Enter The Ring | Bro. Alex Mason

Hey man, I'm so grateful that as a church body, we get to be a

part of that when when you you give sacrificially and we also

have pastor and his wife go and they they give of their time and

people step up. Things get to happen in the

Kingdom because of that, and that is just awesome.

I would not have it any other way.

When they're gone and they're doing that, it is just it

tickles me to death because that is amazing and amazing things

happen when when people get together and decide that they're

going to go into the prison doors and minister the word of

the Lord. Amen.

Amen. You stand with me and turn to

Jeremiah 29 and 11. Many of you know it just by me

uttering the scripture text. I'm thankful for Pastor and his

wife. Love and appreciate them.

Appreciative of brother and sister Mason.

Brother Mason just brought a great word this morning.

Did he not his good. I do not want to be a part of

it. I'm in it, but I'm not of.

I want to take a stand. That was good word this morning.

Thankful for that. So appreciative of my lovely,

lovely wife. And as as many of you may know,

we just celebrated our three-year anniversary and, and

each and every day I just fall more and more love with her.

And she just gets cuter and cuter.

And, and she'll probably say that I, I, I say that she gets

cuter because her ADHD gets worse.

And so it's kind of funny, but I enjoy that it's, it's, it's a

funny, quirky part. So Jeremiah 2911 says, For I

know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord,

thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected

end. The the way that I'm going about

this today may not be what most of us would think when we think

of Jeremiah 2911, but I hope you hope you will bear with me in

this. I want to speak tonight on enter

the ring. Enter the ring.

I wonder if you would help me pray tonight.

Sit down your Bibles, lift your hands and we would lift up a

praise and to the Lord and pray for this service.

God, I ask you just to move Lord, that you would have your

way. Lord, anoint my lips of clay.

Lord that I would speak what needs to be spoken tonight.

Lord touch, Lord, hearts and minds.

Lord, prepare, Lord, planting ground for your word that it

would not, Lord, fall on bad ground and bad soil, but it

would be something that we take the heart, Lord, we will allow

to impact us. Lord, allow that we would walk

away. Change today.

Lord, we're thankful. We're going to give you all the

glory and the honor and the praise today.

And Jesus mighty name we pray. And everybody said Amen.

Amen. Look at your neighbor and tell

them, enter the ring. Amen.

As as you see the title slide that was so wonderfully made,

the ring that I'm talking about is a boxing ring.

I'm not talking about the ring that you have on your finger.

I'm not talking about a ringing in your ear, talking about a

boxing ring and why? Well, when, when I was growing

up in in my teen years, there was something that I took a

little bit of a liking to and I did quite often for a little

while. I would go down in the basement

and, and my parents were so gracious to drive me somewhere

and I would able, I was able to buy something off Facebook

marketplace and it was a boxing bag.

Put the sand in the bottom boxing bag.

I'm in the basement 1212 punch and I I think that I took a

liking to to boxing coming from the fact that my parents

introduced me to a movie franchise called rocky.

All right, and for those that don't know anything about Rocky,

it's it's American sports drama. Go figure.

We're talking about we're talking about boxing and and

this franchise. The story is centered around the

man by the name of Rocky Balboa. And he's a he's a small time

boxer that that fights in in some small clubs for low pay.

And he ends up getting a chance to fight the heavyweight champ

and, and in doing so in that he goes a full 15 rounds.

I don't know if how much you know about boxing, but normally

that's it. 15 rounds. Is it 15 rounds seems like a

whole lot of time and and so he goes that distance and and the

thing about Rocky is he he was that he could really.

Take a beating if you ever. Watch the movies, he looks like

a mess afterwards. Man, he does he he looks like a

a monster almost afterwards and. And it was, it was interesting

because throughout the fight. He he would take hits and that

probably would have finished other people.

And this was based later on you find out that this was based

after a real boxer and and it was he was considered the the

nickname they had for him was something the bleeder and and

because he was always bleeding because he just kept getting hit

and he had like 300 some odd stitches in his entire career.

