PEMBROKE — The words of Psalm 144:1 are permanently inscribed in ink in Joshua Oxendine’s side, easily conspicuous each time he steps into the ring: “Praise be to the Lord, my rock who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.”

He steps into that ring many Saturday nights as a competitive fighter. And on Sunday mornings, he steps into the pulpit.

Nicknamed in the fighting world as “The Preacherman” — because, well, he’s actually a preacher — Oxendine uses his competitive career as a platform to share his faith.

Saturday, he’ll also use it to give back to his hometown community.

Oxendine, a Pembroke native, will fight Paul Teague in an MMA bantamweight title bout Saturday at the Pembroke Rescue Squad. Doors open at 5 p.m. and prelims begin at 6 p.m., with a grappling match and eight MMA fights to be contested and Oxendine vs. Teague as the headliner.

“We put it on just for me to be able to fight in my hometown for the first time, so that’s pretty cool,” said Oxendine, who along with his wife is also the promoter for the fight. “Everybody’s been supporting me, from me fighting in Vegas to me fighting for a world title in bareknuckle (boxing), to Virginia and New Hampshire and all these other places I’ve been fighting. All my people have been traveling and supporting, so to be able to do it in my backyard where nobody really has to go anywhere, it means a lot. It’s going to be a special night; a lot of hard work went into it, so it’s going to be pay off on Saturday.”

Tickets will be sold at the door; general admission is $40 and ringside seats are $75. A cage-side table, which seats six, is available for $600, which includes a meal.

Quan Oxendine and Nicholas Kee are co-headlining the night in an amateur light heavyweight title fight between two area products.

Teague, Joshua Oxendine’s opponent, is a 34-year-old from South Carolina who is 1-7 in MMA fights.

Joshua Oxendine, who says he felt called to preach from the age of 5, knows there’s a unique juxtaposition between his role as a preacher and his career in a violent sport — but says he’s there for the competition, not to hurt the opposition.

“I (fight) because it’s fun, but I’m not in there trying to kill nobody or nothing — but it’s a sport, it’s my sport, I’ve been doing it a long time and it’s what I know,” Oxendine said.

The 29-year-old, who now lives in the Charlotte area, shares his faith with anyone who will listen — including the fans who watch him compete in the ring.

“My faith never waivers; I tell the world about my faith and where I’ve come from and where God’s brought me from,” Oxendine said. “I use this platform, and Saturday night I’ll use the same thing once I win — I’ll tell everybody how good God is and what God has done in my life and where he’s brung me from. I was at the bottom, and he was there with me the whole way, so I’ll continue to tell the world.”

Oxendine says most people don’t realize the amount of dedication required for a competitive fighting career.

“People don’t see what you do behind doors getting ready for a fight,” Oxendine said. “They just see what happens when the lights are on, but they don’t see the dedication it takes to train three times a day and be away from your family for weeks, cutting 30 pounds in six weeks just to make weight, then gaining all the weight back to fight. They don’t see all the medicals you have to do, the money you have to spend. They don’t see all that, they just see the moments. So I would just say that hard work, that dedication when nobody’s watching, to be great.”

Oxendine has been boxing since he was a teenager, and today is a multi-discipline fighter. He hasn’t lost a boxing match, and will fight to be the top-ranked 135-pound bareknuckle boxer in the world in October. He also has a 135-pound MMA championship bout scheduled in August in Charlotte, and enters Saturday’s fight with an 8-7 MMA record.

“I do it all — boxing, ju jitsu, Muay Thai, kickboxing, wrestling,” he said. “I just like staying active. A lot of people don’t, but ring rust is a real thing. I just like getting in there; this is what I love to do; I don’t just do it for a check, I do it because I really love it, and it shows when I get in there. I put on a show. I do some damage to my body, but soon I’ll retire and keep preaching. Right now, I’m going to keep trucking along until my body tells me to stop.”

While Oxendine no longer lives locally — he owns and operates a boxing gym, called Oxfitness, in Charlotte — Saturday’s event is about inspiring those in the Pembroke and Robeson County area who come out to see the fight.

“It’s pretty cool now that I get to come back and give back to my community,” Oxendine said. “That’s the main goal, giving back, showing these people that it doesn’t matter where you came from, it doesn’t matter who your family is, how much money you have growing up; if you want something, if you work hard and you push yourself hard and you believe in yourself, you can be anything you want to be.”

Even if that’s a preacher in the ring.