Who Am I?

Believe it or not, and I, some people know that some people don't. I'm pretty amazing. I really am. It's quite extraordinary actually how bad I can mess up what God wants to do when I get in the way. I'm pretty amazing at it. But I have learned that if I get out of the way, he's pretty incredible at doing whatever it is that he wants to do. So what do we do at Numbers chapter 13 and verse 32? And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched under the children of Israel saying the land through which we have gone to search it is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof, and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. That's not a problem. It's really not a problem. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anac, which come of the giants. That's okay. It's okay to notice there's a problem and an issue. It's even okay to notice that it's a big one. Right here is where we run into the problem, and we were in our own site as grasshoppers. And so we were in their site. They weren't grasshoppers in the enemy site until they were grasshoppers in their own site. The enemy doesn't have to change us. He just has to warp how we see ourselves. We live in a world of filters. Just look around and you can tell we live in a generation of everybody. We're more blessed than we've ever been and yet less happy than we've ever been looking for a way to cover all the insecurities, all the issues, all the mistakes and everything else. And the world is just perfect. It's a perfect setup for the enemy to come in and sell us alive.

Lord Jesus, we love you. As you would have your way in this service, as that you administer to every single individual that is here, you have already done so much and moved so much. And God has asked that you would simply accomplish whatever your will is in these next few moments in your precious name, Jesus, we pray. And everyone said, amen. Amen. If you're going to help me, you can be seated. If not, just stay standing. You don't have to leave. Just want to know who you are. My goodness, my goodness.

It matters how we see ourselves.

I was very young and somebody offered to take us to a circus. And I'd went in and you could tell by the size, you know, I was fighting anorexia, but I'm a champion. I beat that thing to death. I've won every year. Reigning champion, 44 years going. I went for the peanuts. And while I was there, they had this most amazing thing. Outside the tent, there was this massive elephant sitting there. And at first I was like, oh man, that's cool. I'm sure they've got the thing restrained. Only as I got closer to the elephant, I realized my idea of restraint and their idea of restraint were a long, long way away from each other because they had this little bitty chain. I wouldn't. I've got this beautiful cane core. So I don't think it would have held, I don't think it would even hold the mini golden doodle or what I mean. It's a little bitty thing. I did not feel safe. And then they had it in a little piece of wood about like that. And I watched him. He just stomped it into the ground like that. I was like, huh, I'm not a smart man, but I don't think that's going to work. And so, man, I can remember even as a kid being very nervous like that. That's not enough to secure that. And I remember they brought us over and they were telling us how they trained these. He said, no, no, no. He said, what we do is when we get these elephants who are very young, he said, we get, they bit a great big chain. He said, it's almost like a logging chain. He said, we have a concrete place there. He said, there is a steel pole that goes down like four or five feet deep. He said, and when they're very young, we will put that chain and lock it onto that back leg. He said, and there's no way for them to break it. And they spend weeks and weeks and weeks trying to pull against this thing until finally ever heard you've got a memory like an elephant. He said, finally he gets it forever settled in its mind. This thing is stronger than me. And once it's settled in his mind, the chain is no longer what holds him. It is how he sees the chain.

He said, at that point, we can take him off of that and we can put him just about on any little chain we want. And the slightest resistance triggers something in his mind that says, this is stronger than me. He could break it on accident.

I see a lot of people in the world today, powerful people in the amazing church that I am blessed to pastor. I see incredible men and women, great anointing, great potential, incredible giftings, never fulfilling what they were called to be because somewhere along the way, the enemy struck a blow so deep, so decisive, so to the core of their being that it left a mark that has forever told them anytime they start to step out into ministry, that mistake, that failure, the condemnation made a change so great that even in the greatest services and altar calls, they get ready to make a move. And it's instant. You can see when it hits, they're almost at the point of serenity. And they've learned too well. There's such a generation today trying to figure out who they are.

