Hey, Bear!

0:00 If you have a Bible, we're going to be in 1 Peter chapter 5 today. 1 Peter chapter 5. We're taking some time at the end of the summer, moving towards fall, to talk about how the life of faith and adventure following Jesus is sort of like a huckleberry. And this week, we want to just sort of address the elephant in the room that while humans love huckleberries, we are not the only ones that think that they're delicious. We need to sort of come around that idea. There are lots of different creatures that enjoy and look to huckleberries as a part of their diet. Lots of different mammals, lots of different insects even. I mean, the moose love the huckleberry leaves. There's lots of different things to eat huckleberry. But the one that is most, probably the most closely associated with the huckleberry is the one that you can't say without saying the word, Huckleberry, right? We had a friend in town recently. He is a very well-known author and leadership expert, has sold millions of books around the world. And his granddaughter came with him. She was just newly married and they wanted to come like hitching along with grandpa was like sort of their like low-key like hack on a honeymoon.

1:20 and they came from Florida. And so they wanted to, of course, go into the park. And I saw them at dinner the day they had gone up and I said, how did it go? Did you see any wildlife? And their eyes just got big, you know? And I was like, you saw, what'd you see? You see a goat, you see a bighorn sheep? And they were like, no, just keep, yeah. And then I said, well, show me. Show me if you have any photographic evidence. Now, I have seen a lot of those kind of videos and pictures. The algorithm does tend to serve them up to us if we live here, but this one got me. I'm going to show you the little video they took that day. I think he's still deciding. Hey, bear. Yeah. I like the yaw. That's nice.

2:08 I'd be peeing. I'll just be completely honest with you. Oh, praise God. Good. That's happy. We don't want him to have the upper hand. Good, good, good. Not good.

2:30 And then if you're... Of course you can do it right now. Good boy. Should we wait for them to let them know? That's nice. Should we wait for the ones and tell them that are coming? That is good. That is very kind. Because then he's like, he was never there. You know what I mean? And I was like, I have seen a lot of hiker videos that you, just so you know, you had an exceptionally startling encounter here. But she said my title. I don't know if you heard it right there at the beginning. Title of this message, Hey Bear. That's what I want to preach to you today. Hey Bear. Everyone say, hey bear. Hey Bear. Hey Bear. Now, I can't prove it. but I have a feeling that the huckleberry has gotten me the most dangerous berry on earth to pick. I don't know of a more high risk activity around raspberries, strawberries, right?

3:29 There's got to be no berry on the planet as delicious as a huckleberry, but also as risky. Because like I said, lots of different creatures like them, but the animal that's most closely associated with the huckleberry is of course the bear. and that is because both black bears and grizzly bears depend on the huckleberry. They're integral to their diets. And that's because, I mean, let's focus in on the grizzly bear in particular. They have like a macho street cred, but these suckers are vegetarians. They're largely vegetarians, you know. They wouldn't want you to know that. Meat only composes 10% of the grizzly bear's diet. Isn't that crazy? I mean, they primarily are eating grubs, and they're eating ants, and they're eating fruit. And then, of course, they really do look, they say as much as a third of the 80 to 90 pounds per day that a grizzly bear will eat comes from berries.

4:29 And so we're like, I'm out there picking the huckleberries, thinking this would be great on my cereal. The grizzly is like, this is important to my survival, right? We have to have this on our mind while we are out doing what is such a beautiful and grounding and therapeutic thing, right? I jokingly call them prayer berries or theri berries, right? Because I feel like I'm sort of having a time for prayer and a time for therapy while picking the berry. But they also put us in the path of a creature that does not want to eat us, right? Most of the meat a bear does eat, it dies of natural causes, right? And there are problem bears, right? There's the exception. I get that. But for the most part, they're out looking for ants, insects, and huckleberries. And we just happen to be out doing the same thing that they're trying to do. And we've got to remember, we've come to their house, right?

