Joe Mueller: All right, let's go ahead and get started. So welcome to Sword Fighting 101. Are you excited? some of you don't look like it some of you look very doubtful like this guy doesn't know anything about swords one of the most famous swordsmen at least if you do a google search was a man by the name of Miyamoto Musashi I don't speak Japanese.

I should have asked my nephew. He's got a little more Japanese knowledge than I do. But he was a Japanese samurai, and though his life is obscured a bit and no doubt distorted a bit by myths and legends, it's said that he was the victor in 60 sword duels. His first one at the age of 13.

Where's the 13-year-olds in the room? Lift them high. Come on, don't be ashamed. We've got a lot of 13-year-olds.

Wow, all right. So, imagine being involved in a real life or death duel with a sword at your age. One of those duels came a few years later in 1612, when he squared off against a rival samurai named Sasaki Kojiro. There you go again, my Japanese is good. using a sword carved from the oar of a boat.

And so it was a wooden sword. And Kojiro was known as one of Japan's greatest swordsmen, but Musashi easily donged his attacks and delivered a fatal blow with his wooden weapon. Pretty impressive. Having never been bested in a battle, 60 duels later, Musashi eventually retired from dueling and became an acclaimed ink painter and writer.

Sword fights, sword battles, dueling, all those things have consumed the attention and imagination of particularly young men. I don't know, young ladies, do you guys think about sword fights and all that kind of stuff? Some of you do. But particularly young men, I don't know.

It's something that just grabs our attention. I have several boys, four going on five boys. And my oldest boys, everything becomes a sword. And so we have some, you know, makeshift swords and then sticks become swords.

And my four and five-year-olds are definitely in that sword fighting. It's just it's what kids naturally do, right? There's something about sword fighting that kind of grabs us. And I don't know all the reasons why.

But I was going to do for this session, thinking about our title Sword Fighting 101, I was going to do an overview, a basic overview of the different types of swords. But as I began to look into it, I found out that there are 702 different kinds of swords across the world. And I didn't think you had that much time or interest for that, nor did I. So we're just going to talk about the one sword that I do know a little bit about.

And I want you to take your Bible and go to Ephesians chapter number 6. Ephesians chapter number 6. Here a well-known passage about the spiritual battle that we're in. Verse number 10 says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. You understand what that verse is saying, that last one?

It says there, it says, take that armor of God so that you can withstand, you can fight against, you can withstand the onslaught, the attack, and having done all, when the battle's done and over, when the smoke clears, when the dust settles, you're the one left standing, not the enemy. That's what we call a victor, someone who's a conqueror, kind of what we're talking about this week. I want you to, it then goes in and says, stand therefore having, and it begins to go through the armor. And my point today is not to go through all of the pieces of armor here.

I want you to just simply notice verse number 17. It says, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now, it's interesting to me. This is just a, you know, I don't know.

I don't like the word cutesy, but that's kind of what this is. We can take the word sword and cut off the S, and what do you have? Word. Isn't that cool?

The Word of God is indeed a sword. It's what it's spoken of here. It's how it's described. In Hebrews 4, verse number 12, turn there.

We're going to turn to several passages here together. So have your fingers ready. Here we find another passage in Hebrews 4, where the Word of God is described as a sword. There's a couple others we could look at as well.

In the book of Revelation, we find there Jesus being described at the Battle of Armageddon, and he's coming, and it says, with the sword coming from his mouth, which is the Word of God. And so there certainly we see that as pictured there as well. But here it says in verse number 12, For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word of God is our sword.

And you want to be a conqueror? Well, then you've got to have your sword. And you've got to know how to use your sword. In July of 1961, now legendary coach Vince Lombardi strode to the front of the meeting room with a football underneath his arm.

You probably know this story. 38 Green Bay Packer players sat waiting to hear what their leader had to say. The previous December, they had finally made it to the NFL championship game, only to lose in the last minutes to their rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. And they were still now, six months later, feeling the pain of that loss. But Coach Lombardi had a plan for that 1961 season. he growled at them in his gruff voice gripping that football out in front of him and said gentlemen this is a football now these were football players they know that's a football but what was he saying saying listen men we're going to go back to the very basics to the fundamentals of the game That was his plan.

