Apostolic Lighthouse
Contenders - Bro Tim Ryan
[applause] Amen. It's good to be in his house. Appreciate the Lord tonight, and all he's doing for me and my family and this church and man, we're blessed. Be on measure. Amen. Sometimes we don't realize, you know how good we have it, but God sure has been good to us. And a second, as a brother, I was at work and I got a text in Brother Samson as asking if I was, had something for tonight and I said, "Yes." And my wife has left me and went to Tennessee to help her sister get her daughter ready for her wedding, so I'll wait and he's having to put up with me. Something last night, I've never ate in my life, I don't know what to call it. I was at Orin's house when she told me what she was making and he said, "That'll sound good, Dad." And I said, "Well, I'm going to eat it anyhow. I got a tough gut." And I survived it, and tonight Gabe done the cooking and brought home pizza hut. Amen. I knew I could handle that, but amen, I was thinking, you know, I've got several messages that I've studied out through the years and so I was looking for one for tonight and found one and I wasn't, you know, I look at it, man, some of them I got marked, I put dates on it, I'm getting old. You know, if it ain't a fresh one, I don't know. How many times do I preach that here every time I get up? I know that all my messages sound the same, but I like a different title every time. Amen. So I got to look and I said, "Well, I don't know. I got one here." I said, "You know what? I'll go on that pod beam." And I don't know if you ever been on that start, well, there's a lot of messages on it. So I learned how to navigate that a little bit, Timmy Riner, Tim Ryan, put it in there, I got all six of my messages on there. Amen. Twice in '22, twice in '23, this makes the third time in '24. I said, "Man, I'm at evangelist status right now. Whoo! I hope you put a good offering in tonight. Hallelujah." No, it don't work that way, but yeah, God is good. I appreciate him. Amen, but you know what? We are so blessed and I'm going to tell you, God has been good to me and I'm just going to testify a little bit and I do have a word and we're going to preach. So I'm going to testify for five and preach for ten, but God, you know, the preacher came by, I can't remember who it was, brother Mustang, said that we was going to have some trouble. He was going to fight us because he don't like what's going on in this church. And you know, I've had troubles this year in the family of health, Riley early this year, and then the Oarn by youngest son, just this past couple of weeks, you know, he's a, you know, I know he's a tough guy, you know. I know he's tough and nothing scares him and I know he's tough because he survived his raising and anybody could do that and especially some stories and boys tell me they acted just like their dad or worse growing up and, but they made it. But he called us about, not this last Thursday, but the Thursday before about 12, 1230 his wife called us. And they was taking them to the hospital, to the emergency room, he'd passed out twice that day, that night he'd passed out and he's a strong young man, you know, I know he takes me duck hunting. I mean, when he takes me duck hunting, he takes me duck hunting. I get it in the boat and when we get to the mud, they get me out of the boat, walk me to where I'm going to sit and sit me down and pack on my gear to me. Okay, all I got to do is shoot and then after that they pack me back to the boat. But, you know, he's a strong young man and I said, "Bass, now what's going on?" We get up there and he was driving, she's driving and he says, "He's not right now." He was, and we kind of got this thing going me and my sons, you know, I love my sons. I love my daughters and my family. But we got this thing going, you know, my wife and her family and her brothers, when they get off the phone or her dad or her family, you know, "I love you, I love you." And, well, I'm just not, "I love you, I love you, guy, I'm sorry." It's just the way I am and not saying there's anything wrong with it, I like it. I just can't do it myself. So me and my sons got this thing going when we'd get on the phone and really aggravate my wife. I said, "Hey, I like your son," instead of telling them we love him, but, you know, you know, they know, they know. And so he was telling his mom, and he said, "Tell him I love him, buddy, I got scared. I'm not going to lie." You know, you're like, "What is going on?" And you know, he goes to church, your brother, Apple, he's church, good in church, and, you know, lives right and does right. So we get up there and his blood level was way low. For a man's blood level was supposed to be around 13 and a half to 17. He was down to 9 and dropping, and at 6'9" they give you a blood transfusion. So we're like, "Well, what's going on? Why are you bleeding to death, son?" You know, "What's happening here?" So we prayed and we prayed and we went on, I went on to work because that's what you do. You've got a business, you go on to work and, you know, he was at the hospital stable and they went and done a scope, you know, upper G.I. scope and went down to stomach and then his small intestine, they found a bleeding ulcer. So they cauterized. I got back during time for that and they cauterized and sent him back up to his room and seemed like everything was going okay and, you know, his blood levels were kind of like a roller coaster, really, up, down, up, down, not really up high, but they'd