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Hey, man, the part of the chapter we're going to focus on this evening is found in verse number 32, where the Bible reads, For it came to pass that when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back again from pursuing him. Verse 33, And a certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness. Therefore he said to his chariot man, Turn thine hand, that thou mayest carry me out of the host, for I am wounded. And the battle increased that day, howbeit the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even, and about the time of the sun going down he died. And verse 33 says, A certain man drew a bow at a venture. And the title of my sermon this evening is this, give it a shot. Just give it a shot. You know, in this story, it's a very interesting story, we see that there's a godly king by the name of Jehoshaphat teaming up, or making affinity, with the wicked king of Israel, Ahab. And we often compare that, we often use the verse, actually the chapter right afterwards where it says, Shouldst thou help the ungodly and love them, they hate the Lord, therefore wrath is upon thee from before the Lord. And that's talking about Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was a very godly king, but he teamed up with a very wicked king by the name of Ahab. Well, we read the story right there, we're not going to go over it completely, but Micaiah, who was very hated, basically prophesied and said, look, if you go up to fight, if you try to go up against Ramoth Gilead, you're going to die, you're not going to come back. And of course, Ahab, in his stubbornness, decides to still go back. And that shows the mercy of God, doesn't it? In this king, God was still willing to warn him and say, look, by the mouth of my prophet, you should not go up because you're going to lose the war. And what does he decide to do anyways? He decides to just go in anyways. And never mind, this isn't the message, but you know, so many times God gives us commandments in the Bible, he gives us precepts, he gives us warnings, and he often tells us, don't do this, or you should do this, and what do we do? We disobey. And we suffer the consequences of our actions, don't we? You know what, we ought not to be like Ahab, that, you know what, when the prophet gets up and he gives a teaching, or he says something from the word of the Lord, that we just say, nah, I'm not going to listen to him because it's Brother Bruce Mejia, right? I'm not going to listen because it's Micaiah and I hate him, right? Well guess what, that didn't turn out too well for Ahab. He suffered the consequences of it. But it made for a good illustration, it made for a good story, actually. Because here we see that he goes out to battle and he dresses up, right, he puts on a little costume so it doesn't look like it's him. But you know what, God still knows it's him, right? And it's like, you can do whatever you want to try to cover up who you are, the word of the Lord is going to come to pass and you're going to die. And the Bible says here that some random no-namer, who the Bible doesn't even say the name of, decides to what? Draw a bow at a venture. What does that mean? He just rears back and just says, I'm just going to let this bow go and we'll see where it lands, we'll let the chips fall where they may, who knows what might happen if I just do this. And guess what, he hits the king. And what happens when you hit the king? The war ends. Amen? It's over with. And of course, God spares Jehoshaphat's life. But here we see that this guy, who we don't even know about, he draws a bow at a venture. He just gives it a shot and guess what, he wins the war because of it. You know, go to Acts chapter 15. In our day and age, we have too many Christians that really are just not willing to take the risk. And that's what this guy did. He simply took a risk. He was willing to go out on a limb, just try something, why not, and guess what, he's written down in here without his name obviously, but God knows who he is, as someone who just took a risk for God and he did something great. He was able to kill this wicked king and fulfill the word of the prophet. And we need more Christians nowadays that are willing to do that. We need more Christians who are willing to just take a risk, draw a bow, just do what God has commanded us to do, regardless of how radical it may be, regardless of who may disassociate themselves from us, regardless of the consequences of it, just draw a bow at a venture and just do it. Trust God. He said, well what if I get hurt? Then you get hurt. But at least obeying God, we recognize that you know what, we're doing what God wants us to do, we'll be fine, and if something happens to us, then you know what, oh well, we go to heaven. But take the risk. Don't be the kind of Christian that is just complacent all the time. And look, it's very easy as a Christian to be complacent. Why? Because you're saved, right? You've got the King James Bible, you have all these things, yeah, you can listen to sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon, but you're just complacent, you're not doing anything for God. No, why don't we just use our lives for God instead? Okay? He said, well I'm afraid what might happen, what are you afraid of? Just draw the bow at a venture and just, who knows what might happen if you just let that bow go? You might hit that target dead in the center and do something great for God, but it's going to take you to take a risk, okay? And look, I'm not for gambling, but when it comes to this, I'm for gambling, I'm for just taking the risk to just do it, okay? You say, well what if I fail? You know, if you fail, look, the worst thing you can do is this, fail. But when you attempt anything for God, you never fail, okay? And the fear of failing keeps you from attempting something for God. And here's the thing, one of the worst nightmares that we ought to have is not to try something because we're afraid of failing, and then 10 years look back and say, I wish at least I tried. Right, yeah. Okay? That's the worst thing that can happen to you, is worrying, saying, well, I'm too scared to try, I'm too scared to go soul winning, I'm too scared to take a stand, so I'm not going to do it. And guess what? Five years later, you're like, man, I wish I had done it. Who knows what would have happened? Well guess what? I wish I had done it, because you're too scared to draw a bow at adventure. Rather just take the risk, go all in, and just, we'll see what happens. And by the way, when you take risks for God, life is just more exciting. Even if you fail. Why? Because at least you have a story to tell. Right? You have an illustration that you can give when you talk to people. Like I tried this, I tried this, and I failed miserably at it. But at least you have some, you glean wisdom from that. Okay? Failure's