The Tale of the Fat Man

I want you to follow me to the book of Judges,

Judges 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. I'm going to read a few verses there,

if I may. And it says this way, Judges 3, beginning

in verse 12. It says, And the children of Israel

began again, did evil in the sight of the Lord.

And so the Lord strengthened Eglon, king of Moab,

against Israel. because they had done evil in

the sight of the Lord. Verse 13, Then he gathered

to himself the people of Ammon, and Amalek went

and defeated Israel and took possession of the

city of Palms. So the children of Israel served

Eglon, king of Moab, 18 years. But when the children

of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord

raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud, the son

of Gerah, the Benjamite, a left -handed man,

by him the children of Israel sent tribute to

Eglon, king of Moab. Now Ehud made himself a

dagger. It was double -edged and a cubit in length.

and fastened it under his clothes on his right

thigh. So he brought the tribute to Eglon, king

of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. So I thought

I would entitle this message today, if you want

to put my title up there, The Tale of a Fat Man.

The tale of the fat man. Amen. And I'll get to

it in a bit, but let that sit in for a little

bit. You may take your places. Thank you. This

is an interesting story in Israel's history that

has typologies of two related people with different

destinies and promises. In the time of judges,

because of Israel's evil doings, and this had

happened from time to time, and God would always

intervene. God permitted Eglon, who was king

of the Moabites, to conquer Israel. It was almost

as if the Lord says, I'm going to deal with you,

Israel. And after Israel was defeated, They were

permitted to live in the city of Palms, which

in that time was ancient Jericho, but were controlled

by Moab and were required to give tribute to

Moab. A tribute that was basically the first

fruits and offerings of the wealth of Israel.

Moab was a descendant of Lot, who was Abraham's

nephew. Remember the story of Lot and Abraham.

When Lot ended up in Sodom and Gomorrah, and

the angels of the Lord came passing by Abraham,

if you remember, Abraham had to intercede. It

was an intercessory prayer for Sodom, but he

was thinking about Lot because Lot lived there.

If you remember the story, long story short,

Lot left Sodom and his wife and his two daughters,

and they escaped, but the wife looked back and

became a pillar of salt. But Lot and his two

daughters In Genesis 19, 36 and 38, to 38, it

says, Thus both the daughters of Lot were with

child by their father. The firstborn bore a son

and called his name Moab. He is the father of

the Moabites to this day. And the younger...

She also bore a son and called his name Ben -Ami.

He is the father of the people of Ammon to this

day. So Moab was physically related to the descendants

of Abraham, God's people, Israel. Yet they had

no spiritual connection or access to God's promises.

and therefore was in fact an enemy to Abraham

and his descendants and his seed. This message

today is going to be of a typology and a comparison

of the flesh and the spirit. Somebody say flesh

and spirit. They are related, yet are in constant

battle with each other. They don't get along.

They were distant relatives in this time. As

the Moabites and the descendants of Abraham,

they were related. But they had two different

destinies. So one represented the flesh and the

other represented the spirit. In John 3 and 6

it says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

Can't change that. And that which is born of

the Spirit is Spirit. And we can't change that

either. We can't mesh them together and insist

that they be one because they are constantly

separate. And this is why in Galatians 5 .17

it tells us, for the flesh desires what is contrary

to the Spirit. And the spirit, what is contrary

to the flesh. In other words, if they both had

their own legs and feet, they'd be walking in

different directions. They are in conflict with

each other so that you are not to do whatever

you want. In other words, the Apostle Paul said

it correctly. He says, the things that I want

to do, I don't. And the things that I don't want

to do, I do. And that is an explanation of how

the battle is continuously in one place, in one

abode. Spiritually speaking, this story between

Israel and Moab is significant and applicable

to us today because of how they are related.

yet with different promises and different destinies.

1 Corinthians 15 and 50 says, I declare to you,

brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot

inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable

inherit the imperishable. So you see, the flesh

knows its destiny. The flesh is aware that it's

not going to be able to run the streets of gold.

Praise God. That's why it wants to run here,

but always in the opposite direction of the will

of God. So there's going to be constant, you

know, there's not going to, you know, I remember

somebody, and I'll tell you what, I would have

never done this. But there was a couple of brothers

from our church years ago when the Raiders were

going to play the Super Bowl in Los Angeles area.

They only had one ticket. But they both went.