And that statement began a new day in the team's history. They focused on the fundamentals of the game, the simple things, instead of all these complicated plays. December of 1961 found them once again in the NFL championship, and this time they did not lose. They won over the New York Giants.

And from that point on, Vince Lombardi never lost another playoff game. this is a football well young people today we think about sword fighting 101 101 is basics that's kind of the term we use of the basics this is all this this is your sword you cannot conquer without it this is your sword you cannot conquer without it you need this word of God if you want to walk through life as a conqueror. And I don't consider myself old yet, but maybe some of you do. But I'm definitely starting to approach, you know, middle age, I guess. And I'm becoming more and more convinced the older and older that I get, that I need this book more and more.

I need this sword more and more. And so I want to take just a few moments here together that we have, and I want to think about this sword that we have and encourage you that, hey, you want to be a conqueror? You want to pursue Jesus Christ? You want to make a difference in your world?

This is your sword. This is your sword. Let's pray together. Lord, would you help us in these few moments?

Lord, you know my weakness, my need in this moment. And Lord, I ask that you would take and quicken your word. Lord, that you would take and just bring clarity. As I proclaim, as I give the thoughts and the truth that you've given to me here today.

And Lord, I pray that you would connect it to the lives of these young people. Lord, would you help them to grab a hold of their sword, that they might be able to stand in this evil day. And not just to make it through, not just to survive, but to conquer. So help us, I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. We're looking at several passages of Scripture. I want us to see, first of all, the priority of your sword. Priority of your sword.

Turn with me to Joshua chapter number one. Many of these are going to be very familiar passages. If you have been around church for any extended period of time, my point today is not to be sensational, not to be new, but to get our eyes back on the fact, hey, this is the sword. This is the sword, and you cannot conquer without it.

Joshua chapter number 1 and verse number 8. The Lord is encouraging Joshua as he is embarking on a new time of courage. conquest, of conquering. And he says this, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success.

There are so many aspects that we're going to talk about in our time together here that are wrapped up right here in this verse. So powerful. I want to talk about the Word of God. But here we see simply, he says, listen, if you want to have success, listen, if you want to be victorious, if you want to conquer, then listen, you need this book to be a vital part of your life.

It's a priority. He says, you need courage, you need your sword. As Joshua's facing the fact, hey, I feel weak, Moses, the great leader, is gone, And now it's me leading these people. How can I do this?

Because there's just one thing you need. Remember, I'm with you. And use this sword. Use this sword.

Go to Psalm chapter 1. I should just say Psalm 1. I just did one of the things that I have a pet peeve for. There are no chapters in the book of Psalms.

They're just Psalms. Psalm 1. blessed uh if you were here i believe it was last year i spoke from psalm chapter one if you were at the youth summit last year and we talked about this matter of of being blessed and that's god's heart for you want to live a blessed life certainly a conquering life is a blessed life says blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. You want to have good success is what Joshua 1 talks about. You want to prosper is what Psalm 1 here talks about, so then you need your sword.

You need this book, the Word of God. It has to have a place of priority in your life. Not just something, okay, yeah, oh yeah, I read the Bible when we go to church, we go to Sunday school, the preacher preaches, yeah, I'm there. No, no, in your life, in your daily life, this has to have priority if we're gonna have a life of conquering, of victory in our life.

Let's think now about the power of your sword. Let's go back to Hebrews chapter four for a minute. I know we were there earlier. I hate to make you turn to the same passage twice, but let's do it.

What is it that this sword can do? What is it that it can accomplish? It says here, the word of God is quick. That means it's alive.

It's living and powerful. It's effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So much here, but here we see the Word of God is alive. I know this looks like a book, and it is a book, but it is not a book like every other book.

This book is the word of the living God, the living word. It's not just a word about God. It is not just a word from God. It is the word of God.

And it is alive and it is as powerful as God himself is because it is his revelation of himself. And so when you come to the word of God, you face a situation where you feel like, I don't know what to do or I don't know how to break through this. Can I tell you, you have a sword that has the power of heaven behind it. It is the living word of God.

Don't underestimate that. It's a living word. It's active. It's not something, it's not just, well, passive words.

No, this is God gets involved when his word is proclaimed. God gets involved when his word is accessed. God gets involved because it is alive. It is a living and it is an active, a powerful book.

