WIN... Before You Begin | Rich Wilkerson Jr. | City Light Church

This way, I want to read one verse and we'll see how much of it I can get to. It says this in verse 1, When you go to war against your enemies and you see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, city light, do not be afraid of them. Because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. We can close in prayer right there. Eight, for all the Bible nerds out there in numerology, is the number of new beginnings. I think that's significant. I believe that you are stepping into something new, that something is beginning today that you have not seen in the past. With that thought in mind, I want to preach for the next few moments, if I can, from the subject, when before you begin. Look at your neighbor and say, neighbor, you're going to win. I have read this book from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation, and what I see over and over again is a God who declares over us that we are victorious, that the battle is His, and that we are going to win. Yet I've also noticed that as God declares of your life that you're going to win, He never tells you that you're not going to have to fight. And I think we've got to get that into our spirit today, that this Christian journey that we are on, it's not a dance, it is a battle. In fact, it's one battle after another. But before we talk about any kind of external challenges that we might face, how many of you know the biggest battle that we will always fight is the internal one? It's the battle of the mind. It's the battle of the heart. It's the battle of the soul. And right here in Deuteronomy chapter 20, this is interesting. Deuteronomy is the book of the second law. It's the book of instruction. And what we see here playing out is Moses, the leader of the Israelites,

he is coming to the soldiers, he's coming to the troops before they go to war. And he's giving them a briefing. Before he puts anything in their hands, he wants to deal with their heads and their heart. And so it is with us on this Sunday that before we go into the battle, before we go into the war, may there be a briefing. The great encouragement that Moses is giving them is that God is going to be with you. That God is for you. I like what A.W. Tozer says. He says, we all have a mental image of God. And whatever that image of God is, we're all moving closer and closer to it. Therefore, the most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God. I know this church and I know this man. Hopefully you see your God as a heavenly Father. He loves you. He's for you. He's not a judge. He's not up in heaven angry at you. He's not mad at you. He's not trying to trap you. He's got good things for you. He wants to bless you. He wants to help you. He does not want to harm you. He's not looking for a way to run out on you. The other day I had a little briefing of my own in my house. If you don't know, I am the general. Thank you, Jabin. I have four kids. My oldest, his name is Wyatt. My second, his name is Wild. Sort of a mistake of a name, if you're going to be honest. When you name your kid Wild, they become wild. And my third child, my favorite child, my daughter, Waylon. My fourth child, Wolfgang.

How about that right there for a name? And then I'm a preacher, so we like to rhyme. We like alliteration. My last name is Wilkerson, so get ready. This is Wyatt Wesley Wilkerson, Wild Wesley Wilkerson, Waylon Wesley Wilkerson, and Wolfgang Wesley Wilkerson. With names like that, you can't fail. And the other day I got some news that the older kids, that there was a problem. My daughter, Waylon, that she had been a little bit of a problem. And so I called them in. I lined them up. I said, guys, what's going on here? Waylon, were you bad today? And my daughters just began to, you ever cry so hard you convince yourself you have asthma? Daddy, like princess tears. I don't know what it is, but like my kids, like they just start going into tears. I said, Waylon, were you bad today? She goes, Daddy, I don't remember. Short-term amnesia. I look at her brother Wild, who was six years of age. I said, Wild, now tell me the truth. Was Waylon bad today? Wild goes, oh, Dad, it's been such a long day. I'm like, homie, it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon. What I love about my son Wild is that any moment an attack comes his sister's way, now he will fight with her all day long.

But the moment he sees or senses any kind of judgment, any kind of correction, any kind of judgment, He kind of opposition, the brother on the inside of him steps in and he says, I'm gonna protect my sister. I like that, but I want to encourage you. Your God is not a big brother. Your God is a heavenly father and heavenly fathers, they don't just protect. Come on, somebody clap your hands. Heavenly fathers know how to fight. I want to speak over you. You got a God in heaven and he says, I will fight for you. The battle is the Lord's. If you believe it, somebody make some noise on this Sunday morning. How do you see God? Because God is for you. And so Moses comes out and he gives some instruction. The first instruction I believe he gives, and I want you to write this down today, is don't let what you see shake what you know. I want to speak this into us, that we got to win before we begin. That this next year as a church, what we're walking into, there are victories all around us, but before we step into it, we got to win from the inside out. And it begins with us deciding, we're not going to let what we see shake what we know. Moses says, when you go to war, important,

