Latest / DFC Podcast / Stand Firm: Spiritual Warfare & the Armour of God

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Stand Firm: Spiritual Warfare & the Armour of God · DFC Podcast

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Right. Good morning.
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I think it is OK to start by saying thank you.
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Thank you for last week. If you were in church last week,
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we had the Global Sunday and we also had the privilege to be
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prayed for Sarah and I as we step up to support Ben on the
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eldership team. And I am really very like, you
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know, looks like I can't find the right word.
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But we are so grateful for the support for all the words that,
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you know, verses of the scriptures, promises from God,
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prophecies and prayers that came.
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And I just want to take this opportunity on behalf of Sarah
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and I to say thank you very much.
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And I I pray that God will continue to bless us all
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together. I also want to thank Ben and
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Louise for how they've supported us through this journey.
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The journey started a few months ago and we were bit reluctant,
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maybe nervous. We thought we couldn't do it and
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here we are. So we're very grateful to that
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support. I just as as I was there, I felt
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the Lord is putting something on my heart to read before I go
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into the sermon is in Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7.
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It says, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show
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that this also passing power is from God and not from us.
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Whenever we, you know, we have privileges to be used of God, a
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lot of times people forget that it is God that is working and it
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has nothing to do with human beings.
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In fact, we are jars of clay. We're imperfect.
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We're human beings like anybody. So I'd also use this opportunity
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to call for patience as we learn and grow and partnership.
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Let's do this together. It's our Father's work.
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We belong to one family. And more importantly, prayers.
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Please pray for us. Pray again and again and again.
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Don't stop praying. I will talk more about prayer
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later. Thank you.
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All right, so this morning as we approaching the end of the Simon
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series that we started last autumn in the book of Ephesians,
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Paul wrote this book. And at the beginning of this
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letter in Ephesians chapter 1, he tells us who he was writing
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the letters to. Was particularly writing to
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Christians that when you know in Ephesus and Paul tried to remind
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them of some very important things that has to do with their
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Christian life now. OK, no, yes, OK.
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So Paul reminded them as he reminds us today, that we are
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chosen in Christ and that we are blessed with every spiritual
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blessing in Christ that would be raised from spiritual death.
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We've been released from the influence of the ruler of the
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Kingdom of the heir. That's the devil.
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And he tells us, he told us that we are seated with Christ far
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above principalities and powers in the heavenly red.
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Paul also urged us not to live in isolation because God's
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purpose, God's original purpose, was to create in himself one new
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humanity in one body. So that's why we are connected
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as a community. Whatever we do, don't forget
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God's ultimate purpose is to create one new humanity.
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God is about the church, yes. The church is not a building.
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The church is you and I. So He saves us.
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We're in Christ so that we can be in church.
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That is God's ultimate purpose, and we need to be very careful
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to avoid things, actions that and habits that weaken the unity
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of the church. Paul also describes us as new
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creatures in Christ and it tells us not to slip back to old
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habits or bitterness, dishonesty, but to be truthful,
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to forgive quickly, and to be kind to one another as creatures
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in one new community. Then he went on to encourage us
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to be imitators of God as people who are committed to Christ.
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Likeness in our obedience, in our compassion, in our kindness,
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in our humility, in meekness, in patience, in sacrificial love,
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in selfless service through spirit filled or spirit LED
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character transformation across all the expressions of our
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interaction, whether where we work, in our place of work, in
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the market, in the community or in our families.
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So Paul said we must be committed to Christ likeness.
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Then he went on to say that in our Christian life there is a
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struggle. God wants us to be holy, but
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there is something about our being and our environment that
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keeps pulling us back. And he's saying no, you can't do
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that. And police say yes.
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There's a constant struggle and that we need to be aware of this
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opposition. The opposition is from seen and
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Satan and he encourages us to come back as champions.
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It tells us that we are modern conquerors and so we are to
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stand in the strength of the Lord.
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So this morning what I want to do is to introduce you to a
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miniseries which has been which we tied to the armor of God as
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we look at the following verses in Ephesians chapter 6, from
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verse 11:50 and from verse 18 to 20.
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Please open your Bible if you have a physical one or an
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electronic one, and if you don't have one, just look at the
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screen and we'll read together. Finally, be strong in the Lord
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and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so
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that you can take your stand against the devil's skin for
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your struggles. It's not for your struggle.
