# God will hold you up

Key Passage: Exodus 17:8-16
Date: June 7, 2024

Your Bibles, if you would, Exodus chapter number 17, Exodus chapter number 17, God’s word tonight. And thrilled you’re here on a Wednesday night right where the Lord wants you. That midweek service sometimes is so key. Just get your batteries charged, amen.

And Exodus chapter number 17. Last Wednesday we covered this thing of manna. Manna represents Jesus. He is the bread of life.

We talked about the written word also and the word of God. And then this first part of chapter number 17, we’re going to kind of skip over that. Let me just say a word or two about it as we do so. They ran out of water again. Remember they ran out of water before. They fell in the same trap and began to complain and murmur.

But God told Moses, Moses, go over there, and I want you to smite the rock, and out of the rock will come water. That’s a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ. He is the rock, and he’s a rock of our salvation. He’s the foundation. Upon this rock, I will build my church, and so on and so on. It’s a wonderful picture of Jesus, by the way.

How do you get water out of the rock? It’s got to be smitten. Jesus Christ was smitten on the cross of Calvary, and through his death, not through his life, but through his death. And then life, there’s life-giving water and water for everlasting life. A beautiful picture of Jesus, the rock, and we get water out of the rock, and that’s the first part of Exodus 17.

But if we’re going to look a bit farther here in this chapter of Israel, I want you to jump down to verse number eight, Exodus 17 and verse number eight. And we’re going to read through this chapter here at the beginning. Then we’ll go back and kind of just verse for verse cover all tonight.

Exodus 17 verse number eight. Exodus 17 verse number eight. Exodus 17 verse 17 and verse number eight is where we’re starting out tonight.

All right, here we go, verse number eight, Exodus 17, verse number eight. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Raphidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose out men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

So Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek. And Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.

But Moses’ hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, one on one side, the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah Nisi, for he said, Because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Now, who is this Amalek that came to fight against the children of Israel? A couple things about them as far as the way of introduction. First of all, Amalek is the descendants of Esau. Remember Jacob and Esau? That’s where they came from—Esau. They tried to ambush Israel.

Look over in 1 Samuel, if you would, please. We’re going to look at a couple different places at the beginning here. 1 Samuel, chapter number 15. And I want you to look at verse number two. We’re just trying to gather a couple facts about Amalek, and they were attacking the children of Israel. Who are they? The Bible gives us a little bit more insight into this saying in 1 Samuel 15.

Look in verse number two. 1 Samuel 15, verse number two of God’s word. Here we are in verse number two. The Bible says, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. So they were just ready to pounce on them, laying wait for them. They had no reason to do that. Israel came out of Egypt, crossed over the Red Sea, heading down to the wilderness and over to the promised land, and Amalek was laying wait for them, just ready to pounce on them.

Look over in Deuteronomy 25. Deuteronomy 25, and look in verse number 17 here. Remember what Amalek did unto thee, when you came forth out of Egypt? How he met thee by the way, and smote behind most of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou was faint and weary, and he feared not God.

So now we’re just really almost learning of, oh, you might call it guerrilla warfare. They’re just attacking the weak, and the ones who were dragging behind, couldn’t keep up with the rest of those. They were very weak and faint and feeble. How sad a thing that is. It’s not to win a war, if you will. It’s just to beat down someone just the weak, and the ones that couldn’t keep up, they were after them—the hindmost part. That’s Amalek. How dirty and cheap that was them. They were after the children of Israel, all right?

So what’s this thing about Amalek? Amalek is a wonderful picture of our flesh. Really, what that means, what it equals. Remember Esau? Let’s go back to Jacob and Esau. That’s where Amalek came. Remember Esau, he was a very fleshly man. Now, these things aren’t wrong, but he was a very strong man, very capable, a man’s kind of man. He liked to hunt and all those things. That’s not bad, but it was just all about that. It did not have a spiritual sight to him. Remember, he sold his birthright for a bowl of chili—just a fleshly man. And as he saw, and from that, you get his descendants of very fleshly people. They were attacking; they were attacking the children of Israel.

Well, what does the flesh do to us? Let me read it for Galatians 5:17. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. But what you know is over there in Galatians 5:17, for the flesh lusteth against the spirit. Starting over, the flesh coming against the spirit—that’s Amalek; they’re coming against God’s people.

