hi and welcome to class number eight of spiritual warfare let's pray father we thank you for this time together we thank you for your word we thank you for the holy spirit the great teacher who abides within us lord as we take this time and this opportunity to just put aside the cares of the day what has happened what will happen and just focus on your word we thank you that your holy spirit will reveal truth to us and empower us to live by that truth we thank you for it in jesus name amen amen all righty then so we were talking about facing death at the end of our class last time hope that wasn't too uh negative but i think it was a it's a good kind of mindset to understand how people like paul approach things that idea of not that we're looking to die but that we're saying nothing is more important than fulfilling my destiny in christ in that if it means that i sacrifice something that i sacrifice a part of my life then so be it in order to fulfill god's plan and god's purpose not just about my ministry but about fulfilling god's plan and purpose the plan of salvation is what god has always focused on and our part in that plan is what we need to be continually looking toward how can we bring more people into the kingdom how can we show believers how to live a more godly lifestyle not legalistically obviously but in a way that glorifies god so that's what we're looking at um for someone like esther to say if i perish i perish the idea that it's all for nothing if i don't do this okay for her she would have died eventually anyway according you know what mordecai said to her um listen if you're discovered you're going to be you're going to die with the rest of us the thing is you were here put here for such a time as this and i don't think it's being overly dramatic for us to look at our lives and parts in the body of christ again my part in the body of christ as a such a time as this kind of moment at all times this is what i am here for we were made for this we were created with that plan and that purpose in mind because it fits not because i'm so important but because the plan and purpose that i am a part of is so important we are part of something that is so much greater than ourselves it is just impossible for us to comprehend it okay so that's that's really what we need to see here all right so that's how esther saw it so um moving right under there um the next quote from sun tzu the general needs to be capable of keeping his men and officers in ignorance of his plan they join in the rejoicing but not in the laying of the plan if you look at job chapter 38 i mean job's a really interesting book in a lot of ways there are so many things that have been taught so many things that are mistaken from the book of job but if we look at this portion of the book of job um god is talking um he's speaking to job and he's stressing to him the just how much he doesn't understand and how much he doesn't know so just to kind of i'm not going to go through the whole chapter but just to kind of look at this it's a bit of a scolding here that we're seeing but something to take to heart because it's written for a reason okay it wasn't just to job and then it stops there it speaks to us today so job 38 beginning at verse 1. then the lord answered job out of the whirlwind women said who is this the dark and that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge gird up now thy loins like a man for i will demand of thee and answer thou or answer answer me where were you when i lay the foundations of the earth tell me if you can understand it who has laid the measures thereof do you know and who has stretched out the line upon it so in other words who was the one that created where were you where were you when i created all that exists where were you do you even comprehend what this is all about see he's kind of like placing joke and speaking to us in a sense because sometimes we question no not directly because we never would do that we kind of we in our minds question why are you doing this god um i'm sure you've never done that well just in case you have we question god and then we need to stop and say to ourselves who do i think i am questioning god do i know better than god where was i when he did all of these things i think he's been being god i'm not trying to be facetious but or or to poke fun in any way but he's been god always look at who he is does he need me to tell him how to do something and this is the kind of thing that we've got to get our mind straight on why because when things happen the trust that i have in him overrides my perception of what should or should not be see if i am trusting him then i'm not measuring what should or should not be i'm not coming up with my own plan i'm not coming up with my evaluation of what i see or what i think i see happening around me i pull back and i say wait a minute god has a plan and i have and i have to trust that plan i want to trust that plan i do trust that plan wherever you fit in in that spectrum moving through that spectrum sometimes i have to trust him in his evaluation of the situation in his ability to put things in the right place this is what he's saying to job this is what he's saying to us where were you when i set all things in motion okay so it's it's a good thing to go back and look at that and recognize he has a plan he doesn't he reveals things to us as we need as we need to know them that are important but like the story that i had told you about the man that called in the middle of the night god didn't need to tell me what was going to happen he just needed me to be prepared sometimes our idea of prepared and god's idea