Winning Season, Week 2: The Winning Mentality

Tim Ross | August 14, 2022

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Tim: Last week was cray-cray. I did something I never-- I've never done this in my entire life. After last week's message, I went home and I got online, and I made this T-shirt. I went home, I just made it online and had them ship it to me because I wanted to wear it to the grocery store, to-- I was about to say the gas station, but I got a Tesla.

[laughter]

Tim: So bougie. At the charging station, I just wanted somebody to be like, "Hey, what does scoreboard mean?" Then my response would be, [shouts] "Scoreboard." Their response would be like, "What is your problem? Why are you so loud in aisle six of this grocery store?" It just resonated with me deeply. I truly believe that this series is going to change your life. It's going to change your mind. Into that end, every single weekend that we are here in this series, I believe God's going to continue to reinforce the idea that this is winning season for you, and that this season is not temporary.

It ain't going to last seven months and then you go back to taking Ls like you don't know what victory tastes like. This is a paradigm-shifting series for you to live the rest of your life getting out of the bed talking about, "I win." They haven't even got started, "I win." The doctors know this with stage four cancer, "I still win." They said they weren't going to give you the promotion, "I win. Stop playing." I'm so grateful for it. The cadence of my message today is going to be a little bit different. You're going to have to bear with me, because I'm teaching about a mentality today.

We didn't get out of the first service until 23 minutes before this service. Scared me to death. I was like, [exclaims] "Please, Jesus, don't let them cuss in the parking lot." I was so scared for your salvation because it's hot outside and you're looking for a parking spot. I was like, "Please let them stay safe till they get in here. Jesus name, amen." I politely told everybody as soon as we dismissed, "Get out." Hopefully they did, and y'all are here, so it's great. I literally was so grateful that the Lord gave me this message to teach. I'm going to give you the title of it now because like I said, the cadence is different. I'm just going to be a stream of consciousness until I leave.

We'll probably dismiss around three o'clock. I'm just playing. I'm just playing. I heard three people go, "Hey. I ain't got nothing to do." Write this down. The title of the message is "The Winning Mentality." I want to talk to you about what it takes to have a winning mentality. I'm going to take you to the passage of Scripture that God taught me and calibrated me to this winning mentality. I could have pulled up Jeremiah 29:11. I could have pulled up Isaiah 54:17. No weapon formed against you will prosper. I could have taken you to Romans 8 and talked about the fact that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus.

I could have took you all around the bible. I could have took you to the book of Exodus and said, "Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord." I could take you anywhere in the bible, but this is where God spoke to me about having a winning mentality. Let me tell you why it's so important for you to get this, because people that don't have a winning mentality, and I'm going to prove it in Scripture, when you're around people with a winning mentality, and you don't have a winning mentality, you are mislabeled as arrogant and conceited. I can't tell you how many times after I gave my life to Jesus I was told, "You are arrogant and conceited."

These weren't from mentors and people that so closely can inspect the fruit in my life that they were like, "Yes, I see that on you," because when they said it, and there have been some times where I needed to be checked, when they said it, I said, "Oh, then if you see it, then yes." If Juliette says that I'm a little prideful, then I am. I sleep in the same bed with her, she should know. When I would be out and I preached somewhere, or I would do a workshop, or I'd be around some believers and maybe they have been exposed to my ministry from somewhere, they would be like, "He a little conceited. That's what that is. A little arrogant. God needs to humble him in some areas."

What they were mislabeling is the confidence I have in God, hear me, and me. I'm telling you, a lot of LA going to come out of me today. Okay? I'm about to raise everybody's vocabulary to some hood terms, and you're going to go out of here so educated. Everybody that's upper middle class, you're going to come out of here with a wider vocabulary today because I got to take you back to the epicenter where this comes from for me. 1 Samuel 17 is where the Lord gave me this revelation, so I want to give it to you.

I was very tempted to read all 58 verses in this chapter, but I will paraphrase the first 31, and I will start from 32. You will get a good old 19 from me today. You're going to deal with that. I got 19 verses to read, but I want to give you context. This is the story of David fighting Goliath. Spoiler alert, David wins. We all know. David fights Goliath and he wins. The first 32 verses is the recap of how this whole thing started. The Philistines had a champion named Goliath. Goliath by all estimations, from those that have done studies around that area and that time have him around nine feet, seven inches tall. He would have won any basketball team on anybody's team. Put him on your team, you should win a championship.

