Come On, Let’s Fight

Comfort is what we usually want when life gets heavy. But what if God’s love looks like training, not pampering? We open with Paul’s words to Timothy and a direct question we can’t dodge: are we still in the fight, or have we settled into a passive Christianity that only shows up on Sunday morning. This message goes straight at spiritual warfare, reminding us that the stakes are high, the enemy is real, and a faith built on autopilot makes us easy prey.

Then we move to Hosea 12 and the story of Jacob and Esau, not as a distant Bible tale, but as a mirror. Jacob is painted as a man with flaws who still hungers for God’s blessing and purpose, while Esau represents immediate gratification and a life turned inward. We talk about repentance as an ongoing turning, not a quick apology, and we challenge the excuses that keep people stuck in sin, complacency, and quiet compromise.

The heart of the sermon is Jacob’s night of wrestling when obedience still leads to crisis and God shows up with a challenge instead of reassurance. We connect that moment to real discipleship: God trains fighters, and trials can become end-time preparation rather than proof you’ve been abandoned. If you’re tired, wounded, or tempted to give up, this is a call to stand, separate from what drags you down, and re-enter the battle with the Holy Spirit’s power. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs strength, and leave a review letting us know: where are you choosing to fight again today?

Transcript

Welcome To Valley Gospel Church

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Hello. Welcome to Valley Gospel Church. We are a non-denominational Pentecostal church located in Springdale, Pennsylvania. Our sole mission is to present the living truth of a risen Lord, Jesus Christ, to a remnant church and a lost world. Let's get into the service recorded live at Valley Gospel Church.

Paul’s Challenge To Keep Fighting

SPEAKER_02 0:51

The New Testament records the Apostle Paul writing two letters to Timothy. Timothy, I love, he calls him his son and the Lord. And he writes two letters, first and second Timothy. The first was, I think, around 61 A.D. and the second around 68. So roughly seven years separates the two letters to Timothy. In the first letter, Paul exhorts Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, to hold securely to his salvation, that he should resist any stronghold that would come against him and steer him away from that which God had called him to. And he would do that only one way, that is in the power of the Holy Ghost. In the second letter, it's near the end of Paul's ministry. He is now confident of Timothy's standing, his commitment, his ministry, and he talks about himself. He said, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Regardless of the circumstances, Paul continued in the fight. And I'm asking all of us a question this morning. Are we still in the fight? Are we still in the fight? Are you strong in the battle for the Lord? And it is a battle. It is a battle. Are you saved? I'm but we do fight against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness.

No Passive Christianity Allowed

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And let me say this: there is no passivity in Christianity. True Christianity, there is no passive Christian. It's not a spectator religion. It's not limiting your Christianity to Sunday morning. That's not going to make the grade. It just isn't. The stakes are high. The enemy is powerful. Come on, Christy, let's go to work. If our Christianity consists of, I'm going to heaven, are you? We had a guy in our church in Brackenridge, smiley, that was his, I'm going to heaven, are you? He would greet people at the door. I'm going to heaven, are you? If that's all we need to know, uh produced well, however it's produced by a prayer, a repeated mantra, a trip to an altar 25 years ago, then you are easy prey for the devil. Easy prey, and he will pick you off. If our only focus is going to heaven, then there's nothing to fight for. Nothing to fight for. But if you're concerned with family, with friends, with coworkers, then you have a fight on your hands. Those are your children. We have to fight for our children. Sometimes, and I know we get so overwhelmed by the trials of life that we tend to lose our fight. Or we're so tired and wounded, there's no fight left in us. I pray this message today. If you have even a little bit become complacent or passive or just plain tired in your Christian walk, this will put the fight back in your walk. And this morning I'm calling a solemn assembly. Amen. That you will once again walk fearlessly in the face of the devil's onslaught. You will confront him in his attacks on all of those around us, that we will repent. And not necessarily of, oh, I went back to drugs or I went back, but we will repent from not doing what God has called us to do. It's time to get back in the battle. It's time, the battle's at hand, the fight, the good fight. Hallelujah.

