Hello and welcome to the Arise Church Podcast.
We are so glad you're here and want to thank you for joining us
today for the audio version of our Sunday morning message.
We want to invite you to join us in person at our Sunday morning
celebration every Sunday at 10 AM.
We are located on Old Jenks Rd. in Apex, NC.
Well, if you have your Bible, why don't you grab it?
I don't know if you came in cold today, but this message is going
to warm me up. I'm going to tell you that right
now I feel fired up and ready to go.
I've been receiving for myself these last few weeks as I've
been preparing and just meditating and studying for
these messages and today's message, I'm going to title this
the fight for your faith. The fight for your faith.
And if you didn't know you're in a fight, you're probably losing.
That's partly bad news and that's partly good news.
The good news is by the time you leave today, you're going to
know that there is a fight for your faith.
The good news is as well, you're going to leave with some tools
of how to fight for it. And I love the Kingdom of God
because we fight till we win. Now, I know some people say,
well, we've already won. And that's true.
In the end, we've already won. Jesus already won.
But there is still a fight for your faith.
But I want to start by reviewing just a little bit out of Hebrews
Chapter 11. I don't have it up on the
screen, but you can look at it in your Bible or on your Bible
app. And I'm going to start in just
in Hebrews Chapter 11, verse one.
This is what we cover last week. It says now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Now faith is the substance of things.
Hoped for the evidence of things not seen now.
Faith is the substance. Faith is tangible.
Faith is something that once you lay hold of it in your heart,
it's there. And if you've ever done that in
your own life, you know what I'm talking about.
Faith is not some sort of ethereal or kind of foggy kind
of belief or Mystic kind of system.
Faith is something that has a substance to it, and it's not
just your set of beliefs. Well, you know, yeah, sure, I
have faith. And that's real prominent
nowadays. Politicians use it.
Oh, yeah. I'm a person of faith.
But I want you to view faith a
little differently this morning so that, you know, faith is what
everything you receive in God hinges on.
And so it's by faith. We're going to we're going to
fight. So I want you to look up at the
screen. First Timothy chapter 6, verse
12 says this. Fight, the good fight of faith.
Turn to your neighbor and say fight.
Oh, come on. You got to say it with a little
attitude. You can't say fight.
You got to say fight. Come on, fight the good fight of
faith. Take hold or lay hold of the
eternal life to which you were called and about which you made
the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Paul is teaching his spiritual son Timothy, and he's telling
him, fight, fight. You have to fight for this.
And the longer you follow the Lord, the more He's going to
call you to fight because the more wins you get in your belt,
the more trusted you are, the more battles He puts you in on.
So if you feel like you've been fighting lately, good news, it's
probably because you won some. But the bad news is it's
escalated. The fight has escalated.
Anybody feel like you're in a fight right now for your faith,
where you fight, facing some things right in front of you and
they feel challenging? Come on, tell the truth.
You're in church this morning. Anybody feel like you're in a
fight for your faith right now? If you don't feel like you're in
a fight right now, there's one that coming.
We don't always know when or how it's going to come, but I've
noticed sometimes it catches me off guard.
Have you ever been caught off guard by something thrown at you
that you didn't expect, then laid off?
Nobody warned you you're going to be laid off.
You've been. You know, diagnosed with
something you weren't expecting, had someone close to you have
something going on in their heart and their life.
Well, all of a sudden you can find yourself in the middle of a
fight. So today's message is for all of
you who are in the fight right now and especially for all of us
who will one day be in the fight.
Timothy's hearing his spiritual father say, fight the good fight
of faith. Fight for it, fight for it,
fight for it. And I just fill an assignment
from the Lord this morning to tell every person under the
sound of my voice, whether here or watching online, fight for
your faith. Don't you dare give up, Don't
you dare quit. Don't you allow the enemy to lie
to you, to discourage you, to whisper his opinions to you.
You're going to have to shut that down and you're going to
have to get back in the fight in Jesus name, fight the good fight
of faith, fight for it and take hold of eternal life.
Some of us the fight is for your soul.
Let's just break it down real good.
It's. Cute as all y'all are, some of
you, the enemy is wearing you down to where your soul is at
stake. I'm watching people, even
pastors, ministers walk away from the Lord and let me tell
you, there is teaching out there that says once saved, always
saved. I don't believe that.
Now do I believe that your salvation is fragile?
No. Do I believe that you send this
morning, so now you're going to hell?
No, I don't believe that. But can you walk away from the
Lord? Yes, you can say never mind.
I reject that. I reject that belief.
I reject God, I reject Jesus and you can walk away from the Lord.
If you're worried about your salvation, then this doesn't
apply to you because the people I'm talking about, they, they
don't care. They are so far gone.
They're out there like peace out.
I don't want to any part of that.
Paul is telling him, don't you be one of those people.
Lay hold of your eternal life. Take it, take it, take it.
And I'm watching people that I served.
In ministry with walk away from the Lord wild.
Somewhere along the line, I don't think it was an
instantaneous thing, but somewhere along the line they
were in a fight and they didn't know it and they were getting
pummeled, pummeled, pummeled until they said I quit, I give
up on this thing. But if you.
Do some of the things we're going to talk about this
morning. You will not be one of those
people. Praise the Lord.
