A Cause Worth the Fight
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24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
There are many reasons we fight
There are many reasons we fight
We fight over
++Differing Perspectives
++Poor Communication
++Misunderstandings
++A Desire for Power or Control
We fight to
++Stand up for ourselves
++Defend Ourselves
++Make a name for Ourselves
So much of fighting is about us
++Our name
++Our Reputation
1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
The source of our fights
++A desires for Pleasure
++A lust for new Position
++A feeling of Power
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
16 I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.”
17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
Solomon Communed with his heart
Solomon Communed with his heart
I have
++Attained greatness
++Gained more wisdom
His great wisdom was not enough
His great wisdom was not enough
18 For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Greatness of revelation doesn’t travel alone
Greatness of revelation doesn’t travel alone
His wisdom brought
++Much grief
++An increase in sorrow
Ignorance is bliss
++If you do not know about something you do not worry about it.
++Not knowing something is often more comfortable than knowing it
It is time for the church
++To worry about something
++To become uncomfortable
1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
It is time for the church
To worry about something
To become uncomfortable
++To find a cause worth the fight
1 Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at Sochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim.
2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.
3 The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.
Our greatest battles take place in the low places in our life.
Our greatest battles take place in the low places in our life.
In this epic event
++The battle lines had been drawn
++Both armies were on the mountains
++The battle was in the valley
2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
He did not come when
++John said “Behold the Lamb of God..”
++The spirit descended upon him
++The Lord declared “This is my Son”
The enemy came when
++He had fasted
++He was hungry
++He was at his lowest point
In our greatest battles we face our fears.
In our greatest battles we face our fears.
4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
5 He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.
6 And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
7 Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.
Their champion was
++A giant
++Well protected
++Well equipped
10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.”
Their champion was
A giant
Well protected
Well equipped
++Confident and intimidating
What will you do with the Giants in your life?
What will you do with the Giants in your life?
These giants
++Are not small matters
++Seem insulated from our efforts
++Are to difficult for us
++Make us fell inadequate
11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Though they were in the battle
++They were unwilling to fight
++They were unable to engage
++They were crippled by fear
Sometimes we get comfortable in the safe zone
++To protect ourselves
++To preserve what we have
++To prevent loss
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Life is truly found
++Through the hard choices
++In the difficult decisions
++In Christ
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Jesus is Our Key
Jesus is Our Key
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
14 David was the youngest. And the three oldest followed Saul.
17 Then Jesse said to his son David, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this dried grain and these ten loaves, and run to your brothers at the camp.
18 And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.”
David went in ignorance
David went in ignorance
He did not know about
++The Giant
++The Fear of the Soldiers
23 Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them.
In our greatest battles we find our purpose.
In our greatest battles we find our purpose.
26 Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
29 And David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?”
32 Then David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
Our Greatest Purpose
Our Greatest Purpose
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