And it says it's sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces. It pierces deep. I can tell you this word of God, it says here, it's interesting.

It talks about, it pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Okay, we kind of get, okay, that's like spiritual realm things, our soul, our mind, will, and emotions versus the spiritual part of us. But then it says, I know the joints and marrow. And honestly, for a long time, I was confused.

Like, why does it talk about that? That doesn't make sense to me. Why does he throw this physical thing in here? And here's what he's trying to get across.

This Word of God is so sharp, so precise in its effectiveness that it can get to the very depth. The joints and the marrow. The marrow is the innermost part of the bone. It's as deep as you could penetrate.

You're going to penetrate through your leg. You couldn't go deeper than to get to the marrow. the joints, that's the deepest part. So it's saying this Word of God can go very deep to the very core. And it can discern, it can make a difference to where we have a hard time making discernment.

How can I tell the difference? But the Word of God sure can. It's that powerful. It reveals the thoughts and intents of the heart.

You and I can't see the heart. I have no clue what's running through your brain right now. For some of you, I have a clue what's not running through your brain. But I can't tell that.

But can you tell what? The Word of God, it can tell you exactly what's going on deep down inside. Sometimes it reveals things about what's really going on inside you that you didn't even realize were true yourself already. Because our heart's deceitful.

Desperately wicked. But the Word of God reveals it. The Word of God, it is powerful. It goes deep in our life.

I'll look at 2 Timothy 3. What's the power of this sword? What does this sword do? It says here that all Scripture, verse number 16 of 2 Timothy 3, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Now, those are pretty practical things, and you probably have heard that people talking about what's right, what's wrong, how to get it right, and how to keep it right. And I think there's some good sense to that. But notice verse 17, what's the goal? Yeah, the Word of God can do all those things.

It confronts us in all those ways, but it says that the man of God may be perfect, mature, truly furnished unto all good works. Listen, the Word of God matures you. It sanctifies you. As you interact with the Word of God, it does something in your growth, in your walk with Jesus.

And it says that it equips you, furnishes you, so that you can do good works. You can do what God has called you to do. The Word of God, boy, it has great power in our life. what it can accomplish. John chapter 8, look there.

John chapter 8. Verse number 31. Here Jesus is speaking to those who had believed on him, it says here. And he says, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So the Word of God has power to bring freedom where there is bondage. It has the power to open the prison doors of your life and set you free. Go to Psalm 119.

Now Psalm 119, the entire psalm is about the Word of God, So we could glean much just walking through the psalm. It would take us a long time. We could glean much about our sword and our response and our attitude towards our sword. Look at verse number nine.

Wherewithal or how shall a young man cleanse his way? How can I walk in victory? How can I get things right and stay right, like walk a pathway that's clean? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Also, the word of God brings clarity and cleansing to our life, and it leads us in a path of righteousness. Verse number 10, With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. the word of God has the power to keep you from sin there's so much more I've just cherry picked a few things as you think about the power of the sword what the sword can do in your life but I want to get now to the practice of your sword and this really is the thrust of the session of my burden this is a workshop session so my goal is to try to get intensely practical if we can in these few moments, the last few moments together.

How is it? Okay. So we say, well, okay, I know the sword, that's the word of God. Okay.

So I need, I need that sword. Got to have that to conquer. It's powerful. It can accomplish what I could never accomplish.

It can reveal what I could never reveal. Yeah. Wow. What an amazing sword.

All right, good. But, but you've got to actually know the sword yourself. If you're going to be a sword fighter, you've got to be familiar with your sword. If we had someone here today who is a trained sword fighter, of which I am not, but somebody who is trained in sword fighting or fencing or whatever, and they were here, and I said, oh, yeah, I'll fight you, sure.

And I go pick up a sword I've never seen in my life, never felt in my life, I think, man, this thing's kind of heavy. Okay, all right, let's give this a try. Come on. Come on, let's go.

I've seen this. I've seen people do this. I have no clue what to do with this thing. None.

Because I've never interacted with that sword before. And many of us, we walk into battle and we're like, yeah, I want to be a conqueror. Yeah, I want to be a conqueror. So let's go.

Come on. Sword? Sword. Yes, sword.