Come on, you're not going to be one of those people.
No one a part of our Rise church is going to hell.
Amen. That's a great place for it.
Amen. Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse
7. Paul's going on now.
This is his 2nd letter to Timothy, right?
To the same guy. He says I have fought the fight,
the good fight. I have finished the race.
What does he say? I have kept the faith.
You know, when I think about the
Apostle Paul, he was he, this dude suffered some things.
He suffered shipwreck. He got beat up, he got in prison
multiple times. A lot of his letters that we
read, he's writing it from prison, that one of his letters
where he writes rejoice in the the Lord always.
And again I say rejoice, he wrote that in prison.
So this dude knows what he's talking about and he's saying
I've fought this fight. And so he's a man telling his
spiritual son. So you got to fight it now too,
especially some of you who are younger.
You may not have faced all the challenges that life's going to
eventually bring you, but there will be a time where you're
going to have to fight this fight out and you're going to
have to stand. You're going to do everything
you can to keep the faith. Look what Fusions chapter 6
says. Fusions chapter 6, verse 10
again this. Is Apostle Paul, he's write,
wrote a whole letter to this church in Ephesus and he's
saying finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might. Be strong in the Lord, be strong
in the Lord, be strong in the Lord.
See, Paul was very direct. He didn't say feel strong.
He didn't say feel the goosebumps.
He was very direct because he was talking to persecuted
churches. Like for them this was do or
die. For them, they really were
contending to keep the faith because they some of them were
faced with deny Jesus Christ or be executed.
So he's having to tell a church who very well could.
Have been a part of that many of them were he's having to tell
him be strong in the Lord, be strong in the Lord, be strong
when you're faced with that. If you ever get arrested or put
in the arena because it was a Greek culture.
If you're ever put in the arena. And they began to throw lions
your direction. And they have the gladiators,
all of that. Most of the people who
gladiators will kill were Christians, by the way.
So these movies glorify it. But don't forget some of them
were our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Paul is writing to them and saying, be strong in the Lord
and in the power of his might. Can you imagine receiving a
letter like this from Paul when you know what he's saying to
you? This wasn't OK, let's be strong
because we're facing political persecution or, you know, I
don't like what's going on in Washington or stuff that feels
sometimes, you know, hundreds of miles away.
For them it was very close. Be strong in the Lord and the
power of his might. And then he goes on to say, Put
on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against
the Wiles or the schemes of the devil.
One of the key components of you fighting for your faith is to
know there is a real devil. And he has cohorts and minions,
we call them demons. And they're, they're not few in
number. There's a lot of them.
And they're working on every person who's trying to fight the
fight of faith. So some of you, the
discouragement you're facing didn't come from you.
For some of you, the doctors say, well, it's chemical, but
God might say it's spiritual. They could be both.
So sometimes you need healing and deliverance.
But either way, let's not be ignorant of the devices of the
enemy and let's make sure we're strong in the Lord so that we
can put on this whole armor of God and stand against every
scheme of the devil. Come on.
That's the that's the will of God for my life and for your
life, that we would be able to withstand every scheme, every
scheme. We shouldn't fall prey or victim
to any plan attack of the enemy. That's not the will of God that
you or I fall prey to the attacks of the enemy.
His will is that we put on the whole armor of God.
Put on the whole armor of God. Why?
So you'll be able to stand. Listen, so you'll be able to
stand. So you'll be able to stand.
How will you be able to stand? You have to put on the whole
armor of God. Are y'all seeing this now?
There is pop theology out there that says no, whatever the will
of God is, it's just going to happen for you.
His it's just grace, grace, grace, grace, grace.
And I believe in the grace of God, but grace is the
supernatural empowerment to do the will of God.
So grace being the supernatural will of God, supernatural
ability to do the will of God, will empower you to put on the
whole armor of God. Put it all on.
Come on, turn your and say, put it all on.
Every bit of it, every bit of it.
Can you imagine going into war? And it's like, I forgot that
darn shield today I'm at the front lines.
But can I borrow yours? No, sucker, I need mine or as I
got my shield, but man, that sword, where did I put that
sword? Where did it go?
You know, of course, they're talking ancient Times Now.
It'd be guns or missiles or lasers or AI or I don't know,
you know, we'd, but you can relate it to us however you
want. But either way, you have a
responsibility for the fight, for your faith.
And some of us, I'm just convinced as I've been
preparing, some of us, this is a game changer because you didn't
know you had a part in this fight.
And as soon as you get alerted and you get educated, we're
going to we're going to put a blow to Satan in Jesus name.
Come on. Because once you put on the
whole armor of God, now you're able to stand.
So where he's been pummeling, pummeling, pummeling, being able
to have his way in your family and your life and your career or
whatever it may be, Oh no, he doesn't stand a chance.
Why? Because he can't take out the
armor of God. He's a defeated foe in Jesus
name. So it goes on to say this.
Look at this verse 12. For we do not wrestle against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against
spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places.
What does that sound like? That sounds like the Wiles of
the devil. He's breaking it down.
He's saying, let me just break this down for you, in case you
didn't know, the person that you just cannot stand at work.
They're not your enemy. Your spouse who's on your last
nerve is not my spouse. Your spouse.
They're not your enemy. No one.
