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Hello and welcome to the
Middletown Baptist Church podcast,

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where we are proclaiming the
truth to the world.

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In this podcast series, we're
going to be looking into biblical

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words that have great
significance to our faith.

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The name of this series is
called the Word of the Week, where

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once a week we will dive
deeper into these words that we are

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familiar with in scripture.

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So come along with me.

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Let's study the Word of the week.

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Pastor Josh here with a
special edition of the Word of the

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Week.

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We're studying the names of
God, understanding what those names

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of God mean for us as
believers, and how we can understand

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God's character through them.

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And so this week, the name of
God that we are studying is Jehovah

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Nisi.

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This name of God can be found
in Exodus chapter 17, Exodus 17,

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and that can actually be found
in verse number 15.

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And we see it's really the end
of a battle.

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Moses builds an altar and
calls the name of the altar Jehovah

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Nisi, which literally means
God is my banner.

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So we're gonna look at why God
is Moses's banner and how God can

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be our banner, what that even means.

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And so to give some context to
the story, Moses and the Israelites

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are wandering through the a
wilderness, and they come across

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multiple enemies.

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But one that they come across
in this case would be the Amalekites.

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And so verse 8 in Exodus 17
talk about how the Amalekites come

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out to fight with Israel.

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And Moses chooses Joshua as
his commander.

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And he tells Joshua to go out
and get men and fight Amalek and

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the Amalekites.

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And Moses says that he's going
to stand up on the hill and use the

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rod that God gave him to hold
it up in the air and hold the rod

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up to God.

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And he believes that holding
the rod up to God will secure the

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victory.

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Um, and.

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And he mentions.

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I love how he mentions it.

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In verse nine of Exodus 17, he
says, the rod of God.

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Not my rod, but the rod of
God, he's gonna hold it in his hand.

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And so Joshua goes and follows
what Moses says and gets the men.

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They go fight.

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And as Moses is up on the hill
holding up the rod of God, Aaron

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and Hur are there with him.

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And Moses, he's holding up his
hand in the air, and his arms get

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tired and they go down.

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And the realization is, is
that as the rod is in the air and

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his hands are up in the air,
there's victory.

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When his hands go down, they
begin to lose.

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And.

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And so Moses's hands get
Heavier and heavier.

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And ultimately Aaron and Hur
hold up his hands.

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And this was that great
victory that God gave the Israelites

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there against the Amalekites.

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And so verse 13 tells us that
Joshua and the army, they, they have

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victory.

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And verse 14, the Lord tells
Moses to write in memorial in a book

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and rehearse the victory in
the ears of Joshua and in, in the

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years of the people.

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And so then we get to verse
15, our main thought today.

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And Moses built an altar and
named it Jehovah.

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Nisi the God.

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God is my banner.

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Now what does it mean for God
to be our banner?

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Well, this, this has the
understanding of, of a banner being

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a, a thing of celebration, a
symbol of victory.

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And so the Lord is my banner
is basically the Lord is my victory,

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physical victory, spiritual victory.

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And so as Moses lifted up that
name of God, as God is my banner,

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it's essentially saying, let's
look to the Lord and give him honor,

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and let's look to the Lord and
give him our, our worship to celebrate

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the victory that he has given us.

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And so the, the armies of God
won against the enemy.

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And so all Moses is doing is
giving the honor and glory to God.

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And so what does it mean for,
for God to be our banner today?

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Well, just as Jehovah helped
Moses at that time, Jehovah obviously

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helps us, God helps us.

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And so, so we know that when
we have God working in our lives,

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we should have a time and a
place for remembrance.

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We should remember what God
has done for us, not only in the

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circumstantial things that we
go through every day, but ultimately

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through the victory that we
have in him in salvation.

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And think about how many
banners that we could lift up in

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the concept of God giving us
small victories and big victories

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in our life.

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The biggest banner that we can
exalt for the cause of the gospel

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is the salvation itself.

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If you, if you go to, like,
sometimes stadiums have banners that

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are lifted up maybe the years
that they won their championships

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or maybe some, some players
that they have remembered in their

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history.

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It's the same idea as, as
those, those arenas, as they honor

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their champion, so we are
honoring our champion.

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And so God is our champion.

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And so banners are symbolic
for victory.

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And so God being our banner is
God being our victory.

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And so I think that the
passage of scripture that comes to

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mind for me would be Romans
chapter 8 when we're talking about

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the victory that we have in Christ.

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And we know that In Romans
chapter 8, towards the end of the

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chapter, it speaks of this
idea in verse 31 of what shall we

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say then to say to these things?

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If God before us, who can be
against us?

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He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us

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all, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things?

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So it's talking about God has
given us his Son in Jesus Christ,

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and in so doing, he's giving
us everything that we've ever needed.

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Verse 33.

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Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect?

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It is God that justifieth, who
is he that condemneth.

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It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again.

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Who is even at the right hand
of God who maketh intercession for

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us?

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Who?

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This is an amazing question
here, but I think the answer is even

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more important.

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Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ?

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Shall tribulation.

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So should trials or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness

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or peril or sword.

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So the question here is posed.

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It's.

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It's a rhetorical question,
because we know the answer.

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Hope, hopefully we know the answer.

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But the question is, is who
can separate us from the love of

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God?

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What can separate us from the
love of God?

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To be pain, struggles,
hopelessness, you know, the list

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goes on and on there.

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Violence.

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Verse 36, it says, and it
recognizes that we will face persecution

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as.

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As it is written, for thy sake
we were.

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We are killed all the day long.

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We are counted as sheep for
the slaughter.

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But then here's the answer,
and this is our victory.

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He says, nay or no.

