Well, let's open our Bible's day to the book of Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. And we're going to be reading verse 51. Luke 9 and verse 51. You will see the application of this just shortly. Luke 9, verse 51. The title of the message is, Mind Set. Bible says, And it came to pass, when the time was come, that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Now there's much in the Bible concerning the mind. And the truth is that everything stems from our minds. Our minds control our actions, and they certainly control our lives. I've pointed out many times in the Bible that the mind is the understanding. Occasionally, when you read the word heart, occasionally it refers to affection, but most of the time it refers to the heart. Because the Bible says in Proverbs 23, verse 7, Whereas a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So it's the heart that does the thinking. And that's why the Bible says in Proverbs 4 and verse 23, Keep thy heart. with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Now, I want you to turn, if you would, hold in Luke 9, but turn back in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 15, and let me just show you this. In Matthew chapter 15, our Lord is speaking. He's teaching His disciples, and look what He says, beginning there with verse 18. Notice, if you would, in fact, let's begin reading with verse 15. Watch this. Matthew 15, verse 15, Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are you also yet without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. But eat with unwashing hands, defileth not a man." Now, the interesting thing is, our Lord says in verse 18, but those things which proceed out of the mouth cometh forth from the heart. Now, look, if you would, what is the first thing that comes from the heart? Notice, if you would, he says in verse 19, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. And then, of course, murders, adulteries, fornications. The truth of the matter is, see, you can't do any of these things without thinking. Everything in your life comes from your heart or from your mind or from your understanding. So if I reach down and pick up this pair of glasses, I've already thought about the fact that I'm going to reach down and pick up this pair of glasses. It's impossible to commit adultery without thinking. I've heard people say, well, Brother Weaver, it just happened. I didn't plan it. That's hogwash. You thought about it well before you ever did it. That's a fact. Well, I didn't mean to steal. The money was just there. No, no, no. You thought about it before you ever took it. You can't act. You can't move without everything coming from your mind. In this passage, you're going to see, once again, evil thoughts, of course, proceed from the heart. So the point I'm trying to make is it's impossible to act without the mind, without thinking. I've heard people say, when they've done something very stupidly, they would say, well, I guess I was not just thinking. I guess I was not just thinking. No, no, no, no. You were thinking, you were just thinking stupidly. I mean, that's all there is to it. Now, let me give you a good illustration. One is that our mind actually controls our actions. I had a good friend years ago who's now dead. He was a very talented carpenter. He could build anything. And in his house, around there, for their children, they had a swimming pool. And he was going to do some work out by the swimming pool, and he had an electric drill, and he was drilling into the concrete. And the bit got hot. And he thought, well, I'll cool the bit and dip it into the water. And he was instantly electrocuted. Now, did he think? Yeah, he thought. But he did not think it through. He did not think, this is not just going to cool this bit, it's going to electrocute me. So his mind was working, but it was certainly a stupid thought. Now, I've seen videos, and you can find them online, of people who very stupidly look into the barrel of a weapon to see why it didn't fire. In fact, there is one, I suppose it's still up, of an Islamic terrorist who actually looked into the barrel of that weapon when it wouldn't fire, and then he stupidly hit it on the ground to see what would... And, of course, it shot himself in the head and killed himself. You know, we do things... and without understanding what we're doing. So what I want to emphasize today is mindset. Everyone knows the implication of a set mind. We use that phrase all the time, especially in reference to individuals and in reference to actions. We can say he set his mind on finding work. He set his mind on marrying that girl. He set his mind on doing certain things. I mean, in other words, we understand that everyone has a mindset. Now, the question you have to ask is this, do you have a biblical mindset and or do you have a biblical mindset on every subject? Now you say, Brother Weaver, I can't think of every subject. Really? Well, you know, the Bible tells you in 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5, that you're responsible to bring every thought into captivity to Jesus Christ. Now, if you're responsible to bring every thought into captivity to Jesus Christ, it means you must learn to think biblically on whatever you're thinking about. I don't care if you're thinking about marriage. I don't care if you're thinking about work. I don't care if you're thinking about buying an automobile. I don't care what you're thinking about. You need to learn to think biblically on every subject. Now, we