And so it was just he kept getting hit and and some hits

that anyone else might not have been able to stand their ground,

but he he stood his ground. And people, people love to watch

these movies and myself included, because because you

couldn't help but get excited. You couldn't help but get

invested in in the fight. And and even if this in this

particular movie, The endurance and the strength that was shown,

even though Rocky looked terrible, he was enduring and

and he was enduring and appealed to those that were watching.

It appealed his ability to withstand this, this brutal

beating and and still keep fighting.

A quality that made the watcher root despite the odds it seemed.

And and just as Rocky knew the the risks when he stepped into

the ring, we must too understand that that walking in God's

purpose is like entering a spiritual boxing ring.

If you will. Where the opponent is Satan and

he is ready to throw punches. I know this may be simple

tonight, folks, but please bear with me.

When, when, when God presents His purpose and plan for us in

our lives. We start to, when we start to

walk in and everything seems great and dandy and it thinks it

brings clarity and focus and direction in our lives, but it

also puts us higher on Satan's hit list.

We we've, we've approached higher on his cue of entering

the ring with us reflecting then on Elijah.

Just like Rocky, he faced a daunting task in First Kings 18.

In First Kings 18, he God has directed Elijah to confront the

prophets of Baal to call Israel back to the one true God.

They were all gone up in in an idolatry and and he his whole

goal and mission was to with God's help, to bring them back

to focus on the one true God. And Elijah knew that this was a

battle not just against the prophets themselves, but also

against spiritual forces. He stepped into the ring with

unwavering faith, knowing that his fight was about more than

just personal victory, it was about reclaiming a nation for

God. First Kings 18 and 20 it says.

So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered

the prophets together into Mount Carmel.

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt

thee between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him,

but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him, not

a word here in this debate. Elijah stepped into the ring.

He was getting already. He was, he had his fists up, if

you will, spiritually and with the help of the Lord, he was

ready for a showdown between truth and falsehood.

And here with this debate, he was going to be facing many,

many people. When it comes down to ratios,

Elijah was outnumbered. We're talking about 450 prophets

of Baal to one prophet of God. Didn't look good to the natural

eye. I'm sure somewhere as much faith

as Elijah had in the back of his mind, looking at 450 prophets,

probably just thinking what have I gotten myself into?

This is crazy. And he knew that this did

present some risks. Elijah was smart.

He knew that that if God doesn't show up in power, then he could

be executed for defying the authority of the kind, the king,

and challenging the established religious practices.

He also risked alienating himself from his people and

leaders because he was standing against the time of popular

opinion and culture norms and which often would lead to

isolation and rejection. And if you think that you're

going to be able to follow after the plan and purpose of God in

your life without isolation, without rejection, and without

being separated from this world, and you think that you can still

do all that you're supposed to do for God and not stand out,

you have been deceived. You are mistaken.

You, you can't you. God didn't call you to be a

chameleon in the world. He called you to be in the

world, but not of it. Elijah knew the risks.

He wasn't trying to fit in. He was trying to do what God had

called him to do. And he faced not only physical

danger, but the isolation that comes with standing on God's

truth in a world that was steeped in idolatry.

And like Elijah, we may face isolation and rejection when we

follow God's plan, but we're called to stand firm, knowing

that our fight is a part of something bigger.

It's not my fight, it's His fight.

See. Brother Malone, do you mind

coming up? Come up here.

Hey, Trevor, you might come up here.

Face each other. I want a good, clean fight.

No, I'm. Now if you look at these two,

you would say who probably the winner would be if there was a

fight. You feeling good about that?

No, no he's not. And and with that, we have to

understand that he's going to present 450.

Prophets of bail you're you're welcome.

You, he's just, he's just that big, and then you're going to

represent. Elijah, Elijah is facing these

foes and and with that, he has to understand that he can't do

this on his own. He's facing 450 profits of bail

and he's facing he's facing king and queen and he's facing all

these authoritarians that are going to go against him.

He can't do this one man mission.

And that's where that's where it's not, it's not just Elijah

against 450 prophets. It's Elijah and God.

