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Not only from external sources, 
but from, you know, internal 

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things too, where we, where we 
rely on Christ, we rely on his 

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word and we renew our mind. 
And then we finished up with the

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sword of the spirit, kind of the
first offensive piece here, but 

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that we have the truth of the 
word, the divine word right here

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in front of us. 
And that's that's really our 

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main tool as we go out to, to 
attack, to defend and attack 

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against what the devil's work is
doing. 

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So first discussion question for
you guys in your groups. 

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So as we think back over the 
last six weeks or so, what is 

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the piece of armor that you have
the hardest time putting on, if 

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you will? 
And why might that be? 

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Which of these things, and I'll 
go back to the list here, which 

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of these things is maybe the 
hardest for us to put on or to, 

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to recognize that we have this 
to help us as we go into 

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spiritual, spiritual battle. 
So let's take a few minutes talk

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about that and then we'll, we'll
come back with our answers 

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there. 
All right. 

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So what, what are, what are some
of the things that we that we 

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came up with here? 
What's, what's a challenge for 

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us to put on? 
Yeah, yeah. 

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We start to rely on ourselves. 
Yeah. 

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Helmet of salvation. 
We start to rely on ourselves 

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and, and, and the protection 
from our own works. 

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I think that's true for a lot of
these. 

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I think about that even in terms
like the breastplate of 

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righteousness. 
Yeah. 

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I guess I have an image in my 
head of, you know, if if you're 

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wearing damaged armor, say 
against that, you know, against 

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the flaming arrows of the enemy,
you know, if there's giant holes

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in that armor, you can get hit 
pretty easily. 

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And, and so often, you know, as 
a believer, all of these things 

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are true of us. 
We have all of these things. 

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We have the peace of the gospel,
we have the righteousness of 

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Christ, we have the truth of his
word, all of these things. 

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But if we're if we're living in 
a sense where we're trusting in 

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our own understanding, we're 
trusting in our own works, 

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doesn't do us a whole lot of 
good. 

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Absolutely. 
What else did we talk about? 

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Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 
So, yeah, the the shoes, the 

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gospel of peace, we go and share
the gospel that we have that 

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peace aspect of the gospel. 
And there's a natural, in fact, 

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we're going to talk about that 
later today. 

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There's that natural tension 
that we have where there's 

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boldness and there's, there's, 
you know, gentleness. 

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And these things work together 
as we share the gospel with 

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other people. 
And sometimes people are going 

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to hear it harshly because there
is a harsh aspect. 

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I mean, the gospel tells you 
that you're a Sinner. 

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But sometimes, sometimes in our 
passion, we maybe we make the 

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blow harder than it has to be. 
I think that's sometimes true. 

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Yeah. 
Absolutely. 

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Yeah. 
Truth, truth. 

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Truth is one of those things. 
And sometimes while we should. 

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I mean, we, we, we rejoice in 
truth. 

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But sometimes when it comes to 
we should. 

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I don't know that we should 
necessarily find excitement and 

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joy in in sending, you know, the
harshest truth to somebody and 

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seeing their, you know, almost 
as if it's like the world 

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deserves to hear this. 
I want I'm I'm finding some 

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enjoyment out of you hearing 
that you're condemned. 

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You know that that's that, that 
doesn't that seems if we look at

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that tension, you know, there's 
going to be a spectrum there, 

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but we can hear that and go, 
well, that sounds out of balance

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for for sure. 
But sometimes I think that is 

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the approach that that can be 
taken and sharing the gospel. 

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Yep. 
Yeah. 

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Heart's not in the right place. 
Absolutely, absolutely. 

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Yeah. 
We have to remember, remember 

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that where we came from and what
Christ did for us. 

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And that should lead us to a 
place of of of thankfulness. 

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Really. 
So, right. 

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So, so as we continue on 
yourself, again, the first piece

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of preparation, and it's an 
important piece. 

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It's something that we spent 
eight of the 10 verses you're 

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talking about is we've got to 
put the armor on. 

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And again, the reality is the 
armor is their present for us 

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believers, but we have to put it
on and we have to trust in in 

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that's of our understanding. 
Yeah, sure, Yep, sure. 

