Physical and Spiritual Self Defense

My sermon for today is actually something that I wrestled around with this week, rolled around back and forth in my mind. I said, do I want to give a sermon on this topic or do I not? Because, honestly, there's a wide range of perspective when it comes to this topic, but honestly, it's based on a new class that was taught this year at youth camp in Nigeria. As I thought more and more about it, I thought, okay, I'll present it to you from a limited perspective and, frankly, a biblical perspective, which is not limited. At camp this year, we had our typical activities that you would have at youth camp. Volleyball, basketball, kickball, archery, all these good outdoor activities that youth all enjoy.

This year, Darie approached me about implementing instruction in an area that we've never ventured into before, and that's self-defense.

When I say self-defense, probably a number of different things come to your mind, maybe even dependent on your experiences.

Honestly, when he first approached me with the idea, I was a little hesitant in my own mind because, again, the concept of self-defense can have a very broad range of approaches. I wanted to make sure that what we taught actually would be appropriate first and foremost before God.

We looked at God's Word, we discussed it, and we did indeed go forward with the class.

Darie explained to me, he says, the world we live in is a dangerous place.

We probably, from our own perspective, would agree this is a dangerous world, but he is referring from the perspective of where they live then there in Nigeria.

I would include Ghana as well, where I travel in West Africa in that.

Some areas of Nigeria have very specific and real dangers at this time.

I mentioned a prayer request a while back for the O'Wary congregation.

The O'Wary congregation, frankly, is at risk and continues to be at risk because of the circumstances that have boiled over in their region.

In that area of the southern and eastern part of Nigeria, there have been terrorist groups which have come in and highway thugs, frankly, have been dominating the region.

Carjackings have been taking place. People have been dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night. These individuals have been posting their exploits on social media, and they've been creating, frankly, a region of terror in that part of Nigeria where it had not existed before. And, frankly, it's expanding out some from there as well. But our people live there. They work there. The youth in the church go to school there, and, in fact, a number of the youth from that region came to youth camp in Nigeria. So, Dari essentially said, paraphrasing, The world we live in is a dangerous place, and our youth need to be able to identify those risks and take appropriate actions to avoid them whenever possible. Like I said, there's a broad range, when you say self-defense, that perhaps comes into mind. But we're talking about identifying and avoiding these risks whenever possible. He says, if they can't avoid the risks, they should know a few basic maneuvers that help them to escape and attack if they should find themselves in such situations. And, again, we discuss this for a bit of time in advance. The reality is, we've had a number of our church members over time assaulted in both Nigeria and Ghana. Sadly, one of our members, a young lady, was killed while she was out just taking an evening walk about two years ago in Ghana. She was 20 years old. She had been to our youth camp program. She was, in fact, just a few months earlier, had received from us, essentially, a camper of the year award because of her attitude and her bright and shining light.

Dari went on to say, our youth need to be educated in avoiding certain environments to begin with, because some of them have a tendency to engage in activities that can lead to trouble. And I would say, unintentionally, innocently, you walk into a circumstance that seems innocent and, perhaps in your mind, seems safe. But if your radar is in up, it can lead to other things that eventually then become unsafe.

And they've put themselves into, perhaps, vulnerable positions where it would have been best if they were aware they would not have gone. And so, Dari and I had this conversation, and we agreed that this class made sense. And, honestly, the class primarily was educational. Primarily educational. It focused primarily on how to avoid putting yourself into potentially dangerous situations to begin with. You know, young ladies, don't go to your friends, who's a guy friend's apartment, and hang out and watch movies with he and his guy buddies. That's just not a good circumstance to put yourself in to begin with. It can lead to problems. So, it was about keeping your wits about you. Primarily, it was about being aware of your environment. Which, I would say, brethren, is good advice for all of us at all times.

