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Joshua Kehler: how are we doing?

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Good.

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Awesome.

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Awesome.

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Please turn to Ephesians chapter six.

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Let's look at verses 10 and I'm just
gonna read the whole section  to verse

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20, finally be strong in the Lord and
the strength of his might put on the

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whole armor of God that you may be able
to stand against the schemes of the.

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For, we do not wrestle against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers,

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against the authorities, against
the cosmic powers over this present

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darkness against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly places.

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Therefore, take up the whole armor of God
that you may be able to withstand in the

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evil day and having done all to stand.

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Stand.

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Therefore, having fastened on the
belt of truth and having put on the

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breastplate of righteousness and as
shoes for your feet, having put on the

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readiness given by the gospel of peace.

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In all circumstances take up the shield
of faith with which you can extinguish

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all the flaming darts of the evil one
and take the helmet of salvation and

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the sword of the spirit, which is the
word of God, praying at all times in the

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spirit with all prayer and supplication.

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To that end, keep alert with all
perseverance, making supplication for all

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the saints, and also for me that words may
be given to me and opening my mouth boldly

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to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.

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For which I am an ambassador
in chains that I'm may declare

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it boldly as I ought to speak.

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This is the word of the Lord.

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Father, we just pray that you'd make
much of Jesus in this place, holy Spirit.

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In your power.

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We know it's not by might nor
by power, but by the Spirit.

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By your Spirit.

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And so, Lord, we lean into you.

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We lean on you.

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We're dependent on you,
Lord, to illuminate and.

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make much of Jesus to take this
information that's in our heads

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that we're gonna hear about  stories
that we're gonna hear about  things

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in scripture , and to move it into
our hearts where it's combustible.

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Where it becomes a fire where it
changes us, where it melts us,

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where it changes our very being,
where we look more like you.

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So refine us with your word this morning.

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Encourage us with your word this morning.

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Hold us up Lord and Lord, we
just pray you would be glorified.

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Save  Lord.

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Only you can.

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You're our only hope.

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There is no other.

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You're the only name given in
heaven, by which men shall be saved.

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And so, Lord we lift you up this morning.

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Be with our brothers and sisters all over
the valley who gather and love you Jesus.

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May they know that as much
as they love you, you feel

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infinitely more towards them.

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, invincible, immovable.

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. And so, Lord, pour your love
out on your people this morning.

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Today.

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Be glorified.

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In Jesus' name.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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One of my favorite stories in the Bible,
and I'm gonna have to start keeping

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a list because I say that a lot, I
think as this has been pointed out

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to me, but is the story of Nehemiah.

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You guys know the story of Nehemiah.

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Nehemiah was a cup bearer to
the King of Persia, cushy job.

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. He.

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Maid as a Jewish person,
he got to taste the food.

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He got to taste the wine he was
in, the assembly of royalty where

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they made judgements a decreed.

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He was set.

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One of his relatives comes and
he inquires about Jerusalem and

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he's like, how's Jerusalem doing?

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And he says, it's bad.

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The walls are destroyed.

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The people, not only the walls land
ruins, but the people lying, ruin.

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And it breaks his heart.

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It wasn't new information for Nehemiah
because he had that information for years.

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It's always been that way
since he was a cup bearer.

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It's always been in ruins.

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The people were in ruins taken
advantage of by the adversary, the

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enemies who would come in and plunder.

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There was no protection, no walls.

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But his heart breaks and he didn't
get new information, but a new heart.

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And one of the things that God
does as he matures you is he

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invites you into his mission.

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And we have all the facts.

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We have facts about the
brokenness, the crime, statistics.

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Holy moly, if you follow 2 0 9 times,
You gotta , I don't know, watch Pollyanna

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six times cuz you just feel so dark.

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It feels so discouraging.

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It feels like the Saints are, using
a squirt gun on the fires of hell.

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What difference is this making?

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so you have all the information,
but all of a sudden what God does

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is he begins to put his heart in
you for the lost, for the broken.

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For those who suffer against injustice,
those the enemy plunders spiritually and

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physically, and he gives you this heart
and you go like, Nehemiah, here I am Lord.

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Send.

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I'm willing to go, I'm
willing to be a part.

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I want to join your rescue mission.

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So Nehemiah goes to the king.

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He throws up a prayer, and the king's
like, why do you look discouraged?

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I don't pay you to look sad.

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Nehemiah, this is a happy place.

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I want happy things and happiness.

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And he prays.

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And then he says, king,
how could I be happy?

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Our walls lying.

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The city is in a desperate situation
and the king says, go for it.

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Go and, rebuild.

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I'll fund it.

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I'll fund the expedition.

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He funds it.

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He provides, the materials and everything.

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He goes and he scouts the
walls of Jerusalem at night.

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He meets with the elders, and
as soon as they lay the first

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brick, the enemy comes against.

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As soon as there's the start of the work
of rebuilding the enemy starts as attack.

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As soon as the work started, the
enemy came against them and everybody

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was a part of this rebuilding.

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You have blacksmiths
working next to perfumers.

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I love that.

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What a picture of the body of Christ.

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Soda verse guys, who wouldn't hang up The
blacksmith guild, doesn't hang out with

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the perfume mean guild . But when they're
on the mission together, God's mission to

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rebuild and to restore and to renew a city
and a people so that they can flourish.

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All kinds of  people, kids
parents, families, they all

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took part on their place and the
wall, and they began to build.

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But man, the enemy came against them.

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The tactic of discourage.

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The tactic of slander and mockery,
fear, intimidation, the tactic of a

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distraction in subterfuge, attacks
from outside and attacks from inside.

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But they prayed and they
said, this is God's work.

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It's a good work.

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We're gonna keep going
no matter the opposition.

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So Nehemiah, I love
this part in the story.

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It's around chapter four, takes some of
the men of the city because because of the

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opposition and he fits them with armor.

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now because of the opposition.

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He appropriates armor for their work.

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And here's what it says,
Nehemiah four 16 to 18.

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From that day on, half of my servants
worked on construction and half held

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spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.

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And the leaders stood behind the whole
house of Judah who were building the wall.

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Those who carried burdens were loaded
in such a way that each labored

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on the work, one with one hand.

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And held his weapon with the other,
and each of the builders had his swords

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strapped at his side while he built The
man who sended the trumpet was beside me.

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And so he literally gives them a
sword in one hand and a trial on the

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another, and it is such a picture of the
Christian life and the mission of God.

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That he calls us not to be static
till he comes back, but he invites

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us into his joyous mission.

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Not because it's some bummer, but
because he knows how he made us and

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he wants us to be full of joy and
it experienced life and that more

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abundantly, and he knows what it.

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is to be a part and to partake in
him redeeming and restoring and new

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renewing and causing lives to flourish.

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He knows what it's like to be Peter,
James and John invited into that upper

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room where he healed  j Iris's daughter.

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He reached into the jaws of death and he
pulled her up out of the jaws of death,

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pulling her literally out of the jaws of.

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And restoring her life.

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Could you imagine being the, what is this?

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Who is this?

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To be able to participate in such
a way, the joy, the encouragement

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that this person we're following is
the one who conquers death itself.

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What a thing.

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And that's what we do.

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We follow the one who
conquers death itself.

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You guys, God is not
remodeling human lives.

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He's not making good lives better.

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He's raising the dead . , he's making
all things he's making all things new.

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, absolutely incredible.

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Picture a trial in one hand and
assort in another Cs not Cs.

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Lewis Spurgeon.

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He, his newsletter was called The
Sword in the Trial because it was

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such a part and a picture of the
Christian life that as we build, we

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battle and as we battle, we build.

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And it's this beautiful picture given
in scripture that when we are on God's

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mission with God's heart, there will.

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opposition.

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, but that he does not leave us without.

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Or without weapon.

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And so as we join God, mission of
renewal in the valley, as you seek

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to rebuild a broken down, people,
as the Holy Spirit rebuilds your

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own life, there'll be opposition.

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And we need known we need to know
how to stand in the evil day.

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And we need to know how to stand
before the evil day in the skirmishes.

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I as studying for this, I've just been
thinking about it a lot, and somebody

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said one of the commentators pointed
out so much has happens in the skirmish.

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The little things that we d we
don't pay much attention to.

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Skirmish isn't like a Braveheart war
where everybody's, you know, thousands

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of people are running at each other, but
it's, you a little battle off to the side.

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And one of the things they said,
because what we're gonna see is

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that the armor is actually aspects
of the gospel that we wear.

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. The breastplate of righteousness
that covers your heart.

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The helmet of salvation
that covers your mind.

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The the belt of truth that's foundational,
that holds everything together.

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In that day and age, you'd have this belt
it was like an apron almost that held all

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the other pieces of the armor together.

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All aspects, different aspects.

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Of the gospel that Paul, because he's been
talking about the gospel this whole time,

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and he's sitting next to Roman soldiers,
tain to them as he is writing this letter.

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He wants to give us a visual
illustration at the end, and he wants

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to say, now put it on every day.

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And one briefly, one of the things that
was pointed out by this commentator,

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he said, just think of patience
and control and go about your day.

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Those are the skirmishes
that so much happens over.

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And gospel your heart, can
you gospel your in that way?

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Just on the way here, there was a guy
who, you know, passed on the right and

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cut right in front of a pickup truck,
and I was about to say, man, what a

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bonehead, but Mario is there, and I wanted
to be a good example to him, although

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I probably haven't been in the pa.

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But anyways, I immediately
grabbed my heart and I said, wait

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a minute, why am I impatient?

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Impatience is a form of pride.

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It's that I think I'm superior over
this person and I'm not seeing myself.

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that I've been saved, not by my works
or because there is anything better

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in me, but purely by the grace of God.

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So I have no standing to boast.

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I have no standing to be proud to
say, Hey, I'm better than this person.

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And to think about the amount of patience
that God has showed me, that God has

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showed me in my life every single day, a
hundred times a day, it's probably more.

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He's like, oh, you're so cute.

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A hundred times Josh.

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That's great.

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.
Patience that he never moves his
love, never angry, just gracious

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and loving, never removing his
affection for me, not against me,

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never pulling any of it back, guys.

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It healed me in that moment.

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I was like, oh, and you gospel your heart.

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I felt like, oh wow.

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I had the helmet of salvation on.

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I had the breast plate of
righteousness like I just quenched.

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And I just, it, like, I did
battle, I did a little skirmish.

233
00:12:51,918 --> 00:12:54,588
It, maybe it's not the evil day
where everything's chaotic and

234
00:12:54,588 --> 00:13:00,258
crazy, but there is that sense where,
man, we gotta wear this every day.

235
00:13:00,258 --> 00:13:04,038
And he's saying, put on the whole armor
so that you can stand in the evil day.

236
00:13:04,038 --> 00:13:05,808
He doesn't say, wait for
the evil day to come.

237
00:13:06,198 --> 00:13:07,848
Learn how to battle in the armor.

238
00:13:07,906 --> 00:13:08,356
Put it on.

239
00:13:08,356 --> 00:13:11,326
And so we're gonna see that this morning.

240
00:13:11,866 --> 00:13:15,436
So I wanna look at the battle, the enemy,
and the victory of Jesus the battle.

241
00:13:15,496 --> 00:13:16,666
Ephesians six, 10 to 11.

242
00:13:17,026 --> 00:13:20,836
Finally be strong in the Lord and the
strength of his might put on the whole

243
00:13:20,841 --> 00:13:25,696
armor of God that you may be able to
stand against the schemes of the devil.

244
00:13:26,986 --> 00:13:30,016
So the environment of God's work.

245
00:13:30,616 --> 00:13:31,966
Where does it take place?

246
00:13:31,966 --> 00:13:32,866
What does it look like?

247
00:13:32,866 --> 00:13:33,936
What is the at?

248
00:13:35,359 --> 00:13:36,439
This is almost shocking.

249
00:13:36,439 --> 00:13:39,289
This almost gives you whiplash
when you're, like, you, we

250
00:13:39,289 --> 00:13:41,029
just talked about marriage.

251
00:13:41,079 --> 00:13:43,812
We talked about relationships
and mutual submission.

252
00:13:43,812 --> 00:13:45,882
We talked about raising your kids.

253
00:13:46,152 --> 00:13:50,283
We talked about being good employees
and good employers and how the gospel

254
00:13:50,283 --> 00:13:52,533
affects every area of our lives.