He was about nine feet, seven inches tall. That's the estimation. It could have been ten feet. Big dude. He comes out and the children of Israel, king Saul, and their army come out against the Philistines and their army. Goliath poses this challenge, "Send one guy out to fight me. If I win, it'll count as a win against all y'all, so if I beat that one dude, it counts for all y'all. If you win, you beat me. It counts for all of us. Bring out your champion. I defy the armies of Israel. Your God's not real. You think you're cute walking around with your little box talking about the presence of the Lord is in it. We'll crush that. Take that. Ain't nobody's scared of y'all."

For 40 days, he goes on talking this reckless and nobody responds. A month and a half, Goliath talks this reckless, nobody says nothing. Scripture says that twice a day, Mondays and evenings, I guess he took afternoons off, Mondays and evenings, twice a day dude, came out for 40 days talking about, "Amen, your God's not real. Send somebody out here to fight me. Y'all are all the scum of the earth." They heard this twice a day for 40 days, which means in 40 days, 80 times Goliath came out and punked Israel to no response. Punked is a colloquialism in urban communities that means you are being accosted.

See how quickly I can go back and forth between these words? You are being accosted at a very profound rate. For 40 days and 40 nights this happens, no response. David comes one time to drop off some cheese and some bread to his brothers and the captains. One time. They've heard Goliath 80 times. Dave is just making a delivery. "Hey, man, good to see you, bro. Love you. Here. Dad told me to bring you some bread for your captains. Then here's some cheese for you." He was like, "Alright then, I love y'all. Good to see you. Y'all been sitting here? Nobody? No action? Okay, whatever."

He starts walking away, Goliath comes out. "Hey, I defy your God." David was like-- Goliath still over there, "You're the scum of the earth and bring somebody to fight me. I'll kill all of y'all. Your God ain't real. Your cute little tiny box doesn't have the presence of the Lord. You guys suck," and David is like, "Who is this?" They were like, "Huh?" "No, no, no, who is this reckless fool talking about our God?" "Well, he's been here for 40 days talking like this twice a day."

He's like, "Wait, y'all have heard this before? I just came to drop off some bread. Y'all heard him talk like this and y'all didn't do nothing about it?" They were like, "No, no, no. As a matter of fact King Saul hasn't come out his tent, long time." He did send a message out though, and the message was if anybody can kill Goliath, then Saul will give one of his daughters as tribute and as a reward, and the family doesn't have to pay any taxes again for the rest of their life." David said, "No, taxes?"

[laughter]

Tim: He didn't say nothing about the girl. He was just like, "Y'all about to turn Israel into Texas, no state tax. That's how we about to get down?" He said, "Yes. I don't even need that, but that's got to stop." He heard it one time. How long are you going to let the enemy taunt you before you talk back? You got to change your mentality if you're really going to start to win in the spiritual realm. I'm not talking about haters that are in your comment section. I'm not talking about somebody don't like your personality on your job. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but it's principalities and darkness and high places.

You have to elevate your mind above the flesh and blood you see. Tina ain't your problem. I just helped somebody right there. Tina is not your problem. Your boss is not your problem. You have to wage war in the spirit, and you have to have a mentality to look past what you see and know where the real agitator is coming from. I got Scriptures fighting in my head so let me just say this real quick. When the storm was over the sea and Jesus was taking a nap, because that's how unbothered He is by storms, he was asleep.

He woke up at the behest of his disciples. "We going to die," and what did Jesus come out and do? Jesus came out and He did something in a very specific way, in a very specific order. He rebuked the wind and told the waves to calm down because the waves that were rocking the boat wasn't the issue. I'm going to take my time. Do you even know who to rebuke? The waves weren't the problem. The wind was the problem. The wind stirred up the waves that rocked the boat. He rebuked the thing that was the agitator, not the thing that was rocking it.

Your kids are not the problem. Go find the agitator of your kids. Rebuke them. Let's pick up from verse 32. "Don't worry about this Philistine," David told Saul. "I'll go fight him." I'm going to take my time. We just going to read through this. This is a slow walk. This is a winner's mentality. "Don't you worry about him, I'm going to go fight him." "Who are you kid?" "Don't matter. I heard this one time, I ain't got time for this." I heard the enemy try to come into my house one time, I ain't got no time for this.

Enemy tried to come in my house and steal my peace. I don't have no time for this. We about to fight now. You ain't about to be up in my house for a month and a half talking to us reckless before I deal with this. My kids ain't about to be struggling with the- See, my vocabulary going crazy right now. My kids ain't about to be struggling with the vicissitudes of life. See all these words just coming up out of my head, I ain't even trying. Y'all over there V-I-cissitude, is that a S or a C? I don't know. I don't know. Hey, Google. How do you pronounce?