Amen. Come on, better say Amen so your
spouse hears it. If you don't have a spouse, say
Amen so your future spouse hears it.
They're not our enemy. Politicians are not our enemy.
The media is not our enemy. The spirits behind all of those
entities, now, that's the enemy. For we don't wrestle against the
humans that are right in front of us.
We wrestle against what's behind them and motivating them
sometimes. And we come after those.
If you're going to come after them and you're going to engage
this fight, you better have the whole armor of God.
And I see a lot of Christians walking and talking and trying
to get in the fight that have no armor.
And that's called stupid. Come on, you, you can say Amen
to that. Social media is called flesh and
blood. Can I just break it down for
you? Social media is called flesh and
blood. You know what?
Thank God I haven't had access to social media for 10 years.
So guess what? When I see all y'all and I look
you in the eyeballs, I have no idea what you have posted this
week. I really don't.
So if you ate coffee or if you ate, you know, cake yesterday
that was so delicious from such and such place, I have no idea
if you had a birthday last week. I'm sorry.
Unless it's on our database, I don't know that either.
But I do know that many people engage social media like that's
where the fight is, that's where the fight is, That's where the
fight is. It is not where the fight is.
The fight is in the spirit. And so when you engage those
things, you're not engaging the armor of God.
You're in, you're engaging your thumbs.
And nowhere in the Scripture do I see the thumbs of God.
I don't see it, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of
this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly
places. I think it's fascinating that
Paul doesn't minimize the forces that we're fighting against.
He doesn't say, hey, there's they're no big deal, don't worry
about them. He's under our feet.
And a lot of faith people try to minimize Satan, I think
inappropriately because it makes people think like, oh, I don't
have to worry about him. But Paul didn't teach that.
Paul said you better have the armor of God because there is a
wrestling, there is a fight that you are supposed to engage in
and you're in need this army because what you're facing are
principalities. These are large forces.
Let's keep going. Verse 13 therefore, so now that
we know that we know that there are Wiles of the devil, we know
that there are principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of
this age. Therefore take up the whole
armor of God. He said, just in case I wasn't
clear, get the armor of God that you may be able again to
withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand that
you may be able, that you may be able.
I love this because you know what, it gives me confidence.
Once I take hold of the armor of God, I'm able to stand.
So I'm not some feeble minded. Oh, I just am scared of the
devil. He's around every corner.
No, I'm aware of his schemes. I'm aware of his principalities,
powers, rulers of darkness. But when I lay hold of the armor
of God, something in me stands up and says not one weapon
formed against me shall be able to prosper.
Why? Because I have the whole armor
of God. Amen.
That you may be able to withstand in the evil day and
having done all to stand. Verse 14, stand there for you
think Paul's trying to tell us to stand having girded your
waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of
righteousness. So girded means that belt, that
that belt of truth around your waist.
Having put on the breastplate of righteousness, I am the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
That means you know who you are, you have an identity.
You know I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
I'm not trying to earn it. I'm not trying to work for it.
I'm not trying to appease a vengeful God.
No, I've made Jesus Lord of my life.
And so today I put on the breastplate of righteousness
because I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
And so not only do I know I'm the righteousness of God in
Christ Jesus, but I live righteous.
I think it's fascinating that it's the breastplate of
righteousness. You want Satan to have a keel
shot in your life? Open yourself up to unholy
things in sin. Fastest way to get right in the
heart is to have that wide open. So you have to live holy.
You have to live right before God.
So yes, it's true, I am the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus, but I have to live like that.
I have to put that on. I have to put on the breastplate
of righteousness. Verse 15 and having shod your
feet or tied your feet, your sandals with the preparation of
the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith,
which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts.
Look at that. Be able to quench or extinguish.
That's another way to say quench, extinguish all the fiery
darts of the wicked one. Look at the way Paul preaches.
He says when you do this, nothing will penetrate.
Listen to me. This is how Paul preached.
We don't preach this because sometimes we want to appease
people. So we get in conversations and
they tell us what's going on in their life and our heart gets
tugged. I'm sorry you're going through
that. And all of that's good.
We, we need to be kind to people, but at some point make
sure we come back to scripture and say, OK, but let's make sure
we go back and put on the whole armor of God so we don't get
penetrated again. So I don't have an answer for
every single circumstance of every person's life because I'm
not God. But that's why we need
scripture, because Scripture will teach you of how to be
impenetrable. Impenetrable.
And you know what, y'all, up to this point, I'm not
impenetrable, but I want to be. Come on.
But I want to be and I want God to show me how through His word.
But what I'm not going to do is roll over and be like, well,
that's just this life. It's just the way it is till we
get to heaven. Apparently Paul didn't get that
memo. He got the teaching that was,
oh, when you have the shield of faith, you're able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. 1 So this message of faith that I
started last week, I'm going to continue for the next bit here.
It literally can make you impenetrable to every attack
from Satan. And some of us, our faith just
being challenged. Mommy's saying it because our
experience says, well, you've been shot before and you thought
you were good, but that just caught you off guard or you
didn't know. Then we come back to the Word
and say no, that shield of faith will quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked one and verse 17 and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Few weeks ago I talked about reading our Bible every day in
2026. For some of us, it'll literally
save your life. Why?
