Rak Chazak

This past Wednesday evening (July 31), I was giving the opportunity to share at the finale of my church's final summer Wednesday Night Service. My goal was to get a video recording of it to post on this blog and on YouTube, but I never saw one during the presentation. But instead, I have been requested for the transcript of what I shared. I had a 15-minute presentation where I used sport fencing as a visual tool to demonstrate how we engage in Spiritual warfare. I broke down my talk into four parts: 1). Introduction, 2). The Gospel from a Spiritual Warfare Perspective. 3). The Fencing Visual and 4) Conclusion. As I did my presentation from without notes, this transcript might not cover word-for-word what I said but it will more-or-less paint a very clear description of what I said. So enjoy the read below, despite the lack of video. I will also post some of the references I used when coming up with what I had to share.

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  RAK CHAZAK!!!!!

  This is the war cry used throughout the history of the Hebrew Nation. It comes from two words: Chazak and Amats. Chazak is the ultimate game-face of a mighty man. It is tenacity of soul, determination and the deepest resolution to get the job done. Chazak will tense up all your muscles and cause your knuckles to turn white because you are gripping your sword so tightly that your hand will claive to it. That's Chazak. Amats is the unwavering, unyielding courage that drives you head first into the most reckless, hazardous, and impossible battles. It does not consider the opponents strength, size, skill, or numbers. It does not take reality-check. It doesn't not consider the impossibilities.

  What examples do we have of this? Joshua and Caleb at the Promised Land? They scouted out the land they were about to inherit. But there is a problem. It was occupied. They found 31 empires, 31 nations, 31 armies that they had to face. Not only that, there were giants in the land. The other 10 spies said "Wait a second. Back to earth, guys. We can't beat these armies." But Joshua and Caleb said "The Lord our God is with us and he promised he would give us this land. Let's go and take it."
   What about David and Goliath? Most people compare their sizes, and that is a legitimate concern. Goliath was over 9 feet tall. David was 5 foot- and nothing. But Goliath had four brothers. He wasn't the only giant in the Philistine army. Goliath was the champion because he was the best of the best of the best. And David took one look at him and said "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Let me have him. He's going down!"
   What about the Apostles at Pentecost? The same 12 men that deserted Jesus when he was arrested, the same 12 men that denied even knowing him less than two months earlier, stood before crowds of thousands and the next day before the rules and the leaders. Yes, the Holy Spirit came into them, but with that came Chazak and Amats. What would happen if we got Chazak and Amats? What would happen if Restoration Fellowship (my church) got Chazak and Amats?

  You see we are at war. Satan has waged a battle against us since the beginning of time. And he hates every single one of us personally. It does not matter if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Satan is your enemy and he hates you. Why? Because you are made in the image of God and your very existence reminds Satan of God every minute of every day and he is on a mission to destroy that image. There is a problem. Each one of us have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. In our rebellion, each of us have played a part in the destruction of that image God made. But God knew this would happen and he sent Jesus Christ to come and pay the price for our sin. Jesus took the hit, he took the blow that was meant for us. And when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are freed from that punishment that was meant for us. But there is more. Jesus didn't just pay for the penalty for our sin, he paid for the problem of sin. We are totally delivered from sin and we no longer have to do it. There is more. God has adopted us as his Children and with that, we carry his name, his authority, his identity, and his tools. There is more. God has sent us out on a mission. Our mission is to rescue the lost and deliver them from the sin and the Devil who seeks to destroy them. How do we do this?

   As mentioned in the intro, I am a competitive fencer and I have invited a friend of mine, James Snell, to help demonstrate some of the moves that we use in competition to illustrate how to fight in the spiritual battle. Now, before we as fencer are allowed to compete, we have to have the full set of armor that we wear. And one of the number one rules of fencing is that we are not allowed to compete without our masks. Likewise, we cannot engage in the spiritual battle without putting on the Helmet of Salvation. So, once we put our armor on, and I step on guard, I position my blade so I split my body into two areas. One area is called the inside-line. It is everything on my body that in the direction of the inside of my palm and my sword. (I am left-handed, and this is everything to my right of the blade, covering the bulk of my body). The other area is called the Outside-line. That is everything that on the outside of my palm and on the outside of my blade.