go up and you just wanted to see him go up, up, up, up, because he had a long ways to go. Yeah, well, they said, "Well, you're pretty stable, we're going to go ahead and send you on home." So Saturday he went home, Sunday he was in church and everything, and we had a Monday night, we had a power pack prayer meeting here. You know, I don't come every time I should, but man, it was crowded for a prayer meeting at Monday night and, you know, we felt and we touched God and I just, you know, it was good, good prayer meeting and we was on our way home and I said, "Hey, let's stop by and see Orne and how he's doing." So we go up there and we're heading that way and, of course, to get from the church to the wind, you got to go by Seneca and there's a Dairy Queen in Seneca and I like ice cream. So we're going to get an ice cream, nothing like after a prayer meeting and getting a good ice cream. And so I was in line getting that and we just got out and we drive through and his wife, Ariel, called Jen said, "Hey, where are you guys at?" Before in Seneca, do you need something? Why we're here? I said, "No." I said, "We're waiting for you to get here to wash the girls. We're taking Orne back up to the hospital." I'm like, "Okay." So we run up there real quick, now I've got to drive and eat my ice cream fast and we get to his house and they head for, he's in the truck loaded up right ago and they head up there, he said, "I ain't feeling right, so I'm going." And he gets up there and his blood levels, it's pretty low and, but they never did get him a room because it was too busy that night, so he's sitting out there in the waiting room waiting and, but they have monitored him and checking him, got a EKG on him everything. So that morning on my way to work, I swing by, I'm going to go there, we're going to visit with my son for a while, you know, help him out and encourage him and go into the ER there and they've got him giving him blood, he's gotten down to 6-9 and they're giving him blood. I'm like, "Man, what's going on?" And so they gave him that blood and one of our cousins, his cousins were coming to set with him, so I went on to work again and worked and so later that day they'd done another GI on him, this time they stretched his esophagus, went in there and tried to ban that thing or something, twice they tried to ban it, it wouldn't ban so they cauterize it again. And this whole time he still had, he ended up getting 4 units of blood or 4 of those bags of blood, I don't know how much it is, I'm not a doctor, because his levels and, but you know what, something happened there that hurt his chest was just hurting him. And you come up there and several folks was there for prayer, you know, from Brother Appley's church and our church and there were just a fear there and there was just a fear there and it wasn't just him, I'm like a lives afraid, I mean you don't want to lose your children, that's never anybody's goal, I've always told that he will outlive me. I said, "You'll definitely outlive me," I said, "You're way better shaped than I am," I said, "You've worked me too hard," but he how? So there was a fear there and after this deal I come over, I come over there, I wasn't there for that scope and I come back and people pray and you know and he's just, you know, you can tell he's in pain and I come into the room and he said, "I come over by his bed," I said, "How are you doing?" I said, "You've always said that when one's weak, the brethren got to be strong." And I kind of like right now, I don't like to shed tears out in public, you know, I will shed tears at church, I do cry at church but I didn't want to do it right then in front of him, you know, but I'm thinking, "Hey, I'm going through this too, Bob." So I kind of sucked it up a little bit finally got my composure and began to pray for him and pray and but I was thanking and I asked him later, I said, "Son, did you hear that message I preached?" The last message I preached was about binding together, about when, you know, when Riley was bad and we was worried about that and if I don't settle down, you're going to start calling me the weeping preacher but anyhow, he said, "No." So I guess it's just something I've always said or I preached or he's heard me exhort on in past because I preached for years ever since he's a little guy and but you know what? We need each other. Amen. We don't know what anybody's going through in a situation like that. I knew he was more afraid than I was because I wasn't going through it but I, you know, I was afraid. I had fear on me too. Amen. I was, you know, you're done thanking, you're always in your mind, think of things and I'm like, "Well, I'm done duck hunting. I'm done fishing." I said, "I'm just done." I said, "Hey, no way." That's my fishing buddy. When he was, "Man, I don't know how, three years old, we're old enough to go with me." When he knew I was going fishing, he wanted to go and he didn't matter if he held a pole or not. He would go. He'd have his life jacket on in the boat and we'd be sitting there and crappie fishing is what I like to do and I had a middle bucket over the side and one time he was in that life jacket and we was fishing and he'd get my men's for me with that little basket, you know, and he rushed over the side and went to get a mena and he went over and under. But he popped back up with that life jacket. I grabbed him. Then I could just lift him up, you know, put him in the boat and he was, you know, the whimper and grosser. "Come down