Brave - Deuteronomy 20

is to be brave. I said it last week,

I'll say it again this week. You do not

have to be fearless to be brave. In 2

2 Chronicles 20:15

Chronicles chapter 20 verse 15, it tells

us that the battle is not yours to

fight. It is the true God's. So, life is

going to get complicated. The culture

you live in is going to push back

against your faith, and even your

friends are going to have issue with

some of the faith decisions that you

make. But in Christ, you can be loving,

you can be authentic, and you can be

brave. Why? Because God has gone before

you into the battle to fight for you.

And he is with you as you engage as

well. And so we see this in Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 20:1

chapter 20

verse 1.

It says, "When

Someone say, "When."

When you go to war against your enemies

and see horses and chariots and an army

that is larger than yours, do not be

afraid of them, for the Lord your God

who brought you out of the land of Egypt

is with you."

So, developing bravery, as we're going

to learn today, is a process. And it's a

process that starts before the battle.

So, battles can actually be raging all

around you, but that does not have to

affect the peace that is within you.

Because Jesus gives you this peace that

goes beyond all human understanding. He

said to his disciples in John chapter 14

John 14:27

verse 27, he says, "Peace I leave with

you. My peace I give to you. I do not

give as the world gives. Do not let your

hearts be troubled or fearful." Why?

Because you've received a supernatural

gift from Jesus. He has given you this

thing called peace.

And so, as you seek peace, you have to

remember that the bravery that you're

trying to to cultivate in your life, it

begins before the battle starts. So, in

Deuteronomy chapter 20, Moses is

Deuteronomy 20 · chapter mention

briefing his soldiers before they go out

to war. And he's addressing the

soldiers' faith before he addresses

their enemy.

So, before the battle begins, you have

to deal with the anxiety that that

unhelpful that bad type of fear. You

have to deal with what's going on in

your heart before you'll be able to

properly engage in your battles.

Otherwise, if you don't deal with it,

you're going to go into battle with a

wounded spirit. So, back when I was in

high school, my buddy Shane got an

above-ground pool. And not just an

above-ground pool, he got an

above-ground pool with one of those

wooden decks that went all the way

around it. Now, you got to understand,

we're just playing on West Virginia

kids. We'd never seen anything like this

before. An above-ground pool with a

deck, that's not just like a backyard

fixture. This is like a beachfront

property for us, you know?

And we thought his parents were like,

man, they must have hit the lotto, the

scratcher, or something. Like, where did

they get this kind of money? And Shane

became like the king of Teays Valley

that summer. I mean, everybody wanted to

be Shane's best friend. Kids were lining

up like it was Six Flags to come to his

house. He was selling tickets to come to

his pool. Um and so, we enjoyed the pool

all summer, and then it got into the

early fall, and I remember very vividly

when Shane's little brother came out

back, and he was always annoying. He's a

little guy. He was always getting on our

nerves. And And so, he walked up on the

the the pool deck, and of course, what

did we do?

We threw him into the pool, right? Which

is fine. The kid could swim, even though

the water was over his head. But what we

didn't take into account was it was in

fall now, and he was wearing a hoodie

and some some jeans. And so, although he

knew how to swim, when those those

clothes became saturated, he started

carrying some extra weight. So, he

wasn't just fighting against the water,

he was now fighting with all the stuff

that he brought into the water with him.

So, we had to jump in and and make the

save.

And that's what anxiety does to you.

Before the battle even starts, and by

the way, I can't address every battle in

this room because we all have different

battles that we're fighting, but when

before your battle starts, you have to

deal with this anxiety, this bad type of

fear.

And so so Moses is talking to his

troops, and he's like, "Look, you're not

just fighting a battle, you're fighting

the worry that you may be carrying into

the battle." And that's why he deals

with their mind before he goes and deals

with their enemy. Because if worry is

already weighing you down, if those

things that you've brought into the

battle with you are already weighing

down your heart, then you're going to

have to go into the next fight wounded

already.

If you don't deal with the anxiety in

your heart before the battle begins,

you're going to spend your whole time

just trying to keep your head above

water.

So, Moses calls their attention to their

their greatest resource. He talks to

them about God. He says, "God will fight

alongside you."

And Jesus tells us more about God. He

tells his disciples all kinds of stuff

about God. And he when he teaches them

how to pray, by the way, our next sermon

series is on the Lord's Prayer, so I

hope you'll come back for that. But, in

addressing God, he says, "Hey, when you

pray, you don't have to just call him

God, you can call him

Father."

