======================================================================== WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST by Carter Conlon ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of rising up in faith and reclaiming what the enemy has stolen from us. It encourages believers to take back their 'half acre,' symbolizing their personal battles and challenges, and to trust in God's power to bring victory. Through communion, the message highlights the significance of Christ's sacrifice and the empowerment we have through His blood and body. The sermon calls for a revival of faith, courage, and identity in Christ, believing for a great victory in the spiritual battle we face. Duration: 44:12 Topics: "Faith", "Reclaiming Victory" Scripture References: 1 Samuel 14:6, 2 Chronicles 7:14, James 2:19, Ephesians 6:12, 1 Corinthians 1:27, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Joshua 1:9, Psalm 18:39, Romans 8:37, Isaiah 41:10, Philippians 4:13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of rising up in faith and reclaiming what the enemy has stolen from us. It encourages believers to take back their 'half acre,' symbolizing their personal battles and challenges, and to trust in God's power to bring victory. Through communion, the message highlights the significance of Christ's sacrifice and the empowerment we have through His blood and body. The sermon calls for a revival of faith, courage, and identity in Christ, believing for a great victory in the spiritual battle we face. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We're so grateful for you. And we're grateful for those of you who joined with us online this evening as well. We're gonna be going to communion tonight a little later on this evening, or depending on your time zone. And we encourage you to go to your kitchen and get some crackers and some juice, whatever you have handy, so that you can partake of this communion with us. And this is gonna be a particularly special communion service tonight, because after you hear the words, you're gonna understand what this is all about. Now, I'm gonna be speaking tonight to different people, but I've highlighted a few of the prayer requests to tell you what kind of a person I'm gonna be speaking to tonight, and what your present struggle might be. And last week I made a statement, and I'm gonna hold to that statement again tonight, that we could forever minister to you about your situation that you're presently in. And I'm not downplaying your situation. I know there's a lot of heartache, there's a lot of difficulty, there's sickness, there's oppression, there's addiction, and I'm not downplaying any of that. But if all that we do is talk to you about your situation, then eventually you're gonna circle back and go back to it. If we don't bring to you an understanding of who you are in Christ, and what you and I are called to be in this hour, and the fact that you really are a mighty warrior for God in his kingdom. Now you might think you're an addict, you might think tonight that you're just a depressed person or an alcoholic or whatever it is, but you are called to be much more. That's only your circumstance. It's not who you are, it's not what God says you are, and it's not what you're called to be in the future. And this is an hour where I believe the church of Jesus Christ is going to rise up again, and we're going to take our rightful place in Christ at the right hand of God, fully again, comprehending who we are in Christ, the covering that we have, the calling that we have, the power that God is willing to give us to achieve something that will bring his name to glory in our generation. So here's who I am speaking to tonight before I even introduce the message. Here's Don from somewhere called Gap in the US. Pray for the salvation of my husband, Adam, who left with another woman recently. I'm fighting for him, but ready to give up. Don, don't give up. The battle is not over, and there's going to be a glorious victory if you will hold by faith to what God has set before you. Ms. Lynn from New York says, I need prayer for healing. I've had psoriasis on my face for four months. It's painful, and I'm sinking into hopelessness. Medicine hasn't worked, and I am scared. Somebody from Maryville, Michigan, for my son, Jeff, to be delivered from bondage to alcohol, to defeat, to hopelessness, the restoration of his body, his mind, his spirit, and his marriage, and to baptize him in the Holy Ghost. Merrily from Alberton, South Africa says, Abba, Father, please deliver my husband from every evil bondage, especially adultery. Please bring him back to you, and then back to me, his wife and his children. Elizabeth from Louisville, Kentucky says, please pray for my daughter, Chris, who's a special needs person and is verbally abusive. Her medicine isn't working. She needs salvation along with my whole family. Pierre from Nice in France says, please pray that I'm set free from sexual sin and premarital sex. I was led by genuine love in my heart. Deeply in me, I do not want to offend the Lord. Susanna from Pontiac, Illinois, pray for our daughter's mind to become sound with no more suicidal thoughts and hope for new medicines to work. We