I said, where do you want to go? There's only

one ticket. They both went. They stayed in the

same hotel, ate the same food, restaurants and

everything. But only one went to the game. And

the other one had to stay behind outside, wandering

around, hands in the pocket. If I didn't have

a ticket, I would not have gone. But he went.

I don't know. And it kind of reminds me of the

flesh, you know, because the flesh doesn't have

a ticket. But the Spirit does. I don't know if

somebody would go. And I'm going to tell you,

the flesh is not going to want to go if it ain't

got a ticket. The flesh is constantly in war

with the spirit. Let's go here. No, I don't want

to go there. It's too spiritual. Oh, my God.

Look what they're doing over there. Let's go

over there. No, no, that's carnal. They're in

constant battle. For the sake of this message,

Ehud, if you can put the next slide up. Ehud,

the judge, means spirit. The Benjamite. who was

a judge over Israel at the time. He is a typology

of the spirit. But Eglon, the Moabite, the fat

man, is a typology of the flesh. So here we have

spirit and we have flesh. It's interesting that

the name of the Moabite king, Eglon, is derived

from the root word meaning circle. Now, if you

look at Begalon, you'll find out that his name

means circle. And from this, we can see the vicious

and endless cycle of repetition. This is why

it is most difficult to discipline the flesh.

Because it rejects anything that is contrary

to its vicious cycle of regression, going back

to its old habits and humanistic instincts and

ideas. You know, you don't have to discipline

the spirit. You have to discipline the flesh.

Praise God. Somebody slap your hand and say,

stop it. Your flesh is your problem. It's not,

you know, it's not the community. It's not the

president of the United States. It's not this.

It's not that. The problem is our own flesh.

Praise the Lord. We're not warring against anybody.

I didn't get in a fight with my neighbor this

morning. I did not get in a fight with him. I

got in a fight with my flesh because my flesh

says it's too early. You need more rest. But,

you know, the flesh is the flesh. And it's going

to be a vicious cycle of returning. No matter

how much you train the flesh, it always regresses

back to its origin, which is dust. The flesh

is the flesh. You're not going to change that.

Why? Because the flesh is not going to go through

those pearly gates. I'm sorry. Tell your flesh

you ain't going with me. Get it straight. I got

one ticket. So this is why Scripture encourages

us to mortify the flesh every single day. Mortify

it. To put to death the sinful and corrupt nature

of the flesh through the power of the Holy Ghost.

So Ehud, the left -handed Benjamite judge, was

from the smallest of Israel's tribes. And it's

not so much the size of the man, it's the fight

in the man. Praise God, somebody. It's not the

size of the person, it's the fight that's within

the person. Don't underestimate. What God can

do with a rooty little boy named David to take

down a humongous giant. Because if God be for

us, who can be against us? Praise God, somebody.

Hallelujah. So you see, God doesn't need big

stuff to do big things. He can do big things

with little things. Thank God for that or we

would not be here today. Ehud. The left -handed

Benjamite judge was from the smallest of all

the tribes. I mean, there were bigger tribes

and bigger things. They had bigger cities and

whatnot. But Benjamin, which means the tribe

of Benjamin, means this. Son of my right hand.

That's what Benjamin means. Son of my right hand.

Ironically. This is what's interesting. The tribe

of Benjamin was known for their left -handed

slingshot shooters. How ironic is that? They

were called the lefties. So here they are, the

son of the right hand of God, and yet they're

left -handed. It doesn't make sense to me. It's

because, you see, God will allow the enemy to

see us as if though we're nothing and we're not

lining up with God's name and God's purposes

and the talents that the world has. I'm going

to tell you something. I would rather be alongside

somebody that has no gifts, no talents, but is

full of the power of the Holy Ghost than with

somebody that's got everything going for them.

Praise the Lord, somebody. And it's okay to be

a lefty. I mean, my grandson's a lefty. When

all the other Rodriguez's are right -handed.

Ehud was also a man that was restricted in his

right hand. He had a withered or handicapped

right hand. To top it all off, his hand was withered.

His hand was useless. Praise God. And they call

it a dead hand. Praise the Lord. Wow. So here

he is. Praise God. He's a right hand of God.

Praise God. But he's left -handed and his right

hand is even withered to make it worse. Even

if he wanted to throw a rock, a stone with his

right hand, he could not. Praise the Lord. So

Ehud was hindered. In the right hand. Yet his

tribal meaning was son of my right hand. Wow.

