Thank you for downloading this sermon brought to you by the Preaching Ministry of Liberty Baptist Church of Las Vegas, Nevada, Dr. David Tice. For more sermons in both audio and video format, we encourage you to visit experienceliberty.com. Also, for a word of encouragement, insight, and biblical inspiration, follow Pastor David Tice's blog at davidtice.com. So without further ado, let's open our hearts to the Word of God. You're going to hear tonight a preacher I've heard of, I've heard about for the last 33 years. We have had a mutual friend many years ago that told me about him. And then I've heard of ministries that he's been involved in. I've preached Places that he's preached we've crossed paths and we've met a couple of times just in in Auditoriums at different times, but I've really never had the opportunity to hear him preach. I am looking forward to hearing him I've had college students who have just said we need to have dr. Johnny Pope So I am thrilled that he and mrs. Pope are here with us tonight and let's give him a warm welcome as he comes before Thank You pastor It is an honor to be here. We were looking so forward from living in a very humid area in Houston, Texas, where there's a lot of rain and humidity. We were so looking forward to coming out here where it's dry, and the skies are blue, and my hair doesn't fall. And, well, too late for that one. Amen. But I am so glad to be here with my wife, Barbara. What a blessing. What an honor to be here. And, wow. This is not, I haven't even started yet. I mean, you know, how do you know you like me? Amen. Yeah. She'll go home and her friend will say, you know, you really didn't need to start that clapping. That was too soon. Amen. Well, how many are here this evening? Raise your hand. Wow. That's most everybody here. You know, we don't need a reason to praise the Lord because we have so many reasons because we're forgiven of our sins. Christ has died for us. He dwells in us now and forever. But, you know, I was just looking around that maybe some of you might need a good reason to praise the Lord tonight before we continue. So here's what I like for you to do. Look at the person next to you. It doesn't matter if they're to the right or the left. Look at look at a person next to you. I'll look at my wife and you can look at me. All right, now repeat after me as you look at the person next to you. I'm glad I don't look like you. How many found something to praise? No, no, I don't think I'm going to ask that. That's a rhetorical question. Well, let's everybody stand for the reading of the Word of God. All right. You know, you should be blessed because I do have a reputation for being a little bit long winded at times, but it really feels late to me. OK, so that that's going to work in your favor, you know. So anyway, did you bring your Bibles tonight? All right. Good deal. We're reading from 2 Samuel, the 21st chapter, 2 Samuel, the 21st chapter. And I also have heard for many, many years of David Tice, and when we think about the work of God that's being done west of the Mississippi, I mean, inevitably, whether I'm preaching in the northwest or the northeast or the north central or the southeastern section of our country or even the western area here, Whenever we talk about the great works of God that are done west of the Mississippi, David Tice always heads the list and oftentimes is the first name out of the mouth of preachers in preacher's fellowships that I'm with. You know, have you heard about David Tice? Have you heard about the Tice family? They often say, and we praise the Lord. And after getting to know the Tices, I found the secret behind the power in the Tice family. It's Mrs. Tice. Amen. That's what I'm talking about. Yes, sir, buddy. I believe in preacher's wives. I was reared by a preacher's wife. I married a preacher's wife. Actually, that didn't sound very good, did it? She was the deacon's daughter, and she became a preacher's wife when I married her. She, you know, didn't have any previous. I was, you know, been married for 40 years. Yeah, and it's been great, been wonderful. Okay, good. Notice what it says in 2 Samuel, the 21st chapter in verse number 15. Now, when I hear that click, is that because I smiled too big and it got this thing right here? Did you hear a click? Okay, am I hearing? Did you hear it right there? Click, did y'all hear that? Okay. Listen, I'm gonna preach to the clicks, okay, amen. That's a sermon thought in itself, amen? All right, verse number 15, 2 Samuel 21. Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel and David went down and his servants with him and fought against the Philistines and David waxed faint. And Ish-baibonob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed 300 shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. But Abishai, the son of Zeruah, succored him and smote the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swear unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel. And it came to pass after this, that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibachai, the Hushethite, slew Saph, which was of the sons of the giant. And there was again a battle in Gab with the Philistines, where Elhanan, the son of Geroragim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath, the Gittite, the Saph of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. and there was yet a battle in Gath, where was a man of great stature that had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, four and 20 in number, and he also was born of the giant. And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimeah, the brother of David, slew him. These four were born of the giant in Gath and fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. Let's go to the Lord in prayer and then please be seated. Our gracious Lord and Heavenly Father, how we thank you for everyone that's gathered together here. We thank you for Liberty Baptist Church, and we thank you for the great work that has been done for these well over three decades, now approaching four