need God's intervention. Denny from Berlin, Germany says, before I lived a victorious life against porn, the love in my heart grew cold and I fell again, and I'm an addict now. Please pray for me, pray for me. Essen, Germany, my husband and I were missionaries. He died suddenly two years ago. I feel so lost and alone. From New York, please, can you pray for my kids? I desperately need God's help to take them out of addiction to drugs. Thank you and God bless you. From South Carolina, urgent prayer. I'm in an extended stay hotel and have no money for food or two days rent. I'm alone and don't have anybody to help me. Please pray. From Queens, New York, I want to die, this life of mine. I'm having anxiety and sleepless nights because of issues arising from my job. Please pray that all will be well. From West Liberty, Kentucky, Wesley says, I'm a minister who's struggling with addiction. I haven't preached in almost a year. Please pray for restoration of me. From the UK, we're a Christian family shaken by violent arguments, and we feel we've lost all authority over our son. And lastly, Jerry from Rogers, Arizona says, I'm under a constant assault by Satan to the point that I simply want to die. I trust God in all situations, but the constant attacks make it hard. Now, this is just a sampling of the people of God that are texting and emailing into us and asking for prayer. And many of these folks, the ones that I've even read right now are online with us tonight. So I'm gonna speak to you about something that you need to hear. I'm going to talk to you tonight about the significance of winning your half acre. You have a half acre battle ahead of you. It might seem like a little small thing in the scope of the magnitude of what we're facing in our society today. Your battle might seem small and it still might seem impossible. And you're wondering in your heart, what kind of a difference could my life make? Oh, my brother and my sister, if you could only see the difference that your life could make. You know, some people will get to the throne of God one day and it'll be only at the throne of God that they finally have a, they're still in heaven. Heaven is still their home, but they finally have a vision of what their life could have been. If they would have just taken that step that God had set before them, if they would have refused to bow down to their struggles or their self- loathing, whatever it was that they were dealing with and saw something a little bit bigger than just the place where they were and they just got fed up. And they said, I'm getting up out of here. I'm getting out of here. I'm not staying here any longer. And I'm really challenging some people tonight that are online with us. I'm hoping that you're gonna get fed up with where you are. I'm hoping that you're gonna get tired of the verbal barrage of hell itself and of the bondage and addictions and the despair and the hopelessness and all of the rest of it that's come into your life. I'm hoping and believing tonight that some fight's gonna get into you that God by His Holy Spirit will put there. And you finally say, I've had enough of this. I'm getting up and I'm getting out and I'm gonna make a difference. And I don't know how big that difference is gonna be and I don't know how many people it's gonna affect, but I know that staying where I am is going to amount to very little in comparison to what God has for my life. And so you are the person I'm speaking to tonight. And so Father, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, Lord, I just reach out across the oceans, across continents, across boundaries and barriers, across valleys of despair, into hearts and homes all over the world in 208 countries tonight. God Almighty, I speak to the, Lord, I ask you, God, to speak to the woman tonight who's about to give up on her marriage and her husband. I ask you, Lord, to those who need victory in their homes with their children. I ask God for those that don't feel their life is ever gonna amount to anything. And those who are trapped by the lust of their flesh because they've refused to take that extra step into what you've called their life to be. Oh God, we are your end time army. There is no plan B. We are plan A for your kingdom. We are the ambassadors of a kingdom of power. We're the ones, as Pastor Tim preached on Sunday, that are called to go to the temple and lift up those that have been lame their whole life and cause them to leap and dance and come into the house of God with us. Oh God, raise up your church again. Raise us up again and breathe on us by the breath of your Holy Spirit. And Father, I thank you for this with all my heart tonight in Jesus' name, amen. If you have a Bible or any kind of device where you can follow along, I'm reading from the new King James version of the Bible in 1 Samuel chapter 14. That's all you have to find for the moment, just so you can find it and just open your Bible. 