I want to speak to you about removing the quit option from your life. Sometimes we feel like giving up thrown in the town but the bible said we are not people who retreat and give up during the battles. I’m going with share to you a story that I believe is going to change your life I want you to sit back and listen because I believe this message is really needed to be heard by many people in the season that you are in now. Maybe you feel like quitting your marriage, maybe you fell like quitting faith and you’re just tired of the battle and the struggle. This is a massage that is a must hear for you. This message I believe is what God is going to use to strengthen you in your mind and in your heart and in your determination. Because when it’s all said and done we are not talking about him in ability and him in will power but to remove the quit option is to get in the presence of God where he fills you with confidence, and he fills you with victory, and He fills you with His precious promises. And you can get up again and you can go out and see God’s will done in your life. So don’t quit but listen to this message let’s go right into this program. I believe God’s going to speak to your heart today.
I want to speak a message to you today of the subject on removing the quit option because everyone in this room has an option. You can draw back, you can quit, you can give up, you can quit your marriage, you can quit your dream, you can quit walking with the Lord, and you can quit fighting the flesh, lust, sin. You can just say I’m tired of the battle and I’m giving in. But my goal for this message today is to convince you to persuade you, to remove the quit option from your life.
There is a book out, “The Lone Survivor”. It’s a book that was written by a navy named Marcus Luttrell. He wrote a book about a battle that took place in Afghanistan in the year 2006 in which it became the deadliest day in the history of the navy SEALs. Twenty of our soldiers, of our elite soldiers, navy SEALs where killed that day and then a helicopter that came in trying to get them out of the hostile fight. There are only about 20 of them but there were 150 Taliban soldiers and had cut them off. Then the helicopter was shot down so it became the deadliest day of the navy SEALSs.
That day 20 men were killed and the author of that book Marcus Luttrell was the lone survivor. But in this book he takes the first few chapters and he begins to go into detail of the unique training involved in becoming a navy SEAL. He tells about how if they have the desire and qualify and pass the first round of testing that their sent to Coronado beach in California. And there they begin a two months rigorous, rigid training process through which they put their bodies basically through hail for two months. It’s designed to weed out those who are not strong. It’s designed to weed out those who are not the best of the best. As a matter of fact ones you make it through, if you make it through, they said out of 152 two thirds don’t even make it through. But they said by the time you go through the two months then you came to the real test, it’s what’s known as the “Hell Week”. They begin to run for miles, they go out into the sea and rafts and they are not allowed to eat hardly anything for four days. They are sleep deprived. They are made to go into the surfs, its 60 degrees. And after a while one of the instructors that he talks about in his book made this comment, “What we’re after is your mind, your body can put up with a lot if you have been trained.” See they have been trained for two month physically to stand a lot of pain and lot of abuse. They said, “We’re after your mind what we are trying to do is break your mind”. Consequently there is a little bell that if any time when you’re going to hell week and things really get so bad that you can’t stand it anymore, you can’t take it anymore, the pressure is to great, the soreness is to great, the body is aching, you can’t stand it anymore, your tired of being screamed at by your instructors and cast out and humiliated. If in some point it’s just so much that you just can’t take it physically, you just can’t take it emotionally, there is a bell outside the dining hall and all you have to do is break rank and walk over. You don’t have to say anything to your instructor or anybody. They said all you have to do is ring that bell and in ringing that bell you’re exercising your quit option. In doing so you take your helmet off and set it down there and in that moment you don’t have to explain anything to anybody, you don’t have to justify anything to anybody, no questions will be asked, and no one will ridicule you. They said you can get out of your barracks and take a warm shower then be fed by a hot meal and a bus will take you back to wherever you came from no questions asked.
