Finish The fight
Message Moments & Highlights
Look At The Right Thing
Labour In The Right Fight
Love The Right Way
How to Finish Your Fight God's Way
Finish The fight
Understanding spiritual warfare begins with recognizing that our battles extend beyond physical circumstances into the spiritual realm. Just as Elisha's servant needed divine insight to see God's armies, we must learn to view our challenges through God's perspective rather than natural eyes. This shift in perception helps us identify the true nature of our struggles and engage them appropriately.The key to spiritual victory lies in fighting the right battles with the right weapons. Instead of engaging in human conflicts, we must focus on spiritual warfare using tools like prayer, faith, and God's Word. Love emerges as the most powerful weapon in this arsenal, demonstrated through showing kindness to opponents and responding to hatred with grace. This approach transforms enemies into opportunities for ministry and healing.Victory in spiritual warfare comes through aligning with God's methods rather than worldly tactics. This includes examining our battles through His perspective, identifying the real spiritual forces at work, and responding with love rather than retaliation. Success requires a commitment to seeing correctly, fighting spiritually, and loving unconditionally.
Key Insights From The Message
Related Bible Verses
2 Kings 6:12-23 NLT
““It’s not us, my Lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!” “Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.” And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please make them blind.” So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. Then Elisha went out and told them, “You have come the wrong way! This isn’t the right city! Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to the city of Samaria. As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, now open their eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?” “Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.” So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel.”
Ephesians 6:12-18 NLT
“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”
“But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”
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Finishing Your Fight: A Guide to Spiritual Victory
Life presents many battles, but how we fight them determines our success. When facing opposition, it's essential to understand that we're not just dealing with physical circumstances but engaging in spiritual warfare.
What Does It Mean to Look at Things Differently?
The first key to winning your spiritual battles is seeing situations through God's perspective rather than natural eyes. Just as Elisha's servant initially saw only the enemy army surrounding them, we often focus on overwhelming circumstances. However, when Elisha prayed for his servant's eyes to be opened, he saw the spiritual reality - they were surrounded by God's armies of fire.
How Do We Fight the Right Battle?
Many Christians waste energy fighting the wrong battles. Scripture teaches that "we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world" (Ephesians 6:12). This means:
Focus on spiritual warfare rather than human conflicts
Use spiritual weapons like prayer, faith, and God's Word
Avoid getting distracted by minor arguments and offenses
Remember your true purpose and calling
What Role Does Love Play in Spiritual Victory?
The most powerful weapon in spiritual warfare is love. When Elisha's enemies were captured, rather than destroying them, he instructed they be shown kindness and fed. This demonstrates:
Love your enemies as Jesus commanded
See opponents as prisoners needing freedom, not enemies to destroy
Respond to hatred with kindness
Let love be your defining characteristic
Life Application
This week, examine the battles you're facing and ask yourself:
Am I seeing this situation through God's eyes or my natural perspective?
What is the real battle here - am I fighting people or spiritual forces?
How can I respond with love rather than retaliation?
Challenge: Identify one person or situation where you've been fighting the wrong way. Commit to:
Asking God for His perspective
Using spiritual weapons (prayer, faith, God's Word)
Responding with love rather than anger or revenge
Remember, victory comes not through human strength but through seeing correctly, fighting spiritually, and loving unconditionally. Your battle can be won when you align with God's methods rather than worldly warfare.
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
Sermon Transcript
My name's Adrian. I'm one of the pastors. Pastors. And it's an honour to be with you. If you're watching with us online, watching from a live stream, I hope you're having a good Sunday.
And we're going to get into the Word today. God's got a word for us and I believe it's for all of our church family. And for those of you who don't know, we've now got six local churches or part of the Connect Christian church family. And last week I got the privilege of going down to Connect Bass coast and in Grantville and being there for their second week. And God's doing a great work there.
We had almost 50 people there for the second week, which is pretty astounding for that area. And God's doing a great work. So I want to welcome you all. Let's get into it. Two Kings, Two Kings, Chapter six.
Two Kings, Chapter six. We're going to read a story here about Elisha and the Israelites. So a little bit of background, just very brief. The Israelites were their own nation, and they had other nations around them that didn't like them. Sounds familiar.
And they. One of these nations, Aram, had a king who basically wanted to attack the Israelites and defeat them. And they were at war. The Israelites and Aram, the nation of Aram, were at war. And the king kept.
