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Living Your Promised Land Life Now- Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

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Speaker 1: In the presence of Christ is worth a thousand years
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Speaker 1: in the presence of a preacher. I'll just say that.
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Speaker 1: One syllable from Christ does more than a hundred books
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Speaker 1: by a writer. And I love preachers and writers. I
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Speaker 1: am one. But I am under no illusion that my
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Speaker 1: word can change a person. But just a whisper From
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Speaker 1: the king of kings. Can bring healing and hope. That
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Speaker 1: is supernatural and deep. And eternal. Amen. Amen. Well let's
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Speaker 1: get to work. Here's what you need to know. About
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Speaker 1: the walls of Jericho. They were immense. And they wrapped
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Speaker 1: around the city. Like a suit of armor. Two concentric circles.
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Speaker 1: Circles of stone. rising 40 feet above the ground. They
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Speaker 1: were impenetrable. And here's what you need to know about
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Speaker 1: Jericho's inhabitants. They were ferocious and barbaric and they withstood
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Speaker 1: all sieges. They repelled all invaders and they were guilty
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Speaker 1: of child sacrifice. They were a Bronze Age version of
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Speaker 1: the Gestapo, ruthless tyrants on the plains of Canaan. Until
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Speaker 1: the day that Joshua showed up, Until the day that
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Speaker 1: the army marched in. Until the day that the bricks
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Speaker 1: cracked and the boulders broke. Until the day that everything shook.
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Speaker 1: The stones of the walls, the knees of the king,
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Speaker 1: even the molars of the soldiers. And the untoppable fortress
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Speaker 1: met the unstoppable force. And mighty Jericho crumbled. But here's
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Speaker 1: what you need to know about Joshua. He didn't bring
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Speaker 1: the walls down. God did. Joshua never swung a hammer.
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Speaker 1: Joshua never dislodged a brick. God did that for Joshua
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Speaker 1: and God will do that for you. Your Jericho is
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Speaker 1: your fear. Your Jericho is your anger. Your Jericho is
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Speaker 1: your insecurity, your anxiety, your proclivity to overanalyze or criticize
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Speaker 1: or compartmentalize Your Jericho is any mindset or attitude that
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Speaker 1: keeps you from moving into your promised land. And in
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Speaker 1: order for you to move forward in your faith, the
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Speaker 1: walls of Jericho must come down. That is true for
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Speaker 1: you and that was true for Joshua. The setting of
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Speaker 1: Joshua is 1400 BC. The children of Israel had spent
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Speaker 1: 40 years in the wilderness. And then about 1400 BC,
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Speaker 1: God spoke, Joshua listened, The Jordan River opened, the Jericho
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Speaker 1: walls came down, the sun stood still, and 31 kings
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Speaker 1: went into early retirement. Evil was booted out and hope
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Speaker 1: was rebooted. These were the glory days of Israel. Seven
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Speaker 1: years on the timeline of your scripture in which the
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Speaker 1: children of Israel were for all practical purposes unbeatable. These
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Speaker 1: were the glory days of Israel. Maybe you could use
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Speaker 1: some glory days yourself. I had lunch with a friend
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Speaker 1: not too long ago who described his spiritual life with
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Speaker 1: the phrase midlife misery. He said, I can't remember the
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Speaker 1: last time I had an answered prayer. He said, I
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Speaker 1: struggle with the same temptations that I struggled with 20
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Speaker 1: years ago when I was baptized. My friend's not alone
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Speaker 1: in the wilderness. According to one recent survey, about 89%
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Speaker 1: of Christians would describe their lives as more life in
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Speaker 1: the wilderness than life in the promised land. Rather than
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Speaker 1: saying they believe they're steadily advancing in their love for
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Speaker 1: God and love for their neighbor, they feel like they're
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Speaker 1: meandering and they're walking in circles. Maybe that describes you.
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Speaker 1: Maybe in your heart of hearts you had hoped that
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Speaker 1: the Christian life would be more than what it is.