1 Samuel chapter 14. Let me set the scene for you in chapter 14 of 1 Samuel. The nation of Israel have really abandoned spiritual leadership and they wanted a king. So God gave them a king called Saul. He was an idea guy. He stood tall above the rest of the people and he looked like a king. He had an assemblance of a spiritual life when he started out, but he soon gave into his own fears, his own frustrations, and he's on the trajectory now of actually turning to witchcraft, if you can believe it. He's lost touch with God. He has around himself, the scripture says he was there sitting in a place, the nation is under assault just as our nation is today. The forces of darkness have the high ground. That means that they have all the military advantage. They have every conceivable natural advantage over the people of God, who incidentally are called to be a testimony of the greatness and glory of God in the earth. The devil has constantly come against this throughout history, constantly yelled over the valley or from the mountaintops, constantly tried to convince the people of God that you will serve us. We will not serve you, you will serve us. You see my brother, my sister, this has been a spiritual battle since the garden of Eden. And you and I have to understand this. And the only way this battle can be fought is in the spirit, you can't fight it in the flesh. Saul tried to fight it in the flesh and he ended up a coward. And he led an army that became cowardly. And he had a priest around him who had the ephod, which is the garment that priests wore when they're seeking God. And you got to imagine he's sitting under a pomegranate tree, nobody around him has the courage to fight. He himself has become a carnal man. It means he doesn't understand the ways of God or the ways of the spirit. And there was one time when the ark of God was taken captive, there was a baby born at that time. And his name was Ichabod, which means the glory of God has departed. Now his nephew has now got the garment of prayer on him. He's in charge of the prayer meeting. So here you got Saul, a failed king. You've got Ichabod, the nephew of the glorious God is gone in the nation. He's got the garment of prayer. And there's a young man sitting there. His name is Jonathan. He's the only one left in this entourage that has a heart for God realistically. And Jonathan finally just says, I'm out of here. That's what I'm hoping is gonna happen. I'm out of here. I'm tired of this leadership in a sense that this is going nowhere and it's just filled with men's ideas. I'm tired of the prayerless places that are not touching base with God anymore. And I'm just gonna get up and I'm just gonna follow where the Lord leads me. And I'm gonna do something that will bring glory to God. And the scripture said, the scripture tells us that he decided to get up and go over to a garrison or it means a squad of the Philistines and engage in battle. And it said, but he did not tell his father. You know, here's the first point. If God is leading you to do something that you're gonna need the strength of God to do, don't tell people around you who are prayerless and who are not able to follow the spirit of God because they will do everything in their power to talk you out of the leading of God. I know what I'm talking about. When I was a young Christian and I started to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life, if I can't tell you the numbers of people professing to be people of God who tried to talk me out of the pathway that God had set before me, you almost, you have to get through it. If I knew then what I know today, I wouldn't have said anything to anybody. I just would have gone. But I told people, I thought they'd be excited that the Lord was leading me to do something only to find out that because of prayerlessness in many cases, and because many people don't understand what it means to walk in the spirit, they will try to talk you out of doing, they'll give you all the reasons why it can't be done. You're too weak. Get through your own struggles. They'll tell you all the reasons why what God's calling you to do just simply can't be done. Now, Joshua had a friend and it's always good to have a friend, an armor bearer who just said, whatever's in your heart, let's do it. It's great to have a friend like that. And I hope you can find somebody that's willing to undertake this journey with you. So they set out to engage in battle with a garrison. A garrison is probably about 20 or so soldiers. So they're vastly outnumbered. The soldiers, their enemy soldiers are on a mountaintop. They're in a valley. They had to go up, in verse four it says, between the passes, which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines garrison, there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side. In other words, there's some difficult, if you're going to engage the enemy in this particular day that we're living in, there's some difficult places you're gonna have to go through. You're gonna have to pass by these places. The one rock, the name of it was Bozes and the other was Senna. And it's interesting because Bozes means fine white linen and Senna means thorns. In other words, we're gonna have to fight to get through and understand that we have a righteousness that's not our own. It's given to us by God. Sometimes people don't get into the battle. They say, well, I'm not ready because I'm still, I'm still battling this and I'm still battling that. And I still struggle