You know, it's almost as if God sets us up for

failure. You know what I'm saying? It's almost

as if the Lord says, you know, I'm going to take

your money away. But Lord, I work real far. I'm

going to take your car away. I'm going to do

all this. I'm going to take this away, take that

away. But see, what the Lord is doing many times

in our lives, he's setting us up for a great

outpouring of the Spirit in your life. He's setting

you up for something great. When you lose something,

you've got to say, God's up to something good.

If you get a flat tire on the freeway, you've

got to say, God's up to something good. When

somebody betrays you, you've got to say, God

is up to something good. Because the things that

God takes away, it's because he sent you up for

something great. Praise the Lord, somebody. Amen.

Imagine a man such as Ehud with this withered,

unusable hand as a threat to anybody. He would

have not been seen as a strong warrior. In fact,

if you saw him, you might even be inspired to

have pity towards him. You know, I've had people

do that to me. They'd say, well, who are you?

And, you know, and how many members do you have?

And I says, hey, it's not in the numbers, man.

God's not into numbers. Praise God. God's into

the power. He can put power in a little slingshot

and take down a giant. Man, I'm telling you,

I'm excited. Because you know why? Because the

less we are to the eyes of the human man, to

the eyes of the world, how we're perceived in

the world, the greater we are in God. Because

God is going to do something miraculous in your

life. I'm talking to somebody here today. It

might seem to you today that the Lord has taken

this and he's removed that. Why am I here? What's

going on in my life? I'm telling you, don't you

worry about what God is doing. Just stay submissive

to the will of God and watch God do something

miraculous in your life. Whatever the case. He

certainly wouldn't have been someone you would

expect to lead Israel, amen. And somebody might

blame him for losing to the Amorites. They might

say, well, no wonder the Moabites beat us and

the Amorites, which was the other brother, you

know, and the other family to the Moabites. And,

you know, it's just like they're... There's all

these odds, and how can we win if our leader

is handicapped? He's got a withered hand. He's

left -handed. We're supposed to be this, and

his name means that, and whatever. But listen

to this. When we look at the meanings of the

names of people in Scripture, it's very instructive

to us. We learn something. But listen to this.

As a Benjamite. Ehud was the son of the right

hand of God, which signifies power. But his own

personal name, Ehud, means I will give praise.

Check it out. I will give praise. That's what

the name Ehud means. Wow, so praise God. Here

we got somebody that, you know, he's not a warrior.

He's definitely not somebody that is going to

walk in with a big spear and a big sword and

all that. But he's going to walk in with his

gift. And his gift is praise. Have you ever praised

your way out of anything? Huh? Have you ever

praised your way out of something and said, it's

not looking good right now, but I'm going to

sing that song. I'm just going to begin to sing

that song. I'm going to tell you something. Everybody's

got their little song, you know, and you have

that little skip in your walk when you begin

to sing that song. And it doesn't matter how

bad things look and how the world is caving in

on you. And you might think that God forgot about

you and that, you know, you may have sinned somewhere

and things are going all the odds and everything

is against you. But if you have a song such as,

do, I got a little song that I pull out. I say,

can't nobody do me like Jesus. Hey, that's my

song, brother. Don't you steal my song. So that's

my song. I sing that when I'm going through something

and I say, hey, you know what? Not looking good

right now. Can't nobody. And then I start going

like this, man. Can't nobody do me like Jesus.

Can't nobody. Wow. I get excited. Why? Because

I begin to praise God within myself. And I say,

I can get out of this. I can get through this

with my praise. I heard that. I really enjoyed

the opening song today about praise. My goodness,

that is praise. I'm going to tell you something.

It works. Praise works when we believe it and

we act upon it. Praise God. As for the fat man,

let's talk about the fat man for a minute. As

for the fat man, he said, what does this signify?

Simply said, he was an obese. A giant, meaning,

you know, he was over seven feet tall, probably

like 600 pounds. I'm going to tell you something.

For the Bible to call somebody a huge, big, very

fat man, he's not going to be my weight. I'm

not going to tell you what my weight is. He's

going to be big. I mean, he's going to be real

big. And I estimate and I vision him being about

600 or plus pounds, you know, 7 '5", 7 '8", big

guy. Just, man, buffed up, big, big guy. This

is what the Bible refers to. Because when Scripture

refers to somebody like that, you better know

it's big, man. Because the Bible does not exaggerate.

Simply says he was an obese of a giant as a result

of living how? Slothfulness. Ease of comfort.

