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the marks of the Lord Jesus the title of my sermon this morning is battle scars battle scars let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you so much for this wonderful day how beautiful it is outside just pray that you would bless the services this morning I pray Lord that people would take this message to heart I pray you fill me with your spirit and boldness and the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus name I pray amen all right so battle scars is the title of the sermon and I got that from verse 17 it says I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus and if anybody in here knows anything about the Apostle Paul the Apostle Paul went through a lot of problems didn't he he actually did probably have literal scars on his body because of all the things and persecutions that he had to go through and so you could probably look at the Apostle Paul and he probably didn't look like the prettiest guy on the on the planet did he and so because and I'll show you kind of what Paul he kind of goes through a list of things that happened to him and he he basically just breaks down basically all the scars that he endured and what if you looked at the Apostle Paul you would see these marks it says he I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus now marks would be like scars right so that's why I titled battle scars because every single person this room probably has a battle or not a battle scar but like a scar of some kind who here has a scar on their body I got a ringing coming through this can you guys mess with the volume here okay that sounds better all right so who in here has a scar that they have from something maybe it was something dumb you did when you're a kid or just you fell off your skateboard okay yeah so everybody in here probably has some kind of scar and if you don't you're probably gonna get one someday now scars can come from a lot of different things it can be just simply living life because we live in a fallen world and you know we as fallen people we do dumb things or we you know maybe just something happens it's an accident you know and and we get a scar from that so my purse so the Apostle Paul like I said I'm gonna go through a list of the things that were scars on his life and look some people have more than just outward appearance scars or marks on their body that you can see as a scar but some people have mental scars don't they some people go through trials and tribulations or just even everyday life can give you some kind of a scar and people that have problems emotional problems and things like that or you know they've had some kind of scarring maybe it was from their upbringing maybe some terrible things happen to them but everybody every one of us has scars in our lives but what I want to talk about mainly today is spiritual scars that you get but those spiritual scars well spiritual and physical scars that you can get from the Christian life now so I just want to list my personal accumulated scars and none of them came from soul I did blow my knee out playing the indoor soccer as a church leader one time but that's about the extent of my my war wounds from church but you know back in the days of the Apostles they were getting beaten they were getting chased and the Apostle Paul probably had you know a lot of scars but I'll just give you my accumulation these are the ones I could think of all right so I have on my right arm a scar right here from a football helmet in a tackling drill just the the side of the helmet just ripped my arm open and probably should have had stitches but it's not that bad of a scar but it's just a scar so I have on my left thigh and my back some scars from a motorcycle accident and one of them you know and a lot of us you'll remember the scars that you have and what happened in that particular moment like I remember the motorcycle accident I got hit by a 66 Dodge Dart I flew through the air for like 30 feet and then my friend landed on top of me I was driving around and so he broke his leg so he got away worse he broke his femur like where the car hit it hit right on his leg but I had road rash over 90% of my back anybody ever had road rash before well when I got to the hospital they gave me a morphine shot for pain and that did not help you know very much because then take a toothbrush and and like get all the gravel out of like some of the wounds like there's like there's still gravel indented in my back so there's like little you can see the spots where the gravel is still there but she literally had to take a toothbrush and I don't know if it was a soft one or not it didn't feel like a soft one I felt like a hard one but I'll remember that for the rest of my life let's see I hit my head on a bucket in the backseat of my dad's station wagon when I was two and I have like it looks like a chicken attacked me or something but it was actually from a bucket probably should have had stitches on that one too bottom of my right foot I stepped on a you know those diecast toy airplanes you know what I'm talking about well somehow I stepped on it and the wing went right into the bottom of my foot and so I went in about that that deep into the bottom of my foot and I was like I don't know maybe nine years old when that happened but yeah that one hurt but you can't see that scar because I'm not gonna show you the bottom of my feet but anyway I got one and then I got a rut my right knee was cut when I was like sliding down this hill one time I had wrist surgery so I have a little scar on this wrist here had surgery I'm I had a hernia surgery so I mean I just got I got scars and accumulation of 46 years I have some scars and I'm probably forgetting some of them but you get the point is it throughout our life we're gonna have physical scars that happen to us but in the Christian life that can also happen too because persecution is a real thing and right now in America we're not being attacked and churches aren't being burned but in Canada they are there and there's other countries where Christians are killed for their faith and in some day the devil is gonna be able to you know how overcome the Saints you know before during the tribulation time Christians will be killed during that time and it could happen before that here I mean they're already you know things have already ramped up we had a guy in our church get attacked so any one time we've gotten threatened out solely multiple times so I mean it just it's it's gonna it could happen in our lifetime you know things could just things have gotten pretty ugly in the last couple years here I mean we're basically the United States is basically a communist dictatorship right now isn't it I'm not trying to get all political here but the politics that are ruling this nation right now are telling us that we have to get some jab mandated this COVID vaccine or you're gonna lose your job you know most of the people that feel that way a lot of the people have a Christian reason for doing that some people just don't like the fact that there's an experimental you know shot that they haven't even totally proven yet that people are getting sick from that people have died from and so it's like basically you're playing Russian roulette with your own body and they're they're telling you you have to do this you know whatever happened to my body my choice I mean that just goes out the window when the dictators of this country want to tell us what to do it's wicked but we're gonna experience scars over our lifetime and scars that people can't even see some people just have you know issues because of the things and the trauma that they've gone through you know in their soul in their mind and so as Christians we need to realize that getting scarred up in the Christian life is something that we're gonna have to face and we'd like to say hey we don't want to deal with this persecution we don't want to deal