What Does the Bible Say About? - Holy Wars (12192018)

And my wife actually I think probably has that whole song memorized because every year at Christmas on Christmas morning, they would sit and go through the Nativity Story Luke 2 and then Matthew chapter 1 and 2 and go through all the story and then they would sing Christmas carols and the 12 Days of Christmas was one of them and I'm there when I married into that I thought wow you take this very seriously because we didn't do that. But now I look on it fondly as I'm one of those fun things that we do but I think she's got it about memorized by now after you know, probably 25 solid years of her doing it right here. I'ma chapter 20 verse 13 Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse number 13 Bible says and when the Lord thy God has delivered it into their own hands. I shall Smite every male there of with the edge of the sword but the women in the little ones and the cattle and all that is in the city even all the spoil their of now shot taken to myself and I shall eat the spoil than enemies, which the Lord thy God have given them. Thus shout out due to the unto all the cities with your very far off from the which are not of the cities of these nations. But if the cities of these people which the Lord thy God does give thee for an inheritance down shout save a live nothing that breathe it but that shall utterly destroy them namely the Hittites in the amorites the Canaanites in the perizzites hivites in the jebusites as a Lord that God has commanded that they teach you not to do after all their Abominations which they have done in to their gods. So should you sin against the Lord your God? So tonight we can talk about something that has been a constant topic of conversation amongst atheist against the Bible is what does the Bible say about this idea of Holy Wars Holy Wars? Okay. So we need to understand a little bit about this and maybe this would be helpful for you at Christmas because it seems like it Christmas somebody wants to talk about religion and it turns into a holy war right there at the Christmas table, doesn't it? This will be a little bit helpful to you here in the next week or so. But on top of that, this is something that I hope will be a help to you as you talk with coworkers friends people like that that are skeptical about the Bible. This is one of those historical things that people will throw out and say you can't trust the Bible because God says to slaughter anybody that you disagree with and so if you Christians are going to be Christians and you've got to slaughter me cuz I'm I'm an atheist and things like that. Why do we answer those questions? How do we deal with people that have that sort of a protest? So in Old English philosopher named Francis Bacon died from many years ago said that there were 5 causes for Holy War 5 causes that he found in history for Holy Wars. He said they they pop up number one to spread the faith. Number to to retrieve countries that were once Christian even though there are no Christians left there. So Turi evangelize basically countries that were no longer Christian and then number 3 to rescue Christians and countries that were once Christian from living as he called it the serve under the servitude of the infidels living under the servitude of the Infidel. So basically breaking the chains of those who are bound that he considered Holy War 2 to be caused by that oppression of Christians in other countries, and then also to recover and purify consecrated places that are presently being polluted and profane. And I've actually the main motivation behind the First Crusade that the Catholic Church did in Jerusalem and then number 5 to avenge Blasphemous tax or cruelties and killings of Christians. Even if it took place a long time ago Francis Bacon said that historically that was one of the causes for holy war. Now when you look at that list every one of those except maybe the first one would be something that we would probably say that might require some action. Maybe you know, does the Bible say we should take up arms Bible say we should take up weapons and go after them will it will talk about that in a little bit but on that list is there such a thing as a valid reason to partake in these things and to even you know is we've been talking about in our church. Situations like the Nazarene fund her or dealing with going into places where Christians are under oppression or about to be attacked and delivering them with guns in hand. I mean the Nazarene fund sends in or works with operating forces and you know, I operators who are going into these places with armed and ready to go. Should they be fired upon so these are these are independent militias if you will better rescuing Christians out of these places. Is there a context for that. Is there a time when that is a valid thing can't do something to think about as we move through this tonight and then Holy Wars usually have three elements in history. We see three things required for a 6 at typically show up throughout the Holy Wars of Christianity and other religions as well. Number one the achievement of a religious goal that makes sense right only in the late days of of our country and our world have we decided to start wars without an actual goal in mind in an actual quantifiable objective the achievement of a religious go and then forward to be authorized by a religious leader authorized by religious leader and all right and then number 3 spiritual reward for those who take part and I think that would be the biggest characteristic of a a holy war right that there's some sort of goody that you get for fighting this war and going to battle and but on behalf of the name of Christ on behalf of the name of Allah or whatever the case might beat out for that. Holy war. All right, so about a couple examples couple examples of Holy Wars. All right at the top of that list would be what in your mind as far as Christian. Holy Wars would go. Would be the most most often talked about most often discussed. Holy war from the in Christian history.