your eye. What's the matter?" He said, "I lost the net." And I knew right there and I had to, you know, I had to keep her right there. Hey man, I had a fishing and hunting buddy for life. Hey man, but you know what, God's moving. Hey man, he's out of the hospital, his hemoglobin is going up and he's feeling better. Hey man, I just believe God's going to complete the work, hallelujah. He's a good God, he's a good God. Hey man, tonight I want to go to the book of Jude, the first chapter, the third verse, Jude 1 and 3. And the Bible says, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you. And exhort to you, exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Verse 4, "For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lashivisness, and denying the only Lord God in our Lord Jesus Christ." Let us pray tonight. God, we ask you, Lord, to believe, yah, God, to know what this preacher's to deliver. God, to know what the congregation receive what you have for us, Lord. God, God, we ask you to bless the Lord, God, just to be aware of the encouragement to somebody, God. Lord, we ask you to move in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Contenders, preach on contenders tonight, hallelujah. "Beloved, when I gave of diligence, verse 3, all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Webster's definition of "contend," the first one is to fight or argue. I'm pretty good at that sometimes, especially if they're not in agreement with me and usually with my family, someone I know at the domino table, we might do a little contending. We're going to fight, we're going to maybe argue a little bit, we're trying to win. Number two is to compare or to compete to assert. Amen. Contenders. Hallelujah. I'm going to tell you, if you're going to make it to heaven, you're going to have to be a contender. You're going to have to determine in your walk with God that it's going to be a fight. Amen. And no matter what comes against you, I'm going to live this way. I'm not going anywhere, whether I fall short, no matter what happens, Hallelujah, I'm going to keep contending. Amen, for the faith, because I see only way you're going to make it to heaven. There's no easy road. You've got to live it just like the book says. Amen, it's a competition. I'm in competition with the devil. He wants my soul. He wants your soul. He don't want anybody going to heaven. He doesn't be kicked out. He knows how good it is. He don't want you there. He don't want me there. Amen. So he's who I'm competing against, who's who I'm fighting against. I've got to make it to heaven. I've got to be a contender. No place to give up or turn around. Hallelujah, 1 Timothy 6 and 12. Baal says, "Fight the good, fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, where unto thou art also called, and has professed a good profession before many witnesses." Amen. Fight the good, fight of faith. I know that everybody wants to say, "Hey, God is all love." But let me tell you what, sometimes we've got to fight on our heads. Sometimes life's not easy. Sometimes there's tests and trials you go to. Sometimes you see your grand babies laying at death door. Sometimes it seems like your son's laying at death door. Let me tell you what, it's a fight. Amen, you can't give up, you can't turn around, but you got to say, "Hey, it's all in your hands, God." Contenders. No place to give up. If I'm going to get all the way to the top in the boxing and fighting world, they fight and they start off and they keep on winning and winning and winning and training and training. They finally get to the place where they get to go for that belt and fight the champion. And they send the heavyweight contender or the contender that's the one who's fought all this time to get there. He trained all this time to get there. Amen, no place to quit, no place to stop. If he ever would have got lazier locks, he wouldn't be contending. He probably would have got beaten a fight that he didn't trade hard enough for. And sometimes that's a wake-up call, and sometimes it's another way to make him do more and not go there and sometimes say, "Well, maybe I'm just not cut out for this." But let me tell you what, you're going to get knocked down. You're going to lose pights, but you've got to get back up. There's no place to stay down. Amen. You've got to have your training. Amen. The reading of the Word of God, that's training. Being faithful to the house of God, hallelujah, how can we be saved without a preacher? Hallelujah. Amen. I don't know where you're going to hear that, but the house of God. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. You know, I know some of us claim our wives are preachers. Amen. They preach to us at home all the time, "I don't know about you, brother Kalem." You're the assistant pastor, and she's the assistant to the assistant pastor. That's right. I know. I've got one too. She loved me. Contenders. More of the conquerors. That's what I was thinking, you know, that fighter, you know, when a conqueror is, I'm sure a brother's safe since he's told it, but you know, that boxer, he goes in there and fights that and he wins that big prize money, and he goes home and that little lady is sitting there with her hand more than the conqueror. Amen. He was a contender, but he got conquered. Amen. No place to quit. No place to stop. Hallelujah. Proverbs 28th, Proverbs 28 and 4, the Bible says, "They that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law content with them." Hallelujah. I want to keep the