255
00:13:52,563 --> 00:13:56,553
And then Paul is like, and
remember, it's a battle.

256
00:13:57,723 --> 00:13:58,123
It's this.

257
00:13:58,182 --> 00:13:58,745
Yes.

258
00:13:58,745 --> 00:13:59,345
Marriage?

259
00:13:59,375 --> 00:13:59,765
Yes.

260
00:13:59,765 --> 00:14:00,425
Family.

261
00:14:00,425 --> 00:14:00,845
Yes.

262
00:14:00,905 --> 00:14:01,325
Work.

263
00:14:01,505 --> 00:14:01,835
Yes.

264
00:14:01,835 --> 00:14:02,555
All these things.

265
00:14:02,555 --> 00:14:02,855
Yes.

266
00:14:02,855 --> 00:14:03,575
Relationships.

267
00:14:03,575 --> 00:14:03,845
Yes.

268
00:14:03,845 --> 00:14:04,415
Community.

269
00:14:04,685 --> 00:14:07,145
And then Paul's like, but
don't forget, it's a battle.

270
00:14:07,835 --> 00:14:08,525
It's a battle.

271
00:14:09,035 --> 00:14:09,695
It's a battle.

272
00:14:09,815 --> 00:14:14,525
Instead of Paul saying,
all right, sincerely, Paul.

273
00:14:14,890 --> 00:14:15,970
God bless you guys.

274
00:14:16,150 --> 00:14:18,640
He reminds us that it is a battle.

275
00:14:19,750 --> 00:14:20,291
It'd be like.

276
00:14:20,291 --> 00:14:23,120
You had a shopping list, your wife
gave you a shopping list and said,

277
00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:27,770
get eggs and milk and bacon, lots
of bacon, and watch out for bullets.

278
00:14:27,770 --> 00:14:30,380
Make sure you wear your Kevlar
vest and make sure you don't die.

279
00:14:31,340 --> 00:14:34,831
On the shopping list, you're
like, whoa, wait, what?

280
00:14:34,831 --> 00:14:38,842
I'm going to get eggs and bacon,
and watch out, for the enemy.

281
00:14:38,842 --> 00:14:42,352
That would be weird, but it would tell
you something about the environment

282
00:14:42,357 --> 00:14:43,582
that the grocery store is in.

283
00:14:44,392 --> 00:14:45,572
Be safe, be careful.

284
00:14:45,582 --> 00:14:49,272
Why does Paul introduce this theme of
spiritual warfare now after talking

285
00:14:49,272 --> 00:14:52,602
about gas gospel relationships, after
talking about loving and serving people?

286
00:14:53,937 --> 00:14:57,610
Say your boss sends you and some other
employees to work with the blueprint,

287
00:14:57,610 --> 00:15:00,760
lumber tools and the materials
you'll need to accomplish your job.

288
00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,760
And he says, oh, in addition, it's
enemy territory and they'll be

289
00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:06,220
shooting at you while you're working.

290
00:15:06,460 --> 00:15:07,630
That's an important safety tip.

291
00:15:07,700 --> 00:15:11,499
My boss, Tim, he said they were building
Caesar Chavez high school in Stockton.

292
00:15:11,529 --> 00:15:15,367
He's an electrical contractor, and
he says, back then it was all or.

293
00:15:16,382 --> 00:15:18,875
. And then they had cleared a
bunch to get to the job site.

294
00:15:18,875 --> 00:15:21,814
So it was a dirt kind of gravel,
bumpy road, and they'd have

295
00:15:21,814 --> 00:15:23,674
to slow down to open the gate.

296
00:15:23,694 --> 00:15:25,554
It was fenced off where they
were doing construction.

297
00:15:26,064 --> 00:15:31,764
And they said as they slowed down to the
gate, they said, A swarm of people from

298
00:15:31,764 --> 00:15:37,614
the orchards flocked and robbed every
tool off of the truck and about 30 seconds

299
00:15:37,675 --> 00:15:40,173
, and it's like they went in, now know.

300
00:15:40,938 --> 00:15:41,478
Okay.

301
00:15:41,478 --> 00:15:43,230
This isn't, a normal place.

302
00:15:43,810 --> 00:15:48,594
This is a place that we gotta be pay
attention to and we gotta be aware of.

303
00:15:48,599 --> 00:15:50,244
We gotta be aware of what's going on.

304
00:15:50,249 --> 00:15:54,054
We did a Popeye's in Sacramento and
there was a drive-by, there was a bullet

305
00:15:54,054 --> 00:15:56,860
hole in the glass of where we were
working and somebody had actually died.

306
00:15:56,860 --> 00:16:01,025
And it's like, okay, we gotta
pay attention to where we are.

307
00:16:01,565 --> 00:16:06,665
And that's, , but there's also,
we need to do that spiritually.

308
00:16:06,995 --> 00:16:11,165
It's so easy to forget that.

309
00:16:11,866 --> 00:16:13,498
Real, Christianity is a fight.

310
00:16:14,608 --> 00:16:15,778
This text tells you.

311
00:16:17,368 --> 00:16:21,398
That a Christian is known as much
from the warfare and conflicted

312
00:16:21,398 --> 00:16:23,128
in their lives as from the peace.

313
00:16:25,828 --> 00:16:26,068
True.

314
00:16:26,068 --> 00:16:31,618
There is a new piece, but think about
being joined to a new ally, right?

315
00:16:32,038 --> 00:16:39,778
Who has enemies ? You immediately
make new enemies because the allies

316
00:16:39,778 --> 00:16:41,938
enemies become your enemies, right?

317
00:16:42,118 --> 00:16:43,258
And it seems like there's.

318
00:16:44,218 --> 00:16:48,628
A desire for the enemy of our souls
are adversary, the devil right

319
00:16:49,738 --> 00:16:51,628
to take out the body of Christ.

320
00:16:52,198 --> 00:16:56,932
He wants to stop it because, think
about Christians, their testimony

321
00:16:56,937 --> 00:17:01,572
alone, the fact that they exist is new
creations in Christ, means that he lost,

322
00:17:05,002 --> 00:17:10,372
that God won every time
we worship as a reminder.

323
00:17:13,402 --> 00:17:14,781
Hell and all.

324
00:17:14,781 --> 00:17:23,787
Its all the adversaries that King
Jesus  won over the enemy through

325
00:17:23,787 --> 00:17:31,947
the cross and resurrection, that he's
doomed, but he wants to take us out.

326
00:17:31,952 --> 00:17:34,287
Listen to how scripture talks
about her Christian walk.

327
00:17:34,317 --> 00:17:36,267
First Timothy chapter six, verse 12.

328
00:17:36,477 --> 00:17:38,997
Fight the good fight of faith.

329
00:17:38,997 --> 00:17:39,567
It's a good fight.

330
00:17:40,797 --> 00:17:41,877
Second Timothy four, seven.

331
00:17:41,877 --> 00:17:43,287
I have fought the good fight.

332
00:17:43,497 --> 00:17:44,727
I have finished the race.

333
00:17:45,057 --> 00:17:46,647
I have kept the faith.

334
00:17:46,647 --> 00:17:49,377
James four seven, submit
yourselves to God.

335
00:17:49,377 --> 00:17:53,607
Therefore, resist the devil
and he will flee from you.

336
00:17:53,667 --> 00:17:54,717
Romans 8 37.

337
00:17:54,722 --> 00:17:58,887
Knowing all these things, we are more
than conquerors through him who loved us.

338
00:17:58,947 --> 00:18:01,046
Second Timothy th two
verse three and four.

339
00:18:01,846 --> 00:18:06,016
You therefore must endure hardships
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

340
00:18:06,016 --> 00:18:09,556
No one engaged in warfare entangles
himself with the affairs of this

341
00:18:09,556 --> 00:18:13,452
life that he may please him,
who enlisted him as a soldier.

342
00:18:13,452 --> 00:18:16,957
Words that describe the Christian
life, like strive to enter in

343
00:18:17,137 --> 00:18:20,647
watch stand, fight right run.

344
00:18:22,487 --> 00:18:27,231
A Christian can be known as much by his
inner warfare, as  by his inner peace.

345
00:18:28,146 --> 00:18:31,896
Are we aware of this conflict and
struggle of this battle that we are

346
00:18:31,896 --> 00:18:34,686
called into two Timothy three 12?

347
00:18:34,956 --> 00:18:35,496
Indeed.

348
00:18:35,496 --> 00:18:39,336
All who desire to live godly life
in Christ Jesus, cuz that's the only

349
00:18:39,336 --> 00:18:42,066
way it's possible will be persecuted.

350
00:18:42,786 --> 00:18:43,776
There's a happy verse.

351
00:18:45,076 --> 00:18:51,186
Aw Tozer said, we tend to either treat
the Christian life like a playground

352
00:18:51,666 --> 00:18:55,956
or a battleground, and so often
it's like, God, it's a playground.

353
00:18:58,186 --> 00:19:02,227
and the Lord's like, yeah it's a
battleground now, not to be like, oh

354
00:19:02,227 --> 00:19:06,337
wow, the conflict, we're gonna get to
the victory cuz the Victory's really.

355
00:19:08,017 --> 00:19:11,197
really big and juicy
and final and decided.

356
00:19:11,197 --> 00:19:16,062
And, but now for the Ephesians, this
was already  a very relevant issue.

357
00:19:16,092 --> 00:19:19,752
You guys remember in the Church
of Ephesus,  the Ephesians , it

358
00:19:19,752 --> 00:19:21,942
was a very spiritual city.

359
00:19:22,012 --> 00:19:26,814
It's roots were in the occult and
Acts 1919, it says A number of

360
00:19:26,814 --> 00:19:28,344
those who had practiced magic.

361
00:19:28,507 --> 00:19:31,448
brought their books together and
burned them in the sight of all,

362
00:19:31,598 --> 00:19:33,998
and they counted the value of
them and found that it came to.

363
00:19:35,138 --> 00:19:36,078
Thousand silver pieces.

364
00:19:36,078 --> 00:19:36,858
That's a lot of money.

365
00:19:36,858 --> 00:19:40,388
That's a lot of occult, acts 19 where
Paul enters Ephesus, and one of the things

366
00:19:40,388 --> 00:19:45,383
he does is cast out demons and they, in
Ephesus, is a local  Ghostbuster squad.

367
00:19:45,449 --> 00:19:48,182
They weren't very good but they're
called the seven sons of s Skiva.

368
00:19:48,264 --> 00:19:52,344
And they're like, wow, Paul's just
doing it through like Jesus' name.

369
00:19:52,344 --> 00:19:54,984
Like they, we, he's got
the incantation down.

370
00:19:54,984 --> 00:19:55,704
He's nailed it.

371
00:19:55,722 --> 00:19:56,412
, they think it's great.

372
00:19:56,412 --> 00:19:59,232
This is gonna be a boom for business
cuz we're really bad at this.

373
00:19:59,288 --> 00:20:02,017
They're still waiting for their
first exorcism to happen, so they

374
00:20:02,017 --> 00:20:05,647
start going up to demons and saying,
I command you to come out by the

375
00:20:05,647 --> 00:20:07,955
name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.

376
00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:13,027
. Then one of the demons responds to the
men acts in 1915 and says Jesus I know,

377
00:20:13,897 --> 00:20:17,377
and Paul I recognize, but who are you?

378
00:20:19,387 --> 00:20:24,427
And then verse 16 says, the evil spirit
lept on them and mastered them so that

379
00:20:24,432 --> 00:20:26,849
they fled out both naked and wounded.

380
00:20:26,849 --> 00:20:29,436
They got their booties handed to them.

381
00:20:29,486 --> 00:20:33,486
It was like these guys  so steeped
in the occult, like it's just

382
00:20:33,486 --> 00:20:34,956
something we say an incantation.

383
00:20:34,956 --> 00:20:36,936
It wasn't salvation for these guys.

384
00:20:36,936 --> 00:20:40,056
It wasn't rescue, it wasn't Jesus.

385
00:20:40,776 --> 00:20:42,366
And so they got handled.

386
00:20:42,366 --> 00:20:46,416
So the Church of Ephesus is
very aware of the spiritual

387
00:20:46,416 --> 00:20:47,826
realm and the spiritual battle.

388
00:20:49,626 --> 00:20:52,056
So the people of Ephesus
were aware of this battle.

389
00:20:52,071 --> 00:20:54,681
Are we aware of the battle that goes on?