decades of dedicated service unto thee. Lord, we praise you for leading Brother David Tice to this place for such a time as this. On this evening, Lord, as we begin this meeting at least from our part of it, we pray for help from the Holy Spirit, the very unction, the function for the message. We pray that thou would bind the hands of Satan and allow the Holy Spirit to have his will and way in convicting, in convincing, and in comforting. We pray that you might, Lord, convict in areas that perhaps we were not ready for. We pray that you will deal with what we have already premeditated about that needs to be dealt with, but those things that we've not been thinking about. We pray, therefore, with the psalmist, search me, see if there be any wicked way in me, the least propensity or leaning toward that I might be nipped in the bud and dealt with tonight thoroughly and throughly. We thank you, Lord, for the wonderful gift of salvation through Jesus and the blood that you shed and the resurrected life of Jesus. And it's through that blood and that resurrected life that we come boldly before the throne of grace. And we ask you in this meeting, in this church-aflame meeting, that thou wouldst revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee. We'll be careful to give you praise and glory. In Jesus' name and for Christ's sake, amen. You may be seated, please. David was now in his late 50s or early 60s. He is no longer the lad in the valley of Elah. There is a word here that you don't find used of David in the 17th chapter of 1 Samuel, faint. David, the Bible said, waxed faint. He learned the hard way that when the kings go out to war, you go out with them. So he led the troops in the victory. The biographies of the Bible are very concise. So we pray you'll allow us a little God-willing holy imagination as we deal with the story tonight. But I can imagine it's getting around noontime and David is exasperated and tired. And now, as an older man, tiring easier. You know you're getting older when you lean over to tie your shoe and you ask yourself, anything else you can do while you're down there? I've already gotten there a few places, even today. I don't recover as well and recoup as well. Imagine David saying, okay, boys, I want you to finish up the battle. We're on the winning side. Meet me at the palace tonight and we'll plan strategy and tactics for the next time we deal with these uncircumcised Philistines. Your majesty, can we send a bodyguard with you to your camel? No, I don't need that. An entourage, sir. No, I don't need that. The heat's over here, boys. I got Clyde two hills over. Nice shade tree over there and we'll be fine. Just take care of business here. I can imagine David going down one hill and maybe his knee buckling a little bit and hoping that nobody saw him as he's tired and he's weary. Comes up the other hill and he sees Clyde. That's his camel imagination. I'll name it what I want to, I guess. So he sees Clyde over there and he sees that animal sack full of Bethlehem spring water from the well, his favorite. Can't wait to get some of that water. And he gets over there and Before he mounts up on old Clyde, he grabs that water sack and he begins to squirt it into his mouth. You ever been so thirsty the water just comes down both sides of your face? And I can see David as he's drinking that water and he suddenly hears a voice behind him, David. He knows a couple of things. Number one, that's not somebody that's under his dominion and kingdom. It's not your majesty. It's not King David. It's simply David knows another thing that this is a man with an attitude. Verse 16, and Ish-baib-anab, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed 300 shekels of brass and weight, he being girded with a new sword thought to have slain David. He's got a sword dedicated to taking David out. When the boys are reared up in Israel, if they're anything like boys when I was a boy growing up, they played war games. played World War II when we were kids, and somebody would say, I'm Douglas MacArthur. Somebody else would say, I'm Dwight David Eisenhower. Somebody else would say, I'm General George Patton. We play the Civil War, and somebody would say, I'm Stonewall Jackson, or I'm Robert E. Lee, I'm Jeb Stewart. Now, where I was reared up in Central Florida, it was a little hard to get boys to play Yankees, but we would finally find some New York immigrants, They'd be William Tecumseh Sherman or Ulysses S. Grant. And we sometimes even rewrote history a little bit. But we were boys and we were playing war games. We play cowboys and Indians. Can you imagine? I can imagine these young Israelites saying, I'm King David. Where's the next giant? The boys in Israel grew up wanting to be like King David, their hero. Now in Philistia, it was another story. They didn't grow up wanting to be like King David. They grew up wanting to kill King David, especially if you were the son of the giant, as the Bible said there in verse 16. The giant being Goliath of Gath, who stood at 10 feet tall, whom David took out in his youth. A man who had a spearhead he could wield, that the spearhead alone weighed 16 to 21 pounds. This is somebody that could hurt you. He could tear your head off and stuff it down your neck. This is a bad guy. David took him out. He went into the giant killing business. And now, There's a young man that is stalking David, a young man that's watching his every step, waiting to get him in this alone moment. His name is Ish-baib-anab, the sons of the giant. I mean, even his name sounds a little awesome, doesn't it? Ish-baib-anab. I mean, it almost sounds like one of our professional basketball players, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Shaquille O'Neal. Hakeem Olajuwon, and plain sinner for Philistia. Ish bai, ish bai, b'nab, b'nab, b'nab. Ish bai b'nab. David, and he's got this sword dedicated to taking David out, to field dressing him, if you please. David slowly begins to turn around, and then he sees him, and there he stands. Ishbaibinob with his brand new sword drawn, glittering in the mid-eastern sun. Hello, my name is Ishbaibinob. You killed my father, prepare to die. You can't make this stuff up. There's even a six-finger dude in this story. Yes, sir, buddy. Hello, my name is Ish-baibonob, you killed my father, prepare to die. So what does David say? You talking to me? No, it's looking bad for the home team. There's no surge of power right now with David. He's really, really in trouble. He's by himself, a 10 foot guy standing over top of him with a drawn sword made for his demise. My mind goes back to an August evening, 1990. George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president, the first George Bush, said to Saddam Hussein, if you invade Kuwait, we will consider it an act of war. Furthermore, if you invade Kuwait, we consider an act of war against the United States of America. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and war was on. And criticism against our president, was horrendous. They were saying things like, you've started the Third World War. Even lost, unregenerate journalists were using biblical, apocalyptic language. You've started the Battle of Armageddon. Actually saying these things. Everywhere George Herbert Walker Bush turned, he was getting a discouraging word. Until 11 o'clock p.m. on that August night, 1990, he receives a phone call from the best man in Britain. Good evening, Mr. President. This is Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady herself, the best man in Britain. Here's her words. I'm just called to tell you, sir, that I have at your disposal the Royal Army, sir. I have at your disposal the RAF, the Royal Air Force, sir. We have at your disposal the Royal Navy, sir. We have at your disposal 7,500 Desert Train Marines at your disposal. I'm not exaggerating. I'm not using hyperbole. Her next words were exactly these words. And I've just called to tell you, sir, that this is no time to go wobbly. Those were exact words. This is no time to go wobbly. What an undignified word for a dignified lady. I mean, I want you to get it in your fill for a moment. Look at the person next to you and say, Wobbly. Wobbly. Say it like a Brit. Say it like a Brit. Wobbly. Hear, hear. This is no time to go wobbly. But I got curious about that. I got curious about that. What exactly did she mean by Wobbly. So I looked it up in the Oxford English. Oh, no, no, not the Merriam-Webster Americanized, but the Oxford English Dictionary. So I looked it up and here's the definition to vacillate from side to side, to weave and the bubble like jelly. if I could Americanize it to weave and bobble like Jell-O. I think we got the definition down. As I see David standing in the shadow of Ishmael, I say, Your Majesty, this is no time to go wobbly. As I look at Liberty Baptist Church and maybe other visiting churches, the day that we're living in, where compromise is running amok. Where standing for values is no longer considered a mandate, but is optional now. I say to the church, I say to Liberty, this is no time to go wobbly. That's what I wanna speak to you tonight. This is no time to go wobbly. Why? Because number one, spiritual war is real. Just as real as this war between Philistia and Israel, spiritual war is real. The Bible uses terminology such as thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Put on the whole armor of God, Ephesians 6 says. Loins gird about with the truth. Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Helmet of salvation. shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, the only piece of offensive armor that we have. This is no time to go wobbly because spiritual war is real. Pastor Tice, what I think happens with a lot of people, they have a tendency, we have a tendency to think, well, I understand, Brother Pope, that people like Pastor Tice and yourself, you know, your preachers, our missionaries that come by, Evangelist John Goetsch. Oh, I see you guys. Yeah, you are in spiritual war. Let me just explain. Ladies and gentlemen, everybody that's saved has entered into spiritual warfare. Every one of us, every one of us are to put on the whole armor of God. You might be saying, but I don't really see that I'm in spiritual warfare. I'm going to give you a little test right here that I know that everybody will pass. Don't raise your hand yet, but have you ever been winning someone to the Lord Jesus, showing in the Bible how to be saved? And then you get to Romans 10, nine and 10 and 13, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And then the Bible says right here, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And even before you can sometimes get out, wouldn't you right now like to ask the Lord Jesus to come? The phone rings. The baby cries. Somebody comes to the door. Interference has come. Has anybody ever been there? Raise your hand if you have. Now, here's what I'd like for you to do. Just kind of raise your hand again. Look around, look around, look around. Okay, you're not by yourself. Okay, isn't that coincidental that all of us who have ever been witnessing have had that experience? Do you think that that's coincidental? not on your life. I give God praise and thanks for a group of men that for 29 years have been praying the price one hour a day. Tomorrow morning there is going to be a group of men meeting up at our church at five o'clock and much of their prayer for one hour is going to be praying for me in this meeting. By the way, Paul said, praying always with all prayer and supplication. And for me, that utterance may be given. Pastor Tice, Paul was saying, if you don't pray for me, I can't preach effectively. And for me, that utterance may be given. He reaffirmed that in Colossians, that he'd have that spirit or that word of utterance that if you would, effectually, that you pray for me to have that speech. Here is one of the number one things that is told me by our men who learn how to pray the price. for the Pope. I was about to break through in prayer. I mean, I'd really gotten to the point where I could sense the manifested presence of God, and I