have people saying, well, his mind was set on being a martial artist. His mind was set on being a carpenter. His mind was set on being a welder. His mind was set on being a grocer or whatever. We understand when we say that, when we talk about someone having a mindset, that nothing is going to stop him. Nothing is going to change his goal. In other words, that mind is set, and he's going to accomplish what he wants. Now, the truth of the matter is this. We need to make sure that we have a mindset when it comes to Scripture. There are not very many passages that will say, here's a mindset, but there are many passages that will show you the exact same truth, although it's different words are used. Let me show you. Let's go in our Bibles, whole Luke chapter nine, but let's go in our Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 31. I'm gonna run you through some of these things very quickly, just to show you. Look in Genesis chapter 31, and notice if you would, verse 21. This is about Jacob. Look at this. Genesis chapter 31 and verse 21. The Bible says this. So Jacob, stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, and that he told him not that he fled." Now, that's verse 20. Look at verse 21, "'So he fled with all that he had, and he rose up and passed over the river, and set his face toward Mount Gilead.'" So what did he do? He set his face. He set his mind. In other words, that mind was absolutely set on going home. Nothing was going to stop him. If you would turn right over to the book of Numbers chapter 24. Here it is again. Numbers chapter 24. Look, if you would, at verse 1. Now we're talking about Balaam. The Bible says that when Balaam saw that it pleased not the Lord to bless Israel, he went not as at other times to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness. In other words, he went to bless them because he knew that God was not going to curse them. When you look at II Kings chapter 12 and verse 17, and let me just quote it. Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up and fought against Gath, and took it," now listen carefully, "'and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.'" What does that mean? I'm determined to fight against Jerusalem. I'm determined to conquer it. I'm determined to make sure that that place is mine. It was a set mine. Now, when you go back to the book of Luke, chapter 9, and you look at verse 51, you're now referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible says, "...and it came to pass, when the time was come, that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." Now the word, steadfastly set, or from the Greek word, steirizo, which means to make stable, to set fast, to confirm in one's mind and establish. So when He set His face, He was actually confirming in His mind, He was setting in His mind that He was going up to Jerusalem to die. Nothing was going to stop Him from doing His Father's will. Now, when it says He said, fastly set His face, the word is prosopon in the Greek, and it denotes the countenance that is on one's face based on the determination of His mind. For instance, you could look at my face and tell whether or not I'm angry. You could look at my face, tell whether or not I'm happy. You can tell, you can look at my face and tell whether or not I'm determined. In other words, our mindset is usually demonstrated by our face. That is why the Bible said he set his face. Here's why. If you look back, or look over, I should say, in Luke chapter 13, at verse 33, Luke 13, verse 33, look what it said. Our Lord says, nevertheless, I must walk today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. So he said, my face is set. My mind is set. I am going to fulfill my father's will. I'm going to die. Now, I want to give you several quotes from different authors on this verse just to show you. how everyone understands this is exactly what the set face is. It is a mindset. So, here's what they say. Number one, he steeled his forehead against all discouragements. Number two, the readiness and resolution of our Lord Jesus in prosecuting his great undertaking for our redemption and salvation. Here's number three, He steadfastly set his face, that is, after proper and mature deliberation, he chose now to go up to Jerusalem and firmly determined to accomplish his design." Now, here's one more. He determined to go to Jerusalem, or he set out resolutely. When a man goes toward an object, it may be said, he set his face toward it. The expression here means only that he resolved to go, that is, he had a mindset, and it applies that he was not appalled by the dangers, that he was determined to brave all and to go up in the midst of his enemies and to die. Now, if there's any question over those statements, if you would look in your Bibles to Isaiah 50 and verse 7, that will certainly verify everything that I have just read. So look in your Bibles, Isaiah chapter 50, and look if you would please at verse 7, at what the Bible says. Isaiah 50 and verse 7. Here it is. Look at this. Isaiah 50 verse 7. For the Lord God will help me, therefore I shall not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. That's concerning our Lord. If you look back in verse 6, of course, that refers to the Lord. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I had not my faith from shame and spitting. And then He said, I've set my face like a flint. So obviously, clearly, Like a flint means our Lord's face was hardened toward the end which His Father had ordained. His mind was set that He was going to accomplish it. He was not going to die outside of Jerusalem. So He was determined to do exactly what God demanded. Now, this truth should greatly influence our lives. We must understand that we too have mindsets. We also must understand that we normally have mindsets, but our mindsets must be biblical, and they must be biblical on every subject. Let me just tell you very briefly about one mindset that we should have, and I'm going to show you why I'm saying this. We should have one mindset that we're going to love our Lord Jesus Christ the way that He commands and the way that He demands. So I want you to look back to several passages. First of all, to Matthew chapter 22. You're going to see the significance of this momentarily. Look at Matthew chapter 22 and verse 37. So a lawyer now has asked our Lord what is the greatest commandment. Our Lord does not quote any of the ten. Look what he says. Matthew chapter 22, verse 37. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now, note if you would what our Lord says. We're to love Him with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind. Now, if we love Him the way that He demands and deserves, we understand that we must have a mindset on that subject. Let me show you where this originated. If you'll turn back in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 6, And Deuteronomy chapter 6, this passage is known as the Shema Israel. Deuteronomy chapter 6, you'll find in all the Orthodox synagogues Most of them will recite something like this, Shema Israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Achad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. So if you look in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4, here it is. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. I just said that. Now watch this. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. Now let me just stop right there. Note if you would, that's exactly what our Lord said in Matthew chapter 22. We must love him with all of our mind, with all of our heart, with all of our souls. Now, I want you to see the implication of that. So let's continue and let's read verse 5 again. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. Now look what he says. And these words, which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, or in thy mind. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house, and on thy gates, And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not," et cetera, and he goes on. But note, if you would, what he says. He says, you're to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and body. But then he said, if you love him that way, if you've got that kind of mindset, he said, in these words, which I command you, shall be in your life." In other words, if we're talking, walking, writing, dreaming, and placing His words before our eyes, it means that we understand that He is central in our lives and that His Word is central in our lives. In other words, His words, His truth, are the warp and woof of our being. It's impossible to separate us from His words if we have the mindset that we need toward Him. Now, it is the truth that our Lord said in John chapter 6 that He is the bread of life. We live on Him. We live on His words. We have to walk pleasing unto Him. Did you know that there was a special promise in Isaiah 26 and verse 3, it says this, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him. Here's a good question. How in the world do you keep your mind on Jesus Christ? The answer is you keep your mind on Jesus Christ by keeping in your mind His Word. Whether you're walking, whether you're talking, whatever you're doing, whether you're working, what does His Word say in this area? How does His Word apply to me? So you must consider then that there are precepts and there are principles in the Word of God that you and I must learn and you and I must hold to tenaciously. I've had people say to me in time past, boy, I wish the Bible covered every instance of everything that could ever happen. And it was there in black and white. Well, let me tell you something, if God did that, You would never be able to read the Bible all the way through. And you'd never be able to carry one around. But what God has done is He's given us everything that we need in precept and in principle form, and we need to have a mindset on this. Now, the Bible says that our Lord steadfastly set His face. That is, He steadfastly had His mind set Now, we're talking about, in reality, obedience and disobedience. Because if we have a biblical mindset, we're going to be obedient. If we do not have a biblical mindset, we're going to be disobedient. And you have to remember this, that God's blessings always follow obedience, and God's curses always follow disobedience. Now, here's why I'm telling you this. I want you to look in your Bible, if you would, to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, and I want you to see verse 29. Look at this, Luke 12, verse 29. We're gonna look at some of the other verses. Luke 12, verse 29. Let's see, Luke 12, verse 29. He said, and seek not ye what you shall eat or what you shall drink. And then he says this, neither be ye of a doubtful mind. If you have a doubtful mind, you do not have a mindset. Actually, this word, metaridzo, is a metaphor taken from ships that were tossed in the sea by the wind and by the waves. So it said, and be not of a doubtful mind. So someone who has a doubtful mind, listen carefully, is someone who is unsure. He's