Levi Lusko - Purpose Beyond Your Labels

You might have been called weak or stupid or dumb or lazy. You might have been made to think that you’re good for nothing or that you’re just too much. But you have been incorrectly labeled, just like Ehud was, and the cross is proof. I was in an airport once, and someone came up to me very excited to meet me. It’s one of my favorite places, by the way, to meet people who track with our ministry, have read our books, and watch our teachings. It’s just an awesome opportunity when people come and thank us. I wish you could experience that every time we engage with someone who says, «Thank you for the ministry of Fresh Life. Thank you for what you’re doing. Thank you for putting these messages online.» This has touched my heart.

We ran into a woman this week who stopped me and said, «Oh my God, I’m listening to you right now!» I replied, «That’s amazing! Keep running! Eyes on the road!» It’s just so great. One time, a guy came up to me and said, «Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I get the chance to meet you in person! This is such a thrill! Your ministry has touched my life in deep ways.» I said, «Man, praise God, that’s amazing!» He then asked, «Your name’s Louie, right?» I said, «No, my name’s Levi.» Then he said, «Giglio,» and I responded, «That’s still Louie!»

The truth is, we’ve all experienced others using words to describe us that are not accurate. If you have ever had someone’s heartless, thoughtless, cruel, unintentional, yet incorrect labels spoken over you that have hurt you, my prayer is that this message would be used by God to help you see your true identity in Christ. Come on, say «Amen» if you need that. If you need that today, the title of this message is «I’m Not What You Think.» Come on, elbow someone and say, «I’m not what you think.»

Judges chapter 3 — let me read to you a passage of Scripture that inspired the first pet I ever had. When I moved out on my own, I had a fish that I named Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite. That was the name of my fish, and I am exactly as weird as you think I am. I was telling Olivia, «It’s clear you’re my daughter because the first fish she ever had, she named J’s wife — Japhith’s wife.» Now, Noah had three sons, and the three sons had wives, but the Bible doesn’t tell their names. It just says they had these three sons, and they each had wives. We used to read the Bible story to her, like «This is Japheth going into the ark and this is Japheth’s wife.»

So when we asked her what she wanted to name the new fish, she said «J’s wife.» She thought that was her name. It’s proof that she’s my daughter, I suppose-even more effective than a parent DNA test!

Judges 3 — I want to introduce you to Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite. It says, «And the people of Israel again,» someone say «again,» «did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Again, he gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites and went and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. And the people of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab how long? 18 years!» Wow, exactly as long as the woman had been bent over last week-interesting!

Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent their tribute by him to Eglon, the king of Moab, and Ehud made for himself a sword, two -edged and a cubit in length — about 18 inches, in case you’re not regularly measuring things with cubits. He bound it on his right thigh, which is interesting because he’s a left-handed man and his sword goes on his right thigh under his clothes. He presented the tribute to Eglon, the king of Moab.

Now, in case you’re wondering, Eglon was a very fat man. When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal. I pray the Spirit would help us to turn away from our idols. He said, «I have a secret message for you, O King,» and he commanded silence. Everyone listen to this: all his attendants went out from his presence. The inference is that Ehud convinced the king this was a message he would want to hear alone.

Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber, and Ehud said, «I have a message from God for you.» He arose from his seat, and Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. The hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade. Everyone say «yuck!» For he did not pull the sword out of his belly, and dung came out-in case you were wondering.

Then Ehud went out into the porch from the cool roof chamber and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them. When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, «Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.» They waited until they were embarrassed, because no one wanted to knock while the king was relieving himself in his cool rooftop chamber. They were like, «Should we go in? Do you hear anything? I don’t want to hear any movements!»

They waited until they were embarrassed. These are the jokes, people! Once a youth pastor, always a youth pastor. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor. Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah. Thus, Ehud the left-handed Benjamite delivered Israel from oppression under this king, which had lasted 18 long years.

I’m not what you think. Ehud is unique in the Bible in that he’s one of three different places you can turn in Scripture to find clear teaching about someone’s orientation-specifically, which dominant hand was used most often. Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite!

