This sermon emphasizes the importance of living as champions for Christ, highlighting the need for faithfulness, purity, and prayer as part of a daily regimen to prepare for spiritual battles. The speaker urges the congregation to build altars in their lives daily, not just in times of crisis, to walk in victory and overcome challenges. The message stresses the significance of righteousness, prayer, and consistent commitment to God's calling to live as overcomers.

Isaiah chapter 19. Isaiah chapter 19. I want to read to you one verse and just show you a prophecy of Jesus coming and I want to then take you to the book of Luke. I want you to look at Isaiah and then I want you to look at Luke with me just for a second here. Isaiah chapter 19. Look with me at verse 19. It says, in the day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar to the Lord near its border. And then verse 20 is what I want you to notice. And it will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt where they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors. Now I want you to look what he's going to send. I'm reading out of the New American Standard. He says this, and he will send them a Savior and a champion and he will deliver them. I'm going to tell you, Jesus is not just Savior, Jesus is champion. I'm going to tell you that tonight. Now I want you to keep that word because if we are supposed to walk in who he is, if we are to walk, the Bible says in first John chapter 4, as he is he was on this earth, so shall we be. So we are to walk with that kind of stature, what God's doing inside of us. Now Isaiah, I'm sorry, Luke chapter 1, Luke I'm going to read. We're going to start. I want us to look very quickly in just a few minutes. We're going to look at just the beginnings as time was being prepared for the champion to come. And I want to show you what God was doing among some of the people from Elizabeth and Zacharias with the birth of John the Baptist and also with Mary and Joseph with the birth of the champion, with the birth of Jesus. Let's pray and let's just thank God. He is not only our Savior, but thank God he is our champion. Amen. Jesus, we thank you so much that we are not just a forgiven people, but we are a people that have overcome. And we have overcome because of what Christ has done, because of who you are Lord God. I am so thankful to be here knowing I am forgiven of my sins, but I am so thankful to know that I don't have to give in to those sins anymore, but because of what Christ has done inside of me, because there is a champion in me, I believe God for that champion spirit to come out of me Lord God in everything that I do. When you called us, you didn't call us to lose a battle. You didn't call us Lord God to lay down. You called us to come out fighting. You've called us to be champions. You've called us to do things for the kingdom. Father, we believe that Brother Dave and Teresa and Gary are there in Brazil not because they think a few things are going to happen, but because they serve a champion God that can break through in that area there. God we didn't move in here to New York City just to start a church Lord God, but God we want to see the champion run across these streets, begin to touch people's lives, and great things begin to take place. Now God do something here tonight in Jesus name. Amen. May be seated. I promise you I will leave this standing when I am finished with your pulpit. We come from an area that in Detroit that is that is poverty stricken, that there's so many things that are happening there that when we leave at night, when we leave and go home, the sin doesn't stop. Our church on one side of us is a transvestite hotel. On the other side of us they just put in and we are praying it down this Deja Vu men's strip club. Across the street is worldwide Triple X videos and there we are. And how many know that's where the church is supposed to be? So we're right in the midst of this stuff. Well it was just a few weeks ago that we that we have watched our city begin to go bankrupt and and we're watching people kind of come to the church and begin to look at us that when when man's as the choir was even singing as man's resources are running out, they're starting to look to us and I'll explain that in a little a little bit later. We we are we're wanting to do something different on the on the facade on the outside or structural thing of our building. And one of the things that was interesting was it wasn't anything major until we began to talk to a non Christian man who is who is from Egypt. He's a Muslim man who came to us. We said, Listen, we said, You're an architect. And is there anything that we can do in our for our building? He says, Well, let me just see it and look around here. Well, he says, You realize that your church is on the busiest intersection of all of Detroit's. He says, That's where you're at. He said, Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of cars pass by your your church every day. So he says, I have an idea for you that I want you. I want you to pray about. And this is a Muslim man wanting us to pray about this thing. And so we're so I said, We will pray. And and this is this is a pretty ambitious thing that we feel like is going to begin to show off who Christ is. We are we are going to even though we're not in Times Square, we're going to have a little bit of a Times Square. Look, when we go home, I come to the church at six a.m. in the morning, and when I come into the church six in the morning, I'll see five or six transvestites that will just be waiting in front of the church transvestite prostitutes and everything else. So as we're going to the into the prayer meeting, you'll go through all this. So all through the night, men