Fadar in heven, we bring every member of the family before you're thrown this evening, we bring the children, we bring sons, we bring daughters, we bring fathers, mothers, we bring siblings, uncles and aunties, we bring grandparents, there is chaos in the land, there is a destitute of quality knowledge concerning the subject of marriage, family and relationship. Satan is masquerading, misleading many young people including the old in this needful area of life. Today, in the name of Jesus, any family under the spell of the enemy, under the attack of the kingdoms of darkness, we pray in the name of Jesus, any family in bandage, we pray that the bible says where the sun set free, there is freedom indeed, from the south to the west, from the north to the east, let there be complete liberation of the family, anybody in any relationship that is destined for doom, would destroy, would derail, will affect, will vanquish their hope in God, we pray today in the powerful name of Jesus, let such relationship be broken, take control over the airwaves, we pray for internet stability, we pray for those here in person, we pray for those watching across the world, we pray through the power of the reason Christ, let your word come today with clarity, let it come with power, let it come with authority, not I, but Christ, be honored love and exalted, not I, but Christ, be seen, be known, and be heard, not I, but Christ, in every look and action, not I, but Christ, in every thought and word, in Jesus name, amen, please kindly be seated for the sake of time, our sub-year this evening, unfamiliar, family frenemy, subheading, let's go to war, unfamiliar, family frenemy, subheading, let's go to war, as I always do, it was Jesus Himself who said, if you continue in my words, then you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free, if the sun set you free, you will be free indeed, can some Kenyans and Africans in here, say ahati amen, that looks like it's in the colden part of Africa, can somebody say ahati amen out there, amen. I met you for promises, promise number one is the Bible is going to be the bedrock of our study, the reason is the Bible means what it says, and says just what it means, promise number two you are going to be enlightened, irrespective of who you are, promise number three you are going to be challenged to make the most important decision of your life, and promise number four our lives, your life and mine will never be the same, our theme for this month, hope for families, subheading, build, establish and flourish, but for today unfamiliar family friend me, subheading let's go to war, day one two subjects were treated, familiar family failures subheading it about us, in the evening familiar family friend it is subheading let's be real day number two unfamiliar family failures subheading let's rethink day number three yesterday unfamiliar family frustrations it's subheading let's be attentive and tonight is unfamiliar family friend me subheading let's go to war, friend me is an informal word which means a person who is or pretends to be a friend but who is also in some ways an enemy or arrival friend me friend me the plura will be friend miss a person who is or pretends to be a friend but who is also in some ways an enemy not just an enemy arrival this evening our subject is to unveil who is rivaling the family who is your family's enemy sometimes satan is over blamed today through the authority of God's word we will learn mask the family's friend me and we are not just going to a maske we will go to war subheading is going to be bloody tonight the family cannot continue to be an assault center for the enemy and all we do is we play about it we laugh about it and nothing gets done if i were to have time i will have asked you name your top five common family enemies of your relationship not friend enemies enemies but i don't have the time my subject today is about ignorance to put it bluntly the most dangerous enemy of your family is ignorance this is the end of the message with us we can pray and go ignorance is the greatest the most dangerous the most deadly vicious enemy of the family sadly ignorance is treated as if oh i don't know then we smile oh it's new to me no we don't smile this evening we are going on a bloody bloody journey with ignorance let me make the point the three most important variables that builds family is not la it's not sex it's not communication it's not money ladies and gentlemen the bible says through wisdom houses build by understanding it is established by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious meaning rare and common pleasant riches whenever there is knowledge in any family the blessings the bible say they are not common they are uncommon question why is your family not experiencing and common blessings and common and common riches and common pleasant goodies why ignorance let me give you the better a better a better framework a better framework how many times did jesus cry in the whole of the bible who knows you tell me i give you a gift i said a gift somebody said huh i said i give you a gift how many times those googling you can google now three times the first time we are told jesus wept chong 11 best 35 at the tomb of Lazarus he looked at the way master and Mary they were crying and the way they were lamenting the bible say he lifted up his voice and jesus wept then the Jews were gossiping they said oh he laughs him so much but this is the same person who killed the blind why could he not cause him not to die and jesus went ahead and healed Lazarus the first time jesus wept was due to the ramification the outcome the consequences of sin sin brought death so when jesus saw the way sin has dealt with Lazarus he lifted up his voice and cried the second point i'm jumping the second one i would know he's i'll use as a third one the next time we heard jesus cry was a narrative in the book of hebrews chapter five or seven while jesus was here on earth he offered prayers and pleadings with a loud cry and cheers to the one who could rescue him from death death was the reason why jesus cried the second reason jesus cried was death the third reason jesus cried is the focus of our subject and he drew near he saw the city and wept over it why did jesus cry there's 42 of luke 19 if if this day if this day if this day you only know or knew what makes for peace but now is hidden from your side for the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a policy it against you they will encircle you and and hem you in all of your size ladies and gentlemen the reason jesus cry arguably aside death in the first two instances the second time jesus cry was because of ignorance no tidan for the rest of your life what we met our loving law look at a people in ignorant and he lifted up his voice he saw a whole city of ignorant people and he wept symbolically i want to say this evening jesus is looking at many ignorant families using the wrong method the wrong approach the wrong appeal and jesus is crying why he's crying because of ignorant ladies and gentlemen ignorant is dangerous and it is deadly look at the picture on the screen ignorant is dangerous and it is deadly you know the reason why even god is unable to help the ignorant there is nothing god can do if you're ignorant i'm going to prove it to you from the bible the reason why some families cannot be helped some individuals cannot be helped and those of you watching us the reason why some of you this week you need to give your life to jesus and you need to stop the life of ignorant living living around the ashes of sin living around the ashes of foolishness living around the ashes of pelvic activities the reason is the ignorant person cannot even be helped by a loving god if you are not ignorant it means you're knowledgeable remember our subject today unfamiliar family friend me i didn't use plural i use singular friend me let's go to war in the old testament when you look for the word ignorant the wet knowledge it carries a lot of weight today i'm not going to spend more time i will break it down for you then we go number one jenesis 2 verse 9 he says and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in out of the ground the lord god made every tree that is pleasant to the eye pleasant to the side good for food the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge take note of that word knowledge whenever the bible use the word knowledge in the old testament is talking about experiential relational acquisition of skills and capacity and ability to fulfill a certain agenda or end goal follow me carefully proveps one verse 29 to verse 31 because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the lord they would have none of my council and despise my every rebuke therefore they shall eat the fruits of their own way and be filled to the full with your own fancies god use the word again knowledge because they hated my technical skills my experience they hated my relationship they will pay for its knowledge daniel chapter 12 daniel 12 verse 4 but you daniel roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end many will go here and there to increase knowledge knowledge shall abound men shall run to and fro ladies and gentlemen it is a paradox that we are in the end of time the bible says shut up the words of the scroll until the time of the end we are in the time of the end a time where we are to be filled with knowledge a time where ignorant is to be the spell sadly we are in a season of complete ignorance knowledge second chronicles chapter one verse 10 give me wisdom and knowledge ladies and gentlemen not to deliver the point in the old testament whenever you talk about knowledge is a truth and understanding knowledge is a revelation or notion that is based on intimate relationship or experience take notes in the old testament whenever you talk about knowledge you are talking about a truth you are talking about an understanding or a revelation that is based not on shallow experience intimate relationship and Adam knew the wife knowledge there is a slight difference in fact if you want to put it in perspective another form of it is knowledge is a unique skill a unique experience a certain ability a learning a certain cleverness or prudence knowledge the old testament sums it up in the new testament knowledge can either be gnosis on which we have diagnostics it has a varied interpretation it may mean not necessarily an intimate relationship but a cognitive experience i.e. look 11 verse 52 war to you expect in the law because you have taken away the key to knowledge in that text in look the meaning of knowledge is insight insight into a revealed truth knowledge follow me very carefully another word for knowledge in in the new testament may mean epignoses quit me in romance one it says furthermore just as they did not think of it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of