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In all things and all these
things, we are more than conquerors.

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I love that phrase, more than conquerors.

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Super conquerors is what it
really means.

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And so in all these things and
all these struggles and all these

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trials and difficulties that
we might face in our life, we are

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more than conquerors through
Him, God that loved us.

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And so it's because of God's
love that we can have victory in

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Him.

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That's that idea of being
victorious in the battle, being victorious

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on the.

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On the battlefield of life,
the spiritual warfare that we face.

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And so he goes on to say in
verse 30, For I am persuaded that

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neither death nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers,

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nor things present, nor things
to come, nor height nor depth, nor

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any other creature shall be
able to separate us from the love

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of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.

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And so the reason why we can
say that God is our banner, the reason

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why we can say that God is our
victory is because we have victory

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in Him.

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We didn't Earn it.

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We didn't fight the battle on
our own.

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It is God who fought the
battle for us and we're on his side.

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And that's what we can see
past, present and future.

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The past victory would be what
Jesus did on the cross for us.

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The current victory is the
salvation that he is providing for

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us.

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And the future victory is
ultimately our eternal destination

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with him.

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And God's, God's conquering
power that he's going to extend to

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the whole world.

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And so the Lord is my banner
is a testimony that we can have.

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The Lord is my victory.

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The Lord is my conqueror.

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The Lord has given me the
opportunity to be on his side and

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therefore I can claim to be a
super conqueror with Him.

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Now, again, it's not prideful.

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It's not saying I've done this work.

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It's saying that God has done
the work and I get to be a beneficiary.

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We see that in Romans chapter 8.

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It is the love of Christ that
gives us that opportunity, is the

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access that we have through Him.

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And so I love that name,
Jehovah Nisi that God is my banner.

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And so when Moses built the
altar and called it the Lord is My

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Banner, he's creating a place
of remembrance, he's creating a place

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of celebration, specifically
of that victory.

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He's expressing worship and
thanks to God.

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And so he's making ultimately
a testimony.

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He's declaring that God is the
one who gave him the victory.

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And so any follower of Jesus
today, any believer, any, any person

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who is saved by God's grace
can share in that same victory because

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of Jesus Christ.

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And so we can say, the Lord is
my banner and, and God is our salvation.

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God is our victory.

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There's that classic song,
Victory in Jesus.

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And it is, it is an amazing
testimony to know that our victory

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is in what Christ has done for
us, us.

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And so we can celebrate who
God is and what he has done.

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And all of us can.

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It doesn't have to be just
those that are in certain places

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of ministry.

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It's not just those people
that have gone through physical battle,

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even though that could be an
element of God's provision.

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But it's all those that have
trusted in Jesus because that brings

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us the hope of victory, that
brings us the hope of our eternal

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life with Him.

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And So Romans chapter 8 ties
right together with that in Exodus

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chapter 17, that God is our banner.

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And so you can think about it
this way.

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God is.

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Faith is the victory, victory
in Jesus.

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And so we all like to win, right?

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And some People say win at all
costs, depending on what sports team

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you follow and what your
preference is on that regard.

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You know that some people have
more victories than other others

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on their side.

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But there's only one victory
that ultimately matters, and that

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is the victory that God has
extended in this world and given

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to us and that we could be
beneficiaries of.

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And so Jehovah Nisi God is my banner.

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God is My victory.

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And so you can claim that
today, if you're a believer in Jesus

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Christ, you can claim that
victory for yourself.

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And then the challenge would
be to live in that victory, to live

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in the confidence and knowing
that the same God who's extended

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eternal life to you is the
same God who's working through every

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element of your life.

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And you can trust in him and
that you can rely on him and that

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you can believe and trust in
his truth.

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And so that's really what the
word of God is.

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It's his truth.

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And he extends that truth to
us to not only believe, but to live

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in light of in everyday
matters, whether it be our workplace,

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whether it be our home life,
whether it be our thought life, whatever

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it might be, we can rely on
His Word to guide us.

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And so therefore, to believe
in the victory of God is to believe

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in his work and in His Word.

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And do we believe in his work?

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I hope you do.

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Because if you believe in his
work, that's believing that Jesus

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died on the cross for your
sins and that he can forgive you

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of your sins and that he can
grant you eternal life in heaven

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with Him.

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But do you believe in His Word?

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His Word is the Word of God.

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The Scriptures, Bible, from
Genesis to Revelation, we see that

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the Word of God is given to us.

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It's inspired, it's God breathed.

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And so that's an exciting
element of our life, is that we can

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directly hear from God through
His Word and therefore we can walk

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in his ways to the best of our
ability when it comes to submitting

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to him and obeying His Word
and believing His Word and living

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His Word.

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So that is our victory.

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Today we have the victory in Jesus.

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Well, I hope that this has
been a helpful study for you when

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we're looking at these names
of God.

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Next week we'll be back and we
will be looking at another name of

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God.

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And I hope that it'll be a
beneficial study for you as you grow

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in your understanding of who
God is and what he has done for you.

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Well, take care.

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Hope you have a wonderful week.

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We will talk to you next time.

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Here on the Middletown Baptist
Church podcast.

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Hey, I really appreciate that
you listen to the Word of the Week

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podcast.

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If you have any questions
about the podcast or about our church,

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Middletown Baptist Church, you
can find more information about us

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on Facebook or YouTube.

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Or you can find the podcast on
NBCPodcast.org you can contact me

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directly at Josh Massaro at
Middletown Baptist Church Stay tuned

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for future Word of the Week
episodes where we dive deeper into

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words that impact our life
according to scripture.

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Thank you so much.

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God Bless.

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We'll talk to you soon.