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It's not against flesh and blood, but against rulers,
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against authorities, against the powers of this Dark World,
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against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly, heavenly
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REMS verse 18 and pray in the spirits on all locations with
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all kinds of prayer and requests.
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With this in mind, be a lot and always keep on praying for all
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the lost people. Pray also for me that whenever I
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speak, words may be given me, so that I will fearlessly make
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known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in
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chains. Pray that I may declare.
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I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
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Paul begins with finally. As I was reading this text and I
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was thinking my mind was all about the armor of God.
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There's that temptation to think the armor of God was a new
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concept and it's, you know, something Paul is starting
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completely different from what he has said before.
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But I'd like you to understand that the word finally does not
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mean just in conclusion, but also means that in the light of
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everything I have told you, in the light of everything I have
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taught you thus far. And it is important that we
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understand the rest of these verses of the Bible that we're
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reading in Ephesians in the context of what we have read
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before. It is important to know that
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Ephesians 6 verse 10 to 20 is a continuation of the outworking
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of our identity that Paul laid out from chapters one to three,
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which means we need to understand the theme of the
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armor of God in the context of the normal Christian life.
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I hear the word spiritual warfare and I love it.
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What I thought, I mean, I, I think whenever we say spiritual
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warfare, it makes us feel OK. It's for some people.
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Maybe it's for Gary, it's for Dave, it's for Ben Louise, it's
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for Les Jenny, it's for some set of people.
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But I think that is one of the problems in the devil would have
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us think that all is from some very, you know, the people who
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preach or the people who have, you know, who are privileges,
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opportunities, positions in church.
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The devil would like us to understand that.
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But each one of us Christians are engaged daily in spiritual
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warfare. So spiritual warfare or this
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series is not about it's not a specialist niche for some
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specific type of people is for all Christians.
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I want us to understand that Also Paul said something in
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verse 12, it says put on the full armor of God.
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And I just imagine Paul is introducing us to this
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understanding of a Christian as a soldier.
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You know, not just anybody puts on an armor.
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It's it has to be a soldier. And what do soldiers do?
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Soldiers guard the borders and maintain security to keep the
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nation safe. Soldiers wear armors for
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protection and to enhance their battlefield performance.
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In that same light, a Christian is a soldier of Christ.
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Every Christian, whether you are going to know the Lord today, or
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you knew the Lord just yesterday, or you've been in the
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Lord a few weeks, or you've been in the Lord for a few years,
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it's you know, every Christian is a soldier of Christ and a
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soldiers of Christ. It is our responsibility to
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guard the spiritual blessings that we have received in Christ,
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which the enemy wants to take away from us.
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Again, he said the armor of God. We're not just putting on any
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armor like we're told to do this.
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We're told to do no, it is the armor of God.
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God is the owner and the provider of the armor.
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For the Bible says the weapon of our warfare, of our fights are
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not the weapons of the world, of the world.
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They have divine power. They belong to God.
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They are from God. He gives them to us.
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He provides them, and we must always look up to Him for this.
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They have divine power to demolish strongholds again.
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Paul goes on to tell us that we need to be very clear about who
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we are up against. He says we're not worrying
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against flesh and blood. We're not fighting one another.
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We're not fighting one. And we're not worrying against
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flesh and blood, you know, even worrying against your colleagues
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at work who are not, who don't come to church.
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We're not worrying against one another, not against flesh and
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blood. We are fighting Satan and his
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cohorts. And at this point, I'd like to
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address a common perception about or maybe this broad, that
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of course there's a spectrum or perception about spiritual
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reality of the devil. On one extreme, some people are
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hyper aware and they see the devil in everything.
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If this mic stands fall down, the devil is at work.
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If my microphone fails to work, we need to bind the devil, not
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check the batteries, you know? So there's that hyper awareness
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about the devil and they see the devil in everything.
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But there's this other extreme where people are completely
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dismissive of this reality. And Paul says he reminds us that
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we're in constant battle with the devil.
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Regardless of your mind, of your worldview, it doesn't matter
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what you think, we're in constant battle against the
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devil. This is what that is how CS
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Lewis puts it. He says 2 equal and opposite
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errors into which our race can fall about the devils.
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One is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to
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believe and to feel an excessive, unhealthy interest in
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them. They themselves, that is the
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devil and his cohorts are equally pleased by both errors
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and hail immaterialistic and a magician with the same delights.
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So you don't want to get into that point in your Christian
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life where you're just, you know, exciting the devil.