are going to the bar and the strip club and transvestite prostitution, everything. Well, they said, We we think you should put a Times Square church jumbotron screen on the front of your church so you can run Jesus 24 hours a day. So he says, When you go to sleep, when you go to sleep at night and the church shuts down, Jesus is still out there. And so our hope and prayer is, is that while the prostitutes are out there, they're going to see Jesus dying for them on the cross. And then as those men are going into the strip club, they're going to see him rising again for them from the tomb. And and we're believing that 24 hours a day as we start in September. So if we're going to believe that God is going to be going to do great things, even when the church is not running, Jesus is still down there because that's what he does. He is there constantly moving throughout that place. And so we're just seeing some tremendous, tremendous things take place. We have a soup kitchen that I was preaching at not too long ago, and we got down to the altar call. And while we were at the altar call, if you really want to ruin the altar call, just just start a fight in the place. And so while I was giving the altar call, these two men fell into the door, having a fight. So no one's looking at me, and I'm trying to keep everyone's attention. Look at me, look at me and there and there and they're going to hit him, hit him. And so I'm just and so you the Walter call is lost at this point. And so one of our guys is not even he was not even saved. The first guy who was saved, he came out of he was a black belt and a Muslim that got saved. And that's a good guy to have in the kingdom. And so we have this black belt Muslim guy. So he jumped on one guy and did some move on him. It was like some some Arabic sleeper, maybe Eastern hold and just when and the guy just like fainted. And I just thought I'm going, Well, that's a lawsuit. And then I'm looking at that. I'm looking at this other guy. And what happened is this other guy who's not even saved grabs the other guy by the neck. And he looks at him and it's a metal cement floor. And he goes, This is the house of God. So with both of them dead, we were able to go through with the altar call and continue on this thing. This guy that this this this Muslim black belt Christian guy lived with me for a few years. And it was funny. It was it was this. Sometimes I would just kind of push him around a little. He was only like five foot two. And I push him around sometimes. And he would let me do my thing until I got a little bit rough. And then all of a sudden, something would click in, and he would do some move and then have his hands around my neck. And, and, and I'm going, just kidding. Just kidding. It was just it was this. It was this something in him that motivated him that when it crossed the line, this black belt miss kicked in on him. And I was finished. I mean, I though I was bigger, I was finished at that point. See, there was something in him that was that he would keep suppressed until you cross the line. And then at that point, everything this man trained for and everything this man was would come out of this man. And this is what he would do. I want you to understand something because champions don't become champions in the ring. They are just recognized there. A champion is made in the daily routine of life, which means if you cheat in the morning, it'll show up in the battle. That's why it's important to understand you don't become a champion. When the devil comes against you. It is in the daily mundane things. When Pastor Carter says, Hey, I want you to show up at church. You may not think it's helping, but it is when you think sometimes see, we think that we have to get a charge out of something in order for it to work. Now, I admit my one of my problems in life is is other than spitting. It would be would be and I admit this and and God doesn't is coffee. Now, I don't know about you. I look forward to it every morning. It is something in me where I need the coffee and the word and and the Holy Spirit and we and it is tremendous. And when I drink it and some of you are like this, you until you drink that coffee, you don't want anybody near you. You don't want anybody. You know what I'm talking about? Okay, let me see. The word is not like that. The word is not caffeinated Mountain Dew Starbucks. This is not. This is not what let me tell you what the How many have ever had vitamins before? A's and C's and E's have yet now and ask you a question. How many once you've taken that vitamin, you felt something take place. No, you didn't listen to me. You didn't sit in. Oh, C's and E's are running through my body. I feel I feel so much. Listen, I've had C's and E's and nothing has happened. But see, but see, it's not meant to, but it's strengthening you without you even knowing it. See, some of us read this word wanting some type of fix when really it's more like vitamin that is beginning to work inside of us and to prepare us for things that are coming down the road. You may not, it may be drudgery and it may be difficult at first, but there's coming a time where you're going to sense that strength come back to you. So you would be ready for that battle. Listen, champion is not made in a day, but he's made in the daily. It's the daily things with this. This young man is what I call jumped into what I would say is the champion reflex. When the battle came, he knew exactly what to do. He knew exactly what to go into. Understand something, friends. That's what happens when you're in the word, when you're in the house of God and then find yourself in a battle. The champion reflex kicks in. It means when you're driving down as I did the other day and a car is turned over, my