The class also involved teaching a few simple maneuvers to break an attacker's hold on you in the hopes of escape. That is the point, is if your life is being threatened, how do I extricate myself from this situation and escape? What would you do if someone grabbed you from behind? How would you break that person's hold on you? Sometimes, it's very rare, and we pray day in and day out for God's protection. It's rare that we would even find ourselves in such a situation. But, honestly, some places in the world it's not as rare as you might would think. To know what you would do is actually something you should have thought through in advance. At least, it is a good idea to consider. I'd like to focus my sermon today in a similar direction of awareness regarding our personal protection. We're going to consider it and what the Bible has to say, both from a physical and a spiritual perspective. The title for today is Physical and Spiritual Self-Defense. Again, it's no joke. I messaged the Shriams yesterday. I said I've been wrestling, honestly, all day with this message. Broad spectrum, all of us, our mind, can go to one end or the other. Honestly, there's not always agreement in the Church of God. But just because it's a topic that may have some differing views at times, I don't believe is something that we should not talk about. I think it's important to at least consider some things. Right up front, brethren, I do want to say as Christians, we've been called to be peacemakers.

First and foremost, that is our calling before God to be peacemakers. We've been called to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. That is the starting point for all of this. This is the foundation. In addition to that, we put our trust in God as our refuge and as our strength. We understand clearly from the Bible that the God we serve is there for us. We can call out to Him at any time. God fights for us. He is our defender. Also, we're told if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

Romans 12, verse 18, if it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. As a part of that package, we're taught in Scripture to turn the other cheek, aren't we? Jesus Christ taught that principle. This isn't an eye for an eye, but we're taught to return someone a wrong for a wrong that has been done to you. We're not to be doing that as God's people. We're taught not to retaliate over persecution, especially regarding our faith in Jesus Christ. If you had an employer, if you had someone at school that was perhaps discriminating against you or doing something because of your faith, it doesn't say, you know, the point is we don't turn around then and respond in kind, what we've been called to do.

We're to seek to de-escalate confrontational situations whenever possible, talk them down whenever that is a reality and something you can do. But when faced with the circumstance of direct physical attack, the defense of ourselves and others within Biblical standards, within Biblical standards, is permissible. And I want to talk a little bit about that today. We do need to understand, brethren, that the definition of self-defense in the Bible is very narrow. It's not as broad as we would perhaps consider it to be from our American perspective. Okay? It's a very narrow definition, and there are Biblical parameters and consequences to those actions.

We can find an example in Scripture of what I would term self-defense in God's instructions to Israel in Exodus 22. So I want to begin there today. If you'll follow me, please. Exodus 22. It's not my intent today to go through every possible Scripture on physical or self-defense. I do at least want to point out the reality that it does exist in God's Word. Exodus 22, and let's begin in verse 1. The context here is a thief. Okay? Exodus 22, verse 1, it says, probably to that guy's livelihood by that theft.

So what we're talking about here for a thief is restoration by multiples. That is the penalty in this case, at least of restoration. Verse 2, it says, if the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. Now this is an interesting verse because it makes it sound like there's no guilt for killing a thief who breaks into your house. But if we read on, we see there's actually more to it than that.

Verse 3, it says, if the Son has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. And so there's a difference here depending on whether it is day or if it is night. If you come home from work one evening and here in the summertime in the northwest, it can stay light quite late, right? So you come home from work one evening, it's still daylight, you notice your front door is wide open, and maybe you're not even sure what's going on, and you venture inside and you find a thief. And he's carrying off your television set, you know, just kind of unhooked it off the wall, and he's heading out the door.

If you find him, you can't just now then pull out a gun and kill him. According to the scriptural standard that is murder, you have now committed a crime, a crime known as murder in the Bible, because you see it was daylight. And the intent behind what this individual was doing could be determined by the daylight.

Okay, you can see this person is robbing me, this person is clearing out my house, he is a thief, and the penalty for being a thief is not death in God's book, right? It is restitution by multiples. So you understand if this is happening in the day. Now, if you started assaulting you, if you walked in the door and you didn't know he was there and he was surprised, and if you started assaulting you, you did have the right to defend yourself.

Try to get out of there. Try to escape, okay? But the point is, if you could have run away, if you could have called for help, but instead you walked in and you killed that intruder, you then were labeled as a murderer by this standard. Now, the difference between verse 2 and 3 again is whether this happened in the daylight or whether it happened under the cover of darkness, because in darkness, then the intent of the intruder is not always clear, is it?

