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Being in Albania is very 
interesting because I believe 

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that was my fourth trip to 
Albania, but they've been 

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smaller, more strategic trips 
this time. 

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To go there with 15 people, be 
targeting church services and 

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ministering to some of the 
people there, it's crazy. 

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Did you know in Albania some 
people are discriminated on 

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based on the color of their 
skin? 

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It's weird. 
We got to minister in a part of 

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Albania with what is known as 
the Ramani population. 

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We would have known them in 
previous times as Gypsies, but 

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they don't like that word. 
Gypsy comes from the root. 

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They believe that they came from
the region of Egypt. 

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They actually probably descended
from the region of of India, but

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they're all relegated to a 
certain part of town because 

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they look different. 
And so it's just interesting to 

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be able to be there and to 
minister. 

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I mean, it shouldn't be 
comforting to know that the same

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problems happen, but in a in a 
weird way, it, it was a little 

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comforting. 
And we ministered there the same

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way we ministered in the other 
parts of Albania. 

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It's interesting because again, 
for it to be predominantly 

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Muslim, a lot of people don't 
realize this, but they're 

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waiting for Jesus. 
There's something about that 

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name isn't there for Christians.
We believe hardcore in what 

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Jesus did, and we're waiting for
him to come back. 

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For Jewish people, they're 
waiting for the Messiah to 

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arrive. 
Muslims are waiting for Jesus to

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arrive and confirm the words of 
Allah. 

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No matter which way you slice 
it, we're waiting for Jesus. 

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But you have to have the right 
view of who Jesus is, because I 

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feel very confident that when 
Jesus comes back, he's probably 

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not going to confirm the words 
of Allah. 

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However, Jesus died for the 
people who worship him today. 

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Jesus died for the people who 
are worshipping Allah. 

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He desires for them to come home
to the Father. 

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He died for the people who mock 
him and act like he's not real. 

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And he died for the people who 
are living in open rebellion. 

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And God loves us so much that he
gives us the decision on if we 

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want that free offer. 
Not everybody knows that that 

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free offer is out there. 
Not everybody believes that the 

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free offer is a real thing, and 
that's where our job comes in. 

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You can turn to Ephesians 6, but
it's going to take me a minute 

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to get there, so you'll have 
plenty of notice when I start 

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reading Ephesians 6. 
You can't freak out, OK, because

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you'll have a lot of time. 
I've not been able to be here 

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last Sunday, and I would have 
loved to have dressed you 

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personally, but this past week 
has been one of the most divided

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that I have ever seen. 
And for somebody who hates to 

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talk about politics from the 
pulpit, here we go with the 

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death of Charlie Kirk. 
I have watched people go to war 

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on social media. 
And I need to be really clear at

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the start of this, we cannot let
the great division stop us from 

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the Great Commission. 
When I was in Albania, I posted 

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a video on my own personal 
Facebook just trying to 

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encourage people to do hard 
things, have hard talks and give

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grace to one another. 
Jesus said if you hold anger in 

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your heart that you're a 
murderer. 

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And I've seen a whole lot of 
murderers behind their keyboards

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this week. 
But in response to my video, 

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I've received both incredible 
encouragement from people and 

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I've also received some of the 
most hateful messages that I 

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have ever gotten in my entire 
life. 

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I would say this comes along 
with being a pastor. 

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It really just comes along with 
being a Christian. 

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This is a couple weeks ago I 
talked about existing in the in 

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between. 
You do not live to please 

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people. 
And it doesn't matter what side 

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that they are on you. 
You live to please the Lord 

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wherever that falls. 
Some were upset that I did not 

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take a stronger stance in my 
video and talk about how 

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Christian Charlie Kirk was. 
That is not my job. 

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Some were upset that I even 
referred to him as a Christian 

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at all. 
That is not my job. 

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I have to preach Jesus. 
I cannot preach Charlie Kirk. 

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If you were somebody who was a 
big fan of Charlie Kirk, then 

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what you have seen is that much 
of his life preached Jesus. 

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I don't think he would want you 
to preach him. 

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He would want you to preach his 
Lord. 

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If you are somebody who found 
some of his videos off putting, 

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if you are somebody who did not 
appreciate the way that his 

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rhetoric was said, scroll on by.
There is an article on The 

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Associated Press, other places 
too, that talks about how within

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hours, and I'm saying this 
within hours, tons of Russian 

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bots and other simulated 
programs were dumped into the 

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Internet. 
So those who lean conservative 

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were inundated with videos that 
are all of the very best moments

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of Charlie Kirk and those who 
don't lean quite as right. 

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We're all inundated with either 
things that were taken out of 

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context or that we're off 
putting statements that he made.

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This will shock you, but 
Christians can sometimes say 

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things that are offensive, OK? 
But systematically and 

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00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,960
strategically, these algorithms 
targeted us and we were like, 

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putty in their hands. 
And so in the wake of somebody 

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being horrendously murdered on a
live stream, we couldn't just 

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unite around the fact that we 
shouldn't celebrate death. 

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Now, part of the calling of a 
Christian means that we don't 

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run from hard conversations. 
So one of the most vocal critics

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of Charlie Kirk, Van Jones, 
wrote about this a couple of 

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days ago. 
And I want to read most of what 

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he wrote because there's a lot 
to cover today. 

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But I think this is important, 
anybody familiar with Van Jones 

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as well as Charlie Kirk, because
normally we don't always get 

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familiar with both. 
Any you don't say who anybody 

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agree with one of those people 
more than the other? 

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OK. 
All right. 

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In response to some comments 
that Charlie Kirk had made about

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other graphic acts of violence 
that have happened, Charlie had 

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talked about how he believed it 
was fueled by anti white hatred.

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And so here's what Van Jones 
said. 

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He said the gruesome killing of 
a white woman by a black man was

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motivated solely by anti white 
hatred, according to Charlie. 

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And he said, I denounced those 
comments on CNN. 

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He went on TV and denounced my 
denunciation. 

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And then he unleashed a fire 
hose of tweets challenging my 

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argument. 
He said Charlie Kirk's pushback 

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sparked an online torrent of 
racist death threats against me,

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the likes of which I've rarely 
seen. 

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In case you don't believe that 
those things happen, I want you 

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to know they happen. 
That is not the only place that 

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there were death threats based 
on race. 

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A flood of them happened, and 
security had to be heightened in

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a variety of areas in the wake 
of Charlie Kirk's death. 

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I'm not saying that's what 
Charlie would have wanted, but 

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I'm saying that's the direction 
that a lot of people took it. 

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People have issues, he says. 
Then in the middle of all of 

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this, Charlie Kirk reached out 
and this is the message. 

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He sent a screenshot of it that 
Charlie Kirk had sent to Van 

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Jones. 
He said, Hey, Van, I mean it. 

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I'd love to have you on my show,
to have a respectful 

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conversation about crime and 
race. 

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I would be a gentleman, as I 
know you would be as well. 

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We can disagree about the issues
agreeably. 

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And then Van wrote. 
Unfortunately, before I could 

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even respond, Charlie Kirk was 
killed, seemingly assassinated 

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for words he'd spoken, Van said.
I'd take an issue with many of 

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those words, sometimes strongly,
but never his right to speak 

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them, never his right to express
those views and then go home to 

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his family. 
That is a sacred American value.

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And he said condemning murder is
not hard. 

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So it was not hard for me to 
condemn his murder immediately 

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without qualification and in 
unconditional terms. 

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And he did. 
He didn't say anything about I'm

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sorry that Charlie was murdered,
but fill in the blank about 

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other thoughts on him. 
He just said today's attack on 

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Charlie Kirk is an absolutely 
horrifying and heartbreaking. 

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He fought with words, not 
weapons, and there is no place 

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for political violence in our 
society and those responsible 

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must be swiftly brought to 
justice. 

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My prayers are with Charlie's 
loved ones, the traumatized 

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00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,960
students at Utah Valley 
University and all who have been

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00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:18,680
impacted by the senseless act, 
he says. 

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I was born in 1968, he said, 
into a country being torn apart 

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by riots and assassinations. 
I don't want to go back to that.

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None of us should. 
And as he goes on, he goes on to

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say, don't get tricked into 
violence. 

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He said Charlie and I didn't 
give up on open debate and 

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dialogue. 
And he said we didn't wish harm 

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on one another. 
We don't want more bloodshed in 

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our country. 
We don't want more funerals in 

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America. 
Most political pundits and 

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influencers are not trying to 
spark some kind of civil war. 

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We're doing our jobs and 
fulfilling our callings the best

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that we can. 
And when things get out of hand,

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usually somebody calls somebody,
we try to talk, we seek repair 

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because we each just want to be 
able to say our piece and then 

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go home to our kids. 
That's it. 

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00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:11,120
So he goes on to just really 
push this idea that he would not

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have condoned anything that 
happened there. 

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And so from the get go, we need 
to recognize that liberty. 

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I believe that we need this more
than ever. 

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We do not need to soften our 
faith. 

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We do not need to compromise 
what we know to be true. 

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But we do need to stop confusing
people as the enemy because the 

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real, the real battle is deeper 
than what we see on the surface.

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In Ephesians 6, chapter 12, you 
had plenty of time. 

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I told you it was coming, Paul 
says. 

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For we are not fighting against 
flesh and blood enemies, but 

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against evil rulers and 
authorities of the unseen world,

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against mighty powers in this 
Dark World, and against evil 

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spirits in the heavenly places. 
This is the war that we don't 

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see. 
The devil knows that if he can 

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keep us swinging at each other, 
then we'll never swing against 

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him. 
Sometimes I've made the joke 

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00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:08,160
before, You know, I don't have 
enough energy to fight the 

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00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:10,120
Baptist and the devil at the 
same time. 

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It's a joke, but it's true. 
I don't have enough energy to 

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fight political wars for people 
and fight for the gospel. 