I'm not about to let stuff linger in my house. I'm not about to have a miscommunication with my wife and we ain't talking for a week. We going to talk now. David said, "I'm going to go fight him now." We got to keep reading. We got to keep reading. "Don't be ridiculous," Saul replied. "There's no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win. You're only a boy and he's been a man of war since his youth."

David persisted, "I have been taking care of my father's sheep and goat." Talk to your talk, David. Talk your talk is a colloquialism in urban communities that simply means express yourself the way that you would like to express yourself. Let's continue. "You're only a boy and he's been a man of war since his youth," but David persisted, "I have been taking care of my father's sheep and goats," he said. When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it." Huh? "I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from his mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death." Pause. Do y'all know how gangster this is?

It's a little shepherd dude playing his harp out in the middle of nowhere. See's a lion coming or a bear and his response isn't, "Shoo. Go. Get away from here. Go lion, go bear." This dude sees a lion or a bear and it's this. "Oh, you want to die today. Get closer and see what happens. I dare you to get closer to these sheep." Scripture says David said, "I go after it." Not when it chases me. He said, "I see the threat and I go towards the threat." He said, "I go after it with a club. Hey, fool. I'm not the one." He said, "If that don't work and they actually turn on me," this is gangster, "I grab it by the jaw," all them teeth, you grab it by the jaw, smashed it, and I smashed his skull.

"I have done this to both lions and bears, and I'll do it to this pagan Philistine too for he has defiled the armies of the Living God." I got to stop. Here's what David said. "I'm going to read you my resume so I know it don't look impressive to you, but I've killed lions and bears out there in my daddy shepherd's field, and here's what I want you to know. The same way I killed them lions and bears I'll do it to this Philistine too." Here's your revelation. David didn't put Goliath in a separate category. Some of us have categorized God based on the degree of the situation we've gone through.

You believed he could do that, but you don't believe he could do this because you think you need a different God or a more than God in this situation, than the God that you had in that situation. The same God that delivered me out of this situation is the same God that delivers me out of that situation so that no matter what situation I'm in, He happens to be an all-inclusive, delivering God. This is why he told the children of Israel, "When you get there Moses and they ask my name, tell them my name is blank check." "I'm sorry, what?"

"Tell them my name is blank check." What? "Go tell them I am that I am." See I didn't hear the swag in it until I slowed it down for you. You read it too fast. I am that I am. No, no, no, slow that thing down. I am. What are you? That, I am. You need water in the middle of a desert, I am that. You need a cloud by day, I am that. You need a pillar of fire by night, I am that. You need food to fall down from heaven. I happen to be that too. I am that, that, that, that, and that. I am healer deliverer, sanctifier, freer. I am provision, protection, and purity. I am all of that. Not some of it, that.

Saul finally consented. "All right, go ahead," he said, "And may the Lord be with you." This was not a compliment. Saul had no faith in David in this situation. How could he? He didn't have any empirical data. He didn't see what he had done in the shepherd's field. He was just basically, let me put it in 22 words. In his day he said, "May the Lord be with you." Here's the way we say it now, especially when we don't believe it, but we just-- "Hey, I'm going to be praying for you."

[laughter]

Tim: "I'll be praying for you. You're in my thoughts and my prayers." I can't stand thoughts and prayers because I'm a literalist. They're in my thoughts and I just be seeing them looking up to me like this. I'm not in your thoughts. If you're going to help, help. If you're not, just say that. Then Saul gave David his own armor. Thank you Holy Spirit, let me slow down. He said, "Go ahead," which means David now had permission to go do it.

Saul was the king. He was the authority on earth and he was the spiritual authority over David at that time. He did not go to fight Goliath without getting spiritual permission first. Let me say this to you right now here and now, don't go fight no giants without a spiritual cover. Go out there and try to fight them if you want to. You'll be dead. David had legal authority in heaven and on earth, could go fight that because he did not take off to go fight king Saul without his permission. He wasn't like, "Since you ain't doing nothing. Thought you was king. I'll handle this." Don't do that. You're going to wind up dead.

He goes with the spiritual permission and authority that he got from king Saul. Then Saul gave David his own armor, a bronze helmet, and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like for he had never worn such things before. Notice the order. He put it on first, right? He tried to move in it, right? Then he says "I can't go in these." He protested to Saul. "I'm not used to them."