And God takes the forefront and Elijah's getting cocky, but

Elijah takes the forefront. And so then when Elijah takes

when, when God takes the forefront of Elijah, then what

happens is there's more power. There was no power before, there

is power now, and there's way more power, right?

And I'm not saying I couldn't. I couldn't beat him.

Up. But what I am saying, when God

steps into that, he steps in the gap, if you will.

There is no contest. We have to understand there is

no contest. We think it because the

adversaries are many and we hear it all the time, but there is no

contest. When God steps into the gap and

he enters the ring with you. There is no contest.

There is nothing. So Elijah knew that risk when he

stepped in and and he knew that if God doesn't come through,

he's probably going to die. Don't be beat to Pope.

And when we think of the plan of God, we we want it to come with

thoughts of clarity and joy and direction.

And those things may come, but after a little while, real life

sets in. When we walk in it, real life

sets in. It's it's not something we don't

want it to be something to fear. But sometimes it happens because

our flesh gets in the way and and we start to think, well,

there's 450 of them and one of me.

You guys just said thank you, but.

I think it's crazy and it's silly to me sometimes that, you

know, I think it'd be goofy when people think that when when we

start to do the things of God, that Satan's just going to be

like, oh man. Can't do anything I guess.

I lost them. They're gone.

I can't get them. They're gone.

Is it, is it not silly to think that Satan, once you start

following your call and your purpose, that Satan's just like?

Oh no, they're gone. There they are.

I thought I had them and I lost them.

No, that is silly thinking to think that that we're not going

to face because we we have the culture of the simplistic

Christianity Today that thinks that as long as you're a good

Christian, no bad things will happen to you.

And I'm not saying that we need to find Satan under every rock

and be like that was Satan and that was Satan.

But there is a pattern. That comes with it.

There is a pattern that comes with it, and I think we would be

deceived if we think that things that happen, whether physically

or spiritually or mentally with the things that happened.

We would be deceived if we thought that it wasn't something

that Satan was doing. Because before that we were on a

pretty good track. We were doing all right.

We were doing good. We were doing good with God.

Satan puts up a roadblock. What happened, God?

Satan puts up the roadblock and then we hit it and like, God,

why'd you do that, silly? It's silly.

And, and I know we don't look at it this way most of the time,

but but when you repent, you, you're baptized and filled with

the Holy Ghost and you live your life according to the word and

follow God's plan for your life. Satan is at risk of losing.

You see, we don't think about it that many times because we're

focused on souls for the Kingdom, but Satan's go as souls

for hell. So Satan is at risk of losing

you. So he's not going to be over

there at risk of losing you. And you go on and you're just

like, well, he's just, he's gone.

No, he's going to try everything in his power to be able to

derail you, whether it's physically, whether it's

spiritually, whether it's mentally.

He's going to try to attack in some way in form because he

doesn't want what God would do through you.

So it's more likely that he decides to take some jabs at

you. He decides that when you decide

to enter the ring, he gets in and he's like, all right, Bubba,

here we go. Let's do it.

Let's go. Because He does not want to lose

you to God. Because when, when before, When

you weren't in following after God's purpose and calling in

your life, He liked you where you were, even if you were on

the Pew. He liked you where you were

because you weren't doing what you were supposed to be doing.

Your backslider on the Pew sitting.

Maybe you stand a couple times at church, lift your hands that

way. You act the part, and then you

go home and you do whatever you want to.

You come on Wednesday, you act the part again.

You come on Sunday at the part. But during all of that, oh, why

don't we just drink a little bit?

Why don't we go find something to do?

You're entering his hit list, his hit list.

You're going up. Because especially, you know,

there's people that I've encountered that I've seen that

they have great things playing with God and Satan deceives

them. And then you think about what

they could do. But Satan's deceived.

Satan's attacked in some way in form, he is attacked.

And whether it's people giving up because, you know, all the

physical things that have happened, you know, oh, I can't

pay the bills or blah, blah, blah, the car keeps breaking

down, whatever it may be. And they allow those type of

things to defeat them because like, well, I didn't have these

problems when I was going to church.

