Zach Zehnder: I wonder what would happen individually and collectively, if we stopped just taking shots from the enemy, if we stopped this defeatist mindset and attitude that can creep in and we started living with the confidence of a God who can do anything and everything.
Zach Zehnder: I wonder how our church would change.
Zach Zehnder: I wonder how your life would change.
Zach Zehnder: I wonder how your family would change.
Zach Zehnder: I wonder how the city would change.
Zach Zehnder: I wonder how the world would change if we just changed our posture from a posture that understands and truly believes and receives what God's death over victory was meant to do inside of us.
Zach Zehnder: That's what I wanna explore this morning.
Zach Zehnder: Hashtag FTW, hashtag for the win.
Zach Zehnder: That's a popular hashtag in social media and usually they'll do hashtag for the win, like when somebody drops a game-winning bucket or when the Huskers score that game-winning touchdown Lord willing, once this year at least.
Zach Zehnder: But I've noticed this trend in the Bible.
Zach Zehnder: It's hashtag FTW and it's kind of like the Bibles for the win and it's called flip the weapon.
Zach Zehnder: Everybody say flip the weapon, flip the weapon.
Zach Zehnder: I wanna talk this morning about flipping the weapon.
Zach Zehnder: Since I've written Forgiving Challenge, which came out a couple of years ago, I've seen this amazing trend, truth throughout the Bible.
Zach Zehnder: That's fascinating and it's more than fascinating, I hope you hear highly encouraging for each and every one of us that have come into this place this morning.
Zach Zehnder: That might've felt like you know what I feel like.
Zach Zehnder: I've been taking it on the chin a lot lately.
Zach Zehnder: I feel like God's, I feel like that enemy's been working in my mind a little too much lately.
Zach Zehnder: There's this trend throughout the Bible that whenever the enemy throws weapons at God or his people, that God ends up flipping the weapon of the enemy that was meant to destroy you and actually ends up the enemy gets destroyed by his own weapon.
Zach Zehnder: It's really cool, and I'm gonna open up God's word and show you some moments where that happens, because my hope is that if I can show you repeatedly, over and over and over and over, through the Bible, that God flips weapons, then that means whatever weapon may be coming against you right now, that he can flip that very weapon and that your end is not where you're at right now, that God is still working in you.
Zach Zehnder: And so I got a theme verse for us today.
Zach Zehnder: It's in Psalm 37, verses 12 to 15.
Zach Zehnder: It says this the wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.
Zach Zehnder: The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and the needy, to slay those whose ways are upright, but their swords the enemy's swords look at this will pierce their own hearts and their bows will be broken.
Zach Zehnder: I wanna bring this truth out of scripture because I believe that if I can show you this, it will give you confidence that, no matter what is coming at you or after you or against you right now, that in the hands of a mighty God he can flip it.
Zach Zehnder: That that weapon that might be after you right now, that may feel strong, that may feel like it's taking over you, that may feel like it's too powerful, actually in the hands of God is not any of those things.
Zach Zehnder: I'm not saying it's not real and that we don't need to like deal with those weapons, but what if the things that were meant to destroy you could actually be the thing that destroys the enemy?
Zach Zehnder: What if the worst parts of your story might be turned for God's glory?
Zach Zehnder: What if some of you may be struggling with addiction right now and you break free from that and actually end up helping free others from the addiction that you might have one day been underneath.
Zach Zehnder: This is just what our God does, and so is it even possible.
Zach Zehnder: Maybe it's not addiction that you're struggling with.
Zach Zehnder: Maybe you've been dealing with chronic anxiety or bullying or cancer or enormous debt or infertility or sexual sin.
Zach Zehnder: I don't know what the weapon is that, as I say, weapon today is gonna keep coming to your mind.
Zach Zehnder: But what I do know is that sometimes the hardest pieces of our story and the weapons that feel the strongest end up being the thing that God flips for his glory and end up actually in the hands of you to now use to bring freedom to others.
Zach Zehnder: Wouldn't that be cool if God could do that?
Zach Zehnder: Because the enemy wants you to hear in those weapons that come after you especially if one of those weapons might even be your own brokenness and sin that now you are washed up, you are done, you are used, that God couldn't use somebody like you.
Zach Zehnder: But I came to bring the truth of God today, to destroy the lies of the enemy, to tell you and remind you that there is no weapon formed against you that shall prosper in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Zach Zehnder: So we're gonna fund today Actually found 12 flip the weapon stories in the Bible, some really well known, some not as well known.
