The Lord Is My Banner | With Josh Howard

Crossing family, I have great news.

One of our favorite preachers is back.

That's right. Josh Howard is with us this

weekend to bring a word that I believe will be a blessing to

every single one of you. He has the same heart that we

do. He wants to make disciples.

You make disciples so that everybody can find an intimate,

personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

He wants to make wherever he's planted the hardest place on

planet earth to get the hell from.

So would you put a warm crossing welcome together for our

preacher this weekend, Josh Howard.

Good morning, crossing family. How is everybody?

Awesome. It is such an honor and a

privilege to be back here this morning.

Listen, God is moving in in your church through your people in

such tremendous ways that this is literally my favorite place

to come and preach. And yeah, for real it is.

And I'm I, I, I don't, I promise I don't say that to every church

that I preach at. Wink, wink.

OK, no, I, I, I really, I really do.

This really is my favorite. You guys have such an incredible

team and an incredible pastor Clayton is a dear friends.

Let's let's give him a hand really quick, by the way.

OK. Hey, listen, I do want to give

you a quick updates, but last time I was here, I told you

about a family member of ours who was in prison named Vijay.

And I am happy to report that a month ago he was released from

prison. And so let's just worship Jesus

for that. Thank.

Thank you guys for your prayers. But I do have another prayer

request. So my father in

I want to bring good news, and here's the reality.

In spite of all the persecution and difficulty, God is moving in

tremendous ways, I mean unprecedented ways.

In the nation of India. Just a few weeks ago, we got our

annual report for what God did last year in 2025.

And it blew me away to see what God did through ordinary,

everyday people who committed to making disciples.

And here it is. Last year we saw over 84,000

people come to Christ in 2025. Isn't that crazy?

And and not only that, but those people then planted over 11,500

house churches just last year. Isn't that crazy?

Praise God. And so thank you guys for your

prayers. Please continue to pray that

this year is an even greater year for the Kingdom and that we

continue to see the nation of India and the surrounding

countries saturated with the gospel.

Listen today guys, here's here's what I want to do.

You guys are in a series on basically unpacking the names of

God in the Old Testament and, and showing that God is the same

yesterday, today and forever. And, and he's still that type of

God today. So last week you guys heard

Clayton give an incredible message on how the Lord is my

shepherd and how, you know, he guides us and leads us whether

we're coming into a valley or in a valley or out of a valley,

Jesus and, and, and the Father God is with us today.

We are going to be unpacking another name of God called

Jehovah Nisi. And now what that means is the

Lord is my banner, which I will explain what that even means.

But but here's the big idea that we just need to prepare for and

get ready for is, is basically what that name means is this,

that that God fights battles on our behalf, which is why we were

even singing the songs we did this morning.

And it's so if you've come here today with a battle that you're

facing or a difficulty, whether it's financial, emotional,

spiritual, whatever it might be, I want you to know that today,

right here, right now, I want you to have an encounter with

Jehovah Nisi, the God who fights the battle on your behalf, so

that we can put our trust and faith in him knowing that he's

with us through those battles. You with me.

OK, I want to remind you, you guys remember my favorite phrase

that I talked to you? Pizza.

Pizza. This kid.

No shoes. Thanks.

No shoes, no shirt, no service. That's what they say.

No. Come on, somebody.

You remember. Come on, somebody.

OK, If you hear something that's good, I want you to yell it out.

If I don't hear any of them, I'll get the hint.

OK. All right, guys, let's, let's

pray. Let's ask Jesus to come and

speak, and then we're going to jump into the message together.

OK? So let's just ask God to speak

to us as we get into this. Jesus, we invite you here, We

invite you to stand on this stage and to be the one to

proclaim your word. Jesus, we love you, we worship

you and Holy Spirit, we invite you here to come and to open our

ears and to open our hearts and to empower us with your spirit.

You are Jehovah Nisi, You are our banner, You are our

identity, You were the one who fights our battles.

And so we thank you and God this morning.

There are many of us that are facing some really tough

challenges. And so I ask God that you will

raise the banner over us and that you would fight on our

behalf and that we would see where you're working.

Lord, we love you, we worship you, and we just ask that you to

unclog our ears, open our hearts, and help us to hear your

word. Today.

We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.