You're overthinking it.

happened in medieval times the pope sanctioned it

Happened during the Dark Ages, but the Crusades the Crusades. All right, that would be probably the most talked-about example of a holy war so to speak right now we talked about this I think about a year-and-a-half ago when we were going through our series actually, I guess a year ago. We were going through our series on the bloody Bible. We talked about Christianity and Islam in the interactions there in the some of them positive some of the many of the negative we talked about the Crusades. So just so we won't spend a lot of time on this but I think it's good to just kind of revisit some of these thoughts of the Crusades were actually not one wore. It was a series of Wars of several Wars which lasted from about 1095 to 1291. All right soap couple hundred years of war going on there and the aim was to capture the sacred places in the Holy. I'm from the Muslims who were living there and recovering that those intended as a war to right some wrongs that have been done against Christianity and it gets the Jews living there in Jerusalem and Israel. So they started because of the aggression of Islam against Christians and against the holy places of Christianity and Judaism in against other the military actions against Jews as well. I'm living in that area. All right. And by the way, that's not often talked about is it we often it's sort of that that that thing of the teacher doesn't see the person who throws the punch the teacher sees the person who throws the second punch, you know, the one who who who picks it up and does it again, you know, they always say that in football. They never see the first punch that we see the second punch and that's kind of the way that history has visited the Crusades. We don't spend a lot of time talking about the Islamic aggression against Christians against Jews. That instigated the Crusades were often just talked about the Crusaders actions and I'm not apologizing for any of that. I'm just saying that's something that we often skip over in history class. All right. So after Jerusalem was conquered by a Muslim Army in 6:38. They immediately began to construct a mosque on the Temple mount the most holy place in Judaism. And so Christians became very offended by that because of the the legacy of the temple in Christian history and Islam begin to spread like wildfire by 7-Eleven. They controlled all of North Africa so less than a hundred years later. They took over the northern half of an entire continent by 8:46. They were already attacking Rome and some of the outer areas outside of that so you can understand the concern that people had about the growth of Islam through military might And so at this point we do need to understand that there was no separation between religion and politics at this point. It was the Holy Roman Empire write the politicians were priests the politicians by and large even the secular ones were being controlled and being told what to do by the pope and by the Vatican in the in all of those 1/12 batacan didn't exist at that point that way but those in leadership over Roman Catholicism. They were the ones really calling the shots and leading the division and direction of Europe at that point. And so there was no separation there. So when this became a military issue when you know, the aggressors were knocking at the door of Rome the home of what was considered in the dark ages to be the home of Christianity then Who who else is going to do something about it besides the pope because he is not just the religious leader. He's also the political leader. And so we see the the the tangle that happen when you start tying religion the politics and why our Founders in America saw a need to have a healthy divided between the political structures and the religious structures and to try to keep a separation from those institutions. So that religious leaders aren't having to make policy for the nation and political leaders aren't telling the religious structures and institutions what to do. And so the Holy Wars and the Crusades really point that out to us if there's a problem when we do those kinds of things soap the pope announced a crusade he became very livid about this aggression towards Christianity and against I'm really the European world at that point and so Pope Urban M1095 declared a crusade and it just went back and forth. The the the Catholic Church would be in control of Jerusalem for a while. And then the Muslim empires would come in the Ottomans and people like that would come in and Andre conquered Jerusalem and then another Crusade would be started and then the Muslims would start their Jihad and then another Crusade another Jihad it just went back and forth flipping back and forth for about 200 years. And so that's the story of the Crusades. That's the story The Crusades that from a big picture perspective in there's some details about the Crusades that are bothersome. We'll talk about those in just a few minutes. We try to explain these things, but that's the history of it. All right. Let's talk here for another second about the first holy war right? You can trace really Several Crusades throughout Christianity and really Roman Catholicism. We're talk about that in a minute as well that there's a difference between those two and we can't lump in every Christian that's ever existed under what the Roman Catholic Church did back in the Dark Ages, but we can trace the history of Holy Wars all the way back to its very first instance and you can go all the way back to Genesis chapter 4 and see it. All right. So turn there with me. If you would rather read a few verses are Genesis chapter four and verse number one.