Zach Zehnder: I'm sure there's more, but here's what we're gonna do.
Zach Zehnder: I'm gonna start the sermon by preaching about my favorite Old Testament weapon flip it's the book of Esther and then I get to.
Zach Zehnder: Because I'm the preacher, I get to choose what I want to do up here.
Zach Zehnder: I get to end with Jesus okay, the greatest weapon flip of all time on the cross.
Zach Zehnder: So we know where we're starting.
Zach Zehnder: We're starting in Esther, we're ending in Jesus, but where we go in the middle is kind of up to you.
Zach Zehnder: Honestly, I found 10 other stories and actually, as I open up God's Word in Esther, I'm actually gonna ask you to get your phones out and you're gonna vote on which ones you wanna hear about.
Zach Zehnder: I've got them all prepared.
Zach Zehnder: I can go an hour and a half if you want me to.
Zach Zehnder: I don't think we're gonna go that long, though, but we can if you want, and so, on the screen in just a moment, you're gonna see those 10, you're gonna text vote nine to 94,000, and it's gonna give you a prompt and you're gonna vote on which one of these 10 do you want to hear about.
Zach Zehnder: We may get to three of those, we may get to four of those, we may get to five of those.
Zach Zehnder: I don't know.
Zach Zehnder: I got to count down clock.
Zach Zehnder: In about five minutes I'm turning it to Jesus, that's what I know.
Zach Zehnder: So it's kind of a choose your own adventure type of sermon.
Zach Zehnder: Probably really different.
Zach Zehnder: I'm actually curious is it gonna be different at nine than it is at 11?
Zach Zehnder: So who do you wanna hear about?
Zach Zehnder: We got 10 biblical characters up there.
Zach Zehnder: You can vote right now and as you vote we'll start seeing the percentages on there as I dive into the book of Esther, I think, by the way, even our tech team made it possible that even androids get a voice in this.
Zach Zehnder: Yeah, it's really good.
Zach Zehnder: That normally isn't inferior weapon, but today it works.
Zach Zehnder: So we're gonna have some fun today.
Zach Zehnder: Everybody say flip, flip, cool, keep voting.
Zach Zehnder: I'm gonna talk about Esther and we'll see where we land here in a few minutes.
Zach Zehnder: Esther is perhaps I think it is the craziest weapon.
Zach Zehnder: Flip of all.
Zach Zehnder: The Old Testament.
Zach Zehnder: Esther is a book of the Old Testament, a book of the Bible.
Zach Zehnder: It's 10 chapters long and so there's really four main characters in the book of Esther.
Zach Zehnder: There's the king Xerxes of Persia.
Zach Zehnder: They're kind of the enemies to the Israelites or to the Jewish people, or they've known to persecute and be oppressive to the Jewish people.
Zach Zehnder: There was a beauty pageant that King Xerxes held to basically raise up the new queen, and I know that's not really politically correct, but Esther is going to win that battle.
Zach Zehnder: And so Esther would be win the battle of the beauty queen and show she would be the queen of King Xerxes.
Zach Zehnder: But Esther has a secret that she never told Xerxes that she is in fact Jewish, and so we've got this happening.
Zach Zehnder: At the same time there's a guy named Haman who's the highest royal official in the land and he's the chief persecutor of the Jewish people.
Zach Zehnder: Everybody say hey man, that's not cool, you don't have to say that, but that's cool that you did so.
Zach Zehnder: Hey, man concocts this plan to completely annihilate the Jewish people on the 13th of the upcoming month, which in that day was Adar, a day quickly approaching.
Zach Zehnder: In their story, haman's decree is that if anyone doesn't bow down to him, that they would be killed.
Zach Zehnder: Now the fourth character Esther's the queen Xerxes is the king Haman's, the chief royal official.
Zach Zehnder: The fourth character is a guy named Mordecai, and Mordecai's actually the cousin of Esther, but really in this story operates more like an uncle or a really good godfather to Esther and he's kind of the leader of the Jewish people.
Zach Zehnder: And Mordecai refuses to bow down to Haman and Haman's furious, and so he plots to kill Mordecai.
Zach Zehnder: In fact, not only does he plot to kill Mordecai, but his family and friends convince him to do this in Esther 514.
Zach Zehnder: They say have a pole set up reaching to a height of 50 qubits at 75 feet high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai impaled on it.
Zach Zehnder: This suggestion delighted Haman and he had the pole set up.
