Leon Fontaine - Keys to Winning a Fight
The Bible is the most unique book. The Bible says in Philippians 4:13, that I can do some things through Christ who strengthens me. No, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". And then in 1 John 5:4, it says, "For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith". I want you to know that I'm not teaching you things that you have to do to get God to get involve with you. We've already overcome. Jesus has won the victory and given it to us. But the world is filled with things that we can do in life as we faced our battles, as we faced the things that try to stop you from getting to the next level in your career, to get healing in your body, to work out that relationship that is driving you nuts and literally falling apart in front of your face. I call these fights, okay? But I don't mean you're fighting the devil. I don't mean you're fighting cancer. I don't mean you're fighting your spouse. I don't mean any of those things. It's the fight.
You know in Timothy it says, "Fight! The good fight of faith". That doesn't mean to fight demons, fight sickness, fight poverty. It means to stay in faith. Fight to stay in faith, because the enemy wants to get you out of your faith. Because it's your faith that overcomes the world. It's what you believe that will take you through things that no other person can handle. And so as I go through this series, this is a very important prerequisite. I believe that God has given us His grace which is His undeserved favor. We fight with His power. I believe that God has made us righteous. You know, in Romans 5:17, it says that we've been given the gift of righteousness. So we're not trying to earn God's help. We're not trying to be good enough for God to be please enough for Him to finally help us out. His help is here. He's on the inside of us. We must learn to function as kings in a world that tries to tell you you're nobodies. And Jesus is the King of Kings.
All right, first thing I wanna share with you is a picture that comes from the Bible in Daniel chapter 3. In order to get through some of the stuff I wanna get through. I'm not gonna read it but you need to go to the Word and read the whole story for yourself. And the first thought I wanna give you is don't bow to another king. Don't bow to another king. In Daniel 3, there's three guys whose names are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, just gonna rolls off the tongue. If you're having triplets, there's three good names right there Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It's just kind of, you'd be very biblical. The incredible men. These were friends of Daniels, that great man of God and they were in captivity. And the king gave in to some of his stupid advisers. That put a big statue of yourself, make everybody bow down to it. Because Jews weren't allowed to bow down to anyone but God, not allowed to call anybody Father but God, etcetera, etcetera. And so they built this great big statue one when the trumpet blew, everybody bowed. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who were in the king's court wouldn't bow.
So they were called into the king's court and he was angry. They got him upset that they don't respect you as a king. You know, in this life of serving Jesus, there'll always be people that I believe the enemy can inspire to come against you. You know, I don't understand why some people hate me. I've never done anything against anybody I know in my life. And yet, after 13 or 14 death threats and a couple attempts you kind of go, "What in the world is wrong with you"? There is a devil and he doesn't want you to succeed. You love God. Nah, he's no match for you but you gotta understand we have an adversary. And so these guys stood before the king and the king said, "You will bow or I will throw you into the furnace". They had a furnace out there. And he says, "What you're gonna do"? One of the guys speaks up for all three and in modern English he goes, "Ah, we don't even have to think about it. We're not bowing".
You wouldn't do a quick huddle before we kill you? Like what, you're just gonna say that? These men had honor and integrity. They knew who they were. They knew each other so well. They knew none of them would bow to this evil king. They say, "We don't have to think about it. Ah yeah, we're not gonna bow and by the way, God's not gonna let us burn". You wanna take on a king. He gets mad. Heat that furnace seven times hotter than it is right now. And by the way, they also told them, "And even if He didn't save us. We wouldn't bow to you". Interesting. Have values, stand up and have standards. Stand up and I'm gonna serve God. As for me and my house we're gonna serve the Lord. Don't bow to another king. It says, they heated so hot the soldiers who threw them in died as they opened this huge furnace and to throw these guys in. And they threw them in and then to their horror, the Bible says these men began to walk around in a furnace so hot it killed the guards. And then the king looked and he didn't count three. He counted four. Isn't it interesting?