god that word used there means the precise the correct insight or revelation of god so knowledge it may mean either insight into a revealed truth or it may mean a coincide a precise insight or revelation into a concept knowledge mathew 13 verse 11 he replied because the knowledge of the secret of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you but not to them the word they use for knowledge is what is called dinos call which means in this instance when the bible says because the knowledge it means the capacity to know the ability to come to terms with knowledge putting it bluntly the last one let me pull the pieces together you may never know who is listening another version of knowledge is snwaidaha in akchapta 5 verse 2 the bible says with his wife with his wife's full knowledge talking about ananias and safira the bible says with his wife's full knowledge in other words with his wife's full awareness so knowledge may also mean awareness what am i saying in the new testament when we say knowledge is uncommon revelation number two when we say knowledge is to become personally aware not they say personally aware you are an eyewitness in the case of ananias and safira when they say knowledge is to study to comprehend or relate to comprehend so knowledge may mean studying studiousness to come to a conclusion or based on relationship you come to a conclusion knowledge through wisdom the house is built by understanding it is established by knowledge by studying by intimacy by experience by awareness by special skills the rooms of the families will be filled with uncommon whenever you see the word precious some patients will say uncommon the Hebrew right right where this reaches is an uncommon reaches in other words a family can be billed a family can be established but it's not productive this evening the secrets to the message is how can your families begin to be productive and the productivity is uncommon you need knowledge allow me allow me see this way read this text with me narubi central let's read it together hosaya four or hosie four six it says what my people are destroyed for lack of all knowledge because daugas rejected knowledge i will also reject the question my people are destroyed because of the devil through our force my people are destroyed because of demons through our force my people are destroyed because of satanic manipulations through our force my people are destroyed because of all another word for lack of knowledge is what ignore what the test carefully ignorant is a choice you cannot reject what was not into existence look at the text my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because daugas rejected what knowledge in other words knowledge was not a scarcity it was available but there was a deliberation and intentionality not to pursue the path of knowledge i repeat ignorance is a choice the ignorant the state of your home your relationship is occasion but a deliberate choice not to know how come an educated full grown elder a full grown woman who gave birth to children say i don't know god says listen to me i'm going to reject you i just say today many homes are rejected on account of ignorance is a choice what's your wife's temperament i don't know you are foolish there is no better way to say it tiki menza what is samuelas temperament i don't know he is foolish is a choice follow me ignorant is not just generational it is trans generational look at the text very carefully because you have rejected knowledge i will also reject you from being priests for me god says you can't represent me on account of ignorance because you have forgotten the lord of the lord i will also forget your children listen ignorance is not just generational it is kamta trans generational how do i know an ignorant mother gave birth to ignorant baby who were red ignorantly who are ignorantly living lives and they think they have arrived and they are a mess to the society god foresaw what was going to happen to the anti deluvians so he destroyed all of them including their babies they were born out of ignorance so he killed them your ignorant who are fed your children and your children's children let me say differently if god has rejected you chances are that he has rejected your children how did you bring them up innocent children ignorant mothers ignorant fathers making babies all over the world and the world is filled with a lot of ignorant children who are also giving birth to ignorant children marrying ignorantly and ignorance has populated the world and god is looking for tools and men to use he can't find them why your children are good in mathematics but they are stupid you were stupid giving birth to them and we come to church we dress and we think we have arrived we know who especially the men we won't invest to know and we are so arrogant with some better egos ignorant empty hollow egos can i ask you a question on what basis did you marry yesterday was hot and that hot shaky foundation allow me watch that what is that come again a satellite in space hear me your smartphone is millions of times more powerful than all of nurses combined computing in 1969 that place a man on them yet you are ignorant this more powerful than what took a man to the moon yet still this powerful computing is in our hands yet we are in a well of a lot of ignorant people and not just ignorant we are so arrogant about it here is the tragedy as i put it i repeat ignorant parents with the best computing they can ever get given birth to dysfunctional and stupidly ignorant children we have become a generation destroy because of lack of knowledge in an age of information technology technology yet we are completely my people are destroyed for lack churches are destroyed for lack of companies collapse for lack of families collapse for lack of you ask a man how much do you know about the framework the mandate the responsibility of a man and he's ignorant yet he's a father of three with pot belly he's moving you see a young woman we can spend four hours to fix our hair yet the content in the head is ignorant listen ignorant is not a friend my tone has changed today it's an enemy ignorant is dangerous is dangerous leave the devil out we go to some churches amu mention their names they cast out the devil including the urinate and brush the teeth of the devil they stamp on the devil what they need to be stamping on is ignorant why is ignorant dangerous hear me out read me satan leverages ignorant as a strategic commenting tool you see families struggling to live right ignorant let me give you an example a church member came to me and said faster six children i'm not stopping until god giv me a son six what job are you doing how much does he earn $180 six children and guess what he has gone to abuse the why abuse the why abuse the why abuse the why that give me a son or i divorce him is it a woman that gives that determine the sex of children who determines that so what is the problem in that home i didn't know is it the devil is it satan do they need prayer the man is enlightenment is in darkness tell somebody throw light in the room so you don't get it i'm saying tell somebody throw light into the room i'm commanding us the preacher now i say say throw light into the room throw light into the room in era five before or after the season we call renaissance and man is about to divorce the why he's not giving me a son i will divorce and he kept giving birth from one till the six he went for a psychic give birth to three i told him leave her to go for the third wife and give birth to another seven so that you represent the gana black star god give me the right word let me say this do you know why i make this statement there must be a deliberate war against ignore do you know the reason why i gave you a reason satan will leverage the ignore and he will torment the families torment the families torment the families listen tomorrow i'm going to speak let me let me declare it if you are not married all the young men and women in Nairobi central tomorrow you are not going to be on virtual space i need you in this place somebody say an amen please i it's an appeal all the young men and women in Nairobi central if you are not married or the widowed or the widow was anybody who is not married in this church as much as is dependent on you please i want you in person tomorrow we are taking me to the next level one of the reason why there is a crisis in the home ladies and gentlemen it doesn't start when we are married it all begins the whole stream work of the marriage concept is misunderstood is based on ignore before i got married i read 15 books when samuala she's listening when she was in Sierra Leone i was in Ghana we used to talk some days from nine a.m to five p.m once a week there were no smartphone at that time she would do a summary of a chapter and we discussed i don't want to marry on ignorant if marriage is what it ought to be if marriage is indeed coming from the hands of god somebody should know how to get it right what is this thing that is threatening everybody listen relationship is everything in the work or at the workplace relationship home relationship on the streets ladies and gentlemen there must be a solution to this whole business of marriage there is an urgent need of deep knowledge in strategic spheres of life hear me we are not investing in investigating or finding out we are not the reason why i'm saying this is god cannot help beyond the knowledge of the truth you know let me say differently it's not enough to know some things those who fail exams it's not because they don't know anything through a force i don't get it maybe it's too deep let me break it up the past mark is 50 when you get 48 have you failed or have you passed killed or passed by the year failed or passed the person who get 48 does he know some things the problem is not i'm not saying we don't know anything we know something but what we know is at the minimum threshold it cannot carry you far let me say it again you need 10 about marriage and make it an assumption to succeed in marriage if you know two will your marriage succeed tell me will your marriage succeed the issue about it is not not knowing anything at all we all know something but what we know is so low is so minimal that it cannot take as far allow me to say differently god cannot help us beyond the knowledge of the truth we know this is the reason why i'm saying that he says and you shall war know the truth and the truth does war shall set you free question what is our responsibility talk to me what is our responsibility what is god's responsibility to set us free god cannot study for you to the head on fire knowledge look the one who founded there at 19 years he discovered there at 40 he retired at 19 an african year old boy is thinking about sex foolishness to the highest order foolishness to the highest order