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This is the famous chapter in 2 Samuel 11 about David committing adultery with Bathsheba. David is one of the greatest men in the Bible. He's one of the top characters of the Old Testament. Jesus Christ himself is known as the son of David. Extremely significant person in the Bible. And yet we see him here at his lowest point where he commits these horrible sins of adultery and murder. I mean if you would expect no one to commit those type of sins, this would be the last person that you'd expect, the man after God's own heart, the sweet psalmist of Israel, to commit such a wicked, wicked sin. Especially since this guy already has multiple wives. He already has concubines. For him to commit adultery with his neighbor's wife is just so wicked, it's hard to understand how a person would commit such a sin. But of course as human beings we need to understand that we all are sinful. We all have the flesh to deal with. And so we need to take heed lest we fall. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. What is it that caused David to go into this horrible sin? Well nothing in the Bible is ever there for no reason. Nothing's incidental, coincidental, or accidental. Look at verse number one. It says in chapter 11 verse 1, It came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle. I want you to pay special attention to that. At the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab. So at the time when kings go forth to battle, did king David go out to battle? No, no. He sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel. And they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. 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. Now I don't know about you, but after a hard day's work, I don't find myself getting out of bed at eventide and just wanting to walk around. If you're getting out of bed at evening tide and just wandering around, bored, you're up on the roof, it's because you didn't do much that day. You must not have worked very hard. I guarantee you if he would have been out in the battle and he would have been fighting, and if he would have been carrying all his equipment and the weapons and marching, he wouldn't have been up at night. He would have been asleep at night where he belonged. But he's up at night because he's idle. Now here's the thing. As men, God has created us with certain drives and certain ambitions and certain motivations. And one of the things that we as men are wired to do is to fight. We're born to struggle and to strive and to contend and to fight. And what I want to preach about tonight is the fact that if you're not fighting the Lord's battles, if you're not fighting for what's right, and if you're not at the battle when kings go forth to battle, then that's when you're going to fall into sin. That's where you're going to get involved in the wrong things. Now the thing about life is that life is a continuous struggle. It's a continuous battle when you're serving the Lord. Now if you would go to the New Testament, go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 14. 1 Corinthians chapter number 14. And when I say that human nature is that men are wired to strive or fight or contend or struggle or do something. Think about how popular sports are. Why are sports so popular amongst men? Because it's a contest, it's a battle, it's a struggle, they're striving. Now of course today most people will just kind of sit on the sidelines, sit on the sofa and watch other people do the battling and striving and contending. But there's something in human nature that wants to strive and struggle and fight. And we're not happy unless we're out in that battle struggling, striving. That's the way we should live our lives. And when David stopped fighting the battles that God wanted him to fight, now he's seeking some other conquest and that conquest was adultery. Now the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter number 14 verse 8, it says, for if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood. How shall it be known what is spoken for you shall speak into the air? We as preachers, if you would flip over in your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, just one book over, we as preachers are supposed to lift up our voice like a trumpet and preach so that people can hear the clear preaching and prepare themselves for the battle. And that's what I want to preach to you tonight to prepare you for a battle in your lives. You see, we don't want to be like David where we stay home from the battle and next thing you know we're looking at our neighbor's wife. Next thing you know we're looking at stuff on the internet or looking at magazines or next thing you know we're getting into this sin or that sin and you're going back to drinking or you're getting back into drugs or steroids or methamphetamines. You know whatever the the garbage that people get into when they're not living for the Lord and when they're not serving God. You know we want to make sure that we stay in the fight and that we are where we need to be because an idle mind is the devil's workshop. And so we need to prepare ourselves for a battle. Now I don't know if this is good news to you or bad news to you but the thing that I'm preaching tonight is that your life is a battle and that battle never ends as a Christian. It's a non-stop battle. Now a lot of Christians have this idea that well maybe I'm going through a battle in my life right now I'm going through a struggle right now I'm going through some contention right now but once I resolve these couple things in my life then I'm gonna have an easy life. And I want to and then I can just kind of settle into a routine and it's going to be comfortable it's going to be predictable and I can just kind of plug away and keep serving God keep serving God and you know my life will be a little easier but listen that's not going to happen in life. You always feel that way but if it's not one thing it's another. And that's because God knows that in order for us to keep serving him and stay out of trouble we have to constantly be involved in some fight or other. See people look at me as a preacher and they say you're always in some fight you're always fighting something you're always in some battle you're always in some stroke you're always on some kick but that's by design I always want to be fighting I always want to be in a battle I always want to be in some kick because I don't want to be walking around on the roof looking at my neighbor's wife I'd rather be fighting the Lord's battle I'd rather be destroying the Moabites and the Ammonites than to be destroying myself and many preachers today are being destroyed because they don't want to fight anybody they want to just get along with everybody they want