first reaction is, here's the reflex. My first reaction is, oh, what happened? The first reaction is, oh God, don't let someone be injured there. Then all of a sudden this intercession kicks in. It's a reflex that from being in the presence of God and being in the word of God begins to come out naturally. So you can be in this place, mark this down, you can be in this place and have hunger, but if you don't add daily discipline to hunger, you'll lose your hunger. You can come to a place like this and just say, man, this is awesome. I want to be, but if you don't add the daily discipline, then you lose that hunger is there. See, understand this church. Anything of value in my life calls for everyday commitment and maintenance. Everything of value has to be dealt with every day from my teeth to my marriage. It's the truth. If I, if I'm not interested in my teeth, then I just don't brush them, but I am interested and if I wasn't interested in my marriage, I wouldn't be going in and trying to maintain everything that's going on there. See, what happens is, it is without, get this church, without daily attendance, without daily maintenance, nothing changes in your life. Nothing. If you live your life by just waiting for the next battle, nothing changes because you don't become a champion in the ring. You don't work out in the ring. Think about this. Jesus said there are certain devils that you're going to meet that they only come out by prayer and, now I want to ask you a question. If fasting is not part of your discipline, how do you do it if you meet a demon? If I'm talking, let's pretend one of these, I'm talking with Patrick and all of a sudden he's not saying and all of a sudden there's a demonic influence. I can't sit there and say, hold on, I'm gonna go fast. I feel hungry and then you just come back and then you can't do that. It's in the daily discipline that is there that allows me then to confront those things that are going on. See, if some of you are trying to work out in the ring and the workout is happening every morning. Workout happens when you get up for church and get the kids ready and you get here and sometimes it is a Starbucks service and sometimes it's a vitamin A service, but whatever it is, it's building up the inner man and preparing you for the fight that is there. Probably one of my favorite chapters of the book of Acts is Acts chapter 3, the day after Pentecost. They just had fire on their head and speaking in tongues and all these things, thousands of people are getting saved and then Acts chapter 3, I love the way it opens up. It says, now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. Acts 3 almost sounds like a downer because the ninth hour was the time they're supposed to go to church. Pentecost didn't cancel the routine. Just because the Spirit fell didn't mean that you don't go to work. Well, God's moving. I don't work when God's moving. Just because the Spirit fell doesn't mean, if the Holy Ghost fell in this place tonight, guess what? To be a champion you've got to get up tomorrow morning, get your kids ready for school and you go to work. That's a champion. It's what God does after Pentecost which is just as powerful. The ninth hour is the schedule of the day. That's why Acts 2 didn't change them being at church. They had to be at three o'clock meeting as they were every single day. It just began to equip them some more, but the thing that you have to understand church is that it's every single day, it's giving daily attendance to those things. Longest standing ovation ever given on a public forum was 22 minutes long. People stood for 20. Now you clap for Pastor Neil for a minute, two minutes, which was good. Three minutes he said. Three minutes. 22 minutes. Think about that. I would have been over there going, come on I have to preach. 20. And listen, it wasn't because he was fast. It wasn't because he hit home runs. It wasn't because he scored touchdowns. It was for a man, get this, that showed up to work every day for 2,131 games. His name was Cal Ripken who beat Lou Garrett and people stood and cheered. Listen, just because he showed up every day. Every day. That was it. They cheered him because, get this church, he did his job. Something happens, I believe, when the people of God just do their job. It is easy. It is easy to worship in here. How about worshiping out there? It is easy to read the Bible standing here and music's playing and the preachers is preached, but it's a whole other thing to read it at home and your kid is yelling and Barney's playing in the background and all these things and you've got to read the word of God. See, that's where God begins to develop something inside of you. It's not the ring, but it's what happens outside of the ring that God develops, the champion reflexes that go on inside of you to prepare you. Now go to Luke chapter 1 and let me tell you where this begins. Look at this with me. I want to show you this starting with, first of all, I want to look at Elizabeth and Zacharias. Look at this with me. As they were going to begin by miracle to birth John the Baptist, the Bible says in verse 8, now it came about while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed hour of his division according to the custom of the priestly office. Now look at verse 9. He was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense and the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside an hour of the incense of offering and look at verse 11. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing at the right of the altar of incense. Now look at this. He did not go in to do his priestly duties because he was led by the Lord. Look at your Bible. It was his time. It says his lot was up. It was like nursery duty. I'm on the list. That's Zacharias. And the day he shows up, God shows up. Just now write this down because I'm going to show you where these champion reflexes come from. Number one, faithfulness. Faithfulness makes me available to God. Faithfulness. He just showed up. It was his thing to do. It was, he didn't have a cloud lead him there. There was no, there was no Ark of the Covenant that led him into. It was, he was on the list to go and do the priestly thing and it would happen to be that day that God showed up in the place. Listen, Evan Roberts was responsible for the Pentecostal revival coming to America. This 27-year-old boy who went, who was living in Wales and said this. He said, I am praying that a hundred thousand souls to be saved. When the Welsh revivals were finished at the turn of the century, almost 1 million souls got saved and this is what they said. It all came back to this young man Evan Roberts and this is what he said. His motto was this, is that whatever meeting they were going to have in church, he would be there. And his verse was John chapter 20, verse 24. It says, and Jesus appeared to the twelve and Thomas wasn't there. He says, I will never miss a service because Jesus may show up. So he was at everything. It could have been the women's missionary bandage rolling meeting. He was going to be there. There was Evan. It could have been the support group for, for spirit-filled pregnant women that are going to, Evan was there. He was going to be right there, just to be right along with them. If they were going to have a meeting, Evan was going to be there because Jesus may show up that night. Do you know when they brought the, the Welch revival back to? A Thursday night college and career Bible study with 12 students. They said that became the origination of what took place in the Welch revivals. 12 kids showing up and he was there. 12. That's it. What, what could happen if all of a sudden you went into the nursery with that kind of expectancy? I know you walked in there going, oh God, not this week. No, I can't handle kids. And there you are. But what if you go in and say, God, this may be the week you visit these kids. If you show up at that nursery duty and there you are, who knows? You may be the usher that's here today that you're just thinking, oh, I'm on the list. I wanted to sit and listen. I wanted to be part. Who knows? As you're, listen, you know what it says in Acts chapter six, while they were serving tables, they were performing signs and wonders. They were serving widows and going, oh, would you like some potatoes? Oh, it looks like you have a lame leg. Let me give you the potatoes and pray for a miracle. Why not? It's just being faithful. Who knows what God can do? I walked on a plane in the midst of the whole SARS thing when I was going in and I was flying into Canada where all the SARS thing was taking place. And I'm sitting there thinking, man, should I be traveling? I know I'm just trying to be faithful, what's on the schedule, and go and speak at this thing and all this stuff. And everybody walks on a plane with masks and gloves. I thought it was like a doctor's convention. They're all walking on, going, hey, get this thing, get this thing. And I'm there going, hey, hey, get this. And I'm sitting there, no mask, no gloves, breathing on everybody. And they're looking at me like I'm the weird guy. But they didn't realize my seat was in Goshen. That while the plague was hitting Egypt, the children of Israel would be in Goshen and nothing would touch them. I'm just sitting there. I'm just going, hey, good to see you, yes, no gloves, no gloves, look at this, no mask, it's just me. And there I am, all the through, and just simply being faithful and finding out that people ask you, aren't you afraid? Aren't you worried? Aren't you afraid that someone may breathe upon you? Not if I'm in Goshen. If I know I'm in the right place with God, those things don't begin to bring fear to my heart. Because when I'm walking in simple faithfulness with God, and it's faithfulness and time search in those mundane things that you don't think is bringing anything, but God is doing something. It is important just to be here with the choir. It could be the day God falls down, and you choose to stay. This could be when your faithful God makes you available. Something happens. Listen, I understand, because there's those levels of friendship. Jesus had 70, then 12, and 3, and 1, but let me break this friendship thing down. Now don't get angry at me if you get put in one of these categories, but just listen. When your cell phone rings, now it shouldn't ring in here, but when it does ring, what is the first thing you do? You know, you don't answer it. You look to see who it is. Then you decide if you're going to answer it. Oh, that's Pastor Karn. Yes, sir. Yes, you better answer that. You better answer that. When I see his number on my thing, click. Yes, sir. Reporting for duty. Whatever he says, because I love that man. But here's the thing, now listen to me. I want you to understand. When people ask me for my phone number, let me tell you, I have three levels of phone numbers. If I give you my office number, my office number, you can call, but I may not be there. If I give you my home number, I can screen it, because I'm not there all the time, and you'll be on the answer machine, but if I give you my cell phone number, that means I want to talk to you. Listen, so if you ask me, what number are you giving me, Pastor Tim, don't get upset. Listen to me. But you can tell, listen, you can tell where your relationship is based upon what number you get. I'm just telling the truth. That's all I'm doing. Because here it is. Get this, the deeper the friendship, the greater the availability. The