It's good to be back tonight. Once again, as brother Derek said, it's been a long week, hadn't it? But it's been a fast week. It's been a tiresome week, but it's been a reviving week. It's been strengthening to me and I hope it has been to you too. We started off here Sunday night talking about it's going to be a fight. And I'm telling you right now, this week has been a fight. Brother Derek asked me what I got from the revival, what I've been taken away from it so far. And I'm going to be honest with you. It's been different. It has, but not in a bad way. I don't want you to take that the wrong way. It's been a different, a good way. I believe that, that we've set tradition aside and we just came in here and tried our best to serve God and to follow him in each service, no matter what the circumstances were, we tried to put God first and foremost. We have been fighting last night. I believe we had a good time in the Lord. The Lord met with us last night. Well, I can speak for myself. I had a good time in the Lord last night. And I hope you that were here did too. But, but you know what? Last night is gone in all day. I've been beaten up. I as brother Derek was mowing the yard. And as I was out there trying to contemplate and pray and, and beg God for his leadership and his guidance at the same time, I was praying. Satan would say, what have you been doing all week? You've been going all week. Where's what's happened? Has anything happened? Has anybody got saved? What has happened? What, what, what good are you doing? Going every night during the week and nothing's happened. Well, I want to remind us there's a lot does happen here this week. As far as I know, we have not seen a soul saved. As far as I know, we haven't heard anybody that's prayed through. But what we have seen happening here in this place, I'm not a member here, but I can see a uniting of a body of people coming together and fighting for a cause. And brother Derek said last night, we don't really know what revival really looks like or what we're looking for. And he said even tonight, something I said the other night and something he's been saying all week, we're getting to that point. We just not need to get over the hump. But as we come to Saturday night, a lot of times we start shutting down. We start, well, it's at the end of the week. Revival's over. And tonight, I want to encourage you that we've just began to fight. We've just begun to fight here on Saturday night, here at the end of the revival or the beginning of the revival or the middle of the revival, wherever we might be in the revival, we just began to fight. We have not given up, we will not give up and we will stand strong. I heard a prayer request for Katie tonight. I heard people praying for the lost that are among us. We haven't given up and we can't give up because we just began to fight. We're just getting to that point of the revival to where we're at the hump and we need to get over it and we can't get over it if we quit fighting. We've been fighting so hard all week. Let's not give in and give up right now, but let's begin to dig deeper and to fight harder. I want to remind you of something tonight. There's been different faces here every night. Someone new has come every night of this revival. That's almost unheard of among our churches. It truly is, especially in a seven a day or however week long, whatever you want to call it meeting. But every night there's been someone else here to help carry the bloodstained banner. And that's what we need to do here tonight. We need to raise a bloodstained banner up higher tonight than we did last night. that these are lost among us would see, would understand that when we say we're going to fight, we're going to give it everything that we have. We're going to submit all unto God and let him guide us and direct us here in the services tonight. God's people, let's fight. Let's fight. Let's beg. Let's plead. Let's seek God. Let's find him. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous men of sin and thought and let him return unto the Lord. There's a fight going on right now. A fight that's going on right now. And are we going to win or are we going to lose? Are we going to dig deep or are we going to give in? Are we going to say, well, it's just another night of service and it's almost at the end of the meeting. What are we going to do? Are we going to continue fighting or are we going to give up? I'm not here to tell you the revival is going to continue. I'm not here to tell you the revival is going to end. But what I am going to tell you is God truly cannot quit fighting. If the revival stops right this minute, we still must continue to fight. The real fight is coming up. We've been fighting this week in the refuge house of the Lord. The real fight's coming up. Brothers and sisters, this rival ended tonight. We got to go out to the battlefield and fight. That's where the fight is. That's where our light needs to shine. That's what people need to see is outside the walls. The real fight is getting ready to begin. We've just begun the fight. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 8, he says, we are troubled on every side. Yet, we are not in distress. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not for Satan. Cast down, but not destroyed. Satan has done everything in his power, at least with me today, to try to destroy what God built up last night. It's been a battle. It's been hard. It's tiresome. They were making fun of me earlier because I got out of the chair. It took me a little bit longer to get out of the chair and my back was hurting. Told your pastors from carrying them all week. But you know, we get to that point in our life to where we fight and we fight and we fight and it starts to hurt and it's harder to move around, it's harder to get up, it's harder to sit down, it's harder to walk, it's harder to talk. But the fight must continue. The bloodstained banner must be flown here tonight. I don't know anyone's heart here tonight. Maybe I'm the only one struggling here tonight. Maybe I'm the only one fighting here. Not maybe you're exactly right where you need to be with God. Maybe you've submitted yourself under the Lord and the devil seen any fleet from you. But if you haven't fight, fight with everything that you have tonight, fight with a purpose. with a purpose. I want us to fight with a purpose tonight. I want us to fight with the purpose of lost souls seeing God here tonight. I want to fight with a purpose of God's spirit meeting with us in a magnificent way that we understand and know and don't doubt any minute that it was him with us. You ever been in a situation where you've been in a service, well, I think the Lord was there. I don't want there to be any question about what's going on here tonight. I don't want you to think the Lord's here. I don't think maybe I felt something. I want you to know for a fact that you met with your heavenly father here in this building here tonight, that he is among us, that he has been made manifest among those that are lost and separated from him by the children of God rejoicing in him. You're saying, brother, you're repeating yourself. That's okay. I told you the first night I was here, I don't have anything new. I don't. This has been a battle that's been going on throughout the ages. A battle, a fight. I remember, uh, talking with some, uh, years ago when they were talking about, yeah, you get down to a Friday night. We, well, me and dad and mom were talking about the other nights. It was grocery night. That's what they used to call it back in the day. Everybody would work all week. They'd come to revival on Friday night. They'd have to go to the grocery store. So the crowd was low. We pulled up last night and dad said, well, I guess it's grocery night. And I started giggling a little bit and we came in and, and when we got here, we were among some of the first ones here. There wasn't anybody, uh, hardly here. And then, uh, once service started, I looked back in the house was packing again. You see, we have our expectations of what's going to happen even here tonight, but we need to not expect what we think is going to happen, but we need to expect what God wants to happen. And God wants to meet with his children in a magnificent way. He does. He desires to be with us. He desires to be among us. He desires for his spirit to flow through the building. He desires his children to be revived. He wants it. He wants to give it, but we are going to have to continue to fight. We read about David there in a first Samuel. in the 17th chapter. We're not going to read the whole thing. We all know about David and Goliath and how David said, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that defiles the army of the God? I want you to understand there's still an uncircumcised Philistine among us that is defying the army of God. And we need to be strong enough to say, is there not a cause and understand that cause is for us to continue to fight for a reason. We're not here for no reason tonight. I hope you're not here for no reason tonight. I hope you're here for a reason. I hope you're here for a reason. I hope you're not just here because it was 7pm on Saturday night and Faith Missionary Baptist Church is in a revival. I hope you're here for a reason. A reason. David had a reason. In the 45th verse, it says, Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spirit, and with a shield. But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts. Tonight, I want you to understand, if we are going to make it over the hump, if we are going to see true revival among God's children, true revival sweep across this land, we are going to have to step out on the name of the Lord of hosts. We're gonna have to let him, no matter if the enemy's coming at us with swords and spears, we're gonna have to step out. He said, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee, and I will give thee the carcass of the host of the Philistine this day to the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth. that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. David came with a purpose. David came with a purpose to go against Goliath. It wasn't that David would be anything great. It wasn't that David would become king in his eyes. It wasn't that David would do anything on his own, but that the world would know that there's a God in Israel. Why are you here tonight? I hope you're here tonight that the town of Franklin would know that there's a God at Faith Missionary Baptist Church. Why are you here tonight? We're just beginning to fight. We're just beginning to dig deep. And in order for us to get over that hump, we are going to have to go against the Goliath that stands in front of us. We're going to have to go in faith. We're going to have to go for our own glory, but for the glory of God. I hope you're not here tonight for your