It represents the flesh, by the way. Let me say this: when sometimes you have to battle your flesh, and you will, if you’re going to do right, you’re always going to battle your flesh. But it’s amazing how Satan will sometimes guilt-trip you just because you have to battle your flesh. That doesn’t mean you’re a bad Christian if you’re battling your flesh. That’s the normal part of the Christian life. You’re going to have to battle that. Whether it be your tongue, whether it be getting up on time to read your Bible, whether it be your temper, whether it be your spirit, whether it be your complaining—it’s just your flesh, and you’re going to have to battle your flesh.

Here’s the thing: you’re battling about this thing, and the devil will even guilt you that you have to battle it. But no, don’t let him guilt-trip you if you just give into it. But it is right and proper for you to battle your flesh; it’s just part of it. All of us have a flesh, so don’t let the devil—the devil will never miss an opportunity to kick you when you’re down; that’s what it does. So when you have to battle something to do right, don’t feel convicted that you have to battle it; that’s right that you are battling it.

The children of Israel were doing right when Amalek attacked them. Okay, it represents the flesh. So don’t let the devil guilt-trip you over that, all right? Let me just say that in beginning. You’re going to battle it.

Look over in verse number 16. We’ve read this. Look at verse number 16. For he said, Because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Someone said recently, “Will I ever reach a point where I’ll have to battle my flesh?” No, not take it to have. That may be different things you battle. Maybe you won that battle with the flesh, but there’ll be another battle tomorrow. There always is, and you’re going to battle that.

Now, so let’s go back. We’re going to kind of verse by verse real quickly here. We just want to kind of give you some headlines, if you will, of this thing, and what does it mean about Amalek and things.

Look at verse number nine, verse number nine. We’re going back through here, Exodus 17, verse number nine. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.

I’ve already kind of alluded to this, but don’t just give in and wallow and just kind of pacify the flesh. You’ve got to fight against it. If you’re going to be a Bible student, if you’re going to be a prayer warrior, if you’re going to have a good attitude, good spirit, you’re going to have to battle your flesh. If you’re going to be a godly man, you’re going to have to battle. By the way, you have to battle to be honest. The devil’s always trying to get you just a little bit kind of, you know, a little bit mixed exaggeration with truth. Well, that’s lying, and you’re going to have to battle these things; it’s just part of it. If you’re going to be an honest person, you’re going to have to battle your flesh. You’re going to be a humble—praise the Lord for that prayer request—you’re going to be a humble person; you’ve got to battle pride. You’re just going to have to battle it in its right.

Moses said, Joshua, let’s go fight against Amalek, which pictures the flesh. That’s a little different in our day and time, the New Testament age. I don’t necessarily go right out and fight against my flesh. We’ll talk about the end: I yield to the Spirit of God, and he fights against my flesh. But part of me yielding and following the Holy Spirit is battling to say, “I’m following him right there.” Then he defeats our flesh. We’ll talk about that in a second. I don’t want to just kind of mention it: it is right for you to battle against your flesh.

Feeding your flesh will never satisfy the flesh. What happens? “Well, I’ll just do it this one time; I’ll never do it again.” But you do it that one time; that’s not going to satisfy your flesh. It just gives it a greater appetite for more. You have to battle against those things. It is not possible to fight a fleshly appetite by indulging in that appetite. You’re not going to win that way, so you’ve got to battle against it.

Look at verse number 10 and 11. Just a couple things here as we go through it. Verse number 10 of Exodus 17: So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed. And when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.

Now, this is so interesting. The battle down here is going on, and God tells Moses, “You go up to the hill away from the battle.” You’d think maybe if Moses—he needs to be right down there to think of it all. No, God said, “No, no, no, that’s not where the battle really is, one, if you will. I want you to come up away from the thick of where everybody is, and I want you to come up on a hill, which is closer to the Lord, if you will, and I want you to get away from everything, where the battle is, where everybody’s looking at, and I want you to come up on a hill away from everybody, everything, if you will, and get alone with the Lord.”

