S04E011, Tactical Retreat, Endurance

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This week we are discussing the idea of tactical retreats – the idea of taking a break, and regrouping, so that you can go back into the fight. When we should take them, what we should do in them, and most of all, how Jesus went about taking them.

Endurance is your weekly spiritual workout, whether you think of yourself as a beginner, an intermediate, or advanced!

#GoDeeper

Andy B begins GoDeeper by explaining the idea of a tactical retreat when it comes to the military. He adds that making a tactical retreat is more deliberate than just retreating.

Andy then gives multiple examples of Jesus making tactical retreats, often to pray, but on a few occasions, he retreated to simply get out of harm’s way. Jesus’ example is obviously helpful to try to imitate.

Andy B points out that there is a time to make a stand and that we only retreat so that we can prepare and/or regroup for said stand. He relates some of the times he has stood, giving some of the costs of standing, and encouraging us to stand when the time comes.

You can read the GoDeeper Transcript here.

#GoDo

Steven and Nathan discuss what a tactical retreat is, how and when it is best to make a tactical retreat, and examples of people in the Bible making them.

They refer to the multiple times that King David made a wise tactical retreat when King Saul was trying to kill him.

They point out how, as always, we need to apply wisdom in this area of our lives; we should only retreat when it is appropriate, and we need to make sure we do eventually “get back into the fight”.

The two of them also explain how a tactical retreat helps both in physical exercise, our spiritual walk, and, of course, in a military context.

Steven and Nathan

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Transcript

Steven 0:23
Welcome to Endurance. I'm Steven.

Nathan 0:25
And I'm Nathan.

Steven 0:26
This week we've titled it Tactical Retreat. So we're looking at the idea of knowing when you're beat and taking a considered break, a rest, as and when needed, just like Jesus did, and David in the Bible.

Nathan 0:38
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Steven 0:59
So close. So, Andy B will unpack for us this week's theme after the break.

Nathan 1:16
Jesus risked a lot for you. He would have died for you, even if you were the only person needing forgiveness. So, don't be afraid of taking risks for Him. #takerisksforChrist #SpeakTruth.

#GoDeeper Transcript

Andy 1:36
So another Andy B, GoDeeper. And we're looking at Tactical Retreat, Tactical Withdrawal.

Andy 1:43
If you think about the military, they don't always just retreat as in fleeing the enemy. That's quite a valid way of trying to stay alive. But actually, there's also tactical retreat, where you retreat for a purpose. You retreat because you're not in a strong enough position. You retreat in order to reset yourself, to get more people there, to gather all your men into one place before you attack once more. So a tactical retreat is not a loss. It's a lull. It's a pause before doing something else.

Andy 2:13
And we see in Scripture this exact same principle from Jesus, the ultimate tactical retreater. And we're gonna look in Luke chapter 5, verse 16, which says this, lost it.

Andy 2:25
"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places, and prayed."

Andy 2:31
And it's important to know that he didn't just disappear down to the coffee shop. Actually, what Jesus did was He withdrew to a lonely place so He could focus on prayer, so He could focus on His relationship with His Father GoD.

Andy 2:43
His withdrawal, His tactical withdrawal, tactical retreat, was for a purpose. And His purpose for doing that comes much later.

Andy 2:54
We see the same thing again in John chapter 5, verse 18, where it says this. Nope, that's the wrong chapter, though. Yeah. So John 5,13,

Andy 3:05
"The man who was healed had no idea who it was. But Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there."

Andy 3:11
Yet again, Jesus making a tactical withdrawal because it was not His time to stand.

Andy 3:16
Now Jesus stood in lots of ways and lots of times. He stood against the evil in the temple. He stood by turning over the temples. He stood by challenging those religious leaders within the temple by questioning them, making them think about what it is they actually thought and believed, because it was wrong. And He was steering them back to Scripture, to God, to Himself. Jesus stood plenty, but Jesus, also, tactically withdrew, preparing himself. But when He withdrew it wasn't just to run away. It was to prepare Himself through prayer for another time.

Andy 3:53
If we turn to Luke 4 verse 30, we see this.

Andy 4:00
"But He walked right through the crowd and went on his way."

Andy 4:04
And again, almost the same thing in Luke 24, a little later on, after His death and His resurrection. And this is with His disciples, Luke 24, 31.

Andy 4:14
"Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised Him and He disappeared from their sight."

Andy 4:18
Jesus frequently moves through life, here on earth as a man, but He also moves through life, withdrawing, tactically. He knew it was not His time to stand.

Andy 4:33
If you look at Mark, chapter 14, you see the account of the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus takes His disciples there. He's anxious. He's feeling the pressure of what is to come. So He takes His disciples there. He then takes three of His disciples, and He goes off, 'Please, will you come with me? Will you pray with me? Will you stand with me in these moments?'