Zach Zehnder: So all the plans are in work and the pole is set up.
Zach Zehnder: But as he has this decree, there's something else going on in the background, and here's what it is God is working behind the scenes.
Zach Zehnder: God is working in the background.
Zach Zehnder: Don't you know that when the enemy throws weapons at you, that we have a God who's always working?
Zach Zehnder: Sometimes it's in the background, it's behind the scenes, and that's what's happening here.
Zach Zehnder: And so Mordecai is a really smart dude and he picks up on what Haman is doing and he knows that not only is his death but also the death of all the Jewish people is impending unless he does something about it.
Zach Zehnder: And so Mordecai goes to his cousin, esther, and in the most famous verse of all the book of Esther, he says who knows, esther, maybe you were born for such a time as this.
Zach Zehnder: Tell the king that you're Jewish and just maybe he'll find favor on you.
Zach Zehnder: It was really risky, it was really bold.
Zach Zehnder: Through some fancy word play and manipulation, all four of the main characters end up at a banquet table together.
Zach Zehnder: And it's so great what happens at this table Xerxes, mordecai, esther and Haman.
Zach Zehnder: It was at this table that Esther revealed that she is in fact Jewish, risking her life, but rather than that, working towards her detriment.
Zach Zehnder: Xerxes found favor in her, in his eyes, and the king heard her out.
Zach Zehnder: And not only did he hear her out, but he also said I will grant you any request that you want.
Zach Zehnder: Her request is that her people, the Jewish people, would be saved.
Zach Zehnder: And not only does Xerxes grant this request, but then he also promised to avenge the death of the man who set up this nasty decree.
Zach Zehnder: And sure enough he finds out it's the dude right across the table, haman.
Zach Zehnder: So look at how this ends Esther 7.9.
Zach Zehnder: One of the eunuchs attending to the king said hey, king.
Zach Zehnder: There's a pole reaching to a height of 50 cubits that actually stands by Haman's house.
Zach Zehnder: He had it set up for Mordecai.
Zach Zehnder: Who spoke up to help the king, and the king said impale him on it.
Zach Zehnder: So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai.
Zach Zehnder: You can't make this stuff up.
Zach Zehnder: Haman becomes the first hangman somebody.
Zach Zehnder: He set the pole up to kill Mordecai and a day later he's killed on his own pole.
Zach Zehnder: How good is that?
Zach Zehnder: That is really good.
Zach Zehnder: And the Jews party that day.
Zach Zehnder: They celebrated that day, they feasted that day.
Zach Zehnder: And don't you know?
Zach Zehnder: That's still a Jewish holiday that they celebrate today, called Purim.
Zach Zehnder: Again, I'm just trying to show you that, while the enemy may throw weapons at you, god is working, god is behind the scenes and God will always get the last laugh.
Zach Zehnder: Amen.
Zach Zehnder: Who else have we got?
Zach Zehnder: All right, let's see what we got.
Zach Zehnder: Do I get the results or am I just going by the screen?
Zach Zehnder: Benaiah, okay, I figured you guys would choose Benaiah.
Zach Zehnder: It's the one really obscure.
Zach Zehnder: All right, actually, let me look at that.
Zach Zehnder: I got Benaiah, jonathan in the armor bear, shadrach Meshach and Abednego Jehoshaphat.
Zach Zehnder: Poor Peter only got 2%.
Zach Zehnder: That's actually one of my favorites.
Zach Zehnder: Don't go on it.
Zach Zehnder: I might flip the whole thing and just do that.
Zach Zehnder: Okay, benaiah, jonathan, shadrach, jehoshaphat.
Zach Zehnder: All right, you guys are testing me today.
Zach Zehnder: I get it.
Zach Zehnder: That's good.
Zach Zehnder: You wanna test your pastor?
Zach Zehnder: So let's talk about Benaiah.
Zach Zehnder: Who is Benaiah?
Zach Zehnder: Some of you are like I know these other giants, but who's Benaiah?
Zach Zehnder: What he's most famous for is actually a book written by a pastor today called Mark Batterson, and the title of the book is In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.
Zach Zehnder: It's a great name for a book, but it comes directly out of the scripture.
Zach Zehnder: So there's only a few passages about this dude, but they're really quick and they're really action packed.
Zach Zehnder: So I'm actually glad you chose it, because we might actually get to another one because you chose that one.
Zach Zehnder: So who is Benaiah and what did he do?
