeth not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the cord. Doth God take care for oxen? Or sayeth he it all together for our sakes? For our sakes no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partaker of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power, but suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple, and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar, even so the Lord hath ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. Now look at this, this is really interesting. Because in verse 14 he says that the Lord hath ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel, but then compare that to verse 7, who goeth a warfare any time at his own charge. God is saying that preaching the gospel is a warfare. He's talking about being paid to preach the gospel, and then he's talking about being paid to go to war, because all throughout the Bible this concept is taught. For example, turn to 2 Corinthians 10, and while you're turning there, 2 Corinthians 10, I'll read for you from 1 Timothy 1.18. This is Paul training a young preacher, training Timothy, and he says to Timothy, this charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare. He's telling Timothy, I want you to take the preaching that you've heard and learned and use it to war a good warfare. Look down at your Bible there in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3. It says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. So he says right there, we don't war after the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are spiritual weapons, they're not carnal weapons, they're not physical weapons. He said in verse 5, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Go to Ephesians chapter number 6, a little bit toward the end of the New Testament from where you are, Ephesians 6, and while you're turning there, from the same chapter where Paul talked about going to war of your own charges, later in the same chapter he says in verse 26, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, lest that I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be cast away. So over and over in these scriptures we see war, warfare, fighting, battle. We see these words come up over and over again, because that's what the Christian life is. That's what being a preacher definitely is. It's a fight. It's a battle. It's a war. That's what the Bible says. Ephesians 6 verse 10, finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. 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. Right there he's saying we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we do wrestle against powers. We do wrestle against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and we do wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places. You see, there's a fight. There's a battle involved in the Christian life. Now let's apply that to what we learned in 2 Samuel chapter 11. No, we don't have a physical battle to go to like David did. David had a physical battle to go to, but we have a spiritual battle to go to, and what the Bible is teaching us in 2 Samuel 11 is that if we fail to go to that battle, if we fail to fight that battle, if we fail to war that warfare, we will fall into sin as a result. Now let me just explain it to you this way. We as human beings, we as men, have been created by God with a desire and ambition to do something with our lives, haven't we? Now there are some people who've smoked so much pot that they don't have that ambition anymore. There are other people who've been injected with so many drugs and maybe they've been taking so many Ritalin pills that they no longer have that drive and ambition, but you know, God created us with a certain drive and ambition to achieve something in our lives, didn't He? And we see this played out all throughout our society. We see some people fulfilling that appetite to excel and to meet some sort of a challenge or to defeat some kind of an obstacle or to achieve some kind of greatness or to build something or do something, you know, we see it played out across our society. For example, there are athletes and they channel that drive and that ambition to motivate them to go through all kinds of pain and deprivation that they might, what? Earn a corruptible crown, the Bible says, you know, to get that Super Bowl ring. You know what? It's going to burn up someday. God says they do it for a corruptible crown, but we do it for an incorruptible crown, okay? They strain themselves and push themselves and they achieve whether it be going to the Olympics and getting that medal or getting that ring or that belt or that cup or, you know, whatever little trophy that they get. We see other people who strive to build a great business with their life or other people who are authors, maybe they want to write a great book and do something groundbreaking with their life. We as human beings and especially as men are not designed to just go through life a humdrum existence of just, you know, eat, sleep, go to work, and not really do anything with our life. You know, we have a desire to achieve, to excel. We are also competitive by nature, aren't we? You know, when we go out to the church picnic and we're going to play a little bit of friendly volleyball or friendly, you know, it gets competitive, doesn't it? And that's the way I like it, because I like competition. You know, I don't like it when people don't want to win. You know, you're like, you're going down, they're like, yeah, I probably am. You're like, what? What fun is this to play against two? You know, I want to play against