Now we’re in a series of messages we’ve called «The Wonderful Cross,» and as we move towards Easter -because after all, we are Easter people and «Hallelujah» is our song. As we move towards it, we’re not just looking at it like, «Well yeah, there was, you know, leap year; that was kind of neat and there was an extra day.» No, our whole lives are oriented around Easter! Easter! Jesus rose from the dead! Easter! Jesus triumphantly defeated death and sin and hell and the grave!

And that’s why we say Jesus is the story, right? If you’re saying, «Yeah, there are lots of different religious leaders,» I say there’s no one like this! No one who just went around riding roughshod over the grave, offering that delicious victorious power to you and me, saying, «Oh, you have a lot of money? Oh, you’re a big shot, rich and famous? Can you stop death?»

Well, I can delay it with advanced medicine. Awesome! Wait longer, and you too will die! It’s that which we are powerless to do anything about, and Jesus went ahead and destroyed it for us all! Is anybody grateful? Is anybody grateful for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead?

So as we move towards Easter, what are we trying to do? We’re trying to calibrate our hearts to leave no stone unturned in what He left for us in His cross and in His empty tomb and, more to the point, in His Spirit. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead that lives in us is willing to come upon us and move within us even now as we glorify Jesus because Jesus did say, «When the Spirit comes, He will glorify me.»

So what is the Spirit seeking to do? He’s seeking to bring the attention back to, and keep it always on, Jesus. Now Isaiah 53 tells us that His wounds were for our transgressions; that His bruises were for our iniquities. By the way, the word «bruises» is not a great translation-it literally means, if you look at that Hebrew word, «being pulverized to pieces.»

So this isn’t the bruise you got on your shin when you bumped into the coffee table getting water in the night, and you didn’t want to turn the lights on. Okay, we’ve all had those bruises. This is Him being pulverized for our-what? -for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him.

Now again, we understand the concept of peace, but it’s not just like, «Yeah, peace, man.» It’s not just the absence of conflict. Shalom is this idea that runs throughout Scripture of wholeness-wholeness on the inside, wholeness on the outside. You know that feeling where you just kind of realize for a moment that everything’s okay?

Right? You ever have that moment? You’re watching the sunset, someone you love is right there, a cat’s curled up on your lap, and you just kind of almost like sigh a little bit-that contented sigh that says, «Could it just last for 10 seconds?» That’s Shalom-inner and outer, external wholeness. The chastisement for our Shalom was upon Him. And don’t miss this: by His stripes, we are healed.

There are seven places that Jesus’s body bled while He hung on the cross that we know of for sure. We began with the back last week; we titled that message «Be Our B.» If you missed it, you can grab it on the podcast or on YouTube. But today, we come to Jesus’s left hand.

Now, I’ve heard a lot of sermons in my life, and I’ve heard a lot of sermons reference the mighty right hand of God. Why? Because there are a lot of verses about how awesome God’s right hand is! Therefore, there are a lot of sermons that are really good about how great God’s right hand is. In fact, I wrote a really good one this week for next Sunday. I hope you’ll come back; it’s awesome!

Okay, I’m going to preach it like I stole it next Sunday. But I was thinking this week, I have never in my life-and I was practically born under a pew! — I guarantee you, I’ve listened to more sermons than you have. And I have never heard anybody preach about God’s left hand-not a single time!

And yet it wasn’t with one hand He was nailed to the tree! By His wounds, we go free! He was pierced for us-pierced for you-pierced for me! So there were two nails that were driven through Jesus’s hands-maybe His wrists. Some say that between the bones of the radius and the ulna, the fused bones of the wrist would actually form a lock.

If you put a nail through the hand, it would tail right out between the fingers. So it could be His wrist. But there were two nails used in His hands, and today we want to focus all of our attention on Jesus’s left hand. Any lefties in the room? As I raised my right hand, I’m sorry-that’s so rightist of me!