You weren't a threat when you weren't going to church.

Hit man, don't go after random people.

Hit man, go after the people they've been hired for.

They're called targets. What's happening?

You're being targeted because you are going to be a catalyst

for the Kingdom. When you enter the ring, it is

not going to come with the rainbows.

It's going to come with a target on your back.

In Ephesians 6 and 12, it says, For we wrestle not against flesh

and blood, but against principalities, against powers,

against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual

wickedness in high places. When we enter the ring, the

enemy of our soul doesn't sit idly by.

His goal is to disrupt, discourage, and derail us for

fulfilling God's plan. Satan would love nothing more

for than you to crawl back to your old habits.

He would love for you to start to question things and start to

turn away. He uses strategies to attack us,

often targeting our weaknesses because he knows that's the

easiest way to do it. Our weaknesses, our fears and

our doubts. All the things that may be

simple all the way down to things that may be simple

because Satan's petty. It don't matter.

Satan Petty. I'll tell you now, folks, again,

please understand I'm not looking for Satan under every

rock, all right? But there there were things in

the past few months, my wife and I going through transition and

figuring out what we're going to.

Do with with. Our life and ministry and and I

tell you what. It was the.

Patterns for me that I realized there's something more than just

it was it guys? It was, it was stupid things I'm

telling you right now. I mean, we're, we're talking

about, we're talking about the sink, we're talking about the

oven, we're talking about the TV.

Just stupid I'm I'm I'm serious like he's so petty down to just

a little annoyance distractions that the create anger just.

All the way down. Now many of you know I have a

MacBook, right? I use that MacBook.

It's sole purpose mainly is for ministry.

If I didn't have if I didn't do design or video, all I need is

this right here. I'm fine.

I don't need a MacBook, all right?

And there was one day I opened it up and it gave.

Nobody would probably even know what this means, but it gave a

little circle with the line through.

It wouldn't start up. Are you kidding me?

I weeped like a baby. I know that may seem silly to

you, but but my goodness, I told God.

I prayed to God. And I said, God, I use this.

I use this for ministry almost exclusively.

I do not want to allow. Satan to take this away.

I didn't have the money to buy a brand new MacBook.

I didn't have it and I troubleshooted. 17 hours worth

of troubleshooting, praying off and on troubleshooting.

And then out of nowhere. Just started to work and

fighting God. I'm like thank you Jesus.

I say that not this because it's a silly story, but because Satan

will use just the most simplistic thing sometimes in

packs of different things. Again, it's about patterns.

Because he's trying to derail you.

He's trying to distract you from whatever you're supposed to be

doing. He's trying to make it more

difficult for you even to do what you're supposed to do.

So with that, he's trying to stop the advancement of the

Kingdom. That's his goal.

His goal is to win souls for hell.

As soon as Elijah stepped into his purpose and to pursue the

call Israel back to worshipping the one true God, the enemy

tried intimidating him because physically again, Elijah was up

against 450 prophets of Baal. So maybe Satan thought, well, if

he walks up. There and he sees 450 prophets

of Bailey and going to be like, I'm going see you.

But that didn't work. That didn't work on Elijah.

And, and you know, with the natural eyes, again, it didn't

look, didn't look great. But Elijah had faith in God.

And so also Elijah faced isolation because all the

prophets of Baal were stacked and and they were backed by the

authority of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.

And Satan will often try to use worldly power and influence to

create an appearance of insurmountable opposition.

It's just an appearance. Anyone ever seen Wizard of Oz?

He's just a little man behind the curtain.

He's just trying to deceive you. It's not he doesn't have all

that power. It's just trying to deceive in a

way that you think that, Oh my goodness, Satan has all this

power and I'm going to, I'm going to go back and crawl into

my old habits because I can't do anything.

But it doesn't. It doesn't amount to much.

Even if our flesh makes it out to be something greater than it

is. God is so much greater than just

the simplistic diversions and delusions that that Satan tries

to pass our way. Elijah also face psychological

warfare in First Kings. 18/20/28, it says.