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Absolutely. 
There is there is a a heavy 

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piece here in in, in man's 
responsibility to to to be 

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obedient to live the the life 
that God has called us to. 

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We got we right. 
We have to we have to put that 

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on. 
So so then verse 18 here's going

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to be our next focus. 
So this is the second piece of 

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preparation. 
You got the armor on is the next

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thing to run straight out into 
battle? 

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No, the next thing that Paul 
talks about is prayer. 

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And that's something it's it's 
interesting. 

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You know, we've just spent a few
of the last sermons we've had 

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have been on prayer about how 
not to pray, about how Jesus 

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gives us an example to pray and,
and, and here's another example 

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that Paul gives us. 
And, and I think this is 1's 

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interesting because we're really
specifically here talking about 

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kind of the prayer of going into
battle. 

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What what is that mindset? 
What are we praying about as 

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we're facing the challenges of 
the enemy? 

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So verse 18, it says praying at 
all times in the spirit with all

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prayer and supplication to the 
end, keep alert with all 

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perseverance, making 
supplication for all the Saints.

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So I think there's there's a few
things here that I want to key 

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in on that verse for us to focus
on. 

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The first one being we're called
to pray at all times, prayers 

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continually. 
And this isn't the only time we 

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see it. 
We see this also First 

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Thessalonians 516 to 18 says 
rejoice always pray without 

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ceasing, Give thanks in all 
circumstances for this is the 

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will of God in Christ Jesus for 
you. 

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So I think that begs a question,
what does it mean to pray 

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without ceasing? 
Because I think that could be 

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kind of confusing. 
Sometimes we have this idea of 

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does that mean that I do nothing
in my day except for pray? 

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Well, I don't think that 
necessarily lines up with what 

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we see in Scripture or what we 
can recognize in our lives. 

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There's other things we are also
called to do as believers, but I

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think there's there's kind of 
two things I think we can think 

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about here. 
First is we do need to be a 

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little bit radical in our prayer
life. 

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So before we go on to maybe what
this looks like, other than 

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spending hours and hours and 
hours every day in prayer, maybe

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let's sit on that for a second 
and go for many of us, maybe 

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we're not really spending any 
time in prayer. 

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And so we could look to 
Colossians 4234, continue 

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steadfastly in prayer, being 
watchful and it with 

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Thanksgiving. 
And then he goes on from there 

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to talk about some other things.
We're going to come back to this

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first in a little bit, but it's 
a steadfast thing, something 

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we're supposed to be doing 
consistently. 

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It takes time. 
Just like any relationship where

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you're you're, you're talking 
with somebody, a friend or a 

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family member, you know that 
that relationship takes time. 

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So for some of us, an 
application here, even as we're 

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looking at our own lives, maybe 
for some of us there is really 

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consistent prayer and praise the
Lord for that. 

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I think for a lot of us, and I, 
and I can confess this in my own

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heart often is that that piece 
of spiritual discipline is often

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lacking. 
And prayer becomes something 

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that's leaned upon just when 
there is a need or when you know

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an acute need in the moment or a
situation. 

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But it's like we need to be in a
place where that where we have 

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dedicated time, where we are 
spending with God. 

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And so we don't want to be 
legalistic about prescribing 

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that. 
I'm not sitting here to say 

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everybody needs to go into a 
closet for at least an hour a 

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00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:33,920
day to pray. 
I don't think that's the heart 

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here. 
But before we move on, I do, I 

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think sometimes we have we hear 
something like this and we say, 

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OK, praying without ceasing 
doesn't mean 24 hours a day, but

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it also doesn't mean nothing. 
It means that there's going to 

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be some consistency to our 
prayer life. 

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But the second thing here, I 
think, is when we, when we get 

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into what does it look to pray 
without ceasing? 

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There's a big piece of too, 
which is I think when we're in a

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healthy place in our prayer 
life, there becomes this kind of

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running dialogue with God. 
And so it's not so much a moment

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of of, you know, I'm, I'm 
specifically in a, in a place in

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a time on my knees and prayer 
about specific things. 