5:21 This is where they live. Like, they're not rummaging through our refrigerator in our living room. But we have come into their backyard, right? But what I want you to do is I want you to bring that with me to the text. because here's you and me, we're out looking for something and we just always need to have in the back of our minds that someone else is looking for what I'm looking for. Can you hold on to that thought? Because where we're using the huckleberry as this picture or symbol of the wild and free, refuses to be domesticated or controlled or cultivated life that God has for us, right? Life and life more abundantly. we always need to remember we are not the only one who's doing the hunting. There's also someone else looking for trying to take what we're trying to get. And that is exactly what Peter says to the church spread around the world in all these different areas, which would, of course, include us today.

6:19 I know we're in Utah or we're in, you know, Oregon. We're in Montana. We're watching this wherever we are. He wrote to Christians scattered and dispersed. So here we are, scattered and dispersed followers of Jesus. and he says, as we try and get these wild huckleberries, know this, we need to be sober and to be vigilant. Why? Because your adversary, someone say adversary. The devil walks about like a roaring lion. Now I realize we think of him as, oh, well, he's a lion. No, no, no, it says like a roaring lion. But the actual Greek word just describes the bellowing and raging of a hungry beast. So that's what the devil, your adversary is like. He's like a roaring lion seeking. This is not a kind picture. Whom he may devour. He wants to eat you. Peter says, resist him.

7:12 Steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. And we thank you, God, for your word. Now, you'll remember from last week that we pointed out that Peter writes really to Christians who are dealing with the fires of persecution. They were dealing with the fact that there's this lunatic Emperor Nero who's literally burning Christians at the stake in the Roman Empire. It's been called an epistle for those who hurt. So it's a perfect book to turn to when in your life you're dealing with suffering, with difficulty on any level. But Peter now kind of shifts gears here because he's not just wanting them to reframe the flame or to think about their pain differently. He also says, hey, just FYI, there's an enemy on the prowl.

8:12 Like my friend here who said, should we warn the hikers next? That's what Peter's trying to do. Peter's trying to say, hey, I want to warn you that there's also an enemy who's out here. You're not just the only one walking down this path. And the devil, if he cannot get you on the battlefield with the persecution, if you'll keep walking with God, going through your pain, your loss, your grief, your difficulties, and he'll just shift his gears, he won't entirely go away. He's going to try and come at you a different way. It's been said that if he can't get you on the battlefield, he'll get you in the bedroom. If he can't get you in the bedroom, him, he'll get you in your banking account. If he can't get you in a banking account, he'll get you, you see what I'm saying? He'll just keep shifting. And so where we think of him always raging at us like the big bad wolf, we need to realize he's the most dangerous when he goes away. Oh, what's this wooden ship? Let's bring it into our life. That's nice that he went away. No, listen, just because the persecution stops doesn't mean he has stopped. He just mixes it up. And if you think he's bad as an enemy, oh, he's much worse as a friend. Much worse as a friend. He goes from trial to temptation.

9:20 From temptation to trial. If you're not dealing with one, chances are you're dealing with the other. And we talk about how there's trials coming. We've got to be strong for trials coming. There's also temptations coming. Temptations are coming, right? The British are coming. The British are coming. Come on. The temptations are coming. I'm here to warn you today. There are temptations that are coming, not just trials. Charles Spurgeon said suffering is better than sinning. That's a provocative thought. Why? There is more evil, he says, in a drop of sin than in an ocean of affliction. Better to burn for Christ than to turn from Christ. Oh, Charles, better to burn for Christ than to turn from Christ? What is he trying to say? He's trying to say the British are coming. He's trying to say you're not the only one hunting these things. It's not just trials you got to watch out for. It's also temptation.

10:13 He wants to tempt you. And if it's true that a drop of sin is actually more devastating than a whole ocean of suffering, and you would say, can you prove that to me? Well, I can just tell you this. Suffering often wakes us up. Suffering often lets the light in. Suffering often causes us to be more humble. Suffering often enriches our lives. Why? Because it helps us to understand what's pure and what's just sort of has snuck into our lives. It oftentimes splashes water on our face, brings us to our senses. In good times, we can kind of think we can do no wrong. Everything we touch turns to gold, right? We feel like we're hot, right? And in the hard times, we're like, Lord, help me, right? Because we realize how weak we actually are. So while we're terrified by trial, we should actually be far more worried about temptation. Okay, what is, hopefully now that I've got your attention, success and safety going to look like dealing with our predator enemy adversary who's like a roaring lion, like a hungry grizzly bear?

