Wobbly Knees, Knockout Lies: How to Stand Strong!

Dave Jackson
00:00:00.560 - 00:21:05.700
There is a line in the old Ghostbusters movie where they're trying to explain what's going on and what to expect. And Bill Murray goes, dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria.

And when stuff like that happens, it's easy to kind of want to go, what is going on? Kick the doors open. Let the party begin. Every day I gotta testify. Hey, welcome. Welcome to Feeding My Faith, where we make God's word simple.

I'm Dave Jackson from the school of podcasting. And when I was growing up, there were two things that were constant in my life. Number one, Richard Nixon was president. Yeah.

I was nine years old when he resigned, and I remember it very vividly. Why? Because we didn't go to swimming lessons. And I'm like, what? We're not going to swimming lessons?

I was like, yeah, we have to go watch the President say some stuff. So that was one thing. Nixon was president and Muhammad Ali was champ.

And one of the great things about Muhammad Ali, of course, was his fancy footwork, the Ali shuffle. And according to Mike Tyson, he said Ali never threw a body punch. It was all headshots. I need to go back and check that.

But the interesting thing about Ali is those punches that knock people out, they were surprises, which is, I realized, kind of duh, because if you saw it coming, you'd move. But the one that knocked out Sonny Liston, like, his hand was down by his waist.

It wasn't like he was holding it up and then just punched straight out. He had to bring it up and kind of over his shoulder, really surprised him because he was so unbelievably fast.

He once dodged 21 punches in 10 seconds. That's an amazing video to watch. And in one point, he landed 12 punches in two seconds. So 1001, 1002. Yeah. That was 12 punches. What I know.

But if you look at his legs, you could always tell when things were going good and when they weren't. And if you look at any boxer, right, there's Howard Cosell, Frazier. Down goes Frazier, right? But, oh, look, his legs are wobbly. Ali's gonna.

You know, that whole nine yards, you see anybody, that's the first sign when. When I've tagged you in the jaw enough times, your legs get wobbly. And the thing is, Satan isn't stupid. He's not.

He's not going to waste his time, you know, striking when you're having a great day. He waits for life's valleys, you know, when we're weary, when we're thirsty for hope.

And then that's when he whispers his lies, and that's when he makes us stumble. So keep that in mind. And he's coming with headshots, and he's going to be going for the knockout. Have you ever seen that?

When somebody does get knocked down and they get back up and the ref comes over and goes, all right, you're okay, boy. Whoever knocked him out comes in for the kill. And that is Satan coming for you. When life throws you curveballs, first Peter, five, eight.

Peter warns us. He says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.

Yeah, he is coming for you.

And again, he's not going to waste his energy when you're having a great week, it's when you're having a bad week that he's like, all right, I think I can land a shot and get this guy's legs to get a little wobbly.

The interesting thing about that is Jesus washes away your sin, and the devil takes notes because he's going to remind you later, those are some of the shots that he's going to land. But I thought about this, because there are times in our life when the devil lands a couple punches and we start to have doubts.

This week was horrendous. I had a friend of mine last week died on Monday. Just drop dead. And I'm like, what? I literally just saw him. He dropped 30 pounds.

His doctor said he was in great shape. Drop dead Tuesday. Video services of a woman getting killed on a bus, and you get to watch her bleed out. Now, luckily, you didn't see her.

You just saw the buckets of blood coming out from underneath the seat, and that was horrendous. Then Charlie Kirk gets assassinated. Crazy. What is going on? And that might be the time when you're like, I don't know.

I keep hearing how God is in control, but I think I'm missing something. Well, that's kind of normal in a way. We should be appalled by some of this stuff. But think about this.

There are many people in the Bible that had doubts. This is not something. Because what happens, what Satan's gonna do is when you go, I don't know. This seems. Wow. That's when Satan's gonna go, yeah.

Remember all the bad stuff that ever happened to you? Where. Where was your God then? Right? Where's. What's. You know, and you. And then when you go, wow, I'm.

