”Help Them” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Sun AM | Joshua 1

Take your Bibles and join me in Joshua

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. This morning I want to preach

a little thought to you. Just two words

is my title. Simply this. Help them.

Just two words. Help

them. Here's what I know that in this

room, in this auditorium, this morning,

there are people who are going to war

with Satan and his tactics.

This morning, in this very room, in this

auditorium, there are people who are

going to war with a sin that has

controlled them for far too long.

This morning, right here, under the

sound of my voice, there are people who

are going to war with their mind about

anxiety and worry and depression. There

are people in this room who are going to

war concerning family or financial

situations. There are some people right

now in this very auditorium who are

burdened and fighting for a loved one

who is away from the Lord.

And there are folks this morning who are

not here in this room because the devil

has distracted them from the house of

God with a variety of things. And

whether they know it or not, they too

are going to war this morning.

And these people need somebody

to help them.

We know based book of Joshua and what

we've already studied that God has given

the Christian victory. God has given you

and I God has already won the victory

when he rose from the dead that glorious

third morning. He defeated death. He

defeated hell. He defeated the grave. He

defeated sin. Everything has already

been defeated. The devil is defeated.

And he knows his time is short. And so

he is fighting with everything he can to

distract and discourage and defeat

Christians. And so whether you realize

it or not this morning, you and I are in

a battle. But the good news is the

battle has already been won. The devil

has already been defeated and you and I

are the victors. We are victorious. We

see that in our text this morning,

but there are still people who are

fighting.

There are still brothers and sisters who

are going through difficulties. There

are still people who are facing

challenges. There are still people who

who are in the midst of the fight.

And it is the job of the local church to

help them.

We are in this place this morning. We

are a family. We sing the little chorus

from time to time. The family of God.

I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of

God. It's a great little chorus and I

love to sing it. And it speaks to a a

strong truth, one that is all through

scripture, and that is that you and I

are in fact a family. Now, we're not

blood relatives. We're not related. We

are related through the blood of Jesus

Christ. Though we are a spiritual

family, the family of God. And so when

someone comes into our local church,

into our family in this place and they

are battling discouragement or

depression or anxiety or a sin, what we

should not do is be quick to judge them

because they don't look like us or act

like us or smell like us.

What we should do instead is help them.

God has given you and I the victory and

God has given them the victory. And if

we're being honest, probably every one

of us here this morning, though we're

not fighting the same battle, I would

dare to say all of us are fighting a

battle of some kind.

And it is our job as the family of God

to help one another. I want to read a

story to you that I found this week.

On October 3rd, 2009, a remote US Army

outpost in eastern Afghanistan called

Combat Outpost Keading.

There were fewer than 60 American

soldiers at the post. They were woke up

in the middle of the night to the sound

of war.

300 Taliban fighters had opened fire

from the mountains above them. There

were machine guns, rocket propelled

grenades, mortars. The enemy had the

high ground. The enemy had the numbers

and within minutes parts of the

perimeter were overrun. Men were killed,

others were bleeding, some were fighting

from positions that were completely

destroyed. Many were wounded. Among

those soldiers was a man named Clinton

Romesha.

And at one point in the battle, American

soldiers were pinned down behind

shattered barriers. Ammunition was

running low and the enemy was advancing

closer.

soldiers, amongst whom was Romesha,

knowing full well they could die, left

cover, ran through open ground under

direct machine gun fire. Not once but

multiple times they ran back and forth

across exposed terrain to drag wounded

men to safety to resupply ammunition to

reinforce collapsing positions and man

guns where operators had been shot for

12 hours.

They fought in these conditions.

Eight Americans died that day, but the

outpost did not fall

because there were some soldiers who

were willing to help their brother.

In Joshua chapter 1, we're going to see

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

the 12 tribes of Israel are going to be

divided. There's going to be nine and a

half going one way. There's going to be

two and a half staying at where they're

currently at.

The two and a half tribes have already

defeated the enemy. They have victory.

They are living in peace. The nine and a

half tribes still have battles to fight.

And what we're going to see is that God

commands these two and a half tribes to

help their brother.

And I believe in the local church that

some of us in here, some of us in here

this morning, we're we're we're in an

okay place in our life. The battle is

not raging like it may have been a few

weeks ago. But there's been some there's

a moment of peace. There's a calm in the

storm.

