Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Archeology - of course is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture.

Please find your way to in your copy of Gods word, as you do let me ask you…

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt that God just let you down?

Ever felt like you were fighting battles in your life all by yourself?

You go to pursue something you believe God wants only to end in defeat and wonder why God never showed up?

You know its ok to admit that… God is bigger than our doubts.

Its because we are human and we do not always see the big picture that God is doing.

We will sometimes feel as though God has let us down, or that He just never showed up in the first place, but things aren’t always as they appear.

Today as we jump back to we will see a illustration of how God fights for us even when it looks like we have been utterly forgotten by Him.

Prayer

God our Father as we come to you this day we are reminded of the reality that in a gathering of this size there are some very real struggles going on, there are some very real battles raging in our lives and some very real enemy forces seeking to defeat us, there are some very real temptations for us to despair and give into defeat, there are some very real temptations for us to see you as having turned your back or even worse failed us!

This is why Father we come to you rejoicing that this narrative has been given for our edification to give us an inside perspective of how you never leave or forsake us even if we are living in a way that is unpleasing to you!

You fight for us forever and always even when we cannot see you or how you will bring victory we can trust in you, that you will never forsake or leave us and that in you the victory will be won!

Therefore, when we feel as though you have let us down, when we feel as though we are fighting by ourselves, when we feel as though you never showed up we beg that you might bring this and other scriptures to our mind so that we could se you rightly.

We ask this for your Glory, AMEN!

Message

Who are you fighting with, what are you fighting for?

Post 9-11 invasion into Iraq - shard of metal off WTC building - “This is why you’re here!”

We must fight WITH God and not just WITH religion

When is a defeat not be just a defeat?

We must understand our true enemy

Illustration

We must be sure we are fighting for the right reasons

Application

12 - 21 miles..

1 Sam 4.12-

When is a defeat not a Defeat and a victory not a Victory?

Pyrrhic [Pirr-ik] Victory - is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat.

Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has also taken a heavy toll that negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.

Battle of Bunker Hill

The American Revolution had turned bloody by the summer of 1775, but aside from minor skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, the colonials had yet to test their mettle against the British Army.

That changed on June 17, when a ragtag group of 1,000 militiamen tried to check a British advance on the heights overlooking Boston.

After fortifying Breed’s Hill—the battle takes it’s name from Bunker Hill, the peak they were originally told to occupy—they faced down a superior force of some 2,200 British soldiers.

The Americans’ accurate musket fire drove back two separate British attacks, but by the third advance, they had expended their meager stores of ammunition.

Following a few frantic minutes of hand-to-hand combat, the militiamen abandoned the hill and retreated.

The American Revolution had turned bloody by the summer of 1775, but aside from minor skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, the colonials had yet to test their mettle against the British Army.

That changed on June 17, when a ragtag group of 1,000 militiamen tried to check a British advance on the heights overlooking Boston.

After fortifying Breed’s Hill—the battle takes it’s name from Bunker Hill, the peak they were originally told to occupy—they faced down a superior force of some 2,200 British soldiers.

The Americans’ accurate musket fire drove back two separate British attacks, but by the third advance, they had expended their meager stores of ammunition.

Following a few frantic minutes of hand-to-hand combat, the militiamen abandoned the hill and retreated.

The British victory at Bunker Hill came at a punishing cost.

Compared to 400 killed or wounded for the colonials, the Redcoats sustained more than 1,000 casualties, and their heavy losses forced them to scrap plans to seize another piece of high ground on the outskirts of Boston.

The Americans, meanwhile, hailed the defeat as a moral victory.

They had gone head-to-head with a larger and better-equipped enemy, and had shown they would not be beaten without a fight.

While British General William Howe lamented that his success had been “too dearly bought,” patriot leader Nathanael Greene wrote that he wished the colonials could “sell them another hill at the same price.”

The British victory at Bunker Hill came at a punishing cost.

Compared to 400 killed or wounded for the colonials, the Redcoats sustained more than 1,000 casualties, and their heavy losses forced them to scrap plans to seize another piece of high ground on the outskirts of Boston.

The Americans, meanwhile, hailed the defeat as a moral victory.

They had gone head-to-head with a larger and better-equipped enemy, and had shown they would not be beaten without a fight.

While British General William Howe lamented that his success had been “too dearly bought,” patriot leader Nathanael Greene wrote that he wished the colonials could “sell them another hill at the same price.”

We must use God’s categories of defeat and victory

God our Father is a good father who is willing to discipline us when necessary

We must use God’s categories of defeat and victory

Do we treat GOD like any other god?

Even when we are not, God is victorious!

Marvel Comics / Movies = lots of gods… Thor, Loki, Odin, Hela, Galactus… Thanos

< Video >

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSnHM3rn1jc

No MAN can control GOD

God needs no MAN to fight for Him

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This is the God we serve!!!

This is A God you can trust!!

This is a God who Wins!!

This is a God who brings victory!!

1 Cor 1.27

Heb 12.

Call

Maybe you’re here today and you feel like you have been defeated, forgotten, and abandoned by God.

Maybe you’re here today and you are currently in the middle of a fight, or challenge that has been going on for some time and you wonder if God will ever bring victory?

I want you to listen to this song for just a bit...

If this is you today… If you feel defeated, forgotten, burdened, and weary… I want to invite you to let God fight your battles for you.

I want to invite you to share God’s perspective on victory and defeat.

I want to invite you to trust that God will bring the victory!

Close

This is the God we have...

This is the Christ He sent...

This is the offer He gives…

Prayer

God our Father in heaven,