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You're making him laugh all the time to think he's winning.
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The Lord is pulling us to awareness.
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In the later part of this text. Paul then tells us how we fight
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the battle. Now between verses verse 12 and
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verse 18, that is 13 to 17, there are other things that have
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been said. So all I'm doing now is just to
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introduce it to you and we're going to go in depth, see each
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of the piece of the armor that we're supposed to put on.
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But then Paul talks about prayer here, and it tells us, this is
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how we fight the battle, this is how we put on the armor, and
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this is how we remain spiritually alert.
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So in the next few minutes, I want to spend time to look in,
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you know, a bit closer on each of these things Paul tells.
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So there are three things it tells us #1 he says, be
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strengthening in the Lord, be strong in the Lord #2 he says,
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stand against the schemes of Satan.
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And #3 he says be a lot and be prayerful always.
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So #1 be strong in the Lord. It is very important to
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understand that Paul tells us that as we approach spiritual
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combat, as we approach this conflict, spiritual conflict,
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that we combat from a place of strength.
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We don't, we're not coming in as weaklings.
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And it is very, very important, if there is anything that I want
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you to take away this morning is to know that we come from a
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place of strength. He says that our strength is
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rooted in our identity and position in Christ.
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Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind.
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Wherever you see the word in the Lord, in Christ, in God, in the
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Bible, it means that there is a relationship with God.
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There is a union with God, there's a union with Christ.
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And the basis of our strength is in our union with Christ.
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I just did a little summary of what we've done or what we've
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gone through in Ephesians, and you will find that we are
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blessed in the heavenly places with every spiritual blessing.
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We're chosen in him before the world was created.
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We're redeemed. We are God's own.
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We are alive in Christ. We're raised and seated with him
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in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
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We are God's masterpiece, and the Lord is saying we are God's
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masterpiece. We are God's treasure.
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If you have a masterpiece, you don't want to keep it around for
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children to fall over it and then it's broken.
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You want to treasure it. We are the apple of God's eyes.
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The Bible says our walls are continually before him on his
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palms. That is our identity.
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That is our position. And then he says we are brought
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nigh or we're brought near by the blood of Christ.
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Unhindered access, unhindered access.
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Oh God, there is, you know, God's power is limitless.
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Again, he says that in the power of his mind.
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I'm going to come to that in a bit, but I want you to
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understand that the our relationship with Christ is
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very, very critical, is very important.
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And John 15 verse four and five says Remain in me as I also
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remain in You. No branch can bear fruits by
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itself. It's must remain in the vine.
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Neither can you bear fruits unless you remain in Me.
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I am the vine, you are the branches.
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If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
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Apart from Me you can do nothing.
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The fruits of daily victory overseen the fruit of triumph
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over the devil in your everyday life.
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You cannot do that apart from Christ.
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The power is in Christ. All authorities in Christ and
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everything we've got or everything we need is in Christ.
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Paul said that be strong in the Lord and in the power of His
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might. He says that we have unlimited
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access to God's almighty power. It tells us the power of God is
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infinite. We know that from the Word of
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God, the strength of the Almighty God is limitless.
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His ability to conquer, his ability to defeat any for any
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enemy is absolute and unquestionable.
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Think about the pressure of water that comes to your house
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and my mind goes to the reservoir and the pressure, you
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know, depends the pressure of water from our tasks depends on
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some, you know, variables, you know, that is connected with the
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reservoir and all of that, the distance, how far away we are
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from the reservoir, the height of the reservoir or maybe peak
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time. When people, how many people are
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using what, for example, in my own house, if someone is using
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the, the, the bathroom tap and I and I'm using the shower, I
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found out that the pressure is varied for God.
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It doesn't matter how many people plug into the power.
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The pressure is unlimited. It's unhindered.
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It doesn't matter how far you are, the pressure is unaffected.
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We have unlimited access to the power of God and you need to
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understand this in Ephesians chapter 1 from verse 18 to 21.
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I'm just going to pick some things there.
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He says Paul was praying for us. I pray that the eyes of your
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heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope
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to which you to which He has called you.
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The riches of his glorious inheritance and the holy people,
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and it's incomparably great power for us.
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And then he says that power, that power is the same as the
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mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead
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and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly reign, far above
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principalities and powers. Now, if someone comes in here
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and say, oh, someone was dead in DCH and after a few minutes, he,
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he go back to life. We're coming with a skepticism,
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isn't it? But that is impossible.