someone who is agitated. He's someone who is anxious. He's someone who is perplexed. In other words, he doubts everything. He doubts his course, he doubts his direction, he doubts his actions, he doubts his thoughts. Don't be of a doubtful mind. That's what he said, be ye not of a doubtful mind. Now, a doubtful mind is absolutely contrary to Scripture. So listen, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 17. God says, Wherefore, be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Now, if you've got a doubtful mind, you're unwise. If you've got a doubtful mind, you do not understand what the will of the Lord is. And the word for unwind is the word ephron, which means foolish, unwise, stupid, one without reason and one without sense. So he says, be not Stupid. That's what he actually said. Be not senseless. Don't be a fool, is what he's saying. You understand what the will of the Lord is. And the reason we're in doubt at many times is because we don't know what the will of the Lord is. We don't know how to act. We don't know how to think. We don't know how to move or how to proceed. Now, the Bible tells you in Proverbs chapter 25 and verse 2, it's the glory of God to conceal a thing, but it's the honor of kings to search a matter out. And so if our Lord then has made us kings and priests unto Himself, it's our responsibility to search out those precepts and those principles and to keep them in our lives so that we can love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and body. Now, I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of James chapter 1 and verse 8. James chapter 1, Hebrews James. Look in James chapter 1, if you would please, at verse 8. Okay? All right, James chapter 1 and verse 8. Look at what God says. A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways." Wow. A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. You know what a double-minded man is? Actually, the Greek word is dipsikos. It literally means a double-souled man. A double-minded man is someone with basically two faces, two minds. He's a wavering, unstable, uncertain individual. He's an individual that's divided in his interests. And so God says a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. Who wants to be around an unstable man? Who wants to be around someone who never knows which end is up and what to do and how to act and what to say? They're always confused. They're always causing heartache and anxiousness and problems. I'm just simply saying a double-minded man, he said, is unstable in all of his ways. Now, I want you to watch this, if you would, please. We cannot be of a doubtful mind, and neither can we be of a double mind in light of what is going on in our country. We cannot be of a doubtful double mind in light of what is going on in our state and in our communities. We are facing, at this point, multiple threats in our nation. We are staring at an economic collapse. You say, I'm making more money now than I've ever made in my life. I understand. but it's more worthless than it's ever been. I've told people, and they just smile. In fact, I told some folks last night, when Alice and I got married 61 years ago, I used to give her 10 bucks a week to buy groceries, and I'd kind of fuss at her if she didn't bring two or three of it back. I mean, can you imagine that two people could live a whole week on six or seven bucks, that would be meat, milk, bread, veggies, fruit, whatever we needed. You can't even buy a loaf of bread for that today. We're looking at an economic collapse. Did you realize, do you realize the interest on the national debt is a billion bucks a day? I'm not going to get into that, but the national debt's a big fraud and scam anyhow. But the point I'm trying to make is, you look around. If I had time, I could tell you about the hyperinflation in Germany in 1923, when the Deutschmark, I mean, they wallpapered their houses with their money. It was absolutely worthless. Absolutely worthless. One of my favorite stories is about the German woman who had a wheelbarrow full of money. She was on her way to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread and she saw a fight. And so she put her wheelbarrow down and she kind of parted the people so she could look in and see who was fighting. When her curiosity got satisfied, she turned around and someone had emptied the wheelbarrow of all the money and stolen the wheelbarrow. Well, a barrel is worth more than the money. We're facing an economic collapse. We're talking about the power grid possibly going down. Did you know our power grid has not been updated since the 1970s? Did you know that California was taken out offline by someone who shot up some of the huge transformers? Did you know that there is only one manufacturer of high voltage transformers? And if you placed an order today, it would take six months to a year to get one of them. We're not only talking about an EMP from China, North Korea. Talk about the solar flares. The Carrington effect, where all the telegraph lines were shut down about 100 years ago, 1849 I think it was, 18-something. It was a solar flare. notices from an astronomical laboratory in Australia every year. I mean, every day, basically. I've been doing it for years, and they send me all about the solar flares, when they originate, their intensity, and when they disappear. And sometimes I get a dozen of them a day. because the sun is continually shooting out these solar flares. And all you have to do to take down the power grid, by the way, did