Did you ever play the game? Who am I? Anybody ever do that? I mean, this is back for Nintendo 64 showing my age on that one. Now they get everything. Now the boys are like, hey, Dad, you want to play this game with me? And they hand me this controller that's got more buttons than my books have pictures. What? Your books don't have pictures? I'm like, no, I don't believe this is it for me. I don't think I'm going to make it. But we used to play who am I? And you'd have this board and or this contraption had all these different individuals and they were face down and you picked one and you would ask each other leading questions. And the goal was to try to figure out who their person was. And they were trying to figure out who your person was. And it was a whole, the whole game was just trying to find enough information that you could positively say, this is who you are. I feel like many times I've lived most of my life playing who am I with myself and then getting God involved and anybody tries to tell me who I am. And I believe, I don't know. It's amazing. If I just believe who he said I was, it would have helped me a whole lot. The problem was, is there's another voice on the other side. And every time the enemy says, this is who you, the God says, this is who you are. The end is like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this is who you are. And it really is hard because God never describes me the way the enemy does because the enemy still describes things that he remembers me doing. And God doesn't describe me that way because they've been remitted and they're gone from memory. And so they never agree. And sometimes I get, I still remember my mistakes. So when it comes time to believe in who I am, I tend sometimes to believe the enemies lie more because there's some consistent stories we both remember that God has wiped away even from the memory. And so I start leaning more towards an old identity than a new identity. It's very easy.

Probably one of my favorite stories is the story of David and Goliath. You've had it in your church. I don't know who the tallest man in here is. I know I was standing next to all these preachers that are preaching. I'm like, I don't, I think one of the requirements is to be able to breathe air at a higher altitude. Which is, but it's been great for me because there's like 12 of them, I can ask Kate. I parked that right, right there. And you know, it is really great. I'm not overweight. I'm under tall. I was supposed to be eight foot four. They, everybody comes and preaches David and Goliath. They're going to ask who's the tallest person in the building? And when they do, they're going to have them come up and then they're going to find a newborn baby that was born Saturday, not even supposed to be out in public, but you know, one of their moms brought them anyway and what, you know, and they're like, this is David.

Early on you get that in your mind. You go into Sunday school and I'm not, we just take, tell your friends. Hey, look, he's just talking. Come on. Tell your neighbor. Say, look, we're just talking. I'm not start trying to start a resistance or a revolution with the Sunday school teachers. We're just talking. That's all we do. My mind's a little weird. I read things and it's visual. It's very visual. I'm not saying it's a good way. It's just the only way I got. You start Sunday school and you color the picture of David and Goliath. Well, you can't cover all of Goliath because his head's not on the page. You're only, you know, he doesn't fit on the page. You can color him with, you know, one of the crayons that your kid chewed the whole thing off. I mean, you can cut, there's plenty of room, but when it comes time to color in David, you got to, you need one of them brand new sharp crayons right out of the box because he's the size of the page number. You know, you're like, dad, there he is. I mean, you know, man, the miracle in the story of little David and everything, I love that story.

And, and I was reading this one day, we just talking. You get to first Samuel, Saul has messed his life up. Saul has, has really went the wrong way. And so it comes time to anoint a new king and God tells Samuel, he says, fill your horn. I've got someone else that I want you to seek out that I want you to anoint and you go to 16 and chapter 11, it says, and he tells Jesse, he says, listen, we're, you know, we're your children. Where are they? He says, well, I have another one. He says, go bring him in. In verse 12, it says, and he sent and brought him in. Now I want these scriptures up here because I don't want anybody think I'm lying because I could be wrong. It's really great when preachers are Christians. Somebody else said that, but I just been repeating it and trying to live up to it. Verse 12, and he sent and brought him in. Now he was ready and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to, he had a reddish complexion. He's a good looking fella or beautiful, I guess, whatever. He didn't need a filter. He, he was good to look at. And the Lord says, arise and anoint him for this is he. Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the spirit of the Lord came upon David and from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Rama. Not now, I understand some people, you got to be careful when you go to all those different translations. Like somebody said, he said, you go in King James version and it says, I have the dog. And then you go to the new King James versions and it says, I have a good dog. And then you go to the NLT and it says, I've got a great dog that I love so much. And then you go to the message and like, I love my sweet little puppy. And then you go to the Hebrew and it says, I have a fish. So you say, you got it, you know, so I'm not trying to read so much into this, but I may be missing something. I don't see where it says and they called David in, but nobody opened the door because he was small enough to crawl under it. Don't read where David was in the room, but under the table. And so no one saw. I don't read anything around Pipsqueak walking into the room and I don't, I don't read where short stack walked in. In fact, I see nothing of stature. I see that he's young, a good looking guy, but that's really all that I see, but I may have missed something.

