 I want to say welcome to everyone on this Memorial Day weekend, all of you who are joining us on all of our different platforms. We want to give a shout out to those of you who are joining us at our Radiant Channel on YouTube. So glad you're with us. Those of you who are joining us on Facebook, welcome. And those of you who are on our very own live stream at radiant.church, we say welcome to you and scattered all over in multiple different states, different locations, different nations right here in our very own southwest Michigan. Radiant, we love you. Friends of Radiant, we're so glad that you've joined us on this Memorial Day weekend. And I am excited to share this message with you this weekend. I want to invite you to turn with me today in your Bible. Hopefully you have it with you. So pull that out. Or if you have a digital device, look with me at Exodus chapter 17. And today we're going to be staying in a sub series of our out of Egypt series entitled lessons from the wilderness. Now next weekend is Pentecost Sunday and over the last 40 days since Passover, we have been praying for God to pour out his spirit in a very unique and a very fresh way upon this generation, upon us as a nation and a people and upon his church globally. Because I believe with all of my heart, one of the things that God has on his agenda for this hour is for the church to be super charged and fueled once again with his Holy Spirit. So next weekend, we're actually going to be tying in the story of Pentecost with the book of Exodus. And so I'm looking forward to that message today. I want to bring a message entitled the Lord our banner, the Lord our banner. Look with me at Exodus 17 beginning in verse number eight. And it says then Amalek came and he fought with Israel at Refideem. So Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. And so Joshua did as Moses told him and he fought with Amalek while Moses and Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary. So they took a stone and they put it under him and he sat on it while Aaron and her held up his hands one on one side and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua that I will utterly blot the memory of Amalek from under the entire heaven. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it the Lord is my banner saying a hand upon the throne of the Lord. The Lord will have war with Amalek for generation to generation. The Lord our banner that's the name of the altar that Abraham or that Moses built unto the Lord. The Hebrew phrase there is Jehovah Nisi or Yahweh Nisi. The Lord our banner, the Lord our victory. One of the questions that I think a lot of us are asking right now as we find ourselves in a time that is very much like a wilderness wandering and journey is how do I have a victory mentality? How do I walk in victory even when I am in the wilderness? A lot of times we think that a victory mentality is the way that we will think it's the attitude that we will have once we enter into the promised land. Once we're standing in the winter circle. Once things ease up and we get back to normal we think then I'm going to have an attitude, a mentality of victory. I'm going to act like a winner. I'm going to think like a winner because we oftentimes think that the best times of our life, the most fulfilling times of our life, the strength of our life is when we find ourselves in the ease and the comforts of the good life. But the reality is that at the end of our life oftentimes we are going to look back and we're going to see that actually the best times of our life from a vantage point of victory took place in the wilderness because in the wilderness that is where a victory mentality is actually developed. It doesn't get developed when you go into the promised land. The reason why you can go into the promised land is because when you were in the wilderness you didn't quit and God was developing a victory mentality on the inside of you. This is what Israel experienced as they come up against this foe Amalek. Amalek for those of you who are history buffs, his lineage goes all the way back to Esau. He's a descendant of Esau. This nation of nomadic desert dwellers are the first enemies that Israel face in their wilderness wanderings and even before they go into the promised land. It's actually the first military initiative that Israel as an army and as a nation face since they have come out of Egypt. Up until this time they've been fighting enemies within them. They've been fighting the enemy of doubt, they've been fighting the enemy of fear, of slave mentalities, they've been fighting their thirst and their hunger and God has been dealing with them as we have seen. But Amalek represents the first time that they are confronted with an outside adversary that is resisting them, wants to destroy them and actually wants to prevent them from going into the promised land. It's the first time that we see Israel have to stand up and fight physically as an army even though when God brought them out of Egypt it says that he brought them out by their armies. God called them an army long before they'd ever fought a battle. God called them soldiers when they thought they were slaves and now it's time for God to develop on the inside of them an attitude of a soldier in the unity of an army. God could have defeated Amalek single-handedly. We all know that nothing is impossible for God that we know that God is strong enough. We've seen what God has done to the armies of Israel. We've seen what he's done to Pharaoh and to the armies of Pharaoh when he drowns them in the Red Sea. We've seen what he can do to a national economy when he overthrows the economy and the religious system, the political structure of the most powerful empire of