John chapter 16. Many people in the room know your history and you know the history of General George Patton and probably one of the greatest generals in our American history. He started out in the Spanish-American War against Mexico and Pancho Villa and, sorry, and then went on into World War I and World War II. And probably one of the greatest illustrated things that we know of General Patton, obviously, is in World War II against those German forces. And yeah, they weren't real smart. Before he went to lead that US 3rd Army across the Rhine River into Germany, many know of this history that he gave the troops, a rousing speech that is really still talked about today. Now the speech wasn't in writing, it wasn't something that he had prepared, it was something that he gave just extemporaneous and just off the cuff there while he was trying to get the troops charged up and ready to go out into battle. And so there's not really much preserved except a few people that talked about it, the soldiers that were there and some of the notes they took down in this speech and some insights into this, his view of war and victory that no doubt historians have talked about over the years. And so at nearly 60 years of age, at nearly 60 years of age, General Patton, came into these troops and was getting them roused up and ready to go out and to go across the Rhine River and into this next battle that they were gonna go into. But here are some of the, a few takeaways from Patton's speech, right? Here's a few of the takeaways from his speech that you could somewhat outline a little bit of what came through history and what those that were there heard. Here's number one. America wins. This is what he said, America, Americans win that we are winners. And it's funny, we have a president now that says, we're going to win and we're going to win so much, you're going to get tired of winning. And it's going to get so you're going to get so tired of that. And I got to be honest, we haven't heard that in a long time, right? We have we've heard that we're terrible. We've heard that we're the worst. We've had presidents to go across the world and apologize for us. And so finally somebody came along the pike and said, hold on a minute, there's 9,000 gallons of US blood on Normandy alone. There's 9,000 graves in Normandy alone, okay? We have our issues, but most of Europe would be speaking German today if it wasn't for the United States of America. And we're winners, right? And we don't like to tolerate the losers and we despise cowards. We used to anyway, and they seem to find their way up through government now. And, but this was Patton's thing to get these, he's like, we're Americans and we are winners. He said, death is not to be feared. It comes to everybody, right? Fear is normal. But a real hero, he says, a real hero is one who fights even though he is scared. He fights even though he is scared. That is a hero. He said every soldier has a role to play. Every man, every man, he said in this military is a vital link in a great chain to victory. Everybody is needed. And he said this, in essence he said this, we don't hold our position. He said, we don't hold anything. He said, let the Germans do that. We advance. We move forward. I like that. He said, quote, our basic plan is to advance and to keep on advancing, regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. Boy, I like that. Boy, don't you think the soldiers were getting about ready to go out and fight? Amen. He said, this war is not pretty. It is not pretty. I remember Brother Russell Kline. Many of you remember Brother Russell Kline. Was he 92 when he passed away? A Vietnam veteran, Korean War veteran. He was my size, so we're good pals. And he spent 18 months in Korea in battle. And he told me one day, he said, Preacher, war is no good. It's no good. And he had seen it all. And listen, war is not pretty. It's bloody. It's a killing business. And you're going to have to... Patton tells these troops, you're going to have to spill their blood or else they're going to spill yours. Right? Do you remember we had a president running, who was still our president, remember the first time he ran? And they're like, oh, you shouldn't say this thing about Muslims and you shouldn't say... He's like, they're hacking our heads off. Why do I care? What do I think they're gonna take our heads off? You people are being ridiculous. And he's right. Listen, you're gonna, Patton told these men, you're gonna have to spill their blood or they're gonna spill yours. And war is not pretty. And he reminded them that they were a part of one of history's greatest endeavors. And what a speech that must have been. And so from August of 1944 to May of 1945, Patton's third army was in battle for 281 days. At that time, Patton and his men crossed over 24 major rivers. They captured 81,500 square miles of territory. They killed or captured 1.8 million German soldiers, six times the amount of U.S. soldiers that were even deployed. what a victory they had. And I think of the realm of human history this morning, as I think about the realm of human history, General George Patton was invaluable, invaluable to our victory over Germany, and from freeing Europe from Hitler. And he was right, we should have gone into Russia, and we should have done some other things, and they just kind of brushed them off, and it wasn't according to whatever they were trying to accomplish, it wasn't their plan. And he turned out to be right. And this is why the Philippines loves America to this day. When he said, we'll be back. And he was. We came back. And we rescued the Philippine Islands. And they're still to this day grateful to the United States. See, this is what a great commander does. A great commander gets in front of his troops, and he gives them the reason why they're there, and the purpose for why they're there, and the reason for the fear, and the fight, and the battle, and all of these things. And then he, watch, he goes out in front of them, and leads them into it, and he stays with them the entire time. And see, when I think of