Any lefties in the house? Look around! Come on, this is your moment! When else do you get a moment, right? You have the wrong scissors, the wrong notebooks, right? The dry erase boards don’t work well, and the chalk on the board is a mess. Alright! Okay, this is your moment! Come on, let’s praise God for all the left-handed people in the house today!

Now it’s good you get your moment because throughout most of history, you’ve been looked at suspiciously, right? It’s just weird but true that left-handedness has, for most of history, been a synonym for weird-mistrusted, right? And I love that God chose that this story about Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite, involves so much potty humor!

When I went to Nepal on a mission trip, they told us in our orientation to never offer your left hand when shaking someone’s hand. Never offer your left hand! They will look at you like you just slapped their mama. You just don’t offer your left hand to people.

Then I figured out why when I went to use the bathroom for the first time. It was just a hole in the ground and a bucket of water, and I was like, «What am I supposed to do with all of these things?» And where’s the bathroom? They said, «Well, that is the bathroom! You squat over the hole, and then where’s the toilet paper?» They said, «That’s what the bucket of water is for! Just use your left hand.»

I thought, «Dear God, this is how I die! This is it right here!» I’m not going to lie to you; they gave us another orientation about how it’s illegal to share the gospel in Nepal because it’s a Hindu kingdom, and every time we were doing any ministry, we all ran the risk of getting arrested. I’m going to just level with you: this was scarier to me than that!

The thought of dying in a prison cell? Fine, I can handle it. No toilet paper? Jesus! My left hand! So offering your left hand to someone at meals, they said, «Keep your left hand down below the table the whole meal.» I said, «That makes sense actually; it’s not hygienic!» There was not even soap; it was just water right there that had been used previously. Lord have mercy on us all!

So the left hand is associated with the potty. It’s associated with dishonor. It’s associated in many traditions across history and cultures with a curse-to be born wanting to use your left hand basically just signals you out as strange. Thus lightly esteemed, even as recently as 1955, this sort of thinking carried over. That was the year my mom was born; my grandma was old school.

Now, I’ve shared before my grandma came to faith in Christ just before her death. Praise God! It was just amazing that it happened! She trusted Jesus at the very end of her life; she asked me to preach her funeral, which I was so happy to do.

When I went into her sewing room after her going to heaven, my family came through things and figured stuff out so that my grandpa, who was fleeing the country for tax reasons, could give up his citizenship and live in Panama-different sermon for a different day. He was saying, «Yeah, everything’s going away, so figure it all out,» and we did.

I was so touched to walk into her sewing room where she had a TV attached to a computer. Right next to it was a little notepad that said, «To get Levi: freshlifechurch.com, click live, click watch now.» I was blessed by that! So thank you, ministry! Thank you, church! Thank you, family of God! Thank you to every person who’s ever given to this ministry for allowing my grandma to come to know Jesus.

That being said, she was old school, and I would just say it on record-not recommended. She would discipline my mom as young as age one if she had an accident during potty training by spanking her. If my mom cried for any reason, she would tell her, «You want something to cry about?» and slap her across the face just to shut her up.

My grandma apparently didn’t like the idea of her daughter being left-handed, so she decided to change her. She would punish her by spanking if she used her left hand to do anything. And she did ingrain in my mom the ability to use her right hand.

But that explains a lot when I found that out! I was like, «This explains a lot!» She definitely had challenges. What a challenging thing that would be to endure! What we’re reading in Judges 3 is one of a series of 12 times that the nation of Israel lapsed into sin and chose to suffer in doing so over a 450-year-long period between Joshua and Samuel.

During that time, they would have it good, turn their back on God, experience difficulty, then be sad about the consequences, cry out to God, and He would raise up a deliverer. The text calls him a judge, but don’t think of our clerical judges with black robes in a jail. Think of the Avengers, really. It’s just this misfit team of wild people who are broken in their own way but have prolific supernatural abilities bestowed upon them from God!

So one of them, super strong, is Samson! Right? Hulk smash! Then you have the woman who nails down a guy’s head to the ground with a tent peg- Black Widow. You see what I’m saying? There’s just this team of rebels!