I'm kind of having a. I'm struggling with my faith. And then Satan's gonna go, oh, he's. He's gonna be so mad that you're struggling with this. Don't.

Don't go to God now, because, boy, that's embarrassing when you're. When your faith evaporates. Oh, boy, that's. How are you gonna show your face to God with all that doubt? Oh, he's just gonna get in your head.

But think about this. In John 1:29:34, it says, the next day, we're talking about John the Baptist.

He saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one. This is the one I meant when I said, a man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.

I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel. And then John gave his testimony. I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him, right?

So John's like, hey, you guys all thought I was weird and smelly, eating all sorts of weird stuff. Like, that's the dude. That's him. See, I told you. And then when I baptized him, this dove came down, right?

And he says, and I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and I testify that this is God's chosen one. That's pretty powerful testimony. He's like, that's the dude. Him. See, I'm not nuts.

That's him. Super powerful. John saw that John lifted Jesus out of the water, and a dove came to. Like, think about that. You have a front row seat to that.

No wonder John was so passionate until John 11, 2, 3. When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, are you the one who is to come and.

Or should we expect someone else? Wait a minute. Wasn't that. The guy's like, there he is. That's the guy. And now he's like, hey, are. Are you the dude?

Like, you know, well, what happened? What's going on with John? Oh, that's right. He's isolated. Probably he's in prison and he's waiting for his head to get cut off.

Just a little bit of stress. Yeah. So Satan had him up against the ropes, and John the Baptist had wobbly knees. So it's kind of normal now. How did Jesus answer back.

It says in the next verses, how dare you? No, actually, that's not what Jesus said. Jesus replied, go back and report to John what you hear and see.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Just like, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm the dude. In case. And in case you're not sure about that, here are some things to remember.

I mean, when Thomas the disciple, when he doubted. You know, I can see Jesus thinking, wait, I just went through the torture of the cross and I came back from the dead.

Because I just came into the room and the door was locked. And Thomas is like, I'm not sure. I could see Jesus going, what's a guy got to do to get some faith around here? No, that's not how he answered.

He said to Thomas, oh, here, put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. No, just. Hey. Oh, I get it. You're doubting. Here we go.

If we go back to First Kings, there's the story of Elijah, who had just killed a whole bunch of people with a sword. And consequently, everyone wanted him dead. And so, unfortunately, he went all alone and he wanted to die.

In First Kings 19, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. Well, yeah, you just killed everybody.

When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, and while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. So he walked for a day into a whole lot of nothing. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die.

I've had enough, Lord, he said, take my life. I'm no better than my ancestors. Then he laid down under the bush and he fell asleep. So what did God do? Did he get mad? Did he like, oh, what are you.

What are you talking about? No, he said, all at once, an angel touched him and said, get up and eat.

He looked around, and there by his head was some break, some bread baked over hot coals and a jar of water, because again, he's out in the middle of the wilderness. And he ate and drank and then laid down again. The angel of the Lord came back a second time. So if you need more, God's got more.

And touched him and said, get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. So he got up, ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb. The mountain of God.

God got your back. I'm going to fill you up so that you can. That journey is too much for you sometimes, but with God it's possible. And Matthew, think about this.

After fasting 40 days and 40 nights. Can we stop a second? Think about this as I record this. It's September 20th. That would be October 28th. So go ahead.

Don't eat a thing until October 28th. I can't make it longer. You know when I get some sort of doctor procedure and they're like, yeah, you can't eat after 8 o'. Clock.

You're like, no, what? Yeah, Jesus went 40 days and nights. And so what happens when you do that? I'm thinking you're a little hangry. Just a little. And then who shows up?

That's right, our good buddy, old Scratch, the tempter came to him and said, if you're the son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Can you imagine that after 40 days? Like, don't talk about food. Come on, dude. But it's Satan, he's going with a headshot. He's trying to take you out.

And Jesus answered, it is written, we're going to talk about that. Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. And it's.