this, and I think of General Patton and things like this, I'm reminded this morning that we have a commander as well, amen? We absolutely do. Our commander is so great that if you really look at the principles of General Patton's speech, they sound awfully familiar to the commands and the principles given by our great commander. They really do. You know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about the captain of our salvation this morning. I'm talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our commander. He is our leader. He leads us into battle. He leads us on through this life, into a life of victory. No, not a bloody victory. God never calls for martyrdom. He never tells us, as the made up Allah does, Muslim nation to go out and to give yourself for Allah and you'll have all of these great things awaiting you in heaven and sadly many of them are going to give their lives for that and wake up in hell. Right? No, God doesn't say go out and do this. It comes and He warns us that it's going to come but Jesus our great commander is leading us into a victory of faith. He's leading into great spiritual victories which come out and board themselves out into great victories within our own life and in our families and all the things this way in the life that we're living. But see, Jesus came for one purpose. He came for one reason. He came to defeat sin and death. That was why he came, right? In mere hours from our text here in John chapter 16, Jesus is gonna be entering his final battle. He has set his face like a flint to Calvary. He is going ever, ever, day by day, ever closer and ever closer, ascending upward and onward to Calvary. Satan is doing everything to stop him. He is trying every way possible to keep him from Calvary. But can I tell you, there is no way that Satan can stop God. Let me say it again. There is no way that Satan can stop God. Listen, he can't stop God in your life, except you allow him to. He has no authority, he has no power, he has no ability, except what we allow him to have. And listen, it is a good thing to be reminded that Jesus, Jesus is always moving forward on his way here in our text to Calvary, but he's gonna be victorious in battle. He's gonna win the war. Satan is going to be defeated. And to this day, Satan is defeated and his end is set in eternity and it cannot be changed. One of these days, he's gonna be cast into the lake of fire and he will forever and ever and ever be chained and bound in the lake of fire. Death is gonna be swallowed up in victory, and it is even at this moment, death is swallowed up in victory. Paul said, oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory, right? It is not there, it is gone, right? It is just but a quick passing thing as we leave this life and are birthed into eternity where God has intended us to be with him. That is all we're going through. But even, listen, even though this war is going to be won by the Lord and is won by the Lord Jesus Christ, we still live on a day-to-day basis here. We're still living in people, I think as Vance Havner said, people are looking for the sweet by and by while we're living in the nasty now and now. We know we are. I mean, we have to live in this everyday life, and we have battles and things that we face of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and all of these things. And as Jesus is leaving here in John 16, and he's going on to Calvary, and eventually going back into heaven, Jesus is gonna leave his disciples behind to continue the work of bringing others to himself. Can I tell you that's why we're here today? That's why we're here. That's why he's left us here, why? Because the work that Jesus started is to continue until he comes back. This is why we're here. Brother Jim just read chapter 15, verses 11 through 27. Jesus has already given them the objective in their life. Here's the objective, are you ready? Bare fruit. Bare fruit. He's already given them the command that they're supposed to have, love one another. bear fruit, love one another. He's already given them the promise. He's promised them a place in heaven. How many remember John 14? He said, let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. He said, if it were not true, I would have told you. He said, I go away to prepare a place for you. And if I go away, I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. He's given them the promise that they have a prepared place in heaven, but he's also given them the warning of opposition. The world is going to hate you. And what's he doing? You know what our commander is doing this morning in this text? Our great commander, the greatest commander ever, he's preparing us for the battles that lie ahead of us in this life. He said, I'm going to go away and I'm going to leave the comforter who's going to give you all the power that you need to live this life. But listen, the world's going to hate you and you're going to have to fight on through it. No, we're not fighting against them. We're fighting against Satan. Amen. And we're trying to win them to Christ. But there's a battle that we have. And so in chapter 16 here, our great commander is preparing his disciples for battle. I've said this many times. Maybe it's been a while since I've said it, but many churches have left the battlefield and they've joined the Peace Corps. They've just quit fighting. They've quit fighting sin. They've just given in to it. And they've just let a bunch of hippie holdovers take over, right? And they're just running everything. Anyway, don't let me get going on that. That'll be sidetrack. But we absolutely have. Can I tell you this morning, we're in a battle. You're in a battle this morning. We are not in a war, but we're in a battle. The war's won, but we are still in battles. You know, after the Emancipation Proclamation, it was almost two years before war had finally got down to the southern parts of Texas, that the Civil War was over, and the battle was over, and everything was done. It was a couple years before all of that got squared away. sometimes battle rages on while wars are