Hosea’s Wake Up Call

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In Chrissy's reading, the prophet Hosea wanted to warn Israel, so you know where I'm going. You can all go there. It's a little bit hard to find. The prophet Hosea wanted to warn Israel of their complacency, their poor spiritual condition. And he reminds them of Jacob. Jacob. Remember, we talked about him a couple of weeks ago. And this is kind of uh, I don't know if that's where it sprang from, but it's a different take of on that whole Jacob-Esau thing. And he tells, Hosea tells Israel that they call Jacob their father, yet they strayed from his example. And Hosea reminds them of the power that Jacob had with God. So if you have your Bibles, turn with Chrissy, please, to Hosea 12. Hosea 12, the third and the fourth verse. Whenever you get there, I'll ask you to please stand in obedience and reverence to God's word.

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He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God. Yeah, he had power over the angel and prevailed. He wept and made supplication unto him. He found him in Bethel, and there he spoke with us.

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In this brief passage, the prophet gives us three principles to get our fight back and to prevail with God. And I'll use for a subject this morning. Come on, let's fight. Amen. Amen.

Prayer And The Sermon Focus

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Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord. Thank you for this Old Testament glimpse, Lord, of reality on a New Testament charts, Lord, that you would teach us through your in the entirety of your word, not just a few specific passages, but we can go back and you will teach us and show us your way. Lord, I ask this morning that you let this word be a lamp unto our feet, a light to our path. It is in the name of your blessed, august, all-powerful, soon coming Son, we pray. Amen and amen. Please be seated.

Jacob’s Hunger For God

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Esau and Jacob were brothers. Esau came from his mother's womb first. In fact, his the Bible describes him as a hairy baby. A hairy baby. In fact, Esau means hairy man. What a shock that must have been to the midwife, right? This hairy little baby is born, and she sees this tiny hand of Jacob gripping his heel. Now the Israelites listening to Hosea recount this as he implored Israel must have looked at each other confused. What in the world does this have to do with us? And as the Lord opened this message to me last week, it was I had kind of the same response that Israel. I don't get it. I don't get what you're trying to show me. What does this have to do with fighting? Hosea's message was simple and straightforward. Jacob was a man hungry for everything God had for him. He came out of the womb fighting for the blessing, for the birthright, to be the firstborn, trying to get past Esau. And I think most of us have for years interpreted that, his birth, and his scheming to obtain financial gain, personal power, wealth. And I gotta tell you, that was kind of in the corner of my spirit as well. We know he was a schemer, a con man, and I've preached it that way for quite some time, uh, even a few weeks ago. But I don't believe it was only the promise of land and wealth. I don't believe, think about it, he labored for Laban for 14 years while being tricked and lied to. And yet he kept working for him. Uh now Jacob wanted something more. That's what the Lord revealed to me. There was more there. It wasn't about personal gains so much. He had an unction from the Lord. He had a special anointing from God from the time of his birth. Maybe he desired the blessing of God so he could be in the lineage of the Messiah. I don't know. That may have been part of it. Uh he wondered what would represent all the blessings, not only of the Old Testament, but of Christianity as well. Esau, on the other hand, represents all the things that God detests in man. His focus only on himself, his only needs, self-improvement, immediate gratification. And think about, and this is what started me thinking the other way. Imagine trading your birthright, your father's and God's eternal blessing for a bowl of weak old stew. Doesn't sound like Esau had spirituality on his mind. He never considered God's eternal plan. Listen to what God says concerning Jacob and Esau. Just up to Malachi. Malachi one. Malachi, last book in the Old Testament. Malachi one, second verse. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and I laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Now these aren't arbitrary observations by God. It was meant to draw Israel's attention to the Lord, to the Edomites' miserable spiritual condition. Edomites were, you all know, were descendants of Esau, right? As opposed to Jacob's descendants being of Israel. Jacob, with all of his flaws, all of his inconsistencies, all of his schemes, he lived for God's purpose. Flawed, yeah, but lived for God's purpose. And Hosea used this to chide Israel. You said you're of your father Jacob, but you don't realize his all-consuming hunger for the things of God. He told them that you are carnal and lazy and only interested in yourself. And he ends it with, you are nothing like Jacob.