And what we’re reading about is the left-handed one, Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite. There are three places; I mentioned a moment ago in Scripture where people are singled out for being left-handed. What’s interesting is they’re all from the tribe of Benjamin! Every time you have a left-handed person in Scripture, it’s like, «Well, they are from Benjamin!»

In Judges 20:15, it says: «From the cities of that time, the children of Benjamin numbered 26,000 men who drew the sword.» That’s pretty good! Besides the inhabitants of Gaba, there were 700 of them from Gaba. Seven hundred men among this people were 700 select men who were left-handed and could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth without missing!

These lefties were mad accurate! They were wildly good at throwing rocks out of slings, and they did so with their left hands! You also have another account-this is 1 Chronicles 12; we won’t go into it-but there are more people who are really good with their left hands, and they too were from Benjamin, just like these 700 and just like our boy Ehud-all from the tribe of Benjamin!

Do you know what Benjamin means? «Son of the right hand.» In my studies this week, I came across this tidbit and thought to myself, «They’re incorrectly labeled!» Wow! «I’m not what you think! I know I might be called right-handed; I might be associated with being right-handed. You might assume I’m right-handed, but I know something you don’t know-I am not!»

That is essentially what Ehud the Benjamite has to say. «You can call my father-I’m not prepared to die!» he says to Fat King Eglon. In Jesus' name, amen! Come on, say to your neighbor, «I’m not what you think!» And neither are you! You might have been called unlovely or stupid or dumb or lazy. You might have been made to think that you’re good for nothing or that you’re just too much.

But you have been incorrectly labeled, just like Ehud was, and the cross is proof! I want to show you four things that you can use to turn the tables on the enemy whenever he wants you to believe the labels that people, or he, or even your own self at times pile on. We don’t need anybody’s help to make us feel bad!

We pile shame and scorn on ourselves. Four different things you can remind yourself of when you are tempted to believe that you are what other people think you are, what other people have said you are.

And the first is: Salvation. Salvation! Remind yourself, «Hold on, hold on, hold on! I can’t be right-handed! I can’t be Benjamin when in truth I’m left-handed, because I have been given salvation!» And I want to show this to you. Jesus, of course, died for sinners, right? That was the purpose!

He came to seek and to save that which is lost. But we don’t just see that through the cross; that was the purpose of the cross. We even see it while the cross was playing out. Can I show it to you in Scripture? We could do it lots of different places, but let’s do it from the Book of Mark-Mark 15:27.

With Him, they also crucified two robbers. How many robbers? This fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, by the way, which makes the accounts of the resurrection and the death of Jesus so plausible that hundreds of years beforehand, tidbits were stored-little geocache pro tips were stored-that He could not have affected.

It’s part of how we know this to be credible, and why it’s so difficult and impossible to disprove the accounts of the gospels. «With Him, they also crucified two robbers-one on His right and the other on His left.»

We don’t know anything about these two men except for the fact that when the nails were driven into Jesus’s hands and He was raised up into the air, Jesus’s enemies came to gloat. And these two men who had nothing else to do joined in with them, began to mock Jesus, ridicule Jesus.

And what was Jesus’s response? His response was to pray, «Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do!» He didn’t wish they would experience wrath; He longed for them to be free! He was praying for His enemies down below, but He was also praying for His enemies to His right and to His left who were also responsible for Him being put there!

And make no mistake about it: while He was hanging on the cross, He was praying for you! For it wasn’t just the Romans, and it wasn’t just the Pharisees; it wasn’t just the thieves -He was dying personally for my sin and for yours. And God answered, in part, that prayer!

In Luke’s account, towards the end of the time on the cross, one of the thieves comes to his senses and says to Jesus, «Remember me when you enter your kingdom!» And Jesus responded, «No way, José! You were making fun of me an hour ago! Have fun in hell!»

No, He said, «Assuredly, assuredly, or amen, amen! Today I say to you, you will be with me in paradise!» Jesus died shortly thereafter. The thief’s legs were broken; Jesus’s legs were not. The Romans could speed up a crucifixion by breaking the legs, causing you to suffocate faster.