somebody who wants to win. But we as men, we love to compete, we love to excel, we love a challenge, right? You know, when we're going hiking, we want the one that says most difficult. You know, we don't just, oh, let's choose medium, no. If we're bringing the wife and kids, we're choosing easy, and if we're going with just the men, if we're going extreme danger, most difficult. But isn't it true that we choose the hard option many times? For example, I remember when I was a kid, my mom had this piano book, it was of how to play easy church hymns on the piano. You know, it was a book that broke down the hymns and made them easy. And I got that book and I pulled it out of the piano bench and I was learning how to play piano. I was a little kid, I was probably nine or something. And I pull out this book and my mom had labeled two songs as very difficult. Those are the first two songs I wanted to work on. And I learned those two songs. In this book, it was It Is Well With My Soul and Come Thou Fount, and those are the first two I worked on. And my mom said, I knew that you would do that. She's like, when I wrote that, I knew you were going to do that. And I said, how did you know? And she just said, that's just how you are. But see, it's not just how I am, it's just how people are. It's how men are. So we as men, we want to fight. We want to strive and do something and build something and excel at something. And God has given us a fight. He's given us a battle. He's given us a warfare. And that's why he put that drive within us, to be a warrior, to be a fighter. Not to just roll over and take it, but to fight. And let me tell you something. When you as a man don't get in God's fight, and you don't enlist in the Lord's army, and you don't war in the good warfare with God, you know what, you'll get tied up and you'll get sucked into other things because you're going to go out and want to do something. You're going to get bored, you're going to get idle. And that's why we see people just devoting their whole life to sports or devoting their whole life to education or art or music instead of doing those things for the glory of God and basically dedicating your life to soul winning or dedicating your life to godly music or Bible preaching or things like that that really matter and that have eternal value. But I've noticed amongst preachers especially, when you see preachers that lose their fight because I've known a lot of preachers that were fighters, you know, and to me every good preacher is a fighter. Any preacher that isn't a fighter isn't a real preacher. I mean that's what the Bible says, it's a warfare. It's fighting. He didn't just say it once. He said it over, I showed you a bunch, I got more too, he showed it a bunch of times. The reason, and I'm going to explain to you in a moment why you have to be a fighter to be a good Christian and especially to be a preacher. But when you see preachers who no longer want to fight anymore, and they don't fight anymore, they want to get along with everybody, are you listening? They want to just get along with everybody and have peace at all costs and never offend anybody and never be embroiled in any kind of a battle or struggle. You know what, those same preachers are going to be looking at Bathsheba next. That's the pattern. It wasn't just with David. You stop fighting, you stop warring, you stop battling, you stop pushing yourself and next thing you know you're looking at Bathsheba on the television. When they don't want to fight, when they want to get along with everybody, next thing you know they start watching the bad television. Next thing you know you hear about them committing adultery, and you hear about them having wicked images on their computer screen, etc, etc. Now I look at this, and I know this is true in my life, because I know that I have a desire in me to fight, to be a warrior. I think that's just part of being a man. That's the way I feel, and it's definitely part of being a preacher. And so you know what I noticed is that if I'm not fighting, that's when I'll get backslidden. That's when I'll start to fade spiritually. Because my wife will sometimes say to me, you're always on some kick. It's like you're always fighting something. You're always battling something. And it's true. And I literally move from one fight to the next. One battle to the next. And I'm not talking about a physical fight. I'm not a brawler, as the Bible says I should not be, as a man of God. I'm not a fighter. I'm not a brawler in that physical sense. But spiritually, I move from one fight to another, because that is what keeps me from looking at Bathsheba. It's when you're sitting around and not fighting, when you're getting along with everybody, that you start to go soft, and you start getting into sin, and you start losing the edge of a fighter and a warrior. I know this is true in my life, and that's why I guard this, and I'm always embroiled in one fight or another, always. And I'll give you some examples. For a while, I remember when I was newly married, my big fight was about the King James Bible. And I was always just taking on these other versions. And then it was like this wrong Spanish version started coming to our church that was worse than the new King James in Spanish. And this 1960 version of the reign of Valera came in and started being used in the church we were in. And it was like, man, I fought that thing. And I remember my parents' pastor back in Los Angeles, California. Back in the 1960s, he was their pastor, Dr. Roland Rasmussen. And my dad said he was always fighting something, always. It