Now, Aaron and Hur are there, but I want you to know, see, once you get up on a hill, and up on that hill when he raised his hands, Israel won; when he put them down, Amalek won. Now, was that picture really the victory in the things? The kingdom of God doesn’t happen in front of everybody. Sunday was a great day. Well, praise the Lord, it was a wonder, and it was a great day. But can I say it wasn’t won on Sunday? It was won maybe by a senior saint who couldn’t even make it here on Sunday, but they were praying. They were getting alone, asking God to bring victory on Sunday. Great victories don’t happen in front of everybody. That’s a product of someone being up on a hill somewhere, away from the battle, away from the fray.

That’s why Matthew 6, I feel like we showed it so many times. Y’all want to look at—well, jump over to Matthew 6. We’ll see it again. Some of you have seen it many times over the years. I wasn’t planning on looking over there, but we’ll look over there. I don’t want to be too redundant, but I will say repetition is key to learning. But I want you to see this at Matthew 6. Matthew 6.

When you get there, when you find Matthew 6, look in verse number four. Matthew 6:4. And about halfway down through that verse, the Bible there says, “Thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” I’ve got that underlined and put a one beside it right there, first time you’ll see that phrase.

Now look down in verse number six, if you would please. Verse number six, about halfway down through that verse. He says, “Pray to thy Father, which is in secret.” I’ve got that underlined right there, and I’ve got a one beside it, first time we’ve seen that. Look, the rest of the verse: “And thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” Now I’ve got that underlined, second time we’ve seen that little phrase right there. Did you notice that?

Jump down in verse number 18 right there, verse number 18. Just a little bit into that verse: “But unto thy Father which is in secret.” I’ve got that underlined, number two, second time we’ve heard that. Look at the next one here: “Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” I’ve got that underlined, third time we’ve seen that little phrase right there.

Friend, here’s what the Bible is trying to show us here: it’s not always—the battle’s not won out in front of everybody. The battle is won by someone going up to the hill, getting close to the Lord, and seeking God’s blessings. Moses is up—Moses, get up on that hill closer to God, away from the fray of everybody. Everybody’s watching you—and in secret. See, sometimes the reason why I don’t like that and focus on that so much is because not everybody’s going to be praising you, clapping your hands for you, patting you on the back. That’s just going to be you and God alone, and nobody down here on earth is going to know about that for the most part. Those rewards don’t come, if you will, you know, down here. God sees all that right there. That’s where the battles are won. That’s the key right there. That’s the secret to it all. The secret is in the secret. So very, very important.

Can I say this? Sometimes you can be in secret, though, right in the midst of a group of people. I mean, we’re to pray without ceasing sometimes. I like Elijah and Elisha both said it. First time they said it within 1 Kings 17. Elijah is standing in front of old wicked Ahab, and he said, “The Lord God, before whom I stand.” Remember that? And standing before the king, the most powerful king there was, of Israel right then. But he said, look, the big thing is that I’m not standing before you, old king; I’m standing before the King. Sometimes when you’re in front of people and around people, you just kind of get along with the Lord right there.

But I’m saying it’s not that outward that brings the great victories in battles; it’s the inward. It’s you getting up on the mountain, meeting alone with God somewhere.

That’s interesting. Why did God say when Moses, when your hands are held up? Why was that? Then Israel, when his hands fell down, they lost. Look over in 1 Timothy, if you would, please. First Timothy chapter number two. This is what I believe it represents. 1 Timothy chapter 2. And would you look in verse number eight, 1 Timothy 2 and verse number eight?

Verse number eight right there: He says, “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.” Now, wait a second. So they’re lifting up hands. What? When they’re praying? What is this thing of Moses up on the hill getting away from everybody, getting up on the hill somewhere close to the Lord, raising his hand? It has to deal with prayer, seeking the Lord, asking God’s blessing, lifting up holy hands when they’re praying everywhere. It has to do with God’s people praying. Battles are won because someone—someone who’s using—nobody knows about praying somewhere. It’s so key.

