Nehemiah chapter 4 and we looked if you notice at the first six verses that is for sure and I want to take just for a few moments and just review the first lesson we learned of course what it must be understood that Defense was not for weaklings because Sanballat, of course, accused them of being weaklings. Secondly, self-defense and biblical defense also mandates character and courage to see the work through. And of course, we talked about that in Luke chapter 14 from our Lord. And I want to just point something out in light of that. I never mentioned it earlier, but when I'm saying that It requires character and courage. There's an old saying that Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to put all the time. And when I was in the university, you would have all these sayings everywhere. You saw them every day that you went around. And one of them was this. You can borrow brains, but you can't borrow character. You can borrow brains, but you can't borrow character. So that means this. I may not know a lot of, say, medical knowledge. But if I can get in Tony's mind and get him to teach me some things, as long as I have the character to put them in application and to bring them through, then I've got it made. But if I don't have the character to apply knowledge, No amount of knowledge is going to do me any good whatsoever. So you can borrow brains, but you can't borrow character. The third principle is defense requires sacrifice, and you have to be willing to sacrifice. And Alice, Annie is up here. So. All right. And of course, the fourth principle, of course, it requires dedication and determination. And the fifth principle is we cannot give in to ridicule. We cannot give in to mockery. We must do what needs to be done. Now, I want you to look, if you would, please, in verse 9 of Nehemiah chapter 4. Because I very quickly want to give you seven defensive mandates. And this may surprise you, but the very first defensive mandate is prayer. Look in verse 9, Nehemiah said, Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto God and set a watch against them day and night because of them. Why in the world would prayer be our first defensive mandate? And the answer is, because if the Lord does not protect us, then we are not protected. It's just that simple. You remember the Bible says in Psalm 66 in verse 9, it is God who holds our soul in life. And then in Psalm 31 in verse 15, David said, my times are in thy hands. And certainly, our times are in God's hands. He does hold our soul in life. And David, once again, said in Psalm 127, in verse 1, Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. And except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. So, if you would read through the book of Psalms, and just kind of take note of the fact, how many times David says, the Lord is my defense. Or, the Lord is my fortress. Or the Lord is my rock. Or the Lord is my high place. And all of these terms refer to the very defensiveness of God for His people, that is for sure. Our ultimate protection is not in our weaponry. It's not in our preparations. It's not in our abilities. Our ultimate protection is in God Himself. And I won't get to preach another message today that I really wanted to, but let me just put it to you like this to show you I can be as prepared as I could possibly ever be. But if let's suppose I've got a weapon in every corner of my bedroom. a weapon laying on my nightstand, a weapon under my pillow, guess what? If someone breaks into my house with the intent on murdering me and my wife, if God does not awaken me in time, all of those weapons are useless. Or if I do wake up and I'm unable to shoot straight, they're still useless. You follow me? So our protection ultimately has to be of God and God alone. That is why The Bible says it like this in Proverbs 21 and verse 31. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. So prayer for safety and deliverance is relying upon God, it's trusting in God, and it's recognizing His sovereignty and His providence. So just like I went and preached yesterday in Milan, which was two to three hours away, I asked the Lord for safe travels there and safe travels back. I realized he must protect, and certainly that is true. And David prayed many prayers, and you will find a lot of them in the book of Psalms. In Psalm 34 and verse four, he said, I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all of my fears. And then in Psalm 66 and verse 19, he's, but verily God hath heard me. He has attended of the voice of my prayers. Now I want to show you how this works together. I want you to hold Nehemiah chapter four, but if you would turn back in your Bibles to second Chronicles chapter 13, second Chronicles chapter 13, first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, and then 1 and 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 13. Now in this chapter, there was a war between Israel and Judah. It's amazing how the Northern Kingdom often fought against the Southern Kingdom as well. Israel had fallen into idolatry in worshipping the golden calves that Jeroboam had built. Jeroboam, the king of Israel, came against Abijah, who was the king of Judah. So if you look in 2 Chronicles 13, verse 3, Now watch this, and Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even 400,000 chosen men. So Judah has 400,000 men. Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with 800,000 men, chosen men being mighty men of valor. So Judah now is outnumbered two to one. Just stop and think about this. Seemingly, Judah is going to be overrun. They're going to be devastated. But although Judah was outnumbered two to one, yet the Bible tells us Judah prevailed and won the battle. And I might say it was a very decisive battle because they literally slaughtered the Israelites. If you look in verse 17, look at this. Verse 17, I think it is. It's the wrong number, wrong verse. Let's see. What number, what verse do I want? Should be 17. Is it 17? Yes. Well, I'm in the wrong. I'm in the wrong. Okay. 2 Chronicles 13. Yeah, I'm in 2 Chronicles. 