to get their church to a certain size where the building's paid for and the salary's paid and the pews are padded and they can kind of relax and rest on those laurels they got the full-time paycheck they got their couple staff members and they just want to just kind of keep it right there and just live on easy street that's the guy that's going to go into sin though just like David if David did so will he you got to keep fighting you got to keep striving and struggling it's what we're designed to do as men to be warriors look what the Bible says in second Corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh but notice it doesn't just say we don't war yeah we do war we just don't war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ so the warfare that we war is a battle for the minds of men for the hearts of men for the souls the very souls of men it's a spiritual battle go to Ephesians chapter 6 Paul said in first Timothy chapter 6 verse 12 fight the good fight in second Timothy chapter 4 the famous passage he says I'll begin reading in verse number one you go ahead and turn over to Ephesians 6 I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead it is appearing in his kingdom preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not adore sound doctrine but after their own lust shall they 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 do the work or endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist make full proof of thy ministry for I'm now ready to be offered in the time of my departures at end I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith but notice what he said to Timothy this young preacher he said watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an evangelist reprove rebuke exhort I mean in season out of season look you always have to be struggling fighting that fight you're always rebuking something reproving something exhorting someone about something teaching doctrine getting up and and and preaching hard fighting the battles going out and evangelizing some new area doing the work of an evangelist there's always got to be something to do something to strive for this to contend for to fight for we're to never become complacent and comfortable we need to keep fighting keep striving keep pushing ourselves and you say well pastor Anderson that just sounds exhausting you know sometimes you just need a break we just need to relax no and you say well we need a break okay once a week right work for six days yeah look take a day off take a whole day off relax no fighting no warfare no striving no rebuking no exhorting no preaching no so many yeah take a whole day off and rest for an entire day one and then six days of fight fight fight and then you know maybe a couple times a year you take a week right in the old testament they had this feast and that piece where they take a week and and have some refreshment and and relax and so forth but you know this idea of just well I just need years off I just need a year-long sabbatical or whatever or I you know or I just want to get to a point where I can just kind of coast and just relax and and be comfortable and have it easy look that's how you get into sin that's how you get backslidden you got to learn to love the struggle learn to love the fight learn to love the battle and you know you say well I want to get old and retire no when you die you retire you know and it's funny because when you talk to people about when they're going to retire a lot of them say like oh hey I'm going to retire when I'm 62 or retire when I'm 65 or hey I had to push it back to when I'm 70 you know just push it back just a little further what is this a few more just put it back to death that's when you retire and then you go to heaven and then God will put you to work up there I got bad news for you you know I mean even in heaven we the bible talked about being absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and he said therefore whether absent or present he said wherefore we labor we labor whether absent or present that we might be accepted before him look life is about work we're created to work we're created to strive to struggle to fight you know I'd rather get in the Lord's fight in the Lord's battle than to just cheer on a bunch of men playing a game for children you know throwing a ball around and look I'm not against throwing a ball around and getting some exercise and having some fun but you know what that's not what my life's about if I'm going to get excited about a struggle it's not going to be between this team and that team it's going to be between the forces of evil and the forces of good it's going to be between the gospel of Jesus Christ and a false gospel that's what I want to fight for that's what I want to get excited about that's what I want to strive and contend and battle for you say well you just love fighting you got it right I love fighting why shouldn't I love to fight when Paul said fight the good fight when he said I fought a good fight when he said the weapons of our warfare are not carnal when he said thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ this charge I commit unto thee son Timothy according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them might as war a good warfare I mean this isn't something that's mentioned once or twice in the bible over and over again it's fight the good fight war a good warfare contend for the faith strive for the mastery he compares it to a sporting event he compares it to a physical battlefield we're to go out there and struggle and fight all the time that's our life it's the Christian life if you're looking for easy street you're not looking for the Christian life if you're looking for it to be easy and comfortable and smooth that's not Christianity now if you would look at Ephesians chapter 6 where the bible says in verse 10 finally my brother would be strong in the lord and 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 so he's saying we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but we do wrestle against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God this sounds complicated it sounds like a lot of work I mean you have to put on a lot of different pieces of equipment you got all kinds of fiery darts coming at you and then he says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel look in chapter 3 verse 1 of Ephesians he said for this cause I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles chapter 4 verse 1 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called he says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 20 for which I'm an ambassador in bonds so he's saying I'm a prisoner I'm a prisoner he says I'm an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak I mean here's the guy who's in prison for preaching the gospel