with hard times we don't want to have these battle scars in our lives but you know Jesus Christ has some battle scars didn't he he's our leader he's the one we're supposed to follow and I'm not saying that we should just go out intentionally and trying to get these scars and try to get people to kill us or whatever but people are gonna hate us whether we like it or not why because they hated Jesus Christ didn't they and so if he if they hated Jesus Christ they're gonna hate his followers too let's turn to Genesis chapter 32 though I want to show you an example of a great man of God Jacob and he wrestled with the angel of the Lord who I believe was the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ look at Genesis chapter 32 24 we can get scars from serving the Lord but what happens in Genesis chapter 32 verse 24 says Jacob and Jacob was left alone and there he wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day and when he saw that he prevailed not against him he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him so I mean this is what guys do right you get in wrestling matches sometimes and you know it's a manly thing to do but he's wrestling with who I believe like I said is the Lord Jesus Christ pre-incarnate it says is the angel of the Lord but so his his hollow his it's basically the first MMA match the first jiu-jitsu match or something so Jesus applied the submission hold popped his popped his hip out of socket and there we have it the first recorded MMA match you know there was no strikes being thrown maybe it was just I just said they were wrestling but you know in wrestling you don't usually apply a submission hold that pops someone's bones out of joint anyway well there was 26 it says and he said let me go for the day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go except thou bless me and he said unto him what is thy name and he said Jacob and he said thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed and Jacob asked him and said tell me I pray thee thy name and he said wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name and he blessed him there and Jacob called the name of the place peniel for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved so that's why I think it was Jesus because no man can see the face of the Father and live but Jesus Christ the Son people did see his face and live right it says and as he passed over peniel the Son rose upon him and what to say he halted upon his thigh so this is a battle you know he's battling with the Lord so to speak he's doing something great for God he's wrestling until he gets a blessing but sometimes when we are going out to do the Lord's work we might get some kind of an injury that halts us he halted upon his thigh and it says therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank so this this wrestling match that he got in with the Lord permanently damaged him and so he walked around so when it says halted upon his thigh it means that he was limping so Jacob you know had this injury from wrestling and and obviously Jacob was trying to do a great thing wasn't he he's trying to get a blessing from God so and and we can get you know you hear the term PTSD and I don't want to throw around this lightly but you know because soldiers really do get post-traumatic stress disorder they come back from war and they have problems and issues because of the horrible things that they've done and seen or you know witnessed so you know you can get post-traumatic stress disorder it's a real thing but here's the thing you can get that as a spiritual Christian you can get PTSD Christianity you can get spiritual PTSD you know I was just thinking about how everything Paul went through so he's going to all these new places that nobody's ever preached the gospel before I mean do you think he might have had a little bit of like you know I don't know about this town I mean after going through what he went through I'm sure he felt that way sometimes everybody feels fear at some point if you're going into like a super ghetto neighborhood to go soul-winning there there is probably a little bit of a fear before you do something like that like the Compton soul-winning marathon but you know when we go out during the day this is a good point you know we go out and we preach the gospel during the day we probably wouldn't want to go to Compton and go soul-winning at night though would we because you know that's the time when you know when darkness falls that's when a lot of dark things start to happen but spiritual PTSD is a reality and it can be from physical and internal scars that you suffer in the Christian life now I'll just give you a couple PTSD of just normal life that I went through my wrestling PTSD so unlike G I wasn't as good a wrestler as Jacob was what my first my freshman year I went out for wrestling and I didn't know anything about it like I had zero experience and the guy that I faced was a state champion okay and wrestling isn't exactly a sport that you want to wrestle against the state champion if you've never wrestled in your life you have no moves I was in it for a week I went to the first match and this guy just creamed me he smashed my face into the mat gave me a really bad bloody nose and the referees like are you ready to continue it was like yeah those before AIDS was a big thing or whatever but my blood all over me excuse me blood all over me from my nose being smashed into the mat and right away like when you when you someone's a wrestler they have a core strength that most people don't have and so obviously I wasn't wrestling my whole life I didn't have this strength that this guy had when you're wrestling you get like chimpanzee strength you can grab a hold of people and just you know there it's just it's a different sport and you have to be trained and knowledgeable in order to do it and I wasn't and so I got destroyed and at one point I just let him pin me I mean I was just like take me out I'm done so well this will say I didn't wrestle again after that I got PTSD from him so but do you think that was wise for my coach to just put me into that situation where I'm wrestling a state champion maybe he was trying to get me to quit I don't know but it worked when I another one was baseball I had never played baseball again after the season where I got smashed in the face trying out for first I was trying out for first base I was in third grade or second grade going I think I was in second grade but the the town I lived in was a small town and everybody they had different age groups you know obviously you go majors and there's minors majors and all that well I went straight from t-ball to majors and so that's not a jump that you should make it's kind of like the wrestling thing you know I went from hitting a ball off of a tee to fast balls being thrown at me you know the next time I played so everybody was trying out for first base and the coaches is hitting dingers out to us right and I went to catch the ball and the ball went right past the front of my glove and hit me right now right in the nose and right in the eyeball and it was like one of the last days of school I think when that happened and maybe it was I think it was in spring actually but anyway I had I had the stitch marks from that ball on my face for a long time it blackened both my eyes so I looked like Rocky the raccoon and from that time on I was afraid of the ball I'll admit it I had PTSD like they even tried to put like try to do all these techniques to make sure that you know I could get in there and and do it again but a lot of that happens to people you know I know people that were you know I've heard I've heard people that were college baseball players went all the way up took and played college baseball and then they played softball and they got smashed in the face with a softball and they never played again after that because they were afraid of the ball so and softballs aren't soft in case