Alright, we'll dismiss the kids. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 to head to the creche with Mrs. Shore. And the rest of us please can take our Bibles and open up to 2 Samuel chapter 5. And this will be our starting point this morning. 2 Samuel chapter 5 and beginning at verse 17 is the Stepping stone text for this morning's message as we look at this a bit differently than we normally do. But I trust the Spirit of God will help us and guide us as we get into the Word of God here this morning. Just by way of introduction and giving you an idea of what's taking place in David's life as we read about him already going out into the battle and God going before David and giving David a great victory. In verse 1, we find that Israel has finally recognized David as king. He's been waiting for this for about 22 years. He was anointed at the age of 15 by Samuel, and then you know it took many years before he became the king even over Judah. He's been ruling over Judah for the last seven years, a rule that he began at the age of 30. It's amazing to think about when you put the Bible into ages, to begin to realize I'm older by five years than David was as he became king of Judah and Israel. So 37 years of age. He's conquered Jerusalem, the city of David. And if you've been there to Israel, and you've stood there at the city of David, in that old part of the city, looking down that steep precipice there in the front, it was a fortress that they thought was impregnable. But you see, as you tour it, there's a gutter, as it were. It's supposed that David's men got up in there through that gutter and they took that city, the city of God, the city of Jerusalem, a key city that David has conquered. Hiram, king of Tyre, sent cedar trees and carpenters and masons to build David a great house. And so that's taking place. And God's blessing David. David has several wives and concubines. And the story is in our text here that children are being born. There's a lot of family growth that's taking place in David's life. But like what Paul says, when he says a great door and effectual is open unto me, And there are many adversaries. There are battles as well. And as God begins to bless David, as David begins to come to great success in what he's seeking to do for God, there's an enemy that's seeking to defeat David and to battle against David. And so the enemy of Israel, the Philistines, hear what's taking place and they come. And so verse 17 in 2 Samuel chapter 5, It says, but when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David. And David heard of it and went down to the hold. The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And so David prepares for battle. Here he goes again. He's just kind of come through these times, these days. Not that long ago, hiding from King Saul. And now he's into the hold again and back into the battle as a servant of the Lord. In verse 19, the Bible tells us a story about God going out before David into these battles, and David is victorious. In verse 19 it says, And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand. And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, the Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me as a breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim, and there they left their images. And David and his men burned them. And the Philistines came up yet again and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, thou shalt not go up, But fetch a compass behind them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that thou shalt bestir thyself. For then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Geba until they come to Gaza." And so in our text that we just read, there's two battles that David has faced against the same enemy. They didn't give up as David defeated them once. They came back to fight again. But both times as David went into battle, David got behind God as he entered into that battle, and he was victorious as he followed God into battle. What I'd like to do this morning is somewhat of a topical message. What I want to do, I want to look at the five ways David got himself behind God, just very briefly, by way of introduction. But then to take those five ways and apply them to the battles, some of the battles that we face. And so David got himself behind God going to battle. He did it, first of all, and here's the five ways, he prayed about the battle each time. Every time in this text, as David gets ready to go to battle, the Bible says in verse 19 and verse 23, that David inquired of the Lord. He's going to get behind God, hell, he's going to get on his knees, he's going to go to prayer, and he's going to say, God, I don't know how to do this. I don't know about fighting the Philistines, I don't know what's best, but the battle's here, it's in front of me, it's to be done, but God, how do I do it? What is there that I need to consider? He inquired of the Lord. The second way he got behind God is he got a promise from God regarding victory, both times. Verse 19 says, I will doubtless deliver them into thine hand. Verse 24, then shall the Lord go out before thee. So both times, God gives David something solid. As he comes to him in prayer, God gives him a promise, and David takes that promise. The third way he gets behind God as he goes into battle is he let God lead him into battle. He let God direct the battle and got God's plan for the battle, the battle plan. And so verse 19, the plan was go up. That was the first battle. The second time, verse 23, God says, hey, don't go up this time, fetch a compass behind them and go around this way. So he got a battle plan from God. The fourth way he got himself behind God He stirred himself up to action when God's spirit moved. Verse 24, we see it as God