11. Chapter 13. All right, that's fine. I didn't turn over. 2 Chronicles 13, verse 17, And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter. So there fell down slain of Israel 500,000 chosen men. Can you imagine going out to battle with 800,000 men and having 500,000 of them slain? Here's the question. Why did Judah prevail? Well, if you'll look in verse 18, thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time and the children of Judah prevailed. Why? Because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. In other words, they had prayed, they relied upon God. Trust in the Lord and relying upon him means that He is your protection. And by the way, let me point this out too. Trusting in the Lord and relying upon Him does not mean that you do not have to fight. They had to fight. But at the same time, they were trusting Him and looking to Him for victory. You're not trusting in your flesh. You're not trusting in your abilities. You're trusting in Him. Let me give you a quote by Adam Clark. He said this, The strongest confidence in the protection and favor of God does not preclude the use of all or any of the means of self-preservation and defense, which His providence has put in our power. While God works in us to will and to do, we should proceed to willing through the power He has given us to will, and we should proceed to action through the power He has given us to act. We cannot will but through God's power. We cannot act but through God's strength. The power and the use of it are two distinct things. We may have the power to will and not will. We may have the power to do and not act. Therefore, says the apostle, seeing God is wrought in you these powers, you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now, he's not saying you have to save yourself, but he's saying you have to do what God has put in you. And if God puts it in you, then you should bring it out. That is for sure. So prayer then is absolutely mandatory in defense. I don't know about you, but if I'm in trouble, I'm going to be praying and I'm certainly going to be praying if somebody is shooting at me or somebody trying to attack my family. So the very first biblical mandate for self-defense is prayer. The second biblical mandate for defense, is situational awareness. Situational awareness. Now I want you to look back, if you would, in Nehemiah chapter 4, and look what he said. He said this, I've got Nehemiah chapter 4, and he says, nevertheless we made our prayer unto God, verse 9, and set a watch against them, That is situational awareness. Here we set a watch against them. They not only prayed, they actually acted. They ended up setting a watch. Now, although they trusted in God for deliverance, that does not mean that they did not have to pay attention. That did not mean that they did not have to be aware of their surroundings. Our Lord told his disciples in Matthew chapter 26 in verse 41, watch and pray. that you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. So he says, watch and pray. You not only pray, but you also act. And I want you to notice something else in verse nine. He says, nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night because of them. In other words, they said, we're not going to be caught by surprise. We're going to have sentries on duty day and night. We're going to be aware of our situation. And I'm much afraid today that most people are so easily caught off guard and so easily surprised because most of us do not have situational awareness. How many times do we pull up to a convenience store and park and just walk in? We never look around in the parking lot. We never look around inside the store before we go in. We don't do that with banks. We don't do that with motels. We don't do that with anything because we're not aware of our surroundings. I watched, it was on the internet, of a woman walking by, working on her phone, and stepped into an open manhole. I mean, how in the world do people not kill themselves. No one hardly is paying any attention whatsoever. I mentioned earlier cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two contradictory beliefs at the same time. You say, what in the world are you talking about? Well, let me give you an illustration. You could say, Brother Weaver, I believe everything you've taught today. You've showed me scripture after scripture after scripture. I know what you're telling me is true. I know it's biblical, but we're never going to be in a situation where we're going to need it. I mean, it's never happened here before. So therefore I conclude it's probably never, ever going to happen again. I mean, let's be honest. We have cognitive dissonance. Another example of cognitive dissonance is when we see all these people illegally coming into our country and they're all young military age men. And we say, oh, they're just refugees. They're just looking for a new life. Really? That's cognitive dissonance. When we have been threatened over and over and over, that's cognitive dissonance. That's when you say, well, we've got the best politicians that money could buy, and they're never going to betray us. They're not going to do anything to harm us. Really? Everything they've done is to harm us. Just look at COVID. Not just the vaccinations. I mean the very fact that it was developed in our own country before it was ever sent to China. And now also the CIA and the FBI have already been linked to all of this stuff. David Martin has all kind of lawsuits against these people because of it. I'm just simply pointing out the fact that when we think that Nothing like this is going to ever happen. Most people are so programmed by their TVs. They have just been brainwashed and they think that nothing ever will ever, ever happen. The truth is that most Christians do not even watch and pray. Oh, we'll pray some, but we don't really watch. We're not really paying any attention. There is no situational awareness in our lives, not only for our safety and our defense, but even spiritually speaking, you're not looking out where we will be attacked. I'm just simply pointing out the fact here in the world, here is where the world gets the best of