Sword. All right, let's go. And listen, if you're going to use your sword effectively, if you're going to conquer with the weapon, and the sword is one of the weapons God, if you're going to use that effectively, then you've got to know your sword. You've got to practice with your sword.

So how can we do that? All right, here's some practical things. Number one, read your sword. I know that seems basic, doesn't it?

Read your sword. how much do you actually read of the word of God I know I'm going way way way back to the basis where we got to get to the fundamentals how much do you actually read we need to be reading this book if we're going to be able to use this book if we're going to actually be victorious with our sword we need to actually be reading the words that God has given to us the very words of life. I challenge you, read regularly. Read every day. Now listen, you don't have to get in a huge guilt trip if something happens and you miss a day for some reason because of something outside of your control.

Okay, fine, don't get on. I failed. Man, what's the point of going to… No, no, just get back up and just read again.

Read regularly. Make it a regular part of your life. Read intentionally. have a plan. What's your plan for reading the Word of God?

Do you have one? I didn't bring it. It was a thought that had crossed my mind and I wasn't able to do it, but I thought about, boy, there's all sorts of different options out there today for plans for reading your Bible. Reading your Bible through in a year, reading your Bible, New Testament through in 90 days, reading the entire Bible through in 90 days.

There's all sorts of plans, chronological, a whole bunch of different ways you can work. I don't care really which plan you use. You can't fail if you just actually read the word of God intentionally. So if you don't have a plan, can I challenge you?

Get one. Talk to your parents. Talk to a youth leader. Come talk to me.

Get a plan so that you actually are not just winging this thing. All right. All right. Devotion time today.

So it's a devotion. All right. Let's see. Psalms are always good.

Something nice there. Seven is my favorite number. All right, now I'm sure none of you do that, but honestly, maybe I shouldn't be sure. But honestly, that's what happens when we don't have a plan.

And so have a plan so you can read regularly and read intentionally. But I want to challenge you as well, as you're reading the word of God, read thoughtfully. read thoughtfully sometimes we can get so far all right i got a plan i'm supposed to read three chapters a day all right oh yeah that was interesting okay actually think about what you're reading i'm not saying you have to sit there and mull over every word and take you know three hours to read three verses that's not what i'm saying but actually actually use the brain god gave you to think about what you're reading because it's not just an exercise of, well, this is something I'm supposed to do, so I'm going to do it. No, no, no. You're here because you've got a sword and you need the sword.

And so you're interacting with the sword so you can know what the sword says, so you can use the sword. That means you've got to think about it. I challenge you, read as you read. Think about this.

This has helped me so much in my reading of the Word of God. As you read, ask the Lord and then look for what does this reveal about the person and heart of God. It's not just about information. This is the Word of God, right?

It's revealing Him to us. So when you read the Bible, say, Lord, would you show me something about yourself today? Would you help me understand more of who you are and how you work and what thoughts are running through your head as I read this today? Well, that'll change the way as you're reading, that you're thinking.

It's not that you need to put something in there, but as you're reading, you're realizing, oh, wow, this is what it says about God. And, well, that's important. Read thoughtfully and then read extensively. Read extensively.

Some of you might be thinking, well, all right, I know I'm supposed to read the Bible, but frankly, I don't enjoy doing it. Like, it kind of feels dry to me. And so I do it because I know I'm supposed to do it, or maybe I don't do it because I just don't want to do it and I don't like it. And what do I do so that I actually like reading the Bible?

So that I actually want to do it instead. God challenge you, encourage you, the more that you engage with the Word of God, the more you will enjoy the Word of God. And so often the reason we don't enjoy it is because we spend so little time in it, we step into the pages of Scripture and it feels foreign to us. Distant, cold, because we so seldom are there.

But the more that we get into the Word of God and the more that we engage with this life-giving book, the more our heart falls in love with this life-giving book and we want to read it. And so right now you say, I don't feel like doing, I know, make the decision, make the choice. Love is a choice. It's not a feeling.

Don't go by your feelings. This is what I know the Lord wants. And say, Lord, would you help me to fall in love with your Word? And the more time you spend in the Word of God, the more you will grow to love this book.

I have a good friend of mine. He's a pastor over in Ghana, West Africa. And he came to college here. We were in college together.