The king of Aram kept sending in different groups to try and raid different areas of Israel and to try and, you know, defeat them, disillusion them, conquer them eventually. But God had a different plan. And who knows that sometimes when the enemy comes in, God raises up a standard and God does a work. And so in this particular case, God had raised up a man named Elisha. And Elisha was a prophet of God.
He wasn't anything particularly special about him other than God had called him to hear his voice and declare what God was saying. And so Elisha had this very nasty habit for the king of Aram that whenever the king of Aram would send raiding parties out, God would speak to Elisha and tell him where those raiding parties were going to be before they got there. And so Elisha would tell the king of Israel and they'd put a stop to it. And so the king of Aram got very upset, and he's like, there's a traitor in Amit. There's a traitor.
And he's like, how do we stop this? And so we're going to read now what happens from here in verse 2 Kings 6, verse 12. And so the king's complaining, where's this traitor? And they say, it's not us, my lord. The king, one of the officers replied, elisha, the prophet in Israel tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom.
Go and find out where he is, the king commanded, so I can send troops to seize him. Him. And the report came back, elisha is at Dothan. So one night, the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. Interestingly, at that particular time, it doesn't appear that God told Elisha that he was sending this to surround him.
Who knows that sometimes you're serving God and something goes wrong and you're like, God, why don't you tell me that beforehand? And he doesn't. He just puts us in the middle of it sometimes. So what happens? Well, people freak out.
Verse 15, when the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside they had a very. They were heavy sleepers. They didn't. If it was Narelle, she would have woken up. As soon as there was, like, a whiff of a horse's breath, she would have.
It was like that. You wake up whenever you hear anything. They were all sleeping. He woke up early the next morning, went outside, and there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. Oh, sir, what will we do now?
The young man cried to Elisha. He's freaking out. We're gonna die, basically. And Elisha replies, don't be afraid. Elisha told him, for there are more on our side than on theirs.
And then Elisha prayed, o Lord, open his eyes and let him see. And the Lord opened the young man's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. We're going to read through to the end here, and then we're going to talk about this. As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, oh, Lord, please make them blind. So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.
And then Elisha went out and told them, you have come the wrong way. I love this. This isn't the right city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you're looking for. He's like the Pied Piper.
Follow me, everyone. I'm going to take you somewhere else. And they did, right. Where am I? I'll take you to the city you're looking for.
And he led them to the city of Samaria. And as soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, oh, Lord, now open their eyes and let them see. So the Lord opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria. And when the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, there's some very strange characters around Elisha. He shouted to Elisha, my father, should I kill them?
Should I kill them? He's all excited. Of course not. Elisha replied, do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink, and send them home again to their master.
So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel. Lord, as we come around your word today, I pray that you would lift us up, you would speak to us, you would challenge us, God, because we are in a fight, Lord, but you called us to win the fight. And Lord God, I'm praying that you're going to raise up mighty men and women of God. Who are going to be like Elisha and finish the fight that you've called us to win in Jesus name.
Amen. So, as you might have guessed, I'm titling today's message. Finish your fight. Who knows that we are in a battle and when, if you're here, it's because you're trying to be a person who makes a difference in this world. You're trying to follow Jesus, you're trying to help others, you're trying to live a life that makes a difference for eternity in the kingdom of God.
You've got dreams, you've got visions, you've got a family. You're trying to do good. And whenever you try and do good, there is opposition. There are things that try and stop you. Elisha was doing good.
He was protecting God's people, he was speaking on God's behalf. And the enemy comes in and tries to destroy him. And sometimes we get to the point where we're doing good, we're trying to do the right thing, but it gets all too much, doesn't it? Who's ever been in that place where it's just like, it's all too much? I've had a gut full.
I've had enough. I want to throw in the towel. And sometimes, you know, I remember when I was just a kid, we've got a video of this, a home video, back in, when we were living in Darwin and my uncle was filming the happy family. And there's myself. I was like four years old, my sister was two.
And Mum's in the lounge room there, and we're sitting on the floor and we're doing a puzzle together. We're putting a puzzle together. This sounds like a beautiful, wonderful, happy, joyful time. I think dad was somewhere else, he was playing the keys somewhere, playing the organ. And we were trying to do a puzzle.
And my sister, I love my sister very much, but my sister doesn't like to sit still. And so my sister, she picked up a puzzle piece and she was walking over here and it was like. And I'm going, katrina, come back with that puzzle piece and put it there. And my mum's looking and she's like trying to control these two kids, trying to be the happy family. It's not working.