ladies and gentlemen we are in this deep hole for lack of knowledge you must know the truth it is knowledge that sets people free reason if there is a family that is in bondage they are always fighting they are always fighting they are always fighting they cannot stay they cannot stay it's not working it's not working what is the problem they lack what knowledge without knowledge you can't understand without knowledge and understanding you have no wisdom for you to have wisdom is the application of knowledge and war understanding but god started with war wisdom then he came to war understanding now he's coming to war knowledge how much do you know about the woman and the body some of us are marriages collapsing we don't even know how to have sex i repeat we don't know how to have sex for the fact that you have three kids four kids there must be knowledge in that you don't know how to deal with a teenage girl that is a phlegmatic that has low self esteem that a young boy in school is always a feminine hair and the whole body is so sweet and you know what you are doing i must tell jesus all of my trials i cannot hear yes prayer is there but you need all knowledge when your son starts smoking you don't know until he is grown you know the reason why you lack the capacity to descend that he has changed no he has started smoking long ago madam you were telling us last saturday see the person said no his bad company no he asked the boy since when did you start he said what second with school do you know what was the problem the father was absent the mother was absent not that they are not present they lack knowledge to identify i e if you start raining now will we know it is raining yes or no yes it's based on hard knowledge stop explaining the failure please please stop explaining the failure the problem is not explaining what is happening the problem is seeking for the insight the awareness that can take your family from that guagma young ladies who are not yet married young men that are not yet married please there is a certain threshold you need to get to before you get married i can guarantee you you are not there you will suffer listen it's not a curse it's a fact of life will a 10-year-old girl suffer when given back when she's pregnant yes or no yes it's a fact of life minimum knowledge in this department listen marriage takes 20 years 30 years 50 years 80 years 70 years 40 years of being together but when it is time to go that journey we trivialize it and guess the people we leave it to we leave it to social media my daughter was seven everything about sex to her level it was done by now she knows what it is for a man who is a good man a bad man i won't waste you there not i will not wait let me play my part let the heaven justify me that i did my part learn learn you are married to a woman with a low self-esteem you are choleric how do you handle her so that there will be peace in the home you need what is your wife's love language some of you your wife garage shopman simple books you know what i'm going to do i'm going to give 16 i will say it's friday first allow me temptation is coming god save me save me this night we have been deceived sometimes when is the prayer may seem have been abused please i pray i pray every day i believe in prayer look at me i'm not i'm not i'm not a non-prayer person but we use prayer to hide our failure of ignorant after i finish pray go to the library buy a book sometimes we buy the book we don't even listen youtube is free many content millions of content the question is this what do you use that your data for what do you use your time for Starbucks they say 24 hours god says it's for me if for nothing spend time saturday re study sit your wife down take her on a small evening just just just take a take a take just take a walk and just ask her sometimes she's back you are back and and then the whole place is in trouble immediately i get back and i didn't hear hey honey how maybe suzan has done something good evening everybody their response good evening suzan how are you okay sami is everything okay i'm fine there's a knowledge all my stress that day i must hide it because if i change the gear the house will be a fire the meaning is that is not her true self so something i don't know when i investigate do you know what happened the whole soup she was cooking she went to multitask this your choleric daughter has gone to check what is there and brought the whole soup down the mother want to beat and give her so now you are back she's looking for somebody to bend on so what you need to do is to open a trash can for her to bend sometimes she's just looking for somebody you know when the mothers are with the kids for far too long when they speak the kids don't listen to them again they are so familiar with them so they need an extended for suzan what did you do you engage sometimes the mother will be talking to her and she's just mommy no mama i say suzan who are you talking to keep quiet then the mother will return that's your daughter that is your daughter that is your daughter that is your daughter listen it means she's over well the foolish man like me without knowledge i will start what kind of disrespect is that did you marry me or i married you am i with you or you are with me then the woman will change the gear i don't want your trouble today i am trouble yes yes the man lack the knowledge to deal with a woman distressed and seeking for things to vent sometimes she's lonely but you can't even see the sign that she's lonely she used not to be with her phone so much but now her phone is her favorite friend some of you demand hear me no some of we demand here let's hear ourselves so men at the workplace the things they are telling your wife when you see them they are 6.5 in store when they saw the skeletons of kawunda is here all the muscle are showing the alidas they go to gym to lift 50 my cows every time they are always smelling nice when they shake your wife when they are going to work they have cream in the car before they come out they cream the hand and spray and when she sees your wife she looks straight into her face and said how are you doing i like your dimple your wife refused to look up she looks down by defense number one broken body then she comes home without all playing in her mind you can't see she's all excited but by the time she's gotten home the mood is changing and it's been three years she's spending eight years at the workplace and this young man is always telling this your wife things you have forgotten to tell her the last time she had them when when you were dating her and she's melting but when you come home you only come to sleep and snore no amount of prayer will save you one day it will go down and if it goes down one day and they beat you to the pelvic game you are in trouble ladies and gentlemen for the fact that she's active in church doesn't mean she's not a sinner it's not only men who have edge to cheat do you know what women go through do you know how many times you are asking your wife out just for promotion or in change of a contract or a job do you know from the house to the market how many men meet her and the things they tell her and you have retired from a family your wife because now you have a pot belly so you have given birth to five so you are a retiree lover it will go down allow me to say read it with me let's go so come on talk to me in Nairobi central let's go you can never change question are the things you have already accepted nothing can be done who said so you can never change what you accept for my husband this is the way he is it's a lie invest a little in knowledge know his personality number two you can never change what you do all tolerate write it down number three you can never change what you refuse to all confronts our marriage is getting to the 50th year this doesn't apply to us you have tolerated you are done nothing can change i want you to whisper how many persons in this room believe they lack this hands down let me say it again how many people in this room believe they lack knowledge or they are in ignorance ask me to speak right now let me see ask me it is my two hands those of you joining online how many persons online believe they lack knowledge just tie ignorance ignorance ignorance ignorance ignorance want to spend five minutes to pray i want you to get close to somebody and i want you to lift up your voice just one minute pray for her pray for him that dear lord let the first for knowledge the first for knowledge the first for knowledge let there be what do they call it let there be enmity between him here and ignorance may she hate ignorance may she laugh knowledge may he hate ignorance may he pursue knowledge please stand on your feet walk to somebody just walk to somebody just in 30 seconds each simple prayer those joining online simple prayer this evening wherever you are lift up your voice and be prayed those joining online lift up your voice and begin to pray lord may i this may i disconnect from ignorance connect with knowledge may i pursue knowledge if you are done you can have your seat ladies and gentlemen the organ is give us one song it is well just the first stanza when peace like a river attends my way when suru like sea below roll whatever my lord dow has taught me to say it is well just the first stanza as our friends wrap up with their prayers let's hit ignorance ignorance is worse than death it is well let's sing the first stanza just the first stanza and peace like a river when your voice is singly let's lift up your voice and sing ladies and gentlemen you can never change what you accept you can never change what you tolerate you can never change what you refuse to confront this is the way the preacher says it or said it the hypocrites with his mouth destroys his neighbor but through knowledge shall they just but deliver give it a thought there is no reason the christian must not enjoy peace write this test down for the rest of your life let me give you the meaning give it a thought the hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor how can the righteous but delivered through war through what the bible is a book of opposites so how will the will the righteous be destroyed is through war ignore the meaning is there is no vassing for trouble god doesn't shield the righteous from trouble but he does deliver them out and his method is knowledge let me say it again there is no vassing against marital unrest god will not shield your family from disagreements from arguing with your wife from struggling with your adolescent children but what god can do to deliver you to deliver me is through all knowledge in other words knowledge is your shield and my shield why have we left the family so vulnerable without a shield without a war without a gate without protection if you do not have knowledge it's like you are in the cold and you