you read just this past, it was just this month, where some Iranian hacker shut down the power grid, where was it, in Pennsylvania? Yeah, it was one of the northern cities. Shut it down, an Iranian hacker. I'm just simply saying we're facing an economic collapse, we're facing a failing power grid. Not only that, and I am being very precise when I say this, but we are facing one of the most corrupt and treasonous administrations that has ever been in the seat of power in years. And the collapse of our nation and our way of life is at hand. And God has allowed me, and I know Dr. Bowen and several others, God has allowed me to live long enough to see changes in this nation, changes in our state, changes in our community, changes in people. I'm gonna tell you, it's the absolute truth. When I was a teenager, when I was a younger man, If I wanted to see a cop, I had to go uptown and then look around because there were so few. Because back when I was a boy, at least most people lived by the Ten Commandments. They may not have been Christians, but they at least had morality. And when I was much younger, my father used to take us down to Miami, Florida, where relatives were, for a two-week vacation every year. We never locked the house. We never moved all of the expensive equipment anywhere. It was all outside. When we came back after two weeks, guess what? Everything was exactly the way we left it. You try that today. You try that today. All I'm trying to say is there have been changes. Now, Christian principles no longer hold sway in our Congress. in our judicial system or in our administrative offices. I have friends right now that have been fighting injustice through the courts, and even the higher courts are just as corrupt as the day is long. It doesn't really matter to them about truth. So let me make something exceedingly clear right now. I'm certainly not advocating revolution. I'm not advocating sedition. But what I am going to be advocating is this, a biblical mindset when it comes to our defense and when it comes to our families and when it comes to our property. You have to know how to act biblically and scripturally during times of great stress and anguish. You have to understand that. The truth of the matter is this. I have endeavored for years to try to get pastors and Christians to train in multiple ways. And one of those ways has been in self-defense. You would be absolutely astounded at how long it took me to actually get preachers out here to train with weapons. Here's what's so astounding. Read history. Do you realize the movers and the shakers during the war for independence were pastors? Jonas Clark, Lexington and Concord. When Sam Adams and John Hancock asked him, would his men fight? He said, yes, for this very hour, I have trained them. Look at Peter Gabriel Muehlingberg. Look at James Caldwell. The same thing was true during the War of Northern Aggression. It was the pastors. The point I'm trying to make is the pastors are responsible to train their people. And we not only need to be trained in self-defense, we need to be trained medically. We need to be trained in communication. We need to be trained in a whole lot of areas. For instance, We do have a class coming up, February 10 and 11, on survival trapping and on trapping. I've had people tell me, Brother Weaver, I don't know how to clean a chicken. I don't know how to gut a deer. I don't know how to skin a squirrel. The point I'm trying to make is this, folks. If everything goes down like they're saying it is going to go down, we're going to be back in the 17th and 18th century, and you better know some of these things. You better know how to plant a garden. You better have heirloom seeds. You better have whatever you need so that your family can survive. I'm saying you have to have a biblical mindset. Now, listen to me. If we're going to protect our families, we're not going to do it if we have a doubtful mind. We're not going to do it if we have a double-minded individual or a double-souled individual. It's not going to happen. You're not even going to protect anyone else. You remember what the Bible says, our Lord, when He was asked, what is the greatest commandment? He said, the first one is this, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind. And the second is likened to it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. What does that mean? That means if I love myself and I'm willing to protect my life, if I love Omer as myself, I'm willing to protect him. If I love Gordon as myself, I'm willing to protect him. In other words, I have a duty, I have a responsibility to protect my neighbors just like I have a duty and a responsibility to protect myself. So how in the world can I protect my family? Listen to me. How in the world can I protect my family if I cannot even protect myself? And how can I protect my neighbor if I can't even protect my family? I'm just asking these questions. So here's my question. Have you developed a biblical mindset when it comes to the defense of your life and the defense of your family and the defense of your property? Do you know what God demands and commands Do you know what he allows and what he does not allow? Let me tell you something. When someone is attacking your home and attacking you, it's too late for you to try to figure out what God allows you to do. It's just too late. The truth of the matter is, when your life is on the line, when your family's life is on the line, you will have wished that you'd really learned to operate