Now, if you, if you look at it, you have to understand, I grew up, put our text is one of my friends, Gerard Kennedy was 12 years old. He was seven foot two. His brother was 11. He was six foot nine and his 10 year old sister was six four. I've seen young giants. They, they've only had one king in Israel. And that king had one thing that really, really stood out and that was he was head and shoulders taller. Than anyone in Israel. Now I'm really, I gotta be very careful, but I don't want to take too much time, but you have to realize that if somebody was going to be designed to fight David, or I mean, Goliath, they say Goliath is about nine feet tall. They had what they were considered giants, even in Israel that day at that day that would have been considered anybody over the height of six foot. I missed my time. I mean, I still wouldn't have been a giant then, but I'd have been closer to them. But if Saul was head and shoulders taller than that, you're talking about a seven foot something person at the minimum. Well, all of a sudden you don't have Goliath and a little man, you just got two brutes going after it. You could say Saul was born to fight Goliath. But then his purpose got twisted around it within him. But if I'm Samuel and I'm trying to find the replacement, there is one clear prerequisite that stands out. He's a big man. Now he sends him to the house of Jesse and we see it in chapter 16. He goes to verse six and he calls us them to pass by him. And Jesse, when they begin to pass by, but God knows what he's doing. He sent me to the right house because it says and he came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliad. This is David's brother and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before me. Well, how big was he? Well, he was big enough that God had to get involved to get his mind and his eye off of the stature because God shows up and says, listen, look, not on his countenance or on the height of his stature. God himself has to intervene and say, Samuel, quit looking at how tall he is. But Samuel says, but that's how I picked the last one. The last one was taller than any of the moment that Eliad walked in. He said, whoa, this has got to be him. So apparently the man's big enough that God has to intervene to take his attention off of the height. Then the other brother comes in and God again says, Hey, this ain't the one either. And he goes through them and he's like, is this all you got? This is David's brothers. It's in the blood. It's in the family. And he goes in, but maybe they just didn't mention it.

But then you go a little further. You go to 1 Samuel, Chapter 17, Verses 31. The Bible says if you get to it, Saul is sitting there. Saul's hiding in his tent, terrified of Goliath. And Daddy sends David to bring cheese and crackers to his brothers that are at the war. David shows up and the Bible says that when Goliath comes out that all the rest of them were afraid and we should, this should have been our first clue. Everybody else was fearful and David wants to know what the problem is. David's coming and saying, Hey, is there not a cause? Now I know he was a young man because when they told him, they said the reward is the king's daughter. And then later on he said, Now tell me again what I get. Tell me about the girl. And he says, listen, don't, don't, don't just listen to this Philistine talk Philistine Philistine. It's the same thing. Same, same. I, I, he's the words, the Bible say, come back to Saul. And Saul says, bring him in. He says, bring me this David. And, and in verse 32 of chapter 17, David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. This is David talking. Quit worrying about this. Quit worrying about this Goliath fellow. Don't even let your heart be troubled about it. He said, I'll go fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou are not able to. This is important. I think sometimes I think things are important. And I'm told they're not. And sometimes I'm wrong. And Saul said to David, thou are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him. Well, you would think when David walked in, you would think when puny walked in, there'd be an ocean of reasons that he couldn't. You would think the obvious, we only get one. You can't fight the giant because thou art but a youth. And he, a man of war from his youth. We get one distinction between Goliath and David. You are a youth and he, a man of war from his youth, which I guess they forgot that earlier in the chapter in chapter 16, when it came time for them to find somebody to play for Saul, this is how they explained to Saul who David was in verse 17 and 18. They said, if I go to it, it's easier to read it. He said, I've seen, this is verse 18. I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing a mighty, valiant man and a man of war. Then we have no distinction, brothers and sisters. But then he goes further and then he tells him, he said, David says, well, let me tell you a little story. He says, I servant kept his father's sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and I smote him and I delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and I smote him and I slew him. The servant slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them seen. He hath defied the armies of the living God. Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, the paw of the bear, he would deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. This is the first place we read about this. If I kill a lion from a thousand yards away with a tank, I will tell everybody I know and I will tell it in the most brave my life was threatened way possible. I'm just telling you, I've killed bear and I've told everybody, but if I ever kill one with my hands, I don't have to preach for a living. My church won't have to take up another offering. I'm going to be on the cover of every magazine. You won't be able to tell me to shut up. You're going to wake up in the morning hearing my voice on the radio. You're going to read my book. I'm going to be on all. They're on Facebook, Instagram, Lyagram, whatever they say. They're going to start a new one. We're just going to talk about me killing my lion and my bear. I'm just telling you, the world is going to know my name whether they want to or not. And David never mentions a thing. But there's something missing from this scripture.