11:21 It's gonna come down to these six things. And all of these points can apply to being in the wilderness, being in the back country, and to walking God's plan for our huckleberry lives in Jesus Christ. The first is what you assume. you always have to assume, again, like I said, when you're entering the country, you're in their home. So the assumption should be, I'm probably going to encounter one today. The assumption should be, I'm likely near them, even if I don't realize it today, right? The enemy is the most dangerous when you don't know he's there. So remind yourself, he's there. He's there, he has a plan for me. Think about this. someone is studying you right now, asking the question, how can I get them to turn down their bright light for Christ? How can I get them to make a misstep? How can I get them to blow their witness? How can I get them to be a bad testimony? He's asking right now, what can I do to shipwreck your marriage? What can I do, young people, to make your future so heavy laden with weights that slow you down that you will not be able to run this race of faith for Jesus Christ? How can I get your heart so loaded up with the cares of this world and so full of regrets that you'll be focused on so many other things other than how can I live this one short life to make as much as I can about the name of Jesus Christ in this world. What can I, what he's going, he is right now just thinking, he's scheming, he's studying, he's got devices, he's got a bag of tricks, he's been around a very long time, he's watched a lot of people, he's seen what worked and what didn't work. He's had the chance to, and he is studying you right now, planning for your future, your demise to trip you up. So you should assume the presence of temptation. C.S. Lewis said, there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.

13:17 One is to disbelieve their existence. The other is to believe, but to feel an excessive and an unhealthy interest in them. Indeed, and that's in the foreword, by the way, for a book called The Screwtape Letters, which I would recommend to every Christian to have read at some point in your life. It's all about spiritual warfare. So what is he saying? He's saying that it's a mistake to blame everything on the devil, right? This is the, I have a headache. The devil probably gave me the headache. I don't know. You might just be dehydrated. Have you considered this? Tell me about your sleep hygiene. You know, it's like where the devil's under everything. But the second, of course, mistake would be to underestimate him and to sort of imagine that he's not really there. And he's just a little cute little red guy on your shoulder. And he would love for you to think that that's the case because then you will underestimate him. So I don't want you to be paranoid about him.

14:09 I want you to be aware of him. I want you to be bear aware. Now, where a bear does not want to encounter you, right? They don't want to have you be a part of their plans, right? Like people always say to me, like I'd be so disappointed if I don't encounter a bear in the park. I'm like, I pray every day I don't. Like, what are you talking about here, right? And a bear does not want to encounter me. Now the devil is the exact opposite. He is poised to pounce. He is crouching at the door of your life. And when you assume that that attack is coming, you are braced for impact. The worst thing you could do with a bear is surprise it. But the worst thing you could do with the devil is to be surprised by it, which is why scripture says, don't be ignorant. Don't be stupid. Don't be, don't be, don't be, you gotta be aware. You gotta know this is gonna come. So don't be caught off guard by it.

15:02 All right, so you gotta assume it's in the room. Secondly, what you see, what you see, right? You're in the bushes. You're picking these huckleberries. You're having the greatest day of your life. You need to be head on a swivel. You need to have your eyes filled. You need to be looking around, be aware of your environment, and you need to be scanning off into the distance as well. So it is when it comes to the devil's devices in your life. The Bible would have you to know, this is just my paraphrase here, the devil doesn't care much for checkers, right? Checkers is like, well, I do this, and they do this. King me, you know, it's like, it's great. Who doesn't just love checkers, right? What I don't have any appetite for is what the devil loves, chess. In chess, nothing is what it seems. Everything is setting up this so you can get to that. So a lot of times we just, what am I trying to say?