He sat on his big throne. He was a king of the

Moabites. He was not only obese, but he was a

giant of a king. And this is what his persona

was. This is who he was. He presented himself

to be this kind of a powerful. He showed external

power. He was something that we can look at and

say, oh, my God. I remember when I, you know,

for those of you that play sports or played sports,

I played a lot of sports. And I had a, I played.

Well, many times I played defense, and we had

this guy in our team. His name was Stone. This

guy, I'm not kidding, he was about 7 '2". Huge

guy. I mean, I came up, I went to his waist,

man, back then. He was so big. He couldn't run.

He barely made it out to the field. In fact,

they didn't have a uniform for him. It was too

big. So they had to go to one of the universities

to get him a pair of pants. Then they put this

huge jersey on him, and he can barely get out

to the field. He'd walk out there like this,

man. He didn't learn no plays. He didn't know

nothing. Because you know what his job was? The

coach says, Stone, all I want you to do is get

up and fall forward. That's it. Just stand up

and fall forward. You're going to cause a train

wreck, man. No matter how you fall, you're going

to cause a train wreck. People are going to fall,

trip, or I don't know. You're going to be a mountain

for them to hurdle you. That was his only job.

Man, you see, he don't have to do much. I imagine

this. His name was not Stone, but I imagine this.

Eglon, the king, he was so big. He was enormous

that everything had to go around him, couldn't

go through him. It had to go around him. He was

that kind of a king. But the Israelites, listen

to this, had to pay tribute to him by way of

paying him. After he conquered them, listen,

the Israelites were permitted to live in their

own city. They were allowed to live in the city

of Palms, Jericho. The ancient Jericho was called

the city of Palms. And they were able to stay

in their homes, stay in their houses. Hey, stay

in their neighborhoods. But everybody was bound.

They were slaves in their own turf. They were

slaves to this big king. And they were not able

to just live life nonchalantly. Everything they

did, they had to do it for the king, the Moabite.

They had to do it for him. Every seed they planted,

they knew that a good portion of that was going

to the king. It doesn't matter what we did, it

was going to go to the king. We were working

for him. They were enslaved to him. They had

to pay tribute to him, taxes, and all of this

went to what is called the king's table. The

king's table was his delight. Obviously, he didn't

get to be this great big person by just eating

salads. Man, he got to be this big person because

he ate everything they put before him. He feasted

every day. He feasted on it. What they brought

him, he took and gave it to me. Give me another

turkey leg. Wow. You know, everything that the

first of the best that Israel, that the Benjamites

could gather and grow and harvest or raise or

otherwise, the best had to go to the king because

he deserved it according to him. Spiritually

speaking, This fat man is a typology of a strong

man, such as the flesh that can hold God's people

hostage and deprive them from their godly purpose

and their potential in God and can control them

even to disobey God. Now I'm shifting gears.

The fat man, the obese king, now the flesh. We

war against the flesh every day. But the flesh

is demanding. The flesh demands from us. The

flesh wants and wants and is ever wanting, is

never satisfied, never content. You give him

a little, he wants more. When you give and you

feed the flesh, the flesh has a bottomless pit

and it'll keep taking and taking and taking from

your spirit. And this is the way that Eglon,

specialized. This is why his name meant circle.

And which keeps the captives going in circles.

If you remember Samson, when he was captivated

and he gave up the secret of his heart, where

did he end up? He was just tilling corn going

in circles. In the Old Testament, it talks about

the heifer, which was Judah, that was always

going in circles, doing the same thing, repetitious,

repetitious, the same thing. That's a typology

of the flesh. The flesh doesn't want discipline.

And I'm talking spiritually speaking. This is

a serious and a vicious cycle that has consumed

precious time. Energy, resources to no avail.

The flesh is demanding. Our flesh is constantly

wanting and never being satisfied. I want more.

I deserve more. Take me here. Take me there.

Bless me here. Give me here. I want the best.

I don't want cheap shoes. I want expensive shoes.

I want the best Michael Jordans. I want the best

of this and that because I deserve it. Your spirit

is being depleting and it's going down and getting

skinny in the inside and your flesh is getting

fat. Oh, you ain't hearing me yet. I'm going

to get an amen eventually, I know. No progression.

A cycle of repetition with a sense of hope that

leads to nowhere. It's a carnal deception. The

fat man held Israel under his rule for 18 years.

He didn't take them away from their own homeland.

He defeated them in their own, own land and allowed

them to live in their own land yet as captives.