We have no, we have no scripture that says and he sent a runner to verify. Did you keep the coat of the line? Did you have anybody with you? What were there any witnesses? Can anybody collaborate your story? Cause you have to remember whoever goes to fight Goliath, if they lose all of us are their servants. So it's not like the loser has to buy a Dairy Queen for the other guy. This is a big deal. My life is on the line. My children are on the line. You're telling me some awesome stories, but lots of people lie. I need some verification. Yet we don't find a scripture where Saul even asked for a witness. And it doesn't say I'm missing the part in the scripture where Saul falls out of his chair, laughing at the sight of such a little tyke fighting a lion and a bear. David tells his story. And this is the response. Go. And the Lord be with thee. Is it possible? We just talking. I see some of your heartbeat are taking your blood pressure medicine. I teach three year olds, don't play with me. I understand. We just talking. I'm not saying I know it. You just talking.

But is it possible that there's a monster that lives behind Jesse's house? Reserved for the day of battle? Is it possible that what brought cheese and crackers wasn't the little man on the totem pole? But is it possible that what stepped out of the wagon was a terrifying creature that had been held in reserve like a day of judgment that all of a sudden, is it possible that when Saul looked at Goliath, what he saw in the image he saw was said, the story, I don't need a revelation and I don't need a witness. I believe, I want you to fight the giant. Go, go and do what it is you want. Is it possible that somehow through years and years of patterning our brain to see a certain thing, we missed another miracle in the story? Just talking.

He tells him, he says, go. And Saul armed David with his armor and he put a helmet of brass upon his head and he armed him with a coat of mail and David girded his sword upon his armor and he is said to go for he had not, for he could not wear it. It would not, no you have to, forgive me, this is how my brain works. It's a weird thing. I have to see it and it doesn't make sense because if I'm keen, my armor's not like everybody else's armor, it's custom. Because if my armor's too small, it leaves places revealed. If it's too big, then it doesn't move freely. It has to be just right. And if I'm keen and I've got army and I've got thousands of soldiers of varying heights, I want David to wear armor but I want him to wear armor that's not restricting and I also want him to wear armor that's not too revealing because he's going to fight for my future and I want him protected. Saul is head and shoulders taller than every man in Israel and when it comes time to pick the armor that best fits the new champion, he looks around and says, you'd better wear mine. And David can wear the tallest man in Israel's armor. He just doesn't want to use it. He didn't say he couldn't wear it. He said, I haven't proved it.

