Ep. 061 Fight or Die

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast.

We are a Bible -believing church located in beautiful

British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part

of the Christian Fellowship Ministries with 3

,000 churches around the world. We are a church

focused on world evangelism, discipleship, and

church planting. Here we will share recent sermons

from PHSA Church and other sermons from throughout

our fellowship. I'm Pastor David Bickford, and

I will be your host for this podcast. I thank

you for listening today, and we hope these messages

are a blessing to you and bring you closer to

God. Hello, and welcome back to the Potter's

House Salmon Arm Podcast. I'm Pastor David Bickford,

and today I have a message that I put together

called Fight or Die. So what we're going to look

at is we're going to look at a few things. Our

text that we're going to be working from is Exodus

15 .3, real short, one verse text as a jumping

off point. We're going to look at the blood.

We're going to look at warfare or invasion teams

in that sense. And then we're also going to look

at, as we close off, militant Christianity and

what that looks like in today's age and how I

would prefer to define that. Because being a

military veteran, it's something that I find

interesting is that oftentimes today, if you

ask somebody on the street, what do you think

of when you think of the church? What do you

think of when you think of Christianity today?

Do you think of it as primarily masculine or

primarily feminine? And I would argue that most

people, without trying to judge anybody in particular,

because that's not my goal here. But I think

that it would be, in most men's eyes anyway,

that the church is extremely feminine today.

And the problem with that femininity is not that

we begrudge femininity in any way. We love our

wives, our daughters, but it is the masculine

place to protect femininity in society. And so

that's why it becomes difficult if men are not

looking at the church as a place of strength.

in their lives, but it's something that is, it's

fine for women to be involved with, but not for

men. So triumph in Christianity requires sacrifice.

And during World War II, a young soldier named

David Webster of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne

wrote his mother, stop worrying about me. I joined

the parachutists to fight. I intend to fight.

If necessary, I shall die fighting. But don't

worry about this because no war can be won without

young men dying. Those things which are precious

are saved only by sacrifice. Scripture often

refers to the Christian life as a war, a spiritual

battlefield. And to answer the question of the

hymn writer Isaac Watts, we will not be carried

to the skies on flowery beds of ease. And there

is no victory apart from sacrifice. Just as our

salvation was purchased at great cost, overcoming

the enemy and walking in the spirit requires

that we be willing to give up some things in

order to triumph. That little excerpt is from

the book Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose.

And I think it really gives us an interesting

view as we look at Christianity, as we look at

the willingness. of our youth to be able to go

to war and fight when called upon. And I think

it's something that we have to remember is that

the church was a much larger portion of our society

during the periods of World War I and periods

of World War II and in our history as well before

that. And I think there's a cardinal understanding

of masculinity in the sense that men are supposed

to be the ones to protect the house from the

wolves at the door. In Exodus 15, 3, it says,

the Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name.

Let's pray. Dear Lord God, I pray that this message

will impact people, especially young men who

are sitting there thinking that Christianity

is weak or that Christianity is not something

that is godly. It is not something that is going

to allow them to be men that are willing to fight.

I pray, Lord God, that this will also encourage

young women to look for young men that have a

backbone, that have a spine, that are willing

to stand for godly things and not fall backwards

and not show cowardice in the face of strife.

We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. So

following God's call, this is a quote that I

found. So when Adoniram Judson graduated from

college and seminary, he received a call from

a fashionable church in Boston to become its

assistant pastor. Everyone congratulated him.

His mother, his sister rejoiced that he could

live at home with them and do his life's work.

But Judson shook his head and he said, my work

is not here. He said, God is calling me beyond

the seas. To stay here, even to serve God in

his ministry, I feel would be only partial obedience.

I could not be happy in that. Although it cost

him a great struggle, he left his mother and

his sister to follow the heavenly call. Judson's

churches in Burma have had 50 ,000 converts and

influence. And the influence of his consecrated

life is felt around the world. These ideas of

being willing to sacrifice, being willing to

go into far -flung lands is something that really

should light a fire in the hearts of young men

because men are not meant to sit around idle.