deeper the friendship, the greater the availability. That means when I am walking in friendship with God, and I look at my cell phone, and it says G-O-D, now God doesn't call my cell phone, but it is, yes God, it means I am available. The deeper the friendship, it's not a matter that simply I'm giving out phone numbers, it is a matter that I want to be available to you. That's why it's important, church. In real friendship, even availability is reciprocal. The people who have unrestricted access to me, also give me unrestricted access to them. It works the same way with our Heavenly Father. I believe He is most available to them, who makes themselves most available to Him. And so here we're just saying, God, make me available, make me available. God says, okay, every time I call, when I ask you just to pray, when I ask you just to be at church, when I use Pastor Carter and Pastor Neal and say, hey, we want you to be at two services each week, then I'm telling you, faithfulness begins to make me available for what God wants to do. That's what God does. Now, watch this. He is faithful, and God shows up. Let me give you another one. Mark this down. Watch this. Prayer makes the ordinary extraordinary. Look at this. He's just on the list, but while He goes in, look what it says in verse 10. The whole multitude of people were in prayer outside the hour of incense offering. So while He's praying, while people are praying, God is able then to visit that situation that is there. Something begins to happen, church, I am telling you, when the people of God begin to pray. I was talking about reflexes. I was reading this, or heard this on the news. Listen to this. There's a three-year-old boy who went to the grocery store with his mother. Before they entered the grocery store, she said to him, now, you're not going to get any cookies, so don't even ask. She put him in the cart, sat in the little child seat. When he wheeled down the aisles, he was doing just fine until he came to the cookie section. Saw the chocolate chip cookies, stood in the seat and said, Mom, can I have some chocolate chip cookies? He said, I told you not even to ask. You're not going to get any at all now. Sit back down. They continued down the aisle, but in search for certain items, they ended up back in the cookie aisle. Mom, can I please have some cookies? She said, I told you, you can't have any. Sit down and be quiet. Finally, they're approaching the checkout lane. The little boy sensed this may be his last chance. So just before they got to the line, he stood up on the seat of the cart, shouted in his loudest voice, in the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies? Everybody applauded in all the lines, and it said that when he left the store, he had 23 boxes of chocolate chip cookies. You don't know what Jesus can do. My phone rang Sunday night a few weeks ago, three weeks ago. My phone rang, and we were putting our kids down, and we just got back from Sunday night service, and I couldn't hear the phone. We were upstairs, and I went downstairs to turn off all the lights, and the answering machine was blinking down there. So I hit the button, and it was the mayor of our city. He goes, Tim, I need to talk to you. I've been reading the book of Job, and I've got to talk to you. He goes, I'm Job. So I said, this is a good witnessing opportunity. So he goes, anybody who starts off with I'm Job, this is a good time to talk about Jesus. I was a little late. It was probably about 11, and I didn't want to call his household. I wasn't sure what time the phone call came in, but on the next day, I was getting ready to go into the office for staff meeting at nine in the morning, and so while I was in the bathroom just kind of preparing, getting ready to leave the house, I didn't hear it, but the phone rang again, and it was him again. Here's my cell phone number, and he goes, you need to call me as soon as possible. I'm reading Job. Quick. I called him. When I got to the office, he said, I want to come in and talk to you. Came into the office on Tuesday morning. We sat there for two and a half hours, but that day, I had a number of people go into prayer because I didn't want the ordinary to stay ordinary. I wanted the ordinary to become extraordinary. Two and a half hours, I heard this man as the city was going bankrupt and talking to me about giving over to drug and alcohol addiction while in the job, and at times, would just leave the job and go to parks and sit there drinking cognac and smoking weed and all these. This is the mayor of our city, and just came in and said, I just need to talk to you. He says, this is my life. He says, everything is caving in. I'm losing my family, my children, everything. What do I need to do? Then he said this to me. This is after two and a half hours, and I only like people that tell me the truth. I thought, now, you've asked the right question, or told me the right thing. I said, well, here it is, mayor. I said, if you're telling me you want truth, I said, here's the truth. I said, one is you don't know Jesus. I said, you talk about him, but you have no relationship with him. I said, I know you go to church, and you have relatives in the ministry. I said, but just because you can talk lingo to me doesn't mean you're walking in a relationship. I said, you have to understand something. Is that when you are wanting to give your life to God, you've got to surrender. It's not just believing. It is making him Lord. The Bible says in Romans 10, 9, and 10, if you believe in your heart, listen, if you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, and confess that God has raised him from the dead, believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, and confess to the mouth that