What is Goliath? Say maybe we can get another witness. Maybe somebody else saw something else. Chapter 17, verse 31, when he runs and he heads towards Goliath or when he goes to him in verse 34. No, that's it. Verse, see, look, y'all quit doing that. You got me all confused. Pretend they don't exist. They're gone. It goes and it tells all about him. Tells all about what the Philistine can do. Talks all about Goliath. But then you get to this, when it talks about Goliath talking to David, maybe he'll talk about how small he is, but he doesn't. He says in verse 41, he looks at him. He says, what is this? He said, he goes through. He says, what have you sent to fight me if you sent a dog? Have you sent something else? He's angry at him. He's angry at him and he despises him, not for his stature, but what does he say? He says, he looked about, he saw David, and he disdained him for he was but a youth and a ruddy and of a fair countenance. He doesn't say, you've sent the smallest man in the, no, no, he said you sent a young man. So now we've got the witness of Saul and we've got the witness of Goliath. And even the enemy doesn't recognize any problem with stature. Everyone just mentions his youth. Is it possible? We're always like, well, the miracle is that little bitty David, he would fit in the palm of your hand at the age of four. His daddy carried him in his back pocket till he went to preschool. Because the miracle, the bigger the miracle, the bigger the, what if the miracle is, is that for every giant that the enemy sends, somewhere on the backside of nowhere, God is developing another one to step on a field. If you think about it a different way, Jesse has flocks that are everywhere and he can afford to send all of his boys and just keep one. Are your flocks safe? They are if you know the one. And this one ain't like the other ones. This one's different.

What if, see for years when I first read, I thought, oh, Jesse's trying to protect David. No, no, no, what if, in fact, he Jesse said I'm not protecting David. I'm protecting you. A killer lives in my backyard. A stone, coal, spilling blood is easy. In fact, later on when he kills the man, it was my sheep, his husband, it doesn't even register. He gets more careful about sheep than he does killing a man. He's a bloody man. He is a stone, cold, blooded killer. Killing is easy. He didn't grow up learning how to fight in school. He grew up watching how the wolf sleeps up. He watched how the lion approaches and he watches how, he said I learned it from killers. I learned how to fight from killers. At a young age, I spent time around the killers in the wild. I fought them and I beat them. He said, oh, daddy won't let me go to war because if they ever find out what I'm able to do, they're gonna take me to every battlefield that ever existed. Jesse said I'm not protecting David. I'm protecting the world because if they ever set this thing loose, it'll kill everything in its path. There is another David. I think Goliath hated it. I think he looked and said, oh, it's a younger me. He's looking at me like a lunch. He's not looking at me with tear fear in his eyes. He's not looking at me in worry. He's looking at me like a trophy that he's, David said, ah, yes, I'm tired. I've been killing lions and I've killed the bear. Finally, an adversary. Let me fight him. Let me fight, I was born to fight him. Let's stay in your tent. Quit worrying. I've lived for this. Didn't say he timidly walked toward him. He ran toward him. He said, ah, I've been sitting on a rock and singing and I'm tired of killing lions and the bear. I've been waiting to go to battle.

When it comes time later on, when you look in 1 Samuel chapter 21, again, this is just my mind. I'm not saying I'm right. The Bible says David said on a Himalek, he said, ah, he's running from the king not because he had to, but because the anointing on Saul, David could have killed Saul anytime he wanted. He said, is there a, is there a weapon? Is there a spear or a sword that you've got? He said, I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste. And the priest said, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah. It is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephond. If thou will take it, take it, for there is none other saved that here. And David said, there is none like it. Give it to me. You have to understand. The Bible goes into great detail talking about Goliath's spear and Goliath's shield and Goliath's armor because his stuff isn't the size of everybody else's stuff. It's heavier than normal. It's larger than normal. And so I assume the sword that he carried is not like everybody else's either. And David said, oh no, he didn't say, I'll take it if it's all you guys. He said, I love to carry the sword of Goliath. I can handle the giant sword. My hand fits the giant sword. I can handle what Goliath could handle. Use this, you can get ready.

When they come and they tell him, do you wanna marry the king's daughter? Yeah, what do I need to do? I need to take 100 lives. He takes 200 just to do it. 100 or 200, it doesn't matter. I'll kill 100 extra just because it's easy. He's a killer. He's a weapon. He sits there.