of prepared can be two different things and i think that god's idea of being prepared is probably better than mine okay these are the things that we have to confront in ourselves all the time so when god deems me prepared for something then i am prepared i might not think i am sometimes sometimes i don't think i'm ready but if god says i am then i am and then we start to move through the situation okay in john 15 15 jesus tells the disciples that he had revealed to them what the father revealed to him placing them in a position of friends as servants are not privy to that kind of information first corinthians the second chapter speaks of god as revealing to us by his spirit those things that we need to know but also reminds us in verse 16 that in the natural we have no way of understanding what god is really doing or what he may be about to do but he will reveal to us what we need to know what we can handle what is appropriate for us to know and we need to understand that he doesn't need to tell us these things he may choose to like he does you can see in the bible he chooses to tell people certain things he spoke to abraham told him certain things told moses things but he doesn't have to he chooses and what he chooses to tell us is what we need to know that's why when we start filling in the blanks with certain things even in scripture we get into a dangerous place to start inserting things in the bible that it does not say it says plenty and we will spend our lifetime just dealing with with what it does say we don't need to be adding anything else and god certainly doesn't need us to add anything else um in romans chapter nine interesting portion of scripture this is you know i've heard different teachings about the state of paul um when he makes these statements or what he's referring to i think the most important thing is to look at what he's saying here in chapter 9 beginning in verse 19. so what will you then say to me why does god find fault because who has resisted his will but i say who are you that replies against god shall the thing form say to him that formed it why have you formed me so has not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor see this is the thing that we have an issue with especially in our culture and society today we think we earn the right to be treated in such a way or earn a position god has the final say on everything he places us in ways in the body in places in the body to do a specific work in a job okay empowers us to do that enlightens us to do that plugs us in and that's what we're to do it's not for us to turn around and say well why didn't you make me an apostle or why can't i be a prophet or why can't i be a children's ministry person why can't i do this he knows exactly what you should be doing and he empowers you to do it so it is not for us to question that now especially as americans we have a hard time with that because we don't like being told what to do we don't like someone else deciding for us what it is we will do and this is people's be and i'm sure we're not the only ones all right but that is one of the most difficult aspects of this that someone else is deciding even if it's only in our minds that that's a problem someone else is deciding what you're going to be in to do but here's the flip side of that he is the best person to make that decision for us he knows what we're capable of he knows who we are what he's made what we are made of because he made us and knows where we fit the best so he is the perfect one to be making that kind of a decision for us all right so um what if god willing to show his wrath to make his power known endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath and fitted to destruction that he might make known his voice so in other words what if god these people who were you know fitted to destruction as it says as paul says what if it's god's will to let them go about their business and not to wipe them off the face of the earth from the get-go we see that history with god he doesn't just move in and wipe things out he lets things go as far as is necessary look back at korra's rebellion okay that didn't happen overnight so god didn't immediately squash that situation he let it go to a certain point you you hear what jesus says when he talks about the wheat and the tares in that parable he says let them grow up together it'll be easy enough to sort it all out when they come to their growth same thing with circumstances and people it will be a parent and he will sort it out he is the one that knows when and how to sort these things out so you can read through that but i think it's important to recognize that it is god who needs to be making these decisions and not us okay we enjoy and as sun tzu says we participate in the victory but maybe not in the laying of the plans god allows us by what the work of the cross to participate in the victory of that work but not in the laying of those plans he doesn't need our help for that okay um in first corinthians 13 it tells us that we see through a glass darkly in other words we don't see everything clearly we don't understand everything that's going on we think we do but we don't and we need to be we need to realize that that there is someone god who knows better than us in every situation again he'll tell us what we need to know and what was what is required of us but everything else is at his discretion um sun tzu says that the general cuts off the return route from his own men as well as if removing a ladder from beneath in other words so that they cannot escape because if people have an opportunity to run away they may in fear all right what do we