Jesus is Lord, you shall be saved. It's not just believing that he is alive and that he exists. It is truly proclaiming him as Lord. It means the unstripping of everything that you are and giving your life over to him. So I'm sitting there going, okay, this is a risk. This is a big risk. And can I tell you something? The pastors would concur with this. You know, when we get up here and tell you a story, what I'm about to tell you about this mayor thing and all this stuff, can I just tell you, friends, is that here's the truth of the matter, is that there are so many times is that we have got to go through sometimes 24 embarrassing moments before you hit the good point. Not every person I talk to falls on their knees and says, you know, what must I do to get saved? I talk to people on the plane all the time and it's not interesting, personal. I don't want to talk to you about religion. That's your thing. That's mine. But sometimes you hit the one. You just get, and friends, you know what it is? It's just daily talking to people and then one day, boom, there it is. And what prayer does is make that day exciting. So when I said, Mayor, let's make no qualms about it. If you want Jesus, and I just said, I'm, I'm so far into this. Let me just go for broke. Get on your knees and lift your hands up in the air. He goes, he looked at me and it was like this moment of silence that I'm waiting for the authorities to carry me away. And he looks and he goes, I have never heard this before in my life. Falls on his knees, puts his hands up in the air and says, Jesus, I need you to change my tears welling up in his eyes. He says this, I want to relate. I call the next day just to make sure it was real. He says, I am telling everybody about a relationship with Jesus. Everybody what's happening. But see what happens church is that when you go into that day, it's not just simply doing it, but it's saying, God, I want the ordinary to become extraordinary. And sometimes that calls for playing things through to see God show up and do something. Let me close with this. One faithfulness can make me available to prayer, makes the ordinary extraordinary. Mark this down. I want to skip over just a little bit in that chapter. Righteousness gets this. Righteousness opens up, opens up my future. Verse 26, it says now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, same chapter called Nazareth. And look at this church. This is interesting. Verse 27, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph. An angel after it leaves Zacharias and Elizabeth shows up at Mary and Joseph's house. Look at this. They are engaged and she still has her virgin. I can't tell you how many times when I'm doing premarital counseling, I'll look at a couple and tell them and say, just ask this question. We want you to walk in purity. We want you to walk in purity on this thing. And then I'll look and say, how are you doing? And boy, it's nothing that just gets the pastor's heart. When you see the couple's head, it goes down. And then sleeping together instead of waiting, just putting into what God wants to do in this marriage. What if Mary and Joseph were missing around? What if, think about this church, what if they chose not to walk in purity and righteousness and God shows up that day and has to bypass their house because of a moment, because of something that was happening. Can I tell you something, folks? Purity and righteousness is worth it. It's worth it. Because you don't know. Listen to me, teenager. Listen to me. You may think to yourself, is it really worth it? Is it worth it? Is it worth it? I want to tell you something. And I make no qualms about it. And I am telling you, until I was 33 years old, I made that commitment. I said, God, I will not tell a girl I love them. I will not put a ring, until I put a ring on their finger. I won't kiss them until I put a ring on their finger and make a commitment to them. Let me tell you something. When I turned 33 years old and finally married my wife, I was ready. I'm going to tell you that. I was ready. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that, but I wanted, but I stayed pure. Folks, when God brought the right one down, the right one there, it was as if I wasn't going to miss that divine moment, that divine appointment, that God shows up and does this. I want you to understand something. That's why righteousness opens up my future. Can I tell you, backsliding is not worth it. Do you know after you get saved, you can't be a successful backslider? You just don't look right. Do you ever notice that? Do you ever watch a believer try to backslide and go back into smoking? They just don't even look right. I just want to say, alright, stop the nonsense and get back home. You don't even look right. You're sitting there. You don't even hold a cigarette right anymore. You don't even look cool. You're trying to drink. You don't even drink normal. Get back in there. Get back home. Because once you've tasted of Jesus, nothing else can do. Nothing else does it. I am telling you friends, that's why I pray for the purity of my children. God help the man that asked Anna Sophia out on a date. I'm telling you now, I have Caleb standards. Remember Caleb in the book of numbers? He said, whoever wants my daughter for marriage has to go slay some giants. You're not taking my daughter out until you knock down some giants. Don't come in here saying, well I go to school. That's not enough. You got to go to school, get anointing, have a ministry and knocking down giants. Then maybe you can take her out on a date. I'm not going to let, as far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to let some man mess around with my daughter's future. I'm not going to let some man forfeit her