Men are meant to build. Men are meant to subdue

the enemy. And when I'm talking about the enemy,

of course, I mean the spiritual enemy or even

nature. We are called to subdue and take dominion

over nature. So this is the main idea is that

as men, as Christians, and as women as well,

we are meant to fight or to die for the sake

of Christ. We read the word of God as one continuous

story from Genesis to Revelation. And as we read

the Bible, we quickly realize that there's a

battle that exists between good and evil. The

rebellion that started in heaven when Satan came

to earth corrupted God's perfect creation. and

brought the battle to our own home. This battle

created an enmity between the descendants of

Adam and Eve and the devil. And that is why so

much of the Old and the New Testament is about

blood. Life is found in the blood, and only through

the sacrifice can we be redeemed back to the

Father in heaven. It was Christ's blood that

made that possible. Both the New and Old Testament

refer to this need of sacrifice we see in the

Old Testament. We see all of the sacrifices that

are referenced, that blood is not only limited

only to sacrifice but to war. And the Bible brings

us to the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus Christ

and the reference to His cleansing blood. It's

very realistic when you read the Word of God.

And then we can apply this reality to our life

today. Today, we're going to look at the blood.

We're going to also look at warfare. We're going

to look at how that applies to Christianity.

So let's first look at the blood. A rider on

a white horse in Revelation 19, 11 through 16,

we see this. It says, then I saw heaven open

and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on

it is called faithful and true. And in righteousness,

he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a

flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems,

and he has a name written that no one knows but

himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood,

and the name by which he is called is the Word

of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine

linen, white and pure, were following him on

white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword.

with which to strike down the nations, and he

will rule them with rod and iron. He will tread

the wine presses of the fury and the wrath of

God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh, he

has a name written, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.

So behold, the rider on the white horse, Jesus

is king. He is righteousness. Our righteous God

is able to make war. He has eyes like, like a

flame of fire. Our God, our Lord is mighty. He

is terrifying to the unjust and to the unholy.

This is why so many refuse to turn to him and

accept his mercy. In their sin, they can only

imagine the terrifying judgment that is to come.

His clothes are dipped in blood and an army follows

behind him. His army is ready with a sword to

trample the unrighteousness of this world. These

are horrifying images of the one that we call

the Lamb of God. These pictures, you know, get

glossed over. They get neglected in this world

we live in today, oftentimes, because we see

a lot of the Western world's churches becoming,

you know, we like to, we hear this all the time

that, you know, God is love. point of the Bible

is love. Love this, love that, and I am definitely

one who believes in God's love and grace. But

the purpose of the Bible is repentance and restoration

of relationship back to God, and that can only

be done through Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn't tell

them that they can continue to sin. He says,

go and sin no more. And then we see this picture

of the end times of people choosing to live in

rebellion, and they get to see Jesus returning

as a warrior. And that's why we look next at

the Lord's day of vengeance. So when we look

at the Old Testament, we get this parallel picture

to what I just read in Isaiah 63, one through

six, where it says, who is this who comes from

Adam in crimson garments from Basra? He who is

splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness

of his strength. It is I speaking in righteousness,

mighty to save. Why is your apparel red and your

garments like who has tread the winepress? I

have trodden the winepress alone, and from the

peoples no one was with me. I trod them in my

anger, and I trampled them in my wrath. Their

lifeblood splattered on my garments and stained

all of my apparel, for the day of vengeance was

in my heart, and my year of redemption has come.

Look, but those who there was no help, I was

appalled, but there was no one to uphold. So

my own arm brought me salvation and my wrath

upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in my

anger. I made them drunk in my wrath and I poured

out their lifeblood on the earth. So when we

see this, who is coming? Marching in great strength

in crimson garments, speaking in righteousness

mighty to save. Our Lord Jesus is prophesied

here in Isaiah, but we get this parallel picture.

