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How to fight like God
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Posted by: ANOINTED WARRIOR
How to fight like God
John 18:1-11
1When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the
brook Kidron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his
disciples.
2And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes
resorted thither with his disciples.
3Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief
priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.
4Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth,
and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
5They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And
Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.
6As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell
to the ground.
7Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
8Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let
these go their way:
9That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest
me have I lost none.
10Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's
servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
11Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which
my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
Subject: How to Fight Like God
God wins…. And God wins every time.
You need to understand that today…
God wins, and God wins every time…
In every fight….
In every test…
In every skirmish,
In every battle…
And on every battlefield, God wins…
And God wins every time….
Sometimes it looks like the enemy wins…
The destroyer wins…
Satan and his devilish band of demons win…
But you need to know today, God wins every time.
You know, we are concerned about what things look like…
We want to look like winners…
We want to parade around and strut like winners…
We want to stand on center stage before the whole world, and lift our heads
and our hands in victory … but God wins every time.
Now, I know there are times when it looks like God does not win.
There are times… When it appears that evil has triumphed…
Right has surrendered to wrong…
And good has gone down to defeat…
I know there are very many times, when it appears that innocent lives have
been lost…
Good women have fallen…
Good men have turned around…
Evil marches on… while the righteous lose hope…
But God wins every time.
Even when it doesn't look like,
Seem like, feel like it or people don't act like it…
For I hear him saying, My ways are not your ways…
And my thoughts are not your thoughts…
But as high as the heavens are above the earth…
So are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts…
God is not concerned about what things look like…
Because God already knows how things are…
God is not impressed by the outward appearance,
Statistics, public opinion, or what the polls might say…
God isn't worried about Debate, or discussions on the issues…
For God knows the issues as well as the answers…
His word goes as far as to say,
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth.
As the heritage of the Lord, we can't become alarmed, dismayed… by the things
of and the ways of the world…
The world is doing just what worldly people are supposed to do…
The world is acting just like God expects the world to act…
The world is just the kind of place, God said it would be… that's why the
psalmist inquires,
Psa 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Psa 2:4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them
in derision.
But sometimes God's children act just like the children of the world…
Sometimes we get caught up in the world's fights…
We get engaged in the world's debate…
And we try to beat the world at it's own game.
Our text is a case In point…
And if many of us had been there, that niught in the garden…
this would have been a fight to the finish right there in the garden…
We never would have made it to the high priest's house…
Or to Pilate, or anywhere else,
But this text sets stage for this confrontation between G-G - O- D and Evil…
Jesus has shared in the Lord's supper with all 12 of his disciples… And by
now, he has dismissed Judas from among them…
And as we discover here, he has crossed through the Valley with his disciples
and entered a grove of olive trees.
We know this place as the Garden of Gethsemane.
Where Jesus prayed, as Luke tells us… till sweat like drops of blood feel from
his brow…
This place was a familiar retreat for Jesus and the disciples…
And it was well known by Judas, the betrayer,
Who had gone with him to the valley to pray many times before.
But you need to understand something…
Jesus was NOT trying to run and hide…
After all, he could come and go as he pleased…
Jesus wasn't trying be invisible…
After all… if wanted to be invisible….
He had the power within him to do so…
But Jesus was here, this was the appointed time…
Jesus was there, looking for a fight…
At the appointed time,
In the appointed place, and in the appointed way…
Notice when the appointed time was … (look at John 17:4) It was after he had
prayed to his Father and told him,
I have glorified thee on the earth:
Lord, I have finished thew work that thou gavest me to do… (Look at John 17:4)
The appointed time came after the work was finished…
And look at where the appointed place was…
It was in an Olive Garden…
Gethsemane…
Which means Olive press…
The place where Jesus prayed till angels came to strengthen him…
The place where all the weight of the world was on his shoulder…
A place where he was alone…
A place where his best friends slept while he faced the hour of his greatest
need…
Yes, Gethsemane…
The place where the burdens of life weighed down so heavy…
Where the scourge of evil,
so pressed him down, to the point that the Only Begotten Son of God inquired,
Lord, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…
God had prepared the time and the place, for His Son to fight against the
forces, the powers, and the influence of evil.
So here we find him,
And now, he is ready to fight…
You can see the torches flickering in the darkness, even from a distance.
You can hear the sound of men's voices, riding on the wind….
The sound of soldiers marching in unison echoed in the still of the night…
And suddenly Judas appears, accompanied by a battalion of Roman soldiers and
Temple guards.
