Let's life many times, feels like a battle. It's challenging and often times it feels like we're losing that battle. Well, we're starting a brand new series today entitled The Fight because we wanna give you an advantage to experience victory in your life and we can do so because Jesus already gave us ultimate victory on the cross and through his resurrection. And so how do we walk through life with an advantage? How do we walk through life and experiencing the, the fullness that God has called us to when we also have the tension of the challenges and the stress of life. Recently, we took the kids to see the Mario Brothers movie, the little cartoon. It's real cute and just being transparent with you script maybe B minus. But the references to all the old school video games. A plus, right? I don't know if our kids even got all the references, but I love that growing up playing those games, right? You remember the, the original Nintendo where you had to get the disk in and you blow on it, you know, and then you had to like like time it correctly with how you put it in you for those that played that you understand, the struggle is real and, and so those games back then you couldn't really save your progress. And so as soon as you died, you go all the way back to the beginning. And so you look for every advantage possible. And so that's why I think of like the, the most famous cheat code in the world for the game contra. If you remember that when the screen would come up right, up, up, down, down left, right, left, right. B A start and years later, still remember that thing because it would give you all these extra lives. And so if you, you know the game, you understand um the power that you would feel when that little life count would go from, you know, three to like 30 you're like, yes, you can conquer the world and uh and you would go and you would play and those old school games had the best theme music too, right? Um They all played the same three notes and just in different orders and you go through and you wanted to win the game, right. Well, over the next couple of weeks here as we finish up the school semester is that we wanna help you win the battles that matter most. And so we wanna take the word of God and we wanna make it very practical to give you an advantage as you go into Monday morning and so change can be challenging situations, can be stressful. Trials can be tough. But we want you to know that when you fight and fight in a way that scripture has prepared for you in advance to do, you can actually walk in victory because true victory is found in Jesus and he wants you to experience abundant life. It actually says in the gospel, John uh chapter 10 verse 10, it says the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. And Jesus in speech, he says, but I have come that you may have life and life abundantly. And that word abundantly is this idea of this life of Zoe life. It's a life of vitality, a life of fullness, a life beyond simple existence. And I don't know about you, but that is something that I want that I don't wanna just experience heaven on a cloud someday playing a harp, right? I wanna experience victory. Now, I wanna be in the middle of a storm and be able to worship and see God's hand in it. And so we wanna acknowledge the struggles that we face and then we wanna give you the advantage, we wanna give you the cheat code if you will so that you can go into Monday morning, ready to win the battles that matter most. So if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. Today's message really is the foundation for everything we're gonna talk about over the next couple of weeks. But it's simply this, it's that change can be a choice. Change can be a choice. Not all change is bad, you know, change is inevitable, but, but growth is optional. And so you can actually have a growth mindset. And while there's so much in this world that is out of your control, how you respond is actually within your control. Because a growing faith is an active faith that we live a life. That is one where we can find meaning that we don't have to live passive lives that we can actually live purpose driven and purpose filled lives. And so the question that we can ask ourselves to frame this series is that what kind of life do you want? We get so busy in life just trying. We wake up, we do the things we go to work. We respond to the email, we go to the meeting, we do the daily tasks in the house and the home and the responsibility and the this and that and we go to bed exhausted and we wake up and we do it again. And it's easy to be so caught up in the experience of life and the struggles of life that sometimes we forget that there's a better way and not that those struggles don't remain, but rather we can approach them differently and actually experience the miracle in the mundane. And so another way to phrase this question of what, what kind of life you want is. Do you want a life of Drift default or design? I love going to the ocean with the family and the kiddos. We tend to find some type of beach somewhere every summer. And I gotta tell you having been on both sides uh there, I, I love the coastline of the west coast, but please give me the water of the Atlantic because let's be real that Pacific Water is freezing. And I don't know at what age it transfers where you start to feel the water because I feel like kids just aren't, aren't even phased by it. You know what I'm saying? Like they're like water and they just like go in. And so ever since they were little, we'd go and we'd play in the ocean. And some of my favorite memories are family trips and those I remember distinctly uh their one vacation under and, and we were in La Jolla, fourth of July and fireworks were going off and we're boogie boarding. It was like awesome. And so I love being