•
We choose
everyday to be courageous or to be cowards.
•
We all
face insecurities, disappointments, financial loads but we have to make right
choices because the fear is the same.
•
Fighters
are found right in the middle of adversity, trial, battle and fear.
"Learn to
control my fear and I feed his fear by taunting other boxers." Muhammad
Ali
Joshua 8:1-8 NLT "[1] Then the Lord said to Joshua,
"Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack
Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.
[2] You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time
you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind
the town." [3] So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai.
Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night [4] with
these orders: "Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for
action. [5] When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as
they did before, and we will run away from them. [6] We will let them chase us
until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say, 'The Israelites
are running away from us as they did before.' Then, while we are running from
them, [7] you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town,
for the Lord your God will give it to you. [8] Set the town on fire, as the
Lord has commanded. You have your orders."
•
Don't be
afraid, don't be discouraged, get your fight together.
•
Joshua
chose a fighting crew.
•
I have run
from some enemies before.
•
Ran away
because of fear, ran away because of insecurity, ran away and refused to stand
up and fight.
•
Joshua
says we're returning to fight and this time we're not running away, we're not
gonna be chased away, we're gonna glove up and get it on.
•
If we will
stand up to our sin, stand up to our enemies, stand in unity of our mission, we
will defeat the Devil every time!
Joshua 8:18-22, 26 "Then the Lord said to Joshua,
"Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to
you." Joshua did as he was commanded. [19] As soon as Joshua gave this
signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the
town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire. [20] When the men of Ai
looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had
nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the
wilderness now turned on their pursuers. [21] When Joshua and all the other
Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the
town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai. [22] Meanwhile, the Israelites
who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the
men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides.
Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped. [26] For
Joshua kept holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was
completely destroyed."
•
Joshua
never stopped till the work was done.
•
When you
stretch out your hands against your spiritual enemies, you must never draw them
back.
1. Training will
determine outcome.
•
Train well
for in your training are the foundational principles, rules, or code of conduct
you will live by, be guided by, and treat others by.
•
Training
is the most important tool to a fighter, and to a Christian.
•
If you
cheat your only cheating yourself.
"Today I
will do what others won't so tomorrow I can do what others can't."
•
You have
to have a fight about you.
•
Success
isn't given. It's earned. On the track, on the field, in the gym, in
relationships, in your career, or in your ministry calling. With blood, sweat
and the occasional tear.
2. Choices will
determine outcome.
•
When doubt
arises in you, you have two roads you can take.
•
They’ll
tell you failure is not an option.
•
That is
most ridiculous lie I've ever heard.
•
Failure is
always an option.
•
Failure is
the most readily available option at all times, but it’s
a choice.
•
You can
speak encouragement and belief and get down the road to success, or speak
self-doubt and negativity, and that is the road to failure.
•
Beat
failure every time.
•
Joshua
24:15 Choose today whom you will serve but as for me and my house we will serve
God.
3. Heart will
determine outcome.
“When someone is fearless, when pain
isn’t a factor, it’s
impossible to break his spirit. And a fighter with heart will almost always win
out against a fighter with skill but no will.”
Chuck Liddell
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Heart
separates those that want it from those who will pay the price to get it.
•
Heart is
regarded as the center of your thoughts, emotions, love, compassion, courage
and enthusiasm.
•
Say it
from your heart, settle it from your heart, operate from your heart.
•
Fight has
nothing to do with size but has everything to do with heart.
Proverbs 3:1 NLT "[1] My child, never forget the
things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart."
4. Fight will
determine outcome.
•
To me,
living is fighting.
•
It’s
about persevering, it’s about testing yourself, it’s
about refusing complacency.
•
It’s
about embracing the moment, because when your adrenaline gets running you’re
thinking about that present moment and nothing else.
•
Your
connected to that situation, that circumstance and everything deep inside comes
carbonating to the surface to explode and reminds me of my reason for the
fight.
•
We're in a
fight for our soul, our destiny, our purpose, our families, but Jesus Christ
has defeated all enemies.
•
Fight for
it.
•
Don't lay
down, don't give in, don't give up, don't sit around dreaming for the beat
down.
•
Fight for
it.
5. God will
determine outcome.
Psalm 57:3 NLT "[3] He will send help from heaven to
rescue me, disgracing those who hound me. My God will send forth his unfailing
love and faithfulness."
•
Fight for
your faith.
•
Fight for
your calling.
•
Fight for
your marriage.
•
Fight for
your children.
•
Fight for
your grandchildren.
•
Fight for
your future.
•
Fight for
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
•
Be a
Fighter.
•
Quit
making excuses, putting it off, complaining about it, dreaming about it,
whining about it, crying about it, believing you can't, worrying if you can, waiting
until you are older, skinnier, richer, braver, or all around better.
•
Suck it
up, hold on tight, say a prayer, make a plan and fight.
•
How do you
respond to fear, taunting, the fight?
Illustrate here: white boxing tape up my hands and
glove up. Give every graduate a pair of boxing gloves and then sharpie pen a
couple of scriptures on them to commemorate the night.
•
How I
respond to fear will determine the outcome of my life as a man or woman of God.
•
There will
be no victories without battles.
•
Body,
mind, spirit.
Romans 8:14 (NLT) "For all who are led by the Spirit
of God are children of God."
•
If we
allow our bodies to control us we go on feeling.
•
If we
allow our minds to control us we go on reason.
•
If we
allow our spirits to control us we go on faith.
1 Chronicles 19:13 NLT "[13] Be courageous! Let us
fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. May the Lord's will be
done."
•
Your
feelings are a quick trip to depression.
•
Reasoning
is a quick trip to confusion.
•
Spirit is
a trip to the plan, purpose, and propulsion of God.
•
Determine
that God has greater purpose for us, in us, and would like to live it out
through us.
1 John 5:5 NLT "[5] And who can win this battle
against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God."
•
Feelings
you'll quit.
•
Reasoning,
you never figure out.
•
The Spirit
repeats, "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world."
Joshua 2:11 NLT "[11] No wonder our hearts have melted
in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the
Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth
below."
“It is not the critic who counts: not
the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds
could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the
arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly,
who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without
error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the
triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he
fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and
timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore
Roosevelt
•
Battles
are won in the mental cage.
•
Your body
will continue to do what your mind and your spirit tell it to do.
