Win Before You Begin

Tonight is going to be, it already again has been special. I am so grateful for tonight. We'll have that time of worship later on. But I'm really, really grateful for Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. to be with us tonight. He's an unbelievable voice really to an entire generation. If you've been around Highlands, you know, he's been a part of our motion conference really almost since the beginning. For over 15 years, he has been fateful. It's a really big deal to show up every single year and to preach Jesus. There have been thousands of lives that have been changed. He and his wife, Donnery, are building one of the most phenomenal churches I've ever seen. I actually got a chance to preach there last weekend.

It was unbelievable what God is doing in Miami, Florida. But as your pastor, I need you all to hear this. He is one of my closest friends in ministry. And I'm grateful that he is a friend, but more than that, he has become a brother. And the number of hours we have spent talking about ministry, and life, and marriage, and leadership, he has invested in Jill and I so faithfully. And I am better in every way because of him. We are better because of he and DC. And so tonight at every location, would you stand your feet? We give a huge, come on. Highlands, welcome. All the way from Miami, Pastor Rich Wilkerson, Jr. Love you. Hallelujah.

Come on, church of the Highlands. It's Wednesday night and you're in church. Come on, let's do what we came to do. What are you going to clap your hands? Lift your voice. Let's give the King of Kings the Lord of the Lord. His name is Jesus. Come on, somebody give him praise in the house tonight. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I just think church on a Wednesday night just hits different. Just feel like you're talking to some saints in the place. And I think anybody that goes to church on a Wednesday night is automatically going to heaven, amen.

But what an honor it is to be here. Why don't you have five or a couple of people around you and say, I'm happy you're sitting near me. Reach for your Bible. Turn with me to the Old Testament. I want you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 20. Deuteronomy chapter 20, if you have a Bible. As you are turning there, let me greet all of the locations that are tuning in. What an amazing, amazing ministry in church that this is. Not just a local church here in Alabama, but truly a church that is touching the nation. And I've been coming around Highlands for I think 15 years now. And every time I come into this space, I always leave better.

Than how I came. And the truth is that none of this is by accident. It is God's divine design. It truly is his providential plan, but that always involves a man and a woman. And it's so fitting for me in such an honor that I get to be here on the 25-year anniversary weekend in Window because my pastor, mentor, model, hero in the faith is the man who started this place. I'm so grateful for Pastor Chris and Miss Tammy. Can we just put our hands going? Thank God. I know we've been saying, thank you a whole lot this weekend, but

Anytime you're in the room, I want to make sure I'm saying thank you. I've stolen more of his sermons than any person on the planet. And I just, I so admire you and I love you. And even in this season, it's so fun for me to watch as a younger man in the faith, just watching you as you transition. I think that maturity is always seen in the transitions in life. And for you to build all this and just give it away. We already knew how generous you were, but it's just another kind of mark on the journey. And so I love you very much. I'm committed to you. Thankful for your life. Thank you for teaching me.

All that I know, Miss Tammy, we're grateful for you and who you are. You guys are just two of the finest. And it's so fun for me because you introduced me to Mark way back then and let us have a friendship. And now here we are, following in your footsteps, and Mark and Jill, I can't say enough things. And I know maybe you're like, the church is like, why do preachers do this? It's called a culture of honor. And what you'll discover about a culture of honor is honor is a key that unlocks the supernatural. And when Jesus is at his own hometown, he can't do many miracles because they're familiar with it. And so I just think it's important that when you're in somebody else's pulpit, on somebody else's platform, that you take a moment to place value on who they are.

And I want to say publicly how grateful I am for Mark and Jill Pettis. They've served, they've submitted, they've followed, and look what the Lord has done. Let me say to every young leader out there, submission will take you further than ambition could ever dream.

You're looking at a couple that didn't strive, didn't posture, didn't position, but served. And look how the Lord is using them. I love both of you. I could take my entire clock just on you. Thank you for being my friend, and I believe the next 25 years really the best is yet to come. How many all believe the best is yet to come? How many are committed to the journey? Come on, clap your hands every location.

