Fight or Flight: What the Bible Says to Flee and What to Fight For

for e e e brothers and sisters um I'd like to read from proverbs 10:2 so it says hatred stirs up conflict but love covers over all wrongs and you know hatred it can it can start fights and and it can make problems in the church and stuff like that and it creates tension um but love on the other hand helps to heal man relationships and it it it means forgiving others and letting go of grudges you know and just kind of letting things go and just question yourself when's the last time you kind of uh told somebody that you actually love them like I I feel like maybe we should tell people uh that more more often like you know I love you I feel like it it kind of creates more positivity and it says in Proverbs as well that you know we should choose love over hatred um so yeah I kind of want to bring up that verse but with that being said let's stand up and pray Lord God we thank you for this time that you g given us today Lord and we ask to bless the service Lord and we pray and we ask fill this space of the Holy Spirit God help us to learn your word God to to lead our lives with it Lord to bind it in our hearts God help us to live by Your Word God and Lord God to live a holy and a righteous life Lord we ask for your blessings upon this service Lord in Jesus name we pray amen amen and at the start of our service we're going to be singing a song called how vast the love [Music] come gaze upon your savior behold your great High draw near in awe and wonder his cross has spoken [Music] PE Come Bless from sin and striving find endless Sor of [Music] Grace the heart that turns to Jesus is cleansed from every St oh how deep how are how long oh how fast the love of of Jesus oh how sure how sweet how strong oh how vast is love for us so lift your eyes to Jesus arise from doubt and [Music] shame his love chist in is finished our life is in his name oh how deep how wide how long oh how vast the love of Jesus oh how sure how sweet how strong oh how vast is love for us so now can separate us can death or pain or fear we have the strong [Music] Assurance in Christ we've been brought near and in his strength will labor his promises are home th far his love has led us his love will lead us oh how deep how I love oh how gr the love of Jesus oh how sure how sweet how strong oh how last is love for for us oh how the wi love oh how vast the love of Jesus oh how sure how sweet how strong oh how vast is love for us [Music] oh my soul do you not know have you not heard it's been told from the beginning the Lord your God is on your side oh my soul Don't Be Afraid hope in the Lord by his rightousness and power he will strengthen he will guard and I will SAR on wings like eagles help by the hand of God I will run and now grow tired when on his name I call for the Lord is never wey his ways are beyond my thoughts I will trust in him with all my heart [Music] oh my soul do you not know have you not heard has been told from the beginning the Lord your God is on your side oh my soul don't be afraid hope in the Lord by his rightousness and power he will strengthen he will guide and I will s on wings like e held by the hand of God I will run and our when on his name I come for the Lord is never wey his ways are beyond my thoughts I will trust in him with all my heart and I will rest of upon his promise patiently away and I will shore on wings like eagles held by the hand of God I will run and I'll grow TI and on his name I call for the Lord is never wey his way are beyond my thoughts I will trust in him with all my heart I will trust in him with all my heart praise God brothers and sisters I'd like to start off by reading um first Proverbs 22:4 as you could see I kind of like the proverbs um but today I wanted to um yeah read from 1 Proverbs 22:4 humility is the fear of the Lord its wages are riches and honor and life today I wanted to kind of delve into humility what it is what the Bible says about it and why it's good for us to walk in humility and before we proceed I kind of wanted to just um look into what the actual dictionary says about what humil is so it says freedom from Pride or arrogance the quality or state of being humble and as we read in the Proverbs it says that humility is the fear of the Lord uh so to break this down a little bit humility is not actually putting yourself down it's not saying to yourself uh you know I'm a nobody or I'm I'm this type of a person or just looking down on yourself it's rather realizing your place in relation to God and others and the fear of the Lord as we know it um it it's not actually being afraid of God himself but to acknowledge God's Authority and living in submission to him so we see that uh o over here that walking in humility is the fear of the Lord and and then what does it say later in that verse its wages are riches and honor and life very interesting so the Bible tells us what we receive if we are to walk in humility we receive riches honor and life so what does this mean now riches doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be a multi-billionaire uh but it means more of a a richness in life it means peace uh Tranquility finding satisfaction and living for God um we can gain Honor by gaining respect from others by living righteously and doing wise actions it can give us a good reputation which in turn uh gives us honor and life means that we can uh first have a meaningful life on this Earth but also an eternal life in Christ and what is the opposite of humility uh it's Pride which it says that in Proverbs uh chter 16: 18 Pride goes Before Destruction a hotty spirit before a fall so I'd like to bring up a story from the Bible that really explains this verse here and it is about King Nebuchadnezzar and we can read this from uh Daniel 4:30 the king spoke