Amen. All right, guys, if you have

your Bibles, I want you to open up to Exodus chapter 17.

Exodus 17 · chapter mention

That's where we first see this whole idea of Jehovah Nisi.

It's where we see him called this for the first time.

But what I'm going to do leading up to that, I just want to show

you what led to him revealing himself as the God who fights

our battles, the God of victory, the God of, you know, the the

God who is our banner over us, as they say.

And so let's just start out with the story.

Any in Exodus chapter 17. We're going to start in verse 8

Exodus 17 · chapter mention

and then we'll go on from there. But here's what it says.

The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rafidum.

Now, I want you to know, I want to give you the background of

what's happening here. OK?

So we jump right in where there's a battle taking place.

But I want you to know what happened before this battle, OK?

The the Israelites were just saved out of Egypt.

This is the first battle that we see them encountering.

And it happened right after the greatest miracle of salvation

that the Israelites had ever experienced.

And so they literally saw the plagues come down on Egypt.

They saw Moses lift the staff and the Red Sea parted so that

they could escape. They saw Moses take that same

staff and strike a rock in the middle of the desert because

they were dying of thirst and water burst out of the rock and,

and literally gave water to all of the Israelite people.

So they had been used to God showing up in power, salvation

and miracles. And what I want to tell you at

the very beginning of this guys, is this.

Sometimes your greatest battles will come on the heels of your

greatest spiritual breakthroughs.

Let me say that again. Sometimes your greatest battles

are going to come right after your greatest spiritual

breakthroughs. Let let me remind you what I

what I mean by that. Have you ever been to like some

mountaintop experience spiritual retreat or a church camp or a

CIY or you go to a men's conference or an uncommon and

God does something really special in that or, or a women's

conference where you hear God just speak to you directly and

you have this encounter with him and then you go back home and

all of a sudden stuff feels harder like it's because you

have a target on your back. We are in a real spiritual war.

We are in a real spiritual battle.

And when you have encounters with God, the enemy wants you to

turn your back on God and to continue in the ways that you

were before. And so your greatest spiritual

battles at times are going to come right after you encounter

God in beautiful ways. And that's what happens right

here with the Israelites. We'll continue verse 9.

Moses said to Joshua, to some of our men and go out to fight the

Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of

the hill with the staff of God in my hands.

And so I want you to see this guys.

This is what's happening. There are two battles taking

place in this story. Joshua is fighting the physical

battle. Like Moses says, I want you to

go out, grab your men, grab the swords, and you're going to

fight. But me and Aaron and her are

going to go up on the mountain and we are going to pray and

worship there. So there's a physical battle and

a spiritual battle taking place at the same time.

And so often guys in our lives, we are tempted to only fight the

battle without taking into consideration the spiritual

battle that may be taking place. And so these men knew that there

had to be 2 battles that were happening.

We have to sometimes do real things, take real steps of

action. We have to get out there and

knock on doors or or talk to doctors or have counseling

sessions or go to rehab or whatever it might be.

There are real physical things we got to do.

But there is a very real spiritual battle that we cannot

forget about. And sometimes we lose the

physical battle because we forget about the spiritual

battle taking place. You with me.

Come on. Come on, somebody.

There you go. Thank you for the three of you

that clapped. That was great.

I appreciate it. OK, man.

OK, let's let's keep going together.

OK. Verse 10.

So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered.

And Moses, Aaron and her went to the top of the hill as watch

this, As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were

winning. But whenever he lowered his

hands, the Amalekites were winning.

Do you see the connection between the spiritual battle and

the physical? What was happening when Moses

was lifting, worshipping, praying, fighting spiritually?

What was happening in the physical?

They were winning the battle, and when he began to drop his

hands, they were losing. God was trying to teach the

Israelites a very important lesson that when the battle gets

the fiercest, you keep your eyes on me.

You keep your worship on me. Praise is a weapon.

Prayer is not just something we throw up before meals.

It's something that actually makes real things happen in the

physical world. You with me.

And so he was trying to teach the Israelites listen, you see

the physical, but there is something completely different

happening in the spiritual. And when you are praising my

name, lifting me high, worshipping me, keeping your

eyes on me, real physical things happen because praise is a

weapon in our hands. And so when your back's against

the wall, where do you go first? Do you go to ChatGPT?