I thought about how did he told in this book of one man who had been with him through the whole two months of physical rigorous training and he have emerged somehow as the league soldier and everybody is admiring in that group. Marcus Luttrell said that if ever there was a soldier this young man was the soldier, if ever you was anyone you want in a fox whole beside you this young man is the kind of leader, the kind of courageous bold fighter, he was physically the stronger than anybody else in the unit and they all knew that one day he would be a very great commander in the armed forces. But yet by about the 5th day of hell week they all were stunned to see him break rank and walk over and ring the quit option bell. And as he was walking over he said that he told his instructor, “Please let me talk with him. He’s out of his mind, his delirious, his not thinking straight, he hasn’t slept for days, he hasn’t ate for days, his head having a break down, he’s the best soldier in this unit. Everybody here knows his the best soldier. Stop him! Let me stop him, let me talk some sense into him”. And he said his instructor told him, and I quote in all of our experience, “if ever a man headed toward the bell, if they ever change their mind, if you could change their mind, if they were headed to that bell and were about to ring that bell and you talked them out and they came back, out of all of our experience we never have want who didn’t eventually go back and ring that bell and never will they finish the program.” He said because they never make it to the end because in their mind they cross the place where they decided to give up and it doesn’t matter how you try to talk them out of it. I believe that we need to understand what he got a hold up that day. He said it was that day when he watched that strong, that powerful man who was much stronger than he was, walked over and ring that bell and exercised that option to quit. He said that it was that day that he realized it’s not that physical battle that we are fighting out here in this beach. He said it is a mental battle he said I recognize that it was a mental thing that I was dealing with and he said I decided that day on that beach, this lone survivor, he said, “That day in that beach I made the decision that I would rather die in this beach than give up and to quit”.
And the same is through in our spiritual walk. We need to understand that it is a battle for our lives, a battle for our families, and a battle for our very soul. And the enemy is going to throw everything he can at us to discourage us but it’s not about the real battle that is going on it’s not a battle that is about your family. The battle is not about the troubling in your family, it’s not about the financial problem it’s not about the sickness, it’s not about the battles is the problems in your marriage. What I’m trying to let you understand is the real battle, what the devil is really after is to break down your mind. He wants to break your down mentally, he wants you to give up, to quit, to say I can’t take it anymore, I’m not going to live this life anymore, I don’t feel like taking the stand for Christ anymore, I’m going back. I’m going to use the quit option. I’m going to ring the bell I’m going tback o drugs. I’m going back to sin I’m going back to the way I used to be. I just don’t want to fight anymore. And my job is to convince you to remove forever from your mind the option to quit for if you ever reach that place that you make up your mind I’m not going to quit, that’s when the battle is really won.
The bible said we are not of those who draw back(Heb.10:39). I love that scripture because so many started out so strong, they started out so good, they stated out on fire for God but somewhere along the way they enter in to their own hell week and trouble starts to break. I’m not in this from what I can get out of God and get out of church and get out of Jesus. I’m in this because He loved me first and gave himself for me. And if he never answers another prayer, I’ll never ring that bell. I have nothing to go back to. My worst day with Jesus is better than my best day in the world without God. If you feel that way, give him a praise right now. Hallelujah
Ladies and gentleman I don’t care what the enemy throws at me. I have made up my mind. I am not turning back. I’m not of those who draw back. There is no quit option. I’m never going to ring that bell, in Jesus name. I’ve had prayers answered, I’ve had prayers go unanswered, I’ve had miracles happen, and I’ve had huge disappointments. I’ve had high mountains where God gave me thing and showed me and used me in amazing ways. And I’ve had low valleys where I felt God forsaken and cried all night long and what I’ve learned is for me I’ve crossed that bridge a long time ago. Devil you can hit me with everything you’ve got and I’ll still be in church, I’ll still lift my hands, I’ll still open my mouth, I’ll still worship him with my time, I’ll still serve with all. I’ll keep on preaching, come hell or high water I don’t have a quit option in my mind anymore. (Anybody got a made up mind give God a praise.)
I’m never going to ring that bell. I’m never going to walk away from God. I’m never going to quit church. I’m never going to leave my wife. I’m never going to give up on my kids. I‘m never going to let my dream dies. I’m never going to quit preaching. I’m never going to stop, that is what got to get a hold of your spirit.