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Sometimes you can win an 
argument, but you can lose the 

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person. 
I had somebody ask me if I 

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00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,000
thought that there were 
conspiracies pulling some of the

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00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,680
strings in recent memory, and I 
said absolutely, but I don't 

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00:10:29,680 --> 00:10:31,200
know who they are or what they 
are. 

193
00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:32,880
And I also don't lose sleep over
it. 

194
00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:35,160
And I had that person ask me 
why. 

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00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:37,040
Well, here's another scripture 
for you. 

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00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:41,560
But Isaiah 812 says don't call 
everything a conspiracy like 

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00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:44,920
they do, and don't live in dread
of what frightens them. 

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So I guess what I'm telling you 
is that the Bible is clear that 

199
00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,520
you should not get tricked into 
chasing shadows, fighting 

200
00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:53,240
people, or being consumed with 
fear. 

201
00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,400
If you spend all of your time 
fighting the wrong battles, 

202
00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,640
you'll never win the real one. 
The real battle is for people's 

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00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:01,560
souls. 
Here's the problem. 

204
00:11:01,680 --> 00:11:04,120
We see this war against people. 
It's in our face. 

205
00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:06,920
We are inundated with it behind 
there, yeah, there are 

206
00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,280
conspiracies. 
There are people who intend for 

207
00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:11,000
bad things to happen. 
There are people that pull 

208
00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:14,120
strings. 
But behind those people is the 

209
00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,680
real battle. 
And every single person that 

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00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:18,680
we've mentioned on either side 
of the aisle is somebody who's 

211
00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:23,680
made in the image of God. 
Ephesians chapter 6, I'll start 

212
00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:26,480
it in verse 10, which goes just 
before the verse that I just 

213
00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:27,800
shared with you. 
And I want to read through the 

214
00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:31,360
armor of faith and today hear 
the scripture like it is not a 

215
00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:33,800
kids lesson. 
Oh yeah, you built the armor of 

216
00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:35,880
faith and brought me a 
construction paper shield. 

217
00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,120
This is for you and I, because 
we're at war. 

218
00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,400
Listen, a final word. 
Be strong in the Lord and in His

219
00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,240
mighty power. 
Put on all of God's armor so 

220
00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:49,240
that you will be able to stand 
firm against all strategies of 

221
00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:50,880
the devil. 
How many strategies? 

222
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,240
All of them awesome. 
We're listening, OK? 

223
00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:56,200
For we are not fighting against 
flesh and blood enemies, but 

224
00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:59,080
against evil rulers and 
authorities in the unseen world,

225
00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,240
against mighty powers in this 
Dark World, and against evil 

226
00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,160
spirits in the heavenly places. 
We will unpack this more in the 

227
00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:07,640
next 4 weeks to come. 
But there's a reason why he 

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doesn't say we're at war against
demons. 

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There's more than just what you 
understand as a demon. 

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He says that there are evil 
rulers and authorities in the 

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unseen world. 
There are mighty powers in The 

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Dark World and evil spirits in 
the heavenly places. 

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That's at least three areas. 
But don't worry, I just told you

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not to be afraid. 
Therefore, put on every piece of

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God's armor so that you will be 
able to resist the enemy in the 

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time of evil. 
And then after the battle, you 

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will still be standing firm. 
He says, stand your ground, 

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putting on the belt of truth and
the body armor of God's 

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righteousness for shoes. 
Put on the peace that comes from

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the good news so that you will 
be fully prepared. 

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In addition to all of these, 
hold up the shield of faith to 

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stop the fiery arrows of the 
devil. 

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Put on salvation as your helmet 
and take the sword of the 

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Spirit, which is the Word of 
God, and then in verse 18, which

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00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:04,520
gets left off a lot, pray in the
Spirit at all times and on every

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occasion. 
Stay alert and be persistent in 

247
00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:11,400
your prayers for believers 
everywhere, everywhere. 

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Do you see what Paul is doing 
here? 

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He is ordering us to look at 
things through the right lens 

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00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:19,280
because each piece of armor 
there represents a spiritual 

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discipline or spiritual truth 
that protects us and prepares 

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us. 
We've got truth, righteousness, 

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peace, faith, salvation, the 
Word of God, and prayer. 

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Maybe you think Paul just 
doesn't get it because we're in 

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a very political time in 
history, but the politics in 

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00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:40,880
Paul's day, we're pretty insane.
It is not different. 

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00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:43,400
We live in a world that wants us
to see everything through 

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divided lenses because that is 
what makes money. 

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Anytime you hear good news on 
the news, where do they put it? 

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It's right at the end after 
telling you that we're going to 

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go to World War Three and that 
people are in a civil war and 

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00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,200
that there's new diseases coming
out, then they're like in a 

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00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,680
lighter side. 
On the news, an off duty 

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00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:04,360
firefighter saved a cat from a 
tree. 

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00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:06,840
It's good to know that humanity 
is alive and well. 

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00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:11,400
We'll see you in tomorrow night.
But if the news was full of good

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news, most of us wouldn't watch 
it. 

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00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:17,000
That's the truth. 
And it's not because we love bad

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00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,600
news, it's because we're 
terrified of what we don't know 

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00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,080
and we want to be prepared. 
But Paul has already told you 

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00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:25,440
how you can truly become 
prepared. 

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00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,680
Political battles may last a 
generation, but your spiritual 

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00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:34,040
battles have eternal results. 
And that's why I believe that 

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00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:35,400
the Lord gave me this series 
weeks ago. 

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00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,480
About 2-3 weeks ago I looked at 
the staff and I said I don't 

276
00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:40,440
even know what I'm preaching 
when I come back from Albania. 

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00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:43,200
I guess the Lord will tell me at
some point. 

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00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:45,200
And then before I left for 
Albania, I felt like it was 

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00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,160
spiritual warfare. 
And then it started with a 

280
00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:48,720
message called the war we don't 
see. 

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00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,600
I'm so glad that we're here 
because we cannot get swept away

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into deception the way that so 
many are. 

283
00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:00,560
So before we talk about the 
armor and the battles, let me 

284
00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,160
say this. 
We have a great responsibility 

285
00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:07,440
to win the lost Christians, even
and especially when we are 

286
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:08,840
tempted to see them as the 
enemy. 

287
00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:12,640
And that is hard isn't it? 
I've talked to people before 

288
00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:14,480
where they say I don't care what
people say and what they 

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00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:16,160
believe. 
It's easy to love people because

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00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:18,800
I have the love of God and I'm 
like you're either way more 

291
00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:20,440
spiritual than me or you're a 
liar. 

292
00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:26,320
It is hard to love people 
sometimes it is mandatory. 

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00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:31,800
We can get there, but we have a 
responsibility to them. 

294
00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:35,600
So before I get to the battles 
in the armor, I want to give 2 

295
00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:39,080
hard truths. 
My hope is that if I offend one 

296
00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,720
side, I'll offend the other side
right after that and a double 

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00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:47,560
negative will cancel itself out.
Jesus be with me. 

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00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:53,280
OK first Charlie Kirk was a 
Christian best I can tell. 

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00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:56,280
I've had some people say they 
don't see the fruit of the 

300
00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,080
Spirit in his life. 
Nobody knows a man's heart 

301
00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,280
except for the Lord himself. 
Everything about what he said 

302
00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:04,040
screamed of the faith that he 
ascribed to. 

303
00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:07,280
He prayed, he confessed Christ. 
He was not ashamed to attach his

304
00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,360
identity to Jesus. 
It's a good thing that none of 

305
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,240
us are salvation judges. 
Only the Lord knows whose names 

306
00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:14,520
are written in the Lamb's book 
of life. 

307
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,480
But if I had to give you my 
opinion, he was a believer. 

308
00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:22,840
Secondly, Charlie also said some
things that were antagonistic. 

309
00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:26,680
I have seen a couple people say 
all he ever did was have 

310
00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,080
friendly conversations, and that
is not true. 

311
00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,640
I'm the instigator in my family.
I know how to push the buttons 

312
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,640
for the people in my family. 
OK, Charlie intentionally went 

313
00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:42,000
into hot button issues and he 
poked the bear on more than one 

314
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,720
occasion. 
And I cannot tell you again, as 

315
00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,400
my outside witness that it was 
always done with kindness and 

316
00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:51,840
there are people that are very 
wounded by some things, he said.

317
00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:55,720
But again, some of us have seen 
1/2 of the videos and some of us

318
00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,760
have seen the other half. 
And I'm somebody who's never 

319
00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:03,760
watched an entire video, but I 
have read this book a few times.

320
00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,400
That's the honest truth. 
I'm just here to tell you this. 

321
00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:11,680
Charlie Kirk was a human being 
with strengths and with flaws. 

322
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,800
And today there are a lot of 
people grieving his loss. 

323
00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:17,760
And I understand it. 
And my heart goes out to 

324
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,800
everybody grieving his loss. 
And my heart goes out to people 

325
00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,160
who can't find it in their heart
to grieve for people that are 

326
00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:27,319
grieving. 
Charlie had flaws and moments of

327
00:17:27,319 --> 00:17:30,840
grace and moments of flesh. 
But if we can see the flaws in 

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00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:35,800
the 12 of the disciples, men who
walked with the Son of God, I'm 

329
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:38,840
sure we can see flaws in a 
political pundit in 2025. 

330
00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,960
Peter denied Jesus three times, 
Thomas doubted James and John 

331
00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,240
wanted the best seats in the 
Kingdom, and Judas betrayed him.

332
00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:48,960
Let's be honest, Judas was kind 
of the worst out of all of them.

333
00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,920
Not to judge. 
But even with all those flaws, 

334
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,480
Jesus still called those 
disciples, still loved them, and

335
00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:57,920
Jesus built his church through 
them. 

336
00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,840
So I would also say if those 
flaws didn't discredit the work 

337
00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,120
that the disciples did for the 
Kingdom, flaws don't disqualify 

338
00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:08,800
us or the people we disagree 
with either. 

339
00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,640
And that's the gospel. 
A few weeks ago, we talked how 

340
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,520
people are not projects. 
They're people made in the image

341
00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:18,960
of God, people that the Lord 
desires to bring home. 