That's me. You know what I mean?

Like no matter what's going on, chat, how much Tylenol can I

take in three hours? You know what I mean?

Whatever it is like we go to Chad GBT, we go to counseling,

we go to sermons, we go to podcast.

But God was trying to teach Israelite something.

When you have a battle to fight, you go to him first because he

has the power to take care of the battle on your behalf if we

trust him with it. And so if you're facing a battle

today, friends, is are your hands lifted high or is your eye

or are your eyes on the ground before you?

Are you so worried and filled with fear and anxiety that

you're not able to keep your eyes on the King of Kings and

Lord of Lords who holds the battle in his hands?

We need to keep our eyes there, no matter how bad the battle may

get. Amen.

Come on, somebody. Hey, this.

Wow. OK, 10 of you.

That's better than three. OK, We're getting better.

I, I, I believe by the end of this message, we may have like

100 people clapping. That would be something else.

OK, here we go, verse 12, when Moses's hands grew tired because

he was getting weak and tired up there.

Listen, I, I want to tell you something.

The Israelites were used to microwave miracles.

OK, think about that. Moses raises the staff waters

part. Moses hits the rock.

Water comes out like immediate miracles.

And sometimes we expect God to move immediately.

But this took all day long for this battle to be won.

Do you hear me? It's not always immediate

success. It's not always immediate

miracle. It's not always microwave

miracles. Sometimes we got to be slow

cooked into what God has for us and we need to be prepared to

stay in the heat so that His work can be accomplished over

the long period of time. How do you how, how many of you

know that Mama's slow cooked meal is way better than a

microwave 32nd meal? Have you with me more of you

clapped about slow cooked meals. I'm I'm going to let you deal

with that on your own, OK? Like you like your food.

Yes, you do. All right, here we go.

So when Moses's hands grew tired, they took a stone.

This is verse 12. They took a stone and put it

under him and he sat on it. Aaron and her held his hands up

so he had help to continue to praise God.

Are you fighting the battle alone or do you have some

friends that are helping you? You need to be honest when

you're in a battle. Aaron and her were there to lift

Moses's hands when he was weak. Do you have some people in your

corner who can lift your hands when you're weak?

Do you have people that will help you?

Listen, this church is filled with people that would love to

come alongside of you. If you're in a battle, don't

keep it to yourself. Talk to somebody and there will

be your errand and her next to you helping lift your hands.

Come on somebody. I heard one that was great.

Verse 13, well before his hands remain steady until sunset.

Verse 13, So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

They had victory. And then verse 14, listen to

this. Then the Lord said to Moses,

write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and

make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot

out the name of Amalek from under heaven.

And here comes our name of God right here.

Moses built an altar and called it.

The Lord is my banner, Jehovah Nisi.

That's what it means in Hebrew. Jehovah Nisi, the Lord is my

banner, He said, because hands were lifted up against the

throne of the Lord, and the Lord will be at war against the

Amalekites from generation to generation.

This is what Moses was saying. We are going to call him Jehovah

Nisi. The Lord is my banner because he

will fight on our behalf. The banner is not a nation.

The banner is not a, you know, a, a, a, a, a adjective

explaining the people of Israel. The the banner was not a earthly

king. The banner was God over us and

he will fight the battle on our behalf.

And so here's what you need to know, friends, OK?

The battle over you and me when we are laying our lives down at

the feet of Jesus is God the Father, Jehovah Nisi, the one

that the God of War, who will literally wage war against the

battles in your life, and he will fight them on your behalf

if you keep your eyes towards him.

And so, friends, when you are in a battle, do not do it alone.

Do not forget who's with you. Now, here's what we're going to

do now that we've set the stage for Jehovah Nisi.

Here's what I want to do. I want to Sprint as fast as we

can to the New Testaments because here's the cool thing

about Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus was

the fullness of God in flesh, meaning that he became Jehovah

Nisi to show us what it looks like when God fights our

battles. How cool is that?

So for the next 13 minutes and 50 seconds, we are going to

spread as fast as we can through one day in the life of Jesus.

Hear me out. This is 124 hour period in the

life of Jesus. And here's the big idea that I

want you to see. If God can do all of this in one

day and Jesus can do all of this in one day, what can he do in

your life today? And what battle could he fight

for you today? You with me?