You could be sleeping in your bed, for example, in the middle of the night, and a thief breaks into your house, and he startles you out of your sleep because maybe he's rummaging around in your bedroom, okay? And you're startled out of a sound sleep. You don't know why he is there. You don't know what his intention is.

You cannot see what is in his hand. Does he have a weapon? All you know is there's this person in your house, and in that confusion and in the darkness, again, you don't know what he is going to do. A conflict ensues. A struggle ensues. And if in the course of the struggle that person is killed because it was night, then it is not considered, in this sense, murder.

You've probably all seen the movie. Somebody's struggle, and another person's struggle, and maybe the wife picks up a vase and hits somebody over the head, and the vase, you know, shatters, and the person goes down. If you're in the struggle, that is the difference here between what was defined in Scripture, between what was murder or not, in a similar circumstance. Was it daytime, or was it under the cover of darkness?

Again, because he broke into your house, therefore now it became, at night, okay, it became now an element of self-defense. You did not know why he is there. You did not identify him as a thief in the darkness. And again, there was that level of what is his intention.

Oftentimes it comes down to then, can you discern the intention and act appropriately, or is the intention perhaps unknown? So what we find, brethren, is that self-defense is very narrowly defined in the Bible, okay? It does exist. But that definition of it is narrowly defined. It's not as broad as we would sometimes consider by our American perspective. You or someone else literally had to be physically attacked or under immediate imminent threat of assault to respond in a way then that is labeled as self-defense. Now, right along those lines, a premeditated decision to carry out acts of violence, such as, I sleep with a loaded gun under my pillow or in the nightstand, okay, a premeditated intent and willingness to carry out then an act of violence, I would say, brethren, is a very, very slippery slope to go down because we come back then to intents. What it is then that you intend to do in advance, okay? What is the intent? Jesus Christ stated in Matthew 26, verse 52, you recall, they came to arrest him and Peter whips out the sword, right, and cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Well, I think he was going for the head, but the guy ducked. Okay, right? He's going to defend his Messiah. Christ said, put the sword away. He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.

And so we all have very personal choices that we need to make. And again, what is it that we intend to do premeditatively if something happens can be a very slippery slope and we do have to consider those things. What was taught and discussed at youth camp, first and foremost, again, was tactics related to the avoidance of dangerous circumstances in the first place.

Learn to identify potential hazards around you and take precautions in response. And frankly, that is according to what the Bible would call wise behavior. Wise behavior. I'll note Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 3. I won't turn there, but Proverbs chapter 22 verse 3 says, The prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass-on and are punished. So the prudent man knows what is happening around him. He understands the circumstance. He foresees the evil and he withdraws at whatever point it is possible. And he hides himself. He runs away. He departs if that is a possibility.

But again, it says that the simple pass-on and are punished. They really aren't aware of what is taking place around them. In our modern-day terminology, we would call this self-defense tactic situational awareness. Situational awareness. And it is a self-defense tactic in how it is defined. Situational awareness is essentially an awareness of your environment at any given time. It is an awareness of what is going on around you and why. And it assesses whether anyone or anything is a threat to you, either health-wise, a threat to your safety, you or others, and what it is that you should do about it. And so the point I want to make today is when we hear self-defense, sometimes our mind goes straight to, you know, I take a gun and I kill somebody in self-defense. But I'm telling you, self-defense has a much broader perspective than that. We don't always live maybe on that end of the dial, but there are elements of self-defense that are considered correct and proper, and frankly, are woven all throughout the Scripture, as we will see today. But again, situational awareness. Not every self-defense tactic is a fight. Not every self-defense tactic is hand-to-hand combat. Some of it is cognitive. And frankly, brethren, I would say a great deal of it is cognitive, and if we can implement the cognitive, it will allow us to, hopefully, in many cases, avoid actually direct confrontation. Situational awareness, in fact, is the most important cognitive tactic of self-defense you can employ.

I want to read you a quote today from an article titled, Understanding Situational Awareness. Understanding situational awareness comes from the website tacticalarts.com. It's actually the website for the Tactical Arts Academy, which is a self-defense institution. And they have a number of articles posted on there. This one was posted on June 13, 2017, by Les Liebach.

