 Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 8. Actually let's just go verse 9. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 9. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves. That we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. Chant to the neighbor, your God raises the dead. Who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us in whom we trust that he will still deliver us. We had sentence of death served to us, Paul is saying. And he said we learned when we got this sentence we learned not to trust in ourselves. He said we had to learn to trust in God and we happen to have a God in whom we trust. And this God has a specialty because the man's biggest enemy, longest enemy and the strongest enemy is not drugs, it's not governments, it's not politicians, it's death. And God that we trust, Apostle Paul says, when we got served a sentence by death, he said this God, he raises the dead. And this God, he delivered us in the past. Paul is saying he's delivering us now. Oh, and we also trust he will deliver us in the future. I want to speak today briefly on the topic called deliverance as a lifestyle. Deliverance as a lifestyle, sentence of death. Sometimes we go through life and things get served to us by life. Sometimes it's generational curses, they get served, we get served by generational curse, a certain sentence means that's how your life is going to be. A statistic says if your father was an alcoholic, you are 10 times likely to be an alcoholic than a person whose father was not an alcoholic. And this statistic can also slip into every area of our life. Maybe generational curses served us a sentence. And maybe a sickness serves us a sentence. Maybe a financial problem or a relational problem serves us a sentence. And there could be all kinds of problems when they serve us a sentence and when a sentence is served, means it seems like it's over. And Apostle Paul teaches us here, he says that actually in that moment something happens to you, you lose something. You lose trust in yourself, which is not a bad thing. You get that thing shaken off of you. And most people, when they lose trust in themselves, they have no one else to turn to. And so they turn to the bottle, some turn to the club, others they turn into sex and some just simply hang the rope and they just end their life. But Apostle Paul says when the bottom falls off of my feet, when life has dealt me the worst, when I've been cheated on, betrayed and stoned, when I've been abandoned and shipped wrecked, when maybe you've been served a sentence even by the doctor that you have a sickness and it's incurable. Maybe you got served by a lawyer that your family is falling apart. Or maybe your child has served you a sentence and says I don't want to have nothing apart of this family. And your bottom is falling off. At that moment, Paul says we still have a rock of ages that we fall back on. When your bottom falls off and you feel like you're falling down, I'm going to tell you where you're going to fall down if you're a Christian. To a rock bottom. There's always a rock at the bottom of every Christian and that rock is not a night club, it's not a drug, it's not a marijuana, it's not a bottle, it's the promise of God. And Paul says I lent on that promise in the God who raises the dead. He said I trust in him to deliver me and I want to encourage every person this evening is that your God, he's not a Santa Claus, he's a boss. He ruined every funeral including his own. He messes things up. People already prepared a burial until he came and messed the whole thing up. And when he came into the room and the worst situation which is death and he looks at something that you call impossible and he said this girl or that particular Lazarus, he is not dead, he is sleeping. And the Bible says people ridiculed him, people mocked him, they said what are you saying, this is insane. To God your biggest challenge. God wanted to show to you how small it is to him, how hard it is for you to wake up a baby. Actually you have to work hard not to wake up a baby. God has to work hard not to slip in blessings, unrequested. For God the worst situation is as easy as waking up a baby. You didn't see Jesus sweat when he raised a girl from the death. He took her by the hand and he said her name, he says rise up. That's exactly what you do when you raise up a baby when she's sleeping. You take them by the hand and says hey come on, you gotta wake up. That's exactly how Jesus treats most difficult and most challenging situation. Your God raises the dead. What you call impossible, he has a different definition for impossible. His definition for impossible is I am possible. I can't do anything. Seems like we have a different definition of freedom with David. Because David's definition of freedom is he tells Saul I'm gonna go and show myself in front of a Goliath. Goliath is not bothering you. Is he tormenting your family? David? Has he thrown a stone in your face? Has he punched you? Has he hurt you David? No, he hasn't done anything. Why are you picking a fight with a man twice your size? David says it's simple. How can God deliver me if I don't pick a fight? He says I will go pick a fight and God will deliver me. Don't expect a deliverance if you refuse to fight. Don't expect a deliverance if you're sitting on blessed assurance Jesus is mine and I'm not gonna do anything else. We cannot expect God to move his throne if we can't move