your weapon and to operate it smoothly. I want to tell you something. Every weapon will malfunction. Sometimes and most of the time, most malfunctions are induced by the user, by an improper grip, by all kinds of things like that. But I'm just simply saying, if you do not know how to correct a malfunction and to correct it quickly and easily and naturally, you're gonna be in trouble. It's just that simple. You will have wished that you, yeah, I wished I'd have learned that, but you didn't. So I'm just saying, you'll wish you'd have practiced more often. It boggles my mind when I think about all the scenarios that could possibly come up. You'll wish you'd spent more money on ammo. I get tickled. I've had people ask me, Brother Weaver, how much ammo do I need? My response is always, one more box, one more box. And that's the truth. because it's not just you you're preparing for, but it's your family and your friends as well. So it's too late to try to develop a biblical mindset once everything falls down. And if you don't have a biblical mindset, I'll tell you what's going to happen. You're going to be a quitter. You're going to give up, you're going to give out, you're going to quit, and you're going to die. It's just that simple. We are not going, and you should have this mindset, that you're not going to allow evil to triumph. So many people at this point, they're going to play the pietist. And they're going to say something like this, well, I'm just willing to die for the Lord. Well, let me tell you something, folks. I'm willing to die. And I'm willing to die for the Lord. But I'm not willing to die until He ordains it. And the truth of the matter is, I had much rather the wicked die and the righteous live. Augustine, one of the early church fathers, said it like this. Though defensive violence will always be a sad necessity in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men. I don't know about you, but I do believe that Larry Craig was right, the senator, when he said that self-defense is God-given. It predates government. It predates Constitution. It does because God has ordained it. That is a fact. General Black Jack Pershing, and I love General Black Jack Pershing, he's been dead for years, but here's what he said. In fact, he died in 1948. But he said this, if you know how to shoot and are quite ready to shoot, the chances are you won't have to shoot. And that's a fact. Resistance to sudden violence, said John Adams, one of our founders, resistance to sudden violence for the preservation not only of my person, my limbs, and life, but of my property is an indisputable right of nature which I've never surrendered to the public by the compact of society and which perhaps I could not surrender it if I would. So he says it's just simply a natural right to defend yourself. Now, we're going to get on some of this a little bit later, but in Nehemiah, there's a verse, in fact, I'm going to be looking at several verses later, but just think about this. If you do not possess the training that you need to protect yourself and your family and your neighbor, then you must require and you must maintain a biblical mindset about training. Nothing comes easy, nothing. Everything requires work. And when Nehemiah was building that wall, we'll look at it a little bit later, but Nehemiah said they built the wall, why? Because they had a mind to work, had a mind to work. Do you realize that training is work? I tell people, when we go through the basic class, the basic class is hard work. It really is. Because you have to learn all the principles, you have to learn muscle memory, all of this. It's just plain hard work. But when you get to the advanced class, that's where the fun part comes in. Because all the hard work has been done. And someone says, well, you know, I'd really love to train, but you know, I just don't have any time. Really? May I tell you something? Everybody has 24 hours in one day. It's not you don't have enough time. It's that you do not prioritize your time and that's not a priority for you. That's what it means. If you had a biblical mindset on defending yourself and your family and your property, you would have time. You would find time. Someone says, but you know, and I've heard this one, ammunition is so expensive. I understand. But once again, so are funerals. You will wish you'd have sacrificed and had the ammo you needed and the training that you needed. So if you think you're going to rely upon the sheriff, you're going to rely upon his deputies, you're going to rely upon the police to help you, you're mistaken. Because like I said earlier, once you call them, they're only 15 or 30 minutes away. It's just that simple. And I'm going to tell you this, whether you laugh or whether you cry, and those that hear this, it's still the absolute truth. Most cops, deputies as well as police, cannot shoot. Now, there are exceptions. I understand that. I know some who are exceptions. I know some who train. But as a whole, they cannot. I have shot besides sheriffs, besides deputies, beside cops. The worst student I ever had in my entire life out on the range was a cop. He couldn't shoot, he wouldn't listen, he muzzled himself and muzzled everybody else and nobody wanted to be around him. I'm gonna tell you one more quick story. The last time, I guess it was, Alice and I were at Front Sight. Front Sight is no longer in existence. It's been bought out by Prairie Fire. But the last time we were there, there was a class of deputies right next to our range. There