One of the two thieves had just given his life to Christ, having moments left to live! He looked over and saw the face of Jesus hanging lifelessly on the cross before he died an awful, barbaric death. But the last face he saw on Earth was also the first face he saw in paradise!

For Jesus didn’t just say, «You’re going to heaven!» He said, «You will be with me in paradise.» Imagine his surprise when Jesus was there! «What took you so long?» In heaven? Why? This was the purpose!

This was just one picture to show us the purpose of the cross. The purpose of the cross wasn’t just inspiration. «Oh, look at Him! He laid His life down for His friends! How heroic and noble!» He literally came to seek and to save these thieves that were there and the men who were in front of Him- and you and me!

Salvation is the purpose of the cross! It wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t an impulse buy. We’ve all bought stuff at Walgreens we didn’t go there to get! We walked out of there going, «Why did I fall for it again?»

Because they put it right there! «Ooh, coconut-flavored chapstick! I don’t know, I got him!» Your salvation wasn’t an impulse buy. «For this purpose have I come.» What does that have to do with your value and your temptation to believe that you’re going to end up poor and pregnant and unmarried and drunk and divorced?

And whatever else people have spoken over your future! Your fears about your own future-you have value! The most important person who ever lived had you on His mind while He was dying. Your name was on His breath as He prayed for forgiveness.

And once you have a salvation like that, you carry yourself differently! I was sought, I was bought, I was purchased! And hang on to this: the Spirit has impressed upon me the importance of knowing this for some.

When the enemy, who is a thief and a murderer and a destroyer of life, comes in and says, «You’re worthless; you might as well just end it all,» go ahead and remind him back, «How can I take my life when my life is not my own? I’ve been bought with a price! I don’t even belong to me anymore! I have value!»

Why? Because I was given salvation-so great a salvation! Romans 5: 8-"But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.» You can’t be worthless if you were bought with the blood of Jesus!

Secondly, you have freedom. The tools for freedom are in your reach! This entire text, as we' ve focused on Ehud and Eglon, is all about the yoke of oppression being thrown off. The yoke of oppression being thrown off!

This is the fact that Israel was carrying this heavy weight-they were growing food-but this fat king would come in and steal all their food. They were subsisting basically on scraps. They were being oppressed! They were being taken advantage of! They were being fleeced, right? Their livelihood was in jeopardy!

And this went on for two decades-meaning that there were kids who never even knew what it looked like to live in free Israel. Ehud was raised up by the Lord to throw the yoke of oppression off, and Jesus intends for His Spirit to move in our hearts to do the same!

For there are many of us who have been bought and brought but are still burdened. We are still limping along in the race of faith because we have yet to throw off the sin that so easily entangles and the weights that hold us down.

How must it feel to run holding a heavy burden? You can’t run at your full capacity when you’re limping and dragging things behind you. But Jesus intends for us to live in freedom! For freedom, He set us free!

So what do we need to do? We need to, like Ehud, throw off the yoke of oppression! What does that mean, Levi? The yoke of oppression? Okay, noted-no yolks, right? Don’t even know what that means, right?

This is a heavy thing you would put on an ox that would keep two oxen in line! The devil wants to keep you in line! He wants to keep you under his thumb! If he can’t keep you from going to hell, he will do everything in his power to keep you from living for heaven!

He wants, when you get to paradise, for you to discover that you had a saved soul but a wasted life! You weren’t a threat to him! You weren’t delivering any other people! You weren’t enjoying the abundant joy that there is for you to enjoy in Christ!

So he wants to keep you living life with strongholds. Strongholds! What’s a stronghold? It’s a heavily fortified position that the enemy has, often within the borders of where God’s people live.

You will never experience the abundance that life can hold so long as you are content to live with a stronghold! How do strongholds get built? Because they take place in the highest ground in our lives, and that is our minds-our patterns of thinking, our habits, our subconscious involuntary decisions that we make without even thinking about it because we’ve been doing it so long!