you've ever played they're not really soft they're just big giant hard balls is what they really are and so when you get hit in the face with one of those you know from an aluminum bat or something it's gonna leave a mark it's gonna leave some and it's gonna give you PTSD so it's just a couple things that I could think of that I was like yeah I don't want no more of this but number one you know and this is kind of introduction but number one today you know all great churches if they're doing right will experience multiple battles and so this church is not you know above that I mean well I think our church is a great church and I think that we are doing right and I think we're doing great works here but when you have a church that's doing great works and doing great things for God you're gonna get into some battles it's gonna happen you know and sometimes we get a little battle weary and a little bit of spiritual PTSD because of some of the trials and battles that we go through look at Acts chapter 8 verse 3 see the church the church the early church was huge but God said for all those guys to go out and preach the gospel to every creature go out and preach the gospel to the nations around them but they were just kind of sitting there in Jerusalem and not going out like they were supposed to and so this persecution happens and and one of them is Saul Saul is the one that actually had this big persecution going on and before he became Paul it says in Acts 8 3 it says as for Saul he made havoc of the church entering into every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison what was their crime being a Christian what was their crime believing on the Lord Jesus Christ so why did Paul do that well he was ignorant he was ignorant of the truth and he's actually the biggest persecutor at that time of the church when obviously you know that changed but to create havoc is to lay waste or to devastate so Paul before he was Paul he was Saul and he was laying waste to the church he was getting people to recant their faith he was kind of like a Roman Inquisition guy or something he was like you know hurting people and you know he sat there and held everybody's coats while Stephen was stoned to death I mean he wasn't a good guy at this time but the Bible says that he did it ignorantly and in unbelief and that's why God had mercy on him but God also chose him and he said he's gonna show what great things he must suffer for his namesake and so the Apostle Paul started out as a major persecutor of the church but then you know God did show what great things he had to suffer for his namesake but Paul just went through and you know what he finished the race he finished his course but you know a lot of people you know when they're going through trials and tribulations and or when their church is being attacked by people you know people are just attacking even people in our church and this happens you know people these people that like to make videos they'll take videos of our other people in our church and put that stuff online and just do all kinds of weird stuff they want to these there's people that hate us they hate our church and they want it to be destroyed and we have to understand that you know we might get some scars we might get some spiritual PTSD because of what we're going through but you know it's not like no other Christian has had to go through this before it's not like we're the first ones you know and it might seem like well why are all the wire why is our church always getting harassed why is our church always getting persecuted why is our church hated so much well because we're trying to do the things that God wants us to do that's why we have a big target on the back of this church and if you go to this church you've been you've been through some battles if you've been here for a long time you've been through battles and you know what I'm talking about but don't get spiritual PTSD from that you know we just need to hunker down and we need to you know let God be our fortress let's fall on you know under the shadow of his wings let him be our buckler let him be our shield because the things that these wicked people want to do to our church you know they're gonna come to naught but so but what's the devil want to do he wants to attack he wants to sew wolves in amongst the sheep and he wants those sheep to drag or to be dragged out by the wolves and sometimes when a wolf and sheep's clothing is revealed they drag good people out with them I think Remy made this point about when leaven leaves the church you know the leaven is the bad thing you're supposed to remove from the church but with that leaven you're pulling some good dough out with it and that does happen you know some people just can't handle the battles or they they lose sight or lose track of what's really going on and what's important and we have to understand that all great churches if they're doing right will experience multiple battles and our churches is is one of those churches that is going to experience battles number two all pastors and leaders getting the work done will get persecuted and falsely accused again number two all pastors and church leaders getting the work done will get persecuted and falsely accused let's look at 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verse 9 1st Corinthians chapter 16 verse number 9 the Bible says for a great door and effectual is open unto me and there are many adversaries see the Apostle Paul he had great doors open to him he did great works for God he went all over planting churches and you know teaching the disciples fulfilling the Great Commission making sure that people got baptized all that stuff but with the open door that we have we also have many adversaries as I say a few no it says we have many adversaries so this is something that we got to get used to is having many adversaries and your pastor having many adversaries church leaders evangelists Paul was an evangelist he was an apostle but would you say he had a lot of adversaries he literally had people stalking him from town to town trying to kill him he had people that took oaths and saying we're not going to eat or drink anything until the Apostle Paul is dead so there's people out there that will stop at nothing to try to destroy this church and to destroy the pastor and that's the way it's going to be at any church that's doing great things that's getting the work done look at Luke chapter 6 verse 21 Luke chapter 6 verse 21 it says blessed are ye that hunger now for ye shall be filled blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh some of the things that we go through in the Christian life you know it makes us want to cry it makes us want to weep but there's gonna be a day when we're gonna be laughing you know God laughs in the Bible you know and he laughs at the wicked when they try to do all these all these things because you know you know contrary to what some people believe God and the devil are not equals God is way God made the devil and so they're nowhere near equal and so these wicked imaginations that people have against our church and against your pastor and against you personally as a Christian they're gonna come to not look at what it says in verse 22 blessed are ye when men shall hate you it doesn't say if men shall hate you it says when men shall hate you see if you're a Christian today men will hate you there's people out there that will hate you why because you believe in Christ because you're saved because you're doing mighty and wonderful works for God it says and when they shall separate from your from their separate you from their company there's gonna be people that don't want to have anything to do with you they're gonna hate you and it says and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil it says for the Son of Man's sake see it's for Jesus sake that people hate us the reason why people would separate from our company that's why family