Of a God who's coming for the final judgment.

For a God who's given every opportunity for salvation,

but still has to deal with the unrepentant. So

when we hear this call to a God of love, we neglect

that sometimes, at some point, there has to be

judgment in order to uphold righteousness. This

is the problem that we see a lot in society today

as we think or we're told oftentimes that love

will continue to go on without judgment. But

our Lord and Savior tells us that there is a

time where there will only be judgment left.

That is why we cannot delay the Great Commission

in our lives. That is why we have to be able

to tell people about Jesus Christ. That is why

people... preach on the streets and hold signs

and try to compel others to listen so that they

can see what Jesus can do in their life because

time is short. Time is short. This brings me

to my next point, which is warfare and the invasion

team. The Lord's army, the army is God's army,

and it is an army built on faith. and trust in

God. We are not a bunch of bloodthirsty zealots.

Quite to the contrary, we are called to be an

army of servants. The battles of the Israelites

were battles of faith and obedience. In Judges

3, 1 through 4, now these are the nations that

the Lord left to test Israel by them. That is

all in Israel who had not experienced all the

wars in Canaan. It was only an order. that the

generations of people of Israel might know war

to teach war to those who had not known it before.

These are the nations, the five lords of the

Philistines, of the Canaanites, the Sidonians,

the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from

Mount Baal Hermon as far as Lebo Hamath. They

were for the testing of Israel to know whether

Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord,

which he commanded their fathers by the hand

of Moses. God was testing the children of Israel.

To see if they would remain faithful to the covenant.

Would they live by faith like their father Abraham?

In Genesis 12, 1 through 3, it says, Now the

Lord said to Abraham, Go from your country, your

kindred, to your father's house, to the land

I will show you, and I will make of you a great

nation. And I will bless you and make your name

great, so that you will be a blessing. I will

bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors

you I will curse. And in you all the families

of the earth shall be blessed. So this doesn't

mean that we are going to be without conflict

in our life. We are going to come into challenges.

We are going to come into times of warfare. We

see this. I mentioned World War I, World War

II. There are periods where evil is on the march,

and we do have to stand against it physically.

If you know the tale of Bonhoeffer, he put himself

at great risk to hold to the values of the church

when the church was being subverted by the Nazis

in Germany. It also means, though, that we're

not meant to seek out bloodshed. And this is

where a lot of people get confused or get stuck.

And this is something we have to guard our hearts

with. This is something that's been on my heart

recently is that we are not meant to seek bloodshed.

We are not meant to seek out reasons to hate

other groups. There's a big move in society right

now. I mean, the theology has been around for

ages, replacement theology, all these kind of

things where people say, oh, you shouldn't pray

for the blessing of Israel. And I contend that

that's false. Because the Bible tells us to pray

or to... It's to love all of our enemies. So

even if you view a certain group as an enemy,

then you are commanded to treat them as you would

yourself, love your neighbor as yourself. So

any ideology, any thought process that leads

you to harbor or foster hate is not something

that comes from the God that I serve. We have

to make our face like flint, the Bible tells

us, in times of trial, but we are not to be the

ones to seek bloodshed. We fight so that others

will be set free and others will be saved. When

we fight, it is meant to be in a fight to save

lives, not one to gain land or gain prestige

or gain power. But it is meant so that others

can be saved. So as Christians in our life, our

cardinal, our calling, is the great commission

that Jesus gave, which is we put ourselves at

risk so that others can come to Christ. We witness

on the streets. We hold signs. We do guerrilla

teams, impact teams. Missionaries go out to countries

that don't like Christianity. We do that. Because

that is how we're going to bring people to salvation

so they can be free in Christ. In Genesis 14,

4 through 16, it says, when Abraham heard that

his kinsmen had been taken captive, he led forth

his trained men born in his house, 318 of them,

and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided

his forces against them by night, he and his

servants, and they defeated them and pursued

them to Hoboth, north of Damascus. Then he brought

back all the possessions and also brought back

his kinsmen Lot with his possessions and the

women and the people. So the battle is not ours.

