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Glory Days_ 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.
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Speaker 2: I am one.
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Speaker 1: But I am under no illusion that my word can
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Speaker 1: change a person. But just a whisper From the king
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Speaker 1: of kings. Can bring healing and hope. That is supernatural
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Speaker 1: and deep. And eternal. Amen. Amen. Well let's get to work.
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Speaker 1: Here's what you need to know. About the walls of Jericho.
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Speaker 1: They were immense. And they wrapped around the city. Like
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Speaker 1: a suit of armor. Two concentric circles. Circles of stone.
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Speaker 1: rising 40 feet above the ground. They were impenetrable. And
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Speaker 1: here's what you need to know about Jericho's inhabitants. They
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Speaker 1: were ferocious and barbaric and they withstood all sieges. They
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Speaker 1: repelled all invaders and they were guilty of child sacrifice.
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Speaker 1: They were a Bronze Age version of the Gestapo, ruthless
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Speaker 1: tyrants on the plains of Canaan. Until the day that
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Speaker 1: Joshua showed up, Until the day that the army marched in.
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Speaker 1: Until the day that the bricks cracked and the boulders broke.
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Speaker 1: Until the day that everything shook. The stones of the walls,
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Speaker 1: the knees of the king, even the molars of the soldiers.
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Speaker 1: And the untoppable fortress met the unstoppable force. And mighty
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Speaker 1: Jericho crumbled. But here's what you need to know about Joshua.
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Speaker 1: He didn't bring the walls down. God did. Joshua never
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Speaker 1: swung a hammer. Joshua never dislodged a brick. God did
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Speaker 1: that for Joshua and God will do that for you.
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Speaker 1: Your Jericho is your fear. Your Jericho is your anger.
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Speaker 1: Your Jericho is your insecurity, your anxiety, your proclivity to
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Speaker 1: overanalyze or criticize or compartmentalize Your Jericho is any mindset
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Speaker 1: or attitude that keeps you from moving into your promised land.
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Speaker 1: And in order for you to move forward in your faith,
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Speaker 1: the walls of Jericho must come down. That is true
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Speaker 1: for you, and that was true for Joshua. The setting
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Speaker 1: of Joshua is 1400 BC. The children of Israel had
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Speaker 1: spent 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: So I'd like for us to look at it for
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Speaker 1: just a moment. It's in Joshua chapter six in verse two.
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Speaker 1: And it begins this way. And the Lord said to Joshua, see,
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Speaker 1: I have given Jericho into your hand. It's king and
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Speaker 1: the mighty men of valor. God did not say, Joshua,
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Speaker 1: you go out there and take that city. Instead, he said,
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Speaker 1: I have given Jericho into your hand. I have taken
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Speaker 1: the city. Now you go and receive it. Already we're
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Speaker 1: picking up a major theme in the book of Joshua.
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Speaker 1: Joshua did not fight for victory. Joshua fought from victory.
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Speaker 1: Joshua did not fight for victory. Joshua fought from victory.
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Speaker 1: Joshua did not live out of circumstance. Joshua lived out
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Speaker 1: of inheritance. Those of you who like to write notes
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Speaker 1: in your Bible, Make note of the fact that the
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Speaker 1: word inheritance appears in the book of Joshua about 60 times.
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Speaker 1: It is the theme of the book of Joshua. The
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Speaker 1: theme of Joshua is not Joshua conquered the land. The
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Speaker 1: theme of Joshua is God gave Joshua the land. And
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Speaker 1: Joshua had enough faith to receive it. He received it.
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Speaker 1: He lived out of his inheritance there. And not out
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Speaker 1: of his circumstance. Do you know that when you gave
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Speaker 1: your heart to Christ, or if you've never done it,
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Speaker 1: when you do give your heart to Christ, something wonderful happens.
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Speaker 1: A supernatural miracle happens. And you go from being just
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Speaker 1: a regular Joe or a regular Judy to becoming a
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Speaker 1: child of the living God. a child of the living God.