390
00:20:55,251 --> 00:20:58,521
If this is missing, I think it
might be one of three things.

391
00:20:58,526 --> 00:21:01,732
And this isn't for everybody
in this room, but number one,

392
00:21:01,852 --> 00:21:03,052
you're not spiritually alive.

393
00:21:03,142 --> 00:21:03,982
It's just that simple.

394
00:21:04,642 --> 00:21:08,662
You may have a form of godliness, but you
haven't come to Jesus as your rescuer.

395
00:21:08,662 --> 00:21:13,632
And Lord Matthew 7 22 to 23 says On
that day, many will say to me Lord,

396
00:21:13,637 --> 00:21:19,992
did we not prophesy in your name
and cast out demons in your name and

397
00:21:19,992 --> 00:21:22,392
do many mighty works in your name?

398
00:21:22,392 --> 00:21:26,352
And I will declare to them, I never
knew you depart from me, workers

399
00:21:26,352 --> 00:21:31,722
of lawlessness, you didn't know me.

400
00:21:32,172 --> 00:21:32,922
You knew about me.

401
00:21:32,922 --> 00:21:38,112
You used me, but we didn't
have an intimate relationship.

402
00:21:40,752 --> 00:21:44,142
Number two, you're not participating in
God's mission of redemption and renewal

403
00:21:44,142 --> 00:21:46,272
compelled by God's love in your heart.

404
00:21:46,332 --> 00:21:49,332
Remember Paul, when asked
Paul, why are you so crazy?

405
00:21:49,332 --> 00:21:53,502
Second Corinthians, he says, to
the love of God that compels me.

406
00:21:54,342 --> 00:21:59,232
I stand under the F where the
blessings come out and I can't help.

407
00:22:00,987 --> 00:22:02,907
But be compelled like
a geyser building up.

408
00:22:02,907 --> 00:22:03,637
Its pressure.

409
00:22:03,837 --> 00:22:05,937
It has to have an outlet.

410
00:22:06,327 --> 00:22:10,095
And I could try to hold it back, but
it's like Jeremiah, when he said, God,

411
00:22:10,155 --> 00:22:11,565
I'm always getting in the situations.

412
00:22:11,565 --> 00:22:12,135
I quit.

413
00:22:12,165 --> 00:22:13,275
I'm not a preacher anymore.

414
00:22:13,310 --> 00:22:14,420
I get thrown in pits.

415
00:22:14,420 --> 00:22:16,760
I get thrown in jail for
speaking on your behalf.

416
00:22:16,820 --> 00:22:17,510
I'm done.

417
00:22:18,650 --> 00:22:21,410
You don't even fire me when
I have such a bad attitude.

418
00:22:21,410 --> 00:22:21,950
I quit.

419
00:22:23,060 --> 00:22:25,880
And he says, but the word of God
was like a fire shut up in my bones

420
00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:27,560
and I could not help but speak.

421
00:22:32,870 --> 00:22:35,870
So where God's mission of redeeming
and renewing goes forth, there

422
00:22:35,870 --> 00:22:38,780
will be opposition conflict in
spiritual war like Nehemiah.

423
00:22:39,890 --> 00:22:42,440
Perhaps there's no opposition in your life
because there's no mission in your life.

424
00:22:42,445 --> 00:22:43,280
It's just that simple.

425
00:22:43,285 --> 00:22:51,020
We get so busy with trying to hold it
together and we mistake the primary

426
00:22:51,020 --> 00:22:56,040
thing for the secondary thing, the
primary thing, the reason we're here.

427
00:22:56,780 --> 00:23:02,960
Why God put us as pilgrims on this
earth is to make much of Jesus.

428
00:23:06,140 --> 00:23:09,912
It would be better for him statistically
to make the stones cry out and testify.

429
00:23:09,981 --> 00:23:13,191
, they seem a lot softer, , more
willing, more yielding.

430
00:23:14,751 --> 00:23:20,301
But because he adores you, because he's
put his name on you because you're in

431
00:23:20,301 --> 00:23:23,391
him, he wants you to experience his.

432
00:23:24,486 --> 00:23:29,466
To the full and he associates
his mission with you.

433
00:23:30,606 --> 00:23:31,626
That's incredible.

434
00:23:32,286 --> 00:23:36,966
Like the great commission, like go
make disciples of all nations and I'm

435
00:23:36,971 --> 00:23:40,836
actually gonna be there through the
person of the Holy Spirit empowering

436
00:23:40,836 --> 00:23:42,156
you, teaching you what to say.

437
00:23:42,576 --> 00:23:44,746
Like, like go change the world.

438
00:23:44,746 --> 00:23:46,620
Go change the world where you're at, like.

439
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,146
And how did the, and we'll get to
how the disciples did that, because

440
00:23:51,146 --> 00:23:52,766
sometimes that's where it trips us up.

441
00:23:52,766 --> 00:23:55,076
We're like, but I'm not talented enough.

442
00:23:55,076 --> 00:23:55,886
I don't have enough gifts.

443
00:23:55,886 --> 00:24:00,446
I can't, if you notice in
the story of Acts, it was

444
00:24:04,166 --> 00:24:08,996
when Paul was persecuted, he loved.

445
00:24:11,951 --> 00:24:18,821
When the jailer was about to kill himself
after he had abused Paul and Silas in

446
00:24:18,821 --> 00:24:22,931
the harshest way, and the guy was about
to kill himself cuz he knew the score.

447
00:24:23,651 --> 00:24:24,521
He said, don't do it.

448
00:24:25,091 --> 00:24:26,351
Let's go feast at your house.

449
00:24:26,351 --> 00:24:30,071
I wanna tell your whole family
about Jesus's salvation.

450
00:24:31,241 --> 00:24:34,166
Like it was that kind of power.

451
00:24:34,166 --> 00:24:36,686
It was a power that was dying to self.

452
00:24:37,376 --> 00:24:39,566
It was loving enemies.

453
00:24:39,806 --> 00:24:48,116
It was so counterintuitive to the
ways of the world that it as from the

454
00:24:48,116 --> 00:24:52,916
world's perspective, they said those
changed the world and turned it up.

455
00:24:52,976 --> 00:24:53,126
Yeah.

456
00:24:53,246 --> 00:24:54,326
Have come here as well.

457
00:24:57,296 --> 00:24:59,486
Number three, you.

458
00:25:00,671 --> 00:25:01,781
Sin is like a narcotic.

459
00:25:02,081 --> 00:25:05,771
It's like ambient man puts you to.

460
00:25:06,476 --> 00:25:07,976
It says, there's always tomorrow.

461
00:25:07,976 --> 00:25:08,816
Don't be crazy.

462
00:25:08,816 --> 00:25:10,106
You won't make a difference anyway.

463
00:25:10,106 --> 00:25:10,976
You're not ready.

464
00:25:10,976 --> 00:25:12,416
You need more preparation.

465
00:25:12,806 --> 00:25:16,766
And we let the siren song of
Unres sin lu us into apathy or the

466
00:25:16,766 --> 00:25:21,626
cares of this world and it's mini
distractions choke us into slumber.

467
00:25:21,896 --> 00:25:23,156
Do Christians fall asleep?

468
00:25:23,156 --> 00:25:26,126
Do they go to sleep when
it's time to be awake?

469
00:25:26,126 --> 00:25:26,366
Yeah.

470
00:25:26,366 --> 00:25:29,156
Paul writes in Romans 13,
11 to 12, to the church.

471
00:25:29,396 --> 00:25:33,129
Besides this, the time your
alarm clock's been going off.

472
00:25:34,164 --> 00:25:38,184
That the hour has come for you to wake
from sleep for salvation is nearer to

473
00:25:38,184 --> 00:25:39,744
us now than when we first believed.

474
00:25:39,984 --> 00:25:41,934
The night is far gone, the day is at hand.

475
00:25:41,934 --> 00:25:47,304
So then let us cast off the works of
darkness and put on the armor of light.

476
00:25:47,334 --> 00:25:48,324
Oh, he's talking about the armor.

477
00:25:48,324 --> 00:25:49,614
He is talking about battle.

478
00:25:49,944 --> 00:25:51,084
He's like, wake up in battle.

479
00:25:51,714 --> 00:25:52,824
Wake up in battle.

480
00:25:52,842 --> 00:25:56,052
For the sleepers, god's so gracious.

481
00:25:56,082 --> 00:25:57,072
I just have to point out.

482
00:25:59,682 --> 00:26:04,032
When Jesus was in the garden
of the Yosemite, he said, guys,

483
00:26:04,452 --> 00:26:09,072
please watch and pray for me.

484
00:26:11,592 --> 00:26:16,632
And he comes back and he finds 'em all
asleep and he says, you guys couldn't

485
00:26:16,632 --> 00:26:22,362
watch and pray for one hour like this
is, does Jesus ever ask anything?

486
00:26:23,322 --> 00:26:25,062
And he says, can you
watch him pray with me?

487
00:26:25,115 --> 00:26:26,904
I need you to pray.

488
00:26:27,924 --> 00:26:30,474
I'm gonna battle the
powers of hell right now.

489
00:26:30,474 --> 00:26:34,404
I'm gonna wrestle as I look into
the cup, I'm gonna actually say, I

490
00:26:34,409 --> 00:26:39,324
don't want to do this father, but I
surrender my will to your will, pray.

491
00:26:40,164 --> 00:26:42,154
And he comes with him
and there sleep asleep.

492
00:26:43,944 --> 00:26:46,344
But he's still, because
he's a gracious God.

493
00:26:46,344 --> 00:26:51,664
He looks and he says, but your
spirit was willing, you wanted it.

494
00:26:51,684 --> 00:26:52,134
Let's go.

495
00:26:53,484 --> 00:26:56,604
So even for the sleepers guys,
he just graciously wakes us up

496
00:26:56,604 --> 00:26:59,684
and says, come on, let's go.

497
00:27:01,959 --> 00:27:03,669
Mission is a war against spiritual forces.

498
00:27:03,669 --> 00:27:06,579
Notice that it says in verse 12 of our
passages for we do not wrestle against

499
00:27:06,579 --> 00:27:09,129
flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the

500
00:27:09,129 --> 00:27:12,939
cosmic powers over this present darkness
against the spiritual forces of evil

501
00:27:12,939 --> 00:27:14,589
in the heavenly places, wrestling.

502
00:27:15,069 --> 00:27:16,719
Now Paul isn't mixing his metaphors.

503
00:27:16,724 --> 00:27:19,149
He's not okay, so you're waring
and doing battle and then you

504
00:27:19,149 --> 00:27:20,847
wrestle, so we think I used to.

505
00:27:21,732 --> 00:27:25,662
Soldiers in armor is one of his metaphors,
and then wrestlers in the gymnasium.

506
00:27:26,052 --> 00:27:27,642
My son, he wrestles, right?

507
00:27:27,642 --> 00:27:28,537
And he's been wrestling.

508
00:27:28,537 --> 00:27:29,137
He's killing it.

509
00:27:29,155 --> 00:27:30,708
He's winning.

510
00:27:30,729 --> 00:27:31,209
It's fun.

511
00:27:31,479 --> 00:27:36,369
It's, even if he's losing, it's fun,
but like, you're like, go get him.

512
00:27:36,374 --> 00:27:39,549
And he's just attacks and, but
there's rules, there's a referee.

513
00:27:40,329 --> 00:27:41,919
That's not the picture that Paul's given.

514
00:27:42,534 --> 00:27:45,534
No referee, no circle, no Matt.

515
00:27:45,804 --> 00:27:47,394
This is the pictures he's given us.

516
00:27:47,664 --> 00:27:49,734
Wrestling with your bare
hands on the ground.

517
00:27:50,214 --> 00:27:54,084
If you're shooting arrows or swinging
swords, that's one part of the battle.

518
00:27:54,384 --> 00:27:57,144
When you get to a place where
you're wrestling with the enemy on

519
00:27:57,144 --> 00:28:00,054
the ground with your bare hands,
that's the most desperate life

520
00:28:00,054 --> 00:28:02,664
and death moment of the battle.

521
00:28:03,084 --> 00:28:06,294
So he is saying, you actually,
the battle isn't just you standing

522
00:28:06,294 --> 00:28:07,798
back and shooting from a distance.

523
00:28:08,248 --> 00:28:11,308
He says, you're wrestling,
you're on the ground.