saying is it not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty and then we see um later later down verse 31-33 while the words were still in the king's mouth a voice fell from heaven King NE Nebuchadnezzar to you it is spoken the king has departed from you and they shall drive you from men and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field they shall make you eat grass like oxen and seven times shall pass over you until you know that the most high rules in the Kingdom of man and gives it to who whoever uh he chooses that very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen his body was wet with the Dew of Heaven till his hair had grown like Eagle's feathers and his nails like Bird's claws King Nebuchadnezzar he had a massive Kingdom that he was running and pride it came to him once he saw all that he had and this is also what happens to us you know when we do not walk in humility as fast as God gave you something he can also take it away and we must realize that all we have is because of God and let's read the rest of the story when he realized that God gave him all he has which is in verse 34-36 and at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me and I blessed the most high and at the end of the days most high and praised and honored him who lives forever for his Dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to Generation all the inhabitants of the Earth are reputed as nothing he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the in inhabitants of the earth no one can restrain his hand or say to him what have you done at the same time my reason returned to me and for the glory of my kingdom my honor and Splendor return to me my counselors and Nobles resorted to me and I was res resorted to my king my kingdom an excellent Majesty was added to me let's be honest brothers and sisters it's it's very easy to be prideful in something that we were able to accomplish and even if you don't say out loud to people you can think this in your heart and this can really start to lead up and and build up to destruction in many areas of Our Lives if untreated and um you know pride is a part of our flesh ever since Adam and Eve when they wanted to elevate themselves and to challenge god um or for example the Tower of Babel when they try to build up the the most tallest building that they can and this is naturally our fleshly attribute which also needs to be treated uh since the beginning of time and in this case we we must seek God's grace and repent for any Pride we have in our lives as it says in James 4: 6 God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble submit yourselves then to God resist the devil and he will free flee from you come near to God and he will come near to you wash your hands you Sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded gri grieve mourn and wail change your laughter to mourning and your joy to Gloom humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up brothers and sisters this is not saying that we can't be very good in something it do not mean that we should strive for mediocrity in our lives um because it would be prideful to achieve something more it only means uh to give all praise and glory to God as he is the one that enables us to do certain things in our lives or to have what we have it is he that gives us everything and in fact it it also says in Colossians 3:23 um whatever you do work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord not for human Masters since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward it is the Lord Christ your are serving we should be working as hard as possible in all things that uh that we do you know like our our careers our school uh even you know the most simplest things like uh cleaning the house it should be as we doing it for Christ and whatever we have whether it's intelligence spiritual success financial success good looks you know certain talents or achievements we must give God all the praise and from that we will receive the wages that are promised which are riches honor and life so brothers and sisters I I kind of like write this sermon mostly for myself because God he also taught me these things and I know that I can also help some younger people here uh you know who are just starting out their lives and if we strive to walk in humility in our lives every single day God will really be able to use us and with that being said I'd like to pray amen as we stand we're going to be singing a song called Lord I offer my life to [Music] you all that I am all that I have I lay them down before for you oh Lord all my regrets all my claim the joy and the pain I'm making them yours Lord I offer my life to you everything I been through use it for your glory Lord I offer my days to you lifting my praise to you as a pleasing SRI Lord I offer you my love things in the past things yet unseen wishes and dreams that are yet to come true all of my hopes all of my BL my heart and my name are lifted to you Lord I offer my life to you everything i' been through use it for your glory Lord I offer my days to you lifting my praise to [Music] you as a bling saice Lord I offer you my Lord I offer my life to you everything I can [Music] through for your glory Lord I offer my gra to you lifting my graise to you as a pleasing sa Lord I offer you [Music] my well praise God my dear friends there's a lot of people I know that are sick there's not a lot of us here today so um at the end we're going to be uh praying for our friends that are sick and um but right now is the announcement and so we we're going to have a a clothing Drive um in two weeks and so if you have anything that you would like to uh bring maybe if you have extra baby clothes or extra teen clothes or extra women uh clothes or shoes you can let's do this um because like