And they cried aloud, This is the prophets of Baal.

And they cut themselves after their manner with knives and

lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.

And it came to pass when midday was passed and they prophesied

until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that

there was neither voice nor any to answer nor any that regarded.

They were using psychological warfare here because they're

making it seem like they're doing these big things and

they're even going to this the ends of cutting themselves and

having blood everywhere. That would be a little

intimidating. You see 450 people cutting

themselves and hollering and screaming and woo be a little

intimidating. And they called upon their their

God and gods and and they did it with loud cries and the self

mutilation. And they created this chaotic

and frenzied atmosphere. And they were trying to create

fear and doubt and Elijah trying to and making it seem as though

he was up against this powerful and unstoppable force.

And and with that, we have to understand that Ephesians 6 and

13 says wherefore taken to you the whole armor of God, that ye

may be able to with withstand the evil day and having done all

to stand. That's about endurance.

It's about, it's about taking on the armor of God and having God

by your side or in the gap, if you will, and it's about

enduring. He was, he was probably couldn't

have endured that by himself because because of how long it

was going on, it may have been overwhelming.

It probably may have pierced his ears.

We got 450 people screaming and hollering and it may have just

been overwhelming and it could have gotten to the point where

it was so psychologically overwhelming that he could have

gained. He may have not been able to

endure that if he was not following.

He did not have God standing in the gap.

He did not have God standing by his side.

Just as a boxer prepares for a match, we have to prepare

ourselves spiritually for the days and the battles that we

face and will face. It's not if it's will face when

we walk into God's purpose. Preparation is key to

withstanding what Satan tries to bring us.

Spiritual prep involves grounding ourselves in prayer

like a stake to the ground and in Scripture and deep

relationship with God that we we know him not just a a surface

level, but that we may deeply know Him daily.

And so before entering this ring, Elijah made thorough

preparations that demonstrated his faith in God.

He made preparations and 1st Kings 18 and 30 continuing on,

it says, and Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto

me. And all the people came near and

to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was

broken down. First thing he did was repair

the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.

Sometimes one of the best things we can do when we have walked

away and we've lost our way is going back to where our altar

was and repairing the things that were broken, repairing the

things that were broken when we lost our way.

This was symbolic of restoring true worship and recommitment

unto God that that's a reminder to us that spiritual preparation

begins with our relationship with God and not our

relationship with God in the House of God.

It's the relationship with God in the sense of heart, in the

sense of with me as an individual.

Continuing on in that story First Kings 1833, it says and he

put the wood in order and he cut the bullet in pieces and laid

him on the wood and said Fill 4 barrels with water and pour it

on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.

And so he's, he's carefully arranging the wood and he placed

the bull on the altar in pieces. And this is showing he's

committing himself to doing things God's way.

He's not trying to intervene or anything like that.

He's trying. He wasn't cutting corners or

rushing the process. He's being meticulous and he's

doing things. And then on top of that he says

go get me. Some water and and I'm sure the

prophets of bail over there like what's this guy?

What's this joker think he's going to do?

What does he think he's going to do?

First Kings 1834 is continuing on.

And he said do it the second time and they did it the second

time again, 4/4 barrels with water.

And then the third time and they did it the third time and the

water ran about the altar and he filled the trench also with

water. Elijah took an extra step of

faith and it takes extra steps of faith for us sometimes.

It's not just this like Lord, I believe Hallelujah, thank you.

No, it's an extra step of faith. Sometimes it seems reckless.

Your faith may seem stupid to other people.

It may just seem so silly. It's like what you doing what

now and there's probably with the problems to build like just

4 barrels of water 123 are you serious?

What does he do it like they're probably thinking he's just

trying to make a fool out of himself and his God because he's

making it impossible for fire impossible.

But he wasn't. He wasn't doing this for

dramatic effect. It was a statement of faith.

He was making it clear that fire would consume the sacrifice.

Only by God. It was only going to be God that

does it. And in our fights with Satan, we

have to rely on God's power. We need to prepare in such a way

that it's evident to everyone, including ourselves.