15:56 We evaluate this in my life right here. And we're like, well, is this good? Is this bad? Can I handle this? The devil doesn't really care about this. He's only doing this to get his foot in. So he can get his foot in, he can get his hand in. If he can get a foothold to a handhold, he's got in his mind the chokehold. He's thinking strangling. He's thinking, you know, checkmate. He's setting things up. So once you have a little bit of compromise, it's far easier to say yes to that. He's got three moves ahead, four moves ahead. He's off doing what you should do, thinking and calculating into your future. What does one degree off look like over time? Oh, it's not that much. I'm just one degree off. Extrapolate that out over a decade. And that's where the devil wants you to go. He's playing the long game. So you need to be aware. And what you see needs to be the awareness of what he's trying to bring in your life, like the Trojan horse, which is why verse 8 says, be sober and be vigilant.

16:54 Sober and vigilant. Sobriety and vigilance. What does sober mean? Sober means clear-headed or having your wits about you. What does vigilant mean? To be vigilant means always to be on guard. Like I said, head on a swivel, eyes peeled. Is that not what advice Jesus gave to Peter on the night that Peter committed the greatest mistake of his entire life? What did Jesus say? You gotta watch, you gotta pray. You gotta watch, you gotta pray. Because the spirit is willing, I know that. But guess what the flesh is? The flesh is weak. It's hard to do right. It's easy to do wrong. The path to sin is like a moving escalator, moving sidewalk. You just stand there and do nothing. and that's where you end up. How did I eat that whole bag of chips? I don't know. Just did it. It just happened, right? How about taking a run?

17:46 Oh, it takes a Herculean effort to run. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. So what did Jesus say to Peter? You gotta do the things that keep you sober and keep you vigilant, which is what? Pray. And praying's hard. You ever try to pray for five minutes? You ever try to pray for 10 minutes? That's gonna be the longest 10 minutes of your entire life. You ever try and watch Netflix for 10 minutes? It's gonna be the hardest thing in your life to watch 10 minutes of Netflix in the other direction. Trying to shut that Netflix off after 10 minutes. Like, I need to watch it for five hours. Normally I just let the video play and then the video play and then the video play. And then the next one started. I can't stop it now. We finished what we started in this family. You know, it's like, it's the moving sidewalk of the flesh. But the spirit, listen, praying is what keeps you in the spirit, keeps you bareware, keeps you sober, keeps you. So you say, you gotta pray with me. Peter kept falling asleep. Falling asleep is easy.

18:37 Praying is hard. Jesus said, you got to pray with me. You got to keep your heart sober. You got to keep your spirit vigilant. In the message translation, it's this way. Stay alert, be in prayer so you don't wander into temptation without even knowing you're in danger. How did I get here? Oh my gosh, slowly. How did I get here? It was a moving sidewalk that took me here. Now it goes without saying, you can't be sober if you're drunk, right? Important pointing these things out. Just in case you need something for your notes today. If we're meant to stay sober and you're drunk or you're high, you're not going to be scanning. You're going to be stoned, right? This is important to say. And there are lots of reasons to not get drunk. But I think one of the perhaps most important reasons is this. You can't be giving God control of your life moment by moment if you're not in control of your mind. And when you're inebriated, when you're drunk, now listen, the Bible never says that drinking is a sin.

19:35 Otherwise, Jesus would be a sinner. because Jesus drank. But what the Bible does say is don't be drunk. And when you're drunk, you're not in control. Thus, you can't be handing him control. And you can only hand control to the Holy Spirit the same way you get drunk one sip at a time. Okay. So every day, every moment, every hour, we have to take a sip of the spirit. We have to take a sip of the spirit. Why do they, you go to the liquor store, they literally call it spirits, right? This is why in the Bible, being drunk is compared to when you're under the Spirit's control. In fact, it's Ephesians 5. Paul says, this is great, don't be drunk with wine because that'll ruin your life. You can't put it better than that, right? Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. So one sip at a time, one day at a time, one moment at a time, one week at a time. We're trying to take sips of the Spirit, continue to give the Spirit control. But when you give control of your mind and of your body to a substance, you can't be handing that control to the Holy Spirit because you're not in control, right? You used to go on mission trips and you'd share the gospel with people and some people would get so excited because they met a drunk person and began evangelizing them and the person was very excited about getting saved. And you have to remind yourself, they're not there. They'll come back. They'll come back tomorrow. They will not remember this conversation here, right? They're not in control as they're currently inebriated in this moment so that we don't want that to be us because it's a lot easier to mess up your life when you're not in control and giving the spirit control. It's a blind corner. Another blind corner is your emotional health. Did you know that one of the times that we are most explicitly warned about the devil has nothing to do with murder, nothing to do with adultery. It has everything to do with like anger. And you're kind of like, what are we talking about here? That's literally the only time, look at Ephesians 4, that the phrase give place to the devil is used. It says, be angry, and do not sin.