Zach Zehnder: King David, the same David that slayed Goliath.
Zach Zehnder: He was king and he appointed 30 mighty men to be in his army that kind of supported him.
Zach Zehnder: Benaiah was one of his top three guys.
Zach Zehnder: One of his top three guys, and his story is found in 2 Samuel 23.
Zach Zehnder: And again, I love these verses.
Zach Zehnder: This says Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a valiant fighter from Capsule, performed great exploits.
Zach Zehnder: He struck down Moab's two mightiest warriors.
Zach Zehnder: He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion.
Zach Zehnder: I wonder where Batterson got the title for his book.
Zach Zehnder: We might be able to use Benaiah in Omaha right now, with all these mountain lions coming up in on us.
Zach Zehnder: I think they're getting closer to our church.
Zach Zehnder: Anyway, this is where he flips the weapon, verse 21, it says and Benaiah struck down a huge Egyptian.
Zach Zehnder: Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, benaiah went against him with a club.
Zach Zehnder: He snatched the spear from the Egyptians hand and killed him with his own spear.
Zach Zehnder: How good is that?
Zach Zehnder: He goes into battle with a five iron and he ends up grabbing the dude's spear and slaying the guy.
Zach Zehnder: Which tells you that sometimes you may go up and fight against people, against enemies that are bigger, stronger, mightier and way more equipped than you, but if God is on your side, he can flip the weapon of the enemy that came in to destroy you, and you can actually have that weapon in your hand to take your enemy out.
Zach Zehnder: How good is that?
Zach Zehnder: What do we got next?
Zach Zehnder: Who's after Benaiah?
Zach Zehnder: Again, the Jehoiada, of course you would pick that one.
Zach Zehnder: Jehoiada is where we're going.
Zach Zehnder: That's Jehocha fat, by the way, fat with a pH.
Zach Zehnder: You guys remember that slang term, fat with a pH.
Zach Zehnder: If you're younger you may not recognize that, but fat with a pH was like you would say that if something's really cool so like the latest rap album or like Mike White would be fat with a pH.
Zach Zehnder: All of those things and all transparency before you bring it back into your vocabulary.
Zach Zehnder: It also could describe a shapely woman with curves, so be careful how you use it.
Zach Zehnder: But anyway, this story is fat with a pH.
Zach Zehnder: Jehocha fat is the great, great, great grandson of King David in the Old Testament.
Zach Zehnder: At this time, the Israelites had not been faithful, even though God had been so faithful, and so the nation of Israel was split up into two kingdoms the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah.
Zach Zehnder: And Jehocha fat was the king of Judah, and his story is found in second Chronicles, 20.
Zach Zehnder: Chronicles Some people deem that to be the most boring book of the Bible, and we're going to get a really cool story which tells you.
Zach Zehnder: By the way, the Bible isn't boring.
Zach Zehnder: You are.
Zach Zehnder: That was mean, sorry.
Zach Zehnder: Jehocha fat's a rare dude.
Zach Zehnder: He actually seeks the Lord's advice, unlike the kings and judges before him, and so there was some major enemies that the Israelites constantly have in the battles of the Old Testament.
Zach Zehnder: And so what's happening is the Israelites are still powerful, and so they've actually gotten multiple nations conspiring against them.
Zach Zehnder: And so in this case, in the Bible, where we're going, it says that the Moabites and the Ammonites, along with some of the Muneites, all waged war against Jehocha fat.
Zach Zehnder: I have in my notes that I wonder if the termites and cellulites join them as well.
Zach Zehnder: You get the picture it's all theites coming at him.
Zach Zehnder: And what does Jehocha fat do?
Zach Zehnder: He calls it fast which I think is really awesome to seek the Lord's advice.
Zach Zehnder: And so, after this fast, the spirit of the Lord, it says, comes upon Jehaziel, son of Zachariah, son of Baniah, and I thought, oh, that'd be really cool if that's the same Baniah.
Zach Zehnder: It's not, by the way.
Zach Zehnder: So, anyway, we're gonna move forward.
Zach Zehnder: And Jehaziel says these words.
Zach Zehnder: He says don't be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, because you've got all these nations conspiring against you, for the battle is not yours but God's.
Zach Zehnder: I love that phrase.
Zach Zehnder: But God, man, you can put a lot before that comma but God, because God's butt is bigger than any one of our problems that we may bring to him amen.
Zach Zehnder: And so he goes on and tells them the next day, you're gonna march down against them.