I'm gonna preach it like I feel it. Let me give you one verse, Deuteronomy chapter 20. There's more verses in this passage. We'll see how much time we have to get into it. But I wanna give you one verse up front. This is what the scripture says, Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse one. When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours,

Do not be afraid of them because the Lord your God, oh this is good. who brought you up out of Egypt will be with you. I don't know how you walked into first Wednesday, but I believe you're going to leave better than how you came. I want to teach for a few moments from the subject, win before you begin. Win before you begin. What I have learned about the Christian journey more often than not is that the older I get following Jesus, I am learning that the Christian life, it's not a dance, it truly is a battle. Someone said amen out there.

It really is. And what I love so much about our God is that our God tells us over and over and over again in the Scriptures that we are going to win. And although God declares over your life that you're going to win, it doesn't negate the fact that you're going to have to fight.

That each and every one of us were always in a battle. We're always in some sort of fight. And no doubt we will face different types of external challenges and pain. But the biggest fight that we will always deal with is the internal one. There is always a battle going on on the inside. In fact, I think the greatest war we have to fight is the one in between our ears. It's our mind.

And what I know is this is that if you want to change your life for the new year, you don't change your life by changing your life. You change your life by changing your mind. The scripture so clear in Romans chapter 12, it says, do not conform in the longer the patterns of this world, but be transformed how by the renewing of your mind. that you and I that if we're going to step out into the battles in front of us, we have to do so with a godly mindset. We have to do so with a faith mindset. Deuteronomy 20 is very interesting because what's taking place here is that Moses is giving a briefing to the soldiers before the battle.

He is prescribing to them and describing to them how they are to win and how they should think. Before they hold swords in their hands, he wants them to win the war in their head. And I think that as we're looking at this passage, this is super simple, but I think that a lot of people miss this. As we step out into the Christian journey, as we are being formed in the image of Jesus, we have to always do so with the mindset that God is for you. This is like, I know it sounds so basic, but people get these different images and pictures of who God is, and you need to see God as a loving father who is for you.

The other day I had a bit of a briefing of my own. It wasn't with soldiers, but it was with my kids. And in my house, I am the general, if you know what I'm talking about. And I had gotten a report that my kids were being bad with the babysitter. And so I gathered the three bigs. I have four children, Wyatt, Wild, Whalen, and Wolfgang. We love alliteration. It's all WWW. And they're either going to be preachers or bank robbers. We're not sure with those names. But I gathered all three of them. And in particular, I heard that my daughter, Wayland, that she had had a bad attitude. And so I said, Wayland, I said, were you bad today?

And I don't even know how it hit her. But she just, like, welled up with these princess tears. You said, daddy, daddy. I don't remember. Any other parents out there, your kids, you have short-term amnesia. What do you mean you don't remember? And so I looked over at her younger or older brother, wild. I said, wild.

Was wailing bad today. He said, oh, Dad, it's been such a long day. I'm like, bro, it's 2.15 in the afternoon. It's not that late. And it made me laugh because I will watch wild and wailing fight with one another. But as soon as my son wild senses judgment, correction, or what he perceives to be an attack over his sister, come on, he steps in and he protects. I want to say it this way, brothers protect, but you ought to know that fathers fight. And as we step out into the battles on this journey called faith, you got to know there is a good father up in heaven that he stands right in the gap and he will fight for you.

If you believe it, clap your hands, make a little bit of noise. There is a good father who is for you. And so if we're gonna win the battle, whatever the challenges we're up against, I wanna make a couple of observations. The first observation I wanna make is that notice what Moses says here before they go into war. He says, when you go to war, when you see the horses and you see the chariots, do not be afraid of them. I wanna remind you today that you have to be a person that don't let what you see shake what you know.