21:37 Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. What is he saying? He's saying when you have these issues in a friendship, issues in a relationship where you don't deal with it, you don't have the hard conversation, you don't say, hey, that hurt my feelings. You don't say, hey, can we speak about this issue? Can we seek reconciliation? You're not going to your brother. Instead, you're shoving it down or pretending it's not a big deal. You're just carrying it around. it festers and festers and festers. You didn't let the sun go down on it. And you're in your anger, sinning, and just your wheels are spinning. It easily becomes this wound. It easily becomes this abscess in your heart. And the devil's like, yes, this is great. You're giving place in your life, in your unresolved emotional issues for me to jump in and launch an attack. So these are blind corners that we need to see in our lives as places where he's trying to stage an attack. So what you assume, what you see.

22:31 Third, how you think. How you think. I want to teach you today how to think like a bear, OK? What did you learn at church today? He said, I learned how to think like a bear. What do you mean? I mean, you got to get desperate. You got to understand, bears are desperate. Why? Because they sleep five to seven months of the year. Lucky. That's what I always think when I think about these bears. What are you going to do this whole next season? Just sleep. Just sleep. Five to seven. What does that mean, then? That means then they have to do a whole year's eating in the seven to five months that precedes it, okay? And that makes you desperate. And towards the end, as winter approaches, as their season of hibernation is about to commence, what does that mean? That means they enter in an incredible period of desperation called hyperphagia. And during this hyperphagia, what are they doing? They're in their final feeding frenzy before winter comes.

23:27 What I just described to you is the devil. He is in his final feeding frenzy before the end comes. Can you explain? Well, Romans chapter 16, verse 20, Paul said, know this, that God, he's the God of peace, but he will shortly crush Satan swiftly under your feet. Can we praise God that the Bible says at the end of the book that God wins in the end? The devil can mess around, but he ends up in the burning ring of fire. Hello.

23:58 Problem is, devil's read Romans 16, 20. That's the problem. That's the problem. The problem is he knows he's got a limited period of time to act in your life. He's got a limited period of time to create chaos in this world. And that makes him desperate. And when people are desperate, they become dangerous. It's kind of like at a pool party. You ever been to a pool party where someone was like, let's go throw so-and-so into the pool, you know? Like no one ever thought of that before. I know what we'll do. We'll throw so-and-so into the pool. And you watch someone, have you ever been thrown into a pool? It's a funny thing because at the beginning, you're like, oh no, I'm going to hold on to this railing. oh no, I'm gonna hold on to this chair. But then at a certain point, you realize like critical mass kicks in, like I'm going in the water. So now you're like, gotta get my cell phone out. Like you're like, gotta get my keys out, gotta get my wallet out. But then the last thing that kicks in right before you go in the pool is, if I'm going in, all y'all are coming in with me. And you just start grabbing onto people, just lashing out like old ladies, little babies, doesn't matter, right?

24:50 If I'm getting tossed in, you're coming. That's the devil. He can't be reasoned with. He's lashing out. He doesn't care much for you or for me. We don't mean much to him, but he has realized and seen how much we matter to God. And he's trying to hurt the father's heart by hurting the child's heart. He's trying to hurt the father's heart by hurting the one that's precious to him. So he's trying to take you down because he knows he's going to hell. And if he can't get you to hell, he'll try and keep you from living for heaven. He'll try and keep you from living out your calling. He'll try and keep you from tapping into the peace and the abundant life and the fruit of the spirit and the gospel witness that you're meant to have. He's just trying to hurt the father's heart with this limited period of time that he has by doing dangerous things. He's in hyperphagia. He's in his final feeding frenzy before he's finished once and for all. And you're just a very barrier to him because he's that desperate.