was asking God for things. I mean, I was ready to see mountains moved and lives changed. And while I was in the midst of the most holy prayer time I've ever had in my life, the most ungodly thought came out of nowhere to my mind. The most vulgar thought came to my mind out of nowhere. I'm not going to get you to raise your hand. Have you ever been there? By the way, if you haven't, don't be surprised if you learn how to really get a hold of the horns of the altar and pray. Things like that don't happen. The Bible speaks of fiery darts. Fiery darts in the first century of the church were used by countries whenever they could not break through a stronghold, when they couldn't break through the fortress. When they couldn't get through the barricade, then they would have oil-tipped arrows, and they would shoot those flaming arrows over the parapet to burn them out from the inside out. Those were fiery darts. I'm not going to go into a whole sideline here, but Jesus said, I saw Satan falling as lightning. That's interesting. Lightning. Remember Benjamin Franklin was flying a kite and he had a string at the bottom of the string was this key and lightning hit the kite, traveled down the string and gave him a little charge there at the key. I say I remember Franklin, I remember reading about that, okay? When you talk to people in the medical profession, physiologically, they can actually measure your thought life. Because if they were to show you in a computer, they could show you in your brain with these electrodes all hooked up. When you think a thought from point A to point B, there's an electrical impulse. One of the ladies in our church worked in a insane asylum. Well, she actually worked in a hospital, but there was a floor in the hospital dedicated to psychotic people that are freaking out. I actually remember seeing this on the news. This guy was standing in the corner with a samurai sword defending America from Martian invasions. And I mean, he was swinging that samurai going nuts. They put him in the straitjacket, took him into the hospital, and he's ranting and raving about the Martians. They put electrodes in here and put a little electricity into his brain, the muscle there, and all of a sudden, hey, the Martians are coming! Hi, Doc, how are ya? Electric shock. He's called the prince of the power of the air. Don't think for a moment. He's not omnipotent, he's not omniscient, but he can carefully aim some fiery darts. But the shield of faith, you watch this, it quenches every fiery dart. So if you have the shield of faith up, if you put on your spiritual clothes, you know, by the way, I'm gonna do a parenthetical here. You know what we have in the church today? A lot of spiritual streakers. Remember streakers? They'd show up at ball games in their birthday suit and they'd run across the field and defile everyone. And you're sitting there thinking, boy, those are wicked people. And not only that, stupid. Can you imagine anybody leaving their house with their clothes off? Can you imagine getting up and leaving your house without your spiritual clothes on? You have no way of being a match against the powers of darkness if you're not prepared. We're in spiritual warfare. And the reason there's so many fatalities is because people do not believe they're in spiritual warfare. When I was a kid and I was doing some boxing, I can remember how it was really fun to land those punches and then to block those punches. But I can also tell you from experience, I even got a mark to prove it, that when you let your guard down and you're fighting a Golden Gloves boxer, that you're gonna get clobbered. I mean, I'll never forget that. I mean, just, I was sparred off, and a friend of mine, Walter, said, get him, Pope, and I dropped my guard, and that's the last thing I remember. Well, I do remember a little bit more. I remember on the floor, and I was getting up, and the world was spinning. I let my guard down. This is no time to go wobbly because spiritual war is real and people are going around with their guard down. This is no time to go wobbly because number two, watch this, Satan never gives up. You never get bulletproof in the work of God. Look in our text here, 2 Samuel 21, verse number 15. Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel. Verse 18, and it came to pass after this that there was again a battle with the Philistines at Gab. Verse number 19, and there was again a battle in Gab. Verse number 20, and there was yet a battle in Gath. He kept coming back. The Philistines, rather, kept coming back. In Luke chapter four, we see that the devil tempted Jesus in three unique temptations. And then the Bible says that he, Satan, departed from him, Jesus, for a season. You understand when it says for a season, that meant for a time, meaning he was coming back. He haunted and taunted Jesus all the way to the cross. I was thinking about this just recently as we study eschatology, the end times. There's going to be a time when Jesus raptures the church and the tribulation begins. And then at the end of seven years, the Lord comes back in glory with his saints. We see according to the word of God that Satan is bound during that 1,000 years. And then Satan is loosed after he's incarcerated in hell. For 1,000 years, he's loosed. And the first thing the devil does is he gets a bunch of people to come after Jesus. Not even 1,000 years in incarceration torments was remedial for the devil. The devil never converts. The devil never becomes a better devil. The devil is wicked and stays wicked and the devil never gives up fighting righteousness. Now thank God after that thousand years, he has finally bound up and held and never will be. Thank God loosed again. But I want to tell you something, folks. If the devil never gave up on Jesus, do you think he's given up on you? Do you think the devil is down there saying, you know what? David Tice has just done too much for the Lord in Las Vegas. We're gonna have to give up. That guy won. It's over, hands down. Are you kidding me? Everybody say this with me. New