was like he would move from one fight to another. First he was fighting the Masonic Lodge. He had all these deacons in his church that were Freemasons, and he was exposing them and battling the deacons because a bunch of them were Masons. Who knows what Masons are? You know, Freemasons. I mean, it's Satanic. I mean, it's bad. They do all kinds of weird rituals. And don't tell me it's Christian. It is Satanic. I mean, part of becoming a third degree Mason, just the basic third degree, not thirty-third, the basic third degree. You know, they go through this weird thing where it's like you die and you're resurrected. I mean, they do all kinds of weird rituals and it's really a gateway drug that leads into even worse secret societies and a lot of really bad stuff. And so he was taking on the Masons and exposing the Masons. You know, then he was fighting the battle over the King James Bible back in those days. Then he was fighting the fluoride that they were putting, because that was when they first started putting fluoride in the water. And then Dr. Rasmussen was like fighting the fluoride in the water. And then, you know, he's fighting the Masons. You know, and then he exposed and fought the battle of the post-tribulation rapture. And that's kind of how I am, you know. When I'm not fighting over the rapture, I'm fighting over the King James, or I'm fighting over Dordor's soul winning, you say, quit fighting. No, I can't quit fighting, because when I quit fighting then I'm going to go out and stay home from the fight and pretty soon, next thing you know, I'll be looking at Bathsheba and committing sin. Why? Because when we're not doing what we're supposed to do, an idle mind is the devil's workshop. Next thing you know, if I'm not fighting these battles, next thing you know I'll start worshiping sports. Next thing you know, instead of being excited about the purity and the perfection of God's word, instead of being excited about the fact that salvation is by faith alone, and fighting against the lose your salvation doctrine, and fighting against the lies and heresies that creep in about salvation and that tell you that salvation is, you know, turning over a new leaf and turning away from all your sins, instead of just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, as soon as I stop fighting that, then that's when I'm going to start to get excited about something else that doesn't matter. Getting excited about some woman's body that's taking a shower. Shame on you David, there's a bigger fight to be involved in, you need to fight against the lusts that are warring in your members and get in a real fight that's going to accomplish something instead of just staring at some woman out the window. And that's what David was doing. You know, I'd rather be saying go fight win about soul winning than about some sports team. I'd rather be saying fight, fight, go, go, win, win about soul winning, about the Bible, about Bible doctrine, about the King James Version. You know, I just move from one fight to another. It's a war. Why? Because the devil is always assaulting us with lies, with false doctrine. You know, last Sunday morning I was fighting Mormonism. You know, I'll fight Islam. I'll take on the Jehovah's Witnesses, I'll take on the Catholics, you know, let's fight somebody tonight. You say, I don't like all this fighting, well, it's God's word. And again, it's not a physical fight. We're not assaulting anybody, we're not hurting anybody. And here's the thing, we're not fighting against the people who are deceived by these false religions, they're the victim. You know, the Roman Catholic that lives on your street is the victim. The Mormons that live on your street are the victim. You know, we're fighting against the rulers of the darkness of this world. We're fighting against the spiritual wickedness in high places. You know, we're battling for the souls of men. You know, we're pulling them out of the fire, as the Bible says. You know, they're caught up in these false religions, they need somebody to shine the glorious light of the Gospel and speak the truth in love. Let me show you why it's a warfare, let me show you a few places why this is a warfare. Go to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 will show us part of the reason why we fight. And I don't know about you, I just find that fighting just keeps me spiritual. You say, oh, I can't believe, you know, and some people have just been so brainwashed that just fighting's bad, you know, strife is bad. You know, whenever you talk to the, you know, while we're on the Mormons, because that's kind of a kick that I'm on right now, is fighting these Mormons, you know, and their false doctrine. That's my little fight that I'm fighting right now. But let me tell you something, these Mormons, you know what, they'll show you a verse from their Book of Mormon, and there's a Bible verse in there that says that contention is of the devil and we should never, you know what, the Holy Bible says that you should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints. Their version says, you know, or their Book of Mormon says, contentions of the devil. No, we ought to contend for the faith. They're basically teaching fighting's bad. No fighting is good if you're fighting the good fight. If you're warring a good warfare, obviously there are wrong fights to be in. But why is it such a fight, Pastor Anderson? Why all the fighting? Why do you like to fight? Why are you involved in so much fighting? Why is it always a fight with you? If it's not a political fight, it's a doctrinal fight, or it's a spiritual fight, I mean there's just a lot of fights that I'm involved in. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 32, but call to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of affliction. So right there he's saying, you know, you need to go back in your mind and remember when you were illuminated. You know, I think he's probably here referring to when they got saved, when they first got saved. What is illumination? Basically, when you get some new knowledge or some new revelation, you know, illumination is like basically the light bulb coming on, right? If we were to illuminate the room, it means we flip the lights on. Now I look at this scripture, and to me this isn't really dealing with my salvation, because I got saved when I was six years old. But when I was about 16, 17, I became illuminated about a lot of doctrine and a lot of truth, and that's when I really started living for God, because I got saved when I was six, but I didn't really get serious about reading the Bible and living for God until I was about 16, 17. And let me tell you something, right away when I became illuminated, I endured a great fight of afflictions, just like this says. And you say, why is that? Partly whilst ye were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. So here, God gives us two reasons why it's a battle, it's a struggle, it's a fight, it's a war in order to live the Christian life and to do it right. He said first of all, people are going to, when you're illuminated, when you know the truth and speak the truth, he's saying you're going to endure reproaches and afflictions. Basically people are going to reproach you, that means they're going to attack you, they're going to verbally attack you, and criticize you, and tell you that you're wrong. And you know, I remember when I got right with God and I started learning about the Bible and soul winning, and I got into an independent fundamental Baptist church, man I tell you, I lost a lot of friends fast. A lot of friends, they all of a sudden, they didn't want to hang around with me anymore. Because I started going a different direction, and I was interested in the Bible and church and soul winning, and they were interested in everything that was worldly and sinful, they didn't want to hear about all the problems with the NIV. They didn't want to hear about how we need to be soul winning, and how let's get out there and get the gospel, they wanted to do nothing. And so you endure a fight of afflictions just based on yourself, but then he also says there's a fight because he said you become companions of them that were so used. So even if you're not getting attacked because of what you're doing, you know there are many people who have been attacked just from going to this church. I mean that's enough to get you attacked. I mean literally just saying, I go to Faithful Word Baptist Church. I mean that's enough to get you attacked right there. Just saying, oh yeah, Pastor Steve Anderson, what? You go to that church? That psycho, that maniac? And here's the thing, it was the same way back then. You're following the Apostle Paul? You're going to his church? And he said, look, he said not only were you attacked for what you said and did, he said you were attacked just by association with me. Because he said partly while she became companions of them that were so used, and then he goes into more specific who that was that they were companions with that got them in trouble. He says in verse number 34, for ye had compassion of me in my bonds. So Paul's in jail, and the fact that they had compassion of him while he's in jail and helped him out while he's in jail, that got them persecuted. That got them attacked. And the Bible says ye in all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But not only that, you start hanging around with those that live godly in Christ Jesus. You go to a church of people that live godly in Christ Jesus, and that's going to get you attacked in and of itself. That's going to get you persecuted. And let me tell you something, you've got to fight to stay serving God under that kind of affliction and persecution and tribulation. It's a battle. It's a struggle every day. People who don't want to fight, they basically just give in to the enemy. You know it'd be like this, and I've seen this happen many times, you know somebody starts coming to our church, and man they love the church, they love the preaching. They get out soul-ending with us, and you know we're giving the Gospel to people. We're knocking doors. We're doing something, man, we're on the front lines of the fight today when we're out there knocking doors. I mean we're taking it to the enemy. We're taking it to the devil who's got people blinded, and we're shining the glorious light of the Gospel, and we're going on the front lines when we knock those doors and bring the Gospel to the lost. And they get in, and you know what happens? People right away, they start getting attacked from family. They criticize the church and criticize the soul-ending, or they get attacked from friends, or they get attacked from co-workers, and you know what they do? They don't want to fight. So what do they do? They just quit coming to church, and with that they quit soul-ending, and they go back to some lame-brained church, because it's just a lot more comfortable there because there's no fighting. And people are sometimes scared away by the fight, and Jesus talked about these people. He said that they're like the one who is like a seed that was sown in stony places. And he says that they receive the word with