says, Then shalt thou be stirred thyself. I love this story, and really what attracted me to this text, it's something that stood out to me in my reading this past week, somehow I happened across it, but it's a text that I love with regard to revival. Because it's God going out before. We could pray and say, God, we want the wind of your spirit to move in such a way that there's great confidence in our hearts that God's going, and if God's going, I want to go too. That's what David is going to do. God says, as I go before you, stir yourself, get yourself out there too, into the battle. And then the fifth way, He destroyed all that pertained to the enemy. So, as he's taking care of this battle, he wants to win it, he's going to win it by taking care of everything that God gives him to take care of. And so the fifth way he goes out behind God is when the enemy is defeated, he destroys it. He takes care of it. And so, verse 21, the Bible says the Philistines, in their haste as they fled, they left their images and David and his men burned them. They took everything that had to do with the enemy, and they got a pile, and apparently they're wooden idols that they had, and they completely destroyed them. And in verse 25, he smoked the Philistines from Geba until they came unto Gezer. He just got behind them, and he just kept destroying them as he, as it were, ran them out of town. And so my message this morning is this. Get behind God to get the victory. Get behind God to get the victory. We've got a lot of battles that we'll be facing in the world of God. Your battles are going to be different, maybe, than my battles in some ways, but we're all going to have battles. There's going to be things that we look at in our life and we say, I'm defeated there, or I'm victorious there. But get behind God to get the victory. I watched a documentary recently on B-29 bombers used in World War II, and talking about how they carried the atom bomb and things like that. But they showed the strategic planning that went into each raid, and they had this big map room, and they had, back then, you know, the yarn, I guess, going between the different pieces and tags and everything. And they would look at that battle plan, and they'd say, you know, this could potentially happen. This could potentially happen. This could potentially happen. And they planned out ahead of time what they were going to do. And what I want us to do this morning, we're not going to, obviously in this room this morning, fight these battles. We're not going to win these battles here. But I want us to strategically look at battle plans, two in particular that we'll look at this morning, and say, how can we win this? So that when we go out there, we can be victorious. get behind God in the battle plan and we'll run through a couple simulations of what David did and apply it to what we need to do in these two areas that we're going to talk about this morning. Let's pray and ask God's blessing. Father, I thank you that we get a battle before you right now. I mean, that's what part of the battle plan is, Lord. We see it in the text this morning. David prayed, he inquired of the Lord. Father, a church service is a battle. Satan is a great enemy. He wants to destroy anything that would be lifted up by God's Spirit. Father, he's the bird that snatches away the truth. He is the one that desires to take away. Father, I ask in Jesus' name that you give us a victory. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would make the truth of the Word of God very clear to our hearts this morning. Father, this battle plan that David has is a good battle plan for everything that we could possibly face that is a battle with the enemy, and that's life. And so I ask this morning, as we look at these two scenarios, I just pray that the Spirit of God guide me. Father, I can't speak without your help. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would fill me. I pray, Lord, that I preach lovingly. Father, I pray that I preach biblically. Father, I pray that I preach practically. Father, I pray that I preach powerfully. And Father, I pray that I'd be a good servant for you. And I pray, give us ears to hear. Father, we need to hear from heaven this morning. And so, Father, would you work. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so get behind God as we go into these battles. And there's just two battles that I'm going to look at. The battle of evangelism is one, and the battle of righteousness. Those two battles are the two battles I'm going to look at this morning. So follow Him, God or Jesus, into the battle of evangelism. And so Matthew 4.19 says, and he said unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. I know this morning, even from that, and obviously God wants us to follow Him into every battle, but we can look at certain scriptures where the Word of God very clearly says, hey, follow me. Follow me. Follow me here in this case, and I will make you fishers of men. Our commander desires this morning to lead us out into that battle, and to do so victoriously. It's not God's desire this morning to lead us out into battle for failure. Just like David, as David got victory, it's God's desire this morning to lead us through to victory. I mentioned we'd just come back from men's camp, and the camp was in Ireland. And there was a man that stayed in our room last year. And the neat thing about men's camp, you get to know all sorts of guys that go to different churches around Ireland, primarily. And this guy's name is Mick. And I saw Mick out by the pond before even our first service. And God reminded me of his name. And it's fun to ask him how he's doing and what's going on in his life. As we sat down and were eating, Mitch just opened his heart up and he