Yes, they come with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons.
Isn't that strange…
They needed torches and lanterns to find the light of the world…
Isn't that strange…they needed weapons and soldiers to arrest the one who says
blessed are the peacemakers…
Isn't that strange… they came with all the power of government and the
temple…
To confront the one who has all power in his hand…
But the issue was never in doubt, not even for a moment…
It was total mismatch…
It wasn't a fair fight….
It was over before it ever got started…
The expected confrontation never occurred…
But to arrest Jesus, they didn't need an army…
A little child could have brought him in…
To arrest Jesus, they didn't need weapons or an army…
An elderly widow could have brought him in.
No….
To arrest Jesus, they didn't need torches, and lanterns and swords and
shields…
They didn't need orders from the king,
Or directions from the Pharisees…
He was going to show up anyhow…
Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him.
Not only had he read the script…
He wrote the script…
He wroter their lines and his lines as well.
Not only did he know they would come…
He knew who would come, how they would come and when they would come…
So when they showed up… Jesus stepped forward to meet them, he asked, "Whom
are you looking for?"
Jesus of Nazareth," they replied.
"I am he," You got him…
Here I am…
I'm the one you're looking for….
Jesus said.
But when they heard that…
They all fell down…
Backwards… Flat on the ground
For at the name of Jesus… every knee must bow…
Every tongue must confess….
There is power in his name….
He had them all, in the palm of his hand…
He could have destroyed them all…
He had the power to take their life…
They were in a position of helplessness…
They were sprawled on the ground before him…
He had his enemies where we want ours…
He could have ended it all right then and right there….
But the God in him…
Wouldn't allow it…
For his word says…
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world,
Jesus didn't come down here looking for an easy way out…
Jesus didn't come down here to avoid trouble, and pain…
Jesus didn't come down here, never expecting to run into opposition or
persecution…
But Jesus came down here to fight against sin and evil…
Jesus came down here to destroy the works of the devil…
Jesus came down here to defeat death and the grave…
and Jesus came down here to show us the way home…
But Peter wasn't about to give up without a fight…
If he was going down, he was going to take somebody with him…
He was determined to get somebody…
But, even with all those soldiers around… Peter drew out his sword…
And went to slashing…
I hope he was a better fisherman, than a swordsman…
Because he completely missed his head, and just barely cut off his ear…
But again, how strange it is, for a man to think he can fight for God…
How laughable,
How unthinkable and unimaginable…
A man fighting for God…
Well, are you trying to fight for God in your own life…
Are you trying to handle some things you ought to leave alone…
Are there things going on in you, around you, with you…
That are beyond your control…
Maybe you're trying to do God's fighting…
Jesus told Peter, it doesn't take all that…
Instead of putting up a fight…
We hear Jesus telling Peter to put up his sword…
This is what I came here for…
This is my cup…
And my cup is unavoidable…
This is my fight…
And you can't fight for me…
This is my battle, and remember the battle is not yours,
It's the Lord's…
On the surface, one might believe that Jesus didn't have any choice, but to
surrender…
After all he was surrounded by a whole contingent of soldiers…
It was just him, and 11 helpless disciples…
And you could look at fear on their faces, and see they were afraid to fight…
Yes, He was out-manned, unarmed and defenseless…
On the surface…
It might look like he was backed up in a corner and couldn't get out…
Like there was nothing more he could do…
On the surface, things might have looked desperate…
Panic might have set in…
But Jesus didn't panic…
He didn't become frazzled, edgy,
Disturbed or upset…
Jesus didn't break out in a cold sweat… or become anxious, or confused…
But he was absolutely, totally, completely in control…
Not only was he in control,
But he was prepared to do everything, he needed to do…
And if we are ever to learn how to fight like God…
We have to remember, that God is not anxious or uneasy…
God doesn't get frazzled… nervous or panicky…
But God is always in control…
God doesn't have to look for a way out…
But he can make a way out…
God doesn't have to figure things out…
God doesn't get desperate…
And God doesn't have to look for anybody to fight for him… For, he has all
power in his hands…