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Speaker 1: Behold what love the Father has lavished upon us that
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Speaker 1: we should be called not employees of God or just
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Speaker 1: members of the kingdom, but we should be called children
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Speaker 1: of God. Next time you look in the mirror and say, behold,
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Speaker 1: a child of God, a person in whom the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit dwells, a person for whom the mercy The most
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Speaker 1: precious commodity in the history of the earth was spilled. Behold,
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Speaker 1: a child of God. The Apostle Paul says that not
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Speaker 1: only are we children of God, we are heirs of Christ. Yes,
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Speaker 1: co-heirs with Christ. I'd be happy to be an heir
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Speaker 1: of Christ, to be a distant descendant, to be whenever
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Speaker 1: they pass out the blessings just to pick up the leftovers.
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Speaker 1: But the apostle Paul says we are co-heirs with Christ.
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Speaker 1: We stand in line with the firstborn. And whatever Christ
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Speaker 1: can receive, we can receive. Whatever joy Christ can receive,
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Speaker 1: we can receive. Whatever strength is available to Christ is
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Speaker 1: available to you. Whatever hope is available to Christ is
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Speaker 1: available to you. We live out of our inheritance, not
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Speaker 1: out of our circumstance. Promised land people get this. Promised
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Speaker 1: land people don't think, well, because I have a problem today,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to have this problem forever. Promised land people
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Speaker 1: see their problems differently. They realize it's just a matter
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Speaker 1: of time before that Jericho comes down. And they're going
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Speaker 1: to press forward in faith. Promised land people do not say,
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Speaker 1: my mom was a gossip, my dad was a gossip,
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Speaker 1: my uncle was a gossip, my aunt was a gossip.
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Speaker 1: I come from a long line of gossips. I guess
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Speaker 1: I'll always be a gossip. Promised land people do not say,
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Speaker 1: everybody I know is a drunk. I come from a
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Speaker 1: county of drunks. My uncle was a drunk, a family
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Speaker 1: tree of alcoholism. That's going to be me. That's my destiny.
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Speaker 1: You stop that. Just stop that. I mean it. Stop it.
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Speaker 1: You can't think that way as a children of God.
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Speaker 1: People I know in my age are getting older. I'm not,
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Speaker 1: but everyone else is. It seems like more and more
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Speaker 1: of 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 this.
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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 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 2 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.
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Speaker 2: 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 comes, He's going to
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Speaker 1: tell every lie. He's going to bring down every saint
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Speaker 1: that he possibly can. He has no desire to do
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Speaker 1: anything for you except evil. Evil. He knows your name.
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Speaker 1: And he knows where you live. And he desires to
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Speaker 1: do nothing. But he traffics in deceit like a meth
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Speaker 1: dealer traffics in dope. He passes it out. And he
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Speaker 1: does nothing but lie. Jesus said he's the father of lies.
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Speaker 1: He's never spoken a word of truth. His ploy is
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Speaker 1: to lie to you, to get lies inside your head.
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Speaker 1: But here's the good news. Here's the good news. Greater
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Speaker 1: is he who is in you than he who is
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Speaker 1: in the world. Greater is he who is in you
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Speaker 1: than he who is in the world. As Christians, we
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Speaker 1: do not obsess ourselves with the devil. We do not.
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Speaker 1: We do not obsess ourselves with darkness, with the cults,
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Speaker 1: with demonic presence, with principalities. We don't obsess ourselves with
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Speaker 1: trying to figure out who they are. What we do
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Speaker 1: is we focus on Christ. We focus on Christ. We
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Speaker 1: glance at the devil, but we focus on Christ. But
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Speaker 1: we are not so naive as to think that all
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Speaker 1: of this is a material battle. It's not. It's a
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Speaker 1: spiritual battle. It's a spiritual conflict. And we're caught up
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Speaker 1: in the middle of it. And we're followers of the
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Speaker 1: great king of kings, the victor, Jesus Christ. And greater
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Speaker 1: is he who is in us than he who is
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Speaker 1: in the world. And we are wise to learn how
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Speaker 1: to engage in spiritual battle as our Lord has taught
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Speaker 1: us to do so. This is how Jericho walls come down.