said, you know, door-to-door is tough. He said, you know, he's talking about his evangelism that he does, and he's not a pastor, he's a layperson, and he says door-to-door is tough. He said, I really struggle with it. He said, but I do it, but it's tough. He said, I just have to do it, and if I don't do it, I feel guilty. and I'm burdened about it, and it's really tough, and I just got to get myself out there and do it. And he actually said he'd rather street preach than do door-to-door. That's how hard it is for him to do that evangelism. We might be different in that today. It might be easier for you to do a certain form of evangelism, hand somebody something, or knock on their door, or speak to them about God. But there is naturally going to be a battle. But there's also going to be a great spiritual battle. I got to do door-to-door yesterday. And I heard a lot of reasons going through my head not to do door-to-door. And they're not reasons I'm going to preach to you this morning. I might mention them as we go along. It's just things the enemy gives to us. But that is a battle, isn't it? We want to tell people about Christ. We want to introduce them to the God that has saved us, that has changed us, but there is a real battle that's taking place. So I just asked this morning, how keen are you to enter that battle for the Lord? Is it something that's on your radar, that you're thinking about, hey, that is a battle that God wants me to participate in? That is something that God wants me to do? And so, I do desire God use me in that. Mark 16, 15. says, and he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And so just in that text alone, as Jesus says to his disciples and to the church, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, we can stop and think this morning, how important is evangelism? How important is this battle today? I mean, it's like the main thing, isn't it? I mean, isn't that what church is about? Isn't that, if you study the epistles in Paul, and what Paul is writing about so often, even in our study of Romans, isn't it about the gospel? I mean, that's it. It's like the big thing, it's like the main thing. But I'd ask this morning, how many people are involved in the big thing? How many people are involved in the main thing? That it's on your radar, like, Pastor, this is a battle that God wants me to get involved in. As he commanded it. Those who believe get saved. Those that reject sadly perish. We need soldiers who will fight in this battle. We visited, after men's camp, we went to the National Museum of Ireland, a place called Collins Barracks. And at Collins Barracks, the first building that we went to was about the Easter uprising. And interestingly, we're there at the same time of year as the uprising took place. And there's some daily stuff on the walls. And you can look at what took place on the day of April that we were standing there looking at it. But the Easter uprising was Ireland desiring its independence from England and fighting for it. It was an uprising. And it was put down. later probably is what led to the independence of the Republic of Ireland, what has become Ireland. But there was a sign that stood out to me, and Boyd and I were looking at it, and I took a picture of it on my phone. It said this, from the station we marched to the barracks after they'd been arrested, and on the way we were booed and pelted by men, women, and children, mostly women. Outside the barracks we were heavily stoned by a group of young men, An English soldier, Staff Sergeant Shaw, who was a military policeman, turned on the young Englishman and said, you black guards, that means dishonorable men, you black guards, these men have fought for their country. It's about time you got into uniform and did something for your country. He's saying to them, you know, you're pelting prisoners with stones. And as Christians, we can throw stones at the imprisoned of Satan, and we can throw stones at them. They're off in their wickedness, and their sin, and they're corrupt, and they're ungodly. And we could chuck stuff at them, or we could get burdened about it, get into battle and do something about it. We can put on the uniform of the Lord Jesus Christ and get out there and get involved in changing that. At least they're clear what side they're on. And so, this morning, are you going to enter into the battle? And if so, let's take David's plan and consider it with regard to evangelism. So the first thing is what? What was the first thing that David did? He prayed, right? He inquired of the Lord. And so, as we begin this battle, let's consider praying about it. Two weeks ago we heard the Lord's command to the early church in Luke 24, Jesus said, hey, the plan is evangelism, but what? Get on your knees first. begin to pray about it, and I'll probably often come back to this text in my preaching, because it is a favorite text of mine, with regard to Pentecost took place, and God filled them with the Spirit of God, and they went out and they evangelized, but then the persecution came, and that filling wasn't enough to just continue, even though they were filled with the Spirit of God back there, they needed to be filled with the Spirit of God up here. And so you know the text in Acts, as they got on their knees before God again, in Acts 4, verse 29, it says, Now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. They began to pray. And don't you see yourself in that text? They are the apostles. They've been with Jesus. They knew this was true. They had seen what had happened. But they had to get on their knees and pray. It's not possible for us today to think, well, I'm going to get into evangelism, so I'm just going to go. We really need this morning to understand, if we're going to enter into the