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Speaker 1: Why is there a disconnect between what you read in
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Speaker 1: the Bible and what you're experiencing in your life? How
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Speaker 1: can you come out of the wilderness what do you
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Speaker 1: do when you feel spiritually stuck I think the book
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Speaker 1: of Joshua is in the Bible to help people who
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Speaker 1: feel like they're in the wilderness they know they're out
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Speaker 1: of Egypt they've been delivered from sin and death but
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Speaker 1: their Egypt is not quite out of them they're not
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Speaker 1: afraid of Pharaoh but they're still dominated by fear and
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Speaker 1: they feel like they're walking in circles is it possible
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Speaker 1: for God to bring a generation of people out of
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Speaker 1: the wilderness into a season of victory, into a season
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Speaker 1: of glory days. The book of Joshua says yes, and
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Speaker 1: the book of Joshua shows us how. And anyone who
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Speaker 1: has read any part of the book of Joshua has
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Speaker 1: read the story of Jericho. And in many ways, the
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Speaker 1: Jericho story is a trademark story. It's a hallmark story
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Speaker 1: that encompasses all the promises of the book of Joshua.
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Speaker 1: And so I'd like for us to look at it
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Speaker 1: for just a moment. It's in Joshua chapter 6 in
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Speaker 1: verse 2. And it begins this way. And the Lord
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Speaker 1: said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into your hand.
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Speaker 1: It's king and the mighty men of valor. God did
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Speaker 1: not say, Joshua, you go out there and take that city. Instead,
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Speaker 1: he said, I have given Jericho into your hand. I
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Speaker 1: have taken the city. Now you go and receive it.
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Speaker 1: Already we're picking up a major theme in the book
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Speaker 1: of Joshua. Joshua did not fight for victory. Joshua fought
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Speaker 1: from victory. Joshua did not fight for victory. Joshua fought
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Speaker 1: from victory. Joshua did not live out of circumstance. Joshua
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Speaker 1: lived out of inheritance. Those of you who like to
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Speaker 1: write notes in your Bible, Make note of the fact
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Speaker 1: that the word inheritance appears in the book of Joshua
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Speaker 1: about 60 times. It is the theme of the book
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Speaker 1: of Joshua. The theme of Joshua is not Joshua conquered
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Speaker 1: the land. The theme of Joshua is God gave Joshua
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Speaker 1: the land. And Joshua had enough faith to receive it.
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Speaker 1: He received it. He lived out of his inheritance there.
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Speaker 1: and not out of his circumstance. Do you know that
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Speaker 1: when you gave your heart to Christ, or if you've
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Speaker 1: never done it, when you do give your heart to Christ,
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Speaker 1: something wonderful happens. A supernatural miracle happens. And you go
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Speaker 1: from being just a regular Joe or a regular Judy
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Speaker 1: to becoming a child of the living God. a child
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Speaker 1: of the living God. Behold what love the Father has
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Speaker 1: lavished upon us that we should be called not employees
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Speaker 1: of God or just members of the kingdom, but we
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Speaker 1: should be called children of God. Next time you look
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Speaker 1: in the mirror, say, behold, a child of God, a
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Speaker 1: person in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, a person for
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Speaker 1: whom the mercy most precious commodity in the history of
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Speaker 1: the earth was spilled. Behold, a child of God. The
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Speaker 1: apostle Paul says that not only are we children of God,
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Speaker 1: we are heirs of Christ. Yes, co-heirs with Christ. I'd
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Speaker 1: be happy to be an heir of Christ, to be
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Speaker 1: a distant descendant, to be Whenever they pass out the
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Speaker 1: blessings just to pick up the leftovers. But the Apostle
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Speaker 1: Paul says we are co-heirs with Christ. We stand in
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Speaker 1: line with the firstborn. And whatever Christ can receive, we
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Speaker 1: can receive. Whatever joy Christ can receive, we can receive.
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Speaker 1: Whatever strength is available to Christ is available to you.
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Speaker 1: Whatever hope is available to Christ is available to you.
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Speaker 1: We live out of our inheritance. Not out of our circumstance.
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Speaker 1: Promised land people get this. Promised land people don't think, well,
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Speaker 1: because I have a problem today, I'm going to have
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Speaker 1: this problem forever. Promised land people see their problems differently.
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Speaker 1: They realize it's just a matter of time before that
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Speaker 1: Jericho comes down. And they're going to press forward in faith.
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Speaker 1: Promised land people do not say, My mom was a gossip.
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Speaker 1: My dad was a gossip. My uncle was a gossip.
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Speaker 1: My aunt was a gossip. I come from a long
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Speaker 1: line of gossips. I guess I'll always be a gossip.