Andy 4:55
They didn't really understand what was going on. They weren't really grasping what Jesus had taught them and what they knew. 'Will you pray with me' and He goes off. But that withdrawal from society with His disciples withdrawal from His disciples to just three of His disciples, and then on His own. He's putting up people who can help Him and guide Him. But he's also taking time out. And in that, Mark, chapter 14, you can read that for yourself, but we see Jesus worried about what was going to happen because, physically, He was about to go through torment. He was anxious, but He withdrew for a reason.

Andy 5:35
I read a really great quote, the other day, from a, he's an American preacher. A good guy and he's in the UK doing a tour at the moment doing various, kind of, letting people know what's going on. And he quoted himself in a little picture, and I thought this was really apt.

Andy 5:49
He said, basically, if you are walking in your life as a Christian, and you have no opposition. If everything is hunky dory. If it's easy. If there's no difficulties, he said you've got to ask, are you even actually saved? Are you actually walking as a Christian?

Andy 6:03
Now, that's not a nice question to ask in today's society, but it's a righteous one. If you're going through life, and you're not having any opposition, any difficulties, are you actually walking a life with Jesus Christ? Because walking with Jesus Christ, it is not the easiest path. It is hard at times. That's why we're supposed to not just jump into being a Christian. We're s`upposed to consider it, weigh it up before we make that decision to follow Jesus Christ. And that question remains. Have you got opposition in your life?

Andy 6:36
Now, the Bible balances it. Always a balance with the Bible, it's lovely. It balances it with if you're facing opposition, because you've been foolish, and stupid, and horrible, and ignorant, well, you're on your own.

Andy 6:46
But if you're facing difficulties, because you're standing for Jesus Christ, God is gonna be with you and strengthen you. And we see that in the life of Paul, don't we, in prison, or wherever he is, but he knows that Christ is with him. He knows that God is with him.

Andy 6:59
When we think about a tactical withdrawal, a tactical retreat, we need to remember that Jesus was doing that for a purpose, because in that Mark 14, Garden of Gethsemane, what happens? The crowd appears, with Judas at their front, Jesus could have, and He's done it many times in the Bible. it actually states He had done it many times. Jesus could, when those guards came, could of walked through, they wouldn't have known Him not even His own disciples. He could hide Himself from them.

Andy 7:27
But this was not the time for a tactical retreat. This was the time to stand. This was the moment that Jesus had been preparing for. It's why He cried blood. It was that anxiety of what was to come physically, that He knew spiritually. A tactical withdrawal is good in order to prepare yourself. But we're not supposed to run around trying to get ourselves killed either.

Andy 7:50
I've got a friend who's a really really good friend, he's a missionary in Nigeria. And he's really passionate about this. He said 'there's no point in going where you know, you're gonna get killed, why are you just gonna walk into death?' But he also knows he's willing to stand and to be killed for Christ. But what he's not gonna do is rush his way there. 'Cos why would you wanna do that? Jesus did not die until his time.

Andy 8:16
Now this isn't about us. Tactically, withdrawing to martyrdom, to being killed. Maybe, but it is about standing. It's about choosing your battles, knowing when to fight.

Andy 8:26
As a child at school, I was almost killed one day when some children had got really, really increasingly angry with me, because I would not shut up about Jesus. The more they pressed on me, and took my towel and stamped on it, and spat on it in the changing rooms. The more that they got my, my rucksack and my food, and threw it in the bin one day so I had to take you back out again for the next lesson. The more I hunkered down to 'I love Jesus and you're not going to win'. And, one day, cycling home, they went past me really fast and they pushed me off. I almost bounced into a tree. And there was a double decker bus that had nowhere else to go. If I'd have hit the tree I know even today I would have bounced back into the road. I would have been killed for my faith, because I would not shut up, because I stood. It was not my time to die at that moment.

Andy 9:14
Is it your time to stand? Possibly. It doesn't have to be for martyrdom. It doesn't have to be to death. But standing in the UK, recently, has meant you've lost your business, you've lost your livelihood. We've had a student sacked from the course he loves for the career he wants, because he wouldn't back down. He stood. And we've had many situations in the UK, and around the world too, where people have stood for Christ and it has cost them big time.

Andy 9:42
Losing a business isn't something you get over I've lost a business not for this same reason but it hurts. It's difficult. Losing your business is hard. Losing friends and family influence respect. It hurts. I've lost my reputation many times because people have attacked me wrongly and I've stood and not backed down. And if people can't force you to do what they want, they'll attack your reputation. But if your reputation is nothing to do with how you look, but actually because I'm a son of Jesus Christ, because I am an, I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ, your reputation doesn't matter. Tactical Retreat means you come back off something. You choose your battles, you choose when to stand, and one day you will need to stand. And when you stand, it will cost you something because that is the Christian faith. It's not something to be afraid of. It's not some't to celebrate. It is life.

Andy 10:40
The disciples, the disciples of Jesus Christ, they all stood. And they were killed in the most horrific of ways because they stood. And standing as a Christian is not easy. But here's the thing, if we're gonna bring a message of Jesus Christ, let's make sure that we, as the messenger, are not offensive. The message of Jesus Christ is offensive enough to those that don't want to hear it. But don't be offensive in delivering it. Sometimes it's good to come back, regroup and go again, until God makes it clear to stand.