Here’s how they happen: we hear a lie spoken over us so long, we start to believe it! Or we do an action or a sin or a gray area thing that opens a foothold up so many times that we basically turn it into an automated process.

Whereas it happens and plays out, we don’t even realize it’s even taking place in our lives anymore! And the worst mistake that we can make is to try and deal with this pull in the wrong direction!

Because that’s kind of what it is-it’s like if you’ve ever had your alignment off in your car where it just sort of drifts on its own when it’s not meant to go that way. That’s what it’s like to live with a stronghold.

You’re trying to walk with Jesus, but you just veer automatically and habitually! Some of you are like, «That makes sense! That language makes sense to me!» Because I want to walk with God, but I’m just not sensing myself moving towards Him, even though I’m trying. My wheels are turning, no doubt! There are some strongholds involved in your life.

And what the enemy tells us is if you appease the flesh, it will go away! Well, there’s this temptation-all you have to do is feed it! If you feed it, that’s why the text isn’t fat-shaming Eglon; it’s trying to help us see that our flesh will never be satisfied!

Our flesh will never be satisfied! He is a very fat man! He lived a life full of luxury! He will never say, «I’ve had enough!» He will continue to take from you and take from you! He’ll take from your marriage, he’ll take from your calling, he’ll take from your children, he’ll take from your family, he’ll take from our church!

He is ruthless, and he will get bigger and bigger and bigger like Jabba the Hutt and never say, «I’ve had enough!» An insatiable appetite who wants to get you conceived with temptation and pregnant with death!

You see what I’m saying? And then it’ll unfurl itself to its full and final height! And you’ll realize that you were toying with a serial killer! The only way the flesh is to be dealt with is the way Ehud dealt with it-a two-edged sword!

How many of you know where I’m going with this? The Word of God is living and powerful! It’s active! It’s sharper than a two-edged sword! The sword that proceeds from the mouth of Jesus-a two-edged sword!

Come on! The only way to deal with the flesh is to stick a sword through its belly so deep you can’t even see the handle anymore! That’s why, when Jesus had the devil coming at Him with lies, half-truths-which are full lies-He didn’t say, «Let’s just give in a little bit!»

He didn’t say, «Well, would you show me the view before I consider whether or not I’ll bow down and worship you? Would you tell me more about the fact that I won’t have to go to the cross, and I can have an easy way and I can have this nice, comfortable life and control? Would you tell me more about that?»

Well, «I’ll just give it a-I’ll just put a little toe in there! Well, you know, as long as I don’t cheat on my wife, then so what if there’s a little bit of an emotional attachment? I’m getting some validation from this person!»

You see what I’m saying? That’s just toying with it! That’s toying with it! Jesus said, «It is written!» Come on, somebody! «It is written!» This is what God said!

I’m not looking for nourishment from your little bread made out of your rocks! I’ve got every word that proceeds from the mouth of God! Come on! We’ve got to shove the sword into fat King Eglon’s belly so deep and so fast that you’re not even talking to the devil!

You’re letting Jesus do it! Yes! It is written! Let the word come from Jesus’s mouth and puncture the lies you’ve been absorbed in! Why? So we can walk in joy!

We’re reading as a church community through the New Testament this year. We’ve called the journey «Fit for the Fight.» We just started the book of Hebrews this week. In Hebrews chapter 1, there’s an interesting prophecy given about Jesus-it’s fascinating to me!

I don’t have it on the screen for you, but it’s been my marinating truth this week. I love what is said about Jesus-it’s a prophecy that says, «In Hebrews 1:9: You, Jesus, have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.»

One theologian said that what this verse actually means is Jesus is the happiest person who ever lived! The happiest person who ever lived! Why? Because He loved righteousness and hated lawlessness! His soul never knew any sorrow from personally sinning!

Every sorrow you’ve ever truly felt experienced is, in some way, connected to sin and suffering that it unleashes upon you. And because Jesus never gave in to Eglon but always stuck a sword through his belly before he could build any stronghold in his heart, mind, or life, Jesus was the happiest person who ever lived!