It's hard when life gets topsy turvy, things get weird and we just find ourselves going, what is going on? James has an interesting section here in chapter one, verse two, that does make you go, what was James on when he wrote this?

Because it sounds really like, so you're having a really bad week, things are going awful. All the bad things, we all know the bad things, and they're just left and right. And James says, consider it pure joy.

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work. Think about, Let look, hang in there.

Let it finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. When I first started to learn how to play the guitar, it hurts. Like, it hurts.

You have to push on these strings really hard and you get these dents, literally dents in your fingertips. And it hurts. But if you push through, you end up with calluses to where it doesn't hurt at all.

When I was growing up, a lot of my buddies really got into lifting weights and they went on to be football players and such. You know the old saying, no pain, no gain. And I went, I'm Just going to stop here at the no pain part. And that's what I did.

So there are times when we push through things that all it is is its training for other things that are coming your way. It's hard to think of it that way when you're going through it, because who likes pain? I don't, but it may make you.

I know there are things that have happened to me that were awful, but it's later in life, you're like, well, I did have to tell my grandma that she outlived her daughter, which was my mom. That was not a good day. But I made it through that so I can get through other things. But, Dave, you don't understand.

It's dogs and cats living together. It's mass mayhem. How are we supposed to respond? Well, number one, doubt itself is not sin. Doubt is the soul wrestling honestly with its faith.

The danger is not having doubts. The danger is where we turn with them. That's the problem. That's the wobbly knees.

And when we have wobbly knees, instead of trying to remain standing, which makes sense, it might just be easier to fall to our knees and pray. How am I supposed to respond to this? Prayer is a good place to start. You know, maintain that open, honest communication.

And that communication may be God. I don't get it. What is going on, Especially in moments of temptation and weakness. You know, prayer. You remember the. The TV show? Is it still on?

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Probably. But prayer, you know, they always say, I'd like to call in a lifeline for this one. I don't know the answer.

I'm going to call in my Uncle Chuck or whoever, Right? I need a lifeline. Prayer is your lifeline. It's not just a ritual. It's your lifeline on those times when you're like, I don't have an answer for this.

We should also turn to Scripture. What did Jesus say? It is written. It is written. So store God's word in your heart. It doesn't say in the Bible that Jesus turned to.

Well, because the Bible didn't exist yet. But nonetheless, it was in his heart. And that's what he did. He said, hey, it's. You know what? I got it right here.

The other thing is, sometimes instead of focusing on things we lack, we need to flip that around and try to embrace gratitude. Gratitude crowds out fear. That's in First Thessalonians.

But if we can work up some gratitude for what we do have and worship God for those things we have, that can help a lot, and then community, you know, Elijah ran out into the wilderness.

We don't know that John was in solitary confinement, but being that he was a follower of Jesus, I'm thinking it wasn't a minimum security kind of situation. Isolation, that's dangerous, you know? So share your struggles with true believers. Seek that accountability.

You know, if you aren't going to a church, maybe you should find a good one. They're pretty handy. Maybe get some pastoral care or some counseling. The body of Christ is support for you in these trials.

And then I mentioned earlier that Satan is going to be like, oh, look at you with your doubts. Look at all those doubts. Look at them. Oh, my gosh, what a collection. There's no way you can go talk to God now. Isn't that embarrassing?

You got to be kidding me. Well, maybe point that out to God. Hey, dude, I am doubting big time right now. I need some help.

So I'm sorry if that's offensive, but this is what's going on. And we saw where Jesus. And then just. They're like, oh, yeah, that's kind of, you know, human. So. But here's your hope.

Jesus stands ready not just to rebuke Satan, but also to hold up your weary soul.

So when doubts come and they're going to turn them into prayers, and when trials test you, lean into God's promises, you know, for though that lion is prowling around, well, our Savior is the shepherd who protects the flock, and that's you. James 4, 7 says, Submit yourself therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Doubts are going to come. Reach out to God.

Strengthen your relationship, and those will fade. Your knees will not be wobbly anymore. Every day I got.