But for others of us, the battle has

never been hotter. And we need some

brothers and sisters in Christ who will

be willing

to go pick up a brother in arms,

encourage them, pat them on the back,

pray for them, and help them get to

safety so that the outpost does not

fall. Look at Joshua chapter 1. Let's

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

read our text this morning in verse

number 10 is where we'll begin.

Then Joshua verse 10. And then Joshua

commanded the officers of the people

saying pass through the host and command

the people saying prepare you, this is

how you say this word, viddles. The sea

is silent. Prepare you viddles. It means

food. It means preparations, your tents,

your dwelling. So prepare your stuff

for within 3 days ye shall pass over

this Jordan to go in to possess the land

which the Lord your God giveth you to

possess it. So, we have these tribes,

these nation of Israel is encamped on

the east side of the Jordan River. I

don't have a map to show you this

morning. You can look one up later. But

the nation of Israel is between the

Jordan River on the east side and the

sea on the west side. And in between

there, there is this little piece of

land that is the nation of Israel. It's

nearly 200 miles from top to bottom.

where the nation of the nation of Israel

has left Egypt which is down here in the

south. They have walked across what is

the Sinai Peninsula and they have now

come up and passed on the west side of

the Dead Sea and coming feeding the Dead

Sea is the Jordan River. So they've

walked on the west side of the Dead Sea

and have now come to the eastern bank of

the Jordan River. Once they cross the

Jordan River going east to west, they

will be in the promised land of Canaan

that God has given them.

And so the nation of Israel camped on

that eastern bank of the Jordan River.

Joshua says, "We have got a commission

from God. It's time to cross over and

possess the land that the Lord your God

has given you." Now notice, he doesn't

say that the Lord their God might give

you or that the Lord your God could give

you. But you notice the victory's

already been won. The land has already

been given them. It's already their

land. They just have to go in and claim

it. And today the application is simple.

The victory has already been won for the

Christian. All we have to do is claim

it, right? Victory has been won. Christ

has defeated uh the devil and sin. We

have victory, but sometimes we need a

little help claiming that victory. So,

they're getting ready to go across. This

is the context. This is the setting.

Look at verse number 12.

And to the Reubenites, and to the

Gadites, and to half the tribe of

Manasseh spake Joshua, saying, "These

are the two and a half tribes that will

stay on the east side of the Jordan

River."

Now, if you'll stay with me for just a

moment, let me teach. I'm going I'm

going to preach here in just a minute,

but let me teach so that we're we

understand the context. In the book of

Numbers, chapter 32, Moses came to these

Numbers 32 · chapter mention

two and a half tribes, Reuben, Gad, and

half of Manasseh. There are 12 tribes in

Israel. These two and a half tribes uh

were given an aotment of land on the

east side of the Jordan River. Their

their inheritance, their land is on the

east side. They they have no need to

cross over. And so they're on the east

side. This is their a lotment. Well, now

comes the time that has been years ago.

That generation has passed away. Moses

has passed away. Now Joshua is the

leader. Joshua is on the scene. He's

going to remind them of what they the

the deal, the agreement that they had

made with Moses. And so verse 12 again

to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half

the tribe of Manasseh, these two and a

half tribes spake Joshua, saying, verse

13, remember the word which Moses, the

servant of the Lord, commanded you,

saying, "The Lord your God, hath given

you rest, and hath given you this land

where they are currently at." He said,

"Your wives, your little ones, and your

cattle shall remain in the land which

Moses gave you on this side, Jordan, on

the east side. But ye shall pass before

your brethren armed all the mighty men

of valor. And I want you to say the next

two words with me. And what?

>> Help them. Say it again. And what?

>> Help them.

Verse 15. Until the Lord hath given your

brethren rest, as he hath given you, and

they also have possessed the land which

the Lord your God giveth them. Then you

shall return to the land of your

possession and enjoy it which Moses the

Lord's servant gave you on this side

Jordan towards the sun rising. And they

answered Joshua, saying, All that thou

commandest us, we will do, and

whethersoever thou sendest us, we will

go, according as we hearken unto Moses

in all things, so will we hearken unto

thee. Only the Lord thy God be with

thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he

be that doth rebel against thy

commandment, I will not hearken under

the words that thou commandest him, he

shall be put to death. Only be strong

and of a good courage.