he's in bonds he's locked up and all he's thinking about is how when I get out I just hope I don't soften things up would you pray for me that I would preach boldly when I get out of prison I mean he's already planning the next battle the next fight getting out and striving even harder and preaching even more and preaching with even more boldness than he had going in why would we put on the whole armor of God in order to relax hey put on the whole armor of God and then you know you're going to fight every couple years or you're occasionally going to have a no no the whole Christian life is a constant battle it's a constant struggle it's a con and look I'm not saying it's a physical fight I'm not saying that you're always fighting with other people but you're fighting against your own flesh you're fighting I mean look every time you go out soul-winning you're fighting against false religion I mean if you go out soul-winning in New Orleans and you've got the Bible and you're preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ you're fighting the Roman Catholic Church they've got people in bondage they've got people believing in their false religion and you're going out there and you're engaging in a spiritual battle where you're pulling people out of the fire and you're pulling people out of the grip of that demonic religion the Roman Catholic Church look you're struggling you're contending for the faith and when false teachers preach lies and heresy and your pastor gets up and calls them out and names the name like the apostle Paul did you know what he's fighting for what's right he's fighting against lies he's fighting against the workers of iniquity and the pastor who doesn't want to fight the pastor who wants to get along with everybody and I've known a lot of fundamental Baptists that are they're really nice guys but that's kind of the problem is that they're so nice that they want to get along with everybody they even want to get along with the devil they just they're just so nice to everybody they just want to get along with everyone and the problem with a guy like that is that that's not natural for a man right to just get along with everybody and just live on easy street I mean we get bored like that that's how men are and I don't know if women can relate to that mentality as much as men can but men they don't want to just be comfortable and get along with everybody no fighting no struggle no warfare you know what they end up doing they end up seeking their thrills somewhere else that's the wrong place man desire thrills right that's where the roller coaster park comes in and the hunting trip and shooting machine guns and jumping out of airplanes and rock jumps into a river or into a lake or water skiing or snow skiing or look at all the extreme sports look at the football game and the rugby game and the soccer game and the motocross and the and the the car racing and I mean look at it all what are they seeking thrills excitement struggle battle contest striving right see what we need to do as men we need to take that nature that God gave us and we need to channel that toward the good fight instead of just a wood hay and stubble of jumping out of an airplane or bungee jumping or extreme gladiator sport of the month or whatever we need to channel that to get in God's fight and I'm telling you the guy who's never fighting the Lord's battles you know he just might seek his thrills with his neighbor's wife I mean that's what David did here's the guy who's accustomed to excitement thrills he's accustomed to a struggle strife so what does he do he creates the wrong strife and he creates the wrong thrill because he wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing staying busy with the right things keeps us out of trouble keeping our kids busy with the right things is going to keep our kids out of trouble but what you know kids today they're just they're sitting around and the tv's right there the computer's right there other sinful things are right there at their at their fingertips where they could just get into the wrong things to seek that adrenaline or seek that thrill or seek that rush or endorphins we need to get excited about the Lord preaching serving up like how can you get excited with these boring lame churches if you go to a really boring lame watered down soft church it doesn't really feed your desire as a man for victory and battle and strife and contention and and and you know contending for the you're not contending for the faith you're not fighting the good fight you know there's no there's no battle going on there's no rebuke there's no reproof so you go into the church and you sit there and you're bored and you're looking at your watch and then you go to the real excitement on tv or you go to the real excitement you know the the bungee jumping or you go to the real excitement you know and I'm not I'm not against bungee jumping I've never done it I'm never going to do it but you know I get my excitement and my thrills from serving the Lord go if you would in your Bible to let's see where did I where did I have you turn go to go to Jude go to Jude end of the New Testament Jude and see the Bible said in Ecclesiastes that there is no discharge from this war there is no discharge from this war it never ends and a lot of Christians they have the wrong attitude where they're seeking the end of the battle they want to just sort of enter the promised land and relax and you know in a perfect world that sounds great but you know we're we're sinners we're surrounded by sinners we need to be involved in the battle all the time until Jesus comes the Bible says in Jude verse 3 beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ I will therefore put you in remembrance that you once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believe not you'll notice when you read these epistles that the apostles are always in a fight with somebody or something I mean Timothy is being told about this false prophet I mean in first Timothy he's calling out several names you know Hymenaeus Alexander Phygelus Hermogenes I fought a good fight I'm gonna keep fighting you need to fight the good fight I mean they're always Jude he starts out mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation wait a minute we got some people to fight never mind I was gonna write to you about the common salvation but now I'm writing to you that we need to earnestly contend for the faith which is what's delivered under the sea and then the and then the whole thing is just hard preaching the whole book of Jude is just man these ungodly sinners and they're you know they're walking after their own lusts clouds they are without water carried about of winds trees whose fruit wither it without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shape wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever now look I've been reading the book of Jude my whole life and I'll tell you right now every time I get to verse three I'm always thinking like I'm glad he didn't just write to us about the common salvation because I like the book of Jude just the way it is with the fight in it it's a fighting book but you know you look at first John second John third John he's warning them in second John he's warning them about man these people are not abiding in the doctrine of Christ they're not even saved and then he gets into the third John and he's ripping on diatrophes and saying hey we need to stick with Demetrius he's the real man you know diatrophes a false teacher first John this person's Antichrist these people are Antichrist hey they went out from us because they were not of us they've been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest but they were not all of us oh that sounds like us against them you got it right first John second John third John Jude don't tell me revelation's not a battle I mean that's some warfare I mean this is the Bible this is the Bible Jesus Christ stayed busy doing good he went about doing good he worked hard he stayed busy sometimes people had to take him aside and tell him they said you're beside yourself you need to rest you need to get something to eat and I mean he pushed himself he worked hard he stayed busy and not only that he fought the fight I mean he preached against the Sadducees he preached against the Pharisees he preached against the scribes and he he was contending for the faith the apostles contended for the faith the book of Acts it's an exciting book I mean they're getting arrested over here they're in prison over here they're evangelizing this new area they're on a ship going to some mission field they're getting a shipwreck they're out treading water a night and a day in the deep I mean just struggle after struggle battle after battle victory to victory to victory the excitement never stops this is the Bible this is the Christian life that's right now a lot of these struggles that we go through are not all fun because we also go through a lot of trials and tribulations in our life part of our Christian life it's not always just going out and just winning and victory victory victory there are setbacks in the Christian life as well we go through trials tribulations hardships and the apostle Paul talks a lot about that as well and obviously a lot of those things are painful and they're difficult but we need to understand that those things are in our life for a reason that's why the Bible said in James chapter 1 my brethren count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience but let patience have a perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing the Bible said in Romans chapter 5 that we glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope make it not a shame so the trials the tribulations the the setbacks the things that we have to endure those things are all in our lives for a reason as well and struggling through those things is part of the battle part of the battle part of the fight is pushing ourselves through the difficult times pushing ourselves through obstacles and and the the joy of getting through those things and and seeing the Lord be faithful through those things and coming out stronger and coming out still serving God still fighting for what's right still doing the right thing but see a lot of people are waiting they're waiting to start really serving God in earnest when the trials stop they have an attitude that says hey when I get my finances in order you know when I get my work situation a little bit in order where I've got it on a routine where I can just kind of go to work and it's easy and once I get my family sorted out and I get my marriage sorted out get the kids sorted out get financially on top you know then I'm gonna come to church I mean you wouldn't believe how many people live in Phoenix Arizona and listen to my sermon every week and don't come to church it's hundreds and hundreds of people I run into people all the time oh I loved your sermon a couple weeks ago never been to church never should or and then when people do show up a lot of times they'll say this oh I've been listening to you for years oh how long you been in the area my whole life what in the world it's like oh I've been listening for years and I mean I'm telling you there's there's I think there's more people who listen to my sermon in Phoenix that don't ever come to church than do come there's more that don't come I mean I'll go on the analytics sometimes of YouTube or of the church website and it's just thousands and thousands of people in Phoenix listening to my sermons it's like what in the world why are we only running 300 where are all these people but I'll tell you what a lot of them say they say you know I'm just not ready right now to get all the way in and I don't want to be half in half out I don't want to be lukewarm and I'm just not ready to jump in and so you know when the time comes when I'm ready then I'm gonna jump into church I'm gonna get in the battle I'm gonna start serving the Lord but you know what that time is never gonna come if you're waiting until life is good and life is easy and life is smooth and you just have extra time that you're wondering what to do with and you got extra money that you're wondering what to do with and you got a great marriage and your kids are all happy and everything's great and the house is all repaired and all the yard work is done I mean you're never gonna come to church you're never gonna get involved in the battle you're never gonna be so you can't just wait for everything to be perfect you see the way the Christian life actually works is that while your finances are messed up while your marriage is messed up while your kids are messed up while your job is messed up you go out and you win somebody to Christ in the midst of hardship in the midst of battle in the midst of tribulation you keep going you keep serving God and you be faithful at all times don't wait for your life to be perfect your life will never be perfect my life has never been perfect I don't believe that my life will ever be perfect but I realize that that's the difference and I realize that when things go bad that's just par for the course there's always gonna be and and you'll fix one thing and then another thing will go wrong and some of you right now is finances oh man my finances are so messed up if I could just get my finances right you know but here's the thing that's not the worst problem you could be having ask Job if if the worst thing is losing your money ask Job if that was the worst part because losing all his money wasn't the worst part what about when he lost his children