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It can happen. And then if you do, you know, if
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you, if you have studied biomedical science like me, you,
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you start thinking about the, you know, the process of decay
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when someone dies. You know, what time did it
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happen? What time did you wake up?
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And no, that's impossible because that would have
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happened. That would have happened and
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even during the time of Jesus when Lazarus was dead for four
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days, his sister says by now he will be stinking.
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Let's forget about it. You know, Lord, don't worry.
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We know you are Lord, but that's OK.
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But Jesus says I am the resurrection and the life, the
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power of God. I raised the dead.
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If that is something awesome and amazing to you, that is the
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power in US and we come to this battle with that power.
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The Bible says put on, put on, Be aware and know who you are.
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Put on the full of God. Don't leave anything out #2
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stand against, stand against Satan's whiles or Satan's
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schemes. The Bible describes who we are
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up against. It tells us that not against
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flesh and blood, and it is very important for us to know who
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we're fighting with. As I was, you know, studying, I
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came across a quotes from a 5th century BC war strategist and
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philosopher. His name is Sun Tzu and he says
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if you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear
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the result of 100 battles if you know yourself.
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Now we know ourselves, we know where we are, we know who we are
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and we know where we are operating from.
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We know the power at our disposal, but we also need to
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know the enemy. So who is the enemy?
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It is very, very important. Now the Bible says not against
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flesh and blood, against principalities and against
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powers and all of that. That's very interesting.
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So just to be true to that word, I'm going to say that the devil,
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he said he's powerful, but he's not almighty.
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Nowhere he's described as almighty.
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He's not omnipotent. Yes, principality is powers and
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he talks about all of that. So that suggests to me that the
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devil has structures, he's got established networks, but he's
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not only present, he's not here everywhere at the same time, and
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he only relies on the information he gets.
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Yes, he's evil, but only evil in terms of the kind of things he
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does, Not evil in the sense that he's opposite to God, evil, the
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opposite of good. The devil is evil, but he is
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God's creature. He's not the opposite of God.
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He's not equal and opposite with God.
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So we need to get that very, you know, in our mind.
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But more importantly, there's this part of the devil that we
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must underestimate and that is the wiliness of the devil.
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How cunning the devil is. We underestimate the schemes of
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the devil. In Second Corinthians chapter 2
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verse 11, he says in order that Satan might not outwit us for we
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are not unaware of his schemes. Again Doctor Martin Lloyd Jones
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says I am certain that one of the main causes of the ill state
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of the church today is the fact that the devil is being
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forgotten. All is attributed to us and we
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we have all become so psychological in our attitude
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and and thinking. We are ignorant of this great
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objective fact, the being, the existence of the devil, the
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adversary, the accuser and his fiery deaths.
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What we try, what we're trying to do in this series is just to
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raise that awareness, just to remind us what again, to build
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faith in US and that God will help us to what be overcomers.
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So what are some of the things what what are some of his
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schemes? We're told here he accuses where
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you're praying and then something comes on your mind and
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it tells you, Oh no, you're not qualified.
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No, you're not accepted. Your past is bad.
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How could God forgive that? That's the devil, the accuser of
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the brethren. The Bible tells us that he is a
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father of lie. I mean, he's a liar himself and
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the father of all liars. The devil never tells the truth.
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He never, never tells the truth. And even when it comes to you,
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looks like he's quoting the Scripture, it's a lie.
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It's a lie. He's going somewhere.
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He's so subtle. When the Bible introduced us to
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the devil in Genesis chapter 3, he says the serpent was more
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subtle than any creature on the earth.
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You know, there's a law first mentioned when you are
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interpreting Scriptures. You want to go back.
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OK, when was this foresight? That is, that is the definition.
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That is who the devil is. He disguises himself, but also
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the devil we, you know, tense us.
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It brings temptation where he traps us.
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And that is that bit that I just want to highlight a little bit.
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He traps us. How does the devil trap us?
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In second? In second.
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Timothy. Yeah.
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Timothy, chapter 2, verse 25 and 26.
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As I was reading that, I looked at the word trap, and that's
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interesting. How does the devil trap us?
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Let me read that to you. I read it from verse 24.
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The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to
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everyone, able to teach, not resentful opponents must be
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gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them
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repentance, leading them to the knowledge of the truth, and that
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they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the
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devil who has taken them captive to do his will.