battle, we need to enter into the battle with prayer. Have you prayed for boldness this past week in evangelism? Let's just think out loud, if you want, this morning, what else do we need to pray about? When it comes to evangelism, what can we be praying about? Saying, God, okay, I want to pray about this thing. What about divine appointments? Saying, God, somebody out there, there's got to be somebody that has a need. They're open, they're tender. God, maybe they had some family member burdened about them, praying in some other country or some other place, asking God, God, will you save my son, save my daughter? So many times as God gives divine appointments, what you find out is that that person has somebody that is praying for them. Let's pray for that person too. God, I pray that you'd give that. What else? Soften their hearts. God, they're so hard. God, soften their hearts. Make them tender. God, give me opportunity. Sometimes we feel like, I'm just too busy. I've got too much going on and I don't know how it's going to fit into my schedule. But God, give me opportunity to give the Gospel. God, give me success. Here it is, my Father, glorified, that you bear much fruit. You know, we ought to be praying and saying, God, please, I know it's tough, I know it's hard, but our anticipation, God, is this is a good field. God, this is a good place that you've given to us. God, there's got to be good soil here. There's got to be a good work for you to do, because you're God. Laborers. Lord, what about laborers? Think about it. If you're fighting that battle for evangelism, you're going all out for God, and you're looking and going, who else is there? Where's the in and her? Where's the guys come along and say, hey, I'm going to be a part of that. I'm going to participate in that. I'm going to do that. God, give us laborers. And listen, we've studied this text before. We've thought about it before. It's not just, God, give us full-time servants from the Lord coming from another country. And we understand that. But what's the laborers? The laborers, by God's grace, are going to be people, like in this service today, that the Spirit of God speaks to your heart and says, hey, why don't you get involved in doing something and sharing Christ, because that battle is an important battle and we need to win it. So pray about it. James 4.2 says, yet ye have not because ye ask not. And sometimes we lose the battle right before we even get started, because we're not even asking God to help us to do what God alone can help us to do. We've got to go to prayer. The second thing that David did, do you remember? He prayed about it, then he got a promise from God. He got a promise from God. I will doubtless deliver them into thy hand. How confidently did David go into battle? I mean, he went, guys, God has promised a victory. God says we're going to win. Let's go. Right? Because God promised. Mac had a dentist appointment this past week, and Katie was saying, I asked how he did, and she said he did really well. He knows that if he does well, he's going to get a sweetie. All right? Kind of a bad thing, dentists, sweeties, but ignore that. All right? But he's got a promise, right? If I sit and if I be good, then Mommy will this. You know, as we think about the promises that God has given to us with regard to evangelism, God's given us some powerful promises. Acts 1-8 says, But ye shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the outermost parts of the earth. It's like Jesus did say, guys, you can't do it. It's got to be God. I'll tear you in the city of Jerusalem and tell you to be endued with fire from on high. But I promise you, when I empower you, you will be witnesses. We can claim that this morning. You might be here and say, Pastor, I can't. Well, let's go back to the promise that God's given. You shall receive power if the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses. We already read another promise where Jesus said to his disciples, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. We can all get on our knees this morning and claim that promise before God and say, God, I have a promise as I go into battle. I will make you fishers of men. If I asked this morning how many of you are super confident in your evangelism, I don't think very many hands at all are going to go up. And I don't think that would necessarily surprise anybody here. But you know, in our hearts we ought to say, I can. I can. Because God's given me a promise, and that promise is my shield. And I lift the shield up and I say, Satan, you're not going to defeat me here. I can do evangelism. I can succeed at sharing Christ. Satan's got darts and he'll be throwing the darts, the weather, the fear of man, the busyness of life, the lack of success, the hard hearts. But we just lift it up and say, God's promised and God's going to be faithful. The promise that my family claimed when we came to Scotland is this, I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and my whole soul. And God, by His grace, has done that. The second promise I claimed is, the Lord our God, He will prosper us, therefore we, His servants, will rise and build. It's the rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem. The Lord our God, He will prosper us, therefore what? We, His servants, will rise and build. If we didn't have promises, what would we do? I mean, we have nothing when it comes to our walk with God if it's not for the promises of God. And so we take those promises by God's grace and say, you know what? I've got a promise from God with regard to evangelism. I will trust it. I will trust it. And then let God lead into battle. Let God lead into battle. First battle, God says go, David goes. Second battle, God says, okay, come around from behind. It's