glory. I hope you're not here to say, look, see, I made it on Saturday night at faith, patting myself on the back, but I hope you're here that the world might see that there's a God here and there's a purpose for you to be here. There's a purpose for you, a purpose driven life here tonight. And that purpose is for the world to understand and know that there's still a God on the throne. In the world of chaos that we live in, if there's nothing else better than the world to see than the shining light of the darkness. And they need to see it. And they must see it through us. He said something about this God in Israel. He said, not all the assembly shall know that the Lord saved it not with the sword and with the spirit. For, or with, with the sword and the spear, but the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. David didn't say that I was going to do anything on my own, did he? He said that God was going to give you, talking to this Philistine giant, to us by his hands because he is God. Tonight, I want you to understand and realize that if we are going to make this fight worth the fight, we are going to have to give it to God tonight and let him have his way that he would be the one. What brother Derek talked about earlier, when we were weak, He is strong. We see his strength. It's not about us doing anything. It's about him doing everything here tonight. And it's about his glory shining tonight, not yours, not yours. It's not about the light reflecting off my bald head right here. It's about the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ shining in our hearts that the world might see and understand what they must do to be saved. When was the last time you had anybody ask you, what must I do to be saved? Have you thought about that in your life? When has anybody come up to you and said, what must I do to be saved? We read about Paul and Silas in the prison there. What was going on there? Was this Paul and Silas showing up to prison? Clocking in, time to go be shackled in. No, they were beaten before they got there. They were beaten and they were beaten hard. They were shackled in the jail cell. I believe in the innermost part of the prison where no one has ever escaped. And instead of getting down to that ninth hour, last hour, however you want to call it. They seen they're in the ninth inning. They were down by three runs and they had two outs. The batter was up and there was two strikes. They're at the lowest point. They were about to lose. Something clicked with them. They remembered something about their self. They remembered who they were. Do you remember who you are tonight? Gary Smith, you're not brother Gary Smith tonight. Do you remember who you are? You're a child of the king. And they remembered this, and they started singing and praising God, even in their despair. There was two outs, no one on base, and they need one run to win. Oh, but the one is up the bat. Two strikes. And that pitcher was good. Boy, he could throw a mean curve ball. Been doing it a long time. Satan can make that ball go quick, but he forgot who he was playing against. Mercy was up the bat. And that ball came. Mercy swung with all his might and hit it out of the park. And Paul and Silas remembered that that night. They remembered that they had the victory. They remembered. And what happened when they remembered, you know, when, when you, when you become victorious, what happens? You start celebrating, don't you? As mercy was routing in third and coming home, the celebration began and they begin to sing praises to God and to pray to him in the midnight hour. And there came a great earthquake. Somebody else was doing a little celebrating, wasn't it? Wouldn't you like to be in the celebration of the Lord tonight? The Bible said there's an earthquake, that the shackles fell, that the chains left, and that the doors of the prison swung open wide. The fight had just begun. Just begun. Though in the world's eyes they were down and despaired and nothing could help them, the fight had just begun. Though they counted out in the world's eyes, the fight had just begun. Philippian jailer came in there. He was about ready to take his life. Had the sword drawn, about ready to just dagger right into him. Paul said, whoa, stop. We're all here. And he asked the question, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Do you know why he asked Paul and Silas? It wasn't just because it was Paul and Silas. It wasn't because it was just a man named Paul, the man named Silas there, the one that preached, it wasn't because of them. It was because he witnessed the power of God among God's children because they didn't give up the fight. And they kept fighting no matter what the odds looked against them. They continued to fight and continued to fight until God's glorious gospel light shined through them so much that it attracted the one. And he said, what must I do to be saved? When's the last time you heard that? Brother Derek asked us to do some self-checking, search ourselves. Why was he asking them? Because God was glowing through them. God was working through them. He's seen the power of God. Do the people of this world see the power of God in our life anymore? Have we quit fighting? Oh, people, come on. We've just begun to fight. It's time that we quit using our inside voices, brother Derek. Some of you don't know what I'm talking about. Brother Derek does. It's time that we let our outside voices reign