here and I still struggle there. So they feel like they're gonna be on the sidelines their whole life. When God says, no, it's not about what you have done. It's about what I have done for you. And I have given you a righteousness, a right standing with God that is not your own. That was bought for you on the cross 2,000 years ago. And the other one simply means, Senna means thorns. That means I'll have to battle these thoughts in my mind that somehow I don't qualify for the battle. You remember it was a crown of thorns in a sense that the devil put on the head of the son of God. It was a type of saying, who do you think you are to make the declarations that you are? You declared yourself to be the son of God. You said you'd come to usher in another kingdom. And so that crown of thorns in a sense is pressed into his brow. It's a devil's way of saying, you thought you were going to win the victory, but I have the victory over you because that's where the ultimate battle is in the Christian life. So you gotta get through these first two battles. The first two battles are that you're not clean enough to enter into this battle. So stay home, stay where you are. Stay sitting in your chair, stay laying in your bed, stay on those pills because you're not clean enough. And who do you think you are to engage in this battle anyway? You're simply gonna be defeated. You're gonna make a fool of yourself or of the kingdom of God. The scripture in verse five says, the front of one of these stones faced northward opposite Michmash and the other southward opposite Gibeah. And it's interesting because when you look at these two particular cities that it talks about, everything in the Old Testament is a type. That's the way at least I'm looking at it right now and speaking it to you. Michmash means concealed place and Gibeah means past association. So you gotta get past this sense of unrighteousness. You gotta get past these thorns pressed into your mind that who do you think you are and who makes you think you're gonna win a victory. And you also have to get past these places that these thoughts that say there's some hidden thing in your life or something got a hold of you because of past association that disqualifies you from the battle. I want you to remember tonight, it's not in our strength that God is glorified, it's in our weakness. It's in our nothingness that he becomes everything. It's when we come to the end of ourselves that the kingdom of God starts to take over and he starts to carry us into places that only he can go. And when we win the victory at the end, we say only God could have done this. Only God could have done this. Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, he said, let us go over to the garrison of these Philistines for the Lord will work for us. He said, for nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few. You see God's hand is not obligated to move because we can bring 10,000 people together to fight. History proves that over and over and over again. All he needs is one person of faith. As a matter of fact, all he needs is you, you, you with your struggles, you with your trials, you who have to fight in your mind, you who the devil is after and saying you don't qualify because of what you did in your past or things that maybe have tried to attach themselves still to your spirit because of past association. You that the devil is trying to convince you can't fight this battle because you certainly couldn't be clean. Think of the things that you have done. Think of the things that float through your mind now and again. And Satan will come against you with everything he's got because more than you do, he knows the threat that you are to his kingdom. Don't you forget that he's lived through moments like this that I'm reading about where somebody just got up and said, I've had enough of this mockery of God. I've had enough of living in this powerless place. I'm not going to sit here and lick my wounds any longer. I'm getting up and I'm going to do something that will bring glory to God. So they went up the hill. They went past these two obstacles, these two sharp rocks that they had to go around in the journey up to fight with this enemy army of the people of God. And the very first thing when they said they revealed themselves, they actually revealed themselves to the Philistines. We're here to fight with you. There's something in my spirit that's right. I can't fully explain it, but I just think there's somebody tonight that's getting up and saying, I'm going into the battle. I'm just done with this. I'm done with this. I'm done dragging my sword into David's cave, like walking in like a defeated soldier every week. I'm just going to pick that thing up and recognize I'm a child of God and I'm going to fight for something bigger than just getting out of my own struggles. And so the Philistines said, look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they've hidden. That's the very first thing you'll have to face. When you step out to do something for the glory of God, you will face the mockery of every devil of hell. You see the demons believe, James said, and they tremble. They know what can happen to them when somebody raises