524
00:28:11,308 --> 00:28:14,922
It's desperate,  you guys remember
Saving Private Ryan where remember

525
00:28:14,922 --> 00:28:19,542
the end where the guy who was a
coward the whole time and his friend,

526
00:28:19,542 --> 00:28:22,662
his fellow soldier is about to be
stabbed with a knife and he has a gun.

527
00:28:24,312 --> 00:28:27,432
and he just sits there crying
and he lets his, his friend die.

528
00:28:27,502 --> 00:28:30,094
It's like battle is desperate, you know?

529
00:28:30,094 --> 00:28:31,204
and that's what Paul's doing.

530
00:28:31,204 --> 00:28:34,920
He's saying, Hey, this is
something we do,   The Christian

531
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,200
life is a continual conflict.

532
00:28:37,205 --> 00:28:39,840
Battle must be waged daily
against the most relentless foes.

533
00:28:39,990 --> 00:28:41,160
Be aware of the battle.

534
00:28:41,310 --> 00:28:42,330
In this warfare.

535
00:28:42,510 --> 00:28:45,660
There is no discharge to the mind of Paul.

536
00:28:45,660 --> 00:28:47,910
The need for struggle was ever present.

537
00:28:48,540 --> 00:28:49,230
Ever present.

538
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,420
Finally do this to stand.

539
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:53,650
The enemy, verse 11 to 12.

540
00:28:53,650 --> 00:28:56,530
Put on the whole armor of God that you may
able to stand against the schemes of the.

541
00:28:57,745 --> 00:29:00,745
Before we do not wrestle against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against

542
00:29:00,745 --> 00:29:04,255
the authorities, against the cosmic powers
over this present darkness against the

543
00:29:04,255 --> 00:29:06,685
spiritual forces in the heavenly places.

544
00:29:06,690 --> 00:29:07,165
The devil.

545
00:29:07,555 --> 00:29:10,465
How do we know the devil
and demons are real?

546
00:29:10,945 --> 00:29:15,445
One brief point that I think
all of us can just fall back on

547
00:29:15,625 --> 00:29:16,705
cuz there's tons of skeptics.

548
00:29:16,795 --> 00:29:20,545
We live in a modern age
that's quickly changing to a

549
00:29:20,545 --> 00:29:21,935
spiritual one, in the enlighten.

550
00:29:22,860 --> 00:29:24,885
, we thought science was gonna
solve and cure everything.

551
00:29:24,933 --> 00:29:28,143
That science  would fix the human heart.

552
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,920
That evil was a word we don't use anymore.

553
00:29:30,932 --> 00:29:33,382
That the whole idea of s.

554
00:29:33,727 --> 00:29:39,457
Spiritual reality, spiritual beings,
a spiritual realm is archaic.

555
00:29:39,637 --> 00:29:44,465
It's something that superstitious
people think about, demons and evil

556
00:29:44,465 --> 00:29:48,786
and influence on governments and
motivations and stuff like that.

557
00:29:49,326 --> 00:29:50,556
And it's stupid.

558
00:29:50,646 --> 00:29:51,396
Nobody would be like that.

559
00:29:51,396 --> 00:29:55,706
And then World War I Happened and
they're like maybe it's a fluke.

560
00:29:56,816 --> 00:29:58,046
And then World War II happened.

561
00:30:00,341 --> 00:30:01,731
and I started rethinking everything.

562
00:30:03,201 --> 00:30:06,757
But it's so crazy because the
church adapts, the church adapts

563
00:30:06,757 --> 00:30:08,613
to now we need to justify, oh no.

564
00:30:08,613 --> 00:30:10,195
This is like, here's what he means.

565
00:30:10,195 --> 00:30:11,769
It's not really a personal devil.

566
00:30:11,829 --> 00:30:16,567
It's more like a, a way to say,
evil can be personified in people.

567
00:30:16,666 --> 00:30:18,226
Where it's this like dumb down thing.

568
00:30:18,256 --> 00:30:20,156
Here is just the go.

569
00:30:20,163 --> 00:30:24,116
You don't have to argue that the
10 points on why, evil is real.

570
00:30:24,476 --> 00:30:25,256
Here it is.

571
00:30:27,206 --> 00:30:28,736
The Bible presents them as real.

572
00:30:29,126 --> 00:30:34,196
Number two, Jesus said they were real and
taught about them and fought against them.

573
00:30:34,616 --> 00:30:37,946
Everything about Christianity
really hinges on Jesus.

574
00:30:38,546 --> 00:30:40,476
What do you think about Jesus?

575
00:30:40,476 --> 00:30:42,264
. Even in the Old Testament,
there's critics of the books.

576
00:30:42,264 --> 00:30:44,194
There's, was no a real person.

577
00:30:44,194 --> 00:30:45,424
Was Adam and Eve a real person?

578
00:30:45,424 --> 00:30:47,344
Or is that a metaphor for
the creation of the world?

579
00:30:47,424 --> 00:30:48,294
I  is Jonah real?

580
00:30:48,294 --> 00:30:49,764
Did he really get swallowed by a fish?

581
00:30:49,764 --> 00:30:50,754
That doesn't make any sense.

582
00:30:50,754 --> 00:30:51,521
That doesn't happen.

583
00:30:51,547 --> 00:30:53,042
There's no fishes big enough to do that.

584
00:30:53,042 --> 00:30:55,112
How can a man survive
three days in a fish?

585
00:30:55,562 --> 00:30:56,419
Ah, a thing.

586
00:30:56,839 --> 00:30:59,629
But Jesus says, just like Jonah, who's
three days, three nights in the fish.

587
00:30:59,634 --> 00:31:02,029
So either you believe Jesus.

588
00:31:03,769 --> 00:31:06,199
And if Jesus says it's
true, then you're good.

589
00:31:08,419 --> 00:31:11,479
If you don't believe Jesus, you got
a lot of problems with Christianity

590
00:31:11,539 --> 00:31:13,219
because he's our authority.

591
00:31:14,659 --> 00:31:16,909
You see what Jesus says is real.

592
00:31:17,179 --> 00:31:21,217
What Jesus did as real Jesus came to
show us what is truly true about our

593
00:31:21,217 --> 00:31:27,937
world, about heaven and hell, about
the coming kingdom, all those things.

594
00:31:29,062 --> 00:31:31,552
Christianity hinges on Jesus.

595
00:31:31,912 --> 00:31:35,062
It hinges on Jesus is Jesus, did he live?

596
00:31:35,182 --> 00:31:36,382
Did he die?

597
00:31:36,382 --> 00:31:38,062
Did he rise from the dead?

598
00:31:38,182 --> 00:31:39,952
Is he the authority?

599
00:31:39,957 --> 00:31:41,362
Is he the son of God?

600
00:31:42,022 --> 00:31:44,782
It always hinges on that.

601
00:31:45,652 --> 00:31:48,532
I trust that Jesus understands
all the reality of the realities

602
00:31:48,532 --> 00:31:49,552
of the universe better than I.

603
00:31:50,647 --> 00:31:54,417
If you believe that Jesus is the son of
God and reveals truth, you don't have

604
00:31:54,417 --> 00:31:59,277
the option not to believe in an active
and vibrant spirit world because he did.

605
00:32:00,327 --> 00:32:04,197
Faith is accepting what I cannot
understand based on what I can understand.

606
00:32:04,638 --> 00:32:07,968
So if you understand that Jesus is
God, you can accept what he says

607
00:32:07,968 --> 00:32:10,428
about the world you can't see, right?

608
00:32:11,668 --> 00:32:12,158
Yeah.

609
00:32:12,168 --> 00:32:15,288
Because we put our faith in Jesus.

610
00:32:15,307 --> 00:32:18,261
CS Lewis said in his book, screw
Tape Letters, that when it comes to

611
00:32:18,261 --> 00:32:22,671
devils and demons, they're two equally
wrong and equally damaging heirs.

612
00:32:22,724 --> 00:32:26,149
Over believing in the devil, and one is
not believing in the devil of all at all.

613
00:32:26,162 --> 00:32:29,102
He said one is to disbelieve
in their existence.

614
00:32:29,342 --> 00:32:32,552
The other is to have an
unhealthy interest in them.

615
00:32:32,566 --> 00:32:36,736
? . Or we could say underestimate on the
one hand and overestimate on the other.

616
00:32:37,216 --> 00:32:38,836
Why are both these extremes bad?

617
00:32:39,586 --> 00:32:42,706
Because they reduce evil and simplify it.

618
00:32:42,770 --> 00:32:46,688
And we need a nuanced
and complex view of evil.

619
00:32:47,288 --> 00:32:50,708
If you say everything is the
devil or nothing is the devil,

620
00:32:50,858 --> 00:32:52,478
then that actually is simplistic.

621
00:32:52,483 --> 00:32:56,588
That's a simplistic way of looking
at the world in the universe.

622
00:32:56,678 --> 00:33:00,216
I remember a Christian talk show lady
who was driving to work and broke

623
00:33:00,216 --> 00:33:02,946
her fingernail on the way to work
and said, can you guys pray for me?

624
00:33:03,018 --> 00:33:04,548
I'm just under so much warfare.

625
00:33:06,693 --> 00:33:07,513
I was like, what?

626
00:33:07,563 --> 00:33:07,843
Yeah.

627
00:33:07,890 --> 00:33:12,860
Or it's to see there is no devil,
there's no personal devil or

628
00:33:12,865 --> 00:33:14,229
demons or spiritual realm, right?

629
00:33:14,241 --> 00:33:19,020
In the movie the Children's movie, silence
of the Lambs , Larry's cla Starling is

630
00:33:19,020 --> 00:33:23,220
meeting Hannibal Lecter for the first
time, and she says a question, we're

631
00:33:23,220 --> 00:33:26,460
all asking about the mass shootings
that are taking place everywhere.

632
00:33:27,450 --> 00:33:30,450
How can you be this, what happened to you?

633
00:33:31,695 --> 00:33:32,595
What is this?

634
00:33:32,595 --> 00:33:33,555
I can't understand.

635
00:33:33,555 --> 00:33:35,775
How can you be this kind of way?

636
00:33:37,065 --> 00:33:38,445
Here's what Hannibal Le says.

637
00:33:39,615 --> 00:33:40,845
Nothing happened to me.

638
00:33:40,845 --> 00:33:43,395
Agent Sterling, no  off.

639
00:33:43,395 --> 00:33:44,535
Nothing happened to me.

640
00:33:44,535 --> 00:33:47,205
Officer Sterling, I happened.

641
00:33:47,925 --> 00:33:50,565
You can't reduce me to
a set of influences.

642
00:33:51,165 --> 00:33:53,995
You've given up good
and evil for behavior.

643
00:33:54,630 --> 00:33:59,100
Officer Starling, you've got
everybody in moral dignity pants.

644
00:33:59,190 --> 00:34:01,170
Nothing is ever anybody's fault.

645
00:34:01,290 --> 00:34:05,460
Look at me, officer Starling,
can you stand to say, I'm evil.

646
00:34:06,030 --> 00:34:07,260
I am evil.

647
00:34:07,260 --> 00:34:08,250
Officer Starling,

648
00:34:12,030 --> 00:34:16,810
it's this whole idea like,
no, nobody's that evil.

649
00:34:16,810 --> 00:34:20,060
There's not something,
helping pull the strings.

650
00:34:20,060 --> 00:34:21,199
I was talking to my doctor.

651
00:34:22,850 --> 00:34:26,123
My neurologist said she's
Chinese and she just heartbroken,

652
00:34:26,154 --> 00:34:27,143
couldn't make sense of it.

653
00:34:27,924 --> 00:34:30,623
Why would somebody do this?

654
00:34:30,629 --> 00:34:34,322
The mass shootings that happened two,
two weeks ago the the Chinese New Year

655
00:34:35,973 --> 00:34:38,013
I just can't make heads or tails.

656
00:34:38,043 --> 00:34:39,152
How does this happen?

657
00:34:39,152 --> 00:34:40,263
How can this happen?

658
00:34:44,163 --> 00:34:45,933
So we need a complex view of it.

659
00:34:46,382 --> 00:34:46,893
It's not.

660
00:34:49,058 --> 00:34:50,078
The devil made me do it.

661
00:34:50,108 --> 00:34:51,527
No, that's simplistic.

