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Your Spiritual Journey · Relish: a Christian podcast

• 0:00
  Music.
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  To flavor, to be pleased or gratified by, enjoy.
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  We are hoping that what we bring to your table today might add some spice to your life.
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  Hi, Rowan. How's it going, Don? So far, so good. A little icy out here on the Iowa roads.
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  Very icy. We're taping this on an ice storm in Iowa.
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  So welcome to Relish. Relish is the aftermath of TMAD, and we've heard some good reviews.
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  It's good to have you join us, Rowan. And we thought maybe on this first part
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  of this episode, maybe we ought to talk about why instead of TMAD,
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  which was Thursday morning, Alex and Don, we talked about Relish.
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  And I think when I brought up the term Relish, you looked at me a little funny
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  and Alex actually looked at me a little funny.
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  And then I said, well, you guys think about it a while. And then when we came
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  back and we're ready to record, it seemed like Relish was all right. Yeah.
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  Because, and it came to me rather interestingly because we were trying to think
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  of a name for this broadcast that would be different, that would come up well in the ratings.
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  And I was thinking in October,
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  reminding myself of the times when it was just about ready for the first Killing
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  Frost and mom would send us to the garden and we would pick every green vegetable out there.
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  So it'd be all the pickles and the green peppers and tomatoes.
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  And from all that, mom would make relish. And that would be the relish that
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  we'd have all winter to put on things.
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  And, you know, there's also, I like to turn a phrase once in a while and use
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  words different ways. And you can relish the thought, you know, of something.
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  It adds a little spice to what you're thinking.
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  And so that's how we came up with this. As a Christian podcast,
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  adding a little spice to your day, hopefully, and maybe a little different slant
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  on some of the issues that we've talked about.
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  And of course, having a young person in the conversation adds a little bit of
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  an extra perspective to it because you're about the age of my grandson,
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  my oldest grandson. Yeah.
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  Yep. And so we're spanning two generations here thinking about the questions
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  that the Bible raises. So we hope you relish the thought.
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  And Rowan's got a couple of good questions ready for us this morning.
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  I do. And we'll head out on those. What do you think, Rowan?
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  I think we're going to start off hard on you. Oh, great.
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  Let's make him sweat right away. Okay.
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  So in the spirit of making new Christians, what is our job in the process of
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  this? And how do you do it?
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  What's most effective for you? And then how far do we go into that process?
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  Like, do we go all the way to them accepting Jesus, like right then and there, or how far do we go?
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  And I, it almost is different with everybody because people are nudged by the
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  Holy Spirit differently at different times.
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  One of the first things I try to do when I come up against, come to somebody
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  who I don't know, and maybe I'll see their eyes downcast.
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  Maybe I just get this ache in my spirit to say something. Yeah.
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  To me, the best opening that I have is, how can I pray for you?
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  Because most people, even with a agnostic background, don't mind you praying
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  because they don't think it's going to do anything anyway.
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  So asking that at least engages you in a conversation in a way that says,
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  so where are you at today?
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  What are you thinking today? And allows me then the opportunity to hear where
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  they're at and to speak into it. The second piece is that we speak with integrity.
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  We don't make pie in the sky kind of statements, you know, oh God, I'll make it better.
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  It'll never turn out that way. You don't have to worry about that.
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  We just say, well, yeah, that's a real concern. I'll raise that in prayer and be as real as possible.
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  So if you're not a preacher and you don't know the whole Bible,
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  you just don't make it up.
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  But say, hey, that's a really good question if they come to you with a question.
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  And I know somebody who has that answer. And so then you can take them to the
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  person who maybe would be better able to answer that question.
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  Probably the most important thing when you're working with someone who isn't
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  a Christian is to create and maintain a relationship so you have the conversation.
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  That does two things. It not only creates the conversation for Christ's sake,
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  but it gives them an in with somebody who's listening.
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  I think we easily discount the fact that one of the things that is probably
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  foremost in our society right now is a sense of isolation and loneliness.
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  And if there's anything the church can be right now, it's a friend.
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  Yeah. A friend to the lonely and those who are isolated.
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  And in some ways, even the podcast is creating friendships where people can respond.
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  And we're not present in your living room or on your phone or,
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  but we do care and we're open to conversation. Yeah.
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  So pray for them. Pray for them. Integrity and then keep the relationship with them. Yeah.
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  Sounds good. Next one. Did I get all the pieces of that question?
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  You did. Because sometimes, you know, I sort of glaze over the top like I am.
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  Yep. You answered it for me. Okay.
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  Second one. How relevant is the spiritual realm in our lives?
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  What's your experience? And are people demonized still today that we see?
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  And what are ways around that and protecting ourselves?
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  Kind of like parts of that question. There's three parts to that question.
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  And it's a really good question because in our secularized society,
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  even the church has become secularized in regards to the spiritual realm.
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  And if you really want to dig deep in spiritual things, Michael Heiser has a
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  book called Unseen Things, Unseen Realm, and it really goes deep.
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  But if we just limit ourselves to Paul and Jesus, we realize that there's a
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  warfare going on around us all the time that we are only.