And it says, quote, physical skills are only part of the skills that you need for self-defense. You must have cognitive skills, too. One of the most important cognitive skills that you can cultivate for self-defense is situational awareness. And she asked the question, what is situational awareness? Well, simply put, situational awareness is knowing what's going on around you, what's happening around you. It's knowing your environment and what events are occurring nearby. In terms of self-defense, situational awareness includes knowing what is happening and knowing what, if anything, you should do about it. To do this, you must derive meaning from the circumstances in which you find yourself.

Situational awareness is your perception of the environment and nearby events, together with your assessment of how your actions will affect your immediate and near future. To make this assessment, you must first pay attention to details in your environment that may affect you. After observing those relevant details, you may then determine if there's anything to be learned from that information.

You will use that information to predict what could happen next, and in doing so, you must consider whether or not there is a threat to your own safety, the safety of others. You can then decide what to do to assure a safe outcome." So again, a prudent man foresees the evil and he hides himself. He understands his surroundings, he understands the circumstances that are happening around them, and it's a tactic of cognitive self-defense. And brethren, it applies both physically and spiritually.

In fact, did you know that Jesus Christ practiced this technique? Let's go to Mark 12.

Excuse me, let's back up a book. Let's go to Matthew 12. Matthew 12. We'll see an example of Jesus Christ practicing situational awareness. Matthew 12 and verse 10.

And if it falls into the pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it to lift it out. Or how much more value, of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, Stretch out your hand, and he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out, and they plotted against him how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, when Jesus knew it, when he perceived it, when he had an understanding of the attitude that was taking place around him, when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from there, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all. Again, Jesus Christ practiced situational awareness. It is a self-preservation tactic. He could assess his surroundings. He was aware of them. He was aware of the people in his surroundings. He was aware of their mood, and he discerned their desires to kill him. And as a result, he withdrew from there. And that wasn't the only time. There's actually multiple places that we can go throughout the Gospels in which Jesus Christ withdrew from circumstances, because his life was to be given as a sacrifice. That is, the purpose that he came to fulfill. But there were times where he still had a ministry to conduct. And when his life was threatened, he withdrew from there because it was not yet his time to be delivered. He practiced situational awareness. Again, it is a cognitive understanding.

We would all like to think that we are situationally aware people, but the reality is many people are walking through life just with blinders on. They really don't know what's happening around them at any given time. They're not truly aware of what is going on. A couple of years ago, Austin and I were at the Valley Mall, and I don't remember what we were doing there. We were looking for something, but it was around evening time, and we wandered through the food court area. We just looked around, and everyone was on their smartphone. We live in a smartphone age. Everybody was sitting there. If your eyes are down on the screen, they're not up looking around knowing what's going on. The people at the tables, the people at the benches that were lining the walkway, I was just shocked because we walked through. Literally everybody was glued to their device. I said, look, Austin, it's like the game on Star Trek The Next Generation. I don't know if you've seen that episode, The Game, but there's this headset that comes on to the Enterprise, right? People are getting sucked into this thing. You put the game on, you're going to the next level, and people are getting sucked in. At the end of the show, the only person that's left who knows what's going on is Wesley Crusher. I said, Austin, it's like The Game. You could have walked literally an elephant through that room, and very few people would have noticed what was going on.

They're not situationally aware of their surroundings. Again, we would like to think that we are, but the danger is many aren't. And, brethren, you and I need to guard against that both physically and spiritually. You can find yourself in a bad situation really quickly, especially if you don't know what's transpiring around you.

A number of years ago, in Nigeria, one of our young ladies was riding a public transport bus, and the operator of that bus and the attendant were kidnappers. You had a whole group of people packed into the bus, and they actually gassed the people unconscious. They kidnapped the whole busload. And this lady, she was set free at the end, but their purpose was they were kidnapping for the sale of body parts.

These things do happen, okay, where our brethren live. So the point is, not to get too detailed, she was considered eventually unfit for use, and she was set free. And I do believe it was by the hand of God's deliverance. But again, things can happen around us very quick, even when we're not expecting. So the question then becomes, how situationally aware are we?