342
00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,440
And the enemy would love nothing
more than to keep us so 

343
00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:24,520
distracted by people's flaws 
that we forget their value. 

344
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,320
So whether you're on the right 
or the left, whether you cheered

345
00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:31,320
for Charlie Kirk or you couldn't
stand him, just know that if God

346
00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:35,480
hasn't given up on them, whoever
they are, we're not allowed to 

347
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:37,560
either. 
And that brings us to the heart 

348
00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,200
of today's message. 
If people aren't the enemy, then

349
00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:43,240
who is? 
We have to be able to recognize 

350
00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:47,120
the real enemy. 
If we don't recognize the real 

351
00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:49,160
enemy, we're lost from the 
beginning. 

352
00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:53,200
So take a moment to turn to your
Bible to 2nd Corinthians 10. 

353
00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:54,960
I'll just keep talking while you
find it. 

354
00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:58,240
It's what I do. 
But before we read, I want to 

355
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,120
give one more thought to 
hopefully frame this so that 

356
00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:02,000
what you hear next lands where 
it needs to. 

357
00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,720
When Paul says we do not fight 
against flesh and blood, he is 

358
00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:09,960
not being intentionally vague. 
He is telling us that there is a

359
00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:11,760
different order of battle 
entirely. 

360
00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:16,240
The New Testament is a 
structured or the New Testament 

361
00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,360
assumes that there is a 
structured and organized and 

362
00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:21,280
intelligent spiritual world 
behind everything that we see on

363
00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:23,600
the surface. 
To understand the war that we 

364
00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:25,720
don't see, you have to get a 
glimpse of who and what we're 

365
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,160
actually facing. 
Quick question, is anybody 

366
00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:30,600
familiar with any of the 
writings or teachings of the 

367
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,680
late Doctor Michael Heiser? 
Anybody ever read any Michael 

368
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,960
Heiser, The Unseen Realm? 
Very insightful teaching. 

369
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:40,680
I wish he was still here. 
And so I'm just going to give 

370
00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,400
you kind of three parts of 
Doctor Michael Heiser's 

371
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,080
teachings here. 
The unseen world is organized, 

372
00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:49,480
OK? 
We are very tempted to look at 

373
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:51,800
things this way. 
Here's God, here's the devil, 

374
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:53,000
and we're right in the middle, 
right? 

375
00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:54,520
Because the war is for our 
souls. 

376
00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,240
But the midway part, we've got 
angels here and we've got demons

377
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,240
here. 
And it's that simple, right? 

378
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,280
Have you ever looked around the 
natural world and seen how 

379
00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:05,920
diverse and beautiful and 
structured it is? 

380
00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,840
What makes us think that the 
spiritual world is not every bit

381
00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:11,920
as diverse, if not more diverse,
right? 

382
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,880
Scripture does not describe a 
chaotic mishmash of generic 

383
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,400
demons and one God. 
It presents a council like 

384
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:21,960
structure. 
God is the supreme ruler and 

385
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,560
beneath him is a created 
spiritual order that includes 

386
00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:27,000
beings that have authority and 
roles that they have. 

387
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,120
Couple scriptures to read 
through, Daniel 10, Psalm 82, 

388
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,160
because it talks about rulers 
and Princess over nations and 

389
00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,600
regions. 
Michael Heiser taught that these

390
00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,240
are not little mythological 
creatures to discard. 

391
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:41,880
It's not someone we just say 
I've got my own demons to fight.

392
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:45,280
Yeah, you do. 
These are real beings in a 

393
00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,600
spiritual economy who's 
exercising their influence over 

394
00:20:48,600 --> 00:20:52,960
people and places and 
institutions #2 you have to 

395
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,600
understand that there are more 
than just demons and angels. 

396
00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:58,200
And for some of us, it is that 
simple. 

397
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:00,880
Well, there were angels and some
of them fell and then they 

398
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,160
became demons. 
And then now we've got the bad 

399
00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:06,800
angels and the good angels. 
That's part of it. 

400
00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:12,920
When Paul names rulers and 
authorities and powers. 

401
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:17,040
Hyster is helping us understand 
that language is a very ancient 

402
00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:18,360
context. 
It's intentional. 

403
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,360
All of these words point to 
supernatural beings who serve as

404
00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:23,680
territorial or cultural 
authorities. 

405
00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,600
That's why Daniel can speak of a
Prince of Persia resisting God's

406
00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,440
angels. 
Ever play those games, Prince of

407
00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:33,360
Persia? 
Well, now you know where that 

408
00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:39,000
term came from. 
Wasn't on the good side #3 the 

409
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,480
enemy strategy is system wide, 
not only personal. 

410
00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:45,160
And here's why this matters. 
Today in modern culture, our 

411
00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:47,720
faith has become very personal. 
There's a lot of benefit to 

412
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,440
that. 
My Jesus, my personal savior, my

413
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:54,360
relationship with my Father. 
It's very personal, very 1:00 to

414
00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:56,200
1:00. 
But you need to understand that 

415
00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:01,680
God also has a lot that is 
designed for wider sections of, 

416
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,320
of territories of culture and 
things like that. 

417
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,840
He has designs for countries, 
nations, people, groups, all 

418
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,080
sorts of things. 
And so does the devil. 

419
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,120
So the devil doesn't just come 
to attack you and ruin your day.

420
00:22:16,120 --> 00:22:17,840
He's not trying to burn you with
your hot coffee. 

421
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:19,040
You should have left the lid on 
it. 

422
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,400
He's not here just to irk you 
and make you get into a fight 

423
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:28,680
with your wife. 
He also has huge plans that are 

424
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,160
designed to affect huge systems.
And what we're about to read in 

425
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,240
2nd Corinthians 10 is going to 
talk about the strongholds of 

426
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,320
human reasoning. 
But I want you to understand 

427
00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:40,000
this because everything is so 
political. 

428
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:43,000
I'm just about done with 
political stuff, but I do want 

429
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,080
you to understand something. 
I don't care how hard you try, 

430
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,400
you will never be able to 
legislate away demon, demons or 

431
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,840
demonic influence. 
You just can't. 

432
00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:57,120
I don't care what law you pass. 
You could pass a law and the 

433
00:22:57,120 --> 00:22:59,320
demon's not going to go. 
Ah, now that it's in the 

434
00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:04,560
Constitution, you just can't. 
Now, politics is important, but 

435
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:09,720
it is temporary. 
So that means while I actually 

436
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,480
enjoy following politics, I 
never fail to vote. 

437
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,320
I always stay informed. 
I have to handle political 

438
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,320
issues through politics and 
spiritual issues through 

439
00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,240
spiritual means. 
So a simple rule of thumb that I

440
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:23,160
want to tell you before we get 
into chapter 10 of Second 

441
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,080
Corinthians is this. 
How can you spot the real enemy 

442
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,080
when everything else looks like 
a human problem? 

443
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:30,080
These are some things you might 
really want. 

444
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:34,320
Look for the devil's 
fingerprints. 

445
00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,560
There is a certain hallmark to 
his work. 

446
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,840
Any place that you see 
persistent deception, where 

447
00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,760
truth is twisted so that people 
can't know God, it's a sign of 

448
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,240
the enemy. 
Where there's division, where 

449
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:50,160
people get dehumanized, where 
there is hatred always being 

450
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:52,520
stoked and sustained, that's a 
sign of the enemy. 

451
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,160
And it doesn't mean that the 
people belong to the enemy, but 

452
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:58,280
it does mean that the enemy is 
having influence where there are

453
00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,280
systems or ideas that are 
consistently producing death or 

454
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,080
shame or worthlessness or 
idolatry rather than life or 

455
00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:07,200
dignity or worship of the one 
true God. 

456
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,640
It's a sign of the enemy. 
And I'll put it another way, if 

457
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,760
something moves people away from
Jesus, away from repentance, 

458
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,640
away from love, away from truth,
treated as suspect. 

459
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,280
Sorry, I know there's different 
generations in here. 

460
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:30,360
SUS. 
Why use many words when few word

461
00:24:30,360 --> 00:24:38,880
do trick? 
If something continually pushes 

462
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:43,400
people towards despair, 
hopelessness, lust, grieved, or 

463
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,720
hatred for somebody in a 
different tribe, watch out for 

464
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,080
it. 
A final caution from Doctor 

465
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:50,920
Michael Heizer that I want you 
to hear is this. 

466
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,400
Recognizing the unseen order 
does not give you license to 

467
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,200
make every disagreement a 
spiritual paranoia either. 

468
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,360
So two things here. 
These are big words, right? 

469
00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:02,560
So he talks about spiritual 
reductionism. 

470
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:04,920
You can't explain away 
everything as a spirit. 

471
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:09,760
So if that's you, my advice is 
stop it. 

472
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:13,800
You make people uncomfortable. 
Not everything is a spiritual 

473
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,400
thing. 
We make bad decisions, but 

474
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,000
there's also spiritual denial, 
and that's acting as if the 

475
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,040
unseen realm does not exist. 
Some of us act like these 

476
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,320
demonic things that happen in 
the New Testament don't exist 

477
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,080
today. 
They do, but we're in a 

478
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,000
different culture and so they 
play the game a little bit 

479
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,320
differently. 
So now with all that framework 

480
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:36,080
in place, it's going to speed up
a lot today. 

481
00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:38,880
I hope you'll like Scripture. 
Second Corinthians chapter 10. 

482
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,520
We'll start right in verse one. 
This is where Paul defends his 

483
00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,240
authority. 
He says, now I, Paul, appeal to 

484
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,720
you with the gentleness and 
kindness of Christ. 

485
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:52,320
That's a novel idea, though I 
realize you think I'm timid in 

486
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,560
person and bold only when I 
write from far away. 

487
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,040
So keyboard warriors existed 
back then too. 