Emma and Rosa are in charge but they're gone so on Tuesday if you guys can gather your stuff today tomorrow Tuesday uh bring it here to the gym and I will already give it to them so just bring it in a bag leave it in the gym and then I will uh give it to them so just so everybody knows again this uh clothing Drive is going to be targeting single mothers that you know many different ways they're single you know and um maybe they can't afford right now it's a difficult situation for many and we've done it in the past and it's been a blessing to many so if you guys can um I would encourage you to do that uh well tonight we're going to have church meeting after service so there's no gym the kids have been asking no gy but it's getting warm warm so we're going to be going to the park I think already starting next week um but as of now we have a group uh that prepared a song and then after that we have a guest who's going to share a message amen e [Music] when I can't trace the Master's Hand can I go on when I can't see his plan can I walk through the cold dark by faith I can and here's the reason why I know I know my savior KES every heard my broken heart can't be I run up to his nails feet and leave my TR there cuz I know I know my [Music] [Applause] savior he are the same I can't [Music] forget and bears the scars of all that I [Music] regret my life was red in my own hands but through his love I can't and begin again I know I know my Savi K every heard my broken heart can't [Music] be I run up to his nails for feet and leave my TR there cuz I know I know my savior [Music] [Applause] care I run up to his nails feet and leave my TR there cuz I know I know my savior care [Music] amen praise God um interesting that the service already has kind of gone a certain way you know we' talked a little bit about the the the fear of the Lord the lust and the young you know and we talked a little about relying on God so um today I want to talk just a little bit um about fight or flight and um the me the passage that I kind of took or what that kind of spurred this thought uh was when I was reading First Timothy 611 but you man of God flee from all this and pursue righteousness godliness Faith love endurance gentleness and gentleness fight the good fight of the faith take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you were made uh when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses um so when I read this I was like oh it's talking telling us to fight against something and to flee against something and um that's why I was like huh where in the Bible does it teach or what does it tell us to run from and what does it tell us to fight against and so that's kind of that was the question and so I'm like oh I'd like to learn more and so I just started digging and started looking into the word similar and all that and um when we we when we think back to like the fight ORF flight response you know we've been in school and we heard about the fight or flight response and um we like I I was born in Russia Siberia and Siberia is known for like forests and cold and bears and tigers and things like that and so I was little when we left but my dad tells me that um the forest was really rich in berries like nuts and um um all sorts of um like um like natural things like there was a lot of they could go pick pine nuts off the off the trees lot of berries different kind of berries fruits wild flowers really beautiful places and um one night one day he was out and picking berries and so he was picking these um berries and off the off this little Bush and so he was picking picking and then he got into it and then he hears something on the other side of the Bush um also you know picking berries and so he was kind of leaning over and or leaning down and so he picks up his head at that same moment a bear picks up his head and they look at each other from the other sides of the bushes and they both at the same time turn around and run from each other different directions um thank God uh that the bear had the flight response and so did my dad um because I I don't know how when that was but I don't know if I'd be here or not so so uh but that was the you know his the the his response was flight and the bear probably never seen a a a white man before and so the Bear's like oh man run who is this ghost um so when we read like if you look into the science books and they says you know the fight or flight response also known as the acute stress syndrome uh refers to a psychological reaction that occurs when we are in presence of something that is mentally or physically terrifying in response to acute stress the body sympathetic nervous system is activated by the sudden release of hormones the sympathetic nervous system then stimulates the adrenal glands triggering the release of camines including ADR adrenaline and noradrenaline and this chain of reaction results in an increase of heart rate blood pressure and breathing rate after the threat is gone it takes between 20 to 60 minutes for the body to return to its previous um pre pre- arousal State um it's kind of like after I leave this Pulpit it takes me like 20 to 60 Minutes to chill out and like stop sweating and stuff you know um but that's the that's the I mean that's a lot of information that's a definition right that's a lot of but basically we have a system in us that naturally was you know God created and given us that you know when we see threat we you know this body goes into this response mode where we can run away from that danger you know for a really fast short time unfortunately but fast and then um um and then kind of keep ourselves safe and so but same things happen in the spiritual world too and then again when we read this there's some things that the Bible says flee run and some things that the Bible says we need