And he was a long way from home. And he was here for about seven, eight years, something like that. And boy, he, especially as time went on, just long, he wanted to be back in his country. And so all the time, I mean, that was just what his heart was.

But he made a decision. He said, all right, I'm here. This is where God wants me to be. He says, I'm going to let the word of God become a bigger part of my life.

And so everywhere this guy went around campus, he carried his Bible with him. I mean, everywhere. He was standing in the lunch line. Everybody else is yak, yak, yak, yak, yak, yak.

And what are we talking about? Nothing. And he's there and he's reading his Bible just while he's waiting in line. He'd go out for a walk and he'd take his Bible with him and he'd be reading and walking and praying.

He had a few free moments between class periods. He wouldn't just get up and go. No, he would just sit there and read the Word of God. And he became known among all of us as a man of the book.

And he knows his sword because there's something he says, I'm going to read extensively. And I've been burdened in my own life. I'm telling you, this is an area where I felt the need to be growing. and I've been burdened so much, I need to be spending way more time reading my word, reading my sword. I need to grow in that way.

You say, well, I don't really read all. Okay, well then if you start reading it just regularly, you'll be doing it more extensively than you were before. But maybe you do read your Bible every day. Good.

What step forward can you take in engaging more with the word of God? So you need to read your sword. I know I spent a long time on that, but it's because it's so basic. But yet it's where we struggle a lot, isn't it?

But if we're going to use the sword, we've got to actually know it. We've got to read the sword. So read the sword. And number two, study your sword.

Reading is good. Reading is important. We should be reading. But you also need to be studying.

You need to slow down. So be reading extensively, but have a spot where you're slowing down and you're actually specifically seeking to understand and you're taking more time to think and study a passage of Scripture. And sometimes for me, there's times when I take and I'll study slowly through a book. And so I take that time to do that.

And we did that as a church here through the book of James this summer. We just kind of one verse a day, slowly studying through. There's great blessing in that. Sometimes I'm reading extensively and there's a verse over.

This verse is a verse that really captured my attention. I'm going to stop and I'm going to hone in and I'm going to study that verse and seek to understand that in a greater way. But study the Word of God. Understand the words.

Look up definitions if you need to. Ask for help with that if you need it. Connect with the context. What do I mean by that?

Well, sometimes there's important truth. A verse takes on a whole new angle of what it's saying when we actually look at the verses right before or right after it to understand this is how they all fit together, kind of like the verses we looked at earlier this morning. Okay, well, those verses, I hadn't connected those before. And now, whoa, that changes the thrust of what's being said here.

So look at those contexts. Ask questions of the passage. What is this? Why is it saying that?

and think through those things. Write down observations that you're making. Make specific application to your life. Study your sword.

Study your sword. Memorize your sword. I'm convicted about this one. I'm not very good at Bible memory.

I don't mean that I can't memorize things. I mean, I just don't. And for most of us, that's the problem. It's not that We couldn't memorize.

We just don't. And it's something I'm burdened about. As I was working on this, boy, that's something I really need to do that with the Word of God. Get it into your mind so it can dwell in your heart.

It's the first step. It's not the end to just memorize so I have all this data up here. No, it's got to go deeper than that, but it's an important step. How intentional are you about memorizing the Word of God?

Realize your sword. Make it yours. Make it yours. I don't mean you need to etch your name on the front of it, though that's, you know, fine to have your name on your bow.

I'm saying that truth, as you're studying the word, as you're reading through, and you're realizing instead, we're talking about the superiors. This is talking about me. This is true about me. Put my name right in there.

This isn't just all those. This is Joe. This is true for me in this moment. Personalize it.

It's God speaking to you. So engage with the Word of God in that way. Let God speak to you and connect it to your life. Pray your sword.

We see examples of this in Scripture, and I have found great blessing in doing this in my life. Take the word of God, and boy, there's a passage that your heart is stirred with. Pray that back to the Lord. Or claim a passage of Scripture and pray, Lord, now you said this, and Lord, I need that reality right now.

On a regular basis, there's passages of Scripture that I claim almost every day. And Lord, Lord, I need this. This morning, I said, Lord, you said, faithful is he that calls you also to it. Lord, I need that today.

I need you to do it. I'm trusting in your promise. Pray it back to the Lord. Sometimes we find prayers in the Word of God.