up in faith again and they will hit you with mockery. Who do you think you are? You've been hiding all these years and suddenly you're just going to become a soldier. Suddenly you're going to fight with us. Don't you know we have the high ground? Don't you know you're in the valley? Don't you know that we've got you under our, we have the dominant, we're the dominant voice in the culture today. What makes you think you can stand up and fight against us? The second thing they said to Jonathan and his armor bearers come up to us in verse 12 and we will show you something. See, the second thing you will face after mockery is threats. This is going to hurt. If you continue on this journey, this is going to be painful. It's going to be difficult. You're going to suffer if you continue on this journey. So everything in the voice of the enemy is telling these men, turn around and go back to that place of powerlessness. Turn around and go back and sit under that leadership that has no mind of God and under the priesthood that doesn't pray and is not connected with God anymore. Go back, go back, go back. And maybe somebody else will do something, but not you. Verse 13 says, Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armor bearer after him. This is really interesting. Second Chronicles 7, 14 says, if my people who are called by my name will what, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and I will heal the land. I want you to notice that Jonathan did not approach the battle in arrogance. He approached it in humility. He of all people at this point would have recognized if God is with us, we will win a marvelous victory. And if he's not, if God is not with us, if we walk up with pride, the scripture says God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And so on their hands and knees. Now, can you imagine from the Philistine perspective, this must've looked like quite a spectacle. Here come these two guys, they're crawling up the side of the mountain. You've got 20 soldiers guarding this half acre parcel of ground on the top of the mountain. They have all the weaponry, they've got the muscles, they've got the swords, they've got the numbers. And here come two guys up the hill, literally crawling towards them up the hill. And it must've looked like a joke to them. And quite often throughout history, what God uses to tear down the powers of darkness looks like a joke to the powers of darkness. But I guarantee you, you're no joke to the kingdom of God. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. We are a mighty army in the hand of God. Yes, for a season, we lost sight of who we are. For a season, I guess because we sailed some pretty smooth seas for a while, we forgot that we're called to fight and bring glory to the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We forgot we had power to tear down serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt us. We forgot that our weaponry in prayer is to stand against thoughts that are in high places and pull them down and bring every thought into obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. We forgot who we are in Christ. We forgot the might of our God. Maybe we even forgot the willingness of our God to take us in our failure and use us for his glory. Maybe we thought we had to have it all together before God could use us, or we had to be as strong as our enemies were. Forgetting, it's not in our strength. You see your calling, brethren. The apostle Paul says, not many mighty, not many noble, not many wise, but who has God chosen? He's taken the foolish things of the world and the weak things of this world and things which are nothing and things which are despised to bring everything that stands against God in its own strength down into nothing, that no flesh can glory in his presence. Praise be to God. We have what we have and we are who we are because of the grace of all mighty God. Jonathan and his armor bearer stood up and in the natural, they have no chance of winning this victory, but you see, they're not walking in the natural. They're walking in the supernatural. And this is where we, as the people of God, must return again. Not only as Pastor Tim shared on Sunday, into the upper room where we're filled with the Holy Spirit, but out of the upper room into our society, lifting up those that are lame in themselves and giving them strength that only God can through his power. Standing against the forces of darkness that are pitted against our children in this generation, our families, our homes, our marriages, our minds, and the very testimony of God himself. I feel that fire of young King David coming into my soul again, even in my old age, where David came into the camp of Israel and they're trampling before the Philistine army one more time. And King David said, is there not a cause? Why are we not fighting for the glory of God? Why are we letting these enemy armies mock the people of God and mock the testimony of God in the earth? Does anybody here know that God reigns in this earth, that he's in total charge? The heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. So Jonathan and his armor bearer stood up to fight. This is what I'm talking about tonight. It's