Genesis chapter 4 verse number one

Bible says here and Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived in Bear cane and said I have gotten a man from the Lord. All right. So Genesis 1 God created the Heaven and the Earth Genesis chapter 2. He Recaps that he tells us about the specifically the creation of man and how Adam was created first. And then he was foreign from Adam's Rib in the Genesis chapter 3 were introduced to a third-party a new character the serpent write the serpent tricks Eve deceives her into eating the fruit and then Adam eat the fruit. They both fall into sin God cast him out of the garden and he promises the coming of a savior to redeem Mankind from their sins and then we come to chapter 4. All right, so in and it doesn't even really stop the story the story doesn't even really have a break here because it says in verse number one. And Adam knew Eve his wife. So it's it's it's like if we were just sitting here having a conversation and I was telling you a story and I just said and this happened in this happened in this happened in this happen. So I just continuing the story right down the line here. So I think the idea is that very soon after they were cast out of the Garden of Eden we move right into the next generation of human beings on the on the earth and it says in verse number to that. She again bear his brother Abel and Abel was a keeper of the sheep. But Cain was a tiller of the ground and in process of time it came to pass that Kane brought of the fruit of the ground and offering unto the Lord enable. He also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel into his offering benzocaine into his offering he had not respect and Cain was very Ross and his countenance fell. And the Lord said in the cane wire that Roth and why is I countenance Fallen if I do as well. I shall not be accepted and if I do is not well soon life at the door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shall rule over him and came talk with Abel his brother and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. All right. So Genesis 1 God created the heavens and the Earth Genesis chapter 2 he goes into detail about Adam and Eve Genesis 3. We find out that Adam and Eve fell into sin and then Genesis 4 what happens right after all that took place the First Holy War take place. Because what Cain did was he created his own religion? He created his own religion this sacrifice that was acceptable to God was the sacrifice of the Lamb the offering of the perfect lamb Abel gave of his block and sacrifice at lamb and got accepted it. But Kane said I have a better way. I'm going to do it this way. Certainly. God would be okay with this. I know he said, you know bring me a lamp but I'm going to do it this way instead and so he created his own attempt to get God's favor in his life. And what can we call that but a false religion in every other false religion that has ever existed is really built upon that Foundation that Cain started of maybe God said this But I'm going to do it my way. I want to do it this way. I want to use the work of my hands to do a you see Abel was a he was a shepherd. Cain was a tiller of the ground is a farmer what he was good at and so he said why wouldn't God accept My Sacrifice. I've given him the best of my crops. I mean let you know look at those pumpkins ghost pumpkins would win first place at the Putnam County Fair. I mean, look at that squash. I mean that is it looks like a torpedo. I mean come on. This is this is incredible. I guess that I'm giving to God I made this and so God should accept it in every religion since then has said that I'm going to do my best and God better accept that so Kane was the originator of all false religion when he did this and what happened when God confronted him and said no cane we're not going to accept that that's not okay. You need to go deal with this. You need to make this right and offer an acceptable sacrifice. What did Cain do rather than respond rightly and with the right attitude in the right heart? What did he do? He killed the person who did it, right? He killed the person who did obey the Lord he killed the one that did honor God. It's a what can we call that but the first holy war the first attempt to exert a religious will on someone else into for someone else to comply to their way of doing things or die for it. So the very first holy war we find right in scripture. It's just what I want us to understand out of this is that persecution and and all of these things. This is not a new thing. It is not a Catholic thing is not a Muslim thing. It is a people thing. I hate is a part of the human race hate is a part of the wickedness of mankind Hearts. It always has been and until Christ comes and sets it. All right and sets up his eternal state it will continue to be that way. All right. So let's explain these Holy Wars for just a minute. Okay to give you some thoughts about these Holy Wars. All right, what about the places where the Bible commands the nation of Israel to utterly destroy that in Deuteronomy chapter 21, didn't we that got our new drama chapter 20 where God said utterly Destroy This Nation utterly drive them out remove them. Okay. Well, we need to understand some things. We need to step back into their world. A lot of times. We try to read the Bible in the American context in the way that we would think about it. If we If God said it today in 2018, but he didn't say it in 2018. Did he he said it all the way