to fight against and um speaking of fight ORF flight or kind of the the deescalation period I have um right now we have like 30 something chickens um in our backyard and all of a sudden I heard this commotion and and like like my rooster and chickens all screaming and and I was like what is going on and I kind of run to the backyard and it's like xray you know not not like typical like squawking and stuff and my kids were like Dad Dad a hwk tried to attack one of the chicks and the rooster attacked it and and he fought it off and the the hawk flew away and um that my rooster was walking and screaming for like literally half a day afterwards he got so um worked up about it he didn't he got he surprised himself I think what happened and so he it took him like half a day to kind of and the chickens were in the ceop for like half a day too and just like trying to get rid of all the stress and um all the adrenaline that's going through their body so we are well familiar with that uh with fighting or fight or flighting flight or getting running away and let's start off with what we need to flee from what we need to run away from and the first is this um passage but it's a little earlier before that uh Paul writes to Timothy he says but godliness with contentment is great gain for we brought nothing into the world world and we can take nothing of it out of it but if we have food and clothing we will be content with that those who want to be rich fall into temptation and trap uh fall into temptation and trap into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction For the Love of Money is a root of all kinds of evil some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pce deceived themselves with many griefs but you man of God flee from all this so the first thing that he tells us to flee from is Love of Money That's the first or there's four one of them is Love of Money during that time and we see and we hear that a lot even now uh but during Jesus's time the Pharisees um defined Blessing by God or they looked upon or they looked at themselves and said if you are rich and you have money you have favor from God but if you are poor and you don't have then the God has not given you favor they actually mocked Jesus for being poor and I in Luke they write or Luke writes um no one can serve two masters either you will you will either you will hate the one and love the other or you will be devoted to the one and despite the other you cannot serve both God and money Pharisees Who Loved money heard all this and were sneering at Jesus they were making fun of him they were putting him down because they loved money and they taught and that's was later on in in Ephesians there was also that the blessing or being or righteous was also associated with money and saying that if you are righteous you will have money you will be blessed by God financially and that's why Paul writes and to Timothy he says you know what you're given everything you need it's a blessing to be content but run from this run from the desire of money so the bigger picture here is where where he talks about falling into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction this is a hard one because we live in this world that is very um physical and in order for us to sustain to pay for um ourselves you know or to do you have to like they say u in Russian like everything or silver answers for everything and you know to buy a house especially now you guys probably seen it as well as we in Portland seen the increases um and you know in prices um incre in the inflation of the homes and everything else those Californians right um so we've we've seen all this we've seen all that in our in our homes and in our property and and you you're like I have a lot of friends who are young and they're like Ivan I'm looking for a decent house and and it's it's in our Portland area it's everything's 500 and up uh anything that's under 500 is thousand 500,000 um is like a shack you know and I can't really you know there no backyard I'm like well you got to settle for what you can afford the first house is you know whatever so we have these conversations but we understand that and we we we look ahead and when especially for younger folks they're like well um you know I want to I want to be able to afford a place for my family family I want to be growing I want to be giving I want to be and so you're kind of in that situation where like how do I how do I look at money I need to make enough to sustain ourselves but at the same time you know it says you know don't the root of evil is money and what I do and so it's a hard one for many people but here he says flee from the love of money so what he talks about here is in in Ephesians they were having having the look of being righteous but deep inside they were Desiring to have money power and then giving or being or um having that Financial wealth financial and they were their true motives were not driven by love or by desire to serve God but to be financially well off or having being here on Earth having their life be set the other thing it talks about is The Temptations that we fall into traps when people go after the richest they have many they sustain many problems and we know that and we see that um in many families that we've seen where some folks have dedicated their life into businesses or dedicated their life into fi gaining that Financial um um you Prosperity we noticed that their kids a lot of times pay the price because what they has end up doing is they put the money before everything else before their families before a church before God but before even at the at the root when Jesus said you cannot have two masters you can only have one you're going to either serve the other not and avoid the second and you're not going to serve two and so what ends up