us because we're not aware of what the world can do and what the world will do. That is for sure. And we think we'll never ever have to be in a position that we will have to fight and defend our lives and defend the lives of our family. And if you think that you're just mistaken, you are indeed washed thoroughly with cognitive dissonance. Now, here's the third. The third aspect of a biblical defense mandate is to be alert to a surprise attack. I want you to look in verse 11. He said, and our adversary said, they shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst of them and slay them and cause the work to cease. So we're talking about a surprise attack. Surprise is a very strong element in war. If one can surprise his enemy, that means he catches his enemy off guard. And an excellent illustration of this is when General George Washington, defeated the Hessians in the Battle of Trenton, New Jersey. He knew that the Hessians, who were Germans, who had been hired by George III to fight against the colonists, he knew that those Hessians would be drinking themselves drunk in the celebration of Christmas. And so what Washington did was he crossed the Delaware River on the night of the 25th of December, 1776, and he attacked the Hessians early on the morning of December the 26th. After a brief battle, two-thirds of the Hessians were captured. They were totally surprised. They were totally caught off guard. And they lost the battle, and the Americans won. And of course, that stimulated the war for independence as well. Now, there's another excellent book. If you don't have it, I would encourage you to get it. It was written by Sun Tzu, who was a Chinese warrior. And it is filled with good military information. The title of it is The Art of War. And he has many excellent sayings. And one of his sayings was this in conflict, direct confrontation will lead to engagement and surprise will lead to victory. So understand this. When somebody is surprised, usually you have one or two responses. You either fear or you freeze. Have you ever had someone jump out at you when you were not expecting it? I made the mistake one time of slipping up behind Alice. I was not expecting her response, I can assure you. Well, I'll tell you what, sometimes she doesn't freeze, but you know, people either, they either get frightened and they run or they just simply freeze in place. It's what it amounts to. And when one freezes, it's because of unbelief you're standing there, you're thinking, I can't believe this is happening. And I certainly can't believe this is happening to me, but it is happening. And so when you don't have a situational awareness and when you are caught off guard by the element of surprise, that's when you are absolutely astounded and you either freeze or you just in fear run. Now, there's a verse in Jeremiah chapter 14 in verse four. I want you to listen. I'll just read it for you. Listen to this. Carry off is taken by the way. Kerioth is taken. Let me stop. Do you know a fellow in the Bible by the name of Judas Iscariot? The word Iscariot means man of Kerioth. So we're talking about the town of Judas. Listen to this. Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are surprised. And then he goes on to say this, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pains. So what in the world can a woman delivering a child in agony and pain, what can she do to fight? Absolutely nothing. So when God surprises his enemies. That's the way it will be. And oftentimes our enemies use the element of surprise against us. And if you will notice, especially the communists, they always like to surprise you when you're in church or when you are at home, when you're asleep, when you're in your own environment. And what they're trying to do is create as much terror in you as they possibly can, because these are the places where you are the most safe, or at least you believe that you're the most safe. That is why they always attack, usually in churches as well. So here's the fourth biblical mandate for defense, and that is we must be aware of those who fraternize with the enemy. Look, if you would please, at verse 12. In fact, he says this, and it came to pass that when the Jews which dwelt by them, who's the them? That is, Sanballat, Tobiah, and the Arabians, and all these other people. It came to pass that when the Jews which dwelt by them, they came, they said unto us ten times, from all places which you shall return unto us, they will be upon you. Wow! Ten times, they will be upon you. Now, there are a few scholars who will take this verse in a positive sense. And they're trying to say that these Jews were doing nothing else than coming and bringing intelligence to Nehemiah and the men working with him. However, most scholars consider this verse in a negative light and say that these Jews who live close to Sanballat and Tobiah and all these other people were trying to dissuade their brethren from the work by repeating the threats of these enemies. And they were fearful and even more fearful than those with Nehemiah because they dwell close to the enemy. Remember now, the enemies already threatened to come in and slay them. And so these people who live close to Sanballat, and remember the armies of Samaria, they're coming and saying 10 times, you can't get away. You can't escape. They're going to kill every one of you. Now, let me give you some quotes just to show you how some scholars interpret this verse. Albert Barnes says, the Jews who dwelt by the Samaritan border came to Jerusalem and tried to withdraw their contingents of workmen from the work, representing to them the impending danger and saying, you must return to your homes and so escape. John Gale said it like this, from all places when you shall return unto us, they will be upon you. Come which way you will, so that you are in the utmost danger from all places. where you are repairing and rebuilding. Return to us that you may enjoy peace and prosperity with us under Sanballat and escape the wrath and fury you are now exposed to. And from all places we come that you may return to us. So these Jews, though