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But it's we're going through our
days and as situations happen, 

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we're processing that with God 
right there at our side. 

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I think, I think Mike shared a 
story recently about, about 

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heading out kind of in the 
middle of nowhere on the road. 

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Deer jumps out and, and, and you
say something like God is right 

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there because you're talking to 
it. 

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And that I think that's exactly 
the picture here is we're going 

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through life. 
Stuff happens around us and 

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stuff, crazy stuff happens in 
life. 

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And our, our, our thought, 
almost as if, you know, we had a

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friend next to us and you see 
something crazy, you're going to

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say, how'd you see that happen? 
Or you know this or that? 

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It's just like God's right there
with you. 

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And so I think that's a healthy 
place for us to strive to be 

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where we do have that running 
dialogue. 

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But I think a piece of that too,
is that comes after that. 

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Usually I think that's going to 
come after there is dedicated 

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time in prayer in the word as 
well. 

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So we're supposed to pray at all
times. 

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The next thing is we're supposed
to pray in the spirit, which 

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begs the question, what does 
that mean? 

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And I think we could ask 
ourselves how many of us find 

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that often when we're praying, 
we finished praying and we 

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really don't even know what we 
said. 

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It became very rude. 
I can raise my hand to that. 

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I I think that happens more 
often than I would like to 

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admit. 
And, and, and you know, that's 

185
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not necessarily what we're 
looking for here. 

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We see Matthew 6. 
We talked about this just a few 

187
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weeks ago. 
It says when you pray, do not 

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00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,400
heap up empty phrases as the 
Gentiles do, for they think that

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they will be heard for their 
many words. 

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00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:41,440
This would be clearly the 
example of not praying in the 

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00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:45,840
spirit where we're just saying 
words and they have no meaning. 

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00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,440
And I, and I want to specify to 
hear, you know, I don't think 

193
00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:58,040
that means that that there's no 
value to a consistent prayer 

194
00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,120
that we say over and over again 
that has similar words. 

195
00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:05,440
I think there can be value in 
that if there is the right heart

196
00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:06,960
posture with that. 
In fact, I think there can be a 

197
00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,640
lot of value that I think about 
bedtime with my kids every 

198
00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,640
night. 
We pray about different things, 

199
00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:17,440
but the prayer always ends the 
same for us, which at their, you

200
00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:19,720
know, the kids are young, they 
don't yet know Christ. 

201
00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,120
And so the prayer really is that
they will come to know Christ 

202
00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:27,120
and we pray every night that 
they will come to know and love 

203
00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,240
the Lord with all their heart, 
soul, mind and strength. 

204
00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,080
That's that's something we pray 
every night. 

205
00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:33,040
But there's meaning and thought 
to that. 

206
00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:35,960
It's not just words that we say.
Now, even then, I can admit 

207
00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:38,960
probably some days after a long 
day, those words come out and I 

208
00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:40,280
don't think about them very 
much. 

209
00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,480
But the heart posture is, you 
know, our family type, we want 

210
00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:46,200
to have a consistent prayer that
we're saying over and over again

211
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,040
over our kids. 
So I think there's value to 

212
00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:49,440
that. 
But at the same time, if that's 

213
00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:53,040
all we have in our prayer life 
are a set of prayers that we say

214
00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:56,280
at different points during the 
day that are the same thing. 

215
00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:59,280
And, and we, it's very easy for 
us to lose heart in that. 

216
00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:05,440
So in the spirit means that, you
know, we're going to have prayer

217
00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:07,920
where we are dialoguing with God
again. 

218
00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:11,200
And, and often times we can look
right into his word to find the 

219
00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:13,720
words to pray. 
If we're struggling with that, I

220
00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:16,040
have found much value and I know
others have too. 

221
00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:18,720
And praying the Psalms, you 
know, you can open a Psalm, you 

222
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:20,240
can read it. 
You can see the heart of the 

223
00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:22,760
prayer there. 
And even if you maybe maybe you 

224
00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,400
start just verbatim saying the 
words and then, and then as you 

225
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start to do that, your heart 
starts to open up, you start to 

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expand on it and you start to to
key in on something that David 

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or one of the other psalmist 
said. 