Because it's a weapon, it's how you're able to stand, it's how
you're able to quench every fiery tart, it's how you're able
to pull down strongholds. It's how we're able to take down
principalities of powers. All of those things is right
here in Scripture, verse 18, praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with
all perseverance and supplication for all the Saints.
So he's saying one of the pieces of this armor of God is praying.
Praying. You say, well, it's not really
my thing to pray. Well, good luck because what if
you need that in the fight? It's all right that I'm a little
honest today. Is that OK with you all?
Part of it is not because I'm trying to be snarky.
It's that I'm trying to interrupt thought patterns and
habits and religiosity that has discounted the fight that you
and I are in. And I have the distinct honor of
pastoring this congregation. And I get the distinct honor of
having many, many conversations with many people who are in this
room or watching online. And I know you're in a fight.
And many times people confide in me, fights they're in that they
don't tell anybody else. So when I preach, I'm preaching
from a position of I know, I know the fight that you're in
and everything in me wants to give you the tools and the
resources according to Scripture necessary for you to win that
fight. And I know, I'm very aware that
I'm limited as a pastor of how much I can actually do to cause
you to win. But everything that is in my
power, I'm going to do it because it's sometimes your soul
is on the line, your family's souls are on the line, your
health is on the line, your future is on the line.
And I'm aware of that. So sometimes I come strong to
help breakthrough some of just the old patterns and habits.
And may the Spirit of God partner in that as well.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in Jesus name.
Verse 20, He says, For I am an ambassador in chains, that in it
I may speak boldly as I ought to speak, that I may speak boldly
as I ought to speak. This is very, very powerful.
Romans chapter 4, verse 19 again, the apostle Paul writing
to the church in Rome, he said, and not being weak in faith, he
meaning Abraham. He's talking about Abraham right
here, did not consider his own body already dead since he was
about 100 years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was
strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully
convinced. Look at that, being fully
convinced that what he, what God had promised, he was able to
perform and therefore it that faith was accounted to him for
righteousness. Paul is explaining, he's saying
Abraham thousands of years before Jesus ever came and
provided a different way outside the law towards salvation.
He said Abraham got saved. How did he get saved?
Through faith? What was his faith?
That he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was
able to perform it. That is how powerful faith is.
So when you're standing and you're putting on the whole
armour of God and you're going to bat and you're going to fight
for your family, even what we were singing earlier, and you're
putting it on so that you're fighting and contending for all
the promises of God to come to pass in your life.
Once you lay hold of that faith and you become fully convinced
you are unstoppable. Listen to me, you are
unstoppable. When you become fully convinced
that what God has promised to you, he is able to perform it,
you become unstoppable. You say, well, it's the Lord,
absolutely. Of course it's the Lord.
But if you don't believe, then now anything can stop you.
Anything can stop you. Any road bump, any speed bump in
the in the in this freeway of life in this highway of life can
stop any one person just depending on your level of
faith, any opposition, any friction, any relational issues.
It could be like never mind, never mind must not be the will
of God and you just watch people take they just they take the off
ramp of this life of faith because the going gets tough.
But those of us who get fully convinced?
That. He who promised is able to
perform it. You become unstoppable.
I want to give you 6 ways of how to fight in faith.
Are you ready? This is where it gets good.
I was just laying the groundwork.
Praise the Lord #1 How to fight in faith #1 Discern the
circumstances. Discern the circumstances.
Of course, all of these presuppose that you're in a
fight and you know first of all that you're in a fight, but
first of all, discern the circumstances.
Look at Luke chapter 22, fascinating verse or fascinating
conversation between Jesus and Peter.
He said in Luke 22, verse 31 and the Lord said Simon Sidon,
indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as we but I
have prayed for you that your faith should not fail.
And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.
Now Can you imagine Jesus showing up and he's like a by
the way, that pesky Satan, he's asked for you and Jesus didn't
say, so I rebuked him and you don't have to worry about it.
He didn't say that. He says Satan asked for you.
So I pray for you that your faith not fail and you have to
discern and you have to hear from the Lord.
Here's what's going on in your life, because sometimes we'll
call something the will of God when really is Satan, and
sometimes we'll call something Satan.
That's really the will of God. And how do you discern the
difference? You need the Lord to tell you,
don't you? Because if you start fighting
against God, you will lose. Come on, save into that.
If you start rebuking the Lord, ain't nothing going to change
and not one thing's going to happen.
Not one thing will happen. You have to discern what's
happening here. And the Lord Jesus told Peter
exactly what his remedy was. Your faith, I pray that your
faith not fail. I pray that your faith not fail.
Many times when I'm praying for y'all individually, I'm praying
that your faith not fail because I know my prayer even for your
specific circumstances, if it's not attached to your faith being
strong in the Lord, it not going to work.
So what do we do? I pray that your faith not fail.
May your faith stay strong. May your faith be in the Lord.
May your faith be in the power of His might in Jesus name Amen.
I remember earlier last year, 2025, I just started to notice a
few people were leaving the church and mostly for good
reasons. People have, you know, family
that they wanted to move towards and just different stuff.
But as a pastor, you don't like to see anybody leave, you know,
kind of like you to stay. And I kind of, I kind of like
our community being built and seeing what the Lord's doing
here. And you know, we all have
insecurities. You're like, well, did I say
something, did something happen? Was it something I preached?