the world at that time. Nothing is too difficult for God. So why didn't God in this particular instance just strike Amalek with a plague? He could have. Why didn't he unleash a mighty move or a powerful act that just moves through the camp of Amalek and wipes them all out? God could have. Why didn't he strike them with blindness? He could have, but he didn't because what God wanted to do in this particular situation is he wanted to develop and he wanted to strengthen and he wanted to reveal to Israel how they were going to win their battles. God wanted them to partner with him and fight the battle with him, but not by themselves. God was, as we see in the story, going to supernaturally bring about a victory for them, but he was going to require them to fight for it. And it's interesting that in this particular season that we find ourselves in, both as individuals and as the church and really across, you know, our nation and the globe, we all find ourselves in this wilderness situation, and we are being confronted with enemies that we have never been confronted before. Sometimes it's a spiritual battle. Other times it's things that are going on on the inside of our emotions and in our minds. Sometimes it's going on in our bodies. Sometimes it's going on in the political arena. We find ourselves in a conflict and a lot of times we cry out to God, God, how come you don't just take care of it? Why did you allow this to happen? You could just snap your fingers and COVID-19 would all be gone. Lord, you could just lift this thing. You could defeat it. You could do all kinds of things. You're so powerful, God. You could just do it. Why don't you do it? And it's not because God is not able, and it's not because God is not good, and it's not because God is not strong, and it's not because God is negligent. It's because God is developing a victory mentality in his people because he has called you to be more than a conqueror. Do you know, the Bible says that you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. Romans 8 says that in the book of Revelation, Jesus speaking to the church says, to those who overcome, there is a reward. To those who overcome. What does that mean for you and I? It means that in Christ Jesus we have called, we've been called to be more than a conqueror, but if you're going to be a conqueror, that means that you're also going to have adversaries because a conqueror is someone that comes up against enemies and actually conquers them. If you're going to be one who overcomes in life, you overcome the spirit of the age, you overcome the resistance of the enemy, you overcome the flesh, you overcome the systems of a broken world. If you're going to be an overcomer, there are going to be things that you are going to have to overcome. God wants his people to be strong, he wants them to be mature, and he wants them to be victorious. And so sometimes God leads us in the wilderness, and he just provides everything that we need for us. And then there are times where in the presence of God, we come into the place of battle where God is going to teach us some things. And God chooses to teach Israel how to fight and how to defeat the enemy. This is how they fight their battles. This is how they're going to win the war. The wilderness for them and the wilderness for you and I is a training ground. It's boot camp. It's going from glory to glory, from strength to strength. It's developing a victory mentality, replacing old broken victim mentalities, slave mentalities, being the conquered instead of the conqueror mentality. It's walking in the victory of Christ. God wants to develop that, and he wants to he wants to indelibly mark our hearts with the realization that it's not our experience, it's not our skill that defeats the enemy. It's our obedience, it's our faith, and it's our perspective in the midst of the war that actually wins. Israel didn't have any experience. Israel didn't have any skills. Amalek did. They were used to fighting. They were used to looting. They were used to being the spoiler. They were the adversary. Israel was an army, but they didn't feel like one. But in this particular instance, God says, I'm going to show you how you win the battle. A lot of us are facing enemies. A lot of us are facing battles and struggles, sometimes inside and sometimes without. How do we win the battle? What's the key to it? Where is the battle won? Recently, a lot of us have been watching a docu series called The Last Dance on probably the greatest basketball player who's ever played the game, Michael Jordan, number 23 for the Chicago Bulls. And it's a docu series that documents the last, the 1998 season when they won their six championship in eight years. Michael Jordan, this was his swan song. And as you're watching it, you can quickly realize that there is something about Michael Jordan that is also in other great athletes. In Olympic athletes, athletes in every sport who rise to the top of their game, everybody loves to see what they can do on the court game time. They win championships, they set records, they break ankles. How do they do it? How do they show up on the court and fly over the top of other people, set records, do what seemingly seems impossible? How are they able to do it? And everybody watches them on the court or running on the track or in the Olympics and thinks, I want that level of victory. How do I get that level of victory? How do I be like Mike, so to speak? How do I be like Mike? Well, what you need to quickly realize and what you do when you watch the series is what made Mike, Mike is his work ethic. The secret to his victory on the court was what he did when nobody was watching. It was his work ethic. It was his gym time. It was the weights. It