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And, and the Spirit works 
through that, works through his 

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word. 
And so all that to say, praying 

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in the Spirit certainly means, I
think a correct application of 

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Matthew 6-7, which is it's not 
heaping up empty words. 

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However, exactly what that looks
like really is about the heart 

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position. 
Are we, are we really 

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communicating with, you know, 
through the Spirit as we're 

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doing this, or are we just 
saying words as they come to 

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mind? 
The next one that he pulls out 

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is with supplication. 
We try to model this on a 

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Sunday. 
Supplication is one of the, it's

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the S in the Acts acronym that 
we that we pray through. 

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And the idea here, this is the 
part of prayer where we request 

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things of God. 
Now, the interesting thing is I 

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think for a lot of us sometimes 
for a lot of us, supplication 

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is, is really all there is in 
the prayer. 

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And so that's not a healthy 
balance, but at the same time, 

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God asks us to ask things of 
him. 

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And so it is clearly in here 
that one of the things we're 

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supposed to do, even as we're 
heading out into battle is to 

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pray, request to God, request 
that he is with us in that 

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request that he will provide us 
the strength to fight that 

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battle. 
And, and, you know, as I think 

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about this, it's just one of 
those crazy things about, about 

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how God has chosen to work with 
us as his people is, is that we 

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are actually commanded in 
Scripture to ask the God of the 

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universe of all things. 
We're commanded to ask him for 

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things. 
And that is just wild. 

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Now, of course, we've got to, we
have to put this in perspective,

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right? 
We aren't called, you know, the,

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the, the call here is not 
request something and it will 

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automatically be given to you. 
Ask for the bigger house, the 

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00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,200
bigger car, for, for health, 
this or that. 

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00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,840
Not to say that you can't ask 
for those things in the right 

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heart mindset, particularly I 
think about health. 

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You know, we, we certainly can 
pray for health. 

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But you know, I've, I've heard 
it said often times when it 

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comes to, to prayer requests, we
can, we can get a yes and no or 

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a wait. 
And often times, I think we see 

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this in scripture too. 
Often times there's a wait and 

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maybe in Scripture it's, it's 
something is prayed and then it 

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comes through a chapter later. 
And in our mindset, you know, as

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we've read it, that was a 10 
minute difference. 

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But for them, that was decades. 
I think of Abraham and, and, 

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and, and Sarah, I asked him for 
a child. 

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I mean, that was decades long 
process that played out. 

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But God answered that prayer. 
It just took time and sometimes 

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we pray things and that's not in
the will of God. 

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And, and there is certainly we 
could spend a whole bunch of 

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time trying to think about, you 
know, that God calls us to pray 

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that he already knows what's 
going to happen. 

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00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:28,840
That that Scripture in places 
talks about the kind of almost 

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00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:31,400
as if God's plan changes based 
on the prayers that we have. 

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00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,080
All of those things are really 
tough to fit together. 

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00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:36,600
And again, we're not going to 
spend much time there this 

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00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:40,240
morning, but we can, we can 
recognize that tension and we 

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00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:43,400
can be encouraged by the fact 
that somehow, someway God 

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00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:47,520
chooses to have us pray and 
somehow, someway those prayers 

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00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,240
matter in the grand scheme of 
things. 

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And so that's something that we 
can find encouraging and it 

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00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:57,160
should lead us to thankfulness. 
This is a verse that comes to 

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00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,600
mind for me often. 
Philippians 4/6 do not be 

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anxious about anything, but in 
everything by prayer and 

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00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:05,720
supplication with Thanksgiving. 
Let your request be known to 

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God. 
I think that's a good, healthy 

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00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:08,960
place for us. 
It's not necessary specifically 

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00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,200
in this in this passage to the 
in Ephesians, but we see it 

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00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,280
elsewhere in Paul's writings 
that supplication is very often 

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00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:19,000
paired next to Thanksgiving. 
We're asking for things, but 

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00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,040
we're also coming to that with 
with a thankful heart. 