are alone daniel says daniel 11 first 32 those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery but the people who know what would they do they shall be war strong and they shall carry what they shall carry what great exploit give it a thought they wicked against the covenant will be destroyed by war flattery flattery but the people who know they are god they shall be war strong and they are going to carry out and do a great exploit what is the basis for doing great exploit in the family according to the text is based on what family that is not succeeding and not doing exploit great exploit and it's not strong but it's shaky the diagnosis through the word of god this evening is simple they lack war knowledge look at this man thomas etsen exploits this is what knowledge will do in his field alexander graham the graham bell exploits robert kahn and vikton kath exploits roger and fraa exploits the telescope bolta exploits 1800 the right brothers exploits based on knowledge a young man sat down he got the knowledge of how things can fly against the law of gravity exploit the refrigerator jacka peckins exploits xray why did they do so knowledge i think we've gotten it in essence let me sum it up with some benefit of pursuing knowledge ladies and gentlemen some of you are listening because of lack of knowledge christianity is divided divided over the day of worship divided over the mode of baptism divided over communion divided over dressing christianity is divided is us against there the simple reason lack of knowledge some individuals a teaspoon of bible knowledge they will stop going to the churches they go a teaspoon they will stop going to the mosque they go a teaspoon they will stop going to the temples they go a teaspoon of knowledge tomorrow i'm going to pick a certain dimension john chapter 13 verse 17 if you know these things bless are you if you do them before you can be blessed you need to do before you do you need to do or no you can't know and you expect to do you don't know you don't do you expect to be blessed jesus says if you know these things you are blessed if you do them in other words ignorance is against the families blessings ignorance is against a source of blessing or source of increase a wise man is strong and a man of knowledge increases power power knowledge knowledge would deliver you i say it to deliver you you see the way they cast out demon in the name of jesus may you be delivered that is what knowledge you do for you mean you will know about your husband all of a sudden the fight is over all his wilderness wandering with his mouth the good the godless man destroys his neighbor but through knowledge the righteous wife the righteous husband the righteous child will be delivered why is your marriage struggling knowledge we talk too much we don't study we are not disciplined we close from work we sleep late but we are just on social media foolishness how can you sleep at 12 11 o'clock midnight you close from work five you spend seven hours and nothing is achieved some of the reason if i were to be teaching money some of the reason we are broke and poor we don't know what to do with our time after five if you calculate eight to five it's eight hours or whatever hours it's almost the same from five to midnight prove up to verse ten for wisdom when tell your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul what to give pleasantry feeling to the family to the children to the wife to the husband listen pleasant things don't happen by accident the bible says for wisdom when tell your heart ask for knowledge it to be pleasant to your own soul the soul of the family is weak is is hurting is crying for lack of knowledge you shall know the truth and the truth i feel like making an altar called this evening i have some fact i wanted to define marriage and give some framework for marriage i think i can take five minutes pastor pastor peter please pardon me for five minutes look at the following texts and see if your definition of marriage please again man we are we are not getting it right you see it is a known fact that marriage is god's invention and it is god's intention see the word i've used invention and intention god instituted marriage it is clear but watch listen it was god who said in chapter two verse 18 let's make money in our image then in mathew chapter 19 verse 6 it says what i've put together like no one put us under see the way max lucardo put it god created marriage no government subcommittee envisioned it no social organization developed it marriage was conceived and born in the mind of god question don't be ashamed to tell your workmate i live my family life according don't be embarrassed it's not old fashioned it is the wisest thing to do marriage listen it it is the best god invented it god initiated it as well don't be embarrassed that i don't cheat and the reason is i am married watch me malakai chapter two this is the most craziest as every man screen shoulders and keep it for the rest of your life this thing the way it has saved my life it has saved my life you ask why is it why why is god not blessing me and this was what the men in israel we asking and god says is because the lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth you have been unfaithful to her though she's your partner the wife of your marriage covenant the men here hear me you will work you will not succeed because of this text they are the men working and it is not working the cheating is too much you can work hard the promotion is not coming the prophet is not coming god says you are asking me the reason why you are not being blessed the reason is i was there when you married your wife i was a witness but you know what your life you have been very treacherous you have been very unfaithful to the wife of your youth the reason is this i will not bless you no amount of prayer meeting deliverance you need the knowledge if you don't know this text you you pray and pray you won't get it in other words based on this text i can comfortably say marriage is a covenant don't play with it if hey don't play with it marriage is don't play with it it's like a relationship between god and this and him don't play with it god say it's a covenant when you stand before church or the traditional setting and you declare i am married you are saying all other things are gone this is the one i've chosen nobody chose her for you nobody chose her for me nobody chose him for you it was your choice marriage is not a play it's a covenant this days it's like it's normal you can have a wife but you can have a side chick and we know this man's side chick is this girl this one side chick is that girl it's not normal it is called s i n c god says you will work i will not bless you the way you treat your wife i will not bless you the foundation of marriage genesis 2 verse 24 therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh this is deep the word used cleave the back it means permanently glued it's not temporal tape permanently glued marriage is intimate and it is permanent marriage matu 19 verse 6 what therefore god has joined together let not man put asenda who joined couples together according to the text who joined couples together or talk to me who joined couples together no he's the pastor who joined couples together no he's the elder who joined couples together sometimes pastors we need to take a slag god is the active participant it's not what you think he says what god has joined together and the question the marriage couple need to ask is that is he god who has joined us together ellen why i said maybe i'm mated but they are not matched you are you are joined together by yourself ignorance is dangerous ladies and gentlemen marriage is lifelong what god has joined together let no man no kut no supreme kut no high kut no church committee no family they are married if they don't fulfill the basis for divorce don't be part of the divorce workouts it's their choice anybody participating in the annulment of any marriage that doesn't fit the bible's requirement for divorce the person who incurred the wrath of the one who instigated initiated inverted marriage and joined it together how dare us we have taken the place of god and everybody in this country is just walking around i repeat it is unacceptable to sit on a committee and dissolve marriages or take it to court it's an all god says what i have joined together let no man no man means no man no man means no father no man means no father in law no man means no pastor no man means no no gc president no man i thought i'll hear any man if you like him and beat me hear me i've taken your time tonight but hear me what god therefore joined together marriage is a union it's a joining together if you want me to define marriage as i close with it it's a monogamos covenant intimately anchored between a man and a woman according to god ideal in it's supposed to be in a loving companionship based on the five texts we've just read if i have time i will have taken you to the what what i call the rules of engagement on marriage the fact is that we i stay up late in the night and i'll be on the phone in a 27-year-old girl married for just two years is crying to death and you know her problem the counseling has become a rubber star we have concluded nobody wants to learn nobody wants to know this evening in the name of jesus if ever somebody wants to get married somebody wants to form a relationship somebody wants to raise their children somebody wants to handle a husband well somebody wants to handle a wife well somebody wants to happen in laws well somebody wants to happen my family my husband my wife's relation well somebody wants to have a girlfriend somebody wants to have a boyfriend it's not based on emotion it must be based on what knowledge and you hear want to pray for you for this grace if you don't need it stay you need a grace i want knowledge to be the basis of my relational lie no music nothing walk and come and kneel down was a peter is going to pray for us walk and kneel down here i need knowledge as the basis for my relationship i am 80 years but based on god's word i need knowledge kneel down right here all those joining online anybody who is in search of knowledge you are sure you don't have it i need knowledge and i want god to grant me that knowledge please just die knowledge those in the room come here i need knowledge i am ignorant pasta i am ignorant i am ignorant i am ignorant i am ignorant i am ignorant no no i am ignorant i need knowledge come let me play yesterday's song for me quietly yesterday's song as you are standing here please just hold somebody close by you the hand i am ignorant pasta peter please pray i am ignorant those joining online you want you to join us and we want to do this prayer before the man of god prays you can just be typing i'm ignorant lord i'm ignore if you need any counseling