see in luke chapter 9 verses 57-62 it says now it happened that as they journeyed on the road that someone said to him lord i will follow you wherever you go and jesus said foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head then he said to another follow me but he said lord first let me go and bury my father jesus said to him let the dead bury their own dead but you go and preach the kingdom of god and another also said lord i will follow you but let me first go and bid them farewell or at my house but jesus said to him no one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of god in other words he's not saying you know that you can't have a life what he's saying is if you're looking for excuses to return to go back avocado we're talking about this at the end of the last session um if you're looking for reasons to go back because maybe it looks a little safer back there maybe i was a little more in control back there maybe whatever fill in the blank okay we start heading backwards we can't you can't move forward and backward at the same time the holy spirit leads and guides he doesn't go back we can't fix what's already taken place nor can we stay in the past i think everybody's tried to do that at one point in time in their lives or another but what we all see is that that's impossible you cannot stay in the past the moment is past when the moment is past we need to be keeping our eyes forward ahead of us if you're looking behind you you're sure to end and walking forward you are sure to bump into something and hurt yourself so we've got to not look back but keep our eyes forward um hebrews 11 13 through basically we've already talked about this those who died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them are far off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country and truly if they've been mindful of that country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned but now they desire a better country that is a heavenly wherefore god is not ashamed to be called their god for he has prepared for them a city so in other words what they see far off if you have no goal if you have no destination to move toward if you have nothing to look forward to okay you will start to kind of deteriorate you see people then they reach a certain age sometimes when people retire from their jobs their health just deteriorates because their job was their focus their job is what gave them purpose their career is what validated them and made them have a sense of themselves in a purpose in this world and something to move toward when that job is taken out of the way or that career is removed they have no sense of where they're going that's why you have to have a life you have to have relationships you have to have a purpose other than just working or just doing this or just doing that because those things will come to an end serving god never comes to an end relationship with god never comes to an end so we're always pursuing that but we need to have something to move toward and as we do we develop a lifestyle that you know if uh i grew up in brooklyn and in in in new york you have neighborhoods within the whole city you have neighborhoods that are ethnically oriented okay so you may have um asians you may have say chinese in one area to be more specific you could have people from india in another area general middle eastern people and you see restaurants and um and even the way people decorate their homes like that you have italian neighborhoods you have irish neighborhoods you have all these different neighborhoods of people african-american so you see things developing that reflect those cultures again the eating establishments will reflect those cultures because as a people we live okay the way that is most familiar to us so we live as people who seek a country whose builder and maker is god himself so that our lifestyle starts to reflect a heavenly lifestyle so that we behave in a way that demonstrates that we have been with jesus christ as it speaks in the book of acts about the disciples truly they have been with jesus christ they've been with him they've been with jesus so that is what we want to reflect people who are doing things that may not be the norm somebody like abraham was not doing something that was the norm in his death he was really seeking god so when god spoke to him and sent him in a particular direction he moved in that direction and he didn't go back he moved in that direction okay so that's how we live our lives according to a standard and a culture if you will that doesn't mean just being you know like just eating uh kosher food or something like that you know you're you are living a life your behavior reflects a heavenly influence okay that's the way we want to impact all right those around us so we live like people who come from that country so to speak again if you walk in an ethnic neighborhood you will see people perhaps dressed in a particular way um doing particular things okay there are i remember we were living in an apartment complex um at a point in time and there was a lot of people who were middle eastern and they were always out walking after dinner like in the nicer weather you would see them after dinner peop people all over the place just taking a walk together and it really was nice to see people families or couples out just taking a walk but they it was the middle eastern people who were the most out at that particular point in time so it's it's obviously a part of their culture to do that all right so you see behaviors that are part of people's culture that should be us demonstrating behaviors that are part of a heavenly