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Speaker 1: Promised land people do not say, everybody I know is
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Speaker 1: a drunk. I come from a county of drunks. My
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Speaker 1: uncle was a drunk. A family tree of alcoholism. That's
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Speaker 1: going to be me. That's my destiny. You stop that.
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Speaker 1: Just stop that. I mean it. Stop it. You can't
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Speaker 1: think that way as a children of God. People I
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Speaker 1: know in my age are getting older. I'm not, but
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Speaker 1: everyone else is. It seems like more and more of
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Speaker 1: our conversations sound kind of like, oh, my back hurts.
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Speaker 1: I can hardly walk. And my neck, I've got a
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Speaker 1: new ache and pain. I guess I'm just doomed to
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Speaker 1: pass out the rest of my life hurting. Stop that.
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Speaker 1: Just stop it. Enough of that. You're a child of God.
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Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit indwells you. If you're in Christ, you're
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Speaker 1: a new creation. He remakes you every day. His mercies
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Speaker 1: are new every morning. You don't give in. You don't
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Speaker 1: give in. You do not assume. You do not assume
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Speaker 1: that tomorrow is going to be difficult. You assume that
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Speaker 1: tomorrow is going to be victorious. Just assume it. Expect it.
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Speaker 1: Not because you deserve it, but because you've been bought
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Speaker 1: by Christ. I don't know what he saw in you
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Speaker 1: that was worth buying. I don't know what he saw
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Speaker 1: worth in me. But that's his decision, not mine. So
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Speaker 1: I've been bought by Christ. That means I'm indwelt by Christ.
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Speaker 1: That means I have access to the very power of Christ.
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Speaker 1: And we begin to live out of our inheritance. Not
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Speaker 1: out of our circumstance. There was absolutely no reason for
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Speaker 1: Joshua to think he could bring down the walls of Jericho.
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Speaker 1: What was there? They had never fought a battle like that.
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Speaker 1: They'd been the last 40 years wandering in the desert,
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Speaker 1: eating the same manna and quail every day. They had
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Speaker 1: never done that. But Joshua said, well, okay, God, you
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Speaker 1: said you've already taken that city. I assume it's coming down.
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Speaker 1: And he pressed forward in faith. And then he went
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Speaker 1: to the soldiers and he said, all right, it's time
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Speaker 1: for battle. I would imagine they started grabbing their swords
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Speaker 1: and their spears, getting everything ready. And he said, well,
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Speaker 1: God has a different strategy. And the general outlined the
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Speaker 1: most unlikely of attacks. In verse six, Joshua said to them,
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Speaker 1: take up the Ark of the Covenant and let seven
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Speaker 1: priests bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the Ark
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Speaker 1: of the Lord. So Joshua commanded the soldiers to march
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Speaker 1: before and behind the priests. And he told the trumpets,
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Speaker 1: told the priests to blow trumpets, ram's horns, continuously as
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Speaker 1: they marched around the city once a day. Look what
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Speaker 1: he told the rest of the people. He said, you
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Speaker 1: shall not shout or make any noise with your voice.
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Speaker 1: Nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until
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Speaker 1: the day I say to you, shout, and then you
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Speaker 1: shall shout. We're talking here about a population of two
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Speaker 1: million people. This isn't a first grade class of 30 kids.
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Speaker 1: We're talking about a city. We're talking about a battalion
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Speaker 1: of 40,000 soldiers. So Joshua instructs these two million people
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Speaker 1: to watch from a distance. Most of the 40,000 soldiers
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Speaker 1: are also gonna watch from a distance. He selects an
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Speaker 1: entourage of priests and soldiers And he instructs them to
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Speaker 1: march around the city to carry in their midst the
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Speaker 1: Ark of the Covenant, the precious relic of ancient Israel,
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Speaker 1: which was the dwelling place of God. He puts priests
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Speaker 1: in front and priests behind it to carry it, soldiers
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Speaker 1: in front and soldiers behind. He takes two million plus people,
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Speaker 1: tells them to stand off to the side. He tells them,
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Speaker 1: zip it. Isn't that interesting? Don't say a word. Why?
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Speaker 1: The only sound that is allowed to be heard in
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Speaker 1: the air is the blasting of ram's horns. No hand-to-hand combat.