25:47 And he cannot be reasoned with. You can't reason with a desperate person. You can't reason with a dangerous person. He comes, you know, whatever he says, he's lying. Whatever he tells you, it's not the truth. What's his real agenda? Jesus said it this way, John 10, 10. The thief does not come except to steal, to kill and destroy. He wants all the huckleberries. He cannot be trusted because if his lips are moving, he's lying. He thrills you only so he can kill you. He will fascinate you only so he can assassinate you. And he is coming for your jugular every single time. All right. Now that you're sufficiently startled, you should also think about where you go, right? Where are you going when you're picking huckleberries? Well, if you're smart, you're going to a place where fire has been. Where fire has been is where huckleberries grow best, right?

26:42 Fire five years ago, five, fire 10 years ago. Fire is the precursor to the multiplication because that disturbance leads to a fruitful future because of the way it fertilizes the soil with all that ash. Because of the way it clears out the canopy and letting the light hit the forest floor in that alpine terrain. And so where you are going for huckleberries is where fire has been. But guess what? The devil wants to come for those same areas. Bears do the same thing and they're trying to get their territory. In fact, I came across this quote in the Huckleberry book, some unique studying I was doing this week. The author said, bears may establish an ongoing relationship with a particular burn site. My Holy Spirit's antenna went up, a particular burn site, and returned there year after year. In this sense, they mark their patches and will be troubled to find them being picked by other hands.

27:41 I just got to thinking about how in your life, the enemy has brought in trial. He's brought in flame. Did you know the Bible says every time the devil comes for the trial or temptation, he has to ask the father before he can bring it? is it's kind of troubling and comforting all at the same time. He has to ask God. He cannot act with impunity. Even the devil is God's devil. The Bible says that he's on a leash. Now it feels too long at times for my liking, but he is on a leash and he can only go as far as the Lord will allow him to go to serve God's ultimate purposes through what he brings. So quick example, Peter, author of the book of 1st and 2nd Peter, he is the one who's warning us about the bear attack because he dealt with it first. What happened? Night of Jesus' being arrested, he says to Peter, you gotta stay awake, you gotta pray. What does Peter do? He cuts some logs. He saws some Zs. He goes to sleep when he should be praying. As a result, he's in the flesh, not in the spirit for the fight of his life, for the devil's attack that was coming.

28:39 But Jesus said earlier on, the devil has asked for you that he will have the chance to sift you as wheat. But what did Jesus say next? But I have prayed for you. that after you have been restored, you will strengthen your brethren. I'm going to allow it. I'm going to allow this temptation to come, even though I know what it's going to bring. It's going to bring some flame. But I want to help you to reframe the flame, knowing that where you were at your weakest, I'm going to use you at your strongest to help other people who have been burned, help other people who have been hurt. But you've got to know the devil knows about these fruitful burn sites too. So what I want you to understand is the burn sites in your life that make you feel ashamed. God can't use me. I got all this burnt tissue. I got all this, this, this, this, this, this havoc that's been wrecked by my own hands and my other hands. And I look at my life and I go, God, how can you use me? Don't you want someone with a perfect squeaky clean story? And God said, I'm not scared of your burn sites. I knew about them. I warned you about them. I told you not to go, but I knew, I knew you would make the mistake you've made. And I want to use that burn site to bring fruitfulness in the future and to help other people. But the enemy is going to want to return to the burn site and lay claim to it. But what you need to know is that the devil can't have your pain because when Jesus died for you on the cross, he bought your suffering, he bought your sin, he bought your difficulty, he bought your damage, and he wants to use it all.

30:03 Even though it feels ashen and broken and there's nothing good that could ever come from it, he wants to use your burn sites to bring him glory. You just have to make the choice to take your wound and wash it with worship so you can wield it for God's glory and not let the enemy keep you trapped under it and defined by it. And in this mentality of woe is me and this is what I've been through and this is who I am and I'm this because I've been through this and I'm this because this happened to me. But instead to keep surrendering that burn site to the nail scarred hands of Jesus Christ so he can bring good through your life and through your story, not in spite of your pain, but because of it, not in spite of your sin, but because of it, that he can bring glory through what you wish, what I wish. The devil never was allowed to bring into our lives. Oh, the devil was excited.