culture in first timothy chapter 1 verses 18 through 20 jimenez and alexander having put away faith and a good conscience returned okay so you have people that kind of you know they just really didn't didn't follow through didn't follow through didn't saw things that made them perhaps uncomfortable or seemed particularly difficult to them and decided that you know what i don't know if i can do this so it was first timothy chapter one beginning at verse 18. this charge i commit to you son timothy according to the prophecies um which went on which went before on you okay that was spoken about you then you might war of good warfare holding faith in a good conscience always a good thing to say which some having put away concerning faith have made a shipwreck of whom is hymenius and alexandra alexander excuse me whom i have delivered on to say that they may not they may learn not to blaspheme okay so say um just as a thing to paul makes those kinds of statements delivering unto satan for the destruction of the flesh he says that in corinthians as well when you um when you kind of let go of someone and let them go to their own path of destruction as happens in corinthians the hope would be that that person would then come back and realize what they had done because sometimes we're so busy trying to drag people back you know their fight becomes with that's another thing you know when a person is in a struggle with god don't get in between that because people would rather struggle with you than struggle with god so what we do is we insert ourselves because we want to save them you know what you do what god tells you to do but when he says okay now let me handle it back off and let him handle it he knows the person better than you do he knows what it what is needful to bring them back or to influence them or will speak to them let him handle it and that sounds really harsh especially the way paul says it but as we see in corinthians it yielded fruit because the gentleman came back okay so i think again god has a plan let's let him do what he knows needs to be done in second timothy chapter 4 verse 10 it it speaks of demons forsaking paul um in acts 15 37-41 paul refuses john mark but then because he he felt you know he's not he's not working out this isn't this isn't good i don't think he's of the quality but then we see in second timothy chapter four that he does take him back so again sometimes you need to let go in order for that person to be able to come back the way they need to again let god um in certain situations the general would destroy all the cooking utensils and maneuver his army so that escape was not readily available in this case case of the troops would fight unto the death in other words everything he destroys everything so that in order for them to survive they've got to beat their enemy and take their stuff okay so that's what a general would do so everything then becomes focused on fighting and winning using everything that they have available pouring themselves out realizing that if we don't win there's nothing left for us um often we've you know we see in history that less advantaged armies sometimes can win battles that seem hopeless simply because they have the desire to push forward um in john chapter 12 look there john chapter 12. again um when we talk about the dying here in these things we're not talking we're not advocating that you put yourself in a modern situation sometimes we hold on to our life that we've built so tightly that god can't get to us what he wants to get to us we need to die to that life in a sense and recognize that that part of me is no longer leading and guiding me i think we all have to recognize that we come to those points of decision in our lives and they could face different things for me it was a career choice i had a career i had i was looking toward promotion i was looking toward a really good career in education and i was in a position ready to be promoted to a supervisor i was on my way up the ladder and i was offered a job all right as a k-4 teacher at a serious cut and pay and i just knew that that's what god wanted me to do so i did i walked away from that career and the plans that i had had in my life to pursue where god was leading me i didn't know it would lead me to even where i am today but it did and that's for all of us to recognize that god has a plan and a purpose for us that will take us where we need to be so i can't like then turn around and go oh wow maybe i should go back because that job paid more or that job was more prestigious or it was something i wanted to do i loved what i did in special education but this is what god wanted for me and i love what i do because it's what i was made for again as we said before so in john chapter 12 um beginning at verse 24 it says verily verily i say to you except a corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies it abides alone but if it dies it brings forth much fruit he that loves his life will lose it he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life if any man serve me let him follow me and where i am there shall also my servant be if any man serve me my father will honor him now is my soul troubled and what shall i say father save me from this hour but for this cause i came for i came here he's saying i came here for this very purpose father glorify your name and then there came a voice from heaven saying i have both glorified it and will glorify it again so what are we seeing here you know jesus himself talking about the fact that well i came for this purpose it doesn't matter what i think or what i've built here or what we've built or what we've done