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Speaker 1: The apostle Paul does not call our Jerichos Jerichos. He
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Speaker 1: calls them Strongholds. In 2 Corinthians 10, 3, he says,
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Speaker 1: Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
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Speaker 1: according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
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Speaker 1: are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down, what? Strongholds.
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Speaker 1: Just as Jericho was a stronghold that had to come
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Speaker 1: out in order for Joshua to march in, there are
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Speaker 1: strongholds in your life that need to come down so
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Speaker 1: you can march in. Now, our strongholds are not made
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Speaker 1: out of bricks. Our strongholds are made out of thoughts,
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Speaker 1: out of philosophies and opinions. We learn this from the
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Speaker 1: Apostle Paul. He says the weapons of our warfare are
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Speaker 1: mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments
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Speaker 1: and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
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Speaker 1: of God. So a stronghold is an argument. It's a philosophy.
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Speaker 1: It's an opinion. It's a precept. It's Any high thing,
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Speaker 1: it sounds lofty, but it sets itself up against the
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Speaker 1: knowledge of God. Does a stronghold have a stronghold on you?
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Speaker 1: Maybe you've heard some of these strongholds. Maybe you've had them.
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Speaker 1: God could never forgive me. That's evidence of a stronghold.
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Speaker 1: The person who says God could never forgive me is
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Speaker 1: living in the shadow of a Jericho. That's a stronghold
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Speaker 1: of guilt. I could never forgive that person. I could
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Speaker 1: never forgive them. That's a stronghold of resentment. We know
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Speaker 1: it's a stronghold because that's a lie. I'm not saying
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Speaker 1: it'd be easy to forgive that person, but you could.
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Speaker 1: By the power of God, you could. But if you
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Speaker 1: don't think you could, then that's a stronghold that's keeping
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Speaker 1: you from moving forward in your faith. Bad things always
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Speaker 1: happen to me. That's a stronghold. That's a lie. Bad
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Speaker 1: things don't always happen to you. But if that is
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Speaker 1: a part of your belief system, if you filter your
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Speaker 1: 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, strong hold. I'm only as good as
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Speaker 1: the car that I drive or the house in which
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Speaker 1: I live or the clothes that I wear. I'm better
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Speaker 1: if I have more. That's a stronghold of materialism. Strongholds
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Speaker 1: are lies. They're just lies. They're deceitful lies that come
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Speaker 1: from the source of all lies, the devil. And the
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Speaker 1: first step in bringing down your stronghold is saying, Lord,
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Speaker 1: what strongholds are in my life? What strongholds right now
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Speaker 1: are in my life? And you listen And the Lord
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Speaker 1: Jesus will reveal that to you. And I believe he's
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Speaker 1: also revealed to us through the study of Joshua how
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Speaker 1: those strongholds come down. So just quickly, look what Joshua did.
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Speaker 1: He put God right in the center. He put the
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Speaker 1: Ark 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.
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Speaker 3: Right?
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Speaker 4: 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, 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
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Speaker 1: nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication. Let your
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Speaker 1: requests be made known to God. And you begin quoting
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Speaker 1: this scripture 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
23:09
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, turns,
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Speaker 1: and runs? Right now, this is the safest place in
23:36
Speaker 1: the city.
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Speaker 2: Why?
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Speaker 1: Because we're collecting our hearts in corporate worship, making loud,
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Speaker 1: proud proclamation of Jesus Christ. Does that make sense? These
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Speaker 1: are ram's horn declarations. We use scripture. We use prayer.
23:54
Speaker 1: We use worship. This is spiritual warfare. This is Christianity 101.
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Speaker 1: This is meat and potatoes. This is blocking and tackling.
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Speaker 1: This is just the raw stuff that we Christians do.