not the same as before. It's not the same one battle plan fits all. It's that I've got a battle plan for this. I've got a plan for you being victorious and David, here's what it is. And David has to get involved in that plan and getting that plan done. The Apostle Paul, you could argue, was one of the greatest evangelists ever. But the Apostle Paul was a man that was strategic in his evangelism. And he wanted God to give him wisdom even how to give the gospel. Galatians 2 verse 2 says, And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain. Paul didn't go, well, God wants me to give the Gospel, so I'm just going to go all out and I'm just going to blurt out the Gospel. He was careful in the way that he gave the Gospel. It's somebody important and there's kind of a strategy involved in his getting up and giving this person the Gospel in a way that was right, in a way that would be effective, that wouldn't make it vain. It would be a vain thing for us this morning to pound on doors and the door opens up and say, I just want you to know you're a sinner on your way to hell. That could be vain. It could be vain for us to stand and to give a harsh message in the way that we give the gospel. And so we need to be praying and seeking, God, God, what is the way that you desire me to give the gospel? Matthew 10 verse 16 says, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents, harmless as doves. And we just need to be on our knees saying, God, what's the battle plan? You know, here we are, our church, Free Baptist Church, Lone Head Scotland, we've got these people out here that need Christ, and God, how do we get the gospel from here to there? How do we get it to them? How do we present it to them? Pastor Steve Love, that's on BWM Mission Board, our mission agency, asked me a great question as we applied with the board to be missionaries with Baptist World Mission. as they did our interviews and things. And he asked me this question. He said, can you give the gospel in a personable way? I thought that was a good question. Can you give the gospel in a personable way? And I'll just go back to Mick as I'm thinking about it. Mick said he likes to, when he knocks on doors, he likes to deal with things that are there. He likes football. And so if someone's got a football shirt on, he'll start talking to them about football. And different people have different gifts and things, but it's a good thing for us to think about, how am I going to present the gospel? It may be just this, praying and asking God, God, I don't want to have a methodology that is one thing fits everybody. God, give me wisdom what you'd have me say to that person. As you're walking up to the door and you're knocking on the door, Holy Spirit, would you guide me? Would you direct me in the way I give the gospel to them? And then Paul wanted God's plan on where to present the Gospel. Acts 16, verse 6 says, Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the regions of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. Okay, that's interesting. You read in the text, the Gospel is going out, the dispersion is taking place, and it's going to city and city and village and village, and you think, it's just being pushed out there, and God wants it everywhere. Yet, as God wanted it everywhere, God wanted specific people to take the specific Gospel to specific places. Right? Ethiopian eunuch. As God directed the evangelist Philip out to share the gospel with him. And so the Holy Ghost, you know, they're burdened about taking the gospel to Asia, and the Holy Ghost says, no. He stops them. Verse 7. After they had come to Mysia, they said to go into Bithynia. But the Spirit suffered them not. And they, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assured the gathering that the Lord had called us for the preach of the gospel unto them." They say that's it. And they're praying about evangelism. They're asking for God's battle plan. And God says, hey, here it is, Macedonian vision. and that's the church at Philippi, and all the great things that God did there with Lydia's salvation, the Philippian jailer getting saved. Back when God called us to Scotland, there was a process of praying and saying, God, we're in Scotland, or Edinburgh particularly. God had burdened our heart. We stood at Edinburgh Castle, looking out at the city, and I just said to my wife, I said, you know, I can see coming here. God called us to church planting. We're praying at that time, I think already, about New York City and Tucson, Arizona as cities, but we're standing in Edinburgh. I can see coming here. And God, I won't tell the details of how God called us, but God called us to Edinburgh. But obviously, we understand this is not Edinburgh, okay, it's a suburb. But it's part of this area, this region. And so as we prayed about it, you think, well, Pastor, how did you end up in Lone Head? Well, I went over to Pastor Delman's house on my survey trip, and we got a map out. It was before we had the, I don't even have mine in my pocket, the technology that we have. And so we didn't get out on the computer and look at a map. We actually spread a map out on the floor. And I have a picture of us looking at the map, you know? And God led us to Lone Head, very specifically. I mean, if you asked me, Pastor, how sure are you that Free Baptist Church would be in Lone Head? A hundred percent. 