He says, "Pray to God your father. Call

him father because you got a dad in

heaven that is fighting for you. Your

father is for you. Your father has gone

before you. Your father is fighting the

battle with you, which means your father

has already won the battle. So, the

first step in developing bravery is to

settle in your spirit that your father

God is for you. And he's for you before

the battle ever even begins.

So, we're talking about bravery and it

starts before the battle. And what does

it start? What does it look like? It's

built on what you know.

So, he says, "When" that means problems

are inevitable in verse 1.

"When you go to war."

So, when you have your own personal

battles, whatever those might look like.

"Against your enemies and you see all

the horses and the chariots and the army

that is larger than yours, do not be

afraid of them, for the Lord your God

who brought you out of the land of Egypt

is with you."

I love what the pastor Rich Wilkerson

Jr. has to say about this. He says, "You

don't always get to choose the fight,

but you do get to choose how you show up

for it."

So, Moses says, "When when you go off to

war, don't be afraid."

See, there's good fear that keeps you

from doing dumb stuff and there's bad

fear that keeps you in paralysis.

And so, we're going to talk about this

bad type of fear today. We're going to

talk about this thing called anxiety.

This is fear that lacks faith. This is

fear that produces an assessment of the

situation where God is somehow on the

sideline, where God is removed from the

equation.

So, the anxious person with this type of

fear is the type of person that walks by

sight and not by faith. They they look

around, they see what they see, they

assess the situation, they keep God out

of it, and they walk by sight. And so,

when you see an enemy, you're naturally

going to be scared. I went hiking when I

was in my early 20s and I remember

coming across a suspension bridge and I

walked out a little ways on it and that

bridge started to move back and forth

and I'm like, "Nope. I am out. I'm going

to go back to the car and I'm going to

wait for all y'all to come back cuz I'm

not walking across this janky bridge."

But my my wife's

dad, who owned a construction company,

he was with us hiking and and he said,

"Look, it's designed to shake.

It's designed to move." He said, "If the

bridge was rigid, then there's a chance

that it could break and we could fall,

but if those two poles on either end

hold firm, then the bridge is going to

shake and nothing's going to happen."

So, I was thinking about that as I was

reading the scripture and I was thinking

about how fear shakes us. Like we can

see the problem, we see the odds, we see

the enemy, we see what could happen, but

faith stabilizes us.

So, faith does not eliminate fear. What

faith does is it reminds you of the firm

foundation that God has built for you so

that you don't have to give in to that

fear. You don't have to become

faithless.

Luke chapter 6, verse 47, Jesus is

Luke 6:47

telling us all about this. He says, "I'm

going to show you what someone is like

who comes to me, hears my words, and

acts on them." He says, "He is like a

man building a house who dug deep and

laid the foundation on the rock. And so

when the floods came and the rivers

crashed against that house, it could not

shake it because it was built on a firm

foundation. It was built on the rock. It

was built on the word of God."

So, bravery is built on what you know.

So, Moses tells his troops in verse one,

he's like, "Look, if God could bring you

out of Egypt, if God could part the Red

Sea, if God was faithful back then, you

know that he's going to be faithful now.

And so, you're going to see the

soldiers.

You're going to see the chariots. You're

going to see an army that is larger than

yours. You're going to see all the

problems that you're getting ready to

face, and it's going to feel like the

world around you is shaking. But, you

know enough about who your God is and

what your God has done to not lose faith

as you enter into the battle. Amen?

Bravery is built by what you know.

So, if you know scripture, then you can

find bravery. It's also built on who you

listen to.

Look at verse two of Deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 20 · chapter mention

20.

When you are about to engage in battle,

the priest is to come forward and

address the army.

He is to say to them, "Listen, Israel.

Today, you are about to engage in battle

with your enemies. Do not be cowardly.

Do not be afraid. Do not be alarmed. Do

not be terrified because of them."

The soldiers are expecting the general

to come out and give an address, but

Moses is like, "Nope. We're going to

send the pastor." Amen. I get to address

the troops, right?

They They say, "We need a strategy." And

yeah, they do. They need a battle plan.

We all need a battle plan.

But, Moses sends the pastor to rally the

troops because more than a battle plan,

they needed a sermon.

And what he's telling them is you need

to let God speak before you go into

battle. His voice needs to be the

loudest voice.