That when you stand in faith for what God's Word teaches and what God's Word says. He'll never leave you. He'll be there. You know all through the Old Testament, there are types and shadows of Jesus. And this is a type, people say it was an angel. Well, no one knows because they just, they looked like an angel, looked like there's a fourth person in the fire and that fourth person is Jesus. There's Jesus, all through the Old Testament there is teaching that shows us there was coming a day when Jesus, the Son of God was gonna be with us. And so, they were, they just kept walking around. Now, when they threw them in, the Bible says they fell down because they were bound up. And when they threw them in, the bonds burnt but they didn't. It says they're just walking around the fire. I'm sure they were chatting with Jesus. Then it says, get them out of there. So they pulled them out and to their astonishment there was no singed mark, eyebrows.
You know how fast your eyebrows disappear when you're close to a little gasoline fire? I've done that a few times. I think I've melted all the hair off my arms as a teenager, you know, doing stuff. And, but there wasn't a singed. There wasn't a smell of smoke on them. But anything that tried to stop them, the guards died, the ropes burnt and they were in complete freedom. And it's the most beautiful picture of we don't bow to sin. Don't bow. Just don't bow to cancer. Don't bow to poverty. Don't bow to religious people who, "That God doesn't do miracles. I don't know why you go to that church anyway. It's life's not all wonderful. There's gonna be hard times". We understand some of those event, but none of that is true. But if you bow to it, you give in to it. It would have been so easy to bow to Him and have your fingers crossed, you know. I'm not really bowing that. But they wouldn't do it. They wouldn't show a nation of God's people that the three leaders were gonna bow to this man when they served the living God.
You know when you get the middle of a situation, it's easy to give in to it. It's easy to bow to your death. It's easy to bow to your limited marriage. It's easy to bow to the sickness you're dealing with and just live with it and just call it yours. This is my cancer, my diabetes. Yes, it's my issues, my problems. Don't bow to anything on this planet. Because this is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith. And there's gotta be something on the inside of you that gives you a sense of fight. You know, when you watch them in these old movies and you know, when they've got the mafia. They finally catch the guy. The enemy, they tie him to a chair. They start punching him and breaking his knees and you watched these old movies. And then at a certain point the guy knows he's gonna die. And two kinds of men emerged on those kinds of scenes. The first sob and cry and beg for help and the other one just get courageous goes, "You punch like a girl".
And you think, "What is wrong with you? They're gonna kill you. They're hurting you and you're taunting him". No, he's trying to hang on to the courage that he's got. He knows he's gonna die. "I'm not dying like a dog. I'm going down like a man". There's something about men. There's something men and women are the same, that we admire courage. We go to movies like, "Rocky". We go to movies like, "The Avengers". People who overcome. People who'd win. But yet, we've gotta recognized that we've gotta be determined. Don't bow to the problems in this life. Don't bow to the addictions in this life. Don't bow to risky living in this life. It's gonna cost you things. Don't bow to these things, have values. Stand up and have standards. Stand up and I'm gonna serve God. As for me and my house we're gonna serve the Lord. Don't bow to another king. The Bible says Jesus is the King of Kings. There is no name higher than the name of Jesus.
Second thought I wanna share with you today, is to be courageous. Now, courage is not something you are born with or you were not born with. Courage is not something that cowards can look at and go, "Oh, I don't know. He's like that or it's just me". No, no, sorry. Nobody is born and God goes, "Courage. No. Yes. Little bit. A lot". No, that's not from God. It's courage, is something that you determined. Courage is not something you have as or you don't have. Courage is not the absence of fear. Everybody, you know, I was talking to my son. He says, "I'm probably get a tattoo. I'm thinking of putting fearless on". I said, "Well, you know, it's cool. I like the concept but it just not true. All great champions weren't fearless. They did what they should do despite the fear. Fear isn't the, I mean, courage isn't the absence of fear.
Courage is feeling the same fear everybody else feels as they cower in the foxhole and then getting up and running for your friend laying in no man's land, dragging him by the collar with bullets whistling all around you and getting him into the foxhole. He didn't have less fear than anybody else. He made a courageous decision. The Bible talks about courage. It says that cowards will never enjoy the best that God has. They won't enter into kingdom principles revelation says. So, our message is to help people but the greatest way to help them is to let them know about this Jesus. That He's the Savior of the world, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Because when you see that and you give your life to Him, you become this person that can rise up and live for Him. And so that's why church is so powerful. It's why it's so important.