not if you go to war, battles are not optional. You don't get to choose whether or not you're going to go into a battle. All you get to choose is how you're going to show up to the fight. And he says, when you go to war and you see the horses and the chariots, and when you see an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them. I like that he says this because this is important. He's letting us know that fear begins by what we see. Human beings are meaning machines. We see something, but it's not just what we see, it's the story that we attach to what we see. Anyone like me that you can just see something, and all you got to do is see it, and before you know it, you can turn it into an entire Netflix, eight-part series, true crime. Just me, okay, that's fine. If I text you and you leave me on read, oh my God. Relationship's over, what did I do? Some of us, you can get one bill that you didn't expect to get, you're like, that's it! I gotta move back in with mom and dad! Dave Ramsey, he was right about me! One uncomfortable conversation at work, that's it! They're firing me, I'm done, it's over. Because we see something, and then we script something. But here comes Moses, he's like, people of God, listen, you're gonna see chariots, you're gonna see armies, but you gotta understand, just because you see something

doesn't mean that you don't know something. Yeah, yeah, I see the chariots, but I know who my God is. Yeah, I see the opposition, but I know the one who has actually defeated all of the odds. Yeah, I see some challenges, but I know a God who has always brought me through. This is why he says, do not be afraid. If I had one message for you, that's all I wanna preach today, do not be afraid. Everything God has for City Light Church is on the other side of our fear. I wanna say about this couple right here, we did not come this far by fear. We came this far by faith, and if faith got us here, come on, somebody, faith is gonna take us into the next season, we are people of faith. We don't walk by sight, we walk by faith. Any faith walkers in the house, go ahead and make a little bit of noise today. Stir it up in this place, we walk by faith! Do not be afraid. That command is given 365 times in the Bible. Why is that, Pastor Rich? Well, if fear doesn't take a day off, faith can't take a day off. And if you can't see it, then learn how to say it. You close your eyes and you open up your ears. That's why it's so important to make a decision, especially on an anniversary, something like this, just to say, I'm just gonna get planted.

I'm just gonna be here Sunday after Sunday, because when Jabin preaches, he preaches the word of God. Let me tell you, the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. Let me try to make that really simple. If you wanna walk this faith journey out, it requires you to close your eyes, open up your ears, and you start walking by faith. Let me give you Bible for it. Jesus is out there on the storm, and there's Peter in a boat, and they're all out there freaking out. Remember, Jesus shows up. He says, do not be afraid. I am with you. And it sounds really strange, right, because they're in the storm like, dude. Remember, they think he's a ghost. The only thing worse than being in a storm is having a ghost in your storm. It's a bad boy. Bad day. Ahhh, we're going to die. Do not be afraid. I am with you. Be courageous. And so Peter gets the idea, alright Lord, if that's really you, tell me to come to you on the water. And what does Jesus say? Come.

All you need is one word. And Peter steps out in faith and he starts walking on water. What does the Bible say? The Bible says that when he looked at the wind and the waves, he began to sink. I can hear Jesus going, no, no, no, Peter, listen to me. The water is liquid, but my word is solid. Come on somebody. I came all the way to City Light Church to tell you to get a word from God. And when you get a word from God, you start walking over things, walking on top of things. You serve a God who will carry you through every single storm. If you believe it in this place, take about five seconds on this Sunday morning and praise God. He says, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt, that God will be with you. Meaning, just because you can't see what God is doing, doesn't mean you don't know what he's done. So if you can't see what God's doing, go back to what he's done. Oh, there's some people who've been in this church for eight years and you know we didn't start right here in the Taj Mahal. Raise your hand if you started in the school. Where are you at? Oh, look at these people. Look at these. Raise your hand who went to the storefront church. I like that, storefront. Now the Shake Shack took our parking lot, my God. So when you get weary, go find one of these people with their hand up, because they got some stories that what you see today, this is due to the faithfulness of the past. The God who brought us up out of Egypt. How many of y'all know if God brought you up out of Egypt, he can bring you through

whatever you're going through? Come on. If God parted a Red Sea, something tells me he can part your circumstance, he can part your situation. If he was faithful back then, something tells me he can do it again. Come on. If God did it all the way back over here, something tells me he can do it right now. Anybody believe God is moving, God is working? Moses is like, don't let what you see shake what you know. Verse 2, he says, when you're about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say, here, Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid. Do not panic or be terrified by them. Do not, what I believe is the briefing before the battle, let your worry be louder than God's word. So this is an interesting moment because Moses is like, all right, we're about to, there's the enemy over there. You see the horses, you see the chariots. Get the priests out. Wait. Wait. What about like captains or colonels or like sergeants? How about a general? Nah. How about like preachers? Why? It's because every warrior needs a preacher. And before the war is won, the word must come forward. See, I don't believe today that I'm in a church just talking to a bunch of spectators.