Who's felt like that? Mums. It's not working. Your kids are not behaving the way you want them to. And my mum looks at the camera and she looks down and she's exasperated and she goes, let's just forget the whole thing now.
That was Just one moment in my mum's life where she's like, had enough? But it was caught on camera. And for the rest of my mum's life, we have used that phrase. Whenever the going gets tough, we're like, let's just forget the whole thing and quit and give up. Because sometimes you feel like that.
That sometimes you feel like giving up sometimes. My wife, my beautiful, wonderful wife, we have a little saying in our household every now and then when it gets past a certain time of night, because my wife's a morning person, not a night person. Morning. She's like, let's go. We're going to do everything.
She's happy as Larry, and it's all happening at night time. She's tired, and sometimes she just gets to the point when she's about to fall asleep, and I'm like, come on, we're going to do this. And she's like, I can't do it. I can't do it. And it's a running joke in our household.
Sometimes it's like when Narelle gets really tired, we just go, we can't do it. We can't do it. I'm like, come on, we can do it. She's like, you do it. I'm not.
I'm going to bed. All right. Sometimes we feel like we feel like that spiritually. We feel like that in our lives, don't we? You get to the point where you say, let's just forget the whole thing.
Forget the dream, forget the relationship where I'm struggling in my marriage. Forget trying to reconcile, forget pursuing this. Forget doing the right thing and living a life of integrity. Let's just forget the whole thing and give up. I can't do it.
That's what we want to feel like at times. And every one of us go through that. But God has a different plan for you and I. And I want to look at the life of Elisha. Because the servant didn't know what to do.
The other Israelites didn't know what to do. But Elisha knew what to do. And there are three keys here in that scripture that we're going to look at on how you are going to finish your fight. You're in a fight. You're in a battle, and you're going to win the battle.
If you do these things, every single one of us will win the battle. It's not time to give up. It's not time to forget the whole thing. You can do it. You will do it.
We're going to do it together. And so let's look at those three things. The first one is this. The first one is this. If you're going to win the fight and finish your fight, you've got to look at the right thing.
You got to look at the right thing. It's very clear. This is a famous scripture. They get surrounded by an army and the servant freaks out. And it says, I love it.
He cries out, oh, no, what do we do? Of course it's scary. You feel intimidated, don't you? Fear comes and grips us sometimes. Some of us, you know, we have anxiety because we're worried about the future.
We're worried about different things. What am I going to do? I don't have the strength. I don't have the power. The enemy seems too strong.
These things that are piled against me seem too much. But Elisha replies, don't be afraid, for there are more on our side than on theirs. And then he asks, say, lord, open his eyes and let him see. And when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. What do you see?
What do you see? It's very easy in life to get caught up in the negative, isn't it? Very, very easy. Adrian is a very positive person up on this stage. Brilliant, faith filled champion, right?
Always. But there's another side to Adrian where sometimes things get a little bit much and you get a bit tired and a bit overwhelmed. And sometimes, very, very rarely, but sometimes negative Adrian comes out. And when negative Adrian is around, you don't like to be around negative Adrian because I find holes in everything. Pastor Trevor will come and tell me that all these new people have come to church and he's all excited and I'll go, oh yeah, how many are gonna stay?
Welcome to reality, eh?
I watch a movie or a TV show with my wife and I can't help it. I have to tell find all the negatives. I watched Wicked the other day and. And I just pulled it to be. I don't like Ariana Grande and this.
I don't like that voice. I don't like that. I don't like that. And they're all goes, you've wrecked this whole movie. I loved it, but you've wrecked it.
I'm not watching any movies with you again. And she went into the other room and watched something else.
And I go, actually, I had to learn from that. And I went, actually, maybe I am being a bit negative. So I rewatched it and I said, I'm going to put aside negative and try and be positive. I'm going to test myself. And it worked.
I was actually like, oh, if I look differently and put aside the negative. I saw these qualities and I really enjoyed it. And then I've started listening to the songs on my, like, favorites. And now Ella's paying me out. She goes, oh, dad, are you a fan girl now of Wicked?
It's like, well, I like the songs. They're good. Because it depends. How are you looking? What are you seeing?
Look at the right thing. If you look at the negative, you will be overwhelmed and fearful. Some of us are so caught in thinking negatively and looking at the things that are against us that we're causing fear and anxiety to rise up and control us and be the thing. And it's hard when you live in that space. And I want to encourage you that God has a different way for you, that whatever situation you're in, God has a different way of looking.