back in the Bible are up? So we need to understand a little bit about their culture. And what life was like America is a place of religious pluralism that is pluralism is when many religions are tolerated that you can freely exercise your religion without we hope to do that without fear of interference and intrusion and people telling you can't do it this way. I'm that's pluralism where that's acceptable to do. That that's not the same as relativism. Right relativism is when we say that you have to accept in and not just allow and tolerate other religions, but you have to say that they're all equally good. All right, that's relativism. That is not the scheme of America that is not the scheme of biblical Christianity either. There is one way to heaven through Jesus Christ and him only And there is no negotiating on that. There's no bartering on that. That's not even on the table. So America is a place of religious pluralism, but the ancient people that we read about in the Bible had a completely different mindset. Now they're people like your people and I'm people but they're completely different in their mindset about the way that their society work culture and society and politics were woven into the fabric of religion. You could not separate the two religion and culture and society and all of that. We're completely tied together in America. We learn to compartmentalize things. Haven't we wear on Sunday? I am the Christian but on Monday, I'm you know, the whatever it is, we've learned to compartmentalize that and that's not good by any stretch of the imagination. But in this Society, they over-emphasize these things to the point where if you had a different religion than them, Then you were inferior and you should be exterminated. If you didn't worship the same God that they did. Well, then you shouldn't be a part of society because we raised you know, what ever since I wear a Baal worship Society where an asteroid worship Society. So we're just going to get rid of you. We don't want you around and so ethnic cleansing was just the that was what you did. That was good. That was The Catch of the Day was ethnic cleansing and so this is the world and by the way, that's still a dilemma in a lot of corners of our world today. That's a limit for Christians in the Middle East in a lot of places and in India and in China and places like that that if your Christian will your inferior we got to get you out of here, so it's not like that's gone away entirely, but it's a different mindset than what we're used to do. So because of that because there could be no real competition between religions you could not co-exist with Other religions because to co-exist for the for the Jews the Hebrews the Israelites to coexist with the Hittites. Wait. That wasn't even really a possibility because the Hittites would not be able to abide the Jewish religion the Jewish god Yahweh. They would not be able to tolerate that. And so what do you do about that? Will the Hittites would try to exterminate you that was the only way to deal with it. There was this idea and we see it in David battle with Goliath that the battle between Israel and the Philistines wasn't just about land grabs. Right? It wasn't just about I want your land. I want your stuff and I want your your things that wasn't really the only thing that was going on there. That's a part of it. But what was happening there in 1st Samuel 17 is that there was two religions at War. Because Goliath comes down and he says my guys bigger than your God and we're going to beat you up because our God's tougher than your God and then David came out and he said my God is bigger than your God and my God is going to leave you out here for the crows to eat tonight and it was it was a a fight between this these religious ideals. So that was the way that God showed his power showed his strength was through these things because you could not co-exist with these other societies. I just don't think it was possible because when we see it happen when Israel tried to do it it always led to trouble. There were times when Israel tried to coexist with these other nations, even though God told him. Don't try it. You're wasting your time. It's going to be trouble and what happened they either went up in slavery to those other nations because there's other Nation said now you're inferior to us because you worship that God you don't worship Our God. So you're our slaves now or the Israelites wound up engaging in their worship of their gods as well. They said what up mashup of religions and what happened now, we start an engaging in all kinds of Abominations including up to human sacrifice So God said the only cure for this is get them out drive them out. Now did that always mean to to to to take every life? No, I didn't. That's not what God meant when he said utterly drive them out. Every time there were times when you said to do that the amalekites in 1st Samuel would be a great example of that. There were times when God said the only way that we're going to deal with this is you are going to have to wipe them out. That's the only way this problems ever going to be solved but many times what God was saying is drive him out of the land get them out of the land. Don't try to live next door to them. They can't be your neighbors. It's not going to work. It's going to be nothing but trouble so you got to drive them out and one of the reasons that we know that is look at numbers 21 verse 3 I go to the numbers 21