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00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,920
The last one we're going to 
focus in on here is this call to

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00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:32,280
be alert and to persevere. 
Yeah. 

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00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:34,960
When when we're talking about 
spiritual warfare, again, the 

301
00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,920
mindset here is essential. 
And often times, I think why we 

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00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,880
don't put on the armor is that 
we have been lulled to sleep. 

303
00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:44,000
We're not being watchful and 
alert. 

304
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,520
And so we're talking about a 
prayer going into battle. 

305
00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:48,200
We're supposed to be praying at 
all times. 

306
00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,960
We're praying in the Spirit, 
we're asking for things of God 

307
00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:54,440
with the right heart mindset, 
but we're also supposed to be 

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00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:58,240
alert because just like a 
watchman, you know, waiting for 

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00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,760
an attack to come, you know, you
can't fall asleep on the job. 

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00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:07,000
We could go back to Colossians 
4, two to four, continue 

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00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,600
steadfastly in prayer, being 
watchful, and it would 

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00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,600
Thanksgiving at the same time. 
Pray also for us that God may 

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00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:15,320
open to us a door for the Word 
to declare the mystery of 

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00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,880
Christ, on account of which I am
in prison, that I may make it 

315
00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,280
clear, which is how I ought to 
speak. 

316
00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:24,640
This is really taking us on to 
what our next point is going to 

317
00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:26,960
be, which is where do we go in 
spiritual battle? 

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00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:31,040
Where do we go with this armor? 
You know, he's saying pray for 

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00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,640
us with all of these things 
steadfastly in prayer, watchful 

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00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:37,480
and Thanksgiving, requesting 
things of God so that we can 

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00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:39,000
open doors to go share the 
gospel. 

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00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,880
And that's where we're going to 
go here in just a minute. 

323
00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:46,360
But before we do that discussion
question for your group, what is

324
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:50,440
something from verse 18 that it 
can encourage your prayer 

325
00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,640
habits? 
I'll stick this list back up 

326
00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:53,960
here. 
We're talking, you know, and 

327
00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:55,880
maybe it's something else, but 
here's a place to start. 

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00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,120
When we're when we're looking at
our prayer habits, the 

329
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:03,680
disciplines that we have there, 
what do we see in this verse 

330
00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,599
that can be something maybe we 
recognize that needs a little 

331
00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:08,079
work. 
And I can be encouraged by this 

332
00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:12,280
passage in my prayer life here. 
So let's take a few minutes 

333
00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:13,960
there and we'll come back and 
talk about that. 

334
00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:18,400
All right, in the in the 
interest of time, we're going to

335
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:20,839
keep rolling here, but I hope 
that those conversations were 

336
00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:24,280
helpful for you guys in your 
groups there at. 

337
00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:26,839
So we've talked about the 
preparation. 

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00:17:26,839 --> 00:17:30,120
Now we're talking about we're 
going on on offense here. 

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00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:32,000
And so again, what are we 
supposed to do? 

340
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,120
We've put on this armor. 
Do we put on the armor just to 

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00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:36,600
sit back? 
Well, we can take the example of

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00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:39,200
Paul in this past and say, OK, 
Paul's put on this armor. 

343
00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,120
What's what's he doing? 
What is he asking for prayer 

344
00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:45,440
here is as as he's talking to 
the Ephesians. 

345
00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:50,960
And so that really takes us to 
to verse 19 and 20, which I'll 

346
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:54,840
read real quick here. 
It says and also for me that 

347
00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,600
words may be given to me and 
opening my mouth boldly to 

348
00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,520
proclaim the mystery of the 
gospel for which I am an 

349
00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:05,600
ambassador and change that I may
declare it boldly as I ought to 

350
00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,280
speak. 
A couple things as we kind of 

351
00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:11,000
close our time out here, we 
think back on again, we've got 

352
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:12,280
the armor on. 
We've talked about that. 

353
00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,680
Where do we go with this? 
We're called the boldly proclaim

354
00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:19,520
the gospel. 
And the first piece here is that

355
00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:22,440
we've, we've got to open our 
mouths in order to do that. 