not a bad thing either. Okay? Often we're scared of failure in life, but guess what? Failure's a good thing for us. Why? It instructs us, it teaches us, it gives character, it molds us, it helps us to know what not to do. Right? But if you never fail and you succeed at everything, then you won't learn anything. We need to fail. And not only that, but failure causes us to be humble. You know, sometimes God has to just kick us off our high horse, because we think we know everything, we think we got life figured out, everything, all our ducks are in order. Well, you know what? When you fail, you get humbled and you get taught. You say, you know what? I'm not as good as I thought I was. I'm not as good as a Christian as I thought I was. And guess what? Now I need to depend on God. Now I need to pray more. Now I need to memorize more scripture. Now I need to read the Bible. And guess what? Failure's a good thing. But don't let the fear of failure keep you from doing something great for God, from taking that risk. It didn't keep this guy. And he hit Ahab dead center between the harness. And when it says between the harness, his armor, I mean the shoulder, that means he got it within the crevice of his armor. That's very precise. You know? Very successful shot. But we have a lot of Christians nowadays that aren't willing to do that. They just want to, look, they're content with watching everyone else take risks. They're entertained by those who take risks. But they themselves aren't willing to do it. Now we need Christians who say, you know what? He took a risk, and I'm inspired by that risk, and I'm going to take it too. I'm going to do it for my family. I'm going to do it for my wife. I'm going to do it for my children. I'm going to do it for my God. Take a risk. Go to Acts chapter 15, verse 24 says, For as much as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your soul, saying, Ye must be circumcised and keep the law, to whom we gave no such commandment. It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a testimony. Hazarded? What does that mean? They placed their life in danger to do something great for God. They're willing to hazard their lives. And look what the Bible says in verse number 25, to send chosen men. These are men of choice. These are men who obviously knew the word of God. They were favored in the eyes of God. And guess what? They did something great for God because they didn't regard their own life. You know what? One thing, what keeps us from taking risks for God and going all in, is we're afraid what might happen to us. We love our lives too much. We love our health too much. We love money too much. We love our property and our possessions far too much. When we as Christians need to just loosen up on the things of this world, you're not going to take it with you. Look, enjoy the stuff while you have it, but you're not going to take it. Look, I like this iPad. I do. I like live on this iPad. You know? I need it for everything. I use it. I utilize it. But this iPad is not going with me. It's just a tool. Okay? My car, I hate my car. That's a bad illustration because I hate my car. Piece of trash. But you know what? It's being used for God. And if we're not careful, things often encumber our lives to the point that it just chokes us from doing something great for God. Because we're afraid we might lose it, right? We're afraid we might lose our money. We're afraid we might lose our children. We're afraid we might lose our families. Look, be willing to lose it all, and then you actually end up finding your life because of it. You actually end up getting rewarded because of it. He that saveth his life shall lose it, the Bible says. You know? I mean, most of the people who are afraid to lose their things, they end up losing it anyways. And those who are not afraid to lose it end up keeping it because God says, well, these people are going to use it for something useful for the kingdom of God, okay? But these are men who hazard their own lives. They're willing to risk even their physical health and bodies to do something great for God. We live in a day and age where no one wants to do that anymore. We're too afraid. We don't want to get punched in the face. I mean, look, I'm not for violence, but every man needs to be punched in the face at least once in their life, okay? You need to get punched in the nose every once in a while. You say, why is that? You need to know what pain feels like, okay? Look, my face is tender now, okay? It's not like the way it used to be. When I used to kickbox, it was just like kind of puffy, you know? But pain is good. But you know why you're afraid to take a stand for God? Why you're afraid to say the things that you believe? You're afraid for the physical violence that might come towards you, you know? And a lot of people are like that. They're like, well, what about, what if they're homos? What are they going to do to you? What if they do something to you? I mean, what, I mean, like hit me with their purse or, I mean, what do you, they're homos. They're, okay, look, they're guys who want to be girls. You guys get that? And you're afraid of a guy who wants to be like a girl? I mean, okay, be afraid of a guy who's like big and much, and is not a homo. Okay, but these are people who want to be girls, okay? You should not be afraid. Yeah, but they're homos. I know. You should not be afraid of them, okay? And look, they're drinking soy. Soy makes you soft. Get that? So, you got the upper hand already. You understand that? But look, physically, we ought not to be worried about our physical health. And I'm not saying be careless in regards to your physical health. You understand that. There has to be a balance in how we take care of ourselves. But I'm saying in regards to risking all for God, we shouldn't be afraid of what's going to happen to us. And look, that's a common fear that I think a lot of people get. I mean, I remember, I've gotten that way, it's just like, what if this happens? It's just like, what if it happens? I mean, what's the big deal? See, often our fears, like our imaginations multiply our fears far beyond what they really are. You know what I mean? We exaggerate everything in our minds. You know, first day, Alex and I thought, oh man, the homos are going to be like all up in here. You know, they're going to be trying to kill us and all these things. Alex is like, I'm carrying, I'm carrying, you know. We haven't even seen a homo yet. And by the way, they might come in the future. If they come, then they come, whatever. But what's so scary about a homo with a sign that says, love not hate, love not, I mean, is that scary to you? Does that really make you that afraid of a sign? You don't even have to look at it. You don't even have to read it. Okay, just come to church. But look, often we're scared of things and look, God, not God, but Satan, often