future. I'm going to pray that hedge about that girl. I pray for both of those children. Oh God, put a hedge of protection and keep their future. Listen friends, I am telling you, I think back and I close with this, Genesis 25, don't turn there, but I think about the birthright that Esau sold. I want you to understand, just for a bowl of soup, I want you to understand what the birthright was. You know what the birthright is? Birthright wasn't just some medallion you put around your neck because you're the first born. The birthright, get this, was the authority to speak to the next generation. That's the birthright. Listen to me young person, that means when you sell yourself and sell yourself cheaply, you are selling away your voice to this next generation. You sell it away. Esau was selling it away saying, I don't want to talk to the next generation. Friends, he sold his voice for the moment. What temptation will do, get this, it will blind you to the future and only make you think present. And that's what the enemy does, he tailor makes the temptation. Remember this, no weapon, what? Formed against me shall. It doesn't mean weapons won't come, they just don't have to prosper. Now, when it says formed, that word means to tailor make the weapon. That what may tempt you may not tempt me. I walked into a store the other day and there was, I was going in to buy some milk for the family. We ran out that night so I was buying milk. On the shelves was all the cigarettes and alcohol. It didn't tempt me. I've never done it. I never, friends, you know my testimony. I told it to you in like 30 seconds. There's nothing there. I never smoked a day in my life. I didn't look and go, oh, Salem, Marlborough, Salem's and Marlborough. And I didn't look at the alcohol and go, there's no beer. I mean beer and more beer and beer all over, beers everywhere. It didn't tempt me. I wasn't tempted like, oh, get a beer and get a Salem and a Marlborough. It didn't tempt me. But there are things that get me. I'm not going to tell you, but I'm going to tell you there are things that are there. Because what may get you may not be the thing that gets me. But when that thing comes, one, it will come. Two, it doesn't have to prosper. I don't have to sell my future. My life is in God's hands. When you realize your calling, you refuse to sell yourself at a bargain rate. I am telling you, friends, I am not on sale. I am not half price. I am not someone that you could just go ahead and just go ahead and try to get me by some little winking of the eye and thinking, ooh, I like it. That doesn't get me. I'm not on sale. This is a high price preacher that's not going to sell himself out. I realize my life is in God's hands. My future is in God's hands. Let me tell you something. You put a violin in my hand, you'll get a squeaky noise. But if you put it in Itzhak Perlman's hands, it gets beautiful music. Marble in my hand is going to stay ugly stone, but marble in Michelangelo's hands gets it going to be a priceless sculpture. A peanut in my hand is just a small snack. But a peanut in George Washington Carver's hand will get you peanut butter, shoe polish, and 233 other things. It just depends whose hand is in it. A basketball in my hand is worth about $29. But a basketball in the hands of Shaq or Michael or Colby is worth about $30 million a year. It's just a matter of whose hand is in it. A golf club in my hand means look out, there's trouble coming. But a golf club in Tiger's hands is a master's championship. It all matters whose hand is touching it. A rod in my hand may beat off a stray dog in my neighborhood. But a rod in Moses' hand parts the Red Sea. A slingshot, a slingshot in my hand is just a kid's toy. But a slingshot in David's hand will drop a giant. Spit and clay in my hand may get you a mud cake. But spit and clay in Jesus' hand will open up blinded eyes. Two fish, five loaves in my hand will get you a couple of fish sandwiches. But fishes and loaves in Jesus' hands will feed 5,000 people. And I tell you, nails in my hand may get you a little birdhouse. But nails in Jesus' hands hanging on the cross on a hill called Calvary gets you salvation for everything. Let's all stand. Let's all stand. Let's all stand. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, we bless you, God. I'm going to tell you tonight, friends. I'm going to tell you tonight. I believe there are champions in this place that may find themselves selling themselves out. I know that the devil steals and kills and destroys. But I'm going to tell you there's just some times. I'm going to tell you that there are some times that I don't think he steals anything. I think we sell it. I want everybody in this place just for a moment just to bow your head with me here tonight. I asked the Lord, I just said, God, what do you want to say? What do you want to say? What do you want to do in people's lives tonight? And I want to just tell you there are those here that the character of Jesus in you, that the champion and Savior that has come lives inside of you. There are those wanting to perfect champion reflexes and saying, what I am doing in you, what I'm doing every day in you is preparing you for that. Some of you are living your lives just simply by the battles and not by what we would call the exercise routine. But these precious pastors on this stage when they're asking to fast with them for Brazil and for the meetings, it's not simply for anything else but to help you have a champion reflex that God begins to take prayer and fasting and then all of a sudden changes the ordinary into extraordinary. Well, he's asking me to come to church. He's asking me to come to church because the day you miss, that may be the day God shows up. He's asking me to be faithful as