And so in this text, the Joshua is going

to give two commands and then there's

going to be one commitment. On the front

end, there's two commands. Joshua

commands the entire nation, prepare you

viddles. In verse 11, prepare you

viddles. Prepare your stuff. Get ready

for battle. The Lord has given us the

promised land. It's time to go across

the Jordan and it's time to claim the

victory. Then he's going to give a

second command that is only to a

specific group of people. And this is

most of our passage this morning is

Joshua's command to those two and a half

tribes who were going to stay on the

east side of Jordan. And to those

tribes, he said, "Look, I know you have

your land. I know you have your

inheritance. I know that you have uh all

that God has promised you on this side

of Jordan, but your brothers are still

going to cross and they're going to

fight and claim the victory. And I want

you to go help them.

You go help them. Help them. The

application is very simple this morning.

The local church, there are people who

are fighting. There are people who are

facing difficulties and there are people

who God has given rest.

Here's my application. Here's the

sermon. I mean, this is it. I'm going to

give you some more, but this is it. Go

help them.

Help one another. Listen, if a local

church is not willing to help one

another fight the battles and the things

that we're going through, what are we?

Do you realize the local church is more

than just a place where we can come and

sing songs? I love singing songs. I love

the worship. I love preaching the word

of God. But church has become so

consumer-minded where you think you come

to church to consume a product and if I

don't like the product, I'm going to go

find a different church. Churches and

coffee shops are all the same now. It's

just all about consuming the product. If

I don't like the coffee they make, I'm

going to go find a different coffee

shop. The same is true in church. You

come to church, you sit in the pew, and

if I don't like the product, there's no

spiritual meaning behind it. It's just

it's a show. It's a performance. It's a

program. And if I don't like the

product, then I'm not going back.

And God has commanded the church to be

so much more

for you than just something that you

come in and consume.

The church is a family. It is a body of

Christ. And we serve one another. We

help one another

grow in the grace and the knowledge of

our Lord Jesus Christ so that we don't

lose any soldiers in the battle.

One thing I'm going to preach a message

at some point

titled the the casualties

of Christianity.

And far too often we see people who come

to the church, but they're fighting

battles on the inside and they may not

share them. Maybe we don't pick up on

them. And they come for a while and then

very soon they've fallen completely out

of church. They've gotten caught up in

some sin or some some issue. They've

messed up. They've made a mistake. And

and we find them way away from God. And

in my mind as a pastor, I can't help but

think, if I had helped them,

if I had said something,

if I had been there more, if I had held

their arms up, if I had walked alongside

them, if I had asked a few more

questions, if I had been more of a

brother in Christ, would it be

different? And I don't know that it

would be. Only God knows. But I know

we're commanded to help one another. Let

me give you just two things this morning

and I'm going to get out of the way.

Number one, write down this based on our

text. We're going to see this very

clearly. Number one, get in front of

your brother.

Get in front or sister, but I'm going to

use brother. Get in front of your

brother. Look at the look at the text.

Verse number 14, a key verse. Your

wives, your little ones, your cattle

shall remain in the land which Moses

gave you on this side Jordan. But ye

shall pass. Here's the word before

your brethren. That word before

literally means to be in front of. It

means the face, the one on the front

line. So two and a half tribes, yes,

God's given you peace, but I want you to

go be on the front lines of the

battlefield for your brothers and

sisters. get in front of your brothers

and fight for them. Now, this isn't

really in my notes, but it's it's in the

text. It's implied in the text, and so

I'm just going to make a note of it, and

then we're going to move along quickly

to to the the point, okay? But if you'll

notice, the women and the children got

to stay at home, and it was the men who

were leading the battle. Now if we

continue to expound the book of Joshua

as I believe the book of Joshua is to be

interpreted that the promised land is

not a picture of heaven but it is a

picture of the victorious Christian life

and we fight battles in the Christian

life but God gives us victory through

the Christian life. Okay. If we keep the

the exposition the same, a literal

exposition of the book of Joshua,

then I think it's very easy to to get

this application

that if if it's the men leading the way

in the literal battle, then it should be

the men who are leading the way in the

spiritual battles that we fight.

I have no problem with women serving in

the church,

but men should be the spiritual leaders

of our culture. It should be men who

take the lead and lead their homes and

lead their wives and lead their children

and lead the way spiritually. Men are

the ones who need to step up and take

the lead and be the spiritual leaders.