Repentance Means Turning Around

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You know, that's exactly where so many Christians are slaves to so many bondages, satisfied with calling ourselves Christian without repentance. And just a word about repentance. Repentance isn't about I'm sorry, Lord. It isn't. Stuff your sorries in a sack. Not about that. It's turning away. Turning away. And I don't, and we don't do that just once. And if you are, you're uh you're a cut above. If you only have to turn away once, if you don't have to turn away 10, 12, 20 times from something that had you bound, satisfied with calling ourselves Christian or Presbyterian or Methodist or Pentecostal. And we have no fight. No fight. Not willing to grab hold of their sin like Jacob grabbed Esau's heel. Glory. Not concerned with the lost condition of our wife, our mother, our son, our daughter, our husband, our wife. And they say, I can't help my sin. We all sin. We all fall short of the glory of God. And God understands my weakness. You better be careful with that. You better be careful with that. Because if that isn't so, if you fight, if you fight, there's blessing. Fight and there's blessing. Jacob had labored under Laban 14 years. Laban changed his wages how many? Ten times. Kept changing his wages loan. But yet it seemed Jacob was always prosperous, always had a bag of money, always had things. So much so that Laban's sons thought he was pilfering from their dad and they wanted to kill him. They thought about it. To where Jacob feared for his family's safety. And scripture tells us that God came to Jacob in the middle of the night and told him to return to the land of his ancestors, and God would

When Obedience Still Gets Hard

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be with him. What did Jacob do? Jacob immediately obeyed. Immediately obeyed. He gathered all his flocks, his family headed home. Now listen to this. He went in God's time, right? He went in God's way. He went in God's will. Everything was lined up according to what God told him to do. Yet, in spite of all this, in spite of a clear word from the Lord, worshiping God, being in God's will, everything started to spin out of control for Jacob. First, 400 rough riders were coming. And if you remember our lesson a few weeks ago, he divided his camp into two, right? Sent gifts out to his brother Esau so he wouldn't kill him. Sent his sons and his wives across Jabok. And there he was to face Esau, powerful Esau, all alone. All alone. Think how Jacob must have felt. Or did he hear another voice? Was it something else? Or was it even the enemy? And Jacob started to make plans of his own in order to escape this. Was it the Lord's voice or was it Satan's? Glory, glory, glory. My family is in crisis, I can hear Jacob say. I'm in serious trouble. If you called me here, then I can only see that you have abandoned me, that you have left me here. This wasn't the worst part of the trial. At the very moment of his deepest despair and confusion, instead, and this is the heart of the message, instead of comfort and reassurance from the Lord, instead of the Lord coming putting an arm around him saying, I got you, baby. Everything's going to be alright.

God’s Unexpected Invitation To Wrestle

SPEAKER_02 19:16

At the time of confusion, all alone, Jacob sees a man coming with his fists rolled in challenge. My. Let's fight, Jacob. If ever there was reason to give up, that might have been it. That might have been it. No more. I've had it. Finished. All the circumstances in my life tell me I'm not in God's will, that I'm not, I'm probably not really serving Him, that I'm not pleasing Him. You told me you'd be with me forever, and now you tell me fight. Have mercy. You've come to put my hips out of joint. And he could have said, I'm through. There's no fight left. I've tried and I've had it. And look, I understand that completely. As I stand before you today, I understand that. When I left my old church in 1995, I felt so bitter, so resentful. And I asked, is this just a charade? Is this fake? I was so poor me. I tried to serve you, Lord. Why did this happen? I don't deserve this. And everything was unraveling in my life. There was a heaviness, a darkness that just wouldn't go away, pain and fear and trembling. A constant, a constant demonic presence on every side, taunting me, telling me it was over. I told you this wasn't true. There's nothing in serving him. And you know what? In that first moment, when I had hit that spiritual rock bottom that we talk about and started the long climb back to ministry, the Lord didn't come to me with outstretched arms or harmonic whispers of encouragement, not even reassuring. He came with his fists clenched and said, Pastor, are you gonna roll up and cry? Or are you gonna fight? Jacob wasn't in any real trouble with Esau. If Esau would have tried anything, God would have delivered him. He would have stopped it in a heartbeat. God had already promised him at Bethel that he would be with him till the end. He even showed him a vision of being surrounded by angels. That was the second camp, surrounded by angels. No, Jacob wasn't in danger from Esau, but he was in danger of failure. He was in danger of self-destruction if he wouldn't fight and to keep it. God came to train him to fight, to be a warrior who could prevail regardless of what the enemy did or what the enemy's position was. Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit wants to train us. He wants to train you just how he trained me. He'd