Zach Zehnder: And then he says this you actually will not have to fight this battle.
Zach Zehnder: Take up your position, stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you Judah and Jerusalem.
Zach Zehnder: Don't be afraid, don't be discouraged.
Zach Zehnder: Go out to face them tomorrow and the Lord will be with you.
Zach Zehnder: And Jehoshaphat heeds these words, and so on the next day.
Zach Zehnder: As they're there, they're literally praising God and worshiping him and they're singing give thanks to the Lord, his love endures forever, before the battle even happens.
Zach Zehnder: And as they're singing, they're standing in the exact spot that Jehaziel tells them to stand in.
Zach Zehnder: And they see the men from all the other nations start to invade Judah.
Zach Zehnder: And as they're invading Judah to destroy Judah, the word of God says this is what happens.
Zach Zehnder: It says the Ammonites and the Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seer that, by the way, is the Mughnites, which were their partners in this.
Zach Zehnder: And so the Ammonites and Moabites rise up against the Mughnites to destroy and annihilate them.
Zach Zehnder: And after they finished slaughtering the men from Seer, they helped to destroy one another.
Zach Zehnder: How good is that.
Zach Zehnder: The enemies planned to work together, but they destroyed one another in the process.
Zach Zehnder: Jehoshaphat and Judah got to just stand and watch.
Zach Zehnder: Then, when everyone is dead this is what it says they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground.
Zach Zehnder: No one had escaped.
Zach Zehnder: So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder, and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value More than they could take away.
Zach Zehnder: There was so much plunder it took them three days to collect it.
Zach Zehnder: Because when we fight against the enemy, not only do we eventually have the weapons of the enemy in our hands, used to destroy the enemy, but we also get the spoils of the victory as well, so that when we go into new fights in the future, we're stronger.
Zach Zehnder: We've now got the gold and the silver and the clothing on our side, so we're in a better position to fight with whatever comes forward.
Zach Zehnder: Because some of you are in a fight right now and you're not sure how you're going to make your way through it.
Zach Zehnder: God just wants you to know that He'll fight for you, and not only will he fight for you, but you'll be walking into your future with the plunder of the enemy.
Zach Zehnder: So you don't walk in the future the same way that you're walking in this morning.
Zach Zehnder: Amen, jonathan and the Armor Bear, such a good one.
Zach Zehnder: This one's in 1 Samuel 13 and 14.
Zach Zehnder: So if I'm dating what I've just told you, this is before Jehoshaphat, before Baniah, a few chapters even before.
Zach Zehnder: David will flip the enemy's weapon, goliath, his sword, and cut Goliath's head off and raise up Goliath's head to all the Israelite people and says this is how you want to get ahead in life.
Zach Zehnder: But you didn't tell me to preach on that one, so you missed out on more of that story.
Zach Zehnder: Shame on you, but I snugged it in anyway.
Zach Zehnder: Jonathan and the Armor Bear, 1 Samuel, 13 and 14.
Zach Zehnder: At this point, the Israelites were enemies with the Philistines.
Zach Zehnder: Right Goliath was a Philistine, so this is the Philistine, that same area.
Zach Zehnder: They were mighty, they were powerful and they continued to raid the Israelite people, so much so that, as we enter into the story of Jonathan and the Armor Bear, the Israelites actually had no weapons.
Zach Zehnder: If they wanted to sharpen an axe or anything like for agricultural purposes, they had to go into the Philistine country to even have a weapon sharpened.
Zach Zehnder: And so, on this day, when there's a battle about to take place, this is what it says.
Zach Zehnder: On the day of the battle, not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand.
Zach Zehnder: Only Saul and his son, jonathan, had them.
Zach Zehnder: There were two weapons in all of Israel Jonathan and Saul and they're getting ready to fight.
Zach Zehnder: This is not a good position to be in, by the way.
Zach Zehnder: So here's what happened.
Zach Zehnder: They're close to one another.
Zach Zehnder: Most of the Israelites run all the way away.
Zach Zehnder: Tens of thousands run away, far away from the battle.
Zach Zehnder: They're scared, they're afraid, they're not going to enter into it.
Zach Zehnder: They've got no weapons.
Zach Zehnder: They're making the logical choice.
Zach Zehnder: Six hundred of the Israelites, including King Saul, just crossed the river to get to the other side so that there would be no battle.
Zach Zehnder: They have a safe distance if they need to retreat.
