Living Behind The Lines

**SPEAKER_2** (0:06)
Thank you for tuning in to the New Vision Podcast. Our prayer is that this talk builds your faith, brings clarity, and gives you hope.
Enjoy the message.

**Kevin Anthony Brown** (0:18)
We've been talking about scriptures that have been written either behind bars from Paul the apostle, or the first week we kicked off with a story where Peter was actually behind bars, he was in prison. And today we are going to meet not just a prisoner, but a captive, and he didn't live necessarily behind bars, but behind enemy lines. And as I begin to think about that, and when I wrote that down on my notes, behind enemy lines, I don't know if anyone else like immediately began to think of an action movie. You thinking, old school action movie people, you're thinking about Rambo, First Blood, part two. You're thinking when they go get Rambo to go back to Vietnam, or the Dirty Dozen. You're thinking of movies like that. And I started thinking through some of that because how incredible is it to think about the heroes going behind. It's just them. There's always just a handful of them. And their job is to go do something and then fight their way out of the enemy's territory. Then I began to think like, but what if freedom isn't the goal? What if once they get there, the goal isn't to come out of that? What if that's not the plan? I mean, in the movie, it does make for a compelling story. We wanna see that. It makes for maybe even not a compelling story, but good action as they're fighting their way through an entire army to get back to the right side. But I began to think about the missionaries that go to places that are hostile to the gospel. And the plan for them isn't to get in and escape, but to get in and to stay there. We get to think about some of you that I've talked to about where you work. In the times that you show up to work, you've mentioned statements like, Pastor Nolan, the culture there is so tough that when I walk in the room, I feel like I'm behind enemy lines, the conversations that I hear, the things that are going on. It just, I feel so out of place, and I feel like people are against me. And then that's not even taking into consideration some of the families that we belong to. That some family reunions and family gatherings for birthdays and holidays, they don't end well, because there's always an argument about someone who thinks that you feel better than them, or you hold yourself to a higher standard. You've got all this God, and there's this divide, even in your family, that you know at any time there's a gathering, there's going to be an argument at some point.
It's so tough to wanna go in and love people where you feel immediately like you're the enemy. And that's just like close things. We can zoom out and look at the world and the culture that we live in right now, and we feel like culture is rapidly moving, not just away from God, but in opposition to God. And I don't know if you feel it the way that I feel it, but it's crazy because I would sit in seats and hear pastors talk about that and be like, okay. And now I'm standing here telling you, man, I feel it in a way that I've never felt before in my life.
And in these moments where we feel like we're trapped behind enemy lines at work and in our families and seemingly everywhere we go because the culture is what it is, the natural tendency for almost all of us is to say, how do I get out of this? How do I escape? How do I remove myself from behind enemy lines and just maybe we build a compound and we all just go live there and where everybody believes the same and thinks the same and oh man, that would be so good. But what if that's not what God has for us? So this morning, I wanna talk to you about living behind the lines. And we have an excellent teacher for us this morning. His name is Daniel. Let's pray. Father, we love you. We thank you for the time that we've already spent in your presence. And we ask that as we look into your word, that you would speak to each and every one of us. God, I pray for moments where everyone else would just fall away from the room that you would speak individually, that there would be people here that feel like this was just for me. Lord, I pray that as you give me words to speak, I pray that you would give words to individuals to write down for themselves. Lord, I pray that you would anoint me to communicate clearly and confidently what you've given me to share to your people, with your people. In Jesus' name, amen.