members will discard you and not want to have anything to do with you people that raised you people that fed you milk people that you grew up in their house will separate you from their company and it says and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of Man's sake rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your ward is great in heaven for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets so see this is nothing new this has been going on for thousands of years anybody that wants to name the name of Christ any prophet in the in the past that worked for the Lord Jesus Christ that worked for God you know they did the same things to them that you see happening now when you see our church getting attacked when you see your pastor getting attacked when you're getting attacked and called all manner of evil things and people want to separate themselves from you just realize it's nothing new you're not experiencing anything that somebody else hasn't ever experienced you're experiencing probably less than what they experienced because there's a lot of places where they'll just straight-up kill you and that'll leave a scar right so let's look at 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and you know like it seems like no matter how much I preach about stuff like this that people just don't get the message it's like it just goes right over their head like why are we being attacked I don't know you must be doing something wrong no it sounds to be like we must be doing something right it says the Lord give mercy unto the house of one syphorus for he oft refreshed me and he was not ashamed of my chain you know there's people that just didn't want to be around Paul because he was in jail they acted like he was some kind of a reproach because he had was chained to a Roman soldier what was he chained to the Roman soldier for preaching the Word of God starting churches doing great works persecution is gonna come folks it says but when he was in Rome he sought me out very digit diligently and found me you know it's really what I what's really encouraging is when I'm going through a battle when someone seeks me out and says hey I'm praying for you hey what can I do to help you and those those are the people that I really appreciate because this says he sought me out very diligently like he went and found the Apostle Paul and tried to do anything he could to help him out a lot of times when you're going through battles it seems like you're alone it seems that way but like even when the Apostle Paul was going through a hard time it said no man stood with me but the Lord stood with me the Lord helped me the Lord comforted me so you know we shouldn't be ashamed don't you know don't be a shamed of me if I'm getting some kind of battle thrown my way you know don't just automatically jumped jump to conclusions because there's a lot of people out there they might seem like they're right they might sound really good but that's the fair speeches that these wolves like to give and to try to just persecute and and and come after you know pastors what why because if you take down the pastor you're harming the rest of the church because pastors are given to you as a gift just like an evangelist and look I'm not saying I'm like you know unwrap me here's your present okay just saying that God you know you know there's no bow on me okay I'll be a real ugly present but what I'm saying you know but God does give the positions of leadership as a gift to the congregation and and it's just like well you know if you can knock the pastor off then then you're gonna be able to destroy that church that's the ultimate goal isn't it we have a lot of enemies out there that just want to destroy this church and you know and they're in their way seemed like it was maybe righteous to some people at first but now look what these people are doing I mean it's it doesn't just stop with me folks doesn't just stop with me it start it's the whole thing is an agenda to pull the whole thing down to rip it down and to destroy it but some people just don't have eyes to see that they're just fooled by it every little thing over here that someone wants to put up and makes make it seem like things are happening that really aren't so I'll look at Proverbs chapter 26 verse 23 Proverbs chapter 26 verse 23 and these are there's the Bible talks a lot about what he's gonna do to wicked people and you know this stuff doesn't really get preached at a lot of churches because for some reason pastors just like to go away from anything that's negative in the Bible but know this that there are many adversaries if that's not really happening in your church then obviously the devil doesn't have a problem with you the devil doesn't have a problem with your church the devil doesn't have a problem with your pastor if you're doing nothing for God I mean that's what the Bible teaches folks if you have a great door and effects will open up to you we're doing great works we're going to different countries and preaching the gospel and setting up churches all over these places and when people you know they creep in unawares they they they pretend like they're one of us and like you know at the beginning it wasn't as bad but it's ramped up folks it's ramped up and it's like it's not the ones you you know we always think we can spot the heretic as they walk in the door well you know they're kind of you know we're a little bit goofy with some of their answers or whatever you know we just we need to watch that person it's like those aren't the people you need to worry about it's the ones that you don't detect it's the ones that you don't know and obviously we're not going around trying to heretic hunt in our church okay but you know they will come in Paul says he ceased not to warn them night and day of these grievous wolves would come in not sparing the flock look at Proverbs 26 verse 23 it says burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross he that hateth dissemblest with his lips and layeth up deceit within him when he speaketh fair believe him not it's talking about people that are wicked believe him not for there are set for seven abominations in his heart see people like to speak fairly these wolves and sheep's clothing and it seems like they're great people but the Bible says believe him not you know once you see that someone's wicked and then they're like oh I'm just doing this for you I'm doing this to try to help you you guys are in a cold let me help you out that's like no deceit is in their heart they have seven abominations in their heart and they want to rip you out of church that's what they want to do they want to get you to quit they want to get you to go to some lame-o Church that's not doing anything for God that's how the devil works he he walketh about like a lion seeking whom he may devour he said Jesus told Peter he wanted to the devil want to sift him like wheat you know what a sifting is that's when you're just making big things into little things he wants to do that the devil wants to sift you like wheat you know but Jesus said I have prayed for thee so and obviously we have a protector in the Lord Jesus Christ he's only gonna let so much happen to us but hey even if he did allow us to die you know we get a better resurrection for that it when we're persecuted when we take it like we were supposed to take it then we're gonna get rewarded for that great is our reward it says whose hatred is covered look at verse 26 it says whose hatred is covered by deceit see they cover up the hate that they have by deceiving his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation and we kind of seen that happen this weekend haven't we the wicked his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation who so dig at the pit shall fall therein and he that rolleth a stone it will return upon him you know what the the great advantage of you know there's people that are smarter than us and they're