was his mentality. He had a killer mentality when it came to playing the game of basketball. He was a field general when it came time to play the game. And in the battle that you're facing, when it comes time to step onto the battlefield and to face off with whatever enemy, whatever adversary, listen to me, whatever obstacle standing between you, the promises, the peace, the presence of God in your life, we have to ask the question, where does our victory come from? In this particular story, the victory wasn't won on the battlefield with Joshua, where it's hand-to-hand combat, where it's spears and arrows. It wasn't won on the valley floor where the soldiers were aligned. The battle was won on the hill. The hill is where the battle is really won. For Michael Jordan, it was in the gym. It was in the weight room. It was in secret where the battle was really won. And for you, it's on the hill. For Joshua, the battle was won on the hill. What was going on on the hill? Moses was on the hill. Aaron and her were on the hill. And it says that when Moses held his hands up with the staff of God, the rod of the Lord, and Joshua could see Moses and he could see the rod, it says that Joshua and his armies would defeat Amalek. But when Moses' hands began to drop because they became weary, when the rod was not visible, when Aaron and her were not there, then Amalek began to win. And it was going back and forth. The victory was ultimately won, not on the battlefield. It was won on the hill. And I want to tell you today that your victory, your ability to conquer whatever is coming against you that stands between you and God's will for your life, the victory is won on the hill. I want you to think about the words today from Psalm 121. Psalm 121, it says, I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel shall never slumber nor sleep. I lift up my eyes to the hill. Where does my help come from? My help comes from, or let's put it this way, my victory comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow my foot to be moved. He never sleeps. He doesn't take his eyes off of me. He doesn't lose his focus. Aren't you glad today that God never gets bored with you? That God's eyes are never removed off of you. His favor is for a lifetime, no matter if weeping lasts for a night. Joy comes in the morning because his favor is for a lifetime. And the victory that he's given to you is not based on your ability. It's not based on your skill set. It's not based on your qualification. It's not limited by the mistake that you just made. You can make a mess of your life, but there are no knots that God cannot untie by his power and by his grace. And there's no victory that God can't win, and there's no victory that he can't lead you in if you will keep your eyes on the hill. When Joshua was going into battle, as long as he kept his eyes on the hill, and he kept his eyes on the rod of the Lord, and he kept his eyes on the hands of Moses, he experienced victory. And right now, let me just tell you, it is so easy to get our eyes on all kinds of other things, but we have to keep our eyes on the hill. What is the hill? The hill represents the perspective, the power, and the person who is enthroned in the heavens, and who has ultimate control over everything. And his name is Jesus. It's the heavenly reality. Jesus called it the kingdom of God, when we seek first the kingdom of God. And what does that mean? It means when I've got my eyes on God, when my trust is in him, when I'm focused on his power, when I'm thinking from a heavenly perspective, and when I'm in close intimate relationship with his presence, I can fight any battle, I can defeat any enemy, I can go through any wilderness, I can pass any test because I am more than an overcomer through Jesus Christ. And listen, this is a lesson for all of us to learn today as we are journeying through the wilderness. None of us are coming out of this the same way we went into this. This is not a time in history when we can just live our lives passively. We are either going to become a casualty of the war or we're going to become victors in the midst of the wilderness, because our mentality changes. The hill represents the perspective. We lift up our eyes and we gaze upon the reality of Jesus, of his victory at the cross, and we see through the lens of the kingdom of God. I can't say this strongly enough. We have to have a heavenly perspective during the time in which we're living in. We can't afford to see from a horizontal two-dimensional level, from a worldly grid or construct the way everybody else is, because what it will produce is it will produce the works of the flesh, it's going to produce bad attitudes, it's going to produce me first attitudes, it's going to depress, distress, discourage and fill us with anxiety. But Paul tells us in Colossians chapter three, if you then have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is. Sitting at the right hand of God, set your mind on things above and not beneath. What's he saying? We have to have a heavenly perspective. In the middle of the battle, we got to keep our eyes on the hill. We got to remember number one, that we're engaged in a spiritual battle. I want you to hear this today. The battle you think you're fighting may not be the real battle. You may be battling over some things that are in the natural, but they are just the leaves on the tree. And you can pluck the leaves off of the tree, but the root system, as long as it's intact, will continue to push new leaves out. The root system of the battles that we are facing right now, that we are being confronted with, that God is standing with us in the midst of this wilderness and this battle, have everything to do with a spiritual battle. Paul