When it comes time, if you go to 1 Samuel chapter 29, this is because David has been running from Saul now. He's went to the enemy camp and trying to kind of fit in good with him. And it comes time for them to fight the Israelites in the Bible says, when they gather together, the princes of the Philistines says, whoa, what are the Hebrews doing here? And they said, is not this David the servant of Saul, the king of Israel? Is this David? And the princes of the Philistines were off and they said, listen, he said, make this fellow return that he may ago again to his place, which thou hast appointed him and let him not go down into battle with us to battle. Lest in the battle, he should reconcile himself under his master and it be with the heads of these men. They outnumbered the Israelites by thousand. They weren't worried about the Israelites. They knew they had that victory in hand, but one man, the captains looked over the army and said, hold up, hold up. That's David. I'm not fighting. Oh no, no, no, don't worry about him. The numbers are on our side. There are thousands more on our side than there are on theirs. He's like, we're not worried about the thousands. I'm worried about one man because that man's not like the other men. And if that one man, we may have a thousands more than they've got, but if that one man decides in the middle of the battle that he's going to switch sides, he will take our heads and buy his way back with him. We'll go fight a lot of things, but we won't fight with him. One man was enough to send fear through an entire army.

And then he goes on the way back. He agrees not to fight with him. And so he heads back and you get into chapter 30 and by the time he gets back to his people, it's been ransacked, the kids have been taken, the wives have been taken, their stuff has been taken. And David begins to pray. And David inquired of the Lord, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, pursue. For thou shalt surely overtake them all and without fail recover all. There's just one thing missing in that request. He didn't ask for help. David gets back and anger begins to flow through him. But David's learning. I got myself in trouble a few times now because he says, so let's do it right. God, can I go? I don't, I'm not asking for help. You made me strong enough. Killing them's not the problem. I just wanna know if I have permission. Pretty please, if you'll help me. He's like, no, no, no, I know I can kill him. That's not the issue. I just wanna be, and this is where David starts realizing what I can do can get me in a lot of trouble if it's not submitted to what he wants me to do.

See, we sit here the other day. And Pastor Mahars was talking about that wind and that breath and making a difference in our world. And then Brother Morgan was talking about the descending and ascending and the church getting outside of the doors. And we come in every Sunday. God sends somebody to my family. God sends somebody, he did. There is a spiritual giant that you're walking around with and the enemy has painted you another picture for so long that you're believing that this is insignificant person wearing your clothes. There's this weak person that can not walk around in victory that puts your kids to bed. And you've somehow begun to believe the lie. And the miracle was not, I'm not saying it wasn't just talking. But maybe the miracle's not that three foot forward David killed nine foot good life. Maybe the miracle is that anytime the enemy started something on the backside of nowhere outside of where everybody can see God started building another man said, I'll match a monster for monster. We'll meet on the battlefield.

You could even go further. I'm not gonna get into it because I haven't really searched it out as much. You could go all the way into some believe that Goliath was a descendant of Orpah who became Herapha and that David was a descendant of Ruth. You could say that's the battleground where the decisions met on whether they were gonna be faith. But that's another sermon.

What if the miracle is not that God's gonna send somebody to your family, but the person that he's got for your family walked in here today and God's just trying to wake you up to realize, hey, quit believing the lie. You're stronger than you think you are. I've got more for you than you can. You don't need 14 other preachers and three people brought in. No, all you need to do is like they've already mentioned so many times is to walk home tonight and this morning it start taking authority over the things in your home, the things in your life. You are not who he says you are. He'll stay with me.

I'm done. I hope I haven't messed myself up too badly with the Sunday School Coalition. In fact, I would tell you, David, the greatest problem in your life is not gonna be giants. You were born for them. The greatest problem in your life is gonna be balconies. Everybody wants to retire off the battlefield so that we can find a balcony to retire on. David, you're never gonna die on a battlefield, but you'll lose everything on a balcony. First or second Kings chapter 11 verse one in the time when kings go forth to battle. David stayed. David, what are you doing? What are you doing? I have fought so many fights. I had, David, no, no, no, this is not who you are. David, I made you for a battlefield, not for a balcony. Yeah, you know, I've won so many battles. Some of you, the reason you're fighting the battle you're today is because you quit fighting another one 10 years ago. This is the one that came out of the one you quit fighting, you'd have never fought this one if you were kept fighting that one. David's like, David, what are you doing? I'm not leaving, God. I'm just, I'm stepping off the battlefield. David, no. David, don't you understand? The battlefield is where they learned your name. The battlefield is where the men respected you. The battlefield is what promoted you. The battlefield is what made you who you are. There are no Bathshebas on the battlefield, David. There's no balconies on the battlefield. The battlefield is where you're safe. You were made for the, I made you for a battlefield. Quit trying to find some green pasture to retire on when you were made for spiritual warfare.