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Speaker 1: No war cries. No spears, no ladders, no catapults. What
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Speaker 1: kind of warfare is this? This is spiritual warfare. This
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Speaker 1: is spiritual warfare. Every battle of your life and mine
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Speaker 1: is at its root a spiritual war. Every temptation that
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Speaker 1: comes into your life is there because there is a
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Speaker 1: real devil. And this devil is a liar. And his
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Speaker 1: days are numbered. And he's in a bad mood. And
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Speaker 1: he knows he's going to be cast into a pit.
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Speaker 1: And heaven is going to be heavenly. Because he will
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Speaker 1: be absent. But until that day, he's going to tell
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Speaker 1: every lie. He's going to bring down every saint that
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Speaker 1: he possibly can. He has no desire to do anything
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Speaker 1: for you except evil.
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Speaker 2: Evil.
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Speaker 1: He knows your name. And he knows where you live.
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Speaker 1: And he desires to do nothing. But he traffics in
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Speaker 1: deceit like a meth dealer traffics in dope. He passes
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Speaker 1: it out. And he does nothing but lie. Jesus said
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Speaker 1: he's the father of lies. He's never spoken a word
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Speaker 1: of truth. His ploy is to lie to you, to
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Speaker 1: get lies inside your head. But here's the good news.
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Speaker 1: Here's the good news. Greater is he who is in
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Speaker 1: you than he who is in the world. greater is
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Speaker 1: he who is in you than he who is in
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Speaker 1: the world as Christians we do not obsess ourselves with
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Speaker 1: the devil we do not we do not obsess ourselves
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Speaker 1: with darkness with the cults with demonic presence with principalities
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Speaker 1: we don't obsess ourselves with trying to figure out who
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Speaker 1: they are what we do is we focus on Christ
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Speaker 1: We focus on Christ. We glance at the devil, but
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Speaker 1: we focus on Christ. But we are not so naive
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Speaker 1: as to think that all of this is a material battle.
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Speaker 1: It's not. It's a spiritual battle. It's a spiritual conflict.
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Speaker 1: And we're caught up in the middle of it. And
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Speaker 1: we're followers of the great king of kings, the victor,
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And greater is he who is in us
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Speaker 1: than he who is in the world. And we are wise.
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Speaker 1: To learn how to engage in spiritual battle as our
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Speaker 1: Lord has taught us to do so. This is how
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Speaker 1: Jericho walls come down. The Apostle Paul does not call
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Speaker 1: our Jerichos Jerichos. He calls them strongholds. In 2 Corinthians 10.3
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Speaker 1: he says, Though we walk in the flesh, we do
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Speaker 1: not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of
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Speaker 1: our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for
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Speaker 1: pulling down, what? strongholds. Just as Jericho was a stronghold
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Speaker 1: that had to come out in order for Joshua to
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Speaker 1: march in, there are strongholds in your life that need
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Speaker 1: to come down so you can march in. Now our
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Speaker 1: strongholds are not made out of bricks. Our strongholds are
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Speaker 1: made out of thoughts, out of philosophies and opinions. We
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Speaker 1: learn this from the Apostle Paul. He says the weapons
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Speaker 1: of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
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Speaker 1: casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself
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Speaker 1: against the knowledge of God. So a stronghold is an argument.
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Speaker 1: It's a philosophy. It's an opinion. It's a precept. Any
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Speaker 1: high thing, it sounds lofty, but it sets itself up
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Speaker 1: against the knowledge of God. Does a stronghold have a
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Speaker 1: stronghold on you? Maybe you've heard some of these strongholds.
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Speaker 1: Maybe you've had them. God could never forgive me. That's
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Speaker 1: evidence of a stronghold. The person who says God could
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Speaker 1: never forgive me is living in the shadow of a Jericho.
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Speaker 1: That's a stronghold of guilt. I could never forgive that person.
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Speaker 1: I could never forgive them. That's a stronghold of resentment.
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Speaker 1: We know it's a stronghold because that's a lie. I'm
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Speaker 1: not saying it'd be easy to forgive that person, but
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Speaker 1: you could. By the power of God, you could. But
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Speaker 1: if you don't think you could, then that's a stronghold
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Speaker 1: that's keeping you from moving forward in your faith. Bad
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Speaker 1: things always happen to me. That's a stronghold. That's a lie.