joy, but he said, yet have they no root in themselves, for when persecution or tribulation arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. And as soon as any persecution comes, as soon as any tribulation comes, as soon as there's any fighting, they basically just quit. They're offended. They fall away. The Bible says in times of affliction, they fall away. And you know, you see people like that. They can't handle the persecution or the affliction and the tribulation, and so when it comes, they fall away. They faint. It's like when the Bible talked about the children of Israel leaving Egypt, and he said he didn't want to take them the way of the Philistines, because he said, I don't want them to turn back when they see war. I don't want them to repent when they see war. They're too weak. They're not ready for that yet. They need to grow more. And we ought not be the type that just faints at the sight of war. Can you imagine a soldier, and look, the Bible says, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. This is not terminology that I invented. God said, I'm a soldier of Christ. You're a soldier of Christ. We're warring a good warfare. We're fighting a good fight. We're in the battle. These are all terms that God uses. Can you imagine a soldier going to boot camp, being trained, and getting all of the fitness that he needs, and getting all of the weapons training, and all the survival training, and can you imagine the government's putting all this money and time into him to train him and get him ready to war, and then can you imagine he gets to the first battle and just sees the battle and just says, whoa, this is not what I signed up for. I mean, I was in this for the GI Bill, the schooling, I wanted the free school, I wanted the free health care, the VA, and I wanted the VA loan on the house, and I wanted the paycheck that's guaranteed even during recession, recession proof, I'm guaranteed a job for the next four years. You didn't actually expect me to fight. I'm not actually going to fight in a war. I mean wouldn't that be ridiculous, would that make any sense for a soldier to go through all this training and then just, he's not going to fight, he's not going to be in the war. Well, but that's basically what a lot of Christians are doing. They come to church and they're, you know, they're getting the training, but then when any kind of a fight comes, any little scuffle breaks out, and they just, they're gone. They can't handle it. They can't take it. Others thrive on it. Others, they love it. I mean it's just bring it on. And I'm going to tell you something, put me in that category. You know, I want to fight. That's what I've been trained to do. That's why God has put a weapon in my hand. If he didn't intend it to be a weapon, why did he say it was the sword of the Spirit? Why did he tell me to put on the helmet of salvation? Why did he tell me to put on the breastplate of righteousness? Why did he tell me to shoot up in the armor of the Lord and pull the weapon of the sword of the Spirit in my hand if he didn't expect me to stand in the evil day and fight the enemy? It's what we're supposed to be doing. And as soon as you stop doing that and you stay home, that's where you get back sledding and that's where you get out of church. I'll say this, people who can't handle the fighting, people who can't handle any kind of warfare, they will not in the long haul be able to stay at our church probably because eventually persecution is going to come and they're going to be gone. The people who stay in the fight, the people who like the fight are the ones that are going to be here 10 years from now and 20 years from now. The ones who can't handle the fighting, they're going to be gone for two reasons. Number one, the fight is going to be brought to you if you come to this church. And number two, you're going to start looking at Bathsheba if you're not in the fight. Because you're going to look for something to do, you're going to look for some conquest, some adventure, some excitement. Look, we all need a little excitement in our lives. Whether it's jumping up and down and screaming at a bunch of grown men in tights throwing a ball around, or whether it's jumping up and down screaming at some political rally. I mean think about it, isn't almost everybody you know in one of these categories? Pretty much everybody you know that's a man, they're either jumping up and down screaming at a ball game, or they're jumping up and down and screaming about politics, or they're jumping up and down screaming about church and the Bible. You know, put me in that category. You know what I mean? That's what I want to get fired up about, that's what I want to fight about. I don't want to fight about dumb things, I don't want to fight over this, I want to fight over truth and the Word of God and what really matters. Go if you would to 2 Timothy chapter number 4, and while you're turning there I'll read for you another scripture, 1 Timothy 6.12, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life whereunto thou art also called, and has professed a good profession before many witnesses. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, famous passage. It says, and you say, why are so many pastors always involved in scandal? They've got porno on their computer and they're committing adultery and they're running off with the secretary, and why are they embezzling all kinds of money and they've got an air-conditioned dog house and they're driving two Lexus and a Mercedes, you know what I mean? Why is it that so many preachers are embroiled in scandal? Because honestly, they're not fighters. They've gone soft. Now many of them are Judas Iscariots, of course, but even amongst saved pastors, they can become backslidden like that and get involved in the wrong things, but the fight is what keeps you. I don't know about you, but there have been times sometimes, let me just be real open and candid with you for a moment, there have been times when frankly I don't feel like reading my Bible, because I'm a human being just like you. I have the flesh and the spirit, and the Bible says that the flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit wars against the flesh, and sometimes I'm in the flesh. I don't feel like reading the Bible. I'm not thinking about spiritual things. I just start to feel myself just being in a fleshly mode, and you know what will sometimes happen? I'll be in that mode where it's just not a good day, I'm just not really feeling like reading the Bible today, and I'm just not in a spiritual mode today. You know what will happen? Somebody will send me an email or something, like something, oh you're wrong on the rapture, and it's just like boom, I'm just back in the fight. I mean I'm not kidding, I'm just being honest with you. People probably think that they're hurting me with their emails or phone calls. I'm driving down the road this week, I get a voicemail, some guy's like speaking in tongues to me over the voicemail, he's like, he's like I'm not even going to rebuke you in the English language, I'm going to do it in tongues, and he's like, you know, it's just like, I mean when I get that stuff in my voicemail, man, that's like, that just like re-energizes me. And here's the thing, I get so many hate mails every day, I'm like the energizer bunny man, I'm just going to keep going. You know, I'm kind of joking now, but honestly, I'm dead serious. Or I'll get a phone call, I'll be just kind of, you know, just not really feeling like reading my Bible today, you know, just kind of a little bored with the Bible, bored with the things of God, and you know what, that's not right to be bored with the things of God. I'm just being honest with you, you know, the Bible says confess your faults one to another, and you know, all of us can be in the flesh. I'm not above that, you're not above that. And honestly, sometimes, man, I love reading the Bible, other times it's just not what I want right now, because I'm walking in the flesh. And then it's like the phone will ring, and it's like, maybe it's my friend Pastor Jimenez called me up, and he'll tell me about some fight somewhere in his church, or somebody came to his church and brought in some false doctrine, or he'll tell me some sermon that he preached. You know, it's just like, man, I just feel like I'm just back, and it's like, yeah, let's read the Bible, let's take them on. You know, it's like, man, I just need to learn more, so that I can defeat this false doctrine, I just want to study more. And a lot of times, man, that'll turn my day around. A good, a well-timed hateful phone call, or a well-timed hateful email, or just a well-timed false doctrine, or just a well-timed, just driving by some phony church, I'll just be driving around to see some really phony church, and it's just like, ugh, let's fight! And then all of a sudden, it's just like, yeah, let's read the Bible, yeah, now I want to pray, now I want to read the Bible, now I'm fired up. Why? Because it's just our nature. To just want to be involved in some kind of a struggle, you know, I mean, some kind of a striving, and not just this boring, and you know what, here's the problem with today's Christianity, it's boring! It's humdrum, it's mundane! I mean, you just go to church week after week, you hear a milk toast sermon, nobody ever gets mad, nobody's ever offended, nobody's ever preaching against anything, nobody's ever preaching anything controversial, nobody's ever fired up about anything, and you know what, the young people and the real men of the church, they're going to find somewhere where there's some action going on. Are you listening? They're going to find action! But they're going to find it at Bathsheba's Bar and Grill. They're going to find it at Bathsheba's place. They're going to find it somewhere, because I'm telling you, I don't know about you, I need some action in my life. I need to do something in my life. I don't want to sit around and do nothing, I want to do something. And you know what, I thank God there's something to do, soul winning. There's something to do, rebuke false doctrine, there's something to do, preach and teach the Word of God, there's something for me to do today, and that's what keeps me right with God. And I don't want to be like David. I don't want to be committing horrible sins. That's why I want to stay in the fight, and that's exactly what David did wrong, he stayed home from the fight. He didn't sign on to the warfare. Look what Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 1, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead that is appearing in his kingdom, preach the Word, be instant, in season, out of season, and look at this, look at the wording, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. So what's he saying there? Doctrine is teaching, that's what the word doctrine means, teaching. And he's saying, you know, when you're teaching the Word of God, he says reprove, that means tell people they're wrong. Rebuke, that means tell people they're wrong. Exhort, probably means something about telling people they're wrong. Exhort is basically when you tell people the stuff they should be doing