Pray those things. I was reading in Ephesians 3 recently, and I was just struck, boy, here's some good prayer requests for a church. Wanting to know how to pray for a local church? Well, there's some good prayer requests right there in Paul's prayer.

Things that I need to pray back to the Lord. It personalizes. It makes it yours. You're actually taking that sword and beginning to use it.

Think about your sword when you're not reading it. The Bible uses the term to meditate. to meditate, that's to turn things over in your mind, to work through those things and try to make those connections and understand and ask those questions, think about it. I wonder, read your Bible, maybe you read your Bible this morning, maybe we go back a few days since, you know, this is kind of a weird schedule here, and you read your Bible on Tuesday morning, then you walked off. They didn't think about it anymore.

Didn't think a bit more what you read about. When God is giving you that word so that you can actually let it sink into your, not just your mind, but your heart. And that meditation is so key for it to get down deeper than just, well, this is what it means. No, no, no.

Let it get down deep in life. This is true for me. This is what it means in my life. This changes who I am and how I live.

Think about your sword. Meditate. Trust your sword. That should go without saying, right?

But I'm telling you, you're going to face some moments in your life where you have a choice. Are you going to trust what you can see or what you feel? Or are you going to trust your sword? I could tell you stories from our life or some hard moments.

So some of those difficult things and you face that and you think, ah, this feels like this is what we should do or this feels like this is what's going on or this feels like this is what's true. And we had to come back and say, but God says this. And so God, I'm siding with what you say, not with how I feel right now or not with what I see right now. That is the only way you can walk through life with joy and peace.

Because you're going to face difficult things like Brother Bileser talked about last night. You're going to face challenges. And it's only if you actually trust your sword that you can know the blessing that it provides, that it promises to us. So trust your sword.

Not in order to trust it, you've got to know it. You've got to know what it says. It takes us all the way back. Study.

Read. Trust your sword. Obey your sword. obey your sword think of the words there of James chapter 1 don't just be a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word you look into that word of God and God uses it like that sword to pierce deep in your life and to show you need in your life or to show you the step you need to take and you see it and you say okay nice and walk away and you don't do anything with it you set down your sword you chose not to use your sword we need to obey that sword listen the sword only has power in your life when you submit to it that's when you experience the power of the word of God that we talked about is when you actually say alright this is true I'm going to use this thing I'm going to submit I'm going to obey what God says I'm going to bank on it to be true obey your sword and then finally I'll say it this way wield your sword, use it use it when temptation comes use your sword, that's why you have it so that you can stand when discouragement comes use your sword, run here don't run to social media don't run to that friend, run here use your sword when bad things happen use your sword when good things happen use your sword when you feel alone use your sword when the enemy seems strong and overpowering and overwhelming use your sword when all seems lost use your sword and you'll find out it isn't all lost day, this is your sword. You cannot conquer without it.

There's no other way. You want to be a conqueror? All right. Time for you to have a life now wrapped up in this book, consumed with this book.

There's no other way to be a conqueror. So I want to be a conqueror, but I'll leave the weapon there. Uh-huh. Good luck.

You need this. How much of your life is consumed with the sword, the living word of God that he's placed into your hands? What an awesome privilege you and I have. There are people around the world who would literally give their life to have the book that you're holding in your hands.

To have the stack of these that you probably have at home on the bookshelf that you never open. People would walk miles just for the chance to get their hands on a copy, just to even just hear it read to them. And we're so casual, so calloused. We think, oh, yeah, it's a sword, great.

If I ever need it, I'll get around to it. I'll come find it. No, no, no. You need the sword.

You can't conquer without it. So what are you going to do to engage, to practice your sword, to get to know your sword, to be ready to wield it, to actually take it into battle with you? Starts with that simple, just actually reading it. Studying it.

Let it become a part of your life. I've intentionally been very basic in this time here because I want us to just get back to the basics. There's lots of other things we can talk about, having victory and an important truth that we need to understand, all those things. But young people, I am more convinced than ever that God intends to use this sword to do his delivering work in your life and this sword to do his delivering work through your life.

Yes, empowered by the Spirit of God as we trust Him and we surrender to Him. But we can't walk away from this. This is your sword. Can't conquer without it.

So what are you going to do with it? Let's pray.