more resourceful than us and they devise all these wicked imaginations that they try to do to the church but the one thing that we got that they don't have we have God we have God to help us and so he's gonna make sure that they dig a pit for us to fall into they're gonna fall in it the blind are gonna lead the other blind and he the roll at the stone it'll return upon him they roll a stone to try to get it to fall on you or whatever God's gonna make sure that they get trapped into their own deceit their own hatred the Bible says a lying tongue in verse 28 hateth those that are afflicted by it think about that statement for a second a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it see these people like to afflict with their tongue and they hate you they don't love you they hate you if someone's premise is to start off with lying about everything they're not your friend they're trying to deceive you they don't love this church they don't love this pastor they don't love you it says in a flattery mouth worketh ruin so beware of people that flatter you flattery is like a really big indicator of what someone has inside their heart they're a wicked person now number three all good or bad Christians will go through major battles in their life and suffer scarring so we covered the church we covered the pastors or the leaders and now I'm just talking about Christians in general turn to John chapter 15 verse 18 John chapter 15 verse number 18 the Bible says in John 15 18 it says if the world hate you you know that it hated me before it hated you it's the Lord Jesus Christ talking if you have a red letter edition he's saying if the world hate you you know that it hated me before it hated you if you were of the world the world would love his own but because you're not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you once you get saved you know the world is going to hate you they're not going to agree with your doctrine they're not going to agree with your new politics which should be on the conservative side I'm not saying like be a Fox News Baptist or what is it Newsbreak or what's it called Newsmax yeah look I'm not promoting politics I'm just saying that once you get saved your politics do change as far as hey I used to believe it was a woman's right to choose and now I believe that killing a baby in the womb is murder and so those are the tickets that people like to run on in politics but you know Paulie means many and a tick is a blood-sucking creature so just remember that that you know politicians are blood-sucking creatures they really don't have your best interest at heart you know the you know where revival is gonna start in the church house you know where America is gonna get saved in the church house it's not gonna be the White House so look at verse 20 it says remember the word that I said unto you the servant is not greater than his Lord if they have persecuted me they will also persecute you if they have kept my saying they will keep yours also so hey the servant is not above his Lord did they persecute Jesus are you one of his disciples then guess what they're gonna persecute you too and if you're not getting persecuted then there's a problem in your Christianity or maybe your time has just not yet come because I think that God gives us things in waves now usually when you first go soul-wanting it's not as not so bad but every once in a while someone goes soul-wanting and it's like somebody cusses them out the first door or something you know I mean things like that happen but for the most part God lets you you know absorb things and levels it's just like you know new levels new devils new things happen in your life you're advancing in your Christian life and more trials are gonna come your way you know why is that happening well because you know you know maybe God's just trying to prove what kind of person you are but also it could be traps that are laid for you by the wicked to try to get you to leave church well I can't believe God will allow this to happen in my life well what happened in Jesus life he was falsely accused he was maligned he was lied about he was stalked at his every turn I mean they literally stopped he couldn't even go walk through the cities anymore because they were seeking to kill him wherever he went so he had to go on the outside and desert places and dwell there because he was so popular that people were thronging him and also because these bad guys were following him everywhere he went and trying to catch him in his words trying to catch him doing something that they didn't like you know he said he'd build you know he would destroy the temple and build it up in three days is that really true they accused them of all kinds of false things you know they accused them of breaking the Sabbath they accused them of you know not not eating with washed hands you know like that's just the crime of the century or something you know five-second rule whatever but you know we have to understand that we're not gonna escape persecution we're not gonna escape tribulation affliction that our lives are gonna be afflicted at some point and you know you're not gonna always be going through a storm God all God will give you relief but when you're going through a storm you who here's who you don't blame you don't blame God for going through your storm so God's gonna get you through the storm and he's with you maybe you don't see that because when you're going through something hard then you don't you don't always see things the way you should see them you don't always you know you don't always think about that you think why is this happening to me a lot of people feel that way and I understand that feeling because I felt it too it's like why is this happening but the Bible tells us why it happens it's very clear look at 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 10 we're gonna go through things that are gonna scar us in the Christian life we're gonna go through trials and tribulations and there could be literal physical scars from serving the Lord look at 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 10 it says but thou has fully known my doctrine manner of life purpose faith long-suffering charity patience about so Paul's telling Timothy hey you've seen you know I've showed you my doctor my doctrines right out in the open the way I live my life the purpose that I have the faith I have the long-suffering the charity the patience persecutions afflictions which came unto me at Antioch at Iconium and at Lystra what persecutions I endured but out of them all the Lord delivered me yeah and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution so if you're living godly in Christ Jesus what's the Bible say shall suffer persecution it's a fact folks it's going to happen and if it happens don't let that be a reason for you to just quit the Christian life people always want to blame God for the things that they're going through but it's the world that hates you because you're saved because you love Jesus because you've come out of the world and you're saying I'm not gonna be conformed to this world anymore I want to be different and once you start trying to be different then the sifter comes doesn't he and he wants to just sift you like wheat he wants to tear you apart like a the lion that he is the devil you know people will be like I really I'm gonna come to church this week you know people at the door will say hey I really want to come to church and you know it's a lot of times they don't why do you think that is because their tire got flat their car broke down their wife started fighting with them the kids were you know sick or whatever the devil will put anything in your path to get you to stop coming to church especially when you first start trying because he knows when you come to a church like this you're gonna have the Bible preached to you and it's gonna start helping you to live the Christian life we put programs in