I look at everybody in this church and I go, "Here are the people who've made the decision to conquer, to win, to not give in, to not just curl into fetal position and suck your thumb, to not just say, "Well, I guess I'm an addict. Well, I guess I'm sick. Well, I guess I'll never have great relationship. Well, I guess I'm a wimp". You're fighting against what the status quo pushes against you and says, "No. There's a way to win. There's a Jesus I can serve. There's a life that is ahead of me and I'm not giving in". Let's be courageous. Let's not bow down to any other king. Let's make sure that there's a fight on the inside of us. This fight says, "Fight! The good fight of faith". And when you're going down, you need a good friend to go, "Get up. I'll be with you. Come on. Fight! Let's go". Yes, I know it hurts. Yes, I'm gonna cry with you for what we've lost. Yes, it's painful. Let me splint it. Let me help you. But let's get up and let's not lay down. Let's move on.
And some of your marriages, it's gonna take courage to walk through things you're gonna need to, to get your marriage to the next level. But your kids deserve it and your marriage deserve it and the kingdom of God needs it. And there's nothing better out there, solve those problems. Learn to get up and say, "No, my marriage is worth fighting for. No, health is worth fighting for". Well, you know, so and so says. I call those people Job's comforters. You know, when Job was in the midst of his problems, he has friends that I curse God and die. What kind of friend is that? He says, "Oh, no. It's not God that did this to me". And it's not. Everyone misunderstands the book of Job. It wasn't God that did that to him, you know. And he said, "No, no". And he just rose up and he had twice whatever he had, the wealth and riches and family and homes, because it was all replaced. We need to never bow down to another king. We're to take God's Word at heart, recognize that we need to be courageous.
I'm gonna fit in one last one before our time is up here. I wanna talk to you about something that so many people don't understand. I wanna talk to you about the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus. It's more than just a swear word. Why is the name so precious? Jesus. Why was the name chosen as a swear word? Why do people say Jesus Christ when they hit their thumb with the hammer? Or when someone ticks them off, why do they use the word Jesus Christ? Why is it used with venom and anger? Why didn't they use Buddha? Why don't we curse with Buddha's name? Oh, Buddha. Buddha. Oh, I hit my thumb, Buddha. Why don't we use some other God's name? Why? Because the devil's not stupid and he wants to misuse that name until it's just a curse word, a swear word. When it's the name, when you read the book of Acts, the apostles on the book of Acts never prayed for miracles. They spoke them. In the name of Jesus.
The name of Jesus when you study the Bible, I'm gonna cut through about 40 hours of doctrine. I'm gonna give you a practical look at the name of Jesus. In the book of John, it says very carefully there, Jesus said, up till now, in John 14, you've asked me nothing. He says, from now and on ask Me for nothing, ask in my name and the Father will give it to you. A lawyer that looked at this teaching and then how the name was used in the book of Acts and through the epistles, said it is like when Jesus made this statement, he was making, giving you the power of attorney.
I had a friend one time that him and his wife and kids we're going into a country that was not stable and they're teaching school and bringing Christianity into the people there. And he says, "Leon, I wanna give you power of attorney over all my accounts, my businesses". And he said, 'If you ever hear of a war, something going wrong in there and you can't get a hold of me or whatever it is, is you use whatever money you need to do and you get in there. You get a Lear jet, whatever you gotta do. You get in there and you get me out. You get my kids out. Whatever you can do. I'm giving you a power of attorney.
Now, the power of attorney, how much power is that? Well, it depends on the person that you have the power of attorney for. If they've just got a hundred grand in the bank and it's a mom and you're gonna look after her estate. It's a hundred grand. They've got three bil and 7.000 employees and houses and lands and you've got complete power of attorney. You can run all those people. You have access to all those buildings. You could sell it all, put it all into account. Power of attorney depends upon the person that you have the power of attorney for.
So how much power is there behind the name of Jesus? Oh, in that name it's not just finance. The name of Jesus is above the name of sickness. The name of Jesus is above the name of poverty. The name of Jesus is greater than any God on the planet, any demon that's on the planet. The name of Jesus is greater than any situation you find yourself in. And so, when we understand that the name was given to us by inheritance. You don't get it because you earned it. You got it by inheritance. You have an inheritance. You inherited the name. And every person here has the right to use the name of Jesus. We all think that the name is just how you close all your prayers off. In Jesus name. Amen. No actually, the name Jesus is what releases the power. It's the trigger that releases all the power that is behind that name.