But you've got to find it. You've got to. It's a spiritual way of looking. It's a way of faith that sees things that may not be natural, may not be. Elisha didn't see in the natural.
In the natural, they were surrounded by an army and at look dire straits for them. But in the spiritual, he said, if you see differently, this is the beautiful thing about being a Christian. When you have the Holy Spirit living in you, he shows you a different way of seeing the world, of seeing what's going on. He says, if you will look, if you will see with spiritual eyes, you'll see that we're surrounded by a far greater army. That greater is he is the sentiment that's in me than he that's in the world.
The King of Aram might be coming around to try and kill me, but the Lord God Almighty's on my side. And I want to tell you, when you see like that, something changes. You go, I'm gonna fight on. I'm gonna finish this fight. I'm not defeated.
I'm a victor. Whatever comes against me shall not prosper. What are you looking at? What are you looking at? I want to tell you some of us have to see with the eyes that God's calling us to see with spiritual eyes.
My dad's here. I'm throwing him under the bus today. In a good way. Here's my dad. Dad, stand up for a second.
It's my dad, Gavin.
He's now joined our church. He's joined. He's seen the light. He's come to Victoria, come to Melbourne. Welcome, dad.
And he knows. Cause he's been watching us online. And many of you know, if you've heard the story of some of our lives and the. And the challenges that we've faced and my dad's faced. And the truth of the matter is that my dad used to be a pastor.
And then all these things happened and got disillusioned and hurt and gone through all kinds of things in his life and went away from church, went away from God for many years. And in the natural, if you think about it, dad, in the natural, it did not seem like you were ever going to come back. Did not seem that anything was ever going to change. My dad used to be a muso. He used to be a worship pastor.
Played keys, played the organ, played in a band. People would. People still come to me to this day who went to Bible college with dad. And churches pastored at the time. And we'll say, oh, your dad was anointed.
Oh, he played the keys and you could sense the presence of God. And I'd hear these stories and I'd listen to sometimes dad play. And he'd go, yeah, there's an anointing. There's a gifting there. But then he went away from God.
And in the natural, it looked like nothing would ever change. That's gone. That dream's over. But you know what? And sometimes in my own heart, because my desire was I always wanted to see my dad come back to God and say, God, God's got a plan for you.
He's got a plan. But in the natural, it seemed like it wasn't going to happen. And I remember sometimes I'm like, oh, well, I've just got to get on with life. So be it. And then God challenged me and said, adrian, do you believe that I can bring change?
With man, it's impossible. With God, all things are possible. And God challenged my heart, said, adrian, are you going to look differently? Because sometimes we just go, you know what? To save ourselves a bit of pain, we're going to say, I just accept it as it is, and I'm not going to believe.
And God came to me and said, lord, Adrian, it's time to believe again. Can you believe that I can transform your dad and see him back in the house of God and doing what God's called him to do? And I said, yes, God, I'll believe. And a series of things over years, dad and I have had discussions, and God moved on Dad's heart. And he said, I'm coming back into the family.
He's been watching us online, overseas. Now he's coming back into church. But here's the thing. And now you really have to do it, dad, because on Thursday morning, right, we run a service, Connect Together, and they don't have any musos at the moment. And I went talk to my dad, he's a muso.
And so Helena, who runs that service, she did talk to my dad. And dad rang me or he messaged me and he said this week, he said, hey, Helena just called me and she asked whether I'll be willing to play the keys in that service. And I've said yes. And so this Thursday, how good's that? This Thursday, 10am I'll be here.
Come along. Dad will really be stressed. My dad, who used to be a worship pastor and play in the church, will be back playing on the keys after more than 35 years of not having done it. Do you know what that shows me? That if we look see, God looks differently.
The people. You've given up on the dream, you've given up on the thing you think is impossible, is not impossible in God. And if you have the tenacity to believe and say, God can you do a mighty work and do a miracle, you'll see something different happen. Finish your fight. God has not finished with that person, with your husband, your wife, your child, your parent.
He has not finished with your dream. Keep on believing and look at what God is showing you, not what the reality is. Sometimes it takes time, but we've got to finish our fight. That's the first thing. What do you see?
What do you see? The second thing that happens is Elisha now has a choice. He's got the Chariots of Fire behind them. He could get out there and say, right, let's go fight. Get your swords and let's go fight.
We've got the spiritual army. Army. We've got our swords. Let's go for it. But he doesn't do that.
He fights differently. He says this, he in verse 18, as the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, O Lord, please make them blind. So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. And then he goes on and he basically goes out to them and says, hey, I'm going to be the Pied Piper and I'm going to lead you somewhere completely different. Different.