Don't let what you see, shake what you know. He says, when do you go to war, which is interesting to me? Because he's telling you, it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. Battle is not optional, it's inevitable. And so he says, when you go to war, when you step out into the challenge of life and when you see the horses and the chariots, he says, man, don't be afraid. What's he saying? He said that many times fear begins with your eyes.

That a lot of us were going through things and what we see begins to put a seed of fear in our heart. anyone like me that you can see something and then quickly you can begin to script an entire with this strange imagination that you have, you can script a whole story. It's a whole Netflix series right there. It's like you give me one text left on red. I'm like that's it.

That's it. Relationships over, they're out. I guess I'll never have any friends, right? Some of you, you see one bill show up that you weren't expected. That's it. I'm going to be broke. Dave Ramsey was right about me.

You see one uncomfortable conversation at work that's it. I'm getting fired tomorrow. Watch this. Because we don't just see things, we tend to script things. human beings are meaning machines. We see something and then we attach a story to it. And so Moses is coming out before they go to the battle and he's like, yo, don't let what you see shake what you know. I know you see the bills, and I know you see the challenges, and I know you see the relationship pain, and I know you see the transition. But you've got to understand just because you see it doesn't negate the fact that God is working. Last time I checked my Bible said, we don't walk by sight, come on somebody, we walk by faith.

It's not what I see, it's what I know. So yes, I see the chariots, but I know who my God is. Yes, I see the battle in front of me, but I know the one who set me free. Yes, I see the odds are actually beginning to stack up against me, but I know a God who has actually defied every odd in front of him. I see some stuff, but I also know some stuff. Anybody know a God that you've got some confidence today.

Faith doesn't deny what you see. It gives you confidence in what you know. And I think fear tends to shake us, but faith gives us stability. Notice the very first command that Moses says, this is like one of the only commands he gives it, he says, do not be afraid.

Because fear is the first enemy that must fall in our lives. And some of you right now you're going through things, but the real battle that you're dealing with is an internal battle and it's called fear. That idea of do not be afraid is a command given some 365 times in the Bible. So the command is given for every day of the year. Why is that? It's because if fear doesn't take a day off, having no faith can't take a day off.

You've got to get good that you don't walk by sight. You walk by faith and faith has a sound. You've got to say it even though you see something different. I will not fear. The Lord is my salvation. My light in whom I trust, I will not be afraid. Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear. Is there anybody in this room today that wants to walk in this new year full of faith?

And what does he say? Moses says to them, he says, when you see the horses, when you see the church, when you see these great armies, do not be afraid of them. and he reminds them for the Lord your God brought you up out of Egypt. Ooh, I like it. You might not be able to see what God is doing, but you do know what God has done.

Some of us, we need to step into this year with that calm confidence. I can't always see what God is doing, but I know what He's done in my life. I can't always see His plan, but I do know His power. And I can't always see my future, but I do know the freedom that He gave me. I might not be exactly where it is that I want to be, but praise God for Jesus. I am not where I use to be. Is there anybody in the house today that could say, I know what He's done. You know enough about God to know he's gonna get you through this thing. The God who brought you up out of Egypt, if God brought you up out of Egypt, he can bring you through this situation.

If God poured in the red sea, something tells me whatever circumstance is in front of you right now, God can move that thing. If he was faithful back then, he'll be faithful right now. If he did it back then, does anybody believe he can do it again? Somebody clap your hands, give God some praise. I'm a win before I begin.

I'm here to win my mindset tonight. I'm not gonna let what I see shake what I know. You know enough about God to know that he will carry you through. Look back on the last 12 months. Look at all the ways that he's blessed you and moved in your life. Sure, you've got some challenges in front of you. Sure, you've got some shaking going on. But the same God who brought you up out of Egypt, he's gonna bring you out of this. If you believe it, somebody said amen.