488
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:02,760
OK, well I'm begging you now so 
that when I come, I won't have 

489
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,840
to be bold with those who think 
we act from human motives, OK, 

490
00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:08,960
he says. 
We're human, but we don't wage 

491
00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:13,120
war as humans do. 
We use God's mighty weapons, not

492
00:26:13,120 --> 00:26:16,160
worldly weapons, to knock down 
the strongholds of human 

493
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,840
reasoning and to destroy false 
arguments. 

494
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:23,360
We destroy every proud obstacle 
that keeps people from knowing 

495
00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:25,680
God. 
We capture their rebellious 

496
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:27,760
thoughts and we teach them to 
obey Christ. 

497
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,480
And after you have become fully 
obedient, we will punish 

498
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:33,200
everyone who remains 
disobedient. 

499
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,400
Look at the obvious facts. 
Those who say they belong to 

500
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,280
Christ must recognize that we 
belong to Christ as much as they

501
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:41,240
do. 
I could preach off of that 

502
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,160
sentence for a long time. 
Well, they don't. 

503
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,040
They don't worship the same way.
They go to a different kind of 

504
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:50,040
church or they they said this, 
they claim Christ, you have to 

505
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:53,520
recognize, OK, he says. 
I may seem to be boasting too 

506
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,760
much about the authority given 
to us by the Lord, but listen to

507
00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,720
this. 
But our authority builds you up.

508
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,560
It doesn't tear you down. 
So I will not be ashamed of 

509
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:07,040
using my authority. 
How do we use our authority 

510
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:09,160
today? 
Is our authority used to build 

511
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,400
people up or is it used to tear 
them down? 

512
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:13,440
That's called dehumanizing 
people. 

513
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:17,320
And he's reminding us that every
thought, every idea, every 

514
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,840
cultural stronghold is 
ultimately a battlefield. 

515
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,640
The devil's got a playground. 
The Lord has a battleground. 

516
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,400
The enemy doesn't swing swords, 
but he does build arguments and 

517
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:31,520
he doesn't always send personal 
attacks to individuals. 

518
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,720
He builds atmospheres where we 
then side ourselves over. 

519
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:39,480
I remember, I remember when I 
was in the the throes of, of 

520
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:41,560
middle school. 
It's the time in everybody's 

521
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:42,640
life where they're the most 
confident. 

522
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:47,360
And I went, I went to class and 
there was a new kid and I had 

523
00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:50,440
some friends come up to me and 
say, we dare you to go over and 

524
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,520
ask this kid this question. 
And it involved words I can't 

525
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:56,600
say in church, but I did in the 
6th grade. 

526
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:59,600
I didn't even know what one of 
the words meant, but I said it 

527
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:02,840
anyway. 
And I went over and I said it to

528
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:04,640
him. 
He looked at me and then I 

529
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:06,440
looked at what he was drawing. 
And I said, is that a Power 

530
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,640
Ranger? 
And we became best friends. 

531
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,560
I don't even remember the other 
kids names, the ones that sent 

532
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:17,400
me to go talk to them. 
But one of the reasons we became

533
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,200
best friends so quickly was 
because we had these things in 

534
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,560
common. 
It's easier to bond with people 

535
00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:24,120
that you have things in common 
with. 

536
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:28,480
And that's why in high school 
and in middle school and when 

537
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,400
you're younger, things team seem
to separate. 

538
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:33,880
We're inundated with that on TV.
You know that there's going to 

539
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,000
be sports jocks and there's 
going to be nerds, or there's 

540
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,120
going to be the drama kids and 
then there's going to be the 

541
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:41,040
dramatic kids. 
Those are a different brand, 

542
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:42,760
right? 
And you know, then there's the 

543
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:44,360
weird ones. 
I mean, I still love The 

544
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:47,080
Breakfast Club, It's one of my 
all time favorite 80s movies. 

545
00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:49,720
And each one of those main 
characters represented one of 

546
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:51,680
them. 
As a kid, you're trying to 

547
00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:54,440
figure out who you are, and so 
of course you look for people 

548
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:59,040
who have similarities to you. 
For most 11/12/13 year olds, it 

549
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,280
doesn't even dawn on them to go 
and make friends with people 

550
00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:03,640
that look different, act 
different, eat different things.

551
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,720
But then we grow up and we 
should learn, but we don't. 

552
00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:12,120
So when we get older, what we do
is we look to the people who 

553
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:13,680
believe the same, think the 
same. 

554
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,440
And by the way, now in that era 
of social media, we are 

555
00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:18,360
inundated with it. 
We are in an echo chamber now. 

556
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:19,960
Don't think that yours is any 
different. 

557
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,080
I've started to snooze all the 
political posts I can on my 

558
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,360
Instagram feed. 
So now all I get is Orange Cat 

559
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:31,960
mayhem and wrestling updates. 
That's almost all I see on my 

560
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:33,880
feed now outside of my friend's 
posts. 

561
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,040
And you know what? 
I'm so at peace. 

562
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,680
But when we get older, we tend 
to look for the people that we 

563
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:43,240
agree with. 
So let's assume that you're 100%

564
00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:46,800
right about everything. 
You probably are not. 

565
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,600
But let's assume that you're 
100% right about everything. 

566
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:55,840
How will you ever be a tool in 
the hand of Christ to tear down 

567
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:59,800
other arguments and strongholds 
if you're sequestered away? 

568
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,920
You won't. 
You have to recognize that God's

569
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:10,520
mighty weapons are spirit given.
You cannot argue a principality 

570
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,720
with your Facebook post. 
You cannot out shout a spiritual

571
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,680
power with political rallies. 
Strongholds don't fall because 

572
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,360
we get angry or they fall when 
we use the truth of God. 

573
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:24,440
I want to give you a couple 
examples of this seems 

574
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:26,520
appropriate. 
Doctor Martin Luther King Junior

575
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:28,600
understood something that a lot 
of us miss today. 

576
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:33,600
In the 1960s that Van Jones was 
referring to earlier, the civil 

577
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,120
rights movement was raging and 
there were a lot of marches and 

578
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:37,960
protests and speeches and sit 
insurance. 

579
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:40,280
And there needed to be 
intentions were high and it 

580
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,160
would have been so easy. 
It could have been so easy for 

581
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:49,520
Doctor King to say that we need 
to fight against the white 

582
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:51,440
people, and here's a quote from 
him. 

583
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,880
He said we must not seek to 
defeat our white brothers, but 

584
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,840
to defeat the evil systems that 
oppress them as well. 

585
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:00,800
For those that were on the wrong
side of the civil rights 

586
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,720
movement, they were deceived. 
They needed freedom that can 

587
00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,680
only be found in Christ, and 
Doctor King cared about both of 

588
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,080
them. 
That's really powerful. 

589
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:13,640
He saw that the real fight was 
not just flesh and blood. 

590
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,720
It was not against his neighbor 
or even against the policeman 

591
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,040
with dogs or fire hoses. 
It was against the powers of 

592
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:22,040
hate and fear and injustice that
had taken root in society. 

593
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:23,480
But of course, he was a man of 
faith. 

594
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:30,080
Decades later, in a completely 
different setting, we find 

595
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:31,880
ourselves at the school shooting
in Columbine. 

596
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,360
Rachel Scott's story from the 
school shooting at Columbine 

597
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:38,520
shows the same truth. 
Rachel was a teenage girl who 

598
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,080
was not ashamed of her faith in 
Jesus. 

599
00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,720
And on that horrific day, she 
was singled out and killed 

600
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,080
because of her faith in God. 
And so her father, Darryl Scott,

601
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:52,560
was devastated, obviously. 
But when he was asked about what

602
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:56,600
happened, here's his quote. 
We are not fighting against guns

603
00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:58,920
or even the boys who pulled the 
trigger. 

604
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:01,880
We are fighting against the 
spiritual darkness that taught 

605
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:06,840
them life had no value. 
Think about this. 

606
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,800
In his deepest grief, he 
recognized the real war. 

607
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,120
The enemy was not two teenagers.
The enemy was darkness that had 

608
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:16,080
convinced them that human life 
was meaningless. 

609
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,600
Those are two very different 
moments in history with two very

610
00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,680
different contexts. 1 is 
political, one is personal. 

611
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:24,840
And both of them reveal the same
truth that if you spend your 

612
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:27,040
life fighting people, you'll 
miss the real battle. 

613
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:30,520
If you can recognize the real 
enemy, you can confront evil 

614
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:32,600
while still loving the people 
that are trapped in it. 

615
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,480
Put this up as a recommendation 
and I'll probably recommend it 

616
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,080
the rest of my life, but there 
is a book on spiritual warfare 

617
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,880
called Liberated. 
The author is Rodney Hogue. 

618
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:46,520
I will always recommend it 
because personally it brought me

619
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,640
a lot of freedom and I believe 
that it can for a lot of 

620
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:50,960
believers too. 
One of the most freeing things 

621
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:53,920
that he explains is this. 
A Christian cannot be possessed,

622
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:55,880
but he can be what he calls 
demonized. 

623
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:58,840
So here's what this means. 
Anybody ever hear on the 

624
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:00,520
teaching that if you're a 
Christian, you can't be 

625
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:02,200
possessed? 
So don't worry about that. 

626
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,120
Anybody. 
Come on, This is a very 

627
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:08,960
prevalent teaching, right? 
What tricks us up is the word 

628
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:12,360
possessed. 
But welcome to modern day 

629
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:14,160
English. 
The Bible was not written in 

630
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,080
such terms. 
Of course, you can't be owned by

631
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:18,800
darkness if you're owned by the 
Lord. 

632
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:21,640
That's common sense. 
But what does possession mean? 

633
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,360
So once you are a believer, I 
want to make this clear. 

634
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,720
You accept Jesus's Lordship. 
You ask for the Holy Spirit to 

635
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,120
take residence inside of you. 
We sang about it this morning. 

636
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,320
The Holy Spirit is there. 
You are his. 

637
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:34,400
Nobody can pluck you out of 
God's hand. 