in this world, that the world can hear us and we're not the silent majority anymore, but we begin to fight with everything we have and we do not give up. Not for us. but that the world might know. Could you imagine, and it's definitely not impossible. Could you imagine if someone walked in that back door right now and said, faith, what must I do to be saved? Church, what must I do to receive what you have, what I see glowing out of this building? What do I have to do? Do you realize the same God that was there in the jail cell, the same God we serve today, Think about that for a moment. The same God that sent the angel to escort Peter out of the prison. I don't know if you've ever read that story there in Acts where Peter was in prison and the angel just come and tapped him on the shoulder and said, come with me. Have you thought about that lately? The shackles of this life are all over us. It's on our faces, it's in our bodies. We see it all around us, the despair that we live in, but the angel of God will come and just tap us on the shoulder and say, come on with me. Let me show you how to get out of here. Have you ever noticed God's right there on the scene? What's the old saying? Is Johnny on the spot? He's ready, willing, and able to do whatever it takes to for his honor and glory to be magnified in our life. The world might see his glory in us. Peter was escorted out of the prison. I didn't believe a guard looked at him. God got him out of there. He went back to the house where the church was praying. Little damsel come to the door and they were just begging God to release him God to help him God give him strength God deliver him She opened the door And I almost believe she turned around slammed the door in disbelief There was Peter the one they were praying for church. We still have power today We still have it And I don't know about you, but we've just begun to fight Peter didn't run did he? No, I believe knocked again Here she came, let him in. When we think it's impossible, when we're done and we're over it, when we're weak and we can't fight anymore, God's there to pick us up, to dust us off and say, move forward. I love that story about the children of Israel there at the Red Sea. When God told Moses, he said, you tell them just to go forward. Move ahead. Huh? Did you not see that body of water in front of us? Don't worry about that. If you got a red sea in front of you tonight, don't worry about it. If God's told you to build a boat in the middle of the woods, go build a boat. If he's given you the direction to do something, go do it because there's a purpose behind God. We might do stuff willy-nilly without a purpose, but when God directs us and tells us what to do, there's a purpose behind it. If He's telling you to testify tonight, there's a purpose behind it. If you've never told you've been saved and God's wanting you to reveal that to us tonight, there's a purpose behind it. If you've been called to preach and you've never said anything, but God's burdened your heart to do it, there's a purpose behind it. Church, if God's telling you that we've just begun to fight, there's a purpose behind it. The fight is real and we should be excited to be in the army. I ran over something with a mower, I didn't tell my wife today. To my knowledge, I still don't even know what it is. I never did find it. But I hit it with the mower and I just heard a clank. And my mind immediately went to the vision of dry bones. And how there, he was prophesying to these dry bones. God said, can these bones live? He said, hell no, Lord. Then I heard that sound. What did I hear? I heard bones clinking together. You see, church, it's time we get out of the valley. It's time that the bones come together. But I want you to understand the bones did not come together because of Ezekiel. The bones came together because God brought every piece together. The sinews, the tenons, the muscles, the flesh, everything come together. And then once everything clanked together and fell into place, God said, now prophesy to the wind. Prophesy to the wind that these bones might live. church, when the spirit of God, that wind, that breath of God comes rushing through the church, the church comes alive. And she doesn't just come alive. She becomes a mighty exceeding army of God. That's revival. When the church is ready to go fight, that's when we are revived. When that spirit comes in and he testifies to us, that's when we are alive. And when we are alive, nothing can stop us. Nothing. Paul said, who shall separate you from the love of God? He said nothing can, because he said in a few verses before that, if God be for us, who can be against us? Do you truly believe that tonight? Do you have confidence in that verse right there? In that one verse, do you have confidence in that? To trust it with your life tonight? That if God be for us, who can be against us? That nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing can separate us from His arms outstretched around us. Nothing can separate, not even death can separate us from God. Are you ready to fight? Church, we need to realize that we got an excitement about us. It might be a little dim every once in a while. It might be down there a little deeper than it was yesterday, but there's an excitement about us, and it's called Jesus Christ. Do you remember what he done for you? Paul, when he was bringing it back to the minds of the Ephesians, he said, you who were dead in