place so that you can succeed as a Christian at this church but if you can't even get out the front door the devil knows you're never gonna come to this church and learn that they're gonna get stuck and you go oh it's just too hard some people it's too hard to just leave their front room but if you purpose and sometimes I've seen where people like I really wanted to come with this this and this happen it's just like you got a fight through it hey get a lift get an uber something make sure you get to church don't just let anything trip you up and fall on the devil look the devil knows that some people it doesn't take much you know I got milk in the fridge it's gonna expire I got to drink it by the end of the day you know I can't go to church I gotta make sure to drink this milk you know because when you don't want to do something any excuse is a good excuse to that person and that's a dumb excuse so it says he endured all these things but out of them the Lord delivered me yay and all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution look what it says though verse 13 but evil men and seducers shall get less and less is that what it says no it says shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived so let me ask you a question are we about 2,000 years removed from this statement here so if it was already getting worse and worse in Paul's time how bad do you think it is now how many false teachers are out there now spreading lies teaching lies about salvation even Baptist like even Baptist and you're like well you think Baptists are better than everybody well I don't know anybody besides Baptists that are knocking people's doors and trying to get them saved except for false prophets like the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons but the Bible says we're supposed to go daily from house to house and cease not to teach and preach the Lord Jesus so you know they're gonna these evil seducers are gonna wax worse and worse and they want to give you scars they want to destroy your life they want to get inside your head and and and make you think things that aren't true I just thinking of some battles that have gone on since we've been at this church there was a big Trinity battle you know and that happened at faith forward but there was also a calling upon the name of the Lord battle remember that one I mean and what the battle was over swiftly because you know it's easy to prove that you must call upon the name of the Lord to be saved but how about the flat earth the flat tarred battle I mean I thought it was over but then I saw some things that I just couldn't believe when I heard him out of my own ears but you know now we have new battles going on what's next hey bring it on bring it on because there's always gonna be another battle on the horizon and if you're weary and well doing you're weary and doing these and getting into these battles hey lick your wounds in between and get ready for the next one you know these battleships that they have that are in navies and stuff they go through battles don't they and they have battle scars on them too you know we're like Zion's old ship you know going into battle this church is like just a battleship here you know what we're gonna have scars on the outside of our ship sometimes we're gonna get into some battles we didn't get into the Lord's army to just look pretty in our nice little uniforms did we you know the the the governments of the world don't set up big battleships so they can just look pretty they set them up because they're ready to battle they have the guns ready the missiles ready and whatever else goes on them but back in the old days it was like cannonballs and stuff like that my point is is that we're in the Lord's army and so armies battle don't they and I'm not saying battle physically I'm saying battle spiritually because we're in a spiritual battle sometimes it turns physical because of them we're not to ever be physical in our battle scheme but there's lots of battles are gonna happen hey this is just one battle that we've gone through what about the next one what's it gonna be next I don't know but I'm sure there's gonna be another one and so if you're if you're weary of being in battles all the time well maybe go to another church the Lord said hey if you don't want to be in the army if you're afraid and faint-hearted then just go he didn't say he doesn't want cowards in his army he doesn't want people that are afraid to go into battle in his army he says go home go be with your wife go you know whatever you're gonna do but just don't don't put your weakness into our military because eventually that weak person is gonna make other people weak to that weak person is gonna be cowardly and afraid when a battle comes oh what should we do I can't believe this is happening believe it it's in the Bible that's what it says it's gonna happen now we also have battles that happen and scars that happen from our own families and friends look at Matthew chapter 10 verse 34 there's all caught we're getting hit on all sides but you know what God is the ultimate power in this universe God can protect us from all that stuff look at Matthew chapter 10 verse 34 says think not that I am come to send peace on earth I came not to send peace but a sword sounds like the Lord wants us to fight doesn't it and I'm not saying be a nasty jerk all the time or something I'm just he wants us to fight the good fight of faith look at verse 35 it says for I come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law that's that happens naturally too but and a man's foes shall be they of his own household even within your own household you can go through these types of battles these divisions the Word of God causes division doesn't it what is the sword of the Lord that's something that's a you know it's sharper than any two-edged sword and so when this the Word of God makes divisions it makes them it severs things doesn't it if it's sharper than any two-edged sword it can sever any relationship it can it can sever even parents you know from their children because ultimately God is the most important thing he's the one that we should serve we're supposed to keep him number one in our hearts and so it says in verse 37 he that loveth his father or mother more than me is what not worthy of me and he that love his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me you know how many times I've seen or family members will pull people out of our churches well it happens all the time well they think that we're in a cult pastor well here's the thing I don't force people to stay here contrary to popular belief I don't have any recording devices in your house I don't have an alarm that goes off in the corner that says hey come to the time to cut why aren't you in church I don't do that you know I you know now if you're mistaking me being a trying to be a good shepherd and if you haven't been in church in a while say hey yeah is everything okay you know you know because sometimes things can get you out of church it's like I wouldn't be a good pastor you know pastors someone that watches over a flock would I be a good pastor if I just never checked up on you if you just left it well it's a lot of time here's I've heard this in my past to not me as a pastor but other people well you know we we weren't there for about three weeks and the pastor never called I've heard that my whole I've heard that my whole Christian life sometimes people just want to know that their pastor cares about them and so if you get a call from me you haven't been in church in a couple weeks it's not me you know I'm being nosy it's me just wanting to make sure you're okay it's my job so it says and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me he that findeth his life shall lose it you want to go back to your old life you're not gonna be able to reclaim that whole life you're saved it's gonna be different you're supposed to be different God wants