638
00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:37,920
Romans 8 says the Spirit of God 
lives in you, so ownership is 

639
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,160
settled. 
But unfortunately, this has LED 

640
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,320
a lot of believers to feel like 
they're immune to the effects of

641
00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:45,480
demonic principalities. 
And as long as you believe that,

642
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,200
you won't be able to push back 
when they influence you because 

643
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:49,760
it's not even an idea in your 
head. 

644
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,200
Well, I'm a Christian, so demons
can't bother me. 

645
00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:55,600
I, I don't know if I need to be 
the guy to say it, but every 

646
00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:58,440
single person that had demonic 
influence in the New Testament 

647
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:02,160
was a believer. 
They all worshipped Jehovah. 

648
00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,440
They were all Jewish believers, 
every single one of them. 

649
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:08,280
I also had somebody say, well, 
don't you think that, you know, 

650
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:10,199
demons is just code for mental 
illness? 

651
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:14,080
That would mean that in the New 
Testament it was only the 

652
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:18,639
mentally ill that recognized 
Jesus, because when Jesus walked

653
00:34:18,639 --> 00:34:20,400
up, they were the ones shouting 
out. 

654
00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:25,400
I know who you are, Son of God. 
There's a real principality and 

655
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,840
powerful structure at work here.
So here's the catch. 

656
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,840
Sarah, I'll pick on you. 
You and Aaron have a lovely 

657
00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:37,600
home. 
Do you think that somewhere in 

658
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:45,239
your home there are spiders? 
I know. 

659
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:46,400
I know. 
It was intentional. 

660
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:48,080
I told you. 
I'm the instigator in my family.

661
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:51,440
Do you think there are any 
spiders in your home? 

662
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,600
You know that there are. 
You avoid them. 

663
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:56,040
OK. 
I'm glad you said that. 

664
00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:59,240
Do the spiders possess your 
home? 

665
00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:05,880
No, they don't. 
Cassie, get the oil. 

666
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:10,840
The service has just changed. 
OK, just because there are some 

667
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,320
spiders in your house doesn't 
mean that the house belongs to 

668
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:20,280
the spiders. 
Now, you believers, you are the 

669
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,280
temple of the living God. 
You may say, well, I belong to 

670
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:25,040
Jesus, so there's nothing bad in
here. 

671
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:26,680
But what do you do with those 
spiders? 

672
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,560
You avoid them? 
Make somebody else do it? 

673
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:34,480
Yeah, I'm so glad you said that.
Is that not one of the truest 

674
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:37,200
parallels? 
Listen, believers, you could 

675
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,000
have demonic influence in your 
life. 

676
00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,960
You could have a weak spot where
they target you. 

677
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:44,480
But we avoid it because it's 
personal. 

678
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:47,560
We avoid it and the cobwebs 
grow. 

679
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:49,480
Or maybe we say, I'll make 
somebody else kill us. 

680
00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:51,320
You know what we do? 
Oh, they're having a deliverance

681
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:52,320
service. 
I'm going to go have the 

682
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:53,920
preacher pray this demon off of 
me. 

683
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:56,920
You're the one that has 
authority over your own body. 

684
00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:59,360
You are the temple of the Holy 
Spirit. 

685
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:02,960
Believers may have authority 
over the demons, but you have 

686
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:05,240
authority over your own body 
because Jesus shares it with 

687
00:36:05,240 --> 00:36:07,120
you. 
If you're a believer and you 

688
00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,000
have to take authority, don't 
put your hands up for this. 

689
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:12,960
But rumor has it that many 
people have a junk room in their

690
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:15,840
house. 
OK, It's the place where you put

691
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,040
the things you don't know where 
to put anywhere else. 

692
00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:22,240
That's normally the room that 
gets more dusty and has more 

693
00:36:22,240 --> 00:36:25,480
cobwebs. 
Most of us have a spot in our 

694
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:31,320
life that we avoid, and because 
we avoid it like it's dustier 

695
00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:33,800
and dirtier and there's more 
cobwebs, and at some point it's 

696
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,360
heavier work, it's heavier 
lifting to get in there and do 

697
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,600
something about it. 
You can't tell me that we don't 

698
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:43,680
all have the same struggles, but
we also all have the same God. 

699
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:48,320
We have the same Savior. 
We have the same powerful Holy 

700
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,240
Spirit inside of us that raised 
Jesus from the dead who can 

701
00:36:51,240 --> 00:36:53,800
fight back against these things.
But listen to what Jesus himself

702
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:56,480
taught about this in Matthew 12.
I think I've got it up there. 

703
00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:01,040
Yeah, he says when an evil 
spirit leaves a person, it goes 

704
00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:03,080
into the desert seeking rest but
finding none. 

705
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,880
And then it says, I'll return to
the person I came from. 

706
00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:11,080
So it returns and finds its 
former home empty, swept and in 

707
00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,240
order. 
And then the spirit finds seven 

708
00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:16,360
other spirits more evil than 
itself, and they all enter the 

709
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:19,560
person and live there. 
And so that person is worse off 

710
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,680
than before. 
What was Jesus saying there? 

711
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:24,680
He's saying that it's not enough
to just clean house, You have to

712
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:27,320
fill the house. 
You need to fill the house with 

713
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:29,320
the Holy Spirit. 
If you do not fill the house 

714
00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:32,280
with the Holy Spirit, with the 
Word, with prayer, with Christ 

715
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,000
Himself, the enemy will always 
look for a way back in. 

716
00:37:36,240 --> 00:37:38,800
And this is what Paul was 
talking about in 2nd Corinthians

717
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:42,480
10 when he said we use God's 
mighty weapons, not worldly 

718
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,960
weapons, to knock down the 
strongholds of human reasoning. 

719
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:49,960
I want you to understand 
strongholds are not spooky. 

720
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:52,960
They're just patterns of thought
and belief that give the enemy 

721
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:54,880
influence over you if you never 
address them. 

722
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:57,280
One of the things I love about 
this book, you go to the next 

723
00:37:57,280 --> 00:37:58,760
slide because I'll be covering 
that next. 

724
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:01,640
One of the things I love about 
this book liberated in the back.

725
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:04,520
It has a lot of prayers to help 
you pray through as you do your 

726
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:06,520
own battles. 
And when I first got this book, 

727
00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:08,680
I'm just telling you all right 
now, my pride was on full 

728
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,200
display because I'm like, I want
to learn about this. 

729
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,360
I love learning and I looked in 
the back pre written prayers. 

730
00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:19,160
I can pray my own prayers. 
Thank you Rodney, I know how to 

731
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:22,960
pray. 
By the end of the book I found 

732
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:26,200
myself repenting and using a pre
written prayer as a launching 

733
00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:32,160
pad so that I could repent over 
all sorts of things. 

734
00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:34,840
And then you know what? 
My prayers took over from there.

735
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:39,080
I'm so grateful that he was 
willing to put that in there 

736
00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:41,720
even though I knew better to 
begin with. 

737
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:44,680
How do you know if you're being 
deceived or demonized? 

738
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:46,840
I'm going to give you 4 things. 
The first thing is to test your 

739
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:50,640
thoughts against scripture. 
First. 

740
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:52,880
John 41 says to test the 
spirits. 

741
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:56,760
If your thinking contradicts the
word of God, it is not from God.

742
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:00,240
Don't justify it, don't excuse 
it. 

743
00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:05,360
Just name it and then bring it 
under Christ #2 Check the fruit.

744
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:08,800
Galatians 5 tells us what the 
fruit of the spirit is. 

745
00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:10,440
By the way, if you want to read 
the whole chapter, it gives you 

746
00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:11,440
the fruit of the flesh. 
Too. 

747
00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:18,480
Gross. 
Don't ignore it if what's 

748
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,800
growing in your life is fear or 
shame or worthlessness or 

749
00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,880
division or despair. 
It's not the Spirit of Christ 

750
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,040
that's influencing you, it's the
fingerprint of the enemy. 

751
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:29,480
You got to watch for patterns, 
too. 

752
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:34,160
Everybody has a bad day, but 
demonization shows up in cycles 

753
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:37,040
that you can't seem to break. 
Why am I fighting the same thing

754
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,440
for seven years and I can't seem
to get it under control? 

755
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:42,680
It shows up in recurring 
temptations or compulsions or 

756
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:44,840
even lies that hold you captive.
That's what we call a 

757
00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:46,520
stronghold. 
If you're dealing with a 

758
00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:49,400
stronghold, man, get to us. 
We'll get some people around 

759
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:50,360
you. 
We'll help fight it with you, 

760
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:51,760
but you'll have to take the 
authority. 

761
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,680
But we'll get you there. 
And the last one is to repent 

762
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:57,560
and resist. 
James, 47, says humble 

763
00:39:57,560 --> 00:39:59,960
yourselves before God. 
Resist the devil and he will 

764
00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:04,840
flee from you. 
Don't just identify the spider 

765
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:07,160
right? 
I have an app that tells me what

766
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,280
kind of spider it is. 
Kill it. 

767
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:13,880
Don't just notice the foothold, 
close the door. 

768
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:16,920
And this is the thing, a lot of 
times I'll hear people partially

769
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:19,240
refer to the scripture. 
They'll say resist the devil and

770
00:40:19,240 --> 00:40:22,040
he'll flee from you. 
You missed a really important 

771
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:24,840
part. 
Humble yourself before the Lord.

772
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:29,720
You have to repent. 
If you do not repent, doesn't 

773
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:35,760
matter how hard you resist him. 
Power is found in repentance and

774
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:37,920
admitting that you're the one 
that left the door unlocked. 

775
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:41,040
So this is real liberty. 
And I don't tell you this to 

776
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:42,480
make you afraid or to feel 
condemned. 

777
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:44,000
I just tell you this to make you
free. 

778
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:47,720
Fear is the enemy's tool, but 
freedom is Christ's gift. 

779
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:50,640
And the devil might have a 
playground, but he doesn't have 

780
00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:53,240
the deed to your house. 
He doesn't hold the title to 

781
00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:54,520
your life. 
Christ does. 

782
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,600
You were bought with a price, 
sealed with his Spirit, and you 

783
00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:01,480
were stamped with his name. 
So you with Jesus can do this. 