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What is Paul trying to say here? In the church, we oppose one
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another, we fight one another. The devil inspires division.
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He shows discord, and we forget about all of that, that the
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devil is about something. And we're really very like, OK,
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we need to sort this out. You know, we need to have a
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conversation. We need to do this.
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We need to do that. Basically what Paul is saying,
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you are running the devil's errand.
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You're doing the wheels. The devil, he delights when
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we're divided, because when we're divided we can never use,
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we can never access the power of the almighty God, which is for
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those who are united. Again, the devil, you know, he
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plucks the word of God out of people's hands.
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He robs us from fruitfulness, from the word of God.
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That's very, very important. And then he chokes faith so that
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it's unproductive. This morning we prayed before,
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you know, before the service and I'm sure we'll continue praying
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that every seed of the word of God sown in my heart and in your
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heart. Satan will not take that away.
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It will bear fruit in Jesus name.
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Lastly, he tells us to pray always and be allowed.
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Pray always and be allowed now. Note that Paul mentions prayer 5
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* 5 times in three verses. What is Paul trying to tell us
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here? He's telling us that prayer is a
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Christian's lifeline to God. You talk about a lifeline that's
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like, this is the means of survival.
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I cannot continue to live. The oxygen I need to survive is
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there. That's my lifeline.
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Prayer is a lifeline of a believer to God.
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Prayer is in the indispensable vital breath called, you know,
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connecting the Christian or the believer to God.
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Prayer is not merely a religious duty, but the only way we
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communicate with God, to cultivate an intimate
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relationship and access the spiritual strength that God has
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provided us to navigate our daily challenges and spiritual
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warfare, Tim Keller said. To pray is to accept that.
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It's accept that we are and always will be wholly dependent
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on God for everything. Prayer is an expression of our
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faith and our dependence on God. Paul says that we pray in the
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Spirit. Prayer is not a mechanical
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exercise. We pray in the Spirit and then
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we pray on all occasions. Sometimes when there is an
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issue, we're tempted to try our own things.
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And then maybe when we've tried everything that we could do and
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then we don't wouldn't think, OK, maybe I should pray.
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Pray is last resort. But Paul is saying pray on all
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occasions. When there's a problem, pray.
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When you're happy, pray. When you get on your car and
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you're about to drive, pray. Pray on all locations.
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Don't pray only when you get into trouble.
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Pray on all locations. And then he says all with all
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kinds of prayer, all kinds of prayer.
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Worship is an act of prayer. Praising God is a way to pray,
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you know, sometimes telling God, mourning and telling God, oh,
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this is the problem. This is what I've just, you
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know, absolutely OK, Go to the book of Psalms and you'll see
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all kinds of prayer, all kinds of prayer.
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And then he says for all people, just take a stock of your prayer
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life. Is it always been me, me, me,
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me, me, me, me, me? Yes, you're praying, but you're
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not obeying the full word of God.
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Pray for all people intercessions.
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And then he says, and also for me, pray for all ministers of
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the gospel so that they might preach the word of God with
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clarity and with courage. It is very important, therefore,
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that as Christians we cultivate our Christian life, our prayer
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life, and we learn to be praying.
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How do you learn to pray? You learn to pray by praying.
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You learn to pray. It's not by reading.
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Yeah, reading is good. It's can.
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It can inspire you, yes. But when you finish reading,
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drop the book and then pray. And sometimes it helps to get
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along. People who are praying to
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develop your spiritual muscles, your strength, your stabbina.
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You don't have to. Don't set high goals in prayer.
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I don't say I want to pray for 24 hours.
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Start by praying for one minute and do that consistently.
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We need to cultivate the habit of prayer.
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We have opportunities in church to pray, and that's a good way.
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Come along, come in on Sunday morning, 9:30, yes, 7:30 in the
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morning on Wednesday. Join us to pray.
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Let's pray together. Find someone who you believe you
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can see that God is helping them and then meet regularly to pray
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together. We need to be praying.
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Paul tells us prayer is very, very important.
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Dew chapter one verse 20 says, but you dear friends, building
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yourselves up in in your most holy faith and praying in the
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Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit. But alongside praying, Paul
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tells us that it is important that we are watchful.
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We are vigilant. Why do we need to be vigilant?
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Peter put gives us an answer. He says be alert and be of sober
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mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls
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around like a roaring lion looking for someone to divorce.
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The enemy is looking for someone to divorce.