what he'll do is he'll use these fears to paralyze us, right? And he knows the extent and the potential of our own imaginations, right? He'll use the potential of our own imaginations to paralyze us from doing something great for God. Do you understand that? So we have to cast down those imaginations like we mentioned earlier this morning. We got to cast down those imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. That's why it's important that the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Why? Because the word of, the Bible says you can do nothing against the truth before the truth, right? And if you have the truth of God within your heart, you're meditating upon scripture, that's how you get bold in the Lord. Why? Not because you're some prideful, arrogant fool. No, because you're confident in the promises of God. And look, turn off the television every once in a while. Stop watching the news every once in a while, okay? Not every once in a while, just stop watching it, period. There's a bunch of lies anyways. But you know what, I have a family member who watches the news like every day. And lo and behold, they're the most fearful person that I know. You know why? Because there's nothing but filth on the news. Death, I mean, look, English news is bad, okay? It's real bad. But you don't know news until you've seen Spanish news. And those of you who've seen Spanish news know what I'm talking about. See, in English, the news, you know, they'll put the little blurry thing if someone's like dead on the floor or something. In Spanish, they don't do that. They'll show you the guts and all the gore and stuff and people that, and every single person is dead. Like, every single new news, like, just 55 people died over here and all these people, and then, you know, the Mexican mafia got these people right here and all these things. Look at the heads, you know? They show you everything. Well, you know what? If you watch that over and over again, yeah, you're gonna be afraid. Of course you're gonna be afraid. Mine eye affecteth mine heart. That stuff is going through your, look, Spanish, I mean, English news is such a lie, but Spanish news is even worse. They lie like crazy. They even have shows. I don't watch this. They have shows. It's like those judges, you know, those judge shows, Judge Judy type shows, but in Spanish, and it's like the most ridiculous stories you've ever heard in your entire life. It's like, this is fake. This has to be fake. And the, you know, my relatives, no, no, no, no, es verdad, you know, it's real. It's real. It's like, that's scripted. This is so scripted. But you know what it causes people, it causes people to have this perspective of what the world is like, and I'm not saying the world is not wicked, it's wicked, right? But you spend hours before that stupid tube just watching that over and over, of course you're going to be fearful. Of course you're going to be afraid. You know, of course you're not going to want to go to Mexico, because you're afraid you're going to get kidnapped. They're going to take your organs. They're going to kill you. You know, you're going to be afraid of everything. But what am I saying? I don't even know how I got off on that, but basically it is, the things that we watch causes us to be afraid sometimes, and it changes our perspective. That's why it's important that we just stay within the word of God. We just read the Bible, talk about the Bible, allow the Bible to consume us, right? And look, be careful on your phones, right? The news pops up on your phones, 35 dead today, it's like, what? And then you swipe, and then they have links to other violent crimes that have been committed, and you're just like, what's going to happen, you know? And look, I'm not saying we're not going to get, like, you know, the thing with Texas that happened and whatnot. I understand that things like that happen, we're going to know about it. But you know what? You can't live on the news. Because first of all, it's fake. Second of all, it's exaggerated. And third of all, it's not even going to benefit you. You know, better to just pop in a sermon, or just read the Bible, or just get your confidence from the things of God. Why? Because the Bible says that the fear of man bringeth a snare. What is a snare? It just traps you. It keeps you from taking even a risk for God. And that's why we have so many fearful Christians. That's why so many pastors don't want to preach the word of God is it has to be preached. Because they're afraid. I mean, I remember years ago, when I went to Bible college, one of the teachers got up and he was showing us articles of people, or these fag groups that were going to churches, they were like taking over, they would go in, these bunch of lesbos, they would go into the churches. And then they would like shove the pastor out of the way, and start like making out, and they're like taking over and jumping up and down, and people were like scared of that. And I'm thinking, what a wimp of a pastor. No woman will ever come here and push me out of the way. I will flip out before, I will drop kick before you even get to me. They had their little pink masks and stuff, and you know what, to be honest, that article caused a lot of churches to be afraid. What if we're next? I hope we're next. Yeah, you try that. Okay. Because here's the thing, we're Christians, but we're Christians from Los Angeles. Amen. You get that? Amen. And we still got to grow. We got to grow, we got a lot of growing up to do as far as in the Lord. You know, but here's the thing, watching that caused a lot of people to be afraid. And just like, what if, what if what? You're afraid of some lesbo coming in here, pushing you out of the way. What did he do to, I don't like, what did he, did he just stand there and just watch? You know? I mean, he literally had to watch them walk all the way up, get on the platform, and shove them out of the, I mean, how does that even work? You know, and here's the thing, it's probably fake. Yeah, right? Yeah. Now that I think about it, that's probably fake. They probably just made up that story to cause Christians to be afraid of what might happen in your church. And they would often say, yeah, they're coming for you guys next. You know? And what happens? Pastors read that and they're like, man, I may need to trim down the message a little bit so they don't come to us. We're not trimming nothing down. Amen. Okay? You better come and try that. See what happens. But here's the thing is, risk is involved, Christians take risks when they're, honestly, when they're in the Word of God. Why? Because you read the Bible, you see the zeal of the men found within the Word of God, and the risks they're willing to take. And what does it cause us to do? Man, I want to do something like that. And by the way, these men, these men are like passions. They're just