Have you ever felt in your spirit that your spirit

tells you, oh, I want to do this for God. I wish

I could just do this for God. I really feel that

that's my purpose and that's my call. And I want

to do this. And it's like your spirit within

you is fighting, it's warning, and it wants to

come out and do something for God. But your flesh

keeps it subjected. And your flesh says you're

not going to do it. Me first. You got to feed

me first. You got to give to me first. And if

there's anything left over, then we'll go to

church or we'll do this or we'll do that. We'll

sing a song, maybe. But I don't need to sing

a song because my mouth doesn't want to. Well,

I got news for your mouth. You better open your

mouth. Or you're going to be opening it for an

eternity in hell. Oh, come on. That didn't cost

you. I'll sit down and show you Bible. You think

you can just not praise God when you come to

the Lord? Or anywhere. I'm going to tell you

something. I had a grandma. She was my prayer

partner for many years. We prayed together, man.

We rebuked devils together. We prayed people

through the Holy Ghost together. When I needed

somebody to go with me to pray for a demon -possessed

person, I'd pick her up. I didn't pick up a minister.

I didn't pick up the assistant pastor. I picked

my grandmother up because she was a prayer warrior.

You knew my grandmother, Julia Velarde. She was

a prayer warrior, man. I'm going to tell you

something. She had hip surgery. They replaced

her hip, and she had this or that. She was in

her. Hitting 90 years old or a little above 90

in there. And she used to run the aisles with

her new hip. If you have the Holy Ghost, you're

going to jump out of your seat and you're going

to say praise be to God. Because the Holy Ghost

is something that moves the flesh inside of us.

And it says, I want to worship God. I want to

be like her when I'm in my 90s, praise God, or

100. Somebody told me the other day that their

grandpa lived to be 114. I'm on my way, I told

them. 114, praise God, I'm right behind you.

Praise the Lord. Now, I'm going to tell you something.

If God permits me to be 114, I'm going to worship

God in spirit and in truth even then. Hello,

somebody. He didn't take them away from their

homeland. He allowed them to stay there while

yet as captives. This is true misery. Let me

tell you something. True misery is to live in

your own house and not have access to nothing

without asking permission. Hello? I want you

to know, no, no, no, you stay right there. We're

going to watch this horror movie right now. I

don't want to watch that horror movie. We're

going to watch it. We're not going to go on to

it. We're going to be late, in fact. No, but

I want to be there. Oh, my God, it's the Holy

Ghost. No, be quiet. I'm in charge. The flesh,

the fat man, talking, tries to overcome you with

fear. To make you think that you're subject to

the flesh. But I'm here to tell somebody here

that somebody by the name of Jesus went to Calvary

to defeat the flesh. He came to the world and

the world received him not. But he went to Calvary

and he defeated the flesh. This is how the flesh

wars against the spirit. The spirit resides in

the fleshly house. Yet the flesh attempts to

control the spirit and deprive it of its potential

in God. This evil king Eglon set up shop in the

heart of Israel. Territory where he could inflict.

constant pain on God's people. This fat man will

push his weight around, if you please, and set

up camp in the living room or in the middle of

your heart and attempt to tell you things that

are contrary to the will of God. If you begin

and continue to listen to your flesh, you will

certainly end up where the flesh will end up.

He will lounge in your space. He will take over

your living room. Praise God. He'll break things

up. I remember an old evangelist. He was an evangelist,

but he was staying at a pastor's house. And the

pastor, and this boy was a big boy. And he stayed

with him. And one time they told me, man, we

don't know what to do, man. We can't keep up

with his appetite. He eats, eats, eats, eats,

and he just sits, sits, sits, sits. Half our

furniture is broken because he broke it. He sat

on it. I said, brother, you got a problem. What

you have to do is empty out the refrigerator,

get all the food out of the house, and tell him

we ain't got no more. He'll go find another home.

But you keep feeding it, you're going to keep

growing. Plan to buy more furniture. Oh, my God,

can I do that? Do it, brother. Come on. If it

was me, whoa. I would have done it a long time

ago. There's some things that, you know, just

eat you alive, man. They'll just, like, consume.

And that's what the flesh does to us. The spirit

within you. You have the spirit of God. It's

wanting to do so much for God. I want to do it.

I want to do it. We're going to go on a fast.

Praise God. We're going to go on a fast. And

tomorrow, oh my God, we were invited to the birthday

party. Tomorrow's a picnic day. See, that old

flesh sets you up for the kill, man. The flesh.