You and I, how situationally aware are we? Without turning around, do you know who was sitting in the row directly behind you? Some of you might, and I suspect some of you might not. You might say, well, this is church. I'm not on guard, right? And I'm glad you're relaxed, you know, we're here at church services. Fortunately for all of us, there are people here practicing situational awareness. People who are looking around, people who do have an understanding of what's going on. We have a group of men and women sitting in the room who serve in the defense of the congregation every Sabbath.

And they're sitting in various places around the hall for very specific purposes. Maybe you wonder why Jerry Oliver used to sit up here all the time, and now he sits back there. It's because Jerry can see me, and Jerry can see the door, and Jerry can see most of you. Mr. McClintock, again, is all the way in the back, and he can see all of us. And there's people around the hall in various positions and places for just that purpose. We have trained medical personnel both in the Spokane congregation and in the Tri-Cities congregation as well.

They're trained to be situationally aware of what's happening around them in regards to people's health. And they have the ability as well to intervene if somebody's having a medical episode, should I say, in the defense of that person's life. Okay? They've been trained in that way medically. They are situationally aware. We have a retired police officer in the Clearwater congregation who is a very aware individual. I'm glad he's there, and he knows what's going on all the time.

We keep the doors locked here at the church hall. When church services start, shortly after it starts, the door is locked. And, again, Mr. Oliver is watching the door. Various individuals know what to look out for in terms of possible threats. So they happen here, and they know that if something does develop, then they need to intervene in an appropriate response. And again, if you can talk somebody down in a situation that is a talking situation, that's good. They also know if that there is an aggressive or a violent disruption that happens within the Sabbath service, they'll respond accordingly as well.

My wife told me to tone that line down just a little, and I did. Okay. But they'll respond if need be. Knowing what's going on around you at all times, brethren, is one of the best self-defense tactics that you can practice. It is actually the greatest thing I would say you can do to avoid trouble and avoid stepping into trouble to begin with. The Bible instructs us to practice spiritual situational awareness as well, because you see our eternal life can be at risk if we're just simply not paying attention.

Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 5. I want to approach this spiritually for a time. 1 Peter chapter 5. Let's take it to verse 8. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8 says, Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We must never forget, brethren, that we have an adversary out there that seeks to do us harm.

And he is a predator. He is on the prow. He is looking to pounce at whatever opportunity may open his way. Now, if we're honest with ourselves, many of the circumstances of danger that we might find ourselves in from our adversary is because we ourselves have put ourselves into situations that are spiritually risky.

Perhaps we're not close to God. Perhaps we're living in such a way that we've withdrawn from him. Maybe we're dabbling in sin over here on the side. We've cracked the door open now to the adversary. He's looking for opportunities. And again, Peter tells us, practice spiritual situational awareness. In this case, how do we do it? How do we do it? Well, he says, Be sober, which again means essentially self-controlled. Don't be out there putting yourself out there all over the place, opening yourself up to danger, but be self-controlled.

Bring your body and your mind into subjection and ultimately into subjection to God. That is the point. Okay, but be sober. Be vigilant. Be watchful. That's the point. Keep your wits about you. Be aware what is happening around you spiritually. Pay attention. Watch out for potential risks to your spiritual health and be prepared to respond to a threat that you might encounter spiritually. It is what we're instructed to do in the Scripture. Verse 9, resist him. Okay, we're talking about the adversary, the greatest, strongest, most powerful adversary that we could face. Resist him. Okay, this is active resistance, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

So the thing about the devil is that he can be resisted. We may come at you with an aggressive attack of one sort or another, but the fact is God has given us the armor to strap on for the sake of our protection, for the sake of repelling him. We are equipped as the people of God if we have drawn near to God to resist the adversary. But it is, according to God's word, clear and direct an assault. We must resist.