And so Are you ready? That's you're getting better,

Hannibal. I hear you.

I know you cheered louder than this group here.

OK, I just made that up. I can't hear you, Hannibal.

OK, listen, it's going to start. If you want to follow along,

we're going to start at the end of Mark chapter 4 and go through

Mark 4 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 5. I don't have time to read any of

Mark 5 · chapter mention

it, but I'm going to tell you the stories.

But if you want to Fact Check me later, you can because I'll

probably make some stuff up. OK, All right, as long as we're

on the same page, that's fine. Here's where it starts.

OK, Jesus gets in a boat in the middle of the night with his

disciples at the end of Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

And Jesus is so tired after a day of ministry that he wants to

take a little nap. He wants to sleep.

So he gets in the boat, falls asleep.

Around that time, a massive storm comes across the lake and

the the disciples are scared to death, man.

And I want you to know these are professional dislike fisherman,

pro fisherman. So if they're scared, they grew

up on the lake, man, they grew up on the water.

If they're scared that they're going to die, this must have

been the worst storm they've ever seen.

They're scared, they're afraid, they're they're ready to give

up. They don't know what to do.

So they run and they wake Jesus up and they say, Jesus, we're

going to die, right? You ever been there?

Like how big does the storm have to be when you're like, I'm

going to die, I'm done. Like, I know some of you moms

out there, when your kids are a mess, you're like, listen, I'm

done, OK, dad, I'm leaving. I'm getting a spa day.

Like you come in and take care of this, right?

And these disciples, man, they just thought life was over.

It was a huge storm. They wake Jesus up and Jehovah

Nisi, the Lord is my banner, the one that fights our battles,

steps out in the flesh on that boat.

And this is what happens. He speaks out over the storm

with just words from his mouth. This is the God who fights our

battles, friends, this is Jehovah Nisi.

This is how much he loves and protects and guides.

He says listen, wind, waves, storm, shut up and be quiet.

And immediately the storm listens to what Jesus says.

The waves calm down, the storm ceases and there is peace.

I want you to know peace isn't a feeling.

Peace is a person. You hear me pieces and a feeling

pieces of person. And when we are in crazy battles

and when storms are raging around us, you need to remember

who is in your boats with you. Amen.

Because you have Jehovah Nisi in your boat, you have the God who

fights your battles in your boat.

You have the storm calming authority God in your boats.

And so we can't forget who is riding in those waves with us.

You are never alone. You're never forgotten.

And no matter how big the storm is, no matter how bad the

doctor's call is, no matter how bad the the the news is, no

matter how bad your financial situation may be, no matter how

bad your marriage may be or relation.

Friendships may be no matter how big the storm is.

I heard a guy say once, listen, quit telling God how big your

storm is and start telling your storm how big your God is.

Because we serve a God that calms storms.

We serve a God that fights our battles.

So in the midst of the storm, you call out his name.

Amen. And he can calm any storm with

one word of his mouth. Listen, friends, we need to be

reminded that just because you follow Jesus does not mean

you're never going to face battles.

It doesn't mean you're never going to be in a storm.

It is a lie from the pit of hell that if you just follow Jesus,

everything's going to be peachy and comfortable the rest of your

life. We are in a real war and a real

battle, and we need to be reminded of it.

Jesus doesn't save you from going into a storm or into a

battle. Jehovah Nisi meets you in the

battle and protects you from it and helps you through it.

God did not protect the Israelites from being attacked.

He fought the battle beside them while they were being attacked.

He didn't save Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from going

into the fire. He saved them in the midst of

the fire. He didn't save Daniel from going

to the lion's den. He shut the mouths of those

lions and protected him from being eaten.

He didn't save Peter, James, and John from going to prison.

He saved them out of prison. Do you understand what I'm

saying? Like you will go through

battles, but you need to remember Jehovah Nisi is 1

Callaway and King Jesus will calm the storm and fight the

battle with you. You were never alone.

You're never lost. And we've not even had breakfast

yet and Jesus is already calming storms, OK?

Right away after they calm the storm, Jesus gets onto the the

other side of the water and a crazy naked demon possessed guy

comes and meets him there, OK? I mean, picture well, don't

picture that, OK? Listen, I, I, I know you

pictured it. I know you did.