about rediscovering who we are in Christ and casting off the identity of I'm just a victim here and I'm a drug addict and I'm a depressed person and I'm this and I'm that and I'm a sinner. Yes, Christ cleanses from sin, but once he cleanses us from sin, God's Holy Spirit takes up residence inside these earthen vessels. And he lifts us out of our own weaknesses and takes us into that power of an endless victorious life inside of us that all the glory belongs to him. The victory belongs to him. No wonder if we have a crown, when we get to the throne of God, no wonder we will cast it at his feet. When we finally understand, Lord, you didn't take me because I was strong or victorious in myself. You took me in my weakness. And in my weakness, you chose to glorify your own name. You showed through my life your mercy and your power and your ability. Not only did it give hope to me, it gave hope to others around me. Verse 14 of 1 Samuel chapter 14 says, that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bear made was about 20 men within about a half an acre of land. Now, it doesn't look like a big victory, does it? I mean, you're talking, now, listen to me. The whole nation is being threatened, border to border, north to south, east to west. I don't know how many square miles that is. It's a lot. It's a lot. The Philistine army's in the thousands or tens or maybe the hundreds of thousands. They've come against the people of God. They've got the high ground. They've got the upper hand. They've got the weaponry. They got the big voices. They seem to have the upper hand in everything. So in the midst of it all, this one man and his armor bear climbs up this place of difficulty, casts off all the threatenings and all the mockery and all the fear of failure of the past and takes back a half acre of land. It's not very much, half acre, roughly 110 by 110 square feet. It's not very big, but they took it back. And what happened when they took it back? The first 15 says there was a trembling in the camp. Amazing. Hallelujah. I want you to picture this with me. They just win a battle of a place that's probably about the size of this room I'm in tonight. And when they take back that piece of ground, there's a trembling, goes through the whole host of the enemy in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Suddenly there's a trembling. It means like there's a fear that is released among the people. There's a sense as if there's been like a nuclear explosion in our midst. Somebody of faith has risen up again. That's the one thing the devil fears more than anything else. Somebody of faith rises up. The garrison and the raiders also trembled. Now this is amazing. These are the trained soldiers started to tremble. And the raiders are parties. They're called spoilers, actually, in the original King James. They're parties, little raiding parties that are sent out in advance to kind of terrorize towns where the armies of the enemy are going to come. And sometimes they raided towns. Sometimes they just circled the walls and started declaring the defeat that was coming the way of the people of God. And the raiders who are not even there begin to tremble. In other words, a trembling went through the whole host of the enemies of God and God's people. And the earth quaked so that it was a very great trembling. Even the ground started to shake. One man and his armor bearer climbed a mountain and took a half an acre. Then also what happened in verse 20, it says, every man's sword was against his neighbor and there was great confusion. Now, not only did the enemies of God's people start trembling, they turned on each other. I can't overemphasize to you the importance of taking back our half acre, each of us in this generation. I can't emphasize, I can't emphasize it enough. That's why going to Plymouth on October the 6th is huge because where America started and where the first 51 people who's actually survived that first year in Plymouth actually prayed for the future of the nation is roughly a half an acre. And we're going back on October the 6th and help those that are already there to claim and reclaim that half acre for America. Who knows, but what will happen in that permitting on October the 6th, when we reclaim that half an acre where the nation began and begin talking to God again about what only he can do for the future. Every man's sword was against his neighbor and there was a very great confusion. This is what we ought to pray for our generation. For those who would destroy this nation, for those who would take away our Christian heritage, for those who would trample on everything that we hold dear and precious in this time, let there be a confusion. Let them not achieve their objectives that they have in their heart. Moreover, it says the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. So there were a lot of people who were mixed. As a matter of fact, realistically, they were in the enemy's camp. That's where they were. They shouldn't have been there, but they were there. And when they saw the victory coming back into the camp of Israel, they left their association with people where they shouldn't have been and came back again into the kingdom of God. And