In fact, I don't go to church for spectators. I come to church for soldiers. I don't think that you're just sitting in a row. I think you're actually standing in a formation. Come on, am I preaching to anybody? Anybody out there fighting for something? Anybody out there contending for something? Fighting for your calling? Come on. Anybody fighting for your marriage? Fighting for a dream? Anybody fighting for your kids out there? Fighting for the next generation? Sometimes people on Instagram can be so mean. They'll be like, Rich, man, why are you always shouting in your clips? You could just say it, man. I'm like, that's true. I could just say it. But I only get one day a week. It's the first day of the week that all the troops line up. I know that all week long, this world is shouting worry at us. Algorithms, news feeds, TikToks, friends, fear, your own inner critic. I want to make sure on the first day of the week that as you step into this place, I want to make sure, come on, God's word is louder than your worry. Send out the priests. I wonder, what's louder in your life, your worry or the word? Worry comes first. from an Anglo-Saxon word which means to strangle. And what a powerful picture it is that that's what worry feels like.

It strangles us of confidence. It strangles us of contentment. It strangles us from courage. Things begin to seep out. I want you to write this down today if you're taking notes. This is important. I want you to think about this even this week. What you repeat in peace will become your reflex under pressure. I'm so proud of you for being in church. But how many of y'all know, it's not going to church occasionally that makes a difference. It's going to church consistently. Remember the story in Matthew chapter three, Jesus, he's entering into his ministry. He hasn't done any ministry yet. I think it's a really beautiful moment. Hasn't healed anybody, hasn't preached a sermon, but he goes out into the wilderness and he's baptized by his cousin John. As he goes under the water, he comes up out of the water, the heavens open up and Father God speaks over his life. Immediately as he's blessed, he then in Matthew chapter four, steps into the wilderness. The Bible says the Holy Spirit leads him to be tempted by Satan himself. Listen, you go from blessing to battle, blessing to battle.

And notice when the devil comes to tempt Jesus, this is how the devil always works in your life. He always attacks your identity. The first word out of the devil's mouth is, if you are tempted by Satan, the first word out of the devil's mouth is, if you are the son of God. Interesting, what's the last thing Jesus heard? In Matthew chapter three, he heard his father say, this is my son whom I love and I'm well pleased. The last thing he heard was, I'm God's son. The first word out of the enemy's mouth is, if you are the son of God. The devil always wants to make you question the word. I could take you back to the garden. Did God really say? That's funny, right? That's how snakes talk. So he. A lot of people are like, Pastor Rich, what's the mark of the beast? Come on, what's the mark of the beast? I don't know what the mark of the beast is, but I do know that the first mark of the beast is a question mark in Genesis chapter two. Did God really say, city lights? What if I just did that for the next 20 minutes? So city lights. If you are the son of God, if you are the son of God. Here's what's interesting, and I wanna say this,

especially to everyone, you know, part of Gen Z out there. Notice how Jesus fights back. He doesn't fight back with vibes. He fights back with verses. It is written. Why? Because it is written before it is won. If you wanna win before you begin, you gotta get the word of God in you. Because when life hits you, when life slaps you, what's gonna come out of you? For Jesus, the word of God came out of him. It is written. Now here's what's really interesting about Matthew chapter four, if you ever go back and study that, is that Jesus is in the wilderness for 40 days. Do you know why he's there for 40 days? It's because he's illustrating for you and I what it looks like to win. In fact, he's going through the motions and he's showing you that he is the true and better Israel. Remember, Israel was brought up out of Egypt, but then they went into the wilderness. God gave them, watch this, the book of Deuteronomy, the book of the law, and said, obey this and do this, but they disobeyed. They never walked into the promised land. An entire generation died in the wilderness. And now Jesus is out there saying,