numbers 21 verse 3

all right Numbers chapter 21 verse 3

It says here in the Lord hearken to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites and they utterly destroyed them in their cities and they called the name of the place or Moe. Okay. So what's it say there says that they utterly destroyed them right fast forward to Joshua chapter 12. Joshua chapter 12

Alright Joshua chapter 12 verse number 7. It says in these are the kings of the country which Joshua and the children of Israel smote on this side Jordan on the west from Baal Gad In the Valley of Lebanon even to the mount hallac that go with up to see her which Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for possession according to their divisions them down to the first number 14 the king of the king of warmer so numbers 21, the Bible says that they utterly destroyed those people and they called the name of that place for my Joshua chapter 12, which is much later in history tells us that Joshua came in and destroyed the people of hormone. So they when they destroyed this place when they utterly destroyed them the idea was not to take every life of that family. It was drive them out. So they drove them out and what happened they came back and they set up another kingdom. They set up another rulership had a new key that they put in place. So when God said utterly destroy them that even the ancient Israelites did not take that to mean we have to take every life and burn everything and in all of that. It was destroy their society destroy their culture cast down their country move them out and then occupy that land that was God's pattern. They're not this wholesale idea that atheists have that God is a god of genocide. That's not God's heart at all. All right, and then we need to also understand this and we'll move on God's declarations were forms of judgment God's declarations were forms of judgment. Alright, Genesis 15 verse 16 God tells Abraham, your descendants are going to be put into another country are going to be put into another place for 400 years and he says the reason for that is that the iniquity of the amorites is not yet. Is a synonym. It's another name for Canaanites. We would call him Canaanites. You could also call him amorites. God says I am going to allow the amorites to have 400 years. I'm going to give them the opportunity to turn from their sins four hundred more years of this not going to and you're going to come back and you're going to be my weapon of judgment. You're going to be my tool of judgment to bring judgment upon the iniquity of the amorites. All right. Let's move forward in our own history to Daniel chapter 8 right Daniel chapter 8 when I show you something.