Don't picture it, OK, But listen, crazy naked demon

possessed guy. This guy was chained up in a

graveyard because of how many demons he had, and he had so

much strength from the demons that he was just breaking

chains. Every day he was cutting himself

hoping to die, but the demons wouldn't let him die.

He was living a miserable life with demons and addictions and

pain and hurt. Listen friends, not every one of

your battles is a storm. Sometimes it's demonic influence

in your life. Sometimes you have chains that

you just can't break. Sometimes you've got demons

fighting you that you just can't get off your back.

You know what I'm saying? And what you need to know is

that Jehovah Nisi is not just a battle winner.

He's not just a storm calmer. He is one that can cast out any

evil from your life and break any chain right here, right now,

today. Jehovah Nisi is a chain breaking

addiction, breaking God and he will fight that battle with you

and deliver you from it because he is the God of War against the

chains and demons in your life. On the cross friends, when Jesus

put his arms out, he took every addiction, every pain, all

shame, all guilt and and nailed it to the cross so that you can

be set free. Jehovah Nisi says you are free

in Christ, and so today do not leave this place with chains or

demons. Today you can be delivered.

And that's what Jesus did. He steps up and with one word of

his mouth, he cast every demon out of that guy.

And the when Jesus speaks, when Jehovah Nisi fights the demons,

they must flee in the presence of the Most high God.

You may not have the power on your own, but I promise you,

King Jesus does. And so if you need deliverance

today, he can deliver you. If you need chains broken today,

he can set you free. Amen.

So he sets this guy free, gets back on the boat.

OK, It's it's barely morning, guys, and Jesus has calmed a

storm and cast out 1000 demons. OK, He goes back to the other

side of the water, and by that time it's afternoon and all of a

sudden this crowd surrounds him. And there's a woman on the

outside of the crowd who had been sick for 12 years.

You know the story. She had been bleeding for 12

years. She literally had a menstrual

cycle every day for 12 years. She was bleeding every day.

And let me tell you what that meant for her in Israel.

It meant that she was ceremonially unclean.

Do you know what that meant? She could not touch another

person without making them spiritually unclean.

She couldn't go to the temple to pray or to offer sacrifices.

Everywhere she went, she had to call out to everyone around her.

I am unclean. Stay away from me, OK?

Do you understand the shame she must have felt?

Do you understand the relational distance?

This was not just a physical sickness, guys.

This was a spiritual reality, an emotional reality in her life.

Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like you just

can't get close to people? Have you ever felt like you

can't trust anybody anymore? Have you ever felt like that?

There's just something in you that is broken and hurts and and

you don't know how to actually open yourself up to other

people. Again, this woman lived that

guys, for 12 years. And then Jehovah Nisi stepped

up. Listen to me.

Jehovah Nisi came into this woman's life, the one that will

fight that battle on her behalf. And this woman was on the

outside of the crowd. She saw Jesus in the flesh, and

she had a decision to make. Was she going to break every

social custom and every Jewish law and touch hundreds of people

to get to Jesus? Or was she going to stay on the

outside and just hope and wish? Maybe one day she'll have an

encounter with him. Listen, sometimes if you want to

get to Jehovah Nisi, you got to get on your knees and crawl to

him. Sometimes you need to call out

his name, even when you don't feel like it.

Sometimes you need to fight through the crowd, fight through

the lies, fight through the difficulties and get on your

knees before King Jesus and just say, God, I am so broken and I

desperately need you. I need you to fight the battle

on my behalf. And this woman crawled through

the crowd. She reached up her hand, grabbed

the hem of Jesus garment. And do you know what happened?

Jovenisi doesn't just fight your battle.

Jehovenisi also can heal the battle immediately.

This one was healed, set free. 12 years of sickness gone in an

instant. Because one touch from

Jehovenisi, one touch from King Jesus can change everything.

Amen. So this woman's healed, set

free, and all of a sudden some people come.

There was a little girl who was sick, 12 years old, and they

wanted Jesus to come heal her, but then she died.

And so they said Jesus. They never seen Jesus raise the

dead before. They thought that was out of his

power. They didn't know Jehovah, nice.