they pretended to be friends to their brethren, yet seem to be in friendship with their enemies and sought to discourage them and weaken their minds and cause them to cease building. In other words, you've got to be aware of these people who are basically frightful, who are afraid and who are fraternizing with the enemy. Let me make sure that you understand this point. There will always be individuals. Let me. Rephrase that. There will always be fearful individuals who will be willing to compromise for their own safety and their own security and they could care less about you or anyone else. They're only interested in themselves. They're not interested in the work. They're not interested in truth. They're not interested in righteousness. They're not interested in peace. They're not interested in principle. The only thing they're interested in is themselves. Ignorance. and a lack of character are only conducive to fear. In light of this, the next thing you must understand is that there will always be traitors. There will be men who will sell their souls for their own monetary advantage, for power. for prominence, for prestige. If you don't believe that, just look at Washington, D.C. Look at Atlanta. Look in any state capitol that you want to. I would say you probably could not, you could probably find, you might could find enough congressmen to number on one hand who really care about the Constitution and liberty and freedom. You know the scandals that the Biden family has been through, the scandals that all these congressmen have been through. I want to ask you a question. How is it that you can go to Congress and make $80,000 to $100,000 a year, and in four or five years, you're a multimillionaire? How is that possible? Especially when you're spending millions just to get there, just to win an election. When you stop and think, I read the other day where Nancy Pelosi, if she died, she would leave her daughter Five different mansions. A jet. And I forget how many millions. All I'm trying to say is this. Just look around because you better be understanding the fact that there are people who will fraternize with the enemy for their own benefit. There will be people who will be absolute traitors just for their own benefit as well. Here's the fifth defensive mandate, and that is, we need to be prepared to fight and to be encouraged in the Lord. So look at verses 13 and 14. Look what Nehemiah said. Therefore said I in the lower places behind the wall, no, the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, with their spears and with their bows. And I looked and I rose up and said to the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, be not you afraid of them. Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. Now, let me make some obvious deductions from these verses. First of all, in order to fight, you must have weapons to fight with. You not only must have weapons to fight with, you must be trained in the use of those weapons. Weapons, if they do not work, are useless. Weapons are useless to you if you do not know how to work them or how to use them. And if you are not able to quickly and easily and efficiently clear malfunctions in order to make your weapon work, then you're not prepared to use your weapon. If you cannot get your weapon out in a timely manner, you're not prepared to use your weapon. If you can't shoot straight, if you can't shoot accurately most of the time, you're just not prepared to use your weapon. That's all there is to it. Now, I want you to note something else in this passage. Here's another observation, and that is this. The wall gave them a defensive position, and therefore, he set the people behind the wall for their safety and for their protection. Defensive positions should be planned and built. Think about your whole, Think about your land. If your family was attacked, if 10 or 15 men attacked your family, you can't just hide in the house. Most of our modern houses will not stop a bullet, period, unless it just happens to hit a stud. And if it's a 50 cow, a stud's going to be blown to pieces and the bullet's going to keep going. And most houses are not designed to be spared by fire. Of course not. I'm just simply pointing out the fact here he put the people behind the wall because it was already prepared and it was a defensive position. Now, hang on to this one. Look at verse 13 again. Here's the third observation. He said, therefore said I and the Lord places behind the wall and the higher places. I even said the people after their families. Hmm. The whole family. Could fight. Men. Does your wife know how to shoot? Does your wife know how to use your weapons? Do your children know how to shoot? Do your children know how to use your weapons? You say, but I can use them. Well, suppose you get incapacitated or suppose you get killed. All I'm pointing out the fact it was the families that fought together. I wish I had time to tell you about some of the women in the American Revolution and some of the women in the war of northern aggression. You'd be absolutely astounded when you read some of their lives and how one, one woman, one woman, held about 10 or 15 English soldiers captive until her husband got home. I'm just simply pointing out these were families. Now, if you will note verse 14, I want you to look at this. He said, and I looked up and rose and said to the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, be not you afraid of them. Remember the Lord, which is great and terrible. and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. Now, the very first command is, do not be afraid of them. Do not be afraid of them. Fear paralyzes. I wish you would go through the Bible and just underline every time God says, fear not. Did you know the Bible says in Proverbs 29, in verse 25, the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved. The fear of man bringeth a snare. David said, I will not fear what man can do unto me. If you really and truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the worst that man could do to you is send you to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the