If we were struggling. If I want something here in this, say I want a prop to preach with and so I grab somebody from the front and say, "Would you go to the Grade-3 class and tell them that I want the bowling pins that they use for the kids and bring them back". And you went down there and said, "I want the bowling pins". They're not gonna give you the bowling pins. But if you said Leon, Leon wants them for an analogy in his message. My name would get you them because I'm in-charge of this organization. The staff worked with me, volunteers. You know, there's someone that's gotta be leader. So my name would give us access to the things that I need and want here. You have things that you access with your name. And so I want you to understand that the name of Jesus.
Now, you must believe in that name. If you ever go and you wanna read more about this. Write this down, it's in Acts 3:16. They're walking by this gate and a man said, "Alms for the poor". And Peter said, "Silver and gold I have none, but what I have I'm gonna give you". And he reached down grabbed the man by the hand and pulled him to his feet and he said, "In the name of Jesus walk". He didn't say let's just stop and pray, Father, in thou thine providence with thou see it and thine good wishes. If you would produce some power and see this poor man who has not walked in 40 years, we would be muchly grateful for thine, amazed. Elizabethan English, King James. He didn't do that. He just said in the name of Jesus Christ, walk. They had an understanding of authority and the power that goes with the name.
That is not understood in the churches today. It's something that we're trying to grasp and recognize. But when you go back to pure Gospel, pure Bible, these men weren't begging, weeping, crying, praying oh God in any situation. They spoke and used the name of Jesus and Jesus taught them that in Mark 11. He said if there's, how come we have great faith? He says, "You speak to mountains. Do not doubt in your heart, and what you say you will have".
Probably about 12 or 13 years ago, a Pitbull had gone into a person's yard and grabbed their child. And they could not, the owner of the Pitbull was bashing it on the head, hitting it with a bat and this dog would not let go of their child. And the neighbor walked across and saw what it was and just said, "In the name of Jesus". And the paper said that when they said in the name of Jesus, the thing let go and run off. And they were able to save this child. The name of Jesus has all the power of God behind it. When you go to verse 16 of Acts chapter 3, as they're trying to explain this miracle to the religious people around, he said it is His name that did this miracle and its faith in that name that has made this man well.
PART 2
I wanna talk to you about being qualified and backed by heaven. This is a big issue for religious people. Religious people believed that anything that happens to them, God allowed it to teach them a lesson. So He's bankrupting you, making your kid sick. Yeah, you're losing your mind. But you know, God's got a purpose for it. You just have to understand. That is so much poppycock. It's so ridiculous. I sat down with a couple of biblical scholars one time in one of the cities we're doing TV. And then, we started talking about this and this was their belief that, you know, whatever happens it's God's will. And that's God's will because we're gonna learn from it and He's got a higher power.
I said, "What higher purpose does He have for these women that are kidnapped for 9 years and brutally raped day after day after day chained to that bed. What exactly was God trying to teach them when He allowed that"? That is the stupidest belief I've ever heard. I was a paramedic. I walked through hospitals. I heard babies and three-year old whose being taught how to die with brain tumors screaming from pain. Oh, God allowed that. What He's trying to teach a three-year old? What a stupid belief. We've got, I have an understanding that God has qualified the human race. He sent Jesus to die for the human race and the human race has been forgiven but you need to accept it to be able to work with it. He's blessed us with all spiritual blessings. He's given us all that we need to live and so we need to know that we are qualified.
Romans 5:17 says, "For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, how much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness". You are in right standing with God because it came as a gift, because of what Jesus did. His grace is yours. You know, we've gotta understand how blessed we are. Don't allow the enemy to kind of circle you away from the herd and go, "They're all doing good. You're a loser. You're just a nobody. You're the wrong color. The wrong language. You've been raised by a bunch of losers. You're just-," Don't listen to his lies. When you do, he limits you and you'll go into a fight and you just quit. You just give up. Because, "Well, I don't think I'm gonna make it". And you gotta understand God made you to win. God designed you to win. You just speak that way, talk that way. If God was to open our eyes and we saw a sky filled with angels. I would automatically think they're here for me and you should, too. Why? Because any battle I'm in, God is on my side. He's not on the other side coming against me. I'm a Christian. I'm His son. I'm a child of God.