Zach Zehnder: But Jonathan we got to give Jonathan some credit stands up in 1 Samuel 14, verse one, and he says this one day, jonathan's son of Saul said to his young armor bear come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.
Zach Zehnder: Then, in verse six, he doubles down.
Zach Zehnder: He says come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised men.
Zach Zehnder: That is slang talk in the Old Testament.
Zach Zehnder: Y'all, why don't you uncircumcise men over there.
Zach Zehnder: Let's go over there because perhaps the Lord loved this, will act on our behalf.
Zach Zehnder: Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.
Zach Zehnder: So it doesn't matter whether we go to six hundred or 10,000, if the Lord wants to act, the Lord will act.
Zach Zehnder: And Jonathan's crazy.
Zach Zehnder: But I think there's one person that's a little bit crazier than Jonathan.
Zach Zehnder: You know who.
Zach Zehnder: It is the armor bearer.
Zach Zehnder: Because what does the armor bearer not have?
Zach Zehnder: You had one job, dude Bear arms.
Zach Zehnder: You were an unarmed armor bearer.
Zach Zehnder: That's what the story should be Jonathan and the unarmed armor bearer.
Zach Zehnder: But he goes up with them and they climb up this hill and I picture, like Jack Bauer, my generation, macgyver, older generation.
Zach Zehnder: I picture those guys like climbing up, it's what it says, climbing up over the hill and all of a sudden, these two.
Zach Zehnder: The Bible says take out 20 Philistine men in half an acre.
Zach Zehnder: That's it, half an acre.
Zach Zehnder: They take 20 out and as they do this, it says panic struck the army.
Zach Zehnder: And as you look into the scripture, you see that it was God that sent the panic.
Zach Zehnder: And so now the battle's over here.
Zach Zehnder: Jonathan and the armor bearer are battling.
Zach Zehnder: Now Saul is recognizing there's a commotion over there and we're short.
Zach Zehnder: Two guys, my son and his unarmed armor bearer.
Zach Zehnder: And so they recognize and realize this, and so they start marching over.
Zach Zehnder: And as they go over to the other side, it says Saul and all his men assembled and went to battle.
Zach Zehnder: But when they got there, they found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with what?
Zach Zehnder: With their own swords.
Zach Zehnder: How cool is that?
Zach Zehnder: They stole Israel's weapons and actually Israel's weapons still ended up killing them.
Zach Zehnder: It just happened from a Philistines hand.
Zach Zehnder: What, how amazing is this story?
Zach Zehnder: We don't have to always fight, we don't have to always give it our best.
Zach Zehnder: We just gotta fight with God on our side, and all things are possible, and sometimes even Our own weapons can get taken away from us, not even as like a punishment, but sometimes, I think, to remind us that when we fight in this world, it's not with our own weapons, our own resources, our own talents, our own power, our own strength, our own grit, our own ability, but rather it's with God fighting for us.
Zach Zehnder: Not only did they get their weapons back, but again they got the plunder of the enemy, and I just imagine that all of Israel rejoiced around the campfire that night.
Zach Zehnder: I imagine the 600 got to say things and see things to one another that were really awesome.
Zach Zehnder: But I just imagine in the campfire, jonathan and the unarmed armor bear lock into eyes with all these arms around them now saying how cool that God did this through us, because when God flips weapons, we have a story and a testimony to share.
Zach Zehnder: So I don't want to be certainly in the 10,000, no thanks on the 600.
Zach Zehnder: I want to be in the two.
Zach Zehnder: That says I'll go wherever God.
Zach Zehnder: Perhaps the Lord will act on my behalf Because I and those of us who come along with us in the two we'll get to see God work in ways that nobody else saw and we'll get to tell stories and lock eyes about.
Zach Zehnder: Wasn't it cool when we opened up a new campus and God showed up in a mighty way and look at how he worked through this?
Zach Zehnder: Amen, that's what God does.
Zach Zehnder: Shadrach, meshach and Abednego here we go.
Zach Zehnder: I like to call them Rack, shack and Benny At this point.
Zach Zehnder: The Israelites.
Zach Zehnder: You notice the Israelites have a lot of enemies.
Zach Zehnder: The Israelites enemies are the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar is the king.
Zach Zehnder: And Nebuchadnezzar sets up this 90 foot gold image Many think it was of himself and says that everybody here, when the music stops, has got to bow down to me.
Zach Zehnder: All in the area do, except for three guys Shadrach, meshach and Abednego.