levels. New devils. New levels. Lou Devils, new levels, new devils. Now, folks, this is illustrated in the Bible. If I were to ask you, what is one of the who would be one of the holiest men in the Old Testament? Oh, God, I'll tell you what, I'll go ahead and throw it out. Somebody yell out a name of the holy one of the holiest men in the Old Testament. Good. Oh, you got it. OK, I heard his name. OK, Daniel. What a What an impeccable character. I mean, there's not many guys save Joseph, Jacob's son, Daniel, Job. I mean, these guys are in a category all of their own. No dark closets there. These are guys that put their hand to the proverbial plow and did not turn back. Why, they didn't even put rear-view mirrors on their plow. They just kept on going. Daniel, as a young man, stood strong, encouraged his compatriots, shut the mouths of lions, as a young man. And then you progress to the book of Daniel, and by the 10th chapter of Daniel, he's in, according to the scholarship, in his 80s. And he begins to fast and pray, and he does it for three weeks. Toward the end of that three weeks, he gets a visitation from the angel of the Lord and said, I came for thy words. I want to say this to you. Has it ever occurred to you that you can pray with such power that your very prayers summons the angels? Daniel did. I am come for thy words. And then here's what, watch this, here's what the angel told him. He said, would have been here sooner. But I came up against opposition, the prince of Persia. The prince of Persia was not an earthly prince. The Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness, spiritual wickedness and high places. In the same way, you've got a tear. and a chain of command in, let's say, our armed forces. You've got private, corporal, sergeant, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel, colonel, brigadier general, major general, lieutenant general, general. In that same way, you've got a tier of ranking demonic powers, spiritual weakness in high places, rulers of the darkness, principalities, powers, New levels, new devils. Daniel had gotten so close to the Lord and did such mighty things for God that the devil did not only not give up on him, he reinforced I mean, the angel, the Lord said it was such a tough battle. I had to call in reinforcements. He got in no less of a personage than Michael, the mighty archangel, to come help him fight the Prince of Persia to get the Daniel to answer his prayers. So did the devil leave Daniel alone in his 80s? Pastor, we got a lot to look forward to, don't we? New levels, new devils. Now, this is not to discourage you because the Bible says greater is he that is in you than he that is in this world. So it wasn't just talking about principalities and powers that was talking about Satan himself. The Bible says that we may resist the devil and he will flee from us. This is no time to go wobbly. Because spiritual war is real. Number two, because Satan doesn't give up on you. This is no time to go wobbly because number three, Satan is not impressed. Nor is he dismayed, watch this, with your past victories. And oh, my name is Ish-baibonav, you killed my father, prepare to die. So what does David say? Hey punk, you know who you're talking to? Check out this sling I got right here on my side. See all those notches? Giants that I've killed. See that first notch down there? That's your daddy. You don't want any of this, boy. And if you stand real still, I'll show you exactly what I can do. Remember, he's in his late 50s and early 60s, and they didn't have bifocals back in those days. This is no time to go wobbly, because Satan is not impressed with your past victories. You think Ishmael is saying, oh, sorry, your majesty. I didn't know you were such a tough guy. Not only is he not a tough guy, he's not as tough as he used to be. The Bible says he was waxing faint. The devil knows our weak spots, doesn't he? The devil knows our weak spots. The Lord blessed me when I was a young preacher in the 70s and 80s. I was able to preach in some of the largest, if not the very largest, Sunday schools and churches in America. Here's the sad thing. I still go back to some of those same churches, but they're museums. And everyone tells me what used to, or they'll say, but the Pope, do you remember when we I preach a lot of youth camps, and sometimes I'll have some young people from a certain very good church come up to me and say, hey, my brother was here two years ago. Our youth group isn't like it was two years ago. Boy, two years ago, our youth group was so good. Churches are like that sometimes. And our choir, by the way, it was a great choir tonight, I loved it. by our choir used to be, amen. Or our soul winning. We used to have so many come out. We know we don't have that many come out anymore, but I'm never used to they go out. Or this ministry, this bus ministry here, or this convalescent ministry over here. We were just busting at the seams. We're going great guns, and this is what we used to do. What we used to be. Many times the prayers that we remembered are in the past. When's the last time you had a real important prayer answered? When's the last time you saw God do something really miraculous, something that there's no human explanation for? And I'm convinced, and I wanna just say this, as I stand here at this very good crowd on a Monday night in front of a lot of people who have never heard me preach, this is a wonderful crowd. but it would be easy for a church on fire for you to begin to run on momentum. A pastor in Korea came to America and was alarmed. He said, we were won to the Lord by Bible believing missionaries that came over in the 1800s and they taught us how to pray and how to serve God. He said, I've come to America and I don't see people praying like we were taught to pray, serving God the way we were taught to serve God. And here's the application he made. He said, it's like a car. When you have an active prayer life and service life for God, you've got your pedal on the metal or your foot on the pedal and you're pushing. And that's impetus. He says, but what I see in America now, your foot's not on the pedal anymore, and you're coasting on momentum. And the problem with the momentum and the coasting is that sooner or later, you stop. You slow and then stop. I wanna show you something in Leviticus chapter six that's really telling. Look at Leviticus chapter six for just a moment here. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for instruction in righteousness. And this is very applicable. You know, when God spoke to Moses, he spoke to Moses out of what kind of a bush? A burning bush. When Elijah spoke to God up on Mount Carmel, God answered by what? Boom, by fire. On the day of Pentecost, above the disciples' heads were cloven tongues as of fire. When the tabernacle and the temple service was being conducted, God Almighty himself started the fire at the altar. If you try to imitate it or simulate it, you could end up like Nadab in a bayou. God gave the fire, but it was the job of the priest to keep the fire going. When a young man or a young lady or a middle-aged man or a middle-aged lady or an older man or an older lady gets right with God, we often say, and rightly so, hey, thank God, they really got on fire. Nothing wrong with that term. The Bible says in Leviticus 6.13, the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar, it shall never go out. Isn't that a good verse? The fire shall ever be burning on the altar, it shall never go out. Now I ask you a question, answer it in your heart, what causes the fire to go out? It's not profound necessarily and it's simple to see. Maybe it's so simple it can become profound. It says in verse 10, and the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen britches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offing on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar, and he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. Watch this, he has to remove the ashes if the fire is gonna be kept burning. The ashes can smother the fire. The ashes were yesterday's wood. The ashes were yesterday's fuel. Yesterday that wood was good. But today, yesterday's wood become ashes. And you can't keep the fire going with ashes. And a church doesn't keep going. on what God used to do for liberty in 1985 or 1995. We can't live off yesterday, Jesus. It's got to be today, Jesus. We can't live off yesterday's prayers. It needs to be today's prayers. Thank God, praise His holy name for every soul and maybe every one of you that were saved because of the outreach of this church, but we're not gonna survive if we live off yesterday's converts. We've gotta keep making converts. Isaiah said, how long? He said, there's no more cities and no more people. But I've become discouraged by the pope. I'm not seeing as many people one when I do witness. Well, just keep witnessing and do season. You shall reap if you think not. And I like what Oswald J. Smith said, God didn't call us to Christian eyes. He called us to evangelize. See, God saves the soul. We're the mere witnesses. We don't save anybody. They're not rejecting us. They're rejecting our savior. He didn't call us to save them. He called us to witness to them, to give the gospel to them. God does the saving. You haven't witnessed to the wrong person. Now I know how you beat yourself up, I do the same thing, hardly ever when I witness to somebody and it doesn't come to fruition, rarely, well I'm gonna rephrase that, I always ask my Lord, what did I do wrong? What did I say wrong? I should have done this, I should have not done that, I put too much pressure on, I didn't put enough pressure on. Don't you worry about how you've done the job. Just do the job. Too many of God's people are doing their witnessing like some would mistakenly do their target practice. Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, fire, come on, just fire. I don't know, brother Pope, I'm getting ready to witness, so just witness. Oh, I remember used to, I'd be witnessing. I'd witness at the drop of the hat. I'd never go out of the house without some tracks. I wouldn't go through the grocery store without leaving a track. I wouldn't go to that little tube in the bank without shooting a track. New neighbors would move in. But every time a new neighbor would move in, I witnessed to them. And every time I could for visitation, I was there. But Brother Poppa got tired. And haven't I done my, Job. I mean, it'd be easy for David to say, Lord, I've killed enough giants. Now look at this. I'm 60 years old and look at this. Another giant. You've got to be kidding me. Haven't I earned the right not to be bugged by these people? This is no time to go wobbly. Because Satan is not dismantled, he is not dismayed, he is not put off by your past victories. He's not afraid of what you used to do for God. Your reputation doesn't have him quaking in his boots. This is no time to go wobbly because, watch this, it's time for another generation to step up. I love what is said here, verse 17, very concise. Wow. Evidently, Abishai was trailing David in the shadows as David went to his camel. You killed my father, prepared to die, and he's ready to lay in on David. And suddenly there's a voice behind Ishmael and he turns around. And I read in secular Jewish history that Abishai was the greatest swordsman that Israel ever had. He was one of David's mighty men. Abishai, my fight's not with you, it's with your king. And Abishai says, you mean Uncle David? See, Abishai was David's sister's boy. I can imagine David, as he looks at Abishai, reminisces real quickly when Abishai was a youngster. And his sister and brother-in-law were visiting, and he hears Abishai say, I'm King David on guard. And David says, hey, sis, can I go, can I go, can I go play with Abishai? Sure, Dave. Hey, Abishai. Yeah, Uncle David. You want Uncle David to teach you how to sword fight? Would you, Uncle David? Said, I sure will. And he grabs a wooden sword on guard. And after we're through, I'll tell you about Goliath's sword. Would you, Uncle David? I'd be great. He gets older, he becomes