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Speaker 1: Bad things don't always happen to you. But if that
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Speaker 1: is a part of your belief system, if you filter
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Speaker 1: your decisions through that conviction, bad things always happen to me,
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Speaker 1: then you're living in the shadow of a Jericho and
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Speaker 1: it's keeping you from moving forward in your faith. I
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Speaker 1: must be good or God will reject me. Well, that's
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Speaker 1: a stronghold of performance. My value equals my possessions. Boy,
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Speaker 1: there's a strong stronghold. I'm only as good as the
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Speaker 1: car that I drive or the house in which I
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Speaker 1: live or the clothes that I wear. I'm better if
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Speaker 1: I have more. That's a stronghold of materialism. Strongholds are lies.
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Speaker 1: They're just lies. They're deceitful lies that come from the
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Speaker 1: source of all lies, the devil. And the first step
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Speaker 1: in bringing down your stronghold is saying, Lord, what strongholds
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Speaker 1: are in my life? What strongholds right now are in
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Speaker 1: my life? And you listen, and the Lord Jesus will
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Speaker 1: reveal that to you. And I believe he's also revealed
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Speaker 1: to us through the study of Joshua how those strongholds
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Speaker 1: come down. So just quickly, look what Joshua did. He
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Speaker 1: put God right in the center. He put the Ark
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Speaker 1: of the Covenant right in the center of this entourage.
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Speaker 1: He didn't have the Ark of the Covenant, which was
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Speaker 1: the dwelling place of God. He didn't have the Ark
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Speaker 1: of the Covenant back behind the two million people. Right?
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Speaker 1: He put the Ark of the Covenant right in the
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Speaker 1: center of the people. You do the same when you
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Speaker 1: put God right in the center of your life. When
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Speaker 1: you put Him right in the center of your marriage.
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Speaker 1: Right in the center of your finances. Right at the
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Speaker 1: beginning of your week. You do the same when you
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Speaker 1: put God right in the center of your sex life,
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Speaker 1: right in the center of your health and activities. When
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Speaker 1: you allow God to have domain in every you don't
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Speaker 1: compartmentalize God. You don't say okay this is my material
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Speaker 1: life and this is my spiritual life. You let God
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Speaker 1: have domain over everything. I talked with a lady recently
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Speaker 1: who said I started using my 90 minute commute to
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Speaker 1: work every morning As a time of worship. She said
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Speaker 1: when I get in my car. I enter my car
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Speaker 1: as if I'm entering a sanctuary. And I believe that
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Speaker 1: the highway. Is my time to be in the presence
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Speaker 1: of God. And for 90 minutes. I love this phrase.
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Speaker 1: I marinate my mind. With worship music. With scriptures. I
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Speaker 1: listen to my favorite preachers. I didn't ask her if
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Speaker 1: I was one of them. 90 minutes, she said, and
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Speaker 1: by the time I get out of my car, I'm
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Speaker 1: refreshed and I'm ready to go. What is she doing?
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Speaker 1: She's putting the Ark of the Covenant right in the middle.
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Speaker 1: And you know what else she's doing? She's blasting the
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Speaker 1: ram's horn. Now, this is interesting. In ancient Israel, there
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Speaker 1: were two types of horns, the silver trumpet that would
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Speaker 1: be used to assemble people for a gathering, and the
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Speaker 1: ram's horn would be used to declare the protection and
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Speaker 1: the provision of God. It was a worship instrument. So
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Speaker 1: when they declared the ram's horn, they were declaring God
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Speaker 1: will provide, God will win. God will provide, God will win.
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Speaker 1: Now where do you get these ram's horns? Do they
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Speaker 1: sell them at Costco or at Sam's? Your ram's horn
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Speaker 1: is scripture. Your ram's horn is scripture. Satan will not
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Speaker 1: linger where truth is told. Satan will not linger where
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Speaker 1: truth is told. He will not loiter where God is praised.
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Speaker 1: Mark that down. He will not linger where truth is told.
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Speaker 1: He will not loiter where God is praised. So do
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Speaker 1: you want Satan to be gone? You do what Jesus
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Speaker 1: did in the wilderness. You quote scripture. It is that simple.
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Speaker 1: Satan has an allergy to truth. He has to leave.
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Speaker 1: He cannot stand it. So if your stronghold is anxiety...
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Speaker 1: When you feel yourself getting anxious. Instead of giving in
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Speaker 1: to that anxiety. And going down, down, down. Into the
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Speaker 1: quagmire of worry and fear. Take a stand against it.