going. But no, listen, the war has been won ultimately in Jesus Christ, but we are in battles. Can I tell you this morning, Satan is real. I was talking to one of our missionaries that spent quite a bit of time in Africa and other places. And we got talking about some of the things that they see in the fields and some of the things you see outside of the United States. You see them in the United States, but not as much. And he said, I'll tell you, he goes, there's things I cannot tell my supporting churches because they will not believe me. They will not believe me. He said, I watched a girl levitate over a fire, go over the top of it and come and levitate right back down. He's real friend. No, we have this facade in America that candy coats everything and I think is even worse than that. It makes it look fun and just not a big deal, right? Can I tell you, your children should have nothing to do with Harry Potter and the demonic stuff. It's demonism, it absolutely is. You know, Satan started so cleverly with I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched and all these cute little shows and it was just magic and it was just all these things. Listen, friends, Satan is real. He is absolutely real. He is in the TV. He is in the movies. He's in the video games. He's in all the latest fads and styles and things like that. And just, I'm telling you, Christians, like sheep being led to the slaughter, just being dragged along in this stuff, and they're just ignorant. Paul said, we're not ignorant of his devices, yet we have a generation of Christians who are absolutely ignorant of Satan and his devices. And you're getting swallowed up. Yeah, how do you know? Well, look at them. They look like the world. They act like the world. They talk like the world. They go where the world goes. They have no victory in their life. They have nothing that looks like they have the joy of the Lord in their life. Why? Because they're just being oppressed and dragged along by the God of this world. He's real, man, he is real. Remember when Elijah was there, I think it was Gehazi, and he said, what are we gonna do? Look at the enemy. And he said, there's more that be with us than be with them. He's like, what are you talking about? Lord opened his eyes, and he opened his eyes, and there's a host of angels along that hillside. He was like, okay, we're good. We're all right. Can I tell you, he is real. He's real. Evil is real. Satan hates God. Can I remind you of that? And because he hates God, he hates you. He hates you. Don't ever forget that. It's so easy. The world makes it look like, and Satan makes it look like he's just real easy to get along with. But listen, his motives are not the same as yours. He wants to destroy you. Jesus explained it when he talked to Peter, and he says, Peter, you need to know that Satan desires to sift you as weed. He wants to destroy your life. And he tried, and he did a pretty good job at it, didn't he? Do you think you're any greater than Peter who walked with Jesus for three and a half years, who saw the miracles, who listened to the lessons, who heard his voice, who knew his touch, who was that close to the Lord Jesus? And Satan was still able to come right in and just thrash him like the wheat going off everywhere. He's like a little rag doll. He's real. Look what he did to Job. Look what God allowed him to do to Job. Can I tell you if God would allow it, he would do it to everybody in this room. And if he was allowed to, God said, you can do everything, but you can't take up his life. What's that mean? That Satan would have taken his life if he could have. Satan would love to leave God without any children on this planet. He'd love it. Yeah, he'd just take over. It'd be like rats infesting the place. Oh, he would love no witness here. He would love it. He would love it. See, Satan's goal is to make you ineffective, and it's make me ineffective. Luke 22 and verse 31, the Lord said, and I just read this to you, Simon, Simon, right? Satan hath the desire to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. Ineffective, ineffective, yeah. See, our soul is secure in Christ, but I'm telling you, our life is open game to Satan. And if we allow him, we've got to be so careful. People say, oh, you're so legalistic and you put up so many walls and you live certain ways in your life. Fine, go ahead and destroy your life. See how that goes. Can I tell you, there is a litany of people behind you and behind me that have allowed Satan to destroy their life for Christ. And can I tell you, there is no joy in their life. There is misery, there is regret, there is ineffectiveness, there is no joy of accomplishing anything for Christ. And yes, they are a child of God if they're born again, and yes, they're going to heaven, but I'm telling you, they're on their way to heaven in the most defeated way you could go. I don't know about you. Hey, listen, I'm just as human as anybody else, and I have just as many problems as anybody else, but I want a more glorious entrance, friend. I want to go in victory, and as much victory as is possible, amen? And I'm telling you, listen, Satan desires, he desires to make your life ineffective for Christ. One of Satan's greatest draws is this world. Listen to these two verses, would you please? Over in Colossians 4.14, Luke, the beloved physician, the greeting, Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you. Luke and Demas, Demas is in the ministry. He's going with Paul, with Luke, and all of them. He's in the ministry there. But by 2 Timothy chapter four, by the time Paul writes his very last letter that ever writes, and he writes it to Timothy, he says these sad, sad words, for Demas hath forsaken me. Having loved this present world. Why did he leave? Was it just physical? Did he get sick? No, he just loved the world. He loved the world. He said, he has forsaken me and has departed unto Thessalonica. What a word, forsake. Forsake, right. He forsook the Lord. He absolutely did. This is why we're reminded in 1 John 2.15, to love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. Listen, for