30:56 He brought Joseph into the pit, but God took that burn site and brought fruitfulness to save his entire family in the famine that would come. So let's not wallow in our burn sites like victims. Let's learn to wield them like victors because our God always leads us in triumph. And I pray the blessing of your burn sites to your fruitful future. And when the enemy comes for an area, just realize he overplayed his hand. He's showing you what's important to him. Use attack as a diagnostic indicator. Oh, thank you, noted. I see you're after that. Oh, you tell me I'm garbage. Turns out you actually know just the opposite is true. And so you're trying to get me where I'm at my weakest to stay there, but I'm going to use it to restore my brethren and to do the great things that God has called me to do. Where I go is going to be where fire has been and God's going to use it.

31:50 What I bring is important. What you bring matters. Don't you be going in the woods without your bear spray, right? If I meet people who are going out, I'm like, where's your bear spray? You bring it. Oh, no, I think a gun's better. Maybe. They say 50% of the time someone uses a gun against a bear, they get hurt, 50% of the time. Do you know that they say 90% of the time bear spray is used, no one gets hurt? I like those odds better. 50% of the time you use a gun because it inflames the bear. It triggers the fight or flight. It makes it, you wound it. Now you made it really angry. Here's what's cool. Bear spray turns the bear's own strength into a weakness. Why? Because bears smell 2,100 times better than people do. Someone said once, I don't know, I can't find it, so it might be a lie. Like I can't find like a data on it, but it's, I'll say it anyway. it's like when you find stuff on chat, it's like, it's probably garbage, but let's just, let's talk about it.

32:47 That to smell as good as a bear would be to smell everything the way we smell skunk. Because they have so much more nasal tissue and the mucus in the area, and their nose is just so good, right? Polar bears can smell like for 40 miles, right? They say bears can be up to 20, like in the area where we live in. So to use bear spray is to use the enemy's own power against him, right? Oh, you like smells? Here, I got one for you, right? That's the idea here. And I love this because we can do the same thing. What we bring matters. What am I talking about? What we bring matters. Come on, what we bring in this fight matters. We have God's word. He's given to us his truth. Every time Jesus was tempted, he pulled out the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. So prayer keeps us in the spirit, sober and vigilant. But the weapon of our warfare we've been given that's mighty and powerful is God's word.

33:39 It's the devil's kryptonite. We can use his own lies against it because he's the father of lies. So what do we hold? The truth. By his light, we can see light. So don't go into the battle without your weapon. What you bring. Psalm 119, 105. Your word is a lamp to my feet. Your word, God, is a light to my path. We don't have our quiet times in a legalistic way. No, we want to load our hearts up with truth because we live in a world where we're being sold lies and pushed on lies. Lies about who we are. Lies about what life's about. Lies about God's thoughts on us. We need to always bring what God's told us to bring. And then lastly, we close with this. What you say.

34:27 Hey, bear. Hey, bear. Right? Hey, bear. I'm not going to be surprised and I don't want to do the surprising. I'm going to say that over and over. I'm going to say it over. I'm going to say it. Right, you go, I don't need to say it because I got a bell on my backpack. I'm sure the bears love your dinner bell. I'm sure they love it. But hey, bear. Hey, bear. Hey, bear. Hey, bear. The point is what you say matters. I got two things that you need to say. OK, jot them down. Two things you need to be able to say and say them every day. Say them every way. Say them all the time. The first is when the devil comes, no. No. You need to get good at saying it. Can you say no? Say it with your chest. No. No. The devil does not want you to know that you can say no. He wants you to think that the devil can make you do it, right?

35:20 As people say, oh, they'll make me do it. Think about the last time you sinned. How far back do you have to go? If you can't think of a current example, I'll loan you one from today, right? It's easy to think we had no choice. But you have never been made to sin a day in your life. That means it's all your fault.