Andy 11:15
Shall we pray, Father, God, thank you that you equip us for all in life that we need to do. I thank You, Lord, that we are never on our own, that when we walk with you, you are always beside us. It isn't just a nice thing to say, but you literally, always, are there beside us and behind us. You've gone ahead of us. There's nothing we can do that you haven't done worse and more difficult.

Andy 11:37
We are not alone. Father God, thank you that you walk with us. Show us how to tactically withdraw from situations, in order to prepare ourselves, in order to stand at the time that you have appointed for us, maybe many times in our life when we have to stand and risk our livelihood, our home, our family, our friends, our influence, because we're standing. Help up us to withdraw when it's righteously wise to do so, in order to prepare to stand for you. Amen.

Andy 12:20
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Andy 12:37
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Andy 13:07
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Andy 13:14
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Steven 13:29
Welcome to the last segment of Endurance. And today we've been looking at

Nathan 13:39
Tactical retreat.

Steven 13:40
Tactical retreat, yeah. So, can you think of examples in your life, in exercise and in, non exercise when you needed to, have a break, have a kit-kat?

Nathan 13:56
Well specifically, having a chocolate bar and a break,

Steven 14:00
You know what I mean.

Nathan 14:01
I can't remember exactly. But I do know that there are times, for example, in exercise. Like one time, last week, I had an, I don't know. I pulled something in my ankle. And I had to take in a sense, I had to take a tactical retreat, and have a break from running for awhile, to allow it to heal.

Steven 14:21
Yeah, actually, I had the same similar thing with shin splints. I couldn't keep running, had to regroup. Let them heal, and then get back to it. So that's an example from exercise, but how about in the spiritual sense?

Nathan 14:35
Yeah, in a spiritual sense.

Steven 14:37
Can you think of general times in life when you've needed to regroup. For example, in studying when the information is just not going in. Have a break, do something completely different. Come back to it. That's the other thing about a retreat. You have to come back to it. Retreat isn't just leaving something. You come back to it, don't you?

Nathan 14:56
Exactly.

Steven 14:59
In a spiritual sense, we always need to be coming to God in prayer and in essence that is a retreat, isn't it? Throughout the day,

Nathan 15:05
A retreat,

Steven 15:06
Having a retreat, coming to God in Prayer,

Nathan 15:07
Yeah, the Bible often talks of God as our strong fortress. And for a soldier, the strong fortress was the place that you returned to at the end of a battle. Or if you needed to retreat and find a safe place for the sick and the wounded, you'd go to your fortress, and God is our fortress. So, yeah, in a spiritual sense, we would technically retreat to pray to God to talk with him. Whenever life's struggles are weighing us down, or for some reason we've been hurt.

Nathan 15:07
That's exactly what Jesus did. There's loads of examples of Jesus,

Nathan 15:11
Having a break, and eating a kit-kat?

Steven 15:19
Well no, praying. Stopping and praying that's what He did.

Nathan 15:43
Oh, yes. Yeah, that was it, sorry.

Steven 15:45
And in fact, King David did it, right? He was being hunted by Saul. He went in, into a cave,

Nathan 15:54
Yeah, hid in a cave multiple times,

Steven 15:55
Multiple times actually, yeah. That is a tactical retreat. And the thing about a retreat versus a tactical retreat is there, is a difference. Retreat is just running, because that's the best thing you can do.

Nathan 16:05
You've been defeated.

Steven 16:06
A tactical retreat is more about, more considered, more deliberate.

Nathan 16:10
It's more of a sort of regrouping, in a sense.

Steven 16:14
Yeah. Yeah. That is what we're talking about. So how do we apply that? How do we do that?

Nathan 16:19
Yeah, well, obviously, we need to apply wisdom, because we can't just retreat when things are getting a little difficult. We need to know when God wants us to retreat. make, or make a tactical retreat.

Steven 16:32
Yeah, absolutly.

Nathan 16:34
But when when we find that in life, we we've come across a situation that we can't handle, or we've been hurt, there's no sense in keep keeping on going. We need to make a tactical retreat so that we can recover and regroup.

Steven 16:47
Yeah. so we need to have wisdom in how we go about retreating.

Nathan 16:51
Yes.

Steven 16:53
When go about retreating, whether or not we need it, gotta weigh up pros and cons, what not.

Nathan 16:58
And when to get back into the fight.

Steven 16:59
Exactly. How do we apply it though? But what you do in a retreat, that's another important thing. When you sit down and pray, read some verses of Scripture, listen to music. That's a good one, I do that quite frequently. Bit of something to eat? Maybe a cup of tea?

Nathan 17:22
A cup of tea fixes every problem?

Steven 17:24
Oh, absolutely.

Nathan 17:25
Quite

Steven 17:26
I think we've covered everything really, haven't we? There's examples in scripture of people making tactical retreats, we need to have wisdom. And we've given some examples of how to apply it. So go do, go do, hashtag, hashtag go do.

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