Daniel chapter 8 verse 23

Daniel chapter 8 verse 23

It says here in this is talking about the future. All right, this is a future prophecy. And in the latter time of their Kingdom when the transgressors are come to the full. All right, what did you say in Genesis 15, the iniquity of the amorites is not yet. God uses the same terminology here and he says when they're transgressor when the transgressors are come to the full when they're filled up with transgression in transgressors a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up and his power shall be Mighty but not by his own power and he shall destroy wonderfully and shall prosper in practice and she'll destroy the mighty in holy people got so he says when things could not get any worse iniquity wise transgressions Weis in wise God in the lab. Days is going to raise up and allowed to come to power a king of what does he say their inverse number 23 a king of fierce countenance King of Prussia at talking about the one who has great power, but it's not his own power. He's empowered in energized by someone else bigger than him. Is that talking about? The inner crisis right? This is a prophecy of the Antichrist. And so he tells us here that the Enterprise is going to come as a form of judgement against sin against Mankind's sin. When you read Revelation chapter 6, I believe that very first judgment that seal that is opened in heaven and a rider on a white horse precedes and he has a bow but no arrows and he's a great king. I believe that that is a prophecy of the coming of the Antichrist and gods that shows us there that that is a prophecy of judgment against the sins of this world. God still does this he still does these kinds of things and he's going to do it to this world one day he's going to judge using these tools at times. Third there unbiblical belief unbiblical belief. All right, we need to understand that with these Holy Wars come some pretty unbiblical things in the modern era. Okay, the ancient Israelites we talked about them we discuss why they did what they did. But in the mall are they I guess the Medieval Era there was some unbiblical beliefs that were going around about the holy war. All right, they believe these Crusaders were told by the Pope that he would forgive their sins if they would participate in this Crusade. All right. What's the problem with that?