Can I say this about it? It didn’t say how he held his hands up. He didn’t say he got a hold of him a certain way, just when he held his hands up. And sometimes we can say, “Well, I got to be a great prayer warrior.” Can I just say, friend, kind of forget about all that and just pray. You’re probably not going to be the best. Really, there is not the best besides Jesus, but just pray. “Well, I got to, I got to, I got to do it a certain way.” Well, listen, you know what? If I talk to a good friend, we just talk. You get an old God pretty good, you just talk. And you say, “I got to follow this formula, ask, you know, and I got to follow this formula: adoration.” All these different formulas they have out there, they’re not bad, but just pray. Just get along with God and pour your heart out before the Lord and ask and seek. You know, it never tells us how to ask or say, if you will, sometimes earnestly. A lot of times just ask. Ask and seek and give, seeking, you should find, knocking. It doesn’t tell you, hold it. Just ask, seek, knock. Just pray.

And, you know, it was a good day for me when I realized God doesn’t answer my prayers because of how I feel. God answers my prayers because of his promises. Sometimes I’m focused so much, “Am I a good prayer warrior?” Honest truth is, the best I can do is filthy rags. So, you know, forget about that. Just pray. Just go to God in prayer. Just seek the Lord.

Let’s keep going. Let’s keep going. Look in verse number 12. We’re just going verse by verse over here next to 17. But Moses’ hands were heavy.

Can we just stop there for a second? You know, I’ve already emphasized you don’t have to be a great prayer warrior. There really is no great prayer; it’s just a great God to answer prayer. But there is a weight; there is a heaviness. There’s someone that’s going to pay the cost and get along with God and pray. His hands got heavy, just honest truth. No matter what have you worded it, got heavy, and someone’s going to have to pay the cost. So we’re going to have to say, “I’m going to get up early, I’m going to stay up late, I’m going to do this, I’m going to walk around the block 40 times, going to do whatever it takes, but I’m going to—I’m going to bear the weight of praying for the victory in my life, my daughter’s life, my son’s life, my grandchild’s life, whatever it may be. I’m willing to pay the cost.”

It’s heavy to be a man or lady of prayer. Your hands are going to get heavy. You don’t have to be the greatest prayer warrior; you’re going to have to seek God and ask God. You have to pay the cost. Somebody gets up early and goes to the gym; praise the Lord, not against that. But somebody’s got to get up early and go to the spiritual gym and pray for that loved one. Somebody’s going to say, “I care enough about my neighbor; I don’t want to see them dying and go to hell. I’m willing to spend some time praying and asking God for them to get saved.” Nobody’s going to pat you on the back; nobody’s going to give you some medal. But you had to get along with you and God and spend the time and carry the weight of praying. More what happened in the kingdom of God if it wasn’t waiting for all that applause or everybody else, are just willing to go away from everybody else and pray to God? Amen. There’s a weight to it. There’s a weight to it.

My honest, simple truth is his hands—God, somebody’s not that I’m a great prayer warrior, but I believe I’ve got a great God that hears my prayers, that I’m willing to carry the weight seeking the Lord. Jesus sweat as if it was, right, drops of blood. It wasn’t when he was preaching, to be honest with you. Wasn’t when he was healing someone. He was when he was praying. Jacob wrestled all night long. Was that great speech he was going to give the next day? No. When he’s praying, wrestling with the angel of the Lord. And there’s a cost there to prayer; it’s a cost to it all.

Now look at this. We’re going to go another step forward. Look at that verse number 12. But Moses’ hands were heavy. He lies up on the mountain; he’s got his hands up, represents prayer. And they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon. Help me out. Help me up. Who’s the stone? What’s the Bible saying many, many times? Who’s the stone that the builders rejected and it became the cornerstone?

Now here’s a good thing I just talked about, man, you know, like, “Whoa, preacher, Matt,” and I’m not, but I want you to see there’s a cost. I want you to be willing to pay that cost. But even after we pay the cost in prayer, trying to hold our hands up, there’s this truth of, “I don’t rest in how good of a prayer warrior I am.” I rest in Jesus. And you sit; you rest in the fact that Jesus earned answers to prayer on the cross. That’s a wonderful promise for you. The rest doesn’t come because we’ve got all the character, we’re doing everything right. The rest comes in Jesus.

Look, if you will, over in 2 Corinthians chapter number 1. It’s a wonderful, wonderful promise. Look over in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And this is a great, great promise about setting on the stone, if you’re resting in Jesus, your prayer life.