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Speaker 1: And we can all do this because we all have scripture,
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Speaker 1: we all have prayer, and we can all worship. Not
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Speaker 1: everybody can sing as well as others. Not everybody memorizes
24:21
Speaker 1: passages as easily as others. Not everybody seems to have
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Speaker 1: the same prayer passion, but you know what? We can
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Speaker 1: all do something and you can do this. You can
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Speaker 1: do this. And as you do, these Jericho walls are
24:35
Speaker 1: going to start coming down. Lady came up to me
24:40
Speaker 1: recently at our service in San Antonio and asked if
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Speaker 1: I would pray for her eight-year-old son. He was passing
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Speaker 1: through a time of fear. He was having trouble sleeping.
24:47
Speaker 1: Even at the young age of eight, he was beginning
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Speaker 1: to see visions that were keeping him awake at night.
24:53
Speaker 1: And so we prayed. I took him back in the
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Speaker 1: prayer room. I told him what I've been telling you,
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Speaker 1: that every battle is ultimately, at its root, is a
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Speaker 1: spiritual battle. And that a real battle is not against
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Speaker 1: flesh and blood, but it's against the devil. And that
25:06
Speaker 1: the real battle is fought here between our ears and
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Speaker 1: what we think. Because the devil's always whispering lies. And
25:13
Speaker 1: so I told him that just because you have a thought,
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Speaker 1: you don't have to think it. Just because you have
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Speaker 1: a thought, you don't have to think it. And I said,
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Speaker 1: whenever there's a thought that comes that brings you fear,
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Speaker 1: you reach up and you take it out. And I
25:30
Speaker 1: gave him an exercise that I used to give my
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Speaker 1: own children when they were small. I said, just take
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Speaker 1: your hand, grab that thought, pull it out and throw
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Speaker 1: it in the trash. And then replace that thought with
25:39
Speaker 1: a truth. And I gave him a Bible verse to memorize.
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Speaker 1: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
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Speaker 1: Just that much. And so instead of going down that
25:47
Speaker 1: thought trail that the devil brings you, go down a
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Speaker 1: truth trail. I can do all things through Christ who
25:54
Speaker 1: gives me strength. We prayed for him, anointed him with oil.
25:57
Speaker 1: His mom sent me this email a few days later.
26:00
Speaker 1: Since last week, the images are gone. He's no longer
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Speaker 1: seeing them. He's doing well in school. He's enjoying reading
26:06
Speaker 1: the book of Genesis. God gave us Psalm 25, 5
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Speaker 1: to memorize. Lead me in your truth and teach me
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Speaker 1: for you that you are the God of my salvation.
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Speaker 1: On you I'll wait all the day. And he recites
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Speaker 1: this verse every night. This has brought him closer to Christ.
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Speaker 1: He uses the strategy of throwing the fearful thoughts away
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Speaker 1: in the trash can. I asked, what made the thoughts
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Speaker 1: go away? He said, God made them go away. And
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Speaker 1: another Jericho bites the dust. This is how victory happens.
26:36
Speaker 1: Little by little. Thought by thought. Day by day. Word
26:40
Speaker 1: by word. Scripture by scripture. Thought by thought. Day by day.
26:44
Speaker 1: Word by word. Scripture by scripture. Sometimes we have massive victories.
26:49
Speaker 1: But most of the days it's just this step by
26:52
Speaker 1: step decision. That today I'm going to take every thought captive.
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Speaker 1: And I'm going to bring it into the presence of God.
26:58
Speaker 1: And as we do those Jerichos begin to To crumble.
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Speaker 1: That's what happened in the story of Joshua. I closed
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Speaker 1: my book too soon. Let's see how it ends. Joshua
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Speaker 1: chapter 6 and verse 15. On the seventh day they
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Speaker 1: rose early about the dawning of the day and they
27:21
Speaker 1: marched around the city seven times in the same manner.
27:24
Speaker 1: And the seventh time it happened. When the priests blew
27:27
Speaker 1: the trumpets, the Joshua said to the people, shout, for
27:30
Speaker 1: the Lord has given you the city. So the people
27:33
Speaker 1: shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened
27:36
Speaker 1: when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and
27:39
Speaker 1: the people shouted with a great shout that the wall
27:42
Speaker 1: fell down flat. And then the people took the city.