That was bonus. That's not even in my

notes, so I'm going to move on quick. I

thought I'd throw it in there because I

liked it. All right. So, get before

before your brethren. Get in front of

your brethren.

Get in front of the battle for your

brothers. So often in the church, we

treat uh when people go through

problems, we we're always reactive to

them. You know what I mean by reactive?

Meaning something happens and we go, "Oh

no, let's fix it. Let's figure out what

hap." Okay. What if we changed the way

we think and instead of thinking

reactively to the problems, what if we

start acting proactively and trying to

prevent those issues from coming up?

What if we just started loving on each

Well, well, I don't know. I don't know

what they're going through. You don't

have to know. Love on them anyways. Hug

on them anyways. Well, they may not like

hugs. They'll tell you. You can try.

They'll tell you. All right.

Hug on them. Love on them. Shake their

hand. Encourage them. Pat them on the

back. write a card. God has commanded us

all through scripture that you and I are

supposed to help one another. And if the

church can't do it, how do we expect to

help a world that is lost and dying and

on their way to hell? How do we expect

to help people outside of this building

if we can't help one another inside of

this building? These are the easiest

people in the world to serve.

It ought to be as easy as it gets when

you come to church to love on one

another and help one another and serve

one another and check on one another.

By the way, the text says before and it

means to be in front of and and the the

idea is that we're marching to battle.

So, we're all going one direction,

right? We're all going one direction and

I'm in front of my brother who's behind

me. Now, get the picture. You're

marching to battle in front of your

brother who's behind you. You know who

you cannot fight in that position?

Your brother who's behind you.

As the church, we're all going for

Jesus. We're going one direction. We're

chasing Jesus. We're following Jesus.

We're all moving together. So, if each

one of us are proactively trying to make

sure we're in front of one another,

we're going to block off the enemy.

We're going to take care of one another.

We're going to protect one another.

We're going to fight for one. You know

what? What won't exist in this church?

Christians fighting amongst themselves.

You know what? When I see Christians

starting to fight and bicker amongst

themselves, you know what it tells me?

Somebody has stopped advancing for Jesus

and has turned around to face one

another. We've gotten our eyes off of

who we're supposed to be pursuing and

we've started looking at what we want

instead.

He said, "Get before your brethren. Get

in front of them. Be proactive. Get in

front of the battle. Don't fight one

another. Fight for Jesus. Go claim the

victory that God has given you. Fight

for one another. I think this would

change independent fundamental Baptist

churches if we could understand that we

are fighting one enemy. And that enemy

is not the person across the aisle from

you.

It doesn't matter what they said. It

doesn't matter what they wore. It

doesn't matter what they just forgive

them like Christ forgave them. Love on

them

and let's go get Jesus. Let's go claim

victory.

Get in front before your brother.

Two and a half tribes. You You've got

your land. You've got your inheritance.

We're proud of you. We're thankful for

you. But if you think you're done

fighting, you got another thing coming.

I want you to get on get in front of

them and let's go claim the victory.

And I think that if we just take a

simple application

for a local church

and each one of us make a commitment,

I'm going to get in front of my brothers

and sisters. I'm going to fight the

battles for them. I'm going to fight the

battles with them. I'm going to help

them claim their victory.

Then maybe, just maybe, we would see

less soldiers

eliminated from the fight as casualties.

And maybe, just maybe, together as a

team, as a family, we can see a church

come together and make a real difference

for Jesus Christ in a community. You

know what I hope our church is known as

in our community?

I hope we're known as a friendly church.

I've even told our church this. I want

our church to be the friendliest church

in the county. The friendliest church in

the county. We've got work to do on

that.

But that's the goal, man. people come

here, they know that these people in

this place love Jesus and they love one

another. We're going to take up for one

another. Listen, somebody starts

gossiping in the community community

about something somebody did in here, we

ought to be quick to defend them. Now,

that doesn't mean that we're perfect.

Yes, we're going to make mistakes,

but we ought not be running around

spreading rumors and gossiping and

trying to hurt one another behind one

another's backs. No, we're in front of

one another. We're not behind one

another's backs. We're in front going

the same direction fighting on behalf of

one another because that's what family

does and we're a family.

Family of God. So he says number one,

get in front of your brother. Write down

number two

and I'll be done in just a moment.