your trespasses and sin, past tense. You who were dead in your trespasses and you've been quickened by the spirit and made alive. Let's show that we've been made alive tonight. Let's show that we're not dead no more. Let's show that we are quickened by the power of God. That's fighting. That's fighting that the world sees the power of God in us. It's fighting. It's not just going to happen just because you say it's going to happen. It's going to happen because you submitted unto God and God has seen that. And God comes to you. Are you ready to fight? I started off Sunday night asking you about fight. I want to talk to you tonight about we've just begun to fight. It's been a long week. Working during the day, preaching at night, studying in between, not going to bed till late up in the middle of the night, praying, trying to find the will of God. It's been a long week, but it's been a blessed week and I'm ready to fight until God says we're done fighting. Are you here tonight ready to fight? That fight for you might just be a testimony. It might be a song. It might be a prayer. Praising God is praying. Prayer is a form of praise to the Lord. Honoring Him with our life is praise to Him, but just a little word of prayer is praising God. Why? Why is that praising God? Because it shows an obedience about us to God. The Bible says it's better to obey than it is to sacrifice. That obedience after you're saved by God's grace is something that's so precious. So precious. Tonight, we've just begun the fight. Whether the revival breaks in the next couple of days or not, or whether it continues on for a lifetime, we have just begun to fight because the battle is real. Whether you want to admit it or not, the battle is real. Satan's been winning the battle for a little while. It's time that we remember who we are. We are the army of God. Did you not hear me tonight? I want to say it again. We are the army of the everlasting, ever loving, all powerful, great I am that sits on the throne. We are his children. We are his soldiers. Paul tells us that a good soldier does not entangle himself with the affairs of this world. He also tells us that we are to live our life as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. And that is our reasonable service. Jesus said, you can't serve two masters. We're going to fight for one or fight for the other. Which one are you going to fight for tonight? We are his army. We are his children. And these lost ones that are around us need to see us fighting. They need to see a zeal and desire and excitement among God's children. And not just in one service, but they need to see it in our lives. They need to see it outside the walls, inside the walls, everywhere we go. They need to see a zeal for God. I think about the commercials on TV when the parents tell their kids they're going to Disney World. How excited them kids get. You know, we say we're going to church. God's children, we ought to be more excited than that. And it should show on our faces. It should show in our actions. It should show in our lifestyle, the way we walk, the way we talk, the way we move, for he is our life. In him, we have our life. We move, live, and have our being. In him, in him alone. Sister Morgan's saying, in Christ alone. Tonight, I don't know what's on your heart. I don't know where we're going to go from here, but only thing I do know is we're tired. It's what we usually call the end of the revival. It's usually when God's children, it's past grocery day now. Now it's just Saturday night. And it's usually that time where the church and the people that are coming just start giving in. And say, well, we'll go back to our normal routine, but I don't want to go back to the normal routine. You know, there's been a new saying since COVID that this is a new normal. With all this stuff going on and whether you want to trust in this one or that one or whatever, you got to admit it's a new normal in our world today. Well, I hope today, June the 12th, 2020 at 8, 10 PM. That this would be a new normal for God's children. That we would shred off the old man and let the new man shine. That the world would see. That they would see that we serve a God and not a tradition. That we are not just all words, but we are all action. James said, show me your faith. Without works, I'll show you my faith by my works. That means we are going to labor and work so that the world would see that we are something. Not that we would honor and glory, but as we said the other night that our light was so shine that they would honor and glorify the father, which is in heaven. They would see something about us. Look in the mirror. What do you see? You remember at that point until you walk away and then you don't see the reflection anymore. Let us remember who we are tonight. Have you ever stood in front of the mirror and maybe I'm just weird, but try to encourage yourself. I done that today when we're getting ready, sitting there in front of the mirror. I said, you are a child of God. You are his servant. He called you and sent you out into this world for a purpose and you cannot give up. No matter what comes your way, no matter how hard it gets, no matter who throws what in your path, you cannot give up. You ever done that? Maybe I'm the only weird one around here. But we need to encourage one another. And we can't encourage one another unless we're encouraged by the Father above. It starts with Him, and it flows. You ever