784
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:04,800
So don't live like a tenant who 
has to put up with an intruder 

785
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:06,240
that comes in through the window
every day. 

786
00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:07,800
You wouldn't put up with that in
your house. 

787
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:10,720
It's like sitcoms from the 90s, 
right? 

788
00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,320
You wouldn't put up with it if 
somebody kept sneaking into your

789
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,320
house day after day or week 
after week. 

790
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:17,400
So don't put up with it with a 
spiritual either. 

791
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:20,800
And the second thing that I 
really want to hone in on this 

792
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:22,560
morning is to recognize the real
armor. 

793
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,360
There's a real enemy out there, 
and we've got to fight the real 

794
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:27,880
enemy, but you also need to 
recognize the real armor. 

795
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:29,520
Go ahead and go to First Samuel 
17. 

796
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:32,520
Let's go to the Old Testament 
because when Paul's talking 

797
00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:35,200
about the armor of God in 
Ephesians 6, he's not pulling 

798
00:41:35,200 --> 00:41:38,680
that image out of thin air 
because God's people had seen 

799
00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:41,680
this lesson before, most vividly
in the story of David and 

800
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:43,960
Goliath. 
I want you to picture this 

801
00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,920
before we start reading it. 
Israel is lined up on the hill. 

802
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:50,440
The Philistines are on another. 
There's a valley in between. 

803
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:52,560
Day after day, Goliath comes out
in full armor. 

804
00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:54,520
He's boasting, he's mocking 
them. 

805
00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:57,600
He's daring them to fight him. 
Anybody watch House of David on 

806
00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:00,800
Amazon? 
Like like 1 1/2 episodes in, but

807
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:04,560
digging it so far. 
Every soldier in Israel was 

808
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:06,120
terrified. 
And then this young shepherd 

809
00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:11,040
named David shows up and he goes
to King Saul and Saul hears 

810
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:13,280
about him and he tries to help 
David in his own way. 

811
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:15,440
And and that's what we'll see 
here. 

812
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:18,320
So in first Samuel 17, we'll 
start in verse 32. 

813
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:23,960
David goes up to Saul and he 
says, don't worry about this 

814
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:27,280
Philistine, I'll go fight him. 
I mean, really, that's not 

815
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:29,960
Saul's first choice. 
But nobody else is stepping up. 

816
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:32,680
So in verse 33 says, don't be 
ridiculous. 

817
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:35,200
There's no way you can fight 
this Philistine and possibly 

818
00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:37,760
win. 
You're only a boy, and he's been

819
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:41,960
a man of war since his youth. 
But David said, I've been taking

820
00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:43,480
care of my father's sheep and 
goats. 

821
00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:46,640
When a lion or a bear comes in 
to steal a lamb from the flock, 

822
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,320
I go after it with a club and I 
rescue the lamb from its mouth. 

823
00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:52,880
If the animal turns on me, I 
catch it by the jaw and I club 

824
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:57,480
it to death. 
OK, I've done this to both lions

825
00:42:57,480 --> 00:42:59,200
and bears. 
I'll do it to this Pagan 

826
00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:03,560
Philistine too, for he's defied 
the armies of the living God. 

827
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:07,920
The Lord who rescued me from the
claws of the lion and the bear 

828
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:09,800
will rescue me from this 
Philistine. 

829
00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:12,800
And so finally Saul consents and
he says, go ahead and may the 

830
00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:14,840
Lord be with you. 
Wouldn't it be cool if that's 

831
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:18,600
where that story ended? 
But it's not because it says. 

832
00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:22,840
Then Saul gave David his own 
armor, a bronze helmet and a 

833
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:25,600
coat of mail. 
David put it on, strapped the 

834
00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,040
sword over it, and took a step 
or two to see what it was like, 

835
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:30,440
for he had never worn such 
things before. 

836
00:43:31,240 --> 00:43:34,160
He said, I can't go in these, 
I'm not used to them. 

837
00:43:34,720 --> 00:43:37,640
So David took them off again. 
Just to pause here, We'll pick 

838
00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,520
up in verse 40 in a moment. 
What is so special about David 

839
00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:42,840
is in his isolation as a 
shepherd. 

840
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,200
He was out there. 
He was around the sheep and he 

841
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:51,720
was around the Lord. 
And So what seemed commonplace 

842
00:43:51,720 --> 00:43:54,840
and common sense to everybody 
else to put on this armor didn't

843
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,560
even dawn on him. 
He said, well, I mean, I was out

844
00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:03,600
in that field and when lions and
and bears, Oh my, when they when

845
00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:07,240
they attacked, God gave me what 
I needed to defeat them. 

846
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,800
So why would he not give me what
I need to defeat this Pagan 

847
00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:16,360
philistine? 
By the way, as you're joking 

848
00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:18,360
around with your friends, don't 
call them that in a public 

849
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:19,440
setting. 
They don't like it. 

850
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:25,480
Don't ask me how I know. 
Verse 40 He picked up five 

851
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,080
smooth stones from a stream. 
He put them in a shepherd's bag 

852
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:30,560
and then armed only with his 
shepherd's staff in the sling, 

853
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:33,320
he started across the valley to 
fight the Philistine. 

854
00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:36,400
Goliath walked out towards David
with a shield bearer ahead of 

855
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:40,120
him, sneering in contempt at 
this Ruddy faced boy. 

856
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:44,120
Important facts there guys, He 
says, am IA dog, that you come 

857
00:44:44,120 --> 00:44:46,640
at me with a stick. 
And he cursed David by the names

858
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:50,160
of his gods. 
Come over here, and I'll give 

859
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:52,280
your flesh to the birds and the 
wild animals. 

860
00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:58,000
So David cursed him back, right?
Oh, did he not? 

861
00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:03,880
I didn't read that far, sorry. 
David replied to the Philistine.

862
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,520
You come at me with sword, spear
and javelin, but I come to you 

863
00:45:07,560 --> 00:45:10,480
in the name of the Lord of the 
heaven's armies, the God of the 

864
00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:12,760
armies of Israel, whom you have 
defied. 

865
00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:16,360
Today. 
The Lord will conquer you, and I

866
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:17,680
will kill you and cut off your 
head. 

867
00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:21,760
Then his flesh takes hold here. 
And then I'll give the dead 

868
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:23,680
bodies of your men to the birds 
and the animals. 

869
00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:26,000
And the whole world will know 
that there was a God in Israel. 

870
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,840
And everyone assembled here will
know that the Lord rescues his 

871
00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:32,000
people, but not with a sword and
a spear. 

872
00:45:32,600 --> 00:45:35,400
This is the Lord's battle, and 
he'll give you to us. 

873
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:38,480
Why didn't he curse him by the 
name of his God? 

874
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:43,760
I'm not going to answer that. 
What you think about it? 

875
00:45:45,240 --> 00:45:49,280
OK, so as Goliath moved closer 
to attack, David quickly ran out

876
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:51,520
to meet him, reaching into his 
shepherd's bag and taking a 

877
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:52,720
stone. 
He hurled up with a sling and 

878
00:45:52,720 --> 00:45:54,320
hit the Philistine in the 
forehead. 

879
00:45:54,680 --> 00:45:57,640
The the stone sank in and 
Goliath stumbled and fell face 

880
00:45:57,640 --> 00:45:59,720
down on the ground. 
This is a misunderstanding for a

881
00:45:59,720 --> 00:46:01,440
lot of people. 
They believe a lot of times that

882
00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:03,560
David threw that stone and it 
killed him. 

883
00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:09,080
It did not. 
It just knocked him down because

884
00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:11,440
it says in verse 50, David 
triumphed over the Philistine 

885
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:13,840
with only a sling and a stone, 
for he had no sword. 

886
00:46:14,080 --> 00:46:17,000
Then David ran over and pulled 
Goliath's sword from its sheath.

887
00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:19,720
David used it to kill him and 
cut off his head. 

888
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:22,920
When the Philistines saw that 
their champion was dead, they 

889
00:46:22,920 --> 00:46:25,280
turned and ran. 
And this is very interesting. 

890
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:28,960
I want you to hear this. 
There's something that is said 

891
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:30,720
somewhere else in the Bible. 
You live by the sword. 

892
00:46:30,720 --> 00:46:36,440
You, you die by the sword. 
OK, Goliath lived by the sword 

893
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:39,800
and he died literally by his own
sword. 

894
00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:42,280
What would have happened if 
David had walked out on that 

895
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:46,480
battlefield in Saul's armor? 
It's an old Disney movie now, 

896
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:47,960
but you remember the sword in 
the stone? 

897
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:51,920
I just picture like all the 
floppy clothing and it's 

898
00:46:51,920 --> 00:46:54,920
oversized and then walking out 
and not being able to handle it.

899
00:46:56,000 --> 00:46:58,960
But check this out in Judges 
2016. 

900
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:02,440
You don't need to turn there, it
says. 

901
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:05,720
Among Benjamin's elite troops, 
700 were left-handed, and each 

902
00:47:05,720 --> 00:47:08,000
of them could sling a rock and 
hit a target within a hair's 

903
00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:11,720
breath without missing. 
King Saul was from the tribe of 

904
00:47:11,720 --> 00:47:14,840
Benjamin. 
Saul came from the line that 

905
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:16,840
should have been experts with a 
sling and a stone. 

906
00:47:17,680 --> 00:47:20,440
And the very method that David 
used to kill Goliath was the 

907
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:22,320
method that Saul's people had 
mastered. 

908
00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:25,840
But Saul had the heritage and 
the skills of his bloodline to 

909
00:47:25,840 --> 00:47:27,880
win the battle. 
And when the time came, he 

910
00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:30,520
didn't trust the tools that God 
had already provided him. 

911
00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:34,440
He trusted his armor. 
And then he pushed his beliefs 

912
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:36,440
out to somebody else. 
OK, you can do it, but you're 

913
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:38,240
going to need this armor. 
Why Saul? 