He fights differently. He doesn't fight the fight that the enemy wanted him to fight. He fights the fight God wants him to fight. The second thing you got to do is you gotta labor in the right fight. You gotta put your energy and effort into the right fight.
Some of us are fighting the wrong fight. You're fighting against people. God says you're not in a fight against people. We're not in a fight against flesh and blood. Let me go to a couple of scriptures here.
Let's go to Ephesians first. Ephesians, Christian. Here we go. You know, I love about Christian Christians doing all our words up the back here. Do you know how long you been a Christian Christian?
12 months he's been a Christian and he's learning the word came from completely unsaved, unchurched background. And now he's helping us find all the scriptures. So you've got to give him a bit of help and grace because he's fine. Ephesians, chapter six. You ready?
Ephesians, 6:12. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world. Against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Got to fight the right fight. Therefore, verse 13, put on every piece of God's armor so that you'll be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil.
Then after the battle, you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground. How do you do that? Putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness for shoes. Put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you'll be fully prepared.
In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith. Faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Labor in the right fight. You're not fighting people.
You're fighting a spiritual war. You're fighting when you're fighting in your own mind against fear and worry, you're fighting a spiritual war. Are you fighting the right fight? It says this in 2 Corinthians. If we go back to 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 3 and 4, listen to this.
We are human, but we don't wage war as humans do. We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. Labor in the right fight. Elisha did not tell them to get their swords and go and destroy enemies physically. He said, I will use the weapons that God has given me.
And I'm telling you, friends, we've got to use the weapons. God, the church and Christians. We get caught up and deceived sometimes because we end up fighting battles that don't actually help us. Don't help the world. Let's go.
Sometimes we've got people against us. I look at the people that are against Christianity and seem to go, oh, this, that, and the other. I go, it's a spiritual war. I'm not fighting them. I'm fighting against an evil behind the scenes.
And my weapons are prayer, the word of God, the shield of faith, the belt of truth, salvation, the grace and love of God that is poured out, the Holy Spirit that fills my life with his presence and fire. Fight the right fight. Some of us are so caught up, you know. You know when you have an argument with your spouse, your partner, and you're having an argument. Narelle.
I don't. I'm just talking from other people's experience that I've heard. Narella, we never fight. Ever, Ever. No, it's not true.
You know, sometimes when you're having an argument and I'm good. I'm a good arguer, man. I got points. And Narelle gets upset because she's like, I don't have your logic. I just know what I feel.
I'm like, well, this is illogical and blah, blah, blah. And then you get into this thing, and then you suddenly real go, what are we arguing about? You have those. You know what? What?
Like, this is my wife. This is. We love each other. We're in this together, but we're having an argument over what? And you got to go, we're in the wrong fight.
I'm laboring. I'm putting all this effort. Some of us are, you know, we've got employer. And you're going, oh, this person or this person at work or a friendship or even in church and families. We're fighting, fight.
There's tension. You go, you're in the wrong fight. You're putting your energy into the wrong thing. Now, I told Narelle that I've got a story about her, and I do. I do.
This is a story. This is a good one, actually. I like this one because it gives us a good example. Sixteen and a half years ago, my beautiful wife gave birth to our daughter. And we've got a few pregnant ladies in the church.
Got some people just given birth. Leah just given birth, and it's very exciting. And Gab's just given birth to their little Bubs, little baby girls. So we're in the middle of this. We've got a baby boom happening in our church.
And so I was thinking about Laban. I remember Narelle. She was going through this. And I accept the fact that as a man, I have no idea what's going on. All right?
Men, just accept it, right? We got no idea, and we're not trying. Alex, I give up. You're a champion. I don't know how you do it.
You know, this will be third time. And we just. We honor you, right? We honor all the mums. My wife was in labor, and we hadn't slept all night because she'd been going through contractions and all this.
And now we're in the hospital. We've got a midwife there, and I'm there, and my wife's trying to go through and give birth. You're having flashbacks, huh, honey? And she's trying to give birth, and, you know, it's quite painful. And I'm there, like, honestly, brilliant husband, right?
Had not slept through the night. I'm there with a stopwatch, counting the contractions. So good, honey. Like, honestly, I just did a brilliant job. And then what I.
But what I said, look, I've got to be encouraging because I'm not always the most encouraging, because I'm just, like, practical. So I'm like, I've got to be really encouraging right now, and the world needs me. And so I'm coming alongside her, I'm holding her hand, and I'm like, honey, you're doing such a good job. You're amazing. Keep going.