seen a fire start? I mean, really watched it start, not just start it, but really watch it from that first little bitty spark comes a flame. And if you take a match and you just hold that match up to that twig, it's not on fire. It's not gonna do anything, is it? There's no flame. Nothing started and ignited it. You had to take that match and you had to strike it across the striker in order for it to do what it does and start firing, start to spark. Well, God said, we need to go against that striker. And that striker is the Lord in order for our spark to spark and our fire to come, we must go up to him. And we must be struck across there. And when it does that little spark, A match isn't very big is it? I mean, they've got some long ones nowadays. They got some short ones. I can remember a little book match. It was almost paper thin. If you weren't careful, you'd burn your fingers real quick with that thing. It wasn't much. Didn't look like much at all. But when that match ignited and that flame took off and it hit something else, that little match started a fire. And when that fire started and it went from that stick to the other stick, It got bigger and it got brighter and it got warmer and it got more inviting on a cold night. It got more inviting to cook on and to use for its glory. I'm here to tell you, you might be that little match. Your work for the Lord might be what ignites the true fire. It might not be the preacher. It might not be the song leader. By the way, brother Brett, you've done a wonderful job this week. It might not be in the preliminaries and it might not be with a Nathan York prayer. It might just be that little spark that's in you that God ignites. I don't think I'll ever forget what brother Brown said. Maybe sometime you just need to stand up and say, thank you Lord for saving my soul. That's it. That little spark of praise for the Lord could ignite a fire like we've never seen. I've read about old revivals. I've read the history about where they just broke out and went across the counties, but I'm ready to live in one. And I'm ready to fight tonight to find that one right here. This isn't my home church, but I want to start right here. I don't want to wait till I get back to my home church. I want it to start right now. I want brother Jeremy to go into my home church tomorrow lit up because he met with the Lord here tonight. I want it to go from church to church to church where God's spirit is just igniting us. And that we are that great exceeding mighty army of God. And we're just flowing through the city and state. I want Indiana to become the new Bible belt. Yeah, I do. I've got a burden for this state. I want to see it shining with the glory of God. Oh, I think it is our flag. I don't know what you call it, but it looks like an Olympian torch or a flag in the state of Indiana. I want it to shine. I want it to shine with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I want to start here and I've just begun to fight. How about you? I've just begun to fight. I've just begun. How about you? Are you ready to dig in, dig a little harder? There are some things that have been going on during this week that I don't understand. I don't, and that's fine. Some things aren't meant for me to understand. He said in Isaiah 55, his words higher than our, or his ways higher than ours. His thoughts are not ours or higher than ours. And we're not able to understand everything about God. But what I do know is what he has told me, trust me and everything will be all right. Even if I'm being beat, everything will be all right. I believe that's all my heart. Even if I'm being persecuted with my life, everything will be all right. because he will be with me tonight. Are you ready to fight? Preachers, are you ready to fight? I mean it, preachers, whether you're pastors or not, are you ready to fight? Pastors, are you ready to ignite the flock in the morning? Are you ready to fight? Fight! It's not easy, but God has called us to do a purpose and that is to fight and to help ignite the fire of the children that they would fight. Are you ready to fight? I know I'm giving brother Derek a hard time for not preaching one night this week, but I believe if I looked at my brother and I said, I need you to fight tonight, I believe he would have stepped up in a heartbeat and he would have fought. Brethren, are we ready to fight? Sisters, are you ready to fight? Are you ready to uphold the bloodstained baron tonight, no matter what the cost? There are lost souls at stake. We talked last night about the death rate being 120 people every 60 seconds. 120 people in one minute. Gone. You tell me there's no reason to fight. You tell me there's no reason to dig deep and to put pride aside. It's not about you and me and night. It's not. It's about raising him up before a lost and dying world. That's what we're fighting for. We're not fighting for our freedoms. No, we're not fighting for our rights. No. We're fighting for lost souls. The battle has been wrenched. Will we fight tonight? Battle line's been drawn before you. Which side are you stand on tonight? Are you ready to fight? God bless each and every one of you. But let's fight. Let's fight. Young and old alike, we want more young people in our churches. Older ones keep fighting. Don't give up. Don't give up. We want more older people to be reunited. Young people start fighting and don't give up. Don't give up. We need one another. God bless you.