We have to convince ourselves, we have to believe in ourselves

before we ever even think anybody else is going going to

believe it. And that it's going to be by

God's hand alone that the victory is going to be won.

It's going to be God's hand alone that the fire is going to

be brought down because this is all soaked.

It's all, it's all soaked. There's no way by natural means

that this is going to happen. And so we get to verse 36, and

it says, And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the

evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said,

Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this

day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and

that I have done all these things at thy word.

And verse 37 says, Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people

may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou has turned

their hearts back again. Once Elijah had it all prepared,

he prayed fairly, a simple prayer by comparison of the

screaming and the shouting and the blood, and he very simple

but powerful prayer. He asked God to show his power

so that the people would know that it is the one true God.

My God, I did this. I poured water all over it.

It's all in the trench and everything.

I did that so that it would be undeniable.

God, I did that because I followed your command, because I

knew that it would be undeniable that it was you.

And the prayer was the climax. Of Elijah's preparation and it

was rooted in his relationship with God and his understanding

that God's will will be done if it's his will.

Our preparation and fight should always lead us back to prayer

and seeking for God to make the way even though the opposition

we face. It can, it's real and it can be

intense and things Satan does can be silly or annoying or even

actually impactful at times. And, and as long as we stand in

God's purpose and rely on his power, the outcome is certain,

certain, and we have to have the faith of I think of the song of

you made a way. I don't know how, but you did

it. You've made a way because we

have to believe that. What that song, I don't know

how, but he's going to do it. He's done it before, didn't know

how he did it before, but he's going to do it again.

And and I'm a song person going back to the song of I've seen

you move, you've moved the mountains, but I believe I'll

see you do it again, do it again and again and again because

we've seen it. We have record of it, but we've

also seen our own mountains move.

We've also seen our own. Victories and we have to go back

to those moments because sometimes we forget where we

came from after all that preparation and the, the, the,

the water was everywhere. God came through.

God came through and he responded in an undeniable way

that only he could because it was soaked with water.

Fire fell from heaven and it consumed not only the sacrifice,

but the one and the stones and even the water in the trench.

That's my God. That's the God that stands in

the gap when Satan's my foe. That's the God that stands in

the ring and says you're not alone in this, I'm going to come

through. The fire didn't just light the

sacrifice it consumed. God isn't isn't looking to give

you partial victory. He's looking to give you

complete victory. But we have to allow, we have to

allow complete victory because just as they're in the Bible

that there were, they tried to save parts when they were

supposed to all utterly destroy, we can't allow for God to only

have this room for partial victory.

He wants freedom to completely have victory.

And So what happened those that watched First Kings 1839 and

says and when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and

they said the Lord he is the God, the Lord he is the God.

I would wonder, just as in Elijah's day, if the things that

we encounter, the things that we face, that it would so happen

that it would be a witness to others, that they would realize

the Lord, he is God, the Lord he is God, that our, our, our walk

would be the witness that would bring people just longing to

know him. That won't happen if you think

you can do it on your own. And if you don't, you're not

willing to go to distance if you're not willing to endure.

Because Elijah could have simply just placed the wood and

whatever way could place the altar.

Or the the the. Sacrifice on the altar and no

faith or anything like that in the sense of doing more and just

left in. There you are.

Grand scheme of things, I think it's possible that God still

would have been faithful, but would it have been convincing

enough? Come on.

That's I think sometimes there's extreme things that we go

through in life. I feel like our.

Extreme, sometimes for a purpose, because they're just

extreme enough that it's convincing enough to believe in

him. Because would it been convincing

enough for them? I know that there wasn't fire

that consumed the opponents, but still, if he had just done a

simple burnt offering and just thrown it on there, would it

have been convincing enough for them to be like?

Oh the Lord, he is God. No, I don't think so.

They were so engrossed in idolatry and and the ways of the

world that it took undeniability.

It took something so beyond simplicity in order for fire to

fall and for there to be convincing and this.

Act it's It was symbolized the removal of.