Look at what Moses says. Moses, they're not even in the battle yet. He's just teaching. Verse two says this, when you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say, here Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. I love it. Do not be faint-hearted or afraid. Do not panic or be terrified by them. Write this down number two. Let God's word be louder than your worry.

Let God's word be louder than your word. This is a peculiar situation because they're about to go into battle. And Moses doesn't call generals, sergeants, colonels, or captains. No, he calls the priests. He brings the priests forward. So before he gives them weapons, he gives them a word.

And I love it because tonight is where in this space, you know, I'm not just preaching to spectators, I think I'm preaching to soldiers. Is there anybody in this room tonight that you can testify your fighting for something? Anybody fighting for peace, fighting for joy? Maybe you're fighting for your calling, fighting for your purpose? Any men in this house, fighting for your family? Any men of God, fighting for your children, fighting for your spouse? Come on, where are all the fighters at tonight? Anybody fighting for something?

Sometimes people will comment on Instagram, bro, why are you always shouting? I get excited and I gotta remind myself to be more like Pastor Chris, you know, cool, calm and collective. I get a little ratchet up here, you know? Dude, you don't need a shout so much. See, I hear you, but the reason why I'm shouting is because I only get to look at my church one day a week. And when they come into God's house, I know all week long, they have been hearing the voices of this world, the noise of this worry, algorithms, their own inner critic. spectators, people speaking fear over their life. And when they get into God's house, I want to do everything I can to get God's word to be louder than their worry.

Come on somebody, clap your hands. I want God's word to get into your heart tonight.

Don't let your worry be louder than God's word. Worry is an Anglo-Saxon word and it comes from the word strangled, where you get strangled. That's what worry feels like. It feels like pressure all around. It feels like fear taking over and it's overbearing at times. I firmly believe that if you're here tonight, this is such an important rhythm. I love the fact that the first Wednesday of each month you gather. Because what you're doing is you're getting a word before the war.

God's Word is being spoken to you to be louder than whatever it is you're going through, whatever it is that you're facing. Write this down if you're taking notes.

What you repeat in peace will become your reflex under pressure. You gotta get this. What's louder in your life right now? worry, or God's word. Because what you repeat in peace, we're in the sanctuary tonight. We've come into God's sanctuary. This is a space that we walk in God's peace. And so we repeat in peace. That's why we're worshiping. That's why we're giving God's word out loud. What you repeat in peace will become your reflex under pressure. I can give you a lot of examples of this, but think about the life of Jesus. Matthew chapter three, Jesus is baptized. It's a beautiful moment. He goes under the water. The heavens open up. And then the voice from heaven, God the Father speaks.

This is my son, whom I love, and I'm well pleased. The Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove. But Matthew three goes right into Matthew, chapter four. And the Bible says this spirit of God led him into the wilderness to be tempted. Now watch this, this is very, very important. The enemy comes to tempt Jesus.

And notice as the enemy comes to tempt Jesus, what does he say? He says to him, if you are the Son of God. Whenever the devil tempts you, he's always going to tempt your identity. The last thing Jesus heard is the first thing the enemy tempts. The last thing Jesus heard was, this is my son, whom I love and am well pleased. The first thing out of the devil's mouth is if you are the son of God.

And for all the Gen Zers out there who I love so much, listen, Jesus didn't like fight back with vibes.

He fought back with verses. What does Jesus do? Jesus responds, it is written. Pressure hits his life, and the thing that's inside of him comes out of him. It is written. Funny enough, this is very, very interesting. Jesus responds three different times in every time that he responds. You know what book of the Bible he quotes? The book of the Bible that he quotes is Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is the book of instruction, the second law, and it's interesting because Jesus is doing a whole lot of things there in the wilderness. Jesus is actually illustrating for all of us what it looks like to win. Remember, the Israelites, they too, went into a wilderness. And they too were tempted, but they disobeyed and they failed in the wilderness.