happening is we see that people div giving all their thoughts all their attention to a business or some kind of a job uh working overtime or whatever it may be not for they again this the the righteous answer that they say is oh I'm doing this for the kids I'm going to go on this extra truck trip because I need to provide this for my kids for my kids and it's that excuse of righteousness I'm doing this for the greater good but when you look at the results the results do not show that kids end up being in drugs kids end up being um you know misbehaving other challenges as you may have seen and know the deeper problem is that they're not honest they are chasing the money or not even chasing they're not running away from the love of it because it's it's such a hard like I said because we live in the physical world it's such a hard and um fine line to live because we understand that we need it but at the same time we understand that we also have to have our priorities straight and that's why he says first thing he says love run from the Love of Money check yourself don't say oh you're making excuses what find or look at your money where you're where it goes how you allocate it and that'll give you like if you look at the bank statement look at what where does your you know what's the most percentage of your money goes to um does it go to you know the good good test to check is know how much do I tithe how much do I give and tithing is just one of the things that when you look into financials or when the Bible teaches about financials tithing is just one aspect but there's also the giving the um supporting others and there's that goes above tithing um so that's one so that's first we're not going to belabor that um but just wanted to let's look at the next one um and next one is 1 Corinthians 618 if you're writing down or if you're taking notes from 15 to 20 is what you should read because that's kind of more but in 18 He talks about he says flee from sexual immorality all other sins a person commits are outside of the body but whoever sins sexually sins against their own body do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have received from God you are not your own you were brought at a you were bought at a price therefore honor God with your bodies here he says flee or be in Russian it says be and says that's a um present tense currently or all the time flee from sexual immorality um this applies to Young this applies to Old this does not have like a generational thing uh where we see that and we see that more and more often you know you hear these news that oh such a old person or older man whatever fell into this you know and sexual immorality and you're like wow how could this be you know but he says Fleet in Russian again current present tense that's the second thing that he talks about because when we look at the world and we know that everything in the world belongs to Satan this whole system is designed and he knows the Satan knows what is what drives a person what drives a human being if you want to know um do read some marketing material or take if you've ever taken classes uh um marketing class classes are great you kind of understand the psyche and then the how the world operates and how the devil works the marketers you know but so but again that's what he says is flee sexual immorality we know that even like you open a phone even like Facebook will start doing ads based on what your preferences are based on what your cookies are um I've deleted some like social even social apps that started out like Instagram started out fine but once they start you know figuring out what you're searching they're starting to promote things that when they find out the algorithm reads and starts to push things at you it's like I'm not looking for this but that information is going to be in front of you young people it's also um we do teen Ministry at um at our church in Solita and the exposure to porn and to s that are you know sexual IM moral is getting or the age is getting lower and lower and lower due to the fact that kids are having um access to cell phones there's no filters there's no nothing and that information just jumps at you just continually uh jumping out and we're dealing with that more and more and earlier and earlier right now and it's working is also uh what we're finding is we're seeing is that it's also Al affecting not only boys but all boys and girls it doesn't doesn't work one way or the other so he talks flee don't mess with it don't say oh I can do this or this much or you know sometimes you know guys we we have this oh I can do I can stand he doesn't say stand he said flee oh I can be I can watch this rating is okay but anything above that rating is not you know and we kind of uh maybe this maybe that try to kind of negotiate with ourselves and say that oh potentially I can do this he says you are the Temple of Holy Spirit God can't live or fill the Holy Spirit can't fill a heart that is um filled with immoral or sinful things that is the baggage that some some of some of people carry and when they come and I can't pray well why can't you pray you know and then we start talking oh well you know this this okay flee that's the second thing sexual immorality third thing that he talk what Bible says or talks about is idolatry uh First Corinthians chapter 10 7-14 do not be idolators as some of them were as in is written the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in rivalry no temptation has overtaken your um no temptation has overtaken your you except what is common to Mankind and God is faithful he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear but when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can endure endure it therefore my my dear friends flee from idolatry Idols by themselves you know we know