you to be different it says and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 3 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 3 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 3 says thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ what are we supposed to endure hardness things are gonna get hard sometimes and what are we supposed to do we're supposed to endure it not quit not give up endure as a good soldier whether you do this or not when you got saved you became a soldier of Christ and he expects his soldiers to be in the battle sometimes says no man that warth entangle with himself and the affairs of this life that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier God's already chosen you to be a soldier he says don't be involved with the things that are going on in this life worldly things it says and if a man also strive for masteries yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully so you know and here's the thing about like just mentioned being a pastor like people do all these wicked things against us people say all kinds of manner of evil against us but you know I'm not gonna fight every battle that way I don't I don't have to respond to you you know who are you I don't even know you you're hiding behind a fake name and a fake picture like what do I owe you I owe you nothing I don't know you crap and I'm not going to give it to you because that's what you want you know and and it that just drives people bonkers it does Jesus when he didn't answer pilots like aren't you gonna answer any of these things you know it's no he didn't even say anything you know he only answered what he wanted to answer so so it says that we have to strive lawfully hey if we're striving for math you know for masteries we're trying to be the best Christian we could be the best soldier we can be you're not crowned except for you strive lawfully you can't fake your way around basic training you have to stick you have to do it the right way and so sometimes these battles happen it's like I know things about those people that have turned against me that they would never want me to repeat in public and I won't repeat it in public because that's you know even though they're the worst scum on the face of the planet you know I'm not gonna reveal all the things that are wrong with their marriage or all the things that they told me in confidence in counseling I'm not gonna do that because I actually have some integrity unlike those scumbags I'm not gonna sit there and tell all the dirty nasty secrets that I know about you but that's not how so we have to strive lawfully they don't have to they don't have rules that they have to play by because they're scum look at second second Samuel chapter 17 this is a story about when when Absalom was trait betraying his own father and trying to murder him and take his kingdom but Absalom you know he there's a guy named Mahathah fell and he was this great counselor and it says that his his counsel is like going to the oracles of God like it was just like basically going to the Bible almost that's how good of a counselor he was but he betrayed David and so David sent one of his own guys in to be like a counterintelligence against him and you know David prayed that that the council of a hit the fell would come to not basically he said you know you know Lord you know be don't let the council stand so it says in verse 7 so who shy is David's guy and he's pretending like he's friends with Absalom who it says and who shy said to Absalom the council of a hit the fell that a head the fell is given is not good at this time because the head the fell said let's go in and kill him right away let's take our thousands of people and and go against David and his mighty man and just overcome them but only we're gonna just kill the king and that's it and everybody else will scatter so look at what who shy said though and what who shy says is really profound to me here it says for said who shy thou knowest thy father and his men that they be mighty men and they be chafed in their minds so what is you know chafing is you know you walk and you get sweaty sometimes or you know your arms you know you get this chafing that can happen marathon runners you know they have to take special protection when they're running a marathon because anything that moves for that long is gonna make these chafing rashes on you but but look at who shy said that that his father and his men were mighty men and they be chafed in their minds that they got they got some they've been through some battles they've been through some wars it says as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field and thy father is a man of war and will not lodge with his people behold he is hid now in some pit or in some other place and it will come to pass when some of them be overthrown at the first that whosoever heareth it will say there is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom so he's like basically countering Ahithophel's wisdom here and Ahithophel if he would have followed Ahithophel's counsel David would have been dead but God turned the counsel of Ahithophel against him and he hearkened and Absalom hearkened unto Hushai's counsel and why am I bringing this up well it says and he also that is valiant whose heart is as the heart of a lion shall utterly melt for all Israel knoweth that thy father is a mighty man and that they which be with him are valiant men and hey when you go through a lot of battles you're gonna get a little battle hardened you're gonna get battle tested and you're gonna get chafed in your mind and so some of these people that just like want to come against us these rookie clowns that hide behind fake profile pictures and stuff you know you better realize that there's mighty men in this church and mighty women in this church and you know you're gonna you're messing around with the wrong type of people and you know a lot of our people are chafed in their minds too we've been through some battles folks but we're gonna go through more so the more we go through the more battle-hard we're gonna we're gonna be and ready to to fight back and to overcome these these wars that we're going through these bad guys these wicked guys will get scars too they'll need some burn cream in the end right won't they because their ultimate destination is hell Philippians Philippians chapter 1 verse 28 says and nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God hey the enemies want the the adversaries want to terrify us they want to say all these manner of things to scare us and that and the Bible says it's an evident token of their perdition so when these clowns leave our church or so other churches and they try to come against us and try to terrorize us it just shows that they're not saved it shows that they're Devils Proverbs chapter 18 verse number 5 says it is not good to accept the person of the wicked to overthrow the righteous in judgment a fool's lips enter into contention and his mouth calleth for strokes this pastor Jones life verse there he loves that verse but you know what's it saying hey when a fool's lip and enter into a contention their mouth calls for strokes you know you just be careful you might get dropped right a fool's mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul these people that speak evil against us these people that come against us and try to destroy us you know and I don't have time I know that my time is running short here but you know the Bible talks about in the Psalms how David prays these in precatory prayers against people telling God asking God to break their teeth out and asking them to melt them like a snail you know what how do you melt a snail you pour some salt on it right you know and and so God is going to do that the Bible says in Psalm 58 verse 10 says the righteous shall rejoice when he see it the vengeance he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked so that a man may shall