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  Vaguely aware of. I mean, even Paul in Hebrews says that we might be entertaining angels unaware.
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  So that unseen realm is around us at all times.
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  And in Ephesians 6, Paul would say, our fight isn't against flesh and blood,
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  but against rulers and principalities and powers of the unseen world,
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  the spiritual realm.
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  So Paul's acknowledging that peace.
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  Spiritual warfare is going on right
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  now. As a young pastor, I did have the opportunity to exercise a demon.
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  And at that point in my ministry, I really was not, shall we say,
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  equipped to really say that was cool.
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  It scared me.
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  I bet. And so now in my older years, as I've seen spiritual warfare going on
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  in churches, I realize that, well, it's not something that we can just not talk about.
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  We need to talk about it. We need to deal with it.
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  Marcus Warner in one of our sessions said that even Christians can have maybe
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  between 7 and 17 demonic kinds of presences.
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  It's not really – they don't possess you, but you can be oppressed.
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  There can be a bondage, a stronghold, or a soul tie, and it can plague us.
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  So the last part of that question is, what do we do then? Yeah.
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  And one of the things that I think we as Christians need to do first of all
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  is acknowledge that there's an unseen realm that we're dealing with and that
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  we need to take it seriously.
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  It is on the same sphere that the Holy Spirit nudges us.
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  And so if we're not aware of the fact that the Holy Spirit is working with us
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  and nudging us and gifting us, then likely we're not going to be aware of demonic spirits,
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  evil spirits, and their influence on our lives.
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  So we need to acknowledge this piece that spiritual warfare is going on,
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  spiritual things are happening.
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  The second is, I like the way you said it, protect ourselves.
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  Yeah. We need to protect ourselves. One of those protections is to be in the
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  Word, because God reveals himself in the Word, so he informs us.
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  The second thing is, if we hide the Word in our heart,
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  then just like Jesus did in Matthew 4, we have a way of knowing whether what's
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  influencing us is holy spiritual or demonically spiritual.
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  Because that's what happened in that same, even Satan used scripture.
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  And so if we don't have a handle on scripture and know that,
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  okay, this is in line with God's word and God's intention in the word, or it's not.
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  Then we can't test spirits very well without knowing the word.
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  So that's the first piece. Be aware of it.
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  Second piece, be equipped with the word. And the third piece is then pray.
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  And I'd say pray in a defensive way,
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  maybe even offensive way at times, and pray that any demonic presence in your
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  life would be bound and cast to the foot of the cross.
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  Be aware that when you have an unclean or invasive thought, that probably isn't
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  the Holy Spirit doing that.
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  It's probably a different spirit, and you bind that and set it at the foot of
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  the cross. Let Jesus take care of it.
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  Pray a hedge of protection. Pray that the Holy Spirit would so fill your house,
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  so fill your room, so fill the church when you worship,
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  that you would feel the Holy Spirit's presence shoving every other kind of spirit
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  out on its can so that the whole spirit of the room is changed.
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  And then watch God show up.
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  We know it'll come. Yeah. Well, I've, I've watched,
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  I've been in a service where I, all of a sudden I was preaching along and we
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  were, I mean, it was obvious the Holy spirit was there and there was anointing
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  and, and all of a sudden the candles blew out.
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  Wow. And you sort of, everybody else noticed it, but me, I didn't notice it.
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  And, and so you just aware that, that there's a, a spiritual war going on.
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  Around us, and we who are Christians, who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
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  confessed his name with our mouth, and believe in our hearts that God raised
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  him from the dead, we are covered in the blood of Jesus Christ.
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  The victory has already been made for us. And so then we just need to live into
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  that victory and be ambassadors for the kingdom.
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  Like 2 Corinthians 5, verses 18 to 22, we become Christ's ambassadors,
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  reaching out for God, as if God wants to hug the world to himself.
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  So it's a whole, yeah. Did I get all that question? You did.
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  I like when you said Satan uses scripture too.
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  I never thought about that, but he did. He did.
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  Took it out of context. Yeah, so things like that we need to be aware of because,
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  oh, it's said in the Bible, but it's not in that way. Yeah, not in that way.
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  And the downside is almost all of us have a Bible or two or three or four on our bookshelves.
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  Yeah. But the amount of biblical illiteracy that is in our churches is sad.
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  They know a couple of good scriptures
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  in the right places that defend a certain aspect of their faith.
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  But knowing it, I mean, it's just one book. I mean, look at all these books.
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  You can read a lot of books.
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  But all that God wants us to do is to know this book and know it well.
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  Yeah. And be able to defend ourselves with it. I mean, it's called the sword
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  of the spirit for a reason.
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  Because it is our defense. It is our defense. It's the only offensive weapon we're given.
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  It is the only offensive of the armor of God. Yeah.
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  Oh, good, Rowan. You knew that. Good job. I'm impressed. I'm impressed.
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  All right. Is that, I think that's about it for today.
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  Oh, it is. Yeah. Our time went rather quickly. It did. Yeah.
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  Probably for you guys too.
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  And we hope it did. and we hope this finds you blessed today and until we see
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  each other again, God bless.