But Jesus is the true and better Israel. And he says, I don't need 40 years. All I need is 40 days. And I can overcome it. And I'm going to use the same book, the same command, the same instruction that you had way back then, but you failed to use. And I'm going to show you how to use it. You don't need a new preacher, you don't need a new church, you don't need a new Bible, you just gotta get back to the good old truth and use it as a weapon.

He said, it is written. Listen to me, the word is a weapon, is the word in you? Do you know the word? Because 2026 is the year that you gotta learn this thing. We gotta mature in the faith. It's a dangerous game playing the flippin' read game. You ever need a word from God? Like, I need a word from God. Oh, flippin' read.

And Judas hanged himself. I need another word. Go and do likewise. No! Listen to me, we gotta get God's word into our heart. We gotta grow in the word. Notice when you go back to the temptation story, the enemy knows the word too. Meaning it's not enough just to read the word, you gotta learn the word. If you don't train in the Word, you will never triumph in the wilderness. Come on, I wonder, is there anybody in this house today that says I want to fight back with the Word of God? It is written before it is won.

You got to get God's word to be louder than your own worry. What's strangling you? What's pressuring you today? What's coming upon you? What you repeat in peace will be your reflex under pressure. It's kind of simple, right? Like, we know this. If you squeeze an apple, Sam, what comes out of an apple? Apple juice, very good. This is your youth pastor, by the way. She knows the word of God. Look at that.

If you squeeze an orange sir, what do you get? You get orange juice, very good. He's not helping me very much, but I appreciate it. He looked at me and he's smiling. I like that as well. Listen to me, what I'm trying to show you is that pressure doesn't remove what's inside of you. Pressure reveals what's inside of you.

Pressure reveals what's already in you. When pressure came against you, the word came out. What comes out of, what comes out of Christians when they get squeezed, complaining, gossip, another TikTok video,

Fear, worry, anger, resentment? No, no. When you squeeze a believer, you ought to get believer juice.

Believer juice, believer juice, believer juice. Yeah, when you and I get squeezed, what should come out of us is believers, because last time I checked if you're a Christian, you ought to have some fruit.

Oh, we ought to preach on Wednesdays, I don't know. Yeah, you ought to have a little bit of love, a little bit of joy. When pain hits your life, there ought to be a supernatural peace. Philippians four calls it a peace that transcends all understanding. Let me make that really modern for you. You ought to have a peace that when the pain doesn't make sense, come on somebody, you got a peace that doesn't make sense. It's called believer juice that when I get squeezed, something good comes out of me. Somebody give God some praise in this house.

How much more for joy and goodness and kindness and faithfulness and self-control? It's called believer juice. Don't let your worry be louder than God's word. When pressure hits your life, the fruit of the spirit ought to show up. Because last time I checked, the fruit of the spirit, it can still grow under pressure. Under pressure. I think we're living the interesting times because you can imagine these men there at this battle. Like, what's going on, man? Like, there's something out the preachers?

We need something more than a sermon. No, we're gonna give you a sermon. Then we're gonna go to war. What? Devotions? Yeah, devotions.

But I think there's a principle going on. I think God is trying to get his external word into their internal world. And we miss this sometimes. I've got a coach back home in Miami, great guy, and we were talking about the fact that most people tend to mirror their external world with whatever's going on there on their internal world. And don't get me wrong, I want to be very, very clear as we're talking tonight. All of gospel change starts inside out. That's how it works. But I do think there's a form of maturity that as you grow in the Lord, we're talking Wednesday night, church night, that you would create an environment that is going to be positive triggers to put you into a faith mode.

Too many of us, what we do is we're going on in chaos in the inside, so we create an environment full of chaos. Some of you already know what I'm talking about. You're having a sad day. Alexa, play my sad playlist.

Come on. Some of you all got some great Alexa play. I want to cry on the shower playlist. You got some wild ones, okay?