2 Corinthians chapter 1, look at verse number 20. 2 Corinthians 1 and verse number 20 right there. 2 Corinthians 1, verse number 20. He says, “For all the promises of God in him, that’s in Jesus, are yea and in him, Amen, unto the glory of God by God.” Pretty amazing promise. That kind of explains how or why I can settle on the stone of Jesus and rest in him in prayer.

Look over in John 14, if you would please. John 14. John 14. And would you look in verse number 12, would you please? John 14, verse number 12 of God’s word. John 14. Look at verse number 12, right. John 14, look at verse number 12. He says there, he says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me”—who’s the me? Jesus. No wonder how to spend our life promoting Jesus; he’s everything. “He that believeth on Jesus, on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name”—Jesus’ name—“that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my”—Jesus’ name—“I will do it.”

Friend, it’s more than just, I’m for. We watched the movie last night; they prayed a couple times in the movie. And I always listen; I always listen, and they prayed it in Jesus’ name. I like it. I mean, just don’t say amen; put Jesus in there. I like it to mention Jesus, but can I say it’s more than just putting a tag on there? If I’m truly asking in Jesus’ name, what I’m saying is, “Father, here’s the check. I’ve tried to fill out; I believe it’s according to your will.” You know, a check is no good unless there’s that signature down there. And you’re putting that signature down there; you’re not putting, you know, Ms. Shelby or whoever it is; you’re putting Jesus in it. “Father, would you give us these things because of what Jesus earned for us on the cross?” You’re asking, not based on your merit, but on Jesus’ merit.

“Father, I know I don’t deserve all these answers to prayer, but I do because Jesus earned them for me because of all the promises in Jesus are yea.” I just read that. And you can rest; you can sit on the rock, the stone, in your prayer time, not in how good of a prayer warrior you are, though there is a cost to pay; your hands will get heavy, but you rest in the fact that Jesus has earned these things for you.

Friend, that Moses sat down, by the way. Moses didn’t feel guilty. “Well, they’re down there fighting; I’m sitting on a stone.” No, he sat down and you’re rested, and you can sit or rest in Jesus in your prayer life. That’s how you can keep your hands up for him over the long haul.

Now, so very, very important. By the way, we sang it a couple weeks ago, I think on Wednesday night, maybe. Brother Patrick Lettice in it: “Christ is all I need.” Christ is all I need. Oh. He’s all you need. Even your prayers get answered because of Jesus.

Now let me say this. Look at the rest part of the verse. Verse number 12 there. Verse number 12. “Oh, but Moses’ hands were heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side, his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”

Oh, praise the Lord for the people that help the pastor, the leader, yes, but even help other people that are trying to pay the cost in prayer. And they say, “You’re sitting on the stone, that’s Jesus; let us hold your hands up.” One on one side, one on the other. Moses couldn’t do it all himself. And they come alongside; they assist; they help.

So many things you can say here. But can I say this? Don’t be afraid to let or allow a brother or a sister to help you. This thing isn’t a maverick thing. “Well, I’m on my own living for the Lord Jesus Christ.” Oh, praise the Lord, we’re a family; we help one another. It’s a great, great thing. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help. Don’t be afraid to go to your spouse sometimes for help. Don’t be afraid to go to the church family for help. Don’t be afraid to do that. Reach out for others to help you.

I think of a man; he had told me he’s going to go to rehab. I’m so happy about it, and he needed to. But he came back the next day or so, and he said, “Oh, God doesn’t need rehab; he can help me win without rehab.” And I said, “Well, God can keep you cool with that air condition, but do you use your air condition or not?” Pretty hot one that was going on, by the way. Hey, God’s given us these things to help us. Sure, God can do, you know, I can heal you if not cancer without a doctor, but I advise going to a doctor. Maybe God might use them a little bit, you know.

Don’t be afraid to let someone help you hold your hands up. Praise the Lord for the Aaron and Hurs. For me, I thank God for the Aaron and Hurs that have been in our church over the years and helped me as a leader. God’s got those people all over helping us. One on one side and the other on the other side. Praise the Lord a little bit. What? Just one man that helped us? Several. Let people help you. And such a good thing, such a wonderful thing. Praise the Lord for Aaron and Hur. He helped him hold his hands up.

Now look at the next verse, verse number 13. Excuse me, verse number 13. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. God uses the word of God, the sharp two-edged sword. He uses that in the battles. If you get a win, you have to use that two-edged sword.