Ephesians 6, the Apostle Paul, reveals that God has given us, again, that armor to strap on for the sake of our spiritual protection. Ephesians 6, and verse 10, Paul says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. I want to bring out a little prop at this time. The whole armor. Put on the full armor of God, the shield says. This was a gift to me from Joy Symes. It was Pastor Appreciation Day. I never knew such a day even existed, but about two years ago she gave me this. I'm looking on the back side, the inscription of Ephesians 6, on the whole armor of God. I treasure this. I keep this on my bookshelf, and it's a daily reminder. But again, put on the whole armor of God, verse 11, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. The word translated stand here is a military term for maintaining your position, for standing your ground, for not getting pushed back off of the position that God has given you. It's what the power of God's might for us does by His Spirit. He gives us the ability to stand, because you see, He who is in you is greater than He who is in the world. That's the blessing. Verse 12, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. We can never afford to think the threat is not real, because you can't see it with your eyes. To make that assumption, brethren, would be a mistake.

So let down your guard would be a mistake. Verse 13, therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

And above all, taking the shield of faith with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Do you know the sword is the only offensive weapon in this armor?

The rest is defensive. The rest is protective.

But the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, would actually allow you to mount a counter-offensive if necessary.

We have an example of that. Jesus Christ, 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, and the adversary confronts them. And frankly, as I would describe it, they have a little duel with the word of God.

Because Jesus Christ yielded that sword so proficiently, then the adversary fled and left him. And we can do the same.

Verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful. Okay, I've got that underlined in my Bible. Being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

And so spiritual situational awareness is clearly a part of the spiritual defense process that God has established.

It's something that we must be accustomed to in how we live this way of life.

We must practice it at all times, and God will help us.

By His Spirit, He'll give us the discernment.

Again, you have to know what is happening around you. How do you know that from a spiritual perspective? Again, it takes God's Holy Spirit, and He will give us the discernment to know those things, if indeed we draw close to Him.

We must be willing to do our part.

Now, another article I read on situational awareness mentioned the fact that one of the greatest risks people run into is assuming that there is no risk at all.

One of your greatest risks when simply walking around in life is assuming that there is no risk at all.

In other words, your guard is not up, because you don't even expect that there could be a problem.

And as a result, you're lax, you're unaware, you're not paying attention, and it is a very dangerous position to be in.

Going back to the article I quoted from earlier, understanding situational awareness under the heading of states of readiness, it actually lays out various steps of alertness, of readiness. And we have to ask ourselves, where do we live in these realms?

It says, quote, A common framework for understanding situational awareness is using defined states of readiness. There are several models that use this method that can all be used to help you channel your awareness and actions based on your circumstances. The following method was used by the NRA, the National Rifle Association, to teach situational awareness.

It incorporates four states of readiness. Unaware, aware, alert, and alarm.

And I want you to, as I read through this, think about these, not just from the physical perspective, but from the spiritual perspective as well.

Each state can be associated with certain circumstances to help you determine what actions, if any, you should take.

And here are the four with examples. First, unaware. This is the very bottom end of the spectrum, unaware.

It says, when you're at home, when the doors are locked, you can let your guard down. You can take a nap. You can drink a beer. You can listen to music with your headphones on. This would be an unaware state. And in those circumstances, it would likely be okay. Again, you're at home. You're in a safe environment.

He says, however, if you're walking down a busy street while drinking a beer with your headphones on or you're napping in the park, you likely are going to have problems.

You could be selected as an easy target and become a victim of a mugging.

All right? So if you're completely unaware as you wander out the door and through life, you could make yourself more of a target.

And again, spiritually, the adversary seeks whom he can pick off. Who's alone? Who's weak? Who's not paying attention? This is not just physical. This is spiritual. So that's unaware.

Second stage is aware. States of readiness. Aware. This is the state you should be in when you leave the house to go about your day.

This is a relaxed state, but in it you are observant. You take mental notes of the people and the things around you.

You've not seen anything to alert you to a threat that is there, but you're paying attention to your environment in case there are any indications that you should become more focused on any potential threats.

You cannot be daydreaming or talking on the phone to maintain this state. You must be paying attention to your surroundings. Again, that's alert.

I would say we should be that way when we're driving. Like the light turns green, you don't want to be unaware, you want to be aware, because somebody could be running the red.

Next stage, then, is alert. In the alert state, you have recognized that conditions are favorable for something bad to happen.

You're aware, but you are paying a little extra attention to something that looks like it could be a potential threat.