what about when he lost his health and he's scraping himself because his whole body is itching and burning and inflamed look you get your finances perfect and then the health problems start what would you rather have I'd rather have the the financial problems than the health problems you know and then you start having family problems right then you get your family problems and then the finances are messed up and then the health goes bad and then it's always it's one thing after another friend because life is a struggle life is a battle life is just tribulation after tribulation trial after trial battle after battle fight after fight and you say well this is depressing but here's the thing it's reality though right I mean does anybody in here really disagree where you're like no actually my life's been perfect now I have met people that had that attitude this no I mean my health's been great my finances are great never get in a fight with my spouse kids are doing what they're supposed to do okay but then now if you find that person now ask them how many souls they've been winning you know that person's probably not a warrior you know what I'm saying I mean is that person go to that person that has that cookie cutter perfect life and I wonder how much soul winning they're doing or how much they're really serving God when they're that comfortable because that's not really the Christian life I mean it's just it's unrealistic so I'm just preparing you for the for the battle see it said in first Corinthians 14 that if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound nobody's going to prepare himself for the battle so I'm up here as a preacher sounding the trumpet not giving an uncertain sound but telling you in no uncertain terms life is a battle and I'm telling you prepare yourself for that battle why don't you just prepare yourself for it it's better to just mentally go into it saying you know what there's going to be challenges there's going to be obstacles there are going to be hardships it's going to be a struggle it's going to be a fight but you know what I'm a man anyway and I was born to fight I was born to struggle I was born to overcome obstacles I love it I don't want it to be easy I don't want it to be too boring no look you know I was I was on the airplane and you know you know when you're on an airplane you are trying to pass the time and I don't like being on airplanes you get a little claustrophobic and the air is kind of weird and you just kind of want it to be over so I you know I got a bunch of crossword puzzles and I was doing a bunch of crossword but you know they give you the crossword puzzle in the magazine on the airline and I bought a little book of crossword puzzles in the airport and everything but you know here's the thing about crossword puzzles if they're too easy they're not fun are they yeah it's boring it's stupid right I mean if you just always know every answer who in the world would want to do a crossword puzzle where you where you already know the answer to everything you'd cast that aside and say this is dumb this is boring this is no fun you want to find one that challenges you a little bit right this is human nature and so in our lives we we thrive on challenges we we thrive on obstacles we thrive on hardship it feels good to accomplish something that's hard I mean look when we as men go hiking in Arizona we like to go hiking a lot we have a lot of good trails and a lot of good nature out there to to go out and see and I mean when I first moved there I didn't really know the hiking trails the first thing I did was I organized hiking trips to every hike that had hell in the name because I don't know you know I don't know the state I don't know the area so I just figured if it has hell in the name that's where I want to go hiking so we went to hell's hole hell's kitchen hell's gate I mean I'm not kidding you think I'm kidding I'm serious I'm like hey guys we're gonna go hiking it's called hell's gate it's 16 miles round trip you know we're gonna do this in one day and you know and we would we go on these hikes and and people are throwing up and be like isn't this fun this is our day off this is rely this is great but here's the look if you if you went to the men and you said hey we're gonna go hiking and it's it's it's it's an easy two miles it's paved there's a handrail see you know it doesn't sound fun but it sounds fun to say we're going hiking to hell's hole and it's 11 miles and you know it's really steep because then when you get done you feel great doesn't it feel awesome to finish something like that yeah we made it you're telling all the stories you're at the restaurant you can barely even see straight or sit up straight and you're you're rejoicing in in the victory and the accomplishment but you know that's just wood hay and stubble the real hell's gate is when the gates of hell don't prevail against the soul-winning church I mean that's the real hell's gate not just some hike that's named hell's gate but that's our mentality as men we we glory in tribulations we we strive and struggle and and this is our lives and so we need to take that mentality and apply it to the things of god don't wait until your life is smooth and your life is perfect you know somebody hey I'm about to turn the corner find you know it's round it's around you're in a round room buddy and you're trying to turn the corner it never ends all right and look some sometimes you have to do things that are hard you know uh going soul-winning when it's hot outside going soul-winning in bad weather maybe a long drive to church you know you say oh man you know you're saying what it's like to have to drive all this way to church and we got to drive 45 minutes or an hour or whatever well you know that's life you struggle you strike I mean there look there are people who go to brother Jimenez's church that drive two hours each way every week for years it's true they drive from the bay area also known as the gay area they drive from the bay area all the way to sacramento you know to go to a good soul-winning church you know that's not easy that's hard going out soul-winning in phoenix when it's 110 degrees outside but you know what we make a sport out of it we put on big sombreros and sunblock and we got the gatorade and it's like an extreme sport of soul-winning in the summer it is and and and even and when nobody gets saved I say you know we're urban hiking I call it urban you know to try to keep a good attitude we're getting exercise we're urban hiking nobody wants to hear the gospel but we're out in the heat we're brave in the heat and you know what the going soul-winning on the hottest day there's a little joy in that inside you kind of feel like yeah we're out on the hottest day right I mean that's how men are right like yeah