914
00:47:38,240 --> 00:47:39,720
This armor's not doing you any 
good. 

915
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:45,920
So he ended up using the very 
same tool that Saul should have.

916
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:48,320
And this is what the Lord still 
does today. 

917
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:51,440
When we don't use the tools that
God has given us, God raises up 

918
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:55,680
someone else. 
Someone who refuses to fight in 

919
00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:57,520
the world's way. 
Someone who refuses to put on 

920
00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:00,640
the heavy armor of man and is 
willing instead to pick up the 

921
00:48:00,640 --> 00:48:03,040
weapons that God has trained him
or her for. 

922
00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:07,000
David didn't need Saul's sword 
because he already had God's 

923
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:11,680
sling. 
So just a real brief 

924
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:13,360
illustration. 
Corey 10. 

925
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:15,400
Boom. 
A lot of people know about her. 

926
00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:18,040
She survived the Ravensbruck 
concentration camp during the 

927
00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:21,000
Holocaust. 
Years later, when she was 

928
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:23,800
speaking about forgiveness in a 
church in Germany on the other 

929
00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:26,560
side of the war, one of the 
former prison guards came 

930
00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:29,320
forward. 
He had become a Christian, and 

931
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:31,520
he walked up to her specifically
and asked her for her 

932
00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:34,080
forgiveness. 
And this is the part of the 

933
00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:36,880
story where we're like, in out 
of the overflow of love in her 

934
00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:39,200
Christian heart, she said, 
absolutely, my brother. 

935
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,840
But that's not what happened. 
She said in that point, every 

936
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:48,240
part of her wanted to fight like
it was wearing Saul's armor. 

937
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:50,800
She had hatred, anger, and 
bitterness. 

938
00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:52,880
She even prayed silently to the 
Lord. 

939
00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:54,920
Lord, I cannot forgive him. 
Make him leave. 

940
00:48:56,520 --> 00:48:59,480
That's an honest prayer. 
The Lord didn't answer it the 

941
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:02,600
way she wanted because she 
remembered God's word that 

942
00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:06,320
forgiveness is not optional for 
followers of Jesus. 

943
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:09,920
So she obeyed. 
She forced her hand to reach 

944
00:49:09,920 --> 00:49:10,720
out. 
These are her words. 

945
00:49:10,720 --> 00:49:14,240
She forced her hand to reach 
out, and as she did, she said 

946
00:49:14,240 --> 00:49:16,040
she felt the love of God flood 
her heart. 

947
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:19,720
The bitterness broke. 
If she had fought with Saul's 

948
00:49:19,720 --> 00:49:21,600
armor, she would have stayed 
chained to hate. 

949
00:49:21,600 --> 00:49:23,920
But when she picked up God's 
armor, she walked in freedom. 

950
00:49:24,240 --> 00:49:25,440
And here's what I want you to 
know about this. 

951
00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:28,320
She did not feel the love of God
until she forced herself to do 

952
00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:31,000
the right thing. 
She did not wait for the warm 

953
00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:33,800
fuzzy feeling. 
She didn't wait until he really 

954
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:36,040
came and like, begged for 
forgiveness. 

955
00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:38,360
He asked for it. 
But she obeyed first. 

956
00:49:38,360 --> 00:49:41,000
And then the feelings followed. 
Many of us have trouble 

957
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:43,480
forgiving people because we're 
waiting to feel more like it. 

958
00:49:44,880 --> 00:49:46,760
But that's not what it means to 
have the armor of God. 

959
00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:48,760
You don't have to feel like 
forgiving. 

960
00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:51,040
You don't have to wait until you
feel like trusting. 

961
00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:53,640
You don't have to wait until you
feel like you're standing firm. 

962
00:49:54,080 --> 00:49:55,840
You put on the armor and you act
in faith. 

963
00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:59,520
And Paul lists every piece of 
this armor individually because 

964
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:02,960
every single part of it matters.
And I don't have time to give 

965
00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:05,160
you a whole sermon series on it.
But the belt of truth, it keeps 

966
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:07,720
you from tripping over lies. 
If you know what's true, then 

967
00:50:07,720 --> 00:50:10,600
when you hear a lie, you don't 
have to take it personally and 

968
00:50:10,600 --> 00:50:12,240
be offended. 
Oh, it's a lie. 

969
00:50:12,240 --> 00:50:17,640
It's another lie, breastplate of
righteousness that protects your

970
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:19,680
heart when shame tries to Pierce
it. 

971
00:50:21,960 --> 00:50:24,960
When somebody tells you how 
unworthy you are, you already 

972
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:26,520
know this. 
You don't need somebody to tell 

973
00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:30,120
you, but you've been bought by 
the blood of the Lamb, so the 

974
00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:32,600
righteousness of Jesus is now 
covering you. 

975
00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:35,320
The shoes of peace. 
You steady your steps so that 

976
00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:37,640
you don't stumble into chaos. 
If you're a believer and you 

977
00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:39,880
don't move in peace, you move in
chaos. 

978
00:50:40,040 --> 00:50:42,600
There's not another option. 
You get 2 categories. 

979
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:44,720
Could you imagine walking up to 
the store? 

980
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:48,040
Yes, I'd like to get some shoes.
Would you like chaos or peace? 

981
00:50:48,040 --> 00:50:52,440
Do you have any? 
Which ones on sale? 

982
00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:57,440
The shield of faith blocks the 
fiery arrows that seem to come 

983
00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:01,960
out of nowhere. 
Your helmet is the salvation 

984
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:03,600
that guards your mind when 
doubts attack. 

985
00:51:04,120 --> 00:51:06,040
Even if you don't understand 
what's going on, even if you 

986
00:51:06,040 --> 00:51:08,680
can't trust this world, even if 
you feel like you can't trust 

987
00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:11,680
people that you thought you 
could trust, you are saved. 

988
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:14,480
And the sword of the Spirit, 
which is the word of God, it 

989
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:17,080
cuts through deception and keeps
you grounded in what is eternal.

990
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:20,960
I've engaged in more debates 
than I'd like to over that 

991
00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:23,200
video. 
And I've find that when I get to

992
00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:25,600
a place that it's an impasse, I 
just cut off the conversation. 

993
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:31,160
But I've had people message me 
and ask me how I would think if 

994
00:51:31,160 --> 00:51:34,400
it if it happened to me, if 
somebody shot me at a church 

995
00:51:34,400 --> 00:51:37,160
service in front of all of you 
and they brought it up multiple 

996
00:51:37,160 --> 00:51:38,800
times and made me very 
uncomfortable. 

997
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:43,640
Try to tell me who I am and what
I believe and try to tell me 

998
00:51:43,640 --> 00:51:45,920
what they believe about the 
people who attend this church. 

999
00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:50,240
I know the word of God and I 
know the Lord Himself. 

1000
00:51:50,480 --> 00:51:52,960
So I can fall back on what I 
know to be true here. 

1001
00:51:52,960 --> 00:51:55,800
And I don't have to build my 
opinion of myself based off of 

1002
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:58,160
what somebody on Facebook has 
messaged me. 

1003
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:03,040
And the last one is prayer. 
It's what keeps all that armor 

1004
00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:05,760
fastened and alive, especially 
praying in the Spirit. 

1005
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:09,200
That's a different sermon. 
Prayer is what keeps all of this

1006
00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:11,200
fastened. 
Don't miss it because I'm going 

1007
00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:13,640
to tell you what there's many a 
kids Bible study that ends and 

1008
00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:16,720
doesn't have prayer. 
If you are not actively in 

1009
00:52:16,720 --> 00:52:20,800
prayer, if you're not actively 
going to the Father, the armor 

1010
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:23,920
is never going to stay fastened.
You'll have it for a time and 

1011
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:25,440
then you'll have a piece of the 
armor missing. 

1012
00:52:26,720 --> 00:52:29,560
Corey Tan Boom found out that 
day that forgiveness is a weapon

1013
00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:34,080
and liberty. 
So is truth, so is 

1014
00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:36,520
righteousness, so is faith, 
salvation. 

1015
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:41,880
So is the Word. 
I want to close by naming 

1016
00:52:41,880 --> 00:52:43,280
something that we don't like to 
admit. 

1017
00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:47,040
I'm going to read you 2 
scriptures that are tied 

1018
00:52:47,040 --> 00:52:48,960
together and maybe you've never 
noticed that they're connected 

1019
00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:52,720
before. 
But in today's world, it feels 

1020
00:52:52,720 --> 00:52:55,560
like the only heresy that is 
left is to say that heresy 

1021
00:52:55,560 --> 00:52:59,480
doesn't exist. 
Or to say that heresy does 

1022
00:52:59,480 --> 00:53:01,640
exist. 
There are people all over the 

1023
00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:03,600
place that deny the divinity of 
Christ. 

1024
00:53:04,040 --> 00:53:06,240
They can twist relationships 
into whatever they want. 

1025
00:53:06,240 --> 00:53:10,240
They can justify murder or 
normalize lust, celebrate greed,

1026
00:53:10,240 --> 00:53:12,920
elevate self over God. 
And in culture, or at least 

1027
00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:15,440
parts of our culture today, it 
is applauded. 

1028
00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:19,160
Sadly, this happens even in 
church because many of those 

1029
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:21,400
same lies creep in and they feel
acceptable. 

1030
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:23,920
And here's why. 
Because the enemy knows that if 

1031
00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:26,800
he can convince us that there's 
no such thing as a heretical 

1032
00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:30,280
belief, then truth itself is no 
longer something that has a 

1033
00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:33,160
place. 
Now we say what's true for you 

1034
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:36,640
is not always true for me. 
But meanwhile we stopped to ask 

1035
00:53:36,640 --> 00:53:40,040
what's true to the Lord? 
We need the armor of God. 

1036
00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:43,560
The battle lines are not 
obvious, so we need to stay 

1037
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:47,680
armored up. 
I want you to see how Paul 

1038
00:53:48,240 --> 00:53:52,840
handled very divisive people in 
First Corinthians chapter 5, 

1039
00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:55,320
right in the first verse. 
He's right in the Corinth. 