Zach Zehnder: And as Nebuchadnezzar approaches them, I think it's one of the most mature faith professions in all of the Bible.
Zach Zehnder: These three boys say this the God we serve can deliver us and he will deliver us from your majesty's hand.
Zach Zehnder: But even if he doesn't come on, that's good.
Zach Zehnder: My God can, my God will, but even if he doesn't, we want you to know, your majesty's, still being respectful, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up.
Zach Zehnder: Oh man, that's good.
Zach Zehnder: Sometimes the enemies actually a lot of times the enemy's weapons come at us not because we're being unfaithful or disobedient, but we're actually being faithful before God and we find ourselves in these really hard, difficult circumstances.
Zach Zehnder: So they say in the midst of this fiery furnace in the background that they're gonna get thrown into.
Zach Zehnder: My God can, my God will, even if he doesn't Kind of like the spirit of Jonathan.
Zach Zehnder: Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf.
Zach Zehnder: Because why can we say these things?
Zach Zehnder: Because if God is for us, then who can be against us?
Zach Zehnder: So what happened?
Zach Zehnder: They actually turned the furnace into a fire.
Zach Zehnder: They turned this up 10 times the amount, and the word of God says that the only ones that were destroyed were the soldiers that threw them into the fire themselves, because when they looked into the fiery furnace they saw a fourth man, jesus Christ himself, which tells us that when you're in the middle of your problem, god is right there with you, he is right beside you.
Zach Zehnder: We don't talk about this part of the story very much.
Zach Zehnder: Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted Shadrach, meshach and Bendigo, servants of the Most High God, come out, come here.
Zach Zehnder: So Shadrach, Meshach and Bendigo came out of the fire and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisors crowded around them and they saw look at this that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was ahead of their hair singed, their robes were not scorched and there was no smell of fire on them.
Zach Zehnder: But what that verse doesn't tell you is what a few verses earlier told you they went into the fire with one other thing.
Zach Zehnder: Do you know what it was?
Zach Zehnder: They were bound by ropes that tied them up.
Zach Zehnder: But when they came out of the fire, there was only one thing that burnt off of them, and it was the very ropes that bound them up, the very thing that the enemy said I'm going to bind you up.
Zach Zehnder: They got loosed in the midst of the fire, which I came to remind you that sometimes the enemy wants to bind you up, but in the presence of a mighty God, the only thing that's falling around you is the chains that are meant to have been fallen for years now.
Zach Zehnder: God is a God that can destroy the ropes that were meant to bound you up, because we're not a people that operate from a posture of defeated, tied up, got nowhere to go, because we have a God who shows up time and time and time and time again.
Zach Zehnder: I don't have time to get into the other stories.
Zach Zehnder: I'm disappointed in how you voted.
Zach Zehnder: I wanted to tell you about the apostle Paul, who was Saul, that God flipped from a persecutor to the main.
Zach Zehnder: There's some Google lists where he's a top 10 most influential person ever to live and I wanted to tell you in his story that when you got thrown into prison, most people would look at that and be like Paul.
Zach Zehnder: That really stinks that you're in prison and you can feel free to write about how hard prison is and how the food sucks and the guards temperamental and you're lonely.
Zach Zehnder: But Paul didn't do that.
Zach Zehnder: You know what he did.
Zach Zehnder: He penned the book of Philippians, which is a book all about joy, and I just like the fact that he turned an opportunity from a prison sentence into writing sentences from prison that still bring freedom to us today.
Zach Zehnder: But I didn't get to tell you that one.
Zach Zehnder: I didn't get to tell you about Moses and the Red Sea walking on dry ground through the thing that was meant to stop them, the obstacle in the way, and not only was it an obstacle in the way, but when they walked through dry ground into their next season, they got to look back at the Red Sea actually then destroying their enemy, which is a reminder that as we walk into the future, not only do we walk into the future with God's promises, but we walk into the future with our past no longer behind us, and some of you need to let go of your past and move forward, and this is the day to do it.
Zach Zehnder: But I didn't get to tell you that one either, really ticked.
Zach Zehnder: You didn't choose David, because there's a part of it.
Zach Zehnder: I'm not going to say it.
Zach Zehnder: Maybe 11 will choose it.
Zach Zehnder: Come back, come back.
Zach Zehnder: Come back and vote, vote.
Zach Zehnder: You got to vote.
Zach Zehnder: Let's practice voting, but the clock's running and I certainly don't want to miss out on the greatest weapon flip of all time.