356
00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:27,720
You know, I, I've heard it said,
you know, you know, you could 

357
00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,320
share the gospel and when 
necessary use words. 

358
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:35,120
And, and I to, to be clear, I, I
mean, I, I understand the heart 

359
00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:38,920
position there is to say that if
we're going to go share the 

360
00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:41,560
gospel, that we have to have the
actions to back it up, that we 

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00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:45,840
have to love people well. 
And I would completely agree 

362
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:47,320
with that. 
However, I think where that gets

363
00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:51,960
off track is Scripture says that
how are they gonna hear if we 

364
00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:55,880
don't tell them There there is a
point where the general 

365
00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:59,040
revelation of what is around us 
is not enough for somebody to 

366
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,240
come to salvation. 
They need the special revelation

367
00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:04,760
that is in the Word and they 
need somebody to to do that. 

368
00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:07,800
And, and in God's Providence, 
he's decided to use, you know, 

369
00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,960
broken vessels like us to be the
ones that go and proclaim that 

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00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:14,640
in ordinary circumstances. 
Not that he doesn't act 

371
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,360
miraculously in some cases, but 
the ordinary process by which 

372
00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,360
God takes the word to those that
don't know it is through us. 

373
00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:27,000
And so we, we see here Romans 
1014 and 15 it says, how then 

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00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:29,520
will they call on him and whom 
they have not believed? 

375
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:32,360
And how are they to believe in 
him and who they have not heard?

376
00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:34,840
And how are they to hear without
somebody preaching? 

377
00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,600
And how are they to preach 
unless they are sent as it is 

378
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,440
written? 
How beautiful are the feet of 

379
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,960
those who preach the good news. 
So that's the first thing here 

380
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:46,280
is in order for the, for the 
gospel to go forth, we have to 

381
00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:47,960
be bold in the way that we 
speak. 

382
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,600
The second thing I wanted to to 
key on here a little bit is just

383
00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,760
this boldness in the 1st place. 
Again, we talked a little bit at

384
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,560
the beginning. 
You know, there is we're we're 

385
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,360
going to talk about that tension
between boldness and love. 

386
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,760
But I do think in a lot of ways 
in our culture, a boldness has 

387
00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,640
been put to the, to the back in 
the sense that we're kind of 

388
00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:11,880
told, you know, like, what are 
the two things that you don't 

389
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,960
talk to other people about? 
You don't talk about politics 

390
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:16,320
and you don't talk about 
religion. 

391
00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,200
And the politics is a whole 
another question. 

392
00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:20,360
We're going to at least talk. 
About religion here, which is to

393
00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:24,120
say absolutely we should be 
calling others to Christ and the

394
00:20:24,120 --> 00:20:27,400
fact that we as the church have 
fallen into a place where we say

395
00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,480
we don't want to offend people, 
so therefore we're just not even

396
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,520
going to try that. 
That's just a complete 

397
00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:35,640
dereliction of duty. 
Again, there's a tension here 

398
00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,160
where we can have some hard 
conversations about where does 

399
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:41,760
boldness fit in with with doing 
things with gentleness and 

400
00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:43,760
respect. 
But certainly the answer is not 

401
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:46,800
to just do nothing. 
So we see that we talk about 

402
00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:50,160
Proverbs 28, One, the wicked 
flee when no one pursues, but 

403
00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:54,360
the righteous are bold as a lion
in some ways. 

404
00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,760
You know, as we see on one hand,
the world around us is going to,

405
00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:00,840
you know, the world is going to 
do what the world does, which is

406
00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,120
sin. 
So it shouldn't be shocking to 

407
00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:06,520
us that the world around us does
things that are not in line with

408
00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:08,880
Scripture. 
At the same time as we see 

409
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:12,400
culture moving so many, I think 
blazing directions that are 

410
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,480
against Scripture, we can look 
and see maybe part of that's 

411
00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:17,200
because the church has not been 
bold. 

412
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:19,840
You know, they flee when no one 
pursues. 

413
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:24,600
And so we are called to be bold 
as a lion in this passage. 