Paul is speaking to the Ephesians church. He said he was serving the Lord with many tears and with temptations. And there were people who lie and wait just to see me fall. And he said, “Beyond that the Holy Ghost witnessed to me that in every city there would await bounds and afflictions”(Ac..20:23). As pretty saying nothing but trouble in every city that he goes on to the goes on to say, “But none of these things move me. Neither can I my life, dear, unto myself that I might finish my course with joy.” Paul said, “I’ve made up my mind I will never use my quit option(Ac..20:24). You go and move the bell and take it away. I’ll never going to use it, I know I’m going to go through stuff everywhere I go but welcome to what it means to be a believer in this world. You will have persecution. You will have trouble but we were not a bunch of victims and beat up people. We’re people who are strong in our minds and strong in our determination. And one of this days when Jesus appears what our reward will be with him. Do you believe it?
Paul said in strife above measure, in prison more often, five times, he said, I’ve received strives, three times I was beaten with rods, ones I was stoned, three times I was shipwreck. You thought the navy seal was tough. A night in a day I spent in the deep in perils in the sea, in perils among robbers, in perils in the wilderness and among false brothers, and in weariness, in painfulness, in hunger, in thirst, in fasting’s often, in cold, in nakedness. Besides all of this I have the responsibility of the care of the churches(2Cor.11:25~28). You would think it at what point is enough, Enough Paul? You would think at some point this man would say it’s time for me to go ring the bell. It’s time for me to give up. It’s time for me just to quit. I’ve through much. I’ve been through so much pain. God has given me more than my fair share. I think I just check out. I didn’t sign up for all of this. I didn’t know that I have to suffer all these pain that I have to suffer but there was no quit in this man. He’s the one who said forgetting those things which are behind are rich for that which is ahead. And I press for the mark of the higher calling of God in Christ Jesus(Phl.3:13~14). How could he say that he had removed the option to quit he went on to say I am persuaded, I am persuaded, I am persuaded that his able to keep that which I have committed unto him. And that is the point you have to get to, that you’re persuaded. That’s that point that you have to get to that you understand that Lord, nothing is going to change my mind. I will never ring that bell to quit.
He said that after the week of hell we get on the middle of it on Friday. He said he remembered being so exhausted physically and yet he had crossed the bridge in his mind that said I would never quit I would never ring that bell. He said they would not let you finish one instruction the instructor will give you another. And give you another. And give you another. Now he went thinking he’s about to go to from one horrible physical strain to another and he said finally he was told, he said, “I want you to go to a stage, an area and wait there”. When he got there instead the instructor screaming at him there were soldiers in full blues and with their medal-jackets on and it goes on and on. And he said they were there congratulating them saying to them, “I’m so glad that you made it to the hell week. You are now a navy seal”. And that’s what it’s all about; it’s to make it to the end to finish the course.
Others have been where you are and they made it, why you’re going to quit? I’m telling you that somebody has been to something just like you and they didn’t ring that bell so you don’t need to quit. You don’t need to allow the enemy to cause you to take that option to quit and you have to give up. You have to say in your spirit, “I’m never ever going to quit”.
There comes a time when the process weeds out. Everyone in their mind who is not made up their mind the process is designed to with you out. See I thought some of you that would be here today because right now you’re living for the Lord but you aren’t really going through anything. And if your mind is not made up when the real battle, the reason that he spent so much time in this book talking about what he went through his training is when he got to the battle.