our pinky. And we have this attitude, this passive attitude in Christians today. What is this? You know if God wants it, God will do it. Apostle Paul tells Timothy fight a fight according to the prophecies given to you. I read that I said Paul God said it God settles it. If God prophesied don't do anything it's gonna get done. God doesn't need your help preacher said. Well Apostle Paul didn't hear that preacher because Apostle Paul tells Timothy if God said it nothing's gonna happen until you move until you fight with it. God gave all the promised land to Israel but they only got as much as they fought not as much as God gave them. Like we heard a testimony today God gave all the blessings on the cross but you only get not what you wish to have what you fight to have. When you throw yourself in the battle bigger than you you give room for a God who raises the dead to step in. But if you're waiting for every prophetic word for every seven green lights to be on your way to work for the proper verse for the proper sermon and the proper song for everything to line up and then you have the courage to step against the Goliath. My friend that day might never come. You have to launch an attack and see God will deliver me if I throw myself in something bigger than I am. Because somebody say amen most of the healing Jesus did they didn't happen in the hospital. There were hospitals. Why didn't Jesus go to the hospitals and kill sick people? People always say well if he is such a healer if God used him to heal people let him go to the hospitals and just heal everybody out of the hospitals the Lord Jesus didn't do that. Who did Jesus heal? People who threw themselves when he was eating interrupted his lunch. When he was walking and they broke every protocol they said you're unclean you can't touch clean people and they shattered that and they threw themselves in the places they could have get stoned for and that's when God met them. There are a few cases where Jesus almost an accident stepped in but most of the cases somebody did the fighting and Jesus came as a result of it. God is not going to show up to your battle if you run from it. You can't send God to fight the Goliath if you're hiding behind the bushes and snap chatting. You got to put the phone down pick up a sword go against the Goliath you're scared to death your heart is sinking going into your feet and you say God if you don't show up pooping in my pants is going to be the least of my worries I'm going to die in this battle and that's when you really your faith is stretched. You know guys sometimes a pornography issue and I ask him you know what have you done well you know I'm just I'm just really praying that God will help me. If David would have listened to that he would have been embarrassed. Sometimes we have you know generational curses I just I came to prayer line once that's great that you came to prayer and that is awesome the question I have for you today are you throwing yourself in the battle bigger than you trusting God to deliver you or are you waiting for God to do the deliverance so you don't have to do the fighting you're more than a slave you carry a DNA of God you carry an image and likeness of God lions make lions eagles God made us in his image never lost the battle and he loves war he is a man of Bible say he trains my hands for battle he trains my fingers for war God creates you he finds pleasure in seeing his child rise up from the diapers and take their position and take against the enemy Jesus didn't just give us salvation he gave us authority rise up somebody say man I want you to write down the third thought when we don't fight our enemy we end up hurting our friends you know David eventually throws himself into the battle and he conquers the Goliath God shows his grace God delivers him but again this deliverance didn't happen because David was sprayed with the anointing water this deliverance happened David threw himself in a battle and for some people even to come for prayer with the anointing water actually is throwing themselves into the battle they they feel like you know there's so many people watching it takes a lot to overcome for them but for most of us you know praying in our own time fasting doing whatever it can to to bring ourselves in that place when we say God I positioned myself in that place and David was a warrior all of his life but toward later part of his life David felt like I am creating my own excuse my own version now I think David felt like you know what I have achieved enough victory my family is safe I got a lot of money I got all the things that I wanted I don't need to fight no more I know God called me to fight I know God has chosen me to fight not just for myself but also for my people but my people are doing just fine I mean some of them are still suffering but everybody overall is doing fine I'm not gonna go to the battle I'm not gonna go fight the battle I am anointed to win I'm gonna stay home and chill so David stayed home and chilled and it's interesting as he avoided a battle God anointed him to win he unknowingly got into a battle where he had no anointing to overcome already a battle with lust a battle with things that are so contrary to David's nature David protected a man who wanted to kill him and now David is tempted to kill a man who protects him David is in the battle in his own house because he's afraid because he's lazy because he comes up with excuses because he's already