Stripe who has power to forgive sins man or God? God write to the pope has no right whatsoever to absolve anybody since it's not his job to do that never has been never will be it is the job of Jesus Christ in heaven to forgive sins. The pope can say that all he wants to bid and forgive anybody since I'm right whatever he wants to write that in mean God said it he is a man and so he lied to people when he said that now he thought probably some of the folks probably believed it. I think other ones knew exactly what they were doing, but some of them probably did believe that they were absolving sins and forgiving people and so when you make a promise to people that it doesn't matter what you've done in life, all you have to do is this and I'll forgive your sins. What are people going to do? What kind of people are going to show up for that party? Not until you know, maybe not your most noble folks. Now Christianity gives us that promise that God will take an accept any who come to him by faith any that come for salvation the worst of the worst in the best of the best can come and find Salvation and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, but this is something different we're talking about is building an army here. All right way to see when a person gets saved got changes their heart. Changes them. And so the things I used to do was that song go I don't do them. Any more things I used to do. I don't do them anymore. Right? Well these people these Crusaders would come and fight in these wars and they did the same exact thing. They always did they pillaged destroyed and you know treated people horrible because that's what happens when you build an army with a promise like that. So this unbiblical belief was just Catholic Doctrine is not biblical. There's no reason whatsoever to believe that it is purely a Catholic medieval Catholic teaching to believe that right one more thought Ephesians chapter 6. Verse 11 by the way, doesn't that tell us why we should be careful with the doctrines of the word of God in that Den. Tell us we had to be careful with what we tell people about salvation and make sure that it's biblical because when you mistreat that Doctrine pretty rough things can happen. I had a fusion chapter 6 verse 11. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 the Bible says here put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against The Wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and Powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places. So he tells us here that there is a battle that every Christian is in whether you like it or not whether you understand it or not. You are in a battle and it's a battle against principalities Powers rulers of Darkness of this world spiritual wickedness in high places things. You can't touch this was true about all these things. You can't touch these things. You can't you can't touch an idea right? You can't touch sin. It is immaterial it something that is Untouchable intangible. So he says put on the whole armor of God because that's what's going to be effective against wrong ideas and sinfulness and in these things the Warfare that you're in you need a special kind of armor for so that the lesson here is that for New Testament are Christians going to war to try to beat the devil in to try to beat false religion. That's off the table. That is not the goal. The mission is not to see who has the bigger guns us as Christians or the Jehovah's Witnesses, right? That's not the kind of competition is not the kind of struggle that were in the spiritual warfare that were in is a Warfare of the heart is a Warfare that happens in the immaterial world. The New Testament are Christians have no reason whatsoever to believe that it is okay to try to impose our religion on someone else and try to force them to become Christians because I think you understand this as well as I do and as well as anybody ought to you can't make anybody be a Christian. Can you? You can make him go to church, you know the gun to their head make him sit in the pew. You can require them to pay ties to the the government like they do in Germany pay ties to the Lutheran Church. You can make him do that. You can do those kinds of things, but you can't make anybody a Christian. You make a Mac Chris. You make him look Christian make them walk. Chris make him talk Christian, but you can't make him Christian because that's something that only God can do in the heart. And so that is the mission of the church not to get wrapped around the axle because of political problems are religious issues in our world our mission as Christian should always be the focus should always be how do we reach more souls for Christ? Can't do it with guns. You can't do it by twisting arms. I can't make people do it ask Christopher, Columbus. Ask Cortes how that work. You can't christianize a nation by enforcing your ideas on them. They have to want it that to choose it for themselves. And that can only come as God Spirit leads them to do that. We are not called to take up weapons against other religions. We are called instead to win them to Christ. So I look at the persecution in our world today and I say and why don't we just mobilize the United States government in the military and just go over there and knock knock them all out. Just let the Christians have it in the Jews have it and we'll just go from there. Wait a minute that that's not what God Said was his program. God never promised to bless that it sounds kind of kind of good sometimes when you're in a bad mood and you hear bad news on the TV that old idea of let's just nuke it right. But that's not God's plan. It's not his program. His program is to win people not by force, but by faith. To bring people to Christ through his love war has never been God's method of promoting the faith even in ancient Israel that was not his method of promoting the faith. It was his method of ensuring the survival of his people but that was never his plan for promoting the faith loving evangelism has always been God's method of doing his work. You notice there aren't there's no such thing as collectors cards for the Crusaders, right? You know, you can't go and buy Topps baseball cards in Topps Crusader cards, right? You know Pope Urban II. Have you got a Pope Urban II rookie year, you know that there's no collector cards for that in Christianity, right? We don't honor that. We don't lift that up and say boy look at the virtue of that warring attitude, but we do collect the stories of people who lay down their lives for the cause of Christ the martyrs who sacrificed themselves for the cause of Christ. Those are people that live on in Fame and an adoration and people that we praise we write stories about can we tell them to the Next Generation? We want them to know the stories in the martyrs cuz the blood of the Martyr is the seed of the church It always has been we don't praise strength. We praise sacrifice it may that be our heart that I'm going to go to war. But I'm going to put on the armor of God. I'm going to fight the battles that need to be fought that God wants to fight. Imma do it his way. I'm going to put make sure that I'm ready that I've got my armor on today that I put on the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to walk like he walking the talk like he taught the best. I know how the best he's taught me to do. I'm going to be like price today so that I can fight the battles that God has for me in a my holy war against myself against Satan against sin. I've got my own holy war to fight but it's a fight against principalities Powers rulers of Darkness spiritual wickedness in high places, but he gives us his promise doesn't even if he's in chapter 6, he says put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand. You may be able to stand when we put on God's armor. We do things God's way. God says I'll be there. I'm going to be there with you resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Let's live life that way ready to fight the battles that we need to fight in our lives in in our hearts and in in the lives of our family in the ministries of our church, let's do battle God's way of doing battle with the love of Jesus Christ in his gospel on our lives. Let's pray together. Shall we thank you for this day. I thank you for your blessing upon those are gathered here. But I thank you for the attention. I prayed give each family a good week of being visited by your presence in your power is a follow you and what I pray that you would just help us is a church to remember that. This is the call for believers not to go to war but to go to war against the things that you've given us to fight and battle in our day and age to fight and compete. Ungodly ideas and ungodly wickedness and immorality in our world today but to do with the way that you've laid out the do it the way that Jesus exemplified when he lived on this Earth would help us just to be like Christ the Lord that would solve a lot of what we're talking about here tonight. God bless us as we dismissed. Give us safety as we depart and will thank you for what you do in Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right. Well, I normally ask for any closing thoughts or questions or anything that anybody have anything to share.

I know. Thank you. Thank you for being there and all right. God bless you as you go. Have a great rest of the week. We'll see you back here on Sunday.