The devil is a liar! He whispers to you, «You’ll be happy if you do.» God says, «No, you’ll be happy when you don’t!» The oil will of gladness more than any of His other companions!

The true joy of the Lord comes from tearing down the enemy’s fortified positions in our minds and in our thoughts! When I was in Bible college, one teacher came visiting through and taught this text. He pointed out that in the King James Version, the word is «dirt.»

The sword went in Eglon’s belly until the dirt came out! The better translation would be «fecal matter.» But we’ll allow it because it’s pretty preaching! The sword goes in, he said, and the dirt comes out!

The sword goes in, and the dirt comes out! When the sword of the Spirit goes into our lives, the dirty, impure places get cleaned out, get taken out, get wiped out, get funneled out! Did not Jesus say, «This is John 17:17: Father, would you sanctify them by your truth? Your word is truth!»

So if we want to have clean lives, we must let our minds be purified daily and hourly by God’s word-the truth of God’s word, to confront the lies of this world.

Salvation! We have freedom! In Jesus' name, we have freedom! And then thirdly, we have compassion! This is my true identity! I’m not-You might think I’m Benjamin. I’m a son of the left hand, sucker! Right?

What does that mean? It means, «I can’t be worthless! I can’t be these things you’ve spoken over me, devil, because I get to walk in compassion!» We’re opened up to lives of compassion!

The enemy wants us to think only of ourselves, only of what we can take! But when we tap into the power of the cross, the healing power of Jesus’s left hand, we remember His mercy! We remember His compassion!

You know, there’s this interesting text that I’ve been, of course, reading about all the texts on Jesus’s left hand! In Matthew’s Gospel, verse 33 of chapter 25, it talks about the last day when every single person gets sorted-Heaven and Hell, friends!

And just as there are unending delights in the presence of God forever, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth in a Christless eternity! And He will set the sheep on His right hand but the goat on the left!

But what I just keep thinking as I hear Jesus praying on the cross is: «Lord, would you turn this goat into a sheep? Would you touch this person so they could join Your flock? Would you save them and set them free?»

I just keep asking God to re-break my heart for those who don’t know Him. I know the eating is so good in His house! It’s so wonderful to have a table set before us in the presence of our enemies and, «Oh wow! You anoint my head with oil!»

But I think it’s so easy to enjoy the perks of life saved that we forget about a lost world and the compassion that I hope will break our hearts and motivate us — that right now, now is when it’s decided! Sheep or goat-not then; then it’s too late!

Right now, while we walk amongst others, while we have the chance and the space to bring people into our homes and into our lives to share the love of Jesus with them-to see someone move from His left hand to His right hand!

Olivia was locked in a bathroom once-my daughter! We were in a hotel, and Lennox fiddled with something on the outside of the door and locked her in the bathroom.

She had gone into the bathroom wearing a towel. She was banging on the door for a long time before we realized from the other room-we had two connecting rooms-that she was locked in the bathroom.

We were embarrassed because we said, «We’ll get it open!» She was like, «Well hold on! I' ve been wearing the towel!» Only we’re going to call building maintenance at the hotel-that’s not a good plan!

We just stay in here! She said, «I’m fine here!» So this good-looking, young 25-year-old, buff guy with the tools comes and springs her out, and she just like, you know, thanks him and runs past.

I got her permission to tell that story, but I was just thinking about how crazy it would be for Olivia to ever hear of anybody else locked in the door and not have compassion for them.

The door from our captivity has been opened! Church, let’s live as sweet-spirited members of the flock, always shoving people over to make room for one more! Come on! There’s more room in this family! There are more seats at this table!

We don’t need to have the mentality that we got here first, so we’re better in any way! We want the world to know till everyone stranded in sin finds life and liberty in Christ Jesus! Compassion!

God, break our hearts for what breaks Yours! And then, and then fourthly-we’re going to end here-don’t miss it: we have a tactical position too!