David took them off again. Let me slow down. David did not preemptively tell Saul, "I'm not wearing your armor." He looked at it and knew that I don't-- that's not how I-- I just usually just put on my robe and I gird up my loins and tie good rope around me and I just roll out and fight bears and lions. That's usually how I-- That's pretty formal. You got a lot on. I don't need all that. He didn't say that preemptively. Because he submitted to authority, his king told him to put it on, he put it on.

After he put it on both he and the king knew this looks awkward and then he took it off. It could not be said that David was even insubordinate when it came to how he fought Goliath. Not only did he get permission to fight Goliath, he got permission to fight Goliath the way he wanted to. I'm trying to help. David took them off again. He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd's bag. Then armed only with his shepherd staff and a sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.

Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. "Am I a dog?" He roared at David, "That you come to me with a stick?" He cursed David by the names of his gods. "Come over here and I'll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals," Goliath yelled. You ever received a threat? How did you respond to it? See, I was born and raised in Southern California, Inglewood. I was born in Inglewood. My older brother founded a gang. Yes, he's done some dirt. Dirt is an urban colloquialism for criminal activity.

[laughter]

Tim: My brother did some dirt and his gang was pretty ruthless. When you grow up in a gang-infested neighborhood you're either in the gang or you're out of the gang, but if you're out of the gang, you're actually still in the gang because you still have to have the same mentality as the gang member because you don't know if they're coming after you for not being in the gang. You don't know if there was beef on your block that bled over to three blocks down the street and they going to come shooting down your block and you just can't be walking around innocent like, "It's not me guys. They're over there." That ain't going to work. You going to be dead.

I am proud to say that I was a gang member for a full seven days. I was in a gang for seven days. Because my brother was an OG in the gang-- OG is an urban colloquialism that simply means original gangster, one who was a founder of the establishment that has been erected. My brother was an OG of this gang and when you're OG on the set, you don't have to get jumped in. You can get walked in. I got walked on the set and for seven days I was in this gang. I went to school every day and I didn't do what gang people do. I wasn't ditching school and drinking 40 ounces of malt liquor, nor was I involved in any criminal activity.

Crack cocaine was a epidemic during the time that I was growing up. I saw all the little white crack rocks and what it was doing to my neighborhood and the people that used it and consumed it, but I was not a part of that. On the seventh day, the gang was polite enough to at least notify me that they no longer needed my services in said gang. They were very polite about it too. It was very kind. It's walked up to me. "Hey, man. Just want to let you know, you're no longer a part of our gang. We've looked over what you've been doing for the last seven days and we realized this ain't you. I don't know what you're going to do with the rest of your life, but God bless you. You can move on."

Here's the truth of the matter. The reason why I didn't get involved in what they were doing is because I was more afraid of getting a whooping from my daddy if he found out than I was being down with them. This is why fathers in the home are such an important thing. My older brother was a founder of a gang, my mother worked for the LAPD for 30 years. Yes, hold that tension.

My older brother's 10 years older than me. He founded this gang, my mother worked for the LAPD for 30 years. Rampart division is like most gangster division of the Los Angeles Police Department. The Rampart division, those cops are their own gang. They actually call themselves True Blue. We out here with these crepes and these bloods and these essays and we True Blue. Just want you all to know we got this badge on our side and we will use it. They had to take on what? They had to take on that gang mentality. Why? You won't survive if you don't have that mentality.

Why do you have to have a winner's mentality? Because if you don't, you will not survive the spiritual warfare that goes on with being a Christian. Do you know all of hell hates you? Do you understand you were born on they team and then you had the nerve to switch? You were born in sin, shaping in iniquity. By default you were already on the other team. Then you publicly declared, not privately whispering it, you publicly declared that I don't represent that set no more. That I don't allow myself to get involved in that activity. I now profess out loud, open and loud, Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Hell hates that. All the hell is like, "Got you fam." Same thing that-- Got you fam is an urban colloquialism that simply means message received. All of hell says we got to get him or her back. If you were to walk off of a gang, the whole gang would be like, "We going to have to see you." You don't just walk out of a gang, you die out of a game. Blood in, blood out. Which is why it is a privilege to get walked on the set because you get jumped in because the blood that they bring out of your body by that beating is how you get in. They mean to tell you for the rest of your life, you better claim this set because if you don't, we going to need blood for you to be out of here. Most people don't survive that.