like us. But there are people who obviously trusted in God and they wanted to do something great and they just, at a venture, drew a bow. We need to be that way. But we get that way by being in here, right? We get that way by reading the Word of God, reading about the characters found within the Bible, reading about normal men who simply trusted God, they didn't care about the cost, they did whatever it took to please God, and guess what, now God recognizes them. Now God is praising them for the things that they do. We can be just like that, but we've got to be in the book, okay? The fact is the Christian life is meant to be lived taking risks for the Lord. And look, if you don't take risks for God, you're living a boring life. It's boring. Just coming to church doing nothing, that's boring. Yeah, but I've got a nice paying job, that's boring. But I make money, that's still boring. Because money, I mean, it's going to fly away. You're not going to have it, you're not going to take it with you. You know, when you're risking your life, that's exciting. That's why all these guys who are into this adventure stuff and they're jumping off cliffs and all that stuff, they're involved in that because it's exciting, it's just like, man, I might die doing this. There's a possibility. And then you don't die and you're like, man, I did it. But you know what, the Christian life can be far more dangerous. Why? Because God requires so much more commitment, there's so many more dangers, but we know that in the end, we win. And here's the thing, don't get me wrong, don't misinterpret what I'm about to tell you, in a sense, we are invincible up until God allows us to be taken home, right? I'm not saying in a careless way, but in a sense, we are, I mean, we're here, God has us here, He's going to protect us up until the point where He says, alright, now it's just time to go home. So it's your time. I was like, cool, I get to go home. So I get to live a crazy life for the Lord, right? And then when He thinks it's time to go home, then it's time to go home. Not a big deal. Alright, look at, go to Daniel chapter number 3. Too many Christians that are satisfied with the status quo. You know, and here's the thing, the Bible says, yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You know, that's just the byproduct of living a godly life. You're going to suffer persecution. People are going to talk trash about you. People are going to threaten you. People are going to separate themselves from you. But that's how you measure if you're doing something right. Because you're like, if nothing's happening, then if you get no persecution, then you have to think, man, am I living a godly life then? Am I living a life that's pleasing to the Lord because yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It is the byproduct. No, it's not going to be 365 days out of the year, but it should happen. You should receive some persecution. People should be saying something about you. You should be getting some threats or something should be happening. Because that's the byproduct of living a godly life. Not that everyone's going to like you. Because we have this misinterpretation because of the modern churches that if you're godly, everyone's going to love you. You know, because everyone loves Jesus, right? No, everyone does not love Jesus. And because we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, they're not going to love us either. So I have a problem if I don't receive persecution. You know? If no one's talking trash about me and everyone's speaking highly of me and no one's threatening me, then there's a problem. I'm not doing something right. You get what I'm saying? And that's not for me. That's for you. That's for our church. We ought to seek to live a godly life to please the Lord, but the byproduct of that is going to be what? We're going to get persecuted. And that doesn't mean they're going to come in, you know, that people are going to persecute us day in and day out, but you should be receiving some sort of persecution. Not for your foolishness. Not because you opened your mouth when you weren't supposed to. Not because you're arrogant. No, because you're living a godly life. Okay? Where do I have you turn? Daniel chapter number 3, verse 15, the Bible says here, And said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king, but if not, I like that. There's some doubt, right? He's like, God can do it! But you know what? Just in case he doesn't. Because I know it's a possibility that he might not. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. That's called integrity. You get what I'm saying? They were like, you know what? Our God can deliver us from this. But just in case he doesn't, I'm still not bound down. And that's the kind of attitude that we need to have when taking a biblical stand for God. So you know what? Yeah, but you guys believe wrong and all these things. It's just like, you know what? That's fine. You want to ostracize me? You want to separate from me? You want to criticize us? You want to do this? That's fine. God is able to deliver us. But if not, we're still not going to bow down to these false doctrines. We're still not going to accept the homos. Yeah, but what if your church doesn't grow past 10? Okay. But if not, we're still not bound down. So sorry. No, but that shows that you guys were wrong, and it shows that the pre-tribulation is right, and it shows that the Jews are God's chosen people. No, it doesn't. It just shows that there's 10 people in the church. Okay? And if it doesn't grow past what we have right now, we're still not bound down. You give me one member, my wife, and my son, three. And I got another one on the way, four. And if I only had four in this church, if it was only you that stuck around, it doesn't mean we're wrong. Yeah, right. Okay? And we're still not going to bow down to the false doctrines. There's a lot of pressure, right, that people give. You know, I forgot the pastor's name. He was, what was the pastor who was interviewed with me? Someone refresh my memory. Boyle. Boyle. Pastor Boyle. I mean, you've heard his testimony where he was talking about like, you know, his wife was in the hospital, and they're like, see what happens, you know, because you believe. That's wicked. Yeah, right? But Job's friend's coming, see what happens when you're not, you know, you're not believing right, your wife's in the hospital. You know what, basically, he did, he goes, I don't think I'm wrong. But if I am, I'm still not bound down. And he had integrity. And we need Christians who are willing to just have the integrity to not bow down to no matter what happens, you say, but my tia, and I love my tia, or my uncle, or whatever may be, my family, I don't want to disassociate, look, give it, just be willing to give it all up. Just be willing to give it all up. It's worth it, okay? I like