that they're just work of art whatever they don't mean anything but back in the day we read that uh in Old Testament Israel was constantly falling or the chosen people were constantly falling into temptation or into idolatry and to me it was interesting to see that or kind of I was wondering like why is it that people kept falling into that and it's that the thinking that or the what people were around were thinking the more Gods I have the better the better chances I have to sustain myself to um to promote or to be um um safe you know have Prosperity um and when Israelites or when they looked at that and they saw that oh their gods seem to help them also they don't require much Our God requires this this this and so that was that Temptation that oh you do um they don't require too much you can do you know couple of rituals and you're good and check mark the other thing that worked was the drive inside that was also um you know driving toward the sinful things and they were falling to that um when we look at idolatry it's letting something else so so that's why again that's how it was in before and right now we're like well how does that apply to me how does that you know we don't have Idols or things that we fall into or don't need many gods you know to be successful or to you know make sure we have crops in the morning or whatever or next year so how does that apply so what idolatry is idolatry is letting something be at the center of your desires values hopes and submitting your hopes or desires to something else something that takes value something that takes priority in your life and we can at at a you know when we when we talk about you know preserving in your heart when the Lord says you know Above All Else guard your heart heart is our desires our thoughts our desires and our deepest desires deepest ones and then also the will our will to do something or not to do something and when we submit that to something else besides God when we think about something when we actually do something that be takes the place of God that becomes our Idol it could be anything can be Sports it could be you know um work job whatever it may be um it could take a place of our God and sometimes we can associate also idolatry can also be associated with simply outwardly commitment to God oh we say that oh yeah we're committed we're doing this but at the same time be equally or highly committed to certain individuals organizations or things you know so oh yeah we do a little bit of church yeah we're committed to church but then oh no we at the same time we're committed to something else that is um taking priority and driving our life driving our decisions again our desires our our also will or actions that we're taking he says flee from that because again we live in this physical world and it's hard because we are constantly we see things that we are oh this looks really interesting and we get so captivated by it either information or um hobby of some sort that it becomes priority and it takes priority over our oh coming to service oh ah it's okay this is less and we it's hard because again it's it starts with little but then over time we know oh and a lot of times what interesting part is like I I loved volleyball like for me volleyball was big um when I was younger and I knew a lot of times like okay if where I'm kind of like pushing the line uh like when I'm failing classes and I'm like and all my A's are in volleyball you know it's like wait and then like when guys are like hey you know like let's go play volleyball it's like hey it's evening service and you know w and then you start playing and well I'm all sweaty it's too late I can't go to church anymore you know we'll just play anyways we know we know our inclinations we know what drives us you know somebody like coding you know I have some geeky friends you know that love coding and that's they'll dive into that or gaming or some whatever it may be that takes priority takes your thoughts your actions your and then you you fall and and you start next thing you know that is above God flee idolatry fourth Thing 2 Timothy 2:22 flee the evil desires of Youth and pursue righteousness Faith love and peace along with those who call on the Lord uh on the Lord out of a pure heart another one says flee so flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness Faith love and peace so before you know early I was I was always thought that or youthful desires or youthful passions all associated with like sexual things but later on I um kind of thought more about it and I'm like wait if you look at youth right we have a great group right here uh young strong strong talented lot of energy Beau beautiful and there is that desire to apply self um test things out this whole world is in front of you and there's a lot of Temptations oh I want to like as I said there's volleyball there's I don't dirt biking there is all the these things that are coming out like you you want to try them you want to these the they're all desires that of our youth like hey I want to try this I want to do learn about this yes there there is some of that um the sexual thing falls into it but like oh I want to learn more about this I want to learn more about that but a lot of it is also the youthful desires or as it says youthful passions flee from them because again what is your priority what will drive why are you driven toward that what's uh test yourself and again he says flee those useful lust those passions that uh we're so passionate about you you know either our again and our you know strengths and our um uh challenges that we see the thing about also what I what I've noticed like in youth you get a lot of Christian Youth have was raised in a church are your parents have put in a lot of money and time and effort into you to learn piano guitar