662
00:34:51,539 --> 00:34:56,339
It's not that, ah, there's no devil that
doesn't explain the gross atrocities that

663
00:34:56,344 --> 00:35:02,732
we see, humans participating in, there
were German citizens that hung themselves.

664
00:35:03,277 --> 00:35:07,832
after things came to light and or went
on trial and they believed that they

665
00:35:07,832 --> 00:35:13,260
just got swept up and participated
in that kind of nationalism, that was

666
00:35:13,319 --> 00:35:15,191
destroying a whole race of people.

667
00:35:15,209 --> 00:35:17,857
Oh it's cleansing and it's
keeping the disease out.

668
00:35:17,857 --> 00:35:19,477
. Those people thought
they were good people.

669
00:35:19,957 --> 00:35:25,387
There is a influence and
aggravation in the human heart,

670
00:35:25,457 --> 00:35:26,867
that's why he says it's cosmic.

671
00:35:26,867 --> 00:35:30,170
It's big, pulling strings here
and there the world and that it's

672
00:35:30,175 --> 00:35:35,931
powers that there's a real evil
that's trying to influence and

673
00:35:35,931 --> 00:35:36,891
put its presence on the world.

674
00:35:36,891 --> 00:35:41,001
And again, remember, The whole thing
about Satan is he's an angel of light.

675
00:35:41,001 --> 00:35:42,806
He's not like, woo, here I am.

676
00:35:42,806 --> 00:35:43,646
Did I scare you?

677
00:35:43,706 --> 00:35:45,686
It's all about being invisible.

678
00:35:45,686 --> 00:35:48,410
It's all about, they say, the
most dangerous lie is the one

679
00:35:48,410 --> 00:35:49,566
that has the most truth in it.

680
00:35:49,566 --> 00:35:51,695
It's like the one degree off.

681
00:35:51,723 --> 00:35:53,807
It's the brownies with dog poop, right?

682
00:35:54,017 --> 00:35:59,177
There's barely any, but it impacts
the whole thing, kind of thing.

683
00:35:59,207 --> 00:36:01,408
I wouldn't want to eat it, oh,
it's only got a tablespoon.

684
00:36:02,698 --> 00:36:07,646
Oh a tablespoon Richard Baxter
on depression, and here's why.

685
00:36:07,646 --> 00:36:11,636
Christians have always had like
a nuanced view of good and evil.

686
00:36:12,386 --> 00:36:15,075
He said he was a 17th century pastor Theo.

687
00:36:16,300 --> 00:36:19,210
In talking about depression,
he said way back then, he said,

688
00:36:19,420 --> 00:36:21,100
sometimes depression is physical.

689
00:36:21,430 --> 00:36:23,800
What you need is food or medicine or rest.

690
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:24,850
You need a good night's sleep.

691
00:36:25,570 --> 00:36:29,410
He says, sometimes there's a psychological
cause cast down in your temperament.

692
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,590
What you need is lots of love
and affirmation and support.

693
00:36:32,620 --> 00:36:34,120
Sometimes it's a moral cause.

694
00:36:34,210 --> 00:36:37,810
You might feel guilty about something
or feel angry about something and feel

695
00:36:37,810 --> 00:36:39,970
guilty about being angry about the thing.

696
00:36:40,930 --> 00:36:43,300
Sometimes it's sic,
sometimes it's spiritual.

697
00:36:45,445 --> 00:36:47,905
. So let's not overestimate
the devil's power.

698
00:36:47,905 --> 00:36:49,255
Be strong in the Lord.

699
00:36:49,255 --> 00:36:50,515
He says, don't be afraid.

700
00:36:50,515 --> 00:36:51,565
Don't run or retreat.

701
00:36:51,565 --> 00:36:52,585
He says, stand.

702
00:36:52,795 --> 00:36:54,535
He doesn't say you might stand.

703
00:36:55,435 --> 00:36:56,845
He says, you will stand.

704
00:36:57,625 --> 00:36:59,275
Expect success.

705
00:36:59,455 --> 00:37:01,075
Fight from a place of victory.

706
00:37:01,375 --> 00:37:04,285
, but we don't underestimate
the enemy's power either.

707
00:37:04,315 --> 00:37:05,232
We're we.

708
00:37:06,012 --> 00:37:07,137
true to reality.

709
00:37:07,197 --> 00:37:09,553
First Peter five, eight
says, be sober minded.

710
00:37:09,599 --> 00:37:10,349
, don't be clouded.

711
00:37:10,349 --> 00:37:11,879
Don't be numbed down.

712
00:37:11,879 --> 00:37:12,629
Be mindful.

713
00:37:12,629 --> 00:37:14,939
Be watchful for your adversary.

714
00:37:14,939 --> 00:37:17,099
The devil prowls around
like a roaring line.

715
00:37:17,099 --> 00:37:18,869
Seeking someone to devour.

716
00:37:20,664 --> 00:37:23,004
Behind the world of flesh and blood.

717
00:37:23,004 --> 00:37:27,444
Paul recognized the presence of a
powerful and active spirit world.

718
00:37:27,594 --> 00:37:29,244
Cosmic powers of darkness.

719
00:37:29,844 --> 00:37:32,904
Spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly places are spiritual

720
00:37:32,904 --> 00:37:35,424
forces of unbelievable power.

721
00:37:35,442 --> 00:37:38,592
We see it in the oppressive
governments, in the dysfunctional

722
00:37:38,592 --> 00:37:42,292
relationships and bouts with loneliness
and depression and even sickness.

723
00:37:42,297 --> 00:37:44,712
And in the struggle with
pride and temptation.

724
00:37:45,012 --> 00:37:49,212
There is always something larger
and more powerful at work, a world

725
00:37:49,217 --> 00:37:51,812
you can't see with your eyes.

726
00:37:53,022 --> 00:37:55,602
What Satan is after is
not your recognition.

727
00:37:56,407 --> 00:37:59,582
of him or his ways, but your destruction.

728
00:38:00,092 --> 00:38:05,072
Tony Capella said, appearing in movies
telling us that romantic love and sexual

729
00:38:05,077 --> 00:38:06,992
pleasure are the keys to fulfillment.

730
00:38:07,922 --> 00:38:11,012
He's the one behind an economic
system that teaches us that money

731
00:38:11,012 --> 00:38:13,022
is the key to success and happiness.

732
00:38:13,082 --> 00:38:15,482
He's the one who sits in the
psychologist chair offering

733
00:38:15,922 --> 00:38:17,282
ultimate hope and life apart from.

734
00:38:18,392 --> 00:38:21,362
He works in and through governments
that coddle people into thinking

735
00:38:21,362 --> 00:38:23,492
that government help is the answer.

736
00:38:23,852 --> 00:38:27,242
He's the one teaching from our
pulpits that life is about you.

737
00:38:27,452 --> 00:38:30,572
That God wants to make you rich,
that hell is not real, and that

738
00:38:30,572 --> 00:38:34,112
the standards of the Bible are for
different, a different time and place.

739
00:38:34,922 --> 00:38:40,136
He is the one who whispers to you that it
is a ridiculous idea to believe in God.

740
00:38:40,946 --> 00:38:43,836
He is not after your recognition,
but after your destruction.

741
00:38:43,905 --> 00:38:44,700
The devil's power.

742
00:38:46,260 --> 00:38:47,070
a couple things.

743
00:38:48,450 --> 00:38:49,590
It is a permitted power.

744
00:38:49,604 --> 00:38:52,831
Let every person be subject to the
governing authorities for there

745
00:38:52,836 --> 00:38:54,798
is no authority except from God.

746
00:38:54,817 --> 00:38:56,191
. So he's not equal with God.

747
00:38:56,191 --> 00:38:57,423
God, you just, I don't know.

748
00:38:57,513 --> 00:39:00,843
Sometimes you watch cartoons
or I don't know, and you just

749
00:39:00,843 --> 00:39:02,913
think like, God, I'm the devil.

750
00:39:02,913 --> 00:39:04,563
Are in this like, cosmic battle.

751
00:39:04,563 --> 00:39:09,202
Battle from all eternity past,
no, he's a created being, he.

752
00:39:09,922 --> 00:39:11,741
An angel, maybe a worship leader.

753
00:39:11,771 --> 00:39:12,881
So it's a permitted power.

754
00:39:13,331 --> 00:39:14,381
It's a limited power.

755
00:39:14,381 --> 00:39:15,761
You guys worth the story of job?

756
00:39:17,651 --> 00:39:19,571
God says, Hey, have you
seen my servant job?

757
00:39:19,901 --> 00:39:21,311
Is it he amazing?

758
00:39:21,436 --> 00:39:22,006
It's so good.

759
00:39:22,006 --> 00:39:25,906
The glimpses that we get of how
God looks and talks about his

760
00:39:26,086 --> 00:39:28,879
saints and saints, like that's
cuz you got a hedge around him.

761
00:39:29,419 --> 00:39:30,289
If you remove that hedge.

762
00:39:30,289 --> 00:39:30,859
If I could get to.

763
00:39:33,219 --> 00:39:33,739
he would curse you.

764
00:39:33,830 --> 00:39:34,650
And what does God say?

765
00:39:34,650 --> 00:39:37,050
He says, you can do this, but not this.

766
00:39:37,111 --> 00:39:38,265
It's a limited power.

767
00:39:38,399 --> 00:39:42,798
, God knows the exact proportion of
our strength and endurance and will

768
00:39:42,803 --> 00:39:47,988
not allow Satan's temptations to go
beyond what we are able to endure.

769
00:39:47,988 --> 00:39:50,808
He never gives us too much.

770
00:39:50,823 --> 00:39:51,873
. .  the third century when St.

771
00:39:51,873 --> 00:39:54,873
Felix of Nola was running from
his enemies, he took refuge in a

772
00:39:54,873 --> 00:39:58,534
cave and so he hiding in a cave.

773
00:39:58,534 --> 00:40:01,984
His enemies are trying to come kill
him, and all of a sudden he sees spiders

774
00:40:01,989 --> 00:40:03,994
start working on the mouth of a cave.

775
00:40:04,414 --> 00:40:07,546
And they form webs that encloses
the whole mouth of the cave.

776
00:40:07,577 --> 00:40:12,167
Just as soon as they're done, soldiers,
the guys the enemies walk and see

777
00:40:12,167 --> 00:40:15,107
the spider web and they think, oh,
that's been like that for months.

778
00:40:15,107 --> 00:40:15,947
And they move on.

779
00:40:16,052 --> 00:40:19,832
, and here's what he says about it,
stepping out into the sunshine.

780
00:40:19,832 --> 00:40:27,332
Felix de declared where God is a
spider, web is a wall, and where

781
00:40:27,332 --> 00:40:31,382
God is, A wall as a spider web.

782
00:40:31,459 --> 00:40:32,629
First Corinthians 10 13.

783
00:40:32,629 --> 00:40:34,219
No temptation has overtaken you.

784
00:40:34,219 --> 00:40:35,659
That is not common to man.

785
00:40:35,659 --> 00:40:40,009
God is faithful and he will not let
you be tempted beyond your ability.

786
00:40:40,339 --> 00:40:43,669
But with the temptation, he will
also provide the way of escape

787
00:40:43,674 --> 00:40:46,819
that you may be able to endure it.

788
00:40:47,629 --> 00:40:49,339
Number three, it is a resisted.

789
00:40:50,464 --> 00:40:53,104
Satan does not have a smooth path.

790
00:40:53,104 --> 00:40:57,634
Ruth Paxon rights, nor an easy
time for his power manifested

791
00:40:57,639 --> 00:40:59,194
for harm against God people.

792
00:40:59,224 --> 00:41:04,294
God's people is met by a barrage
of prayer, both from the faithful

793
00:41:04,294 --> 00:41:09,184
high priest in heaven and his
heavenly prayer warriors on earth.

794
00:41:10,414 --> 00:41:11,974
It is a broken power.

795
00:41:12,334 --> 00:41:13,144
Number four.

796
00:41:13,204 --> 00:41:15,214
Luke 11, 21 to 22.

797
00:41:15,754 --> 00:41:21,229
Jesus says, when a strong man fully
armed guards his own palace, His goods

798
00:41:21,229 --> 00:41:25,779
are safe, but when one's stronger
than he attacks him and overcomes

799
00:41:25,784 --> 00:41:31,129
him, he takes away his armor in which
he trusted and divides his spoil.

800
00:41:31,369 --> 00:41:32,179
What is the point of that?