law. Amen. I don't want to forsake God's law, His laws. Hallelujah. Amen, but I'm going to contend, Hallelujah, against the wicked one, Hallelujah. I'm going to contend against unrighteousness, Hallelujah. Amen. If the world says it's okay, and this word says it's not, I'm going to agree with this word, Hallelujah. Amen. If they want to, I'm not going to argue with them, but if they want to know where I stand, just ask, Hallelujah, and I'll let you know, amen. Amen. I'm a contender. I'm going to contend against that thing. I'm going to contend against the spirit that they brought into the world, Hallelujah. Amen. It's not right. It's against the book. Amen. If you're going to be a contender, you better stay true to your training, Hallelujah. The Word of God. To prayer, Hallelujah, that's part of your training. Amen. We want to be contenders. We want to win the bout. We want to win the final fight, Hallelujah. Amen. We want to hear him say, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant." Hallelujah. Amen. I've been faithful over a few things. I'm going to make you rule over many. Hallelujah. Interim. Interim. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I don't want to hear it. It's your part for me. Amen. But I'm going to contend all the way to the end. My career at this, I know I've got a mark here somewhere. I'm going to get these book markers and when you have them all in five or six books in a row, I'm just going to tell you a little preacher's secret. Sometimes your book marks slip out of place. Yeah, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, or I didn't even put it in there, I don't even see it now. Verse 11, or chapter 10, verse 3, let's just give you all plenty of time to get there. Bible says, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pooling down the strongholds, casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of God. Hallelujah." And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled, that's how you revenge disobedience is by obedience. So when I fail, I'm being disobedient. You know, I was talking about that word love and, you know, how I love you, God, I love you, God. The Bible says if you love me, keep my commandments, amen. It's more than just lip service, folks. Hallelujah. You've got to contend for the faith. You've got to fight for it. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Amen. Ephesians 6 and 11, and if they want to start making their way to the music, I'm just about through. I've got a couple more scriptures. Ephesians 6 and 11, chapter 6 verse 11, "Put on the whole armor of faith of God, put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Hallelujah. We're not fighting people tonight, but we're fighting spirits. Amen. We're the warfare for our lives. Amen. Are we going to have life eternal or everlasting death? Hallelujah. Amen. Not just if you die one time, but every day, all the time, you're in misery. Hallelujah. In hell. Hallelujah. Are we going to make it to heaven? Amen. We've got to keep contending and got to keep realizing my fight isn't against any human being. Amen, because God said, Jesus said he died for everyone, and then no one's exempt when he went to the cross, he went to the cross for everyone. Bible says many are called, but few are chosen. Hallelujah. I want to be a chosen one. I want to remain a contender. I want to remain in the fight, Hallelujah. I don't want to give up or back up. When I fall, let me get up for Hallelujah. Amen to ask brother Nathaniel Sampson, how you do it? He said, he's either, he's either, what did he say? He's either up or getting up. Amen. Amen. I'm telling you what, he's been in the fight for a long time. Amen. Look at these elders. Sister Barbara in these, it's faithful, was been in the fight for a long time. They're either up or getting up. They ain't found a place to quit. They're still contending. Amen. They may not move like they used to. Amen. They not do what they used to. I know I don't, Hallelujah. Amen. I look at these guys, I'm like, if I had those legs, then you couldn't contain me. I'd be all over this place. Amen. But I ain't got their legs. Amen, and realize it, but contending, I ain't giving up. Amen. There's no one in this church that I'm fighting against, but I'm fighting for and with you. Hallelujah. When you're in your trial, I'm in your quarter. I'm standing there saying, "Hey, as you're sitting on that stool and the devil's got you a little punch truck," I'm saying, "Hey, you can stay in there." Amen. Just make it to another service. Just make it to another prayer meeting. Just find you in the scripture that you can stand on. Get back out there, there's no place to quit. We can win this. Second Timothy, 4th chapter, 7th verse, last scripture. I have found a good fight. I have finished my course. I have capped the fight. Hallelujah. It's 4th. There's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And not only, not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearance. I'm not going to quit. Whoo. I'm in this fight to win it. Hallelujah, if you've never won anything, I'm telling you what, you're in a fight that you can win with the help of Jesus. Hallelujah. You want to find a place to get your strength and to contend that's had an old fashioned altar. Hallelujah. They're fixing to play something. Man, let's just gather up front. Hallelujah. Let's just talk to God. Let's just determine in our minds, "I'm not giving up and I'm not quitting." Lord bless you. ♪ We must fight, be brave ♪