and then they brag about it was 118 you know that's part of the glory of it you know or or the opposite you know we I wanted I really wanted to do a soul-winning marathon in Minneapolis Minnesota and people are like oh do that one in the summer I'm like I want to do it in the dead of winter and so I planned that I called it the sub-zero soul-winning marathon all right we're going to do a soul-winning marathon in Minneapolis Minnesota in January because I'm sick of these churches that cancel soul-winning in the winter when it's too cold and they cancel in the summer when it's too hot we're gonna show them we're gonna go to January Minneapolis and go sewing and God was merciful to us we went there and it was 39 degrees which is the warmest it could possibly be and you know I was still freezing I was like so God God's not gonna tempt us above that we're able so even though my heart was like yeah let's do it sub-zero God's like thinking you know this guy can't handle sub-zero let's make it 39 degrees for him but you know we still actually made the same point because you know what these churches that are canceling it for the whole winter you think they turn it back on when it's 39 no the 39 days happen right the 39 degree days happen but they got it cancelled for the whole winter too cold but when it's 39 it's not too cold but you know when it's zero it's not too cold I've been out soul-winning when it was zero you know and we we knock a few doors and then go back to the car and warm up for a while and then knock two more doors go back and warm up you know and and you're like so would you rather talk about this inside you know and then when and then when somebody invites you in it's a you're thorough on that presentation like you know you know so I turn to genesis let me show you where sin came from in the first place you know I mean you're thorough and then after they get saved let's talk baptism let's get let's disciple you you know you know it's the same in the summer in phoenix when they invite you in man you you sit down and and you leave no stone unturned are you sure you understand you go through everything so the point is that we as god's people we need to be prepared for the battle we need to go into it thinking you know what sure we need rest sure we need a respite and and relaxation and reprieve but we need to understand that that rest and relaxation and reprieve comes in like a one-day increment or like a one-week increment not just expecting to have a lifetime of relaxation or or a whole decade of relaxing or years and years of relax you know we got to keep the pressure on and you know sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed by pressure in my life and then I back it off a little bit but I kind of like to ride that edge of of you know what I can handle now I'm not a burn the candle at both ends guy you know I try to make sure I get enough sleep at night and I do take days off a lot of people think that I'm just a crazy workaholic but I don't you know I I take time off I I make sure and take care of myself and relax but you know what I do like to push myself and keep myself a little bit uncomfortable you know and I like to keep my my finances a little bit uncomfortable I like to keep my schedule just a little bit uncomfortable maybe just a little bit too many soul-winning marathons or just a little bit too you know not too much but just a little bit because I want to feel that struggle and that pressure and I want it to be a little bit hard otherwise my my Christian life becomes an easy crossword you know what I'm saying pastoring becomes a dumbed down child's crossword puzzle and then you know what's going to happen as I'm done with my child's crossword but you know what I'm going to do I'm going to look for entertainment somewhere else and a lot of times unfortunately when when these uh Christians or even pastors when they when they live that easy street life you know they end up like a king David seeking after thrills and struggle and conquest in all the wrong places that's a worst case scenario if they do like what David did but even if they don't go that far a lot of times they just seek it through sports and then maybe they're not shipwrecking their life like a king David with adultery and murder but they're wasting their life they're wasting their energy they're coasting in their church and then all their zeal and and and vigor goes towards sports or goes towards some hobby or you know goes into to hunting or fishing or and I'm not against those things in moderation as entertainment as icing on the cake but you know when that's just when when just your big thing in life I mean my big thing in life is hunting and then you just kind of church is on the back no no church should be the big thing soul winning should be a big thing serving the Lord fighting the Lord's battles preaching rebuking reproving exhorting you know these should be big parts of our lives but they're only going to be a big part of our life if we do them in a big way if you just barely put your toe in the water of faith baptist church and then you wonder why man I just can't get over all the sins in my life and I just can't I just can't seem to get excited for God it's because you need to work harder it's because you need to get in and fight and get in the struggle and and roll up your sleeves and get side by side with other servants of the Lord and you know then that part of your life will be fulfilled and then you'll find yourself you know I don't even I don't even really desire this other wrong thing anymore I don't even find myself getting up at even tide and walking around on the roof because I'm so tired in bed at night where I belong you know where you belong at night is in bed sleeping because you're tired from working they that sleep sleep in the night but then there's those that be drunken and they're drunken in the night you know why because they're not working at that which they need to work at you know you know some of the most drunken areas that you see in Phoenix and I suspect it's probably similar in New Orleans are the people who work the least are probably getting the most drunk right the places where they're on welfare or the places where they're unemployed there's more drinking there than even amongst the hard-working which is ironic because you'd think that the people who work hard oh yeah they work hard they're gonna have the money you need to blow off the steam but you know what it's the people who work the least that are involved in the most sin because of the fact that an idle mind is the devil's workshop and if you're not busy about the right things you're bored and when you're bored that's when you go to the casino that's when you go to the bar that's when you go out and just start looking around and looking at this