if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Wow. You're not abiding in that love. See, watch what Satan does. Satan draws us with the world and he draws us into the world so that he can draw us away from reaching the world. He draws us with the world to draw us into the world so he can draw us away from reaching the world. Can I tell you this? I mean, you can see it in Lot's life. What did he do? He pitched that tent towards Sodom. The lights of Sodom and Gomorrah were calling Lot and they looked inviting and exciting. And all he did was point that tent there. And it was just, he wasn't there, but it was pointed there. But I can tell you, he got, listen, he got to where he was pointed. He got the destination ended exactly where he was pointing it. And when he got in there, can I tell you, he did nothing. He did nothing in his life for Sodom and Gomorrah. I have never seen an overtly worldly Christian who is a great soul winner. I have never seen a worldly Christian who is a soul winner. Tell me this, who did Lot rescue? Who did Lot rescue from Sodom and Gomorrah? He didn't rescue anybody. No one. The angel had to drag him out. Actually, when he went to his in-laws, his son-in-laws and his daughters, and told them, they mocked him and laughed at him. Why would they do that? They obviously hadn't heard anything about it before. This was some new thing that was weird, and they just mocked him. God help us. God help us. If we bring somebody a witness of Christ, and they go, where'd that come from? Can I tell you, you know you're too deep into the world. I know the world's gonna mock, I know that, but you know you're too deep in the world when your testimony of warning doesn't match your life. And they go, that's weird. We are in a battle. It is Satan's goal to make us ineffective. Satan's greatest weapon, I believe, for a child of God is the draw of this world. So notice how Jesus prepares his disciples for the battle. Look at verse one of chapter 16. These things, these things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. Now people do get offended at the silliest things, do they not? Right? Listen to what one writer said. I wrote this down. Most of all, I find myself positively dazzled by the dexterity and athleticism with which we get offended. I mean, people go out of their way. They will twist and contort their bodies in the most strangest ways just so they can get offended at something, right? He said, we can juggle six or seven outrages all at once and then drop them and pick up a new one at the blink of an eye. I mean, that is so true, is it not? Yeah. Can I tell you this, this type of, this problem of offensing, being offended, it creeps its way into churches. It comes its way into churches, right? Well, I wasn't asked to pray. I wasn't asked to pray. The pastor took down a bulletin board that I was gonna decorate, even though the pastor didn't know that they were gonna decorate it, nor was he ever told that they were gonna decorate it. But anyway, that was one way to be offended, right? That was a little personal, wasn't it? Yeah, that was a long time ago, a long time ago. Nobody came and saw me in the hospital, even though nobody even knew you were in the hospital. I don't know how that's supposed to work, but boy, that was an offense, right? That was an offense, right? You made a non-theological joke that I didn't think was theological. Goodbye. People get offended at the craziest stuff. They absolutely do. By the smallest things. And they leave and they never come back. They'll find something else. You know what I've learned? Those of you who are pastors and have been pastors and missionaries, you know what I've learned? The reason why people leave is never the reason why people leave. Never is. But did you know this word here, offended, does not mean what I just described. You said, you took all that time? Well, there's still a point there. We don't want to be offended. We're always looking to be offended at something, right? But this word here, offend, means to put a stumbling block or an impediment in the way upon which somebody else may trip or fall. An offense. The first thing our commander tells his disciples and he tells us today is to watch out so we don't get tripped up while we're going into the battle. No, there's nothing worse, I would assume. I've never been in that type of a battle. Well, I've been in battles, so you know, on the 4th of July, we had our own fireworks battles, and those were awesome, and somebody always got severely hurt, and that was always fun, and I don't know why, but it's a guy thing. But I mean, but when you're running after somebody with that Roman candle lit, and you're running as fast as you can, boom, boom, boom, you know, trying to get them, I mean, you don't want to trip over anything. It's not good to trip. and to find a stumbling block there, because they're gonna turn around and you're dead. And so you don't wanna do that at all. This word offended, to get tripped up. We don't wanna get tripped up in the battle. We don't wanna get, listen, we have a battle that we're in today, that you and I are in today. We are fighting for a victory for our great commander. And the last thing I wanna do, and I think the last thing you wanna do is to get so tripped up that we're carted out of the battle. and injured and things like that. Notice these words here. Look at the two words here, these things. See that word things? It's over in chapter 15. It's the things that brother Jim read for us. These things in chapter 15, if they are not implemented in your life, they will cause you to fall and stumble. Implement what? Well, you gotta love one another. Yeah. You've got to love God. You've got to love people, right? You've got to love. You've got to be ready and know that the world is going to hate you. You've got to know these things. You've got to bear fruit, right? These are these things. Listen, you've got a prepared place in heaven. You've got to remember that. You've got a destination and a purpose. You need to remember these things. Listen, the commander