414
00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:28,760
But we also have first Peter 315
and 16, a verse that maybe it's 

415
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,120
pretty familiar to us. 
But in your hearts, honor Christ

416
00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:35,320
the Lord as holy, always being 
prepared to make a defense to 

417
00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,320
anyone who asks you for reason, 
for the hope that is in you. 

418
00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:42,720
Yet do it with gentleness and 
respect, having a good 

419
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,400
conscience so that when you are 
slandered, those who are value 

420
00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,320
or good behavior in Christ may 
be put to shame. 

421
00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:52,160
So we're called to be bold. 
That much is clear in Scripture.

422
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:55,080
We're also called to share the 
gospel with a measure of 

423
00:21:55,080 --> 00:22:00,400
gentleness and respect. 
You know, as even as the passage

424
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:02,600
we have today talks about, we're
ambassadors for Christ. 

425
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:05,520
We are, we represent him here on
earth. 

426
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:10,120
And so we ought to represent him
in a way that that properly 

427
00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:12,840
reflects his character. 
And we can look all through the 

428
00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,480
gospels in Jesus time and 
ministry here, we see both. 

429
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:20,080
We see boldness that would make 
people blush in the church a 

430
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:24,520
little bit today. 
We also see kindness and mercy 

431
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,280
extended in ways that would 
challenge us today. 

432
00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:30,640
And so we we have to recognize 
that tension. 

433
00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:36,960
And I think back in our passage 
in verse 19, it says also for me

434
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,760
that words may be given to me 
and opening my mouth boldly to 

435
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,760
proclaim the mystery of the 
gospel. 

436
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,480
That gets to a bit of that here.
There's a mystery here in 

437
00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,440
exactly what the exact balance 
here is. 

438
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:51,800
And then part of that, you know,
this passage talks about having 

439
00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:54,120
a good conscience. 
And and that's to say, you know,

440
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:57,800
that that we align our 
conscience to God's will. 

441
00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:00,000
But we know all through 
Scripture it talks about this, 

442
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,760
we know that we may not even 
find a place where we all as 

443
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,120
believers can, can agree on 
exactly where that line is. 

444
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,760
Our consciences may be a little 
bit different on that. 

445
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:12,720
But as we seek to align that 
with Christ, we have to know 

446
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:14,600
that there is boldness. 
We have to go. 

447
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,720
We speak the gospel, but we also
have to do it with love, 

448
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,680
gentleness, respect. 
And some thoughts I just wrote 

449
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:22,800
down as I was thinking through 
this. 

450
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,640
You know, we, we don't just get 
when we're sharing the gospel, 

451
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:30,560
we don't just share the love of 
Christ, although we should 

452
00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:32,280
certainly share the love of 
Christ. 

453
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:37,480
We don't just help people see 
the depth of their sin, although

454
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,240
we definitely need to help 
people see the depth of their 

455
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,880
sin. 
We don't just teach people how 

456
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,920
how Jesus taught us to live in 
in, in kind of a way where 

457
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,520
Christianity becomes a moral 
list of codes where we say live 

458
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:53,680
like this and everything will be
OK because that's not the 

459
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,120
gospel. 
However, we should certainly 

460
00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:59,600
teach people how Jesus taught us
to live as believers. 

461
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,720
We have to share in a sense the 
the whole truth and nothing but 

462
00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:05,960
the truth, right? 
We have to share all of that 

463
00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,000
together with the death, 
resurrection of Christ and the 

464
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,440
call to repentance that comes 
with it. 

465
00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,280
And the thing here too is, as 
Paul says here, there's a 

466
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,800
mystery to the gospel. 
And that should be encouraging 

467
00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:20,880
to us in the sense that as we go
out to share the gospel, we may 

468
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,600
not have all the answers for any
question that anybody will ask. 

469
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,120
And that's OK because there's 
some things that we don't know 

470
00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:31,480
the answer to, but we can in 
humility point them to Scripture

471
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:33,800
and say, this is what I believe.
And this is where the, you know,

472
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:38,320
the bedrock of my faith and, and
I and there is faith involved. 