in the water with the kids, love being adventurous with them even though the water is freezing and we're in there. But I also remember clearly one time we were in there and we, we were boogie boarding probably for like hours it felt like anyway. And I looked up and I didn't see anything and my oldest looks at me and say Hey, dad. Where's mom? And I was like, hey, uh, buddy, she's right. Oh, where is mom? We don't see her. And I remember turning to, to my oldest Jackson, like Jackson. I, I think the beach moved right. I looked up and like everything was different. We were in front of different set of buildings, different people, different tents. I looked at him and said, well, son, it was a good run. Uh, we've lost them forever and we just got to start an new and no, what happened was we were boogie boarding. And if you've been at the ocean, you understand this, that without thinking the current will just, you'll just drift and you won't notice it. And so all of a sudden you look up and you're half mile a mile away. Right. The drift happens slowly but it, it always happens and you have to fight the drift, you have to fight the tendency to get pulled away. You know, I think for many of us spiritually that happens too. You ever notice that you never get, you never drift to productivity. You never drift to health. Yeah, I'm not sure what happened. I accidentally lost £30. Right. Right. Like I was like, I, you don't, you don't drift that way. We tend to drift to, to binge, fill in the blank. Right. Scrolling TV, food, drug, drink, something, whatever it is. But we have to realize that a life of drift doesn't have to stay that way. The second life, the life of default is really one that the culture ends up portraying to you over and over again and, and if you turn on the news and you turn on social media, it's, it, everyone seems to be a victim. We live in a victim culture now everyone is offended. And while look, I I'm all for right, supporting people, supporting rights, truth and grace like we get offended so easily now, don't we? Ok. Oh man, you know, did you tweet this nine years ago? I can never listen to you again, right? Like we go there like look, we are all messed up. Like it's like, you know what I mean? Like we we do and we live in this culture where everyone's like we get offended so quickly. But what happens is you find yourself approaching every day just waiting to be offended and waiting to be hurt and blaming the rest of the world for all of your issues. You don't have to be the default character, right? Going back to the video games, you get that default character where you can build it and it's got like no qualities and no advantages and no anything. We walk through life and we're like, well, I guess this is it right? When you experience something good, you're like, this is great when you experience something bad isn't the natural tendency for like this is my lot in life. This is the rest of life. I will never experience joy again. I will never like parents with infants. I will never sleep again. I will never write like we go like this is it. I guess this is my life now and we go through and we accept it. But you don't have to have a life of drift. You don't have to have a life of default. You can actually have a life of design. You can intentionally choose an abundant life in Christ. Now to have faith requires the spirit. Don't, don't mishear me on that. And there are difficulties and challenges that you will never plan for. But I want you to understand that in the middle of those challenges, in the middle of those hardships, you can still find hope and meaning and abundance beyond anything that this world can offer and you can make intentional choices because you have the spirit. So it's not that I'm against the spirit. I actually double down and say because of the Holy Spirit. Now, within me, I can now actually make a healthier choice. I can actually make a change. I can choose to change for the life that I want. I can't choose my circumstance, but I can walk in my calling and that's a huge difference. Look, I love me some lazy river. OK? If you've ever gone on lazy river, it's awesome. It's the best ride ever. All right, you get on that tube. All Right. Let's go around. But life is not a lazy river of people and we, we know it. But imagine if someone approached Whitewater rapids with a lazy river mindset. Right. Everyone's getting geared up and helmets and, and, and oars and vests and specially made boats and a team of people and an experienced guide. And then you're showing up in like a Walmart inner tube. Oh, this is great. Like some of you got a lazy river faith in a white water rafting world. Like I'm here to tell you like you gotta be ready to go. But the good news is if you are ready to go, if you follow the guide, if you get the gear, if you go with the right people in the boat that's designed for it, guess what? You can experience a an exhilarating adventure, but you got to choose it. And so this morning is a little bit different because my, I tend to break down one passage and we break it down and apply it. But what I want you to do today is see the availability of choice that while much in your world is outside of your control, the passages we look at today will demonstrate what is actually in your control and you can choose to change that you can fight for your faith. So let's walk through these passages together. And I want you to notice the intentional verbs given to the readers. Here we go. First Timothy six verse 11 and 12. But as for you, oh, man of God, flee these things. What are these things? Well, we're gonna jump more into this passage next, next week. But really, it was talking about the pursuit of the things of the world and the love of money and how the world and the desires of the world will not fulfill the craving