35:43 But that moving forward is an advantage because it never has to be again. If you know that no temptation has ever overtaken you that overpowered you, but every single time God has required for there to be a way of escape. Now it happens fast because we're on that treadmill, that moving sidewalk to sin, But we are always forced. God says that you will always have a chance to say no. And the devil doesn't want you to know that you can resist him. That's what Peter said. Resist him. Be steadfast in the, no. You can stand your ground and you can tell that serpent, that dragon, that liar, no, I'm not doing it. I belong to Jesus. I'm living a life of worship. God has a future for me, a plan for me. God has hope for me. No, I'm not living that way. I'm not who I used to be. That version of me died at the cross. I've been resurrected to live in newness of life. And what has to happen?

36:35 When you say no, that coward has to flee. The Bible says, James 4, 7, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. What will he do? He'll go plan a different attack, but he's got to flee from this one. So the first thing I want you to say is no. The second thing I want you to know that you need to say every day is this, the name, the name. The devil doesn't want you to say the name. What's that name? Not the man upstairs, not the higher power, not even just God. He, the devil, is terrified of the name above every name. I'm talking about Jesus Christ, our Lord. Why do you think the devil has it kind of put in as a curse when people hit their thumb with a hammer? Because he knows there's power in it. He wants it to be used in a way that's in vain. But when we use it in worship, when we use it in surrender, when we use it in trust.

37:29 I'm telling you mountains shake. I'm telling you history can be altered. I'm telling you that even demons recoil from the name above every name. Philippians 2.10, at the name of Jesus, that every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth. I'm telling you, you gotta raise up the name of Jesus. It's the hay bearer of the Christian life. Jesus for my family. Jesus for my marriage. Jesus over Fresh Light Church. I'm speaking Jesus over your life. I'm speaking the resurrected blood of Jesus over that situation, over your children and grandchildren. I'm speaking Jesus over our country. I'm speaking Jesus over the children that are not yet born. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Always, only Jesus. When you wake up at 2 a.m. afraid, speak his name. Say his name. When you're terrified and having a panic attack, you speak his name. You say his name.

38:21 When you're worried, when you're afraid, lift up the name of Jesus Christ. Let that worship change the atmosphere. Let everything around, let the enemy know that you know he's there. Say his name. He, listen to me. could decimate you in a moment if God let him. You're no match for him, but he's no match for your father. He's no match for your savior. He's no match for the Lord. So keep the name of Jesus lifted up over your life. So Father, we thank you that in this fight that we're in, we are on the winning team in Christ Jesus. And I pray specifically for my brothers and sisters today who I feel particularly led to ask who today has some burn sites that the enemy wants to lay claim to, to mark as his territory.

39:14 And there are some today afraid to offer them up to you. I pray for a boldness right now. If you had a burn site in your life, whatever it is you'd say, I just want to surrender it to God right now. I'm going to ask that you would stand up to your feet, just right where you are, just stand up. If you say, I want to take this burn site and use it for you, God, in my life, in my heart, this pain, God, I don't want it to let it fester. and I want it to be who I am. So I give it to you. I give it to you, Jesus. Thank you, Father. I pray your blessing. I pray for your anointing. I pray for your help upon my brothers and sisters.

39:43 I pray, God, that this weeping that has lasted for a night would lead to joy in the morning. I declare in Jesus' name a fruitful future over this burned area. And now the light's coming in. Thank you for your healing touch, God. Could I just ask that the rest of the church, we'd all stand together as we close. I want to invite anybody who's here today who's never surrendered their life to Christ to make the most important decision of your life, to give your heart to Jesus. The Bible says that those who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So I want to give you space in this time to make that decision. Because going to church can't save you. Having a Bible can't save you. But Jesus said, if you open the door of your heart to him, he will come in. So before we dismiss, I just would like to ask, would you like to give your life to Jesus Christ, to open up your heart to him? If so, I'm going to pray a prayer. And I want you to pray it out loud after me. You're praying it to God. And as you do so, he's going to hear you and he's going to heal you. Say this, church, pray with us. No one praying alone. All of us praying together. Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus to die in my place on the cross, to rise from the dead. And today I open my heart to you.

41:01 I ask you to come into my heart to make it your home. Thank you for new life. I give you mine. In Jesus' name.