But you don't know, you don't know where I've been and you don't know what I've done, preacher. You don't know, you don't know the battles I fight and you don't, I don't.

I told the story. I think I told the story when I was with you, brother Harvey. My dad believed even you ought to be working from before the sun went up until after the sun went down and then you start working when the sun went down until the sun went up. It's kind of, we worked. My mom, we had a furniture store. We worked on that. And then as soon as we finished that, when I got off school, then we'd go work here. We'd go there and we worked at Craft Ball and then she had a little tea room. I've made more chowder and egg salad sandwiches. And you were talking about egg salad sandwiches and I always have a flashbacks and twitching. I mean, I'll twitch anyway, but this was like another level. And so I mean, it was one year I told him, I said, daddy, I want a new Pharaoh. This one don't pay. Can I go work for somebody else? All the girls gathered around the corner store there and so I went and asked Mr. Tommy. So, Mr. Tommy, can I just, I'll just stock shells for you if you'll just give me enough bait that I can fish. He said, oh, it's a deal. I'll give you all the bait you want so you can go fishing. He said, and you just helped me stock. I came home, I told my dad, I said, oh, daddy, I'm gonna stock. He said, no, I got you another job. You probably have discussions with your kids. We have, ours wasn't that way. I said, what are we doing? He said, well, I'll lease 20 acres for you and your brothers today. I'm like, huh, what are we gonna do? He said, you're gonna grow watermelons. You know how many watermelons you can grow on 20 acres? Thousands. I can tell you everything you wanna know about a watermelon. I can tell you stuff you don't. Charleston grays, black diamonds, jubilees, yellow meats, seedless, I can eat anything. I'm telling you, we grew so many kinds of watermelon and cantaloupe,

but I did learn one thing. You know a lot of times, raccoons will destroy a watermelon crop more than anything else. A lot of times, how many of you like watermelon? I don't hardly eat it anymore. PTSD. How many of you like the pretty one? You want the one, it looks nice and it looks... Next time, when you go in the store, skip the pretty one. And look for the one that has the deepest scratches down the side. Cause raccoons don't see pretty. They smell sweet. The scratches are not a sign that it's a bad one. It's the evidence that it was the best one. Well you gotta do and I'm done. Whatever I messed up, I've heard them sing. They're gonna fix it.

Quit looking in the mirror at every mistake and every flaw and every failure and everywhere where the enemy got you and everywhere it is and quit believing lie that the scratches on your life and the scars on your life and some of you where you're just like that David, you were made for something beyond your wildest imagination but somewhere you started believing the story in the mirror. God can't use this. Look where I've been through. Instead ask yourself, what is it in me that the enemy started attacking me at a young age? Praying that I would never discover who I was called to be. You're not fighting everything. You're fighting because of what's wrong. Some of the stuff you're fighting, you're fighting because of what is right with you. You're fighting what you're fighting because of an anointing that the enemy saw long before you did. And he says if I can get him now, if I can get enough condemnation on her life now, if I can get her fighting enough guilt and frustration and anxiety, she'll never realize the battlefield that I made her to step out on.

But I wish there was somebody today that say, ah, today's the day. I'm not believing the lie anymore. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And there's a battlefield with my name on it. There's a revival with my name on it. There it is. There it is. There it is. Why don't you step out with your feet to confirm what your mind believes just to let the enemy know? I'm still gonna be everything that he called me to be. I know who I am. I am his. Cause I'm a soldier.