Breathe, honey, breathe. You're doing it. Come on. And I'm really trying to. I'm putting on my most encouraging voice.
Honestly, it was like, come on, Narelle. And she turns to me and looks, and I thought I was doing amazing. And she looks at me and she goes, adrian, your voice is annoying.
And she looks at the midwife. She goes, be like her or go over there and let us get on with it.
I was like, oh, okay. Been put in my place. And so I took my wife's advice. There was a couch just over there, and I went, okay, my. My work here is done, not wanted.
I went over on that couch and I fell asleep. It was awesome. I woke up, she still hadn't given birth and ended up having a cesarean. But you know what? My wife, she could have got really annoyed with me and gone, you're ticking me off.
I've had a gut full. We could have had a fight and all this, but she didn't. She went, you know what? I've got a labor to go through. I got a fight to finish.
And you're a distraction. So look, mate, just clear out over there. We'll work you out later. I got a fight to finish. And I want to tell you, some of us, that's what we need to do in our lives.
If you're going to finish your fight, what are you actually fighting? What's your actual purpose? And stop having all these little mini battles, getting caught up together and going, that doesn't even mean anything. Oh, I've been offended. You know what?
If I reacted to all the times I got offended and didn't calm myself down, honestly, it'd be ridiculous. I wouldn't get anything done, right? Labor in the right fight. The weapons of your warfare are not carnal. It says in the new King James version, we're fighting a spiritual war.
And sometimes you've got people and they do different things to us and they say different things. Things. Put it aside. Do what my wife did. That's annoying.
I'm not gonna deal with that. That's okay. I'm focusing here. You know what? What has God called you to do?
What battle has he called you to win? Fight it with the weapons of warfare. Look at the right thing and say, I'm not letting go of that. And then you'll know how to labor in the right fight. You'll know when you've been distracted.
How many times I've been distracted? Narelle tells me, get home. I'm like, right, we gotta deal with this in politics. I got this going on. Tennis was on, and I had all these comments about that.
It's like, adrian, no one cares what you're saying. I was like. I realized. I was like, I've spent all my energy talking about that. And I go, I've got to focus on what God's called me to do.
Not all these other things. Labor in the right fight. And the third one is this. The third one is this. We see this.
We've got a love. Love the right way. Look at the right thing. What do you see? Labor in the right fight.
Who are you fighting? And love the right way. How do you fight love the right way? Look at this. This is amazing to me in this story, because we love the bit.
The chariots of fire, don't. We surrounded. God's with me. Come on, we're ready to go. He makes them blind, sends them off, and they're all crazy.
And it's like, we don't know what's going on. And then we get to verse 21, and some of us are like this. I'd be like this, probably when the king of Israel saw them, he shouted To Elisha, my father. Should I kill them? Should I kill them?
We got him. Now, some of us as Christians were like that. Oh, we found a weak point. Let's go take them out. It's like they deserve it.
They hurt me, I'm going to hurt them. And look what Elisha says. Of course not. Elisha replied. Do we kill prisoners of war, give them food and drink and send them home again to their master?
So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. And after that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel. You've got a secret weapon. Do you understand this? We are not carnal.
We are not of this world. You have a secret weapon, and it's called love. It's called love. And sometimes the church, we feel weak in that. But Jesus gave us these words.
He said this in Matthew 5:44. I say, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. I'm in a battle, but it's not against people. I'm in a battle against evil. And the people who are seemingly against me are prisoners.
They are prisoners of war. They are sick, as Jesus said. He said, I haven't come to heal those who are well. I've come to heal the sick. Do you know every person who does wrong and comes against you and does the wrong thing in your life, they're just caught up in something that they need to be set free from.
From. There's just someone who hasn't had the revelation of the love of God and the joy of God. We don't fight them. We love them. The church and our church, we're going to be known.
You know what people have over the years have told me, you got to fight this issue and fight this issue. And we want to stand for righteousness. We want to be salt and light in our community. But I'm not going to be someone who's known as fighting peace and little battles, because I've got a bigger fight. I've got a labor in the right fight.
You know what my fight's about? You know what our fight's about? Winning people to Jesus, helping them see that Jesus Christ is the only way. He is the way, the truth and the life. He's not there to destroy them.
He's there to save them, just like he saved us. We are the ones. And you know how we do that? By the love of God. So when an enemy comes against you, do you know the battle, the way to fight them?