The battle is of Lord's. We're not supposed to

go seek out warfare, but we are supposed to be

ready to fight when called upon. God wants us

to know that he is ultimately in control. How

do we know that? Well, we can glean this idea

from stories that we have in the Bible. If we

look at the tale of Gideon, his forces get dwindled

from 32 ,000 down to 300 because God wanted to

make a point in Judges 7 -7. And the Lord said

to Gideon, with 300 men who lapped, I will save

you and give the Midianites into your hand. and

let all the others go, every man to his home.

So Gideon asked God for proof, but in the end,

God got the last laugh. When Gideon had tens

of thousands of soldiers, God dwindling it down

to 300, so that when the victory came, it wouldn't

be Gideon's, but God's. Gideon was faithful,

but God was victorious. And this is the harder

part of faith. We often want to have an army

behind us. We want to have numerical superiority,

financial superiority. We're the best weapons

and firepower. But the reality is that we can

have none of that in the physical realm, but

have much more of that in the spiritual realm.

And we can see a picture of this in Joshua's

life. And the Lord's army in Joshua 6, 15 through

16, it says, on the seventh day, they rose early

at the dawn of day, marched around the city in

the same manner seven times. It was only on that

day that they marched around the city seven times.

And on the seventh time, when the priest had

blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people,

shout for the Lord has given you the city. This

is a great tale, right? The walls of Jericho.

It picks up in verse 20. It says, so the people

shouted and the trumpets were blown. And as soon

as the people heard the sound of the trumpet,

the people shouted a great shout and the wall

fell down flat so that the people went up into

the city, every man straight before him, and

they captured the city. Who knocked down the

wall? Who knocked down the wall of Jericho? Certainly

it wasn't the sound of the trumpets or the shout

of the people, but it was the activated faith

of the people of God, a faith that was in accordance

to the will of God, an unseen power, but a power

that binds us together as brothers and sisters

in Christ today. The Spanish word for guerrilla

translates literally meaning little war. So this

isn't the animal, this is guerrilla warfare,

little war. Guerrilla warfare is sometimes called

partisan warfare or regular warfare. In general,

the word guerrilla warfare is used to designate

any military activity carried on by a comparatively

small independent force or unit and irregularly

conducted with or without military organization

in connection with a regular war. So, you know,

why do I bring this up? Well, because we're the

Lord's army. But really, we are a decentralized

network. small and independent group of believers

can act out in the will of God. You know, in

our fellowship, we're not a nominational group

of churches, but we have 4 ,000 churches globally.

And some of us are tiny like we are here with

a very small number of people and others are

larger, church planting, missionary sending churches.

But the reality is, is that regardless, we have

these little pinpricks of light all over the

globe that are going out. for that great commission

preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we're

not alone. I'm not foolish enough to say we're

the only thing going on. God has churches and

believers everywhere. And we all can be these

little pieces of light waging war by faith against

the powers and principalities that are at war

with God today. And so I like to think that with

our... church network, our fellowship churches,

we're like a mesh network. And if you're familiar

with the idea of a mesh network and technology,

the idea is simple is that you can have like

these individual points, but over time they mesh

together. Relationships can be founded, strengthening

each other. And then when you put that onto a

map with our churches today, with all the connections

and the interweaving relationships, it's like

this powerful, powerful web. of faith. It makes

us stronger than the sum of our parts. We're

not alone in this fight. We stand together in

faith. In Ecclesiastes 4, 9 through 12, two are

better than one because they have a good reward

for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift

up his fellows, but woe to him who is alone when

he falls and has not another to lift him up.