you need someone to talk to the numbers on the screen you can contact them all heads bow all eyes close pasta peter is going to pray our gracious father in heaven we thank you for speaking to us this evening each one of us individually and we confess that we are all victim of these sikin runs there is a lot of pain in our marriages and in our families because of these sikin runs we fight each other as though we were the enemies just because of sikin runs we shame one another because of sikin runs we even parade each other in courts because of sikin runs we subject our children to untold pain infastrations and emotional breakdown just because of our sikin runs every prayer meeting we drop those prayer concerns the prayer boxes in sikin runs sikin runs nothing is changing because we are not willing to change we have accepted to live in that ignorant we have rewritten that ignorant ignorant has become our lifestyle unless we shall seek for knowledge still continue in pain and witnessing marriages breaking and those are not breaking living in great pain but we thank you because lord you came this evening to speak to us personally that we may reflect in our family life at a personal level and see how much we have been affected by this disease called sikin runs Lord I pray tonight deliver us from these sikin runs save us my father save us by subjecting us to intentional pursuit for knowledge that we shall know how to live with one another this generation has become so impatient we are running to courts we are running to barazas we are so quick in speaking evil and weaknesses of our spouses to people thinking they have solution for our problems yeah nothing changes the only thing we do is to tell people a story of our failures Lord this evening we cry to you that you may come and deliver us from these sikin runs no wonder you said my people are perishing for lack of knowledge and many yes lord within the family are destroyed and many families are destroyed many marriages are destroyed just because of lack of knowledge the prayer I make tonight is that you not just that you may heal our marriages but the Lord you may remove these sikin runs within the marriages remove this lack of knowledge by educating us to know when you said it is not good for man to be alone I shall make for him and help me what exactly you meant how should we live with our spouses Lord help us to understand to have knowledge that marriage is a union of two seniors who are dealing with the divine beings so that we don't tear each other even in our struggles because of sinful nature that we can forbear with one another patiently helping one another to grow into a lackness is a journey that one takes with you Lord I pray tonight if there is any marriage represent and hear or those who are watching online that is in the verge of death and destruction we declare that this marriage shall be revived in Jesus name that if there is any marriage that is going through and toward pain even as they walked in here or as they connecting this man and this woman this husband and this wife do now see eye to eye Lord I pray that you may perform your mighty miracle to bring these people back together that they may walk in a path of righteousness based on knowledge you shall bring peace and prosperity in the marriage Lord I pray none of the marriages of Narobi Central Church Lord I pray none of the marriages that were in student before you in the holy water in the sanctuaries across the globe of those people who are watching and following a program that is going to break I pray the Lord you will give your people patience as they learn to acquire the true knowledge that is needed to keep to seeing us together and seeing your glory I pray for our young people who are contemplating to get into marriage many of them are so afraid as they hear the stories as they see the pain within the family many of them are losing confidence in this divine institution but I pray Lord you may give them also knowledge and understanding to know what they see is not ideal ideal is in the scriptures is in your well and as they come close to you they shall receive the power to establish their marriages within the foundations of knowledge and understanding so Lord may you restore our families and our marriages I pray forgive us from the sin of ignorance may your spirit lead us into truth that we may be able to live so Lord as we go back home take away that pain I pray take away that hopelessness I pray there is that woman who said I've given up on this man I've given up on this one there's that man who said never again shall I be found with this woman the Lord speak to them the stillness of your voice may they look at each other with the beauty of heaven and they can say I'm here to make it work so we cancel all those decisions and those conviction that is not going to work we declare tonight it is going to work in Jesus name give us hope beyond the pain and the frustrations we see today may we be patient as even we wait to testify of how you have revived our marriages and now we are happily living together as we serve you and we wait for the second coming this is our prayer in Jesus name


off switch we'll do for you there. Let me try that again, good morning. It is so great to be here with you guys today as we worship the Lord and study his word. And if you have not yet made plans for joining Calvary Chapel of the Chino Valley for the midweek study, I would invite you if you've not heard my brother Brennan speak. He is an excellent Bible teacher. If I don't say so myself as his big brother and better looking older brother. He is a great, great Bible teacher, a great minister. And if you are not a regular on Wednesday nights, it's a great pit stop in the week to be able to recharge the spiritual man and to finish the week strong. But it's great to be here with you this morning as we continue in what is really the ethos of Calvary Chapel and especially this church where you can come every Sunday and have the word of God open and taught and what a great blessing it is to be able to fill in for Pastor David this morning. I hope that you have come to receive from the word of God. It's living, it's powerful, it's sharper than any two-edged sword, it pierces down to the innermost recesses of our hearts and the Lord knows what we need. And today we're gonna open his word and study it. So if you have your Bibles, can you please open to 2 Timothy chapter four? We're gonna be looking at verse five this morning. And yes, verse five. We're gonna kind of unpack this really, I think important part of Paul's letter to Timothy and let's begin just for some context in reading verses one through five of 2 Timothy chapter four. Paul writes and says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom. Verse two, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but according to their own desires because they have itching ears they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. But you Timothy, be watchful in all things endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would give us ears to hear what your spirit would say to your church. We ask Lord that we would not only be hearers but doers also. And Father, we ask now that you would add your blessing to the reading and to the study of your word and we ask these things in Jesus' name and all God's people say amen. So a little bit of the background. Paul is writing to Timothy who is a young man, a young pastor who is being handed a great spiritual responsibility. Not only as a pastor but as an overseer of the churches in his area. Paul was in prison in Rome. He was testifying before Nero himself according to history where he eventually would be martyred for his faith in Christ. And one of these letters that Paul is writing here, they're like the last bits of advice, the last pieces of encouragement that Paul would share with his spiritual son, Timothy. If you picked up in the verses that we read, Paul writes and says there's gonna come a time in church history where the people that are in the church will not want to hear about what the Bible has to say. Does that sound a little bit like the day and age that we're living in? Where they will heap up the exact words where they will gather together teachers that will tickle their ears, that will basically not tell them what God's word says but rather they will tell them things that they want to hear. And it's been, I think, one of the great privileges of growing up with guys like your pastor as a mentor and as a teacher and other men like Pastor David that have been faithful in teaching the word of God because when you come to a church that teaches the word of God, you'll love it or you could hate it but at least you'll know it. You'll know what it says and then you're able to make your own decisions and stand on your own two spiritual feet. But Paul is saying that there's a time that's gonna come and we believe that it's now where Christians or professing Christians in the church don't wanna hear what God's word has to say. They've replaced the truths of God's word with some sort of fable or fairy tale. I mean, have you noticed today how feelings are more important than facts now? That if I feel something, then it doesn't matter what science says or what truth is because my feelings will determine my reality. And I hate to break it to you but facts don't care about your feelings. They don't at all. And truth is truth. And whether you believe it or not, I could drop this phone into the land to the floor because of the law of gravity. Doesn't matter that you hate it at all. Back in the day I played college basketball and I was one of those guys that I played shooting guard. I was pretty quick back in the day and I was known to jump very high. I could jump very high. But then I had an injury and where I broke my hip in a basketball game and really, really messed myself up. And my high jumping career was over and I became pretty much like every other white guy and I could get a little credit card under there if you jumped high and hard enough. And I remember that really distinctly and I remember the things that just changed in my life. I remember looking at things that were important to me in the world and things that I thought I was gonna be doing with my life and it all changed. The way that I felt about the things that happened really did not alter God's plan. And so often we'll find that we feel a certain way about something but it doesn't change the truth of the matter. When you're a Christian living according to God's word I may not like something that it says. I may disagree with that in my own understanding or I may not understand it.  