But I'm going to tell you something. If you pay

attention to your flesh, it's not going to go

well. The uncircumcised Moabite descended upon,

he stole, stole what belonged to God. Ehud, the

Benjamite, which means praise, he was bound,

he was deprived and uncertain of his own future.

But the fat king was a constant reminder to Israel

that they were under the yoke of bondage. You're

not going to get away, man. You're not going

to get too far. You think you have a calling,

a ministry, a purpose, a song in your heart?

You ain't going to do nothing, man. You're going

to stay quiet. There's a fat man feasting on

the sacrifices of praise that belong to God and

God alone. It's difficult to reach. You're God

-given potential when that flesh devours the

potential sacrifices that belong to God. Who

is this fat king that has intimidated and convinced

many Christians to believe that they will never

amount to anything in God's kingdom? Who is this

fat? that controls your every endeavor and causes

you to believe that you can't step out in faith?

Who is this fat man that devours your every dream

and has deprived you from your spiritual gifts

and your ministry and your calling? Who is this

fat man that demands tribute? that belongs to

God and consumes your giving for his very own

fleshly desires, who makes you pay tribute to

the flesh and robs God from what belongs to him,

such as your time, your resources, your tithing,

your giving, and so much more, because you, deserve

it. He will convince you that it's okay to treat

yourself, but rob God of what belongs to him.

Ehud, the Benjamite judge who was disabled, left

-handed, began to praise his way to a courageous

endeavor that would ultimately change his world

and the future forever for the Benjamites. The

right hand, which theologically meant power,

Ehud began praising God in the midst of trouble

in a very powerful way. As he praised God, he

began to forge a dagger as the weapon that would

eventually take down the fat man known as the

flesh. Maybe you felt inadequate. Or not gifted

enough to be used of God. Maybe you've let inner

voices tell you it's not possible after all.

Or maybe you've been convinced that you're not

worthy of it because you've made some mistakes.

It doesn't matter what your inabilities are or

how many times you have failed. How many times

you've fallen. Or how many times you've given

up in the past. Your reputation maybe has even

been tarnished. You can still get up. Don't surrender.

Don't give it up. Greater is he that is in you.

Shout your praise and forge a weapon of victory.

You can still get up. You can still forge that

weapon. That fat king saw Ehud as a man with

a dried up hand. Dried up or not, Ehud was still

a Benjamite. He was still son of the right hand.

Sometimes we allow our handicaps or perceived

inabilities to discourage us from reaching our

God -given potentials. But we need to deny ourselves,

deny our flesh, and begin to do what God has

entrusted us to do. In the eyes of the fat king,

Ibn Eglon, Ehud had nothing going for him. The

fat man never saw Ehud as a threat. He said,

what that little kid, he's not going to do nothing.

He's got a withered right hand. Just as your

flesh will tell you, you cannot do this. You're

not going to get anywhere when you begin to praise.

You're not going to get anywhere when you begin

to give your time, your energy, your gifts, your

resources. But it's time to prove the flesh wrong.

And Ehud had a praise that wouldn't quit. I wonder

if somebody here today has got a praise that

won't quit. I wonder if you can say to your situation

today, oh, you maybe tripped me a little bit.

You maybe got in my way. You got it over me this

one time. But I'm going to tell you something.

I got a praise inside of me. And I'm going to

begin to forge a dagger inside of my spirit.

And I'm going to bring my flesh into subjection.

Let go. God be true, and every man a liar, including

our flesh. And Eglon was in his summer parlor

waiting for a year's tribute from the tribe of

Benjamin. Oh, I wonder what they're going to

bring me this time. He was just sitting in his

parlor with people fanning him. He had a king's

table set up. I wonder what the Benjamites are

going to bring me today. The fat king demanded

the first fruits. First fruits is your tithe.

Hello. If anybody demands it, it's your flesh.

But your spirit is saying different. You got

to listen to the spirit. First fruits belong

to God, not to the flesh. The flesh tells you

to withhold from God, but don't listen to the

flesh. You give to God what belongs to God, and

don't let your flesh rob God. Somebody say, don't

rob God. Amen. We don't give to man. We give

to God. Robbers will not enter into eternal life.

That's another Bible study. You give your tithe

where you're spiritually covered. And that's

Bible. You give your tithe. You give your time.

You give your resources. The gifts you have,

you give them to God. Serve God. I'm just going

to jump. I know my time is up. It's only 2 .15.