Was it because you know the faith message, whatever it could
be? And so you just wonder, but I
felt the Lord speak to me and said, you're being pruned.
And he took me to John chapter 15.
And in John chapter 15, the Lord says that when you bear fruit,
he prunes you that you may bear more fruit.
But, you know, if I took his pruning personal and
misunderstood it, then I could get all in my head, get all
kinds of discouraged. I could start putting pressure
on all the team. We need to change things so
people feel more comfortable. Mary Beth, make the coffee
hotter. You know, I could say kids team,
make sure it's more fun for the kids.
I can make sure that we've got some smoke lights or something,
you know, whatever. We could just start doing stupid
stuff, right? When all the while, if God's
pruning you, nothing you do will stop his shears from clipping
you. Hello.
And he's a good sniper. His shears are sharp.
And just clip here and clip here, clip here.
But you know what I love about him?
He's precise. He's.
Precise and his pruning for us and I believe for many of the
folks who left there, it was pruning for them.
And my prayer for them is that they bear more fruit.
But I know for a fact we're going to bear more fruit because
at that time I discerned the circumstances and I said yes to
the pruning. I didn't resist it.
I even told our team at the time, I said, hey, I'm not going
to tell the church this because, you know, part of it is I don't
want people to hear old pastor said you were pruned.
You know, you're part of the pruning.
Guess you had to go. You must have done something
wrong. You know, we just say stupid
stuff. And I didn't want anybody to
misunderstand because it was the Lord at work.
So why would I give room for the enemy when it was him he was
doing it? So I would.
But I told the team, I said I just sensed that we're going
through a pruning. But the good news is once we get
through it, we'll bear more fruit because that's his word.
That's what he said. And he told me you're being
pruned. So I was just so thankful for
that. But you know, if I would have
gone through that and been like, I don't understand why this is
happening. God, I thought you said this and
this was the vision. And now I'm in the flesh and I'm
out of faith. I'm in a belief.
But because I heard him, I got to discern the circumstances and
I could stay in faith. And I really believe in 2026
that this is a year of more fruit.
Come on, say Amen, more fruit. And you know, what I love is
that if we as a church are experiencing more fruit, that
means every individual here is going to be bearing more fruit
in Jesus name, Amen. All right, so that was #1
discern the circumstances. Discern the circumstances #2
imitate faith filled promise getters.
It's a very southern point. Get her done.
Imitate faith filled promise getters.
Don't imitate people who don't inherit promises.
Hello. This thing's basic, but it's
amazing how many people talk like unbelievers.
What does that mean? That means you're imitating
unbelief. And James says when you're
double minded, in other words, you talk out of two sides of
your mouth. He says don't let that person
suppose that they'll receive anything.
So I don't know about you. I'm like, I want to imitate
promise getters. Look at Hebrews chapter 6, verse
9. But beloved, we are confident of
better things concerning you. Yes, things that accompany
salvation, though we speak in this manner.
For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love,
which you have sown shown toward His name, and that you have
ministered to the Saints and do minister.
And we desired that each one of you show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope until the end, That you do not become
sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises. I want to imitate faith, get or
promise getters. I do.
So you know who I listen to when I listen to preaching, I listen
to people who inherit promises. I don't listen to people who are
just trying to tell me all the doom and gloom of what's going
on in the world. If I wanted that, I would turn
on the news. Hello.
I don't listen to people who just go through the scripture
and intellectually want to tell me all the reasons why what God
really said isn't true or it was misinterpreted or if you you got
to read it this way or you got to do doctrinal twister to
misread it. And I'm like, I don't have the
time for that. And my faith is vulnerable to
being drained when I listen to that.
So I want to get around faith promise getters.
I do. So, you know, a lot of the
friends that we have in the ministry, they're people who are
inheriting promises and the promises that God has made to
them, our souls, regions, countries, cities, they're
taking territory for God. So I like just to get around
people who when I when I hear them, they talk faith, they talk
miracles, they share testimony. And when they need prayer or
they need support, they'll come and say it, but they'll say it
from a point of view of knowing the will of God hasn't changed.
But I'm in the fight of faith. Will you partner with me in the
fight of faith? And to that we say, yes, of
course. But the writer of Hebrews is
here saying, don't become sluggish.
Just turn to your neighbor and say, don't be a slug.
Don't be a slug. Have you ever watched?
Is it Zootopia that has the sloth?
Our kids, you know, our kids age.
So there's this like cartoon movies, you know, called
Zootopia and thus the the sloths.
Guess where they work The DMV in the movie.
I didn't make it up. If you work at the DMV, please
don't take it personal. It's the movie, but I'm fairly
certain these sloths were from North Carolina because the DMV.
But you know, they just move so slow.
This Kingdom. Don't be a slug.
Don't be a sloth. Imitate those who, through faith
and patience, inherit the promises.
Imitate them. Imitate them.
That's why you can't just go to any old church, because you can
go to churches that are not inheriting promises.
They'll sing great songs. They'll have great, you know,
inspirational messages. But if you're not careful, if
you don't see people inheriting God's promises, be weary, be
leery, I guess. Be leery of that.