likewise, it says in verse 22, all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in battle. So the Lord saved Israel that day. In other words, the people of God came out of their place of fear and they got into the battle too as well. And there was a great victory that day. The Philistine army is completely routed. The enemies of God have turned their swords on each other. Those that are backslidden, may I put it that way, have come home. And those that were fearful have gotten into the fight. And it all happened because one man and his armor bearer says, I'm up and I'm out of here. You have no idea what could be unleashed through your life today. If you make the choice to say, I'm not living here in defeat any longer. My life is not destined just to try to get out of this battle and out of that battle and out of this struggle and out of that struggle and just survive another day. I'm done just trying to preserve myself. I'm going into the fight for the glory of God. And as the spirit of God leads me, I'm going to follow him. And I'm gonna take back my half acre. Your half acre might be your home, your family. Your half acre might be just the escape or the getting away from your own addictions, whether it's pornography or drugs or alcohol or some kind of mental addiction, whatever it is that you're struggling with. Your half acre might be your children. Your half acre might be your husband or wife who's left and you're just, you're hanging by a straw, believing that God's able to bring them home again. That might be your half acre. But I'm telling you, if you'll get up and take that half acre by faith, by faith in what God has done for you through his son, Jesus Christ, by faith in what God is able to do when you are walking in the spirit and according to his will, there is a trembling that starts going through every devil of hell that's pitted against you and your family, a trembling. And suddenly the enemies that were focused on you are now focused on each other. Suddenly those that were backslidden start coming home. Suddenly those who were fearful start getting into the fight. Suddenly everything changes just because you got up. Instead of not living here anymore. And I'm gonna get beyond those obstacles and those hard places that tell me I'm not worthy. And I'm gonna get beyond the mocking voices. I'm gonna get beyond the fear of my own heart. And I would rather die fighting for the kingdom of God than live in defeat. History has recorded time and again when one vessel gets up, one Gideon, one Esther, one Moses, one Elizabeth, one Mary. Look at it all through scriptural history. Somebody got up and began to fight and hell was pushed back by the power of God himself. I don't know about you, but I'm gonna take my half acre and I'm looking forward to the fight in Plymouth. I'm looking forward to the fight tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the fight for my family and my grandchildren, my two sons and my daughter and everybody that's associated with me. I'm looking forward to the fight. And no devil of hell is gonna take me off that ground. No mocking voice is gonna turn me back by the grace of almighty God. You've got to get something in your spirit tonight. Or we'll always be laying in the corner, wounded, looking for sympathy and pity. When God's called you to be a warrior, that's who you are. That's what your calling is. That's what your future is. God dictates your future, not your circumstances. God knows what will happen to the kingdom of hell if you get up and begin to fight. I don't know what your half acre is, but don't let the devil convince you that a great victory can't be won because you take that ground. Could be your own yard. I don't know what it is, but when you take it, I know for sure that hell will tremble. I know for sure that backslidden children will come home. I know for sure that people on the sidelines will get up and start to fight with you. By the grace of God, a great victory will be won. And so Father, thank you tonight, God. Thank you. Lord, there needs to be, again, as in Ezekiel's day, a great rising up. Lord, you look on the field called your church, and as you see, God, there's bones just everywhere, died around their altars. But you were able to bring those bones back together, and you're able to cause us to stand on our feet. And by the breath of your Holy Spirit, you are well able to give us life again and cause us to be an exceeding great army. And so we call to you one more time, Lord. Give us the courage to rise up. Tonight, just as I pray, Lord, let there be something come into the hearts of people all over this world that are listening. We'll just say, I'm not staying here anymore. I'm not gonna be beaten down any longer. I'm not living under the voice of the condemner anymore. I'm getting up and I'm gonna fight in the strength of my God. And I'm gonna take back what the enemy has stolen from me. Oh, Jesus Christ, you called us to be a warrior church. You called your people to take God Almighty, to take authority over powers of darkness. You called us, Lord, so that you could use us to bring glory to your own name. And so here we are. Not many mighty, not many noble, none of royal birth, not