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Speaker 1: Rise up against it. Pull the scripture out of your book.
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Speaker 1: Pull it out. It's the sword of the spirit.
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Speaker 2: Right?
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Speaker 1: The word of God. So you pull it out. And
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Speaker 1: you hold it up. And you say. Be anxious for nothing.
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Speaker 1: But in everything. By prayer and supplication. Let your requests
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Speaker 1: be made known to God. And you begin quoting this scripture.
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Speaker 1: Out loud. Out loud. out loud. Satan cannot read your thoughts.
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Speaker 1: He's just an angel, but boy, he can hear your words.
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Speaker 1: So you quote it out loud. I do this often
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Speaker 1: at night. Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep. I don't
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Speaker 1: know if you do. And sometimes when I have difficulty
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Speaker 1: falling asleep, my thoughts will turn anxious because my filter
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Speaker 1: is down. I'm a little bit tired. And so out
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Speaker 1: there on my pillow, I'll have to pop my eyes
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Speaker 1: open and say something like, The Lord is my shepherd.
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Speaker 1: I shall not want. And I just declare that right
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Speaker 1: there in the room, in the hotel room, wherever I am.
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Speaker 1: And I'm not sure what happens in the supernatural, but
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Speaker 1: I believe something happens in the supernatural right then. Because why?
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Speaker 1: Because we're blasting the ram's horn. We're blasting the ram's horn.
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Speaker 1: We cannot overestimate also the importance of what you're doing
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Speaker 1: here when you come together for corporate worship. When you
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Speaker 1: allow your worship leaders to lead you into the presence
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Speaker 1: of Christ. And we all stand up with one voice.
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Speaker 1: Don't you know that any demon in this area banishes, escapes,
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Speaker 1: turns and runs. Right now this is the safest place
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Speaker 1: in the city. Why? Because we're collecting our hearts in
23:40
Speaker 1: corporate worship. Making loud proud proclamation of Jesus Christ. Does
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Speaker 1: that make sense? These are ram's horn declarations. We use scripture.
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Speaker 1: We use prayer. We use worship. This is spiritual warfare.
23:59
Speaker 1: This is Christianity 101. This is meat and potatoes. This
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Speaker 1: is blocking and tackling. This is just the raw stuff
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Speaker 1: that we Christians do. And we can all do this
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Speaker 1: because we all have scripture, we all have prayer, and
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Speaker 1: we can all worship. Not everybody can sing as well
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Speaker 1: as others. Not everybody memorizes passages as easily as others
24:23
Speaker 1: not everybody seems to have the same prayer passion but
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Speaker 1: you know what we can all do something and you
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Speaker 1: can do this you can do this and as you
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Speaker 1: do these Jericho walls are going to start coming down
24:39
Speaker 1: lady came up to me recently at our service in
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Speaker 1: San Antonio and asked if I would pray for her
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Speaker 1: eight-year-old son he was passing through a time of fear
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Speaker 1: and He was having trouble sleeping. Even at the young
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Speaker 1: age of eight, he was beginning to see visions that
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Speaker 1: were keeping him awake at night. And so we prayed.
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Speaker 1: I took him back in the prayer room. I told
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Speaker 1: him what I've been telling you, that every battle is ultimately,
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Speaker 1: at its root, is a spiritual battle. And that a
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Speaker 1: real battle is not against flesh and blood, but it's
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Speaker 1: against the devil. And that the real battle is fought
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Speaker 1: here between our ears and what we think. Because the
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Speaker 1: devil's always whispering lies. And so I told him that
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Speaker 1: just because you have a thought, you don't have to
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Speaker 1: think it. Just because you have a thought, you don't
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Speaker 1: have to think it. And I said, whenever there's a
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Speaker 1: thought that comes that brings you fear, you reach up
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Speaker 1: and you take it out. And I gave him an
25:31
Speaker 1: exercise that I used to give my own children when
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Speaker 1: they were small. I said, just take your hand, grab
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Speaker 1: that thought, pull it out and throw it in the trash.
25:38
Speaker 1: And then replace that thought with a truth. And I
25:40
Speaker 1: gave him a Bible verse to memorize. I can do
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Speaker 1: all things through Christ who gives me strength. Just that much.