If we're to open our eyes and see angels everywhere I go, "Oh, they're here for me. Hey, guys". Like, I just have to believe and know that wherever I go the blessing of God goes. I was on a plane one day coming out of, I forget where I was. It's either in Regina or one of the Canadian cities. And as the plane was taking off, at the last possible minute with no ability to warn us on the intercoms, the plane just went, and it just braked so brutally. That all of us were thrown into the back of our seats and it felt like we're all about to die. That's what I felt and people were screaming in the plane. The guy sitting beside me. The middle seat was empty but the guy against the wall literally put his head in his knees and just started to moan and like cry, "Oh, no". We all thought were gonna die. And so the plane just come to a stop and the pilot comes out and say, "I'm so sorry folks". He said, At the last possible minute we had to make a decision, a light came on and we had time to abandon take off and so they did.
Later on, I found out it had to do with the landing gear. They couldn't even move the plane once they'd braked, to just, everything seized up. They had to bring buses on to the runway and buses off. And so I'm sitting here in the seat just as the thing comes to a stop and the guy looks over at me who was sitting beside me. I mean, literally freaked out like he was on drugs or maybe he was. I mean, he just freaked right out and he looks at me and he goes, "What's wrong with you? We almost died. I said, "No, we didn't". And he goes, "What do you mean no we didn't". I said, "I'm on the plane". That's exactly what I said to him. And he looked at me like I was crazy and he goes, "You're a Christian, aren't you"? And I said, "Yes". I said, "What about you"? He said, "I used to be. I used to be but I've turned my back on God". He said, "I need to give my life to God". Funny thing was on this that we all got taken off. They found a jet the exact same size and we're taking off again a couple of hours later and you know everybody on that plane is tense.
So the guy still sitting beside me because we're on this flight. We're supposed to be taken off. He's two seats over and he looks over at me and get to see me sitting like this and I'm chilled. And he looks at me and I went. He goes, and the, there's an understanding that you are blessed. Whatever lie he's feed you, will be to keep you away from a confidence that God is on your side. As you hear the Word like you hear here Sunday mornings, and you begin to study the Bible, you begin to develop this knowing that whatever goes on, if God opens your eyes, every force of heaven is on my side. If anything that goes on, if we wanna know where the presence of God is, it's with me. That's the way you need to believe. It's the way you need to think.
Otherwise the enemy of our souls, because there is a devil on this planet will try to make you think like you're a loser. God doesn't care for you. God's turned His back on you. You're the black sheep of the family. There's no way you can do it. You failed so many times there's no hope for you. Whatever lie he's feed you, will be to keep you away from a confidence that God is on your side. And you need to believe that God is on your side. You need to know you are qualified. That Jesus died in your place so that all of heaven would be at your disposal. And we talk about a lot of things so far today, but you need to know you're qualified. You need to know that you are backed by heaven.
There's a story in the Bible I shared like a couple of Sundays ago, the prophet Elisha. The prophet Elisha was hearing from God for the king, for God's people. And this evil country continued to attack the Israelites. And Elisha would know which valley they were coming down. He would know their strategy and so he'd go before the king and said, "They're coming through this valley. They'll be behind these trees. Go set up now and you'll be able to take them". Time and time again this evil country attacked God's people. And it says that they knew exactly and then finally so, the Bible says that the king of that evil country had a, his people all get together, his generals, and he said to them, "Who is selling us out to the Israelites? They know every move we make". And someone said, "Oh, king, none of us are but the prophet Elisha, he hears from the God and God shows him everything we're gonna do". That's what he said.
The Bible says they made a decision to come to the town, the city that Elisha lived in and take him out first. They surrounded the city Elisha was in and they looked over the walls and they saw as far as the eyes could see this evil country and all their thousands of troops. And the servant or the helper for Elisha, they called them servants back then. The helper for Elisha started freaking. Elisha just prayed this simple prayer. He said, "Open his eyes God". And the servant's eyes were opened to the spirit realm and the sky was filled with warring angels and they were all there for one man, Elisha. You need to know that God is so in love with you, your career, protecting you, healing you, helping you, being for you, that you can count. That all of heaven backs you. You can count on.
