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