Number two, get in information for your

brother.

Get in

for your brother.

The Bible tells us many times

to help one another. Let me give you

these verses.

John 13 and verse 35. By this shall all

men know that you are my disciples. If

you love one another. How is a world out

there going to know that something's

different in here? The only way they

know is if we love one another.

John 15:1 17, "These things have I

John 15:1

commanded you that you love one

another." Galatians 6 and:2 bear ye one

another's burdens and so fulfill the law

of Christ. Romans 12 and 10 be kindly

affectioned one to another with

brotherly love in honor preferring one

another. Hebrews 12 and 13 wherefore

lift up the hands which hang down and

the feeble knees. What is demonstrated

practically in the book of Joshua is

expressed doctrinally in the New

Testament. Get in front and fight for

one another. This is not this should not

be foreign to a local church. This

message should be so simple and so

practical. You should leave today

saying, "I knew that, but I'm glad I was

reminded of it." The Bible all through

scripture tells us to help one another.

So, point number two, get in formation

for your brother. Look at the word in

verse 14.

He said, "But you shall pass before your

brethren." Here's the word armed.

I looked up what this word meant and I

did not expect to get this definition.

The word armed, it's translated armed in

our English Bible, in my King James

Bible, it's armed. But the Hebrew word

behind it means this five or 50.

Why in the world? And last night in my

office, I was looking at this and I

thought, why in the world would would

the English translators translate the

word five in Hebrew and translate it

armed in our English Bible?

And so I started digging. What does this

mean? Why did they translate it like

this? What's the purpose? What's the

meaning? There's got to be a meaning

here. Did you know that that word which

was five in the Hebrew, it means five or

it could mean 50.

It became known in Hebrew language as a

word that indicated battle formation.

It was a word that was connected with

the idea of going into battle in rank.

So we put men in companies whether it

was a group of five or a group of 50.

When we went into battle, when we went

to war, we did it organized. We did it

disciplined. We did it in information.

And so by the time Joshua writes the

book of Joshua, it's written

the word had come had come to be known

as being in formation, military ready,

ready to fight

five. It's interesting, isn't it? So the

English translators, they translated it

right because we're going to battle

armed, ready to fight, prepared, in

formation.

So what does that have to do with us

fighting for one another? Well, let me

tell you,

when it comes to fighting for our

brothers and sisters in Christ, so often

we can be laxidasical and lazy in it.

Right? Here's what the two and a half

tribes did not do. as the nine and a

half are getting ready to cross Jordan

and go fight the the the city of Jericho

and then Ai and then on into the land of

Canaan, they don't say, "Hey, proud of

you guys. Love you guys.

Go get them. I'm going to send a prayer

up for you."

That's not what they did.

What' they do? They got in formation.

They joined the ranks. They came

alongside one another. and and brother

from the tribe of of Gad is here and

brother from the tribe of Judah is here

and we're going to link arms and we're

going to walk in formation with you into

the battle. We are going to go together

with one another. It's not an isolated

battle. You don't have to fight this

thing alone. You don't have to fight the

devil alone. You don't have to fight the

enemy alone. You have got friends. No,

no, no, no. You have got family

in this place that want to link up with

you, encourage you, strengthen you, and

push you, and motivate you a little bit

in the in in the Christian life. So, so

we get in information. We're going to

link up together. And then it's it's

also has the idea of being disciplined.

This word means being disciplined.

So, they're going to get information and

then they're going to do it in step.

They're going to be disciplined in what

they're doing. They're not going to be

lazy about this thing.

And and listen, this is such an a simple

application. I'm almost ashamed to to

talk about it, but I shouldn't be

because it has been forgotten in so many

local churches.

You you you want to be proactive in

helping your brother and sisters in

Christ. Check on them.

Be disciplined.

If the Lord brings so and so to your

mind on Monday or Tuesday, you know what

you probably ought to do is give him a

call. If the Lord lays it on your heart

to write them a card, write them a card.

If the Lord lays it on your heart to go

give them a visit, go give them a visit.

If they're not home, they're not home.

You ain't hurt nobody.

Check on one another. Love on one

another. Be there for one another. Let

one another know

that you care about them.

God has has burdened my heart recently

in just the last couple of weeks

about a church praying together.

And I've been convicted even in how our

church prays together because I think

we've got a lot of room to grow and I

may change things up a little bit in the

future.