is telling these things. If you will remember these things, It's less likely that you're gonna have something that's gonna trip you up. What are we doing? You're keeping, watch, you're keeping a singular focus on eternity. You're keeping a singular purpose on your, singular view on your purpose of why you're here. Listen, we're not here for us, we're here for him. Yeah, absolutely. You wanna know what gets people out of the fight? Real simply, they just quit abiding in the vine. Yeah. I'm the vine, you're the branches, Jesus said. In the beginning of chapter 15, he says, without me, ye can do nothing. Nothing. You don't know where stumbling's gonna come. You don't know where an offensive's gonna come in your life when you stop abiding in Jesus Christ. I don't have to take time to explain to you this morning that that's not, speaking of salvation, it's talking about abiding, it's talking about fruit bearing, not of being in Christ and saved. But quit abiding in the vine. How do you quit abiding? Well, just stop reading your Bible. Stop obeying. Stop walking in the Spirit. Stop loving your brother. Stop praying. No, go ahead, quit all of those things. You're not abiding in Christ. You know what happens when you're not abiding? The fruitfulness stops. Listen, all of these things that Satan brings will be a stumbling block and a fence in your life, and it's going to trip you up. You're going to die on the vine. You're gonna shrivel up and die on the vine when you're not abiding in Christ. You know what else gets people out of the fight? Not only just when they stop abiding in the vine, but when they, because of the lack of abiding in the vine, is they quit bearing fruit. I'm telling you, you know what's gonna happen? You stop abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ, soul winning goes away. Yep, it absolutely, listen, that's the purpose of what we're here for. To seek and to save that which is lost, amen. You stop loving one another, you stop forgiving, right? You forget that persecution comes to those that serve God. These are things that gets people out of the fight, right? Fruit bearing and loving one another. Hey, listen, we were commanded to love one another. You say, well, they just really irritate me. Forgive them. Well, I don't want to. Well, you are out of the will of God and you're not right with God. And you will never find the joy and the victory you're looking for until you get that right. Well, you don't know what they did. Well, what have you done? Well, you don't know the depth of what they did. I understand that. And I don't know the depths of some of the things that people have done. All I know is this, is that Jesus has commanded us to forgive, to love one another, and to forgive one another. And if he has commanded it, it needs to be done. If he has commanded it, it can be done. So Jesus warned his disciples that rejecting all of these things that should be in the life of a believer will manifest that that soldier of Jesus Christ has gotten out of the battle. You wanna know how people are taken out of the fight? Look at verse two. They shall put you in the synagogues, yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. You'd be surprised how many people get out of the battle just because of opposition. Rejection from a peer group. It might have been a peer group shouldn't have had in the first place. Yeah. See, in Israel at this time, the synagogue was their life. It was their livelihood. Hey, when they were put out of the synagogue, they lost a living, they lost status, they lost anything that might have helped their life become easier and go up. They lost family and relationships. Jesus told them, listen, they're gonna put you out of the synagogue. And I'm telling you, this is gonna be one of the things that would be a great offense to you in being victorious as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. is the opposition that you're gonna find from those that you love the most and you respect the most. The synagogue was her lifeline. It'd be like somebody, a mason within the Masonic Lodge getting kicked out. I mean, to many of those guys, it's their lifeline. It'd be like a Mormon being thrown out of a Mormon church. I mean, that's their lifeline. A lot of them, that's their connection business-wise. To a lot of them, that's their family and everything else that they got put out of that. And they lose everything. They lose everything. Can I tell you, sometimes all that Satan needs to do is to threaten rejection from your peer group to get a soldier out of the fight. Mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle. Just a little bit of opposition. I think that's why Jesus said you gotta hate your father and your mother and your sister and brother. And if you're gonna be my disciple, you're gonna have to do these things and follow me. What's that mean? Do I gotta walk around with hatred in my heart towards them? Obviously not, it doesn't mean hatred in your heart, because Jesus told us we're not supposed to have hatred in our heart towards one another. What does that mean? Well, it means that our first line of obedience is to Jesus Christ above anybody and everything else. And what's that gonna prove? It's gonna prove that, it's gonna show that you love them more than you love those others. There's a young man, he called me a while back and he had a question for me. He had a family member that got saved and he was so happy for him. And it came that that family member was going to get baptized, but he was gonna get baptized by another family member who was a pastor of a church that was not scriptural. He had been taught, he grew up in this. And he said, should I go to the baptism? I said, I'm not going to tell you what to do. You're going to pray about that. Now I could. I could have told him what to do. And anyway, it was a while later, I talked to him. I said, so what'd you figure out? He goes, I'm not going. I said, really? No. Now granted, this entire family is this one church group, right? It's all he's ever grown up in. It's all he ever knew. He says, everybody, everybody. He said, I'm not going. I was like, OK. Talked to him a while later. How'd that go? My grandfather called me. He was the preacher. Oh, how'd that go? Actually, it was really good, because he had a lot of questions. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Yeah. Just obey. See, Satan is going to do anything to get you out of a battle. And he'll bring up opposition. He'll bring up all these. But I'm telling you, family, friends, siblings, they are the strongest avenue of opposition to our obedience to Christ. But other times it is the fear of physical harm. Look at verse 2 again. They are going to kill you. We don't really understand some of this in the U.S. now or yet. But you know in North Korea Christians are imprisoned in labor camps if they find it out. Do you know in Afghanistan they don't recognize any of their citizens as Christians? We don't have any Christians here. Well you do but you probably kill them. In Sudan the government has ordered all of the churches to be demolished. In Pakistan Christians are on death row for the crime of blasphemy. We've seen recently in Nigeria the slaughter that's taking place among Christians. I mean children and women it doesn't matter. I've unfortunately had some of the videos come up and I've seen some of those and it's vile and it's ruthless and these people are not denying Jesus Christ. Jesus said, hey, there's gonna be some opposition, come one of it's gonna be your very life. Rejection and persecution are a pretty effective way to get a Christian out of the fight. And can I tell you, I don't wanna be, I'm not coming across as prophetic, because I don't know, because things can change. But I really do believe more is coming in our nation from Islam. Have you watched the new mayor of New York City? He will attempt Sharia law. And listen, they have infiltrated the US for so long. Have you seen some of the marches already? Dearborn, Michigan, 40,000 of them came out in Dearborn, Michigan. 40,000 for some festival thing they were doing. 40,000 of them. New York City and Times Square, even just this week, they have littered all of Times Square with their prayers and their things and they're just taking up the streets. They've been empowered now. They've been empowered to come out. I mean, and this is what they've always done. This is what they did to Germany to Prussia. I mean they took over that area within a few hundred years. It was all Islamic. This is what they did to Iran. They infiltrated into Iran and eventually took over. Friend, there are 56 Muslim countries in the world and why are they coming to Western Europe and the United States? They can go anywhere, these asylum seekers, because they have a plan. They do. I think more is coming. I think more persecution is coming. They are already attacking the police. I saw something the other day. They went after Mamdani. He said the police need to be defunded. They are already coming out fighting against the police. I mean it was an awful thing. They feel empowered about this. Wait until there is another million more of them. My question is what are you going to do when they come against you for your faith in Christ and say, no it is Sharia law now? It's like come on this is America. Hey, friend nations rise and fall. They absolutely do. And Satan knows, he knows how to get people out of the battle. He absolutely does. Verse 2 says they're going to do it because they think they're doing what's right. Paul believed, he said, I did it in ignorance. He said, I thought I was serving God. There are people out there, they really believe they're serving their God. They think they're doing what's right. They believe what they're doing is right. Yeah. So here it is, persecution and the threat of persecution is a stumbling block that Satan uses to keep us out of battle. You know when he's been successful? When you found out you've stopped abiding in the vine. When you've realized you've not really been bearing much fruit. When's the last time you left a tract with somebody? When's the last time you had an open conversation with somebody at the gospel? When's the last time you sat with somebody and prayed with them as they called upon the Lord? Yeah. That's fruit bearing. Abiding in the vine. Fruit bearing. Not loving one another. You've been offended. Now you've retreated from the battle. Can I tell you something this morning? Do you know you can get back in the fight? It's a great military. In the U.S. military you go AWOL and back in the day you get hung. You leave like that Bo Bergdahl did and left for five years and put on all his Islamic garb and came back and go, oh yeah, I was just weird and crazy. No, you were a deserter and you should have been hung. But you know what I'm thinking about in God's army? You can always get back in the fight. There's always forgiveness. There's always restoration. Can I tell you a Samson did fight again? Can I tell you this morning, David did fight again. Can I tell you this morning, Peter did get up and fight again. I mean, he denied the Lord Jesus three times and I don't know how low you could go. I mean, it was bad enough while Jesus was dealing with everything that he was dealing with at Caiaphas' house and they'd been pounding on his face and beating him up and mocking him and jeering him. It was at Caiaphas' house that the cock finally crowed that third time. That second time when Peter denied him the third time. And the Bible says that Jesus turned and looked at Peter. But you know what? You get to the day of Pentecost and what's he doing? He's preaching. 