says in Ephesians six, we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and against rulers of the darkness of this age and spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Church, we are engaged in a spiritual battle, not a physical battle. Flesh and blood are not the enemy. Flesh and blood are not the enemy. And the weapons of our warfare, listen, a kingdom perspective will remind us that the weapons that God has given to us to fight with are not the carnal ones. Second Corinthians chapter 10 says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds. How do we access those eternal, those spiritual, those mighty weapons, that arsenal that God has for us to defeat the enemy? We have to get our eyes up on the hill. We got to keep our perspective heavenly. We got to be seeing through the lens of the one who is enthroned, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. And our things have got to be focused on heaven. I've heard people say about Christians before, you know, you're so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good. Can I just tell you something? That's the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard. I can't imagine God saying to somebody, yeah, you know what, you need to think more like the world. You'd be way more successful, way happier if you just thought more like the world. You know, the world that's broken and divided by racism and politics and individualism and hedonism and false religions and demonic ideologies, you know, like that. If you just thought a little bit more like that, then you'd be successful. That's a lie. It's not scripture. It's actually a worldly perspective and a viewpoint of criticism of what God actually commanded his children to think like. He commanded us to set our minds on heavenly things. What does it mean to set your mind on heavenly things? It means let the kingdom of God be your filter. Let Jesus be your focus. Continue to look up at the hill just like Joshua. Every time he looked up and he saw the rod was raised up in the hand of Moses on the hill from that high vantage point. That's what it means. I look to the hills. Where does my help come from? If we continually to look up, we'll have the victory even in the midst of the wilderness. Just want to tell you this, that you can't win a spiritual battle with a worldly battle plan. It's not how it works. You can't win a spiritual battle with worldly weapons. You can't win a basketball game by playing by football rules. You have to play by the rules. And the rules of the engagement, the terms of engagement of a spiritual battle are we have to operate by a superior mindset. The superior mindset is the superior kingdom and it is the kingdom of God. It's why Jesus vanquished demons, healed bodies, raised the dead, multiplied bread, walked on water, still to storms. It's why Jesus astounded the wise because he was not operating out of a construct or a grid that everybody else was. He was focused on his father's business and the kingdom of God. His eyes were always up even though his heart was always going out. And that's the mentality that's going to help us win in this hour. Our heart goes out. Our hand goes out, but our eyes are lifted up to the hill from where our help comes from. The hill represents heaven's power and this is where we have to access. This is the power that we draw from in the midst of our battles. Joshua would look up and Moses is raising up the rod. The rod you'll remember is the very same rod that Moses used in Egypt to touch the Red Sea and to turn it into blood. It's the same rod that he held out over the Red Sea and the water was divided. It's the same rod that he threw down and it turned into a serpent and then ate the Egyptian magicians serpent when they tried to counterfeit the trick proving that God's power was superior to theirs. It's the same rod that Moses used to strike the rock so that water came out to quench the thirst. The rod represented God's miraculous power and authority. And every time that Joshua looked up, when the enemy was seemingly getting the advantage, he would look up and he would see the rod that was a reminder of all the previous victories and of God's miraculous power to destroy the enemies, to deliver them from their enemies, and to provide for them in their greatest hour. It's really a picture of the cross. It's a picture of the cross. You see, you and I don't look to the hill for our help. We're not looking to Capitol Hill. We're not looking to any physical hill. We're looking to a hill that once upon a time, Jesus, the son of the living God, carried his own stick, his own cross to the top of it. And it was in that place that seemed to be defeat that God won our greatest victory. You and I, as followers of Jesus, we're not fighting for victory. You and I are fighting from a position of victory. The victory has already been won. The battle belongs to the Lord. We're not trying to defeat the enemy. The enemy's already been disarmed. Jesus did it at the cross, but sometimes we need to be reminded of that because we see the battle as if it's just up to us. How can I defeat this enemy? How can I overcome? How can I stand strong? It's in those moments. We have to look up at the hill. We have to go back to the cross because it was at the cross that all authority in heaven and earth was given to Jesus. It was at the cross that you were forgiven of your sins that the enemy wants to remind you about and use as evidence for all the reasons why victory will never be yours. It's at the cross where the enemy was completely and utterly disarmed and defeated. And it's at the cross where we exchanged our old life and we found new life. It's at the cross that seemed to be God's worst hour that became the