the attitude these guys had. They said, look, man, I mean, a burning fiery furnace doesn't sound very appealing. I mean, put yourself in their shoes. They got thrown in there, still. So imagine as they're going in, they're probably thinking, well, I guess, I guess God's not going to deliver us, you know? Oh, well, you know, here we go. And they get thrown in, you know? What if he was like, okay, never mind, you know, it was like, they could have, but they didn't. And we need Christians with integrity to say, yeah, if you don't shut up, we'll kill you. Go for it. And here's the thing, the most intimidating thing for the world to see is a Christian who's just not afraid to die. Because what do you take away from them if they're not afraid to die? What do you do to someone who's not afraid to give up their life, who doesn't count their life dear unto them? What do you do to them? But see, someone who holds their life precious, there's a lot you can take away from them. You know, I love my wife, I love my son, I love the church, and to a certain extent, I do love my life. But you know what? If you take it, then so be it, you know? And what do you do to someone like that? And here's the thing is, that's what these guys did. I mean, burning, you guys, who's ever been burned? I'm talking about physically, right? I mean, it hurts. You know, being burned, even for a split second, it hurts, right? It probably, that's probably not the best death to be burned alive. What integrity these guys had to be willing to say, go for it, bind me up. You know, as he's getting bound up, he's like, okay, God, how about now, you know? As they're walking over there, it's like, it's getting hot, you know? They're turning it up even hotter, and then boom, they get thrown in. But they didn't renounce anything. You know, in the years to come, I mean, obviously, our church is only two months old, right? We have many more years to go, and there's a lot of stuff that's going to happen within the next two years. There's a lot of stuff that's going to happen within the next five years, and 10 years, and 20 years, and until the Lord comes back, obviously, we know these things, and we just need to have said in our hearts, I'm not going to bow down to any of the images. I'm not going to bow down to the doctrines. I'm just going to stick it out, you know? And maybe some of you have already received some persecution from your old church or your family or whoever it may be for the stand that you take. And maybe some of you haven't yet, you know? Your closet, post-tribber, you know, your closet replacement, your closet, whatever. You know what? Just lay it out on the table and draw a bow out of venture. I'm not saying, don't be a jerk, okay? Don't be a jerk and say, yeah, I'm post-trib and what? Yeah, I don't believe the Jews are God's chosen people, you know? Don't do that. Be kind and say, yeah, I mean, that's what I believe, you know? With meekness. And if they ostracize you, they do whatever, then, I mean, don't worry, you know? You got your family right here. You got your new friends right here, okay? But we need to take a risk of taking a biblical stand for God. Go to Psalm 16. I'm going to read to you from Psalm 62, 6, it's basically the same thing, but it says, He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved. The Bible says in Psalm 16, in verse number 8, I have set the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. And by the way, that's the equation. How do we not be moved? We have to have the Lord always before us. We have to constantly be reading the Word of God. We have to constantly be praying. And let me emphasize this matter of prayer for a moment. Because often what Christians are guilty of is reading the Word of God a lot, but they don't do a lot of praying. Well, just let me tell you that the Bible that you're reading says you have to pray without ceasing, okay? And the Bible teaches a whole lot about prayer. It teaches us how we need to be in communion with God. And prayer is when we exercise faith. We're asking God to help us. We're asking God that we need Him, His protection, His provisions. We need God. I mean, did you pray today at all? Throughout today at all? You know, yeah. I mean, I read my Bible. No, I'm not talking about reading your Bible. I'm pretty sure people read their Bibles today. I'm talking about prayer. And often prayer is the most neglected spiritual discipline in the Christian life. Not just Bible. I'm talking about prayer. Because there's a difference between disciplining yourself to get the book, read it, and actually pouring out your heart to the Lord, asking Him for help. And better yet, asking God to bless others. You know, when's the last time you prayed for someone to be saved in your family? What about that person that in your family that you've been struggling with witnessing to? Or they've been struggling to understand the Gospel. Have you prayed for them? When's the last time you spent some time in prayer asking the Lord to help them open their hearts to the Lord? To the Gospel? When's the last time you prayed for your church? Prayed for the members? You know, there's people in here that probably have problems. Get that? You know, it's not like everyone, everything's all hunky-dory for everyone. You guys understand that? You know, you're like, well, I'm fine. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. But not everyone's fine. There's people that struggle. I'm sure there's someone in here who's discouraged. You know? And often, maybe there's even people here who want to throw in the towel. How about praying for them? You know? How about having a spiritual eye to view someone and say, man, I need to pray for this person. I was thinking about this person. I'm going to pray for them. Having a prayer life. That's often the most neglected aspect of the Christian life. Not just Bible reading. I'm talking about prayer. Spending genuine time in prayer. And maybe we just need to teach on prayer. Because some people just, I've heard people tell me, say, I don't know how to pray. I know how to read the Bible. I don't know how to pray. They don't know how to talk to God. And if you don't know how to, I mean, if you're not praying, how are you getting things from God? Right? Because prayer means what? Asking. So how do we get things from God? And are you really dependent on God if you're not praying? You know, because we have to depend on God for everything. I'm not talking about praying for the things that God has already told us to do. God, I need to pray whether I should go to church tonight. Help me decide whether this is something that I should do. You know? Show me a sign. You know? A fleece. You know? The sundial. Something. Tell me, should I go to church today? God's already told you to do that. I'm talking about the things, the gray areas of specific things that maybe God has not