He was also the God of resurrection.

And so they said, Jesus, don't worry about it.

She died, you don't have to come anymore.

And he said, no, no, no, no, take me to this little girl.

And so Jesus after calming the storm, casting out demons,

healing the sick, he goes to this little girl that's dead.

Listen, friends, have you ever felt like you are just dead

inside? You don't feel anymore.

Your conscience is gone. You don't feel joy or sadness

anymore. You just don't feel anything.

Or have you ever felt like your marriage is dead or, or

relationship with your kids is dead or just your future is

dead? I want you to know that Jehovah

Nisi also raises the dead. He can bring dead things back to

life, friends. And so whatever you're going

through, whatever you're going through, he can bring it back to

life. That marriage that you think is

over. One touch from Jehovah Nisi can

bring love back into your relationship.

It can bring dead hearts back to life.

So Jesus steps, kneels down by this little girl's bed and just

says, little girl, get up. And for the first time in

Jesus's ministry, people watch as he brings something dead back

to life again. We serve a God of resurrection

power. Jehovah Nisi fights your battle.

And what does that mean? He can calm storms, He can cast

out demons and break addiction. He can fight the battle of your

sickness with you, and one touch from him can heal it.

And he can bring dead parts of you back to life.

Because Jesus on the cross, friends, he defeated sin and

death and then he himself rose from the dead, showing you that

no sin is too big for him, no problem is too big, nor storm is

too big. Nothing is too big for Jehovah

Nisi when he conquers it all on the cross.

That was the final banner. It was the final nail in the

coffin of death. Death no longer has power over

you. We can now have eternity with

Jesus Christ because of the blood that he shed on the cross.

And we have victory because of Jehovah Nisi sacrificing himself

on the cross for you and me. That's how much He loves you,

friends. And so right here, right now

today, listen, if Jesus can do all that in one day, that was

literally 124 hour period in his life, friends, OK, calming

storms, casting out demons, breaking chains, healing the

sick, raising the dead. If He can do all that in one

day, if you call out His name and like Moses, raise your hands

before him and start fighting that spiritual battle, what can

He do in your life today? What chains can he break?

What storms can He calm? What sickness can He heal if we

just raise our hands, keep our eyes on Him, and call out for

Jesus to touch us? Amen.

Friends, listen, the Lord is our banner and He will fight on your

behalf. You just have to hand the battle

to Him. Raise your hands, get on your

knees and just say, Jesus, I need you to touch this, I need

you to fight this. I can't do it on my own.

I need you come and heal, come and deliver, come and set free

and let's see what Jehovah Nisi, what King Jesus can do in your

life. We are now going to move to a

time of decision I. Know there's a lot of people in

this room, there's people online who could probably testify to

the same truth, but this is just my experience.

This is my testimony and everything that Josh was just

talking about. I can I can just claim it that

there is victory in the name of Jesus.

There is life in the name of Jesus.

And if the Lord is is not your banner right now for those of

you in this room, if he's not your identity, if he's not your

your source and, and and you're living without an intimate

personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I have to just give you some really hard news first and then

I'll, I'll hopefully bring it back to some good news.

But here's the hard news. You're in this battle by

yourself. There's like no tiptoeing around

it. There's no, just like I think

I'm going to ease into it. No, you're, you're fighting with

your own strength and you're up against an enemy that you you

cannot defeat. And I can tell you how this

story ends. It actually gets worse.

It ends in a lot of pain. It it ends with some loss and

ultimately ends in death. It offers no hope.

It offers no future. That is when you are standing on

your own. And I just got to be completely

transparent, completely honest, because there was a time where

that's where I was. There's no victory in that.

That's just the reality that if you were outside a relationship

with Jesus, there's nothing but the good news of the gospel when

you claim this Jehovah Nisi, that the Lord is your banner.

When you claim and you pick that up and you, you start

surrendering your life and you have this relationship with God

that is only possible when you surrender your life to Jesus

Christ. Now you, you start trusting in

him and you start walking with him in your daily life.

When there's a valley, you, you trust him, and you, you invite

him into those valleys. He, he then takes what was

broken and he and he fixes it, and he takes what was, what was

lost. And then he, he, he finds you.