I wanna show you something. What took them 40 years, I only need 40 days. And every time the devil comes and tempts him, guess what book of the Bible he quotes? He quotes the book of Deuteronomy, as if to say, you've always had the word. The word is enough. The word is a weapon. If you learn how to use the word, you can fight back against any attack that comes your way. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. It doesn't say it won't be formed. It just says it will not prosper in your life. Take about five seconds. Thank God for every weapon that was formed against you that did not prosper. But listen, if you don't train in the word, you're not gonna triumph in the wilderness. You gotta train in this. You gotta learn this. In fact, let's just go a little bit further. You can't just read it. You gotta learn it. If you go back to Matthew four, guess what the devil used to trick Jesus? The Bible. The devil knows the Bible. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah, better than some of us. It's like, I always think the Bible is like sunblock.

Your boy needs sunblock. I got drawers and drawers of sunblock. But the power is not having the sunblock in the drawer. The power is applying it. If you don't apply it, if you're like me, you're going to get burned. It's like a gun. You can have a gun, but if you don't know how to remove the safety, that makes me laugh. You can't Google for a verse. You got to learn it. You got to contextualize. You need good hermeneutics. You need to sit in church week in and week out because worry comes loud and you need the word to be hidden in your heart. That's what David said. I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Even if I wanted to sin, even if I wanted to fall into temptation, that word is so deep down in my heart. It carries me. It covers me. It protects me. It's a weapon. But a lot of people are just like, I need a word from God. I need a word. Wait, Jabin's not preaching? Who's this guy? What? I need a word. You ever meet people, not you, but my church, not you. You ever heard of like flip and read? Like God, I need a word.

You having a bad night? I need a word, Lord. Like, come on. I don't know where to begin. Let me just flip and read. Oh God, please give me a word. It's like Russian roulette. And Judas hanged himself? Not that word. No, friends, we can't just read it. We got to learn it. And Moses sends out the priest first. You need a word. You got to get the word in your heart. You've already won. You just forgot the word. What I repeat in peace will be my reflex under pressure. Pressure, listen to me, does not remove what's inside of you. It reveals what's inside of you. You don't have a pressure problem. You got a capacity problem. Life is going to come your way. The question is when life hits you, what's going to come out of you? Brandon's the youth pass around. If you squeeze an orange, Brandon, what comes out? Orange juice. Good. Thank you, man. Juice. You got to get the joy in the Lord in that guy, man.

I don't want him around our students yet, man. If you squeeze an apple, I'm sorry, I know Brandon. If you squeeze an apple, what do you get? Apple juice. Yeah. It's actually like the best part. Like I want apple juice, but I got to squeeze it. The pressure has to hit it. I wonder if you squeeze a Christian from City Light Church, what comes out? Like honestly, what comes out of it, because this is what the world's looking at. The world needs to see a church that knows how to suffer well. That when life squeezes you, what comes out of you? I firmly believe that when you squeeze a believer, you ought to get believer juice. Are we having fun today? My God in heaven. Believer juice, believer juice, believer juice. Yeah, I believe that. Because last time I read my Bible, believers ought to have fruit. You ought to have the fruit of the Spirit. And how many of you know, fruit of the Spirit still grows under pressure. May it be said about this church that when pressure hits this place, oh, we already know that the battle is the Lord. We already know we're going to win. But man, as life tries to strangle us, we're going to let love erupt. When all of a sudden life hits us hard, we want the joy of the Lord to be our strength. Come on, we want a peace that passes all understanding. I believe God's going to unlock a peace that doesn't make any sense. You might have some pain that doesn't make sense. There might be a problem in your house that doesn't make sense. But thank God for the fruit of the Spirit.

Christ in me, the hope of glory. I can have peace. I can have joy. I can have goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in all seasons of life. This is the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the spirit shows up even under pressure, if you believe it. Make a little bit of noise in this house. Someone say win before you begin. Eight is the number of new beginnings. But we're going to win before we even step into this next chapter. We're going to win trusting that God is faithful. Moses, he sends out these priests. And everyone has to be thinking to themselves, this is crazy. We don't need priests. No, we need weapons. But God is always trying to get his external word into your internal world. I just want to encourage you in this hour. It is so important. Yes, gospel change is all inside out. But maturity and sanctification and formation is creating a world on the outside that reminds us who we want to be on the inside. Do not feel your way into actions. Act your way into feelings. Some of you are like, I'm waiting on a word to serve in the parking lot. You're never going to feel that. Like you drove in there, like these guys, they feel so called. No, they don't. They just answer the call. They see a need and say, you know what, we're going to get out there and we're going to actually live this thing from the outside in.