3,000 get saved. What's that fruit? Praise the Lord. Can I tell you this morning, you can fight again. You absolutely can. How do you get back in the fight? Well, the best thing to do to begin is go to your commander and let him know you've been AWOL. That's a good place to start, amen? Go to the commander, go to our commander and just say, hey, listen, I have been AWOL, I have been tripped up, I have stumbled, I have gotten sidetracked, the world has gotten ahold of me, family has gotten ahold of me, such and such, whatever it is has gotten ahold of me, and I have gotten tripped up, and I know I've got to get back in the fight. You can go there, you can go right back to him. Aren't you glad, 1 John 1, 9? We know that if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen. Jesus made that beautiful picture with the prodigal son as the father waiting and waiting and waiting for the son to return. Can I tell you, He waits for you and I. What a beautiful thought. You can get back into the battle. You can get back. Go to Him. Go to Him. Secondly, get back to abiding in the vine. Just return to a heart of obedience. return to walking in the spirit, return to living in the word of God, return to loving your brother, get some things, and thirdly, go seek the lost. Go seek the lost. And listen, every time a soul comes to Jesus Christ, Satan loses another one. Amen. He does. What are you, a bunch of Calvinists? Do you not believe that? Come on, friend. They have a free will. You say, well, if I don't get them, somebody will. Well, fine, what does that say about your heart? May God create in us a heart and a desire to win the lost. I love the testimony of the household of Stephanas in 1 Corinthians 16, 15. And Paul said, I beseech you, brethren, you know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. Can I tell you this morning, this is the best addiction anybody can have. Absolutely. Addict yourselves to the ministry of the saints. If you do have an addiction this morning, can I tell you, you need to replace it. And the only thing you should replace any addiction with, whether it is alcohol, whether it is tobacco, whether it is pornography, whether it is drugs or whatever it may be, every one of them should be got out of your life and replaced with the addiction to the ministry. And I'll tell you what, you'll find out that you won't find seven other demons coming in to fill the void spot that you've cleaned out. that house of Stephanas was abiding in the vine. And they were so intent to bringing souls to Christ that it was like an addiction. They just had to win another one, and win another one, and go find another one, and find somebody else. They went to work preaching the gospel and speaking of Jesus. They went to their day. Oh, you don't have to be a pastor. You don't have to be a missionary. You don't have to be an evangelist. You don't have to be any of these ministry things. It's for everybody. It's for all of his sheep. I don't have to tell you this morning that America's kind of dark. I've already gone on a tangent about this Muslim communist elected in New York City, and that is just factual statement. Muslim communist. The new governor of Virginia who believes abortion is okay up to birth. I'm sorry, you don't get more sick and vile and wicked and twisted than that. There's a couple on a college campus recently, a younger college-age guy and girl, or it was a single guy, and he was doing a survey to sign a petition. It was kind of a fake thing just to show where people are. And he said, here's this video. Look what people are doing to these puppies. They're taking puppies out of its mother, dismembering them, and then just throwing them in the trash. And these two kids are like, huh? And they're like, would you sign this petition? Well, yeah. To stop puppies being dragged out of their mom and dismembered? Absolutely. He goes, well, let me show you this one here. This was just over here. Here's a human baby. They're doing the same thing to it. Can you believe it? It has a video of a partial birth abortion. Can you believe this? Would you sign the petition? They said, no. They said, you don't care about the baby? They're like, no. He says, why not? He goes, well, puppies are cuter while they're walking away. Oh, go ahead, send your kids to the campuses. It's great. It's great for them. Yeah. Fred, we're in a mess. We are absolutely in a mess. We have these once solid Baptist churches. are today given into this neo-evangelical path of infiltrating instead of separating. Oh, we don't wanna separate, even though all of the word of God is about his children separating from the world, we think we have a better way. We're gonna infiltrate and be like them so we can win them. It has never worked. It has never worked. No, we have, we have churches full of goats. And you got pastors trying to accommodate goats to make a church just like how the goats want it. It doesn't work. It has never worked. And the people who supposedly have all of the answers don't really have the answers. They really don't. They're wringing their hands wondering, what do we do? What do we do? What do we do? It's guns, it's video games, it's parenting, it's education, it's Trump, they're all the problem. No, it's Jesus. It is Jesus Christ that's missing, right? That's the problem. All of these things are a byproduct of the problem, and the problem is Christians in America have really quit seeking the lost like they used to. If you tell people you still knock doors, other Christians, they go, huh. They think that's, oh, isn't that cute? Isn't that funny? I don't know, Jesus just said, go out in the highways and the hedges and compel them to come in. He sent his disciples out two by two to go out and to preach the gospel. I don't know, maybe we're just trying to do what Jesus told us to do. We're not the best at it, we can be better at it, but good grief, at least we're not chucking it out. Well, I do not like where our country's got. Well, maybe because the soldiers of Jesus Christ have just got tripped up and got out of the battle. Yeah. Hey, listen, our world does not need gun reform. It does not need tolerance training. It does not need more education. The world needs more of Jesus Christ. That's exactly what it needs. Yeah. So these things have I spoken unto you. that you should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogue, yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember This is what we're doing this morning, we're remembering. That I told you of them. And that these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you ask of me whither goest