here i am here for a purpose and i have to follow that because that's what i am here for and for all of us if we love the life we built more than the life god is directing us toward it will eventually lose it anyway so let it go because the best life i can live is the life i can't say that enough is the life that god leads me toward as i follow jesus okay um so the for each of us is that to determine which life do i love the most the life that i've built or the life that he has built for me which is it and making that decision enables me to make everyday decisions and it makes them so much easier when i know what it is i'm supposed to do all right in galatians chapter 2 verse 20. we already covered that paul crucified with christ nevertheless he living in me and through me okay that's the life i live sun tzu says five matters to be deliberated human moral injury uh the and general ship um physical terrain weather doctrinal and fees are superior then numerical strength not which is not decisive quality discipline rewards punishment and then training interesting as it says in your notes to denote the importance of the role of the doctrinal belief system of people even before strength and training what do you believe what do you believe okay what are your morals what's your what is what's the morale of the people but what is your moral standing as well what is it that you believe in that drives you and you can watch over history where there has been a corrupt doctrinal underpinning eventually it begins to fall apart any country needs to keep god as a center focus and for the most part many of us many countries do not our country falters on that back and forth where we're just beginning to more and more push that out of the way push god out of the way if the system doesn't work without god being at the center of it i want to get political but that's god has to stay centered god doesn't have to stay centered i have to say stay in such a place where god is the center of everything i believe and do my doctrinal system is based on the word so again that's an interesting thing isn't it um the enemy is vulnerable to attack when he approaches carelessly and without a plan when his banners are confused disorderly when both men and horses often look to the rear and when they're unprepared you can strike an army ten times your own size and win when there's confusion in the midst you know back in this again when sun tzu was writing the banners were a way of communication and also marking groups of soldiers this this this battalion or this group or this legion whatever they were marked with banners and they had certain positions to hold and certain things to do within a battle if the banners were confusing that meant that people didn't know what they were supposed to do or didn't know where they were going right that's the time to strike when there is confusion um so that when there's confusion in our midst we see that there is that's a prime opportunity for the enemy um to move in and to strike and bring even more confusion right um enrage the enemy to make moves he is not capable of or sustaining and in order to win so we get back to that idea of know your enemy and know yourself if you you can harass your enemy as satan harasses us we've talked a little bit about that that peripheral thing where he'll harass you in order to get your eyes off focus or to bring you into confusion or disorganize you in some way he'll do that but what can happen is if you are harassed or if you are you know prodded or gone after it could make you more focused and that's what we should have do to us when you start seeing the enemy's harassment starting to move in on you you need to get focused like a laser stay focused at times like that don't let yourself get confused and blown around like children and the word says but stay focused and move in the direction relentlessly that god is leading is leading you employ the host the brave need not advance alone and cowards cannot withdraw um again and we've talked about this to some degree when you know you need to put people in positions that they can manage that they can handle okay and you need to move together as a body we need to be working together moving together as a body because any one part of us is not cannot be alone no victory can be walked out each of us on our own we are victorious as a body moving forward we need to be connected to one another all right so that's really important so when the group is rally as a whole those less brave are able to be swept along with those and enable with those who are brave and they are enabled by their strength we bring each other along we help each other when i'm strong i can help you if you're a little weak if i'm feeling a little weak you're being strong you can help me alone but we move together that's important um this is interesting all right so sunset talks about this don't gobble pro offered baits fish the cup and bait or caught troops that covet bait are lost uh chiolin who was a a student of the ways of sun tzu said this plans and projects for harming the enemy are not confined to any one method sometimes entices wise and virtuous men away so that he has no counsellors or send treacherous people to his country to erect his administration sometimes use cunning deceptions to alienate his ministers from the sovereign or send skilled craftsman to encourage his people to exhaust their wealth or present him with licentious musicians and dancers to change his customs or give him beautiful women to bewilder him such a method is targeted at the weakness of individuals um their lack of discipline their inability to put aside certain