were 40 deputies, 40 men in a class, 40 of us in our class. These deputies were not newbies. They were older men. They were, you know, middle-aged. And some of them had been, I guess, on the force for a number of years. But I knew the instructor. I knew the range master. And so what he would do, he would bring them over to watch us, to watch our range, our students. And he told them, he said, you watch Pastor Weaver and Alice. And a lot of them got behind us, and I know most of you don't ever get to see Alice shoot, but believe me, she can. And she just really does not miss. And we were making head shots and we were making those head shots from 10 and 15 yards. And every time I'd shoot and every time Alice would shoot, boy, those deputies were back there, they were high-fiving, they'd turn around, they'd high-five Alice, you know, this kind of stuff. And they came over every day for four days. They watched the whole class and they would, you know, congregate behind Alice and I and all the other students there. And so we had to leave early the last day of class. And so I walked over to the range master and I said, look, these deputies have been coming over every day and watching us shoot. We've got to leave early. Would it be all right if Alice and I came by for about 15 minutes and just watch them shoot? He said, yes, you may come. Well, after we gathered up all of our things and put it in the car, We walked in and of course they were all sitting down. And when we walked in, every one of them turned and looked at us just like that. I thought, why are they looking at us? The range master came over and whispered in my ear, he said, I told them they were gonna have to shoot against you and Alice. But that was not gonna happen and I knew that. So, but now listen to this. I'm telling you the absolute truth. There's a man-on-man competition. And this was the time of day that they were doing their man-on-man competition. The very first thing you have to do, you have two men, one on the right, one on the left, and when they give you the sound, the buzzer, you have to come out and you have to shoot and save a hostage. And you have a whole hostage there, and you've got a little metal plate just about that wide and about that high, and you're at what, 10 yards? and you have to flip that plate over without hitting the hostage, okay? Then at about 15 to 20 yards, there's a full size, you have to hit that plate, put it down, hit another plate, put it down. Whoever does that the fastest and successfully wins that round. And you keep doing this until, you know, there's a one man standing is what it amounts to. Well, when we got over all these deputies, we're doing this. If you hit the hostage, if you hit the hostage, if you even graze the hostage, you're out. You lose. I am not making this up. out of the 40 deputies, kill the hostage the first thing. They could not. Finally, only two did not kill the hostage, and one finally won. I thought to myself, Lord, now I understand that bumper sticker, I don't dial 911. I'm just simply pointing out the fact, listen, We've got to have a biblical mindset. If you don't have that mindset, you're not going to work, you're not going to train, you're not going to do anything except quit. Now, I want to show you something. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 2 Timothy, chapter 1, and look, if you would, please, at verse 7. 2 Timothy, chapter 1, and verse 7. I hope you can quote this verse. This is a wonderful, wonderful verse. Look at this. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7. Notice what the Bible says, For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of a sound mind. God has not given us a spirit of fear. Let me tell you something, if you have fear, it did not come from God. It may come from your own ignorance, it may come from peer pressure, it may come from the world, it may come from the devil, but it does not come from God. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. You know what the word sound means? It means a mind that is rational, one without illusion, one that is purposeful, one that is deliberate, one that is set. God gives us a set mind. And here's the problem we have in Christianity today. Most professing Christians do not have a set mind. They don't have it set on any subject. Not just defense. They don't have it set on any subject. They live their lives as a child that refuses to grow up, that refuses to think, and refuses to apply truth. Mark this down. God requires you to think. God requires you to have a mindset and He requires you to have that mindset that is biblical on any and every subject imaginable that's in the Bible and that He tells us. So here's the question. You do have a mindset. The question is, do you have a biblical mindset or a humanistic mindset? Are you thinking rationally, biblically, scripturally, or are you just thinking, well, I'll trust whatever happens? No. God demands God demands that you have a biblical mindset. Did you know the scripture says, let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus? Did you know the Bible says, be renewed in the spirit of your mind? God requires you to bring every thought into captivity to Jesus Christ. Do you have a mindset that's biblical and scriptural? Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask for your grace and your mercy. We pray, Lord, that you would continue to teach us, make us, Lord, and give us a biblical mindset in all of these areas. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.