You may have seen someone cross the street and start walking towards you. You may notice someone in the parking lot looking over their shoulder and then looking at you.

In the alert state, you would immediately start making plans of action based on what the potential threat may do.

If the situation escalates, then you already have a plan and therefore act more quickly.

You know what's going on, and you've seen something, and now you're considering what are my options.

Finally, the highest level of states of readiness would be alarm.

Alarm. It says when you are in the alarm state, you've determined that the potential threat you noticed earlier is indeed a real threat, and you have to act immediately.

You notice the potential threat in the alert state, and you will have already developed a plan of action.

You will simply be looking for the cue to take action.

For example, you may have seen someone walking in direction and decided that if they approach you aggressively, you will yell, stop!

You put out your hands, they say, before they get within 10 feet of you.

You may have planned that if they keep coming, you will create distance and move to their flank. You don't just wait for something to happen if you perceive a threat. You consider, how do I take action to extricate myself from the situation before it escalates to the next level?

These four states are on a continuum of attention and perceived danger.

In the unaware state, you're not paying attention to your surroundings because you feel there's no threat whatsoever. You're completely relaxed. At the other end of the spectrum in the state of alarm, you are focused on the real threat to your safety, and the intensity of your focus is at its highest." Again, that's from Understanding Situational Awareness from TacticalArts.com. Leslie Buck.

If you were to read on in the article, then it tells you what circumstances help you to determine what state of awareness you should be in.

And frankly, the fact is, we may go up and down on that scale, depending on what's going on.

You may be pretty unaware, but suddenly you hear a loud noise and you've jumped right up to the alert state, and then you realize, okay, that's a firecracker.

Somebody's car just backfired, and it comes back down.

So you can move up and down on the spectrum, depending on the circumstances.

Question, brethren, what is our spiritual state of readiness in the Church of God at the end of the age?

If we consider this scale, what is our state of readiness of the Church of God at the end of the age? Are we unaware? Are we on full alert? Are we somewhere in the middle?

And more importantly, where should we be as the people of God in this day and age?

The Apostle Paul helps answer the question. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5.

If you're still open here from the whole armor, just back one book, one chapter.

Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 14, Paul helps us to understand what our state of readiness spiritually must be.

Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14, therefore he says, Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

To walk circumspectly means you're walking with an awareness of your surroundings.

Of your environment. What is happening around me, and as it relates to the time, what is happening around me today?

Paul says we all need to be situationally aware of the times in which we live, because they are evil. Because it is an age that is rejecting God in the ways of God, and if we're not careful, brethren, we can get caught up then in it for ourselves.

He says we must resist. We must use our time well.

We must know the time, because you see the time will come when there is no more time.

That's the point of the end of the age. Get your house in order, because the time will come, the time is up.

The trumpet is sounded. Christ is returning.

So the message is wake up now, be situationally aware, and redeem the time.

He says, therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.

He says don't dull your senses to your situational awareness.

Don't be drunk, physically or spiritually, and don't take your attention off of what is happening around you. Stay sharp.

Now, Paul essentially says the same thing as well over Romans chapter 13. Let's turn there quickly.

Romans chapter 13 and verse 11.

Paul says, and do this knowing the time.

I've underlined that phrase in my Bible, knowing the time, because you see, again, that's equated with spiritual situational awareness. Do we know what time it is?

And do this knowing the time, that it is high time to wake out of sleep.

For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.

Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness. Let us put on the armor of light.

Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust.

Do we truly know what time it is, brethren? Are we aware? Do we know what we ought to do at this time? What we ought to say at this time?

How do we ought to live our life at this time? If you don't know the answers to these questions, then there's a problem.

Because we're walking through life spiritually with our blinders on.

The point is, we must be situationally aware at all times. Our physical and eternal life is at risk, and great risk.

And so Paul's message is, wake up now and redeem the time. That's what we're called to do spiritually.

Now, the fact is, there may be times where we are situationally aware.

We've done all that we can do to foresee what could be perhaps a potential threat. We've done what we can do to withdraw ourselves.

We've prayed to God. I hope you pray to God each and every day before you walk out the door and get in the car and head down the road.