Get around people who are taking God's promises, who are going
after it in faith in Jesus name. Hebrews 13, seven says, Remember
those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to
you, whose faith follow considering the outcome of their
conduct, considering the outcome of their conduct.
It's all right to do a little inspection.
How things been going. I can't wait.
We're having a member meeting for everybody who's officially a
member of a Rice church. We're having it on February the
1st at 6:00 PM. If you didn't get an e-mail, it
means you're not a member, but I guess there's still time you can
officially become a member. But guess what we get to do?
We get to do a little inspection of how faithful God's been to
our church and how we've been inheriting promises.
Glory to God. And I can't wait to show the
reports to see how much we've done with how much has come in.
And we have big faith for bigger things.
So I'm like inspect, absolutely. I haven't perfected this fight
of faith, but thank God we've seen some victories and we're
going to see more victories. So he says, whose faith follow?
Whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct.
Some of us, we need to humble down and follow someone else's
faith because if you want to just do it your way and just
take all the licks and the bumps and the bruises because you
didn't learn from anyone else's faith, you just want to figure
it out on your own, you can do that.
But why would you do that when the Bible is like, one of the
ways to fight this fight and to win is to follow someone else's
faith whose outcomes look like the Word of God?
Amen. These are keys to victory.
These are keys to fighting in such a way where you win #3 fill
yourself with the hearing of God's Word.
Fill yourself with the hearing of God's Word.
Romans 10/17 So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
word of God. Faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word of God. When you listen to preachers, if
you leave with less faith, stop listening to them.
Nobody wants to say it then, but it's true.
If you listen to someone ministering the word of God and
you leave with less faith, it means you didn't hear the word
of God. It means you heard opinion and
you might have heard a couple jokes and a couple stories and a
couple quotes or whatever. But if you didn't hear the word
of God, the word of the Lord being ministered and preached,
then you're going to leave with less faith than when you came
in. And I don't know about you.
I don't have time to just come and listen to somebody talk.
I need somebody who's going to pump me up with the faith of
God's Word. Amen.
And that's a, that's a prayer. When I walk around the property
of this church, there's four different corners.
And one of the corners is that this would be a House of the
word of God. And I pray every time I go to
that corner. This is the House of the word of
God, the House of the word of God.
And I pray over this platform and I pray that may every person
who stands on this platform preach the word of God,
unadulterated, unfiltered, in Jesus name.
May they preach that word from here.
Why? Because I have no confidence in
our flesh. I have no confidence in my
skill. I have no confidence in the
degrees I've gotten. I have no confidence in the
Bible study skills and the exegesis and the hermeneutics
and all of that which are helpful to assist me.
But unless I'm preaching the actual Word of God, I have no
confidence. Why?
Because your faith is on the line.
So when you're coming in here, my aim is that your faith get
stronger and built up so that throughout your life you can
take these words to the bank because they're not ties words.
They're the word of God. That's why I use so many
scriptures. Some, some people are like, why
do you use so many scriptures? Because my words aren't going to
help you. You can't take my words to the
bank. You can't take my words to
spiritual warfare. If you do, you'll lose.
Amen. You need the Word of God, and by
the Word of God you'll be able to yield that sword of the
Spirit and take out the enemy #4 to fight for your faith.
We have to gather with believers.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse 22. Let us draw near with the true
heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience in our bodies washed
with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession
of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and
good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another,
and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
We're not supposed to gather less.
We're supposed to gather more as we see the day of the Lord
coming. Why?
Because the Bible prophecies that many will stray, even the
elect. Well, stray.
Well, how do you not stray? How do you not lose your faith?
Like some that I've talked about before is one of the ways is you
gather with believers. So of course, here we're
gathering this morning, you get to be seen.
You get to interact with people who are like faith and they're
holding us accountable and they're encouraging us.
But home groups, we're going to do home groups in a few weeks
here. So gathering throughout the
week, gathering a more intimate space where you can really do
life and open up life together. And there'll be other things
even that I share at our Vision Sunday on February the 8th.
And I can't wait to show just what God is stirring up in the
hearts of people. And it's all around gathering
with believers so powerful #5 praying in the Spirit, praying
in the Spirit. Jude only has 1 chapter, so
we'll say verse 20 says, But you beloved, building yourselves up
on your most holy faith, building yourselves up on your
most holy faith, praying in the Spirit.
When you're in a fight, pray in the Spirit.
Bible also says, for we do not know what to pray for as we
ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered.
So when you're praying in the Spirit, it is the Spirit of God
praying through you. And the Bible says when you're
doing that, you're praying the perfect will of God.
So I don't know about you, but if I know as I'm praying the
Spirit, I'm praying the perfect will of God.
Guess what's being built my faith?
Because there are sometimes where I don't have English words
for what needs to be prayed. I don't know enough of what's
going on. I don't know the insurance and
outs. I don't know the full
circumstances. So guess what I get to do?
I get to start praying in the Spirit.
And when I start praying the Spirit, something in me starts
to shift and my faith gets built.
And I'll do what the old Saints used to call.
I'll pray through it. You know what pray through it
means? It means you pray until you're
through it. And you, how do you know you're
through it? You'll know, you'll feel a
release and you'll feel like, OK, it's done and you'll just be
able to go go along in your business.