Falsehood and idolatry that had plagued Israel.

In our own lives, God's victory often includes a cleansing

process and includes, you know, where he removes the things that

have been hindering our spiritual growth.

And He leads us deeper. He leads us deeper, more

authentic relationship with Him. When you enter the ring, there

are going to be things that Satan's going to try to deceive

you. He's going to try to trip you up

on things that were in your past.

And if you allow him to deceive you, he will hinder your growth

both in the Kingdom of God. First Corinthians 1558 says,

Therefore, my beloved reverence, be ye steadfast, unmovable,

always abounding in the work of the Lord.

For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the

Lord. With all this in mind, I ask

you, I challenge you, embrace the fight.

Enter the ring, enter the call of God knowing that you're going

to face opposition, but you have to have a daily walk to be

prepared for it so that way you're not getting tripped up by

Satan to and fro. The journey of following God's

purpose is not always easy. The battles we face can be

fierce. The opposition can be

overwhelming, but we are called to embrace the fight.

We're not called to shy away from it and tuck our tails.

The spiritual battles we engage in are an essential part of our

growth and our witness to the world.

Embracing the fights means understanding that difficulties

and oppositions are going to be a part of this walk of life

again. Satan's at risk of losing you.

And so we have to understand that that's going to come at a

price of the target on our head. That's going to come at a price

of trying to be attacked because you see what happens.

I'm not saying everyone out in the world doesn't have problems,

but you see what happens when people backslide or they decide

to compromise on on issues or anything like that, or, or they

decide to do many of different things that cause them to go and

backslide. What happens, many of them, not

all, but many of them, they have this this season again, sin is

good for a season, right? They have this season and it's

almost as if like it's, it's God, like, oh, it's all better

now. The sunshine and rainbows are

here, right? But it's only good.

For a season. It's only good until you realize

what you've gotten yourself into.

Because Satan's like, yes, I won.

But hope's not lost. In that because you can still

come back. But with the.

Coming back, you have to realize it may not be easy, but you have

to push, you have to, you have to follow after what God has,

and that's going to be difficult.

But we have to understand that this is not going to come with

just simplistic, you know, I'm just going to lift my hands and

I'm going to accept Christ. This is going to come with.

Following after a deep relationship with God.

And with that, when he stands in the gap, we have all power.

And authority given unto us by him to face any opposition.

First Kings 19 one and three. This is after the accountant,

Ahab told Jezebel. All that Elijah had done, and

with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword, he

collected all of them, slain them.

And Jezebel sent a messenger into Elijah saying so let the

gods. Do to me and more also, if I

make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about

this time. And when he saw that, he arose

and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to

Judah, and left his servant there, and.

After Elijah's great victory. And Mount Carmel, great victory

with God in Mount Carmel one might expect that his struggles

were over. One might expect that his

struggles were over. However, the battle was far from

finished because when Queen Jezebel had heard about to

defeat. The prophets of Bel, she had

threatened Elijah's life. She had threatened his life and,

and in fear, he fled to the wilderness.

He fled. And I'm not saying it was the

smart thing. I'm I'm sure he was probably

exhausted even after experiencing this mighty

victory. He felt overwhelmed and and he

sat under the a broom tree and prayed that he might die, saying

I have had enough. You know, I've had enough.

Lord take my life. I am no better than my

ancestors. And this shows us that even the

most faithful servants, if God can experience if, if they can

experience fatigue and discouragement and fear after

intense spiritual battles, Embracing the fight doesn't mean

that we won't feel those things. Embracing the fight after years

of serving the Lord doesn't mean that's still not going to

happen. It may become easier with

routine, but then sometimes you know what Satan does.

He UPS the ante, He UPS the ante and that's what we have to

understand because you know, you, you, you get, you have

these people that leave after being in church all all their

life or or maybe for so many years and you question it's

because Satan kept upping the ante.

He kept upping because he was trying to find the pinpoint that

was going to do it, the pinpoint that he was going to be like I

won. And so in Elijah's moment of

despair, God didn't rebuke him. Instead, he provided for him and

he was sending an Angel to give him, give him food and water

and, and allowing him time to rest.