You subject yourself to what God's word says you'll humble yourself under the hand of God and you say not my will but your will be done. But see what's happening in the world today even as Satan said I will exalt myself I will be like the most high God. Satan whose name was Lucifer who was a beautiful creation of God an archangel. He had a desire to exalt himself to God's status. And when somebody today says I look at what the Bible tells me and this is how I get to heaven or these are the things that please the Lord and I say I don't like it and I reject it. Guess who elevates themselves as the authority? It is no longer God it is no longer his word it becomes the individual person. And so now we're seeing that words used to describe reality. I used to use words to describe oh that is hot or that is cold but now words are being used to create reality. And if we don't fall in line with a reality that is being created then we're looked at as hateful or as bigots or these terrible people that need to be silenced. And I wonder where are the people proclaiming the word of God and truth today because it's happening with our young people. It's our kids that are being groomed in schools to be desensitized to sexual perversions. There are things that are happening in our world today that are not meant to be. And I really truly believe in my heart of hearts that there is a push by the devil not only a concerted effort to silence the voice of Christians but to really silence anyone that would try to provide an alternative to the lives of Satan. To be able to speak the truth in love in an understanding way. We know that in the end times which we believe that we're living in because all of the things that are needed for the Antichrist to step on the scene are now available. You know in the 80s maybe you grew up watching those left behind movies and you know everybody that took the mark of the beast had this giant barcode on their forehead and we wondered who in the world is going to tattoo a giant barcode on their forehead. I don't think that that's really the way that it's gonna go but we didn't have the technology that we have today. Now the size of a grain of sand you can have implanted a chip implanted that has all of your financial and banking records all of your health records it can have everything about you on it. And they've discovered that the best place to put that chip is on your right hand or on your forehead. Even though the Bible said that thousands of years ago that there will come a time where you won't be able to buy or sell unless you take the mark of the beast which is an absolute act of worshiping the Antichrist. We're seeing what's happening in our own nation. The decline of the United States is being a superpower in the world. We're seeing an ecumenical movement of all roads lead to the kingdom and just be a genuine believer of whatever it is you believe in and that'll get you to heaven. We're seeing with cryptocurrencies and we're moving to a one world monetary system a one world government and a one world religion. And then we have people that are in the church that don't wanna hear what the Bible has to say and that's why you'll have popular pastors on TikTok and other social media platforms that will say it's okay for Christians to have abortions and we should provide that for people. How can you have a biblical worldview or know what the Bible says and say that it's okay to murder children? This is what's happening in the church today even as the Bible told us that there will come a time when people will not endure sound doctrine. They'll not want to, and Paul's not writing about the world he's writing about people in the church. And so the very thing that Paul is telling Timothy to stay true to, which is to teach sound doctrine he mentions that there will come a time which we believe we're living in even now where people will want nothing to do with it. They would rather focus on the delivery of the person that's speaking than the one who can deliver them from sin. They prefer the absence of biblical truth than the presence of biblical truth in the message because the sinful desires of our flesh desires sinful things. And if we're living in sin we wanna hear people tell us that what we're doing is okay. The church will find itself replacing the godly desire of subjecting sinful desires to God and we'll find themselves forsaking the laws of God and aligning themselves with things that are against him. They turn aside to fables, Paul says. Fairy tales. It's not real. It's not truth. It's completely made up. It's fictitious. I mean how else can I say it? It's a lie. And so on one hand you have those that are turning away from the truth of God's word but for those of you who are not. Those of you that even here today as an act of obedience and worship to the Lord have set aside time to open your Bibles and to receive from the word of God. God is doing a great work in your life through his living word that is sharper and powerful than any sword. It pierces down to the needs of our hearts. It gives us what we need. Some of you may have even walked in here today saying, man my faith is being tested. I wonder if there are any of you that are saying that today. I'm going through it today pastor. I'm going through it today. I've been going through it. My faith is being tested. Might I just say that if you feel like your faith is being tested, guess what? It means you actually have some. You actually have some faith to be tested, to be strengthened, to be found, to be tried and true. And if you're living according to God's word, God's hand is upon you even in the most difficult of situations. And so in verse five we see here, Paul writes to Timothy and I think these things are important to understand that Paul is writing some of the most important last words that he could to his spiritual son. At the end of somebody's life it would seem that they start to separate the essentials from the non-essentials, those things that are priorities from those things that are not. And so he writes to Timothy and says, Timothy, be watchful in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry. Here in verse five, the first thing we see is to be watchful, which in the original Greek language means to be calm, to be collected, and to be sober-minded. You think that's a pretty tall order? Pretty tall order in all things, to be calm and collected and sober-minded?  It could be marital problems or raising kids. I have four kids, I have four kids and there is never a dull moment. I have my oldest son Hudson who is just about to turn 14 and he is the best big brother for the family you could ask for. And he takes care of his little sister Eva who has special needs and she has a disability where she can't speak or walk and she'll be 12 this year.    And we have a full house and I think of the type of world that my kids are growing up in. The kinds of pressures that are on the children. What's happening in our classrooms across the country, the kinds of curriculum that's being just propagated. We see these things as being evil and a work of Satan where children are being exposed and conditioned and I would even say groomed for things that are against God. And so Paul tells Timothy as even we should be hearing today you must in the midst of all the chaos stay calm, stay collected and be sober-minded.   Have you ever felt like you're at a breaking point? Maybe the pressures are just too much. You feel like that's the chink in your armor. What you're dealing with and what you're having to endure is just too much. It's too much. Now I know in my own life I have been in a place of crying out to God for mercy like Lord would you please help me? Lord save me. And as you study the letters of Paul to Timothy Paul will time and time again speak to Timothy as if he were speaking to an elite athlete or as a commanding officer would speak to a soldier. He addresses Timothy as if he's an Olympian or as if he's a special operator in the military. You know, don't we love the men and women our United States military? We do, don't we? Don't we love our law enforcement officers, the brave men and women that risked their lives for us every day? I have many friends. My grandfather served in World War II who's a part of an elite ski unit that took German fortresses in the Swiss Alps. You know, it's like some pretty crazy stuff I've heard. Some of the finest men and women I know serve in our military and in our law enforcement agencies. When Paul writes to Timothy he's writing as if he's talking to a special operations unit. He's writing to somebody that needs to understand that there is a spiritual warfare that is taking place everywhere and that inside the church Satan is gonna try to corrupt the church from the inside and he's gonna take culture and try to pressure the church from the outside. So he says be watchful. And I've needed the word of God in my own life time and time again to remind me and maybe you need to be reminded of this today that you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. All things. And that God's strength, that work in your life is usually most evident in our weakest and darkest moments. Don't forget that. In second Timothy chapter two, verse three, Paul wrote, you therefore must endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. So you need to be watchful, be aware of your surroundings, have situational awareness when it comes to spiritual things. Paul tells Timothy to endure afflictions and this word for endure is actually a word that would be directly related to the type of hardships that a soldier would endure while he's enlisted. Some of the most grueling situations, some of the most challenging mental pressures where you wanna quit, where your body's telling you I have to stop, I can't go one step further and you're required to go further. There are some of you that feel like I just can't handle this situation anymore. What do you do? How do you endure? How do you be watchful? How do you fulfill your ministry? My prayer for my church, even as I know the prayer for this church is that each of you would know what God's word says. And it wouldn't just be, oh yeah, the pastor says that or pastor mentioned that or he believes that, but that no, you would own it for yourself. In some churches today, it's like going to a concert where you hype up the crowd, you say some pretty catchy phrases and all this kind of thing. But did you know that the Bible doesn't say the emotional experience endures forever? It says the word of God endures forever.  Well listen, you may feel something, you may not feel something. But that's not the litmus test for whether a church is a good church or not. Because the emotional experience, even if you do have one today, is probably gonna end after lunch this afternoon.  