473
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,440
We don't know every little bit 
of in peace to it, but also we 

474
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:46,320
can be encouraged that God is in
complete control over over the 

475
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,760
results of our evangelism. 
And that's not to say I think it

476
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,440
is a good just like any other 
spiritual discipline, it is a 

477
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:57,360
good and worthy endeavour for us
to seek to improve upon how we 

478
00:24:57,360 --> 00:24:59,840
share the gospel. 
Try to become more clear in the 

479
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:03,800
way that we explain the gospel. 
Try to have a deeper and deeper 

480
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,920
knowledge of, of the theology 
behind the gospel. 

481
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,760
All of those things are 
absolutely things that we should

482
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:14,560
try to improve upon. 
However, I could look back in 

483
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,000
evangelism in my life, there 
have been times where I felt 

484
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,720
like I barely got the gospel out
and there might have been some 

485
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,880
heresy in there, I don't know. 
And God worked in that. 

486
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:25,800
And there have been times where 
I'm sitting there like, that's 

487
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,360
the clearest presentation of the
gospel that I've ever given. 

488
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,400
And God, you know, has chosen 
not to work in that act. 

489
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,840
And, and that is that is up to 
God. 

490
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:39,400
So all that to say, good for us 
to, as we grow in our faith and 

491
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,080
become more mature believers to 
try to be better and better at 

492
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,680
sharing the gospel. 
But we also have to know that it

493
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,960
does not depend upon us. 
God will do what God will do, 

494
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:52,760
and He will work through us as 
we are faithful, even when the 

495
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,400
results aren't necessarily the 
results that we're looking for, 

496
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,320
that we don't get to see the 
results. 

497
00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:59,600
Maybe it's one of those times 
where we share the gospel with 

498
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:03,320
somebody and 10 people later 
sharing the gospel to them, they

499
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,120
come to know Christ and God used
that to plant a seed. 

500
00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:07,520
We don't know how he's going to 
work in that. 

501
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:13,160
The last thing that I wanted to 
point to today as we look is we 

502
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:17,600
have to remember here Paul is in
prison as he's talking about. 

503
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:22,600
He's an ambassador in chains and
that's a reminder for us to 

504
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,440
count the cost. 
That's the place we're going to 

505
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:30,000
end today. 
I heard a quote this week from 

506
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,520
Joel Beeke, who I think the men 
have been reading through a book

507
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,600
that he wrote. 
And he said he's somebody that 

508
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,880
writes a lot of books, does a 
lot of seminary work. 

509
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,360
He's travelled around the world 
and met thousands and thousands 

510
00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:44,240
and thousands of Christians. 
And he said he's met thousands 

511
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,040
of Christians around the world, 
many different situations and 

512
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,680
cultures, but he's never met a 
Christian who said they wish 

513
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,000
they had lived their lives for 
Christ less. 

514
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,640
Many times we find situations 
where we say, I wish that I had 

515
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,440
been more faithful. 
I wish I hadn't had a season of 

516
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,680
my life where I backslid as I 
focused on other things. 

517
00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:09,840
We will not be put to shame by 
spending more and more of our 

518
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:13,600
time trying to and more and more
of our effort trying to put this

519
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,640
armor on, pray and share the 
gospel. 

520
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:21,800
Those are fruitful endeavors and
and that leads right into the 

521
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:23,800
sermon today. 
We're going to be talking about 

522
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,600
treasuring Christ and the fact 
that there is there is a 

523
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:30,200
heavenly reward, not an earthly 
reward for what we do in 

524
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,240
faithfulness as believers. 
And so that's something that we 

525
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,800
can look forward to as we count 
that cost. 

526
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:38,040
So last thing, I will pray for 
us here in a couple minutes. 

527
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:40,720
We aren't going to come back 
together on this question, but 

528
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:42,400
in your groups, let's just take 
a couple minutes. 

529
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:44,720
What is something that we've 
discussed today that you can 

530
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:48,280
apply to your life this week as 
you think about getting real 

531
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,080
practical? 
What is something in your life 

532
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:54,080
this week that you you can do in
light of what we've read in 

533
00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:56,440
Scripture this morning? 
So let's do that and then I'll 

534
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:57,600
pray for us here in a couple 
minutes.