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He never retires. He doesn't go on vacation when
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you sleep. The devil is working.
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He's finding ways, building obstacles, causing troubles.
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So we need to be watchful during Jesus earthly ministry.
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His, you know, he echoed these same words to his disciples and
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he told them, watch and pray. And in Mark he tells us what I
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say unto you. I say unto everyone what he was
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saying to his disciples. He said to all of us watch.
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Now as I conclude this, I just want to what does it mean to
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watch? So I've used the word acronym.
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Now, I mean, I've used an acronym.
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I mean the word watch as an acronym to spell out what are
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the things that we should be watchful about.
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And that is not it's not an exhaustive list, by the way.
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So there are quite a lot of other things, but I thought, OK,
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in the context with its small time we've got, let me just talk
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about these things and then some, of course, all of them, we
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find them in the scriptures. Watch watch your words.
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What's your words in efficient Efficient where we've read
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previously in Ephesians chapter, Let's just define that 429.
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It says do not let any unwholesome talk come out of
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your mouth. So what's your words?
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That thing you're saying? Is it going to inspire faith?
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Is it going to strengthen unity? Is it going to edify?
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Will you make that person grow as a person?
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Is he a nourishing spiritual meal for that person's soul?
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What's your words then? What's your anger?
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What's your emotions? Paul says, in your anger, do not
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sing. Do not let the sun go down while
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you are still angry. Do not and do not give the devil
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a foothold. That scares me a lot.
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Unresolved conflicts. The more the conflicts linger
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unresolved and you're waiting to have a conversation, you're
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giving the devil a foothold. Just a little foothold.
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Just a little foothold at one time, and then it leads to a
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stronghold. The devil takes possession, it
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takes ownership, and then it begins to oppress and to pass
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destruction. What's your anger?
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What's your temptations? But what's your companions as
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well? It tells us in Ephesians chapter
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5. It says, therefore do not be
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partners with them. In the verses before it talks
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about the disobedience, those who are not in Christ, those who
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rebel against the word of God and they, they have nothing to
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do with God, do not be partners with them, have nothing to do
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with the fruitless deeds of darkness.
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That's what the Bible says. So what's your companions?
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Because your companions will either multiply the grace of God
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in you or take away from the grace of God in you.
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They're either multipliers or they're dividers.
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What's your heart? Again, it describes people who
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have not experienced the grace of God and he says that the
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reason why they are the way they are is because of the hardness
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of their heart. Their heart doesn't respond to
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the word of God. It's hard not not responsive.
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How is your heart today? What's your heart?
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And then very important, watch the harmony, the harmony of the
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body of Christ, the unity of the body of Christ.
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He says in Ephesians chapter 2, he said make every effort to
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keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
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The ultimate purpose of God is that one new community, the
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Church of God. And anything we do to weaken the
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unity of the body of Christ, we are serving the devil's
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intention. He loves that.
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He's very happy about that. So this morning just want to
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invite the band up and I think that we've got lots of things to
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pray about. And as the band is coming up, I
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just want to tell a little story.
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It's about Peter. Jesus Christ told Peter, Satan
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has demanded to have you that he might sift you like wits.
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Jesus said I have prayed for you, but again, that was not
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enough. Jesus said you watch and pray,
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yes, people are praying for you, boy.
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You need to put on the arm of God.
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You need to watch and pray yourself.
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Peter fell into the temptation, but that's not the end of the
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story. Peter came back, he retraced his
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step and Jesus received him. Jesus strengthened him, and
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Peter has gone on to strengthen all you know, all the Christians
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you know since then. So this morning we have an
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opportunity. Where are you in this story or
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where are you in all of this? Maybe you are.
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You're not yet in. You're out.
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The Lord is calling you. Come in, come in, come in.
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Come out of the captivity of Satan and come into the dominion
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of the Almighty God. You've been a Christian this
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morning. You know, let's get alongside
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one another. Let's pray for one another so
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that we can be strengthened. Let me pray.
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Father, we want to thank you for this morning.
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Well, thank you for opening our eyes.
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Well, thank you for all that you're revealing to us.
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And I pray that this word that you've you've given us will make
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us better, will make us victorious Christians,
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triumphant Christians. I pray that your purpose for
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taking us through this book of Ephesians will not go in vain.
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Let it come to pass in our lives.
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Lord, take us to the next level in our Christian life.
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Jesus name Amen.