Come on and clap your hands. Bring the worship team up. It makes me laugh because how many of y'all know that we live in a world that's the opposite. In fact, we live in a world that we tend to mirror our outside world to whatever is going on in our inside world. You know this would be true, right? Alexa, play my depressed playlist. Some of y'all say, Alexa, play I want to cry in the shower playlist, you know. Because we tend to take whatever on the inside and put it to the outside. You know this, misery loves company. We know it's true. That when you're feeling bad, you start doom scrolling, you're looking for more fear. When you're hurting, you want to get around other people that are hurting. We love misery. But I want to encourage you that this is the moment that you actually have to have discipline. This is the moment that you have to remember Deuteronomy chapter 20. I need a word. I have learned about myself that I actually need to be in church on the days that I don't feel like going to church. Do you know when I go to small group? When I don't feel like going to small group. I've just learned to tell myself that when I feel low and when I feel down, that's the moment that I don't say, Alexa, play my depressed playlist. I say, Alexa, put on my city lights, worship, faith-filled playlist. Because faith has a sound, and hope has a sound, and courage has a sound, and joy has a sound. Come on, let me hear the sound today.

There's a sound. There's a sound. There's a sound. There's a sound. I was telling church last night, my father is my hero. My dad is the best in the world. You ever meet somebody who's so positive they almost make you negative? That's my dad. This is great. It's not great, dad. We are in a pit, but we're together. He was drinking Red Bull before Red Bull was created. And my dad is an amazing communicator. But I wouldn't say that he's the world's greatest Bible teacher. He's a storyteller. He's a pastor. He loves people. And for decades, I'd listen to him preach. And every sermon, I could almost just like clockwork. It didn't matter what. He could be preaching on finances. He could be preaching on marriage. He could be preaching on the end times. It didn't matter what he was teaching about. His third point was always the same third point. And church, we're going to win. It's like, dad, the whole message was on, you know, divorce. Like, we're going to win, you know. But the older I get, the more I know that's a great third point. Because I've read the end of the book, church.

Come on, somebody. I know how the story goes. Christ was crucified, put in a grave. And three days later, he resurrected. And the same power that conquered death, hell, and the grave, that lives inside of me and that lives inside of you. No matter how your circumstance goes, no matter what the problems look like, no matter what challenge you face, we're going to win in Christ Jesus. But just because we're going to win doesn't mean we won't have to fight. I was laying in bed with my son the other day, my son Wyatt. And when he was four years of age, I took him to Disney World. Took him on this ride. It's called Space Mountain. It's a roller coaster. He came off the ride completely traumatized. It's been three years now. therapy and every year we go back I'm like why you got to get back on space no we were back there just a couple of months ago and got him on the ride I bribed him a Marvel toy a Star Wars toy don't come at me I'm trying my best in these streets this time he came out the race again again and I had to check him I was like bro actually we can't go again I only have one lightning round I paid a lot of money for it the way my checking is set up I don't have the budget for it come back next year you ungrateful never mind um but Wyatt just turned eight years old January 23rd 2018 the birth of the greatest blessing God has given me outside of my salvation to my wife we went through eight years of infertility I mean what a miracle looking at my baby boy and I was laying in bed with him the other night eight years old season of new beginnings I said Wyatt what's your favorite ride at Disney World he said oh dad Space Mountain because you always hated going on Space Mountain he said I know dad but I think

they changed the ride I said no Wyatt they didn't change the ride you changed let me prophesy over City Light Church the battles aren't getting easier come on but you're getting stronger your circumstances aren't going to get lighter but come on somebody you're getting wiser in this hour we're gonna win before we begin we're stepping out into the battlefield and we've made a decision if we'll face this fight God promises I will fight for you and let me encourage you we serve a God he's never lost a battle before and he's not going to start with you all you got to do is look up and see where your help comes from we're stepping into this next season it is not one battle after another come on church it's one victory after another if you believe in somebody give God some praise in this house