of your soul. And so he's saying here as for you Christian, flee these things, but pursue the righteousness of uh righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I love those phrases, fight you're in a battle, but it's a good one and it's one you can win and then it says take hold of the eternal life to which you've been called man. I love that phrase that to take hold of the Ronan life is to go after it, to experience the life that you really want in the first place. Too many of us I think approach the Christian life like we're on the opposite end of playing tag with Satan. We spend our day like can't get me, can't get me, can't get me, but you never go on offense like you're just running the whole time and you get tired like you can actually grab a hold of something. You know, being a dad of three, I love to kiss and hug my kids and the more they pull away, the more I come in for it. You know what I'm talking about? Are you take a little kid sometimes and they're like, come, come give dad a kiss, come give dad a hug and they're like, and it's almost like it's almost like they're saying, you're welcome. They're just like, go ahead, Give me a hug, give me a kiss and see what you get. My kids are no different and, and so I still just embrace it or squeeze them, try to tickle them, make them laugh whatnot. Then one day I come in, I'm like, all right, come give dad a kiss. I'm gonna give dad a hug and I was expecting this, this moment, right? I wonder how many of us worship that way too. Let's be real. Right? We come to church on Sunday morning like and uh you Lord, you got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my hardware. I don't know, man, not there. OK? So I was expecting that for my kids and one of them instead looks at me and like, and you just got to know this is the one of the boys and so and the boys go and like, have you ever seen a boy be angry? Happy? You know what I'm talking about? Like you got this energy and you don't know if they're gonna punch you or jump on you or what. But they're excited. And so they came at me and he grabbed my head. He goes and he goes biggest kiss ever and was like, planted one on me and it was all sloppy and nasty and whatnot. But you know what I did as a dad, I loved it because it's one thing for a parent to hug a child. It's a whole another thing when that child hugs a parent, right? When someone comes in and leans in says I made this for you. I drew this picture of us. I I wrote this, I thought, you know, when they, when they have make that effort, you're not critiquing it. Like if a little kid brings a drawing to you, dad, I drew our family, you don't go draw better and come back. I hope you don't. That would be what you can. You like John, your kid's four. I know but they can do better. Do you think God approaches you that way? No, God loves you? And so when you express that back to him, mistakes and issues and sloppy out of the line coloring and all you know what God sees is his child taking hold of the eternal life to which he's been called. There's a joy in that you gotta fight for it, gotta grab hold of it. Let's see these themes throughout scripture. Ephesians chapter six. It says finally be strong in the lord and in the strength of his might to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For if we do not for, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm, if we are commanded to fight, if we're commanded to stand, that means the default position is to sit down, having been a youth master for a dozen years. I would commonly look into the eyes of teens and say at some point, the boy sits down and the man stands up at some point, the girl sits down and the woman stands up church. The same is true. When it comes to your faith, are you willing to stand and take hold of what God has called you to or did you pray a prayer years ago? And you're just awaiting your ticket to go on a cloud and play a harp. Eternity doesn't start the moment that you die. It starts the moment that you receive Jesus into your life. And that as Christians, we're called to bring heaven down, not live culture up and that you can experience the abundance, the Zoe life the life of a, of vitality and meaning and fulfillment now. But you got to choose it. You won't stumble into it. It won't accidentally happen. Philippians chapter three. I said, Paul writes this. He's in prison for preaching the gospel and he writes this. He says, not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect. So he, he clarifies, look, look, I am not, I do not have it all together. OK? Says, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Oh, that's good. Paul should be a preacher. You know, he's got a knack for this thing. I mean, it's not three points alliterated but we can work on that. I love that. Have you made Christ your own? Because he's already made you his own. It's one thing to receive the last name of God. It's another to actually live it. Do you walk through life viewing yourself as a sinner or do you walk through life viewing yourself as a saint or an identity or a child of God? See, Saint, we walk through this when we study Ephesians in Philippians. Here, Saint is your identity. Sin is an activity. Don't mix up the two because your identity is secure in him. So then you choose your activity to reflect who you are. Guess who you are is more important than what you do. But then what you choose to do reflects on how you view who you are says verse 13 brothers, I, I do not consider that I've made it my own. But one thing I do is forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ, Jesus. Just let those of us who are mature, think this way. And if anything you think otherwise, then God will reveal that to you. Also forgetting what is behind and pressing to what is in front. What is the prize of