an usher, as a nursery worker because that could be the day that God descends. I'm just here to tell you there are some here that have so forfeited that and it's not simply to come and bring some condemnation. I'm here to tell you your life is in the hands of a champion. And he is here. He is here not to help you just get by, but he is here to help you go to heaven on the day that you're called home as a champion for him. Friends, listen to me. I am so sick and tired of talking to believers and trying to get them by. And this altar is just a, come to the altar, let's get by. You're in another battle, let's just get by. That's not what we're here to do. We're not here to get you. We're here to say if you begin to put on the champion regiment, I am telling you when the ring takes place, all of a sudden you start walking in things because you start activating that power that's inside of you. Something starts to happen. And I believe all over this place there are believers that are getting tired of living their life by the boxing ring and saying, you know what? God, I'm going to meet you each morning. I'm going to make myself available. And God calling you to the regiment of a champion, that you would begin to walk that way. I believe, I believe in this place. I believe in this place that there are people that God has his hand upon that are willing to say, I have been eating and selling myself too cheaply. I am not going to sell out and lose my voice to speak to the next generation. Purity is worth it. Faithfulness will make me available. And I also believe, hallelujah, that I'm going to be a man or woman of prayer to change those days. I want to tell you, this is not a message of works and condemnation. This is a message for you to walk in the calling that he has saved you with. He has saved you not to get by. He has saved you to be victorious. Here's your word. I am an overcomer. That's what you are. And I believe that. I believe that tonight you're in this place and say, Pastor Tim, I am tired of fighting in the ring without the daily regiment that God is calling me to. And I know that God has called me. God has called me. But I am finding myself losing in a ring, battles that I should be winning, things that I should be winning, things that I should be getting victory over. And what is happening is, is that I'm finding myself losing, not because, not because this thing has to win, but because I have not prepared myself for this. These men have preached messages, this pulpit has preached messages to prepare me with this. That me winning is not going to be me coming to an altar on church nights. It's me building an altar every day in my house. That's how I win. If you're here in this place and you know that God is speaking to you, I'm going to ask you to get out of your seat, out of your seat and say, I have got, I have got to build an altar. I'm not going to go ahead and be a champion in a ring unless I begin to build that altar, build that altar, build that altar. I'm not going to sell myself. If you're in the balcony, I'm going to ask you to begin to come down. If that's you, if you're on the main floor and God is beginning just to speak to your heart and say, and I, I am called, I am called to walk as that champion. I am called to walk in faithfulness, to walk in purity, to walk, to walk as a man and a woman of prayer. And God is beginning to speak to you saying, you know what? I'm selling myself. I'm eating things. I'm eating like Esau things that are selling me out here because of the nature of the message. That's why sometimes I'll use maybe a sport analogy or something like that because, because we're dealing with that champion aspect. I could tell you if, if you're not doing it on a daily basis, when ring time comes and bout time comes and fight time comes, it's not going to work to all of a sudden go on this crash course and expect it to all of a sudden work right then. Oh my gosh, I'm about to lose my marriage. I'm fasting now. Well, you should have been fasting all along. I'm losing my kids. I'm finding out my kids came home and I, and at that point, that's when you go, it's, we sometimes go fight in the ring. It should have been happening all along. I'm praying a hedge about my children protection and, and, and my, my, my boy's just learning to talk and we're just banking and depositing all that upon him. Let me tell you what the challenge is. The challenge is not get spiritual when crunch time comes. It is. I live for Jesus every day, not just in fight times. I want you just those at this halt. I want you just to lift your hands to him. I'm going to pray for you right now. I just want to ask the Lord just to come father. I'm praying that you begin to create champions. Not, not from a one time thing, but God, I pray that they would understand that it's a daily, daily, daily, daily, daily. It's not even becoming a champion because I go to church. It's got you calling them from their apartment. God, whether, whether it's in their home, whether they're living with parents, but God, there are young men, young ladies, there are grandmothers and grandfathers that God, you are calling not to be holy at crunch time, but to walk into holiness every single day. God, because, because the champion lives inside of them. It's not out of reach. It's, it's simply because they, they are in the hands of God. Their life is in your hands and father that daily, daily regimen prepares them for the fight to come. Lord God, father, I'm so thankful for these here. God, may they know, may they know that your desire is that they walk as overcomers. Father, I am here just to challenge them to walk as an overcomer. Oh, put your hand upon them. God use them in Jesus name, in Jesus name. And everyone said, amen.