you have a lot of talents there's education you have you have really good education you guys are smart you guys are you know because you've been you know parents were taking care of you taking care of themselves yeah genetically you're you know goodlook and the world sees that devil sees that the world the people around and they want to exploit that that's why there's all these things that will pop up and say hey devil like we heard earlier one of the tactics of Devil is a Lie he's a liar and again I say he'll go more into that he will lie and he say oh no this is oh this is fine this is okay try it oh it's okay and he understands what youthful lust are oh try this oh this is fine this is okay this line is no don't worry about it but he says flee from that because he's a liar Devil's a liar and he will you will he there will be like a kcan where he we were talking about the Trap it will catch you and then you'll realize how we were fooled and it a lot of times it's too late and some but God is willing God is open to take you back so again for the world for all that is in the world is lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and the pride of life it's not of the father but of this world so four things that we talked about is what we need to flee from run what we need to fight and when I was like oh what are we fighting against okay let's go you know um and when I was reading there was a many passages but they were all about one thing I was like whoa so with running from you know four things and then one thing that we need to fight for and again back to Timothy 1 Timothy 612 fight the good fight of the faith take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you were made uh when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses fight the good fight of Faith first we need to fight for faith in our life and the eternal life like when Paul talks um um earlier for uh in Hebrews so Hebrews 123 for consider him who endures such hostility from Sinners against himself lest you become weary and discouraged in your soul you have not yet resisted to Bloodshed striving against sin that you have not yet resisted to Bloodshed striving against sin Paul understands that we are as humans we are a fallen we're fall we've have our fallen nature within us we need to fight the good fight to against sin and to PR to preserve our own faith to stand firm in our faith 2 Timothy 47 chapter 4 7-8 I have fought the good fight I have finished the race I have kept the faith now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness this is the only fight that was worth fighting for it's in in his time you know Paul fought against you know judaic and worldly prophets Judaism lawlessness and sins of the church false prophets false teachings he endured physically spiritually just to continue to just also not only against but also to save his own or be he talks about he Compares himself to a runner that abstain that says no I will not eat this or do this but to win to be that first to be the champion second we learn is that fervently fighting for the faith of others when we read when we read about what we fight for Faith but the faith of others uh e 1 Ephesians 2 uh 2 he had previously suffered and been treated outr um outrageously in Philippi um so and as you know but with the help of our God we dare to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition there was strong opposition um but Paul they continue to fervently work and spread the gospel tell others about it um in Colossians 4:12 he says ocus uh who is one of you who is one of you a bond servant of Christ greets you always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God he cared about the faith of others Paul and he writes fervently fight for the faith of others and then the third thing that he talks about or Bible talks about is Faith in unity when we read Philippians um 1 127 or first pH 27 um or sorry 1 through 27 whatever happens conduct yourself in a matter worthy of the gospel of Christ then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence I will know that you stand firm in one Spirit striving together as one for the faith of the Gospel he talks about fighting or staying um excuse me um as a Unity as one or having unity in faith right now as you guys probably have seen yourself a lot of people fight and say oh we're fighting for the faith zavo but they they're hurting each other and they're constantly um Bel belittling each other uh putting others their brothers down at the claim that they're fighting for Faith what Bible tells us is to fight for Unity in faith be United show love it says how will others see that we are Disciples of Christ how will it be do you guys know when others see what amongst yourself love he Bible teaches us to fight for Unity in faith find those find people find for our own salvation for our own faith protecting that praying for others seeking others their faith fighting for that and then fighting for Unity in faith so we looked at fight flight we looked at two things that bible talks about not me and I've really was to me this was pretty interesting because again we hear a lot of um people say oh we need to fight for this or we need to stand for this and it's okay great um or we a lot of times we hear people to say oh we need to fight this temptation Bible says flee it and when it says flee it talks it as an imminent danger just like a a bear that's in front of you you're not going to overcome the bear if my dad or the bear decided to attack my dad my dad if he fought him chances I mean 100% would lose he didn't have any weapons on him he had a basket full of fruit maybe he would be like here you go bear eat some maybe that would be a way to distract them but that's the only what Bible says is imminent danger that's coming after your soul that