setup for our greatest hour. But we need to remember that. There are times where we feel like I am almost at the end of the strength that I have. I don't have any more to give God. I'm tired. I'm fighting my own battles on the inside of me. I feel weak. I feel like the enemy is defeating me. Fear and worry and anxiety about the future. I don't know what's coming, God. And I don't feel like I have any control. I don't have any power to defeat these enemies, to defeat these obstacles. I want to remind you what Zechariah 4 says, says, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. It's by his spirit. It's not by your might. It's not by your power. It's by his might. And it's by his power. Ephesians 6, stand in the power and in the might of God. In his might, in his power. That's what it means to look to the hill, to put our focus back up on for Joshua. It was the rod for you and I. It's the cross. It's the cross that is the source of our victory. It's the cross that speaks of Jesus' victory. In 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14 says, thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in a triumphal procession. Jesus is not just victorious once upon a time. Jesus is victorious every single time. And you are being led in that triumphal procession right behind him. You are on the winning team. You get the ring. You get the victory. The battle is already defeated. God is winning the battle because it's not by your ability. It's not by your experience. It's not by your strength. All God is wanting you to do is not get distracted in the middle of the battle. Not let the enemy get your eyes on the enemy and his weapons, not get your eyes on the fact that other people are falling, that the enemy seems to have an advantage to not get distracted, but to put your eyes on him. You know the enemy's greatest tactic in his greatest weapon in our lives, one of the greatest tactics that he has is distraction. It's to get our eyes off of the things that matter and it's to put them on the picture that he is painting for us. And he wants us to sign off on his painting, his picture of our future. But as soon as we lift up our eyes and we look to the cross, we're reminded of what Jesus said about his future, that he was defeated and we are victorious. Another one of the weapons of the enemy that he uses constantly is weariness. I think a lot of us are feeling weary right now. Tired. It's like how long is this going to go on? How long until I can go back to work? When am I going to be able to open my business? What about my kids going to school? I'm just emotionally God. I'm just physically. I'm spiritually tired. Do you know that in the midst of this battle, even Moses' hands grew tired. Even Moses' hands grew weary. The Bible says in the book of Galatians it says, do not grow weary in well-doing. For if we do not grow weary while doing good in due season, we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Do you know that the name Amalek, which was the enemy that Israel was facing, the name Amalek itself means a people that ring you out. And that's exactly what the enemy does to the saints. In the book of Daniel, when it describes how the Antichrist will function, it says that the spirit of the enemy, the Antichrist spirit actually wears the saints out. It's his greatest tactic and his greatest tool in the midst of a battle that seems prolonged. That's why God says in Habakkuk, he says, write the vision, make it plain so that he who reads it may run with it. Though it tarries, wait for it. Wait for the victory. Though it tarries, wait for it. For it shall not tarry. It seems like it's taking too long. And in the midst of waiting is when the enemy comes and he rings us out of all the energy that we have. He wears us out. But the Bible says, don't grow weary. Don't allow it to happen. Don't lose your passion. Don't lose your faith. Don't lose your focus because heaven is here to help. When Moses' arms grew weak, it says that Aaron and her came up alongside of him on each side and they lifted up his hands when he was tired so that the rod of the Lord, the staff of victory was raised up. And when Joshua would see the rod, the staff, it was as if he was looking at a banner of victory that a military marches under, a flag of victory. And as soon as he would see it, he would become rejuvenated in the battle. Moses, as great as he was, needed somebody to lift up his hands. He needed heaven's help. And when we look to the hill, when we look to the cross, the cross to some may be an emblem of defeat. But for you and I, it's a banner of victory. And heaven comes rushing to help. See, heaven is our helper. The Holy Spirit is described as the helper by Jesus. The Holy Spirit on the inside of us comes and gives us strength when we're weary. He gives us life when we're tired. He gives us vision when we become depleted and discouraged. He pushes back the enemy and he actually even intercedes and he prays through us on our behalf according to the will of God. He gives us strength in our weakness. But you know, God also uses other people to come up alongside of us and to lift up our hands. Part of what it means to win the battle and develop a victory mentality in the midst of the wilderness has everything to do with answering the question, who do you have in your life? Who are you surrounding yourself with in the midst of the battle that can lift up your hands when you're weary? Who do you have to strengthen you and to support you and to point you back to the cross, to continue to lift up the cross, to continue to lift up the promises of God to you. You know, there are some people that you may surround yourself with. They're actually going to pull your arms down and they're going