Christianity? Like if Christian, if the in the Christianity claw machine, right? You put in the token, you do the little cloth thing, right? Like toy story buzz Light Year, right? What are, what are you hoping to grab out of that? The ultimate prize is Jesus. The prize is not a what? It's a who because knowing the God who created you, who saves you, who loves you, it changes everything. And so the easiest way to think of that image, forgetting what's behind and pressing towards what is ahead is think about in a vehicle. What is the size of a rearview mirror versus the windshield, the windshield is way bigger because while it's important to know where you've been, it is more important and most important to decide. Where are you going now and into the future, your entire life might have been going one direction. But in this moment right now, you actually get to choose where you're gonna go forward. Your life might be filled with all kinds of baggage and issues and struggles and, and let me tell you, we're gonna spend the next couple of weeks unpacking those, right. We're gonna talk about fighting for your mental health. We're gonna talk about fighting in your finances and, and fighting for your family and fighting for your marriage and how to even fight in marriage. And so we're gonna get super practical. So I, I really encourage you to come back every week. But understanding that even Paul himself is acknowledging that he's not perfect. He's able to say, look, it's not my past. Yes. My past may describe my previous life, but it doesn't determine my future that I'm gonna start today. I'm gonna start right now. I'm locking eyes with Jesus and I'm going after him. He is our prize is the end game. If you make Jesus, the means only you're gonna miss it. Jesus isn't just the road to get to something else that you want. Jesus is what you want and you can choose that. I think that's why the early church expanded amongst persecution because it was a truth. It was an idea. It was the power of the spirit and no government, no entity or force could take that away from people. So the harder they would persecute and beat up and imprison they would say, yeah, but my worth doesn't come from you, I don't need your approval and that message would spread because it was for every race, every nation, every ethnicity, every class. Jesus says, I see you and I'll give you life, see how freeing that is. So then why is it that we are so quickly to get distracted and choose other things? Because part of having free will is, is then being given the choice, right? Can we choose a life of Godliness? First Corinthians chapter nine verse 24 it says, do you not know that in a race? All runners run? So around this time at the beginning of the Olympics, right? Area of the Romans and the Greeks here says, but only one receives the prize. So so run that you may obtain it. He given you a story, an image to think about says, every athlete exercises self control in all things and they do it to receive a perishable wreath. Look, they do all this discipline, all these choices so they can receive something that is temporary says, but we an imperishable, we have something greater for which we can run says do not. So I do not run aimlessly. I did not box as one beating against the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control. Lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. We don't have to run around with our heads cut off. We have a God of order. We have a God of creativity. We have a god of clarity. Satan is the one who breached chaos who breeds a counterfeit, who wants to distract and destroy you. And so when you experience the chaos, understand that's not from God. And we get caught up in that. Like, have you ever done, uh, those books? Where's Waldo? Remember those? Right. And, and you just look through and it's hard to find them because there's all these different things right now. Imagine if you did that in person. But there was just like he was standing right in front of you. It would be weird. It's like right in front of you're like, where's Waldo? I don't know. Hey, I'm right here. Hi. So here's what Satan will do. He doesn't want you to have that connection with God. He can't keep you from that. Like, he can't stop God and he can't stop God working in you. So, what he'll do is that he'll try to bombard you with so much stuff, so many things that now your life is cluttered and chaotic and say good luck finding God in this. You ever attempt to meet up with somebody or a friend at like a concert or a sporting event? And you're just like, looking through the crowd. I wonder how many of us are that way right now with God. Like we see all the things of life and we're like God. But time and time again, we see scripture. God goes to people directly like Zachaeus, the woman at the well, the disciples, he comes, hey, I'm coming to your house. I'm right here and we can choose to receive that. We don't have to run aimlessly. Anytime someone asked me to go running with them because I love athletics and I love sports. I hate running. Anytime someone asks me to run, I just say no. First Corinthians 926 I don't run aimlessly. right? I prefer to follow Jesus take a nap. No, but in all seriousness of that, of it passage that actually means is like choose to run with purpose. You can, you don't have to follow the chaotic world where everyone's just running around. Right? When you're at a track meet, there's clearly defined lines and they have clearly clear paths to run. Can you imagine if there were no lines and no finish line in track races? Like people just standing around and then like the gun goes off and like go uh just everyone just starts running like it just, it, it, it doesn't work. But that's how we approach life. You don't have to, you can choose to run a race of purpose and design