mentioned. Obviously, God says He'll provide for our needs, but the Bible does say we need to pray for our needs as well. You see what I'm saying? And look, if you're married, you ought to pray with your spouse. You ought to pray with your spouse. I don't know if that's a big shocker. Okay? The Bible teaches us you need to pray with your wife. You need to pray with your husband. Why? Because you get more answers to prayer when you pray with your spouse. And look, if you, especially as a husband, you know, if we're going to lead our family spiritually, we need to take the spiritual reins and say, hey, we're going to pray. We need to pray about this situation. You know, a need arises, a need comes up. What do you do? Do you just say, well, I'm just going to handle this myself. I'm going to take care of it. You're going to say, well, we need to take it to the Lord in prayer. We need to depend on God. You know, if your wife has a hard time respecting you because of your spiritual level, it's maybe because you're not exercising enough spiritual disciplines in your life. Your wife needs to see you reading the Bible, needs to see you praying, needs to see you speaking spiritually in order for her to respect you. You know what I'm saying? So we need to have this matter of prayer life down in our lives. And look, maybe you're just like, yeah, but I'm not sure how to pray. Figure it out. It's not hard. It's talking. I mean, you guys talk to each other before and after service. It's a little, the only difference is you're talking to God. And you're asking God for things. Okay. And look, prayer is actually an enjoyable discipline to have because you talk to God and you're just talking to him. You know, you're telling him about your issues. You're asking for petitions. And it's actually, that's why the song, the sweet hour of prayer, it's sweet. And you actually, and look, here's the thing that I tell people when they tell me they're afraid. Like, I'm fearful. I'm fearful. I tell them, you need to pray. Because often what the Bible says, be careful for nothing but in all things by what? Prayer and supplication. Let your requests be made known unto God. And then it says this, and the peace of God, the past with understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. You know why you're so anxious all the times? Because you don't pray enough. Bible says, be careful for nothing. Look at these guys, they say, we're not careful to answer thee. When you're careful, it means you're anxious, it means you have anxiety, it means you're not depending on God. You need to pray. Okay. Where do I have your turn? Do we already read it? Okay. Go to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter number six. By the way, prayer is not weakness. I'm going to read my Bible. Good. Read it. But you know, even when you read your Bible, you should be praying. Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Lord, give me understanding of these things that I'm reading because I don't understand them. No, I'm going to buckle down and I'm going to read it, I'm going to memorize it. Why don't you just pray that God just reveals to you the truth found within the word of God. Amen. And by the way, look, I believe that you ought to read the Bible to get the information found within the word of God. I grew up spiritually, too many people telling me, read the Bible for inspiration, not information. Be inspired by the word of God. And I'm not saying the Bible can't inspire you, but here's the thing, often all we do is read the Bible for information. You know what the Bible says? This is the perfect law of liberty. And often when we look at the Bible, it tells us the areas that we need to fix. You understand that? Because there's, I don't know if you noticed, but you're not perfect. Okay, does that come as a surprise to anybody? They're all, what? Don't nudge your husband, right? No, we're not perfect. So daily, the Bible says we need to be conformed to the image of Christ. Well, how's that? You conform to the image of Christ when you read the word of God. And when you read the Bible, you say, man, I need a change in this area, I need help in this area. Lord, help me. Read the word of God. Yes. Learn doctrine. Yes. Get the information. But guess what? You need to evaluate yourself according to the word of God as well. You need to allow yourself to be filtered through the word of God. Read the Bible and say, this is something that I need to apply to my personal life. I need to get rid of the sin, or I need to work on this area of character. I need to love my wife more. I need to respect my husband. I need to be a better soul winner. I need to be more holy in my conversation. I need to work on my speech. I need to work on my conduct, on my work ethic, whatever it may be. But allow the word of God to teach you. Ephesians chapter number 6 verse 11 says, put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. God says that we need to take a biblical stand. That's a command of God. He says you need to stand. You know one of the hardest things when I used to kick box was, it was when you're tired and you're getting just whooped. You start doing the wobbly thing, you know? Especially if you get knocked really hard, okay? I've been knocked out before, I'll admit it. I got knocked out super bad. I remember one time this guy, he came up, we're sparring, this guy spars hard, and he gave me a right kick to the leg, which I blocked, but he came in at the same time with the cross. Hit me dead center in the chin. I was out. When people say you see stars when you get hit, they're not exaggerating, okay? You see stars. And I woke up on the ground, and he stood over me and said, glass chin, huh? I mean, not hey, you okay, you know, hey, can I help you up? No, he said glass chin, huh? You know? And one of the hardest things to do when you're fighting is just to like stand when you're tired, right, when you're getting beat up and pummeled, but the Bible says here that when we have the armor of God, that's what we need to stand, right? To take a biblical stand, to take a stand in your personal family, in your personal life, that's what you need to do. You need to put on the whole armor of God so you may be able to withstand. By the way, the Bible says against the evil day. There's evil days coming ahead, and look, the time to prepare for the evil day is not during the evil day. You know what I mean? The time to prepare for the fight is not on the day of the fight. You need to prepare for that today. Get your spiritual disciplines down today. Learn how to read the word of God today. Learn how to pray today. Learn how to pray for needs today when you really don't have any needs. You get what I'm saying? You know what you need to do? And look, you say, well, I'm fine, I'm working, I have a full-time job, I'm putting food on the table. You need to keep praying that God