27:47
Speaker 1: And the very walls that had kept them out became
27:49
Speaker 1: stepping stones over which they could climb. Does a stronghold
27:54
Speaker 1: have a stronghold on you? May the Lord reveal it
27:59
Speaker 1: to you. Are you living out of your circumstance or
28:05
Speaker 1: out of your inheritance? May he reveal to you your inheritance.
28:13
Speaker 1: Are you stuck in the dry lands of the wilderness
28:16
Speaker 1: rather than the glory days, the promised land of the
28:19
Speaker 1: king of kings? Then this is your day. This is
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Speaker 1: your day that you're going to begin moving forward into
28:25
Speaker 1: a new victorious season of life. And may God bless you.
28:29
Speaker 1: And I'll be looking for you in the promised land.
28:32
Speaker 1: Thank you, Lord, for your good word, for the blessings
28:35
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ, our King of Kings. We thank you
28:38
Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen.
28:42
Speaker 4: I was 19 years old when I gave my life
28:45
Speaker 4: to the Lord and everything changed. I didn't have any
28:48
Speaker 4: desire to go back to that old life. I wanted
28:51
Speaker 4: to walk with the Lord and learn more about him.
28:54
Speaker 4: And some people helped me to learn the Bible and
28:57
Speaker 4: to learn how to pray and to learn about my
28:59
Speaker 4: new life in Christ. And that's what we want to
29:02
Speaker 4: do for you. I am so excited that you've given
29:05
Speaker 4: your life to the Lord. He's forgiven all of your
29:07
Speaker 4: sins and you're on your way to heaven. But we
29:10
Speaker 4: need to learn some things now about the Bible, about prayer,
29:14
Speaker 4: about some basics of the Christian life so that you
29:16
Speaker 4: can be victorious and live for the Lord like I
29:19
Speaker 4: know you want to. So we've designed a class called
29:22
Speaker 4: Fresh Start, and I want to encourage you to sign
29:25
Speaker 4: up for this class because we want to help you
29:27
Speaker 4: grow in your walk with the Lord now. I love you,
29:31
Speaker 4: and I'm so proud of you.
29:42
Speaker 2: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
29:49
Speaker 2: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
29:58
Speaker 5: I don't need to hold you near me Don't need
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Speaker 5: promises to keep.
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Speaker 1: Just the thought that.
30:06
Speaker 6: You are breathing Somewhere in this world I see.
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Speaker 5: Even if I'm not beside you Even if you never
30:16
Speaker 5: know There's a quiet kind of comfort Just in knowing
30:22
Speaker 5: you still glow.
30:26
Speaker 2: I don't need forever.
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Speaker 7: I just need you to exist.
30:37
Speaker 3: You don't have to stay with me.
30:40
Speaker 6: You don't have to feel the same Just as long as.
30:44
Speaker 3: You're still out there Calling softly through my days You
30:50
Speaker 3: don't have to look my way You don't have to
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Speaker 3: be my home.
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Speaker 1: It's enough to know you're living I.
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Speaker 6: Won't chase you through the distance Won't disturb your chosen
31:12
Speaker 6: life I'll just keep you in my silence Like a
31:17
Speaker 6: star that shines at night.
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Speaker 2: Through the dark and through the blue.
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Speaker 1: I still think of you.
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Speaker 6: You don't have to be my home It's enough to know.
31:40
Speaker 3: You're living In a world I'm not.
31:43
Speaker 7: Alone I don't need to be your light I don't
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Speaker 7: need to cross your mind All I need is.
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Speaker 2: Just the truth That you're somewhere.
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Speaker 1: Still alive.
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Speaker 8: You don't have to stay with me You don't have to.
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Speaker 3: Feel the same.
32:36
Speaker 8: Just as long as you're still out there Calling softly
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Speaker 8: through my days You don't have to look my way
32:47
Speaker 8: You don't have to be my home It's enough to
32:51
Speaker 8: know you're living
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Speaker 7: In a world I'm not alone.