good enough because it's already awesome everything is fine I don't need to fight no more I'm not gonna go to the battle God anointed me and call me I'm gonna stay home and chill and finds a battle comes to his own bedroom a battle he has no power to overcome and he falls in that battle like a slave and that battle cripples his whole family child one by one begin to rebel against him and begin to die it unleashes a generational curse when you come to a point when your life gets somewhat okay when you come to a point when bills are paid you come through with coming to church and you're like you know what this is a good place to be in it's also the most dangerous place to be in because when you and I think that God just gives us that power to fight for ourselves instead of just fighting for our city and we begin to settle and we say this whole fighting this whole demon thing that's for the crazy churches and so what we do is we settle and the battle creeps into our own bedroom except the battle we have no power over if there is one drug addict in tri cities you have to fight if there is one sick person in the ER you and I have a fight if there is one person slipping into eternity tonight you and I have a fight if there is one girl holding a razor to her veins you and I are in the war it might not be your sister it might not be your mother it might not be your sister but listen it is someone God called you anointed you to fight and when you say no no no Vlad I'm too busy I got college this is not for me this is what happens you will not avoid the fight you'll just be in one you will not win today I just want to challenge every person don't ever allow in your mind a thought to get comfortable in life we get comfortable when we breathe our last as long as you are on this earth even when you are on the vacation even when you are resting in the presence of God you are a soldier have your boots on your sword on always ready because you are in a battle 100,000 people in tri cities are non-religious you are in a battle and just because you know our church has grown just because our influence has grown that means nothing for us it only to challenge and pushes to run faster better and be more passionate than ever before for our generation there's somebody say amen when you don't fight your real enemy you start fighting your friends when David didn't want to fight Philistines he ended up fighting your eye when you don't fight demons when you don't do spiritual warfare you start fighting your husband for all the mistakes he does you begin to fight your children you begin to fight your wife your boss politicians you it's one thing we have to remember we'll never stop fighting we only choose which battles we fight we don't choose if we fight ask Cain and he will tell you when the battle came to his door the battle of rage and jealousy and God comes to Cain says Cain take care of this Cain your son of Adam Cain rule over it Cain this is your battle but Cain for reasons unknown to us he let it go he didn't fight that battle instead he took a rock and killed his own brother what if he would have taken a rock and killed that jealousy what if he would have taken a rock and brought down the Goliath no and see he said i'm not gonna fight this battle instead the fighting spirit has to find an expression he found a rock and brought his brother down we see so many marriages killed by spouses by children by people who use their rocks not to bring down their Goliaths but they throw their rocks to destroy their families oh no they don't mean to destroy their families they're trying to fix their families but they destroy them if they don't fix them first in the spiritual world what the real enemy is your husband your wife your children your parents no matter how much pain they caused you they're not your real enemy and Satan's trick is to have you use a rock to beat them because he will go undetected he's afraid that you will love them and throw the rock in his face but today i want to ask you you only have one rock and you only have what you're gonna throw it at someone who is he gonna be able or Goliath if you bring down Goliath you can change your family you can change your health you can change your relationships you can change your finances you can change your whole family history if you bring down the Goliath but if you use these stones and you say well this whole rebukeing devil they pray at the end together against the devil so much devil and devil and devil well that's exactly what you do in your own house except we rebuke the devil but you're doing it to people that you should have been loving i want every angle you got inside of you against any family member to be turned against the real enemy that's what we allow that when we pray but most of us we are like this very sanctified Presbyterian but when we leave somebody caught us off on the highway anything that these people do here this makes us look like choir boys because that comes out the anger and the passion comes out why because you are a fighter just fighting a wrong battle and i'm just asking you please fight a battle that actually worth fighting so that you don't have to fight your friends don't kill you you're right you're right it's not your enemy Goliath is your enemy drugs is your enemy the demons are your enemy generational curses are your enemy the poverty is your enemy cancer is your enemy somebody say amen let's rise to our feet let us let us rise to our