many wise, but here we are. We're your church, Lord. We're your bride, and that's all we need to be. You've given to us a righteousness and you've given to us the ability to think clearly. You said you've not given us a spirit of fear, but a power and love and of a sound mind. So help us again, Lord, to understand these things. Give us the power, God, for the sake of the nation, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our families, and most of all, for your namesake. Give us the power to fight again. Raise us up out of weakness and obscurity. Take us out of the prayerless places and bring us to a place where we can hear your voice. Deliver us, God, from leadership in your house that doesn't know you, and bring us into places where we can hear your word again. And oh God, I thank you with all my heart, with all my heart. We make a declaration tonight. Devil, you don't have my family. My family don't belong to you. They belong to God. I surrender nothing to you. I come to you to take back everything that you've tried to steal from me. And I'll climb on my hands and knees if I have to, but I've come to reclaim that which belongs to the people of God. And so Father, thank you. Thank you for courage. Thank you for power. Thank you for great grace tonight. Great, great grace. In Jesus' mighty name. We're gonna go to the communion table at this time. And as we do, I want you to remember, I want you to remember that our victory is because of what Jesus did for us. Our cleanness, our righteousness, the Bible calls it, is because he died in our place and his blood, the scripture says, cleanses us from all sin. Our strength is in the fact that when we came to Christ, he gave us not only precious promises from his word, but he gave us the power of his indwelling life in us through his Holy Spirit to make these promises, every one of them, a reality for us. And so we have this completeness in Christ. The only thing that obstructs it is our frailty to believe that we actually are who God says we are. But I see an army rising, I do. I see an army rising up. We sing it once in a while. I see an army back on their feet again. I see a new day. I hear something in the spirit that one more time, we're gonna come back to an understanding of what he did for us on the cross and who we are and who he has called us to be. One more time, we'll understand that we have power over the darkness that would try to swallow a whole generation. And so if you can get the bread and the juice, we're gonna come to the Lord's table together. Thank you, Nancy. We're gonna take communion tonight and believe God with all of our heart tonight for a great, great victory. Are you with me tonight online? Are you with me? Are you willing to believe that because of Christ, we can rise up out of weakness and become strong? For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. The Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. In other words, as often as you come back to God for your strength and recognize that he is your cleanness and mine, he is our future. He promises to keep us, promises to do exploits through our lives. We will become this proclamation of the victory of the cross until the day that Christ comes to take us home in Jesus' name. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Raphael, could you come back with your team this evening and I want us to sing that song again, the mountain one. I've seen you move, you move the mountains and I wanna encourage you tonight to sing it with faith. We're gonna sing it together. Sing it with faith tonight and claim it as your own. Whatever mountain stands before you as the mountain that stood before Jonathan and his armor bearer, I've seen you move, you move the mountains and I believe you're gonna do it again. And I want you in your spirit to start climbing that mountain as you sing it tonight. Climb that mountain and get prepared to face the devil and know that the victory of God is going to be yours. So Father, thank you for tonight. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for what you're going to do in people's lives just as we sing this evening. Just as we make this proclamation, God, you're gonna do something tonight that only you can do. Let faith arise in every heart and we thank you for it in Jesus' name. We're gonna close singing this song. It's been great having you with us. We were gonna do a blast from the past, but I'd rather do a blast from the present, if you don't mind. I'd rather sing about a blast for the future. I mean, this is going to be amazing for somebody tonight. Lay hold of it, lay hold of it. And if you gotta get up and just in your mind, and start climbing that mountain, just join Jonathan and those, the millions that have gone this journey before and start climbing that mountain. Say, I'm taking back, I'm taking back everything the devil has tried to steal from me and from my generation in Jesus' name. See you Sunday morning. God bless you. Hallelujah, Jesus. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/D11qJ9K_f0c.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/carter-conlon/who-you-are-in-christ/ ========================================================================