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This is ERC Sundays, the 
messages at Emmaus Rd. 

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Church in DeWitt, Iowa. 
ERC is a Church of people 

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striving to grow in Jesus and 
make him known to others through

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our faith, words and actions. 
Find out more about our church 

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at emmausrdonline.org. 
Here's this week's message. 

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Let's to be able to do this in a
church that I have attended for 

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so long. 
For those of you who don't know 

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me, I've been here for 14 or 15 
years now. 

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I grew up in this church and 
yeah, I felt, felt God's calling

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when I was 16, but didn't answer
it unfortunately. 

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And now I'm deciding to, to 
pursue seminary and I'm, I'm so 

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thankful to have you guys in the
support system and you guys have

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been amazing. 
And I appreciate any and all 

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feedback, even if it's it just, 
it wasn't bad. 

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I'll take that. 
All right, so this morning I get

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to take us through, continue us 
through our Romans 8 series. 

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And this morning we're going to 
be in Romans 8, verses 29 to 31.

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So I invite you to open your 
Bibles up to that. 

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There's Bibles underneath the 
seat in front of you if you need

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some or the Bible app on your 
phone's a great place for that 

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as well. 
But before we dive into the text

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itself, I want to kind of have a
moment of honesty. 

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If you're honest, there are 
moments in your life where it 

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feels like something is against 
you. 

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Maybe you walked in just this 
morning with that feeling, with 

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that, with that tug. 
You try to grow spiritually, but

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something is is pulling you 
back. 

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You want to trust God, but doubt
starts to creep in. 

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You take a step forward and then
temptation, discouragement, or 

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even failure is waiting for you.
In those moments, it doesn't 

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just feel random, it feels 
targeted. 

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It feels directed at you and it 
feels like a battle because it 

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is. 
The Bible is clear to us. 

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The Christian life is not 
passive. 

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There is a real spiritual war 
happening. 

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But here's the question that we 
have to ask. 

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How do we fight? 
Do we fight out of fear? 

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Do we fight in hope of earning 
victory? 

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Do we? 
Do we fight hoping that God is 

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on our side? 
Or do we fight knowing something

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deeper is already true? 
Let's read our text, Romans 8, 

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verses 29 to 31, reading in 
God's name. 

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For those whom He foreknew He 
also predestined to be conformed

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to the image of His Son, in 
order that He might be the first

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born among many brothers. 
And those whom He predestined He

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also called. 
And those whom He called He also

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justified, and those whom He 
justified He also glorified. 

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What then shall we say to these 
things? 

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If God is for us, who can be 
against us? 

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Here is the reading of God's 
Word. 

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This passage answers that 
question that we just asked. 

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How do you go into battle? 
The answer is this. 

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You go to battle with God 
already on your side. 

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Just to give you an idea of 
where we're going in this 

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passage today, here are my three
points that we're going to 

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discuss. 
Point #1 is that your identity 

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was settled before the battle 
even took place, .2 is that the 

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battle is very real, .3 is that 
we have the promise that we do 

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not fight alone. 
Two weeks ago when I got to give

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the sermon, we talked about 
prayer and how you're never 

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praying alone. 
We have the promise of the Holy 

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Spirit interceding for us in 
prayer even when we don't have 

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the words to say. 
And in this passage, we see 

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something similar, that we never
fight alone. 

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Taking us into point #1 Paul 
starts before the battle even 

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begins. 
He says you were foreknown, 

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predestined, called, justified, 
and glorified. 

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That is what theologians often 
call a golden chain, because 

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once it starts, it cannot be 
broken. 

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Think of it like a chain where 
every link is being held 

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together by God Himself, 
foreknown, predestined, called, 

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justified and glorified. 
There is no weak link in that 

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change because you're not the 
one holding it together. 

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God is. 
I want us to notice something 

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here in this passage. 
There is no uncertainty. 

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It doesn't say maybe you'll make
it if you try hard enough. 

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It speaks as if it's already 
been done. 

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Even glorified, which has not 
happened yet, it's still spoken 

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in the past tense. 
Why is that? 

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Because from God's perspective, 
your future is already that 

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secure. 
Let me ask you something. 

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Do you live like your identity 
is secure or fragile? 

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Because how you live? 
Answering that question is going

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to determine how you fight. 
Here's where spiritual warfare 

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begins. 
The enemy doesn't start by 

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attacking your behavior. 
He starts by attacking your 

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identity. 
Think about the very beginning 

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in Genesis. 
The serpent doesn't show up and 

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say go ruin your life. 
He shows up and says, did God 

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really say? 
He plants that seed of doubt and

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he twists the truth and he 
confuses your identity and he's 

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doing the same thing to you. 
God doesn't really love you. 

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You're not actually changed or 
capable of changing. 

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You're always going to struggle 
with this. 

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You've gone too far this time. 
Now, let me be very clear. 