110%. Do you know it wasn't until my last survey trip, and I think I had four, three or four, that God led us to the Miner's Community Center where our church meets. This facility has been key to our ability to be in this community. There's many things I could share about this facility until God provides us a permanent location. But you know, God led us here. It's a great thing for us as a church to understand that this is God's plan. This is what God is doing and this is how God has led for us as a church to be establishing a body that's a gospel preaching body here. Yes, God gives you a plan. Are you ready to do that? Listen, young people, it might be foreign missions. It might be moving to Europe. It might be moving to Africa. It might be moving to India. It might be moving to another nation. But are you willing to say, God, if you give me the plan, I'll go. Now listen, on a lot smaller scale, humanly speaking, if God says, hey, go knock on doors, because your church does that at 11 o'clock on Saturdays, and I want you to participate, that's God's plan. Next Saturday, by the way, I'll just announce it now, and if you're not there, you're not ungodly, you might have plans for next Saturday. But at half ten next Saturday, I'd like to do an all-church outreach down at Princess Street Gardens, and we can meet by the statue of David Livingston, which is by the monument to Sir Walter Scott. It's the statue right next to that, between that and Waverly. And I can remind you of that if you want to go. Half ten next Saturday. That's pretty basic, isn't it? If you start saying to God, God, I want to participate in evangelism, the natural thing would be to say, well, what plan is there for evangelism at Free Baptist Church? We've got flyers on the back table. We've got gospel tracts on the back table. We've got John and Romans on the back table. And if we don't have enough, I can get more from the house and bring them. But, I mean, a simple thing is to say, well, God's plan, obviously, is to get involved and do something about evangelism. Because that's how I get in the battle. And it may be loading your gun and having tracts in your pocket so that when you're witnessing to people or meeting people, you can put it in their hand. And, by the way, Have you ever noticed that, and you'll notice this more as you start participating in evangelism, but when God just somehow engages you with somebody for some unknown reason, like they start talking to you, that that's an opportunity that God has given, that is a divine appointment for you to present the gospel to them, and you need to have a track in your pocket so you can hand it to them, and say, I'd just like to invite you to my church. I'd just like to tell you about Jesus. And so, let God lead you in the battle. And then stir yourself up when God's spirit moves. Stir yourself up when God's spirit moves. And back to that Pentecostal prayer meeting. Acts 4 verse 31. It says, And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that out of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all." They got on their knees and prayed, God, we need boldness, God, we need your guidance as we get out and give the gospel. As the Spirit of God stirred them up and the Spirit of God filled them, Then they got themselves out in a place where they could obey God and use that. So they stepped into that opportunity. At camp, on the Thursday that we were there, I was out having my prayer time in the morning. I asked God for a divine appointment. We're at camp. It's pretty much mostly Christian men. There were some unsaved men there. But I asked God for a divine appointment and came back and I kind of forgot about the prayer. But then we had the archery lessons that the guy came that was Olympian and he's doing the archery. Unsaved man. We went out to pick up the arrows and he said something like, I'm earning my salvation today or something like that. I said, well, if that's how you're doing it, it's not going to work. Just kind of joked around with him a little bit. But you know, God gave me an opportunity to share the gospel with him. He also gave Dan Perro, and Les Hill was with me when we witnessed to him, and gave that opportunity to share Christ. But when the Spirit of God reminds us, you might pray about it, say, God, give me an opportunity. Well, when the Spirit of God does, then we've got to stir ourselves up. We might be busy. I mean, we might be on our way somewhere. We might have something that we've got to do, but we've got to stop. and share the gospel as God gives those opportunities. So we need to participate as God gives opportunity. And then destroy all that pertains to the enemy. When David fought the enemy as God gave victory, he took everything that pertained to the enemy and he destroyed it. And that might mean for you taking away things that are hindrance to evangelism. Pastor, I'm too busy. Well, why are you too busy? Is what you're too busy doing more important than the Gospel? Pastor, I can't. I don't have time. Well, can you destroy that? I mean, is it possible, the Bible says, not just the sin that besets us, but the weights that hold us down. Setting those things aside. You're right, Pastor, if I just stop and think about it. That's less important than evangelism. That's just an excuse, and it's taking me away from what God could have me do in this battle. It could be setting aside feelings. Saying, okay, pastor, or God, better yet, I've let my fear keep me from doing evangelism. And Satan's using that. He's saying, hey, you're a shy person. You're not going to know what to say. And all these things. But I've decided that I'm going to do evangelism even though I'm afraid. Listen, there's a lot of things that by God's grace we can do even though we're afraid. And so, destroy that and set that aside so that you can serve God. Fears, feelings. Mick said, as he talked about his evangelism, once I go, I'm fine. It's getting myself out there. You might have been convicted about it before and you thought, I really want to get involved in evangelism, but in your heart you're just like, I can't, I can't. You make that excuse. Is it a burden? Without answering out