How do you fight them? I Fight them with love. Love, you come and stab me in the back. You know what Jesus says? Turn around and go and embrace him and give him a big hug.
Love the right way. Love the right way. Not perfect in it, but Lord, help, help me. I'm a good fighter, I'm a good arguer. The older I get, the more I know the Lord Jesus, the more I put down those weapons and take up my weapon of love, the grace of God, the love of God.
Because you can't be defeated when you love every person who comes against. This is just someone that I'm believing is going to find the Lord Jesus Christ and have a revelation and be changed and transformed. And one day I'm going to be able to embrace them truly and say we found peace and life and hope. Who are the people in your life? You know, the people at work who are just a pain in the neck?
Maybe it's your employer, maybe it's someone at work, maybe it's a family member, maybe it's someone at church.
Love, you don't know what they're going through. When I react wrongly, you know what I am? I'm a prisoner of war. I've been caught up in something that the Lord wants to set me free from. And what I need is, I need someone to love me with the love of Christ, to show me a different way.
Christians, it's time for us not to get caught up in the battles that the enemy wants us in, which is fighting this little skirmish and this little one and getting caught up without love. Fight the battle, but fight it with love. Stand our ground, but do it in love.
I had a friend in school and he was like a. Well, he, I was like a full on Christian and he was, and I was outspoken about it and he was a full on atheist. He was like. And he wanted to make a point of that. And we're both nerds, so we had that in common.
Love, science and maths. And we'd have these discussions and he'd tell me what a load of rubbish my Christianity was and it's all fake. And you're right there, Harry, that was very subtle. It was subtle. I just made a point of it.
So you're doing a great job, my friend.
Sorry.
So he'd pay me out and he'd be quite aggressive and telling others about, you know, Adrian, what he believes is a lot of rubbish and atheism and this. And I just had this thought, I went, I saw something and I don't know, it was like we'd have Discussions and arguments about it. But you know what? I liked him. I really liked him.
I said, I went, I'm going to try and, like, build relationship with him and I'm going to believe, I'm going to look differently. I'm going to believe that one day he's going, going to see the way. He's going to see that Jesus is real and that he is the way, the truth and the life. And so over a couple of years, he'd be paying me out, paying me out. I kept hanging out with him.
I think sometimes he was like, why is he still hanging out with me? I invited him into the wider nerd group that I had going. So the group of nerds would walk around the school discussing all the problems of life and how we're going to solve them all. And he came into our group and other people would, like, react. But I kept loving him.
And then we had, you know, we go over each other's houses and we talk. And I discovered he was going through difficult things at home and he was questioning things. And I remember one day, this is like two years on, I still remember it was in the schoolyard. It was. I think we were in the musical together and we were talking and he started opening up and he started telling me he's been thinking about what I believe.
And he said, I think I believe it. And he said, I still remember in the schoolyard. I said, well, you know what? You can give your life to Jesus right here. And we said the sinner's prayer together where this atheist found Jesus and said, I'm going to give my life to Christ.
And I didn't get to control all his life and, you know, in different states and all of that. But you know what I realised in that? If I look differently, if I labor in the right fight, praying for him, loving him, if I love the right way, God can do anything. I believe that with all. There is not a circumstance on this earth that I don't believe that love conquers.
I believe it with all my heart. Even if you die, love conquers. You have the victory. Jesus Christ won. Do you know how he won?
Through love. He gave up his life. And because of love, he conquered all. He conquered sin and death. So it cannot hold you anymore.
They can get your flesh, but they cannot get your spirit.
So don't let the devil get your spirit. Don't let the devil get you with unforgiveness and bitterness and fighting the way the world fights. Come on, church, let's not be those we want to be light to this world. When you walk into this place, I don't care who you are, what you're going through, what gender you say you are, what race you are, I don't care. Jesus Christ loves you.
And we're going to try and love you. And we try that together. And we forgive each other. And you watch. Will change the world, you know?
Look at our church. It's full of people. Last night we had 100 people here. On the Saturday night service, we're planting churches. Do you know why?
Because I believe with all my heart. Because Jesus Christ changes lives. And the Holy Spirit, when he flows through us, brothers and sisters. It's so attractive to people. The love of God.
I love it. Casey, in a couple of weeks, we're going to two morning services and a night service because we're filling that place up. Why? Because the love of God draws people in. I'm gonna labor in the right fight.
The right fight is for people's souls. To see people saved, to see people find Jesus. That's our focus. That's our goal. That's what I've devoted my life to.