woman or that woman or this man or that man and and and and the wives and the husbands commit adultery or or they even uh get drunk or commit murder or steal or all these other sins you know what looking for kicks get your kicks down at the baptist church get your kicks out so and you say come on you you're gonna compare church to a casino or a rock concert or you know a bar there's way more excitement than in church than in any of those places we have more fun look we have more fun on a soul-winning marathon than Pete then the guy who's going backstage at whatever the rock concert we have a good time we enjoy it we like it look we we look forward to the red hot preaching conference like other people are looking forward to lollapalooza or is that even i don't even know if that's even a thing you know like they look forward to what's the big the big festival you said around here they have all kinds of i mean look the red hot preaching conferences are Mardi Gras right except we don't dress in drag and get drunk and commit adultery but you know what that's what we look forward to people get just as excited about the red hot preaching conference or hey we're gonna go to the premiere of Babylon USA you know we're gonna go to the soul-winning marathon we're going down to Guyana we're going to Malawi we're going to Botswana you know we're going to this place we're going to Toronto Canada we're going behind enemy lines in Toronto Canada you know preach the gospel up there hey that's our fun that's our battle that's our struggle and look when we get thrown out of countries we love it if we get arrested we love it we love it when they attack us when they fight us we love it bring it on why because it's what we do for kicks i'm serious it's what we do for kicks what i do for kicks look why would i want to go to Africa and go on some paid tour some guy's gonna take me around and help me shoot an elephant or something and i'm gonna spend a week and a half when i could go and spend a week and a half down there with the common man you know staying in their homes and preaching the gospel and winning people to christ and go to church that look the best kind of tourism is soul-winning tourism instead of you know i don't like look i don't want to go see the eiffel tower the london bridge the pyramids of giza i'm not interested you know where the last place i'll ever go on so uh vacation is israel you say oh man you know want to see the mount of olives and want to see the wailing wall and you want to see the you know uh all this stuff look i'm not interested because soul winning's illegal there take me on you say where do you want to go on vacation pastor anderson you know do you want to go to uh paris or do you want to go to venice or do you want to go to uh london while i'm banned there so that's that's off the table you know you know do you want to go to you know uh uh some kind of uh where do people go help me out where do people go on vacation to see the sights well i do want to go to the bahamas because the caribbean's pretty receptive because you've been doing a lot of good so many down there brother yeah you know that people want to they want to see the sights hey let's go look at mount rushmore i went to mount rushmore five minutes later i was ready to leave i was like there it is you know hey look i'll tell you where i want to go to on vacation if first of all if i want to travel around arizona you know what i forget the grand canyon let's go to an indian reservation that's worth solely look i'd rather if i'm going to go on vacation and i want to go to detroit find me the worst ghetto in detroit that's where i'll be if i want to go to chicago i'll be on the south side englewood soul winning you know you want to you want to go with me to new york city forget time square i've never even been to time square but i've been soul winning in the ghetto in new york you know hey i've been to new orleans i've never been to the french quarter but you know what i've been soul winning in new orleans east where the the tornado went through and ripped all the houses apart that's what i want to see i want to see somebody say look look you know it's it's for kicks is there something wrong with enjoying soul winning enjoying evangelism enjoying missions enjoying church love it we love it and look look at all these people some of these people aren't even from louisiana they're not even from mississippi they're from all over the place they're everywhere these people from canada are everywhere everywhere these people from canada are everywhere nar is everywhere roberto he's everywhere i mean what did i see you like five days ago where was that where did i see you there for me you were in maine yeah what we what we do in maine see maine biddeford you know the point is that the christian life is an exciting life if you'll jump in and get involved and start soul winning and and start showing up to those evening services right sunday morning sunday night wednesday night you start soul winning you start preaching the gospel you know when you see somebody saved the first time when you're out and you knock a door and for the very first time you win someone to christ you're the talker you know you've been the silent partner and now you're the talker when you win that person the lord that is a greater thrill than any than any rollercoaster or you know that's exciting and you know what it actually means something it actually means something and you know god will give you an exciting life if you'll serve him he doesn't he doesn't just expect you to be bored you know i don't believe in the asceticism of the roman catholic church or the orthodox church or of hinduism or buddhism where we just sit and meditate and whip ourselves and beat ourselves and chant and and no fun allowed and everything look i believe that the christian life can be exciting it can be fun it could be rewarding as a struggle as a battle as a fight and you know we as fundamental baptists people think oh you know you're negative you're fighting too much but you know what we enjoy it we love it i mean look if you talk to this group of people here it's a happy group of people the people who come here to faith baptists that i've met they all seem really happy yes and and the people who came out from mississippi other parts of louisiana they're happy people they're joyful they're not here like oh man you know i got to do penance for all the mistakes i made earlier in life and so you know maybe if i go to enough of these soul-winning marathons god's gonna let some of that stuff go that's not the the attitude is like oh that sounds great yeah let's go it's it's it's fun it's exciting see we need to get out in the battle not be like a david who stays home and sends someone else we need to get out there in the don't send