things and stay focused on what is important i i i think one of the things that he talks here about deceptions to alienate ministers from the sovereign separating people um separating people from leadership i've watched that over the years happen so many times and it's really it's tragic and it's heartbreaking when deceptions come into play and then people well you know i don't like the way that leader is doing then i can re i've heard these stories over and over again but things that aren't even true said about leaders or i don't like the way they lead or i don't agree and they create and these deceptions create separations that keeps us from walking in unity now you have to agree with everything that your leader is doing or every single decision they make i certainly know if i am in a leadership position i assume that everybody doesn't agree with everything i say or do but if i'm leading in that particular situation then i'm the one that's responsible and making the final decisions my pastor makes decisions it doesn't matter whether i agree with them or not i'm following in submission to the decisions that they make because they're responsible for that i'm not responsible i'm not looking at the big picture i'm not responsible for keeping all of these plates in motion as the saying goes or keeping everything moving in the in the right direction that's the pastors that's their responsibility my part in it is helping move those things forward okay so i think it's important for us to recognize that you know these these situations will arise you may not agree with everything but what really is important is the fact that we move together with things and not get separated from each other that's a work of the devil if he can keep us away from each other or you know tempt us off into other things then we become ineffective and our and what we're supposed to be doing will not follow through sun tzu talks about the temperament of the general being steady not not to be thrown back and forth not to be inconsistent to be disciplined not to be moved by things that can happen all right to be prepared not to allow oneself to be agitated we talk about being we talked about already temperance and what being temperate means balanced and not allowing ourselves to be drawn off by things of the flesh um some more of the quotes um from sun tzu harassing obviously we talked about that again you can read the notes on that i if the enemy is stupid and places confidence in others you can deceive him and lure him into traps you know we can have confidence in people but we need to put our ultimate confidence and trust in god okay because people will always disappoint us it's going to happen the thing is we need to be able to understand that people are human they are people and they will make mistakes just like i want to be forgiven or i want to be helped if i make a mistake we need to allow the same thing for others now i'm not talking about serious situations all right where a leader does something that is in contradiction to the word of god that's not what i'm talking about but leaders can make mistakes sometimes the point here is we are not to put our faith in people we are to put our faith in god and when i put my faith in trust in god he'll show me how and who to follow okay that's how we do it see he tells me which direction to go and who to participate with who to follow who to who can i trust to that degree not to the same degree as i trust god but who can i trust in that situation who can i bring in all right he'll lead me and guide me but he is ultimately the one i need to trust first and foremost sometimes we follow people because of charisma because they they believe in a way maybe we kind of think is the better way to believe whether it have to do you see splinter groups growing going off at different points in times you have people that believe that deliverance has to take place in a particular way or that prophetic the prophetic ministry should hold a particular position or that um a soup kitchen okay we years and years and years ago we had a group of people leave the church because they thought we should have a soup kitchen and we didn't so they felt that we were not doing god's work so they all left the church we couldn't have set up a soup kitchen where we were located and it really wasn't what we were called to do instead what we can do is partner with other ministries that do some of those things so instead of everybody doing their own soup kitchen find a place that's doing it and doing it well and then support them either by volunteering or financially or whatever does that make sense i think it's important for us to realize that we don't constantly have to reinvent the wheel god didn't call us to do everything okay that's why we're part of a body that's why it's called the body of christ so different parts of the body will do different things okay you don't teach your feet how to clap okay that's what your hands do so we're constantly trying to make different parts of the body do different things because it's what we do let the parts of the body do what they need to do and when we do that we'll all work in harmony together and we certainly will accomplish a whole lot more all right but getting back to the point of following the doctrines of men and charisma and types of ministries those are not our true north remember jesus is always our true north that's who we're following that's what we're doing staying the church of jesus christ where he embodies and we complete so when we do that if that ministry or person falls what happens there people are scattered and we've watched it happen over