will give you that ability to do that. Because here's the thing, it's easy when the checks are coming in, right? We're not worried about anything, to not pray. Right? He's like, what do I need to pray for? I got food on the table. Well, you need to pray that it stays that way. You need to pray that God continues to give you the strength to do, to provide for your family, to have good health. You say, well, why should I pray about my health? I'm fine. Yeah, that's when you need to pray that God keeps you healthy, to live longer, to serve Him. That's the important aspect of it right there. Praying for things when you don't necessarily have the needs at the moment. Because look, a lot of Christians, they do the 9-1-1 thing, right? Right when they're pinned in a hard, it's like, that's when they start fasting. You know, that's when they start praying. Oh, God, help me. It's like, where were you throughout the last couple of months when everything was hunky-dory? You know? No, better to pray during those times that everything's fine, then when the trials come, it's like, I have confidence that I have the ear of God listening to me right now. Because I've had the discipline of prayer. Okay? I know God is listening to me right now. And you can have confidence that God is going to answer your prayers. Go to Acts chapter number 4. Actually, skip that, go to 2 Kings chapter 13, I'm almost out of time. But draw a bow at adventure. Take risks for God, and that could be applicable in any area of your Christian life, right? You know, for the dad it might be, man, I'm afraid to just really go all in for the Lord. Because I just don't know what might happen. I remember thinking to myself as a single, I'm like, man, I'm kind of afraid to go all in for God because I'm not even married yet. You know? And then when I got married, it was just like, man, I'm afraid to go all in now because I have a wife and son. We always have an excuse why not to go all in. There's always a reason why. You know the best time to go all in for God is where you're at right now. As a single, as a married person, with no children, with children, when you're dating, whatever it may be, now's the time. Don't put it off till next year. Don't put it off till next month. Why? Because you may not even have next month. You might not even have next year to be all in for God. And I met far too many Christians that wanted to give their lives over to the Lord and serve God with all their lives in their latter end. You know what? That never comes. Tomorrow never comes. That's what's important when you say, well, I'm going to read the Bible, but I'm going to start tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. You need to start today. Well, you know, I agree about that prayer thing, but we'll start tomorrow. Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night. We'll do that tomorrow. No, no, no. Start today. When you get in your car, just say, you know, let's pray. You know, let's pray that even when you're driving, you have to pray, right? I mean, there's accidents all the time. We have to get in our cars and say, Lord, please keep us safe as we go home. Because often what we do is we take safety for granted, don't we? We're going to church. You know, we just came back from church. We're going to go home. I'm going to go eat. I'm going to go watch Pastor Anderson. Everything's going to be okay. You can get t-boned tonight. And lights out. Everything's done. Better yet, why don't you just say, Lord, thank you for everything you've done. Help us to get home safely. You know, keep my wife and I safe. Keep our children safe. Thank you so much. In Jesus' name. Amen. You know, that's dependency right there. You know, and look, I've traveled the 710 and the 60 freeway for years. You know how many accidents I see on these freeways? Cars flipped over, you know, on fire. I mean, for years. Day in and day out we've seen accidents. It's just like, man, that could have been us. That could have been us. But you need to depend on the Lord. 2 Kings 13 verse 14 says, Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joaz the king of Israel came down unto him and wept over his face and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows, and he took unto him bow and arrows. And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it, and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrows of the Lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria, for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them. And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground, and he smote thrice, and stayed. That means he stopped. Then the man of God was wroth with them, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times, then hast thou smitten Syria, till thou hast consumed it, whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice. What a crazy story. What is he telling them? He should have just thought big for God is what he should have done. You know, often what we do, you know, the Bible says that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think. And sometimes we limit God. Right? Like, well, we're going to do this. It's just like, you need to think beyond that, because God is able to do greater works than that. Right? And here we see the story is just like, well, I guess I'll just, you know, I don't want to get too crazy. I'm trying to I'm trying to stay humble, you know, and he smote only three times and Elisha was wrong. He's like, man, you should have done more than that. He just wanted to do more with you. Use you even greater, but now you're only going to smite them three times. We as God's people need to realize that when we ask God for things, let's ask Him for the greatest things and the most things, spiritually speaking. I want to take over L.A. for Christ. Your church is too small. We'll do it. With God, we can do it. I think we can knock every single door in this area, every single door in Long Beach, every single door in Montebello, every single door in Monterey Park, every single door in Los Angeles, in Maywood, in Huntington Park, everywhere. It can be done. I believe we can see tens of thousands saved. Yay millions. Yeah, you're exaggerating. Yeah, you got small dreams and you move no man's soul. Small dreams move no man's soul. You got small goals. You're like the king who smote thrice. And by the way, you should have a personal goal in your personal life to see thousands saved. He said, well, I'm not that good of a soul-winner. Don't have small goals. You have a great God. And God has promised us that we can do greater works than Christ Himself. That's blasphemy. No, it's not. He promised it. Why? Because He only had three years. How many years do you have? He only had a three-year ministry. How many years you got? We can do greater works for God. We say, well, we're just a church plant and who knows what's going to