Training Christians Like Fighters

SPEAKER_02 23:20

understand this clearly. Take him a C Damber. Suppose a boxing trainer took his fighter to camp. And just like we bring Christians to church, right? Or we bring people to church in order to get to show them Christianity. And he spent day after day, week after week, building the fighter up, telling them how great he was, how he was unstoppable, he was unbeatable, and telling of them of telling him of the great fighters of the past. And I'll tell you how to defeat the enemy, and I'll even give you diagrams, right cross, jab, uppercut. I'll teach you all that. I'll show you on paper how to use that. But am I not going to be trained? And spar, am I not going to fight another fighter? No, you don't need that. You don't need that. You're good enough. You're good enough just like you are. That's what we're telling the church. That's what we're telling those that are coming into church. No fight, no effort. You're good enough. Just like you are. What kind of trainer is that? What kind of trainer? How successful would that fighter be? No, a real trainer would find the best farring partner, the most skilled fighter that he could find and train day after day until it all becomes second nature, until we don't have to think about it. How many Christians think we're warriors but have never been in the fight? Never stood toe-to-toe with the devil. Uh never been in the ring, never been trained, never been prepared to fight. Do you ever wonder why so many have given in to the world and have gone back and or even if they haven't gone back, they keep a foot in both sides. One side in Christianity and one side in the world, trying to go to the church in the morning and to the club at night and telling you, but we live in the age of grace. Claiming Christ but living for the world. And then they wonder why everything is so wrong in their lives, and why it's so hard. And how can we, as the Church of the Living God, guide them? Because the majority of Christianity has given up the battle. They refuse to fight against the devil, they refuse to take a stand against darkness, they refuse to call evil evil, they refuse to fight principalities and powers. Follow me here. Not shy about mixing it up. And when the Lord finds a fighter, he puts him or her in the ring. Understand, meekness is not weakness. Glory, glory. He puts them in the fight. Don't be surprised that you're always doing battle. Don't be disappointed that it seems everything just going wrong out there. And don't be disappointed. That's what you're called to do. Fight. Fight the good fight. Especially now. The Lord knows that Satan is loose on the earth for his last hours of warfare, trying to gather souls for destruction, or at least to send them into the tribulation unsaved. Seven years. Seven years of horrors unimaginable. And the Lord wants to put his finest warriors today against the angels of darkness. That's his call. And if you're fighting a battle today, whatever that might be, it counted good. It's crisis management. It's end-time training. Saints that are battle-tested will get the call. See, if you've never been through anything, what do you have to offer? What are you gonna tell them? I don't know what you're going through, brother. The greater your trial, the higher your call. The greater your trial, the higher your call. Jacob put his all into the battle. He gave up his body, he gave up his hips, he gave up, and it was all for the greater purpose that God he wept and made supplication unto the Lord. What does that mean? Jacob, a man of God, called the father of Israel. He repented. He repented, Jacob. And the Holy Spirit came came upon Jacob. He dug in, he held on. He told He told of God's promise. Of God's promise. He fought the good fight. And let me just say this to do you know how old Jacob was when all this happened? For those of you who go, well, I'm past my prime. I'm a little too old to be getting into fresh ministry. Do you know how old Jacob was? 97. Glory. Much older than anybody here. So if you're thinking that you're beyond your three-score and ten and true ministry has passed you by, think again. Think again. His fight, like ours, isn't with people. It's not with co-workers, husband, neighbor, not with your pastor. All right? Your fight is with God. And if you'll settle that fight, everything will fall in line. Settle that fight. The quicker you come to blows, the better. Settle it. When you're right in his sight, then all the demons in hell cannot make you move. Can't do it. Can't do it. Not possible. Glory. I believe God's speaking to someone here this morning. I believe this message may have hit a nerve in some of you. You'll never see what God has for you until you fight. Don't judge anything by its looks.