thou. But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Jesus was preparing his disciples for his leaving. And he says, this is how you're successful in war and in this life. And this is how you're successful as a child of God and as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. This is where victory is found. Remember what I told you. Remember all the opposition. Remember what you're supposed to do. And if you've gotten out of the battle, just get back in. Just get back in. Can I tell you there are Christians that have been sitting on their hands long enough and some of those may be you. Will you, will you get back into a fight today? I'm thankful there are some this morning that are still in the fight. They haven't left. But can I remind you and help you and warn you that you need to stay close to God to remain in the fight? Because the pull never stops. The world will never stop enticing. Satan will never stop pulling you in. He never gives up. He never gives in. And those of you that are in the fight today, can I tell you? Oh, just stay right there. Just don't move. Don't move. Remember what Jesus said. See the point, listen very closely. The point of staying in the battle. is not the creation of some Christian utopia. It's not gonna happen. Jesus will rule and reign, right, for a millennium, for a thousand years, but that's not now, right? The point of staying in the fight is our love and loyalty to the captain of our salvation, yeah, and his will and his desire, yeah, and what he wants and what he wants us to do for him. He's done a lot for you, hasn't he? Listen, if he's done nothing in your life, if you said he's done not a thing, well go ahead and write a circle around this. You're not going to hell. You're not going to hell. He's done so much. He's done so much. Here's all he asks. Here's all I want. Would you just go ahead and fight and battle and preach the gospel and bring people to me? It's gonna be hard, but I'm gonna give the indwelling Holy Spirit, and he's gonna be all the power that you need. And listen, don't get offended. Don't get offended. Don't let anything make you stumble. Get your eyes off the world. It's not gonna help you. It's gonna hurt you in more ways than you will ever know until it's too late, then you realize, wow, and some of this might not be repairable. and just do what I've asked you to do. It's possible there's some that are not in the fight because they're not in Christ. Listen, you need to be saved today. You need to be saved. Jesus has won the war, it's over. You need to either join the winning side, yeah, or you can stay on the losing side. And the end of the losing side, friend, is not good. And we know that. Our Father, yes, we live in a dark time. We really do. By our American standards, not by necessarily the standards of maybe some other nations, but we do from where we used to be. And Lord, you've called us to fight. You've called us to preach the gospel. You've called us to battle. You've called us, as Paul said, to be a good soldier of Jesus, to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Lord, so many have left the battlefield. So many have been sucked in by the world. And Lord, I don't think there's a person in this room that really wants to just be swallowed up by the world and the flesh and the devil. I think the majority of saints that are born again in this room really do want to be victorious. But it is possible, Father, that maybe there's some that have been kind of drawn away and tripped up and made to stumble. Maybe a shot's been fired by Satan that has been effective, and they're wounded, and they need to come to you today, and they need to be healed up, and they need to be put back in the fight. Lord, whatever the need is today, I pray your Holy Spirit would do that work in our hearts to encourage us, to strengthen us, to help us to continue on, to help us live a victorious life. God, because you're worthy. You are worthy of everything that we do for you. Lord, you're worthy. And we thank you for what you've done for us. Lord, would you help us do what you'd want us to do for you? In Jesus' name, amen. Why don't you stand this morning? Invitation is open. The piano's gonna play. Maybe you're in the fight today and you just want to ask the Lord to help you to stay. You come today. Listen, the invitation's open. You need to come pray. You need to come get alone with the Lord. You need to come today. There may be some that just say, listen, I know, I know I've gotten a little sideways. I've been hit by the enemy. The artillery has got me. I'm wounded this morning. I am wounded. And I really do want to be put back in the fight. And you just need to come and ask the Lord, would you do a work in me? Whatever the bitterness is, whatever the anger is, whatever the draw of the world is, whatever the vice is, whatever it is that has caused you to stumble, you need to come to the commander today and ask him, would you heal me up this morning? I want to be back in the fight. and I want to get back where you want me. Would you do that? I want to get back to faithfulness. I want to get back to obedience to you. I want to get back to faithfulness to your word and faithfulness to the house of God and faithfulness to soul winning and faithfulness to prayer and intercession and interceding prayer for others. I need to get back to loving my brothers and sisters in Christ. I need to get back to dropping this bitterness and this anger and things like that. It's destroying you. Do you remember that victory of Patton in Germany? 1.8 million Germans they removed from the battlefield, which was six times the amount of the US Army that he had with him, six times. What a beautiful reminder for us this morning. Now listen, Crimson Avenue Baptist Church doesn't have to be overflowing with people to do six times the amount of work than we have here with us today. You know what all that God needs? All He needs is a whole legion of soldiers that are just sold out and ready to move forward and do what He's called them to do. It needs everybody. Everybody. Everybody's needed.