that they're not doing. You know, rebuke is like you're doing stuff you shouldn't be doing. Exhort is you're supposed to be doing this stuff and you're not doing it. He says with all longsuffering, he's saying be patient, you know, be gentle, be loving, be patient with people, but rebuke, reprove, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Now obviously this does have a little bit of an end times application. You know, the time will come someday when they'll not endure sound doctrine. But I think he's even saying to Timothy, in your lifetime there will come a time in your life where people will not endure sound doctrine. I think this passage can be applied to any time. There are always times that come when people won't endure sound doctrine. He says, but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables, but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. So he's saying there's two kinds of preachers. There's the ones that have itching ears, the ones that are not doing anything, and then there's the one that's enduring an affliction, that's fighting a fight, and that's doing the work of the ministry. He's busy doing something, and then the other guy is just basically telling people what they want to hear is what he's saying. And then he says in verse 6, for I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departure at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a gold medal, a cup, a Stanley cup. Henceforth there is laid up for me a belt or a pair of golden gloves. Henceforth there is laid up for me a certificate or a degree. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Super Bowl ring. No he said, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also the love is appearing. Going to one more place, Jeremiah chapter 6, Jeremiah chapter 6. What am I saying tonight? I'm saying we need some action, we need some excitement in the Christian life. You know what the exciting Christian life is? You know, it's Peter getting out of the boat and walking on the water with Jesus, not like the other ones who are just sitting around on the boat where it's safe and comfortable and warm. You know that's where the action was in that story. I want to be where the action is. You know I like the character in the Bible, Jonathan. You know, he didn't like the fact that there was no fighting going on, so he went and just started a war, basically. I mean read the story, isn't that what happened? I mean those of you who know the Bible, in 1 Samuel, basically the Philistines are just kind of camped out over here, the Israelites are camped out over here, there's not really any fighting going on, and Jonathan just takes his armor bearer and just says, let's just go fight the enemy. And he just takes it to them and slays like 20 guys and starts a war. You know the first president of our nation, George Washington, did you know that he single-handedly started the French and Indian War? Who knew that? My son. Did I teach it to you? I read the life story of George Washington and he literally, personally started the French and Indian War. I don't know if you know that, read the history, it's true. He basically, he attacked, he was supposed to just be going and doing reconnaissance and trying to make a peaceful agreement. I mean he just engaged the enemy, he's just attacked. And he basically started the hostilities and he literally fired the first shot of the French and Indian War. You know, and then later obviously went on to be the general in the American Revolution. But I mean he was kind of like the Jonathan there. I mean I'm not saying spiritually, but he was like a worldly Jonathan. You know, he was just spoiling for a fight apparently. And I'm not spoiling for a fight at some bar somewhere. I'm not spoiling for a physical fistfight, you know, I don't want to get in that kind of a fight at all. I hope I never get in that kind of a fight. But you know what? I'm spoiling for a fight with the rulers of the darkness of this world. You know, I'm spoiling for a fight when it comes to contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. You know, I want to stand up and I want to be put in the hottest part of the battle and I want to basically be a warrior and a good soldier of Jesus Christ and to be able to get to the end of my life and say, you know what, I fought a good fight. Not I was really, I pieced a good peacefulness. You know, and there's a time for peace, there's a time for war and a time for peace. But you know what? The Bible says in Jeremiah 6.13, he explains what was wrong with the preachers of Jeremiah's day. And in Jeremiah 6.13 he said, from the least of them, even under the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet, even under the priest, everyone dealeth falsely. So we're talking about what? Prophets and priests. You know, these are spiritual leaders, these are preachers. And he says they're just given over to covetousness, they just want money and comfort and you know, that's what they're given over to. And he says in verse 14, they've healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they'd committed abomination? Nay they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush, therefore they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, sayeth the Lord. So notice, what comes first? The guy who doesn't want to fight, he wants to just say peace, peace, even when there is no peace. And then what comes next? He's committing abomination. And he's not blushing about sin that he should be blushing about. Verse 16, thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein. So tonight I'm