You know what what I miss in in church

old time Independent Baptist church

when when the altar was used. First of

all, this this thing isn't just

decorative up here,

there's a purpose behind it. It's a

place to kneel. I don't preach from a

stage. I preach from an altar. And an

altar is where you kneel in front of.

In old-time Baptist churches,

somebody would come and use an altar

and they were going through something.

Maybe they just wanted to come and say,

"Thank the Lord for something." They

would get up out of their seat and they

would come down and they would kneel at

an oldfashioned altar. And you know what

I mean? If it's a lady who comes and

kneels down, three or four ladies pop up

out of their seat, come right down

front, they lay their hands on them,

they get around them, and they begin to

pray for their sister in Christ. They

may not know what she's going through.

They may not know exactly what the

battle is. They may not know what she's

praying for, but they're not going to

judge her. They're going to pray for

her. And they don't have to take long.

They take two or three, five minutes,

they pray for her, and they go back to

their seat. She can stay there as long

as she wants, but now she knows somebody

in this church is praying for her.

A man comes and kneels down. A couple of

his brothers in Christ just immediately

pop up, come kneel around him, put their

hands on him, and pray over their

brother in Christ. They may not fix the

problem. God may not fix the problem,

but that brother knows somebody's

praying for him. Now, when we have

better man and our our men and better

man, what would be wonderful to me is is

when a man from better man comes and and

bows at an altar starts praying and

thanking God or asking God for

something, man, his brothers in Christ

from better man just jump up and we're

going to go pray with our brother in

Christ. Ladies Bible study. You know

these ladies, you study the Bible with

them once in a month. Why can't we pray

for one another? Why is praying for one

another such an awkward thing in the

local church? Who made that? Why is that

a rule?

It shouldn't be. We ought to pray for

one another.

Pray on behalf of one another. Let one

another know that we're praying for it.

Here's something that God convicted my

heart about years ago, and I have tried

to implement. I'm not perfect at this,

but I I try to do this whenever I can.

Someone will tell me that that they will

come to me and they'll say, "Pastor, I I

need to be I need this situation. Could

you pray for me with this situation or

with what's going on in my life?" And if

I can, I always I won't say I don't say

this to the best of my ability. I don't

say, "I will pray for you."

I do my best to say, "Let's pray right

now. Let me pray for you right now." I

put my arm around their shoulders and we

bow our heads wherever we're at and we

say a quick prayer. 30 seconds. They

know now that pastor's praying for

someone texts me, "Pastor, I've got a

prayer request. Can you pray for this?"

I've changed the way I respond. I don't

say, "I will put that on the prayer

list." I say, "I'm praying for it right

now." And I will bow my head wherever

I'm at and I will say a prayer for

whatever that request was. Why? Because

people need to know that we're praying

for them. Get information. Be

disciplined about this. Don't be

laxidasical. Well, somebody else will

take care of them. No, maybe not. You've

got to take care of them.

Otherwise, we may see soldiers

who are defeated and out of the fight. I

have two little sub points and I've

already kind of given them to you. So,

I'll just mention them from the text. In

verse 15, how how do we get in battle

formation? How do we do this? Well,

number one, pray. Number two, obey. So,

pray unto the Lord. He said in verse 15,

he said, "Help them." How long do I help

them? until the Lord hath given them has

given them rest. Not until they've won

the victory. Not until you feel like,

"No, when the Lord comes through, that's

when you can stop helping them." How

does the Lord come through? Well, he

answers our prayers. So pray, get a hold

of God and ask God to come through.

Pray, pray, pray for your brothers and

sisters in Christ. And then if you look

at verse 16, obey, obey what God is

telling you to do. He said in verse 16,

I'm finished. You can come. Verse 16.

And they answered Joshua, saying, "All

that thou commandest us, we will do. And

whethersoever thou sendest us, we will

go. We're going to obey what God has

told us to do. Whatever you think,

wherever you lead, however God leads,

we're all in. We're going to obey what

God has told us to do." That's what we

need in local church. A family who will

pray for one another and who will obey

God.

I think God will do great things in that

church.

At the very least, I think that'll be a

church of people who know they knew that

know they are loved

and know that God's family is a good

place to be. We see people leave church

and they leave church in bitterness and

they leave church in anger and they

leave church in defeat. And we can't

avoid all of that. People are human.