worst. I'm just simply saying the fear of man brings us an error. Now, I want you to watch this. In this passage, it also includes a second command, and that is, remember the Lord. Remember the Lord, which simply means not only to trust in him, rely upon him, but remember what he's capable of. What did he do to the Egyptians? What did he do to the Hittites and the Philistines and the Jebusites? All I'm saying is this, when you remember the Lord, you remember his power, you remember his grace, you remember his mercy, you remember everything that he has done in times past. And then he says this, if you look in this verse again, the third commandment that he gives is this, he said, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters and your wives and your houses. God gave Canaan to Israel, but Israel had to fight. God gave David victory after victory, but David had to fight. There are some things that cannot be achieved without fighting. I like what Tim Larkin said. He said violence is not always the answer. But when it is the answer, it's the only answer. And that's true. Did you know that God is a man of war? The Bible says in Exodus chapter 15 verse three, the Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. When you get to Isaiah 42 in verse 13, the Lord shall go forth as a mighty man. He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war. He shall cry, yea, he shall roar. He shall prevail against his enemies. The Lord is a man of war. Now here's a truth that has to be grasped. Once you understand that God has commanded you to fight, you must know how to fight and you must be determined to fight. And you must know when to fight and when not to fight. Look if you would in verse 15. When you are prepared to fight, when you know how to fight, when you're willing to fight, most of the time you don't have to fight. Verse 15. And it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, everyone to his own work. So Nehemiah had the people ready. Nehemiah said, we will fight. He had them in a defensive position. And since the enemy then found out that, hey, these people are not going to just roll over for us, they're not going to just bow down to us, they're not going to give up, they're not going to give in, they themselves turned around and went back. Here's the sixth defensive mandate. Always err on the side of caution when your enemies are routed. Look at verses 16 and 17. And it came to pass after that time forth that half of my servants wrought in the work and the other half of them held both the spears and the shields and the bows and the havagons and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They which build it on the wall and they that bear burdens with those that laid in everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work and with the other hand held a weapon. Wow. always err on the side of caution. They had given up, supposedly. They had left, supposedly. But Nehemiah said, I'm not going to trust them. We're going to stay prepared. We're going to stay alert. And if we need to fight, we will fight. They kept their weapons with them. They kept their weapons on them. They were not going to be caught off guard. They were not going to be surprised. Now, I'm going to tell you something. Since we are in Georgia, According to law, you have a constitutional right to carry your weapon wherever you go. There are some exceptions, I understand, like the federal courthouses or the courthouses, and there had been a prohibition even carrying in the post office. However, one judge just this past week ruled that they could not ban weapons out of the post office, that it was unconstitutional. Wow. Well, we'll see where that one goes. But the truth of the matter is, you have a constitutional right to carry. You ought to carry. You ought to always be carrying. I'm just simply pointing out the fact that it is your right. It is a constitutional right. It is a biblical right. And so you have to ask yourself, do you carry? Do you carry? And you should. I never will forget, I was preaching in South Carolina, and there was a banquet first, and then I was to preach afterwards. And there was one lady there with a son who had an affliction. And while we were eating, the young man had an episode. He was having some type of seizure. So I jumped up and I ran back to him along with some others. And I was helping pick him up from the floor. Someone else had already called for an ambulance. And we were getting him to the door. And the mother said, my purse, my purse. I said, I'll get it for you. It was one of those long purses. It was kind of heavy. It was wide, you know, just two handles. And I went to pick up that purse, and I looked in there, and there was a pistol right on top. And I said, yes, ma'am, here it is. I was making sure she got that purse. But the truth of the matter is, I'm just saying, it's a constitutional right. It's a biblical right. We have a right to carry. I want you to listen carefully to this one. I want you to look at verses 18 and 20 in this verse, because here is, in this chapter, because here is the seventh defensive mandate, and that is that we must have a rallying point. Look, if you would, in verse 18. He says, For the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side, and so build it. Now look at this. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, the work is great and large, and we are separated from the wall, one far from another. In what place, therefore, you hear the sound of the trumpet, resort you thither unto us, our God shall fight for us. Now, he said we're separated. We've got a trumpet. Whenever you hear the sound of trumpets, you come here. Now, we don't have trumpets, but we do have handheld radios. Right now, we do have the use of cell phones. But the point I'm trying to make is there was a rallying point. Now, a rallying point could mean several things. A rallying point, first of all, could refer to a point where a breach is about to be made. In other words, those who are defending that particular point are insufficient to hold that point. And a rallying point, a rallying cry could come, and that means the others who are not fighting as fiercely or have such a heavy force against them, they can come and help the point where it's about to be breached. So that could be a rallying point. In other words, they come and help stem the tide and clear up those who are fighting fiercely at that particular point. Now, let me point out the fact that you must, you must understand that this is one of the rallying points. Now, another rallying point is this, that would be where you have to move to a secondary position. So if we're defending, say, at the gate, and we get overwhelmed or the force is too great, we might meet back at the tree line. That would be a rallying point. In other words, it's a secondary position. It's a secondary position to fight from. So therefore, you're talking about your own property. You need to look at primary positions, secondary positions, sometimes even tertiary or third positions, that is for sure. But also, a rallying point could also be a point where you gather together to initiate an attack or a counterattack upon the enemy. So notice if you would, as you read through Nehemiah chapter four, you have all of these biblical mandates for defense. And this is exactly what Nehemiah did. I'm going to make this statement, I'll probably make it tomorrow while I'm preaching because I'm not going to be able to finish this series. But but I will tell you this, according to the scripture, weaponry may be used to defend the church of God and the people of God. But it cannot be used to extend the church of God or the kingdom of God. We're not conquistadors. We're not going around with a sword and saying you either bow or else. No, no. But God oftentimes uses physical means when the church is attacked. So let me make some scripture and some applications for this. So according to our text, this last principle should be well understood. Everything that can be done should be done to secure defense and safety. I want you to look at verses 21 and 23 again. Look at this. 21 and 23. He said, So we labored in the work, and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. Likewise, at the same time said I unto the people, Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us and labor on the day. Now look at this, so neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that everyone put them off for the washing. What is he saying? He's saying we learned to look out for each other, we learned to guard each other, we learned to give up luxury, we banded together, we were sleeping in the same area for our defense, and we did not even take our clothes off except for washing. And in other words, you have to do whatever has to be done to protect yourself and protect your family. It's just that simple. If you have to sleep with your broganzone, sleep with your broganzone. There's nothing wrong with that. You can put on a clean sheet. If you have to sleep hugging that AR-15, sleep hugging that AR-15. It's just that simple. Do what needs to be done. It's I'll tell this ornaments. It's kind of like my grandson. My my baby grandson. When he was a young boy, he was so squeamish. Listen, if he saw someone vomit, he vomited. If he saw blood, oh, it just it just threw him. And I had a cow that was down. And she was bloated and had gas. And if you don't do something, they die. So I had a needle about this long. So I said, Tripp, you have to help me with this cow. I said, I'm going to have to put this needle through her ribs into her stomach to let this gas out. He said, Papa, I can't do that. I looked at him. I said, yes, you can. and you will do it. You have to learn, you have to do what needs to be done, period. And he helped me hold that cow, and I put that needle in, and I let the gas out, and that cow survived. And of course, most of you know, Trip became a nurse. before he became a logger. And then he ended up marrying a nurse. And so now he tells me what I need and what I don't need in some of the medical areas. I'm just saying, folks, listen, you have to do what needs to be done. That's all there is to it. Years ago, I was plowing. And my family had all gone to dinner, and I was trying to finish. And I had a sweep on the back. And the sweeps were worn, and they came to a very, very sharp point. And while I was trying to hurry and clean them off, I stepped right into one of the rears of those sweeps. And I mean, it just gouged into my leg and took a hunk of flesh out, and blood was going everywhere. So I called Alice, and I said, tell your mother, who is a nurse, I said, tell your mother to come over here and tell my sister, who was a registered nurse, who was head nurse at the operating room. She was head nurse at the operating room. I said, tell them to come over here. I need them. And so they got over here and I showed them my leg. They said, oh, you need to go to the emergency room. I said, no, I don't need to go to the emergency room. I said, I've got the lot of cane right here. I've got the sutured material right here. You sew it up. I said, I've got the betadine to wash it out with. You take care of it. Well, we don't want to do this. I said, let me tell you something. Either you're going to do it or I'm going to do it. And I can't do it as well bending down as you can do it. So do it. And they did. And guess what? I don't even have a scar. No, no scar there. I'm just saying, you have to learn to do what you need to do. It's that simple. You have to say, I am going to do it. I will look out for my husband. I'll look out for my wife. I'll look out for my children. I'll look out for my brother. I'll look out for my sister. I will do whatever needs to be done. You have to understand, these biblical mandates This biblical mindset, God gives us principles, God gives us precepts that we are to live by and we are to die by and we are to fight by. Do you remember that passage in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17? All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness. Why? that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished and every good work. Do you really believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God? And do you really believe that it's profitable? And do you really believe that's everything you need that you might live a holy, righteous, godly life? That means this, you must have that biblical mindset. It means you must understand these mandates. It means that you must be determined. It means that you must have the character and the consistency and the courage to do whatever needs to be done. It's just that simple. And I want to tell you. The more you study the word of God and the more you apply the word of God. The more determined you are going to be. and the more courageous you're going to be. The more character you're going to have. And the more you'll understand that God is a God of truth and a God of justice and a God of righteousness. And the righteous Lord loveth righteousness, the Bible says, and judgment and justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne. You have to understand We're facing some very, very serious times. We better understand these mandates. We better prepare our hearts, our lives. We better prepare our families. We better prepare our children. If we want to survive, we must learn to help each other. We must learn to band together. We must learn to do whatever needs to be done. That brings me to this. Everyone has a different opinion about some things. Wonderful. Have all the opinions you want, but do not try to force them on everyone else. If there's a Bible principle, fine. We'll all bow to the Word of God. But we're not going to fight each other. There are too many enemies to fight. And the truth of the matter is, if you understand the biblical doctrine of illumination, I could teach all day long. I could teach all night long. But if God doesn't open your eyes, you're never going to see it. You're never going to understand it anyhow. And so what I need to do is just keep teaching and praying that God will open your eyes. What you would need to do is keep teaching and praying till God opened my eyes. We're not going to fight over little things. We've got too many enemies. And we can't take the attitude, well, I don't like this attitude, this so and so. Well, that's all right. Deal with that attitude later, but do what needs to be done. biblically, scripturally, for God's honor and glory and for our good. Let's pray and then Warren Luke is going to come in just a moment. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask for your help. We ask for your grace. We ask for your mercy. Teach us, O Lord. Build us up in the most holy faith. And Lord, help us to prepare according to your word. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. All right, Warren Luke. If you would, turn back to 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1st Samuel 17. I'd like to remind you of 1st Thessalonians 5 21 which says prove all things Hold fast that which is good clearly a passage once again speaking of spiritual things Prove all things hold fast that which is good in 1st Samuel 17 we once again go to the familiar passage of David and Goliath and If you would notice verse 38, 1 Samuel 17 verse 38, and as we cut into the story, And Saul armed David, verse 38, And Saul armed David with his armor, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head. Also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he assayed to go. That is, he attempted to go. He tried to go, for he had not proved it. That is, he had not tested this armor. He had not tested could he do it. He hadn't attempted it before. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I've not proved them. That is, I've not tested them. And David put them off him. So now the question is, David attempted to go to fight, but he'd not tested that equipment. Prove all things, hold fast that which was good. Was the armor deficient? Was the weaponry of poor quality? No, this was the king's armor, the king's weapons. These are the best money could buy. But for David, who had not practiced with them, who had not trained with them, who had not tested and proved them, he put them away and rather went with his sling. David had not practiced with him. He did, however, test and practice with his sling, which was, we might say, an inferior weapon, but yet he had proved it. Prove all things, hold fast that which was good. David held fast to that sling, which he was accurate with, and truly, he won the day. I'd like to show you a little show and tell, just kind of fun here at the end. And I'll simply point this in this direction. This is what's called a Kel- Kel-Tec Sub 2000. This is an actual weapon, and so I will be careful with it. There we are, and the bolt is locked back. It is in fact clear. So this is just a 9mm, this is a fine gun. I paid $300 for it about 20 years ago and I've had it ever since. So the question is, here's a Kel-Tec Sub 2000, what can this weapon do? Now if I've proved this weapon, I can rely on it. And you might say, well, what if i what if i went against an abrams tank with this little pea shooter well as long as the abrams tank has a dead battery and it can't function i'll take this this trusty old pea shooter and i'll take out the tank one by one if it's failed in its in its course if it's mechanically failed so let's not despise inferior weapons just because there's something grander or more glorious over there, if it doesn't work. Saul's armor did not work for David. The sling won the day. And so we must prove these things. So the Kel-Tec Sub 2000, I'm just going to use this as an example. We all have many different weapons. There's a thousand examples we could go through. But notice if you would, my Kel-Tec Sub 2000 is a nine millimeter. I own nine millimeter handguns. That's my handgun round. I don't have 40s or 45s. This takes a Glock 17 mag. My only handguns are Glock 17s. So any and all of my Glocks take all the same magazine and I can have a chest full of magazines in my pouches and either go with my handgun Glock 17 or into my Kel-Tec Sub 2000. Question is, this is kind of a rifle. It's got a longer barrel. How accurate is this? I need to ask all these questions. It's kind of made out of