and over again a ministry falls into a minister let's say falls into a sin and the ministry is disrupted people leave the church and go nowhere or they become so hurt by that situation they no longer trust church per se they no longer trust the gathering of the body of christ and that's tragic that should never happen but it does happen that's why again we don't we are not to put our faith in men in the doctrines of men men and women but in the word of god and follow after that and we'll always be right when we do um let's just read a couple more quotes um here from sun tzu if the general is covetous and careless of his reputation or if an individual excuse me is covetous and careless of his reputation you can bribe him if he's easily changeable lacks plans you can tire him out and wear him down if superiors are rich and arrogant and inferiors are poor and resentful divide and separate them if he remains you can read this but what do i want to point out you know there are people who don't want to believe that god will provide for us that god will take care of us that god will do things for us that make our lives and our ability to do the work of the lord easier it's a natural positive for a leader to make sure that the needs of the people that they're leading are met because then they are able to follow and do their part in the situation okay if we can figure that out as human beings where do we get that from from god god he speaks over and over again in his word about how he wants to take care of us how he's provided everything for us how much he loves us how much he cares for us stated over and over and over again why because that puts us in a position to be able to focus on what's really important to him to reach out to a dying world and reconcile them to him that's what he wants from us so he will take care of what is needful in order to enable us to do what needs to be done and that is spread the gospel go into all the earth and teach the gospel this is what we are called to do so he does his part by caring for us and again even just in the natural that makes sense all right so i wanted to point that out because sometimes people get into that thing about well you know is that good if god you know is it selfish god has said it in his word he wants to provide for us um you can read that uh about vulnerability be not only mentioned uh not only measured in physical terms i want to i want to read this this part where it says says that avoiding attack avoid attacking the enemy when his country's extensive and his people are many and prosperous superiors love their inferiors and benevolence grows and spreads rewards are reliable and punishment is carefully and appropriately administered those who display merit are given suitable positions and responsibilities are given to the wise and employment to the able his army is large large and well equipped and aid from all sides is assisted by powerful states interesting that his army being large okay is not at the top of the list when you talk about who to avoid attacking what is right at the top when the country is extensive and the people are many and prosperous okay when people are taken care of when there is love and benevolence in the people when rewards are reliable when those who display merit are rewarded and that's a problem in our own society we want to be rewarded for just being there and not for merit and people have an issue with that sometimes but again in a competition the winner is the winner if that's what we're there for if we're there just for everybody to show up then you get a show up prize but if you're there for a competition the person who wins is the one who gets the prize so because there is there there are things that are communicated by those kind of situations that it is a good thing to do your best that it is good to do your all out and that if you have skill it is rewarded but looking at just those things when you talk about not attacking an enemy all of the things that you see here are things that are clearly talked about all the time in the word again i'm not following sun tzu i'm shy i'm using his light to shine in the word to see what god is telling us over and over and over again and why it is important for us to receive those things why because the enemy will not be successful against us when we're walking in that prosperity when we're understanding the love that god has most important i should have said that first i said it that way because of the way it's listed here but the first thing to know is that god loves you that his benevolence is coming towards you that love and his grace we would call his grace is is a free is freely available to you that he's prospering you that he's doing everything he can to make you and your life better okay these are important things all right so looking at the word we see these things there being communicated if we just follow and listen to the things that god deems as important will always be going in the right direction it clearly reminds us what the word of god says and the focus of his message to us concerning his love and provision again the first four of the spur of the six mentions have nothing to do with military power as we might generally consider obviously the way people are treated does have a major bearing on how they will rally to support all right so we're going to stop here at this point and pick it up with unity in the next class so um again hope you're going over your scriptures if you have questions email me or call me you know email me with questions that you might have and we can respond to that all right god bless you and we will see you next class you