happen. Small dreams move no man's soul. You got a small vision and that's why you're not going to go anywhere in life for God. No, you ought to have a big vision for God. Bigger than even yourself. Bigger than what even you're capable of doing. Hey, why don't you decide to learn the language? I don't know if I can learn Spanish. Why? Is it really that hard? You can order meals at Pollo Loco, right? I mean, you're in Los Angeles. People speak Spanish everywhere here. And Spanish uses the alphabet, the we, they use an English language. It's possible. Okay? Look, how many of you have ever been to the swap meet? I know you've been to the swap meet. How many of you have ever seen the Chinese people at the swap meet? Un dolor, un dolor, un dolor, un dolor, que pasó amigo, venga amigo. Speak in perfect Spanish. If that dude can do it, and he's not even saved, you can do it. Don't give me that. Now, that's a challenge to me to learn Chinese, because if that guy can learn my language, I need to learn his language. All right? Why don't you have a goal to learn it? I just don't think, you know, I'm not that smart. Who said you needed to be smart anyways? You just need to be disciplined. You have a great vision. Look, don't say, I'm going to learn Spanish by next week. That's an unrealistic goal. Okay? But why don't you say, within the next five years, that's too long, five, yeah, five years. Say within the next five years, I want to be just fluent in Spanish. I want to work at it, and I want to be fluent to be able to reach more people for Christ in Spanish. And look, you want some rewards here in Los Angeles, you need to learn Spanish. Forty to fifty percent of the people that I lead to the Lord are in Spanish, okay? That's where the, forty to, let me rephrase that. Forty to fifty percent of the rewards that I'm going to get is because I preached the gospel in Spanish. That's how it works. And don't be the kind of Christian who's like, yeah, but not me. Yeah, yeah, not you. That's how it's going to stay. Okay? You need to have, draw a bow at adventure. And look, again, don't have an unrealistic goal to do it by tomorrow, but have a realistic goal to learn some, to get a program. Do whatever you got to do to learn it. And don't try to just jump into preaching the gospel right away. Because here's the thing, if you don't know Spanish, more than likely you don't know how to preach the gospel very well. And Hispanic people are very courteous. Let me just teach you something. They're very courteous to listen to you. Okay? You need to learn it fluently in order to preach the gospel. Because here's the thing, they'll respond to you if you don't know what they're saying, you can't really read if they're understanding what you're saying or not. Okay? You need to learn how the language fluently in order to preach the gospel confidently, effectively, and thoroughly. Look, I know a couple phrases in Chinese, but that don't mean I can preach the gospel in Chinese. Okay? And I'm not going to fool myself to think, well, if I just learn this in Chinese, I won't be able to do it. No, it's not going to happen. But you know what? Give me a couple years. I believe I can. I think I can. You, but you're Guatemalan. Yeah. That's fine. I mean, is there like a restriction that Guatemalans can't learn Chinese? Right? I don't think so. You need to have big goals. Okay? And don't be like this king where it's just like, yeah, but you know, I think, you know, 30 souls in my lifetime. I think that'd be good. You know, three souls, you know, this year should be good, right? Three souls. You know? No, that's, that's weak. You know? I like Mrs. Francescini, where I was talking to her and she, you know, she didn't want to set up, we were talking about her situation with church and, you know, the church she came from and all these things and she was like, she goes, yeah, I was listening to that pastor. He's weak sauce. You know? I want something better. You know? You know, often we settle for less. We settle for less. Let's not settle for less. Let's settle for God's best. You know? And he has so much more to offer us. If we're willing to just give it all up, Lord, just use me. I'll discipline myself. I'll do whatever it takes to have the best that you have to offer. What else? I'm out of time. Let me say this. Lastly here, I'm skipping a lot of notes, lots and lots of notes. So what does it take to be that kind of man who draws a bow at a venture? Well, this guy, he was a specific man because the Bible says that a certain man drew a bow at a venture. So this wasn't a guy who wasn't just like, he didn't know what to do. You know? He was in the war. He obviously had a bow and arrow. He knew how to use it. He drew it and he just shot. So I'm not saying, you know, you just some regular Joe Schmoe, don't do nothing. God can't use a lazy person, is what I'm saying. And look, learn Spanish. You know who's going to learn Spanish to preach the gospel in Spanish is that person who's working at it. That's the one who God's going to give the ability to do it. He's working at it. She's working at it. She's trying her best. He's trying his best. And guess what? God will enable that person to learn that language so they can preach the gospel. You know? But it was a certain person. I mean, it wasn't just like some regular Joe Schmoe. No, this person obviously was in the war. He had some skill. He knew how to use that weapon. And look, the Bible says in Ezekiel 22, 30, and I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy, but I found none. You know, that's the worst thing that could ever happen is for God to look down at FWBCLA and say, I'm looking for a man, but I'm not finding any over there. You know, I don't think that'll ever happen here, okay? But think about it. You know, will God count you as where he's like, well, this guy's been working at it. You know? This guy's been doing his best. He's memorizing scripture. He's trying to learn the language. I'm going to enable him to do that, okay? And then lastly, simply, he just took the risk. When you're ready, when you have disciplined yourself, you got the skills needed, now just take the risk. Just do what you got to do to do something great for God. Amen? Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you, Lord, for the men in the Bible who've taken risks. We're thankful for this unnamed man who inspired me. I mean, the risk that he took is something that I can apply in my personal life in many areas, and I just pray that you'd help us as a people here at this church to be risk takers, to do something great for you, to attempt something great. Not to settle for less, but to strive to have your best. And I pray that, Lord, you would help us to do so, and we know that we won't be disappointed, we won't be ashamed, we won't be let down, and we know that you can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.