Don't worry. Liars are going to hell too. Okay.

I'll be careful there. Judges 3 .18. I'm about

to close. The musician can come up. Just so it

looks real. Call the musician over here. Amen.

Let's go to Judges 3 .18. There it is. Let's

read it here. It says, and when he had finished

presenting the tribute, he sent away the people.

We're talking about Ehud here. He went to the

fat king, the Moabite, and he had to give him

his yearly tribute. And he took it. No problem.

He took it. Took the tribute. But then when he

had given the tribute and they were spreading

it out on the king's table, he asked for the

people to be sent away who had carried the tribute.

They sent them away, his helpers and all of that.

Verse 19, but he himself turned back from the

stone images that were at Gilgal and said, I

have a secret message for you, O king. He said,

keep silence. And all who attended him went out

of the room. So everybody left Ehud and King

Eglon by themselves. So Ehud came to him. Now

he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber.

We're talking about King Eglon, you know. He

was up in his chamber and he's saying, you know,

boy, I'm going to feast today. I saw some of

those good things they brought. Then Ehud said,

I have a message from God for you. So he arose

from his seat, talking about Eglon. He got up.

Then Ehud reached with his left hand and took

the dagger from his right thigh. Now look, I'm

not a gunslinger. But I know that if I'm going

to pull something out quick, I'm going to put

it close to my hand right here where I can draw

the gun or whatever, you know. But he put it,

okay, he's got a withering hand. And he's left

-handed, you know, best he could. But he put

the dagger over here. You know why? He could

throw off the king. What's he going to do? They

didn't have one of those, you know, security

checks like they do at airports nowadays. He

got in, and he had a knife over here, dagger.

It was a small little dagger, just a little guy.

It's a dagger. It wasn't a big sword like Goliath's

sword. No, man. It was a little dagger, man.

And you can study that. There's different kinds

and so forth. It's interesting. But he had it

strapped over here on his right side, yet he

had his left hand free. He said, I have a message

from God for you. So he arose from his seat.

Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the

dagger from his right thigh. and then he thrust

it into the belly of the giant. Check it out.

Even the hilt, meaning the handle, went in after

the blade, and the fat closed over the blade,

for he did not draw it out. He left it in there.

in his belly, and his insoles came out. I know

that's gross, but it's in your Bible. And immediately,

the fat man fell over to his death. No one expected

this left -handed, crippled Benjamite to be any

threat to the king. Put up my last slide. God

still uses what's left. A left -handed man, he

uses what's left. He don't need a whole lot.

He'll use what you got. And he'll defeat the

flesh. He'll defeat the flesh. God has a way

of using weak things to confound the wise. Does

anybody have a word for the fat man today? Stand

with me. We're going to read this last script

which says, And those who are Christ's have crucified

the flesh with its passions and desires. If we

live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Let us crucify the fat man. I know this is not

your aisle -running, chandelier -swinging message,

but I believe this is of the Lord and this is...

What the Lord told me to bring today, I had myself

in mind because I needed to hear this. I want

to bring my flesh into subjection. I want this

flesh to know that it's not in charge. You can

give your flesh a wonderful time. Yes, no problem.

Rest. Good dinner. Good night's sleep. But don't

do it at the expense of your spirit. Let your

spirit be in charge. Let your spirit be in control.

Let your spirit decide what's going to happen

and what's not going to happen. I have been in

many times in my life. Where my flesh is heavy.

Heavy. It's a burden. It doesn't want to move.

But my spirit in me is telling me different.

My spirit is telling me, let's do it. Let's give

it. Let's do this. And my flesh says, I can't.

I don't know how. Who am I? I ran from the Lord.

I ran from ministry. I ran. But the Lord caught

up with me. Thank God he did because I love being

in the will of God. I appreciate my wife and

the ministry that we've had and still have. When

the Lord showed me in a dream that I was going

to be pastoring somewhere, and I didn't know

where, but I just knew that it was not going

to be anywhere close by, I got up that morning

very troubled, very troubled, because I knew

it was of God. And I... waited for my wife to

get her a cup of coffee and I got mine and we

sat in the living room looking out the window

and just, then I felt I needed to ask her this.

It says, if the Lord called us to pastor somewhere,

would you go with me? Would you follow that?

And she says, well, how far? And I says, well,

I don't know. I don't know right now. She says,

it's okay. I'm committed to follow you wherever

the Lord takes you. She says, the only thing

that I ask, don't sell my home. And says, I won't

ever sell your home. And she says, I'm willing

to go. I'll be right with you. And I greatly

appreciate that coming from my wife because,

you know, that's important. That's important.