could mean Destruction for you love of money you could lose your soul sexual immorality I idolatry youthful lusts those are the four things that says flee don't stand run away from it but what we need to fight for is Faith for your own faith for faith in your other brothers and sisters we in like we said we read earlier Paul was praying I pray for your faith I earnestly try and they and also also when we comes to other fa to face of others they would submit themselves and put themselves in the Harm's Way not only physically sometimes in order to spread the gospel here when we live in such a I mean calm like really good good environment we are afraid to say that we are Christian and I mean even I I've went through that myself I worked for an organization that was very um like liberal organization and was filled with um a lot of again like non-Christian and I I felt embar like I wouldn't say like oh would you there oh what you do over the weekend you know oh we hung out with family and then and this but I wouldn't say I went to church in the morning on Sunday and then in the evening we went again and we had this and that and I taught Sunday school or whatever you know I wouldn't say that cuz I was just like well we hung out with family I just say what we did between Services you know oh we went and did this and this but how do we spread the gospel how do we say you know what do we how do we fight for that to get others to be saved to have faith that will eventually determine the faith of their soul it they will determine the um Destin Nation or Eternity for them when we when we fight for things you know oh when we say oh no Bible says fight for saving other Souls pray for other people don't tell them what oh you did this wrong or this wrong no start praying for them just as earnestly as you're telling them that they did something wrong and then for Unity in in faith how much we like we see like based on faith they people start splitting having um families basically oh he went to a different church I don't want to talk to them anymore okay let's re-evaluate it's a natural again was we started talking about we have two choices when we Face something an imminent danger we can either fight or run away from it and say no no no I don't want to deal with this this bear is a little too big or I'm gonna fight it and I know I'm going to win and like my second kid he's very competitive he's not going to play a game if he's going to if he knows he's going to lose if there's chances are high he's going to lose he's like I'm not even going to play we'll sit down we'll start playing chess or something he's like oh no I don't want to play chess so when when we look at things we a lot of times we're like ah I don't know if I can fight this God is on your side God already won Jesus won the fight for you he's he's given you strength you have the strength to overcome overcome Temptation overcome but continue working it on yourself diving deep into the word coming to him in humbleness and in Spirit seeking relationship with him working on your faith fighting for that may God bless every single person here to run from things that the Bible says run from and to fight for things the Bible says we should fight for let's rise and pray e e e e e and as we rise before we sing Our uh Last Song I'll be reading from Proverbs 39-10 and here it says honor the Lord with your wealth with the first fruits of all your crops then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your Vats will brim over with new wine so if the Lord puts it on your heart to give to our ministry to the things that we're trying to strive and do with our Outreach and team like this Mother's Day um may God bless you in doing that and put whatever he has put on your heart to give and so now we'll be singing a song called give thanks with a grateful heart [Music] give thanks to the Grateful heart give thanks to the Holy One give thanks because he's given Jesus [Music] Christ his son give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the holy give thanks because he's given Jesus Christ his son and now let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us and now let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us give [Music] thanks give thanks with a Greatful heart give thanks to the holy give thanks because he's Jesus Christ is son give than with a grateful heart give to the [Music] his because he's given Jesus Christ this song and now let the weak say I am strong let the poor say I am rich because of What the Lord Has Done for us and now let th weak say I am strong let the poor say I am because of what the Lord has done for us give thanks [Music] praise God my dear friends well our uh service has come to the end and we're just going to end it and um like I said we have some needs uh brother Zach he got a flu um again his wife is sick and I guess his wife's uh parents came over and they went to eat and they all got sick so so I guess welcome to Idaho yeah but um so we're going to pray for them and also I know a lot of people are sick um does anybody else have any needs if not then let's pray Lord God we thank you we thank you for your message today Lord God that was spoken to to us Lord Jesus God may we use it in our life Lord God may we use what you have spoken today God that we can can be more like you Jesus Christ Lord Jesus we also pray for Zach Lord God and Hannah and all those that are sick Lord God we ask for full healing upon them Lord in the blood of Jesus like we like our Lord we ask for full healing upon them Lord Jesus and may you bless the rest of this evening in Jesus name we pray amen Our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us today our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from the evil one for the kingdom your power and Glory forever are yours amen