say yeah so that a man shall say barely there's a reward for the righteous verily he is a God that judges in the earth one of my favorite scriptures because in the end the righteous are going to rejoice you know what and we're going to see the vengeance that God takes against these people and the Bible says we'll wash our feet in the blood of the wicked that sounds pretty gross but you know we know that God judges in the earth we know that God has our back and ultimately even if we get all these scars and all these things happen to us we're going to be protected in the end we're going to heaven whatever happens to our body though they kill our bodies it doesn't matter whether we go through all these persecutions or these scars that we have to endure in our minds through these battles God still has our back and sometimes it might not seem like that it might seem like the enemy's winning but even if they did win they still lose we win have you read the book of Revelation at the very end it says we win right and that anybody that's a hater of God they're gonna bow their knee to God and call him Lord and they're gonna get thrown on the leg of fire so scars you know we can get scars from being punished the Bible talks about us being you know if we it says the servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes see if we know what the right thing to do is and we don't do it God is gonna take that out on us so in a church like this you're gonna get more knowledge than you would at another church I'm not look I'm not trying to elevate our church above all these other churches I'm just saying that at our church just know when you come in you're gonna have the Bible preached to you and you know when you know what the Bible says and then you say you know what I just don't want to be a part of this battle anymore then you know you're gonna get beaten with many stripes that's what the Bible says you know in the book of Hebrews it talks about enduring chastening and things like that but I wanted to finish off with Paul what he went through in his persecution let's look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 here's what Paul endured remember at the beginning of the sermon I talked about how God showed Paul the great things that he must suffer for his namesake for God's namesake for the namesake of Christ look what it says are they Hebrews verse 22 so am I are they Israelites so am I are they the seed of Abraham so am I are they ministers of Christ I speak as a fool I am more and labors more abundant and stripes above measure and prisons more frequent and deaths oft of the Jews five times received I have 40 stripes save one so he was beaten with with whips five times by the Jews 39 39 lashes and I'm sure that it wasn't just like you know a roll of newspaper okay he's getting beaten by a whip look verse 25 thrice that means three times was I beaten with rods once was I stoned thrice I suffered shipwreck a day in a night have I been in the deep and you think well that's not really that big of a deal well try treading water for that long with sharks around you I mean just the shark factor alone would be enough to freak you to give me some some battle scars for the rest of my life some PTSD I'm afraid of sharks I'm sure most people are nobody wants to pet them or anything but Paul went through a lot it says in journeys often in perils of waters and perils of robbers and perils of mine own countrymen and perils by the heat and in perils in the city and perils in the wilderness and perils of the sea and perils amongst what to say false brethren and weariness and painfulness and watchings often and hunger and thirst and fastings often and cold and nakedness besides those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches so even he's even saying that the care of all the churches is a hard thing for him look all these things are gonna leave scars whether it's a mental scar or whether it's a physical scar but I would say and submit to you this that the Apostle Paul was a what he bear he truly did bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in his body so you know we got to understand that even though even though we're going through battles that we got to stick with it and I'm gonna close on this Jesus Christ was beaten worse than anybody's ever been beaten you know how I know that because the Bible says it the Bible says his face look you can just we'll turn to this last verse and just think about this like when when he resurrected go ahead and turn to Isaiah 52 verse 14 but when Jesus resurrected he still had the scars didn't he he still had the scars in his hands and in his side and Thomas said that he wouldn't believe unless he actually got to put his hands in the in the prints of his hands and put his and thrust in his hand and put it in Jesus aside and then Jesus came back and said go ahead and do it our Lord suffered more scars than anybody else our Lord suffered more than we'll ever suffer so you know what we should count it joy when we suffer for the name of Christ no matter whether it's in word or something that somebody does to you or something that somebody hurts you with you know we will never amount to the sufferings that he went through he's called the man of sorrows acquainted with grief look at Isaiah chapter 52 verse 14 it says as many as were astonished at the his visage that means his face was so marred that means beat you know disfigured marred means disfigured visage means face his this is was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men so he took the worst beating the worst thing that anybody else has ever taken so shall he sprinkle many nations the Kings shall shut their mouths at him for that which had not been told them shall they see and that which they had not heard shall they consider Jesus Christ's visage was marred more than any man he still bears in his body the marks that were put upon him by not just the Jews but every single person in this room every single person in the world that put him on that cross and I don't see why it's such a hard thing for us to think that we know our bat you know that we can't go through battles also I'm so tired of all the battles well go home lick your wounds and get ready for the next one because that's the way the Christian life is you know I would be giving you a disservice I'd be I'd be telling you a disservice if I said don't worry about it you know Jesus is gonna come back at any minute and whisk us away on a nice little comfy pillow you know it's pillow time that's what we got to see next no the Bible says that the Antichrist is gonna come and he's coming back after the tribulation well that's what the Bible says so we will have to endure hardness we will have to endure hard things so what's the main point of the sermon well that there's multiple ways to get scars and let's remember that it's a blessing and an honor to suffer for Christ that's what the Apostles said isn't it they counted it as a good thing not as a bad thing and so we need to learn to suffer because life is tough life is hard it's not always going to be easy and so church life can be tough but it's also good I don't want to just be all negative there's many blessings that we get there's many blessings that we get in our lives as Christians but you know there is a balance it's not just always going to be good it's not just always gonna be bad it's gonna be a balance so let's just make sure that we're serving God for the right reasons and remember that battle scars are a fact of the Christian life let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for this great church Lord I pray you'd help us Lord and strengthen us and Lord sometimes it is hard to go through battles and some of us have the scars to prove it in one way shape or form I pray Lord that you just help us as a church to just always consider these things before we would just walk away and leave the Christ that we love Jesus name we pray amen