Again, if two lie together, they keep warm. But

how can one keep warm alone? And though a man

might prevail against one who is alone, two will

withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly

broken. So then how do we live a life of militancy

and in faith? What does that look like in our

day and age? What will that look like in our

own town here at Salmon Armour, in your town,

wherever you're listening from? This brings me

to my final point, which is militant Christianity.

And to help answer that question, I turned to

an old book that I read when I was a young Marine.

It was on the Marine Corps reading list. I think

I actually read it when I was a poolie. A poolie

is somebody who's already signed up for the military,

waiting to go to basic training. So not even

a recruit, not a private, not a private first

class. No, a poolie is like you're just in the

pool. of candidates dreaming one day to be a

Marine. And I'm pretty sure that's when I read

this book. The book is The Soldier's Load in

Mobility of a Nation by SLA Marshall. And it

says, enduring hardship, in July 1918, I marched

with my regiment to the front on a balmy starlit

night and was astonished to see the strong men

around me virtually collapse under the weight

of their packs. When we got to the fire zone

after an 11 -mile approach on a good road, they

had been conditioned to go 20 miles under the

same weight in the broiling sun. Then some days

later, after our bath of fire and burials were

done, we shouldered the same packs and marched

rearward 32 miles in one day, got to our billets

with no sweat, feeling light as a feather. I

should have seen the lesson then, but to my juvenile

mind, the experience signified only. that it

is a lot easier to move away from the battle

than to go into one, which any fool knows. Many

years went by. Then in the Pacific War in early

1944, Major General Archibald V. Arnold gave

me a tactical problem to solve. He wished to

know why it was that in the atoll operations,

if troops were checked three times by fire, even

though they took no losses and had moved no more

than a mile, their energy was spent. and they

could not assault. Worn out men cannot fight

or think. It is folly to press them beyond the

endurance when just a little rest will work a

miracle on recovery. So this idea is the dead

hand. General J .F .C. Fuller once said that

an adherence to dogma has destroyed more armies

and lost more battles and lives than anything

else in war. The idea of the dead man's hand

is that overloading warriors, we could take on

too much and neglect the important details of

a mission. When we allow the weight of external

burdens and worries or distractions, we can make

ourselves of no use to God's plans. So we must

refrain from the unnecessary while focusing diligently

on our faith. We have to be able to shed off

this weight, allow ourselves to drop our packs

of worries and excesses. Give that burden to

the Lord so we will be rested and ready for the

battle. There's an idea of the fire load or your

ammunition or your armaments. Too often we concern

ourselves with whether we know enough. Do we

have the right weapons, the right tools for the

fight? But our God provides us everything we

need. We have the word, we have prayer, and we

have our savior. And I'll add one other thing.

If you're part of the body of Christ, you should

have fellowship with your brethren who can upgird,

who can help edify you. and builds you up in

the faith. And we can lean on those hard times.

So we can look at another military example. We

can look at the airborne example in this. In

the European theater, the basic individual ammunition

load for a paratrooper was 80 rounds for his

carbine. Or an M1, it's the same thing. He had

two hand grenades, and when the parachute...

Paratrooper jumped into Normandy on June 6, 1944.

He also carried these things, one rifle carrier

part, one English mine, six packs of K rations,

one impregnated jumpsuit, one complete uniform,

one steel helmet and liner, one knitted cap,

one change of underwear, two changes of socks,

one entrenching tool, one gas mask, one first

aid pack, one spoon, two gas protective covers,

one field bag with suspenders, one pack of sulfa

tablets, one escape kit, and a set of toilet

articles. So despite all the weight, most of

the sailing characteristics in the operation

by these forces was, without doubt, their high

mobility of all ranks. That was because most

of them used common sense. They jumped heavy,

but they moved light. Once on the ground, most

of them ditched every piece of equipment that

was unnecessary. They did this without an order,

and often before they engaged any of the enemies

or joined up with any of their comrades. It was

a reflex to a course of training. which had stressed

the main thing was to keep going. Blessed to

preserve the history is not enough. We have to

look at moving forward in Christ. But we also

have to remember that not to throw off what is

necessary with our relationship with Jesus Christ.