The mentality has to be as a believer, that I have God on my side and we're going to win. Let me give you Bible. This is what I read and it changed my entire life because Goliath got to give his speech. He got to say what he wanted to say, but listen to this reply. David replied to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of heaven's armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today, the Lord will conquer you and I will kill you and cut off your head."

Can we stop, because this is not the David and Goliath story that our children get in the children's ministry. Upstairs they get the G-rated version. David and Goliath got into a fight. David threw his rock and Goliath fell and God won. Yay. Now color your paper and give it to your teacher and your parents. The kids come downstairs, "Mommy, it's David and Goliath," and you're just looking at the paper like, "You had to use a green crayon for the whole with no other crayons in the crayon box? Children ministry that limited? Y'all ain't got no brown up there?"

Woo, cooking myself. David heard the threat and then he had a response, and his response was very, very forthright. This verse is what freed me from people thinking I'm arrogant and conceited when it comes to how I approach my life as a believer in Jesus Christ and the fact that I think I'm going to win everything. When I tell you everything, ain't no situation I've ever gotten into since I've been a believer for the last 26 years, I'm like, "I'm winning. We are going to win this." Worst season of your life, we are going to win this. It's a bad day, it ain't a bad life, we are going to win this. If Paul and Silas could sing in jail, we are going to win this.

David said, "Today, the Lord will conquer you and I will kill you, and I will cut off your head." Here's the revelation of a winning mentality. David didn't say the Lord was going to do everything, nor did he say he was going to do everything. David knew who conquered and he knew who gets to kill. He understood that the Lord has a part to play and so do I. Do you know how many people are walking around waiting for God to do something? God is peeking over the balcony of heaven waiting for you to do something.

Do you know how many people is in the house right now, going, "I'm just waiting for God to bring me my breakthrough," and God's like, "It'll happen as soon as you get up out that bed. Your lazy self," because here's what the church has fed us forever and I mean to eradicate it. God's going to use you. Bring your gifts into the church because God wants to use you. Then we hear it so much, we start praying, "Lord God, use me," as if he's Geppetto and you're Pinocchio and He's just using you against your will. Do you know what happens when you get used?

Usually the more people are used, the more easily they can be abnormally used, contracted, abused. Do you know how many people I've met in church that have gone through spiritual abuse because they thought that if God wants to use them, they must be used by these people as well. God's not trying to use you, He's here to partner with you. I'm helping somebody. See, if you can't see yourself in the equation, you'll never think that you have a responsibility in the fight. God's not asking you to stand by and He going to do everything and you just going to be there.

You can't even use that in the book of Exodus. Stand still and see the love of the Lord. That's absolutely right, Moses, after you lift your staff. You are going to have to do something. This is not all on God, but it's also not all on you. It is a partnership. When you have the right mentality and you understand this is a partnership, you walk into situations knowing I know I'm going to win. Why? God's with me. He already told me He conquered the situation so all I got to do is go to work. They said they weren't going to have a position for you anymore. It doesn't matter, he just told me to come in anyway.

Between the time I clock in at nine and the time I clock out at five, God's going to do something in them eight hours. He probably going to do it while I'm on my lunch break. I'm going to give you a nice chipotle bro, and I'm going to sit down somewhere and watch God do it, but I do have to show up and participate in the fight. David says today, my God's going to conquer you because I can't do the conquering. I don't conquer nothing. David knows this and this mentality. I don't conquer stuff, God conquer stuff, but I get to kill some stuff and Goliath you on the list.

Homie, you are going to die today. Not tomorrow. We ain't going to be fighting for 19 hours, I'm going to kill you today. You see this bop I got, I can't get it off me because when you get this mentality, everything changes. Every situation you find yourself in, you start looking at it like, "And?" That noise is one of the most profound noises you could ever make in your life to tell people around you and the enemy that you are unbothered by what's about to come up. You know the situation is so crazy. [clicks] That noise says so much stuff. Child please, I'm unbothered. You can't test me. I'm taking a nap. I'm about to go eat. I'm about to lay down. I'm about to watch Netflix. [clicks]

Goliath said, "I'm going to kill you today. I'm going to feed you to the birds." David's like, [clicks] "Please, man. You like work today, homie. Today, the Lord will conquer you and I will kill you and cut off your head," as if he didn't have enough conjunctions, "And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals and the whole world would know that there is a God in Israel."