Zach Zehnder: His name is Jesus Christ and he came down into this world off of his throne on a mission to save you and me.
Zach Zehnder: And everything hinges on this man, jesus, even the calendar that we flip every day.
Zach Zehnder: You cannot be reminded of a cal, even looking at a calendar, without this man's influence.
Zach Zehnder: And everything flipped on that night when he said one word to tell us die, it means it is finished or paid in full.
Zach Zehnder: And I bet when the enemy heard that word, I bet he laughed because he thought he destroyed Jesus.
Zach Zehnder: But Jesus didn't say I am finished.
Zach Zehnder: He said it is finished.
Zach Zehnder: And what is the it?
Zach Zehnder: It is the sin of all mankind, past, present and future.
Zach Zehnder: Paid in full so that nobody has to pay that again.
Zach Zehnder: It's done, it's over, and so, whatever weapons the enemy wants to throw at you, they are no longer valid because our God destroyed them.
Zach Zehnder: It is finished, it is paid in full.
Zach Zehnder: And now this torture instrument, the cross, which didn't even have a word to describe the pain and the suffering in Latin, and so they came up with this new word excruciating X out of crux, the cross out of the cross.
Zach Zehnder: This symbol of torture is not a symbol of torture for us anymore.
Zach Zehnder: It is a symbol of victory.
Zach Zehnder: We wear it as our necklaces, some of us name our churches after it, we talk about it like it's where victory is, because it is where victory is and this is the message that we get to take forward in the future is that our God can flip the enemy's weapons, and that's exactly what he did on that night when he died for you and he died for me.
Zach Zehnder: This was a reminder to tell you, especially in light of the tomb that would come three days later, that whatever weapon has come against you, it has been destroyed in the mighty powerful, strong name of the weapon flipping God.
Zach Zehnder: That we have done over.
Zach Zehnder: And so, whatever weapon you may be feeling and facing right now, I'm not saying it's not big, I'm not saying it's not powerful, I'm not saying it's not real, but what I am saying is, in the presence of a mighty God, it is finished, paid for, done.
Zach Zehnder: So, whatever it is that you're facing, we don't need to carry on with the posture of I've been defeated, because the cross tells me I can cross from a sinner into a saint, from death to life, from anxiety to peace.
Zach Zehnder: We all face weapons.
Zach Zehnder: Last night my only living grandparent passed away, my dad's mom, arlene.
Zach Zehnder: Some of you know her, have met her 95 years old.
Zach Zehnder: She passed away on what would have been the 72nd wedding anniversary.
Zach Zehnder: It's around my grandpa and the siblings were around grandma last night and they were around her bedside singing holy, holy, holy in the midst of death.
Zach Zehnder: And I think what a beautiful picture of a woman who lived a beautiful life, whose shoulders I get to stand on today in many respects because of her faithfulness and how she served her family and her church that as she's breathing her last, her sons and her daughters are crying holy, holy, holy.
Zach Zehnder: Why?
Zach Zehnder: Because that's what you do in the presence of the enemy's weapons he flips the weapons for his glory.
Zach Zehnder: So what do you need, flipped today, like you, to stand in this place right now, because I feel that too many of us have been beaten down, too many of us have had this posture of we're just going to take it on the chin, we're going to take it in our mind, we're not going to fight back, but God is saying today you don't even need to fight back, just tether up with me and I'll take care of things for you.
Zach Zehnder: And so we just sit and stand in the presence and goodness of a weapon flipping God.
Zach Zehnder: So what needs to be flipped today?
Zach Zehnder: Is it a relationship that's lets you down?
Zach Zehnder: Is it an addiction that's overcome?
Zach Zehnder: Is it a loss of a loved one that you can't get past?
Zach Zehnder: Is it a past sin that you still can't move on from?
Zach Zehnder: Is it a season of waiting where you're trying to have a baby and you can't?
Zach Zehnder: Has debt piled up so high that you can't see your way out of it?
Zach Zehnder: I don't know what your story is, but we worship a God who flips weapons today, and I'll tell you what our greatest weapon of offense is today.
Zach Zehnder: You know what it's called.
Zach Zehnder: It's called worship, and so that's what we're here to do.
Zach Zehnder: We're here to battle against the enemy and bring our weapon of worship.
Zach Zehnder: Lift up your hands in this place today, because we serve a mighty God, a God who turns things.
Zach Zehnder: Come on, lift up your hands in this place today.
Zach Zehnder: He is a God that is taking care of everything.