We have to trust in God and the light load that

is our Lord's rather than trusting in man. So

just like the militaries put their trust in new

technologies, tanks, planes, drones, too often

Christians turn from a resolute faith in Jesus

Christ and they put their faith or their trust

in men and machines. We see this happening in

society over and over and over again. The flavor

of the week comes out, a new politician, a new

government official, somebody who's going to

save us from the newly perceived enemy. And so

rather than turning to the word of God, turning

to Christ, remembering our purpose in Christ,

we say this person can take the burden. And we

give up, in some regards, our responsibility

as men and as women and as children of God. Rather

than putting our faith in God, we give that away

to another created being. We also see this with

the world telling us, put your trust in experts,

doctors, scientists, like I said, even politicians.

And it's terrifying because in doing so, you're

basically giving up your faith in the one who

could save your soul. We're told to ignore the

word of God because certainly that isn't trustworthy.

Trust the science, right? Yeah, what can we trust

about the science? You know, science isn't concrete.

And what I mean by that is that science is simply

just a way of testing a hypothesis. You're supposed

to be able to come up with an idea. You're supposed

to be able to experiment out that idea. And at

the end, you should be able to either prove or

disprove the hypothesis. But so much of what

they call science today is unprovable. It's untestable.

And you have to just take it on faith. But not

like faith like we have in our God, but faith

into a man. Faith into a created being. So this

shows that our society and the church at large

has some weaknesses. But the benefit that we

have in the church is that we should be able

to allow Christ to use us in that weakness. Many

who are viewed as strong are that way because

they're overburdened. And if you're overburdened,

you're going to end up failing because you're

carrying weight that's not meant for you to carry.

But in your weakness, you can submit to Christ

and he can lift you up and he can help you. That's

why we need to stand for Christ. In Joshua 5,

13 through 15, we see this picture of Joshua

coming to the feet of Christ. It's a picture

of Jesus before his incarnation. When Joshua

was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked

and behold, there was a man standing before him

with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua

went to him and said to him, are you for us or

for our adversaries? And he said, no, but I am

the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I

have come. And Joshua fell on his face and worshiped

him. What does my Lord say to his servant? And

the commander of the Lord's army said, Joshua,

take off your sandals from your feet for the

place where you are standing is holy. And Joshua

did so. How do we know this is a picture of the

pre -incarnate Christ? Well, it's because he

was allowed to worship at his feet. When you

do that to an angel, they would correct you because

they're nothing but servants. But this situation,

he was allowed to kneel and worship. Fear equals

fatigue. In Matthew 10, 31, Fear not, therefore

you are of more value than many sparrows. Revelation

1, 17, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as

though dead, but he laid his right hand on me,

saying, Fear not. I am the first and the last.

We need to stand for Christ. We need to understand

that our life is full of different seasons. It's

not always going to be easy. It's not always

going to be a battle, though, either. Battle

shock is a term. It results from excessive load

on a soldier. It's a far greater danger during

summer operations than in normal winter operations

when the cold is not intense enough to slow the

muscles or cheer the bone. But a man can become

dehydrated during summer fighting when you're

dry. A man becomes dehydrated. His courage flows

out through his pores. He'll have a loss of muscular

strength. He loses the will to fight. He loses

the ability to take constructive action. And

the worst part is that he's not likely to understand

that his sudden loss of willpower and courage

is because his physical strength has been sapped.