We had to deny ourselves. We denied ourselves.

We sacrificed. But we knew we were in the will

of God. We knew it. And this has happened to

us several times. Great tasks, great assignments,

important assignments. Took years from our lives,

but we were willing to serve. And we still are.

When you can overcome your flesh, God's going

to take you to places that you never could even

imagine in your mind. You will have experiences

that you would not have had otherwise. God is

good to you, good to me. But it's how we bring

our flesh into subjection and do what the Holy

Ghost tells us to do. And you will be the most

content, happy person, joyful in the Lord. You

don't have to wrestle what's already been defeated.

Somebody says, well, the flesh. Well, it's because

you haven't defeated the flesh. You keep the

flesh alive. That's why you're having so much

trouble. And I know it's always going to be with

us. Seems like every day I tell my wife, this

hurts. And they should tell her, this is hurting

me now. This didn't hurt me before. Oh, now it's

gone, but this hurts. I said, wow, that's our

bodies. But you know what? Our spirit has never

said we hurt. Our spirit is always, wow, let's

do this. We can do this. I want to open up this

altar. And I'm not, I wasn't planning to do it,

but I'm just going to do it. I want to be led

of the spirit. And I want for someone to come

here that is ready. Either to continue like you

have been, defeating the flesh. Or maybe you

have a great challenge and you want God to just

push you through it. To get the victory in the

spirit. I'm going to invite, the altar is open.

Please, somebody come. Hallelujah. I feel a need

to pray for someone here today. If you come.

Know that God is able. God wants to do something

for somebody here today. We want to pray for

God to give you the victory. If you got a notice,

Brother David, from employment, I'm going to

tell you something. The devil is a liar. God's

going to give you the victory. Doesn't matter

what it is. It can be economical, a relationship,

health, financial, whatever. God can give you

a breakthrough today. God can give you a breakthrough

today. We want to pray together here. I'm including

myself in this because I need a breakthrough.

I'm telling you. I got a mountain on my shoulders

right now. And I need God to help me. I need

God to help me through this. I need God's strength.

I need God's strength. I need him to guide me,

order my steps every day that I can get through

this. I can make it. As a person in my assignment,

in our organization, I'm troubled. We're troubled.

We need God's help. We need God's help. The devil

is a liar. The devil is a liar. Trying to destroy

God's work. But we got the victory. He said,

we've got the victory. See, I don't just carry

my things. I carry corporate things upon my life.

Things that have to do with our corporation.

I know I'm not supposed to make them personal,

but they get heavy. They get heavy, man. I need

God's help right now. My spirit is wrestling

against me saying, no, no, no. And I'm saying,

yes, yes, yes. We're going to do this for God.

Let's lift up our hands to where you are. Lift

up your hands. Nothing is impossible for God.

Nothing. I can do all things through Christ that

strengthens me. I can do all things. Nothing

will be withheld from you. Nothing. There's greatness

awaiting you. Greatness awaiting us. But the

flesh sometimes gets in the way. What is it?

Doubt. Doubt comes from the flesh. Doubt's telling

you, no, no, don't worry about it. It's going

to be all right. No, no, no, you're a liar. Get

that behind me. Get down behind me. Let God be

true. Let's work through this in the spirit.

Let's get the victory once and for all. No, I'm

going to hang on to my flesh. Well, okay. That's

a decision we make sometimes. But let's not make

that one today. Let's surrender. Let's subject

our flesh and say, to God be the glory. There's

great things ahead. The only way we're going

to accomplish this is if we feed the Spirit.

Feed the Spirit. Feed your Spirit through prayer.

Feed your Spirit through the Word. Feed your

Spirit through obedience. Feed your Spirit so

your Spirit will become strong and overcome.

Father, in the name of Jesus. I come before you,

Lord, all my brothers and sisters in this entire

sanctuary. Everybody knows, Lord, and you know

everybody's heart. We're praying right now, Lord,

together, united, for victory for somebody. Somebody

needs a breakthrough, Lord. You know the heart.

You know the desires of the hearts. You know

the troubles that we're in. You know, Lord, the

way we think. You know, God, hallelujah, that

we need help here or there. Lord, we're feeding

the Spirit right now. We want to have a victory.

We want to get through this. In the name of Jesus,

to God be the glory.