and intentionality. You can actually choose it. Romans 12 1 and two says I appeal to you therefore, brothers by the mercies of God. So it's the grace and mercies of God that motivates us to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. That means what you daily choose to do holy and acceptable God, which is your spiritual worship. Worship is so much more than just singing a few songs, right? You can worship in your business meeting and in the email reply and in your conversations and in doing the dishes and talking to the neighbor, right? And filing that report, like when you do everything for the glory of God that is worship. So then he says, verse two says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect, you can be transformed by His word. It says here in, in Colossians 31 and two, it says, if then you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on things that are above not on things that are on earth. The idea of setting or seeking is like a choice. You get to place it somewhere, you get to take your thoughts and say, I'm gonna focus on this. So what we're talking about today is choosing your focus says Galatians 679. It says, do not be deceived. God is not mocked, whatever one sows that he will also reap the one who sows to his own flesh will be from flesh, reap corruption. But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. So let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season, we will reap if we do not give up, you will never become tomorrow. What you're not already becoming today. You can't say well, when I get that job, when I get out of college, when I get in that relationship, then I'm gonna pursue God. Don't pursue God now and see what He does. See, faith is the foundation for your life, not the fence around it. You picture your life as a house. So many people view religion in general as like a fence to keep people out. I don't do this. I don't do that. I don't say that I judge the people who do right? They use religion as like a fence and religion. Faith is a shield, right? To protect us from the dart of the evil one. But it's not meant to be a fence to keep people out. I think for far too long, churches have built fences instead of foundations, right? We've gotten so good at judging the world that we forget to invite people to the table. See a fence keeps everyone at a distance. I will judge everyone else's sin but not my own. I will keep people at arm's length. But your faith is not offense to keep people out. Your faith is the foundation upon which you can build your life, how you speak, how you think how you go through trouble and trials, how you work, your finances, your attitude, how you serve, it impacts everything. And the common thread in all these verses that we read was the theme of a choice and change can be a choice. And so to end, you get real practical as the man's coming up here. Is that then how can we choose to change? How can we choose to change? I just give you two real simple things. Number one is start to study God's word. Define your life based on how God has defined it. If you want to know the purpose of something, talk to the author or inventor of that, if we were made in his image and it makes sense to go to his word to find out who we're made to be. And the beautiful thing is folks is we get overwhelmed and, and, and however many times you try to start reading the Bible or going through that like, well, I tried to read through the Bible and every year I get stuck at like Leviticus or one of those early old Testament books and all those list of names and rules and cities. I can't pronounce, I just stop. Look, I'm not here to tell you you should have done something a long time ago. The beautiful thing about the grace of God is that you can start today. You can start now that regardless of your age or stage in life today could be the day that you start because that's who you are and we want to help you. That's why we've actually created this resource plant. Grow multiply. That's eight weeks. Some people could fly through it in one week. They little 3 to 5 minute videos with it. We have a workbook with it. We have three devotionals that go with each one and it's not an academic study. It's not like something there. It, it's really just meant to be real practical, everyday life stuff with imagery and, and illustrations and pictures so that you can understand it, not only for yourself, but you can help somebody else understand it because when you help somebody else learn and apply what you just learned, you know what that's called c and we're all called to be disciple makers. And so that leads me to the next thing here is that find a friend to do it with, you, start to study his word. And it's better when, when you find someone to go along the journey with, find a friend and do it together, find someone who's a little bit further ahead and you can ask them questions, find someone who's a little bit behind you. So you can answer their questions. You don't have to know everything to start. So that's what we're saying today. Simply start no excuses. Just choose to change, choose to live a life of design, a life of abundance that's defined by God who made you and saved you not by the world that surrounds you. If we do that, we can live a life transformation. Let's pray dear only Father so much of this world, it's coming at us. But God even the midst of struggles and issues and doubts and imperfections, we can choose to change and to be changed by you. So let us fight the good fight of faith. Let us press on towards the prize that you have called us to and who you have called us to become. Let us live a life of abundance so that you can build our lives so that we can experience the joy that we've been searching for right now. We commit our lives to you. It's in your son's name. We pray.