The Bible says that angels are encamped around about you. The word "encamp" means a troop camped around a battle zone. The armies of heaven. The presence of heaven. The presence of God. The healing power of God. The peace of God. The joy that He brings. All of this is your right and your privilege. You need to know that you're qualified for it. You didn't, you're not good enough. You don't have enough faith. It's just Jesus want it for you. And then you must believe everywhere I go, I'm protected. When we get into situations, where storms, battles, things are pushing against you. We need to lift up the name of Jesus.
Let me tell you a story, Exodus 17:8. The children of Israel going into a battle and Moses is the leader. So he tells Joshua who is one of his lieutenants. He said, "You go into that valley and take that enemy on. I'm going up on that hill and I'm gonna hold the rod of God out before the people. The rod that Moses had is a symbolic of Jesus. That rod slapped the Red Sea and it parted. That rod did miracles in front of that evil Pharaoh and that rod is a symbol. When you hear about Jesus in every book of the Bible that tell you, He's the rod of Moses. He's-, and it goes on. So this rod is symbolic in the Old Testament of Jesus. And Moses is saying I'm gonna go up in that hill. And when we read that story now, and he's gonna hold the rod up over this battle. It means he's gonna hold up Jesus, he's gonna lift up Jesus. This is what he was saying to us in the New Testament.
And so, he went up on the hill, grabbed this rod that parted the Red Sea, that literally did miracles in front of this Pharaoh. And he lifted that rod up as Joshua went to war with their troops and they began to defeat the enemy. As Moses got tired and he began to drop that rod, it says they began to lose. Interesting story. Two men, Aaron and Hur were two of other men that were lieutenants' underneath Moses. And they quickly noticed this connection, that as Moses stood there strong holding the rod up, representing Jesus is Lord. He is the King of Kings. They didn't know that back then. They were just symbolically doing what God put in their heart. But this has been written for our admonition. And they noticed when he held the rod up, they won. But as Moses got tired and dropped that the other country began to win.
So they quickly went over to him and they grabbed his arm and one held his arm this way and the other one on the other side and they held his arm up. And as they helped get his arm back up, they began to win the battle. Decisively, hour after hour, they began to win this huge battle. But Moses got even more tired and as he got tired, they thought, what we're gonna do? They grabbed the rock and they brought him over to this rock and they sat him on this rock and then they grabbed his hands. They pulled him up in the air with the rod that he had which is symbolic of Jesus, holding up Jesus as the King of Kings. And so, they won the battle that day. Why are these stories in the Old Testament? You can go to every story in the Old Testament and see teachings that He's trying to show us symbolically.
Well, why didn't they just walk over and take the rod from Moses and go, "Here, let me hold it for you". Why didn't they do that? That would be easier. Then he gets tired. Hey, Hur. It's your turn. Okay, Moses, your turn again. Okay, Aaron, it's your turn again. Hey, this is called team work. We're all cool. Moses had to hold that rod up because Moses was the leader. Now, let me show you something that's powerful when it comes to you and I. Jesus said, all things are possible to him who believes. When we believe, we believe because of Jesus. That He died for you and He brought healing to you. He brought success to you. That you can overcome anything. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Our faith is in Jesus.
And so, you are the leader of your life. And this story is symbolic of the fact that you must lift up Jesus. And if the battle coming against you is strong and it takes more time than you thought. Let your friends come around, hold up your hands. They can't hold the rod for you, because you believing in Jesus. You holding up Jesus as this answer to your problem. It's up to you. This is your faith. You know, if someone does not believe that God can answer their need. You can't force it on them. You can't force them. I can't pray for a person who wants to go to heaven and get him healed. Even Jesus couldn't do that. Read the Bible.
So your personal faith, your personal belief must be in Christ. But what's beautiful about this church is that when you're going through a battle and you're believing God. You're holding your faith. You're taking God's Word. You're standing but you're tired. The people around through friendship and love and concern and care can encourage you. They can say, "Come on. Keep going. I'm with you. You need some help? I'll come by. We'll do a Bible study together. Oh, let's grab coffee on Wednesday. I know you're going through. Don't you dare let go of your faith. Don't you dare let those hands droop meaning that you begin to give up on Jesus. You hold Jesus up over that problem".
And that's why church is so powerful. It's because you're gonna run through problems in your life where you'd gotta stand God up and believe God for healing, believe God through that hard year of your career, of finances not going where you want or your marriage going through the toughest time you've ever been through and you're wondering if you're ever gonna make it and you're believing God and-, but when you come to church and you hear the Word. The Bible says the Word ministers' strength. The Bible says it's better to have a friend nearby than a brother faraway.