loud. Is that something that's heavy in your heart? You think, I do, I know I need to. Well, get victory. It's a blessing, isn't it, when you step out and you say, but I'm going to obey God, I'm going to please God in this and do what God wants me to do. So follow God into the battle for evangelism. The battle going on in my heart and mind right now is, Lord, do I have time to preach the second point? But let's just quickly apply it to the second battle. And that's righteousness. The battle for righteousness. Psalm 23 verse 3 says, He restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. God's desire this morning, we looked at it in Sunday school, is He wants to lead us into the battle for righteousness and He wants us to be victorious. It's what we talked about in Romans chapter 6. The old man is dead. He's dead. And so God's desire is to lead me in places of purity, in places of righteousness. Have you noticed that the world is changing? And not for the better, all right? I mean, the morality, if we were to examine the morality of the world today and say, you know, is the world getting better morally or is the world getting worse? The world is getting much worse. And so evolution and creation used to be equal theories. They taught both in the schools. Now, not only do they not teach both theories, but science, evolution is fact. That's not better. That's getting worse. Nobody in the world in the past would have ever thought that man would seek to redefine marriage and the family. But now there's gender questions. And there's leadership questions. Conception questions. Gravitation questions. The world is getting worse. If the world is changing so greatly, what about the righteousness of God's people? If the world is changing that drastically, what about the church? Surely the church is tracking a little bit. And so if the world is getting less godly, what about the church? We've got in our churches today social drinking questions, entertainment questions, language questions, church attendance questions, modesty questions, church worship music questions, ecumenism questions. The church has changed. It's today, if we had somebody from a godly church a hundred years ago, if they came into our godly churches today, even, they'd look at it and say, you know what, this is so different than what was there in my day. And I am going to stop here. I'll preach this tonight, okay? We'll finish this point tonight. Because I want us to have the time to do it and I feel rushed this morning. But I want to consider what God would have us to do to win that battle of righteousness as well. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would give us grace as we consider the Word of God this morning. Father, maybe it's a good point to stop just talking about evangelism. Father, the battle is great. And I pray this morning that your Spirit would speak. I pray that your Spirit would work. I pray that your Spirit would give us grace to get into that battle. Lord, I'm thankful for our church. And Father, for each one that's here. And Father, I'm thankful for the Gospel that we put out into the community and we've been involved in the battle. Lord, we're getting ready to get involved in the battle with the football tournament and with the gala day and the parade. But Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would stir us up. And Father, we need to do more as a church in organized evangelism or door-to-door and flyers. Father, it might be this morning the Spirit of God spoke into somebody's heart and said, you know, you used to be involved, why aren't you now? Or Father, somebody you're encouraging to get involved for the first time, they've let fear or other things keep them from it, but they haven't really practiced what David did as he prayed, he got a promise from God, he got God's plan. He stirred himself up and destroyed everything that had to do with the enemy that was keeping him from, was against God. And so I just pray this morning, Father would you open hearts, would you open minds. I want to just ask this morning, keep your heads bowed and eyes closed. But has the Spirit of God spoken to your heart about getting involved in evangelism this morning? I mean that's been the main thing that we considered. We didn't get to point two. But would you just say to God, God helping me, I want to get involved in the battle. And whether it's somehow, someway, each week, doing something for God in the battle of evangelism. If the Spirit of God spoke in your heart about that this morning, would you just raise your hand? Anybody like that this morning? Maybe you haven't been involved in evangelism. You think, you know, I want to get involved in sharing Christ. Praise God. Many hands. And so what I'd like to do, just bow our heads again. But I just encourage you this morning, would you seal that with God and just say to God, God, you're helping me. Pastor saw my hand. I want to do something about evangelism. And Father, I pray that we would make that decision and say, you know what, I'm going to get into that thing. I'm going to get involved in sharing Christ. And Father, I praise you for the many hands that went up this morning. Father, thank you for speaking to us about that. Lord, that's a key area. Righteousness is as well, and I don't want to miss that. I want to get to that tonight. Lord, we've got the Lord's Supper tonight. It'll be a good text for us to consider before that observance. So may the Spirit of God, Lord, give us wisdom to apply this principle of praying and getting the promise from God, Lord, getting your plan, stirring ourselves up, and destroying the enemy. And Lord, would you help us. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's stand please and we'll sing. Hymn 387, I will follow. 387.