Have you ever noticed how much messaging

is out there in the world that is

designed to cultivate worry?

Uh I want you to understand that's

intentional. My undergraduate is in

marketing, and in marketing 101,

what we learn to do is to make people

worry about something, and then we

introduce them to the solution to their

problems.

So so we say like, this terrible thing

is going to happen unless you buy my

product. Or or you're going to miss out

on this awesome opportunity

unless you join this group. Like FOMO is

real. It's been around forever, and

marketers take advantage of it.

This crazy story is going on in the

world, and unless you turn to me for

your source of news,

you won't know how to handle it.

So their goal is to keep you engaged

with their messaging, and ultimately to

separate you from your money. Now, some

marketing is helpful, okay? Some of the

messaging it is good, it's accurate,

it's information you need, it helps you

make decisions, and some of the products

out there actually do what they're

designed to do. If that weren't the

case, I would have dropped out of the

program because I wouldn't want to take

advantage of people. And so there is

good marketing, but what I'm saying is

the majority of marketing is designed to

cultivate a sense of worry.

It's designed to separate you from your

money. And in order to do that, it makes

you worried, and it introduces you to a

solution. But what worry actually does

is it suffocates you, and it pressures

you. That's the definition of worry,

suffocation and and pressure. So you

have all these voices around you that

are trying to get you to worry about

everything. And what you have to learn

to do is to turn up the voice of God so

that he's louder than all the other

messages that are coming into your life.

Moses doesn't want his troops to

suffocate in fear as they go into the

battle. So he turns up the voice of God

before we send them into the war.

It's what Jesus did in Matthew chapter 4

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

when he is going one-on-one against the

devil. He is in the wilderness by

himself. Satan is in the wilderness with

him tempting him and after each attack

Jesus says to the enemy, what? Three

words.

It

is

written. It is written. It was written

in God's word before the battle ever

began.

And so we have to learn to turn up God's

word. We have to read it. We have to

memorize it. We have to teach it to our

children. We have to write it on our

hearts.

So for those going into a battle, I just

want to give you a couple today. Psalm

Psalms 27:1

27:1, "The Lord is my light and my

salvation, whom shall I fear?"

Find yourself in the wilderness with the

devil, quote that one.

"The Lord is my light, whom shall I

fear?" How about Psalm 23:4, "Yea,

Psalms 23:4

though I walk through the valley of the

shadow of death, I will

fear no evil." Why? Because I'm awesome?

No.

Because the Lord my God is with me. My

shepherd is right there with the rod and

the staff ready to help me take care of

my problems. Huge problems like sin and

death and relationship issues and

addictions and all the other things that

we face. Look, God doesn't always remove

the problems.

So some of you might be saying, "Well,

why doesn't my shepherd just go before

me every time and take care of this

stuff so I don't ever have to deal with

it?"

Well, he doesn't remove the problems a

lot of times because pressure reveals

what's inside of you.

Pressure reveals which way you're going

to go.

You ever get the the shopping cart at

Walmart? You wonder why it's sitting

there by itself and it's like, "Oh, I'll

take this one." Right? It's got the it's

got the wheel on the front that's like

out of alignment and you don't know till

you take about 20 steps and that thing

starts squealing and you're like, "I go

back get the other cart." You know? You

just leave that one where it's at. You

don't know just by looking at it. You

know the thing's messed up when you

start to push it, when you put pressure

on it and it starts to go one way or the

other. The pressure is what actually

exposed what was wrong with the cart.

And so sometimes God's going to let you

walk into these seasons of life where

you are under pressure to expose to you

whether you're a person of fear or a

person of faith because you got to know

where you're at on the map before you

can find out where you're going. So, if

you put a little pressure on a

Christian,

which way they're going to go?

Mhm.

I'm just asking.

What do you think?

Put a little pressure on a Christian,

they they're going to start squealing?

They're going to start complaining?

They're going to start getting angry?

They're going to start panicking?

Or they're going to go in the direction

of the fruit of the spirit?

They're going to wind up being full of

love and joy

and peace, patience,

kindness, self-control.

We know Larry which way you go. Um

The battle doesn't

create your response.

The battle reveals what's already inside

of you.

So, Israel is like, we need a strategy.

We need a book. We need a 10-step plan.

We need to go to Barnes & Noble to the

self-help section and we need to check

out a few books. We need We need this

this and Moses is like, no.