And God is not going to fight the way you want him to fight… God won't move
the way you think he ought to move…
But just like Jesus… you are going to have to go through some things down here
in this evil world…
You will have to bear your burdens in the heat of the day…
You will have to cry some times in the midnight hour…
There will be struggles and trials,
Tribulations and hardships…
There will be misery and pain…
I hear Jesus saying, in this life, ye shall have tribulation…
But be of Good Cheer…
For I have overcome the world…
You don't have to fight like man… But you can learn to fight like God…
You don't have to use the weapons of the world…
But you can learn to fight like God…
Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us how to fight like God…
He never met violence with violence…
As tempting as it was to fight…
He taught us that violence begets violence…
And the only way to drive out darkness is with light…
You cant have Bloodshed for bloodshed…
Anger with anger,
Or hate with hate…
Daniel taught us how to fight like God…
For his heart was fixed…
His mind was made up…
In case you don't remember,
King Darius set up 120 princes to rule the kingdom…
And he set over them three presidents…
Then he hand picked Daniel, and made him the chief president…
But the other presidents and princes got jealous,
and looked for ways to bring Daniel down…
But when they could find no fault in him…
they came up with a plan to fight Daniel,
by forcing him to turn his back on God…
The conspirators went to the King,
And told him what a great king they thought he was…
And how they wanted him to live forever…
They told him, how loyal they were too him…
And how important he was to them…
They massaged his ego,
And filled his mind with how great they thought he was…
And they asked him to issue a decree,
That for thirty days prohibited anybody from praying to anybody but the king…
And if anybody was caught praying they would be thrown to the lions…
The king was feeling so good about himself by now…
The king was feeling so invincible right now,
The king was feeling so wrapped up in himself right now…
And so on top of the world right now,
That he agreed to sign the decree… and had it read throughout the land…
Daniel heard what they said…
Daniel knew what they had done…
Daniel understood the decree from the king…
And Daniel understood the jeopardy he was in…
But Daniel was ready to fight…
But for this fight,
he didn't stop by the gun shop,
and pick up a Saturday night special…
He didn't get a voo doo doll, and start poking it with pins…
He didn't get any tea leaves and roots and pray over them…
He didn't throw any salt over his shoulders…
He didn't get a sword or a knife…
But he was ready to fight…
Daniel didn't even go to the king's house…
He didn't call up the other princes and presidents and give them a piece of
his mind…
He didn't order them to show up for a showdown…
But Daniel went home…
And Daniel went up to his bedroom…
And closed the door…
Daniel and opened his windows toward Jerusalem,
and Daniel bowed down upon his knees three times a day,
and prayed, and gave thanks to God,
just as he did before…
He didn't stop praying to God, because of the words some man had spoken,
He didn't stop praying to God,
Because of the orders of a king.
And although they heard him…
he didn't stop praying…
They told the king on him,
but he didn't stop praying…
Even though the king got upset,
he didn't stop praying…
So they cast him into the den of lions.
They brought a stone, and closed up the door…
and the king sealed it with his own ring,
and no man could change it…
Then the king went home to his palace,
and fasted all night long…
and on this night,
even the musicians weren't allowed to play in his presence…
The king climbed up in his king sized bed…
Lay down his head on his goose down pillows,
Crawled up under his warm comforter,
But he couldn't sleep…
And I wondered why…
After all, he issued the decree…
He issued the orders…
He had Daniel thrown in the lion's den…
He sealed the contract with his own hand…
And now he can't sleep…
He couldn't sleep because Daniel was fighting…
By the power of God…
So the king got up early,
And rushed down to the lion's den…
And the scripture says, his voice was cracking…
He was called for Daniel…
and said to Daniel,
O Daniel, servant of the living God,
is thy God able to deliver thee from the lions?
Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have
not hurt me:
I want to tell you today, you can learn to fight like God…
When Jesus left the garden…
He was Surrounded by an army of men…
They seized him,
And they led him off to try him.
But He didn't put up a fight…
He didn't resist arrest…
He didn't tell them what he was gong to do to them if he ever got the
handcuffs off..