David's squire, he becomes David's knight, and finally becomes David's mighty man. Hope you didn't mind, your majesty. I just thought maybe you might need a little cover. So I wasn't far, and then I heard the stink over here, and I'm ready to de-stink this thing. Command me, your majesty. So what did David say? No, back off, kid, I got them right where I want them. Oh, no. David's in trouble like he's never been before. He might've even been cut already a little bit, and he can't stand up against this huge giant. And I imagine David says, get him boy. And all of a sudden, Abishai. Hi-yah! Boy, he's tearing into him. And Ish-baibonad realizes the dynamite comes in small packages. Shroom, shroom, shroom. And finally I can imagine Abishai saying, Uncle David, remember this one? And just like his uncle a few years before, he's getting ahead in life. All right. There's no time to go wobbly because it's time for Abishai or Abishaieth to step up. A telling verse is in Acts chapter 13 and verse number 36, and David served his own generation by the will of God. I was with my friend, Brother Clarence Sexton, recently, and he said, I'm not at the end of the ministry, but I'm at the beginning of the end of the ministry, and after we were through, I said, you know, I never thought about it like that, but I think I'm getting right there, too. I said, the way I've likened it, I'm on a relay race, and I've come around the last bend, the last turn, I can see the youngsters up in front of me waiting to take the baton, and now I'm pouring it on to get that baton in Matt's hand, or Josh's hand, you see? or my own boys, Jonathan or Sean, doing everything I can, because it's time for Abishai to step up. It's time for David to stay faithful, but it's time for Abishai to step up. This is no time to go wobbly because now is the time. More than ever, our country never needed the visitation from God more than she needs it now. Our churches never need an old-fashioned, Holy Ghost, heaven-sent, heartfelt, Jesus-loving, sin-hating, devil-ridding revival like we need right now. This is no time to go wobbly. It's time to put on that whole armor of God. gets serious about giving everything to Jesus and winning souls like we've never won before, praying prayers that moves mountains, staying faithful in our marriage, and staying faithful to this local New Testament church founded upon Jesus Christ himself. Now, the corporations may fall. Enrons in Houston may tumble. Even exons may fall. But the church of the living God shall never fall. It's founded on the rock. It's founded upon Jesus. Now's the time more than ever to get involved in something permanent, even eternal, the church of the living God. Some say he was the number one ace during the Vietnam War, Charles Plum. He flew 75 successful missions off the USS Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War. On the 76th mission, he was shot down, his seat ejected, and his parachute opened perfectly. He came softly to the ground, but soon he was captured by the Viet Cong and he was enslaved in the Hanoi, the infamous Hanoi Hilton for six years. And three of those years, he was in a cubicle of six feet long and three and a half feet wide. He could not even stand up for three years. After six years, he was released and he began to give a testimony when he came back to America of the power of Jesus that carried him through those darkest days in Vietnam. It was 15 years since he'd been shot down. He and Kathy were in a distant city. They were eating dinner at a nice restaurant. Charles Plum noticed a man was looking at him. Kathy said, What's wrong, Charlie? She said, He said, This guy keeps looking at me. She said, Well, I wouldn't worry about it. Let's just go back to eating. He went back to eating. Then he lifted up his eyes and she noticed he was staring over there. She said, Charlie, what's wrong now? So that guy keeps looking at me. Well, Charlie, I guess maybe he thinks he knows you. Let's finish up, we can leave if you're uncomfortable with this. Charlie went back to eating, then he lifted up his head and the guy was not sitting there anymore. Now he was standing right next to Charlie and Kathy at their table. And I mean, he had a very serious look on his face. He was staring right at Charlie Plum. And the guy barked out, Plum, right? Yeah, that's me, Charles Plum. You is as Kitty Hawk, right? Right, Kitty Hawk, I was on it, yeah. 75 missions, shot down on the 76th one, right? Yeah, and then the guy gave him the time of day he was shot down. Right? Right. And then the guy smiled real big and saluted. I packed your chutes, sir. And then he smiled even bigger and said, I guess it worked. Charles Plum stood up. Didn't matter. Even though he was a man's man, it didn't matter. He stood up and he gave him a big old hug and said, every night for 15 years, I've gone to bed thanking God for the man that packed my chute. They exchanged phone numbers and addresses. That night, Kathy went off to sleep. Charlie lay there in the dark, couldn't go to sleep. Think about that guy. squared hat, couldn't fit, couldn't place him, bib back, bell bottoms. The times that he must have been saluted by the young man and just maybe returned to salute real quick but never even looked him in the eye. I thought about the nights that he went to bed in his comfortable officer's quarters and This guy did this insignificant job in the bottom of that ship, that insignificant job of making one insignificant fold after another, packing chutes until the night he packed my chute, Charlie said. It was no longer insignificant then. He said, as God spoke to my heart, he said, hey, Charlie, you remember who packed your chute? He said, I thought about my mama who won me to Jesus. Thought about when I was trying to get away from the Lord in high school and the good godly born again, believing coach helped bring me back to the way of God. And then God spooked his heart and said, hey, Charlie, who shoot are you packing? As I came across that true piece of history, I thought about the people that have packed