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The enemy can make you forget 
who you are, who's you are. 

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He doesn't even have to fight 
you. 

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You're going to defeat yourself.
If your identity is based on 

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your performance, then every 
single failure is going to shake

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you to the core. 
But if your identity is based on

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God's work, then even your 
failures can't undo that. 

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Church, what lies have you been 
believing lately? 

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What sentence has been repeating
in your head day after day? 

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Because that might not just be 
your thoughts, that might be the

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battlefield. 
And I want to encourage you with

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this. 
You don't fight for identity. 

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You fight from identity. 
You're not trying to become 

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someone that God loves. 
You're fighting as someone that 

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he has already set his love on. 
But the battle is real. 

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Paul asks a question. 
Who can be against us? 

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Now don't misunderstand that. 
He's not saying no one is 

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against you. 
He's saying no one who is 

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against you can ultimately win 
because there there is an enemy.

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Jesus says this to Peter. 
Satan has asked to sift you like

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wheat. 
That word sift in this context, 

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is powerful. 
It means to shake violently, to 

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separate, to find the weakness. 
Let me give you a visual. 

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Imagine taking a sieve and 
shaking wheat. 

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Everything that's loose and 
everything that's weak is going 

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to fall through. 
That's what the enemy is hoping 

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will happen to your faith. 
He wants to shake your life with

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pressure and temptation and 
discouragement and even failure.

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He's hoping that what's inside 
you will not hold. 

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It's kind of like when pressure 
hits your life, whether that's 

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from stress, temptation, 
exhaustion, and suddenly what's 

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inside you truly comes out. 
You ever notice that when you're

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tired, discouraged, or 
overwhelmed, the things that you

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thought you had under control 
are slowly coming out? 

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That's not random, but that's 
pressure revealing what's truly 

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inside. 
And here's the thing. 

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Satan rarely shows up in obvious
ways. 

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He doesn't walk into your life 
and announce that he's there. 

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He works subtly. 
There's this idea from CS Lewis 

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in the screw tape letters where 
he says the safest road to hell 

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is the gradual 1, the gentle 
slope, soft under foot without 

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sudden turns. 
Nobody wakes up one day and 

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thinks, I think I'll walk away 
from God today. 

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It's small compromises. 
It's spiritual laziness. 

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It's the idea of I'll deal with 
that later. 

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But over time, your heart slowly
drifts. 

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It's not sudden rebellion, but 
it's a slow drift, numbness and 

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compromises. 
The enemy would rather slowly 

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distract you than to suddenly 
destroy you. 

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And you may ask, how do we? 
How do we know? 

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How do we know his presence? 
How do we know the truth? 

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How do we follow and fight the 
right way? 

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His main tactics are lies, 
things that sound almost true 

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but aren't. 
Accusations, not conviction that

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leads to repentance, but it's 
shame that leads to hiding, 

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isolation, the idea of don't 
tell anyone. 

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Handle this one on your own 
distraction, keeping you 

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spiritually numb, busy, and 
distant from God. 

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Now here's where things may get 
a little uncomfortable, but it's

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real. 
Sometimes the greatest threat in

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your spiritual life is not that 
Satan is against you, but it's 

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that you agree with him. 
Think about it. 

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He whispers a lie and you repeat
it in your head all day long, 

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maybe for weeks at a time. 
He brings accusations and you 

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sit in shame. 
He tempts you and you willfully 

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walk into it. 
He nudges you towards isolation 

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and you choose to withdraw. 
The enemy may whisper it, but we

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echo it and allow it to control 
us. 

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Let me give you an example. 
When I was in high school, I 

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wasn't exactly the best behaved 
kid, believe it or not. 

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I made some pretty stupid, 
pretty dumb decisions. 

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And one night after a band 
event, it was late, the parking 

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lot was empty and my friend had 
just pulled out. 

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So I threw my car in reverse, 
hit the gas maybe a little 

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harder than I should have, and 
immediately heard a loud crunch.

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I backed into the only other 
vehicle in the entire parking 

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lot. 
But in that moment, I wasn't 

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thinking about the car. 
I was thinking I am in so much 

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trouble. 
Fortunate enough I had my sister

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in the passenger seat with me 
who immediately pulled out her 

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phone and called her parents and
all I could think was I wish she

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wasn't here so I didn't have to 
call my dad. 

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I wanted to avoid him completely
because in my mind I thought he 

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was going to be angry. 
I thought he was going to be so 

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disappointed. 
I thought he was going to be 

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upset with me because the thing 
that he had given me to take 

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care of, I had just ruined. 
We got the whole situation 

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figured out. 
Fortunately, I knew the the girl

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in my class that drove that 
vehicle got it all figured out. 

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It's not on my record, so if you
want proof, it doesn't exist. 

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But we got home and I was still 
avoiding him. 