He didn't call them all kinds of names…
He didn't cuss and fuss…
But he fought like God…
They led him away…
And they taunted him all night long…
They set him up,
They stripped him down…
They beat him up…
They spat in his face…
They lied on him…
They crowned him with plaited thorns…
But through it all, he never threw one punch…
He never bit anybody,
Or kicked anybody…
He didn't throw a lamp,
Or a television…
He didn't throw a tantrum,
Plates, or Chairs,
He didn't throw scalding water,
Hot grits, or grease…
He never said a mumbling word…
Peter followed from a distance,
He wanted to fight…
But, he couldn't fight like God…
Instead he denied him three times in a row…
The disciples were there,
but they couldn't fight like God…
So they ran off and hid…
Judas had betrayed him…
And now, as he see Jesus being led away,
the error of his ways caught up with him…
But he couldn't fight like God…
So he ran off and hung himself…
It looked like a no win situation…
One man against the world…
On man against a whole band of soldiers…
Standing before an ecclesiastic tribunal…
Facing a kangaroo court,
Standing before crooked judges…
A corrupt political system…
Leaders with no back bone…
A weak kneed governor…
All against one man…
Pilate could find no fault in him…
He even washed his hands,
To symbolize that he was not to blame…
He urged them to choose a prisoner, and let Jesus go free…
But despite his urgings, the more they shouted, Crucify him…
The world was doing what the world does…
The world was fighting the way the world fights…
So they marched the light of the world, up to a place called Calvary…
They nailed the hands with all power to the old rugged cross…
They drove spikes through the feet, which had been washed by a woman's tears…
They hung the hope of the world on a tree…
And all he said was Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do…
No man fought for him…
But I believe, If the tree they constructed the cross from could fight,
I believe it would have fought right then and there…
I believe if the ground the cross stood on could fight…
It would have fought right then and there…
I believe if the birds, which sing so sweetly, could fight… They would have
fought right then and there…
I believe if the Sun, the Moon and Stars could fight…
They would have fought right there…
But nobody raised a finger…
No Calvary came rushing in from the wings…
No guerilla movement…
No navy seals,
No hostage negotiators…
No knight in shining armor…
No last minute heroics…
No descending angels…
No lighting flashing,
No thunder rolling…
But he stayed right there…
Fighting like God…
Do you trust him today…
Do you live like you trust him…
Do you act like you trust him…
Are you fighting like God…
There is a story of animal trainer, in the circus,
Who was working in the center ring one night,
with twelve huge Bengal Tigers…
The trainer was so much in command of the tigers,
That he could just crack his whip,
and stare them in the face, and shout a few words, and keep them under
control…
But lo and behold, one night,
while he was in the center ring,
with tigers all around him…
The lights went out…
And he couldn't see the tigers…
My, my, my, my, my…
But the tigers could see him, even in the dark,…
A great sigh went up from the crowd…
And then crowd fell silent…
It seemed like hours before the lights came back on…
And when they finally did, the crowd roared,
because the trainer was all right…
After he came out of the ring,
a reporter covering the event asked him,
Weren't you afraid…
Weren't you even scared…
The trainer said,
Man, You must be crazy…
Of course I was afraid…
In fact, I was scared to death…
And the reporter said, well, what happened…
How do you think you survived…
The trainer said…
Well, I couldn't see them…
But I knew they could see me…
So I kept on cracking my whip…
I kept on acting like I could see them…
I kept on talking to them,
I kept the same expression on my face,
I kept on acting like the lights were on…
Well… this old mean world gets mighty dark sometimes…
Can't see your way sometimes...
trouble gets in your way sometimes,
but keep on cracking the whip...
Don't you give in...
doon't you quit...
But stare that devil in the face and tell him... God wins...
and we are more than conqurors through him that loved us...
Tell him, we are overcomers through the blood of the lamb...
Keep on cracking the whip…
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life…
For even in the dark... The S- o- n of God is still shining…
Just like he did on Calvary…
When the celestial sun refused to shine…
His word says,
God was in Christ,
Working it out…
Bringing us in…
Reconciling the world unto himself…
I was there,
You were there…
We were there…
Isaiah says, surely, he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…
Yet, it pleased the Lord to bruise him…
He was fighting like God…
I HEARD HIM SAY… It is finished….
Sin is finished…
Death is defeated….
The war is over…
Victory is mine…
It's over now!
God wins every time…
In every fight….
In every test…
In every skirmish,
In every battle…
Keep on fighting like God…
On every battlefield, God wins…
And God wins every time….
Sometimes it looks like the enemy wins…
The destroyer wins…
Satan and his devilish band of demons win…
But you need to know today, God wins every time.
He turned the cross into a cross roads…
And God can turn it around…
If you're down…
He can lift you up…
If you're too high… ^
He can bring you down…
If you're way OUT…. He can Bring you back In.
Aren't you glad…
If your glad tell somebody…
I'm so glad, Jesus lifted me…
When I was in trouble Jesus lifted me…
Satan had me bound, Jesus lifted me…
Glory Hallelujah, Jesus lifted me…
By Pastor Walter R. Prince
Posted by: GA5966
Wow that is long I read a part of it too long cause it is late so I will come back and read the rest in the morining but the first part was really good.
Posted by: Copper
bumping for those whom want to finish reading,
kimberly