Verse number 14, we’re about to wind it down. And the Lord said unto Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua.” Why Joshua? For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Why Joshua? Well, 39 or so years ahead of time, Joshua’s going to be the leader, and God is preparing him.

Joshua, 39 or so years that he’s preparing him for the future. Can I say this? God’s always preparing you for things in your future. God knows; he knows what’s coming down the pike in your life. It may be God is trying to prepare you for some years down the road, and part of this battle God allowed it to happen, but God wanted Joshua to be in the middle of that thing and leading down there in the valley. And this, as far as the leader of the warfare—God wanted Joshua to be that because he was preparing him for years and years down the road. And he said, “Hey, later on, you’re going to have to remind Joshua of this victory. I want you to write it down so everybody remembers the memorial, hey, I remember what God did.” One day Moses dies, and God said, “Joshua, your turn. Remember what it did back then?” All these things you’re going through now, God’s got a purpose for that. It’s about today, yes, and beyond today, years down the road.

Let’s keep going here. Look at verse number 15. Look at verse number 15. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah Nisi. Now what does that mean, Jehovah Nisi? It means Jehovah Nisi. It means Jehovah is my banner. The Lord of Jehovah is my banner.

You know, when you’ll see some of these movies about the Civil War and the Union soldiers, they got their flag, and the Confederate soldiers, they got their flag. And the ships—I like it on a ship—well, you’ll see the American flag up there, you know, their Navy and all that, and that’s their banner. That’s their banner. And, excuse me, we kind of rally around the banner.

And Moses is building an altar for the victory, and he said, “Hey, the Lord’s our banner. We want everybody to know whose side we’re on. We’re not ashamed of letting people know, hey, we’re God’s people. It’s not all about us and me and all that. Hey, the Lord is our banner. Jehovah’s our banner. Let everybody around here know.”

We won this victory, but it wasn’t nice. Hey, the Lord’s our flag; he’s our banner. I want to be proud to be a Christian. It’s amazing sometimes. I’ve worked for years and years. I’ve worked in a lot of factories and fabrication shops, machine shops and all that. And I was always amazed. I’d go witness to someone, and I’d witness them, and say, “Oh, I’m a Christian.” And I thought, “Wow, I’ve been working here for a month; I’ve never heard you mention the Lord one time.”

Hey, don’t be an undercover Christian, amen. Be out and out of matter. Hey, the Lord is my banner. I like the story of the boy that was carrying his Bible to school. Man, he just carried it every day. And boy, they picked on him, gave him a hard time. One old bully one time came up and he pushed him against the locker. He said, “Oh, you old Sunday school boy, you always got your Bible with you.” And the little boy, he just kind of snapped. He said, “Look, if you’re so big and so tough, well, I want you carry it all day long and see how you do.”

Hey, the Lord ought to be a banner. I’d not be afraid to carry the Bible. Well, if I pass out gospel tracts at the gas station, that might be embarrassing. Hey, never be embarrassed by the gospel, friend. Man, be open and proud about it.

I thought about this. You know the Bible over there in First Timothy, we read it already. It talks about men praying everywhere, lifting up holy hands. It talks about over there; it talks about the dress of ladies. Men are sight-driven. That’s why it’s very important how a lady dresses. And it talks about men, once you’re praying, talks about ladies. It says this verse of pretend—it says, “But which becometh women professing godliness with good works.” I thought that’s interesting. Where’s something that professing godliness? It just speaks, hey, that’s a godly lady.

I thought about Miss Tammy. She’s a nurse, and she went through a nursing school year, two or three years ago, and she dresses right, like nurses used to back in the day, you know. And they do clinicals, you know, and you’ve got to go to this place. You go to a doctor’s office, and you go to this ER, and you go to this, you know, for a week or two here. And she had to go to this one doctor’s office. So you don’t—you don’t get to choose where you go, you know. They said, “All right, you’re going here next week,” whatnot. And she had heard that’s what doctor’s office—they’re kind of friendly, good people there. But boy, they got some bad language there, you know. And she went, “All right, I think it was Monday, whatever.” She said, “All right, got to go to that guy.” And she went to that doctor’s office. She was wearing a skirt, and she walked in. Had not said a word to anybody yet, not a word. Her clothes profess godliness. And as she walked in, they said, “Oh, we got to watch our mouth this week.” She hadn’t said a word yet, but her clothes profess godliness.