plastic. It's kind of got a weird situation to close the bolt, then to open it, bring it on a catch. Is this reliable in battle? I'm asking all these questions, how can I know? I need to test it, and I need to prove it. I need to take this out to the range, put some ammo through it, and find out what's it like. 20 years ago when I bought it, I did shoot it. And I can tell you this, this is an iron pipe that is built in the construction. And in order to shoot it, what I'd want to do is bring some cheek meat up, to against it to be able to get on the sights. But if I do that, I can't actually see through the sights. I have to put it against my bone to get my eyes low enough in order to do that. When you shoot even the nine millimeter, this pipe hits your bone. This is a painful gun to shoot. You wouldn't know that unless you tested it, unless you proved it. This doesn't really work for me. It's mine. I paid for it. But what do I do with it? Maybe this is a fine weapon for a younger man. Maybe I can give this to one of my sons whose smaller face can get on it. I can teach him the reloads and the malfunctions and get him on this weapon. And I need to know what can it do And what can it not do? There's no offense to the Kel-Tec Sub-2000 to know its abilities as well as its weaknesses. It's simply a firearm. And if you'll notice, it even folds in half. You can put it in a backpack. It's kind of cool. Is this a toy? Or is this actually a real weapon of war? These questions ought to be answered. I need to prove it. I need to prove what is good and hold fast to it. I'll give you one more example. This is a CFP 90. These were all the rage back in early 2000 CFP 90 on eBay, a hundred bucks. This is the best backpack money could buy. There was a separate compartment here at the bottom. So you can put your sleeping bag in the bottom. If anyone's packed a backpack, you know, if your sleeping bag goes in the bottom of the main part to pull your sleeping bag out, you're disrupting all of your other packing in order to put a tactical backpack together. You need to know how to layer it. What items are you going to get to first? These are all things you have to practice. Prove your system and your layering. Prove it. test it practice it and hold fast when you get a good program i'm not telling you how to layer it i'm saying you need to practice it now i bought this 25 years ago off ebay i spent my hard-earned money put it in storage recently i pulled it out of storage i knew i had a cfp 90 the finest backpack money could buy been in storage for 25 years would you know it It had actually broken! The plastic here, in my storage, had rotted out. So I'm gonna need to repair this. But I wouldn't know that unless I actually got it out, looked at it, tested it, improved it. Now this can be repaired and I'll repair it, but I needed to know that if I had gone after this in the day of battle, it's broken! This is not the time to find that out. We need to be going through our things. Prove all things. Test all things. Hold fast that which is good. So buying the preparations. We talked about spending the money. Buying these things is indeed the first step. Buying the equipment. What must come next is the testing. the proving. Put your hands on it. Take it out to the range. It's got to be used, tested, and proven. Hold fast or relying on that which has been proven to be successful, proven to be good. I'd like to switch gears just to finish out the passage. If you would notice in verse 40, and he, that is David, took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag, which he had." David selected five smooth stones, not random stones, but fine stones for flinging through the air. Smooth stones out of the brook, hand-selected smooth stones. So the question is, why five stones? It only took one stone to defeat the giant. Why would David take five? David knew God would give him the victory. Why did David choose five stones? Why did he take four stones he didn't end up needing? Why choose any stones at all? Why not just pray the giant down, as we've alluded to earlier? Because David was being consistent with tactical preparations. The Lord would give him the victory, but it was prudent and it was appropriate for David to get reloads. If the first one missed, he'd be ready again. in the victory of the Lord. David was consistent. He was faithful to proper military tactical process and procedure. It makes tactical sense to have reloads. It makes preparation sense for us to store up ammo. There's a foolish group of those within the church who just want to pray it all away. And that is not what scripture demands of us. We are fully reliant on the Lord, but it can't just be praying it out. No, we are to prepare. We are to practice and prove that which is good. God the Lord of War will give us the victory, but we must also be consistent to be sensible sensical with our tactical equipment and our Preparations again, the Lord can multiply the loaves and fishes the Lord can multiply the bullets and Magazines in our Lord's grace and victory. He might give us 31 rounds in that ar-15 Well, I counted 30 and I still had the miracle. Thank the Lord, because here's the man charging at me. I've expended it. But the Lord gave the extra one. Let him do it. David's victory and ours will always be firstly spiritual. But we must be faithful to the physical equipment, the physical preparation, the physical accumulation and tactical action. So I encourage all of you in all of this concept of prepping and purchasing and preparing and all of this. Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good. Surely we need to purchase these things. Whether it's food, boil some of those beans. Taste it. Get some of those freeze-dried meals. Cook them up. Give them a taste. Do they need salt? What do you need to add to them? Prove all things. Test all things. Hold fast to that which is good. Test theology, this theology that's been given to us. Prove it. Prove the Lord your God. And hold fast to that which is good. Amen. All right. I want to take just a few minutes and just ask if there are any questions or comments.