801
00:41:32,179 --> 00:41:33,529
Jesus is saying, I'm the stronger.

802
00:41:34,609 --> 00:41:37,159
He says, if it's just about
getting the demons out clean

803
00:41:37,159 --> 00:41:40,276
slate, they're gonna come back and
you're gonna be seven times worse.

804
00:41:40,304 --> 00:41:42,879
, what you need is you need to
put someone stronger in their

805
00:41:42,879 --> 00:41:45,099
place if you've been overcome.

806
00:41:45,104 --> 00:41:46,659
It's not about just getting rid, it's.

807
00:41:48,019 --> 00:41:49,434
me being put in their place.

808
00:41:49,434 --> 00:41:50,754
The true power.

809
00:41:50,754 --> 00:41:51,624
It's a broken power.

810
00:41:51,629 --> 00:41:53,424
He's a fatally bruised foe.

811
00:41:53,694 --> 00:41:56,574
His head crushed at the
cross of Jesus Christ.

812
00:41:57,534 --> 00:42:02,424
We belong to Jesus the stronger
Christus, Victor, Christ, the victorious.

813
00:42:02,513 --> 00:42:03,413
First John four.

814
00:42:03,418 --> 00:42:09,455
Four, I used to say probably still does
if the enemy's attacking, hit 'em with a

815
00:42:09,460 --> 00:42:12,713
four by four , which is a big piece of.

816
00:42:14,078 --> 00:42:14,858
It's kinda like that.

817
00:42:14,858 --> 00:42:16,448
The Rock movie, what was that called?

818
00:42:16,448 --> 00:42:17,648
Where he carried around a beam?

819
00:42:18,278 --> 00:42:18,518
I dunno.

820
00:42:18,518 --> 00:42:20,033
I always pictured that I
put those two together.

821
00:42:20,034 --> 00:42:22,614
First tall walking tall, boom.

822
00:42:24,024 --> 00:42:24,684
Yes.

823
00:42:24,755 --> 00:42:25,955
Why hit 'em with a four by four?

824
00:42:25,985 --> 00:42:30,395
Because it says in one John, four,
four little children, you are

825
00:42:30,395 --> 00:42:32,315
from God and have overcome them.

826
00:42:32,945 --> 00:42:37,565
For he who is in you is greater
than He who is in the world.

827
00:42:37,955 --> 00:42:39,485
We have to think about the enemy.

828
00:42:39,581 --> 00:42:40,541
Do you guys play poker?

829
00:42:40,601 --> 00:42:41,981
Do you any of you play poker at all?

830
00:42:42,401 --> 00:42:42,881
Once in a while.

831
00:42:43,331 --> 00:42:43,871
Once in a while.

832
00:42:43,871 --> 00:42:44,651
I'm really bad at it.

833
00:42:44,801 --> 00:42:45,121
Yeah.

834
00:42:45,150 --> 00:42:45,835
Yeah, me too.

835
00:42:45,925 --> 00:42:46,135
One.

836
00:42:46,855 --> 00:42:51,985
The person who I've found, like whenever
I play with my wife, Andrea, she wins

837
00:42:51,985 --> 00:42:58,135
every time and she hardly knows how to
play  because it's like, I'll go on and

838
00:42:58,140 --> 00:43:02,556
you can't do that, but maybe she has
something, and then I'm like, ah, I'm

839
00:43:02,556 --> 00:43:06,791
folding on, two pair or something, with
ACEs high, and then she's got nothing.

840
00:43:06,791 --> 00:43:09,504
She's like, oh, I just thought, I thought
I'd go all in and see what happened, and

841
00:43:09,504 --> 00:43:15,114
I'm like, oh, every time I lose every
single game because she just bluffs and

842
00:43:15,114 --> 00:43:17,124
I can't tell if you're in, you bluffing.

843
00:43:17,124 --> 00:43:19,314
She's the best bluffing.

844
00:43:19,424 --> 00:43:20,724
Overtake over.

845
00:43:20,784 --> 00:43:21,804
Exactly.

846
00:43:22,374 --> 00:43:26,034
But what's amazing is that's all Satan has

847
00:43:27,504 --> 00:43:28,734
he has no good cards.

848
00:43:30,264 --> 00:43:31,074
He's a bluffer.

849
00:43:31,704 --> 00:43:32,124
That's it.

850
00:43:32,274 --> 00:43:35,574
And the only thing he, the only
power he has is to get you to

851
00:43:35,574 --> 00:43:36,654
believe that he has a good hand.

852
00:43:36,714 --> 00:43:38,844
He's defeated, he's lost his pot.

853
00:43:38,844 --> 00:43:42,054
He doesn't ever even think anything
to bet on, but if he can get

854
00:43:42,054 --> 00:43:44,184
you to believe he's got a hand.

855
00:43:44,193 --> 00:43:45,069
, that's how he gets you.

856
00:43:45,158 --> 00:43:45,968
. He's a shadow.

857
00:43:46,032 --> 00:43:51,132
He's defeated, he's def defended,
like he's a lion that ro in a book.

858
00:43:51,132 --> 00:43:52,842
We used to read Streams in the Desert.

859
00:43:52,847 --> 00:43:53,052
Is it?

860
00:43:53,052 --> 00:43:53,502
I don't know.

861
00:43:53,532 --> 00:43:58,842
Yeah, but it's the old lion who doesn't
hunt anymore, that roars and pushes you

862
00:43:58,847 --> 00:44:03,711
into the young lions who tear you apart,
and so they always say in the devotional,

863
00:44:03,741 --> 00:44:09,741
run to the roar, he's defamed, he's
the only power he has is the power You.

864
00:44:10,716 --> 00:44:10,996
. , Mm-hmm.

865
00:44:11,076 --> 00:44:11,516
. Mm-hmm.

866
00:44:11,646 --> 00:44:16,403
, you know, through fear, through
pride, that's through worry, anxiety.

867
00:44:16,418 --> 00:44:19,788
, I think we need to I'm not a
super traditional guy, but the

868
00:44:19,788 --> 00:44:22,938
Greek Orthodox Church had this
tradition that I wanna bring back.

869
00:44:23,388 --> 00:44:28,711
, this is the best I didn't even know about
this till studying this in the Greek

870
00:44:28,711 --> 00:44:37,591
Orthodox tradition, the day after Easter
was devoted to telling jokes, they felt

871
00:44:37,591 --> 00:44:39,781
that they were imitating the cosmic joke.

872
00:44:39,781 --> 00:44:41,911
God pulled on Satan in the resurrection.

873
00:44:45,241 --> 00:44:50,101
That where Satan thought
he'd won day one, Saturday.

874
00:44:50,101 --> 00:44:50,428
Oh.

875
00:44:50,428 --> 00:44:53,488
Sunday morning, he's defeated.

876
00:44:53,698 --> 00:44:56,398
He smashed the head of the serpent.

877
00:44:56,398 --> 00:44:58,828
The proto Evangeline
the seat of the woman.

878
00:44:59,308 --> 00:45:02,128
His heel will be bruised, but
he will crush the serpent's

879
00:45:02,133 --> 00:45:08,088
head, defang de powered, and
death itself destroyed, undone.

880
00:45:08,983 --> 00:45:11,863
So they tell jokes and the spirit of that.

881
00:45:11,863 --> 00:45:13,693
That is fantastic.

882
00:45:14,773 --> 00:45:16,513
. So Polish your dad jokes up.

883
00:45:16,513 --> 00:45:18,013
Get your top 10 list.

884
00:45:18,253 --> 00:45:19,753
I think we're gonna make a day of it.

885
00:45:19,791 --> 00:45:20,329
I love it.

886
00:45:20,429 --> 00:45:21,869
Finally and I'll be done.

887
00:45:21,874 --> 00:45:23,429
The victory of Jesus.

888
00:45:23,461 --> 00:45:26,806
Finally be strong in the Lord
in the strength of his might.

889
00:45:27,431 --> 00:45:31,121
Now we wanna all engage in the battles
of life from a position of strength.

890
00:45:31,121 --> 00:45:31,691
We just do.

891
00:45:32,621 --> 00:45:36,221
And the way we see the world do it
so often, we want to do it right.

892
00:45:36,311 --> 00:45:38,831
We wanna have lots of money
in savings and a good job.

893
00:45:38,831 --> 00:45:43,751
So we're strong financially, we'll engage
life and its problems once we're secure.

894
00:45:44,711 --> 00:45:47,231
If you're younger, when you think
about your future, you feel better

895
00:45:47,231 --> 00:45:49,031
if you're strong in talent, right?

896
00:45:49,031 --> 00:45:50,081
I've got a lot of gifts.

897
00:45:50,081 --> 00:45:51,221
I've, I'm out there.

898
00:45:51,221 --> 00:45:53,351
I'm gonna find, you know, I'm gonna hone.

899
00:45:54,601 --> 00:45:56,761
Uh, If you're needing to make a
decision, you wanna be strong in

900
00:45:56,761 --> 00:45:59,993
your ability to figure out the
right decision and make it right.

901
00:46:00,052 --> 00:46:02,572
If you're trying to raise kids,
you wanna be strong in your

902
00:46:02,572 --> 00:46:04,522
abilities to guide and shape them.

903
00:46:04,852 --> 00:46:05,572
That makes sense.

904
00:46:05,572 --> 00:46:07,162
It's totally normal.

905
00:46:07,162 --> 00:46:13,337
Like I, I'm, I want to be, strong in this
area so that I know you know what to.

906
00:46:14,517 --> 00:46:17,937
what the gospel teaches you as
counterintuitive though  because

907
00:46:17,937 --> 00:46:22,257
it teaches you not to be strong in
yourself, but to be strong in the

908
00:46:22,257 --> 00:46:26,637
Lord and in the power of his might
to let him be your strength and

909
00:46:26,642 --> 00:46:29,247
power in security in every area.

910
00:46:29,247 --> 00:46:32,817
The gospel is the opposite
of being strong in yourself.

911
00:46:34,497 --> 00:46:36,747
The great example is Abraham.

912
00:46:37,587 --> 00:46:38,487
Oh Abraham.

913
00:46:38,487 --> 00:46:43,137
God told Abraham that he was going to make
his descendants number and the millions.

914
00:46:44,277 --> 00:46:48,597
. The problem was, is that when God told
him that Abraham didn't have any kids,

915
00:46:49,347 --> 00:46:55,235
he was 90 and his wife was 75, and
they're like, did this message get lost?

916
00:46:55,235 --> 00:46:59,717
Like when Daniel was praying to get
his message, was there a cosmic battle?

917
00:46:59,717 --> 00:47:02,477
Were you supposed to bring this,
like when I was in my twenties?

918
00:47:04,097 --> 00:47:08,177
So because he is physically
weak, he had to be strong in God.

919
00:47:09,737 --> 00:47:13,367
And he's called the father of faith
because that's what it meant to

920
00:47:13,367 --> 00:47:17,567
have faith in God, to stand where
your weak covered in God's strength,

921
00:47:18,137 --> 00:47:22,187
and you won't do that unless you're
convinced of your own weakness.

922
00:47:23,447 --> 00:47:24,857
All of life is dependence.

923
00:47:24,889 --> 00:47:28,921
I love the story of Solomon
because Solomon, here's, I'll

924
00:47:29,191 --> 00:47:31,711
tell you why on the surface, why
I love it, and then why I really.

925
00:47:33,811 --> 00:47:39,211
Solomon is praying and he's
gonna rule the nation of Israel.

926
00:47:40,381 --> 00:47:42,241
And so he goes and he prays for wisdom.

927
00:47:42,421 --> 00:47:46,801
God says, Hey man, I'm gonna give you
wisdom and uh, because you didn't ask for

928
00:47:46,801 --> 00:47:48,661
riches or long line, give you those two.

929
00:47:48,721 --> 00:47:51,931
So I love it because here's a
leader and he just says, what

930
00:47:51,931 --> 00:47:53,461
I really need, God is wisdom.

931
00:47:53,731 --> 00:47:54,481
, I've often prayed the.

932
00:47:56,326 --> 00:47:59,176
, God give me wisdom, hoping he'll
give me the riches in long life.

933
00:47:59,220 --> 00:48:03,248
, like I can twist his arm . But what's
interesting about Solomon is God gives

934
00:48:03,248 --> 00:48:08,219
him the wisdom and his life is ruins.