25:46
Speaker 1: And so instead of going down that thought trail, The
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Speaker 1: devil brings you to go down a truth trail. I
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Speaker 1: can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
25:55
Speaker 1: We prayed for him, anointed him with oil. His mom
25:57
Speaker 1: sent me this email a few days later. Since last week,
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Speaker 1: the images are gone. He's no longer seeing them. He's
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Speaker 1: doing well in school. He's enjoying reading the book of Genesis.
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Speaker 1: God gave us Psalm 25, 5 to memorize. Lead me
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Speaker 1: in your truth and teach me for you. You are
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Speaker 1: the God of my salvation. On you I'll wait all
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Speaker 1: the day. And he recites this verse every night. This
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Speaker 1: has brought him closer to Christ. He uses the strategy
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Speaker 1: of throwing the fearful thoughts away in the trash can.
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Speaker 1: I asked, what made the thoughts go away? He said,
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Speaker 1: God made them go away. And another Jericho bites the dust.
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Speaker 1: This is how victory happens. Little by little, thought by thought,
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Speaker 1: day by day, word by word, scripture by scripture, thought
26:43
Speaker 1: by thought, day by day, word by word, scripture by scripture.
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Speaker 1: Sometimes we have massive victories. But most of the days,
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Speaker 1: it's just this step-by-step decision that today I'm going to
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Speaker 1: take every thought captive and I'm going to bring it
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Speaker 1: into the presence of God. And as we do, those
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Speaker 1: Jerichos begin to To crumble. That's what happened in the
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Speaker 1: story of Joshua. I closed my book too soon. Let's
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Speaker 1: see how it ends. Joshua chapter 6 and verse 15.
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Speaker 1: On the seventh day they rose early about the dawning
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Speaker 1: of the day. And they marched around the city seven
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Speaker 1: times in the same manner. And the seventh time it happened.
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Speaker 1: When the priests blew the trumpets. that Joshua said to
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Speaker 1: the people, shout, for the Lord has given you the city.
27:32
Speaker 1: So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets.
27:36
Speaker 1: And it happened when the people heard the sound of
27:38
Speaker 1: the trumpet and the people shouted with a great shout
27:41
Speaker 1: that the wall fell down flat. And then the people
27:45
Speaker 1: took the city and the very walls that had kept
27:49
Speaker 1: them out became stepping stones over which they could climb.
27:53
Speaker 1: Does a stronghold have a stronghold on you? May the
27:58
Speaker 1: Lord reveal it to you. Are you living out of
28:04
Speaker 1: your circumstance or out of your inheritance? May he reveal
28:09
Speaker 1: to you your inheritance. Are you stuck in the dry
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Speaker 1: lands of the wilderness rather than the glory days, the
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Speaker 1: promised land of the king of kings? Then this is
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Speaker 1: your day. This is your day that you're going to
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Speaker 1: begin moving forward into a new victorious season of life.
28:27
Speaker 1: And may God bless you. And I'll be looking for
28:31
Speaker 1: you in the promised land. Thank you, Lord, for your
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Speaker 1: good word, for the blessings of Jesus Christ, our King
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Speaker 1: of Kings. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
28:43
Speaker 2: I was 19 years old when I gave my life
28:45
Speaker 2: to the Lord and everything changed. I didn't have any
28:49
Speaker 2: desire to go back to that old life. I wanted
28:51
Speaker 2: to walk with the Lord and learn more about Him.
28:54
Speaker 2: And some people helped me to learn the Bible and
28:57
Speaker 2: to learn how to pray and to learn about my
29:00
Speaker 2: new life in Christ. And that's what we want to
29:02
Speaker 2: do for you. I am so excited that you've given
29:05
Speaker 2: your life to the Lord. He's forgiven all of your
29:08
Speaker 2: sins and you're on your way to heaven. But we
29:10
Speaker 2: need to learn some things now about the Bible, about prayer,
29:14
Speaker 2: about some basics of the Christian life so that you
29:17
Speaker 2: can be victorious and live for the Lord like I
29:20
Speaker 2: know you want to. So we've designed a class called
29:22
Speaker 2: Fresh Start. And I want to encourage you to sign
29:25
Speaker 2: up for this class because we want to help you
29:28
Speaker 2: grow in your walk with the Lord now. I love
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Speaker 2: you and I am so proud of you.
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Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 🎵 Outro Music 🎵