They make mistakes. They mess up. And

sometimes people are just going to get

angry and they're just going to get

bitter.

That's between them and the Lord.

But I believe that if we are a church

that is disciplined and on purpose we

fight together.

I think we can help a lot of people.

I think we can help them.

I've told this before, but I'll use it

here because it's just such a great

application.

In ancient Roman warfare, they used what

was called a tortoise formation. Maybe

you've heard about this.

When they would approach a city, you'd

have all these Roman soldiers in rank in

formation.

And as they approached the city, they

would get into their tortoise formation.

They would the men on the front would

put their shield. They had six-foot

shields that they would put on the front

end. And they those shields would lock

together. So it was a straight line

across of shields. And then the people

behind them also had shields. And they

would take the the second row would take

their shields and they would put it over

the heads of the front row and they

would lock their shield on the top of

the shield at the front. And the people

behind them would lift their shields up

and lock them together. And you would do

this for hundreds of men all the way

back to the back of the formation. And

so as they advanced, they were

completely

protected. There was not a weak spot in

them. And the enemy would get up on the

wall and they would begin to throw

spears and they would begin to shoot

arrows and it would just bounce off and

they could not touch any of the

soldiers. And the whole formation

together as a unit would advance to the

city wall. And once they reached the

city wall they were able then to

penetrate the city because they were at

full strength. They had lost no people

and because they had their full strength

when they reached the enemy wall it was

indefensible for years. No one could

defeat them. The Romans took over the

world like this. The Romans became a

world power, the greatest military in

the world at the time

because they fought together.

It wasn't one man on a horse with a

shield running up to the city. Why?

Because if that's what he's doing, he's

getting shot. He's not going to make it.

But they developed a plan to keep them

together. And and I I have studied this

out some. They say that you could take a

a horse, multiple horses pulling a

chariot, and that you could run a horse

across this tortoise shell, this

formation, and nobody would would even

feel it because they were so strong

together. They could bear the weight,

hundreds, thousands of pounds on top of

this protected themselves because they

were linked up.

I think that if the church would decide

to help one another

and we'd link up with one another,

you're not that strong by yourself. I I

mean, I hate to break it to you. I'm not

that strong of a Christian by myself,

but together

we are indefensible to Satan. We've

already got the victory. The victory's

already won. Jesus has already won the

victory.

And I think that if we link up together,

if we link shields up together, and we

begin to advance for the cause of

Christ, going together, not fighting

against one another, but facing the same

direction,

shields linked up, marching forward for

the cause of Christ, the devil won't be

able to touch us.

He won't be able to touch us.

And we'll begin to see other people come

in those doors and say, "Hey, I want to

link up, too.

I want to live a victorious Christian

life. I want to claim the victory that

God has for me. I don't want to be

defeated by this sin. I I don't want my

marriage to end. I I don't want to be

caught in this addiction. I want

freedom. I want deliverance. Can I link

up with this family

and fight for the cause of Christ?

I know the message today is is simple,

but I pray you won't won't let it just

bounce off your ears.

Let's take it to heart today.

Let's link up. Here's what I want us to

do right now. Let's just put it in

practice. The altar is here and it's

available.

And I think it would be a good thing if

some husbands and some wives would say,

"Hey, let's go link up.

You come down here to an altar and you

bow a knee together and man, take a lead

on it. Just start praying. Just listen.

Just link up." So maybe some friends,

some men from Better Man. Hey, let's go.

Let's go kneel. Let's go link up

together. Pray for one another.

Listen, I know I know there are going to

be casualties in Christianity. The devil

is too smart for all of us to be perfect

Christians, right? There's there's going

to be things that happen,

but I sure don't want to see anybody

leave.

I sure don't want to get a phone call

tomorrow or Tuesday that hey so and so

has made a mistake and this is what has

happened

or get a text message that no somebody's

not coming back because of this or

because no no no no no no let's help one

another let's link up can we link up

this morning

let's get together

she's going to play while she plays I

want you to just follow the Lord

would you come and link up say what am I

going to pray for whatever the Lord lays

you on your

Pray for our church. Pray for your

family. Pray for your kids. Pray for

those who are not here this morning.

Somebody's got to pray. Like I want to

be us. She's playing. Stand to your feet

all over the auditorium. You come.