I hope you pray not only for yourselves, but for one another. That is our first line of defense.

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

So this isn't all about, I'm just taking matters into my own hands. This is a small piece of the package.

God is first, and what He provides is great.

But sometimes, brethren as Christians, we encounter circumstances that bring us directly into physical conflict and the need to defend ourselves. I hope it is very, very rare, and I hope none of us face it personally, but at times it is the case.

So what do we do if we are, for example, being assaulted?

What do I do? If somebody comes up behind me and grabs me by the throat, do I just say, Oh, you got me. I'm a Christian. I'm sorry. I don't respond to that.

What is our response? Well, I can only speak to myself. Is that my response? It is not.

Okay. When the remnant of the Jews returned from Babylon and began rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, there were enemies all about them. They didn't want to see the wall of God's city put back in the place, and the people of God re-inhabit Jerusalem again. And as a result, those individuals working on that wall worked with their sword strapped to their side.

They were now looking for a fight. They weren't taking the fight to the enemy, but they weren't just going to be easy prey either.

God was with them, and he was guiding his work, but Nehemiah set up a defense around that city so that the work of God could be done. They weren't just simply going to be prey.

Again, the biblical definition of self-defense, brethren, is very narrow. And there are parameters and there are consequences to those actions that we have to be aware of, but my answer is I personally would not stand around just to be assaulted if I had no way of escaping before the confrontational circumstance evolved.

I'd do what I could to break the hold. I would pray, and I would respond.

What we taught our youth at youth camp in Nigeria was situational awareness first and foremost. And secondary to that, a few basic maneuvers to break an attacker's hold long enough to escape. Again, if you were grabbed, could you break their hold to escape?

I was actually showing Darla a maneuver here yesterday. I said, come up behind me and grab me around the neck. And I showed her a maneuver that if somebody does that to you very quickly and easily, you can break their hold and hopefully escape. And she's like, well, that's cool. So she says, grab, she wanted to show Tabitha, you know. So she's like, she's like, Tabitha, look at this. And then she says, Darla says, watch this move. Grab my neck, Paul. And I just kind of put my hands lightly on her shoulders. I feel a little funny, you know. I said, grab my, and then she's like, no, no, choke me. And I said, no. I said this morning, I said, you know, I don't even like practicing that with you because, you know, I'm your husband. And frankly, that violates my conscience to even put my hands carefully around your neck. Okay. But I'll just say, I think it is personally wise, if you're so inclined to know a few moves that could break an attacker's hold and allow you an opportunity to escape if possible. I don't necessarily recommend that people go out and enlist in self-defense classes. And frankly, brethren, a lot of the self-defense and martial arts out there go down a road touching into spiritism and things that we would not agree with. But I do believe it is a good idea to be able to put up a reasonable defense for the sake of yourself and someone else if the situation, God forbid, should become necessary. We look to God first. He is our defense. Hopefully it never occurs for you or for me. Proverbs 24, verse 10 and 11 says, if you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. But it doesn't stop there. It says, deliver those who are drawn towards death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. So there may be times we have to intervene on behalf of someone else who is more vulnerable. And I don't imagine, brethren, that will always be a gentle process. Point is, keep your wits about you and be aware. Certainly. In conclusion, as Christians, we've been called to be peacemakers. First and foremost, that is where we start. We've been called to be wise as servants and harmless as doves. It is the starting point for all of this. In addition to that, we put our trust in God. He is our refuge and our strength. We sing that song week after week. I hope we believe it. I hope we trust it. He is our strength in times of troubles. He is our deliverer. He does, in fact, fight for his people. He offers us protection. I can't tell you how many times God has provided deliverance in our lives. If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

As part of the package, we're taught in Scripture to turn the other cheek when wronged. Do not return evil for evil. We're taught not to retaliate over persecution, especially for our faith in Jesus Christ. We seek to de-escalate the situation whenever possible. Talk it down whenever possible. Make an escape wherever possible. Don't let that escalate to a point of direct conflict. But, brethren, when faced with circumstances of direct physical or spiritual attack, the defense of ourselves and others within the biblical standards, within the biblical standards, within the biblical standards, it is permissible and it is appropriate.