But there are many times where I don't know it, even church wise,
I don't know what to pray for, but I'll pray through it and
I'll pray in the Spirit and I'll pray, pray, pray, pray, pray,
pray, pray, pray. Sometimes it can be done in 5
minutes, sometimes it takes 30 minutes, sometimes it takes an
hour. It just takes as long as it
takes. But I'll tell you what, I'm
going to engage that fight. Even if I don't know what to
pray for, I'm going to click in and I'm going to pray in the
Spirit. Amen.
Praise the Lord number six. Last one, strengthen yourself in
the Lord. Strengthen yourself in the Lord.
I want to close with this particular example of King
David. It's one of the most startling
passages in Scripture because it's David at probably one of
his lowest points. Let me read just out of verse
one of First Samuel chapter 30. Now it happened when David and
his men came to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites
had invaded the South and Ziklag attacked Ziklag and burned it
with fire and had taken captive the women and those who are with
their, who are there from small to great, they did not kill
anyone, but carried them away and went their way.
So David and his men came to the city and there was burned with
fire. And their wives, their sons and
their daughters have been taken captive.
So think of this. David's fighting the, the, the,
the battles of the Lord. And while he's fighting the
battles of the Lord, his own home gets ransacked.
And anybody who's ministered before been in ministry,
sometimes you can feel like I'm out doing the, the, the, the
ministry for the Lord and my own home feels like it's on fire.
This is what happened to David. So they come back and I'll just
paraphrase a little bit, they come back.
All his men turned on him. They were ready to stone him and
kill him because he they were like, it's your fault.
This is your fault. We followed you.
You said God was with us. You said we were fighting the
battles of the Lord. We trusted you.
And now look, our wives, our kids are all taken captive.
Our homes are burned with fire, and it's your fault.
That's where we find David. Verse 6 says, Now David was
greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him,
because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man
for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself
in the Lord. But David strengthened himself
in the Lord. He.
Did what no one else was doing. Everyone else was grieving.
David strengthened himself in the Lord.
Everyone else was blame shifting.
David was strengthening himself in the Lord.
This sound familiar to anybody? Have you ever gone through a
time like that where you felt like this?
This could not get worse. This is the time where you
strengthen yourself in the Lord. This is the time you go back to
the one who called your name in the beginning.
This is the one where you go where David says I go to the
rock that is higher than I. This is why David says over and
over and over in the Psalms that he is his, that God is his
refuge in his shelter. Because he knew what he was
talking about. He found that shelter in the
Lord. When everything seemed like it
was falling apart, when the battle was fiercest, he
strengthened himself in the Lord.
Then David said to Abiathar, the priest, him elect's son, bring
the ephod here to me. And Abiathar brought the ephod
to David. So David inquired of the Lord,
Look at that. The strengthening came through
inquiring, and he asked the Lord what to do.
Now most of us would just assume what to do.
We got to run. We got to go take back what was
stolen from us. We got to chase down the enemy.
We got to find our kids and our wives.
But David took the pause to inquire of the Lord.
He went back to what he has been doing all along, and he asked
the Lord, Shall I pursue this troop?
Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, God
answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them, and
without fail recover all. In the midst of one of the
darkest times of his whole life, he received the word of the Lord
as a leader, but also for his own family to pursue the troop.
Pursue them, overtake them, and you shall surely without fail,
recover all. Some of us, we haven't been
fighting up to this point. We haven't deployed any of the
things that I've mentioned today.
Some of you haven't realized it was a fight.
You were in a fight for your faith.
But there's good news. You get back in this fight and
you inquire of the Lord and you ask Him what to do now, and he
won't be any different to you than he was with David.
And his intent for you and your family and your life is that you
shall surely overtake what was stolen from you and you shall
surely overtake and you shall surely recover.
All of it. Come on.
Every single bit of all of it, all of it, all of it in Jesus
name. All of it in Jesus name.
You know, through the years I've met many people, you know,
they'll go through the different recessions and different things
will happen in their life. And you know, if you remember
2008, 2009, I knew many friends who lost their houses during
that time because they got different mortgages and
different things that just, you know, later on bit them.
And of course we can money morning quarterback that and
well, you should have done this and none of the other.
I don't know all the circumstances, but all I know is
that it's in those moments where you got to go back to the Lord
and ask him, What do I do? What do I do?
Because Satan will have you defeated.
He'll let you wallow in defeat. He'll let you wallow in your
debt. He'll let you wallow in all the
life circumstances that He created for you, and he'll blame
you. It's your fault.
You shouldn't have done this. And he'll just condemn, condemn,
condemn, condemn. But the Lord, he'll start to
direct your steps in your path. And what's He directing you back
towards? Toward recovery, toward
restoration, toward taking back everything that the enemy's
stolen. So when you get in the fight of
faith, guess what? You're not just maintaining
territory or ground, You're taking ground.
You're recovering things that were lost or taken from you,
stolen from you. This is all throughout
Scripture. I'm just choosing a couple
different examples because I don't have the time to go
through all of them. But we could go through
scripture after scripture after scripture where it was the will
of God for his people to basically do this, to go
overtake and recover all, go overtake and recover all, go and
overtake and recover all. And I just feel like for some
this morning, you need to write this down On this date, January
the 18th, 2026. This was the day where God gave
you permission, go take it back. Come on.