935
00:48:08,219 --> 00:48:09,121
Proverbs is great.

936
00:48:09,167 --> 00:48:10,427
Song of Solomon is amazing.

937
00:48:10,427 --> 00:48:11,707
Ecclesiastes is incredible.

938
00:48:13,187 --> 00:48:18,587
, but he ends up with a thou uh, you know,
thousand wives or, and concubines his

939
00:48:18,587 --> 00:48:20,417
heart's pulled to worship other gods.

940
00:48:20,422 --> 00:48:23,786
It leads to, the division the
northern Kingdom of Israel and

941
00:48:23,791 --> 00:48:24,926
the southern Kingdom of Judah,

942
00:48:24,926 --> 00:48:29,156
that's not typically what you'd expect
When God gives you a supernatural

943
00:48:29,161 --> 00:48:32,849
gift of wisdom on your life, that
at the end it just all ruined.

944
00:48:32,879 --> 00:48:34,169
It's all vexation of spirit.

945
00:48:34,169 --> 00:48:34,799
It's empty.

946
00:48:36,479 --> 00:48:37,739
That's why I love.

947
00:48:39,074 --> 00:48:40,109
in the New Testament.

948
00:48:42,629 --> 00:48:44,879
It doesn't just say that
God will give us a wisdom.

949
00:48:44,879 --> 00:48:46,289
It says that he'll be our wisdom.

950
00:48:46,352 --> 00:48:47,012
, it's different.

951
00:48:47,672 --> 00:48:49,772
I think sometimes we want God power me up.

952
00:48:49,952 --> 00:48:50,042
Mm-hmm.

953
00:48:50,517 --> 00:48:54,752
And I'll go out and God says, no, be
dependent on me because I'm your wisdom.

954
00:48:56,222 --> 00:48:58,192
Be dependent on me
because I'm your strength.

955
00:48:59,312 --> 00:49:01,602
Be dependent on me for everything we want.

956
00:49:01,662 --> 00:49:06,612
We want to hit the smoothie with all
the nutrients on a Sunday morning

957
00:49:07,062 --> 00:49:10,602
and drink it down so that we can
be on mission during the week.

958
00:49:11,772 --> 00:49:12,962
And God is saying no.

959
00:49:14,882 --> 00:49:20,792
You gotta be rooted in me for everything,
for life and godliness like in me.

960
00:49:21,122 --> 00:49:22,952
Be strong in the Lord.

961
00:49:22,952 --> 00:49:27,002
That's a really important word in the
Lord and the strength of his might.

962
00:49:28,502 --> 00:49:28,952
Right.

963
00:49:29,462 --> 00:49:30,482
Uh, I love Gideon.

964
00:49:31,082 --> 00:49:35,492
Gideon was being called an enemy,
and gide and judges six, 12 to 14.

965
00:49:36,002 --> 00:49:40,892
And, And Gideon, he says, I'm literally
shelling sunflower seeds in a cave.

966
00:49:40,938 --> 00:49:42,345
That's how ridiculous what he was doing.

967
00:49:42,345 --> 00:49:44,233
By hand they used to thresh the wheat.

968
00:49:44,233 --> 00:49:46,063
They'd throw it up in the air
and the wind would blow it.

969
00:49:46,063 --> 00:49:46,933
You couldn't do that in a case.

970
00:49:46,933 --> 00:49:48,673
So he is literally picking each thing off.

971
00:49:48,673 --> 00:49:53,143
It would take a million years to
have enough food, he's afraid.

972
00:49:53,173 --> 00:49:55,063
And he says, I'm the least
in my father's house.

973
00:49:55,093 --> 00:49:56,533
I'm in the least of the tribe.

974
00:49:56,773 --> 00:49:59,233
Like, you've got it wrong.

975
00:49:59,743 --> 00:50:02,503
And the angel Lord, after he said that,
appeared to him and said, the Lord

976
00:50:02,533 --> 00:50:04,963
is with you, almighty man of valor.

977
00:50:07,513 --> 00:50:10,423
and he is like, you've
got the wrong person.

978
00:50:10,483 --> 00:50:12,193
I am the least I am weak.

979
00:50:12,223 --> 00:50:13,063
That's what he says.

980
00:50:13,453 --> 00:50:16,126
And the Lord turned to him and said,
and this I'll never forget cuz I

981
00:50:16,126 --> 00:50:17,626
don't think it's a mistranslation.

982
00:50:18,826 --> 00:50:24,316
Go in this might of yours and save
Israel from the hand of Midian.

983
00:50:24,586 --> 00:50:25,516
Do I not send you?

984
00:50:26,146 --> 00:50:27,016
He says, I'm weak.

985
00:50:27,076 --> 00:50:29,116
And he says, that's might

986
00:50:32,716 --> 00:50:33,406
I'm the least.

987
00:50:33,456 --> 00:50:33,966
That's might.

988
00:50:34,896 --> 00:50:35,001
, right?

989
00:50:35,611 --> 00:50:38,251
When you're realistically weak
in your life, you helplessly

990
00:50:38,251 --> 00:50:39,541
look to God to be strong.

991
00:50:39,901 --> 00:50:41,071
You're worried about your family.

992
00:50:41,071 --> 00:50:43,741
How about your kids turning
out right about your marriage?

993
00:50:43,741 --> 00:50:44,881
Do you feel weak in that?

994
00:50:45,091 --> 00:50:46,111
Congratulations.

995
00:50:46,111 --> 00:50:47,210
You're eligible for God's strength.

996
00:50:47,210 --> 00:50:50,385
. Maybe you have a huge decision in
front of you, not sure what to do.

997
00:50:50,685 --> 00:50:53,175
In other words, you feel
weak to make the decision.

998
00:50:53,745 --> 00:50:56,265
Then trust in the Lord with
all your heart and do not lean.

999
00:50:56,770 --> 00:50:57,840
on your own understanding.

1000
00:50:58,770 --> 00:51:02,790
Be strong not in your abilities,
but in your confidence in

1001
00:51:02,790 --> 00:51:04,440
him and his care for you.

1002
00:51:04,830 --> 00:51:07,080
Are you worried about financially
being stable in the future?

1003
00:51:07,110 --> 00:51:08,700
You can do one of two things.

1004
00:51:08,700 --> 00:51:11,310
You can look at the future through
the lens of your own strength,

1005
00:51:11,700 --> 00:51:14,070
how much job security I have.

1006
00:51:14,505 --> 00:51:19,095
Or you can be strong in your confidence
in God to take care of you and the future.

1007
00:51:19,095 --> 00:51:21,045
Look to the birth of the air.

1008
00:51:21,375 --> 00:51:22,755
Look to the lilies of the field.

1009
00:51:22,995 --> 00:51:26,055
Solomon and all his glory was
not a rate as one of them.

1010
00:51:26,775 --> 00:51:29,085
How much more value are you?

1011
00:51:29,620 --> 00:51:32,080
To me than those things.

1012
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:36,910
You cannot be strong in yourself and
strong in God, and it is only where

1013
00:51:36,970 --> 00:51:41,080
your sense of weakness that you will
be strong in God, where that hits you,

1014
00:51:41,085 --> 00:51:43,270
where that is realized, that is strength.

1015
00:51:43,270 --> 00:51:45,310
It's all through scripture.

1016
00:51:45,310 --> 00:51:47,050
Very important truth about Jesus's life.

1017
00:51:47,440 --> 00:51:50,680
All of Jesus's miracles started
with the problem all of.

1018
00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:56,260
Jesus purposely did not go around
pulling rabbits out of hats or

1019
00:51:56,260 --> 00:51:58,210
catching bullets in his teeth.

1020
00:51:58,450 --> 00:52:00,130
He did not just do a show.

1021
00:52:00,130 --> 00:52:01,360
Remember, who was it?

1022
00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:01,810
Herod.

1023
00:52:01,810 --> 00:52:02,860
He wanted a show.

1024
00:52:03,100 --> 00:52:04,180
Let's see some magic.

1025
00:52:04,180 --> 00:52:06,010
I hear you're the greatest magician.

1026
00:52:06,109 --> 00:52:07,459
Nobody knows how you do it.

1027
00:52:07,699 --> 00:52:09,319
Jesus didn't do a thing,
didn't even talk to him.

1028
00:52:09,401 --> 00:52:10,631
, when did Jesus respond?

1029
00:52:13,091 --> 00:52:14,171
When they're problems?

1030
00:52:14,471 --> 00:52:16,961
If you have a problem, if you have a.

1031
00:52:19,456 --> 00:52:21,736
Good news, you're a
candidate for a miracle.

1032
00:52:22,306 --> 00:52:24,136
Bad news, no problem, no miracle.

1033
00:52:24,766 --> 00:52:28,126
The only ones of you that are eligible
for mighty displays of God's power

1034
00:52:28,126 --> 00:52:31,006
are those that are weak with problems.

1035
00:52:31,006 --> 00:52:35,986
So the question, where do you feel strong
right now in the whole scheme of battle?

1036
00:52:35,986 --> 00:52:37,306
Satan's really good.

1037
00:52:37,456 --> 00:52:38,596
He's a good adversary.

1038
00:52:38,956 --> 00:52:42,376
That's maybe where you're the
weakest, because that's where you're

1039
00:52:42,376 --> 00:52:43,936
least likely to depend on God's.

1040
00:52:45,091 --> 00:52:46,741
And you're no match for Satan.

1041
00:52:46,741 --> 00:52:48,031
Where do you feel weakest right now?

1042
00:52:48,061 --> 00:52:50,011
That's an invitation to trust God.

1043
00:52:50,611 --> 00:52:54,331
Those who look to themselves for strength
will quickly find it in short supply.

1044
00:52:54,336 --> 00:52:57,391
Those who are mighty in their
confidence in God will find that

1045
00:52:57,391 --> 00:53:01,921
he and his willingness to help
and his power to do so are a deep,

1046
00:53:01,921 --> 00:53:05,401
deep, well that never runs dry.

1047
00:53:05,581 --> 00:53:09,121
Isaiah 40 31 says that even
the youngest men, I love that

1048
00:53:09,121 --> 00:53:11,281
part, the strongest, the best.

1049
00:53:11,736 --> 00:53:15,516
It's that next generation that
seems full of testosterone and

1050
00:53:15,516 --> 00:53:21,096
vigor, like has an endless supply of
energy, will grow weary and stumble.

1051
00:53:22,746 --> 00:53:26,436
But those who wait upon the
Lord will renew their strength.

1052
00:53:26,436 --> 00:53:28,086
They will mount up with wings like eagles.

1053
00:53:28,086 --> 00:53:29,616
They will run and not be weary.

1054
00:53:30,006 --> 00:53:33,036
They will walk and not faint.

1055
00:53:33,096 --> 00:53:39,036
Those who wait upon the Lord
sit with, be rooted in, we might

1056
00:53:39,036 --> 00:53:40,796
say in the New Testament ab.

1057
00:53:41,986 --> 00:53:43,936
Linger be at home win.

1058
00:53:43,954 --> 00:53:47,494
Look at Jesus' strength, be strong in the
Lord and in the strength of his might.

1059
00:53:47,494 --> 00:53:52,114
And it's very important that we see
how he that be strong in the Lord

1060
00:53:52,114 --> 00:53:53,014
and in the strength of his might.

1061
00:53:53,014 --> 00:53:56,944
Paul, when he writes and says the
Lord, , it's talking about Jesus.

1062
00:53:57,544 --> 00:54:02,044
So be strong in Jesus and in
the strength of his might.

1063
00:54:02,254 --> 00:54:07,234
So he's saying, be abstract about
this, and just think God's infinitely

1064
00:54:07,239 --> 00:54:11,653
powerful and he'll just like
zap you and give you this, this

1065
00:54:11,773 --> 00:54:14,421
crazy, power, and you'll whatever.

1066
00:54:15,641 --> 00:54:22,556
What he's pointing out here is the, That
Jesus was strong and he says, God makes

1067
00:54:22,556 --> 00:54:25,136
you strong and that, and how was that?

1068
00:54:25,207 --> 00:54:29,077
In the Old Testament, God is said
to be a divine warrior when they

1069
00:54:29,077 --> 00:54:32,797
cross the Red Sea and they get out
of Egypt, and God liberates the

1070
00:54:32,797 --> 00:54:34,357
children of Israel from slavery.

1071
00:54:34,387 --> 00:54:35,107
Miriam.