  Now, when I step on-guard, I am going to make sure that my whole outside line is covered. That way when James attacks me on the outside, he's not going to hit me. (James lunged, and his attack did not hit). What that does is that it forced him to focus on the inside-line. Now, these lines represent areas in our lives. It could be finances, it could be job, school, social circles, family, etc. Back to what I was saying, when I force James to focus where I am open, (He lunged to hit) it is also where I am ready to defend against it (James lunged against, but this time I parried it to show how he missed). This is what is called a Parry. After I parry his blade, I am free to answer back with what is called a Riposte (I lunged to hit James). Satan will go after us where we are open. He did this with Jesus. Jesus fasted for 40 days and he was hungry. Satan said "If you are the Son of Man, turn this stone into bread. You are hungry. You need to eat." Jesus replied "No (while I parried another attack from James), man does not live by bread alone, (then I responded with a riposte) but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." When Satan comes after you in your weak areas, meet that attack directly and answer it with the word of God.

  We have a second type of defense and that is called a circle-parry. Here I go around my opponents blade (as I demonstrate with James) and put him where he does not expect to be and where I have control of his bade. And like before, after I parry, I have an opening to riposte. Jesus was a master of this. The Pharisees would often come to him and say "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Here is what the Pharisees wanted to happened. They wanted Jesus to engage in a lengthy debate (as I demonstrated with James and I parrying and riposting each other back and forth). But Jesus took control of the situation (as I took control with a circle-parry) and addressed the heart of the issue: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Sometimes, we have to take control of the situation and say "No, this is the real issue at hand." Now we have two defensive moves we can use. I have time for one more.

  This next move is one of the most powerful and effective moves in the sport of the fencing. It is called the 1-2. When executed properly it will carry a beginner fencer all the way to the world championships. Now here is how it works. James is going to do the 1-2 by drawing my defense with a fake attack. He doesn't intend to hit with this attack, but he wants me to think he is. And when I go for the fake attack, I open myself up in another area. Satan is really good at this move. One example I know of is finances and relationships. I recall seeing a poll and one of the top cited reasons for divorce is finances. Why is that? Here is what is going on. Satan is drawing your attention by attacking your finances. He wants your attention focused on your finances, something God promised he would take care of, and when you do that, you expose yourself where Satan really intends to hit: your relationships. There is a way to stop the 1-2. We have several different moves, but one thing is critical. You MUST know this attack is coming before it starts. And you do that by knowing your opponent. I will show two ways to stop it. One is do not buy the feint. Do not chase the false attack. That is not the threat. He doesn't intend to hit you there. So keep your guard up and focus on the real attack. (James executes the 1-2 and I don't move my blade, stopping the attack.) There is another way to stop it. When the second attack comes, follow it and address it. (James executes the 1-2 again and I do a circle-parry on the second action). You can use either one, but you must be wary of this move. Thank you, very much, James (I dismissed James, while I continued preaching.)

  We are in a war, but God has given us all the tools and tactics we need to engage and to win. But to win, we must listen to our Commander-in-Chief. We cannot fight this battle on our own strength. We must follow God's orders. And when we do, we will not lose. One thing I did not know until a few months ago is that while we are sent out as sheep amongst wolves, God's kingdom works backwards to the world's way of thinking. The last become first, the poor become rich, the foolish things shame the wise, and the best part is that God's sheep beat the wolf-pack. We are not sent out to lose, we are sent out to win. Here at Restoration Fellowship, we have a mission to reach out to 1% of the population of El Paso and to do that we need Chazak and Amats. Thank you.

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There is so much more I wanted to share but I didn't have time to do so or when I was in the moment it didn't come to mind. (I didn't have notes, remember). But it was what God wanted me to share. In reflecting back over it, God did a miracle as he has done several times in the past when I share. I stutter when I talk. I can't help it and it just is the way I talk. But during this presentation, I stuttered hardly at all, and all of it was due to trying to recall what I was going to say rather than just how I talk. That is God in action through me. It was an incredible time and it is something I will definitely been doing again when God opens the door. I've been doing presentations like this for about 9 years now but I took it to a whole new level this time and God showed up. And to wrap up this excellent night, we had a baptism after the service and I was baptized as an adult (I was baptized earlier when I was 9) to be symbolic of this new level God has taken me. I do hope I will get a chance to do this again soon and get it video recorded but this will do for now.

For reference: I got the information for the Israelite War Cry: Rak Chazak from this video above.