Oh, I feel it strong, some of you.
This is the day where you determine I'm going to take my,
my, my, my children back. As of today.
I may have made mistakes, I may have done some things where it
may have caused them to get all wonky on me right now.
But as of today, I take them back in Jesus name.
Why? Because I'm not wrestling with
flesh and blood. You don't need to call them and
say, guess what? The pastor, I'm taking you back
today in Jesus name. Don't you do that.
That's not what this is about. This is a spiritual fight.
This is a fight of your faith. And once your faith is back,
Satan and his cohorts, his demons have no chance, no shot
to take advantage of you or your family any longer.
And it's just a matter of time before you pursue and you catch
back up with them and you take it all back in Jesus name.
This isn't me just preaching hype.
This isn't me preaching some sort of skewed gospel.
This is me actually preaching the Bible, glory to God.
And I just sense very strongly that some of us, as your faith
rises, some of you are going to remember words that God spoke
over your life even years ago, promises he spoke to you,
visions he gave to you. But unbelief clouds all that.
It gets it all pressed down and sometimes it gets so bad you
forget it. But when faith starts to stir
back up in your heart, guess what?
Your memory comes back and you start to remember.
Oh, I remember, I remember when God spoke to me this, this
message a few years ago. And I haven't seen recovery of
all that. And guess what that is?
That's that is faith rising back up in you.
And you start to do that and you start to lay hold and put on the
whole armor of God and you start to do these things of how to
fight the faith. I'm telling you, we're going to
have more testimonies in 2026 than in any previous time of
this church history in Jesus name, in the name of Jesus.
First, John 54 says this is the victory that has overcome the
world, our faith. That's how powerful.
Faith is it overcomes the world. Your faith could literally be so
potent it overcomes the world. Glory to God, glory to God.
Thank you Lord. Let's stand to our feet and
let's say some things. Glory to God.
I was listening to a minister and he said he was going to the
Lord because he was facing all kinds of trouble.
And he asked God, God, what do I do?
And the Lord told him, stand. So he shot back at the Lord.
He said, I've been standing and the Lord told him we'll keep
standing. He says, but what do I do after
that? He says, he said if you knew
what I knew, you would be rejoicing.
And the minister said, well, what do you know that I don't
know? He says, what I know that you
don't know is that Satan just shot his best shot and you're
still standing. Glory to God.
And something when I heard that shot up in me and I'm like,
that's true. That's true.
And for some of you, the fact that you're in this sanctuary
today ought to give you a great confidence that you can stick
with it and fight the fight of faith.
Glory to God. I didn't warn y'all for this,
but Robin joined. Do you mind coming up?
Yeah. Thank you.
Glory to God.
Some of us you just need to
close your eyes where you're at and start remembering What are
some of the promises that feel like they got stolen from you,
where you feel like you lost ground.
Maybe you feel like the enemy did it.
Maybe it's you just need some discernment on what's really
going on. But as of today, the late the
Lord saying either way ask me what to do, ask me what to do,
talk to me about it, stop Googling, stop AI ING it and ask
me ChatGPT has nothing on the Spirit of God.
Hello, glory to God, close your eyes right where you're at and
just begin to ask the Lord, Lord, where does this apply to
me? Where does this apply to me?
Start committing saying, Lord, I'm ready to jump back in this
fight. I'm ready to be strengthened
again. I'm ready to put on the whole
armor of God again. I'm ready to wield this sword of
the spirit. I'm ready to raise my shield of
faith so that I'm able to quench every fiery dart of the wicked
one. Glory to the name of Jesus.
Glory to the name of the Lord, Glory to the name of God.
Lord, I pray that you'd start just releasing new dreams and
visions in this place, in this atmosphere of faith.
I pray that you just start dropping in to the hearts of
people what it is that you have for their life, dreams and
visions that far outweigh anything that they have thought
or imagined up to this place. I pray that you would start
increasing our faith so that we would literally go from faith to
faith and glory to glory. I pray that you would help us
Lord that all unbelief would drain out of us in Jesus name.
I pray that we would be fully convinced that he who promised
is able to complete it, able to bring it about 100%.
Glory to God, glory to God, glory to God.
In fact, I just say what King David said, which is let God be
true and every man a liar. And so, Lord, I just declare
that wherever circumstances seem to compete with your promise, I
say, let God be true, and every man a liar, every philosophy a
liar, every other religion a liar, every other gospel a liar,
Let God be true and every. One of those things, be a liar.
Glory to the name of the Lord, Glory.
To the name of the Lord. Some of us, we just need to
commit. Lord, I'd rather die in faith
than live in unbelief. Lord, I'd rather die in faith
than live in unbelief. I'm committing myself to this
fight of faith. I will not give up until the
very last breath that I breathe. And I'm with Jesus in heaven.
Glory to the name of the Lord. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
Glory to God. We want to thank you again for
joining us for the Arise Church podcast.
We hope you were encouraged by what you heard today.
You can find us.online@arisechurchn-c.com and
on Instagram at Arise Church NC. If you need prayer or support or
are interested in learning more about Arise Church, we encourage
you to connect with us online or in person at our Sunday morning
service. Thank you and God bless.