And so we're full of fear, so we check the news. We're feeling insecure, so we scroll on Instagram. All of these are signs of saying, man, I'm making my external world match my internal world. But one of the ways that you get God's word to be louder than your worry is that you start to set up an environment that actually speaks to you and ministers to you. I think one of the most basic things we can do, and you don't have to take big, huge change. I just think sometimes it's simple. I've been teaching our church a whole lot. Most people put this thing on their night, stand at night, but I heard Pastor Chris talking about this.

Why don't you just like parent your phone? Like some of us eat, like, parent your phone. Like, put your phone to bed before you go to bed. Like, get up before you, before the phone gets up. And some of us maybe put the phone in another room. Like, parent your phone. Sometimes I'm talking to students, it's like, man, Pastor Rich, I don't know, bro, I can't get free, man, I'm really struggling with lust. I'm like, where's your phone at night? They're like, I put it on my pillow at night.

That's like being in an alcoholic and putting a bottle of Jack Daniels on your pillow at night. My precious, you're not going to win that way.

We can pray for you all you want, but this is like, come on, wake up.

And our level pastor Chris says, why don't you just reverse it? And he put this in another room and then put this on your nightstand. Why don't you choose to go biblical before you go digital?

Even if you don't read the Word, even if it's just on your nightstand as an external trigger to tell your internal world, there's God's Word. Last time I checked faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. What if the first thing you saw when you woke up was God's Word? What if the last thing you saw before you went to bed was God's Word? Something tells me that the Word of God would begin to permeate through your life.

And I am learning in my life that I need community when I feel like I don't need community. I'm learning I need a word from heaven when I feel like I don't want to get a word. In fact, I'm learning when I want to play my sad playlist with Alexa, I'm learning that is the exact moment that I got to say something different. Hey Alexa, play my faith-filled Highlands Worship playlist because I got to change the atmosphere around. Come on somebody, come on, no, faith has a sound. Hope has a sound. Peace has a sound. Come on somebody, let's hear the sound of faith in this room for a moment tonight.

It's the Word of God. Louder than the pressure of this life. Louder than the worry of my life. Don't let what you see, shake what you know, and don't let your worry be louder than God's word. You're gonna win before you begin. We've gathered you here tonight because we're sending you back into the world. And we understand that you're going back into challenges, you're going back into all sorts of circumstances that you will have battles that you're facing. We can't list out all those battles, but as we step into them, we know that God says you're gonna win, but it doesn't mean you won't have to fight.

As we come to a close, look at verses five through seven. The officers shall say to the army, has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home or he may die in battle. Someone else may begin to live in it. Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married or let him go home or he may die in the battle and someone else marry her? There's a lot happening here, but I just want you to write this down. and think on this.

This is so true. I want you to write it this way. I think they wrote it different on the notes here, but don't let your anxiety overthrow your order. Write it that way. Don't let your anxiety overthrow your order. Because Moses kind of pivots, and he's been talking about this war, and then he says, like, talks about a vineyard, talks about a house, talks about a spouse. And I believe what he's showing us is he's showing us order that God's not just raising up fighters here at Highlands. He's also raising up families.

And how do you build a great church? How do you build a church for 25 years? You build it with great families, great moms and dads, great kids programs, great youth programs, motion conference. That not all of life is meant to be endured, parts of life, a lot of life is meant to be enjoyed.

And you've got to see that all the way back in the Old Testament that God wants you to enjoy life. What makes you different from the world, how you don't conform to the pattern of this world, is that you think differently about your blessings. That when God blesses you, you recognize, wow, there is one who's giving that blessing. And it doesn't terminate and it doesn't stop right here on me, but rather it rolls up into praise and to worship and into glory going, God, you get my praise.

And so he says, if you've planted a vineyard and you haven't gotten to go, check that out, go. If you've built a house and you haven't enjoyed it, go if you just recently got married. He literally mentions, spouse, a house, and a vineyard.