And though the fight, through the fight, God understands our

limits. He does understand our limits,

but we have to be willing whenever we're done with the

fight and we're exhausted. You know, the the boxers, when

they come out of the ring, there's some of them that

literally collapse after the fight because they're just

exhausted, especially if it's 15 rounds worth and they've just

expelled all this energy and they get done.

Elijah got done. And we have to be willing

though, after God has helped us recuperate, we have to be

willing to re enter the ring. We go through battle and we

think it's done. We go to our corner, we sit in

our corner chair and we have God being our coach and you know.

Good job. You know, whatever and and we

think it's done, but we have to be willing to reenter the

battle. Reenter.

And that's what was happening here.

God didn't let Elijah stay in his place of fear and exhaustion

for long. He renewed his purpose and he

sent him back into the fight with a fresh mission, a fresh

battle, and, and entering the ring and embracing the fight

includes being open to God's renewal after after all of that

and being continual in continuing the work of God.

Even after all that we faced, all the setbacks that we faced

or the periods of discouragement, And even after

all of that, that even if we've lost our way, we have to come

back into alignment with God's plan.

We reenter one more time. As we journey through life,

walking in God's purpose, we face those inevitable

challenges. We must remember that we are

not. Alone.

That's right, in this fight, just as God was with Elijah on

Mount Carmel, bringing the fire from heaven and proving his

power, He is with us in every battle that we face if we allow

him to move completely. We're not trying to save these

little things. Well, God, I, I do like this.

This is fine. It may be fine to you, but it

might not be fine to God. Opposition's real and, and, and

the enemy will try to discourage, intimidate and wear

us out. He'll try to hit us without

questioning our purpose, worth, doctrine and faith.

And he will come with temptation, fear and

discouragement every chance he can get.

We can stand and music can come. We have to understand that.

When, when, when Satan's in the ring and he's trying to exploit

our weaknesses and find out where you're vulnerable, he is

enduring too. He's an endurer.

Round after round after round, he will continue and we have to

understand that allowing God to have full power is the way that

we're going to win. It's the way that we're going

to. Persevere when we serve a God

that's greater than any obstacle, He's stronger than any

adversary and more powerful than any challenge we had faced or

will face. The same God who set fire from

heaven and consumed Elijah's sacrifice is the God that fights

for us today. I have good news for you today

because that means God is Infinity and O when it comes to

fights. You have a scorecard and they,

they have, you know, 52 and two or the, the one, the one column

on the left is the wins and the right is the losses.

God is Infinity and O. And so we have to allow him room

to move because we will lose the battle alone.

We will if if Elijah went there on his own and just thought that

he was going to do it on his own.

There may have not have been Israel coming back to the one

true God. There may not have been Israel

coming back if David when he walked out there against the

Goliath, if he went there on his own, it may not have been

victory. But he said, I come in the name

of the Lord. So we need to embrace the fight

tonight. If you feel led to come, you can

come. These altars are open.

Embrace the fight. Enter the ring not with fear,

but with confidence that we would have, confidence standing

firm in the knowledge that we are more than conquerors through

Christ. Every battle we face is an

opportunity for God to show up and show out His power, for

faith to grow stronger, for us to be a witness unto the world.

Just as Elijah's faith had LED God to to led to God's

undeniable victory, our battles are opportunity to display

power, display His power and victory.

The enemy will attack. It is undeniable that he will

attack. But with God on our side, we

can't lose. If it's His will, we can't lose.

So step into the ring with confidence tonight.

Step into the ring with Tom, embrace the fight knowing that

victory in Jesus is assured. If I follow after God's will in

his way, even if it seems like I'm in a down portion, maybe

it's not a loss, but I'm in a down in the fight.

I got knocked down a little bit in the fight that I know that

he's faithful to bring me forth to the next challenge, the next

fight. Every challenge is another

chance for God to show up to show up.

So I say tonight, enter the ring.

Enter the ring as we sing tonight.