1072
00:54:35,167 --> 00:54:40,147
Moses' sister sings a great song and
says, God is a divine warrior, and

1073
00:54:40,147 --> 00:54:41,917
he fights against evil and injustice.

1074
00:54:42,097 --> 00:54:43,357
He has liberated us.

1075
00:54:43,357 --> 00:54:46,747
He has won the Great
Battle of the Red Sea.

1076
00:54:46,747 --> 00:54:47,587
That's in her song.

1077
00:54:47,617 --> 00:54:48,607
God is a warrior.

1078
00:54:48,607 --> 00:54:49,657
He's a divine warrior.

1079
00:54:49,777 --> 00:54:50,767
He's liberated.

1080
00:54:50,772 --> 00:54:51,637
His people remember holding you.

1081
00:54:52,582 --> 00:54:54,352
Egyptian army drowned.

1082
00:54:54,682 --> 00:54:58,972
As the history of Israel goes on, it gets
clear to see when Israel becomes evil.

1083
00:54:59,122 --> 00:55:02,122
When Israel becomes corrupt,
when Israel becomes oppressive,

1084
00:55:02,242 --> 00:55:03,562
God goes to war against them.

1085
00:55:03,562 --> 00:55:07,252
He fights against them, which shows
that God is not a tribal deity.

1086
00:55:07,402 --> 00:55:08,722
That's like, oh, this is my people.

1087
00:55:08,727 --> 00:55:09,382
Don't worry about it.

1088
00:55:09,862 --> 00:55:10,852
He's against evil.

1089
00:55:10,852 --> 00:55:14,812
Whoever does it, he's against injustice,
whoever does it, and by the end of

1090
00:55:14,812 --> 00:55:17,932
the Old Testaments, the prophets,
because they were under the boot of

1091
00:55:17,937 --> 00:55:20,782
another oppressor and another oppress.

1092
00:55:21,167 --> 00:55:25,697
And another oppressor were yearning
for a time when the divine warrior

1093
00:55:25,697 --> 00:55:30,677
would show up the way he did and led
them out of Egypt and liberated them,

1094
00:55:30,677 --> 00:55:35,417
obliterated the enemy in the Red Sea,
that some divine warrior would show

1095
00:55:35,417 --> 00:55:37,217
up and liberate them from the Romans.

1096
00:55:37,222 --> 00:55:40,517
And the Jesus comes and he
calls himself, son of man.

1097
00:55:41,887 --> 00:55:45,727
The son of man was a figure mentioned
in Daniel seven who would lead the

1098
00:55:45,727 --> 00:55:49,927
host of the Lord, the armies of
God to defeat evil on the earth.

1099
00:55:49,927 --> 00:55:54,547
They're like, he's here, the
warrior, the divine warriors come.

1100
00:55:56,542 --> 00:56:01,042
when Jesus shows up and he says he's the
son of man, all the disciples said, wow.

1101
00:56:01,312 --> 00:56:02,932
Finally the divine warriors here.

1102
00:56:02,962 --> 00:56:06,442
He's going to fight
against evil and injustice.

1103
00:56:06,652 --> 00:56:08,182
He's gonna take our enemies out.

1104
00:56:08,187 --> 00:56:09,682
He's gonna slaughter them.

1105
00:56:09,862 --> 00:56:11,302
He's gonna pay 'em back.

1106
00:56:12,082 --> 00:56:13,312
He doesn't act that way, does he?

1107
00:56:15,562 --> 00:56:16,432
He doesn't wound.

1108
00:56:17,962 --> 00:56:18,682
He heals.

1109
00:56:21,352 --> 00:56:22,492
He doesn't raise an army.

1110
00:56:24,307 --> 00:56:29,617
He wanders about teaching and feeding
and loving people at the climax of his

1111
00:56:29,617 --> 00:56:32,047
life when the soldiers are after him.

1112
00:56:32,047 --> 00:56:36,997
Peter gets out his sword
and Jesus says, put it away.

1113
00:56:39,097 --> 00:56:41,017
What kind of divine warrior is this?

1114
00:56:43,087 --> 00:56:47,167
Definitely the ones the one
they weren't expecting, but the

1115
00:56:47,167 --> 00:56:49,627
answer is the only kind we need.

1116
00:56:51,442 --> 00:56:56,512
because if Jesus had come back to
put down the Romans, that wouldn't

1117
00:56:56,512 --> 00:56:58,612
have changed the human condition.

1118
00:56:59,362 --> 00:57:00,862
The hearts of every.

1119
00:57:01,627 --> 00:57:08,767
Woman and child, be they Roman, be
they Greek, be they Gentile, be they

1120
00:57:08,767 --> 00:57:12,307
Samaritan, or even be they Jewish.

1121
00:57:15,757 --> 00:57:21,107
Secondly, if Jesus had come back to
destroy all evil, none of us would

1122
00:57:21,112 --> 00:57:23,497
be left because evil was in us.

1123
00:57:24,127 --> 00:57:24,937
We are the problem.

1124
00:57:26,257 --> 00:57:26,857
What did he.

1125
00:57:28,567 --> 00:57:30,847
. Jesus did not come with
a sword in his hands.

1126
00:57:31,957 --> 00:57:33,457
He came with nails in his hands.

1127
00:57:34,987 --> 00:57:37,477
He didn't come to bring a sword
of God's judgment on evil.

1128
00:57:38,107 --> 00:57:40,777
He came to bear the sword
of God's judgment on evil.

1129
00:57:41,347 --> 00:57:42,307
It fell on him.

1130
00:57:43,657 --> 00:57:45,937
Yes, Jesus Christ overcame evil with good.

1131
00:57:46,657 --> 00:57:49,417
He gave himself, he died on the
cross for a sin so that he could

1132
00:57:49,417 --> 00:57:56,107
not just end the Roman empire but
to end sin and death in evil itself.

1133
00:57:57,112 --> 00:58:01,192
He did that by forgiving him and
saving his enemies and dying for his

1134
00:58:01,192 --> 00:58:06,112
enemies so that someday he can come
and end all evil without ending us.

1135
00:58:07,612 --> 00:58:08,302
That's the battle.

1136
00:58:08,302 --> 00:58:10,492
That's the warfare we
should be participating in.

1137
00:58:10,672 --> 00:58:15,472
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of
his might and the power of Jesus might.

1138
00:58:15,472 --> 00:58:16,582
What was Jesus' might.

1139
00:58:22,687 --> 00:58:25,087
That's the battle, that's the warfare
we should be participating in.

1140
00:58:25,092 --> 00:58:27,277
Why look carefully,
Jesus loved his enemies.

1141
00:58:27,277 --> 00:58:28,717
That's how he overcame evil.

1142
00:58:28,957 --> 00:58:30,577
He forgave his enemies.

1143
00:58:31,987 --> 00:58:33,307
He laid down his life for them.

1144
00:58:34,657 --> 00:58:37,357
He said when he was on the
cross and they were mocking him,

1145
00:58:37,357 --> 00:58:40,177
spitting on him, blaspheming him.

1146
00:58:41,227 --> 00:58:41,947
Father, forgive them.

1147
00:58:41,947 --> 00:58:44,407
They don't know what they're
doing, and it changed the.

1148
00:58:47,512 --> 00:58:52,582
Like that's the power he supplies
infinite amounts of it, like

1149
00:58:52,582 --> 00:58:53,932
that's what he's calling us into.

1150
00:58:53,932 --> 00:58:57,126
If a grain of wheat falls into the
ground, a grain of wheat falls into

1151
00:58:57,126 --> 00:58:58,626
the ground and dies, it remains alone.

1152
00:58:58,626 --> 00:59:00,546
But when it dies, it bears much fruit.

1153
00:59:00,551 --> 00:59:08,076
He's calling us into a
sacrificial strength, right?

1154
00:59:08,076 --> 00:59:12,126
Jesus says, Hey, if you love
those who love, I don't know if

1155
00:59:12,126 --> 00:59:13,206
that takes supernatural power.

1156
00:59:13,206 --> 00:59:14,248
Till you really get to know them.

1157
00:59:14,488 --> 00:59:14,668
Yeah.

1158
00:59:17,518 --> 00:59:24,358
But I say to you, love your enemies
last, those who persecute you now that

1159
00:59:24,358 --> 00:59:29,368
might need supernatural power, and
that's the power that he supplies.

1160
00:59:30,508 --> 00:59:31,379
Is that kind of.

1161
00:59:33,163 --> 00:59:37,843
laying one down's life, gerding ourself
with the garments of a servant and

1162
00:59:37,843 --> 00:59:42,673
washing people's feet who have stabbed
us in the back, ah, who've betrayed

1163
00:59:42,673 --> 00:59:44,713
us, who've taken advantage of us.

1164
00:59:44,713 --> 00:59:47,949
Who've, that's a crazy kind of love.

1165
00:59:48,699 --> 00:59:51,219
That's the power he supplies.

1166
00:59:51,219 --> 00:59:55,634
That's the economy, that's the
the atmosphere of his kingdom.

1167
00:59:58,359 --> 01:00:00,429
So let's pray.

1168
01:00:01,479 --> 01:00:02,319
Father, we thank you.

1169
01:00:02,324 --> 01:00:07,993
We thank you for just this word
and Lord I'm so often one who

1170
01:00:07,993 --> 01:00:09,403
just wants you to fill me up.

1171
01:00:14,068 --> 01:00:15,658
And our weakness is your strength made.

1172
01:00:15,658 --> 01:00:16,288
Perfect.

1173
01:00:21,208 --> 01:00:27,037
Lord I look at this little Nathaniel
growing up and so utterly desperate

1174
01:00:27,037 --> 01:00:31,597
for everything he could now do,
like sign language that he wants

1175
01:00:31,597 --> 01:00:34,027
food, but he can't get it himself.

1176
01:00:37,972 --> 01:00:41,392
But like our father's heart, the
parents' heart is just to like move.

1177
01:00:41,392 --> 01:00:44,542
Yes, with all speed and haste.

1178
01:00:46,432 --> 01:00:48,202
That's what is your
father's heart over us.

1179
01:00:50,842 --> 01:00:58,822
I pray, Lord, that we would rest in
you, that we would let you be everyth.

1180
01:00:59,842 --> 01:01:04,882
that you would be our wisdom, that you
would be our strength, that you would

1181
01:01:04,882 --> 01:01:12,502
be our victory, that you would be our
hope, that you would be everything.

1182
01:01:13,612 --> 01:01:17,141
That we wouldn't base our hope on
how much we accomplish for you,

1183
01:01:17,141 --> 01:01:19,211
but on how much you've done for us.

1184
01:01:22,121 --> 01:01:25,758
That our worry and our anxiety,
or our desire to control.

1185
01:01:27,993 --> 01:01:29,643
That Lord, you just rescue us from that.

1186
01:01:30,633 --> 01:01:36,423
That you rescue us from temptation,
Lord, that we would see how good you are.

1187
01:01:36,423 --> 01:01:37,623
How good is God?

1188
01:01:39,873 --> 01:01:45,753
How great are you that Jesus, the
son of God, the un caused cause?

1189
01:01:45,753 --> 01:01:51,123
The infinite one would come for me die.

1190
01:01:52,773 --> 01:01:59,163
Would bleed for me, would bear all
of what's obviously wrong and all

1191
01:01:59,163 --> 01:02:04,503
that's hidden would take that on
himself and suffer the righteous

1192
01:02:04,503 --> 01:02:05,943
judgment that was against me.

1193
01:02:05,943 --> 01:02:07,403
Praise Jesus.

1194
01:02:09,183 --> 01:02:11,013
Praise Jesus.

1195
01:02:13,013 --> 01:02:14,703
Thank you Lord.

1196
01:02:14,829 --> 01:02:16,059
, we love you.

1197
01:02:16,059 --> 01:02:17,529
We raise a hallelujah.

1198
01:02:19,404 --> 01:02:23,004
In the presence of her enemies,
there's no competition.

1199
01:02:24,264 --> 01:02:26,964
God be for us, who can be against us.

1200
01:02:27,714 --> 01:02:36,929
So Lord, may we make it our aim to
be in, in rooted, abiding with you.

1201
01:02:37,288 --> 01:02:38,009
Praise you God.

1202
01:02:38,009 --> 01:02:39,689
We love you in Jesus' name.

1203
01:02:39,929 --> 01:02:40,379
Amen.