I think a spouse speaks towards our relationships. I think a house speaks towards our home life. I think a vineyard speaks towards our work life. And what he's speaking about is order. That we can talk all we want about battles and talk about peace, but listen to me.

If your home is in chaos, your peace will always be in confusion. God says, I want you to go deal with that first. I like this is first Wednesday. It's a night of order that we believe in first fruits that if you give God the first, He promises to bless the rest.

And so even for me and my church back home, I'm teaching my church that like, I want to live a life of order. And so what is the order of my life? It's God first. It's my spouse, Don Sherry's second. I got these four kids, Wyatt Wild Wayland Wolfgang. It's my family and friends' fourth. And watch this. This is what I had to tell my church. And then fifth is my church.

And then sixth is the community and seventh is maybe the state, and keep going. So Rich, why are you saying that? Because listen to me. Order is the antidote to anxiety.

And many of us don't get this today. We just walk around anxious feeling thin, feeling less than feeling stretched. And so much of it is because we are living a life that is out of order. And if God's not placed in His proper order, your life will always be out of order. What does the Scripture say? It says that our God is a God of peace, not a God of disorder. That peace is a result of order.

And I grew up in church. I'm so thankful for the legacy that I grew up in. But man, I've watched a lot of preachers, man, get this wrong, thinking they were being noble, loving God's bride more than their bride. Before I could take care of God's children, I got to take care of my children.

What does Jesus say to seek first the kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you? There's a whole lot of people chasing the added things, but God says, if you put me first, I'll handle all of the additions. I'll take care of everything that you need. I'm grateful for Pastor Chris,

Miss Tammy, Mark and Jill, these are leaders of order. You don't want an anxious priest.

You don't want a disordered pastor because you teach what you know, but listen to me, you reproduce who you are.

And they have modeled order for us. And so most is like, if you've got any of these things, you go back and take, we're gonna be okay. In verse eight, as we close, he says it this way, this is the good one. I wanna preach it to you tonight as we get ready to close. He said, is anyone afraid or faint-hearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.

I love this, because we are in a new season here at Highlands. And I don't come to be mean or rude, but fear cannot live here. I'm so grateful for the past. We're gonna build on it. What an amazing 25 years. This is a run like none have ever seen before. But I believe in a God who's taking us from grace to grace, strength to strength, glory to glory. The best is in front of us.

And so I want us to have a mindset, reach that we're gonna win. We're gonna win before we even begin this next year. Cause we're making a decision that we're not gonna let our anxiety throw off our order. And he says, there's no one afraid around you. You gotta go. You gotta leave. You gotta go. I wanna say this way to some people tonight that are struggling. We're gonna pray here in just a moment.

That thing that you're dealing with, that fear God didn't give you that. You picked that up on the long the way. I don't know where you got that from. Someone betrayed you. Someone hurt you. Someone let you down. Someone walked out of your life. There was a dad who wasn't there. There was a boyfriend who bailed. There was a girl who said something to you. Maybe it was an algorithm. Maybe it was a newsfeed. I don't know. But fear is like secondhand smoke.

You might not have done it, but it still affects you. And I wanna preach to some people tonight. You gotta let some people go. You gotta cut some people out. You cannot handle this fear. This fear is contagious. And Moses says, if anyone's afraid, please leave now. Because we're gonna go take that land. And God's giving us that land, but in order for us to step in it, we're gonna have to take some stuff. We're gonna have to actually move our legs. It's gonna require some work. He's gonna need our backbone. He's gonna need our voices. He's gonna need our hands. And we cannot tolerate fear in this space.

Come on, somebody clap your hands, praise God. And what I know about battles in my own journey is that sometimes you can face a battle, and you can be victorious, but you gotta face that battle again.

I was laying with my little boy Wyatt a couple weeks ago, and we were accounting Disney World. I took my son to Disney World when he was four years of age and I took him on Space Mountain. Didn't really ask for his permission. Just took him on it.