What? In our left-handedness! In our left-handedness! And I’m using that as whatever area of your life is tempted to be despised by other people-of who you are! Right? In what people want you to think you need to change!

Ehud was easily overlooked! Someone would frisk him! He would get frisked! He knew he’d get frisked! But they assumed the TSA at Eglon’s palace would be lazy, and only frisk his left leg!

Because if you’re pulling an 18-inch long sword out of a sheath, you are not going to try to do a same-leg draw! You’re going to cross-draw! Could you imagine how easy it would be to get stuck right here?

So sheaths went on left legs, and leave it to government efficiency! They got so good at only patting down the left leg of anybody coming in that homeboy was able to just cruise right through with a grin on his face!

«Oh, pat me down! He offers his left leg. Yeah, what’s your name? Son of my right hand! Excellent! Just the left one will be necessary! Boys, move along! Move along! Move along!»

His left-handedness, which made him different and looked down upon, made him dangerous! And so does yours!

For God, 1 Corinthians 1:27 says He chooses the foolish things of the world! He loves left-handedness! And they might have been castigated throughout history, but actual left-handed people have done pretty well for themselves!

Ninety percent of America is not left-handed, and yet five of our last ten presidents were: Ford, Reagan, Bush Senior, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama! And not just in our country!

Let’s have some fun elsewhere! Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Isaac Newton-all left-handed! A disproportionate number of creative people, like Michelangelo, who painted the Sistine Chapel-left-handed!

And he left a little Easter egg, a little booya, on the ceiling in the Vatican when he had Adam reaching out for God the Father! Which hand of Adam is touching God the Father’s? The unclean hand! The unwanted hand! The offending hand!

He was sort of leaving a finger for the rest of the right-handed world painted on the ceiling! «What did you think I meant by that? I meant this one!»

One philosopher says it seems, hear me: all the decisive blows of history have been struck with the left hand! But not just the left hand in dominance, but also the left hand as a symbol!

Oh! We don’t even need to check that leg! You see what I’m saying? How about the disciples? Here’s a little boy with five loaves and two fishes! But what are they among so many?

Meanwhile, hey, the order is coming down from Peter: «Count all the men! Count all the men! Count all the men! What about the women and children? They don’t count! Count the men!»

Oh yeah, God counts what man discounts! Where did the food come from that day? From a little boy who didn’t even make it into the account!

It was a left-handed miracle! How about those who turned the world upside down and gave us our scriptures? They were left-handed, uncommon, untaught fishermen!

What’s the point? God selects what man rejects! And I’m going to close with this: When Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended to heaven-where did He go? Where did He go?

He went to Mark 16:19: the right hand of God! Now hold on! If I’m God the Father and Jesus comes to my right hand, what hand is Jesus holding His father’s hand with? And you’re in Christ! You’re in Christ!

God holds your left hand! God wants to use what makes you unique because He knows it also makes you exceptional! The world looks down on your left hand! It says unwanted, unlovable, stupid, lazy, dumb!

You know how God sees your right hand? He sees it like we see Rafael Nadal’s left hand! Look at this picture on the screen! This man has played tennis with his left hand for so long; look how disproportionately buff his left arm has become!

The world might see your left hand and not even think it needs to be frisked! Your situation, God goes, «It’s mighty for pulling down strongholds!»

Come on, somebody! In Jesus' name, mighty, mighty, mighty for pulling down strongholds! So, Father, we don’t try and pretend we’re not weak!

We come to You to make us strong! If this is the cry of your heart, come on, lift up a hand to God! Lift up your left hand to God! Lift up your hand and say, «God, make me strong! I trust You! I need You, God. There are strongholds that need to come down, so tear them down, Jesus! Tear them down with Your truth! Tear them down with Your life!»

You can put your hands down! If you’re here and you want to trust Jesus for salvation, do it right now! Say to God, «I need You!» Say to God, «Forgive me!» Say to God, «Cleanse me! Make me Yours! I believe Jesus died in my place and rose from the dead! I believe He’s coming again! I give my heart to You! I give You my life! In Jesus' name!»