What are you gonna draw upon when you find yourself in a situation where you don't know what to do or where to go or how to handle it? It's not gonna be like, what's the feeling that I had on Sunday? No, it's gonna be, what does God's word tell me? How does it instruct me? How will it lead me? And it will show me how to handle the situation that I'm in because the word of God endures forever, not the emotional experience. And so what we see here is Paul telling Timothy, and I think it would be wise for us to listen to the same instruction that we're in need. We're in a great need to maintain our composure when we have every reason, honestly. When we have every reason to validate a complete meltdown or we have every opportunity to completely fall apart and lose it, that we would maintain our self-control through the power of the Holy Spirit. In verse five, we read of four actions that should be found in every believer. If you missed those, I'll give them to you here right now. It says, number one, be watchful in all things, which is the calm and collected and sober-minded. Translation from the Greek language. And number two is endure afflictions. Number three is work evangelistically. And number four is fulfill your ministry. The first three things that Paul mentions to Timothy here in verse five are general characteristics, but the fourth is unique to you. Did you know that there is not another person on the face of this earth that can do better than you what God created you to do? I can't replace you. Pastor David Rosales cannot replace you. There is nobody on this earth that can replace you. You are irreplaceable. God has given you a unique calling. He has given you a unique skill set. He has given you a unique circle of influence. And so when we are to be watchful and we're to endure and when we're to evangelize, it's also that we might fulfill our ministry. And so yes, the follower of Jesus is to be sober-minded, calm and collected. Fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control, where you're just not spazzing out and losing it all the time. The follower of Jesus is to endure afflictions. The pain that you experience in your physical, emotional and mental state, really I have found is weakness leaving the body. As you find that your own capabilities are diminishing. When you find that you're not able to overcome what you're facing. Paul said, and I think it's important for us to know, he says we're not ignorant of Satan's devices. But sometimes Christians are. And if you happen to be in a place where you know, I don't really know how these spiritual attacks work, well let me lay this out for you very simply, very quickly.   He wants to fight you in those three areas. He does not want to fight you in the spiritual realm.   But if you lean on your own understanding, if you go with how you feel about it or what you think should be done, and you start relying on your own strength, you will find that Satan would love nothing more than to have you stay in that weakened state. And so Paul is telling Timothy, you have to understand that there is a dimension that you cannot see with your eyes, where there are principalities and powers and rulers and heavenly places over even the Chino Valley. There are demonic entities, demonic entities that are overseeing this area. And there is a spiritual battle that is taking place.  This is your training center.  And if you find yourself in a place where you're now hitting opposition, you're running against some people that do not like you and don't like what you stand for, take heart, endure it. The Lord will use those things to strengthen you. He will use those things to further his work here on this earth. And in case you're wondering, the Holy Spirit at work in your life is greater than all things in this physical world. Jesus is greater than your bad attitude. Jesus is greater than your despair. Jesus is greater than your loneliness. Jesus is greater than your discouragement. Jesus is greater than your situation or your problem. And he is greater than he who is in the world.  What God's called you to do. And so the third thing that we see here besides being watchful and enduring hardships is that every Christian should be evangelizing in one way or another. Now for some of us, we might be like, well, you know, I don't really know if I'm an evangelist.  You know, I'm not Billy Graham or Franklin Graham or Greg Laurie or anybody like that. I mean, how am I to do stuff like that? Well, you know what? It's interesting. I found that in the life of the believer that the Holy Spirit is constantly at work and he's working in ways that we don't even know he's working and he's actually preparing people's hearts before they even cross your path. And one of the things that has happened to me regularly is that LA fitness in the mornings between nine and 1030 in the morning. If you like going to the gym and getting some exercise or whatever, you'll find that there are the regulars that are there at the same time. You know, the same people that sit on the same machines for two hours on their phones are there every single day at the same time. And what I've noticed is that people will randomly, and I usually have my earphones in, you know, back in the day when I used to go to the gym and work out where they would come up to me and they would talk to me and one guy just poured his whole heart out and said, I'm having this problem and that problem and all this and I didn't even know this guy and he didn't even know me. And he actually looked at me and he said, I don't have any idea why I just told you my life story and all my problems. And I said, well, you know, it's funny, I actually help people with their problems. And he's like, no way, well, what do you do? And I said, well, I'm actually a pastor.   And it was like, wait, what did he just say? You know, guys that are lifting weights like, ah, and they just stopped. And it was like, everyone just froze. And I got to lead that guy to the Lord right there in the gym by the shoulder press machine. And there's other people that were listening. And I found that the Lord is actually preparing people's hearts for you to minister to them. But often is the case, what is it? You know, our heart starts beating out of our chest a little bit. Oh, this is super weird. You know, what am I supposed to do? I'm at the gym. Isn't this one of those cases of the separation of the church and gym? I mean, what is that? And you'll find that actually the Lord desires to use you wherever you're at. And you don't have to have a massive platform where there's the thronging crowds. And it's actually just relational evangelism with the guy you see every day at the gym or the person that checks you out at the shopping market or when you're picking your kids up from school and there's the crosswalk lady. I mean, it doesn't matter who it could be. That the Lord will prompt you. You know, years ago when I was in Bible school, I was suffering for the Lord on the island of Maui. And I remember I was working at a restaurant and clothing store called Tommy Bahamas. And some of you may have heard of that. But it was the only time in my life when I was 25 years old and I looked like I was 55 and retired as I wore these huge silk, you know, floral shirts and you name it. But I remember there was this time where the Lord told me, and I really felt it impressed on my heart that I needed to share the gospel with this girl named Julia who was a host on the restaurant side. And I remember thinking, you know, I was a single guy. I mean, this is kind of awkward. I don't really know Julia. You know, what am I supposed to do? Walk up and be like, hey, how are you? And then I'm supposed to tell her about Jesus? How is that gonna work? But I remember I just said very simply. It's like, hey Julia, how are you? I'm good, Garrett, how are you? And I said, I know this is totally random but would you like to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior? True story. And she looks at me and she's like dumbfounded and she says, yes. I had actually been wondering about how I could have a right relationship with God and from what I understand, I need to give my life to Jesus. And so then Julia gave her life to the Lord in the lobby of Tommy Bahamas. And did it have anything to do with me? No, the Lord had already been preparing her heart. Already been working in her. And it's such an amazing thing because Paul actually talks about this in 1 Corinthians chapter three, verses five through nine. Listen to this. He says, who then is Paul and who is Apollos but ministers through whom you believed as the Lord gave to each one? I planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters but God gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, you are God's building. So there might have been somebody that their granny for the last 15 years has been telling them Bible stories. Sharing with them every Sunday after church when they would come over and visit them for lunch about who Jesus is. But they always said, okay, grandma, okay. Okay, but then later on down the week, you come along, somebody had already planted the seed but then you share with them the same truth of the gospel. You water it. And maybe they reject you and they say, you're weird, you're crazy, don't talk to me. Maybe they give their life to the Lord right there. Doesn't matter, you were obedient. And one of the highest forms of worship that we can participate in as Christians is really just being obedient to the Lord. And as the Holy Spirit leads and as he prompts you, as he directs your steps, as the word of God tells us, a man can plan his ways, but the Lord directs his steps. You'll find that your life is led in such an exciting way. And then God gets all the glory for doing what he alone can do. Be watchful, endure afflictions, live evangelistically. Jesus said, let your light so shine before men. Matthew 5, 16, that they see your good works and they glorify your Father in heaven. All right. These are some important things that I see laid out here. How am I to be watchful in all things? Well, I would first of all say that in order to be watchful in all things, you must recognize the hand of the Lord in every difficult situation. Difficulty does not equal abandonment. The first thing that happens when we go through a difficult time, isn't it? Or at least on the top three to five lists of things that happen are Lord, where have you gone? Or Lord, why is this happening to me? Why do I have to go through this Lord? I mean, honestly, I can see that happening to them over there, but I'm your favorite Lord. Why me? We question God's love for us. We question God's faithfulness, but in even the most difficult of situations, God's hand is at work. And every time you decide to not lean on your own feelings, because feelings are deceptive, feelings do not dictate truth. Every time we decide to not lean on our own feelings, we actually avoid being led by our emotions to a place where we are sinning and rebelling against God. Jeremiah said this in chapter 17, verse nine, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? Sometimes things come out of our lives or out of our mouths and we're like, where did that come from? I don't even know where that came from. It's the sinful nature. So I'm able to be watchful. I am able to be aware. I'm able to remain calm, collected, sober-minded when I stay focused on the Lord. And often I have found in my own life that that will usually involve me not opening my mouth.  