Don’t be ashamed. You know, the Bible talks about it. It’s the same for men to have long hair. There’s a lot of reason why I don’t want to have long hair. I wouldn’t want to wash it and keep it up all the time, for one thing, amen, you know. Nothing short to keep it up all the time, you know, but I wouldn’t want that. Another is just because the Bible says you ought to have short hair on a man. But another thing, I want everybody to know whose side I’m on, amen. Not ashamed of the Lord.

We were at the Wilson County Fair a couple weeks ago, seen a guy walk along, and he had his shirt—had a Bible verse or something on a T-shirt, you know. I told Ms. Tadden, my wife, and Sarah was, I said, “Man, I want to get something like that.” I got one of those hats; got Jesus hats. I like to wear that at the ballgame. But, man, hats just make it hot sometimes. I’m not a hat guy, you know. Another one of you got like a hat. I just—but I like sometimes just let it be known where I stand, amen. Jesus is my banner. That’s what he’s saying: Jehovah Nisi. The Lord is my banner. Never be ashamed. Never be ashamed to let everybody know whose side you’re on. That’s what he’s doing right there.

Last verse here, verse number 16. Verse number 16. You all still with me out there today? We’re just going verse by verse. Verse number 16: “For he said, Because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Now I want you to notice how he worded it: that the Lord, the Lord will have war with Amalek. Remember we said Amalek represents our flesh. Look over in Galatians chapter 5. I don’t know about you, but I have a flesh about a mile long. Man, I battle it every day. And this is so helpful for me sometimes to realize this: How do I really fight and win in this war against my flesh?

Look at Galatians chapter number five. Galatians 5. Look down verse number 16, would you please? Verse number 16. Galatians 5:16. The Bible there says, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that ye will.

Now I want you to notice the battle is between the flesh and the spirit. And if I jump and say, “I’m going to fight my flesh on my own,” you got to fight it. But the winning combination is when you say, “You know what, Holy Spirit, you’re the one that fights my flesh, and I’m going to yield to you.” Now, you’ll be in the battle, but it’s a different type of battle. Instead of you going head to head with your flesh, it’s not really a matter how good you are at where you get your flesh; it’s how good you are at yielding to the Spirit.

And as you say, “Hey, Holy Spirit, I want to yield, I want to follow him right there.” Then he defeats our flesh. You can win. Why? Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. He’s stronger than your flesh. And as I yield to the Spirit of God, moment by moment, “Holy Spirit, I want to obey you. I want to follow you.” He’ll give you inclination; just obey every little bit of the Holy Spirit; just obey him. And before long, you’ll say, “Wow, I’m having victory over my flesh by your power.” No, but by the Spirit’s power.

Now, you’ll battle what? You’ll battle whether you do what your flesh wants to do or doing what the Spirit wants to do. And as you yield to that Spirit moment by moment, he gives you the power. He said, “I’m going to war against Amalek, or the flesh, from this generation.” He said, “I’m always going to war against him.” By the way, one of the joys about going to heaven: I won’t have to battle my flesh. Man, I’m excited about that. I can lay this robe of flesh down.

Battle your tongue, by the way. You’re saying whatever. No, no, no, no, no. I don’t bridle my tongue by religion in vain; the Bible says. I have to bridle my tongue. But as I yield to the Holy Spirit, he brings victory over my flesh. And one day when I go home, won’t that be wonderful? Just wake up and want to do right? Just be instinct. I mean, you always say the right thing. Won’t that be a good thing? Won’t have to battle ill feelings towards other people? Your flesh is gone. And that’s going to be part of the joy of heaven. That’s why this old body, this old body, it’s going to be put in the casket for the Lord to tear it with the old flesh. This soul and spirit are going to go. But when this body, one day when Jesus comes back, it’s going to be changed. That flesh, for it’s gone—no more battling the flesh. But until then, the Holy Spirit, God says, “I’m going to war against that flesh right there.” So when I yield to him, he defeats my flesh. Wonderful thing.

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - God will hold you up - Wednesday PM 09062023