And then it may be within his power to check

it. We, as Christians, we can see this picture

in a life as a Christian without prayer, without

reading the word of God, without fellowshipping

with other brothers and sisters in Christ. You

can become dry. You're allowing the heat of the

world to just suck your energy out and wear you

down. We must allow ourselves grace because there

are times in seasons in our lives where we will

feel worn out. When things will be harder than

other times. We have to be able to work through

these times with patience and grace. But we also

need to remember that the load of the war. is

is on jesus and our victory comes in the form

of our christ our lord and savior jesus christ

in philippians 2 14 through 17 do all things

without grumbling or disputing that you may be

blameless and innocent children of god without

blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted

generation among whom you shine as light in the

world holding fast to the word of life so that

in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did

not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am

to be poured out as a drink offering upon the

sacrificial offerings of your faith, I am glad

and rejoice with you all. So as we bring this

message to a close, I brought a lot of different

imagery here between fighting, standing for Christ,

dying. I just want to remind you. That we stand

on the rock of Christ. He is the one that will

stand and help us and upgird us for the battles

that we will face. But he is already the victor

for the war. And I want to also emphasize that

it's not wrong for you to act masculine and be

a man. To stand as Jesus stands. As our example.

To stand. With love in your heart for your fellow

man, but also the strength to take the abuse

of the world, to cover those that you're responsible

for, to be that headship of your family, to stand

as a man would with your face like a flint in

faith to our Lord. In Hebrews 12, one through

two. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so

great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside

every weight and sin, which clings so closely,

and let us run with endurance the race that is

set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder

and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that

was set before him endured the cross, despising

shame, and seated at the right hand and the throne

of God. So if I could have every head bowed,

every eye closed, wherever you are, as long as

it's safe. I just want to take a quick invitation.

If you're a young man and you know that you're

not right with God, now's the time. Now's the

time to stand. Now's the time to recognize that

you need Jesus Christ. He is a warrior. He is

a leader worthy, worthy of you to give him your

life. So if you want to be a man, be a man for

God. So if you know your heart's not right, you

want to signify that uplifted hand, I want to

lead you in a prayer. So if you did, God could

see your hand, whether I can or not, because

it's all online or on a podcast or on YouTube

or whatever. But I also want to open it up, too,

to, of course, the women. You, too, are called

to stand in service. And there's a desperate

need for godly women in this world. Right now

in society, it sells us that most men or a lot

of young men are turning back to faith. But it's

unfortunate because this lack of masculinity

in our society for the last number of years,

that a lot of women have fallen away. So if you

want to get right with your creator as well,

I want you to signify that with an uplifted hand.

Because we need young men and women to come to

Christ and to serve him fully. We need you to

stand and be willing to fight and even die for

your faith. We need men and women of God to stand

up in this generation. If he rose your hand,

I want to just quickly lead you in a prayer.

Dear Lord God, repeat after me. Dear Lord God,

I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you

sent your son Jesus to die for me. I pray that

you'd help me as I repent and turn from my sin

and accept you in Jesus' name. Amen. If you pray

that simple prayer, then your name is written

in the Lamb's Book of Life. And now you can continue

on to read your Bible, pray, find a church to

lock into so that you can fellowship with other

believers. And you can stand. with that heavy

burden of sin lifted off of you in Jesus' name.

I want to thank you for listening to me today.

I pray that this message has impacted you. I

pray it was a challenge, especially again to

the young men, that you would stand up and be

counted as a number for Christ. And I want to

challenge you young women that you should look

for men that are willing to stand for something.

that are willing to stand for Christ, that are

willing to stand against this wicked society,

but doing so from a place of love in Jesus' name,

godly love. If we could do that, we could change

this generation, we could change the society

around us in a magical, not magical, but in a

magnificent way. So thank you again for listening.

I can't wait for you to come back to the next

one. I'll just close in a quick prayer. Dear

Lord God, I pray this message does impact the

youth, does impact the older people too, the

older saints, that we would all stand upon the

rock of Christ and to be counted upon or counted

as one of his and his army. We give you all the

praise and glory. I pray this message would impact

everybody as we go. In Jesus' name, amen. for

listening to the PHSA Potter's House Salmon Arm

podcast. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at

pottershouse underscore salmon arm to keep up

to date on what we are doing. Join the conversation

and discover how Jesus Christ can revolutionize

your life.