He takes what's what was once dead, and he, he makes you alive

again. Scripture says in Romans chapter

Romans 5 · chapter mention

5 that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Now, now we can walk with this hope.

We can pick up this banner and we can walk with confidence.

And for some, it's kind of like we're in this, this war.

It's like we pick up these white flags and we start waving them

like a surrender and just simply say, Jesus, I surrender my life

to you. I, I know I can't do this on my

own. I need you to rescue me.

And for those of you in this room and online, you've never

picked up that white flag. You've never picked up that

banner and claimed that Jesus is your banner.

Maybe that that's what this moment is for you for that's why

you're in this room or you're watching from wherever you're

watching from just so you can finally claim that Jesus Christ

is your Savior. And if you have questions about

what that looks like starting that relationship with Jesus in

just a little bit, the the people all around you is going

to stand. We're going to sing some songs

and over right by the baptistry. There's going to be a couple

people over there if you have questions or you just need

prayer and you're just like, I don't even know what that looks

like. How do I lift up this banner?

How do I trust in his name? I'm going through this.

It feels like I don't see God and let us walk with you help

you figure out what your next steps with Jesus Christ is.

If you're online, you can simply click the link.

I just want to follow Jesus and our chat host would love to help

you. Don't miss this moment.

That's what this invitation time is for.

And for the rest of us in this room, for those of us who are

following Jesus, whether you've been following following him for

a couple years, a couple weeks, a long time, we have a charge

from this message as well. We too are in the middle of a

battle or going to be going into a battle or coming out of a

battle. Christians are not immune to

battles. They're not immune to to

hardship. And So what do we do when when

we're in those things, we, we need to be ready.

We need to be reminded that prayer is not our last resort.

It's not one of our, our last cries when when we're just in

it, it's actually our battle cry.

So when the music starts for us, maybe even before the valley

comes, you just simply get down on your knees and you, you, you

just humble yourself before the Lord and you allow the the Lord

to hear your heart. Lord, prepare me for the battle.

Lord, walk with me in the midst of the battle.

Lord, be with me. Fall to your knees.

Worship is also not a warm up. It's not like we come in here

and it's like, oh, let's just worship.

So that way it carries us through the rest of the week.

No, no, no, no, worship is, is our lifestyle.

It's our response because of what we were saved from.

It reminds us that we don't have the strength to do it on our

own. And so in just a little bit,

when the music starts for for all of us as Christians, can we

just, can we raise our praise a little bit louder?

Can we lift our songs a little bit higher?

Maybe for the first time you put your hands up and just

surrender. For me, when I worship Jesus,

sometimes I just have to close my eyes because it takes all the

distractions off of watching other people worship.

I just want to worship Jesus. I want my eyes to be fixed on

him, not only in this moment, but for my whole week, my every

day, every minute of the day. But I also understand some of

you walked in with some heavy burdens and you're just like, I

don't have the strength, Corey, to, to, to pick myself up to, to

come over here and, and to get down on my knees by myself.

Sometimes you need somebody else to go with you.

And I'm just going to encourage you.

There are some incredible people sitting amongst you.

Maybe you asked a person who brought you or the person

sitting next to you and just say, I, I don't even know how to

pray. I don't know what to say.

Would you just pray on my behalf and I can guarantee you they're

going to say yes and if that person says no, then I guarantee

I will be right up here and I will say yes.

Let me carry the burden with you.

That's what this times about to lift our heavenly Father's

praise that we lift that banner up.

Jehovah Nisi, He is our banner. So let's pray and let's worship

and let's raise that banner high.

Would you stay with me right now in this moment of response,

Jesus, we lift your name up. You are king of kings, you are

Lord of Lords. You are above all things.

So Jesus, you're above anything that we're facing right now.

We're going to be facing right now.

Lord, I pray that you hear our battle cry, you hear our

prayers, you hear our praise, you hear our worship, Lord, you

hear our heart. And Lord, I pray that when we

don't feel like we can lift our hands up, we have we have an

errand into her sitting next to us, lifting our arms up in

victory. Jesus, we love you.

We are honored to be in this place today, honored to serve

you, honored to keep our eyes fixed on you.

And I pray God, that this moment is not missed.

We lift our banner, we lift you up.

Jesus, we pray all this in your mighty name, Amen.