And we're going to do it through love. So when you got the enemy down and out, don't strike them down with the sword. Feed him a meal. Isn't that good? Myrtle does that.
She does it to everyone. My mum does that. People. But I'm talking a spiritual. I'm talking a loving meal.
Might be practical, but it's when they're down and out, forgive. When you got the upper hand. Sometimes, don't ram it down someone's throat. Love, forgive. You might still get attacked, but in the end you win.
Because love wins. Love conquers all. And so we're gonna pray. Hey.
Because God's called you to finish your fight.
Some great characters in history that have fought great battles.
In the end, it was love that won the day. The ones that conquered through brute force.
You don't really want to know those people. They didn't win. They conquered, but they didn't win.
Thinking of people like Abraham Lincoln. He had to fight a fight, but he won through love. Saying, come on, we need to love every person. Martin Luther King. Not gonna fight with weapons and violence.
Gonna stand my ground. But we're gonna conquer through love. He wasn't perfect, but he was a minister. He preached a sermon. A whole book he's got on.
Love will conquer all. Mother Teresa, I think about, how did she win over the world to be looked at as well? She gave up her rights and she Went and loved the unlovely.
Love the right way. Who do you need to love? Maybe it's your spouse right now. Maybe it's your mum and dad, your parent. Maybe it's someone in church, someone at work.
We're gonna finish our fight. So I'm gonna pray for you, wherever you are.
We're gonna pray and then we're gonna finish by singing this song. Who's gotta fight? They've got a win win. We all do. So let's bow our heads, let's close our eyes.
And I say, if you go, Lord, right now, Lord, I need your strength. I need your power. I need your help, Lord. I want to be like Elisha. I need to look at the right thing, labor in the right fight and love the right way.
If you're in a battle right now, why don't you just lift up your hand to the Lord and declare and say, lord, Lord, I'm looking to you for help, for your strength. I'm not going to do this in my own ability, but I'm going to look to you, Lord, right now, all over this place. God, I thank you, God, for each and every one of us. God, you called us to finish our fight. We're not giving up.
We're not forgetting anything.
Holy Spirit, right now, I pray for your power, your strength. Help us see with eyes of faith. Show us a new way, a different way, a God way.
Help us fight with the weapons you've given us, not our carnal weapons. And help us to love wherever we are, whatever we do, to love every person we meet.
Maybe you've been far from God and you need to. You're a prisoner of war in this world and right now you say, lord, I need to come back in a relationship. I haven't been close to you. Maybe you haven't believed. Maybe you've been disillusioned.
Maybe you've never given your life to Jesus. We're going to say a prayer right now across all our churches. If you need to declare this, I want you to pray this prayer. We're going to all say it together, but you say it to the Lord, and it's giving your life to him. It's saying, lord, I'm going to follow you.
I'm coming, coming into relationship with you. Let's pray. Dear Lord Jesus, I want to give my life to you. I've been a prisoner of war, but I want you to set me free. I believe you're the son of God, that you died on the cross for my sin and you rose Again from the dead.
Forgive me Jesus. Be my Lord and my Savior. Savior in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen.
Well, thank you for listening. God bless you. We're going to sing this song. Why don't we all stand to our feet? We're going to declare these words.
We're going to finish our fight. God bless you.
Not my battle, not my fight. But by the spirit of the living, spirit of the living God. Not by power, not by might, but by the spirit of the living, spirit of the living God. Declare it my fortress, my break is still a strong tower. Still a strong tower.
My helper, the abandon. Still a strong tower. Still a strong tower.
Someone let the people know anything is possible. No weapon will cross us till a strong tower. Still a strong tower. My fortress, my breath until it's strong tower. Still strong tower.
My helper feeling strong tower, still a strong power.
Someone let the seven. Don't tell him that he's got to go nowhere. We'll rock. We're still a strong tower, Still a strong tower.
You're still a strong tower. Still a strong tower.
Still a strong tower. Still a strong tower.
You're still a strong tower. Still a strong tower.
Still a strong tower. Still a strong tower. Yes, you are. Oh, we thank you, Lord. We thank you, Lord.
Come on, Church. Do you believe that he's our refuge, he's our strength. He is our strong power. Not by our might, but his. Amen.
What an amazing service we had this morning. Thank you, Pastor Adrian, for that word. What a great reminder, hey. To rely on God and not in our own strength. Well, we would love for you to hang around and join us for tea, coffee, hot chocolate and free morning tea.
Have an amazing day, Church. Bless you.