Some years later and his in Afghanistan, the training is over and now he’s in the battle and he watches all of these bodies get killed and slaughtered and he’s been shot wounded. And now he’s been pursuited. He jumps off a mountain and breaks his leg but he keeps running. He tells his body, “Just shut up and do what I tell you to do.” I don’t care what you feel. Where did all that come from his got bullet holes, he’s running with broken bones. He’s fighting for his life. Everything in him is screaming give up but he kept fighting and he kept fighting. Somehow he stood a hundred and fifty Taliban’s until help came and trying to keep some of his comrades alive in the process. It was an amazing test but he said, “I really won the victory back on that beach when I decided that I would never quit, that I would never ring that bell.” And he said I watched my bodies as they fall and there was not one of them who gave up in despair. There was not one who said it’s hopeless let’s quit. He said all of them stood to the last minute and they fired and they fought because they have crossed that bridge. I guess what I’m saying to you is you have to have that kind of determination if you’re going to serve the Lord.
If you 're going to serve the Lord in this day and in this time when the fight is on you have to have it branded in your mind I have removed the quit option. Hebrews put it like this;
“We are looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” Heb.12:2
He endured everything that they throw at Him. He endured the whip when they beat his back until it looked like ribbons falling from his flesh. He endured the pounding on his face, the spit, the accusations, the slaps of their palms that cross his face; he endured the nails as they stretch him across the timbers and nailed his hand and his feet. He never would ring the quit option. All he had to do was ring the quit option and at any moment ten thousand angles would have come and rescue him from the cross. But something in him said, “I’ve got to finish this thing I’ve made up my mind back in the garden of Gethsemane. Not my will but thy will be done”. I said I’ll never ring that bell and when they put the crown of thorns on, when they stab him in his side, when they nailed him to the cross, when he hangs suspended between earth and heaven. He cried it is finished. I have done what God had told me to do. I will not exercise my quit option.
Hebrews goes on to say this,
“Consider him less, you become weary and faint in your mind.” Heb.12:3
When you get in your battle, when you get in your struggle, when it’s you going to your hell week, consider Him. Consider how He endured, consider how He wouldn’t quit, and consider how He kept carrying the cross. How he bleed, how he died, how he was wounded how he could have stopped it all by ringing the bell but he would not do it. Consider him less you faint in your minds.
I thought about marriages. You’re going to have to experience what I’m preaching about if you’re going to have a successful marriage. As long as in your mind, you can’t try your marriage out but in your mind you’ve got to quit option, build to him. As long as when thing aren’t lovey dovey anymore, you think all you do is just ring the bell. I quit I’m not happy. You don’t thrill me anymore you don’t give me that tingly feeling anymore. That is not what marriage is. Marriage is not an option, a quit option. It’s not built in to a godly covenant marriage. It’s for battle, it’s for worst it’s, it’s for sickness, it’s help, it’s rich or poor and it’s till death do we part. And ones you cross that bridge it’s amazing, you get a revelation we might as well like each other because we were in this for the rest of my life and I might as well love you because I can’t love nobody else I can’t hold nobody else I can’t kiss nobody else, I can’t.
So get the quit option out. What do you mean? You’re still mad? What’s you’re alternative when you’ve removed the quit option? You’re going to get over these stuffs. But now if you’re thinking well he shows me a lot of attention, that’s the demon of the quit option. There’s no quit option build in marriage. Jesus put it like this, “If any man having put his hand to the plow looks back, he is not fit for the kingdom."(Lk.9:62) That means if you ever started out serving the Lord, Halleluiah! Halleluiah! And you get to a point in your life where you said I just don’t like this anymore. I don’t want to be a Christian anymore. I don’t like the pressure, I don’t like saying no to sin, and I’m tired of being alone on Friday night where I could be in a party where everybody is laughing, and dancing and having a good time. He said if you put your hand on the plow and you looked back, you’re not fit for the kingdom. You have to remove the quit option.
(Don’t ring that bell and give up. The first step that you need to take in just making up your mind that you’re not going to quit is to make sure Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. And I want to give you that opportunity right now, just pray this prayer right where you are. Say Lord Jesus forgives me, cleanse me, and take me. I don’t want to quit I’m ready for new beginning strengthen me and help me to rise up and be what you called me to be. Today I give you my life in Jesus name AMEN.)
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