No, those things are helpful but no,

what you need first is a sermon, a

sermon designed to build your faith.

In Romans chapter 10 verse 17,

Romans 10:17

God says, so faith comes from what is

heard.

And what is heard comes through

the word of God, right?

So so

God is using this preacher to talk to

the troops and he is taking his external

word, the things that he has said, that

he's spoken to existence, and he's

pressing them inside of his people so

that when the battle starts,

they go in the direction of faith

instead of the direction of fear.

When the pressure mounts, they go toward

faith and not fear. And the only way

that happens is by internalizing the

word of God. So, it's based on what you

know about God and it's based on who you

listen to. It's based on God's word,

God's authority, God's voice, not the

world's. It's also built through order.

I found this part of the passage of

scripture very interesting.

Bravery is built through order. Let's

look at verse five.

It says the officers are to address the

army.

So, the preacher has spoken, now the

officers are talking to the army.

And they say, "Has any man built a new

house and not dedicated it? Let him

leave and return home. Otherwise, he may

die in battle and another man dedicate

it. Has any man planted a vineyard and

not begun to enjoy its fruits? Let him

leave and return home. Otherwise, he may

die in battle and another man enjoy its

fruit.

Has any man become engaged to a woman

and not married her? Let him leave and

return home. Otherwise, he may die in

battle and another man may marry her.

God is addressing

He's addressing the soldiers' homes,

jobs, and marriages. He's talking about

their spouse, their house,

and their work.

Wilkerson Jr. says, "Sometimes the most

spiritual thing you can do is to get

your house in order."

Another commentator said, "Order can be

the antidote for anxiety."

Now, I was going to do a bit here about

keeping your room clean for my daughter,

but I'm going to I'm going to

was abstain from that and focus on the

scripture today. But in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 14:33

chapter 14 verse 33, it says, "Since God

is not a god of disorder, but a god of

peace. So in God's mind, what's the

opposite of disorder? It's peace. So

order equals peace. And peace is not the

absence of problems, peace is the

presence of God in the problems, and the

presence of God brings order to the

problem. You've heard the classic line

maybe that all the water in the ocean

can't sink a ship until it gets inside

the ship, right? So the easiest way for

the enemy to sink your ship is to cause

disorder in your home, your marriage,

and your workplace.

Cuz the truth is, if your house

is in chaos, then you're going to go

into the battle wounded.

And and if your marriage is in chaos,

then you're going to go into the battle

wounded. And if your professional life

is in chaos, you're going to go into the

battle already wounded.

So Jesus says, here's what you do. You

order your life around important things

like this in Matthew 6:33.

Matthew 6:33

But seek first the kingdom of God. And

his righteousness, and all these things

that he previously talked about will be

be provided for you. So people get

caught up in the all these things. They

get caught up in chasing the all these

things, and they miss the part where you

start with the seek first. You start

with the kingdom of God.

Everything in scripture is designed to

provide order for your life. Tithing is

all about order. It's all about ordering

your finances around what God wants.

Sabbath is all about order. It's about

taking a day of rest and coming together

as a faith family and worshipping God to

provide order in your week. Prayer is

all about order. You're not telling God

what to do. He's not a cosmic vending

machine. What you're doing is you're

ordering your will with his will. You're

aligning things so that life goes

smoothly.

So the Bible lays out a very simple

order of importance for us. Number one

is God. Everything that we do should be

revolving around what God wants us to

do.

And then under that

comes your spouse, your children, your

church, and your community. All things

that are important, but this is the

order that God lined them up in. So, you

care primarily about God.

And then, if you're married, your spouse

is next.

If you have children, your children are

next.

If you have a church that you're a part

of of what you do, your church is next.

And then your community. It doesn't mean

that anything is any less important than

the other thing, but what it means is if

you keep things in that perspective, in

that order, then you can start to

develop bravery because the order is

what develops faith. So, bravery grows

where order exists.

Then he gives us a warning in verse 8.

Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse 8, "The

Deuteronomy 20:8

officers will continue to address the

army and say, Is there any man who is

afraid or cowardly? Let him leave and

return home so that his brothers won't

lose heart as he did."

It's like cowards go home.

Why? Because fear spreads faster than

faith.

We've all learned this. Fear spreads

faster than faith. So, what do we need

to do? What did they need to do? What do

we need to do? We need to take a

self-inventory.

We got to ask, "Who are we hanging out

with and who are our influencers?"