1040
00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:57,920
And just a little back story, 
Corinth was wild. 

1041
00:53:59,160 --> 00:54:01,040
If you think you understand 
about what happens in Vegas, 

1042
00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:05,800
days in Vegas, Vegas got nothing
on Corinth. 

1043
00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:11,840
OK, listen, he says, I can 
hardly believe the report about 

1044
00:54:11,840 --> 00:54:15,640
sexual immorality going on among
you, something that even pagans 

1045
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:18,920
don't do. 
He says, I am told a man in your

1046
00:54:18,920 --> 00:54:21,160
church is living in sin with his
stepmother. 

1047
00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:24,160
Man, why isn't this preached 
more often? 

1048
00:54:24,160 --> 00:54:29,720
It's so comfortable he says 
this, and then he says you are 

1049
00:54:29,720 --> 00:54:32,920
so proud of yourselves, but you 
should be in mourning and sorrow

1050
00:54:32,920 --> 00:54:36,000
and shame and you should remove 
this man from your fellowship, 

1051
00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:38,880
he said. 
Even though I'm not with you in 

1052
00:54:38,880 --> 00:54:42,640
person, I am with you in spirit,
and as though I were there, I 

1053
00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:44,560
have already passed judgment on 
this man. 

1054
00:54:44,600 --> 00:54:47,400
In the name of the Lord Jesus, 
you must call a meeting of the 

1055
00:54:47,400 --> 00:54:49,120
church. 
I'll be present with you in 

1056
00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:51,360
spirit, and so will the power of
our Lord Jesus. 

1057
00:54:51,560 --> 00:54:54,000
He says, Then you must throw 
this man out and hand him over 

1058
00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:57,520
to Satan so that his sinful 
nature will be destroyed and he 

1059
00:54:57,520 --> 00:55:00,560
himself will be saved on the day
that the Lord returns. 

1060
00:55:01,440 --> 00:55:03,320
And he says, you're boasting 
about this is terrible. 

1061
00:55:03,680 --> 00:55:06,240
Don't you realize that this sin 
is like a little yeast that 

1062
00:55:06,240 --> 00:55:07,760
spreads through the whole batch 
of dough. 

1063
00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:10,840
Get rid of the old yeast by 
removing this wicked person from

1064
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:13,160
among you. 
Then you'll be like a fresh 

1065
00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:15,840
batch of dough made without 
yeast, which is really what you 

1066
00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:17,880
are. 
Christ, our Passover lamb has 

1067
00:55:17,880 --> 00:55:20,680
been sacrificed for us. 
That's shocking, isn't it? 

1068
00:55:20,680 --> 00:55:24,080
Because church in Corinth had a 
man living in sin with his 

1069
00:55:24,080 --> 00:55:26,120
stepmother. 
And it says even the pagans 

1070
00:55:26,120 --> 00:55:27,960
thought it was scandalous, but 
the church didn't care. 

1071
00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:30,760
They were celebrating it. 
So they celebrated their 

1072
00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:33,640
tolerance. 
And Paul says, don't you see sin

1073
00:55:33,640 --> 00:55:36,240
spreads like yeast. 
This scripture is used a lot 

1074
00:55:36,240 --> 00:55:39,800
when it comes to handle things, 
especially where the the lines 

1075
00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:43,200
of faith and politics blur. 
And they start to say what 

1076
00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:45,280
fellowship can light have with 
darkness kick them out of the 

1077
00:55:45,280 --> 00:55:48,320
church. 
What a lot of people don't 

1078
00:55:48,320 --> 00:55:52,040
realize is that this is not the 
only place in Scripture this man

1079
00:55:52,040 --> 00:55:54,840
has mentioned. 
It's almost unanimous amongst 

1080
00:55:54,840 --> 00:55:58,560
theologians that in Second 
Corinthians chapter 2 we hear 

1081
00:55:58,560 --> 00:56:01,720
the rest of the story. 
There's now been another letter.

1082
00:56:01,720 --> 00:56:04,760
There's now been more time. 
Now listen to this Second 

1083
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:08,520
Corinthians 25. 
Paul says about the same man. 

1084
00:56:10,440 --> 00:56:12,960
I'm not overstating it when I 
say that the man who caused all 

1085
00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:15,040
the trouble hurt all of you more
than he hurt me. 

1086
00:56:16,280 --> 00:56:19,040
Most of you opposed him, and 
that was punishment enough. 

1087
00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:24,160
Now, however, it is time to 
forgive and comfort him. 

1088
00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:28,480
Otherwise, he may become 
overcome by discouragement. 

1089
00:56:29,080 --> 00:56:31,400
So I urge you now to reaffirm 
your love for him. 

1090
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:35,320
He says I wrote to you as I did,
to test you and see if you would

1091
00:56:35,320 --> 00:56:36,960
fully comply with my 
instructions. 

1092
00:56:37,480 --> 00:56:40,240
When you forgive this man, I 
forgive him too. 

1093
00:56:41,320 --> 00:56:43,960
And when I forgive whatever 
needs to be forgiven, I do so 

1094
00:56:43,960 --> 00:56:47,680
with Christ's authority for your
benefit, so that Satan will not 

1095
00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:51,160
outsmart us, for we are familiar
with his evil schemes. 

1096
00:56:53,440 --> 00:56:55,600
You see, what happened here is 
that the church obeyed Paul's 

1097
00:56:55,600 --> 00:56:57,560
first instruction. 
They removed this man from 

1098
00:56:57,560 --> 00:56:59,800
fellowship. 
But when the enemy tried to use 

1099
00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:02,840
shame and isolation as a weapon 
to crush him completely, Paul 

1100
00:57:02,840 --> 00:57:06,160
said no, that's not what we do. 
He said now it's time to forgive

1101
00:57:06,480 --> 00:57:09,640
and now it's time to reaffirm 
your love, because if you don't,

1102
00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:13,640
Satan will outsmart you. 
And this is the point in the 1st

1103
00:57:13,640 --> 00:57:16,320
letter, the end. 
The enemy's scheme was anything 

1104
00:57:16,320 --> 00:57:18,640
is fine. 
And the second letter, the 

1105
00:57:18,640 --> 00:57:21,760
enemy's scheme was crushing 
shame. 

1106
00:57:23,400 --> 00:57:28,120
And please hear me on this. 
If Corinth could navigate both 

1107
00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:32,880
extremes, if they could learn to
call sin sin and still extend 

1108
00:57:32,880 --> 00:57:35,960
forgiveness and repentance, why 
can't we? 

1109
00:57:37,640 --> 00:57:41,040
Why do we either ignore sin 
completely or cancel people so 

1110
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:43,280
harshly that they never get a 
chance to stand again? 

1111
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:46,040
Why do we keep swinging at 
people from one end of the 

1112
00:57:46,040 --> 00:57:48,800
pendulum to the other? 
And this is where the challenge 

1113
00:57:48,800 --> 00:57:51,920
gets very personal. 
Some of us have tolerated things

1114
00:57:51,920 --> 00:57:54,800
in our life, but the Lord has 
spoken to us and called it no 

1115
00:57:54,800 --> 00:57:57,840
big deal. 
Some of us have tolerated it in 

1116
00:57:57,840 --> 00:57:59,520
others because we didn't want to
be judgmental. 

1117
00:57:59,760 --> 00:58:02,680
And some of us have held people 
back in shame long after God has

1118
00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:06,120
forgiven them. 
Both exist on the Devil's 

1119
00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:08,880
playground, and both of them 
keep you from fighting what 

1120
00:58:08,880 --> 00:58:11,560
actually matters. 
As long as you stay on the 

1121
00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:13,960
Devil's playground, you'll never
truly set foot on the Lord's 

1122
00:58:13,960 --> 00:58:17,160
battleground. 
This is just the beginning. 

1123
00:58:18,360 --> 00:58:20,320
This has set the tone for where 
we're going to be for the next 

1124
00:58:20,320 --> 00:58:22,600
month. 
Next week, we're going to start 

1125
00:58:22,600 --> 00:58:24,320
calling out the enemy schemes by
name. 

1126
00:58:25,320 --> 00:58:26,800
We're going to talk about 
Leviathan. 

1127
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:29,960
We're going to talk about the 
twisting spirit of pride and 

1128
00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:33,360
division that loves to take 
words, turn them sideways, and 

1129
00:58:33,360 --> 00:58:36,240
make families, churches, and 
even nations misunderstand each 

1130
00:58:36,240 --> 00:58:37,880
other until we tear each other 
apart. 

1131
00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:41,320
We're going to do this. 
And if you thought this week was

1132
00:58:41,320 --> 00:58:43,960
a little heavy, next week we'll 
probably be a little surgical. 

1133
00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:46,680
So this is my challenge for you 
today. 

1134
00:58:48,040 --> 00:58:53,120
When you walk out of here, it's 
not enough to blame people. 

1135
00:58:53,760 --> 00:58:56,160
It's not enough to say I hate it
when people say this. 

1136
00:58:57,600 --> 00:59:00,200
The world is full of people who 
won't really do anything. 

1137
00:59:00,240 --> 00:59:03,320
I'm asking you, I'm pleading 
with you, in the name of Jesus, 

1138
00:59:04,040 --> 00:59:06,280
be amongst the people who are 
willing to do something. 

1139
00:59:07,080 --> 00:59:09,280
Learn the Lord's word for 
yourself. 

1140
00:59:09,800 --> 00:59:11,960
Learn to share the Lord's word 
with others. 

1141
00:59:12,440 --> 00:59:17,360
It is going to be hard and messy
and uncomfortable and weird, but

1142
00:59:17,360 --> 00:59:20,120
you're equipped for it. 
And together we're even more 

1143
00:59:20,120 --> 00:59:21,040
equipped for it. 
Amen. 

1144
00:59:21,440 --> 00:59:23,520
Would y'all stand up? 
Let's worship the Lord as we end

1145
00:59:23,520 --> 00:59:23,840
today.