That's an option for all of us.   Why don't you just be angry at God for these difficult things that you've had to go through? Why don't you just throw the towel in? You know, it's interesting, if you've ever studied the book of Job, Job lost all of his children, lost all of his possessions, but he didn't lose his wife. Satan, Job's wife is still there.  How could God who loves you allow this to happen? In Proverbs 17, 27, it says, he who has knowledge spares his words and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. We sin when we are led astray by our own desires. It's been my own experience that if the devil is going to attack me, he's gonna do so when I'm the most vulnerable.  That's when he wants you to get in an argument with your wife or your husband or to lose your temper with your children or to misrepresent Christ or to be in a place where now you'll be under the control of the lust of the flesh instead of the power of the Holy Spirit. And it's often the case when we give in to sin or when we are not walking in the spirit that we'll get to a point where we push through that and now we're in a stronger spiritual state and we'll look back at that situation and we'll think to ourselves, what was I thinking? Or I was so off. Or I'm so sorry. What I was so misguided as I mentioned, Satan wants us to fight in the emotional, the physical, the mental realm, but he doesn't want us to walk according to the spirit because he knows that if we walk in the spirit we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. So how are we now to endure all things? You just don't quit. Can I ask you a very serious question? And that was a rhetorical question because I'm gonna ask it even if you don't want me to ask you, sorry. Are any of you quitters? Are you the type of people that quit when things get difficult? I remember my dad asking me that.  You don't like what you're having to go through or what you're doing right now.   You quitters. Things get a little difficult. Oh, I'm out of here. Some spiritual attack comes your way. Oh, peace out. How are you to endure? You don't quit when it gets hard. All Christians, yes, need to be watchful. All Christians need to endure difficulties, not just the pastor or the leaders in the church because we will be in places where we feel as was described by Paul where he says I'm hard-pressed, I'm perplexed, I'm persecuted, and I'm struck down. What do you do then? I'll read it for you. It's 2 Corinthians 4 verses eight through nine. Paul writes, we are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed but not in despair. We are persecuted but not forsaken. We are struck down but not destroyed. How can you, as a follower of Jesus, living in the wicked world that we live in today, how can you be hard-pressed but not crushed? How can you be perplexed but not in despair? How can you be persecuted but not feel absolutely alone? How can you be struck down but not destroyed? I like to share with you a famous quote and it's from Rocky Balboa.  But it ain't how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done, end of quote. And that resonated with me. And I think it probably would have resonated with Timothy if he lived in this day and age because he was always addressed by Paul as an athlete or as a soldier. And in this life, you get hit hard. This world chews people up and spits them out. You wrestle against a very powerful foe. The most powerful evil force in this world is the prince of the power of this air who controls governments, who controls disobedient ways of living, who controls the minds of this age that are not under the covering of the Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus Christ.  But the Bible tells us that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can remain calm and not become frantic, not become psycho, not lose our composure. We can endure problems like a champion. We can take our lumps. We can get our clock cleaned. But we still look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith who is even the buffer for those things that we've experienced, who gave us the grace to get through it in the first place. The same one who said, we're going to the other side, we'll get you to the other side. And there is such a powerful testimony to be found in God's faithfulness to you. Because I have seen things in my own life that were meant to destroy me. And that if it were not for God, I would have been destroyed. But I look back on those things that I agonized over, that I wept over, that I was broken by, that I was devastated because of. And I see that God's hand of mercy walked me through each of those painful experiences. He was with me. He never left me. He never forsook me. The Lord stood with me and he strengthened me even as he stands with you and he strengthens you. There are a lot of hurting people out there, especially nowadays. Our suicide rates are so high. And they're grabbing younger and younger children with social media, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all this media that's pointed at our children. Just ramming through anti-God, anti-Christ, perverted messages moment by moment by moment. It is incumbent upon us to fight the good fight, to run our race, to keep the faith, to open our mouths, to live our lives for the glory of God. It's the power, the gospel is the power of God to save. In Romans 10, verses 13 through 14, Paul writes, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher, without a messenger, without someone to share with them the good news? I thought for so long that there was this understood amount of information about who Jesus is, but not anymore. It's not there. People that are living in our communities have no clue and have never heard anything about the gospel of Jesus. That biblical morality over the last 40, 50, 60 years has been corroded. We're second and third, almost fourth generation now of people who are being raised anti-God. But yet there's a remnant that remains, the salt and the light, the church, you and me. And to evangelize, let's just lay this out there, to evangelize does not mean to win converts as it's been said. Doesn't mean to win converts, but to simply announce the good news irrespective of the results. Like they may reject it, they may yell at you, they might curse at you, they might not want anything to do with you, they may get saved on the spot.  To evangelize. You don't need a microphone. You don't need a stage. Because every single one of you right now, if I were to say, if I were to ask you, who's the person in your life right now that you know that needs Jesus? How quick would your mind have recall? As the Holy Spirit puts this person now right at the forefront of your mind. I know that guy needs Jesus, I know she needs Jesus. And the reason why that's that person that the Lord's put on your heart is so that you can start praying for them and that you can share with them the good news. Listen to what Proverbs 11.30 says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he who wins souls is wise. Lastly, Paul instructs Timothy to fulfill his ministry. So again in verse five, be watchful or be calm, collected and sober in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist and then this is the unique calling. This is a reminder that there is a unique calling on every Christian. He says, fulfill your ministry. Now I have to be honest, sometimes I've wanted to fulfill somebody else's ministry. Have you ever thought, well I wish I could be called with their calling. Can't I fulfill their ministry? Why is the Lord calling me to this ministry? Ah man, why couldn't I be called to you know some tropical island or something? Like why am I here? When Paul uses this word fulfill and this is where we'll end today as we kind of come in for a landing. It basically means in the Greek language if you were to read this word, you would have this understanding of carrying something to completion, to finish it, carry it out to the end, accomplish it and so you will find that as you're prompted by the Holy Spirit, as you are led by the Holy Spirit that you remain walking in the Holy Spirit, that the Lord will keep you calm and collected in every situation. The Holy Spirit will give you peace which surpasses understanding.  When everybody says right is wrong and wrong is right like they are now, you know who Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and what was against God 10,000 years ago is still against God today and will be against God tomorrow because the word of God endures forever. You will always have your bearing, you will always know where you stand in relationship to God and regardless of what pressures culture wants to place on the church, we don't take our cues from the world, we take our cues from the word of God and you will find that as you remain walking in the Spirit, you stay sober minded and that's also as you walk in the Spirit, it's the key through pressing on when you're experiencing difficulties and you're in over your head and it's also by the way, by walking in the Holy Spirit, it's also the means through which evangelism is conducted. And if you look back on your life, you look at the last two years where everyone got a free pass to not ever go to church. All the financial problems where people lost their jobs, people lost loved ones, look who's still here. Look who's still teaching the word of God. Look who's still reading the word of God. Look who's still obedient to gather together as the body of Christ. Look who's still here. Look around. You're still here. God has called you. He is faithful.  Because you're still following the Lord. You're still fighting the good fight, you're still running the race. Now granted it may be slower sometimes and faster at others, but you're still going. And ministry, it's a service in which you help meet the needs of other people and so I hope that if you are not involved in serving or giving of yourself, that you would realize it's not glamorous. Serving's often challenging and it can be inconvenient. But when we continue in doing good, we find that we're stronger in the Lord than we were previous to making that decision to serve. Why do we do this? Well, it was found in verse one that we read and this is where we will close. Paul says, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, dot, dot, dot.   And what a glorious thing it is that we have to look forward to where we hear our Savior say, well done, you good, you faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.