uraya to the hottest part of the battle lets us get in the hottest part of the battle and you know david used to be that guy that was in the hottest part of the battle he fought hard he had the victories and he wrote psalms about it and he praised god about it and he that's where he got his kicks when he stopped getting his kicks serving god when he stopped getting his kicks fighting the lord's battles when he stopped getting his kicks in a righteous way then he started getting his kicks with adultery and then oh he had struggles and trials trying to cover up his sin instead of struggling and striving to do more for the lord and to push himself and and and to get something great done for god and you know tonight you're here tonight and and uh obviously this is a serious crowd because we're preaching on friday night this isn't just a sunday morning glory crowd but this is actually a a a friday night crowd and then most of you were out there soul-winning today and i know many people will have to work and so forth and you're just here for this service now so i'm preaching to people that are serious but but i want to make sure that there's no uncertain sound look life's a battle you got to learn to love the battle and and don't don't get frustrated with your pastor if you feel like man he's always he's always pushing something new he's always pushing the envelope he's always starting a new ministry or evangelizing a new area or he's always fighting some false teacher you know when can we just relax when can we just settle down the answer is never never gonna stop never gonna relax never gonna rest on our laurels never gonna retire never gonna just coast no no it's it's always gonna be with the heat turned up right it's always gonna be the pedal to the metal because you know what that's the funnest way to drive is with the pedal to the metal and sometimes we gotta park the car and and tune it up and so that we can get right back in and you know this is how we live our lives and you know what people have been saying about me for years they said this about me in 2006 and 2007 they said you know what i i had several people say this to me or to other people about me and they still say it to me people say in the last few weeks i've heard multiple people say this about me this is what they say you know that's great but you know that guy's gonna crash and burn that's what they say about me all the time like well he's intense but he's gonna crash that guy's gonna cry oh i've seen it before that guy's gonna crash and burn but you know what here i am 11 and a half years later and i haven't crashed and burned yet now have i scraped up against the wall a few times absolutely absolutely but you know what you you know that's because i've got the pedal to the metal because i'm in it to win it because i'm trying to run the race that set before me paul said many strive but only one is crowned strive that you may obtain run to win so yeah i sometimes i come screeching around the corner and i'm scraping up against the wall and i'm in the pit stop and i'm burning rubber out of that pit stop and the pit crews jumping out of the way but you know what though i still haven't crashed and burned and i believe by the grace of god that i will not crash and burn now nobody everybody's human nobody's but i do not believe that i will crash and burn and if i haven't crashed and burned so far i know how fast this car can go and and i know when to put the brakes on but that's what people but you know what the people who are sitting on the sidelines eating their beer nuts and popcorn and i'm gonna that fella's gonna crash and burn but you know what at least i did something before i crashed and burned you're you're not even in the race you're driving around in on a sunday drive you're driving around in a golf cart you try you know you're driving around on a tricycle that fella's gonna crash and burn well you know what we know you'll never crash you'll never crash and burn because you're still in the parking garage it's impossible to crash a parked vehicle so you're never gonna crash and burn but you know what i'm not gonna crash and burn all that is is just when when they've got no excuse for why they're not doing the soul winning why they're not in the fight that's all they just say it's just oh in the future in the future he's gonna crash and burn well have i crashed and burned yet why are you accusing me of stuff that i haven't even done of what i might do yeah relax take it easy well you know what when david crashed and burned it wasn't when he had the pedal to the metal i mean when did david crash and burn and you know what ask yourself this question when did men in the bible usually crash and burn was it in the midst of a fight or was it in the peacetime that they crashed and burned look in the book look in the book of judges okay when did they crash and burn in judges when they had peace and everybody's relaxed and the philistines are at bay and the kainanites are at bay then that's when they crashed and burned spiritually and then when the philistines attack and the kainanites attack that's when they got right with the lord amen that's why god keeps us under a little pressure all the time he keeps us a little leaner financially than we want to be he keeps us a little bit running scared because that's where we belong that's where we're happiest and you think you'd be happy having everything you want but as the hollywood stars how that's working out for them they all hate life amen why because there's no struggle because it's just not fun anymore remaking movies for the umpteenth time the tron remake just didn't give them the happiness that they thought it was going to give them so they have to go get drunk and take drugs and go shoplift and drive drunk to get their kicks because remaking the 29th batman movie just wasn't as rewarding as they thought it was going to be but you know what serving the lord's rewarding let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for giving us meaning in our lives and giving us something real to get excited about and get motivated about lord and lord i pray that no one in here would crash and burn myself included lord and i don't think i'm above that i don't think anybody in here is above that lord if king david the man after your own heart could could crash and burn it's such a horrific way that is it's hard to even imagine how someone could do those things that he did lord help us to when it's time to go to war help us to go to war and when it's time to go soul winning help us to go soul winning and when it's time to go to church help us to go to church lord and just help us to to get excited and to strive and contend for what's right not to just spend our lives on a bunch of wood hay and stubble lord and in jesus name we pray amen