my shoot. I've seen my mother go 21 days at a time without putting a bit of cellophane mouth, fasting and praying for my brother. There were times when I was in high school that I was backslidden. Somebody said, you Baptist, you believe in backsliding? I said, not only do we believe in it, but we practice it from time to time. I would come in and my shoes would be on my bed. Now, this is back in the old days. We had school shoes and we had play shoes and we had dress shoes. She put my dress shoes on my bed. Sometimes they were wet. It wasn't until after I surrendered to preach that mother said, you ever wondered about why your shoes were in the middle of the bed when you were a teenager, son? I said, yes, ma'am, I did wonder. I didn't ask any questions because I knew mama would preach to me. I mean, when we'd have family altar, mother would pray 20 to 30 minutes, and I couldn't tell if she was talking to God or to me. Lord, help Johnny to realize. So I didn't ask questions about shoes on my bed. She said, I knew you weren't right with the Lord. I put those shoes up there, your dress shoes, shoes that a preacher would wear. And I said, Lord, he's not right with you, but he needs to be right with you. So go ahead and call him the preach. And I was claiming the verse, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel. And she'd weep over my shoes. I didn't have a chance. Most Christlike man I ever knew is my own daddy. He taught us obedience to the unenforceable, do right when there's nobody around to make you do right. What you do in the dark is who you really are. And that's the truth. When you got your computer on late at night, you think God doesn't know what's happening there? You think you're getting away with it because nobody knows but you? What you do in the dark is who you really are. Oh, Dad said, obedience, obedience to the unenforceable. Thank God for my sweet wife here who's prayed for me over the years. Never once in over 40 years of marriage ever said, I wish you wouldn't leave because I've traveled around the country so many times preaching, gone days at a time. Never once ever discouraged me, go preach the gospel. We're praying for you, Daddy. And tonight, as I've come around that last bend, and I'm seeing where my race ends, I'm pouring it on, because I need to pack some shoots before I leave. And tonight, we understand that God used Abishai to save David's life, to fight the giant. David, the great giant killer, had seen his day. But it's not a discouraging thing. He had taught some mighty men to fall in line and pick up the sword and fight the good fight. And you know why it's a good fight of faith, don't you? Because we're on the winning side. Ladies and gentlemen, this is no time to go wobbly. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the Word of God and how that you speak to us through your precious Word. We pray on this evening, dear God, that you will speak to hearts. Let your kingdom come, Lord. Let your will be done in this place. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. I wonder how many can say, Johnny Pope, There's absolutely not a doubt in my mind. I'm sure of heaven as if I were there right now. If I die now, I know I'd go to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus. Would you raise that hand? You put your hands down, heads about, and eyes are closed. I wonder how many would say, Johnny Pope, I don't know for sure, not 100% that if I die now, I'd go to heaven, but I don't wanna go to hell. I'd like to know Christ as my savior. You know, Jesus shed his blood, he died for you. If you'd been the only person that ever lived, he would've loved you enough to die just for you. He rose again, he's alive right now. Knock into your hearts door. Is there anybody here that would say, I don't know for sure I'm saved, but I'd like to know for sure. Pray for me. Would you lift the hand? Is there one? Heads about and eyes are closed. Let me ask you this question. How many would say, Johnny Pope, I'm saved by the grace of God, but you know, if God didn't speak to anybody's heart but mine, God spoke to me tonight. Brother Pope, pray for me. I don't want to wobble anymore. Or I've been tempted to wobble and I don't want to go there. I'm ready to stand for the faith once delivered to the saints. I'm ready to keep on keeping on. I'm ready to step up like Abishai. I wonder how many would say, Brother Pope, if God didn't speak to anybody but me, God spoke to me. Would you lift a hand? How about that? All right. Hands are lifted. It looks like in every section of this auditorium from the front to the middle to the back. Here's what I want to ask you to do. We're going to have the invitation. I know that you can get right with the Lord right where you're sitting, but there's something powerful about stepping forward. Have you ever noticed in the Bible when Jesus got his disciples to follow him? He got people like Matthew. He left to the receipt of the customs publicly and follow Jesus. Peter, James and John left their nets publicly and follow Jesus. There's something powerful about publicly stepping forward for the Lord Jesus. Tonight, I want to encourage you to do that. If God spoke to you, if you need to be saved over here on my right, is gonna be Brother Matt. He's ready to talk to you about knowing Christ personally. Come up here to me or to Pastor and give us your hand and just say, I wanna be saved. We'd love to show you how to be saved. But tonight, if you'd like to just come and pray, there's plenty of room at the altar. Why don't we just quietly stand where we're at? If the Lord spoke to your heart, I want you to come after we pray. Heavenly Father, bless the remaining part of this invitation. Let your kingdom come, let your will be done in Jesus' name. We hope that message was an encouragement to your heart. Now, for weekly updates and for information about Liberty Baptist Church, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook at LBC of Las Vegas. Well, that's it for today. Thanks again for listening. Until next time, God bless.