Because if you find yourself struggling

with the bad type of fear, with the

anxiety, with the fear that leaves Jesus

on the sideline, then let me assure you,

you did not start that way as a

Christian.

Someone or something gave that to you.

Because fear is contagious.

You say, "Well, pastor, how do you

know?" Well, 2 Timothy 1:7.

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of

fear, but one of power, love, and sound

judgment.

So, if you have that unhealthy fear,

that the anxiety that's not caused by

your biology. By the way, biology can

cause this stuff. We're not talking

about that. We're talking about

unhealthy fear, faithlessness,

and then most likely someone passed that

on to you. Most likely it's something

your algorithm has infected you with,

because anxiety is not a gift from God.

So, sure, you can be timid, you can be

shy, you can be an introvert. That's

just part of your character, and you

should praise God for it. He created you

that way. So, if that's who you are, you

can just continue to be that way.

There's not a problem with that.

But fear that comes from faithlessness,

that is not the mark of a believer.

So, one commentator said, "Proximity

does not equate true partnership."

Then he says, "Check your circle."

Proximity does not equate true

partnership, so check your circle, cuz

there might be someone in your phone

that you need to hit delete on. There

might be something that you're

subscribed to that you need to

unsubscribe to.

Check your circle. Make sure, because

fear spreads faster than faith. And if

you have someone in your life that is

causing you to be fearful, that is not a

gift from God. That's someone that you

need to put some distance uh between.

So, as we come to a close,

I want to go back to Deuteronomy chapter

Deuteronomy 20:4

20, verse 4.

Most important scripture for today.

Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 4. It

Deuteronomy 20:4

says, "For the Lord your God is the one

who goes with you to fight for you

against your enemies to give you

victory." So, sometimes God goes before

you

and takes care of stuff before you ever

even get there. And then other times,

you have to fight the battle, but you

don't have to fight alone. You get to

fight

with God by your side.

So, I don't know if you're a pro

wrestling fan. Um if you're not, then

you're probably smarter than me, okay?

I'll give you that.

But, if you are a pro wrestling fan, you

know that the most exciting moment of

any tag team match is this thing called

the hot tag. All right? All my wrestling

fans, by the way, it's so sad that

you're being quiet right now.

You're ashamed? That doesn't mean

anything.

Anyway, let me tell you about a hot tag.

The hot tag is when the good guy is

getting absolutely destroyed by the bad

guys. He's getting punched, he's getting

kicked, he's getting clotheslined, he's

getting slammed, and the bad guys keep

cutting him off from his corner. He

can't get back to his partner. He'll go

for the tag, and they'll pull him away

at the last second, and the whole crowd

is just waiting. They just want so badly

for the good guy to be able to tag his

partner. And then that that that moment

comes where the the wrestler somehow

escapes their grasp and gets over to his

corner and reaches out his hand and

slaps down the the hot tag. And when

that hand connects, the crowd erupts,

and the the fresh, powerful wrestler

jumps into the ring and starts cleaning

house with dropkicks and throwing people

over the rope. It's just this awesome

uh this awesome jolt of adrenaline. And

And so, here's what happens, though. The

The team that looked dominant before,

just like 10 seconds earlier,

is now on the defensive because suddenly

they're defeated because this fresh,

powerful powerhouse of a person has just

entered the fight.

And so, I say all that to show how big

of a nerd I am, but also

to show you that

you're in a battle.

And perhaps you've entered into this

battle running low on faith. Perhaps

you're weighed down by all the stuff

that you brought into the battle with

you. Perhaps you're you're already

wounded in some way because your house

is in disorder, your relationships are

in disorder, your workplace is in

disorder. [music]

Perhaps you've come into the battle like

that and you you feel like the the enemy

has you cornered.

I I just want to remind you that you're

in a fight, but God is right there with

you. And so, here's the definition of

bravery. The definition of bravery is

making the hot tag.

Thank you, Larry.

The definition of bravery is making

[music]

the hot tag. The definition of bravery

is saying, "God, I can't fight this

battle by myself anymore. God, I need

your strength. God, I'm taking my hands

off the wheel. God, I'm taking my hands

off of the situation. I'm admitting that

it's bigger than me and I'm going to tag

you in so that you can go and deal with

it and I'm going to rest over here in

the corner and let you take care of

stuff."

Bravery is just saying, "God, I'm

tagging you [music] in."