In other words, friends who are around you. People who are here that grab a coffee and you might wanna just share and say, "Hey, you know, I'm believing God for this and I'm standing strong". And that friend she says, "I've been there. You're gonna make it". You'll be surprised how people around you in this church can help hold your hands up. How the teaching of the Word can help hold your hands up. How your kids are down there in Sunday school rooms right now being taught who Jesus is and that He loves them, will help you if you're a dad or you're a mom going through something and they begin to realize Jesus loves me. I'm special and God made me strong. And all the beautiful things we're teaching your kids.
You'll be surprised how many stories I've heard of little kids telling their mommy. The other day it was funny. Sally was walking down the stairs and Tamara and Sloane and Jeremy had kind of come into our home and Sally didn't know they were there. So she walks down, "Oh, hi. I thought I was all alone". And you know, and Sloane goes, "You're not alone GG. Jesus is in your heart. How can a three-year old already know that loneliness can be overcome because Jesus is in your heart?
A friend of mine had their two-year old come back from a Sunday school and he said, "Sweetie, what did you learn today"? She grabbed the Bible, her daddy's Bible. She held it against her chest and she said to him, "I love the Bible. The Bible is God's Word". And there wasn't enough to really, you're not gonna teach them about the crucifixion and the resurrection and, you know, the Old Testament. All they would teach that little two-year old is the Bible is God's Word and it's the answer. And here she is hugging her dad's Bible and just telling him this is God's Word, daddy. And I thought, "Wow, it's incredible how little children". So if you want like Moses who was the leader of all of the Israelites. Like, you are the leader of your home. You're the leader of your kids. You're the leader of your career. You're the leader of your future. You're the key person and the leader to your healing, your health, all that is ahead of you. Just learn about Jesus and when you pray, use the name of Jesus and you're gonna lift Him up. And as you lift up Jesus, make sure you got a good church around you that even believes in miracles. That when you're going through something, their encouragement, your kids.
I remember one time being on the couch when I was a paramedic years ago and I had gotten sick and really sick and we had, we had, it's a long story. But we had basically, I had a guy that 99. He had a heart attack. We scoped him up off of a farm. We got him on the back in the ambulance. And as we were bringing him back to the hospital, the rookie that was driving because I was training the rookies. He didn't know how to close the vents that were letting the grid road dust come up through the vents into the back, was so thick I couldn't see the guy that I was doing CPR and begging and trying to keep him alive long enough for the doctors to, you know, defibrillate him and get him back. And so, we're raising for the hospital and I'm breathing the stuff in and they feel there must have been some kind of poison or overspray on the fields that got into my lungs and I kind had a number of things that happened because of that. But I was in that time frame, I was lying in a couch one day and just not feeling well.
And I'll never forget, Eden and Danielle would have been three, four years old. And so they were complaining to Sally about the fact that daddy wouldn't play with them and so Sally just say, "Go, pray for him. Daddy's not feeling good. You guys go pray". I'll never forget these little two because I felt so yuck. I felt so sick. I didn't wanna go lie in bed, then you missed all this going on in the home. I wanna lie on the couch where I can be around everything at least. And those little chubby hands slapped little sweaty palms on my forehead and all they knew how to pray, all we taught them to pray was pain go, healing flow, Jesus name. Amen. And so, they did that and daddy didn't get off the couch. So daddy, come on. You're healed now. I thought, "That's what I taught them". So I got off of the couch and within two steps off that couch, I was completely healed by the power of God.
You know, when I say that you need church. You need the Word of God. You need the pastor. We all do. We need to get around people. The Bible says, in the last days don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. Especially as these last days approach there's gonna be an attack on you, your marriage, your kids. Where you gonna go for help? Who you gonna talk to? A church that has the same beliefs that presents Jesus. That tells you who you are. Everybody at a different place. There's some here they're not even sure if they're Christians yet. They're just checking it out. There's others have been Christians longer that I've been alive. And it's the Word of God and so we've gotta know that we lift up the name of Jesus. It's the name of Jesus that is the trigger, the key to all the power of God. You've been given the name of Jesus as an inheritance and that name everything bows to.