Cut Ties With Bondage

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Don't try to figure it out. Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord of hosts. Sever sever relationships that are dragging you down. Say, yeah, but they're my friend, they've been my friend for a long time. It's dragging you down to cut it off. Close it. Because it's dragging you into the pits. An old friend made a statement and he was struggling with uh alcohol uh a lot. And I don't know, the statement that he made maybe it was the switch that switched him from hell to heaven after years and years of of alcohol abuse the countless souls that it led astray, led to hell. And I I really I really detest that phrase alcohol abuse or drug abuse because it is implying that well's okay. Just don't abuse it. Just don't go too far. Why would we participate in a bondage that is the root cause, the number one cause of auto accidents, domestic violence, fights, stupid decisions? Every stupid decision I made in my life came from alcohol. Everyone fractured relationships, financial ruin. And not just for the person caught in that bondage, but for those around them, family, friends, everyone that they touch. Um in the statement that my friend made, there is no good that comes from a godless lifestyle. Now he was speaking of one particular lifestyle, but it applies to anyone, any bondage or anything that holds you captive. A wife who suffered years of abuse from a drunken husband Jesus and she began attending church twice a week. Her husband hated it the fact that she was going to church, and hated it, tried to stop her many times. And one night he came home in a drunken stupor when she was addressed and said, Where are you going? She said, I'm going to church. He reached in his waistband, pulled out a 38, cocked it, and put it into her head. Put it on to put it to her head and said, Now where are you going? She said, Pull the trigger, I'm going to heaven. If I don't, I'm going to church. Hallelujah. If we rise to fight, if you'll fight, he'll come to where you are and train you. If you'll fight, he'll meet you in prayer. This might sound like a strange closing, but right now, right now, God is saying to this entire congregation, I love you.

The Closing Charge And Podcast Outro

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Let's fight. Amen. Thank you for listening. Hallelujah, hallelujah. God is so good. Would you stand, please?

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Thank you

Worship Service And Praise

SPEAKER_01 35:04

for listening to this week's podcast. We pray it was an encouragement and a blessing to you. You can contact us at Valley Gospel Church 1069, Butler Logan Road, Springdale, Pennsylvania, 15144. We invite you to listen to this week's worship service that follows and tune in for next week's podcast.

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We came to glorify your name, Lord. I will sing unto the Lord unto the song. Yes, he is good. Yes, he is good. For he is good. Yes, he is good. In him we have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace. And I know and I know. Yes, I know. Yes, I know. Jesus e I know. And I know. Yes, I know. Yes, I know. Jesus and make the violence early. Yes, Lord. Hallelujah, Jesus. Thank you. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. With joy you will chop water from the well of your salvation to the face. Yes, Jesus. Let's sing that chorus. And I know. Yes, I know. Jesus. Yes, I know. She's used early. Oh he is good. Yes, he is good. Up to the walls of Jericho. He marched with spear in hand. Joshua cry. Sheep horns began to blow. The trumpets began to sound. Oh Joshua shouted Glora! And the walls came up tumble and downs, unto the Lord, for he is good, yes, he is good. Oh, give thanks, unto the Lord, for he is good, yes, he is good. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, yes, he is good, oh give thanks, unto the Lord, for he is good, yes, he is good, for he is worthy, worthy, for he is good, yes, he is good, for he is worthy, worthy, for he is good, yes, he is good. Come on now, praise the Lord with me. Give him all the praise, praise the Lord with me, sing it again. Praise the Lord with me, come on now, praise the Lord with me, bless the Lord, bless the Lord with me, come on now, bless the Lord with me, bless the Lord with me, come on now, bless the Lord with me. Thank you, praise Jesus We overcome by the blood of the Lamb, we overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, by the word of our testimony Sing it again. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, by the word of our testimony, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, O Sovereign Lord. You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Welcome, Holy Spirit. We are in your presence, up fill us with your power, come on and live inside with me.

SPEAKER_03 48:06

Oh welcome, Holy Spirit, hey, hey, we are in your marriage, Lord's with your power, come on and live inside of me, come on now, praise the Lord with me, Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 48:30

Come on now, praise the Lord with me, praise the Lord with me. Come on now, praise the Lord with me, bless the Lord with me. Come now, bless the Lord with me.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

Sing it again, bless the Lord with me. Come on now, bless the Lord with me.