saying that we need to realize that warfare is a part of our lives as Christians, especially if you're a preacher or if someday you're going to be a preacher. We have men in our church that someday we'll pastor and someday we'll preach. They need to understand that warfare is a part of our life. Now look, is our whole life all war all the time? No. Because if you remember in our passage where we started in 2 Samuel 11, he said it was the time of year when kings go forth to war. And what God's symbolically showing us is that there's a time to fight, and there's a time of peace. There's time for both in our life. But the problem is when we won't fight when it's time to fight, that's a problem. And that's what leads us into sin. And so we need to understand that we ought never pick unnecessary fights and just fighting for the sake of fighting and fighting over nothing. That's not what I'm saying. There are plenty of legitimate fights for you to be in that you don't have to go picking stupid fights about things that don't matter. There are plenty of righteous, godly fights, the good fight. There are plenty of opportunities to fight spiritually that you don't need. And the Bible says as much as possible we should try to live at peace with all men. So we don't just go out fighting for no reason. But I'm going to tell you something. Here's Pastor Anderson's one minute cure for being backslidden and carnal. And this might not work for you, maybe it doesn't work for everybody. But my one minute cure, I think it was Brother Davis, he had this one minute cure. It was like distilled water and peroxide and I don't know, it was something that he drinks it, supposedly. And I asked him, he mixes up this concoction, and I think it was called a one minute cure or something, but I forget what he called it. But I said, what does it cure? And he said, everything. That's when I knew, I don't know if this is going to work or not, you know what I mean? But anyway, he said, everything, everything. And you know for me, I don't know about you, when I get a little backslidden, when I start feeling like I'm walking in the flesh and not walking in the spirit, I just choose my fight and just start fighting. And honestly it just gets me spiritually where I need to be. You don't go soft in the midst of fighting. And you don't get backslidden and watered down when you're in the middle of a fight for what's right. When you're fighting on the Lord's side against the forces of evil, it's just hard to get backslidden like that. That's the way I look at it. And I'm going to fight for what's right, I'm going to fight for the Bible, I'm going to fight for the plan of salvation, I'm going to fight for the King James, I'm going to fight for true biblical doctrine, I'm going to fight Calvinism, I'm going to fight dispensationalism, I'm going to fight Mormonism, I'm going to fight Islam, I'm going to fight the Jehovah's Witness false doctrine, I'm going to fight Catholicism. And you know what honey, you're right, every week it's a different fight. And every week I'm fired up about something else. I'm always worked up about something. But that's better than being worked up about some woman's body that's not your wife. That's better than being worked up about some sporting event that's not going to matter a hill of beans a hundred years from now. That's better than being all worked up about your soap opera, and being all worked up about the new Batman movie, and being all worked up about Romney versus Obama, getting all worked up. Man, I'm not worked up about that at all. I'm not. But that's what a lot of people are worked up about right now. And that's their big fight, it's all about fighting for their Mormon or their Muslim to win. I'm not even in that fight. This is my fight. This is what I want to fight for. This is what I'm willing to die for. This is what I want to go to war for. Not fighting somebody else's physical battle, this is what I'm going to fight for. And I'm telling you man, if you're back sledding, get in the fight. If you're back sledding, go soul winning with me. Get on the front lines of the battle, out soul winning. That'll do something for you spiritually. Start taking a better stand for what's right if you're bored. And you'll start getting afflicted, you'll start getting attacked. And it'll invigorate you, at least it does for me. And maybe this sermon's not for everybody, but I'll tell you what, this helps me. And so I thought it might help you. And all of us need to understand that there's going to be some fighting in our lives, no matter how much we try to avoid it. Just learn to thrive on it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God, and thank you that we have something worthwhile to fight for. We see people all over the world, they're fighting for this cause, and they're fighting for this, and they're walking for this, and marching for this. I thank God that I'm not marching in some AIDS march in Los Angeles later this month. I thank God that I'm marching out to knock doors, to win souls for you, Lord, because I know that that's a fight that actually matters. And so please help us to get involved in the right fight and not to get bored with our Christian life. It's like those people in the book of Malachi where they thought church and they thought it was a weariness. Help us never to get weary and sick of it and tired of it and bored with it. Help us to just keep fighting, dear God, and just help us to stay in the battle and to turn up the heat a notch. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Alright, let's go ahead and sing a song.