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I was still avoiding my father. 
I did not want to have that 

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conversation. 
But he just walked up to me and 

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instead of yelling, instead of 
getting angry, he just hugged 

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me. 
And he said it's OK, No one got 

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hurt. 
Now that that moment stuck with 

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me because what I expected was 
not who my dad actually was in 

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that moment. 
And we do the same thing to God,

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but we mess up spiritually 
instead of running to him. 

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We avoid him. 
We don't pray, we don't open our

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Bible, we tell ourselves, I'm 
going to come back to this when 

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I'm doing better. 
But listen carefully. 

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That's not just you and your 
thoughts, that's the enemy 

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shaping how you respond to God. 
Where are you self sabotaging 

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yourself right now? 
Maybe it's a pattern you keep 

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feeding into, maybe a lie that 
you keep believing. 

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Maybe it's a place that you keep
running to instead of running to

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God. 
That is where the battle is 

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happening. 
But we don't have to fight 

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alone. 
We get to turn the corner 

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because if all we talked about 
is this battle, it starts to get

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really heavy. 
But Paul doesn't leave us there 

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in the battle. 
He says God is for us. 

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Everything changes right there. 
Let's go back to Peter for a 

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moment. 
Jesus said Satan has asked to 

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sift you. 
That's terrifying. 

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But then he follows that by 
saying, but I have prayed for 

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you and that changes everything.
Think about what that means. 

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Jesus knew the attack was 
coming. 

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He allowed the testing, but He 
secured Peter's faith and his 

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future. 
Peter would stumble, but he 

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would not be destroyed. 
And that's the same truth for 

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you if you are in Christ. 
God is not neutral towards you. 

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He is not distant from you. 
He is not waiting for you to 

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fail, but He is for you. 
Let me say something clearly 

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about this. 
You are not entering a fair 

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fight. 
This is not you versus Satan. 

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This is you with the God of the 
universe for you against an 

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already defeated enemy. 
So what does it mean to go to 

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battle? 
This is where we can get a 

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little practical. 
If God is for you, then fight 

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like it. 
One way we can fight is to fight

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with truth. 
When Jesus was tempted, he 

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didn't argue, He responded with 
scripture. 

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You don't defeat lies with 
feelings, you defeat lies with 

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the truth. 
So ask yourself this, do I know 

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the truth well enough to 
recognize a lie? 

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Another way we can fight is to 
fight in prayer. 

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Church, we talked about it two 
weeks ago. 

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Prayer is such a powerful thing.
Even if you don't have the right

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words to say. 
Sit with God, allow the Holy 

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Spirit to intercede and pray the
words that you don't have. 

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Prayer is not calling for 
backup. 

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It's stepping into the reality 
that you are not alone and God 

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is already in the fight. 
The next way we can fight is to 

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fight in the light. 
Church isolation is where the 

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enemy wins. 
Sin grows in secrecy, but it 

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dies in the light. 
So I want to challenge you with 

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this. 
Who in your life knows what 

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you're truly struggling with 
right now? 

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The last way we can fight is to 
fight with confidence. 

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It's not arrogance and it's not 
self-confidence. 

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It's God confidence. 
Peter was warned, he was sifted 

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and he failed publicly. 
He denied Jesus three times and 

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by all accounts it should have 
been over, but it wasn't. 

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Why? 
Because Jesus being for him was 

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so much greater than Satan being
against him. 

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What battle are you in right 
now? 

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Where do you feel attacked? 
Where do you feel weak? 

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Now ask yourself, am I fighting 
like God is for me or am I 

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fighting like I'm on my own? 
Churchill, let's not go into 

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this week wondering if you'll 
survive. 

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Don't go into this battle hoping
or thinking that you're strong 

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enough. 
You go to battle with God on 

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your side. 
And if God is for you, then who 

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can truly be against you? 
I want to close this in prayer 

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and let's sing in response to 
this wonderful news that we 

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have. 
Dear Heavenly Father, you know 

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the battles that we're walking 
through right now. 

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You know where we feel weak and 
where we feel stuck, where we've

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been isolating ourselves and 
believing lies. 

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It got so often, instead of 
running to you, we avoid you. 

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But thank you for reminding us 
today that if we are in Christ, 

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you are for us, not because of 
what we've done, but because of 

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what you've done. 
Help us to live in that truth 

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this week. 
When when lies come, remind us 

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of what's true. 
When we feel alone. 

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Remind us you are with us when 
we're tempted to run. 

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Draw us back to you. 
Give us the courage to step into

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this week not in fear, but in 
confidence in God. 

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Confidence because you are on 
our side. 

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We love you and we trust you. 
We pray these things all in your

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mighty name, Amen. 
Thanks for listening to the ERC 

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Sundays to support the work God 
is doing. 

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An Amazed Rd. church. 
Visit amazedrdonline.org/giving.