Now, I got to stop and tell you, I could not have been on the Philistine side hearing David say that, because if I was a Philistine right behind Goliath, I'd have peeked around and been like, "Hey man, I thought this was a one on one. I don't know how my name got into this. You said you was going to kill him and cut his head off, but then you said something about the rest of the men, dead bodies and you go-- I'm not fighting today, I didn't even know this is what we was going to do. Goliath just said, "We got to go down to the valley."

I didn't know you was going to be here nor did I know your God was coming up. Please, leave my name out of this."

He gets there, and everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord's battle. He will what? Give you to us. As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him, again, just like he did with the lions and bears. He quickly ran out to meet this dude. That's gangster. Reaching into his shepherd's bag and taking out a stone he hurled it with his sling, and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in. Can I stop? Anybody here, by a show of hands, ever been hit by a rock? It hurt didn't it? You're still here? Got bopped with a rock, and you still here?

I remember doing paintball once and I was out there with some people that really know how to do what they do with paintballs, and I thought I was hidden, and the next thing I know I was waking up. This no lie. The next thing I know being in a hidden position, perched, ready to strike my enemy, I remember waking up to find out that someone from somewhere who was very, very skilled with this paintball gun had sent a paintball hurling at me that hit me right in my temple. The trajectory of which was so violent, I blacked out. Around 15 to 30 seconds later when I woke up I stood up raised my hand, and promptly quit.

I started taking off my gear on the battlefield. "Hey, hey stop. Stop. Stop. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done. Y'all clearly do this for a living. I was just having fun. Somebody said paintball I decided to come. I didn't know y'all doing all this." I've been hit with a rock hard, it hurt. Ting. It came off. He threw his rock so hard. Scripture said, "It sank into his forehead". This would be the equivalent of a hollow-point bullet. For all of my gun owners in the room that are into ballistics. The stone sank in and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground so David triumphed over Goliath with only a sling and a stone for he had no sword, then David ran over and pulled Goliath's sword from his sheath. David used it to kill him and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that the champion was dead, they turned and ran.

Let's re-enact, shall we? Now, here's how I know that David was confident, and not just God, hear me, but his skill set. Because you can't have all this confidence in God, and then you think you're terrible. I've seen too many believers give all the glory to God, and raise Him up, and then be sitting there like, "I'm just wretch. I'm a wretch and done. There's nothing good inside of me. My righteousness is as filthy rags." All true, and there's something good that you can do. I've seen so many people walk in false humility, and not even know it. I can't tell you how many times I've heard great preaching, and went to compliment the person, and say, "Man, that was a great job you did". "It wasn't me. It was all God." "All of it was God?"

A preacher once said this to another preacher, came off the platform, man said, "Man, that was a great message". "It wasn't me man. It was all God." Here was the man's response, "It wasn't that good." It couldn't have been all God, you was involved. If it was all God, He would speak from heaven and shake the whole earth, and mountains will catch on fire, and whales would pop out of the ocean. It's not all God, and it's not all you. It's a partnership. It's okay for you to partner with God. That's what He wants.

I got to break this mentality that you think it's all God, that you stepped back, and, "God, I need you to-- God, I want you to-- there needs to be a revival in my family." Have devotion with Him. Get up in the morning, and start praying with Him. "We need a turnaround in our marriage." Shut-up. Stop being so defensive. Go to counseling. It's not all you. It's not all God. It's a partnership. Here's how I knew David was so confident in his skill set. He went and got 5 rocks. He didn't get 17. He didn't get 100 of them and have his friends drag it out to the battlefield. I don't know which ones go-- I don't believe David knew the first rock was going to kill Goliath but here's what I do know based on the count. Here was David's winning mentality. David went down to that brook. He said, "Get in here now." Oh, snap. I did not know. I didn't know this first one was going to work. Here was David's winning mentality, I don't know which rock's going to take him out but I know between one to five, he did.

See, you go to step into a battle knowing I don't know exactly how God's going to bring me out of this, but between steps one, two, three, four, and five I am going to have the victory in this situation. I don't know when He's going to do it. I don't know how He's going to do it, but I know that my God's going to prevail so I'm just going to throw my rock. I'm going to just shoot my shot because I have a winning mentality. That dude, Scriptures says he fell down face first, like dead, dead. David did, "Oh help me, Holy Spirit." David didn't just go, "Yay. He's dead. See what we did, guys? Yay." He casually walked over to Goliath, kicked off his helmet. Scriptures says he pulled Goliath's sword because he didn't have one. He pulled Goliath's sword out of his sheath, pulled that boy's head up by the locks of his hair because it had to be a thick neck. If you are 9'7" you got yourself a meaty neck.