Space Mountain is this roller coaster in the dark. I thought he would love it. He came off and he was traumatized. It's four years of therapy, but it's going to be fine. Every year we've gone back, I'm like, why? You got to go on Space Mountain. He's like, no, I hate Space Mountain. And I don't like you.

If we just went back this fall, and I'm going to be honest with you, I bribed him. I was like, I'm going to get you a toy from Marvel and a toy from Star Wars. If you'll go on Space Mountain, he's like, I'm right dead, and I'll do it.

We went on Space Mountain. Got done with Space Mountain. We got done. His hands are up in there. He was like, yeah. He goes, Dad, again, again, again. I was like, son, we can't go again the way my budgeting is set up. I only bought one light in round pass. And so next year, we can do it again, you know?

So we were laying in bed and I said, why, what's your favorite ride? That Disney one. He said, Dad, space melt. I said, that's so funny. You told me you hated it. You were so afraid of it. He said, I know, Dad. But I think they changed the ride.

I said, no, Wyatt, the ride didn't change. You changed. And Highlands, I'm not going to tell you the battles are going to get easier. What I'm going to tell you is you're getting stronger. The circumstances aren't going to get lighter. Come on, somebody. We're getting wiser. We are growing. How many can testify? It's not one battle after another. It's one victory after another. And my God said it will step out into the land, and it will face it. He promises. He will fight for us. Anybody faithful for a God who says, I'm going to fight for you. You're not in this thing alone. You're not by yourself. I promise you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.

God wants the plan. Here's the plan. It's a promise. I'm gonna be with you. I was with you for 25 years, and I'll be with you for the next 25 years. But you've got to change your mindset tonight. This battle's already over. It's a fixed fight. You're going to win. All you ever do is win because of what Jesus Christ did. Last time I checked, I read the end of the book. How many oh no, we win.

Come on somebody, give praise to Jesus. Come on, somebody stand up on your feet and give glory to God. You're getting stronger. You're getting wiser. Come on and praise Him in the house tonight. God, we magnify you. God, we worship you. There's nobody like our God. There's nobody like our God.

I want you to close your eyes and I want you to open up your ears We haven't come this far by strategy. We haven't come this far by system. We've come this far by faith. So speak Lord, your servants are listening. And if you could use anything Lord, you could use us. We wanna be used by you God.

Give us faith to endure, faith to enjoy. Oh God, I pray for a new hunger in this house for your word. For Jesus, you said those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be filled. So God, we desire your word. It's got to be louder in our life than our worry.

Lord, tonight we are here on first Wednesday, getting the order of our life right. We're getting stronger. We're getting wiser.

You're not waiting on answers, you're waiting on God. And they that wait upon the Lord, he will renew their strength. Before we pray for anyone, if you're in this room tonight, if you're at one of our locations and you've never met Jesus, you've never surrendered your life to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

I want to give you an opportunity right now to activate your faith. Faith is just as much as an action as it is a confession. And so tonight, if that's you, if you want to surrender your life to Jesus or you want to recommit your life, I'm going to ask on the kind of thing that you lift your hand up. That's me, Rich, would you pray for me? Jesus Christ came 2,000 years ago. And because of what he did on the cross, we already know we're going to win.

So now we put on a mind set of faith. That's you on the count of three. You want to surrender your life at one of our locations or right here in this room. Ready? One, the Bible says today's that day. Two, don't look at your neighbors. Not about your neighbors between you and Jesus. Ready? One, two, three. That's you. Shoot it up. Shoot it up. Shoot it up. That's me, Rich.

Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. When's the night in Birmingham? I gave my life to Jesus. Church, can we just all lift our hands towards heaven right where we are? Pray this prayer. Say dear Jesus, tonight, I surrender. I give you my life. Forgive me. I repent. My eyes have been opened. I've heard your call. Tonight, I boldly confess that you are who you said that you are. I want to follow you.

Give me grace to fall. In Jesus' mighty name, everybody says.