to say, why don't you give up? Why don't you just quit? Come on, just settle, be like everybody else. Come on, just go with the flow. But who do you have in your life today? You have the Holy Spirit on the inside, but who do you have that you can call, that you can FaceTime, that you can Google chat, you can Zoom? Who do you have in your home? Who do you, who can you text? Who's texting you that's reminding you of the victory that is yours? You know, I can tell you this, that Jane and I have had some incredible friends over the years, pastoring for all of these years that have been like Erin and her to Jane and I. When we've become tired, they've lifted our hands up. Our victory banner, when we were just about to pull it down and fold it up because it felt like victory was not going to be ours. They came and they said, let's lift up your hands. So grateful for those friends, so grateful for those prayer warriors, so grateful for those words of encouragement. I want to ask you two questions today. Number one, who do you have that's encouraging you besides the Holy Spirit? You need that. But number two, who needs you to come up alongside of them in the midst of their battle? Who could you reach out to and help lift up their hands? God said two things to Moses after they won the victory. He says, number one, I want you to write this down. This battle, I want you to write it down. Why? So that future generations under Joshua, when it's time for them to go into the Promised Land, they'll have this story to remember. And the second thing that Moses did was he built an altar and he named it Jehovah Nisi. The Lord is our banner, our victory. The two things that God wants you and I to do after we've won the victory, after he's defeated the enemy on our behalf is number one, tell the story and number two, give the glory. Write the story, testify to what God has done. There are people that need to hear your victory story. Right now, there's nothing but bad news. All over every channel, every print publication, all social media, it seems as if it's bad news. What we need to do right now in the midst of the wilderness is develop a victory mentality and begin to share the stories of God's victories. Not only will it awaken our heart and develop a winning attitude, a victor's mentality on the inside of us, it becomes a testimony that somebody else is going to hear about that will give them hope in the midst of their battle. And number two, we need to give God the glory. Moses built an altar because he knew where his victory came from. God wants you in the midst of your battle to build an altar of praise where even in the midst of your enemies, you offer the worship and the glory and the praise to the one who is your banner. We don't fight under our own banner. We don't fight under our own name. We don't fight in our own strength. We fight. We battle in the spirit from a place of victory under the name of Jesus, under the blood stained banner of the victory that he won at the cross. And when he was raised from the dead and he kicked the stone out from the grave and he said, I am he who was dead and is alive and will be alive forevermore. And I have the keys of death hell in the grave. Church, I want you to know that's not just his victory. We stand under the banner of that and he is our victory. And we give God the praise and the glory for it today in Jesus' name. Wherever you're at, I want to ask you, if you would, to just bow your heads, close your eyes, build an altar right now in the presence of the Lord because I want you to know he's here with us. He's here where you are. He is here. And I want to ask you a question. The question I want to ask you is, what banner are you fighting under today? We're all in a battle. There's no way to avoid it. But what banner are you fighting under? Are you fighting under your own strength? Because you think, you know, I'm a good person. I'm highly capable. I don't need any help. I don't need God. Are you fighting under the banner of good intentions? You know, I believe in God, but I'm not really ready to surrender everything to him. Or are you fighting under the banner of Jesus because you have bowed your knee to him and you recognized that his death on the cross was a doorway for you to have your sins forgiven and to establish a relationship with the living God. That's the greatest victory. The day that we allow God to win that battle, the battle for our heart, is the greatest victory in our lives. And today, God has done everything that needs to be done to win a victory for you, to win salvation for you. Today, you can have a new heart. Today, your sins, your past can be washed clean. Today, you can have a relationship with the Heavenly Father. You can know that heaven is your home. You can know that you will live forever in the presence of God. You can become a part of the family of God. You say, well, how do I earn that victory? You can't. Jesus already has. All you can do is receive it. It's a gift. And today, I want to ask you, are you right with God today? Have you made Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior? I want to lead you in a prayer today. No matter who you are or where you are, if you need God's forgiveness, you want Jesus to save you, give you a new heart and a new life. I want you to pray this prayer with me. Say, Heavenly Father, I come in Jesus' name and I confess I've sinned, I've lived for myself. And today, I repent. I'm sorry, God. And I ask you to forgive me. Jesus, come into my heart, be my personal Lord and my Savior. I surrender to you. And in surrendering, I'm becoming a victor. Thank you for loving me, for giving me and saving me and leading me in to the purposes that you have for me. In Jesus' name, amen.