Took his head, walked it to Saul's tent. [knocking] "Yes." "King Saul?" "Yes." "Come here. Sir, this him?" He was holding Goliath's head in his hand. I know this is savage. He's holding his head in his hand because he wanted him to see where the threat was coming from, and here's what he wanted him to know. I know you probably going to live with the voice of Goliath in your head for the rest of your life but I went ahead and did you a favor. I took his head off because anytime you think that threats' about to come back I want you to know that this talking head ain't got no body to hurt you, to come against you. I'm telling you I have this mentality because it's worked in my own life.

Last story and I'm done. My brother is 10 years older than me. He founded this gang. Homie was hood, real hood. One day my brother, Myles, and I-- Myles has proceeded me in death. Myles and I were at school and I won't name him just in case he's watching. This dude who was an offensive lineman. You going to know who you are, but I'm not saying your name. He's an offensive lineman for our high school. He actually got a full ride at USC. He had to be about 6'5", 6'6" 3 something. I stopped growing around the 10th grade, 11th grade. I got to 5'9". I had prayed to be six feet. I got to 5'9" and stopped. Then God said, "You're good enough here. Let's stop." As you can tell, I have a small frame. It was even smaller. My senior year of high school, I was 5'9". I think I weighed 120 pounds soaking wet in my senior year of high school.

We're in the cafeteria and big dude starts punking my brother. I already gave you the colloquialism for punk. He starts punking my brother and messing with him, just bullying him, and we got mad. I was like, "You know what? Sick of you man." He stood up, "What you going to do?" About to get my brother fool? That's what I'm about to go do. I knew I wasn't going to fight that dude. About to go get somebody that can handle you. I went home. My brother was in the house. I said, "Hey man, this dude at school is punking your brothers." My brother has David's jeans. My brother jumps up, puts on some pants and some shoes, no shirt, and he's like, "Where are he at?" I was like, "He's at the school." "Let's go now."

We didn't jump in the car. We didn't get on bikes. We walked back to the school. He just talking. "About to knock this fool out. He don't even know he messing with and nobody messing with my brother's cuz. It's about to go down. They better know. They better recognize." I was back like, "Yes, they better recognize. They should know. He been doing it for a long time too fool. Get him." He was walking up there. We started getting close to the school. He said, ''Where he at, cuz?'' I said, ''He right there.''

A baseball game was going on. Dude was sitting on the bleachers. Homie walks up."That him right there?" I said, ''Yes, that's him right there.'' He said, "Hey." Everybody turned around in the bleachers. This is a afternoon base baseball game. It got gangster quick. "Hey." Dude turned around. "Hey, you been punking my brothers? You the one been punking my brothers fool?" He said he stood up. "Yes. What you going to do about it?" He said, ''I need to see you across the street.'' He started laughing with his friends. "What do you think you're doing?" "I need to see you across the street?" This was the most gangster part of the whole thing. Dude walks out of the baseball diamond. My brother lets him get within like seven feet of him. He turned his back on him and led him across the street. "You coming with me this way?" They got across the street. My brother already didn't have on a shirt. The other person's putting down his backpack. He like, "Let's go." Big dude. My brother's like 5'11", so it's not like I went to go get like a dude that matched him. My brother's just got, he just has a winning mentality. It's gangster. It's also winning.

For the sake of this sermon. Keep with me. Okay, so they start fighting and my brother starts razor blade starts molly whopping him. Molly whopping is more of an African American colloquialism. That means to beat one's person violently. Started molly whopping him. He was getting so tired. He was getting rung up. He got so tired. He grabbed, big dude, imposing, grabbed both of my brother's wrists, had them both, and he was just trying to hold them down, and my brother trying to headbutt him. Because when you in a fight, ain't no rules when it's a fight fight. See, when you're boxing, there are rules. When you're doing MMA, there are rules and a referee. When you're in a street fight, there are no rules. I will hit you with a brick. I will hit you with a stick. I will hit you with a bat. I will chase you with a cat. Just made this whole thing, Dr. Seuss. I will beat you on a roof. I will beat you with no tooth. I will beat you. It's fighting.

He's holding him down. He got both of his wrists pinned down and he's trying to hold him. He's putting his big old body on him trying to hold him down. My brother did like this to break loose and get his hand out, and this dude's head had to be here, and my brother's, he just had this space right here, but he has so much power in that short distance. He caught him right on the chin, and that boy was sleep before he hit the ground.

It was like, the whole thing went into slow motion. It was like a Sequoia falling over in the forest, and he hit the ground and his head hit the curb. It hurt. Looked like it hurt. He was sleep. My brother stepped back. Do you know who was talking the loudest after that dude got knocked out? It was not my brother. I ran up to him. "I bet you won't say it again. I bet you don't mess with me and Myles again. I bet you won't do it no more. You just got knocked." I'm not explaining that one. I'm not going to explain that one. I'm going to let that go. If you know you know.

Why did I tell you that story? Because I refuse to have more confidence in my big brother than I have in my God. I don't know who needs to hear that, but in the same way that I had faith in my brother to help me in that fight, there has been no situation from that day to this day that I don't believe that my God is able to do what He said He would do in my life. I want you to have this winning mentality. It's really really practical. You don't have to have come from a violent background to adopt this mentality. I take tactical training classes with a former US Marine scout force, recon sniper, and we train for four hours at a time. It's absolutely grueling. If I went out there and trained with him every day, I would never match his proficiency what he was trained to do, what he has endured the things he's done on behalf of this country. He's to be commended.

You know why I go out there and train with him. Because I still have that mentality. I watch and pray. Certain situations I pray with my eyes open. Because I don't know what you all about to do. When I go eat at a restaurant. When I walk in the door. I have to sit at the seat that allows me to see who's coming through. I can't sit with my back to the door. I grew up in the hood. I train with him now and now my awareness is just much more acute. I know everybody that left this room to go to the bathroom and the ones that didn't come back the whole time we've been talking up here. I see everything. Everything. It's an acute awareness. Why? Because I never want to be caught off guard. If it does go down, what we've been trained-- he trains us across all platforms. He trains us with pistol, carbine, and long precision rifles but every time we go out there in four hours, we usually shoot maybe 12 times live rounds.

You know what the other three hours and 50 minutes is? Growing your mindset. Are you thinking clearly? Are you learning? Not just how to shoot. Do you know why you are shooting like you are shooting? Do you know why I asked you to lean over when you get ready to reach and pull that gun out of your holster? Do you know why I tell you to do a check? I need you to grow your mindset. You are in the fight of your life. As a believer in Jesus Christ, this world is becoming increasingly more dark. It's supposed to because light shines brighter in darkness. If your mentality is right, you can walk in a dark neighborhood and not be scared. You can walk in a dark neighborhood and know if something went down. I hope it doesn't but I know how to defend myself. I know how to protect myself and those I love not just naturally but spiritually as well.

Why I have a winning mentality? David had it. Jesus has it. You're going to have it too. We win. Every situation we're going to win. Today God's going to conquer and I get to kill. Tim, I need that more practical. Today God's going to conquer this debt and I'm going to pay my bills.

You remember around 2000, everybody was talking about supernatural debt cancellation. You ran up all that debt and you thought Y2K was going to happen and that when January 1st, 2000 hit your bank account was going to be mysteriously deleted and Trump was going to lose his money it's going to find itself in your account. Jeff Bezos was going to have his stuff moved over to your account. Steve Jobs about to accidentally lose $2 billion and it was going to wind up in the believer's account. You're like, "The Lord did it." You would've been arrested. What you failed to realize is that God wasn't going to do it all and you weren't going to do it all but together you can do the impossible. Believe the unbelievable and see God do a miracle in your life.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? See, I' let you out before 3:00. This is longer than I usually go but I needed time with this message because I want you to have some practical applications for how this works in your everyday life. I'm not saying it's going to be easy but the more you practice the more confidence you get. David was confident when he went into battle because he had been proficient with that slingshot for a long time. That wasn't the first time he used it. After 26 years of public communication, I'm confident when I stand on the platform to deliver God's word. I know that if anybody's going to come to Jesus Christ, it's not going to be because of the eloquent of my words or the profound things of my speech. Only the Holy Spirit can draw people to him. I do expand my vocabulary. I do look up words. I do study the Scriptures.

I do make sure that they're theologically correct so that when I stand up before the people, my partnership with God is not in vain. Don't forsake your duty relying on God to do it all. He's going to partner with you and you're going to see victory. Your mentality is changing, your faith is growing. You're going to start believing that what this word says about you is true.

God, I thank you for my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters, and this incredible moment that you've given us. May we be like David. May we be so confident in you and us that no matter what situation we step into, we know we're going to win. God, you get all the glory for us do your name. Thank you for taking us and partnering with us for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. Love you guys.